Just Another Job (8 page)

Erik jumped for the door out of the control
room and Chris followed before Erik turned back to him. “Grab your
notepad.”

Chris swiveled on his feet, gripped the
paper, and ran out to catch up. Johnykin and Erik were standing
over Klaus. They didn’t try to help him up. Instead Johnykin
laughed and when Chris finally caught up to them Klaus was
standing.

“You cheated,” said Klaus.

“No way. You bumped into me,” said
Johnykin.

“Fine, fine. But I’m getting Chinese food
and I’m not taking special orders. You get what I get,” said
Klaus.

Chris studied Klaus for signs of broken
bones, mutilated skin, or any damage during the small conversation.
Nothing looked out of place, especially when Klaus merely brushed
off the debris from the cracked wall. He wasn’t even out of
breath.

“Did you get all that down?” said Erik to
Chris.

“Another great work out, Erik. Thank you,”
said Klaus, and started to walk away.

“That was the warm up. Remember: fox and
lion. If you don’t have the cunning at least we can work on the
image. So hit those weights before those arms flab up any more,”
said Erik, pointing to Klaus’s chiseled biceps.

Klaus sat on a bench and slowly leaned back
to put his head under the bar. The bar bowed upwards from the
massive amounts of weights on each end.

“Why don’t you come spot me then, Erik,”
said Klaus.

“Scientific ethics. Can’t interfere with the
data,” said Erik.

Johnykin walked around the bench to be
Klaus’s spotter as he positioned himself for the workout.

“You look fit, Chris, want to join us for a
few reps?” asked Johnykin.

Chris’s goofy grin appeared. “Sorry. Those
weights look … um… a little out of my league and I’ve gotta take
notes and stuff.”

Erik led Chris back to the control room. It
ended up being a short stay. Immediately Erik’s phone rang. He
didn’t say anything, but uh-huh and yes. The call ended and he
stepped back out to the Fun Room. Chris didn’t know if he should
follow, so he stayed behind and watched as Erik told Johnykin and
Klaus something that got them very excited. Then Johnykin pointed
to the control room at Chris. Chris couldn’t make out the words,
but she said it with a smile and Erik nodded his head in approval.
Erik came back in the control room.

“If you thought training was a spectacle,
you’re really going to enjoy this,” said Erik.

Chapter Seven

A black SUV with a bored driver tapping at his phone
idled just outside the front doors of the main complex. Chris stood
next to Erik with questions bouncing around his mind as to where
and what they might be headed into, but Erik’s dark sunglasses and
impatient toe tapping kept Chris mute. Klaus and Johnykin took
separate paths from them once they left the Fun Room. To change or
something similar, Chris guessed.

Erik checked his phone for the time and
barked out in a surprisingly deep voice, “Fucking come on.”

The timing was perfect or staged perfectly,
because Klaus and Johnykin stepped into the afternoon sun after
Erik’s order rang out. It was hitting the low nineties and Chris
wished he could have been in shorts. He felt bad for Klaus and
Johnykin, because even though they were undeniably cool looking in
full-body black leather suits with patches of protective padding,
they had to be sweating gallons.

“I’m glad they got rid of those stupid
costume capes,” said Erik.

“Are those comfortable?” asked Chris, and
then immediately regretted it. Erik glared at him and Johnykin took
advantage. She moved in close to Chris, grasped his right hand, and
brought it to rest on her shoulder. Erik brought out his deep voice
again, but Chris couldn’t make out what he said. Johnykin was
whispering and Chris’s ears focused entirely on her words.

“Feel the tiny holes?” She moved his hand
slowly from her shoulder down the length of her arm. “Air passes
through. Even in the padded parts.” His hand was now on her hip. He
didn’t know if he put it there or if she did. It was cushioned. Her
hand was on top of his again and began raising it up where there
was no padding. Chris pulled away, with red cheeks.

Erik’s voice finally cut through. “You can
touch each other later. It’s time to go.” Chris lunged for the
safety of the SUV, but it was fleeting because Johnykin was right
behind him and squished Chris between herself and Klaus in the back
seat.

