The Superpower Project (16 page)

John nodded. “Hamsters can be a wee bit too chunky to fit through all the pipes and cracks.”

“So what's the plan then?” Megan asked.

“To be as quick as possible, since the statues seem to turn up wherever we are, but I'm hoping they won't arrive while people are still hanging about.” John glanced at the front doors of the office. “Best way in? Always round the back by the bins.”

Not only was it quieter round the back, but the doors were still open because the workers had been smoking outside.

“Filthy habit,” said John. “Right, Cameron and I will slip inside and find a place where we can see the staff setting the alarm. Megan and TJ, you stay in the shadows back here. We'll let you in once we've deactivated the alarm.”

John and Cam shrank, almost disappearing, before scuttling quietly inside through the open door. Cam followed John, who stuck close to the walls, running along skirting boards and ducking under sockets and cables. He stopped under a desk at the front of the office. Feet clattered by the glass door, a forest of shiny black shoes and sharp-looking heels. There was laughter, doors slamming, more footsteps and then four beeps before all the feet finally disappeared through the front entrance.

All was quiet.

Cam was just about to go exploring under people's desks looking for crumbs, when he saw John change back.

John turned to look at Cam and shook his head. He then pressed the same pattern of buttons on the alarm panel until there were four beeps again. This time, he gave Cam a thumbs up. “I'll go let Megan and Jimmy in.”

“Aren't we supposed to wait until it's properly dark or something?” asked Cam.

“No time for that,” said John. “Besides, if anyone looks in now, we just appear to be people working late. Get seen wandering around buildings late at night – that's when you look guilty.”

“Isn't TJ a bit conspicuous to be in a big building full of windows?”

“Nah,” said John, “he can stand right near the door and keep a lookout. Folk will just think he's one of the company's daft statues.” John shuffled quickly through the office and out to the back door, returning with Megan and TJ.

“That was a bit easy,” said Megan warily.

“Lots to do before we can say that for sure,” said John. “Let's make this quick. Downstairs, five minutes max.”

“What's downstairs?” asked Cam.

“Usually the stuff people don't want you to find,” said John.

“And you think the sigils will be here?” said Megan.

“I know they will be – I watched Finn all day yesterday,” said John.

Beneath the gleaming offices was the basement of a much older building. Crates were stacked high along each wall, archaic numbers and indecipherable squiggles scribbled on them.

“Over here,” said John. “Look!” He pointed to a desk and lamp tucked away between some crates. The desk was scattered with old newspaper pages, comics, yellowing letters and photos – all of them about Tin Jimmy.

“Someone is very interested in your robot,” said Cam.

A tin robot-shaped piggy bank stood under the lamp. John picked it up and rattled it. A sigil coin fell out, catching all of them except John by surprise.

“What we have here,” said John, as he examined it, “is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

“To be fair John, we did just break into his office,” said Megan.

John had also picked up a little leather pouch beside a box of highlighter pens.

“That's the one from last night!” said Megan.

Carefully tipping the coin into his hand, John smiled. “This one was mine.” He passed the sigil to Megan, and stroked the bag between his fingers. “My dad made me this wee bag for taking money to school. I haven't seen it for years.” As if it were the most precious treasure, John gently tied the little pouch strings together and placed it in one of his many pockets.

“Ok, this has gone well; three–nil to us now,” said Cam. “Let's quit while we're ahead and get out of here.”

“TJ and Megan should take a sigil each for now in case Cam and I need to change,” said John. “Plus, that way we've split them up if there's any trouble.”

“Shouldn't we take all this stuff about TJ?” asked Megan, pointing to the files spread out across Mr Finn's desk.

John was carefully placing the robot piggy bank back where he had found it. “It might take them longer to figure out someone's been here if we don't. Cam's right, let's just go before a sculpture catches up with us.”

Outside, Megan carefully shut the back door. “Oh wait,” she said, “did you set the alarm again?”

“Why would I do that?” asked John. “They are the baddies, I don't care if they get burgled.”

“Plus I've forgotten the code already,” said Cam.

“Two nine zero nine,” said TJ.

John, Cam and Megan all stared at him.

“Grease and dirt signatures on the most-used buttons,” he said, tapping his eyes by way of explanation. “After that it's just a matter of variables. And I am finding those much easier to work with since Megan's upgrade.”

“So,” said Cam, frowning, “why did we bother going in the back way as animals then?”

“Oh,” said TJ, “I thought you could use the practice.”

“Anyway,” said John, quickly changing the subject, “we got what we came for, so…”

Megan was no longer paying attention to the conversation, she was looking over towards Civic Square, where the Phoenix Egg sculpture had recently been installed.

“Uhm,” she said, “I think the statue's hatched.”

The others followed her gaze to see the ornately crafted steel eggshell, unfolded like an opened Chocolate Orange.

“I
knew
there was something in there,” said Cam.

“Yeah, so the big question is, where has it gone?” said Megan.

The answer arrived suddenly from above. Something swept at TJ, metal talons screeching against his tin skin, before it shot upwards again.

“Bird robot,” said Megan, as the sculpture settled clunkily on the Waterworx roof above them. “Makes sense.”

