The Strike Trilogy (27 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

F
our hours later, the Sky-Blade landed in Zanatopia, and Tobin walked down the ship’s ramp and into the outskirts of a town. This was a land that very much resembled Japan, the boy thought: there were beautiful temples, wooden houses with pitched, layered, colorful roofs, cherry blossom trees, and tall, snow-capped mountains in the distance. There was also a bustling urban area only a few blocks from the sky-ship port where they had landed.

“Okay,” Keplar said, walking down the Sky-Blade’s ramp with the tablet map in his hand. He was also wearing a bulky backpack containing all of their supplies. “We park here where my friend will look over the ship, and we follow the blinking light.”

“Should be easy enough. Hey, Junior, you coming?”

Tobin and Keplar turned to the Sky-Blade; Junior stumbled out of the side door, with his face pale and his arms across his stomach. As he walked down the ramp, he swayed from side-to-side and burped three times.

“All right,” the bald man said, trying to hide the fact that he was seconds away from vomiting. “Let’s go. We cut through the town, and then head up the mountain.”

Junior led the way, with Keplar and Tobin following him, snickering.

Just as Junior had described, Tobin and his friends had quickly made their way through the crowded-but-friendly streets of Zanatopia, and were now hiking up one of its majestic mountains. Unending cherry blossom trees surrounded them, and a cool, refreshing breeze was sending small, pink petals fluttering to the ground. It was beautiful—a place for deep thought and appreciation of nature’s wonders.

“Strange place for a super-villain hideout,” Tobin said. “Looks more like a place my grandparents would go bird-watching.”

“Well, we’re not there yet,” Junior said. “We’ve still got a ways to go before we pass these mountains, cross the heat-belt, and reach the jungle. That’s where we’re headed—the middle of nowhere. It ain’t gonna be easy.”

Keplar was walking behind them, holding the electronic map. “Let’s keep at it, then. We’ll stop and make a camp when the sun goes down. It can get awfully cold up here.”

Junior looked ahead up the mountain. “There’s a hot spring about three hours from us. We can set up there for the night.”

“Great,” Tobin said. “A hot spring in the middle of the gorgeous blossom trees of Zanatopia—exactly where I want to spend the night with you two idiots.”

Keplar and Junior laughed.

“Hey, it could be worse,” Keplar said. “You could be—”

A five-fingered hand suddenly burst up from the ground and grabbed Keplar’s leg. The hand was made out of mud.

“Hey!” the husky yelled, looking down at the brown, dripping fingers clutching to his pants. “What the hell? Hey!”

Tobin and Junior spun around, just in time to see another giant mud-hand emerge from the ground and grab Keplar’s other leg. The two hands began pulling the dog down, dragging him into the soft dirt underneath him, which was turning into quicksand.

“Hey!” Keplar yelled, trying to free himself from the pulling hands. As he panicked, his waist sunk under the quicksand. “Get offa me, ya bremshaws!”

Tobin and Junior rushed to Keplar, grabbing his arms and trying to pull him away from the mud-hands, but it was nearly impossible—especially when four other mud-hands grabbed onto the dog’s backpack and began pulling him further down into the quicksand. Soon, the sand was all the way up to the dog’s chin, and the backpack was gone.

“Get me out of here!” the husky yelled.

“We’re trying!” Tobin said, prying the mud-fingers from Keplar’s shoulders. “But these things are so strong, we can’t—”

“Step back,” Junior said.

Tobin moved away and watched Junior; as the bald man held out his arm, strands of robotic machinery crawled out from his sleeve and enveloped his hand. Soon, Junior was wearing a bulky, robotic glove, and with his super-strong hand, he grabbed onto Keplar’s arm and pulled him from the mud. When the dog was free, the six mud-hands disappeared back into the quicksand.

Exhausted, Keplar sat on the ground, with his body covered in the quickly-drying mud. His backpack was gone and the tablet map was ruined, but at least he was alive.

“Gee,” the husky said. “I guess you are a techno-wizard.”

Junior flexed his robotic fingers. His hand was now twice its normal size, and the sunlight was glinting off of its metal casing and silver wires. “My father and I invent things,” the bald man said. “It’s what we do.”

As Tobin and Junior were helping Keplar to his feet, the trio heard crinkled footsteps in the leaves behind them; spinning around, they saw nobody there. But then a disembodied voice came from the forest:

“Not only did you piss me off, Junior, but you made friends with people you really don’t wanna be friends with.”

Tobin recognized the voice—it was the shortest punk from the saloon in the Never-World. But where was he?

