Hello, Hello, Hello. Welcome to Episode 11: Of a Different Kind, also known as me overthinking things. Mostly this is my attempt to correlate the two different types of superheroes that seem to exist in the same universe between the Henry Danger and the Thundermans.
Also, I literally just finished watching the new Danger Force episode Power Problems part 1 and am a little bit miffed that they got to the kids loosing their powers before I did. I'm currently writing an episode about that to come out in a few weeks. Though mine will be very different from what we're seeing in Danger Force.
Anyway, please go on reading and leave a review. See y'all in the next one.
Danger S1E11: Of a Different Kind
September 7, 2021
Danger Force sit at their desk with a morning fog still clouding their eyes as Kris Hart sets up the class for their English lesson. Henry stuffs his gum tin and phone into his pockets while calling to them. "Don't let the city burn while I'm gone."
"Can't we come with you?" Chapa asks.
"Yeah!" Bose agrees.
Henry shakes his head. But his mother speaks first, "We have a quiz today, you can't miss it."
"Sorry guys, not right now. You'll all get a chance, but you need to get some schoolwork done and someone's got to keep an eye on things here." Henry agrees.
"But you're going to meet the leader of the Hero League!" Mika says, "This could be the most amazing thing ever. We should go too."
"Some other time." Henry promises. "I should be back by tonight. If things get too crazy you can call me, President Kickbutt will understand. But I'm sure you'll be fine; I trust you all."
A blue and orange shimmer of misty light precedes the sudden appearance of two superhero girls in the room. "Aah!" Miles shrieks. "What the…!"
"Dude, relax, it's just the Thundermans." Chapa says.
"Who just came out of nowhere!" Miles protests.
"Yeah. Because that never happens around here." Mika says sarcastically.
"Don't like tasting your own medicine?" Chapa jibes. Miles frowns at the pair of them.
"It's more fun to be the one popping up on people." Chloe Thunderman says, "Right AWOL?"
Miles grins, "Yeah! Teleporters slay!"
"You better believe it, Baby!" Chloe says with hands on her cocked hips.
"You ready to go, Henry?" Phoebe asks over her little sister's sass.
"Yeah. I'll see you guys later!" Henry calls to the bickering teens as he joins the Thunderman sisters. He and Phoebe wait for several seconds in expectation. "Chloe. We gotta go." Phoebe reminds her as the young girl excitedly comments on the taunts being passed between the Danger Force four.
"Yeah, yeah." The young girl says and takes each of the young adults' hands.
They disappear and reconstitute hundreds of miles away in a sunlit corridor at the top of a tower overlooking a city. Henry shakes his head disoriented and notes, "That was nothing like teleporting with AWOL."
"His is different?" Chloe asks intrigued.
"Very." Henry says.
"How?" She asks exuberantly, "What's his like?"
"Well, with him, in that second or so of not being where we were or where we're going, I don't feel any awareness of anything except the yellow flash he produces. But this time, it was like I could feel every molecule of my body being pulled away from SW.A.G. And now I feel all…" Henry tries to explain by shaking out his hands and head.
"Buzzy?" Phoebe suggests.
He nods. "Yeah."
"Everyone gets that their first time teleporting with Chloe. Part of the molecular spaghettification and reconstitution she does to teleport; AWOL must travel by different means." Phoebe shrugs.
"There are different kinds of teleportation?" Henry asks, looking from Phoebe to Chloe in shock.
"Notably, and differences in seemingly similar powers often crop up with new-made supers." A new voice says. Henry looks around to see a woman dressed in a blue super-hero pantsuit, with a matching blue swirl in the front of her topknotted hair. "You must be Danger, the new hero presiding over Swellview, formerly Kid Danger and sidekick of Captain Man."
"Yeah. Hi. You can just call me Henry." Henry says, offering a polite hand for her to shake, "You're President Kickbutt?"
Phoebe and Chloe are both nodding slightly when he glances at them and the woman herself nods once and says, "Yes. I'm the leader of the Hero League as I'm sure the Thundermans told you. They've told me that despite having fought crime for years and having superpowers you've somehow avoided contact with us."
"Uh, yeah, Ray er Captain Man never told me anything about any of this. I knew there were other superheroes in the world but I never thought you were all…" he gestures awkwardly with his hands, "…together, or connected. I didn't even know he knew Thunder Man until Phoebe showed up in Swellview a few years ago."
"Yes, well, it's not uncommon for new-made supers to not entwine themselves much with the ancient-line supers." President Kickbutt says, beckoning the three young heroes to follow her down the hallway. "The differences in cultural and biology make it hard for them to fully integrate with us. Captain Man never did have much to do with the rest of us."
Chloe doesn't go with them. Instead, she gives a little wave and says, "I'll see you later", and vanishes again.
"Where is she going?" Henry asks.
"No clue." Phoebe says, "But she'll be fine. I'll call her back when we're ready to leave."
"I suggest you don't worry yourself about the distractible nature of a six-year-old. We have more important matters to discuss." Pres. Kickbutt expresses.
Henry does a double take on where the youngest Thunderman had just been, thinking about what he knew of her and trying, yet failing, to relate correlate what he'd seen with what he'd just heard. She definitely hadn't looked like a kindergartener. "Isn't she like ten?"
"No." Phoebe says with an amused smirk, "Chloe is six."
