The Dominion Key

by Lee Bacon

  Turning her sharp gaze back on me, she said, “Ya know, Vex wasn’t too pleased the last time we failed to capture you.”

  “He called me an oversized cement doofus,” Lunk said.

  “But once we bring back Nigel Fleming and Joshua Dread, he’s gonna give us a major promotion. No more taking our orders from nFinity and breaking into science labs. Vex will make us his top lieutenants. We’ll be at his side when he rules the world.”

  Grifter grinned faintly, as if she could already imagine her big promotion.

  “So here’s how it’s gonna go down,” she said. “You’ll come with us. Tell us where to find Fleming and we won’t hurt you too bad before handing you over to Vex. But if you even think about putting up a fight, my friend here will show you what third-degree burns feel like.”

  Lunk hefted his flamethrower in my direction.

  My brain churned, but I could see only two options: make a run for the ladder and get burned to a crisp, or surrender to my deadliest enemies.

  I wondered which was worse.

  “Hurry up, Dread,” Grifter called. “We haven’t got all day.”

  She was standing next to the slowly swiveling light. Beside her, Lunk held the flamethrower steady in his cement hands.

  The trapdoor rattled. Milton’s muffled voice called out, “Joshua, you there? What’s going on? This thing’s stuck!”

  I glanced around the lighthouse, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. With a flamethrower pointed my way and the floating door waiting to bash my brains in, I found it tough to think clearly. Then my eyes landed on the pool of water that had gathered at the foot of the ladder. An idea sparked in my brain.

  I turned both hands so that my palms were pressed against the glass. Gritting my teeth, I concentrated my power. Spontaneous combustion rippled through every inch of my body. And then—

  CRAAASH!

  I stepped away from the glass wall just as it broke into a thousand pieces. At first, it was just the panel behind me. But like dominoes, the other panels shattered one after the other in a circle around the room.

  And all of a sudden, we had ourselves an open-air lighthouse.

  “Raaarh!” Grifter pointed wildly at the floating door. I jumped aside as it swung my way. The door hurtled past me and vanished into the darkness.

  The storm whipped in from all directions. Rain splashed my shoes, drenched my clothes. But I wasn’t the only one exposed to the elements. A wave of wind and rain slammed against Lunk. And like in the food court, the water had an instantaneous effect on the concrete giant. His gray skin melted away. It pooled around his feet and washed over the sides of the lighthouse.

  All that was left was a wimpy teenager in his boxer shorts.

  His flamethrower clattered to the ground. I made a move for it, but Grifter was too quick. The flamethrower rose into the air like it was dangling from invisible string. In an instant, it was aimed right at me.

  “That was a neat trick, Dread,” Grifter spat. “But it’s too little, too late.”

  She flexed her finger. Even though the flamethrower was five feet away, drifting in the air, the trigger pulled. Fire burst across the lighthouse. I dove sideways and slid across the wet floor.

  The flames barely missed me. But I was sprawled on my stomach now, surrounded by shards of broken glass, unable to flee any farther. The flamethrower swiveled in the air, pointing straight at me.

  In my peripheral vision I could see the massive light making its slow rotation.

  Grifter grinned triumphantly. “I’m gonna enjoy watching you burn, Dread.”

  “Before you do, you might want to take a look at that.” I pointed at the enormous light just as it swiveled toward her.

  Confused, Grifter snapped her head sideways …

  And found herself staring at a ten-foot-tall lightbulb.

  Dr. Fleming’s words from this morning flickered through my brain. You may want to avert your eyes as the light passes by, he’d warned. Otherwise you’ll be seeing stars for the next week.

  “Aaagh!”

  Grifter clutched at her face like she’d just been splashed with acid. The flamethrower fell to the ground. Above me, I heard the trapdoor swing open. And when I looked up, I saw Milton staring down at me.

  “Finally!” he said. “What took you so—”

  His jaw dropped when he noticed the scene beneath him. The lighthouse had been transformed into a wind tunnel. Rain splashed over shattered glass. A flamethrower lay in a pool of water. One of our enemies clutched at her eyes and stumbled across the floor, mumbling, “Can’t see, can’t see.” The other henchman had just shed about six hundred pounds of concrete. His bony knees trembled. He did his best to cover his boxer shorts with his hands.

