Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7

by Pitt, Darrell

  ‘Ferdy has developed a plan,’ he confirmed. ‘Although, the chances of us succeeding are...’ His voice trailed off. ‘It’s probably best if Axel, Dan, and Brodie do not know the odds.’

  ‘I can live with that.’ I settled into the Captain’s chair. ‘Let’s have it.’

  Ferdy explained his plan. By the time he finished speaking, my jaw was hanging open.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ I said.

  But he wasn’t.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chad awoke to see the early light of day streaming into the window of the tiny cell. He was surprised he had slept. At some time during the night, he had nodded off with Ebony leaning against him.

  He felt momentarily ashamed when he thought about the previous night. He had cried, and that wasn’t like him.

  Still, he thought. There was nothing wrong with that.

  Real men cry.

  Gently extricating himself from Ebony, he went to the barred windows and looked out. The sky had the same strange purple tinge to it, but now he could make out a scarlet lining to one of the clouds.

  A beautiful day on Tagaar, he thought. Too bad we’re going to die.

  He pulled at the collar. If only he could get this thing off, he’d have a chance at fighting back. While wearing it, he stood no chance at all. Footsteps hammered down the corridor. The door swung open, and a team of Tagaar warriors stormed in. Before Chad or the others could react, they were pulled to their feet and dragged into the corridor. Brantaar was waiting outside.

  ‘Time to die,’ he said, laughing.

  Ebony broke free and slapped him across the face. An instant later, she dropped to the ground as the collar was activated.

  ‘No!’ Chad yelled.

  The guards held him still as Ebony writhed on the floor. Finally, the collar was deactivated, and she stood.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she told Chad. ‘I just wanted to go down fighting.’

  Surrounded by the guards, they were marched down the corridor. Reaching a set of stairs, they were forced down them to a darkened passageway the size of a railway tunnel.

  Chad stared resolutely ahead as they were marched along it.

  This is it, he thought. The end.

  He should have felt afraid, but the fear was gone. It had been replaced by anger. He was angry that they hadn’t succeeded in their mission. He was angry that the Earth was going to be destroyed. He was angry that he wouldn’t get to see Axel and the others. The thought brought tears to his eyes again.

  Axel. Dan. Brodie. Ferdy.

  My family.

  He forced down the emotion.

  ‘We were expecting a good crowd,’ Brantaar said. ‘Everyone knows that Earthlings are responsible for extinguishing the Magarath star and the destruction of Shogarth’s body. They would tear you limb from limb, given a chance.’

  ‘You said were expecting a good crowd,’ Quinn said.

  Brantaar’s face clouded over. ‘An illness has kept many Tagaar from leaving their homes,’ he said. ‘It will pass.’

  Chad glanced at Ebony.

  Illness? he thought. What kind of illness would keep a Tagaar at home?

  Quinn spoke up. ‘Why don’t you take these collars off and make it a fair fight?’ she asked.

  Brantaar laughed. ‘I admire your courage,’ he said. ‘An enemy should die well.’

  Mister Okada spoke up. ‘The Tagaar will fall,’ he said. ‘All tyrants eventually do.’

  ‘That is where you are mistaken,’ Brantaar said as they marched down the tunnel. ‘We are not tyrants. The natural order of things is that the strong dominate the weak. You Bakari never realized this: you could have ruled the universe. Instead, you have been crushed by it.’

  An eerie sound started reverberating down the tunnel. It sounded like the crashing of waves. Then Chad realized it was the roar of a crowd. The sound grew louder as they approached the bright spot at the end. They stepped out into the arena, and thousands of people rose to their feet. Chad swallowed. This mystery illness may have kept a lot of people at home, but many more had made the journey to see them die.

  Some had brought rotten fruit and rocks. A hail of these started to rain down upon them. Others screamed hatred.

  Chad looked up. The ceiling was solid. Guards blocked the exits. More than a dozen guards aimed guns at them as they were led to a section of the arena where metal stakes were set into the ground. Chad glanced across at Ebony. She was pale, but her chin was resolute. Mister Okada held his head up. Quinn looked close to tears but clenched her jaw.

  Their hands were handcuffed behind their backs. Chad considered fighting the guards off, but there seemed little point. It would only prolong the inevitable.

