《The Legion of Nothing》Picking Up Pieces: Part 8
Advertisement
Daniel, Izzy, Jeremy, and I left for my room shortly after. We didn’t say much. I didn’t have anything I wanted to say that could be said aloud.
Daniel could have created a four way telepathic conversation, but he didn’t.
When I shut the door to the room, Jeremy started talking. “I never guessed! This is so crazy. I wanted to see the League and everything, but this…”
His voice trailed off, and he started talking more quietly (which was good because he’d been way too loud at first). “You’re the Mystic, and you’re the Rocket, and that was Night Cat and Captain Commando back there…” He looked up at Izzy. “I’m not sure who you are.”
That was totally okay.
Instead of telling him, Izzy glanced at Daniel and said, “No one you’ve heard of.”
Which was totally true since she hadn’t decided on a name or costume yet.
Daniel gave a smile that seemed a little sad, and a little sympathetic. “While it’s good to finally meet you, this is a major problem for us. You know what happens when people find out who a super is, right?”
Jeremy blinked. “I’m not going to tell anybody. The last thing I want is to out you guys.”
He stopped, his mouth open, but not saying anything at first. Then it all came out in a rush. “You’re not going to make me forget this, are you?”
He looked up at Daniel, checked behind himself. He stood in front of our window. Even if he was willing to climb over the stereo and jump through it into the darkness, we were on the third floor. He probably wouldn’t survive the fall.
Not that Daniel or Izzy would let him fall.
Daniel shook his head, “I won’t unless you want me to.”
Advertisement
Jeremy swallowed. “I don’t.”
Jeremy seemed nervous, and I suddenly realized how it would look from his perspective. Both Daniel and Izzy stood six inches taller than he did. Plus, Izzy’s shirt didn’t cover her biceps, and they were pretty well defined.
Not that it mattered, but even if I wasn’t as intimidating, I was there too.
Daniel nodded, still looking concerned. “That’s good. I didn’t want to do that anyway. If you’re going to remember though, we need to make sure that someone can’t just pull it from your head. I’d like to create a mental shield. It’ll make it hard for a telepath to notice you thinking about us, and hard to find anything if they dig in. It’ll also make it impossible for you to accidentally talk about our secret identities.”
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible how? Something like my jaw locks up if I try?”
In the same calm voice he’d been using, Daniel said, “That’s exactly it. We’ve all got variations on the same block. You’re not being singled out.”
Slowly Jeremy said, “It’s better than forgetting, but it’s going to suck when I’m online. I’m on a bunch of cape boards, and I’m not going to be able to tell anyone anything, am I?”
Daniel smiled a little. “Sorry, but no. It’s too much of a risk. You’ll be able to pass on anything that you don’t learn from knowing us, but that’s all.”
“I guess that’s all I ever did before.” Jeremy said. Then he grinned. “Oh my god, I have a pile of questions to ask you guys. It’s all speculation on the boards, but what really happened up in Canada? Why was Rook here, and what did you do there? Was it really a nuke, or just a big bomb? And…” He looked at all of us in turn. “Is there really a super school? I heard there was a super school. I also heard that they’re training them to fight aliens, but everyone knows there aren’t really aliens. People on the boards think they’re going to take over the government.”
Advertisement
I stared at him. “What? There are too aliens. I’ve spoken to them.”
“For real?” Jeremy didn’t quite sound like he believed me.
“Yes. The League’s jet functions as a spaceship. Besides, that whole alien war in the 70’s? It’s in the history books. The League blew up their base on the moon. Wasn’t that covered in your high school history class?”
“Well, yeah, but everyone knows that was a cover-up. Didn’t the League basically destroy the group Dr. Mind was with before the Nine? The Neo-Nazi group? I heard the aliens were genetically engineered by those guys, but they really weren’t aliens, and the government used them to distract the League from Watergate. Didn’t you see the documentary?”
So, that was completely nuts.
I’d heard that people didn’t believe the League fought aliens, but I’d never run into one.
“No, I never saw the documentary, but that’s because I’ve seen alien spaceships. It’s not hard. You can’t always see the Jay and Kay with a telescope, but the gate’s there.”
He sat down on the lower bunk. “Everything I’ve read says its just space junk arranged into a weird shape.”
