Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  Live ammunition was one thing, but this was certain death. What were they trying to do? Get us killed? I remembered the warning from Doctor Richards. Trust no one. Was this just an elaborate ruse to get rid of us?

  No. That was ridiculous. These people wanted us to survive; they just had a strange way of showing it.

  Pushing through some bushes, we reached a metal fence that obviously hadn’t been put there to welcome visitors. About twelve feet high, it had barbed wire running across the top. Beyond it lay a clearing and half a dozen buildings. I nudged the others and pointed. The white obelisk sat in the middle of the compound.

  Brodie tilted her head. ‘Do you hear that?’

  ‘It’s electrified,’ I said. ‘We need to disconnect the power.’

  ‘How long till Chad and Dan create the diversion?’ Ebony asked.

  Just as I was about to reply, I heard a sound like an almighty wind and gazed into the sky in amazement.

  ‘Um,’ I said. ‘Now?’

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I’ll say one thing for Chad.

  He’s never subtle. When I told him we needed a diversion, I envisioned a fire in the jungle or a block of ice falling out of the sky. Instead, we were confronted with a full-scale bombardment so extreme that I wasn’t even sure we’d survive it. Fireballs reigned down like meteorites, slamming into the ground. Some landed in the compound, but they seemed to be crashing down all over the island. Explosions shook the ground. The fireballs must have been setting off The Agency’s traps.

  I looked a little closer at the balls of ice. Some of them were rocks the size of footballs.

  Huh?

  Chad could control fire and ice. Dan could manipulate metals. So, where were the rocks coming from?

  Brodie had the answer. ‘There must be a high metal content in those rocks,’ she said. ‘Dan must be behind those.’

  I nodded. Our ears were ringing from the attack. So much that I didn’t notice the change in the fence until Ebony seized my arm.

  ‘The electricity’s off,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  Reaching out, she grabbed the fence and didn’t turn into a barbecued chicken. ‘Pretty sure,’ she said, smiling.

  It was one of the only times I’d seen her smile. She had such a pretty face. I wondered if—

  Brodie dug me in the ribs. ‘Will we keep moving?’

  I nodded. Ebony turned a section of the fence into clear gas—probably oxygen—and we climbed through the gap. From there, we skirted across a short distance to take refuge behind a building. This gave us a clear view of the obelisk. In the back of my mind, I had a vague idea about how to destroy it. We’d get Ebony to turn it to helium or something, but we had to reach it first.

  Two soldiers appeared from around a corner.

  Surprisingly, they weren’t human, but some sort of battle droid. Covered in a suit composed of rubber and Kevlar, and armed with rifles, they looked tough. Good thing we had Brodie. She sprinted across the clearing and slammed one in the neck. The other, she flung over her left shoulder and ripped its arm off.

  ‘Nice job,’ I said as Ebony and I started after her.

  An alarm rang out loud and clear across the compound. A door burst open, and more battle droids poured through. I threw a boulder at them, but it didn’t achieve much. More began appearing from buildings all over the compound.

  They started shooting. Bullets flew in all directions as I threw up a shield. We advanced through the robotic army. Brodie grabbed robots and broke them apart as Ebony transformed a few into gas.

  She turned to me. ‘We’re almost there!’ she yelled, her voice like a chipmunk. She giggled. ‘Sorry—helium.’

  We were only a few feet from the obelisk when the ground shook beneath us. At first, I thought it was another barrage from Chad and Dan. Then I realized we were sinking.

  ‘Watch out!’ I yelled. ‘It’s—’

  The ground swallowed us, and we fell about twenty feet into an underground cavern. I cushioned our landing while also deflecting bullets from the droids above.

  Brodie yelled. ‘Over here!’

  The cave was roughly circular, with a slight overhang on one side. The gunfire was relentless as we took refuge. It was only when we were out of sight that the droids stopped firing.

  That can’t be good.

