by Lucas Flint
“I think she’s got a point, Nick,” I said, looking down at him. “Even if we did beat her soldiers, she’s still the entire freaking Mother World.”
“Bolt, watch out!” Blizzard suddenly shouted, before Nick could say anything.
I looked ahead just in time to see a burst of Core energy fire out from the pillar toward us. I instantly flew us to the side, just narrowly avoiding the beam of energy that struck the wall behind us and burned a huge hole in it. I was a lot slower due to Nick and Blizzard’s combined weight, but I still thankfully managed to avoid getting hit.
Stopping again, I said, “Any ideas?”
“Yes,” said Nick. “Get me as close as you can to the pillar.”
“Why?” I said. I was starting to feel the strain of holding both Nick and Blizzard, though my super strength meant that I’d hold them both for at least a little while longer. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yes,” said Nick, nodding. He quickly tapped his chest, opening yet another compartment in his armor, from which he drew the tip of a bomb staff. “This is it.”
“What?” I said. “Where did you get that?”
“I’ve been carrying it with me ever since we left the Facility,” said Nick. “All I need to do is get close enough to throw it into her. The bomb should take care of the rest.”
“If you say—” I said, but was interrupted by another energy blast from the Mother World, which forced me to duck in order to avoid it. “Okay, I’ll get as close as I can!”
I flew toward the Mother World’s energy pillar, ducking and dodging her various energy beams. It was hard work, mostly because I had to make sure I didn’t drop Nick or Blizzard on my way there. It didn’t help that the Mother World’s energy beams were huge and always went wide, forcing me to do a lot of ducking and dodging and weaving in and out. I soon felt extremely tired, but I still wasn’t close enough for Nick to throw the bomb yet.
“Closer …” I heard Nick mutter as we dodged yet another beam. “Almost there …”
The Mother World’s aim seemed to be getting worse, as if she was letting her fear and panic mess with her aim. I knew it wouldn’t be long now before we’d be within throwing range of the pillar, which would allow us to destroy her once and for all.
But then, all of a sudden, the huge glass tube containing Mom suddenly flew up in our way. I came to a halt in the air, causing Blizzard and Nick to swing dangerously from my arms, almost ripping them out of their sockets. Mom was still lying unconscious in the tube, but now that we were so close, I could see her chest rising and falling with every breath, although it was very shallow.
“Mom,” I said, my voice pained.
“Yes, this is your mother,” said the Mother World. “Will you still throw your bomb at me when she is in the way?”
I hesitated, but then Nick suddenly shouted, “Blizzard, ice bridge now!”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but Blizzard apparently did, because she raised her hand and unleashed a stream of ice at Mom’s tube. The ice connected with the base of the tube, creating a small but thick bridge between Blizzard and the tube.
“Bolt, throw me onto the bridge!” Nick shouted.
I didn’t even stop to ask what we were doing. With all of my strength, I hurled Nick toward the tube. He landed on the ice bridge and slid across it until he stopped against the tube’s glass surface. He then ran around the tiny platform until he reached the other side, which put him face to face with the Mother World, whose expression now looked shocked, like she had not seen that coming.
Nick didn’t say anything. He just lobbed the bomb at the Mother World’s energy pillar, sending it flying across the gap. At first, I thought that the bomb wasn’t going to make it, because the gap between the pillar and the platform seemed too long.
Then it vanished inside the energy pillar, enveloped by the green energy running up from the Mother World’s Core.
In an instant, everything changed. The Mother World’s expression went from shocked to pained.
And then boom.
An explosion ripped through the energy pillar, quickly turning it from green to red. The Mother World’s pained expression quickly turned to rage, but was lost in the flames that were rapidly eating away at the energy pillar.
A huge shock wave went out from the explosion, so huge that it knocked me and the tube containing Mom out of the air. I accidentally let go of Blizzard, but quickly grabbed her before she fell too far and also caught the tube, which I quickly righted. A quick glance inside showed that Mom was still unconscious, but with the fiery pillar of destruction that had replaced the energy pillar, I knew it wouldn’t be long before that changed unless we got out of here fast.
