Episode 4! Hope you're all liking this story. Please leave a review.
Danger S1E4: Dangerous Times
July 5, 2021
With one final punch the queen goes down. Volt drags her body to the piles of mimes being tied up by Barricade and Brainstorm to be taken to jail by AWOL. Once they're gone the heroes slump to the ground beside Shoutout, who has already collapsed after finishing with her mime goons.
"Please tell me that was the last for the night." AWOL says when he returns a few moments later.
"I doubt it. We've hardly got five minutes break in the past two weeks because of this crime wave." Volt says.
"How long do crime waves usually last?" Brainstorm asks.
"I'm not sure that there's a usual, but this one is more severe than any I've ever been in." Barricade says. The kids groan miserably, so he tacks on with as much positivity as he can, which isn't very much, "It will end eventually."
"Yeah, not right now though," Haywire says apologetically through their comms, "We've got another disaster brewing at the zoo."
A plethora of gibbered complaints escape the five heroes as they get back to their feet. "What's going on?" Barricade asks.
"Fran just called in saying all the animals are out of their cages and hopped up on some aggression stimulant. They're running around out of control and the police and animal control are having little luck in containing them. They could really use some help." Haywire says.
"We're on it." Barricade says.
At the zoo, the five heroes must scale the wall to get in, the police have set up a barrier to keep the rampaging animals from getting out into the rest of the city. Inside the zoo is a mess. The escaped animals are everywhere, and animal control has their backs to the wall as they try to control the chaos. Only a few animals lay tranquilized right in front of them.
"Danger Force!" Fran beckons to them excitedly. "Hey! Glad you could make it. The animals are going crazy." She tells them. They approach her.
"We can see that." AWOL says. "But why?"
"Heck if I know. They all just broke out of their cages and started running wild." Fran says.
"We'll have to subdue them. Fran, do you guys have a system by which you're organizing this offensive?" Barricade asks.
Fran looks confused at him, apparently ignoring his question to instead ask. "Aren't you the guy from Captain Man's funeral. What are you doing here?"
"He's our new leader." Shoutout answers.
"Why would you let him take over the team?" Fran questions further. "And if he's a hero, doesn't he have his own place to be taking care of?"
"Swellview is mine to take care of." Barricade says. She looks at him inquiringly. "It's a long story and we have other things to deal with."
She considers him while saying, "We called hoping your guys' superpowers could be of help in containing the animals. Our tranquilizer isn't working as effectively as it should, so our animal control specialists are having difficulties stopping the crazy beasts."
"Then let's just get in there and fight. They're just animals, we can take them easy." Volt says, and charges into the zoo street. Her teammates follow her after only a short moment.
Barricade looks after them a bit consternated. Only Shoutout turns back to check if they're doing right by his reckoning. He shakes his head, "Alright, let's go." He permits and goes after them.
While he runs away from the group of zoo security and police, he doesn't miss the snide comment one of them makes of, "Wow. Some leader." And the following approving chuckles. He ignores it and tackles a hyena.
On the battlefield, Volt is dropping the bigger animals with her lightning; bears, wolves and big cats falling unconscious with each blast. Barricade, Shoutout and AWOL get to work on the smaller animals that enumerate most of the fight. AWOL, at a suggestion from his sister, flashes in and out of the street returning unconscious animals to their proper places. Brainstorm catches the smallest of the creatures with his telekinesis and floats them to the animal control people for containment. With each passing minute more animals fall and the situation begins to seem less dire.
Then, when the land animals are almost all taken care of, save for the Mongolian Ridgeback Tigers Volt is battling, the aviary suddenly bursts and hundreds of birds come flying out. "Uh-oh." Brainstorm says.
"That's not good." Shoutout says.
"How are we supposed to catch all of them?" AWOL asks.
"Can any of us fly?" Brainstorm asks, jumping as if to test his own abilities.
"No!" Shoutout and AWOL both shout, "You know we can't." She expounds.
Barricade takes their seconds of arguing to assess the situation before shouting his best idea to the team. "Shoutout, hit them with a scream. Knock them out of the sky."
She looks to him skeptical. "But if they all fall to the ground they'll get hurt or worse! I can't…"
"We'll have to take the chance. If they get out, we'll never be able to track them all down. We're losing more by the second, just do it." He orders. So, Shoutout screams into the sky and every bird caught in her sound wave is stopped and struck down. "Everyone else, catch as many birds as you can." Barricade calls out.
Many bodies run about trying to catch all the falling birds as Shoutout sweeps her scream through the air. But Volt merely growls back, "I'm a bit busy!" as she dodges around the mother tiger and the two almost full-grown cubs that she is trying to incapacitate.
It is a most peculiar sight as they all leap around in the hailstorm of birds. Flashes of different colored light illuminate the twilight air from the kids' powers as they do their bests to fulfil their missions. Several unfortunate birds end up with broken wings as the number of falling bodies overwhelm the humans trying to catch them, but most end up okay.
Just as Volt takes down the mother tiger from on its back, another small wave of animals comes round the corner of the reptile building. There are a few apes, followed by other small primates and a handful of pachyderms. "Not the monkeys!" Brainstorm cries, he runs towards the charging animals, immediately getting swarmed.
