Free The Battle Begins by Devon Hughes

pretty freaked. She wanted to keep her boys close. But there was close, and then there was claustrophobic.
    â€œAt least you have your own place,” Marcus told Pete.
    â€œYeah, right next door.” Pete rolled his eyes. It wasthe only way their mother could cope with the prospect of him moving out.
    â€œBut you get to leave the high towers for work every day. When Mom sees my arm, any tiny bit of freedom I had is gone. It’s going to be simulated reality and filtered air and sky living for the rest of the summer.”
    Pete chewed his lip, obviously feeling guilty. Then he pressed something, and the aircar came to a sudden stop. It swung a little on the cable as Pete started typing new coordinates into the navigation system.
    â€œWhere are we going?” Marcus asked.
    â€œI’m taking you to the NuFormz facility,” Pete answered. “There’s a care center there where we can patch you up.”
    Marcus’s heart skipped a beat. NuFormz was on the island where Pete worked with the Unnaturals—the only things Marcus loved more than skateboarding. Bruce was a geneticist there and had helped get Pete a job as a tech when he was first trying to woo their mother. But the island had always, always been off-limits to Marcus. As was pretty much anything outside the high towers.
    â€œAre you serious?” he asked Pete.
    â€œI can fix you up myself, and this way you can have one last hurrah before you’re on lockdown. Just don’t tell Bruce, okay? I don’t really feel like getting fired.”
    â€œLike I’d ever tell Bruce anything,” Marcus said, offended at the suggestion.
    â€œCome on, he’s not that bad,” his brother insisted. For some reason, Pete felt like he had to defend their stepdad, even though Marcus could see the way Pete’s lip twitched every time Bruce called him “Peter” in that condescending voice of his.
    â€œNot that bad?” Marcus repeated. “Bruce is the enemy of fun,” Marcus said.
    Pete and Marcus’s dad had been fun. He’d been hilarious and goofy and up for any adventure. He was an explorer who took risks other people were afraid to because he thought he could save the world. Bruce was his total opposite, a boring, anal-retentive lab geek.
    â€œHe even smells weird,” Marcus added. “I still don’t get what Mom sees in him.”
    â€œFormaldehyde,” Pete muttered. “That’s what he smells like. But speaking of Mom.” Pete wagged a finger. “She’d better not find out I took you to ground level without a gas mask.”
    â€œWe’re not even going outside,” Marcus said. “Isn’t there an aircar port right in the building?” Pete raised an eyebrow in response, waiting. “My lips are sealed,” Marcus promised.
    Pete nodded and the aircar jerked to a start again. Itshifted onto a different cable track, this time toward the river, and they zipped down hundreds of stories in seconds. Marcus tapped the deck of his skateboard against the door of the aircar excitedly. It was cool enough to be descending below the fiftieth floor, but to be going to the place where they trained the Unnaturals was unreal.
    â€œYou are seriously the best brother ever!” Marcus beamed at Pete. “Major props.” He reached over for a fist bump and then grimaced at the ache in his shoulder.
    â€œCareful,” Pete said, but he was grinning. And when he ruffled Marcus’s shaggy blond hair—a gesture that never got any less annoying, no matter how often he did it—Marcus didn’t even pull away.
    They were gliding above the river now, with Reformer’s Island just ahead. On one end of it, something gold glittered in the sun, and Marcus recognized the rounded roof of the Unnaturals stadium. As he imagined all the newly designed mutants getting ready to fight inside of it, Marcus could hardly remember to breathe.
    This was going to