Hello. Welcome to my new story. If you're into Henry Danger, read and review. Tell me what you think, I love praise and constructive criticism. I hope you all enjoy.
This story came about because while Danger Force is fine, I fully agree with Ray that "I miss Henry. I miss Henry. I miss Henry.", and the rest of Team Danger. And since I don't really think Nickelodeon is going to bring Team Danger back from Dystopia even though they're only supposed to be there for a gap-year, I'm writing my own version of the future of the Dangerverse. In this, my Dangerverse, everything from Henry Danger is canon but I will discount some things from Danger Force that may have contradicted things in Henry Danger or that I feel could've been done better. Starting from the time Team Danger is returning, lining up with the end of Danger Force Season 1, I welcome you all to season 1 of 'Danger'.
Danger S1E1: Homecoming not as planned
June 18, 2021
"Huh, what?" Jasper jerks awake as Henry wrenches his janky airplane seat back into sitting position. "Wha's going on?"
"We're landing." Henry says.
"Finally!" Jasper cries, "This has been the longest flight ever!"
"You've been asleep the whole time, dude." Henry contradicts.
"Besides, this flight is 11 minutes shorter than the one we took to Dystopia; so, you're not even correct." Charlotte adds leaning over from Henry's other side to see him.
"But that one didn't feel as long!" Jasper whines, squirming uncomfortably in his seat. "I want to get out of this chair so bad!"
"Jasper calm down; the flight attendant's already mad at us, so don't get us in any more trouble." Henry says.
"Why is she mad at us?" Jasper asks, peering into the aisle at the lady in question curiously. She catches him looking and glares, her lips pressed into a thin line. The other passengers look at him knowingly, some amused and some a bit frightened.
"Because" Charlotte sighs impatiently as Henry drags Jasper fully back into his seat, "While you were asleep, your 'superpower'…" She hisses the word quietly, "…acted up and you attacked her."
"We had to pry you off her and hold you down in your seat for ten minutes." Henry adds a displeased expression aimed at his friend.
"Oh, oops." Jasper says sheepishly.
"Oops?" Charlotte demands. "You're lucky the air marshal didn't arrest you. And you got us all banned from this airline forever."
"Well, sorry. I was asleep, I didn't mean to attack anyone. What do you expect from me?" Jasper cowers under her glare.
"I expect you to control your 'superpower' or never fall asleep in public places." She says.
"I can't just not sleep when I'm tired." Jasper tries to protest.
Charlotte frowns, "Well figure it out."
"Okay, okay" Henry stops the argument before the two of them can get into it any further. "Let's not roon our homecoming with fighting. We haven't seen our families and friends in forever and I personally, am stupid excited to be home again."
"Oh, me too, Dystopia was awesome but so scary." Jasper says. "And I can't wait to see Ray again and trade superhero stories. He's finally gonna take me seriously, maybe even praise me for all the awesome stuff I did in Dystopia."
"Right, he's definitely going to do that." Charlotte smirks humorously, sharing a disbelieving look with Henry, her sarcastic tone going over Jasper's head.
"Ooh, Maybe he'll even ask me to teach him Dystopian fighting!" Jasper presses on energetically.
"Oh God" Charlotte says, slumping against the airplane window beside her.
"Jasper, that's not…" Henry cringes.
"No, no. You know what, you should try it." Charlotte cuts him off to harass Jasper. "Please give Ray fighting tips; I'll be sure to record the epic moment for posterity, and the one immediately following it where he throws you off the roof of the Man's Nest." She hisses the words, maintaining the secrecy of what they're discussing.
"He's not going to throw me off the roof." Jasper grunts confidently. Then seeing his friends' deadpan expressions, his smile falls as he asked. "Right? He wouldn't- you guys don't think he would, do you?"
"ehh, it's possible." Henry says gently at the same time as Charlotte ruthlessly says, "He definitely will."
"More than possible." He amends honestly.
"If you give him any excuse." She adds.
"Quite likely actually."
"He'll find a reason."
"Yeah." He completes apologetically.
Jasper watches them with a falling expression. "I know." He mumbles crestfallen.
The other two press their lips together tightly in a mixture of pity and amusement. "Well, hey, we also get to hang out with the Dangers. We can see how their training is coming along. Maybe steal some of Schwoz's new gadgets." Henry changes the subject in an attempt to lift the mood.
"That would be fun." Jasper smiles. "I bet they have some awesome stories of fighting crime in Swellview too."
"Ooh yeah. Mika's been telling me about some of the stuff that's happened, and I can't wait to get the full details." Charlotte says.
Both boys turn to look at her in surprise, Henry asking "You keep in contact with Mika a lot?"
"Yeah." Charlotte says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "In a world of dumb boys, we smart girls have to stick together."
"Okay rude." Henry says at the same time as Jasper whines "Hey!"
"And she, Schwoz and I have a brain trust to work on gadgets and ideas together."
"Nice," Henry says.
"No fair, I want to be part of a secret brain trust." Jasper complains. Charlotte side-eyed him but says nothing more about it.
"Anyway," Charlotte says, "it will be nice to catch up with everyone."
"And to be in a place where 90% of the population isn't out to kill us." Henry continues. "If I ever have to see some of the things we saw in Dystopia ever again, it'll be too soon." He finishes with a meaningful look at them.
