It all seemed to happen in slow motion.
By some stroke of luck, a piece of paper came flying through the wind, distracting Kid Danger and causing him to turn his head. The dart flew right past him, narrowly missing his ear.
It was close enough, however, that he felt the rush of air; Kid Danger whipped around and finally noticed the van.
Derek and Maddy were glad they had decided to tint the windows before they left, because otherwise, Kid Danger would have immediately seen them. He didn't, thankfully for them, and just stared at the van for a moment before cautiously taking a step forward-
Before the force of a blaster knocked him down.
Kid Danger was very lucky that the blaster couldn't do much other than knock someone a few feet in the air. He flew towards the van, crashing into it before hitting the ground; this little routine effectively knocked the wind out of him.
Five seconds ago, Kid Danger was, depending on how you look at it, alone. Without warning, every Wall Dog on the team (excepting Van Del) was on top of him.
Kid Danger hadn't done a very good job fighting them off the first time they meant. He had gotten much stronger and better at combat since then, but so had they. (Of course, it didn't help him much that he was kind of struggling to breathe.)
The Sprayer was the first once to reach him, knocking a fist into Kid Danger's stomach, making it even harder for him to catch a breath. PaintAbby and Candace were faster runners and were next to arrive, happily helping The Sprayer hold him down. Less than a minute later, all the present Wall Dogs were more or less sitting on top of him.
Derek and Maddy finally came out of the van, followed by someone they could not see. However, they could see the dart gun he was holding. The gun seemed to aim at Kid Danger by itself-
"Wait," said Maddy, holding up a hand in front of Invisible Brad. "He wants to be here." She turned to the Wall Dogs. "And let the guy breathe, will ya? We need him alive."
Alive?! What the butt is going on?! Kid Danger was starting to breathe better again, but only because the Wall Dog sitting on top of his stomach- not that he could tell who it was- had moved.
Each of Henry's limbs were being pinned down by a one or two Wall Dogs (right arm- Beyonspray and T-Paint, left arm- PaintAbby and Two Canz, right leg- Spray Z and the Sprayer, left leg- Candace).
"Alive?!" Kid Danger finally choked out. "What the butt is going on here?!"
The Wall Dogs, Derek, Maddy and Invisible Brad just laughed. Kid Danger hoped that the laughing meant their guards were down, but we he tried to wiggle free, they just laughed some more and pushed down harder.
Except for Spray Z, who promptly smacked him across the face. A bruise started to form immediately.
"Try that again," said the graffiti artist threateningly, "and it will hurt so much more next time."
"Don't let your guard down," said a voice. Derek, Maddy and Brad turned around, and all the Wall Dogs looked up to discover that Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort had arrived. Kid Danger, recognizing the voice, tried to look up, too, but T-Paint and Two Canz both had a literal heavy hand on his forehead, keeping his head in contact with the pavement.
Dr. Minyak got as close to he could to Kid Danger, considering there were seven Wall Dogs crowded around him- eight, now that Van Del had finally crawled out of his hiding place (the sewer- he fell off the ladder climbing back up several times).
"Kid Dumpster," said Minyak, sneering. "I've got you right where I want you."
"It's Danger, Maniac. Quit being disrespectful. And what the heck" (not the word he used, but whatever) "do you want from me?"
Dr. Minyak simply smiled. "For me to know," he gestured to Brad, "and for you to forget."
"Forget?! What does-"
Only Kid Danger didn't get to finish his sentence, because a dart found a home in his forehead.
Not too far away, Captain Man had no idea what was happening to his sidekick.
Don't even ask how he didn't hear the fighting. Too absorbed in his own world, probably, thinking about random stuff.
Captain Man has a tendency to sometimes get distracted, and searching the alley was one of those times.
"Aren't you a pretty kitty?" He was sitting cross-legged on the ground as he scratched the alley cat's chin. "A very pretty kitty!"
Yep, the great Captain Man got distracted on his mission by a cat. It meowed at him and rubbed against his leg.
