Bonjour!
So, after a lot of careful thinking, I decided not to post a new chapter today.
April Fools! Sorry, couldn't resist.
Anyway, fair warning: this chapter is where the violence happens. Just do you know.
Which reminds me: Jim Grim is my OC, I forgot to mention that last week.
One more thing: Buckle your seatbelts; this is gonna be a long one.
Kid Danger bit his lip as he whizzed up the tubes. He glanced over at Captain Man to make sure he wasn't looking before bring a hand to his face and rubbing his eyes. Henry Hart, I swear to God, if you start crying…
Kid Danger was really starting to think. Charlotte was right- this guy was way dangerous. But he didn't want to look like a coward and back out. He wanted to help.
More than anything, though, he wanted Charlotte.
Did I just lose my best friend?
They had never fought like this before. The worst argument they'd ever had was over who got their ice cream first this one time back when they were eight (Charlotte won). Neither of them apologized; immediately afterwards it was like nothing ever happened.
But this was different- much more was at stake here than a few scoops of Intense Chocolate.
All of a sudden, Kid Danger was really scared that he wasn't going to be able to apologize.
Focus, Henry. Focus.
The drive to the park was… yeah, there's no way only one word could possibly describe it. Captain Man kept saying things to Kid Danger about what was going to happen when they got there, but all the latter one really caught was "... Jim… attack and defense…."
Until they were about half a minute from where they needed to be, and Captain Man realized his sidekick wasn't really listening and smacked the side of his head.
"OW-OW-OW! Dude, what the butt was that for?!"
"You haven't been listening to a word I said! Kid, Charlotte was right- Jim Grim- despite the weird name- is dangerous." He put the car into park and buried his face into his hands. "Worse than Drex. Much worse. I should've left you at the Man Cave." He looked behind him at the mostly-empty back of the van. "And I should've brought some stuff with us-" his voice was cut off by the sound off… gunshots?!
Oh my god-
"Forget it, Ray. I mean, Captain Man." Well, forget wasn't the exact word he used. "Let's move." Before his boss could protest, Kid Danger swung open the door, undid his seat belt and started running in the direction the shots were coming from.
Captain Man started swearing very colorfully. He clicked off his own seat belt, locked the van and ran after his sidekick.
This, he thought, is not going to end well.
…
Captain Man caught up to his sidekick just as Kid Danger stumbled upon the ring of trees he had climbed a few days ago. Smack in the middle of the ring was Jim Grim.
The superheroes (well, superhero and sidekick, but whatever) ducked behind a pair of trees before the villain saw them. Kid Danger noticed a hole- a bullet hole- in his and peeked through.
Jim Grim looked a lot like he had in the photo. Bald as as bald eagle. Wait, that doesn't make any sense… His suit was a shiny silver. Designed, Kid Danger realized, to distract his enemy. Creative.
Kid Danger couldn't see this, but Jim Grim had on boots with spikes on the bottom that were about half an inch long. What he could see was the eyepatch, because the villain was staring right at him.
HOLY-
Kid Danger gasped and ducked. Then the gun went off.
Only, thank god, Jim Grim had shot Captain Man's tree. The bullet ripped through the plant and bounced off of the superhero- except Jim Grim didn't see it happen.
He did, however, hear the scream of pain that was a result.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Raising his gun toward Captain Man, Jim Grim smiled, allowing the superhero and sidekick a full view of his nasty teeth- they were chipped and yellow, and a few were missing, just like in the photos.
Kid Danger noticed that his black gloves were both covered in blood. His own ran cold; his knees started to shake and seemed ready to give out. His gut instinct was telling to get the heck outta there, but he ignored it.
Big mistake.
Upon hearing the heavy breathing that was not coming from the superhero, Jim Grim finally noticed the teen behind Captain Man and lowered his gun. "Oh, look- is it Halloween already?"