“You wanna get your teeth kicked in again, Derek?” Junior said, scanning the treetops. “That’s fine by me—come out here and I’ll make sure to break a few more bones.”

Movement fluttered between two of the tree trunks in front of the trio, and—out of thin air—the shortest punk, Derek, emerged, his camouflage dissipating. As the punk stepped closer, Tobin saw that he had been through a drastic change; the tattoos running up his neck were now green vines, while his arms, legs, and torso were now wrapped in coiled, thorned tree branches. The skin on his face was now dull and green, and his eyes were completely brown.

“There’s some awfully bad people who want these new friends of yours dead, Junior,” Derek said. As he grinned, the branches on his arms twisted and grew. “And I was only happy to help them—as long as I got to kill you, too.”

Junior heard a snapping above him; thick, brown vines suddenly dropped down from the treetops and wrapped themselves around him, squeezing him like a boa constrictor. The bald man was trapped.

“They even hooked me up with some new powers,” Derek added.

Tobin heard marching footsteps to his right; he spun around to see an army of wooden men emerging from the forest. The tree-warriors were six feet tall and made out of bark, leaves, and tree branches, and they were brandishing incredibly sharp axes and swords made out of wood. They were also holding wooden shields.

“So all in all,” Derek finished, “a pretty productive day.”

The punk made a motion with his fist, and the tree-warriors attacked. Wood, splinters, and leaves flew into the air as Tobin and Keplar used their weapons to defend themselves against the bizarre wooden army.

“Look out, Keplar!” Tobin shouted, as he swung his bo-staff at a warrior about to slash Keplar with his sword. The boy was able to knock the warrior to the ground, but its body was dense and incredibly strong, sending a paralyzing vibration through Tobin’s hands and arms. The warrior quickly stood up and engaged Tobin in a duel, clashing his sword and shield against Tobin’s electricity-covered staff.

Finally breaking free from the brown vines coiled around him, Junior ran at Derek and swung at him with his robotic hand. But, the punk now had super-strength—thanks to his new powers from Rigel, this fight with Junior wasn’t going to be as one-sided as the brawl in the bar.

“So you can control machines,” the punk said, “and I can control the trees and ground we stand on. Seeing as how there aren’t any machines around...I think I like my chances.”

Junior landed several blows with his robotic fists, but the punk was too fast, and soon the bald man was overpowered; vines and tree branches slithered across the ground and ran up Junior’s body, entering his mouth and choking him.

Nearby, Tobin and Keplar were fighting the army of tree-warriors, but there were simply too many of the wooden soldiers, and they were simply too strong and unrelenting. The dog and the boy were bruised and bloodied, losing ground, when Tobin broke free and scanned the battle-scarred forest. As he tried to focus and plan his next move, he saw a purple flash in the trees—it was a figure sprinting through the forest and coming closer. A tree-warrior also saw the flash, but before it could react, two purple, glowing discs were suddenly sticking out of its chest. The tree-man fell to the ground, with its arms and legs splayed out, and as Tobin looked to the group of tree-warriors surrounding Keplar, these warriors were also struck by a spray of purple discs, which stuck into their bodies like Japanese throwing stars.

Tobin turned to where the discs had been thrown—the dark-haired girl from the hotel rooftop was sprinting into the forest, wearing her purple costume and brandishing a double-edged spear. With an unbelievable grace (and using her spear, throwing discs, fists, and feet) she helped Tobin and Keplar cut down the tree-warriors, turning the army into a pile of lifeless tree trunks and branches.

Soon, the tree-warriors were gone, but then Tobin spun to Junior; the bald man was still being choked by the branches and vines wrapped around his neck and face.

“Hold on,” Adrianna said. “Don’t move.”

Walking up behind Junior, the girl swung her spear upward and cut him free. He fell forward and gasped, able to breathe again.

Derek was shocked.

“But...but...” he stammered. “I thought you...?”

“Yeah,” Adrianna replied. “You just never know, do you?”

Rearing back, Adrianna swung the wooden part of her spear across the punk’s chin, knocking him to the dirt. When she reached down and punched him across his face, using one of her purple discs like a pair of brass knuckles, the punk was knocked out cold.

Worn from the battle, Tobin, Keplar, and Junior stared at Adrianna, cautious.

She turned to them.

