Star League 1 Read online

  I stare at the streets passing by the car window. ‘What should I do, Jefferson? I mean, this could be the most important thing I’ve ever done. Making movies is great, but fighting criminals? I’d really be one of the good guys instead of just playing one on screen! It’s just …’

  I feel a bit embarrassed about what I’m about to say, but I know I can trust Jefferson not to laugh. He’s always been there for me and I can tell him anything. ‘I’m scared, Jefferson! These guys are like superheroes. Next to them I’m just your average kid, but I’m supposed to lead them! What if something goes wrong? It’d be all my fault!’

  I sigh. ‘I don’t know how Ben Beaumont can be so sure I’d make such a great leader. I mean, for most of my life I’ve been a bit of a freak. Instead of going to school and doing homework, I spend my days on movie sets learning how to take out gangs of smugglers while racing on a jet-ski. I’m not exactly a normal kid, so how am I supposed to know how to be a leader?’

  A thought suddenly strikes me. ‘Except these aren’t normal kids either,’ I say, half to myself, half to Jefferson. ‘If I feel like a bit of a freak at times I bet they do too, even though deep down they’re just regular kids like me.’

  I think about all the time I’ve spent on movie sets away from normal kids my own age and I realise that being a ninja or a zombie probably means the same thing. ‘You know, I think I can do this!’ I tell Jefferson, half yelling it in excitement. ‘What do you reckon?’

  Jefferson’s eyes stare into mine from the screen and in that instant I know something’s really wrong. ‘Jefferson?’ I ask, starting to get worried. It looks like he’s afraid. I want to kick myself for not seeing the fear in his eyes before. ‘What’s going on?’ I start to ask, but I’m interrupted by Jefferson’s panicked voice.

  ‘It’s a trap, Jay, get out of there!’

  Fear grips my heart like an icy hand. I try the car doors but they’re locked. Jefferson is pulled away from the screen and his face is replaced by Professor Pestilence’s ugly mug.

  ‘Looks like the warning has come a little late for Jay Casey!’ he cackles. ‘You wouldn’t listen to my generous offer before, so I’ve had to resort to more convincing methods.’

  ‘What do you want, Pestilence?’ I’m so mad I’m shaking.

  ‘This is a lucky day for you, Jay. You might have laughed at my offer before, but I’m giving you a second chance: you will endorse PestilenceCorp’s Humabots.

  ‘With the famous Jay Casey as the face of the whole operation nobody will question what I’m doing. Then I can put the Humabots into production and soon I’ll have a look-alike for each and every world leader, all controlled by me! I will be the supreme ruler!’

  ‘What? That’s insane! You can’t just make copies of all the world leaders. Somebody will notice!’

  Then I remember that robot kid, Sam, from the audition. Ben had said he was one of the professor’s early experiments. Even though he didn’t seem completely normal, I never would have guessed in a million years that he wasn’t human with his Holoskin activated.

  ‘You’re not going to get away with this, Pestilence! I’m going to find some way to stop you …’ I hear Jefferson give a muffled gasp off-screen.

  ‘Where’s Jefferson?’ I ask through clenched teeth. ‘You’d better not hurt him, or I’ll …’

  ‘Calm down, Jay,’ he squeaks. ‘Jefferson is safe and well. At least, he’s safe as long as you cooperate! Now quiet down and enjoy the ride, you’re almost there.’

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ I ask, but the screen switches off.

  The car turns into the driveway of an enormous mansion. We drive through a security check-point before we finally pull up to the main entrance. The driver pulls me roughly from the car and leads me towards the front door.

  I start looking for a way to escape but there are guards everywhere. Besides, I don’t want to do anything stupid until I know Jefferson is safe and sound. We head inside the house and I’m led towards a solid steel door. The driver types in a code and the door slides open. He pushes me inside and leaves, locking the door behind me.

  Sitting behind a desk on the other side of the room is Professor Pestilence himself, looking lumpier and paler than ever.

  ‘Ah, Jay! So pleased you could join us.’

  ‘Like I had a choice,’ I mutter.

  ‘Don’t be like that, Jay!’ he says. ‘After all, I’m asking you to do something you do every day, something you love!’

