Josefer Martin - Growing up Super - Chapter 2

"Mr. Martin."

"Mr. Martin?"

"Mr. Martin!"

"Oh," I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and get back to the task at head. "Um, yeah Ms. Delarosa?"

"If you have been paying attention Mr. Martin, you would have known what I had asked you, but since you seem incapable of doing so, I'll repeat myself," scolded my quite upset Computer Programming teacher. "How would you write a sort to organize this data," and she indicated a table she had written on the white board which had about twenty-five entries, "by a user selectable parameter?"

I bit my lip, "Let me think." I knew it would come to me, it just would take a while. "Ah," I exclaimed. I then spouted off the code for a quick treesort that branched off in a four dimensional structure. I had seen a two dimensional version of it in practice final.

"Um," stammered Ms. Delarosa, "could you come up here and make a diagram so your classmates, and I, can understand?"

I smiled, "No, I can't."

She looked angry, again, "And why can't you?"

"Simple" I said, leaning back in my chair, "it's a four-dimensional sort, which means that to illustrate it, we'd have to live in a universe with at least five spacial dimensions. We've got three. Thought, I can illustrate a two-dimensional version, if you'd like."

"Sure," she said, unsure of what she'd gotten herself into.

I quickly walked up to the front and opened up a text editor, "First, I've got to write it out." I typed the code for a rudimentary 3-D model of three generations of the two-dimensional tree sort, and then rendered it. "As you can see," I explained, "while it's more complex to visualize then a more simple nested treesort, or any other kind of nested sort, it takes about thirty percent less time. On a list of two dozen items, it's not a difference, and you could get away with the nested sorts, but once you get into the thousands, or even millions, say if you're trying to determine the password within a set length, it's use become much more apparent."

Ms. Delarosa became shocked, not knowing what to say, "Um, well, thank you Mr. Martin, you can sit down now."

With a smile on my face, I walked back to my seat, and sat back down. I wasn't sure if what I had said actually would have worked, but that wasn't the point. It got Ms. Delarosa off my back, and she wouldn't know how to check to see if it worked.

I leaned back in my chair, content that I wouldn't be bothered until the class was over.

I thought back to the day my intuition kicked in. It was March of my seventh grade year, Jessica's acrobatics had kicked in just before Christmas, but I wasn't worried, since guys usually develop after girls. I was practicing my gadgets after school, putting together random pieces of electronics and mechanics until I got something that worked. I had been working on my goggles, the ones that Mike had stolen earlier today, but then they were just beginning to be special.

"Let's see," I had said, "the LED goes here." I soldered down an LED, hoping that it'd be a light source for the HUD. Then, as Mike had said seven months earlier, it just kicked in, and I figured out the exact nature of the circuit. At first I thought that, like some people, my secondary power was an enhancement of my primary power. i was overjoyed, but then, as I thought about it, I figured out it could have been like Mike's power, hyper intelligence.

"Hey, Mike," I said, looking over the pile of books he had in front of him, "I think my secondary power's manifested."

He put down the Calculus book he was studying, "So, what you got?"

"Not sure," I said, "maybe a boost to my gadgets, maybe hyper int like you."

"Well," he said, standing, "there's a test we can do."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he grabbed a book of puzzles out of his backpack, "these are pretty easy for me, let's see how you do." He tossed it to me, and I caught it.

"Let's see here," I opened it up. They were sudoku puzzles. I grabbed a pencil out of my pocket, and started. At first, it wasn't any faster then I usually did, but then, I went faster, each new answer hastening the next. I finished the puzzle in two minutes, flipped the page, and started the next one. This one took my a minute, then the next one took my a bit less, but only because I had to extend the lead twice since it broke. After the tenth Mike spoke up.

"Joe, wait, stop," she pleaded.

"What?" I said, finishing the eleventh.

"Joe, you're not hyper int, or else there wouldn't have been a learning curve. I think you're an intuit."

"Intuit?"

