Trainee Superhero (Book Two) (3 page)

“Not that one,” says
Bad Day
as I’m
about to sit down.

“Why not?” I ask, moving away from it.

“The last three people to sit in that chair
died on the next mission. Sit somewhere else.”

“Okay,” I say.

“That’s nonsense,” calls out
Pet
Shark
, “lots of people die regardless of whether they sat in
the chair or not. Don’t be a chicken.”

I move to a different chair. We spend the
next hour in silence, each of us preoccupied with our own thoughts.
Pet Shark
finishes his puzzle. It’s a human heart being
split in two by a knife. Unpleasant. Time goes past slowly, and
it’s almost a relief when an alarm finally rings.
Never Lies
stops playing and walks over to a computer screen. Technicians walk
in, check our suits and then leave.

“Listen up,” says
Never Lies
, “we have
something coming in from team
Gold Storm
in South America.
They say they brought down an unusual saucer but don't have the
manpower to investigate the crash site and request our help. They
have not provided any further information or briefings, but we have
satellite coverage coming up now.”

“Why don't they have the manpower?” asks
Pet Shark
suspiciously.

“I don't know. Look, there it is.”

The satellite is a little grainy from
interference, but we can make out a small saucer lying between huge
trees.

“I’ve never seen one like that,” says
Slow
Learner
.

“Neither has anyone else. Worth having a look
at,” says
Never Lies
.

She brings up a map of the area with two red
dots near the saucer and a semi-circle of blue dots a few miles
further out.

“Red dots are the meeting points. The one
nearest the saucer is our prime, to the north is secondary. Blue
dots are evacuation points. The weather is going to be rough, so
get on the ground quickly. Lots of trees, so be ready for close
combat. Set?”

“Set,” we all say in unison.

“Then let’s go.”

I pass out when the capsule is shot out of
the cannons, but I’ve heard that most superheroes do. I wake up in
time to experience the roller coaster ride back to Earth before I
eject out of the capsule right into a raging storm. I fall clumsily
through the air until my parachute opens with a jerk and starts
dragging me backwards. I cut the lines and drop, slowing my fall
with my new powers of flight. It’s not easy; the storm drags and
pushes at my body as if it is trying to pull me apart.

The gusts of wind and pounding rain come from
all angles without pattern, making it impossible for me to fly in a
straight line. This is no ordinary storm.

I see a blue flare on the ground and land
beside it.
Never Lies
is already there. She walks over to
me, opens her visor and beckons me closer.

“Don't have the manpower my ass,” she screams
into the wind, “they were just too scared to fight in all
this!”

Maybe they were onto something. Water is
leaking into my suit, and flying in this wind is draining my power
quickly. We might be the first superhero team to stage a completely
pedestrian attack. The rest of the team join us, except for
Slow
Learner
. We form a circle, weapons pointed at the shadows. The
trees sway dangerously in the wind. We hold our position for a few
minutes, but there is no sign of
Slow Learner
so
Never
Lies
moves us on.

We move through the forest in short hops,
blasting through the storm. It’s hard work, and I use up far too
much power just moving. There is no sign of alien activity, but
they could be right next to us and we wouldn’t see them in the rain
and trees. Branches wave overhead and a tree crashes beside me. My
heart is beating hard in my chest: we could be walking into an
ambush.

We find the saucer is lying upturned between
two spires of rock. It’s small and looks shiny, like cut glass or
diamond.
Never Lies
motions us to spread out. She has one of
her shoulder cannons pointed at the saucer and the other pointed
back the way we came. The saucer has a crack down the middle and
looks like a broken egg.

“What the hell?” says
Bad Day
.

“Heads up,” snaps
Never Lies

Not a broken egg, a hatched egg.

We spread out and search the trees. Branches
wave back and forwards wildly in the wind and rain lashes our
helmets. My suit is leaking; I hope I don’t get electrocuted. My
helmet visor is fogging up, so I flip my helmet open. I keep
searching, moving deeper into the trees.

