‘Captain Courageous!’ gasped Minnie as the famous superhero landed neatly.
Stan had no idea where he’d come from but he was exactly as he appeared on TV: broad shoulders, square jaw and hair that looked like a shampoo advert.
‘Stand back, people!’ he ordered. ‘Give the kid some air!’
He set Miles’s feet on the ground.
said Miles, correctly for once.
‘That’s right, buddy, you’re safe now, you can let go of me,’ said his rescuer.
But Miles didn’t loosen his grip. Having found Captain Courageous at long last, he wasn’t letting go of him that quickly.
‘Um, anyone know this kid?’ asked Captain Courageous.
‘We do,’ said Stan, stepping forward. ‘He’s with us.’
‘We’re superheroes too,’ added Minnie.
Captain Courageous looked them up and down. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Aren’t you a bit young?’
‘We’re still in training,’ explained Stan, loweing his voice. ‘We go to Mighty High. It’s like a secret school for superheroes of the future.’
‘You don’t say?’ Captain Courageous was looking at them as if they were barking mad. It was probably because Pudding was wearing a blue cape, which you didn’t see on a dog every day.
The Captain shook Stan’s hand firmly. ‘Well, nice meeting you guys. I better be going,’ he said. ‘Keep up the good work.’
He frowned at Miles, who was still hanging round his neck like a scarf.
‘Let go now, buddy,’ he said.
repeated Miles.
Stan wasn’t sure how it happened, but a second later the two of them launched into the air.
At first Stan thought Captain Courageous was taking Miles – but it seemed to be the other way round. Miles had one arm round the Captain’s neck and was dragging him backwards.
‘Hey! What in Zog’s name … ?’ croaked the superhero.
Stan watched in amazement as they swooped over buildings and vanished out of sight.
‘What just happened?’ asked Stan.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Minnie. ‘Did Miles kidnap Captain Courageous?’
Stan frowned. ‘It sort of looked that way.’
‘But why would he do that?’ asked Minnie.
Stan had no idea – but then nothing about Miles made sense any more. Up until a few days ago they had no idea he could fly. He looked at his watch.
‘The exam!’ he groaned. ‘It starts in five minutes!’
Minnie shook her head. ‘Can’t be helped,’ she said.
‘What do you mean, can’t be helped?’ cried Stan. ‘If we don’t pass our Heroes we’ll be thrown out! We’re finished!’
‘It’s a chance we’ll have to take,’ said Minnie. ‘What’s the first duty of a superhero?’
Stan rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t ask me! Is this a test question?’
‘No, our first duty is to help anyone who’s in danger,’ said Minnie. ‘And Miles needs us – or Captain Courageous does – one of the two. Either way, something’s definitely not right. How are your ears?’
‘Burning up,’ admitted Stan, rubbing them.
‘Just as I thought,’ said Minnie. ‘Come on, we’ve got to find them before it’s too late.’
‘Why would they come here?’ Stan asked.
They’d arrived at the leisure centre, where, a few days ago, the Superhero Fan Convention had taken place. It was Pudding who’d led them here because Minnie insisted the wonderdog had picked up the scent. However, the leisure centre looked deserted. There was nothing in the car park except one or two cars, a row of wheelie bins and a silver spaceship, hovering above the ground.
Stan stared as the craft landed smoothly on the gravel. ‘Is that what I think it is?’ he asked.
‘Well, it’s not a burger van,’ said Minnie.
‘Maybe it’s a fake or something?’
But the spaceship looked real enough. Steam rose from the gleaming dome as if it had just been through a car wash. Lights winked on and off and a low hum filled the air.
‘What now?’ whispered Stan. ‘Do we knock on the door?’
Someone’s coming,’ hissed Minnie. They ducked down behind a row of wheelie bins, just in time to see two people cross the car park. One was Miles, who had Captain Courageous gripped by the arm.
‘Look, I don’t want to be rude but … cried the Captain, catching sight of the spaceship for the first time.
A door in the craft slid open with a hiss and a ramp was lowered. Four strange creatures emerged from the ship and slithered down the ramp. They had green skin, three eyes and heads the shape of light bulbs. They also seemed to have forgotten to get dressed that morning.
‘Aliens!’ gasped Stan. His ears were telling him to run, but it was too late now. Pudding let out a frightened whimper and ducked behind Minnie.
The aliens crowded round Captain Courageous, reaching out to touch his clothes.
they burbled.
Their hero nodded and swept back his mane of blond hair. He was used to this sort of star-struck reaction from fans.
‘What’s up, guys?’ he said. ‘Nice costumes. So what is this, some sort of charity thing?’
burbled one of the aliens, reaching up to poke him in the eye.
‘OUCH! Yup, that’s me,’ said Courageous. ‘Is there something I can do for you?’
The alien who seemed to be the leader held out one of the sticky suckers that served as hands. All the others copied him.
he said.
‘Right, Captain Courageous, that’s my name,’ said the superhero.
The alien made a squiggling action using one of his suckers.
‘Oh, you want an autograph?’ said Captain Courageous, finally getting it. ‘No problem! Anyone got a pen?’
