Tanner got up the next morning. He got ready for school, then went over his notes.

He hadn’t forgotten near as much as he had thought. He should be okay during the

reviews and leadup to testing.

He needed to put another night into studying the chapters before he went in to take

the tests. The review that was supposed to happen would help him focus on what to

expect from his teacher.

He wondered how many trick questions were going to be on this test. His teacher

seemed to love them for some reason.

He figured he would pass anything his teacher threw at him. His grades were higher

than average as far as he could tell from what the rest of the class said. And if he

passed, he never had to think about history again.

Tanner decided that he could slide to school instead of riding the bus. It was quicker,

and he could study in the cafeteria until the first bell. It also meant avoiding Darla for

the first part of the day.

That would make things tolerable as Tanner waited for the sun to come up.

He activated his keyboard with the opposite index finger as he walked out of the

house. The slide put up its map. He didn’t see a direct line to the school, but there was

a path through Egypt, then South Africa, that should drop him a block away from it.

He ran through the first portal, through a market of people wandering around, then

through part of a desert, then across a lot surrounded by skyscrapers. He stepped

through a door in the shadow of a statue he didn’t care about and slid down the

sidewalk toward the school.

A man in a tan coat puffed on a cigar as he watched the school. His eyebrows

seemingly arched in surprise at everything he saw. He knocked some ash off the cigar

as he stood in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Excuse me,” said Tanner. He walked around the human obstacle.

“No problem, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. He puffed on his cigar as he returned

to his vigil.

“I don’t think I know you,” said Tanner.

“I’m a nobody,” said the man in the coat. “There’s no reason for you to know me.”

“But you know me,” said Tanner. He hitched his bag backward on his shoulder so he

could reach his tattoo easier. One wrong move, and someone was getting punched in

the face with a gold fist.

“I know lots of people, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. “Take that guy over there.”

He pointed at a kid heading towards Tanner’s school. The kid looked down at the

sidewalk under him, and not ahead. He wore a jacket against the morning cold,

khakis, and red Nikes.

“That’s Roland Givens,” said the man in the coat. “He’s special to some people

because he might have a tenth of a percent of a talent they need. If he does, he will

be great for them to use. If he doesn’t, he’ll be executed and left somewhere for

somebody to find later.”

“How do you know that?,” asked Tanner. He watched the other boy walk down the

street. He didn’t seem special.

“I travel around a lot, Tanner,” said the man in the coat. He took a long pull on his

cigar. “I hear a lot of things from people who don’t see me in the background.”

“Have you talked to Givens about how special he is?,” asked Tanner.

“He thinks that’s the way things should be,” said the man in the coat. “He doesn’t

quite grasp how bad things could get for him if things go the way I foresee.”

“He’s gambling that he might have the talent for what they need, and the ability to get

away from the bad guys interested in him?,” said Tanner. “That doesn’t sound too

safe.”

“That’s what I said,” said the nobody. “It’s an extremely dangerous route that will

probably get him killed.”

“And you won’t help him?,” asked Tanner. He felt there were pieces missing in this

conversation.

“All I can do is warn him, which I have done,” said the man in the coat. “The rest is

up to him.”

“You’re telling me all this for a reason,” said Tanner. “What do you think I can do?”

“More than me,” said the man in the coat. “Givens won’t forgive you trying to save

him. He wants his moment in the sun.”

“Why would I try to save him?,” said Tanner. He knew that was a rhetorical question

as soon as it came out of his mouth. Somehow this guy knew about him using the

keyboard to help people. It was the only explanation for why they were talking about

this at all.

The man in the coat squinted at him before raising a hand to say look at this kid. He’s

so humble.

“You know about the keyboard,” said Tanner. “How?”

“I listen to things, kid,” said the man in the coat. “Your secret is safe with me. Very

few people listen to a nobody like me.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Tanner. “How does the keyboard work? Where did it come

from? Who are you really? You’re not some nobody.”

“I can’t give you those answers,” said the man in the coat. “I’m not supposed to be

talking to you about Roland, much less explaining how someone lost something they

shouldn’t have lost here, and how they want to get it back. Once you start using five

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

digits instead of the usual three, your horizons will expand but you’ll be telling

everyone who wants the keyboard to come get it.”

“Wait,” said Tanner. “Did you say five keys?”

“I don’t have time to talk to you about that,” said the man in the coat. “Givens’s

abductors are here.”

He pointed his cigar at a black van rolling down the street. Even the windows and

wheels were black.

Tanner looked down at his arm. The cycle for the slide had ended while he had been

talking. He could call up his other abilities and stop this before the first bell.

Tanner handed his bag to the man in the coat. There was no point in not using the

keyboard in front of him. He already knew how it worked.

He rolled up his arm to expose the keyboard as he walked toward the van. His mind

thought about possibilities. What would be the most effective way of stopping this

before it got started?

Guys in black suits piled out of the van. Some took up station to keep an eye on the

passing cars and pedestrians. Two grabbed Givens before he could run away. They

touched his forehead with something and he collapsed.

Tanner punched three keys to give himself his gold form. It should be enough to take

these guys out.

Three of the watchdogs turned their heads to look at the statue come to life. They

raised their hands. A device sat in the palm of each hand. Balls of energy erupted

from the weapons.

Tanner threw himself to the side. He heard the sound of explosions and winced. He

had just gotten someone’s house burned to the ground.

