Sarcasm, friendship, a retired field marshal with an addiction to yellin', and superpowers. My definition of fun. Doug McClain is my pen name.
Electric
Doug McClain
Prologue
If running away from mugs with loaded guns is your idea of a normal day, I pity you, and think you should consider to stop being nosy. Well, there I was, doing just that. My legs felt like jelly and screamed at me to stop running. My throat was dryer than the Sahara and it tasted like copper. I risked a look over my shoulder and almost tripped over a fallen trash can. If you want to run away from something, an alley is not the place. The men were gaining on me. This was going to end badly, I could tell. I couldn’t hide. My green and white striped hoodie was visible for miles! I could take it off! I thought. But keeping your identity safe was important. I put the hood of my hoodie on and ran faster. Not that I had anything to hide. My shoes splashed in a puddle of rain water. I slipped and landed hard on my face, bumping my chin and rattling my teeth. I could taste blood oozing out of my lip. I was dead, not like, really dead dead, but like I would be dead if I didn’t get up and keep running. I tried to lift myself up only to realize that my ankle was injured. This just kept getting better. I could practically hear some old wise dude saying, ‘Foolish, are you young one. Prepared should you have been. Stupid are you. Many bullets in your head there will be. A shame would that be.’ I felt the nose of a gun, (it is nose, isn’t it?) against my back. I looked up to see the silhouette of three men against the sun. “Looks like we found Little Red Riding Hood.” said the short guy in the middle.
“No, Goldilocks is the nosy one, and besides, his hood is green and white stripped. That wouldn’t work.” replied the middle height guy.
They laughed, even though they were fully grown men arguing about which fairy-tale character I was. “You’re the three big pigs.”
I said. The men stared at me with their cold dark eyes. They seemed mad (no duh!). “What? I thought this was fairy-tale time.”
The biggest guy kicked me in the nose with his military boots. I heard a crack and felt sharp pain. Despite the pain, I laughed. “That tickled!” I said. That’s me! Mr. Make-sarcastic-comments-in-the-face-of-danger! The guy gave me seconds of the boots. “We should take him back to HQ.”
The third one said. The tall one grabbed some rope from his pocket. Man, what else fits in cargo pants? That was rhetorical. I started to roll to one side of the alley. “Hey!” the short one said.
“Get back here!” they started to run after me. I finally got to the side of the alley and propped myself against the brick wall. I managed to stand up and face my opponents. I raised both of my hands and pointed my palms at the guys. Now, if you can’t stand total epic…ness, than I advise you put this book down. I pointed my palms at the three guys running toward me. “See ya!”
Lightning shot out of my palms, hitting the men in their chests and knocking them backwards, they hit the wall on the opposite side of the alley. That had to hurt. They lay on the ground, a big burnt hole was left on their shirts where I had hit them. Their skin was likely burnt too but I didn’t want to check. I hit a button on my communicator watch.
“Come pick me up.” I said into the microphone.
I slouched against the wall. This wasn’t going to go by well with chief.
Chapter 1
Everything is explained, mostly.
Okay, so maybe I forgot to mention one teensy weensy thing, super powers. Yup, I have super powers. You’re looking at, well, no, you’re not looking at me. Well, anyways, I’m a super hero in training. My one fault is that I don’t go no catch phrases. I use incorrect grammar for street effect. The sound of a chopper split the air above me. A rope ladder dropped down next to me and one of the troops that works for the organization I do climbed down and assisted me up to the chopper. I sat down and strapped into one of the seats in the back. The chief sat across from me. Here comes the lecture.
“Hello.” he said it so casually, as if he wasn’t about to chew my head off. “Let’s just get to the point. I know I have a lecture coming so just let it fly.” I said.
He stared at me with that iron gaze he has. “Well, if you put it that way.”
Okay, a couple things about Chief, he hates sarcasm (me), kids (more or less me), and me. He has a heavy southern accent and a thick grumbling voice. He has a scar going up his leg from his days as a field marshal in Vietnam. He has a square jaw line and hazel eyes. He has white hair that barely rises out of his scalp and a knack for yelling. “What were you thinking!?!” he yelled, and saliva came rushing toward me. “You almost blew your cover and you screwed up your leg!”
I decided to move over a spot due to the scattered showers. “You killed two guys and we aren’t allowed to do that now are we?”
“No, sir, we’re not.”
I hate it when he makes me act all young gentleman on him. I mean come on! If you have a kid with super powers at least treat him like he wants to be! “Now, you are not going on any missions until you straighten up and fly right. You hear boy?”
