I landed with a thud underneath my tube. When it flew up, I began to brush some dirt off of myself.
Charlotte stood from the couch with intrigued eyes, "How'd it go?"
"Not great," Ray mumbled, marching to the control center.
"Well, what happened?" She questioned, "And why are you guys all dirty?"
"Because we just went tumbling down a giant mountain and a mountain is basically one big pile of dirt in the shape of a mountain," I huffed, pulling a twig out of my hair.
"We've got to locate Henry," Ray said, turning on the GPS tracker, "Schwoz!"
"Schwoz!" Charlotte screeched louder.
"Thanks for that," Ray said sarcastically.
"What, what?" Schwoz pranced out with a pink towel around his neck and waist, "I was in the shower,"
"Come help us locate Henry," Ray commanded, turning back to the monitor.
"Why, what happened?" Schwoz waddled over.
"I put the secret tracking device on him, but it's not finding the location," Ray struggled with the buttons.
Schwoz swatted Ray on the back aggressively, "Move, you don't know anything,"
Schwoz plopped down into the chair, noticing his back, I gagged.
"So, where is he?" Ray panicked.
Schwoz whipped back to face us, "It takes time to triangulate his location,"
An oinking sound erupted from behind us. Turning around, a pig covered in suds sauntered out throwing a fit.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Schwoz grumbled.
The pig turned around and waddled back to the bathroom.
"You were in the shower with your pig?" Charlotte gaped.
"She has to get clean, too," Schwoz shrugged.
Ray, Charlotte, and I shared a disgusted look, shivering at the thought of the barn animal.
Ray began to pace, Charlotte began to panic, and I began to tear up.
"Why can't you find Henry?" Charlotte interrogated.
"I told you, it takes time," Schwoz shut her down.
"Time is the one thing we don't have," Ray informed, "Well, time and machines that poop gold, we also don't have those,"
"Find him!" I demanded.
Suddenly, the monitor changed.
"What happened?" Ray asked.
"I lost Henry's signal," Schwoz glanced back at me.
"You what?" I screeched.
After hearing news from Charlotte that she had found a clue, Captain Man and I raced down to our lead. Ray kicked his foot through the door, accidentally getting stuck.
"Ow!" He hollered.
I sighed, shaking my head.
He punched an arm through, "Dang it!" Then, his other leg, "Aw, seriously? Ah, I know," he threw his last limb through the door with a grunt.
As he struggled to get out, I decided to end his suffering. I reached for the doorknob and twisted it open, softly pushing the door revealing a group of kids in a painted room covered with Captain Man and Danger Girl posters.
"It's Captain Man and Danger Girl," a girls voice rang out.
Ray ripped his limbs out of the door and stood grunting for air. I analyzed the room until my eyes landed on Kid Danger. His uniform had black paint covering everything. Everyone was silent.
"Well, Van Del, spray time's over," Captain Man quipped.
I narrowed my eyes at the lot of them.
Van Del jumped forward and grabbed Henry's arm, "Prove your loyalty to the Wall Dogs,"
Kid Danger sighed and stepped forward, "I've only got one thing to say to you two,"
"Then say it," I sneered.
Henry formed a smile, "I am so glad you're here!"
He ran into Ray's arms in a laughing fit, then enveloped me into a deep, tight hold.
"You'll always be my number one," he whispered.
I hummed in response.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Veronika growled.
"Fighting crime, baby," Henry wrapped an arm around me.
Captain Man chortled, "I love this kid!"
Veronika stepped forward, "You lied to me,"
"Yep," Henry deadpanned.
"You used me," she gaped.
"That is also true,"
"She is really pretty," I mumbled.
"But, how could you..." she trailed.
Henry stepped forward this time, "Look, I had to make you think that I turned against Captain Man and Danger Girl and that I was falling in love with you so you'd bring me here to Van Del,"
I scoffed and turned away, pursing my lips.
Van Del gripped onto one of his minions' shirt and forced him to face himself, "You idiot," he grumbled, "You led Captain Man right to us,"
"It wasn't my fault," the kid defended, "When we found the tracking device on the kid, we blew it up,"
"Yeah," Henry piped, "And that's when I knew I had to get a message to Captain Man and Danger Girl so I spray painted O-M-G on that kid you guys caught at Big Putts,"
"You mean the kid with the big feet?" A boy with an eye patch on asked.
"Uh-huh, but his feet aren't big, they're huge," Henry turned back to Van Del.
I nodded in agreement.
"Wait," the minion that was caught in Van Del's grasped said, "I still don't understand all this,"
"What?" Captain Man asked, "You mean that Danger Girl, Kid Danger, and I set up a whole plan to find your secret hideout here and capture Van Del?"
The villains chattered, signaling that they didn't.
"Alright," Captain Man slouched on a stool.
"We'll explain it in more detail," Kid Danger obliged.
Forty-five minutes later Ray and Henry were still going on explaining the plan to the criminals as I sat back and watched all of them intently.
"And so, when I saw the O-M-G that Kid Danger sprayed on that boy's back, I knew that was a clue," Ray dumbed it.
The crowd looked clueless.
"Old Maple Grille," I spelled out, "O-M-G,"
The crowed ohed in unison.
"Wait," the girl with the beanie on chirped, "When did you guys even come up with this whole plan?"
"Well, you see," Henry shifted, "At first I lied to Captain Man and Danger Girl,"
"By not telling me that Veronika asked him to meet her, under the Swellview sign," Ray explained.
Henry, Ray, and I marched down the steps, still eyeing the crowd.