"Brainstorm!" Shoutout calls and runs to aid him.
"Okay, how are these things getting out?" AWOL asks.
"Someone must be behind this." Shoutout says as she pulls monkeys and lemurs off Brainstorm, "None of this is normal animal behavior, there must be a mastermind behind the escape."
"Who would want this?" Volt asks.
Her answer comes swiftly from the pair of humanoids in green scaly make-up and clothing running through the charge, carrying a bunch of snakes and lizards from the reptile house in the opposite direction of the fight. "We would!" says Lizard Girl, "Come, be free dear cousins!" she says to the reptiles following behind them.
"The lizards twins!" Brainstorm calls the answer no one needs. "They're doing this!"
"That's right, we're going to build an army of all the reptiles in Swellview and no one can stop us." Lizard Boy says, brandishing a weapon that is spraying some kind of gas.
"We need to go after them." Barricade says, activating his force field to deflect the sudden chomp of a hippo's mouth bearing down on him. As the animal retracts its jaw in surprise he leaps away and calls for tranquilizer in a high pitch voice, a volley follow, piercing the hippo's tongue as it opens once more to snap at him.
"Oh yeah? How exactly? I'm still surrounded here, in case you missed it." Volt yells at him. She's down to one last tiger but the silverback gorilla has made himself her problem as well.
"We still have to deal with these animals, we can't all go." Shoutout says.
"I'll follow them, just as soon as I'm done with this." AWOL says battling an orangutan that has latched around his middle and is scratching at his face.
Barricade leaps out of the way of a charging rhinoceros and pulls an angry lemur off the head of an animal control worker. She complains as the lemur takes some of her hair with it and glares at Barricade as she helps him contain it in an empty sack. "We're going to lose them if we don't act quick." He says once the rhino has smashed itself into a wall and staggered to a stop.
The lizard twins are a way off down the zoo street, not too far away, but no one is going after them. AWOL is now in a slapping fight with the orangutan, the two screaming "I hate you!" and "Oooo!" at each other in a rather humorous display as they take turns hitting each other's faces.
Shoutout is baiting the small army of monkeys into crates with the animal control people, while Brainstorm struggles to hold onto a half-dozen others. "I got them! I got them!" He declares unconfidently.
"Just bring them over here." Shoutout tells him.
Volt screams shrilly as she blasts the gorilla onto it's back beside the felled tigers and then she's charging to stop the two elephants smashing up a fence.
Barricade punches out a gorilla and pulls the orangutan off AWOL. "Go after the Lizard Twins. I'll be right behind you." he says. AWOL nods with one last glare at the orangutan as Barricade tranquilizes it with a dart that had been caught in his jacket sleeve, fortunately only penetrating the leather and not through to his skin. He delivers the fallen apes to animal control and tells Shoutout, "We're going after the Lizard Twins."
He takes off down the street, leaving Shoutout, Brainstorm and Volt with the remaining animals. Shoutout finishes containing the last angry monkeys in the crates and turns to help Volt stop the last large animals: a rhino and another gorilla. She sends a concussive shriek past her friend while Volt is holding them both off with one hands' lightning each. The sound wave hits the animals just right to knock them out and Volt falls to her knees with a huff of relief as she pulls back on her electrical expending. "I'm so tired." She pants, "Are we done now?"
Shoutout frowns apologetically at her, "We have to go after the Lizard twins, Barricade and AWOL are already following."
Volt grumbles crankily but takes Shoutout's hand when offered and gets to her feet. "Looks like Brainstorm got a second wind." She says, watching the boy play with a monkey.
"Look guys, this one didn't get angrified." He cheers showing off the capuchin dangling from his arm.
"Brainstorm, we need to go." Shoutout says,
"Okay." Brainstorm says, "C'mon Blue." He speaks to the monkey as he places it on his shoulder.
"You're bringing the monkey?" Volt asks.
"Yeah. He's my new pet, I named him Blue." Brainstorm says, hugging the monkey dubbed 'Blue'.
"He doesn't belong to you." Shoutout says, her usually patient tone with him strained by her exhaustion. "He has to stay at the zoo."
"But I want to keep him." Brainstorm says.
"You can't just steal a monkey." Volt says.
"It's okay. He can keep it." Fran calls. "We have plenty, consider it a thank you."
"Yes!" Brainstorm says.
"Really?" Shoutout questions.
"Whatever. C'mon, we've gotta go help the others." Volt says and leads him down the street. Shoutout follows.
Meanwhile, Barricade runs down the street after the villains. The Lizard twins round a corner and vanish from his sight just as AWOL appears at the end of the road. The younger boy obviously has an eye on them as he flashes out again quickly. Barricade reaches the corner and whips around it, seeing the others several yards ahead. AWOL has cut off the two lizardish people.
AWOL is wrestling with Lizard Boy over the gas-blaster. "Let go!" Lizard Boy cries.
"You let go!" AWOL responds. They grapple until they break the gun in two, pieces falling to the ground in a useless mess.
Barricade follows after Lizard Girl to where she's dropping the reptiles into a storm drain. He grabs her, pulling her away from the hole in the ground. She responds by round housing him in the knee and throwing a snake at him. "Take that, new guy." she says.
