GeneSix (10 page)

Jake was now floating outside the fourth floor of the Press Herald building in town. One of the many functions of his wristband was it allowed him to negate or manipulate gravitational fields. And he needed little training to make it work. Scott’s computer was actually feeding the computations to the sub-processor in the wristband. Scott explained Jake’s brainwaves tended to be on a unique frequency, possibly because of the zeta energy, and his computer could pick them up easily. All he had to do was think
fly
, and the command was picked up remotely from his brainwaves by the sub-processor in his wristband sent via subspace communications to the computer housed in the old Mac casing, then the Mac sent the flight instructions back to the sub-processor – all within the time it took to blink your eyes – and Jake was flying.

People in the newsroom were fluttering about, answering phones, checking computer monitors. One man then glanced out the window to see Jake hovering there, and then did a double take, and said, “You’re not gonna believe this, but there’s a man hovering outside the window.”

This was the kind of statement you would normally be hard pressed to take seriously, but Mandy Waid had just spent the weekend with Jake Calder, picking his brain, learning his secrets. Her sense of disbelief had been severely stretched. She looked up from her word processor, fully expecting to see Jake Calder out there.

“Get away from the window,” she said. “I think he’s coming in.”

The man stepped away. Jake then crashed through the window, sending shards of glass skittering along the tile floor.

“Captain Courageous,” one man said.

Jake simply shook his head with annoyance, and walked toward Mandy.

Despite how angry he was with her, he could not help but notice how good she looked. Her hair was pulled back with pewter combs, and she was wearing a white oxford shirt which was unbuttoned enough to catch the eye without being enough to look unprofessional, a pinstriped vest, and matching miniskirt. He had to force himself to remember, however, as good as she might look, her charms did not include virtue.

On her desk was a laptop clamped into a docking station. There was also a telephone, and a nameplate reading, KIMBERLY STRATTON.

“Cool threads,” she said.

Without reply, he said, “I want to know why you did it.”

“Why I did what?”

“Don’t you have a shred of journalistic integrity? Everything I said to you was off the record. You said that twice.”

“Not that I remember. Your word against mine.”

“So, it comes to that?”

“Come on, let’s go to the cafeteria and grab some coffee and talk. Everyone’s staring at you.”

Without a word, she turned and started for the doorway. He had intended to have his say and simply leave. Out the window, flying away, using Scott’s newest technology. But as he stood in the middle of the newsroom, all eyes on him, Mandy heading for the door, he decided to follow her.

As they walked along the corridor, he said, “I noticed your name plate.”

“Kimberly Stratton is my professional name. It’s who I am, now.”

“What about the college paper? And your classes?”

“What about them? This place just offered me a job. I’m starting with them full-time at top salary. And I signed with a literary agent this morning, and he has already fielded two six-figure offers for a book.”

“A book about me.”

“Hey, Captain, you’re major news.”

They stepped into the cafeteria. A couple tables were occupied, one of them by three men in ties that were loosened at the neck. One of them glanced at Mandy and Jake and said, “Hey, look. That must be him.”

Another said, “Is that really Captain Courageous?”

She indicated a table, and he took a seat while she went to a coffee maker and returned with two Styrofoam cups.

“It’s hot,” she said, “but I suppose that wouldn’t bother you.”

“You violated my confidence,” he said. “But I suppose that wouldn’t bother
you
.”

“Touché,” she said, and sat across the table from him.

She took a sip of coffee. “Look, I suppose you think I’m a horrible person.”

“I’m starting to wonder, I will admit.”

“Look, Captain. This is the real world. A girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. All right. Yes, I violated your confidence. But this was the story of a lifetime. I mean, my God, I slept with a real live superhero. And I got so many facts. So many details. Not just the reactor explosion that made you what you are – that’s public record – but your insights. Your feelings. Who Captain Courageous really is. I got an exclusive that is mine, and mine alone.”

“Why did you have to come up with that horrible name?”

She shrugged. “Because
Superman
and
Captain America
are already taken?”

He shook his head. “I’m glad you find all of this funny.”

“Oh, come off your high horse, Jake. How long did you think you could remain a recluse? With your power? You’re a real, bonafide superhero. A real live one. Just like in the comic books. You’re a public figure, and it would only be so long before someone got your story. Why shouldn’t it be me?”

He sighed wearily. “I’m
not
a superhero. I’m just a guy who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, that reactor explosion gave me some unusual abilities. But I’m just a guy who works at a lab, assisting Scott. That’s all I am.”

“And what about that girl a few months ago? The one you saved from being kidnapped in a parking lot?”

He shrugged. He had asked her not to say anything, but she had.

He said, “I was in the right place at the right time. And I would have stepped in, anyway. I would have done what I could, even without zeta energy.”

“What about that car that rolled over last year, out on ninety-five? You ripped the door off, pulled a woman out of there and then shielded her from the explosion with your own body.”

“Again, I would have tried to help anyway.”

“It’s not about what you tried to do. It’s about how you did it. And it’s not about how you define yourself, it’s about how the public sees you.”

“Reputation.” This seemed to connect with a conversation they had been having at her apartment.

“Bingo. The public sees you as a superhero, so you’re a superhero. Whether you see yourself that way or not.”

“And I have nothing to say about it.”

