Replication: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #6) Read online

  .

  REPLICATION

  A Kid Sensation Novel

  By

  Kevin Hardman

  Kid Sensation Series

  Sensation: A Superhero Novel

  Mutation (A Kid Sensation Novel)

  Infiltration (A Kid Sensation Novel)

  Revelation (A Kid Sensation Novel)

  Coronation (A Kid Sensation Novel)

  Replication (A Kid Sensation Novel)

  Kid Sensation Companion Series

  Amped

  Mouse’s Tale (An Alpha League Supers Novel)

  The Warden Series

  Warden (Book 1: Wendigo Fever)

  Warden (Book 2: Lure of the Lamia)

  Warden (Book 3: Attack of the Aswang)

  The Fringe Worlds

  Terminus (Fringe Worlds #1)

  Efferus (Fringe Worlds #2)

  Boxed Sets

  The Kid Sensation Series (Books 1–3)

  The Warden Series (Books 1–3)

  Worlds of Wonder

  Short Stories

  Extraction: A Kid Sensation Story

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  This book is a work of fiction contrived by the author, and is not meant to reflect any actual or specific person, place, action, incident or event. Any resemblance to incidents, events, actions, locales or persons, living or dead, factual or fictional, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Kevin Hardman.

  Cover Design by Isikol

  Edited by Faith Williams, The Atwater Group

  This book is published by I&H Recherche Publishing.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address I&H Recherche Publishing, P.O. Box 2727, Cypress, TX 77410.

  ISBN: 978-1-937666-41-5

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to thank the following for their help with this book: GOD first and foremost, who continues to bless my endeavors; my family; and my readers, who have been very kind and generous with their support.

  Thank you for purchasing this book! If, after reading, you find that you enjoyed it, please feel free to leave a review on the site from which it was purchased.

  Also, if you would like to be notified when I release new books, please subscribe to my mailing list via the following link: http://eepurl.com/C5a45

  Finally, for those who may be interested, I have included my website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter info:

  Website: http://www.kevinhardmanauthor.com/

  Blog: http://kevinhardman.blogspot.com/

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/kevin.hardman.967

  Twitter: @kevindhardman

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 1

  “Stay close,” Mouse muttered softly. “I’m gonna need you.”

  I gave a terse nod in response but didn’t say anything.

  We were currently downtown in the city, on the street. Mouse – my mentor – was wearing a buttoned-up but loose-fitting beige trench coat, under which he sported the well-known black-and-gold uniform of the Alpha League, the world’s greatest superhero team.

  Since we were attempting to be inconspicuous, I also wore my uniform under ordinary daywear, which in my case consisted of jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a light-weight jacket. Initially, however, I had pressed the notion of wearing a trench coat as well, but Mouse had nixed the idea.

  “One guy in a trench coat is inconspicuous,” he’d said. “Two is a couple of TV detectives, looking to bust a case wide open.”

  “So why do you get to wear the cool outfit?” I’d asked.

  “Because I can actually pull off the look,” he’d declared. “Besides, don’t kids your age like looking scruffy and scraggly? Just wear some sweats or ripped jeans, and you’ll be the epitome of cool.”

  And so we had come to be dressed in our current attire. From all indications, our attempt to keep a low profile was working, as no one seemed to be paying particular attention to us as we walked. More to the point, as I reached out empathically, I didn’t sense any out-of-the-ordinary emotional vibes coming from any of the people around us.

  After a few moments, we came to one of the city’s many subway entrances. Mouse and I ducked inside, stepping onto an escalator that appeared to descend a good hundred feet, at the very least. Once at the bottom, we found ourselves in the midst of throngs of people trying to get through the turnstiles and onto the subway platform.

  Welcome to rush hour, I thought, as bodies hemmed us in on all sides.

  Tapping my shoulder to get my attention, Mouse suddenly tilted his head to the side, indicating I should follow him. We then began heading to one of the side walls, cutting a path through those around us that was perpendicular to the flow of foot traffic, causing shouts
of frustration (and more than a few obscenities) to be voiced in our wake.

