Rise of the Heroes (9 page)

The image of the cases filled with money drifted across his mind. All that cash would surely solve his problems at home. It would certainly stop his parents from fighting. Money solved everything. Didn't it?

He wondered what spurred Doc Tempest on to become a villain. As he climbed the stairs to his bedroom, Pete could easily imagine his pockets overflowing with wads of banknotes. Was it really a bad thing to use superpowers to forge a better life for yourself?

But he knew the answer. Years of reading comic books had formed Pete's morals. Unfortunately he knew the difference between right and wrong. Plus he had no doubts that using Hero.com powers to perform an unscrupulous act would get him banned from using the Web site. And that was too terrible to contemplate. He'd just have to make the most of the hand he'd been dealt.

He slammed his bedroom door shut to block out his parents' voices. He was a hero, and he'd act like one no matter what.

Problem is, the villains always seemed to have the most fun.

* * *

A weekend wasted!

Pete and Emily had both visited Toby and Lorna in the hope that they would have another chance to try the Web site. But that opportunity never came; Sarah seemed to be working on the computer all day, and she had made no offer to leave them alone in the house.

Lorna had dropped a few hints to her mother, that perhaps she would enjoy going for a walk? This simply raised Sarah's suspicions, and Lorna gave up on that approach.

Toby started to worry that their mother had discovered their intentions, and was making sure the children didn't get to spend any time on the computer.

A phone call on Saturday evening drew Sarah away from the machine. The joy in her voice turned into melancholic tones as it appeared their dad wouldn't be coming home as planned; the dig was keeping him away for at least another week.

As Lorna and Toby listened from the top of the stairs, Toby began imagining his father with superpowers, traveling the world. He could only guess at the adventure he was embroiled in now. No doubt something big that kept him away from home for so long. Their mother's gentle sobbing brought him back to reality. He swapped glances with his sister, and Lorna walked down the stairs to console her mother. Toby
would have liked to go too, but he knew they would probably end up arguing.

Sunday dragged like only a Sunday can. Pete called, and Toby let Lorna talk to him. The two friends hadn't spoken since the mission, and neither seemed willing to make a simple apology.

It was clear their next dot-com adventure would have to wait. And with a sense of utter despair, Toby realized tomorrow was back to school—their midterm break was over.

Back to school … could that sentence sound any more agonizing?

Pete's shoulder hurt as he was slammed against the wall for the third time. His backpack slipped, school-books tumbling into rain puddles. He had attempted to repair his glasses with glue but had ended up making them more lopsided, and now they had glue-prints over the arms too. His only other option would have been a pair of thick, cheap glasses he'd been given free by the optician. He'd thought that wearing those would make him more of a magnet for bullies.

Now as he looked up at the hulking figures of Scuffer, Knuckles, and Big Tony surrounding him, he realized that his glasses didn't make any difference. He realized too that standing up to Scuffer the other day
hadn't changed anything. The bully might have been distracted then, but today it was business as usual.

“Mornin', Professor,” growled Scuffer as Big Tony pinned Pete against the wall outside the school. “Bet you were dying to come back to school.”

Big Tony sniggered. “Yeah, you cry when it's the holidays, don't ya?” His voice changed into a high-pitched mockery of Pete: “Oh, no … weeks away from class! How will I learn? I'm so sad.”

“Leave me alone!” whimpered Pete.

“Or what?”

“You'll see!”

The response didn't sound like the threat that he'd hoped it would. The bullies jeered at him.

“Careful, Tony,” grunted Knuckles. “He's a black belt in origami!”

“Think we won't bother you' cause we let you go last time? Well, we had bigger things to think about than a bug like you!” Scuffer taunted.

A familiar voice suddenly called out. “Let him go, doofus!”

They all turned to see Toby. The hood of his coat was up, giving him the vague air of a superhero and for a second Pete thought Toby must have been on the Web site to download some powers—he'd never stood up to these guys before.

Big Tony didn't release his grip on Pete. Instead,
wicked grins spread across the faces of the gang as it detected new prey.

