Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise (34 page)

Tobin had to get higher into the sky. That’s all he told himself, over and over: he had to get higher. He had to follow after Rigel. Even though the red giant was thousands of feet in the air above him, in the sky over Boston, Tobin had to go after him. He had to reach him somehow. He had to chase him. He had to stop him. He had to reach the hole in the Dark Nebula. He had to get higher. That was all he told himself. That was the only thing that mattered.

He had to get higher.

Grimacing and kneeling on the ground, Tobin flung his head back to the sky, letting out a scream and moving his neck from side-to-side, closing his eyes. He could feel it—a burning, starting at his neck and stopping at the top of his back. All of his electrical power was being funneled to that one spot, across the back of his shoulders. The boy could not feel his superpowers in his hands, arms, or legs. The electricity was only in his shoulders.

Then, suddenly, as Tobin grinded his teeth together and closed his eyes, electrical wings sprouted from his back, ripping through his costume and his cape. Extending out from his shoulders, the massive, bright, pulsing wings were snapping with vigorous, twisting, purple electricity. The purple wings looked like the wings of a skeletal bird, as they were not covered in feathers or skin—they were made of only simple bone and snapping, crackling strands of electricity.

As the boy flapped his new wings, his feet left the earth and he began to rise up toward the hole in the Dark Nebula. With his head flung back and his eyes pinned on the sky, his electric wings were giving him the lift he needed to soar high above the city. Leaving Boston Common behind, the boy rose higher and higher, with the purple wings from his shoulders sending streams of air rushing down to the ground behind him. Considering the sudden and stunning manifestation of his new power, Tobin’s mind was surprisingly clear. He was only focused on reaching Rigel.

***

Above the top of the Dark Nebula, thousands of feet above Boston, Rigel floated in the night sky, surrounded by his cloud of blue electricity. Looking out over the buildings, trees, and hills that stretched out for hundreds of miles, the red giant now only needed to make a simple choice: where to start? Should he finish what he started, in the cities and suburbs surrounding Boston, or should he soar straight to the heart of the country, to Washington, D.C., where the current leaders of the United States could see with their own eyes who was replacing them?

But then, as Rigel watched the twinkling buildings below him, he heard a pulsing, buzzing sound coming from behind him. It sounded like a combination of the humming of an electrical generator, and the repeating, rhythmic
whoosh-whoosh-whoosh
of a bird’s wings.

Rigel turned around. He found that Tobin was now in the sky with him, with purple, electricity-covered wings extending from his back. The boy was using these skeleton-like wings to hover in place, directly across from Rigel, and his eyes were completely white. As they stared at each other, both Rigel and Tobin floated above the domed top of the Dark Nebula.

“How did you…?” Rigel asked, confused. “What are you doing?”

Blue electricity snapped across Tobin’s arms. “I’m doing what I was going to do since all of this began: I’m stopping you.”

Rigel shook his head, trying to ignore Tobin’s new power. “It won’t matter. Nothing you do will stop me. With the power I have now, I can destroy this world and rebuild it into New Capricious at any moment I want. Vincent’s dream is here. And it’s here because of the power that was meant for me.”

Tobin flapped his wings. “Yeah, funny thing about that power: you stole it from me. So, I’m no expert on all this, but I’m not sure how something you had to steal can really be meant for you. I’m pretty sure that just makes you a fraud. But, again, I’m no expert.”

The blue electricity streaking across Tobin’s body began to grow in intensity. Rigel watched, afraid, with his eyes wide and darting around Tobin.

“No, Tobin,” the red giant said. “You can’t do this. This is my right. This is what I deserve. This belongs to me. This is my destiny.”

Tobin flew higher into the air, flapping his wings above Rigel.

“There’s no such thing as destiny,” Tobin said. “Nobody tells us who we are. We make our own future. We make our own choices.”

Tobin raised his arms in front of him and extended his hands down toward Rigel. They snapped and burst with raging, blue-and-white electricity.

Rigel held up his hands to defend himself. “No, Tobin, you can’t, I—”

Tobin unleashed all of his energy. A massive, twisting, snapping stream of blue fire and white electricity exploded from his hands, traveled across the sky, and into Rigel. The red giant was overwhelmed, with his legs flailing in the air and his arms beating against his chest as he tried to free himself. But he had nowhere to run. His entire body was now swarmed with the raging, fierce, deafening electricity stream flowing from Tobin’s hands. All the giant could do was thrash his head back and forth and scream.

“Rrrraaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhahhhh!”

Finally, when Tobin had exhausted nearly all of his electricity, Rigel stopped moving. As the boy lowered his arms and looked downward toward the dome, he saw that Rigel was now simply a motionless body, floating in the air, his eyes closed. All trace of the red giant was gone, and it was replaced with the thin, human body of Marcus Drake, which was nearly lost in the oversized green-and-black uniform of Rigel.

Then, as Tobin watched, confused, a burst of white electricity appeared in the middle of Marcus’ chest, before spreading out across his body like a spider-web. Eventually, the web of white electricity covered Marcus’ body entirely and shrunk in on him, contracting itself, until it caused a blinding, sudden flash of white light and thunder. Even from above, Tobin had to turn away from the explosion in the dark sky. But, when he looked back, Marcus was gone. And, therefore, so was Rigel.

However, as Tobin looked out over the planet Earth below him, all was quiet for only a moment. The Daybreaker had been right: Tobin’s powers went so much further than he knew, and suddenly the boy could hear voices from all over the world. It was as if he was everywhere, all at once, in tune with all the energy of the Earth. In Boston, he could hear people saying there was activity over the dome. In Paris, an elderly man was talking on the telephone to his son, discussing his fears about the invasion in America. And in China, news reporters were breathlessly discussing the latest news bulletin that a hole had appeared in the dome in the United States.

It was too much for Tobin. Too much power, too much information, and too much vision. Soon, the boy’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, his limbs went limp, and he passed out, collapsing in the night sky and floating back down toward the hole in the Dark Nebula.   

Finally reaching Boston Common from over three miles away, Orion, Keplar, and Scatterbolt ran into the park. They looked around, but Tobin and Rigel were nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell?” Keplar said. “Where’d they go?”

“This is where Tobin and Rigel were?” Scatterbolt asked. He had just returned from safely bringing Jennifer and Chad back to Capricious.

“Yes,” Orion replied, “right here. They couldn’t have gone far. Where would they have—”

“Look!” Scatterbolt shouted, pointing to the sky.

Orion looked up. Through the hole in the Dark Nebula’s ceiling, Tobin appeared, drifting slowly down to the earth. His body was motionless, his eyes were closed, and his purple, electrical wings were still there, limp at his sides. Even though he was falling, it wasn’t at a great speed—every few seconds, little pops of blue electricity were slowing his body down as he floated to the ground.

“There he is!” Keplar shouted.

The dog and the robot ran toward where Tobin was falling.

“What happened to him?” Scatterbolt asked. “Why isn’t he moving?”

Orion followed them, staring up at Tobin.

“He’s all right,” Orion said, confused. “I think he’s all right.”

When Tobin’s body finally landed softly on the ground of Boston Common, the blue energy around him faded, and so did his purple wings, which dissipated into the air like static electricity. As Orion, Keplar, and Scatterbolt reached the boy, he was still unconscious.

“Tobin,” Orion said, kneeling next to him and squeezing his arm. “Tobin, are you okay? Are you all right? Can you hear me?”

Slowly, the boy’s eyes opened, and he looked up, blinking at the blurry figures above him. His mind was a little fuzzy and his hands were tingling, but surprisingly he felt okay. His injuries no longer caused him pain, and his wounds appeared to be healed. Mostly, he just felt exhausted.

“I just had the strangest dream,” Tobin said. He pointed to Orion, Keplar, and Scatterbolt. “You were there, you were there, and you were there, too.”

Keplar let out a massive sigh and rolled his eyes. “Oh, thank God. He’s alive.”

Orion helped Tobin sit up. “What happened, Tobin? Where’s Rigel? Where’s the Daybreaker?”

“He’s gone,” Tobin replied, shaking the fuzziness from his head. “Rigel’s gone. They’re all gone.”

“What?” Orion asked. “What do you mean? Are you sure?”

Tobin leaned back and stretched out his arms, closing his eyes and cracking his back. He was so tired. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Did you have wings, by the way?” Keplar asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did.”

