"Do you not have enough from last time?"
"I do, but it's better fresh."
If there's one thing Jasper was grateful for, it's that Schwoz has stopped using that monster bloodsucker machine to take blood from him. Mercifully, he had started to use a normal needle, since he didn't need as much blood for one person as opposed to six in the whole Green Fingers episode.
"You're making his blood sound like food," remarked Charlotte, who was duct-taping Henry's arm to the Man Cave table; they figured it would be best to do it in advance this time.
"It's food for vampires." Schwoz said with a shrug in return. He looked at her. "Are you a vampire?"
"Um, no."
Schwoz still looked at her suspiciously, and so did Jasper. Charlotte rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded like "Boys." They both looked back down.
"Can we just get this over with?" Henry really didn't mean to sound snappy, but he couldn't help it. The waiting was making him anxious- besides the fact that he didn't like shots in general- yeah, they're needed, and all, but they still hurt- he was not looking forward to losing control of his arm again. Plus, who knew what other side effects haven't made an appearance yet?
Henry couldn't help being a little paranoid, but that's what happens when you spend too much time around Schwoz.
What he should have been paranoid about, though, was Minyak's plan for that day. Henry had no idea that it was unfolding right as Schwoz was giving him the injection.
"Ow-!" Henry let a foul word slip as Schwoz's needle dug into his skin, the emergency alarm making everyone jump. Since his sidekick was duct-taped to the table, Ray ran to answer it.
"Captain Man and Kid Danger hotline, what is your emergency?"
Derek was voice acting again. (If he didn't insist on being a bad guy, he could make a career out of it. Voice acting, not being a bad guy.) This time, he was pretending to be a little kid. "Captain Man, help!"
"What's going on?"
"I'm at Becky's Ice Cream Palace, and some mean people came in, and I can't find my parents-"
"Okay, kid, calm down. Listen," He waved Henry over. Seeing this, Charlotte grabbed the nearby remote that could be used to move the couch and steered him over to the monitors (Henry found it weirdly fun), "where are you? Inside? Outside?"
"No, when the mean people came in a bunch of us were rushed into the back."
"Okay, kid- what's your name?"
"Uh… Jordan," said Derek, improvising.
"Okay, Jordan, Kid Danger is going to stay on the line with you, and I'm coming. Tell everyone to stay put, and stay quiet." Ray pulled out his gumballs and and put "Jordan" on mute for a second. "Henry, stay on the line with him until I give you the all clear. You're not going anywhere right now."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that out." Henry's arm was starting to loosen the duct tape a little. Charlotte grabbed another roll- she would have to ask Schwoz where he got duct tape with cute little pigs on it- and started adding more, longer strips. Jasper saw this and helped.
Meanwhile, Ray chewed his gum, blew a bubble, and transformed, surrounded by lights until he became Captain Man. Henry couldn't help feeling a little left out- he hated watching Ray to and fight crime without him- but it would be a disaster with his flopping limb. He listened to Captain Man yell "Up the tubes!" and watched him disappear. Focus now, feel left out later. He turned his head back around and unmuted the hotline. "Okay, Jordan, Captain Man is on his way. Who else is with you?"
"Uh, just a few random people who were here. 'Couple employees."
"Alright, are you calling from your cell phone? Someone else's?"
"No, we had to grab the phone with the cord."
"Oh, you mean the… the…." He snapped his fingers and looked at Charlotte for help. She rolled her eyes and whispered, "Landline."
"Landline," said Henry, turning back to the monitors.
"Yeah, um, we had to drag the phone to the back room with us." Derek hadn't been expecting to have to stay on, so he improvised again. "Er, do you guys hear that?" There was a bit of a bang as the line went dead, leaving nothing but the dial tone.
"Uh-oh. What happened?" Jasper asked.
"I think someone must have cut the landline," said Charlotte, not knowing that Derek had panicked and slammed the phone back into its cradle. "Now I'm really worried." Being Charlotte, she naturally took charge. "Henry, call Ray and tell him what happened. Jasper, go find Schwoz-" Schwoz had apparently realized he had forgotten something after more or less stabbing Henry with the needle. "-and I'm going to try and pull up the nearby security cameras." Charlotte jumped over the back of the couch, almost kicking Henry, Jasper disappeared, and Henry used his free arm to dig out his phone.
"Yeah?" That was how Captian Man greeted his sidekick. Henry considered staying something like "You know, generally people say "hello" when answering the phone," but decided to be a smart aleck later. "Ray, I think there's more trouble. The line went dead, he said he was using a landline, someone might have cut it."
"Crap. I'm almost there, just need- aw-" Whatever Captain Man said next was drowned out by the Man horn.
"Ray?"
"Traffic jam- oh, wait, someone's car got totaled."
"What?! Are they okay?!"
"Yeah, actually, I think someone just got rear-ended, the damage doesn't look too bad, although that guy is really angry-"
"Ray, focus!"
"Right, um, this might take a few minutes." More honking. "I'm going to try and pull over so I don't get in trouble for leaving my car out- aah, cops are looking, putting phone down." Captain Man hung up and more or less threw his phone into the passenger seat.
"Okay then," said Henry, putting his phone down. Just then, Jasper came in, followed by Schwoz. Henry heard Schowz ask Jasper if Henry was going to hurt him.
"I'm not going to do anything to you, Schwoz," called Henry from the couch. "Charlotte wants you."
"Yeah?" Schwoz walked over.
"Hold on." Charlotte pushed a few more buttons and frowned. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"What?" Henry asked.
"I figured if they were smart enough to cut the phone lines, they would think to hack the nearby security cameras. I can't get into the ones within a hundred-foot radius."
Actually, the cameras hadn't been hacked- the Wall Dogs found some paintball guns in one of Minyak's storage spaces and, after he finished yelling at them for snooping ("But we were bored!"), he agreed to let them have a little bit of fun.
How nice of him.
Anyway, the Wall Dogs were all spread out by then. Most of them were up and down the nearby streets, in various disguises (because the last thing they needed was Captain Man- or anybody else- recognizing them), and a few- namely, Spray Z, Two Canz and PaintAbby- were inside the ice cream store with Derek and Invisible Brad. Maddy, Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort were in the van. Jeff was "guarding the base" again.
"Great," said Derek. "Captain Man is coming, but Kid Danger isn't. What happened?"
"Maybe we shouldn't have acted again so soon," said Maddy. Everyone could hear each other and speak to one another via earpieces. "They might suspect something."
"Well, that wreck nearby may have bought us some time, but he'll be here soon." The wreck wasn't actually part of the plan- they'll have to remember that distraction tactic- but it was buying them a few minutes.
Someone swore. "What?"
"You guys, Captain Man is coming!"
Drive safely, y'all. You never know when a superhero is behind you needing to get somewhere to fight crime!
Ciao, and Happy Reading!