My Brother is a Superhero

by David Solomons

“The world will be eternally grateful to …” he lowered his voice, “The Quintessence.”

  “Two worlds,” I corrected him.

  “How’s that?”

  “Star Lad was chosen to save this world and another parallel world where red is green and sponge cake tastes different. Not completely different. Just a bit different.”

  A look of uncertainty flashed across his face. “No one said anything about saving two worlds.”

  “Well, there it is. Now, it’s a big job. So you’ve got to ask yourself, are you up to it?”

  He sniffed. “The Quintessence is up to any challenge. The bigger the better. Two worlds? No problem.” He waggled his fingers. “Bring it on.”

  “You’re making a terrible mistake,” said Lara. “You have to let Star Lad fulfil his mission. He was chosen to save us from Nemesis.”

  “Oh really? He’s the Chosen One, is he?” Irritated, he swished his cape in Zack’s direction. “Explain to me why some random kid from a suburb in south London should be given superpowers, hmm? Who decided that?”

  “Zorbon,” I said. “The Decider.”

  Christopher Talbot frowned. “Well, Zorbon clearly made a mistake. I’ve spent my whole life and every penny I’ve earned trying to turn myself into a superhero. Y’know, I could’ve lived like a king, bought myself an actual mansion, but a long time ago I said to myself, no, Chris, that’s not the way. Sacrifices had to be made. And if living in a miserable semi in Bromley and driving a ten-year-old Grand Picasso meant I could spend more on superpower research then so be it.” He reached for the control panel and snatched up what looked like an Xbox controller from its cradle. “But I have to thank your brother for something. When he bounced on to the scene as Star Lad I realised that my dreams were in reach. If powers could be given, then they could also be taken.”

  “But you didn’t have to take Zack’s powers,” I said. “Not every superhero needs superpowers. A lot of them train for years, honing mind and body to become crime-fighters. You could have gone the Batman route.”

  Talbot held up his hands. “You don’t think I tried?!” He crossed to one of the lockers that ringed the room and pulled open the door. “Do you know how many secret orders of martial-arts-practising monks there are in the snow-capped mountains of Tibet?” I shook my head. “None,” he said. “Not one. And I searched. Boy, did I search. There wasn’t a temple bell in that place I didn’t ring.”

  “They do Judo classes at the sports centre,” I suggested.

  He made a face. “It’s not the same.” Inside the locker hung a rack of spare superhero costumes identical to the one he was wearing – capes on coat hangers, masks on the shelf above. He reached down and collected a pair of shiny black boots. “Now, I really must save the world.”

  “Worlds,” Lara reminded him curtly.

  Ignoring her, he slapped a sequence of buttons on the game controller and waggled the joystick. From the back of the room came a rumble and then a massive shape swung out of the shadows. It was the biggest exosuit I’d ever seen. Twice as large as the one he had used to kidnap Zack, it hung from the monorail, a giant’s suit on a hanger. This must have been what the plans in the basement laboratory were for.

  The giant suit consisted of a hard shell with arms and legs as thick as tree trunks, and was topped with a bulbous helmet with a wraparound glass visor that gleamed dully under the lights. The casing was painted in the same blue and silver colours as Christopher Talbot’s clingy superhero suit. The chest was dominated by the “Q” sigil, but the bulk of the machine lay around its middle, where a ring of solid rocket boosters was slung like a bandolier of ammunition. The suit was so big there were metal handholds on the surface to help with climbing in and out.

  Christopher Talbot wiggled the joystick on the controller. The suit shot along the rail towards him and stopped, swaying gently. There was a click, and the suit released from the rail and dropped to the floor with a thud, its knee-joints bowing under the enormous weight before straightening. It stood like a tower.

  “Behold, the Mark Fourteen Sub-Orbital Super Suit.” He tucked the game controller into his belt, kicked off his slippers and began to pull on the boots.

  “Sub-orbital? Does that mean you’re going to the edge of space in this thing?” I asked.

  Pulling on the second boot he hopped to the control doughnut. “Indeed! I shall ride my white charger into battle with the dragon Nemesis.”

