When Bullies (are) Attack(ed).

It started on the Bus. 12 year old James Possible-Stoppable and his best friend, Cindy Lipsky-Go (God had intervened in her case and sent angels to convince her mother and father not to have the other order, which would have resulted in her being named Cindy Go-Lipsky.) were sitting on the bus, watching the scenery pass when the vehicle stopped at a bus stop and a group of teens from Lowerton High got on board.

"Hey, look…" One of the girls said, "It's the color coded freak and her little boyfriend." Cindy twitched, and James sighed.

Why do some people insist on teasing the T-rex? He wondered. Or insisting we're… like that?

"Where's mommy-kuns?" She continued, taking advantage of the fact that she was older, and larger (as if that would help). "Isn't it too cold for you to be out without your jaakeect….?"

Cindy wasn't leaping up and flambéing them…probably because she was enjoying even more horrifying fantasies in her mind. Then the boys started in on James.

"Oh, It's James Possible-Stoppable." The leader of the merry band said to James, leaning over him. "So, who wears the pants in your house? Daddy the cook or mommy the psycho?"

"Well it depends." James said, and noticed that the bus was rapidly evacuating. Hank, was sitting down a few seats, shaking his head. Felix and Zita's kid Denise was watching the procedure with the sort of horrified fascination most people reserved for too accurate re-enactments of Aztec human sacrifice ceremonies.

"Depends on what?"

"Well, I was going to explain it, but first I need to know—have you graduated to zippers yet?"

"What?"

"Guess not. Well, in that case it's way too complex for you." James said. Then he was distracted by the girls.

"See, it's not just that she has freaks for parents, but her uncles… I mean, color coded freakshow!" The girls were laughing raucously, seeming to ignore the fact that Cindy was, literally, glowing.

Oh, that's it. James thought.

"Oh, I see." He said out loud. "You want to provoke Cindy so she gets in trouble and you can be big kids at your… school."

"Hey, It can speak!"

"Because than we'll get in trouble… not you." James shook his head. "That's really dumb."

"Why?"

"Well…" James paused, and counted down. "One, Cindy and I are younger than you. Two, half her family are super villains and the other half are vigilantes, so she's not going to get in trouble, three, even if it did work since when did high schoolers get brownie points for bothering Junior High students?"

"Um, ah…. You're a dummy!" James looked over and grinned. Cindy's fire was going down.

"No, it's supposed to be, "you foiled my plan!" That's what you say when someone is smarter than you or they blow up the lair." He continued, "and also-" The leader grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Shut up you!" He paused, "You don't have any fire, so you're just a little punk!" Now Hank was getting up, along with Denise but they stopped as James casually shook his head, brushing the guys hand off his shoulder. The bigger kid looked surprised at how easily he did that.

"And finally, you remind me of…" James whistled the theme tune from his favorite Clint Eastwood Western.

"What was that?"

"Oh, that was…" James pointed at himself. "The good." Then to Cindy, "The Bad." Then to the kid, "And the ugly!"

That was when the teen lost his temper. They'd planned the ride to make fun of the two kids, since their parents would get blamed if there was a fight, but now they were making him look stupid. He hauled off and punched James, but…

James wasn't there. Oh he didn't move, but for some reason the fist just barely avoided the 12 year olds head. He swung again, and launched a flurry of punches and kicks, but James never was touched once. He kept swinging and suddenly found himself out of breath panting heavily.

"That's it?" He heard the punk kid's voice say, disappointed. "I mean mom and dad do more than that for warming up exercises, and so does Aunt Hana and she's only a few years older than me."

"But she can run on the ceiling." Cindy provided.

"Yeah." James said. Then Cindy grinned and looked up to the bus driver.

"Sir?" She said sweetly. "I mean, did you see those big, nasty, kids try and beat up poor James? I mean he's not even in high school yet."

The driver raised his eyebrows. "Are you asking me if you can defend yourself?" Now the Lowerton crowd looked surprised and disturbed.

"Hey we didn't throw any punches at the freak-" One girl started.

"But as long as you don't destroy the bus or put anyone in the hospital…" The driver continued, "I think it's all good."

"Oh thank you sir." Cindy said in a positively gooey voice. "I'll try, but I'm so frightened, since mommy-kuns isn't here." She said, looking at the girl who had said that. "I might just lose." Her hands ignited, "Control." And the fire spread up her arms as her eyes started to glow. "So I hope," She continued, "They run away very, very fast…"

The girls and several of the male teens abandoned the bus. Very quickly. One through a window.

"Mmm…." The bus driver said, "Do you think they're going to be able to shimmy up that flag pole fast enough?"

"Yeah." James said, "Cindy's motivating them." He paused, "I just wonder how long she's going to keep them up there… Mom'll kill me if I'm late for dinner."

End.