Rise of the Heroes (14 page)

“You sure?” asked the guard uncertainly. “Doesn't look very super.”

“Certain. Unless every kid can fire lasers from his eyes.”

The guard licked his lips nervously. “You're right. Boss better deal with him.”

The prisoner took several steps up the ramp.

“You can't go in there,” snapped the guard as he blocked his path.

But it was distraction enough for Chameleon to wheel around and lunge at the guards.

“Get the other one!” Chameleon bellowed.

Pete spun around and squinted, preparing to unleash the laser blast he was
certain
he had downloaded.

The guard went rigid, expecting to be blasted apart. But Pete was the one who gasped as he was suddenly looking at a skeleton standing right in front of him.

At first he thought he'd killed the man—but when the skeleton lifted his transparent rifle, Pete knew what

had happened. He'd insisted that they try their powers before leaving, but Lorna had been adamant that there was no time.

“What are you waiting for?” shouted Chameleon as he wrestled with the other guard.

“I can't do anything … I've only got X-ray vision! I downloaded the
wrong
power!”

From their hiding place in the trees, Toby, Lorna, and Emily watched as Pete froze.

“Why is he hesitating?” Emily said with concern.

Toby knew the answer. “He didn't download the power he wanted.”

Chameleon had fallen to the ground, struggling with the guard he held in a chokehold. Pete's opponent raised his gun, ready to shoot point-blank.

“No!” shrieked Emily. She burst from cover and instinctively extended her hand as if she'd just thrown a ball. Two pulsing energy orbs shot from her palm, the spheres linked together by a cord of crackling electricity as they whirled through the air like bolas.

They snagged the guard before he could pull the trigger, tightening around him like a coiling snake, pinning his arms to his sides. His gun clattered to the floor as the breath was crushed from him, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Chameleon got to his feet; his opponent was frozen like a statue, a fine crystallike coating covering him.

“You okay?” Chameleon asked Pete with some concern.

“Yeah, I just got a useless superpower.”

“Nonsense, there's no such thing as a
useless
power,” said Chameleon haughtily. “Every one has its uses, whether it's apparent or not.”

The others joined them from across the field, peering around to check that the patrolling guards hadn't spotted them. Chameleon transformed back into his pale self and gave Emily an appraising look.

“You did that? Impressive.”

Emily beamed at the compliment. Pete cleared his throat and pointed to the two prone guards.

“Shouldn't we hide them so nobody notices?”

“Good thinking,” said Chameleon. “Let's drag them inside. Hurry.”

It took two of them to haul the heavy guards up the ramp. The one Chameleon had struck was as stiff as a rod and easier to move, and Pete suspected he wasn't breathing either. Once they were stowed in a corridor on the ship, Chameleon waved them in. “Follow me.”

Lorna and Emily followed without question. Pete and Toby brought up the rear. Pete turned to his friend.

“Who put
him
in charge?”

The corridors were brightly lit and had a new, plastic sheen to them. They passed several closed doors and branching corridors, but Chameleon ignored them.
Toby had the impression they were moving toward the center of the disc-shaped craft.

“You sure you know where we're heading?” he asked Chameleon as they paused at a junction.

“If you've seen one of these ships, you've seen them all. The assembly chamber is in the middle.”

“I haven't seen any security.”

“Oh, it's there,” said Chameleon, looking cautiously around. “It just doesn't know
we
are here. This way.”

They crossed a junction into a circular corridor that curved on either side. Toby assumed that if he followed it he'd just loop back on himself. Chameleon paused at a door, then nodded.

“He's in there.”

“How can you tell?” asked Toby. He was getting irritated with this cocksure hero marshaling them around.

Pete stared at the door, and his gaze seemed to become unfocused. “He's right. I can see him now.”

“With that useless power, right?” said Chameleon. “Touch the door, and focus that X-ray vision.”

Pete did as he was asked. The door undulated like water and then suddenly became transparent, although every blemish on the door could still be seen as if it was cast in glass. Everybody gasped, and Pete realized that they could all see through it too.

“Not bad?” said Chameleon as he peered into the
room. “Keep touching the door. And don't worry—it's one-way. He can't see out.”

Doc Tempest sat in a circular room opposite eight massive screens. Each screen was suspended from the ceiling on segmented metal arms that allowed it to move around the room tilting at any angle. This gave the chilling appearance that the shadowy faces on the screens were looking directly out at the world around them.

Doc Tempest was hunched in a high-backed chair looking very worried at the faces surrounding him like predatory snakes. The sound seemed to carry through the X-rayed door as clearly as if the heroes were in the room.

“Your behavior has been inappropriate, Tempest,” snarled a dreary voice from one of the screens. “So your information better be valuable.”

A woman's voice spoke up. “We suspect Basilisk is planning to extract revenge on the Council. What have you to say?”

Lorna glanced at Chameleon. “Basilisk?”

“Long story. But he's somebody crazier than Tempest. The Council of Evil banished him for breaking their rules.”

“Rules?” asked Toby.

“Even bad guys need some rules to follow. But after the Council created Villain.net, things got—”

Pete looked up with interest. “Whoa, there's a
villain
Web site too?”

“Of course. How do you think—”

“Sssh,” snapped Lorna. “Tempest's speaking.”

“I have given you enough information about Basilisk's plans,” said Tempest. “I risked my life to steal it from under his nose. He's working together with a boy.”

“We know of the boy. And your facts have some merit. If it is true that Basilisk poses a risk to us all, then he must be stopped.”

Chameleon gasped. “Tempest's betraying his only ally! And we thought he was working directly
with
Basilisk. Ha! There certainly is no honor among thieves. This is a bad move for him. Great news for us.”

