Audrey's POV
"Hey, Schwoz." I greeted him as I watched him reload the auto-snacker with some Holland Oats. I took a bite out of my blue Frittles chip can. "What are you doing?"
"I'm filling the snack machine with oats for my sister." He replied without looking at me.
I groaned. She's still here? "Winnie's still here? I thought she left yesterday!"
Schwoz looked over at me. "She's only been visiting for two days."
"I know, but... she looks like a horse and that freaks me out!" I blurted out and quickly covered my mouth.
"Shhhhh! She's right over there."
I looked over by the elevator and chills went down my spine. I looked back over at Schwoz who was smiling.
"Schleeping." He took a deep breath and smiled as his sister slept while standing. Yeah, it's weird, I know. Schwoz took his blue Frittles chip can and ate a chip.
"Oh, you like the blue chips, too?! See, I think the blue chips are better. My dad says otherwise, though. He's a freak for those red chips."
"What did you say about me?"
I turned around and my dad was entering the room from the sprocket door. I quickly threw my chips across the room before he could see that I was eating the blue chips. I know better than to even mention the blue chips in front of him since he was so obsessed with the red chips, which he was eating right now.
He slammed his red chips onto the ground when he saw Schwoz's chips in his hand. "On Tuesday, you're voting for the red chips." He instructed and I couldn't believe him.
"Okay, but no I'm not," Schwoz answered, shrugging slightly.
"The red chips are better!"
"What's it like to be so stupid?" Schwoz asked which made my dad more angered.
"You shouldn't even be allowed to vote!" My dad exclaimed, angered by this situation. Oh my gosh, this wasn't gonna end well.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You know exactly what that means, Schwoz!" He hollered and started to walk toward the tubes.
Schwoz raced behind him while I watched, keeping my distance. He jumped onto his back which made my dad scream in surprise.
As they wrestled, they bumped into Winnie and she started to run around the room. Annoyed, I sat on the couch and began to unlock my tablet.
***
The whole situation ended with Schwoz stuffed inside his bucket of oats as me and my dad chatted.
"Oh, hey guys." I greeted Henry and Charlotte when they walked out of the elevator.
"Uhhh, Audrey?" Charlotte began, pointing to Schwoz upside down in the bucket.
"Yeah, what goes on?"
Henry approached the bucket. "Did you two stuff Schwoz into a bucket of oats?"
I shook my head. "Nooo... I don't recall seeing Schwoz today." I snickered with my dad.
Henry and Charlotte pushed the bucket over and all of the oats spilled out. Schwoz crawled out and spun to face me and my dad with rage.
"Oh hey, Schwoz, where ya been?" My dad questioned while taking a bite out of his red chip.
"You know!" Schwoz trudged over to us. "You both schtuffed me in that bucket of oats!"
"Oh yeah, good for us."
Schwoz ran behind my dad and wrapped his arm around his neck. My dad almost fell off the couch as Schwoz continued to choke him.
"Oh, no! Schwoz!" Henry shouted as he attempted to pry Schwoz off. I leaped next to Henry and tried to pull Schwoz away.
When Schwoz released, my dad fell onto the floor and gasped for air.
"Schwoz!" Winnie ran into the room. "My schpoon is too schmall!"
Schwoz walked over to her, sighing. "Well, what am I supposed to do about it?"
"Go get your sister a bigger schpoon!" I snapped and pushed Schwoz toward Winnie. He glared at me before exiting the room with her.
Charlotte looked back at me. "Why'd you two stuff Schwoz in a bucket of oats?"
"'Cuz I'm the boss around here, and he was talking about blue chips and how great they are!" My dad answered for me and he stood up.
"They are great! They're way better than those icky red chips! Why Schwoz can't like the blue chips but Audrey can?" Henry implored and my eyes widened.
My dad immediately turned over to me. "You like the blue chips?! You lied to me!"
"Thanks, Henry!" I huffed, crossing my arms as I glared at him.
