My Brother is a Superhero Read Online Free PDF Page A

miss one.
    Zack poked his head out from his hood and examined it closely. “It’s a brooch,” he said, unimpressed.
    “No,” I corrected him. “It’s a ‘sigil’. That’s what superheroes call a logo.” I could see that he was considering accepting it. “You need something to identify yourself as Star Lad. Come on, Zack, it’s cool.”
    “It’s quite cool,” he conceded, pinning it to his chest. He turned to admire his reflection in a small mirror that was part of my alien-invasion-busting laser-destructor diorama. I was building a scale-model high-orbit energy weapon. Just for fun. It was non-functioning, unfortunately. Zack licked a finger and smoothed his eyebrows.
    “So, what now?” he said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I’ve got the powers, I’ve got the costume. You’re the expert – what happens now?”
    He really was clueless. There was only one possible path for a newbie superhero to take.
    “Now,” I said with a little smile. “You fight crime.”
    He frowned. “How? I mean, I know there’s crime out there.” He waved vaguely out of the window. “But where exactly ?”
    For flip’s sake, did I have to draw him a diagram? “Use the radar thingy in your head.”
    “Oh, yeah…” Zack shut his eyes and then said, “Wow!”
    “What happened?”
    “It just lit up like a Christmas tree. Hang on, some of the incidents are brighter than others. I’m zooming in on the brightest.”
    “What can you see?”
    “It’s the bakery on Bank Street.”
    Stolen buns. OK, it wasn’t much, but it was a start.
    “No, wait,” said Zack. “It’s the bank on Baker Street.”
    I rubbed my hands together excitedly. “A bank heist! Now we’re talking.” I marched to the door and pulled my coat down off the hook. “Come on,” I said, “what are we waiting for?”
    Zack stood in the centre of my room, shifting from foot to foot. “It’s ten miles away. How do I get there?”
    Some superheroes could fly. Some could run incredibly fast. Others were able to teleport from place to place in the blink of an eye.
    “We could take the bus?” I suggested.
    “The bus takes forever,” he said, kicking his heels. “The robbers will have finished before I even get there.”
    “We could bike it?”
    “Nah, my bike’s got a slow puncture.” I could hear the enthusiasm leak out of him like air from his deflating tyre. “And anyway,” he added, “Mum’s never going to let either of us out on a school night.”
    It was true. I sat down heavily on my bed and rested my head in my hands. The villains of the world were safe from the wrath of Star Lad, unless they committed their crimes between the hours of 3.45pm and 5.30pm on weekdays. Quite near to our house.
    But on weekends and bank holidays they were in trouble. Oh yeah. Big trouble!
    Unless, that is, they were up early.
    Zack had Speech & Drama first thing Saturday mornings and on Sundays Dad insisted that we help him in the shed on a DIY project. Currently, we were helping him make a plate rack for the kitchen.
    “If we tell Mum and Dad about my superpowers,” Zack said thoughtfully, “then maybe they’d give me a lift?”
    “You want Mum and Dad to drop you off at the scene of the crime?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s a terrible idea,” I said. “I mean, think about it. Do they wait in the car while you stop the bank robbers? Does Mum go off and do a bit of shopping? What if Dad can’t find a parking spot? He’d have to drive round and round until you’re finished, and he hates that.”
    Just then, Mum called up from downstairs, bringing our chat to an end. Barely five minutes ago I was about to embark on a thrilling adventure with my superhero brother. Now, instead of having the time of my life foiling a bank heist, it was bath time.

7
THE LEGEND BEGINS
    It was 2.47pm the following Saturday when Zack finally did something properly heroic. I know it was exactly 2.47 because we’d just been to Crystal Comics and were waiting at the bus