Zack assessed the situation with a practised eye. “There’s only one thing a predator like Gordon the World-Eater is afraid of. And that’s a predator further up the food chain.”
The Lara-beast roared. A tweeting bird is not exactly a frightening sound, but let me tell you that when thousands of them sing out at once it makes quite an impression. Gordon reared up, lifting his head away from the helicopter, gazing into the face of what, to him, must have appeared to be a terrifying rival. Lara’s decoy plan was working. With another tweet of terror, she marched her bird-monster towards Gordon. He took a cautious step back.
That was all the space the helicopter pilot needed. He banked his aircraft and, engines straining, gunned it out of harm’s way.
Gordon wasn’t fooled for long. Puffing out his cheeks, he blew a dose of cyclone breath through the flock, breaking the formation, scattering birds across the sky. Caught up in the blast, Lara whirled through the air. Calling her feathered friends to her once more, she righted herself and was back in business. But before she could launch a fresh attack, Gordon vanished. One second he was there, blotting out the sun, the next he had gone.
“She’s done it!” yelled Serge. “She has vanquished him. Vive la Dark Flutter!” He took a celebratory puff of his asthma inhaler.
I wasn’t so sure. “He’s still here,” I said. “Only now he’s invisible.”
I scanned the sky for a sign. The thing about invisibility was that it didn’t make you undetectable. Which meant that even an invisible supervillain would leave a trace of his passing. Was that a ripple in the air? A shadow across the sun?
“Well, he’s gone for now. Which gives us time to regroup,” said Zack. “I should contact Star Squad Six—”
The door to the roof banged open. Mum and Dad tumbled out, followed by Josh Khan. He jabbed a finger at me.
“I told you I saw him go up here.”
My parents froze, trying to take in the puzzling sight that greeted them.
“Luke?” said Mum.
“Star Lad?” said Dad.
I could appreciate their confusion. What they saw was their youngest son, his best friend and the world’s greatest superhero. I thought they dealt with the situation remarkably well.
“Mr Parker, I am mucho impressed,” cooed Josh. “I mean first that new kid Stellar shows up and does his thing, then there’s the giant monster thingy with the rays and the breath and the other thingies.” He lumbered about in an imitation of Gordon the World-Eater. “Then to top that you get Dark Flutter to do her totally awesome bird thingy. And now, just when we think it’s all over, here’s Star Lad, in super-person! And the Crowd. Goes. Wild. Yaaaah!” He raised his fists and pumped the air, while jogging around the roof in some sort of weird victory dance.
Dad threw a questioning look at Mum.
“He thinks you organised all this to advertise the shop,” she explained, and immediately turned to me. “Luke, where’s your brother?”
I glanced at Zack. “Um…”
He adjusted his mask. “Last time I saw him he was with that girl, Lara. They were heading for the helicopters.”
“He must’ve been trying to get her to safety,” said Mum.
Another helicopter departed, passing close enough to our position so that I could feel the downdraught from its rotors. That left just two more transports.
“We have to get you boys on to one of those ’copters,” said Dad.
“He’s right,” said Zack. “All of you, go now. You’ll be safe.” There was steel in his voice. “I’ll make sure of it.”
I sensed that he was about to go off and do something brave and stupid. I grabbed his arm. “You never played the game,” I said, my voice a desperate whisper. “You can’t win. There isn’t a superhero in the universe who can beat Gordon the World-Eater. You’ll die.”
Gently he prised off my fingers. “I’ll be fine. Now, go.”
With that, he stepped on to the parapet. I could almost hear the trumpeters strike up a fanfare as he prepared to leap into the fray. If he wouldn’t listen to me, then maybe Mum or Dad could persuade him. Of course, I’d have to reveal his secret identity, but better that than the alternative.
They stood in a line across the roof – Mum, Dad, Serge and Josh – all in their superhero costumes: Peter Pan, Jor-El, Matter-Eater Lad and, uh, Shark Flutter. I felt an idea stir. It swirled about, fired off a few synapses and then popped into the bit of the brain that recognises sheer brilliance.
