Rise of the Heroes
ANDY BRIGGS
HERO.COM
For Dad
An inspiration forever
From: Andy Briggs
To: HERO.COM readers everywhere
Subject: Careful on the Web!
As you know, the Internet is a brilliant invention, but you need to be careful when using it
.
In this awesome book, the heroes (and villains!) stumble across the different Web sites accidentally. But HERO.COM and VILLAIN.NET don't really exist. :-(I thought them up when I was dreaming about how cool it would be if I could fly. The idea for HERO.COM suddenly came to meâespecially the scene where Toby and Pete ⦠Oh, wait! You haven't read it yet so I'd better shut up! :-) Anyway, I began writing and before I knew it, the idea had spiraled into VILLAIN.NET as well. But I had to make up all of the Internet stuff. None of it is really out there on the Web
.
Here are my tips for safe surfing on the Web: keep your identity secret (like all good superheroes do); stick to safe Web sites; make sure a parent, teacher, or guardian knows that you're onlineââand if anyone sends you anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, don't reply, and tell an adult you trust
.
I do have my own Web site, and it's totally safe (even without superpowers!):
Be safe out there!
:-)
The C-130 transport plane bucked against the invisible eddies that swirled around the aircraft 30,000 feet above the earth. More commonly known as a Hercules, the aircraft was the workhorse of the air forceâbut it had not been designed to take the kind of punishment that was hammering it now.
The malevolent storm had appeared from blue skies. Snow pelted the craft and choked the four powerful enginesâone of which was still aflame from the missile impactâforcing it rapidly to lose airspeed and precious altitude. Below, the bleak continent of Antarctica beckoned to the Hercules' passengers with a subzero embrace.
Inside, two twelve-year-old boysâToby and Peteâgripped the safety harnesses bolted to their jump seats, their knuckles white as the plane belly flopped. Any items not secured jumped into the air and remained there, held in a curious state of zero gravity as they nose-dived toward the earth.
Toby thought he was going to be sick for sure.
Having watched countless documentaries on TV he remembered the term
parabola
: NASA flew planes toward the earth to simulate zero gravity. The planes were affectionately known as “Vomit Comets.” And that's exactly how he felt now, feeling the bile rise in his throat.
He also remembered seeing that they would have about forty seconds of this nauseating feeling before the plane crashed into the ground. And after everything that had happened this week, he was pretty sure they wouldn't survive
that
.
All these thoughts flitted through Toby's mind in a second. He smashed open the restraining clip on his safety harness and floated out into the cargo area of the plane like he'd seen astronauts do on television.
Pete watched Toby free-float out and unbuckled his own belt to join him. Unable to precisely control his movements, Toby floated upside down, the inverted perspective disorienting him even more.
Thirty seconds to impact
â¦
“We have to open the rear doors!” yelled Toby over the monstrous droning of the Allison Turboprop engines.
Pete looked around frantically. “The release switch is automated. It's in the cockpit.”
“Shoot!” cried Toby.
They both knew there was no time to break into
the fortified cockpit and override the mechanical Drone Pilot.
Twenty-five seconds
.
Toby kicked himself away from the bulkhead and soared toward the rear of the aircraft, steadying himself as he flew over pallets held in place with canvas webbing. He knew once they opened the door the supply pallets would create an additional problem.
Pete tried to use his arms to swim through the air; instead he revolved uselessly on the spot.
Toby cried over to him. “I can't do this! This is your area of expertise!”
Pete threw out a hand and steadied himself by catching the pallet webbing.
“Open the doors and use the pallets to spring out!” cried Toby.
That was the problem with flying; it was difficult to do if you were plummeting. You needed a springboard to push yourself upward. Even with superpowers, physics always butted in its unwelcome nose.
Twenty
â¦
Pete laboriously heaved himself over to Toby. Both boys planted their feet against the pallets, coiled for action.
Pete removed his glassesâhe had learned his lesson long agoâand focused on the rear cargo door that opened like a jaw under the Hercules' tail section.
BAM!
