“How about you Pam?” I ask as we cross a street.
“No one in particular. But...” Pam says and smiles.
“Ooh, yeah?” I urge her as we head past the old church building.
“Stuart’s kind of cute, in a geeky way.” Pamela says.
“Stuart’s really cool.” I say in approval.
“Paul and I did it last night.” Beth says bluntly.
“What?” I blurt out in shock. “I thought you two weren’t serious.”
“We’re not.” Beth says and gives me a funny look, which I return, plus interest. “What? Don’t tell me you and Mr. Hunkypants haven’t thought about it yet?” Beth says with a smirk.
“Well, you would know.” I say and roll my eyes.
“What are you waiting for? It’s SO much fun.” Beth says gleefully and nudges me with her elbow as we walk.
“I’m waiting for the right time.” I say heatedly. “I want it to be special. I’m not in a hurry.”
“Paul sure was in a hurry last night.” Beth says and chuckles.
“So, where’s this movie theatre?” Jessica asks and clears her throat.
“Hmm? Oh, it’s just up ahead. Not far now.” Beth says while chuckling to herself.
We find the AMC Theatre after a few more blocks. We buy our tickets and take our seats. I buy myself a large Coke, and suck on that while I think about what Beth said.
The truth is, I haven’t really thought about it for a while.
Of course, now I am. Thanks, Beth.
The movie, Love is the key, wasn’t too bad. If Miss Congeniality and My Super Ex-Girlfriend had a love child, this movie would be it. The woman who played the nutty police officer reminded me a lot like a younger Sandra Bullock, actually. It was fun.
As we leave the movie theatre, my cell phone starts ringing.
“I gotta get this.” I say and pull the cell from my new cream shoulder bag. It states number withheld. “Hello?”
“Hey there, Cosmic Girl. It’s Bill.”
“Hi, Bill. So, did they go for it?” I ask eagerly.
“They went for it. Meet me in two days, at the address I’m going to text you. Oh, and bring all of your friends, of course.”
“Of course. Thanks Bill.” I say and hang up.
As I check my cell, I notice a strange looking man across the street staring at me. He’s dark skinned and has a black goatee. He looks familiar somehow.
I’m about to say something, when my cell buzzes. I look down at the small screen, then look over at the man again, but he’s gone. I look up and down the street, but he’s nowhere in sight.
What was that about?
I check the text message again. Huh, Nevada?
Twenty Three
It’s just after ten O’clock in the morning, and I find myself once more in my Cosmic Girl costume, carrying a station wagon full of rowdy super teens. Music is blaring from the open windows as I carry the car through the air towards Nevada. I can’t help but feel a little uneasy. I thought I was banned from the state of Nevada.
“You think they really got E.T. on a slab in there?” I hear Paul ask.
“I doubt it, stupid.” I hear Beth respond and then chuckle.
“Who says we’re even going to Area 51.” I hear Mitchell say, clearly amused.
“A secret training facility, and it’s in Nevada? Come on, man.”
“It’s a military facility. Don’t do anything........stupid.” I hear Stuart say cautiously.
“Hey, we could get Georgia to touch one of the guards or something.” Paul suggests eagerly.
“I don’t think I want to know what they get up to.” I hear Georgia’s timid voice say.
“Aw, come on. It’ll be easy. I turn around and accidently nudge you into one of the guards, and you do your thing.”
Beth, slap Paul for me, will you. I think loudly. I hear a satisfying slap.
“Hey, what was that for?”
“Don’t ask me.” Beth says.
“But you’re the one who slapped me.”
“The lord works in mysterious ways.” Beth says in reply.
Then I hear Beth yelp and the car shifts slightly above me.
“I work in mysterious ways too.” Paul says with a mischievous tone in his voice.
Boys!
After an hour, I bank to my left at Beth’s instruction and start to descend. As soon as I’m through the clouds, I hear the roar of jet engines. I sure hope the deal is still on. I crane my neck to my left and right, and see two fighters, one either side, around half a mile away.
Are they our escort?
As they don’t act aggressive, I turn my attention to the ground below. Brown dirt and mountains that look like sand dunes are pretty much the only thing that stand out, everything else is just desert, with one road running straight through the brown landscape like a steel rod. Up ahead I see a mountain range ringed by a thin grey line that occasionally catches the morning sun and glints. From the brown dirt far below I see two green objects begin to rise up slowly. I check my flyboys, and they are starting to descend with me.
I maintain my grip on the station wagons front axle above me, as I descend gently from the blue sky towards our destination. The green objects begin to take shape as I get closer.
Two helicopter gunships, armed to the teeth, rise up, then turn around, pointing their guns away from me, then pitch forward as they move toward the mountain range. I look down and see a wire fence topped with razor-wire as our shadow passes over it.
As the ground becomes clearer, I notice a steel hangar door slide open, and a brown army jeep drive out. I fly us closer to the jeep, lower my legs and land gently.