  He clicks his fingers and a robot clanks through the door. With one hand it’s dragging a TV camera, and the other is clutching …

  ‘Jefferson!’ I shout. ‘Are you okay?’

  He nods and tries to smile, but I can tell he’s afraid. ‘It’s okay, Jay, I’m fine.’

  ‘Fine? We’ve both been kidnapped by a lunatic. I think that’s definitely not fine!’

  ‘Oh, what a touching reunion!’ wheezes Pestilence. ‘Jay, if you want your precious Jefferson back in one piece, you’re going to have to make a live appearance on TV and tell the whole world that PestilenceCorp is safe.’

  Pestilence smiles an evil smile. ‘I want you to be my partner in crime.’

  I have to tell everybody watching that I support Professor Pestilence’s plan to make human-like robots? In the hands of a madman like Pestilence, the Humabots could do a lot of damage. What am I talking about? He already has done a lot of damage! But if it means saving Jefferson …

  ‘I’ll do it,’ I say miserably.

  ‘Excellent!’ hisses Pestilence. ‘Prepare the star for his television appearance!’ A robot grabs me and leads me in front of the camera, and Pestilence comes to stand next to me.

  ‘No, Jay, you can’t do this!’ yells Jefferson. He struggles against the robot’s iron grip but he can’t break free. ‘People trust you! If you lie to them you’ll trick everyone into believing that what he’s doing here is safe! He’s a madman who wants to rule the world. If you convince people to trust him he’s going to make life horrible for everyone!’

  ‘I know that, Jefferson,’ I say, my shoulders slumping, ‘but what am I supposed to do? I’d rather live in a world ruled by Pestilence than have you end up as robot mincemeat!’

  ‘Just think, Jay! I’m sure there’s another way. You’re so good at coming up with plans …’

  ‘Quiet!’ shouts Pestilence. ‘It’s almost time for our interview and you’re being a little too chatty for my liking. Can’t have you interrupting us, can we?’ He pulls out a blue capsule and breaks it under Jefferson’s nose. Jefferson’s eyes roll back and he slumps to the floor as the robot lets go of him.

  ‘NO!’ I run over to him but the robot blocks my way. I punch and kick at it but I’m not focused and my attack is weak. The robot swats me away like a fly. ‘What have you done?’ I scream at Pestilence.

  ‘Relax, Mr Casey, it’s just a little sleeping gas. He should wake up just after our interview. Speaking of which, it’s time to take your place.’ I glare at him, but do what he says. I can’t risk making him angry when his pet robot is still guarding Jefferson. The red camera light blinks on and I know we’re filming. There’s a monitor above the camera that shows a lady with brown hair sitting behind a news desk. I recognise her straight away – she’s Tina Timmons, host of the news show Crunch Time.

  ‘Our next guests will be known by everyone in our audience tonight,’ says Tina. ‘One is loved by all as the young star of many action-packed blockbusters. The other is a mysterious figure who refuses to let authorities know the truth about his robotic experiments. But tonight they’ve decided to join together to talk about PestilenceCorp.’

  Our faces flash up on screen. I try to smile like a professional but my heart isn’t in it. ‘Jay Casey, Professor Pestilence, welcome to Crunch Time.’

  ‘It’s a pleasure to be here, Tina!’ squeaks Pestilence, sounding nervous. I just nod in reply.

  Tina turns to the Professor. ‘Professor Pestilence, why all the secrecy surrounding your experiments?
You’re not up to some evil plan to take over the world, are you?’

  ‘Um … uh … I … well …’ Pestilence’s pale face is sweating so much it seems to be melting. ‘Er, why don’t we let Jay answer that?’

  Tina’s eyes flick to me. ‘Very well. Jay, I’m surprised you’re supporting the Humabots. Have we misjudged the Professor and his experiments? Are they really for the good of humankind and not just some plot by an evil madman?’

  I can feel the stares of everybody at home watching their TVs. What I say next could change everything. ‘I, uh … I mean I, um …’ My eyes flick over to Jefferson, who’s still asleep and being guarded by the robot. I take a deep breath. ‘I, Jay Casey, am one hundred per cent for …’

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  My head snaps around at the sound coming from the metal door. Dents are appearing in it like it’s made out of tin foil instead of solid steel. What on earth could be strong enough to do that?

