by H. I. Larry
CHAPTER
EIGHT
The drill must have been folded down into that huge backpack she was carrying, thought Zac, standing up and brushing himself off. I can’t believe I got her exactly where she wanted to be!
Caz jumped to her feet and started running across the throne room.
‘Zac!’ shouted Grandpa from across the throne room. He was on the other side of the enormous hole. ‘The crown!’
Zac glanced at the king, who was still on the ground. The king’s gold crown was lying on the ground a few metres away. Caz was running straight for it.
Zac sprang up and took a dive at the crown, crash-landing on the marble floor again. His hands closed on the crown at the same time as Caz.
They wrestled wildly for the crown, pulling it back and forth like toddlers fighting for the best toy.
Zac noticed something strange on the inside of the crown. There was a little silver button in the shape of a diamond. Still pulling on the crown with one hand, he reached his other hand in to press the button.
Something small and square slid out of the bottom of the crown. It was a tiny see-through box, packed full of computer circuitry.
The IRIS computer chip!
Zac grabbed the computer chip and shoved it into his backpack with the other IRIS pieces. Then he let go of the crown, sending Caz staggering backwards.
Zac ran around the giant hole in the floor to join the rest of his family. ‘I’ve got it!’ he whispered to his dad.
‘Great,’ his dad said. ‘Let’s go!’
The five Powers made a run for the door. Caz was right behind them.
‘Guards!’ shouted the king, getting to his feet. ‘After them!’
From all around the room, the king’s guards picked up their staffs and started chasing after Zac and the others.
Zac was almost out of the throne room when tall figure appeared the doorway. He stopped dead in his tracks.
Agent Blackwood strode forwards, blocking Zac’s path. ‘Hold it right there,’ she said coldly.
The king’s guards stopped too, looking as if they weren’t sure who they were supposed to be chasing.
‘Out of the way, Elizabeth,’ Grandpa said firmly.
‘I don’t think so,’ Blackwood sneered. ‘Not until you hand over those IRIS pieces.’
‘Yeah, right,’ said Zac, rolling his eyes. ‘As if we’d do that.’
‘Oh, really?’ said Caz, walking over to Blackwood. She stared up at the palace roof and shouted something in a strange language.
Zac glanced up, wondering who on earth Caz was yelling up at, and what she was saying.
Everyone ducked as splinters of glass and ice suddenly rained down from the ceiling. A huge rock landed in the middle of the throne room floor.
Then a long, shimmering rope dropped down through the hole the rock had made in the ceiling. The rope unravelled as it fell, until its end was dangling just above the ground. More ropes came down and there was a sudden blur of movement above.
Twenty white figures leapt in through the roof, sliding down the ropes to the palace floor.
They landed silently and spread out around the room, surrounding Zac and the others.
‘Zac Power,’ said Blackwood, staring down at him. ‘I believe you’ve met the White Ninjas before?’
CHAPTER
NINE
This is what Caz and Blackwood were doing back at the caves, Zac realised, looking around at the White Ninjas. They were setting up an ambush!
For a moment, no-one moved.
Zac glanced sideways at his family. Grandpa had a steely look in his eyes. Zac’s parents were poised, ready for action. Leon looked terrified.
Blackwood’s face twisted into a smile as she turned to the ninjas. ‘Get them.’
The White Ninjas drew their weapons: shining ice-disks and long, glimmering ice-whips.
And then, suddenly, everyone was moving at once.
CRACK!
Zac dived out of the way as an ice-whip came snapping towards him. Before he had even hit the ground, another two ninjas came flying at him. He rolled out of the way just in time, and they sailed over the top of his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zac saw the blue-uniformed guards hurrying the king out of the throne room.
They know they don’t stand a chance against the White Ninjas, thought Zac.
He leapt to his feet just in time to see another ninja coming up behind Grandpa.
‘Grandpa!’ Zac shouted. ‘Look out!’
The ninja sent three ice-disks zooming towards Grandpa’s head.