Henry raises a curious eyebrow at her comically. "She's really big for a six-year-old."
Phoebe laughs and shares a knowing smile with Pres. Kickbutt. "Supers do not age nor develop the same as regular humans."
"You don't age the same?" Henry asks intrigued, "You aren't actually like a thousand years old or something, are you?"
"No, it's not like that. We're not vampires nor are we immortal, our life expectancy is about the same as normal humans' and as adults we age nearly the same as well. It is our childhoods and adolescence, those times of greatest development, that differ dramatically." Pres. Kickbutt says. "Chloe is chronologically six-years-old; but her physical development is equivalent to that of about a nine-year-old non-superhuman. Newborn born-as supers grow very rapidly. In the first few weeks or months of their lives, depending on their level of super ancestry, they go through several growth spurts that end with them being the physical equivalent of a preschooler. After that they age more slowly than a regular human does, spending several years as a little child. The process slowly speeds up to meet that of a regular human by the time they're in their late teens."
Henry gawps, failing to speak for the disbelief he's experiencing. "You guys were never really toddlers?" he manages to asks.
"Not like you were." Phoebe says with a smile.
President Kickbutt contemplates Henry's flabbergasted expression for a moment before deciding. "Let's go first to my office. We brought you here to learn about you, but first I think there is a few things we need to catch you up on in the world of supers."
She leads the two young adults through a room where several other people in business-hero outfits are working, into her office and welcomes them to sit in chairs opposite her by the desk.
"First thing you should know, going along the trail of our biological differences, there are two kinds of Supers, new-made and born-as. You are a new-made super, a classification meaning your superpowers were gained through accident or experiment. You weren't born with them."
"Born-as supers were." Henry nods, understanding. "Like you guys; you were born with your powers. Makes sense."
She nods and continues, "Yes, myself and the Thundermans are born-as; and we are more. Born-as supers start one generation after new-made, if the new-made's powers affected their DNA and can be passed genetically to their children. So, Born-as encompasses most heroes, and has more detailed distinctions. My family, the Thundermans, the McBoogers, and the Evilmans are among the most ancient super-family lines in the world. We're known, aptly, as the Ancient-line supers." Pres. Kickbutt explains, "And it's from our countless generations of super-mutations that our biological differences come, like the developmental differences of our children and youth. The more super-blood one has, the more dramatic the difference is. That's why most supers live here in Metroburg. The secret location and existence of this city makes it a safe place for us to live and raise our children. It would be difficult to keep our secret identities safe, and thereby the people we love, if they were to notice our children developing so differently."
"When Chloe was born my family had to deflect a lot of questions from our neighbors about where she came from. Mom hadn't been pregnant beforehand, and she looked like a four-year-old." Phoebe assists.
"You guys don't have pregnancy either?" Henry asks alarmed.
"No. We do. But superhero pregnancy only lasts one day." Pres. Kickbutt pacifies.
"Oh my god. What?" Henry says. "That's… so weird."
"From your perspective, yes." Pres. Kickbutt agrees. "And for most new-made supers, which is why they so often struggle to integrate with the rest of us, at least until they have children of their own who start developing powers."
"Then they come wanting help knowing how to raise a kid who went from newborn to five in a matter of weeks." Henry nods.
"And has superpowers to boot." Phoebe adds. "Basically."
"So, that's why Ray never even told me you guys existed? He was so far removed from the rest of this world and didn't have any kids to pull him in?" Henry asks.
President Kickbutt nods slightly, "Captain Man had more reason than most others to stay separate from us. Even if he'd had children, they wouldn't have been born-as supers. A super can only pass on powers that are a part of their DNA; which is usually the case. But some powers are created by other chemical processes, ones that only apply to the new-made that is affected by them. The radiation that was infused by Captain Man's cells made them individually indestructible didn't change his DNA. He couldn't have passed them on."
"My first power, hypermotility, was chemical like that I think. So, I couldn't have passed it on?" Henry says thoughtfully. "But with my force field, and all of Danger Force's powers, Schwoz said the omega weapon changed our DNA. So, they can be?"
"If that is all true then: yes. We can test your DNA to be sure of it." Pres. Kickbutt says.
Henry scratches his head, "I think I get it. Are there any other super differences I should know about?"
"Superpowers that are passed genetically, like the aging process, are affected by the amount of super ancestry a person has, the number of potential abilities also changes. Powers can skip a generation or many, so supers with a greater number of ancestors are not guaranteed to inherit their parents' abilities. They can develop the powers of their parents' or any of their ancestors', or some combination thereof." Pres. Kickbutt says.
Henry nods a bit whelmed. "Right, naturally. That'd be why all the Thunderman kids have different powers; well, except Max and Phoebe."
"Yes. And we only have the same because we're twins." Phoebe answers.
"Miles and Mika are twins, they have different powers." Henry contradicts questioning.
"But they're new-made." Phoebe says, "They didn't inherit anything; their DNA, as similar as it is to each other's, couldn't have reacted the same to different energies. Their abilities are separated by whatever exactly gave each of them their powers."
"But we were all hit with the same energy, from the same weapon, at the same time." Henry continues in the same tone.
Phoebe looks stumped and shrugs. "I can't explain it."
"It is an interesting question." Pres. Kickbutt agrees. "We have scientists who know more about this, you can ask them; we'll also be able to help more after our scientists have studied their powers. Now, unless you have any more specific questions, I think we can move on to acquainting you with the Hero League." Pres. Kickbutt says.
