The voice made Piper jump. She nervously choked out a meek "Who- who said that?"

"Piper?" The voice said again, still muffled.

Squinting, Piper scores forward a bit and saw a face. She gasped.

"Henry?!" She reached forward and removed a gag from his mouth. "Ohmigod, are you okay?"

Henry had a black eye and a huge slash across his cheek that probably only just stopped bleeding. Piper could also make out a faint bruise on his forehead, and he had managed to move his arms to the front but couldn't move them far enough to take out the gag.

"Since when have you been concerned about my well being? Yeah, I'm okay. Are you?"

"Physically, anyway. Henry, what's going on? I heard crashes and-"

"Yeah, I heard 'em too. One of those crashes was me being whacked with a vase."

"Oh, God."

It dawned on Piper that this could've been happening because Henry was Kid Danger. But how the heck do I bring something like that up?

"Uh… did you see the house?"

"What happened to the house?" Piper heard feat creeping into Henry's voice. "It looked fine before I got knocked out."

"Oh. Well… the foundation of the actual house itself is fine, but half the inside is completely trashed. They messed up your room pretty bad."

"My room?!" Henry cried, thinking of his gumballs.

"Yeah…" Piper swallowed. "You never told me you had a hole in the wall behind that picture."

Henry was just about frozen with fear. He knew asking was a huge risk, but it was one he had to take. "Was… was there anything in the hole?"

Piper racked her brain. "I don't know, I wasn't looking," she said with a frown.

Henry felt the knot in his stomach tighten a little. "Aw, geez," he muttered, hoping Piper wouldn't ask-

"Why?"

Dang! Henry fumbled for an explanation. "Uh… I… have… a… secret candy stash?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh, can it, Henry." He looked up in surprise. "What?"

"I know you're lying, Henry."

She saw him get nervous. "Wha-wha-what are you talking about?"

Piper seemed to finally realize what she was doing. She took a deep breath. "Henry… I know."

His facial expression went from fake confused to even faker confused. "Know what?"

"I know you're Kid Danger."

She saw it; it flickered across his face for only a second, but it was there: fear.

"Me?!" He squeaked in a high, I'm-obviously-lying voice. "Oh, I wish!" He gave the fakest laugh ever.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh, give it up, Henry. I know. I heard you talking about Dr. Minyak and that secret shoplifting thing. If I had paid attention before now I would've figured it out a long time ago."

Henry bit his lip. Denial wasn't working.

"Piper," he said quietly, "you don't know how serious this is."

"Yeah?"

"Pipes, if Captain Man-"

"Lemme guess, Ray, right?"

"Shhh! Okay, yes, if Ray finds out you know, he'll wipe your brain!"

Piper certainly didn't expect to hear that. "Wait- what?"

"Piper, Ray has wiped memories before because people have found out. Well, okay, one, but still."

"But Charlotte and Jasper obviously know, and they're fine."

"Ray was only okay with letting Charlotte in on it because she was obviously a huge help, and he had originally fired me when she figured it out."

"Oh... what about Jasper?"

"Jasper found out purley by accident, but I… well, I threatened to quit being Kid Danger if Ray did anything."

"Wow. Wait, so whose memory did he wipe?"

"Some guy from your stupid tanning salon came upstairs and saw me without my mask-"

Piper gasped. "Oh, no! No no no no no!"

Henry stared at her. "What? What is it?"

"Oh, God, Henry, I'm so sorry!" Piper began to cry.

"Pipes, I'm confused."

"I… I pulled off…" she gulped. "Henry, when you and Ray were fighting Minyak and those guys today and you got knocked out… I… I was there and I peeked under your mask. Someone else must have seen. I'm so sorry."

Actually, one of the henchmen had seen when his mask fell off later, but Henry didn't feel like he could be sure of that, so he didn't mention it. He attempted to pull her into a hug (no easy feat, since they were both tied up). "It's okay, Pipes… look, right now… right now let's just focus on getting out of here." He looked around. "Uh… any ideas?"

Piper looked around. "I don't know… maybe a window?"

"If there's a window in here it's covered up and locked."

"I don't have any better ideas."

Henry thought for a moment. And then-

"Henry, don't you have some way of communicating with Captain Man?!"

Henry actually looked hopeful for a second before frowning. "Yeah, my watch has a hologram, but whoever brought us here took it."

They were silent for about a minute before Piper spoke up again. "What were you asking about?"

"Huh?"

"Earlier, when you were asking if anything was in the wall."

"Oh. Um…" Henry bit his lip. "Well, you may as well know. I have a tube of special gum that when I chew and blow a bubble, it turns me into Kid Danger. I usually keep it hidden there and keep another one with me."

"Oh." Piper couldn't resist asking. "Can I have some?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "Um, no."

"Please? I'll be your best friend!"

"First of all, that's a lame argument. Second, Charlotte's my best friend already… Charlotte! Piper, by any chance do you have your phone?"

Piper frowned. "No, I dropped it when they came for me." She lifted her head. "Maybe there's a phone around here somewhere?"

"It would be pretty difficult to get to."

Piper shrugged. She scooted closer and leaned against him. He hugged her.

"You've really changed, you know."

Piper looked up. "What?"

"I used to be afraid that you would spread the word like wildfire if you found out. But... instead you've taken matters into to your own hands." He smiled. "I'm really proud of you, Pipes."

Piper actually smiled. She had always wanted to hear Kid Danger say that he was proud of her for something, but hearing it from her brother who was Kid Danger was even better. "Thanks."

Neither of them could think of anything else to say, but this wasn't a problem.

Because the door swung open, revealing a snarling Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort.

Charlotte paced the Man Cave. It was her idea to check the cameras that were hidden around town, but the boys had found nothing and she was getting anxious.

"Are you sure?" She kept asking. "Maybe you're doing it wrong."

"I'm not even going to bother asking how we could be doing this wrong," said Ray. Charlotte gave him a look. "I think you need to go in a stress run."

Charlotte looked up. "What?"

"Go down the tubes a few stories and you'll find the Man Track."

"What an original name."

"Whatever. Just go run some."

Actually, Charlotte knew from experience that going for a run would help calm her down, so she started for the tubes. However, she hadn't gotten very far before she heard Jasper yell, "I've got something!"

So in my last story I had mentioned that writing a new chapter on a school bus late at night wasn't all that easy. Turns out just editing isn't much better.

Ciao, and Happy Reading!