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

Nick stepped off the bus to the chants of the kids inside, “Dork Vader” “Puke Skywalker!” He turned his back and rubbed his eyes. No one would see him cry, he wouldn’t let them. He ran home as fast as he could; burst through the front door, threw his backpack on the couch and ran upstairs shouting, “I hate this school. I hate this town. I hate that backpack.” Nick’s mom, Jen, wandered into the living room. Staring at the abandoned Star Wars backpack that Nick had loved so much yesterday, “Well I guess that answers my question about how school was today.”

Nick’s mom knocked on his bedroom door. “Go away!” he shouted in a voice that sounded suspiciously like he was crying.

“Nicky,” she said as she entered the room, “what happened?”

Nick turned around and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Why did we have to move here anyway? I liked my old school and my old friends. No one likes me here. I want to go home.”

“This is home now,” his mom said. Sighing, Jen repeated the old argument, “You know dad had to move for work, but we have a much nicer house now and a brand-new school. You’ll make new friends Nicky, but you have to give it a chance. You’ve only been there a few days.”

Nick thought that sometimes grownups didn’t even try to understand little kids. “My teachers are okay I guess and some of the kids in the class are talking to me. I even made a friend, Kate.”

Meanwhile….

“Oh,” Jen replied, ruffling Nick’s longish red hair, “Is she cute?”

“Moooooom, ewww, I’m only 8, girls are gross. Well, most girls but Kate is kind of cool. She even likes Star Wars and she can play video games and everything.”

Jen laughed. “So then what’s the problem?” Sniffling Nick told her about the kids on the school bus and how even though Kate was his friend, none of the boys were friends with him yet. It was hard being the new kid in third grade. Everyone knew each other already.

“It’ll get better Nicky, I promise.” Nicky sighed and picked up a comic book off the desk near his bed.
Jen knew that meant he was done talking so she got up, “I guess I’ll go make dinner. You sure you’re okay Nicky?”

“Yeah, and hey, mom?” Nick said as she walked out the door. Jen turned. “I guess she is kind of cute, for a girl.” Jen laughed and went downstairs.

After dinner, Nick was in the living room playing his Switch. His dad, John, was home from work and helping his mom clean up the kitchen. He could hear them talking. Parents always thought kids couldn’t hear them. It’s like they thought they entered some kind of weird parent bubble. His mom was telling his dad about the bus. Nick didn’t want to hear it, so he went upstairs to do homework.

If he had stuck around, he would have heard his dad say: “He needs a best friend honey, I think it’s time.”

“But they are so much work John, are you sure?”

“Well, we have a great big backyard now and I think Nick would like the responsibility of taking care of a dog.”

“Okay, a puppy it is then.”

If Nick had heard that part of the conversation, he would have been so excited because a puppy was the one thing Nick wished for every night before he went to sleep.

On Friday, when Nick came home from school, his dad was there waiting for him. “Hi dad, what are you doing home?”

“Oh your mom and I had a friend that we thought you would want to meet.”

Nick did his best not to roll his eyes. Dad’s idea of friends was usually some boring guy from work or worse, an annoying little kid who belonged to one of the boring guys from work. The very last thing Nick expected was for his mom to walk in from the kitchen with a furry little bundle in her arms.

“Nicky,” Jen said, “we found this little guy who needed a home and someone to take care of him. Think you can do it?”

“Do I ever!” Nick said racing to his mom.

“He’s really mine? I can keep him? Forever? What’s his name? What kind of dog is he?” Nick had a thousand questions as he reached for the puppy, which was now awake and squirming to get out of Jen’s arms as excited to meet Nick as Nick was to meet him.

“Whoa, slow down Champ,” his dad said. “He’s a German Sheppard pup and he doesn’t have a name. We thought you would like to give him one and yes, he’s yours, forever. You have to take care of him though, feed him and walk him. I bet that if you do, he’ll be your best friend.”

Nick, whose week on the bus had been as rough as that first day, was ready to have a best friend. “I’ll do everything,” he said, breathless with laughter as the puppy licked his face over and over again.

“So, what’s his name?” his mom asked.

“Hmmm I think I’ll call him Chewy.”

His dad laughed at the nod to one of Nick’s favorite Star Wars characters. His mom sighed because chewing everything was probably something this puppy was an expert at.

Nick took great care of his puppy that day and at night, he and Chewy laid side by side snuggled in bed, already the best of friends.
Nick wasted no time that weekend getting the things he needed to take care of Chewy. He went with his dad to the pet store and made sure that Chewy had tags, a leash, bowls for food and water, and a nice comfy bed. Nick insisted on trying them all out himself until he found the right one. On mom’s advice, they made sure to stock up on chew toys too. Nick even picked out a teddy bear because he figured Chewy was a baby and all babies need something to cuddle. John laughed as Nick went through the store making careful selections in every aisle. It might cost a fortune, but his dad knew Chewy and Nick were the perfect pair.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Nick was having a blast. He still didn’t have a lot of friends at school, and he was still getting teased but every day he got to come home to his puppy, and he thought he was the luckiest kid ever.

One day, Nick left in the morning after locking Chewy in the yard as he did every day. When he came home from school, he found his mom sitting on the chair in the living room looking very worried. “Nick,” she said gently, “did you lock the gate when you left this morning?”

“Yep, just like I always do. Wait! Did something happen? Where’s Chewy?”

“Nick honey, when I came home from work today, Chewy wasn’t here. I don’t know what happened to him.”

”Don’t just sit there mom,” Nick screamed. “Let’s go, we have to find him. He probably just got loose. He has to be around somewhere.”

“Okay honey, I already called your dad, he’s on his way home from work. Let’s go look for Chewy.”

And they did, Nick and his parents spent all day and night looking for Chewy. Nick even called Kate and she looked around her street too but Chewy was nowhere to be found.

“I locked the gate, I know I did.” Nick said to his dad at bedtime. “Something must have happened. Chewy wouldn’t run away. He loves me. We’re best friends.”

“I know,” John said. “He has a collar on, Nick. Someone will find him and bring him home. We’ll look again tomorrow. Try not to worry.”

But Nick did worry. He went to sleep that night crying and thinking of his best pal somewhere in the dark, lost, and afraid.
For the next week, Nick and his parents did everything they could to find Chewy. They checked the pet stores and the dog pound. They posted pictures and checked again and again every place that they thought a dog might go, but it was like Chewy had disappeared. Nick was sad. It didn’t matter what the kids on the bus called him or whether or not he made new friends. He missed the one friend he thought he would always have. His dad was so worried that he offered to buy Nick a new puppy but Nick said no. No dog would ever replace Chewy and besides, he knew that Chewy was going to come home.

After a while, Nick’s parents went on with their everyday routine. Nick went to school, came home, and did his homework and then he went out to walk around his neighborhood and look for Chewy. It was after a few of these walks that Nick noticed Chewy’s picture was missing from the poles. In its place was a picture of another missing puppy. In store windows, on fences, in the local papers – different missing puppies were cropping up everywhere. Something weird was going on here, thought Nick. Why have so many dogs disappeared?

When he got home, Nick ran to find his mom. He was all out of breath. “Mom! Mom! Mom!” he shouted.

“I’m in here Nicky and for goodness sakes, quiet down. I’m trying to work.”

“But mom, this is important.” “Okay Nick, what is so important?” “The dogs, they’ve all disappeared, just like Chewy.”

“Nicky, what are you talking about?”

Nicky sighed and impatiently pushed his hair out of his eyes. “I was out walking and looking for Chewy and I saw a sign and then another sign and that’s three dogs mom! Three! Something’s weird.”

Jen stared at Nick for a second, thinking very carefully about what she was going to say because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Nick, honey, puppies get out sometimes. Now I know that you miss Chewy, and you want to find him, but don’t make more of something then it is. Chewy got out and we just have to wait and hope that someone finds him or that he finds his way home.”

“But moooooom,” Nick whined.

“Not now, Nick, I have to get back to this. We’ll talk about it later.”

When John came home from work, Nick pounced on him as soon as he could. He told him his story and his idea. John had had a really long day at work, meeting after meeting and he was very tired. He didn’t really pay attention to what Nick was telling him. “Hmmm that sounds interesting Champ. Honey, what’s for dinner?”

Nick thought if his parents wouldn’t listen maybe his teachers would. He would tell them tomorrow. He went to bed that night at least feeling like he had a plan and maybe just maybe he would find Chewy.

Only when he went to school the next day, his teachers all said the same thing his mom did. Nick was starting to get frustrated. He told Kate all about it at recess.

“I believe you Nick,” Kate said. “Let’s think. If your parents won’t listen and the teachers won’t listen, maybe you could talk to the police or maybe the news.”

“Yeah maybe, I feel like I need a detective or a superhero.”

“Don’t be silly Nick, superheroes aren’t real.”

Nick just looked at Kate. She was cool and all but sometimes she was such a girl. Nick knew in his heart that superheroes were as real as he was. Just because you didn’t see them every day didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Geez, Santa was real even though you didn’t see him walking down the street. What did girls know anyway?

“Let’s go to the police station after school Nick, while we walk around and look for Chewy. They have to listen. We’ll talk to Officer Kelly, you know the policeman that came to school to talk to us about safety.” Kate thought Nick was about the smartest boy she had ever met. If he said that there was something going on, she figured he was right.

