Hello everyone. Here I am with a new episode. I promise this one isn't nearly as scarring as the last one. I thought we all needed a little break, but not to worry, we will return to Henry's deep trauma very soon. In the meantime, enjoy this episode, leave a review. I'll see you again in the next episode.
S2E10: Playtime
Ray is sitting on the round couch, on the phone, listening attentively to Charlotte speaking. "Well, he absolutely did get on the plane. The airline confirms he checked in and boarded, and his carry-on was found in the overheads. But he's not here now. He's not among the survivors, and he's not among the dead. Nobody knows what happened to him."
"How does someone disappear off a plane ten thousand feet in the sky?" Ray demands, frustrated.
"I don't know. They're still investigating what happened to the plane. The door gave out and the area around it on the inside of the plane was torn up by something. The sudden drop in air pressure caused most the people onboard to pass out and the pilot made a desperate dive for safer air, but he couldn't pull the plane back up after that. Whatever damaged the plane prevented its safe landing."
"Oh, what they all passed out and saw absolutely nothing?" Ray rolls his eyes.
"After the door gave out, yes, there are essentially no even remotely coherent accounts of anything. And the stories they're telling from just before are a little crazy too. They're claiming that there was a UFO, or maybe two, flying alongside the plane, and they were what blew out the door."
"They were attacked by aliens?" Ray asks.
"Aliens, or fairies, according to a couple people," Charlotte confirms. "That is the story. So, the leading theory among the survivors is that Henry was abducted by them. Of course, they have no idea why, and we won't give them any clues, because as far as any of them are concerned, Henry is a nobody."
"Why would Henry be abducted by aliens? As far as I know, he's never even met one," Ray says incredulously. "Except Schwoz."
"Because everything happens to Henry," Charlotte says. "Why not aliens? He must have disappeared from the plane during the flight. If he'd still been on board, he would've used his forcefield to save everyone on the plane. And even if he'd passed out and couldn't, he wouldn't have left them to fend for themselves at the crash site, nor left all his stuff behind."
"Gah! You're right," Ray complains. "But how're we supposed to get him back from aliens?"
Charlotte huffs and says, "I don't know. If this is true, he could be anywhere in the universe."
"Well, I will take Schwoz's spaceship and search every planet in the universe then. I'll fight every alien until they give him back!" Ray determines grouchily.
"Ray, that's ridiculous. You can't search the whole universe," Charlotte says. "We'll keep investigating. And Henry can take care of himself. I'm sure he's alright and that we'll find him soon."
A month later:
Ray is clinging to Schwoz's feet as the little man quickly ascends on one of his contraptions into the ceiling. "Gimme your keys, Schwoz!"
"Ray, you're not going to be able to find Henry. You have no comprehension of the size of the universe. My spaceship will not make it to Alpha Centauri, it is for solar system travel only," Schwoz protests.
"I don't care, I'm going to find him!" Ray loses hold of Schwoz's feet and the little man disappears. "Dang it! Get back here, Schwoz!"
"Ray!" Mika scolds him. "Stop it! You're not helping anything by throwing your fits."
She is, with all the rest of Danger Force, playing a tournament round of Danger Games. Ray sits on the floor, pouting at them. "I wanna find Henry!"
"So do we," Chapa says. "You're not the only one who misses him."
"We want him back too," Bose seconds.
"But we have been over all the evidence and there is nothing to tell us where he went. We don't know what to do about it, and all you think will help is flying blindly into space and yelling about nobody else wanting to help you do it." Mika scolds.
"Well, no one else has come up with any ideas. No one else is making any efforts to find him!" Ray responds defensively.
"We'll do anything we can to find him! We're just not being stupid about it when there's nothing we can do!" Chapa stands aggressively.
"You're not doing anything!" Ray accuses.
Chapa responds more aggressively. Mika jumps in to argue as well. Ray tries shouting over them. Bose tries saying something, getting upset at the fighting. Miles even makes a few comments underneath the louder people. Blue screeches from Bose's shoulder. Jasper comes into the room amid the argument and joins in, trying to figure out what's wrong. Charlotte and Piper pause on the tube pad to take in the bedlam before deciding how to respond. Charlotte rolls her eyes and steps down with folded arms and a strict look on her face. She is not immediately successful at getting them to stop. Piper steps in another direction to grab a weapon. She fires it loudly over the heads of the group. They all fall silent in surprise. "Shut up." She orders when they all turn to look at her.
"Thank you, Piper," Charlotte says.
"Don't shoot a plasma blaster at me!" Ray counters.
"Ray," Charlotte scolds. "Stop. Calm down. All of you need to calm down." She sends her strict glare at the rest of the group. The kids and Jasper flinch and shrink under her stare. "This fighting isn't helping anything, let alone Henry."
"Nobody's helping Henry!" Ray complains.
Charlotte turns a sharp look on him. "You are getting out of control, Ray. You know that's not true. Everyone here cares about Henry. We all want to find a way to help him. Schwoz and I are running constant scans for any signal. There has been no sign or sound of where he is. There is nothing any of us can do right now to help him."
Ray seethes with stress, gesturing dramatically. "We can't accept that! He's not okay, out there, wherever he is. He wasn't okay when he left and things have clearly not got better for him. I can't just do nothing!"
