Enjoy!:

Chapter 2

About five seconds later, the massive front doors opened. A tall old man, holding a five foot staff and wearing a long black robe with matching pants stood in the doorway. The man vaguely reminded Kaz of Albus Dumbledore.

"I am Caduceo," the tall old man said. "And I know exactly why you are here."

Kaz gulped. "Y-you do?"

"Yes," Caduceo replied. "Follow me."

Caduceo turned and led Oliver and Kaz into the mansion.

Seconds later, the three of them stood in a large living room with a cough, a couple of arm chairs, a lamp, a fireplace, and a bear rug in the middle of the floor.

"I know exactly why you are here," Caduceo said.

Oliver bit his lip. "So will you help us, then?"

"As much as I can," Caduceo replied.

Oliver's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? You will?"

"Yeah," Caduceo reached into his robe and pulled out a wallet. "What's a good tip nowadays? Fifteen percent? Twenty? Thirty?"

"Tip?" Kaz asked.

"Yeah, aren't you two the guys who're taking my money back to the pizza place?" Caduceo said. "Oh, and do you know when the guy with the actual pizza will get here? Last time, it took him like twenty minutes!"

"Wow, I didn't think that was an actual thing," Kaz said to himself.

Oliver shook his head. "Caduceo, we're not from the pizza place."

Caduceo stopped searching through his wallet. "You're not?"

Kaz threw his hands in the air. "You couldn't have told him that after he gave us the money?"

"Wait, if you two aren't from Pizzaland, then why are you in my house?" Caduceo asked.

"Our friend Skylar Storm was killed by the Annihilator!" Oliver answered. "We're the two normo doctors from Mighty Med. None of the doctors there could save her, but you can!"

Caduceo rolled his eyes. "Seriously?! I stopped reviving super heroes thirteen years ago!"

"Why'd you stop?" Kaz asked.

"I was betrayed," Caduceo responded. "After that day, I made sure I'd never be betrayed again."

"But Caduceo, you're the only person who can save Skylar!" Oliver pleaded. "Can't you just give us her life force so we can bring her back to life?"

"Life force?" Kaz said. "I thought Caduceo uses a spell to revive heroes."

"I can do both," Caduceo explained. "Not only do I know spells that can bring back the dead, but every time a hero dies, his or her life force, aka the thing that keeps you alive, is magically sent to a private location only I know of. I have the ability to retrieve life forces and give them to people to restore the lives of dead heroes. But since I stopped doing that years ago, Skylar Storm is out of luck."

Oliver was beginning to get desperate. "Caduceo, please! Help her! I'll do anything!"

Caduceo opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but paused upon looking into Oliver's eyes. "You…you'll do anything?" the legendary healer asked.

Oliver nodded.

Caduceo looked to Kaz. "What about you?"

Kaz shrugged. "I have my limits."

Caduceo thought for a few moments before pointing at Oliver. "You. Follow me."

Oliver followed Caduceo out of the living room and was led a few feet down a hallway before the two of them entered a small room with only a half empty bookshelf up against one of the walls and a table in the middle of the room.

Caduceo closed the door once they were both inside. "Wait here." He vanished and reappeared a few seconds later, holding a glass ball with a purple gas inside of it.

"What's that?" Oliver asked.

"I thought it would be obvious," Caduceo said. "Man, your generation is bad at making inferences! This is Skylar Storm's life force."

Oliver gasped. "A-are you gonna give it to me?"

Caduceo set the life force down on the table. "Not…yet. But you said you'd be willing to do anything for Skylar. Would you be willing to do this?" he reached into his robe, pulled out a scroll, and set it on the table.

Oliver picked up the scroll and read it. As he read, he realized that Caduceo was asking for a lot.

If Oliver agreed to what was on the scroll, his life could be changed forever. But that didn't matter. "I'll do it."

Caduceo looked surprised."Really? This is usually the point where the normos I show this to back out."

"Like I said, I'll do anything for Skylar," Oliver said.

Caduceo nodded. "Wow. This Skylar character, she must mean a lot to you."

"She does," Oliver agreed. "I mean, I know I've only known her for a little over a year, but…I love her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew there was something I could have done to save her, but didn't do it. "

Caduceo held out his hand. "So we have a deal?"

Oliver took it and shook it. "We do."

Caduceo took a deep breath. "I hope you don't make me regret this. Anyway, you can take the life force. I'll escort you back to your friend. Then, in a little bit, I'll come get you at Mighty Med and then we'll begin what we agreed on."

"Okay." Oliver picked up the life force and followed Caduceo back into the living room where Kaz was eating a slice of pizza.

Caduceo made a face upon entering. "Are you eating my pizza?"

Kaz nodded. "I am digging this meat lover's pizza. And I thought Papa John's was good."

Caduceo frowned. "Did you pay for it?"

"Mhm. And don't worry, I tipped the money collector," Kaz assured.

"How much?" Caduceo asked.

"I have no idea," Kaz replied. "I just gave him your wallet. He seemed pretty happy with that."

"You did what?"

Oliver rushed towards Kaz. "Alright, let's get out of here before you mess anything else up!"

"How is eating pizza 'messing things up'?" Kaz asked.

"Maybe, because you used someone's entire wallet to pay for it," Oliver said.

As the two of them walked towards the front door, Kaz noticed what Oliver was holding. "Wait, what's that you have?"

"Skylar's life force."

"Wait, you did it? How'd you convince him?" Kaz asked.

Oliver sighed. "I'll tell you later. Let's just get back to Mighty Med. I don't wanna waste anymore time."

"Okay." Kaz used the wormhole transporter and used it to teleport himself and Oliver back to Mighty Med.

What did Oliver agree to? Find out in Chapter 3.

~Jameer14