Rise of the Heroes (24 page)

“Mom … what's the matter?” Toby asked anxiously. He prayed she had not suddenly remembered her children flying around, shooting fireballs and turning invisible.

“It's your father,” she said, between sobs. “He was returning from his dig. We've just heard reports about his plane … it's having mechanical trouble … and they don't think it can land! He's going to crash!”

Pete mumbled under his breath. “Why is your family
always
in danger?”

As Emily's parents consoled Sarah, Pete and Toby exchanged glances, and they all rose from their chairs.

“We just need to go and look at the computer … check something out,” said Pete.

The adults ignored the children as they left the room. After all, this was a
real
problem. What could the children possibly hope to achieve on the Internet?

Andy Briggs was born in Liverpool, England. Having endured many careers, ranging from pizza delivery and running his own multimedia company to teaching both IT and filmmaking (though not all at the same time), he eventually remembered the constant encouragement he had received at an early age about his writing. That led him to launch himself on a poor, unsuspecting Hollywood. In between having fun writing movie scripts, Andy now has far too much fun writing novels
.

He lives in a secret lair somewhere in the southeast of England—attempting to work despite his two crazy cats. His claims about possessing superpowers may be somewhat exaggerated. …

Also by
ANDY BRIGGS
VILLIEN.NET

Council of the Evil
the nemesis of HERO.COM

WHICH SIDE
ARE YOU ON?

Read an exclusive excerpt at the back of the book!

The assault force emerged from the ocean as silent as ghosts.

Jake Hunter watched them from his craggy vantage point. With the distinctive crunch of leather, Jake clenched his gloved fist. His confusion and anger seemed to enhance his superpowers. And after all the betrayal, lying, and violence that had surrounded him recently, the powers felt stronger than ever. It felt as though pins were stabbing his fingertips.

“Darn it … there go my gloves,” he muttered under his breath as his fingernails extended like cats' claws, thickening as they ripped through the tips of his gloves. They formed long, razor-sharp talons that shone like black marble in the moonlight.

A week ago he had been just an ordinary kid. Now he was a superpowered global fugitive wanted for theft, kidnapping, blackmail; and he was instrumental in the pending destruction of the planet.

Not bad for a fourteen-year-old.

The spear of rock he was standing on poked out of
the surrounding jungle and allowed him to see across the island. It was bathed in the silver light of a full moon, which highlighted the white-sand beach. It could almost be paradise—if not for the fact that Jake's actions had cost him
everything
: his family, friends, and security.

Cost him his whole life.

Knowing that it was all his own fault did not lessen the anger he felt inside. Anger was the only thing keeping him going right now.

The line of black amphibious Sea Crawlers that emerged from the ocean spoiled the view for him. The Crawlers were the size of buses and rode on a set of caterpillar tracks like tanks. Once they had safely landed ashore, hydraulic ramps powered down at the rear of each vehicle and soldiers emerged in military formation. Jake could just distinguish that they were all armed with rifles and wearing bulky combat jackets as they raced toward the tree line.

They were Enforcers—an elite force of soldiers created by the United Nations specifically to control super-powered misfits such as Jake.

“They must be warm with all that gear on,” thought Jake. He was sweating profusely and wiped beads of sweat from his brow, taking care not to poke his eye out with his lethal talons. The tropical heat was relentless, even at night. His black jeans clung to his legs. Worse
still, they rode up his backside but he couldn't pull them loose for fear of slicing himself with his claws.

Jake rose into the air. It felt just like rapidly ascending in an elevator. He focused his mind, realizing that he was going to need a lot of firepower if he was going to take out the invading party. His fingers stretched painfully apart as an invisible power swelled in his palms. He closed his eyes and it felt as though he was holding a pair of bowling balls at arm's length. When he flicked his eyes back open, they burned like fiery coals. His vision was bathed in red, enhancing living creatures from the general background clutter by showing the electrical pulses through their bodies. He now saw them as shimmering figures, almost like angels. There was nowhere for them to hide.

Jake tilted forward and was suddenly rocketing over the palm trees. Within thirty seconds he was at the beach before any of the advancing army could reach cover.

To the men on the ground it looked as if a huge black vulture was descending on them. They all raised their rifles to fire as he swooped overhead, arms extended toward the ground.

Jake felt twin cones of force erupt from his hands and punch into the Enforcers. Some of the men were hurled through the air. The troopers left standing had the presence of mind to squeeze their triggers and shoot.

Most of the bullets missed Jake and combed through the air in the wake of his flight path. But some of the Enforcers remembered enough from their training to “lead” the target—shooting
ahead
of Jake's trajectory. These bullets struck him.

To Jake, the impact of the bullets felt like he was being tickled. They struck an invisible shield inches from his body—and the air sparkled with fine blue crackles as his translucent force field absorbed them.

Jake brought himself upright, hovering just a few feet off the ground, and spun around, firing another cone of energy. To anybody watching, the cone looked like the heat haze that danced above the surface of a road on a hot day. His blast hit one of the Sea Crawlers just as the last Enforcer jumped out. The Crawler buckled like a can and flipped sidelong, rolling a dozen times across the sand before splashing into the water.

Jake shot up vertically as another volley of gunfire shredded the palm trees behind him. The soldiers took the opportunity to sprint for their lives across the beach, dragging fallen comrades to their feet and into the shelter offered by the trees.

Jake was so high up that he was beyond the range of the weapons. He paused to take in the impressive view of the island, which sprawled around the smoldering opening of a gigantic volcano.

He stared beyond his feet, and far below he could
easily see the electric outlines of the troops who thought they were safely concealed in the jungle. He let out a heavy sigh, knowing he had better finish this.

Jake dived straight down, arms outstretched, and willed another burst of energy from his hands. It zeroed straight for the second Sea Crawler.

The Enforcers cowering in the trees watched as an invisible hammer smashed the Crawler's cab three feet under the sand—the tail of the vehicle was left poking at an angle into the air.