  A line of armed Tagaar warriors entered the Arena.

  What did Brantaar say? Chad thought. That’s right—time to die.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  ‘They’re in the Arena,’ Brodie said, listening to the communications channel. ‘The guards are entering.’

  ‘Is everyone ready?’ I asked from my position at the airlock door.

  ‘Ready,’ Dan said, his voice cracking over the communications line. ‘As ready as I’ll ever be.’

  ‘Ferdy is ready,’ Ferdy said. ‘Although you should be reminded that one tiny miscalculation will mean the complete destruction of Liber8tor and all our deaths. As some of the calculations are estimates—’

  ‘—we’re probably about to die,’ I finished. Swallowing, I tried to think of something brave to say, but nothing came. ‘Thanks, everyone. Just in case.’

  ‘It’s been an amazing trip,’ Brodie agreed.

  ‘Ditto,’ Dan added.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ I said, gripping the handle of the door. ‘Dan, initiate FTL drive—now!’

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The guards took their positions twenty feet away from where Chad and the others were secured. The Tagaar warriors checked their weapons.

  Brantaar nodded to Chad and the others. ‘Do you have any final words?’ he asked.

  Quinn raised her head. ‘I do,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry...’

  ‘You’re sorry?’ Brantaar frowned.

  ‘I’m sorry...you’re all such a bunch of pathetic losers.’

  Fury filled Brantaar’s eyes. He turned to soldiers and raised his arm.

  Chad turned to Ebony. ‘Sis,’ he said. ‘I should have said this before—’

  ‘I know,’ she cut him off. ‘I love you, too.’

  The firing squad raised their weapons.

  Chad felt the hair rise on the back of his neck.

  The air exploded.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Liber8tor’s engines surged—and I was flung sideways into the bulkhead. My head slammed into the metal, and my vision blurred.

  We didn’t make it, I thought. We’re dead!

  Then—

  ‘We’re here!’ Brodie shrieked.

  I threw open the door and leaped into the arena.

  The hardest thing, of course, had been the calculation. Dan and Ferdy had spent hours working out the numbers, and then checking and rechecking them. One number out of place—one decimal point in the wrong position—and we would have materialized in solid rock. Or somewhere in space. Or inside a star. There was no room for error.

  Instead, we had materialized in the arena only a few feet away from our friends.

  Dan’s voice came over my comm bracelet. ‘Ferdy!’ he screamed. ‘Fire all weapons! Fire everything!’

  An instant later, Liber8tor unleashed a volley of weapons into the firing squad, the stands, the guards, and the roof. This last shot created a massive crack in the dome.

  That’s our way out, I thought. Providing we last that long.

  Firing a dozen cannonballs of air into the crowd, I flew over to Chad.

  ‘Boy!’ he exclaimed. ‘Am I pleased to see you!’

  ‘We’ll talk later!’ I said.

  Using my powers, I expanded the gaps in the collars and
had him and the others free in seconds. We started back towards the ship. Some of the guards had already recovered and were firing volleys at us. Chad threw up an ice wall on one side as Ebony created a metal wall on the other side to give us cover.

  ‘Run!’ I yelled.

  We raced back towards Liber8tor. Dan and Brodie were still shooting, but we had to leave—and fast! We scrambled aboard the ship and raced to the bridge.

  ‘Take off!’ I yelled. ‘Go!’

  Liber8tor lifted off.

  Ka-boom!

  The vessel jolted sideways, and we were thrown to the floor.

  ‘One of our engines just took a direct hit!’ Dan yelled. ‘I can’t get full thrust!’

  ‘Follow the plan!’ I said, dragging myself into the captain’s chair.

  ‘There’s a plan?’ Chad said, grabbing the nearest seat.

  ‘There’s always a plan,’ Brodie responded.

  As the ship lurched for the roof, Ebony glanced about. ‘We’re back together,’ she said. ‘The gang’s back together.’

  I exchanged glances with Chad. We smiled. Ebony was right. The whole gang was back together. How long we’d survive was anyone’s guess.

  Chad peered up at the approaching roof. ‘Looks like we’re going to die together too if we’re not careful,’ he said.

  ‘You need to be more of an optimist,’ Dan said.

