Henry, Dylan, and Ray had spent all of Saturday working over different plans. They ended up telling Charlotte and Jasper several variations of their plan, asking them which one they should go with.
"I think you should go with the second one." Charlotte commented.
"No way, the 11th one has some serious potential." Jasper argued back.
"You mean the one with the badgers?" Charlotte crossed her arms as she spoke.
"It's the best part!" Jasper reasoned.
"I also like the badgers." Henry interjected.
"Where are you going to find 15 badgers?" Charlotte asked. "It's not like there's a badger store or anything."
"Please Charlotte, we're superheroes." Ray entered the conversation referring to Henry and himself. "If we want 15 badgers, we can get 15 badgers."
"Honestly, I think plan 6 is a winner." Dylan spoke.
"That's the one with..." Henry trailed off trying to remember all of their different plans.
"Without us." Ray finished.
"Yeah." Dylan looked at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.
"You think the one without Ray and I is the best one?" Henry seemed a little hurt by Dylan's decision.
"It's just," Dylan paused and let out a sigh, "if he knows you're here, the plan will fail."
"Yeah, but," Ray began to speak but was interrupted by Dylan.
"But what? We can't take any chances."
"Dylan is right," Charlotte stepped forward, "if anything goes wrong, none of the plans will work."
"Not even the one with the badgers." Jasper reminded everyone of his favorite plan.
"Stop it with the badgers." Charlotte turned to Jasper, annoyed with him. "That plan was never going to work!"
"I thought it was a flawless plan." Jasper crossed his arms in defense.
"I think having me, just me, is a flawless plan." Dylan brought everyone's attention back to what the meeting was really about. "He's expecting only me, we can't risk it."
"What if something happens to you?" Henry spoke quickly, a slight anxiety in his voice.
"Please, I can take care of myself. I make weapons, remember?"
"Yeah but, you said it yesterday, it's not easy for you to hurt him." Henry walked towards Dylan, stopping one he was close to the other boy.
"I'll be fine." With their new proximity, Dylan's voice was quieter than before.
"You promise?" Henry's voice became quiet as well.
"You know I can't make a promise like that."
"Then at least tell me you'll try to come back to me." Henry didn't mean to say the last two words, but they came out nonetheless.
"I promise I'll do everything in my power to come back." Dylan held his hand in front of Henry, pinky extended. "To you." Dylan meant to say those words.
Henry linked his pinky with Dylan's, a promise between them being made. "I can't let my math tutor die."
"Right," Dylan unlinked his hand from Henry's, "math tutor."
"Do they always flirt like this?" Charlotte spoke from where she stood with Ray and Jasper.
"That's what I'm saying!" Ray loudly said, silently thanking Charlotte for noticing.
"We are not flirting!" Henry quickly turned to the other to defend his actions.
"Really?" Dylan positioned himself to the left of Henry. "Because I was totally flirting with you." He gave him a wink.
"Well, I mean, it's just. You, you know, you," Henry couldn't find the right words anymore, "can we get back to discussing the plans please?" Henry broke eye contact with Dylan as the others laughed.
"Ah, yes. The plan that has me and only me." Dylan looked between Ray and Henry, reminding them of his decision.
"Alright, we'll go with plan 6." Ray brought his hands up in surrender. "But if anything goes wrong, you call us, okay?"
"Aye aye, Captain." Dylan saluted Ray, who rolled his eyes in response.
—
6 p.m. rolled around and the meeting at Swellview Park had begun. Dylan came alone, but Michael had brought a couple of people with him. Michael was still sporting a dagger in his leg, curtesy of Dylan, to which he demanded be removed, but Dylan denied. He wanted to make sure that Michael still had a reason to speak with him, as Dylan complying to his demands was not the plan. It had to be the other way around.
"I know why you're here." Michael spoke up, a smile appearing on his face.
"Is that so?" Dylan wanted to know where the conversation was going, and how wrong Michael was going to be.
"You're here because you've realized just how right I am." Michael brought both of his hands over his sternum, smile never fading.
"And you were right about what, exactly?" Dylan cocked his head to the side. "I don't remember us even having a proper conversation." Michael didn't seem to like the words Dylan was saying, as he abruptly brought his hands back down and stormed over to Dylan, stopping inches from him.
"You've missed me." Michael grabbed Dylan's chin, but his hand was forced away, Dylan keeping it in a tight enough grip to hurt.
"Again, what exactly are you right about?"
Michael ripped his hand from Dylan's grip, slowly backing away. "I thought when you called you were gonna tell me that you're sorry."
"Sorry about what? I have nothing to apologize for."
"Is that what you think?"
"It's what I know."
Michael looked off into the distance for a moment, before brining his focus back to Dylan, clearly agitated. "So what are you here for then?"
"Your father."
"What about my father." Michael's interest was peaked.