“Holy krandor.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

Nearby, Scatterbolt stood with his head arched back toward the ceiling of the Dark Nebula, his eyes looking up through the hole and out into the sky. He had a big grin across his face.

“He’s gone,” the robot said. “They’re all gone. This is over. It’s over.”

The little robot jumped into the air, with both of his fists raised over his head.

“Whoooooo-hoooooo!” he shouted, celebrating with relieved, exuberant glee.

As they laughed at Scatterbolt’s enthusiasm, Orion gave Tobin a hand and helped him stand up.

“Tobin, these readings I’m picking up,” Scatterbolt said, walking over to them. “These energy levels—I’ve never seen anything like it.
Nobody’s
ever seen anything like it. What the heck did you do?”

Tobin leaned on Orion, exhausted. “To be honest, I’m not sure. Rigel was up there, about to escape, so I...I...”

“You did what you had to do,” Orion said with a smile. “You never gave up.”

“No,” Tobin said. He smiled back. “Even though I really, really kind of wanted to.”

Orion laughed and hugged Tobin.

“Okay,” Keplar said, looking over the decimated Boston Common. “Captain Loony-Daddy-Issues is gone. We won. But now what? Look at this place. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” Orion replied. “But the good news is we have plenty of time to figure all that out. I think we should go back to the museum, come up with a plan to clean this place up, and then come back here in the morning before the Nebula dissipates, so we can start getting everything back to normal. Or at least as close to normal as we can get it, anyway.”

The old man turned to Tobin.

“What do you say, Tobin? You wanna come back with us to the museum, or do you want to go back home first and rest?”

Tobin looked back at Orion. The old man, Keplar, and Scatterbolt stood in front of him. Tobin knew something they didn’t.

“There’s something I have to tell you guys,” the boy said.

A little over four hours later, the cleanup of Boston Common was complete—to the best of the heroes’ ability, that is. With help from King Ontombe’s animal warriors and the freed Rytonian Rebels, they had safely evacuated any lingering Rytonian citizens, they had returned the majority of the lifeless Eradicator robots back through the portal to Capricious, and they had even dismantled most of the Rytonian Rebel medical stations that had been set up all around Boston Common during the war. Most importantly, the super-villains of the New Capricious Council had been captured, arrested, and detained, and they were now under strict surveillance in the most secure prison in Capricious, where they would await their sentencing for their involvement in the invasion of Earth.

The heroes weren’t fooling themselves, though; it was undeniable that Boston Common had certainly seen better days—it was still littered with burnt- down trees, giant explosion marks, and, unfortunately, six gargantuan trigulsaur carcasses. However, the heroes had removed all signs from the Battle for Earth that they realistically could, and had also brought almost everything—and everyone—that wasn’t from Earth back to Capricious through the giant, red portal located in the middle of the Common.

Now it was time to say goodbye.

“Well, that’s about it,” Keplar said, standing in the park with his hands on his hips and looking up at the damaged skyline. “Anything that belonged to Capricious is back on Capricious. Most of it, anyway.”

“Yes,” Orion said, “I’m sure there’s some stragglers and other things left behind, but we’d never find everything. I’m surprised we did as well as we did.”

“When the Nebula opens up,” Tobin said, “it will give the Boston Police and the government some interesting things to comb through, at least. I can’t wait to see how many laser rifles end up on eBay.”

Tobin forced a smile, while Orion and Keplar chuckled half-heartedly. But, peering over Orion’ shoulder, Tobin eyed the giant red portal a few dozen feet behind his friends. He knew they were all avoiding the obvious.

Because of this, Scatterbolt wasn’t smiling. He was looking down at the ground, with his lip quivering. His foot was angrily kicking at the dirt, and his nose was sniffling.

Tobin looked down and noticed Scatterbolt.

“I just wish…” the boy said. “I just wish there was some way you guys could stay.”

“I know, Tobin,” Orion said. “But we all talked about this and agreed: there’s no feasible way for us to stay here. It just wouldn’t be safe, especially for Keplar and Scatterbolt, to live on Earth. Our home is on Capricious.”

“I know,” Tobin said, “but I wish...I wish things didn’t have to be this way. If I could go with you guys, I could—”

“Tobin, your place is here,” Orion said. “With your mom and your family. You know that. You can’t leave them.”

