Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to Episode 8. I meant to post this days ago but between the holidays and my computer crashing, I couldn't get it out 'til now. I nearly lost this whole chapter and the next so I had to spend a while rescuing it from the depths of my computer's memory. I did, hallelujah, but it was stressful. Thank you to all those who read and review. I genuinely appreciate all the support you guys give. Tell me what you think of this episode.
Danger S1E8: Shaking Surprise
August 9, 2021
Chapa throws down her losing hand of cards on the round table and groans, "This is boring!"
Almost at once, Miles looks at her alarmed and cries, "Don't say that!"
"What? Why?" She asks looking bewildered back at him.
"Yeah, Miles, why?" Mika also asks. Bose looks up curious from his spot across the table, Blue is on the table in front of him.
"I am bored. We've haven't done anything but play games in days." Chapa says.
"You're gonna jinx us!" Miles freaks out. "You can't put those words out into the universe so soon after a crime wave!"
All three of his friends look to each other in disbelief and then back to him. "What?" Bose questions.
"Jinx us?" Chapa inquires incredulously.
"Oh god, Miles. You can't be serious." His sister says simultaneously to the other two.
"Yes! I'm serious! You're gonna jinx us into having something worse than that crime wave." He insists.
"What could be worse than that crime wave?" Chapa asks. Mika laughs with her.
Miles glares resolutely at them all and says, "Mark my words, if you tempt fate, it'll take the bait, and you'll regret not listening to me when it happens."
"Okay then, wise one. I'll be sure to apologize when the universe repays my comments of boredom with unimaginable catastrophe." Chapa mocks. The others laugh more, and Miles just shakes his head at them.
"But seriously, I'm so done with this." Chapa goes on with a fervent energy. "I want to hit something!"
"It's only been like ten days. Maybe you should try to curb your violent intentions." Mika says with a pointed look.
Chapa scowls back with friendly defiance. "I don't want to. I like being violent, it makes me feel better."
"Oh, Honey." Mika shakes her head.
"I'm not saying I want another crime wave," Chapa defends, "just like one little bad guy to blast."
"Stop talking like that!" Miles shouts. "Or you'll make the emergency alert go off and we'll have to go out! Just appreciate the freedom we currently have from crime."
"Hey!" Bose cheers like he's just discovered something great, interrupting whatever retort Chapa might've given. "We're in a crime drought! A real crime drought!"
They all turn incredulous expressions on him and after a moment's pause Mika says, "Oh my god, you're right." and starts laughing. The other's follow.
The giggles consume them for several long minutes and they miss the tube coming up behind the couch until several unfamiliar voices ring out from it saying things like: "Woah!", "This place is nice!", and "Check out that view."
The four members of Danger Force go on high alert in a second as they stop laughing, shoot up in their seats to see who has entered and realize that none of them recognize any of the four young adults on the tube pad. There are two girls and two boys, all look about eighteen years old but share little other physical similarities. While both girls are short and have brown hair, one wears it in long waves and the other's is perfectly straight both in cut and placement. The first is perfectly made up with boldly colored and styled clothe, smiling wide and giddy, she looks very pretty in her carefully chosen outfit. While the second is more down to earth with a soft patterned skirt and cardigan. Wearing glasses and a calmer smile she comes off as sweeter than her friend. The two boys differ even more dramatically. One is rather short with dark skin and tightly coiled hair, wearing high end clothes with a flat brimmed cap and a gold chain around his neck. He seems confident and cool. The other is tall and pale with blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears more casual, comfy clothes and a somewhat naive smile.
"Hey!" The first of the two girls greets beaming.
"Intruders!" Bose yelps and they all jump to their feet.
"Hit the alert!" Mika cries, climbing over the back of the round couch. Blue leaps from Bose's shoulder to bang buttons on the keyboard until all the alarms in the Man's Nest go off.
"You jinxed us!" Miles screams at Chapa as they too move into fighting positions.
"No, I didn't!" She yells back and charges the girl who had spoken.
"Woah, What!?" the girls says, smile turning to alarm as Chapa tackles her. She yelps fearfully and covers her head.
Miles grabs the other girl who screams and swats at him until he teleports her away. The seeming cooler of the two boys loses some of his cred as he cowers in a ball before Mika's even screamed at him. And the blonde boy watches surprised and unmoving as his friends are attacked until after Bose has lifted him off the ground with his telekinesis. "Woah! This is so cool!" The blonde boy cheers.
Henry and Schwoz run into the room in a panic as the Danger Force kids, Miles having returned without the girl he'd taken, are holding the captives and forcefully demanding of them to explain who they are and how they got in the Man's Nest "What is going on!?" Henry yells skidding to a stop beside them
"Who are they!? Schwoz demands.
"Woah!" Henry says, recognizing the captives and if anything growing even more panicked as he takes in the fullness of the situation, "Woah! Stop!" he commands forcefully, grabbing Chapa with a "Don't! Stop!" and pulling her off the terrified girl beneath her before she can electrocute her any more than she's already done. "Let them go!" he orders, "Mika let Trip up. Bose put Hudson down."
Reluctant and confused, they do so. Asking "What?" and "Why?"
