Schwoz finally came out of the secret room after making Henry pinky swear to not stay too mad at him. This didn't take very long, so within the next few minutes Schwoz and Charlotte were setting up for a bit of a presentation.

"Okay," Schwoz finally said. "So, I found that the cuts in the wall were not all the same age, but they were close- this is actually very interesting. Charlotte?"

Nodding, Charlotte used a tablet to pull up an image on the TV screen. To her and Schwoz, it was an interesting scientific theory being proven. To everyone else, it looked like some kind of painting.

"Okay," said Henry. "I do not understand this."

"Of course you don't," said Charlotte. She was serious enough that only her friends would be able to tell that she was just messing with him. "This is an circular image of the wall. The darker the color, the older that specific streak is." As she spoke, Charlotte pointed from a yellow streak to one that was almost black.

"What's funny," said Schwoz, "is that, at first glance, it looks so random, but if you look closer you can see how as it gets closer to the inside of the prison cell, the cuts generally become older, and it varies by side. Well, not side, because it's a circle, but you know what I'm saying. Anyway, this means that someone on the outside was, over time, making this hole in the wall. And-" Schwoz paused to take a breath. "-these cuts were made over a period of a couple weeks."

"And they didn't get caught?" Ray gestured to the wall image in disbelief. "Two weeks of cutting through a brick wall at a prison and they didn't get caught?"

"Apparently not," said Schwoz. "But they've decided to talk to the vice mayor about hiring more guards."

"And how's that going?" Henry rolled his eyes as he remembered the last time he had talked to the vice mayor.

"Eh, he is still whining about budget cuts, but at this point he's got multiple companies and private citizens wearing him down. At least we don't have to worry about our budget anymore."

"Says you," said Ray.

Sensing that an argument was about to break out, Henry loudly said "Anyway!" before anyone got hurt. "What does this tell us? We know that the hole was made over time, but we still don't know if someone is helping Jeff or what."

"Who would want to work with Jeff?" Charlotte spoke up. "I mean, remember the villain meeting with the Toddler and Max and everyone? They were clearly embarrassed by him."

"So what?" Jasper chimed in. "I mean, they're super villains. As long as they get what they want, why do they care?"

"Villains still have feelings. You saw how upset Dr. Minyak got that one time when I tried to sell him batteries."

"Wait, that was you?"

"As fun as remembering how I kicked Minyak's butt that day," interrupted Ray, "this is not getting us anywhere."

"Yeah, I did great, but that's not the point," agreed Henry. (Well, more or less.) He turned back to Schwoz. "Any chance you were able to find, like, DNA or something?"

"No, whoever did this was wearing gloves or something."

"'Or something'? What else could it be?"

"I don't know, mittens?"

So at that point, Schwoz and Henry were arguing about why a villain would/would never wear mittens as opposed to gloves, and Jasper and Charlotte continued to argue about whether or not villains have feelings. Ray considered getting a bucket of popcorn and watching, but he decided against it. He started to open his mouth to get everyone's attention... but then decided it would be more fun to fire his laser on LOW and let it hit who it please.

Which ended up being Charlotte.

"Ow!" In response, Charlotte reached over and grabbed a stray laser, firing back. Ray retaliated, but not before Henry zapped him with his watch. Jasper and Schwoz found two more lasers and joined in.

Even though they were all a bit irritated with each other now, the laser fight became almost a game. They let their anger subside, and their arguments were forgotten.

They wouldn't have had such a fun time with the laser fight if they knew what was going on in the same city.

Derek hurled a baseball at his sister, who swung her bat and almost whacked the ball in her brother's face. Maddy had started hitting baseballs whenever she was mad (this was before they got arrested), and Derek adopted that same activity.

"It's been a long time since we've been able to do this," he remarked as he pitched again. Maddy swung with all her might and sent the ball flying; Derek ducked just in time. "Do you wanna pitch?"

"Nope," said Maddy, prepping for another ball. "I still have some people whose faces I need to imagine on those balls."

"Who is it this time?" Derek threw the ball and ducked in advance this time; the ball flew through the air, right where his head had been. He swallowed and stood back up.

"Everyone." Maddy didn't bring her bat back up. "Minyak, for one."

"Yeah. He may have given us… all this- the rooms, this gym, and parts in… well, you know." Derek and Maddy had to swear not to say anything, and even in there, the gym, they were keeping their promise. They were villains (more or less), but they knew they had to keep Minyak's trust... but that didn't stop them from gossiping about him to each other. "But I do wish he'd get our names right."

"Yeah." Maddy's arms began to ache as she lifted her bat, but she was determined to keep going. Derek pitched another ball. "He's kind of annoying."

"Annoying, am I?"

Derek and Maddy jumped, and Maddy let go of the bat. It flew across the room and banged against the wall.

"Dr. Minyak!" Maddy squeaked. "We didn't- we were just-"

"Not to worry, Madison." Dr. Minyak smiled. "I just came in to deliver some good news."

Maddy was very tempted to correct him- Madison was her real name, the real name that she hated- but her curiosity overwhelmed her. "What?"

"Heeeeeeeeeyyyy party people!" Derek, Maddy and Dr. Minyak watched Jeff barge into the gym and run towards them, waving his hands in the air like he just don't care. "I have retuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrnnned!"

Maddy looked back at Dr. Minyak. "This," She jabbed her thumb towards Jeff, who was panting from the run, "is supposed to be good news?"

"Hey," panted Jeff, "I just got back, and I HAVE DECIDED, Jeff is going to get into shape! Got this whole big gym right here, and your old Jeffy boy is gonna lose some weight!" He pumped his fists in the air, causing his shirt to show his belly. Maddy shook her head in disgust.

"Does he really need to be here?" Derek agreed with his sister's question and added, "Because I really don't see any point."

"Now, children-"

"We are not children." Maddy took a threatening step towards Dr. Minyak, causing Derek to grab her arm and hiss at her to calm down.

"You saw his purpose yesterday; to get Captain Man and Kid Danger where we needed them.

"And besides," he watched Maddy give up on trying to break loose, "that isn't what I came to tell you." He looked over at Jeff and rolled his eyes; the, er, man, was struggling to lift a dumbbell bar… that had no weights on it. "Jeff, come here, please."

Grumbling, Jeff obeyed and stood next to Derek, who promptly scooted over, almost bumping into Maddy.

"Another member of our team has arrived," said Dr. Minyak with and evil smile.

There was a moment of silence before Maddy spoke. "Well, then where are they?"

Hey, y'all! So, first, sorry again about having to post later in the day than usual, but, hey, I didn't think I'd actually be able to post until later, so cool!

Also, here is the Easter Egg from Chapter 4: "Poor Harold looked really embarrassed as he picked up the purple crayon he dropped." The reference is to Harold and the Purple Crayon, an old children's book.

Ciao, and Happy Reading!