Happy ghost week! This chapter has nothing to do with Halloween, All Saints day, or Dia de los Muertos. Sorry, I'm not in sync with the timeline of reality. Yet. It is my hope that I'll get to that point, or at least much closer. But, even if I don't I'll work tirelessly to write and post this story until it's done.

Anyway, enjoy Episode 6! Leave a review, I love to here from you.

Danger S1E6: The Breaking Point

July 29, 2021

Henry and Schwoz are the only people in the Man Nest, running the back-ops for Danger Force's latest mission. "What's going on guys? Who's tearing up Mr. Brown's farm on the edge of town?" Henry asks the team through the comms.

The four of them are on the south side of Swellview, where there are several farms. They're currently in the barn at one and it is a chaotic mess of stampeding animals, burning hay and flying hatchets. "Betty Blades." AWOL answers as he jumps on top of a pig and pulls it squealing away from the fire.

"Who?" Henry asks.

"She's a small time criminal. Young woman with an arsenal of rocket powered sharp objects." Shoutout expounds, "She doesn't usually pull any big crimes, but I guess she decided smashing up this farm would be fun."

"Yee-haw!" Betty Blades calls and aims a rocket axe at a beam over Shoutout's head. The beam breaks and hay pours down from the hayloft above, burying Shoutout is an itchy dry mass.

"Ugh!" her complaint is muffled by the hay, "I really wish this crime wave would end."

Henry agrees with a wearied, "Yeah." and asks, "You alright?"

"I'm fine." Her voice answers. She worms her way out of the haystack on top of her; much of it remains trapped in her dark coiled hair. "I'm going to knock her off the stolen horse she's riding."

Back in the Man's Nest, Henry smirks and says, "Sounds good."

"You guys need to get that fire put out." Schwoz reminds, watching his monitors with the data on the crime scene. All kinds of alerts flashing as he flicks rapidly through all of the information.

"Brainstorm should be back anytime with the hose." Volt's voice says.

The emergency alert rings out through the Man's Nest. "What now?" Schwoz asks.

"I got it." Henry says, leaving the comms to answer the phone. "Captain Man Hotline, how may we help you?" he asks politely.

"Hey, Frankini is throwing a dance party downtown." A familiar voice says.

"Piper?" Henry asks.

"Derrr." She derides. "I'd think after 15 years you'd recognize my voice."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Did you just say Frankini is throwing a dance party?"

"Yes. And I think you should send someone to come check it out because his attendees are not willing participants." she says.

"Where is he?" he asks.

"Swellview Amphitheatre. He interrupted the GloZell concert!" she rages.

"Alright. Get away from there, I'll get whoever I can over soon." He says.

He can almost hear her eyes rolling as she says, "Yeah, sure. Click."

"Click." They hang up. Henry turns to Schwoz, who is still on the line with Danger Force, "How soon can they…?" he begins to asks.

"Not soon." Schwoz answers the question before it's fully out. "They're still completely busy at the farm. They won't be able to leave until they've dealt with the fire and Betty. We'll have to call Charlotte and Yasper to deal with Frankini."

Henry shakes his head, "They're both busy with stuff for school; they can't come in today."

"Well, we have to call somebody. The Thundermans?" Schwoz suggests.

"Phoebe and Max just left this morning. Besides, they've got their own baddies to deal with." Henry says. He pauses a short moment to consider before saying, "I'll have to go."

"Henry, no. You're still hurt." Schwoz says.

"I'm fine." Henry argues.

"You promised all of us you'd take some time to let your injuries heal." Schwoz says.

"The bullet wound is a lot better and the fingers haven't changed in weeks. Besides, we don't have any other options right now. Somebody needs to deal with Frankini." Henry says, "It'll be fine, he's not a fighter anyway, he's a performer."

Schwoz concedes as Henry gets up without a wince. "Alright, just be careful." Henry pulls a gum tube from his pocket, "Why do you have that?" Schwoz asks, alarmed to see the old red and blue gumballs.

Henry quickly replaces it in his pocket and extracts the correct gum dispenser, his Dystopian tin. "It's nothing, I just got it out while I was thinking about telling people."

"You don't still think it's a good idea, right?" Schwoz asks.

"No!" Henry says swiftly, then continues less vehemently, "I don't know, but I think maybe you guys have a point. I'm not planning on telling anyone. At least for now."

Schwoz nods. "Good. You don't want to do anything stupid. Be careful out there." He admonishes as Henry transforms and steps onto the tube pad.

Henry nods, "Down the tube."

The Swellview Amphitheatre is a strange sight when Barricade arrives on scene. Frankini is dancing on the stage with some device in his hands while GloZell and the audience jerk and twitch in movements that are almost, but not quite, dance moves. The actions are disturbing and slightly creepy, particularly when paired with the distressed faces all Frankini's victims are wearing. Piper, as per usual, has ignored Henry's direction and is not only still in the Amphitheatre but is on stage, arguing with Frankini while she dances gracelessly.

Barricade is cautious as he enters the mob, figuring the device Frankini has is causing this and hoping it's not a mind controlling soundwave thing that'll make him start dancing too. He'd had more than enough of that during the Musical Curse. Fortunately, he learns that's not what's going on. He moves through the crowd without performing a single dance move.

