A True Hero Read online

  “She’s going to think the treehouse is stupid.” Nicole flopped back in her bed.

  “I don’t think it’s stupid.”

  “Because you’re you.”

  Justin made the same sound he did when he shrugged. “I told her to come to discuss your vacation. She didn’t seem to mind. You asked your dad about her going, right?”

  “Yeah . . .” Nicole brushed her hair over her pillow. “He said it was okay . . .”

  Justin paused a moment. “You don’t sound convincing.”

  “I’ll explain later. I’ll be there in 10.”

  “See ya.” Justin hung up the phone.

  “I hope Stephanie doesn’t think I’m a loser,” Nicole muttered to herself. “I hope she won’t mind rooming with Margaret. Good morning, Bee.”

  “It is afternoon, Nicole.” Bee appeared, speaking in her flat monotone.

  “What happened to your voice? It was working perfectly yesterday.”

  “I had to uninstall the program. There was a critical error on line 10235 that I was not able to rewrite or reconcile. Please review the line, correct the error, and reinstall the program.”

  “Aw.” Nicole pulled the offending thumb drive out of her computer. “We were so close. I’ll get Justin to look at it when I see him.”

  “Query,” Bee said, not taking her eyes off Nicole.

  “So close and yet so far.” Nicole threw her head back. “When you have a question, Bee, say ‘I have a question,’ or ‘Can I ask you something?’ It sounds more human.”

  Bee cocked her head. “Would you, then, like me to analyze human verbal communication and adapt it to my programming?”

  “Yes, exactly. Do that.”

  “Command queued. May I continue with my query?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I have spent the last eight hours analyzing thousands of hours of footage both in my memory banks and on online video archives, and I have noted humans have several types of non-verbal communication depending on their age, gender, culture, religion, and other demographic factors. Would you prefer me to disregard any non-verbal communication which does not fit in with the age, gender, culture, religion, and other demographic factors you are attempting to configure?”

  “It’s exactly what I want you to do.”

  “Command queued. I will now commence initiating the commands you have requested. Please note this unit will be unresponsive until at least one of your commands have been completed. Is this acceptable?”

  “What if I need to suit up while you’re busy?”

  “The ‘suit up’ and ‘suit off’ commands run in a separate partition. You will be able to initiate them, but I will not be available to offer additional support until at least one of your queued commands have been completed. Should I start now, or would you like to reschedule?”

  “Do it now. I’ve got nothing going on for a while. How long will it take?”

  Bee stared straight ahead. “Total initialization time is approximately 18 hours 27 minutes and 54 seconds.”

  “Oh, boy . . . go ahead, Bee. I’ll risk it.”

  “Initializing . . .” Bee stared straight ahead with a blank look in her eyes.

  “I hope I didn’t make a mistake.” Nicole pulled her pink gem from its receptacle. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, she whispered, “Suit me up, Bee.” Happily the light flashed, and Nicole saw her costume appear over her nightclothes. “Good. Suit off.” Another flash, and she was back in her nightclothes.

  That taken care of, Nicole darted to her bathroom to take a shower. It had already been ten minutes, and Justin was sure to be annoyed.

  CHAPTER 15

  THE TREE SUPPORTING the treehouse stood on the property line between Nicole and Justin’s houses, and their branches grew toward Nicole’s and Justin’s bedroom windows. Ever since their fathers had built the treehouse, the two had commandeered it, working together to keep Justin’s older brothers from overtaking it. The battle was fierce at first, but one by one his brothers gave up. “We’re too old for treehouses,” they said, but Nicole didn’t buy it for one moment, not when she caught them eyeing the treehouse every once in a while for months after they had given up.

  After her shower, Nicole stepped out on one of the tree branches outside of her window and climbed into the treehouse. Justin was sitting in the corner staring at his phone.

  “It’s been 20 minutes.” Justin glanced up as she climbed in through the treehouse window.

  “I was working with Bee. The program you coded for me ran into a critical error. I think it was line 10 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 5?” Nicole handed Justin the thumb drive. “It worked flawlessly before the error. She sounded so real.”

