Prodigy

Ribbon Cutting

Kate dressed carefully. This was a big day for her. A year ago she had opened an athletic center for the poor in the lower east side of the city. Since then, four other business owners had opened centers in the city and in other parts of the country. Now the government was opening its own center. Each center had recognized her, but this was the first, besides her own, to use her as its face. She also knew that this was the last time her father would see her as just his little girl. She had to make this count.

A knock sounded on the door. “You can come in.” She replied as she studied her face in the mirror. The door opened and Kathy walked in.

“Don’t you look beautiful,” Kathy remarked as she looked at her.

Kate smiled and turned and handed Kathy the necklace. “Could you please help me?”

She turned her back to Kathy again and lifted her hair. She watched Kathy in the mirror. “I may have been wrong about you and father. I was only nine and I hadn’t forgiven myself for my mother.”

Kathy snapped the clasped of the necklace then stepped back flashing a smile. “I think you may have been more right than you know.”

Kate turned. Then froze, her eyes widened, then came back into focus. “Zara, call my father now.” She ordered.

Her father answered immediately. “Daddy, listen to me. Someone does not want the truce we are offering, but it is not the people of the lower north. I need an expanded protective force…please don’t ask for an explanation, I promised…after today.”

“Kate, if there is danger…”

“I can defend myself…dammit…I can defend the entire fricken nation.” She burst out. To underscore her claim, her entire body exuded flames but her clothing wasn’t touched. “I don’t want to do this in public, but I could level this city without breaking a sweat. I will explain when I get home, but too many people have worked for this.”

Her father paused, then looked at Kathy. “The crown princess, the prince, and the chancellor’s son will be there. It is a sign of unity…She is my life…”

“Daddy, look at me.”

Kathy put a hand on her shoulder. “Adrian, if you never trust me again, trust this. Do as your daughter asks. I saw some things last night that changed my view of the world. Your daughter is more exceptional than we believed. She hasn’t told me everything because she believes you have a right to know, but she wished to speak with a friend and counselor last night.”

Adrian was quiet for a moment; he looked between Kathy and Kate. “What do you know?”

"Before I wrote the Privacy Clause…” She paused as her father went to speak, but he held his tongue. “I built a network that infiltrated every network in the known world.” She didn’t mention that it also invaded networks in parts of the world that he didn’t know about. That would come later.

Kate had her father’s full attention. She smiled sweetly, “ I need you to discreetly deploy more forces around the facility we will be in. I also need you to understand that should hostilities arise…I will defend the citizens and your forces. No one that is an ally will be harmed.” She stated. “I am sending you access to what I know.” She added.

***

Adrian studied his daughter, who was still surrounded in flames that burned nothing around her. Somehow that didn’t bother him, but the Privacy Clause and network were something else. His tablet beeped and he glanced down at the information, then he handed it to Danika who had been standing at the side. He knew that the moment he handed her the tablet, his communications pod would include her in the holo-projection.

To their credit, neither Kathy nor his daughter showed any surprise. Danika looked at Kate. “How credible are these sources?” She asked.

“Very, It will take you time to verify everything, but we need to act fast. Canceling the event would signal a win. We have the advantage in that we know that an attack is coming and they don’t know about my abilities. I would prefer to act in a way that does not show my abilities, but I can and will defend civilians and police alike.”

“How sure are you that you can defend the population?” Danika asked.

“Barring a simultaneous blast of twelve high yield nuclear weapons, I am one hundred percent sure that I can defend the population,” Kate replied.

“So you couldn’t stop at thirteen," Danika asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Kate shook her head. “No, at the moment, I couldn’t sustain such a blast, I could likely stop a few from detonating if I felt them in time.”

Danika paused. “You weren’t joking.”

Kate shook her head. “I could level this city without breaking a sweat. It’s why I’ve kept this secret my whole life. Knowing that a child could destroy the country wouldn’t have been easy. Now…well, I’m not an adult, but I’m not a child either. I can prove to be an asset, not a liability.”

Danika looked down at the information again.” I will dispatch a few more units and will personally be on site. Tell me what you need.”

***

Crowds cheered as the flier landed on the worn path outside the building the new center was in. Kate looked out of the door as it rotated. In the upper city, the old pavement had been removed and spaces between the buildings were covered in ornamental gardens. Here the turf was churned to mud, as many people were forced to walk between buildings. She glanced down at her shoes. They weren’t meant for the mud. She sighed, this was her fight. She stepped out of the flier, her feet sinking into the mud.