Knees tucked together and shoulders
slouching forward, Chris tried to make himself small to avoid any
contact with the Supers on either side of him. This was only half
necessary as Klaus kept his eyes out the window in a meditative
fashion, ignoring everyone. Johnykin kept her hands to herself, but
caught Chris’s attention several times with a devilish glance and
smile in his periphery.

Chris needed to be distracted. “Cozy back
here. Uh, I forgot to ask where we’re going,” he said.

“You’ll see when we get there,” said
Erik.

“My dad you used to say that,” said
Chris.

Johnykin leaned into Chris to whisper in his
ear, “Top secret. Children’s hospital. ” She patted his knee and
pulled away to look out the window like her counterpart.

The Children’s Hospital Oakland popped into
view after forty minutes of silent staring out of windows. Nothing
appeared out of the ordinary or rather in Chris’s mind, needed the
attention of superheroes. They stepped out of the SUV with a small
stretch. Erik led the way to the entrance and Chris followed, but
Klaus and Johnykin stayed behind to discuss something. Inside the
lobby, there were still no indications of why they were here. Did
Erik have a sick son or daughter he wanted to see? Maybe show off
the Supers to?

The nurse at the desk pointed to a hallway
and Erik nodded. He then looked behind himself expecting more than
just Chris waiting patiently.

Before Erik could start, Chris interrupted.
“They’re talking in the parking lot.”

“Where’s your notepad?”

“In the car. Safe and sound. But that’s not
where it should be.”

“Get your ass out there, and pick up
Tweedledee and Tweedledum while you’re at it.”

“On it.”

Chris pushed through the door and ran chest
to face into Johnykin.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” said Chris.

“No problem, Chris. I just have to look out
for that chest of steel you have,” said Johnykin as she wiped away
at her eyes and hair. “You didn’t mess up my makeup did you?”

“No. I mean I don’t think so. You look
great, I mean you don’t look...”

She placed her hand on his chest and looked
up into his eyes to reassure him. “Save that compliment for
later.”

“Sorry, again.”

Johnykin gave a quick smile, looked down and
away from Chris, and turned with Klaus into the lobby. Chris
sprinted to the SUV. He knocked on the window and startled their
driver, who took a moment to register what he wanted. Inside the
lobby again, Chris sweated slightly as he looked for the direction
his group had went After a couple back and forth glances, the nurse
at the desk took pity and informed Chris he should head to the
Family Resource and Information Center down the North hall.

The Center was packed with parents and
patients along with at least half the available nurses. Erik had
already begun speaking to the audience while Klaus and Johnykin
stood behind him beaming at the children’s faces. Chris crept to
the side and pulled out the notepad. He jotted down quick
descriptions of the patients and the obvious illnesses he could
determine. Erik’s speech seemed to be made up on the spot and
forgettable, so Chris skipped it to begin describing the
Supers.

The Supers’ black, form fitted costumes
oozed sex and power when Chris first saw them, but in front of an
awe struck crowd of cancer, sickle cell disease, AIDS, and cystic
fibrosis warriors the Supers looked more like generals of hope.
Erik finally gave the spotlight over to them. Klaus took turns with
Johnykin in talking about their powers and when they first noticed
them. They moved smoothly back and forth with animation in their
voices and gestures. Chris thought this must have been what was
hashed out beforehand in the parking lot.

Few questions sprang up and the excitement
from the audience began to wane. Klaus grabbed onto the loss of
momentum and waved his arm for the audience to follow him and
Johnykin through the double doors outside the center to an open
grass area. The tell part was over and it was time now for the
Supers to show. The children's faces grew ecstatic with
anticipation and the parents and staff were just behind them with
their own excited whisperings. Klaus and Johnykin directed the
audience to spread out in a half circle to leave enough room for
everyone to see, but also enough space for them to perform.

Chris couldn't help smiling at the
preparation and was reminded of a comic book he read when he was
young. Erik saddled up next to Chris.

“This is great. Isn't it?” said Erik.

“Yeah. They're so excited. It's like reading
an old Superman comic book. The superhero comes for his weekly
charity work of entertaining sick children or a foster home full of
kids,” said Chris.