A concentrated beam of blue energy leaped from his eyes and blew the cargo door into twisted metal fragments. Frigid winds sucked at the aircraft's contents.
The sudden loss of pressure pulled the contents of the craft out with teeth-jarring speed. The pallets vaulted under their feet, rocketing the boys out into the blizzard. Inertia pushed them flat against the boxes underfoot, but both boys knew they had to push upward; otherwise they would simply crash into the ground with the rest of the aircraft.
Using every part of their remaining strength, they pushedâand suddenly they found themselves flying up, away from the aircraft and its cargo of supply palletsâ
And toward the jagged mountains!
No sooner had they taken flight than the Hercules smashed forcibly into the side of one of the mountains. Pete's mental countdown had not taken into account the fact that the ground had swept up in the form of the Neptune Mountain Range to meet them.
The Hercules transport erupted into a vivid orange fireball. Twenty free-falling pallets impacted into the inferno seconds later. Toby could feel the flames licking his heels, but he urged himself to fly faster, throwing out both arms before him, in case that helped. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pete banking downward, away from the fireball's path. Toby lost no time in joining him.
They arced around and down in a flight path that a military jock would term a “yo-yo maneuver.” Within seconds the steeply sloping, icy flanks of the mountain were underneath them and the Hercules was no longer visible in the storm.
The cold bit hard, sapping Toby's energy even through the multilayered thermal gear that covered almost every inch of him. He knew he had no choice but to land firmly on the mountain slope, or risk dropping from the sky and rolling the rest of the way downhill. A quick glance confirmed Pete was thinking the same.
Toby pivoted so he was no longer aiming headfirst down the mountain. He slowed, dropping the last few feet to the ground. He fell on all fours to keep his balance, and sank to his knees and elbows. Pete landed next to him. Already the driving blizzard had coated them with a layer of frost.
Pete's teeth chattered. “That ⦠was a new experience, huh?”
Before Toby could reply, a noise got his attention. It was bass-heavy, countering the wind's whistle. The ground beneath them shook; with a feeling of dreadful realization, Toby turned his gaze uphill.
The flaming carcass of the aircraft was sledging down the hill, and gaining momentum with every second.
“Watch out!” Toby screamed.
He had no time to push his friend aside. Instead he could only leap sideways with the very last of his energy.
His face was buried in the snow as he landed, and the world shook around him as the burning twisted debris thundered past like a runaway train. He remained motionless as, seconds later, he was pelted with smaller debris that bounced off his protective gear. Toby was sure that had he not been wearing the multiple layers, a jagged piece of shrapnel would have cut him open.
The ground stopped trembling and the driving wind howled some more. Toby picked himself up and looked around wildly.
Pete was gone.
“Pete! Where are you?”
Panic seized him, overriding the permeating chill. He staggered forward.
“Pete! Answer me! Please?”
He looked around hopelessly, and then dropped to his knees. With every ounce of self-control, he stopped himself from crying; tears would freeze over his eyeballs in the -58º Fahrenheit atmosphere and would no doubt blind him.
If the aircraft had hit Pete then he would definitely be dead. Pete's current range of superpowers would do nothing to save him from being crushed by a flaming aircraft.
Dead. Maybe like Lorna, Emily ⦠and his mother.
Toby shook the dark thoughts from his mind and assessed his situation. It was almost as bleak. He was two thousand miles away from the nearest civilization, which was located on the tip of Argentina, trapped at over a thousand feet on the snow-covered peak. Hurricane-strength winds promised to spirit him away if he dared fly againânot that he had the strength.
His best friend was probably dead. His sister and her friend had been caught by henchmen, and a madman held his mother captive: an unspeakably evil villain who had demolished Fort Knox.
And it seemed Toby was the only person who could now save the world from disaster.
Talk about a bad week.
Toby reflected on how the last seven days had transformed their lives beyond imagination. In one moment he and his friends had turned from regular kids into superheroes. The innocence of their youth had been stripped raw.
Everything had changed the day they chanced on the source of their extraordinary powers â¦.
