Ascension (The Ascension Series) (17 page)

When the class bell rang, Clark scrambled to gather his notes and drawings together. He then told John he’d see him later
before heading off to his next class. When Clark got to the computer lab, he sat next to Donny as he usually did. Sitting on the other side of Donny was Chloe, who had decided to take a new spot next to her boyfriend. Immediately, at a rapid fire rate, Clark told them about his idea of starting a team of superheroes after they saved a hundred train passengers. Donny and Chloe laughed until they realized that Clark was both serious and passionate.

“
I’m as serious… Dead serious!,” Clark said. “We’re going to patrol the streets. We’re capable of anything. We’ll be feared by criminals.”

“And wear
masks and capes?” Donny asked.

“Exactly,” Clark told him.

“If I can sneak out without my parents noticing I’m gone, I’m totally on board,” Chloe said.

“Really?” Donny asked her.

“Yeah,” Chloe told him. “Clark is right. If we can stop a train from derailing, preventing a few wonna-bes from committing crime will be nothing.”

“This could make us famous,” Donny said.

“No,” Clark said. “This isn’t about fame. We can’t let anyone know who we are.”

“As soon as we start doing this,” Chloe said, “It’s going to gather a lot of attention. Just like the train we stopped last night.
People will see us flying”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Don
ny agreed with her. “I guess we’ve got to be careful.”

“Rule number one,” Clark told them. “If you ever see a crimina
l with a gun, use your powers. Rip it out of his hands. Place up a force field. We’ll be unstoppable.”

“It could be a lot of fun
,” Donny said. “I’ll do it for a night or two and see how much I like fighting crime.”

“Tha
t sounds like a good idea,” Chloe said. “Let’s do it.”

Clark turned to his computer and typed in the url of a large market website. He pulled out Charles’s credit card and began searching for costumes.

“What color do you guys want your costumes to be?” Clark asked.

“Red,” said Donny.

“And pink for me,” said Chloe.

Alright
,” Clark said. “I’m going to order suits for superheroes. And capes─ lots of capes. We’ll put together the look we like most.”

“I wa
nt a black suit with a red cape,” Donny told him. “And don’t forget boots. Matching boots”

“And gloves,” Chloe added
. “We can’t leave finger prints anywhere. Every superhero needs leather gloves”

“Except Superman for whatever reason,” Clark said. “We’ll also need
goggles and masks. Solid black welding goggles. Now that’s a cool look.”

“In fact,” Donny said, “
I want a suit like Spider-Man. I’ll alter it myself.”

“And we need catc
hy names,” Chloe said. “I like… Surefire.”

“Nice,” Clark said.

“I’d go with Captain America but it’s already taken,” Donny said.

“How about Tracks?”
Clark said.

Donny
laughed, “Cause I wear braces?─ No way!”

“
Until you can think of something better, you’re gonna be Tracks. And I’m going to be Night Wolf. Anything else I need to order?”

“Can’t think of anything else,” Chloe said.

“Oh and Charles is going to doing this too,” Clark told them. “But don’t worry, I promise he’s going to be nice from now on.”

“He better be,” Donny asserted. “Or I’m out. Chloe and I are not going to put up with his crap.”

“I promise,” Clark nearly pleaded, “Charles won’t be a hassle.”

“What if this superhero thing doesn’t work out?” Chloe asked.

“It will,” Clark said. “
How can it not? We’re not just random people with taser guns. We’ve got the actual skills. And it’s our destiny. We weren’t given these powers just to win a football game.”

“Are you still on the team?” Donny asked.

“No,” Clark answered. “I’m leaving the team. This is so much more important.”

Clark ordered the items using the very expensive one-day shipping option. They were to be delivered to Charles’s house.

“Dammit,” Clark told Donny and Chloe. “The items won’t ship until tomorrow- Saturday. So we won’t get them until Monday. I don’t want to wait that long!”

“That’s not long of a wait,” Chloe said. “You’ll just have to brace yourself across the weekend.”

“Brace yourself?” Donny joked, “Is that a pun?”

“No,” Chloe laughed
. “It’s not, not at all─ But are you coming to my place this evening after math club? My parents are teaching at the University of Cincinnati until six.”

“Perfect,” Donny said. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
”

“You guys sound like me and Sara
h sneaking about,” Clark said. “We could really use another place to do it than my bedroom. Her place is way too risky with her dad always lurking.”

“Well as long as your parents don’t know you’re missing,” Donny said, “you can just fly wherever you like.”

