Rise of the Heroes

by Andy Briggs

  “Please … no more X-ray vision!” he murmured. Intense rays of light blasted from his eyes, striking the platform and another behind it as he moved his gaze.

  “Wow! Look what I can do!” he screamed triumphantly.

  He turned to search for Toby—and the beams continued to blast from his eyes, inadvertently cutting down two of the thugs maneuvering behind his friend. Toby spun around—and ducked—just as Pete’s laser vision sliced narrowly over his head, gouging lines in the enormous barge behind him.

  “Pete! Watch it!”

  “Sorry!” Pete said, forcing himself to blink and stop the beams. When he opened his eyes the world was blurry. Had the superpower suddenly made him blind?

  Panic-stricken, he removed his glasses to clean them. His fingers went through the frames. Holding them up, he could see the lasers had burned perfect holes through the glass lenses.

  “Oh, shoot!” he cried.

  Everything was a blur. Toby, Emily, and Lorna were indistinguishable from the other figures flying around. A glider-disc banked toward him at a furious speed. Pete reacted on instinct and shot his laser blast at the approaching enemy—only registering a figure between him and his target at the very last second.

  “Lorna!” he screamed, but she didn’t hear him.

  In a confusing blur of activity the disc exploded as his laser blast struck. A furious cloud of orange flames chewed up the glider—the soldier riding it fell dozens of feet, miraculously landing on top of another disc swooping below. Pete’s heart pounded as he scanned the skies, but he couldn’t see Lorna.

  He might have killed her.

  Pete was horrified, but before he could think of what to do, a powerful blow struck him in the back, and he was flung head over heels. His head hit something solid.

  Pete staggered to his feet and was surprised to see a wall of gold. It took him seconds to get his bearings and realize he was standing on one of the barge decks. The other hung in the sky above him. The gold was being loaded fast by the mercenaries on their gliders. It already covered an area about a third the size of a football field. It was stacked in high blocks, with narrow aisles between them.

  “Thought you could fight me again, worm?” said a familiar voice that made Pete spin around.

  Doc Tempest was several feet away. He had obviously slammed Pete onto the barge. Any reply from Pete was swallowed as he noticed a vortex of whirling air and gold bricks dropping above his head.

  Pete dived aside as the mass descended slowly to the deck, landing where he had been standing seconds before. Gold whirled inside the vortex, which was generated by a goon’s glider floating above. It had sucked up gold bricks in a miniature whirlwind, literally vacuumed up the gold to be deposited in relatively neat blocks on the barge. Worry about Lorna temporarily disappeared as Pete marveled at the villain’s ingenuity.

  His eyes lingered on the gold, which gleamed almost hypnotically—just one bar was worth more than his family owned … had ever owned.

  “Ah, I see a familiar gleam in your eyes, boy. A poor boy shown the wealth of a nation,” gloated Tempest. “Think if you had one, no, ten of those bars. Think how rich you would be.”

  Pete stared at Tempest. Even without his glasses, he could see the veins under the villain’s skin pulsing.

  “The rich don’t get bullied. They don’t have sleepless nights worrying about their parents paying the next bill. They can have anything they want, do anything they want. It’s yours. Take it. A gift from me. All you have to do is help me get rid of your toy-hero pals.”

  The thought of living in riches floated through Pete’s brain: a life of luxury would be worth a few sacrifices. He ran his hand across the gold.

  “That’s a very tempting offer,” said Pete. The gold felt cool and hard. With money like this, he could ditch school and the bullies; live in his own place without his parents’ misery to deal with.

  No more arguments. No more crying himself to sleep.

  “It’s the real deal,” purred Tempest. “You could afford laser surgery to your eyes. No more squinting or horrible nicknames.”

  Pete remembered a proverb: money doesn’t buy happiness. Somebody who really didn’t know what wealth could buy must have come up with that phrase. Pete was pretty sure it would make him a lot happier. And if not happier, it would certainly buy him a better standard of misery. He thought of Lorna. Nothing would alleviate the fear he was feeling about her. If she was dead, Toby would never forgive him. He might as well be guilty and rich, as opposed to guilty and poor.

