‘What message?’ Penny said.
‘That we don’t have to hide in cabins and cubicles anymore,’ Kang said, doing curls with the dumbbells.
His weightlifting was making me all sorts of uncomfortable.
‘A couple of descendants even played superhero over the summer,’ Totes said. ‘Capes and powers and everything.’
‘No,’ Penny said. ‘That’d be all over the news.’
‘The school works overtime to keep a lid on it. Won’t be long, though,’ Kang said as he kissed his deltoid. ‘Do you know how famous I’m gonna get? Have you seen my abs?’
The kangaroo blew out air as his midsection tightened.
I mean, honestly, he had great abs.
Totes shook his head. ‘What do you guys need?’
‘Uh, so Duncan’s letting us in his lab,’ I said. ‘He told me you’d know what that means.’
‘Gotcha. BRB.’
Totes left the room, leaving us alone with the beefcake kangaroo who wouldn’t shut up.
‘You wanna know the real threat?’ he asked. ‘The Abandoned Children.’
‘Who are the Abandoned Children?’ I asked.
Noah and Penny looked uneasy.
They knew the answer.
‘Ex-Kepler students who’ve gone off the radar,’ Kang said.
Totes returned with a skull hanging from his horn. ‘They’re a buncha crazies who believe the world ended in the sixties.’
‘But the world didn’t end,’ I said.
‘Tell them that,’ Totes said, leading us out the door. As we headed back to the academy, Totes joked with Penny and Noah.
I didn’t say much.
The world was going to change – Jennifer said it first, and now the beefcake kangaroo said the same thing.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be for the worse.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Thirty minutes later.
Totes led the way with a torch in his mouth and a skull on his head.
We were somewhere beneath the basement of the school, walking down a concrete hallway nobody knew existed, accessed through a secret entrance disguised as a broken water fountain.
The top-secret-government-bunker decor gave me chills, and I realised that I still had some fear of worm-eaters left inside me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going to jump out at me any second.
We finally made it to the entrance to the lab, where the concrete walls moulded against a black metal door lined with tubes.
‘Duncaaan!’ Totes shouted.
The ghost floated through the door. ‘No need to shout, I’m right—’ Duncan stopped. ‘Quit wearing my skull like a hat!’
Totes dropped the skull into my hands, then trotted away, but not without mumbling, ‘Quit wearing my skull … I’m just a dead guy with no body … I’m smarter than everyone … blehhh …’
Duncan told me to point his skull towards the door.
A red laser beam scanned the skull up and down.
Air pushed through invisible seams. The door slid up and out of view like something from Star Wars.
‘My biometric data grant me entry,’ Duncan said. ‘I’ll scan all yours, too, so you each can have access.’
As soon as I walked inside, I literally died.
But not the for-real literally.
The other kind of literally.
I didn’t actually die.
Gadgets and gizmos sat on a round table in the middle of the room, labelled and everything! Shelves along the walls were loaded to the edge with cool technological toys.
I didn’t think I could get any happier.
I was wrong.
The walls came alive with holographic displays that would make Mission Control at NASA jealous. Colourful images danced around the lab, begging to be touched.
I brought my hand up, and—
‘Don’t,’ Duncan said. ‘Touch the wrong thing and you might explode.’
We all looked at the ghost.
‘No, seriously,’ Duncan said. ‘You wanna be known as the incredible exploding kid? Go ahead and touch away, friend.’
I stuffed my hands into my pockets. ‘Fine.’
‘You three should consider yourselves lucky,’ Duncan said. ‘The only people ever allowed in here are Donald and me.’
‘Nobody else?’ I said. ‘Why not?’
Duncan took a slow breath. ‘There are things in here that the world isn’t ready for. Powerful things. Dangerous things. Things real bad guys would love to play with. Only a handful of people are trusted with the knowledge that this room even exists, and even they can’t be allowed in.’
‘But you just let three random kids in,’ Penny said with a raised eyebrow. ‘Your security sucks.’