“Quick!” John pushed Megan and Cam away from the robot towards an alleyway, and TJ marched out towards the square. Wings outstretched, Phoenix squawked and shrieked at him. Flames burst from its beak.

“TJ!” shouted Megan.

“This is his fight,” explained John. “Neither of you are fireproof, so stay out of it.”

“No, he needs help!” Megan struggled to get past John.

“He's fought wars against Napoleon and Hitler. I think he'll be fine.”

Megan quickly looked around the narrow alley where they were protected from the flames. The sides of the filthy buildings climbed towards the sky. She glanced back at Cam and John.

“Sorry,” she said, and flew straight up into the evening clouds.

***

Everything looked prettier from above. Grey streets softened into patchwork, making everything seem like it was in the right place, part of some larger pattern – except the bit that was on fire.

Steam and black smoke billowed upwards from the riverside as Tin Jimmy and Phoenix clashed. It was difficult to make out the fight properly, but it didn't look like TJ was winning. Phoenix just kept sweeping upwards and flying down, talons out, flames blasting at its prey.

The sculpture, however, wasn't thinking about what might be above it. Megan dived down, landing hard upon its back. She began pulling at its head from behind, yanking at the beautifully sculpted metal feathers.

This certainly got its attention; it spun around and upwards, spiralling through the air, desperately trying to shake her off. Megan held on for as long as she could, but when she fell, instead of dropping towards the ground, she pushed further up, fairly sure that Phoenix wouldn't be expecting that. She was absolutely right. This moment of confusion gave her enough time to launch herself once again at the sculpture's head.

Megan summoned every ounce of strength she had, genuinely hoping she might be able to knock its head off entirely. She stunned the sculpture enough to knock it down towards the ground, where she could now see that TJ, a gorilla and a polar bear were waiting to help.

Megan and Phoenix crashed onto the cobbled dock, the statue's outstretched wing slicing a nearby bench in two.

“Hold the mouth!” shouted Megan to John. “Stop it fire-breathing.”

She scrambled back as the polar bear clamped its mighty paws around the sculpture's beak while gorilla-Cam sat on its feet.

TJ, meanwhile, was busy searching through the metal shell Phoenix had escaped from. “I think I have it,” he announced, tearing a huge handful of wires out from inside the eggshell. In the tangled mess of cables, Cam spotted the little red and green light he had seen inside Chronos just as it flickered out. There was a strangled squawk and Phoenix stopped moving.

Megan stared quickly around Civic Square. Amazingly, no one had responded to the commotion yet, but they wouldn't have long before the fire brigade turned up to check out the smoke. “Is everyone ok?” she asked.

TJ walked over and hugged her, his tin skin still hot from Phoenix's flames. “Thank you Megan.”

“You're welcome,” she smiled, “but we'd really better get out of here.”

The polar bear pointed back towards the alleyway they had originally been hiding in, then loped off towards it. He had already hauled up the drain cover by the time the others reached him. Turning back into John, he issued a hoarse “Follow me” and lowered himself down into the drain.

“Great,” Cam said. “I was wondering what could be more fun than breaking and entering.”

He, Megan and TJ splashed into the dark after John.

***

Out by Civic Square, hidden from view, Kevin quietly replayed the footage he had just filmed on his mobile phone. Massive wild animals smashing up statues? It was just too good not to share.

After the footage was shared across every phone in the town, it was more important than ever to maintain a low profile. Luckily, the shaky recording didn't start until Megan and Phoenix had already crashed to the ground, so she wasn't visible in the film. Unluckily, that did make it look like John and Cam were just battering a helpless sculpture rather than defending themselves from a terrifying, fire-breathing robot bird.

The weird thing was, when they all watched the film back at John's cave the next day, the gorilla and polar bear
did
look unrealistic. Perhaps it was because they seemed so out of place in the town square, your brain just forced it to make sense. All the same, it gave them something to think about. So when stories also started circulating about a wee boy who claimed a flying girl had saved him from drowning, well, it was time for a talk.

“I can't believe Richard didn't mention me,” said Cam. “I was the one who actually pushed him out of the water. Unbelievable. This must be how Robin feels all the time.”

“I am not Batman,” said Megan. “We do need to be more careful not to be seen though.”

“This is why I think we should have costumes,” said Cam. “Or at least you should when I'm disguised as an animal.”

“He's right,” said John.

“Yes,” said Megan, “because crazy colourful superhero outfits will work like camouflage.”

“Look, even if it's just a mask for now, Megan, you really should think about it,” said John. “It's just safer that way.”

“It seems silly,” said Megan, “like we're playing a game or something.”

“Well, we aren't,” said John. “If people know who you are, they can find out who your family are too.”

Megan thought of John, hiding away from his family for years just to keep them safe. Suddenly a mask didn't seem quite so silly.

“But we're winning!” said Cam, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “We have three sigils and we know where the fourth one is.” He pulled out his phone and showed John his digital map. “The final place to go is the old Sugar Sheds. Unfortunately, that's where they're putting the last sculpture, so there'll be a robot waiting for us.”