Placing Blizzard on the tube, I shouted, “Nick, Blizzard! We’re getting out of here, so hang on!”
Both Blizzard and Nick clung to the tube’s surface as if for dear life. Then I grabbed onto the railing and pulled it through the air, flying directly toward the elevator that we had taken to get down here even as the explosion grew louder and more fiery behind us. I was still exhausted from carrying Blizzard and Nick, but I didn’t let that slow me down.
We reached the elevator in seconds, which also happened to be large enough for the tube to fit. Nick pressed a button that would take us back to the surface, but when I looked out the slowly-closing doors, I saw the fiery explosion heading right for us. It was coming too fast and would probably get here before the doors closed completely.
So I dashed over to the doors and, using my super strength, yanked them closed. I jumped backwards and Blizzard blasted the doors with ice, instantly freezing them shut.
A second later, we started rising, but just as that happened, the explosion hit, rocking the elevator and making it bounce up and down precipitously. I was almost afraid that the elevator would fall and take us with it, but it managed to hold and resumed rising, although it wasn’t nearly as smooth a ride up as the ride down had been.
Still, it rose without any major issues and, when it reached the surface, I smashed open the doors, allowing us to exit. Blizzard and Nick went first, while I followed closely behind, dragging Mom’s tube along.
The surface was in complete chaos. Pokacu soldiers were fighting each other in the streets, shooting each other with blue glue or hacking at their fallen friends with swords and other sharp blades. Wreckage of crashed ships was everywhere and two huge mother ships crashed into each other in midair, exploding and sending their remains crashing into a building in the distance, creating an even bigger explosion that lit up the sky. Two gigantic mecha were clashing, tearing at each other’s limbs and metal plating, while the pavement literally cracked beneath their feet. One building that looked like a factory just outright collapsed on its own, perhaps because its foundation was no longer solid.
“Holy crap!” said Blizzard in shock. “What’s going on here?”
“Without the Mother World’s control, my people are unable to control their basest impulses and the world itself is unable to maintain itself,” said Nick in a bitter voice. “They are too overwhelmed by their sudden freedom to even think. And it will get much worse even before the planet itself explodes from a lack of control from the Mother World.”
“How the hell do we get back to Earth?” I said, looking around for a ship that could fly us out of here. “Do you know of any worm hole generators nearby?”
“Unfortunately, worm hole generators are only built into mother ships,” said Nick as a mother ship plowed into the two fighting mecha, crushing them under its weight and making yet another explosion. “We will need to find a mother ship with a working worm hole that could take us away to Earth. And fast, because it won’t be long before the Mother World explodes and take us with it.”
I looked around, but the only mother ships I saw nearby were crashed and destroyed, which meant that their worm hole generators were probably annihilated. “I don’t see anything. Looks like we’ll have to—”
Blizzard gasped and pointed
at the sky. “Bolt, Nick, look!”
We all looked up to see a sight I hadn’t expected to see: A huge worm hole had opened in the sky, which looked exactly like the worm hole that we’d taken to get here in the first place.
“A worm hole?” said Nick, who sounded genuinely confused to see it. “I don’t understand. There shouldn’t be any worm holes between the Mother World and Earth or any other Pokacu conquered world right now.”
“Who cares?” I said. “I can fly us all up there and get us back to Earth. Hop onto the tube.”
“But it might not lead to Earth,” said Nick. “It could take us anywhere, perhaps even to the other side of the universe.”
“Anywhere is better than the Mother World” I said as a rumble in the ground shook several nearby buildings. “Even if that worm hole takes us to Mars, that would be better than getting blown to bits along with the Mother World.”
Nick looked extremely reluctant, but then he nodded and said, “You’re correct. Better to take a risk and see where the worm hole leads us than to stay here and get blown up for sure.”
“All right,” I said. “Everyone, hop on. I’m going to fly us there as fast as possible, so get yourselves secured and don’t fall off no matter what.”
