The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy (8)

What Maniac Mike Mullins did not know about was “The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy.” He didn’t know about them because no one did. They had kept their crime fighting skills a secret for as long as they had been together. This was partly because no one ever needed their help in Middleville and partly because they didn’t think they were good enough to fight crime. However, as Malcolm Mullins stepped back into the factory where he and his mindless brother were working on their half-baked plan, he didn’t realize that he had been followed. Sixty Second Flight Girl was at the pet store picking up some fresh crickets for Neville and had noticed Malcolm’s suspicious activity as he stole countless dog toys and food. She knew that she should have called the police when she saw someone taking something that didn’t belong to them, or at least alerted someone in the store, but she had a feeling that Malcolm Mullins was going to lead her to the scene of the crime and all she had to do was quietly follow him. Sixty Second Flight Girl had to walk as he was doing, being careful to stay out of sight. It wasn’t as though she could fly above him because people might notice and having people know she existed would have been a disaster. She would have had to stop every minute and take off again anyway and that would have put her too far behind. Luckily, Malcolm wasn’t very and bright and he wasn’t very observant. He didn’t even notice that he was being followed.  When they finally arrived at the factory, Sixty Second Flight Girl tried to see into the windows but she could not stay in flight long enough to get a good look. Instead, she went back to headquarters to tell them what she had found.

The headquarters of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy was buzzing with activity once Sixty Second Flight Girl got back. Captain Pancake arrived with Nick to find the whole building in an uproar. “What’s going on here?” asked Captain Pancake, using his extremely loud voice to be heard above the noise. “We think we might have found him!” Sixty Second Flight Girl exclaimed excitedly.  “Chewy? You found Chewy?”  Nick asked. She nodded her assent.  She told the story that she had already told countless times. “But I couldn’t see inside the building. The windows look into a really dark room and I wasn’t able to stay in flight long enough to even try to see inside.”  Missy Fit volunteered, “I can jump on Bounce and look in the window.” “Missy,” Sixty Second Flight Girl said in exasperation, “If I can’t look in the windows in sixty seconds, what makes you think you can do it in three?” “Oh,” Missy sat down feeling foolish. Morph, Jumping Jack, Blumsy, Torch and the Principal knew that they were out too. None of their powers would help in this case.  “I guess it is up to me. I just hope I don’t see my reflection in the window because you know how much bugs scare me. ” said Buzz.  “Can you see in the dark?” Nick asked. “I can if I turn into a fly. It might take me a couple of tries but I should be able to do it. House flies have about 4,000 lenses in their eyes. They all help me to see one image. I have extra sensors that help me see in the dark.” “Cool!” Nick said and they all watched while Buzz changed from a human into a bee with human arms and legs. Then he turned into a butterfly with a human head. Finally, after concentrating really hard, he was able to turn into a fly. It was really weird to watch. Buzz buzzed impatiently around the door until Nick opened it and he flew off into the town. They all waited for what seemed like hours for him to return. They kept the door open, which meant that quite a few flies flew in and out of the building causing all kinds of excitement before Buzz returned.

Finally, Buzz came back. He morphed back into a human and thanked heaven for the clothes that Bob had made for him that grew or shrunk as he turned from one form to the next. He was out of breath from flying so far and asked for water before he would tell them anything. Nick was bouncing in his seat. He couldn’t wait anymore. “Did you find him? Did you?” Nick asked.  “Well, not Chewy exactly, but there are a lot of dogs there. I can’t see into the room where they have them. They keep the door shut. The room I can see into is empty.”  “Well, how do you know they are there?” “I can hear them, not like you can, but when I am a fly, I can hear the vibration of their barks and I can definitely smell them. The thing is, I don’t know how we can get in and get the dogs out. They keep the front door locked. We need a plan.” The superheroes sat down to think, each one considering how they could rescue the dogs themselves. No one knew how it could work but that would not stop them from trying.

Morph went to the factory and sat in front of the back door for hours in a cube shape. Matt tripped over him when he brought out the garbage but he just got right back up and went inside again. Bounce and Missy went down to give it a shot. Missy tried to vault on to the roof to see if there was a way in but she could not get a high enough jump off of Bounce. Bounce tried to scare Missy to see if she could break the glass but since she knew it was coming, all she did was giggle. Torch waited until night and stood outside the back of the factory glowing but that did not accomplish anything. Bob tried to buy the factory to gain access but he could not find the owners, even with the help of the Principal. Blumsy and Jumping Jack went down together, or they tried. Blumsy walked calmly out of headquarters, tripped over the very first fire hydrant on the street, sailed over top of a mailbox and landed in a bush. Jumping Jack had to take Blumsy back to headquarters where he could recover from his injuries. Captain Pancake and Sixty Second Flight Girl were so upset with the lack of progress that they hid out in headquarters and refused to leave.