The Battle for Earth (Teen Superheroes Book 3) (4 page)

Easing myself through the gap in the door, I found the interior to be dry and dusty. A timber mezzanine level ran around the top floor of the building. Old wooden boxes lay everywhere on the ground floor, but they all appeared to be overturned and empty. It was impossible to see what lay behind the boxes on the upper level.

Here goes nothing
, I thought.

I stepped into the building, keeping my eyes trained on the mezzanine at all times. If anyone was up there, they –

A thing stepped out from behind one of the piles of boxes.

I say
thing
because it was not human. It was either an alien or a seriously enhanced mod. Enhanced humans were no surprise to me. I had encountered several of them already, although this thing looked radically different. It was tall, covered in scales and had a head not unlike a fish. A weapon’s holster hung from its waist, but its gun was firmly planted in its hand. This was the last thing I expected, although when I thought about it I realised that Brodie would never be brought down by a regular kidnapper.

“Where’s Brodie?” I asked.

“I am Graal,” the creature said. “I am from a planet many light years from here. A planet called Tagaar. And I am disappointed. I had hoped you would attack me on sight.”

So I obliged him.

Lifting my arm, I used a ball of air to knock the gun from his hand. Then I dragged him down off the floor above and crashed him into the ground. Racing over to him, I slipped an arm around his neck as he started to rise. He looked momentarily dazed, but responded by flipping me over into a pile of boxes.

To really rile me up, he slowly rose to his feet and laughed.

I got ready to throw a hurricane at him.

“That would not be advisable,” he said. “You have proven my point. You humans are a warlike race. You relish in your bloodshed. Your whole history is made up of killing those who are weaker.”

I was not interested in defending the history of the human race. “Where’s Brodie?”

“She is safe.” Graal tilted his head and regarded me through one eye. “For now. If you want her to remain uninjured you will follow my instructions exactly.”

As I looked at him I realised his lips were not matching his words exactly. They seemed to be out of sync.

“You are a primitive people,” he said. “Of course, I am using a translator to communicate with you. My species was spanning the stars while you were still living in caves and eating raw meat.”

I decided to challenge him. “Why are you kidnapping an innocent girl if you’re so advanced?”

“I have my reasons.”

I felt like beating him to death so I could find out those reasons. He lifted his head and laughed again. 

“Good. I see your anger,” he said. “I like rage in a species.”

“I want evidence that Brodie is still alive.”

“I will not give it to you.”

I took a single step toward him and heard the sound of muffled feet from above. Glancing up, I saw a dozen similarly dressed aliens step out from behind boxes with their guns trained on me.

The headache in the back of my head switched to full gear as I felt the urge to tear Graal into pieces.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I wish you to run an errand for me.” He paused. “There is a vault deep within The Agency building where you are housed.”

“So?”

“A weapon is located in that vault. It was developed by the country known on your planet as China. I want that weapon stolen and delivered to me.”

“The Agency is built like an underground fortress,” I said. “How am I supposed to break into the vault?”

“I have instructions on how to reach it. You will use your powers to steal the weapon.”

“What does it do?”

A smile played across the alien’s lips. “It is most ingenious. It is a type of gun called the Stonekiller. It converts its victim into a type of living rock. They are unable to move a muscle, yet they remain alive, locked within the rock for all time.”

I tried to imagine such a fate. “That’s sick.”

“It is creative,” Graal laughed. “Even my own people have not developed such a weapon. Only a perverse and violent species such as you humans could develop a torture so terrible.”

“We are not all like that,” I said. “Most people want to live in peace.”

Graal shook his head. “You misunderstand me, boy. I praise the savagery of your species. The Tagaar are a warrior race. We have driven more species to extinction than you can imagine.”

Great. Another unwanted history lesson.

“I want proof that Brodie is still alive.”

“You will simply have to take my word for that.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Because you have no other choice.” He tapped a patch on his wrist and a holographic map appeared in the air before me. I recognised it immediately. It was a three-dimensional schema of The Agency. How they had acquired a map of the secret organisation was anyone’s guess.

