It took a few minutes, but the cops managed to send all the students home before a news van showed up. Captain Man peered out the window and frowned.

"C'mon, Kid. Let's go."

Kid Danger was dying to ask why Captain Man didn't want to talk to the news people all of a sudden, but he knew that telling his boss about the noise he heard was more important. He started talking once they were in the Man Van.

"... but when I looked behind me no one was there. It was kind of creepy."

Captain Man shrugged but didn't look away from the road. "Yeah. But maybe you just imagined it. Or it could've been a ghost."

"A ghost? Seriously?"

"Hey, you never know. A ghost followed me into my middle school bathroom once." Ray lied, mostly just trying to scare Henry a little.

"Ray, you didn't go to middle school."

"I know, I was just trying to scare you."

"Gee, thanks."

They talked about ghost stories for a few minutes. Ray finally parked the Man Van into it's secret hiding spot so they could go down the tubes.

"Hey, Ray?" Kid Danger looked at his boss as they walked to the dumpster that the tubes were behind. "How come you don't want to talk to the news anymore?"

To say Captain Man looked startled would be a massive understatement. He looked… a tad panicked, actually. "No reason. Just don't," he said quickly. Way too quickly.

Kid Danger gave him a look and crossed his arms. "Yeah, I don't believe that for one second." He lowered his voice. "Ray, is there something going on?"

Captain Man hesitated. "You promise not to say anything?"

Kid Danger nodded, suddenly extra curious. "Yeah, sure thing dude."

Captain Man sighed a little and sat down cross-legged on the ground. His sidekick sat across from him. "So you've heard me mention my dad a couple of times, right?"

Kid Danger nodded.

"Well, did it ever occur to you that I never mentioned my mom?"

Kid Danger shook his head. "No, actually, I never did think of that."

Captain Man nodded. "Well, there's a reason for that. She… well, she left me and Dad when I was really little, long before I became indestructible. I overheard Dad talking to one of my aunts, saying she had a new husband and a new kid- a baby girl. A few years ago," Captain Man paused to take a big breath, "I was on Facebook, and somehow or another stumbled across her name. Recognized her from an old family photo I stole from Dad. That lady who was doing news instead of Evelyn Hall, she's my half sister." He twisted his hands together. "I don't know if she knew about me, but even Mom didn't know about me being indestructible, let alone Captain Man. But I really, really didn't want to talk to her. I mean, I know it's not her fault, but still. And get this," Captain Man finally looked Kid Danger in the eyes, "she named her daughter Rey, with an e."

Kid Danger wasn't sure what to say to that, but his boss just kept talking. "I'll confess, sometimes when we're fighting I imagine my mom's face on the criminals, or a punching bag or whatever."

Kid Danger still wasn't sure what to say, but he finally went with, "Sorry to hear that."

Captain Man shrugged and smiled a little. "Eh, it's okay. It makes me feel better knowing that I'm over here saving people's lives."

Kid Danger laughed, and they finally got up and shot down the tubes.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Henry told Charlotte and Jasper what had happened, leaving out Ray's story about his mom and half sister. They tried tracking down Minyak, but couldn't find him and was just going to have to rely on the computer for awhile.

Eventually, with the emergency alarm remaining quiet, everyone sat down and played some games; Uno, Monopoly, Pictionary, that stuff. They were in the middle of Charades (Ray was acting like a ballerina) when Charlotte realized that it was an hour past the time they usually left, not to mention dark outside.

Normally they would just walk, but Ray was really nervous about it since Dr. Minyak was still on the loose. He wanted to drive them home himself, but there were a few little problems: they couldn't take the Man Van without raising suspicion, Ray had dropped off his other van to be cleaned, Schwoz sold one of his cars, his RV is in the shop and he lent his other car to a friend.

So basically, they had no means of transportation from the Man Cave.

"Hey, Henry, can't your sister drive?" Ray asked when they thought they were out of options.

"Oh, right, I forgot. I'll call her."

Charlotte groaned. "I don't like driving with Piper."

"Me neither," added Jasper.

"Would you two rather just sleep here?" Ray asked.

They answered at the same time: "Yes."

Ray rolled his eyes. Henry laughed and pulled out his phone to call Piper. "C'mon, guys, she's actually pretty good.

Piper was watching French Basement at her house (their parents weren't home yet, they were both still at work) when Henry's call came in, so naturally she was a bit grumpy with him.

"What?"

"Hi, Piper. Listen, could you come give me and Charlotte and ride home?"

"What about me?!"

"Shh, Jasper, if I mention you she might say no."

"Oh."

"Yeah, fine," said Piper, pretending she hadn't heard the exchange. "I'll be there in a little bit." She hung up the phone and turned off the TV.

Piper spent the whole drive there (so a few minutes) trying to figure out how to discreetly grill Henry about his day, but hadn't come up with anything by the time she reached Junk N' Stuff.

Henry climbed into the front seat (Jasper and Charlotte having called dibs not) as his friends climbed into the back. Piper put the car in reverse and started for Jasper's house, which would come first.

"Soooooooooooo," said Piper slowly, doing her best to make it sound unawkward, "how was work today?"

Charlotte exchanged a little with Henry via the rearview mirror, then with Jasper. This wasn't exactly usual behavior for Piper.

"Uh… fine," said Charlotte after a minute. "How was your day?"

Obviously, Piper didn't plan on telling them how she spent her day. "Er, it was okay. Same old Saturday."

In a flash, all four of them remembered Piper coming to Junk N' Stuff that morning and following Nurse Cohort around (supposedly), but no one wanted to bite the bullet and make things weirder than they already were by mentioning it.

They were nearing Jasper's house in total silence when Piper suddenly slowed the car down to a halt. The three others looked at her.

"Why'd you stop?" Jasper asked after a moment. Normally, Piper would respond with some sort of snap or insult, but all she could focus on right then was what she was seeing.

"Piper?"

She shushed her brother and pointed out the now open window of the car; far off, in the distance, a tall, lean figure with a giant sack speed-walking in another direction.

PicassoPenguin: Okay, I found it! Thanks. :)

Ciao, and Happy Reading!