After school, they walked to the police station and told Officer Kelly everything that had happened. Officer Kelly was very nice, and it seemed like he was going to take them seriously. “Listen kids, I know that you miss your puppy and I bet he is just out exploring and having a great adventure and he’s going to come home any day, but you can’t just go making up stories and thinking everyone is going to listen. We’ll keep an eye out for any ‘dognappers’ but in the meantime why don’t you just keep looking for Chewy. In fact, if you bring in a picture, we’ll hang it right on our bulletin board. The police ride all over the town and maybe someone will see him.”

“Okay Officer Kelly, thank you, I’ll bring a picture by tomorrow.” Nick and Kate left the police station. Nick walked over to a telephone pole and started banging his head against it. “Why won’t anyone listen to me?”

Kate said, “Well, we haven’t tried the newspaper yet. Let’s go back to my house and call them.”

When Nick called the newspaper and told his story to the reporter, the only thing the reporter said was, “Listen kid, I’ve got real news to report. Does your mom know you’re making crank calls?” Nick hung up the phone. “He just thinks I’m a stupid kid. Everyone thinks I’m a stupid kid. What am I going to do?”

Kate gave Nick a hug. “Maybe you do need a detective.”

“Or maybe a superhero,” Nick said. Kate just looked at him strangely.

Later that night, Nick was reading his comic books. He thumbed through to the back where all the ads were: learn how to draw cartoons, get a comic book subscription, and get a psychic reading…. And then he saw it. In the smallest print ever was an ad that read, “Need help? We’re the ones you call when everyone else is busy. 555-HERO.”

Nick snuck downstairs, grabbed his dad’s phone and called the number. “Hi, you have reached The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy. Please leave a message and we’ll be around to help you as soon as we can fly or well, walk there.” Nick sighed. This did not sound promising. “Hi, my name is Nick and I need help. My dog is missing, and I would really like to find him and well all these dogs are missing and I think something is going on but no one will listen to me and I was hoping you could help. Oh, and I live in Middleville and my name is Nick and my address is 9312 Lewis Street.”

On Saturday, Nick’s parents were painting their bedroom and they told Nick to go outside and play. Kate was out with her family, and he really didn’t want to do anything else so he sat on his front steps. A breeze blew gently around him, and it smelled like…maple syrup? Nick looked around. Suddenly, in the air were two people flying, well to be exact, one was flying and holding someone else and that someone else was screaming.

“Look out, Sixty Second Flight Girl. You’re going to drop me.”

“Only on your head,” said Sixty Second Flight Girl.

“What was that?”

“I said, ‘I hope you’ve been fed.’” Sixty Second Girl hurdled toward the ground right in front of Nick.

Nick jumped up. “Uh who…who…what are you?”

The man who had been screaming now stood in front of Nick’s steps. He had his hands on his hips. He wore cream-colored tights, a utility belt, and a shirt with a picture of a stack of pancakes on it. His brown cape fluttered in the breeze behind him. “I am Captain Pancake,” he said in a very deep voice.

“Captain Pancake?” asked Nick, still not believing what he was seeing.

“You called us remember? We’re The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy. Oh, please tell me we have the right address. Sixty Second Flight Girl, did you get the wrong address again? This is embarrassing. Let’s go. Up, up, and up.”

“Wait,” said Nick. “I did call you, but you just aren’t quite what I was expecting. I mean, I wasn’t even sure you would come and I… Captain Pancake?”

“Yes,” said Captain Pancake, his voice was very deep. “Instead of webs, like a certain other superhero that I know who shall remain nameless because he thinks he is so much better, I shoot butter and syrup.”

“Really? Butter and Syrup?” Nick asked.

“Don’t laugh; I hate it when people laugh at me. Just because I don’t crawl up walls or fly around at the speed of light, people think I can’t do anything special, but I can.”

“Okay, okay,” Nick said, raising his hands in surrender. Nick turned to the girl standing in front of him. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater and carrying a backpack. She looked no different than anyone else. “And you must be able to fly for only sixty seconds at a time?”

“What was your first clue? Yep, I’m the only one of us who can fly,” she said proudly.

“Only one of who?” Nick asked.

“The only one of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy, of course.”

“Okay,” Nick said, “But I think you guys need a better name.”

“So,” Captain Pancake said addressing Nick again, “What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, my puppy, Chewy, is lost and I know you are going to say what all the grownups have said that it happens sometimes. This is different though because it is not just my puppy that is missing. I’ve seen a few signs in the neighborhood for missing dogs and there are no stray dogs around and oh what’s the use? You won’t listen to me anyway. No one else has.” Nick said. His answer came out so fast that Captain Pancake had to listen carefully to hear what was said.

“Whoa, there little man. If you say something sinister is going on in the dog world, well then we must check out this canine caper. I just have to change into my disguise.” Captain Pancake grabbed Sixty Second Flight Girl’s backpack and jumped behind a row of hedges. He came out wearing his cape and shirt, but he had thrown a pair of jeans over his tights.

“Nice disguise,” said Sixty Second Flight Girl, “No one will ever notice you walking around now.”

Captain Pancake smiled and said, “Thank you.” Nick was not entirely sure it was a compliment.

“Wait a second, while I go tell my mom where I am going.” Nick opened the door and yelled to his parents, “Mom, I’m going to go look for Chewy with my new friend, er, CP.” Nick knew that his parents were way past the age that they believed in superheroes, and they would probably think he was crazy if he said Captain Pancake and Sixty Second Flight Girl were outside.
“Okay Nick, take your phone and be careful.” Nick groaned. His phone was so embarrassing. He wanted a real cell phone, but his dad didn’t think he was ready for it yet, so he had one of those phones that only called four numbers and 911, for emergencies. The sad part was, he only had two numbers filled in, his house and Kate’s. Nick took his phone and shut the door.

“See honey, he is making new friends. I knew there was nothing to worry about.” said John.

“I wonder what CP stands for,” Jen asked while brushing paint off her hands, “Charles Peter or Christopher Patrick… who knows? I can’t wait to meet him though.”

Captain Pancake, Sixty Second Flight Girl, and Nick started off their search by walking around the block. It was close to dinner time, so no one was out on the streets, of course, no puppies were either.

“So,“ Nick said, “I’m just wondering, I mean if you don’t mind me asking, how did you start shooting butter and syrup?”

“I loved pancakes when I was little. I ate them all the time. Well, you know that expression moms always say, ‘Be careful, if you keep eating that, you’re going to turn into a pancake one day.’”

Nick nodded though he was sure his mother had never said that.

“It turns out, my mom was right. When I turned 18, poof, I started dripping syrup and sliding in butter. That’s when my mom sent me to The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy camp and here I am team leader of a whole bunch of superheroes with really strange powers.”

“There are more of you?”

“Sure there are, just wait till you meet all of us,” said Sixty Second Flight Girl, “you’ll be amazed by all of our, well, for lack of a better word…. powers.” You could tell by the sound of her voice that Sixty Second Flight Girl was not amazed in the least.

After walking around the neighborhood, a bit, the heroes returned to Nick’s house and sat down on the front porch to talk about the case.

“So,” Nick said, “where should we look next?”

“That’s a good question Nick, obviously this calls for a plan,” Captain Pancake said in his very important and booming voice.

“Sooooo, do you have one?”

“Me? I thought you were superheroes. You’re supposed to come up with the answers.”

“Yes, that’s right and we will, we just wanted to know, you know, if you had any ideas.”

Nick slapped his hand to his forehead. “Exactly how many problems have you solved?”

“Including this one?” Sixty Second Flight Girl asked.

Nick nodded his head.

“Let’s see….um…..one, and well, we haven’t really even solved this one yet.”

Nick was suddenly a lot less confident in his new friends. “Is that why I haven’t heard about you before? You aren’t exactly on the news or anything.”

Captain Pancake appeared to be examining his fingernails. “You see,” he said, “we live in Middleville too and every town needs its superheroes, but we have never really tried to protect and serve before.”

“Why not?” Nick asked.

“Well, no one has ever called The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy to solve a case.”

“Okay that’s it! We gotta find a new name. Who would want to call? It sounds like you haven’t got a clue. You need something cool; something that says who you are. Maybe a cool acronym, you know, one of those names where all the first letters spell out a word or something everyone remembers like LOL, laugh out loud. You need a name that everyone will want to remember. Think about it, The Justice League, now there’s a name. Everyone knows what they stand for.”

Captain Pancake cringed at the mention of the famous superhero squad. “Yes, but they also have, you know, cool powers.”

“I think shooting butter and syrup is pretty cool too,” said Nick, “and any superhero can fly, but flying for sixty second time limits, now that’s hard work.” Sixty Second Flight Girl beamed at the compliment.

Nick’s phone chirped. “Time for dinner,” Nick said.

“Do you want to meet the rest of the gang tomorrow and tell them about the missing puppies?” asked Captain Pancake.

“I can’t wait!” said Nick excitedly. “Can you try to think up a plan tonight?” he asked, trying not to beg.

“YES! We can do that, and we can try to think up a new team name. Let’s go home, Sixty Second Flight Girl. Up, up and up!”
Nick watched his new friends take off, fly and land a few times before his phone beeped again reminding him that dinner was waiting inside. That night, Nick slept a little better knowing that he would see Chewy again soon.

