Rise of the Heroes Read online

  ANDY BRIGGS

  HERO.COM

  Rise of the Heroes

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Frozen

  The Storm

  The Job

  Doc Tempest

  Revenge

  Aftermath

  A Storm Rising

  The Council of Evil

  Fort Knox

  To the Rescue

  The Storm Engine

  Wrath of Tempest

  Storming the Beach

  About the Author

  Also by Andy Briggs

  Storming the Beach

  Imprint

  For Dad

  An inspiration forever

  * * *

  From: Andy Briggs

  To: HERO.COM readers everywhere

  Subject: Careful on the Web!

  As you know, the Internet is a brilliant invention, but you need to be careful when using it.

  In this awesome book, the heroes (and villains!) stumble across the different Web sites accidentally. But HERO.COM and VILLAIN.NET don’t really exist. :-(I thought them up when I was dreaming about how cool it would be if I could fly. The idea for HERO.COM suddenly came to me—especially the scene where Toby and Pete … Oh, wait! You haven’t read it yet so I’d better shut up! :-) Anyway, I began writing and before I knew it, the idea had spiraled into VILLAIN.NET as well. But I had to make up all of the Internet stuff. None of it is really out there on the Web.

  Here are my tips for safe surfing on the Web: keep your identity secret (like all good superheroes do); stick to safe Web sites; make sure a parent, teacher, or guardian knows that you’re online——and if anyone sends you anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t reply, and tell an adult you trust.

  I do have my own Web site, and it’s totally safe (even without superpowers!):

  www.heroorvillainbooks.com

  Be safe out there!

  :-)

  * * *

  Frozen

  The C-130 transport plane bucked against the invisible eddies that swirled around the aircraft 30,000 feet above the earth. More commonly known as a Hercules, the aircraft was the workhorse of the air force—but it had not been designed to take the kind of punishment that was hammering it now.

  The malevolent storm had appeared from blue skies. Snow pelted the craft and choked the four powerful engines—one of which was still aflame from the missile impact—forcing it rapidly to lose airspeed and precious altitude. Below, the bleak continent of Antarctica beckoned to the Hercules’ passengers with a subzero embrace.

  Inside, two twelve-year-old boys—Toby and Pete—gripped the safety harnesses bolted to their jump seats, their knuckles white as the plane belly flopped. Any items not secured jumped into the air and remained there, held in a curious state of zero gravity as they nose-dived toward the earth.

  Toby thought he was going to be sick for sure. Having watched countless documentaries on TV he remembered the term parabola: NASA flew planes toward the earth to simulate zero gravity. The planes were affectionately known as “Vomit Comets.” And that’s exactly how he felt now, feeling the bile rise in his throat.

  He also remembered seeing that they would have about forty seconds of this nauseating feeling before the plane crashed into the ground. And after everything that had happened this week, he was pretty sure they wouldn’t survive that.

  All these thoughts flitted through Toby’s mind in a second. He smashed open the restraining clip on his safety harness and floated out into the cargo area of the plane like he’d seen astronauts do on television.

  Pete watched Toby free-float out and unbuckled his own belt to join him. Unable to precisely control his movements, Toby floated upside down, the inverted perspective disorienting him even more.

  Thirty seconds to impact …

  “We have to open the rear doors!” yelled Toby over the monstrous droning of the Allison Turboprop engines.

  Pete looked around frantically. “The release switch is automated. It’s in the cockpit.”

  “Shoot!” cried Toby.

  They both knew there was no time to break into the fortified cockpit and override the mechanical Drone Pilot.

  Twenty-five seconds.

  Toby kicked himself away from the bulkhead and soared toward the rear of the aircraft, steadying himself as he flew over pallets held in place with canvas webbing. He knew once they opened the door the supply pallets would create an additional problem.

  Pete tried to use his arms to swim through the air; instead he revolved uselessly on the spot.

  Toby cried over to him. “I can’t do this! This is your area of expertise!”

