Andy Roid and the Avalanche of Evil

by Felice Arena

  He looked down to see the beasts slamming into each other and stumbling backwards, confused and dazed.

  It felt like he was moving in slow motion. He twisted his body, aimed his laser finger downwards at the chamois, and fired. . .

  ZAAPPP! ZAAPPP! ZAAPPP!

  Again and again and again!

  KA-BOOOM! KAA-BOOOM!

  KAA-BOOOMM!!

  By the time Andy landed back on his feet, he thought he had blown up every one of the chamois.

  But as he was making his way through the melting puddles of snow and the smouldering robotic rubble, he saw move-ment out of the corner of his eye.

  One lone chamois was charging out from behind the trees.

  ‘No!’ he yelled and swung around with his laser finger raised. But the animal had caught him totally off guard.

  He was too late. He felt the beast ram its horn into his right arm, triggering a high-voltage electrical shock that shot through Andy’s entire body.

  ‘ARRRGGHHHHHHHHH!’ he cried in agony as the chamois pushed him through the snow.

  Andy had never felt pain like this before. Short sharp bursts of electricity continued to shoot through his bionic limbs, making it feel as if every cell in the human parts of his body was on fire.

  With all his might, pushing through the excruciating pain, Andy somehow managed to bend his legs. He shoved his feet under the belly of the chamois and kicked it away from him. The horn was ripped from his arm.

  He screamed as his skin tore open.

  There was no blood, but a tangle of black wires and exposed metal fibres were sending sparks across the snow.

  The chamois crashed to the ground, but immediately jumped up and tore back in Andy’s direction.

  Andy grimaced as he realised that some of his powers, including his laser finger, had been disabled by the attack.

  There was nothing left for him to do but run.

  He turned and bolted, but it was hopeless. The chamois was gaining on him and it was only a matter of seconds before it would ram into him again.

  Tears welled up in Andy’s eyes. He feared it was over for him and that he would never see his parents again.

  But then another red laser beam suddenly shot past him.

  KAA-BOOOMM!!

  The chamois had been hit.

  Andy was flung into the air by the explosion. Tumbling to the ground, he landed in a large mound of soft snow.

  ‘Huh?’ he groaned, relieved that the electrical shocks had stopped running through his body.

  He pushed aside his jacket and looked down at his torn arm. He could see bone now and a pale plastic-like material, but at least the wires had stopped sparking.

  He felt sick but he got back to his feet, trying to make sense of what had happened.

  ‘Who’s doing that?’

  Andy looked from side to side. There was no one around – or no one he could see.

  ‘Judd! And his mum!’ he whispered. ‘I gotta get to them!’

  Andy ran towards the compound, but his injuries slowed him down.

  As he approached, Andy scanned the area. It was quiet, too quiet.

  Finally, he spotted some movement – coming from one of the few windows in the building.

  He moved forward, and hid behind some trees, less than twenty metres away from the hideout. He gasped.

  Andy could see Judd, bound and gagged, but there was no sign of his mum. And no one was guarding him.

  It has to be a trap, Andy thought. What am I going to do?

  Andy checked his palm screen. Many more of his apps had now completely shut down – but his advanced sound mimicry and 3-D projected holographic imaging apps were intact.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Let’s see what I can do with those two. A little app mash-up coming right up.’

  He grinned as he activated his sound mimicry app and let out the piercing sound of a female opera singer hitting a really high note.

  SMASSSSSHHHH!

  The windows of the building shattered to pieces.

  ‘Time for the fake me to show up,’ Andy muttered as he projected a 3-D holographic image of himself into the room where Judd was being held captive.

  Seconds later, an armed man burst through the door and charged at Andy’s hologram.

  The man swung his fist right through the middle of the fake Andy, lost his balance, and stumbled. Before he could jump back to his feet, the real Andy leapt through the broken window and kicked him in the back. He fell to the floor, hitting his head on the way down. Andy could see that he was out cold.

  Andy ripped the tape off Judd’s mouth and quickly untied him.

  ‘Dude! I saw my mum, but they swooped in and dragged her away. They caught me totally off guard,’ Judd said. ‘There’re three of them – all armed. So go take ‘em down!’

  ‘I might not be able to,’ said Andy, pointing to his injured arm. ‘Some of my powers have short-circuited. I’ve got no laser either.’

  Judd looked worried. ‘What about your super strength?’

  ‘I only have it in my legs,’ said Andy. ‘My arms feel totally weak. I’m sorry, Judd.’

