by David Bruno
Coach Stevens grinned and held his arms out from his sides. “It’s okay. I’m a friend.” Then he vanished, right in front of their eyes. The three men gasped, but they continued to hear his voice. “I’m a freak! I just bent the light around my body. I’m still here.” Then he reached out with his invisible arm and grabbed Benny’s glove which seemed to disappear with the coach’s touch. Benny jumped to his feet and looked around. Moments later, the teacher reappeared with a laugh.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but you’ve got us wrong,” said JB, rattled by the display. “These are just boys trying to learn a skill.”
Joe turned his head and vomited on the floor.
“Looks like Joe has a concussion. Better get him to a doctor,” Coach Stevens said to JB. He sighed. “Why don’t you give this place a chance? I can help these boys, maybe you too, if you’re gifted.”
JB replied stiffly, “I don’t think any of us are gifted.”
“Well, at least Benny is. I saw him change color and instantly have the strength of ten kids his size.” Coach Stevens turned to Benny. “What do you say, Benny? I can teach you how to use those powers, and useful defense skills on top of it.” He smiled at Benny and held out his hand.
Benny paused for a moment and shook Coach Stevens’s hand. His father looked on, still trying to grasp what was happening.
Coach Stevens saw JB’s bewilderment and softened his tone. “Why don’t you take care of Joe. Come back tomorrow and we’ll work out a special lesson plan. I would also like to introduce you to a doctor who has been helping me for years with my skills, Dr. Charles Huang.”
After thinking for a moment, JB reached out and shook Coach Stevens’s hand. “Okay. I’ll give it a chance. But if I get a whiff of any exploitation of these boys or anything else I don’t like, they’re out of here and the police will be ushered in.”
“I get it, Mr. Brown. It’s not like that in my gym. All kids get the respect they deserve. It’s just that Benny has a gift. He would benefit from being taught by someone who understands the burden of such a gift.”
*****
The next day, JB, Benny, and Joe went to the gym after classes. The sign on the front read that the gym was closed for a special event, which they thought might be a convenient way to keep prying eyes away from demonstrations of superpowers.
Only Coach Stevens and Mr. Jamison were at the gym.
The coach smiled at the boys. “Okay, gentlemen, your decision to come here today might just be the best decision of your lives.”
As the boys went to the locker room to change, Coach Stevens addressed JB. “Thank you, Mr. Brown. I do think that Benny may be the only one among you with powers.” He gazed at JB. “I see the concern and fear in your eyes. Rest assured, I have the best intentions to help your son. He’s not the first I’ve helped. I try to engrain in my gifted students the value of anonymity. In this current political climate, it’s better for us to conceal our identities while at the same time using our abilities for good. Those people you see on TV aren’t my students. When my students do good works, usually nobody notices. It is better nobody knows, or to let others take the credit. In my case, I can sneak in and out of situations unobserved. Benny cannot. He’s super strong, and people will notice. He may have other powers as well. It’s my intention to unlock those powers and help him use them responsibly.”
This was precisely what JB needed to hear. Raising Benny without Jenn was hard enough. But him having superpowers was frightening. They were life altering for Benny—for both of them. He nodded at Coach Stevens and the two men went into the combat rooms, as the practice rooms were called.
Coach Stevens stopped JB as they saw the two boys emerge from the locker room. “Mr. Brown. One more thing. Please don’t tell anyone what you know about my abilities.”
“Of course.”
Coach Stevens approached Joe, moving him out of earshot from Benny. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, a little. The doctor said I need to take it easy for a while.”
“I agree. That’s why you’ll be focusing on light calisthenics, weights, and some basic non-contact training for a while. Benny will be tested much harder. We want you to be here to help support your friend. If I understand his powers, he’s going to grow quickly and be much more capable than perhaps any of us. I don’t want you getting jealous. He really needs a good friend through this, and I hope you will be with him at each lesson. Of course, you will learn a lot too with Coach Jamison over there and grow in skills, albeit at a much more normal rate.” Coach Stevens stared into Joe’s eyes as he explained the magnitude of what Benny faced. “Agreed?” He held out his hand to shake with Joe. “Good man.”