"Oh c'mon you guys, this is so dumb!" Charlotte exclaimed and I nodded with her. They're just chips. Don't get me wrong, the blue chips are very good, but I'm not obsessed.
"Dumb?!" My dad and Henry both said at the same time.
"'Cuz! No matter which chip wins, nothing's gonna change! I mean, remember when they came out with nacho cheese-flavored chips, and everyone thought they were gonna change the world? Well, they didn't. And then they gave us sour cream and onion... nothin' changed! Then cool ranch, then salsa verde... every four years it's another 'new, exciting flavor' but look around, people... nothing's changed." Charlotte ranted and watched as we went silent. "Yeah, you ponder that."
Before anyone could reply, the emergency alarm went off and I was once thankful for it. I was the first to reach the monitor. "It's a video call."
"Put it on screen," Henry instructed but my dad quickly stopped Charlotte.
"Wait! We're not in uniform!"
"She's not gonna turn the camera on." I said like it was a 'duh' question. "Do you think this is her first day on the job?"
"No." The boys replied, almost whispering.
Charlotte grinned at me in approval and answered the video call.
"Help! Please! Captain Man! Captain Man!" A man, what it seems, was on a cliff or a mountain, shouted.
My dad leaned closer to the monitor. "This is Captain Man, please state your emergency."
"Sure! I was climbing up Mount Swellview, and there was an avalanche, and I fell! There's a big boulder on my leg and I can't move! Ah! More rocks are falling! Please help, Captain Man, Kid Danger, Quick Shot, please help!"
"All right my don't worry, we'll be there in a..." My dad gaped at what the man was doing. He took a blue chip and stuffed it in his mouth. "Wait— what did you just put in your mouth?"
"Oh, it's a blue Frittle chip. They're soooo good."
"Oh, so on Tuesday you're voting blue?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Oh, okay then, you can just save yourself!" My dad exclaimed and ended the call. He walked away from the monitor and this was unbelievable.
I walked behind my dad. "So you're not going to help that guy just 'cuz he's voting blue?"
He crossed his arms. "Maybe."
"All right! Okay. Then I'm not gonna help anyone who's voting red!" Henry chimed in. "And Audrey will be fighting crime with me."
"No! She's my daughter therefore she's going to be fighting crime with me!"
"Woah!" Charlotte and I both shouted.
"I'm not going to be fighting crime with any of you if you're gonna act like babies!"
Charlotte nodded and crossed her arms. "Yeah! And you can't start not helping people just 'cuz they support a different chip than you!"
My dad rolled his eyes. "Really? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure that's what I just did, Charlotte!"
"Ray Manchester!" I shrieked and my dad jumped.
"Ooh, busted," Henry whispered and I made him stand next to my dad.
"Our job is to help and protect the citizens of Swellview, and that means everybody, no matter what color chip they identify with!" Charlotte reasoned and I nodded in approval. "You should not be getting involved in snack politics."
"You're not the boss of us." My dad replied and crossed his arms.
"You can't tell us—"
"What'd you say?!" I yelled and made them immediately shut up.
"I dunno!"
"Nothin'."
"Ray! Henry! Audrey!" Schwoz screamed and ran into the room.
"What?"
"What's up?"
"Hm?"
"Someone broke into the Frittle factory and stole a whole truckload of Frittle chips!" He exclaimed and Henry and my dad looked at each other.
Henry then leaned in and asked, "What color Frittles were stolen?
"Red!"
My dad gasped. "No!"
"Yes!" Henry laughed at him while pointing.
"All right, do we have to lecture you guys for the third time?" Charlotte asked while crossing her arms.
"No!" They both shouted and Henry walked toward the elevator.
"Okay, you go look for the truck! Me and Audrey will go help with the guy who fell off the mountain."
"What? I didn't agree—"
"No! Audrey is coming with me." My dad protested and I scoffed.
"She likes the blue chips." Henry reminded and I knew that was going to change his mind.
"Audrey, you're going with Henry."
