Convincing Lewis
"All this time I've known you, and you never told me you were superheros?" Wilbur asked, still irritated with Violet and Dash.
"It's a secret identity. We try to keep it unless there's an emergency, like this was. I'm sorry, Wilbur. It doesn't change how I feel about you," said Violet.
"It doesn't change how I feel either, really," said Wilbur. "It's kind of cool to be dating a superhero. But please leave the rest to me. I can handle it."
Dash pulled out a thick manual from the glove compartment. "Have you read the manual for this time-machine thing?"
Wilbur said, "No. Are you kidding?"
"I don't like reading in school much, but I can speed-read when I have to," Dash said. He flipped through the book, reading over 1000 pages in a few seconds as they flew in the time machine.
"Where are we going?" Violet asked.
"Dad used to tell me that he headed to the roof of the orphanage whenever he felt discouraged. That's where we'll find him now," said Wilbur.
He flew the time machine a little way below the roof, where he could jump from the hood of the vehicle and catch the edge of the roof.
"You wait here while I talk to him," Wilbur said.
Wilbur sneaked up and hid to watch Lewis. He saw Lewis crumple up the picture of the brain scanner and throw it in his direction. Lewis acrobatically rolled out of his hiding place, threw it back to Lewis, and rolled back into hiding.
"Hey, what are you doing up here?" Lewis asked.
Wilbur just cooed like an pigeon. Lewis moved quietly up to the hiding place and dropped the paper again. Wilbur rushed out, pressed the paper into his hand, and ducked back out of sight, cooing some more.
"Will you quit that, please? I know you're not a pigeon," said Lewis angrily.
"Ssh! You're blowing my cover," said Wilbur.
"We're the only ones up here," said Lewis.
"That's just what they want you to think," said Wilbur. He started trying to persuade Lewis to go back to the science fair and fix his brain scanner, but Lewis was having none of it. He wasn't convinced by the tanning salon coupon Wilbur tried to flash as a time cop badge, either. It just made him think Wilbur was insane, the more he spouted off about the Bowler Hat Guy.
"You're crazy!" said Lewis.
"Ho ho! I am not crazy," said Wilbur.
"Oh yeah, Captain Time Travel? Prove it," said Lewis.
"Ah... um..."
"That's what I thought," said Lewis. He headed for the stairs to his room, to lock himself in and keep away from this crazy guy.
Wilbur rushed ahead and barred his way. "If I prove to you I'm from the future, will you go back to the science fair?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say," said Lewis with complete disbelief.
He started for the stairs again, but Wilbur grabbed him and ran with him toward the edge of the roof.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!" Lewis shouted, but he couldn't stop the madman who was apparently going to throw him off the roof to his death.
Violet became visible in Wilbur's path, in her mask and red costume. Dash blurred up beside Wilbur and pulled on him to stop his run.
"Stop that, you're scaring him," said Violet.
Lewis screamed. "This is a nightmare, or I've gone nuts!"
"Calm down," said Violet. We're superheros from the future and we're here to help."
"Then arrest this crazy guy. He was going to kill me!"
"He's all right, he's with us," said Dash.
Lewis looked like he was going to scream again.
"He's..." Violet thought for an instant, and pointed to the logo on Wilbur's chest. "He's the young version of Captain Time Travel, still a bit immature."
"Young version?" asked Lewis.
"It's complicated. Time travel, you know," said Wilbur, going along with the story (which none of the time travelers knew was actually the truth).
"So... it's all true? A guy stole a time machine and wrecked my invention?" asked Lewis.
"Yes," Violet said. "We tried to help, but things went wrong. We need you to go back there and fix the machine. The future depends on it."
"All right, you've convinced me," Lewis said.
"We have?" Wilbur said. "Oh... good. We'll fly you back to the science fair in my time machine."
They revealed the cloaked machine to Lewis, who was suitably impressed.
"You weren't going to throw me off the roof, were you, Captain Time Travel? You were just going to show me your time machine," said Lewis.
"Something like that," said Wilbur.
Back at the science fair they discovered a new problem. The scanner was gone! Nobody had seen anything because the thief struck while the gym was evacuated.
"What are we going to do? This will change the future!" said Wilbur.
Dash said, "Not if we take him to the future with us now. I read the manual. It will make a time dam that will hold back changes while we regroup."
"Maybe we can use your father's technology to scan for the Bowler Hat Guy, even if he's left this time period," said Violet.
"How about it, Lewis?" said Wilbur in a Captain Time Travel voice. "Want to see the future?"
"All right, if you'll take me to see my mother when this is over. I mean, see her on the day she left me at the orphanage."
"Sure, we can do that," Wilbur falsely promised.
"Then let's go!" said Dash. "Time's a wasting!"
They got back into the machine and set the controls for the future.