After the weekend, a certain melancholy seemed to settle over the student body as classes began. I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my case there was adequate reason for much wailing and gnashing of teeth: the course load Mouse had chosen for me was going to be a rigorous, fast-paced affair. Just looking at the course syllabi made me want to scream, and by the end of the second day I felt my head was going to burst with everything the instructors were trying to cram in it.
The lone bright spot of the week came on Wednesday, when we got a chance to do combat training as the last class of the day.
There were actually several combat areas located around the school. The most sophisticated one used holograms. For my first day, however, I was sent to a different facility, which utilized robots that looked like crash-test dummies as stand-ins for supervillains.
Without bragging, the combat was a cakewalk for me. I’d already had years of training under Gramps and BT, so to a certain extent I was a veteran with respect to exercises like this. So, if required to put the “villain” in a certain area, I just teleported him; if I had to disarm him, I did so telekinetically; if I had to sneak past someone, I simply turned invisible.
In short, I aced every round of combat they presented to me. Of course, this first day was really meant to be more of an assessment for the new people as opposed to seeing how we’d do when things got hot and heavy. Regardless, the training instructor declared in disgust this level was too easy for me and that he was bumping me up to the holographic combat arena for the next week.
I left the combat area a little full of myself, with my head so far in the clouds that I almost bumped into Adam, who appeared almost out of nowhere and fell into step beside me.
“Where’d you come from?” I asked, still heading towards the exit from this part of the building.
“Upstairs,” he said, pointing at a stairwell I hadn’t noticed before. “Observation booth.”
“There’s an observation booth?” I asked in surprise.
“Of course, and it was a full house. Everybody wanted to see how the great Kid Sensation would do. And, of course, I knew there’d be some betting action on your performance, and I wanted to get in on it.”
“So, how’d you make out?”
He shrugged. “I lost fifty bucks betting against you.”
I laughed, and gave him a playful punch on the arm as we stepped out the door.
And there was the principal, Magnavolt.
“Jim, I need you to come with me,” he said. Then he turned and walked away without waiting to see if I’d follow.
I looked at Adam, who shrugged, and then I took off after the principal. Adam, keenly interested in what was going on, came with me.
Magnavolt wasn’t particularly tall but he had a long stride, so he stepped through the hallways at a fast clip. Not only his emotions (which I was picking up) but also his body language radiated tension, indicating that whatever was happening was important.
My immediate thought was that something had happened to Mom or Gramps - or worse, both. But Mom was supposed to be at a writer’s convention, and Gramps should be on a fishing trip with some old cape buddies. Neither of them had said anything before I left, but I’d picked up on the fact that things at home were going to be a little quiet without me, and so both had looked for ways to occupy the time.
After a few minutes of high-stepping through the hallways, we reached the Academy’s administrative wing, which housed the principal’s office, teacher’s lounge, and a few other areas. We marched straight in, right past the receptionist on duty and into Magnavolt’s office. Once there, he directed us to a connecting conference room. Lights, obviously motion-activated, came on automatically as we entered, and I saw several executive chairs positioned around a nice-sized, rectangular conference table. However, Magnavolt didn’t take a seat, so Adam and I followed his lead.
“Okay, we’re here,” Magnavolt said, seemingly to no one in particular. I looked in the direction where he seemed to be staring, and noticed what appeared to be a large flat screen monitor - at least fifty inches - mounted on the wall. The screen was actually split in two; on the left side was Mouse (seemingly sitting at a worktable in his lab), and on the right were two men seated at a desk. One of them I’d never seen before. He was wearing a dark blazer with a white shirt and earth-tone tie. He was rather thin, wore glasses, and was practically bald on top of his head, although he still had a fair amount of brown hair on the sides and presumably at the back.
All in all, he fit the stereotypical appearance of a weaselly, government bureaucrat.
The man seated next to him was someone I immediately recognized. It was Schaefer. He sat there, staring at me with a blank expression.
“Jim Carrow?” asked the man in the blazer, looking from me to Adam.
“Right here,” I said, raising my hand, a little surprised to be the subject of an interdimensional phone conference.
“I’m Morgan Pace,” he said. “I have a warrant to take you into custody. It’s been delivered to your principal” –at this point Magnavolt handed me a sheaf of papers I didn’t even know he’d been holding– “who has verified its authenticity and confirmed its authority.”
I quickly skimmed what had been handed to me, trying to pull out the important parts while Adam read over my shoulder:
By the authority vested in me by this nation and its Constitution…as a federal judge…hereby authorize…take into custody…wherever found in our borders…
I heard Adam speak up as I continued perusing the document. “Don’t you have to inform his parents of what you’re doing? He is still a minor.”
“And who are you?” Pace asked.
“Legal counsel,” Adam replied, ever the jokester. Pace harrumphed, clearly unsure of whether to take Adam seriously or not, but then said, “We attempted to reach his mother and grandfather, but were unsuccessful.”
I thought about Mom and Gramps, both ironically unavailable with something like this taking place.
