by Felice Arena
‘Awwwrr,’ he groaned, slowing picking himself up. The soldier was already stomping his way towards him.
Andy wobbled to his feet and took in another deep breath. ‘So that’s how you wanna play?’ he yelled, more angry than scared. ‘Come on, you chunk of junk! Bring it!’
Andy charged the soldier. The soldier charged Andy. They leapt at the same time and, mid-air, they let loose with hard, crushing punches and hair-raising blocks.
Andy managed to get in a strike to the soldier’s face.
His fist had broken the reflective red visor across the helmet.
When they crashed to the ground, the soldier was the first to spring to his feet. His hydraulic pumps were like giant muscles, contracting and producing endless super energy, while metal plates glided smoothly with every motion he made. Andy struggled to find an opening. There was no weak point where he could throw a lucky punch. He gritted his teeth. I‘m out of options, he thought. I‘m gonna have to use my laser.
The soldier pulled back his right arm and clenched his fist. He was ready to crush Andy like an ant.
In that moment, Andy pointed at him and pressed his right thumb into the palm of his left hand.
A laser beam shot out and the soldier lit up with a red light. But the light bounced off. The suit was laser proof!
Andy tried to roll out of his way and get back up to fight, but he couldn’t. A double bolt of electricity surged up and down his spine, and pins and needles shot along his arms, through to his hands. His back was stiff and unmoving. Andy collapsed, paralysed, frozen flat on his back.
‘Come on,’ he panicked, trying to will himself to move. But it was as if his body had short-circuited.
The soldier froze too, confused, as if suspecting another trick. Andy caught a glimpse of his opponent’s face through the crack in his visor. He couldn’t believe what he saw. It was Baffi!
He must have put on the suit when we were in the jungle, Andy thought. Then a horrible idea dawned on him. Reggie was right. It wasn’t about money at all. Baffi wasn’t trying to capture him and recreate the technology. Or sell the secret to the highest bidder. He wanted to destroy him!
Andy knew all he had was mental agility and cleverness to save his skin. He thought back on everything he knew about Baffi, what his parents had told him, and what Reggie had said about scientists and their love for their work.
Then Baffi drilled his giant fist directly at Andy.
‘WAIT!’ cried Andy. ‘DON’T THROW AWAY THE WORK YOU’VE DONE!’
Baffi pulled back mid-punch, stopping only inches away from Andy’s face.
‘Don’t do it,’ Andy said. ‘I’m the one thing you’ve worked hard on all your life. You helped create me. You’re not an evil person – I understand why you left the team. Don’t you get it? I’m not just a piece of technology, I’m the only one who knows how you feel.’
‘What?’ said Baffi, raising his arm a few inches. ‘What do you mean?’ Through the crack in the visor, Andy could see that his face was pale and upset.
‘It’s like they have their own club of two. I know you felt left out.’
Andy exhaled. He felt weak. That had taken more energy than any of his brilliant bionic super powers combined.
Baffi looked shattered. ‘The very fact that you exist is a dream realised for me,’ he said. ‘But I…I…’
Andy didn’t like the way that Baffi’s face had hardened. He looked furious.
‘I won’t let them revel in the glory of the world’s first bio-mechanical soldier,’ he said. ‘If I can’t be a part of this revolution, then neither will they!’
Baffi snarled and once again raised his fist to strike. Andy felt his remaining systems shutting down. All he had the energy to do was close his eyes and hope dying wouldn’t hurt – too much.
Gunshots echoed across the field. Andy opened his eyes to see a SWAT team of about fifty or more, led by the General.
They shot again. The bullets ricocheted off Baffi’s armor as he turned to face them, distracted from his attempt to pulverise Andy.
Suddenly Andy felt an electrical surge shoot up and down his spine again. His palms glowed brightly with the familiar fluorescent blue light. And there in the distance, running a few steps behind the General, he caught sight of a figure that filled him with hope. It was his mum tapping frantically at a tablet screen – the turbo dashboard, an external control panel for Andy’s apps.
Yes! he thought, once again feeling movement in his limbs. She’s repairing the glitches.
Baffi growled and marched towards the SWAT team. He reached out with his mechanical arm, primed to shoot fireballs.
I can’t let him reach them, Andy thought. He’ll kill them all. Andy switched on the speaker system in his throat, but this time he magnified his own voice.
‘Doctor!’ he called, his voice booming across the field. ‘They never meant for you to feel this way! When my parents work together, they forget about everyone else. Sometimes I used to feel that they forgot about me. Maybe it seemed like they didn’t notice you or your work. The work you always dreamed of doing, the work that would change the world. But Mum and Dad do care. They do.’
Baffi stopped in his tracks. Bullets bounced and spun off his armour. He turned and stared at Andy, and lifted his visor to reveal his face. He looked stunned.
‘Don’t do this,’ Andy begged. He looked past Baffi and saw that his mum had tears in her eyes. ‘You can destroy me, and down the track, someone, somewhere, will create another Andy Roid and this revolution will continue without you. But you created my laser, my holographic imaging. How awesome is that?’
Baffi sighed heavily and dropped to his knees with a clanging thud. ‘Acknowledgement…that’s all I wanted, to be recognised,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I let resentment and rage take control of me.’ Slowly, he raised his hands in surrender.
Andy knew that he had made a direct hit to his heart…and no super app or weapon had been required.
‘Hold fire!’ the General shouted. The shooting stopped and the SWAT team surrounded Baffi, dismantling the exoskeleton suit from around him. ‘His days as an international criminal are over,’ said the General.
‘Oh, Andy!’ his mother cried as she ran up and hugged him tightly. ‘We’re so sorry.’
‘Look!’ Andy said. His Dad, Molly, Judd and Reggie were sprinting towards them.
Andy’s father threw his arms around Andy and his mum. Tears of joy and relief streamed down their faces. Andy couldn’t believe it was finally over.
‘Andy, you did it.’ Molly smiled through her tears and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. ‘You saved us!’
‘We couldn’t have done it without your clue,’ said Andy, going bright red.
The General brushed past them as he marched over to Judd. Judd flinched. But the General just hugged him tightly.
With all the emotion, only Andy noticed Baffi being led away in handcuffs, along with the final soldier from the building. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
‘What about your glitches, Andy?’ Reggie asked. He looked over at Andy’s mum, who was still holding on to Andy’s dad tightly, teary with relief. ‘Have you fixed them for good?’
‘When Judd reported the problem, it threw me for a loop,’ she said. ‘But it’s obvious, really. You’re growing, Andy, but your robotic parts can’t grow with your body, your silicon skin can’t grow with your human skin. So it’s back to the lab. Time to rewire you and refit you. Teenage growing pains have never been this complicated!’
Everyone laughed. Andy knew that nothing in his life would ever be simple. But somehow that was okay. He was surrounded by people he loved, and that was the most important thing – no matter who or what he had become. The danger was over for now, but he felt ready to take on whatever came his way. And who knew what that would be?
After all, when you’re half machine anything can happen…
PUFFIN BOOKS
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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2012
Text copyright © Red Wolf Entertainment Pty Ltd, 2012
Illustrations copyright © Chad McCown, 2012
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.
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ISBN: 978-1-74253-651-4