Grandpa’s hands flashed in front of him. He snatched the ice-disks out of the air and threw them straight back at the ninja.
WHACK-WHACK-WHACK!
The ninja fell to the ground, out cold.
Grandpa turned to Zac. ‘I think we may have outstayed our welcome here, don’t you, kiddo?’
Three more ice-disks shot past Zac, almost close enough to cut off his hair. He ducked out of the way and made a run for the door.
Zac saw Leon crouching behind a pillar. He was clenching his fists, trying to look menacing, but Zac could tell he was scared stiff.
CRACK!
An ice-whip snapped at the other side of the pillar, and Leon screamed.
‘Come on, Leon,’ said Zac, pulling him to his feet. ‘We’re getting out of here.’
Another White Ninja cartwheeled in front of Zac and Leon, blocking their path to the door. Zac dived at the ninja, feet-first. He swept his right foot around, knocking the ninja’s feet out from under him. Zac was glad that he’d been practising his karate a lot lately. Then he rolled to his feet, and the five Powers closed in on the exit.
There were ice-disks flying everywhere! Zac sprinted for the door, his family close behind him.
Caz and Blackwood were still standing in the doorway, but they leapt out of the way as a volley of ice-disks came whooshing towards them.
Zac and the others raced past, out of the throne room.
The sound of cracking ice-whips echoed down the hallway as they ran. Zac looked back over his shoulder. The White Ninjas were right behind him, followed closely by Caz and Blackwood.
A few more steps and they were out of the Frozen Palace. Zac leapt down the palace steps. Spinning around, he saw a White Ninja taking aim at Leon with an ice-disk.
SHINK!
‘Leon, watch out!’ Zac yelled.
Leon ducked just in time. The ice-disk flashed past him and landed in the snow.
Zac caught a glimpse of Blackwood running away from the battle. She was headed for her BIG jet, which was hovering not far away.
WHUMP!
Zac whirled around. His dad had picked up old tree branch and was using it to block the ice-disks that the ninjas were throwing at him. Each time he hit a disk, it lodged itself in the side of the branch.
CRACK!
A ninja grabbed the tree branch with his whip and tore it out of Zac’s dad’s hands.
SHINK!
Zac felt another ice-disk whoosh past behind him. It sliced through his backpack, sending everything inside spilling out onto the snow.
Before Zac could even think about picking any of it up, another ninja came fly-kicking towards him. Zac grabbed the ninja’s foot and swung him around hard, using the ninja’s own momentum to throw him to the ground.
‘Zac! Help me!’
CRACK! WHUMF!
Zac spun around again. Another ninja had just caught Leon around the legs with his ice-whip, knocking him back down into the snow. Zac was about to go and rescue him, when he heard a cold, familiar laugh.
Caz was making a run for the BIG jet, cradling a mess of snow-covered gadget parts in her arms.
Zac’s heart sank. She was carrying the three pieces of IRIS that had fallen out of his backpack.
CHAPTER
TEN
Zac took off after Caz, his feet thumping across the snow. He could barely breathe as he tore after her through the dark night.
CR
ACK! CRACK!
Zac looked back at the noise. Two White Ninjas had wrapped their ice-whips around his dad’s arms. They were pulling him down into the snow beside Leon.
A dozen more ninjas were closing in on Grandpa and Zac’s mum.
‘Zac, run!’ Grandpa yelled as the ninjas surrounded him. ‘You have to stop her!’
With one last look back at his family, Zac bolted after Caz.
But Caz was too far ahead of him.
Blackwood was already inside the jet.
She threw down a rope ladder and Caz grabbed onto it. She began climbing the ladder one-handed, her other hand still clutching the IRIS pieces.
The BIG jet began to move, flying low over the ground as it picked up speed. Zac leapt into the air, making a wild grab for the ladder. His fingers wrapped around the bottom rung a second before it swung out of reach.
Zac scrambled up the ladder behind Caz. The rope twisted and turned as the jet swooped over the roof of the Frozen Palace.
