Ultimate Warriors (23 page)

     
"Positive,"
Clark said. "His name is on her birth certificate. If she’s inherited his
teleportation powers, it would be a snap for her to get me into Lex’s lair in
time to defuse the bomb."

     
He
called up a picture of Blossom on his computer. Bruce, Diana, and the Captain
all crowded around the laptop for a better look.

     
"Nice,"
said Bruce, letting a low whistle escape between his perfect teeth.
"Very nice."

     
Diana
elbowed him in the side.

     
"But
not my type," he added hastily. "Too girl next door."

     
Clark
looked at the picture. "Girl next door" described Blossom perfectly.
No one would call her beautiful--not by a long shot. She was cute, with short
red hair and lots of freckles dancing across her nose.
Her
lips quirked, as if smiling at some secret joke.
He found himself
wondering if she was as fun to be with as she looked.

     
Diana
flipped a strand of long, bouncy hair over one bare shoulder. "She’s
twenty-four years old. Superpowers appear at puberty. If she could teleport, we
would know."

     
"Not
necessarily," Clark said. "Not if she kept the talent to herself.
Remember, she knows nothing about us. She’s a Ph.D. candidate at Megalopolis
Polytech."

     
"We
must investigate at once," said Captain Marvelous. "The fate of the
world depends upon it." He scanned the room. "I’ll need one HI
operative to travel to Megalopolis to assess the situation."

     
Of
course, Bruce volunteered first. "I’ll do it."

     
Like
hell he would. Clark had been itching for an excuse to get out of Newark for
months. He sent another glance toward Blossom’s picture. No way was he going to
let Bruce muscle in on this assignment.

     
"This
one’s mine," he said quietly. "After all, Lex Loser is my
nemesis."

     
Bruce
started to protest, but The Captain held up one hand. "I agree Clark’s the
hero for the job, Bruce, and not only because of Lex. Blossom Breeze, despite
her parentage, is living an average life as an average human woman. She could
very well faint dead away if a magnificent, larger-than-life superhero showed
up on her doorstep." He stroked the cleft in his chiseled chin.

     
"But
Clark should do just fine."

     
Thursday, 2:46 p.m.

     
Two
days, nine hours, fourteen minutes, and counting...

     
"Mind
if I sit here?"

     
Blossom
looked up from her book, only to find that the geeks of Megalopolis were not
confined to the boundaries of the MPI computer lab. Apparently, they frequented
the library, too.
Geez.
Where did the guy get those
black horn rimmed glasses--the family planning aisle of the drug store? She was
pretty sure their effectiveness as birth control surpassed The Pill.

     
"Suit
yourself
," she said, and returned to her book,
The Science of Superheroes.

     
The geek
set his laptop case on the floor and took the seat across the table from her.
He opened a large tome and started reading. Blossom turned her shoulder a
little, in case he had any ideas about talking to her. It wasn’t vanity on her
part. His book, An Annotated History of Welding, was upside down.

     
Unfortunately,
her subtle hint didn’t work. Subtle never worked with geeks.

     
"That
looks like an interesting book," he said.

     
"Hmm."
She turned a little more, taking The
Science of Superheroes with her.

     
"Is
there any special reason why you’re reading it?"

     
She
looked over at him. "I like superheroes."

     
For some
reason, that seemed to encourage him. "Do you believe they’re real?"
His dark eyes regarded her seriously from behind Coke bottle lenses. He
probably wouldn’t look too bad if he got contacts, she decided.

     
"Do
you?" he said again.

     
"Do
I what?"

     
"Think
superheroes are real?"

     
"Yeah,
right," she said, and went back to reading.

     
The geek
slipped off his chair, rounded the table, and took the seat to her right.
Someone should really tell this guy that the top button on a button-down shirt
was meant to be left open. Not her, though.

     
"I
mean it," he said, drawing her attention back to him with a low, rich
voice that seemed totally at odds with his persona. She closed her eyes and let
it wash over her.

     
"Did
you ever imagine what it would be like if superheroes really existed?" he
asked.

     
Did
she
ever. She thought about it every night in bed. But those
kinds of thoughts weren’t something a girl shared with a cute, geeky stranger.
Or even a best girlfriend, for that matter.

     
"I
guess there’d be less crime," she said.

     
"Maybe
there is less crime."

     
"What’s
that supposed to mean?"

     
He took
a deep breath. A springy lock of dark hair fell onto his forehead.

     
Cute,
she thought. Then she remembered the laptop.
Geeky.

     
"Maybe
there would be more crime if there weren’t superheroes," he said.

     
Say
again? "Yeah," she said.
"Maybe."
Not.

     
"I
know you’ve always felt different," he said.

     
She gave
him her best frown. What was this guy talking about? He looked harmless enough,
but... She scooted her chair a couple inches back from the table, just in case
she had to make a run for it.