"We swore never to talk of those things again." Jasper glares frightfully, face pale. "That includes vague suggestions."
"Sorry." Henry says. "I just can't get it out of my head. That one guy who…" he shudders as the others shush him violently.
"Don't say it!" Jasper hisses.
"Right, well, we're back in Swellview now," Charlotte says as the plane touches down on the tarmac. "where the villains are comical and nothing too bad ever happens."
"Right." and "Yep." The two boys agree.
"Good. Now Piper just texted me that she's waiting for us at the baggage claim." Charlotte says, the text flashing across her vision via her cybernetic contact lenses.
"Piper's picking us up?!" asks Jasper alarmed.
"Yes." The other two say.
"Isn't she still not old enough to have a legal license." He asks.
"That is also true." Henry says.
"Then why do we still let her drive us places?" Jasper presses.
"Because technically the license is legal." Charlotte says.
"Established." Henry adds automatically.
"And she's actually a very good driver." Charlotte continues. "So, stop being so scared of her and move, it's our turn to get out."
The three rise from their seats and begin collecting their carry-ons, avoiding eye contact with the flight attendant as they pass her on their way out of the plane. They meet Piper at baggage claim. The younger girl running up to them calling out "Charlotte!" excitedly and hugging her.
"Hi Piper. It's good to see you." Charlotte hugs back.
"Oh my god, I love you hair! The purple starts at the perfect spot for that crown braiding." Piper gushes.
"Oh, I know, it worked out so perfectly. I was hoping…" Charlotte gabbs back. The two girls delving into a conversation about Charlotte's hair and catching up with each other.
"Hey, hey!" Henry interrupts from his position a couple feet away. "How about some love for the brother you haven't seen in months?" he requests jealously of Piper.
"Oh, don't be a baby." She says and punches him.
"Ow" he frowns, rubbing the spot on his arm.
Piper mock pouts at him but concedes to give him a short hug and "Hi Henry." before returning to her conversation with Charlotte. Jasper and Henry make their way to the carousel to gather their luggage; then usher the girls out the door when they were all ready. Talking at laughing the four of them catch up with each other on their journey home.
After dropping Jasper and Charlotte off at their respective houses, with promises to meet them later at the Man's nest, the Hart siblings enter their own. The living room of the house is a little different than Henry remembered; the railing on the stairs and his mother's backless bookcase having been replaced. There's also a distinctive amount of less clutter, a mark of him and Piper having been away for so long. A big red and blue banner saying, 'Welcome Home', is stretched across the kitchen; and his mom and dad are there to greet him after he drops his bags.
"We've missed you, baby." His mom says, hugging him long and tight. "You left us feeling like such empty nesters."
"I missed you guys too." He smiles, freeing himself from her to also hug his dad. "But I think Piper is more to blame for the empty nest thing. I'm nineteen, it's normal for people my age to move out, she's the one going to college four years early."
"Well, I missed you both, my babies!" She says pulling both into her arms. Her husband joining in the hug from the other side. The two children find themselves pressed none to comfortably between their parents.
"Yeah, I've missed this so much." Henry murmurs somewhat sarcastically from where he is squished between his parents. Sharing a wide-eyed stare and grimace with his sister.
"Totally." Piper concurs.
Their parents let them go with bemused looks. "Okay, we get it." Mrs. Hart says. "Now, tell us about Dystopia, how was it?"
"Dystopia was…" Henry searches for a word to describe it that wasn't synonymous with scary. "…very different." He picks, saying the words slowly. "I mean just nothing like Swellview."
"Tell us all about it! We want to hear everything you, Charlotte and Jasper did. All your superhero adventures." His dad says, sitting on the couch and looking at him avidly. "What kind of criminals did you fight? What does your new costume look like? I mean, there's so much for you to tell us."
"Um, well… yes. There is definitely a lot there. But, maybe we could get some dinner first. I'm hungry and I've really missed Nacho…" Henry tries to deflect but finds soon he doesn't need to as suddenly all the lights go out. The background humming of the fridge and the air moving through the vents are silenced. All four Harts look up in surprise. Then the ground rumbles, and a distant boom echoes across the city. "What was that?" Mr. Hart asks.
Glancing around suspiciously Henry says, "I don't know." He opens the front door to peer out down the street, seeing neighbors doing the same. His family follows to stare at black smoke rising in the sky to the west.
"Did you guys lose power too?" Mrs. Hendricks calls from her front porch.
Mrs. Hart confirms to her that they did. "Wonder what's happened."
Beside Henry, Piper says. "I'm going to check the news on my phone." and steals back inside.
Henry continues to watch the smoke for a moment, wondering why it looks so weird to him. Does smoke normally swirl that way? He's about to tell his parent's that he's going to go check the scene out when from inside the house Piper screams. He and his parents run inside in alarm to see her on her phone. "What? What is it?" Mrs. Hart asks fretfully.
"My phone lost signal, and the wifi is down!" Piper shrieks.
"It's a blackout Piper." Mr. Hart says. "Of-course your phone isn't working."
"This has to be a pretty big blackout to knock out all nearby phone towers." Henry speaks his thoughts aloud, pulling out his own phone. "It may mean something more is at play. I should still be able to connect to Charlotte's software; and she was going to connect herself to the Man's Nest-work, so I should be able to get some clue as to what blew up and what's going on." His family watches him attentively as he pulls up the link and tries avidly to contact Charlotte's system, but ultimately receives no signal. Trying again results in the same. "That's not good."