The dancing civilians make way for him to approach the stage, all having enough control over themselves to dance in a direction that is away from him. Their distressed expressions become more terrified as they watch him. He huffs frustrated by their behavior but presses on to deal with the bigger issue: Frankini.

The villain is wearing a rainbow sequined bedazzled unitard, complete with tights and cape of equal color and sparkle. He is so distracted arguing with Piper that neither notice Barricade's approach until he's right next to his sister. Frankini backs away a step with a strange, startled dance step. "What're you doing here? See us on the livestream? Come to join the fun?"

"Sure, I'm gonna have some fun… stopping whatever it is you're trying to do here." Barricade says.

"That'd be great! Make it quick! I am not having a good time." Piper demands.

"I don't recall telling you to confront Frankini." Barricade chastises her. "In fact, I think I said quite the opposite."

"Whatever." She says with a snooty look.

"What? When did…?" Frankini asks.

"She called the hotline." Barricade explains.

Frankini pouts at her, "Party pooper."

"You ruined the concert!" Piper throws back.

"I think you mean: I made it a thousand times better!" Frankini says.

Piper glares but can't do more as she dances.

"What exactly did you do? How and why are you forcing all these people to dance?" Barricade asks.

"Like it's any of your business." Frankini says and twirls. "But, if you must know, I'm working on the greatest performance the world has ever seen. It is going to be so amazing."

"I'm pretty sure your captives don't think this is the greatest performance ever." Barricade says.

"Well not yet but it will be soon! After I've perfected everything, the only thing missing will be Captain Man. But, I'll have to make do without him, because somebody made that dream an impossibility." He whines with a pointed frown at Barricade.

Henry feels the familiar irritation begin to rouse within him. "I didn't kill Captain Man." He says.

Frankini doesn't look remotely convinced and someone in the crowd calls out "Liar!"

Henry throws a glare towards the audience but doesn't press the hopeless argument in favor of asking, "How exactly would Captain Man's presence make this any better? He'd beat you up for trying to make him dance."

"Exactly!" Frankini gushes, "He'd hate it! That's why it would be so much fun. Like when he and Kid Danger were so upset about the Musical Curse I put over Swellview, but they couldn't fight me because they were forced to sing and dance. Pure entertainment!" Frankini squeals and then sighs reminiscently. "Oh, I wish they could both be here."

"Don't worry, I'll do as they would and stop your scheme." Barricade says, mildly amused.

Frankini scowls at him, turning away with a flamboyant dance move and saying, "You aren't even worthy of saying their names, let alone replacing them. If they were here, they'd never let you get away with what you're doing." The dancing captive audience in the amphitheater cheer out approvingly with the bedazzled villain's words. Only Piper abstains

"You think they'd be trying to stop me?" Barricade asks incredulously. He points to the crowd calling abuse at him and points out, "You're the one attacking the citizens of Swellview with this dancing thing. That is what they'd be trying to stop."

"Okay yes, they'd come to stop my performance, but you'd be even higher on their list." Frankini say. "Especially since you killed Captain Man, Kid Danger would never have let you get away with it. He'd take you down hard. Which you'd know if you'd ever met him, like even once."

"You think I didn't know Kid Danger? I told the whole city Captain Man was my brother and you think I never even met Kid Danger?" Henry interrogates.

"You're not really still going with that are you? You aren't Captain Man's brother. You only came to Swellview a month and a half ago and Kid Danger died over a year ago. You never knew him and probably only met Captain Man when you killed him." Frankini says, the crowd cheering for him again.

"I didn't kill Captain Man!" Henry snaps. "I grew up in Swellview and practically lived with him in the Mancave for years. I knew Kid Danger the entire time he was Captain Man's sidekick. And actually, I knew him better than anyone. I have more to do with why he's gone than with Captain Man's death."

The crowd gasps in appropriate shock. Frankini stops in his place and looks curiously at Barricade. A beat passes. "Wouldn't that be ironic." He decides, "But Drex is the reason Kid Danger died, everyone knows that. Everyone in Swellview knows what happened that night."

"Do they?" Henry tests peevishly, "Do any of you really know all of what happened? Or just the story Captain Man told? Because that wasn't even a quarter of the events of that day."

Frankini purses his lips, "How would you know one way or the other?"

"I was there!" Henry declares, fist clenched in frustration.

"Prove it!" someone in the crowd shouts. Many voices agree with and repeat the demand.

Frankini smiles as Henry shoots an indignant glare at the Swellviewians. "You heard them. Prove it. Prove that you knew Kid Danger. Prove that you're Captain Man's brother and didn't kill him. That's all everyone's been asking of you since you came. Give us proof." Frankini derides.

Henry says nothing, trying to restrain himself from doing anything stupid. He can't say anything the people will believe. But if he forgoes words to fight Frankini, the people will trust him even less. His insides are squirming furiously, roiling red rage muffling the blue sorrow that would break him. He has to say something, but…

"You can't, can you?" Frankini derides, "Because there's nothing to prove. You're a charlatan, a actor playing the role of a hero." He pauses to consider, "Which I can respect, though your costuming is horrid. I mean seriously what is this uniform? It's so dark and grungy casual. Real heroes, at least, have color and shine in their outfits. But that's not the point." He digresses. "You can't prove anything and no one in Swellview believes a word you say."

"I do!" Piper intervenes. "So does Goomer and the Mayo-"

"You are a party pooper and Goomer is an idiot. Neither of your opinions count." Frankini cuts her off.

