The Super 4 : Dark Death Read online

  She went on like that for a while.

  Darryl had walked up on stage, and was waiting for her to finish.

  A little kid with bright green eyes and curly hair kept on cheering and yelling and clapping, every time Darryl got a new prize.

  I tuned out.

  Then Ms Roberts mentioned something extra, “...And, because of his superior performance, Darryl had also been awarded to skip ninth grade! He will go straight to tenth grade!”

  Everyone started talking at once. Jake turned to me, and I shrugged. This was news to me.

  “Everyone! Everyone, please settle down.”

  Even with that it took a while for us to shut up.

  Ms Roberts looked relieved. “Thank you.” She looked confused, as if she’d forgotten what she was saying. “Oh yes, give him a round of applause please!” Darryl bowed slightly to accept his many gold medals. He had a lot. The applause was subdued, except for Carly, Jake and I. And the green-eyed kid. Who was he?

  But by then, Ms Robert was on to her next person. Carly got the silver medal. Second in the grade. Second in English. Second in almost everything. Except math! She came third in that.

  Once again I tuned out. I clapped as Jake got his first in P.E. and Overall Best Athlete award. He didn’t get medals-he got trophies. I was next.

  “And second in Math, Harrison White.” The audience clapped politely as I made my way up. Ms Roberts put on a faux smile as she placed the silver medal over my head. She rattled off some more names and awards, finishing with honor roll. “-and Max Greeney! Thank you all for coming to this year’s Award Ceremony! Have a great summer, and I hope to see you all in the fall!” Everyone applauded, as people rushed off to their parents, dragging their friends with them. Smiles were smiled. Pictures were taking. Medals were counted. I saw Darryl with the little boy and some lady with extravagant coloured hair. I waved at him. But he didn’t see; his attention was on the little boy. Jake, however, saw my wave, he walked over, dragging Carly with him. We smiled for some pictures, then the adults left us alone to talk amongst ourselves.

  “Thank goodness that’s all over,” Jake said. His trophies were taken by his parents. “That news about Darryl. That was pretty surprising, huh?”

  “Sorry about that.” We turned to find Darryl standing behind us. He rubbed his arm awkwardly. “It was supposed to be a secret.”

  “It was. A big one,” Carly said. “But it’s alright.”

  “Thanks,” he said, relieved.

  “No prob,” she responded. We walked towards the school. We decided to pass by our lockers. For old times sake.

  “Man, I might actually miss Middle School!” Jake said. We turned to him, surprised. “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said, smirking.

  “Hmm!” he said, stalking off.

  But before he could get too far, Darryl asked, “Hey! Jake, what’s that on your locker?”

  “Huh?” he responded. He walked towards his locker. A piece of paper was stuck on it. It read,

  If you wish to see your loved ones again, meet me in the basement.

  -The Shadow

  We turned to each other. “This isn’t good,” said Carly.

  “Wait, you know about the Shadow too?” I asked.

  “Yep.” Jake and Carly chorused. They looked at each other in surprise. I was shocked.

  “Nope,” added Darryl, “Who is he?”

  “Okay then, what does he look like?” I asked, ignoring Darryl. Jake rattled off about his dark eyes, and cloak, etc.

  “Hold up, people!” said Darryl, “I still don’t know who we’re talking about!”

  “Well,” Jake began, “This evil dude who always wears black and has weird eyes is trying to-”

  “We’re wasting time!” Carly interrupted. “We need to see what he wants,”

  “Agreed,” Jake said.

  “Okay,” I said.

  We looked at Darryl, “I’m ready,” he said, firmly.

  “Let’s do this!” Carly said.

  We marched around for a while. Lost. We finally stumbled across a door labeled: Basement. Hazard! Generator! We looked at each other. We nodded and opened the door.

  It was dark inside. I held up a hand of fire and peered inside. There was nothing there. I shrugged at the others, and marched in. Carly made a tiny electrical ball, and carefully wielded ice around it. I tossed a fireball at Jake, and, after some stumbling, he secured it in a force field.

  We walked in.