“So…isn’t anyone gonna thank me?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

S
eventeen miles from the Wakefield & Son’s repair shop, deep within the shores of the Shadow Ocean, there lay an area known as the Midnight Hills; it was here where men (and some tough-as-nails women) worked in the underground mines that ran along the granite-filled valleys of the Never-World. Working all hours of the day and night, these workers made a healthy (and dangerous) living, heading into the deepest depths of the island to mine for the incredibly potent coal that made the Never-World’s various areas of gluttony, excess, and debauchery possible. Without these miners, the island could not function, as the power needed to feed its attractions was immense; luckily for the ex-super-villains that ran the place, there were plenty of eager, hungry, displaced people willing to work for a good salary—even if it meant risking their lives.

Like any area near a mine, there had sprung a mining town—this one called Riggston—and it was here where Orion now found himself; the gritty, dark streets were lined with hotels, diners, and tenement buildings, and also filled with exhausted inhabitants leaving the mines after a long day’s work.

“Excuse me,” Orion said, approaching a gruff-looking man who was wearing a mining helmet and soot-covered overalls. “I’m looking for someone named Scott. Have you seen him?”

Orion showed the man a photograph of Tobin’s father, but the miner shrugged.

“Nope. You can ask around, maybe someone else has.”

“I’ve asked just about everybody,” Orion sighed, watching the crowd of miners shuffle down the street. Frustrated, the old man stepped into a diner; at least he could get a bite to eat, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat anything from a place that looked like it had been blasted by a century’s worth of soot.

“Hey, honey,” a waitress said, as Orion sat down at the diner’s counter. “What’ll it be? You look down and out.”

“Just frustrated. I’m looking for someone, but...” Orion shook his head. “Anyway, I’ll have a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, please.”

“You got it, sugar.”

The waitress walked away, and Orion leaned on the counter, running his hand through his grey hair. Soot fell from his head and landed in a small pile in front of him.

“Hey, Orion,” the waitress said.

Orion looked up. “Yes?”

“Not you,” the waitress said. “Him.”

The waitress pointed across the diner, and Orion turned around. The old man saw his best friend, who died fifteen years ago, sitting by himself in a booth. Scott Lloyd, Tobin’s father, was wearing dirty, white coveralls and reading a newspaper. His hands and unshaven face were covered in soot, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

Orion’s stomach roiled. He stared at Scott from across the diner; the old man had not seen his best friend in over a decade. He was never supposed to see him again.

“Orion?” the waitress said again, louder.

Scott turned the page of his newspaper. “Yeah?”

“Lenny told me to tell you he’s got more work for you tomorrow. Show up at five and be ready, he said.”

“Okay. Thanks, Susie.”

Another waitress arrived with Scott’s dinner. He put his newspaper down and began to eat. Orion sat at the counter, staring, with his lungs and chest tight.

In the blossom tree-lined mountains of Zanatopia, Tobin, Keplar, and Junior were standing around Adrianna. Keplar had his plasma cannon drawn and pointed at her, while Junior was brandishing two cybernetic gloves, ready for a fight. Adrianna was holding both of her hands in the air.

“I don’t know if you guys noticed,” she said, “but I kinda just saved your lives.”

“Yeah,” Keplar replied, stepping toward her, raising his gun against his shoulder. “Except if you ask me, Derek seemed awfully surprised that you attacked him. Almost like he thought you were on his side.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Junior agreed.

“Guys,” Tobin said, stepping in between his friends and Adrianna. “She saved my life, back on Earth when I crashed into the harbor. And she helped me before that, too, fighting one of Rigel’s Gores. And let’s not forget that she just saved your life, Junior.”

“So she just keeps showing up whenever the bad guys show up,” Junior said, his robotic fists raised. “Seems awfully convenient to me.”

Adrianna kept her hands in the air, but stepped toward Keplar. “Hey, if you wanna fight, that’s fine with me. I just thought maybe you’d like to hear what I have to say.”

“Let’s hear her out, guys,” Tobin said. “She deserves that, at least, for saving us from Derek. I really don’t think she’d go through all that trouble if she was working with him.”

Keplar thought it over. “You’ve got about five seconds,” he said, his plasma cannon still pointed at Adrianna. “Make it good.”

“How’s that map of yours?” the girl asked.

Keplar looked to the ground. The tablet map was caked in mud, and its glass was cracked.

“Maybe it still works?” Keplar said, looking to Junior. The bald man shook his head.

“I know where Rigel and Nova are,” Adrianna said, “and I know what they are planning. You can either come with me to my place, learn everything I know, and then help me take them down tomorrow, or you can stay here and freeze to death. All those supplies of yours at the bottom of the quicksand pit are gonna come in real handy when it’s five degrees in a few hours.”