Nick and Blizzard instantly jumped onto the tube, clinging tightly to its surface. I picked it up and, raising it above my head, shot into the sky, heading directly for the worm hole, which was still open.
All of a sudden, a sizzling bolt of energy shot by me, causing me to look to the side and see a Pokacu spaceship coming at us. I wasn’t sure how the pilot inside it was still flying after the Mother World’s death, but I didn’t have any hands free enough to shoot back.
Instead, I put all of my speed and flight into my legs and gave us one last burst of speed. We flew straight into the worm hole and, like before, everything went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everything in the worm hole was completely dark. I felt myself floating through the void; I could still breathe, thanks to my environ, but it was still weird. It felt like I wasn’t flying anymore, but I couldn’t feel any ground under my feet, either. It was like floating in the ocean, I guess, or in a river, but regardless, I didn’t think any Pokacu had followed us, so I figured we were safe unless this worm hole opened out into the void of space or something.
But then, up ahead, there was a bright light, which seemed to be the exit. I picked up my speed, heading straight for it, and in the next instant we passed through the light and into the other side.
Instantly, we found ourselves in a much brighter place, a world my eyes at first had a hard time adjusting to. But it took me only a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust from the complete darkness of the worm hole to the bright light of this world, and when they finally did, I looked down to see my surroundings.
Below, there was no longer a thick cloud yellow gas covering the area; instead, I now saw the hundreds of NHA and INJ members all being freed from their bindings by what appeared to be G-Men agents. A quick glance around the edges of the area showed that the Triangle Prison was gone; the only hint of its earlier existence was the smoking remains of the ships that had maintained it, probably taken down by my teammates.
That was how I knew it: We did it. We had made it home. Earth was safe, and so was my mother.
That thought alone almost made me lower my guard, but then Blizzard suddenly said, “Uh oh,” causing me to look down to my right.
The mother ship—Graleex’s mother ship—was still floating in the air above Hero Island. I did not see any Pokacu soldiers or spacecraft on it, nor was it trying to shoot us down with its lasers or cannons, but the mere fact that it hadn’t crashed meant that our fight wasn’t over yet.
Before I could go to fight it, however, my earcom crackled and Valerie’s voice suddenly spoke in my ear. “Welcome back, Kevin. I see that your mission was a success.”
“Val?” I said. My face broke into a grin. “Val, I missed you! What’s going on? How is everyone else?”
“Well,” said Valerie. “Teams A, B, and C succeeded in taking down the Triangle Prison, as well as most of the Pokacu army’s forces, though most of them ceased fighting mere minutes ago for some reason. The powerless gas has been dissipated in to the wind and the G-Men are currently freeing the captured heroes. They’ve freed half of them already.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god. But the mother ship—”
“Is under human control now,” came Mecha Knight’s voice through my earcom suddenly. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Mecha Knight?” I said in surprise. “You’re still alive?”
“Of course,” said Mecha Knight. “I defeated the Pokacu soldiers who controlled it and, with Valerie’s help, managed to override the ship’s controls. All of the crew of the ship are dead, meaning that it is now under my control.”
“Amazing,” I said. “Including Graleex?”
“That is the odd thing,” said Mecha Knight. “I searched for Graleex after I defeated the ship’s crew, but when I went back to the worm hole generator, he was nowhere to be seen. He could be hiding somewhere on board, I suppose, but the ship is too big for me to search on my own, so I haven’t found him yet.”
“Did you activate the worm hole that brought us back?” I said.
“Yes,” said Mecha Knight. “I was unsure if you would be able to create your own worm hole, so I intended to take this ship back to the Mother World to help you. It appears that that will be unnecessary, however, since you, Nicknacks, and Blizzard have made it back alive on your own.”
“And with Mom,” I said. “We got my mom back, too. She’s safe.”
“Good to hear,” said Mecha Knight. “You sound tired. I think you should find a place to land and we’ll send some medics over to check on you four to make sure you are all okay.”
