Virus Attack (14 page)

Toby took the opportunity to interrogate Lorna about missing their dad's exhibition. She mumbled something about forgetting and having previous plans while Emily teased her about going on a date. No names were mentioned, but Toby got the impression that it was somebody from school who he wasn't supposed to know about. Not that he cared.

For two hours they said nothing more, and Toby was surprised to hear Lorna gently snoring. The pilot's voice eventually roused everybody.

“Approaching target area. Cargo deployment in thirty seconds.”

Toby assumed that meant them, and wondered if the pilot had known that his cargo was a bunch of teenage superheroes. Probably not.

The pilot began to count down from fifteen. Toby felt a knot of anticipation in his stomach, and heard
exclamations from both girls as the bomb bay doors swung open beneath them with a blast of warm air, revealing a moonlit jungle canopy.

Toby barely had time to marvel at the vista before the pilot's count reached “zero” and he felt the bunk he was lying on tip aside, dropping him from the aircraft. The carousel spun around, deploying Emily then Lorna with mechanical precision.

They screamed as they fell, arms and legs flailing as they tried to fly and only remembering at the last moment they had the power to glide. Pushing fear from their minds and focusing on the powers they had, they discovered they could spiral through the air and control the speed of their descent by stretching their arms like wings. It wasn't as much fun as flying, but it was infinitely better than falling.

After ten seconds they had gained enough mastery to look around. The Aurora plane had vanished into the night. The square tops of some ancient Mayan pyramids stood some way off, outlined by the moon. Even in silhouette, Toby recognized the formations as those his father had discovered.

Seconds later they punched through the tree canopy. Branches whipped their faces as they dropped, landing on the jungle floor amid bushes. Lorna was the first to stand, screaming as she frantically swiped at her body, knocking off several large insects.

Toby recalled numerous conversations with his dad about the hazards of field trips in the jungle, although at the time Toby thought they had been nothing more than embellishments of his father's stories to make archaeology sound more adventurous. Leeches drawing blood as you walked across damp ground, hungry jaguars prowling, carnivorous fish, crocodiles, poisonous spiders, scorpions, millipedes, frogs, and deadly plants. Mosquitoes with malaria, insects that buried their young under your skin, and ants with bites so venomous that it felt as if you'd been shot.

Toby decided the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut and not mention anything to alarm the others.

They lost no time in trekking toward the pyramids. After one minute they were soaked with sweat and mosquitoes buzzed irritatingly close to their ears.

“Are you sure that we're heading in the right direction?” Emily asked with concern. They had been walking so long, it seemed that they should have reached their destination by now.

“Totally,” said Toby. They followed an animal trail, since it offered the least resistance, and were soon rewarded with large moss-carpeted boulders that showed signs of being carved by man.

“There!” whispered Lorna. She pointed through a narrow break in the trees where the side of a pyramid
could just be seen against the sky, which was getting marginally lighter as dawn approached.

They edged forward for a better look, stumbling over yet more carved stones. There were two large symmetrical stepped pyramids stretching out of the jungle.

“Which one is it?” asked Emily.

Toby and Lorna had been forced to watch their father's expedition recordings so much that they felt they had been here before.

“The expedition cleared a trail around the base of the pyramids. But they only had time to explore one tomb before my father was called back,” Toby said.

Staring into the darkness, they could just see the trail and noticed that most of the clearing had been done around the farthest structure. Lorna pointed.

“I've seen that entrance on Dad's videos.”

Carefully they stepped out on the trail and walked around the base of the nearest pyramid. The stonework was ancient, covered in moss, and weather-beaten. Faded carvings covered every inch. They hurried past and hoped that there were no surveillance cameras watching them. They reached the entrance to the second pyramid and it was as though they had stepped magically into their father's video.

Moonlight reflected from the tarnished seal on the open door. It was metal, something that his father had pointed out was incongruous, as the Mayans had no
knowledge of metallurgy, so it must have been added later. It showed a crude serpent, or as Toby had correctly identified, an S-shaped worm placed there by Commander Courage to mark the temporary incarceration of Worm. Toby briefly wondered what terrible accident had befallen the commander to almost kill him and make him forget such a place. It wasn't good to dwell on such dark mysteries.

They peered into the inky blackness. Nothing was visible.

“Wait a minute,” said Emily. She looked at her wristband. “Grimm talked about defensive powers, right? Let's see what we have for night vision.” She scrolled through the list of irritatingly vague icons on the touch screen and settled on one that showed waves coming from the stick figure's head. “If these are stealth powers, then I doubt it's going to be some kind of laser blast.”

She tapped the screen and felt a tingle through her arm as the raw power was transferred via the sensors in her arm.

Lorna took a step back from Emily as her friend's eyes glowed a pale green. It was an unnerving effect.

“I can see!” exclaimed Emily. “Come on, try it. Let's go.”

Toby and Lorna chose the same option. The world around them lit up with a pale green light and they could suddenly see into the darkest corner of the
chamber ahead. They entered the inner sanctum, and Toby was more than aware that he was tracing his father's steps. The walls were etched with hieroglyphs. Any items that had been decorating the tomb had been taken away and were currently on display in the museum.

“There's nobody here,” whispered Emily. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Dad only accessed the outer chamber before he had to leave. He said there was a solid stone door preventing them from getting farther inside without a lot of work.” Toby had memorized from the display plans in the museum, so he led the way. Now he was glad he'd attended the exhibition. They turned a corner and were confronted by the door to the inner chamber.

Or what was left of it. The corridor was strewn with rubble. The door had been blown apart—from the
inside
. No doubt when Worm had escaped. Beyond, a faint electrical light flickered on the wall and the floor sloped upward.