A slight Asian man walked into the room and introduced himself to JB as Coach Stevens began the boys’ training. “Hello, Mr. Brown. My name is Dr. Charles Huang. I’m a physician, and one of my specialties is working with individuals with superpowers. I’ve helped several, including Coach Stevens there. There are various physiological differences in the bodies and development of gifted people. If you are in agreement, I would like to help Benny, and you.”
JB looked at Dr. Huang, unsure how to respond.
Dr. Huang hastened to continue. “There is no cost to you. I do it on my time. I understand society’s discomfort with superpowers and will keep everything confidential.”
The two men looked on at Coach Stevens working with Benny. The instructor seemed skilled at the arts and in working with kids. This pleased JB as he looked on.
“Okay, Dr. Huang. I would appreciate your help.”
“Wonderful. Let’s look in on the training. Coach Stevens is a terrific instructor. You’re lucky to find him. He’ll first test Benny to find the limits of his powers. Oh—by the way, I do not have powers.”
“Okay, Benny. Go ahead and hit this bag,” instructed Coach Stevens. Benny punched the bag using the new techniques he had just learned. It was comically uninspiring. Benny was a small, skinny kid with little muscle mass. “Stop. You’re making me sad. Do you remember how you got your super strength?”
“Well,” Benny thought. “It has only happened twice. Both times, it happened after I was hit by someone else.”
“Maybe that’s the key. I’m going to strike your shoulder and see what happens. If you power up, hit the bag as hard as you can.” Then, Coach Stevens lightly struck Benny on his shoulder, nearly knocking him over. JB jumped to his feet at the sight of a man striking his son. The coach noticed and held up one finger to JB to ask him to wait a moment.
Benny was unhurt but immediately turned a curious shade of pink and started to sweat. He ran over to the bag and punched it as hard as he could. The 150-pound bag swung nearly ninety degrees.
“How’s that, Coach?” Benny asked with a smile, his lungs panting for fresh air. Within moments, his skin color returned to normal.
Coach Stevens smirked. “That was impressive, Benny. Looks like you can absorb kinetic forces, amplify them, and redirect them back at something. You have no idea how rare that is. In all my years, I have only seen something like this once before. How did you get it?”
Benny shrugged. “I don’t know. Just born with it, I guess.”
“Lucky you. I noticed that your skin turned pink. I have an idea.” Turning to JB, he said, “Mr. Brown, may I strike your son again, much like before?” Benny nodded to his father. JB exhaled and returned a nod to Coach Stevens. He didn’t like the idea of someone striking Benny. But the results were astonishing and Benny wasn’t hurt. “As before, if you power up, hit the bag, not me.” Seeing Benny’s recent displays of strength, Coach Stevens was genuinely concerned about the repercussions if Benny were to accidentally hit him.
“Sure.”
With JB’s permission, Coach Stevens struck Benny repeatedly. JB stood up again in protest. “Okay, enough!”
Dr. Huang grabbed his shoulder, instructing him to sit. “If Coach Stevens is hitting Benny, he has a good reason. Let this play out.”
“Benny, your flesh is getting hard, like steel! It hurts my hands even through my gloves. Do you feel any of this?” asked Coach Stevens as he struck Benny over and over. Each strike on Benny was harder and harder. Normal people, adults included, would be flat on their backs if struck with such force. The coach relented, having unleashed everything he had at Benny. Benny, now immune to the assault, simply shrugged off each of Coach Stevens’s powerful strikes. “Okay, now it’s enough. Unload, Benny. Do it!”
Benny’s flesh was bright pink as he walked over to the bag. With one mighty strike, he hit the bag with such force that it broke off the chain and flew across the combat room to the brick wall on the other side. After the release of the energy, Benny fainted onto the floor.
A minute later, Benny sat up, surrounded by everyone. “Wow, Coach. I’m starving.”
