Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise (27 page)

Even with all of the battles, car chases, and rooftop fights with super-villains he had been involved in over the past ten months, nothing could have prepared Tobin for the chaos of war. Green laser beams zipped by his ears. Explosions of dirt and rocks erupted all around him. Bodies of superheroes and super-villains alike flew over his head, either under their own power or because they had been hit with devastating energy blasts from an enemy combatant. Screams rang through his ears—both from leaders shouting orders to their teams and from people being shot with lasers from the Eradicators—and the clanging of swords, shields, and spears filled the air of the hot August night.

Trying to focus through the deafening madness, Tobin ran ahead through the Common, swinging his electrified bo-staff at a Gore in his way and reducing the screeching demon to nothing but a smoking cloak. The boy knew he had only one goal, regardless of everything else around him: he had to get across Boston Common and reach the Boston Public Garden, where the Trident was rising up from the ground. He had to get to the skyscraper, as quickly as possible, to draw the Daybreaker out of hiding. It was the only reason Tobin was there, and he was the only one who could do it.

But still, as Tobin ran across the battlefield, ducking behind statues and diving out of the way of laser beams, he couldn’t help but be consumed by the war. Looking to his left, he watched as one of King Ontombe’s warriors—a half-man, half-cheetah—roared with rage and pounced onto an Eradicator, ripping both of the black robot’s arms from their sockets. To his right, he saw one of the Rytonian Rebels drop to the ground, hit in both knees by a blast of red energy from Greylock’s fist. The green-skinned rebel writhed in agony, with his left leg bent backward with its bone exposed at the shin.

Tobin couldn’t run. He couldn’t just dash to the skyscraper and leave everyone behind. He had to stay and fight with them.

As the boy caught his breath and crouched behind a thick tree, he heard Orion through his earpiece.

“Remember, Tobin: you are the only one that matters here. Do not engage anyone that you do not have to. Stay back, and wait for the right opening to break away and reach the skyscraper.”

From across the park, Zaius Moldron dashed toward Tobin and leapt into the air, baring his fangs and spreading his razor-sharp fingernails wide. The boy spun around and fired a lightning bolt from his bo-staff, sending the grey-and-blue furred chimp soaring across Boston Common in a flash of electricity.

“I get that Orion, but it’s a little tough. I’m not about to just stand around here and wait for an opening while you guys do all the fighting.”

“All this fighting has only one purpose: to draw the Daybreaker out. If you aren’t around here to get his attention and send him back where he came, none of this will mean anything. Stay back, Tobin—don’t get yourself hurt, and don’t get yourself taken out of commission.”

“So you just want me to wait around and watch until I can reach the skyscraper and the Daybreaker shows up?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say wait around and watch. A few lightning blasts here and there wouldn’t hurt.”

“That I can do.”

Tobin jumped out from behind the tree and swung his bo-staff, sending a wave of blue electricity tumbling along the grass. When it reached a group of four Eradicators surrounding Aykrada, the burst of lightning sent the robots scattering like bowling pins. This allowed Aykrada—whose body was turned to tan-colored stone—to escape and help a Rytonian medic drag an injured Shigeru Knight to safety.

Looking toward the front of the battle, Tobin was struck by just how many of his friends were there, fighting for him, and fighting for Earth. At the edge of Boston Common, he saw Mad Dog John, engaged in battle with the super-villain named Songbird. Even though the giant, orange-furred, pointy-eared hero had nearly two feet on the white-haired, beautiful super-villain, she was still in control—Mad Dog John was currently surrounded by swarming, three-foot-long spirits with black eyes and the pointy beaks of crows. The ghosts were flying in and out of his shaggy fur, causing Mad Dog John to panic, his face stricken with terror. He batted at the ghosts and screamed, frantically trying to fight off the screeching white spirits—which, because of his mission debriefing, Tobin knew were causing Mad Dog John to live through his worst nightmares. This continued until, finally, Orion ran toward them, leaping over a fallen Eradicator and pulling back the string of his bow. The red-tipped arrow zipped through the air and struck Songbird, exploding in a flash against her multi-colored, prism-like dress and knocking her into a nearby wooden gazebo.