  Pete threw out a hand and steadied himself by catching the pallet webbing.

  “Open the doors and use the pallets to spring out!” cried Toby.

  That was the problem with flying; it was difficult to do if you were plummeting. You needed a springboard to push yourself upward. Even with superpowers, physics always butted in its unwelcome nose.

  Twenty …

  Pete laboriously heaved himself over to Toby. Both boys planted their feet against the pallets, coiled for action.

  Pete removed his glasses—he had learned his lesson long ago—and focused on the rear cargo door that opened like a jaw under the Hercules’ tail section.

  BAM! A concentrated beam of blue energy leaped from his eyes and blew the cargo door into twisted metal fragments. Frigid winds sucked at the aircraft’s contents.

  The sudden loss of pressure pulled the contents of the craft out with teeth-jarring speed. The pallets vaulted under their feet, rocketing the boys out into the blizzard. Inertia pushed them flat against the boxes underfoot, but both boys knew they had to push upward; otherwise they would simply crash into the ground with the rest of the aircraft.

  Using every part of their remaining strength, they pushed—and suddenly they found themselves flying up, away from the aircraft and its cargo of supply pallets—

  And toward the jagged mountains!

  No sooner had they taken flight than the Hercules smashed forcibly into the side of one of the mountains. Pete’s mental countdown had not taken into account the fact that the ground had swept up in the form of the Neptune Mountain Range to meet them.

  The Hercules transport erupted into a vivid orange fireball. Twenty free-falling pallets impacted into the inferno seconds later. Toby could feel the flames licking his heels, but he urged himself to fly faster, throwing out both arms before him, in case that helped. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pete banking downward, away from the fireball’s path. Toby lost no time in joining him.

  They arced around and down in a flight path that a military jock would term a “yo-yo maneuver.” Within seconds the steeply sloping, icy flanks of the mountain were underneath them and the Hercules was no longer visible in the storm.

  The cold bit hard, sapping Toby’s energy even through the multilayered thermal gear that covered almost every inch of him. He knew he had no choice but to land firmly on the mountain slope, or risk dropping from the sky and rolling the rest of the way downhill. A quick glance confirmed Pete was thinking the same.

  Toby pivoted so he was no longer aiming headfirst down the mountain. He slowed, dropping the last few feet to the ground. He fell on all fours to keep his balance, and sank to his knees and elbows. Pete landed next to him. Already the driving blizzard had coated them with a layer of frost.

  Pete’s teeth chattered. “That … was a new experience, huh?”

  Before Toby could reply, a noise got his attention. It was bass-heavy, countering the wind’s whistle. The ground beneath them shook; with a feeling of dreadful realization, Toby turned his gaze uphill.


  The flaming carcass of the aircraft was sledging down the hill, and gaining momentum with every second.

  “Watch out!” Toby screamed.

  He had no time to push his friend aside. Instead he could only leap sideways with the very last of his energy.

  His face was buried in the snow as he landed, and the world shook around him as the burning twisted debris thundered past like a runaway train. He remained motionless as, seconds later, he was pelted with smaller debris that bounced off his protective gear. Toby was sure that had he not been wearing the multiple layers, a jagged piece of shrapnel would have cut him open.

  The ground stopped trembling and the driving wind howled some more. Toby picked himself up and looked around wildly.

  Pete was gone.

  “Pete! Where are you?”

  Panic seized him, overriding the permeating chill. He staggered forward.

  “Pete! Answer me! Please?”

  He looked around hopelessly, and then dropped to his knees. With every ounce of self-control, he stopped himself from crying; tears would freeze over his eyeballs in the -58º Fahrenheit atmosphere and would no doubt blind him.

  If the aircraft had hit Pete then he would definitely be dead. Pete’s current range of superpowers would do nothing to save him from being crushed by a flaming aircraft.

  Dead. Maybe like Lorna, Emily … and his mother.