  Tempest was beginning to get impatient as the remains of a burning glider clattered down on the barge just feet away.

  “Hurry up, I don’t have all day,” he said. “What d’you think I am, a bank? Make up your mind.”

  Pete met Tempest’s gaze; his life-changing decision had been made.

  “That is a generous offer … but does that mean I would have to look as ugly as you? I mean, what happened to your head to make it look like that?”

  Even out of focus, Pete could see Tempest’s face twist into a snarl of anger.

  “Fool!” Doc Tempest screamed and leveled his arm at Pete.

  Pete jumped to his feet and ran, as lightning spewed from Doc Tempest’s fingers and raked across the barge’s deck, leaving black scorch marks. Pete could feel the heat of the electricity on the backs of his legs. He ducked into the golden aisles, hoping he could lose the villain.

  In the sky above the carrier craft, Emily looked around, suddenly aware that she hadn’t seen Lorna for a while. She slid sideways to avoid a mass of glue-bullets and spurred forward toward the henchman that had fired at her. In retaliation she crunched through his platform like a knife through butter. The bewildered man gripped half a glider-disc as it pirouetted earthward.

  She glanced back at the barge in time to see Pete running from Doc Tempest’s lightning attack. Her first instinct was to swoop down and help him—but then she noticed the second carrier was wheeling its gun turrets around to point them in Toby’s direction.

  Clenching her chrome fingers she took a second to bask in the warmth of the superpowers that flowed through her. In that moment of calm, Emily hatched a plan.

  Toby was having a little too much fun as he flew in wide arcs, easily outrunning the resin-blobs that whizzed past him. Too fast and agile for the gliders to keep up, he chose to remain a moving target, shooting fireballs so rapidly that it looked like the sky was raining flames.

  Toby saw Doc Tempest chasing Pete across the deck of the gold-laden barge. Pete was lost from view between the stacks of bullion.

  “Pete!” With a roar, Toby accelerated toward the barge.

  Hidden behind a large pile of gold, Pete held his breath, fearing the slightest wheeze would alert Doc Tempest to his presence.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are, boy,” taunted Tempest.

  Pete moved to a crossroads of narrow passages between the gold. Tempest could be standing just around the corner.

  “Only rats and cockroaches hide. Heroes fight!” Tempest’s voice drifted down the aisle. “But you’re no hero, are you?”

  This time the voice was an icy whisper, close to his ear. Pete spun around in fear, but no one was there … then, with a sinking feeling, he peered up.

  Doc Tempest was hovering above him with a faint roar from his rocket boots, a sour grin on his face and his fingers outstretched, ready to strike. “Say good-bye to the riches you could have had!” sneered Tempest. “In fact, say good-bye to life!”

  Pete pressed himself against a bullion wall, waiting for the blast—when a ball of flame suddenly threw Doc Tempest sideways.

  Toby swooped over the blocks of gold, cheering as his fireball dropped Doc Tempest onto the deck.

  Toby hovered over Pete. “You okay?”

  Pete leaped into the air and floated alongside Toby. He nodded, but avoided meeting Toby’s gaze.

  “Yeah … but I broke my glasses, and I can’t see very well.”

&n
bsp; “What kind of superhero breaks his glasses?” exclaimed Toby.

  “The lame kind!” snarled Doc Tempest as he rose into the air like an avenging angel.

  Instinctively Toby shot out a pair of fireballs, but this time Tempest was ready. A shimmering blue energy shield blossomed from his small replacement wristband—only about the size of a trash can lid, but big enough to deflect the two fireballs aside.

  “Game’s up, Tempest!” Toby shouted, ready to fire another volley. “I came here for my mother. Now hand her over!”

  “Of course. I bring all my prisoners out on my heists. Go on a picnic; get to know them better,” he said sarcastically. “She is not here, you imbecile!”

  “Then tell me where she is, and I won’t have to, say … blow your head off?”

  “Really?” said Doc Tempest smiling. “You and what army?”

