"I... I don't... I don't know what you're talking about" my voice sounded broken nervously "I don't even know... I don't um... who... who is Henry? Of whom you're speaking?".

A.J rolled his eyes and even reached out to grab my shoulders, looked at me straight in the eyes and made a face like he was trying to tell me 'Stop making ridiculous excuses'.

This was wrong, this was terribly wrong, how could it be possible for the person with the lowest brain IQ know that?

"Stop lying, okay?" He said whispering.

"A.J, why do you say that? That... that... no, I don't know what you're talking about" I gave a nervous laugh "What you're saying doesn't make any sense".

"Kai" he raised an eyebrow.

"No!" I shouted, removing his arms from my shoulders "We have to get back to the kitchen, the world's most poisonous cactus is there, let's go".

I started pushing him from behind towards the kitchen, while I was coming up with a plan to make him forget about that. I could call Schwoz and tell him to bring the memory wiper, although he would tell Ray, and erasing his memory would be erasing all his memories, leaving him with only the basics, without any memory of his life... no, it's not option.

I'm panicking! And there can't be more people who know the secret, Ray was gonna get mad, like so mad, I know him and he's going to think I told him, or I let it slip, dang it!

"The deal was the cactus for a million dollars, here's the million bucks" a thug put the money on the table "Now, the cactus".

Max and A.J gave each other knowing looks while nodding. Max took out the cactus that was left on the kitchen table, and placed it on it, one of the thugs took out his phone and called who I assume was R.T, telling him that they had the cactus.

At that moment, the thugs were already distracted, still talking to R.T, A.J turned to look at me, formulating the inaudible word 'HENRY' on his lips, and I knew what he meant.

I let out a sigh and internally cursed myself, now was not the time of thinking what to do with my brother knowing my best friend's biggest secret.

In an undercover way, I took out my phone and pressed the button that said 'Man Cave Emergency Alert', an app that Schwoz developed on our phones, in case we ever found ourselves in this type of situation. The only thing I was worried about was that they arrived on time.

"Okay," said the thug into the phone, "we'll go right away."

After finishing his sentence, the thug hung up the phone and then addressed us in a threatening manner.

"We take the cactus".

He approached it to take it, but at that precise moment, A.J stood between him and the cactus. 'Oh jeez,' I said to myself mentally, I hope it works.

"Don't you want something for the road?" asked my 'innocent' brother "We have bright soda and also very good salsa".

The thug murdered him with his gaze, but at the same time I think he analyzed his offer.

"That good salsa?" A.J nodded "I could eat".

"No, no", "good idea", "good salsa", "yes, good" the others repeated.

I knew A.J was up to something, and that something was to distract that group of thugs until Ray or Henry arrived, which was working, since these thugs were more idiotic than all my brothers combined.

"Bright soda?".

"Yes, Yes, brilliant soda", "I like that", "that's great service" I was internally laughing in this bad moment.

 Anyway, after a few minutes of A.J offering all our food, we heard the door to the back patio burst open, followed by the sound of the glass door breaking, which led to the patio.

Ray and Henry.

The sound made the thugs drop all their food and become alert.

"Did you really have to break the door?".

"You know I like to make an entrance".

"Yeah, well, now we'll have to pay for the glass door, and a flowerpot".

"That's what the City Hall is for, it covers insurance".

"And that is why they cut our budget ay the Man Cave".

I grabbed the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes and crossed my arms, I'm not surprised, I wasn't surprised at all, Ray saying stupid things, Henry scolding him, saying things and doing meaningless things at terrible times.

One of the thugs approached the table to take the cactus, but this time Max stood in his way. Downplaying it, he grabbed my brother by the arm and threw him to the side, then grabbed the cactus, but he didn't count on the situation that Captain Man and Kid Danger would be behind him.

"Hello, buddy," Ray greeted, "where are you taking that cactus... ahhh!"

He punched him in the stomach, managing to escape from the kitchen with his companions behind him, along with Henry.

"I'm ooook... AHHH, I can't breathe".

A.J and I ran to where Max was complaining on the floor about how he was going to die and how it hurt, while Ray had already gotten up and disappeared from our sight.

"I'm going to die!" Max shouted.

"You're not going to die," I said without concern. "You have nothing, not even hurt in a deadly way".

"It hurts too much" he complained "And the cactus! They took the cactus!".

A.J took him by the arm "Captain Man and Kid Danger are here, I don't think they'll escape too easily"

Max got up from the ground.

His words made me remember that I had a pending conversation with him about the matter of... that, and how he knew the damn secret.

"They can't take the cactus; they are superheroes and...".

"They took the cactus" Henry appeared in the kitchen, gasping for air, panting... ah great.

"What?!" the three of us asked in unison.

Henry bent down to take a breath "It was... it was impossible... there were so many of them and they were very strong and... Ra... I mean Captain Man... they... they... they needled him".

The dang last straw, said and done, Ray walked out the kitchen door with a face full of thorns and an angry expression.

"They needled me," he said, "I am indestructible, and I have needles on my face."

It is worth mentioning that we were still out of power in the entire house, but I could see Henry's silhouette, who like me was snickering at Ray.

"Let's go, Kid" he came out of there.

"You owe me a window!" I shouted.

"Whatever!"

I couldn't help it, as soon as Ray left, I burst out laughing along with Henry and A.J, while Max was still complaining about the pain.

"Removing the needles will hurt" A.J continued laughing "thanks, Kid Danger".

"It was a pleasure to help you citizens".

I turned to look at A.J who looked at me with the intention of saying 'we need to talk', making the moment awkward with Henry there. Another even bigger problem.

"Thanks, Kid Danger" Max said, groaning.

"You're welcome, boy," Henry replied, "I've gotta go" He smiled at me, "Bye".

"Bye".

"Bye".

Henry left, leaving me in discomfort with my brother.

"I'll go lift the light switch".

"I'm going to my room" Max walked to the door "Not a word of this to anyone".

I frowned "By the way, where are the others?".

"Having dinner, I suppose," he said, "good night, I feel like I'm going to die."

"Don't be such a baby, Max".

"I'm dying, Kai, night".

The truth was that it had seemed very strange to me that no one apart from them were here. Yes, everyone was at the convention all day, but what does it matter, now I just wanted to sleep, although I knew that I had a pending talk with A.J.

"Kai" speaking of the King of Rome ", we seriously need to talk".

"Yes" I bit my lower lip ", yes, we need to".  

(...)

And the cliffhangers keep on comingggg

OMG I just love writing this

And I love you're enjoying it 

❤️'s 

-Andy