Ray and Schwoz emerged from the back of the Mancave into the main room after receiving a text. Henry was sitting in the chair by the monitors, speaking to Dylan who sat on the desk itself. Charlotte was busy putting the final touches on her machine she wanted everyone to see.
"Okay, I'm here. What's up?" Ray's voice was laced with annoyance.
"Charlotte wants to show us the new project she made for The Gizmo Show." Henry responded, cutting his conversation with Dylan.
"Gizmo Show?" Ray had no idea what Henry was talking about.
"What's a Gizmo Show?" Schwoz asked, also not knowing.
"It's this huge competition they have every year where kids bring all kinds of cool machines and inventions they made..." Henry tried explaining the event to his boss, but was cut off once Schwoz started yawning. "I'm sorry was I boring you?"
"Yeah, a little bit." Schwoz had no problem telling the truth.
"No, he's just tired because he hasn't slept in two days." Ray would never tell a soul, but sometimes he did truly worry for Schwoz.
"Yeah, but Henry was also being boring."
"True."
"Why hasn't Schwoz slept in two days?" Henry asked.
"Because he was binge watching that mini series about OJ." Ray explained.
"The one about the big trial in the 90s." Henry nodded his head, thinking he knew what Ray was talking about.
"No." Schwoz supplied from where he stood.
"The one about orange juice." Ray further explained, leaving Henry confused.
"Yeah, it's called 'OJ: From Farm to Glass'." Schwoz seemed genuinely interested in the program.
"Is that why I heard you chanting "Orange Oil" last night?" Dylan hopped off the desk and shuddered with his words, remembering waking up to an ominous shouting that lasted five minutes.
"It was a very interesting episode." Schwoz smiled widely with his words.
"Hey, you see the episode yet about how they remove the pulp—" Ray was apparently also watching this show, but was further along than Schwoz, who interrupted his sentence to yell at Ray about spoilers.
Dylan rolled his eyes at the two men in the exact same moment Jasper came out of the elevator.
"Is it time to see Charlottes thing?" He strode out, receiving looks from everyone else.
"You're supposed to be upstairs at Junk N' Stuff, working!" Ray told Jasper, a tad angry with him for leaving his post.
"Dude, what if a customer walks in?" Henry was on the same side as Ray.
"Oh, it's okay, I left a sign saying: Be Right Back." Jasper was very proud of himself for making sure that his break was justified, regardless if the others didn't think so.
Before anyone else could harp on Jasper, Charlotte came out from where her machine was, greeting the others in the room. Everyone formed into a line before her, listening to her words, mainly because they didn't have a choice; she just started speaking and no one came in to protest.
"As some of you know, for the past three years at The Gizmo Show, my projects have won the second place prize." Everyone in the room nodded along to her words, acting like they were interested in what she was saying. "But this is the year that Charlotte goes number one." Ray couldn't help but make a joke with her sentence about peeing, causing everyone, but Charlotte, to laugh. Charlotte waited for the cacophony to die down before continuing on. "I call my project, The Scream Machine!" She took the cloth that covered her work off, revealing it to the room. "Now, as we all know, the future of our planet depends on finding new ways to create clean, renewable energy. But where will our energy come from?"
Henry raised his hand, as if he were in school. "France."
"No."
"Energy Balls." Ray answered.
"Wrong."
"Orange Juice." Schwoz was still thinking about his show.
"Dang it."
"Double A batteries!" Jasper shouted, thinking he was right.
"No!"
"Ooo, oo!" Dylan raised his hand in the same fashion Henry had moments ago. "Screaming?"
"Yes! Finally someone has a brain around here!" Charlotte was always glad to have Dylan around, as he was sometimes the sanest person in the room. "As you're about to see, my Scream Machine creates energy from sound."
