Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  Quinn was looking pasty white.

  ‘You all right?’ Ebony asked her.

  ‘I think...I mean...’ Quinn stopped, bent over, and vomited. Wiping her mouth, she continued. ‘There was something in that gas that didn’t agree with me.’

  ‘Can you get us out of here?’ Chad asked Mister Okada.

  The old man shook his head. ‘I have certain abilities,’ he said, ‘but being able to pass through solid metal walls isn’t one of them.’

  A door slid open, and a man appeared in the entrance. He was reptilian, but with three eyes, one in the middle of his forehead. Armed guards flanked him.

  ‘It is as we were told,’ the man said. ‘A Bakari who now calls himself Robert Okada and a group of enhanced humans.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Mister Okada said. ‘We are innocent people and demand to be released.’

  The man laughed. ‘My name is Shondan,’ he said. ‘You may not have heard of me. I am a businessman, and you are now my possessions.’

  ‘What?’ Chad snapped. ‘We don’t belong—’

  Shondan nodded to one of his guards. The man raised his weapon and shot at Chad. A bolt of energy flew at him, enveloping him in a haze of electrical power. Chad gasped and fell to the ground. He had never felt such agony in his life. Then the pain passed, and he heard Shondan continue.

  ‘...must learn the hard way,’ Shondan was saying. ‘It is impossible to escape from here. There are a thousand guards between you and the outside world. Even if you could escape, you no longer have a ship or pilot.’

  Chad struggled to his feet. ‘Did you kill Garan?’ he asked.

  ‘Don’t waste your time with pity. Garan betrayed you. He contacted us and told us your identities.’

  They stared at him, stunned.

  ‘And you killed him?’ Mister Okada said.

  ‘He demanded double for what we agreed. He learned the hard way that we don’t like to be cheated.’

  Chad swallowed. So Garan had betrayed them—and paid for it with his life.

  ‘Now we must move onto other matters,’ Shondan said, his eyes turning to Mister Okada. ‘You are a rare treasure. The Tagaar will pay much for you.’ He turned to the others. ‘And I believe you will make excellent subjects for their games.’

  ‘Games?’ Ebony said.

  ‘The Tagaar have tournaments where competitors fight each other in battles to the death.’

  ‘Sounds charming.’

  ‘It’s broadcast across all their worlds. No doubt enhanced humans will be a welcome addition to their line up.’

  Quinn fumed. ‘The Tagaar are taking over the entire civilized galaxy,’ she said. ‘Don’t you care?’

  ‘Our purpose is to make profit, not friends. Making money is the one element that remains true across the centuries and across worlds. Civilizations may rise and fall, but someone is always making a profit.’ He gave them all another steely glance. ‘We will transport you later. There will be serious repercussions if you cause us any trouble.’

  With that comment, he nodded to his men and left the room. The door slid shut firmly behind them.

  ‘What a nice guy,’ Ebony said.

  ‘He must be the life and breath of the party,’ Chad responded. He and Ebony huddled together in a corner. ‘So Garan turned on us.’

  ‘Maybe he felt like he didn’t have a choice,’ Ebony said. ‘He owed a lot of money and saw us as a way to make some of it back.’

  Chad sighed. ‘You know,’ he said, swallowing, ‘this might be it.’

  ‘It?’

  ‘The big it, as in, we might not survive this one.’

  Chad’s thoughts returned to Printara. What did that woman Indari say?

  ...one would discard their body to sail the endless night...

  Maybe one of them was destined to die. Or maybe their entire group could be classified as one. Or maybe she was just a crazy old alien woman. His eyes strayed to Ebony. He didn’t want her to die. Better him than her.

  Ebony gripped his arm and gave him a sad smile. ‘Our lives have been on the line since we got modified,’ she said. ‘Everything’s a risk. We could have been killed a hundred times already, but we’re still here.’

  ‘We’re lucky.’

  ‘More than lucky. We work together as a team. We trust each other. We’re stronger together.’

  ‘That’s very poetic.’

