Ch 3
Science was not her favorite subject, how could it be when she had spent the summer months of her sophomore and junior years on Anodine learning true science? Earth's science was infantile in comparison.
Yes, she spent the summers of her sophomore and junior years on Anodine with Ben. He was there learning the intricacies of alien politics. She was treated as a Plumber's wife and given her choice of daily activities, she chose tutoring from top scientists. They looked down on her at first but when she showed aptitude beyond anything they had ever seen from a human they began treating her with much more respect.
But in her junior year summer it all changed; they arrived on Anodine and were greeted by an ambassador who informed them that they had to be legally wed for her to be allowed to remain.
They were given one night to decide and, after much debate, agreed to go through with it. They decided that on Earth they would still be just dating and they wouldn't tell anyone, except Gwen, Kevin, and the newly returned Max, of the new state of their relationship. They also didn't consummate the marriage.
But her tutoring then continued, now expanding to include martial arts and mystic schooling. It was found that somewhere in her ancestry was an Anodine ancestor or two and although her power was not as strong as Gwen's or pure Anodites' she did have power nonetheless.
But anyway those six months, total, spent on Adonine showed her how limited human knowledge really was. She lazily passed her science classes with A's because of this knowledge of real science.
There was a knock at the door and a Jokeresque clown came in, "Is there a Ms. Yamamoto in this room?"
"Here I am." she spoke up.
"Package for you! From you paramour, a Mr. Tennyson." The clown held out a package and envelope.
"Thank you."
The clown left and she opened the envelope to find a note;
"Why so serious? Turn your frown upside down for this gift will make you smile. Love,
Ben"
Looking to the teacher for permission, and getting it, she opened the package to find two tickets, with backstage passes, to a circus that always appeared in town during spring break.
She grinned, he knew her well. She believed you were never too old to go to the circus. And to deliver it in the middle of science class by an evil looking clown? Totally Ben.
---
Lunchtime was quiet for her, a rare occasion. No aliens attacking the town!
Until the more popular clique showed up.
Although she was the state champion and, by school age thought, had a right to be one of them she found the inanities of them and their interests quite maddening and had point blank told them this. Michelle, Brandy, and Janice did not appreciate this view of their world, they felt that she should be begging to be apart of their group!
But Julie had never been that shallow and taking part in bringing down an alien invasion reinforced her moral fiber.
So as the triad of idiocy advanced upon her location she shot them an unconcerned glance before settling back into monitoring the area. It was an unspoken pact made between them. When the trio of official Plumbers was out of the area it fell upon her to keep any aliens in the area in line. Her laptop could connect to any security system she needed to, into the traffic cameras, and into the local news helicopter, it also had a program that sensed inhuman energies via crystals the group had buried all over the town and alerted her to it, plus it brought her car to her location for the quickest response time possible. But I digress; the triad of idiocy was coming so she had to shut her laptop lest the loosest lips in the town saw anything,
"Hey Julie," Michelle oozed in her sugary sweet simper that made Julie want to rip out her vocal cords to save the world from ever hearing it again for it made the passé nails-on-a-chalkboard seem pleasant.
"Hello Michelle," she rolled her eyes discreetly, maybe if she showed her disinterest they would leave.
"Where's Ben?" her tormentor asked.
"Business trip," she replied smoothly; it was true enough.
"Oh. For what?" Brandy asked. Her voice was not as grating as the first.
"Family business, plumbing." That was true enough as well.
"They're plumbers!?" Janice laughed, "Girl, you're slipping."
"Just 'cause I like him for him and not his money? No, that's being real. But you girls wouldn't understand. I don't wanna fight right now so please leave me alone."
"You know Julie," Brandy spoke in a tone that was supposed to be threatening but she [Julie] found it laughable at best, "you don't want to make us mad. We know people in very high places. So why don't you just apologize and see if we're willing to forgive and forget?"
"You don't scare me and, though I find this little game of intimidation very childish, I'll have you know I know very high people too."