“However,” Pace continued, “we did the next best thing. Magnavolt is principal at the Academy, so he legally has guardianship of Jim Carrow’s person. And out of a sense of caution we also contacted, uh” –Pace seemed to look at something on the table in front of him– “Mouse, his mentor.” He wrinkled his nose as he said Mouse’s name, as if it were a dirty word.
“This was issued last week,” Mouse said, looking at what was apparently a copy of the warrant.
“Yes,” Pace said, steepling his fingers and leaning forward, “and we actually sent a team to apprehend the subject, but he resisted.”
“That’s not exactly true,” I said, as Mouse looked at me in alarm. “They just showed up and started with the fisticuffs. They never presented a warrant.”
Pace opened up his hands in a noncommittal gesture. “It’s true that some of our agents have a tendency to get a little overzealous, so maybe they did overlook that tiny detail. But that would be nothing more than a technicality.”
In other words, Estrella and her crew liked to brawl. That certainly explains why they decided to take on the security guards at the mall as opposed to Estrella simply teleporting them to an out-of-the-way place. Moreover, if Schaefer were involved in any way - and it now seemed likely that he was - he probably told them to be rough with me.
“Regardless,” Pace continued, “the warrant has not yet expired, so we are asking that you return him through the vortex and hand him over to the federal government.”
“I’m sorry, Jim,” Magnavolt said, “but it looks like you’ll have to go.”
“Wait a minute!” Adam shouted. “Are you sure that thing’s valid? That he’s authorized to do this?”
“It’s authorized,” Magnavolt replied. “It’s signed by a federal judge.”
“So what?” Adam countered. “Can any government official just pop up with a piece of paper and take a student? What if a despot in Africa decided he wanted to get his hands on a super? Could he just send some
one with a warrant? Or a dictator in the Middle East? Would you just say ‘Sorry, Jim,’ and send him on his way?”
“Of course not!” Magnavolt nearly shouted. “But this is from the government…”
I shut out the rest of what he was saying, thinking at a maddening pace. Something Adam had said about foreign governments had given me an idea. I looked over the warrant one more time, and then made my decision.
“I’m not going,” I said plainly, cutting off Magnavolt’s argument with Adam. Stunned silence filled the room.
Suddenly, Pace smiled. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. We’ve got the authority to take you into custody–”
“Anywhere in the nation,” I finished for him. “But the thing is, we’re somewhat out of the country at the moment. In fact, we aren’t even on Earth as you know it. You’re out of your jurisdiction.”
For the first time, Pace looked unsure of himself. “Well, uh, that’s, uh, that’s an interesting proposition–”
“No, I’d say it’s true,” Adam interjected. “Principal Magnavolt just said he wouldn’t just hand Jim over if a bureaucrat from some other nation just showed up with a piece of paper demanding him. Why should he do it for you?”
“That’s true…” Magnavolt acknowledged softly.
For the first time since Pace had started talking, Schaefer’s expression changed; he looked at Adam like he wanted to murder him.
“Mr., uh” –Pace looked down at his cheat sheet again– “uh, Mouse. My understanding is that you’re a very reasonable and intelligent person. Please tell them they’re wrong on this.”
Mouse began gesturing and moving his lips, but no words came out. He looked around, confused.
“Looks like he lost audio,” Magnavolt noted, then turned to Pace. “Regardless, this is something entirely novel - we’ve never had to deal with anything like this before - so until we get it sorted out, Jim stays here.”
“Thank you,” I said, then gave Pace and Schaefer a smug, ten-thousand-watt smile. “Adam, if you please.”
I tossed the sheaf of papers into the air. Adam took his cue and a sound like tiny fireworks going off filled the air as the papers exploded into confetti and floated down to the ground.
Schaefer ground his teeth together, glaring at us.
“We’ll be in touch,” Pace said. His side of the screen went dark.
Adam and I were preparing to leave when I heard Mouse’s voice cut through the air.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “Even in another dimension, you somehow manage to set off a political hand grenade.”
It took me a second to get over my surprise at hearing him, since his audio was supposed to be on the fritz.
“What, simply saying I wasn’t going with them?” I asked.
“Yes, except it’s a little more complicated - since you declared the Academy to be a sovereign nation.”
“What??!!” Adam and Magnavolt sounded in unison.
“Don’t you get it?” he asked them. “Jim basically said that no other nation has jurisdiction or authority there. The Academy doesn’t have to obey anyone. Ergo, it’s a country in and of itself - a sovereign nation.”
Magnavolt’s eyes went wide as saucers as the implications hit him.
“Is that why you pretended to have audio problems?” I asked.
“You betcha,” Mouse said. “The last thing I needed was to get wrapped up in that kind of discussion right now. There are already factions out there who think supers - both villains and heroes - represent a threat. This is just going to fuel their arguments.”
I was somewhat in shock. I had simply been trying to come up with a reason not to go with them, not start a secession.
“Look,” Mouse said, noting the concern on my face, “it’s kind of a mess, but we’ll get it sorted out. Just forget about it for now and focus on school.”
