02x11: The Black Band

Austin explains the inner workings of the Black Band.

THE BLACK BAND

 

     The rest of the days of that week were uneventful. Kyle postponed their meeting because he had lots of schoolwork. It never happened till October.

     September was a pretty generic month except for the fact that two storms passed their way and it was rainy. It went straight for the Philippines. They got reports of major flooding in lots of areas.

     September was also the time when Austin learned from Bambam and some other people that Janella had a crush on Jem. Jem was one of Austin’s good friends but this still depressed him. Jem didn’t mind this that much but Austin didn’t know if Jem knew.

     The first Monday of October (October 5, 2009) was the day where they got great news. The Freshman-Sophomores Night, it was on the way.

     The Student Council was now planning it. Austin hated most of the sophomores but one thing overshadowed all of this, this could be a really big opportunity.

     He was going to try it this time. It was the first dance in years where he wanted to ask someone. The question is, did he have the guts?

     One day during lunch, Austin, Joel, and Ernst were walking. They had become the three musketeers throughout the rest of September. Sure, Austin and Joel would still torment Ernst and tease him but he knew that it was well, jokingly.

     “So, you want to ask her?” Joel asked Austin.

     “Yeah! Of course.”

     “Ask who?” Ernst asked.

     “It’s twenty-four days away!”

     “I know but, I’m thinking about it.”

     “Asking who?” Ernst was desperate for an answer.

     “Oh come on, in third grade…”

     “OH COME ON! You haven’t talked about the third grade for weeks.”

     “What? I don’t remember most of September.”

     “Hey, do you guys like Miley Cyrus?” Ernst randomly asked.

     Austin and Joel stared at him like he was an idiot.

     “Yeah, neither do I. I mean she sucks.”

     “Hey, you know this black band on my wrist?”

     “Yeah?” Joel and Ernst responded.

     “I’m gonna tell some people how it works later today if they wanted one. You know some people would just want to control their powers and feel like a normal person again.”

     “Well, I might be interested. Sometimes, I sent my mom rolling on the floor laughing her a*s off out loud.” Ernst said.

     “Your mom ROTFLHFAOOL’s?” Joel asked.

     “What? You did that?” Austin asked.

     “It’s accidental. Whenever I feel like laughing I just.”

     “Just work on it,” Austin said.

    

Later that afternoon after classes, Austin headed towards the base. There were just a few people. Kyle, Ernst, Joel, Janella, Cedric, Ivan, Patrick, some girl that looked no older than 10, Lanz, and Berna were the only ones there.

     “Okay, so, I’ve never really spoken in front of a lot of people while being aware so go easy on me.”

     Austin made a screen go down and shot a light orb out of his hand and float in midair. It projected a picture of the black band on the screen.

     “This band serves one purpose, control. This machine�"“Austin continued while taking out the toaster thing he used last year to install the black band on him.

     “�"Uses a certain combination of the anti-radioactive matter, you might be familiar with these black things that have been appearing all over the place. Anyone on the Anchors Away, Janella, Patrick, you know this, the one behind the blackboard, the stuff that prevented me from getting out of the cable car.”

     “Yeah, I remember,” Patrick said.

     “Patrick, speaking of, who is this young lady with you?” Austin asked.

     “I’ll tell you after the whole thing, please continue.”

     “Anyway, let me detach from the topic for a while and talk about something else. The Anti-Radioactive Matter or let’s call it for short, the A.R.M.. A.R.M.’s are showing up all over the school. They have been appearing out of nowhere and have been limiting us from usage of our powers. Would anyone happen to know who or what is causing this? I accept rumors.”

     No one answered.

     “I’m sorry, it’s just that it’s incredibly annoying and I need to remove them all but this is different. Those veterans know the intramurals last year had these for obstacles but they were reversible. These A.R.M.’s are irreversible.”

     No one reacted at all.

     “Anyway, back on topic. The Black Band simply controls all your powers, releasing one spoke at a time. In case you’re wondering, the radioactive rock that gave you your powers, or superpowers in general, comes in 24 spokes or ‘flavors’.

     “These are Pyrokinesis, or control over fire and creation of fire. Hydrokinesis, or control and creation of water. Electro, for electricity. Nature control, control over plants, animals, stuff like that. Cryokinesis, you can decrease any temperature, creating ice from air or water, freezing solids, making temporary ice paths, basically control and creation of Ice. Super Strength, pretty generic. Terrakinesis, control and creation of Earth. Aerokinesis, Air control, don’t underestimate air, tornadoes will blow you away.

     “Telekinesis, for some reason this is really common, basically anything with the mind, mind control, moving things with your mind, In fact, the term telekinesis is wrong, it should just be psychic. You can read minds, send mental messages, move things, make psychic blasts, really fun to have this. Intangibility or Ghost-like powers. Steel or Magnetism, basically you can control and attract metals. Material Absorption, touch anything, absorb what it’s made of. If you touch a wooden door, you turn into wood, touch that table, you turn to metal, touch a pile of s**t, you might want to switch back ASAP. Super Speed, pretty obvious. Defensive Powers, you can have super skin, force fields, create walls, not feel any pain, stuff like that.

