by Lee Bacon
“And we knew from the moment we first met him that Captain Justice was the future of superheroism. A new generation. We wanted to pass the mantle.”
“Plus he had much cooler gadgets.” Gus’s eyes crinkled behind his glasses as he smiled. “And when Sophie was born, Justice asked us to be her godfathers.”
“Once we left the superhero business, we moved out to this farm, looking for a little privacy after fifty years in the public eye,” Marvin said. “I guess you could say we don’t save the world too often anymore.”
“It’s hard enough finding the car keys when we want to go grocery shopping,” Gus said.
“But it’s always a highlight whenever our goddaughter comes to visit.” Marvin patted Sophie on her shoulder, raising one eyebrow. “Even if those visits usually come with a little more advance notice.”
“Sorry to show up so unexpectedly,” Sophie said. “We didn’t know where else to go.”
“You can drop in on us anytime.” Gus laughed at his own joke. “Now let’s find you kids some dry clothes.”
Sophie had a few spare outfits at the house that she and Cassie could wear. And Gus let Milton and me borrow some of his old T-shirts and shorts. His clothes were a couple of sizes too large, and my T-shirt read SUPER SENIORS CARIBBEAN CRUISE. At least they were dry.
Cassie called her dad on the landline to let him know she was okay but that Miranda had gone missing just beyond the island shore. Her distressed voice mingled with the background noise of our soaked clothes tumbling in the dryer.
The rest of us settled around the living room. Gus handed each of us a bowl of steaming soup. I burned my tongue while eating it but was so hungry I hardly noticed.
Marvin and Gus tried to lighten the mood by showing off some of the gadgets they’d once used.
“Today’s superheroes act like big shots with all their fancy devices,” Gus said, “but in our day, we had some impressive technology too. Like my patented Whiz-Watch.”
Gus rolled up his sleeve to show off the biggest watch I’d ever seen.
“This watch comes equipped with all kinds of tools that a superhero might need,” he went on. “There’s a compass, a calculator, a thermometer, glow-in-the-dark functionality, and a tape recorder—all built into a single watch!”
Gus’s proud grin faded a little when Milton pointed out that his Captain Justice—themed watch could do all those things too.
“And I got it for free after buying ten boxes of Frosted Fuel Flakes!” Milton added.
While Gus grumbled, Marvin picked a clunky aluminum cylinder up off the coffee table.
“Well, you won’t be getting this with any boxes of cereal.” Marvin clasped the bulky device around his forearm like a cast. “The one-of-a-kind, patented Marvelous-Grab. Still comes in handy around the house. Like when I realize I left my tea on the counter and don’t feel like getting out of my chair.”
Raising the arm that was shrouded in the Marvelous-Grab, Marvin pressed a big red button. The gadget let out a metallic splink, a rusty groooan, a sharp ping, and then … nothing happened.
“Darn thing gets jammed sometimes.”
Marvin banged on the device a few times with the palm of his hand. The third time he clobbered it, the Marvelous-Grab burst open and a metallic claw on an extendable spring shot across the room. It missed his tea mug by about ten feet, and instead knocked a stuffed fish off the wall.
“Well, you get the idea,” Marvin muttered, once the claw zoomed back into the Marvelous-Grab.
When Cassie was through talking to her dad, I got up to call my parents. But before I reached the phone, lights flickered in the darkness outside the windows. We were out in the middle of nowhere—no other houses or paved roads for miles. As the lights grew nearer, fear gripped my chest and I heard the familiar rumble of motorcycles getting louder.
“Uh, guys …” My voice shook. “We’ve got company.”
For a second, nobody moved. Then the realization hit the living room like a bomb.
The Cyclaurs were headed our way.
Everyone snapped into motion.
“Come with me.” Marvin tossed the Marvelous-Grab to the ground and rose from his chair. “We can go out the back door.”
“Then what?” Sophie asked. “We can’t outrun those guys.”
Marvin answered without slowing down. “I know a way to get you kids out of here.”