Tobin nodded, upset. “I know, but I...this shouldn’t—this isn’t right.”

Tobin looked down at Scatterbolt. The little robot was crying now but trying to hide it, covering his face with his arm. Tobin knelt down to talk to him.

“It’s okay, Scatterbolt. It’s okay, buddy.”

Scatterbolt collapsed against Tobin and hugged him, wrapping his arms around Tobin’s waist. The little robot was sobbing. Tobin knelt down lower and hugged him back, trying to stop himself from crying.

“This won’t be forever, buddy,” Tobin said. “I promise. I’ll see you again. I promise. Okay?”

“I’m gonna miss you so much, Tobin,” Scatterbolt said, his eyes closed. “I don’t want to go back. I want you to stay with us.”

Tobin took a deep breath and rubbed Scatterbolt’s back. “I know, buddy, but this isn’t goodbye, okay? We’ll figure something out. We’ll figure something out. This isn’t the end. I’ll see you guys again.”

Scatterbolt broke off from Tobin and looked him in the eye.

“You promise?”

“Yup, I promise, buddy. And have I ever broken a promise to you?”

“Never,” Scatterbolt replied. “Plus, you still need to teach me how to talk to girls.”

Tobin laughed. “I will, you can count on it. But, in the meantime, just stay who you are, always be yourself, and don’t let any of them break your heart, okay?”

Scatterbolt looked to the ground. “I think my heart’s breaking right now.”

Tobin laughed but wiped away a tear. “You’ll be fine, buddy. It will get better. You’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I know.”

Tobin stood up and moved on to Keplar. He and the dog looked at each other, smiling.

Thinking back, Keplar remembered the first time he had met Tobin, in the grassy field in Capricious, the first time Tobin had ever traveled between worlds.
The kid was so scared, so small
, the dog thought to himself.
But look at him now. Krandor, look at him now.

“So,” Tobin said. “I guess this is it for a while, Dog Breath.”

“I guess so,” Keplar replied. He thought it over, then grinned. “How boring is your life going to be without me? Seriously, how boring?”

Tobin laughed. “Pretty boring. I gotta say, pretty boring. And, the worst thing is, I think there’s still a few records of yours in the training room that I haven’t broken yet.”

Keplar waved his hand. “Ah, hell, I’m still better-looking than you, at least I can take that away with me.”

Tobin laughed and they hugged. Keplar squeezed him tight with his giant, blue arms.

“You’re my best friend, you know that, right?” the dog asked, choking back a tear.

“You better believe it, bro,” Tobin said. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Keplar laughed, wiping at his eyes. “Now don’t go and do anything stupid in college while I’m not around, you hear me?”

“Now that you’re not gonna be around,” Tobin said, “I think the stupid things I’m gonna be doing are gonna go down by about 100%.”

Finally, they laughed and separated, and Tobin moved on to Orion. Teacher and student stood in front of each other. But they were so much more than that. They always were. They were friends—and, in a way, Tobin knew, they were father and son.

Orion smiled at the boy, but Tobin was now in tears. The boy couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had been dreading this moment from the second the Daybreaker had told him what was going to happen with the portals between worlds.

As Tobin cried and shook his head, angry and upset, Orion looked back at him, trying not to cry himself. The old man simply smiled, attempting to replace his sadness with pride for what Tobin had accomplished.

It took Tobin a long time before he could find the strength to speak.

“You have given me so much,” the boy said through his sobs.

Orion smiled, tears now running down his cheeks. “Not nearly as much as you have given me.”

They embraced, hugging in Boston Common. Tobin’s body was heaving now and he was unable to catch his breath. Orion held him close, placing a hand on the back of Tobin’s head.

“It’s okay, Tobin. Everything is gonna be okay.”

“I can’t…I can’t...I’m not gonna be able to go on without you.”

“You’re going to be fine,” Orion said.

The old man separated from the boy and looked at him face-to-face. Orion held the eye contact the entire time he spoke, though Tobin was looking down at the dirt. The old man placed a hand on either side of Tobin’s face.

“Look at me, Tobin. You’re going to be fine. Okay? Look at me. You’re going to be fine. You haven’t needed us—or especially me—for a long time now. You have grown into what I always knew you would be—the greatest hero I have ever seen. From the first day I met you, you’ve dedicated yourself, you’ve learned who you are, and you’ve grown into a man—a man your father would be so proud of.
I
am so proud of you. You’ve grown into the person I always knew you would be.”

