The Expanding World Read online

  “Wait, I thought we only had to stop each other?” I asked.

  Hana looked at me. “I changed the rules to make it more challenging. After all, in a real fight, the rules change all the time.” She took Jason by the hand. “Come.”

  Tanya and I glanced at each other.

  “This should be interesting,” Tanya said. “I’ve been working on new ways to use my power.”

  “Good,” I said with a nod. “I’m always trying to improve myself too.”

  “Have you seen Jess?” Tanya asked.

  “Nope, I’m getting a little worried about her.”

  Tanya shrugged. “She’s a witch, she’ll be fine.”

  A red light flashed. I figured I’d take out Tanya fast and easy: dart forward at super speed, a quick nerve pinch, and game over. But I felt myself slowing down. It was like the gravity around me had become so strong, each step felt like my legs weighed a few tons. I gave Tanya credit, she had slowed time fast. Still, that wouldn’t be enough to stop me. I kept creeping towards her, even though each step felt heavier than the last.

  Tanya moved closer. “I know you’re tough and not much can hurt you, but even you have to breathe.” She popped a shoe off one foot. “I really feel sorry for you about this. While I can’t totally stop you in time, I can slow you down enough.” She placed her shoe over my nose. Wow! If my head could have jerked back it would have. “My shoes get nasty if I don’t wear socks. I know a quick whiff of this wouldn’t normally hurt you. But I am speeding up time around your nose, making it seem as though you’ve been breathing in nothing but my shoes for a year!”

  Tanya removed her shoe away from my nose. She snapped her finger. “Okay, time around you is back to normal.”

  The room spun around me. My eyes felt so heavy, it was like elephants were trying to force them to close. But I refused to fall. Tanya walked up to me. She tapped me on the head with her little finger. I hit the floor.

  “Sweet dreams,” were the last words I heard.

  I came to in a bed in a white room, with a doctor looking over me. Dad and Jason were also there. “You okay, honey?” Dad asked.

  “Yeah, only my ego took a beating.”

  “All superheroes have some weakness. Yours is that you have to breathe.”

  “Hopefully, now you’ve learned you’re vulnerable to gas attacks. The good news is, I am sure if you’re prepared for a gas attack, you can hold your breath for a great deal of time!” Dad commented.

  Tanya patted me on the shoulder, “Once again, sorry I had to do that. But your dad and Hana thought of it. I’m glad to see you’re alright now.”

  Jason gave me a thumbs up. “Yeah, the MMA Fighter, Samurai and Ninjas that Tanya practiced on last week are all still recovering! Two of them haven’t stopped sucking their thumbs. The third drops to the ground and rolls over when she sees Tanya.”

  “I do leave quite the impression,” Tanya grinned.

  All of a sudden, red lights began flashing. Sirens started blaring. A voice over the intercom said, “Alert! This is not a drill!”

  Dad looked up at the ceiling, “MAC, show us the security feed!”

  A TV monitor dropped from the ceiling to the middle of the room for us to see. There in the monitor, we saw Jessica storming into the building. A couple of guards rushed towards her. Jessica pointed at them. The guards instantly began to cluck like chickens.

  “What have you done with Felipe and Tomas?” she shouted at one of the security guards. She waved her fist into the camera. “You’d better give them back or else!”

  “Oh, this could be trouble…” Dad said.

  Dear Diary: Ouch, I finally lost a fight. Sure, I’ve had my close matches before. But this marks the first time I actually got knocked out cold. I guess it’s good that I do have a weakness. It keeps me humble. 

  Tanya packs a lot of wallop. Her ability to slow time is powerful and her feet pack almost the same punch as mine. I wonder if having natural superpowers give you naturally super stinky feet? Whatever...I now know for sure that I can be taken down, especially if I don’t plan before a fight. My brain is as useful as any of my powers!

  I just hope we can sort out the issue with Jessica!

  Angry Witch = Big Trouble

  I sat up in bed. “Dad, what’s Jessica talking about?”

  Dad took a few steps back. He scratched his head. “I have no idea...”