Meanwhile…

Across town, a phone rang. “Yeah boss?”

“Have you two bumble brains finished the burglary?”

“Not yet boss, it’s a lot of work.”

“WELL why are we waiting!” screamed the man on the other end. Slamming the phone down, he said, “I don’t know why I invested in idiots!” He turned in his chair, stared out the window and looked out at the city. He rubbed his hands together gleefully, thinking of the wonderful things to come.

Nick remembered to ask his mom and dad if he could go to CP’s house after school the next day. He waited until they were painting again, and he was on his way to bed. The last thing he wanted was to answer a bunch of questions about his new friends that no one would ever believe anyway. As Nick suspected, his parents were so happy that he had a new friend and that he wasn’t crying about Chewy that they automatically said yes. Nick left the room in a hurry before they could think to ask anything. When his mom checked on him a little while later, Nick was fast asleep, dreaming of the next day’s adventures.

The school day was always long to Nick, but this day seemed to last forever. At recess Kate had asked Nick if he wanted to go to the playground after school, like they did every Friday. Nick felt bad when he had to tell her that he was busy. “Busy? Busy doing what?”

Nick took her hand and pulled her away from all the other kids. Kate blushed.

“I’m meeting ‘The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy’.”

“The who…the what?”

“It’s the group of superheroes that I called to help me find Chewy.”

Kate stamped her foot. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine, but you don’t have to go around making up stories!”

“I’m not, I promise.” Nick said, annoyed that Kate wouldn’t listen to him.

Kate blew her long brown hair out of her eyes where it always seemed to fall, hiding half her face. It drove the teachers crazy. “Nick, superheroes do NOT exist.”

“They do, honest.”

“Then show me!” “I can’t show you yet, they’re kind of shy.”

“UGH!” Kate screamed and walked away.

He didn’t notice Kate staring at him as he watched the clock, the minute hand moving in slow motion, waiting for the bell to tell them that school was out. After school, Nick rushed home as fast as the bus could take him; threw his backpack in the door; yelled to his mom that he had his Lightning Bug and that he would call later and ran back out the door. He rushed to the corner of his street and looked toward the sky searching for signs of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy. Nick never expected to hear a horn beeping at him from the most beat up small yellow school bus that he had ever seen. The doors opened.
“Come on Nick,” said Captain Pancake, “Today we ride in style! We call it the Cheese Bus.”

Nick shook his head and climbed aboard the bus. Not only did this team need a new name, but they also definitely needed a new ride. Captain Pancake drove to a store that had long since been abandoned on the other side of town. The store front faced an alley that had a dead end on one side. The windows and the door were covered in brown paper. Nick wasn’t sure why anyone would open a store there. It’s probably why it had been deserted, he thought. Captain Pancake parked the bus, carefully checked the mirrors to make sure no one was watching and quickly walked off with Nick following. In front of the door was a mailbox. Captain Pancake opened the lid and pressed his finger on a panel inside. The door did not open. He tried again and again the door did not open. “Sorry, this is rather embarrassing,” he said, “syrup leak. It happens a lot. Never fear!” He quickly whipped a wet cloth out of his utility belt, wiped off his finger and tried again. This time, the door opened toward them.

“That’s really cool.” Nick said, and he meant it.

“It’s standard issue for all superhero squads, even the hopeless ones.” Captain Pancake explained. They moved into the vacant storefront and walked quickly to the back. There was another door. This one had a keypad. “Avert your eyes, son.” CP said in the loud voice he used whenever he thought he was saying something important. He touched the keypad and entered the code. Nick could not help but sneak a look. The code was: 1, 2,3,4,5. Nick shook his head. The door swung open again and they walked into a room that for the first time made Nick think, he was dealing with a real group of superheroes.

“Welcome to the headquarters of The World’s Strangest Superheroes!” Captain Pancake said the name with a flourish and raised his eyebrows as if to ask Nick if the name was any better.

Nick just shook his head no, but he did gaze in amazement at the room around him. There were computer stations glowing on several tables, just waiting to begin the scary task of fighting crime. In tall glass cylinders around the room, hung superhero outfits in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. There were couches and bean bag chairs scattered around. In one corner there was an old pinball machine showing the Addams Family and in another, some game called Pac Man that looked like it was from another time and place. There was a huge table in the middle where the heroes could hold meetings or gather to eat. Nick noticed a large aquarium in the middle of the room. It was filled with sticks and leaves, a water dish, a food dish, and nothing else. “Uh…Captain Pancake, what’s supposed to be in the tank?”

“Oh, not supposed to be…he is in there. That’s Neville, our chameleon.”

“I don’t see him.”

“Of course not, I don’t see him either, haven’t for days. Chameleons are really good at camouflage – blending in with their environments.”

“Are you sure he is in there?”

“Positive.” Nick was not sure at all.

Nick couldn’t see what was beyond this room but there were several doors. As he was noticing all the details of command central, a man came into the room.

“CP,” he called, “I thought I heard the cheese mobile. When’s the kid getting here?” The man was busy looking down and reading a comic book. He didn’t even notice that Nick was in the room.

Nick looked at the man. He was short and squat. His head was almost square, and his black hair was cut in short spikes making his head even more like a box.

“He’s right here. Nick, may I present another superhero? He has the amazing ability to morph.”

“Wicked!” Nick said. “What kinds of things do you morph into?”

“A cube.”

“And?”

“Nope, nothing else, just a cube.”

“Oh.”

Captain Pancake interrupted, “We call him, Morph!” Nick smiled at the obvious name. “Morph has been a member of Secondary Superheroes nearly as long as I have.” Captain Pancake explained and nodded at Nick, asking silently if this name would stick.

Again, Nick shook his head no. “Secondary Superheroes sounds like you aren’t as good as any of the others out there.”

“Well, we really aren’t,” said Morph. No one had confidence around here.

Captain Pancake walked over to the intercom. “Attention all Superheroes! Attention all Superheroes! All Members of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy, please report to command central immediately. Thank you.”

Nick could hear doors opening and closing and footsteps coming toward the room. He could not wait to meet the entire squad.
Captain Pancake looked at Nick and said, “We really do have to do something about that name.” Nick laughed.

The heroes sat around the table and Captain Pancake began the introductions. Nick looked at the man next to Morph. He was tall and skinny. He had thick glasses and several bruises.

“Nick, you have already met Sixty Second Flight Girl and Morph. As you can see there are seven others here for you to meet. This is Blumsy. Blumsy can run really fast, so fast in fact he goes by in a blur, but he is really, really clumsy.”

“Hi, how you doing?” Blumsy stood up to shake Nick’s hand, fell out of his chair and managed to get a nasty paper cut on his way down to the floor. “Sorry,” he said, his voice sounded like his nose was always stuffy. Standing up and clearly embarrassed; he went to wash his hand in a nearby sink, tripping over his own feet on the way.

“I see what you mean,” said Nick.

“Next to Blumsy, is Missy Fit. Missy can let out a scream so loud that she can break glass. We have to be very careful not to scare her. We lose more windows that way….”

“Nice to meet you,” said Missy in an incredibly high-pitched voice. Missy Fit looked like a cheerleader, with perfect blonde hair pulled back in a high ponytail and huge blue eyes. Nick smiled thinking that his friend Kate would love to meet her.

Nick looked at the next man. He was short and round. His eyes stuck out from the sockets in the oddest way. He didn’t seem to have any hair except for two long strands that were wound around the top of his otherwise bald head.

“Nick this is Buzz. Buzz can turn into any insect. He is especially good at turning into a fly. If he tries something else, he usually keeps his head or body or arms …. It’s kind of scary looking really.”

“So good to make your acquaintance,” said Buzz. He spoke so quickly that Nick could barely hear him.

“Oh, and one more thing, keep mirrors away from Buzz.”

“Why?”

“He’s afraid of bugs,” Captain Pancake told him, shaking his head. Nick tried very hard not to laugh.

“At the end of the table opposite me, we have Bounce, bet you would never guess his power.” Captain Pancake challenged Nick.

“Hmmm, let me think, he shoots bouncy balls.” Nick guessed.

Captain Pancake shook his head no.

“He can bounce really high?” No again.

“I give up. What is his power?”

“Bounce and Missy, show him.” Captain Pancake told them.

“Gladly,” said Bounce, winking and shooting his fingers at CP.

Bounce was really tall and skinny. He looked like a basketball player. Bounce and Missy Fit moved to the center of the room. Bounce put his hands down on the floor behind his head and left his feet on the ground, so he looked like a table. Missy Fit took a running jump and landed squarely on Bounce’s stomach. She vaulted high into the air.

Nick blinked. “He’s a human trampoline!”

“Very good,” said Sixty Second Flight Girl, “you catch on quick.” Nick ignored her.

“Next to Bounce is Bob.” Bob looked perfect. There was no other way to describe him. He had perfect hair and perfect clothes. Bob stood up and walked over to Nick, pressing his hands against his suit. “It is extremely nice to meet you, young man.”

Nick blinked. He could have sworn that Bob’s eyeballs were dollar signs. When he blinked again, the image was gone. Nick shook Bob’s well-groomed hand and Bob returned to his seat. Nick looked at Captain Pancake, hoping he would explain.

