Infiltration (17 page)

Grinning to myself, I got ready to teleport to the rail yard when I caught sight of one of the cameras focused on me. At that point, I recalled that millions of people were watching at home, and I remembered Mouse’s advice about putting on a good show.

With that in mind, I changed tactics and went with super speed, zipping over to where the train engines were located. Dynamo was just leaving the area when I got there, presumably in search of his second coin. I watched his train engine starting to pull away for a second, and then placed my coin in the slot of my own locomotive. I watched to make sure it started moving, then dashed away to find coin number two.

This time, it was a bit easier. The tracker led me directly beneath the operator cabin of one of the port cranes. Again finding nothing on (or in) the ground, I assumed that the coin must be above me.

The crane itself was several hundred feet in height, and the cabin was located close to the top. I flew up and, after a quick inspection, found the second coin on the roof of the cabin. I flew back down to the ground and streaked over to the rail line. My train engine had moved about one hundred feet and was starting to slow down when I inserted the second coin. Reenergized, it started picking up speed again. (I couldn’t help but notice that Dynamo’s locomotive was already farther down the track, meaning that he had already deposited his second coin.)

I zoomed off in search of coin number three…

***********************************

Although I hated to admit it, this little competition between me and Dynamo was actually turning out to be fun. Occasionally, as I ran back and forth looking for coins, I would catch snippets of commentary from Sylvia, who was expertly calling the action like a play-by-play announcer at a football game (and actually doing a fine job of making both Dynamo and myself look like heroes just for participating).

The best thing, however, was the crowd. They cheered exuberantly whenever one of us found a coin and whenever we put them in the locomotive slots, and it felt great to know that I had their support. I suddenly had a better understanding of what Mouse had meant about having the general public in your corner.

As our coins never seemed to be located in close proximity, Dynamo and I initially only saw each other in passing — usually as he was leaving the area with the rail tracks and I was coming in, but around the fifth coin I caught up to him; I passed him around the seventh. Nevertheless, at the ninth coin we were practically in a dead heat, with both of us putting our coins into the slots at the same time. That’s when things got interesting.

As we had been told, depositing each successive coin into the slot on the train engines made them go farther and faster than before. Still, through the first eight coins, the locomotives had only traveled about three miles from the starting point. However, when Dynamo and I inserted our ninth coins — practically at the same time — the two engines let out twin shrieks that took both of us by surprise and then went flying down the tracks like they had rockets attached to them, sparks shooting from the wheels.

For a second, both of us just stared at the locomotives roaring down the rails, and I was absolutely certain that there was some kind of malfunction. Then it dawned on me that this was intentional.

I turned and took off, in search of the last elusive coin. My departure seemed to bring Dynamo back to himself, because a second later he was in motion…and right behind me. It seemed that this time, the last coin for each of us was located in the same place.

Our trackers led us right up to the end of an area marked as “Pier 3,” a broad walkway that extended out over the waters of the bay. By that time, my speed had allowed me to pull away from Dynamo somewhat, so I stopped at the edge of the pier, noting that the tracker indicated that the last coin was below me.

My costume was waterproof, but I still hadn’t planned on getting wet. Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to check to make sure that coin number ten wasn’t simply taped to the underside of the pier or something.

As I was squatting down and preparing to phase my hand through the pier, Dynamo showed up. He never hesitated, running straight at me like a crazed bull trying to gore a blind matador. I phased, thinking that perhaps — in single-minded pursuit of victory — he had somehow failed to see me. I needn’t have bothered.

When he was about ten feet away, Dynamo suddenly leaped high into the air, jumping in an arc that I realized would take him over me and towards the water just off the edge of the pier. While airborne, he tucked his legs in and turned a flip directly overhead, and then straightened out as his body started its downward trajectory. He hit the water like an Olympic diver, barely creating a plop — despite still having the tracker in his hand. I couldn’t help smiling, thinking that I had to give the guy props for showmanship.

A second later I realized that he’d had the right idea, as my search on the underside of the pier turned up nothing. The coin was undoubtedly submerged.

So much for not getting wet
. I leaped off the pier and into the water, probably far less gracefully than Dynamo had.

Below the surface, it was disturbingly dark. I cycled my vision through the electromagnetic spectrum until I could see almost as well as in daylight, and then began swimming straight down towards the last coin, as indicated by the tracker.

Arms and legs moving at super speed, I cut through the water as if fired from a gun. Ahead of me, on the floor of the bay, I could see Dynamo holding some kind of steel chest about the size of a loaf of bread. He ripped it open like it was paper, reached inside, and pulled out a silver coin.

He dropped the remains of the case, the two halves slowly drifting down next to a similar case that was also on the bay floor — presumably mine.

Dynamo waved at me as I reached the bottom, and it occurred to me that he must have enhanced vision of some sort to be able to see through the murky water at that depth. He squatted and then quickly extended his legs, driving himself towards the surface. I phased the other case, swiped my hand through it, and retrieved my last coin before turning and heading back up myself.

I could see Dynamo up above me, making a beeline for the surface. Although my arms and legs moved so fast as to be nothing but blurs, each of Dynamo’s strokes, while not as numerous as mine, were far more powerful and propelled him towards the surface like a rocket. In short, while I was undoubtedly much faster on land, in the water we were more evenly matched.

That said, I did manage to gain on him, but not enough to keep him from breaking the surface first. I wasn’t very far behind, though, and once I got out of the water, I was going to make him eat my dust. As my head broke the surface, though, I received quite the surprise: a sharp crack in the air that I immediately recognized. A sonic boom.

