Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (5 page)

Given
Philip’s
background
he
was
in
a
position
where
he
could
impart
onto
his
sons
the
skills
and
lessons
his
father
taught
him
all
those
years
ago.
So
from
the
time
Lee
was
twelve
his
father
trained
him
;
having
super
strength
was
a
bonus.
He started Lee
on
a
fitness
routine
that
he
would stick
with
for
the
majority
of
his
life,
involving
daily
runs
of
five
miles,
two
hundred
press
ups
each
morning
and
night,
accompanied
by
the
very
healthy
diet
he
had
always
instilled,
being
a
doctor.
He trained
him
to
become
a
skilful
fighter
through
many
ancient
arts
of
combat.
Most
importantly, he
instilled
the
values
of
what
he
felt
it
meant
to
be
a
man;
the
values
of
honour,
discipline,
dignity,
selflessness
and
self-reliance.

His
brother
Tom
developed
strength
just
like
his
father,
so
physically
he didn’t
need
the
routine
that
his
brother
did,
but
they
would
often
spar
together
as
kids,
Lee
learning
how
to
use
his
brother's
momentum
and
strength
against
him.
Philip
decided
to
educate
both
his
boys,
teaching
them
about
the
world,
about
the
past
and
the
present,
teaching
them
right
from
wrong,
and
giving
them
the
tools
to
develop
terrific
minds.

He taught
the
young
boys
how
to
solve
equations,
puzzles
and
all
about
the
outdoors;
how
to
track
and
hunt,
how
to
read
the
land
around
them
so
that
they
could
look
at
the
stars
and
know
exactly
where
they
were
and
where
they
had
to
go.
No
matter
how
lost
Lee
and
Tom
would
be,
they
would
always
know
which
direction
to
turn,
just
as
Philip’s
father
had
taught
him.

Philip was at work one day when he got a call from the boys’ school asking him to come in, that there had been an incident involving his sons. Automatically Philip assumed that Lee’s secret had been found out. Alarmed by this, he grabbed his coat and darted straight out the door. Philip didn’t mind running out on his patients for his boys as they were his main priority in life; however the patient that Philip was in the middle of giving a hernia examination to wasn’t as amused by the situation, being left behind in the examination room with only his gown to cover his embarrassment.

Making haste, he got to the school and went straight to the office. Sitting outside he found his two sons, each of whom saw him come in, but neither were brave enough to look him in the eye. Philip automatically knew the boys were guilty of something. He entered the principal’s office and sat down. The principal, Mr. Pine, greeted Philip at the door with a firm handshake.

“Thanks for coming so soon, Mr. Sapota. Please have a seat.”

Sitting down, Philip’s fears that Lee had been found out ran through his mind in double time, but he was smart enough to let the principle speak first.

“Mr. Sapota, there are certain things we as teachers can observe. Over time these observations lend themselves to conclusions. For example, having Tom in the school these past few years, it is fairly easy to tell within reason what his ability is.”

Philip stood up as anxiety hit. Mr Pine continued. “Don’t worry Mr Sapota; this is the same for all the kids who pass through these corridors. In fact there are very few students who pass these halls that I don’t get an indication of their gift.” Hearing this Philip relaxed and sat back in his chair allowing him to continue.

“Lee is one of those students, for whatever reason his gift has never been…”

Philip interrupted the principal, growing impatient. “Mr Pine. Enough of this circling the issue. Can you tell me why I’m here?”

Standing up and walking to the window, Mr Pine spoke. “Mr Sapota, today at break a bunch of older kids started picking on Tom. Name-calling, the usual kind of thing. But don’t worry, I will be speaking to their parents as well.”

Philip was now paying full attention to the principal, heeding his words more intently than before, knowing Tom to be more than capable of physically looking after himself.

“Now the problem wasn’t Tom or what was being said to him. In fact, Tom was highly restrained, given my past observations. The reason I called you in, is Lee and how he reacted.”

Without realizing it, Philip slipped forward in his seat becoming engrossed in the words the principle was speaking. “Lee saw what was happening to his brother and he did not show the same restraint that Tom did.”

Mr Pine hesitated as if to consider the best way to tell Philip what had happened. “Basically Mr Sapota, Lee beat up three students. Not only three students, but they are three of the biggest kids in the school, and two of them are powerful, very powerful. Lee managed to do this without revealing his own ability. I saw this with my own eyes. Now Mr Sapota, I have seen kids pass through these doors for years and I have never seen a child move with this mixture of physical self-awareness and rage. It’s clear that your son has been trained physically. Emotionally, I am not so sure!”