"You can't get her?" Piper asks.
"No. She isn't connecting. That shouldn't be possible, her system is completely autonomous, it couldn't be taken down in a blackout." He contemplates the situation, knowing something is very amiss. Knowing he won't find any answers sitting here with his family he announces, "I'm going to the Mancave, er Man's Nest." Grabbing his gum container from a pocket in his bag he rushes out the door despite their protests and Piper's insistence that she come too. "I'll be back with answers as soon as I can. Just stay here." He says.
(Commercial break)
A short while later he tubes up into the Man's Nest, through the plexiglass he can see Schwoz hunched frantically over a keyboard, typing away. The small tech master turns to look at him in surprise. "Henry, what are you doing here?" he asks in surprise.
"What do you mean? I'm back, we're back, Charlotte, Jasper and I. We told you guys we were flying back today." Henry says.
Schwoz is nodding half-way through his sentence. "Yes, yes I remember now. Sorry, things just went kukoo crazy." He says, looking frazzled.
"I noticed, what's going on?" Henry moved to Schwoz's side by the computer wondering what he could do to help.
"I need to…" but a beeping, indicating someone else coming up the tube interrupts Schwoz's sentence, "Ah Charlotte!" he exclaims in delight as she steps off the platform.
"What's going on?" she asks also coming to stand with them.
"The comms system is on the fritz. Our whole nest-work is crashing. After Rick Twitler tried to melt the internet, I added autonomous generators to our system as a back-up, but we still seem to be losing power; and I can't keep the comms to the team open, it keeps dropping out. I need your help to fix it." Schwoz says rapidly.
"My wireless connection is down too but give me a hard line in and I'll see what I can do." She says.
Several long minutes pass while the two geniuses go about pulling wires from the computer and plugging them in elsewhere, several into Charlotte. Henry stands back feeling quite useless. "What can I do? Guys?" he asks but they shush him.
"Just a minute." Schwoz says waving a dismissive hand at Henry. Another minute passes before a staticky noise comes from the speakers. "Hello? Hello? Captain Man? Danger force can any of you hear me?" he asks into the comm microphone. "Shoutout? Volt? AWOL? Brainstorm?"
"Schw…sh...is tha…n you he…" Someone's voice nearly breaks through.
"Boost the signal as much as you can Charlotte." Schwoz instructs, pushing a series of buttons and calling down the comm line, "Keep talking we've almost got you."
"Schw…id y…lotte…there?" the voice asks something.
"What did you say?" Schwoz asks.
"I...sked if you…talkin… to Charlo…" the voice comes through again, this time clearly Mika's.
"Yes! Yes Mika, it's Charlotte." The cyborg girl responds herself. "Henry and I are both here."
"Oh thank g…" Mika says.
"What's going on? Are you guys okay?" Henry asks, hearing the familiar sounds of alarms and battle between the static in the background.
"Not real..." Mika says.
"We ar…ot… kay!" another voice says. "We are def…tely not oka…"
"Miles?" Henry asks.
"Who all do we have on this channel?" Charlotte asks, hands rushing across the keyboard. "The system is totally out of whack and we can't tell who's here. Give me a roll call."
"You know Shout…t is here." Mika says before her sonic scream can be heard directing at something on the other end of the line.
"AWOL…ere." Miles says.
"Volt..an hear y..too." Chapa grunts and is accompanied by the sounds of her lightning.
"Me too…rainsto…can hear…but I can't see!" Bose says.
"I'm wor..ing on i..ude!" Chapa yells. "No matt... how much…I blast it wi… this stupid syst… keeps loosing powe…"
"Whatev.. is causing thi…seems to b…continuous." Mika deduces. "No matter h…many times y..try, the sys… won't accept… ower."
"Well then how ar…supposed…o fight these…?" Miles asks.
"I can't figh…if I can't see." Bose cries.
Chapa just screams in fury.
"Schwoz, isn't ther…omething you can do t…fix the power?" Miles asks.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Schwoz calls back, leaving Charlotte alone at the keyboard to run across the room and grab a large cable.
"We can barely keep the comm system up, something keeps trying to break the connection and I'm barely holding it off." Charlotte said, the computer lenses in her eyes flashing rapidly, her eyelids fluttering as she concentrates her focus in the virtual world she's plugged into.
"Well, it's hard fighti…bad guys when we…an't see them!" Chapa yells.
"Yeah, the four of…re getting ou..utts kicked." Miles says.
Henry is pacing, fists clenched, unable to be of any help in the Man's Nest when he spots the flaw the others are all too busy to notice. "Wait four of you? Where's Captain Man?" he asks.
A beat of silence precedes Charlotte's note of "He didn't respond to the roll call. I don't think he's connected."
"He ran off aft..one of the ba..uys earlier. We haven't seen him since." Mika reports.
Schwoz looks up from where he's plugging his large cable into the computer, "We need to amplify the signal to reach him."
"I can't do any more than I am." Charlotte retorts.
"I can give you a little more power." Schwoz says. "Can your system handle it?"
"Probably. Just do it." She orders. Her eyes glow brighter for a moment and the comms become clear for the first time.
"Brainstorm, I could really use some help with this!" Chapa says.