  ‘Dude, don’t worry. We’ll work as a team,’ exclaimed Judd, striking an air-punch. ‘I’ll be your arms. Together we’ll be the ultimate fighter.’

  ‘I like the sound of that!’ Andy smiled, feeling for the first time on this mission that he and Judd were really working together. ‘But whatever we’re going to do we better do it quickly, ‘cause I can hear them coming!’

  ● ● ●

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  Automatic gunfire sprayed across the room as two more armed men burst through the door.

  ‘Huh?’ one of them called out. ‘Where are they?’

  Hidden behind a heavy desk in the corner of the room, Judd nodded to Andy. Andy rolled onto his back, extended his legs and catapulted the desk at the gun-men.

  WHAACCCKKKK!

  The desk knocked the gunmen off their feet and slammed them against the wall across the room.

  ‘AWWWWWWHHHH!’ they groaned.

  Andy jumped to his feet and grabbed their guns.

  And before they could recover, Judd executed two swift karate chops to their necks – and knocked them unconscious.

  ‘That’s three down, one more to go,’ Judd said. ‘LOOK OUT!’

  Andy whipped his head around to see another Blaireau thug rushing at him – but this one was wielding a large machete.

  With his depleted powers, Andy had no time to react.

  FOOOOMPP!

  He was struck hard in his wounded arm.

  ‘ARRRRGHHHHHHH! NOT AGAIN!’

  He cried out in pain as the machete made contact with the exposed wires and metal – sparking off another jolt of electrical shocks throughout his body.

  Andy fell to the ground.

  Judd charged at the attacker.

  BLOCK! PUNCH! PUNCH!

  PUNCH! KICK! BLOCK!

  As Andy tried to ride out the shocks zapping his body, he watched helplessly as Judd battled it out with his opponent. It was a full-on martial-arts showdown.

  BLOCK! WHACK! WHACK!

  BLOCK! PUNCH! PUNCH!

  ‘LOOK OUT!’ Andy cried, as the thug swiftly scooped the machete off the floor and lunged at Judd with it.

  What happened next took Andy’s breath away. He had never seen his friend so fierce, so focused, so angry before.

  With lightning speed Judd dove to the floor and executed the perfect kung-fu scissor-kick – catching the attacker off-guard and tripping him over.

  The machete flew out of the thug’s hands and he hit the ground with a bonecrunching thud.

  Judd pounced on his opponent and followed through with two sharp punches.

  WHACK! WHACK!

  And then an elbow-jab to the neck instantly rendered him unconscious.

  ‘Whoa!’ said Andy, slowly getting back up on his feet. The shocks had now stopped, but he still felt weak and shaky. ‘That was a major Blaireau butt-kickin
g. You were awesome.’

  ‘Are you okay?’ panted Judd.

  Andy shoved the twisted wires back into his arm. He grabbed the tape that had been over Judd’s mouth and wrapped it around the wound. It was a pretty sadlooking patch job.

  ‘Yeah, I think I’m all right,’ Andy sighed. ‘Mum and Dad are going to freak when they see it. Look! A multimillion-dollar

  arm totally trashed.’ But then a spine-chilling scream echoed from the woods next to the building. ‘ARRRRRGGHHHHHHH!’

  ‘THAT’S MUM!’ hollered Judd, sprinting in the direction of the cry.

  Andy chased after him. His strength and speed were entirely gone. He could hardly keep up with Judd.

  They ran through the snow and to the edge of the forest. There the boys stopped dead in their tracks.

  In front of them, a women was on her knees in the snow and a man was standing next to her, holding a gun.

  Andy recognised Judd’s mum from the video call he had recorded in Lucerne. She was looking at Judd and Andy with fear in her eyes.

  ‘Shadow X!’ gasped Judd, staring at the man holding the gun.

  It was the Blaireau thug who had followed Judd when they first got to Switzerland.

  Shadow X pushed the gun against Judd’s mum’s head. ‘Don’t mess with me or she’s dead,’ he growled.

  ‘Andy?’ Judd pleaded.

  Andy shook his head. There was nothing he could do in the condition he was in.

  Judd took two steps forward.

  ‘No, Judd!’ said his mum with tears in her eyes. ‘Just run. I love you.’

  ‘SHUT UP!’ the gunman snapped, cocking the gun. ‘Or I’ll kill you and then your son, just the way I killed your husband.’

  Without a sound, Judd suddenly bolted for Shadow X.

  Andy grabbed his friend, but he knew it was too late. He knew it was the end, that Shadow X would pull the trigger.

  But in that second a red laser beam shot from out of the forest.