“Yes sir.”
(Again with the manners). My leg hurt like heck but I’ve had worse, much worse. The rest of the chopper ride went by quick. Well, as quick as it can go with a military general screaming your head off.
We arrived at HQ about nine hours later. The HQ was an old military base in the Alaskan wilderness. I had been given medical assistance during the flight and now had a cast and was walking on crutches. Sometimes you just feel like you really messed up your whole life because of one thing. That’s how I felt, times two to the power of a billion. I limped into the main room and was greeted by my two also super powered friends. Yes, there are more. One of my friends was Austin. He was a medium kid with brown hair. He had brown eyes and tan skin. He has ice/water/steam powers. He had known me for maybe three years. Then there was Garth, a dirty blond,taller than Austin kid with blue eyes and freckles. He had less tan skin than me or Austin. He had (still has) fire powers. FIYA POWAH!!!! He had known me for maybe five years. We were all around twelve years old and that helped us relate to each other. The three of us had been through a lot of stuff. And trust me, that adds up to thousands of medical dollars spent. I limped over to them.
“Dang Electric,” Garth, “What did you do to your leg?” We all had given each other names way back when. I was Electric, Austin was Permafrost, Garth was Inferno, and Chief’s real name was David Franklin. “I broke my ankle.”
Austin gave me the ‘Epic fail’ look. “No more crime fighting for you.” He responded. We walked together to our bunk room. After passing military grade security gates and code locked elevators. We sat on our bunks talking about boy stuff. Football, how many bad guys we’d sent to the slammer, which movies we liked. That stuff, so the rest of the day was pretty much an average one. We ate dinner and watched TV. Our TV only has one channel and it’s in Spanish. So we only watch sports games. We fell asleep and that was that.
Austin ducked behind a wall of concrete just as a laser burnt the ground where he was previously standing. He turned around the corner of the wall and froze the laser blaster on the ceiling. “SIX TO ONE, PERMAFROST IN THE LEAD.” The robotic voice on the overhead intercom said. Austin fist bumped the air. “Yes!”
Training was a daily thing. The most looked forward to time of day for all of us. We got to get in full costume and fight machines and occasionally people in armor. It sure beat ‘Romance del Fuego’ on TV. Garth ran down a long tunnel, behind him, pieces of the floor fell into a seemingly never ending abyss. He examined his surroundings and noticed a ventilation pipe ten feet away. He leaped into the air just in time to catch it and not fall. The floor under him fell down into darkness. The floor reappeared and the robotic voice said “SIX TO TWO, PERMAFROST IN THE LEAD.”
Austin called out to Garth from the end of the tunnel. “You got to do better than that!”
Then suddenly, a metal rod swung from the side, catching Austin off guard and knocking him aside and out of view of Garth. I was watching from the balcony twenty feet up. I sat down, my crutches next to me, watching the training. “FIVE TO TWO, PERMAFROST IN THE LEAD.” The robotic voice announced again.
“Watch your back Austin!” I shouted from the balcony.
Garth rushed out of the tunnel and looked around before heading into the fake control room at the side of the football field sized room. The room changed every night so we never knew what to expect. Garth was in the room when he saw the shut down button, which no matter the score would give him an automatic win. He raced toward it and almost ran into a robot guard that, like many more was rising from a hole in the floor. He had to think quick or he would get sprayed with non lethal bullets. They were non lethal but they hurt like heck! He slid between the legs of a robot guard and blasted fire at its legs, melting them and making the robot fall to the ground. The bullets were flying now, whizzing past his head and some hitting him and denting his mask. He punched and kicked his way through the crowd until none were left. He ran to the button but suddenly Austin crashed through the roof, landing on top of the button. “SIMULATION OVER.” The voice said. “PERMAFROST VICTORIOUS.” Austin got up looking dazed. “What? How did I-oh!”
He looked at the button under him. “That was convenient.”
Chapter 2
I know Chapter One was short. Not much to say...
The techies were on the scene in minutes, fixin’ the training room and planning the next design. A maze wouldn’t be bad, just sayin’. Chief came to interrogate me. A nice conversation with him would soon turn to an argument. Example; “How ya doin’ Chief?”
Followed by; “Use your mind boy! Grammar will get you far in life! Don’t want to waltz around looking like a dumb...”
Then he cusses, gratuitously. “Report.”
IT SPEAKS! OMG! O-O-O-O-O-O-oh my gosh! Good song. “‘Bout what?”
“Your mission, boy, I have the will power not to smack you upside the head for showing disrespect to your elders.”
