Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  ‘Worried?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘A couple of holes in you would let out some of that hot air.’

  He laughed again as we made our way to the rear of the Lifter. At the same time, we heard a racket from the front of the vessel. We saw a group of three men scrambling through the shattered front window. They raced across the clearing and disappeared into the forest.

  We peered inside. Alexi Kozlov was alive and well, though dishevelled and still handcuffed to the floor. He looked at us with an expression of intense hatred.

  ‘I’m glad to see you’re all right, Mister Kozlov,’ I said.

  ‘You Americans are insane,’ he said.

  ‘Hey,’ Chad protested. ‘I’m not American.’

  ‘Let’s not get into that now,’ I said. ‘We need to get moving.’

  We freed Alexi and helped him out.

  ‘What are you doing with me?’ he asked. ‘When will this insanity end?’

  That was a good question. We had reached a dead end. I’d missed the meeting with Graal. He’d made himself clear that Brodie would be killed if I did not use the Stonekiller weapon on the President and deliver him on time. It was impossible to contact the alien. Now I was standing in the middle of nowhere with Chad and the President of Russia. It was too late to save Brodie, and there was no advantage to holding the Russian President.

  ‘Axel?’ Chad said.

  ‘It’s over,’ I told him. ‘Brodie’s dead.’

  Chapter Thirty

  ‘It’s not over yet,’ Brodie said. ‘Not by a long shot.’

  The floor of the corridor was covered in blood and broken bodies. Smoke from the explosion filled the air. First aid was being administered to the injured. Those hurt by the blast who could still move, were stumbling back through the mass of people to the rear.

  At the same time, Brodie felt a grim satisfaction. Everyone is working together. Graal’s announcement that the prisoners should simply return to the slave city below had been greeted by silence at first, but within minutes angry shouts had begun to erupt throughout the crowd.

  They’re not giving up, Brodie realized. We’ve got to keep moving forward.

  Tomay was at her side, looking pale and confused.

  Brodie gripped his arm. ‘Our plan was to reach the engine room,’ she said. ‘That hasn’t changed.’

  ‘But the explosion—’

  ‘People have been killed,’ Brodie said. ‘But everyone will die if you return to Sartaria. It won’t happen all at once. It might take years. But you need to make a decision. Do you want to live as a free man? Or die as a slave?’

  Bax joined her. ‘She’s right, Tomay,’ she said. ‘The only path is forward.’

  ‘But how—’

  ‘My friends and I will make for Engineering,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll signal you when we’ve taken it.’

  By now, Dan, Ferdy, and Ebony had joined them. Tomay viewed the group critically. ‘I know you have powers,’ he said. ‘But can you do this alone?’

  Ebony spoke. ‘Sometimes, a smaller force can do more than an entire army.’

  Tomay slowly nodded. ‘Then I’m going with you,’ he said. ‘The time for waiting has ended. We will either live or die today, but we’ll do it as free men and women. Not as slaves.’

  ‘And I will join you,’ Bax said.

  ‘Okay,’ Brodie said. ‘That’s what I like to hear.’

  Ferdy brought up a schematic of the ship on one of the wall displays, and they examined it closely. Engineering lay at the heart of the ship. It was two levels up and about a mile from their current position.

  ‘There is a Backup Engineering Section,’ Ferdy pointed out. ‘Possibly the Tagaar will switch to the backup supply.’

  ‘Not if we’re fast,’ Tomay said.

  They made their way down the corridor to the remains of the elevator. There wasn’t much left. It looked like it had operated via some form of gravity propulsion as there didn’t seem to be any cables in the shaft. Brodie peered up. The shaft seemed to go on forever. Doors led off it to levels above.

  ‘First, we need to get up the elevator shaft,’ Ebony said.

  ‘Ferdy can do that,’ Ferdy said. ‘Ferdy likes to climb.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Dan asked.

  Ferdy didn’t wait for an answer. Jumping across the gap, he grasped the framework encasing the elevator shaft and started ascending. Dan peeked downwards at the seemingly bottomless shaft.

