“We will be right up,” I said as calmly as I could.
Dear Diary: OMG! OMG!! OMG!!! The most handsome, most seemingly normal boy in my school is a clone! A clone raised in a lab! A clone that was only four years old! A clone! How could that be? How could this raw clone have passed as a cool human boy for the past three years and none of us suspected a thing?
Discovery
Jason activated his new jet boots (which I didn’t know he had) and he and I jumped up towards Brandon’s tree house, his home. Brandon smiled and gave us a peace sign as we approached, instantly making us welcome.
The place was simply a wooden floor and a wooden roof. He had a notebook computer, a chair, a matt and a hot plate.
“Wow, it’s so great to finally have visitors at my house after only three years here!” he said. “It’s not much, but I like it.”
Jason noticed the hot plate. “There is no electricity here. How do you power the hot plate?”
Brandon bent down and picked up the hot plate’s cord. He closed his hand around it. His hand started glowing red. The hot plate started glowing red.
“Cool!” Jason said.
Yep, Brandon was our clone.
I looked at Jason. “Brandon is captain of the LAX team right?”
“Yes,” Jason and Brandon both said.
“But you and the guys on the team have never been to his house?” I asked Jason.
Jason stood quietly for a moment, deep in thought. “I guess we never did. Whenever we had a party, we just had it at my home because I live right in the middle of town….”
I shook my head. “You seem so normal, Brandon? So good at interacting with people?”
Brandon shook his head. He looked puzzled. “Am I though? I figured out that regular people are fairly easy to please when you are handsome or good-looking. I just smile and nod and try to be nice and everybody likes me. I really have no substance yet. I am happy but quite shallow.”
“Maybe that’s why you’re so happy,” Jason suggested.
“Yes it could be, ignorance is bliss!” Brandon readily agreed.
Could this really be happening? Could the cutest, nicest, most popular boy in school be a clone? A clone that seemed so normal simply by smiling and being polite. Well, yes, it was happening. Brandon was the clone. I guess we really only see what we want to see.
“Wait! I met your grandma!” I told Brandon. “Was that a lie?”
Brandon shook his head. “Actually, they did borrow some of my genetic material from that woman’s daughter so she is in effect, my grandma. She didn’t really think we were related, but she always called me her grandson because she never had any grandkids. Her only daughter was a scientist who never had kids. I liked hanging out with her. She is nice. I will miss her when I leave.”
“You don’t have to leave,” I said.
Brandon sat down on the floor crossed-legged. “Well, I don’t want to go back to that cold sterile boring lab. I don’t like being tested and poked. I might have been made in a test tube but I am still human and a person who wants things in life. I don’t like being prodded. I do like being free. I like being with people. But I don’t want to be fake Brandon anymore. I want to be me. I want to hang out with real people, and also you guys, but I want to be my real self.”
“We’re real people,” Jason said.
“True, but you aren’t normal,” Brandon said. “Jason, you’re super smart and covered in cool armor. And Lia, you come from a line of superwomen.”
“Women you are supposed to hunt,” I said to him.
He shook his head. “That’s what they wanted me to do. But I am not a machine. I have my own mind and will. I quickly decided that you and your family were not a threat to the world. In fact, I am certain you make the world a better place. I do not want to fight you. I want to help you make the world better still.”
“Perhaps boy, but that is not your choice!” a voice bellowed from above.
“Oh, they sent the remote-controlled avatar-fight-bots after me,” Brandon sighed.
Looking up, I saw floating metal androids with human faces showing in the heat display surrounding us.
“What the heck?” I groaned.
“They’re androids but controlled by humans from a base of operations….” Jason and Brandon both said.
They looked at each other and smiled. “You really are very smart, Jason!” Brandon said.
“Thanks,” Jason told Brandon. “I always thought you were a great guy too!”
“Guys, you can finish your bromance after we deal with these things,” I said. “How did they find us?”
“The hat!” Jason said. “It must also be a homing beacon!”
“That is so uncool!” I said.
“It is perfectly cool,” the aviator-bot with General’s Sky’s face inside it said. “Brandon is the property of the government.”
“Brandon, do you mind if I look inside you with my x-ray vision?” I asked.
“No, not all. I would be honored,” he said.
I carefully activated my x-ray vision and scanned him from top to bottom: brain, skull, heart, lungs, stomach, bones. Zeroing in, I spotted a microchip. Yep, he was human, just enhanced.
I shook my head and finger at the general-avatar bot and the ten other bots who backed him up. “Not the way I see it,” I said. “Just because he was raised in a lab doesn't mean he belongs to you. You can’t own a human.”
The general’s face on the screen frowned. “Yes, I understand, and you are right. But he’s not a regular human, he’s a human we created and added microchips to. We might not own the human but we do own the microchips inside him.”
Jason spoke up. “Okay, so here’s the deal, remove the chips and let him be free to live his own life.”
“I like, no love that idea!” Brandon said.
The general’s face on the screen went blank. I didn’t know if that was a good sign, a bad sign or a terrible sign. The general’s face reappeared on the android’s screen. “That can be arranged!”