Keplar kept his gun pinned on her, thinking.

“I have food,” she said.

The dog narrowed his eyes.

“And beer,” she added.

Keplar and Junior exchanged a look.

“Good enough for me,” the husky said.

“Me too,” Junior agreed, unclenching his fists. “Which way we headed?”

After a two-hour hike along the mountainside, Tobin, Keplar, and Junior followed Adrianna into her house; the wide, two-level home was in a secluded, wooded area of the mountain, overlooking the main town of Zanatopia. The building was similar to the other houses Tobin had seen when they first landed: it had a blue, pitched roof, and it was made of a bamboo-like wood. The inside was warm and comforting: it was open and bare, and there were only a few pieces of furniture, along with elegant, beautiful carpets running along the hallway floors. There were no other homes for miles, and the quietness of the forest made Keplar, Junior, and Tobin feel at ease as they sat with Adrianna at a table in her kitchen.

“Rigel and Nova know who the Daybreaker is,” Adrianna explained, “they just don’t know
where
he is. That’s what this whole thing is about.”

“Have they told you who he is?” Tobin asked.

“No. They don’t trust me very much.”

“I wonder why,” Keplar said, chugging from his beer.

Adrianna nodded. “I was helping them, to a certain point. But when I learned the truth about what they are trying to do...” She shook her head. “This is way deeper than I ever knew. I can’t be a part of it anymore, not with what I know now. I think you guys are familiar with Vincent Harris?”

“Uh, yeah,” Keplar said.

Tobin raised his eyebrows. “Just a bit.”

Adrianna gripped the cup of tea in front of her. “Well, the Daybreaker...he was Vincent’s secret. Vincent was never supposed to be in charge of his invasion of Earth— he was only keeping the place warm for when the Daybreaker showed up, whenever that would be. That was Vincent’s whole plan: to find the Daybreaker and let him rule the Earth—with the threat of the Daybreaker’s power looming over everyone, Vincent believed he could bring peace to the war-torn, dangerous planet, thereby making the universe safer for Capricious. That’s how powerful the Daybreaker is—even Vincent was willing to step aside for him, and no one from either Earth or Capricious would ever be able to stop him.”

“Well,” Tobin said, “that’s just awesome. So we have someone out there who is more powerful than Vincent, someone Vince even looked up to?”

“Yes. Now Rigel and Nova are obsessed with finding him. I didn’t even think he actually existed, but now it looks like...what they have planned is...I can’t let that happen.”

“So now you expect us to believe you all the sudden had a change of heart and switched sides?” Junior asked.

“I don’t have a side, honey. Except my own. If they find this Daybreaker, we’re all dead. I’m smart enough to see that.”

Tobin thought it over. “Okay, so where did they take Scatterbolt?”

“They’re in an ancient pyramid they raised from the ground, about a day’s journey from here on foot. They have your friend, or his body, or whatever. They’re using the data they’ve gotten from him to get closer to the Daybreaker. From what I heard, we don’t have much time.”

Keplar looked across the table at Tobin and Junior.

“Okay,” the husky said. “As much as I don’t like it, I say we let her stay with us. If we even sense she’s leading us in the wrong direction, she’s gone. Agreed?”

“Yes,” Tobin said.

Junior nodded. “If you think it’s a smart idea.”

“I don’t,” Keplar admitted. “But right now it’s all we got.”

Later that night, as Keplar and Junior were studying a map of Rigel’s pyramid that Adrianna had provided, Tobin stepped out of the house to get some fresh air. Near a small shed to the side of the house, he saw Adrianna gathering some firewood. They would need the wood to heat the fire during the night, before they set out in the morning.

“Hey, Adrianna?” he asked, walking to her.

“Yeah?”

Tobin took the pile of wood from her arms. “Sorry about how those guys acted before. They can both be, uh, a little touchy sometimes.”

Adrianna gathered some more wood from the shed. “It’s okay. I can see where they’re coming from. I’d be acting the same way, if I was in their place.”

They walked back to the house with the firewood.

“And thanks, for, uh, helping me back on Earth,” Tobin said. “Both times.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Adrianna said with a smile. “Rigel’s gonna be pretty pissed when he realizes I told you guys everything, so just help me against him when we get there tomorrow, and we’re even. How’s that?”

“Help you fight a giant, insane monster? I don’t know if that’s equal, but sure.”

Tobin smiled. They walked into the house and made a fire, and it warmed them as the chill of the night air turned cold and heavy.