by Felice Arena
‘Get the boys out of here, now,’ Agent Shadow ordered the pilot.
The helicopter pilot coughed. ‘Where are they?’ he said.
Andy kicked open the door and ran on to the rooftop, with Judd and Reggie right behind him.
‘Reggie, that was awesome!’ cried Judd, as they sprinted across the rooftop to the helicopter. ‘Now let’s get out of here before they realise we’re gone.’
‘I can’t believe you actually know how to hotwire a helicopter,’ Andy said, clicking in his seatbelt.
‘I can’t believe you know how to fly one,’ added Reggie, from the back.
‘All part of my training, dudes,’ Judd said, clicking through a dozen control buttons in the cockpit and switching on the blades. ‘We just have to log Buccaneer Island into the GPS.’
The helicopter blades were now whirling so loudly they couldn’t hear each other talk. Judd motioned for Andy and Reggie to put on the aviation headsets so they could communicate with each other.
‘So how many hours of flight training have you had?’ Reggie said, protectively holding Brad.
‘About a hundred hours,’ Judd said.
‘Seriously?’ Andy was relieved.
‘Well…forty hours in a simulator and sixty hours on Xbox.’
‘WHAT?’ cried Reggie and Andy.
‘Relax! I know what I’m doing,’ Judd said unconvincingly.
‘Maybe I will stay behind,’ Reggie said nervously.
‘Too late,’ said Judd, the blades now spinning at full speed. ‘We’re lifting! Here goes!’
‘ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!’ they all yelled.
The helicopter wobbled from side to side as it left the rooftop and hovered in the clear night sky.
‘Whoa, I’m doing it! I’m seriously doing it!’ Judd yelled, gently pushing forward the cyclic control stick and propelling the helicopter across the city skyline.
They were heading directly for an office window. ‘LOOK OUT!’ Reggie shouted.
‘WOOOAHHHHH!’ the boys hollered as Judd sharply pulled back the control stick and made the helicopter shoot upwards, narrowly missing the top of the building.
‘That was close.’ Judd sighed, regaining control and steering the helicopter away from downtown. ‘It’s all cool, boys, got a good feel for it now. It’ll be smooth flying all the way. Our ETA for Buccaneer Island is just under three hours.’
It took Andy and Reggie just that long to calm down and realise that Judd was actually a good pilot. Andy shook his head, impressed.
Then suddenly…
‘What was that?’ Andy gasped.
A bright lightning flash lit up the sky. The helicopter rattled and shook violently.
‘It seems we’ve hit a little electrical storm,’ Judd said.
Andy looked out his window. Gone was the clear starlit sky. They were in the middle of dark menacing clouds.
Judd anxiously fiddled with the control panel.
Reggie was in the brace position, with his arms wrapped around his head. Brad’s fur was standing on end. He buried his head in Reggie’s pocket.
‘Just hold on,’ Judd warned as another lightning bolt cracked across the sky. This time it was much closer.
The helicopter shook violently, like an overloaded washing machine on a spin cycle.
‘ARRRRRAGGHHH!’ Reggie screamed.
‘Whoa, that was close! We’re okay!’ Judd gulped. ‘Don’t panic!’
‘I think it’s a little late for that, don’t you?’ Andy said.
‘We’re nearly there,’ said Judd. ‘Calm down, Reggie!’
‘How can you land in this?’ Andy asked Judd, only to get a grim look in response.
Again the helicopter shook and swayed from side to side.
‘I don’t want to die,’ moaned Reggie.
‘You’re not going to die,’ yelled Judd, struggling with the cyclic control stick and trying to keep the helicopter stable. ‘Yet! Okay…it’s time to take this baby down. Buccaneer Island is directly beneath us.’
The helicopter rattled loudly. ‘Can you see anything with your night vision, Andy?’
‘Just the tops of trees – everywhere,’ said Andy. ‘We’re hovering only a few metres above them.’
Another lighting bolt struck.
The cockpit was lit up by a bright, blinding flash. The control panel electronics blacked out and the propellers locked up.
‘We’ve been hit!’ yelled Judd. ‘We’re going down!’
