by Gary Paulsen
Townsend stood over him, breathing hard. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” He moved to his desk and had picked up the phone when he heard something behind him.
The lawyer turned just in time to see Andy sit up and rub his head. “That one stung a little.” He felt in his mouth. Both teeth were back. It’s great, Andy thought. Works every time.
Townsend watched, his mouth open, as Andy unclipped the Gloop Gun. Then he ducked behind his desk. “Don’t shoot! I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but I’ll pay you double whatever you’re getting if you come to work for me.”
“I’m the Hawk, Mr. Townsend. And I work for …” Andy stopped to think. “Oh yeah, for the good of humankind.”
Andy fired the Gloop Gun over the top of the desk and a big round yellow blob of Gloop landed in Townsend’s hair and somehow also managed to catch his right foot, pinning the side of his head to his shoe, a position his body had never enjoyed before. Townsend grunted and rolled around on the floor, picking up bits of paper when he knocked over a wastebasket.
Andy watched until he heard the high-pitched blare of sirens outside. He glanced at his watch. He’d been in here longer than he’d intended. Henry must have gotten worried and called the police. Andy had just enough time for a good finish. He moved to where Townsend had come to rest, stuck to the side of a chair leg.
“The police are on their way. You’ll have plenty of time to think about this day while you’re rotting in jail. And when you do, don’t forget that it was the Hawk that put you there.”
CHAPTER 15
“Listen to this, Henry.” Andy shook out the front page of the newspaper. “ ‘Millionaire lawyer Clayton Townsend confesses to crimes of fraud, burglary, accessory to attempted kidnapping, and murder. While being questioned by police, Townsend claimed to have been captured by a large, talking bird. He is calling the winged creature “the Hawk.” He also claims this same bird glued his head to his foot. Prosecutors discount the story, calling it an attempt by the noted lawyer to credit a possible plea of insanity, although they remain puzzled by the fact that one of Townsend’s partners seemed to be frozen for three days.’ Hmmm. Maybe the Super Stun Gun is set a little high.”
Andy folded the paper. “We’re on our way to being famous, Henry. Someday the police will probably call in the Hawk to help them on some of their really tough cases.”
“Yes, sir. Sir …?”
“What is it, Henry?”
“Might I ask why you are still dressed in the Hawk suit? I had hoped you might take the weekend off. I had some laundry to do and a bit of shopping.”
Andy picked up the Hawk headpiece and slipped it on. “It’s like this, Henry. I found out that this superhero stuff has a few added bonuses. And one of them told me she was free this weekend if I wanted to fly by.”
“I see. And would you like me to follow along in the car, Master Hawkes?”
Andy smiled and hit the button on his rocket booster harness. “Not this time, Henry. I’m pretty sure I can handle this one by myself.”
SUPERHEROES
What is a superhero? You probably think of Superman. Batman, Wonder Woman, or Spider-Man when you hear that word. The word superhero means a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers. But it can also mean an exceptionally skillful or successful person—which means that you too can be a superhero!
Just for fun, design your own superhero. First pick out an animal you really like. It could be a high-flying bird (like the hawk), a quick-moving cat (a jaguar or a tiger), or a mighty and powerful beast (an elephant!). Or, instead of an animal, pick out a quality you think is really cool. For example, Stretch Armstrong could stretch his arms way out like rubber bands to capture bad guys.
Pick a name for your superhero, and then start drawing a picture of what you think he or she might look like. If you picked out an animal, make sure your superhero has some of the qualities of that animal in his or her costume, just like Batman’s batlike ears and cape. Then figure out what kind of special powers your superhero has and how he or she might use them. Your superhero’s powers should match the kind of creature he or she is. For example, Spider-Man can spin a net for a trap and climb up the sides of buildings, just like a spider.
Then make up a story for your superhero. And be sure to make up some villains for your superhero to fight. Write the story down, or draw your own comic-book adventure starring your superhero.
If you could be any superhero, which one would you choose to be? Why? Do you know anyone you would consider a superhero?
Don’t miss all the exciting action!
Read the other action-packed books in
Gary Paulsen’s
WORLD OF ADVENTURE!
The Legend of Red Horse Cavern
Will Little Bear Tucker and his friend Sarah Thompson have heard the eerie Apache legend many times. Will’s grandfather especially loves to tell them about Red Horse—an Indian brave who betrayed his people, was beheaded, and now haunts the Sacramento Mountain range, searching for his head. To Will and Sarah it’s just a story—until they decide to explore a newfound mountain cave, a cave filled with dangerous treasures.
Deep underground, Will and Sarah uncover an old chest stuffed with a million dollars. But now armed bandits are after them. When they find a gold Apache statue hidden in a skull, it seems Red Horse is hunting them, too. Then they lose their way, and each step they take in the damp, dark cavern could be their last.