Kid Danger did his best to glare at the villain. (He ended up looking constipated instead.) "No, it is not, sir. Now put your hands on your head." The Kid took a step outward and started to slowly walk toward Jim.
Another big mistake.
Suddenly, without warning, Jim produced a knife from his boot and lashed out. Kid Danger's hypermotility kicked in, and the knife merely cut off some hair from the top of his head. But Jim, apparently expecting this, swung his fist and punched Kid Danger square in the nose, sending him flying back into a tree.
Jim Grim swung his knife again, but fortunately Kid Danger ducked and he missed, earning Jim Grim a boot to the gut. Unfortunately, the knife managed to open a small cut on Kid Danger's left ankle. Another slash earned him a longer cut right below his left shoulder. Kid Danger bit his lip in fear so hard that it started bleeding.
Great. Now I'm going to lose even more blood.
Where, one might wonder, was Captain Man? He had frozen up and ended up just watching (and feeling slightly nauseated), but was getting his senses back and suddenly threw both his fists at Jim.
Except Jim grabbed Captain Man's arms and managed to send his fists flying into Kid Danger's eyes.
This was not going well.
Jim turned his attention to Captain Man, who, realizing what just happened, had gotten on his knees and was trying to do a quick check-up on his sidekick. Jim just smiled.
All of a sudden- face it, nothing is going to be happening without a warning first- a few bodies in ski masks (gee, how creative) burst out of the trees and launched themselves at the pair of superheroes.
Only instead of going after Kid Danger, which seemed like the obvious choice, they grabbed Captain Man, wrestling him away.
This resulted in a full-scale fight. Captain Man, no doubt, is an amazing fighter, but it was six- no, seven- against one.
Jim Grim smiled again. He knew it was to keep the superhero busy because it was his idea.
With Captain Man distracted, Jim turned back toward Kid Danger, who was frantically trying to put pressure on all of his cuts to stop the bleeding. He didn't even notice Jim's hand come down to slap his right cheek until after it happened. He was on the ground.
Jim tried, but Kid Danger's hypermotility saved his life right then. He received a cut on the (upstairs) cheek and thigh, but that was it.
For right then.
Captain Man was still trying to take care of the fighters- the number had increased to ten, which was so not fair, but Jim didn't care. (Hey, that rhymed! Captain Man would like that.) The villain put a foot on Kid Danger's side, right above his appendix (well, where it would be, anyway- he got it removed a few years before landing the Kid Danger job) and punched the Kid's rib cage over and over again; he was going to have bruises later.
Kid Danger made one last attempt to get off of the ground, but Jim slashed his ear and ended up cutting a small piece of skin off. It didn't hurt the sidekick all that much- especially in comparison to everything else- but he was losing blood and was pretty sure moving would make it worse. He curled up into a ball.
Jim smiled, thinking Kid Danger was done for.
That's when he heard something from behind him. Whipping around, he saw that Captain Man was standing in a sea (well, really, it was like a miniature pond) of unconscious bodies.
The superhero, it turns out, had managed to find his laser in between attacks. Fortunately, they were charged, and he was able to knock them all out. ("Them" being the ski mask dudes.)
Jim knew that Captain Man was coming for him with the laser, but his smile didn't falter enough for it to be noticeable. With a snarl, he put away his knife and replaced it was a little gun.
What Jim didn't know was that it would do no harm to the superhero. This became apparent when the villain raised the weapon and pulled the trigger.
Only, to his absolute shock, to find that the bullet just bounced off Captain Man's forehead. Jim Grim was baffled, but refused to let it show. The superhero, who had victoriously managed not to let any painful noises slip out this time, smirked. "I'm okay."
The villain smirked in response. "Maybe you are," he began to turn, "but your little sidekick isn't."
Captain Man followed Jim Grim's gaze to the tree that the sidekick had been lying in front off. Except no one was there.
