Frank was in his study, when he heard a tap on the door;
"Come in!"
"Good morning Dad! Can I …"
"Of course; come in son!" Frank said standing up from his study cubicle.
"Dad, mum said you asked of me earlier on?" Dave asked walking towards Frank.
"Yes. I have asked a friend of mine and he has accepted. Here – take; this is his address. He would be happy to have you around." Frank said handing Dave a parcel.
"Thanks Dad. I promise to never let you down. How did you get to know my employer?" Dave said smiling.
"He was a PHD student under me. But, men; he was there just for formality because nothing about the world that he doesn't know."
"How Dad?"
"He is extremely brilliant; many believed he is smarter than Albert Einstein!"
"Wo! You mean Dr. Albert Aberdeen; you mean he was your student? I thought he was a genius, who didn't bother about status quo?" Dave said wide eyed.
"No, not Aberdeen, he believed in doing right. He is a good chap and has kept in touch with me even after his programme. He would be your new employer!" Frank said punching Dave's shoulder.
"That's great Dad. Thanks a lot!"
"Son I and Lizzy loves you very much; don't you ever forget!" Frank said as Dave hugged him passionately.
*****
In downtown Phoenix close to a subway; Dave saw a gang of armed men – six – robbing a couple, after stripping the couple of their possessions, they shot the male on the shoulder and pulled the female along to a dark alley where they intend to gang rape her.
As they stood her up on the wall of the alley, with the leader of the group frantically unzipping his trousers and the others ripping her clothes and bra off, then;
"Hey, junkie's you should know your type of woman!" Dave said emerging from the shadows.
"Who are you dick; Spiderman or Superman?" the leader asked as he waved on the others to shoot.
As they shot, Dave dodged, the first bullet that hit him pierced his skin, expunged and the others bounced off after hitting him.
"You want to try something new boys?" Dave said walking majestically towards the gang.
"Attack!" the leader shouted.
The other five members of the gang pulled out knives and charged at Dave. The first knife that struck him got bent and the group became frightened. Then as they engaged in combat with Dave; each gang member that struck him felt it as he was as sturdy as steel.
After all, the five members were sprawled on the floor; their leader pulled a knife out and shouted;
"Come any close and I would slit her throat!"
"Ok. Just let her go! The cops are a few blocks away; you won't be able to escape. So cowboy let her go!" Dave said smiling.
"No. Don't test me. Who are you?" the gang leader asked jittering.
"You wanna know?" Dave asked laughing as he transformed physically to each of the five gang members on the floor with each step he took, he was closer to the gang leader. Then, he stopped;
"I am the Replicator!" Dave said as he struck the gang leader; he fell on the floor unconscious.
The woman was frightened;
"Please, don't hurt me! I won't speak a word of what happened!"
"I won't hurt you beautiful! Here – take, call the ambulance!" Dave handed her a cellphone pointing towards the direction of her partner. As she looked towards that direction and looked back; Dave was gone.
"Thank you! The Replicator!" the woman said as she hurriedly rushed to meet her bleeding partner; some minutes later the ambulance and the cops arrived.
*****
At Space Hi-Tech firm, Dr. Aberdeen was in his office, when the telephone rang;
"Hello Beatrice!"
"Good morning Dr. Aberdeen; Mr. Dave Westwood is here to see you." Beatrice voice beamed from the telephone.
"Oh – Dave! Send him in right away." Dr. Aberdeen blurted.
"Ok – Doc.!" Beatrice responded and hangs up.
Few minutes later, Dr. Aberdeen heard a knock on his door.
"Come in!"
"Good morning Sir. I am Dave Westwood!" Dave said nervously.
"Sit down Dave!"
"Thank you sir!"
"Just give me a minute!" Dr. Aberdeen said as he hurriedly perused on the screen of his laptop computer. And later said;
"Ok. How are you doing Dave?"
"Very fine sir!"
"Your father, Prof. Frank Westwood, was my mentor in my days while studying in England. How is he doing?" Dr. Aberdeen asked beaming enthusiastically.
"He is very well sir."
"He said you were into Life sciences before abruptly switching to Engineering – why?"
"Sir, I was but due to my phobia for blood, I decided to switch to Aeronautic Sciences!"
"He said you are really good! But how …"
"Sir, I was just caught in a wrong circumstance."