Zac looked down and a jolt of panic shot through him. Below he could see that Grandpa, Leon, and his mum and dad were all tied up. The ninjas were dragging them away from the city. Zac was sure the ninjas would be taking his family up to their snow caves.
The battle was over. His family had lost.
But Zac still had to focus on the mission. He reached up and grabbed hold of Caz’s legs. She kicked wildly, trying to shake him off.
Blackwood took Caz by the wrists, pulling her up into the jet.
Zac clung to Caz’s feet, trying to drag her back down, but his fingers were numb from the cold and he could already feel himself slipping.
WHUMF!
Caz gave one final kick and Zac went flying off the ladder. He fell to the ground, landing with a thud on the soft snow.
Blackwood pulled Caz up into the jet and slammed the door shut. Zac watched helplessly as the jet zoomed off.
He stood up, his legs shaking.
Suddenly, Zac was all alone. His family was nowhere in sight. He had no gadgets, and no way out of the city.
And now he had an impossible choice to make.
If he didn’t go after Caz and Blackwood, there would be no-one to stop them getting the last IRIS piece and putting the super-gadget back together.
But if he did go after Blackwood and Caz… what would happen to his family?
TO BE CONTINUED...
WATER BLASTER
BY H. I. LARY
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CAL BENNETT
& DAMIEN HOLDER
MISSION UPDATE
CLASSIFIED
In ICE PATROL, the White Ninjas kidnapped Zac's family - while Blackwood and Caz got away with the three pieces of IRIS.
Zac has choose between saving his family, and saving the world . . . or can he do both?
CURRENT TIME:
SATURDAY 11.27 PM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER
ONE
Zac Power’s stomach rumbled. He was getting really hungry! He could just imagine biting into a tasty slice of Mexicana pizza. Or maybe some steaming hot fish and chips.
But Zac pushed the thought out of his mind and kept staggering up the icy mountain slope. Night had fallen on the City of Snow and the moon was now high in the sky.
Zac and his family had come to the city on their most extreme mission ever. They had to keep BIG agents Caz and Blackwood from putting together a dangerous super-gadget known as IRIS.
But Blackwood had laid a trap for Zac’s family in the City of Snow. The evil White Ninjas, who lived in the mountains, had kidnapped his parents, his brother Leon and his grandpa.
Worse still, Caz had stolen three pieces of IRIS from Zac’s backpack.
Now she and Blackwood had escaped in search of the fourth and final IRIS piece. If they got there before Zac did, they’d put IRIS back together and use it to send whole cities into a permanent, irreversible sleep.
Zac clenched his fists. He was not going to let that happen.
He couldn’t leave his family behind, though. He needed to save them. He’d just have to be quick and hope there was still time left to stop Caz and Blackwood.
But first Zac needed some supplies.
Zac kept running until he reached the top of the slope, where the Ski-Pod was parked.The Ski-Pod was the GIB spy vehicle that he’d flown into the City of Snow. Zac clambered inside.
Leon’s tiny flying laboratory, the MicroLab, was still parked up on the roof of the Ski-Pod. Zac pushed open a hatch in the Ski-Pod’s ceiling and climbed up into the MicroLab.
He stared around the tiny room. Leon was always the one who picked out Zac’s gadgets for him. To Zac, the lab looked like one big mess. He had no idea what would help him rescue his family.
Then Zac’s eyes fell on something that looked interesting: a black helmet with a thin body suit attached. The label said ‘Holomet’ and there was a camera on the front.
Zac picked up the Holomet. There was a label with two pictures stuck on the outside. The first picture showed a boy using the Holomet’s camera to take a picture of an old man. In the second, the Holomet was shining a hologram down onto the boy, disguising him as the old man.
G.I.B. HOLOMET Holographic Disguise-generating Helmet
The image gave Zac an idea. Perfect, he smiled. The Holomet was just what he needed. He slipped the body suit on over his clothes and put the Holomet on.
Then he climbed back through the hatch and dropped down into the Ski-Pod.