Charlotte called on Jasper to help her demonstrate her machine, which meant shocking him with electricity so he'd yell out in pain and make her machine work. No one in the room cared that Jasper was basically just tortured, and instead focused their attention on Charlotte who was explaining how the mechanics of her machine worked. They were all impressed with her work, but Schwoz wanted to take it a step further. He blasted an air horn into the machine, watching as it overloaded the system. Charlotte, Henry, and Dylan tried to get him to stop, but the machine exploded moments later, ruining it. Jasper decided it was the perfect time to go back upstairs and resume working, booking it out of the room at an ungodly speed.
To say that Charlotte was mad was an understatement. She was absolutely livid, having spent so long on her machine only to have someone break it caused her to see red. It wasn't long before she had Schwoz pinned to the ground, bending his leg in such a way it caused pain.
"Four months!" She screamed at Schwoz. "I worked on that project for four months!" Henry and Ray had to step in to pry the girl of Schwoz. "I was finally going to win first place at The Gizmo Show! But Schwoz had to go wreck my Scream Machine and ruin my chances!"
"Look, just calm down." Henry tried to make his friend feel better, but it was no use.
"Hey! Never tell a woman to calm down!"
"I'm sorry, I was just trying to—"
"Never tell a woman to calm down."
"Okay."
"Say it with me," Charlotte brought one of her hands up to Henry's jaw, moving it as she spoke, "'Never tell a woman to calm down.' Do you get it?"
"Yes, I promise!"
"Charlotte, this really isn't the disaster you that think it is." Ray tried to reason with her.
"But the Gizmo Show is on Monday and look what Schwoz did to my project!"
"Okay, but Schwoz is a scientific genius and he has all weekend to rebuild your Scream Machine, which he will."
"No!" Schwoz already had an issue with the plan. "This week I am supposed to get my colonoscopy."
"Reschedule it!" Ray shouted at him, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"I'll just reschedule it."
"But," Charlotte pulled everyone's attention back to her and her broken project, "the rules state that every kid has to build their own gizmo without the help from a parent or any other adult. It has to be my work."
"It is your work." Ray didn't sound too confident with his words.
"Yeah, Schwoz is just gonna recreate the project you made." Henry chimed in, also not sounding super confident, but if it got Charlotte to agree, then it would work.
"I guess so." Charlotte was a little bummed, not only from her gizmo being destroyed, but also because she knew she would be entering the competition with someone else's work.
"All right, then we're good!" Ray clapped his hands together in triumph. "Schwoz, now it's up to you to make sure you get—" Before Ray could finish his sentence he turned to Schwoz only to find him sleeping standing up. Henry had to blow an air horn in his ear in order to wake him up.
It was going to be a long night.
—
Something that proved to be true once Henry, Ray, and Schwoz came back into the Mancave all having an argument with one another.
"Woah, hey!" Dylan had stayed behind while the three went out to get parts for the Scream Machine recreation. "What is going on here?"
"Schwoz lost Charlotte's plans!" Ray stated, pointing a finger in the man's directions.
"I wouldn't have lost them if you didn't take the roof of your car off!" Schwoz defended.
"Yeah well you should learn how to hold things better!" Henry yelled at him.
"Okay, yelling at him isn't going to solve any problems." It seemed like Dylan was the only voice of reason nowadays.
"Maybe not, but it feels warranted." Ray said, crossing his arms like a child who didn't get his way.
"Yeah!" Henry agreed, throwing a glare towards Schwoz.
"Henry." Dylan called, his voice laced with a warning tone.
"Sorry." Even now, after he and Dylan officially became and item, he couldn't help his intrinsic want to respond to everything Dylan was giving him.
"Look, do you remember anything that was written on her plans?" Dylan was agitated, but only because he knew if Charlotte were here she'd be a lot more than slightly annoyed.
"Not really, no." Schwoz answered, a look of guilt washing over his face.
"What are we supposed to do, huh?" Ray didn't like the direction things were headed towards, beginning to pace around the room in fear of what Charlotte would do if she found out.
"I could build something else." Schwoz supplied.