The snake is none too happy about the rough treatment and bares its fangs at Barricade as it drapes over him. Though he knows little about snakes he knows enough to understand that its bright colors are a warning of venom and expels it from him before it can bite him with a quick activation of his force field and a small shriek. The snake hits the ground and slithers away to follow its brethren down the drain.
Their mistress has finished depositing them all and runs to help her brother. AWOL is beginning to wane under their combined attacks when Barricade rushes in to help. He trips up the Lizard twins and takes place beside AWOL. They recover and as Barricade throws a punch at Lizard Boy he says to AWOL. "We've got to get them to jail and go after the reptiles."
"Ha! You'll never manage that, Captain Fake." Taunts Lizard Boy.
Barricade falters a moment in his fighting, "What did you call me?" he says.
At the same time AWOL is responding, "I've got her, I'll be right back." But as he's about to vanish Lizard Boy lands one punch under Barricade's weakened guard. Barricade takes it with a jump backwards to restore his footing and focus to the fight. He ends up bumping into then crashing over AWOL as the boy teleports. In that quick disordered moment AWOL loses hold on Lizard Girl and the two heroes alone vanish through space.
They reappear in the middle of some large body of water, many feet from the surface. Both collect themselves quickly enough that they have both stroked to the surface in a matter of moments. "I did not mean to come here, you knocked me off course." AWOL says.
"Sorry, didn't mean to run into you." Barricade says, "We need to get back before they escape."
"Got it, just grab hold of me." AWOL replies. Once Barricade's hand is on his shoulder, he thrusts his fist out of the water and they return to the zoo dripping.
Brainstorm, Shoutout and Volt are there, but the Lizard twins have gone. "Did you guys get them?" Volt asks.
The boys shake their heads and say, "No."
"Then, where are they?" Shoutout asks.
Barricade runs to the still open storm drain. "She was dropping the reptiles down there, they probably followed. We'll have to go down to find them."
The kids groan tiredly but follow him down the drain.
(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
The five heroes and the monkey exit the drains somewhere in downtown Swellview a little while later with no villains in hand. AWOL and Volt lean tiredly on a fence nearby and Brainstorm drops to the ground to sit against it, cuddling Blue to his chest.
"That didn't go very well." Volt says.
"No. It wasn't that bad." Shoutout fusses. "Alright it could've been better, but we did pretty good. We did stop all those animals without hurting them too much."
"We lost to the Lizard twins. They got away." AWOL says, "That's not good."
Barricade sighs, "And they took all the zoo's reptiles. Which is exactly what they wanted. All the other animals were a distraction."
"So, we totally failed. Great." Volt says. "Good to know we spent so much time on nothing."
"It wasn't nothing." Shoutout tries to argue again but none of her teammates are really hearing her.
Brainstorm sits with a heartbroken frown. "We aren't much of heroes without Captain Man, are we?"
"No!" Shoutout says again, "No, I mean yes! Yes, we are heroes. Okay we didn't do great tonight and it's hard to do this without him, but we have Barricade to lead us now. So, we'll be okay, everything is going to work out." She says committedly.
"I'm not Captain Man." Barricade says.
"But you're close. The closest thing there is." Shoutout asserts.
"Close isn't enough. We lost tonight." Barricade says firmly. Shoutout frowns at him.
"If stupid Captain Man hadn't stupid died…" Volt trials off, hers and everyone else's faces fall.
Except Shoutout, who chastises with a "Hey! So that fight went wrong, that happens. We're good heroes and we'll be a great team. We're going to figure this out and we'll find the Lizard Twins as long as we don't give up." Chapa continues to glare away from the direction of her friends, but the boys look to Shoutout hopefully, albeit with varying degrees of belief.
Barricade's phone chimes, a text from his mom. Are you coming home tonight? It reads. The question and the sight of the time causes him to say, "We're not going to find them tonight. It's late, you guys should go home; your parents are going to be worried, and you all need some sleep."
"mmm, sleep." Brainstorm moans from his sitting spot on the sidewalk. His eyes are nearing closed. His monkey is already asleep on his chest.
Henry enters the Man's Nest alone, peeling the sewer soiled bandages from his slowly healing fingers. Piper is sitting at a work-desk by the window watching the computer for alerts. "Hey."
"Hey." She says, turning to him, "Are you okay?" she frowns at his disheveled appearance.
"Tired." He replies, sitting on the round couch, resting his head on his hand propped up on the back of the seat.
"You look it. How long have you been going?"
"Um… about 40 hours?" he posits.
"Woah! You didn't get any sleep last night?" She asks.
"Couldn't between Time Jerker and Arson Boy. Please tell me there's nothing urgent now, so that I can."
She sighs apologetically, "I'd tell you there was nothing, but that would be a lie."
He groans and slumps. "This is the most ridiculously endless crimewave I've ever heard of. Let alone been in. What's up?"
"Nothing major. We can let the cops handle things tonight. If something comes up, I'll call in Charlotte and Jasper. You go get some sleep, and maybe some food while you're at it." She suggests, checking over the computer.