Zac’s SpyPad was still sitting on a seat in the Ski-Pod. Zac picked it up, stuck it in his pocket through a zip in the body suit, and headed back out into the snow.
An hour later, Zac was crouched down behind a rock outside the White Ninjas’ cave. His teeth chattered in the icy wind.
Two ninjas were standing guard at the front of the cave. Zac aimed his Holomet at one of the guards and pressed a button on the side. I hope this works, he thought.
CLICK!
The Holomet flashed quickly. Then it began to hum and vibrate. Zac’s body suit started shimmering. Lights sparked around his face, almost blinding him.
Zac dived down behind the rock to hide the flashing. He heard footsteps crunching across the snow towards him.
A second later, Zac heard a stern voice calling from above his head. It was speaking in a language he didn’t understand.
He looked up and saw the two White Ninjas standing over him.
Zac glanced down. The Holomet had worked! It was projecting a holographic White Ninja costume over Zac’s body suit. He looked just like one of them!
One of the ninjas pulled Zac to his feet. The other one pointed into the cave, still talking to Zac in his White Ninja language. Zac realised they were ordering him to go inside.
Yes, sir, thought Zac, hiding a grin. Whatever you say. He nodded to the guards, then left them behind and dashed inside the cave.
CHAPTER
TWO
Zac raced down a long stone tunnel, heading deeper into the White Ninjas’ cave. Crackling blue-flamed torches lined the walls on both sides, casting a creepy blue light over everything.
As he ran, Zac kept one hand on the Holomet, making sure it didn’t slip off his head.
He rounded a corner and found himself in a giant snowy cavern. There were about 20 White Ninjas standing around a big blue fire, talking and laughing and eating.
In a dark corner of the cavern, Zac saw four shadowy figures – his family! They were dangling upside down from the cavern roof, their feet tied up tightly with ice-whips.
Zac gulped, and checked to make sure none of the Ninjas were watching him. Then he sneaked around behind them and tip-toed over to his family.
‘Aahh, no!’ shouted
Leon, terrified, as Zac approached. ‘Go away!’
‘Shh!’ Zac hissed, hoping they could hear him through the Holomet. ‘It’s me!’
There was a shout from the fire and Zac whirled around. A few of the ninjas were staring over at Zac.
Thinking quickly, Zac tugged on Grandpa’s arm, pretending he was just making sure the prisoners were secure. He turned to the fire and nodded, trying to look business-like.
The ninjas watched Zac for a few moments, and finally turned back to the fire. Zac breathed a sigh of relief and reached into his pocket for his SpyPad.
Electronic gadgets were outlawed in the City of Snow. If anyone saw him holding a SpyPad, they would know Zac wasn’t a real White Ninja. He carefully turned his body around, shielding his SpyPad from the other ninjas’ eyes.
Zac set the SpyPad to Laser, and a bright red beam shot out. ‘Are you guys OK?’ he whispered, pointing the laser up at the whips that were binding his family’s feet.
‘Hanging in there,’ said Zac’s dad, smiling upside-down.
Zac rolled his eyes. Trust Dad to make a joke at a time like this! he thought.
Water dripped down from the ceiling as the laser started melting the ice-whips.
Grandpa was the first to come loose. He performed a backwards somersault and landed lightly on his feet. Zac glanced nervously back at the White Ninjas. They were laughing loudly at something and hadn’t noticed anything. But Zac knew they could turn around at any moment and see the Powers escaping.
Zac’s dad was the next to fall. Grandpa helped him down as the laser melted the rest of the ice-whip.
A few seconds later, Zac’s mum and Leon dropped down. His mum landed on her hands and cart-wheeled to her feet. But Leon landed heavily on Zac’s dad, knocking him over.
WHUMP!
The noise echoed through the cavern. Every ninja in the cavern turned to face Zac and the others. Everything went silent.
‘Sorry!’ cringed Leon as Zac dragged him to his feet.
Shining ice-disks came flying through the air towards them. Zac pulled Leon out of the way just in time. The ice-disks whizzed past and smashed against the wall.