  A few seconds later, we found ourselves at the wall. Nearby was a somewhat narrow gate which displayed an official “Metro Employees Only” sign. Needless to say, this was an entrance reserved for subway employees, a means of allowing them to quickly access the subway platform in order to go about their official duties rather than having to wait in line with the unwashed masses. And next to the gate – just to make sure no subway passengers temporarily forgot who they worked for – were a couple of transit cops.

  Mouse approached the two officers and flashed what appeared to be a card made of plastic. One of the transit officers – a big fellow who made a show of twirling his nightstick – glanced at the card and simply nodded. Mouse then hustled through the gate, with me on his heels.

  At that juncture, a train was just pulling into the subway station. There was a high-pitched squeal of brakes as it slowly came to a halt; a moment later, a two-tone chime sounded, followed by the subway doors opening, and a mass of people began filing out.

  He didn’t say anything, but I sensed a slight twinge of frustration coming from Mouse, and I understood why. We were on a tight timetable, and although using the employee gate had allowed us to sidestep the wait and crush of bodies going through the turnstiles, we were still near the rear of a sizeable crowd. Even more, it was evident that we probably wouldn’t make it onto this particular train, which would really throw our schedule out of whack.

  As the last of the exiting passengers stepped off the train, those waiting to enter surged forward – a tidal wave of bodies that rushed ahead, almost heedless of anything and anyone around it. If it wasn’t clear before, it was pretty certain now that getting on this particular train was out of the question. Unless we temporarily abandoned our efforts to be low-key.

  “Hang on,” I said to Mouse as I telescoped my vision in order to get a good look at the interior of the last train car. Then I teleported us, popping us into the subway car in question, but right in front of a middle-aged woman in a dark pants suit.

  She jumped a little, obviously startled by our sudden appearance, then muttered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even see you there.”

  “No problem,” Mouse assured her, then turned to me and gave a subtle nod of his head. I smiled slightly, taking this as acknowledgment that – although we were trying to avoid drawing attention to ourselves – using my powers had been the right decision.

  The car quickly filled up with passengers, and the press of bodies forced Mouse and me back to the very rear of the train car. At last, the chime sounded again, and the subway doors closed in the face of numerous disappointed patrons who hadn’t been able to squeeze in. A moment later, we began moving, and within seconds we entered the tunnel, quickly picking up speed as the train moved toward its next destination. Glancing through a window set in the train’s rear door, I watched as light from the platform we’d just left quickly receded into the distance.

  I turned to Mouse, who – unlike me – was looking out the side windows instead.

  “Scrubber room…” I heard him mutter softly. “Signal room… Communications…”

  I followed his gaze, but already knew what he was doing: calling out the names of specific areas in the subway tunnel as we passed them.

  Basically, the tunnel didn’t just consist of steel tracks laid down in a passageway carved through the earth. There was a narrow, railed walkway on both sides which – at discrete intervals – intersected with the entrances to various areas that provided support functions. Most subway commuters had almost no idea how much was required in terms of manpower and equipment in order to keep the trains running in a timely and efficient manner.

  “Heating and cooling should be next,” Mouse stated, bringing my attention back to the task at hand. This was confirmed a few seconds later when I caught a glimpse of “HVAC” written on a door near the left-side walkway as we sped past.

  “Okay, get ready…” Mouse droned. “Now!”

  Telekinetically, I placed a firm grip on Mouse. At the same time, I phased us – making the two of us physically insubstantial. Then I floated about an inch into the air (lifting Mouse as well), at the same time gently moving the two of us backward.

  With our momentum now the opposite that of the subway car, the result was that we phased through the rear door. A second later, we were floating in the semi-darkness of the subway tunnel, watching the train swiftly moving away from us.

  Empathically, I stayed in tune with the passengers for a moment, trying to make sure that our sudden disappearance hadn’t caused any distress in those around us. Frankly speaking, I could have saved myself the trouble; I detected no more than mild surprise at our unorthodox departure. (Apparently, subway passengers adopt a mind-your-own-business mantra, although in all honesty I couldn’t be sure how many of them had actually been paying attention to us in the first place.) This reaction actually served our current purpose, but at the same time it left me slightly disheartened with respect to human nature: two guys disappear from a moving subway train, and no one’s concerned enough to raise an alarm?

  “So far, so good,” Mouse muttered, bringing me back to myself.