  Pete had had enough. Gritting his teeth he squinted hard at Tempest. The dual laser beams struck his energy shield, shattering a segment away as though it was made of glass. Tempest was surprised. Pete remembered to blink before he cut off his own feet.

  Toby seized the opportunity and flicked a single fireball at Tempest. It hit his chest, knocking him back down onto the carrier deck.

  Both boys zoomed over Tempest who was flat on his back, a sizzling hole in his costume revealing chalky skin beneath. They landed beside him. Toby stalked menacingly toward the villain. Tempest’s men were still looting the bank and had not yet noticed their fallen leader.

  “Now talk!” shouted Toby through gritted teeth. “Where is my mom?”

  “My … my base …”

  BLAM! Toby fired a flaming ball against the deck, close enough to Tempest’s head to singe his hair.

  “Not good enough! Where?” persisted Toby. “Antarctica!” spat Tempest. “But you won’t be going there.”

  A shadow fell across the deck. Both boys saw the second barge had positioned itself close to theirs, bow facing them so they had a close-up view of the gunturret aimed directly at them. Using it on them would be like using a cannon on an anthill.

  “End of your brief careers as troublemakers, I think,” Tempest jeered, already scrabbling away from the boys. Then he yelled: “Fire!”

  Frozen to the spot, Pete and Toby saw a small flicker of light deep within the gun barrel as the energy cannon charged up.

  But then the barge shuddered violently. Everybody watched in amazement as a silver streak erupted from its side, leaving a gaping hole!

  Emily had punctured the prow of the barge, weakening the superstructure so much that it could no longer support the weight of the cannon. The prow tipped forward, then fell from view as the front end of the barge snapped off with a horrendous screech of tearing metal.

  With the antigravity system severed in two, the remainder of the barge plunged like a rock.

  Doc Tempest jumped to his feet and ran to the edge of the deck to watch the stricken vessel fall. Emily landed on the deck, the silver sheen covering her melting away, returning her to normal.

  “Hi,” she said, almost too casually.

  Pete looked at her, openmouthed. “You are … uh, I mean, that was incredible!”

  “Em! Am I glad to see you!” Toby asked, never taking his eyes from Tempest. “Where’s Lorna?”

  “I don’t know. I thought she was with you,” said Emily. She glanced at Pete in such a way that he was sure she knew what he had done.

  Doc Tempest turned to face the trio, anger etched on his face. “You will pay for this!”

  “Try me!” said Pete, suddenly feeling angry.

  A chorus of guns click-clacking made the three heroes look up. The remaining henchmen had finally stopped looting the gold and rushed over to help their boss. About thirty glider-discs hovered around them. Thirty resin-rifles pointed in their direction.

  “I’d rather turn you into ice sculptures,” Tempest growled.

  The next set of events seemed to happen in slow motion. Emily took several steps forward, chrome slivers already forming across her slight frame.

  BLAM! Thirty guns erupted as one.

  A mass of glue-bullets headed straight for them. Toby and Pete just had time to raise their hands as if that feeble attempt would stop the barrage.

  Half a dozen bullets clobbered Emily, the impact propelling her against the wall of gold as the gummy resin swelled on impact with her body.

  The remaining shots were aimed at Toby and Pete, but they didn’t reach their target. Instead the bullets struck an invisible shield Toby had created in front of the boys, taking the full brunt of the assault.

  Real time seemed to have caught up. Toby and Pete powered into the air, mustering all the speed they could. Below, the glue-bullets had adhered Emily firmly to the gold stacks. It was clear she was going nowhere.

  “We’ve got to go!” urged Pete.

  “We can’t leave Emily. And where’s Lorna?”

  Pete licked his dry lips. “Tobe … buddy.” Now was not the right time for explanations. “We have to go!”

  Toby allowed Pete to pull him toward the edge of the hurricane wall before they turned around; thirty gliders were in hot pursuit.

  “Come on!” screamed Pete. “We can’t leave them!”

  “If they’ve been caught then it’s up to us to get your mother! There’s no way we can beat all those guys on our own! Not right now!”

