All posts by Jim Zoetewey

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 27

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Evil Beatnik said, “Yeah?”

He snapped his fingers, and the music stopped. Then he let out a breath, and gulped in another. Losing the music wasn’t the end of the world. It had served its purpose. The way he’d snuffed it so easily bothered me more.

Then I guessed how. In the reports Jaclyn’s grandfather mentioned that he could make things happen, and the more probable it was, the easier. He’d described fighting Evil Beatnik as fighting someone with the power of Murphy’s law—anything that could go wrong would. Continue reading Under 30: Part 27 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 26

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The rhythm of Bongo Boy’s clicking drew me in, but not entirely—not nearly as strongly as he had with drums.

I could think—barely—I half wanted to stand there, quietly waiting for orders.

I pointed my right arm at him, set the sonics to choose the most resonant frequency for the wood, and narrowcast a big pulse of sound as he brought the two shards together with a wooden click. Continue reading Under 30: Part 26 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 25

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“Yeah, right,” Vaughn said. “Cause we’re going to let you guys run away, and keep on robbing banks, and protesting with monkeys. That’s totally brilliant.”

Unless Evil Beatnik planned to use magic to tell Justice Fist to stop, I didn’t know how he’d do it. I supposed he could use a cellphone if he didn’t care about the rain. That said, in this case, the rain would destroy Mr. Beacham’s cellphone, and Evil Beatnik probably didn’t care.

Continue reading Under 30: Part 25 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 24

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“Next up is uh… ‘Copacabana’. I wasn’t sure whether to put it or ‘Mandy’ on the list. I checked, and they both sounded equally awful.”

Jaclyn barely let me stop before she responded. “I think I heard ‘Copacabana’ once, but nevermind, let’s get to stage two. Rocket, you’re on.”

Me? Yes, me. Why? Not because of my powers of persausion. It was because I had a built-in PA system.

“Right, I’ll move in.” Continue reading Under 30: Part 24 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 23

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Half an hour later Vaughn and I were flying away from the Parks and Recreation Department. The city had two ways to get at the speakers in Riverside Park—inside the park or through the system that allowed someone to address the entire downtown.

We wanted to pump our own music into the park, but we didn’t want to go there to set it up. Thus, our visit to Parks and Recreation.

We flew up to three hundred feet. I could see the Black River, News 10’s helicopter, Riverside Park, and all the people. Shouting and singing carried across the distance along with a hint of a drumbeat. Continue reading Under 30: Part 23 →

Meta, The Legion of Nothing

The League

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I got an email today from a musician named Jeff Ugly Shoes who’s been listening to the story via the podcast. He actually wrote a piece inspired by the story, and called it “The League.”

The League

He described it as surf music. If you want to find out more about him search for “Jeff Uglyshoes” or “The Cemetery Surfers.”

And Jeff, thanks.

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 22

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“Nick,” Jaclyn said, “call him back. They can take those devices you made.”

I knew what she meant—the devices I’d made that cancelled out the tones in Julie’s voice that allowed her power to work.

I called up the phone program on the computer, clicked to redial the Marvelous X, and got the receptionist.

As she said,”Hello, Michigan Heroes Alliance, how may I help you?” the picture on the wall screen changed. News 10 pointed their camera up away from the crowd, and above the river. Something gray flew toward them from the east. Continue reading Under 30: Part 22 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 21

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“Doing about it?” Jaclyn said. “We were working on a plan to stop them, but we can go to the riot.”

The Marvelous X shook his head. “Please don’t. We’ve reason to believe a villain named Evil Beatnik is involved. You’ve likely never heard of him because he hasn’t been seen in years, but he can influence young people. We’ve organized a number of heroes that are too old for him to control. They’ll take care of him soon enough.”

“You’re sure about that?” Continue reading Under 30: Part 21 →

Arc 4.2: Under 30

Under 30: Part 20

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And he didn’t just remind me of Mr. Beacham, this was Mr. Beacham—with 100% more beatnik.

I adjusted the picture, scrolling away from the monkey on the balcony and back toward Mr. Beacham, and his hangers on.

Having recognized him, I knew who the woman with him was—Mr. Beacham’s girlfriend. She’d visited the school once. Was she with him because she thought he was Evil Beatnik, was Evil Beatnik controlling her, or did she somehow like Evil Beatnik? Had they… uh… I put the thought out of my mind, but it opened up a lot of relationship questions.

Could Haley and I survive something like that? I liked to think we would, but you never knew. Worse, the deeper we got into this whole superheroism thing, the better chance we had to find out.

So I put that thought out of my mind too.

Continue reading Under 30: Part 20 →