I was holding them about eighteen inches from my face and they were opening and closing in a way that was starting to make me nauseous. Did I mention the claws on Animal's feet? Animal used my holding his arms up like he was holding a bar to do a pull up on, crunched his stomach muscles, and thrust his clawed feet at my stomach. I yelled, dropped him, and jumped back just in time to avoid his claws shredding me, and backed straight into the Dragon coming up behind me.
The sorry cheating bastard, Dragon, grabbed me into a full nelson while Bubbles scrambled away from Animal. Animal’s head started snapping back and forth between me and Ernie like some cartoon character trying to look at two things at once.
He was unable to decide which of us he wanted to turn into shredded kibbles first. It must have been too much for his little bundle of brain cells to compute. That's when I said, "We're done! We're done!" before Animal could make up his mind. I didn't like the Dragon, but at least he wasn't a deranged psychopath like Animal, and he called it.
The Dragon yelled at Animal, "That's it, we won! Animal, that's it! We won!" Animal snapped his head back and forth another dozen times before he finally looked at the Dragon, grinned like a banshee, and said to Ernie and me, "Who's my bitch?"
I lost it long enough to figure out I couldn’t break free of the Dragon and rip the arms off Animal. And, for the first time in his life, Bubbles kept his mouth shut and didn't step up to answer the question.
Chapter 5
I'm not sure I want to become a super crime fighter, or even a super villain. It is only partly because I still think about that fight; imagining my best friend shredded into a bloody mess, and I can't get there in time to save him. Would I get nightmares after every battle if I were a superhero? Would I do that to someone if I become a super villain?
I'm not that gung-ho. And, my idea of right and wrong doesn't mesh very well with the strict justice codes for supers, but I’m not a bloodthirsty murderer, either. I’m more the “professional” type. Keep it impersonal. Do the job. Get what I want. I don’t need to gut a guy that pisses me off when simple blunt force trauma, or an ice pick, will end them just as well. Dude, what did you expect? Being a super is life and death. It’s pure. Fierce. And ends badly for one side or the other nearly every time they meet.
That’s my problem in making up my mind to be a super, or villain, or whatever. I’m a little more flexible in the right and wrong department than most, but there is a right and wrong there. Maybe I overthink things. I don’t know. I’m really flexible in what constitutes right and wrong in the super community especially.
There are a lot of superheroes who push the limits, though. They’ll use every dirty trick they can think of to win and they never seem to take particularly vicious villains alive. If everyone is going all out, why would I even put that limitation on myself? It’s a good way to die. And that will be enough about career choices.
My parents spent a solid year and a ridiculous amount of money at The Gene Center going over my genetic code before I was born. I really do have some pretty cool powers.
I was one of five eggs my parents created by harvesting Mom's eggs and fertilizing them in a test tube with Dad's little army of love. That's what Dad calls them, not me. I'm just happy they selected my embryo to be the one they decided to stick back in Mom. As for the rest of the embryos, my parents tell me I'm not an only child and I still have four other brothers and sisters. It just happens they're currently frozen and made up of about twenty cells each. Dad says they are “backups" for me in case I screw up.
Only eighteen percent of the population has no "enhancements,” or "powers.” An enhancement could be anything from having extremely good vision or dexterity, to having an eidetic memory or sensitivity to someone's emotional state through telepathy. They are not quite “powers.” Enhancements become powers when they are strong enough to give what the government considers a "significant competitive advantage" over the "average" person.
Almost everyone has some enhancements. There are literally thousands of them. About thirty percent of the population have full on powers and about twenty percent of those have powers that are physical in nature.
Baselines are what people whose genetics have none of the extra "long" molecules, or what scientists call "Nova DNA,” that makes supers super. They come from “The Event” that happened in 1852 when the Earth was bombarded with massive levels of gamma rays and debris from an exploding star. The Event was the near extinction of all life on earth when the directed energy emitted from one of the poles of the star when it exploded. Remnants of the star had a “near miss” with the Solar System. Which means we caught the edge of the energy beam and debris, just not quite enough to turn the Earth into a lifeless husk.
That was nearly two hundred years ago. The Event didn’t just give us super powers; it caused a mass extinction of earth’s biosphere. Most of the survivors of the initial gamma radiation exposure had their DNA altered in ways that can only be described as causing the rapid evolution of "super" dominant life forms on earth. Now most humans, and nearly every other life form, has something going on with their DNA that makes them stronger and more capable of surviving than they were able to before The Event.
Fortunately for the human masses who managed to live through The Event, but lack Nova DNA, a life of being average does not have to be the life you pass onto your children. And, they have the super advanced minds of some of those who were altered to thank for it.
Today, a baseline couple can create a test tube embryo and have it genetically enhanced with any number of powers. They can make their child super by going to a lab similar to The Gene Center. That is if they have the money. And, they’re willing to have their baby start life in a petri dish, like me. By the way, the government limits any DNA alterations to give no more than a Class 3 level in whatever ability is being altered. They do not want to be responsible for creating a super villain they can’t stop.
