We reached our apartment, and then everything went black.
Sometime later, I awoke to hear Chad and Brodie arguing.
‘—should be in a hospital,’ Brodie was saying.
‘That would only draw attention to us. That’s the last thing—’
I passed out again.
The next time I awoke, I realized I wasn’t wearing a shirt. Ebony was at my side. None of it made any sense. Then I saw the needle and thread in her hand.
Where am I? What’s happening?
I struggled. None of it made any sense. I fought her off, but then Brodie appeared. She held me down, and I didn’t resist.
I trust Brodie.
Darkness came again.
Sun was on my face when I next opened my eyes. My entire body was in pain, but the delirium was gone. Rolling out of bed, I somehow landed on my feet. Chad appeared from nowhere.
He slapped my shoulder. ‘How’re you feeling, old man?’
Chad still had that same annoying cheeky expression on his face. I had a feeling I could really grow to hate that look.
‘I feel great,’ I lied. ‘Really great.’
‘You guys have got a fantastic set up,’ he said, ignoring, or not noticing, my sarcasm. ‘Penthouse apartment. Room service. Views of the city.’ He gave a whistle. ‘Talk about living in the lap of luxury.’
I didn’t care about luxury. The woozy, sick feeling from the previous day was gone, but my side still hurt. I examined the wound. It wasn’t bad. In fact, it had almost healed. Rapid recovery must have been one of our abilities.
‘I’m glad you like it,’ I said. ‘Who stitched me up?’
‘Ebony. She’s my sister. I think.’
‘She probably is. She looks like you.’ As well as their blonde hair, they both had blue eyes.
‘I’m pretty sure we’re Norwegian. We can both remember fjords—’
‘What are they?’
‘Bodies of deep water surrounded by steep hills,’ he explained. ‘And we speak four languages: Norwegian, German, French and English.’
‘That’s a pretty strange superpower.’
He frowned. ‘That’s not a superpower. Most Europeans speak several languages.’ He plopped himself into a nearby chair. ‘You missed our biographies last night, so let me fill you in.’
Both Chad and Ebony had found themselves lying on the beach a few miles out of the city. Like us, they had no idea as to their identities until they checked their clothing. They quickly assumed they were brother and sister. Entirely by accident, they realized they had powers. Chad felt cold and wanted to warm up.
Bad move.
The next thing he knew, a local boatshed was alight. Realizing he’d somehow caused it to burst into flames, he just as quickly put it out with a shower of snow.
For Ebony, it took a little longer to work out her ability. Ebony thought she didn’t have one until she realized she was thirsty and wanted a glass of water.
‘One minute we were sitting on a park bench,’ Chad recalled. ‘Then we were sitting in a puddle of water.’
They realized Ebony was able to transmute objects from one substance to another. Knowing they had superpowers, they decided not to go to the police. Chad was worried they might be thrown into a lab and used for experiments.
As luck would have it, that almost happened anyway.
They were hiding in an abandoned factory when Ravana’s men attacked them. Chad tried to fight them off, but they were hit with that device that robbed them of their powers. Ravana’s men followed up with hypodermic needles that knocked them out. By the time they woke up, they were in the cell in Ravana’s building. So began days of pain. Installed into the walls of the cell were emitters that created a dampening effect on their powers. Doctor Ravana called it a zeno ray. He and his men would conduct interrogation sessions using one of those probes.
The thought of it made me sick.
‘I wanted to kill Ravana,’ Chad said, clenching his fists. ‘He deserves to die for what he did to us!’
It was hard to argue with him. Ravana was the sort of monster you wanted to see put in jail, and the key tossed away. Still—
‘A lot of people probably deserve to die,’ I told Chad. ‘But that’s not our call.’
He looked like he wanted to argue but held his tongue. ‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘It looks like Ravana is permanently out of the equation now.’
I remembered the burning figure on the building. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ravana didn’t turn up again. Some kinds of evil take a lot to kill.
Brodie poked her head in through the door. ‘Are you boys still comparing your muscles?’ she asked. ‘Or are you ready for breakfast?’
