Tag: collective thinking

Chapter

Crossing the Stage

by Tower Curator — Dyna stepped out of the truck and looked around. The odd readings from the truck apparently brought them here. A larger building with two wings splitting off from a main structure. The bricks were worn, windows were broken, and a pillar out front looked like it had been hit by a car—hopefully it wasn’t load-bearing. Faded lettering above the main entrance identified the structure as a high school. Exactly what its name had been was lost to a fairly impressive yet incomplete mural of…
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Chapter

Driving

by Tower Curator — Sleep wasn’t easy to come by. There was too much going on to fall asleep. And yet, there wasn’t much for Dyna to do to help the situation. Doctor Darq was going through data. They had hoisted Ruby up and further secured her with additional harnesses, mostly to keep her from dragging on the ground. The poor girl must have been so confused. Matt had fallen asleep, but with the aid of painkillers and sleep aids. Dyna wasn’t quite willing to turn to drugs just yet. While she felt she needed some…
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Chapter

Rescue

by Tower Curator — Beneath the brim of the wide hat, the scribbled marks obscuring the Hatman’s face spasmed as Dyna pulled the trigger. They stretched and shrank, spun and twisted. Every instant, they redrew themselves, scribbling over his face with a far more frantic urgency. Despite the rapid motion, Dyna still could not see what was beneath the veil. Or perhaps she couldn’t remember what his face looked like. The goggles she wore did seem to stop him from erasing her conscious memory of his very existence, but she…
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Chapter

Search

by Tower Curator — “We are approaching our target.” “I wish you wouldn’t call her a target,” Dyna said, pushing the goggles back up to her forehead. She shuddered. It took a moment to reorient. It was odd, somehow. She honestly couldn’t tell if the goggles were naturally nauseating or if it was something she was doing. It had taken a few weeks of regular usage for the mirror to go from mundane to artifact according to Doctor Cross—all the tests had come back negative until after the night she used it to…
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Chapter

Goggles

by Tower Curator — “You’re probably very confused,” Dyna said, keeping her volume down to a minimum. Still in the back of the truck, driving back toward the hospital now, Dyna had to wonder if that was even a good idea. She wanted Ruby somewhere safe, but the hospital was surely surrounded with police at this point. Someone must have seen her get into the back of the large white truck with Matt, either with their own eyes or through the screen of a security camera. The Tartarus van was fairly distinctive. Having…
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Chapter

Evaluation

by Tower Curator — Dyna didn’t wait for the nonsense of secret handshake numbers. The second Walter answered his phone, she shouted into the receiver, “Do you have a way of tracking Ruby?” “Tracking?” “Some chip implanted in her phone or… skin or something. You’ve got to have something, right?” Dyna asked. She switched the phone to speaker mode so that she could go back to scrolling through her notes and emails to herself. “Ruby was supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to leave my side for any…
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Chapter

Tick-Tock

by Tower Curator — “What’s taking them so long? The city is tiny. You can get anywhere in ten minutes or less.” “Easy,” Ruby said. “They probably want that guy to get us.” “They want to recruit me.” “Then they’re cowards.” “Maybe,” Dyna said. They hadn’t exactly felt like cowards over the phone, even explaining several things about the Hatman without too much prompting. They had even asked where he was the first time around, presumably with the intention of going after him. So when…
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Chapter

Makeshift Protection

by Tower Curator — “I can’t believe this.” “I can’t believe we’re here,” Dyna said, peering out the small window in the door. “What if somebody comes?” “Then we tie them up and gag them. More importantly… Why?” “You’ve been complaining the entire time. It’s not that bad.” Ruby stood over a counter, carefully applying a solution of likely caustic chemicals to a flat sheet of aluminum foil. It was thick and sticky. More of a gel than a runny liquid. Ruby had an overlarge mask on and…
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Chapter

Hospital Stay

by Tower Curator — Dyna’s knee bounced up and down in nervous tension as she sat in the Wyoming Medical Center’s emergency room waiting area. Part of that nervousness came from uncertainty over Matt’s state. Was he going to live? Had he lost too much blood? Ruby seemed optimistic. With her natural power, a form of clairvoyance, providing her a constant and perfect picture of her own biology, she knew the human body better than most. So her word held weight. The doctors hadn’t said anything one way or another. Just…
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Chapter

Race to the Target

by Tower Curator — Dyna sped through the subdivisions at frankly unsafe speeds. Normally, she thought she was a safe driver. She might not exactly follow the speed limit, but she didn’t go so fast that she thought she was in danger of being pulled over. Without fail, she used her blinker, didn’t swerve through multiple lanes of traffic, and kept a respectful yet not aggravating distance from other vehicles. Today, however, she didn’t know that she had time to play it safe. Matt was almost certainly out here in one…
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