"But there's nothing you can do, either," Charlotte insists. "Our best bet is that he contacts us."
"That's a good bet, right? I mean, he's Henry, he can take care of himself." Bose says.
"He's straight powerful," Chapa agrees. "He'll thrash the aliens who abducted him and fly the spaceship back here, if he can figure out how to pilot it."
Ray crosses his arms and stays on the floor, looking like a toddler who lost his teddy bear. The kids don't look much happier. "We'll see him again," Miles says. No one argues with him. No one says anything. Coming from Miles, they dare to hope his prediction is right.
Ray pouts and huffs off with a, "I'm going on patrol." He chews a gumball and goes off to get in the man-copter.
(Theme Song: "It all just kind of happened," Henry says, rubbing his face wearily. "I helped end a killer and now his victims haunt me. Every time I win a battle, I end up with more problems. Whatever happened to happy endings and victory celebrations? My life is seriously nothing but Danger… the music of the theme song overlays his voice. The scene cutting to the credits…)
The Toddler bounces with excitement on the porch of the mansion. "Stop right there!" Captain Man shouts from below in the grand garden.
"Come and get me, Captain Man!" Toddler taunts. "Goons, pop the balloons!"
Each of Toddler's henchmen has a handheld balloon inflator and a bunch of balloons. They are spread around the enormous deck of the mansion and, on his order, begin inflating the balloons. They break in the front door and continue their work inside. The balloons pop whenever they touch something else and whatever they touch changes form.
Toddler cheers as the balloons do their work. Flowers become pinwheels. The walls of the house puff up. Soon, the entire building is filled with air. Some of the goons themselves get hit by their own balloons and freeze in place. Their skin and clothes turn to plastic.
Captain Man stomps up the meandering path through the garden. "What are you doing, Toddler? Why are you turning the historic Mellview Mansion into a giant bounce house?"
"This is my new villainous plan. Swellview was so boring while you were gone. But now you're back and it's time to have some fun. I'm turning this town into our own personal playground." Toddler decrees.
"Our?" Captain Man asks.
"Come and play with me!" Toddler says, dashing into the Mansion's front door.
Captain Man follows the villain, passing the Toddler's plastified goons, and immediately stumbles as the inflatable floor is not suitable for running. The Toddler jumps away in front of him, bouncing expertly on the very giving floor.
The whole mansion has been turned into an inflatable. The couches, tables, and bookshelves are all made of air-filled polyvinyl. The grand staircase is there, only far less elegant than its natural state, and much more difficult to climb. Toddler bounces up the stairs onto the landing above, laughing at Captain Man's fumbling.
"Shut up!" Captain Man growls. "It's not funny! Get back here!"
"You want me to come down? Okay!" Toddler laughs and jumps over the railing of the second-story landing. He bounces on the had-been-marble floor with a whoop and the shockwave sends Captain Man, who had just gotten back on his feet, flying wildly into an inflatable decorative table. He rolls off the table and it pops back into position. Toddler is laughing and jumping around without a concern. "C'mon, Captain Man, that's not how you're supposed to play! Get up!"
Captain Man gets to his feet and launches himself towards Toddler, but the villain dodges him with ease and the hero crashes headfirst into the wall. It is a soft landing, fortunately. But it is also humiliating, and Captain Man is glad no one else is around to see it.
"Uh-oh!" Toddler mocks him. "You're not a good bouncer. How you gonna stop me if you keep falling down?"
Captain Man gets to his feet again, frowning at his enemy. He charges for a second time, not all in one leap but in large, angry bounds that have Toddler cackling as he bounces with each of Captain Man's strides. Toddler jumps away, leading Captain Man on a chase through the grand foyer and the large sitting rooms open to it on either side. They chase around the changed furniture. Climbing and jumping over the top of it. "Come get me! You can't catch me!" The Toddler singsongs through the mansion.
Captain Man does catch up to him after a few minutes and tackles the Toddler to the floor. They go bouncing and rolling over each other. Toddler doesn't seem disappointed by the takedown either. He smiles and starts slapping Captain Man. "You caught me!" He cheers. "Now it's your turn to run and I'll catch you!"
"I'm not playing tag with you!" Captain Man says, trying to stop the slapping.
"Yes, you are!" Toddler says in his baby voice.
"No, I'm not!" Captain Man protests.
"Yes, you are!" Toddler says in his deeper voice. He stops slapping and squirms away to get to his feet. Then he jumps back onto Captain Man as the hero is trying to stand, clinging onto his back and making him face plant. "See? Now I got you! You're it!"
He jumps, springing off Captain Man's back to start jumping again. He doesn't make it far before being blasted aside by a bolt of red lightning. "How 'bout I'm it?" Volt says. "And I win when you're unconscious?"
Danger Force has arrived and come into the room with force. Volt persists in attacking Toddler. Shoutout quickly comes to Captain Man's side, "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay!" He insists.
"Really? You seem to be struggling," AWOL comments, bouncing near to them too.
"Well, it's hard to walk in here," Captain Man defends, crossing his arms.
"It's a bounce house. You're not supposed to walk; you're supposed to bounce!" Brainstorm says. He is moving about with ease and vigor, jumping all over the room with his monkey screeching in delight from his shoulder.