By usin’ apostrophes I‘m suddenly hurting seniors. “Well, the base was easy to get into...”
Descriptive montage about my mission! (Have you heard ‘300 Violin Orchestra’ by Jorge Quintero? Play that song in your head for this written montage. Or use your favorite song.)
Rain fell onto the rooftop. Clink, clink, clink. I stood, silhouetted by the moon. Or at least in my head I was. It was noon. I saw an eighteen wheeler driving into the alley below me, Right on time. HQ had received leaked info about a robbery here and sent me here two days in advance with three hundred dollars (Garth and Austin were in NYC on a jewel robber case). That’s the good thing about working for them, money. The bad part is that they monitor everything I buy. I leaped off the ten-stories-tall building into the air. I stuck my hands below me and shot lightning at the ground, propelling me up while slowing my downward descent. I got a big brain in my noggin! Thunderless lightning works wonders for stealth. I landed lightly on the truck. I swung into the passenger seat from above. I stretched my legs out so I could kick whoever was in there. My feet landed a hit on the driver, hitting him smack dab (I’m the only one who’s still sayin’ that.) in the middle of his face, knocking him out the window. SWEET! I have always wanted to do that!! I don’t have any real reason why I did that, I guess it was just ‘cause I was bored. I swung back up to the roof. I slid on the wet roof over to the end of the truck where I shot a hole in the wall to get in the thingy that trucks carry behind them. Inside I saw Amtech 3000 semi automatic machine guns. I know my weapons. Footsteps echoed down the alley. The three guys I met who read fairy tales for fun! Tall guy said, “The shipment’s here.”
Wow, now two all apes can talk! Short one said, “Boss wants these handled with care.”
That comment doesn’t help your henchmen get-up short dude. Middle guy saw the hole in the wall. I mean, they have to see it some time. ‘Show us the ‘HOLE IN THE WALL!‘ I will make comments relating to pop culture in my childhood. “Shh, get inside there.” Said the middle height guy.
I pressed a button on my communicator watch and my suit turned invisible. The short guy hopped in and looked around. “Nothing in here.”
He walked around and lifted boxes as he went. The middle height guy came in and opened a box. “Ahhh, look at this.”
He took out one of the guns and kissed it. Wow, someone’s desperate. “Stop you dum dum.” Said the biggest guy. He has no experience in the bad guy business. He slapped the gun out of the middle guy’s hands. It shot one bullet that ricocheted off the walls. The guys scrambled around and I scooted over to the corner. The soles of my shoes squeaked against the floor. “Hey.”
The middle guy looked right where I was. “You heard that, right?” he asked the others. “Yeah.” answered the rest. He took out his pistol and swiped around my general area. His pistol hit me in the chest. I raised my hand and knocked the pistol out of his hand. “Hey!”
I knocked him in the stomach. The air in his lungs whooshed out. I sprinted over to the end of the thingy and leaped out. “Get... whatever it is!” called short guy.
“...and then my invisibility wore off and, well, you know the rest.”
Chief nodded. “I see, well, I will contact the technicians about your invisibility. As for now, you should rest.”
That had to be the nicest thing he’s ever said to me. “Now, GET!”
Oops! Moment gone! “Wait,” I called, “what about Amtech?”
“We will see if they have had any robberies lately. Now get yourself to bed, THAT IS AN ORDER!”
The TV showed Austin blasting the laser turret with ice.
Austin laughed. “Wait, watch this!”
The TV screen switched to Garth in the tunnel. “Yep,” Garth said as he flexed. “I knew it was coming. That’s why I’m hot.”
I whacked him with a pillow and feathers fluttered around us. “Didn’t see that, huh?”
We all laughed. The training sessions were always recorded on DVDs for us to watch later. We had maybe one-hundred in our collection. Suddenly, the TV turned off and all the lights went out. The robotic voice sounded. “CURFEW, SHUT DOWN IMMINENT, CERFEW.”
“FUN HATER!” I called and Austin froze the speaker. I climbed up to the third bunk on our three-bed-bunk-bed. Austin was below me and Garth was on the bottom. We switched every week, if we didn’t, we’d go insane arguin‘ with our equal stubbornness. A chorus of “good night” sounded. Like the Waltons. Before my time, but I’ve seen re-runs.
“You did what?!?”
His fist pounded on the desk. A pencil dropped and the man in front of the desk bent down to pick it up. “Leave it.”
“Yes, of course. Let me just.” He bent down again.
“NO! LEAVE IT!”
“But sir...”
“Now.”
“But it’s right there!”