"So no need for me to put you through the usual test of flying a plane?" Dr. Aberdeen asked beaming with smile as he leaned back.
"Of course; I would love to fly one …"
Then a knock erupted at the door,
"Come in!"
"Doc. You need to come see for yourself. The Curest is undergoing a Dex Polymorphism." Sarah said.
"Ok. Sarah; I would be with you shortly!" Dr. Aberdeen responded as Sarah left the room, Dave just fixed his gaze at her direction.
"Hey, Dave you want to come along with me to the Lab?" Dr. Aberdeen asked.
Dave was mute;
"Oh, come on Dave; I promise there would be no sight of blood." Dr. Aberdeen said smiling.
"Ok Sir!" Dave said standing up and they both left for the Lab.
*****
Dave and Dr. Aberdeen arrived at the Lab; with some workers around wearing PPE's. The Curest was being bombarded in an enclosed glass-like asylum.
"Where is Sarah?" Dr. Aberdeen asked Oscar.
"She has gone to the Retro room to moderate the reaction!" Oscar said standing up from a chair opposite the computer and walking towards Dave and Dr. Aberdeen.
"Hi; my name is Oscar Lamb!" Oscar said as he awkwardly rubbed his glasses and shot his hand forward.
"Dave Westwood! Please to meet!" Dave said shaking him.
"You must have heard of the designer of mainframe sort code enhancement for the design of Cyber dyne neutron-1, the first superhuman; who regrettably has gone rogue!"
"Oh; the AI project kicked against by world leaders? Men, I am a super fan of that innovation!" Dave exhilarated.
"Oh; Dave, don't flatter me! Dr. Aberdeen here was the brain of the project; I just finished up the coding for him, since he went for an urgent call!" Oscar said smiling shyly.
"I am honoured to meet the team!" Dave said arcing.
They all started laughing.
"What is that?" Dave asked as his attention finally caught the stone.
"It's called Curest. An ancient stone that we are working on!" as Dr. Aberdeen spoke, Dave walked absent-mindedly towards the shielding glass as he placed his hands on it; a sensation ran through him and he lost consciousness.
*****
Dave woke up in a room and before him was a female;
"Where am I?" Dave asked as he raised his upper body up from the mattress.
"You are at the firm's clinic and I am Sarah Ross James – your makeshift nurse!" Sarah said beaming with a smile as she stretched her hands towards Dave.
"Dave!" Dave said staring at her gayly.
Sarah returned to the machine opposite Dave's bed with her back towards Dave, she flashed a quick glance at Dave and said;
"You know it is rude to stare that way?"
"Why?" Dave said getting up from the bed.
"It is creepy and …"
"And promiscuous?" Dave cuts in.
Sarah nodded;
"I am sorry if it seems so because I am blown away by your beauty and charming aura, I think you just healed me." Dave said touching Sarah's hand.
"Your words would cause you more than loss of consciousness, if you don't stop; Mr. Dave!" Sarah said as she blushes and tries to feign it.
"At least, that would keep me here with you!" Dave said as they both laughed.
"Mr. Dave you are okay now! But we still took your blood samples to run some tests. You can decide to leave or stay for your promiscuous escapades with the next nurse on duty!" Sarah said laughing with her attention flung on the machine.
"What? You mean you would not stay till I fully recover, that is so unethical!" Dave juvenilely protested.
Sarah laughed as she pulled out a film from behind the machine.
"What's this?" Dave asked.
"It is a Hi-Tech data extraction device. It can be used for getting data from any substance, artifacts, stones, samples; just name it. A brainchild of Dr. Aberdeen's early days!" Sarah said walking away with the film.
"See you some other time; Mr. Dave!" Sarah said leaving.
Dave placed his hands at the top of the scanning section of the machine; he was hypnotically transfixed into a trance.
****
At the longest bridge in Arizona; the school bus of High Field Montessori, prominent for having the kids of billionaires around the world, politicians and most notably the president of America – only son – Brian; were going for an excursion, when they were attacked by the most notorious and ferocious gang in the whole of America – The Nicodemus – famed after a dead veteran of like atrocities.
Within minutes, the gang held the full passengers hostage; and the leader of the group demanded for an on field ransom.
The group of ten, wore a pig faced mask and stationed themselves strategically; two, two, one, one, three and one – two at the front and back of the bus, one each at each side of the bus, three inside the bus taking charge of the hostages and one – being the leader making contact with authorities.
