Mint condition. Like it had just been rolled off the assembly line.
“Repairs complete. Power cells fully recharged.” And the doctor disappeared.
Luke looked at his brand new suit, all fixed up, shiny and new, laid out across the table.
“I am a freaking genius!”
Ray shook his head, smiling.
“Remind me to thank our new E.T. friend next time we see him,” said Luke.
“What makes you so sure there’s going to be a next time?” asked Ray.
“What makes you so sure it’s a him?” asked Dawn.
Charlie laughed. “Alright you guys. Let’s get back to Earth.”
Earth. The third rock from the sun. In an average little star system, traveling along the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. One of a billion stars. One of a trillion planets.
But right now, it was the only planet that mattered.
Because at that very moment, Mastermind – a god – opened a portal inside the LaGuardia Airport in New York City – and in classic god-like super villain style, floated into the room for all to see.
Yup. He could fly now. Awesome. A mind-controlling flying madman. Airplanes were temporarily grounded while the mutant plague was getting sorted out. That left a lot of travelers stuck inside the airport. And everyone’s luggage held up in inspection for possible contamination.
Which meant a bunch of impatient, tired, stressed-out people waiting in the immediate area.
“Bow down and worship me!” demanded Mastermind.
The crowds turned to face him. Many people screamed or gasped. Some took pictures with their cell phone. A few actually bowed down in worship.
Mastermind shook his head. “Rebellious mortals. Witness my full power!” He floated over to an Italian woman who obviously just came from overseas, and didn’t seem to understand any English.
Who she was, why she was here – Mastermind didn’t care.
She would serve a new purpose now.
A demonstration of his true power.
He reached out and touched her. Laid his hand flat on her chest. She freaked out, and tried hitting him with her purse. But it was no use. Suddenly – overwhelming pain shot throughout her body, and she fell to her knees, crying out bloody murder.
Her skin started boiling. Her bones started cracking. A hideous tail ripped out from under her clothes. Her face deformed. Scales covered her skin. Her hair fell out.
People started screaming and running away. Except for one brave soul. A kind stranger. Who ran to the poor woman’s aid.
Mastermind saw him coming and reached out his hand. The instant the stranger made contact with Mastermind’s other hand, he too began crying out in hellish horror.
The Italian woman transformed into some kind of dragon-lizard monster. Kinda Godzilla-esque, but a lot uglier, and somewhat smaller. She still grew several sizes larger, until she had to kink down her neck to fit her head under the ceiling. Her feet alone were bigger than most children. Her tail wrapped around half the baggage claim area. She let out an agonizing roar. Too bad she wasn’t Japanese. That would’ve been poetic irony.
The kind stranger suffered a similar fate. He quickly and painfully transformed into a hairy ape-man. Something similar to Big Foot, but again, much uglier and almost as big as the woman.
Not many stuck around. The giant lizard lady tried to flee – bursting through the exit, smashing through the wall, to the outside world. The massive ape-creature beat his chest and ran outside too.
Mastermind watched the other mortals flee for their lives. “I don’t think so,” he said. He quickly flew over to them, moving much faster than they could run. First the ones trying to hide or escape inside. Then the people outside. One after another, he touched them – and turned each of them into monsters. Hideous, ugly, horrific, unsightly beasts of all kinds. Some more ugly than others.
They were the first of many.
None escaped Mastermind’s touch.
The villain laughed, ascending higher into the air, and looked down upon New York City – his city – below.
“People of Earth – your God has returned!”
Back at Stonehenge, a portal suddenly opened across the ground.
Luke jumped through, wearing his armored suit, unskillfully crashing and tumbling onto the grass. “I totally meant to do that,” he said, standing up, dusting himself off.
Ray followed behind. His landing was a little smoother, but he could also manipulate gravity, so he had an unfair advantage. Dawn shape-shifted, momentarily, to give herself wings. Her landing was the most graceful. And Charlie, well, he needed a hand getting through. Luke and Ray helped him.