  Toby shook the dark thoughts from his mind and assessed his situation. It was almost as bleak. He was two thousand miles away from the nearest civilization, which was located on the tip of Argentina, trapped at over a thousand feet on the snow-covered peak. Hurricane-strength winds promised to spirit him away if he dared fly again—not that he had the strength.

  His best friend was probably dead. His sister and her friend had been caught by henchmen, and a madman held his mother captive: an unspeakably evil villain who had demolished Fort Knox.

  And it seemed Toby was the only person who could now save the world from disaster.

  Talk about a bad week.

  Toby reflected on how the last seven days had transformed their lives beyond imagination. In one moment he and his friends had turned from regular kids into superheroes. The innocence of their youth had been stripped raw.

  Everything had changed the day they chanced on the source of their extraordinary powers ….

  The Storm

  It was cold, but crystal blue skies offered a perfect day for laser tag in the forest that stood at the end of the road. Brown leaves crunched noisily underfoot, but the flaxen fronds that still clung to the trees offered just enough cover to hide. As usual the game between Toby and Pete was fast and furious. Toby was the more athletic of the two, and pressed his advantage by sprinting through the trees, leaving Pete exhausted by the time he caught up. Plus, Pete was never a good shot. In fact, had the gun been a high-energy laser rather than a toy, half the trees in the forest would have been on fire. Now that would have been fun.

  But after almost an hour of punishing laser combat, the sky had glowered. Bloated clouds rolled across the sun and brought a heavy shower that forced the boys to retreat from the forest. The autumns had become increasingly erratic, thanks to their parents’ legacy of global warming. By the time they reached the backyard gate, the shower had bloomed into a torrential downpour that hammered a rhythmic staccato against the backyard furniture.

  And the back door was locked from the inside.

  “Lorna!” Toby yelled as he rattled the handle and thumped on the wooden frame, flakes of old paint floating to the ground. “It’s raining! Open up!”

  Pete had caught up and now joined Toby in beating on the door. “Why is it locked?” he asked, cold raindrops dripping across his glasses and blurring his vision.

  “My sister, that’s why.”

  On cue, shrill laughter from the window above them got Toby’s and Pete’s attention. Lorna brushed her long dark hair from across her face as she watched her brother’s predicament. A flash of blond hair appeared alongside to watch with equally wicked amusement: Emily.

  “Getting wet?” taunted Lorna. “Not a good day to be stuck outside.”

  Toby stood back, waving his laser-tag rifle in frustration. “Oh, very funny. Very clever. You’ll pass your finals in no time with comments like that!”

  Pete was not as adept in sarcasm as his friend and shouted, “Can’t you see we’re soaked?”

  Lorna was unmoved. “Serves you both right!”

  Pete scowled. “What did I do?”

  “You didn’t let us play your stupid game,” chided Lorna.

  The rain was coming down harder; fat drops slapped their faces, and each strike infuriated Toby. “If it’s so stupid, then why are you upset?”

  “Upset? Do I sound upset? I’m having a great time! I’m in here, nice and warm. And dry.”

  Toby held back his angry reply; he didn’t want to risk aggravating his sister any more. He swapped a glance with Pete, who knew what was coming next. The ultimate weapon. “If you don’t let us in right now … then I’ll tell Mom when she gets back.”

  “A little old for that, aren’t you?”

  So maybe the “ultimate weapon” didn’t apply as much when you’re twelve, or in Lorna’s case, an unscrupulous thirteen and a half.

  “Looks like you’re stuck!” said Emily with delight.

  Lorna nodded. “And after all the stupid tricks you two have played on us, nothing’s going to change our minds.”

  No sooner had the words slipped from her mouth than a jagged lightning bolt stabbed the ground with multiple forks, blasting a pair of heavy branches off a solid oak tree that had dominated the backyard for over a hundred years. With a terrifying crack of electricity, fragments of wood shot across the grass.

  Lorna whitened, looking up in shock. Toby and Pete spun around; the smell of charred wood invaded their nostrils as several scarred branches crashed to the floor in a shower of embers just a few yards away.

