The Secret Sister (Book 2 in The Secret Series)

Chapter 37: The Battle for Earth

Chapter 37: The Battle for Earth

When Peter and I reached Central park, the fighting had already begun. Peter immediately swung into action, while I hovered high above and gazed down at the battlefield with tired eyes.

The iconic park was slowly being destroyed as the scenery was ripped apart. Superheroes and supervillians battled below, and depending on their superpowers, ruined their surroundings. Fires burned through the park, turning the green grass to cinder, and explosions flashed all around.

Above the park, everyone who could fly was zooming through the air in their own version of aerial warfare. The sky above was grey and churning, thunder crashing and lightning flashing as Thor and Storm worked together. Light rain streamed down every so often from the black clouds, giving the battle an even graver atmosphere.

The Human Torch suddenly blazed past me, the heat evaporating the rain before it hit him. A moment later a small missile shot past, hot on his tail. The Green Goblin was lower, skirting over the trees and firing missiles from his Glider at unsuspecting superheroes preoccupied with their own fights.

Another superhero flew past wearing a black and gold costume; one I knew by name but hadn’t met before. The names of different superheroes and villains surfaced in my mind as I focused on faces.

This one was surrounded by pulsating blue energy which allowed him to fly, and he aimed his energy rays at the Green Goblin. He was called Nova, only a teenage superhero.

Down in the park, a huge creature was tearing through Earth’s defenders like they were made of paper. It was disgusting, heavily-muscled and huge, and its spine and rib cage were unnaturally prominent. It also had a bony tail which snaked out and sent superheroes sprawling. My eyes widened slightly – it was the Abomination.

Out of nowhere – fairly camouflaged against the green plants – the Hulk appeared, and rammed into the Abomination, sending them both careening into one of the lakes in the Park. The Abomination let out a loud, angry wail and began to grapple with the Hulk, who held his own against the huge creature.

The machine to make the portal was set up just behind the fighting, as the supervillians battled to defend it. Any hero who got too close was attacked by Hela, who closely guarded it. Erik seemed to be finishing off as he bustled about, tweaking and tinkering. The Tesseract was missing from its place in the machine at the moment, which was a good sign. It gave me more time to stop the portal from opening.

Before I could head straight to the portal, one of Osborn’s missiles took me unawares, and exploded into my back.

With a surprised cry, I was flung forward and sent crashing to the ground. I hit the grass face first, and tumbled forward a couple of meters. When I ground to a painful halt, I sat up and spat grass out of my mouth with a scowl firmly in place.

“Time to die, hero!” Someone laughed in an oddly distorted from behind me, and I stumbled to my feet quickly.

Turning, I came face to face with the Sandman.

“Hey, sandy, where’ve you been? I’ve missed you!” I said cheerfully.

I dodged a large sweep of his grainy arm and retreated a few steps, readying my flaming fists. The Sandman was as large as ever, his mouth open in a sneer and his bottomless eyes fixated on me.

How in Odin’s name did you defeat someone made from sand?

He slammed his giant fists on the ground before me. This created a huge wave of sand that swept me off my feet and buried me.

A moment later I burst out of the sand pile, coughing and wiping sand out of my eyes.

“This is exactly why I hate going to the beach – sand is such a pain!” A familiar voice quipped, and Spiderman suddenly swung feet-first at the Sandman and knocked him off-balance.