“Shut him up,” Goofball said as Calamity and Max tied Melvin to the barbell.
Max made a fist, and that’s all it took for Melvin to stop screaming. He’d seen the thug use that fist on James. He did not want the same to happen to him.
“Okay, he’s tied,” Calamity said. “Now what?”
“Drop him through that hole and our superhero problems will be over.”
“You mean we can make like a tree and leave?” Max asked.
“We can make like bad guys and start robbing banks again.” Goofball pointed to the hole in the floor. “Toss him in and let’s get out of—”
“Not so fast!” Melvin, Candace, and James appeared suddenly. It was Melvin’s turn to kick in the door, but when they saw the hole in the wall created by Max’s fist, they went through that instead.
Melvin moved forward. “Untie me … uh … I mean, untie the boy.”
Goofball smiled. “Are you forgetting something?” He tossed a huge slab of bologna that landed at Melvin’s feet.
Melvin instantly felt weak. The room began to spin. Then he fell to his knees. “Can’t … move … get … me … out … of … here,” he gasped.
A second later Candace was on the ground beside him. “Can’t … move … get … me … out … of … here.”
James, who had no cape, and therefore had no weaknesses, looked confused. “What’s with the ‘can’t move’ stuff?”
Goofball put his head back and laughed—his evil laugh, his award-winning evil laugh. He turned to his friends. “Max, Calamity, tie them all up. Tie them all to the barbell and drop them in the hole. Use your shoelaces if you have to.”
Max and Calamity rushed across the room and grabbed Melvin, Candace, and James. This was not difficult, since Superhero Melvin and Superhero Candace had lost their strength, and James was just a boy with no superpowers at all.
“Tie them up,” Goofball said again.
Crash! The door to the building tore from its hinges and landed in a cloud of dust on the floor. In popped the caped Margaret. “Not so fast!” Then she looked at the door she’d just kicked down and said, “I loved doing that!”
She moved forward and scanned the faces in the room—Goofball McCluskey, Max the Wonder Thug, Calamity Wayne.
Suddenly she felt weak. She fell to her knees gasping, “Can’t … move … get … me … out … of … here.” Her cape was different from the one worn by Melvin and Candace, so bologna wasn’t her weakness. But guys named Wayne were.
Goofball didn’t know any of this. He just saw another superhero who was obviously, and thankfully, powerless. The bad guy business was getting better and better. “Tie her up, too.”