I lower the station wagon, rear first, then turn around and feed the front of the car through my hands until the front tires touch down.
“Welcome to Area 51, Cosmic Girl.” A soldier says as he climbs from the jeep and salutes me.
“Hi, how are you?” I say and return his salute casually.
“See, I told you.” Paul says behind me as they begin to climb out of the station wagon.
“Follow me.” The soldier says and climbs back in the jeep. The driver turns the jeep around and they drive back towards the huge hangar door.
“Come on, guys.” I say and take off after the jeep at a relaxed pace.
Of course, boys being boys, they all floor it and get to the hangar door before the jeep has even made the turn. I roll my eyes and accelerate.
I drop to the ground near Mitchell and Beth, and wait for the jeep to catch up. The soldier is smiling as the jeep goes past us through the opening.
We head inside, and two soldiers in brown military fatigues are standing by the door on the inside. They close the hangar door as soon as we’re inside.
The jeep is still driving away from us, and I take in the view before me.
“Whoa!” I blurt out as I stare at the vastness of this place. It is pretty much a hangar, but boy, it’s the largest hangar I have ever seen.
From one end to the other it must be at least a mile wide, and probably two miles deep. Hundreds of large objects are dotted around the hangar, all covered by grey tarp. Soldiers and men in grey overalls stop and look over at us from one of the larger objects, which looks like some kind of aircraft. All I see is some wheels poking out from the tarp.
I turn my attention to the jeep as it continues to race away down the length of the hangar. I rise up from the concrete floor and fly after it. The others run after it, racing through the gargantuan hangar like giggling wraiths. The jeeps tires screech when it makes a right turn near a very large metal object encased in scaffolding.
I catch up to it and look ahead. There’s an enormous red door embedded in the hangar wall.
A white circle with a single dot in the center is the only thing that adorns the red door. The jeep screeches to a stop, and the soldier hops lightly out and marches over to the red door.
I land near the jeep and stride after him, as the others materialize and w
atch.
The soldier enters a combination on a keypad near the door. There’s a metallic click, then the soldier gestures towards the door.
“After you.” The man in brown military fatigues says.
I saunter over and pull the large red door open. The door is at least a foot thick, and solid metal. The hallway inside has a deep red carpet covering the floor, and the walls are painted black with a white stripe painted at waist height.
Well, waist height for these guys maybe. It comes up to my shoulders.
The hallway is well lit, but I don’t see where the light is coming from. I rise up from the carpet and hover down the hall, following the white stripe.
I hear the others laughing nervously behind me as we all head down the corridor.
“Hey, there she is.” I hear a familiar voice.
I hadn’t even noticed the room on my left when I hovered past it. Bill marches towards me from the room with a big smile on his face. He’s wearing a black suit, white shirt and a black tie.
“Hey, Bill.” I say, then turn and gesture towards my friends.
“Guys, Bill.” I say and gesture to him. “Bill, these are my friends.” I say proudly.
The only one not quite in costume was Ryan. He’s dressed in a black wetsuit with a black Zorro-type eye mask. He burns everything. Getting him a costume was gonna be tough.
“Welcome to these hallowed halls.” Bill says and gestures with his arms in a wide arc.
“Not many people get to see this place.” Bill says and grins when Paul chuckles darkly and rubs his white gloved-hands together.
“Do you have what I asked for?” I ask Bill and nod my head towards Ryan.
“We have something that might work. You, flame-boy. Go with this gentleman.” Bill says and thumbs to his right. A man with a short black beard appears in a white lab coat.
I turn and nod my head at Ryan. He shrugs and walks towards the man in the white coat.
“Have fun.” Paul says and chuckles.
“Everyone else, follow me.” Bill says, turns sharply on his heel and marches down the corridor away from us.
I fly after him, and hover in-step with Bill. “Everything ready?” I ask eagerly.
“You betcha. I hope you’re ready. These guys don’t like time wasters.” Bill says as he stops and looks at me.
“We need help.” I say as he locks eyes with me. I don’t flinch.
“Always happy to help a worthy cause.” Bill says, then leans back against the wall. The wall moves. Bill walks backward, pushing a section of wall away until another room is revealed. He chuckles at my surprised expression, steps around the section of wall and gestures with his hand to follow. He approaches a single white door and knocks. The door opens from inside and he steps through.
I follow him and discover a vast rectangular room, like a school gymnasium. Only this is no gymnasium. Numerous weapons lie neatly on two, four feet long metal tables at one end of the room. In the middle of the room stand two burly black men in green vests and black pants. They stand with their arms folded, and look at us coldly as we enter one at a time.
“Hello, what’s all this then?” Paul asks with a smirk.
“Practice. For real this time.” I say as I turn and look at them all. “We lack the skills necessary to take down Devlin and his men.” I say and then point at the two burly soldiers. “Here, is where we learn those skills.”
“But we can’t fight these guys. We’ll kill them.” Mitchell says worriedly. One of the soldiers smirks.