  It wasn’t. A metal ceiling slid into place, closing us off from the outside world. I dusted dirt from my face, annoyed with myself. I should have realized this was too straightforward.

  ‘Any ideas?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘Surrender?’ I suggested, not seriously.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Ebony interrupted. ‘We’ve got company.’

  A door slid open on the other side of the cavern. Three battle droids appeared. They were different from the others: taller, but without weapons.

  Fantastic, I thought. A break—finally.

  I fired a series of invisible cannonballs at them, but nothing happened.

  What—

  I understood. This room was protected with that dampening field—zeno rays—that Ravana used against us.

  That’s not fair! Why does—

  I stopped. Of course, it wasn’t fair. This was a life and death battle designed to prepare us for…life and death. Ebony was the first to move. Crossing the cavern in seconds, she took on one of the droids, hitting it with a flurry of punches. We followed close behind. Brodie did well while I immediately got into difficulty. My droid slammed me across the face and sent me flying.

  I kicked the legs out from under it and start hammering its head into the ground. It spun about, swept my legs out from under me, and I landed face first in the dirt. We rolled around on the ground before it straddled my body and started punching my face. Despite my attempts to deflect the blows, most of them still connected. How long could I—

  The droid’s head flew off, and it toppled over. I looked around to Brodie who was still finishing off her droid. The robot was finding it hard to fight back with no arms and legs. But the person who’d saved me was Ebony. She stood there, wielding the dismembered arm of her droid, which she’d just used it as a club to attack my opponent.

  ‘How did you…what did…’ I began.

  ‘Did you sleep through basic training?’ Ebony asked. ‘What has Mister Brown been teaching you?’

  ‘How to fly…how to break the sound barrier…’ I said weakly. ‘That sort of stuff.’

  Brodie strode over just in time to see Ebony help me up.

  ‘Having fun?’ she asked.

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘Where to from here?’

  We had to find the zeno emitters, but that only took a moment. They were speaker-like contraptions set into the surrounding walls. We tore them out. Then we peered up at the metal ceiling. We had to get through it first. Beyond it, a thousand of those droids lay waiting. I groaned, not relishing the idea of facing them.

  Ebony shook her head. ‘Forget that,’ she said. ‘There’s an easier way out.’

  ‘How’s that?’ Brodie asked.

  Ebony touched the wall. Concentrating, a tunnel appeared in the rock. She continued forward, dissolving the rock to oxygen as we progressed towards the surface. Stopping just below ground level, she turned back to us.

  ‘The mining industry would love you,’ Brodie told Ebony.

  The girl nodded. ‘I’ll be a miner if this superhero gig doesn’t work.’

  The ground started to shake again. Chad and Dan must have resumed their aerial bombardment of the island.

  ‘What do you think is the best way to handle this?’ Brodie asked.

  I shrugged. ‘Let’s make an impact.’

  Throwing a shield around us, we burst through the ground into the world outside. We were now only a few feet from the obelisk. The droids were still waiting for us to emerge from where we’d disappeared underground. They spun about and started firing immediately, but the bullets couldn’t get through my barrier.

  The r
acket was incredible, but what lessened it was Ebony slapping a hand on the obelisk and turning it to dust.

  Yes! We’ve done it.

  Except the droid’s attack didn’t subside.

  ‘I thought they were supposed to quit once we took out the obelisk!’ Brodie yelled in my ear.

  I’d assumed the same thing too. It looked like we still had to get off the island. I flew us into the air. Leaving the droids behind, I took us across the jungle to where we’d arranged to pick up Chad and Dan. Minutes later, we were zooming across the water towards the mainland.

  ‘You should have seen it!’ Dan yelled. ‘First, we blew up the island. Then these robots appeared, and we turned them to junk.’

  ‘Molten junk in some cases,’ Chad piped up.

  Reaching the mainland, I thought we’d done a pretty good job. That thought was quickly put to the test, though, when we reached the beach. Twelve was waiting for us, and he looked more severe than ever. He solemnly congratulated us, which wasn’t bad considering he’d thrown us in jail less than twenty-four hours before.

