Archvillain (15 page)
Authors: Barry Lyga
He wondered what the lighthouse was doing here. He had to admit it was a heck of a mystery, one he’d always wanted to solve. His pranks had occupied most of his thinking time, though, so he’d never gotten around to it. But maybe now that he had so much extra brainpower lying around he could —
“I saw what you did,” said a familiar voice.
Kyle spun around.
“To the statue,” Mighty Mike said, standing in the air, his hands on his hips. “Putting it back. That was nice. But you messed with a crime scene.”
Under his mask, Kyle’s cheeks flamed red with embarrassment. He hadn’t wanted to be caught doing something nice. “I didn’t do it to be nice. I just like imagining the looks on their faces when they come back in the morning and the statue’s back in place.”
Mike sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, looking very adult all of a sudden. He drifted a little
closer to Kyle. “It doesn’t have to be like this. Think of all the good we could do together. As partners.”
Kyle laughed. “Are you crazy?”
“I just wish you would use your powers for something productive,” Mike said.
“Making people realize how silly they are
is
productive.”
“Is that what you think you’re doing?”
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Kyle said. “What I don’t know is what
you’re
doing here.”
Mike shrugged. “Helping.”
“Oh, and that’s the only reason you’re here? As if we can’t survive without you? Somehow the town of Bouring managed to get along before you showed up,” Kyle said. “The stalled cars got towed and the kittens got out of trees and the fires got put out and the bad guys got caught. All without you.”
Mike grinned. “But I’m better at it.”
Kyle clenched his fists. He wanted to punch that grin until there was nothing left of it.
“Now, I saw what you did with the statue,” Mike went on. “I know you’re not all bad. I could arrest you right now —”
“You can’t arrest anything. You’re just a kid.”
“Didn’t you hear? I was deputized by Sheriff Monroe today. After school. I guess you didn’t see it on TV.”
Deputized? Oh, great. Just what he needed. Bad enough Mike was a punk and a pain in the butt — now he was a punk and a pain in the butt with a
badge.
Mike’s grin widened. “Nothing to say to that? No snappy comeback?”
Kyle wished he’d brought Erasmus with him. Erasmus would have had something to say.
“Just watch yourself,” Mike told him. “I would hate to have to fight you again. Because I won’t hold back next time.”
Kyle seethed. “I saved the entire town the other day. So don’t tell me to behave —”
“I would have taken care of things,” Mike said, his confidence so blinding and burning that it took every last ounce of willpower for Kyle to resist flying over to him and popping him one.
But the worst thing about that confidence was this: Kyle realized Mike was probably right. So far, Mighty Mike had succeeded at everything he’d attempted.
But he knew one way to hurt Mike. Or at least to show that he knew Mike’s weakness:
“I know the truth about you, Mike. I know what you are.” He came down hard on the word “what.”
Mike didn’t even blink. He just shrugged. “Oh? I’m sure you think you know. But maybe I know the truth about
you,
‘Azure Avenger.’ Think about that.”
Before Kyle could respond, Mike cocked his head to the right. “There’s a kid choking on a turkey club sandwich at Dinah’s Diner. I’ll be right back.”
And he sped off to perform yet another annoying good deed, leaving Kyle alone.
I’ll be right back,
he’d said, as if he expected Kyle to wait for him.
Yeah, right. Typical Mike — he’s the important one and everyone else needs to revolve around him.
Not Kyle.
Kyle was no one’s lackey. No one’s “partner.”
Kyle was in charge.
He snorted under his mask and flew home.
He stayed up late, finishing the job organizing his lab. He would need more equipment. More resources. More of every thing.
And whatever he had to do to get these things, well … he would do.
The last thing he did before going to bed was find a place for the heavy leaded jar with the foil stopper. He’d found it in the crawl space under the basement stairs. Mom had used it when he was younger, when she canned her own fruits and vegetables. It was thick and squat and just the right size to hold the irradiated soil
he’d scooped up from the field where Mighty Mike landed.