"Goomer's smarter than you." Henry chortles.

Frankini pouts at him. "You must be dumber than him if you believe that."

"He figured me out. Did what all of you are so desperately trying to without any effort." Henry taunts, gaze moving between the angry dancing mob to Frankini, frown deepening as he goes. "He knows who I really am."

Frankini raises one disgruntled eyebrow and says, "You are the worst liar. Stick to the reality that no one can prove you guilty of murdering Captain Man because every word you say in defense of yourself is the most obvious drivel I've ever heard."

Barricade nods ruminatively, "Fine, I'll prove it." He says, all reason in his mind being drowned out by his grief, still veiled by the fury of unjustness. "If that's what you really want. You want to know what Goomer knows? You want me to prove I know Kid Danger? That I am Captain Man's brother, and never would've killed him? Fine." He reaches into an inner pocket of his jacket and extracts the clear tube filled with red and blue gumballs.

"What is that supposed to be?" Frankini asks entirely amused.

"Woah! Wh-what are you doing?" Piper asks alarmed.

Henry pops one of the gumballs into his mouth. "I'm gonna blow a bubble."

"You're gonna blow a bubble?" Frankini questions.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna burst yours." Henry confirms spitefully.

"I don't think that's the line." Piper says and Henry inflates the gum. "Wait. No!" she tries to dissuade but it's too late. Barricade is encased by a green glow sweeping over his body and in mere seconds has changed. Frankini's jaw drops at the sight of Kid Danger before him. "Oh my god." both Frankini and Piper say.

Kid Danger smirks vindictively. "Do you get it now? Is this enough of an answer for you?" He asks Frankini. "Is this what you wanted to know?" he demands of the crowd. They are all silent, shocked beyond speech. Frankini is completely still, staring in awe at the not-so-dead hero. "Do you still think I killed Captain Man? Think I'm guilty of any of it?" Henry asks Frankini. He shakes his head at the villain. "The only thing I'm guilty of is not getting to him fast enough, not being able to save him." his throat catches and the well of suppressed tears within him begins to rise uncontrollably.

"Oh my god." Piper repeats. "What did you just do?"

"You can't… that's not… you're not…" Frankini can't speak for his astonishment.

"Kid Danger?" Henry finishes for him. "Unbelievable, right? But I didn't have to change costumes for Goomer to recognize me. He knew exactly who I was from the moment I came back to Swellview."

"Im-impossible." Frankini stutters, "You died. Drex killed you."

"Yeah, that's what he'd like you to believe." Henry scoffs, "That's what we let you believe. But that's not what happened that night. I didn't die; I quit, and I left; and I didn't come back to kill my mentor." He chokes up, eyes wet.

"Oh my god. I can't believe you. What are you thinking? I thought… you weren't going to tell…what were you thinking?" Piper questions, completely disturbed by her brother's actions. Her concern deepens when he glances back at her and she can see the tear trickling down his cheek. The first one since the night Captain Man had died.

"You knew?" Frankini questions gaspingly of Piper. "You knew he was Kid Danger?"

"Of course, I knew. I'm not an idiot." She spits. "Who else could he have been?"

She turns her gaze back to her brother. Frankini's eyes follow. "But if he's…" the villain says, "…You didn't kill Captain Man. Oh god, Kid…" he chokes off his sentence.

"Don't call me Kid." All Henry's remaining control breaks with his voice as he sobs the words. He runs from the amphitheater, leaving all of Swellview to reel in his revelation.

(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...)

"Here you go officers." AWOL says handing off Betty Blades to his aunt and Officer Lacy.

"Thank you so much Danger Force, you saved our farm." Mr. Brown says, shaking Shoutout's hand vigorously.

"Of course, sir." She replies trying to free her hand from the vice grip. "It was our pleasure."

"And we get to see all the cute animals!" Brainstorm adds, rolling around with a sheep dog.

"You are not allowed to take any home with you." Volt warns. "You've already got a monkey."

"But the doggy is so nice!" he says. "I want to keep him! Yes I do. Yes I do." He baby-talks to the dog while scratching its ears.

"Brainstorm." Shoutout chastises, "You can play with her for a minute but she's staying here."

"We need her for our farm-work." Mr. Brown says. "Can't let you take her away."

"But we'll let you know when we decide to breed her, and you can have one of the puppies." Mrs. Brown adds.

"Puppies!" Brainstorm cheers and rolls over with the dog licking his face.

"If people keep giving him pets the Man's Nest is going to turn into a zoo." Volt grumbles.

"Nah, Barricade won't let that happen." AWOL says.

Officer Lacy snorts contemptuously. "The new big bad boss won't let you have pets? What a nice guy." she says sarcastically. The three Danger Force members not playing with the Welsh sheepdog frown disapproving at her.

"Speaking of Barricade…" Officer Walnut says, watching a video on her phone. "He seems to be at Swellview Amphitheater, fighting with Frankini."

"What? Wasn't he shot last week? What's he doing out and about already? Does he have some freakish healing power?" Officer Lacy asks, stepping next to her partner to look over Walnut's shoulder and see the video too. Almost at once her expression changes to one of shock and disbelief, Officer Walnut's jaw drops at the same moment.

"What's wrong?" Shoutout says, converging with her teammates onto the stunned cops.