  Something whizzed passed us. We all turned in fright. I bit back a gulp. The thing sped past us again. Then we heard someone laughing. It wasn’t an evil guy kind of laugh, but it was enough to spook us out. We moved forward. Someone sat on the floor. His back was to us. He wore a blue button-down shirt, and brown skinny jeans.

  “Hello?” I asked.

  “Hello, Harrison,” he said. “Hey Carly, hi Jake, good afternoon Darryl,”

  “Who are you?” Carly said, bravely.

  “I am the Shadow. The Dark One. Or, as Jake called me once, The Shadowman.” he turned. His blond, curly hair had strands of black in it, his amber eyes had black and green laced through it. He was light turned dark. “Or, you could call me by my human name,” He said human, as if it were a piece of moldy cheese. He said it like Jake said ‘book’. “My name is Bobby Huntlington. I’m shocked Harrison. You don’t recognize me? I am shocked. Truly shocked! After all, you met up with my father just the other night.”

  “Wait,” I said, surprised. “Fatty was your father?”

  “Tsk. Yes, Fatty was my father. You don’t see the family resemblance?”

  “No, not real- Well, kinda, yeah. You have the same hair. And eyes. Minus the black and green, obvious-”

  “Forget about Fatty and I. Instead focus on them!”

  Jake

  XXX

  The Shadow, or Bobby, pointed at a large sack. Confused, I asked, “What is it?”

  Bobby laughed, “You don’t recognize you own family?” We gasped and ran to the sacks. I pulled the sack away. In it lay Carly’s cousin and dad, Harrison’s family, some little kid and a weird-haired lady, I think Darryl knew, and my family.

  I turned to Bobby with furious eyes. There were tears in them. “How could you? How could you be so evil?”

  “Don’t you know what happened to my family? To me?” We stared at him with blank eyes. “My father ran for president, but failed. He failed so badly! He only got a couple of votes, and those votes were from my uncle and my aunt. So he became a criminal. But a good one! To this day, no one knows who was the assassin behind all those murders. Ha! No one even knew they were murders! He was so talented!” Bobby spoke as if telling a fairy tale. “And I’m even more talented! I followed you that day you got your powers! I snuck behind you the entire time!”

  “I knew it!” yelled Harrison, “I knew I heard something!”

  “Shut up! No one interrupts the Shadow!”

  “Sorry Bobby,” Harrison apologized.

  “Insolent fool! Anyways, where was I?”

  “You were following us,” Darryl said, helpfully.

  “Ah, yes! I was confused about why you took the wrong turn, but I followed you, thinking you had a secret hideout. I was going to destroy it! But you led me to something greater! I waited until you all had had your sodas. Then I snuck in. I was drawn to a lab table. On it lay a black can. In green letters was the word: Shadow. I drank every last drop. Then had two more. I saw your money lying on the counter… and I stole it!”

  “Okay,” I said. “Nice story. Now we’re just gonna take our family and leave. Thanks for the entertainment.” I knew it wasn’t going to work- I’d watched enough movies to know that- but I was gonna take my chances.

  “Why did you save me that day on the mountain?” Carly asked. What was she talking about?

  “I had my reasons. And, no Jake. You’re not going anywhere.” He stood up.

  With a wave of his hands his attire changed. His clothes transformed into th
at long black cloak I was accustomed to. His eyes became a solid black, a green glow emanating from them. His golden hair darkened, until that too was a solid black. His feet and arms became multiple dark tentacles.

  He smiled like an evil villain.

  Correction, he was an evil villain.

  We stood our ground. Harrison wielding two fire daggers, Carly had one, long icy sword. Darryl had a little robot, and I had my force field nunchaku.

  Bobby laughed again, “Fools! The only people who can stop me are light wielders! And your puny fire can’t stop ME!”

  He raised his tentacles, and millions of dark rods shot towards us. I made a force field around us. But it wouldn’t last forever.

  Carly had turned her back. Light beams shot around her. She turned and yelled, “JAKE! OPEN THE FORCE FIELD!” I obliged, relieved. She shot a little crackling ball of electricity towards Bobby. It hit one of his tentacles. The tentacle hit dissolved immediately. Carly quickly sent more rapids of electricity. But she was tiring quickly. She didn’t use electricity much, only her water.

