Chapter 8

Night time emerged. It was already 8.00 pm. The Kid Detectives, who are a group of five young kids who are devoted to fighting crime as detectives, were in the basement of little Kairo's house. The kids, Kairo, Majid, Alif, Aman and Marib, were sitting together on chairs, reading a newspaper. Majid then read about an article regarding the Flying Brothers.

"Brothers!" Majid said to his friends, "check this out!"

The kids were alerted by the attacks that the Flying Brothers made towards the city of Creamland. They all got shocked, and worried. However, as detectives, they thought they should do something.

Then, the walkie talkie sounded. The voice of the police chief could be heard. He was talking about a smuggling activity, somewhere in Swan Falls. There appeared to be a group of people holding briefcases containing artefacts which were stolen, to exchange with illegal couriers who were on their way. All of the events were taking place in an abandoned plantation site, near the sea.

"Oh, now what?" Kairo said in disbelief. It looked like they had one work added to another.

"Well, which work is more important?" Majid asked.

"I believe that," Alif said, "we should stop the smugglers, because it is our responsibility as detectives."

"Good point," Kairo said.

"Kid Detectives," Majid said in a raised tone, "let us move!"

The five children left the basement area and sprang into action. They entered a van, driven by their loyal assistant, which peeled off to the distance. It appeared logical that the assistant drove because he has a valid driving license, and children are not allowed to obtain one yet. Whatever it was, they were on their way to Swan Falls.

At the same time, Eddie, in his own basement, was using a sewing machine with ease, when he heard his walkie talkie. He was very close to finishing a set of jay bird themed costume, and was a little upset that he could not finish it that night. Still, he had work to do, ad that was to catch artifact smugglers in Swan Falls.

On his table, he completed a mask so far, and he wore that mask. The mask was just a regular cotton mask, was dark blue in colour. It was planned to be designed, along with the unfinished full costume, but since he had to hurry up, he had to make do with what he held at that time.

Eddie was actually a fan of masked heroes and superheroes. He believed that wearing a mask might help him fight crime more effectively, without many people recognising him as he take down the villains. In fact, Eddie had been working on his fighting technique as of late, in his house, and he hoped that his work would pay off eventually.

Whatever it was, a number of policemen rushed to the scene, but at the same time avoiding attention from potential troublemakers. Sometimes, smugglers bring their bodyguards along as means to cover up on their activities. Fortunately, the police knew what they had to do.

The Kid Detectives would have no problem, because they are not working for the police. Instead, the kids are actually private detectives who are keen on working when they have the time. Their black van found a safe spot to park when they arrived at the abandoned plantation in Swan Falls. At the same time, a brave but clueless Joe was on top of a tree, and used his goggles to look at the smugglers. However, he could not get down yet, because a bodyguard appeared just under the tree. Joe had to be careful with his steps to avoid recognition.

When Joe walked backwards, he accidentally stepped and cracked a tree branch. Luckily for him, no one noticed. The bodyguard guarding the tree looked left and right, but he saw nothing, so he got back to work. Joe breathed a sigh of relief.

The kids hid behind small boxes. Since the boxes were small, and so were they, things got a little easier for them. Their van just moved around the block, remaining anonymous. While that was happening, the smugglers waited for the appearance of the courier that they were supposed to meet.

Later, a white-coloured boat arrived. In the boat was the courier. Once the boat was parked, the courier, a black man, dressed in black clothes and black hat, leaped out with a briefcase full of money on his right hand. The smugglers, who were wearing ski masks, looked on as he approached them.

"What took you so long?" a smuggler asked the courier.

"Tsunami," the courier joked.

"Are you kidding?" the smuggler said. "Tsunami does not happen very often, you know."

"Fine," replied the courier. "I was held back by some huge waves. This is the rainy season, anyway."

"Whatever," the smuggler said, "just give us the money, and we give you the artifacts.

Joe, having seen the deal taking place, leaped off the tree and towards the bodyguard. The impact left the guard down, while Joe was feeling a little dizzy. He would later be taken down by Majid, because Majid thought he was one of the smugglers.

"Looks like two are down," Majid said.

"And more to go," Kairo said.

The appearance of the Kid Detectives were realised by the smugglers and the courier. The smugglers attempted to fight the five kids, but the courier took the artifacts and his own money back. He wanted to escape on his boat.

"Stop right there!" Majid said to the fleeing courier.

"No way," the courier said in a fearful voice. "I am getting out of here!"

"No!" the smugglers said. "Not you children!"

"It is us children," Aman, one of the Kid Detectives said. "And we will put you thugs to jail."

With that, a fight ensued. The kids battled it out together to defeat the smugglers.

However, a masked Eddie was there. He ran at a very fast speed and jumped off to the sea, hoping that he would make it into the boat. He narrowly missed, but just made it. He also missed the spinning fans on the back of the boat. Phew, he thought.

His presence alarmed the courier.

"You?" the courier said again, as if he panicked. "What are you doing here? And why do you wear a mask?"

"Does not really matter," Eddie said bravely.

"You are going down!" said the courier as he took out his laser pistol. The laser pistol was shot twice. The first shot was avoided by Eddie, but it hit the boat's fan. The second shot actually hit Eddie and sent him to the sea. Eddie was fast falling into the seabed while the boat disappeared from sight.

It was a good thing that Eddie regained consciousness in time to escape from the seabed. He swam upwards, back to the surface, while the boat was out of reach. Eddie looked upset, but he swam back to land as he was very near.

The courier was relieved that he managed to take down Eddie. He felt that he was in free air, but not for long, as a group of policemen in boats surrounded him afterwards. The courier offered little resistance as he was disarmed from his laser pistol, and he had to surrender when he had no weapon left to use.

"All right!" the courier cried. "I surrender!"

"Good," a policeman said. "That takes care of one. What about your friends?"

"Err…sir," a younger policeman said, "I received a report from Joe. He said that the smugglers were taken care of, by some kids who call themselves Kid Detectives."

"What?" the older policeman said in disbelief.

It appeared the kids really managed to beat the smugglers. The six smugglers and their three bodyguards were tied up together under a tree, while Joe looked on, shaking his head. He would later be joined by Eddie.