They peak at the phone and see a video of Kid Danger and Frankini facing each other on a stage. It takes a moment and the words of the video to clue them into what's wrong. "What happened? Why is Kid Danger with Frankini?" AWOL asks alarmed. "When was this video taken?"

He pulls out his own phone and finds a Twitflash alert linking him to the video entitled 'Kid Danger Alive?'. Shoutout takes the phone from her aunt and scrolls back the player. Both twins watch the video on the phones in their hands, their friends looking over either of their shoulders. They watch Barricade and Frankini argue until, "Oh no" Mika says, Barricade blows the bubble and transforms. Mika drops the phone.

Chapa pales considerably and tenses so hard she's sparking and speechless. Miles flubs over air, gaping and trying to speak. "Did he just… Did he really just do… Did you all see what I saw?"

"Barricade just turned into Kid Danger." Mika confirms, voice shaky and high pitched. "Four minutes ago, on a live stream, in front of a villain and a crowd."

"Barricade… he… Kid Danger?" Bose questions alarmed.

"You knew that, bonehead!" Chapa admonishes.

"I-I-I know. But he, like, actually changed costumes in front of Frankini!? I thought it was supposed to be secret." Bose says.

"It was." Mika confirms in the same unsteady voice.

The four stand, looking from one to the other anxiously. "What do we do?" Chapa asks.

"I don't know." Mika says slowly.

"What the mustard?!" Officer Lacy cries. "Barricade is Kid Danger?!"

The four teenagers look wide-eyed at her and Officer Walnut, who stare back in equal shock.

"We told you he was a good guy." Chapa offers somewhat spitefully.

"Should we go find him?" Miles asks. "This is already spreading like wildfire all over the internet."

Mika purses her lips uncertainly and activates her comm. "Um, hey, Sch… our friend at the Man's Nest." She solicits, "What exactly are we supposed to do about this… situation?"

"What situation?" Schwoz says, "I thought you guys stopped Betty Blades and the fire."

"We did. I mean what's happening with Barricade." She says hurriedly.

"What are you talking about? He went to deal with Frankini because you were all busy." Schwoz says.

"Well, weren't you monitoring that too?" Mika asks.

Schwoz moves his chair in the over to look at the other Man's screen saying, "I have a comm line open to him but I was helping you guys." He stops, clicking repeatedly over the screen. "His comm's not online, that's weird. What happened?"

"You don't know?" Miles asks.

"Check the internet and I think you'll figure it out pretty quick." Chapa yells.

"Okay, okay. No need to yell." Schwoz pulls out his phone. The kids wait a few moments for him to call out, "Aaayyyy! Lots of reasons to yell! This is bad! This is bad!"

"Yeah. No duh!" Chapa shoots back.

"What do we do? How do we fix this?" Mika asks. She's wringing her hands and pacing, trying to come up with an idea.

"Fix it? I don't think we can. Barricade just told the whole world his secret there's no way to put that kitty cat back into the bag." Schwoz says.

"Well then what can we do?" Bose says, with a worried frown. "He ran off in the end of the video."

"We need to go find him." Miles says. "I can take us to the amphitheater."

"Yes. Yes. Find him. Bring him back to the Man's Nest. Make sure he doesn't do any more stupid things." Schwoz says. "I will try to track him from here."

"Okay. Let's go." Miles says, gathering his friends around.

"Wait, wait, wait. I still got a lot of questions." Officer Lacy says, trying and failing to stop them from vanishing.

The appear at the amphitheater, startling all the shocked people, who are now recovering from their dance fevers. Frankini is pacing frantically across the stage, arguing with himself over whether he'd really just seen what he'd just seen. "It's not possible... He was right there... He can't have been… It was him all along? … How could I have not known? … He's alive… But he died…"

"Frankini!" Volt shouts to get his attention.

He looks at them with wide eyes. "Danger Force. Oh my god, Danger Force!" he says walking briskly to them, "Thank God, you're here! What just happened?"

"How about you tell us." AWOL says with folded arms. "What did you do to Barricade?"

"I- he was Kid Danger! How was he Kid Danger? Did you guys know? Has he always been Kid Danger?" Frankini stresses, near panicked.

"Where is he? What did you do to make him so upset?" Shoutout asks.

"I didn't do anything, we were just arguing about Captain Man and Kid Danger and he got so mad. He can't be Kid Danger. Kid Danger's never been that angry, that dark." Frankini sounds truly frightened now.

"Yeah well, last time you saw Kid Danger he hadn't spent a year in Dystopia or been accused of murdering his best friend." Volt scorns hotly.

"Where did he go?" Shoutout repeats. "We need to find him and make sure he's okay."

"He's fine. We didn't fight." Frankini says.

Shoutout glares at him. "If he were fine, he never would've done something like that. So, where did he go?"

"He ran off out that exit." Frankini points towards the exit off stage. "The Man Fan girl went after him."

Danger Force finds Piper on the sidewalk looking desperate and lost up and down the street. Her phone is pressed to her ear and she's growling. "C'mon you idiot. Pick up."

"Piper!" Chapa calls.

She turns abruptly to face them. "I don't know where he is." She says. "He was nowhere in sight by the time I got out here; I don't know which direction he went."

"It's okay, we'll find him." Mika assures. "But what happened? Why did he…?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's been building up for weeks, but he just lost control. God, it was awful; I've never seen him so upset." Piper says, uncharacteristically concerned.