  Meanwhile, Darryl was tampering with his robot. It shot a light beam towards Bobby. Another tentacle dissolved.

  “Tsk. Carly, Jake, you should’ve remembered my ability to take over people’s body.”

  He raised his tentacle, and a dark beam shot towards me. I raised my force field, but it was too late. The beam struck me.

  Darkness swarmed over me, and I heard laughter echoing in my ears. I desperately placed my hands over my ears, in an attempt to get rid of the noise. But it was useless. My body belonged to Bobby.

  “Unfortunately,” he said, using my voice. “I can’t do this long. But for now… I’ll enjoy it!” He sent force fields their way. Luckily they all dodged it. Bobby wasn’t used to my powers. I fought him for control, but it was useless. He was in control. Complete control. Harrison sent fiery whips at Bobby’s shadow body. He didn’t want to hurt me.

  I had just given up hope, when I felt Bobby’s control wavering. I used the last of my power to eject him from my mind, once and for all.

  I quickly launched a barrage of force fields at him. I sped around him at super speed. I was creating a vortex. The speed at which I was running should’ve been enough to make Bobby freeze. Maybe then I could tie him up and defeat him. Bobby faltered for a few seconds. Then he smiled. He smiled scary.

  “I’m a shadow,” he informed me, “I am darkness. Travelling at the speed of light, well, there’s still darkness around.” He hit me in the stomach with his tentacle. Hard. I flew across the room. My ribs cracked when they hit the wall. I landed on my arm. I heard another loud crack. I grimaced in pain. My vision became blurry. Tears were flooding my eyes. My vision became hazy and red.

  I closed my eyes. All I had left were my ears.

  I listened in desperation. I switched my power on. I could here the increased heartbeats in the room. I heard Bobby panting desperately.

  “He’s tiring! He’s slowing down!” I yelled, in an attempt to help.

  It worked. I heard an onslaught of power hit him.

  Carly’s crackling energy having the most effect on him.

  “Go Carly!” I yelled.

  She must have turned to smile at me. Out of habit. Whatever the reason, she was the next body to be slammed into a wall. She landed a few feet next to me.

  By her weird breathing, I guessed she also cracked her ribs. Her desperate breathing slowed. At first I panicked. i thought she was dead. But her breathing had just slowed. She was sleeping. Unconscious.

  That was the two of us out of the fight. Only Darryl and Harrison left. I uttered a prayer to God that they’d win. Otherwise it was over.

  I guess they knew that too. I heard Harrison yell in frustration. He launched a volley of fireballs at Bobby. I could tell by the sound of his swinging arms. I heard Darryl clanking around with his robot. I heard a button being pressed. Then I heard a grunt of pain. I smiled.

  We might actually win! Then I heard Darryl being taken over. A desperate try. I heard a whizzing sound, I guessed they were Darryl’s super-stretched arms, reach out. Harrison moaned slightly. His slight disadvantage gave Bobby the opportunity to whack him.

  But Harrison didn’t hit the wall. Either that or my ears are faulty. Instead he kicked off the wall, and landed on his feet. A few seconds later, and Darryl resumed control of his body. Another advantage of having a super-brain, I presume.

  “Harrison?” I heard him say.

  “Yeah, Darryl?”

  “Let’s get this guy!”

  “That’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said!”

  Carly

  XXXI

  The last thing I remember is a loud cracking and intense pain. Then there was only black. But, in that state of unconsciousness, dreams came. I’m not sure how they got there, in my head, but they were scary!

  Most of it was torture. Being pricked to death with large syringes (I have a phobia of syringes.). Being eaten alive by piranhas (Part of my brain knew piranhas didn’t eat meat, but the other part didn’t care. Plus, I’m scared of piranhas!).

  And worse, watching Jake die in my arms. I loved him.

  I know, I know, love is a strong word and all, but how else do you describe what I feel for him?

  I also knew that the Shadow breathed in fear. And the part of my brain being targeted was my amygdala. But that knowledge didn’t make my dreams any less scarier.

  I awoke to a loud inhalation. I opened my eyes. They were sticky with tears. Jake lay a few feet away. I could tell by the blond hair. But that’s all I could see in this darkness.