Today it is considered a better investment to pay for enhancements and powers than it is to save up and pay for your kid's college. If you give them the right powers, they will be able pay for their own college. Which is what my parents did, and I'm paying for my college with the money I’ve made from my inventions.
Most people consider how much damage a person can deal out and take to be the most important factor in determining a person's ability to survive or dominate as a super. That may be if you're a Class 5 strongman, also called an Atlas. (There are only a couple hundred on the entire planet, and they inherited their powers as they passed down generation to generation from the original victims of The Event.) An Atlas can shrug off being hit by artillery. But, when it comes to dominance and survival, that's not how my parents think. They've always taught me any power can be defeated, if you're smart enough to figure out how. True to their own advanced intellects, they believe it’s intelligence that is humanity’s greatest power.
Whenever I get cocky about my awesome powers, and being smarter than everyone else in my school, Dad reminds me of my embryo brothers and sisters and tells me it's not too late for me to be replaced. He says they have a plan already in place. The man is a genius and, quite frankly, the closest thing to a mad scientist I've ever known, so he may not be joking. Honestly, I’m not sure they’re kidding. So, I try not to get too cocky just because I’m the smartest kid in a school that has over two hundred geniuses.
I am also smart enough to know that if I want to be a super, I’m going to need a super suit, like an armored super suit, because I’ve seen what supers with my physical powers can do by themselves, and it’s not a lot. And, I’ve also seen what a good set of super armor can do when used by a baseline, which is also not a lot. They tend to be bashed into paste inside their suit. But, I figure I can multiply what I can achieve if I combine my Class 2 physical abilities with super armor. Unfortunately, super armor costs a lot of money. This is, besides seeing graphic images of pulped supers in their pristine armor on T.V., why you almost never see a superhero we
aring super armor.
Chapter 6
Summer is awesome. I'm two for two, sort of, with Tess and Maria. Tess caught onto me pretty quick and we're "just friends" now. Which is cool. We still do things together and go horseback riding. It’s good to have a friend like Tess. She reminds me of why it is good to be good. Fortunately, she didn’t hold it against me when she figured out I had another love interest, which took her about an hour. We were not at the point that she considered us exclusive.
When I am not doing things with Tess, Maria and I are dating and see each other at least a few times per week. Tess knows I am seeing someone, but doesn’t know it’s Maria. I’m not going to tell her. I’m sure they’ll eventually meet each other, but we’ll cross those live wires when we get to them. Tess won’t be a problem for me, but I’m not sure if she will take it well that someone like Maria is the other woman.
Maria is a different story. When she finds out, she will definitely introduce me to her pleasure (to give me pain). I don’t think she believes in being exclusive, but I also don’t think she gives a damn what she believes when she’s pissed off. I’m a little scared, but that’s what I signed up for.
Breaking away from my day dreaming, I answer my buzzing cellphone, “Hey, what's up?" Ernie says, as I answer.
"On my way." I tell Ernie, realizing I’m late, and head for the door. I know why he is calling. "Mom! I'm leaving!" I yell to what looks like an empty house, but I know she's here somewhere.
"Dude, that's my ear!" I hear through the phone.
"Sorry, be there in thirty seconds." I hang up and haul out the door without waiting to hear Mom's answer. She'll figure it out.
Ernie only lives a couple blocks from my house on the next street over and I cut the distance by going through the playground. I’m running pretty fast, but take the time to look around the park as I cut through as I’m already falling into superhero patrol mode.
It’s interesting that no one ever messes with people’s party stuff when it sits out overnight. Not around here, they don’t. My sociology professor says that petty crimes have mostly been wiped out ever since The Event as the stakes of messing with someone who is as likely as not to have super powers makes the potential conflicts so much more serious that people avoid meaningless conflict.
Before, when everyone was a baseline, the most that would happen is you might have a little scuffle, or fist fight. Now, you could end up with an entire neighborhood demolished and multiple people dead. Piss the wrong person off and they could cave your skull in with a flick of their finger. You just can’t tell how powerful a person is by how they look. The opposite has happened with major crimes though, as a lot more people believe they have the power to do whatever they want and no one can stop them.
Ernie and I do hero patrols and cruise this park a few nights a week, which I like to think is the real reason everyone’s party stuff is safe, but today I'm heading over to his house so we can head out to the county fairgrounds later. The fair is going this week and next week and, as with every year, there are hotheads, would-be supervillains, and general purpose wannabes stirring up trouble at the fair. Alcohol and super powers make for poor life choices.
I'm about to knock on Ernie's door when it opens. "I'm ready, let's go," he says.
"Wait. Do you have it?"
"No, I'm not bringing it," he declares.
"Why not?"
"It's deadly force, man. I don't want to kill some schmuck because he snatched a purse. Besides, I don't want to go to prison."