  ‘That’s a long way down,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t like to fall.’

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ Brodie said. Glancing up, she saw that Ferdy was already at the second level.

  ‘Wait!’ she called. ‘I’ll climb up after you!’

  ‘Ferdy is fine,’ he replied. ‘Ferdy will take care of everything.’

  This didn’t allay Brodie’s fears. In fact, they were made worse when Ferdy spoke up again.

  ‘There is one thing,’ he called, his voice reverberating down the shaft.

  ‘Yes?’ Brodie said.

  ‘The largest city in Brazil is San Paulo.’

  Brodie sighed. ‘That’s great, Ferdy.’

  They peered anxiously up the shaft as Ferdy punched through one of the doors on the upper level. This was followed by yelling and the firing of weapons. And then—silence.

  ‘I’m going up there,’ Brodie said. ‘I never should have let him—’

  A Tagaar warrior fell past them and down the seemingly bottomless elevator shaft. Two others followed in quick succession. Nothing happened for a long moment. Brodie and the others peered back up the shaft.

  Ferdy’s head appeared from high above. ‘The way is clear,’ he called.

  He dropped what appeared to be some sort of electrical conduit down the shaft, and they climbed to the upper level. Dan was the last to arrive. He looked back down into the darkness of the shaft. And gulped.

  ‘The Tagaar warriors are bad,’ Ferdy told them. ‘They tried to hurt Ferdy, but Ferdy hurt them instead.’

  ‘I’m glad you’re okay,’ Dan said.

  Ferdy grasped his arm. ‘Friends are important,’ he said. ‘Ferdy is lucky to have such good friends.’

  ‘I feel the same.’

  ‘Soon, Ferdy will speak to his friends Chad and Axel. Ferdy misses them.’

  ‘We’ll see them once we return to Earth.’

  ‘Ferdy can speak to them now.’

  ‘Uh, howzat?’

  ‘Ferdy has calculated there is a seventy-three percent chance that Chad is using a modified Flex Fighter he hid in the desert.’

  This was all news to Dan. As they made their way down the corridor, he asked Ferdy to explain. By the time they had reached the main generator room, Dan thought he finally understood what Ferdy was saying.

  ‘But how will we contact them?’ Dan asked. ‘Our phones were taken by the Tagaar and—’

  ‘Ferdy can break into the Tagaar communications system and ring our friends,’ he said. ‘It will be fun to speak to them.’

  ‘Right.’ Dan wondered if Ferdy had utterly lost his mind. ‘You can just ring them up for a chat.’

  ‘A chat,’ Ferdy repeated, nodding. ‘A chat will be fun.’

  They assembled around the door leading to Engineering. They expected opposition, but to their surprise, they encountered no one. It looked like the entire force of Tagaar warriors had moved to another section of the ship.

  Let’s hope they’re out to lunch, Brodie thought.

  She’d been formulating a plan. Now she outlined it to the others. It involved breaking into two groups and coordinating two separate assaults on the chamber beyond. The others agreed it sounded reasonable. Readying their weapons, they pushed through the doors.

  The main chamber was filled with an enormous cylindrical generator and other equipment. Brodie glanced at it. She didn’t know how a regular generator on Earth worked, let alone one on an alien spaceship designed to propel it around the galaxy. However, it seemed two things were immediately
apparent: the generator wasn’t operational, and not a single Tagaar warrior was in sight.

  ‘This wasn’t what I expected,’ Brodie said to Tomay.

  ‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ the man responded. ‘The entire ship is powered by the generators.’

  ‘Maybe they’ve already moved to the backup,’ Bax suggested. She brought up a schematic on the computer system. After a moment, she looked at them in dismay. ‘I was right. These engines have already been disabled.’

  The others joined them.

  ‘And the whole Tagaar army has run off,’ Dan said.

  ‘I doubt that’s the case,’ Tomay said. ‘They are probably working out how to recapture us.’

  An alarm started to sound. They looked at each other in confusion as it reverberated around the massive chamber.

  ‘What is that?’ Ebony asked.

