Ascension (The Ascension Series) (21 page)

“No sir!” Clark told him. “I need my glasses.”

“Hell, son. I never seen you wear ‘em before.”

“That’s because…
I’m out of contacts.”

“Well make sure you get those contacts back soon. Otherwise you look like an oddball even if you play like a pro.”

The teammates split in two teams and played a practice game. Clark served as guard to the quarterback until the coach suggested that Clark himself serve as the quarterback. Clark did as instructed and when the ball was tossed to him, he outran all of the other played and scored a tremendous touchdown.

“Brilliant!” Coach Smith said as he blew his whistle. “Practice over! With Clark on our team we’re destined to win. Now
all of you get outta here.”

The teammates were all sweating and tired when they went to the boy’s locker-room.
They each undressed and hit the showers. Clark kept his glasses on and the steam from the showers fogged up his lenses. He could barely see as he stood under a shower nozzle. He could, however, hear the other boys talking about him quite clearly.  

“Last year he couldn’t make the team at all,” a teammate named Jed said, “Now he’s the freakin’ MVP.”

“You work hard, you get better,” said another teammate.

Clark turned around, his glasses still foggy, and spoke up. “I don’t know what you’re trying to accuse me of but I’m on this team because I’m a damn good player.”

“I’m just saying,” said Jed, “That performance enhancing drugs can go a long way. A lot of people will do a lot of things to get on this team. I’m just saying─ I don’t trust you.”

“Gee, why don’t we discuss this while we’re actually dressed?” Clark said as he wiped his glasses.

“And what’s with those stupid glasses?” Jed asked.

“You’re beneath me, Jed. You’re really not worth my time.”

Clark ignored him and returned to his station in the shower room. The other boys watched as Jed walked up to Clark and shoved him into the wall. He shoved Clark so hard that his glasses cracked against the wall.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Clark
said as he removed his broken glasses from his face and dropped them to the floor. At that moment he wanted to punch Jed and send him flying through the wall. But he refused to risk exposing his powers. That was the entire purpose of the glasses and fumbling about on the field. So he did nothing to Jed in order to appear less threatening. Clark knew he could have hurt his teammate in any manner that he desired. Instead, he simply exited the showers, got dressed, and went home.

After flying home, Clark called Sarah and was excited to tell her that he maintained his composure in a heated situation. As he knew she would, Sarah told him she was proud.

“It doesn’t take a fight to prove you’re a man,” Sarah said warmly. “Especially when you already know what you’re capable of. And Clark, I have a surprise for you tomorrow night.”

After having dinner and speaking to his parents, Clark carried on a normal night which proved to be far more boring to him than he expected.
Everything on television was a bore fest. Returning to the streets to fight crime on the night that followed was all he could think of until the moment he fell asleep.

The ne
xt day, before class, Clark sped by feet to a store and purchased another pair of flimsy thick horn-rimmed glasses. One bully was not going to keep him from playing around with a persona to conceal his work as a crime fighter.

Clark drudged through several boring hours of class. The only thing that kept him going was the occasional chat with Sarah or another friend. When school was over, he realized there still remained several more hours until night fell. So
when the hallways emptied he grabbed a bag of popcorn from the vending machine, went to the gym, and sat on the bleachers as Sarah instructed the other cheerleaders in practice. He watched as they practiced several synchronized moves over and over as music played from the stereo speakers. An hour and a half later, the cheerleading coach, Miss Paige, showed up and told them they had done enough for the day.

“You really deserve that captain position,” Clark told Sarah as he jogged down the bleachers to greet her. “You were terrific.”

“You think so?” Sarah asked.

“Hell yes. It must have taken you forever to put all of that together.”

“Thanks,” she said. “It’s my passion. Now I’m going to head to the girl’s locker-room to change. Wait for me.”

“Of course,” Clark said as if he wouldn’t have thought to do anything else.

“Okay, I’ll be back for you in a few minutes.”

Sarah walked into the locker-room and the other girls were takin
g off their cheerleading outfits. As Sarah went to her locker, she overheard Jessica on the other side of lockers talking about her.

“It’s just not fair,” Jessica said as she placed a shirt on. “She steals my captain position away and
now everyone is saying that boyfriend of hers is the best new player on the football team. Why did they become so special all of a sudden?”

“What are you saying?” a
nother girl asked as she got dressed.

“I’m just saying,” Jessica snapped, “there’s a conspiracy going on. I think I should keep an eye on those two.”

“I work hard for everything I’ve earned!” Sarah yelled so the other girls could hear. “Take your shit talking elsewhere and if you don’t like it, get off my team! I’m captain here!”

Minutes later Clark watched as Sarah stormed out of the girl’s locker-room.

“What’s wrong?” Clark asked when he saw Sarah frowning.

“They’re just jealous,” Sarah folded her arms.

“Remember what I told you happened yesterday after practice?” Clark asked. “Now you see the sort of things we have to deal with.”

“Ugh,” Sarah grunted. “Maybe Andrew and D
an were right when they left this terrible place.”

“Oh come on,” Clark said as they exited the school
with their backpacks. “It’s not that bad. We just have to put up with the jealous people that talk crap. You just have to remember that we can’t fight back. Save that for the streets.”

“You’re right,” Sarah said as she grabbed him by the hand and they entered the woods. “Sometimes I just want to sling some of these girls through the air with my mind. But I know
the consequences.”

“Yeah,” Clark said. “So you can take your frustration out at night when your costume is on. That’s what I intend.”

