The Invasion

by Katrina Kahler

  I shook my head. “Zeke, unlike you, I’m not that wise. I’m just a teenage girl still trying to figure out her place in this world. Part of that means trying to figure out my feelings. I like both Adam and Jason.”

  Zeke persisted. “Do you LIKE like them?”

  “Yes, I think so. I don't know. I’m not sure. I just know I need more time,” I said.

  “Fair enough,” Zeke said, he gave me a pat on the shoulder. “They’re both great guys. There is no wrong choice when it comes to the heart.”

  Luckily for me, we arrived at the prison. I was saved by the job.

  Dear Diary: I’m not really sure that Zeke was right when he said ‘no wrong choice when it comes to heart’, but I like to think he was. I really can’t tell which boy I prefer. They are both special to me, in different ways as well as in the same way. Sigh. I need a super robot to crush.

  Prison Visit

  Capital City Max Security Prison wasn’t a lot to look at. There was just a bunch of cold sterile cement buildings surrounded by a giant concrete wall topped with an electric barbed wire fence.

  Inside, drones and human guards roamed the yard. The captain of the guards escorted us to the extra secure basement cells. There, we found Doctor Eddie sitting in his cell with another familiar face, Doctor Gem Stone. The two criminals sat opposite each other at a small table. Doctor Eddie had two dice in his hand. He rolled them, smiled and yelled, “Yahtzee!”

  “See, I told you!” Zeke said.

  “Wait…supervillains really play Yahtzee?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Eddie replied.

  “It’s challenging, and you need some lucky breaks,” Gem explained. “It’s like life!”

  “We also enjoy Uno and backgammon!” Eddie said.

  “Yes, so true,” Gem agreed.

  “Let me guess, you’re not here just to talk about board games and card games!” Eddie grumbled.

  “I am!” Zeke said.

  Adam and I both gave Zeke a look. He shrugged. “Hey, it’s good to be right.”

  “Let me guess again, you want to talk to me about the giant insects that have been plaguing your city, Super Teen?” Eddie laughed.

  “Yes, that’s a good guess,” I said.

  “Why do you always blame me when these things happen?” Eddie asked.

  Adam spoke up. “Because you’ve altered creatures before!”

  Eddie nodded. “Yes, yes I have. But I’ve always made them super smart and way intelligent. Have these insects acted anything like super big versions of themselves?” he inquired.

  “The caterpillars had wings and could fly!” I said.

  “Did they act any differently?” Eddie prompted.

  “No, I guess not,” I said.

  “Therefore, surely you must see that this wasn’t caused by me. I’m all about making animals more intelligent. Not only that, insects aren’t animals. But, in case you haven’t noticed, I am in prison. I can’t do much from here. They won’t even let me on a computer with anything more than a dial-up connection! I tell you, it's cruel and unusual punishment,” Eddie moaned.

  “Next thing you’re going to do is to insist you are innocent!” Adam said.

  Eddie shook his head. “Oh no, I am guilty of a lot of things. I have a temper and I can be a bit of a brat when I don’t get my way. I did send a killer teddy bear after you and your family.” He paused. “But I’m not guilty of the giant insect problem. Kind of wish I was, just to have a little action. But even though insects are great to play with, I’ve never been a big fan of entomology.”

  “At least they THINK of you!” Gem Stone said. “They never even considered me for this crime. I’m kind of hurt.”

  “That’s because most of your work has been about altering humans, not insects!” I told her.

  “Hey, I could diversify!” Gem said. “I had a bug collection when I was young.”

  “But did you do this?” I asked Gem.

  “I could if I wanted to. I mean, how hard would it be to enhance bugs if I can enhance humans?” Gem replied adamantly.

  “But I don’t get the vibe from you that you did this,” I told her.

  “Me neither,” Zeke said.

  “I’m with them!” Adam said.

  Gem groaned. “Nope. I didn’t. It isn’t my style.” She perked up. “I’m working on a super strength formula now, just using regular stuff found in a prison to help me escape. I should be free in a couple of months. I look forward to fighting you again.”