  ‘It’s also true. No matter what happens, we need to be a team.’

  Chad nodded to Quinn and Mister Okada. ‘Including them?’ he murmured.

  ‘Absolutely.’

  Stroking his chin, Chad studied the pair. They looked like any other father and daughter. Mister Okada may be a Bakari, but he had done what he could to save the Earth. To see him as every other Bakari was wrong. Chad still felt annoyed that Quinn had been part of a deception to capture them, but her father was being held hostage at the time.

  Maybe it was time for some forgiveness.

  Before he could say anything, he heard a hissing sound from the ceiling.

  ‘Gas!’ he yelled.

  He tried to hold his breath, but it was useless. Within seconds he felt himself slide to the floor, and darkness overcame him.

  Time passed.

  Chad had dreams where he was floating. People were all around him, and he caught glimpses of metal corridors and then a sullen gray sky. Someone was laughing at him. He tried fighting them, but they slapped his face, and darkness came again.

  When he next awoke, he found himself lying on a stone floor. He blinked himself into wakefulness. Gone were the metal walls of the spaceship. Now he was in an ancient stone building that smelt of mold. A single window sat high on a wall. Mister Okada was staring out. Quinn and Ebony were still unconscious.

  Chad rose and went to Mister Okada’s side. Through the window was a dark, discolored sky.

  ‘We’ve arrived,’ Mister Okada said.

  ‘Arrived?’ Chad said. ‘Arrived where?’

  Mister Okada nodded to the sky outside. ‘Tagaar.’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Ebony gingerly touched the collar. She had never felt comfortable with things around her neck, and the collar felt terribly confining. Hours had passed since she’d awoken in the cell. Quinn sat in a corner with her back against the wall. Mister Okada and Chad were talking together quietly in another corner.

  Ebony touched the door. Turning it to air would have been simple—except for the collars.

  What now? She had tried to sound cheerful when she’d spoken to Chad, but she was scared. Terribly scared. They’d been in some bad spots before, but never anything as crazy as this.

  The sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the corridor. The door creaked open, and Ebony fell back.

  The Tagaar warrior was tall and reptilian. He had a patch of gray, matted hair that swept across the front of his forehead. He carried a long metal pole with a glowing tip. It gave off the smell of burning metal, but no smoke came from it. He wore a long gray robe with a hood, now pushed back.

  Glancing past him, Ebony saw a squad of soldiers in the corridor behind him.

  He glared at them. ‘Did you really think your plan would succeed?’ he asked.

  ‘What plan?’ Mister Okada asked.

  The Tagaar pushed a button on his wrist pad, and the Bakari fell to the ground in agony. He writhed about on the floor.

  ‘Father!’ Quinn screamed. She went to him and tried to wrestle the collar from his neck, but without success. She turned to the warrior. ‘Stop it! You’re hurting him!’

  The man pushed another button, and Mister Okada stopped moving. As quickly as the pain had started, it had ceased.

  ‘You will not lie to me,’ the man said. ‘I am Brantaar the Executioner.’ He studied them. ‘You thought to bring our ancient legends to life. Shogarth has risen to the great beyond. Magarath has faded from the sky.’

  Ebony exchanged glances with Chad.

  Axel and the others must have succeeded!
>
  ‘You may have destroyed Magarath, but you could not have destroyed Shogarth’s body; you were not on Tagaar. This means you had companions here on our world who helped you.’ He paused. ‘Where are they?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ Chad said. ‘And we wouldn’t tell you anyway.’

  ‘I could spend days and weeks causing you unending pain,’ Brantaar said.

  Ebony shivered because she could well believe him. ‘We still wouldn’t tell you,’ she said.

  Brantaar slowly nodded. ‘I believe you,’ he said. ‘You will not betray your comrades. I respect that.’ He paused. ‘Besides, a far greater agony awaits you.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Your world was to be acquired by the Tagaar empire in little over a year. As a result of your actions, I have been in contact with our military. They have decided to send a Dreadnought cruiser to your world.’