  ‘Your mission was a complete success,’ he said.

  ‘So now we get some time off,’ Chad said, nodding.

  Twelve shakes his head. ‘Unfortunately, not.’

  I started. ‘But Mister Brown said—’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Twelve interrupted. ‘Typhoid is moving sooner than expected. You fly out first thing tomorrow morning.’ He studied each of our faces in turn. ‘School’s out.’

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  By dinner time, we had our wounds dressed and had received a battery of shots to safeguard us against every infectious disease known to man. And then some, it seemed. The burn to Chad’s chest was superficial; the modification process allowed our injuries to heal at a faster than average rate.

  There were some benefits to having superpowers.

  After dinner, we were given a preliminary rundown of the mission, but the main briefing would be the next morning. We sat around the entertainment room and talked about the day’s events. Dan couldn’t get over the shooting gallery of destruction he and Chad had created. The way he described it sounded more like a computer game than real life. Everyone was relaxed. Probably the most relaxed we’d been in weeks. We were feeling confident about how we’d performed.

  Later, Brodie and I found ourselves wandering aimlessly through one of the passageways. Turning a corner, we bumped into Mister Brown.

  ‘Ah, recruit,’ he said. ‘I heard you did well on the course today.’ He held out a hand. ‘Congratulations.’

  Incredible, I thought. Mister Brown is operating like a normal human being.

  ‘Th-thanks,’ I stammered.

  ‘That doesn’t make us brothers,’ he said without a smile.

  ‘No, I wasn’t expecting—’

  Then he really freaked me. He burst out laughing, his face breaking into a wide grin showing a full set of teeth. Shaking his head, he said, ‘If you could see your face right now…’

  I’m not sure what I looked like, but I must have looked stunned.

  ‘So where are you both headed?’ he asked.

  ‘We were just wandering around,’ Brodie said. ‘Any chance we could go outside?’

  ‘I don’t see why not.’

  Up till now, this place has been like a fortress. Now all of a sudden, we could just walk around like free people. My feeling of astonishment must have been reflected on my face because Mister Brown gave me another grin and a slap on the shoulder.

  ‘If you were going to leave,’ he said, ‘you would have done it already.’

  Yep, I guess we would have.

  He took us up in an elevator to the surface. It opened onto a dark, rolling field of green hills. The moon was out, and the sky clear. Mister Brown clasped a hand to my shoulder as he left us.

  ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’ he said.

  Whatever that meant.

  Brodie just rolled her eyes and gave me a smile. We made our way across the field to an embankment of rocks. We sat and studied the stars.

  ‘Mister Brown seems like a nice guy, after all,’ I said.

  ‘You didn’t think so before?’

  ‘Are you kidding? I thought he was a monster.’

  Brodie laughed. ‘It’s their job to train us hard.’

  ‘Well, they’re good at it.’

  We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was suddenly aware that Brodie was sitting right next to me. Very close, in fact, her arm only a few inches away. My face turned red, and I was glad it was dark.

  Should I kiss her? Does she want me to? Or would that just be weird?

  I didn’t know what to do.

  Brodie looked up at me expectantly. She was very beautiful in the moonlight. Actually, she was beautiful at any time, night or day. I imagined what would go wrong if I kissed her. She might freak out. Things could get uncomfortable, and that’s the last thing we need.

  Leaning over, she kissed me. Her lips were soft against mine. Brodie pressed herself against me, and her chest touched mine. Her heart seemed to be beating a million miles a minute.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ she asked.

  I’m in love.

  That’s what I was thinking, but to say that would have been stupid. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Just thinking about tomorrow.’

  ‘Tomorrow?’ Her voice went hard. ‘What about right now?’

  ‘Well, I was thinking—’

  ‘Sorry,’ she said, standing. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt you.’

  ‘Hey, I didn’t mean—’

  ‘I know,’ she said, controlling her temper. ‘It’s getting late. We should go back inside.’

