Charlotte's knew that this was an important task, and that she should be laser focused, but she wasn't. Her thoughts were scattered, and it seemed like all that she could really think about was that kiss. Her cheeks reddened, and her heart swelled at the memory. What did this mean for them? Could she finally tell Henry that she was in love with him? Charlotte almost got lost in the daydream of them being an actual couple. She wondered if anything would change between them, or if their relationship would somehow get better than it already was. All these thoughts swirled around in her mind, until she walked into the clean bathroom and saw the bug on her shirt, on the dark granite counter, where she left it. Her mind suddenly found the concentration that she was originally looking for. She internally reprimanded herself for not paying attention to what really mattered. Just because no one had done anything seriously dangerous in Swellview before, didn't mean that it was impossible. This was more important right now than whether or not she would be in a relationship with Henry.
Charlotte grabbed the bug quickly, briskly brushed her teeth, and put some contacts in her eyes. She quickly changed into sky blue skinny jeans and a collared, sleeveless white shirt. She threw on her striped black and white Adidas and grabbed her phone and keys before rushing down the stairs towards Henry, who was cleaning up the kitchen. He looked up at her as she walked back in the room.
"We need to get going, so I can go say hi to Ray at Junk-N-Stuff." Charlotte said pointing at the bug in her hand. Henry nodded and hurriedly put the rest of the dishes in the dishwasher.
"You want to walk?" Henry asked as he dried his hands off with a towel.
"Yeah, It's not too far." Charlotte said opening the front door and waiting for him. Henry walked past, locking the door behind him.
"That's the first time that I've ever seen you lock the door. Actually, that's the first time I've seen that door locked." Charlotte said as they started walking towards Junk-N-Stuff. Henry laughed in response.
"I think it's the first time that I think I've actually locked the door." Charlotte lightly slapped his arm.
"You need to stop trusting the people in this town and lock your door." Charlotte scolded.
"Yes, mam." Henry said. They silently walked in sync for a few minutes until Charlotte felt Henry grasp her free hand. He intertwined their fingers together and swung them in time with the gait of their walk. Charlotte looked up at Henry to see him staring at her. His eyes practically shone with hope and love as he stared back at her. Henry's whole demeanor seemed to scream that they would be talking about what happened in the kitchen later on. Charlotte could even feel her ears burn with a blush as she thought about the kiss earlier. They both walked the rest of the way to Junk-N-Stuff with a smile on their face.
As soon as they had gotten down the elevator, Schwoz bombarded them with questions.
"Where's the bug? When did you find it yesterday? Do you know who put it on you?" Charlotte immediately stepped out of the elevator, and Henry followed right behind her. She took the bug out of her hand and handed it to over to Schwoz.
"Here. Someone put it on me last night. I'm not actually sure who did it. They ran away before I could get a good look." He nodded his head at her answers and walked over towards the computer. Charlotte and Henry followed and watched in awe as Schwoz tapped a few buttons, and a dark metal canister came up from the computer desk. Red, blue, and green wires were coming out of the top, and it split open automatically. Schwoz put the tracker inside.
"What does that do, Schwoz?" Henry asked as he watched the cylinder vanished back into the computer just as quickly as it had come.
"It interrupts the signal, so whoever is listening can only hear static, and then it uses GPS to find where the feed is being transmitted." Schwoz said quickly as he tapped on the edge of the computer nervously.
"I haven't used it since I tested it out years ago, so I'm not sure how well it will work." As he finished the sentence, a GPS coordinate popped up on the computer screen. Schwoz clicked on it, and it showed an abandoned Frittle factory in the outskirts of Swellview.
"That's where the person who bugged Char is?" Henry said already pulling his packet of gumballs out of his pants pocket. Schwoz nodded. Henry gently let go of Charlotte's hand before throwing a red gumball in his mouth. He chewed it and transformed into Kid Danger. Charlotte watched with a worried expression on her face. Something about this just didn't feel right to her. It almost felt too easy, but then again, the villains in this town weren't the brightest. She grabbed Henry's arm, and he instinctively turned toward her.
