Rise of the Heroes (5 page)

“No, but I use plastic bags the right way. I don't shove them over my head.”

“Then we'll use these powers the right way,” Lorna
said in a tone of voice that suggested further conversation would be pointless. She closed the warning box and was about to select a download option when another text box appeared on-screen with a loud
ping
. She scanned the text with increasing excitement.

“It says: As a special offer, all powers come with a free flying upgrade to allow you to sample the jobs on offer!”

Pete and Emily erupted with simultaneous enthusiasm: “Flying?”

The excitement was infectious, and Toby caught it again. “Okay. Let's do this.”

Lorna closed the box and hovered the mouse over a variety of icons.

“What do they all mean?”

Pete pointed to one icon that had wavy lines emanating from a stick figure's head.

“This looks like some kind of vision power.”

“Vision power?” said Emily. She was feeling a little lost, as she hadn't read a comic book in her life.

Toby waved his hand dismissively, as though the answer was obvious. “The lines are around his head. X-ray vision, that kind of thing.”

Emily blushed. “So you could see through clothes?”

Toby hesitated. That hadn't occurred to him; he was thinking more along the lines of walls and bank vaults. Although seeing through clothing could be another cool application.
Lorna pointed to a similar icon, but this time the lines were straight and dashed, not wavy. “What's this one? Looks almost the same. Or this one over here?” There were half a dozen icons, all subtly different.

Toby shrugged. “You'll know when you try.”

“That's not very helpful.”

“Come on, hurry up!” said Pete impatiently.

Lorna circled the mouse, then clicked on her original choice, the figure sporting wavy lines around the head. The screen flickered, funnelling out slightly as though it was made from liquid metal. But this time it snaked at an angle—as Lorna was not directly in front of the screen—and poked her temple. She stepped away from the computer as she felt
something
course through her.

Toby looked at her curiously. “How do you feel?”

“Can you see through my clothes?” asked Pete with a nervous tremor in his voice.

Lorna thought for a moment as she stretched her arms as though yawning. “Tingling all over. What do you think will happen if I—?”

“Not in here,” Toby interrupted. “Remember what Pete did to the rug? I'm sure Mom would ground us if you blew the study apart. Well, she'd ground me at least. She thinks you can't do anything wrong.”

Lorna ignored the last sentence, but had to agree with his logic. Trepidation made her voice quaver
slightly. “Okay, we'll try outside. Hurry up and get yours.”

Toby nodded to Emily and gestured toward the computer. “You haven't tried yet.”

Emily examined Lorna, as though double-checking that she was still alive. She scanned the icons, searching more for a pleasurable picture than trying to decipher their meaning. One depicted a figure with horizontal lines crossing the length of the body. She liked it. She clicked and the screen warped toward her like a living entity.

She backed away, shivering slightly as an agreeable tingle shot down her spine. Other than that, she seemed fine.

“Do you think it worked?” Emily asked the group.

“We'll find out soon enough,” said Lorna. “Somebody better watch the time. We only have an hour, remember.”

Pete tapped his watch. “I got it.”

Toby was still feeling wary. He gestured to Pete. “You're up.”

Pete eagerly grabbed the mouse. He hungrily studied the icons and chose one that depicted a figure with circles coming from its hands.

“Let's see what this is.” Intrigued, Pete clicked and shut his eyes—the moving screen unnerved him. A second later a prickling feeling rushed through him from
his head to his feet, followed by a warmth, similar to a hot bath.

Lorna looked impatiently out of the window, all too eager to step outside. “Hurry, Tobe.”

Toby had had a little longer to take in the pictograms than the others. He slid the pointer across the screen and clicked quickly before anybody could see what he'd chosen.

Click. Tingle
. The gift was transferred.

Toby rose from the chair a little unsteadily, and moved toward the door. “Okay, let's try them out!”

“Wait,” said Lorna as she returned to the computer.

“Remember the instruction mentioned a job board?”

