by Andy Briggs
“He did more than that, Hunter, and you know it. Your body has become entangled with Villain.net. And that’s what makes you valuable to both sides.”
“I told you before: I don’t care!”
“You have the unique ability to absorb powers from Villain.net, far greater than experts previously thought was possible. But not only that, you can create new ones that we’ve never seen before.”
Jake laughed. This was the usual sermon from Chameleon, but it didn’t change the fact that Jake had been tied to a chair every day and beaten for information.
Chameleon leaned forward, tenderness flashing across his face. “Hunter … Jake, please. Work with us, not against us. Use your abilities to help the Hero Foundation. Together we can eradicate evil and make the world a much better place.”
Jake took a moment to contemplate Chameleon’s offer, but it was a simple decision—there was only one important person. Himself.
With the limited movement available to him, Jake twisted his hand and threw an obscene gesture and a charming smile.
The look of fury on the hero’s face was worth the punch across the face from the Enforcer.
The silence was so deep that Jake could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He’d been mentally counting the minutes since they had thrown him back into his cell. The lighting was so intentionally bright that it was impossible to tell where the floor met the walls, and it hurt Jake’s eyes and made his photosensitive skin tingle unpleasantly. Aside from his addiction to Villain.net, that was another side effect of his DNA being entangled with the superpower system.
Jake was now feeling stronger than he had been when Chameleon had first apprehended him on the beach of Basilisk’s volcanic island. Perhaps there was something in the replacement power they’d been using to keep him alive. But now Jake had had enough. His craving for superpowers was too strong. It didn’t matter what the powers were—they always made him feel stronger and more alive. And his body was a cauldron of hyperenergy, sloshing it all around to give him useful if unexpected powers. Most of the time.
He had decided it was time to leave.
On his first night on Diablo Island he had found a cell phone tucked under the pillow in his chamber. On it was a link to access the Villain.net Web site, and he knew from past experience that he could download limited powers from this device. But he had resisted using the phone in case it was some kind of trap set up by Chameleon.
The second night he had received a text message on the phone telling him not to delay escaping. The message was just signed “Your Caring Benefactor.”
He had no idea who that person was. He’d speculated it could be Basilisk, who had claimed they were now genetic twins, almost clones. But why would the archfiend help? Jake had sworn revenge after he’d made him addicted to Villain.net.
Now, as midnight approached and the Enforcers who patrolled the cellblock had returned to their barracks for a scheduled break, Jake pulled the cell phone from under his pillow and stared at the screen. His fingers trembled, both from excitement at the prospect of escaping, and from a lack of strength. He pushed the control pad to highlight the Villain.net link, a lengthy mixture of foreign alphabets and numbers, and clicked on it.
Within seconds the screen changed to a miniature version of the Web site. There was a list of icons, all representing superpowers and all too small to identify …
He blindly chose several powers and saw a thin tendril warp out of the screen and tap him on the forehead. Then a sensation like pins and needles rippled through his body and he went from being weak and lethargic to feeling as if he could conquer the world.
Jake leaped off his bed and stretched his arms, feeling the blood flow to his muscles and his mind sharpen to primeval alertness. He had gleaned a little information from the Enforcer guards who escorted him to and from his cell each day. They had talked freely, assuming that Jake was no longer a threat. His cell walls were a few feet thick, and at the end of the corridor, which was lined with security cameras, lay an open courtyard where some prisoners were permitted to exercise, although Jake had never been allowed outside. He was being housed in the minimal security wing; after all, he was now just a boy with no superpowers. Hardly a threat to Diablo Island Penitentiary—the very name of which made seasoned supervillains tremble.
Jake tucked the phone into his jeans pocket—the same worn black jeans he’d been wearing for weeks. He knew that the moment the alarms were triggered, hundreds of heavily armed Enforcers would be upon him, and he wasn’t sure he had the strength to fight them all. The situation called for a tactical approach.
His fingers traced the edges of the cell door in the hope he could find a gap, but it was made with such precision it could have been airtight. Jake was beginning to think he’d have to resort to brute force when the lock suddenly clicked open as he moved his hand across it. Puzzled, Jake gently pulled the door open and stepped out into the dark corridor beyond. He experimentally waved his hand across the lock several times and each time it slid back and forth through some kind of telekinesis.
“Now that’s cool,” Jake murmured to himself, shutting the door behind him.
He looked around the corridor and immediately identified three surveillance cameras. He wafted his hand like he was swatting a fly, and all three cameras quickly snapped aside, as if he’d physically struck them.
