Running Out of Time

by Lady Dawson

Chapter One: Back to the Danger

The moment that he saw Drex, Ray threw his arm out in front of his kid, shielding him from the psycho that was before them. His heart was hammering in his chest as he stared down his former sidekick, but he refused to let Drex anywhere near Henry.

He had been out of commission last time he was loose, unable to protect him, but he'd be damned if he didn't protect him now . . . he knew full well what Drex was capable of, knew how much he hated Henry for taking his place . . . Ray had seen that look in his eyes, at the bakery a year and a half ago.

This was not going to end well.

"Oh, look," Drex said in that scornful voice of his, "it's Ray and Henry."

Swallowing against the unspoken threat that nevertheless made his blood run cold, Ray retorted in his "Captain Man" voice, "You're not going anywhere, Drex! There's two of us and one of you!"

"Oh, no," Drex gasped in mock alarm, "then I guess you have me trapped here."

But the smirk laced in his tone, matching the one on his stupid face, spoke otherwise and before Ray could react, the former sidekick raced past him, cackling the entire time, and charged right in front of a very familiar circular device.

"The Time Jerker's Time Portal," Henry whispered behind him.

"Get away from that thing," Ray growled at him, still holding his kid back. He could feel Henry trying to get around him, to try and stand next to him, but he didn't want to give Drex any advantage of hurting him.

"Hmm, no, don't think I will."

"Drex!" Ray bellowed at the same time Henry shouted, "Get away from that thing!"

"No one tells me what to do!" Drex shouted back just as loudly just as the tubes behind them beeped and probably the worst distraction that could have happened did as Schwoz and Charlotte came down the tubes.

"Hello, everyone," Schwoz said meekly.

Drex ignored him. "Well, this has been fun," he said cheerfully, inching backwards, towards the portal. Ray felt the blood drain from his face when he realized that the portal was fully activated. "See you some other time!"

"NO!"

Ray couldn't be sure whether the shout came from Henry, Charlotte, Schwoz, or even himself but before any of them could rush forward to stop him, Drex had jumped through the blue glow and disappeared from sight.

He was gone.

"He's gone," Henry echoed his thoughts in horror.

"Not for long," Ray replied with cold determination. Wherever Drex had gone, whenever he had disappeared to, he wasn't about to let him just wreak destruction of whichever innocent people were there. This was his town, past or present, and he was going to stop him.

Turning to his sidekick, he said, "Come on, kid, let's go back in time . . ."

"To fight some crime," Henry finished with a grin.

Grinning back at him, Ray ruffled his hair affectionately, ignoring his protests, before turning to the others more seriously. "Now, listen," he told them, "while we're gone, make sure that you protect this time portal."

"And don't watch Dog Judge without us," Henry added, because if they did watch it without them, what were they supposed to do when they got back?

Turning to the portal, Ray made sure his gum tube was in his pocket before glancing sideways at Henry. As always, the teen had a look of fierce determination and met his gaze evenly, without fear, before they moved as one, propelling themselves towards the portal and jumping through the blueness.


Ray had never traveled through time before. He was startled by just how bewildering it was—like taking off in a plane but at speeds a thousand times faster and moving backwards—and when color suddenly exploded in front of his eyes, disorientating him, he stumbled, trying to regain his footing.

Head spinning, he looked around to make sure that his kid was with him and sure enough, Henry was several feet away, hand outstretched towards a table and was pulling himself up to his full height.

"Where . . ." he coughed. "Where are we?"

A better question would have been 'when' were they, but either way, Ray wasn't sure. It looked like Swellview Park, but they hadn't put that gymnasium in yet. They still had that metal bar climber that he remembered back in the day but couldn't quite remember when exactly they had taken that out.

"I'm not sure," he said, helping the kid stand. "Come on, we need to find Drex."

The reminder of why they had even jumped through the portal to begin with made Henry nod quickly and together, they raced through the empty park, looking every direction that they could for the criminal. There was no way that Drex could have gotten very far; they had only been seconds behind him.