  “Why did you tell me that?” I asked.

  “I like a good challenge,” Gem said. “I always find you worthy. You are fun to compete with.”

  “That’s true,” Zeke said.

  “You are a powerful force, Super Teen,” Adam said.

  I smiled.

  Adam spoke up. “Do you two have any idea who might be responsible for the giant bugs?”

  The two criminals looked at each other. They didn’t say a thing. “We might know, but we’re not snitches!” Doctor Eddie said.

  “True that!” Gem Stone said.

  “You two will tell us the truth!” I ordered in my hypnotic command voice.

  Gem and Eddie’s eyes glazed over. I had them in my power. I smiled. “Now talk!” I ordered.

  “Some weather we’re having…so much rain!” Eddie said. “It’s because you people won’t let me invent something to control the weather. I could make sure it never rains!”

  “Dude, we need rain!” Gem said.

  “Right, I could make sure it only rains when we want it to rain. I promise I would not fire lightning bolts at most people!” Eddie said with his hand over his heart.

  “No, I want you to talk about the giant insects we are dealing with now!” I instructed him firmly.

  “Insects scare me,” Eddie admitted. “They’re freaky looking and they don’t like me at all. I don’t deal well with them. I prefer humans, they have bigger brains to play with.”

  “Any idea who might be behind this?” I asked.

  “Whom!” MAC and MACC corrected.

  I glared at my computer interface.

  “Sorry…” MAC said.

  “The computers are correct,” Eddie said. “Being a superhero does not give you an excuse to use improper grammar.”

  “Answer my question!” I ordered.

  “Some of my old assistants and peons used to deal with insects,” Eddie said slowly.

  “I need names!” I said sternly.

  Eddie shook his head. “I never remember the names of my assistants and peons. That’s why they never stay long. They hate me saying, ‘Hey you, what’s your name’… all the time…”

  “What about you, Doctor Gem?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Nah, I don’t remember any of their names either…”

  Looking at Adam, I said. “Do you believe them?”

  “I don’t think they could lie,” Adam told me.

  “I agree,” Zeke said. “I mean…they could lie but not with Lia’s mental mind whammy on them.”

  “Gem, forget about your plan to break out of prison!” I ordered.

  Gem nodded. “It is forgotten…”

  We left the prison. At least we know who isn’t causing our current problem.

  Dear Diary: Wow! Using my mental command voice gives me a lot of power. I kind of like it. And I am getting better at using it.

  Oh, I can’t believe Zeke was right about the game thing. Well, like they used to say, even a stopped clock is right twice a day!

  Taking Control

  Adam, Zeke, and I said our goodbyes. They headed back to Moonvale and I flew directly to Starlight City. We figured it would be best for now if we each protected our own towns. So far, these giant butterflies were limited to Starlight City, but we couldn’t be certain they wouldn’t spread.

  It was much harder saying goodbye to Adam than Zeke though. Especially since Zeke kept going on and on about how right he was regarding challenging games and the games that Eddie an
d Gem liked to play.

  Some of his quotes were: I’m a lot smarter than I seem or act or think. I think the chicken came before the egg because chickens lay eggs. If Einstein was so smart, how come he couldn’t invent a better comb? Do you know that the letter y can sometimes be a vowel? I before E except after c is a suggestion, not a law, hence the word science. Never use toothpaste to make a model plane or train or rocket. I once got a question right on Jeopardy. The moon comes out at night, yet if you moon people at night, nobody can see it. Weird huh! Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster used to be best friends but then they had a tiff over who’s more famous. Gravity is not optional!

  His quotes went on and on. I pitied Adam for having to deal with them, but he didn’t seem to mind. Adam’s tolerance for Zeke may be his greatest superpower.

  “You have an incoming message from Jason,” MAC told me.

  Not slowing down at all, I lifted my wrist to my face. “Put him through.”

  “Check!” MAC said.