“Bob doesn’t have any superpowers. He is our only normal member. Bob wants superpowers, it is his dream and the one thing he cannot get. Bob is incredibly rich and buys all the toys that could make him a hero, but he’s a nice guy so we let him stick around.”
Bob smiled.

“Oh,” said Captain Pancake, “I forgot to mention, Bob has bleached his teeth so much, he is on his way to blinding people with his smile.”

Bob smiled, thinking his teeth-bleaching plan might actually work. Nick wished for sunglasses.

“The man with the extremely long legs is Jack … Jumping Jack. He can jump extremely far.”

“So you are able to leap tall buildings in a…..”

Jack scowled. “Don’t go there,” Jack said folding his arms grumpily.

“Sorry, sensitive subject. Jack can only leap in a straight line. He can’t jump up.”

“Next we have Torch.”

Nick looked confused. He guessed, “He can set things on fire?”

“No, of course not,” said Torch, “that would be extremely dangerous.” Torch clapped once, the lights went off and he glowed, an eerie blue glow. “Accident in a glow stick factory,” said Torch as an explanation.

Very cool,” Nick said. Torch glowed a little brighter, clapped twice and turned the lights back on.

The last man, sat between Torch and Morph. He was the only hero that Nick was actually afraid of. The man looked angry. No, that wasn’t right, he looked strict. Nick felt like he had done something wrong just by sitting in the room with the man.
“This,” said Captain Pancake “is The Principal.” Nick understood now why he felt so scared. “The Principal can memorize phone books, from seven different counties at a time. We don’t know if that will ever come in handy, but it seems like it might. And now you have met the Friends Are Really Tough team.”

Nick looked at Captain Pancake and burst out laughing. “FART? You want your team’s name to spell out FART?” Nick could not stop laughing and everyone else joined in.

Captain Pancake cleared his throat, “Ahem, yes, well if you are all done laughing at me; let’s get to the task at hand. Nick, why don’t you tell everyone about your puppy? “

“Okay,” Nick stood up nervously; he was not used to speaking in front of large crowds. “My puppy is a German Sheppard. He’s about this high,” Nick said, indicating a spot on his leg right above his knee. “Or at least he was the last time I saw him. He’s only three months old and they grow pretty quickly in the beginning. His name is Chewy, after “Chewbacca” from Star Wars. That’s my favorite movie. Chewy is a really sweet puppy. He likes to play all day. I went to school one day and I locked him in the yard, just like I always do. I can’t leave him in the house because mom’s afraid he will jump on the furniture. It’s okay though, we have a real big yard, and he has a dog house and everything and I let him in as soon as I get home from school.” Nick took a breath and fought to hold back tears as he passed around a picture of himself and Chewy when he first got him. “I came home from school one day and he was gone. The gate, which was always locked, was open and Chewy was nowhere to be seen. My parents looked for him for a little while, but they gave up. I won’t give up. I know that Chewy would not run away. He loves me and I love him. We’re best friends.” Nick looked around at all the superheroes. He could tell they were trying not to cry too.
Bounce gave up trying. “That’s the saddest story I have ever heard,” he said between sobs.

Captain Pancake rolled his eyes. He turned to Nick, “Nicholas, tell my emotional friends here what else you noticed in your search for Chewy.”

“Well, I would always check for him after school and make sure the signs I posted of him were still around town but some of the signs started disappearing. They were being replaced with pictures of other dogs. More and more dogs were going missing, and no one noticed it. I told my parents, and they thought I was making things up. I tried telling my teachers, the police and even the newspapers. No one believed me, well my friend Kate believes me… about that anyway. No one believed me until I called The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy. That’s when Captain Pancake, here, came to my rescue. He believed me and he said you would all help me find him. So please, please, help me.”

“We will,” the superheroes all said together.

“Okay then,” said Captain Pancake, “it’s time to start Plan A and that plan is called: Spread out around the town and look for Chewy.” He said it in his loudest, booming voice, trying to sound much more confident then he actually was.

“That’s your big plan?” asked Sixty Second Flight Girl.

“Yes, and if that doesn’t work, we will try Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?” asked Nick hopefully.

“Don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” Captain Pancake replied.

Nick smacked his hand against his forehead and slowly rubbed his face like had had seen his dad do whenever he was frustrated. He wasn’t sure this was going to work at all. Two weeks passed before it finally did.

Meanwhile…

In a hilltop hideaway on the outside of town, Maniac Mike Mullins rubbed his hands together in greedy glee. Mike liked to talk to himself. He loved to hear the sound of his own voice as he planned his dirty deeds. “This time,” Mike said, “this time they won’t catch me! In this town, there are very few bumbling boys in blue (which is how Mike spoke about policeman) and there are no stupendously stupid superheroes to counter my criminal capers! I’m going to start my own criminal club. We will be wonderfully wicked and stupendously sinful.”

As you can see, Mike loved alliteration, which is using the same letter again and again. The problem was, supervillains did not appreciate Mike’s fine talent. Mike even tried to join up with other super villain teams, but they always laughed before shutting the door on him. The police often didn’t appreciate it either. In fact, Maniac Mike Mullins and been loudly laughed at in almost every state around the country. Mike would only commit crimes when he could match the sound of their names to the city in which he was. Sometimes he was “Fencing Fancy Footwear in Philly” or “Selling Stolen Snapdragons in Schenectady” or “Ransacking Really Rich Residences in Roanoke.” Unfortunately for him, Mike was not a very good criminal and was often caught by the police. However, Mike had a habit of announcing his latest plans whenever he was caught like this, “I can’t believe you bumbling boys in blue messed up my moving Mickey Mouse merchandise in Minnesota maneuver.” It would start as a giggle but eventually the police would be doubled over laughing and Mike Mullins would make his escape. It was time to change his tactics. This time, he was going to step out of his comfort zone. Oh sure, he would still use alliteration as his terrifying technique, but he was going to stop matching the crime to the town’s name. Maniac Mike Mullins was moving to Middleville.

The fact was, Mike was kind of lonely. In Middleville though, Mike had family. In town lived his dear Aunt Mildred. Mildred Mullins was a law-abiding woman. Her only crime, if one could even call it that, was that she loved her twin sons so much that she did everything for them, even though they were fully grown adults. Her sons were named Matthew and Malcolm Mullins. Matthew and Malcolm were 18 years old. They were a pleasantly plump pair who were still dressed in exactly the same outfits. Because their mother would never see them as grown men, she still bought all their clothes. She dressed them in matching plaid short pants, suspenders and color coordinated shirts. When they went out, they wore identical hats, usually a baseball cap with the peak turned sideways. They thought it made them look tough. The twins would have never thought to protest, because besides being extremely lazy, they were not very smart. Mildred Mullins thought her sons were the most brilliant boys on earth. She spoke to them in baby talk. She defended them no matter what they did and no matter how wrong it was. If they stole candy from a baby, she said it was just because they were still growing boys and very hungry. If they made fun of other people, it was just because they were not sure of themselves. If they knocked kids over, it was because they were playing too hard, or the other kids did something wrong. What Matt and Malcolm Mullins were, in fact, were bullies. They were the perfect partners in crime for Maniac Michael Mullins current scandalous scheme. He had them working right now on “taking thousands from the town’s trusted treasury.” Matt and Malcolm would do all the dirty deeds. Mike wanted to be in charge this time and his cousins were so cheerfully committing crimes that they listened to everything Mike said, sort of.

Mike was also searching for more villains to join his loathsome lair. He booted up his computer and placed an ad on criminalslist.com. It read, “Have you been rudely ridiculed? Have your schemes been seen as silly and simple? I’m starting a new nefarious network. Please join me and together we will wage wicked war and start senseless scandals.”

Middleville was the perfect place to plot evil schemes. It was big enough that no one would notice a small group of evildoers setting up their lair and if there were crimes perpetrated on the city, well it would take a while to solve them. After placing the ad, it was time for him to call and check on the progress.

Matt’s cell phone rang and he raced from one room to the next, carefully shutting the door behind him. “Hey boss,” Matt said nervously.

“Matt, are we making progress on pilfering pennies?”

Matt tried not to laugh. It was known throughout the family that Mike Mullins had an awful temper when people laughed at him. “Sure boss, sure. We just need to step out for a few more, uh, supplies. Malcolm is working on that right now.”

“You two talentless turtles need to transpose that treasure today! I’ve never perceived such pathetic pillaging in all my life. You should be gleefully getting ready to get away with gallons of greenbacks by now.”

This time Matt did laugh just a little. Not only did he find Maniac Mike’s speech funny, but he was also giggling at the thought of all the money he and Malcolm would have when this was all over. They planned on moving somewhere no one would ever think to look. Malcolm thought they should move to another country, Hawaii. Matt was going to drive the whole way there. Neither of them realized that their crafty, double-talking boss had never explained exactly how much money they were going to get. Maniac Mike had planned to give them a gallon jug of coins each. He knew that would keep them busy for a while, whether they would make it farther than the town’s video arcade or not, he wasn’t sure. “Did you dare to disrespect my diction? “ Maniac Mike asked. He could feel his left eye starting to twitch.

Matt gulped, “No boss, no, I haven’t even seen a dictionary. I was laughing at Malcolm, he just came back with toys, I mean from gathering supplies. We have to get back to work now, bye.” Matt tumbled over his words and hung up the phone before Maniac Mike could start yelling.

What 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 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 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 could 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 onto 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.