But those few seconds must have been enough because there was no sign of him anywhere, try as both of them did to find him. When an hour, and then two, passed without any trace, Ray grew worried. If they didn't find him before he did something to screw up the timeline, what would happen when they got back?

Speaking of screwing up the timeline, why did Drex come to this time in particular? He could have thought that it was just a coincidence, that the criminal just picked a random date, that there wasn't enough time for him to think of a date that would cause the most destruction, but Ray knew better.

Drex always had an agenda.

There was some reason why he chose this particular date, some reason why, even if that date didn't make any sense to him.

Until they passed by a newspaper stand and he happened to catch a glimpse of the local paper, the Swellview Gazette, and saw the date.

It couldn't be.

Henry must have seen something on his face because he immediately asked, "Ray, what's going on in your head?"

Ray opened his mouth and then closed it when he noticed that the newspaper seller was watching them, probably hoping to make a sell, and he pushed the kid away, heading a good distance away.

Once they were out of earshot, Ray said, "It's your birthday."

"What? No, it's—"

"Today, here," Ray stressed what he meant because he was well aware that they were in the middle of March back home. "This day, here, is your birthday. November 3rd, 2000. Today's the day you were born."

The look on Henry's face said it all.

"You don't think . . ."

"I don't think Drex does anything by coincidence," Ray replied grimly. The idea that he had come here specifically to do something to Henry, little Henry that was probably being born as they were speaking, made him ill but he knew Drex well enough that he was fully capable of baby murder.

Hell, if baby Drex was in front of him, Ray might do the same thing, especially if it meant protecting his kid or his city. Drex had some of the worst traits of Ray himself, including his willingness to do anything to achieve his ends.

The only difference between them was that Ray had a moral code. Sure, he might toe the line occasionally, but above anything else, he protected his family and his city. And right now, that depended on protecting the lovely Kris Hart—

"Do you know when you were born?" Ray asked now. "I mean, the time?"

"Uh . . . no," Henry whispered, face turning pale. The implications of what Drex was going to do was hitting him in full force. "My . . . I've never seen my birth certificate, so I . . . I don't know when . . ."

"It's okay. Do you know if your parents were still living in the same house they do now?"

"Yeah, they live there. They bought that house when they got married, but Ray—"

"Okay, then we need to get there and hopefully, they're still there," Ray said absently, already moving in the direction of Henry's house. If they were lucky, maybe they would be able to beat Drex there. And hopefully, they wouldn't attract the attention of younger him, he thought, trying to remember what he had been doing in 2000. He had just started out as Captain Man back then, so hopefully, he would be busy saving kittens from trees and putting out fires to worry about two time travelers—

"Ray!"

Henry grabbed his arm, yanking him back. His brown eyes were filled with anxious panic and Ray didn't know why he was stopping him. They had to get to his house, before Drex, and protect baby Henry—

"We can't go to my house," Henry said breathlessly, sounding shaken. "There's something that Drex doesn't know."

"What do you mean? Henry, if we don't go to your house—"

"My mom and dad will be fine," replied the kid earnestly. He still looked pale but determined. "Listen, there's something Drex doesn't know . . . something that I never told you about . . ."

Getting impatient, Ray said, "Henry, your mom is pregnant with you. If Drex gets to her before we do—"

"That's the thing. She's not."

Ray blinked. "Not what?"

"Pregnant. My mom isn't pregnant."

That made absolutely no sense. "How—how could she not be pregnant? Today's the day you were born, she has to be."

Henry took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye.

"Ray . . . I was adopted."


AN: Okay, so this is not my best work but I promise, it will get better. Also, I am new to writing Henry Danger fanfiction, so please be nice with your criticism. But I have ideas for this, so many ideas, and this would not leave me alone, so I decided to share it. Please give reviews because I am addicted to them and are very much my muse for continuing on.

Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts!

Lady Dawson