"Crap," said Derek. Something like that, anyway. "Crap crap crap crap crap."
"Shut up and move! Just keep going with the plan!"
Everyone inside the ice cream store scrambled to follow Minyak's orders- they didn't really have much choice but to follow through with the plan as well as they could, seeing as how Kid Danger hadn't shown up.
Muttering, Derek got into position. See, what Minyak's plan had been was for Captain Man to show up, and, inside the store, Derek and PaintAbby, disguised as cops who had gotten there first, would have Two Canz and Spray Z in handcuffs, and pretend they had caught two of them, but another one had escaped.
"Some needs to go after them- Kid Danger, you're fast, you go." PaintAbby was supposed to say. Then Kid Danger would, according to the plan, go chase down Candace, who was waiting nearby, and they would "take the criminals down to the station" so Captain Man and Kid Danger could leave. Dr. Minyak stressed that this mission was for the two superheroes to think everything was fine again, because some people were caught. Naturally, not everyone agreed that his plan made sense, but they had committed to go along with it. Invisible Brad's job was to tail Kid Danger, just observe him, and the other Wall Dogs were ready to present themselves as a gathered crowd, one of whom would declare their self as someone who had been in the ice cream store, and another would mention that "Jordan" from the phone managed to find his parents, and they left.
Weird, yes, but they were going with it.
Derek and PaintAbby had barely put their fake handcuffs on Spray Z and Two Canz ("I told you we should have done it earlier!") when Captain Man kicked the door down.
Literally. As if the place wasn't already a mess.
Well, all in all, a few tables and chairs had been knocked over, but the mess wasn't unbelievable.
Anyway, Captain Man's grand entrance caused Derek and the Wall Dogs to jump, but, stuttering, they pulled themselves together from their panic and proceeded with the plan.
More or less.
"Uh, hi Captain Man," said Derek, using a much deeper voice than usual. "We, uh, were in the donut shop across the street, and… heard all the communion- I mean, commotion, and came over, and, um, we got everyone… yeah."
Captain Man didn't look like he was sure whether he wanted to thank the "cops" or be annoyed because he showed for nothing. "Oh. Okay, then."
"Where's Kid Danger?" PaintAbby blurted out. Derek gave her a very subtle glare.
"Kid Danger?" Captain Man thought for a second- should he tell the truth, or some version of the truth? He was pretty sure the cops weren't villains in disguise (yeah, about that…), but didn't want to say that Kid Danger couldn't fight right then in front of the bad guys who had caused all the problems. Okay, whatever I say, it has to be believable.
"Oh, Kid Danger's not here because he's taking care of his pet raccoon." Good one, Ray.
"Pet raccoon?" echoed Derek.
"Kid Danger has a pet raccoon?" PaintAbby has heard of some weird stuff, but never a pet raccoon.
"Um, yeah," said Captain Man, knowing his lie was sounding more stupid by the second. "His raccoon, um, Jack-Jack. He's new, the raccoon, not Kid Danger, just a baby, Jack-Jack is, yeah, look, I gotta go." Captain Man started to leave the store, but then stopped. "Oh, one thing, did a little boy who was here find his parents?"
"What? Oh, yeah, Jordan found his mom and dad, he's fine, everyone's fine."
"Okay, thanks. I… should be off."
Captain Man left to find the Man Van, sitting right where he had parked it along the curb rather than waiting for traffic to move. The car that got rear-ended was gone, and things were moving normally again. As he approached, Captain Man noticed a pink piece of paper sitting on his windshield. Annnnnnnd now I've got a parking ticket. Come on, people, I was about to kick some criminal butt!
After glancing around for cops, Captain Man texted Kid Danger that he was on his way back, will give details later. As he drove off, though, something was nagging at him, and he had no idea what.
"Man, now I'm glad I didn't come. That was a waste of time."
Ray had just finished explaining what happened to everyone in the Man Cave, and that smart-alecky response came from Henry. Charlotte was next to speak up.
"Did you get their names?"
"Who, the cops?"
"The criminals, Ray."
"Oh. No, I didn't think about it." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I'll call the station later and ask for details on those two," he added. Charlotte just shrugged and said okay.
Schwoz looked up from his phone. He had been surfing the Internet for any information about Becky's Ice Cream Palace, but nothing was coming up.
Mainly because the Evil Team (unofficial name, they were going to have another meeting soon) cleaned up after themselves. Becky's was closed for the day due to plumbing issues (A.K.A. the Evil Team messed it up so they could use it- long story short, the toilet water and the tap water were mixing), and the Wall Dogs who had been out and about had cleaned up the place. Well, there wasn't really much to do, just set a few things upright, but they didn't want the owners and staff coming back and reporting the mess, because that would cause suspension of a break-in. Which is what happened.
This was only part of why Schwoz couldn't find anything on the World Wide Web; the other reason was that the Evil Team had managed to do a simple database hack thanks to Maddy, who knew technology better than the others, and remove information about it being closed, as to avoid Captain Man and Kid Danger finding out the store was supposed to be closed.
"Well, I can't find anything on what happened," said Schwoz, putting his phone down.
"Me neither," added Jasper, turning the screen on his off. He had also been searching, but couldn't find anymore than Schwoz. "Maybe the cops didn't feel like going to the news about it."
Ray sighed heavily. "Alright. I guess I'll just have to call the station later and ask. I just hope they're not difficult." Swellview's police department was not always easy to deal with.
"Fingers crossed," said Henry, holding up his crossed pointer and middle fingers. Ray crossed his, too, and they did a little fist bump with the crossed fingers.
Ray glanced at his phone. "Whoa, time flew. You guys should get home, I don't think coming in late twice in a row would be good for avoiding questions from parents."
Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look, thinking about Piper. Personally, neither of them were super thrilled about keeping up a fake relationship again, but at least this time, seeing as how they spend far less time with her than they did with Jasper, they didn't have to do it as much.
Or so they thought.
The three teens decided to leave through Junk N' Stuff, but as soon as they exited the elevator they realized that it had started pouring.
"Great, the one time a year it rains and we need to get home," said Henry.
"Just call Piper," said Jasper. "I mean, I don't like driving around with her, but she's probably our only option, since both your parents are at work, Hen."
Henry and Charlotte both groaned. Jasper thought it was because they didn't like Piper driving, but they were groaning because they were afraid Piper might, you know, spill the beans.
But the alternative was walking home in the rain, so….
As they waited for Piper to come, Charlotte read a book, and Jasper messed around with stuff around the store. Henry, however, chose to sit by the door and watch the rain.
He had a bad feeling.
The storm outside may as well as been a sign that a storm was brewing right under their noses, but if it was, no one read it. Still, though, Henry had a feeling he just couldn't seem to shake off.
He rubbed the spot on his arm where Schwoz had jabbed him. Between that, and being unable to remember what he had done the previous night, he knew, deep down, that life was going to get crazy for a little bit.
Crazier than it usually was, anyway.
I'm really starting to lose faith in my current spell check. If anyone sees something, please let me know. Much appreciated. :)
Happy Father's Day to any dads out there!
Ciao, and Happy Reading!