Adam Powerhouse Episode 2
Zero to Hero
By Kevin T. Goddard
Published by Kevin T. Goddard at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Kevin T. Goddard
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Table of Contents
Scene 2: Doesn't Take NO for an Answer
Adam Powerhouse Episode 2
Zero to Hero
Story by Kevin T. Goddard
Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved.
Scene 1: BMX Bust
Adam kept inventing and on his sixth birthday, his mom and dad gave him possibly the best present a six year old could get: a bicycle. Not just any bicycle; this bike was a Schwinn, BMX style, stainless-steel and chrome, freestyle bike with stunt pegs and caliper brakes on the handlebars. Along with the bike came a blue crash helmet with flip down, tinted, mud guard glasses. Adam took the bike for a spin to get the feel of the balance of the bike and immediately began forming a plan for improving it.
Before improving the bike, he took the helmet and made it stronger by coating it with super-strong polymer glue around the outside. He strengthened the padding by injecting a gel made from the crystals used in the absorbent part of diapers so that it conformed to the shape of his head. He put microphones into the ear holes of the helmet and small speakers on the inside that filtered out unwanted noise so Adam could hear sound clearly from all directions while he rode his bike. The flip down glasses were easy for Adam to convert into an LCD display that zoomed in and out and allowed him to view a see-through computer screen which hooked up to his computer in his room using a cell phone signal he had hacked into through the local Verizon tower. All of this, he controlled through the voice recognition software he had created from the Camry chip and a PC program from the mall called “Dragon Naturally Speaking”. The microphone for the voice recognition nestled inside the mouth filter of the helmet. Once Adam was inside the helmet, his face couldn’t be seen, he was well-protected, and his vision and hearing were amplified even beyond his already super-human senses.
Once the helmet was ready, Adam began testing various components of the bike and modifying it every time he came up with a new idea. First, he wanted the bike to be faster. He began by adding several gears to it so it could be pedaled to faster speeds. It still didn’t go as fast as he wanted, even with his extraordinary strength. Next, he added a spring-loaded energy return system into the hollow frame that built up energy and returned it by driving the chain to higher speeds like a toy car that revs up by rolling the wheels hard and then letting it go. Finally, Adam figured that he might need occasional bursts of speed that even his energy return system couldn’t provide. He took the air cartridges to his B.B. gun and replaced the air in them with propane from his dad’s camping lantern. On the frame, he had a bolt action chamber that he could drop eight of these cartridges into, each one firing off and giving him a ten second burst of speed from tiny jets on the rear stunt pegs.
The first time he decided to try his bike, he had enough sense to head out to a new housing development where there were plenty of unfinished streets without cars driving around. There were also plenty of dirt piles to jump off of.
His blue helmet effectively filtered out the wind whistle and made other noises crisp and clear. His tinted glasses blocked the wind and glare from hitting his eyes so he could focus on the road ahead. Trying out the zoom feature on his glasses, Adam said softly in the mouthpiece, “Dragon on.” The image flickered slightly and appeared more vibrant in color. “Zoom.” The image in the glasses jumped in size. He said, “Zoom” again and things got even bigger. Adam said, “Zoomout” and everything returned to normal.
“Cool. Let’s try ‘internet.’” His screen promptly filled with a transparent view of his home page. “Ok. Stocks.” The Dow-Jones began scrolling up with a flurry of numbers on one half while the internet was on the other. “Now cartoons.” Dexter’s Laboratory showed up as his screen divided into thirds. “Screen off.” The images disappeared.
Adam took off in a blaze of dust pluming up from his back tire. He quickly shot through all the gears and began really feeling the recoil in the energy return system. He could feel a slight vibration each time the coils in the frame wound up and released until he had a steady rhythm going. After a few laps around the frames of the unfinished houses, Adam started trying timid jumps off of dirt mounds.
Each time, he hit the ramp of dirt a little bit harder until he was getting huge air. He power slid to a stop and popped the bolt on the opening into the frame to make sure his propane cartridges were loaded properly. He slid the bolt back into place, rolled the bike slightly forward toward the biggest dirt pile and hit a button by his thumb on the left handle of the bike.
