Aidan Hinkley wandered amongst the students of her 3rd period ceramics class, observing the progress on their latest project - this case an attempt on the interpretation of a musical theme. Aidan loved challenging her students to think outside of the box and encouraged each of them with a gentleness that earned her favorite teacher awards each year. Stopping over one particular student's work, she gave him praise on the organic flow the piece evoked. To the average outsider, the twists, turns and loops would have looked like a mess of tangled chords. But to Aidan, the continuous line of clay represented the simple 5 note passage she played for them at the beginning of the week, growing thicker and looping around each other until it sat at the base of the sculpture, providing each loop its moment while complimenting the whole both in support and composition.
"You have a very unique take on this Tom," she said while gazing at the sculpture.
"Yeah, Miss H... After you played that theme, I went home and watched "Close Encounters" on Netflix Monday night, and this image has haunted me ever since." He made a little laugh at the end.
"Be careful, or you'll end up seeing it in everything, like the Richard Dreyfuss character." She laughed easily with him and walked off to contemplate the others in the room.
'Little green men' She thought and laughed a little harder to herself. 'If they only knew!'
Aidan saw a reflection of her own life in the loops and curves of the sculpture. Everything from losing her parents in a car accident when she was a child, to the last three years with the red suit seemed to be intertwined in Tom's work. Ever since that day outside her classroom three years ago, she was on a ride filled with twists and loops. First being shot, nearly dying and finally awakening aboard an alien spacecraft were shocking enough. Yet, the biggest shock was finding out her godfather lived a secret life as a superhero. The red costume that gave him his abilities had been passed on to her on that day. She also gained a partner, even if a reluctant one.
Tony Villicana was a former student of Ralph's and an FBI agent. He had trained under her "Great Uncle" Bill, who she learned had been Ralph's partner. With all that had transpired that fateful day, She knew her life was far from normal, but Aidan also knew it all could have turned out far different from the one she has now. It was not long ago when she lived a separate timeline after the Green Guys granted her wish that she had never lost her parents. In that timeline she realized she could have lost so much more.
Shaking off the trip down memory lane, Aidan announced that they would fire the pieces tomorrow and they should begin cleaning up. Hearing the class door open, she looked up to find her godfather trying to slip in quietly.
"Hi Mr. Hinkley" She chimed from her desk. "What brings you to our humble classroom?"
Ralph smiled a warm and easy smile. His eyes always took on a gleam whenever he watched his goddaughter in front of her class. Instead of answering his fellow teacher, he made his way through the tables as the students began cleaning up their areas. He paused at each table to look over the projects of the students. He met each student with a look of interest and a small word of encouragement. It was this quality that had earned him several accolades from the educational field, including Teacher of the Year on three occasions. He believed in treating each student like a person and not a budget figure. This philosophy made him the most effective Principal in the history of Whitney High School.
After finishing his rounds of the class, he spoke. "Well Miss Aidan, do I need a reason to tour my most promising artists and the work they are producing?" he chided Aidan playfully.
"Of course not Mr. Hinkley, we are always glad to have you as a visitor here in the Mosh Pit." Aidan grinned back at Ralph.
She knew he wasn't fond of the name the students adopted for the art lab, but he tolerated it. Despite the implications in the nickname, the art projects created in this room garnered multiple awards each semester. It even earned one senior a year a full ride scholarship to a major art school.
"Everything is all quiet on the western front?" Aidan whispered to him.
"Quiet as a church mouse," he replied. "Just thought as your free period was coming, you might like to go to lunch with Pam and myself?"
Aidan lit up like a Christmas tree. The duties and responsibilities of both her job and the suit left little time for the social niceties. She missed the ability to just sit and talk with Pam and Ralph.
"Try and keep me away!" She said happily and clapped at the class.
"OK now, let's get cleaned up quickly everyone," and turned back to Ralph. "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing special, just got a day when all our schedules came together." He said.
There was a slight smile and twinkle in his eye... the same look he adopted when he was having a hard time keeping news from someone.
'It must be good news by the look he has,' she thought. The bell interrupted her inner musings.
As the students filed out calling out their goodbyes , Ralph offered his arm to his goddaughter.
"Shall we go?" he said with a sense of flourish.
"Now go we in content," she said with a retort. and took the proffered arm.
He and Aidan loved trading Shakespeare quotes when they were younger. They would often do so while walking the halls of the school. Small things like that endeared both the Hinkleys to the students of Whitney High.
