Barcode: Legend of Apollo (6 page)

“Yes. I’d bite or hit you the moment you were within in range for a reason. You were always sharing your senses with me and others. Why do you think all the girls blush when you’re near?”

“So, what now?”

“Well, I guess I don’t have to be mean to you anymore.” Michelle gives me a warm hug and buries her face into my chest plate. “Thanks for letting me do this. I always wanted to.” Then, she skips to the elevator with her legs glowing.

“We should stay away from each other today.”

“Why?” Michelle holds the elevator door open.

“People might suspect something if they notice our armor is matching.” The old man probably thought Michelle was my girlfriend and purposely gave her my signature black and red armor.

“You mean Hannah might notice? Don’t worry; I won’t get in your way. I’m the last person she’d see as a threat. But this is the best armor I ever had. I’ll never stop wearing it,” she pauses, “And Spence?”

“Yes?”

“The chocolates make four compliments.”

Five

Michelle and I managed to make it to campus by lunchtime. I couldn’t find my seat with the others before Leonardo began stalking me. He tailed our group for an entire day carrying the embarrassing oversized case with him. I thought he’d lag behind at one point or another, but somehow, he managed to keep up.

God level students are very accustomed to the entire school watching as we roam the halls. Kyle and I often make fun of the Apes’ infatuation. Today the undesired attention comes from the clunky briefcase that the nerd refuses to put down.

Even Hannah and Michelle are agitated by the constant clanking sound trailing our every step, and they normally accept anyone new to join our group, especially Michelle. She hates my current cluster of friends. She’s always suggesting I replace Kyle with one of Professor Gonzales’ pets.

Suddenly, over the loud speakers, Casey announces, “Everyone meet on the battlefield for a brief message from Dennis Colt.”

Heavily sweating by now, Leonardo drops his case while sobbing, “I can’t carry this that far.”

“You shouldn’t have brought it in the first place. Either leave it or get left behind,” I say with such authority that I embarrass Hannah. Kyle, on the other hand, enjoys every word.

“I could, I mean maybe you can,” Leonardo stutters.

“No one’s carrying that thing,” Kyle teases while kicking it over.

The second it falls, the locks break off and roll near my feet. Even I feel pretty bad for Leonardo. Not only was it cumbersome, but now everything he has in it will likely fall out.

“Damn, that was pointless nerd. If you’re going to use a bulletproof case, you should also get secure locks. You’re not as smart as you look,” Kyle says while rudely opening the suitcase. “Whoa. Spence, check this out.” Kyle flips the entire case open and pulls out a suit identical to Leonardo’s. “It’s another geek costume.”

“I’m sorry,” Leonardo says, seeming as though he’ll burst into tears. “This was your birthday gift. I wanted to give it to you yesterday, but the scene outside happened. I even took it to your place, but they said you never showed up.”

Kyle roars with laughter as he holds the suit, pressing it against his body. “Well, Spence, how do I look?” Kyle imitates a woman fishing for compliments. “Where’d you get this from dude?”

“I made it.”

Kyle laughs so hard, he drops the suit and rolls on the ground. Now, a crowd surrounds us. At his audience, Kyle blares, “Check this out everyone, the new kid 
made 
this, and had the nerve to put a Moreno emblem on it.”

That’s when it hits me.

Kyle playfully pouts while saying, “Did your mommy and daddy help you?”

“Yes. Both mama and papa put a lot of work into it with me. I worked on it for three months after I moved from Spain.” Turning to me he says, “I knew you’d mentor me so I made a prototype for myself. You have all the bells and whistles on yours. I plan to upgrade my suit later…” the end of his sentence trails off.

“Wait. Wait. Go way back,” Kyle giggles as I try to shut him up. “No. One minute Spence. Did you say mama and papa? Mama! Papa!”

Kyle’s taunts encourage the entire group to insult Leonardo. I notice Leonardo’s legs giving in and his face blazing red. He tries to run away, but I yell, “Shut up Kyle.” The crowd silences and I snatch the suit from the idiot’s hands. Inspecting the emblem, I notice the similarities between the one on my suit, but this M is different. It’s more stylized. I turn to Leonardo and ask, “What’s your last name.”

