by Sybil Nelson
Just when I was about to completely flip, I saw two little blond heads run out of the gym at top speed. Charlie had something shiny in his hands. It wasn't until they came up to Tai and me that I realized what they had done.
"This is for you, Tai," Chester said as Charlie handed her the Queen of the Dance crown.
I saw tears in her eyes as she accepted it. My brothers may have been little devilish monsters who stole my stuff and occasionally threw poop in my face, but sometimes they were the greatest little brothers any girl could have.
Chapter 23: The Kiss
The twins and I walked Tai back home. I was glad I was able to bring a smile back to her face. She deserved to be happy. She was brilliant and beautiful, but sometimes she was so unhappy because she was adopted and didn't know who her real family was.
When we got to our street, Charlie and Chester took off toward our old house. They wanted to see it. I couldn't blame them. I missed our old house as well. I missed everything about River's Bend, especially Kyle. I wondered if I had time to go and see him. I looked at my watch. We really needed to get back to Missouri.
"You guys have ten minutes," I called out after them as I watched them run down the street.
When we got to Tai's house, Marco was there sitting on her front porch.
"Marco? How did you get here?"
"I took W's hovercopter."
"Why? What's going on?"
"I have to talk to you. I figured it out," he said standing and rubbing his hands together. I had never seen him this agitated over anything.
"Figured what out?"
"How you kidnapped the First Daughter. Well, not you...the person that looked like you."
I stared at him just waiting for him to reveal his discovery.
"Specimen Zero," he said finally. I scrunched up my face as I thought about that scary looking creature we met while we were in United Arab Emirates.
"Are you trying to say I look like that...that...thing?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying." He took a deep breath as if trying to gather his thoughts. "Look, remember what Xi said to it that night? She called him an 'evolutionary missing link.' So I started thinking about what she could have possibly meant by that. And then it just came to me. Evolution. Evolve. What if that creature can evolve into anything it wants?"
"Like a shape shifter?" Tai chimed in.
"Yes, exactly. That's why I thought he disappeared when the dog started chasing after me. He didn't disappear at all. He turned into the dog. Remember Xi said he was missing a few chromosomes, right? What if all it needs to take on a new shape is a DNA sample from its target."
"Like my hair," I said touching the spot where Xi had ripped the hair right out of my head.
Tai's eyes widened. "That makes perfect sense. He used your DNA to fill in his missing chromosomes and evolve into you and -"
"Kidnap the First Daughter," I said finishing her sentence. "But why me?"
"I didn't understand that either. It didn't come to me until I found out that you had snuck off to come to River's Bend. They want to trap you. Didn't you tell me that your dad created a failsafe in the basement of your old house?"
"Yeah, it shoots intruders, but it can distinguish between an intruder and a member of the family through...DNA."
Marco raised his eyebrows and nodded at me knowingly.
"Do you think the creature brought Elizabeth here to River's Bend?"
"That's why I'm here. Your dad says someone broke through the force field around your house a few minutes ago."
"Oh no! The twins!" How could I be so stupid? I shouldn’t have let them go to the house. Not with everything going on right now. What was I thinking?
I took off running to my house with Tai and Marco right behind.
Thankfully, the twins hadn't made it into the house yet. We found them in the backyard chasing each other around a tree.
Someone had been in the house recently I could tell by the muddy footprints on the back steps.
If there was a chance that the President's daughter was being held in my very own basement I had to go and be sure. I had to rescue her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she was killed in my very own house. That is exactly what they wanted to have happen. If she died, the US government would eventually track down my family and put us all away. Selliwood would know exactly where to find us. He would have his revenge on the Sumner family and the President's family with just this one act.
I grabbed the boys by the collars and knelt down to their level. "Boys, I need you to go back to Tai's house right now, okay?"
"But why, Priss? We want to stay with you," Chester whined.
"I think I should stay too, Priss. You may need me," Tai said. When did Tai get so brave? This was something new. Normally, she would be running for the hills or be on the ground in a fetal position or searching for some rocks to add to her collection. Maybe my little stunt with the eighth graders had boosted her confidence. Maybe she wanted to pay me back for helping her out with them.
I shook my head. "It's too dangerous, Tai. The aerial gun in the basement won't shoot me. It'll track my DNA. I'll be fine. Marco will be okay, too. His body will be able to withstand any blast. You, on the other hand, will be too vulnerable. I want you to take my little brothers to safety. Besides, it might be nothing. There could be no one in there."
Tai looked unsure. "Trust me, Tai." She looked back and forth between me and the house.
"Okay," she said grabbing the boys' hands. She practically had to drag them out of the backyard.
Marco and I approached the back door.
"On three," I said indicating that we would burst through the door.
"Priscilla, wait," he said grabbing my arm. But then he just stared at me.
"What?" I said after a few seconds that felt like hours.
"Forgive me, Priscilla, but there is something I must do," he said. He took a hesitant step toward me, and then paused.
"What? What is it?" I asked getting a little impatient. I had some serious butt to kick and I wanted to get started.
He took a deep breath, pulled me to him, and then covered my mouth with his.