  ‘Your Dreadnought...cruiser...thing doesn’t scare us,’ Chad said.

  ‘It should. A Dreadnought is a planet killer. It will poison the atmosphere of your planet, killing every living thing on the surface. Then it will mine the world for its resources before detonating bombs deep within its core.

  ‘Earth will be torn apart at the seams. Every trace of the human race will be annihilated. Every achievement, every hope, every dream of your species will be as if humanity had never existed.’

  ‘You can’t...’ Ebony’s voice trailed off.

  ‘We can, and we will,’ Brantaar said. He nodded to the window. ‘Once the sun has risen, you will be executed in the Great Arena. You will die knowing that every single thing you have ever known and loved will be destroyed. You are finished—and so is the human race!’

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ‘This is all my fault,’ Mister Okada said.

  Chad had been staring up at the window for almost an hour. The day was almost gone. A band of light sat high on the wall. Soon it would be gone, and night would come.

  Chad swallowed. ‘I’d love to agree with you,’ he said, ‘but I can’t. You did what you thought was right. And we almost got away with it.’ He stopped, amazed at how close they’d gotten to achieving their goal. It looked like Axel, Brodie, Dan, and Ferdy had made the first two prophecies come true. He wanted to blame Mister Okada, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do it. That would be wrong and untrue. ‘You’re not to blame. No one’s to blame.’

  Gripping her father’s arm, Quinn rested her head on his shoulder and curled up next to him. Within seconds, her eyes were closed, and she was breathing deeply.

  Chad watched a single band of light from the Tagaar sun move slowly up the opposite wall. It seemed to linger for one last second before disappearing.

  That was my last sunset, he thought. I’ll never see another.

  The idea filled him with terror. It was like falling into an endless, bottomless pit.

  There’s no way out of this! Tomorrow we’re going to die!

  Ebony slid over to him and laid her hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Hey, bro,’ she said gently. ‘Are you...are you crying?’

  Chad felt his face. No! He couldn’t be crying! He was The Chad! The Chad didn’t cry!

  ‘No,’ he tried to speak. ‘No, I...’

  Then he started sobbing. Ebony held him close. His mind was racing out of control, the same thought returning again and again. We’ll never see Earth again. We’ll never see Earth again...

  An age seemed to pass before Chad found himself able to look up into his sister’s face. ‘This isn’t like me,’ he said, wiping away the tears. ‘I can handle anything. I’m The Chad.’

  ‘Actually,’ Ebony said, ‘you’re human. It’s nice to see. I’ve doubted it sometimes.’

  ‘I’ve done my best to hide it,’ Chad said, keeping a straight face.

  They stared at each other before bursting out laughing.

  The light faded in the cell. After a while, Chad went to the window and looked out. They’d been in tough spots before. They’d even been slated for execution before. It almost seemed to go with the territory.

  People have wanted to kill us since we first gained our powers, he thought. Everyone hates us.

  The thought was depressing—and untrue. Everyone didn’t hate them. They had helped a lot of people. Although now it looked like all of that was going to waste. The Earth was going to be destroyed—and there wasn’t a single thing they could do about it.

  ‘We’re not done yet,’ he said, turning to the others in the gloom. ‘Axel, Brodie, Dan and Ferdy might still be able to save us—plus the Earth.’

  ‘We mustn’t give up hope,’ Mister Okada said. ‘No matter how grim things may seem.’

  Chad turned back to the window.

  I’ve done things I could never have imagined, he thought. I’ve fought supervillains, battled aliens, and saved lives.

  The darkness in the cell was now almost complete. Chad heard the faraway cry of someone screaming. Somewhere a door clanged shut. The blaze of a weapon sounded in the night.

  We need help, he thought. Axel—where are you?

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Seeing Dan and the ship had been one of the happiest moments of my short life, but it was not to last. We were back on the Liber8tor bridge when Ferdy gave us the bad news.

  ‘What?’ I said.