“Thank you,” said the old man.
Dawn returned to human form. “We made it. We’re finally back on Earth.”
“Thank God!” exclaimed Luke.
She looked around at Stonehenge. It was nighttime, but still incredibly beautiful. “Wow…”
Ray looked up at the stars. Some pyramid – where they just came from – was floating around somewhere out there. He’d never look at the stars quite the same again.
“So you think Mastermind’s back yet?” she asked.
“Luke,” said Uncle Charlie, “you think you can teleport us back to California?”
“Only one way to find out. Everyone, get close.”
“Beam us up, Scotty!” said Ray.
They vanished in a flash of light.
Chapter Seven
Outside Help
Another flash of white light and they instantly reappeared inside Luke and Ray’s apartment – back in Burbank, CA.
“Oh heck yes!” exclaimed Luke.
“We’re back,” said Dawn.
“It worked!” said Ray. He looked at all the sand that had blown into their living room. The portal on their wall was gone. But the mess was not. “You know I’m not cleaning this up, right?”
“Eh, I’ll just open a tiny portal to the abandoned space ship. The vacuum will suck it all up.”
“Wait, the what?” asked Ray.
“Long story,” said Charlie.
Luke’s cell phone suddenly announced, “You’ve got mail!” in the classic AOL-sounding voice. “Oh, hey,” said Luke, “I got a voice mail from you,” he told Ray.
“Oh yeah,” said Ray. “You can delete that.”
“And three voice mails from my boss,” added Luke. “Guess they wondered why I missed work this morning. I don’t suppose they’ll believe I was trapped on another world.”
“Huh,” said Charlie, looking at his own phone. “Looks like I got a message too. It’s a text message.” He had a really strange look on his face. “All it says is, ‘we need to talk, I can help, call me’ with a number.”
“That’s weird,” said Ray.
“Do you recognize the number?” asked Luke.
“No,” said Uncle Charlie.
“You gonna call it?” asked Ray. “Does anyone else know about your powers?”
“No one,” said Uncle Charlie. “Just Mastermind.”
“Don’t call it,” said Dawn. “It’s gotta be a trap. Mastermind wants you to call him and he’s going to brainwash you over the phone or something.”
“He needs to make eye contact,” Charlie said.
“I know,” said Dawn. “But I have a bad feeling about this.”
“It’s an overseas number,” Charlie said, still reading the text message. “44-20. That’s the country code for the UK, I believe. London, right?”
“We were just there!” exclaimed Luke. “Need me to teleport us back?”
“What? To make a phone call?” remarked Uncle Charlie.
“Right. Sorry. It’s fun. That’s all.” He smiled.
Ray asked, “Luke, where’s the remote? I want to see what’s on the news. We need to see if Mastermind or his mutants have been spotted yet.”
“I’m going to call it,” said Charlie, too curious to ignore it. He dialed the number. It rang.
“I do
n’t know,” said Luke, helping Ray look for the remote. “I can never seem to find it.”
It rang a second time.
And then someone picked up. “Mister Powers.”
It was a man’s voice.
“Who is this?” Charlie asked.
“A friend,” said the voice on the other end. They didn’t recognize this voice – but Mastermind would have. And Mastermind would’ve been furious if he knew this man was talking to Charlie now. “We need to stop Mastermind,” said the voice. “Where are you now?”
“How’d you get my number? Who is this?” Charlie demanded.
“Never mind, I’ll trace the call. Triangulating… just a few more seconds. Burbank, California. Wow. I was expecting you to still be in the UK. You travel fast, Mister Powers.”
“Okay, you better start talking now, son,” said Charlie.
“We don’t have much time. I’m watching him on the telly now. He’s all over the news. Last seen in New York. Turning people into monsters just by touching them!”
“What?” asked the old man. “Say that again?”
“Found it!” said Luke. “My heads-up display located it. God, this space suit is so cool.” He dug the TV remote out of the couch cushions. He turned the television on.
