"Where," said a impatient high male voice, "could Dylan and Mackey possibly be?"

"Derek and Maddy," a lower second voice corrected. She was looking at him, but the room was too dim for him to see her rolling her eyes.

"Whatever," the first voice grumbled, growing less patient by the minute. "They should have been back by now."

Just then, their computer beeped. The person whom the second voice belonged to rushed over, her face lit up by the screen. Squinting, she moved her hands over the keyboard.

"It's them," she said to her colleague. There was a pause.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Let them in!"

"You said to wait until you said so." She rolled her eyes again.

"Shut up!" He took a moment to collect himself as she allowed Derek and Maddy's van to pass through the front "gate" that surrounded the lair. "Have we found them yet?" The "them" he was referring to wasn't Derek and Maddy anymore.

"No." She knew who he was talking about. "Wait- ah, there they are."

"Where?!" He rushed up to the computer.

"Swellview Park. Looks like they're moving towards the playground."

He smiled. "Good."

The sound of van doors slamming almost startled them. "Go fetch Dawn and Mia," he said, gesturing towards the door.

"Derek and Maddy."

"Whatever," the first voice had more patience than he did right before then, but he was losing it again. "Just bring them in. I'll bet they'll want to see this."

"In conclusion, the American Shorthair cat-" Kid Danger looked over and finally realized his boss wasn't listening. "The American Shorthair cat voyaged to America on the Mayflower and brought the plague to Christopher Columbus."

"Yeah, yeah that sounds about right," Captain Man said, not really focused.

"Dude!" Kid Danger managed to startle his boss into looking at him. "I just recited my entire report for tomorrow and you weren't paying the slightest amount of attention."

"What? Pfffff. Yes I was."

"Oh, really?" Kid Danger stopped walking, and so did Captain Man. "What was my report about?"

"Uhhhh… something about bald dogs on the June Rose."

Kid Danger rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Ray. It's really important that I ace this report. Wasn't the whole point of bringing me along to not be bored?"

"I wanted someone to talk to, but you wouldn't shut up. Now I know why you seemed to be giving a speech." Kid Danger rolled his eyes at his boss again. "But something is bothering me."

"What?" Kid Danger looked around. A big, shiny beetle was staring at him, but nothing seemed out of place. He had just raised his arm to smack the bug when he heard Captain Man groan.

Which meant they had found Jeff.

Jeff, the stupidest of idiots, was playing in the sandcastle.

"Dude, this isn't even a crime," Kid Danger whispered to his boss before Jeff saw them.

"Yes if is." Captain Man pointed to a sign above the sandbox, lit by the moonlight. It read: Sandbox Houres: 8 A.M. to 8 P.M.

"They spelled 'hours' wrong," remarked Kid Danger. "But you've got a point."

Captain Man marched over to Jeff. "Alright, Jeff. What are you doing?"

"Playing," said Jeff, not realizing he was doing something wrong. "Whatchu guys doing here?"

"You're in the sandbox after hours." Kid Danger walked over and pointed to the sign.

"Oh, I didn't see that," said Jeff.

Captain Man and Kid Danger exchanged a look. Jeff was certainly stupid enough to miss a sign, but they weren't sure if he was telling the truth.

Finally, Captain Man sighed. "Jeff, just get up." Jeff, being Jeff, obeyed without a fight.

"And clean up your mess," added Kid Danger, glancing into the box. "Your- what are those, Lincoln Logs?"

"Uhh, I don't think those are Lincoln Logs," said Captain Man, peering into the box.

Kid Danger leaned over. "Then what- ew, Jeff!"

"That's disgusting."

"Gross."

Jeff grumbled. While he used a couple plastic bags that were floating around the playground to clean up his mess, Captain Man and Kid Danger hung back.

"So," said Kid Danger, "I still need to practice giving my report."

"Fine," said Captain Man. "Just wait until we get Jeff to the police station."

"Fine," said Kid Danger. Then he made a face. "Wait, why should I bother? You dropped out of school, like, before the sixth grade."

"I didn't drop out, my dad pulled me out of school to become a superhero. Hey, I know!" Captain Man clapped his hands together. "You can drop outta school and train at the Man Cave full time, how 'bout that, huh?"

"No."

"C'mon, Kid, you know you want to!"

"Ray-" Kid Danger looked over at Jeff, who was somehow still cleaning, oblivious to what they were saying. He lowered his voice. "Ray, as much as I'd prefer to play ping pong with you or learn new fighting moves, I can't get away with dropping out of school. You know how my parents are about that." Mr. and Mrs. Hart (and Piper) were still oblivious to the fact that Henry was Kid Danger, but he had to keep his grades up for them to stay off his case.

"Yeah, you're right." Captain Man looked away from Jeff and at his sidekick. "You'd really rather play ping pong with me than go to school?"

"Yeah dude."

"Awww, that means a lot to me, bro." Kid Danger smiled as Captain Man looked back over at Jeff. "Are you done?"

"Yeah," said Jeff, holding out the bags. "Here."

"Gross!" Captain Man smacked his arm down, careful not to touch the bags. "Go throw those away- in the trash can- and come with us."

Neither Captain Man nor Kid Danger really felt like walking Jeff into the police station, but they got lucky. The guards were switching out and one of the extra ones did the job for them.

Kid Danger recited his report again on the way home, just for practice. Captain Man listened more than he had before, but something was still bugging him in the back of his head. He couldn't seem to shake it off.

"So," said Kid Danger as they pulled up to his house, "what was my report about?"

"American Shorthair cats," said Captain Man. That was the only fact about the report he was able to maintain. "Don't forget to transform back," he added as Kid Danger climbed out of the van.

"Oh, yeah." Kid Danger retrieved his gumball tube out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. "See ya tomorrow!" He quietly ran to the other side of the house where his room was. After looking around for a second- Man, there are a lot of bugs out tonight- he blew a bubble and transformed.

Back in his pajamas, Henry shuffled over to his bed. The rush that always came with transforming faded away, and he fell asleep.

The voices didn't speak again until Captain Man and Kid Danger were out of the park area. This included Derek and Maddy, who kept their eyes and ears peeled for anything- anything- that could help them.

"I'm surprised that Jack didn't mess up," said the first voice from earlier.

"Jeff," the second voice corrected. "You got it right before."

"The past is the past, my dear."

"Don't call me that."

The first voice scoffed, and the owner of the first voice turned to his young companions.

"You two, Draco and Malfoy-"

"Derek and Maddy."

"Whatever. Go to your rooms and rest up. We have a big day ahead of us!"

Rolling their eyes, Derek and Maddy left for the rooms they were given. They certainly were tired.

But still irritated. No matter how many times Nurse Cohort corrected him, Dr. Minyak wasn't going to get their names right anytime soon.

Because who doesn't like making fun of Dr. Maniac? (So disrespectful.)

Ciao, and Happy Reading!