Philip took heed of what Mr Pine said, reassuring him that it would not happen again before motioning to leave his office. “If it’s okay with you I’d like to take the boys home. I need to have a talk with them.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Philip thought that maybe the reason Lee was so angry and apart from the world was because he didn’t understand it. He wanted
Lee
and
Tom
to
know
where
they
came
from. He wanted
them
to
know
the
history
of
the
world
and
how
it
came
to
be
today.
Sitting
them
down
he
instilled
the
knowledge
of
the
world
as
best
he
could,
hoping
not
to
show
any
personal
bias
so
the
boys
could
come
to
their
own
conclusion
on
the
state
of
the
world.

He began with the leap itself, taking a deep breath as he started on the voyage of discovery with his two boys, biting back the pain that stabbed at his heart, at the thought of his beautiful Josephine missing the experience.

“Now
boys,
I
am
going
to
throw
a
lot
of
information
at
you
and
if
you
are
finding
it
hard
to
understand
please
make
sure
you
let
me
know,
as
it
is
important
for
you
to
understand this.

There is
no
real
point
in
going
too
far
before
the
leap
as
that
history
is
now
irrelevant,
so
to
speak
and
is
seen
as
ancient,
so
we
will
begin
with
the
leap.
It
was
my
grandparents’
generation
who
were
the
first
to
feel
the
full
effects
of
this
leap
in
evolution.
Before
that,
only
about
forty
percent
of
the
population
was
affected.
This
leap
in
evolution
came
about
when
children
started
taking
longer
to
develop
in
the
womb;
it
began
to
take
an
additional
3
months
for
a
child
to
develop.

It
is
said
that
in
the
last
three
months
of
pregnancy
a
child
would
develop
their
abilities.
Initial
testing
on
babies
who
took
longer
to
be
born
was
inconclusive,
as
the
abilities
the
children
held
only
manifested
in
early
adolescence.
It
was
only
a
few
years
later
that
people
began
to
understand
there
was
something
very
different
about
these
children.
Stories
began
to
leak
out
about
children
with
exceptional
abilities
performing
extraordinary
feats.
The
people
performing
these
feats
became
known
as
the
Gifted
Generation.

Panic
ensued;
many
of
the
children
were
taken
from
their
parents
for
experimentation,
but
all
these
experiments
proved
to
be
fruitless.
These
youngsters
were
biologically
identical
to
kids
with
no
special
abilities;
Governments experimented on the kids to test the boundaries of their abilities. Exhausting their abilities then performing invasive tests, both physically and psychologically.”

Hearing this Lee broke the spell that held him and Tom and spoke up. “What kind of tests?”

“Most of the testing was done in secret facilities far away from the eyes of society. I don’t really know exactly what they did but the few people who managed to escape these facilities spoke of human rights atrocities.”

Philip knew exactly what tests were performed but didn’t want to cause his son distress. As he feared that if found out those same tests would be performed on him. So he steered the conversation away from the past atrocities perpetrated by previous barbaric governments. This is where the soothing words of his beloved Josephine would really have helped. He longed for her reassuring touch on his shoulder as he continued on with the lesson.

“Many
parents
who
had
children
of
the
gifted
generation
taught
their
children
never
to
reveal
their
dynamism
as
they
might
be
taken
away
from
them,
experimented
on
and
they
would
not
be
able
to
protect
them.

Initially,
the
children
romanticised
their
abilities
and
considered
themselves
super
heroes,
living
selflessly.
Dressing up
in
costumes
to
hide
their
identity,
they
tried
to
make
the
world
a
better
place,
a
safer
place.
As
they
matured
into
adults,
however,
many
of
them
had
their
view
of
the
world
they
lived
in
twisted
by
things
they saw.

It was not
only
the
testing
done
on
the
fellow
members
of
the
gifted
generation,
but
what
people
in
positions
of
authority
had
done
to
get
their
power
and
maintain
it.
Like
the
misappropriation
of
wealth,
the
corruption
in
the
banking
system,
the
lack
of
humanity
shown
to
the
poorer
people
in
the
world.
It
was
these
injustices
that
led
a
lot
of
the
gifted
generation
to
become
highly
self-aware.
They
were
of
the
opinion
that
if
a
group
of
people
as
a
collective
can't
look
out
for
each
other,
then
why
should
an
individual
be
expected
to.

A
few
among
the
gifted
generation
began
to
justify
breaking
the
law
for
their
own
financial
gain.
They
would
rationalise
robbing
a
bank
with
the
comment
that
‘the
bank
has
robbed
us
for
long
enough.’
Crime
levels
escalated;
criminals
always
justifying
their
actions
and
their
own
flawed
moral
standpoint.
Even
as
the
number
of
gifted
individuals
grew,
the
governments
of
the
time
began
to
recruit
these
individuals,
firstly
to
protect their
own
lands,
later
to
ward
off
attacks
from
other
governments
and
inevitably
to
launch
such
attacks
themselves,
all
the
while
smugly
justifying
their
actions
and
claiming
they
were
‘to
protect
the
sovereignty’
of
their
respective
nations.
It
wasn't
long
until
such
acts
escalated
and
almost
the
entire
world
became
embroiled
in
war.