Erik looked affronted. “Yeah. I guess it’s
kind of like that. But this is real. We're doing something real and
good for these children. Not giving them some stupid comic books to
read. Write that down.”

Chris wrote it down and surprised himself by
walking away from Erik's peevishness. Chris made his way to the end
of the audience's outstretched line to get a view of them and an
unobstructed angle of the Supers. Klaus turned his back to the
audience to consult Johnykin and then he grabbed her by the waist
and threw her twenty feet up into the air. Johnykin did a flip and
then plummeted to the grass landing on her feet like a gymnast. She
raised her hands in triumph then quickly turned to Klaus and threw
him into the air even higher. Klaus one upped her by returning with
his right fist and knee hitting the ground in a pose familiar to
any Iron Man fan. The friendly show continued with a race around
the crowd that startled some but ended in cheers. Klaus then raced
to the parking lot and brought back a red sedan above his head. A
woman from the crowd shouted it was hers. Johnykin reassured her no
harm would befall it or Klaus would buy her a new one. The Supers
juggled the car back and forth with a few spins and twirls to add
to the entertainment until Johnykin set it down. The children had
even more questions for them after seeing the action, including
requests for even more spectacular tricks.

Things wound down considerably with the
break for more questions and Chris caught Erik checking his phone
impatiently. Chris looked at his own phone and noticed they had
been going for almost two hours. Johnykin and Klaus shook hands
with everyone and gave out a handful of hugs to the younger
children. Chris pocketed the notepad and headed over to Erik again.
The trip seemed over.

Then a steady drone of whump, whump, whump,
came from above. Chris saw a medi-flight helicopter approach for
landing. Everyone instinctively paused to look up. The long body of
the copter cast a shadow across the faces of the onlookers on its
way to the uppermost roof of the hospital. Even with the Supers
around, the arrival of a fly-in grabbed the crowd’s attention. They
would watch like most did until there was a landing, but when the
tail rotor rose up above the main rotor and then dropped suddenly a
safe landing wasn’t in the program.

Klaus and Johnykin appropriately acted first
by ushering everyone inside. It was a calm but quick movement
filled with glances back into the chaotic sky. The copter gained
its balance and took a broad turn around the landing pad, but
another unexpected dip of the tail rotor threw it off course. Half
the patients were inside. The nurses and parents took the herding
roles from Johnykin and Klaus so they could step back into the
grass area for a better look at the situation above. Chris grabbed
the hand of a young girl. Her eyes were nervous but accepted his
lead. Chris looked down at her and his mind jumped to his daughter.
Even without the hair, they looked remarkably similar to Chris, but
after a few steps the girl tightened her hand in his. She began
coughing and her eyes closed. She didn’t faint so much as collapse
into Chris’s side. He gathered her in his arms as they fell behind
the rest. The girl’s eyes opened again wide while she was in his
arms. She saw past him and Chris followed her gaze to the copter
that had again made a full circle around to gather some
stability.

That stability was the shortest lived, for
the copter turned unnaturally to its side and dramatically plunged
into the roof. The skids crumpled from the impact and brought the
body to the edge of the roof. The blades of both rotors spun
furiously and moved the copter into a second fall off the edge.
Metal screeched against concrete. The girl covered her ears. Chris
looked for the Supers, but only found himself alone with the girl
in the grass. Klaus and Johnykin had made it to the second floor
roof looking up at the collapse. Rubble tumbled down first and
Johnykin swatted it away. Klaus positioned underneath, lifted his
arms above his head and waited for the copter to fall in to his
hands. The descent was slower than Chris thought, but it was a
magnificent sight when Klaus’s fingers sunk into the metal body of
the copter upon impact. He squeezed into it like it was made from
foam. The weight was another matter. His knees bent under the
strain and continued to lose the battle until Johnykin ran
underneath to add her strength to the colossal feat. Together they
eased the copter onto its crippled skids while the blades continued
to turn furiously above their heads. Klaus pulled the relatively
undamaged pilots free from the cockpit and Johnykin lifted a
stretcher from the back. The engine was cut off after the three
were safe; the main rotor began to slow down.