Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  Ebony felt a queasy feeling in her stomach. This plan sounded suspiciously like a fast way to end up dead. It was one thing to go on a rescue mission to save Axel and the others; it was quite another to think about leaving the safety of Earth. Ferdy seemed to know how to fly the Flex. Still, even an experienced pilot would be nervous about leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.

  ‘I don’t know about this,’ she said uncertainly. ‘I want to find the others, but this sounds like a bad idea.’

  ‘Friend Ebony,’ Ferdy said. ‘You need not be concerned about the ship’s modifications. Ferdy has read the schematics of the changes and understands them completely.’

  ‘But if something goes wrong—’

  ‘Ferdy has calculated the problems that could arise. The most likely error would be an explosion that would kill us instantly—’

  ‘Oh, great.’

  ‘—although we could survive in the vacuum of space for possibly another ninety seconds before dying.’

  ‘Wonderful.’

  This was sounding worse all the time.

  Ferdy stared into her eyes. ‘But our friends would do the same for us,’ he said. ‘Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. Do Ebony and Dan not agree with this sentiment?’

  Dan said nothing. He seemed stunned into silence. Ebony tried to think of another plan and couldn’t. She leaned back in the seat. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Lead the way.’

  Ferdy nodded, accelerated the Flex Fighter, and they rose higher into the atmosphere. The sky above turned darker until it was indigo and then finally black.

  Ebony looked from the window and saw the earth spread below them like a blanket. She stared at it in astonishment.

  If we don’t survive this, maybe it’ll be worth it after having seen this.

  ‘It’s so beautiful,’ she said.

  ‘I’m getting an idea of her direction,’ Dan said, rubbing his head. ‘She’s somewhere ahead of us.’

  ‘Can Dan be more specific?’ Ferdy asked. ‘Most of the Milky Way galaxy lies ahead.’

  Dan shook his head. ‘All I know is we’re heading in the right direction.’

  Ferdy manipulated the controls on the console. After a moment, Ebony felt the Flex gently accelerate.

  ‘Ferdy has found it,’ Ferdy said.

  ‘What has Ferdy—’ Ebony stopped. ‘I mean, what have you found?’

  ‘A spaceship,’ he replied. ‘It is some two miles in length. Ferdy believes that Brodie is aboard it.’

  Peering through the window, Ebony saw a sharp speck of light sitting above the blue horizon. It grew larger with every second, its shape reminding her of the body of a cockroach: a smaller section with two segmented compartments behind.

  ‘It sure isn’t the International Space Station,’ Ebony said.

  ‘Can’t it be seen from Earth?’ Dan asked. ‘It’s huge.’

  ‘The ship is using stealth technology to hide it from ground radar,’ Ferdy said. ‘It is quite advanced, although not as advanced as the alien technology contained within The Agency’s computer systems.’

  ‘Uh,’ Ebony said. ‘Surely that’s top secret.’

  ‘It is.’ He smiled. ‘Ferdy circumvents the security protocols to access the information.’

  Ebony stared at him. ‘You hack The Agency computers?’

  ‘Hacking is another definition for the same process,’ Ferdy said. ‘A zectometer is one of the smallest units of measurement.’

  ‘You’re not changing the subject, are you, Ferdy?’

  ‘Ferdy wouldn’t do that.’ Ferdy smiled. ‘The largest mammal on Earth—’

  The Flex Fighter shuddered as a high-pitched whine emanated from the engines.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Dan asked.

  ‘We’re caught in a tractor beam,’ Ferdy said. ‘The alien spaceship is drawing us towards it.’

  ‘They can see us?’

  ‘The alien vessel is cloaked. Our vessel is visible to their systems.’

  ‘Did you know this?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘Ferdy knew,’ he confirmed. ‘Should Ferdy have acted on that information?’

  ‘Should Ferdy have—’ Ebony fell back speechless in her seat. ‘It might have been a good idea.’

  ‘We will meet aliens,’ Ferdy said. ‘Possibly, we will have fun.’