  I followed her back to the bunker, feeling like I’d been through a tumble dryer. What did I say that was so wrong? In the elevator going down, I made up my mind to kiss her goodnight.

  We walked silently through the passageways to our dorms. Brodie smiled at me like everything was fine.

  I tried to speak. ‘Brodie?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I just wanted to say…well, you’re—’

  The door opened behind her, and Ebony stuck her head out.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said. ‘I thought I could hear people out here.’

  She shut the door. I leaned toward Brodie as the door behind me swung open.

  ‘Oh, it’s you guys,’ Dan said. ‘We’re turning in, Axel.’

  ‘Yeah. Great.’

  ‘Are you coming to bed?’

  ‘I’d better go too,’ Brodie said.

  I nodded. Disappearing through the door, Brodie gave me one last look.

  Is that a smirk on her face?

  ‘Everything okay?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Peachy,’ I replied.

  The next morning found us up and about at 3.00am. After a small breakfast, we were led to a briefing room in another part of the complex. A guy we’ve never met before named Mister Hodges brought up a display on a screen. I gazed at it through bleary eyes. Our departure time was listed as 4.30am.

  ‘I won’t lie to you about this mission,’ he started. ‘It’s dangerous. We’re flying you most of the way to Cayo Placetas. About twenty miles out, we’ll drop you into the sea. From there, you need to make your way to the island and then to the base.’

  A satellite map of the island flashed onto the screen. It looked familiar.

  ‘It’s the same as the training island,’ I said.

  ‘Not exactly the same,’ Mister Hodges said, ‘but similar. We wanted to run you through a similar scenario before you had to face the real thing.’

  ‘So things could be worse than yesterday?’ Chad said.

  ‘Things will be worse than yesterday.’ Hodges fixed his expression on us. ‘I reviewed the strategy you employed yesterday. I recommend you adopt the same approach. Two of you create a diversion. The others make your way to the base.’ He pointed to the map. ‘The missile’s guidance system is stored here.’ He indicated a cluster of buildings where
the computer room was located. It sat in the center of the compound. Beyond was another set of buildings. ‘The barracks are here…and here. And here’s the missile silo.’ It was some distance from the main compound. ‘As has already been explained to you, Pegasus’s weakness is its dependence on its guidance system. That’s what you need to take out.

  ‘Pegasus will be almost impossible to stop if it fires. As missiles go, it’s not the fastest ever developed. In fact, it’s relatively slow by comparison. Its strength is its stealth mechanism. I doubt any fighter craft could bring it down before reaching its target.’

  ‘Do you know what that is yet?’ Brodie asked.

  Hodges shook his head. ‘It’s impossible to say. They could aim for a smaller city like Miami, or they could aim for a strategic target such as DC or New York. Since 9/11, New York seems to have become the preferred destination for terrorists.’ He looked to each of us in turn. ‘The important thing is to not let that rocket off the ground.’

  We nodded. This was all very sobering. I glanced over at the others. They all look pretty serious. It was hard to believe all this responsibility was on our shoulders, but I recalled what Twelve had said. An artificial intelligence system was used to determine who was best suited to what project. Supposedly, we were ideal for this assignment. The Agency would have sent someone else if they’d been better suited.

  Hodges finished. ‘Don’t forget,’ he said. ‘Your greatest strength will be the element of surprise.’

  I looked at the map.

  I just hope the surprise isn’t on us.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The plane was still high above the clouds by the time we made our jump. The man in the rear section with us was named Mister Wilkerson. He was a short, red-haired burly man who went to great lengths to tell us his experience in parachuting: ten years with the SAS, followed by four years as an instructor. He was even fully trained to fly military aircraft.

  ‘You’ll be landing in the ocean, so just remember to keep your legs braced,’ he said. ‘And hold your breath.’

  I nodded. We wouldn’t be landing in the ocean. My job was to scoop everyone together before we hit the water, but I couldn’t tell him that.