“Or what?” said Knuckles, cracking his own knuckles—a trademark he had developed to distract from his reedy voice. “What could you possibly do to us?”

Toby stood his ground, but he felt his legs tremble. The rain was pouring down, and it seeped through his coat. Knuckles and Scuffer stepped forward menacingly. Big Tony made no attempt to release Pete.

Toby stood firm. “Let. Him. Go.”

Scuffer hesitated as he walked forward. His eye caught movement across the schoolyard.

“Here's the Man,” said Scuffer.

They beckoned to the leader of their pack. Jake Hunter was easily identified by his shock of spiky blond hair. Lorna had once mentioned that she thought he was cute, a comment that annoyed Toby. He was a callous thug, and had no right to be “cute.”

“Yo! Hunter!” Scuffer shouted. The grin that crossed his face dropped when Hunter threw a halfhearted wave and continued on his course—ignoring his crew.

“Told ya he was actin' weird,” muttered Scuffer to his cohorts.

“Fallen out of favor?” Toby goaded.

Scuffer snarled at him. “Shut up. Must be somethin' on his mind. Come on, guys. Let the geeks go.”

Big Tony released Pete, and the gang followed Scuffer
across the yard—all of them ignoring Toby. Toby sagged with relief, thankful they hadn't tried to pick a fight. He crossed over to Pete and helped him pick up his books.

“Thanks,” said Pete, feeling a little embarrassed.

“What are friends for?” said Toby with a half-smile.

Pete grinned. As usual their argument was now officially a thing of the past. “Are you … er … you know …?” He looked around to make sure nobody was in earshot. Scuffer and his imbecile friends had disappeared around a corner. “Powered up?”

Toby shook his head. “No. But I couldn't let them do that to you, could I? We're a superhero team, remember?”

“I don't feel like one right now,” said Pete as he fastened the straps on his bag. Something occurred to him. “What would you have done if they had started a fight?”

“I probably would have been eating hospital food with you!”

Torrential rain at lunchtime had forced everybody inside, and with nothing much to do, a crazy-sounding story soon spread that Jake Hunter had miraculously dragged a teacher out of a burning classroom on the last day before the holidays.

Toby whispered to Pete that, if it was true, perhaps
Hunter had been downloading the superpowers too? Pete didn't relish that thought, and brushed it aside. He very much doubted Hunter would have done anything so heroic as rescuing a teacher—in fact, he probably started the fire. But the story was fast becoming a school legend, and the shell of the woodwork classroom was evidence that something disastrous had happened.

The final bell sounded like an angel singing. Toby and Pete ran from the school into the heavy downpour outside, simply glad to be free.

Walking back home, Toby suggested that Pete should come with him to see if the coast was clear so they could try and visit the Web site. Their first steps away from school were filled with trepidation, worried that they might run into Hunter's gang. After a mile of peering over their shoulders, they finally stopped looking and Pete started talking about the Web site.

“Where do you think that Web site comes from?” he asked.

“I don't know. Lorna and I were wondering about that.”

“Somebody had to make it and put on the superpowers.”

“Yeah … so they must have had them in the first place if they're giving them away.”

Pete nodded; that made sense. “How many powers do you reckon there are?”

“I saw at least twenty on there. And we didn't really scroll down the page.”

“That's mind-bending.” He noticed Toby was staring at the ground with a troubled expression. “What's up?” “I was just thinking about Doc Tempest.”

“Yeah, that head! Maybe he has a disease or something. I hope it's not contagious. Glasses are bad enough, but I'd never make it through school with a head like that.”

“He said something about revenge. What do you think he meant by that?”

Pete waved his hand dismissively. “Don't worry about it. He was just mouthing off. People say anything when they're angry. Look at my parents.”

They were several streets away from Toby's house when it became apparent that Lorna and Emily had also had the same idea about checking the Web site. They were just ahead, heads bowed against the rain and sharing a vivid red umbrella.

“Hey, guys, wait up!”

