The Great Powers Outage (22 page)

“Don't worry,” I said. “This should be perfectly safe—assuming we don't run into a kangaroo with death-ray eye beams or something like that.”

I'm not completely sure I had put them at ease, but they followed me anyway through the lower Superopolis shopping area and then into the heart of the downtown office district. As we passed under the shadow of the Vertigo Building, I gave a small shudder at the thought that Professor Brain-Drain was still out there somewhere. He may not have his power, but he was still an evil genius.

We were soon on South Harbor Drive and followed it all the way out to where it came to an end at the ocean. Jogging down the sandy slopes and onto the beach, we looped around to the left. As soon as we rounded an outcropping of dunes and grasses, we came upon the wreck of the S.S.
Befuddlement
.

“It's as long as a football field!” Tadpole said with awe.

“And you were right about it being ancient,” Stench added.

It
was
an old ship. There was no denying that. Even the old fishing trawler that Cap'n Blowhole piloted looked modern in comparison. You could see that at one time the ship had had four enormous masts, but two of them were now long gone. This was a craft that had been powered by the wind alone. As we got closer, it became apparent that this ship had been sitting here for decades—possibly even
centuries
. The wood was decaying and there was an enormous hole torn into the side of it.

Cautiously I led my teammates up to the wide opening.

“Should we go inside?” I asked, turning to my friends.

“When have we ever not gone into a situation that looked potentially dangerous,” Plasma Girl said with a sigh as I stepped in through the gaping hole.

The first thing I noticed was the enormous holds in the lower level of the ship. It was clear that this ship had carried an awful lot of something.

“There are some steps over here,” Halogen Boy called out. “They go up into the ship.”

We all went over to where Hal was standing and inspected the stairs. They looked pretty solid, but I carefully made my way to the top before motioning my teammates to follow. While I waited for them, I inspected this new level of the ship. I was in a large open area with blackboards on the walls, display cases mounted on counters, and work tables littered with shards of glass. And then I thought I heard someone step on a piece of glass farther ahead in the darkness.

“What is this place?” Plasma Girl asked as she came up behind and spooked me.

“It looks like a laboratory that no one has used for a couple hundred years,” I answered, deciding she must have made the noise. “But why would a ship have a laboratory?”

“And what was kept in those holds?” Stench added. He, Hal, and Tadpole had just joined us.

“What else is on this ship?” I asked no one in particular as I continued our exploration.

We soon found another stairway and made our way up it. This took us to a level of cabins. There were hundreds of them.

The interior of the ship was in far better shape than the exterior, and we continued to find stairwells. Making our way up another three levels, we at last found ourselves on the deck of the ship. This of course had been fully exposed to the elements and was in horrible condition. We were incredibly careful as we made our way across it toward a large cabin at the stern of the ship.

I hadn't taken more than a half dozen steps toward it when my foot plunged through a rotten board.

“Help!!” I yelled as I frantically grabbed hold of another plank to keep from falling to the deck below. “But be careful.”

As Tadpole inched his way toward me, I glanced down into the space below me. I heard a quiet creak and then I swear I saw a figure darting into the shadows.

“You gotta watch your step, O Boy,” Tadpole said as he hauled me to my feet. “This place is a disaster.”

I didn't even know how to respond, I was so distracted by what I thought I had seen. Despite lots more creaking boards and a couple other close calls, we slowly made our way to the door of the cabin. Swinging it open, we found the faded remnants of what must have at one time been a spectacular home for the captain of this ship. Even rotted as it was, the wood inside still had a lingering richness to it. Shards of glimmering colored glass remained in half the windows. Everything else appeared to have been stripped from the room, with the exception of an enormous mahogany desk that sat in the center. Moving behind it, I reached for the desk's center drawer and gave it a tug. At first it didn't budge, and I tried again with more force. This time it jerked open with a loud, wood-against-wood scraping sound. Sitting inside the drawer was a single book.

“What is it?” Plasma Girl asked eagerly.

“It appears to be the ship's log,” I answered as I flipped it open.

“It looks like a book to me,” Hal said.

“A ship's log
is
a book,” I explained as I carefully turned the pages. “It records all the details of a ship's voyage, including its cargo.”