  Standing up, I looked at Hana, “Is there something going on here that Dad doesn’t know about?”

  Hana grinned. “My dear Lia, there are many things going on here that your dad doesn’t know about. We have become a huge organization. One single human cannot track them all. But luckily, I am not human, and I am close to your dad at all times. I also can track them all. We have done nothing with Tomas and that adorable little Felipe.”

  “We did invite them to train,” Dad said slowly. “But they turned us down. So that was that.”

  “Apparently not,” Jason said.

  Hana's nose started to twitch. Her mouth locked into a wide grin and her eyes sprung open, with her pupils dilating until the whites of her eyes disappeared.

  “Ah, what’s going on with Hana?” I asked dad.

  He glanced at her. “She’s doing a deep search. It’s so cute!”

  I let that comment slide. I had bigger fish to fry than to worry about my dad thinking his cute android.

  Hana’s nose stopped twitching. Her eyes blinked again and the wide grin disappeared from her face. “Doctor Donna Dangerfield recently started her own company, Bio Augmented Diversified, and they are doing work like ours. They refer to themselves as "BAD". Their motto is, “Making You a Better You!”

  “Where are they located?” I asked.

  Hana’s nose twitched. It stopped. “No idea. It’s very hush, hush.”

  Looking up at the monitor, I could see that Jess had moved deep into the building and anybody she came in contact with instantly dropped to the ground and began clucking. “Okay, we stop Jess first. We need to explain to her what’s going on. Then we find out more about this BAD!”

  I looked at Tanya. “You ready for this?”

  “You’re asking me to take on one of our best friends who is an angry powerful witch? Of course, I am!”

  We raced out the door then stopped at the weight room to grab Lori, who had been watching the situation unfold. “This is going to be tough!” Lori said. “Jess has a lot of magical power, but if I can sneak behind her I think I can take her out.”

  “Let’s try to talk her down first,” I said. “Nobody wins if we go up against Jess.”

  We stopped at the lab to get Marie. Both the scientists working with her had been turned to big yellow cheese statues. Marie came over, “Sorry, guys I was hungry and got a little nervous watching Jess.”

  “Marie you stay here and turn these guys back. We’ll use you as our backup plan against Jess if needed.”

  Marie nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

  MAC used the building guidance system to lead us through the halls towards Jess. The walls of the building were all electronic, so he could display arrows showing us the way to go. He also gave us a constant feed to let us see Jess’s actions exactly. The good news is that so far she hadn’t vanished anybody. Plus, she hadn’t completely turned anybody into a chicken yet. That made me hope we could reason with her.

  We met up with Jess who was approaching a big lab filled with scientists who were busy at work, completely unaware of what was going on around them.

  As soon as Jess spotted us, she turned towards the scientists who immediately dropped to the floor and began to cluck like chickens. A few of the robot security drones tried to stop Jess but she instantly reduced them to piles of melted metal.

  She then glared at each of us. Her gaze made us all shiver.

  I took a deep breath. “Jess we need to talk,” I said slowly but firmly.

  “Tomas, cute little Felipe, and his mom are all missing!” Jess replied.


  “Yeah we’ve heard,” I said. “My dad and Hana insist they don’t have them.”

  Jess raised an eyebrow, “You trust your dad? The man who wanted nothing to do with you until you had superpowers and a robot to keep an eye out for you?”

  Jess hit a nerve there. She had a solid point, but now wasn’t the time to think about my relationship with my dad.

  "Hana’s an android,” I said, realizing that Jason was rubbing off on me. “But yes, you make a good point.”

  Jess stood there tapping her foot impatiently. “So now what?” She raised her arms over her head.

  “If you’re trying to knock us out with super BO, it’s not working,” Lori said.

  I held my breath just to be on the safe side, but I felt pretty sure that wasn’t what Jess was up to. She wasn’t a super BO kind of girl. Sadly, that was one of my moves.

  “No, I’m putting a magical invisible shield around me so you can’t attack me!”

  “We’ll see about that!” Lori yelled, leaping across the room at Jess.