"He's gonna be okay." Miles promises.

"He's not okay!" Piper asserts. "Not by any stretch of the imagination. I've known him my whole life and never seen him like that. We have to find him."

"We will. Any luck tracking him, Schwoz?" Mika says.

"I tracked his phone." Schwoz responds.

The team sighs in relief, not catching on to the awkwardness of his statement. "That's great!" Mika says.

"Where is he?" Bose asks.

"Uh, I don't know where he is, just his phone. Which is sitting on the table in the Man's Nest; it seems he forgot to take it with him." Schwoz explains anxiously.

"Dang it." Miles says.

"And I can't track him in his Kid Danger uniform, that link was in the Mancave and we didn't update it with the Man's Nest because he stopped wearing that suit." Schwoz says. "I have no idea where he is."

"How're we supposed to find him now?" Chapa asks frustratedly, her electricity sparking.

"What happened?" Piper asks, unable to hear Schwoz's end of the conversation.

"We can't track him." Mika sums up for her.

"Then what do we do? Walk the streets calling his name?" Piper asks sardonically.

"Maybe? He can't be too far away yet." Miles says. "I can teleport to the roofs of buildings and see if I can spot him anywhere nearby, tell you which way to go."

"You wanna search the entire city? While he's on the move, probably trying to avoid people? We have no idea where he's even going. He could be anywhere." Chapa challenges.

"But we have to try. He's our friend and he's hurt; we need to help him." Bose says.

"We should go to the Man's Nest." Mika says decisively, cutting off any argument before her friends can start in on each other. "We need to regroup and get an idea of where to start looking. Haywire and Siesta Niño will likely have ideas on where he might've gone."

(commercial break)

At the Man's Nest, everyone is freaking out. The emergency alert rings out through the hubbub. "Captain Man hotline, what is your emergency?" Schwoz answers it highly distressed. He scowls at whatever's being said on the other end of the line. "Yes, that was really Kid Danger. Why did you call the emergency hotline?" he scowls more, "This isn't an information line, we don't have time to answer stupid questions." He hangs it up with a huff and resumes working with Charlotte on a new attempt to track Henry.

"I take one day off to go to an interview with my academic counselor and this happens?" Charlotte demands. "Why was he even on a mission?"

"It was an emergency! We didn't have anyone else to send." Schwoz defends. "He wouldn't stay, I couldn't make him."

"I know that!" Charlotte says exasperatedly. Typing desperately on the computer face in her arm.

"Where would he go? Where's a good place to start looking?" Miles asks from across the room.

"Is there somewhere he spends a lot of time where he might hide out?" Mika adds, standing beside Charlotte with fervent alertness on the older woman.

"He spends almost all of his time here, unless he's on a mission." Schwoz says anxiously from Charlotte's other side.

"He rarely even comes home to sleep anymore." Piper confirms, pacing across the room.

"He rarely sleeps." Charlotte chides, though Henry isn't there to hear it. "Still, Piper you should go there and see if he shows up."

"I can call my parents and have them keep an eye out. I'm going to stay and help you search." Piper asserts, typing on her phone.

"No. You've got to go. You were on stage in the livestream, in the middle of everything that happened. People are going to be looking for you to ask questions and you, as President of the Man Fans, are a well-known figure who'll be easy to spot. Nobody can see you working with us, or they might figure out you know more than you should. He might've given up his Kid Danger secret, but we still have to protect his identity. No one can figure out you're his sister; so, you need to take a back seat on this."

"But I can still help search." Piper protests, not wanting to be cut out of the action. Knowing that the sitting-at-home-and-waiting game will most assuredly be more unbearable than even the most fruitless of searches on the street.

"No. It's better for you and Henry if you keep an eye on your house." Charlotte maintains.

Piper scowls mutinously. The emergency alert blares again. "Captain Man hotline, unless your emergency is the end of the world, we're not in service today so call the dang police." Piper yells into the line.

A voice stutters fearfully on the other end. "B-but Kid Danger. There's a video of Kid Danger online."

"That's not an end-of-the-world emergency!" Piper screams and hangs up the phone violently. "Stupid reporters and fans." She curses.

"It may not be an end-of-the-world emergency. But it is definitely a major issue for us." Mika says.

"End of the world as we know it." Charlotte agrees pithily. "Things are never gonna be the same again now. What was he thinking?"

"I doubt he was thinking so much as exploding with suppressed emotions." Piper says.

"So stupid! How many times did I tell him? We tried to help him." Charlotte says.

"We're not going to stop trying. We're going to find him and make him let us help him." Jasper says.

"Yeah, sure, but finding him isn't going to be easy." Schwoz says, "We're no closer to finding a way to track him."

Charlotte unplugs her cybernetics and says, "You can keep trying, but I doubt it'll do any good. Our best chance is to look the old-fashioned way: you waiting here, Piper at their house, the rest of us combing the streets."

Piper sighs irritated but compliant. "Fine. I'll go watch our house. But you'd better keep me in the loop."

"We will." Charlotte promises, pulling out a wrist communicator for her.

"I'll keep trying to find a trace of him and keep an ear out for any news." Schwoz says. The emergency alert blares again. "And I'll keep dissuading annoying questions and call you if there's an emergency too big for the police to handle." He says reaching for the phone.