  “What’d I miss?” Milton asked.

  “I’ll explain on the roof.”

  I climbed the ladder and heaved myself through the trapdoor. On the roof, Sophie ran toward me. Her glowing skin was reflected in the water that splashed all around.

  “What happened?” she yelled over the storm. “Milton said the trapdoor was stuck.”

  “Grifter and Lunk!” I hollered back. No need for further explanation. “But I took care of them. Is everything ready?”

  “Just about.”

  Behind Sophie, Miranda was standing next to Daisy’s cage. The metal door had been ripped open (thanks to Sophie) and Cassie was already inside, climbing up the back of the gigantic robotic duck.

  This was all part of Dr. Fleming’s plan. Back in the tunnel, he’d explained it to us. Get to the roof of the lighthouse tower, he’d instructed. There’s a control panel built into the back of the robot’s neck.

  At the time, we’d all stared at him, thinking the same thing: You want us to fly out of here on the back of a humongous robotic duck?

  And yet here we were.

  Cassie pulled open the control panel and reached inside. Whatever she did, it must’ve worked. The metal bird suddenly snapped to life. The duck’s eyes lit up with an orange glow and she ruffled its wings. With Cassie holding tight, Daisy stepped out of its cage.

  “Climb aboard!” Cassie called. “There are places to secure your hands and feet.”

  I joined the others at the duck’s side. Sophie climbed on, followed by Miranda and Milton.

  I wiped the rain from my eyes and reached for Daisy’s wing, finding a groove in the metal that made a perfect handhold. After clambering up the wing and onto the robot’s back, I located slots for my hands and feet.

  Daisy was big enough for each of us to take a spot. Cassie was close to the bird’s neck. Miranda was beside me. Milton and Sophie were behind us, their feet lodged into grooves just above the duck’s tail feathers.

  Cassie guided Daisy to the edge of the roof. “Everyone ready?” she asked.

  I looked down at the jagged rocks and tumbling waves far below. Beyond them, the ocean stretched in every direction. Rain blanketed the churning mass of dark water. Not the most welcoming thing to see just before taking Daisy for a ride. But we hadn’t ventured to the rooftop for a view, and there was no chance of going back down.

  It was now or never.

  Cassie reached for the control panel in the duck’s armor. She pressed a button that caused Daisy’s wings to start flapping. The massive wings beat up and down with a steady fwump-fwump.

  A burst of noise below us clawed at my attention. It was the sound of a plasma cannon firing. A section of the roof crumbled and a red beam shot through. When I glanced into the opening, fear knotted my stomach.

  Three Cyclaurs were inside the lighthouse.

  One of the monsters reared back, performing a wheelie. Its headlights glowed red and another blast of plasma rocketed upward. More of the roof fell away, missing us by less than a foot.

  Perched on the roof, waiting for Daisy to take flight, we were a sitting duck. Literally.

  “We’ve gotta get out of here!” I screamed over the sound of the storm and the blasting cannons.

  “Bu
t Daisy’s not ready yet!” Cassie screamed back. “I just need a little more time!”

  “That’s not an option!” Another explosion shook underneath us. A plasma beam whizzed past. “The whole roof’s gonna collapse any second!”

  Cassie’s eyes were wide with fear. “Everybody hold on tight!”

  She flicked the joystick and the duck shot forward. As the robot’s long, webbed feet left the edge of the building, the rest of the roof collapsed. Daisy tumbled into the air in a chaos of flapping wings. For a moment, I was sure we were actually flying. But it turned out I was slightly mistaken.

  We were falling.

  Daisy let out a long electronic QUAAACK! and gravity yanked us downward with a lurch. Wind and rain slammed my face. I gripped the handholds with all my strength. The rocky shore rushed closer and closer.

  I clenched my eyes shut, bracing for the impact. Instead, I felt a forward rush. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ocean streaking beneath us.

