The Case of the Poisonous Patent is a story by E. E. Nalley and features several members of the Lit Chix: Lifeline, Fractious, Loophole and Reverb. The events in the story primarily take place on January 6, 2007, but with a few flashbacks. The previous Lit Chix Mystery, is The Clue of the Unseen Switch, and the one that follows, is The Secret of the Forger's List.
Summary[]
2007-01-06 A[]
Four of the Whateley Academy Literary Club, Lifeline, Loophole, Fractious and Reverb are heading back to school after the Christmas Holiday. Loophole volunteers as an air marshal so she can keep her weapons. They discuss Loophole's meeting with Phase.
2006-12-18[]
Phase's meeting with Loophole.
2007-01-06 B[]
They discuss the meeting with Phase.
Mentioned that, "A month ago, Generator came into the weapons lab when Loophole was helping out Dredz. Dredz introduced us and told Generator what Loophole's power is and she goes white and beats feet away from her."
They discuss an incident the previous year with Freya where a weapon Loophole had created was used in a suicide.
2006-05-03[]
In Melville Cottage, Loophole confronts Freya while she's with the Alphas, about Snapshot killing himself with a weapon Loophole made. Kodiak, The Don, and an Alpha named Matthew, witnessed the beginning of their argument.
2007-01-06 C[]
The four girls observe a man running around like he's demented, who finally jumps through a window and falls to his death on the outside concourse. They get debriefed by Special Agent Twining. They're part way to the new concourse when they find a shard of the shattered window in Dee's hair. It's auto glass, not the kind of glass that should be used in high rise buildings. They deduce that the man was murdered, and go back to look at the crime scene again. Loophole makes a call to Carmen, her highly capable and equally illegal AI, to get the dead man checked out.
The girls survey the scene, and see a man who's trying to repack his case. They get Agent Twining to interrogate him.
2006-09-09[]
Elaine gets told she is not invited to to the Alpha's pledge party. She has a run-in with Kodiak.
2007-01-06 D[]
Loophole puts a bug on the video feeds. Meanwhile, the assassins call in a "terrorist incident" to cover their escape.
2005-05-03[]
At Nalley Automotive Repair Specialists, Marietta, GA...
2007-01-06 E[]
The Lit Chix have a running fight with the terrorists and their hostages, which isn't going to end well.
2006-12-25[]
Christmas breakfast at the Nalleys.
2007-01-06 F[]
Then the Golden Scarab, Nefertari and the Atlanta Guardians arrive and finish the action. Elsewhere, the two assassins change their looks and make their escape, while vowing vengeance on the schoolkids who had upset their plans. On the plane to Boston, Carmen fills them in on what the incident seems to have been about: a bad patent on a method of stopping mutants that the authors have been milking the Syndicate for money to suppress.
Characters[]
- Fractious
- Loophole
- Lifeline
- Reverb
- Sergeant Booker Hadley (MCO)
- Special Agent Max Twining (DPA)
- Technomancer (Mentioned.)
- Sizzle (Mentioned.)
- Tribble (Mentioned.)
- Dow Chemicals CEO (Mentioned. "has an issue with paranormals")
- Phase
- Mr. Donner
- Generator (Mentioned.)
- Goodkind family: (All are just mentions)
- Dredz (Mentioned.)
- Freya (Mentioned.)
- The Don
- Matthew (Alpha. Mentioned.)
- Snapshot (Mentioned.)
- Icer (Mentioned.)
- Others...