While Joe the Bad Guy was getting ready to clone a Fred, Melvin and Candace were at Big Al’s Rent-a-Lair, trapped inside a lair with a Jacuzzi. Outside, the big Rottweiler crashed against the door, snapping his teeth and growling.
Melvin had to find a way out. He knew it was up to him alone. Candace was too busy staring at the Jacuzzi and dreaming of getting her own lair to be of any help in the thinking department.
“What if I don’t call it a lair?” she said. “What if I just call it a fort, or a clubhouse?”
“We need to find a way out of here,” Melvin said as he watched Candace checking the water temperature.
“Want to take a dip, Melvin?”
Melvin looked out the window at the snarling dog. “No time for swimming, Candace. We have to get out of here before the sun comes up. If Big Al catches us, we’ll go to jail. Do you know what they do to superheroes who go to jail?”
Candace shook her head.
“They take their capes away.”
Candace stopped playing with the water. She looked around. Then she spotted something on the ceiling and pointed. “What’s that?”
“Holy escape route! It’s a hatch to let the steam out.”
Holy escape route, indeed! It was a way out for Candace, but how about for Melvin, Mr. Crash-Splat-Thud-Kabonk? Candace could get off the ground in one try. Melvin could not, and he needed more running room to launch himself.
Candace flew up to the ceiling and opened the hatch. “Come on, Melvin.”
Melvin shook his head, knowing it was hopeless even to try. But wait a minute, he thought. He was a superhero. And he was as fast as a speeding bullet. He could outrun a dog.
“Candace, can you distract the dog?”
“I can imitate a hamburger like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Perfect,” Melvin said. “Go for it and I’ll meet you on the street.”
Candace flew to the far side of the lot and did the best impression of a hamburger the world has ever known.
The dog moved away from the door, and Melvin ran for it. It was no contest. He was as fast as a speeding bullet, all right. Maybe faster. Once outside Big Al’s, he launched himself.
Crash!
Splat!
Thud!
Kabonk!
He was up and flying in five, then he saw Candace home safely. It wasn’t part of the Superhero’s Code to do this. Melvin just liked looking after his partner in uncrime. Tomorrow they’d do some math, then start going down their list of bad guys. The Grateful Fred had to be protected.
“See you tomorrow, Candace,” Melvin said as he flew off.
“Squeakity squeak?” said Hugo the rat when Melvin arrived back at the tree house. Hugo was either trying to explain the last episode of The Adventures of Thunderman or he wanted to play a game of Monopoly. Melvin wasn’t sure. But right now he had other things to think about. He pulled out his list of bad guys and read it again. Where to begin? he thought.
He’d start at the top—who was Max the Wonder Thug anyway?
