Trainee Superhero (Book Three) Read Online Free Page B

for you,” says Second Best , “it was your mother’s favorite, some of her
best work. It’s got a lot of juice.”
    I fly until I reach a rocky island.
    “We have mounted two multiblasters in the
right arm and the color cannon in the left. The shoulders are
cutting lasers for short range work. You control them with your
eyes, but they will take up a ton of your power, so don’t fire them
for long.”
    I use the lasers to cut some rocks into thin
slices, and then I blast the slices with my multiblaster until the
stones are nothing but dust.
    “Nice,” I say.
    My helmet ticks loudly.
    “I have a weapons lock on me,” I say.
    “Seventy-three missiles heading your way,”
agrees Second Best , “I’d prefer if you didn’t shoot them
down. Fly into them and we’ll see about your shields.”
    “Fly into them?” I ask. That seems like a
pretty stupid thing to do, so naturally I start immediately.
    The first missile hits me right in the chest
but green shields shimmer around me and the rest of the missiles
either swerve past me or explode harmlessly against my shields.
    “Shield check,” says Second Best .
    “98%,” I say.
    Second Best whistles, impressed.
    “That’s some good work,” she says.
    “Thanks.”
    “I wasn’t talking to you, Red Five , I
was talking to myself. I’ve built a flying tank.”
    I hover in the air, taking in the ocean and
earth below me, the sky above. I can see the Cerberus in the
distance, and a few other warships on the horizon. Clouds stream
out above me, leading out into the distance, and part of me wants
to follow them.
    “What’s stopping me from just flying away
now?” I ask.
    “Would you?” asks Second Best . She
sounds a little anxious.
    “Of course not, but surely people consider
it.”
    “We still control your collar,” Second
Best reminds me, “and I can shut your suit down from here. Plus Never Lies has been following, just in case.”
    “I thought you said I’m a flying tank!”
    “I can still take you,” says Never
Lies over my radio.
    I can’t see her, but I have no doubt that
she’s around. My helmet goes tick-tick-tick .
    “You have all your weapons locked on me,
don’t you?” I ask.
    “I do.”
    She sounds smug.
    “One of those weapons is a special
shield-piercing cannon designed to bring people like me down, isn’t
it?”
    “It is.”
    “Good thing you won’t need it, then.”
    “Yeah… about that…”
    A beam of light hits me right in the head and
I fall out of the sky, tumbling. I catch myself just above the
ground.
    “Shields at 80%. And also, ouch.”
    “80%? That’s impressive. Nice recovery,
too.”
    “Thanks, but my head is buzzing like there’s
a swarm of bees in this suit with me. Please don’t do that again.
Can we go get some lunch now?”
    “You wish. We still have work to do, so stop
whining and power up that rainbow-cannon.”
     
    Three hours later I’m lying in the sun in the
operators’ area, exhausted. Never Lies kicks me in the
leg.
    “Get up, trainee, we have things to talk
about.”
    I wonder if she’s going to shoot me again;
she really seemed to enjoy it. She leads me to the cafeteria and
sits me down at a table. Chef brings over three pieces of cake.
    “We’ve been thinking,” she says, “and we’ve
come to the conclusion that you need a partner. It’s pretty common
practice for trainee to get paired up; it makes you easier to
handle and gives you a better chance on the battlefield. Anyway,
his name is Grey Three .”
    The door opens and Tenchi walks in. We stare
at each other in dumbstruck surprise.
    “You two have complementary skills,”
continues Never Lies , “and we thought you would work well
together. You two look like you’ve seen a ghost, is there a
problem?”
    She almost cracks a smile, but then turns
away.
    Tenchi grabs me in a bear hug and squeezes
the life out of me. We high five, we bump fists, we laugh. This is
the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
    “Powers?” asks