With a head-snapping burst of speed, Adam shot toward the dirt pile with his front tire in the air. Wrestling the front wheel back onto the ground, he realized he was pumping the pedals furiously adding even more speed until he was throttling toward the make-shift ramp with the velocity of a Scud missile.
At the last second, as he accelerated up the pile of dirt, Adam hit the propane again, launching himself into the air with a “whoosh!” In what seemed like slow-motion, all the while yelling “woo hoo,” Adam felt gravity leave him behind. Unbelievably, he continued to rise upward. Like a dream, the bike continued to gain altitude until Adam began to wonder if he would come down. The rush of adrenaline coupled with his war-like yells caused Adam to miss the sound of a construction foreman’s SUV come into the construction area. Adam continued to fly, letting go of the handles, spreading his arms, and throwing his head back. As he realized he was clearing one of the unfinished houses, Adam wondered if the bike would withstand the impact of landing. His next thought was if he would withstand the impact of the landing. As he came down on the far side of the roof, he realized the SUV was passing directly in front of the home.
His bike landed with a slight squeal of rubber as the back tire caught shingles and then front landed with a thud. Adam made a split decision as he dropped off the roof to hit another propane burst. The bike rocketed across the hood of the SUV, shattering the windshield and causing the foreman to veer into the front of the house, smashing a hole through the front where the door was.
Adam bounced onto the grass and jerked the bike to a halt. He watched as sheetrock dust and splinters of wood flew out from the gaping hole in the front of the unfinished house. He saw the foreman open his door and start to squeeze out of his vehicle. Adam breathed a sigh of relief and silently hoped to himself the man was alright as he kicked the bike back into high gear and headed for home.
When he arrived back at the house, he put the bike in the garage after taking out the propane cartridges and disabling the energy return system. Five gears would have to be enough speed until he was older and able to better control the bike so he didn’t hurt someone, including himself. With regret, he threw a sheet over the bike and returned to his room, flipping on the security camera as he closed his door.
Scene 2: Doesn’t Take NO for an Answer
The doctor had predicted that Adam would be strong and smart—exceptional in most ways. But Adam was still a boy and prone to learn the lessons of life as most boys do, by making mistakes. Putting the bike away was the first of Adam’s choices to grow up and do the right thing.
After Adam got cleaned up from his bike riding experience, mom took Adam to the store. They spent the entire time shopping for boring things like pinto beans and tomato juice. Soon the cart was completely full without much in it that Adam thought looked very good. The ice cream looked okay, but it was plain vanilla. Not Double-Double Super Chocolate Chip Fudgey Mousse Morsel which was Adam’s favorite. Because he had endured the shopping without complaining, Adam felt he was entitled to a treat in the register isle from the candy display.
“Mom, can I have a candy bar?”
“No. You can have a bowl of ice cream after dinner.”
“Please? I really want some candy.”
“No Adam. Don’t make me say it again.” Mom sighed, looking really tired from all the shopping and they hadn’t even loaded the car or carried the groceries in at home yet.
Adam crossed his arms, pouting. He could feel the boxes of candy pressing into his back as he leaned against them. Quickly, Adam dropped his arms and grabbed a handful of the nearest candy. Not even looking, Adam stuffed it into the pockets of his baggy jeans. Not saying anything, and not looking his mom in the eye, Adam waited patiently and followed out the stock boy who pushed their groceries to the car. Adam climbed into their car and strapped himself into his booster seat. When he heard the trunk slam, he leaned to the side and pretended to be asleep.
Mom slid behind the wheel, sighed again, and made the drive home. She didn’t talk to Adam, or turn on the radio. Adam wanted to look and see what she was doing, but he didn’t want her to know he was awake.
When they arrived home, Adam pretended to wake up, jumped out of the car, and ran up to his room. He slammed the door shut, hurried to his bed, and pulled the candy out of his pocket.
A small knocking sound on his door made him almost jump out of his skin. He stuffed the candy back into his pocket and answered the door. He couldn’t believe he forgot to set his security system. He cracked the door slightly and looked right into his mother’s eyes.