Henry ignores them as he pulls the harassed girl to her feet and asks, "Babe, are you alright?"
"Oh my god!" Babe says tensely, defraying her clothes and hair. "What just happ-" but she cuts herself off as she sees Henry's worried eyes checking her over. She blushes and her voice goes soft and tight as she says, "Hey, Henry."
"Are you hurt?" he asks of her again.
"I… uh… I think I'm okay." She says, clearly flustered, with her eyes wide and bright and fixated entirely on his face.
Henry finally meets her eyes, believing her after his own thorough scan, and says, "What're you doing here?"
"I'm here to see you." She says breathlessly. Then flushes again as Henry raises his eyebrow with a questioning smile. "I mean, we're here to see you. We've, actually, been meaning to come for weeks but Dub got us arrested by the Queen's guards in London, so we missed the funeral; then you had that crime wave and we thought coming might not be the best idea then; but then you turned back into Kid Danger and it ended so we thought it might be cool if we came now, so…" she stops her own rambling. "Uh… hi, Henry."
He chuckles, "Hey, Babe."
"Uh…Babe?" Miles questions.
"Do you know these guys?" Mika seconds.
"Um, yes, right. Danger Force these are the Game Shakers. Game Shakers, Danger Force." Henry introduces, breaking eye contact with Babe to address the rest of the room.
"Hello." Babe says, still a tad higher than her usual conversation tone.
"Hi." Bose and Miles greet.
"'Sup?" Trip says.
"It is so cool to meet you." Hudson says, staring at each of the young heroes in turn.
"The Game Shakers?" Chapa asks in confusion.
"Yeah. They're friends of mine from New York who create video games." Henry explains, "Like Prance, Prance Revolution and Crime Warp."
That gains all their respect almost immediately. "Crime Warp? The Captain Man and Kid Danger video game?" Schwoz asks, "These are the guys who made that?"
"Yep." Trip says.
"Yeah, we did." Babe also confirms.
"Woah!" Bose says impressed.
"Yeah, this is Babe," Henry introduces pointing to each on turn, "Hudson, Trip and… wait, where's Kenzie?"
The three present Game Shakers look around, growing worried when they don't see her. "Kenzie?" they call "Where did she go?"
"Miles." Mika prompts. "I'm guessing they mean the other girl that came up with them."
"I'll go get her." Miles says sheepishly and vanishes, soon returning with a frazzled Kenzie.
"Oh my god! What just happened?" Kenzie says freaked out.
"I thought you were an intruder, didn't know who you were, so I teleported you to a locked room." Miles explains. "Sorry."
Kenzie looks frightened and takes a step away. "Geez louise. You don't do that to a person!"
"Dude, why are you so freaked? You just got to teleport with AWOL. That's like the coolest thing ever." Hudson tells her. She frowns at him.
"Oh Yeah!" Trip agrees, "I love knowing superheroes."
"So…" Mika says, "these video game people, the Game Shakers, know all of our secret identities?"
"Well, I don't know your real name, but I know the four of you are Danger Force so can I assume you're Shoutout?" Babe says with sass.
Mika considers her warily. "Yeah. Okay, next question: why do they know who we are?"
"They've known my secret as long as I've known them." Henry says, leaning up against the couch, "It was an accident, but I wouldn't let Ray erase their memories afterward, so they've known for years."
"Don't worry, we're trustworthy." Babe adds, hopping up to sit on the back of the couch beside him.
"Okay." Mika says. "So, they know our identities and how to get into our base. Good to know. Is there anyone else who knows these things that we should know about, so we don't attack them when they spring a surprise visit on us?"
"I don't think so." Henry says. "But, to your other point," he turns to Babe, "How did you guys get in here? You've all only been to the Mancave once and you were unconscious when I took you in. So?"
"Piper told us how." Kenzie says, calmer now.
"She knew you were here and didn't warn me?" Henry says.
"We didn't warn you either." Babe points out, teasing.
"Piper's the one who called me and said we should come visit this week." Kenzie expounds, pulling Henry's attention back from half-frowning amused at the smirking Babe. "She told us how to get here when we saw her at your house."
"She told you to come visit this week?" He asks.
"We've been trying to find the best time to come." Trip says.
"Yeah, we knew you had a lot going on here, so we didn't want to get in the way." Kenzie continues. "She gave me a call telling me that now would be good."
"Which is good as Kenzie and I start at NYU in two weeks, and it would've been much more difficult to find a time after that." Babe concludes.
"And we really wanted to come." Hudson tacks on.
"Good to know you all like me so much." Henry says cockily.
"Don't go getting a big head about it." Babe tells him. "It's not all about you."
"Hey, you're the one who said it was." Henry says, raising his hands in surrender with a pointed look at her.
"Did I?" she asks with a tone of false innocence. "I didn't tell you we came because we want something from you?"
"That's not very nice." Bose says.
"She's joking." Both Henry and Kenzie say.
"No, I'm not. We came because we want to negotiate a deal to make a new video game." She informs.
"Negotiate? You want to make a video game about me?" Henry asks, smiling curious.
"You and Danger Force. Like we made Crime Warp about you and Captain Man." Trip clarifies.
"You want to make a video game about us?" Bose says with clear excitement. "Oh my god! Yes!"