  * * *

  Toby’s scalp was red by the time Lorna had finished vigorously toweling it dry. Now his hair pointed in every direction, as if he’d been electrocuted.

  “Stop it! It hurts,” complained Toby as he nudged Lorna back.

  “I said I’m sorry!” sighed Lorna. And to her surprise, she actually was. Like most siblings, she and Toby fought occasionally (or constantly if you listened to their parents), but it was never too serious.

  The four of them sat around the large, solid-timber kitchen table, with a bottle of Coke left open. Pete refilled his glass for the fourth time, pausing only to burp loudly.

  “You almost killed us out there!” said Toby.

  Lightning licked across the heavens as if to emphasize his point. It was now a tempest outside, the sky as dark as charcoal.

  “Which means we’re stuck with each other in here,” warned Lorna.

  Pete and Emily exchanged a surreptitious glance. They always watched their friends bicker—and while they openly supported them, inside they wished they’d both just get over it. Some disagreements had been known to continue for days. And this was just the kind of thing Pete wanted to avoid.

  “Well, just keep out of my way and we’ll be fine,” said Toby. “No more arguments.”

  “Fine. We’ll do our own thing.”

  “Good,” said Toby sullenly.

  “There are lots of things we can still do inside.”

  There was a long pause.

  Lorna’s and Toby’s eyes locked as though reading each other’s thoughts. Toby’s leg muscles tensed, and by the time he was on his feet Lorna had already bolted ahead of him through the kitchen door.

  Like her brother, Lorna enjoyed sports, in particular cross-country running. But Toby had the advantage in short-distance sprints and he shoved her against the wall as they passed in the hallway, leaving her shouting after him as he entered their father’s office.

  “Toby! Stop! That’s so not fair!”

  Emily and Pete followed in their wake, e
ager to join the chase but unaware of their destination.

  The office was lined with reference books, framed maps, and photographs of exotic destinations, souvenirs from their father’s constant traveling. A heavy desk the size of a dresser sat in front of massive bay windows, offering an impressive view of the backyard and the angry storm.

  Toby swerved around the side of the desk and slipped straight into the comfortable leather reclining chair, situated directly in front of a large LCD computer monitor. He stabbed the desktop computer’s power button as Lorna sprinted into the office and sat heavily on his lap, knocking the breath from him.

  “Get off!” Lorna shouted, punching his arm for emphasis.

  “Why should I?” said Toby, trying to push her off with little success. He swallowed the comment he was about to make about Lorna being heavy. He knew mentioning her weight would turn the situation nuclear.

  Pete and Emily now had entered the room as the computer booted up, its cooling fan noisily whirring away inside.

  Lorna pressed her weight harder on Toby’s stomach before she climbed off him.

  “Emily and I were going to use that!” she protested.

  Toby grinned as the Windows theme played from the computer’s speakers. “Tough. I was here first. You could’ve used it while we were outside.” His hand had already maneuvered the mouse so he could select the Internet icon. One click and the broadband connection took him online as thunder boomed outside.

  “We have homework to do!” protested Emily.

  “Well, go do it then,” said Pete smugly as he dragged a high-backed wooden chair across the room to sit by Toby.

  Emily glared at him. “I meant on the computer.”

  But Toby and Pete already had their noses in the on-screen browser, scrutinizing the numerous links on the colorful homepage that had appeared.

  “Check out the movie trailers,” said Pete, placing an oily fingerprint on the screen as he pointed to the link. He glanced up at Emily. “If you have homework to do, don’t you have a computer at home?”

  Emily shook her head. She had an older brother at home and was used to having to fight to get her own way. She was annoyed at Pete—his attitude always seemed to change around Toby. When he was alone with Emily they had fun and he was always looking out for her. But as soon as Toby entered the equation Pete would side with him no matter what. She wasn’t going to let him get his own way this time. She opened her mouth to respond—as lightning lit up the room like a flashbulb. A second later thunder clapped the air with astonishing fury, making them all jump.