Chapter Four

            “Heyyyy Pirates!” the P.A. system blared throughout the campus as the always peppy 2^nd Block announcements started. “The ‘Spektrum Fan Club’ will have its first meeting in Room 243.”

            “That didn’t take long,” Steven mumbled.

He was surprised to hear a fan club for his alter-ego was formed so quickly, but he supposed it was the same in any of the superhero series he’d read and watched.

            The rest of the morning announcements, and the morning itself, went normally, with no appearance from Zorb or any of his minions. It was at lunch that the newly formed club met, and Steven hurried to Room 243, located in the second floor of the Science Wing. Steven took a seat by the window so he could keep watch of the school’s “quad,” the large open area surrounded on all sides by the school’s three main buildings: the main building, with its three halls forming a giant U shape; the gymnasium that also doubled as the auditorium; and the Science Wing.

            The club itself was a mix of students from all grades, 9^th through 12^th, but mostly 10^th. Additionally, the club members were mostly female students. The Club Leader was only a 10^th grader, Cynthia “Cyndi” Simmons, blonde with bright blue eyes and slim figure, Capri pants and a little white T-shirt. The reason she was leader was because she was the one who requested this club be formed. Pretty darn cute in Steven’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to let it distract him from what was being said.

            “Now, we’ve established that The Spektrum is a fellow student here at San Leandro High. So far, we have seen him as three different color forms: Silver, Red, and Yellow.” 

            Steven was pleased that she noticed the first Color Code was indeed silver and not white. 

            That’s a true fan right there, Steven thought.     

            The beginning of the meeting went quick, signing everyone in, talking briefly about which of the current three was the majority favorite and the possibility of a fourth color.

            Even though The Spektrum had only been here for less than a week, Cynthia felt that she was his number one fan. She made sure that everyone in the club knew the correct names: it was Zorb, not Zorp, Zita, not Zeeda, and the colors of The Spektrum seen so far were Silver, Red, and Yellow. She was one of the proud few who had his autograph from that very first day The Spektrum saved the school. And most recently, she was among the disappointed who chased after Spektrum Yellow and missed her chance to ask him what everyone wanted to know: “Who really is ‘The Spektrum?’”

            Of course, that was just question #1. Other questions that Cyndi had herself were: did he go to San Leandro High? Well, he’d have to if he knew about Zorb’s surprise attacks. Is he a student? Again, he’d have to be, because his body type is obviously not a match to any of the male staff at all. What grade? Most of the club members guessed either 10^th or 11^th. Again, this was based off of what they knew from seeing The Spektrum with their own eyes. She being one of those who saw The Spektrum up close in person, she could tell he wasn’t that much older than she was. This fact made her and her friends, who were also present in this first meeting of The Spektrum Fan Club, rather excited. The possibility that their hero was in the same graduating class as they were was thrilling, and the thought that he could be in one of their classes was too much for words. Cyndi and her friends were big superhero/comic buffs, and understood the unofficial rules of being a superhero and/or dating one. 

            Over the weekend, the circle of friends had met at Cyndi’s house to discuss how unbelievably amazing it was that there was a real life superhero in their hometown, and reviewed the “rules.”

            One: a superhero cannot reveal his/her identity to anyone—friends, family, whatever—without running the risk of enemies who knew going after those in the know to get at the hero. The girls had assumed that even though this was the first, it was not iron clad in this case since Zorb definitely did not know yet, either.

            Two: because superheroes cannot reveal their true identities, that makes it incredibly difficult, almost impossible, for them to have real, romantic relationships due to all the secrets he‘d have to keep and the fact he’d have to leave inexplicably. This made the girls sympathetic to whoever The Spektrum was, because they couldn’t bear the thought of being forced into romantic isolation.

            And finally: unless the one they fall in love with is completely understanding, trusting, and devoted to the hero, said hero will remain alone, with the only option left to him/her being to devote their life entirely to being a superhero, and everything that fallows. 

            That third note the group discovered upon was quite the up-lifter. The girls thought that if they could get The Spektrum to reveal himself to one of them, that lucky girl could be his “true love,” seeing as how they’d understand why he’d have to go off at random times, he wouldn’t have to hide who he is from them, and—as sad as it was to admit it—they’d always wanted a superhero boyfriend to be with forever. Cyndi herself got a little flustered and excited at such a romantic idea.