Andy groaned as he opened his eyes. The cockpit of the helicopter now resembled a crushed tin can. They seemed to be wedged in the branches of a huge tree.
Andy squinted into the dawn sun. He felt something lightly scratching at his neck – it was Brad.
‘Hey, boy,’ he croaked.
Remembering what had happened, he panicked. ‘Judd? Reggie?’
He turned to see Judd helping Reggie out from under a huge branch that was poking through the cockpit.
‘Oh my head,’ groaned Reggie. He tried to bend his glasses frames back into shape and then put them back on.
‘I don’t know how long we’ve been out.’ Judd winced and reached up to wipe away the blood from a cut on his forehead.
‘Look over there,’ said Andy. A Scarlet Coral butterfly was landing on a leaf just a metre away. ‘At least we know we made it to Buccaneer Island.’
‘The helicopter is sliding,’ Judd yelled as it jolted, rattled loudly, and dropped a metre further into the branches.
Andy’s legs felt like they had turned to jelly. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘How is a tree holding up a helicopter?’
Andy unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned out nervously. He saw that it wasn’t. The trees had broken their fall, but only enough so that they didn’t hit the ground with force. The front part of the helicopter was touching the ground on the edge of a cliff face, hundreds of metres above the sea. And the tail was slipping over the edge. ‘Nobody move!’ he said, trying to be calm.
The helicopter slipped further with a sickening jolt. ‘This hunk of junk will drop any second,’ Judd said.
‘Okay! Hurry! Both of you grab hold of me,’ ordered Andy.
‘Dude…I don’t think this is the right time for a group hug,’ Judd said.
‘NOW!’ snapped Andy, unclipping his seatbelt, standing up, and punching away the broken screen of the open cockpit.
Reggie and Judd scrambled to Andy – and Brad took cover in Reggie’s pocket. Andy grabbed his friends and jumped.
‘WOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!’ the boys screamed as the helicopter plummeted downward and they soared upward to the safety of another tree.
The chopper hit the raging ocean below with a spine-chilling sound.
‘Phew!’ Judd whistled. He almost looked cheerful. ‘Living dangerously – just the way I like it. Now let’s go find your dad, Andy!’
‘At least the storm seems to have covered our landing,’ said Judd.
The boys had been hiking through the dense rainforest for over an hour and they were becoming more and more irritable with one another. They had no idea where the Triple S might have their base and Andy’s GPS was offline. It didn’t help that they were hungry and thirsty.
‘What the?’ Andy cried, as a coconut fell out of a tree and hit him on the head.
Judd laughed.
‘That’s not funny,’ Andy said, but it had given him an idea.
‘Come on, dude. A coconut falling on your head – that’s classic comedy,’ Judd said.
Andy ignored him. He jumped to the top of the tall palm tree, snatched a couple of coconuts and landed softly.
‘There you go,’ he said, cracking them open with his hands and handing them to his friends. ‘Comedy…and a snack.’
‘What’s our next step?’ Judd asked, as they swigged down the coconut milk and scraped out the coconut meat inside.
Reggie fed smaller pieces to Brad. ‘Are we going to wander around this island until we just run into the Triple S?’
‘Yep,’
said Andy. ‘But we won’t have to wander far. Look, it’s the old training base.’
Through the thick foliage Andy had spotted a large grey building set back on a clearing of grass about the size of a football pitch.
With his powerful vision he could see two armed figures standing outside the entrance. One was ordering the other around. ‘I think I can see Baffi, but I don’t know what he looks like,’ said Andy.
‘I do,’ said Judd. ‘His profile was sent to me when I was prepped for this assignment. Is the dude you can see tall and solid?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does he have thick slicked-back brown hair, greying at the temples, a big head, a thick neck, a moustache and a small birthmark on his top left cheek?’
‘That’s him,’ Andy said. ‘Dr Sylvester Baffi.’
Another two figures joined the men outside the building. Andy gasped.
‘What? What else do you see?’ Judd asked.