"Whatever," I responded and pulled out my gumball tube.
I shoved a gumball into my mouth and chewed it quickly before transforming with Henry. My dad looked through his pockets.
"Wait, where's my gumball tube?" He asked Schwoz who pulled out his gumball tube.
"Oh, I made you a new one." He handed the gumball tube to my dad.
My dad took a gumball out and began to chew it. When he blew the bubble, he did not transform into his superhero uniform.
Confused, I crossed my arms as I stared at my dad in a wedding dress.
When my dad noticed, he gasped. "What the—"
Charlotte and I burst into laughter as we watched my dad look confused and angered at the same time.
"Schwoz! What'd you do to my balls of gum?!"
"That's what you get for schtuffing me in the bucket of oats!" He replied sharply. Winnie came running inside and jumped when she saw my dad in his wedding dress.
"Ah shut up!" My dad yelled when Winnie jumped around him. "Horse!"
I watched as my dad stormed out of the room. Yikes, looks like now me and Kid Danger must save the man on the mountain and the Frittle chips.
***
"Thanks, Trent. I'm here live at the Frittle factory with Kid Danger and Quick Shot. Tell us how you caught the criminal who stole the Frittle truck." Evelyn, the news reporter, interrogated at the Frittle factory.
"Uh... well, actually..." Kid Danger trailed off and signaled for me to answer the question for him.
"Captain Man caught the criminal who stole the Frittle truck, so..."
"But you guys helped?" Evelyn asked us both as Captain Man walked on over to us.
"No, we were actually tryin' to save another guy who fell off the mountain." Kid Danger answered and moved away from Captain Man.
"Ooh, sounds like you're the real heroes." She grinned at us.
"Well..."
"Uh, excuse me!" Captain Man interrupted and came into the frame. "Hi, hello."
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Yes, and you are?"
Captain Man took a deep breath before answering her. "I'm Captain Man, you know that! Everyone knows me, so..."
"Oh, riiight. You're the guy who took me out on two dates, then never called me again."
"Do you wanna know about how I recovered the stolen Frittle truck?"
"I do not." She turned back to the camera. "Back to you, Trent." And with that, she walked away.
"Oh, is that how it is?! Fine!" Captain Man hollered after her.
"Okay, just chill." Kid Danger said and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Captain Man, Kid Danger, Quick Shot!" A man with a suit walked over to us and shook our hands.
Captain Man shook his hand. "Hello there."
"Hey, fellas! I'm Jack Frittleman, chariman, and C.E.O of Frittle Snacks, and I wanted to thank you personally for— hmm?" He turned away from us when a worker whispered something in his ear. He looked down at a paper and gasped.
"Is there a problem?" Kid Danger implored, peeking over Mr. Frittleman's shoulder to see the paper.
"Well, sort of." He replied without taking his eyes off the paper. "Uh, when the truck was stolen, it was carrying 400 cases of Ragin' Red Rhubarb Frittle chips."
"Yeah?"
"So?"
"What about it?"
"Uh, it seems that two cases of the chips are missing. Weird." Mr. Frittleman looked up. "I wonder what happened to them."
"Well, I guess you'll just have to ask the missing chips." Captain Man chuckled at his own joke.
"What does that mean?"
"Hmm?"
"Well, the chips are missing. So I can't ask the chips."
"And even if he could, chips can't talk." I reminded Captain Man.
"Well, if chips could talk and they were here, I'm sure they could tell us." Captain Man smiled and Kid Danger and I were lost in the conversation.
"What's he saying?" Mr. Frittleman asked me and Kid Danger.
"We dunno." Kid Danger answered, truthfully.
"Bottom line: you're welcome." Captain Man shook Mr. Frittleman's hand and turned away.
"Captain Man!" A voice shrieked and many kids ran inside the room.
"Quick Shot!"
"Kid Danger!"
"Uhhh... who are these children?" Mr. Frittleman asked us as if we knew. I only knew Piper who, of course, was wearing a shirt with our faces on it.
