The Adventures of Amy Jeakins

Adventure in Nebraska

Amy Jeakins sat on her bed when a knock came from her door.

“Come in,” Amy called out.

Amy's young-looking mother stepped in, closed the door, and sat next to Amy. She hesitated a moment before speaking.

“You know, Amy, you spend a lot of time in this room. I think you need some time out.”

“Really?” Amy asked, “I'm perfectly fine in here.”

“Well, that may be true, but you need to have some girl time — ” Mrs. Jeakins was interrupted with a groan. “Some girl time with someone your age. I invited the neighbor girl, Bethany, over.”

“Why her?” Amy asked.

“Well, I know her mother somewhat, and I thought Bethany could use a friend like you. She's pretty shy, too, you know.”

A beep came from the two-way radio in Amy's coat pocket. She ran over to it, picked it up, and dashed out the door.

“Gotta go. Sorry,” Amy said quickly as she fled.

Amy ran to a safe place and closed the door just after the beep sounded again.

“Orange Hero, are you there?”

“Yes, sir,” Amy answered the man. She debated about telling him that it wasn't a good time, but decided not to. “What happened?”

“A boy ran from the mayor's office just after a private meeting with a recording device, playing back some of the discussion just as he ran by the security guards. That recording could cost not only the city, but many others a whole lot of trouble. We don't know exactly what was talked about during that meeting, but the mayor has confirmed that it would be bad if anyone heard. How soon can you get here?”

“Pretty soon,” Amy said.

Amy ran back to her room.

“I'll get ready for Bethany in here. When will she get here?” Amy asked her mother.

“We have it set for about three thirty. So three hours.”

“Okay. I'll just stay in here. Could you please not come in?”

“Well, I'll actually be gone when she arrives. But her mother is coming with her, so you better be ready to meet them at the door.”

“Wait, her mother is Sheila Prescott, the journalist, right?”

“Yes.” Amy's mother blinked in thought. “I thought you hadn't met her.”

“Oh, I must have heard somewhere.”

Amy shut the door and slipped her superhero suit on before opening her window and jumping out it. She concentrated a moment as she fell, and started to fly. Amy dashed through the air to the police office. She landed just outside the door.

“Sorry if I took longer than usual,” Amy said, “I was a little . . . hung up at the moment you called.”

“We managed to get some pictures of the boy,” the Chief of Police told her, handing her a photo of a ten year old boy with brown hair and glasses. He had a grin on his face and something in his hand that Amy couldn't identify. The picture was a little blurry, and Amy guessed the boy was running when the photo was taken.

“Do you know who he is?” Amy asked.

“No. He took a private jet and escaped the city, though. We've tracked it to a city in Nebraska. Can you get there quickly?”

Amy glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Sure, I suppose so. It might take a while, though.”

After checking a map right quick for directions, Amy flew up high into the air and launched herself toward Nebraska. She flew even faster than she had ever before, her hair pulled directly behind herself, flapping only slightly in the wind. Amy only slowed to land at her destination. As she did, she checked her watch.

Thirty minutes! A new record! Amy thought as she looked around for anyone who matched the picture she saw.

A shiny, human-like robot walked up and to the middle of the road. Rocket boosters fired from its feet and it flew into the air. Then it stopped and spoke in a loud voice.

“Jacob Adderson will now speak,” the robot said, “Any unfriendly remarks will be silenced. For good.”

Amy heard murmurs of shock from around the crowd. From the same direction as the robot came from, a boy with brown hair and glasses walked up. He matched the picture Amy had seen exactly.

“Hello, there,” the boy said, “My name is Jacob. I will be running this town now.”

“What?” Amy heard a woman yell. The robot immediately turned its right arm into a gun a aimed at the woman who spoke. Just as the robot shot, Amy used her powers to move the woman out of the way. The robot shot again, and Amy made her move again. Then Amy flew up to the robot and tore its arm off.

“What's this?” Jacob asked, “I see someone's called their so-called hero over to take us out. I mean, look what she did to my robot!”

“She saved me!” the woman the robot had been aiming at shouted.

Amy flew to Jacob and landed next to him. “What are you going to do with the recording?” Amy asked.

“What do you mean?” the boy asked with a blank look on his face.

“You know what I mean. The one you were seen with outside the mayor's office back in Oregon.”

“You wouldn't understand,” Jacob answered, “I didn't want to waste years of work on my robots' computer chips, so I took a prototype the mayor had. The only problem was, it was programmed to the mayor's voice, so I had to record him saying, well.” Jacob stopped and pressed a button on a device in his hand, which played the recording of the mayor saying, “Attack!”

Amy felt a rumble in the ground just before a huge swarm of human-sized robots flew down the street and all pulled out their guns at the same time. Screams filled the air and everyone ran the opposite direction and to safety.

The robots flew up and completely surrounded Amy, the only thing keeping them from getting to her being her concentration on keeping them away. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she reached out and grabbed one of the robots' arms and swung it around, knocking some others away. One targeted her and nearly shot her, but Amy stopped the bullet before it reached her. Amy used her powers to bang robots into one another. She had a hard time even keeping the robots from her.

Amy then had an idea. She flew back down and grabbed Jacob's arm. Even though he squirmed, she managed to hold on as she flew up to the robots. They immediately stopped at the sight of the boy. Amy used her powers to disassemble the robots before giving Jacob over to the local police. Amy checked her watch again.

Yikes! I've got to get home! Amy thought, flying at full speed.

Thirty minutes later, Amy was back at her own house. She looked at the time again as she started taking her superhero suit off. She heard a door slam.

“Amy Jeakins!” Amy heard a woman shout. She recognized it as Sheila Prescott. She had often been called by that same voice, even though she was called a different name. “Where are you, Amy?”

Amy heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She took her Orange Hero outfit off just as Bethany opened the door.

“What are you doing with a mask like that?” Bethany asked.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked, hoping the mask she didn't have time to get off would just disappear or something.

“The mask you have on . . . are you the Orange Hero?” Bethany squealed.

“No, why would you think that?” Amy asked. She got so nervous, she began to float up, although she didn't notice.

“Perhaps because you're floating.” Bethany raised an eyebrow.

“What? Ugh!” Amy looked down and made herself go back down, jerking her mask off as she did so. “Fine, you got me. What will it take to keep you from telling?”

“Nothing,” Bethany answered.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing. I just want a friend. And maybe, now that I know, you could use a partner?”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

Bethany simply turned her hand palm-up. Water appeared just above her hand, moving around quickly in a circle, like a large marble made of water. Bethany stretched her arm out and the water launched itself at Amy. However, just before it hit her, Bethany made the water come back to herself. Bethany then made more water around herself and used it to make her fly through the room. Then the water disappeared and Bethany landed.

“What do you think?” Bethany asked.

“I think we could get to be pretty good friends,” Amy said, nodding, “After all, we'll have plenty of missions together.”