Super Late

The subway doors slammed shut just as Mason reached the platform, his sneakers screeching against the polished tile while the wind from the departing train whipped through his dark hair. The metallic bite of hot brake dust hung heavy in the air, aggressively fouling the bitter scent of someone's discarded burnt coffee. Above him, a digital clock glowed a mocking, blood-red against the damp concrete wall.

8:11 A.M.

Mason stared at it, his chest heaving.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Tessa came barreling down the stairs, her backpack acting like a wrecking ball against her shoulders. She slammed to a stop beside him, doubling over and gasping for oxygen.

“You missed it?”

Mason pointed a trembling, accusatory finger at the empty, echoing tracks. “It left without us.”

“That is generally what trains do when people miss them, Mason.”

Eli appeared behind them, gliding in at his usual, infuriatingly serene pace. He casually adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses, glanced up at the glowing red numbers, and offered a deadpan assessment.

“Forty-nine minutes.”

Mason whipped his head around. “Until what?!”

“The SAT.”

Mason’s soul visibly left his body. “Please do not say that.”

Eli checked his phone screen. “Actually, forty-eight minutes now.”

“Why would you track it down to the minute?!”

“Because it is critical operational data.”

“It is psychological warfare!”

Tessa yanked her phone from her pocket, frantically tapping the screen to pull up her testing ticket. Their exam started right at 9:00 A.M., and their testing center was still a grueling six blocks away. On any normal morning, that would be a brisk, stress-free stroll. But this was 2089 Manhattan, where "normal" was a legal fiction.

Over the past three decades, the sudden emergence of superpowered humanity had transformed the city into a hyper-accelerated playground of chaos and tech. Autonomous taxis wove erratically between towering skyscrapers like drunken hornets, delivery drones buzzed a frantic rhythm overhead, and massive advertisements projected three-dimensional holograms that occasionally drifted into traffic. Having superpowers was as common as holding a MetroCard. Some citizens could casually summon infernos, bend structural steel with a flex, manipulate electricity like a living neon sign, warp gravity, or throw cars across the block with a twitch of their minds.

Mason, Tessa, and Eli had powers too.

Unfortunately, they had drawn the cosmic short straw.

Mason could absorb and redirect kinetic energy, but only in frustratingly small bursts. Tessa could manipulate friction, but only over a tiny, localized surface area. Eli could rip open portals through space, but his spatial tears were routinely the exact size of a basketball.

Individually, they were textbook definitions of mediocre.

Together, they were a walking safety hazard.

And right now, none of their underwhelming gifts were doing a damn thing to help them beat the clock.

Tessa groaned, shoving her phone away like it had bitten her. “We should have left twenty minutes ago.”

“I was ready!” Mason protested.

“You were dead asleep.”

“I was resting my retinas.”

“You were snoring loud enough to rattle the third rail.”

“That proves absolutely nothing.”

Eli stared down the dark, yawning mouth of the subway tunnel. “Perhaps we should cease the marital bickering and find an alternate route to street level.”

Before anyone could formulate a plan, a deep, earth-shattering metallic boom shook the platform.

The shockwave rolled through the subterranean corridor like a freight train trapped beneath the pavement. Dust rained from the ceiling in thick sheets, coating their jackets in gray powder. Dozens of commuters froze in place, mid-sentence, while a toddler's shrill whimper bounced off the tiled walls.

Then came the second blast.

BOOM!

The floor violently shuddered beneath their sneakers, nearly sending Tessa sprawling.

Mason slowly turned back toward the tracks, his eyes widening. “Oh, you've got to be kidding me.”

A man clad in heavy, black tactical armor clawed his way up from the live-rail pit. Sparks crawled frantically across the steel tracks around his boots as his armored coat snapped in the thermal updraft. Glowing blue veins of raw electricity pulsed beneath the metal plates strapped to his arms, filling the air with a choking, high-voltage stench.

The panicked crowd scattered backward, screaming.

The villain vaulted onto the platform, raised both arms with theatrical grandiosity, and let loose a roar that rattled Mason’s teeth.

“NEW YORK!” His voice boomed off the curved ceiling. “You have ignored my demands for the final time! Today, this pathetic city will finally—!”

“We don't have time for this!” Mason's voice cut straight through the villain's monologue.