“Let me see it Adam.”
“See what?” Adam looked away from mom.
“Adam. I know you took something. Let me see it.”
Adam slowly slid the candy out of his pocket, not so excited about having it anymore. He held it out and looked at what he held in his hand. Two Zero candy bars, slightly crushed, sat in his palm. Normally, the silver wrapped candy was his favorite. The bold white letters always made his mouth water. Now they just made him feel sick to his stomach.
“Adam, I am very disappointed in you. More than I have ever been before. You know that taking things from other people hurts them. With your extraordinary ability, you should want to help other people less fortunate than you. Not steal from them. I am not going to take those away from you. I’m not going to call the police, the store, or even tell your dad. If you want to keep them and eat them, then go ahead. You can stay up here for the rest of the day though.”
When dad got home and hollered at Adam, Adam told him he was busy working on something. The two candy bars sat on the bed and reminded Adam of the awful thing he had done. Adam didn’t have the heart to take them back to store now that they were crushed and ruined. He didn’t have the heart to eat them, even when his stomach was growling late at night.
Adam laid awake all night thinking about what he had done. When the sun finally came through Adam’s window and he could hear the robins begin singing their morning song, he got up, picked up the candy bars, and tucked them away into his place under the floorboards where his “inventions on hold” were hidden. Looking one last time at the bold white letters, Z-E-R-O Z-E-R-O, Adam wasn’t sure he would ever be able to eat another one. But he vowed then and there, that he would pay for doing wrong by using his skills and ability to help others whenever and however he could. Reflecting on the double-double helix he knew was floating around in his cells, he thought, I’m not a double-helix super human, I’m a double ZERO.
Scene 3: Turning the Corner
Immediately following Adam’s episode of stealing, Adam began formulating a plan for implementing his powers for good, not evil. The problem with having super-human ability at six years old is that you are still six years old. His parents never would leave him completely alone long enough to sneak out of the house and use his gadgets and strength to fight crime. So for the time being, Adam watched the news and read the paper to begin an analysis of the pattern of crime in the city.
First, Adam let his fingers do the walking by hacking into the police files and checking up on the facts he knew weren’t reported in the news. He could always tell when important facts were left out. Next, he patched into the surveillance network around the city’s transportation system. With this in place, he could zoom in on any events happening around the intersections where cameras were mounted on traffic lights. This seemed pretty limiting, so Adam patched his system into the ATM machines around the city so he could get a view from those security cameras as well. This worked as long as someone wasn’t trying to withdraw money which would block his view of the area in front of the machine. ATM machines were everywhere and Adam could visit about any part of the city from his bedroom.
As Adam began to decipher the pattern of crime around St. Louis, he began to wonder what he could do about it. One night, he put his hard work into practice and patched into an ATM at a convenience store he predicted would be robbed. The camera pointed directly at the counter where the clerk looked rather bored from having no customers at two o’clock in the morning. Adam knew that at 3:20 a police cruiser would pull up and a couple of cops would come in to get donuts and coffee, then business would pick up as people got ready for work that day. He figured the thief would hit the store before the cops’ donut break.
For forty-five minutes, Adam watched the clerk pick and wipe his nose, drink straight from the slushy machine nozzle, flip through a dirty magazine, and eat a package of peanut M&M’s. Finally, someone came in.
A guy wearing black pants, a black t-shirt with the writing “Huked On Foniks Wurked Fur Me” across the front, and white tennis shoes, walked to the counter and pulled a gun out of his back pocket. He waved it at the kid behind the counter, who was shaking his head vigorously. Adam couldn’t hear anything because the system had no sound, but he could imagine the shouting going on. Suddenly there was a bright flash and Adam realized the clerk had been shot. As the thief hopped the counter and began trying to tear open the register, Adam stared in disbelief, then sprung into action.
He grabbed a set of earphones with a mouthpiece and slipped them on over his head while using his mouse to access his audio system. He changed the pitch on the microphone to drop the sound of his voice to sound more like a grown-up. Next, he pulled up an internet link that could make phone calls so the police couldn’t trace his call. He dialed the main precincts’ phone number, getting the switch board.