"I can't use my power if I can't see." Bose repeats himself.
"Then just punch them, idiot!" she complains exasperated.
"Oh, right. Okay."
In the Man's Nest, Schwoz ignores the argument to call down the line. "Captain Man can you hear us?"
A beat of only static comes through as they all stop to listen. "Ray? Ray, are you there?" Henry calls. A blip, the tiniest, faintest response that may be the word "Kid" follows but is lost as quickly. "Ray!? Captain Man?" Henry repeats.
"Ray, can you hear us?" Charlotte enunciates loudly.
"Are you there?" Schwoz says at the same time.
Another beat of silence precedes Mile's words "I don't think he can hear us."
"Yeah, obviously." Schwoz sasses.
"Okay. We'll find him later," Henry dismisses, "He's indestructible and can take care of himself. What about you guys? What's going on?" the noises of the battle have intensified with the clarity of the comms, and it doesn't sound to be going their way.
"We're getting pounded!" Miles says.
"These guys are tearing us apart." Chapa continues, "And I can't keep up this battle with the machine." She groans and something sounds to explode.
"Volt!" Mika cries out.
"Guys? Guys!? What happened?" Henry demands as the tube alert sounds again through the Man's Nest.
No response comes from the comm-line but Charlotte shrieks in pain and collapses. Henry and Schwoz catch her and help her more gently to the floor as Jasper exits the tube and says. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What happened?" Henry and Schwoz ignore his question for the moment, both crouched beside Charlotte as she holds her head in vice grip, seemingly unaware of the fact she's screaming.
"There's something weird going down. There was this earthquake and loud noise, then weird smoke in the sky. I tried to get ahold of you and Charlotte, but I couldn't. What's wrong with her?" Jasper rambles on.
"No idea, dude. Charlotte! Charlotte!" Henry yells over her shrieks. He grabs her shoulders shaking her slightly.
Her eyes are open the technology within them glitching obviously, the screen on her forearm is spazzing out as well. Schwoz seeing this, starts pulling the computer connected wires out of her. "Something is trying to invade her system. Whatever is going wrong at the power plant is affecting her through our computer, we have to get her detached before her internal hardware melts down."
"Melts down? But, couldn't that kill her?" Jasper asks alarmed. Henry, knowing the answer is yes, has already begun removing the remaining wires from her.
When the last of them are out she stops shrieking and lays twitching on the floor. "Charlotte?" Henry asks tentatively.
"Charlotte?" Jasper repeats a bit more forcefully a few moments later. She groans and the silvery glow in her eyes fade.
"Char? Are you okay?" Henry asks helping her sit up slowly.
"Something tried to corrupt my software." She says slowly, hands still pressing to her temples. "That really hurt."
"What's happening?" Jasper asks, looking between his two best friends. "I can't have been much later than you two, but I feel like I missed a lot."
"You kinda did." Henry says. "And I really have very little clue about what's happening. Schwoz, anything you can tell us to clear this up?"
"Don't look at me." The older man says when Henry looks to him. He's back at the computer looking up at the screen, which is also glitching as Charlotte had been. "All I know is when the blackout happened, I was able to trace it to Swellview power facility and Captain Man and Danger Force went there to see what the problem was. The rest is totally unclear. From what the kids said there must be some kind of attack going on, someone is trying to sabotage Swellview's power."
"The kids." Henry says concernedly. "They're in trouble."
"We lost contact again." Charlotte's tone matches his.
"I'm going to go help them." Henry states firmly, standing and walking purposefully to the tube platform. He pulls his gum tin from his pocket and pops a gumball into his mouth. "Do what you can from here and make sure Charlotte's okay."
"But Henry…" Jasper tries to argue.
"Down the tube." Henry orders, not hearing the rest of Jasper's sentence as he drops through the mountain.
(Commercial break)
The darkness at the Swellview power facility is somehow greater than everywhere else in the city. More than the lights being off they seem to be pulling the natural light in, giving the place an eerie feel. Henry, now dressed in his Dystopian crime fighting costume (with a mask), sneaks around the facility. The lack of light makes it hard to navigate but he'd experienced similar sightless fights before. He goes slowly; stopping at each corner he comes to he listens for the sounds of fighting.
It doesn't take long at all to find the battle; the rest of the facility is silent without its running machines. He walks as swiftly and silently towards the noise until he can see Volt's red lightning blasting ahead of him. Stopping, he uses the flashes of light to see the general positions of everybody. The Danger Force costumes being so brightly colored make it easy for him to pick them out from the dark clad goons they're fighting.
Things are not going well for them. Volt's surrounded, her frequent blasts of lightning being the only thing visible in the room makes her easy to track. She also appears to have some injuries making her more vulnerable. Shoutout's sonic scream is giving her a similar problem with being tracked by the goons. She and the boys are trying to bunch around Volt too but the mass of attackers around her are making it impossible.
Having seen enough to make a move, Henry runs into the fight. He barrels into the biggest clump of bad guys, activating his forcefield, and takes a bunch to the floor. No one having known he was coming causes the whole group to be startled out of their own current acts. Punching several more out of his way he comes to a momentary stop beside Volt. "What's up Dangers?" he announces himself.
"Henry?" Volt asks as him, having nearly blasted him with lightning.
"Secret identity dude." He reminds her. "We need to regroup with the others, and I'd like to know what's going on." He says as the two of them fight side by side against the goons who are getting back to their feet.