  Bax quickly examined the computer system. ‘Oh no,’ she said.

  ‘What is it?’ Brodie asked. ‘What’s that alarm?’

  ‘It’s the separation alarm,’ Bax said. ‘It means the main ship is separating from the lower section.’

  ‘Separating?’ Brodie repeated the word dumbly.

  ‘This ship can disconnect into pieces. The lower decks form a hull distinct from the remainder of the ship. When the hull separates—’

  ‘What will happen?’ Brodie interrupted.

  ‘We’re very close to your planet,’ Bax said. ‘We will fall towards your world and burn up in its atmosphere.’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  We were back in the Flex, soaring high over the forests of Canada. Chad and I were in the pilots’ seats, although we had the vessel on automatic. Alexi Kozlov was in the rear. We hadn’t handcuffed him this time. We simply asked him to remain seated, and we would drop him off to the authorities as soon as possible. He’d seemed to accept our change of mind as yet another bizarre event in this endless day.

  I peered through the front window at the clear blue sky. It was a beautiful day. People were probably spending time with their families. Some were eating meals. Others were working. The mass of humanity was doing what it always did.

  While all that was happening, I was falling apart. The last I’d seen of Brodie was the image of her lying on the floor of the Tagaar cell. What had she said to me?

  ‘I’m in a cell onboard—’

  Those were hardly famous last words. They were not the final words you wanted to hear from the girl you loved. Tears filled my eyes. Chad reached over and grasped my arm.

  ‘Don’t give up, buddy.’

  I shook my head. ‘It’s no good,’ I said. ‘She’s gone.’

  Chad persisted. ‘Brodie can make it if anyone can,’ he said. ‘She’s a tough girl.’

  ‘She might be tough, but—’ A beeping came from the console. I leaned forward. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘It looks like someone’s signaling us.’ Chad frowned.

  ‘Are we still cloaked?’

  ‘We sure are.’ His hand hovered over the controls. ‘Should I answer it?’

  I peered down at the console. I didn’t see how anyone could be communicating with us. Chad had told me this ship was completely off The Agency grid.

  I shrugged. ‘Let’s see who’s calling.’

  He hit the communicator. ‘Uh, this is us—’

  I rolled my eyes.

  ‘—uh, who is out there?’ he continued. ‘Who wants to speak to us?’

  The radio crackled. Then a voice came through loud and clear.

  ‘It is your friend, Ferdy.’ He sounded as clear as if he were in the next room. ‘We will play ball again one day soon.’

  ‘Ferdy!’ I exploded. ‘How did you—I mean, where are you and how—’

  ‘Others want to speak to you,’ Ferdy said. ‘Jupiter’s largest moon is Ganymede—’

  I heard the sound of multiple voices speaking all at once. Then—

  ‘Axel?’

  ‘Brodie?’ I couldn’t believe my ears. ‘Is that you?’

  ‘It’s me,’ she replied.

  I didn’t hear her next words because I was whooping so loudly. I actually started dancing around the small interior of the cabin. Finally, Chad had to push me back into my seat so the conversation could continue.

  ‘Axel’s lost it,’ he said. ‘Where are you, and what’s happening?’

  We listened as she briefly explained the events of the last few days and about the falling ship. ‘Most of the ship is going to burn up in the atmosphere,’ she explained. ‘But what remains is going to cause one huge mess.’

  Ferdy’s voice came over the channel. ‘The impact of the falling ship will be massive. Not only will everyone on board be killed, but the resulting impact may throw enough dust into the atmosphere to create a new ice age.’

  I fell back in my seat. I knew what he was talking about. The dust thrown up by an asteroid over sixty million years ago had caused the ice age that had destroyed the dinosaurs. A similar thing would happen to humanity.

  Chad swallowed. ‘I suppose we won’t have to worry about global warming then,’ he said.

  Ignoring him, I leaned forward. ‘Computer,’ I said. ‘Trace this signal back to its source.’

  A few seconds passed. ‘The signal has been traced.’

  ‘Distance?’

  ‘Twenty-three thousand miles.’