I simply nodded, still stunned to a certain extent.
“Oh, and by the way,” Mouse added, “thanks for the intro to your friend. I think we’re going to have some interesting collaborations.”
For a second I didn’t know what he was talking about, and then I realized he was referring to BT.
“No problem,” I said. “Happy it worked out.” Mouse nodded and his side of the screen went dark.
Adam and I turned and prepared to leave the room when we heard Magnavolt clear his throat in a way that clearly invited attention.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked as we turned to him. He pointed to a mass of shredded paper on the floor - the remnants of Adam going to town on the warrant. “Clean that mess up.”
We both sighed and started picking up the paper off the floor.
Chapter 19
The rest of the week passed by without incident, and by the time the weekend rolled around, I had fallen into a routine:
Wake up.
Breakfast.
Classes.
Lunch.
Classes.
Dinner.
Homework/Study.
Lights out.
Rinse and repeat.
There were only slight variations in this pattern, such as perhaps squeezing in a little time at the gym, a pick-up game of basketball, or just hanging out with Smokey and Adam.
As to Electra, we were both fairly busy so we agreed to simply try to have lunch and dinner together at least once during the week. (Naturally, we talked on the phone every night.)
All in all, I felt I had adjusted well in a short period of time. Therefore, it should have surprised no one that I was in my room getting ready for bed when someone knocked on my door just ten minutes before curfew on Friday night. I reached out empathically, quickly recognizing the emotions of the two people on the other side. I opened the door and let Smokey and Adam in.
Adam looked me up and down. I was in a t-shirt and boxers, which I normally wore to bed.
“Get some clothes on,” he said. “We’re going out.”
“Out where?” I asked, puzzled.
“To fulfill a tradition,” Adam said.
“Another tradition? It’s almost curfew!” I stressed.
“And?”
I looked at Smokey for support. “Adam’s right. You should get some clothes on,” he said.
When I still didn’t move, Adam began explaining. “Listen, after the first week of school, it’s standard operating procedure for all the students to sneak out that Friday night. It started out as just a thing for lovebirds - students who were dating - but eventually branched out to everyone.”
“Dude, you were in that meeting in Magnavolt’s office the other day,” I said. “My presence here is already controversial. I don’t need to give them a reason to kick me out.”
Adam was undaunted. “Point A: I recall that they told you not to worry about it, that they’d sort it out. B: nobody gets kicked out for breaking curfew. At worst, they’ll just give you some punishment like detention for a week.”
Again, I looked at Smokey for assistance. We had filled him and Electra in on what had happened with Pace, so none of this was news to him. However, his silence indicated that I wasn’t going to get any help from his corner.
“Let’s try this from another angle,” Adam said. “You have a thing for Electra, right?”
I frowned. “I don’t know about a ‘thing,’ but–”
“But you do like her?” Adam asked again.
“I guess.”
“Then you’d better come.”
At this point, Smokey decided to put in his two cents. “Like he said, this ritual did start off being a thing for lovebirds, so if you like someone it’s tradition - and expected - that you break curfew and go meet them.”
“Meet them where?”
“You’ll see,” Smokey replied.
*****
The meeting place turned out to be a small lake about a mile from campus. You could get there via a couple of well-worn trails through the wooded area behind the guys’ dorm. I had hurriedly gotten dressed
and teleported the three of us outside, but that was about as far as I could take us since I initially didn’t have a clue where we were going.
With the trees blocking even moonlight, the trail was exceptionally dark. I cycled my vision through the light spectrum until I could see nearly as well as in the daytime. I was sure that Adam and Smokey couldn’t see nearly as well, but they seemed to know where they were going. There were odd noises coming from the brush around us, and it took me a second to realize that it was other students also slipping between the trees, headed in the same direction as us. Overhead, I occasionally heard an unexpected whoosh, indicating that some students were flying to the rendezvous point.
After about twenty minutes, I could see something like a light in the distance. I pointed it out to Smokey and Adam, who got excited and started to move faster. A short time later, we emerged from the underbrush to find ourselves at the edge of the lake, along with hundreds of other students.
“Well, this is it,” Smokey said.
I switched my vision back to normal and looked around. The light I had seen turned out to be a mid-sized bonfire, around which a number of people were making s’mores. I saw others in bathing suits, playing in the water. Another group had set up a net and were playing volleyball. All in all, there were lots of activities going on, but everyone seemed to be having fun. Moreover, tiki torches had been placed strategically around the area and were providing a more-than-adequate amount of light.
“If you’re worried about the bonfire or the torches,” Smokey said, “don’t be. They can’t be seen from campus, and the trees act as a natural acoustical barrier so sound doesn’t travel very well.”
“But if this is a tradition, doesn’t the faculty know you’re out here?” I asked.
Adam shrugged. “They do, but it’s essentially harmless fun so they won’t do anything unless we get out of control.”
“Or if it runs too late,” said a voice behind me. I turned and saw Electra, standing with two other girls.
The Kid Sensation Series Box Set Page 28
