The Expanding World Read online

  “I created you all!” Doc Dangerfield shouted.

  “Yes. But now we have surpassed you. Actually, you should be proud,” all three clones said at once. “But since you seem to disagree with our planned course of action, we will put you on ice…” the first clone said. She pointed her hand at Doctor Dangerfield. A thick beam of blue frost hit Doctor Dangerfield. She instantly froze in place, covered in ice.

  The clone aimed her hand at me. “Now for you!”

  I saw the frozen blue beam coming at me. I jumped up over the beam, diving at the freezing clone. The clone reacted far faster than a normal person, she fired at me again. This time the beam of frost hit me face first. I felt a chill ripple down my entire body, coating me in ice. I spun and spun around like a mini tornado. The ice went flying off me. I crashed down on top of the clone, driving her to ground.

  “It will take more than ice to stop me!” I shouted.

  The clone smiled up at me. “You certainly are impressive.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “But you do know we are not alone. Right?”

  “I know there are three of you, but I can handle three super clones!” I said bravely.

  The clone pointed behind her. “But you might want to look over there.”

  Looking up, I saw the other two clones smiling. Behind them, I saw about a hundred floating drones that looked like winged metallic crabs, complete with metal claws that glistened to show how razor sharp they were. Each of the drone crabs also had mini-missiles on their backs.

  “Those claws can also generate energy beams,” the clone told me.

  Before I could react, the drones blasted me with a barrage of missiles and energy beams. The attacks sent me flying backward, slamming into the wall across the room. I slinked down the wall to the floor. My uniform smoked from the firepower they had hit me with.

  I got up.

  “Not bad,” I told the clones and the drones.

  The lead clone jumped back to her feet. “Look Super Teen, you are an amazing piece of genetic work. We don’t want to hurt you. But you are way outnumbered. Just join our team.”

  I leaned forward and let the crab drones have it with a full wide blast of heat vision. It felt good to let my powers rip again. It felt even better watching the drones crumble into piles of metallic dust.

  “So much for being way outnumbered,” I said.

  The lead clone held up a finger. “Wait for it.”

  Each pile of dust started to shimmer. The dust specs began clotting together and growing like metallic blobs of silly putty. Claws and legs sprung out of each blob. The blobs continued their morphing back into metallic drones.

  “The drones are made of self-replicating nanobots,” the lead clone said. “You can melt them down or freeze them. They will rebuild. They also don’t get tired. See, you are outnumbered!”

  “She may be outnumbered but she has powerful friends,” I heard a familiar voice say.

  There, standing behind the clones were Tanya, Jessie, Lori, Marie and Ellie Mae Opal. “I thought you could use your friends,” Ellie Mae said.

  The lead clone turned towards my team. She thrust a finger at them. “Get them, drones!”

  The flying drone crabs turned towards my friends. They started humming with anticipation.

  “Take them…

  Everything froze in place.

  Tanya stood there with her arms outstretched. “Take these things out fast, ladies. I’m not sure how long I can keep that area slowed in time before things start to get dangerous!”

  Marie darted forward past Tanya. She concentrated on the mass of killer crab drones. Her chest rose as she took an extra deep breath. She exhaled, aiming her head left and right. As Marie’s breath hit each drone, it reduced from shiny metal to dull yellow cheese.

  The cheese crab drones plopped to the ground with a squishy splat.

  “I’m way hungry,” Marie said.

  The three clones looked at each other, hands clenched into fists. “Can the nanobots adapt from this?” one of the clones asked.

  “Maybe…” the other two said. “Depends on how deeply that girl’s power changed them.”

  Jess walked up towards the clones. “Sorry, they won’t get a chance.” She looked at me. “Can I vanish these?”

  I grinned. “Yes please.”

  Jess turned to a corner of the room and clasped her hands together. She slowly separated her hands. A rift appeared across the room seeming to cut into reality itself. The rift slowly rolled open, revealing a deep black emptiness. Jess pointed at the cheese drones and then waved towards the rift. The drones floated off the ground and flew into the dark emptiness. Jess clapped her hands closed. The rift slammed shut as if it wasn’t ever there.