She scrutinized the screen and immediately identified an icon at the top: a rectangular frame with lots of small squares dotted around inside. Since she knew what she was looking for, the icon seemed obvious: it was supposed to represent a notice board found in schools and offices everywhere. She clicked.

The screen went blank, and was then replaced by two buttons. One labeled: “SEARCH BY DISTANCE”; the other: “SEARCH BY RISK.”

The second option alarmed her, and Pete must have thought the same. “Click on the distance one,” he said. “We don't want to have to go very far.”

Lorna complied. A list appeared on-screen, and a heading read:

“NEAREST TO FARTHEST—10/134.”

There was a list of ten jobs, all in a single column. Underneath was another button displaying the next ten, and so on.

“That's a lot of crime,” said Pete.

The first one grabbed their attention:

“CITY CENTER BANK ROBBERY.”

“What do you think?” Lorna asked.

Emily shrugged. “Click it. Must be some kind of game, otherwise we would have heard about it on the news.”

Lorna clicked before she remembered that none of them had watched TV that day, and so had no idea what was happening beyond the backyard. A single word flickered up:

“ACCEPTED!”

Then, quite suddenly, they knew the location of the bank heist. Pete spoke up first. “The National Bank on Main Street. I have a savings account there!”

Emily was surprised. “How can we possibly know that?”

“Telepathy?” grinned Pete. “This is getting cooler by the second.”

Lorna stood up, not thinking about the mission, but burning with curiosity about what power she had downloaded. “Let's try them out. Come on!”

* * *

Outside they stood in a line, all facing the giant oak at the bottom of the backyard that had been struck by lightning. The ground was still soggy underfoot, but at least it was warmer out that day. Toby glanced around to make sure there were no curious neighbors watching.

“Coast's clear.”

“I'll go first,” said Lorna. She looked at the tree and squinted, concentrating on making
something
transpire. “Nothing's happening.”

“Give it a min—” But Toby was cut off as a brilliant flash of light burst like a firework from Lorna's eyes—followed by an energy blast that struck the side of the tree. It tore a four-inch hole through the solid trunk and sent a shock through the boughs, shaking some of the tree's remaining brown leaves to the ground. Lorna was rocked backward on her heels, and she fell hard on her butt. Emily and Toby, the two people closest to Lorna, rushed to help her stand.

“Lorn, you okay?” asked Toby.

Lorna rubbed her eyes. She nodded, blinking rapidly. “I'm fine … fine.”

“You hurt your eyes?” asked Emily.

“Don't think so. Do they look okay?”

Emily examined them. “A little bloodshot, but nothing bad.”

“That was so cool!” screamed Pete, who had been
rooted to the spot the whole time. “You got laser vision! That's unbelievably awesome!”

Lorna composed herself, although her thoughts were a combination of terror and exhilaration. She looked at her handiwork. The hole was perfect, with the edges fused. “This is bizarre,” she whispered under her breath.

Pete was almost bouncing on the spot. “I've got to try next!” And without waiting for an answer he spun toward the tree and extended his hands in the best comic-book action stance he could muster.

A stream of white liquid shot from the pores on his palms and whatever it struck suddenly had a coating of thick ice. Already he had sprayed enough to cover a sixfoot section of the tree trunk before he managed to stop the ice blast by shaking his hands as though they were wet.

Pete whooped with delight. The layer of ice creaked ominously, but it had already started to melt.

Lorna was caught in the extraordinary moment; the logical part of her brain was gagged into silence. “Ice. Neat. That literally is cool. Em?”

Everybody turned to Emily, who seemed to shrink back from the sudden peer pressure. “I'm not sure I want to …”

“You'll be fine,” Lorna said soothingly. She put a reassuring hand on Emily's shoulder. “Don't worry about it, you'll be fine. I am, and Pete is, and he's tried this thing
out twice. Just point, and … think. It feels almost natural when it happens.”

“I don't know what I chose,” she protested.

“Neither did we,” said Pete. “Just calm down and you'll feel it tingling in your body.”

