Trainee Superhero (Book Three) (5 page)

A pyramid flies towards us, spinning wildly.
I’ve heard of these: they get close and then explode.

“Get behind me,” I say.

Tenchi moves beside me with his sword in
front of him, but I push him back as the pyramid explodes into orbs
of plasma. I spread my arms and close my eyes as the orbs burst
against my green shields. There’s a second when I think I’m done
for, but then the plasma fades away and I’m still alive. My shields
say 67%. A pair of winged snakes whips through the air towards us,
but I melt them with ease.

We launch ourselves into a frantic dogfight,
chasing and being chased through the mess of tentacles and spires
on the creature's belly. We are both slow in the air, but anything
that gets close is cut clean in two by Tenchi’s giant sword or
blasted by my color cannon.

“This is madness!” he yells at me as I take a
pair of screamers out with my multiblasters.

A third screamer lands on my helmet and tries
to pull my head right off. I hit it with my color cannon, but
something strong grabs my leg. I feel heat, and then whatever it
was is gone.

One Trick
flies past and waves to me.
Her head is on fire, and blasts of red shoot out, melting
everything they touch. She must have had her powers upgraded. She
joins up with
Never Lies
who is punishing everything that
gets too close to her.
One Trick
keeps the sky around
Never Lies
clear and
Never Lies
smashes the larger
enemies with accurate blasts from her cannons. The two of them are
doing a lot better than Tenchi and I, so we fly over to join
them.

Only
Extremely Dangerous
fights alone.
He’s floating in the air with his arms outstretched. Long thin
lines of grey lead from his fingers to each of the aliens around
him, and he makes them dance like puppets. He gathers the biggest
aliens to him, and when he tires of playing with them they simply
fall over and are replaced by new creatures. He’s keeping the most
dangerous aliens off our back, so I suppose I should be grateful,
but at the same time it seems he could be doing so much more.

I don’t know why he doesn’t; that guy is
weird.

The rest of my team shelters behind my
shields as we try to figure out a plan. Missiles and plasma pop
against my body, but I’m safe enough, the magnificent human
shield.

Never Lies
blows a hole right through
a triclops as it approaches, and I drop a mutton-head with a blast
of my color cannon. We are killing aliens by the hundreds, but they
just keep coming.

“So is every mission like this?” Tenchi
asks.

“Pretty much,” answers
One Trick
,
“except normally we have to fight in the dark as well.”

“Ha,” says Tenchi uncertainly. I hope he
realizes she’s joking.

“Quiet,” orders
Never Lies
, “we need
to collect the others and head upwards. We aren’t doing much good
here.”

She’s right. We might be building up the
world’s most impressive body count of aliens ever seen, but we
haven’t even managed to slow the titan as it walks up the
beach.

A squadron of enormous spheres circle us,
giant floating eyes with plasma cannons for irises and long metal
tentacles as eyelashes.

One blasts Tenchi out of the air, pushing him
out of our little circle. He hits the ground and rolls, and the
eyeballs swamp him. He cuts out as fast as he can, dropping a few
and cutting through tentacles, but two get behind him and squeeze
their long tentacles around his neck. I blast one away; three more
take its place. It only takes seconds before Tenchi disappears from
sight under a pile of wicked tentacles.

“
Dangerous
! Help him!” orders
Never
Lies
.

Extremely Dangerous
ignores her and
continues playing with creatures around him, making them either
dance or fight with each other for his amusement.

“
Simon Smith
!” I scream.

“Yes,” he says, and waves his hand at
Tenchi.

The aliens attacking Tenchi slow right down
to a halt, their tentacles pausing in mid-air. Their bodies fall
limp, and I help pull them off him. He looks a bit shaken, and I
don’t blame him. I grab him and fly over to
Extremely
Dangerous
.

“
Simon Smith
,” I say, “can you stop
these things long enough for us to head upwards?”

“Of course,” he says, and floats away.

I grab Tenchi and fly towards our team.
Bad Day
and
One Trick
provide us some cover as Tenchi
charges his shields.