Jake stealthily approached the double security doors ahead, his mind running through his options. His overwhelming urge was to find Chameleon, who he knew was somewhere on the island, and exact his revenge. But the new cautious side of Jake’s mind urged him to flee as quickly as possible. He might have superpowers, but nobody had yet managed to escape from Diablo Island, as he was constantly reminded.
As he took several more steps to freedom the double doors suddenly gave a loud beep and began to slide apart—somebody was coming in! Evidently he had miscounted while lying in his cell, and this was the scheduled security patrol. Fighting panic, he moved into the shadows—and felt a sensation just like falling into water. He gave a startled yelp as he saw his body transform and disappear into the pool of blackness. His head popped from the shadows on the floor, just enough to comprehend he had become part of them. Two Enforcers had entered, weapons cradled in their arms. They walked past Jake without noticing him, both doing bad impressions of a TV comedian they had just been watching.
Jake gave silent thanks that, by chance, he had the right powers to slide him out unnoticed. Then a second thought hit him—perhaps his mysterious benefactor had ensured that he’d downloaded exactly the powers he’d need, just like Basilisk had done before.
Basilisk. Again that name brought a wave of anger. Jake was sure that he wanted to kill the villain on sight, and he figured Basilisk realized this. The fiend was responsible for ruining his life, getting him imprisoned—everything that was bad in Jake’s life had been a direct consequence of Basilisk’s involvement. But if it wasn’t Basilisk helping him out, then who could it possibly be?
His benefactor’s identity would have to wait until he got clear of Diablo Island. In fact, he had no idea where the island was located geographically. He clambered out of the shadows, as easily as pulling himself out of a swimming pool, and ran through the doors just as they were closing.
He was outside for the first time in days, standing in a courtyard half the size of a football field. The first thing that struck him was the intense cold and heavy falling snow. It felt like being back in Moscow again. The second thing he noticed was that it was night, but the courtyard was bathed in brilliant floodlights. An alarm suddenly sounded.
An Enforcer in a watchtower had opened the door for his two colleagues to enter the minimum-security wing, and he had watched them step inside without incident. When he looked at his bank of monitors to confirm they were safely inside, he was surprised to see that the images coming from the corridor showed blank walls. He tore his gaze from the screen and back into the courtyard in time to see Jake run out. The doors close
d behind the boy, and the Enforcer punched a bright-red alarm button.
“Aw, geez,” Jake groaned as the sound of whooping sirens erupted across the complex. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. He shielded his eyes from the floodlights and saw an Enforcer aim his gun.
“On the ground now or I’ll open fire!” yelled the guard.
Jake reacted on impulse and extended his hands, hoping something spectacular would happen. He wasn’t disappointed.
An enormous energy sphere formed between both hands and he lobbed it like a bowling ball. The energy sphere smashed into the legs of the watchtower, tearing two of the steel supports away. The entire structure toppled over with a wail of stressed steel. The tower struck a wall halfway up its length, and the momentum pitched the Enforcer hard to the floor.
More guards ran from doors opposite Jake, and he heard the doors to the minimum-security wing begin to rumble open behind him. He spun around and formed another energy sphere—slamming it into the door with such force that the steel buckled, preventing it from opening any farther.
By the time he turned back around to see the growing army of angry Enforcers, a hail of bullets had impacted inches from him—all stopped by a translucent energy shield that expanded from his body and rippled with each hit. Jake was not sure how long the shield would last—the number of bullets increased with such ferocity that he was soon facing a wall of lead. It obscured his view like insects on a car windshield. The clatter of falling shells was almost as loud as the gunshots.
Jake walked forward, but the weight of the bullets made it feel like he was walking through molasses. He blindly lobbed another energy sphere. It must have struck some Enforcers as the gunfire abated and he heard screams.
A voice echoed around from the prison’s PA system. “Jake Hunter, you have been identified and will be terminated if you do not surrender!”
Yeah, great options, thought Jake.
Copyright © 2008 by Andy Briggs
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Oxford University Press
Published in the United States of America in January 2010 by
Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Electronic edition published in October 2011
Visit Walker & Company’s Web site at www.bloomsburykids.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Briggs, Andy.
Virus attack / Andy Briggs.
p. cm. — (Hero.com)
Summary: Arch fiends Basilisk and the Worm try to destroy the Hero Foundation by first bringing down the Web site from which teenagers Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily download their superpowers.
eISBN 978 0 8027 2819 7 (ebook)
[1. Superheroes—Fiction. 2. Computer viruses—Fiction.
3. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B76528Vi 2010 [Fic]—dc22 2009007462
