Young Sentinels (Wearing the Cape) (Volume 3) Read Online Free PDF

all the added effectives from the other CAIs only doubled our weight where it mattered, and when a new supervillain wants to make a big statement, he comes here. Last spring we were the only freshwater port to get a godzilla. The Green Man started here for the same reason. And although the future files are far from a sure guide, in all previous contingent trends, once begun, the proliferation of Ultra Class threats continues.”
    He looked away. “And in those previous futures, we still had Atlas.”
    I swallowed past the block in my throat, nodded. Reading the Sentinels’ pre-Big One future files still wasn’t easy for me, as useful as they might be; I was blocked from reading the ones involving me and in most of the older ones Atlas, John, died hard. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but always hard.
    “So — So, we need a bigger team. More heavies.”
    “Indeed. More like young Mr. Scott, if he proves able to control his power. But we can’t simply expand. People identify with a smaller team, and if we just bulk up on more big guns, we’ll start looking like an army.”
    That I understood. I’d spent too much time with Mom and now with Quin to miss his point. It was all about optics , public perception.
    Blackstone tapped the table. “You and Shelly and Jamal have helped to counter that impression, which has been a very good thing. And Hillwood Academy has been trying to convince us to take part in their internship program for many years now. As much as a third of their graduating students go on to wear the cape, and their program allows chosen seniors to finish their education while imbedded in a sponsoring team. We can start our new members in their senior year, keep them until twenty-one, bring new members in as they come of age. If they do well with us, they’ll be able to find positions in any CAI in the country.
    “And me?” The ice in my stomach was gone — replaced by mutant butterflies. I’m only just nineteen! The media still thinks I’m underage! I’m Girl Friday!
    He smiled warmly. “The junior team would of course include Shelly and Jamal, and you did very well in our fight with Villains Inc. last spring. It would look very odd if you didn’t lead it, don’t you think?”
    “But—” I shut my mouth. Under the screaming panic, my inside-voice was trying to get my attention.
    Hillwood .
    I’d spent sleepless hours searching through the future files for a solution to Shelly’s dangerous situation. In all the previous contingent histories, legal protections for Artificial Persons had been years away, and Legal Eagle didn’t see anything on the near horizon. But there might be a superhuman solution, and one of them was at Hillwood now. Maybe. If that hadn’t changed.
    Blackstone had no idea, but he was waving an opportunity so golden I hardly dared look at it for fear it would disappear.
    “I want my own picks,” I blurted, dread and hope leaving me dizzy.
    “Agreed. Anything else, my dear?”
    Everything . I wanted to run screaming — instead I took a breath.
    “No. No, I’ll do it.”
    “Excellent. I believe that we can bring on three more, giving you a team of seven.” He handed me an epad. “Let’s talk for a moment about power-sets and team balance.”
    ----
    Shelly bounced on my bed, reached over, and poked me.
    “Admit it, Hope, you were wigged.”
    She’d ducked into my rooms on her way to somewhere else and caught me reading. Blackstone thought it unlikely, but for all we knew the Green Man might pop up any time, and we all had to stay ready to suit up as long as the Sentinels remained first in the response queue. I was back to wearing everything but my mask and wig, cape, and the breastplate armor I could buckle on in a second. Shelly needed the assembly rack upstairs in the launch bay to bolt her into her blue and silver “Fighting Galatea” gear and loadouts, so she dressed civilian.
    I swatted her hand away, resisting the urge to hide my epad — she’d just