“Wow,” Clark said. “I hadn’t really thought of that. But where could we fly to? I’m not spending a night in a forest.”

“Bears!” Chloe laughed
.

“And snakes and wolves and coyotes
,” Clark laughed.

“Then just fly right back to the school,” Chloe suggested. “Donny and I are going to try that one night.”

“We are!?” Donny asked.

“Yeah,” Chloe nodded. “One night we’ll go to the dugout near the baseball field.”

“You guys sound more creative than me,” Clark said. “I’ll ask Sarah what she thinks.”

“You can never go wrong doing that
,” Chloe said.

“
Uh-huh,” Donny agreed. “Always listen to the girls. They know what they’re talking about.”

A few hours later, lunch period arrived and Clark sat with Sarah. He told her
about ordering a ton of items in order for them to make crime-fighting costumes. Then he told her he wanted to put the superhero thing to the back of his mind for a moment and try to focus on something else.

“Great,” Sarah agreed. “I understand you’re excited about this and there’s definitely a chance to do a l
ot of good. But you’ve got to remember us too.”

“
I know” Clark said as he ate his lunch. “And I’m sorry. I realize I’m being a little selfish.”

“Superhero this and superhero that,” Sarah said slightly frustrated.

“I’m leaving the football team to focus on my higher calling.”

“Clark,” Sarah said, taking a bite of food. “I think you forget how
good you really are. What’s stopping you from fighting crime
and
playing on the football team? I mean, if Bruce Wayne can fight crime with no superpowers at all and still manage to run a billion dollar business then you can still join a high school football team.”

“You think so?” Clark asked. “I just didn’t want it to distract me.”

“It won’t distract you,” Sarah laughed, “Remember, you’ll never have to really practice.”

“I guess you’re right. I
can
do both.”

“I know you can, Clark.
But here we are, still talking about crime fighting. I thought we were going to focus on something else.”

“What would I do without you
, Sarah? I feel like a mess right now.”

“How about,” Sarah suggested, “
after you have football practice and after I’m done with cheerleading practice, we spend a little time together this evening. Just the two of us.”

“
Okay,” Clark gave a tired smile. “I was talking to Donny and Chloe earlier today when they reminded me that we can just sort of fly wherever we like to make out.”

“What were you thinking?” Sarah asked.

“I think we should fly really high up in the sky and make out on top of a cloud.”

Sarah laughed. “Yeah, right! You know clouds aren’t solid. And it would be freezing cold.”

“Yeah,” Clark joked. “I know that. But it’s a really romantic idea.” 

“Remember I told you that I’d teach you yoga. Well tomorrow you should come to my mom’s fitness center.”

“Will your dad be there?”

“No,” Sarah laughed. “He won’t be anywhere near us.”

“Great. Sounds like fun─ for tomorrow,” Clark said. “But what about this evening.”

“I don’t know
,” Sarah said. “Think of something cool.”

“Friday fireworks, downtown?” Clark asked her.

“Great,” Sarah smiled. “I haven’t been in a while.”

“And then next week,” Clark brought up the topic once more, “We become superheroes.”

CHAPTER 8

Before school
was over, Clark told John and Charles that he had made the decision to stay on the football team and would also lead a group of crime fighters, none of whom quite knew exactly how to fight crime. But the details were pushed aside for later. After handing Charles his credit card back, Clark told him that their various outfits would arrive on Monday. Charles then told Clark and John to gather everyone together and meet up at the warehouse when their outfits arrived.

“By Monday
I’ll have our headquarters looking brand new,” Charles said. “You’re gonna love it.”

“Great,
I’ll see you later,” Clark waved as he headed off to football tryouts. After placing on a helmet and pads, he joined the other players on the team. They spent the next two hours doing drills, practicing laps across the field, and punting balls. With his powers helping him every step of the way, Clark made the other players look poor in comparison. They were much slower, missed their cues on occasion, and couldn’t always kick the football as high as the coach would have liked.

“You boys need to get your head
s in the game!” Coach Smith yelled at the other players. “All of you could take a lesson or two from Clark! Now that’s a kid with skills.”

“We just can’t keep up,” one of the players said. “Clark’s gotta be on steroids.”

“I’m not on anything,” Clark said. “I’m running on adrenalin.”

“You hear that?” the coach told the other players. “Pure adrenalin! Now each of you jog twice around this entire field and try to keep up with Clark’s pace.”

Realizing that he was making them look rather poor in comparison, Clark decided to jog a little slower. He even allowed one teammate to outpace him.

“I’m faster than Clark!” the player yelled and cheered.

