grandfather," Jack said.
Rust raised an eyebrow.
"It was a shock for me, too," Wepaynar agreed.
"But he is the bad guy, right?" Rust checked.
Jack nodded.
"Good, last time I made that mistake was twenty-three years ago. For some reason, the superhero community really doesn't like it when you accuse a board member of espionage."
"How did you undo the lockdown?" Jack asked, pointing up at the open skylight.
Rust shrugged like it was first grade math. "Simple. I just used the code. Only a handful of people on this planet know the code, and I used to be one of them. To be honest, I was afraid they might have changed the code on me. It resets every time there's a lockdown. Good thing they haven't had a lockdown since 1985. I guess Professor Darkins has been adhering to his parole guidelines."
Caleb bounced through the skylight. He beamed. "Hey, Jack. I got reinforcements."
"I was wondering where you got to," Jack said. "Okay, here's the deal: there are about five bombs scattered around inside the school. This is one of them," he held up the master bomb. "They can't be disarmed, so don't waste any time trying. Just find them and dispose of them, got it?"
Caleb nodded, readily. He waved an arm, signalling to his reinforcements.
The lunch-ladies, janitor Darren, Principal Parr, the heroes, parents and the teachers that had been locked out poured in through the skylight and the gymnasium doors, a ragtag but eager army.
"Good," Jack said. "Let's move out, sweep through the school, search for the bombs, help the hero students, stop the rebels and save Hero High!"
34
When the reinforcements reached the entrance hall, relief washed through the beaten heroes.
Some students were frozen in solid ice, some were entangled by thorny vines, some were tied up in the elongated arms of various rebel stretchers, and some were plain old beat, exhausted, tuckered out.
The rebels weren't, though.
One look at the motley gang of lunch-ladies in fuzzy slippers, nightgowns and hair curlers was enough to make them laugh and realize this was no fight. It's not hard to beat a lunch-lady, right?
Wrong.
The rebels advanced towards the lunch-ladies, their first mistake.
The floor started warming up until it was red hot. The rebels were shrieking and dancing like Michael Flatley, the burning floor scorching their feet through their shoes.
With the rebels distracted, they didn't notice the swarm of vegetables hurtling towards them. They were pelted mercilessly by carrots, bell peppers, onions, potatoes and eggplants.
Trying to avoid the scorching floor and fighting off determined vegetables, the rebels couldn't have hoped to see the lunch-lady known as Big Bertha multiply until there was an army of thirty, large, formidable, muscular Big Bertha's facing the hundred or so puny, skinny, adolescent rebels.
The floor cooled and the vegetable attack subsided, but the rebels couldn't feel any relief when they laid eyes on the frightening army.
The rebels didn't even try. They turned around and ran like dogs with tails between their legs.
The lunch-ladies used their various powers to free the trapped hero students from their wide range of entanglements.
"Thanks," Bella said as a lunch-lady cut through the thorny vines ensnaring her.
"Where'd the rebels go?" Ty asked as a lunch-lady unfroze him. He shivered and hugged himself to warm up after his deepfreeze.
"They ran away when they saw Big Bertha," one of the lunch-ladies said.
"Those weren't all the rebels," Ty said, his teeth chattering. "There are at least four or five hundred rebels. Where are they?"
"Look, that's not important right now," a lunch-lady interrupted. "Finding those bombs is important. We don't have much time."
Every classroom was being searched. The cafeteria had many volunteers sweeping through, checking every crevice three times for anything suspicious. Some poor suckers were given the dreaded task of hunting through the bathrooms for a bomb.
Jack met up with Bella, Ethan, Ty, Dean and Caleb in the search. Finally reunited, the team discussed the events of the evening as they searched a classroom.
"Your grandfather tried to kill you?" Caleb said. "Wow, that is messed up."
"Not as messed up as this school is going to be if we don't find those bombs," Ty pointed out, carefully examining the underside of a desk.
"We only have a half hour before those bombs go off," Jack reminded his friends, changing the subject. "If we don't find them all before then, we're evacuating the school, got it?"
His team nodded in agreement.
"What made Rust turn around?" Bella mused aloud as she systematically pulled open every desk drawer and searched the contents.
Ethan shrugged. "Detour? Forgot to say goodbye to Big Bertha? Missed the desert air? Who knows?"
Bella nodded. "Yeah, I guess, but I like to think he missed us."
Caleb suddenly shrieked.
"Caleb, if you see a spider, just carry on," Ty said, dismissively.
"No, this is not a spider," Caleb said, revealing his find to his brothers and friends.
It was a bomb, for sure. Jack recognized it straight away because it looked identical to the master bomb, just smaller.
Without another word, he snatched it right out of Caleb's hands and flew out the classroom like a bullet. He flew out the skylight in the gym and climbed as high into the sky as he could physically go.
Hovering high above the earth, gazing down at the scattered, little pinpricks of light, Jack just had to wait a few minutes, then he'd let go of the bomb and plummet back to earth, riding the shockwave of an explosion.
No plan he made that evening so far had worked out as he had hoped, and it seemed this plan wasn't going to be an exception.
As he drifted in the deep, indigo black sky, Jack noticed a spot beneath him growing. As it neared, he saw it was no spot. It was another flyer.