"It's not for schmucks. It's for people who are too powerful for you and are trying to kill you," I come back at him annoyed and frustrated. After watching him almost be killed by Animal, I was sure as hell not going to go to college without him having a real way to defend himself against supers. I know the superhero-maniac isn’t going to stop going super hero every chance he gets just because he has to go solo. He will get himself killed if he doesn’t have better defenses. I won’t be there to back him up. "What are you going to do when you get into it with the next Animal you have to fight?” I'm swinging my arms from up high and spread apart to show Animal's size, to down low and close together pointing at the ground to show where Ernie ended up when Animal got hold of him. "You've have hand-to-hand combat mad skillz. For having Class 1 strength, you're deadly. But, that won’t be enough even against a Level 2. Your only defense will be to run.”
"No, I'm not using it. And, thanks for being a dick.” I’ve hurt his feelings. Never call Ernie on not having enough power to be a superhero. Stubborn and sensitive.
“Sorry. I’ll tell you what. Wear it for the rest of the summer when we go out. Chances are you'll never even turn it on. Just have it on you. Just in case." If I can just get him to use it once, he'll never leave without it again. "I know when you saw me test it out I blew a chunk out of that tree. That's deadly, I know. But, I was using my full strength on it and to attack with. You know you're not going to hit that hard and you can hold back some when you use it until you get it dialed in on how much damage you do with it. Or, just use it for defense. C'mon, man, I can't leave at the end of the summer knowing you're going out without me. Use this and it'll be like I'm there." Ernie doesn't really have a heart string, but I'm trying to pull it anyway.
"You know what, I'll carry it on missions when I've mastered using it on inanimate objects and can control the damage I do."
"It does a lot more than damage things. It'll keep you alive nearly as well as being a Class 3,” I can tell he doesn’t want to argue anymore, “All right, fine, we'll work on it tonight and every day until you're a freaking ninja with it." I'll have him totally in love with this thing in a day. "Now, let's quit screwing around and hit the fairgrounds."
Chapter 7
We drive to the fair in Ernie's car as it is farther than either of us want to walk. The county fairground is a huge fenced in field just out of the south side of town. The fair is made up of a handful of warehouse buildings scattered about the grounds for housing the arts & crafts exhibits and two open barns for the Four-H livestock. The rest of the structures, food stands, games, and rides were all trucked in and set up last week.
"Go ahead and park in the fairgrounds parking lot. I'll pay for the parking," I tell Ernie. "If we park on the side of the road farther out we'll just get your car vandalized or stolen.” Which would be ironic and hard to explain since our reason for being here is to patrol for criminal activity.
I get out and look around as Ernie is stripping off the civies he is wearing over his superhero costume. We have to hide Ernie's costume from the parking attendants to get in so they don’t tell the local rent-a-cops about us. We don’t need the hassle as the rent-a-cops tend to be as big a wannabes as the villains at the fair. I'm wearing black and grey camo pants and a long-sleeve black shirt I got from my uncle's hunting and military surplus store. Not exactly superhero clothing, but pretty good for working in the dark.
"You ready?" I ask.
"Yeah, let's go." Ernie walks around the car to my side and we head away from the fair entrance so we can patrol the perimeter of the parking lot. "How long do you think it'll take to do a full circuit?" We always do the perimeter as there is already security inside the fair and we would just get thrown out if we tried to patrol there anyway.
I look around and reply, "We're not going to be able to go all the way around, so we're going to have to double back and make a second patrol to get back to the entrance.” Ernie is looking at me with a “what for” look on his face, so I clue him in to my thinking, “If we try to go all the way around, we will have to walk by the rent-a-cops at the entrance to get back to the car." Now he gets it. I don't know why, but the parking lot rent-a-cops tend to be uptight about superheroes and can harass the hell out of us. "I'm figuring a couple hours."
Skirting the parking lot is uneventful. No one is hanging out around the edges and it's looking like a slow night, for crime, anyway. The parking lot only extends to one edge of the fairgrounds an
d the rest of our patrol is going to be along the fence line around the perimeter. On our right is a pitch black grassy field and we can’t see anything as there is a thick overcast of low clouds and no moon out. It affects Ernie more than it does me as I have low light vision and am seeing everything in black, white, and grays even out in the field. We'll get a little more light and be able to see inside the fence when we're walking due to the lights from the fair. I hope it doesn’t rain, but we're sure to get a pea soup fog around midnight. The fair closes at eleven, so hopefully most people will be home before it fully sets in and we’ll be long gone.
On our left is the fair with all the noise and lights. We can’t see much of anything going on in the park as the view is blocked by the big trailers and tents that are put up around the perimeter of the fairgrounds. We're taking our time and trying not to make much noise. Part of doing a good patrol is not letting the bad guy know you're there before you can get a look at what they are doing. We're pretty well backlit by the fair to anyone on the outside, so I’m expecting any action to come from our left. The only way we're going to surprise anyone is by catching them going in or out of the fence.
I spot a single car a few hundred yards out, but don't see any people. There's a back road over there that runs parallel to the main road heading into and past the fair that will take you to Emeryville and it's not uncommon to find abandoned cars on this side of town. I don't see anyone out there, so I'm not going to worry about it.
"Hold up," Ernie says, putting his arm out across my chest.
Nova Academy: A Superhero & Supervillain Novel Page 3