‘A soldier in glossy black-and-grey body armour. His helmet has a tinted-red visor. He’s massive – or maybe that’s just the armour. There’s freaky looking black wires wrapping down and around his limbs.’
‘Seriously?’ Reggie said. ‘An exoskeleton suit…that’s awesome!’
‘Yeah, awesomely bad for us,’ Judd added.
‘My parents showed me a photo of one,’ Andy said. ‘They created it for the army while Baffi still worked with them. It gives soldiers superhuman strength. But this one looks like a pumped-up version.’
‘I’ve seen the specs,’ Judd said. ‘That’s some crazy-bad, high-tech armour your parents created.’
Reggie sighed in awe. ‘It sounds like Iron Man meets a starship trooper. I didn’t know the science was so advanced.’
‘Is there actually something you don’t know about?’ Judd said. ‘Seriously, dude, you’re…you’re…’
Andy saw Reggie hold his breath, expecting to be mocked again. He knew Reggie had developed his own armour against being teased for most of his life – for being different, for being nerdy and clever – but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sensitive about it.
‘You’re amazing,’ said Judd. ‘Seriously. I wish I had half your brain, my friend.’
Reggie was taken aback. He grinned.
‘Whoa!’ Andy said. ‘The soldier just picked up a jeep with one hand and flipped it onto its side and back again.’
‘He can match your strength,’ Reggie said. ‘And you’re not invincible. Even with all your powers, a bullet can still kill you.’
‘Yeah, that worries me. Plus, right now, I don’t know how reliable my powers are,’ said Andy. ‘And there’s still no sign of my dad or Molly. Maybe they’re locked away inside.’
‘Yeah. Well, I’ve got nothing. No weapon. No plan,’ said Judd.
‘No secret agent strategies?’ Andy said.
Judd shook his head.
‘I’ve got a plan,’ said Reggie. ‘But first we have to separate them…’
Andy activated his sound-mimicry app and opened his mouth wide. A song echoed loudly over the forest. Andy chose his parents’ favourite, a track they called ‘their song’. He hoped it would alert his father to the fact that he was nearby.
In seconds Baffi’s minders had sprinted towards the forest. Andy watched from high in the treetops. Like a monkey, he jumped from tree to tree. He followed the men as they searched the jungle ready to shoot if they needed to.
‘Wooo! Wooo! Wooo!’ Judd called out from his hiding place, as planned.
‘Over here!’ cried Reggie from another hiding spot.
‘You go that way. I’ll go this way,’ said one of the men.
Andy followed the man heading towards Judd.
Judd called out again. The gunman broke into a run. Soon he was only metres away from Judd – who stood frozen behind the large trunk of a palm tree.
Andy jumped and perched above the gunman.
Before the gunman knew what was happening, a dozen coconuts rained down on top of him, thumping hard against his back and knocking him to the ground.
Judd sprang out from his hiding spot and kicked the gun out of the man’s hand.
‘RRRAAARRRRGH!’ the gunman leapt to his feet and rushed at Judd with a flying jump kick.
Judd swiftly stopped the kick with his right palm. The man quickly recovered to strike with a straight punch to the face, but again Judd blocked his attack.
For a moment, Andy wondered if Judd could handle it. This isn’t a practice session with Agent Granny, he thought. This is the real deal! But Judd looked like he was getting the better of his attacker, so Andy took off to help Reggie.
He raced in the other direction, bursting through the forest canopy, but when he reached Reggie he couldn’t believe what he saw. Reggie and Brad had already dealt with the situation.
Brad was balanced on the man’s head and Reggie was holding him at gunpoint with his own gun. The man had bite marks and bloody scratches all over him. Andy could guess what had happened.
‘You might be a superhero, Andy,’ Reggie called out. ‘But we’re the dynamic duo!’
Andy grinned.
‘Please, don’t let that rat attack me again,’ pleaded the man.
But Andy heard Judd’s panicked voice echo though the forest.
‘ANDY! HELP!’
Andy flew through the trees and arrived to find that the fight was still on. It really was a martial arts battle to end all battles.