We were nearly to the back door when Milton called out, “What about our shoes?”
“I’ll get them.” Gus turned and raced across the house at a speed that seemed impossible for a guy his age—or any age. He shot to the front door like a bolt of lightning.
Seeing him move like that brought back to mind a news story I’d seen a few years ago, a tribute to Mr. Marvelous and his sidekick, who got the name Whiz Kid because of his power to whiz from point A to point B at remarkable speeds. Of course, halfway through the show, my parents made me turn it off. “You know we don’t allow this kind of thing in our house!” Mom had snapped. Grabbing the remote, Dad had shut the TV off, saying something about how “good guys are a bad influence.” After that, I’d forgotten about Whiz Kid and his superspeed.
Until now.
By the time we reached the back door, Gus came rocketing across the room, a pile of shoes bundled in his arms. While my friends and I laced up, Gus leaned forward with his hands on his knees, red-faced and wheezing as he caught his breath.
“Been a long time since I moved like that,” he said.
Out the door, we hurried through the darkness until reaching a barn. The entire structure looked tilted and ramshackle. Clumps of weeds grew out of the storm drain, and paint peeled from the walls. It made me wonder what was hidden inside and whether it would really do us any good in our escape.
“Just need to find the key,” Marvin muttered, jangling through keys of all different sizes and shapes. “It’s gotta be one of these.”
“Need some extra light?” Sophie held out one glowing hand.
In the background, the roar of Cyclaurs was getting louder and louder. Marvin’s trembling fingers flicked through the keys as he shook his head in frustration.
“Ah, forget it,” he said finally. He shoved the keys into his pocket and grabbed the door. With a single pull of the handle, the lock burst apart and the door flew off its hinges, landing about fifteen feet behind us.
All I could see was darkness. The growl of motorcycles sounded like it was coming from right behind us.
“Time’s running out,” Gus said. “Everyone inside.”
I trailed the others into the barn, Sophie’s glow lighting the way. Along the walls of the barn, tables and workbenches were covered in tools and equipment. But it was the center of the space that caught my attention. In front of us was a car. And not just any car either. It was …
“The MarvelousMobile!” Milton exclaimed. “I can’t believe it still exists!”
Neither could I. The car looked like something that should’ve been in a museum. It had a long front end, with bulky, rusted fenders and M-shaped headlights. A jet turbine bulged from the rear, with two enormous tail fins on either side of it. The entire thing had been painted red, white, and blue.
The MarvelousMobile was the car that Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid had used to save the world too many times to count. Of course, that had been many, many years ago.
“Does this thing even work anymore?” Cassie stared skeptically at the old-fashioned car.
“Of course!” Marvin said in a defensive tone.
“Except when it breaks down,” Gus added. “Which is pretty often.”
“Don’t listen to him. I’ve spent the last decade fixing up the MarvelousMobile. Replacing the engine, retooling the jet boosters. This beauty’s as good as new.” Marvin gave the rear bumper an affectionate pat. The rear bumper groaned and fell onto the floor in a heap of metal. “Well, almost new.”
I was having some serious doubts about our getaway. But with the sound of the Cyclaurs gettin
g louder with each passing second, we didn’t really have a lot of other options.
Reaching under the car, Marvin removed a key and unlocked the driver’s-side door. “There’s only room for four. You kids will have to go on without us.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “We can’t leave you here.”
“We’ll be fine,” Gus said.
Marvin cast a glance toward the approaching headlights. His jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed with certainty. “I can’t wait to make those young whippersnappers pay for trespassing on private property.”
Maybe it was the dim light of the barn or the knowledge that they already had a few decades of experience fighting bad guys under their belt, but at that moment, the two men looked a whole lot like the superheroes on the vintage posters and in the black-and-white photos.
“Uh … if you aren’t coming, then who’s gonna drive?” Milton looked questioningly at Marvin and Gus. “I don’t know how it was when you guys were kids, but today, they don’t hand out driver’s licenses to twelve-year-olds.”