  “Jake.” I say, weakly.

  He turns. “Carly!” He creates a force field under me and lifts me off my feet. Literally. He brings the force field towards himself. He kisses my forehead and hugs me hard. I hear a slight groan of pain from my rib, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was what was right in front of me.

  We turn weakly, leaning against the wall, and watch the fight play out. We were too weak to do otherwise.

  It looked like our side was winning. I cheered weakly. It came out like a whisper.

  Darryl was pushing forward on the offense, while Harrison was protecting him with walls of fire. More and more tentacles dissolved into nothingness.

  I cheered-whispered again.

  The Dark One was slowly being pushed backwards. He looked frightened. He let loose another burst of dark energy. Harrison’s wall of fire protected Darryl from serious harm, but a smidge of it struck him in the chest. Luckily, he was fine, but the slight pause gave The Dark One an advantage. He pressed forward with another barrage of darkness.

  Darryl got hit with more and more pellets of darkness. Harrison wielded a suit of fire around the back of him. He left the front side clear so he could breath and wouldn’t suffocate. But The Dark One was smart and strategic.

  He ran at a wall.

  But instead of falling, he disappeared. We all looked around. But he wasn’t there.

  Suddenly, something dark appeared behind Darryl.

  “WATCH OUT!” yelled Jake. Darryl turned in time to see The Dark One standing behind him. Luckily, Harrison raised a wall of fire in front of Darryl. Is blocked the blow, but the smoke inhalation was too much for Darryl. He collapsed.

  “JAKE!” shouted Harrison. Jake nodded and raised his arms. Like he did for me, Jake carried Darryl towards our little ‘Hurt Friends’ pile.

  I propped him up against the wall. Unfortunately, my knowledge of smoke inhalation was poor. I was lost.

  So, I left him there. All I knew was that he needed clean air. But there wasn’t any around.

  By now Harrison had switched to offense. And The Dark One to defense. As balls of fire were thrown at The Dark One, he raised a shield of darkness. Sometimes the balls of fire were consumed by the darkness, but other times the fire dissolved the wall. Then, one of the fireballs became huge and blue. The large fireball hit the wall, and the wall was destroyed, pellets of it flying in every dir
ection.

  Jake raised a force field around everyone but The Dark One. He was destroyed by his own darkness. We cheered for Harrison. He smiled weakly, then collapsed. I limped over.

  But Jake stopped me, “He’s fine. Still breathing, just tired.” he assured me.

  Sure enough, Harrison was fine. But The Dark One wasn’t. I wrapped him up in an icy rope. Then, Jake secured him in a force field. The force field would have to be reestablished, but for now it was fine.

  I heard coughing behind me and turned around. Darryl was slowly getting up. His first step was a bit wobbly, but after that it got better.

  “Did we win?” he asked, weakly.

  “Yeah,” I tell him, “Yeah, we did,”

  “I’m a superhero,” I heard Harrison mutter. At first I thought he was awake, but he turned out to be sleep-talking. We laughed. It hurt my ribs when I laughed, but I suffered through it.

  “Let’s get them up in the sun.” Jake suggests. “Hopefully, since he’s in power mode, his powers will be destroyed by the eternal light of the sun!”

  It sounded like poetry.

  “Good point,” Darryl said, thoughtfully. Jake looked overwhelmed with pride.

  He proudly creates force fields to carry Harrison and The Dark One. I make little iceboats for the families lying unconscious, and a small cane for me.

  We lift them up in to the bright sun. It takes a while, because of our cracked ribs and arms. People are gone. Enjoying the start of summer. The door was locked, but Darryl’s robot destroyed it.

  We walked outside and lay everyone out in the sun. Then The Dark One started changing.

  First his eyes opened, and shone brightly, a beacon of light, then they turned golden again, then his hair went back to it’s normal color, then his clothes changed. Finally his tentacles disappeared, to be replaced by skinny arms and legs. He was changed. He was Bobby again.

  Jake walked over to him and looked him in the eye. “No trace of green or black.” he announces, happily.

  We high-five each other. Then we waited.