3rd View
Maebel chuckled silently at Henry's joke as she pushed the door to Junk-N-Stuff open. She looked up at Ray with a smile.
"Hey, Ray," she jumped the stairs to the shop, "What's poopin?"
Ray looked down to his watch, "You guys are late for work,"
Maebel scrunched her eyebrows together at his tone.
Henry pulled out his phone to check the time, "It's only 3:31,"
"We're one minute late," Charlotte shrugged.
"Yeah," Ray rasped, "You know how much crime can happen in one minute?"
"No," Henry shook his head.
"How much?" Charlotte asked.
Ray stood from his spot, "I don't know, but none of us are going to rest till we catch these dang Wall Dogs,"
Maebel blinked and moved to the other side of Ray, "Okay, chill out,"
"It's just a graffiti gang," Charlotte said, following her friends actions.
"That's right," Ray exaggerated, "And graffiti is a crime,"
Maebel shared a look with the girl next to her, "Are you okay?"
"Because we don't get why you're this upset about graffiti," Henry said solemnly.
Ray's face fell, "Do you wanna get it? Do you?"
Charlotte stuttered, "I don't know,"
"I really don't care either way," Henry shrugged.
Maebel nudged the boy lightly.
Ray looked off into the distance with such emotion, looking like he was going to cry, "It was thirty years ago. It was long before I was indestructible, oh that day,"
"Yay, yay, what a great day this is," four year old Ray beamed as he ran around the small yard with a stick horse in his hand.
Suddenly, the fence gate swung open, revealing three young troublesome boys, and one girl.
"Hey, what's up?" A boy with curly hair said.
Young Ray turned to look at the group with a smile, "Oh, hi. My name's Ray. Do you guys wanna play?"
Another boy with shaggy hair peered down at the four year old, "Yeah, we want to play,"
Him and the curly headed boy marched forward, the curly haired boy throwing Ray's stick horse into the bushes as they latched onto both of his arms, spreading them wide and making sure he couldn't escape.
"Hey, hey," Ray protested.
A boy with a backwards cap on and the girl pulled out spray paint from a bag.
"Do his playhouse," the curly haired boy commanded, "Get it good,"
The two painters began to work on the plastic building, designing falsely intricate swirls on the roof.
"No! Not my playhouse!" Ray struggled to get out of the boys' grasps.
The two painters carried on.
"Don't! No graffiti! This is something I'll never forget!"
"I never forgot it," Ray turned away from the three teens sadly and sat on the cushioned bench.
Henry stepped forward, "Okay, well don't worry, man, we'll find the Wall Dogs and we'll stop them,"
Charlotte and Maebel followed Henry.
"But they say there's a bunch of them," Charlotte informed, "How are we going to stop them all?"
"Easy," Ray shrugged, "You want to kill a snake, what do you do?"
"Get a shotgun," Maebel stared blankly at the ground, receiving weird looks from her companions.
"No, jeez," Ray stood, "I meant, to stop the whole gang, we just have to capture the leader of the gang,"
"Ah," the three moaned in unison.
The three teens stood watching Ray as he pulled up something on his tablet. A picture of a man in goofy clothing.
"There," Ray grumbled.
"Yikes," Charlotte hissed.
"Who's that?" Henry questioned.
"Van Del," Ray typed, "Watch,"
Ray swiped up on the picture, sending it to the monitor, and began to play a video.
"I am Van Del," the man informed,"Pack leader of the Wall Dogs. We are not criminals. We are not animals. We are artists, and these," he picked up two cans of spray paint, "These are our weapons of artistic destruction," he pushed the can closer to the camera menacingly, "Prepare to be sprayed!"
Suddenly, a woman's voice interrupted his speech.
"Vanny!" The woman yelled, "You left your wet laundry in the washing machine!"
"I'll move it in a minute, mom," Van Del huffed and turned to face something behind the camera, "Edit that part out,"
"Sure, no problem," a random voice replied.
Ray paused the video and turned to face the kids.
"Alright," Henry nodded, "We know he has a mother and a lazy editor,"
Maebel sighed and shook her head, looking back up to the video timestamp; April 14th.
"Hey, Maebel," Henry placed a hand on her tricep, giving her a concerned look.
The group had dispersed. Ray, getting food, Charlotte, researching criminals, and Maebel, staring blankly at the monitor.
"Yeah, Hen?" Maebel snapped out of her trace, smiling at her boyfriend.
Henry's eyebrows furrowed, "Are you okay?"
Maebel nodded, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
Henry shrugged with a chuckle, "Cause you were spacing out pretty hard,"
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks for checking up on me," she grinned, "I have to go do homework. I'll text you later."
She jumped up and landed a kiss on his cheek.
"Okay, good luck," Henry giggled and watched her walk away overflowing with giddiness.
Ray's eyes followed her with such pity.