“I can drive.” Sophie slid into the seat. When she saw the surprised looks the rest of us were giving her, she shrugged. “Marvin and Gus used to bring me along on rides. And sometimes they let me take the wheel.”
“Use these.” Gus handed her a pair of wooden blocks that he’d grabbed off a workbench. “They’ll help you reach the pedals.”
This didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, but right now we had bigger worries. Milton and Cassie climbed into the cramped backseat, while I got in the passenger seat. Sophie turned the key and the engine burbled, letting out a series of groans and clanks. When the engine refused to start, Sophie pressed down on the block, pumping the gas pedal as she turned the key again. Still no luck.
I couldn’t believe it, but I was actually starting to miss Daisy.
Sophie took a deep breath. The illumination coming off her skin filled the interior of the car with light. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Please, please, please,” and gave the key another turn.
The engine roared to life. I wanted to cheer. At least until I remembered we were seconds away from being surrounded by Cyclaurs.
“Thank you so much!” Sophie said. “We’ll call you once our lives aren’t in danger anymore.”
Shifting the MarvelousMobile into reverse, she pulled out of the barn. As soon as we were outside, the windows flashed with the headlights of Cyclaurs roaring in our direction. Sophie jammed the stick shift and we shot forward.
I caught a glimpse of Marvin grabbing an anvil and heaving it at one of the Cyclaurs. The anvil smashed into the robot, ripping its bionic top off the motorcycle. The other Cyclaurs must’ve realized these old dudes were a lot tougher than they looked, and skidded to follow us instead.
Tires kicked up a wave of dirt. Headlights flashed and bounced across a wilderness of trees and tall grass. Sophie spun the wheel and we hit a bump that sent the MarvelousMobile airborne.
We landed hard on a dirt road. Cyclaurs were all around us. One pulled steady with the passenger window. His bald head glistened in the moonlight. His dark eyes glared down at me. With a swing of his fist, he smashed the window. He looked like he was about to do the same to my skull when Sophie swerved the car to the side, slamming him into a tangle of bushes.
But there were plenty more. Behind us, a Cyclaur ripped one of the tail fins loose. The scream of their engines echoed in my brain.
“Let’s see how well those guys follow us with a smoke screen blocking their vision,” Sophie said.
She hit a button on the dashboard. I turned in my seat, expecting to see the air behind us fill with smoke. Instead, a tiny cloud puffed out of the car’s backside and immediately vanished in the wind.
Milton groaned. “That was disappointing.”
“Marvin must’ve forgotten to refill the smoke-screen formula,” Sophie said through gritted teeth. “Looks like we’ll have to go with the backup plan—oil slick.”
She pushed another button. I guess slippery oil was supposed to shoot out from the car’s rear, but all that happened was the windshield wipers started flapping back and forth.
“Stupid car!” Sophie banged her palm against the steering wheel. The impact must’ve triggered something, because there was a loud FWOOOSH! All of a sudden, the MarvelousMobile blasted forward like someone had just hit the fast-forward button. As I gripped the edges of my seat, my eyes flashed to the rearview mirror.
A flame was streaking from the turbine engine. Sophie had turned on the jet boosters.
We left the Cyclaurs in our dust. That was the good news. The bad news was we were rocketing down a dark dirt road at about three hundred miles an hour, being driven by someone who could barely see above the steering wheel.
“WAAAHH!” Milton and Cassie screamed from the backseat.
A jumble of shapes blurred in the windshield, appearing and disappearing in the shaky headlights. The frame of the ancient car trembled.
Cassie called out, “Watch out for the—OOF!” She winced when we hit a massive bump. “Too late.”
I pointed at a dark form that had appeared in front of us. “Tree, tree, tree!”
Sophie swerved just in time to avoid slamming into the tree. But this set her on course to collide with a—
“Ditch, ditch, ditch!”
Sophie spun the wheel in the other direction and managed to straighten the vehicle out on the dirt road again.