  ‘All right. I’m optimistic about our chances of dying.’

  Without answering, Dan fired Liber8tor’s weapons at the roof.

  Crash!

  Part of it fell away, and early morning light spilled into the arena. Seconds later, we were outside and soaring over the city.

  ‘Engage the FTL drive,’ I said.

  ‘That is not possible, friend Axel,’ Ferdy said. ‘The FTL drive is offline. Repairs will take over an hour to complete.’

  I thudded my fist on the armrest of the seat. We weren’t going anywhere fast without FTL drive.

  ‘Tagaar attack ships are headed towards us!’ Dan yelled.

  ‘How many?’

  He paused, then shot me a sideways look. ‘Twelve,’ he said.

  Twelve? We couldn’t take on twelve ships. We could barely survive a battle with one.

  ‘Can you get us out of the atmosphere?’ I asked.

  ‘I can try, but what then?’

  I swallowed. Dan had a point. We were surrounded by thousands of Tagaar ships. Getting off the planet was just the first hurdle. Without FTL drive, there was no fast way out of here.

  I turned to the others. ‘Ideas?’ I said. ‘Can anyone think of a way out?’

  We looked at each other in silence.

  ‘Ferdy has an idea,’ Ferdy said.

  ‘What is it?’ Mister Okada asked.

  ‘Ferdy’s friends will have to trust him that this is the best—and probably the only course of action—that will ensure our survival.’

  ‘We do trust you,’ Brodie said.

  ‘What’s your idea?’ I asked.

  ‘There is no time to explain. Ferdy is entering coordinates into the Liber8tor computer,’ Ferdy said. ‘Friend Dan, we must go there immediately.’

  ‘I’m on it,’ Dan said.

  He applied power to the engines. A shot came across our bow. Then another struck the side of the ship. Brodie fired back.

  ‘Where are we headed?’ Chad asked.

  Quinn had been looking down at one of the displays. ‘It’s an experimental lab,’ she said. ‘About a mile away.’

  The ship shook again. Dan took us down into a canyon between two rows of buildings. One ship was pursuing us. Then another. Soon, three ships were firing at Liber8tor, and the ship was bouncing around like a cork in a stream.

  We can’t take much more of this.

  Something exploded deep within the body of the ship.

  ‘The hull has breached on the lower deck,’ Mister Okada said. ‘There’s a fire.’

  Another ship appeared ahead of us. ‘Watch out!’ I yelled.

  Dan took us into a dive. One of the consoles exploded as fire erupted from one of the walls. Chad used his power to put it out. Another explosion came from beneath us, and the ship lurched to one side.

  ‘I’m losing helm control!’ Dan yelled.

  ‘Dan,’ Ferdy said. ‘The building is below us. Do you see it?’

  ‘Yes! How do we get in?’

  ‘Ferdy suggests a direct path through the ceiling.’

  Liber8tor went into a steep dive. I stared in horror at the building below us—a black hexagonal structure with spires at the corners. Dan fired at the roof.

  ‘This’ll be close!’ he yelled. ‘Hang on!’

  One second we were aimed at the hole—the next we were through it and inside the building. I let out a sigh of relief as I saw a cavern sized interior with ships scattered around the sides.

  ‘Dan must aim for the silver vessel on the far side,’ Ferdy said.

  I caught a glimpse of a silver ship that looked remarkably like a military helicopter without the rotor blades. It looked like it could hold ten people at most.

  ‘What’s the plan?’ I asked Ferdy.

  The ship lurched again before he could reply.

  ‘I’ve lost helm control!’ Dan screamed. ‘We’re going to crash!’

  The floor rose up to meet us.

  Then—darkness.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  ‘Axel?’

  The voice seemed to come from nowhere. Groaning, I opened my eyes to see Brodie looking down at me.

  ‘Wake up,’ she said. ‘We’ve got trouble.’

  ‘Where...what...’

  Then it all came back. I staggered to my feet to see complete devastation all around. Part of the bridge had caved in. I could see the building outside through a hole in the wall. Ebony and the others were standing over someone on the floor. Tears were streaming down Ebony’s face. It looked like—

  No.

  Oh no.

  ‘Chad?’ I scrambled to him. ‘Chad!’