"Promise me that you'll be careful. I-I need you to come back, and this might be dangerous." Charlotte said, her voice betraying her by cracking a little bit. Henry brought her in for a hug, and Charlotte returned the hug by wrapping her arms around him tightly. Henry leaned down and whispered in her ear.
"I promise that I'll come back to you, Char. I have to come back. We haven't talked about us yet, and I was hoping to ask you to be my girlfriend…" He said with his voice barely above a whisper. Charlotte felt her entire body freeze in shock, and her mind melt at his words. Before she could even respond, he lowered his lips to her cheek to leave a lingering kiss and let go. Charlotte's hands fell limply to her sides, and a goofy smile erupted on her face. Henry walked over towards the tube with more enthusiasm than usual, and he winked at Charlotte before leaving.
Charlotte's whole body felt like it was full of electricity, and she was in her own happy world when the Crime Alert went off. Schwoz clicked on it to pin point the exact location, and after a few seconds, Ray showed up with a towel swung around his hips and water dripped down his body.
"What happened? Where's the crime?" Ray said in slight panic. Schwoz looked up grimly.
"There's a fire at the movie theater, and the fire department won't be able to get there in time because of a car crash blocking the road." Ray frowned, and his eyebrows wrinkled in concern. He looked around the room briefly.
"Where's Henry? I need two people to stop the fire. One of us needs to try to put out the fire, and the other needs to help the citizens get outside."
"Henry's not here. He went to go figure out who bugged me last night. He told you and Schwoz, right?" Charlotte said. Ray groaned before looking towards Charlotte to help. Schwoz's face lit up despite the grim situation.
"I can go! I'll use the portable water hose and help you put out the fire!" Schwoz said pulling out a container of gumballs. Ray's eyes widened.
"Schwoz, why do you even have those? Why can't Charlotte come with me? She's been Kid Danger before." Schwoz pulled out his puppy dog eyes before begging Ray to take him.
"Pllleeeassseeee, Ray! I'll do anything." Schwoz said holding his hands together. Ray sighed.
"FINE. I'm going to regret this later, won't I? Let's blow and go, … Schwoz." Ray said throwing a gumball in his mouth and transforming into Captain Man. She watched in half awe and half disgust as Schwoz transformed into the Kid Danger uniform. He looked ridiculous, but he had the biggest smile on his face. She watched as they both went up the tube to go fight the fire.
Charlotte was sitting by the computer waiting for any feedback from Henry, Schwoz, or Ray when she heard the elevator open. She turned around in her chair expecting to see Jasper, and she gasped when she saw the gorgeous, tall, gray eyed young man walk out of the elevator like he owned the place.
"Taylor? What the hell are you doing here?" Charlotte said trying to discreetly search for a weapon or the emergency button. She had no idea what he was doing down here, but she did know that he wasn't supposed to be here.
"Don't bother, Charlotte. I'm only here to chat." Taylor said as he admired the Man Cave with his golden tan hands in his dark wash jeans back pockets. Charlotte ignored him and pulled out a stun gun and aimed it at Taylor. Taylor looked over lazily and groaned.
"You had to ruin it, didn't you?" He pulled a handheld gun out of his back pocket and pointed it at her. Charlotte felt fear bubble in her chest as she stared at the modern jet black gun pointed in her direction. Charlotte's felt her hands tremble, and the stun gun wobbled in her hand.
"Sit down. I'm not lying. I really did just come to chat." Taylor said waving her towards the chair with his gun. Charlotte sat obediently and dropped the stun gun on the floor.
"Let's hope that I don't have to threaten you again. That's tedious work, and I really like you Charlotte." Taylor said with a small smile. His smile made Charlotte's skin crawl. When she had first met him, she had thought he had a kind smile, but now it looked more like the smile of a menacing predator. Taylor stood a few feet away from her with the gun still trained at her head. The muscles in his arms were tensed, and she could tell that he would fire the gun at her if she didn't cooperate.
"You like me so much that you're holding a gun to my head." Charlotte quipped. Taylor laughed before he put his gun back into his jeans pocket.
"See, that's why I like you. You have spunk. I hold a gun to your head, but you still can't hold back your sarcastic comments." Taylor said before plopping down on the couch.