  The three clones exchanged worried glances. “What do we do now?” one of them asked. “We were prepared for Super Teen, but not all of these Super Teens.”

  Lori sprang forward on her bionic legs, landing between the three clones.

  “What you do now is you all go to sleep!” Lori said. She walloped the lead clone in the jaw. The bionic punch sent the clone staggering backward, her head popping back.

  The clone spat out a tooth. “Not bad, but it will take more than that to stop us. You and your friends have impressive power, but I’m guessing the time controller, the witch, and the molecular controller are all worn out from using their powers! And they are no match now for the three of us super clones!”

  “Ha!” Lori said with a stomp of her foot. “My friends are just warming up!”

  “Actually, I’m beat,” Marie said. “Turning everything to cheese is hard!”

  “I might be able to slow time a bit, but that trick also drained a lot of me,” Tanya admitted.

  “I still have power to spare!” Jessie said, she raised her arms over her head. Her hands crackled with yellow energy. The energy sizzled then fizzled out with a puff of smoke. Jessie dropped her arms to her sides. “Okay, maybe not…” she said slowly. She sniffed herself and curled her nose. “But I did manage to burn out my deodorant.”

  “See, I told you!” the lead clone said, pointing to her head. “We are really smart.”

  Lori took a fighting stance. “I will take you all out myself then.”

  The three clones snickered. “You don’t stand a chance!”

  Doc Dangerfield jumped between the clones and Lori. She held her arms up. “Wait, I made you so you could help make the world better!”

  The lead clone shrugged. “We are; it is just that our idea of "better" differs from yours.”

  Doc Dangerfield dropped down into a fighting stance. “Then you must fight me too!”

  The clone sighed. “Original us, you are in great shape for a non-enhanced being, but no match for us!”

  “Ha, but you’re my clone, I programmed you so you can’t hurt me!” the good doctor smiled.

  The clone nodded. “True,” she pointed at the other two clones. “But they aren’t your clones, they are my clones. They can hurt you.”

  The two others nodded readily in agreement.

  “Oops, loophole,” Doctor D said.

  I stomped my foot on the floor, sending a shockwave rippling through the surface that knocked over everybody else in the room.

  “You probably shouldn’t forget me. You know...Super Teen.”

  The three clones jumped back to their feet. “Yes, our niece Wendi is right. She has such an ego.”

  “She’s my niece, not yours!” Doc Dangerfield said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Please, she is so wro- “

  The three clones leaped across the room at me. “See, my fellow clones? I knew talking about our niece would distract her!”

  They landed on top of me, pushing me to the ground. They were right. They did make me mad talking about Wendi like that. I filled with anger. And when I got angry, I tended to burn through my deodorant. I grabbed two of the clones and stuck their noses right under my arms. The two struggled for a bit. They fought to break
my grip, my scent was too strong. Heck, I could smell it myself. I actually thought it had the aroma of a pleasant cheese. I guess the clones didn’t agree. The two clones, with their noses locked in my armpit, sighed then went limp. The third clone, the leader, leaped up off me.

  “You won’t put me down that easily, Super Teen!” she said.

  Lori tapped the clone on her shoulder, and the clone turned. Lori hit her with a jab to her jaw. The clone stumbled towards me. I rolled the other two clones off me and jumped to my feet. I caught the stumbling clone. I tapped her on the forehead. She fell over stiff. I blew on my finger.

  Doc Dangerfield ran up to me. “Super Teen, I am so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen! I only wanted clones to help with the workload, not to take over the world.”

  I pointed to Felipe, his mom, and Tomas laying on the strange beds. “Yeah, well, we all make mistakes. If my friends are okay, I guess there’s no real harm done.”

  “Right, I’ll wake them up now!”