“I'd say this is definitely it,” Toby whispered. His night vision faded as his vision adjusted to the electrical light. “Let's be smart about this. No unnecessary risks. We get Pete, then we get out together. Only then should we decide if we can take Basilisk's team out.”

Lorna was impressed with the ease with which Toby was taking charge, although she wouldn't admit it.
They entered the corridor and cautiously walked up. Toby judged that they must have been walking around the perimeter of the pyramid as the passage turned a left-hand corner ahead. Toby peeped around.

The route continued sloping upward and had a single door against the wall, midway, before it turned yet another left-hand corner, spiraling up the structure. They cautiously passed the door and saw a dingy cell beyond the narrow bars.

“Empty,” said Toby, who had hoped they could have sprung Pete from the cell quickly and easily.

They reached the next corner. As Toby was about to step out he felt Emily pull him back and push him against the wall, clamping a hand over his mouth.

“Listen,” she whispered.

It was strange to Toby to have Emily so close. This wasn't the time to think about girls—
especially
Emily. Toby shook the thoughts away. He strained to listen instead. Arguing voices drifted from another room halfway along the passage.

“You killed him!” said a female voice.

“I thought you were going to shoot him!” barked an angry male voice.

Lorna rolled through the options on her wristband looking for a blank icon square. She hoped that she had invisibility; that was the ultimate stealth power. No luck.

“Wait here,” said Toby. “I'll scout ahead.”

Before they could argue, Toby gingerly tiptoed toward the door and pressed himself flat against the wall. He was annoyed at himself as he couldn't get the
Mission Impossible
theme song from his head, and regretted having watched the movies with Pete a couple of days earlier. He risked a peek around the corner, expecting to witness a scene of torture.

Instead he saw the backs of Viral and Trojan. They had their feet up and were playing a PlayStation game, shooting digital foes on a tiny screen. Toby swallowed his relieved laugh—it was nice to know that villains were people too. He crept past the opening and checked that they hadn't heard him, then waved for the others to follow him.

“Look out!” screamed Trojan.

Lorna froze in the open doorway, convinced she was caught. A quick check revealed that Trojan was still referring to the game.

The trio advanced up the sloping corridor, and judging by the fact that each turn was shorter than the last, Toby knew they must be close to the apex.

So far, so good
, he thought. He'd expected things to be much more difficult than they had been. But then, an iron door blocked the passage ahead, and behind it, they could hear the low thrum of machinery and muffled voices. Although the words were indistinguishable,
both Basilisk and Worm were easily identifiable. Shadows moved on the floor.

Toby studied the heavy door. Without any energy weapons or superstrength there was no way they could charge their way through, and he realized that they were effectively trapped at the top of the ancient Mayan pyramid with two dangerous supervillains ahead of them and another two behind.

Toby scrolled through the superpowers on his wristband and hoped there was
something
they could use to save Pete.

Basilisk stared at Worm and, not for the first time, pondered how he was going to get rid of the irritating little man once they'd triumphed with the plan. Aside from his brief capture, which, in fact, had turned out to be a blessing now that they had a Downloader in captivity, the plan had been flawless. Hero.com was still down, the Primes who ran it were in hiding, and the Hero Foundation was an open target—or would be once he had located it, of course.

But time was beginning to turn against them.

The virus he had inserted into the system at Goonhilly had been state-of-the-art and caused more damage than he'd thought possible. But Basilisk knew it was only a matter of time before the Foundation's nonsuper technicians got Hero.com working again—and it was taking him longer than he'd anticipated to access the Foundation satellites. If he didn't do that soon then he'd be back to square one. When he had voiced his concerns to Worm, the little man instantly began to worry.

“Perhaps it is time for the Council to step in to help us topple the Foundation?” he whined.

Basilisk flicked a glance at the suspended animation pod that entrapped the boy.

“No doubt they would destroy the Foundation,” Basilisk growled, “and Hero.com with it. Then what good would it do to hand the power to them?”

“Asking for help is better than failure! Why should we struggle in the final steps when the Council would be all too willing to—”

Basilisk raised his voice. “This is bigger than your petty drive to avenge yourself on Commander Courage. Think of the bigger picture for once! We will have
our own
superpower Web site. Besides, the Council has no love for me after I tried to overturn them. They would kill me in the process.” He caught Worm's calculating expression. “And
you
for harboring me for so long. I'm beginning to think that you're getting cold feet.”

Worm shook his head. “Not at all.” In truth the desire for revenge on the Hero Foundation creator was something that burned through him. “But instead of action we hide away in this prison,” spat Worm, who didn't have the vocabulary to describe how much he hated the pyramid, jungle, and entire country.

Neither man noticed a subtle movement under the door. It looked as though somebody had pushed a sheet
of paper underneath—a paper printed with a picture of Toby.

But in fact it was Toby himself.

He was wafer thin, and pulled himself through the narrow gap under the doorway. It was an unusual experience to be so thin, and he found it difficult to grip the stone floor to drag himself into the room.

Basilisk continued. “As I have explained, we leave the boy here and proceed to phase two. Thanks to our infiltration of the satellite station in Britain, I
know
which satellite the Foundation is using to transmit the powers. We need to get to that satellite so Viral can act.”

“About time! All he's done is make the place smell with his rank odor. After all the effort we went through to release him you'd think he'd at least take a shower. So what can he do that's so important?”

“Once you open up the system for him, Viral can insert a malicious code directly into the satellite to pinpoint the location the Foundation is transmitting from. Then he can knock their security systems off-line so we can perform our final assault.”

“At last, some action.”

“Once he has inserted his virus it won't matter if they bring Hero.com back online, since we'll control the satellite!”

“Why does everything you do seem complicated?”