"Yeah, alright." Henry says, "Um, I have some strange data my team gathered from the situation around Captain Man's death. Schwoz thought the Hero League could take a look at, maybe you guys could provide us with some ideas."
"Interesting. Show me." Pres. Kickbutt agrees alertly, taking the drive he passes her. She plugs it into her computer and opens it. "I don't see anything I can explain easily. But, I'll have our people take a look over it and get back to you if we find anything."
"Anything you can do. Thanks." Henry says.
"Of course. The death of a hero is an important matter to study." Pres. Kickbutt says. "Anything else?"
"I'm sure I'll have more questions later but tell me about the Hero League." Henry says, rubbing his head.
(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
Chloe, after leaving the Hero League Headquarters in Metroburg, returns to SW.A.G. where Mrs. Hart has ended the bickering of her students and started them on their short essay writing assignment. They all jump at her reappearance. "Hi!" the little girl greets, "Can I stay here with you guys today while Henry's with Phoebe?"
The four teens share looks and look permissively to Mrs. Hart before Mika says, "I guess so."
"Sure." the others agree. "Why not?"
"Yeah, Baby!" she cheers and pulls a stool from a corner, across the room to sit next to Miles' desk. He waves friendly but surprised at her. She waves back at him. "Henry says your teleportation is different than mine. I want to see how. Can we do experiments with our powers?" She asks, catching his interest, and everyone else.
"Not right now." Mrs. Hart says strictly. "We're working right now on our essays. Don't you go to school, sweetie?"
"I go to Hiddenville Elementary. I'm in third grade." Chloe answers.
"Why aren't you there now then?" Mrs. Hart asks.
"Because I'm supposed to be in Metroburg with Phoebe today. But they're just doing boring grown up work stuff with Henry, so I want to hang out somewhere more fun until I have to go get them again." Chloe explains.
"Then can I have you do something quietly, like read a book, until we're done with our work?" Mrs. Hart asks kindly.
"Okay." Chloe shrugs. "We'll do power stuff later, Baby." She tells Miles and hops off the stool to look through the buckets of rulers, erasers, pencils, and other such random 'educational' supplies that line the wall of the classroom.
At Hero League headquarters, Henry walks beside Phoebe and President Kickbutt, who leads them to a sort of control room with many computers and a handful of other supers working. "The Hero League maintains a watch on the superheroes of the world. Some we communicate with regularly but some, like Captain Man, operate without our interference. Still, we keep an eye out for them; providing allies and assistance when needed. We also sometimes ask them in turn for help if something or someone particularly dangerous comes up." She shows Henry some examples on the computer. "See, here we have a watch on Swellview. Things tend to get far more villainous and difficult after a hero is killed in battle, so we ensured that we were keeping an eye on things. Phoebe and T-force insisted they'd be the ones providing you and your team with assistance during the crime wave after Captain Man's death."
"Since you already knew some of us." Phoebe clarifies.
"It's appreciated. We needed it." Henry doesn't deny.
"President Kickbutt." One of the men working calls to her from the other side of the room. "Sorry to interrupt. Our informant in Tallahassee is making contact."
"Informant? What's going on in Tallahassee?" Henry questions, thinking there must be something wrong happening there if they're actively monitoring it and feeling concerned.
"A new-made super. Excuse me a moment while I deal with this." Pres. Kickbutt answers as she makes her way across the room. Henry follows curiously, listening to the conversation she has with the other end of the line. "James? What have you found?"
"Unfortunately, I still have little information, Madame President." The man responds, "For a new-made this girl is surprisingly good at covering her tracks. I haven't been able to locate where she comes from nor her identity, she's no amateur. Even her equipment speaks to her knowledge of how to be a hero; her uniform, despite looking like the casual sweatshirt and leggings of a teenage girl, isn't homemade. It must be armored somehow, I witnessed her take a plasma blast and get back up with barely a scratch."
"How could a new-made have gotten her hands on that kind of tech so quickly? You haven't found any connection to other heroes?" Pres. Kickbutt asks.
"No. But as I said, I have found very little at all." James responds apologetically.
"And you say she's a teenager?"
"Yes. I don't know how young she is exactly, but I'd be surprised to learn she's older than 17."
"That's really young for a new-made to be going out on their own. Or to have any kind of advanced tech." Phoebe comments. "Are you sure she's not someone's former sidekick or something?"
"There's no other super or associate out here," James says, "either known to the Hero League or rumored by locals."
"Have you at least determined her powers?" Pres. Kickbutt asks.
"Not with certainty." James says, more regretfully still. "Whatever it is, it's not flashy. She's shown what may be an elevated strength, but it hasn't been superhuman. She notably vicious, but I don't think that's a superpower."
"I thought she was associated with storms, lightning or something." Pres. Kickbutt says.
"Her sweatshirt does bear a storm cloud and lightning bolt, and she goes by the name Rolling Thunder, but from what I've seen and heard she's not shown any related powers." James tells.
Henry pauses struck by the thought that he's heard that name before. It takes a moment to bring the memory to the surface of his mind as Pres. Kickbutt and James keep talking. "Anything else of note?"
"I have some better photos. I've sent them to be analyzed, hopefully they can provide some clue to her identity."