     “Lumokinesis, controlling and creating light. Time Manipulation and Space Manipulation are separated. Healing, just imagine the ultimate doctor; it can’t save a dead person though. Power-Sap, basically what A.R.M. does. Despite the name, you don’t keep the power unless you have mastered it. Power-Give, well you can give anyone a power temporarily, even a normal human. In my opinion it’s the worst but can be pretty useful. Darkness control, opposite of Lumokinesis. But you can actually make it an attack, Lumokinesis is mostly distraction and function like the projector we use here. Cosmic Power and Physical Manipulation are the last two and they are the most diverse. Any power that doesn’t fall under the previous 22 either fall in cosmic or phys manip, if it fall in neither, it doesn’t exist. Basically, acid control is phys manip because the acid comes from your body. Any questions?”

     Ernst’s hand rose into the air.

     “Ernst?”

     ‘That’s just twenty-three.”

     Surprisingly, no one was bored, Lanz and Cedric were a little and Ivan’s mind was elsewhere but everyone else was interested. Joel did look like he was thinking about Will Ferrell but whatever.

     “Wow, someone counted. Well, the last one is incredibly taboo. No one has gotten it yet and I only discovered it by further extraction of the rock. I’m afraid I can’t tell any of you that. Basically, since you have the time to come here, feel free to ask me to give you a power in the dome, it’s gonna be temporary but whatever.”

    The projection of the black band changed to a side view, seeing the symbols on the sides.

     “Now the band just disables 23 spokes and enables one spoke. You use this spoke and all energy in it is released. Now if you don’t have that power, let’s say your power is speed and you switch the band to time manipulation, nothing will happen. Now, when you don’t use a spoke, that spoke gathers energy in your body for a while, if it gathers too much energy, it’s okay because if you use it, that energy is released and used.

     “Now, there are two extra parts, the white and black spoke. White uses all the powers at the same time but does not release the energy. This is incredibly unstable but I put it there because it’s completely safe if you don’t have all the powers. The black spoke however, turns you into a normal human until you switch back the spoke. It disables everything but doesn’t release anything either.”

     Ernst raised his hand.

     “Ernst?”

     “What happens if the band is destroyed?”

     “Well, the energy gathered by the spokes is released all at once; it’s released inwards so basically you go out of control, but only if you have too many powers, more than ten spokes.”

     Everyone was silent, he wondered how well he did.

     “Any questions?”

     Well he guessed no one cared since they didn’t have most of their powers.

     “Well, okay, that’s all; feel free to ask me questions. Good day!”

     Austin sucked in the light projector as the screen went back up. They went out as Austin followed. It was 7:00 PM.

     “Man, Austin, you sounded like a nerd.” Joel said.

    “Hey, Austin, you know that link we have?” Kyle asked.

     “Yeah.”

     “I understood everything, COMPLETELY.”

     “Good!”

     “Anyway, thanks.”

     “Hey Austin,” Patrick said.

     “Yeah?”

     “That girl with me? As you might have guessed, her name is Sam and she’s my.”

     “I get it.”

     “Don’t tell everyone!”

     Patrick walked away.

     Austin saw Janella walking alone towards the hotel. Kyle and Berna had flown to their rooms, Patrick and Cedric followed. Ivan ran and Lanz goofed off for a while. Sam went with Patrick. Joel and Ernst ran there. Austin caught up with her.

     Come on, ask her. It’ll be okay, the worst case scenario is refusal. Go ahead.

     “So, Janella…, how was I?”

     “Umm, huh?” She replied.

     “How was I?”

     “Sorry, I was in thought. You were fine.”

     “No questions?”

     “None really.”

     “Umm, uh…”

     She started to smile.

     “What?” Austin asked.

     “Oh nothing… just thought of something funny.”

     “Well, want me to take you to the tenth floor?”

     ‘No, I’m okay.”

     “I can teleport you there.”

     “Eh, walking’s healthy right?”

     “Yeah, in fact you convinced me to walk. Let’s walk! I can walk and talk at the same time!”

     “Wait, look, don’t get nervous. We’re just talking.”

     “What made you think I was nervous?”

     “You’re sweating.”

     “Umm… yeah…”

     “You know Austin, I told this to you before already but… you’re really nice.”

     “Trust me, I can get really spicy.”

     “Spicy?”

     She was still smiling. Austin felt like he was in heaven.

     “Don’t think about it.”

     They were at the lobby. They headed towards the elevators.

     “Well, um, ten more floors to go,” Austin said.

     “Aren’t you on the fourth?”

     “It’s okay. I’ll take you there.”

     “No, it’s alright.”

     “Look, I have no one to talk to.”

     “Austin, you naïve idiot, you sound desperate” he said to himself.

     “Oh, well, in that case. Okay, I guess there’s nothing wrong right?”

     “Yeah.”

     They were at the fifth floor. As they talked, the floors just went by so fast.

     “Oh, we’re here.” Austin said.

     “Austin, look. It was really nice talking to you. You’re not boring at all, don’t believe them.”

     “Really?”

     “You could be interesting, if you wanted to.”

     “It’s just when I’m talking to the right person,” Austin said smiling.

     “Anyway, see ya tomorrow.”

     Janella left the elevator as she smiled back. She turned right. The elevator doors closed and Austin went down the elevators alone. The silence was deafening but Austin just had the best conversation of his life. He had this irremovable smile on his face.