            The opening stage of the meeting went quick, signing everyone in, talking briefly about which of the current three was the majority favorite and the possibility of a fourth color.

            “If there is a fourth form, I hope it’s blue,” wished Jen, one of Cyndi’s friends from the weekend meeting. “Blue is such a beautiful color, and I bet The Spektrum would look great in it.”

            “But what was up with Yellow’s outfit?” interrupted Craig Foster, at least that’s what Cyndi remembered his name being, an 11^th grade jock standing in the corner, who probably thought he was somehow cooler than The Spektrum. “Yellow cowboy pants?  His name shouldn’t be ‘The Spektrum,’ it should be ‘The Gay Ranger.’”

            His idiot friends laughed at his Power Ranger/Homosexual/Spektrum joke.

            “This club’s for fans of The Spektrum, not jackasses, Craig,” defended an 11^th grade girl with blonde hair much shinier than Cyndi’s. “The Spektrum is obviously secure in his masculinity. Or at least, more than you are.”

            The room filled with jeers as Craig was humbled. 

            “Plus, you shouldn’t be making fun of the guy who saved everyone, including you, from those alien thugs, idiot.” 

            More jeers sounded as the club leader looked at Steven. Steven tried not to show his own surprise at how automatic the sentence came out of his mouth. Admittedly, he was going to keep it inside, but Craig’s obnoxious comment extremely irritated him.

            Craig, stopped in his Spektrum Bashing and frustrated by an underclassman speaking up to him, left with his friends following behind without a word.

            “Good on you, sophomore,” complimented the junior girl. “The name’s Caitlin.  But don’t call me ‘Katie.’”

            “Hi, Caitlin, the name’s Steven.”

            Cyndi got up from her seat and introduced herself to the two defenders.

            “Um, hi, I’m Cynthia, but you can call me ‘Cyndi,’” she said shyly as she raised her hand to greet them.

            “Hi,” Caitlin greeted with a smile as the two girls shook hands.

            “Hi, Cyndi.”  Steven shook hands with her.

            Why is my face turning red?! she screamed in her head as she noticed her cheeks getting warmer.

            Why is her face turning red? he wondered at the sight of her cheeks getting rosy.

            “So, um, Steven,” Cyndi stumbled over her words, “Do you have any opinions as to why he was wearing cowboy pants? The Spektrum, I mean.”

            “I don’t know either.”

            “Oh,” Cyndi let out, sounding a little saddened.

            “Maybe we can ask him when we meet him,” proposed Cyndi’s other friend, Sarah.  This piqued the interest of both Caitlin and Steven.

            “Oh, see, we have this plan to…” Cyndi began to explain, but stopped short because she didn’t want to disclose her and her friends’ silly dream of charming The Spektrum. “To interview him! For the school newspaper, The Cargo.”

            “You do?” asked Caitlin.

            “We do?” asked Cyndi’s friends.

            “Yes, we do,” affirmed Cyndi. 

            True, Cyndi and her friends didn’t know anyone from the Cargo well enough to suggest article ideas, but right now, she was sure the school paper would jump at the chance to know more about their mysterious, multi-colored hero. That is, unless one of their reporters wasn’t already planning to try and catch The Spektrum after a fight for an interview.

            “Well, that sounds cool,” Steven commented. “Hope it works out.”

            “Oh, uh, thanks!” Cyndi replied, still a bit confused by her reaction to Steven.

            The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with Cyndi and her friends adding Caitlin and Steven into their lunch circle.

            “If there is a fourth, I hope it’s blue,” wished a brunette sophomore girl, probably one of the club leader’s friends. “Blue is such a beautiful color, and I bet The Spektrum would look great in it.”

            It took a few moments while the group of five--Cyndi, her friends Sarah and Jen, Caitlin, and Steven--ate lunch together for Steven to recognize Cyndi as one of the two girls he--meaning “The Spektrum”--gave autographs to last week. It helped that Cyndi had pulled out her autographed notebook and showed it to everyone.

            “So lucky,” Caitlin said with a hint of envy.  “When’d you get it?”