"How was your final Charlotte? You ace it?" Taylor said looking at her expectantly. Charlotte glared at Taylor. She didn't know what his deal was, but she doubted that he had come down here and held a gun to her head, just to find out what grade she had gotten on her final.
"Why are you here, Taylor?" Charlotte said venomously. She didn't like this feeling. The feeling of not being in control, of not knowing what was going on.
"Not in the mood for small talk? Alright, fine. We'll get straight down to business then. I'm not a big fan of your best friend, Kid Danger or rather Henry Hart." Taylor said, a smirk appearing on his face. His smirk looked vaguely like that of a snake. Charlotte felt her already spiked fear heighten and threaten to consume her. She felt as if her heart had fallen into her stomach and was being swallowed by the hydrochloric acid. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't see. The words repeated in her head over and over like an ominous omen.
"H-How?" Charlotte stuttered out for the first time in her life feeling weak, powerless, and stupid. Taylor threw his head back and laughed.
"You guys aren't as clever as you think you are. I've been watching you guys for months, but yesterday just made my day. Not only did Captain Man greet you at Junk-N-Stuff, but you walked out of Junk-N-Stuff arguing with Kid Danger. A toddler could find out where the Man Cave was. I was disappointed on how easy it was to figure out who the superhero duo was in real life. It took me about a day of looking through photos and hacking the high school and doctor's office in Swellview for their records."
"But why do you care?" Taylor sat up at this question. His calm demeanor receded, and his fist clenched at his sides. He ground his teeth before getting out of the chair.
"Because Henry ruined my life!" Taylor shouted loudly. Charlotte flinched in her seat. He inhaled deeply and unclenched his fists, seemingly trying to keep the tidal wave of emotions and insanity at bay.
"Do you remember when you were brainwashed by Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort?" Taylor asked. Charlotte nodded afraid of what he might do if she didn't.
"Well, those are my parents, but if you ask them about it, do you know what they would say? That they don't have a child. Do you know what it's like to have your parents completely forget who you are? I thought that they were joking for a while, but then they tried to kill me. They thought that I was working for Captain Man as a spy or something. I had to raise myself and watch my parents from a far. They weren't good people, but they were good parents. All because your boyfriend and his stupid boss erased my parents' memory of me." Taylor said with years of pain and anger crawling into his voice. Tears were starting to form in his eyes, and Taylor seemed lost in his memories until Charlotte interrupted him.
"So, you're going to get revenge?" Charlotte said with dread pooling into her chest. Taylor's face morphed back into a bone chilling smile.
"I'm glad you asked. I don't want to kill them. No, that's not enough. I want to break them. I want them to drown in the pain and watch their loved ones disappear right before their eyes. I spent months observing Captain Man and Kid Danger. Watching them. Listening to them. Searching for any and all weaknesses. In those few months, I learned quite a bit about the dynamic duo. With this new found information, I formulated a plan. Ray doesn't really have any family. The only person that he really cares about is Henry, and he would be crushed if he had to watch his sidekick and prodigy go through tremendous pain. Henry seemed like the easy one to crush. He has a lot of family and friends, but you, you're different. You mean everything to him. He practically lives for you. That's why I infiltrated Stanford, so I can observe you. I can't blame him. You are very special." Taylor said while getting out of his seat and circling Charlotte like a vulture. As he complimented her, he tapped on her nose with a small smile. Charlotte recoiled from his touch. She felt like she was going to be sick. Taylor was obviously psychopath, but he was intelligent and manipulative. That made him a real threat to the Man Cave
Author's Note: Hey guys, I have so many apologies to give. First, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this in forever, I actually had this done earlier, I just wasn't sure if I hated it or not. I've been dying to reveal the villain of this story, but I want to make this villain memorable and different. Second, I'm sorry about that one shot, I was supposed to have it up days ago, but I had jet lag, and a terrible flight home, so it didn't happen. To make it up to you guys, I'll write something of your choosing if you want. (It doesn't have to be a one-shot since I'm terrible at those. XP) By the way, this is like one part out of three. (Sorry to keep you hanging on the whole plans and such.) The plot only gets better from here. XD Thank you to everyone who continues to review, follow, and fav my stories. I appreciate every single review I get!