It hits Henry then, and he can't help the mutter "Oh crap!" that escapes his lips.
Everyone's surprised attention turns to him. "What?" Pres. Kickbutt asks.
He clenches his fists. "Did you say her name was Rolling Thunder?" he asks loudly enough to be heard over the comm line.
"Yes." James says. "Why?"
"Dang it!" Henry says, turning to pace a few steps away.
"Do you know her?" Phoebe asks.
Henry paces back, "I hope not. Any chance I can see those pictures?"
"I've got them here." The worker at the computer says, looking to Pres. Kickbutt for permission. She considers Henry and nods permissively. The man pulls the files James had sent up on the computer screen and moves so Henry can lean over the desk to look at them. Phoebe peers around him, curiously as he studies the girl in the photos.
She is clearly in her mid-teens, with curly caramel blonde hair and blue eyes behind a mask, black with a hot pink stripe on the upper edge, the same design as Henry's and his teammates. Her black fingerless gloves also look like they may have been his originally. Henry observes the rest of her outfit: a hot pink sweatshirt, stylishly cropped on an angle across her midriff, a yellow camisole beneath it. The sweatshirt has a black stylized cloud with a yellow lightning bolt. Matching bolt shapes in the same hot pink and yellow zigzag across the left thigh of her black leggings. She wears bright yellow Doc Martins on her feet. The style and colors she wear aren't necessary for him to confirm her identity, but they add to his certainty. Henry pulls away from the desk seething.
"You know her?" Phoebe repeats watching him.
He nods, pulling out his phone. "And I might just kill her."
"What?" The worker near them asks alarmed.
"Who is she?" Pres. Kickbutt questions, much more calmly.
He raises a finger, telling them to wait as he finds the correct contact and waits for her to pick up her phone. She does so, greeting him, "What up, D…"
"Piper Tempest Hart." Henry interrupts her in a lecture voice.
Pres. Kickbutt and Phoebe share an intrigued look. "A relative?" the elder woman asks the younger. Phoebe shrugs.
"What?" Piper demands in return. "Why the middle name, Henry Prudence Hart?"
"Would you prefer me to call you Rolling Thunder?" he asks, voice clipped.
A short silence of her surprise precedes her asking, "How did you find out about that? Did Charlotte tell you?"
"Charlotte knows?" he asks.
"Who's Charlotte?" Pres. Kickbutt asks Phoebe.
"His friend. The cyborg, Haywire, I told you about." Phoebe says.
Henry ignores them, listening to Piper's response, "Uh, maybe. So, she didn't tell you?"
"No, which I will ask her about later. But more importantly, why didn't you tell me?" he demands.
"Because it's none of your business." She snipes. "Why does it matter if I'm Rolling Thunder?"
"Because you're sixteen and don't have any superpowers." He scolds.
"And how old and powerless were you, Kid Danger?" She spits back.
He grunts with an eyeroll and goes on. "That is not the point. I was a sidekick, I had Ray looking out for me and people at base to help. Who've you got? What base do you have? You can't be running around Florida alone." The heroes around Henry listen to the argument intently, taking note of the things he says.
"I'm not helpless." Piper storms, "I have a base, of sorts, and I spent enough time around you and Ray to know what not to do to keep my identity secret."
"Piper!" he growls the complaint.
"You do recall how Charlotte, Jasper and I each found out right? And Bose? And all those Neighborville people whose memories you then had to erase?" She derides mercilessly. "I know how to be a superhero. I know how to fight. My suit is just as protective as yours and Schwoz gave me several weapons too. Plus, I'm not a terrible liar."
Henry shrugs off the jibe and says, "Why would you start crimefighting anyway? You're supposed to be in school."
"I am in school; and I don't have to justify myself to you." Piper sneers. "I don't need your permission, nor have I asked for it. I can handle doing both. So don't bother me about it."
"That doesn't mean you should…" he begins. She shouts back at him. They both argue over each other, not really listening to one another until no more real words come out and they just shout "Agh!" simultaneously. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he asks after a shared moment between the two of heavy breathing.
"Why do you have to be so badgering?" she retorts.
"Sorry for caring. Just trying to keep you alive." he says.
"Ugh. I'm hanging up now." she says.
"Piper!"
"I've got class." She excuses.
"Piper!"
"Bye, Henry." She says firmly and then all he hears is the dial tone.
He rolls his eyes irately. "So?" Phoebe broaches, "You know this new-made super? Rolling Thunder? Piper?"
"My little sister, Piper. Yeah. And she's not a new-made; she's not any kind of super. Just an obstinate little-" he balls his fists and lets it go. "She used the name Rolling Thunder once after she found out I was Kid Danger to come on a mission with me."
"You let your non-super little sister go on a mission with you?" the worker beside them asks, Henry really ought to get his name.
"No." Henry says, "But Captain Man was busy giving birth and she doesn't listen to me."
"Clearly." Phoebe says. "Also, what? Captain Man was giving birth?"
Henry sighs and dismissively say, "Yeah, he swallowed an alien egg and it grew in his stomach, weird stuff like that happens a lot in Swellview. Anyway, despite the fact that it's a pain to me, at least you can consider your mystery solved. I can tell you just about anything about my sister."
"That's a great coincidence." James comments. "So where can I find her?"
"She goes to Florida State University. Apartment A113 at the Sunshine Apartment complex on campus. I'll warn her you're coming so she doesn't try to kill you."