"Yes! Absolutely!" Mika agrees at once.
Miles speaks simultaneous to her saying, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"I'm so in." Chapa says. "Like seriously, if you don't do this now, I might kill you."
The Game Shakers look a little disturbed at that. Henry shrugs it off and says with less enthusiasm that the four of them, "Clearly, the aye's have it."
"Great." Kenzie says, "So, while we're in town I'm hoping we can get a good start on it. We want you guys to have input and I'd love to create your avatars by seeing the real thing."
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Miles is still saying.
"Oh, I've got some ideas." Chapa assures.
"I will help with anything you want me to." Mika promises.
"Okay." Kenzie says, smiling a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm.
"I've always wanted to be a video game character!" Bose says. "And Blue has too!"
"Who's Blue?" Hudson asks him.
"My monkey." Bose says and calls the creature over to show off.
"You have a monkey!?" Hudson asks, jealously. "So cool!"
"I know!" Bose cheers with him.
The new friends are all soon distracted developing ideas for the Danger Force video game.
(Theme song)
In the depths of Mount Swellview, the first sublevel of the Man's Nest, Henry picks up the knocked over chair in a brightly lit and colored bedroom. In his rush to answer the emergency alerts upstairs he'd tossed everything carelessly aside and left the room quite a mess. "You left pretty quick." Babe's voice speaks from the doorway. She surprises him; he hadn't known she'd followed him down. "Don't you have any ideas you want to put in the new game?"
"Nah, the four of them will have more than plenty. I'll let them do the creating." He says with a smile.
"You're not excited about being the subject of another video game?" She asks, strutting into the room and sitting on Henry's bed as he tidies up the rest of his stuff.
"No. Being made into a video game is seriously one of the coolest things that could ever happen to a person, let alone twice." He says.
"Well, you seem a little unenthusiastic." She says bluntly. "So, what's your issue?"
He sits heavily in his chair and looks at her with a slight grimace. "Just, don't worry about creating my avatar until everything else is done." He says, "Maybe by then, I'll know what superhero name and costume I'll be using."
"Oh, right, I heard about that. I think the internet has pretty well decided on Captain Danger for you." She says probing.
He shakes his head, "Don't call me that. I don't want that to be Captain anything. That was Ray's title."
"But, it's just a title; and you are his heir so it's kind of fitting. It's not like their trying to call you Captain Man." She says.
"It's the same thing." He insists. "Whether it's Captain Man or Captain Danger, the feeling is the same, and the expectation. It's putting me in his position, replacing him with me. And I don't want that. I don't want to be him; I can't be him. And I don't want everybody to see me as that. I'm not a Captain."
"Okay, so, pick a different name." she says flippantly, "If not his heir, what do you want to be known as?"
"I do want to be part of his legacy, but I'm not just the new him. Ya know? I'm my own person. Even without adding in my civilian life to things, I'm a lot: I'm his heir, I'm Kid Danger, I'm Barricade, I'm Swellviewian and a little bit Dystopian…" Henry says. "I want people to see me and know that I'm not just one of those things, I just can't seem to come up with a name or costume that sums it all up."
"You want a single name to describe all parts of you?" Babe inquires arms folded and an incredulous expression on her face. "That's definitely not going to be easy to find."
"I know." Henry says with a wave of his hand, "I'll figure something out. The point is making a character based off me is going to be difficult at the moment, so make that something to do later for your guys' video game."
She chuckles a little and shakes her head, "Okay, but you'd better think fast. We're only going to be here for two weeks and I don't think the rest of the word will wait much longer than that to give you an official new name, whether or not you like what they pick."
"Yeah, I know, Charlotte's lectured me thoroughly on that subject and since she's left Piper's given plenty of snide comments to me about it too." Henry says with an 'oh well' shrug.
"Good for them." Babe says cheekily.
Henry huffs more amused than irritated by the sass. "So, what's up with you? How's New York? We haven't hung out in a while."
"Yeah, but that's hardly my fault. I'm not the one who moved to another country for a year." She says with a smirk.
"Hey! You can't put it on me. I've been to New York three times since you've been to Swellview." He retorts.
"Yeah, but those all kinda came with an asterisk, didn't they?" she teases. "Like hey, I'm coming for Valentine's day, wanna hang out? Oh, wait actually I'm not here to see you at all. I'm just using you to impress this other girl I am here to see." She says, mocking his voice.
"That is so not what happened. You were the one who took things out of context." He complains, "Besides, the next time I came, purely to see you, you ditched me for some other guy!"
"I'd already made plans and I didn't know you were coming!" she says grinning, "And again the time after that. You just call me up saying 'hey, my friends and I moved to Dystopia but my flight back got changed and I now have a twenty hour layover in New York, can I come crash Game Shakers for the day?'" she mocks him again.
"That is what happened!" he exclaims, "And I just thought it'd be cooler to hang out with my New Yorker friends during my unexpected venture than to sit in the airport for that long. You didn't seem to mind at the time."
She grins flirtatiously, "Well, maybe I didn't. It was a really fun day. I do like hanging out with you."
He grins back at her and says, "I know; I'm awesome."
She rolls her eyes, "Oh god, Henry."