“That’s it! Za– Star Lad, wait!”
But it was too late, he had launched himself into the sky. My words were blown away by the powerful currents of wind that continued to rage in the wake of Gordon’s latest cyclone attack. Behind me I could hear my parents yelling from the roof door, urging me to leave. I ignored them, trying to find some calm amid the sound and fury.
“I know how to defeat him,” I sounded out in my head. “Zack? Can you hear me?”
Was Stellar still jamming all telepathic signals? Would my brother be able to pick up the crucial message?
Zack slowed and settled into a hover, his voice a grumble in my head. “I knew you’d do something like this. You always do,” he complained.
“I do not.” I cast my mind back to our previous encounters with Christopher Talbot and the sue-dunham invaders. “OK, so yes, maybe I do. But have I ever been wrong?”
“Not yet,” he said grimly. “OK, so what’s this brilliant pl—”
Before he could finish, a great hand wearing a spiked glove reached up from beneath like a shark for a dangling swimmer and closed around him.
Gordon the World-Eater had materialised directly below Zack.
I could only watch in horror as he was carried off in the giant’s fist. His legs kicked furiously and then went limp. I felt our telepathic bond snap.
“No-o-o!” My wail was lost in the whirlwind that followed. With a grotesque howl of victory, Gordon directed another blast of cyclone breath towards our little group on the comic shop. We were lifted off our feet and sent spinning high over the rooftops. I was dimly aware of the others caught in the updraught. We were rising fast, but soon we’d top out and then it was a one-way trip, straight down to our doom.
For a second I felt weightless. I’d reached the peak of my short flight.
The town centre lay far below. It all looked so peaceful and normal from up here.
The change of direction hit me like a hammer-blow, shattering my brief feeling of calm. I lost sight of the others as we tumbled uncontrollably to earth. We were seconds away from ending up as splodges on the High Street. As I fell, a phrase popped into my head; an expression that people in olden times used whenever they believed the world was ending, which was a lot, since in those days they thought the slightest thing signalled the apocalypse. Bad harvest? Eternal darkness. Tea leaves in the shape of a goat? Armageddon. Confusing prophecy in French? Judgment Day.
The phrase was: The end is nigh. I think “nigh” means “near”. But as I plummeted out of the sky, the image of Gordon the World-Eater marching off with the lifeless Zack seared into my vision, I realised the end was way past nigh.
It was here.
The ground rose towards me, filling my vision.
I fell below the level of the library. Last half second. I flung my arms in front of my face in a futile protective gesture. I braced for impact.
And came to a sudden stop less than a metre above the street.
To my relief I saw that I wasn’t the only one. Mum, Dad and Serge were similarly suspended, bodies held in mid-air like glitches in a videogame. Briefly I wondered what had become of Josh.
One thought burst through my surprise: only a telekinetic safety net could have arrested a fall like that. Zack must have freed himself from Gordon’s clutches! With hope rising I felt myself gently lowered the final short distance to the ground.
“I still blame you.”
I jerked my head up at the sound of that voice. Stellar stood before me. It was his
telekinetic power that had caught me, not Zack’s. All my hope vanished in an instant, replaced by blind fury.
“You!” I launched myself at him, knocking him to the ground.
Kneeling astride his chest I shook him by the shoulders. “You caused this. I wish you’d never come here. I hate you! I hate you! To the ends of the multiverse, I hate you!”
He could have brushed me off as easily as Gordon had swatted him, but instead he just lay there, taking his punishment.
“Hey, Luke, up here, mate!”
I lifted my head to see Josh Khan in his Shark Flutter costume. He was alive. More remarkably, he appeared to be flying. I rubbed my eyes and saw that he was held aloft by a bunch of flapping birds. At his side, controlling them, flew Lara. So Josh had got his wish to fly with Dark Flutter after all. His grin lit up an otherwise miserable day – at least it had turned out well for someone. Lara brought him in for a smooth landing.
“That. Was. Major! I mean, seriously awesome sauce,” he gabbled. “Can we do it again?”