“Great!” Jason said.
“I love that idea!” Brandon repeated.
I thought that went too easily. I mean…it went really easily. Easy is good now and then. But I got the feeling the general was not being honest.
“Just have Brandon return to BMS labs. We will send a transport to bring him to our research facility, then we’ll remove our chips and set him free.
I hated to be such a cynic, but using my command voice I said, “General, is that really the truth?”
“No, of course not!” the general said. “We want the chips and the boy. They are a package deal. If he won’t come peacefully then we will take him by force!” the general finished. The general glared at me through her screen. “You just had to use your command voice to get me to tell you, didn’t you!”
“Yep,” I said.
The hands of the androids started to glow. “It looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way!” the general said.
I made a fist. “Bring it on!” I said.
“I’m ready for anything!” Jason said.
“General, you and your people have treated me fairly but I want to be free. So, if I must fight, I will!” Brandon said. His arms turned into pure energy.
“Brandon, that is so way cool!” Jason said.
“Actually it is quite hot, but thank you. And please, from now on, call me Adam!” Adam’s hair and skin both turned darker. His eyes grew a little smaller. He was still handsome of course, just a different kind of handsome.
“Come and get me, General!” Adam said.
Dear Diary: Wow! I can’t believe that no one at school, myself included, and no one from the entire town was ever suspicious of Brandon (now Adam). He did smile a lot. He was always super polite and kind. But thinking back, he never really had an opinion on anything and no one noticed. Plus, it never seemed weird that none of us had actually met his parents. Or actually been to his home. We all just assumed because he was so
handsome and nice that he was a great normal guy. Heck, he was still a great guy, just not normal. Nope, not even close to normal.
Now, the difficulty is how do we convince the government to set him free? To allow Adam to live the life he wants? The government may have been his “parents”, but it’s up to parents to know when they have to give their children freedom. And now is that time for Adam. I just hope the general and doctor will realize that. It would certainly make things easier on all of us. But if history is any indicator, this isn’t going to go easy. We might need to knock some sense into the powers that be, and show them they really don’t have nearly the control they think they do.
The Attack
Adam looked up at the general and her men in their avatar androids. “I do not wish to destroy government material, but I will do so to protect myself!” Adam said, his arms still glowing with energy.
“You are government property!” the general said.
“I agree, the microchips inside of me are,” Adam said. “But the rest of me is not!”
“I’ve been told that the microchips and you are one now,” the general said. “You can’t exist without them.”
“Well then, I guess because they’re inside of him, they belong to him!” I said.
MAC chimed in. “I believe you would win that case in court. You would certainly win in the court of public opinion. So, I suggest the general and her staff fly away now.”
“Not going to happen,” the general said. “We have deep pockets and a lot of money already invested in Adam. We will not just walk away.”
“Then fly away,” Adam said. “I have no interested in harming government property, but I am more interested in being free!”
My super hearing picked up a quiet whizzing sound coming towards us. Using super vision, I saw a whole heap of drones heading our way. It looked like the general was just stalling us until reinforcements arrived.
“The general has drones coming!” I warned.
Adam grinned. “The good news is they are not sending any live troops after us, so we don’t have to worry about hurting any actual people. Just smashing their machines!”
He followed up his words with an energy blast from each arm, ripping two of the floating android-avatars apart.
The other androids opened fire on us.
“Remember,” the general shouted. “We want to take them alive. Just show them who is in control here!”
I shot up into the air at one of the androids. The android threw a punch at me. I caught its arm in mid-punch. I ripped the arm off. I flung the arm at another android that was flying towards me. The arm hit the android’s head, causing it to go spinning to the ground. I finished off the now one-armed android by flying forward and smashing it into a million android pieces.
Only the general’s android and one other remained flying. “Ah, General, I think the problem is that your androids know who is in charge.”
“I have not yet begun to fight!” the general screamed.
The sky behind her turned black as the swarm of blue flying drones blocked out the setting sun. The drones circled all around us. They buzzed like angry bees in a blender.
“Okay, now that’s a lot of drones,” I said.
Flames started shooting from Adam’s hair and also from his behind. “I’m ready!” Adam shouted.
Before any of us could do anything more, the drones fired dots at us, hundreds of dots. As the dots drew nearer, they expanded into nets. The nets moved extremely fast and crackled with electricity. Adam, Jason and I became entangled in net after net.
Energy shot through our bodies, driving us to the ground. I felt my legs tremble and lose control. Every cell in my body hurt. I tried to think but nothing happened. All my brain could concentrate on was the pain.
Adam, too, was down on the ground, squirming like a fish out of water. The general had certainly been prepared.
Glancing over at Jason, I saw that he too laid on the ground. He wasn’t shaking. I couldn’t see his face through his armor but I figured he had to be in pain. He forced his left hand to push down on a button on his right wrist.
All the drones and the androids dropped from the sky. The streetlights around us went out. The force from the nets stopped.
I stood up, ripping the nets off me. “What did you do, Jason?” I asked.