"We got food at Inside Out Burger when we stopped the robbery before the mimes attacked." He says and yawns. "But I'd welcome a bed." He doesn't get up to leave though nor does he blow a bubble to change out of his uniform. Resting for even that short moment has sapped him of his remaining energy, and he drowses out on the couch, slipping down to lean awkwardly against the back cushions, though he couldn't care less about the comfortability of it right now.
He's almost all the way to dream land when the emergency alert goes off, startling him back to consciousness. His overworked adrenal glands firing back up, he jumps to his feet. "What is it?"
Piper answers the call. "Hello? Danger Force?" a voice asks.
"Yes, you've reached the hotline. What do you want?" Piper asks.
"We need help!" the person says.
"Obviously." She responds. "But with what?"
"We've got a street gang trashing the Captain Man Memorial." they say.
"What?" Henry growls lowly, anger fueling him with more alertness.
The person continues, "I'm a cop; my partner and I are up here, but we can't get any other back up right now. We figured Danger Force would be more than willing to help us, so please come quickly."
"I'll be right there." Henry says and hangs up.
"Wait, Henry, you still haven't slept. Let me call in somebody else; Charlotte and Jasper are both on standby to help. I'll just wake them." Piper tries to stop her brother.
"No. Don't bother. I'm already awake and I won't get to sleep while I know they're messing with HIS grave. I've got this. Down the tube." He commands.
She glares at the place he'd been then turns back to the computer to tell him through the comms. "Fine. But when you need help, don't think I won't throw this back in your face." She mutters to herself.
The gang are all in dark, layered clothing, with hats and masks. When Henry arrives on the scene, he recognizes the group instantly: The Wall Dogs. Van Del stands on the base of the statues. He eggs on his pupils in their nasty work of spray painting the pair of cops, Walnut and Lacy, they have tied up in the dirt. There are twelve of them in all.
Even though Henry can't recall who's who, there is one face he'll never forget: Veronika. She's prettier than ever and obviously as wicked. She leads the gang in their vile business, her actions the most violent as they harass the two officers. It is she who turns the gang's attentions away from the beaten pair to pursue their original goal of wrecking the memorial. "Let's give our best in honor of the fallen 'hero'." she sneers.
"Yes, my children. Make this memorial show exactly what we thought of him." Van Del says, leaping off the base.
Cruelly excited murmurs echo off the mountainside as the gang converges on the statues. Henry's rage bubbles and he steps into the clearing with a shouted "Hey!" all attention turns sharply to him. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Insulting my enemy, Captain Man, one last time." Van Del says, "Since I couldn't be the one to finish him off, I will make sure he does not rest peacefully. What are you doing here? This isn't your city nor your concern. Go back to where you came from."
"I'm from here. And more importantly, preserving the memory of Captain Man is my concern." Henry snarls, approaching them fearlessly. "So, get your sorry butts away from his grave."
"Ah, yes, yes. You said he was your father or something at the funeral." Van Del says.
"I think it was brother." One Wall Dog says, T-Paint, Henry recalls the name.
Van Del silences the murmurs of the disagreeing Wall Dogs with a wave of his hand, "Whatever, I don't believe it anyhow. If ever Captain Man had a kid, it was Kid Danger, who is dead too. You, boy, are just a wannabe, here to claim the power and status he had." he laughs, "But you'll never get it, the criminals of Swellview will never fear you and the people- well, they will never love you. You are not Captain Man."
Henry chews on his lip, smirking, darkly amused. "No, I'm not Captain Man; and I don't want to be. I'm here because Swellview needs a hero to keep criminals like you in line, and Danger Force aren't ready to do it on their own."
"Wait, where is Danger Force? We called them to back us up; why did you come?" Officer Lacy speaks up from the ground.
"I was the one who answered the call. Danger Force are getting some hard-earned sleep." Henry says.
"Too bad for you. Five against twelve would've been a less unfair fight." Van Del shrugs.
Henry grabs the nearest Wall Dog and with two swift moves has him on the ground unconscious. "Now it's eleven on one; I think it's you who's going to need help."
Van Del glares back at Barricade. "Wall Dogs, show this Captain Wannabe how weak he is." he orders.
Henry huffs at the nickname but doesn't miss a beat as the vandals' attack. The only advantage they have is their numbers. Henry can take out any one of them with ease and does so quickly. One after another charge at him. One after the next fall under his blows.
When there are only a few left he comes face to face with Veronika. She is tough, more so than the rest. Her gymnastic skill makes her a difficult target. She's also clever and fights dirty; using her spray can to blind him. While he's cursing and wiping the blue paint from his eyes, she pins him to the ground.
"Ha! This guy may think he's a hero but he's no Captain Man." She laughs straddling his waist and holding down his chest, "He's nothing but a Herbert."
Henry grunts displeased, "You use that insult too much. You and your vandalism are what's lame. So, I don't care if you call me a Herbert, Veronika. Your definition of that word doesn't offend me." He says, rolling her off him. He punches another Wall Dog who charges him while she staggers back to her feet.
"How do you know my name?" she demands.
"I know the whole story of you punks and losers being beaten by Captain Man and Kid Danger." He covers with quick ease. There are only three more Wall Dogs between him and Van Del, though several on the ground are beginning to rouse.