“I will show you how to retrieve the Stonekiller,” Graal said. “When you have delivered it to me, I will talk to you about saving the woman you love.”

Chapter Six

“Boys?” Ebony asked. “Have you seen Axel?”

Dan and Chad looked up at her from their respective positions in the games room. Chad was doing bench presses. Dan was in the middle of a computer game called Burning Swords.

“No.” Dan did not look up from his game.

“Uh-uh.” Chad continued to push the weights up into the air.

“Fine.” She glared at both of them. “It’ll have to be you two then.”

“Us two…what?” Dan asked. He was at level seventy-two in the game and so far had been defeated by a three-headed, six-armed medieval warrior no fewer than fifteen times. He felt certain that if he –

Ebony folded her arms. “We’re going to spend some time with Ferdy.”

“We already spent some time with Ferdy.” Chad continued to work out with the barbell. “We sent Mr. Robot Man to jail and made the world a better place. Don’t you remember, sis?”

“I remember.” Ebony pursed her lips. “I also remember that you boys have hardly spent any time at all with Ferdy over the last week.”

“That’s not true.” Chad rested the weight on the support bar. He slipped his shirt on. “I’ve spent plenty of time with Ferdy.”

“Really? When?”

“Oh…” He thought for a moment. “Oh, just lots of time.”

“Ferdy needs us,” Ebony said. “He needs human contact.”

Dan sat down his computer game. The medieval warrior had defeated him for the sixteenth time. “Come on, Ebony. We give him lots of attention. He’s like a brother to us.”

“You certainly don’t act like he’s a brother.”

“Maybe a cousin.”

“Whatever.”

“He acts like we’re in the way,” Chad said. “He seems to like the computer more than he likes me.”

“A lot of people probably feel that way.” The sarcasm was lost on Chad. “Ferdy needs people. He needs us.” She paused. “Whether he knows it or not.”

“Sis…” Chad made one last feeble attempt.

“We’re a family,” she said. “Come on.”

She waited until she knew the boys were following her, then started down the corridor to Ferdy’s room. The Agency had given him his own private chambers in the middle of one of the floors of the hotel. It had no windows, a feature that Ebony had opposed, but she could understand the logic of it.

It wasn’t that The Agency considered Ferdy dangerous, but Agent Palmer had pointed out to them that Ferdy sometimes didn’t know his own strength. He could lift a car and throw it fifty feet with little effort. What if he suddenly got it into his head to pick up a computer and hurl it at a passing vehicle?

Ebony was determined to make Ferdy feel wanted. It was the only way to bring him out of his autistic shell. She knocked at his door.

No answer.

She knocked again.

“Ferdy!” she called. “Are you in there?”

“Ferdy is playing chess,” his voice replied.

“Can we come in?”

“Chess originated in India in the sixth century!”

“That’s great, Ferdy. Can we come in?”

There was a long pause and then the door inched open. His face appeared in the gap.

“You are Ferdy’s friends,” he said. “Ferdy is playing chess.”

“Can we come in?” Chad asked. “We thought we might hang out.”

“Spend some time together,” Dan said.

“Time is relative,” Ferdy said. “Technically it is time/space.”

The three of them looked at each other before returning their gaze to Ferdy. They tried to look friendly.

“Come in,” Ferdy said.

They entered his room. Ebony glanced around. His quarters had changed little since they had arrived at The Agency. He had little in the way of possessions – not that any of them did – but his room looked more Spartan than their own. The few possessions he had acquired were neatly placed on shelves. A dozen computer monitors lined the walls. A chess set sat on the table in the middle of the room.

“You’re very tidy,” Dan said. “You can come and tidy our room if you like.”

“Ferdy cannot do the impossible,” Ferdy said.

“Oh,” Dan said. “Look, I was –”

“Ferdy is joking,” he said. “Ferdy was making a funny joke with his friends.”

Chad’s eyes settled on the chess set. “Who were you playing against?”

“The computer,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy is playing one hundred and seven games.”

Ebony thought she had misheard him. “You mean you’ve played a hundred and seven games against the computer?”