***
Maebel
Slowly standing from my crouching area at Big Putts, I sigh. I never signed up to be the watch on missions. I was hiding behind the admissions desk watching for any activity, but with my luck, I got nothing. My mind faded into nothing as I leaned against the counter. So many thoughts swirled through my mind at once, none stayed besides one; my dad. His birthday was a week away. Him being at prison, forcing him not to be able to see me was heart shattering. Playing super villain got to him, disappearing from my life.
Knocking me back into reality, I hear a rustle of leaves. I squint my eyes, allowing sharper vision. The noise crept closer and closer, until Captain Man wobbled out of the bushed whistling.
I roll my eyes and pop up from my spot, "Captain Man!"
Ray jumped out of his skin, soon calming upon realizing it was me, "Danger Girl? Aren't you supposed to be on watch?"
My expression fell, "I am," I looked around, noticing an absentee, "Where's Henry?"
Ray shrugged, "He's at base, watching for the Wall Dogs,"
"What if they show up?" I scrunched my eyebrows.
"Then we catch them," Ray grumbled.
"Ray, you can't just leave him alone," I rolled my eyes.
"Then go find him," he shifted his weight, "Now go away, I gotta pee,"
I huffed and began in the direction Ray came from. Hearing voices when I neared the windmill, I crouched behind a bush to listen.
"This isn't over!" I hear Henry, "You can run now, but sooner or later I'm gonna find you,"
"Well, I'll make it easy for you. Meet me tomorrow night, midnight, right under the Swellview sign," a female chirped, "Come alone,"
My eyebrows raised out of habit. I shifted in my spot to get a better view of the situation. Henry was handcuffed to a ball washer as a girl with long blonde hair stood in front of him talking.
"Alone?" Henry repeated.
The girl inched forward toward Henry.
"No, what are you- no please don't-"
Henry got cut off by the girl connecting her lips to his. I was taken aback. Henry stood gobsmacked as she backed away.
"Isn't that more fun than fighting with me?" The girl said with puppy eyes.
I mocked her voice under my breath.
"No," Henry answered sharply, "Maybe,"
My heart dropped to my stomach.
"Kind of. I can't be sure unless you do it again,"
I fell onto my back, allowing my ears to listen in.
"Maybe I will tomorrow night if you come alone,"
"But, I-"
"Bye, Herbert,"
I hear footsteps fade away. Noticing Captain Man making his way toward me, I stand, acting as if nothing happened.
"Whatcha doing?" He smiled down at me.
"I got lightheaded and had to sit," I pursed my lips.
"Okay," he shrugged it off, "Let's go see how Henry's doing,"
We jogged into the clearing and saw Henry locked to the pipe.
"Hey," Captain Man breathed out, "I'm done peeing,"
Henry stood staring blankly at the superhero.
I rolled my eyes at the two of them, "Let's get him free, Ray,"
I sat on the couch picking at my chapped lips. I stared blankly at the table, still engaged in my surroundings, but numb.
"Will you guys hurry up and get these handcuffs off me?" Henry struggled against the cool metal, "I've had an itch for an hour and I can't scratch it,"
"Where's your itch?" Charlotte asked, moving closer to her friend.
"We'll scratch it for you," Ray said, following the girl's lead.
"Eh, I don't think you want to do that," Henry rejected, "Hey, give me one of my gumballs,"
"Why are you in a hurry, you got somewhere to be?" I said salty, cocking an eyebrow.
The other three shared a weird expression, as Ray shoved one in Henry's mouth.
Ray turned to Charlotte, "Start trying to pick the lock,"
"Yep," Charlotte grumbled and moved to the tool box.
"Hang on," Henry said, looking over his shoulder at the girl, "I'm going to change back,"
Henry blew a pink bubble and popped it, sending the familiar wave of blue and green over himself.
"Okay, try to unlock me,"
I stood from the couch and swallowed gently.
"You know," Ray chirped, "I don't understand you,"
"What did I do?" Henry asked.
"You let all the Wall Dogs get away," I snarled, watching as everyone turned to look at me because of the tone I used.
"Hey, I caught one," Henry defended, "Till she tricked me and handcuffed me to this ball washer,"
I suddenly became intrigued. Henry didn't know I knew about his new interest, so why not play games with him. I marched over to the lot of them.
"She?" Charlotte repeated.
"You never said she was a girl," Ray whined.
"Well, she was. She was really tough,"
"What did she look like?" I cocked an eyebrow, "Was she pretty?"
"Yeah, she was. She had these eyes, and a face," Henry said in a daze.
I squinted my eyes at him as my jaw fell slightly agape.
"But she wasn't as pretty as you were, May,"
"Were?" I scoffed.
Ray began to focus hard at something on Henry's face.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"What's that on your lips?" Ray asked.
"I don't know, lip skin?"
Ray reached up and rubbed something off of Henry's lips. He patted his fingers together, "Sticky," he licked his finger and slowly looked to the boy, "Strawberry,"
"Lip gloss?" Charlotte accused.
"It's Maebel's," Henry lied.
I scoffed and felt my forehead burn hot with rage, "I don't wear makeup, Hart,"
Ray's breath hitched in his throat, "Did you kiss that girl Wall Dog?"