"That's why you came out here." He says, "To see all the amazingness of me in person. If it was only about a video game, you could've called."
"Yeah." She admits, "The video game is mostly an excuse, something to do while we're here. We, or at least I, really came to see you. Catch up and hang out."
"Sounds gooood." Henry says, "So, what has been up with you? Did you really get arrested in London?"
"Yeah, Dub pantsed a queen's guard." She says, some annoyance tainting her voice at the memory.
"He what? Really?" Henry asks and bursts into laughter.
"He thought that being a celebrity meant he could go anywhere he wanted, including the queen's office, and the guard wouldn't let him, so he got mad." Babe explains further. "We all got arrested and held for two days and Dub is banned forever from Buckingham Palace."
"Oh my god." Henry guffaws.
"We got to meet the Queen; but missed Ray's funeral. We had intended to come." She concludes.
Henry's laughter stops abruptly at the mention of Ray. "Oh." He says, "Right. That is a pretty good excuse." He tries to joke but can't create a tone or expression to match.
Her tone follows his away from humor and she says gently, "If you don't want to talk about it, I get it."
"I- well- it's fine. It doesn't matter." He says turning the chair some to look away from her.
"It's also okay if you do want to talk about it." Babe adds.
He shakes his head, "No, it's not a very nice conversation topic. You didn't come to hear it. We should talk about something better."
"Henry," she chastises, "I came to see you. I want to know how you're doing. We're friends, you don't have to keep things cheery with me the whole time. If you want to talk about Ray or anything else, I'm here for it." He hesitates. She waits another minute, but he doesn't say anything. So, she scoots to the edge of the bed in front of him and asks softly, privately, "Henry, are you okay?"
The huff of air he breathes is unexpectedly irate and comes so quickly after her words that it is quite a surprise to her. "I hate that question." He says crossly, eyes closed and mouth pursed.
"You hate the question 'Are you okay?'" she asks incredulously.
"Yes." He seethes, running his hands over his hair.
"Why?" she asks staring at him.
"Because I've been asked it a million times recently by everyone I know." He says, gesturing sharply.
"What's wrong with that?" Babe asks, "They're just worried about you."
"Because they know I'm not, but they let me say I'm fine. Then they ask again later, and it goes in circles. I'm sick of hearing it and I'm sick of answering it." He complains.
Babe studies him a moment, "So, the answer is you're not okay, but you don't want to admit it."
He sighs and says, "Yeah. Basically." while glaring at the floor
Her eyes don't leave his face. "Maybe admitting that you're not okay would make you feel better. And people might stop asking you so much if you told them the truth."
"Yeah, maybe." He says, noncommittally. "I just don't want to talk about it right now. We never get to hang out so, let's do something more fun. Distract me for a little while from all my woes."
She frowns pensively at him. When she opens her mouth to speak he's sure she going to push him again to open up. Instead, she changes the topic entirely. "I have an idea, if you're up for it."
"What?" he asks surprised.
"Well, I can't help all your 'woes'." She says, "But I do have a good sense of style and strong opinions on what clothes you look good in." he blushes and gapes wordlessly at her unabashed comments. She smiles with her own light blush but goes on. "So, maybe I can help you with the superhero costume thing. Maybe, I can help make you something that will fit all the Kid Danger, Barricade and heir of Captain Man parts of you."
He raises his eyebrow at her, mouth open as he tries to find words. "Um, alright, what do you have in mind?" he laughs.
She start to circle him as she looks him over appraisingly, the action being undercut as he follows her path around in his swivel chair, and hums "Well, I'll have to work some with the old uniform pieces and manipulate the colors to fit together, but I'm at least sure I'll be doing everything I can to keep the leather jacket in the ensemble because it makes you look totally hot."
He makes a choked sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "Babe!" he objects.
She shrugs with a self-conscious smile. "I call it like I see it. Besides, you're cute when you blush."
He blushes only harder for that. Amidst his nervous flattered giggles and shrills, he manages to ask, "Any other strong opinions on what clothes I look good in that you want to tell me?"
She smiles big but nervous as she says. "The skinny jeans also look way better than the cargo pants."
He laughs. "So, you're a fan of the Barricade look then?"
"Yeah, but you also look better with a little more color than it has. Your personality is a little too bright to wear black and dark red. So, I'll use more of the red and blue colors of the Kid Danger look. It'll take some finagling, and maybe it'll end up looking really bad, but give me a few days and I'll have a design ready." Babe says.
"I'm not going to turn down help." Henry shrugs. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."
(Commercial Break)
August 11, 2021
"Okay, people, time to get this game simulation going." Kenzie orders to the room. She is at her computer, which Schwoz has helped her link to the Man's Nest-work. Said man is beside her, interested to watch her programing at work. The five Dangers and Hudson are outfitted with motion capture sensors and real weapons, set to the lightest blasting option, to enact a simulation of a fight for the game. Trip is running the props in the obstacle course for the simulation. Further away at the round couch and table, Babe and Piper sit, talking quielty and looking at pictures on Babe's tablet. "Babe!" Kenzie calls, "Are you going to come help?"
"In a minute. Go ahead without me." Babe says, waving her best friend off distractedly.