It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. It didn't feel like a kiss at first. Not a real kiss anyway. It felt cold and clinical, like he was examining my mouth for tumors. But then something happened. Marco's lips turned soft and warm. I felt my arms reach for his neck and my fingers entwined in his thick dark hair. His arms went around my waist and he hugged me closer. I could feel his heart pounding against mine.
I felt weak and...a little nauseated actually. I wondered if that was because I thought about Kyle and how much I missed him. What was I doing? Why was I kissing another boy ...and enjoying it at that? Just when I thought I was about to pass out, he released me. In true Marco form he just stared at me silently. Then, without saying a word, he burst through the back door.
Then something happened that was even more unexpected than a random kiss from Marco. My body started tingling. But it wasn't like the kind of tingling you get after a kiss from a boy you're totally crushing on. I had to admit, I did really like Marco. I might even like him enough to date him or something one day. But what I was feeling at that moment had nothing to do with emotions. It was physical. Something was happening to my body.
I shook off the weird feeling and followed him into the house. By the time I found him, he had converted entirely to metal. There was definitely trouble awaiting us.
Chapter 24: Body Double
The door to the basement was still busted open from when I had to break in there a few months ago. The basement had always been completely off limits to us kids for my entire life. I had never been in there before. But when my family was kidnapped, I needed my mother's utility belt so I could uncloak the jet and go save them. Once I was in there the aerial gun tried to kill me until I started bleeding. The sensory floor read my blood type and realized I was a Sumner and stopped trying to shoot me.
&nb
sp; I peeked through the busted door. Sure enough, Elizabeth Gonzalez was tied to a chair in the center of the room. Her head hung forward as if she was sleeping. She was still in her school uniform.
Not ten feet way stood Specimen Zero still disguised as me holding one gun to her and another at his side.
I remembered how trigger happy he/she/it was the last time and I knew I had to be careful about entering the basement. One quick movement would scare it into firing at will and possibly kill Elizabeth.
Marco sent me a telepathic message. At the same time, we were going to leap into the basement. I would disarm Zero while he covered Elizabeth's body with his own just in case Zero got some shots off.
Moving quietly and hiding in the shadows, we entered the basement, and then simultaneously we leaped into action.
Zero saw us attack. It held up both guns. I was able to immediately melt one, but it was able to get off three shots from the other. Thankfully, I heard the familiar ping of bullets bouncing off of Marco's body. He was able to shield Elizabeth.
I tackled Zero. The gun flew out of its hands. It must have learned a trick or two from Xi because its hands went around my neck as it tried to strangle the life out of me. As we rolled around the basement floor I noticed Marco hadn't even bothered to untie Elizabeth. He just tossed her over his shoulder, chair and all, and headed upstairs.
Elizabeth tried to scream, but she was bound and gagged. She was probably scared out of her mind and completely confused. I mean from her perspective two versions of her kidnapper were rolling around on the ground and a metal dude was carrying her up the stairs.
Once they were out of sight, I was comforted by the fact that she was safe and could concentrate on kicking Zero's butt.
It was a little...confusing fighting someone who looks exactly like you. I had to ignore the fact that I was kind of punching myself in the face.
I secured my foot into its stomach and pushed so hard that Zero flew across the room. It barked and landed against the wall. Wait a minute. It barked? What kind of a creature was this?
I hopped up and had to do a quick back flip to get out of the way from its next charge.
I landed a front kick to its face, but then it grabbed my foot and twisted it to an awkward angle. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground. I punched its knee and heard a cracking sound. It yelped and released my foot.
This was getting old. I decided to end it...quick. I grabbed Zero by its legs, swung him around like I was doing the discus in the Olympics and tossed him against the wall. It landed with a thud. It was out cold.
"Are you alright, Priscilla? Do you need my assistance?" Marco asked, hustling down the stairs.
"Nope. Game over. I'm good." I said, walking or rather limping toward him. Zero must have sprained my ankle. "How's Elizabeth?"
"She is as well as to be expected. I tried to explain things to her but -"
"Let me guess. She's finding it hard to trust a talking statue."
Marco looked down at his metal body and nodded. "I'll try talking to her." I had to admit I was really looking forward to talking to the First Daughter. It would be like talking to living history. If I was still in school, it would be like an instant A in Civics class. Unfortunately, the history lesson would have to wait.
I noticed Marco staring at something in the corner of the room. "Is that a bomb?" he said.
I turned and followed his gaze. Holy homemade chili! It was a bomb!
Marco and I knelt in front of it. Thankfully the timer said ninety seven minutes. We had plenty of time to disarm it.
"What should we do?" I asked Marco.
"I don't think we should touch it. I bet Will Smith could handle this."
"How is he going to get here in time? You have his hovercopter."
"Good point."
We stared at the bomb for a few seconds. There was no telling how strong it was. It could take out just this house or the entire block. There was no way to know. We couldn't just leave it there.
"I think we should try to disarm it ourselves," I said.
"No way, Priscilla. We could blow ourselves up."
"Look, how hard can it be? They make it look so easy in the movies. It's always the red wire. I'll just cut the red wire." I reached for the bomb.