The media was out in force and flashes of holo cameras accented that point. She turned to the cameras and stepped beside Kathy, placing an arm around her and waving with the other arm. Then she turned and walked into the building.

She paused in the entrance. Despite the new paint and the renovations, she could smell mold, and feel structural instability. How could people live in these conditions? And by all reports, this was one of the nicer buildings in the district. She reached out with her ability to access the building. It could stand for another hundred years under the right conditions, but the residence would be exposed to conditions that were simply unhealthy.

Kathy looked around and nodded as if impressed with what was done. Couldn’t she smell the mold? Were the senses of normal humans so weak? Kate suppressed a sigh. She knew how many resources had been poured into this project. It would be wrong to show her displeasure. She swore to herself that she would fix this problem.

Careful sister, we can’t solve all the problems of the world. The prince whispered into her head. Can’t she try?Another voice asked. Kate turned towards the large sign that read. New Hope Gymnasium and Center of the Arts. She paused, looking at the gold ribbon hanging in front of the door and the podium.

Kathy was already walking towards the podium and the media and citizens had started filing into the entrance. Her senses told her that five thousand people could fit into the entry area of the building safely. She considered this, and considered how she would conduct an attack on a facility such as this. As she was running through battle plans, she followed Kathy to the podium.

The crowd roared as the crown princess entered from a VIP elevator accompanied by her brother and the youngest son of the Chancellor. She panned out with her senses again, searching for the various security personnel. She felt nearly a hundred in total. This would give everyone a sense of security. She silently took a chair behind the podium next to the princess.

The princess smiled and gave her a slight nod of the head. She responded with a slight bow. She was unsure of how today would go. How was she to be the face of the event if the princess herself was in attendance?

Kathy took the podium and looked out at the crowd. “Thank you for coming out today. This project is more than a building…It is a new start for your youth. The left, the moderates, the right, and the monarchy agree to an amnesty for all children fifteen and under for all non-capital crimes. We also wish to reinforce our commitment to true talks about the customs that separate us. We have some important guests today. Allow me to introduce the crown princess of Antre.”

The princess, dressed in a form-fitting cream dress that was split to her left thigh and covered in pearls, walked to the podium. She shook her honey locks as she looked at the crowd. “Let’s be honest. You aren’t here to see me, my brother,” She nodded to her brother, and he walked to her side. “Or William Stone, the youngest son of our beloved chancellor.” She looked at Kate and smiled. “For most of my life, despite the fact that I am four years older than her, I have stood in the shadow of Kate Dawson. Give a round of applause to Antre’s doll, Kate Dawson.”

Kate stood and walked to the podium. She walked to the princess that towered over her by nine centimeters. Her shadow…really? She had no choice but to smile and then hug the princess. She also shook the hand of the prince and the chancellor’s son, then she looked at the crowd. She hated the title “Antre’s doll”. It demeaned what she was. She smiled past the insult. The princess simply didn’t know.

Kate turned to the crowd and raised a hand and the cheers were deafening. Kate sent out a calming web and the crowd calmed. She smiled. “May I be real?” She asked.

The crowd roared again and she let them cheer. She could speak their lingo. She raised a hand and they slowly went silent. “I know, being able to speak the lingo, doesn’t make me you. I have everything. How can I understand what you go through on a daily basis…I can’t.” She paused. “A year ago I opened a place like this on the south side. Let me make this clear…I don’t want to change you, but I do wish to offer opportunities to your youth. Not so that they can become like me, but to enrich their lives and to encourage dreams, for we are nothing without our dreams. I have a small demonstration for you, first in gymnastics, then in fencing against your own star, Slylinda Florn. She deserves your adulation because she rose above the streets. She is still one of you and, like me, wishes to see others succeed. So in honor of today, I am giving amnesty to your three kings…” She named them.

The crowd had gone quiet. A man stepped forward. He was lithe, but not tall. Dark hair fell in waves to his shoulders. She recognized him as a lieutenant to the Raiders. “You don’t have that authority,” he stated.

Suddenly, the image of the king, the chancellor, and her father stepped into the room. Her father placed a holographic hand on her shoulder, but it was the king who spoke. “ We unanimously agree with this proclamation. Do you doubt our authority? “

The man stepped back. He knew he wasn’t covered in the amnesty.

Kate’s eyes ran across the crowd. “In ten minutes I will duel your champion. Then I will test your gymnastics arena and make sure it is up to standards. Then I have a few musical pieces to play. For now, I will give the podium to your champion…”