  Ebony stared at the approaching ship. ‘Possibly,’ she said. ‘But not likely.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  The desert had turned cold by the time I arrived at the rendezvous point to meet Graal. The sky above was inky black, broken only by tiny pinpoints of light. It reminded me of a similar evening when Brodie and I had flown out to the desert to enjoy the stars.

  A lump gathered in my throat. What if I never see Brodie again? What if she’s already dead? I had the Stonekiller secured in a case strapped to my back. I wouldn’t hand it over until Brodie was safely—

  A light split the air behind me. I’d been facing a hill, but now I turned to see the rear of a spaceship opening a few feet above the ground. The Tagaar vessel had been here the whole time—cloaked.

  Two figures strode down the ramp toward me. The first was Graal; the other, I didn’t recognize. They stopped before me. I was ready to defend myself if they attacked, but Graal simply nodded.

  ‘You’re here,’ he said. ‘Good. I had my doubts whether you’d escape The Agency in one piece.’

  ‘Where’s Brodie?’

  ‘All in good time.’

  ‘No!’ I said firmly. ‘I will give you the weapon, but only if you release her!’

  Graal shook his head. ‘You misunderstand me, my young friend. I don’t want the weapon.’

  ‘Then why—’

  ‘You will need the Stonekiller for your next assignment. We will release your mate once your assignment is completed.’

  ‘But you promised—’

  ‘I gave no such promise.’ The alien produced an object from his pouch. ‘However, as a sign of good faith, I will allow you to speak to the girl.’

  Pointing the object into the air, a square panel formed before us. It showed the interior of a cell where people lay on the floor. I scanned the faces.

  ‘Brodie!’ I said.

  I stepped forward. My hand intersected with the image and passed through. It was a holographic projection. Brodie leaped to her feet.

  ‘Axel?’ she said. ‘What is this? How are—’

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m on a spaceship,’ she said. ‘I’m in a cell onboard—’

  The image faded, and I found myself staring at Graal’s face. He looked pleased with himself and how I longed to wipe that smile from his fish-face. I’d never felt such rage in my life, yet I was able to force it down deep into my stomach.

  The Tagaar warrior examined my face. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘I see your hatred. A warrior needs such emotions, or he will not survive.’

  ‘Shut up!’ A red haze of fury blurred my vision. ‘What do I need to do?’

  ‘You have no doubt heard of Alexi Kozlov?’

  I searched my memory. ‘The Russian President?’

  ‘He is your target.’

  ‘The leader of Russia?’ I felt light-headed. ‘That’s insane.’

  ‘You will shoot him with the Stonekiller and bring him back here to us. You will do these things, or your mate will die.’

  I took an enraged step toward him.

  ‘Don’t be foolish, boy,’ Graal said. ‘Your mate will be returned if you follow my instructions. You have my promise. I will also promise to throw her out of an airlock into space if you refuse.’

  ‘How would I ever get close enough—’

  ‘I have already uploaded a map to your compass. Alexi Kozlov was tagged with a non-invasive tracking device several days ago. You will track him using the device.’

  ‘But it’s the Russian President!’ I blurted. ‘How will I—’

  ‘You’ll do what is required.’

  I stood in
the cold desert for several seconds, consumed by desperation and hatred and fear. My hands were clenched so tightly I could feel my fingernails cutting into my palms. Finally, I crossed a barrier—a point of no return. I wouldn’t let Brodie down. I couldn’t let her die.

  ‘And if I do this?’ I said, my voice sounding hollow in the cold desert.

  ‘Your mate will be returned.’

  ‘Why don’t you kill him yourself?’ I asked. ‘If you were able to place a tracker—’

  ‘That is not our way,’ Graal said. ‘A countdown has been activated on your compass. You have two of your Earth days. We will meet here again when the countdown reaches zero.’ He paused. ‘And we will bring your mate.’

  ‘Her name is Brodie,’ I said.

  Graal responded by ignoring me and turning away. He disappeared up into the ship, the ramp slid away, and the door closed. A moment later, the spaceship’s engine burst into life, and the wind pushed against my face as the invisible vessel lifted off the ground. A faint shimmer distorted the sea of stars as it raced across the sky.