  Jess stood there, arms crossed. Lori flew towards her then bounced off harmlessly. She rolled into a bunch of scientist chickens, knocking them over like bowling pins.

  Lori sat up, “Nope, she’s not bluffing.”

  Tanya whispered to me, “I may be able to freeze her in time, even in that shield. But if I can’t, we might both end up as chickens. Actually, once I saw her turn two guys who whistled at her into turnips…”

  “I have a better idea,” I told Tanya.

  I looked Jess in the eyes. “Let’s all go talk to my dad and Hana. I’m sure we’ll get the truth out of Dad, at least. If they aren’t involved, which I’m pretty sure they aren't, they can help us find out who has Felipe and Tomas.”

  Jess dropped her arms. “Deal.”

  She sniffed herself. “Good timing, my deodorant was about to wear off!”

  Dear Diary: I hate to admit this, but Jess really had a point about Dad. I want to trust him. I need to trust him. But man, oh man, I haven’t seen Dad for about ten years, then all of a sudden I’m super, and he shows up at my door. As well as that, it turns out he runs a giant scientific research company that is interested in super beings. Plus, the man built himself a girlfriend, which, I’m sorry, is totally weird. Hopefully, though, he was telling the truth. But I need to find out for sure!

  Planning for Action

  We all gathered in one of BM Science's lush conference rooms. The room had a long polished oak table surrounded by the most comfortable leather chairs ever. I assured Dad and his people that Jess wouldn’t turn any of them into something weird, as long as they told the truth.

  Dad sat at the head of the table with Hana positioned next to him. A fierce-looking security guard stood behind him at the ready.

  Though I knew that if Jess lost her temper, there would be nothing that any security personnel would be able to do to stop her, regardless of how fierce or tough he was. Just as that thought entered my head, three more security people walked into the room. These ones all wore red body armor and helmets. By the mechanical sounds they made when they moved, I knew the armor must have been enhanced.

  “Jess, I assure you that my company has nothing to do with the disappearance of Felipe and Tomas,” Dad told her.

  Jess pointed at the guards. “Then why all the security people in the room.”

  Hana answered for Dad, “My dear girl, you have reduced half of our staff to mindless chickens. I have called for extra security to be cautious. Mr. Strong’s brain is our company’s biggest asset. It is my job to protect it.”

  Jess glared. She snapped her fingers. The red-shirted guards turned into tomatoes. The bionically enhanced guards turned into toy soldiers. “Just to be clear, no amount of guards will help you if I find out that you are behind the disappearance of Tomas and Felipe.”

  I believe I saw Dad gulp. Hana, though, stood her ground. “Impressive use of power.”

  Jess nodded. “When I am angry, my power flows freely. That’s why I usually try to control it. People don’t like me when I’m angry.”

  Hana grinned. “Good point, but you see my dear, I’m not people.” Hana pointed at Jess. A bolt of electricity ripped into Jess. Jess jerked back and forth in her chair. She collapsed.

  A team in white medical suits rushed in. They gave Jess a shot in the arm.

  I leaped up. “Dad, Hana, what are you doing?”

  Hana answered again, “Just protecting my man, honey. Jess is fine. We’ll simply keep her sedated until the rest of you figure out who’s behind this.”

  “So it’s not you guys?” Lori asked.

  Dad stood up and answered, “No, it is not us. We would never do anything like this.” He looked at Hana.

  “I do not approve of you doing that to Jessica! She was scared and reacted. She was defending her loved ones.”

  “As was I,” Hana replied.

  Dad pointed at Jess. “Wake her up!” he ordered the medical team. “I have truth on my side. I don’t need protection.”

  One of the docs gave dad an, ‘Are you sure about this?' look.

  “Do it now!” Dad ordered.

  I’d never seen this forceful side of him before. I think I liked it. Looking at the smile on Hana’s face I knew she liked it too.

  The medic leaned in and gave Jess another shot.

  Jess slowly started to move. Her eyes shot open. “What the?” she said.

  I placed an arm over Jess, preventing her from standing. “Jess, calm down, it’s a misunderstanding.”