“Do you think I care?”
“But...”
“No buts or I will fire yours!”
The man picked the pencil up and placed it on the desk.
The man behind the desk slapped his forehead.
“Big Mack.”
A large man walked into the light with a machete. “Now. For my own sanity. Can we please continue without Big Mack having to slice off your head.”
Big Mack brought the machete to the man in front of the desk’s neck. “Y-yes. Sir.”
The man eyed Big Mack and Big Mack lowered the machete. He made a snarling noise at the man in front of the desk, making him jump. “Okay. Now. What happened to you?” The man behind the desk asked, pointing to the burn marks on the man’s shirt. “Well, some punk with electric hands shocked me and my colleagues, killing them. I was the only one who survived.”
“Yes,” the other man said. “what a tragedy that would have been if you hadn’t lived.”
His pea sized brain obviously not censing the sarcasm, the man in front of the desk began talking again. “Thank you sir. Well, the Amtech guns couldn’t be taken. I wasn’t going to steal a car in broad daylight, much less and eighteen wheeler! And then, the po-po...”
“The who?” The man behind the desk asked looked confused.
“You know, the fuzz, the big big big bigs, the boys in blue, the county brownies, the DRCs, the feds, the gum shoes, the heat, the man...s, the rollers, the whoop whoops.”
Seeing that he wasn’t computing to the man behind the desk he decided to go with a simpler approach. “The police were on the scene in minutes.”
A sudden look of understanding flooded the face of the man behind the desk. “Ah, I see. Well, you’re wasting my time. If you can’t complete a simple task of hi-jacking a truck full of valued guns without our info leaking out to some hippie with electric hands, well, Big Mack will deal with you.”
A sickly smile split Big Mack‘s face. “Happy to, Victor.”
He pulled out a club much to the man in front of the desk‘s relief. Then, TWACK! Blackout.
Chapter 3
I thought Chapter One was short, but Chapter Two was equally short, so I’ve decided to make four pages my minimal chapter length. Oh, and this chapter is called, ‘Shadow Man’. That’s it.
I woke up yawning. My alarm was not respondin’ to my frequent hitting of the ‘off’ button. Garth turned in his bed. “Shut it up!” his voice was muffled by the pillow. I shot lightning at the clock and it shut off. “Hallelujah!” Austin exclaimed. Then he repeated that in opera form. The florescent lights overhead sputtered on. “UUUGH!” I yelled, obviously frustrated. “WAKE UP, SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL, WAKE UP.” the robotic voice blared. Garth shot fire at the speaker. The speaker was virtually indestructible and simply continued playing the robotic voice’s announcements. “BREAKFAST CONSISTS OF, EGGS, BACON, BAGELS, ORANGE JUICE, ASSORTED FRUITS, AND CEREAL WITH MILK. TODAY IS, APRIL, THE TWENTY NINTH, TWO THOUSAND…”
I didn’t hear the rest ‘cause I was already out in the hall. Speed changing is a useful skill.
Much! Crunch! Slurp! Crunch! This has been, The Wondrous Sounds of Garth the Consumer. I am Electric. Thank you and good night.
Syrup covered Garth’s face. Bits of bacon covered the ground and orange juice stains were on the table cloth. I nibbled on my bacon and eggs, taking an occasional swig of my glass o’ chocolate milk from a gallon sized glass that I hide in a secret refrigerated safe in my room. In a game of truth or dare, if every time I chose ‘truth’, you would find out many things you didn’t know. Example; “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“What is your deepest, juiciest secret?”
“Hmm, maybe it’s the fact that I have super powers! Maybe it’s the fact that I’m here to spy on you to see if you know too much! Maybe it’s the fact that I might have to kill you in your sleep! OH! Maybe it’s the fact that… two hours later… or the secret fridge in my room. There.”
“I only asked for one secret, but very enlightening.”
“MMM! Turgh ih uhh!” Austin said through a mouthful of food. “Dude,” I said. “what are you saying?”
“Turgh ih up!”
“What?”
Austin grabbed the remote and turned the TV volume up. “…superhuman abilities. This is amateur footage of the strange ‘Electric Kid’ as he is now being called, from the recent attempted robbery of an Amtech shipment of Amtech 3000 semi auto machine guns, and I stress amateur.”
My mouth opened and my food flopped onto my plate. “EEEW! Dude, digest it before it comes out man.” Garth said,looking green. The TV showed me, full outfit and all, on the rooftop the day of the eighteen wheeler three days ago. It showed me blurrily, but I could tell who I was. I felt sick. Austin rolled his eyes and started to count down, “3...2...1...”