  ZAAAAPPPPP!

  The laser sliced through the thug’s hand.

  ‘ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!’ he screamed, dropping the gun.

  He clutched his hand and doubled over.

  Judd’s mother jumped to her feet and kicked him hard below the belt.

  Shadow X groaned again as he stumbled backwards.

  Andy let go of Judd and he bolted towards them. Andy could only collapse into the snow and watch, all his energy gone.

  Judd pinned Shadow X down, repeatedly pummelling him. ‘You’ll pay for what you did to my dad!’ he yelled.

  ‘STOP! STOP!’ cried his mum as she struggled out of the rope tying her arms, and tried to pull him off Shadow X. ‘This isn’t what your dad would’ve wanted. You’re better than this. . .’

  Finally Judd burst into tears and stopped throwing punches. Shadow X collapsed into the snow, and Judd’s mum swiftly tied him with the rope.

  ‘It’s going to be okay,’ she said to Judd, hugging him as he cried loudly.

  Suddenly Andy heard Reggie’s voice echoing loudly in his head. ‘Hello?’ he called. ‘Can you hear me?’

  A 3-D hologram of Reggie popped up, hovering a few centimetres above Andy’s palm-screen. Reggie sighed with relief. ‘That was a close call! I’m glad everyone’s okay.’

  ‘Reggie,’ Andy said, happy to see his friend. ‘How do you know what’s happened?’

  ‘I’ve been watching you.’ Reggie grinned. ‘Look up!’

  Andy glanced up and caught sight of the hummingbird that had followed them from Lucerne.

  ‘That’s you?’ Andy said.

  ‘Yep! Meet Gryffin, my robotic hummingbird equipped with satellite navigation, video camera and, of course, seriously awesome laser eyes. I bet you’re glad you didn’t shoot me.’

  ‘It was you who blew up the chamois?’ said Andy, amazed. ‘And you just lasered Shadow X?’

  Shadow X groaned in agony.

  ‘Pretty sharp shooting, huh?’

  ‘Reggie you saved us. . .You saved us all,’ Andy muttered, still in a state of disbelief. ‘You’re a hero, Reggie. A true hero! I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘Say “thank you”, dude,’ Judd cut in, wiping away his tears. ‘You’re amazing, Reggie. I’ll never forget this. Ever.’

  Suddenly a couple of helicopters roared across the sky.

  ‘Don’t panic! They’re our guys,’ Reggie assured them. ‘They’re here to secure the area. And thanks to your undercover work last week, we’ve tracked Boris Mueller to several other agents working for the Blaireau Corporation.’

  Andy nodded. ‘I’m glad, but I just wish we’d been able to fully accomplish the mission,’ he said. ‘We were supposed to find the Blaireau headquarters.’

  Andy saw Judd’s mother smile.

  ‘You will,’ she said. ‘I’ve been forced to work for the Blaireau for over a year. There’s nothing I don’t know. With the information I have, we can shut them down forever. And I have you boys to thank for freeing me. So you’ve accomplished your mission. Great job, agents. Great job.’

  ‘And I’m pretty sure the General will get a promotion out of this,’ said Reggie. ‘So don't worry about all the trouble you were in. You two are going to be heroes. For your next mission you should put in a request for someplace a little warmer.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Judd. ‘No avalanches or blizzards, no dodgy cable cars, no exploding fighter jets or trains. And absolutely no psychotic robotic goats! What do you reckon, Andy?’

  Andy grinned. It was hard to believe that in less than a year he had gone from being a regular kid in a regular school, to this. Anything was possible now. Who knew where the next mission would be? Or the next, or the next . . .

  He laughed. ‘All I can say is, bring it on!’

  About the Author

  When I was a kid I was invincible – or so I imagined. My brother and I would combine all the powers of our favourite comic and TV superheroes and have the most epic battles in our backyard. We would zap at each other with our awesome laser fingers, run faster than a cheetah riding a Ducati (now that’s fast!), and jump over buildings (more like the swing set) in a single bound.

  With Andy Roid, I’ve been able to let my imagination play like never before. It’s been so much fun to create this series and I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it!

  Felice Arena is the bestselling author and creator of many popular and award-winning children's books, including the Specky Magee series. For more information about Felice and his books visit his website at:

  felicearena.com

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  First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2013

  Text copyright © Re
d Wolf Entertainment Pty Ltd, 2013

  Illustrations copyright © Chad McCown and Mike Shanks, 2013

  The moral right of the author and illustrators has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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  ISBN: 978-1-74253-681-1

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