Replication: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #6)

by Kevin Hardman

  The first order of business when I arrived was to take a shower. Having just come back from a mission that took place almost wholly underground (and involving a lot of dusty places), I felt a little grimy. However, it was nothing that soap and water couldn’t fix.

  Fifteen minutes later, after a leisurely – but not overlong – shower, I felt ready to go out. Now dressed in a pair of khakis and a navy-blue sweater, I teleported to the teen lounge area of Alpha League Headquarters.

  The lounge was a break room for members of the League’s teen affiliate that housed, among other things, dart boards, video game consoles, and a billiards table. Needless to say, it was a favorite haunt of many teen supers, including me and my friends.

  When I popped up, there were a fair number of people in the lounge, but not so many that you would call it crowded. But it was only early evening, and on a Friday at that – still lots of time for the place to fill up (which it probably would).

  My sudden appearance caused a few heads to turn in my direction, but didn’t really startle anyone. A couple of teens greeted me with a wave and I returned the gesture, all the while scanning the room for…

  There!

  Near the rear wall, striding towards a table at the back of the lounge, was my best friend, Smokescreen. I began walking in his direction, giving perfunctory greetings to several people that I knew as I moved through the room. By the time I reached him, Smokey (as he liked to be called) was already sitting at the table, which was square-shaped, with a chair on all four sides. I took a seat across from him.

  “Hey,” he said as I sat down. “That was fast.”

  “Huh?” I muttered, not sure what he was talking about. The mission, maybe?

  “Never mind – I forgot who I was talking to,” he stated with a self-deprecating shake of his head. “Anyway, here you go.”

  He pushed something across the table towards me – a bottle of soda. Now that my attention was drawn in that direction, I noticed that he had one as well.

  “Good timing,” I acknowledged, before taking a quick drink of soda.

  Smokey gave me an odd look and for a moment, I sensed confusion coming from him. However, it vanished a moment later as he leaned in.

  “So,” he said in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, “can you tell me about the mission now?”

  “Uh, sure,” I answered. His phrasing struck me as a little odd, but I quickly forgot about it as I telepathically reached out and gave him a quick overview of events.

  Although technically a telepath, I consider my abilities in that arena to be limited. While I can broadcast my own thoughts, I can only pick up the surface thoughts of others and anything they willingly want to share. True mindreading – being able to burrow into someone’s brain and ferret out information – is not really one of my gifts.

  That said, telepathic communication occurs much faster than actual speech, so it only took a few seconds to bring Smokey up to speed. Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have been discussing the mission at all. It was classified, and I hadn’t been debriefed yet. However, due to our playing a significant role in saving the planet a few times in the past, several of us teen supers – including myself, Smokey, and my girlfriend, Electra – had been given special clearances. Thus I wasn’t violating any rules by talking to him about the Dream Machine mission. (To be honest, he was probably the only teen in the lounge who even knew about it.)

  “Well,” Smokey said when I concluded, “sounds like you learned a lesson.”

  I nodded. “Yeah – stay out of subway tunnels.”

  Smokey grinned. “I was thinking more along the lines of keeping your eye on the ball.”

  “That, too,” I said noncommittally. “But trust me, I’ll stay totally focused from now on.”

  Smokey gave me a skeptical look. “Totally focused, eh?”

  “Completely, from this point forward. Nothing will get by me.”

  “Then in that case, you already know you’ve got inbound at eleven o’clock.”

  “What?” I mumbled, frowning.

  With a sly grin, Smokey subtly tilted his head towards the main area of the lounge. Looking in the direction indicated, I didn’t notice anything initially, but then drew in a sharp breath as I realized what Smokey was trying to draw my attention to – or rather, who.

  Vestibule.

  Chapter 4

  Vestibule was one of those people for whom life had seemingly pulled out all the stops. Born into a family of blue bloods, she’d known almost nothing but wealth and privilege her entire life. Moreover, she’d been blessed with classical beauty and an eye-popping figure, which she had parlayed into a successful modeling career. Last but not least, she had the rare ability of teleportation – a talent that had earned her a spot with the teen affiliate of the A-List Supers, who operated on the West Coast and were typically considered to rank second only to the Alpha League in terms of power and prestige.

  Upon seeing her, I let out a slight groan of irritation that caused Smokey’s grin to widen. Vestibule’s presence was not something I wanted to deal with at the moment, but it should have been expected.

  In the not-too-distant past, we had needed Vestibule’s help to save the planet. Her assistance, however, had come with a price attached: a date with me. But as luck would have it, I had been summoned to my grandmother’s homeworld before fulfilling that commitment. During my absence, however, Vestibule had apparently come by the lounge regularly looking for me. (Only a handful of people were aware of the fact that I was off-planet at the time, and she was not in the know.) Thus, the fact that she was here now shouldn’t have been a surprise.

  For a brief moment, I contemplated teleporting away (anywhere else would have been preferable), but then she caught sight of us and the opportunity was lost. A moment later, she was headed in our direction.