Chief could yell like nobody’s business, over the intercom, well, let’s just say that if you live to tell the tale of Chief’s yelling over the intercom, you’ll be deaf. “ELECTRIC!!!!”
Notice, if you haven’t already, that I am always referred to as Electric, whereas Garth and Austin are referred to as Garth and Austin. I have no real known name. If I’m tellin’ you what you know already, good, you’re educated. This has been depressing facts about my life. Tune in next time to find out about lack of parents!
“…irresponsible…downright dumb…I should…dead…are you listening to me?” Chief slapped my cheek. “Oh! Umm, no. You kinda lost me at ‘Let us begin‘, and then I realized that your bookshelf is much more interesting than your lecture.”
He stared at me like he was cussin‘ me out with his eyes. “It’s very beautiful.” I joked. Austin giggled. “Shut your trap. You guys are next.” Chief said.
I can see why this guy’s divorced. He has no future with kids. I mean, respect to all of you people affected by divorce, it’s a sad thing. “Now, tell me why you are here.” He grumbled. “‘Cause I’m a freak mutant with no life ahead of me in normal civilization. Because I’m an outcast of society that has been given the cold hand of my elders and banished to live with Sir Yellsalot in the wilderness that is Alaska. Really, other than the gold and salmon here, I don’t see why the government thought buying this place for the U.S was a good idea.”
Oh yeah, dissage, egg in face. Chief stared at me. Honestly, if I had a penny for every time he’s stared at me, I’d be a rich billionaire livin’ large in my floatin’ space house with my eighty Lambos named after famous actors. “Oh, why I’m in your office, okay, well, I don’t know.”
Chief stared at me once more. Either he’s tryin’ to kill me with his laser eyes, or lack thereof, or he’s admirin’ my marvelous features, which would be creepy. “Boy, I have had enough of your tomfoolery. You are hereby banned from going on missions until further notice. Am I understood?”
Silence. “Yes sir. But I’m on crutches, so I’m already useless until I’m healed. So you’re pretty much kickin‘ a dead horse.”
“Leave, now.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
He knew what to do. Simple. Break in, steal the prototype, get out. Over his headset, he heard, “Go.”
The signal.
He sliced a hole into the roof with his swords. He pried loose the chunk of roof and climbed into the Amtech laboratory. He hung, stuck to the roof by suction cups on his hands and feet. CLOP…CLOP… He moved at sloth speed. Good, the alarms weren’t detecting him. He slowly shifted onto the wall. He froze. Guards. “Nothing here. I don’t see why the alarms went off.” the guard said to his partner. “I’m not so sure.” The partner replied. “With all this commotion ‘bout our new prototype, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a break in.”
The man eased down the wall. Sure, he had a morph suit, but why give away your location? Why not have some fun? These thoughts went through his head. He fell silently to the ground. He snuck up behind the head guard, grabbed his neck, snapped it, kneed his spine, grabbed his gun, shot his partner, grabbed his partner’s collar, slung him against the wall, and carried on.
All in a split second.
He slid on the floor behind a crate of guns. He reached in his pack and puled out some C-4. He planted some on the crate to his left. Armed it, and moved on. He somersaulted across the floor to a doorway. He reached in his bag and pulled out a stethoscope and an aerosol can of sleeping gas, and a gas mask. He planted his stethoscope on the door way. Then he heard a beep. He slid behind a crate just as the door slid to into the wall and two guards came out. Change of plan. He put on his gas mask and popped the top off of the aerosol can. The can began to leak. One of the guards turned. “Do you hear that?”
The other guard turned around. “Hmm.”
He yawned. The other collapsed to the ground. “Steve, (Yawn!), St…Steve?”
He hit the floor with a thump. The other man smiled. The door was still open. He took off his gas mask and put it in his bag. He walked through the door and it closed behind him. “I’m in.” He uttered into his headset. “Good.” came the reply. “Do you see the prototype?”
“Yes. I’m next to it.”
In front of him was a clear box. Inside was a massive sphere. It was some sort of metal. His guess was titanium. There was a keyboard on it. “Umm, is it code activated?”
“Yes. Very observant, aren’t you. Now, I expect you to get it outside unnoticed. Good luck, Garron.”
Garron shut off his headset.