"Think Sherlock Holmes, only quicker and without the deerstalker hat," he began, "but we'll have to talk with the principal to set up a test. I'm thinking at least a grade three, perhaps higher."

I smiled, "A grade three, that'd be great."

"But hey, you're still only an intuit. I'm still smarter then you."

"Thanks, you're a real uplifting guy."

"Hey, just telling it like it is."

OTR: Shut Up, Go Shopping, Support the War...and Nobody Gets Hurt!

From thousandreasons.org. Ana excellent editorial about the the War, Bush, and the Tyranny the combination has wrought.

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Josefer Martin - Growing up Super - Chapter 1

As I sat in the back of my seventh period computer programming class, one of my easiest classes, but still my favorite, I thought back over the day's events. Less then an hour before I had been held at gunpoint by a man I once called my best friend, who then robbed me of my most prized possession, and ran off both my new worst enemy and a multi-millionaire.

I then thought back further, back to the first time I met Mike and Zelda. It was the August of seventh grade, a week before classes were to begin. Jessica and I, at that time just beginning our partnership, and still getting the feeling of our eventual relationship, had been invited by the administration to tour our new school, William H. Parker Junior High School.

When we arrived at nine in the morning, having been dropped off separately by our parents, we weren't sure what to do. The parking lot was almost empty, but after walking up to the doors, we realized that the front doors were open. In retrospect, it's logical, since we were supposed to be there, but when you're twelve years old, the logic circuits aren't quite working at full capacity.

Jessica led the way, since she could sense the two people waiting for us in the lobby. I followed close behind, not really knowing what to expect. The two people waiting were just a bit older then us, actually a year or so, but otherwise looked entirely normal.

"You two must be Jessica, and Joseph," said the boy, "I'm Mike, and this is Zelda."

"Actually," I spoke up, "It's Josefer, but you can call me Joe."

"My bad," said Mike with a smile, "well, no matter, we'll get it all sorted out later. In the meantime, we're here to show you around Parker Junior High. Zelda here will show Jessica around, and I'll show Joe around."

"Yeah, sounds good," I admitted. He exuded confidence, and had definite charisma.

He took me by the shoulder and we walked down the main hall, the girls started up the stairs to look around the second floor. "Joe," he said, "I can call you Joe, right?"

"Yeah Mike," I confirmed, still unsure of what the proper response should have been.

"Joe, I remember what it was like when I was in your position. Still unsure of what to do, what not to do, and how to act around norms and supes. Well, I can't tell you how to act around norms, since that's for tomorrow, but the rest I can teach you, and so much more."

As we walked around the school, he showed me the various classrooms and offices, as well as the hidden places that the norms didn't know about. He talked about what I'd expect of both my school hours, and my extracurricular activities. He explained how we'd be taught the bits of history left out of the norms' educations, plus the extensive civics and martial arts instructions we'd receive.

He also talked about how the supe program worked. Before that day, I'd hadn't known much. Just what they'd told us at the Orientation Camp in July, and what I'd gleaned from the internet, some of which Mike was contradicting. He explained about the two stage power process, about how a supe would be born with one power, one they knew how to control from birth, but then, once they reached puberty, they'd gain a second, more powerful power.

He then bragged about how his second power had manifested in the middle of his math class, about how one moment he'd had to figure out the answer, and the next it just came to him. He then explained how he'd cheated by hacking into the school's computer system and changed all his classmates' grades to make himself look as smart as he knew, or at least thought, he was, at least by comparison.

That should have been my first clue as you what kind of man Mike would turn out to be, but then I wasn't an intuit, just a gadgeteer. By the time the day was up, and my parents had arrived to take me home, I had learned a whole lot about the world that most norms never did. I had also gotten my first glimpse as my future best friend, and worst enemy.

Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 4

"…ome in. I repeat. Joe, Jess, this is Control, Come in." came the panicked voice over the radio.

"Control, this is Joe, we're here," I replied. He looked over to Jessica, and then at the vault around us, empty as it was.

"Joe, what happened?"

