Part Four

Part Two

That same evening, in their main meeting room, the Assembly was having a special discussion about a more serious matter: The death - murder, actually - of John Gaughn.

"You don't think Constantine did this, do you?" said Champion, leaning back in her chair and looking thoughtfully at the glow panels in the high ceiling, though addressing the team brain.

Masks XXIII: The Obscenity in the Ice

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part One

Summer, 2016

Laurie felt great. In fact, she had risen from bed that morning feeling twenty years younger. She thought she even looked better in the mirror. Maybe this was all due to the excellent weather, but she had a suspicion. A hope.

This goes between the last chapter segments about the thing in the ice and the shooting of Mr. Gone.

Finally back in the small Detroit apartment she shared with Michelle, Vic acted strangely the first day. However, the next day was the last one before classes restarted, and Vic made sure to catch Michelle at a time when she had nothing important going on.

"Now that all that holiday stuff and the Moldarian treasure recovery are over," said Vic, uncharacteristically both nervous and serious, "I have something important to ask you."

TFOS: Freddy On The Loose, Story 26
Things Get Serious! (Yeah, Right...)

by

Rodford Edmiston

Note: This story uses background and concepts from the Teenagers From Outer Space role-playing game, Copyright and Trademarked R. Talsorian Games, Inc. The characters and story are Copyright 2020 Rodford Edmiston Smith.

Part Nine

Somebody must have called ahead, because the rear gates were open and embassy staff members were standing outside, ushering the rig in. Vic was very glad the service entrance was double wide. Blue Impact, Energia, Gadgetive and - of course - Vic were allowed onto embassy grounds. The gates were then shut solidly behind them.

Part Seven

"Oh, dandy," said Blue Impact, the next morning, loudly, from her private corner.

"What?" said Vic, a bit alarmed by the emotion from the older super. She was just leaving the kitchen with a sizable mid-morning snack. The sort of thing which Blue Impact jokingly referred to as "second breakfast."

Part Five

Part Three

"Good morning, Mr. Logsdon!" one of the attendants called out, smiling and waving as he crossed the street ahead.

"Good morning, Andrew. How are we doing on our first day?

"So far, so good. I guess we're all waiting for the other shoe to drop, but right now it's busy but mostly under control."

Masks XXII: Golden Opportunity

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part One

"Whew!" said Vic, sagging with relief when the pregnancy test came back negative.

"Oh, babe," said Michelle, bending to hug Vic as the martial artist sat on the lid of the toilet in their shared apartment's tiny bathroom. "I'm so glad. You didn't really think Stone had... done something while you were out, did you?"

Part Seventeen

"Hints and rumors," said Aaron, with an aggravated sigh. "Freeze Frame hasn't helped much; he can't find the Emergent any more than we can. After several subjective years of effort he left a note on my desk this morning that he was moving on to other pursuits."

"Wait," said Blackpool, alarmed. "He was here?! In the compound?!"

"At my office in Haven, actually," said Aaron, a bit amused at this near panic. "I don't think he knows where the redoubt is. Though he could probably find it given sufficient motivation."

Part Fifteen

"I have him!" shouted Blackpool, materializing from one of the many shadows of the unevenly lighted room.

Part Fourteen

Malak flew down towards the green of the roof garden on the Chicago City Hall. He was planning to land where he could see many emergency responders waiting on the cordoned-off street. However, the sound of breaking glass diverted him. He saw a fire axe come out of a window on the top floor of offices, which was shortly followed by a woman. This was definitely not the Mayor; in fact, the window was on the county offices side.

Part Eleven

"Can you go back to just before he landed?" Melody asked the projectionist, before turning around to again face the screen.

"You can't see anything," said Horvat, irritated. "It's all backlit by the fires started in the first part of the attack. Our best film processors and analysts have already been over and over it, trying to extract more information. There just isn't any."

"You wanted me here for my insight. Well, I have one. Just go back to that, please."

Part Nine

Malak needed little exploring to find the control room for the operation. It was the second largest chamber in the building, after the internal garage. While most of the building was nearly empty, this place was full of people busy doing things which at first glance would not have been out of place in any modern office. At the far end from the double doors of the main entrance was a large desk, on a low dais. There sat someone Malak was surprised to see. Though he was not nearly as surprised as the occupants of the room were when he became visible.

Part Seven

The next morning everyone at the repository was still buzzed about the rescue. Including the federal employees working to destroy the chemicals, even though they hadn't been involved. Melody managed to get several interviews with various participants in the operation, as well as updates on how the refugees were faring. Then she just hung around the computer room, where the performance of the new device in planning the operation was being evaluated.

Part Five

They were walking in roughly a half acre of grass and young trees. There were picnic tables, permanently emplaced grills and even a small gazebo. This was on land which was part of the property belonging to the chemical storage and disposal project, but outside the walls of the compound. It also all looked very new. There were a few other people in the area, and almost uniformly they were smiling.

Part Three

As he rose invisible into the sky, Aaron was tempted to fly the slow way back to Haven. The weather was that nice. With a resigned sigh, he flew high enough to be above airliner traffic and applied his quick travel power to head west.

* * *

Melody was sitting, staring unseeing at the far wall of her office, when her boss stopped by later that afternoon.

"You look busy."

"I am, actually," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Deep in thought."