  “Does it work as well as your coat-rack thing?” asked Lara with a raised eyebrow.

  “Listen, I don’t have to stand here answering cheeky questions from the likes of you. I’m on a schedule. But for your information, Miss Smart Alec, I will pilot the Mark Fourteen to the vicinity of the asteroid and once in position I will save the world using my superpowers.”

  “Zack’s powers,” I reminded him.

  I could see he didn’t care about where the powers came from – they were his now.

  He started to list them. “The ability to breathe in outer space, telepathy for lag-free communication with planet-based authorities, radar to precisely track the asteroid’s course, a force-field to stop it—”

  “—and telekinesis to push it out of Earth’s path,” I finished. I’d always known that Zorbon had given Zack those particular powers for a purpose, but Christopher Talbot had put it all together. I was impressed.

  “Very good, Luke,” he said. I could have sworn he sounded sad. “Under different circumstances I think you and I could’ve been friends.” He thought for a moment. “Well, master and disciple.”

  He adjusted the long stalk of a microphone. “Commence pre-flight diagnostics,” he commanded.

  “Pre-flight diagnostics initiated,” said the suit. It was a woman’s voice. She sounded as if she was lying on a purple velvet sofa eating grapes.

  “Check super-power levels.”

  “Super-power levels at maximum,” reported the suit. “Estimated time until empty – two hours.”

  “Excellent!” Christopher Talbot grinned.

  Two hours until empty? What did that mean? At last, I understood. I knew why he’d had to extract Zack’s superpowers not once, but again. And again. “The powers – they’re not stable, are they? You have to keep recharging yourself.”

  “A temporary state of affairs,” he said dismissively. “But this is hardly like charging a mobile phone – I am operating at the forefront of experimental superpower science. Which means, yes, once transferred into my body there are a few … stability issues. Nevertheless, it’s taken me just a week—” he smoothed a hand over his hair “—a great number of fire extinguishers and a lot of hair conditioner, to get to this point. As of today a single transfer from your brother gives me up to two hours of superpowers on standby. One, if I make a telepathic call.”

  It didn’t sound like much to me. “But what if you’ve got it wrong? What if your powers run out at the crucial moment?”

  “Impossible,” he snapped. He seemed utterly certain of himself, which only made me more doubtful. All the people I’d ever met who were that sure of themselves were either bullies or PE teachers, neither of whom I would trust with the future of all mankind. Right then I knew he couldn’t succeed. Zorbon had chosen Zack for a reason. Only Star Lad had the power to stop Nemesis.

  The digital countdown stood at fifty-four minutes…

  “The truly heroic thing to do,” I said, “would be to let Star Lad do his job.”

  “Forget about Star Lad,” he grumbled. He prodded the game controller sending commands through the air to the Mark Fourteen. The front of the suit swung open to reveal a space for a pilot that included a convenient cubbyhole for a cape.

  “Pre-flight checks complete,” purred the suit. “Ready for launch.”

  “Open the roof,” he instructed. There was a series of clicks and whirs. High above us the metal disc slowly began to slide back to reveal the night sky. “Oh, and don’t get any clever ideas about releasing your brother after I’ve gone. My Assault Tal
-bots are programmed to deal harshly with any attempt to thwart my plans.” Replacing the controller in its cradle on the command doughnut, he strode towards the suit.

  As if to reinforce their master’s claim the Tal-bots shuffled their positions, forming a solid line of evil robots between the Super Suit and us. They rocked back and forth spoiling for a fight. “Come-on-ugly,” they taunted.

  “Back off,” spat Lara. “Leave him alone.”

  “Oooh,” hooted the Tal-bots. “Is-she-your-girlfriend? Do-you-kiss-her? I-bet-you-kiss-her. Smoochie-smoochie.”

  I ignored them. The roof continued to slide open. In that instant I knew that as soon as it rolled all the way back, everything would be OK.

  “Luke, why are you smiling?” whispered Lara.

  “He’s miscalculated,” I said. “Starlight is about to flood the crater and bring Zack back to full strength.” I looked up expectantly. “Any moment … now.”

