Trainee Superhero (Book Three) (8 page)

Saucer, I hope they don’t call me
Mother’s
Boy
.

“You are one of the toughest superheroes in
battle and one of the stupidest in training. No other superhero has
spent such a large percentage of their time in the infirmary. You
seem to attract trouble wherever you go, and yet you survive. You
once told me that you wanted a cape or a coffin, and you might
still get both. Today you will be the youngest superhero to achieve
full operator status.”

He points at my shirt and a flame leaps out,
burning my chest. It does hurt, but I don’t mind. Then he hands me
a long grey cloak, and I sling it over my shoulders.

“Welcome to the team,
Danger
Magnet
!”

It could have been worse.

People clap and someone hands me a red shirt
with my name on it. I’m in shock; I’ve finally been accepted as a
full operator, a real superhero. And the youngest, ever; that’s
pretty cool. Loud music starts and people move around us.

Our big moment ends far too quickly, but
that’s life in the
Cerberus Brawlers
.

I lift my shirt and try and see what was
burnt on my chest. It’s a tat-a-gotchi, a three-headed dog howling
at a saucer flying overhead. The words “Everything For Earth” are
written beside it. The whole thing moves slightly as I watch, the
dogs snapping at the saucer as it swings from side to side.

“Cool,” says
Little Voices
.

He has the same tat-a-gotchi on his chest.
His first tat peers curiously at the newcomer.

“Food!” calls out
Small Talk
from the
barbeque where he is cooking.

One of
Small Talk
’s legs is in a cast
from the waist down, but that isn’t stopping him. We walk up to him
and he serves us thick slices of steak.

“You boys have done well,” he says, but I can
tell that
Little Voices
is still a little wary of him.
Operators walk over to congratulate us. Even
Pet Shark
shakes my hand and gives me an insincere smile.

“Welcome to the team. I hope you don’t die
suddenly,” he says and then walks off into the shadows.

“Welcome to the family,” says
Simon
Smith
, and at least he seems to mean it.

“I’m in your old room,” I say, “you carved
your name everywhere,
Simon Smith
.”

“Yes,” he agrees, and then goes to stand
right on the edge of the deck before I can ask him more. He makes a
lonely silhouette in the moonlight.
Bad Day
and
One
Trick
join him, although it’s hard to know if they are
protecting him from the world or the world from him.

“Scary dude,” says
Little Voices
, but
very quietly.

“Call him
Simon Smith
,” I say, “and
don’t get on his bad side.”

We find a couple of seats near the edge of
the deck and sit in silence. Things are going to plan for once, and
I don’t really know what to do about it. Chef walks up to me, bows
and passes
Little Voices
and me plates holding a single
piece of lasagna. He bows again and leaves as people start to
notice and turn towards the food.

“Are you boys going to eat that?” ask
Dark
Fire
, and even he sounds jealous.

“Trade?” cries out a voice from the shadows,
and a chorus of voices join in.

Little Voices
licks his piece of
lasagna and I do the same, but even that doesn’t stop people asking
us for a taste. I cut the lasagna up and scoff it down far too
quickly.

It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever
eaten, far better than even the wonderful feasts Chef normally
cooks. This is a lasagna that could win all the awards, a lasagna
worth more than its weight in gold.

I lick my plate clean and then look for more,
but Chef is gone. I immediately start wondering how I can get Chef
to make it for me again.

Never Lies
and
Silver Shadows
walk over and sit down next to us.
Silver Shadows
seems to
know all the operators by name, and I wonder where he fits into the
team. He’s a member of the
Elite Guard
, yet here he is. When
the chips were down he followed
Dark Fire
rather than
The
General
, and I wonder what that means.

“Well done,”
Never Lies
says,
“
Danger Magnet
is a good name, because I still don’t know if
you find trouble or if it finds you. I really didn’t think you were
going to make it.”

“Come on,” says
Silver Shadows
in
astonishment.

“Don’t worry, she’s said worse,” I say, “our
names really mean something here. I’m just glad she was wrong this
one time.”