The man froze mid-pose. His glowing blue eyes narrowed in sheer disbelief. “What?”

Mason jammed a finger at the digital clock on the wall. “We have an SAT.”

For three agonizing seconds, the supervillain just stood there, his arms still raised, blinking stupidly.

“You... have an SAT?”

“Yes.”

“Today?”

“Yes.”

“At nine sharp?”

“Yes!”

The villain slowly lowered one arm, looking profoundly offended. “That is... exceptionally inconvenient.”

Tessa crossed her arms, glaring. “You're telling us.”

The villain's face twisted from confusion into incandescent rage. “Then perhaps you should have factored that into your scheduling before choosing to live in my city!”

Mason blinked. “Your city?”

“YES!”

“That feels aggressively possessive.”

Screaming in absolute fury, the villain slammed both hands straight down onto the exposed rails.

A tidal wave of electricity erupted through the station.

The blinding flash of blue-white light turned the underground platform into a strobe-lit nightmare. Metal shrieked as the steel rails warped and twisted violently upward like burning ribbons, while the acrid stench of scorched insulation choked Mason's lungs. Overhead, emergency klaxons began screaming a deafening, rhythmic wail. Commuters panicked, stampeding toward the emergency exits in a human wave.

Tessa lunged forward, grabbing Eli by the sleeve. “Run!”

The trio bolted.

A massive concrete support beam cracked loose from the ceiling directly above them, hurtling downward like a falling meteor.

“Tessa!” Mason yelled.

She spun on her heel, dropping to one knee and slamming her palm against the floor.

The concrete instantly lost all friction, turning as slick as black ice.

The falling beam slammed into the frictionless zone and instantly sheared sideways, sliding past them with inches to spare before obliterating a row of empty turnstiles.

Mason didn't hesitate. He leapt forward and slapped his hands against the massive sliding chunk of steel.

His kinetic ability flared to life.

Instantly, the terrifying, latent momentum of the falling multi-ton beam hummed through his bones like a live wire. With a grunt of pure strain, he redirected all that stored kinetic energy straight up.

The beam launched off the ground like a rocket, smashing straight through the station ceiling.

CRASH!

Cascading chunks of concrete rained down in a blinding dust storm.

Eli threw his hand forward, snapping his fingers.

A swirling, inky-black portal snapped open right in front of them. Falling boulders vanished cleanly into the void, instantly reappearing ten feet behind them to clatter harmlessly onto the empty platform.

Mason glanced back, grinning despite the adrenaline spike. “See? Teamwork makes the dream work.”

Another deafening explosion rattled the platform behind them. Eli grabbed Mason by the collar and yanked him forward. “Less tactical commentary, more cardio!”

They burst through the heavy station doors, exploding out of the stairwell and into the chaotic morning sunlight.

The sudden glare temporarily blinded Mason. The street above was an absolute war zone of urban panic. Autonomous cars honked frantically in gridlocked clusters, pedestrians scattered across the asphalt like ants, and hovering delivery drones buzzed overhead like angry hornets broadcasting automated evacuation loops. The pavement was slick from an overnight downpour, mixing the smell of fresh rain with hot exhaust, street-cart grease, and the unmistakable sulfur smell of underground destruction.

Mason yanked his phone out.

8:23 A.M.

“Twenty-seven minutes!”

Tessa scanned the horizon, pointing down the crowded avenue. “The school is six blocks away.”

“We can clear that if we don't die!”

A thunderous crack echoed directly behind them. The villain emerged from the subway exit, electricity crackling around his limbs like writhing blue serpents.

“You cannot escape my wrath!”

Mason looked back over his shoulder as they sprinted. “We aren't escaping!” He pointed aggressively at the brick facade of their high school down the block. “We’re late!”

The villain snarled, throwing his hands forward to hurl a crackling bolt of high-voltage plasma straight at their backs.

Eli didn't even break stride. He flicked his wrist, opening a basketball-sized portal right in their path.

The lightning bolt slammed into the void and vanished.

With his other hand, Eli whipped open a second, inverted portal directly above the villain's head.

The captured electricity shot straight back down out of the sky, forcing the villain to throw himself sideways into a hotdog stand to avoid being fried by his own attack.