Both their heads snapped up at the same time to see that Kid Danger had managed to get up and start dragging himself toward a bush for a little bit of cover. Captain Man was glad and proud of him for trying to get himself out of there, but Jim Grim wouldn't allow it.
Without warning, he raised his gun in the sidekick's direction and fired. Twice
Once again, the superpower he had gained saved his butt. Barely, but it did. The first bullet grazed his wrist, and the other hit the skin of his upper right thigh. Kid Danger screamed and grabbed the second wound- it hurt so much more.
Captain Man ran to tackle his enemy, but wasn't able to make it before said enemy raised his gun and fired again.
This time, the bullet ripped right through Kid Danger's leg, smacked in the midpoint of the segment of his knee and ankle. But he didn't scream in pain this time- Kid Danger had fallen unconscious.
By the time the bullet struck, Captain Man was on top of Jim Grim, screaming at him (there were plenty of swear words involved):
"What the heck did you just do that for, butthole?! He was just a baby!" Captain Man was really mad right then- at Jim, mostly, but also at himself. This would NOT be happening if I hadn't ever hired him…
"If he's so helpless," Jim shot back (yes, shot. Too soon? Sorry bout that), "then why did you bring him out here?"
No one else, thank god, was around to witness this. And not just because they would've heard that question. Captain Man glared at Jim. "My sidekick is NOT helpless. He is a perfectly capable young man who YOU, you freaking butthole, just shot down for NO GOD DANG REASON!"
Jim rolled his eyes in a way that suggested that it- whatever it may be- was obvious. "Of course I had a reason. And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't do it alone."
"I know that. A dozen of your cronies just attacked me while you-"
Jim cut the superhero off before he could start swearing again. "Not from them." He whistled, and a little white bird- Captain Man was more or less sure it was a cockatoo, but whatever- flew in from a nearby tree and landed next to Jim Grim.
Captain Man had no idea what the heck to expect- he was confused. Not to mention the bird looked really familiar.
But it was all cleared up when the bird started growing, and growing, into-
"GERTA?!" Captain Man cried. "What-"
Jim Grim rolled his eyes again, this time playfully. He clearly enjoyed watching Captain Man get lost in everything. "Oh, so I see you too have meant. Found the little bird during a prison break. I'm very good at them, in case you haven't heard. My latest had the help of a pet rat, only it was wires rather than veins. Sound familiar? Anyway, back to the bird. At first I thought I had found some food, but then I discovered that I had found me another weapon." Captain Man opened his mouth to say something- presumably a string of swear words-but he didn't get to say it. "But wait, there's more!" Jim Grim fished a little remote out of his pocket and pushed a button.
Within seconds, Gerta had turned into Hope Jones.
Captain Man's jaw dropped. After so much time wondering and worrying, the mystery was solved. Both parts.
I've got to tell Henry… HENRY!
Captain Man cussed out Jim Grim as he ran toward where his sidekick was lying. During this, about half a dozen emergency vehicles approached the park, sirens blaring. Later, Ray found out from Schwoz that the inventor had checked the security cameras in the park just in time to see Kid Danger get shot the first two times; he freaked out and called 9-1-1 from the emergency hotline. Charlotte and Jasper, bless their souls, had been sent upstairs for something and didn't see it happen.
Upon hearing the sirens, Jim Grim sprinted out of sight. Hope (well, Gerta, but whatever) turned back into a bird and disappeared. The superhero saw that a couple of the ski masks dudes had woken up and fled as he wasn't his enemy get away. Swearing some more, Captain Man rushed to show to EMS attendants where to find Kid Danger.
Told you it would be long.
Back in Chapter 2 an author's note I put said "You're all probably wondering when more action gonna show up. I PROMISE it'll get here! I've already sketched out ideas! But it's going to be a few chapters before some crime fighting starts." Yeah, only took another 35 chapters, LOL!
Which reminds me: Happy Easter (even if you don't celebrate Easter I hope you have a good day anyway :))!
Ciao, and Happy Holidays!