            “The first day The Spektrum showed up.” Cyndi was practically beaming with her recollection, it was such a great memory. “There were so many people in the hallway, I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to reach him before they did.  Luckily, I also had a pen and my notebook, or else it would’ve been a waste to talk to him.  It was like meeting a celebrity!”         

            Then, when Code Yellow showed up during lunch, I wanted another autograph to make sure it was the same guy, but he got away before Sarah, Jen and I could talk to him.”

            “That was you?!” Steven blurted out loud.  It was such a sudden reaction that Steven was as surprised and confused by it as Cyndi and her friends were.

            “What do you mean?” Caitlin questioned.

            Steven had to remember to answer based off of his lie he gave his friends yesterday.

            “I was coming out of the restroom when Yellow’s fight ended, and this group of girls asked me if I’d seen where he went.  Obviously, I didn’t know, so I lied and said he went to the grass field in the back of the school.”

            “Oh, that was you?” Cyndi said, feeling so embarrassed.  “Sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

            “No, that’s okay.  I didn’t recognize you either, though it’s hard for me to recognize someone when I’m scared.”

            The group had a bit of a laugh. Cyndi noticed Steven’s smile, the confident, friendly look on his face, and she felt her face blush again. 

            What is it about him that makes me do this?!

            At the same time, Steven had noticed Cyndi’s blue eyes, looking at him in a way he had never seen any girl look at him before. Their eyes met for the slightest moment, then the two looked away, feeling a bit awkward.

            Then out of the blue came the sound of a trash can hitting something.  The group rushed to the window to see what was going on. 

            Two savage-looking men were causing chaos as they were tearing through the quad, hunting for something.

            “Those are two of Zorb’s henchmen!” Cyndi yelled. “The one that looks like he’s part lion and the other that looks like he’s part panther!”

            “What’re they looking for?” Jen asked as she turned to the others.

            “I think it’s The Spektrum,” Caitlin guessed.

            “Hey, Steven, do you--?”

            Cyndi turned to where Steven was standing, but he had disappeared.

            “Steven?”

            In the stairwell, Steven rushed down that stairs, frantic to get outside before Zorb’s animalistic associates hurt any of the students, scratching at the tingle in his right arm, suddenly recognizing a sort of trend.

            Lemme guess, new Code?

            “Yes,” answered the computer voice in Steven’s head.  “Code #4: Code Blue.”

     Sounds like Cyndi’s friend will get her wish.  Load him up.

            “Understood. Now activating: Spektrum Code Blue.”

            In another scan of light, a bright, sapphire blue, Steven’s hair became a sapphire blue and his eyes a natural, almost sky blue.  His shirt, a long sleeve, became a light blue short-sleeve, and his black jeans became deep blue denim long shorts.  Finally, as The Spektrum went through the door at the bottom of the steps, his white-and-black sneakers became blue-and-sky-blue sneakers.

            The stairwell The Spektrum exited from was on the opposite side of the Science Wing that his friend’s usually meeting place was.  Unfortunately, that side of the Science Wing was exactly the place the two animal-men were wreaking havoc.  Code Blue sprinted across the quad, the two menacing minions in his sights.  As he kept sprinting the entire 20 yards or more, he didn’t even notice that he wasn’t getting winded.

            “Hey!”

            Code Blue’s shout caught the two thugs’ attention, and they immediately stopped throwing trash and roaring at students to turn and look at their oncoming opponent.  The two henchmen moved into the same formation they used during the five-on-one against Code Silver. The lion-man rushed at Code Blue first, but Code Blue crouched, then used his body as a shovel to lift and toss the on-comer like dirt. But this left him open to the panther, who tackled him, slamming into him around the shoulders. The panther-man then followed up by putting Code Blue in a headlock and battering him in the side of the head with his free fist.

            Code Blue fought back, turning towards the man-panther and punching him as hard as he could in that awkward position. One of his punches caught the man-panther in the temple, and Code Blue war released from the headlock.

            But before Code Blue could return to his feet, the lion-man landed on him, smashing and rolling him back onto the ground.

            “Graw,” said the panther man in a snarling, growling voice. “Keep him pinned down while I get something to bash his bones with!”