“St. Louis County Police Department.”
“Yes, I’d like to report a crime…”Adam didn’t have time to finish ‘in progress’ before the receptionist cut him off.
“Hold please.”
“NO!” But she was already gone.
Adam waited while some cheesy elevator music played and the bad guy in a minimized window on his computer screen stuffed the money from the drawer into his pocket and poured himself a slushy. Finally, a voice came on the other line.
“Sergeant Rice.”
“Yes, I’d like to report a crime in progress.”
“Why’d you get me, you should have called 911?”
“This is where the receptionist sent my call. Listen, I can see the guy now.” Adam gave a description of the fellow and the location of the convenience store.
“Are you in the store with him?” Detective Rice asked.
“No, but I can see him from where I’m at.”
“Where is that?”
“Listen, I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you back later. Just get someone over there.” Adam hung up.
Five minutes later, the two cops burst in with their guns drawn and found the clerk bleeding on the floor, but the crook was already gone. Adam had seen him leave by the front door, getting an estimate of his height from the marker on the side of the door. Adam placed another phone call.
“Detective Rice.”
“Your men missed him.”
“Where are you at?”
“That isn’t important. What is important is that he is white, about five feet ten inches tall, carrying a cherry slushy, and in two days, he will have a cold.”
“What?”
“Check the surveillance tape from the ATM. The clerk had a runny nose, coughing, and just looked like he didn’t feel good. But he did drink straight from the slushy spout, leaving his cold germs on it. When the robber helped himself to a slushy, he also served himself a cold. It is the weekend, so you should be able to hold him for 48 hours easy until he goes before a judge for bail. By that time, you’ll have the DNA match from the slushy nozzle and the robber.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Trust me. Check out the facts later, but find this guy. Should be easy to find a white guy with a cherry slushy in that neighborhood. I will call back to see how things went.”
Adam hung up the phone, turned off his computer, and tried to catch a few hours of sleep before his mom came in to wake him up.
The next morning, Adam tuned into the local news to find they had caught the young man who had robbed the store because the cops had noticed a cherry mustache on his face when they caught him walking along the sidewalk.
A black officer was interviewed by the reporter who was rather inexperienced. Adam guessed it was probably an intern who was lucky enough to check out events that happened at three o’clock in the morning.
The reporter shoved a microphone into the cop’s face, “How did you respond to this crime so quickly, Detective Rice?”
Adam sat up straight.
“We received an anonymous tip that the crime was in progress which gave us the description of the perpetrator and what was happening during the robbery. We knew the young man had also taken a cherry slushy from the store and there were none of those sold all night. When we caught him walking, he didn’t have the slush any more, but he did have cherry on his face. After we had him in custody, we retraced his steps from the store and found a freshly emptied cherry slush with his fingerprints on the outside. After we had his prints, we were able to find a couple of his prints among the many prints found on the surfaces inside the store along with DNA evidence that is being processed.”
The reporter leaned in, trying to get more information, “How is the clerk who was hurt?”
Detective Rice looked serious, “The clerk suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but is stable. This ups the charges from robbery to armed robbery, assault, and possibly attempted murder.”
The reporter thanked the detective and signed off.
Adam raced upstairs to find out the possible locations of tonight’s crimes. He knew that it was impossible for the police to cover all of the locations that could be hit because St. Louis was such a big city. But Adam broke down the city into sections and grouped several possible locations into each section. Once he had a complete plan for the night, he called Detective Rice again.
It was picked up on the second ring, “Rice.”
“I predicted that robbery would happen based on all of the county’s statistics for the past ten years.”
“The only way you could have predicted that would happen is if you planned that robbery yourself, in which case, we’ll get your name from the young man we caught last night.”
Adam sighed, “Officer, if you offered that suggestion to that guy, he would be completely surprised, then try to pawn it off on me without having the slightest notion of who I was. If he thought he could blame someone else, he already would have since he’s been in your custody for several hours now.”
Detective Rice was quiet.