“I don’t have time to explain,” said the voice on the phone. “Mastermind hired me to do a few odds and ends. Erase his public records, set up a meeting with your president, make sure all the major networks got his video…”
“What are you saying?” asked the old man.
“James and Helen. Your brother and sister-in-law,” said the voice, “how do you think they knew Mastermind was picking up a shipment in Hawaii?”
“What?”
“I sent them the anonymous e-mail.”
“You did?”
“Mastermind’s been hiring me for stuff from the beginning. But there’s no time. Are you near a computer?”
“No, why?”
“Wait, what’s that I hear in the background?” asked the voice.
Luke and Ray were watching the news.
“Is that the news? SWITCH IT OFF! NOW!”
Charlie didn’t know what to think. “Luke, Ray, turn that off. Quick!”
“What? Why?” asked Luke.
Ray hit the power button, just as the news started to show Mastermind’s “obey me” video again. “What’s wrong?”
The voice on the phone said, “Mastermind’s got this video he had me send all the major news networks. He’s telling everyone to worship him like a god.”
“Hold—hold on,” said Charlie, interrupting. He put the cell on speaker so everyone could hear. “Go on.”
“The networks keep repeating his video. He’s controlling everyone through it. Whatever you do, don’t watch the news!”
“Oh,” said Ray.
“It works over TV too?” Dawn asked. “Great.”
“It’s going viral online as well. I’d avoid all media as long as you can,” said the voice. “Nation leaders worldwide – including our prime minster and your president – are telling everyone to get some kind of cure too, but it’s all part of his plan.”
“Why are you telling us all this?” asked Charlie. “If Mastermind really hired you—”
“I know,” said the voice. “Why should you trust me? All I can say is—money’s worthless if there’s no one left around.”
“You said you’re watching him on TV now?”
“Yes,” said the voice. “He’s still in New York.”
“Hey,” said Dawn. “If we can’t watch the news, how come you can?”
“I’ve got it on mute. When he first hired me, he found me online. He bragged that if we were in person, he could force me to do all his tasks for free. But he’d need to make eye contact while speaking for it to work. Idiot. Ever since, I’ve been careful to never let that happen. I won’t give him that opportunity. And neither should you.”
“Then we need to teleport to New York,” Luke said.
“You guys can teleport? Damn. That would explain how you got to California so fast. Anyway, you’ve got your own local problems. There’s some rhino-monster attacking Los Angeles as we speak. Not to mention others in Tokyo, Athens, and all around the world. But,” he said a little impatiently, “if you can clean up that mess, I may have a way to free everyone from Mastermind’s control.”
“How?” asked Luke.
“By using his own powers against him.”
“Luke,” said Uncle Charlie, “remember what I said earlier. Be smart. It sounds like mutants are spread out. You guys can take them one-on-one. You may not ever get a chance like this again.”
“Good point,” said Ray.
“Okay, Mr. Hacker Dude,” said Dawn, “we’re gonna need exact locations of all the mutants. Luke – you can get us there?”
“In a flash,” he grinned.
Luke and Ray teleported to downtown Los Angeles – what was left of it. Several of the city buildings had crumbled to the ground. The roads were all torn up and destroyed. Freeways collapsed. Dead bodies, fires, overturned cars…
Only a few of LAPD’s bravest and finest remained. Firing upon the mutant. Doing whatever they could to slow him down – and buy the escaping civilians more time.
Rhino-Man charged into a police car, launching it several hundred feet up into the air. The cops protected themselves behind barricades, still shooting at the thick-skinned rhinoceros man. But his tough, hard skin and high tolerance for pain made him a difficult beast to slow down.
“You think this is going to work?” asked Ray.
“It has to,” said Luke from inside his battle-ready suit. His Astaria crystal was strapped to his left arm. Easy access in case they needed it later.
“Hey dino breath!” Ray called towards Rhino-Man. “Over here, loser!”
