CHAPTER 3: Catch Me If You Can
The school bus was shaking a lot as it pulled up to this huge Artificial Intelligence Corporation building. Melvin pressed his face against the window, and his breath made a foggy spot on the glass. "Yo, this place is super big!" he said to his friend Jamal sitting next to him.
Jamal just laughed a little. "It's just a bunch of nerds in lab coats, man. Probably boring."
They didn't know what was coming, though.
Inside AIC Labs
Dr. Chen clapped her hands together. "Welcome, students! Today you'll see technology that makes your phones look old." The class laughed a bit as she took them through security.
Melvin looked around a lot. Holograms were in the air. Robots moved past them carrying stuff. One machine made a weird noise that made his teeth feel funny.
"And this," Dr. Chen said, sounding proud, "is our quantum reality manipulator. It can...."
Then Melvin noticed a blue reflection. It came from a door down the hall that was a little open. While Dr. Chen kept talking about quantum stuff, Melvin slowly moved away from the group.
The door made a noise as he went inside. The room was dark except for…
A big explosion of purple and blue energy knocked Melvin off his feet. His body shook as some dark matter and photon stuff went around him. The last thing he saw before passing out was his skin glowing.
[The Vision]
Melvin was floating in black nothingness. Then there was light.
A guy showed up in front of him, wearing golden sandals and smiling a bit. "About time you got here, kid," he said.
"Who are you...." Melvin started.
"Name's Hermes. Yeah, that Hermes." The guy snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were on a cliff looking at a city being destroyed by something big and shadowy. "See that? That's coming. And you?" Hermes poked Melvin's chest. "You're going to help stop it."
Melvin laughed a little. "Me? I'm just some kid who....."
"Ran track in 10th grade? Failed your driving test twice?" Hermes smiled. "The gods don't mess up, kid. You've got a warrior's heart." He raised a glowing hand. "Here's your gift. Run fast and hit hard!"
Lightning hit Melvin. It didn't hurt.....it felt like drinking a bunch of energy drinks. His body felt full of power.
Then everything went black again.
[Waking Up]
"Kid. Hey, kid."
Melvin groaned. His head hurt like he stayed up too late. A blurry face came into view.....
it was an older guy in a lab coat with serious eyes.
"Welcome back," the man said. He held out a red candy. "Eat this. It'll help."
Melvin put it in his mouth. It tasted weird and hot. "What happened? Where's my class?"
"They went home. You've been out for hours." The guy ,some scientist named Prof ,helped him sit up. "You're lucky to be alive after that explosion."
They did some tests. Heart rate? Really high. Brain stuff? Super active. When they made him solve quantum equations to check for problems, Melvin answered them faster than the computer.
"Interesting," the Professor said, looking at Dr. Chen.
Before Melvin left, a strong guy in a suit drove him home in a Ferrari LaFerrari. "Don't ask questions," the driver said when Melvin stared at the car.
[School the Next Day]
School felt weird the next day. Equations made sense too easily. When Mr. Henderson wrote a hard physics problem on the board, Melvin said the answer before the teacher finished.
The whole class looked at him.
"Mr. Carter," Mr. Henderson said slowly, "that problem takes college kids an hour."
Melvin just shrugged. "It was easy?"
After school, he put his hoodie up, turned on some music, and walked home thinking about the explosion. Then boom...
A loud noise happened.
An old lady stepped into the street just as a truck came fast around the corner. Time felt slow. Melvin's heart beat loud. His legs shook a little?
He moved fast.
Next thing he knew, he and the lady were on the sidewalk. Her groceries were all over. The truck stopped far away.
"How..." the lady said.
Melvin looked at his hands. They were warm. His hoodie sleeve was torn.
"Thank you!" the lady called as Melvin ran away, thinking a lot.
[Back at AIC]
The Professor watched data on his screens. Heat signs. Energy stuff. All from the candy Melvin ate.
Dr. Chen looked over his shoulder. "Did the exposure work?"
"Better than we thought," the Professor said, zooming in on a map showing Melvin. "The dark matter stuck to his cells good."
"And the speed?"
A slow smile came on the Professor's face. "Hermes picked right. Protocol Zero has started."
TO BE CONTINUED …