"Go away! I didn't invite you!" Toddler scowls at the teens. "I'm playing with Captain Man!"
"You invited us by committing a crime," Volt says.
"You can't turn a historic site into a bounce house and not expect us to turn up," Shoutout agrees.
"Even if it wasn't a crime," AWOL says. "This is too awesome to miss."
"No!" Toddler cries, bouncing up what had been a grand staircase. "This is my party. No crashers! My goons will make you leave. Goons!"
Nobody comes at his call. Captain Man does laugh this time. "All your goons got turned to toys by their own balloons," he reminds the Toddler.
Toddler frowns and grumbles.
"Looks like we're here to stay," AWOL says, falling backward into an inflated armchair.
"Yay!" Brainstorms says, still bouncing around the room with glee.
"Here to stop him, at least," Volt says. She chases Toddler around the room. "I think I'm a little too old to be playing in a bounce house."
"But it's fun!" Brainstorm argues. "You can't be too old for fun."
"I have fun," Volt argues. "I have fun zapping villains until they're unconscious." She takes a leap and ends up crashing into what had been furniture. She laughs despite herself as she rolls right over a vase and it pops back into its balloonified shape.
"Well, now you can do that in a bounce house. So, it's twice the fun," AWOL rationalizes.
"It's my fun!" Toddler complains. "I wanna play with Captain Man!" He bounds away through the mansion. The heroes chase after him.
"I got him," AWOL says, teleporting in front of the Toddler. The villain crashes into the sidekick and they both fall to the polyvinyl floor.
Toddler screams frustrated without words and AWOL smirks. The other heroes catch up and surround him. Toddler pouts in the center of their circle. "We got you, Toddler!" Captain Man gloats.
"That was super easy," Volt comments.
Toddler's dour expression turns devious and he searches his pockets for a balloon. He puts the balloon to his lips and inflates it as quickly as he can.
"What're you doing?" Shoutout asks.
"Is that balloon supposed to save you?" Volt questions.
Toddler smirks and releases the balloon, sending it flying erratically around the room with a lot of noise and spittle flying from the end of it. "Eww!" Shoutout complains. They all take an unconscious step back in surprise.
Blue screeches and leaps up to intercept the balloon, biting down on it with his sharp little teeth. The balloon pops and the monkey drops to the ground limply. "Blue!" Brainstorm drops worried to his pet's side and picks up the little monkey, now a little sock monkey.
"Oh no!" Shoutout says.
"Haha!" Toddler cheers. "Yipee! A new toy! Look at the little monkey!" He takes the opening of Brainstorm moving to rush past him. He bodychecks the panicking teen and sends him sprawling.
The heroes are slower to follow this time. Shoutout drops to Brainstorm's side to help him get back up. He shows her the sock Blue, mournfully. "Don't worry. I'm sure Schwoz will be able to fix him," she comforts.
Volt runs after Toddler quickest, yelling at him furiously. Captain Man follows her shortly and after getting a nod from his sister, so does AWOL. Toddler has found a second balloon and is blowing it up as he runs away from them.
He releases the balloon behind him, and it goes sputtering wildly around, forcing them all to duck and dodge. It ends by slapping Captain Man in the face and popping. The sidekicks gasp and shriek in alarm, but nothing happens. "Ha!" Captain Man laughs. "Your balloons are weak!"
"Ooh! Interesting!" Toddler comments, staring at Captain Man. "You can't be a toy. You have to be a playmate!"
"It didn't affect you?" AWOL says.
"Of course not. I'm indestructible," Captain Man boasts.
"Well, your stupid sidekicks aren't!" Toddler jeers. "So, I'm gonna turn them all into my toys. I'll be back soon with more balloons. Then you and me can play together without anybody bugging us."
He resumes his flight. Captain Man and Volt pursue him down the long hall and a staircase that he carelessly throws himself down. They take the bouncing, rolling journey with some amusement. AWOL tries to get in front of the villain, but the mansion is a maze and Toddler disappears down a different hall. In a matter of minutes, none of them have eyes on him. They search through the numerous rooms but can't find him.
"Dang it," Volt says. "Where did he go?"
"Ah, whatever," Captain Man huffs. "He'll turn back up. If we're going to spend time searching for someone, it should be Henry."
"Dude," AWOL chastises him. "Watch the name."
"Whatever," Captain Man grumbles again.
(Commercial Break:)
"You had a fight in a bounce house?! And I missed it?!" Jasper demands.
"It wasn't that great," Chapa dismisses.
"It was kinda fun," Miles counters.
"Toddler turned Blue into a toy," Bose moans quietly. Mika is still with him. Schwoz is holding the sock Blue and investigating it with several gadgets. "Can you fix him?" Bose pleads.
"I'll work on it. Leave it to me, Bosey," Schwoz assures.
"Schwoz!" Ray says, marching into the room. "I need you to hack a satellite."
"Busy," Schwoz replies.
"Also, that's very illegal," Mika says.
"He's fixing Blue," Bose explains.
"No, he's going to help me find Henry," Ray insists.
"Ray, you're not going to be able to find Henry," Schwoz says.
"Yes, I will! I will," Ray argues. "I'm going to find him. I'm going to hack all the satellites and make them search the whole universe until I find him."
All his friends groan and roll their eyes at him. "That is ridiculous!" Chapa says.