Everyone seemed to be in one piece. A little way off, Mum lay on the ground, too stunned to move, making moaning noises. Dad was on his hands and knees, repeating something about “terra firma” and kissing the pavement, which didn’t look hygienic. Serge was on his feet, wandering around dazed.
Lara managed to peel Josh off her long enough to check on me. “That’s the last time I complain about starlings,” she said. “Luke, are you all right?”
“Yes,” Stellar and I answered together. I glowered at him.
“Gordon the World-Eater took Zack,” I said, my voice breaking. “He had no chance.”
“There was nothing I could do,” said Lara despondently.
“I’ll try contacting him telepathically,” said Stellar.
“You don’t think I already tried?” I snapped. I’d been shouting his name in my head ever since he was snatched. “He’s not responding.”
“You don’t think—” began Lara.
“No,” insisted Stellar, leaping to his feet. “He’s alive. We’ll save him.”
“We can’t save anyone,” I said.
“You’re not making sense,” said Lara. “If not us, then who? There isn’t anyone else.”
“What are you proposing?” asked Serge.
It was our last shot. The last shot anyone in the world would take. I took a deep breath.
“The ultimate crossover.”
Other Luke didn’t have much going for him in the superpowers department, but I had to admit that he could devise a pretty good plan under some quite stressful conditions.
Another helicopter departed, laden down with frightened civilians. That left just one more.
“The whole plan hinges on you, Stellar,” said Luke once he had talked me through the details.
“Good,” I said. “You couldn’t ask for a more amazing, um … hinge.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure you’ll understand if it doesn’t fill the rest of us with great enthusiasm.”
I was going to object, but I could see his point. After all, I had brought Gordon the World-Eater here in the first place. Even though I still blamed Other Luke for goading me.
“Can we trust you?” asked Lara.
Before I could answer, Other Luke cut in. “We have no other choice.” He laid a hand on my shoulder. “Keep your telepathic line open. I’ll coordinate from the ground.”
“Got it.”
“So what are you waiting for? GO!”
I took to the sky, climbing straight up on full power. I glanced to one side to see Dark Flutter keeping pace with me thanks to a gaggle of geese, their powerful wings beating the air. She fixed me with a look of deep suspicion. We levelled out after a hundred metres for a view of the battlefield.
The horizon was alight with superpowers. Gordon the World-Eater’s devastating attacks were answered by tracer fire from ground and air forces, but it was no use. Burning, trampling and lasering, he laid waste to everything in his path. I could see no sign of Zack and my Stellar Scanner wasn’t picking up his signal, but I wouldn’t allow myself to fear the worst. It couldn’t be happening. Not now.
“S.C.A.R.F. leader to Stellar. Have you a visual on target? Over.” Other Luke’s voice sounded loud and clear in my head.
“Strangers in the night, exchanging glances, wondering in the night what were the chances, we’d be sharing lo-o-ove…” sang Serge.
“I’m starving. I could really go for a McDonald’s right now.” And that was Josh.
The problem with leaving your telepathic superpower wide open was that you picked up everyone’s thoughts, all of the time.
I broadcast my feelings on the subject. “Enough chat, people. Let’s concentrate on the world-eating terror, shall we?”
With my thoughts clear I proceeded to carry out the first part of Other Luke’s plan. Focusing on a patch of empty sky above the comic shop, I formed a picture in my head and declared, “I am opening the primary gerbil-hole.”
It appeared instantly, a dark splotch in the light of day. From there it began to grow, swirling like cosmic chocolate and vanilla ice-cream ripple. Somewhere in the far reaches of the multiverse, I felt something stir.
“Is it working?” Lara shouted over the flapping of geese.
“It better be.”
Across on the other side of town, Gordon the World-Eater continued his rampage. So far he hadn’t spotted what I was up to, but I couldn’t count on it remaining that way for long. I created the next three holes in quick succession and crossed my fingers. For a second or two nothing happened, but then they began to take on the distinctive shape of figures. Four human-shaped holes reached across the afternoon sky like paper-chain people.