"Control, we have a problem. Mission failed."

"What do you mean failed," interrupted James over the radio, "Mel and I trounced those robbers like two minutes ago. Heck, we'd be out of here by now if you two hadn't been incommunicado."

"Jay," I said, my voice strained, I wasn't mad at him, but at myself, "The vault is empty. It was cleared out about thirty seconds ago. Poof, gone, and I didn't have time to trace it."

"What? But, you've been in there for three minutes, are you telling me you let them escape?"

"No," interjected Jessica, "He's saying we couldn't do anything about it. They'd already collected everything by the time we got here. If they had wanted to, we wouldn't have known until they checked the vault after we were gone."

"It was a trap," I added, "and a damn good one."

"Joe," commanded Control, "are you two ready for an evac?"

I looked over to Jessica, she nodded. "Yes Control. What's the location?"

"The roof, Jay and Mel are up here already."

"Roger, we'll be up in minute."

"You've got thirty seconds."

I quickly removed my headset, and looked at Jessica, "You ready for a jump?"

She nodded, "Yeah." She then took a step and hugged me. I blinked, and we dropped thirty centimeters to the roof. I released the hug after a quick squeeze, and turned to face the waiting helicopter.

"You two lovebirds coming or not?" asked Jay over the roar of the rotors. I barely heard him, but the headset was still in my hand.

I looked at Jessica, then tipped my head towards the waiting chopper. She nodded and we jogged over to the open door, ducking low so that the down-wash wouldn't knock us over.

We got inside and strapped ourselves in.

Jay tapped his headset, so I got the hint and put mine back on.

"Control, we're secure," I said, as the helicopter lifted off the roof of the bank.

"So," asked Melissa, "anyone we know?"

"Yeah," replied Jessica, "Zelda and Mike."

"What," exclaimed James, "I thought they'd skipped town!"

"Probably did," I explained, quickly thinking over the situation, "got themselves some costumes, probably some handles, and definitely some mooks. They came back for a reason."

"Money?" asked Melissa.

"Well," I explained, "not exactly. Yeah, they got the money, but it was to gloat, and to tell Jess and I that they were back, and that they weren't playing nice."

"Well, I'm sure the Supes can capture them," offered Melissa.

"No," said Jessica confidently, "Mike's too smart for that. Heck, you know how hard it was to communicate through that vault. If Zelda can put up a protection zone that secure in an unfamiliar place, image how secure their lair would be."

"Yeah," I conformed, "plus, Mike's smarter then most of the Supes in the city. Combined with Zelda's spells, which are as potent as any Supe in state can muster, they'll be nearly unstoppable."

"Nearly," confirmed James, "but you got a plan, right?"

I smiled, "Oh, yeah, lots of them, but they'll never work." I paused, then continued, "You see, I don't know enough of the details. Mike made sure of it. He knows as much about my limitations as I do, maybe more. He knows that I need clues to deduce from. Even Sherlock Holmes would have trouble with this one. The security on the vault and Zelda's hold on Jess and I ran out almost ten seconds after they left. I need a teleport to be less then two seconds old before I can get a lock, Jessica, being a teleporter doesn't need that fresh a trail, but still, ten seconds was too old. We couldn't trace the teleport before the trail dissipated."

There was a pause, then Melissa chimed in, "But, they've got a weakness, right? The universe won't let someone get that much power with a weakness. It's a fundamental law."

"Yeah, and that's the one bright spot in all of this," I acknowledged. "Zelda's a spellcaster, which slows her down. Mike's got an ego the size of a small moon."

"So," asked James, "we'll get them, right?"

"Yeah," I said, but it lacked confidence. I looked out the window at the city passing below us, "we'll get them. He's got something of mine, and I intend to get it back."

Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 3

"Control," I continued, but there was no answer.

"It's no use Joe," Mike noted.

"Control, this is Joe, come in Control."

"I told you, it's useless."

"Control, we have a problem, respond," I said, worried.