  We’d taken flight.

  Cassie pulled back on the joystick and Daisy soared upward. I felt a surge of immense relief that lasted a total of two seconds before I realized we hadn’t escaped danger just yet.

  A detonation sounded somewhere behind us and a red plasma beam streaked past, grazing Daisy’s wing. Sparks exploded. Everything shook. The robot spun out of control and the world became a blur of motion and screams.

  In a flash, I saw Miranda lose her grip. She slid across the bird’s wet metallic side, straining for something to grab on to. Holding on with one hand, I thrust out my other. For a split second, I grasped her hand. But the robot jolted sideways.

  Miranda’s fingers slipped through mine.

  She fell away.

  Panic shot through every cell of my body. Miranda tumbled downward. In the next moment, she was gone.

  As soon as Cassie regained control, she guided Daisy close to the water where we’d seen Miranda fall. We scanned the tumble of dark waves, searching for our friend, but there was no sign of her.

  The storm raged around us. Plasma beams shot from the lighthouse tower, where the Cyclaurs were treating us like target practice.

  “We’ve gotta get out of here!” Cassie screamed after a blast of plasma barely missed us. “If Daisy takes one more hit, we’re all going down!”

  I knew she was right. But that didn’t make it any easier to leave Miranda behind. As we veered away from Alabaster, I looked back across the vast ocean.

  Miranda was nowhere to be seen.

  We flew for a long time in silence. Nobody was willing to say what was going through our heads. Miranda was gone.

  I held tight to Daisy’s back, wind and rain hitting my face as the ocean rushed past beneath us. Memories kept flashing through my mind. Miranda falling. Her fingers slipping out of my grip.

  We flew on, the rain mixing with tears on my cheeks.

  As we neared the shore, the rain fizzled into fog. Soon enough, all signs of the storm had vanished. Overhead the moon shone pale and silver at the edges of clouds. Below us were the shimmering lights of cars and buildings. Cassie guided Daisy higher so that people on the ground wouldn’t wonder why a humongous metal duck was soaring overhead with four kids hanging on to its back.

  I tried to call my parents, but my phone refused to work. Like everything else, it was soaked from the storm. The others tried their phones with the same result. Nothing.

  “We need a place to land this thing.” Cassie glanced nervously at Daisy’s wing. The tip had been blasted away, leaving a charred section of twisted metal. “The damage could’ve been a lot worse, considering. But flying with a damaged wing takes extra power, and the batteries are nearly drained.”

  “So no chance Daisy will last till Bear Creek?” I asked.

  Cassie shook her head, looking at the control panel. “We’re lucky we even made it to shore. I’d say we have another hour of battery life. At the most.”

  “Anyone know a place where we can recharge a giant robotic duck?” Milton asked.

  Nobody answered. We were too far from Sheepsdale to make it home. Turning around and heading back to Alabaster wasn’t an option either.

  Just as I was starting to lose hope entirely, Sophie spoke up.

  “I might know a place.”

  Following Sophie’s directions, Cassie navigated the duck to an isolated farmhouse at the end of a long dirt road. Judging by the condition Daisy was in, we’d arrived just in time. The robot’s glowing eyes flickered. It wheezed one last Quaaa-ack before its eyes turned dark and its wings stopped flapping. We crash-landed in a field, taking out a few rows of zucchini in the process.

  Milton climbed to his feet, pulling a chunk of vegetation out of his hair. “Where exactly are we?”

  “I know the people who live here,” Sophie said. “Family friends.”

  Somewhere behind us, a twig cracked. I whirled around to see two men emerge from the darkness. Their faces were hidden in shadows, but I could plainly make out a rifle in one of the men’s hands.

  Beside me, Cassie gulped. “They don’t look like friends.”

  The two men stepped closer. In the moonlight, I caught a glimpse of their faces. The first thing I noticed was that they were … old. They must’ve been in their seventies or eighties. The shorter of the two was bald, with a pair of wire-frame spectacles perched on the end of his nose. The other had a full head of wavy, white hair. They both looked weirdly familiar, although I had no idea why.