He put it on an empty shelf. His first trophy in the war against Mighty Mike.
When he was quiet and listened carefully, he could hear a little high-pitched whine from the jar. Sometimes the soil glowed. And sometimes it … moved.
He would learn a lot from this handful of dirt, he knew. He would someday find a way to rebuild MiMi. A better MiMi.
Kyle went upstairs. Before he turned off the light, he looked down at his workshop.
Tomorrow was another day. And he had a lot to do.
So the forces ranged against me have escalated.
That’s all right. They can send the entire Army and Navy and Air Force and the Marines after me. They can send all the cops and agents in the world after me.
It doesn’t matter.
Because I’m smarter than all of them put together.
I’m better than all of them.
I’m better than
him.
I’m the only one who knows the truth about him. So it’s up to me to find a way to destroy him.
If they’re going to escalate,
I
need to escalate….
This isn’t over. Not by a long shot …
I have many enemies in my life…. The Great Nemesis. The sheriff. Every clueless teacher and adult who’s ever told me to “apply myself.” Everyone who’s ever not understood the point of my pranks.
But him …
He’s the worst. He’s the one I need to focus on. The one I need to destroy above all others.
After all — he’s my archvillain….
Turn the page for a sneak peek at
what’s next in book two:
The Mad Mask gestured with both hands and the cloak rippled and waved very impressively. “The Mad Mask has come here with an offer for you, Azure Avenger.”
“What kind of an offer?” Kyle had to admit that it sounded pretty cool to hear someone else — finally! — call him the Azure Avenger.
“The Mad Mask is constructing … Ultitron!” He shouted the last word and then waited, panting slightly, as if Kyle was supposed to know what he was talking about.
“Uh, what’s Ultitron?” Kyle asked after a long silence.
“What is Ultitron? What is Ultitron?” The Mad Mask threw his hands up in the air as if to say,
Do you see what I have to deal with?
“Ultitron is only the ultimate engine of devastation and destruction. That’s all. It’s only an artificially intelligent humanoid techno-configuration that outpaces all current and next-generation and
next
-next-generation cybernetics technology on the planet!”
“Right. So it’s a robot.”
The Mad Mask punched a tree. Kyle couldn’t believe it.
“A robot? Would you call the Sistine Chapel a church? Would you call the Sphinx a statue? Would you call —”
“OK, OK, I get your point. It’s
the
robot.” Kyle didn’t want to listen to any more ranting. He wanted to get to the point, so: “Get to the point,” he said.
“Work on Ultitron continues apace. However, the Mad Mask has come to realize that — despite his inimitable genius and impeccable design skills — the process could be accelerated with the addition of a similar, though inferior, intellect. Consequently, the Mad Mask invites you to act as
sous chef
to his masterpiece!”
Kyle brushed aside the insult. “So you need my help to finish your robot, is what you’re saying.”
The Mad Mask bristled. “The Mad Mask has said and will say no such thing! The Mad Mask has graciously and magnanimously decided to extend to you the honor of assisting in the completion of the mighty Ultitron! In exchange for your time and efforts, the Mad Mask will set Ultitron upon your enemy.”
Kyle’s eyes widened. Had he heard that correctly? All he had to do was help this guy finish his robot … and then they would send the robot after Mighty Mike?
A slow expression of absolute joy spread over Kyle’s face under his ski mask as he imagined Mighty Mike getting the stuffing pounded out of him by this “Ultitron” thing. Preferably while Mairi watched and realized her hero wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.
“You’ve got a deal,” Kyle said. “We’ll finish Ultitron together and then I get to use it to kick Mighty Mike off the planet.”
Barry Lyga is the author of several critically acclaimed YA novels. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. When he’s not writing he uses his superpowers to fight crime.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Copyright © 2010 by Barry Lyga
Cover illustration © 2010 by Andrew Trabbold
Cover design by Christopher Stengel
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First paperback printing, June 2011
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eISBN: 978-0-545-38889-4
