The Nameless Hero (20 page)

Locked in battle with one of the robots, nFinity didn’t notice another coming his way, until it was nearly too late. The scorpion’s tail flicked forward with terrifying suddenness, the blade slicing through the Kevlar padding in nFinity’s uniform.

Lurching backward, nFinity gripped his shoulder. Blood poured through his fingers.

The others weren’t doing much better. Hovering in the
air, Milton pulled a canister out of his utility belt and dropped it onto the scorpion beneath him. The canister burst open, releasing its net a second too late. Instead of trapping the robot, it bounced off the thing’s back and entangled Miranda. Sophie was backed into a corner, with two scorpions bearing down on her.

Meanwhile, I was stuck on the sidelines, feeling more like the Nameless Weenie than the Nameless Hero. I tried to tug my arm free, but Gavin held on tightly. There was no telling how much longer the others would be able to hold off the scorpions, and I wasn’t about to wait around to find out.

Straining to focus, I clenched my fists. I could feel my Gyft buzzing to life inside me, a wave of energy crashing through my veins. The jolt hit Gavin all at once. He released his grip on my arm, staggering backward and gripping his hand in surprise.

I leaped forward before he had a chance to recover. Gavin’s angry voice rose from the crowd behind me, but I hardly heard it. My attention was on the fight raging in front of me.

Miranda was the closest, still trying to free herself from the net wrapped around her legs. A scorpion lunged at her, its tail flicking forward like a bolt of lightning. It missed her by only a fraction of an inch. I got there before it had a chance to make a second strike.

I slammed into the scorpion’s side with both hands just as another surge of spontaneous combustion flared through me.

In an instant, the scorpion exploded into a cloud of silver scrap metal. But there wasn’t a lot of time to enjoy the fireworks. At one end of the studio, Sophie was struggling to hold off two of the robots. At the other end, a second pair was going after nFinity in a blur of claws and razor-sharp tails. With his injured shoulder, I doubted he’d be able to survive their attacks much longer.

Milton landed next to me. As he glanced from Sophie to nFinity, I could see him reaching the same conclusion. There was no way to help one without abandoning the other—unless we worked together.

“I’ll help nFinity, and you help Sophie?” I suggested. I halfway expected Milton to ignore me out of spite. Instead, he nodded.

“Good luck,” he said.

“You too.”

And then we were off. On the way to nFinity’s end of the studio, I passed by a table where boxes of Triple-P Advanced Acne Cream were being displayed. Without slowing down, I grabbed a jumbo-sized bottle and launched it at one of the scorpions. A pulse of energy. A flash of red. And just like that, the zit cream was transformed into a blazing missile that exploded as soon as it hit the scorpion.

I kept running. Somewhere in my peripheral vision, I caught a quick glimpse of the crew, crowded in the center of the room. Some of them had picked up cameras and were using them to film the scene that was taking place around them.

But there was no time to pose for a close-up. The remaining
scorpion had nFinity backed against the wall, one hand clutched to his bloody shoulder. A swipe of the scorpion’s tail grazed his leg, leaving behind a bloody gash above his knee.

I got to the robot an instant before it could move in for the kill and grabbed the thing’s tail from behind. This was the point when I’d hoped the robot would blast apart and we’d all be saved. But that wasn’t what happened. Using my Gyft so many times in a row had left me drained.

And the timing couldn’t have been worse. Without spontaneous combustion, I was just a kid hugging the sharp end of an oversized scorpion. Not where I wanted to be.

The robot twisted to look at me. I barely had time to react before one of its claws snapped. Another moment’s hesitation and the thing would’ve split me in two. I jumped sideways as the claw came at me again. This time it was even closer. As I sidestepped the attack, my feet tangled underneath me and I tumbled to the ground.

The scorpion leveled its gaze on me. Cold, unblinking eyes that seemed to be considering which would be the better way to kill me—cutting me in half with its claws or skewering me with its tail like a shish kebab.

I crawled backward, hands and feet scrabbling over the hard floor. The scorpion loomed over me.

Catching another glimpse of the crowd, I saw all the cameras trained on me. How many views would the Nameless Hero’s death attract on YouTube?

My vision filled with a flash of silver as the robot made its move.

As the scorpion lunged forward, something swept over it. A net. The robot snapped backward like a dog on a leash, claws and tail swinging frantically.

The fog of panic in my mind cleared long enough for me to figure out what had happened. After freeing herself from the net, Miranda had thrown it across the robot’s body. Sophie and Milton must’ve taken care of the other two scorpions, because they ran to join her.

Glowing in her golden uniform, Sophie grabbed one end of the net and flung it above her head, heaving the scorpion like a sack of flour. When she released her grip on the net, the robot sailed across the studio and collided with the wall in a thunderous crash of metal against brick. Robot parts clattered to the ground in a heap.

“That’s the last of them.” Sophie rushed to my side. “Are you all right?”

I nodded. “Just a little shaken up. But nFinity—”

“Don’t worry about me,” nFinity spoke up. “I’ll be fine.”

Sophie’s eyes widened when she noticed the extent of his injuries. “What do you mean, ‘fine’?” Her voice cracked with concern. “You’re
bleeding
. We need to get you to a hospital.”

“It’s just a scratch. Really. The uniform’s body armor absorbed most of the impact.”

But Gavin wasn’t taking any chances. “I already made a call. The doctor’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

While we waited, Gavin pulled me aside. I figured he was about to give me a stern lecture about how wrong it was to jolt your elders with spontaneous combustion. Or maybe he was going to yell at me for nearly getting myself killed. Instead, he smiled, patting me on the back.

