Unseen Girl of Danger

Season 3; Chapter 5

Yleana and Henry came down the tubes, followed by Ray. They had just gone out to get Greek food so they had no need to change into their superhero costumes. Yleana set the white paper bag of food onto the table by the round couch and sat down, Henry and Ray sitting next to her.

"I still can't believe you landed that plane, kid," Ray said to Henry as he stuffed his face full of food.

"Right? I was all vrooooom and vroooooom," Henry said, imitating a plane as he put his hands out like they were steering an invisible wheel.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and then you were all vrooooom and vrooooom," Ray said, doing the same thing as Henry.

Yleana chuckled at the boys replaying the day before when they saved a plane from crashing into a school because the pilots were attacked by a couple of bad guys who were on the plane. Yleana opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted as Schwoz came running into the Man Cave, yelling.

The three on the couch turned to look at him like he was crazy. He stood, stuttering as he was trying to catch his breath even though had run only a short distance. Henry, Ray, and Yleana all looked at Schwoz expectantly until he finally spoke.

"The... superweapon... it's gone!"

Ray's eyes widened, "You mean the super mega mind-controlling machine that can force a whole city to be taken under the control of whoever is using it? Gone?!"

Schwoz nodded vigorously and there was silence for a few seconds before Henry, Ray, and Yleana all rushed to the locked up part in the storage room to see that the weapon really was gone.

"Oh no," Yleana said, her jaw-dropping, "Oh no, no, no, no, no."

"Who could have taken it?!" Henry questioned more to himself than anyone else, beginning to panic.

"Let's ask Jasper if anybody came into the store while we were gone," Ray said, snapping his fingers.

The four rushed back to the main room of the Man Cave and pressed a button on the control panel to show the camera of Junk 'N' Stuff where Jasper was at the counter.

Ray held down a small red button and spoke, "Jasper. Has anyone come into the store in the past hour?"

"Yeah," Jasper answered, nodding.

"Who? What'd they look like?"

"Well, there was an old lady who bought a lamp that was the shape of a cat... and then there was Yleana's cousin, Julia."

Ray looked at Yleana then looked back to the camera, "Why was she here?"

"Oh, she dropped off Yleana's gum," Jasper informed, holding up the small tube with red and blue gum.

Without another word to Jasper, Ray turned off the camera screen and looked at Yleana and Henry.

"Your cousin," Ray said to Yleana in specific, "She-"

"Ray, I know what you're going to say, don't even say it," Yleana interrupted him.

"But she could be the thief!"

"She's sixteen! Barely, at that!"

"So? She could be working for a villain!"

"Working for a villain? At sixteen?"

"You're working for a superhero at fifteen!"

"Okay but still, Ray!" Henry interjected, "Yleana knows Julia and if she says that Julia wouldn't steal it then I believe her."

Ray opened his mouth to respond but couldn't seem to come up with any retort as he closed his mouth again. Schwoz was looking between Henry and Yleana and Ray while casually eating popcorn.

After a couple of seconds in silence besides the crunch of the popcorn in Schwoz's mouth, Ray snatched the popcorn out of Schwoz's hand and threw it aside irritably.

"You know what?" he said finally, breaking the silence as he turned to Yleana, "Fine. I believe you. But if she ends up being the thief, you're to turn in your gum and your wizwatch and never step foot down here in the Man Cave again."

Yleana's face fell and Henry stared at Ray in disbelief.

"Ray, you won't make her do that, you can't-" Henry started.

"I can and I will," Ray said, his face clearly reading anger.

Yleana slowly shook her head as she looked at Ray hoping that he was kidding, hoping that that angry frown on his face was going to soon turn to that annoying grin of his as he yells 'Pranked ya!' but it seemed the longer she waited for it, the more it hit her that he wasn't kidding.

Henry looked from Ray to Yleana, still shocked at what Ray had said. He could tell Yleana was hurt but before he could do anything to help her feel better, she ran over to the elevator and left so no one would be able to see her cry. It hurt for more than one reason. It hurt that Ray didn't believe her and it hurt that he would be so willing to fire her at one possible mistake.