Victor was expecting him to wheel around the probably over ton-weighing spherical bomb outside the warehouse. Sure, he was strong, fast, handsome, smart, and brave, but carrying and/or pushing that thing forty yards outside would be hard. Garron reached in his bag and grabbed a flat metal circle. He pressed a re button on it’s middle. He ran behind a counter. BEEP, BEEP, BEEEEEEEEEEP! WHOOSH! Flames burst out of the circle. The box began to slide across the ground and through the wall with a crash. The alarms went off. But Garron was already outside. A Chinook helicopter buzzed overhead. The leaves blew around Garron, the bomb prototype stopped moving and was now being attached to a wench. Garron leaped into the air onto the air onto a tree, then into the copter. Victor and his bodyguard Big Mack greeted him. Garron smiled. “I take it I did better than the three idiots you hired for your previous job.”
Victor nodded. “Much.”
Garron looked out. “So, a bomb. May I ask why?”
Victor seemed annoyed. “Of course a bomb, the question is, why not.”
Garron turned to face Victor. “Back in London, I didn’t steal bombs willy nilly without knowing why. And this being my first American job, I’d like to continue that tradition.”
Victor sighed. “This is the most powerful bomb in existence. It is five hundred fifty-two times the strength of an atom bomb. With this prototype, I can build more. More of them mean more power. I will have the most nuclear power in the world. Bombs mean power, power means fear, fear means obedience. Obedience means respect. Shall I go on?”
Garron swallowed Victor’s theory. “Indeed. You know, you wouldn’t be quite unstoppable.”
“Pardon?”
“The American Government has spoken about three new weapons. They are extremely powerful, extremely secret, and extremely real. I have heard that they are alive, super humans of sorts.”
Big Mack looked at victor. “So, he was telling the truth.”
Victor looked confused. “Garron, these weapons, I think one has encountered my former employees. One of the three said something about an electric boy. He had stopped the three from taking the supposed shipment of the bomb. I think we should look into these weapons.”
Garron looked pleased. “I’m on it. I’ll leave soon after our arrival at HQ.”
The cargo door closed and the bomb was set in the center of the cargo bay. The helicopter took off to HQ. Below, police and SWAT teams began to surround the building. Fools.
Amtech. The leading weapons producer in the world. They were working on a bomb, until it was stolen. And when the most powerful bomb in the world is stolen, it’s big news. All the TV news channels in the dining hall were showing reports about the robbery. Apparently, a one ton, super heavy bomb vanished without a trace. Only skid marks on the floor, a hole in the wall, and burnt boxes of weapons. Who was blamed? The Afghanis, they’re like our scapegoat. Just because we’re at war with them and the fact that they have tons of nuclear weapons doesn’t mean that they cause all our problems! I lay on the couch next to the only window in the building, being a top secret base and all that, resting my cast on one of the armrests. I flipped through the channels, since my room TV has one channel, I was hoping for something good. Amtech’s recent problems don’t concern me after I was falsely accused of robbing them yesterday on TV. I yawned as I finally landed on a nature show. “The hyenas stalk their pray in a pack, helplessly surrounding the baby antelope. The savannah animals are cruel and heartless…”
I sighed. Being grounded was boring.
“Yeehaw!” Austin cried as he drove his ATV through the training course. He slid across the floor, a laser trailing behind him. The laser, if it hit the ATV or Austin, would eliminate a point. Austin hit the brakes and the ATV barrel rolled. He leaped off and ran toward a hole in the ground, leading to a tunnel, leading to the control room in which the Win All button was. The ATV crashed into the wall and sparks flew everywhere as it skidded to a halt. The laser grew stronger in power as it neared Austin. Austin rounded a corner and dove into the tunnel leading to the control room. The laser stopped and turned off. Meanwhile… Garth climbed a wall leading to the tunnel. He grunted as he pulled himself onto a ledge. CRACK… CRACK…
Beneath him, the ledge was coming loose. He back flipped into the air as the ledge fell to its doom. He kicked his shoes off and shot fire from his feet, a newly found skill, then soared to the top of the wall. He landed with a thump then ran barefoot to the tunnel. He slid in and almost hit Austin on entry. “Watch it, Garth!”
Austin whispered harshly. He pointed below him to a small motion sensor. Garth slowly inched closer and grabbed a small metal ball from his utility belt. He tossed it down the tunnel and it rolled on the sloped floor. It entered the motion sensor’s radius and activated a flame thrower. The fire heated up the tunnel tremendously. You think that it’s cruel to make twelve year olds face flame throwers, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Austin rubbed his chin. “I think I have an idea.”