The situation was aired live, helicopter hovering around a designated perimeter feet's away from the scene, reporters at a distance; security personnel armed and alert and the public along with involved parents all at a safe distance earmarked by the gang.
"See – this is C4; not your regular, I have six of it, one on top of the bus over there!" he pointed at the top of the bus.
"One underneath the bus!" he said hopping on the same spot.
"One in front of the bus close to the cops over there, one behind the bus, one in my hands – here!" he laughed menacingly.
"Oh, where is the last?" he feigned and instantly pulled the hair of a crying kid backwards.
"Here – Brian! My bomb-bag; hahaha! Boom!!!!" he cackled.
"If daddy plays smart my boy; you and your friends would go boom! You want that?"
"No. I want my daddy!" Brian yelled crying.
Then, the leader of the Nicodemus's gang called;
"Mr. President, you are watching the soap opera from Washington D.C, huh? So what is it going to be?"
"Please, don't hurt my boy. Your request is on its way. I would withdraw security personnel for your men and allow you save passage. But please for the good of America; don't hurt my …"
The leader hangs up;
Immediately, security personnel started leaving the scene and an unmanned helicopter landed on the bridge.
"Boys go check that chopper!" the leader shouted; his men went and retrieved ten oblong bags and said;
"Boss; the money is complete. It's time to go!"
The leader of the Nicodemus gang put a call across and in split seconds on the left wing of the bridge, a submarine emerged from the river underneath the bridge and his men flung the money bags down into the river.
"Boys it's time to say goodbye!"
"Dante, Bone and Star – wrap things up and let's go!" he said with no one responding.
"Hey, Cross! Go check the boys maybe their libido is getting fluent!" he remarked.
Instantly, the members guarding the front and rear fell down motionless.
"What is going on?" he said adjusting frantically.
Then before his eyes, Cross was struggling with an invincible force and after a scuffle, Cross choked and lost consciousness.
"Hey, show yourself! Don't play games with me; in my hands is the trigger of the six C4, one more trick from you and we would all be in flames! So I say – show yourself now!" the gang leader yelled.
Then Dave transformed into his suit; with his hands raised.
"Let the kids go! You don't want to do this!" Dave said.
"Oh, you again; you wanna play the hero again. When the bomb goes up with me dead and all here; do you think your heroics would matter; No, you would be a villain; hunted villain just like myself. See we are the same only you haven't touched the red line!"
"No we are not!"
"You don't get it do you?"
"No, I don't!"
"Join forces with me – mask man – and the whole of America would be ours to rule!" the leader laughed uncontrollably. Dave scanned the bomb on top of the bus and got its trigger rate.
"No. you have gone mad!" Dave shouted.
"Then be a dead villain!" the leader shouted, pressed the trigger, scaled the bridges blockade and landed in the water.
Dave charged with the speed of light, detonated the five bombs, took Brian inside the bus and prostrated. Instantly, the last bomb dropped by the Nicodemus gang leader exploded; underneath Dave's chest; his body absorbed the explosion, but his suit was badly wrecked. Immediately the bridge gave way and the school bus slide downwards towards the caved-in part – nose-diving into the sea.
Then as Dave opened his eyes; he saw it, he quickly ran and dragged the bus to the other part of the bridge which was sturdy. The on-lookers cheered at the hero of Arizona who has turned to a hero in the whole of America.
Dave staggered along for a while and as parents, security personnel, on-lookers and reporters rushed to the scene, he became invincible.
****
At Lover's Den Restaurant; south Arizona, Dave was sitting at a table primed up in suit waiting. When Sarah came, she was wearing a milky gown that hugged her shape well.
"Wow. I thought you wouldn't come. You look explosive and perfect!" Dave said as he stood up and helped her to sit.
"Thank you. Girls stuff! You look good too. Rather impressing for a pilot!" Sarah said laughing.
"Thank you. Waiter …"
As the night wore on with Sarah and Dave having a good time; Dave had a – Replicatone – hunch that something bad was happening. But he waved if off. After leaving the restaurant; as he walked Sarah down the street, close to a jewelry shop: cops, customers and on-lookers surrounded the premises. Ambulance was leaving the scene and as he inquired, he found out that a group of armed robbers came to loot valuables from the shop and the owner resisted resulting to him being shot dead. Then Dave understood and was speechless.