"Allow me." Chapa says, beating him to the phone. She answers with, "If nobody's dying, or if you're calling about Kid Danger, you'd better hang up right now!" a startled squeak on the other end precedes the dial tone. "There." Chapa says, putting it back.

"Okay, now, where are we going to look for Barricade… er, Kid Danger… Henry?" Bose asks. "What're we supposed to call him now?"

"Not Henry in public, but otherwise…" Miles shrugs.

Charlotte shakes her head and Jasper looks thoughtfully around for an answer. "There's the Mancave." He suggests. "No one else can get there and that's definitely one of his favorite places in the world."

"It's not a good option." Charlotte denies, "The whole place is in ruins, remember? Getting to it is probably impossible anymore."

"But if he could get it in, wouldn't he try?" Piper argues.

"Or what about Junk and Such?" Chapa suggests. "The fake cover store above it."

"Junk 'n Stuff." Charlotte corrects. She considers her stressed teammates, they all are sharing hopeful and believing looks at the suggestion, and in truth they're right: Henry probably would go there if he could. She consents, "Jasper and I will check it out, just in case."

"And the four of us can start searching the rest of the city." Mika inputs with more fervent energy, glad to be forming a game plan. Holding onto her desperate belief that they can fix things as long as they can find him.

Charlotte nods thoguhtfully, "The trouble is Henry's been everywhere in the city and probably knows every good place to hide."

"We won't stop until we find him." Chapa avows.

"Should we check the memorial site?" Bose suggests.

Everyone pauses to consider his thought. "That's a good idea. He might've gone there." Mika says.

The others nod too. "You start your search there then." Charlotte decides, "If anyone finds anything be sure to alert everyone else. Henry's clearly in a bad state of mind, we need to find him. We're not going to stop until we're sure he's okay. Go!"

Henry crumples to his knees at the base of the statue, cradling his fist, which is throbbing after his recent dumb decision to punch the sculpted bronze. Tears are pouring uncontrollably down his face, his eyes as red as the mask he's wearing. Now that's it's started, it will not stop. He sobs without thought or care of his surroundings as he leans against the legs of the bronze image of his mentor.

The plaque, or perhaps it should be called a gravestone, lying right beneath his bowed face doesn't help anything as he reads the memorial message over and over:

Captain Man: The first Hero of Swellview

Died June 18, 2021

Friend, Teacher, Brother

"We knew not who he was, but we saw how he lived. His presence was always noticed but his absence can never be missed."

Henry screams in agony, not for the tearing skin as he throws another punch, but for the unanswerable questions gouging his soul.

"I knew it was you." A voice says behind Henry.

"Leave me alone, Veronika." He says, brokenly.

"You tried to make me think I was crazy. You swore we'd never kissed but I knew it was you." She goes on approaching him from behind.

"Go away, Veronika." She pulls him around to face her. He stands swiftly and pushes her off. "What do you want!?" he demands angrily. "What do you want?"

"You lied to me." She accuses, stepping into his personal space. He backs into Captain Man's statue but she stays in his face.

"We've always lied to each other." He says. "And I couldn't tell you the truth. No one was supposed to know the truth."

"Good job with that." She mocks. "Everybody knows now. You showed the whole world."

"I didn't mean to." he admits meekly, ashamed of himself. "I wasn't gonna tell anybody, it all just kinda happened."

Her gaze softens at his fallen look, she smiles slightly and grabs his hand. "You're still cute. I've never seen you so vulnerable; I like it." She says, rising onto her tiptoes and kissing him.

He pushes her off immediately, "Stop it. Leave me alone." He says with a glare.

"C'mon, it'll make you feel better." She says, fisting the strap of his uniform and pulling him closer. "I know you think I'm pretty."

"Pretty isn't enough. I don't like you and I don't want to talk to you." He says prying her fingers off his clothes and moving away from her and the statue.

"C'mon we used to really have something. We could go somewhere." She offers and follows him as he begins walking away.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." He says.

"Really? You don't even want to take me to jail?" she tempts.

"Not today. You can do whatever you want, just don't touch his statue." He says and walks down the mountain and into the forest. She doesn't follow but pouts after him.

Bose, with Blue the monkey riding on his shoulder, enters the clearing of the Captain Man and Kid Danger memorial site calling out hopefully. "Barricade! Er, Kid Danger?! Whatever I'm supposed to call you now?!" But receives no answer as the place is seemingly deserted.

He stops beside the statues and looks sadly up at them both, missing the one and worried about the other. "Where would he go, Blue?" he asks the monkey. "I was hoping we'd find him quickly."

"Eeeaaa!" Blue shrieks and leaps off his shoulder. The monkey races over the statue of Kid Danger to the other side and disappears for a moment. As he does though another's scream joins the little animals and out from hiding comes a young woman in dark paint-splattered clothes.

She bats Blue off her with a string of insulting curses thrown at it.

"Blue!" Brainstorm cries concernedly and instinctively reacts, using his telekinesis to lift the young woman off the ground. Blue is unhurt as he catches his little hand onto the arm of the Captain Man statue and swings around it. He leaps back over to Brainstorm's shoulder.

Together they confront the vandal they'd discovered. "Put me down!" she's demanding.

"Hey. You're that walldog girl Barric-Kid Danger knows. What are you doing here?" Brainstorm asks holding her up in the air.

"Harassing him, defacing his stupid statue." Veronika says, wielding her can of spray-paint towards said statue to indicate her graffiti on it.