Veronika stands aside from the group, watching Barricade as he takes out two more of her gang mates. She shakes herself from her thought and leaps back into the fight. She slips under Henry's punch to get in close to him and locks his arm in a hold. Then she says, "Let me kiss you." with a peculiar emotion fueling her glare.
"What?!" Many voices exclaim with Henry. "No!" he says.
(commercial break (just seemed like the perfect moment for one if this was airing as a TV episode))
"Veronika! What the heck?!" Spray Z says from where he's recovering from being taken down by Barricade.
Veronika presses in towards his face, but Henry drops backwards and throws her over his head to crash in the dirt behind him. She grumbles furiously and says, "I need to check something. I need to kiss you."
"What?" Henry asks dubiously.
"What is wrong with you?" Van Del demands.
"I need to know if…" her unmoving stare at Barricade has become almost horrorstruck, "I need to kiss him to be sure I'm not going crazy!"
"Uh…too late." Henry says.
"I think you're getting to crazy real quick, girl." Beyonspray says almost simultaneously to him.
"I am not kissing you." Henry continues, shaking his head to display his total confusion at her request.
She stares at him with a manic look in her eyes. He sees her lunge coming a moment before it happens, a shift in her center of weight clueing him in, giving him the chance to react. She comes right at him, and he drops out of the way at the last moment. She tumbles over him with a cry of distress.
His dodge doesn't dissuade her, though. She comes back again, insisting, "I need you to kiss me."
"No!" he says, dodging her again.
"Veronika!" Beyonspray berates, grabbing her friend's arm. "What are you doing?"
Veronika doesn't think twice as she knocks the other girl out and springs again at Barricade. He doesn't even have to dodge this time around as she doesn't reach him. Spray Z intercepts her with a disturbed expression and says, "Veronika stop. You're out of control. What are…" she knocks him down with a kick to the pants and escapes his grasp as he crumples with a cry.
While Veronika is taking out her own gangmates, Barricade's focus is pulled by Officer Walnut telling him, "Hey, Shadow Man, Van Del's getting away."
Barricade throws a quick glare her way, "I'm not the Shadow Man!" Then swiftly glances towards Van Del, who is indeed running away from the clearing. He takes off after Van Del down the mountainside. Veronika chases after him.
He catches Van Del first, grabbing hold of the fearful gang leader. The man trips over his own feet once caught and falls to the ground. "No! You'll not take me!" he says. Barricade is too distracted by holding the man down when Veronika catches them.
The three of them are a chaotic mess on the ground for several minutes. Each trying to keep hold of and/or get away from another. Barricade nearly loses Van Del trying to keep Veronika at bay and has to use all his strength and limbs to pin the bigger man down. This gives the young lady her chance to finally connect her lips to his. It is the briefest kiss as he jerks his head away, but it seems to be enough for her because she doesn't rush back in as he retreats.
"No. No. That can't be. It's not possible." She mutters. "I must be losing it."
"That is already quite obvious, little girl." Van Del says derisively as Barricade restrains him.
"No!" she says. "This can't be possible. I'm fooling myself. I'm imagining things." She looks to Barricade. "I just need to kiss you properly."
He glares exasperated at her, "No. Why would I let you do that? You're psychotic. Why do you even want that?"
"I never forget a pair of lips." She says desperately and he suddenly gets an idea of what she could be thinking.
"What?" Van Del says looking at her with a disgusted and confused expression, "You don't think you've kissed him before?"
"I just need to know." She says, begging Barricade with her eyes.
He swallows nervously, seeing the danger she suddenly is. "I know, and I'm telling you, we've never kissed." He lies smoothly.
The tears that leak out of her eyes are a surprise. Her running away is less of one. Barricade can't go after her immediately though as he's still holding Van Del. As fast as he can he pulls the laser remote from his jacket pocket and tries to stun her, but it is too late, she's already gone. He returns to the memorial dragging Van Del with him.
"Where's the girl?" Officer Walnut asks as Henry returns and drops the villain with his defeated subordinates, Spray Z being the only one left conscious but still crumpled in pain. Barricade swiftly cuffs him.
"Lost her in the woods." He tells the officers, kneeling to free them from their entrapment.
"What?" Officer Lacy says, "You lost her?"
"Yes." He snips.
"You couldn't catch one girl?" she demands with a frown.
He frowns back at her, stung. "I caught Van Del and the other ten Wall Dogs! While all you managed to do was get tied up and spray painted by them."
"We were caught by surprise." Officer Walnut defends as she gets to her feet, rubbing at the spray paint on her face. "We weren't expecting to be attacked by a dozen vandals tonight."
"And we ain't got any hellish powers that let us take out whoevers we want." Officer Lacy sneers at him.
Henry glares but holds back the retort. Instead, he says in a clipped voice, "These guys won't be out for long. We should get them to jail before they wake up."
"We can get a transport here in a few minutes. You should leave. We'll take it from here." Officer Walnut says.
Henry doesn't leave, contending, "Load Van Del into your car first. As the leader he is the greatest threat and should be contained more securely."
"We know how to do our jobs, kid." Officer Lacy says. "We've got him."
