The Gathering Storm, Part 25

She’d known he was coming—she’d been alerted by phone. But apparently he’d also been warned she was on edge. All for the best, Zoe supposed, as she heard a twig snap in the distance and a youthful, jovial voice calling out amiably, “Fringe, not foe!” as Mad Dash came into sight. The mask he wore—revealing [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 24

Stale stifling blackness. Spinning bouncing. Smells—Greasy sweaty green. Sensations—rough, warm, damp, gritty. No room to move; can’t focus. What? Where? How? Drifting. Panic. Sleepy. Weak. Angry. Terrified. I will no go…I will not…gone…go…quietly. * * * “Dash! Please tell me you’re not in the middle of something you can’t get out of.” “Query? Yeah, I’m [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 22

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] Cole looked out across the devastation of the main gathering area at the Guardian Corps’ central headquarters. In some senses, it didn’t look that much different than normal. It wasn’t as if the Corps had deep pockets. They survived mostly by [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 21

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] After the tense visit by Janus’ men, a nearly half-hour-long flogging at Hush-a-Bye’s hands had been very therapeutic, and now—flushed and covered with a sheen of sweat all over his bare, bruised, welted and blood-streaked torso—GoodKnight stood near her. “Ya did [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 19

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] After the latest recruitment dinner with Zoe—and possibly the last, given how much other work there was to do between now and the woman’s graduation deadline—Underworld was relieved to get back the the headquarters. Not only did she dearly want to [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 18

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] In her Allison Wonderland costume, but sans the mask and wig, Vanessa Santos landed a vicious kick at the midsection of the practice dummy, then a quick trio of hand strikes at the nose, throat and chest. She did a short [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 17

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] Entering Janus’ office, she moved with slow, purposeful steps, like a ballet dancer building up toward some grand maneuver—then she abruptly stopped 12 feet away from the imposing mahogany desk, where Janus sat and Underworld and Crazy Jane stood nearby. Standing [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 16

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] Janus gave Underworld a lingering eye-to-eye look over the edge of the files he was perusing and through the eyeholes of his half-comedy/half-tragedy mask. He sighed heavily, and Underworld raised one eyebrow. “What?” she prodded. “Shrill?” “Why not?” “You think we [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 10

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] After a long day of meting out justice—or perhaps just venting her frustrations over life’s problems on the few kinds of people on whom it was more or less socially acceptable to do so—Solstice really just wanted to relax, grab a [...]

The Gathering Storm, Part 9

[ - To view a list of all current chapters, click here - ] Zoe took a deep breath when she was out of the building, feeling like the Sociology discussion section had been a three-hour political debate on the verge of a brutal election instead of a simple hour-long classroom discussion. She fished around [...]