by Dave Nesbit
“Uh huh, well whatever you were talking about keep at it. It seemed to do pretty good with her.”
We walked out into the street and kept looking around. Down the street a bit we found an old junk shop and Shawn kind of lost his mind.
Not like he was suddenly having a seizure or anything. More like he had found an earthly garden of technical delights. He went from row to row looking at old radios, televisions and adding machines. Muttering as he went along.
“Dude, you're kind of worrying me here.” I said as I followed.
“Man can you imagine what I could do with all this stuff?” He said.
“You are aware that the school has a complete electronics lab for you to play with right?”
“Yeah, but a lot of the parts they have there are crap. These were made when shit was meant to last.” He popped the back off of an old radio. “See, this thing has real Germanium resistors.”
I nodded like I had a clue as to what he was talking about. “I know you want all this stuff but getting it back to school is going to be a trick.”
“True,” he looked at the owner. “Do you do deliveries?”
“Depends on what ya buy and where ya want it delivered.” The man answered. They talked over various items, and by the time they were done I had a feeling they'd be backing a loading truck up to the house for Shawn to make toys with.
We walked out, into the bright light of day with half an hour to make it back to our meet with Hamilton. “Now how exactly are you going to explain the truck that will be coming by?”
“I'll tell him it’s for research.”
“Well there is a degree of truth to that.” I replied. “What are you gonna make with it?”
“Good question. I was thinking something that would allow me to be more than just one of the guys in the R&D lab.”
“Like what?”
“I don't know, force fields, ray guns, you know, Mad Scientist shit.”
I nodded. “Seems about right to me. Might as well own the title of in house Mad Scientist.”
And that's when it all got intense. I heard muted popping noises as we turned off onto the main street. It took me a second to realize that what I was hearing was gun fire.
Looking up the street I saw a car screech up in front of a bank, and then several figures running out of the building with assault rifles.
Now I would have totally ignored that, and just hid like a smart person. Right up to the moment when one of the guys swung his weapon around and just fired down the sidewalk at the people on it. Not into the air, but deliberately aiming to hit people. Maybe it was his idea of a distraction, all I knew was it made me want to pull off all his limbs.
I reached out with my mind and felt the metal parts of the weapon then pushed them as hard as I could.
The weapon flew out of the guy’s hands, and he looked stunned.
My feet carried me closer as the other guys turned their weapons around looking for what could have caused that. With my mind I grabbed both weapons and mentally tugged them up violently. They flew about fifty feet into the air. In response they kind of stared at their hands stupidly.
Which is when I heard a crack of an object moving past my ear. The first guy had a pistol as a backup and was aiming at me. I felt it in my mind and sent the weapon moving back at his face. Effectively pistol whipping him with his own weapon.
As he dropped, the driver of the car seemed to get where this was going and stomped on the gas, spinning his wheels.
Then the car stopped. And I saw metal falling out from under the hood.
Turning my head up the street I saw Rachel walking from the other direction, her hand outstretched at the car. The car continued to fall apart as she worked her ability on it.
Now that it was obvious that this whole plan of theirs had headed south on them the assembled crew decided to leg it the hell out of there. I think they made it about fifty feet when a wall of flame sprouted up in front of them. When they turned, another one came up.
Ramon walked toward them. “Hey fellas, I think you're done for the day.”
One of them reached for an item in his pocket. Mentally I felt a nearby manhole cover and caused it to lift menacingly near his head.
“Seriously dude. I'd think twice about that.” I said as I came closer.
“Everybody freeze!!” Came a voice from behind us. Chicago's finest had arrived. Seeing as how I didn't really need to move right then I just kept my focus on the big piece of steel that was hovering near them. Ramon let the flames die down a bit. Just in time for Hamilton to come running up, holding up his Justice department ID.
“What the hell is going on here?” A cop with sergeant’s stripes on his sleeve yelled. He seemed concerned and nervous, which is never a good thing when you’re dealing with cops.
Hamilton sighed and shook his head. “It's gonna take some explaining.”
Chapter 14
Let’s see you try explaining to the cops that a group of well-armed bank robbers were foiled by a group of teens with superpowers. As you would expect we got held up on the street while the police took our statements and Hamilton looked on, seeming both proud and worried.
I also had a chance to see Lynn's powers up close for the first time.
It's one thing to know that someone on your team can heal injuries, it’s quite another to witness it happen. When Lynn saw the carnage caused by the bullets that half-wit had sprayed, she jumped in to help as fast as she could. Seeing her as she struggled to get to the wounded was amazing. It was like she was compelled to help, she had no choice. It was as if her body needed her to do it on a primal level.
Witnessing it happen, though, made me wonder.
Lynn walked up to a lady who had taken a bullet in the stomach. She lay in a rapidly growing pool of blood as she screamed. Lynn took the woman's hands in her own and closed them gently. As she did, the woman's eyes shut and she seemed to drift off to sleep.
As she did, Lynn's eyes turned black. Like, all black.
Soon I could see the flesh on the woman's stomach fold back into place. The wound fading away like a bad dream.