Coach Stevens smiled broadly. He had successfully opened the doors for Benny’s future, safely, among friends. The coach had confirmed what he suspected. Benny was special, a prize student. “Benny, you’re amazing! That’s enough for today though. I think I know how to train you. The more you practice, the stronger you’ll become, and the more you’ll be able to control your power without passing out. We can’t have you fainting each time you hit something hard. Why don’t you go out and get a bite to eat?
Benny’s father called for some take-out pizza so he, Benny, and Joe could eat at home. He wasn’t interested in talking about the training at a restaurant and inadvertently mentioning Benny’s superpowers only to have someone eavesdrop on the conversation. You could never tell if the eavesdropper was friend or foe.
*****
From his car across the lot, Max watched the guys and Dr. Huang leave the gym. He needed to learn more about Benny. Was the eighth-grade incident truly the result of superpowers or was it an exaggerated accident? If it was superpowers, he would have a candidate to trade for Vanessa’s life. He needed to know for sure.
As he opened the door to the gym, he quickly noticed that there was nobody there. The gym was silent but the door was unlocked and the lights were on.
Hmm. I know there were people here, he thought. Max searched for clues about Benny. He looked for registration records, description of powers, anything that would provide some additional information, but found none. The instructors were professionals and had concealed any evidence of Benny’s training. Worse for Max, there was nobody there to coerce into providing information to Max and the Agency. Having seen them leave with his own eyes, he knew they’d been there. Max left the gym empty-handed and confused.
Reappearing, Coaches Stevens and Jamison discussed what they had observed from Max’s espionage attempt.
“Clearly this Benny kid is someone special. I don’t like that someone is tailing him. For once, your paranoia paid off and that guy didn’t find Benny’s records. Should we tell Mr. Brown?” asked Coach Jamison.
“Not yet. I don’t want to scare him into pulling Benny from his training. Let’s keep an eye out for this guy. If he gets too close, we’ll have to take care of him. You’re right though. Benny is definitely special.”
*****
EVENING — A FEW DAYS LATER
“Alright, Mr. Brown,” said Dr. Huang. “The results of your son’s MRI have been analyzed. It looks pretty normal overall—except for one thing.”
“What’s wrong?” asked JB as he sat next to his son in Dr. Huang’s office. His heart pounded. This was all too much. Not only was his son capable of fantastic strength and turning himself into an armored tank, now the doctor had found some type of anomaly in his physiology?
“It’s not necessarily something wrong, but Benny has an extra organ. Take a look at this.” He showed the results to Mr. Brown. “It’s sandwiched next to the pancreas and liver. I would like to run more tests, but I think this organ is responsible for Benny’s powers. It must act something like a battery or amplifier of some kind.”
“Okay, doctor. But I can’t have Benny here every day. What do you need?”
“I understand. I would like some blood tests and some tissue samples. We don’t have to get the tissue today, but it would be good if I can get some blood.”
JB nodded. “Alright. Go ahead.”
Dr. Huang prepared a needle and pushed it into Benny’s flesh. He pushed harder than normal, figuring that Benny’s flesh would be tougher than most normal teenagers’. The needle snapped without entering Benny’s skin.
“Oh, my. That’s interesting,” commented the surprised doctor. “Looks like I accidentally activated your power. I see you turned slightly pink. Are you powered up?”
Benny frowned. “I don’t think so. If I am, it’s just a little bit; I don’t feel funny.”
“Okay, then. Let’s just wait for your skin to return to normal and we’ll try it again. This time, I’ll go gently.”
A few minutes later, Benny returned to normal and the doctor carefully extracted Benny’s precious blood for his research. This time, there were no unforeseen consequences.
“Thanks for your help, doctor. I’m sure it will help Benny and me to understand what’s happening to him and how I can help him grow up to be the man I know he can be,” JB said. Having seen Benny’s progress in such a short time and his increase in focus, JB felt better—more accepting of Benny’s changes. He wasn’t as concerned about Benny, only with what he would have to face in society at large. JB put his arm around his son and patted his shoulder.