I find
Slow Learner
lying in the
mud.

“I found
Learner
!” I shout, and wave
for the others to join me.

No one does, and when I turn around I’m
alone. It’s not a good feeling to be in the dark, alone, and
hunting aliens, especially when a more senior member of the team
has been taken out. Being a superhero is supposed to be a team
sport, but it never seems to work out that way for me.

“Saucer… okay.”

I check
Learner
’s suit. The lights on
his helmet say he’s still alive, but he isn’t moving. I can’t see
any obvious damage on his suit, but that’s no comfort. A branch
cracks behind me and I whirl around, but I can’t see anything. It’s
so dark that I turn the flashlight on my arm on. The lights cast
dancing shadows against the trees, so I shut it off before I get
totally spooked.

I see a blue flare in the distance. It’s the
sign to gather, so I fly towards it. The wind is at my back, so the
flight is short and clumsy. I nearly overshoot, but
Bad
Attitude
catches me as I pass.

“Thanks,” I say.

She looks too tense to reply.
Bad Day
teleports beside me, but the wind picks him and throws him against
a tree. He slides to the ground and walks towards me, fighting the
wind with every step.
Never Lies
beckons me over and I stand
face to face with her. She does not look happy.

“Update?” she asks.

“I found
Slow Learner
. He’s
alive-”

“You left him?” she asks sharply.

“Um… yes? We didn’t-”

“Get back there NOW!” she orders.

Bad Day
grabs me and I point to where
we need to be. We teleport into the air, through the trees and back
to
Slow Learner
. It’s a rough, clumsy ride and we land in
the branches of an ancient tree. I bash my way out and drop down to
the ground.

“He’s over here,” I say, and then stop.

An unfamiliar alien hovers motionless in the
air above his body. It has a teardrop body and six thick tentacles
that float around as if in zero-G. One of its tentacles is wrapped
around
Slow Learner
’s head and two others each hold plasma
cannons. I have never seen anything like it.

How did
Never Lies
know it would come
back?

One of the tentacles starts glowing as it
reaches down to
Slow Learner
.

“Hey! Get away from him!” I yell, and shoot
it with my multiblaster.

It doesn’t even notice me.
Bad Day
pulls a flare from his suit and throws it to the ground.

“Here we go,” he shouts to me.

He teleports right next to the creature and
blasts it with his pistols as I try my multiblaster again. I use up
all eight of my egg cannon bombs, but our attacks splash harmlessly
against its shield. We may not have hurt it, but the creature did
notice us. It stops its study of
Learner
and spins all of
its tentacles towards us.
Bad Day
teleports above it and
blasts out again, but it seems more curious than worried. It lunges
towards him as he lands, and is about to catch him when a salvo of
heavy fire hits it right in its center mass. It shrugs off the
damage.

This thing is tough!

A salvo of plasma and lasers drive the thing
back as
Never Lies
and the others arrive.
Never Lies
bombards the creature with her gun platforms while
Bad
Attitude
flanks for an attack. She's holding an enormous axe,
but it bounces right off the creature’s tentacles without even
scratching them. The color of
Never Lies
’ weapons changes,
and the creature’s shields start to flicker.
Pet Shark
appears behind the creature, slaps a bomb on its back and lights
it. The explosion blinds me and knocks over a handful of trees.

The alien bobs uncertainty in the air, then
darts off between the trees before we can react.

“Get it!” yells
Never Lies
.

We chase the creature through the trees,
darting from tree to tree and crashing through branches.
Never
Lies
keeps her fire up even as we race through the forest, but
I can’t even shoot my multiblaster in a straight line. My body is
wet with rain and sweat, and my breathing is fast and ragged. I do
my best to keep up, but it’s hard. Trees explode as we pass, and we
are illuminated by fires that flicker briefly before being washed
out by the storm.

We lose sight despite our best efforts.

“It’s gone,” says
Never Lies
curtly.