And she did. It started in her solar plexus, a pleasant tingling that spread outward across the length of her body until it reached the tips of her toes, the ends of each finger and the top of her head. She had the impression that the tingling was continuing to build into a pulse as though her body could not contain it and should let it burst out, like a dam breaking under the surge of a flood.

BAM!
It sounded like a miniature thunderclap from where Emily was standing.
Was
. Everybody blinked, but it was clear she had vanished.

“Emily?” For a brief second Toby thought she had exploded, but something on his peripheral vision caught his eye—Emily.

She glanced around in surprise. One moment she had been looking toward the tree, and now she was standing
underneath
the towering branches. Her hand reached out for the trunk to steady herself, her fingers touching the ice Pete had slung. “What happened?”

Pete was first to deduce her power. “You teleported!”

“What?”

“You've got the ability to move through space. From
one location to another! Over great distances, or through walls! Well, probably through walls. That's what they can do in comic books.”

Lorna whooped with delight. “Incredible! Try it again!”

Emily shook her head and walked toward them on her trusty legs. “I'd rather not, yet. That's something I'll have to get used to.”

Toby flexed his fingers as the others turned to him.

“I can shoot lasers from my eyes, Emily can teleport, and Pete can shoot ice from his fingers. What can you offer to our little superteam?” said Lorna with a wry smile.

Toby licked his lips and remembered how he felt yesterday. “I already know mine. I picked the same as yesterday.”

Pete made a face. “Why?”

“Well, I”

Lorna jabbed an accusing finger. “You knew it was safe, didn't you?”

Toby stiffened defensively. “I liked it. Didn't have time to explore what else I could do.”

“No! You used us as guinea pigs just in case anything went wrong!”

“That's not true! I was just … I got scared!”

Emily tilted her head in agreement. “Come on, Lorna. I don't blame him for that. I was scared too.”

Lorna shot him a look that seemed to say “traitor.”

Pete stepped between them. “This isn't the time to fight. We've only got these powers for an hour.” He glanced at his watch, relieved to see that it hadn't iced over. “And we've been out here about twelve minutes. We've got a job to do, remember?”

Toby blinked. “The bank! In all the excitement I forgot about that.”

Pete pulled his cell phone from his jeans' pocket. His fingers danced over the buttons.

“What're you doing?” Emily asked.

“Setting the phone's alarm, so when it sounds we know our powers are just about to run out.”

Toby nodded. “Good idea, but how are we going to make it into the city in time?”

Lorna held her arms out wide. “Boy, you really did forget. We'll
fly
!”

Flying wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Pete, his head charged with the knowledge of a thousand comic books, had boldly strode forward and thrown himself in the air, arms outstretched—only to land face-first in the mud, his glasses tumbling away, the frames twisted but luckily not broken.

After that everybody had been cautious, although fully
aware of the minutes passing by. Lorna had criticized the lack of instructions that came with the powers and wanted to complain, but to whom, they had no idea.

Emily and Toby took a few turns, leaping from the wall that divided the patio from the shaggy grass lawn. Neither had succeeded, although when Pete suggested they “feel the tingle” as he now called it, Emily had dematerialized in a loud clap, only to reappear at the bottom of the driveway, a feat that once more unnerved her.

Lorna was the one to crack the secret on her first try, to Toby's annoyance. She threw herself forward as though she was a goalkeeper diving to save the crucial World Cup penalty. As she arced inches from the ground her whole body slid forward on an unseen cushion of air, and she gracefully pirouetted upright. She accelerated to the height of the house, before slowly lowering herself back to the ground, whooping and giggling all the way.

“How …?” Pete began, still rubbing his grazed arm.

“It's so easy!” Lorna declared. “All you have to do is
fall up
!”

Stony silence greeted this comment. Lorna's expression dropped as she saw the uncomprehending faces.

“You're a genius,” said Pete sarcastically.

“I know, it sounds stupid. But it's not. You know how when you fall, you get that feeling of being out of control, like the ground has just slipped out from under
your feet and you reach out for anything to support you? When you get that feeling of being totally out of control, all you have to do is try and push
upward
. Normally impossible. But in this case …”