"What kind of something else?" Henry asked, semi-intrigued.
"Something I've been working on for a while now." Schwoz let his eyes fall on Dylan with his words. "I just need someone to help me test it."
Dylan took notice of the way he was being stared at, his stature going rigid with the implications. "Please tell me it isn't teleportation."
"I could, but then I'd be lying."
"I am not helping you with that."
"Why not?" Schwoz whined. "You're the only one who's experienced it!"
"Yeah, and I almost died!"
"But you didn't. And you got super cool powers out of it."
"No."
"Please?"
"Absolutely not."
"Pretty please?"
Dylan wasn't the type of person to give into peer pressure, in fact, he could stand here and say no to Schwoz for hours; but he also knew that Charlotte was counting on her Scream Machine being built. While they couldn't give her that, they could give her something else, something that would hopefully bring her the first place prize she desperately wanted. "Fine." He forced out.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Schwoz ran over to Dylan and hugged him like his life depended on it.
"Yeah, yeah, get off me." Dylan pushed the other man off of him, the sudden need to take a shower washing over him. "Let's just get this over with."
—
Henry, Dylan, Ray, and Schwoz came rushing into the Gizmo Show, wheeling in what Charlotte thought was her Scream Machine. They were running late due to several arguments that took place in the car, but ultimately they had made it right on time. Schwoz's teleporter had worked flawlessly and was definitely a step up from what Dylan was used to. As long as it didn't explode, it would be Dylan approved.
As soon as the cloth came off the machine Charlotte took notice of the major differences. They tried to explain to her what the machine was and what it did, but the judges had all started to crowd her and ask her questions on "her" gizmo. She avoided questions about what it was, since she didn't know, and opted to just show everyone what it could do. After a lot of hesitation on what steps she needed to do in order to make it work and glancing at the four who brought it in for confirmation, the machine came to life. It shot out a particle beam that ended up transporting Jasper, who was busy on his phone rather than paying attention, from one part of the room to another.
Everyone in the room was astonished, including the judges who declared "Charlotte's" gizmo as one of the greatest machines in the world. She tried deflecting the cheering over to literally anything else, but it was no use. They had all just saw a successful attempt at teleportation, and that in it's own trumped anything else at the Gizmo Show.
But the overwhelming guilt she felt couldn't be ignored. It wasn't her invention, hell it wasn't even her plans. She had already entered the day feeling like a cheater under the assumption that Schwoz was going to recreate her Scream Machine, but this was something else. This wasn't her plans or her work; it was stolen. Even if it was willingly handed over to her so she could win the Gizmo Show, it was still stolen work.
The crowd didn't make it better either, stating that she was going to be famous for her invention. She had to get away, she couldn't deal with everyone admiring something she called her own but wasn't. Her attempt to hide quickly fell apart as she was pulled out from underneath one of the tables she retreated to. Charlotte looked towards her friends and motioned for them to follow her into a soundproof box that one of the other contestants had built.
Once inside, they could have any conversation they wanted without worrying about other people hearing in. It was a perfect place to talk about the machine that wasn't hers.
"All right, I need you guys to listen." Charlotte started out, hoping that her words would be processed.
"I know what you're going to say, so you're welcome." Cleary Schwoz did not take notice of the tone in Charlotte's voice, as he thought he was being pulled into the booth to get congratulated.
"I'm not welcome!" Frustration was seeping out of Charlotte. "Everyone out there thinks I'm some kind of scientific genius who jut created the most important invention in the history of the world!"
"Once again, you're welcome." Someone needed to teach Schwoz on how to read a room. Especially when it landed him a smack in the nose from Charlotte.
"People are calling the government and Fox News!"
"So?" Schwoz asked, still recovering.
"They're fair." Ray commented.
"And balanced." Henry added in.
"Henry." The warning in Dylan's voice was back. "Don't even."