"That will never work," Schwoz says.
"You can't hack every satellite in the world," Miles agrees.
"Most satellites aren't even made to scan outward, they're directed at Earth to make things work down here," Mika says.
Ray frowns with petulant and grumpy hands on his hips. "You're all wrong. I can do it. I can do whatever I want. I'm Captain Man."
"Seriously, Ray?" Mika questions. "Do you know what Henry would say if he were here to see you acting like this?"
"Do not pretend you know Henry better than I do!" He snaps at her. "He is my Kid Danger! And he's been abducted by aliens. He would want us to be searching for him. He wants us to find him and help him get home."
There is more eye rolling, though not quite as severe and it lacks the accompanying groans.
"Ray, we already are searching," Schwoz says, frowning. His tone grows more frustrated and cross as he goes on to say, "I have already hacked dozens of space-searching satellites to help me scan for him. I have done everything Charlotte and I can think of to do to find him. So, you stop being a grumpy pants. I will tell you when we find something."
"Don't you talk to me like that, Schwoz!" Ray hisses, stepping toward the scientist with an aggressive finger pointing at him.
"Guys, stop!" Jasper says. "Henry wouldn't want us fighting." Ray turns his scowl on the younger man now, but he doesn't get the chance to talk as Jasper beats him to it. "And don't tell me I'm wrong about that, Ray. I've known Henry way longer than you have. We've been best friends since we were little kids. And Henry has never liked it when his friends fight."
Ray still looks angry but defeated, he says nothing. No one says anything. They all know Henry wouldn't want them to argue, least of all over him. They all have frowns and scowls on their faces and are switching eye contact with each other awkwardly. Schwoz gets back to work on figuring out exactly what happened to Blue. Mika continues trying to comfort Bose with a hug.
The emergency phone rings and startles them all. "Oh, thank god," Miles mutters and picks up the phone. "Man's Nest hotline, you're talking to AWOL, how may we help you?" He listens to whatever the caller says and nods, though they can't see him. "Okay, we'll be right there." He hangs up and tells his teammates before they can ask, "Toddler's turned more buildings into play places."
"Great," Chapa says sarcastically.
"Told you he'd turn up," Ray mutters, getting out his gum tube.
"Let's go," Mika encourages, nudging Bose off the couch with her.
"I'll keep working on Blue," Schwoz promises the boy.
"Ooh! More giant bounce houses?" Jasper asks. "I'm coming with!"
"No, you're not," Ray says, once again in uniform.
"But…" Jasper tries to protest.
"You stay here." Ray insists moodily.
"Aww," Jasper whines.
Captain Man and Danger Force leave the Man's Nest down the tube. They shortly find themselves back in the historic district of Swellview, looking up at a massive pile of tubes and platforms that had once been the Old Swellview Train Station. Tunnels and slides climb almost forty feet high. The Toddler is standing on the very highest platform, looking down at them and holding a balloon pump with a ton of inflatable arsenal on his person.
"Hey! I said I don't wanna play with you, Danger Force," he yells down to them. "Go away. I wanna play with Captain Man."
"No can do, Toddler. We want to play too," AWOL says.
"If you don't leave, I'm going to make you my toys!" Toddler threatens.
"Yeah, no thanks," AWOL says.
"You either play with me…" Toddler stomps and switches from his baby voice to his gravel voice. "…or I play with you!"
"The only thing we're going to be playing with him is 'put the baby in timeout'." Captain Man says.
"Nuh-uh! You can't stop me! You can't catch me!" Toddler says and jumps into a tube slide. He appears again a moment later on a lower platform.
AWOL teleports to that platform immediately. "Oh, look, I caught you," he says, grabbing for Toddler. Toddler fights back and ends up pushing AWOL down a long tube slide.
"Ha! No, you didn't!" Toddler mocks. "Looks like your flunky can't get me. You better try yourself, Captain Man!"
"The fun's over for you, Toddler!" Captain Man insists, climbing into the tunnel tower and climbing in the direction of the villain.
Toddler laughs and runs away, taking a different tunnel deeper into the construction. Captain Man and Danger Force rush into the winding tunnels to find him. If the inflatable mansion had been a maze, this place is a labyrinth. They crawl, climb, and slide every which way, following his voice but only find more branching tunnels.
"Keep coming, Captain Man. You haven't caught me yet!" Toddler teases in a voice that echoes through the tunnels.
"Gah, where are you, Toddler?" Captain Man demands.
"You have to find me!" Toddler insists.
"We gotta stay together in here, or we'll never find each other again," Brainstorm worries.
Shoutout takes his hand. "We've got to find my brother too."
Through another upward-sloping tunnel, they crawl. Once through it, they finally spot Toddler. But it is only a glimpse through the crisscrossing paths above them. He is on a much higher plane than them and they have no idea which tunnel to take to reach him.
They head along the path leading under where they had spotted Toddler. Soon they reach a net with wide holes that spans up to a set of suspended walkways. "Think it leads where we need to go?" Volt asks.
"Maybe," Captain Man says and starts climbing. The three sidekicks follow suit.
Up on the higher level, they have a wider view of the sprawling playground Toddler has built out of the city block. The structure they stand in is enormous and complex. Through the twisting tubes they can catch glimpses of the inflated Mellview Mansion, as well as a trampolinium, an elaborate splash pad and a musical park.