Nick went to school and tried to concentrate. At recess time, Kate found Nick leaning against the jungle gym. He was all alone, and he looked sad. “Nick, what’s wrong?”

Nick thought a minute before he answered her because he wasn’t really sure he wanted to tell Kate what was going on. His best friend already thought he was crazy. “We think we’ve found Chewy.”

“That’s great!” Kate said excitedly and then, “Wait, who’s ‘we’?”

Nick looked around before whispering, “You know, the superheroes and me.” Nick said.

“Nick! Stop it! They aren’t real and you know it!”

“They are real, Kate, that’s what I keep trying to tell you, but you won’t listen!”

“If they’re real, how come I’ve never seen them?”

“I told you, because they’re, well they’re…. shy!”

“If they are superheroes, they wouldn’t be shy!” Kate yelled.

“Shhhhh! I don’t want everyone to hear.” Kate stared at Nick for a minute. She wanted to believe him, but superheroes just didn’t exist, and she didn’t know why he kept pretending they did. Kate left to be with her other friends.

Nick kicked at the dirt in frustration. “I believe you!” Nick jumped, startled by the voice of another boy. He looked all around and didn’t see anyone.

“Up here,” said the boy with a sigh and Nick looked up and saw Ian McGovern.

If there was one kid in school who was even more unpopular than Nick was, Ian was it. In fact, Nick didn’t think he had ever seen Ian hanging out with anyone, except the school’s janitor, Mr. Nelson. The mean kids called Ian, “the garbage kid” behind his back. It wasn’t that Ian wasn’t nice, it was just that he was so quiet that most of the time you forgot he was there. “I didn’t see you up there.” Nick said, looking at the top of the jungle gym.

“No one ever sees me,” Ian said jumping down. Ian was small and skinny. Because he was so short, his clothes always looked too big for him. He had black hair that was stuck up at odd angles and thick, black glasses. He was smart and funny, but no one knew because he usually preferred to remain in the background and watch the world go by. He had always wanted to be friends with Nick and Kate. As far as he could tell, they were about the nicest people in the school, and he really liked the friendship they had. When he knew that Nick and Kate were fighting, he figured that it was time for him to get to know them and maybe help them fix their problems.

Nick looked at Ian. “Did you say you believe me?”

“Of course, I believe you. It is quite conceivable that a genetic mutation could occur in the composition of the deoxyribonucleic acid of homo-sapiens…”

Nick held up his hands, “Whoa, Ian, are you speaking English?”

“What? Oh, sorry. Yes, I believe in superheroes, but I didn’t know there were any in Middleton.”

Nick was amazed. Had he finally made a new friend and had he found the friend that would help him? “They are here, and they are superheroes, well, kind of. You see, they have ah…unusual, powers.”

“Unusual powers?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, well, they’re not your everyday superheroes.” Nick told Ian all about his ten friends and their unique abilities. He told him how they had each tried to get into the building where they had heard the dogs but that each of them had failed.

Ian thought for a minute. He smiled so big that his entire face lit up. “RUBE GOLDBERG!” He yelled, snapping his fingers.
Nick looked around, making sure that Ian had not attracted any attention but the only one that looked over was Kate and when she saw him looking at her, she turned back to her other friends.

“Who or what is Rube Goldberg?”

“It’s a who and a what.” Ian looked at the clock on the school wall. They still had twenty minutes left of recess. “Come with me!” he said, and he grabbed Nick’s hand and dragged him toward the back of the school building. Ian had never taken anyone to his special place, but he knew he had to now.

They went through the back door and down the flight of stairs to the basement of the school. Nick was trying not to be scared. No one ever went into the basement. It was common knowledge that in the basement resided the monster of Middleton School. Nick thought that he personally knew a few students who went down to the basement and never came back or maybe they just moved but you could never be sure. When Ian opened the heavy metal door that led into the dark room, Nick hesitated. Ian flipped on the light and Nick quickly looked around. The room was ordinary. There was no other word for it. There were folding tables stacked in one corner next to stacks of folding chairs. The furnace, which Nick highly suspected was the “monster,” was sitting quietly. There were bins of deflated balls for gym and cleaning equipment hung from neat racks on the walls.

Ian was already in the middle of the room. “Come on,” he cried excitedly.

Nick ran to catch up. He followed Ian back behind the furnace to the very back of the room. On a few uneven tables sat a contraption unlike anything Nick had ever seen. It was, from what Nick could see, made of discarded junk. Ian looked at him. Nick knew he was waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t even know what he was looking at. “What is it?” Nick asked.
Ian looked deflated for a moment and then perked up. “This is a Rube Goldberg Machine!”

“Who is Rube Goldberg?”

“He’s just about the greatest man of all time. He’s my hero! He was a cartoonist, a sculptor, an artist, and an inventor and he was good at all of it. He even won a Pulitzer Prize – that’s one of the highest awards you can win for newspaper people – for cartoons!”
“That’s really cool! But I still don’t understand what this thing is.”

“Like I said, it’s a Rube Goldberg Machine, but what’s cool is what it does. Just watch!”

Ian dropped a marble into an old paper towel tube that was taped to the wall. The marble went from one tube to another all the way down until it reached the highest table. The marble then slipped onto an old ruler. It rolled down the ruler and bumped into a matchbox car which was sitting on a box shaped like a wedge of cheese. The car rolled down the box and into a few zigzagging rows of dominoes. The last domino fell onto a block of wood that looked like a seesaw. When the seesaw went down, it lifted the other side where a pencil held a marble in place. When the pencil went up, the marble went rolling down a spiral that Ian had made from an old oatmeal tube and some construction paper. At the end of the tube, the marble bumped into a golf ball which fell onto another seesaw. The seesaw went down and the pin on the other side rose up into the air and popped a balloon. It was amazing!
Ian smiled. “Well? What do you think?” he asked.

“It’s awesome!” Nick yelled.

“I build these all the time. Mr. Nelson helps me with things he finds lying around.”

Nick thought about it for a minute. “Ian, wouldn’t it be easier to pop the balloon yourself?”

Ian laughed. “Sure, but that’s what Rube Goldberg was all about. He made these really complex machines to do the simplest things. It is so much fun. I bet you have built one yourself and you never even knew it.”

“I think I would remember something like that don’t you?”

“Ever play the game Mouse Trap?”

“You’re right! I have built one of those, but Ian what does this have to do with finding my puppy?”

“Usually, Rube Goldberg machines take a lot of steps that you don’t need to do something easy but, in your case, you need to take all the steps or else the simple job will never get done. Your friends have to work together, using all their powers to get inside the building and then they have to work together to get the puppy out. They can’t do it alone, none of their powers are strong enough, but together, they make one terrific superhero!”

“You’re right! That’s a great idea. Thanks Ian! Hey, do you want to come over after school and help me figure out a plan to show the team?”

Ian nodded his head in agreement. He was speechless. He had never been asked over to anyone’s house before. Just like that, a friendship was born, a friendship so strong that they would stay together through countless adventures for the rest of their lives.
After Ian called his mom to make sure it was okay, Ian and Nick went to Nick’s house after school. Nick’s mom was in the kitchen when they came through the door. “Hey mom,” Nick shouted, sounding very excited.

“Nick I’m right here, you don’t have to yell.” Jen stopped short when she came into the living room.

“I brought a friend home mom; I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, it’s okay Nick, we love when you have someone over, you know that.” Jen turned to Ian, “You must be CP, I have heard so much about you.” Ian looked confused.

“No mom, CP is another friend, this is Ian. We’re going up to my room, okay?”

“Sure,” Jen said and smiled. She wasn’t worrying so much. Nick seemed to be making new friends and he hardly mentioned Chewy anymore. She looked over at the empty dog bed and sighed, maybe, she thought, it would be time soon to talk about getting a new puppy.

Nick and Ian went right to work when they went upstairs. They unrolled a large sheet of paper and began to make a drawing, a cartoon just like Rube Goldberg had done. Ian planned and Nick drew stick figure versions of all The Ones You Call When Everyone Else are Busy. Ian was trying to think of a new name for the team of Superheroes too. He couldn’t wait to meet them, and he was hoping Nick was going to introduce him very soon. It didn’t take too long and soon they had a plan in place. Nick grabbed his phone and dialed The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy hotline. He smiled because he realized that with Ian as a friend, he finally had a fourth number to add to his phone. Captain Pancake picked up on the first ring. Nick explained that he had to see him today because he thought of a plan to go in and rescue Chewy and CP agreed to meet him in their usual place. At first, Ian was hurt because Nick didn’t even mention him. Nick explained that CP and the gang were shy and that if he told him he was bringing a friend, CP would just say no. Nick figured, if CP was surprised, he would let him bring Ian along. In fact, he was going to stop on the way and pick up Kate too. He was going to prove once and for all that his friends were real.

On the way out the door, Nick and Ian ran into John, Nick’s dad. “Hey Squirt,” Nick’s dad said, “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“Oh, this is my friend Ian, we go to school together. I want Ian to meet CP before we have to get back for dinner.”

“Okay, you kids have fun!” John said. He walked back to the kitchen where Jen was preparing the food. “Hon, does CP go to school with Nick?” John asked, loosening his tie and grabbing a carrot.

“You know, I have no idea, I just figured he did. Why?”

