“Yeah, k’know, I just want to do everything I can to help our community!” the teenage girl said perkily, pouncing her foot up and down, her black and purple suit fitting snugly to her thin, lithe frame.

“I love you, Impetus!” someone shouted from the unwashed throng, fortunately held back by a barrier of police tape and news vans. Behind the mask, Adam held back a wince.

Part Ten

They exited at the bottom of the stairs into a mechanical room. It was dark and filled with the muffled sounds made by the near-idling equipment which supported the building.

"Now what?" said Energia, as they stood just inside the huge room.

"Don't like this," said Gadgetive, looking around warily. "No mechanical room in a legitimate business should be this clean."

“Galen, your report on the Destructors Incident?” Albert Coleman, the Secretary of Defense, asked Galen.

This was first meeting between Galen and the National Security Council, plus the Joint Chiefs, since the explosion of the crystal three days ago... but this wasn’t the first meeting between himself and the Council about Bug, whom this meeting was no doubt going to be about.

Part Seven

The trio in Tricorne's large apergy flyer looked down upon the dirty, deeply shadowed streets and alleys with sensors and eyes. Meanwhile, Energia flew nearby, using her own senses away from the insulation of the van-sized pod. Several sources had pegged this city as one location where The Black Badge was currently carrying out his operation. Some claimed he was focusing on this specific neighborhood.

Part Five

"Guess what?" said Blue Impact, a couple of hours later, back at the lair. "Turns out the person who owns the house is the same Emil Logsdon who had to let the police in, years ago. He is part owner of the real estate company which bought the house, which is why there's no record of further transfers. He just had the company say it was waiting for a buyer to develop the property, in order to head off complaints about the house not fitting with the rest of the neighborhood. I guess he took it over as a private project. Or maybe as a memorial to his friend."

Part Two

Vic was using the treadmill in the lair's gym the next morning when she saw Energia enter. Like Vic she was wearing workout clothing, though with added mask. Vic waved as she moved to one of the mats.

"Good morning," Energia said, waving cheerfully back. She noticed that Vic - in kicking jeans, a sport bra and running shoes and without her hair extensions - had the machine set close to its maximum normal human level. She grinned at the martial artist. "Ah, Sunday at the lair. Filled with the sounds of whirring and clanking exercise machines."

Masks XX: The Mystery of the Mechanical Master

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part One

The video conference call was unusual in more aspects than the fact that all three participants were wearing costumes with masks. The members of Tricorne were planning yet another Spring Break together. However, this time the youngest member was proposing something different from previous teamups.

This is a collection of Whateley Academy vignettes which focuses on various background and supporting characters, giving a brief glimpse into each of their lives.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

That darn hospital forced me to stay there for nearly three more days, even though I was obviously in completely perfect health!

Ahhh, well, I had a bed to sleep on, food to eat, a TV with silly shows on it to watch all day. Oh, and visits from Commander Ares. It seems he really wants me to go to this Compound on the edge of the city to find out just what I can do beyond leaving scorch marks on walls.

Petshop is a perfectly responsible biodevisor. (Really) It's not her fault that her super cute and adorable creations don't always work out the way she intended. But this time, she learns that Karma is a bi...brat.

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High school can be challenging at the best of times, but when you're Bianca St. Claire, the new White Lady, and the figurehead of the Family, those challenges can be a little more complicated.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

High school can be challenging at the best of times, but when you're Bianca St. Claire, the new White Lady, and the figurehead of the Family, those challenges can be a little more complicated.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

Part 1
A Storm is Coming

Early January 2007 – Outside the gates to Whateley Academy

There was simply too much going through my head to go back to sleep, so I stayed up. My name, my true name, was, if those figures could be trusted, Jamie. It wasn’t that bad of a name, so that was good. But still, those figures, they screamed it out in anger and pain. What happened? What did I do? Most importantly, what was the Dark Place? The last time, I assumed that I was dreaming, and that place was a representation of my mind. Now, I was sure that I wasn’t dreaming. This raised the question: if I wasn’t dreaming, then what was I doing?

It’s a Matter of Death and Life: Part 2

By Camospam

Sequel to: A Matter of Fact

Tuesday, September 25, 2007. Whateley Academy: Schuster Hall

“Remember to keep your knees together when you sit down,” the old lady reminded me while we were waiting to see the headmaster of Providence Meadows for the fourth time at 7:30 am. I wasn’t really in the mood to respond vocally, so I simply gave the old lady a look that translated into ‘yeah, I get it now, stop reminding me.’ But I still kept forgetting. My opinion of the skirt had changed a bit, a feeling I didn’t know how to describe, but I still felt exposed wearing it.

Lacey was asked to come down to Harrisonburg to hang out with Bug for the day at 9 pm the night before by her grandmother. That request sparked a stern talk about why spending time with Bug was a very bad idea from her mother, directed at both her and her grandma. This stern talk turned into an argument between her and her mother which then led to an argument between her mom and her dad. Lacey could hear the argument, as her parents made no attempt to keep it quiet. Her father was for Lacey going to Harrisonburg to spend time with Bug, whereas her mother was completely against it.

I was the happiest I had been since I first woke up on Frank’s farm. I wasn’t skipping around; rather, I was running as fast as I could. After my little fall, I made my way down the street that the old lady lived on to a secondary road that ran parallel to the main highway. The highway had a good amount of traffic on it, but the secondary road was deserted. As a bonus, the road stretched as a far as I could see, a good three or four miles. Plenty of room to fully stretch my legs.

A week and a half later, I was still deeply bothered by Lacey’s revelation about my mind being sealed off. While I had gotten my mind reading somewhat under control, I still hadn’t gotten my emotions under control. And being stuck in this godforsaken tiny house didn’t help me. The old lady refused to let me leave the house. She herself didn’t even leave. Her neighbors brought her everything, or so she said. I never saw anybody enter the house and when I was allowed to walk into the backyard for fresh air, I never saw any neighbors.

“Name me one good reason why I would tell you anything?” I inquired.

“Well…” Reaching into her bag, the old lady pulled out something that was wrapped in tinfoil. “I’ve got a sandwich for you.”

I eyed the sandwich, my mouth watering. I hadn’t eaten for nearly twenty hours and I was really hungry. Scare the shit out of me, then give me food? Well… “Even if I don’t tell you anything, can I still have the sandwich?” A stupid question. A really, really stupid question.

After my body slamming experience, I was transported to a hospital. It was obvious that the police officers didn’t notice the bruises and scarring on my arms and neck moments after I walked onto the farm due to their reaction when they went to cuff me. They raised my hands to cuff them, my sleeves fell down a bit and the rest was history. Instead of a trip directly to the local jail in a cop car, I got to make a pit-stop at the hospital in an ambulance. The bad part about this was that it gave Frank a seemingly endless supply of ideas about who I could be. And it wasn’t good.

I woke with my arms shackled over my head to a large steel conductor. The weight of my body wrenched them down, and ached with every movement. Whatever Dr. Vortex had planned was going to be worse than the BDSM nightmare I found myself.

Through the uneven panels of corrugated iron I could make the slivers of his coat as he moved between workstations. He moved in slow motion as though trudging through a swamp; or maybe it was the haze looming from above.

Nina Martinez has spent the last three years, living with the horrific consequences of a severe burnout. But now, she is offered a possible cure, one that will lead her into a world of heroes and villains.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php