"Don't call me Kid." Henry huffs more irately than he should.
Van Del begins to laugh, though Officer Walnut is moving him to their spray-painted patrol car. "I told you, boy. No one in Swellview respects you." The gang leader says with a victorious smirk at Barricade.
Henry scowls hatefully at him before turning back down the mountain to search for Veronika, fearing Van Del may be right.
(Commercial break)
The morning dawns to new disasters. An attack on the Swellview Nuclear Power Plant (the nice one) wakes the four members of Danger Force a little earlier that they like. All morning they chase one villain after the other while Henry remains out cold on the round couch. It's just afternoon when Henry finally rouses.
"Hey, look, Sleeping Beauty's finally risen." Japer says.
"That's great Jasper." Charlotte, at the computer, comments unattentively. "Okay guys, we're looking clear for now, get back here quick and maybe you can have a break." She says through the comms.
"What's up?" Henry asks, coming to join her, looking blearily over her computer screen.
"You, finally." She teases, "How'd you sleep?"
"Ugh, my neck." He complains, rubbing at the sore muscles.
"Maybe try making it to a bed next time." She suggests mockingly. "Like at your house or the spare room Ray gave you last time you were here."
"Yeah, yeah." Henry brushes her comment off. "Now, again, what's up?" he asks jerking his head towards the monitor.
"Danger Force just finished with a group of the Mob Moss trying to smuggle weapons in at the train yard. Earlier they stopped the Thumb Buddies from using nuclear power to turn all of Swellview into mutants; and they stopped Mr. Guilty blowing up Sushi Dushi." Charlotte reports, "I've been running backend while Jasper's been goofing around, breaking stuff." She glares at the boy in question.
"It was an accident!" Jasper protests, hands thrown into the air.
"Phoebe called, she says T-Force should be able to come help us out again tomorrow now that they've finished with Scalestro. And Schwoz made a brief appearance a little while ago to grab a gadget before disappearing back into his room." Charlotte finishes her list.
Henry frowns, glancing worriedly at the door to the bedrooms. "Is he doing alright?" He asks.
She hums in that thoughtful way before saying. "Not really, but that's expected. He's doing as well as he can for the moment; still in his relentless combing of evidence. He's totally frustrated that science has failed him with Ray's death." She sighs, "I wish I could help him, but I don't think anything will make him feel better until he finds some answers."
"I think that'd make us all feel better." Henry grumbles, "If I could find out who…" his voice breaks out under the stress in his chest. his eyes and fists clenched for a breif moment. Charlotte and Jasper look pityingly at him. "…I'd kill him." He finishes once he's expelled the pressure.
"Henry." Charlotte chastises.
"I would." he insists, "When we find him, I'm going to make him pay."
His friends both watch him commiseratively, he turns away to avoid their gazes. Henry doesn't breathe after Jasper slings an arm around his shoulders, holding everything in as his best friends assure him, "We're going to catch him, Hen."
"We will get justice for Ray." Charlotte seconds. "We'll figure out what happened."
With a great, barely controlled, heave of breath Henry responds. "We have to. Avenging Ray is all I can do for him now."
"You're already doing more than that for him." Charlotte says, stepping into his line of sight.
"Like what?" Henry asks pulling away from Jasper and walking a few steps away to fiddle mindlessly with the computer.
"Like protecting Swellview." Jasper says.
"And teaching Danger Force." Charlotte adds, moving to keep him in view as he continues to avoid eye contact with her and Jasper. "Leading them now that he's gone."
"Fine job I'm doing." Henry laughs sarcastically, "The city's a mess. The team is chaos, and I don't know how to lead them."
"You're a great leader. You led us in Dystopia." Charlotte reminds.
"That was you and me and Jasper. We knew how to work together and I was never really in charge." He argues.
"Yes, you were." She insists. "Jasper and I were always following your lead. You were the big boss there, the one with real experience against villains, and you are here too."
Henry huffs a derisive laugh. "All Danger Force and I do is get in each other's ways. We fight different and I don't know how to direct them. I don't know how to take care of sidekicks."
"You're doing just fine." She tells him.
"Then how come after two days with no sleep I can take out 11 of 12 Walldogs without a problem but together we can't stop the Lizard Twins from stealing some reptiles?" he demands, finally turning towards them, gesturing frustratedly.
Charlotte can give no immediate answer, pausing uncertainly, trying to come up with a way to explain. So, before she speaks Jasper suggests, "Because you were mad. The Walldogs were attacking Ray's grave so you were angry at them so you were more focused on taking them down."
"I wasn't not trying to stop the Lizard Twins." Henry protests.
"But you had more than just them to think about when you were at the zoo." Charlotte interjects with a placating hand held towards Henry. "You had the animals and the people, you were trying to lead Danger Force."
"So, because we're trying to be a team we failed." Henry determines, "It would actually be better if I stopped leading them?"
"No." Charlotte breathes deeply and responds. "That's not what I'm saying. But, this is a new team; made of two separate, already formed teams: us, who've known each other and worked together for a long time, and Danger Force, who've been together for over a year. There's going to be a lot of kinks to work out. But it's going to be okay. Those kids need you and you're a good leader. You just need to stop overthinking it and take charge with them."