Stan and Minnie watched, mystified, as the superhero signed his name on a dozen alien suckers. (One of them wanted his head autographed.) Captain Courageous still seemed to think he was meeting a group of fans dressed in funny green costumes.
When it was done, the aliens compared their autographs, burbling excitedly.
‘So, it was great to meet you guys,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘I love the whole alien thing with the masks and spaceship. But, you know, got to fly now.’
repeated the alien commander.
‘Yes, fly, you know, things to do, people to save,’ smiled Captain Courageous. The aliens didn’t smile back, though it was hard to tell, as only their eyes moved.
‘Well, be seeing you!’ Courageous raised one arm in the air and took off – or at least he would have done, if a sticky hand hadn’t wrapped around his foot like ivy and pulled him back to earth.
‘Hey, cut that out … !’ protested Captain Courageous as he was dragged towards the spaceship.
‘Uh-oh. Shouldn’t we do something?’ whispered Minnie.
Stan looked at her. ‘It’s Captain Courageous. Any moment now he’ll escape and flatten the lot of them –
They waited for the Captain to demonstrate his super-strength, but he seemed too busy yelling at the top of his voice. ‘HEEEELP! SOMEBODY!’ he wailed.
The alien leader barked an order and the door slid shut.
Minnie turned to Stan and raised her eyebrows. ‘So, you were saying?’
Aliens: sooner or later we all run into them. If your ambition is to become a superhero, be prepared to face enemies in all shapes and sizes. The secret is to work out who – or what – you’re dealing with. Supervillains are usually predictable creatures with one ambition: world domination.
Aliens are more complicated and don’t have much time for small talk before they vaporise you. Be alert – aliens will often adopt cunning disguises in order to fool you.
If you believe you could be dealing with an alien, try this simple test: ge
t close enough to SMELL them. Do they smell of …
a) Sweat
b) Cheese and onion crisps
c) Nothing
If the answer is c), they are probably an ALIEN. Either that or you have a cold and probably shouldn’t be sniffing people.
Stan and Minnie crouched behind the wheelie bins, trying to think of a plan. Were they too late? If the spaceship launched into the sky then they might never see Miles again – or Captain Courageous, for that matter. While Stan was asking these questions, the door of the spacecraft slid open again and two figures fell out, tumbling down the ramp. They seemed to be wrestling.
Minnie jumped up.‘It’s Miles!’ she cried.
‘Which one? They’re both Miles!’ said Stan.
They stared in disbelief. Two Miles seemed to be having a fight with themselves. They each had the same brown hair, short legs and thick round glasses. The only difference was that one Miles seemed to be a lot better at fighting than the other. He flung his double to the ground and jumped on top of him.
cried Minnie.
‘Which one?’ said Stan.
It was impossible to tell – and they could easily rescue the wrong one.
‘Pudding – he’ll know!’ said Minnie. ‘Dogs recognise people by their smell.’
She turned to Pudding, who had looked up at hearing his name.
said Minnie, pointing.
Pudding barked and bounded away across the car park. By now the stronger Miles was sitting on top of his opponent, pulling him by the ears.
Pudding bent down and licked the Miles on the ground.
‘That sounds like Miles all right,’ said Minnie. ‘Come on!’
They raced forward and dragged the imposter Miles off. Stan and Minnie took a hand each and flung him backwards into the wheelie bins, which toppled over, burying him under a pile of rubbish.
The real Miles got to his knees, breathing heavily.
‘What took you so long?’ he grumbled, holding his sore ears.
‘How were we to know you needed help?’ asked Minnie. ‘We thought HE was you.’
She pointed to the dazed alien lying in the rubbish with a banana skin on his head.
‘He’s an alien, for heaven’s sake,’ said Miles.‘He’s way uglier than me!’
‘Never mind that now,’ said Stan. ‘They’ve still got Captain Courageous!’
A loud metallic voice made them whirl round.
They turned to see the alien commander at the door of his spaceship, flanked by his underlings. Captain Courageous stood beside him with a deadly ray gun pointed at his head.
said the alien commander.
‘He dries?’ repeated Stan. ‘When did he get wet?’
‘I think he means “dies”,’ muttered Captain Courageous.
They had little choice but to obey. Stan raised his arms in the air. As Minnie obeyed, she slid her frisbee from her belt. Stan’s eyes widened. What was she playing at?
In a split second Captain Courageous had broken free and two of his guards lay sprawled on the ground. He somersaulted down the ramp and landed in front of the Invincibles.
‘Impressive, huh?’ he said. ‘Now let’s see what these green goons are made of. I’m guessing you guys have some kind of superpowers?’
‘Sort of,’ replied Stan. ‘My ears detect danger.’
‘And I’m Frisbee Girl,’ said Minnie.
‘And I, er … know a lot of stuff,’ said Miles.
‘Right, not quite what I had in mind,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘But stick with me and you’ll be … Uhh, where did they go?’
The aliens had retreated into their spaceship with the door closing behind them. The next moment the craft hummed into life and took off with a whoosh of booster rockets.