Never Lies
grabs me and points at
Simon Smith
who is spinning around below us.

“What is
Extremely Dangerous
doing?”
she demands, “we need to get out of here.”

“Call him
Simon Smith
,” I say.

“Why? That’s not his codename.”

“You are here because you never lie. Simon
Smith is here because he wants people to know his name. Call him
Simon Smith
.”

She stares at me.

“This is really not the… whatever.
Simon
Smith
, we need you!”

Simon Smith
starts to glow. A single
pulse of grey energy bursts from his body and burns through the
waves of aliens approaching us. Every alien except the titan falls
out of the sky, and we all breathe a sigh of relief. There’s no
immediate risk, and we take a moment to relax and check our
shields. Everyone seems okay.

“I can’t believe I never thought of trying
that,”
Never Lies
says.

“I have my moments,” I say.

“Moment,” corrects Tenchi, and I hear a few
snickers.

“Moments,” I say, “definitely more than
one.”

Simon Smith
flies up to join us, and
we slap him on the back and congratulate him. From the genuine
smile he gives us, I wonder if this is the first time anyone has
ever been glad to see him.

“We’ll call you whatever you like if you keep
doing stuff like that!”
One Trick
says.

“Call me
Simon Smith
.”

The ground below us is scattered with alien
carcasses. There must be hundreds of them, thousands even, but the
beast doesn’t care. It keeps moving, occasionally stepping on the
broken bodies of its own alien allies. More creatures drop out its
belly.

“We should try to attack the head; if we get
close enough it won’t launch missiles at us for fear of hitting
itself,” I say.

“Yes. Everyone spread out. We need to move
fast and hit hard. We will go up past the second and third legs on
the left. Set?” says
Never Lies
.

“Set,” we say as one.

We fly in a clump, our eyes open and our
weapons pointing outwards. The creature lurches forward on its
enormous legs, each step taking it out of the water and onto land.
We find a joint and start attacking it, but the leg is protected by
dozens of towers and huge armored plates.

“I can’t even make a dent in this thing,” I
say at last.

“We need to go upwards,” agrees
Never
Lies
, “follow me!”

An octo-ape flies towards us, but
Never
Lies
takes it out with one shot. We fly up and towards the
creature’s massive head.

“Incoming!” I yell.

A pair of winged creatures flies at us, but
Never Lies
and I bring them down. They’re followed by a
series of cube tanks and sphere bombers that blast us hard. We make
it to the creature’s head just as a fireball falls out of the sky
and hits right near me. The fireball lands on the metal and keeps
burning through the scales.

It’s about time
Dark Fire
showed
up.

Small Talk
is next to arrive, and gets
to work ripping up turrets and binding them to himself until he is
a ball of guns that blast everything out of the sky. His efforts
buy us safety from above as more parachutes appear in the sky.

“What is that guy even doing?” says Tenchi in
amazement.

The whole team is landing on the creature’s
back, and for the first time every member of the
Cerberus
Brawlers
focus their energies on one single target.

We work with fire bombs and ice blades,
lasers and plasma cannons, axes and spears, pulsing swords and
gravmaces. There are waves of energy in every color flying through
the air, the hummings and screaming of sonic weapons and the
occasionally dull explosion as we tear this creature down. Even
Simon Smith
gets involved, casually ripping whole scales off
the beast’s back and throwing them aside as if they were nothing.
The metal next to me explodes, and my shield alarm starts ringing
again. I ignore it; this is no time to run.

“Attack the eyes!” orders
Past Prime
as he runs towards the banks of eyes above the creature’s head.

Tenchi follows him and they rip up turrets
and sensor pods with their swords. A huge spike beside an eye
explodes, throwing Tenchi right off the creature’s head and down to
the beach below it.

“Tenchi!” I yell.

Past Prime
doesn’t stop his attacks
but simply presses onwards. The team ignores my fallen friend, and
he is alone.

No, not alone.

I cast myself into the air, fly past the
creature’s head and down to where Tenchi is laying in the sand. He
isn’t moving; it was a long way down.

“Hey, are you all right?”