  Jason appeared on MAC’s screen. “How was the prison? Any luck?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Not really. Doctor Eddie said it’s not his style and we believe him. Doctor Gem was also there, playing Yahtzee with him.”

  “What? So Zeke was right?” Jason said, as surprised as I was.

  “Yep,” I groaned.

  Jason grinned. “I bet you never heard the end of that!”

  “Nope,” I sighed. “The guy might not know how to tie his shoes but he does know some weird things…”

  “In his defense, being a zombie makes it harder for him to bend over so he can tie his shoes,” Jason told me.

  “Surely, you called to talk about more than Zeke…” I said. “Please tell me you called to talk about more than Zeke.”

  Jason nodded. “I did. You know how we have air drones over the city, scouting everything?”

  “Ah no, I didn’t know that…” I said. “I hope we don’t use them all the time?”

  “Nope, just in emergencies like this,” Jason reassured me.

  I trusted Jason. “Okay, so have they spotted more giant butterflies?” I asked.

  “No, but over the insect area of the zoo they spotted a girl with wings!”

  “Do you have pictures of her?” I asked.

  “Actually, we have a live image!” Jason said. His face was replaced by the image of a girl with wings who was floating in the air. She looked confused. “I thought it would be best if you checked this out first!” Jason said. “I think you’ll have a lighter touch than your dad’s people. Plus, she looks about our age!”

  “I’m so on it!” I struck the superhero flying pose and sped to the zoo.

  I liked our zoo. It wasn’t the biggest zoo in the world but it had a fine selection of animals and was a great place to visit. Sure, occasionally the elephants would go on a rampage or the apes would go ape. But that was usually because of either a supervillain or a mad scientist or both. Never the animals’ fault. Much like it probably was with the butterflies. That was the reason I couldn’t ignore a girl with wings flying over the insect area of the zoo.

  Spotting the girl with my super-vision, I noticed she seemed a bit older than me. She was a very pretty girl with dark hair and skin. Her outfit was covered in brightly colored flowers. Her dress had slits in the back for her wings. They were a translucent pink and seemed to be a part of her body.

  Now that was something I’d never seen before, which was kind of cool.

  Approaching the girl slowly, I said, “Ah, hello.”

  The girl turned to me. “Super Teen, I am so glad you’re here!”

  “I’m glad you are glad,” I said, lacking a bit on the witty banter. But this was serious. “Now my question is…who are you?”

  “I’m the butterfly queen!” the girl said.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “Well, I’m not really their queen. I’m more like a butterfly whisperer or a really good communicator. I just thought butterfly queen would sound better, but now I realize it just sounds a bit pompous. I’m not pompous.”

  “Okay, now we have that out of the way, why are you here?” I asked.

  “Oh, that one’s easier!” the butterfly queen smiled. “I’m trying to communicate with these normal butterflies to see if they know why the supergiant butterflies have shown up.”

  “That sounds really helpful,” I said. Not sure why I trusted this girl but I did. She seemed sweet. “Any results?”

  The butterfly queen looked at me. “Not yet. Butterflies are usually chatterboxes, but the ones in the zoo seem very quiet. I thought about setting them free but that probably wouldn’t be appreciated by the zookeepers.”

  “Have you tried talking to any of the wild butterflies?” I asked.

  The butterfly queen smiled. “Yeah, they are really wild! They jabber and jabber. They have no idea where the giants came from.”

  “Have you talked to any of the giant butterflies?” I asked.

  “No, things have always been too cray-cray when they appear. I didn’t want to show up and complicate matters,” BFQ said to me.

  “Well, we have some at BMS Labs. I can take you to them. Maybe you can shed some light on what’s going on,” I told her.

  The butterfly queen clapped her hands and wings. “Oh, that would be great!”

  Looking upwards, I noticed a large blimp floating overhead. It had the letters F.A.R.T. written on it. Yep, definitely not a subtle fart. “Oh, we have company...” I groaned.

  “FART?” the butterfly queen queried.

  “It stands for Freaky Act Response Team,” I told her. “They can be kind of twits at times but they mean well, I guess.”