“Well, Nick was in a hurry to introduce Ian to CP. I thought if they all went to school together, they would know each other.”
“Maybe he is in a different grade or maybe he lives in the neighborhood. We’ll have to ask Nick.”

Nick called Kate on the way and asked her to meet them at the corner of his street right away. When they were all together, Kate wanted to know why Nick called her. “I want to prove to you that CP and his friends are real; that there really is such a thing as superheroes! I’m supposed to meet CP here in five minutes. I want him to take you two with me to headquarters.”

“Oooookay, Nick, if you say so. We’ll wait.” They waited, and waited, and waited some more. CP and the cheese bus never showed. Before long, it was time for dinner.

Nick said, “I don’t know what happened, he’s never been late before.”

Kate glared at Nick, “You know what? Don’t bother calling me again! I don’t want to hear about these stupid imaginary friends of yours, or your lost dog anymore! They are not real, and it wasn’t funny to make me come out here and wait for them. I could have been having fun instead of being the victim of your practical joke. Ha ha! Let’s see how long we can make Kate wait for someone who is never coming!”

“Kate, that’s not true…they are real…” but it was too late, Kate had already walked away.

Ian put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “I believe you Nick, but I have to go home for dinner. Maybe we’ll get to meet them another day.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow” Nick said, and he sadly turned away and walked back to his house.

Nick’s phone lit up when he was near his house. He didn’t even ask who it was. “Yeah, yeah mom, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Nick, this isn’t your mom.”

“CP? Where are you? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. Why did you try to bring your friends?”

“You saw them? You were there?”

“I was a block away when I saw the three of you. I turned around and went back.”

“You went back? Are you kidding? Thanks to you the two best friends I have in this world think I am a lunatic!”

“I’m sorry Nick, but we shouldn’t meet new people yet. We aren’t ready. The more people that know about us, the more our secrets get out. The team is not ready for that kind of press. We can’t handle it. We can’t even help you.”

“Yes, you can CP. That’s what I was bringing my friend, Ian for. We figured out a way that you can help me, if you will just let Ian meet you, he will explain. Plus, you are ready. You can help people. You just need to believe in yourselves.” In the end, Captain Pancake agreed to meet Ian the next day, but he wasn’t so sure about Kate tagging along. Nick sighed, “Don’t worry. She’s not talking to me. I don’t think I could get her to come tomorrow if I tried.”

“I’m sorry kid.”

“It’s okay. I have to go, it’s time for dinner. See you tomorrow.” Nick hung up the phone, knowing that at least one of his friends would soon know that he wasn’t crazy.

Meanwhile…

Matt and Malcolm Mullins were happily eating a dinner of fried chicken while most of the puppies and dogs quivered expectantly, waiting for them to drop some chicken on the floor. Matt and Malcom weren’t known for being the neatest diners. Some of the puppies lay on the ground, heads on their paws, looking sad. Chewy was one of them. “Hey Matt, don’t you think that some of these puppies look sad and some look happy?”

“Yeah, the sad ones are the ones we took, and the happy ones are the ones we found.”

“Why do you think they’re sad? I stole them some food and toys and treats.”

“Maybe they miss someone.”

“I didn’t even know dogs could think. We should get a dog after we drive to Hawaii if they have dogs there.”

“Of course, they have dogs there, Malcolm; it’s just another country, not another planet.”

“Right, I can be so dumb sometimes. Hey Matt, do you think they have dogs on Mars?”

“Yeah, I heard all about one, its name is Rover.” After that less than brilliant discussion, their cell phone rang again. Matt left the room to answer it. This time, he forgot to close the door all the way.

“Yeah boss?”

“Have you two dismal dimwits finally finished your enterprising errand?” The dogs barked in the next room, letting off a cacophony of sound that echoed off the walls of the empty factory. Matt hurried to shut the door. “Did I hear a bunch of boisterous barking?”

“N…n….no boss. It was just some dogs outside.”

“A piercing pack of disorderly dogs just happened by?”

“Yeah boss, what’s that Malcolm? You think you hit concrete? I’m on my way. Sorry boss I gotta go.”

Maniac Mike Mullins was less than perfectly pleased. “I guess I have to wander over to the scandalous scene tomorrow to see just what the dubiously dynamic duo is doing.” Maniac Mike said to himself.

Before he called to check on his corrupt cousins who were following his dastardly dirty directions, Maniac Mike had been gleeful and giddy. He had checked his e-mail and found that a cluster of corrupt criminals had replied to his atrocious advertisement.

There would be a massive mob of mischief-making miscreants in Middleville. He even had the name already picked out, Middleville’s InfaMous EvildoerS – it would spell MIMES – because Maniac Mike Mullins, who feared very little, thought mimes were the most terrifying things on earth and his group needed to be terrifying so no one would mess with them.

Nick and his parents sat down to eat dinner, more accurately, his parents ate dinner, and Nick just pushed around the food on his plate. It wasn’t too hard to tell that something was bothering him. “Nick, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing, it’s just that Kate and I had a fight.”

Jen and John exchanged worried glances over Nick’s head. “What about sweetie?”

“It was stupid. She thinks I pulled a trick on her, but I didn’t and now she won’t even talk to me, not that she was talking to me much anyway. She thinks I’m crazy.”

“Honey, I am sure she doesn’t think you are crazy.” Jen reached over and patted Nick’s hand.

John asked, “Did you pull a prank on her?”

“No, Dad, I wouldn’t do that to her. It’s just that well, I was all set to let her, and Ian meet CP and then CP didn’t show because he’s shy and so she thinks that I made him up just to make her wait for him, but I didn’t.” John cleared his throat.

“Nick, your mom and I were talking about this very thing today. We haven’t met CP either. We would like him to come over for dinner on Saturday night.”

Nick gulped. “Dinner…you want to meet CP?”

“Yes, is there a problem with that?” John asked and Nick could tell his dad was not very happy.

“Uh, no, I guess not. I’ll try to get him to come over. He might not want to, but I promise to ask him.”

“What does he like to eat?” Jen asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Nick answered, “pancakes. Can I be excused? I’m not very hungry tonight.”

“Sure hon.” Jen said, and Nick went upstairs to do his homework. His parents wanted to meet Captain Pancake; his best friend thought he was insane; he was about to take on the criminals that for some reason had stolen his puppy; and he had a book report due tomorrow. Life just wasn’t getting any easier.

Friday, after school, Nick felt a little better. He and Ian were on their way to meet Captain Pancake and ride the Cheese Bus to headquarters. Ian was so excited to be meeting actual superheroes that he kept going on and on about genetic mutations and other scientific reasons that superheroes might exist. Nick just let him talk. He didn’t need to understand why they existed; it was enough to know that they did. Plus, since he had someone to walk home with, Nick didn’t have to take that annoying bus where all the older kids made fun of him. It hadn’t been an easy day; Kate would not even look at him let alone talk to him. Finally, they came to the corner of Nick’s street and within minutes Captain Pancake arrived. He stepped off the bus in all his superhero glory. His cream suit gleamed in the sunlight. A breeze, that always seemed to be wherever he was, fluttered his cape out behind him and filled the air with the scent of maple syrup. His hair was combed just so, and he stood straight and tall with his hands on his hips, looking so much like a superhero that even Nick was impressed. “I am Captain Pancake,” he said, in his loud booming voice and then much softer, “and you must be young Nick’s friend, Ian.”

Ian reached out and shook CP’s hand. He was still staring in disbelief. As he pulled his hand away, he noticed that it was slightly sticky and smelled as though he had just eaten breakfast and forgot his fork. They climbed aboard the Cheese Bus and Nick listened as Ian peppered CP with questions about how he got his powers. Ian was disappointed to know that CP really didn’t have a scientific explanation besides the fact that he loved pancakes so much that he ate them every day and one day, developed his superpowers of shooting syrup and butter. Captain Pancake just brushed it off as fate. Ian, of course, was already dissecting theories about the anomalies of genetic composition in his head.

They arrived at headquarters and went through the same routine they had when Nick first arrived there. Since Nick had become an honorary member, they had stopped making him look away when they entered the code that opened the door to their inner sanctum. Today, though, it was all for show again, as Captain Pancake tried to put on what he considered to be his best impersonation of a superhero to impress Ian. Nick wished CP could see himself as he did, one of the greatest superheroes of all time. Once inside headquarters, Ian wandered all around checking out the computers and the various gadgets that were part of every superhero hideout.

Ian looked at Neville’s tank. “Why do you have an empty terrarium?” Ian asked Captain Pancake.

CP chuckled. “It’s not empty, that’s our chameleon Neville. He’s just very good at camouflage.”

“He might be very good at it, but he is not in that tank.”

“Great! Did he get out again? Sometimes we forget to close the lid when we feed him. Neville…Neville! Why does he never come when he is called?”

Nick understood that this was a rhetorical question; that CP was not really looking for an answer. Ian however had one, “He won’t come when he is called because chameleons do not have ears. In fact, most scientists feel that chameleons are deaf. I would suggest running the water in the sink over there. They like running water more than bowls of water. He will probably feel the vibration of it or even see it. They have extremely good eyesight, the best in the lizard world.” CP thought that Ian was pretending to know everything, but he turned on the water anyway.

Soon enough, CP called all the members of the Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy to come to the front room and one by one they came to meet Ian and hear the plan.