  Tempest’s soldiers were gaining ground fast. They would be back in firing range soon.

  Toby was paralyzed with indecision. Pete grabbed his friend’s shoulder so hard it hurt.

  “Listen to me. They’re more use to Tempest alive than dead if he knows we’re still around!”

  That made some fractured sense to Toby.

  “They’re catching up!” persisted Pete. Several bullets whooshed past as if to emphasize his point.

  Toby cast one last look at the barge where Emily was stuck fast. He wondered where his sister was. More bullets zipped past, forcing them both to fly through the hurricane wall. By the time the pursuing thugs had followed them through the fierce winds, the sky was empty.

  There was nothing but the echo of a double thunderclap.

  To the Rescue

  Anger muddled Toby’s mind, making any rational thought slip away. They had arrived back at Pete’s house, appearing in his backyard amid a heavy shower of rain that hadn’t done much to lift their spirits.

  Inside, Toby was ignoring Pete’s pleas to stop pacing the floor. Before they had disappeared through the turbulent hurricane wall, Toby claimed he saw the distant figure of Doc Tempest bearing down on Emily, who was caught like a fly in a web. She was struggling, which was a healthy indication she was alive.

  For now.

  But what about Lorna?

  Pete had excused himself, saying he needed to find his second pair of glasses, the free ones with the thick frames. Then he spent a harrowing thirty minutes in the bathroom, replaying the events at Fort Knox over and over. Lorna had swooped into his line of fire … had he hit her? Or had she been caught in the explosion? It was impossible to know. But what should he tell Toby? That Lorna might be dead, but it wasn’t Pete’s fault? That it had been an accident?

  That didn’t stop him from feeling guilty. He stared at his pale reflection in the mirror. If he didn’t own up, was he as bad as a villain? And if he told Toby he thought he’d killed Lorna, would that destroy Toby’s confidence about finding his mother and Emily? As bad as he felt, Pete eventually convinced himself that it would be better to suffer alone. Thinking his sister was missing was bad enough for Toby. Thinking she might be dead would be too much.

  Meanwhile, Toby felt hollow inside. First he’d lost his mother, and now his sister and Emily. He regretted all those pointless arguments he’d had with them … even if it seemed they had mostly started them. Worse still, he had never told them how much he really did love them, and the opportunity to do so seemed to be fading with each passing minute. If the four of them hadn’t been able to stop Doc Tempes
t, what could two of them do?

  Pete reappeared and nudged his friend out of his stupor, thrusting a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. “That’ll keep you awake.”

  “Yeah, like I need it. I haven’t slept since all this started.” Toby sipped the dark brown liquid in the cup and winced. It tasted terrible. “It’s like finding that Web site was a curse.”

  Pete didn’t reply. He had no doubts at all about the value of their discovery. “Look at it this way,” he said thoughtfully. “We didn’t get to use all of our powers against him.”

  “So? We did nothing! We didn’t get my mom, we didn’t stop the raid and, to top it off, we lost Lorna and Emily!”

  The mention of Lorna made Pete’s cheeks burn red. “But they didn’t get to use everything they downloaded either!”

  Toby thought about that. There had seemed to be more than enough Heroic points after Mr. Patel had paid them, so they’d greedily clicked on the mouse button, scooping up every icon that appealed to them. Lorna had explained that by downloading multiple powers the chances would be low that they would download completely useless ones; if they had several, then one of them had to be practical.

  Only afterward had Emily wondered what they’d do if there were side effects to possessing so many powers at once. This had caused Pete to tread carefully as they left the house, muttering that he was worried that he might explode at any moment. This train of thought nudged something in the back of Toby’s mind.

  “They can teleport!”

  “So?”

  “If they can still teleport, then why don’t they just get out of… wherever it is they are and come home?”

  Pete was about to say, “ Maybe they can’t,” and confess his fears, but he stopped himself. “They could have found something interesting and got distracted, or maybe only one of them has been captured and the other doesn’t want to leave … or maybe they’ve found your mom already?”

  “Or maybe they’re dead,” Toby finished darkly.