“I never could have done it without you,” Tobin said. “Any of it.”

Orion placed a hand on each of the boy’s shoulders. He waited until Tobin looked up before he spoke.

“It has been the greatest joy of my life to know you, Tobin. I mean that. You have reminded me so much of what is important—why I do this, why we all do it. But you’ve reminded me of something else that is the most important thing of all: to enjoy this life. To take joy in it. For too long, I forgot that, and lived my life in fear, always worrying about what was going to happen next and how I was going to deal with it. Now, I realize, truly, more than ever, how much this life means, how lucky I am. And that’s because of you. Because of the joy you have for life.

“Promise me something, Tobin. Promise me you’ll stay this way. Promise me, no matter what people tell you, no matter what happens to you later in life, no matter if some things in your life don’t turn out the way you want them to. Promise me you will always take joy in life. Promise me you’ll stay this way.”

Tobin nodded, wiping his nose. “I will.”

Finally, Keplar walked up behind Orion and tapped the old man on the back.

“O, we gotta go. It’s almost five.”

Orion and Tobin separated, and the old man looked toward the portal. But then, he looked back to Tobin, and smiled.

“This isn’t the end, Tobin. I promise you. We will see you again.”

Tobin nodded, rubbing his eyes, looking at the ground.

“Keep your head up, kid,” Keplar said. “Whatever Orion taught you during all this, yeah, that’s great, but remember the stuff I taught you. That’s the real important krandor.”

Tobin laughed in spite of himself, shaking his head, before looking up. In front of the boy, in the middle of Boston Common, the giant, red, swirling portal began to shrink. It was closing, for the last time.

After Orion, Keplar, and Scatterbolt turned around, the three heroes from Capricious walked toward the portal. The three of them stood there, watching it slowly get smaller in front of them.

But then, suddenly, just as Orion and Keplar were stepping into the portal, Scatterbolt turned around and ran across the Common, pumping his arms and sprinting toward Tobin. The robot was still crying.

“Scatterbolt!” Orion shouted, as he and Keplar turned around.

Tobin met Scatterbolt halfway to the portal, and the robot latched onto the boy’s pant leg, burying his face against the cloth and holding on as tight as he could.

Tobin knelt down on the ground.

“It’s okay, Scatterbolt. It’s okay.”

“No, no,” Scatterbolt cried. “It’s not.”

Tobin rubbed the robot’s back. “You gotta go now, buddy,” he said, his voice cracking. He was trying to be strong for Scatterbolt. “I’m sorry. You’re gonna be okay, though, everything is gonna be okay. I’ll see you again, I promise. I promise, Scatterbolt. You have to go. The portal is closing.”

Eventually, Scatterbolt’s grip loosened on Tobin’s pant leg and the robot stepped away. Tobin hugged him and whispered to him.

“I’ll find a way back, Bolt. I promise.”

Scatterbolt nodded. Though it was the last thing he wanted to do, the robot turned around and walked back to Keplar and Orion.

Once again, the three heroes from Capricious stood in front of the portal as it slowly closed. Orion turned around and looked to Tobin. They locked eyes. Orion nodded and smiled. Tobin nodded back, trying to stop his crying. He was more exhausted than ever. As much as he wished it wasn’t so, he knew this was how it had to be.

After a moment, the three heroes from Capricious looked at each other, stepped forward, and disappeared into the mirrored portal’s surface. Only seconds later, the portal closed, and they were gone.  

Tobin stood in the middle of Boston Common. He stared ahead at where the portal once was. Now, there was nothing there.

Tobin turned around and walked across the destroyed Boston Common. All was quiet. The only thing he could hear were his footsteps crunching against the burnt grass.

Tobin looked up as he walked. The roof of the Dark Nebula was coming apart, dissipating and falling to the ground in pieces, like clumps of wet dirt. Soon, the Nebula would be gone, and the people of the city would be free to once again enter Boston.

With his singed, torn Strike uniform on his body, Tobin continued walking through the silent park, alone. After a while, the roof of the Dark Nebula was completely broken away, and he could look up and see the glowing, yellow sky behind it.

The sun was rising.