‘Quite honestly – I think I need this more than you,’ Duncan said. ‘I haven’t … I haven’t been doing so well lately, and getting back to old habits might help.’
If I could’ve given that ghost a hug, I would’ve.
Duncan continued. ‘Ben, I have a lot of unfinished projects that you can be my hands for. I’ll look over your shoulder while telling you how to work on them.’
‘A helicopter parent.’ Penny groaned.
‘Helicopter parenting is cool with me as long as I get to play with Duncan’s toys,’ I said.
Duncan chuckled slightly.
It was nice to see him smile.
I ran my fingers along the walls of the lab, which were made of black metal that looked wet but wasn’t. ‘Are the walls Trutanium?’ I asked.
‘Very perceptive, Ben,’ Duncan said. ‘Ninety-nine per cent of all Trutanium is right here in this room, y’know.’
‘Where’s the other one per cent?’
‘Keeping the world safe,’ Duncan said. ‘Would you mind opening this one for me?’
Several cardboard boxes sat under the table, but Duncan was pointing at only one. I slid the box out and tore into it like it was my birthday.
My jaw dropped.
I was speechless, which rarely happens.
‘You like?’ Duncan asked. ‘They’re prototype supersuits. Each suit has a different function. The one on top is an antigravity suit. It’s kind of my baby.’
I reached inside and carefully removed the suit.
It was just my size.
Pretty sure a tear fell from my face.
‘Antigravity? Does it make you fly?’ I said.
‘No, no, no, it shoots antigravity pulses. It makes objects defy gravity,’ Duncan said.
‘Why’s it so small?’ I said.
Duncan gave me a look. ‘It’s not small. It’s my size. I built it for myself when I was still a skeleton.’
‘And how old were you when you became a skeleton?’ Noah asked.
‘… Twelve.’
I wanted to scream, ‘No way, I’m twelve right now!’ but that would’ve been ridiculously obvious.
So instead, I just whispered, ‘It’s perfect …’
‘Perfect for what?’ Duncan asked, suspicious. ‘Don’t get any ideas, mister.’
The professor had every right to be suspicious … because I was getting all the ideas.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Saturday.
Mid-November.
‘Game point, sucka,’ Jordan said, bouncing a ping-pong ball on his paddle. ‘I win this, I get your bed.’
‘No, you don’t!’ I said. ‘Stop making bets at game point!’
We were in the Kepler Academy game room, which was filled with students killing time on a monumentally boring Saturday afternoon.
Noah and Penny ate popcorn as they watched from the side.
Jordan served, and I swooped my paddle, slapping the ball just right to give it a wicked spin – a move my dad taught me.
Too bad I swung too hard.
The paddle slipped out of my hand and torpedoed into the back of some girl’s head across the room.
‘Ouuuuuch!’ she howled.
It was Darla Dunn – a tenth grader who also
happened to be Dexter’s sister.
Darla and I had first met in Kung Fu Club last year, when she used me to show everyone how much damage a fist can do to someone’s face.
The answer is a lot, in case you’re wondering.
Darla glared at me since Jordan was straight-up pointing at the kid who did it.
Not good.
Darla marched right up to me.
Jordan ducked under the table.
Noah and Penny continued eating popcorn.
‘You did that on purpose!’ Darla said, suddenly morphing into a giant centaur out of nowhere.
…
You read that right.
Darla turned into a half-horse woman.
It dawned on me that I didn’t know what power Darla had.
She reached for me, but I shimmied across the table and rolled off the other side.
‘It was an accident!’ I said, turning to face the centaur, but to my surprise, it was gone.
Instead, an angry leprechaun was running straight at me, green sparkly suit and everything.
‘You’re dead meat!’ the leprechaun wailed in Darla’s voice.
The leprechaun was Darla!
Darla was a shape-shifter!
She jumped off the table and tackled me.