"No," Henry denied.
I thinned my lips as I stared at him angrily. His eyes had guilt written all over them.
"She kissed me,"
Charlotte and Ray grumbled at the boy as I stood slightly rocking back-n-forth.
"What?" Henry questioned.
"You let your guard down," Ray criticized, "And you let a criminal escape, and you kissed a girl that wasn't my daughter," Ray fumed.
Henry hissed at the sentence, glancing between me and Ray.
"All because the criminal happened to be a pretty girl?" Ray paced.
"Not prettier than Maebel, though," Henry sighed.
"There, got the handcuffs off," Charlotte sighed as she placed the bands on the toolbox.
Henry rubbed the red indent around his wrist and watched me and Ray closely, "Ray, Maebel, I'm sorry. I really did try to catch the Wall Dogs,"
"Alright," Ray moved to the other side of Henry, "I just wish we had more information. Like where their hideout is or where they're going to strike next,"
I smirked slightly, "Did the girl that kissed you say anything that could help us find them?"
"Or find her?" Charlotte added.
Henry looked into the distance, getting trapped in his own mind. If he didn't tell the truth, I would, in front of everyone.
"No, she didn't say anything," Henry shrugged.
I frowned.
"Really?" Ray assured, "Because it looked like you were thinking about something,"
"Yeah," Charlotte nodded, "What were you thinking about?"
"Pizza," Henry excused.
Ray and Charlotte shared a glance.
I began to chuckle softly as I averted my eyes to the ground, "I can't believe this," I mumbled, and stormed off to my room.
I couldn't fathom Henry lying about it. I just knew I wasn't going to put up with it, because I didn't deserve it.
I watched the Police helicopter whiz over my head, and a voice whine.
"A police helicopter? You called the cops on me?" Veronika asked.
Captain Man jumped over the boulder we hid behind, "No, we did,"
I followed his lead and immediately stood in my fighting stance.
"Captain Man? Danger Girl?" Kid Danger fell gobsmacked.
"You said you came alone," Veronika said.
"I thought I did. How'd you guys find me?" Henry asked.
"We followed you," I informed, "Then we hid in those bushes over there and watched you two kiss. I know that sounds weird but it's our job,"
A voice rang out over a megaphone, "Captain Man, Danger Girl, look! We're up here!"
I scrunched my face in confusion up at them.
"I know," Captain Man said.
"We're in the helicopter!" The policeman said again.
"I know!" Captain Man waved him off.
"Oh,"
"You shouldn't have come here," Henry challenged Ray.
"And you shouldn't have lied to us," Ray stepped forward, "Some of us have to protect the city from trash like her,"
"Alright, don't call her trash," Henry defended her.
"Trash!"
"She's not trash!"
All I could think about was Veronika. Henry was right, she was pretty, but she's a criminal. How could he like a criminal? He never defended me like he's defending her. The pang in my chest was clearly jealousy.
"You're not taking her anywhere, old man," Henry insulted.
"How dare you?" Ray growled, "You know I'm sensitive about my age," he turned to the blonde-haired girl, "By the way, I'm only thirty-four," Ray shoved his sidekick to the side, "Now, she's going to jail, come here," Ray attempted to latch handcuffs onto her.
"Get off me!" She screamed.
"Leave her alone!" Henry yelled and shoved Captain Man's hand away.
I sprang forward and pulled Henry back way from Ray. He elbowed me in the gut and pushed me to the ground.
I stood, turning to face the boy with a snarl on my face, "That was not okay,"
Henry hollered and charged at me, wrapping his arms around my torso and pushing me back. I struggled against his grasp until I pushed to the left and shoved him to the floor. He popped back up, watching as Captain Man inched toward him. Henry kicked, Captain Man grabbing his leg and pushing him to the ground yet again. I averted my attention to the girl, she had been the one to kiss Henry, more than once. My blood boiled inside of my body when I looked at her.
Henry jumped onto the boulder, sneering down at his boss. Veronika jumped onto Captain Man's back, only ending with Ray shoving her off and turning back to Henry. The two stood on the rock pushing and pulling on each other. In the corner of my eye, I notice Veronika jump forward and pull on Ray's leg, sending him tumbling off the rock.
My mouth fell open, "Captain Man!" I yelled, glancing between Henry and the spot Ray was just at.
A faint, 'I'm okay,' echoed up the canyon walls.
I jumped on top of rock peering down.
"You just pushed Captain Man down a mountain," Veronika gaped.
"Now say goodbye to Danger Girl," Henry demanded.
I turned around to face his evil eyes, "Kid Danger, don't!"
"If I don't you'll follow us, and we can't have that,"
Tears pricked my eyes, "I will never forgive you if you do,"
Henry gulped and glanced between Veronika and I, "I'm sorry, she's my dream girl,"
He placed his hands on my shoulders and shoved me backwards off the rock. It felt as if I were physically flying, however, mentally, I wished I hadn't been indestructible.