"Oh, that's just my siiiii—" Kid Danger immediately stopped talking when Piper was listening in on the conversation. "siii-scissors! Has anybody seen my scissors?"
"Yeah, those are very important to Kid Danger!" I agreed and the Man Fans started to search their pockets for them.
"No, I don't have them."
"Nooo."
"No? Okay." Kid Danger sighed and rested his arm on my shoulder since I'm shorter than him. The Man Fans 'awed' at that and I could feel my face go hot.
"We're the Man Fans!" Piper showed us her id for the Man Fans.
"The official fan club for Captain Man, Kid Danger, and Quick Shot!" Marla added.
"We're verified."
"Hey, guys." Captain Man greeted.
"Hello," I exclaimed, smiling wide.
Kid Danger wrapped his arm around me. "Yeah, sup Fans?"
"We have a question!" Piper looked at the Man Fans and back at us.
"Shoot, kid." Captain Man answered.
"Okay... so we've been thinking about this for almost a year now. Are Kid Danger and Quick Shot dating?! I mean, we've been thinking about it all month!"
"Uhh..." Kid Danger and I looked at each other and he took his arm off of me.
"Okay!" Mr. Frittleman changed the subject. "Are you kids here to see the launch of our new Frittle blimp?"
"No." Marla snapped. "Kids hate blimps."
"We gotta decide which Frittle chip we're gonna vote for on Tuesday, so we need to know," Piper explained.
"Need to know what?" Kid Danger asked them.
"Which chip Captain Man, Kid Danger, and Quick Shot are voting for!"
Oliver chimed in. "We're gonna vote for whoever you guys tell us to."
"Yeah, so."
"Red or Blue?"
We all shared a look. A flashback of Charlotte telling us not to get into snack politics replayed in my head.
"Uh, hey, look, sorry kids. But we don't get involved in snack politics, so you'll just have to—"
Kid Danger cut me off. "Well... personally, me and Quick Shot would really like the blue—"
"Vote red!" Captain Man interrupted.
"What?!" I yelled. "Did you guys forget about Char— I mean, the lecture we got?!"
"Kids! If you like me, Captain Man says vote for the Ragin' Red Rhubarb Brittle!"
"Nooo! You're not supposed to—"
"Vote blue!" Kid Danger cut me off and I was getting irritated at this point.
"Stop it!" I shouted at them both.
Captain Man stepped over to Kid Danger. "Tell them to vote blue—"
"I can do whatever I want— vote for blue!"
"Ragin' Red Rhubarb Brittles or die!" Captain Man yelled out to the Man Fans.
Kid Danger was starting to get annoyed. "Okay, you know what—"
"Why don't you just take a walk and chill." Captain Man suggested.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, chill. C-H-I-L-L, chill, mm-kay?" Captain Man called after Kid Danger when he walked away. He was talking to a Frittle worker with a machine that shot out blue Frittle cans. "Telling me what I can and cannot—"
Kid Danger held onto the blue Frittle can machine and powered it on. The gun blasted out a Frittle can which hit Captain Man in his face.
The Man Fans, including me, gasped. I stepped away from them and toward to Man Fans which made them gasp a little.
"Okay!" Captain Man exclaimed and grabbed the red Frittle can machine.
Kid Danger's eyes widened. "Okay, hey, look— just 'cuz I shot you in the face doesn't mean—"
Captain Man chose to ignore him. He powered on the machine and shot Kid Danger with a red Frittle can.
Kid Danger fell onto the floor from the impact and I rushed over to help him up.
"Like that?" Captain Man taunted and I turned to him with pure rage.
"Could you both just stop it?!"
Kid Danger stood up and was angrier than he was before. This wasn't going to end well. I don't know why they can't just listen to me!
"Uhhh... fellas..." Mr. Frittleman put his arms out to somewhat stop them but it didn't even help.
"No, no, he's asking for it." Kid Danger responded.