  A door on the bottom of the blimp popped open. Armored men wearing jetpacks propelled out. I recognized the lead man as Captain Lobo, leader of the pack.

  “Why are they here?” the butterfly queen asked.

  “I’m guessing because they don’t know you. You’re talking to butterflies and butterflies have been causing problems.”

  Positioning myself between the butterfly queen and the armored armed men, I said, “Howdy boys. What brings you to this area? You know I have it protected. Right?”

  Captain Lobo held up a hand to stop his men. They all came to a halt. He lifted his face mask, showing his aged face. I couldn’t help thinking he’d look better if he shaved, but that was neither here nor there. Captain Lobo pointed dramatically at the butterfly queen. “We’ve identified this girl as Carmen Perez. She’s 16 and lives here in Starlight city.”

  “True,” Carmen said.

  “Wait, do you know Tanya? She’d be in your class. Why haven’t I seen you around?”

  “I know of Tanya. I mean, who doesn’t? Right! Am I right? You haven’t seen me in class because my mom, Wanda, homeschools me.”

  “Oh, how does that work for you?” I asked.

  She looked at me with a straight face. “It could be better. It’s kind of lonely. I mean, my mom is great but she is lousy at girl talk. I guess that’s why I talk to butterflies.”

  Captain Lobo cleared his throat. “Excuse me, government officials floating right here. We don’t like being ignored.”

  “I don’t mind, Chief,” one of the men said. “I kind of like watching the world pass by from up here. They do seem like nice girls!”

  “Quiet, Mo!” Captain Lobo snapped. “I make the decisions around here! I am the captain.”

  “It’s only because you’ve been with the group longer,” Mo noted.

  “Still, seniority is important. It means I’ve put in the time. I am consistent. I am a leader. Like last week when I ordered lunch for the team!” Captain Lobo said.

  “Yeah, about that, Captain…you ordered pizza with anchovies. None of us like anchovies…” Mo said.

  “I don’t think anybody really likes anchovies,” another FART man said.

  “Look, you FART guys are making a lot of noise for nothing here,” I said.

  “Was that a fart joke?” C
aptain Lobo asked.

  Carmen laughed. “It was funny.”

  “Not a joke just a statement. This girl is under my watch now!” I said.

  “How do you know she’s not a threat, a silent but deadly threat?” Captain Lobo asked.

  “Boss, you just kind of made a fart joke!” Mo said.

  “Quiet, Mo!” Captain Lobo ordered. “I’m the captain, I don’t joke.”

  “But you certainly do fart,” Mo said. He turned to the others. “Maybe that’s why he’s our leader. He does the loudest farts!”

  The other two laughed.

  Carmen and I snickered.

  “Look, guys. You know I’m not a threat. Right?” I asked.

  “Well, once you did drop the entire mall with super stinky feet,” Captain Lobo said.

  “And there was that time you dropped a herd of rhinos with a fart!” Mo added.

  “And a nearby village!” the other FART man announced.

  “Plus, I heard one of your burps is the reason why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans!” the fourth FART man said.

  “That last one is NOT true!” I protested. “That tower leaned way before I was born. And the others weren’t on purpose.”

  “I don’t think that makes it any better. Or you any less of a threat,” Captain Lobo said. “But I am under orders to leave you alone. So I will. I am a FART man who listens!” he insisted.

  “Plus, you could probably incinerate us all with heat vision if you wanted. Or turn us into popsicles with freeze breath!” Mo added.

  “Mo, that’s not helping!” I said. “And I would never want to do those things.”

  Mo raised a finger. “But you could!”

  “But I choose not to, therefore I am not an actual threat!” I said. “Though I do and can get angry, and believe me, you won’t like me when I’m angry.”

  “Is that a threat?” Captain Lobo asked.

  “Nope, statement of fact,” I said. I pounded my fist into my hand. The force of the sound sent the FART guys flying backward. “I have Carmen under my protection and watch. I will take full responsibility for her. It’s what superheroes do.”