  “Was she the same as what you remember?”

  Nicole sat next to him on a cushion. “Not quite. The AI I remember was . . . older, I think. Every time I try to make Bee look older, it errors.”

  “There must be a reason.” Justin inspected her out of the corner of his eye. “Sure you don’t want me to look at the core programming.”

  “I want to do this myself . . . or mostly. I’ll need your help if the programming becomes too hard for me. Like this voice thing.” Nicole held her hands between her knees. “Thanks for helping me with it.”

  “No worries. I’ll have a look now.” Justin opened his computer. “Did Margaret say anything about the attack on the Museum the other day? It was all over the news, but no one will say what actually happened in there.”

  “I can tell you.”

  Justin swung around to face her. “You were there?”

  “Margaret took me to see the Tifuld Sapphire. Two Villains, Finch and the TelePorter, attacked the gem exhibit, but Junior Justice saved the day.” Nicole clasped her hands together and sighed.

  “Only Junior Justice? I heard a rumor other Heroes were there.”

  “Starlight came in at the last minute and clocked the guy good.” Nicole swung as if she were delivering a crushing blow to an enemy. “I’m not sure ASH knows much about these two Villains. They both escaped.”

  “Only Starlight?” Justin furrowed his brows. “If she was there, wouldn’t Refraction be there too?”

  “She was, but . . .” Nicole felt heat creeping up the back of her neck as she recalled her own actions. “She sort of bungled everything—wrecked the TelePorter’s gadgets and nearly sent Junior Justice to the moon because of it. She couldn’t even stop Finch from escaping.”

  “Doesn’t sound right to me.”

  “You weren’t there.”

  Justin opened his mouth to argue but changed his mind instead.

  “I hope this is the right treehouse because I’m coming up.” Stephanie’s head appeared in the opening on the floor. “Wow! Nice place you got here.”

  “You . . . think so?” Nicole sat up straight.

  “I wish I had a place like this.” Stephanie surveyed the space.

  Nicole beamed. “Our dads built it for us when we were little.”

  “It’s nice.” Stephanie glanced around for a place to sit.

  Justin nudged Nicole with a smirk which said, “What’d I tell you?”

  “So . . . Nikki,” Stephanie said after finding a cushion to sit on, “I am so excited about the vacation. I’m all packed and ready! I have to be here at 8:00 am, right?”

  “Oh, right . . . I haven’t spoken to you about it yet.” Nicole rubbed the back of her neck. “Steph, I’ve got some bad news.”

  “Oh, no. I can still go with you, right? You guys didn’t change your minds, did you?” Stephanie braced herself. “Whatever it is, lay it on me all at once.”

  “You can come, but . . . we’ve got to room with Margaret at the hotel on the way up.”

  “That’s bad news?” Stephanie relaxed. “All I care about is going. And this works out great for you. If you get sick of Margaret in your space, I can give you an excuse to get out of there . . . ‘Hey, Nikki! Let’s go see the pool’ or ‘Doesn’t this place have a hot tub? Why don’t w
e try it?’ or ‘Want to go to the snack machine?’ ”

  “You’re right,” Nicole said. “Thanks, Steph.”

  “You are an evil genius,” Justin said.

  “You have no idea,” Stephanie said with a deviously wicked smile.

  The three fell into silence with only Justin clacking on his keys to break the silence. Nicole bit her lips, wondering what to say.

  “I’ve never seen anyone type so fast in all my life.” Stephanie broke the silence. “Justin’s fingers are flying.”

  “He’s like my Dad.” Nicole gripped her ankles. “He loves computer stuff.”

  “Hey, nerd.” Stephanie poked his cheek. “What are you working on?”

  “You’re calling me nerd, Miss Inventor Competition Finalist?” Justin smacked her hand away. “I’m helping Nicole work on a holographic manifestation of an existing AI.”

  Stephanie blinked. “I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff, Nikki.”