"Ha!" James laughs.
"I'm not kidding." Henry deadpans.
James stops laughing, "Uh, right. Thanks. Piper Hart. Sunshine Apartment A113." He repeats. "I'll talk to her, see how well she really is set up."
"Good luck." Henry offers.
(Commercial Break)
They next visit a floor of labs, albeit ones like Henry's never seen. The beakers and test tubes are filled with things he'd never dreamed: liquids that glow and change color and move as if they have minds of their own, gases and plasmas that seem impossible to be contained but sit comfortably where they're placed, and substances that Henry can't even describe. The men and women in lab coats are clearly super, using their variety of powers to run their experiments.
President Kickbutt ushers them to enter a lab at the end of the hall. There a older woman works alone at a station with a centrifuge. She turns when they walk in. "Madame President." She greets with a slight head bow.
"Dr. Pennant." Pres. Kickbutt returns the nod.
"What can I help you with?" Dr. Pennant asks.
Pres. Kickbutt turns halfway and gestures a hand towards Henry, "This is Henry Hart, also known as the hero Danger from Swellview. Henry this is our head scientist Antonia Pennant. Henry is a new-born super, or at least relatively new, and I'd like a full test done on his powers. He can tell you some about how they came to be and how they work, but we'd like to know the effect on his DNA and his status."
"Of course, Ma'am." Dr. Pennant inclines her head.
"Wonderful. I need to get back to work, send me the results when you're done. Henry this is where I leave you." Pres. Kickbutt says.
"Thank you." Henry says politely as she leaves.
"Okay, tell me about your powers." Dr. Pennant requests. "How you got them, what all you can do, what limits you have."
"Well, I have a forcefield, I got it from being caught in the explosion of the omega weapon, and I don't know of any limits, it blocks whatever I'm trying to block." He shrugs.
"Hmm, we can run tests on the limits later. First, I'd like to take a look at your DNA and discover what exactly this… omega weapon?... did to you on a cellular level." Dr. Pennant requests. "I'll need a sample and for you to tell me exactly what happened that you ended up in an explosion with components powerful enough to create superpowers."
"Sure, um, it all started with a group of villains meeting in an area outside of Swellview called No-Man's-Land…" Henry begins.
In Swellview, the four students of Swellview's Academy for the Gifted are writing the answers to the last questions of their history quiz. As soon as each is done and had handed in their papers Mrs. Hart releases them. They all gladly punch the buttons on their chairs and zoom up to the Man's Nest. Schwoz, Blue, and Chloe are playing a clearly intense game of Slap Jack on the floor of the main room. "Hey! Hey! We're done!" Miles calls to Chloe, "tell me about what you were saying earlier: our powers are different?"
"Just a minute. We're not done with our game." Schwoz tells him off, slapping aggressively at the pile of cards between him and Chloe. She's already beat him to it. "AYE!"
"Is it really so important that you finish it?" Chapa asks.
"Yes!" Schwoz says, "I've got to make this child lose at least once."
"Not gonna happen, Baby." Chloe says, sticking her tongue out at him as she takes the pile of cards. "I'm undefeatable!"
Mika considers their game and says, "Yeah. You might just wanna give up now, Schwoz. She's got you pretty close to beaten."
"And I wanna go teleport with AWOL." Chloe adds giving him her cutest begging face.
"You leave, you forfeit." Schwoz frowns back at her. So, they continue playing, and with one more jack slap, Chloe's taken the victory. Danger Force cheers. Schwoz pouts. "I'm still the champion of Hearts." He consoles himself.
"Now AWOL! AWOL! Teleport me!" Chloe begs bouncing.
"You can teleport yourself, why do you want him to?" Bose asks, letting Blue use his arms as a jungle gym.
"Henry says AWOL's power feels different from mine. I want to know how it's different, so I have to try it out." She explains.
"Cool. I want to know too." Miles says, "So, I'll teleport us somewhere and then you'll bring us back."
"Okay!" Chloe cheered. "Where should we go?"
"Um, how about…" Miles is cut off by the emergency alert going off.
"How about you take us wherever the crime is happening." Mika proposes, answering the call. "Hello, this is Shoutout, what can we help you with?" she waits for the response only she can hear. "Okay, we'll be right there. Suit up, Kyle is punching holes in walls on Captain Man Street."
"Which Captain Man Street?" Chapa asks.
"Captain Man Street number seven, I think. The one where Messy's All Night Barbeque is." Mika says.
"I know it." Chapa nods and blows a bubble. All around the room, the kids are getting into costume, even Chloe.
"Are you coming with us?" Bose asks her.
"Yes." She says tossing aside her striped shirt aside to reveal she's got her costume underneath.
"Why not?" Miles agrees. "She is a superhero. Take my hand Thunder Baby." He offers it to her. She grabs on excitedly and the other's too, catch a hold as he punches his fist into the air and teleports.
"Woah!" Chloe says once they've come to Captain Man Street number seven. "That was so crazy! You didn't atomize us to move us! And what was that yellow place we were in?"
"You could see that?" AWOL asks with equal surprise to hers.
"Yes!" she says.
"No one else can but me. It must be because you're a teleporter too." He decides.
"But what is it?" She asks. "I don't see that when I teleport."
"I call it the space between space." AWOL says.
"That's so cool!" She gushes.