            At this command, Graw began beating the back of Blue’s shoulders with his padded elbow. Of course, the pad only softens the blow for the wearer, Graw, while the receiver, Blue, still feels a lot of pain. Blue struggled to get up, but Graw kept pushing him back down. Graw’s man-panther pal had returned quickly with a branch he must have broken off from one of the trees there in the quad. As the branch brandishing brute raised his weapon above his head, Code Blue struggled even harder against Graw’s weight. The branch was brought down like an ax, aimed at Blue’s legs, ready to break the bones, when Blue swung his feet around to the front, causing Graw to slide off and Blue to scramble away and onto his feet. The branch narrowly missed Graw’s head, and hit the concrete ground with a wooden thwack.

            “Gnarl!” Graw gruffly growled at his teammate. “Watch what you’re doing!”

            “Me?! You were the one who couldn’t hold him down!” Gnarl growled right back, still holding onto the branch.

            Code Blue turned and punched the distracted Gnarl in the head, who still kept hold on the branch. The sneak attack surprised Graw, giving Blue an opening. 

            Code Blue kicked Graw in the gut, lifted him onto his shoulder like a hay bale, then slammed him onto the ground. This move is known as a spine buster, and although it didn’t actually bust or break Graw’s spine, it certainly left him in loads of pain.

            Code Blue then turned to find Gnarl, but instead he found the discarded branch on the floor. A blur of black moved to Blue’s right, and blindsided him, knocking him toward the picnic tables lining the quad’s grass field. Code Blue could hear the crowds of students booing and hissing at Gnarl.

            “Oh, shut up, you human brats!” Gnarl snapped at the multitudes of The Spektrum’s fans.

            Blue leaned on the edge of a picnic table to balance himself as he regained his focus and composure. Gnarl turned back to his prey, not worrying about his hurt teammate. Grinning with blood thirsty anticipation, Gnarl swung his arm down on Blue’s shoulder like a club, hitting The Spektrum with a blunt thumping sound.

            “C’mon Spektrum!” yelled several students. “Fight back!”

            Gnarl clubbed Code Blue across the shoulder again, and more shouts came from the crowds. 

            Leaning on the table, Blue could see Gnarl in the corner of his eye. He waited for Gnarl to raise his arm again, then turned on the attacker and kicked him in the gut like he did Graw. He then grabbed Gnarl behind the neck and smacked his head against the table’s edge. Gnarl bounced off and recoiled in the same instant, followed by the cheers of students. Now Blue turned the tables, metaphorically, and hunted Gnarl, striking him across the shoulder before he walked more than three steps. 

            The crowds began to cheer again, and Code Blue felt a sort of charismatic momentum begin to build in his favor. Code Blue moved ahead of Gnarl, and he rebounded off of what felt like ropes or cables. He then barreled into Gnarl just above the stomach shoulder first, knocking the man-panther’s off his feet; a textbook “spear,” down to the part where Blue left his feet in an explosive lunge and fell with his target.

            Wait, what?

            Code Blue looked back to where he had bounded off ropes, and saw a faint glimmer of blue light, almost like neon tubes used for signs. Except, they were floating there, not attached to anything. Blue got back to his feet and moved to examine the ropes made of light better, but before he could touch them with his hand, they vanished without a trace.

            Weird.

            Blue turned back to see Graw finally back on his feet, signs of back pain still noticeable on his half-human, half-lion face. Blue decided to see if he could get those ropes to reappear.

            Blue charged at Graw, ready to tackle him like he did Gnarl. But even with an aching spine, Graw moved out of Blue’s path, avoiding the spear. 

            A shimmer of blue appeared in front of The Spektrum, and he knew what that meant. As before, he turned so that he would hit the ropes with his back. The ropes of light responded in the same elastic nature as before, allowing Code Blue to easily change direction without losing momentum. 

            But there was not enough room between him and Graw to set up for a spear.  Instead, Blue just barged right into Graw in a shoulder versus shoulder collision. This slamming into one another like bumper cars caused Graw to fall back abruptly, again landing roughly on his back. However, Blue was unmoved, standing sturdy as a stone wall.

