The Strike Trilogy (7 page)

The robot smiled.

“Oh,” Tobin said with a laugh. “Okay.”

The robot pointed to the book. “Were you trying to read that?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t have any words, so I didn’t get very far.”

“I know, right?” The robot pulled the book toward himself. “Books with no words—weird. But watch this!”

The robot placed his hand on the book’s cover, and a title appeared:

THE HISTORY OF CAPRICOUS AND ITS HEROES.

“Whoa,” Tobin said. “That was so cool. How’d you do that?”

“I don’t know,” the robot laughed. “I just did. And check this out!”

When Scatterbolt opened the book, Tobin saw that its pages were now filled with words, and also photographs and drawings that moved like they were alive.

“Whoa,” Tobin said, “that’s amazing.”

“Thanks! I’ve read every book down here, most of them a bunch of times, so now everything that I’ve read, I can show to you. How much do you know about this world so far?”

“Um…nothing, really. I think it’s your job to fill me in on everything.”

The robot sighed. “Whoo boy. All right, well, let’s get started, then. Prepare yourself: this can get kinda nuts.”

Flipping through the book, Scatterbolt eventually stopped on a page with a black rectangle on it; when the robot pointed to the rectangle, it was slowly filled in with hundreds of twinkling stars, and also a yellow-and-green-and-blue planet that was rotating in space.

“This,” Scatterbolt said, “is the world of Capricious.”

Tobin watched as a series of scenes played out on the book’s pages: there was a futuristic, metallic city with a flying train; an ancient, vine-covered jungle; a land made out of ice and snow; a place with red mountains and erupting volcanoes; a village inhabited by black-furred, lumbering monsters. The variations in climates and cultures seemed to be endless.

“Capricious is made up of all kinds of different places,” Scatterbolt said, “and also all kinds of different people, too. Some of these people look similar to what you have on your world…”

A clean-cut man in a suit and tie appeared on the page. He looked out at Tobin and waved.

“Some of them look a little different...”

With a flash, the man’s skin suddenly turned yellow. He looked down at his hands and arms, confused.

“Some of them look
a lot
different…”

Then the man suddenly turned into a yellow-furred, half-man, half-cat. Now he was very confused.

“And some of them even have super powers!”

Finally, the man turned into a superhero, with a red-and-yellow costume and a red, billowing cape. Pleased, he flexed his biceps and flew off of the page.

“These people with superpowers are rare even in our world,” Scatterbolt said, “but they play an incredibly important part in our lives, and are really the defining characteristic of Capricious. Some of these super-powered people use their powers for good…”

An image of Orion appeared in the book; he looked out at Tobin and fired an arrow from his bow, and the boy ducked, laughing at himself.

“And some of them,” Scatterbolt said, “unfortunately use their powers for evil.”

Now Tobin saw an image of a grey-haired man with a goatee; he was dressed in a black-and-green uniform, and standing with his arms across his chest. As he looked out of the book, he sneered.

“Um,” Scatterbolt said, “let’s move on.”

The robot turned the page; now Tobin saw a series of bold, golden letters. They read:

THE GUARDIANS.

“Out of all the superheroes we’ve ever had on this world,” Scatterbolt said, “the most important and most famous were a team who called themselves ‘the Guardians.’ Their leader was a man named Titan, who had immense strength and also the powerful wings of an eagle.”

A blonde-haired superhero appeared in the book; he was wearing a white costume plated with gold, like an ancient gladiator, and had feathered, grey-ish wings growing from his back. He was also wielding a shining broadsword.

“Then there was the Red Wolf, who had incredible eyesight, unmatched intelligence, and the ability to hit nearly any target with his bow and arrow.”

A young Orion appeared; he was wearing his same long, red coat, and also a red mask over his eyes. After aiming his bow, he let go of an arrow, which nailed the bull’s eye of a target on the next page of the book.

“And finally,” Scatterbolt said, “there was Strike. He was a fearless daredevil with amazing agility, and also the power to control lightning.”

Strike appeared in the book; he was dressed in a midnight blue costume, with a black cape on his back and a blue mask over the lower part of his face. As he twirled a wooden bo-staff around his head that sparked with blue electricity, he looked out at Tobin and winked.

Tobin watched the image. Even though he knew full-well who the person was behind the mask, he still tried to convince himself he was wrong.

Scatterbolt turned the page; the blue-and-yellow-and-green planet appeared again. This time, it was split into dozens of countries.

“There are fifty-seven countries in Capricious,” Scatterbolt explained, “and each one of these has its own leader, who is elected in much the same way as many of the leaders of your world. We used to have fifty-eight countries with fifty-eight different leaders, but the leader of the fifty-eighth country...well, he did something very bad.”

Tobin watched as the grey-haired man in black-and-green appeared in the book again.

“This is Vincent Harris, the former fifty-eighth leader of Capricious.”

The book’s image slowly changed; now Vincent was standing behind a podium and giving a speech in front of thousands of people. Many of the people had skin that was a light shade of green, and they were all cheering Vincent’s every word. Behind Vincent, there was a gigantic flag with a green insignia of a tiger-like beast adorned on it.

“Vincent was at one time a great leader, but he was also one with dangerous, misguided ideas. He firmly believed that Earth—your world—was inhabited by alien beings who were inferior, destructive, and a threat to the rest of the universe. When it became clear that your species was moving closer toward the technology for space travel, Vincent decided he had to act; in speeches and televised events, he began to convince his entire country that Earth was a world that needed to be forcefully controlled and monitored, for the safety of Capricious.