  I get my answer a second later as sharp claws rip through the metal, followed by a furry brown snout. It’s Connor, the werewolf!

  He rips the door off its hinges and throws it to one side as though it’s as light as a feather. Asuka, Roger, Leigh and Sam come racing into the room after him, ready for a fight.

  ‘We came as soon as we could,’ says Leigh. Chu the monkey chirps in agreement.

  ‘Sorry we’re a bit late,’ says Sam. ‘We had some trouble with the guards.’

  ‘Yeah,’ adds Asuka. ‘They didn’t want to let us in so we had to persuade them.’ Something about the way Asuka cracks her knuckles makes me think that they didn’t just ask nicely.

  ‘How did you know where I was?’ I ask.

  ‘When you left, Ben saw you get into that car,’ says Roger. ‘As soon as it drove away the real studio driver pulled up, so he knew something was wrong. That’s why he sent us after you.’

  ‘I’m really glad he did, because somebody needs to teach this guy a lesson!’ I shout, pointing at Professor Pestilence. I look directly into the camera. ‘I, Jay Casey, am one hundred per cent for putting Professor Pestilence behind bars!’

  Pestilence gasps and his slug-like lips pull down into a frown. ‘Very well, if you don’t want to cooperate, I’m afraid Jefferson is going to pay for it. Finish him off!’ he screams to the robot guarding him.

  Every muscle in my body tenses, but only for a second. That’s when my training takes over. I race to the robot just as it’s reaching down to Jefferson and land a flying kick on its back.

  It stumbles and then spins around to face me. Behind me I can hear the others getting ready to help me fight.

  ‘Wait,’ I say, ‘this one is mine!’

  The robot’s fist snakes out with a punch, which I dodge. In the same movement I grab its arm and, remembering my judo training, I kick its ankle. It spins off-balance and crashes to the ground.

  I quickly flip open its control panel while it struggles to get back up and aim another kick at the circuits inside. The lights go off and the robot stays down.

  I swing back around to face Pestilence. ‘Looks like your evil plan is finished!’

  ‘Not so fast, Jay Casey. I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve!’ Pestilence pulls out a remote control and hits a button. There’s a rumbling from the hallway and a hundred more robots burst through the ruined metal door.

  As they surround us I get a sick feeling in my stomach. The robots’ eyes glow red as they stare at us, and I know for certain these aren’t training-bots. There are way too many for the six of us to take down. It looks like we’re done for!

  I watch as a robot stalks towards Sam. He puts his hand on its chest and it powers down, but there’s another one close behind it. I look around and realise the same thing is happening to everybody. They’re taking out as many robots as they can but there are just too many.

  I need to think. I try to clear my mind in between dodging punches so I can come up with some way to get out of here, hopefully with my head still attached to my body.

  ‘Think, Jay, think!’ I try to imagine that I’m on the set of one of my movies and this is the final scene. What would I do?

  A plan starts to form in my mind. I see the six of us and our different skills and how we can work together to defeat the robots, just like the pieces of a puzzle fitting together.

  ‘Quick!’ I yell. ‘Everybody form a circle with our backs to each other! That way they can’t sneak up on us from behind.’ They rush together to do what I say. ‘Okay, now here’s the plan …’ I whisper it to them so Pestilence won’t overhear.

  ‘What are you up to?’ roars the professor, but we ignore him as we quickly go over the plan. Finally they all nod and get into their positions.

  Connor fights his way through the robots to a bookcase standing next to the open door. He lifts it up and sends it smashing down to block our only escape route. If my plan doesn’t work then we’re trapped in here!

  Sam runs off to the left, shutting down as many robots as he can, while Chu and Leigh take the right side of the room. Together they herd the rest of the robots back towards the blocked-off door.

  Meanwhile, Asuka crouches low on the floor as Roger and I fight the robots around her. She leaps up to grab the edge of a chandelier hanging above our heads and starts swinging back and forth. The chain that holds the chandelier in place begins to groan, then the whole thing comes crashing down with all its power cables still attached. So far so good!