"I know!" he cheers. "Now I really want to try yours."
"Guys!" Volt yells at them, "Maybe, continue this after we've stopped the bad guy?"
The two glance down the street to where Kyle is smashing the front of a bike shop. "Right!" AWOL says. "Let's go!"
"Yeah!" Thunder Baby cheers and runs with him as he charges down the street. The other's join the charge, Shoutout doing so with quite the eyeroll.
Kyle hears them coming and turns to look expectantly, immediately ceasing his smashing of the store walls lining the sidewalk. "Hey Danger Force." He growls cheerfully, looking around and among them as they all stop running at him, confused. "Where's Danger?"
"Uh… he's not here." Brainstorm says.
"Why do you care?" Volt inquires.
"Because I want to talk to him." Kyle says.
"Why?" Shoutout asks.
At the same time and over top of her Volt says, "Well, he's not here so, too bad."
"Where is he then?" Kyle complains, getting more aggressive as he goes on. "I come down here and smash up all this stuff to get him to come down to catch me so I can talk to him, and he's not even around?"
"He's on a different mission." Shoutout explains.
"He's with my sister." Thunder Baby contributes.
"Your sister?" Kyle asks looking at her. His curious expression drops into one of confusion.
"Thunder Girl." She sassily states what she thinks ought to be obvious. "I'm Thunder Baby, Baby!" She strikes a pose.
"My teleporting buddy!" AWOL adds. She beams at him and grabs his hand to demonstrate. She takes them behind Kyle. It's Miles' turn to exclaim, "Woah!" as soon as they're there. "Did you just vaporize us?"
The rest of his team and Kyle, turning around, watch them exasperated.
"I atomized us!" Thunder Baby corrects. "That's way smaller pieces that vaporizing."
"You have to atomize us to teleport?" he exclaims somewhat amazed and somewhat alarmed.
She nods, "That's how I do it. I turn us into atoms so we can move anywhere at the speed of light and then remake us when we get where we're going."
"Woah!" he says.
"Guys!" Shoutout begs, "While I'd be totally fascinated to learn more about that, can we please deal with the situation at hand?"
"Sure." Thunder Baby nods, "Are we gonna take this guy to jail?"
"Yes." Bose says.
"No." Kyle disagrees.
"Yes, we are." Volt insists.
"I want to talk to Danger!" Kyle argues back.
"Why do you want to talk to Danger?" Shoutout asks.
"Yeah. And why did you have to smash up these buildings to do so?" AWOL adds, "You could've just called the hotline."
"I am a villain, that's not how it works." Kyle stresses his disagreement with a furious hand gesture.
"But why do you even want to talk to him?" Shoutout demands for the third time.
"Because I want to know more about that girl he was with the other week." Kyle says, in a tone far more like a gossipy teenage girl's than his normal. "He brought her into TBD and was flirting up a storm. But they haven't been back since and I haven't heard another thing about her. So, is she really his 'girl' or not?"
"Oh! Danger's Girl?" Brainstorm asks.
"Danger has a girlfriend!?" Thunder Baby asks wondrously.
"They're not technically dating." Miles corrects.
"But my sister said he had a crush on her when they met." Thunder Baby says.
Volt snorts, "Okay, maybe he did, but that was like five years ago, right? He's moved on."
"I don't care about some old flame of his." Kyle interrupts, "I want to know details about the new one."
"Get your gossip in jail, Dude." AWOL says, walking over to grab hold of him. "I'll take you there right now. Thunder Baby? You take the other's back to the Man's Nest. I'll see you there in 40 seconds."
"Okay." She nods. AWOL vanishes in his usual flash of yellow light. "That is so cool!" she exclaims feeling thorough the air where he'd been.
"Yeah, yeah. Show us yours." Volt orders, grabbing the younger girl's shoulder. Shoutout and Brainstorm take her hands. Thunder Baby atomizes them.
Blue is the first to shriek and dash away once they've reconstituted in the Man's Nest. Bose stumbles after him. "That was weird."
"Gah! I feel all tingly." Chapa complains, "I never feel tingly anymore, since I got my powers."
"Mhmm." Mika agrees, "And my ears are ringing."
"Really?" Chloe asks, "That's a new one. People always get the tingly, buzzy feeling but I've never had a complaint about ears."
Miles appears next to them. He looks around at all his friends moving oddly in response to their most recent teleport, "What's up with you guys?" he asks.
"Side effects from traveling with me." Chloe says. "Didn't you get any? The buzzy feeling? Or ringing ears?"
"Nope. I just felt you pulling my atoms from each other and putting them back together." He says.
"Interesting." She notes. "I wonder why that is. Maybe we should ask Dr. Pennant at the Hero League about it."
"Who?" They all ask.
"Come with me." She says to Miles and offers her hand.
(Commercial Break)
Henry now stands in an arena of sorts. A room made of what he's told is an indestructible metal. Phoebe stands several feet away and Dr. Pennant is on the other side of an acrylic window, observing as Phoebe throws different objects and materials at Henry's forcefield. "How much longer are we gonna keep doing this?" Henry asks, bored.
"Not much longer." Dr. Pennant assures. "Honestly we don't have much else we can throw at you. The only things more powerful that that hyper-gamma ray is a quasar ray and quasar remnant. If neither of them can't penetrate that field of yours then nothing will. Which is astonishing."