  “Oh no,” gasped Lara.

  The roof was open but instead of a sky full of stars all I could see were clouds. “That wasn’t the forecast,” I muttered.

  “It’s not cloud, it’s smoke,” said Lara.

  The grey shroud obscuring the sky wasn’t a cloudbank, but smoke from all the fires we’d seen burning across the city. The dense barrier prevented starlight from reaching Zack. Without it he was powerless – and we were all doomed.

  Christopher Talbot climbed into the Sub-Orbital Super Suit using the exterior handholds. He slid his arms and legs into its bulky frame.

  I had to do something. Fast. Looking along the tightly spaced rank of Tal-bots I had an idea. I caught Lara’s attention and flicked my eyes at the skipping rope coiled on her hip. She nodded in understanding and, taking a step to the side, threw one end of the rope to me. “Catch!”

  I plucked the handle out of the air. Lara dived to one end of the row of Tal-bots while I scrambled to the other. The rope went taut. “Now!” I shouted. Together we ran forward, using our makeshift tripwire to snag the robots in the middle of their fat vacuum cleaner bodies, tipping them over. They tumbled head over heels like a row of table-football players. “I-have-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up!” they screeched. Unable to right themselves, their tracks spun uselessly in the air. Our way was clear.

  The front of the Super Suit clamped shut. There was a hiss of hydraulic locking bolts as Christopher Talbot sealed himself inside the pressurised suit, ready to blast off.

  “Ten seconds to launch,” said the suit. “Nine…”

  With a series of reversing beeps the Super Suit backed into position directly beneath the centre of the crater.

  I raced to Zack’s side, calling to Lara. “Help me release him.” As I hurtled past the command doughnut I snatched the game controller from its cradle and tucked it into the waistband of my trousers.

  “Five…”

  Inside the Orbital suit, Christopher Talbot lifted his arms to the sky. The super-strong alloy arms mimicked his action, rotating upwards and locking in place.

  “Four…”

  “Hurry!” Frantically we unlocked the cuffs securing Zack’s arms and legs and helped him to his feet. As I put one arm around his shoulder he looked at me blearily. “Is that my phone?”

  “Three…”

  The solid rockets ignited. Jets of flame shot out of the base, blackening the crater floor.

  “Luke!” yelled Lara over the roar of the engines. “What are you doing?!”

  “Two…”

  “Must get Zack to the starlight.” I leaped on to the suit, dragging him behind me.

  “One…”

  Desperately I looped Zack’s arms through the handholds and then did the same with my own. “Hold on,” I shouted, then closed my eyes and muttered, “And don’t look down.”

  “Launch,” said the suit.

  34

  THE DARKEST HOUR

  The Mark Fourteen Super Suit shook as its onboard systems directed the immense power downwards. The wail of the rockets was louder than any sound I’d ever heard and I felt like I was being cooked by the tremendous heat rising up from their blast.

  There was a smell of burning rubber. I opened one eye to see that the soles of my trainers were melting. And then, with a creak of hi-tech alloy and a waggle of flight-control surfaces, we were moving. The suit lurched skywards and my head snapped back, the dizzying tang of explosive fuel invading my nostrils. I gripped the handholds for dear life. The suit rose phoenix-like on a column of flame. In seconds we would be through the smoke barrier and my plan to energise Zack would be a success. But before we cleared the crater rim the Super Suit dived sideways.

  Through the gently curving visor I glimpsed Christopher Talbot’s furious face. He had spotted his unwelcome passengers and was trying to shake us off. He throttled back on the rockets, deploying directional thrusters located in the suit’s palms and soles to guide it on a zigzag course around the inside of the crater. We bounced around as if we were riding a wild horse.

  I locked my arms through the handholds and clung on. But Zack was still dazed from having his superpowers drained. One hand fell limply away from the rung it had been clutching. The fingers of his other hand started to loosen. I shouted at him to hang on, but my voice was drowned out by the din of the thrusters. Desperately, I clawed my way across the hull. Zack was hanging on by a finger when I clasped his wrist. With a grunt I heaved his hand back into place and wrapped his fingers around the handhold.

