Upbeats 2: Crime After Crime

by Erin Sheena Byrne

  Chapter Ten

  "I have an idea," I said, my voice wavering with the anticipation.

  "I'll make a card to commemorate the occasion," Ned mumbled.

  I reached my arm across the room and smacked him on the side of the head. It wouldn't have hurt him: he was, after all, invincible.

  "What's your idea?" Luke asked, sounding like a parent breaking up a feud between two kids. He got up off the couch and stood, leaning against the cave wall, crossing his arms.

  "Well, I was thinking, yesterday, when Robyn and I saved that bus and we got swamped by journalists; they asked about a million questions. And our story got all over the news, all over the world—"

  "Yeah, I saw the report on the seven o' clock news," Ned said. "You nearly let the bus fall... I saw."

  I ignored him. "Just about everyone on this planet has heard that story by now," I continued. "Everyone knows heroes exist..."

  "I'm not so sure that's a good thing," Luke commented, frowning.

  "Just hear me out. We all know how Gemini got away from the Intergalactic Police people and we know he's still out there, plotting his next scene to destroy humans. We need to find him. And, I'm pretty sure Gemini knows he has a band of superheroes after him... and I'd like to bet that he'd do almost anything to find us.

  "Therefore, this is my idea: we draw Gemini out by getting into news headlines all over the world! Whenever there's a crime, we'll be first on the scene. Whenever there's a disaster, we'll be the first ones there. Whenever somebody shouts for help, we. Will. Be. There. And no one will ever know it's us because we've got our masks!"

  Ned jumped up and clicked his fingers, indicating he had an idea, too. "Oh, and for extra security, we can come up with superhero names!"

  "I don't know if that's such a fantastic idea..." Luke said. "We might draw Gemini out but..." he trailed off, lost in thought. He frowned and crossed his arms again. He looked out the entrance to the cave and gazed at the tall trees.

  I bit my lip, waiting to hear what Luke had to say. I doubted he liked the sound of my idea.

  But it would work! Gemini would see or hear the reports easily: they'd be all over the news, television and radio everywhere he went. There was no way he could miss it.

  And when he heard about heroes, he would immediately know it was those five kids who foiled his last plan to destroy the human race.

  I didn't know exactly how Gemini would make himself known, but I was positive he would try to get rid of us. We were, after all, the biggest threat to his plans, whether he liked it or not.

  It seemed as if everyone in the cave was holding their breath. (Okay, perhaps not everyone: System didn't follow everything we humans went on about half the time.)

  Luke started pacing, up and down, wearing in the cave floor.

  I wanted him to like my idea. It wasn't often I worried about what others thought of me, but I considered it the greatest seal of approval if Luke Rosenhart liked my idea.

  After an agonizing five minutes, everyone came to the conclusion that Luke needed more time to think this over. So, we stopped holding our breath and went back to our usual activities.

  Robyn left her spot on the floor and took up residence on the sagging, floral couch. She stared at a comic book on the coffee table and concentrated, hard.

  The book slowly, wonkily, lifted off the table. Suspended in mid air, no strings attached, it was a marvel to behold.

  It slowly crawled through the air, as if an invisible hand was holding it in the air. It hovered for a second and then fell into Robyn's hands.

  Ned was exercising his power, as well. He couldn't really exercise his invincibility, but his strength he could. He got off the beanbag he had been casually sprawled on and bent down by the floral couch. He placed his hands firmly underneath it and then, with a minimal amount of huffing and puffing, lifted it up. Robyn jerked and let out a yelp of surprise, which made nearly Ned lose his hold and drop the couch.

  "Do you mind just staying still?" he said, his voice straining.

  Robyn giggled: she was enjoying herself.

  A transparent, glittery blue mist was left in place of where Smithy had been standing. He teleported from his shadow by the cave wall onto the couch, next to Robyn. The extra weight, even though it was minimal, was just a bit more than Ned could manage. His arms gave way and the couch came clattering down, but not before Smithy had grabbed Robyn's hand and teleported her to the other side of the room.

  All that could be seen of Ned was his arms and legs, sticking out from under the couch, kicking and flapping around like a trapped spider.

  Any normal kid would have suffered bruising, internal bleeding, and possibly some majorly damaged organs. But Ned was invincible and therefore remained unharmed.

  Of course, his power did nothing to stop him getting annoyed.

  "My life stinks!" came Ned's muffled grumbling.