"Joe!" Mike shouted, I stopped and looked at him. His hair, which used to be dyed black last year, was now a bright red. He was angry. "Your radio can't get through these walls."

"But," I began., he interrupted.

"But Jessica could sense us, I know," he put way his gun, it's holster hidden under his suit jacket. The jacket, along with his tie, the shirt, his pants, and even his shoes, were all dyed in a flame pattern. Right now, his clothes matched his hair, a combination that probably hadn't happened since the last time he worn the black jumpsuit before he graduated. "That's because it's a trap. I set a trap, a simple bank robbery. Have the mooks hold up the joint, create a ruckus, while Zel and I snuck into the vault. Since there are only four of them, and there weren't any supers overtly involved, I knew they'd send you. You see, it was all a part of my plan."

He smiled. I didn't. He continued.

"This vault," he gestured around him, "is very secure, at least, now it is. A minute ago, it wasn't. When we got here I had Zel whip up a two stage spell. The first stage weakened the vault, making it as easy to sense thoughts through as a piece of paper. That was the bait. Now that you're here, it's a bit stronger then it normally is, stage two." He smiled, "Zel, tell our guests what you've done."

"Gladly," she sneered. "Well, originally, the vault was just protected by a two foot thick wall of lead, concrete, and a titanium mesh. Secure, but only against telepaths, and only up to a Grade Four. Now, it's been reinforced to be completely magic, thought, and radio impenetrable. So, even though Miss Grade Two here could sense in," and she gestured to Jessica, "now nothing can get in or out, except me of course."

"Good job Zel," said Mike with a smile. "So, with a new situation, there was only two options you had. Either stick to the plan, take care of the mooks with all four of you, but potentially let the real thieves go, or split up, the Brick and the Telekinetic taking care of the mooks, four on two, a good morale booster, and you two coming here to the vault via one of Jessie's teleports. I knew you'd go for the latter. You're so predictable, all you Intuits are. Give you a situation and ninety percent of the time, you'll all do the same thing. Having known you for as long as I have, plus a bit of pushing from Zel, and I got it up to a hundred percent."

"So," I interrupted, "now that you've got us, what do you want?"

"To gloat," he said confidently. "To prove that no matter how fast you plan, you're too short term. That I can still out-plan even you, a Grade Five Intuit, because I'm smarter."

"Revenge?" asked Jessica.

"No, that'll come later, just you wait. No, now that we've had this little chat, it's time to get moving," Mike countered.

"So, you're robbing banks now? That the best plan you could come up with, Mr. Flame?" I goaded him.

"Wait," interjected Jessica, "I thought it was the Human Zippo?"

"No," I said, a smile creeping across my face, "I know what it is. The Great Flambé."

"Stop!" shouted Mike. His hands were clenched in fists at his side, wreathed in flame. Zelda stopped snickering a half-second later. "Zel, silence them."

Zelda smiled, "My pleasure." Her hand left the grip of the pistol, which continued to float in mid-air, pointed at Jessica. She brought her hands together, palm to palm, in front of her, and her irises fading from blue to white, and her skirt billowing up to fly straight out from her hips. The color of her tank top, skirt, and knee-high boots faded to white as well. Then, a second after she began, she stopped, her eyes returning to blue with a blink, and her clothes to their former hot pink just as fast. She grabbed the pistol from out of the air.

I opened my mouth to speak, but found that I couldn't, which was expected from Zelda's actions.

"Now that I don't have to listen to the two of you yammer on, I'll continue," he preached, probably not realizing the irony of his words. "I came up with this trap for two reasons. First, to let you two know Zelda and I were back in town, and that we're on the rise. Second, well, if you're going to rob a bank," and he pauses to point at the small pile of black plastic crates in front of the vault door, "you might as well take it all."

He gestured around the room, "Two hundred safe deposit boxes, and the morning's cash deposits, plus the records from the last five years. I got it all, and you can't stop me." He walked over to the crates, and popped one open, "Two million dollars in bonds." He then opened another, "Fifty-thousand in small, unmarked, non-sequential, used bills. A kidnapper's dream come true." He then closed them both, and walked back over to Jessica and I, "Oh, and I'll also be taking this."