My stomach growled in response. ‘Show me the food,’ I said.
Ten minutes later, we were grouped around the breakfast nook, eating pancakes and bacon.
‘Ah,’ Dan said, happily. ‘The perfect combination of fat and sugar.’
I smiled. Pancakes and bacon didn’t fit any of the recommended food groups. Still, they were perfect when recovering from bullet wounds and sadistic maniacs.
A knock came at the door.
‘Did you order more room service?’ I asked Dan.
‘No.’
Worried, I insisted on answering. I wasn’t in the best shape, but at least I could protect myself with a barrier if someone started shooting. Easing the door open, I looked out at a man who was tall and thin and wore a dark suit. His hair was black, cut short at the sides, and he had a thin mustache.
At least he didn’t want to shoot me.
Not yet, anyway.
‘Mind if I come in?’ he asked.
Before I could answer, he stepped past and strode into the apartment. Everyone stared at him as he gazed from face to face.
‘I’m Mister Jones,’ he said. ‘I’m with The Agency.’
Chapter Nineteen
‘May I sit down?’ he asked.
Seeing as how he didn’t mind turning up out of the blue, it seemed nice that he asked for a chair. I pointed him to one as everyone stared at him in amazement. Brodie had her mouth wide open. Dan froze with a forkful of food in hand. Ebony had eyes like saucers and Chad—
Well, it didn’t seem like anything ever impressed him. He simply raised an eyebrow and shot me a look before glaring at Jones.
‘This is a nice pad you’ve got here,’ Jones said, peering about as he sat. ‘Who picked the apartment?’
Dan held up the fork. A piece of pancake slid onto the floor.
‘You’ve got class, kid,’ he said.
‘Thanks.’
‘Enough of this bull!’ Chad snapped. ‘Who are you? And what are you doing here?’
Chad looked so angry even I felt worried. I remembered the burst of fire that had engulfed Ravana back at the building. Jones, however, regarded him with little more than mild curiosity. He looked him up and down before clasping his hands together.
‘Chad,’ he said, sighing. ‘It’s been a while.’
I stared.
He knows Chad’s name.
‘Okay,’ Brodie said. ‘What’s going on? Who are you, and how did you find us?’
Jones nodded. ‘You deserve answers,’ he said. ‘Especially after everything you’ve been through. Some I can provide and others might forever remain a mystery. First of all—’
‘Our names,’ I interrupted. ‘What are our names? Our full names.’
He smiled sadly. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t have that information,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure anyone does.’
‘And what happened to our memories?’ Dan asked. ‘Why can’t we remember our identities?’
Mister Jones held up a hand. ‘Let me explain how you came to be here. That should answer most of your questions.’
‘Go ahead,’ I said.
He took a deep breath. ‘You’re part of something known as The Alpha Project,’ he said. ‘The name has several meanings. Alpha is the first of its kind. Alpha is also short for alphabet. Your na
mes—your chosen names—are derived from the alphabet.’
Okay. He’d already lost me. ‘What do you mean?’
He counted on his fingers. ‘Axel, Brodie, Chad, Dan, and Ebony.’ He paused. ‘Do you notice anything? Your names are—’
‘The first five letters of the alphabet,’ I said. ‘A, B, C, D and E.’
We digested this.
‘The Alpha Project,’ Jones continued, ‘is one of the many scientific endeavors carried out by The Agency. The scientists who created it assembled a group of orphaned children to create a new form of modified human.’
Dan spoke. ‘And The Agency is…’
Jones sighed. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Brace yourselves. I’m about to tell you some things that will completely change your whole view of the world.’
Well, I thought. It’s already been a weird couple of days. Why not have our entire worldview shifted as well?
‘Sure,’ Brodie said.
He studied our faces one by one. ‘Okay. Here it is.’ He paused. ‘Aliens are here on Earth. They’re called the Bakari, and they’ve been on Earth for thousands of years. The Agency was started by the Bakari to monitor and guide our activities.’
