Chapter 2

Jase and Ann, his 15-year-old sister, left for the high school on his motor scooter. Jeff, their 12-year-old brother, had already left to catch the bus for middle-school. Jase was armed with his letter to the track coach from his mother, so he planned to stop by the office to drop it off on his way to his first class.

As usual, they were early so that they would have time to gossip with their friends before school started. Jase had dropped Ann off with her group and driven on to park his scooter, when Ann came running up. "Jase, stay away from Bill! There's a big fight brewing with the bikers."

Bill Owens was Jase's best friend, so there was no way he was going to dodge helping his friend, particularly now with his augmentation. No one else but Jase's mother knew about his augmentation, so Ann was afraid that Jase might be hurt.

Jase ran to where the fight was brewing, but not so fast as to look unusual. He arrived just as one of the bikers took a swing at Bill with a large wrench. Jase caught the biker's arm in mid-swing and pulled it around to the boy's back. The pain and surprise caused the boy to yelp and drop the wrench.

There were three other bikers in the crowd, all carrying a weapon of some sort. One of the other bikers said, "What do you think you're doing, asshole?"

"My friend is not armed, so I'm helping him out. What does it look like I'm doing, shit head?"

"You just sealed your doom, asshole. GET HIM, BOYS!" Two hulking brutes charged at Jase, one was swinging a piece of chain, and the other had a section of pipe.

The one with the pipe got to Jase first and made a stupid error. He drew his arm back to strike Jase with the pipe, instead of poking him, as he should have. This exposed his whole body to attack, so Jase poked him in the solar plexus with his fist. The boy dropped the pipe and bent over in a reflexive maneuver; Jase neatly rabbit punched him, and he was out of the fight.

The one with the chain was a little smarter. He already had the chain swinging before he reached Jase, so Jase was forced to demonstrate some of his powers. Jase put up his left arm so that the chain struck it and wrapped its full length around Jase's arm. This hurt like hell, but Jase ignored the pain as he jerked back, pulling the attacker's head within reach. Jase lashed out with his right forearm and smashed the attacker's nose, completely destroying its shape. He was going to need surgery to have a normally shaped nose, again. Jase then kneed the boy in the balls and turned to the ringleader.

"You want to tell me what this is all about before I send you to the hospital?" The boy turned on his heel and ran into the school.

Jase turned to Bill and asked, "What was that all about?"

"I really don't know. I think they just wanted somebody to bully, and I was handy. You know how us nerds are fair game for any bored bully."

The principal came storming out of the school building and marched up to Jase. "Mr. Stewart, come into my office, immediately." Without looking to see if Jase was following, he marched back into the building.

Jase looked at Bill and shrugged. He followed the principal into his office and was told to sit down.

"Mr. Stewart, you are suspended from school until further notice. I will not have fighting on school property. You know that we have a zero tolerance for troublemakers."

"Mr. Jackson, I wasn't fighting, I was trying to stop a fight. And I guess I did."

"Don't get smart with me! Clear your locker and don't come back to school until you are notified, in writing, otherwise."

"I'm not going anywhere until you give me notice, in writing over your signature, that I am suspended and why. I need something to take to my lawyer."

Jackson started to sputter at this, but Jase had a hard look in his eyes that brooked no argument. "Oh, very well. Wait outside, and I will have a letter drawn up."

"NO! I said that I am not going anywhere, and that includes this office, until I have the letter in my hand. Then I will leave, but I will go by my sister's classroom on my way out to tell her to find some other way home after school. She rode in with me on my motor scooter this morning, and she will need a way to get home."

"Oh, all right." Jackson pressed his intercom button and said, "Ms Jones. Please come to my office. I need to dictate a letter to be typed immediately."

Thirty minutes later, Jase had his letter, so he dropped by his locker to pick up his personal items, and he spoke to his sister, before riding his scooter home. By then, the EMTs had transported the injured bikers to the hospital for treatment.

When he got home, he telephoned his mother at work and told her what happened. She said, "Come to the office as soon as you can and bring the letter."

By the time Jase got to the lawyer's office, Judy had explained to her boss what she knew of the incident and given him $1 to retain his services as her attorney. When he arrived, Jase was ushered into the office, and he told his story again, exactly as it had happened, thanks to his new memory. He gave the lawyer the letter. The lawyer read it and had his secretary make 3 copies before returning the original to Jase.

The lawyer said, "I'll have to check some specifics, but I think that you have a good defense under the 'Good Samaritan' statutes. I'll call Jackson this afternoon and see if we can work something out. If not, I have always wanted to bring a 'Good Samaritan' suit. It should be fun!"

Jase and his mother thanked the lawyer and were ushered out to the outer office. Judy said, "Jase, just go home and relax this afternoon. I expect everything will be smoothed over by tonight."

"OK, Mom. I'll play it cool." Jase went out to his scooter and started riding toward home. Suddenly, he was very thirsty. Mindful of what his trainers had warned him about a low water signal, he stopped into the next convenience store for a bottle of water.

He paid for his water and decided to take advantage of the air conditioning in the store while drinking his water. Jase was leaning against the counter talking to the really cute young woman clerk, when an unkempt man burst in the door.

The man pushed up to the counter and shoved Jase aside. He pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded all of the money in the cash register. The man's finger was on the trigger, and the hammer was cocked, so Jase was reluctant to move as long as the gun was so close to the clerk and pointed at her.

The man was ignoring Jase, classifying him as an insignificant high school twerp. Jase watched the man closely, and, just at the right moment dropped his half-bottle of water on the floor and shouted, "OH, SHIT!" The man automatically turned to look at Jase and deflected the gun away from the clerk. This was when Jase pounced!

Jase banged his right fist down on the wrist of the hand holding the gun. The man's wrist was over, but near, the counter, so when Jase's fist crashed down on it, the wrist was sandwiched between the hard surface of the counter and Jase's fist. The wrist was shattered and the gun went flying. Jase caught the gun in mid-air and it never fired. Jase hit the man in the gut with his left hand hard enough to force him to bend over at the waist. As the man bent over, Jase hit him in the throat with a backswing of his left arm. The man was out cold before his mind even registered the pain of the broken wrist.

The clerk had signaled the police of a robbery in progress with a secret button behind the counter when the man pulled the gun. By the time the police arrived, Jase was finishing his water as he stood over the unconscious thief. The gun was lying on the counter.

The police called for EMTs and took statements from everybody before congratulating Jase for his quick thinking, but they then admonished him not to attack a man with a gun. He could get himself shot. Jase acknowledged the wisdom of that and left for home.

Jase hadn't been home an hour before the TV remote reporting trucks started arriving. He wondered what had attracted so much TV interest, but realized that he was the target when they headed for his front door. He just let the doorbell ring; he hoped that they would give up and leave if it looked like nobody was at home.

Unfortunately, Ann showed up before they had left, so all the reporters descended on her. She fled in fright to the back door, and Jase snatched her inside before the reporters could follow her. The fat was in the fire! The reporters knew that somebody was home, now, and showed no signs of leaving.

Jase didn't know what to do, so he called his mother, again. He explained the situation and said that he was worried about what might happen to Jeff when he got home from band practice. Judy said, "Just hang in there, Jase. I'm coming home, now." With luck, Judy would be home when Jeff arrived; she was tough enough to handle the TV people.

About 45 minutes later, Judy drove up with Jeff in the car. She refused to talk to the reporters and drove into the garage. She closed the door in the reporters' faces and brought Jeff with her into the house. She took a potty break and changed clothes before opening the front door to what looked to Jase like a vast crowd of reporters and TV cameras.