"You know, under different circumstances, this would be the coolest place ever," Brainstorm says.
"No, it is the coolest place ever!" Toddler shouts. He spills out the end of a long slide onto a different walkway from the one the heroes are on. They are separated by a large gap of open air, unable to get to him.
"Oh, come on!" Volt complains, seeing this. "How can you know how to get around in here? You just made this place!" She demands.
"I'm smarter than you," he teases back.
She throws a lightning bolt at him furiously. His laugh turns to a shrill scream for a moment. "Hey! No fair!" He complains.
"Wah-wah!" She mocks. "Shut up!" She throws more lightning. He yelps and drops into a ball to protect himself, which of course doesn't save him from being electrocuted.
He crawls away quickly as soon as the shock has ended, moving farther away from the heroes. He ducks around a corner but stops there to taunt them while out of range of Volt's attacks. "Get me now. Ha!"
"Get back here where I can fry you!" Volt shouts.
"No. I'm going to get you! You're going to all become my toys!" Toddler shouts back.
"No!" Brainstorm cries.
"Hey," Shoutout says quietly to her teammates. Brainstorm is the only one to immediately turn to her.
"You're not going to turn any of us into stuffed monkeys," Captain Man calls over to Toddler.
"I don't think we'd be turned into sock monkeys," Volt contends. "Probably more like dolls."
"Oh," Captain Man says, disappointed. He rallies quickly, "I would make one great looking action figure though. Especially at life size. Remind me to put that on my shopping list."
"Oh my god," Volt shakes her head. "The balloons don't even work on you."
"Guys," Shoutout hisses at them again.
Ray! Chapa! Brainstorm thinks to them, which is very effective at capturing their attention.
"What?" Volt complains.
"I do not like that!" Captain Man says.
Mika has an idea. Bose communicates to them telepathically again.
"What?" Volt repeats, more seriously.
"Look up," Shoutout says lowly. They do so. "See the monkey bars there? See where they lead?" She directs them to the painted metal bars hanging several feet above them that bridge the gap between their walkway and the one Toddler had been on.
"Okay. But we can't even reach those," Captain Man says.
"No, but Brainstorm can lift us to them," Shoutout points out with a disappointed deadpan at them.
"Oh, right," Volt nods. "Then we can get across and go after Toddler."
Shoutout rolls her eyes. "Yes."
"Good idea," Captain Man says. "Send me first, Brainstorm."
Brainstorm obeys, lifting all three of them, one after the other. They begin swinging across as silently as they can. After the three of them are all up, Brainstorm recognizes a problem and telepathically asks, How am I supposed to get across?
"You can't lift yourself to the bars with telekinesis?" Captain Man asks.
No. Brainstorm responds.
Shoutout thinks her response to him. Crap! Sorry, I didn't think about that. We'll come back and make a new plan. We shouldn't split up.
Captain Man doesn't hear her response, nonetheless, he immediately contradicts her. "Just stay there. We'll get Toddler and it'll all be over in a minute. Then we'll come back for you."
"I don't think…" Shoutout tries to protest, but Captain Man is already on the other side, dropping to the floor there. Volt follows him.
It's okay. Go help them. Brainstorm assures her. She agrees and drops onto the other walkway.
Captain Man, Volt, and Shoutout creep over to the corner Toddler had ducked around, then jump around it quickly to catch the villain by surprise. He is not there. "Hey! Where'd he go?" Captain Man grumps. "Todd! Where are you?"
"Toddler!" Toddler screeches, dropping onto Captain Man's shoulders.
"Hey!" Captain Man cries, stumbling around.
Toddler grabs hold of his hair so as to not fall off. "Whee!" He cackles.
"Not the hair! Not the hair!" Captain Man commands.
"Hold him there!" Volt shouts and sends a bolt of electricity at them. It hits Captain Man instead of Toddler, who laughs and jumps off the hero as he falls to his butt.
"Volt!" Captain Man chastises.
"Sorry," she says sarcastically.
Toddler cackles. Shoutout grabs him. "Hey!" He protests and throws her off. Captain Man gets back to his feet. He and Volt move to attack the villain simultaneously. Toddler sneers at them and pulls a balloon and handheld pump out of his pocket. "Stop, Toddler. We have you surrounded," Shoutout says.
"No! Have a balloon. You meanies need to be more fun!" He throws the first balloon he's inflated at her.
She dodges the lazily drifting orb easily. Captain Man swats at it as it comes in range of his fist. It pops at his touch. "You're not going to turn me into a toy, Toddler."
"I'm going to turn them into toys," Toddler agrees. He runs away down the walkway, letting many new balloons go to float behind him. Volt sends a lightning bolt after him, catching a couple of balloons and popping them far down the hall. "We can pop them from afar," She notes with glee and starts zapping them.
Shoutout sends a sonic scream at them too. This move backfires as the balloons she screams at fly off and ricochet wildly around.
"Woah!" Volt drops to the floor to avoid being hit by them. "Shoutout!" she chastises.
Be careful! Brainstorm requests from across the chasm where he watches them.
"Uh, yeah," Shoutout says. "Sorry."
Toddler laughs at them, dodging the balloons himself. "Now that's how to play! Do it again."