  The taller of the two raised his rifle. “Is there a reason why you kids are trespassing on private property?”

  “Or why your pet chicken just destroyed half our crop?” said the other.

  “Actually, it’s a duck,” Milton clarified.

  He went quiet when the taller guy cocked his gun.

  Sophie took a step toward the men, her hands raised high in the air. “Marvin, Gus—it’s me. Sophie. These are my friends.”

  When they heard Sophie’s name, the men’s attitudes immediately changed. The tall one lowered his rifle. The other guy adjusted his glasses and peered at her in utter disbelief.

  “Sophie?” said the guy with the gun. His tone had gone from Cranky Old Man to Concerned Grandpa in no time flat. “What’re you doing here? You’re soaking wet. Is everything okay?”

  “Actually, we could use some help,” Sophie said.

  The two men nodded. “Of course, of course,” said the taller one.

  “Let’s get you into something dry,” said the other. His eyes flashed back to Daisy. “You’re welcome in the house, but the chicken stays outside.”

  We trudged across the wet soil, between rows of vegetables. Along the way, Sophie told the men how we’d ended up there and explained that we needed to get to Bear Creek as soon as possible. I was still clueless about who these guys were and why they looked so familiar, but with Sophie in the middle of her story and one of the men still gripping his rifle, I figured it wasn’t the best time to interrupt.

  We piled our muddy shoes and wet socks on the front doorstep and followed the men into the farmhouse. When I reached the doorway, I froze. The living room was a serious case of sensory overload. On the walls were framed photos, paintings, taxidermied fish, clocks, collector’s edition spoons, and about a million other things. An unruly mob of knickknacks crowded on the mantel. Eight different rugs overlapped across the hardwood floor.

  Once I stepped into the room, though, certain things began to stand out. A faded poster showing a superhero and his sidekick in old-fashioned uniforms. Black-and-white pictures of the same heroic duo shaking hands with long-ago presidents and foreign dignitaries. A framed issue of Super Scoop that looked like it had been on the newsstands around the time that dinosaurs went extinct.

  Milton’s wide-eyed gaze moved from the figures on the magazine to the two men standing in front of us. “The people on the cover,” he breathed. “They’re you! I mean, you’re them! I mean … you two are …”

  “Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid!” Cassie finished,
sounding just as amazed.

  That was why they looked so familiar! Mr. Marvelous was the original celebrity superhero. He’d become famous for flying around the world, fighting evil, punching dictators. He was joined everywhere by his trusty sidekick, Whiz Kid.

  Of course, that was a very long time ago. Nowadays, you only saw Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid in vintage comic books and old newsreel footage. To be honest, I’d forgotten they were still around.

  And yet here they were. The guy with the white hair who’d pulled a gun on us—he was obviously Mr. Marvelous. He’d put on about fifty pounds—and fifty years—since his heyday. But there was no mistaking his wavy hair and square jaw. The smaller man with glasses was Whiz Kid. Although now, Whiz Geezer was more appropriate. Or maybe Whiz Senior Citizen.

  “I can’t believe I’m standing in the same living room as Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid!” Milton gushed. “Just wait till I tell my grandmother! She used to have such a crush on you guys!”

  “That’s very nice to hear.” Mr. Marvelous chuckled. “Although we retired a few years ago—”

  “More like a few decades,” Whiz Kid cut in.

  “These days, we go by our real names. You can call me Marvin.”

  “And I’m Gus,” said his former sidekick.

  Cassie turned to Sophie. “Where do you come into all this?”

  “Remember what I said about my dad being Captain Justice?” Sophie asked.

  “Uh … yeah.” Cassie shot Sophie a no duh look. “Not the kind of thing you forget.”

  “Well, when my dad was just starting his career, he appeared at the Superhero Spirit Awards with Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid.”

  “He won Newcomer of the Year,” said Marvin.

  “And we were there to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award,” Gus added.

  “We got to know each other over the years,” Marvin said. “Captain Justice was on his way in, we were on our way out. He was looking for guidance, advice—”

  “He was looking for mentors,” Gus said.