Saturday, August 17, 2013

Page 182 -- XX.

Roman let go, and the sphere jumped in place. Huge dents distorted its shape, and Hector and Roman both scrambled to keep it suppressed.

You can’t smother an explosion like that,’ said Garovel. ‘You’ll have to try and redirect it.

How?!’ asked Hector.

A funnel. Broadside up. Do it now.

He wasn’t sure he could actually pull such a thing off, but there was no time to second guess himself. He did the best he could, twisting his hands between one another as his mind warped the metal sphere, adding crude walls around the top like a misshapen crown. It grew clumsily toward the ceiling, worrying him with its awkward form. But it reached. And that was all that mattered.

Hector annihilated the top of the sphere within the walls and nodded to Roman, who already seemed to understand the goal here.

The explosion was free to rip upward, back through the hole Desmond had dropped it from.

Hector annihilated the rest of the makeshift funnel, releasing a cloud of smoke and dust.

Wow, Roman,’ said Garovel. ‘I didn’t realize you could suppress explosions like that.

Roman rolled his shoulders. “Honestly, I wasn’t too certain, either. Nice work with the--”

A second arm dropped through the hole, but Roman was ready this time. He stamped the floor, and the Corvette flew straight up through the ceiling, taking the arm with it. The explosion shook the building, making the walls crack and shift.

Roman grinned like a maniac. “Time to go, everyone.”

Hector mounted the bike, and everyone else gathered in the black truck with Lynnette at the wheel. She went first up the ramp and disappeared outside, and when Hector rode up the ramp himself and saw the truck again, it was flipped and skidding across the road.

The big man was there. As was Geoffrey.


Chapter Twenty: ‘Thine unyielding aegis...’
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)

He didn’t need time to process or question it. Hector barreled into Geoffrey with complete resolve.

Red tendrils sprung forth, wrapping around the motorcycle and Hector both, slowing them down, and as the force of the impact pushed Geoffrey back, the two young men came face to face.

Geoffrey’s eyes widened, and he grinned as their tangled mess eased to a stop, the bike’s front tire still grinding harmlessly against his red shield. “It’s you!”

“It’s me.” Hector ripped himself free of the shadow and grabbed Geoffrey’s face. Crimson immediately came between them, but Hector just covered the young man’s head with iron.

Geoffrey fell to the ground, scratching at his solid mask. Red poked through the metal, trying to break it apart but only meagerly succeeding.

19 comments:

  1. If you feel TZK is worthy, then please vote for the story at topwebfiction here. Really helps new people find the story.

    Thanks, all.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. If you don't mind a suggestion, putting up a vote button the side of the page might remind everyone and you won't have to post that link in any future posts. I don't really know how to do that to tell you how, but maybe you already know.

      Anyway, congrats on hitting 18th place as of my vote. Only a few more votes can put you in the top 10.

      RD

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    2. I think occasional reminders in the comments are more effective, though. A button on the side of the page would just become a fixture that folks would stop paying attention to after a while. I know that the highest voted stories on topwebfiction achieve their numbers by reminding readers every week. I don't wanna do it that often, but I'll try to remind you guys maybe two or three times a month.

      Sorry if anyone finds that grating, but it really does help new people find the story. And besides, topwebfiction is a good place to find other active stories to read.

      And thanks.

      Delete
    3. That's understandable (I'm not too familiar with the others). The next best way to motivate people would probably be with a flamethrower. If you happen to have one of those handy, you're in business.

      RD

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    4. If you're any good with art, might want to come up with a banner for the top webfiction listing. Yours gets a bit lost amongst the others when it gets enough votes to be banner-worthy.

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    5. Yeah, I should probably do that.

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    6. Not grating, no. I actually like it when I get reminded, because it also gives me an opportunity to vote for other stories I like.

      Delete
  2. Not sure if it's just me, but it seems like Hector is getting strong kiiiinda fast.

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    1. Just how far could his powers go in a few decades? Golems? Mountains of iron? I shudder to think of the leading servants like dozer.

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  3. Physics commentary: If you 'contain' an explosion, you still have a mess of superheated superpressurized gas on your hands - an explosion put on pause, if you will. To decrease it to a cloud of smoke, you'd have to either let the energy radiate out as heat first (even then, there would be a 'bang', or at least a 'pop' as the bubble was released because the gas would be way above normal air pressure), or do something exotic like have the atoms in the arm be temporary and wink out of existence a few seconds after the transfiguration has finished, or have the force bubble be able to cool things down.

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  4. Interesting.

    I wasn't imagining "suppression" as just wholly containing the explosion, though. I imagined it as still letting energy through but just in safer amounts until the danger passed, similar to how a balloon gradually loses its ability to float.

    But I suppose that doesn't really make much sense within the time frame of this scene. Maybe I'll change it to be an metal "cone" instead of a "ball" so that it directs the blast.

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  5. Face to Face again, at last. And Hector's going into badass mode with the very short comebacks. Bout to love the Hell outta this confrontation!

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  6. typo ‘I didn’t realize you could suppressing explosions like that.’
    should be suppress explosions

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  7. Typo: "back the through the hole Desmond had dropped it from." remove 1st "the"

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  8. both evolve on his own way. Let the fight begin.

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