     
"It
can be frightening to discover you have a superpower. Especially if you’re just
a teenager, and there’s no one around to guide you."

     
Yep.
Certifiable.
Did she know how to attract them, or what? She
closed The Science of Superheroes with a thud.

     
"Oh,
would you look at the time," she said. "I’ve got to go."

     
His hand
settled on her arm. "You don’t have to pretend with me."

     
She
jumped back, nearly knocking her chair over in her haste. The librarian sent
her a disapproving glare.

     
"Look,"
she whispered to the geek. "I don’t know who you are or what you think you
know about me, but I’m warning you. Stay away from me or next time I’ll call
the cops."

* * * *

     
Thursday, 2:55 p.m.

     
Two
days, nine hours, five minutes, and counting...

     
Well,
that didn’t go over quite the way he’d planned.

     
Clark
stared morosely at the door through which Blossom Breeze had fled. Smooth one,
Geek Man. He gave a heavy sigh. Either Blossom was hiding her superpower, or
her human genes had proved dominant and she was just your everyday, average,
appealing-as-all-hell woman.

     
He let
his mind wander a bit on that one. Blossom didn’t have Diana’s curves or cup
size, but when she’d blinked up at him with those big blue eyes he’d felt it
like a sucker punch to the gut. He’d experienced a sudden urge to sift his
fingers through her sassy red hair and plant a kiss on her lush pink lips.

     
She said
she liked superheroes, right?

     
Well, he
was a superhero, wasn’t he?

     
Of
course, she’d never guess it.
Which was exactly why the
Captain had sent him on this mission.
A mission he might have already
blown with his bungling attempt at contact. Clark gave an inward groan. Bruce
would have come up with a suave opening line. Bruce would have been on his way
home with Blossom right now.

     
He
stared at her vacated chair. Something caught his eye, and he leaned forward. A
single strand of red hair clung to the chair’s upholstered back. He lifted it
carefully.

     
Just what he needed to determine whether this trip to Megalopolis
was humanity’s best hope for survival or a complete waste of time.

     
Returning
to his original seat, he shoved An Annotated History of Welding to one side and
hefted his laptop case onto the desk. In a few moments, he’d powered up his
computer and enabled the genetic testing program. He attached the sensor wand
to the USB port. Then he ran the tip over Blossom’s fiery strand of hair.

     
He
watched as the string of genetic code scrolled up the screen faster than the
human eye could read. Clark, thanks to his psychic computer superpowers, had no
trouble following the analysis. As the lines of coded numbers streamed by, his
excitement built. Blossom’s super genes were no match for her human mother’s
contribution to her DNA.

     
She was
most definitely a superheroine.

     
Yes!

     
"Young
man, keep it down!" The librarian looked ready to kill.

     
Clark
gave her a guilty glance. Had he shouted out loud?
"Yes,
ma’am."
He took a calming breath and sank his mind into the
readout.

     
Wait one
minute. Something wasn’t quite right. Yes, Blossom carried the gene for
teleportation, but for some reason it didn’t seem active. Currently, she
couldn’t change locations with a thought, taking whomever she touched with her.

     
Stomach
churning, Clark launched another sequence of programs, further refining the
genetic investigation.

     
Two-point-seven
minutes later, he broke out in a cold sweat. According to his analysis, Blossom
carried a rare genetic mutation that had prevented her superpower from
manifesting with the first influx of puberty hormones, as was typical with
super offspring. In her case, a more specialized hormone surge was needed to
trigger the transformation.

     
Clark
looked at his watch.
Noon.
Two days,
twelve hours, and counting.
Time to check in with HI
headquarters.
He opened a Velcro pocket on his laptop case and pulled
out his cell. He punched in the Captain’s private number.

     
"What’s
the word, Clark? Can humanity be saved?"

     
Briefly,
Clark summarized his unexpected discovery. "All we have to do is initiate
the specialized hormone flux and Blossom’s superpower will manifest."

     
"How
do we do that?"

     
Was it
getting hot in here? Clark inserted his index finger into the collar of his
shirt and tugged. "Well, Captain, the only way the precise combination of
hormones can be released is..." He paused to take a deep breath.

     
"Go
on."

     
"The
only way to trigger the transformation is for Blossom ... uh, I mean Ms.
Breeze, to..." Clark swallowed hard.

     
"Spit
it out, boy. I don’t have all day."

     
"Yes, sir."
He felt his face flame. "The only
way for Blossom to become a superheroine is for her to have a..." He
glanced toward the librarian and lowered his voice. "...a sexual
encounter.
But not just any sexual encounter.
It has
to be off the charts. She has to experience toe-curling, mind-blowing,
deep-muscle-contracting ecstasy."

     
For
about ten seconds, dead silence poured across the cellular phone waves.

     
Then
Captain Marvelous cleared his throat. "Well, Clark, what are you waiting
for? The fate of humanity is at stake. Get right on it."

     
Friday, 5:29 a.m.