  I moved us over to the railed walkway to our left, then made us substantial again and gently set us down. At the same time, I cycled my vision through the light spectrum until I could see almost normally. On his part, Mouse donned a pair of night vision goggles that he’d obviously brought with him.

  “Let’s go,” he said, heading towards a nearby set of double doors. Unlike the previous areas we had passed (which had had the names of the respective rooms written on the entryways), this one was unlabeled.

  Mouse tried the handle; unsurprisingly, it was locked. I phased the door without being told, and we stepped inside. We found ourselves on a landing at the top of a set of straight stairs that descended for about thirty feet.

  We hustled down to the bottom of the staircase, which opened up into a square room roughly thirty-by-thirty feet in size. There was some type of equipment pushed against a couple of the walls, but none of it was familiar to me. Straight ahead of us was the entry to a narrow corridor. Mouse pulled out his computer tablet (which he always seemed to carry with him) and began walking towards the passageway. I immediately fell into step beside him.

  Several hallways seemed to branch off from the one in which we found ourselves. Apparently using his tablet as a map, Mouse began guiding us through a honeycombed network of rooms, corridors, and even tunnels (with me occasionally using my phasing ability to get us past locked doors, blocked entrances, and the like).

  “What is this place?” I asked softly a few minutes later as we walked through what appeared to be an abandoned subway line.

  “Subterranean tunnel,” Mouse answered with a snarky grin. “I’d have thought that was obvious.”

  “Funny,” I replied sarcastically. “I meant why is it here, wise guy. Any of it, in fact. I mean, we’ve passed through a dozen places since we left the subway train that look like nobody’s visited regularly in years.”

  “Yeah, well, it might shock you to know that there are scores of deserted underground sites throughout the city.”

  “But again, why? It just seems weird to me to build out all these spaces and then simply abandon them.”

  “There are actually lots of reasons why people would simply walk away,” Mouse declared as we left the subway line and entered a connecting passageway. “Maybe a tunnel collapsed or became too unstable to keep digging. Maybe they hit a pocket of gas or somehow lacked the ability to get fresh air far enough underground. In at least one instance, they upgraded the subway cars and then found out they wouldn’t fit with the existing platforms. And in some cases, they just ran out of funding for the project.”

  I nodded in understanding. In the not-too-distant past, I had actually visited a town that had been evacuated years ago because of alleged exposure to some virulent biological agent. Thus, I could accept th
at there were occasionally valid reasons for abandoning places that had been built. Still, what I was currently seeing around me seemed like an incredible waste of effort, and I stated as much. This sparked a conversation between me and Mouse about the relative merits of cutting’s one losses versus seeing a questionable project through to the end.

  “Regardless of how you feel about them representing the squander of resources,” Mouse finally said, “you have to admit that these underground spaces are a boon in terms of our task today.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Assuming we can get to the end of this rat maze.”

  “Sounds like someone’s losing faith in the mission,” Mouse chided as we rounded a corner. “How about a bit of cheese for encouragement?”

  He pointed to the far end of the hallway we had just entered. There were still no lights (at least none that were on), but – with my vision set to the current band of the light spectrum – I didn’t need them to see what Mouse was indicating: an elevator.

  I smiled as we began heading toward it, as the presence of the elevator was an indicator that we were still moving in the right direction. Not that I had ever doubted Mouse or his ability to guide us through the underground labyrinth of tunnels and passageways. He was pretty much the smartest person on the planet and was rarely ever wrong about anything. Still, when the strategy for this particular mission was being planned, one of the drawbacks had been the lack of complete maps for the underground sites. That being the case, the path Mouse and I had taken to reach our current destination had – to some extent – consisted of guesswork and extrapolation. In short, it was nice to know we hadn’t taken a wrong turn somewhere or gotten lost.

  We stopped at the elevator doors, and Mouse began taking off his trench coat. This hinted at two things: first, that we were close enough to our final destination that the need to remain inconspicuous didn’t matter. It also implied that Mouse didn’t want excess clothing restricting his movements in any way.

  Unlike my mentor, I didn’t bother taking off my outer clothing. I merely phased myself and my Alpha League uniform, and everything else fell to the ground.

  “We in a race?” Mouse asked accusingly, as if my method of changing clothes was a crime.