"But then I felt guilty," Henry admitted, "So I told him,"
"Who's a good boy?" Ray belted.
"Me," Henry whined.
Ray sat down again, "So, that's when we decided that we really-"
"Stop this!" Van Del yelled from across the room.
All of us whipped our heads around to him.
He waddled down the stairs angrily, "This explanation has been going on for forty-five minutes. Enough!"
"Well, what do you want us to do?" The kid with the eye patch questioned.
"Attack them!" Van Del demanded.
Suddenly, the crowd stood, charging at us. I stopped the boy with the eye patch and sprawled him over the floor, kicking him in the nose. He stood, grabbing me by the waist and picking me up. Taking the opportunity, I kicked another down and elbowed my capture in the gut, and pushed him to the ground.
I watched as Van Del struggled to get passed Captain Man, so I ran behind him on the stairs, forcing him into a pickle. He kicked his leg up to my chest and shoved me down the stairs. I groaned at impact. Lifting myself up and focusing my vision, my eyes land on Henry and Veronika.
The two were in the corner talking, when Henry's gaze faced the ceiling. I furrowed my eyebrows and stayed watching them. Veronika bolted out of the doorway, Henry following her with his eyes. When she was out of sight, Henry looked back at me, making eye contact. His eyes melted into guilt. I watched as Veronika ran back into the room and turned Kid Danger around, kissing him again, then run out. Henry faced me again with pleading eyes.
I huffed and stood up from the spot on the ground, facing Van Del with a snarl on my face. I slowly began to inch toward him.
"Don't come near me," he warned.
"I'm coming near you," I deadpanned, skipping steps as I walked.
"Leave me alone," he commanded.
"Nope, here I come," I stepped onto the flat platform as Van Del panicked to find an escape.
"I am an artist," he gestured to himself.
"You're a criminal," I growled, I lifted my leg up like he did me, and tripped his ankle from underneath him, sending him into the bright red tub of paint below.
"Ah, I'm drowning!" Van Del waved his arms above the surface, "I'm drowning in my own paint!"
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!" Ray, Henry, and I yelled in unison.
"It's only like three feet deep you can stand up," Ray shrugged.
"Oh," Van Del stood in his spot and wiped his eyes, "This is so embarrassing,"
"Yeah," I spoke sharply.
"It really is," Henry agreed.
That same day, I headed over to Henry's house to talk about recent events. When I got there, I knocked on his window and waited patiently for him to open it.
He got to the window and smiled down at me, "Maebel, you don't have to knock. You could just come in,"
Henry stepped aside for me as I crawled in. I stood up straight and stiffened out my muscles, staring blankly at the floor.
Henry's expression dropped, "Hey, May, are you okay? Here, sit," he gestured to the couch.
I obliged and sat on the grey couch next to the boy, "Hen, we need to talk,"
Henry scrunched his eyebrows, "About what?"
I pursed my lips, and tried figured out how to word what I was going to say, "Why'd you let her get away?"
Henry froze. He had no clue what to say to that; he had no excuse, "Maebel, if you think it's-"
I held my hand up to stop him, "Don't tell me what you think I think of it, tell me what it is," tears pricked my already puffy eyes, "Did you let her go because you're in love with her?"
Henry shifted his seat with a serious expression, "What? No!"
"Are you sure?" I narrowed my eyes at him, "Because I heard everything between you two at Big Putts. How you didn't know if kissing her was better than arguing unless she kissed you again,"
Henry's face dropped in realization, "Mae-" he reached for my hand, but stopped as I yanked away from his grasp.
I didn't wanna be touched by him right now. That would make this even harder.
"Why did you kiss her?" Tears began to pour from my eyes, "Even after the plan was over and we caught Van Del, you kissed her, then looked me in the eyes right after,"
"Maebel, I-"
"I don't deserve this," I shook my head and stood up, marching to the window, Henry following in pursuit.
"Wait, Maebel, don't go," Henry's eyes began to swell up with tears as well.
"I can't do this, Henry," I shook my head and gestured between the two of us, "I can't do us,"
Henry's mouth fell agape, "What?" He placed both hands on my shoulders and rubbed them gently, "Don't say that, I can fix it, I can,"
I shook my head and pushed his hands down to my elbows. I was sobbing by this point, "No, Hen, no you can't,"
I watched as a single tear rolled down his left cheek.
"It's time for us to go separate ways, Hen," I wiped my cheek and turned to the window.
"No, no, you can't go, I love you,"
Henry wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face into the back of my neck. I felt him slowly soaking the back of my t-shirt. Tears dripped off my chin as my nose began to get stuffy. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, and what I've come to be. I couldn't break up with him. He was the only good thing in my life, but I definitely couldn't stay with him, he cheated.
I turned around and pulled Henry up to eye level. I cupped his face and admired him close-up for one last time. His hands wrapped around my wrist, overlapping because of the size difference. His brown eyes were almost black, his white's were red, and he sniffled whenever he breathed through his nose.
I sighed and wiped a tear off his cheek with my thumb, "I loved you, too, Hen, and letting you go, is going to be the hardest thing I'm ever going to have to do,"
"Loved? No, please, Maebel," he took a shaky breath, "If you walk away, everything's going to fall apart,"
I choked back tears.
"The only thing I want is you. We've been through everything else together, this is no different," he sobbed harder, "You're my kryptonite. I can't lose you. We can fix this,"
I sniffled, "I'm sorry, Henry,"
I shook my head and ducked under the window, leaving the poor boy with nothing but emotions.