“Argh… what the heck was… uh oh.”

The titan is looking down at us. It opens its
huge mouth and roars out a tsunami of flames that break against my
shield. I form a dome of overlapping blue plates that hold the
worst of the fire out but I can feel still the raw heat on my face.
Pain burns across my body, but it’s no worse than what I’ve
suffered in training. I stand over Tenchi and focus on staying
alive, letting my power flow through me. The implants in my neck
and ear get hot, but I ignore them. My shield shimmers and glows,
warping under the attack. The air is filled with a roar like ten
thousand screaming seagulls my shields flicker.

“Sorry, dude,” I say, but I doubt Tenchi can
hear me.

My shields drop to 3%, and I close my eyes.
At least we were trying, I think to myself, at least we were doing
something. I think of Mom, and realize I’m about to see her again.
I close my eyes and try to make peace with my death.

“Uh, dude?”

I open my eyes; Tenchi is looking up at me
from the ground.

“You look intense, man, is everything all
right?”

The sand around us has fused into a single
crystal of blackened glass. It looks like the ruins of Mordor, only
without the charm. The sand below us is still yellow, but it’s as
hot as hell.

“I did not expect to survive that,” I mutter,
but Tenchi doesn’t hear.

Dark Fire
lands beside us with a
crunch. He looks impressed, unless I’m just imagining that. I help
Tenchi to his feet, but he’s so worn out that he doesn’t even
notice who is talking to us.

“We managed to plant some bombs inside it, so
we need to get out of here,” says
Dark Fire
.

We hear an almighty explosion above us as one
of the creature’s legs gives way. I look up in wonder as the titan
begins to fall, but Tenchi has more sense and pulls me away. We
make it to the cliffs as chains of explosions break through the
giant robot’s back and it falls down to the sand.

The team gives up a ragged cheer when it
becomes obvious that the creature won’t be getting back up.

None of us have got through unscathed. Most
of the team are lying down; many aren’t moving at all. There are
maybe eight of us still in fighting shape and I’m including Tenchi
and myself in that count.

Dark Fire
lights a flare, and a Comet
lands on the cliffs. I’m too tired to help, so I find a rock with a
view of the alien carcass and sit overlooking the sea. The waves
are peaceful.

“That was… wow,” says Tenchi as he collapses
beside me.

I’m too tired to do anything but nod.

We watch in satisfaction as the creature
starts to fall apart, big chunks breaking off and falling to the
sand. A second round of explosions rips through the creature and
plumes of multi-colored smoke rise into the air.

“That head… is it moving by itself?” asks
Tenchi.

No. No, surely not.

“Copy that. Everyone on their feet!” yells
Dark Fire
.

I groan and leap into the air. The creature’s
head has grown a set of thin legs. It’s clumsy and slow, but the
turrets on its head are still deadly. One catches
One Trick
on the side of the head and she goes down. Another hits me in the
chest, knocking me around. I try to gain height, but I’m bombarded
with missiles and plasma bolts. I try to circle and dodge, but I
can’t even see where I’m flying. I fly out of a storm of lasers and
swoop down to the creature’s moving hand. I roll under its legs and
blast its belly with my color cannon. The creature stumbles, and I
realize that I don’t want to be under it when it collapses.

“Yikes!” I scream, and scramble from
underneath it.

Two supers grab me and pull me into the air.
We are just in time; the creature falters and falls, squashing
everything below it. My rescuers are
Zoo Prank
and
Home
Brew
, and both look tired.

“Thanks,” I say, but
Home Brew
just
nods.

The creature is dying, but it isn’t dead. A
tentacle-like tongue whips out and grabs
Past Prime
, pulling
him back into the mouth. The monster bites down, and we scramble to
attack its mouth. Tenchi cuts away some of its teeth and
Dark
Fire
pushes past them, right into the creature’s throat.

The creature slumps forward and its jaws
relax.
Small Talk
forces the mouth open and
Dark Fire
drags
Past Prime
out. Both of them are covered in purple
acid, and
Past Prime
’s leg is gone below the knee.