"You're bluffing, you liar."
An eyebrow piqued, "Try to call it then, trust me I've beaten guys that make your big scary jailbird brother look like a cute fluffy little kitten."
She packed her stuff, standing up, "Now if you three'll excuse me, there's a pressing matter I've to attend to."
"What, a clogged septic tank?" Michelle laughed maliciously.
"Yep." She headed towards the parking lot.
"You can't go off campus without a pass!" Janice called.
"Got it!" she yelled back, flashing a Plumbers' badge. The principle was a retired Plumber and had given her group the go ahead to leave campus whenever needed. Kevin had gotten the badge for her to show other, official, Plumbers that she had the tech she had because she worked with, but not for, the Plumbers.
There was a burst of alien energy at the junction of 12th and Alfred Ave. It was a park, frequented by grade-age children during the day and the dregs of society, both human and inhuman, at night. She locked the autopilot onto the quickest route before spinning her seat to face the seemingly empty back of her nondescript van. A keypad appeared in her armrest and she pressed in a code. The floor of the van slid back, a table appearing and coming up. It was loaded with various weapons. When Ben first started to let her help he pounded the unignorable truth into her head, "To them you're a bug; something that they can crush beneath their foot. If you don't know what you're dealing with, go in with everything you have. Remember you can laugh about it later if you go in in overkill mode, you can't if you're dead." She had taken it to heart. This was not a game of tennis; you lose, you die.
So she strapped on as much as she could carry, though now that she was more comfortable with the weapons she did not require as much. She strapped on the Altmerian hand cannon as her main weapon and the Bosmerian energy pistols as back up. The shielding amulet that Gwen had created for her was a must; it threw up a barrier, for 60 minutes, which could withstand anything less than nuclear power.
The van lurched to a stop, the door opening itself. She stepped out only to see a very familiar old woman.
"Verdona?!" she called, surprised, to Ben and Gwen's eccentric Anodite grandmother.
"Yes dearie, would you mind putting those toys away? So uncivilized to talk with those things in sight…"
"Uh, sure thing, give me a sec here."
She stowed the weapons and joined the older being.
"So let me guess," she said, "you're here to give me a note and/or package from Ben?"
"That's what I like about you," Verdona spoke pulling the aforementioned items from inside her cloak, "Always straight to the point, most of your kind beat about the brush. He's very lucky to have found a girl like you."
"Thank you Verdona."
"You humans are so weird, call me Grandma." Her eyes narrowed, "What're you waiting for? Open the gift!"
"Okay, okay! It says;
'Aloha Julie!
This package is brochures from various paradises around the world and beyond. I am going to take you on a real vacation. No Plumber duties at all. Just you, me and wherever you pick to go. I will leave my badge with Gwen; so pick a place and start packing.' Oh wow, he doesn't have to do this…"
"He feels guilty," Verdona explained, "Max was the same, all the time. The Plumbers took him away so much that he'd overcompensate when he was home."
"But he can't afford all this!"
Verdona laughed, "Yes he can! Plumbing is a very dangerous job and his is the worst, so he gets paid very well."
"How well? Cause he should be putting this money towards his college fund instead of pampering me!"
Verdona scratched the side of her head, "What was that comic-book character? Civilian side of Batman? About as rich as he was…or at least he will be in about half-a-dozen years."
"But Bruce Wayne's richer than the real-world's Bill Gates! I'm no good with finances on that scale!"
"Oh Ben will handle everything."
Julie snorted, "Please! I'm sorry to say he can hardly figure out what X is if 4 multiplied by 122 equals X. He has problems with basic algebra including interest."
"Math never really was his father's best subject."
"You have that glint in your eye."
"What glint?"
"That glint Gwen gets when she seen a flash of the future, spill it."
"Can't. Could change it."
Julie frowned, "Is it a good thing?"
"Oh yes, very good, very good."
Distantly the school bell tolled.