Austin shot a large ice ball into the radius of the motion sensor and activated the flame thrower. The ice turned to steam semi-instantly and the tunnel fogged up. Austin grabbed Garth’s sleeve and pulled him down the tunnel, the fog blocking them from the motion sensor. They landed hard in the control room. Austin looked around. He stood up and brushed himself off. Garth stood up and noticed the lack of trap doors and robots. “It seems too simple. Huh.”
He shrugged and walked toward the button in the middle of the room. He was within five feet of the button when... “Garth!!”
The floor opened up around Garth and suddenly he was surrounded by armed men. They cocked their guns in unison. One stepped forward. “Stand down. You are surrounded.”
(Role playing impacted the realistic effect.) Garth squinted, “I don’t think so.”
He leaped into the air and drop kicked one of the men into the wall. Then he grabbed one of the men’s guns and hit him in the chest with the butt of the gun. He back flipped over another one and the man shot at Garth. Garth felt the bullets dent his metal pads and ricochet off into random space. He landed and took out the man’s feet. The man plummeted to the floor and landed hard. Garth spun around and shot fire at the remaining men. They stumbled backwards but were not hurt due to their fire proof suits. Safety ruins the fun. For us at least. Austin bounded forward and he and Garth slapped the button at once. “SIMULATION OVER, TIE.” The robot voice announced. Garth and Austin high-fived and then began to help the other men up.
Chapter 4
Assignments
Chief sat in his leather recliner chair. He sipped his coffee and read the sports page. ‘Relaxation at last!’ He thought. He flipped the newspaper to the ‘Daily Events’ page. What was this? Bomb stolen? Afghanis suspected? He slapped the ‘record’ button next to the microphone hooked up to the intercom. “Boys, in my office, pronto.”
Austin sprinted down the hall. He stopped to catch his breath. He sucked in a huge breath than began to run again. He jumped up and shot ice beneath him. He rode the ice over a gap in between the sides of the building. The ice below him suddenly gave weigh and he toppled downward. “Cowabunga!”
He grabbed a small metal square from his backpack. His own invention. He placed his boots on magnetic pads on its surface. The square instantly stretched into a full sized snowboard. Just in time. His board slammed against the floor and rockets popped out. They blasted out flames and Austin soared down the halls, running into guards and staff on the way.
Garth looked up from his comic book. He ran into his closet and speed changed into a white t-shirt and jeans, the clothes provided by the staff, and ran out the door. He sprinted down the hall to the elevator while slinging on his backpack. The elevator doors opened and he walked in. The elevator began to slowly go down ward. Garth sighed in a frustrated tone. He shot fire at the floor and the metal melted away. Garth leaped down the hole into the elevator shaft. He grabbed onto some metal wires that the elevator rode on. He slid down, friction burning his hands. He decided on a different approach. He flung himself onto the left wall, then the right, then the left, continuing down the shaft until the first floor. Garth grabbed a metal pole from his backpack. He held it horizontally and it stopped him from sliding further down the shaft. He slowly inched over to the first floor door. He swung himself, slowly gaining momentum. SCREECH! Above him, the elevator had started to fall. Now or never. He swung himself hard into the first floor door, he shot fire at the door, melting a orange- sided hole. He flew through it, just in time to dodge the elevator. BOOM! Behind him, the elevator hit the floor and exploded. He spun his pole through his fingers before putting it back in his backpack. A group of techies turned around and winced at the sight of the elevator disaster. Garth ran around them and slid into an intersecting hallway. Austin plowed through a crowd of guards on his rocket board further down the hall. Classic Austin.
I limped through the hallways. I pressed the button that on normal days would have summoned the elevator. Suddenly, a boom echoed up the shaft. Flames shot out through the slight gap in between the doors. I sighed. Garth showing off his spy skills…again. I limped over to the other elevators, across the building. When I arrived, I pressed the down button, climbed into the elevator, rode down, and arrived across the building from Chief’s office. I limped into the garage. Once inside, I hobbled over to a motorcycle covered by a white tarp. I pulled it off and got on my lime green Ducati 300. I put the keys in the ignition and popped a wheelie while I sped away. I drove with one hand, the other holding my crutches. I zoomed through the hallways and drifted through each corner. “YEEHAW!” I exclaimed. I popped a front wheelie and crashed through the glass door into Chief’s office. My motorcycle growled before it sputtered to a stop. Glass shards rained down on me. Chief glared at me (AGAIN!!!). “Are you incapable of using the door properly?!”
He pointed to the three holes. One in the door, one in the ceiling, one in the wall. I chuckled. “Yeeeeaaa-no.”
