Trainee Superhero (Book One) Read Online Free Page A

were
killed, yet happy that my friends and family are okay. Mostly I
feel angry; none of those people should have died.
    “Those numbers are two weeks old, and are
final,” she says.
    Two weeks? What have I been doing all that
time? I have a hundred questions running through my head, but Never Lies looks impatient and there is really only more one
answer I need.
    “Will I get to fight saucers?”
    She shrugs.
    “The Cerberus Brawlers kill more
saucers than any other unit. Pass your training and we’ll make you
part of the team.”
    “Okay,” I say and turn back to the
treadmill.
    “Is that all?” she calls after me. “Don’t you
want to know where you are, or why you are here? You must have more
questions.”
    “My family is safe, and I’ll get to kill
saucers. What more is there?”
    I hear her laugh as I get back on the
treadmill and start running. I run until my legs hurt, and then I
stop and crash onto the ground, bouncing on the soft mats. A women
in white brings me a bottle of water and an apple. It’s crisp and
juicy, much better than the ones Dad buys from the grocery store.
Other men and women in white shirts are handing out water and fruit
to the other trainees, almost like the airplane stewards in old
movies.
    “Next station!” orders Past Prime .
    The armor is heavy, and it takes two
technicians to help me to my feet. The next station tests how fast
I can respond to flashing colored lights. I jump for blue, duck for
red, turn left or right for green and pink, and freeze for yellow.
I’m not great at it, but I do my best. The technicians record my
every movement with cameras mounted in floating drones.
    After a while the lights stop, and the
green-shirts lead me to a rope hanging from a platform about
sixteen feet off the ground. If this was a movie, it would be time
for a training montage but I really, really hate gym. I don’t even
make it halfway up the rope before I slip back down and land
heavily on a mattress.
    “Saucer!” I shout in frustration.
    Superheroes don’t need to climb ropes, they
can fly. Why am I doing this? Past Prime walks over to me
and looks down. He shakes his head.
    “Up,” he says.
    I don’t get up; I’m exhausted. My collar
fires up and pain arcs over my body. I roll around until the pain
stops.
    “Up,” Prime says quietly.
    I sit up.
    “This is killing me,” I mutter to myself.
    Past Prime grabs my arm and pulls me
to my feet. He points at his arm and it changes color to a metallic
red. He’s a cyborg from the shoulder down. He lifts a trouser leg
and his foot is metal, too. I wonder how much of him is still
original.
    “This training might kill you,” he
says seriously, “but the saucers will definitely kill you if
you aren’t ready for them. Our job is to make you ready. We use a
carrot and stick approach, and the collar is the stick.”
    “What's the carrot?”
    “Not getting the stick. Now, up that
rope.”
    He starts climbing the rope beside mine. He’s
really fast, even with his fake arm and leg. I feel pretty bad
being beaten by a man who is fifty years older than me and who only
has one real arm, so I start climbing. I get all the way to the top
and climb onto the platform where Past Prime is waiting for
me.
    “Good,” he says, “now if you need to rope
climb to escape a saucer you can. I had to, once.”
    I recognize him now.
    “ Master Bansuri ,” I say, “that’s who
you are. I have your poster in my room.”
    He looks right at me, his face carefully
blank. My dad taught me how to tell when people are bluffing, so I
know that he’s concealing something from me.
    “My name is Past Prime , and that is
what you will call me,” he says.
    I notice that the ground around me is covered
in thick and well-used mattresses.
    “Ready?” Past Prime asks me.
    “For what?”
    A large ball flies out of nowhere and hits me
in the gut.
    “Ouch!”
    I stagger right off the platform and hit the
mattresses hard.
    “Up!”
    I climb back up the rope