Toward Mayville. Toward our school.
NINE
The force was unbelievable. The tip of the rocket was getting red from the heat. Our faces were doing funny things again.
In a flash we passed through the clouds.
Then there was a loud sound. But it wasn’t us this time. I looked around. I nudged Zeek.
Behind us was a huge black jet. It was following close. Flames were coming out of its engines. There were attack rockets under each wing.
“I knew it,” yelled Zeek. “They think we’re the enemy and they’re going to shoot us down!”
Then the pilot pulled alongside. I could see the American flag painted on a panel just under the cockpit. It made me want to cry.
The pilot held up his hand to me and gave me the okay sign with his fingers. Then he pointed behind him.
I looked there.
In the seat behind him were … my parents!
“They heard me calling them!”
I started to choke up, but Zeek said, “Look at the timer. It says two minutes!”
I held up two fingers to my parents to show that we only had two minutes left. They didn’t get it. They each held up two fingers too.
“They think I’m giving them the peace sign.”
“Yeah, the Rest-in-peace sign, you mean.”
Then we dropped suddenly and the jet had to pull back.
We flashed down so fast I could hardly breathe. We were headed straight for Mayville.
“Noodle, we’ve got to save our school. Do something! Your pocket! Look in your pocket!”
I dug in my pocket. I felt around. I didn’t feel anything. All the junk from this morning was used up. I made a face.
“No! Don’t tell me it’s empty!” Zeek started pounding on the control panel. “We’re all going to blow up!”
We were diving fast. I started feeling around again. There must be something. There must be!
Zeek was looking sick. He looked like he was ready to cry.
But then I started to smile. I felt something. I pulled out my hand. I held up … a paper clip!
“Hooray! I knew you had something. I knew you did!”
I got to work right away—the timer showed only thirty seconds left. I bent the paper clip into a J and jammed the long end behind the timer. I figured that’s where the computer brains would be.
Fifteen seconds.
Twelve seconds.
Zeek held his breath.
Mayville School was dead ahead.
I wiggled the paper clip.
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
I wiggled it some more.
Two seconds.
TEN
Click!
The timer stopped. One second to spare. It was over.
I pulled up on the control stick and we leveled off just over the school roof.
“Yippee! The Noodle Man does it again! Incredible!” Zeek laughed and slapped me on the back.
Not a good thing to do.
Whooom! The rocket dipped and fell about twenty feet.
“Whoa, Zeek. We’ve still got the bombs on board! If we hit anything or crash-land, it’s so long, Mayville. Better start looking around for somewhere safe to dump the bombs.”
I turned the control stick.
“Hey, that’s my house,” Zeek mumbled.
“Yeah, but I don’t think your mom wants bombs in her yard.”
“That’s my house,” Zeek said again.
“Sure, terrific view. But listen, Zeek, we’re running out of time here, okay?”
“No, that’s my house!” Zeek repeated. He seemed really excited, so I decided to look.
That’s when I got what he meant.
“Zeek, that’s your house!”
It was his house, all right. And we were zooming straight for it.
Not only that. We were headed straight for the front door. And not only that. We were headed straight for the front door at the same time that Zeek’s mom opened it and looked out.
What happened next went incredibly fast.
We shot in the front door, just as Zeek’s mom stepped out of the way to answer the phone, at the same time that Zeek’s little sister dropped her doll on the floor and Zeek’s dad, who was just opening the back door, bent down to pick it up.
We were through the room and out the back door in a flash.
No one would have seen us at all except that Zeek yelled out, “Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hi Em!” at the top of his lungs when we went through, and everyone turned to see a blurry purple thing blast through the living room.
Once we were through, I pulled the stick back to lift us clear of the trees in the backyard. It worked. We shot high over the mall and over the woods on the far side.
“Whew! That was a close one, no?” I smiled at Zeek. Yeah, things were picking up.
“Over there,” he said. He pointed to a shiny blue patch of water just north of the woods.
“Feather Lake!” I said.
“Sure, it’s deserted this time of year. Perfect.”
I twisted the control stick slightly until the lake was straight ahead. I was obviously getting pretty good at this.
When we were right over it, Zeek pulled the manual release. The two bombs dropped into the lake.
Wump! Wump! Two muffled explosions rippled the water. Then the lake went calm again. “Perfect,” Zeek breathed.
Just then the radio came on. It was you-know-who.
“Why, you little brats! I’ll show you. And this time no one will stop me!” Then the radio shut off.
I looked over at Zeek. He looked at me and started to smile a big, long smile. Yeah, it felt good to see that we were both thinking the same thing.
“Stop that nutball, Noodle!”
“Yeah, and his little robot, too!”
ELEVEN
I looped the rocket around and took off for Mayville center.
If Morbius had radioed from his laboratory, it wouldn’t take him long to get to where I knew he was going. I had to try to cut him off.
Then I glanced at the fuel gauge. E for empty.
The booster suddenly sputtered. We started to drop over Main Street.
“Oh, please, just a few more minutes.”
There was the carnival. The white lights. The rides. It seemed like a year since we’d been there. And it had been just that morning.