"What are you doing?" Hudson asks, adjusting the villainous looking mask he's wearing.
"You'll see." Babe entices.
"Yeah, what is this secret project you've been working on for the last couple days?" Trip asks.
"You'll see when it's ready." Babe insists. "Not even Henry gets to see it before it's ready."
"Henry?" Trip asks.
"What does it have to do with Henry?" Kenzie follows up.
"If I'm not allowed to see yet, why are you showing Piper?" Henry questions.
"I wanted to get her opinion." Babe says.
Henry frowns. "I'm not sure I want her to have an opinion." He says warily, eyeing his sister. "Besides, shouldn't it be my opinion you're getting?" he asks with a sarcastic glare.
"Not yet." Babe says cheekily back. "Now, all of you go back to doing you're thing and we'll do ours."
Piper cackles and waves a dismissive hand at them. "You heard her." She says before turning away from them and resuming her conversation with Babe over the designs.
Henry shakes his head, gazing at Babe fiercely. She returns it with matching umph and an impish smile. Neither notice the looks all the others exchange while the two hold the eye contact. Eventually, Babe turns back around, and Henry returns his attention to the simulation team.
"Do you know what she's doing?" Kenzie asks him.
"A little." Henry admits, "But we're not telling anyone in case it doesn't work out the way we want it to."
"In case what doesn't work out?" Hudson questions with his head tilted like a confused puppy.
"If it does work out, you'll know." Henry says.
The Game Shakers give him extremely curious looks, and while Danger Force does too, they are more impatient. "Can we make a video game now?" Chapa cuts in.
"Yeah, okay." Kenzie says, forcing herself to leave the topic alone. "Let's test each of your powers to see how the sensors react. I want to be able to recreate them as realistically as possible in the video game."
"Sweet!" Chapa says and fire's her electricity up, "Hey Villain!" she calls to Hudson. "Catch this!"
He smiles excitedly and actually tries to catch the lightning ball she throws at him. It knocks him off his feet and sailing several feet through the air before crashing down painfully. There's a lot of cries of shock and alarm but he just giggles it off. "Maybe we should get him some more protective equipment." Mika suggests meekly.
"Uh-huh." Henry agrees, going to pull Hudson back to his feet and make sure he's really alright.
"SO? How was that!?" Chapa asks Kenzie, who shies away from the younger girl, nodding with a nervous smile.
Days go by with everyone coming and going from the Man's Nest as they work on their projects.
August 14, 2021
Most of the mixed group is in the Man's nest again, split into pairs doing various tasks. Kenzie is working on programming the game with Mika watching studiously over her shoulder, entranced by the chance to learn something new. A few feet away at another workstation, Miles and Trip are excitedly composing a song to be the backtrack to the game. Chapa and Hudson are battling on an even platform, Sky Whale. Which is playing across the largest screen in the Man's Nest.
"See, if I press these keys here, I can make the avatar's hair turn green." Kenzie shows Mika, pressing a sequence on her keyboard. "And if I do this, the hair turns purple."
"That's so cool!" Mika says, "But I don't think Bose wants his avatar's hair to be green or purple."
Both girls laugh. Kenzie fixes the coloring. "So, here you can see I've nearly finished his avatar. I've got his shape and coloring done, plus I've programmed in his powers so that he can interact with different objects and make them float." She demonstrates this too. "His being the first will set a style standard for the rest of yours. I should be able to get them all done by tomorrow, then I can demo them."
"So cool!" Mika says. "But how're you gonna do Henry's? He's been flopping back and forth from Kid Danger to Barricade these days."
Kenzie frowns, "Well, Babe told me Henry wants to hold off on that, but I figure I can create a basic model for both, until he's chosen between the two. You could help me if you want." She offers. Mika nods eagerly, "You can do one while I do the other. I can teach you as we go and it'll get done faster with both of us working on it." Kenzie says.
"That would be amazing!" Mika says excitedly. "But why does Babe think you shouldn't do it yet?"
"I don't know. I think she had a talk with Henry, maybe he told her something. Maybe he's almost there with a new costume or something. I'm going to start modeling one anyway."
"He talked to her about it? Like actually got him to tell her something about what's up with him?" Mika asks surprised.
"I guess so." Kenzie says. "That's how she made it seem."
"But he doesn't like to talk about it with anyone. How did she get him to?" Mika goes on.
Kenzie shrugs, "I don't know, she's closer friends with him than the rest of us ever since the zipper car."
"But he's barely even talked to Charlotte and Jasper about it, and they're his best friends." Mika says. She pauses thinking and Kenzie looks curios too. "Are they, like, dating or something?"
"No." Kenzie says, firmly. "If that ever happened, I'd hear about it immediately."
"But, the way they've been interacting; and isn't she with Henry now, seeing Piper off?" Mika says.
"No." Kenzie says, "I'm pretty sure she's working on that secret project of hers. I'm not sure where sh-" Kenzie gets interrupted by Trip's voice growing in panic.
"Miles?" he questions gently at first when Miles goes rigid and blank faced. Then when he repeats it several times and Miles makes no response he grows loud enough to draw the attentions of the others. "Miles!? What's wrong with you, Dude?"
