Attack of the BULLIES

Brand cursed his body. Why couldn’t he stand? “Sort of defeats the purpose. If you’re caught in the blast, how will you rule the world? That’s what you want, right?”

She shook her head. “Oh, I’ll be long gone before then.” She pushed a couple of buttons and stepped into the pit, then turned and blew him a kiss. “Don’t look so sad. I think Lisa did love you. If only she were real.”

With what little strength he had, he snatched the monkey wrench and threw it. It slammed into the ball pit’s control panel. Sparks and black smoke filled the air, and the screeching noise got louder and higher in pitch.

The woman screamed in terror. “You’ve reversed the engine! You’ve created a black hole. It’s going to crush me!”

Brand crawled on his hands and knees to reach her. “Take my hand!” he cried, but she couldn’t move from the ball pit. A terrible, crackling energy rose up out of the machine and engulfed her body. She shook in pain.

“Lisa!”

“Alex, I wanted to tell you who I was, but I didn’t really know.”

“You’re Lisa Holiday,” he cried.

“I wanted to be,” she said.

There was a massive shock wave and Ms. Holiday’s body broke into a million tiny flecks of dust. They rose up into the air like dandelion seeds on a summer breeze and drifted over the entire construction site. All that remained was the black mask with the white skull painted on it.

Brand staggered to his feet and approached the ball pit. He gave the control panel a shake. It popped on and off. He pressed some buttons, made a wish, then crawled into the ball pit once more. It might kill him, too, but he had to try.

“No one can stop us!” the thirty-foot-tall Snot Rocket cried. He stomped through the streets, snapping electrical wires with every step. He fired a massive booger at a car. It exploded. The other BULLIES cheered. Each one was as big as Snot Rocket.

Loudmouth opened her mouth and a tornado blasted out of her lungs, ripping apart the street, tearing the roof off a nearby home, and pushing a garage off its foundation.

Thor roared and beat on his chest. His protruding veins were thick with boiling purple blood and his eyes were bulging.

“Anything we want is ours!” Funk shouted. His armpit smell caused a mailbox to ignite and melt. “And no one can stop us!”

“Um, excuse me,” Heathcliff said from far below.

Snot Rocket looked down at the little boy. He was standing in front of a sea of other puny children.

“We’ve come to stop you,” Heathcliff said. He hoped that the giants wouldn’t stomp on him right away.

“Are you sure this is going to work, Hodges?” Benjamin asked. “I don’t want to end up in a recycling bin.”

“I don’t know,” Heathcliff admitted. “I’ve never confronted four superpowered giants before.”

“You’re one of those NERDS,” Funk said, his voice booming like thunder. “The one without any powers. What did you do, kid, gather up your weakling friends to come out here and give us a piece of your mind?”

“Not exactly,” Heathcliff said. He turned to his army. “Get them!”

All at once, three hundred once-average kids attacked. Their weaknesses had been enhanced by nanobytes. Some of them could fly, some were very strong, and others were as fast as lightning. One kid could bounce like a basketball—he slammed into Funk’s face. Another turned to ice and blasted Tammy’s shoes until she hopped around with frozen toes. One kid turned into a hairy beast and attacked Snot Rocket with claws and teeth, and another kid produced so much sweat it caused Thor to slip and fall on his back. There were kids who teleported and kids who could move objects with their thoughts. There were kids whose skin was as hard as rocks and others who turned into water and still others who were now half cyborg. And together they were led by Heathcliff Hodges.

“It’s working!” Heathcliff cried.

But he spoke too soon. With a massive swipe of his paw, Thor knocked fifty of the children unconscious.

“Get back!” Heathcliff shouted, but it was too late.

Funk unleashed his powers, bringing a thousand enormous maggots from underground. They slithered over more of the would-be heroes.

It sent a panic through Heathcliff’s army. A few hurt themselves trying to retaliate. Others had no idea how to use their nanobytes in the first place. Heathcliff had gambled and lost. Unfortunately, it appeared the world had lost, too.

“You look like you need some help, pal,” Jackson said. Heathcliff turned in time to see the boy climb out of a ball pit that had materialized behind him. Duncan, Flinch, Matilda, and Ruby were next.

“So, I see you’ve been busy,” Ruby said.

“Desperate times,” he said.

“He’s been doing a good job,” Benjamin beeped.

“You’re back!” Duncan cried.

“Mr. Hodges fixed me,” the orb said. “It’s very good to see you all, again. However, might we save our reunion for another time? When we’re not playing Jack to these giants?”

Ruby started scratching her legs. “Aargh! I’m allergic to end-of-the-world scenarios.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Heathcliff said to her. She smiled. He knew she liked ru

“Matilda, fly up and blast Thor in the eyes with your inhalers. He can’t hit what he can’t see.”

Matilda soared into the sky. A moment later she was zapping the angry beast in the face.

Ruby turned to Duncan. “How do you feel about being tossed in the air at a giant’s face?”

“Um, OK … I guess,” he said.

“Jackson, I need some of your quarterback skills. Toss Duncan at Loudmouth. Duncan, you need to seal her mouth tight with your glue.”

“Excellent. And when I come falling out of the sky …?”

“Flinch will be there to catch you,” Ruby replied.

“I’m on it,” Flinch said, shoving four Twinkies into his mouth. His body began to shake and he pounded on his chest. “I AM MIGHTY!”

“Good, cause when he’s safe on the ground, I need you to target Funk,” she said. “You’re a lot faster than his nasty powers. I have a feeling you might be able to get him to accidentally turn his own grossness on himself.”

“Yay!” Flinch cried as he swallowed a bag of Swedish Fish without chewing.

Jackson picked Duncan up with his braces. “You ready, pal?”

“Is anyone ever ready for something like this?” the boy asked.

Jackson aimed and threw. A second later, Flinch flashed through the mob to wait for his falling buddy.

“Do I get to do anything else?” Jackson asked.

“I think we could stop Snot Rocket if he had a bloody nose,” Ruby answered with a grin.

Jackson winked. “Got a new trick I’ve been wanting to try out.”

His braces poured out of his mouth, forming a massive exoskeleton as big as any of the BULLIES. Jackson sat in its center, looking like a massive Rock’em Sock’em Robot stomping toward Snot Rocket.

“I suppose you want me to hide,” Heathcliff said. “I know I don’t have any useful upgrades. I don’t want to get in the way.”

“Hodges, you have three hundred superpowered kids at your disposal,” she said. “That’s your army. When these jerks get knocked off their feet, we’re going to need a whole bunch of them for wedgie duty.”

There was a massive thud. Ruby and Heathcliff turned and saw that Thor had fallen onto his back.

“Kids, get him!” Heathcliff shouted, and he led his army into the fray. His team kicked and punched Thor and tied him to the ground.

Heathcliff cheered anew when each of the four horrific BULLIES fell. Being a part of the team—even if he couldn’t do anything himself—was one of the most satisfying days of his life.