‘HA! Scaredy-cats – THEY’RE RUNNING AWAY!’ jeered Miles.
They watched the spaceship gain height and circle the rooftops of the town. Stan’s ears began to prickle.
‘Actually, I don’t think they are,’ he said.
The spaceship was coming back, swooping down low towards them. Suddenly it opened fire, raking the car park.
‘Yikes, that was close!’ gasped Stan, as the alien craft screamed overhead. It banked again, preparing to circle and come in for another attack. Stan looked around. They were sitting ducks in the car park, with nowhere to run.
‘If you’ve got an idea, now’s the time,’ murmured Minnie.
‘OK, this is the plan, kids,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘Never give in!’
‘Great, but maybe something more practical,’ sighed Minnie.
Stan thought quickly. If only they could create a magnetic force field or something. Wait a minute, maybe they could? He felt in his pocket for the packet of bionic bubblegum. It was their only chance. Tearing off the paper, he jammed a stick of gum into his mouth, chewing furiously.
warned Minnie.
‘Hold on to my arms,’ said Stan.
Minnie grabbed hold of his arm. Stan blew a bionic bubble, knowing it would need to be a monster to have any chance. In no time it was as big as a beach ball and growing fast.
The alien spaceship swooped down towards them, coming in for the kill.
Captain Courageous dived to the ground and shut his eyes.
The bionic bubble was so big it threatened to lift Stan off the ground. It took all Minnie and Miles’s strength to hold him down.
yelled Minnie.
Moments later they opened their eyes to see the smoking wreck of the spacecraft.
‘Yikes!’ said Minnie.
Miles shook his head in awe. ‘That’s some bionic bubblegum!’
‘It was nothing,’ said Captain Courageous, who had been curled in a ball the whole time. He brushed some bits of spacecraft off his costume and smoothed back his hair.
‘Who were those goons, anyway?’ he asked. ‘They were dressed like aliens.’
‘They were aliens,’ sighed Minnie. ‘It looks like they were trying to steal you.’
‘Well, naturally,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘I’m happy to sign autographs but you can take things too far.’
Miles still looked puzzled. ‘But why kidnap ME?’ he asked. ‘I’m not even famous!’
‘I guess they thought a double could be useful,’ answered Stan. ‘That way one of them could blend in. We knew something was up when you flew over the swimming pool.’
‘I did?’ said Miles.
‘Well, the alien Miles did,’ said Minnie. ‘It must have been his job to lead them to the Captain.’
‘That’s why he kept hanging around in high places!’ said Stan. ‘He was waiting for Captain Courageous to rescue him!’
The famous superhero looked around. ‘Talking of him – where did he go?’
There was no sign of the alien double. Evidently he’d recovered and made his escape during the attack. Somewhere in town the alien Miles was waiting for a spaceship to come and rescue him.
‘In any case, their evil plan went up in smoke,’ said Captain Courageous. He thumped Stan on the back, winding him.
‘Thanks for your help, guys,’ he said. ‘And who knows? One day you may be as famous as me.’
Stan sighed heavily. ‘Fat chance of that,’ he said. ‘We were meant to sit our HEROES today. We’ll probably be thrown out for missing them.’
Miles gaped at them. ‘You’re not serious? I was kidnapped by aliens – they can’t fail me for that!’
‘But who’s going to believe our story?’ asked Minnie. ‘No one else saw the spaceship.’
‘Apart from me,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘Where is this school of yours, anyway?’
Miss Marbles shuffled the pile of exam papers, glanced at the hall clock and shook her head sadly.
Just at that moment the door flew open and Stan and his fri
ends rushed in, out of breath.
Miss Marbles frowned and folded her arms.‘You’re too late,’ she said.
‘But it’s not our fault,’ began Minnie.
‘It’s never anyone’s fault, Minnie, but you know the rules,’ said the head teacher. ‘No one remains at Mighty High unless they pass their Heroes. I must say, I’d expected more from you three.’
‘But Miss Marbles, we had to find Miles,’ said Stan. ‘He was captured by aliens and they were trying to kidnap Captain Courageous …’
‘And we fought them off but they attacked us in their spaceship, then Stan blew a bionic bubble and it went and exploded – the spaceship, I mean, not the bubble,’ gabbled Miles, not pausing for breath.
Miss Marbles rolled her eyes. ‘And you expect me to believe that?’ she asked.
‘Actually, it’s all true,’ said a deep voice behind her. Miss Marbles spun round. she cried, clutching at her heart.
‘At your service, Miss,’ said the superhero, saluting her. ‘I’ve been hearing what a terrific job you’re doing at this school of yours.’
Miss Marbles blushed. ‘Well, we try our best, Captain,’ she said.
‘If it wasn’t for these brave kids, I wouldn’t be here now,’ said Captain Courageous. ‘I might be halfway to Planet Goonie.’
Stan and the others listened while Captain Courageous told the whole story, although in his version he played the starring role, taking down the spaceship and fighting off the aliens single-handed. What mattered though was that Miss Marbles believed him. Stan thought she probably would have believed anything he said.
Alien Attack! Page 3