Never Lies
shrugs
unapologetically.

“So I guess we kick ass, now that we aren’t
trainees anymore,” I say.

“We can’t technically accept you as an
official part of the team until you turn twenty-two, so you will
still be classed as trainees for a few more years. And anyway,
there is always more to learn,” she answers.

“Oh,” I mutter, feeling a little surprised
and a little annoyed. I thought we had earned better than that.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says, “I’m still
classed as a trainee as well. It’s a stupid rule. Enjoy tonight,
you’ve earned it.
Dark Fire
and I are on call tonight, so
I’ll say goodnight.”

She gives me a playful push, nods to
Silver Shadows
, and heads off to the armory. I look around;
there aren’t enough uninjured people to make a full squad tonight,
so
Never Lies
and
Dark Fire
will be serving alone. I
may feel like I’ve been hit by a car, but I’m still in far better
shape than any of the other crew. Perhaps I should join her?

Little Voices
gets up for more food,
and
Silver Shadows
sits down next to me.

“We have a mutual friend,” he says
unexpectedly, “and I know she would want to be here tonight if she
could. She sent this.”

He hands me a letter: it’s from Stace, and it
includes a photo of her at the maths Olympics.

“Thanks,” I say, wondering what kinds of
friends she was with
Silver Shadows
. He only looks a few
years older than me, anyway.

“How do you know
Dark Fire
and Stace?”
I ask, perhaps a little abruptly.

“I’m
Cold Comet
’s younger brother.
Dark Fire
keeps an eye out for me.”

“Wow,” I’m truly impressed, “I didn’t know
siblings could be superheroes.”

“Betty and I are the only examples. She died
before I joined.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, but he ignores me.

“Anyway, I talked to
Dark Fire
, and
he’s agreed to let you video call your family and Stace if you
promise to stop hacking the network.”

“Ah… so they know about that?”

“They know about everything.”

I notice he didn’t say how he knew Stace,
which I find suspicious, but this conversation is getting really
awkward, so I look for a way out.

“Who else is on call?” I ask a little too
loudly.

“Just
Never Lies
and
Dark
Fire
,”
Small Talk
calls back.

“I might… I might go help.”

Small Talk
nods in approval,
unsurprised that I want to get back in the game. This may be the
best night of my life, but the world still needs saving. I try to
stand, but a hand grabs my shoulder and shoves me back into the
seat.

“Relax,” says
Pet Shark
, “they can
handle it.”

He’s probably right, but so what? I didn’t
become a superhero to take a back seat.
Little Voices
arrives and
Pet Shark
slinks away.

“I’ll see you later,
Voices
,” I
say.

“Good luck,
Danger
,” he says with a
smile. Now that’s a name I could get used to.

Twenty minutes later I’m floating high above
the Earth looking down at a saucer as it approaches a small farming
town. I’m carrying a huge bomb on my back for the saucer. It’s the
middle of the day on this side of the Earth, and bright. My suit
comes with sunglasses, and I pull them down. I can see a line of
cars and buses leaving the town; the saucer is about ten minutes
away, but its creatures might be close to the town. The evacuation
seems to be going well.

“This is
Danger Magnet
, calling all
operators,” I say over my radio, just in case.

“Copy…near…ETA,” says a faint voice, but I
don’t recognize it.

I see a blue flare in the town, and I circle
down to it. The town is already crawling with blue-eyed medusa
heads and rhinotanks, with plenty of more mundane creatures as
well. I land by the flare, but there is no sign of
Dark Fire
or
Never Lies
. I take off again to get a better look at the
town.

“Hey you!” calls out a voice from behind a
nearby house.

Five superheroes circle me in perfect
formation. I recognize five members of the
Hollywood Nine
,
including their leader ,
Platinum Arrow
. Their armor is
colorful, undamaged and beautiful. I used to be impressed by that,
but now I like to see a few dents and scrapes that suggest the
armors is being used for something more than show.