“He became obsessed with swaying the rest of the leaders of Capricious to agree with him, but they did not, and instead they grew concerned with his fear-filled messages. They demanded that he stop these actions immediately, but his warnings about Earth only became more fierce and frightening. He was out of control, causing widespread panic about a world that didn’t even know this one existed, so the other leaders were forced to strip him of his power and put him on trial.”

Tobin watched the pages of the book; now he saw Titan, the winged-superhero, walk into a dark office on the top floor of a skyscraper. The winged-man began to look through the files of a computer, and he was very concerned with what he was finding.

“Not long after Vincent’s trial began,” Scatterbolt said, “the leader of the Guardians discovered a horrible secret: all along, Vincent had been planning to invade Earth with a team of monsters and super-villains from Capricious. He knew that your world had no superheroes to defend it, and that it would be incredibly easy for him to take control of it and rule over it, as he saw fit.”

Now Tobin saw a high-security prison in the book; Titan was walking through its halls, holding a folder of papers under his arm. When he reached a jail cell, he stuck the folder of papers through the bars, angrily showing them to Vincent, who was sitting on a bed in the cell.

“Titan confronted Vincent and told him he had discovered his plan, but Vincent grew enraged. The evil man was too powerful for Titan to take on alone, and Titan was defeated.”

On the book’s pages, Vincent held his hands out between his jail cell bars, blasting Titan with black, searing fire from his palms. The flames threw Titan all the way across the spine of the book, and he crashed onto the next page, sending the words and letters there scattering.

“More powerful than he had ever been, Vincent escaped from Capricious and traveled to your world. As he hid there with his team of super-villains, he waited and planned his invasion.

“When Strike and the Red Wolf learned what had happened to Titan, and what Vincent was planning to do on the other world, they went against the wishes of the leaders of Capricious, and traveled to your world on their own.”

Tobin now saw Strike and the Red Wolf travel through a swirling, red portal and arrive on Earth.

“The two heroes lived on your world under secret identities for months, all the while searching for Vincent. Finally, after many battles and near-misses, they found him.”

Tobin watched as Strike and the Red Wolf fought Vincent and his team in a giant, wooden warehouse. It was a brutal battle between the two heroes and many super-villains.

“Thankfully, the Guardians were victorious; they were able to disrupt Vincent’s plans for invasion, and send him back to Capricious where he belonged.”

Strike and the Red Wolf now led a bruised, shackled Vincent through a mirrored, swirling portal. When they were on the other side, the gateway snapped with electricity and disappeared.

Then the pages of the book went blank.

“So,” Scatterbolt said, “that’s everything Orion wanted me to tell you, Tobin. What do you think of it all?”

Tobin stared at the blank pages of the book. “I think, that if any of you guys actually thought that was going to make me feel better, you’re all out of your minds.”

One floor above, as Scatterbolt’s history lesson was wrapping up, Keplar and Orion were sitting at the table in Orion’s kitchen.

“The kid seems smart, O,” the dog said, handing Orion a cup of coffee. “He looks like he has a good head on his shoulders, but...he’s so damn young.”

“I know,” Orion sighed. “It’s horrible, isn’t it? I always swore it would never come to this. I don’t know how I ever let it get this far.”

Keplar shook his head. “It’s not your fault, O. You know that. This woulda happened to the kid no matter what we did to try and stop it. Now, we just gotta do what we gotta do, and make sure nothing else happens. But you had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to him.”

Orion drank from the coffee. “I know. I keep trying to convince myself of that.”

Outside, in the tops of the tall trees that reached all the way to Orion’s apartment, a creature was rustling in the green leaves: it was a robotic chameleon—a half-organic, half-mechanical creature, with a tarnished metal head and a twisted body made out of wood and springs. The being had found Orion’s apartment after using the coordinates gathered from the third blood bird, and was now moving on to the next step of its mission: scanning the building with its bionic eye.

After spotting Orion through the kitchen window, the robo-chameleon chirped loudly and then leapt onto the building with a springing of its legs; instantly, its body changed from the color of the green leaves to the color of the grey apartment walls. In little flits of movement, it then dashed down to the window, reached toward it, and stuck one of its suction cup-like feet onto the glass. It could now see and hear everything that was happening inside.

With its mission accomplished, the robo-chameleon finally raised its head toward the sky and blinked its eyes. As it began to emit a soft beeping sound, like a satellite giving off a signal, it beamed the images and sounds of the apartment to someone else—someone far, far away…

In the security center of his skyscraper, Vincent Harris was studying one of his monitors. Onscreen, he could see Orion and Keplar, having their conversation in Orion’s kitchen.

“Where are we going after Scatterbolt’s done talking to the kid?” the dog asked.

“Well,” Orion replied, “there aren’t many places we can go where they won’t come looking for us, but Gallymoora is one of them. As soon as they’re finished in the library, that’s where we’re headed.”

Keplar grumbled. “Great. Gallymoora. My favorite place.” He finished his beer and tossed it into a recycling bin. “Well, you’re right about one thing, bro: they won’t ever look for us there.”

Vincent smiled, pushing a button on the intercom in front of him. “Rigel, send the Hoplites to Gallymoora immediately. Have them wait there until I give further word.”