"Do you still have those plans?"
"You mean..." Michael trailed off, his eyes narrowing.
"If you agree to leave me alone, and never come back, I'll help you with your father."
"And why is that? Why do you want to get rid of him?" Michael approached Dylan again, trying to find a reason as to why he was suddenly offering help.
"You know more than anyone that I hate what his machine did to me." Dylan stood his ground, his voice never failing. "I hate what he made me become." A lie, because technically Michael was the one who turned Dylan into a villain, but that wasn't something he needed to know.
"That is true." Michale bought it, looking Dylan up and down before speaking again. "I don't have the plans with me."
"Then get them. You know how to contact me."
"It'll take a while."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Michale seemed to contemplate everything for a moment, and briefly turned to the men he came with for some sort of confirmation. "What about," he turned back to Dylan, "those guys you were with last time?"
"Who?" Dylan feigned confusion.
"You know, those protectors of Swellview."
"Oh, those people. I told them to stay out of my way." A technical truth.
"And they said yes?" Michael crossed his arms, not really believing.
"Not at first, but then I impaled one of them with a knife." Another technical truth. "He's probably having so much fun trying to pry it out. Almost as much fun as you're having right now." Dylan eyed Michael's ailment, smiling at him.
"We don't have to worry about them?"
"Hopefully not, but if they show up, I have no problem with taking care of them."
"It'll be just like the old days then, huh?" A statement that made Dylan tense up, but Michael didn't seem to notice.
"Yes," Dylan forced himself to say, "just like that."
"I'll get the plans." Michael stated, "If, you take this out of me." He gestured to the knife in his leg.
"And I'll take it out, if you agree that once this is over, you leave me alone." Dylan wanted to make sure Michael was fully aware of the entire situation and what was to be promised.
Michael didn't seem to like the idea of leaving Dylan alone, as he hesitated before responding. "And if I don't?" He was challenging Dylan.
"Then I have no issue leaving you with permanent knife issues." Dylan materialized a dagger in his right hand in order to emphasize his point.
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"When all of this is over, I'll leave you alone."
"Good." Dylan quickly approached Michael, reached down, and pulled the knife out of his thigh. "Better?"
"You're not gonna heal me?" Michael tried to reason.
"No."
—
Dylan didn't enter the Mancave until 8:00 p.m. causing everyone, mainly Henry, to be relieved once the tubes came down. Ray and Henry were the only ones left in the Mancave, as Jasper's mother demanded he come home for some unknown reason, and Charlotte said she was tired.
"You're back!" Henry practically jumped up from where he sat with Ray at the couch, the two playing a board game to pass the time.
"I am." Dylan came down the steps that lead to the tube, heading over to the other two.
"I'm guessing it went well, since you didn't call." Ray stated, as Dylan sat down next to Henry.
"He's gone back to Jonsville in order to get the plans." Dylan explained to the others.
"So he bought it?" Henry asked.
"I hope so."
"When is he supposed to be back?" Ray picked up the dice from the board game, rolling it.
"A week." Dylan leaned back into the couch, clearly tired.
"And he'll what, let you know when he comes back?" Ray glanced at the number on the dice, picking up his piece and moving the amount.
"Pretty much."
"Aww man, I landed on a chute." Ray commented, engrossed in the board game.
"Ha! Now I'm winning." Henry gloated.
Dylan rolled his eyes at the other two's antics. "Weirdos." He said in a hushed voice that Ray didn't hear, but Henry did, earning a smile from him.
"Hey, you doing anything tomorrow?" Henry asked Dylan.
"Uhh," Dylan sat up a little straighter and turned his head towards Henry, "we've got school, and then, no."
"You should come over after school."
"For tutoring?"
"Yeah, tutoring."
Dylan didn't quite understand what Henry meant with his answer, but agreed nonetheless. "I can do that."
"Cool." Henry gave Dylan another smile, who reciprocated. It was Henry's turn on the board game. He rolled the dice and moved his piece. "Ah nice, a ladder!"
"Dang-it!" Ray pushed the board game off the table, clearly upset that he was losing. "There was a bug on it."
"Yeah, I bet there was." Dylan eyed Ray, not believing his blatant lie. "I'm going home." He announced, as he stood up.
"I should get going too." Henry got up, following Dylan. "I only really stayed here to make sure you got back safely."
"Really?" Dylan stopped walking towards the elevator, turning to face Henry.
"Yeah," Henry stared into Dylan's eyes, "you had a promise to keep."
"That I did."
"No kissing in the Mancave." Ray announced to the two of them.
"We're not kissing!" Henry was always the first to respond to Ray's comments like these.
"Just making sure you two know the rules." Ray was picking up the pieces of the board game he discarded.
"Yes, well, thank you." Dylan headed back towards the elevator, Henry following him again, and the two went their separate ways in order to go home.