“Yeah, I think I’m getting tired,” Clark lied.

Of course, in actuality, it would
have taken the power of a train to drain Clark. And at that moment, he realized he would need to develop a different identity. He didn’t want to come across as perfect at everything as Clark O’Sullivan. If he did, someone might make a connection with him having superpowers. He realized he had to do like his favorite superhero and craft an alter ego. “So silly it just might work.” So he spent the rest of his jog around the football field thinking about ways to strongly separate Clark O’Sullivan from his identity that would become a superhero by night.

By the end of the jog
, he had allowed several students to outpace him and they were more than pleased to be ahead of Coach Smith’s new star athlete.

“Alright,” the coach told them as they finished. “Decent job. We’ll do this again next week. Now get out of here and enjoy your weekend.”

The tired players all hit the showers before dressing back into their normal clothes. All of the teammates left the gymnasium while Clark went to meet up with Sarah. She was just finishing up cheerleading practice as the new group leader.

“Perfect timing,” Clark said as he
watched Sarah exit the girl’s locker room.

“So where do you want to go first?” Sarah asked him.

“Are you hungry? We’ll fly someplace for dinner.”

“Sounds like fun.”

Hand in hand, they exited the school as the lights in the hallway began to shut off one by one.

“Have a nice weekend, Franklin Pierce High,” Sarah looked back and joked. “We’ll see you again next week.”

At twilight, they walked past the school’s parking lot and headed toward the forest. When they peered around and saw no one in the distance, they looked to the sky and shot into the air. They whirled past city landmarks and watched as the cars below them moved at a comparably slow rate.

Minutes later they arrived downtown and landed behind a building. They walked around the building and enjoyed the sights. Downtown Cincinnati was a bustling metropolis filled with a bevy of skyscrapers. L
ights from buildings and businesses filled the air as citizens walked up and down the various streets.

“I don’t know when
’s the last time I was down here,” Clark admitted. “It’s really nice.”

“It’s definitely a different pace
than the quiet suburbs,” Sarah agreed.

“Kinda weird how different it is,” Clark said.

“I think we’re just used to empty sidewalks,” Sarah laughed.

“So what kind of restaurant do you want to go to?”

They were surrounded by fancy restaurants on one side of the street and fast food restaurants on the other side. Ultimately they decided on one of the nicer looking burger joints. It was a retro-themed restaurant that copied the style of the fifties. They dived in and were seated to a table.

They enjoyed dinner together, which Clark paid for, and then quickly took off to the town square. As sunlight drew to a close, they watched the weekly fireworks show that
commenced each Friday. Fireworks of every color burst into the air as couples and families looked on. There were sparks of every shade, whirls of every color, and bangs of every sound.

Then Clark and Sarah looked across the large fountain they were standing near and saw Donny and Chloe
waving at them.

“What’s up guys?” Clark said once they reached each other. “What are you doing out here?”

“Got tired of studying,” Chloe said. “So we decided to come here. First time in a while.”

“
It’s lovely down here,” Donny said. “Much nicer than Franklin Pierce High. I’m not sure how many more years I can stare at those walls. Those hallways. But this is life. And the air is mostly fresh.”

“So where are you two headed?” Sarah asked.

“Now that the fireworks are over, we’re going to go eat,” Chloe said.

“
We went to that one burger spot,” Clark said. “Not the crappy one. The good one with the retro fifties style. They played nothing but The Beach Boys but it was cool. Good food too.”

“Great,” Donny said. “We’ll look for it. Bye.”

“Bye,” Sarah waved to them.

“Oh and don’t forget,” Clark said. “Monday’s a holiday but we’re going to meet in a warehouse. I’ll send you the directions.”

“Sounds great,” Donny said as he and Chloe walked off.

“Where do we go now?” Sarah asked Clark.

“Follow me.”

They walked around to the back of a building. Clark grabbed Sarah
by the hand, and they flew off. The cool breeze gave them goose bumps as they soared through the air. Then they arrived back at Franklin Pierce High. Because it was night time, they landed right in front of the school without worrying about others seeing them. The only light came from the various light stands on the football and baseball fields.

“What are we doing here?” Sarah asked.

“Donny said he doesn’t like it here much, but ol’ Franklin Pierce has been good to me,” Clark said. “Come on.”

He took her by the hand and they ran to the football field.

“It’s so quiet out here,” Sarah said.

“And it’s just us.”

“This is all yours,” she said. “It’s where dreams are made.”

“So what do you want to do?” he asked.

Sarah smiled and shoved him. “Come catch me!” she yelled.