  I'll admit I laughed.

  And I couldn't help myself: I snuck over, as if it mattered that Ned heard me, and jumped up onto the couch.

  Ned groaned even louder.

  "Get off, fatso, whoever you are!" he pleaded. "Pleeeaase!"

  "Who you calling 'fatso'?"

  "Brooke, I swear, as soon as I get out of here, I'll..."

  "You'll do nothing, that's what you'll do," I smirked, though he couldn't see it.

  Ned's legs and arms thrashed, kicked and went crazy. "Get off, I command you to leave this couch, Elastic Girl!"

  I didn't like the name. So, even though I had been considering leaving the couch, I had to stay.

  "Okay, okay, break it up, children," Luke said. A smile he tried desperately to swallow appeared on his usually serious face.

  Luke paused mid-pace, came over and shoved his arms into the couch. He reached in, grabbed Ned by the shirt collar and pulled Ned through the couch.

  (I had no idea Luke could do that.)

  Ned was giggling as if someone had tickled him with a packet of feathers. "Luke, bud, no offence, but I seriously don't like it when you pull me through stuff with you. It feels weird. Don't do it unless you really have to."

  Sometimes, it seemed like everyone's powers were cooler than mine.

  Sitting on the couch, I reached out my right arm and grabbed a can of soda on the other side of the room.

  It's not a bad power. I mean, I could have one of those terrible powers like super burp or something else gross.

  And a lot of people wish they could stretch and reach things on the other side of the room. Mostly lazy people who just want to sit and watch TV and not get up but some busy people, too.

  But molecular density control, mind reading, teleportation, shape shifting, strength... they all seemed a ton cooler because I didn't have them.

  My power wasn't crummy. I knew it was useful and I tried to look on the bright side.

  There were things about stretching that I had discovered and liked. It continued to amaze me how, when stretching, my clothes stretched with me.

  I was tempted to ask System about it but I could barely keep up with his explanation of Amepips.

  For about two hours, System fiddled around with the computers, laptops and other software and hardware that would make the greatest scientific minds in our world widen their eyes. He was scanning for alien signals, and had found none.

  Luke, though, was still pacing up and down, holding his chin, thinking.

  The suspense was killing me: I wished he would say something and either put down my idea or tell me he liked it.

  Eventually, an exhausted Luke flopped down on the soft couch and yawned. It was getting darker outside by the minute. "I think it's time we started heading home," Luke announced, mid-yawn.

  Well, when he started yawning, it set the rest of us off.

  We all yawned in unison.

  "But what about—?" I started but was interrupted.

  System stopped fiddling with some computer guts and looked up at us. "Oh, I just remembered something," he said, shocked
that he had forgotten.

  "What?" Luke asked, nearly falling asleep.

  System pulled out a small crate out from under the coffee table. He lifted off the lid and revealed a dozen watches of different makes, shapes and colours.

  "Here," he said, simply.

  "You raided the Watches 'R' Us shop?" Ned quipped.

  "No, I found these in huge containment vessels called 'Dumpsters'," System explained.

  "Well, no offense, System, but I already have a watch," I said. I tapped the round, smooth face of my wristwatch in indication. "And this one works."

  "Yes, granted, I'm sure you all have your own primitive time-telling devices—"

  "Hey!" Ned exclaimed, indignantly crossing his arms.

  "—but these have some... modifications."

  "What modifications?" Luke asked, examining a watch that looked similar to his own.

  "I combined primitive cellular phone technology with these time-telling devices so that you will be able to track each other."

  "And tell me: how is that a good thing?" I asked.

  System shrugged. "Don't you want to know where each other are at any given time?"

  Ned poked the face of the watch he had strapped to his wrist. "Is there any way to turn this thing off?"

  System picked up a smaller, pint-sized watch. Obviously, that was his watch.

  "I also equipped each 'watch' with a Morse code transmitter. I believe this is a code all humans learn and understand..."

  "I didn't," I said.

  "Uh-uh, me neither," Luke agreed.

  "Nada," Robyn pitched in.

  "Come again?" Ned said.

  Smithy, though, said nothing.

  We all, slowly, turned to stare at him.

  "No, you don't seriously know Morse code... do you?" Robyn shook her head, slowly, disbelievingly.

  Smithy shrugged as if it were no big deal. "'Course I do."

  "You are a guy of many mysteries," Robyn laughed, lightly.

  "Sue me," he said.