“What does it say?” Stench pressed me as I scanned the entries.

“It's incredible,” I responded. “This ship had everything. Hundreds of species of plants and animals, and—”

“And what?” Tadpole pressed as I paused in astonishment.

“Potatoes,” I finally replied. “Tons and tons of potatoes.”

That was baffling enough, but then I flipped to a page that included a passenger list and my eyes went wide with shock.

“What do you see?” Plasma Girl insisted. “Tell us!”

“It's the passengers on the ship,” I explained. “But the names are unlike any I've ever seen. They all have two, or sometimes even three names—and none of them indicate what these people's powers were.”

And then I saw a name I recognized. My friends all caught the shock that spread across my face.

“What is it?” Plasma Girl pressed. “Whose name do you see?”

“It's someone I never even thought existed.” I swallowed. “But here it is, plain as day—Dr. Ambrose . . . Telomere.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A New Candidate

“But I didn't think there was a Dr. Telomere,” Halogen Boy said in confusion as we left the ship.

“I didn't either,” I said. “Even my dad always insisted he was just a made-up advertising character.”

“That ship is ancient,” added Plasma Girl. “Even if there was a Dr. Telomere, he's long gone now.”

As we went on and on about what we had found, we climbed back up the dunes and hills until we reached the street. Once there, we couldn't help but notice the large crowds of people, all headed toward nearby Tremor Park. Tremor Park wasn't as vast as Telomere Park, and it didn't have the attraction of a live volcano like Lava Park, but it did have a feature neither of those could claim. Just take a look at its entry in the
Li'l Hero's
Handbook
and you'll see what I mean.

LI'L HERO'S HANDBOOK

PLACES

TREMOR PARK

From its scenic perch overlooking the Ornery Ocean, Tremor Park
provides some of the city's most stunning views. But it gets its
name from its most startling feature. Without warning, seismic
shocks regularly roll through the park, often with amusing results.
Picnickers are warned that they may end up with more of their
lunches on them than in them.

It was against this scenic backdrop that Mayor Whitewash had chosen to hold his latest campaign rally. What had looked to be another uncontested victory for the mayor had now turned into a real race. The carved pumpkin he had faced a week earlier at his debate was now polling almost even with him.

“Thank you all for coming, fellow Superopolopo-lites,” he announced with an air of desperation that only a man tied in popularity with a giant gourd could muster. “I know that everyone is upset about these sudden attacks by superpowered animals.”

“And what exactly are you doing about it?” shouted a man wearing a fez and a bathrobe.

“And more important, what are you doing about our vanished powers?” hollered a woman wearing a green leotard with six empty, floppy sleeves.

“Trust me, Madam Octopus,” the mayor insisted, “I'm doing everything in my power to solve this mystery.”

But that was the problem. Mayor Whitewash's power was long gone. As we had seen at the zoo, no one was buying a word he was saying—a dangerous development for any politician.

“This is obviously the work of some unspeakable villain,” he continued, “and I won't rest until we bring this scoundrel to justice and reverse these disturbing effects.”

“Perhaps it takes a villain to catch a villain,” an unmistakable voice boomed out of nowhere.

My team and I recognized it instantly, but before we could react, the ground itself began to buckle and shake. This wasn't one of Tremor Park's usual hiccups, though. Suddenly, the grassy area in front of the mayor's podium collapsed in on itself creating a gaping hole. The crowd screamed in panic as a swarm of metallic creatures emerged from the earth. With them they brought the sinister figure of Professor Brain-Drain.

“You've failed, Mayor,” he stated as he stepped off the Crush-stacean that was carrying him. The metal creatures surrounded the stage as Professor BrainDrain made his way onto it, a single finger wagging accusingly. “And now it's time for you to pay the price.”

The audience gasped as Professor Brain-Drain pressed his finger against Mayor Whitewash's forehead. The mayor let out a remarkably undignified scream, but then fell silent. As the Professor lowered his finger, I could see from the baffled look on Mayor Whitewash's face that he had just gone through the same experience I had in the Carlsbark Caverns. Only this time Professor Brain-Drain was purposely playing up the result.

“That's right,” the villain said to the startled crowd.

“I, too, have lost my power. Whatever has caused this great powers outage has affected me as well.”