Clark went after her and just as he was about to reach her, Sarah used her powers to speed up.

“Catch me and you’ll get a kiss!” she yelled.

Clark went faster
and Sarah darted away from him. Finally he caught up to her. She laughed as he pulled her to the ground. They rolled around on the field like kids without a care in the world.

“Let go!” Sarah laughed.

“No, you promised me a kiss!”

“Fine then,” Sarah said as their lips met.
When their eyes opened they were staring into the sky.

“Yeah, this is perfect,” Clark said. Sarah continued looking to the sky as t
he stars above them twinkled and gleamed.

“I feel like I can almost touch them,” Sarah said.

“The stars?” Clark asked.

“Yeah.
Maybe we should give it a try.”

“
Never fly too close to the sun,” Clark said. “It’s exciting enough just knowing what lies ahead.”

Sarah
stood up and Clark joined her.

“Our future,” she said. “How many kids are we going to have?”

“Oh come on,” Clark said. “I can’t think about things like that.”

“Then what about our sixth month anniversary.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Yeah, you really know
please me,” Sarah said sarcastically.

“Oh shut up,” Clark laughed.
He looked at Sarah, squinted his eyes, and seconds later the buttons on her top ripped off and revealed her bra.

She gasped. “Did you just rip my shirt open?”

“No,” Clark grinned from ear to ear. “I have no idea how that happened. No clue at all.” 

Sarah looked at Clark and the buttons of his own shirt flew off
and swooped into her hands. Then she threw them at him.

“
That’s payback.”

Sarah sped away. She darted across the field as Clark attempted to chase her.

***

The next morning, Clark was in his room, lying in bed.
He thought of Sarah and remembered that she had invited him to her mother’s fitness center. So he jumped out of bed and got ready to go. He took his backpack with him and headed off a half hour later.

“Where are you going this early?” Clark’s mother asked
from the kitchen as he approached the front door. Clark entered the kitchen to answer her.

“
I’m going with Sarah to her mother’s fitness center. We’re going to practice yoga.”

“Sounds like fun,” his mother said. “You need a ride? I know Sarah doesn’t drive.”

“No,” Clark told her. “Someone’s going to pick me up.”

“
Ah, okay then.”

“Mom, where’s dad?”

“Oh he got called in at work.”

“But it’s Saturday! He works all week long,” Clark said.

“Don’t worry, it’s not for work. Bio-Tech is investigating their workers over something from the lab. As soon as they’re done questioning him, he’ll be back.”

“
Questioning him about what?” Clark asked.

“I’m not sure,” his mother answered. “
I think something or another in their labs went missing. So they’re just doing some sort of investigation. Nothing to worry about, though.”

“Okay mom. Well
, I’ll see you later.”

Clark didn’t give a second thought to the missing thing that his mother spoke of. He made his exit from the house, and when he found the right spot, flew off to the f
itness center run by Sarah’s mother. It was a fairly large workout center located just shy of the downtown area. The center was filled with exercise equipment of every variety placed against mirrored walls.

Dressed in workout clothing,
Sarah’s mother waved and greeted him.

“Hi Clark!” said Mrs. Ryan. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too, Mrs. Ryan.”

“You’re probably looking for Sarah.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“She was just helping me teach aerobics. I’ve got to get back to the class
so I’ll send her out.”

Mrs. Ryan strutted back into a room down the hall and seconds later Sarah emerged.

“Hey Clark,” Sarah said. She too was wearing a fitness outfit in addition to a towel around her neck.

“
Sarah,” he waved. “I brought some workout clothes to change into.”

“Great. Go change and we’ll have a little fun.”

When Clark returned in a different outfit.

“
You look great,” Sarah said.

“
I don’t know about great,” Clark said. “But better than some of these other people.”

“
Uh-huh.”

“Hope these good looks aren’t too much of a distraction,” he joked.

Clark was more lanky than muscular but that didn’t stop him from flexing his arms in the mirror.

Sarah took him into a
small dimly lit room with a large oriental mat in the middle. There were candles lit all throughout the room.

“I saved this room just for us,” Sarah
said. “Now, how much of this do you think you can do?”

Sarah hopped on the mat, did a handstand, and split her legs in the air.

“I can’t do any of that,” Clark said. “Guess you can count me out right now.”

“I’m just showing off
,” Sarah said as she returned to a standing position. “You start out with something a little easier. First legs go down for downward dog. Do as I do.”

Sarah stood straight
before bending over with her hands touching the floor. She was making an “A” shape with her body and Clark did the same.