He reached up to my face and grabbed my goggles. I tried to move, tried to stop him, but I couldn't. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Zelda shake her finger at me, scolding me, "Not so fast Mr. Martin."

"Exactly," said Mike, pocketing my goggles. "Now, I've got your goggles, the set of goggles your father left you when he died. The goggles that you received a special dispensation to wear as part of your uniform, after you integrated advanced electronics of course. These little babies change this from just a botched attempt to stop a bank robber to something personal."

It did, and every person in the room knew it was true.

"So," started Zelda, "Now that all is said and done, it's time we take our leave." She turned, leaving the pistol pointed at Jessica, and strutted over to the crates. She turned on the ball of her foot, "In about," and she paused to look at her watch, "thirty seconds, the silence will wear off, as will my reinforcements on the vault. You'll probably have ten seconds to get some sort of trace on my teleport, which we all know neither of you can't do in under twelve, before the path corrodes too far to trace." Mike walked up next to her, and put his arm around her waist, bringing her close and kissing her on the cheek.

"So long, and thanks for the good time," Mike said sarcastically.

Zelda smiled and waved goodbye, as the pair and the crates disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Her final word still hanging in the air, "Toodles."

Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 2

Five minutes after leaving Mr. Fornby's sixth period physics class I was preparing to jump out of a perfectly good helicopter. The four of us were leaning out of the open doors as Ms. Studney piloted. Next to me, wearing a skin-tight black jumpsuit, was Jessica. She looked at me through her sunglasses and smiled. I then looked behind me at James and Melissa. They too were wearing the black jumpsuits and sunglasses. I nodded to them, and then set my goggles down over my eyes. As the HUD popped up and focused, Ms. Studney began to speak over the radio, "Joe, you're lead on this one."

I took a deep breath, "Roger control." I then looked out below the helicopter, as it hovered 300 meters over the street below, "Three. Two. One. Jump!"

The four of us executed a precision exit from the helicopter, and began a quick descent. I focused on the altimeter reading on the HUD. "Three," I shouted over the wind, "Two. One. Stop."

Suddenly, two meters above the pavement of the alley, we stopped falling. I quickly executed a mid-air flip and landed on the asphalt. The other three followed suit, "Good jump. Mel, nice catch."

"Not sure we were going to make it," she replied.

"Would I let you down?" I asked, as I looked over the wall. I pressed a button on my belt and a hologram of the bank building popped up. I pointed to a section of wall a meter to the left, "Behind there's a storage room. We'll enter there."
Jessica looked at the four of us, "I'll have to make two trips."

"No time, Jay, if you would, a door?" I asked, as I walked to the wall opposite our future point of entry, "Mel, shield."
As James crushed through the wall, Mel projected a telekinetic field to protect us from the debris. Once inside the storage room, Jessica frowned.

"Control said four hostiles, right?" ash asked.

"Yeah, and a dozen or so hostages, what's the matter?" asked James, trying dust the concrete from his black jumpsuit, and failing miserably.

Jessica pointed at the still-floating hologram, and four figures popped up in red, "Well, there's four hostiles here." She then swept her hand back and forth and the room filled with the huddled forms of just over a dozen people, all green, "And thirteen hostages." She then left the lobby and pointed at the vault, where two more figures appeared, in blue, "Plus two unknown in the vault. They seem familiar, but I can't place them."

"Okay, change of plans," I said, taking command, "Jay, Mel, you take out the four up front, make sure none of the greens get hurt, and the red's are only out cold. Jess and I will take the vault in a port and pound."

"Roger," the replied, and we exited the storage room, Melissa and James taking a left, towards the front of the building, and Jessica and I went right, to get around to the vault.

Another two minutes, and we were in position, "Ready?"

"Ready," came the reply from Melissa a the front, just outside the lobby.