While standing behind a mammoth set of trees, they shot off into the air at the speed of a bullet. Minutes later they arrived at the rear of the warehouse. They knocked on the backdoor and Charles answered wearing his normal clothes.

“Hey,” C
harles said. “Welcome back to Mecha. Come on in, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Me too,” Sarah told Clark as they entered the warehouse. John was
sitting on one of the sofas and waved at them.

“Nice to see you, John,” Clark said.

Sarah went over to one of the six boxes that lied on the floor and opened it up. She pulled out Clark’s costume and he noticed that a wolf was embroidered on the chest piece.

“Yo
u did that for me?” Clark asked, delighted.

“Yep,” Sarah said. “I modified it for you yesterday after school. Mine too.”

Sarah pulled out her own costume and a silver design of the planet Saturn was embroidered on the front of her costume.

“Thanks
,” Clark said. “I love it!”

“And Chloe did hers and Donny’s.”

Donny and Chloe arrived minutes later. When they pulled out their costumes, Donny saw that his had the letter “T” for Tracks on the chest of his costume while Chloe’s costume had a flame symbol on it.

“Why don’t we have girlfriends to make us symbols?” John jokingly asked Charles.

“Oh, I got something way cooler than a symbol,” John said. “Everybody get dressed.”

They placed on their bodysuits, gloves, boots, masks, and capes and were ready to go
in no time.

“Everyone good to go?” Charles asked.

“Yeah,” they said as they looked around and admired one another.

“Okay then,” Charles said. “Follow me.”

He directed them through a door that led to the side of the warehouse. In the middle of the large room was a large black military-style vehicle.

“
Is that a Humvee?” Donny asked.

“
Yep. This thing came directly from the military. Well it’s actually an old model that’s no longer in use but you get the point. The engine is silent. You’re more likely to hear a pen drop. And I outfitted it with a police radio so we know exactly where to take it.”

“
But we could still get there faster by flying,” John said.

“That’s true, John,” Charles told him. “But this baby is just too sleek to pass up. Feel free to fly if you like but you gotta admit
it gets pretty cold up there too. I’m just saying─ lets test it out.”

“Alright,”
Clark said. “It sounds good.”

“But one more thing, Clark,” Charles said. “I’m afraid we’re gonna nee a better name than ‘The Colony of Crime Fighters.’”

“Why?” Clark asked.

When Charles told him it was just too long, Clark objected. Charles suggested something cool, something short, something like “Ascension.”

“Alright, alright,” Clark said. “But I still like my Colony name.”

The s
ix of them got into the spacious vehicle and Charles served as the driver. He pressed a button and two garage sized doors of the warehouse opened. The car turned on and shot out of the warehouse as the garage doors closed behind it.

“Where to?” Charles asked them.

“Turn on the cop radio,” Clark said. Charles did so as they overheard the need for an officer down an alley where two people had just been robbed. Charles sped down the road and took a left.

“We’d still get there faster by flight,” John said from the passenger seat.

“Yeah, well when we get there we won’t even need to get out the car,” Charles joked. “We can just run the guys over.”

They turned another corner and saw two masked men with purses in their hands running down the street.

“That’s gotta be them!” Donny said.

Charles pressed on the gas pedal and the Humvee
raced toward the men. Suddenly the men turned into an alley and Charles stopped the car in order to block them. Clark and Charles jumped out of the car. The alley was dark so Charles grabbed a small flashlight from his utility belt.

“When did you get a utility belt?” Clark asked him.

“Just got it today,” Charles said.

“Cool, I could use one.”

They looked around the alley and saw the two masked men cowering in the corner. Each had a gun in their hands.

“Don’t get any closer or we’ll shoot,” one of the men said.

“Come on, boys,” Clark laughed. “Your friends didn’t send out the message on Monday night? You’ve had two full days to prepare and all you bring are a few pistols?”

One of the men
shot. Charles placed his hand out and the bullet stopped midair and fell to the ground. Clark looked at the two men and their guns lifted out of their hands and into the sky.

“Rule number one,” Clark
said. “Always disarm a thug.”

Donny ran up to them as the men continued cowering in the corner.

“Oh come on,” Donny said. “Stop playing with these guys.” Donny darted toward the men at the speed of a bullet and punched both of them in the face, knocking them against the wall.

“We have a job to do, guys,” Donny said.

“You’re right,” Clark said. “This is no time for play.”

“Wait, one more thing,” Charles said. He pulled a can of white spray paint from his utility belt. He walked over to the
unconscious men and spray painted the word “Ascension” onto their black shirts.

“Now they’ll know who to fear,” Charles said. “That’s how you get the word out.”

“Good idea,” Donny told him.

When they returned to the Humvee, they discovered Sarah and Chloe standing outside of the vehicle. They told the boys they were tired of waiting and were off to fight crime together. They agreed to meet back up with them in one hour at the warehouse. Charles got back into the driver seat of the Humvee while Clark and Donny hopped into the back seat.

“What took so long? Where did the girls go?” John asked from the passenger seat.

“They wanted to go off on their own,” Charles said.

They turned the police radio back on and listened to a more enticing frequency. Instead of the usual mugging, they heard an Amber Alert for a missing young girl. The girl was believed to have been recently kidnapped by a man named Thomas Augusto. They agreed to check it out and headed to Augusto’s place before the cops could. Charles drove down the street and took several more turns. Minutes later they arrived at an old house that looked as if were abandoned. Clark, John, and Charles got out of the vehicle while Donny stayed behind and served as the lookout.