Mika and Chapa react quickly when they see what's happening. "He's having a vision."
"A vision?" Trip asks.
"Yeah!" Chapa says.
"Wait, a vision? Like he's seeing the future or something?" Kenzie asks, approaching Miles along with everyone else.
"Yep." Chapa says.
"It's his second power." Mika explains.
"You guys have secondary powers?" Kenzie asks distraught. "Why didn't you tell me this before? I haven't been programming your avatars to account for two powers."
"No, no, no." Mika assures her. "We don't all have two powers."
"Only Miles has one." Chapa says bitterly.
"And it's not exactly a well-known thing yet, so it's not entirely necessary to put it in the game." Mika assures.
Miles suddenly comes out of his stupor. "Guys, I just had a vision!"
"We know." Chapa says.
"You can see the future?" Hudson asks, "Woah! What am I gonna have for breakfast tomorrow?"
"I don't know. It doesn't work like that." Miles says.
"Miles, what was your vision? Something bad?" Mika asks.
"No. It was great!" Miles declares. "It was about the video game. It's going to be so madly awesome. The song Trip and I are composing is bumpin'!"
"Bumpin'?" Chapa mocks, "You sound like Ray failing to use slang."
"Whatever, Chapa. It doesn't matter what word I use because once you hear the song, you'll know what I mean." Miles sneers back.
"You got to hear it?" Trip asks.
"Well, part of it." Miles says. "And I got to see a glimpse of our avatars, which look sooo cool!" he tells with a crediting point to Kenzie, "Henry's was a little weird, I'm not sure what his was wearing but it didn't look bad." He adds more mutedly before resuming his animated tone in saying, "And I saw the title. This game will be called…" a dramatic pause is taken, "… Danger Games!"
Chatter more interested breaks out for this announcement than for his first. "Okay, that's really cool. But, more importantly, do I need to worry about programming the ability to add more powers to any of you?" Kenzie cuts in.
"Well, you could do it for me," Miles says, "but you needn't worry about the rest of them."
"Actually, it probably would be a good idea." Mika cuts over her twin's words. "According to Schwoz it is likely that the rest of us will eventually develop more powers. Since we all: the three of us, Bose, and Henry; were hit with the same energy when the omega weapon exploded, the chances of us gaining more powers, as Miles did, is quite high. Personally, I'm hoping for an eidetic memory."
"I don't know what that means." Hudson comments between Chapa's statement of, "I'm not too fussed about it. It would be cool to have a greater variety of ways to take out my enemies, but I'm already unstoppable when I get going."
"You scare me." Kenzie says. Chapa simply grins darkly back at her.
"So, will adding the two powers thing to the avatars be a lot more complicated?" Mika asks Kenzie.
The older girl shakes her head thoughtfully, "A bit, but now that I know to do it, it won't be too hard, it just might take a little longer. I still think we can get it all done by tomorrow night, if you help me."
"Okay." Mika agrees readily.
"Sweet." Trip says, "I think we can get the song done by then too."
"Totally. Then we can do a double reveal tomorrow night." Miles says.
Chapa nods, "I have nothing to contribute, but I'll be there to see what you dweebs have put together."
(Commercial Break)
August 15, 2021
So, the next evening all of Team Danger Force and the Game Shakers gather together in the Man's Nest to reveal their finished projects to each other. There are several large bowls of popcorn being passed around and excited chatter as Kenzie finishes setting up her presentation. "Okay, guys." She says, trying to get their attention and failing. "Um, guys? Hey, I'm ready!" she tries again.
"Hey!" Babe shouts, gaining all their attentions for her. "Shut it and look at the screen."
"Thanks, Babe." Kenzie says, "Okay everyone, I'm proud to present to you tonight the first look at and test of Game Shakers newest game 'Danger Games'!"
They all cheer noisily as she pulls up a title page of bright letters spelling the name cast over a drawing of the Man's Nest. "So, the game starts by entering the Man's Nest and selecting your character." Kenzie says, clicking on the start button which takes them to a new screen with the Danger Force emblem in the background and five cartoon caricatures of the team with disproportionately large heads and eyes. More cheers echo through the room; these being more of an individual nature than the first.
"Look at me!"
"I look so cool!"
"I'm a video game character!"
Kenzie beams at them and takes them through each character's features individually: showing them the powers and fun details. The Brainstorm character has the option to add a little monkey sitting on his shoulder, looking just like Bose and Blue do in real life. AWOL's vision power is added as part of the game's storyline, and Volt's character will be able to be worked into a super destructive 'Rage Storm' during later levels. "And when and if you guys develop secondary powers like we discussed I'll be able to add them into your characters easily as never character levels that can be reached in future updates."
"They're amazing, Kenz!" Mika gushes.
"They are." Henry agrees, "But why do their characters all look better than mine?"
"It's just a temporary template, I'll make it look the same as theirs if you tell me which costume you're going to be wearing." She says.
He groans, "Mmmm, right."
"That'll come later." Babe cuts in, stopping the subject with most the room and earning a curious look from Henry. "Later." She whispers.
"So, once you've chosen your character," Kenzie continues, "you start the game in the Man's Nest, where you will have several options for things." The screen changes again to show the inside of the Man's Nest's main room.