  I stood in the silent desert, feeling utterly alone. Graal was telling me the truth. I could get Brodie back. That much I believed. But I’d have to sentence a man to a fate worse than death to do it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was the longest journey of my life.

  I left in darkness, and I arrived in darkness. Judging by the device on my wrist, it appeared that Alexi Kozlov was located somewhere to the south of Moscow. As I neared my destination, the darkened landscape slowly morphed into hills, towns, roads, and rivers. I descended slowly, eventually landing in a forested area outside a small village. A farmhouse with a dilapidated barn was nearby; I could just make out a faint light in one of the windows.

  A dog barked distantly. The faraway engine of a truck growled into life. A bird took flight in a nearby tree and disappeared to parts unknown.

  I felt exhausted. I’d flown for fifteen hours straight. My head ached. My back ached. A cramp painfully cinched my left thigh. It was about nine in the evening. I sat back against a tree. I needed rest. I would sleep for a minute, but no longer.

  Just a minute…

  When I awoke, most of the night had passed. Panicked, I examined the timer on the compass. Nine hours had passed. I tried to calm my breathing. I still had enough time to complete my mission.

  My mission…

  A deep well of misery opened up within me. I’ve betrayed my friends. I’ve destroyed my relationship with The Agency. I can never go back to my life. To get Brodie back, I’d have to consign a stranger to a fate worse than death. And that stranger was the President of Russia! What would be the repercussions of carrying out such an attack?

  My actions could start a war.

  I felt sick at the thought. Absently wiping tears from my face, I made out a faint glow on the distant horizon. Dawn. Soon it would be day, and then I would deal with the next phase of this nightmare. I had to wait for daylight. It was bad enough bumbling about in a foreign country. Trying to assassinate—and it was a type of assassination—someone in the middle of the night was ridiculous.

  ‘So,’ a voice said from behind. ‘Sleeping Beauty is finally awake.’

  Scrambling to my feet, I readied myself for an attack, but I already recognized the voice as the figure emerged from behind the tree.

  Chad.

  ‘A bit of advice,’ he said. ‘When you’re on the run, look behind you sometimes. You’ll live longer that way.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.’ I peered into the gloomy forest behind him. ‘How did you keep up with me?’

  ‘You remember that Flex that disappeared from The Agency a few months back?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘That was me,’ he said. ‘And Ferdy.’

  ‘You and Ferdy stole a Flex Fighter?’

  ‘I hid it in the desert,’ he said. ‘Just in case.’

  ‘Looks like it came in handy.’

  He ignored me. ‘I heard the conversation you had with your alien buddies.’

  ‘They’re not my friends.’

  ‘I know.’ Chad paused. ‘I’ve been following you for hours.’

  ‘So you know they’ve got Brodie.’

  He nodded. ‘And you’re supposed to take out the Russian leader with—’

  ‘The Stonekiller weapon.’ The words sounded foreign to my lips. ‘It doesn’t actually kill the person. It freezes them so they can’t move.’

  ‘Sounds great.’ He shook his head. ‘You can’t mean to—’

  ‘I don’t have a choice! They’ll kill Brodie if I don’t do as they say!’

  ‘But it’s the President of Russia,’ Chad said. ‘You could start a war!’

  ‘I know.’ I felt miserable. ‘But I can’t let Brodie die!’

  ‘Look, Axel,’ he said. ‘I’m not suggesting you should. But you can’t just consign someone to a living death.’

  I turned away. In my heart, I knew what Chad was saying was right. I looked at the horizon. The sky was growing brighter by the moment. Three shapes moved across a distant row of roofs.

  ‘You have to trust your friends,’ Chad said. ‘We’re stronger as a team—’

  ‘I just saw something,’ I said. ‘I think someone’s—watch out!’

  A bright plume of fire arced across the sky toward us. I threw a shield up as it slammed into the ground. The earth exploded, throwing trees, undergrowth and dirt in all directions.

  Struggling to my feet, I spotted two figures in the gloomy field beyond the tree line.

  ‘American spies!’ one called out. ‘You will surrender yourselves for interrogation.’