Pete overheard them finishing a conversation about boys. Emily flashed a smile at Pete but didn't say anything. Pete glanced away quickly, thankful Toby hadn't noticed his cheeks blushing.

“You think Mom won't be home?” asked Toby.

“You're thinking it too,” Lorna replied knowingly.

“She's working at home today but was complaining that she had to go to the store on top of everything else. And shopping takes her ages. I just hope we can try it out.”

“What's that?” Emily suddenly asked. She was staring ahead, over the rooftops. Toby and Pete followed her gaze. Pete swapped a look with Toby and circled his finger around his ear, a signal that she was crazy.

“They're clouds, Em.”

Emily tutted and grabbed Pete's jaw with her hand, twisting his face to the sky once more.

“No, you idiot—
that
!”

They all noticed it at the same time. A swirling cone of dark puffy cloud was forming a funnel in the sky. The tip of the funnel twitched like a cat's tail before making contact with the ground beyond the line of houses. As soon as it touched land, the cloud funnel grew denser as the twister increased in ferocity.

“A tornado!” cried Toby.

Now they could hear the tornado rumbling, like a deep jet engine. Debris spiraled into the tornado as it was sucked from the ground.

“But we don't get tornadoes
here
,” said Pete, not tearing his gaze away from the awesome force of nature. “Bet it's about half a mile away. It must be ripping up everything in its path!”

Lorna suddenly ran forward as the tornado swayed drunkenly to one side. Toby shouted after her.

“Lorn?”

She stopped and spun round, tears in her eyes. “Our house, Tobe! It's heading toward our house!”

Lorna fought for breath as she reached the top of her street. The rest of the kids all skidded to a halt to watch the monstrous spectacle. The tornado was the width of the road and moving at top speed as it smashed through an empty house directly opposite their own. Windows shattered from the change of pressure within the building, and seconds later the front of the house exploded in a shower of masonry and wood. The twister ripped across the beautifully arranged garden, turning the lawn into mud. The suction from the tornado was fierce, even pulling the rain toward it.

“Wow!” shouted Toby, both thrilled and terrified.

There was no doubt about it; the tornado was heading straight for their home. It struck a van, sucking it up like a toy as it dashed across the road toward his house—straight for the black car parked in the driveway.

“Oh God! What if Mom is home?” shrieked Lorna in a high-pitched scream that was barely audible over the heavy bass roar of the tornado. They all took a few halting steps forward, then stopped. What could they do? Without superpowers they would be smashed like bugs.

Lorna felt Toby's hands grip her shoulder—they both watched as the tornado glanced the side of the car, tossing it away. It took half a second before they all realized the car was zooming in their direction, spinning like a coin.

“Run!” shouted Emily.

They scattered in four different directions as the car smashed down on the road, the roof crunching flat. The car skidded past them in a trail of sparks. But they were all drawn back to the tornado.

KER-SMASH!
The tornado struck the front of the house like a sledgehammer. Roof slates shot in all directions, and somewhere in the chaos Toby swore he could see the front door fold in two.

The twister stopped moving and spun on the spot, halfway in their home—but not advancing to demolish the rest. They heard a scream from inside the house.

It was their mother.

Toby sprinted forward, arms pumping. He didn't know what he could do, but he knew he couldn't just stand and watch as his mother …

Once again he skidded to a halt. Something was descending in the center of the tornado. The funnel was thick with swirling debris that made it difficult to see clearly, but the object resembled a circular metal platform … a glider-disc!

Toby was openmouthed when he saw the distinctive figure standing on the platform. Doc Tempest. Inside
the tornado the air was still and calm, so Tempest's cape hung limp. His face was a mask of delight and focused solely on Sarah Wilkinson, lying struggling on the floor in the destroyed hallway of her house, her legs pinned by unrecognizable rubble.

Lorna, Pete, and Emily caught up with Toby in time to see Tempest use one hand to push away the debris holding their mother—and then scoop her off the floor with the other. Sarah kicked and screamed as she was flung over his shoulder, and the platform began to rise back up the tornado funnel.