He’s hesitant to answer. Leonardo didn’t want anyone to know, but now is forced to tell an entire audience, “Moreno.”

This is the moment that everyone’s parent warns them about, but we never think it’ll come true. Hayley always cautioned me to avoid making fun of someone, because I might need them one day. What she didn’t say, was they may be more famous than me.

Every piece of war equipment in this school was designed by the Moreno family, a military weapons manufacturer that capitalized on the GAW.

Moreno started off as a motorcycle company in Spain, but rose to fame with their nanotechnology in the twenty-seventh century. Government agencies contracted them for body armor. As their finances grew, they purchased their own island and sold to any country that was willing to pay the right price. Five centuries later, they’ve become the most renowned name in gladiator history.

Over the last eight years, their technology has grown even more untouchable. My family saw where the company was headed and built a strong relationship with them. They even helped build this school.

Because of the Morenos, Colt Arena is the only stadium in America with a classical Roman influence. Most modern amphitheaters are closed buildings constructed from stainless steel, like Yang Arena.

By building the walls from stone and reinforcing the structure with massive support beams covered by cement pillars, our family was able to cut the cost of material and increase the building’s total area. The stone around the entire stadium was tattooed with barcodes and transmuted into a more sustainable material. The indestructible rock was named Colt Stone, and the process of creating the material is known as Moreno Multiple Integrated Barcodes. The instructors nicknamed it “MIBS-squared” so students wouldn’t confuse it with transmuting weapons.

Because the stone was so difficult to shape after the MMIBS process, my family was forced to leave the arena in a smooth bubble shape. Luckily, they were smart enough to add the bullet proof glass windows before reinforcing the wall.

People travel from all over to marvel at what is now considered the fourth wonder of the world. From my understanding, summer tourists can fill the entire two-hundred-thousand seats on opening day. There are thousands of rooms to tour, though only one hundred are meant for students.

My grandad mentioned that Dennis reestablished his connection with the Moreno family. They renovated our classrooms during my trip to Dubai. I nearly leapt with excitement from hearing that Professor Gonzales had a brand spanking new classroom to torture us. As though the sparring cages she had inserted in my second year weren’t enough. Because of those things, we had to fight against her pets and try our best to avoid losing limbs or the occasional organs. After four years, I watched seven students withdraw from the academy because of her classroom. I’m sure she’ll double the rates with the new technology.

Despite the incredible weapon that they’ve placed in an evil demon’s hands, the Morenos are superheroes to the gladiators. They save more lives than the military. And I’m not only holding their most priceless gear, but I’m standing next to the future leader of their company, Leonardo.

Someone from the larger crowd asks, “What’s it made from, ceramic?”

Leonardo shyly laughs and adjusts his glasses. “No. This is the finest attotube fibers I’ve sown to date. Even if I develop something else, this suit will compete with me to upgrade itself. It actually might be smarter than me.” Leonardo snorts a bit when laughing at himself. Then, he points at the shoulder pads and says, “The soft padding is graphene, and the rest, especially the spine protection, is Kevlar-reinforced through MIBS-squared. See this shiny stuff here?” Leonardo points to some small designs on the shoulders and chest. Everyone nods enthusiastically. “That’s ceramic.”

My armor weighs a ton, but this feels like a feather. Confused, I ask, “If that’s Kevlar, how is it so lightweight?”

“MIBS is a quick process similar to heating boron carbide at a high temperature and forming it to a ceramic plating. Basically, you’re condensing substances. The problem that I discovered is you can only compress that material through MIBS once. So, it still feels bulky like your current suit. With Kevlar and graphene, I can use MIBS-squared to infinitely compress the material, making multiple layers thinner without needing to divide the Kevlar into sections. Then, an AI activates barcodes that changes the suit to the user’s needs. As a bonus, everything’s covered in Nomex, so you can run through a fire if you want.”

I don’t get it, but I nod my head anyway. Translated, Leonardo’s a genius.

“Infinitely? Yeah, right. Let’s see if it works,” Kyle contests while removing a dagger from his vest. It’s his most cherished possession, a knife made from carbon nanotubes and diamond that his grandfather passed down to him. He tears the armor from my hand and drops it on the ground. Then, he proceeds to stab the chest plate.