She shook her head. “No more than any of us do. And as for me, the story was there and I would have been a fool not to grab opportunity when it knocked.”

“So, our weekend together didn’t mean anything to you?”

“I didn’t say that. It was great. Everyone needs a weekend like that once in a while. But let’s not make more of it than it was. It was a mini vacation, but now it’s over. It’s not as though we were in love.”

Jake shrugged, and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m not one to sleep around recreationally.”

She smiled. “You feel used. If that isn’t role reversal, I don’t know what is. Men have been using women for centuries.”

“Not me. I don’t use people.”

“Come on, Jake. It wasn’t really like that. Not exactly.”

“No. You were sleeping with me to get a story. First the football player, and then me. Doesn’t using sex to get a story make you feel at least a little bit like a whore?”

Her turn to shrug. “I don’t believe in labels.”

“I know. I know. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

“It’s a man’s world. A girl has to try a little harder to compete. And there are many successful men who wouldn’t be where they are today if they let integrity get in the way. And now this story puts me on a level playing field with most of the top journalists in the country. I’ll be interviewing presidents. Prime ministers. I’ll never have to work on my back to get another story again.”

“And you don’t think a woman can rise to the top based on pure ability?”

She raised a brow. “In this world? Do you really think that?”

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound from beyond the doorway.

“What the hell?” Jake asked.

“Sounded like it came from the newsroom,” she said.

There was another crashing sound, and the floor shook, and then the room went dark, and a moment later emergency lights came on.  A woman screamed from the corridor and a man called for help. Another crashing sound, and the floor shook again.

Jake was on his feet.

“Stay here,” he said to her, and ran into the corridor.

She shook her head. “Ever the boy scout.”

People were running from the newsroom in panic. Jake hurried past them and through the doorway, and was met with a fist striking him in the side of his jaw with the power of a pile driver.

Jake was carried by the impact through the air, and into the wall, and through the bricks and mortar and out beyond the building, where he fell to the street four floors below.

He crashed into the pavement, a shower of bricks and debris raining down on top of him.

He had still been powered-up from his entrance into the building, crashing through a window in the same wall he had just crashed through on his way out. However, he had powered-up enough to do what he had to do, and no more. The fist had struck him with more power than any punch he had ever felt, and he had not been prepared for it.

He rose to his knees, and found the world was spinning. He tasted blood, and the side of his head was numb.

Two guards stood outside the door of the warehouse at 4732 Commons Drive. They were wearing dark, pinstriped suits. Their trench coats had been discarded because the day had turned off warm for November. Five black Chevy Impala’s were parked beside the warehouse.

One guard pulled a cigarette from a pack in his shirt pocket, and with a Bic lighter, brought the cigarette to life. The other was pacing about, a cigarette already in his mouth.

“Y’know,” one said. “I can’t wait until this assignment is over.”

A voice from the street said, “Now, boys, that’s a lousy attitude to take.”

Their heads snapped around. Scott Tempest was simply standing there, in front of the line of cars. They had not seen him approach. He was just suddenly there. Neither agent had actually met him, but they had seen photographs of him.

Tempest continued, “I would hate for Agent Tompkins to find out about this. He’s such a dedicated man, you know.”

Scott was dressed in a gray jumpsuit, with a wide belt containing pouches, reminding the agents of a grenade belt, and a thick band about his left wrist.

“Stop right there, Professor,” one of them said, reaching into his jacket for his pistol.

“No, I don’t think so,” Scott said. “I think what I’m going to do is walk right in there, and I don’t think you’re going to stop me.”

Scott tossed a small sphere, not two inches in diameter, which landed on the pavement at the feet of one of the agents. The agent took an involuntary step backward as the ball rolled to a stop. Scott then pressed a button on his wrist band and the two guards found they suddenly couldn’t move. Like living statues.

“Neural repressor field,” Scott said. “Wonderful thing, ain’t it? You see, it could easily kill, but I programmed it to allow you enough control to breathe. And just to be humane, I’m allowing you to be able to move your eyes and to blink, and to swallow so you won’t drool. Kind, don’t you think?”

Scott walked past them toward the door. “Of course, it’s not affecting me because I programmed it to ignore my own brain patterns. Amazing what you can do with just the right computer. And just in case the eggheads at any think tank the Secretary has tries to duplicate this technology, it doesn’t work on Jake Calder. The famous Captain Courageous. So, tell them not to even waste their time trying to figure it out.”

Mandy heard a large crashing sound and the building shook again. She left her table in the cafeteria and ran to the newsroom, and found a gaping hole in the outer wall. She had the sinking feeling Jake had left through that hole, and it had not been voluntary.

A man was standing in the center of the room. He was large, as in football player-large. He wore a jumpsuit of spandex. It was bumble bee yellow, with the black silhouette of a fist on his chest. He wore black boots that rose to his knees, and black gloves extended almost to his elbows. A black hood covered most of his face, leaving only his nose and mouth exposed.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked.

“I call myself Power Man,” he said.

She could not stop a brow from rising. “You missed Dragon Con by about two months and five states, buddy.”

“I’m here to prove I’m more powerful than your Captain Courageous. I’m the most powerful man on the face of the Earth. I thought I might be able to find him here.”

“Wait, you mean, you’re for real?”

“As real as it gets. Are you Kimberly Stratton?”
“When I have to be.” Her brow was still raised.