  He lay on his back, blood seeping from his mouth. Part of Liber8tor’s bulkhead had crushed the lower half of his body. Dan used his powers to ease the shattered metal away from him. Ebony fell weeping as we knelt beside him.

  ‘Chad,’ I said. ‘Can you hear me?’

  He was staring into space. At first, I thought he was already gone, but then his eyes shifted.

  ‘Axel? Buddy?’ he said, his voice coarse and low. ‘Did we...did we get away?’

  I shot a warning look to the others. ‘We did,’ I said. ‘We’re heading home.’

  ‘Home,’ he murmured, his eyes shifting to Ebony. ‘We’re heading home, sis. How’s that? We’re heading...’

  His eyes froze.

  I could have stayed there forever, staring at Chad’s face for an eternity, but then Mister Okada’s voice cut through my grief.

  ‘What did you say?’ I said.

  ‘He can still be saved,’ Mister Okada said, ‘but first we must get out of here.’

  He can be saved?

  ‘What?’ I said. ‘What do you mean?’

  There was an explosion from outside, shaking what remained of our ship.

  ‘We must go,’ Mister Okada said. ‘Now!’

  ‘Go where?’ I asked. ‘There’s nowhere to go!’

  ‘Friend Axel.’ Ferdy’s voice was so distorted that I could barely recognize him. ‘The crew must evacuate to H-35.’

  ‘H-35?’

  ‘The experimental ship beside Liber8tor.’

  There was no time to think. No time for discussion. No time for debates. Brodie picked up Chad’s body, and we scrambled from the ship as a Tagaar fighter ship landed nearby.

  ‘Faster!’ Mister Okada urged us. ‘They’re almost upon us.’

  I glanced back at Liber8tor. It was done. Finished. Kaput. The real miracle was that anyone had survived the crash. Our survival had likely been a combination of Dan’s piloting and dumb luck.

  The silver ship lay ahead of us. As we appro
ached, a door opened in its side as if by magic.

  ‘How—’ I started, but then Brodie elbowed me into the craft. In the front were two seats for the pilots. Half a dozen seats were in the main section. There appeared to be a tiny galley in the back.

  Then I remembered—

  ‘Ferdy!’ I said. ‘We can’t leave Ferdy behind!’

  ‘You have not.’ Ferdy’s voice came from all around us. ‘Ferdy has transferred his consciousness to this vessel. Dan will find the flying controls are almost identical to Liber8tor.’

  The door slid shut behind us—and not a moment too soon. I heard the blast of laser fire behind us. Dan got into the pilot’s seat with Brodie beside him. His eyes scanned the controls.

  ‘Ferdy’s right,’ he said. ‘I can fly this.’

  He activated the engines as more firing came from outside the ship. The front window of the vessel looked out onto the lab. A ship landed opposite us. It was so close I could see the crew readying the weapons.

  They fired—

  —and the blast rebounded off the window.

  ‘The windows of this ship were enabled with blast-resistant technology,’ Ferdy said.

  ‘Thanks for mentioning that,’ I said.

  We took off untidily. ‘This ship is way more maneuverable than Liber8tor,’ Dan said. ‘It’s more like a fighter ship.’

  ‘This vessel is an experimental craft,’ Ferdy explained. ‘Only one exists.’ He paused. ‘Scientists in the Tagaar lab are attempting to override the controls, but Ferdy is locking them out through a series of algorithms. We have control of the vessel.’

  As Dan flew up towards the hole we had created in the roof, I glanced back into the main cabin. Quinn, Ebony, and Mister Okada were grouped around Chad’s lifeless body. Everything had happened so fast that only now did I remember Mister Okada’s words.

  He can be saved.

  ‘Can you bring him back?’ I asked Mister Okada.

  The Bakari leaned over Chad and placed his hands on his chest. A golden glow spread from him to Chad. At first, it was centered in his torso, but then it spread to his arms and legs. Soon his body was enveloped in light. It was like looking at the sun. Slowly, the yellow glare faded, and I saw that Chad’s clothing was still ripped, but now the wounds in his legs were healed. His crushed chest had now risen and was moving with a gentle rhythm. The color in his cheeks returned as his eyes fluttered open.