  ‘Ferdy has picked up a broadcast on a secure Tagaar channel,’ he said. ‘Chad, Ebony, Robert Okada and his daughter Quinn have been captured by the Tagaar. They are being held in a maximum-security jail in the heart of the capital.’

  ‘So the Tagaar know...or they suspect...’

  ‘News has been broadcast throughout the empire that the destruction of Shogarth’s body, and the Magarath star, were a ploy to bring about the ancient prophecies.’

  I sat down heavily on the captain’s seat.

  ‘So we’ve failed,’ Dan said, flatly.

  ‘Dan and his friends have not succeeded in our plan,’ Ferdy said.

  ‘What’s going to happen to them?’ Brodie asked.

  ‘They are to be executed in the morning.’

  ‘Then we’ve got to save them.’

  ‘Ferdy fears that may be impossible.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked.

  ‘They are being held in a prison called Markara. It holds prisoners who are deemed to be most dangerous of all. They have undoubtedly been fitted with zeno emitters and are unable to use their powers. The building is surrounded by a series of six consecutive walls. These walls are six feet thick. Twenty Tagaar warships patrol the skies over the complex.

  ‘The foundations under Markara are ten feet thick. Tagaar records show that nineteen escape attempts have been made. None have succeeded.

  ‘So they’re going to be executed in the prison?’

  ‘No,’ Ferdy said. ‘They are to be executed in the Great Arena. An underground passage leads to it from the prison. Armed soldiers patrol the grandstands. Dozens of Tagaar warships fly overhead.’ He paused. ‘It is impenetrable.’

  I fell back in the seat. My mind wouldn’t work, and the others looked just as stunned. Dan looked sick. Brodie was pale.

  ‘We have to do something,’ she said. ‘We have to save them.’

  ‘Ferdy calculates the chances of successfully rescuing our friends is one in 22,349. To try to rescue them is almost certain death.’

  Certain death...

  ‘However,’ Ferdy continued, ‘there is worse news.’

  That woke me up. ‘Worse news?’ I said. ‘What could be worse than our friends getting executed?’

  We listened in silence as Ferdy explained that a Dreadnought cruiser was headed for Earth and would be there in a matter of hours. It would destroy the planet. I listened, reeling at the news. Our friends were going to die...the Earth was doomed...

  I had to get out of here. Rising from the seat, I almost ran from the room as I made my way to the outer door and stumbled from the ship. It was still night. I breathed in the polluted air of Tagaar. It stunk, but i
t was better than being inside the ship

  A Tagaar ship raced across the sky.

  They must be searching for us.

  The chances of me, Brodie, Dan, and Ferdy getting off this world were almost zero. This whole plan had achieved nothing. The odds had been against us from the start, and now we were going to pay the price.

  It started to rain. I could have moved undercover, but I couldn’t be bothered. What did a little rain matter? We’d probably all be dead in a few hours anyway. The rain fell harder, and soon I was drenched to the skin. Through a break in the clouds, I caught sight of one of Tagaar’s moons.

  There was movement at my side.

  Dan.

  ‘Don’t give up,’ he said.

  ‘I’m not giving up,’ I said, although that’s how I felt. ‘There’s still a chance we can save the day.’

  ‘Do you believe that?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘Ferdy thinks we still have a chance to save them.’

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘One chance in 22,349. Those aren’t good odds.’

  ‘But it’s a chance,’ Dan insisted. ‘And, besides, Ferdy doesn’t take everything into account.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘What about the human side? We’re a team—a strong team. We have experience now. We have friendship. We have determination. You can’t measure those things. They’re not part of a calculation, but they amount to something.’

  Dan was right. But still...

  ‘How are we going to save them?’ I asked. ‘As well as the Earth?’

  ‘We’ll find a way,’ Dan said. ‘We always do.’

  We started back to the ship. I gripped Dan’s shoulder. ‘Since when did you get to be so wise?’ I asked.

  ‘I’ve always been wise. It’s just taken you a long time to notice.’

  Heading inside, we found Brodie already entering coordinates into Liber8tor’s computer.

  ‘We’ve got a plan?’ I said.