"That looks exactly like this place!" Bose comments excitedly.
Kenzie nods, "I wanted it to be as real as possible. The different features have different functions, so you can walk around and check out the different things. Over at your chairs to downstairs and your lockers is where you can go to check character stats and switch characters between levels. Each level is given as different missions, which you're alerted to by the computer. After choosing your mission you enter the game play by going down the tube. And I think I'm going to put several easter eggs you can find around the rest of the room, just for fun."
"It looks awesome." Henry says.
"Yeah, but what's that thing on the wall back there?" Miles asks, "That's not there in real life. Is it an easter egg?"
Kenzie hums, "Well, in a way." She clicks on the square of color that looks a little like a picture frame. It opens up a file labeled 'In Memorium: This game is dedicated to the fallen hero Captain Man.' Beneath these words is a framed picture of Captain Man styled in the same way as the characters.
The room is quiet for a long minute as everyone takes it in. Kenzie doesn't even give any more of an explanation as they all frown or smile sadly at it. Many of them share looks as well, save Henry, Chapa, and Kenzie; the last of whom abstains feeling awkward, like she thinks she's overstepped. Eventually, Mika breaks the silence to say, "It's lovely."
"Yeah. Maybe we should make it real. It's really nice." Bose agrees.
Miles nods too and breaks the heavy mood by saying, "So is that all for the game? Is it our turn now?"
Kenzie smiles and several of the others laugh or roll their eyes at him. "Yes. If your song is ready I should be able to add it to the game right now."
"Oh, it's ready." Trip says confidently and they load the file into her computer so that the images are soon accompanied by a lively pop theme song. "Always on the scene in the nick of time, the second I see trouble I know I'll be fine. I'm okay! I'm okay!..."
"Yeah!" Miles cheers and gets up to start dancing. The rest soon follow after listening to and agreeing the song is pretty good. They devolve into celebrations and taking closer looks at different details Kenzie shows them.
Babe leans over the back of the couch to whisper into Henry's ear, "Hey, since it's reveal night, I thought we could add one more. You wanna see my design now?"
He looks back at her with a curious half smile. "It's ready?" he asks. She nods. "Then let's go." He says and they slip off together to the privacy of the lower level, not as unnoticed as they think.
They stop in Henry's room and sit together on his bed. Babe pulls out her tablet saying quickly, "Okay, so I made the whole suit and I have it for you to try on but I thought I'd show you the design first on my tablet so you can have an idea of what it'll look like before you wear it because maybe you won't like it at all and then what would be the point of putting it on? But if you do like the design then you can try it on and we'll see if it looks as good on you as it does in the pictures, well, at least as good as I think it does in the pictures; you don't have to think it looks good and…"
"Babe?" Henry interrupts her spiel. "Maybe show me it so I can tell you what I think?" he suggests.
"Right, okay." She says grinning nervously and handing over the tablet.
On it is a picture of him covered by a detailed drawing of the new suit design she's created. It's a somewhat strange mix up of his costumes with some changed aspects and colors that, at first glance, seem weird together but really do work. "Um, wow." Henry says, unable to articulate anything more.
"That's all I get?" she asks stressed. "Can't you give me anything more telling that a 'wow'?"
He laughs, "Yeah, yeah, it looks good."
She sighs happily. "Good."
"But why the color changes?" he asks. "There's a lot more blue here than I've ever worn and it's not quite the shade from my Kid Danger costume."
"Well, I wanted to keep the basics of both your outfits but just putting your jacket over the Kid Danger costume wasn't gonna work and was way to obvious. I wanted to make it more personally you. So, I took the Kid Danger vest and applied a color scheme like Captain Man had: the red in the top section then the silver between that and the lower blue section, plus the black side panels and the yellow piping; just to give you that slightly Captain Man-ish aura while it still being your costume. And I made all the colors a bit darker than his or Kid Danger's were to reflect the Dystopian thing while still keeping it bright enough to be Swellviewian." She explains slowly, with a hopeful look at him.
"And you brightened the red in my jacket to even out that difference as well." He notices.
"Yeah, I matched all the reds from the mask to the boots." She says.
He nods, studying the drawing another moment. "And the mask? It's red and gold?" he questions.
"Yeah." She nods. "I thought the Kid Danger look would be better."
"The Kid Danger mask is red and silver." Henry points out.
"I know." Babe says, "But I always thought the coloring were indications of your rank and dichotomy. Like Captain Man's had gold and Kid Danger's had silver, he was the hero and you were the sidekick. But, since you're not the sidekick anymore so you get to have gold. And red is more your color and blue was more his. So… " She explains, waiting for his approval. "If you don't like it…"
"No. I like it." He stops her, "You have a real one for me to try on?"
She smiles, says "Yeah", and dives a hand into her pocket to pull out a tube of gumballs, "Schwoz made it into a gumball recipe, which I do not understand how he did at all, it still seems completely impossible, but here you go. We mixed one batch so you can try it on and decide if you really like it." She says.
He takes it and rolls a gumball around in his hand, staring at it hard. "Well, here goes." He pops it in his mouth, chews, and blows a bubble. The familiar sensation of changing rushes over him as the green light encases him. Once it's done, he looks down in consideration at the new suit.