“Terrific job back there, Nameless!” he exclaimed. “We got some great footage of you blowing up that robot. I’m tellin’ ya, kid … once this hits the news, there’s no telling the endorsement deals you’ll be getting. Pimple Prevention Power is just the beginning!”

“Those scorpions,” I said. “They were sent by Phineas Vex.”

At the mention of Vex’s name, Gavin’s mouth twitched like he was a fish gasping for breath. Another moment passed while he composed himself. By the time he responded, it was with his usual gruff confidence.

“I seriously doubt that,” he said. “This attack has Multiplier’s name written all over it. With Brandy on his side, he knew we’d be here. Must’ve sent those things as payback for Times Square.”

I shook my head. Something didn’t add up. Since when did Multiplier send robots to do his dirty work? He had an unlimited supply of clones for that kind of thing. And I still couldn’t entirely convince myself that Brandy had betrayed us. What if there was another reason for her disappearance?

But Gavin had made up his mind. “From now on, Brandy is our enemy,” he said with a note of finality in his voice. “With the information she possesses, she poses a grave threat to all of us. We certainly can’t go back to headquarters—no doubt she’s shared the location with Multiplier. That means I’ve gotta find somewhere else for the rest of the group. And you.”

“We can all stay together!” I blurted out.

Gavin faced me, his eyes bulging with surprise. “What?”

The idea took form in my head. “A new hotel. Five rooms. One for each of us.”

“Absolutely not! There’ll be no place for the group to train!”

“So we book a hotel with a fitness center.”

Gavin gritted his teeth. “This isn’t a good idea. You’re a superstar now.”

“So what? Superstars aren’t supposed to have any friends?”

“Friends?”
Gavin made it sound like a bad word when he said it. “Friends are a distraction. I’ve seen it plenty of times before. A kid with a lot of potential, and it all goes away because he’d rather hang around playing video games with
friends
than go to a photo shoot. What I’m offering you is
better than friends. I want to make you the biggest star in the world.”

I stood my ground, determined not to give in. “Either you book us all in the same place or I’m through with all of this. No more TV shows, no more pimple commercials.”

Gavin stared at me in silence. “Fine,” he said tensely. “I’ll find a hotel for all of you.”

“Also, I want to train with the others. And they get to come along for more of the publicity. We’re still a team. I want people to know that.”

A vein throbbed on Gavin’s forehead. “This is lunacy. I’ll never—”

“Okay, then.” I shrugged, reaching up to remove my mask.

“Wait, WAIT! Fine—it’s a deal. Whatever you want.”

“Good!” I had to keep myself from smiling. At least being a world-famous superhero came with a few perks.

We must’ve been a strange sight when we arrived at our new hotel later that day. A bunch of kids in spandex uniforms walking through the lobby. Behind us, our luggage seemed to be floating through the air. Trace was invisible, but I could tell from his groaning that he wasn’t happy about carrying all our stuff.

“Isn’t this
your
job?” he barked at a couple of very confused-looking bellhops standing nearby.

While Gavin checked everyone in, Milton approached
me. For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. I thought about how we’d worked together back at the studio. Did that mean we were done arguing? Or did we only get along when our lives were at stake?

“So, um …” Milton toed the carpet. “I heard you talked Gavin into letting everyone stay together.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“And you said you wanted to train with us?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want everyone to get buff except me.”

I flexed a nonexistent muscle. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked to me like Milton was suppressing a laugh.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is …” Milton hesitated. “I’m—uh … sorry about … you know.”

“Me too,” I muttered. “I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand.”

Milton’s face broke into a smile that let me know in an instant that we were best friends again.

After we were checked in, the rest of the team met at my room. I called for room service, and while we waited, the conversation turned to Brandy.

“Over the past few days, I Sensed something about her,” Miranda said. “She’s been sneaking around behind Gavin’s back.”

“Doing what?”

Miranda shook her head. “I don’t know. She’s good at blocking me. So are Gavin and Trace. They’re trained to keep Sensers out of their heads. But I managed to pick up a few fragments. Bits and pieces. She was hiding something. And she was worried that Gavin would find out.”

“It must’ve been because of the security tapes,” nFinity said. “She stole them. And when Gavin got suspicious, she made a run for it.”

“I just don’t get it,” Milton said. “Why would Brandy want to work with Multiplier?”

“They were in that group together,” nFinity pointed out. “X-Treme Team.”

“Yeah, until Multiplier killed one of the other members and disappeared for the next fifteen years,” I said.

“Maybe she’s been acting as a spy for him this whole time,” Sophie said.

“I don’t know.” Milton tugged at one of his uniform’s sleeves. “She looked pretty surprised to find out he was back.”

“That could’ve just been a part of her act,” nFinity said.

Our conversation went around and around like this until we were interrupted by the arrival of room service. When I answered the door, I was still too tense to laugh as the bellhop listed the food that we’d ordered.

“Spaghetti and gummy bears. Five hamburgers dipped in chocolate sauce. French fries and pudding. A cake with potato chips sprinkled over it. And …” The bellhop paused, like he was trying to decide if this was all just a very weird dream. “A Belgian waffle in the shape of Abraham Lincoln’s head.”

“Exactly,” I said.

Once the bellhop left, we all took our masks off and settled in front of the TV to eat our lunch. I was taking a bite of Abraham Lincoln’s top hat when the show we’d been
watching ended suddenly and was replaced by a video of a man in a purple and black uniform.

Multiplier.

His thin lips curled into a revolting grin. The way he stared out of the TV screen, it was like he was looking right at me.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming,” he said, “but I have a message for the Nameless Hero.”

It’s not every day that a supervillain hijacks national television to send me a personal message.

Multiplier glared through the TV screen. Behind him, I spotted a large object covered with a purple sheet.