Toby nodded, although he didn't quite follow. It sounded like an espionage plot in a spy film, using one villain to trap another. But what he did understand was that Chameleon and the Council of Evil both wanted Basilisk and this boy. Toby wondered what kind of supervillain would cause such a manhunt.

Doc Tempest's gaze nervously flicked from screen to screen as they writhed around him. “I have submitted my report, now please can I have my permit?”

“Very well, Tempest. The Council has decided your reconnaissance against Basilisk was sufficient. You have your permit for your scheme, and remember this time to pay commission on whatever you extort to the Council.”

A look of relief flooded across Tempest's face. He
shook his fist victoriously. “Thank you. I'll make the wise Council proud of me, I assure you!”

A flash of anger crossed Chameleon's face. “I've heard enough. We'll stop this now. We'll arrest Tempest and find out where he's holding your mother.”

He pulled Pete away from the door. Immediately the material reverted to steel. Chameleon hit a control button on the wall and the door swished open. Chameleon stepped inside with the four heroes behind in their best fighting stance.

“End of the line, Tempest!”

Doc Tempest's face dropped in shock. All eight monitors swiveled to face the intruders. Although none of the faces were discernible, the variety of oddly shaded silhouetted heads sent a shiver of fear down Lorna's spine. Tempest then saw Toby and Lorna and he glowered.

“You! Come a step closer and I swear I'll kill your mother!”

“Intruders!” shouted one of the screen entities in a gurgling voice. Immediately a siren whooped throughout the ship.

Doc Tempest pushed both hands forward and a mass of shimmering ice shot toward the group. In the blink of an eye, Chameleon leaped toward the wall of the room, his whole body transformed into a slender, yellow-scaled lizard, his face a bizarre hybrid of lizard
and man. With his sharp reptilian claws he skittered effortlessly up the wall.

The children didn't have time to run. Lorna pushed forward and silently hoped she had selected the right power. A giant bubble blossomed around them, protecting them as the ice smashed harmlessly against it. It took all of Lorna's concentration to keep the shield in place for those few seconds. Her legs trembled and the moment she hesitated the bubble popped—shattering the ice that had formed across it.

Tempest's gaze followed Chameleon across the wall, the monitors swiveling to watch his progress too. Tempest fired a volley of electrical bolts from his fingers and tore the ceiling behind Chameleon—accidentally blasting two of the monitor arms, sending them crashing to the floor in a shower of sparks. Chameleon, who was holding on to one of the arms, fell with it.

An automated voice echoed across the ship. “Intruder alert! Beginning auto-destruct. Waiting for confirmation.”

“No!” screamed Tempest. “Not
destruct
, you idiots!”

As Doc Tempest knew, Council of Evil technicians were notoriously bad at maintaining equipment and labeling the correct buttons. Back at Tempest's base, the lax Council staff always got auto-launch and autodestruct the wrong way around. They had even marked the manual-override buttons incorrectly.

The entire structure rumbled, throwing Lorna to the floor. Toby gripped the doorjamb for support. Doc Tempest had Chameleon pinned by the throat, a look of murder contorting his face.

“This will teach you to spy on me!”

Tempest's fingers turned white as frost clung to them. The frost spread out across Chameleon's throat, and up toward his head. Chameleon's reptilian form sprang back to his regular human shape, but Tempest didn't relinquish his grip as the frost spread. Chameleon lashed out in panic, smashing Tempest's wristband from his arm. The electronic gadget skittered across the room as the ship lurched to one side. The display read: “CONFIRM AUTO-DESTRUCT: YES/NO”—just as it bounced, hitting the “yes” option.

“Auto-destruct sequence activated!” said the measured electronic voice.

Toby and Pete lunged forward—their combined weight shoved Tempest off Chameleon. The three of them slid into the wall as the floor tipped beneath them.

“We're taking off,” Emily shouted.

Toby nimbly sprang on top of Tempest and gripped his collar.

“Where's my mother?”

Tempest flashed his fanged teeth and grabbed Toby's hands—the touch was intensely cold and needles of pain shot up Toby's arms before they went numb.

Tempest threw him off, and he effortlessly shoved Pete away as he climbed to his feet.

“You all will die here!” snarled Tempest—then rapidly clapped his hands like a spoiled child. “Isn't that great?” he whooped before spinning toward the doorway.

Emily barred his path, her hands already glowing from forming the energy bolas. The whole ship shook violently as if they'd hit severe turbulence, and Emily lost her balance as the bolas spun out. Tempest bent backward and they passed inches over his head and slammed into the wall.

“Not today, little girl,” he sneered, and he raced from the room.

Toby rubbed warmth into his hands but still couldn't feel anything. Chameleon sprang to his feet, massaging his throat. He hoisted Pete up.

“We have to leave,” Chameleon said in a hoarse voice.

Emily and Toby pulled Lorna to her feet. They ran into the corridor as the sound of tearing metal reverberated through the ship. Cracks ran across the floor and ceiling and they all stopped in their tracks. The corridor ahead suddenly disappeared, a massive chunk of the ship ripping away in front of them, revealing nothing but twilit sky.

The craft was self-destructing in the air—the ground spinning far below. The sky was full of flaming debris as the ship fell apart. Flying through the falling wreckage would be like navigating through a minefield.

“We're trapped!” wailed Pete.

“Grab on to me!” screamed Chameleon as another section of the floor ahead gave way. “All of you, think of Toby's house. Imagine it in your minds
now
!”

Everybody latched on to Chameleon as the roof was torn away in a fiery explosion. Toby scrunched his eyes and heard an explosive thunderclap, and a wave of dizziness struck him.