“You’re very welcome. As promised, your secrets are safe with me.” Dr. Huang smiled and shook hands with Benny and his father. “Have a good night, guys. I’ll call you if I learn anything special. See you soon and we can take a few tissue samples. Keep up with your training, Benny.”
From his car, Max observed Benny and his father departing from the medical center. When they were gone, he went into the office. Maybe this time, there would actually be someone there to listen to his proposal.
Dr. Huang gasped and jumped back when he saw that someone had entered his office this late in the evening. “Can I help you?” he asked with trepidation. “We’re closed. Come back tomorrow.”
“Relax, doctor. My name is Max. Your patient, Benny Brown, is like family to me. I need some information about him. It’s for national security.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who’s Benny Brown?”
“Don’t play games with me, doctor.” Max pulled out his sidearm and pointed it directly at Dr. Huang’s face. “Let’s talk.”
Dr. Huang froze. He had never before faced the business end of a .45. “Umm, I don’t know anything, I swear.”
“I think you do.” Max smiled as he returned his sidearm to his concealed holster. “All I want is for you to share with me any information you learn from studying Benny Brown. That’s all. You like to share, right?” Max played the part of a thug well, although he hated these strong-arm tactics. But they were for Vanessa. He would march through perdition’s flames to save her.
Dr. Huang remained silent and stared at Max. He didn’t know what to say.
“Cat got your tongue, doctor?” Max asked as he slapped Dr. Huang in the face. The doctor reached for a scalpel. Max saw the feeble attempt and easily grabbed the doctor’s arm, taking the knife.
“Tsk, tsk, doctor. Violence won’t solve your problems. I just want information. I’m sure Holly and the kids would appreciate your cooperation,” Max said in an obvious threat to the doctor’s family. “I know you love them and would do anything for them. Would it shock you to know that I’m doing the same? They’ll remain healthy as long as I get information.”
Dr. Huang nodded, his knees buckling under the weight of what he’d agreed to.
“See? That’s all it takes. I’ll surveil Benny and call you regularly for information. If you don’t take my calls, lie, or hold back information, your family will suffer. Oh, and don’t bother calling the cops. My associates are far above law enforcement.” Max departed the office, thoroughly disgusted with himself. How
can I be any better than Jeff if I act just like him?
CH 11
DADDY’S GIRL
2016: SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
Vanessa packed up her belongings for school. She had grown into a beautiful twenty-year-old woman, owing her looks to her mother. Her svelte figure, long blonde hair, and deep blue eyes made her a target for the hormone-infused men in school. It was to be her third year of college and she had little time for them, only her studies. She studied biology, much like her father, the scientist. But that had been years ago for him.
Not long after he broke his knee, Max told Vanessa that he’d quit the Agency to become a photographer. He said it was a lifelong passion of his and that after the death of Victor the genetic sciences were too much of a burden. Besides, seeing what Vanessa had to endure to garner control of her powers had driven him to the conclusion that he needed to simplify his life and take care of his daughter. He set up a studio specializing in family and student photos as well as the occasional landscape calendar shoot. It was a plausible alibi for when he needed to keep an eye on Benny.
In spite of his flaws, which were legion, Max was still an American. He had become wrapped up in the nightmarish world of eugenics, genetic manipulation, and fascism due to his own naivety and cowardice. There was no easy way out. He’d tried to leave and now walked with a permanent limp. He decided that if he couldn’t get out, he would focus his efforts on keeping Vanessa from being dragged in. Throughout her schooling, he’d made sure to educate Vanessa in real American history, not just math and sciences. He didn’t want her to make the same mistakes he’d made. She would not so easily fall for such evil, even if it was wrapped in a pleasing package. This became his one true goal in life, and he was determined to protect her. Now, his little girl was halfway through her bachelor’s degree in biology and was even considering some type of medical profession. He couldn’t have been prouder.
“Dad, I’m all packed. I’ll call you when I get there. Love you.”