  Jess shook her head. “My brain feels scrambled. I can’t concentrate enough to use my powers…”

  “That will wear off soon,” Hana told her.

  Dad shot Hana a look.

  Hana lowered her head. “I’m sorry if I overreacted.”

  “Let’s all get to talking now,” I said slowly but forcefully. “We’re stronger when we all work together. What do you know about this BAD company?”

  “They are very new. Doctor Donna Dangerfield started them just a couple of months ago. According to their web page, their goal is to make the world a better place for everybody,” Hana explained.

  “Okay, if they have a web page, they must have an address,” Marie commented logically.

  Jason answered. “They do, but the address is only a PO Box in Moon City.”

  “So they are somewhere in Moon City?” Jess asked.

  “Possibly,” Dad said. “I’ll have one of our 'fly on the wall' drones head straight there and keep an eye on their PO Box.”

  “Fly drones?” Tanya asked.

  Dad beamed. “Drones that look like flies. They are amazing!”

  “They are!” Jason added.

  “So that’s all we have?” Lori shook her head in disgust.

  “For now,” Dad said. “But I promise you, we will get to the bottom of this.”

  I turned to Jess. I put my hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I trust him and so should you.”

  Jess didn’t blink. “I’ll give him a couple of days.”

  Well, that actually went better than I thought.

  Dear Diary: Okay, life never gets easier. But I guess learning how to cope is part of growing up. I had to trust my dad would get this done, especially since he had Jason helping. My relationship with Dad might have been shaky for a while (most of my life) but Jason had never let me down. Plus, I knew dad was trying to make things right. I just hoped we could find a solution before Jess went ballistic!

  Date

  I got home to find a note on the dining room table: "Out on a date. Buy a pizza, on me.” Well, at least Shep greeted me with a lick. I bent down and patted him. “Looks like it’s just you and me tonight, big guy.”

  He woofed.

  “Actually, I don’t mind at all, Shep. We’ll enjoy the pizza together!”

  My phone started to explode with beeps. I picked it up.

  LORI: Turn on TV.

  MARIE: Yikes!

  TANYA: Tur
n on TV.

  JASON: Yikes!

  I turned on the television. I saw Oscar Oranga hiding behind a table. “This is Oscar Oranga reporting from Casa De Amor restaurant where I had my date rudely interrupted.”

  The camera scanned the restaurant. Everybody there lay on the ground stiff and pale. They were all breathing, but slowly. I saw Mom laying there, quite still. I hoped she was faking so as not to expose herself.

  A girl dressed in black, with a black mask, boots, and cape, grabbed the mic from Oscar. She shook her fist at the screen, “Super Teen…I, Glare Girl, challenge you!”

  I leaped out the door. I knew where Case De Amor was. Not because I had ever been there, after all, my love life was less than zero, but I had always dreamed of eating there. I was glad mom got to. Even if she did have to face a super bad girl. I leaped into the air. I finally might have an arch-rival, one besides Wendi. I guess I should be happy in a way.

  “Should I call the rest of the team?” MAC asked.

  “No,” I said. “I need them as a backup just in case I lose,” I replied.

  “Tanya says she’s glad she’s not out in the open as a superhero!” MAC told me.

  “Yeah, it’s not a life for everybody,” I grunted with a shake of my head.

  Arriving at the restaurant, I found Glare Girl sitting with her boots up on a table. Her hands were behind her head and her hair was as dark as her black costume. “Well, well, you’re braver than I thought,” she commented, still not bothering to stand up.

  The restaurant looked amazing: silk tablecloths, flowers, and candles on every table. A band was set up in the corner. But of course, they were on the ground now. All the unconscious waiters were dressed as Matadors. The place smelled of sweet onions.

  I forced myself to concentrate on Glare Girl. “What’s your deal, girl?” I said.

  Glare Girl snickered. “You’re just so sweet and wholesome all the time, and I thought the world needed balance. I’m the balance. Not so sweet, not so wholesome. I’m just a hot girl out for fun!” She looked around the restaurant. “Nice place you folks have here in Starlight City! Of course, the people are all a little stiff,” she giggled.