Rodomonte’s Revenge
Friends Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are video game whizzes. So when a new virtual reality arcade called Rodomonte’s Revenge opens near their home, they make sure they’re its first customers. The game is awesome. There are flaming fire rivers to jump, beastly buzz-bugs to fight, and ugly tunnel spiders to escape. If they’re good enough they’ll face Rodomonte, an evil giant waiting to do battle within his hidden castle.
But soon after they play the game, strange things start happening to Brett and Tom. The computer is taking over their minds. Now everything that happens in the game is happening in real life. A buzzbug could gnaw off their ears. Rodomonte could smash them to bits. Brett and Tom have no choice but to play Rodomonte’s Revenge again. This time they’ll be playing for their lives.
Escape from Fire Mountain
“… please, anybody … fire … need help.”
That’s the urgent cry thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts hears over the CB radio the weekend she’s left alone in her family’s hunting lodge. The message also says that the sender is trapped near a bend in the river. Nikki knows it’s dangerous, but she has to try to help. She paddles her canoe downriver, coming closer to the thick black smoke of the forest fire with each stroke. When she reaches the bend, Nikki climbs onshore. There, covered with soot and huddled on a rock ledge, sit two small children.
Nikki struggles to get the children to safety. Flames roar around them. Trees splinter to the ground. But as Nikki tries to escape the fire, she doesn’t know that two poachers are also hot on her trail. They fear that she and the children have seen too much of their illegal operation—and they’ll do anything to keep the kids from making it back to the lodge alive.
The Rock Jockeys
Devil’s Wall.
Rick Williams and his friends J.D. and Spud—the Rock Jockeys—are attempting to become the first and youngest climbers to ascend the north face of their area’s most treacherous mountain. They’re also out to discover if a B-17 bomber rumored to have crashed into the mountain years ago is really there.
As the Rock Jockeys explore Devil’s Wall, they stumble upon the plane’s battered shell. Inside, they find items that seem to have belonged to the crew, including a diary written by the navigator. Spud later falls into a deep hole and finds something even more frightening: a human skull and bones. To find out where they might have come from, the boys read the navigator’s story in the diary. It reveals a gruesome secret that heightens the dangers the mountain might ho
ld for the Rock Jockeys.
Hook ’Em, Snotty!
Bobbie Walker loves working on her grandfather’s ranch. She hates the fact that her cousin Alex is coming up from Los Angeles to visit and will probably ruin her summer. Alex can barely ride a horse and doesn’t know the first thing about roping. There is no way Alex can survive a ride into the flats to round up wild cattle. But Bobbie is going to have to let her tag along anyway.
Out in the flats the weather turns bad. Even worse, Bobbie knows that she’ll have to watch out for the Bledsoe boys, two mischievous brothers who are usually up to no good. When the boys rustle the girls’ cattle, Bobbie and Alex team up to teach the Bledsoes a lesson. But with the wild bull Diablo on the loose, the fun and games may soon turn deadly serious.
Danger on Midnight River
Daniel Martin doesn’t want to go to Camp Eagle Nest. He wants to spend the summer as he always does: with his uncle Smitty in the Rocky Mountains. Daniel is a slow learner, but most other kids call him retarded. Daniel knows that at camp, things are only going to get worse. His nightmare comes true when he and three bullies must ride the camp van together.
On the trip to camp, Daniel is the butt of the bullies’ jokes. He ignores them and concentrates on the roads outside. He thinks they may be lost. As the van crosses a wooden bridge, the planks suddenly give way. The van plunges into the raging river below. Daniel struggles to shore, but the driver and the other boys are nowhere to be found. It’s freezing, and night is setting in. Daniel faces a difficult decision. He could save himself … or risk everything to try to rescue the others, too.
The Gorgon Slayer
Eleven-year-old Warren Trumbull has a strange job. He works for Prince Charming’s Damsel in Distress Rescue Agency, saving people from hideous monsters, evil warlocks, and wicked witches. Then one day Warren gets the most dangerous assignment of all: He must exterminate a Gorgon.
Gorgons are horrible creatures. They have green scales, clawed fingers, and snakes for hair. They also have the power to turn people to stone. Warren doesn’t want to be a stone statue for the rest of his life. He’ll need all his courage and skill—and his secret plan—to become a true Gorgon slayer.
The Gorgon howls as Warren enters the dark basement to do battle. Warren lowers his eyes, raises his sword and shield, and leaps into action. But will his plan work?
Captive!
Roman Sanchez is trying hard to deal with the death of his dad—a SWAT team member gunned down in the line of duty. But Roman’s nightmare is just beginning.