            Well, if I’m not mistaken, that’s because Code Blue is Stat Number 4: Endurance.

            In Pro Slam-down, the video game from which The Spektrum’s powers were obviously based, the stat known as “Endurance” is actually two-in-one. One part is Durability, how much one can take, while the other is Stamina, how much one can do.  It was easy for Code Blue to see from what had happened so far in this fight that he indeed had both; he was not winded after running from one side of the Science Wing to the other, and even after being hit across the shoulders and in the head, there was little soreness left in those areas.

            Code Blue turned his attention back to his two opponents, wondering if winning this “handicap match,” as the video game Pro Slam-Down would call it, would earn him double the “points,” if that’s how his powers worked. 

            Either way, I need to put these two away, Blue confirmed, borrowing the common pro-wrestling phrase.

            Gnarl was the first animal-man hybrid to stand back up, and was most certainly the next one to be knocked back down. Blue walked over to Gnarl, who had not yet regained awareness of his surroundings. Blue moved fast, lifting and flipped Gnarl onto his shoulders, much like he did with Graw earlier. But instead of slamming Gnarl on the ground right there, Blue ran to where Graw was still struggling to get off the ground.  Blue tilted forward and fell, with Gnarl between him and the ground. But instead of landing on the ground, Blue and Gnarl instead landed on Graw. The half-man, half-lion was squashed under the combined weight of Gnarl and Code Blue, while Gnarl was sandwiched between his teammate and his opponent, and Blue was cushioned by the two alien hooligans.

            The crowds exploded with cheers at seeing one villain used as a weapon to hurt the other. Code Blue could feel that energy from before, that charismatic momentum, reach a climax. It was time to unveil Code Blue’s Finishing Move.

            Code Blue dragged Gnarl to his feet, and placed his head between his legs like a bike seat. He wrapped his arms around Gnarl’s waist, and lifted Gnarl’s lower body up and towards him. By popping his hips, Blue swung Gnarl’s head up so that Gnarl sat on Blue’s shoulders. Blue pushed forward, fighting against inertia and momentum in order to slam Gnarl back onto the ground, and fell with him, per the procedure for this powerful move known as a “power bomb.”

            Gnarl’s momentum was turned around 180 degrees, almost giving him whiplash.  Blue practically flung him onto the ground and, once again, Gnarl landed on Graw. Graw was flattened even worse than before, and Gnarl got another case of whiplash because he did not land flat. As in the last two battles, The Spektrum pinned his opponent—or in this case, opponents—and the computer voice counted again.

            “One… Two… Three… The winner is—”

     “The Spektrum!” exclaimed the students, who could again hear the voice, and had decided to join in the announcement of their hero’s victory. The campus echoed with cheers, and Code Blue rose to his feet, proud of his handicap victory.

            Before the throngs of fans could swarm around him, Code Blue ran to the nearby stairwell of the Science Wing, the one next to his friends’ meeting place. As he ran past them towards the door, some of Steven’s friends called out.

            “Hey, Spektrum!”

            “Wait!”

            As Spektrum went through the threshold into the stairwell, Alex, Julian, Bryan, and Michelle ran after him in hopes of catching up. By the time the four friends made it through the doorway, The Spektrum was already up one whole flight of stairs.

            A scan of blue light shined through the stairwell as the gap between pursuers and pursued closed. Steven’s transformation back to his normal self was complete just as his friends came into view.

            “Steven?” asked Alex. “What’re you doing here?”

            “Yeah, where’s The Spektrum?” questioned Michelle. 

            “Is that who ran past me?” Steven lied. “Some guy just ran by towards the next floor. Might have even gone up to the third.”

            “Damn,” protested Bryan. “He’s probably hid inside a classroom, bathroom, or even made it to the other side of the building by now. We won’t be able to tell who he is.”

            “Too bad,” Steven feigned sympathy, because he was actually glad none of his friends saw him.

            As Steven’s friends went back down, Steven went up, remembering he left his things in Room 243. As Steven walked down the hall, someone exited from room 248.

It was the Junior Jock, Craig Foster, from earlier in the Spektrum Fan Club meeting.  He watched Steven walk away with a smile full of wicked intent.

            “Hope to see you tomorrow, Spektrum.”