  ‘Now, Roger!’ I shout. He aims an acid potion at the ground. It eats a hole in the floorboards. There’s a loud hissing as the acid burns away at the water pipes beneath our feet. Water comes gushing out of the hole, drenching the robots.

  ‘Nice try,’ wheezes Pestilence, ‘but my robots are waterproof!’

  I grin. ‘Well, you’re in for a shocking surprise!’

  I make sure we’re all free of the puddles and then I give the chandelier a shove with all my might. It rolls towards the group of robots trapped between us and the door and falls over in the puddle. As soon as the cables hit the water, huge sparks of electricity leap up and shoot around the robots. They shudder as the current runs through them, conducted by their metal casing.

  It shorts out their circuits and in a couple of seconds every last robot is deactivated. We wait to see if the robots’ red eyes will blink back on, but they stay dull.

  ‘All right!’ I yell. ‘We did it!’ We high-five each other with giant grins plastered across our faces. But our celebrations are interrupted by Professor Pestilence’s wheezing voice.

  ‘You may have won the battle, Jay Casey, but not the war!’

  He whips out a remote control and I hold my breath. What is it this time? More robots? A bomb? Robots with bombs?

  He grins nastily at me. ‘Time for Plan B!’

  Before I can knock the remote out of his hand, the professor points it at a screen on the wall and it switches on. Phew! It was just a TV remote.

  Up on the screen is … me! It’s footage from the car ride over here. Pestilence must have filmed it without me knowing. What’s he up to?

  ‘I’m a normal kid, so how am I supposed to lead a team full of freaks?’ I wince at the words. They seem to echo around the room, and the others turn to stare at me with shocked expressions.

  ‘These aren’t normal kids, deep down they’re just freaks!’ I’m stunned. That’s not what I said! He must’ve edited the footage.

  ‘Freaks, hey?’ scowls Connor.

  ‘We’ve been called freaks our whole lives,’ says Asuka.

  ‘And it’s no picnic.’ Roger nods.

  ‘Behind our powers we’re still just normal kids,’ says Leigh with hurt in her eyes. Chu chirps sadly.

  ‘Affirmative,’ agrees Sam, ‘and we just want to belong.’

  ‘Please, guys.’ I feel my face go red. ‘I didn’t say those horrible things! I was actually telling Jefferson how amazing you all are, and how I’m the freak.

  ‘Professor Pestilence has played around with the rec
ording. We worked together to defeat a whole room of this guy’s evil robots, and now he’s trying to turn you against me!’

  I wait to see if they believe me or not, knowing that at any second a werewolf’s claws might come swiping towards me, or a ninja star might be hurled in my direction. But no attack comes. Instead they turn on Professor Pestilence.

  ‘You’re going to pay for editing that footage, Pestilence!’ growls Connor.

  ‘Didn’t your mum ever teach you not to call people names?’ asks Roger.

  ‘What?’ splutters Pestilence. ‘Why didn’t you believe the recording?’

  ‘Because we trust Jay,’ says Asuka. ‘Thanks to his plan we beat your robots. We know he wouldn’t lie to us.’

  All five of them smile at me and I smile back.

  ‘Thanks, guys. Now let’s show Pestilence what happens to people who mess with us!’

  ‘Curses!’ he yells. ‘I’ve failed. All evidence must be destroyed. SELF-DESTRUCT MODE!’

  He hits another button on his remote and his head starts to spark. His sickly white skin sags even more until I realise it’s melting. There’s a loud crack and the professor falls limp to the ground. We rush over to him.

  ‘Hey, this skin is rubber!’ I pull back one of the melted bits of rubber to reveal a metal plate underneath. ‘He was a robot! A Humabot!’ We stare at each other in amazement.

  ‘So you finally figured it out,’ rasps a voice. We turn to see a shadowy figure up on the TV screen. I can’t make out if the person is young or old, male or female.

  ‘That was just a test-bot. I still need to iron out a few of the bugs. Obviously these Humabots are too stupid to carry out a simple plan. Also, the skin starts to melt after a while.’

  ‘Who are you?’ I ask.

  ‘I’m the real Professor Pestilence,’ whispers the voice. ‘That Humabot was just a diversion. Nobody knows what I really look like, and nobody ever will because I’m a master of disguise.’