But Mad Dog John wasn’t the only one fighting for the people of Earth. Agent Everybody was there, too, firing his ray gun at approaching Gores and dissipating them into billions of molecules. Adrianna was nearby, flipping and cartwheeling among the laser fire, swinging her double-sided spear at the villain with burning skin named Ember, sending him splashing into a small pond, causing a burst of steam to erupt into the air. As Tobin looked up, he even saw Adrianna’s brother, Jonathan. Transformed into the were-bat and dressed in his tattered purple suit, he flew down at Greylock and grabbed the super-villain by the shoulders, before flying back up and letting go again, causing Greylock to plummet to the earth, where he was suddenly at the mercy of a very large, very angry King Ontombe. Pounding his chest, the eagle king swung both of his arms downward like a club, bashing Greylock into the smoking, charred dirt.

Then there were the Rytonian Rebels; one squadron was firing their laser rifles at the Eradicators, while another squadron was applying medical aid and rushing injured heroes into the surrounding buildings around the park. Tobin still couldn’t believe it: here was a group of Rytonian soldiers fighting against Rigel and Nova—their own former leaders—all for the safety and rescue of Earth. Who knows, Tobin thought to himself: many of the rebels probably still had friends and family who lived in Harrison—friends and family who would never speak to them after this, no matter the outcome. And yet here they were, fighting alongside Tobin, facing down an army of super-villains, demons, and robotic soldiers, all for the sake of saving Earth. They were risking their lives to save a people—and a world—they had nothing to do with.

And then it struck Tobin: all of this madness was happening in the middle of Boston, Massachusetts. Even though it had changed nearly completely over the past two months, it was still Boston and always would be—that’s what this was all about. But seeing it being used as a war ground like this—with Boston Common as the main battlefield—made Tobin suddenly sick and angry. This was the city where his mom took him to his first Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park when he was nine. This was where he and Chad went on a field trip in third grade to the Boston Aquarium, with Chad’s dad as their chaperone. This was where Tobin and Jennifer went shopping in the Prudential Center for back-to-school clothes before every school year. And now it was a warzone, with superheroes and super-villains from another world using it as a place to settle the fate of the universe.

But Tobin put all that out of his head. He had to. He had more important things to worry about. Like staying alive, for one thing, and making sure he was still standing when the Daybreaker showed up. Forcing himself to focus, Tobin dashed forward and headed back into the fray, moving closer to the skyscraper, even amid the scalding explosions and eruptions of dirt, grass, and trees all around him.

Then, suddenly, as the smoke began to clear, Tobin realized he was now only a few hundred yards away from the Boston Public Garden, and therefore the Trident. Only Zaius Moldron, Songbird, and a few last Eradicators blocked his way.

Wow
, he thought to himself.
We’re actually gonna win this thing.

***

Above the battlefield of Boston Common, on the top floor of the Trident, Rigel stood at the window in his office, watching the insane warzone outside.

“Attacking us with everything they have all at once, weeks before I thought he’d make a move,” Rigel said. “I have to hand it to him: Orion made a wise strategic decision.”

Nova stood behind the giant, frustrated. “Yes, clearly he did, because clearly they are winning. Why didn’t you send any members of the Rytonian army into the field? We easily could have overwhelmed them in sheer numbers alone.”

“One of the most useful things in battle is an enemy who is overconfident,” Rigel said. “Let them have their pitiful victories against nameless, robotic soldiers and mindless demons. We know where the real power lies.”

Nova couldn’t hold it in any longer. He stomped toward Rigel, pointing his finger. “We need to get down there, Rigel, now! I am through with sitting up here and waiting with you, listening to all your excuses about why it’s not time for us to act yet. It is time for us to act—just look out there! I am not going to stare out this window like a buffoon and watch us lose everything!”