No one said anything.
Mister Jones continued. ‘One day we’re joining the galactic club,’ he said, motioning upwards. ‘We’ll be a fully-fledged member of everything that’s out there. Spaceships. Intergalactic travel. Until then, they’re helping us develop technologies to get ready for that day.’
Still, everyone was silent.
‘Mostly, The Bakari leave us to our own affairs. They don’t want to interfere with our internal politics, but nor do they want us to destroy ourselves.’ Mister Jones rubbed his chin. ‘That would be a waste. They want us to help ourselves, which is why you were modified. Your job is to help make the world a better place.’ Mister Jones stopped. ‘Does anyone have any questions?’
‘I do,’ Chad said. ‘Is there any leftover pizza from last night?’
I ignored him. ‘How come no one’s ever heard of The Agency?’ I asked. ‘How could something like this be kept a secret?’
‘We have our methods,’ Mister Jones said, mysteriously. ‘The Bakari help us along the way, but mostly they like to observe. They don’t want to interfere.’
‘But the Bakari—The Agency—are happy to use teenagers for experiments,’ Chad said.
‘Orphaned teenagers,’ Brodie said.
I could understand her dismay. The same thought had already been going through my mind. I’d eventually expected to find my parents. Maybe even brothers and sisters. Now it looked like none existed.
‘You were all chosen because your parents had died or abandoned you,’ Jones said. ‘Some of you were in orphanages. Some were in juvenile prisons. You all signed paperwork consenting to the procedure. We used teenagers because your bodies are still growing. Adult tissue, as the scientists have found, does not work. Adult test subjects do not survive.’
Brodie laughed without humor. ‘We signed paperwork?’ she said. ‘But we have no memory of doing that. How convenient.’
‘I assure you we explained the process in full,’ he said. ‘I’m told you were all most enthusiastic. And why not? You were promised powers far beyond those that any human has ever possessed.’
‘You made us…superheroes,’ Dan said slowly as if trying to assimilate this one piece at a time. ‘And there are aliens on Earth. Do they have two heads? Are they grays like in the movies?’
‘They look just like you and me,’ Mister Jones assured him. ‘Identical.’
‘And you operated on us…’ Ebony said.
‘The scientists in charge of The Alpha Project made you superheroes,’ he said. ‘The combination of drugs and implants react naturally with your own latent genetic abilities.’ He looked at Brodie. ‘You were naturally fast and lithe, so you became even more so. Axel rated highly in terms of psychic abilities. So did Dan and Chad.’
‘But I can make fire and ice,’ Chad protested. ‘And Ebony can transmute substances. What sort of latent genetic abilities are those?’
‘Those are abilities that have been long lost and forgotten,’ Jones said. ‘Some of our ancestors had these abilities millennia ago, but these genes were dispersed throughout the gene pool. The Alpha Project reactivated those genetic markers.’
I shook my head. This was too much. Too crazy. It meant I had no family. My name was stolen from me. I’d agreed to become some kind of…superhero. It means every human being also had latent abilities.
There were aliens on Earth.
Aliens.
‘I ended up in a seedy hotel room?’ I said. ‘What went wrong?’
‘Our security went wrong,’ Jones said grimly. ‘An organization known as Typhoid infiltrated The Agency intending to kill you all. You would have died, but a group of scientists, led by a man named Doctor Richards, removed you from the facility to save your lives.
‘They were uncertain as to whom they could trust, so they planned to reassemble once the crisis had passed at The Agency. Unfortunately, Typhoid was ahead of us and ambushed the scientists at a meeting. Most of them were killed.’
‘Was that Doctor Richards in the hotel room?’ I asked. ‘He died shortly after I awoke.’
‘We believe he survived the attack and returned to the hotel.’
Chad frowned. ‘We were abandoned in places all over the city with no memories and no one to turn to,’ he said. ‘That’s not much of a save.’
‘It was better than certain death,’ Jones pointed out. ‘I’m sure you prefer their poor solution to no solution at all.’