"There's too many for me to get through, they just keep coming." Volt retorts.
"Stop using your lightning. It makes you the easiest target to find in this blackness." Henry orders. "Shoutout you too. Stop with the screaming, it only makes it easier for them." He calls in her direction, receiving a punch to the face for his own loudness.
The flashes of light and sonic shrieks stop, though already knowing where they are the bad guys are still doing well at finding them.
Recovering from the most recent blow, Henry throws his fist to where he estimates the guy's head should be, only managing to nick his ear. The goon chuckles and more accurately throws his own punch back. Henry stumbles, his back colliding with Volt's. The goon comes back but Henry is ready, kicking out and hitting better than he could've hoped the guy goes down groaning painfully.
Henry turns and grabs Volt's arm. There are tears in her uniform beneath his fist and she flinches. Adjusting his grip away from the injury he whispers in her ear. "We are going to break left, towards where Shoutout was. We need to keep hold of each other."
"Okay." She mutters.
"Ready?" he asks but she's already gripped his jacket and started running. With a scream she throws her free fist into the nearest guy's gut. "Be quiet!" he hisses.
They charge through a couple more guys and right into Shoutout and Brainstorm. Managing to keep his balance and his grip on Volt they pull the other two quickly back to their feet. Where they'd just come from Henry can hear the goons stumbling around in confusion at having lost them. They aren't clear yet though as the goons nearest them, who Brainstorm and Shoutout had been fighting, are still up and swinging and calling for back up.
Henry knocks one out with a swift kick and the kids drop the other two with little struggle. Then, the others are upon them again. A flash of yellow a couple feet away means AWOL has joined them; and that all the remaining goons know where they are.
They fight. It's a mess as either side tries not to hit their allies. More punches are missed than land; mostly the combatants are bumping into everyone else around them. Henry and Danger Force being so outnumbered are taking a bit of a beating.
Five on nearly a dozen wouldn't be too much of a problem for the heroes in the light, but here in the dark station, where all the noise echoes around endlessly, it's nearly impossible to hold onto any idea of where the enemies are.
"There's too many!" Brainstorm cries, being thrown backwards by one particularly big goon.
Volt lets out a blast of lightning at another, saying, "Well, if they already know where we are."
"Right." Shoutout says and screams, knocking over several bad guys but dizzying even the good guys.
"Ahh! Shoutout, you hit me!" AWOL complains as he gets off the goon he'd fallen on.
"Sorry!"
She and Volt keep trying to use their powers on their assailants and continue to only cause more chaos. Henry gets a surge of electricity to the back, knocking him off his feet. "Okay, stop it with that." He says through the pain as struggles to stand again for his assailants are now tripping over his head. A heavy knee lands on his ribs, drawing a loud grunt of "Ow!" from his lips.
He rolls over, bringing that assailant down more thoroughly. The person cracks their head and passes out. Henry finds another's arm and pulls that one down too, using the momentum to get back to his own feet. Before he can knock this goon out too however, another blast of lightning comes straight at him. Instinctively he puts up his forcefield, avoiding the trouble and pain of that second blast. "I said stop. Volt, Shoutout, you're not helping." He yells crossly.
"Sorry, sorry." Shoutout says sheepishly.
Volt too stops, albeit more reluctantly. "How can we fight them without our powers?"
"Use your fists." AWOL suggests from beside her. He swings one of his own towards an oncoming bad guy but misses by an inch, stumbling into him instead taking them both down.
"But we can't see them." Volt protests, taking a blow to the side as she tries to find her own attackers.
Brainstorm drops to the floor whimpering, "I don't know where I am." Effectively tripping the goon trying to punch him.
Shoutout ducks a blow from her right and the attacker's fist breaks the teeth of another goon on her left. Scooting out from between them she ends up beside Henry when he finally gets to his feet. "This really isn't going well." she says.
"We need to get out of here." He replies, pushing her aside to throw a roundhouse kick at a guy behind her.
"We're surrounded, but if we can all get hold of AWOL, he will be able to teleport us." She suggests.
"Good idea." he says. "Get Brainstorm off the floor and get to AWOL, I'll get Volt off those guys."
"Okay." She nods. They separate. "AWOL, here." She calls, kneeling at Brainstorm's side and grabbing hold of his arm.
Henry steps the other direction to where Volt is pounding on two guys she's already knocked to the ground. They're both barely conscious when Henry tugs her off. "Enough Volt. We're leaving."
She struggles against him. "No! We can take them!"
"C'mon Volt!" AWOL and Shoutout call fending off a couple more guys while they wait for Henry and Chapa.
She understands, reaching for AWOL's outstretched hand. Henry keeps a firm grip on her when she connects with him. Shoutout's holding onto AWOL's shoulder and Brainstorm's hand. "Just take us outside." Henry orders as AWOL thrusts his fist into the air.
Even unnaturally darkened, the late afternoon sunlight is blinding when they appear at the entrance to the power facility building a moment later. They all break apart with "Woah"s and "That's bright". They blink away spots and rub their eyes.
Once his eyes have cleared Henry looks around at the kids. They're standing in a loose circle. "Is everyone alright?" he asks, seeing the damage he early noted in Volt's uniform is more extensive than he'd thought and she's sooty and burned. "Chapa are you okay? What happened to you?" he asks concerned and steps closer to scan her injuries.