I was about to say that that was a good idea, but then Valerie suddenly said, “The ship’s systems indicate that someone has taken control of one of its smaller craft and has opened the hull’s doors.”
“What?” said Mecha Knight. “Shut it down. We can’t let any survivors escape.”
“I am trying, but whoever opened the doors must have used a manual override feature, because I am locked out of the system,” said Valerie. “By the time I break in, the ship will already have—”
A mad laugh suddenly interrupted Valerie, but it wasn’t Mecha Knight or me laughing. It was an alien laugh, one that didn’t sound like it belonged to any human being.
“Foolish humans!” came the gargled voice of Graleex, which now sounded mad beyond comprehension. “I felt the Mother World die, but that does not mean that I will surrender. I will avenge her death by killing those who took her life!”
Then a small spaceship shot out of the mother ship and immediately flew toward us. Although I couldn’t see him, I knew that it had to be piloted by Graleex, because it was now aiming its cannons directly at us and coming at us fast. There was no way I could dodge it; I was too tired, slow, and weighted down by everyone I was carrying. I could only just watch as it drew closer and closer, its cannons charging with energy.
But when the ship was about halfway to us, I saw something come hurtling toward us out of the corner of my eye. Before my startled eyes, the lower half of the Justice Statue came out of nowhere and crashed directly into the incoming ship. The collision sent the Pokacu spacecraft hurtling away until it crashed into the ground, leveling a few buildings, where it then exploded. And the explosion appeared to come from the cockpit, too, exactly where Graleex would have been piloting the damn thing, which meant that he was likely dead.
My adrenaline running, I said, “Uh, Val? Mecha Knight? Where did that statue come from?”
“From a friend,” came a voice from the direction that the Justice Statue had come from.
I looked over to see Omega Man—his suit ripped, his hair mussed, and his face covered in scratches—flying toward us. The chains that the Pokacu had
used to hold him against the Justice Statue dangled from his wrists, but he barely seemed to pay any attention to them. He just flew up to me and stopped, floating there with a pleased look on his face.
“Omega Man?” I said. “Did you just throw the Justice Statue at Graleex?”
Omega Man nodded. “Yep. I wasn’t sure I would be able to, since I haven’t fully recovered from the powerless gas yet, but it looks like I’ve recovered more of my powers than I thought.”
“Thanks,” I said.
All of a sudden, the tube containing Mother—which Blizzard and Nick still stood on—became almost too much for me. I almost fell, but then Omega Man swooped in and held it with me.
“You look tired,” said Omega Man. “Let’s get you and everyone else down on the ground. Then you can rest and you can tell us what happened on the Mother World later.”
Too tired to argue, I nodded and soon we were lowering down to the ground, where a few people from both the NHA and INJ were already running to meet us.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Boy, did the next week seem to go by in a flash. I spent most of it in the medical station of the House, along with Blizzard, because apparently traveling through a worm hole from an alien planet—even if you are wearing an environ—can actually be pretty damaging to one’s health. Who knew?
In any case, I learned that the rest of the team and the New Heroes did indeed survive their fight with the Pokacu. Most of them got hurt—and, in Slime’s case, completely flattened by a particularly large Pokacu soldier—but there were no casualties among the teams. The same applied to the captured NHA and INJ members; although they had been mistreated by the Pokacu, none of them were going to die and only needed basic treatment for some simple wounds and injuries.
Even the various cities around the world threatened by the Pokacu were safe. While Graleex—who was confirmed dead, after a few G-Men agents investigated the remains of his ship and found his burnt corpse at the controls—had not been lying about the mother ships placed above the major world cities, the Mother World’s death had caused them to ‘mysteriously’ crash. This still caused a lot of damage in those cities and led to a lot of deaths and injured, but it was minimal in comparison to what the Pokacu had said they were going to do and every country affected immediately went to work removing the ship and the dead Pokacu on board. I wondered what they were going to do with those remains; probably keep them for themselves and study the tech so they could reverse engineer it for their own purposes, though I didn’t care enough to find out and figured that the G-Men would probably be on top of that, if it ever became a problem for the US.