Then, just as we coasted over, Zeek spotted them. “Look, Noodle! It’s Morbius. And Primus. They’ve stolen another rocket. And they’ve got more bombs!”
I could see them dead ahead. Morbius had attached a portable booster to one of the other rockets. He fired it up and pulled away from the ride in a blast of smoke.
“Zeek, we’ve got one chance to wreck their booster. Our fuel tanks are empty. My pockets are empty. How about your Blaster? Any ammo left?”
He shook the Blaster. Not good. But he started pumping, anyway.
I threw the control stick forward as hard as I could. We lunged toward them.
Primus was steering their rocket. Morbius turned when he saw us and fired his ray gun.
Zaaap! The green ray hit a bunch of balloons behind us. They exploded like fireworks.
I stayed on them. Zeek lowered the Blaster and took aim.
“Dogfight!” I yelled.
Fizz fizz fizz! The last jet stream shot from Zeek’s gun like a bullet and hit Morbius’s booster dead in the center.
BOOM! Their rocket flamed out and dropped. Primus lost control.
Zeek and I skidded to a stop near the curly french-fries stand. Morbius’s rocket bounced against the hamburger grill and he and Primus flew out. Primus went really high.
Morbius flipped over a dozen times in midair before he came down.
Then I heard that familiar sound.
Ping!
Morbius’s head hit the bell on the Test-Your-Strength game. He landed in a heap at the bottom.
The crowd cheered.
A few seconds later they handed me my
prize—a Fizz Blaster 2000, just like Zeek’s.
“Yeah, Zeek,” I said. “I guess we’ve got the right stuff!”
That’s when Primus finally landed. He fell on the bandstand. And in the food tent. And by the pony rides. And in the parking lot.
Zeek turned to me. “He’s kind of broken up about the whole thing!”
I had to laugh. “Yeah, I guess he just lost his head!”
Within seconds the army moved in and took Morbius away in a security truck. They came later with a dump truck for the big silver guy.
On our way home in an army jeep, Zeek and I got thoughtful.
“Poor Mr. Vazny,” I said. “Maybe if he stops being so mad, he could make some neat stuff to help people.”
“Cool. Like robots that bring you lunch.” Then Zeek started to smile. “You know, Noodle?”
“What?” I said.
“This has been a pretty cool day.”
I had to agree. “We almost didn’t make it a couple times. And I was pretty scared up there. But yeah, I had fun.”
“Maybe we could do it again sometime?”
We ate at my house that night.
Waffles, of course. I needed them after an adventure like that.
My mom and dad were still telling Zeek’s parents about their trip in the jet. And Zeek’s parents were still talking about the purple flash that went through their living room.
So it was tough trying to tell anybody about what had happened to Zeek and me. But that’s okay. Sometimes you just have to let parents talk.
Later, Ms. Hernandez, the principal, came over. She wanted to thank us personally for saving the school. And that was just the beginning. The local TV crew came over, too.
The reporter asked us about what had happened, so we told her the whole story. Then Zeek filled his Blaster in the bathroom and took everybody outside to show off some fancy shooting.
Just as the reporter was packing up, she asked, “With all these adventures you’ve been having, what would you boys like to do when you grow up?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Same kind of stuff.”
I looked over at Zeek. He was nodding and smiling a big smile. He gave me the thumbs-up. “Well, Noodle,” he said. “It’s been a day. See you tomorrow.”
I grinned and turned to go inside.
“Oh, Noodle?” he said. “Just one more thing.”
I turned around.
That’s when he got me. All down my shirt. A blast to end all blasts!
I reached for my own Blaster.
Yeah, that’s Zeek and me.
Danger Guys forever.
Turn the page to continue reading from the Danger Guys series
ONE
“Boom! Ba-boom!”
“What?”
“That’s how it starts,” I said. “With lightning flashing and thunder going Boom! Ba-boom!”
“Oh. Okay. Go on.”
I was in my best friend Zeek’s room. He was holding his dad’s new video camera. I was telling him my idea for a movie. And, since it was Halloween, it was going to be a scary movie.
“It’s dark,” I said. “Two kids run into an old house. Their names are Noodle Newton and Zeek Pilinsky.”
“The stars!” Zeek smiled as he looked at me through the camera lens.
“Suddenly, a horrible noise echoes through the house. And Zeek says, ‘I’m afraaaid!’ But Noodle stays cool. He says …”
“CUT! CUT! CUT!” Zeek said, putting down the camera. “That’s not how it goes! I don’t say, ‘I’m afraaaid.’”
“Sorry,” I said. “I thought one of us should be scared … you know … a little?”
“Well, it can’t be me,” he said. “Or you, either. We’re official Danger Guys. We love this stuff.”
It’s true. We are Danger Guys, and we do love this stuff. Action movies, scary movies, adventure movies—we’ve seen them all. And we’ve read every book, too.
“Think of something else, Noodle. You’re always thinking up something or other.”
Yeah, I’m the guy with the ideas. That’s why everybody calls me Noodle. And Zeek’s the sports whiz, the guy with the muscles.
Together, we are one incredible team.
“Well, okay,” I admitted. “How about—”
“Shhh!” Zeek put his finger up to his lips and pointed to his door. The knob turned slowly.