Rhino-Man snorted and turned around. “You again!” he growled. He stomped his foot onto the ground. An earthquake tremor advanced in their direction.
Ray quickly lifted himself off the ground, floating above the shockwave. Luke teleported out of sight – reappearing directly behind Rhino-Man.
Still hovering a few feet above the ground, Ray held his hand out at Rhino-Man. “And here we go…”
The large gray monster started to lift off the ground too. He tried to stomp. He tried to smash. But he couldn’t touch anything.
“Not so tough now, are ya?” Ray mocked.
Luke grabbed him from behind, wrapped his arms around the big beast, and together they instantly teleported away.
They reappeared in the middle of the desert.
But this wasn’t the desert planet. This was still very much on Earth. An unforgiving, hot, dry, barren place. Endless sand. No life – save a few dry shrubs and maybe a couple tiny critters. The Mojave Desert. Some one-hundred fifty or so miles away from Los Angeles.
But something was out of place in this barren desert.
An oasis. Or at least it looked like one.
It was a portal. A large hole in the desert sand. Revealing a lush and rich tropical planet. On the other side was a beach, with crystal-clear sparkling water, and a dense green jungle to the side. Clear blue skies, scattered white clouds, chirping birds, jumping fish… A beautiful land. A paradise.
It was the Planet Aquaria.
They reappeared directly above the portal opening. And Luke let Rhino-Man go. Luke teleported away as Rhino-Man fell down into the portal – crashing and sliding into the sand on the other side. “Hey!” shouted the rhino-guy. But then he looked around. He could be in worse places.
But why leave him here? And the portal back to Earth was still open. What were those guys up to?
Luke reappeared back in downtown Los Angeles next to Ray.
“Next stop?” Ray asked.
“Let’s see how Dawn’s doing,” said Luke.
Ray stepped right up to Luke’s side. “Ready.”
They teleported to New York City.
The streets were eerily e
mpty.
“You see her anywhere?” Ray asked.
“Scanning now.” His heads-up display inside his armored helmet scanned the entire area. No signs of life anywhere. This was spooky.
“There she is,” said Ray, looking up.
A giant gryphon screeched across the sky, chasing after a little black mutant bat guy.
“Never saw him before,” said Ray.
“Get away from me!!!” shouted the bat mutant.
The massive gryphon just screeched louder, talons extended, swooping in to snatch the mutant.
Her claws latched onto him. “Get off me!” He tried pushing against her large talon claws, but it was no use.
Dawn spotted Luke and Ray below. Carrying the trapped mutant – her prey – in her claws. She swooped low, dropped the bat mutant directly at Luke, and flew back up into the sky.
The bat mutant flapped his wings, trying to recover and save himself in mid-air. Luke jumped up, aided by hydraulics in his armored boots and legs, boosting himself up high and fast. He collided with the bat mutant, threw his arms around him, and the two teleported away.
Back in the Mojave Desert, the bat mutant suddenly found himself being thrown down into a portal towards Planet Aquaria.
He flapped his wings furiously. And just as he started passing through the portal opening, he regained control and started flying back up into Earth’s atmosphere. Luke landed – the other half of the jump that started in New York City – and turned around to look. He anticipated that a winged mutant might not get thrown into a portal so easily.
Luke lifted his hand, lining up the shot. He aimed the cutting laser directly at the bat mutant. He fired.
And just before the beam struck the bat – the mutant disappeared. The laser beam kept going, zapping nothing.
“What the?” remarked Luke. “Where’d he go?”
He quickly scanned the area. No sign of him anywhere. He wasn’t invisible. Not like Shadow. No heat traces or other residuals either. He just disappeared.
Rhino-Man started climbing up through the portal, back to the surface. Luke sighed. He fired the cutting laser at him instead.
“Ouch!” roared the rhino mutant, falling backwards into the tropical planet. Luke quickly teleported away.
Journey's End Page 7