The restaurant was nearby and only took a few minutes to reach. They parked near Pam's Volkswagen beetle. Pam preferred the little beetle to a newer luxury car despite drawing a judge's salary. She said it gave her a connection to the humble beginnings of her career as a divorce lawyer.
Pam was already seated and looking over the menu. She rose and greeted both of them with a quick kiss and hug.
"How has your day been?" Pam started.
"Pretty much by the book." Ralph offered, then continued, "Not even one incident of anyone being sent to the principle's office."
Pam grinned and looked at Ralph. "You have what... like five of those a year lately?" She said.
Ralph chuckled and smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, it has been fairly quiet the past couple of years."
"Don't let him fool you Pam, he is so well liked that no one wants to disappoint him by being sent to him," Aidan added enthusiastically. "They know his reputation of fairness before they even step foot on campus now days."
Before any more could be said, the waiter came and took their orders for drinks and food.
After the drinks arrived, Ralph cleared his throat with some pomp.
"The real reason we are all here is to break some great news."
Perking up, Aidan asked, " I knew it! It was written on your face when you invited me to lunch "
"Well the school has received another recognition for excellence." And Ralph beamed.
"Did you win another award for your graduation numbers the past year Ralph?" She questioned.
"No, not this time." He put on the widest grin he could. "It's one of the teachers this year," he said looking directly at Aidan.
She saw his look and the ice tea she was sipping caught in her throat. There was no mistaking who he meant.
With a little cough she spoke, "You mean I have won some type of award?"
"Better than just 'some award', You have been nominated for California Teacher of the year !" The pride in his voice no longer hidden.
You're kidding me?" Aidan said in disbelief.
"That's so great Aidan honey!" Pam said and rose to her feet, crossed to the other side of the table and gave her goddaughter a hug.
"I'm shocked... I don't deserve it," she said.
"Well you have made some very good impressions with the school district," Ralph said. "And, from what I understand, they have also been flooded with letters from current and former students. You were a natural nominee to the state level."
Aidan felt the heat rise to her face. She was unaccustomed to being placed in the spotlight.
As she was about to protest to Ralph, the lights in the restaurant went out, plunging the building into darkness. A collective gasp came from the patrons and a growing murmur began.
"I haven't heard that we were scheduled for any rolling blackouts in this area." Pam said. "They let the courthouse know well in advance so we can make changes to the schedule."
"Let me take a quick glance around and make sure everyone is alright." Aidan said.
Using the darkness as cover, she quickly unbuttoned the top button of her blouse and exposed the red tunic beneath.
Instantly her sight shifted into night vision. The restaurant was lit with a sickly green glow. This was one of the new abilities that she had discovered since being given the suit.
Without the instruction manual, Aidan had stumbled upon the means of controlling the powers the suit granted her. Unfortunately, she was not aware of all those abilities as she and Tony had blown up the instruction book. Her uncle had told her of all the abilities he had figured out during his time with the suit, but he also admitted that he didn't know the extent of them. He himself had lost the instruction manual twice.
In the case of this ability, Aidan had been on a bust with Tony several months ago when she was plunged into darkness. She strained to see anything in the absolute black and as her eyes became unfocused, her vision changed to a haze of greens and she could suddenly see everything in the room. The sudden shift from blind to sight startled her. With this new tool, she was able to complete the bust without anyone getting hurt. Aidan hadn't figured out how to shift back to normal sight when she walked out into the parking lot with the bad guys for Tony to take in. The streetlamps overloaded her vision causing her to nearly pass out from the instant migraine it gave her. Aidan found this power a useful one once she had taken a few more stabs at it until she felt comfortable with how it worked. With practice, she had discovered more variations on the vision powers including infrared and telescopic.
Nothing seemed out of sorts. The normal disquiet that came with an inconvenience started to mull in the crowd. From what she could see, everyone was all right in the restaurant. She placed a hand on both Pam and Ralph's shoulders and said,
"Everything looks fine in here. I'll head outside and take a quick look around."
"Probably just an over heated transformer." Ralph said reassuringly. "Happens all the time this time of year," and put his arm around his wife.
Aidan stepped outside and winced as her night vision went into overload in the midday sun. Squeezing her eyes shut, she shifted back to normal vision. Blinking quickly, Aidan scanned the area surrounding the restaurant. All the signal lights were out and had not yet gone into emergency mode. Traffic was already beginning to back up as drivers honked at each other. Seeing the problem extended beyond just the restaurant, she walked around to the back alley and changed out of her clothes. Under the everyday slacks and blouse of Aidan Hinkley was the red, white and black costume of a super hero.
Aidan took three steps and leapt into the skies above Los Angeles.