Volt zaps at him again, which he doesn't like as much, grumbling again. Captain Man dashes carelessly through the balloons towards the villain. Still, more balloons float around. Toddler is inflating them at a swift rate, and he's trying to keep them far from Captain Man and direct them toward the girls.
Watch out! Brainstorm warns them. Volt and Shoutout get to their feet. They leap away from the nearest balloons, dodging around them.
"Gah! We should've brought Lil' Deft. His fire blasts would've been useful," Volt says.
Captain Man makes a loud noise of complaint and says, "We don't need him!"
It would still be nice to have him here, Brainstorm thinks.
"The last thing we need in here is the two of you causing an explosion," Shoutout says. "Still, we could call for some bac..." She is stopped mid-sentence as a balloon bumps the back of her head and pops. In an instant, she has turned to plastic.
"Shoutout!" Brainstorm cries out.
"That ain't good," Captain Man says.
"Yippee!" Toddler cheers. "Another toy. Soon, I'll have a whole Danger Force collection."
"Hard pass," Volt says, looking at Shoutout alarmed.
"Well, too bad! The next one's coming for you, Sparky!" Toddler laughs.
Brainstorm reaches out with his telekinesis across the chasm separating him from the others and pulls the toy-ified Shoutout away from the battle. She flies over towards him and he catches her with a miserable look. He freezes that way, also turning to plastic as a pair of balloons that had been dragged with her pop against him.
"Oh, brilliant," Volt scoffs.
"Ha! There's another one!" Toddler cheers. "That dummy!"
"Shut up!" Volt tells him.
"Hey! Those are my sidekicks! You don't get to turn them into toys!" Captain Man says, getting angry.
"What're you going to do about it?" Toddler mocks.
"I'm gonna end you!" Captain Man answers. He chases Toddler farther from the open space with the walkways, platforms, and monkey bars.
"Cap! Wait!" Volt calls. "We can't just leave them there!"
"You stay then! I'm gonna end Toddler!" Captain Man calls back.
"Gah!" Volt says, looking back and forth between the plastic versions of her friends and Captain Man getting further away. "Don't go anywhere," she tells her toy teammates and runs after Captain Man.
As she works on catching up to the fight, she activates her comm-link and says, "Schwoz, Haywire, whoever is listening, we could really use some backup here. Shoutout and Brainstorm are down, turned into dolls, and AWOL is AWOL. Captain Man and I are in pursuit of Toddler."
"Ooo! I'll come!" Jasper cheers down the line.
"Schwoz and I are still working on a fix," Haywire apologizes. "I'll send Siesta Niño and Rolling Thunder to help you."
"Call Lil' Dear too," Volt insists.
(Commercial Break)
"Well, calling for backup was useless," Captain Man complains as Rolling Thunder is hit by one of the seemingly endless balloons. The enormous room of trampoline and foam pits is filled with the floating orbs, and still Toddler is inflating more. Siesta Niño is lying on top of a foam pit, already a toy as well.
"Lil' Dodger is still here," Volt reminds, bouncing around the trampolines doing her best to dodge the balloons. Lil' Dynomite is maneuvering carefully through the clownish minefield floating all over the enormous room. Captain Man barrels through them without care.
"Which is a real comfort," Captain Man drones with a massive roll of his eyes and sarcasm gushing in his tone.
"Where did he get so many balloons?" Lil' Dynomite questions, dropping and rolling over some foam to avoid a cluster of balloons.
"I'll never tell," Toddler says. "But you can have some more."
Lil' Dynomite flies up again, dodging and weaving. Volt zaps those balloons that Toddler throws in his direction. She turns to Captain Man and says, "The balloons don't even affect you. Will you please stop Toddler from blowing up more?"
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" He retorts.
"Well, you haven't succeeded!" She snips.
Captain Man throws his hands up dramatically. "I've been too busy saving the rest of you from these stupid balloons."
"You're not really succeeding at that either," Lil' Dynomite points out.
"If you'd stop Toddler, there wouldn't be any more balloons," Volt also jibes.
Captain Man scowls and responds with at least as much barb as she, "Not like you're doing any better. You haven't stopped Toddler or his balloons. Maybe if I had competent sidekicks to help me, this would be over. If Kid Danger were here, he and I would've stomped Toddler back in the bounce house."
Volt's demeanor changes as he says that. She doesn't give a sassy comeback this time. Her tone drops and her glare turns hard. "Well, Danger isn't here," she says lowly. "He hasn't shown up in the last hour we've been here and he probably won't in the next. But if you'd rather wait on him than have our 'incompetent' help, then we can leave. Have fun with Toddler on your own." She stomps away across the trampolines, controlling her bounces and zapping the balloons in her path.
Captain Man rolls his eyes with a loud sigh and moan of annoyance at her. "Ugh! Don't be such a drama queen."
She spins around furiously to zap at him. Her lightning collides with a plasma ball that Lil' Dynomite had sent at Captain Man due to his own irritation at the man. The resulting explosion not only throws Captain Man through the air, it also pops a huge number of balloons and the rest are shot out from the explosion point by the resulting air blast. Volt is also sent careening. She hits a trampoline forcefully and it responds as it is designed to. She goes flying in the air and into a bunch of balloons before falling back down as a toy. She again ricochets off the trampoline and her arm pops out of its plastic socket, flying in another direction than the rest of her body.