"Don't you do it!" Captain Man warned before Kid Danger shot him in the face with another blue Frittle can. "Okay... now you've done it! Okay, say hello to my Frittle friend!" He shot Kid Danger with a Frittle can but this time Kid Danger didn't fall to the ground.
"Owww!" Kid Danger groaned and rubbed the side of his face. "Right in the eye, okay, that's how you wanna play?!"
"That's enough!"
"Oh, is it enough?"
"Yeah!"
"I'll just adjust this gauge..." Kid Danger pressed a button on the machine which started to shoot blue Frittle cans uncontrollably.
Kid Danger looked down at the machine with his eyes widened. Captain Man dropped his machine onto the floor and used Piper as a shield.
When I looked where the Frittle cans were hitting they were hitting a control panel. I gaped, looking at the damage.
Red lights started to light up in the room and Kid Danger dropped his machine in shock. The workers ran over to the control panel to somewhat fix it.
"What's happening?!" Mr. Frittleman asked the frantic workers.
Captain Man pointed to the red lights. "Why's that light flashing?"
"They jammed the system controls!" A worker answered, panicking. "Now the corn compressors are building up an extreme amount of pressure, and... and they can't release the corn gas!"
Mr. Frittleman walked over to the control panel and grabbed the microphone. "Attention. This is Jack Frittleman. Run."
Everyone began to sprint out of the room. I looked back over at the control panel started to spark and smoke.
When I looked back over everyone was gone besides Captain Man and Kid Danger. They raced to grab some red chips and blue chips.
"Are you guys serious?!" I shouted, standing in the doorway.
As they ran over to me, the chips fell out of their arms but they didn't care. They continued to run and I followed, shortly behind.
***
"And the explosion was felt all throughout Swellview, and even in some nearby cities, including Naborville, Border Town, and Rivalton," Trent announced as we watch him and Mary explain about the explosion in the Frittle factory.
"But luckily, despite the magnitude of the blast, everyone important survived," Mary added.
"So, the real victim here is our own city Swellview. Because not only has the red vs. blue contest been canceled, but also, C.E.O Jack Frittleman says it's going to take four years to rebuild the factory."
"Four years. That's a 'Frittle' too long if you ask me."
"I wish you'd been in that factor, Mary."
Jasper turned off his tablet and sighed.
"Dang it." Henry frowned, bumped out about this when this is entirely his and my dad's fault. "I loved those blue Frittle chips."
"I loved them, too." I sighed and looked down.
"I loved the red ones." Jasper chimed in, just as sad as we were.
"I loved not caring," Charlotte commented, her hands on her hips.
"Well, Henry and Audrey, shucks for you guys." My dad put his hands on our shoulders.
"What are you all happy about?" I questioned, slapping his hand off me.
"Oh y'know... Raging Red Rhubarb Frittles."
"Well, that's too bad, 'cuz they all blew up." Henry reminded, looking down at the objects on the counters.
"Did they?"
"Uh yeah, it was just on the news," I added, furrowing my eyebrows at him.
"Was it?"
"Yeah, we just watched it," Jasper replied.
"Did we?"
"Okay, will you quit doin' that?!" Charlotte scolded.
"Will I?" My dad crossed his arms.
"Dad, what do you know?" I asked as we all stared at him.
"Well... I know... that when you're a superhero, and you find a stolen truck with four hundred cases of red Frittles inside, it's never a bad idea to snag a couple of cases for yourself." He explained and my jaw dropped.
"But that's stealing." Jasper pointed out and the three of us nodded in agreement.
"Is it?"
"Yep."
"Yeah."
"Pretty sure it is."
"Yeah, all right." My dad agreed.
"W-w-wait... you're sayin' there's two cases of Frittle chips here?!" Henry asked, confused but a little bit happy.
"Yep. About half a mile down there, right in the Man Cave." He pointed down to the floor.
"Wait, wait. Schwoz's sister went down to the Man Cave to have a snack and take a nap!" Jasper recalled and my dad's eyes widened.
"You mo—"