Back on our first day of the Stapledon program, Bullet had been worried about the public connecting most capes' powers with aliens. If the general public believed stuff that was even half as crazy as Jeremy, the problems he worried about might be an improvement.
Advertisement
- In Serial33 Chapters
A Dragon's Dungeon
Dorn, a 3,000 year old silver Space dragon, has only wanted two things in his life: revenge, and the time necessary to get that revenge. Kiera is a migrant farm worker, running from a troubled past, and doesn't expect the rest of her life to go anywhere. She's already given up hope of ever going back to her homeland with her head held high, and getting justice against those who drove her away. Dorn builds a dungeon in the hopes of amassing a trained human army for his vengeance, and Kiera takes the chance to help, hoping for reciprocation. But the past is a murky thing; events are not always what they seem, and those who should be allies are frequently the greatest of enemies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image is not mine
8 162 - In Serial34 Chapters
The Undead Revolution
This was my first attempt at writing a story, in hiatus indefinitely. This story follows Silvy, half-elf, a rare race despised by both humans and elves. Having never met her father, the first years of her life were spent together with her mother, who had to leave her native village because of the blasphemy she had committed by giving birth to Silvy. At the age of eight, Silvy became an orphan and was left to fend for herself. Her mother had died of illness, Silvy’s life turning upside down: the child went from living in a modest but cozy home with poor but daily meals to live outside the walls in the slums, where crime was commonplace and food was scarce. Luck had yet to abandon her completely though, because a group of orphans like Silvy decided to help, integrating her into their group and teaching the tricks of the trade; that is, stealing and swindling. But fate had not yet finished playing with her. Kidnapped and frightened, her life will turn upside down again when she awakens as undead, but still able to think clearly.
8 139 - In Serial16 Chapters
The Guild
The world is broken. The apocalypse came and went, and only a fragment of humanity is left, scrambled into an unrecognizable mess. The remainders of the earth are filled with monsters from imagination and worse. Gates open periodically, leading to alien worlds, while dungeons form from damaged minds, creating nightmares for the unsuspecting. Some might see it as the end times. A hellscape. A story of humans pushed to their breaking points, desperately grasping for the last bits of humanity as the world crumbles around them. But a few might disagree. One man, in particular, sees opportunity. A chance. A path forward, to bring humanity from the depths of despair and turn it into a victory - a luxury. To remake the world even better than it was, dragging earth forward onto the galactic stage. It will require violence, lies, betrayals, magic, more violence, and the occasional genocide. But, hey. Everything worth doing is hard, right?
8 149 - In Serial8 Chapters
Zee Wanted, Book 2 of OVR World Online
This is the Work in Progress draft of Book 2 of the OVR World Online series. Zee and his party of allies have successfully reached Level 5 and departed Rowling Valley, the Orientation Zone of the high fantasy game world Gygax, part of the larger virtual reality system named OVR World Online. However, things aren't as simple for Zee as when he first jacked in. He still needs to pay off the debt of his prison sentence, while also sending what coin he can spare to his parents, but now he has to learn the secrets of creating a truly sentient computer program so that he might revive the stored minds of those that have died within the simulation. Book One, Zee Locked-In is now available on Amazon for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and print on demand Paperback. My author site can be found at justinmonroeauthor.com
8 108 - In Serial8 Chapters
BASKETBALL DREAM:After watching a basketball anime I started playing basketball
Have you ever watched a sport anime and thought "I will start doing this sport"?Because this is exactly how it went for Mike. After finishing watching a basketball anime he started playing basketball. And his goal? The NBA! Fully motivated he started chasing his new found dream but he soon realized that life isn't an anime. The chances to make it to the NBA are almost zero especially for a kid from Germany who isn't natural gifted. But is that going to stop him? Will reality break him or will he keep following his dream? Accompany Mike on his journey to find out.
8 62 - In Serial8 Chapters
Nobody Except Us
A Girls Frontline story. Previously known as 'Chandelier'. Having been knocked offline during a routine asset recovery operation, Five-Seven is surprised to wake up six months later in the same abandoned city- repaired and revived by a man with shrouded allegience and deadly inclinations- as his enemies descend upon them. His orders are simple: Survive. Resist. Escape. Cover by MangAsep on DeviantArt.
8 102