“We teach you the moves, nice and slow. Then you practice with each other. Okay, boy.” One of the men says.
“And the weapons?” Beth asks.
“Oh, those are just for fun.” The other soldier says and they both chuckle.
“Let’s do this.” I say and hover over to one of the hulking brutes. “Your student awaits.” I say darkly and lock eyes with him.
He looks over and points at Beth. “Your pretty friend in white can be your sparring partner.” He says. “Over here.” He orders Beth.
“You can call me Carl.” He says in a deep rumbling voice, and winks at Beth. “Now, stand like this, both of you.” Carl says and presents himself with his left side towards me. He moves his arm down his left side in a wide arc. “You present less of a target, this way. So face your enemy sideways like this.”
We both copy him and face each other side on.
“Good. Are you left or right handed?” He asks us both.
I’m right handed, so I raise my right hand. Beth raises her left hand.
“Okay, you present your left shoulder.” He says to me, then turns to Beth. “You present your right shoulder, okay?” We shift to the sides he suggests, then he demonstrates a few jabs and a right cross.
“The front arm will be your shield. You can also jab with it. The rear hand will be your main weapon. Remember to twist with your hips and pivot on your front foot. Put all you got into the swing. It starts at your feet, moves up your waist, up to your shoulder, then finally into your fist. Pow!” He demonstrates slowly first. Twisting his hips as he brings his heavily muscled right arm back, pivots on his front foot, then like a coiled spring, launches his right arm out with a twist of his hips. Then he does it real time.
Wow! He’s fast. That punch would have put most men in hospital.
“Got it?” He asks as he looks back at us.
I think we’re still in awe of his physique, as we stand and watch this amazing specimen of a man show us how to floor someone.
I nod silently, while Beth just stands there staring at his bulging arms.
We face off against each other and slowly jab at each other, while trying not to stare at Carl.
“Okay, now practice the right cross.” He tells me and places his hand up at my face height.
“I can’t hit you.” I say and smile at Carl.
“It’s okay. Go ahead.” Carl says.
I raise my fist to him, then lean down and punch the concrete floor. The floor shakes and I leave a dent in the floor. Then I raise my fist to Carl again to show only faint marks on my purple gloves.
“Wow. Cool.” Carl says and nods his head. “Okay, well, you just picture some dude’s face, and let rip.”
I practice while standing on the floor at first. I start slowly, and as Carl nods his head in approval, I start to speed up.
I picture Devlin’s smug tanned face.
Within a few minutes I’m letting rip with a right cross at super-speed, making a whipping sound when I pull my arm back each time. Then I rise up off the concrete floor and begin to do it in the air. I can still unleash a devastating right cross at full speed, and because I’m in the air, I can follow through, spinning on the spot, unleashing right cross after right cross.
I stop when I get dizzy and drop to the floor and stagger for a while as I wait for the room to stop spinning.
“Wow. That was amazing. Okay, you’re up.” Carl says to Beth while I sit down and watch.
We cover the basics, then once everyone has mastered these moves, they begin to teach us more interesting stuff.
Grapple holds, arm locks, sleeper holds, which were my personal favorites. I did the sleeper move on Paul, and had him blackout every time.
That was satisfying. I can’t wait to try that one out on Devlin and his cronies.
Once they were satisfied that we could handle ourselves in hand to hand combat, out came the weapons. Dodging bullets is a lot different from dodging stones.
First were the standard 9mm caliber handguns. They started us out at a hundred yards, then came in closer each time we successfully dodged one. Soon I was dodging bullets at point blank range.
It requires a great amount of concentration, so it does tire me out after a while. But this is one lesson that I can’t afford to slack on. The shotguns were interesting. They have a wider shot radius, so dodging them when you’re up close is more difficult.
As I got closer, I begin to grab the small balls of shot from
the air and drop them behind me, but there are so many, and it happens so fast that I have to focus twice as hard and move faster than I have ever moved before to stop them from hitting me.
Some do hit me at first, but I knuckle down and try harder next time. It takes me five attempts before I can do it without getting hit. I sit down after and take a breather.
I’m sweating bullets, no pun intended, and I’m breathing so hard I can taste blood. I sit on the concrete floor and watch as Paul argues with the guys about not using this powers to just stop the bullets.
“This is a physical exercise. We need you to be able to handle this without using your other gifts.” One argues with him, with his huge arms folded across his muscular chest.
“But that’s just it, I can use my powers to stop these. It’s easy.” Paul argues back.
“If you can handle this physically, then you can use your other gifts for other things. It might save your life.”
“Stop arguing and just do it already.” Beth says, exasperated with them both.
“Hey, is that an offer?” Paul asks and wags his eyebrows at Beth.
“Naughty dogs don’t get treats.” Beth replies, and while standing, bends over at the waist and adjusts her boot.
Cosmic Girl: Looking For Trouble: superhero series for young adults - Book Two Page 18