"Well, that's a crime so I'm going to have to put you under arrest." He says lowering her to the ground.

"Not gonna happen, Prig." She says.

"I've already captured you." He points out. He pulls out a pair of handcuffs as he brings her to rest back on the ground.

"But if you waste all that time on me, you'll never catch up to him." she says.

"Who?" he asks surprised.

"Kid Danger!" she sneers and he drops his handcuffs.

"He was here?!" he asks excitedly. "When? Where is he now?"

She smirks. "He ran off into the trees, that way, just a couple minutes ago." She offers pointing down the mountain towards the city, "And you can go after him now and maybe find him or you can take me to jail and lose him."

Brainstorm looks back and forth between her and the direction she's indicated, torn. "I- it's my job to take you to jail. You're a criminal. But it is our mission right now to find him. Which one am I supposed to do first?"

She shrugs and crosses her arms, as if patiently waiting for him to make a move, "The longer it takes you to choose the less likely it is you'll catch up to him."

Brainstorm continues to swivel between the two options. "I don't… don't mess up his statue or commit any other crimes!" he says turning towards the trees.

She barks a laugh. "Yeah, sure."

He hesitates again before running in the direction she'd told him Kid Danger had gone. Once in the trees, Blue leaps from his shoulder to swing through the branches. "Find him, Blue!" Bose calls, he activates his comm to call to the others. "Guys! He was here! He was at the memorial a few minutes ago! He can't be too far away yet!"

"Help me get this open!" Charlotte demands.

"I'm trying!" Jasper says, pulling on the elevator door opposite to the one she's gripping. Together they force a crack between the doors, machinery protesting noisily in the wall all the while. They get the doors open enough to lean themselves into the shaft and look down the deep hole. There's no visibility after the first few feet and the air in the shaft smells like ash. "Henry!?" Jasper calls. "Henry!? Are you down there!?"

"There's no way down, Jasper." Charlotte says. "Both the car and cable are missing; they must've fallen when the last four Mancave's blew up. He couldn't have gotten down there."

"Well, it was worth a look." Jasper says. "Should we drop a flare down there just in case?"

"If you want to. But I doubt it'll do any good. The chances of him having found a way into the Mancave are infinitesimal." She says, releasing her door.

Jasper keeps hold on his long enough to watch the red light of the flare he tosses down disappear without giving them a hint of Henry. "Of all the days for him to lose it." He says sadly as they leave the back room of Junk 'n Stuff.

"The one day we're gone. The one day neither of us can go into work. Not exactly ideal timing." Charlotte agrees, "No timing would've been good; but at least if we'd been there, we could've tracked him more easily"

"Could he still be somewhere in the store?" Jasper asks hopefully.

Charlotte shrugs, the place is in ruins. The cavemen had done quite a number on the merchandise. "Henry?" Jasper calls out as he and Charlotte pick their way over broken furniture and smashed oddities back towards the front door.

"Henry?" Charlotte too calls, avoiding the swords spilling out of an old barrel. No answer comes.

Jasper trips over a skull and sets off a string of firecrackers. Both he and Charlotte scream at the little explosions and freeze where they are. Once it's silent again and both their hearts have recovered from the shock Charlotte scolds him, "Jasper!"

"Sorry! Sorry! Didn't mean to." he says with a guilty smile.

She glares but huffs, "At least now we know he's definitely not here."

"We do? How?" Jasper asks.

"The firecrackers were loud enough to startle anyone. If he were upstairs, we would've heard his scream. But I only heard you and me." She explains.

Jasper nods sadly. "You're right. He's not here."

"He's not here. He's not at the Man's Nest nor at home." She sighs frustrated and worried. "He not only completely lost it, but we've lost him."

"We'll stick to your search plan." Jasper says as they exit the old store. "We're not giving up."

Then their earwigs sound with the falsely hopeful news from Bose, "Guys! He was here! He was at the memorial a few minutes ago! He can't be too far away yet!"

"We're coming!" Jasper immediately responds with fervor.

"Everyone move that way and keep your eyes open." Charlotte follows. She and Jasper quickly chew and blow their gumballs as they run through the alley behind Junk 'n Stuff on their way to Mount Swellview.

Kid Danger spies around the alley behind Junk 'n Stuff, making sure no one is watching him as he tugs a false storm drain cover from the ground revealing the blue tube beneath. He drops into the tube and pulls the cover back into place over him, then sets about wriggling his way down beneath the building. Some of the journey is easy as gravity pulls him down the smooth acrylic cylinder. Then the tube is gone and he's tumbling across broken bits and torn apart stone. He tenses up, activating his forcefield until he's fallen out into the destroyed control room of the Mancave and come to rest in a crook of the debris.

The whole scene is dark and still, save for a dying red flare some feet away where the elevator had once been. Little is left whole and the scattered pieces of his former home away from home seem to be a physical manifestation of Henry's psyche. He moves neurotically through the room picking at every loose thing he can get. He's not even sure what exactly he's searching for. He just knows he wants to find something from the past. He'd left it all behind when he'd quit, then it was destroyed, now it was even further gone. He wants something to hold onto from that idealized time; something that was unbroken and real.

Unfortunately, nothing is untouched. The computers are blown out. The furniture is in pieces. The floor has a great crack through the center. Henry couldn't even see the sprocket to the bedrooms and the secret door was half open, leaving the space behind it obvious. The most intact thing was the chest of drawers used to store weapons and gadgets; two of the drawers seemed to be uncrushed.

