I don’t know if it was loyalty or stubbornness that had motivated me to still go with it. Loyalty or stubbornness that made me continue our quest to adopt a child.

I don’t know if it was loyalty or stubbornness that had motivated me to still go with it. Loyalty or stubbornness that made me continue our quest to adopt a child.

Summer Secrets
By Varian Milagro
http://varianm.blogspot.com/

Chapter 1

It should have been a great day. It was a beautiful June morning and the school year was ending in just a couple minutes. All of my classmates were excited; half of them were counting the exact number of seconds left until summer break officially began. I looked around the room knowing that it was probably the last time I’d be in this school. I was a middle school graduate now and would be a tenth grader in high school when school started up again in the fall. I should’ve have been as excited as everyone around me, but I wasn’t. I was not looking forward to summer vacation.

The Big Fight, Part Two

Charlie was about to say something when a distress signal came in over the radio. A blip appeared on the giant hologram of the city. Her heart sank: the blip was coming from the Benefactor's warehouse. "Put it on the speaker," Knight said to Penelope. She nodded.

At first there was static, then, finally, a panicked voice came through every now and again. "Repeat...fzzt...fzzt...factor's machines...fzzt...fzzt...fzzt...Help!"

A Strange & Different World, Part Two

I woke up to the sound of a buzzsaw. I tried sitting up, but that didn't happen. I felt like I'd been hit by a car going seventy, which, now that I had super powers, I could probably survive. I tried sitting up again, and this time I managed, breaking apart metal restraints that I didn't know were covering me. I looked at my legs and saw much thicker restraints. Had to break those, now.

A Strange & Different World, Part One

With the gunshot, I closed my eyes as if that would matter. Maybe I just didn't want Charlie seeing me with my eyes wide open when she found my body. Truth be told, I didn't want to be dead, because Charlie had lost enough people recently. Yeah, just her dad, but that was enough.

The Big Talk

The most important room in the White House existed in the building's West Wing, made iconically famous in the television series of the same name. The room earned its name by its shape, and thus it was called the Oval Office. At one side, in front of a grouping of windows, sat a large desk with more papers atop it than any man cared to believe he could have piled on his desk. Just slightly off center was a grouping of couches, maybe a couple chairs, and a small coffee table, around which the furniture was placed.

Across the River, Part Two

Tim felt himself falling asleep in the chair beside Charlie's hospital bed. He had told her that he wouldn't leave, and he wasn't going to. He decided to stand up and do some walking around to stay awake. He knew he didn't exactly need to stay awake, as Mr. Brand's security people were doing their job outside the door.

I wonder what his interest in the Chosen is. Probably just like that Kennedy guy, wants to make money helping them. Hmph, now that I think about it, why aren't there any of his guys here?

Absorption

I felt my hand close over Brandon's face and suddenly I saw things, memories. That time I was playing baseball in the backyard with the neighborhood boys, even though Mom told me not to. (No! That's Brandon's memory!) The time I almost lost my virginity to Max Peterson, even though I thought he was the weirdest boy in school. (I'm only fourteen, I've barely ever masturbated!) I stepped back from Brandon's lifeless body and fell on my ass. Why did I do that?!

Flying Sparks

Peter, Brandon, Colin and Monica were already in the pool by the time I arrived, but I didn't get in the water. I couldn't get in the water. Of course, that didn't stop Peter from trying to splash me. Lucky me, I can take a little water without juicing everything. I sat down on the pool chair and just started to read.

That was when Peter decided to splash some more water at me. Ugh! I lowered my book and took off my sunglasses. "Hey, c'mon! You, quit it!"

"Why don't you get in the pool?" he asked.

Just a Cop

I wasn't drunk enough. There was only two of Bill instead of the twelve I wanted. I could probably still drive like this, though I wasn't going to. The bartender had already taken my keys. Maybe just a few more and I'll be out cold.

Bill was no help. He was my landlord, the guy I paid to keep living in my apartment with my fa... With my daughter. I forgot. I don't really have much family anymore, since my wife left and took our youngest with her. Thanks Melissa. I can't even get drunk without thinking about you.

Crawlin' on the Walls

The Gathering, Part Two

Svetlana wasn't fond of the ski mask over her face, but she understood the neccesity. They didn't want anyone connecting her to Mr. Hammond, after all. That was also the reason for the skin-tight leather she was wearing. It was Necro's idea, and not one that Svetlana liked. Clearly, Necro was still into women.

The Interview

I sighed. My first actual day on the job, yay! I mean, I was paid for the day I got hired, but this was my first real shift, spending six hours trudging around the city with Ms. Adamsen, or at the office. This was to be a special occasion, however, we were on our way to the offices of one Mr. Gustav Hammond, a multi-billionaire who just moved his headquarters to East City. No super heroing tonight, though. I actually had to put in a full shift at the Brigade.

Secret Origins, Part One

And so, one day, I woke up to find myself smack dab in the middle of a comic book.

I had a few odd sensations that day, beginning with waking to find something that obviously wasn't human standing above me on my bed. It looked human, sounded human, but very clearly wasn't human. The creature was a young woman, looking to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven. She reached down with one hand and touched me on the forehead. She giggled, then stood back up again.