Noah and Penny just watched, and I couldn’t blame them. I was in the middle of a beatdown, and even I was bewitched by her power!
Kids applauded as Darla transformed into a fat, hairy, heaving gorilla. She pulled me in and hugged me tighter and tighter until I couldn’t breathe, and suddenly it wasn’t so cool anymore.
‘Let him go!’ Penny said.
Jordan ran out of the room.
Noah jumped up, hungry for action, but before he did anything, a giant tentacle slammed down on the ping-pong table, breaking it in half.
Darla stopped. ‘… Wut?’
Everyone else stopped, too, staring at the girl with tentacles under her arms. She was wearing one of the ‘HERO’ shirts with my face on it.
Behind her were Arnold, Millie, and the rest of the Braver Ravers.
‘Put him down!’ Millie commanded.
Darla dropped me. ‘You want some too?’
The room was silent.
It was the calm before the storm.
And all of it was for me. How cool is that?
All at once, the Braver Ravers rushed past Millie, firing off their powers at Darla.
Arnold and Noah helped me to my feet.
‘Stay back,’ Arnold said to me. ‘If you use your power, you’ll get in trouble!’
Arnold took off and ran at Dexter’s sister.
Everyone cheered like it was a Power Battle.
Darla caught Arnold with her gargantuan gorilla hands. He twisted and turned, then finally bit down on her hairy arm.
She instantly morphed back into a human as Arnold absorbed her power. And then Arnold transformed into an oversize tiger, roaring so loudly that I might’ve peed a little.
Just then, a furious Coach Lindsay burst through the door with Jordan by his side.
‘That’s enough!’ Coach commanded.
Everyone muzzled up. Arnold turned back into a human.
Coach Lindsay rounded up Darla and most of the Braver Ravers – the ones who used their powers – and took them to detention for the rest of the day.
It took a second for it to hit me, but they were getting punished because of a stupid mistake that I made.
‘Why’d they do that?’ I said to Millie. ‘They got into trouble helping me.’
‘Yeah,’ Millie said. ‘They knew they would.’
‘Well, that was dumb,’ Penny said.
Millie glared at Penny. ‘Don’t you get it yet? Ben isn’t just a hero. He’s a living legend. We’re lucky to even be alive at the same time as him.’
Noah smiled. ‘Yeah, Pen. We’re lucky to even be in Ben’s presence.’
‘Aww,’ Penny joined in on the joke, giving me puppy dog eyes.
‘The Braver Ravers aren’t just a fan club,’ Millie said. ‘We’re a team, and Ben is our leader, and we’ll protect him no matter what.’
‘Like junior X-Men!’ I said. ‘Love it!’
‘Or like a gang,’ Jordan said. ‘Do you love that?’
Millie laughed, like, ‘You’re crazy!’
So did I.
I had to admit, having my own superhero squad sounded pretty dope.
All I’d have to do was not screw it up.
And how hard was that?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Late November.
It was colder than penguin poop outside, but that didn’t stop me from visiting Brock.
It was a good place to be alone, which also meant I could work on stat cards in peace.
‘There were all kinds of supersuits in there,’ I said, ‘and one that looked like it was plucked right out of an Avengers movie! And the best part? It’s a boy’s huskyyyyy – just my size!’
Brock was stone-cold quiet.
‘I haven’t tried it on yet,’ I said, ‘but I will before the next Power Battle on Christmas Eve.’
The wind picked up a bit.
I thought about Jennifer.
The last time I saw her, she was driving away on her scooter.
‘I hope she’s not mad at us,’ I said, blowing hot air into my hands. ‘I wish I had a way to contact her, then I could tell her I finally got into Duncan’s lab and—’ I jumped to my feet.
‘Holy donks, the Magic Lamp! If it’s real, then it’s probably in there, right? I mean, who’s it gonna hurt if I just look for it? It’s not like I’m gonna take it or anything.’
Brock silently agreed, and then he silently encouraged me to go find it.