Henry crawled less than carefully over to and pulled the drawers open. It took some force, but they did roll out. Inside were a few blasters and lasers that were still in good repair: Henry stuffed these into his jacket pockets, some bits and pieces Schwoz must've been working with: which Henry bypassed, and an old watch with red and blue lights that Henry knew could cast a holographic projection of the person on the other end of the communication line it held.

He pulled the wiz-watch out reverently, remembering the fight where he'd given it up, tossed it at Ray and left. If there was one thing he could take back, one day he could change, it would be that day. Everything had gone so wrong; everything had changed that day, and now Henry wished it never had. Nothing that had happened since that day had made his leaving worth it. He wanted Ray back, he wanted to go on another silly adventure to save the city with him.

Henry opened the wiz-watch, calling up the hologram communicator, and called "Ray?" He waited in vain for a response. "Ray!" he called more desperately. "Ray! Captain Man!"

He knew it was futile, but he cried for his mentor again and again, hoping beyond hope that somehow he'd show up. He'd answer the call and talk to Henry, even mock him for crying. But he doesn't, so Henry sobs alone in the Mancave for hours.

(commercial break)

Piper is miserable at home by the time the sun goes down. She'd hung up too many phone calls today from people wanting to know what'd happened. Friends and stranges alike had shown up at the door to solicit information. Her parents had been quick to turn them all away. The updates from Danger Force had remained fruitless and grown more hopeless as the hours dragged on, until Piper had taken the ear-piece out all together and thrown it harshly at the wall. Now, she's laying alone on the couch, tired but unwilling to go to sleep.

She plays a game on her phone, ignoring the unread messages from Charlotte assuring that they'll find him. If Henry doesn't want to be found, which seems obvious, she doesn't think they'll have any more luck that they have the rest of the day. "Stupid idiot, ridiculous, dumb son of my mother." She mutters bitterly, not acknowledging the front door opening, thinking it must be her parents with the late dinner they're out picking up. "What was he thinking?"

"If I had any idea, I'd tell you." Henry's voice says.

Piper moves so fast in shock that she falls off the couch and drops her phone. Scrambling back up she sees Henry standing in the doorway. Red-faced and downtrodden as he looks, she feels no pity as she attacks him. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" She demands, throwing punches that he's barely bothering to block. "WE HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! SEARCHING FOR YOU ALL DAY! WHAT THE BUTT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Piper. Piper. Piper." He repeats to get her attention. Voice quiet and never raising; he's too worn out to make it. She only hears him after she's stopped screaming. She stops punching and glares at him. Then she's back on him, this time hugging so fiercly he thinks she'll crack his ribs. "Ow. Piper. Bullet wound." He reminds.

She relases him. "You deserve it! Puling a stunt like that then disappearing. Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I know." He says wearily. "I messed up. I didn't mean to do it."

He walks over and sits heavily on the couch. Piper follows and sits next to him. Letting her worry and anger dissipate as she observes just how distraught he really is. His eyes are bloodshot and beyond puffy, his face soaked though she can see no tears currently running down it. His breathing is slow but unsteady, shaking near as much as his hands, one clenched around the other just above his wiz-watch on his wrist. Piper wraps his cold fingers in her own and asks, "Are you okay?" he grips back tightly.

A shaky breath breaks into a humorless huff of laughter. "I think I've made it very clear today that I'm not." He says, blinking repeatedly spreading the water in his eyes across his wet cheeks.

"Yeah, we noticed." Piper admits sharply. "You really scared everyone today."

"I'm sorry." He says, hanging his head and letting more tears fall.

Piper lets him keep hold of her hand while she leans down to search the floor for her phone. "I need to call everyone else. Tell them you showed up."

"Please don't." he sighs. "I don't want them all to come here. I can't handle everyone fretting and fussing over me."

"Henry, they're still out looking for you." Piper chastises. "They're not going to stop until they know you're not in trouble. I have to tell them you're here."

"I don't want anybody to see me like this Piper." He begs.

"I'll tell them not to come over right now." She says shooting the text to Charlotte, telling her to share it with the others. Almost immediately the older girl tries to call back. Piper denies the call and sends a text saying, Later! Piper tosses the phone aside and moves back to Henry. She leans against him and tires to pull his hands from his face. "Hey, Hen, c'mon talk to me. Tell me what's going on. Tell me what you need."

"I don't know." He sobs, pressing his hands tighter over his eyes.

"I don't know how to comfort people; you have to tell me what I can do to help." She pleads, holding onto his forearms, so uncomfortably out of her depth.

Henry pulls back some to look at her. "I-I just… I don't know. I don't want to be alone anymore but I don't want to face anyone yet. I just want… I want…" but he doesn't say it, seeing no point. He can't have what he wants.

Piper worms between his arms and body to hug him. He clasps his arms around her too and sobs. "It's gonna be okay. You're not alone. I'm here." She says shakily.

He cries for several long minutes, before admitting weakly between sobs, "I-I want Ray."

"I know." She says. "I know. I miss him too. The weirdo."

"I miss him. God, I miss him so much." Henry sobs, "Ray."

Unsure of what else to say or do, she just hugs him, not letting him see her own tears fall.

Next Episode S1E7: Captain Danger?