IQ 1000
Raphael jumped as two hands landed on his shoulders. The woman was now directly behind him, and he immediately noticed the silence and stillness all around them. Time was frozen. “Whoa—”
“There, there,” the woman said, patting his shoulder. “You’re not the only speeder around these parts. Hey, I’m gonna take my hands off your shoulders, but when I do, it’ll kick you back down to normal time. Wanna see if you can engage your powers to stay in fast time with me?”
“Uh, yeah. I think I can do that.” Raphael scrunched his face.
“Ready? One, two, and three.” She removed her hands. Raphael kept pace. “Well done. I’m Nina, by the way. You know you don’t have to scrunch your face up like that, right?” she asked, walking around the table and taking a seat across from Raphael. Nader sat to the side, frozen, looking where Nina had previously been standing.
“Oh, what? I don’t really know what I’m doing, but squeezing my face and holding my breath helps me do it.”
“Well, it’s a start. Sloppy work over at that gas station, by the way. You let your friend get pistol-whipped, you let the robber get away, and you left behind the security cameras that recorded you disappearing and reappearing.”
“Nobody got shot, though! I put the gun in the hot dog machine. How did you find me? Who are you?”
“Like I said, I’m Nina. I’ve had powers for over a decade and I’m part of an organization of like-powered individuals who use their powers for good. I lead a team and we’re short a speeder, so here I am, recruiting. Want in?”
“What does that all mean? How did I get these powers? I have so many questions.”
“Yeah, I know, it’s a lot to take in. We have a lot of answers, but not all of them. Basically, you have two paths. Intern with us, complete your internship and become a full-fledged member, and maybe even become a leader within the organization. That, or don’t join us and we monitor your every move, especially when you speed yourself up, and if we determine you’ve committed a crime, we work with local law enforcement to arrest and detain you. It’s not the perfect system, but it’s the best we’ve been able to come up with.”
Raphael took a deep breath, slowly nodding. “This. Is. So cool! Where’s the school at? Is it like Hogwarts? How many people are like us?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. And you’ll see what it’s all like. First step, swear that you will never tell another unpowered person about your power.”
“Done!”
“Have you told anyone else, besides this guy?” She nodded toward Nader.
“Nope!”
“Good. Next step, tell your friend to keep this a secret and then we’ll head out to meet the team.” Nina stood, brushing herself off.
“He’s gonna be so excited!” Raphael beamed, getting up too.
“Your friend? Why would he join us? He’s unpowered. He can’t help us. He would just be a liability.”
“He’s been helping me this whole time. He’s really smart, maybe even a genius.”
“I don’t care if he has an IQ of 1,000. We’re a group that uses special powers to accomplish secret missions. He’s useless to us.”
“Then I’m not going.” Raphael sat back down and took a big bite of his burrito.
Nina exhaled. “Look, we can’t—”
Raphael froze mid-chew. He’d dropped back into normal time, right in the middle of her sentence.
“Motherf—” Nina held her tongue, took a deep breath, and dropped to normal time.
If she didn’t get another speeder for her crew, then they were screwed.