"The power generator station she was trying to power up exploded." Shoutout says.
"Literally blew up in my face." Volt comments. "But I'm good."
"That's when the comm system failed again and we lost contact with you guys at the Man's Nest and all control of what was going on in there." Shoutout finishes.
"It was already going pretty bad." AWOL corrects.
"Eh, we were doing okay." Volt argues.
"No, we weren't!" Brainstorm says. "I couldn't see anything, and the bad guys kept stepping on me."
"Maybe try standing, it's pretty hard to step on someone when they're not on the floor." Volt suggests.
"I didn't mean to fall down! They knocked me over." Brainstorm cries.
"Then don't let them do that." Volt retorts.
"I didn't!"
"You're supposed to be a superhero, and you got beat by a couple of low-level goons?" Volt mocks.
"It was dark! And there were a lot of them." Brainstorm says defensively.
"Yeah, we did our best. You weren't helping at all until the machine you were supposed to be fixing exploded! And even when you did, you weren't doing any better than us." AWOL snips, moving to stand next to Brainstorm's side, facing her. All three holding offensive positions.
Volt opens her mouth to yell at the boys. Henry and Shoutout standing to the side agree that this argument needs to be shut down now before it gets any farther. Henry cuts across whatever Volt would've said with, "Okay, focus guys, please. We have bigger things to worry about. Like who these criminals are and what they want here." He waits until they've all turned their attention to him. "What do you guys know about what they want?" he asks.
A long moment of silence passes while they all try to come up with something. "I really have no idea." Shoutout says, folding her arms and looking upset at her own lack of information.
"To turn off the city's power." Suggests Volt.
"But why do they want that?" AWOL asks.
"That's the question." Shoutout says. "When we got here, they had already taken down the power."
"Okay, so you found them trying to destroy city's power supply by blowing up the generators?" Henry asks her.
"Well, no…" She says, "They didn't blow up anything; the machines were glitching out on their own."
"The goons were really just standing there. When we showed up, they attacked, but they didn't seem to be doing anything before that." Volt says.
"Almost as if they were waiting for us." AWOL says. "Maybe they weren't really here to destroy the city's power supply."
"But their leader was heading for the central control tower." Shoutout points out, pointing towards the tower in the center of the complex. "What else could he get from there?"
"Maybe a hostile take over? Hold the power hostage until he gets something else he wants?" Volt suggests.
"Wait, the leader?" Henry questions, turning to look towards the tower Shoutout's indicating.
"A shadow man." Brainstorm responds. "Captain Man chased him."
"Shadow man?" Henry shakes his head at the boy not understanding.
"He was wearing black clothes, running through the darkness we could only really see him as a human shaped shadowy figure." Shoutout explains.
"He also had this cold aura." AWOL adds, "Light seemed to flee before him."
"Okay?" Henry says slowly, even less sure what that is supposed to mean. "Anyway, Captain Man followed him, and you haven't seen him since?"
"No. Neither of them. We got too busy trying to fight the goons and restore the power." Shoutout says.
"Which was obviously a complete mess." AWOL grumbles.
"Yeah, they were ready for us." Brainstorm says. "We lost that fight hard."
Shoutout perks up, "Well maybe that's it. AWOL could be right that shutting off the power was just to cause chaos, so that we would come here. They had to know we'd respond to this emergency."
"So, they staged it all to draw us out? Why?" Volt raises an eyebrow at her.
"If he wanted to fight us, then why did shadow man go up the tower after we got here?" Brainstorm adds.
"Well… I'm not sure." Shoutout admits.
"Did they have a second party to attack the Man's Nest once we were gone?" Volt asks.
"No. There wasn't anybody at the Man's Nest except me, Schwoz, Charlotte and Jasper." Henry says.
"So, we're back to square one?" AWOL asks. "No clue what they want."
"Maybe…" Henry contemplates. "Whatever this is really about it starts with that 'Shadow man'. We should head up the central control tower to find him and Captain Man. Maybe we'll get some answers there."
"What about the rest of the goons? We can't just leave them in there or let them escape." Volt says.
"Right. We won't, but we can't go back to fighting them in the dark. We need more understanding and a better battlefield." He assures her.
"So, like, if we can draw them out here?" she asks.
"Yes."
"How do we do that?" Brainstorm asks.
"I think we can find a way." Volt grins roguishly.
"Nothing violent please." Shoutout says.
"They're bad guys, I can be a little violent." Volt argues loudly.
"Or…" AWOL suggests loudly, "We just let them know where we are. If they really were waiting for us, they'll come running."
"Good." Shoutout agrees, "Then we can test our theory and not set up some convoluted, potentially deadly plan." She gives Volt a disproving look.
"Fine." Volt puts her hands up in surrender. "But I'm still going to wail on their faces once they are out here."
"Okay." Henry stretches the word, "What's your idea to let them know we're out here?" he asks AWOL.
"You told me to teleport us outside, so I expect they're already on their way. Because the universe works." AWOL says.
"And to make sure we're not relying solely on the universe I can simply do this." Shoutout says a withering look at her brother. She walks to and opens the building's door; then sends a sonic scream echoing through the corridors. "They should be here in a moment." AWOL shakes his head at the smug look she gives him.