Tessa stared at Eli in shock as they ran. “Okay, that was genuinely impressive.”

Eli adjusted his sliding glasses without missing a beat. “I have been utilizing my downtime efficiently.”

Mason flashed a grin. “Save the magic show for later! School now!”

They ate up two blocks in a blur of pumping arms and burning lungs.

Then three.

At 8:37 A.M., they skidded to a violent halt at a major intersection, their sneakers chewing up the pavement.

The road ahead had completely vanished.

The villain's earlier subterranean demolition had triggered a massive sinkhole, leaving a crater the size of a swimming pool stretching across the entire intersection. Jagged edges of broken asphalt hung precariously over the drop, while superheated steam hissed violently from ruptured water and gas mains below. A driverless hovering transit bus had nosedived straight into a traffic signal, its emergency alarms chirping a frantic SOS.

Their testing school stood tauntingly on the exact opposite side.

Mason stared at the crater. Then at the school. Then down at his phone.

8:37 A.M.

Tessa swallowed hard, her voice tight. “We are not jumping that.”

Mason shook his head firmly. “Not on foot.”

Eli eyed him with instant, profound suspicion. “I recognize that specific, reckless look in your eyes.”

Mason pointed across the gap toward an abandoned delivery truck parked haphazardly against the curb. “Your portals can move us across.”

Eli scowled. “The portals are too small for a vehicle, Mason, and you know it.”

“Tessa can strip the friction entirely off the tires.”

Tessa’s eyes widened as she caught the drift.

Mason kept talking, his voice rising with manic energy. “And I can absorb and dump the truck's entire forward momentum into a single explosive launch.”

Eli slowly connected the dots, horror dawning on his face. “You want to turn a delivery truck into an unguided missile.”

“I want to borrow the truck.”

“That is grand theft auto!”

“We are dealing with semantics!”

“That is an indictable felony!”

Mason was already scrambling into the back of the open truck bed. “Are we taking the SAT today or accepting failure?!”

Tessa let out a long, defeated sigh. “I deeply resent the fact that this is our most viable option.”

She sprinted to the front tires, slapping her palms hard against the rubber. Instantly, the tires lost every drop of traction against the asphalt, turning slicker than greased glass.

Mason braced his back against the interior wall of the cargo hold, closing his eyes and pressing his palms into the metal frame.

He concentrated, drowning out the ambient sirens and screams. Every mechanical micro-vibration flooded his nervous system—the idle hum of the engine, the phantom spin of the frictionless wheels, the shudder of the damaged pavement beneath the chassis.

“Now!” Mason roared.

He triggered his ability, releasing a compressed shockwave of stored kinetic energy.

The truck lurched forward with the force of a artillery shell.

Tessa screamed as she scrambled into the passenger side. Eli snapped his hands forward, ripping open a portal directly in front of the careening vehicle.

The truck dove headfirst into the swirling black void.

For one breathless, stomach-dropping second, there was absolute zero gravity beneath them, suspended in a dark void of pure nothingness.

Then—

WHOOSH!

The delivery truck shot out of a second portal materialized high above the opposite side of the crater, airborne like a stunt car in an action movie.

All three of them screamed at the top of their lungs.

In mid-air, Tessa slammed her hand against the dashboard, instantly restoring full friction to the tires.

The truck slammed down onto the asphalt on the other side with bone-rattling force.

CRASH!

It bounced once. Twice. Shuddered violently, and then rocketed down the final stretch of street toward the school steps.

Mason burst out laughing, high on pure adrenaline. “We are absolute legends!”

Eli clung desperately to the side-view mirror, his knuckles stark white. “We are violent felons on the run from the law!”

“Details!”

The school loomed ahead.

8:51 A.M.

Nine minutes. They were finally going to make it.

Then a crackling arc of blue lightning sheared across the road ahead, gouging a fresh trench into the asphalt.

The villain materialized right in the middle of their path, his armor sparking furiously. “You will not reach your precious examination!”

Mason wrenched the steering wheel, leaping out of the slowing truck while it was still rolling. “Seriously, man? Let it go!”

The villain raised both hands, charging a devastating plasma blast. “You will bow before my supreme authority!”

Tessa hit the ground running, sliding on her knees and slamming her palm directly against the pavement beneath the villain's boots.