It feels the way it looks, like a mix of his two former suits. It's comfortable and familiar. Henry stands and walks over to his bathroom door to look at himself in the mirror. Babe follows him with her anxious eyes but remains seated on the bed as he looks over the reality of her design. He flexes his fingers in the black and red gloves, pulls the leather jacket off for a moment to examine the vest beneath. The red and blue hurricane symbol stands proud on his chest and he touches it wistfully.
The room is silent for what seems like an age before he finally turns back to the fretful Babe and asks her, "So? Does it look at good as you thought it would?"
She smiles timidly, "Yes. I do think it looks as good as I imagined. But what matters is what you think. Do you like it? Does it look right? Does it feel okay?"
He smiles and nods. "Yeah. It feels gooood." He drawls in his classic way. She laughs. "I'm especially impressed by the boots, there's nothing worse when chasing criminals than having ill fitting or uncomfortable shoes, and these are just right."
"Well, I'm glad." Babe says, joining him in standing in the middle of the room. "I was getting worried about what you thought; you stood there for so long looking at yourself."
"I like it. The new coloring, the gold on the mask, how you mixed it all together: it feels more like me than I thought could happen. And giving me three different logos on different parts of the suit is clever; I can be Kid Danger and Barricade and partner to Danger Force. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Babe grins.
"I really, really mean that, okay? Thank you. More than making this, you've helped me a lot this week. Helped me sort myself out." He says.
"What've I done? We only had one, very short conversation about anything serious because you didn't want to talk about anything at all." She retorts, raising one flawless eyebrow at him.
He huffs one amused breath and says, "Yeah, but what you did tell me I thought about. I shouldn't be offended by my friends asking if I'm okay. Being honest about how I'm doing probably would help a lot. But, I haven't felt like I can be honest with them about it. They're going through this too, I'm not the only one who lost Ray. And every time I tried to talk to them about how I really am doing, it just seemed to make them feel worse. Which is the last thing I want; I don't want to bring everybody else down just because I can't get over…" he sighs deeply. Straining his eyes lightly upward trying to stave off the tears. "…Ray …dying." He manages to say, "So, it's easier not to talk to about it, because they're too close to the whole situation."
"Then talk to me." Babe says simply, taking one of his hands. "You can tell me what you're feeling."
He looks at her and, seeing nothing but honesty, breathes deeply and admits, "I'm not fine. I'm not o-okay; and I don't think I'm ever going to be okay again." A tear slips unbidden down his cheek, smearing the gold make up around his eyes. "But I have to be. I need to be fine because everyone is relying on me. They need me to get over Ray's death, because they're all pinning their ability to do so on mine; and I don't know if I can. I try to move past it, I try to put it to the side and accept that it happened so I can do all the things I need to. I have to fulfill the all the responsibilities I have now. But everyone keeps bringing it up and everywhere I turn is a reminder that he's gone; and the thoughts and feelings come up and when I can't stop them, I can't do anything else." He sniffs. He doesn't even notice that she's taken his other hand too. "All I wanna do is run away and hide somewhere and cry and never come out." He huffs and pulls one hand away to wipe at his face.
Babe stays quiet a moment, letting him be. When she does finally speak it's slow and peaceful. "That is a lot. No wonder you've been so confused about costumes and names, you can't have the time to be thinking much about them while dealing with all that. You've got a lot on your shoulders right now. But, Henry, that doesn't mean you have to be okay; or fake it for everyone else's sake. It's okay for you to not be okay." She assures fiercely. "You don't have to hide how you're feeling. You don't have to feel guilty for sharing it. No one can expect that of you right now."
"But they do." He says, "Even my friends, they want so bad to save me from my grief. To make it all better. They feel so responsible for me."
"Then that's their problem." Babe asserts. "No offense to them, but that is not something you need to be worrying about on top of everything else. They are the ones who need to figure that out. You don't have to always be the one protecting them, especially not from your grief."
Henry chuckles in a self-aware way but either can't or won't say anything in response.
"I've never lost anyone very close to me, let alone as close as you and Ray were. I don't even know if I have anyone that close. The relationship you guys had seemed very unique. But, the mere idea of losing Kenzie, or Trip, or Hudson, or, God forbid, even Dub, is terrifying. I don't know how I could ever handle that. So, I don't expect any more of you. No one else should either. Okay?"
He breathes heavy and shaking. "I don't know how not to play the hero." He says, "It's who I am. I can't let go of the need to protect the people I care about from anything that can hurt them. Even if it's me."
"Well, there's no need to protect me." Babe says, "Let me be the hero for you."
Henry can't help the snort he makes, "God, that was so cheesy."
Babe laughs and Henry's tears are broken through by a smile as he watches her. "It was. It was bad. I'm sorry." She says.
"I don't mind." he says. "Thanks for listening."
They hug, holding it several seconds before she pulls away to ask, "Now, can we go show off my cool super suit to the rest of the guys?"
"Your super suit?" he asks suspiciously. "I'm pretty sure this is mine."
"I made it." She sasses.
"For me." He insists.
They continue to bicker playfully as they make their way back up to the rest of their friends.
Next Episode S1E9: Shaking Force