"Volt!" Lil' Dynomite flies to grab her pieces, there's plenty of room to move around now. Collecting her pieces has the young boy stressing out a little. He tries to pop her limbs back into place, but it's not as easy as it appears to be.
"What was that for?" Captain Man demands, getting back to his feet. "I'm okay," he assures. "But that was not cool! Why did you…?" He cuts himself off at the sight of the plastic Volt in pieces. "Oh…That's not good."
"I can't get her back together," Lil' Dynomite despairs while trying.
Toddler too looks shocked, though also more amused. "Ooh, Volties in trouble!" he laughs. "Looks like I'm winning, Captain Man. You've only got one friend left for me to turn into a toy, and you can't stop me!"
Captain Man scowls. "That lil' brat ain't my friend. And you haven't got all my friends," he insists to the villain. Lil' Dynomite frowns at him.
"Oh? Who're you gonna call now? Is Danger really not around? He'd make the greatest toy." Toddler says.
Captain Man glares at his nemesis, though the villain doesn't know how stinging his comment is. "You will never turn him into a toy! I will end you first." Captain Man says. "And I don't need any help. I'll take you myself."
He charges at the villain, popping the few balloons left between them as he does so. Toddler laughs and turns to run away. He once again leads Captain Man on a merry chase. Jumping across trampolines and wading through pools of foam, Captain Man pursues him closely but never quite catches the Toddler.
To the Toddler, it is a game. He enjoys the cat and mouse, always just evading the hero's reach. He climbs partway up a rock wall and jumps over Captain Man's head when he tries to follow.
Lil' Dynomite fumbles with the plastic pieces of the toyified Volt and activates his comm line. "Uh… Lil' Dynomite to the Man's Nest?"
"Yeah?" Charlotte answers, sounding a bit irritated.
"You guys are finding a way to fix everyone, right? Please tell me you're almost done. Things are going quite poorly over here. We need help." He begs.
"Has everyone else been turned into toys? Already?" She asks.
"Yeah, except Captain Man and me. But he's getting his butt kicked by Toddler, and Volts in pieces, and I don't know what to do," he explains.
"Okay, okay, just calm down. Yes, we're almost done. I'll be there with the fix in a few minutes," she promises. "Just… if Volt is in pieces, like she got turned into a doll and is in pieces?"
"Yeah," he says.
"Okay," she breathes a sigh of relief. "Just make sure you have all her pieces and put them somewhere you won't lose any. We can fix her later. Then you go help Captain Man."
He nods along and obeys as she gives him the first instructions, putting Volt and her limbs in a pile to the side. But he scowls at the next part. He sighs heavily and glances at Captain Man and Toddler where they fight. Reluctantly, he kicks his rocket boots on and flies to the pair. He tackles Toddler at the waist, smashing the balloon inflator out of his hand and into pieces on the ground.
"Hey!" Toddler cries. "Get off! No fair!
"What? This is my fight!" Captain Man grabs Lil' Dynomite by the vest and lifts him off the villain, tossing him aside. "Get outta the way!"
"Hey!" Lil' Dynomite protests. Captain Man pays him no mind and returns to fighting Toddler himself.
Toddler makes a long whining sound and grabs one of the few balloons he still has from his pocket. He puts it to his lips to inflate it manually. Captain Man kicks him and the inflated but untied balloon flies out of his mouth and whirs around, spitting air noisily. It hits Captain Man in the face and he swats it away.
"Ah. Now your spit is all over me!" Captain Man complains, whipping at the spittle the balloon had shot at him.
"Ha!" Toddler says and kicks Captain Man as hard as he can, sending the hero toppling. "That's what you get when you don't play nice!" He takes off towards the climbing wall.
Captain Man chases him quickly and Lil' Dynomite is in the air, flying to cut Toddler off from above. "Ahh! That's cheating!" Toddler whines.
Captain Man grabs his foot from below. Lil' Dynomite pulls him from above and together they throw the villain off the wall. Toddler bounces uncontrolled off a trampoline and lands, sinking deep, into a foam pit. He squirms and screams but is unable to get himself upright and on top of the foam. Lil' Dynomite lands on the rim and Captain Man jumps down from the wall, bouncing with control, to the edge of the pit Toddler is temporarily trapped in. "Ha ha! I got you!" Captain Man mocks.
"We got him," Lil' Dynomite corrects.
"Good job," Haywire says, descending from above on a line dangling from the ManCopter. "I thought I was going to have to come end a fight between you two before we stopped the Toddler. Now we can just focus on fixing what he did to our friends." She hits the unground and unlatches herself from the line. Schwyz flies the ManCopter away.
Haywire goes to the nearest pit and pulls Siesta Niño out of it by the foot. She pulls a bottle of bubbles from her pocket and begins blowing some with the little purple wand, all over his plastic form. The bubbles stick to him and grow until he is covered, then they pop as one and he sits up confused but back to normal. "¿Eh? ¿Qué ha pasado?"
"You got turned into a toy," Haywire answers. "You're fine now." She gets up and walks toward the plastic Rolling Thunder. Rolling Thunder comes to yelling. Haywire assures her she's okay, but Rolling Thunder remains furious as she gets to her feet.