  “I’m not . . . it’s . . .” Nicole held out her pink gem hanging from the end of the necklace. “My mom gave this to me when I was little, but it stopped working. I’m trying to fix it, and Justin’s helping me out with some coding.” She gazed at the gem a while, watching the light sparkle in it. It looked the same as the day her mother presented it to her.

  “This is awesome.” Stephanie held the gem in her hands and examined it all over before she let it go. “How do you get a holographic projection from a stone?”

  “My dad says it’s more of a data hub. See.” Nicole tilted the quartz into the sun. “You can see the light glinting off the circuitry etched inside. No idea how it’s made. It might be a power crystal rather than genuine quartz.” She gazed into the quartz’s depths. “It sort of reminds me of how the Tifuld Sapphire looks inside . . .”

  “I wish I could afford power crystals.” Stephanie leaned back to rest her head on the wall. “Using them as a power source would increase my inventions’ efficiency.”

  “Another reason you need to go to Somnar,” Justin said.

  Stephanie waved him off. “For your information, I applied. Still don’t have the money even if they did accept me, though.”

  “I almost forgot.” Justin reached over to grab a manila folder. “I found a scholarship for you to apply to.” He handed it to her.

  “Thanks, Jus.” Stephanie pulled out the papers and glanced through them. “I’ll fill it out when I get home. Now that I’ve gotten the scholarship covered, now all I need is a plan to get my hands on some power crystals.”

  “You can get some when we go to spelunking,” Nicole bounced in her seat. “It’ll be my first time ever going. This place my dad booked has a gift shop which sells raw power crystals in bulk. You can get a bunch there cheap.”

  “There’s only one problem.” Stephanie narrowed her eyes in thought. “I need a certain frequency for my inventions, and it’s impossible to know the frequency of the crystal unless we test it. The equipment I have access to is old, large, immobile, and housed in the school science lab.”

  “There’s testing equipment at the site,” Nicole said. “Plus, I can help you find the right one.”

  “It’s true. Nikki has an uncanny ability to find them,” Justin said, tapping away. “She’s done it for me before.”

  “You guys are the best!” Stephanie threw her arms around them. “Thank you.”

  “Ugh! Get off. I’m not involved in this.” Justin pushed Stephanie off of him. “The only girl I ever want to hug me like that is Refraction.”

  Nicole gave him a disgusted look. “You’re a creep, Justin.”

  “I don’t care what you think.” Justin gave a sigh. “I only care about what she thinks.”

  Nicole shuddered. “Said like a creep.”

  “You should be nice to me.” Justin pulled the thumb drive from his computer. “I found the problem. If you’re rude, I might not give it to you.”

  “Oh, stop!” Nicole snatched it out of his grasp.

  “Wow, Nicole.” Stephanie laughed. “You’re never this bold at school.”

  Nicole shrugged as heat crept up her cheeks. She ducked low in her seat.

  “How come you don’t upload the file to the cloud?” Stephanie asked, oblivious to Nicole’s discomfort.

  “I don’t want anyone else to have access to it.” Justin shrugged his shoulders. “Call me a conspiracy theorist.”

  “Whatever.” Stephanie turned to Nicole. “Aren’t you going to install it now, Nikki? Can I take a peek at your hologram?”

  “Sure!” Nicole hopped to her feet. “I have to get something from my room.” She darted across the treehouse, hopped out of the window, balanced along the branch, and hopped into her room. After retrieving the receptacle from her computer, she returned to Justin who plugged it into his computer.

  “See?” Justin took the thumb drive back. “You didn’t have to snatch.”

  “Just install it.” Nicole set her stone in the receptacle.

  “Rude.” Justin tapped on his computer. After a few clicks, the pink stone glowed. “It’s booting up now.” He set aside his computer.

  “She’s processing some commands I gave her earlier, so we might not be able to interact with her.” Nicole sat up on her knees.

  Stephanie nodded.

  Bee appeared above the gem. She had her head bowed and eyes closed but after a few seconds she looked up, blinking at each of them.

  “Whoa!” Stephanie gaped at her.