“Sent out an electromagnetic pulse. It shuts down all electronics,” he announced proudly.
We looked over at Adam. He was slowly standing up. He moved stiffly like he was an old man. “Looks like your pulse got my electronics, too,” Adam sighed.
“Yes, that is true,” MAC said. “But I believe I can fix that!”
“Wait, Mac! How are you still operational?” Jason asked.
“Lia’s dad is very smart. He made me EMP proof. Now, Lia please move close to Adam.”
I moved next to Adam. I enjoyed it. “Please hover your arm over Adam’s body, so that I can get to work,” MAC said. “Start at his neck and work your way over each joint.”
I did as I was told. I went neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, middle of the back, lower back, hips, knees, and ankles. Every time I moved MAC over a new joint, a beam of white light shot from MAC into Adam. Adam smiled and bent each limb after I passed over them.
Afterwards, he looked at me and smiled. “I feel like me again. Now, I just have to find out who I am and determine my place in this world.”
“Brandon? Is that you?” the familiar voice of Wendi Long called from behind us. Sure enough, Wendi ran up to Brandon/Adam and threw her arms around him. “I love the tall dark and mysterious look!” Wendi said.
Adam looked down at her and smiled. “Brandon was just a disguise. I am really Adam. I am a clone.”
Wendi took Adam’s hand. “And my good friend Patti is a Gemini. Nobody is perfect. But I am willing to take you back. I will teach you to be normal. Together, we can be the hottest couple around.”
Adam smiled. “I do not wish to be normal. I wish to be me. I am not normal, but that is okay. I must find myself and I can’t have a girlfriend until I know who I really am and what my role on this earth is,” Adam said sincerely.
Wendi gazed into his eyes. “Can I at least give you a kiss goodbye?” she asked.
Adam shrugged. “I see no harm in that.” He pointed to his cheek. “On the cheek.”
Wendi stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Adam. She left a pink lipstick mark.
“Now, what do you think?” she asked smugly.
Adam looked at me. His arms turned into flames. “I think I must be whom I was designed to be. I must stop Super Teen!”
My mouth and Wendi’s mouth both popped open. “Whoa! That was not the reaction I was expecting…” Wendi said.
Adam pushed himself past Wendi and pointed at me with a flaming arm. “Give up, Super Teen!”
I shot up into the air, hoping he would follow. I needed to calm him down, but away from Wendi’s prying ears.
As I flew, Adam threw ball after ball of fire at me. The flaming balls pelted towards me.
I knocked the first few down with super frost breath.
“Stop, you bad person!” he shouted. Adam flew up into the sky after me.
Jason ran over to Wendi. “Did you do this on purpose?”
“No, of course not!” Wendi insisted. “I’m a mean girl but not an evil one. Some military dudette told me if I kissed Brandon with this lipstick on my lips, I would get him back. The dudette told me Brandon was under some sort of hypnotic trance and the lipstick would fix it. I never expected him to attack Super Teen and try to fry her. I might question her sense of style and her personal hygiene but I realize she does a lot of good for the city!” Wendi paused. “Next to me, she’s probably the most influential person in town.” She looked at Jason. “Your voice under that mask sounds familiar. Do I know you?”
“No, of course not!” Jason laughed. “I am a high powered secret agent from the government.”
“Of course you are,” Wendi said. “S
illy me, for a second I thought you sounded like a kid I know, Jason Michaels.”
“He must be quite the tough kid,” Jason said.
“Nah, he’s as geeky as they come,” Wendi said.
“Let’s work on a way to stop Adam!” Jason said, ignoring her comment and pointing up at us.
I managed to keep my distance from Adam so he couldn’t get his hands or energy blasts on me. The blasts were fast and powerful, but I was quicker. The problem was, I didn’t want to hurt Adam. Although he had no qualms hurting me. To complicate matters even more, he was a much better flyer than I was, using the energy from his feet to keep him in constant flight. I had to jump, float, land and then jump again. It was awkward, to say the least. The second time I landed, I realized something. Adam didn’t blast me when I was on the ground. My guess was that he didn’t want to start a fire in the park.
“Come up in the air and fight me…clone to Super Teen!” Adam shouted, pounding his chest. No, this wasn’t Adam. Not the real Adam.
I waved my fingers for him to come down to me. “You come here. I’m not a big fan of flying!” I called.
Adam stood there, hands on his hips.
“It’s what a gentleman would do!” I said.
“I’m not a man yet!” Adam said, “Technically, I am only four.
“It’s what a ‘gentleclone’ would do!” I shouted.
Adam dropped to the ground with a boom. The ground shook, sending me staggering backward.
I held out my hands. “Adam, I don’t want to fight you. I am your friend. We are a lot alike. We’re both super beings looking for our place in a non-super world.”
Adam’s cheeks turned red. His eyes narrowed. Smoke actually came out of his ears. “I am not like you! I am good! I am a force for good! I am noble.” Adam stormed towards me. I could still see the lipstick mark from Wendi’s kiss. That lipstick had to be what was driving him batty.
Boyfriends and Best Friends Forever! Page 6