  I watched as Doctor D went over and removed Felipe, his mom and Tomas from the devices they had attached to them. Felipe hugged me. Tomas hugged Jess. Doctor D promised us that with the help of her security people, she would keep the clones on ice so they couldn’t cause any more trouble. All was good with the world. We had stopped three crazy clones from taking over. It felt good to be me. Once I saw Felipe, Tomas, and Felipe’s mom were all okay, I thanked my team and we all headed home.

  When I got home I got a text from Jason.

  JASON> I heard u did great.

  LIA>Thanks.

  JASON>Wish I could have been there but ur dad said it would be too dangerous for me.

  LIA>Sorry bud. I missed u but I do need to be able to fight super bad guys without u. Just so I learn.

  JASON>Well I did my share by helping for tmw.

  LIA>Tmw?

  JASON>Ur speech in front of the entire school.

  LIA>NO!!!!!!! I so forgot.

  JASON>Yeah u were busy saving the world and all.

  LIA>OMG!!! I just took a shower and I’m sweating again! It might knock out the block!

  JASON>Don’t worry u’ll be great. U just need to let the other kids know ur a nice normal person who has their best interests at heart.

  LIA>Really? Me normal?

  JASON>Lia, we’ve been through this, mentally ur as normal as they come. Though, I think u better go take another shower. I just noticed all the birds in the trees between our houses have passed out!

  Dear Diary: I try not think too hard about the fact that my scent can overpower super-powered clones. Or, for that matter, knock out all the birds in the area. I consider it just another weapon I can use to stop crime. It’s amazing that despite all my powers, the thing in this world that still bothers me the most is Wendi Long. Oh well, I guess it’s nice to be super, but still have to deal with regular problems. If I am going to win this election, it will be because I am mostly normal.

  Speech Morning

  The next morning, I found Mom and Dad both there to greet me at the breakfast table. Now, I’d always had breakfast with Mom, it was our thing, but Dad being there was new.

  “What’s the matter? Did Grandma Betsy get hurt or something?” I asked.

  Mom shook her head and motioned for me to sit at the table. “No all is fine.”

  I sat down in front of a breakfast of pancakes with blueberries, fried potatoes, fresh pineapple and raspberries, and bacon, lots of bacon. (One of the cool things about being super, is that I do burn a lot of calories throughout the day.)

  “Wait, why are all my favorite foods here?” I asked.

  “You had a big day yesterday,” Dad said. “Taking out the clones and the drones.”

  “I had help,” I said. “My team kicked it up.”

  “True,” Dad acknowledged. “But you’re still the leader and the face of the team. You’re the only one who has gone public with their powers.”

  “I don’t mind,” I said, nibbling on nice crispy bacon. “I was born to be a hero. All my women ancestors have been super. I mean, Lori and Marie were made super by experiments that they didn’t even really agree to. Tanya and her little sister are super because of a nuclear accident. Cute little Ella Mae Opal was altered to be super. And Jessie, well she’s just different.”

  “That’s what’s really super about you,” Dad smiled. “How you live up to being super.”

  “Plus, we want to talk to you about love lives,” Mom said slowly.

  “Oh, so gross mom. I’m eating here!”

  “I mean, it can’t be that easy for you, me dating a reporter who wants to learn your secret identity, and your dad dating a woman that he literally made.”

  “Hey, what’s wrong with that?” Dad asked turning to Mom.

  “So many things,” Mom sighed.

  “Look, guys, any kid thinks the idea of their parents going on dates is weird, no matter who they are dating. It’s just how life goes. But really, all I care about is you guys being happy!” I told them.

  “Thanks,” Mom said, putting her hand on my arm. “You’re a great kid!”

  “I appreciate it too, and so does Hana,” Dad said. “And to repeat, I don’t see anything strange about me dating an android who is human in almost every way.”

  “Actually Dad, the only really strange thing is that she seems to get human nature better than you do,” I snickered. It was kind of a joke, but also not a joke.

  Dad looked at me. He slumped back in his chair. “Yeah, I get that, but I’m trying.”

  I put my hand on dad’s arm. “Thanks, Dad, I appreciate the effort.”

  “Plus,” Mom said, even slower, “you have a big event at school today.”