  She was dressed in a form-fitting, white-and-gray mini dress that was just long enough to reach an area that could – if one were feeling generous – be classified as her thigh. She also wore matching boots that came up just above the knee, and an unusual shade of metallic lipstick that would have looked odd on anyone else but suited her perfectly.

  She strutted towards our table like she was on the runway, effortlessly drawing the attention of almost everyone present. (All the males, anyway.) She certainly knew how to work a room. Seeing her approach, Smokey began to rise from his seat, preparing to excuse himself on some pretext. I told him to stay put; he stared at me for a second, then sat back down.

  When she reached our table, she took a seat without waiting for an invitation, then graced me with a smile that probably made most guys euphoric.

  “Face-to-face at last,” she said, eyes twinkling as she leaned back and crossed her legs. “You’re a hard guy to catch up with, Kid Sensation – even for a teleporter like me.”

  “I typically go by ‘Jim,’” I stated flatly. “And for the record, we’ve been face-to-face before, but you blew me off.”

  “That was on a previous occasion when I didn’t know who you were,” she clarified, referencing the fact that the face most of the world identified with Kid Sensation – a label the media had pinned on me – was not my true countenance. Thus, when she’d seen my “real” face, she hadn’t recognized me.

  I shrugged. “One of the hazards of cavorting with shapeshifters, I suppose. You never know when we’re around or when you’re dealing with us.”

  “Fair enough,” she admitted. “But I think you’ll agree that the last time we met – and I knew what you actually looked like – I didn’t do anything close to blowing you off.”

  I frowned, thinking back. What Vestibule was referring to was the fact that she had kissed me – purportedly for luck – during the prior crisis when she had helped save the world. It was an incident I would have been happy to forget about, had it not happened in front of my girlfriend, Smokey, and a score of other people.

  “Cat got your tongue?” Vestibule asked, bringing me out of my reverie. �
�Of course, if you don’t recall what happened last time, I’d be happy to refresh your memory.”

  She raised an eyebrow suggestively. At the same time, Smokey began to cough like something was stuck in his throat – an act that reminded both Vestibule and me of his presence. (He had been completely silent up to that point, such that I’d almost forgotten he was there.) Fortunately, he stopped after a moment, making it clear that he wasn’t likely to choke to death.

  “Sorry,” he rasped. “I think that last sip of soda went down the wrong way.”

  “Anyway,” Vestibule said, crossing her arms as she turned back to me. “You owe me a date.”

  “An outing,” I corrected, using my girlfriend Electra’s terminology.

  Vestibule waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever. You still have an obligation here.”

  “Which I plan to make good on tomorrow night,” I declared firmly. “Didn’t you get the invite?”

  “I did,” she answered. “But that’s not a date. It’s an event with tons of people.”

  “Well, if I were taking you to dinner, a movie, or a show, barring me renting out the entire venue, there would be lots of other people around. Tomorrow night will be no different, so it counts.”

  “The hell it does!” Vestibule practically hissed, leaning forward angrily. “First of all, you’re not picking me up, which is what I’d expect – even for an outing, as you call it. I’m providing my own transportation. Second, I’d anticipate at least being by your side, if not on your arm, when we do this, but I doubt I’ll see you for more than five minutes tomorrow. Third, I don’t envision your little lightning rod being anywhere around when you finally decide to man up and keep your promise.”

  There was silence for a moment as Vestibule and I sat there scowling at each other. She had just voiced the reason for her displeasure, plainly stating her case. In addition, I felt frustration rolling off her in waves. On my part, I didn’t care for the way that she was implying that I was trying to duck my obligations.

  “Ah, just to be clear,” Smokey said, breaking the silence, “a lightning rod doesn’t actually create electricity, as was implied. What it actually does is…”

  Smokey’s voiced trailed off as Vestibule gave him a withering look that would have felled an oak. Her expression made it clear that she wasn’t in the mood to entertain comments from the peanut gallery.

  “Fine,” I finally said, drawing Vestibule’s attention back to me. “You don’t like the arrangements I made for resolving this, so tell me how you see it playing out.”

  Her eyebrows shot up momentarily in surprise, and I could tell from her emotions that my comment had caught her a little unprepared. However, she recovered quickly.

  “Well,” she said, smiling impishly, “word on the street is that you took your little girlfriend to Paris a few months back.”

  Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “You’re kidding, right? You can’t possibly want me to repeat the same date with you.”

  Vestibule shook her head. “No, but it shows you’ve got imagination. What I want is for you to apply that same creative spark to our…” – she spent a moment searching for the right term – “…jaunt.”

  I chuckled at her choice of words, which elicited a giggle from her in return. In addition to its traditional meaning, “jaunt” was a term that was generally accepted as a synonym for “teleport” in the realm of science fiction. Vestibule’s use of it implied that there might be more to her than there appeared at first blush. (Plainly speaking, I had always considered her to be a bit vapid, but perhaps I needed to reassess that opinion.)

  “Alright, we’ll do it your way,” I acquiesced. “Tomorrow is out of the question, so how about Sunday afternoon?”

  “Sunday night would be better,” she replied. “But I’ll take what I can get. And who knows where the day may take us?”