No…it couldn’t be.

I flew up out of the water and landed on the pier, then took off like a bullet, running in the direction of the locomotives while simultaneously telescoping my vision.

The train engines were still moving away at top speed and were probably ten miles away from us. I scanned the area between myself and the locomotives, and saw what I was dreading: Dynamo. And he was running at Mach speed.

That faker! All this time, in addition to super strength, he also had super speed!

At the rate he was going, I didn’t think I’d be able to catch him, not before he reached his locomotive. Still, I had to try.

I turned on the jets, running for all I was worth. I could hear the crowd cheering madly, but forced myself to ignore them. All that mattered was catching Dynamo.

Frankly speaking, I could have made better time if I went airborne and actually started flying. For some reason, though, it was important to me to win this the way I’d been playing all along — with my feet on the ground. It had, unexpectedly, been a lot of fun, and taking to the sky — like teleporting at this juncture — would have somehow cheapened the experience. I might lose, but that seemed like a very minor thing at the moment.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I almost failed to realize that I was gaining on Dynamo. Not just gaining on him, but seriously cutting into his lead. Had he pulled up lame or something? Unlikely; Dynamo was one of the nigh-invulnerable set. There was very little that could really hurt him.

Still, as I caught up to him, I gave him a thorough look-see, and from what I could tell, he seemed fine. Even empathically, I didn’t pick up on any sensation of pain, just iron will and determination. Then the truth hit me.

Dynamo
didn’t
have super speed, not really. It wasn’t truly part of his power set. He was actually more like a cheetah, with an adrenaline-fueled burst of speed that only lasted a short time. Thus, I was now passing him easily.

I made sure I put a little distance between us, then eased up off the gas a little. I didn’t need to win by a country mile. In fact, at the moment, winning in and of itself seemed a lot less important than what the matchup between me and Dynamo represented. This was the kind of friendly competition that people enjoyed. This was the kind of contest that built camaraderie. This was the—

Something whizzed by my ear, so close that I shirked a little. To say I was surprised would be an absolute understatement. There’s practically nothing that ever passes me when I’m moving at super speed, so I had been caught almost completely off-guard.

Looking closely, I saw the thing that had almost clipped me: a round object of shiny metal.

Unbelievable! It was Dynamo’s coin. Still moving at super speed, I glanced back to where Dynamo himself was. He was no longer running, having stopped and apparently thrown his coin towards the slot on his locomotive.

I had to admire the guy’s grit and tenacity. Like a baseball player with a hundred-mile-per-hour fastball, Dynamo could throw much faster than he could actually run. In short, this was a race again.

I hit the gas and started gaining on Dynamo’s coin, my competitive fire (and the desire to win) reignited by my opponent’s throw. After a few moments, I had caught it and actually had the ability to pull ahead, but decided to keep it close. We were getting near the locomotives, but I had a few seconds to admire what Dynamo had done.

It was unquestionably the finest throw I had ever seen. The trajectory, the accuracy, the sheer power behind it… It all told me a lot and more about just how good Dynamo actually was. In terms of supers, he really was going to be one of the best.

Unfortunately, his best wasn’t going to be good enough today — not simply because I was going to beat him, but because, as we got closer to the locomotives, I could see that the angle of his coin was slightly off. It was slowly tilting such that, while it would undoubtedly hit the slot, it would be so slanted that it wouldn’t go in the hole as intended.

Too bad. The crowd would have gone nuts if something like that happened, even if he didn’t win. It would be so over-the-top that people would probably donate like crazy. We might even set a new fundraising record.

Hmmm…why not? It’s for a good cause.

Decision made, I telekinetically reached out for Dynamo’s coin, stopping its angular digression without disturbing its forward momentum. Held steady, it was right on target as the distance between it and the slot closed.

Exercising some dramatic license, I extended my own arm, hand out, with my last coin gripped between my thumb and forefinger. The two coins were neck-and-neck; it was going to be a photo finish.

As we reached the locomotives, the other coin slid neatly into its hole a split second before I pushed my own into its slot, making Dynamo the undisputed winner of the competition.

Chapter 19

All of the participants (at least those who didn’t fly immediately out of town) met at Jackman’s after the exhibition. Now that the pressure of performing had passed, we could relax and enjoy each other’s company.

The exhibition itself had actually wrapped up about two hours earlier. Following the end of the broadcast, most of us had retreated to our respective homes, hotel rooms, or what have you in order to freshen up and change.

Personally, using super speed always kicks my metabolism into high gear, so — in addition to changing both my attire and my appearance after teleporting home — I also wolfed down three ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a pack of cashews, three apples, and half a gallon of juice. That was enough to get my appetite under control and would keep me from ordering everything on the menu at Jackman’s.

I also spent a little time with Mom and Gramps, talking about the exhibition. Most of their comments were centered, of course, on my competition with Dynamo. They thought that it had been an absolutely thrilling finish, so from that standpoint it was definitely a success.

After promising not to stay out too late, I had teleported to Jackman’s, which is where I now found myself.

I popped up in the parking lot, which was surprisingly full of not only cars, but also people. I glanced towards the restaurant and it immediately became clear why. Through the large glass windows that formed the front of Jackman’s, I could see that the interior was completely packed. It was standing room only — filled well beyond legal capacity — and the place was sure to get a citation if the fire warden happened by.