Friction vanished instantly.

The villain's feet shot out from under him like he was stepping on banana peels on polished ice. “What the—?!”

Mason intercepted him mid-slide, channeling his kinetic absorption to deliver a brutal redirection shove that sent the armored madman hurtling backward down the block.

Eli snapped his fingers.

A portal opened directly beneath the sliding villain. He plummeted through, only to pop out of a second portal suspended twenty feet in the air above a massive, inflatable promotional gorilla outside a storefront.

The villain crashed down squarely onto the bouncy plastic ape.

BOING!

He bounced five stories into the air, his cape wrapping tightly around his face like a blindfold. “Nooooo!”

Mason, Tessa, and Eli stood frozen on the sidewalk, blinking up at the sky in stunned silence as the villain pinwheeled helplessly toward a dumpster three blocks away.

Mason snapped out of it first, pointing urgently at the double doors of the school. “Move!”

They sprinted up the concrete steps, throwing their weight against the front doors and bursting into the lobby at 8:58 A.M.

Their sneakers shrieked across the pristine linoleum. Their lungs burned like raw fire, sweat plastered their shirts to their backs, and they collectively reeked of smoke, ozone, and crushed concrete dust.

An elderly faculty proctor looked up from the front desk, staring down her reading glasses at the three battered, soot-stained teenagers standing before her.

“You are cutting it remarkably close. You're late.”

Mason glanced at the lobby clock, panting heavily. “Technically, no.”

The proctor tapped her clipboard. “You have exactly sixty seconds.”

“We'll take thirty.”

They scrambled frantically down the hall toward the testing room.

Then Tessa froze in her tracks.

Mason nearly pile-drived directly into her spine. “What?!”

With trembling fingers, she slowly unzipped her backpack.

Her standard-issue wooden pencil was snapped cleanly, brutally in half.

Eli whipped out his own pencil case and checked. His graphite tip had been completely pulverized to dust in the backpack chaos.

Mason jammed a hand into his jacket pocket, pulling out his favorite mechanical pencil. The metal tip had been bent into a cruel, ninety-degree angle.

The three of them stared down at their ruined writing utensils in absolute horror.

After surviving a collapsing subway, a supervillain turf war, and a flying delivery truck, this felt infinitely more soul-crushing.

Mason stared up at the hallway clock.

8:59 A.M.

“We literally saved a subway station this morning.”

Eli nodded numbly, his hair standing on end from residual static. “We single-handedly prevented an unhinged terrorist from leveling lower Manhattan.”

Tessa held up her two splintered halves of wood. “And we are about to fail the SAT because we lack basic writing implements.”

The heavy oak testing room door swung open, and the head proctor poked her head out into the hall. “Do you three intend to take this examination, or are you merely decorating my hallway with debris?”

Mason swallowed hard, stepping forward. “Absolutely, ma'am.”

“Then get inside your seats. Now.”

They scrambled into the classroom like refugees, diving into their assigned desks. The proctor unceremoniously dropped three fresh, razor-sharp No. 2 pencils onto their desks.

Mason stared down at the yellow wooden cylinder as if it were the Holy Grail. He gently picked it up, cradling it like a newborn. “You have zero idea how fiercely I love you right now.”

The proctor offered a flat, unimpressed glare. “It is a standard graphite writing instrument, Mr. Vance.”

“You weren't out there.”

The heavy classroom door clicked shut, sealing them inside. Outside, the distant, mournful wail of city sirens still echoed faintly through the Manhattan air.

Inside, thirty students sat in absolute, pin-drop silence.

The wall clock clicked over to 9:00 A.M.

The proctor cleared her throat. “You may now begin.”

Mason flipped over his test booklet with a steady breath. The very first reading comprehension question stared mockingly back up at him from the page:

A train leaves Station A at...

He slowly turned his head to look at Tessa.

Tessa locked eyes with Eli.

Eli slowly closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do not say a single word.”

A small, exhausted smile crept onto Mason's face. “I was only going to point out that we certainly have practical, hands-on experience with train schedules today.”

Tessa buried her face completely in her hands.

Eli let out a long, suffering sigh.

From the front of the room, the proctor glared over her clipboard. “Begin.”

And for the first time all morning, the three of them were completely powerless.

At least until they finished the math section.