"Yes, you're such a pretty kitty!" The cat purred, obviously very happy.
"You know what? You need a name, don't cha? No collar, and someone clearly hasn't been eating enough. Now, let's see…." He thought for a minute. "Cora? No, doesn't fit. Annable? Pretty, but that doesn't fit. Lacey is nice, too, but that would be awkward, naming you after my ex. Hmm… Cleo?" The cat meowed. "Cleo it is, then!" Captain Man brought Cleo closer to his face, and she purred some more.
"Yes, I'm going to introduce you to everyone in da Man Cave, Henry and Schwoz and-" Captain Man suddenly remembered where he was and set the cat down. "Henry… where is he?" He looked over his shoulders. No Kid Danger.
"Crap. C'mon, Cleo, let's go find him." Captain Man stood up, and Cleo stayed by his side as they walked to where the supers had split.
"Which way did he go again?" Captain Man looked down at Cleo. She looked both directions and stared west.
"Yeah, that was the way!" Captain Man half-walked, half-jogged west.
It finally became overly obvious that Kid Danger wasn't anywhere near the alley. Captain Man couldn't find him within a few miles any way from the alley, and he didn't pick up his phone. Captain Man finally started to really worry. Where was his sidekick?
Beginning to panic, Captain Man scooped up Cleo and ran to the Man Van. He started it, began to back out, and….
Go figure. The engine finally died.
Swearing ("Sorry, Cleo, Daddy shouldn't be using that kind of language."), Captain Man didn't see what else he could do, besides push the Man Van to the nearest gas station.
It didn't occur to him until after fifteen minutes of pushing for a whole five feet that he could run down there and come back with some gas.
Sure enough, a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
It seemed to take forever, but Captain Man (and Cleo!) finally made it back to the Man Cave. (Cleo seemed to enjoy the tubes… more or less.)
"There you are!" Charlotte was the only one down in the main area. "We- wait, where's Henry? Is that… a cat?"
Captain Man nodded. "Charlotte, this is Cleo." He held the cat up. "Cleo, this is Charlotte, she's very smart. Hold her." Captain Man practically shoved Cleo into Charlotte's arms and jogged to the monitors.
"Ray, why do you have a cat, and, more importantly, WHERE IS HENRY?" Charlotte knows how to stay calm in different kinds of emergencies, but Henry, out there, alone, without Captain Man? Yeah, he's gotten stronger, and all that, but that didn't mean Charlotte didn't worry about him. He was her best friend, after all.
"I don't know, I need to-"
"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Charlotte almost dropped Cleo. "Whaddaya mean, you don't know?!"
"I mean, I don't know! We split up, trying to look for clues, and all of a sudden he's gone!" Captain Man began triangulating Kid Danger's location, having replaced the tracker that the Wall Dogs watched Kid Danger himself shoot with a laser.
Unfortunately, they remembered that little trick. As Captain Man was trying to track down Henry, the Wall Dogs found the new tracker, a small light-up ball.
"Just like last time," said Two Canz. "Who's got the thing?"
"Allow me," said Dr. Minyak. He took the tracker and placed it in what looked like a cardboard box.
Because it was a cardboard box. Inside the box, however, was a metallic device that- well, there's a lot of science involved, but basically it disables any kind of tracker or tracking device within a two feet radius.
"The signal!" Captain Man frantically tried to get the signal from the tracker back, but it was no use. Dr. Minyak's device worked like a charm.
"Did the tracker get destroyed again?" Charlotte found herself clutching Cleo for comfort.
"I dunno, but something's happened to it." Ray jumped out of the chair. "Get Schwoz down here and see if he can locate Henry."
"Wait!" Charlotte called. "Where are you going?!"
"To find him myself."
Captain Man sped up the tubes. Not too far away, Derek and Maddy's van, sped toward the hideout, the other van following closely behind.
With an unconscious, duct taped Kid Danger inside.
Clifffffffffhaaaaaaaangeeeeeeer! Sorry, y'all! That be how it works 'round here!
Ciao, and Happy Reading!