Josefer Martin - Growing up Super - Chapter 3

It would be another week before my change in status came into effect. During the school year Mike and Zelda had been called down to the office probably ten times, and since the new year, Jessica had joined them about three times. Now it was my turn to find out what was going on, since they had never told me.


"Would Michael Schultz, Zelda Moonfire, Jessica Martinez, and Josefer Martin please report to the office please," came the voice of the school secretary over the intercom.

Jessica and I were in our math class, and the teacher, Mr. Zelman, nodded to the two of us, "It's almost the end of class, so you two better take your bags with you."

I got up, knowing what to do only because Jessica had done it before and following her lead. I shoved my textbook and my notebook into my backpack and followed Jessica out of the classroom.

"So," I asked as we walked down the hall, "what's next?"

"You'll see," was all she said. We got to the office about the same time as Mike and Zelda, who were just coming down the stairs from the second floor.

"Joe," commented Mike, "I see you're finally ready to join the big leagues. At least, as big as we get here at William H. Parker Junior High."

Before I could even reply, the principal, Mr. Hernandez, stuck his head out of the office, "Come on in you four, we've got about a minute to go."

"A minute to go for what?" I asked, but nobody said anything. Instead, we all followed Mr. Hernandez to his office at the back of the school's office, Zelda and Jessica getting personal greetings from the secretary.

Once we were all in his office, Mr. Hernandez closed the door and locked it, "Now, Josefer."

"Call me Joe," I interrupted.

"Joe then. Joe, since you're new to this, I'll explain as I get my office ready." He walked around his desk and pulled the blinds closed as Mike, Zelda, and Jessica all got seated comfortably in the seats, leaving one left for me. "As young supers you have great power, but you don't know how to properly use it to defend use normals in the world. That's what this program is for."

He sat down at his desk and motioned for me to do the same. He then pressed a button and four of the pieces of art arranged on his wall faded away and were replaced by screens that showed a live camera feed from inside a helicopter.

"There are the Juniors and Seniors over at Gardner Fox Senior High. Today they've been called out to help defuse a hostage situation downtown." He then pressed a button and the audio kicked in.

"Control this is Bob."

"Reading you load and clear."

"Control, we're going live."

"Roger."

"Okay guys," said Bob, the leader of the mission. "We're doing this by the book. Erin, you're on assault. Jake, damage control. Sue, keep those hostages safe."

"Roger," came the chorus from the others in the helicopter.

"Okay, we'll port in a floor below them, on the 17th. Erin, Jake, you take the stairs. Sue, I'll get you as close as I can once they make their presence know, okay?"

"Yeah Bob, we got it," said an annoyed male, whom I assumed was Jake.

"Jake, we can do this without you, if you'd rather not."

"No, just, well, we've done this a million times in simulation."

"Yeah, and this is the real world. You'll be lead next year Jake, you can make the calls then. We're doing it this way."

"Roger," replied Jake with distain.

"On three. One. Two. Three."

The screens all whited out and then shifted to show the interior of an office building. The views all panned around.

"Clear," came the voice of one of the girls.

"Clear," said the other.

"Clear," said Bob.

"Clear," added Jake with annoyance.

"Okay, let's do this."

Two of the views nodded and started to go away from the other two, Jake and Erin going for the stairs. They got there and cautiously climbed to the eighteenth floor.

"Now," said Mr. Hernandez, "As you can see, both Jake and Bob are alphas, but with different outlooks on mission execution. This isn't uncommon, but we'd rather not see it, that's why we try to get you working together even now."

"Bob," came the second female voice, now confirmed as Erin, "we're in position."

"Roger, on three. One. Two. Three."

The two in the stairs charged through the door and chaos fell upon the cubicles. Bolts of energy, the color I couldn't tell from the back and white views, shot out from Erin's hands and connected with assailants. There were five of them, and within seconds, four of them were down, but one of them had ducked in time and was now retreating.

"We've got a runner. Coming your way," shouted Erin as she followed the last hostile.

"Damage contained," droned an annoyed Jake. His view had shown little except a few blocked bullets and bolts of energy, but luckily, no damage either.

"We've secured the hostages," said Sue.

"Erin, Jake, stop him!" shouted Bob as the hostile showed up on his screen. A shot was fired, and was stopped by either Jake or Sue's efforts, or both, before it could reach him. He charged, as did Erin from behind, and the resulting grapple was hard to understand from without or within.

Ten seconds later, a tired Bob called back over the radio, "Control. We're going to need a pickup. Hostiles contained, and subdued."

"Roger Bob, we'll meet you on the roof. Good job."

"Okay guys, let's blow this joint."

The screens went white again and then showed views from the top of the building as a black unmarked helicopter without doors came down for a landing.

The views then faded to black, and then back to the artwork that previously occupied their frames.

"Now," said Mr. Hernandez, "this was a successful mission, as most of them are. I'll need all of you to write a report on the team's effectiveness in containing the situation, as well as recommendations as to what you would have done."

"Okay," I replied, as I grabbed my backpack.

"No," said Mr. Hernandez, "now Mr. Martin, at least, you need to start it now. There's a minimum of fifteen minutes we can remove you from classes, and you've only been here for four."

I looked to see Jessica, Mike, and Zelda all frantically scribbling on paper, trying to get down notes and comments from what they had just watched.

I sat back down and got out my paper, "Is it always going to be like this?"

"No," said Mike, smiling. "Sometimes, we get to help."