Soon they can hear the sound of running feet. They set up a perimeter outside the door and get ready to fight. Nine goons emerge from the door, the rest being still knocked out from the battle inside. They wear matching uniforms of black ski-masks, shirts, gloves, pants and boots. Two goons a piece rush at each member of Danger Force while one comes for Henry, perhaps thinking he must be a new guy because they've never seen him in this costume in Swellview before.
Henry easily dodges the punch aimed at his face, he sidesteps and brings his own fist down on the guy, knocking him back off a few steps. The goon is hardly fazed already bringing another punch around. Henry ducks and retaliates again. This time the goon dodges, but Henry doesn't miss a beat; pulling his fist back he shifts the momentum in his body to swing a kick at the guy. The guy stumbles away again, growing angrier. His next attack is swift, running straight for Henry, fists tightly clenched. Henry doesn't bat an eye letting the guy get close before activating his force field. The goon crashes bodily into it as it expands and throws him back, knocking him out cold on the pavement.
To his right, Volt has already blown one of her guys over with a forceful blast of lightning. The other dodges fluidly around her strikes. The woman gets in close and takes Volt down. The young girl screams in rage and throws the woman off her. The first goon is back on his feet and attacks Volt while she's getting up from the ground. They crash in a violent frenzy. With one strong lightning-laced hit the man flies back into the wall of the facility. Volt hits him with several more lightning bolts before the woman is upon her again and they're locked in a new struggle.
Around the other side of Henry, while he's still dueling his goon, AWOL is confusing his opponents by teleporting around them, punching or kicking them a couple times, then flashing out again before they can retaliate. Brainstorm is using his telekinesis to throw anything he can at the nearest goons; small broken chucks from the building or rocks from the ground. All the while dodging away, staying as far from them as he can. Shoutout has deafened both her opponents and knocked one out with a scream so forceful it threw them twenty feet. The other is running from her but she doesn't let him get far. Hit with her scream this one is also lifted off his feet, flying right at Henry, who uses his forcefield again. The guy crumples, barely conscious into a whimpering pile at his feet. Shoutout seeing the result turns to help Brainstorm.
All at once a boom shocks the area. Another quake, like the one when the power had gone out, rocks the city and all the power surges back to life. Light and machine noise floods the facility as if it'd never been off. Everyone on the ground, hero and criminal alike are unable to keep their footing as the shockwave resonates from the top of the tower. None of them rush to resume fighting, instead staring up the tower. "Captain Man must've stopped the Shadow Man." Brainstorm says hopefully.
"Then we've already won." AWOL celebrates.
The four members of Danger Force group up and face the remaining goons. Those last few goons glance worriedly at each other and back at the tower, then they take off running. "Don't let them get away!" Volt yells chasing after them. AWOL teleports in front of them, halting their progress. The fight resumes, the four kids completely thrashing the criminals.
Henry makes to join the fun when something red and blue comes flying out of the window on top of the tower. He stops to watch Captain Man fall to the asphalt several feet farther away from the building than he stands. As fast as he can, Henry runs to meet his friend, ready to help him to his feet and rush back into battle with his former mentor.
As he nears, Captain Man continues to lay completely still on the ground. Henry's worry increases with each moment Ray doesn't pop up and say cockily "I'm okay!" Worry turns to dread trickling through his limbs as he drops to Captain Man's side and still gets no response.
"Captain Man?" He rolls him over onto his back. He's limp and heavy, his blue eyes are open but unfocused. He's so unmoving Henry can't even detect breath. "Captain Man? Ray!?" he shakes the man, trying not to panic. Clumsily he lifts one of Captain Man's wrists, pressing his fingers to the radial artery, searching for a pulse. For several long seconds he waits before switching to the other wrist. His breath starts to speed up as the second wrist gives him no pulse either. He freezes up and his mind stops computing, not wanting to let the obvious conclusion in.
Across the way Danger Force successfully detains the goons. They gather them all into a group and handcuff them. "I got it from here guys." AWOL says confidently. "I'm taking them to jail."
"Don't forget to pick up the others left inside." Shoutout reminds.
"I got this sista!" he responds, punching the air and vanishing along with all the defeated criminals.
Once he's gone Volt breaks out into celebratory dancing and Brainstorm jumps about and cheers their victory. "We did it! We did it! We won!" They chant.
Shoutout laughs at her friends and thinks she might join them when she spies Henry and Ray. Turning her attention to them she doesn't need to be close to see that something is wrong. Leaving Volt and Brainstorm dancing she trots over to them. The lifelessness of her teacher's body is apparent, helped by Henry's shocked expression and body language. She drops to his side, her horror level building, "What happened?"
He starts, not having noticed her approach. He looks at her, "I-I don't…. he just…" he says weakly, voice shaking.
She looks back and forth between him and Captain Man. "Sh-should we try CPR? That would help, we could save him." she says, eyes wide as her brain thinks fast, scrambling for a solution.
Henry's own mind is clearing, a possible solution and the high-pressure situation kicking his adrenaline into gear. "CPR, right yes. I know how to do that, Charlotte made me take a class with her in Dystopia." He says, getting to his knees to lean over Captain Man and pressing his hands to Ray's sternum. He pushes down deeply with sharp thrusts.
"You're not going hard enough." She critiques, "We should be able to hear his ribs cracking."
"He's indestructible, I'm not going to be able to break his ribs." Henry argues.