Until you looked at Lynn's face. It was transfixed by a mixture of pain and horror that was unlike anything I had ever seen. I wanted to jump at her and make her stop as her mouth opened like she was going to scream. No sound came out though, like her body was paralyzed by the sensations caused by what she was doing.
As the woman she was touching had her breathing return to normal, Lynn looked up at an EMT. “Who else can I help?” She whispered.
The guy wordlessly pointed to another victim. He had taken a round in the shoulder and was bleeding profusely. Lynn walked to him and repeated the same procedure; again that same look of pain and terror, her mind and body lost in what she was doing. In seconds the guy wasn’t bleeding and his flesh seemed whole.
I had to wonder what she was feeling as she did it. I respected her ability, but it made me consider what cost it made her pay for each life she saved.
She kept at it without so much as pausing. All in all, she healed five people. Only stopping when she was clearly exhausted. I walked to her, lifting her up to help her into to the van, and even then she asked. “Are there any more?”
Lynn was lost in a grip of an energy that controlled her. I cradled her like you would a baby. “No, you helped them all.” I said. “You did great.”
“Okay.” She said and basically collapsed in my arms.
I got into the van with her, she settled into my lap like a kitten that wanted a nap. Hamilton looked back at me. “Is she alright?”
“She’s breathing normally; I think she’s just exhausted.”
“Okay let's run her to the infirmary once we get back to make sure.” Hamilton said. Which made perfect sense; out of all of us, Lynn’s powers were the ones we knew least about. Especially in how they impacted her when they were used. Or at what point they might begin to harm her.
The drive back was quiet, we had met an une
xpected test and done remarkably well. As we drove, Rachel ran her hand over Lynn's hair. “We're gonna do a lot of this sort of stuff aren't we?” She asked quietly.
“Sure looks like it.” I said as we passed through the gates of the school. Heading past the house and to the infirmary.
“Something new to get used to I guess.” She said as the car stopped. At that moment I was taken with the certainty in her voice. No sense of doubt or questioning the why. Simply respecting the notion that we would. If you’d wanted my opinion then, I would have named her team leader on the spot.
When we arrived, two orderlies came out and helped us put Lynn on a gurney; then they wheeled her into the infirmary. We wanted to follow but the medical people made us keep our distance.
As she disappeared into the ER I wondered how long it would take for this to all get normal.
Chapter 15
It took them a while to figure out that Lynn was just exhausted. Hell, we were all feeling a little worn out from the experience. The feeling of adrenaline running out of our systems after it had amped it up to get us through a challenge. The idea that we had stood down a bunch of guys with automatic weapons hadn't really registered to us at that point. It's one thing to do it, but when you take minute to digest it it seems a little surreal.
Once we got home we all sat down in the living room and Ramon turned on the TV. Which was set to a local channel. Just in time to see us on the news! In an age of camera phones and handheld camcorders our little escapade had only been recorded by like fifty different people.
“Dude I don't think they got your good side in that shot.” Shawn said to Ramon.
“What are you talking about? Any side of me is a good side.” He laughed and tossed a pillow at Shawn. Ramon's resemblance to a certain actor having become a running house joke.
This was far from the first time someone had gotten footage of a person with powers in action. In this case though it was local, and the first footage of anyone at the school doing their stuff. That there had been several of us doing it at once only made it more appealing to the local news directors; who had all apparently gone a bit mad with the images they were getting.
As I was watching myself lift a manhole cover, my cell phone went off. Looking down I saw that the incoming call was from my dad. Standing up I walked out of the living room and out the back door to take the call.
“Hey Dad.”
“Jesus Christ; are you okay?” was the first thing he said sounding nearly breathless.
“It's all good, none of us got hurt and Lynn managed to help the wounded.” I answered
“Who’s Lynn?”
“One of my house-mates. She, uh, heals people.”
He sighed. “Look I know you and yours have all kinds of powers but those guys had automatic weapons. You could have gotten killed out there.”
I had to admit he had a point. Mind you I wasn't in much danger comparatively speaking, but the danger was real. I shuddered for a moment as I remembered the cracking sound of the bullet going past my head.
“You're my son.” Dad said. “It's my job to worry about you. I know you're a teenager and you're going to live forever in your mind, but please, for the sake of my blood pressure, be careful out there.”
“I will dad. I promise.”
“Good, now I'm gonna go meet your grandfather for dinner and brag about my son, the hero.” I could hear him chuckle on the other end of the line. “Don't make a habit of it.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up; I couldn’t help smiling as I walked back in. Looking to the living room, I saw the rest of the crew was watching the coverage of what happened and giving a running commentary.
“Hey Ryan. Ya gotta do something more dramatic when you make people's guns fly into the air.” Ramon said. “Maybe have a catchphrase or one liner.”
“I’ll work on it.”
“Jesus! We already have fan pages.” Shawn said looking up from his laptop.
“Seriously?” Rachel walked over, looking curiously at the screen.