Suddenly—wham! The door swung open. I fell behind Zeek’s bed. Zeek backed into his desk, tripped, and nearly dropped the camera.
“Got you!” said a familiar voice.
“Dad!” said Zeek. “You scared us!” Then Zeek looked at me and smiled. “Well, not really.”
I poked up my head. “We’re going to make a Halloween movie with your camera, Mr. P.”
“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “If you plan to make a movie, there’s only one place to learn.”
Then he held up a handful of tickets. There was a big golden “P” on each one.
Zeek and I looked at each other. We started jumping up and down.
“Paragon Movie Studio!”
Zeek’s dad smiled. “That’s right. We’ve got tickets for a tour of the oldest studio in Hollywood. Want to eat first, or—”
Whoosh! We never even heard the rest.
A couple of hours later, Zeek and I, dressed in our Danger Guy jackets, backpacks, and sunglasses, were staring up at the golden letters on the Paragon Studio gate.
“Zeek, look. Just like at the beginning of all those movies. The Paragon gate. Then it fades and the movie starts. Remember Storm of Terror? That first scene?”
“Yeah,” said Zeek in his deep movie voice. “‘It was a beautiful day. Then something went wrong. Terribly wrong!’ I can’t believe it—they made that movie right here!”
“Boys, they made everything here,” said Zeek’s mom, gazing at Mr. P. “Why, I remember Strangers in Love and Close Friends and all those other great films. Don’t you, dear?”
Zeek and I looked at each other. “Yeah, I guess they had to make those kinds of movies, too.”
“And,” said Zeek’s sister, Emily, “don’t forget Ali Baba.” Then she started to hum the love theme.
Two seconds later, a small bus drove up. We got on with a bunch of other kids and parents.
“Okay, Zeek,” I said. “Start rolling. We need some good background shots for our movie.”
“Yeah. Too bad it’s such a nice day. Maybe we should make a love story.”
We looked at each other.
“Not!”
“Welcome to Paragon Studio,” the driver said as we drove between some huge buildings. “These buildings are called sound stages. Hundreds of movies have been made on these stages. From the first silent films to modern special effects movies, Paragon is the leader!”
“Effects, Noodle,” Zeek said. “Like in Metalhead, when the cyborg turns into a mailbox right in front of us and the guy goes to open it and—”
“Yes, son, Paragon is known for its special effects,” the driver went on. “In fact, many of the monsters and other creatures you see in movies are actually computerized robots. And all of them are run by a central computer here at the Studio. We call it the Big Brain.”
Zeek nudged me. “Yeah, like some kind of super Noodle.”
I couldn’t believe it. “You mean everything is run by this Big Brain?”
“Everything,” the tour guide said. “Now here is the castle where they filmed …”
Suddenly, the sky turned black above us. I looked up.
Crack! A jagged flash of white light shot down from the clouds. Then—Boom! Ba-boom!
“Cool,” I said. “Now, that’s what I call special effects!”
“Excellent!” said Zeek. “Great opening shot!”
But the driver seemed upset. “These are not effects, boys. That’s real lightning. And it’s going to rain any second.”
He was right. A second later the rain did come down. Real rain. In buckets.
“This
way!” the driver shouted. “To the castle!” Everyone jumped off the bus and followed him.
Well, everyone but Zeek and me.
We were too busy trying to get all the rain and lightning on tape. When we stopped looking through the camera, everyone was gone.
“The castle, quick!” I said. “Let’s run for it.” Kraaakkk! A huge bolt of lightning crashed down right in front of us.
Ka-boom! Another blast zapped the street.
“Noodle! This lightning’s got a bad attitude!”
Ka-blam!
I whirled around. I saw a door. “Run!” I screamed.
We tore across the street.
We leaped in the air.
We shot through the door as another jagged bolt of lightning blasted our heels.
TWO
Kaaa-blam!
We hit the floor, slid into something hard, and stopped dead inside a room. A dark room.
I looked out the door.
There was a big black hole in the street where we had just been. It was smoking like a volcano.
“Holy cow,” I said. “Did you see that? That could have been us.”
Zeek didn’t answer.
His mouth was hanging open.
Just like it does when Mr. Strunk calls on him in class and he’s not ready.
I reached over and pushed his mouth closed.
“But … but … Noodle!” he mumbled. “This is a movie studio. Nothing really dangerous happens here. I mean, does it?”
“Naah,” I said. “It’s just a storm. When it stops we’ll just walk right out, and—”
Bam! A sudden bolt of lightning blasted the street again. Wham! A gust of wind slammed the door shut.
“Well, okay, so maybe we don’t just walk out.”
We looked at the lightning outside the window. It was crashing all over the studio.
“I don’t like this, Nood. It’s too much like …”
“A movie?” I said.
“Yeah, and not a very funny one.” Zeek started tripping over things in the dark. “Oww! Where are we, anyway?”
“It’s a movie set, I think.” I felt the wall near the door, found the light switch, and flicked it. The room suddenly blazed with silver light.
“Whoa! Noodle!” Zeek cried. “I think we just stepped into—the future!”