And who was I to argue with a dead kid?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The laser scanned my face, and the lab door slid open. ‘Hello?’ I said.
No answer was the best answer.
The door shut as I tiptoed like some kind of cat burglar to the table with all the gizmos. The whole thing sorta made me feel like I was the bad guy, but my intentions were good. So those things cancelled each other out.
It’s all about finding balance.
Unused holopods leaned against the wall – the same as the ones that hid the school outside.
Like a kid in a toyshop, I switched one on. It flickered to life and then showed my mirror image standing at my side.
When I pointed the holopod at the table, half of it disappeared. I stepped through the invisible wall. Everything was still there – just hidden.
I drooled over the buffet of gadgets. What would the Magic Lamp even look like? I’d been calling it the Magic Lamp so long that I imagined an actual genie-in-a-bottle oil lamp.
I started sliding boxes out from under the table. Each one was filled with junk I didn’t recognise. Tools I’ve never seen before, etched with writing that looked … alien.
And none of it was labelled.
It was weird enough to give me the creeps.
The last box finally had labels.
They were all fancy and official-looking.
Project Blackwood was heavy and made of Trutanium.
Brock’s last name was Blackwood – I wondered if it had anything to do with him. Was Duncan trying to bring him back to life? But it wasn’t the Magic Lamp, so I tossed it back and shut the box.
Just then, the lab door opened.
I spun around as Donald Kepler faltered in, wearing his jammies and redonkulous hat. ‘… Mustn’t cause ripples … mustn’t stir the pot …’ he murmured, never making eye contact.
He didn’t know I was there.
The holopod was hiding me!
Duncan floated through the wall. He pointed to a bundle of cables hanging from the ceiling. ‘You need to take the green one and plug it into your helmet.’
Kepler took the green cable and stuck it to the side of his helmet, twisting until the bulbs on top glowed brighter. His eyes rolled back as he swayed slightly.<
br />
Duncan glanced at the holopod.
It was out of place, and he knew it.
‘Who’s there?’ he asked, staring past me.
Busted.
‘Sorry,’ I said, stepping through the invisible wall with my head down.
Kepler flinched, gasping like he had just gotten caught.
‘Relax,’ Duncan said. ‘It’s only Ben.’
‘… Who?’ Kepler barked.
‘Ben! Ben Braver!’ Duncan said, almost shouting.
‘… What if it’s not JUST Ben Braver?’ Kepler slurred as he carefully approached me.
The old man grabbed the sides of my head, smooshed his nose against my noggin, and sniffed long and deep.
Kepler exhaled. ‘… You’re not him … He hasn’t escaped …’
What the heck was he on about?
‘Who hasn’t escaped?’ I asked.
‘… The Reaper …’
The Reaper?
The villain in the fake articles from the Kepler Cave?
Duncan cleared his throat loudly. ‘Ben, why are you here alone? The buddy system needs a buddy, or it’s not a buddy system. What would happen if you got hurt and your buddy wasn’t around? Huh, buddy?’
‘Okay, I get it,’ I said. ‘Just stop saying buddy.’
‘But seriously,’ Duncan said, ‘I don’t like this. The buddy system is for safety, but it’s also for accountability. I know you’d never steal anything from me, but … I mean, Benzilla happened last year because you took one of my discs.’
‘Not on purpose!’ I said. ‘I just … forgot it was in my pocket. It was an accident.’
Duncan nodded. ‘Right, that’s fine. I just don’t want another accident.’
Kepler’s helmet dinged, and he yanked the cable out, trying not to lose his balance.
‘Donald, we need to get you back to your room, okay?’ Duncan said.
The old man nodded as he straggled back to the door.
Duncan followed but stopped to look back at me. ‘Put the holopod away,’ he said. ‘Get back to your room, and don’t come back down here without a buddy.’
I sighed as I turned off the holopod.
Ben Braver and the Incredible Exploding Kid Page 7