"He can't be indestructible right now or he wouldn't be dead. Something must've happened." Shoutout says surely.
So, Henry pushes harder, listening for a cracking rib but still hearing none. When he's about to stop, remembering rescue breaths Mika beats him to it, having moved to the opposite side of Ray, leaving Henry to keep pushing. They repeat the cycle several times. Henry's arms begin to ache. Tears stream down Shoutout's face. "It's going to be fine. We'll get his heart beating again, he'll be okay. He's always okay." He assures her.
She shakes her head, "This isn't working. We're not doing enough; we need a defibrillator or an AED."
"The thing that shocks people back…" Henry starts to ask.
"Shocks!" she cuts him off and looks beyond him. "Volt! Volt Help!" she yells desperately. "Volt!"
Volt and Brainstorm both spin around alert for danger, finally noticing the scene several yards away. They ditch the news crew they'd been greeting, about to reveal their heroic tale to the people of Swellview through the newly resumed broadcast. Volt slides on her knees the last few feet to halt next to Henry at Captain Man's side. Brainstorm takes a place by Shoutout's side, looking scared and confused. "What? What's wrong?" Volt asks. "What's wrong with Captain Man?"
Henry doesn't stop pushing on Captain Man's chest with all his strength as Shoutout explains. "His hearts not beating. You need to restart it with your electricity."
"Wait, what do you mean his hearts not beating? That would make him dead. He can't be dead, he's Captain Man." Brainstorm says panicking.
"But I can restart his heart, like the time at the aquarium that I saved Shoutout after accidently killing her for a few minutes." Volt nods. Pushing Henry off she says, "Don't touch him unless you want shocked too." And forces red lightning into Captain Man's chest. His entire body jerks before falling flat again. "Check him." Volt says, clenching her hands already prepared for a second try.
Henry resumes his CPR and Shoutout tests a wrist. "Nothing." she says.
"Try again." Henry says.
They pull back again as Volt repeats her attempt.
Again, Henry and Shoutout do their parts and again Shoutout says, "Nothing."
The third time Volt seems to add more power to her shock, Captain Man's body jumps more than the last two attempts. While Henry's trying to get Captain Man's blood to pump and Shoutout is searching for a pulse, AWOL reappears. "Woah! Woah! Woah! What's going on?" he asks, standing over them as Volt tries for a fourth time. No one answers him as they repeat the attempt again and again, but he figures it out swiftly. He kneels on Shoutout's other side.
With each fresh try Volt's hits become more desperate. She is yelling at him, "Wake up, you stupid self-obsessed man-child!" And similar insults as he continues to be unresponsive.
Brainstorm is sobbing terrified and clinging to Mika, who eventually stops checking for Ray's pulse to hug him back and cry with him. Henry takes over the responsibility as Chapa's pauses between jolts become shorter and less frequent. AWOL watches unblinking, hands clenched tightly, attentively listening to every one of Henry's reports.
Henry loses track of time as he pours all his will into rousing his friend's heart back to life. It takes multiple tries for the voice in his ear to get his attention. "…Hello? Henry! Can you hear me?" Charlotte asks in her usual frustrated tone.
"Char?" he asks.
"Finally, you answer." She chides. "The power came back on twenty minutes ago. We've been getting all the systems back up, and we have been trying to get you, Captain Man and Danger Force on the comms for a while. Are you guys okay? Why has no one responded?"
Looking around he knows the answer to her question. The kids are as lost in their fear over Ray as he is. Volt is now crying as she slams Ray with an absurd amount of energy. Henry is still holding his wrist, barely noticing the second-hand shocks he's getting. The wrist is stiff and cool to the touch. The situation had reached the point of doom.
"Henry?" Charlotte inquires at his silence. She takes a breath, "What's wrong?"
The dread inside him solidifies and drops straight through his heart, tearing it. "Captain Man…" he mutters hoarsely, unable to get the words out. Catching Mika's eyes, he knows he must. She knows the truth too but can't speak through her sobs. She's staring at him, begging him to hear her, to take the burden of ending everyone's hopes away from her young shoulders. Breathing deeply, he forces the words out, voice cracking despite his efforts to remain calm. "Captain Man is dead."
After a short pause in which she deciphers his words, Charlotte gasps but seems unable to say anything. Schwoz's faint voice can be heard proclaiming his disbelief and Jasper's cries out "That can't be!". Miles' rigid posture crumbles and he falls against his sister's side. She collapses with the boys into a pile of grief, a sliver of gratitude shimmering through at Henry. Chapa screams. "No! No, I'm going to save him! He's not dead!"
Fighting a battle against tears Henry grabs her shoulder. "Stop." He orders, pulling her away.
"No! No!" she fights against him.
"Volt Please."
"NO!"
"There's nothing you can do."
"NO! NO!"
"Chapa." He begs quietly, voice cracking.
She withers into a ball against him, pounding her hands into his chest now.
The electrocution lighting each of his nerves on fire is nothing compared to the rending pain inside him as he wraps his arms around the young girl telling her "He's gone. He's dead and you can't bring him back."
She screams long and furious but eventually stops fighting.
"I'm sorry Chapa, I'm sorry." He mumbles meaninglessly to her as a few tears slip through his defenses and down his face. He stares at the body he can't believe is Ray and can only manage one coherent thought: What now?