“Gotta turn off the jet boosters!” she hollered over the roaring engines.
“How?” I yelled back.
“There has to be a button.”
“Yeah, but—which one?”
Sophie jolted the steering wheel and a twisted log shot past my shattered window, missing us by an inch. “I can’t keep this going much longer! Just try anything!”
I flipped a switch in the center of the dashboard. Suddenly, the roof launched into the air.
Great. I’d just turned the MarvelousMobile into a convertible.
With the wind howling all around us, I hit a different button. This one turned on the radio, which was blaring an old-timey bluegrass song.
“I’ll never find the right one!” I screamed.
Then my eyes landed on the steering wheel. I leaned over and pounded the same spot that Sophie had hit before. And it actually worked! The jet engines spluttered out and the vehicle lurched to a more manageable speed.
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. Spinning in my seat, I gazed through the back window. No sign of headlights. Only darkness.
“The jet booster gave us a jump on the Cyclaurs,” Cassie said.
“Even if it did nearly get us killed,” Sophie added.
Milton leaned forward, patting Sophie on the shoulder. “Nice driving skills. I’m calling you next time I need a ride.”
A few minutes later, the dirt road became a paved one that led to the highway. There were hardly any other cars at such a late hour. And in the middle of the night, the MarvelousMobile blended into the darkness well. Which was probably a good thing, since a sixty-year-old superhero car with a twelve-year-old behind the wheel might draw some unwanted attention.
“Now we just need to figure out how to get to Bear Creek,” Cassie said.
Milton leaned forward from the backseat. “I’m guessing this thing doesn’t come equipped with GPS.”
Keeping one hand on the wheel, Sophie pointed with the other. “Check the glove compartment.”
I undid the latch and the glove compartment swung open. The inside was crammed: Cape repair kit. Bottle of zombie-bite antibiotics that had expired in 1982. Pair of reading glasses. The usual stuff you expect to find in the glove compartment of a car owned by two elderly superheroes.
Near the back, I located a Massachusetts state map. The thing looked like it had been printed sometime before my parents were born. The brittle paper cracked at the edges as I unfolded it. Once it was spread out in front of me, the map took up the entire passenger side.
“Okay …
now what?”
In the dim interior light of the MarvelousMobile, my eyes searched the map. Squiggly lines in all different colors. Clusters of city names and random numbers. For all I could tell, it might’ve been a map of the moon.
The stiff paper crinkled in my hand. “Anyone know how to use one of these?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I only use Google Maps,” Milton said from the backseat.
“Same here,” Cassie said.
We could face down motorcycle monsters and superpowered henchmen, but apparently reading an old-fashioned map was too much.
I squinted at the enormous page, turning it one way, then the other. How did anyone ever find what they were looking for with these things? You can’t zoom in or enter the address. It won’t tell you what direction you’re going in.
“Dr. Fleming mentioned that Bear Creek’s in western Massachusetts,” Sophie said, not taking her eyes off the road.
“That’s right,” Cassie said. “And it’s a really small town. So I bet the name is written in really small font.”
I could work with that. Focusing on the left side of the state, I ignored any cities that were printed in bold letters, instead searching the names of towns that were written in such faint, faded letters that I could barely read them. It took a while, but eventually I found it.
Bear Creek.
“Looks like the town’s close to a highway.” I carefully ran my finger along the red line that was thicker than all the other lines around it until I spotted a number. “Highway Ninety.”
“That’s the highway we’re on!” At the next sign, Sophie pointed. And sure enough, 90w was reflected in the MarvelousMobile’s headlights.
“That means we’re going west,” Milton said.
We were on our way to Bear Creek.
After an hour of driving, Milton had conked out in the backseat. Beside him, Cassie was asleep with her head on his shoulder.
I was exhausted too, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Miranda. Her face slick with rain. Her hand reaching out. Her fingers slipping through mine. Her mouth open in a silent scream as she fell.