First came Morph, Ian greeted him enthusiastically, and asked straight away to see his power and to know how it came about. Nick was very interested. He had never seen Morph transform into a cube. Morph stood in front of them, cracked his knuckles, rolled his head around on his thick neck, cleared his throat dramatically and changed, just like that, into a cube, a cube that continued to look suspiciously like Morph. It was a cube with black hair, eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Except for the top, which was skin colored; the rest of the cube was the deep red color of Morph’s superhero suit. With a loud pop, Morph turned back to himself and smiled at the amazed look on the faces of both boys. Ian asked him the regular questions: why he couldn’t morph into anything else, how did get his powers; and how did he find out that he had them. Again, Ian was disappointed when the only thing that Morph could tell him had no scientific explanation. “I was a linebacker for my high school football team. The player from the other team had the ball and was running toward the end zone. I ran toward him to tackle him. He was a big guy, and I was scared. I ran in front of him but instead of tackling him, I turned into a cube. I didn’t know it was going to happen. I didn’t even know I could do that. He went sailing over me and fell flat on his face. I popped right back into my usual form. Neither of us spoke about it. He thought he injured his head during the fall and was seeing things. I quit the team the next day. End of story.”

“Interesting…” was all Ian would say.

Blumsy was next. He tripped on his way to shake Ian’s hand. As he reached out, he lost his balance, hit his head on the way down, and nearly pulled Ian down with him. While the others stopped to take care of Blumsy, Captain Pancake explained that he was extremely fast and extremely clumsy. His story was that he had trained all his life to compete in races. He wanted to go to the Olympics. So, he ran and he ran and he ran. He was fast, so fast that you didn’t see him travel from one spot to another but no matter how graceful he tried to be, he hurt himself whenever he wasn’t running. He had managed to break 50 of the 206 bones in his body just getting up from a chair. CP continued to say that while they would love to show Ian Blumsy’s abilities, they didn’t like to let him run in such a small place.

Ian nodded his head and said, “Extraordinary.”

Missy came up next. Ian was clearly impressed as he turned six shades of red when she shook his hand. “I hate to disappoint y’all but my power isn’t really super or anything. I was raised on a farm with ten brothers and sisters. When you wanted momma’s attention, you had to learn to be a little louder than everyone else. I learned to scream but my scream is so loud it breaks the glass. After the first couple of windows and glasses, I wasn’t allowed to scream at home anymore. Now I can only scream that loud if someone scares me. That talent qualifies me as a superhero I guess.”

Ian gave Missy a scientific fact, “Actually, while it is possible for a normal human to break glass, it is extremely difficult because you have to be able to find the right pitch of the glass and be able to hold the note for a long time and even then the glass would have to be standing on its own like a crystal cup but windowpanes and mirrors, while humanly possible, are extremely difficult to break. So, if you can break glass every time you have a superpower!” Missy blushed and asked if he wanted a demonstration. Everyone in the room screamed “No!” at once.

Buzz introduced himself and explained his special ability right away. “Wow,” Ian said, “So you can turn into any bug you want?”
“Well, yes, but I can only do the fly well.”

“How did you figure out that you had this power?”

“It’s a family trait. I come from a long line of superheroes. I’m related to some pretty famous people; you know the ones that have cashed in on their special talents. Sadly, I am the black sheep of the family. Because I can only turn into insects and I can’t even do that well, they were embarrassed by me. So, I left the family and came here, where they understand people with the more unique talents.” All these words came out of Buzz so quickly that Nick was able to catch only some of the conversation, but Ian seemed to understand everything he said. “Oh,” Buzz said, in a voice that was barely a whisper, “and I’m afraid of bugs.”

“You have entomophobia. They can fix that.” Ian said. Nick stared in amazement. He knew that Ian was smart of course, but he didn’t know that his friend was a walking encyclopedia. Ian saw Nick staring at him. “What? I try to learn three new things a day and since I’ve been able to read since I was two, I have over five-thousand random facts floating around in my head.” Nick thought this seemed like a good practice and decided to learn something new every day too though he didn’t think he could possibly be as smart as his friend.

“Hey kid, what’s your favorite insect?”

“It’s a praying mantis.” Buzz closed his eyes and concentrated, he turned into a praying mantis with a tiny purple jumpsuit right in front of their eyes. It had Buzz’s head and human feet on the ends of its legs, but it was a praying mantis just the same. Ian said, “Cool,” in a voice that was clearly filled with admiration and amazement. Nick jumped back a little, but no one seemed to notice.
Next Ian met Bounce who, along with Missy demonstrated his talent for becoming a human trampoline. Bounce, it seemed, desperately wanted to be famous. He tried to achieve his fame by becoming the man who could stretch the farthest on earth. He wanted to enter himself into the Guinness Book of World Records. It turned out that there was already a record for the stretchiest man, and it had nothing to do with stretching out his body but his skin. It was kind of gross and there was already a most flexible man; he could fit himself into a small box. Bounce was nowhere near that flexible. He looked for another avenue for his seemingly useless talent. Someone told him the secret location of the Superhero Recruitment Center. Bounce went and showed them his amazing ability and when it seemed that his particular talent would never come in handy, they told him they had the perfect place for “heroes” like him and placed him with The Ones You Call When Every One Else is Busy. Ian and Nick were upset with whomever made decisions about super talents in the superhero world. Not only had they insulted Bounce, but they also insulted CP and every one of their new friends.

Bob told Ian the story of how he always had a dream to be a superhero. He had created a line of stuffed toys called “The Human Beans.” They were stuffed beans in every shape: kidney, lima, and garbanzo just to name a few. He even had scented ones like coffee and chocolate. Their faces all showed human emotions. They had made them into movies, websites, toys, books and comic strips. Bob had more money than he knew what to do with and could buy anything he wanted, except the one thing he could never get, a superpower. He set out to make his own power and began bleaching his teeth so that they would be blindingly white. While this wasn’t technically a superhero power, the guy at the superhero recruitment agency took pity on him and directed him towards The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy. The group immediately accepted Bob and it wasn’t until he had become close friends with all of them that he admitted he was a wealthy man and began to buy all the gadgets that they would need to complete any task. They were the most well-outfitted group of superheroes who never had a job.

Jumping Jack jumped forward to shake Ian’s hand. He started at the other side of the room. It was an amazingly long jump but of course not very high. “I was a superhero once,” Jack said, “I mean I am still super – but not necessarily a hero lately because I haven’t saved anyone – I used to leap over all kinds of things buildings, trains, factories, even airplanes while they were still in flight. I helped save people who were falling or people who were trapped. One day, I missed. I was trying to rescue a man with a parachute that wasn’t opening but I misjudged my jump and I hit my head on the plane. Another superhero, one that can fly and jump, rescued the man whose parachute would not open and rescued me too. It was too late though. The damage was done. I was afraid of heights. Now, I can’t jump high, I can only jump far. They sent me here – but I’m okay with that. I love all these guys; I just hope we can help save Nick’s dog so that I feel like we helped someone.” Nick stared at Jack. He wondered why he hadn’t asked. All these people had amazing stories.

“We are going to rescue Chewy and capture the guys that stole him, Jack. You’ll see. You guys are superheroes and the best ones this town has ever seen!” Jack smiled at Nick’s praise.

Torch clapped so that he could glow brightly for Ian in the darkness. “I had an accident at a glow stick factory. Captain Pancake and I were friends from way back when we were kids, back when we went by Joe, that’s CP, and Steve, that’s me. I knew all about CP’s secret so when I discovered I had a power, I came to see him, and I’ve been here ever since.”
“What happened at the glow stick factory?”

“I…..hrrrm…num…brumble.” Torch mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“I accidentally fell into a vat of chemo luminescence, the stuff that makes glow sticks glow. It didn’t kill me, but it burned a lot. When my skin finally healed, I found out that I glowed in the dark. I kind of like it now, I really know how to light up a room and I never need decorations for a party or at Halloween, but it really isn’t a big hit with the ladies.” CP laughed.

The Principal stood up and sternly introduced himself. “Young man, it is a pleasure to meet you. If you are ever in danger, I can call your parents at 555-4664.” Ian rubbed his neck uncomfortably.

“Don’t worry,” said Nick, “he has that effect on everybody.”

Sixty Second Flight Girl watched from the corner. She wasn’t really the mushy type but hearing the stories of all her friends made her feel that way for just a second. She brushed a tear from her eye. She hated it when her eyes leaked. “Hey kid, want to fly for sixty seconds?”

Nick smiled, flying was fun, and Sixty Second Flight Girl had already taken him on a small flight. Ian nodded his head. She picked him up and flew him around the high-ceilinged room. When they landed Ian looked at her expectantly. “Birthday wish, magic birthday candle, should have been more specific.” That was all she said, and Ian understood; that was the entire story she was willing to tell. It was enough.

“Okay kids,” Captain Pancake turned to Ian and Nick, “now that you know all of us, let’s see this master plan that you two have concocted.” Nick unfurled the paper with a dramatic flair. First Ian explained all about Rube Goldberg Machines. Then Nick explained the plan. The team listened politely but none of them really believed it would work. Nothing had yet. It was then that a skittering sound was heard in the sink. Captain Pancake went to look and found Neville sitting under the water looking quite happy. He had turned a bright green and was not blending in at all. Ian told CP that chameleons turned their brightest when happy and darkest when angry. Neville’s return gave CP the courage to try the mission and think that maybe, just maybe, it would be a success. It would all take place on the next day. Ian slept over at Nick’s house that night and they stayed up late talking and hoping their plan would really work.

