Free The Strike Trilogy by Charlie Wood

Orion appeared in the book; he looked out at Tobin and fired an arrow from his bow, and the boy ducked, laughing at himself.
    “And some of them,” Scatterbolt said, “unfortunately use their powers for evil.”
    Now Tobin saw an image of a grey-haired man with a goatee; he was dressed in a black-and-green uniform, and standing with his arms across his chest. As he looked out of the book, he sneered.
    “Um,” Scatterbolt said, “let’s move on.”
    The robot turned the page; now Tobin saw a series of bold, golden letters. They read:
     
    THE GUARDIANS.
     
    “Out of all the superheroes we’ve ever had on this world,” Scatterbolt said, “the most important and most famous were a team who called themselves ‘the Guardians.’ Their leader was a man named Titan, who had immense strength and also the powerful wings of an eagle.”
    A blonde-haired superhero appeared in the book; he was wearing a white costume plated with gold, like an ancient gladiator, and had feathered, grey-ish wings growing from his back. He was also wielding a shining broadsword.
    “Then there was the Red Wolf, who had incredible eyesight, unmatched intelligence, and the ability to hit nearly any target with his bow and arrow.”
    A young Orion appeared; he was wearing his same long, red coat, and also a red mask over his eyes. After aiming his bow, he let go of an arrow, which nailed the bull’s eye of a target on the next page of the book.
    “And finally,” Scatterbolt said, “there was Strike. He was a fearless daredevil with amazing agility, and also the power to control lightning.”
    Strike appeared in the book; he was dressed in a midnight blue costume, with a black cape on his back and a blue mask over the lower part of his face. As he twirled a wooden bo-staff around his head that sparked with blue electricity, he looked out at Tobin and winked.
    Tobin watched the image. Even though he knew full-well who the person was behind the mask, he still tried to convince himself he was wrong.
    Scatterbolt turned the page; the blue-and-yellow-and-green planet appeared again. This time, it was split into dozens of countries.
    “There are fifty-seven countries in Capricious,” Scatterbolt explained, “and each one of these has its own leader, who is elected in much the same way as many of the leaders of your world. We used to have fifty-eight countries with fifty-eight different leaders, but the leader of the fifty-eighth country...well, he did something very bad.”
    Tobin watched as the grey-haired man in black-and-green appeared in the book again.
    “This is Vincent Harris, the former fifty-eighth leader of Capricious.”
    The book’s image slowly changed; now Vincent was standing behind a podium and giving a speech in front of thousands of people. Many of the people had skin that was a light shade of green, and they were all cheering Vincent’s every word. Behind Vincent, there was a gigantic flag with a green insignia of a tiger-like beast adorned on it.
    “Vincent was at one time a great leader, but he was also one with dangerous, misguided ideas. He firmly believed that Earth—your world—was inhabited by alien beings who were inferior, destructive, and a threat to the rest of the universe. When it became clear that your species was moving closer toward the technology for space travel, Vincent decided he had to act; in speeches and televised events, he began to convince his entire country that Earth was a world that needed to be forcefully controlled and monitored, for the safety of Capricious.
    “He became obsessed with swaying the rest of the leaders of Capricious to agree with him, but they did not, and instead they grew concerned with his fear-filled messages. They demanded that he stop these actions immediately, but his warnings about Earth only became more fierce and frightening. He was out of control, causing widespread panic about a world that didn’t even know this one existed, so the other leaders were forced to