Chris hauled Jack back behind Molly as Rayne cried, “Stop the Tantamount! Save Earth and Cinder!”

Every squadron comprising human and alien allies surged forward in a flood. He squeezed his eyes tight and spared a quick prayer to whoever might listen.

Karter slapped him on the back. “You two ready for this? You won’t experience anything like it in the twelve worlds.”

Jack stared up at the sky. “Why did he kiss her?”

A mutual cringe shared between Chris and Karter. Somehow “grown-up stuff” didn’t seem like a suitable answer for a fifteen-year-old with a superhero sister.

So Karter provided a better answer, “Cause he’s a gross piece of shit. Now, c’mon, co-pilot.” She reached down to help him climb to the top of Molly’s rigging. Once there, they stared down at the expansive clearing behind the semi. No troops. Only beautiful pines, spruces, and underbrush. Until Chris jumped out about four feet and landed on thin air.

The pristine forest projection dissolved under his boots. Amber-colored glass comprised the considerable machine that manifested once the forest projection dissolved. The three of them slid into the massive crawler’s hatch.

A red-haired Valkyrie, Dereka, already manned one station. “Get in. Get ready to go.”

Jack claimed a station with an excited palm chafe. “Yes!”

“Don’t go breaking nothing!” Chris warned as he took his own station.

“Let him have some fun,” Karter chastised him with a sexy grin and a roll of her eyes.

Censors engaged as Batman’s deep brown palms pressed flat to the glass. He reminded Jack, “This isn’t a rehearsal, kid.”

Karter glanced between them to ensure, “You both swallowed those—”

All six legs animated to life. With a lurch, the Mobilizer-5000, as he came to call it, hoisted from the ground. Chris grinned at his favorite Valkyrie, “Did that answer your question?”

“Well, all right. Let’s go kick some ass!”

The Collective army scurried away from the pods as they charged into battle. It moved fast and not smooth at all. Roughest ride Chris ever encountered, but the M5000 got the job done. They stomped an enemy soldier here and swatted another one there. But his favorite bit was unique to this model, according to Karter. “Hit it, Robin!”

“Dude…” A shock wave blasted gold flake within the surrounding area. Allied Icarean soldiers hid behind nacre shields while their opponents collapsed into a seizing fit.

A metallic thunk brought their attention to the roof. A chain? What—

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Tameka soared from the sky to retrieve it. She locked onto Jack’s gaze and waved with a big smile before returning to the battle in the sky.

Dereka watched her go up. “I wonder how they’re doing?”

Karter stared at the same action in the sky Chris caught only glimpses of. She said, “I have every faith our General will mete justice from that reprobate.”

“Let’s do our part!” Jack called.

They returned to their task of leveling the playing field. When a massive beast with red scales jumped on the command station. It snarled and drooled a toxin that melted at the glass. The amber healed quickly, but the sight no less concerned Chris. As tall as a dump truck, it buried strange claws like scissors into the thick exterior shell. The head reminded him of a dinosaur with a snout and a ridge from his spine to his nose. What unnerved him about it? The longer he stared at the ferocious thing, the worse the feeling became. Until he saw it.

“Where are its eyes?” Jack called.

Karter explained, “Sabers hunt by sound.”

“Do we have any windshield wipers?” Chris asked, half-joking.

“I got it.” Dereka slid through the hatch and flew to the front. She decapitated the thing easily enough with it stuck in the glass, but another problem arose. A proper drake-dragon monster snatched her from the face of the machine.

Chris jumped up to help, but Karter stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “We’re warriors, and she is capable.”

He sat back down and watched.

Dereka stabbed sai daggers into the beast’s underside, climbing it. She darted both weapons into its eyes and rode it down to the ground.

“Hell yea!” Jack shouted.

Karter smirked.

Chris considered himself impressed.

Kombuchi, an alien from Lacceirus-Capra, caught the action. He wore a toga into this battle, making him a complete badass. The Caprent bore a mostly humanoid physiology aside from their knee and elbow joints bent in reverse. When Chris first met him, he patted Kombuchi on the arm. The alien screamed and cried out that their bones were extra fragile. Pointed out the “broken” elbow, terrifying Chris into a fit of apologies before the alien doubled over in laughter. Kombuchi assured Chris he was the fourth human he successfully pranked that day. Nice.

Well, anyway, the toga-clad man spat a vat’s worth of acid from his mouth all over Dereka’s fallen drake. It dissolved into a shrieking puddle within seconds. Don’t fuck with dudes in togas.

The kick-ass warrior woman grinned at him until a strange careening whistle alerted them to the sky. They both darted behind the crawler’s pods as two clashing warriors collided into the ground hard enough to form a decent crater.

Karter peered through the resulting dirt cloud. “Is that—”

“It’s Rayne!” Jack cried out and pointed to his sister.

She took offense to the plummet, spinning and knocking Nox with her staff officially called Night Killer. He blocked and pushed back with his sword. Occasionally they moved too fast for Chris to see. Out of nowhere, Sagan appeared with Tameka in her arms. They swung in tandem, allowing Tameka to kick him in the head with both legs before disappearing again. Their next return saw the redhead assailing Nox with a wicked-looking chain dart. When the Icarus dodged the barbed chain, Rayne seized the advantage and locked the blades of her weapon around his neck from behind.

Jack admired, “I can’t believe how fast and strong they are.”

Chris nodded, gaping and not ashamed of it. This was superhero shit. He caught Karter’s expression and frowned.

She stared at the fight with concern tight in her features. He opened his mouth to ask about it when Jack cried out, “Look!”

Hard to see through the dust storm they stirred up, he discerned a strange gray shadow emitting from the King of Cinder. Sagan screamed something to Tameka and plucked her from the air. They disappeared. Rayne, however, strained more on the weapon around his throat.

When the broad shock wave impacted, Chris shouted, “Oh, shit!”

Karter called out, “Hang onto something!”

Jack cried, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck,” as the ground and the sky switched places.