Free The Great Powers Outage by William Boniface Page B

the ceiling, like a turtle stuck on its back. The most hysterical bug-eyed scream I had ever seen was frozen on his face. I would have laughed if I could have.
    â€œYou’re worse than a pack of wild animals,” Miss Marble began to rant, “which makes today’s activity all the more appropriate. Rather than wasting time teaching you things you’ll forget an hour later, today we’re going on a field trip.”
    A class trip! A chance to get out of the school for the day and investigate some (usually boring—but who cares?) part of Superopolis! I hoped it would be someplace fun.
    â€œThis trip is to see something I know you’ll all love ,” Miss Marble continued with sarcasm. She smirked, and then went in for the kill.
    â€œToday you’ll have the pleasure of hearing a live political speech from none other than Mayor Whitewash himself.”
    As her power began to wear off, I heard the first groans issuing from the mouths of my classmates. Yet even as my own range of movement returned, I noticed that her triumphant grin was fading. There was more that she hadn’t told us.
    â€œOf course,” she added with a reluctant sigh, “the speech will be taking place at the Superopolis Zoo.”
    The class erupted in cheers, as Miss Marble rolled her eyes in annoyance.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    What’s New at the Zoo?
    The school bus dropped us off at the main entrance to the Superopolis Zoo. It was a beautiful, mild October day and the place was busier than normal. There were a number of school field trips just like ours, and even a few people—very few—who had come specifically to hear the mayor’s speech.
    Mayor Whitewash had always been a successful politician because of his power to convince people to agree with whatever he said. It wasn’t as powerful a gift as the Red Menace’s ability to make people do whatever he said, but I wondered if he couldn’t still somehow convince people to stop eating Pseudo-Chips. I was hoping this unexpected trip to the zoo might provide an opportunity for me to enlist his help.
    Miss Marble led us through the twisting trails of the zoo, past cages of lions and swamps full of alligators, fields of elephants and pools of penguins, hills riddled with prairie dogs and trees full of monkeys. I had been here dozens of times, but today something seemed odd.
    LI’L HERO’S HANDBOOK
    PLACES

    THE SUPEROPOLIS ZOO
    With animals of almost every known species, the Superopolis Zoo provides a serene setting for the city’s wildlife. It also keeps them safe from a city of superpowered humans, who are often the most dangerous animals around. How the zoo was populated, given its location in an environment devoid of any natural fauna, is a mystery of little interest to anyone.
    Usually the animals went about their business oblivious to the humans strolling around looking at them. Yet today I had the distinct impression that they were watching us . The first thing I noticed was a group of six tropical birds perched atop a chain-link fence looking right at us. Sparkplug noticed them, too, and, being a creep, reached over to touch the fence. A jolt of electricity coursed through the metal fence, and the shocked birds scattered amid squawks of alarm.
    The seal pool was coming up next on our right, and Cannonball ran up to the edge, with Lobster Boy close behind him, his claws still shoved in his pockets. The fat jerk was oblivious of the seal staring at him in a very unseal-like manner.
    â€œI’ve got seafood,” he said, coaxing the seal to come forward as he kept his hands behind his back like he was holding a fish. “Come and get the seafood.”
    â€œCannonball,” Lobster Boy said as they watched the seal crawling forward, “you don’t have any seafood.”
    â€œDon’t I?” He smirked as he grabbed Lobster Boy and hoisted him into the air above the seal pool.
    â€œHELP!” Lobster