"But if they can, then we're about to hit him with the most dangerous and deadly substances in the known universe." Phoebe protests, holing the opalescent shard of quasar remnant gingerly and refusing to throw it.
"It's alright Phoebe," he says, "Nothing else has broken it and I haven't felt any strain. I think I'll be fine. Besides, Danger is literally my name."
"Henry." She protests, "This stuff is beyond powerful. It's the densest material in the universe; nothing can so much as scratch it, it can't be reshaped or damaged at all. I'm not going to throw it at you."
"Then come stab it at my forcefield, keep a hold on it but see how I do." He beckons. She frowns but heeds him. Still with a look of reluctance she jabs the shard at his green shield. It sparks off the surface. "Woah!" Henry says, looking at the spot where it had hit; though the green membrane is unscratched. "It didn't react like that for anything else." He notes.
"I know." Dr. Pennant says looking fascinated. "But it didn't penetrate your force field. Did it strain you, make you feel like it might breach your shield?"
"Uh, it didn't really feel very different, maybe something." He looks to Phoebe, "Try it again." With a little more confidence now that she's assured it's not going to hurt him she stabs the shard down again with more force. It again is repelled with a shower of sparks. "Wow, uh, yeah. I don't know if I'd call it a strain, really; but I can feel the quasar thing trying to fight the forcefield more than anything else has."
"Alright." Dr. Pennant says, "Let's try the quasar ray. Phoebe set the remnant on the pedestal to your left and come join me here in the observation room." Phoebe reluctantly does as she's told.
"Should I be worried that she has to be out of the room for this one?" Henry asks, suddenly a little apprehensive.
"Honestly, I'm fairly certain you have nothing to worry about at all." Dr. Pennant says. "But a quasar ray is so powerful it cannot be contained by anything we've ever discovered. Not even our black dwarf diamond walls cannot contain it, so we have to be extra cautious when performing experiments with it. It'll come from the shard Phoebe put to your right. If it goes past you or bounces off your forcefield, it'll hit the walls that border nothing but solid stone so it can't hurt anything."
"And you want to shoot this stuff at me?" He asks worried.
"It is the same as the shard, only an energy instead of a matter. I doubt it'll have anymore effect on you that the shard did when stabbed at you." Dr. Pennant assures.
Henry shakes his head. "I hope you're right."
"Whenever you're ready, I'll hit the shard with a hyper-gamma laser to initiate the quasar ray."
Henry sighs, "Do it now then, I don't think I can be any more or less ready than I am now."
"Don't release your forcefield until it ends." Dr. Pennant warns and presses a button on her computer.
The small gamma ray hits the quasar remnant and Henry is suddenly overwhelmed by a brilliant beam of sheer power. He tenses tightly as it washes over his forcefield's bubble in an unending cascade of sparks. "Oh my god!" he says, feeling the power roiling around him but unable to touch him. He can feel his power flowing out of him to fuel the forcefield but it doesn't tire or stress him, it's just an endless impenetrable protection against the energy.
It seems to go on for an eternity but Henry's unsure of how the time is passing. Once it's gone, it appears to have only lasted a few moments. Phoebe and Dr. Pennant are watching through the window with anxious looks on both their faces, which they quickly and unconvincingly flip to expressions of confidence and coolness when they see Henry entirely unscathed. "How was that? Anything different?" Dr. Pennant asks.
Henry shakes his head. "No, it was interesting but wasn't an issue."
"Fascinating." she says.
"Is that it?" Henry asks, "Are we done?"
Dr. Pennant nods and says, "Yes, lets reconvene in my lab to look at the results of your testing. You can take those monitors off and, if you wouldn't mind, bring that quasar shard with you. I need to put it back in it's safe box."
He picks up the shard. It's heavier than he'd expected and the translucent white glimmers with colors. He considers what all he'd seen this little piece of cosmic stone do. "Hey! Dr. Pennant?" he calls, "If this thing is so powerful, could it have hurt Ray? Is this quasar stuff stronger than his indestructibility?"
She turns back to him and says, "Yes. I have seen no power in the world, invulnerabilities or forcefields, that can withstand that kind of energy. You are unique in that way." Back in the lab, she goes on with that thought to Henry, and Phoebe sitting on a stool beside him. "Henry, you may just be the most remarkable super I've ever heard of. Which says a lot because it's my job to learn about every super and power I possibly can. Most supers with defensive powers would crumble under much gamma radiation or a strike from black dwarf diamond, none could hold off hyper-gamma rays let alone the power of quasar." She says, looking down at her charts. "Whatever energy that Omega weapon hit you with is strange and complicated. Your entire being seems to resonate with one intense energy but there may be others intermingled with it in a lesser capacity. Your DNA has been altered yes, but your cells also carry some chemical alteration as well. I wouldn't be wrong to call it unprecedented; and I have no idea as of yet, how you could develop going forward or what of your power could be passed to future generations. You, dear boy, will require much more research to understand."
Henry looks uncomfortable beneath her wide-eyed, fascinated gaze. "Well, um, I really don't know much about what you're saying. Maybe Schwoz could help you; he's studied my powers."
She nods contemplatively. "I think I'll get more answers once I've had a chance to study the members of Danger Force, as well. If they were hit with the same energy as you, I'd be interested to see how extraordinary they are too."
"How am I extraordinary?" Miles asks, having just appeared with Chloe by the door to the lab.