“Things are going exactly as planned, Nova. I will know when it is time for us to get involved. For now, we wait and let them tire themselves and think they are winning. It won’t be long until they learn what they are truly up against.”

Rigel walked across the office and pressed a button on a communicator against the wall.

“General Thrace?” the red giant said. “It’s time to unleash our friends from Rhode Island. Release them from their cages and send them into the Common.”

He walked away from the desk and back to the window.

“Come on, Nova. Let us watch what we have fought so hard for.”

***

Down the hallway from Rigel’s office, the Daybreaker was laying in his bed in his own office, watching the same chaotic battle in Boston Common outside his window.

But, as much as he wished he could get up and help save the city of Harrison, the Daybreaker knew that he couldn’t. He was sicker than ever. The procedures with Dr. Brooks were no longer working. He was still dying. Since his latest extraction in the science lab on the fourth floor, he could barely create any electricity or white fire from his hands at all. Even his new powers—the ones he had just developed—seemed to be gone. His entire head seemed foggy, heavy; all he could hear were the screams of battle outside and his own wheezing.

Yet, still, the Daybreaker had to try. It was his destiny—and his destiny alone—to protect the universe from Orion and the other evil villains who were currently invading Harrison. Weakly turning away from the window, the Daybreaker reached for his helmet, which was resting on a table near his bed. But, he was too weak, and instead he only knocked the helmet to the ground, where it clanged loudly before rolling away. With his arm dangling onto the floor and half of his body hanging off the mattress, the Daybreaker lost consciousness—his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his face went limp, falling against the baseboard of the bed. He stayed that way for five minutes, until finally Nurse Somerset came to check on him. After picking up his helmet in the doorway, she walked to the Daybreaker and gently helped him back into bed, resting his head on the pillow.

“C’mon, sir,” she said. “You have to stay in bed. You’re not well. You have to rest.”

“No,” he said, his voice scratching against his throat. “I’m the Daybreaker. I’m the Daybreaker.”

***

Down on the ground outside, the battered, exhausted heroes finally reached the western end of Boston Common. Now, the only thing separating them from the Trident was a deserted, four-lane street that marked the end of Boston Common and the beginning of the Boston Public Garden.

Tobin looked around. Stunningly, the battle seemed to be almost over. The unstopping, deafening sounds of war were gone, replaced by only the spare
ZING!
of a laser and the random shout from a Rytonian medic as they tended to the wounded. The grounds of Boston Common were still covered in a haze of smoke and littered with the motionless casings of Eradicators, but there were remarkably few injuries among the superheroes, animal warriors, and rebels from Ruffalo Rock. As Tobin looked ahead, he saw the few remaining super-villains of the New Capricious Council hurriedly retreating back into the skyscraper.

“Um, am I crazy,” Tobin said, “or did we just win this thing?”

With his goggles strapped to his eyes, Wakefield stared at the top of the Trident. “We haven’t won anything until the Daybreaker shows himself and we send him back.”

“But there’s almost nobody left to fight,” Tobin said. “I hate to say it, but that was almost easy.”

“The kid’s right, O,” Keplar said. “This doesn’t make much sense. This can’t be all they have to throw at us, can it?”

“No,” Orion replied. “I still expect Rigel or Nova to show themselves at any minute. This was only their first wave, so the next thing—”

A piercing, screeching
ROAR!
interrupted Orion. It came from the north of the park, towards the buildings around Boston Common, in the Boston neighborhood known as Beacon Hill. The sound was so loud that it vibrated in Tobin’s chest.

 The heroes all turned toward the north.

“I think,” Tobin said, “that the next thing is on its way.”

Then, over the tops of the buildings on the horizon, Tobin could see them—three silhouettes of flying beasts, gigantic in the sky, coming closer. Turning to his right, the boy saw three more massive creatures, soaring through the air and making their way towards Boston Common from the east.