"Oh, and what happens when they wanna know everything about me?" Charlotte couldn't help but think of the worst case scenario. "People are going to find out that I work at Junk N' Stuff, and then reporters are gonna come poking around, wanting to talk to me, and then how long before they figure out that's where Captain Man and Kid Danger work, who also seem to be housing a criminal!"
"Hey! I am not a criminal!" Dylan argued. "At least not anymore."
"Yes we're all very proud of your new lifestyle, but the court will not care!" Charlotte was right, on every aspect too.
"She's right, this a problem and we need to make it go away." Ray stated.
"How? I mean, everyone out there just saw her device work." Henry questioned.
"We have to get rid of it."
"My machine!" Schwoz didn't want anything to happen to it, as it was technically his greatest invention.
"Yes, your machine."
"Okay, there's like a billion people out there, how are we going to get rid of it?" Henry glanced through the glass of the soundproof box, noticing how people were still crowding around the machine.
"Easy. All we need is a plan." Everyone waited for Ray to finish his thought, but it never came.
"Which is?" Henry pushed.
"I don't know, Henry. Isn't it enough that I've pointed out a plan is what we need?"
"I have an idea!" Charlotte told the others. "All we need is Captain Man and Kid Danger, and a criminal."
"I am not a criminal!" Dylan shouted again.
"No, not you." Charlotte reassured her friend. "Jasper!"
"You want me to be a criminal?" Jasper didn't even seem fazed by the request.
"Yeah, will you?"
"Do I have to whack someone?"
"No."
"I'll do it anyway!" Even if Jasper couldn't inflict pain on an innocent bystander, he was still willing to help his best friend.
—
As soon as Charlotte stepped out of the booth she was immediately swamped with people asking her questions and introducing her to various important people. With the attention on her it was easy for Ray and Henry to slip away and transform into Captain Man and Kid Danger. Jasper had gone out to collect anything he could find for a criminal costume, and Dylan and Schwoz joined the crowd around Charlotte. After everyone took their positions, the plan started.
Jasper, in some sort of make-shift costume, came bursting into the room shouting something about being chased. Schwoz jumped into action, playing the part of someone caught in the crossfire of the scene. Captain Man and Kid Danger came out from where they were hiding behind one of the tables and began acting as well, telling Jasper that they were here to stop him.
Jasper, wanting to make a show of himself, punched Schwoz in the face to really sell the idea that he was a bad guy, even after he was told that he wasn't allowed to hurt anyone. The two heroes then proceeded with the next step of the plan, getting them and Jasper close to the teleporter, so they could "accidentally" destroy it during a fight. They lunged forward making it seem like they were going to tackle Jasper, and ended up knocking the machine to the ground, breaking it in the process like they wanted to.
For extra measure, the entire "fight" took place over the broken machine so they could step on it until it was no longer salvageable. The scene that played out was Captain Man and Kid Danger holding onto a random criminal while they pretended to hurt him. Even the people watching could tell it was a weird and awkward fight. After the poor attempt at pretending to fight was over, Captain Man and Kid Danger hauled Jasper out of the room, acting like they were going to send him to jail.
Charlotte emerged from the crowd of people, feigning sadness like she was upset about the damage.
"Aww, my project, it's damaged!" She exclaimed loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"Can you repair it?" One of the judges asked her.
"Damaged beyond repair." Everyone in the room groaned loudly with her words.
"But you have your original drawings, I'm sure." Someone else from the crowd commented.
"Mmm, no my drawings were lost."
"Well I'm sure you remember how you created it." The female judge chimed in.
"Mmm, I have a bad memory."
"Well maybe you could just—" Charlotte cut off the judge with a simple "Bye" and walked out of the room, leaving everyone with the broken machine on the floor.
She soon joined the others, who were waiting for her to leave so they could go home.
"Anyone up for ice cream?" Ray asked. Everyone seemed on board with the new plan, and they all walked out of the building to head to Ray's car and get ice cream. It was a long day after all, and after their plan worked out well, it felt like a reward.