He brushed debris off his desk. He clenched his hands together and sighed. “Well, as you may have heard, a bomb was stolen. Not just any bomb, the most powerful bomb in the world. I need you to look into this, this is a shocking matter. You are going to Afghanistan.”
Austin sighed. “I hate deserts! I get all dry and I can’t shoot ice very well.”
Garth beamed. “Fire works awesome in the heat!”
I frowned. “My ankle is sprained, will I get to go?”
Chief scratched his chin. He snapped his fingers and reached under his desk. He pulled up a box. He opened it and took out a metal frame. “Put this is a leg brace, smaller than your average cast, more portable too. It allows you to be fully mobile with minimal pain!”
I took off my cast and slipped the brace on under my pants. “Nice fit, I like it. Sure beats this cast!”
I got up without my crutches and ran around. “SWEET!”
Tank God we have techies supporting us!
Chapter 5
Chapter Four was super short. So I decided to kill it after you are done reading this. Too late, it’s dead. Chapter Five claims its dominance, and dubs itself “Chapter Five, Desert Blues…and Yellows.”
I packed my military duffle bag with my belongings. Pretty much my clothes, uniforms, food and water (just in case), PC (yes, even in military wasteland we have a sliver of hope for the chance that someday we might be fun), a Rubik’s Cube with faded colors, gizmos and gadgets for missions, various books and comics, a super bouncy ball (my prescription drug for boredom), toiletries (hygiene) and shoes (always green converse). I stuffed it all into the duffel bag, and then proceeded on to meet with Garth and Austin in the garage. We would be taking an armored car to a ship that would take us to Afghanistan (to the Indian Ocean, then we’d take a helicopter to land). They sat on their duffel bags, talking about boy stuff. But when you are raised in a government facility, being cut of from society, boy stuff topics is usually limited. They waved to me and I sat down next to them. Austin pulled out a small, metal ball. He set it on the ground and flicked a switch on his communicator watch. The ball suddenly sprouted legs and one single eye popped out of a hatch. “I’ve made some adjustments to my watch to make it double as a RC remote control.” Austin said. He pressed a button on his watch and the spider-like robot walked up a wall, his feet clanking lightly. Austin showed us his watch screen. Video feed from the robot was being transmitted to his watch! “It’s like the perfect spy pet!” Garth exclaimed. “Add weapons.” I suggested. Austin looked at me with a proud smile, the same one that morphs onto his face before he shows off. “I have.”
The robot grew an extra appendage; witch shot a small laser onto the floor, leaving a burn mark. “Sweetness.” I said. “It records voices too.” Austin added. “Hello.” Austin said, the robot repeated. Two military pilots stepped up behind me. One stepped forward. “Time to leave.”
We stood up and walked into a small, military private jet plane next to the large, slidin’ doors at the end of the large garage. The robot spider shot a synthetic web onto Austin’s shoulder and climbed down it. “Best pet ever.” He said.
Twelve minutes after takeoff, I did the math to see how far it was from Alaska to Afghanistan. I got around four thousand, seven hundred ninety-four miles, with the help of a distance calculator online. Then, with the help of Austin’s spider, I saw that we were goin’ around five hundred mph. Then, I calculated that we’d be there in… “Fifty -our hours!?!” I complained. Austin slammed my Rubik’s Cube down on his tray table. “Done! One hour and twenty-three minutes, new record!”
“Correction, fifty-three hours.”
That night, I did something that I’d never done before… “Strange Happenings, 1998, Dallas, TX”
That’s what I typed in on Google. It came up with paranormal news.com. I searched “Super Powers” on the search box. Up came two links. One titled “Video Evidence of Super Human!”.
Me.
The other one said “Child Taken by Government.”
Worth a try.
CLICK!
An article popped up.
“Bring Back Our Baby!”
Ooh.
CLICK!
The article had nothing to do with me, it was worth a try, though.
I spun in my swivel chair. I love private jets. Austin ran in front of me. “DUDE!,” he does stuff like this. “WE HAVE SODAS!”
He tossed me a sparkling fruit drink and ran off to find more carbonated gold. Garth tossed me a s’more, at the the time, I didn’t know what it was. “What’s this?!?”
“Try it, I made it.”
Garth made a finger gun and shot flames from his fingertips. I took a bite and realized what I had been missing by living in bland paradise. I turned to Garth. “Take me to your food source.”
Garth led me to a large pantry at the end of the jet. I dropped my s’more on the ground, then picked it up and took a bite. Garth looked at me, “Dude, do you know what’s on plane floors?”
I dropped my s’more again. Then I focused on the wonderful sight before me.
Gender:
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