Judd was visibly tiring, but he let loose with a couple of jarring knee jabs in the gunman’s ribs, then went in with a bone-crushing elbow strike to the back of the head. The gunman hit the ground and before he could get back up, Andy jumped down and pinned him with one hand.
‘So now you decide to help?’ Judd puffed.
‘Thought you had it all under control, Jackie Chan,’ Andy said.
Judd and Andy shepherded the gunman back to his partner and bound them tightly with vine.
‘Tell us how many others are armed,’ ordered Judd.
‘There’s no way we’ll tell you dirty rotten kids anything,’ one of them grunted, wriggling about on the ground, trying to break free.
‘Reggie…get Brad,’ Judd said.
Reggie placed Brad on the ground, centimetres from the men’s faces. Brad showed his yellow teeth and the men flinched.
‘Right!’ said Judd. ‘Your friend has had a taste of how angry our furry friend can get. He’s no ordinary rat. He has the strength and chomp of two bulldogs.’
The man who had been bitten scoffed and tried not to show how much agony he was in. The bridge of his nose was bleeding and his scratched face was starting to swell horribly.
‘You’re bluffing,’ sneered the other one. ‘I’m not scared of a dumb little rat.’
‘Brad!’ Reggie called.
Brad stood up on his hind legs, squeaked and took a step towards both men.
‘Okay, okay, we’ll tell you, we’ll tell you,’ cried the one who had already been attacked. ‘It’s just the two of us, apart from Baffi and the operative in the exo-frame.’
‘You spineless idiot!’ said his partner.
‘Why such a small team?’ said Judd. ‘You must be lying. Brad, get ready take out a chunk of this jerk’s ear.’
Brad chattered his teeth angrily.
‘We don’t need numbers,’ snorted the other gunman. ‘We’ve got a one-man army.’
‘The exoskeleton suit?’ said Judd.
‘Yeah, forget about shooting at him. Bullets bounce right off. He’ll crush you like a peanut.’
‘Not if I can help it,’ said Andy in his bravest voice. ‘I’m ready for anything. I’m ready for a showdown.’
‘Remember to keep moving,’ Judd said. ‘You’re more agile than he is, so let him try to come to you. Keep him distracted.’
‘At least keep him busy while we try to release your dad and Molly,’ added Reggie. ‘Use every trick you’ve got.’
Judd jangled the keys he had taken from the second gunmen. ‘And do
n’t worry, I’ll kick some Baffi butt if I find him.’
Andy took a deep breath and stepped out from the jungle.
The soldier in the exoskeleton suit was alone in the field. He looked up and as soon as he saw Andy, he charged. The hydraulic pumps hissed as he bolted at full speed. Andy stood motionless, didn’t move an inch, not even when the exoskeleton soldier lunged at him.
The soldier crashed to the ground.
‘Trick number one,’ Andy muttered as he switched off the holographic image that projected from the pinhole lens in his right palm. He clenched his fists, filled with determination to win.
The soldier jumped to his feet, confused, looking for Andy.
Andy ran at his back. When he got close, he leapt, soaring towards him.
The soldier stumbled, lost his footing and fell to the ground again.
‘Yes,’ said Andy before landing softly on both feet. ‘First strike to me.’
But the soldier got right back up again. He pointed his hand palm out and a mini-trapdoor slid open.
Fireballs, the size of basketballs shot out, one after the other. Andy dived out of the way in the nick of time, dodging, twisting and side-stepping like a rugby player. The fireballs hit the ground, flames shooting up and singeing the grass.
They kept coming, but Andy was too agile for any of them to make a direct hit.
‘This gives a totally new meaning to dodge ball,’ Andy muttered. ‘And it’s so much cooler than my hotplate app.’
The metal giant reached for his shoulder, clicked open a hatch and pulled out something that almost made Andy’s heart stop with fright.
‘A grenade?’ he gulped, already turning and taking off in the opposite direction.
The soldier tossed the grenade and it soared an almighty distance as it arched its way towards Andy.
‘Run! Run! Run!’ Andy willed himself.
The grenade exploded and Andy was catapulted into the air. The world spun around him as he crashed to the ground.