As they set out the next morning, Nick looked wistfully at the street where Kate lived. “Call her,” Ian said. “Nah, she’s not talking to me.”

“Don’t be an idiot, call her. She’ll come if she knows you need her.” Nick picked up his phone and called Kate. He told her that they had found Chewy and that he really needed her help.

Kate said loudly, “Nicholas this better not be another trick!” and then more softly, “But yes, I’ll come.” So that is how Kate, Ian and Nick set off on Saturday morning. When the Cheese bus pulled up and opened the doors, Kate stood there with her mouth open wide, pinching her arm again and again, because she didn’t believe what she was seeing. She looked at Nick and Ian, “They ARE real.” Nick and Ian just laughed and with each boy pulling an arm, they helped her onto the Cheese Bus to meet their friends. “But how, but why…but…” Kate said in disbelief. Ian laughed, “We’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, we gotta rescue Chewy!”

They parked the cheese bus two blocks away from the abandoned factory. Bob handed CP two bags, one contained walkie-talkies which every one of the heroes would attach to their standard issue utility belts. The kids would keep those in their pockets. The other bag contained noise reduction headphones, a few large nets, and dozens of leashes, which they would need when they got to the factory. Bob was going to stand at the top of the street and make sure that no curious onlookers came by. They gathered around the front of the factory and stared at each other nervously. “Okay The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy, all hands in. Here we go. Everyone remember their jobs? Good luck!” Captain Pancake said.

“What kind of name is that? They need to do something about that.” Kate said, and everyone laughed. It was exactly what they needed to break the tension.

All the superheroes and the kids put on their headphones. Bounce knew just what to do to scare Missy. He snuck up behind her and showed her a picture of an evil clown. Missy Fit screamed like she had never screamed before. The windows at the top of the building shattered. Buzz transformed into a fly and flew inside. Once there, he turned back to human form and opened the door. Ian had said that the walls inside the factory were going to be very thick, because factories are generally noisy, and the villains would not hear them break in. They were right. The room was dark, but Torch took care of that. His glow lit up the entire room. The heroes all made it safely to the other side of the room and stood on either side of the door. Captain Pancake walked up and knocked. Matt and Malcolm were startled. They had been rolling on the floor playing with some of the puppies and didn’t expect any visitors.

“Who’s there?” Matt called out.

“Free pizza delivery courtesy of Nuts About Pizza,” said Captain Pancake in his deep booming voice. He stepped aside and Morph took his place, holding an empty pizza box. Malcolm came to the door and opened it. Nick whistled and Chewy came charging as fast as he could. All the dogs got excited at the chance for freedom and started to run. Morph turned into a cube and blocked Matt and Malcolm from leaving the room for a moment. Missy, Buzz, Ian, and Kate gathered up the dogs on the leashes Bob had provided. It took a few minutes for Matt and Malcolm to realize what had happened. They jumped over Morph and started to run. Sixty Second Flight Girl grabbed Matt under his arms and held him high above the ground long enough for Captain Pancake to get under her and open the net, which she promptly dropped him in. Captain Pancake made sure that he was secure before he turned to look for Malcolm. Blumsy was chasing Malcolm all over the room and heading him in the direction of the front door. Bounce quickly laid on his side and stretched himself in front of the door. “Watch out, coming through!” Malcolm screamed.

“I don’t think so,” Bounce said, and then yelled, “Jack, get ready!”

Matt slammed into Bounce and went sailing backwards. Jack took one long jump to where he landed and captured him in a net. He was quickly tied up.

The Principal called Mildred Mullins and filled her in on the misdeeds of her criminal sons. Mildred asked to speak to Malcolm and Matt. The Principal put the phone on speaker. Mildred could be heard yelling blocks away. Days after the rescue operation and before the whole truth was made public, kids from around the neighborhood wondered which ones had gotten into that kind of trouble. Most of it sounded like screeching but they were able to make out, “Wait till I get my hands on you two of all the lame brained, stupid ideas, when the police get done with you, you are going to wish they kept you in jail!”

Blumsy left to tell Bob to call the police and the rest of the team had the chaos all under control when they heard Bob’s voice on the radio. “Watch out!” he said, “A car just pulled up out front.”

“You’re all in trouble now,” Matt said. “That’s our boss and he ain’t gonna be happy!”

They heard Maniac Mike Mullins’ voice before they saw him. “You two bumbling brainless boors left the door open. I am awesomely aware of your atrocious abilities to commit crimes correctly.”

A few of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy snickered. Matt looked at them and shrugged, “Yeah, yeah we know. He isn’t the brightest crayon in the flower garden.”

Captain Pancake just looked at him. “That’s kind of the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. Is the kettle a black flower?”

Captain Pancake just shook his head. It took Maniac Mike a second to assess the situation and he started to run as fast as he could back to his car. “I’ve got this,” said Captain Pancake. He took careful aim and shot some butter right in front of Maniac Mike’s feet. Mike slipped and slid. With his other wrist, Captain Pancake shot syrup which Mike promptly landed in. He was stuck and quickly tied up.

“Thank you, Rube Goldberg,” Ian said breathing a sigh of relief.

The police and Bob finally arrived on the scene. Officer Kelly looked around in amazement. “Crime and superheroes in Middleville?” he asked, clearly not believing his own eyes. Nick shook his head in agreement. Officer Kelly noticed Nick for the first time, “Looks like you were right kid, and we had a bunch of dognappers on our hands.” Matt and Malcolm were about to correct the officer, but Maniac Mike was frantically shaking his head no. Nick was trying to stand still but Chewy kept nudging him to the room where the dogs had been held. He took off with Chewy at his side. Officer Kelly wanted all the details of how the team had caught the villains, but Captain Pancake and his friends weren’t exactly used to talking.

Bob stepped in. He flashed his brilliant smile at Officer Kelly. “I can help, I am their spokesperson for Middleville’s Incredibly Gifted Heroes,” Bob said, happy that he finally found his place amongst his superhero friends, “And Talented Youth,” Torch reminded Bob. Captain Pancake, Ian and Kate looked at each other and said, “MIGHTY!” all at the same time. They had finally found the perfect acronym for their team.

Bob finished filling Officer Kelly in on the details. “So let me get this straight, we are locking these guys up for dognapping?”
“That’s not all, “said Nick returning to the room. “You have to arrest them for attempted bank robbery too.”
“Bank robbery?” asked Officer Kelly.

“Don’t listen to that crazy kid. He doesn’t have a clue what tall tales he is telling.” Maniac Mike pleaded.

“They were digging a tunnel underground and using the puppies to do it. The map they left shows that they were supposed to go under the street and come up under the vault where they would steal the money from the bank.” Nick handed the map to Officer Kelly.

Maniac Mike looked at Matt and Malcolm, “You two bumbling birdbrains left evidence in the open? And you used dumb dogs to do the deed I demanded you to do?” Matt and Malcolm just shrugged their shoulders. They were too worried about facing their mom to care about Maniac Mike and his alliterate insults.

Maniac Mike was panicking and tried to fall back on his old get away trick, “So much for taking thousands from the town’s trusted treasury.” He smiled weakly but no one laughed.

Officer Kelly shook his head. “Boys, take these villains down to the station and book them for dognapping, trespassing, attempted bank robbery, criminal dog negligence and anything else you can think of. I’ll take these kids home.”

Captain Pancake looked at Nick, Ian, and Kate. “We’ll take them home, Officer Kelly. If you could just make sure these dogs get back to their rightful owners and the rest, find a good home, we would appreciate it.” Officer Kelly nodded his assent and he and the rest of his officers grabbed the leashes of the remaining dogs.

“So, you know you’re going to have to come in and meet my parents when we explain all this. They won’t believe it otherwise. I kind of told them you would come to dinner tonight anyway. My mom is making pancakes.”

Captain Pancake sighed. “Well, I guess everyone is going to know about team ‘MIGHTY” soon anyway. Let’s all go celebrate at Nick’s house!” The team cheered and they went on their way.

At Nick’s house, his parents came out when they saw the bus pull up out front. Nick got off first accompanied by Chewy and then came Ian and Kate. After a joyful reunion, Jen asked, “Nick how did you find Chewy and what are you three doing on an old yellow school bus?”

Captain Pancake stepped off. “Mom and Dad, I’d like you to meet my friend CP. He’s the head of team MIGHTY, Middleville’s Incredibly Gifted Superheroes and Talented Youth. That’s us!” he whispered pointing to himself, Kate, and Ian.
John and Jen looked at Captain Pancake and the rest of the superheroes that were now getting off the cheese bus. John said, “I have the feeling this is going to be a long story Jen. How about we meet all of Nick’s new friends over dinner and hear their adventure?”

“Okay,” said Jen, still unsure about everything that was going on. “But I don’t think I have enough butter and syrup for this whole crowd.” “That’s okay,” said Nick and CP together, “We’ve already got that covered.” Everyone laughed and followed Nick into the house. Chewy settled down on his dog bed as though he had never left. The celebration continued long into the night. Nick, Ian, and Kate couldn’t wait to get back to school on Monday, where everything was sure to change.