“Yeah, they got pics of us and everything.” Shawn said as he called up a few of them.
I was about to check them out when Hamilton walked through the front door. “I sure hope you guys aren't getting into all this press coverage.” He said as he took in the scene in the living room. He looked a little worn by the day’s events.
“Well now that you mention it.” I said.
“I got a call from Washington and they're trying to decide whether this is a good thing or to throw a flinging shit fit.” He said and flopped down in a chair. It was odd to see a guy whose movements were usually precise and meticulous just flop down. For that matter this may have been the first time I heard him curse since we met.
“Which side do you think they'll land on?” Rachel asked.
“Publicly you'll get an atta boy.” He replied. “Right now ‘The Touched’ need as much good press as they can get. Most of the news we see about them is of people with powers finding new ways to commit old crimes.” He paused and checked his phone, which was buzzing. It must not have been too important, as he set it aside and continued. “So, for now, seeing people with abilities going out and fixing things is a good thing.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Ramon said.
Hamilton sighed. It was the sound of a man who was watching us miss something that to him was painfully obvious. “In case you missed it you're all really young. Seriously, none of you is old enough to vote. But Ryan can fly and break the speed of sound whenever he sees fit, Rachel can cause materials to simply fall apart, you can cause a napalm Alpha Strike at a moment’s notice and right now a truck is backing up here with enough spare parts in it to allow Shawn to make a Dr. Strangelove device.”
“Oh that stuff is here? Cool!” Shawn said and walked to the front door.
Hamilton sighed again as Shawn ran off. “Don't get me wrong, you are good kids; and what you did today likely saved a lot of lives. But you're teenagers with hormone issues, impulse control problems and an over active desire to do everything. My big fear is one of you is going to make a mistake and get yourself killed, or get someone else killed.”
“I guess we'll just train harder to avoid that.” I responded.
Hamilton grinned. “Good thing you said that, it’s exactly what the folks in Washington want you to do. They need to get some groups of “Touched” handling issues as they happen and you're one of the teams they selected.”
“Sweet!” Rachel said.
“Really? Let’s see what you have to say after a few weeks of this.” Hamilton said and stood up. “Seriously guys, I know the attention is cool. I get that having your faces on the web and TV can be addicting, but keep in mind that can all turn on you really fast if people decide to change their minds. If you're gonna do this, it can’t be to cover yourself in glory. It's gotta be because you want to.”
With that he walked out leaving us all a little sobered by what he said.
Well until Ramon looked at his fan page. “Man some girl says she'd do anything to meet me.”
“Anything?” I asked.
Ramon hit a link and a picture came up. The pose wasn't imaginative, but it did show all the points of interest. “I think she means anything.”
“You guys are going to lose your minds over this aren't you?” Rachel said shaking her head.
“Most likely. Or at least for a while.”
“Try not to break any major laws.” She said and walked up stairs. Grinning and shaking her head at the same time.
Chapter 16
Hamilton was not joking about our training picking up pace. That Monday our regular classes got cut back to the essentials, and soon we were working on getting comfortable with our new abilities at breakneck speed.
As much as I enjoyed flying any chance that I got. They wanted me to see if I could spread out my abilities in different ways. Ways that took a much more subtle form of control to make work.
Case in point. Today I was tryi
ng to feel air. Okay you can feel air when you move through it if you pay attention. I could make air carry me along magnetically when I flew, but this was a bit different. Now I was trying to feel air much like I would feel metal. People tend to forget that almost every substance on earth has a magnetic resonance. Now I was trying to see if I could pick up the resonance of the air and use it.
I took a deep breath and held the large ball bearing in my hand. It was made of stainless steel which made it easy for me to manipulate. With a thought, I made it levitate in my hand. Easy as pie. Then I aimed it with my mind at the target, an old mattress at the end of the testing chamber, which in this case used to be an old firing range.
Closing my eyes, I let out a deep breath and sent the ball of metal hurtling down the range. With my thinking clear I could feel the ball’s travel through the intervening space. As it passed through the space I let my senses feel the waves of disturbed air in the wake, and for a moment I could grasp and feel it.
I tried again, firing the ball down the range, and felt the waves of disturbed air, then grabbed those. You couldn't see it, but it made the paper targets at the end of the range dance.
“Not bad.” Dr. Ng said. “Try again.”
I sighed and grabbed another ball bearing. We had been at this for an hour. While I didn't feel physically tired, I did feel mentally wiped out. The effort it took trying to tune my mind to feel things differently was amazing. Imagine trying to catch a thousand strands of thread at once; it was kind of like that.
I reached out again and tossed the bearing with my mind; now feeling the overlapping pressures waves pushing the air around it.
Everything seemed to slow down. With my power I touched those waves of air and mentally pushed them as hard as I was pushing the bearing. The force of the blast of compressed air knocked all of the targets down.
“That was really good.” Dr. Ng read the results from the pressure sensors. “How comfortable do you feel with it?”
“I'm getting there. I can feel the patterns of the air.” I closed my eyes again. “Let me see how I can do without the bearing.”