  I didn’t like the sound of any of that. I never like it when the words spies, surrender, and interrogation are used at the same time.

  ‘We’re not spies!’ Chad yelled. ‘We’re lost tourists. And I’m not American.’

  ‘I don’t think that’ll make any difference to them,’ I said.

  It was growing lighter by the minute. Now the two figures were clearer. They were men. One wore red—the other blue. Something jangled at the back of my mind. The Russian flag was three horizontal stripes. Red, blue and—

  The world turned upside down.

  One second I was turning to look behind us. The next, I found the world spinning sideways, and I couldn’t tell up from down. I felt like I was falling, yet my feet were still planted firmly on the ground.

  What’s going on?

  ‘Vertigo,’ I heard Chad’s voice come from somewhere behind me—or was he in front of me? ‘This guy has the powers of disorientation.’

  I understood. Beyond a gap in the trees stood a man in a white uniform with his hand outstretched. Obviously, he had some sort of power that disrupted the inner ear. I raised my hand to throw a cannonball of air at him, but the world flipped over again.

  Chad hurled a blast of fire, and I heard a scream. Crashing face-first into the ground, I felt a sharp pain in my nose. I might have broken it. At least now I could tell up from down. As we climbed to our feet, we saw the man rolling about on the ground. He looked singed but otherwise uninjured.

  Red and Blue charged towards us. Throwing out an arm, Blue hurled a bolt of electricity. I threw myself to one side but heard a cry as Chad was hit. He fell to the ground.

  ‘Chad!’ I screamed.

  He didn’t move as the three men closed in around me. I would have to deal with them.

  Alone.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Faster!’ the alien growled.

  The alien jabbed Ferdy in the back of his head with the gun butt.

  ‘Hey!’ Ebony yelled. ‘Leave him alone! He doesn’t understand!’

  She took Ferdy’s hand and moved him away from the alien. Dan was behind them. Shepherded by the guards, they were pushed through the dimly lit corridors of the spaceship. Things had happened quickly since their Flex Fighter had been dragged into the alien ship’s landing bay. Dan had wanted to fight their way out of the ve
ssel, but Ebony could immediately see a dozen holes in the plan.

  Ferdy had super strength, but he was almost impossible to coordinate in a fight. She and Dan had powers, but they couldn’t take on an alien ship with hundreds—or thousands—of soldiers onboard. Besides, they were here to find Brodie. It seemed to make more sense to wait to see what would happen.

  Unfortunately, everything that had happened since then had been bad. First, they’d been shoved into a holding cell before another alien had turned up to move them again. He’d introduced himself as T’bar.

  ‘I’m second in command,’ he said. ‘I know you have powers, but I would advise you to cooperate. It’s impossible to escape.’

  ‘Where are we being taken?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘You are to fight,’ T’bar said.

  ‘Who are we fighting?’

  ‘Our Tagaar warriors.’

  Ebony didn’t like the sound of that. ‘What have you done with our friend?’

  ‘The girl?’ the alien said. ‘She has proven quite an adversary.’

  Good, Ebony thought. So Brodie’s still alive.

  ‘We’re an adversarial race,’ she said.

  ‘You will be overcome by the Tagaar,’ T’bar said. ‘As are all races we encounter.’

  Just what we needed—invaders from Mars!

  They reached a closed door. The alien unlocked it and motioned them inside. Ebony was about to protest when she peered into the chamber.

  ‘Brodie!’ she screamed.

  They rushed into the cell. Brodie threw her arms around them as the alien watched impassively from the doorway.

  ‘I will return shortly,’ T’bar said. ‘One of you will be chosen to fight.’

  ‘Ferdy will fight you,’ Ferdy said. ‘Ferdy is not afraid.’

  T’bar leveled his gaze at him. ‘You will be, boy.’

  ‘The first flight of the Wright Brothers was one hundred and twenty feet,’ Ferdy told him.

  ‘The fear has addled your mind,’ the alien said and slammed the door shut.

  ‘I’m so glad to see you guys,’ Brodie said. ‘But how did you get here?’

  They all spoke at once until Brodie held up her hands. ‘One at a time,’ she said. ‘Please.’