“No. Ferdy has played nine thousand, seven hundred and forty-one games since coming to live at the Las Vegas branch of The Agency.” He went over to a control panel and the dozen monitors sprang to life. They showed a multitude of chess games in various stages of play. “Ferdy is concurrently playing one hundred and seven games against The Agency computer.”

“Concurrently?” Dan said.

“At the same time?” Chad said.

“That is the meaning of concurrent,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy likes to play chess.”

“Are you winning many?” Chad asked.

He looked at Chad as if he had said something strange. “Ferdy always wins.”

“Always?” Dan laughed.

“Always is a period of time without barriers, but traditionally understood to continue into the future,” Ferdy explained. “There have also been more than twelve musical albums entitled Always as well as over thirty individual songs with the same name. In addition –”

“Uh, we get the idea,” Ebony said. “We were thinking about going up to the roof to play ball.”

“Ball?” 

“Yeah, you know, Ferdy,” Chad said. “A spherical object typically made of –”

“Chad!” Ebony snapped.

“We’re going to throw a ball around,” Chad said.

“Around what?”

“To each other,” Ebony explained. “We’ll throw it to each other. You know, for fun.”

“Ferdy finds this difficult to understand,” he said. “If each of us wants a ball, then we should just all go and purchase our own balls.”

Dan shook his head. “You could destroy the world of football with that kind of thinking.”

Ebony ignored him. “Let’s go.”

They found an elevator and ascended to the roof, stepping out into the light of a bright afternoon. The Agency owned the entire building, but most of it was still restricted. Fortunately the roof had been left to them, probably because a high wall ran around the exterior, shielding them from the outside world.

“I’m going to throw the ball to Chad,” Ebony said. “Then he will throw it to Dan and he will throw it to you.”

Ebony threw the ball and each of them passed it to each other. When it reached Ferdy, he caught it and stood looking at it. Ebony realised she had left out an important detail.

“Now you throw it to Chad,” she said.

Ferdy threw it. Chad caught it and the game continued. After the ball had done the rounds a few more times, Dan went to catch it, but he winced in sudden pain.

The others hurried over to him.

“What is it, buddy?” Chad asked.

“It’s my head,” he explained. “I’m getting images. It’s Brodie…”

“What is it?” Ebony asked. “Is she okay?”

“No. I can sense desperation…pain…”

“Has she been in an accident?” Chad asked.

“No…I don’t know…I’m not sure…”

Chad produced his cell phone. “I’ll try ringing her.” After a minute, he shook his head. “No answer.”

“She’s been gone all afternoon,” Ebony said.

“I thought it was weird when she didn’t pick up earlier,” Chad said. “Maybe she’s in trouble.”

“I think we should speak to Agent Palmer,” Ebony said.

Ferdy picked up the ball. “Ferdy throw the ball.”

“Okay, Ferdy,” Ebony said absently. “But we’ve got to go inside.”

Ferdy drew his arm back and threw it hard into the air. They watched as it soared over the wall, across rooftops and past buildings into the sky. It finally disappeared into the distance, a tiny black dot racing toward the far horizon.

“Ferdy has friends,” the boy said. “And he knows how to throw the ball.”

“Right on both counts,” Chad said.

Chapter Seven

Brodie awoke to find herself being dragged behind something that looked like it had escaped from a horror film. It wasn’t one of the creatures that she had fought on the flight deck of the spaceship. It was larger, covered in shaggy hair, and made a strange grunting sound as it moved.

She lifted her head slightly.

“Hey, ugly,” she called.

The creature stopped and turned its head. Its face was a cross between a gorilla and a bear. Saliva dripped from its open mouth onto its hairy chest.

“I was right,” Brodie said. “You are ugly.”

With her free leg, Brodie kicked the thing in the back of the leg as hard as possible. Through luck more than skill, she must have hit a pressure point because the creature immediately released her and fell backward.

Brodie rolled out of the way before it could land on her. As it hit the deck, she leapt up and directed a kick at the creature’s throat. It let out an inarticulate gasp of pain. Running down the corridor as fast as she could, she had almost reached the end before she heard the burst of weapon fire behind her. A shock like a bolt of electricity ran through her body and darkness swallowed her again.