  Christopher Talbot sent the Super Suit on a course that veered inches from the walls and swooped impossibly low over the floor. We skimmed towards Lara and I saw her dive in to the costume locker for cover. The fiery rocket blast turned the Assault Tal-bots into slag metal. When we had passed over them all that was left was a series of bubbling pools of silver.

  But I was ready for Christopher Talbot’s manoeuvrings with some of my own. When we were on the ground I’d watched him use the wireless controller to operate the Super Suit. I had plucked it from its cradle and it now sat securely at my waistband. I felt for the boomerang-shaped device.

  It was gone.

  All the aerobatics must have dislodged it. That was it. Game over. We were finished. But then, to my surprise, the Super Suit steadied, settling in to a hover beneath the rim of the open roof. The howl of the engine subsided. There was a squawk of communications static and then Christopher Talbot’s voice crackled from built-in speakers.

  “Luke Parker, once you’ve got your mind set on something, you’re a difficult boy to shake.”

  “So my mum and dad tell me.”

  “But I’m on to your scheme. Hitch a ride to the stars and restore your brother’s powers. Very clever. Very brave. Oh, and stupendously foolish. However, your mere presence is having an undesirable effect on my mission. My flight plan has been precisely calculated and I hadn’t factored in your additional weight. I’ve run the numbers through the onboard computer and I can’t make it to the Nemesis asteroid with you two playing limpet. Now, I could use my telekinetic power to scrape you off the paintwork like a couple of streaks of bird poo.” He paused. “But I’d rather not waste the juice.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “And there is another way.”

  Something told me I shouldn’t ask, but I couldn’t help myself. “What’s that then?”

  He smiled. “When you’re growing up everyone tells you the same thing. ‘Always be yourself.’” He pouted. “It’s not a bad message, just a horrendously ordinary one. That’s why I prefer comics. They ask the question: what if you could be someone else? Someone with real power. What if you could be… Superman?” His blue eyes shone through the visor, its curved glass reflecting flames from the idling rockets.

  “I don’t understand.”

  He sighed. “I’m offering you power, Luke. Superpower. You know I have the technology to make it happen.”

  The Super Suit bobbed in the mouth of the crater, thrusters automatically correcting its attitude to keep it level. There was a hum as one of the massive arms rot
ated in front of me and offered its hand. “Join me, Luke. And together we will save the world.”

  I glanced at Zack. Already weakened by Christopher Talbot’s experiments, he looked even more washed-out after the roller-coaster rocket ride. My whole life I’d been second best to him. Smaller, weaker, invisible. This might be my only chance to change that.

  “Just look at him. It’s obvious your brother was given superpowers in error. Isn’t it better that they go to someone who can fully appreciate them?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Someone who knows the only thing that Galactus is afraid of.”

  “The Ultimate Nullifier,” I mouthed.

  “Someone who knows who’d win in a race between Superman and the Flash.”

  “The Flash. But only since 1970.”

  “Someone like you.”

  I thought about my brother and our last proper conversation, on the night of his kidnapping. “Zack said that Zorbon the Decider picked the wrong brother. He was unhappy and wished he hadn’t been given superpowers. So, in a way, I’d be doing him a favour.”

  “Exactly!” Christopher Talbot leapt on the notion.

  “And it’s not as if I’d be doing anything evil.”

  “No-o-o-o.”

  “After all, you’re not interested in taking over the world. You only want to save it, right?”

  “I’m all about the saving.”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know…”

  “Oh come on, Luke. Lukester. It’s time to make up your mind. So, what’s it to be – are you with me?”

  So, was I? You’d think that years of reading comics in which superheroes do the right thing – sacrifice themselves for the greater good, see through the villain’s deception – would have prepared me for this moment. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted. You can’t blame me. If someone offered you your wildest dream, what would you do? Come on, I was eleven. I needed a sign.

  And then it happened. Not a gravelly voice telling me to use the Force. Or a S.H.I.E.L.D. directive winging its way to me on encrypted frequencies. No. It was a feeling.