“Anyone land a tracer?” asks
Pet
Shark
, “none of mine stuck.”

I didn’t think to use a tracer dart, but it
wouldn’t have mattered: the alien’s shields were too good.

“What was that thing?” I ask, but no one else
has seen anything like it.

“It was important, that’s what it was,” says
Pet Shark
.

He’s pointing out the obvious, and
Never
Lies
doesn’t need to hear it. I have no doubt that she knows
how important this thing was. They snap at each other as we search
for any tracks.

My proximity alarm rings out once:
bang
.

“Hey guys, I just got a sound from my prox
alarm,” I say.

They ignore me.
Bang
.

“Guys?”

Bang
.
Bang
. It’s getting
closer, but no one is listening to me.
Bang-bang-bang
.

“Did you say something,
Red Five
?”
asks
Bad Day
, but then the others hear it.

“Up there!” calls
Bad Day
, pointing at
a dark shadow in the storm.

It's a deathtower: a five-story high floating
tank filled with every kind of killing device and the largest
weapon in the saucer's arsenal, far larger than the saucer we were
sent to find. My training program told me that it has few
weaknesses and I should run if I ever see one. The sight of its
turrets and gun ports strikes me with fear. It starts laying down
enough fire to level a mountain, and we scatter.

“Get out of here!”
Bad Attitude
says,
pushing me into cover.

Trees burst into splinters as the hunters
become the hunted. I see
Pet Shark
buried beneath a wave of
missiles, but he survives and flies into the storm.

Only
Never Lies
is still fighting
back. She aims a salvo of fire at the deathtower, tearing a long
hole in its hull as her lasers find its weak points. I've never
heard of a single hero taking down a deathtower, but she's doing
her best. The tower sends missiles at her, but
Bad Day
teleports in and grabs her just in time. They work well as a team,
Bad Day
keeping
Never Lies
out of danger while she
focusses on taking the alien weapon down. Missiles rain down on us,
but I shoot most of them out of the sky. I don't think either
Bad Day
or
Never Lies
even realize I'm still around;
the rest of our team have run.

A plasma ball breaks on my shields as I try
to dodge the missiles. Lasers pin me to the ground and beams rip at
my shields. Someone grabs my foot and I’m teleported behind a
tree.

Bad Day
’s armor is blackened and his
shields are low, but he gets right back in the fight.

I don’t see what happens next, but I hear a
loud bang followed by a spurt of fire into the sky. The deathtower
crashes into the forest and explodes. I whoop in excitement as
Never Lies
lands beside me and punches the air. One of her
gun platforms is missing and her helmet is dented, but she’s happy
and alive.

They high five, and
Day
does a victory
dance in the air.
Never Lies
even slaps me on the
shoulder.

“That was close, really close. The other two
took off and left when they saw what we were dealing with, but you
stayed. You should be dead, kid, but you did well.”

We fly over to the ruins of the deathtower to
have a look. The storm is fading.
Bad Day
picks up a gun
turret and holds it over his head.

“Pew-pew!” he says.

Never Lies
laughs and picks up a sheet
of green metal.

“There must be a ton of good stuff in here,”
she says, and then freezes.

The strange tentacled alien is watching us
from beyond the wreck. It doesn’t flee or make any move to
attack.

“Move slowly. Close and capture. We can do
this,”
Never Lies
says.

And my helmet goes
bang-bang-bang
as a
second deathtower drops through the clouds and falls right onto
us.

“Go!” yells
Never Lies
.

Bad Day
grabs me and we escape.

“East!” I say, remembering the briefing.

The compass on my arm swings wildly and I
can't see the sun.
Bad Day
grabs me and my stomach lurches
as we teleport some distance away from the fight.

“Just go!” he shouts, and disappears
again.

Good advice. I fly with the storm at my back.
I get pretty lost, so I fly high to find my ride out of here. I see
a Comet hovering above the trees near me and circle down to it.
Bad Day
and the others are already there.

Bad Day
is talking urgently into a
radio set as I land.