  I didn’t respond to that directly, preferring instead to suggest we exchange contact info. (To be fair, Vestibule had actually written down her relevant information for me on a previous occasion, but Electra had taken possession of it almost immediately, and, well…enough said.) We were still in the process of entering our respective phone numbers on each other’s cell phones when I heard a familiar voice.

  “Please forgive me if I am interrupting, but I was hoping I could join you.”

  The speaker was Li, another friend and fellow member of the League’s teen affiliate. Unlike the rest of us, however, Li wasn’t human; he was an AI housed in an android body. That said, he looked like a typical teen and was ordinarily accepted as such (at least by me and my peers).

  “It’s fine, Li,” I said as Vestibule and I returned each other’s phones. “Have a seat.”

  “Yes, please do,” Vestibule added as she rose from her chair. “I was about to leave anyway.” She turned to me. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow, and we’re on for Sunday.”

  I gave a terse nod but didn’t say anything. In reply, Vestibule gave me a wink, then vanished.

  Chapter 5

  “Well, that was interesting,” Smokey said after Vestibule was gone.

  “That’s one way to put it,” I offered. “At least now I can finally put this ‘date’ thing to bed.”

  “You know, I would have been happy to let you guys speak alone,” Smokey assured me. “Why’d you tell me to stay?”

  “Because when I tell Electra what happened, she’s not going to be happy,” I stated. “I’m going to need a witness to back up my version of events.”

  “Your version?” Li said, sounding nonplussed.

  “Yes, my version,” I replied. “Which is basically that I don’t want this outing with Vestibule, and I’m doing it under protest.”

  “Electra knows that,” Smokey chimed in. “She also knows that you need to honor the deal that was made.”

  “Speaking of Electra,” Li said, “I assume that the lack of heated words while Vestibule was visiting means she is not here?”

  “She mentioned something earlier about shopping for a dress,” I answered somewhat sulkily. “Although I assumed she’d be back by now.”

  Smokey laughed. “What you really mean is that you thought she’d be so worried about you that she’d be waiting to make sure you made it back okay.”

  “Not exactly,” I protested, although Smokey had accurately picked up on my mood. “I just–”

  Still smirking, Smokey cut me off with a wave of his hand. “You’ve got a lot to learn about women. For instance, nothing interferes with shopping – not even boyfriends on deadly missions.”

  I chuckled slightly at that. He may not have been an empath or a telepath, but Smokey often displayed an uncanny ability to read the room.

  “If I might offer my own analysis, Jim,” Li added. “I think that Electra – being aware of your power set – feels little need to worry regarding your well-being. You have displayed on multiple occasions an innate ability to take care of yourself.”

  “Thanks, Li,” I said. His words, however, reminded me of an oversight on my part.

  “I’m sorry,” I continued. “I didn’t even ask – how did things go on your end today?”

  “Very well, thank you,” Li replied. “We encountered some issues, but nothing that jeopardized our ability to complete our assigned task.”

  I nodded. “Good to hear.”

  That was about as much as we could say in our current location. Li had been part of the team that had made a direct assault on Dream Machine’s main base. Being an android, he wasn’t susceptible to the AI’s power, which had made him – like me – indispensable to a certain extent. Moreover, it was also his first official mission.

  His group had obviously been successful in providing a distraction, and Mouse had relayed to me before I left that they were all okay. (The very fact that Li was here now was another indicator that things had gone well.) Still, he was my friend, and I suddenly felt bad that I had been so wrapped up in my own issues that I had failed to ask about the life-or-death mission
he’d undertaken. Thankfully, Li did not seem offended.

  “Anyway,” I said, getting to my feet, “I’ve got a million things to do before tomorrow night, so I need to get out of here.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Smokey stated plainly. “Not until you finish that soda.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “Do you know what it cost to get that for you?” Smokey asked, pointing at the soda bottle. “And you’ve barely taken a sip.”

  “It was free,” I countered, “from a fridge about fifty feet away, that’s kept fully stocked. Exactly what did it cost you?”

  “Time and effort,” Smokey said. “But it’s not about what it cost me, young man. It’s about the waste. Do you know that there are little kids dying of thirst–”

  “Alright, alright,” I cut in, laughing.

  Shifting into super speed, I grabbed the soda bottle, turned it up, and gulped down the contents in about a second.

  “Satisfied?” I asked as I placed the bottle back on the table.

  “Eh,” Smokey muttered noncommittally, but with a smile. “It’s a start.”

  I laughed again, enjoying the good-natured ribbing I was receiving. It made me mindful of the fact that Smokey and I really hadn’t had a chance to talk since I’d been back. Other than my immediate family and Electra, I hadn’t really made time for anyone lately, but I mentally made a note to remedy that situation at the earliest opportunity.

  I turned to Li. “What about you? Anything you need me to do before I take off?”

  Li shook his head. “No, but with respect to tomorrow night. Are you sure–”

  “You’re coming,” I declared, not letting him finish. “Both of you. No excuses.”

  “Hey, man, I’m looking forward to it,” Smokey clarified. “And it’s still okay for me to bring my plus-one, right?”

  “Of course,” I said with a nod. “Sarah will enjoy it.”