Henry's consternated expression gives way to amusement as Charlotte finishes her speech. "Are you seriously telling me to think less?" he asks.
"I never thought she'd say that. She's usually telling us to think more." Jasper smiles too, happy Henry's mood seems to have improved.
"Oh, shut up." Charlotte says, swatting at both of them. "You know what I mean."
The boys laugh, and Charlotte rolls her eyes at them. The tube alert sounds. "Pizza!" Piper cheers as she steps off the platform with a small stack of boxes.
"Great! I'm starving!" Henry says, moving swiftly towards the food. Piper opens a box and Henry steals two slices quickly.
"Are Danger Force not back yet?" Piper asks.
"They're on their way. Should be here soon, unless…" Charlotte is cut off most timingly by the emergency alert. "…that happens." She goes to check the alert and sighs wearily.
"What is it?" Henry asks following her to see.
"Big trouble. The Toddlers in Swellview Park." Charlotte announces. "I'll call the team. You get in costume and go meet them."
With a sigh Henry says, "Yeah okay."
(Commercial break)
Once Barricade meets up with Danger Force at the park, they are delighted to see the pizza he brings with him. "Food!" Brainstorm exclaims and grabs two slices at once.
"Compliments of Piper, she thought you might be hungry." Barricade explains.
"Yes!" Volt exclaims, taking her own. "Your sister is awesome."
AWOL and Shoutout too make exclamations of excitement and comments on their hunger as they snarf down the lunch. It's all gone in a matter of minutes, which Barricade uses to assess the situation.
The Toddler and a handful of goons have taken control of the playground and inflated a large plastic dome over the whole of it. Four large red rockets lay around the sides of it. "How you guys found out what Toddler is planning here?" Barricade asks.
"He wants to launch himself, in the playground bubble, to the moon where he intends to build a children's' Utopia." Shoutout answers.
"Ah, that's…um…"
"Weird." AWOL says.
"Insane." Volt suggests.
"Kind of awesome." Brainstorm decrees.
"Completely illogical." Shoutout determines.
"Exactly." Barricade says.
He watches the villain intently. He holds a plastic remote control in his hands with several colorful buttons on it: a green 'Go', a red 'Stop' and four arrows of other bright colors pointing in different directions. "Hurry up! Hurry up!" the Toddler's whines are the only clear words to the heroes as he gives instructions to his henchmen.
Barricade begins forming a plan, "We need to stop him from launching the rockets. The simplest way would be to get the remote but that may be tricky. Or we could split up, take out the goons and the rockets." He says unsurely, "We could try both, but that'd require going one on one."
"We can handle that." Volt says.
"But, there's also the twenty kids Toddler has in the bubble to take with him." Shoutout says, after swallowing a last bite of pizza. "We need to get them to safety."
Barricade sighs, "That does complicate things. We'll need to get them out before we try anything with Toddler."
"But that'll give him time to get the rockets on and escape. It'll tear up the park if he gets them active." AWOL says.
"Better the park than the kids." Barricade says, biting his lip in concentration. "Still, we need to try to do both."
"So, what do we do?" Brainstorm asks looking to him.
Barricade grimaces unconfidently, "Split up. Someone will have to distract Toddler and the goons while the other rescue the kids and stop the rockets."
"Got it." Volt says. "Let's go crack some heads."
She stands to take off, with a war cry on her lips, "Wait, Volt." Barricade grabs her before she can run off. She sparks impatiently at him. "You can crack heads in a minute. We need a real game plan before we run in or it'll just end up a mess like last night."
His words have the desired effect on all the members of Danger Force: grabbing all their attention and silencing them. They all look to him. The weight of their expectations in him and the responsibility he holds settles on his anxious shoulders. "Alright," he begins nervously. "First, I need to apologize for last night. Shoutout was right, we did pretty well for such a crazy situation." She smiles proudly at him as he says it. "We're not going to win every fight, but we are going to be a great team, so long as we work together towards the same goals.
"Today is possibly even more crazy than last night. Our top priority needs to be getting the kids to safety. Our next priority will be shutting down the rockets. Shoutout you're the smartest person here, can you figure out how to disable them?"
"I think so." she nods enthusiastically.
"Good, if you need help ask for it." Barricade instructs.
"None of you are smart enough for that." She points out.
"Haywire is on the comms." He offers.
"I got you girl. Get into one of the rockets machinery and we'll figure out how to take them out." Haywire says from the Man's Nest.
Shoutout smiles and Barricade nods. "AWOL, I need you to find a safe place to teleport the kids. We need to evacuate them."
"On it." AWOL says, vanishing at Barricade's order to "Go."
"What about Toddler and his goons?" Volt asks. "Do I get to crack their heads or not?"
"To get the rocket-sabotage done and the kids away without Toddler realizing what is happening I need you to attack them with all you've got. They need to be completely distracted." Barricade says.
Volt smiles, darkly pleased. "Gladly. Now?"
"Now." Barricade says. Volt runs at the criminals with a furious war-cry and violent blasts of lightning. "Um, I'm gonna go keep her from killing anyone." Barricade says decisively, at least a bit frightened by her ferocity. "Brainstorm, get to the playground and help AWOL get the kids out."
