Lackey Snippets

Avalanche - Snippet 51 They didn't have time to rest; the Wolves were almost upon them. Instead of standing and waiting for the Wolves, John and Sera charged at them. With John's enhancements and Sera's wing beats, they moved almost too fast for the eye to track effectively; the Wolves faltered, for a moment, trying to figure out how to attack the couple. John and Sera split from each other, then crossed paths at the last moment, attacking towards the opposite side. John rushed forward, letting the battle-sense guide him; his first cut split...

Avalanche - Snippet 50 The Death Sphere on the right hand side of the docks from where the Thulians had landed was just about to start its run. The whine of its energy cannons ramping up was audible over the cacophony of the other weapons, and sinister orange light began to spill from the thermite ports on its underside. Right before it could begin raining death down on the soldiers on the docks, Sera separated from John. She pulled up and hovered, while John slowed and formed up behind her and one hand on her shoulder, while manifesting his...

Avalanche - Snippet 49 Song of Solomon Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin It had been a long week, and it looked like it was only going to get longer. John and Sera had been deployed twice already, responding to new major attacks. The Thulians were stepping up their game, and the attacks were coming more and more frequently. First it had been a major railyard near Atlanta; then a nuclear power plant right on the border with Alabama. The power plant had been a tough one; the security forces weren't a match for the combined Thulian assault. Most...

Avalanche - Snippet 48 No, she didn't know how she was still alive.  No, she didn't have any memory of anything after locking Blue Team out of the generator base of the shield tower in Ultima Thule.  No, she didn't know how she had mysteriously reappeared miles away, stumbling across a ECHO clean-up crew with nothing more than the ECHO uniform on her back. She had refused almost anything they had offered.  She barely ate, was indifferent to the state of her unwashed, battle-torn body, and became violent when anyone so much as touched...

Avalanche - Snippet 47 Interlude: Peekaboo Mercedes Lackey and Dennis Lee @rancbeast42 kept feeding me good stuff.  Sometimes just a couple of links, sometimes as much as half a page.  But of course, we had that whole parity issue going on.  He knew plenty about me.  I knew nothing about him. On the other hand, he didn't seem to understand I wasn't your average superhacker.  Sure he could, and did, hide himself.  His IP address was probably changing all the time; that is seriously just not that hard to do.  Plenty of motels leave...

Avalanche - Snippet 46 The pair took up position next to Bella and Bulwark as they paused beside the doorway. John crossed his arms, waiting to see what would happen next. "So," Bella said.  "Have I made the position of ECHO and the CCCP perfectly clear?  Are there any objections?" The room was silent. Some of the hearing members were befuddled. Others were boiling with rage. Most felt embarrassed, at least as far as John could tell through his senses. All of them, though, were cowed. Saving their own skin was a priority for them; political...

Avalanche - Snippet 45 Sera's wings flared, and so did her fires. Now all of the agents did draw weapons, though they were very careful to not point them at either John or Sera. "I do not answer to you," she said, flatly. "And there's the problem we've been talking about! Who do either of you answer to? When metahumans are as powerful as the two of you are, they're a power unto themselves. What's to stop either of you from selling to the highest bidder, or trying to set up your own kingdoms, or just rampaging wantonly if you have a bad day?...

Avalanche - Snippet 44 The next few hours passed too quickly for John's liking. He and Sera ate generous helpings of room service, showered, and did what they could to rest; neither one of them could sleep, however, and opted to just lie in bed next to each other. Luckily, both of them had changed into clean outfits back at CCCP HQ before they had tried to head back to John's squat; despite their gifts and skills, their uniforms had still taken a beating in the battle.  Vickie quietly kept them updated; her invisible "eye" was scooting...