He flung a gold arm across the space between him and the closest goon. The arm

wrapped around the man in black. One yank sent the man flying.

The other two blasted at Tanner to cover what their group was doing. He needed to

go through them if he wanted to get Givens back.

The Givens takers loaded him up in the van. The vehicle jerked away from the curb

to get away from the fight. The driver put his foot down as soon as he was sure he

wouldn’t hit anything in front of him.

Tanner had to make a decision. Did he let the van go, or did he take care of the two

guys still trying to take him out. Self preservation won out. He couldn’t catch up to

the van and get Givens back if he was being shot at by his enemies.

And if he timed out in the middle of things, he could be killed by their strange

weapons.

Tanner threw himself at the two men. He stretched out his arms, fists ballooning up

into pillow-sized bludgeons. He took a hit on his gold skin that burned through the

protection right before he swung his makeshift hammers at his enemies. They went

down with bloody faces.

Tanner looked at the fleeing van. Maybe he could catch up with it if he hurried. It

meant cutting through the school lot and getting around the school to try to beat them

heading in front of the school.

He charged forward, legs lengthening to extend his stride. When he reached the

school, elongated arms and legs vaulted him to the roof of the building. He ran across

the tarred and graveled surface and dropped down on the other side. He ran toward

the van as it sped down the street.

He checked the spiral on his arm that replaced the keyboard when he had a power in

use. It was counting down to zero fast. If he didn’t stop the van before he lost his gold

form, he might lose it for good.

He ran after the van, crossing the front lot to try to cut it off. It roared away as he

reached the street. He looked at the plate, trying to memorize it. His gold skin flaked

away as he slowed to a walk.

They had Givens and he had someone he could interrogate. All he needed was the

right power for the job.

Tanner shook his head. His side still hurt from the blast he had taken. At least the

keyboard had healed most of the damage up for him before he changed back. He also

needed to talk to that guy now that things were over.

He had known about the kidnaping. Maybe he knew where they had taken their

victim.

Tanner entered the school and jogged down to the other side. He hit the exit door and

ran out to where he had left the three goons he had taken down as Gold Man. He

frowned at the way they lay where they had fallen.

Had he hit them too hard?

Tanner turned the first man over so he could check him. The goon’s face was partially

eroded. He stepped back from the body. His gold form shouldn’t have done that. He

checked the others. They all had similar damage with some burnt holes in their black

suits.

How did he find Givens now?

Tanner patted his last victim down. He found a wallet and a phone. He put them in

his pockets. He looked where the man in the coat had been. His bag stood neatly on

the ground to mark the guy’s absence.

The joker set me up. I can’t believe that. He ran out while things were going down.

What did he do about the situation? That was the real question now.

Tanner grabbed his bag. There were things he had to do if he wanted to follow things

up. The first was to call the police and give them an edited version of what had

happened. That would put them on the trail of the rest of the gang.

Tanner made the call while walking to his locker. He needed to store his bag. The

locker was closer than using the slide to go home and drop it off. He told the

dispatcher everything while storing his books for the day. He could get them back

when he was done with chasing the bad guys down.

He shut the phone off. Now he had to get away from the school and figure out where

the van went. Once he knew that, he could get Givens back from his captors.

Tanner decided the easiest thing to do was try to locate the van from the air. He had

an idea how to track them down if that didn’t work, but he wanted to try the easiest

thing before resorting to a deeper tool in his repertoire.

Tanner pressed three keys on his arm as he left the school building. He grew wings

from his back. Sirens heralded the first police response as he took to the air. He

decided to head up as high as he could. That should give him a good overview of the

neighborhood.

He spotted the van heading for the highway. He descended on an angle to keep it in

sight and to get closer to the ground for when his wings wore off. He could resort to

other powers since he knew the direction of the van’s travel.

The thought of crashing into the ground when his wings wore off bothered him more

than he liked. Maybe using five keys would buy him more activation time for each

power.

Did he want to alert the keyboard’s hunter that he had it?

He doubted the guy in the coat had accidentally warned him of the possibility. He had

just made it look like an accident. It fit in with the fact he had been watching for

Givens and drew Tanner’s attention to the other boy. It wasn’t something that had just

happened.

Tanner glided along the road, alternating between reading his timer and checking to

see if he was still behind the black van. He set down on the side of the road when the

circle started fading out from one end. His wings vanished as he walked down the

shoulder.

Tanner pressed a different combination. He had to catch up with the van. Then he

could worry about how he was getting Givens back from the clown squad.

The need for speed surged through his body. He leaped forward like a cheetah after

a small deer. Gravel from the side of the road flew as he pelted along the white line.

He spotted the van pulling off the next exit. He frowned at the sign pointing to the

airport.

They were going to put Givens on a plane? Where were they taking him? How did he

get on that plane?

Tanner raced down the highway after the van. He spotted it heading to a private road

leading to some hangars behind the terminal. He ran out of steam as he reached the

road leading from the entrance of the property. He caught his breath as he headed

toward the access road. How long did he have before the plane took off?

He pressed the cheetah speed keys again and ran toward the back of the terminal. He

had to stop that plane from taking off.

Tanner ran to the gate in the fence and headed down the access road as the guard tried

to stop him. He paused when he reached the group of hangars housing private planes.

Where was Givens?