  I turned away. “Oh do I? I have hardly thought of it.”

  Suddenly I had a hiccup. And when I say a hiccup, I really meant the up part. The hiccup forced me up into the air, I banged into the ceiling, putting a huge dent in it. I dropped to the ground, smashing the wooden chair I’d been sitting on into pieces.

  “What the heck—” Another hiccup sent me flying up and down again, putting another hole in the ceiling and grinding the wooden chair to dust.

  “Honey, take a deep breath,” Mom said.

  “Those are nervous hiccups, you had them when you were younger,” Dad said.

  Mom turned to Dad. “I’m surprised you remember?”

  “Look, I know I wasn’t the world’s greatest dad, but I remember things.”

  “Guys,” I quivered. “Help me before I destroy the kitchen.”

  Mom put her hand on my back. “Like I said honey, breathe in.”

  I took a deep breath in.

  “Now let it out!”

  I exhaled, sending Dad flying across the kitchen. He crashed into the wall. He fell to the floor. He laid there out cold.

  “Oops,” I said.

  Mom started to laugh harder than I had ever seen her laugh before. She actually doubled over with laughter. “Oh honey, I can’t believe you did that, but I am so glad you did.”

  Mom paused for a second and wiped a tear out of her eye. “I obviously still have issues with your dad. I mean, come on, the man is dating an android.”

  “I know it's weird Mom, but he’s happy. Plus, she keeps him grounded.”

  Mom bent down and hugged me. “That’s why I love you. Your spirit is as strong as any of your powers.”

  I noticed the hiccups were gone. “I’m hiccup-free!” I said.

  Mom nodded. “Yeah, they’re a nervous reaction, and you’re not nervous any longer.” Mom looked me in the eyes. “Trust me, honey, you’re going to be fine.”

  Dear Diary: Wow! Just when I thought I’d run out of embarrassing super-powers, I discovered super destructive hiccups. Man, those aren’t fun. I just need to stay relaxed, and I will be fine. Who would have thought that my dad dating an android would be one of the more normal events of my life?

  Speech Time

  The day flew by. Pretty much the next thing I knew, I was s
itting up on stage in the school auditorium. Jason, as my campaign manager, sat beside me. School Vice Principal MACadoo stood at a podium in the middle of the stage and he was going on and on about the importance of elections in our society. I didn’t mind because the more he talked, the more time I had to wait.

  Across from me sat Wendi and her campaign manager Patti. Wendi looked so smug wearing a red dress with a red jacket on top of it. She had a flag pin on her collar. I swore her dress had to be extra short. That Wendi would do anything to get a vote. I couldn’t blame her; she did have really good legs! Wendi sat there looking at VP MACadoo and smiling.

  That’s when it hit me again. I knew I was about to experience another super hiccup attack. I stood up.

  “Where are you going?” Jason asked me.

  “I’ve got a personal problem…” I said hurriedly. I started off the stage, hoping nobody would notice.

  “Ms. Strong, where are you going?” VP MACadoo asked.

  “Sorry sir, nature calls!” I said.

  The entire school student body laughed.

  I streaked off the stage. Once I got out of the view, I ran at super speed into the girls’ bathroom. If I was going to have a super hiccup attack, I’d do it out of sight. Luckily, the entire school was at the speeches. Well, not so lucky, since they all now were laughing at me.

  I raced into the bathroom so fast I almost ran into Janitor Jan who was wiping some writing off of one of the stalls. Good thing Jan saw me coming, so she levitated out of the way. Jan dropped back to the floor.

  “Lia, what are doing in here? You should be giving a speech now.”

  “Sorry, Jan, I had a nervous attack. I had to get out of there before I did something bad.”

  “What?” Jan said.

  “HICCUP!” I shot up to the ceiling, cracking it. I fell back down on the floor, denting the floor.

  “That…” I said.

  Jan shook her head. “Girl, I just washed this floor.” Jan put her hands on my shoulders. “Now you have to calm down. Don’t make me turn you into a gel pad for my shoes.”