"Where's Volt?" Haywire asks.
"Over there," Lil' Dynomite answers. He leads her to the pieces he'd piled up. "Her arms came off."
"She'll be fine," Haywire assures, analyzing the damage. "Lets just pop them back into their sockets before I bring her back to normal."
"I tried," he says.
"But now I'll be helping you," she comforts. "Grab that arm."
"Stop it! I ain't done! Leave my toys alone!" Toddler cries at them, still working on escaping his foamy bonds. He slowly manages to wiggle his way to the top of the foam. Before he can get fully out of the pit, a ragged something falls onto him.
That something, that person, deals a harsh blow to Toddler's skull. The villain hasn't a moment to react to the surprise attack, he just crumples. "Woah!" Captain Man steps away startled.
"That was a little harsh," Haywire chides.
"Who the heck are…?" Rolling Thunder stops her own question.
"Kid?" Captain Man shouts, grabbing the person, a dirty and worn Danger, by the arm and pulling him to turn towards himself. His hold is quickly rejected by a short forcefield burst. "Woah!"
"Gah! Sorry bro," Danger says. He gives Captain Man a hand up. Ray takes no offense and doesn't hesitate to hug the younger man again. He squeezes Henry tightly. Henry leans into it, putting most his weight on the older man and hugging back.
"Danger?" Haywire asks, stepping forward. Everyone has recognized the uniform by now, seeing past the filthy and ragged cloth. It takes them a moment more to recognize the face. His face is sallow and features a messy beard that is uncharacteristic of Henry.
"Hermano?" Siesta Niño asks.
AWOL appears beside the group. "Guess who I found?" He says gesturing to Danger.
"Hi," Danger says, turning to face the group, though Captain Man maintains a hold on him. He is hit from the side by another pair of arms and has to concentrate to prevent himself from blasting his sister off him too.
She pulls away quickly to punch him and yell, "Where? Have? You? Been?"
"You found him?" Haywire asks AWOL.
"Well, he called me. From Hong Kong. But I went and got him," AWOL says.
"Hong Kong?" Captain Man asks.
"What the butt were you doing there?" Rolling Thunder demands.
"Trying to get home," Danger answers. "Phoebe's ex-boyfriend is the hero there; he helped me call Miles for a ride."
"Happy to be your taxi service," AWOL quips, bowing and tipping a fake hat. He then turns to Haywire and Lil' Dynomite. "Did Toddler turn Volt into a doll?"
"Yes," Lil' Dynomite answers as he and Haywire finish getting her last limb reattached.
"Uh, what?" Danger asks.
"Uh, she's more of an action figure," Captain Man argues.
"Do we really need to make the distinction?" Haywire rolls her eyes, pulling out her fixing bubbles again.
"Dolls are for dress-up, action figures are cool," Captain Man says.
"Toddler turned her into a doll?" Danger questions.
"He turned several of us into toys," Rolling Thunder grumbles.
Volt turns back to normal under the bubble treatment. "Woah! Balloons! I'm a toy!" She exclaims. Then pauses briefly to catch up on the situation.
"We fixed you," Haywire explains.
"Then why do my arms hurt so bad?" Volt asks, rubbing her shoulders.
Those who know just share odd looks. "I have so many questions," Danger says.
This distracts her from her self-concern. She blinks at him for a long moment. "Danger?"
"Hi."
"You look like crap," she says. Indeed, he does. His friends all think the same. They take in the slumped and weakened frame and the way he sways tiredly. His eyes are red and swollen with deep bags beneath them that cannot be concealed by his mask.
"I also have many questions," Haywire says to Danger. "About what happened to you and where you've been."
"¿Fuiste secuestrado por extraterrestriales?" Siesta Niño asks.
"Are you okay, sir?" Lil' Dynomite asks, stepping to his side with a shy little hug.
Henry wraps his own arm more assuredly around his sidekick. But he directs his response towards Siesta Niño. "What did you just ask? Extraterrestriales?"
"Aliens," Volt translates. "You were abducted by aliens on your flight. What happened? What did they want with you?"
Danger frowns confused at her. "I wasn't abducted by aliens," he answers.
"Then how'd you get to Hong Kong?" AWOL asks. "What were the UFOs that abducted you from the plane?"
"I walked to Hong Kong from Dystopia. I was abducted by the Seraphim."
His answer has almost all of them questioning "What?!" in shock or alarm. His sister and Captain Man instead ask, "Who?"
"It's a long story. I'll explain, but we need to get going. How do we get out of here? Where are Shoutout and Brainstorm?" Danger asks, moving with purpose.
"They're still toys. In another part of Toddler's playground," Volt answers.
"We can find and fix them too," Lil' Dynomite says.
"Good," Danger nods. "Cause playtime is over. We have a lot of work to do."
"What do you mean? Get going?" Haywire asks.
"What work?" Captain Man seconds.
Henry glances around at them before quickly before answering. "The ghosts aren't really dead. I can bring them all back." His friends are speechless even as they react. "But we need to work fast. I need help. I need all the names of the people and like… their bodies or something."
His friends' silence holds for another few moments as they stare at him. Then comes the explosion of questions directed his way.
Next Episode: S2E11: Living and Dying