While in mid-swing, Leonardo shouts “No!”

Kyle hears the warning clearly enough to stop, but wants to exhibit the power of his blade, which his grandfather often brags, “It can even pierce through Moreno armor.”

Kyle’s spirit shatters to dust, just like the weapon. Not a single person hums a word, but their eyes say it all. Leonardo’s reputation builds slowly with every second following Kyle’s instant defeat.

“Sorry to ask in front of everyone, but do you at least like it?” Leonardo asked cautiously.

Laughing through his own embarrassment, Kyle banters, “Don’t be stupid. Spence doesn’t want to be your twin.”

Every molecule on my body displays my contention. I may not want to look like him, but I’d have the finest Moreno on the planet.

The pot gets sweeter when Leonardo says, “Well, it won’t stay this way forever. The armor matches your power, so the more you fight the more it’ll change. Eventually, it will form perfectly to the user and no one else will be able to share this beast.”

I’m sold. Before I know it, I’m taking off my own armor and throwing it as far away as possible. Kyle readily collects the gear. He finally got his wish.

Kyle’s begged for my armor for years, but I’ve never been willing to give it away because of the Moreno family’s outstanding recycling plan. Returning the armor to our stylist gives Dennis discounts on future purchases.

As I put on my final boot, Professor Jules runs to separate the crowd while shouting, “Didn’t you hear the announcement? You’re all late, now go!”

Professor Jules is a small and stout African-American man that hates most of the students. He’s not very fond of my arrogance either, as he’s told Dennis and Casey in countless situations. Yet, even he takes his time to marvel at the armor. Eventually, he pushes us up the hall, and the ladies follow.

Six

During the announcement, Dennis confirmed our classmates’ recovery. They’ll be at school tomorrow. Too thrilled to wait, I try calling Angie, but it seems her phone has been deactivated.

As I leave Casey’s classroom, Leonardo asks, “What are you looking for?”

“I wanted to see if my grandad could give me some information about Angie or the crash. Dennis isn’t answering any questions.”

“Don’t you want to check the teacher’s lounge?”

“No. He wouldn’t be spotted near that room. There aren’t enough cute professors at this school. He probably rushed out of here to meet with one of his future wives.” Under my breath I mumble, “I probably should have come straight here instead of flirting with Hannah.”

“So you’re no better than him,” Leonardo fires back with a smirk.

“You’re pretty funny for a dork,” I say while passing the cafeteria.

Leo follows me like a well-trained pet. I normally wouldn’t mind too much, but while wearing the same exact gear, we look like complete nerds. Even worse, due to Leo’s height, it’s likely that someone will mistake me for his little brother.

After giving up on finding Casey, I decide to leave the school and walk home with the puppy tagging along.

“You don’t have to stalk me, you know?”

Leo takes a deep breath before saying, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”

“About what?” I say suspiciously.

“My parents are headed back to Spain until the Fall exams, and your father has offered to let me stay with you.”

I can’t believe this. Why me? This could have happened to anyone, but seriously, does the big Writer upstairs really want me as a baby sitter? Think about this seriously. I’m too screwed up myself, and now I’m mentoring someone else.

I’m overwhelmed by self-pity. It wouldn’t fit the nature of my personality to accept the situation like a champ. So I sit on the steps like the big baby I am and pout. 
This entire situation is stupid.

“Is everything okay Spencer?” He receives no response because I’m not in the mood to give him one. There’s no way I want a tail. I don’t think The Writer understands my requests. I 
don’t
 want people to notice me this year. “I’ll stay out of your way. I promise.” That’s even more of a problem. If Leo’s at the house while I sneak out tonight, that will bring attention to me not being home.

“Look, you’ll go where I go, do what I say, and you won’t say a word. Do you understand?” Leo bobs his head up and down joyfully. He’s like a little kid that was just told by big brother to not embarrass him in front of the girls at the mall. “The sun’s setting. We’ll get a few things from the house and leave. Got me?”

Understanding the rules, Leo obediently follows me home. We sneak in, grab something to eat, and quietly leave the building.