Adam continued, “Listen, I know where tonight’s hits are going to be based on several variable including time of year, predicted weather, police surveillance routes, and the unemployment rate. I am going to give you specific locations where crimes may occur. I know you don’t have the manpower to cover all of them, so I have analyzed all of the possible driving routes and mapped out which routes your guys should drive to put them in proximity of several targets at once. Their routes will overlap slightly which will allow for backup if more than one target is hit at once. You will have to add two officers for this to be possible tonight.”
“I don’t have the budget for overtime based on somebody’s whim,” Detective Rice broke in angrily.
“That isn’t my problem. If you want to have a record night tonight, then stay by the phone and I will call you directly if any of my predicted targets are hit.”
“Which will prove you’ve set this thing up.”
“Later, I will prove to you there is no possible way I could be behind this. But for right now, I want to help clean up our city’s streets. Stay close to the phone, the first robbery will occur starting around ten p.m.”
Adam hung up as he heard Detective Rice sigh.
At about 10:20, Adam’s surveillance cameras picked up the first robbery. He phoned Rice and told him the location and description of the bad guy.
In almost fifteen minute intervals, Adam phoned Rice with a new location to check out. Only one or two robberies occurred per quadrant Adam had mapped out for Detective Rice. Only one quadrant in Adam’s predictions did not have any robberies occur. Adam called Rice one last time for the night.
“How did things go?” Adam asked with a yawn.
Rice stated, “I have never seen anything like this in all my years as a cop. I can’t help but believe that you have to have inside knowledge to call this many. Are you someone inside a crime ring who wants to get out?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I am someone who wants to help. We all have our mistakes to make up for,” Adam said.
“Well, whenever you’re ready to let me know who you are, I’ll be there.” Rice sounded sincere.
“Thanks. But for now, we both need some sleep.” Adam hung up and slept better for four hours than he had in a long, long time.
Preview of Episode 3: School, Sports, and…Superpowers?
At the end of the game, Adam didn’t notice the other team looking at their feet as he shook their hands at mid-court. He went to the locker room and grabbed his duffel bag to hurry to a football game. As he ran out, he realized he’d left his laptop behind and turned around and went back into the locker room to get it. As he came around the lockers, Adam heard some of the boys talking.
“Boy, Adam sure is a ballhog.”
“Yeah, what a show-off. If we weren’t winning all of our games, I definitely wouldn’t want him on our team.”
Adam couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I didn’t sign up to watch somebody else on the team do everything. I’m thinking about quitting if he doesn’t start sharing the ball more.”
Adam slammed the door and all the talking stopped. He quickly grabbed his laptop and headed to his football game.
Dear Brothers and Sisters of Adam:
Don’t forget to email me your suggestions and thoughts about Adam at adampowerhouse@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Kevin T. Goddard
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About the Author
Kevin T. Goddard was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1975. He grew up watching shows and movies like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dukes of Hazzard, A-Team, and much more action/adventure/science fiction. Kevin is currently a school administrator in Missouri. His family consists of a wife, 8 kids, and a chihuahua. Kevin earned a Doctorate of Education, Ed. D., in Educational Leadership in 2010. He started writing when he was a kid, but as he worked on his advanced degrees in the field of education, his writing turned academic.
About 9 years ago, Kevin wrote a short book entitled Adam Powerhouse: Birth of the Double Zero. After finishing it, he didn't know what to do, so Kevin saved it on his computer and forgot about it. When he reopened the file in 2010, Kevin was surprised to find that many of the things Adam invented in 2001 were now a part of reality...cell phones that connected to the internet, skateboards that work more like a snowboard, video games that allow you to be a rockstar, and more! So, he's had to update Adam's world. It continues to evolve and Kevin hopes Adam lives for a long, long time and you enjoy every adventure Adam has.
Kevin plans on starting more characters with the help of his two oldest daughters and chronicling those characters lives through episodes as he has Adam's.
New Adam Powerhouse Episodes by Kevin T. Goddard will be available at Smashwords.com every two weeks!
Connect with Kevin T. Goddard online:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_192520634101730
Email: adampowerhouse@gmail.com
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kevintgoddard