Platinum Arrow
flies right in front of
me and opens his visor. He is handsome enough to make a movie star
jealous, but his looks are spoiled by the worry on his face.

“I’m talking to you,” he says, “identify
yourself.”

“
Danger Magnet
,” I say, “can we get
moving before the saucer arrives? I’ve got the bomb.”

But the
Hollywood Nine
are an ‘A’
class team, and apparently they aren’t as keen for the fight as I
am.

“I don’t know that name. Rank and unit?”
demands
Platinum Arrow
.

“He’s right,
Arrow
, we should get
moving,” says
Phoenix Pink
, who is beautiful, blond and
impatient.

She’s only armed with a thin sword but seems
keen to start using it.

“Rank and unit?” repeats
Platinum
Arrow
.

“Trainee, from the
Cerberus Brawlers
,”
I say, because
Never Lies
would want me to tell the
truth.

“What? What are you doing here? You shouldn’t
be here.”

Pair of rhinotanks flies past below us. They
look like slender freight trains with huge horns and they like to
ram things if they get a chance. I could take them out with my
color cannon, and no sooner have I thought it than I start charging
my cannon. I’m already thinking about my moves just like
Past
Prime
taught me.

“I’ll go in, blast the first tank and take a
hit from the second,” I say, “you guys take the second.”

“Wait! We aren’t done here,” says
Arrow
, but I think we are.

The rhinotanks start spitting out
indiscriminate fire at the town buildings and the time for action
has come.

I shrug, look back and attack, because I’d
prefer fighting alone to waiting on my team. Maybe I learnt that
from
Small Talk
or maybe that’s just who I am.

I drop towards the tanks, blasting the first
with my color cannon and taking a hit from the second tank, just
like I planned. I spiral down, bounce along a street and then drag
myself into the air as a pair of screaming orbs races at me. I hit
them with my multiblasters and start charging my cannon.

I’m a lot better at this than I used to
be.

The
Hollywood Nine
are still talking,
but
Phoenix Pink
teleports beside me. She points at the
second rhinotank and closes her eyes, muttering to herself. It
freezes in place, and I hit it with my cannon.

“Nice,” I say, “now let’s make a move on that
saucer.”

“How?” she says, “we’ve never taken a saucer
down before. We leave that to the scouts, and then move in for the
kill.”

“Scouts?” I ask in surprise.

“You know, the scouts. They do the easy work
of dropping a bomb on the saucer and then leave before the saucer
creatures get really riled up. Then it’s up to us to do the hard
work.”

A pair of medusa heads attacks the
Hollywood Nine
, pulling one of them to the ground. The
others blast out wildly, taking out the second medusa but also
losing their formation.
Phoenix Pink
sees the fight but
rolls her eyes. It’s not a hard fight for four superheroes, yet her
teammates seem to be panicking.
Phoenix Pink
blasts the
medusa apart with a well-aimed plasma ball.

“Yeah,” I say, “you guys are the real heroes.
I guess I’d better go find the other scouts.”

I fly upwards. I have to find
Dark
Fire
and
Never Lies
, because the
Hollywood Nine
have no idea what they are doing. The Super Corps must be
desperately short of people if they are rolling out their junior
‘A’ list teams for actual fights.

“Hey you, get back here!” orders
Platinum
Arrow
, but I ignore him.

I don’t like being told what to do,
particularly by idiots, and I have a job to do.
Phoenix Pink
follows me, leaving her friends behind. She’s much faster than me,
so I can’t leave her alone.

“I’ve never heard of the
Cerberus
Brawlers
,” she says, “and what kind of a name is
Danger
Magnet
?”

“An accurate one, so maybe don’t fly so
close. What kind of a name is
Phoenix Pink
?”

“A stupid one,” she says with surprising
anger, “but it moves a lot of action figures with the young kids
and uber geeks who like that sort of thing.”

I have the action figures of every member of
the
Hollywood Nine
on the shelf in my bedroom. They are all
still in their original packaging, too, but I don’t mention it.
Stace had a
Phoenix Pink
bag.