"You Swellviewians are masters of convenient timing." Phoebe says.
"Usually it's more inconvenient." Henry says, standing abruptly. "Miles, what's up?" he asks alert.
"Nothing." Miles assures.
"We just have a question for Dr. Pennant." Chloe says.
The doctor nods and says, "Yes? What question?"
"Well, Chloe and I both can teleport but we do it different." Miles says.
"That's normal, most individuals with comparable powers find they have some differences. Chloe should know that." Dr. Pennant says.
"Yeah, but he doesn't get side effects from mine." Chloe says, "And when I go with him, I can see his space between space; which I didn't even know existed."
"Well, your powers, despite the differences, are compatible so that you two can be aware of each other's methods. But, what do you mean by his 'Space Between Space'?"
"That's how he travels. He goes into a yellow world that can take him anywhere in the world he wants to go." Chloe answers, looking eagerly at the scientist who looks back at the little girl disbelieving.
"Yeah. I call it my Space Between Space." Miles says.
"You travel through another realm to teleport?" Dr. Pennant asks astonished.
"I guess so." Miles shrugs.
"That is unprecedented. No other teleporter I've heard of has ever used a method like that." Dr. Pennant marvels and paces. "They've all used forms of atomization and spaghettification or quantum entanglement. I really do need to run some tests on those of you hit by the omega weapon."
"What? Why? What do you mean?" Miles asks.
"Because you're not the only one she's called unprecedented today." Phoebe explains.
Her words emphasized immediately by Dr. Pennant's. "Which is not something I ever say."
"I can go pick up the rest of Danger Force." Chloe offers.
"We can't bring all of us here." Henry protests, "Somebody's got to keep an eye on Swellview."
"Literally the only crime we've had today was Kyle punching holes in walls. And he wasn't really even trying to crime, he just wanted to get your attention." Miles says. "I think we'll be okay."
Henry raises an eyebrow, "Why did he want my attention?"
"He wanted to ask you about your 'Girl'." Miles says with a suggestive eyebrow waggle.
Phoebe looks interested as Henry's face flushes lightly. "Your 'Girl'?" she asks him. He doesn't respond. She eyes him a moment then offers him kindly. "I can hang out in the Man's Nest while you guys are here."
He thinks about it and nods, "Sure, thanks." She nods back and takes her little sister's hand. The vanish into Chloe's colored mist and soon thereafter Chloe returns with the rest of Danger Force in tow.
Dr. Pennant lines them up to take samples of their DNA. She puts them each through a test of skills, pushing their limits as she did with Henry. When she's finished, they sit and wait for her to explain while she paces around with an eager air. "The five of you are a researcher's dream. The powers you display are not particularly unique, but on a cellular, on a molecular level you are so different from any other I've seen. You each teem with a different energy mutated and amplified by the traces of the four others. Your DNAs have been altered so distinctly by these energies that you each seem to accomplish your powers in ways never before used by any other similarly-abled supers. And to top it off, you have the potential to develop more powers as time goes on and the energies continue to react with you, hence Miles' psychic visions, which is a power rarer than unicorns."
"It is pretty sweet." Miles says cockily.
"Wait, what? Are you saying unicorns are real?" Mika asks, though she doesn't get an answer.
"So, the rest of us are going to get second powers?" Chapa asks for confirmation. "Any idea when?"
"Or what they will be?" Bose questions too.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I cannot predict how you will develop. It may take me months of testing to gain some understanding of what exactly happened to all of you and start coming up with guesses as to what each of you may become and I suspect by then some, if not all, of you will have developed a second power. Based in the reality that Miles already has." Dr. Pennant rambles with wide eyes searching through everything around her, seemingly the universe itself, for answers. "I'm honestly surprised Mika, having DNA so similar to him hasn't yet, but it must just be the effect of her specific energy majority."
"She was the last to develop her first power." Miles tells, both helpfully to Dr. Pennant and tauntingly to his sister."
"That could perhaps have an effect. But, I cannot say whether or not that'll mean her next will come after the rest of yours." Dr. Pennant answers.
"Well, I'm sure mine will be coming soon." Mika asserts with a sneer at her brother's mocking expression.
"I hope mine will." Bose says.
"I'm not fussed." Chapa disagrees.
"Me neither." Henry echoes, "You don't need powers to fight crime and be a hero." Both Danger Force and Dr. Pennant look at him seriously and as though they don't totally agree.
Bose speaks next, "Okay, are we done? I didn't really like doing all these test things and I barely understand a word of what you've said about them, so can we go home?"
Dr. Pennant sighs, "Yes. But, if you could leave me a method of contacting your science man, Schwoz, was it? I'm going to spend a lot more time going over everything I learned about you all today."
They do as she asks.
"Before we go home, I need you to drop me off at Florida State." Henry tells Miles. "I need to go yell at my sister somewhere she can't hang up on me."
"What for?" Chapa is the one to ask, but they all share the look of interested confusion.
"For running around playing hero in Tallahassee with any powers or backup." He responds testily.
"I thought one didn't need powers to be a hero." Mika quotes.
Henry pauses, eating his own words before insisting more grumpily still, "That doesn't apply to my little sister when she's getting in over her head."
"What makes you think she's in over her head?" Chapa demands defensively on behalf of the girl she somewhat idolizes.
Next Episode S1E12: Overload