  Focusing on Nicole, Bee said in her flat monotone, “Good afternoon again, Nicole. Am I correct in assuming this is Stephanie?”

  “She knows me?” Stephanie gawked at Nicole.

  “I . . . tell her about my friends . . .” Nicole turned to Bee and changed the subject. “I’m going to install the voice program again, Bee. Scan it and see if the flaws are fixed.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Say ‘yes’ instead of ‘affirmative’ and ‘no’ instead of ‘negative,’ ” Nicole said.

  “Affirmative, Nicole.” Bee kept track of Nicole with her eyes. “I have not yet finished my analysis of human speech and will adapt to your wishes as soon as I am able.”

  Nicole leaned in closer to her. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be able to respond to me until you were finished.”

  “Affirma—rather, correct, Nicole. However, I finished my analysis of non-verbal communication, and I have more processing power available to me,” Bee said.

  “This is incredible!” Stephanie gaped at Bee. “She’s talking like she knows what you’re saying.”

  “I’m still programming her to sound more human, but she’s coming along great,” Nicole said.

  “She’s so cute!” Stephanie smile wide. “Even her name is cute.”

  “I even have an outfit programmed where she’s got a full costume and a mask.”

  Stephanie raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “I like Heroes.” Nicole shrugged.

  Stephanie’s smile faded. She flopped back and muttered, “I don’t know how two people as smart as you and Justin fell in line with all the other Hero-worshippers out there.”

  “I don’t get why you hate Heroes.” Justin clenched a hand in a triumphant fist. “They’re awesome. They’re brave . . .”

  “And strong,” Nicole interjected.

  “They stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.”

  “They always come to the rescue.”

  “Sheeple.” Stephanie crossed her arms. “Like I said, you’ve fallen in line behind all the other Hero-worshippers.”

  “Okay, then tell us. Why do you hate them, Steph?” Justin said.

  Stephanie crossed her arms. “They’re overpowered, negligent, disaster areas who are unregulated, unaccountable, and above the law.”

  “That is not true at all.” Nicole shook her head so hard her dark brown, curly hair whipped around. “Heroes help people.”

  “Tell that to my parents.” Stephanie crossed her arms with a pout.

/>   Justin rubbed the back of his neck. “Aren’t . . . your parents . . . you know . . . dead?”

  “They are?” Nicole gazed at Stephanie. “I didn’t know.”

  “They are.” Stephanie took a deep breath. “And it’s a Hero’s fault.”

  “How?” Nicole said. “What happened?”

  “I used to live up on the east side of Alferdale.” Stephanie waved her hand in vaguely the right direction. “Me and my brother and my mom and dad were in our apartment one day when this Villain crashes through the side of our house. This Hero—Maximus—flies in after the Villain not even caring he had crashed through the house of civilians. Even when my mom—and even the Villain—pleaded with him not to use laser vision in a gas-powered building . . .”

  “Oh, no!” Nicole covered her mouth.

  “Boom! The whole building went up. My brother managed to get me out, but my parents . . .” Stephanie paused to wipe her eyes. “Maximus ripped my family apart and caused untold damage to dozens of people, and you know what happened to him? Nothing! He apologized on TV, and that was it.”

  “How awful!” Nicole lowered her hand from her mouth.

  “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Justin leaned forward toward Stephanie. “You mean to tell me you were involved in Flashpoint?”

  Stephanie raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  “It’s what Heroes call the incident that changed all of ASH’s rules on how to engage Villains.” Nicole caught her ankles.

  “I once went to ground zero.” Justin lowered his eyes. “So much devastation. They haven’t demolished those old, condemned buildings because they’re still investigating all these years later. The whole block is a burned out shell.”

  “My old apartment building.” Stephanie rested her chin in her hands. “After my parents died, me and my brother were separated into different foster families. He always managed to find me, though. When he turned 18, he turned the world upside down to win custody of me. I think he went into massive debt because of it—all because of a stupid Hero. And no one did anything to punish him.”

  “I wouldn’t say nothing happened to him.” Justin pinched his lips together. “They kicked him out of ASH.”