"Priscilla, don't!"
I wasn't actually going to do it. I know it's crazy to just start cutting wires off of a bomb. I was just making a suggestion. Okay, and I was trying to freak out Marco which was all too easy to do. "Gotcha," I said, smiling at him. He didn't find the humor in my little joke. I cleared my throat and said, "Let's call Tai, I bet she can figure it out."
Marco pulled out his iPhone from his pocket and handed it to me. Gosh, did everyone in the world have one of these things but me?
"She's on her way," I said after talking to her. When I handed Marco his phone, I heard a beep and saw a light on the bomb change from red to green.
"The timer just went from 95 minutes to 95 seconds. What the - " Before Marco could finish his question, Zero jumped on my back. It must have been able to activate the bomb with some sort of remote device.
Zero and I started rolling around on the ground again. "Get it out of here," I yelled.
"Way ahead of you," Marco said. He picked up the bomb and disappeared with his super speed. Hopefully, he could get it far enough away from town so that it could go off and not hurt anyone....including Marco.
I tried to focus on fighting Zero again. Our fighting skills were perfectly matched. It returned every punch, kick and jab that I sent out. Maybe it was because it was disguised as me. Maybe it could think like me as well. In any case, we could've kept fighting for hours. I needed help. That's when I noticed Tai enter the basement. She covered her mouth to hold in a gasp.
"Tai grab that gun and shoot this jerk," I told her referring to Zero's gun that was still on the floor.
She looked around nervously until she spotted the weapon. She hesitated before picking it up. "I can't," she said. "I've never used a gun. What if I hit you? I…I can't even tell you two apart."
Good point. Suddenly, I thought about Josh's vision. It could come true right now. What if she shot the gun and hit me instead. My stomach started to twitch. Then my arms and legs joined in with the twitching. No it was more than twitching. It felt like...no way. It couldn't be. I took a quick peek at my arm. It was converting to metal. That's why Marco kissed me. He had given me his powers just like he did to his dog before it was hit by the car. Tai could shoot me and it would bounce right off.
"Tai, listen to me very carefully. Shoot us both."
"What? I can't." Tai started crying. "What if I kill you?" She was sobbing now. "I can't shoot my best friend."
"Do it!" I yelled. "Now!"
Tai took the gun in her shaky hands. Through tears, she fired several shots. She had horrible aim but, somehow, some of them landed on me and Zero. Everything went black.
Chapter 25: The Break up
I didn't die or anything. Marco just severely underestimated the bullet bouncing thing. Sure the bullets bounced off the metal but it still hurt like crazy. It knocked me out for a few minutes. When I came to, Tai had untied Elizabeth and had brought her down to the basement and they both were standing over me. It took me a second to remember everything that had just happened. When I did, I jumped up and searched for Zero.
"He's gone," Tai said. She was hugging herself and shaking. "I...I shot him in the stomach. He reverted to his natural scary looking state then ran off like a wounded puppy."
I sat back down on the ground. I was still a little woozy from the impact of the bullets.
Tai and Elizabeth were staring at me with their eyes wide.
"What?" I asked, starting to feel a little self conscious. "Do I have a booger or something?" I touched my face and realized why they were staring.
"You're all metallic. Just like the other guy. What are you? Aliens?" Elizabeth asked. It was a pretty valid question. I couldn't imagine all the things probably runni
ng through her mind.
"No, we're not aliens. And I'm usually not metallic either, but I do have some...strange abilities."
"So, Marco must have kissed you, huh? He gave you his powers," Tai said, starting to relax. I guessed seeing that I was alright and had survived the bullets made her feel better.
I nodded. Once again, Marco saved my life.
"Wait a minute. Marco. Where is he?"
Tai shrugged. "No idea. I thought he was here."
"No. There was a bomb. Zero activated it. Marco took it away so it wouldn't explode here."
Tai and Elizabeth looked at each other.
"What?" My heart started beating rapidly. What if something happened to him? What if he didn't get rid of it in time?
"We heard an explosion about five minutes ago. Marco hasn't come back though."
"Oh my gosh. We gotta find him. What if he's hurt?" I stood up and started limping toward the stairwell.
"Priss, wait," Tai said.
"What?"
"Aren't you forgetting something...or someone rather?" She pointed to Elizabeth.
"Oh, right." Thinking of Marco's safety, I momentarily forgot about the First Daughter. I had to get her to safety as well. Any second, some of Selliwood's men could barge in, accuse me of being a terrorist and sweep her off while taking all the glory for her rescue. That's no doubt what they had planned. The bomb was a backup plan in case things didn't go exactly how Selliwood planned.
We needed to figure out how to get Elizabeth home without getting shot out of the sky once we entered White House air space. Elizabeth thought she could just call her dad, but I wasn't sure it would be that simple. But on the other hand, I didn't think it was safe to just leave her on a street corner or something. We decided the best thing to do was to take her to a police station. That way I could stay out of the spotlight. I didn't want any attention. But secretly, I was planning on going to get Katya to make Elizabeth forget the whole episode.