“They’re coming.” It was Serge’s excited voice in my head. “They’re coming!”
Other Luke’s plan had relied on the answer to one question: when Zorbon picked me to become Stellar in my world, and Zack to be Star Lad here, what happened in all the other worlds?
“On every Earth, in every tree house that night, a hero was chosen,” Other Luke had explained. “There isn’t a single superhero in the universe who can defeat Gordon the World-Eater, but together maybe, just maybe, they can.”
Four masked figures blasted out of the gerbil-holes, capes streaming behind them.
Four superheroes recruited from their universes for the greatest team-up ever.
“Is that moi?” Serge’s voice rang in my head.
It was indeed. A different version of him, one who through a combination of events I could only guess at, had been granted superpowers.
Star-Serge, for want of a better name, wore his costume with panache (which was a French word that meant being elegant without really trying). When you see a superhero fly it’s always an impressive sight, but until I clapped eyes on him I never imagined anyone could soar with so much style. Star-Serge’s beautifully cut costume was in a subtle grey, suggesting it belonged to the sort of hero who didn’t need to shout about his abilities. Most capes fluttered or flapped. His murmured. At the centre of his chest shone his sigil, a silver three-pronged spear. At first I took it to be a trident like Aquaman’s, but as he came closer I saw that it was actually a dinner fork.
The next member of the elite group sported a pair of stubby wings and a dorsal fin on which his cape kept snagging.
“Shark Flutter,” yelled Josh in my head, ignoring my order to keep a lid on useless chatter. “It’s me! No way. I’m a superhero too. Hey, Luke-ster, you seeing this! I’m. A. Superhero. Woo-hoo!”
“Not aerodynamically possible,” grumbled Other Luke.
Beside me I heard Lara gasp at the approach of the third hero. “You have got to be kidding.”
Flying towards us was her big sister, Cara. I mean, it was Cara from an alternate dimension, but it was her all right. A lot of superheroes are simple to understand, primary coloured right down to their feelings. But you could tell just by looking that Cara was complex. I bet that it rained a lot in her univ
erse and she spent a good deal of time staring from windows with regret. She wore a dark-blue and gold costume that included a cape, skirt and high boots, and a Wonder Woman-style metal headband etched with a cluster of stars.
Star-Cara – Stara? – hovered in front of Lara and folded her arms. She cast an inquisitive eye over her little sister from another world, studying her from top to bottom.
“Are those my boots?”
“Your old ones,” replied Lara, adding in a slightly whiney voice, “Mum said I could have them.”
Cara was about to respond when Lara looked past her shoulder. “Uh, who’s that?” she asked, clearly keen to change the subject.
I vaguely recognised the fourth superhero. “It’s … that kid. Y’know, the one who sits at the back in English.”
“Nuh-uh,” said Josh, still tuned in to my mind. “I think it’s that kid in my German class – the one who’s always got a runny nose.”
“Are you certain?” said Non-Super Serge. “He resembles that boy who had the accident with the Van de Graaff generator in the physics lab.”
In my head I heard Other Luke give a disapproving snort.
“Situation report, S.C.A.R.F. leader,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled. “Well, I mean not nothing. I know we’re facing Armageddon and everything, but honestly, you’re telling me that all this lot get given superpowers and told to save their worlds, ahead of me. Even that kid? If I ever meet Zorbon, we’re going to have words.”
There wasn’t time to listen to him complain. I addressed the new arrivals. Ideally, I’d have liked to call them by some cool superhero team name, but nothing came immediately to mind and there were more important things to focus on.
“OK, everyone,” I began. “I used my awesome but mysterious new superpower to summon you from your universes for a reason. Now I shall lay out the mission for you.”
Star-Serge waved a hand lazily in the direction of the chaos caused by Gordon the World-Eater. “An all-powerful supervillain threatens this world, so you bring assistance from alternate worlds. A classic crossover, oui?”
“Uh, yeah, that about covers it.”
My Evil Twin Is a Supervillain Page 10