  ‘Time to intercept at maximum speed?’

  ‘Twelve minutes.’

  ‘Set a course. Maximum speed.’ I punched the communicator. ‘Ferdy, put Brodie back on.’

  ‘Axel?’ A crackle almost drowned out her voice. ‘Are you still there?’

  ‘I’m here,’ I said. ‘I’m on my way.’

  The crackling grew worse. ‘What are you planning—’

  The signal died. Chad spent some time trying to reestablish contact, but with no success. ‘We’ve lost the signal,’ he said. ‘What have you got in mind?’

  I didn’t answer.

  ‘Okay,’ Chad continued, staring at me. ‘Now, I’m worried. I need you to speak to me, Axelhead. Tell me what you’re thinking.’

  ‘That ship is going to crash and kill everyone on board.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I’m going to stop that from happening.’

  ‘Uh…how?’

  I hadn’t worked that out yet.

  ‘One hundred miles till intercept,’ the computer intoned.

  I turned to Chad. ‘You take over the Flex,’ I said. ‘Make certain Alexi makes it out alive.’

  Putting the ship on automatic, he hurried after me into the rear compartment. ‘Axel?’ he said.

  Dragging open the back door, the interior immediately filled with freezing cold air. Alexi looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. Chad slapped a communication device into my hand, and I secured it to my ear.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Chad asked.

  ‘Saving the world,’ I answered.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I was already exhausted, and I didn’t have the faintest idea as to how I was going to do this, but I knew I had to try. The spacecraft was high above me, a bright red dot in the sky that was growing larger with every passing second. It was falling fast, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like for the people on board the ship.

  Increasing my speed, I flew a slow loop across the sky until I was trailing the falling ship. They probably only had a few minutes till the ship hit the ground. I was thousands of feet behind the craft, then only hundreds, and then I was flying in its slipstream. Slowly rounding the falling vessel, I focused on creating a platform beneath it. I flew by creating platforms under me all the time. That platform lowered or lifted me through the air. I intended to do the same for the spacecraft.

  Except the spaceship probably weighed thousands of tons, and I weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds. So the chances of me succeeding were probably close to zero.

  So be it.

  I extended the platform, making it b
igger by the second. Time was running out, but I had to remain focused entirely on this if I stood any chance of making it work. The platform grew larger and larger until it lay under the body of the massive ship. Now I focused on pushing upward.

  Nothing happened.

  The invisible platform was complete. It sat beneath the falling spaceship, but it did nothing when I focused on trying to lift the ship. I knew this would be difficult—probably impossible—but I thought—

  I decided to change tack. Moving my attention away from trying to lift the craft, I focused on trying to keep the platform in position. Once again, it had no effect. Then I heard groaning from the enormous vessel. At the same time, I noticed something happening to the outer edges of the craft. They were still molten hot. Now they seemed to be spreading out. They were melting into a broader shape, curving downward, almost as if they were trying to collect the air.

  Dan.

  It had to be him. He was also trying to slow the falling ship—and he was having an effect. The craft was slowing. Both our efforts were working, but neither of us were powerful enough to be able to stop it entirely. It was simply too large.

  The earpiece crackled, and Chad’s voice came over loud and clear. ‘You’re a pain in the backside,’ he said. ‘Just thought I’d let you know.’

  ‘Shut up.’

  The Flex Fighter was descending at the same rate as me and the spaceship. ‘I need you to form two holes in your platform,’ Chad’s voice continued. ‘One at each end of the ship. I need it so they’re pointing downward.’

  ‘What—’

  ‘Just do it!’

  I just had to trust him. I envisioned two holes in the platform. For a terrifying second, the ship started falling more quickly. Then the flame disappeared from the sides as if a candle had been extinguished, and two spouts of fire appeared under the ship as if they were rockets.

  Yes!

  That was precisely what Chad was doing. He’d rerouted the heat from the hull—and maybe even added to it—while aiming it directly downward to create two thrusters. The ship had slowed now, but the ground was still growing closer with every passing second. We had to put all our energy into this if we were to stop the craft from crashing.