When masked gunmen storm into his classroom, Roman and three other boys are taken hostage. They are thrown into the back of a truck and hauled to a run-down mountain cabin, miles from anywhere. They are bound with rope and given no food. With each passing hour the kidnappers’ deadly threats become even more real.
Roman knows time is running out. Now he must somehow put his dad’s death behind him so that he and the others can launch a last desperate fight for freedom.
The Treasure of El Patrón
Tag Jones and his friend Cowboy spend their days diving in the azure water surrounding Bermuda. It’s not just for fun—Tag knows that somewhere in the coral reef there’s a sunken ship full of treasure. His father died in a diving accident looking for the ship, and Tag won’t give up until he finds it.
Then the ship’s manifest of the Spanish galleon El Patrón turns up, and Tag can barely contain his excitement. El Patrón sank in 1614, carrying “unknown cargo.” Tag knows that this is the ship his father was looking for. And he’s not the least bit scared off by the rumors that El Patrón is cursed. But when two tourists want Tag to retrieve some mysterious sunken parcels for them, Tag and Cowboy may be in dangerous water, way over their heads!
Skydive!
Jesse Rodriguez has a pretty exciting job for a thirteen-year-old, working at a small flight and skydiving school near Seattle. Buck Sellman, the owner of the school, lets Jesse help out around the airport and is teaching him all about skydiving. Jesse can’t wait until he’s sixteen and old enough to make his first jump.
Then Robin Waterford walks in with her father one day to sign up for lessons, and strange things start to happen. Photographs that Robin takes of the airfield mysteriously disappear from her locker. And Robin and Jesse discover that someone at the airfield is involved in an illegal transportation operation. Jesse and Robin soon find themselves in the middle of real danger and are forced to make their first skydives very unexpectedly—using only one parachute!
The Seventh Crystal
Chosen One,
The ancient palace lies in the Valley of Zon. It is imperative that you come immediately. You are my last hope. Look for the secret path. The stars will lead the way. Take care. The eyes of Mogg are everywhere.
As if school bullies weren’t enough of a problem, now Chris Masters has a computer game pushing him around! Ever since The Seventh Crystal arrived anonymously in the mail one day, Chris has been obsessed with it—it’s the most challenging game he’s ever played. But when the game starts to take over, Chris is forced to face a lean, mean, medieval bully.
The Creature of Black Water Lake
Thirteen-year-old Ryan Swanner and his mom just moved to the mountain resort of Black Water Lake. The locals say that beneath the lake’s seemingly calm surface, a giant, ancient creature lives. But Ryan’s new friend Rita tells him that’s just hogwash. She’s not afraid to go fishing out on the lake, even though, oddly, the lake seems to be nearly empty of fish. One day Ryan sees a small animal fall from a tree into the lake—and never surface again. Something is in the lake. And it’s alive.…
Time Benders
Superbrain Zack Griffin and hoops fanatic Jeff Brown wouldn’t normally hang together. But when both boys win trips to a famous science laboratory, they find out they have one thing in common: a serious case of curiosity. And when they sneak into the lab to check out the time-bending machine again, they end up in Egypt—in 1334 B.C.!
Grizzly
Justin swallowed and pointed the light at the soft dirt. The tracks were plain: two large pads with five long scissorlike claws on each.
A grizzly.
A grizzly bear is terrorizing the sheep ranch that belongs to Justin McCallister’s aunt and uncle. First the grizzly takes a swipe at the ranch’s guard dog, Old Molly. Then he kills several sheep and injures Justin’s collie, Radar. When the grizzly kills Blue, Justin’s pet lamb, Justin decides to take matters into his own hands. He sets out to track down the bear himself. But what will Justin do when he comes face to face with the grizzly?
Thunder Valley
Jeremy Parsons and his twin Brother, Jason, have been left on their own to run the family business, Thunder Valley Ski Lodge. But ever since Grandpa broke his hip and Grandma went with him to the hospital, strange things have been happening. Things even stranger than the fire in the snowmobile garage. Jason and Jeremy had better find out who’s responsible, because Thunder Valley is going downhill fast.
Curse of the Ruins
“A few hundred yards ahead there is a long wooden bridge that the donkeys will be afraid to cross. But do not worry. After you cross the bridge, the ruins will not be far away.”
Cousins Katie, Sam, and Shala quickly see why the donkeys are so afraid to cross the bridge—it’s old and rickety and spans a deep, rocky canyon. But they have to get across it. They have to find Katie and Sam’s dad, an anthropologist who’s studying the ancient cliff dwellers at El Debajo. Dr. Crockett was supposed to meet the cousins at the airport in San Marcos, New Mexico, but he never showed up. They don’t know whether he has enemies who might have kidnapped him or whether there really is a curse on the ruins of El Debajo. But they’re about to find out.
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