"Three," I began, grasping Jessica's hand, "Two. One. Go!"

Suddenly, Jessica and I were two meters forwards, inside the vault. Just as suddenly, I head the click-click of two guns being cocked.

"Hello Joe," came a voice from my left, a familiar voice.

"Jess, nice to see you again," came another from my right.

I sighed, seeing the faces behind the voices and the guns. On the left was Mike, a year older then me, and on the right was his girlfriend, and partner, Zelda. They had graduated at the top of their class last year, and then fell off the face of the Earth.

Mike smiled, and I radioed in quickly, "Control, we have a problem."

Josefer Martin - A Day in the Life - Chapter 1

"Josefer to the office please," said the shrill voice over the classroom speaker.

Not again, I thought, as I began to quickly clean up my desk. I glanced up at Mr. Fornby, he looked mad. He was just in the middle of a lecture on using integrals to find the instantaneous velocity of the planets. This was the third time this week that I'd been called down to the office, and the second time during his Physics period.

"Is there a problem Mr. Martin?" he asked, trying to guild trip me into staying until the end of the period. He tried this last time, and the time before that, a month ago, and before that too. It never worked, but I guess what little ego he had as a high school teacher demanded that he at least try.

"I hope not, but you know the drill," I hastily explained as I hefted my backpack onto my left shoulder and began to walk to the front.

"It's a good thing you're acing all of your tests, Mr. Martin, or I'd have to have a talk with the principal about this," Mr. Fornby countered. He knew it was a lost cause. Ms. Studney, the principal, had explained to the teachers at the beginning of the year what was what, but they still didn't like their classes being interrupted.

"Hey, well, see you tomorrow, there's a test, right?" I asked as he reached the door to his classroom, turning to at least give him that courtesy.

"Yeah, tomorrow," he admitted with defeat. It's not like he could have won. Ms. Studney had to answer to the school board, and then the county after that. There's no way she'd let me, or Mr. Fornby, off the hook if I stayed. No, this was the way it had to be, and that way it had been since 7th grade.

I thought back on that last six years as I rushed down the hall, towards the office. I tried not to go too fast, but just fast enough to make up for lost time.

I had missed ten hours of school in 7th grade, including one day where it was four hours plus two hours after school. That was the first year I ever got straight A's. Eighth grade wasn't much different, that by then I was up to twenty hours a semester, and I missed the Junior High Spring Formal, not that my date was there either.

As I turned the corner from the Science hall to the Main hall, I thought back to my first year here, twenty-five hours a semester, and I even missed one full day. I also missed almost every single prep rally, so it's not exactly a big loss. Sophomore year was more of the same, except for an errant French teacher who decided that she'd penalize me for all my missed time. Last I heard she was working as a private tutor in Tokyo, harsh, but she broke the rules.

Last year, my Junior year, I missed fifty-three hours of school over both semesters. I even missed my junior prom. That sucked, but, such is life. Luckily, my girlfriend had understood since we got together in the summer before seventh grade, we'd been going steady ever since.

I finally made it to the office, and saw that Mr. Fornby had delayed me enough to make it here last. Already waiting with Ms. Studney was Jessica, my girlfriend, James, a large African-American who was a year behind me, could have player for the varsity football team, if he hadn't have missed the first game last year. Lastly, there was Melissa, James' girlfriend. They'd been steady since seventh grade as well.

"Good, now that Mr. Martin's here, we can get this over with," sneered Ms. Studney. He opened her office door, and followed us in. We sat down in the four seats in front of her desk as she walked around to face us.

"Now, to why I called you all here," she began, pressing a small button hidden under the edge of his desk. As she explained the situation, the room quickly descended three stories.

She finished just after the room stopped, adding a , "Good Luck," as we made our way out her office door. The room beyond looked like a locker room, and in a way it was, but it only had eight lockers, and there wasn't separate rooms for the girls and the guys. As Melissa and Jessica began to take off their clothes, I nodded my head at James.

Sometimes, being a teenage super hero has it perks.