"Okay!" Brainstorm says and runs off.
"Shoutout get to those rockets." Barricade continues.
She nods and they both leave at the same time, going in opposite directions.
Barricade rushes up on the fight Volt has started and takes out a goon she'd been about to electrocute. "Hey! I was gonna fry him!" She complains.
"We're here to stop them not hurt them!" Barricade reminds.
"I'm doing both." She calls back.
"Stop doing either!" Toddler whines. "Leave my goons alone! We're going to the moon!"
"If you wanna launch yourself to the moon, Todd, I won't stop you. But you can't take the playground with you!" Barricade says, leaping towards Toddler to grab the remote.
"It's Toddler!" Toddler cries. Barricade's stopped by a big goon in purple, ducky dotted footy pajamas. "Good, good! Get him goon! The only hero that's allowed to stop me is Captain Man. You're not him, so leave me alone! I'm going to the moon where no hero can bother me ever again." The Toddler decrees.
"You're doing all this because you miss Captain Man?" Volt questions. She blasts a goon and turns to look at the Toddler incredulously.
"Yes! He was my nemesis and the only hero who I will fight. This fake Captain Man wannabe with you isn't worthy to replace him."
"Oh my god, why does everyone keep calling me that? I don't wanna be Captain Man." Barricade says.
Having just taken out the purple ducky goon, he goes for Toddler again. He grabs the remote and he and Toddler tug-o-war over it. Wrenching the small man around and onto his butt, Barricade gets a stronger hold on the remote and jerks it free of Toddler's grasp. Toddler cries out frustratedly and tries to get it back by jumping on Barricade. Before Barricade can throw him off Toddler is blowing a huge wet raspberry in his face and reclaiming his toy.
"Dude!" Barricade complains wiping the spit from his face.
"Ha! Take that!" Toddler says, smiling victoriously for a moment. Then he spots the playground beyond Barricade and sees AWOL and Brainstorm rescuing the kids. "Hey! They're taking my kids! Stop it! Stop them! Stupid heroes, stop it! Stop taking my kids! Stop stopping my goons!" he yells at them all. "Only Captain Man gets to stop me!"
Volt laughs at him and blasts the last of the goons so hard he becomes airborne before crashing to the ground.
"No! No! No!" Toddler cries. "Useless goons, I'm leaving without you." He grabs his plastic remote and slams the green go button. The ground begins to shake, two of the four rockets roaring to life.
"No, wait!" Shoutout cries, pulling wires from the second to last rocket.
The other is still active, now beginning to pull away from the ground, though without the help of its kinships it is not taking the playground with it, merely ripping it apart.
AWOL vanishes with as many of the remaining kids as he can. Brainstorm picks up another and runs. Both, however, miss the last: a small girl in a white tutu and ballet slippers. Barricade ditches the Toddler and runs towards the toddler. Simultaneously calling desperately for "Shoutout!? Hurry!"
"I'll get it!" she says.
The ground continues to shake and break, the area of the playground beginning to lift unevenly. The bubble structure rips in several places and begins to fall apart like an ill-pitched tent. Barricade dives over and shields the little girl as a plastic slide crashes on top of them. She cries out fearfully in response, wiggling and kicking.
"Got it! Got it!" Shoutout yells as she pulls the correct wire more quickly from the last rocket. The machinery stops all at once and the playground quits shaking apart.
Toddler hits his go button again and again, but it does nothing. "No fair! No Fair! She broke my toy!" he throws down his controller and stomps off, pouting.
Barricade pushes off the heavy plastic slide and releases the girl he'd sheltered. The kid pushes out and runs away as fast as she can, crying. Henry frowns after her, keeping an eye on her where she hides until the little ballerina is safe in, who is presumably, her mother's arms.
Emergency vehicles encompass the park soon, taking care of the people and mess. Barricade and Danger Force gather together, praising Shoutout for stopping the launch.
"Thanks." She beams at them. "But we all did our parts, we're a team. A great team that can and will stop the crime wave. We're going to be just fine, even without Captain Man."
"Yeah! We got this!" Brainstorm cheers.
"Woo!" AWOL too celebrates their victory and seems lifted by his sister's words. Volt is less enthusiastic, her glare turned away from her friends at the mention of their loss. Barricade also takes the words without the sheer optimism Shoutout exudes. "We did good." He says, trying to not bring down their good moods. "But lets just take it one emergency at a time."
Haywire clears her throat through the comms. "Speaking of: we got two more emergency calls while you were doing that."
"Ugh!" AWOL complains, "Will this crime wave never end?"
The others groan in agreement but listen as Haywire details to them the missions, "A robbery at that dinosaur bookstore…"
"The Thesaurus?" Volt asks.
"Yep." Haywire confirms. "And a vandalism by a certain Wall Dog at the police precinct downtown."
"I thought you caught the Wall Dogs last night." Shoutout says.
"All but one." Haywire says.
Barricade sighs, "We'll have to split up, I'll go after Veronika. Shoutout, Volt, you two stop the book robbery. Boys, you're with me." The assigned teams run in opposite directions from the park.
Next Episdode: S1E5: Dangerous Accusations