I thought back to the man in the hotel room. It seemed so long ago. Like it had happened to a different person. I almost asked Mister Jones about the meaning of the book and the strange device we found inside it, except I remembered Richards’ words.
Trust no one.
Some…at The Agency…will help you.
That might not necessarily include Mister Jones. Or maybe it did. Regardless, the best way to handle this was quietly. Dan had some psychic abilities. Perhaps they’d help us later to work out who we could trust.
‘So, what happens now?’ I asked.
‘That’s a good question. It’s taken us some time to track you down. Now you have to complete your training.’
‘Really?’ Chad said, giving him a mocking grin. ‘I like things exactly how they are.’
Jones did a pretty good job of maintaining his cool. It was apparent that Chad’s superpowers also included annoying people to the point where they wanted to punch him in the face. I agreed with Chad—and I still wanted to punch him in the face.
‘You all signed waivers,’ Mister Jones said. ‘You belong to us whether you like it or not.’
‘I belong to me,’ Chad said.
‘We don’t want to force you back,’ Jones said. ‘Twelve, in particular, wants you back to assist with a mission.’
‘Twelve—what?’ Brodie said.
‘He’s known as Twelve,’ Mister Jones explained. ‘He’s—’
‘Don’t tell me,’ Chad said. ‘He’s an alien.’
‘Correct. Anyway, we don’t want to force you back—’
‘I’d like to see you try.’
‘I hope it won’t come to that.’ The agented looked ready to try a different tact when a knock came at the door. Dan went to answer it.
‘Must be the ice cream I ordered,’ he said.
‘You ordered ice cream for breakfast?’ I said.
‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘You know the old saying: eat, drink and eat ice-cream for tomorrow we die?’
Brodie shook her head. ‘I don’t think it quite goes like that.’
Dan opened the door. One of the serving carts was waiting outside. The attendant had already gone. As Dan wheeled it in, I thought it weird that room service had abandoned the cartload of food. It seemed so unlike—
Daniel lifted the serving cover, and I saw a maze of wiring.
N
o!
The cart exploded.
Chapter Twenty
I got my shield up in time, but it was instinct rather than a skill that saved us. Even then, it wasn’t perfect. There was a burst of light from the cart. The blast radiated outwards. I went flying.
Then unconsciousness followed. Maybe it was only a few seconds, but it seemed longer. The next thing I knew, Mister Jones was helping me to my feet. He said something, but I was too woozy to make it out.
‘Whassat?’ I asked.
‘You saved us, kid,’ he said. ‘All of us.’
‘Don’t call me kid,’ I told him. ‘My name’s Axel.’
Although it could be Frank or Joe or Bill or anything, really.
Who knew?
‘Axel.’ He gripped my shoulder. ‘Thank you.’
I looked around and only now appreciated the level of devastation. Whatever was packed into that cart was designed to blow us to kingdom come. Windows. Walls. Carpets. Everything is black and smoking or blasted into nothing. Most of the penthouse apartment is now open to the elements.
Chad was helping his sister up. Brodie was walking around, looking dazed. Dan—poor Dan—was picking himself up off the floor. Gripped tightly in his hand was the handle of the food cover. Attached to the handle was six inches of the cover. Where the food cart was is a hole in the floor.
If I hadn’t put up my shield…
I didn’t even want to think about it.
‘Are you responsible for this?’ Chad snapped, turning on Mister Jones. ‘Did you try to kill us?’
Jones shook his head in disbelief. ‘You don’t get it, do you?’ he said, now looking angry. ‘I’m here to help you. This was Ravana and his group. They’re going to keep on trying to kill you until they succeed. There’s only one way for you to survive this.’
‘And how’s that?’ Brodie asked.
‘You need to come with me,’ Jones said. ‘You need to get trained so you can fight Typhoid.’
‘And if we don’t?’ Ebony asked.
As far as I could remember, this was the first time she’d spoken. She appeared shaken from the explosion, but not weakened. I suspect that somewhere beneath that quiet exterior was a strong character waiting to emerge.
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 7