Sam & Cat & the Haunted Thundermans: The Vandal Look Alikes

Chapter Three: What Makes You Think That I Did It!?!?!
Hank Thunderman POV

It was just a peaceful afternoon on Monday, December 8th, and I was just watching the news on the huge, black, 3D tv in my living room. Usually, I don't like to watch the news because I think that it is really monotonous, but I have to watch it, just in case they have any stories about criminals that need to be caught. Just as I was about to fall asleep out of boredom, I heard something on the tv that caught my attention.

"Earlier on in the week, on December 7th, in Swellview, New York, eight kids spray painted the wall of the historic Swellview Library," The newsman began, "We were told that the kids had no parental guidance whatsoever. As soon as the police had arrived on the scene, the children fled. Unfortunately, they were unable to catch them. The police then noticed that the children had spray painted the wall with hurtful things towards Thunder Man, a superhero that has been in retirement for quite some time now, and Captain Man, Swellview's beloved superhero."

"What!?!? They said mean things about me, the mighty Thunder Man!?!?" I asked, shocked, "This is an outrage!"

Deciding that this news story was important to me, I picked the long, black, plastic remote off of my brown, wooden coffee table and pressed the button on the remote that caused it to record the program that I was watching onto my DVR. Then all of the sudden, I heard a loud, "Thump, thump, thump!" come from the set of stairs that leads up to the second level of the house.

"What's wrong, Hank?" My wife, Barb, asked, as she and my stepdaughter, Carly Shay, ran down the steps.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Shh!" I shushed them, "Just watch!"

Barb and Carly then ran down the steps, into the living room, sat down on the blue couch that I was sitting on, and began to watch the news with me.

"But, after looking at these photos that were sent to us by teenagers that were witnesses of the crime, we can conclude that those vandals might of been Carly Shay, Sam Puckett, Freddie Benson, Gibby Gibson, and their friends, who were all on the hit web show, iCarly," The newsman told his viewers, as pictures of the crime scene flashed across the screen.

Carly, Barb, and I all gasped. The pictures showed a bunch of kids that looked exactly like Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby, Max, Frankie, Taylor, and Dice that had a bunch of spray paint cans in their hands and were talking to an old woman. Also, they were standing next to a spray painted wall.

"The four other kids made an appearance on the final webcast of iCarly because they claim to be friends with Carly, Sam, and Freddie," A newswoman stated.

The newsman and woman then showed a small clip from the final webcast of iCarly. They only showed the part where Sam, Carly, Freddie, and Spencer were introducing Cat, Nona, Dice, Goomer, Michelle, Taylor, Frankie, Phoebe, Max, Nora, Barb, and I to their viewers.

"It appears that the other four kids names are Max Thunderman, Frankie Hathaway, Dice Corleone, and Taylor Hathaway," The newsman explained.

"But, Al, my children and I are huge fans of iCarly and I don't think that they would have done such a thing," the newswoman told the newsman, who's name was apparently Al, "Maybe Sam, but Carly, Freddie, and Gibby would never let her do such a thing!"

"I agree with you all the way on that one, Cathy, but I don't know anybody else that looks like them. Do you?"

"No, I don't," the newswoman, who's name was apparently Cathy.

"Ok, moving on. Before the police blame iCarly and their friends for the crime, they decided to further investigate it. As of right now, we have officials searching the country for people that look like them."

"And if they don't find anybody, they are going to find the iCarly kids and their friends and arrest them for their horrible crimes."

"And if any of you are thinking, 'it was only a vandalism. Why are they making such a big deal out of it?', this is a big deal because there is a law that is against dissing on super heroes in an illegal way. I mean, come on, guys! They're superheroes! They deserve all the respect and love that they can possibly get!"

"Anyways, we decided to interview the librarian, Mary Marie, of the library to find out even more information about the incident."

The news channel that I was watching then switched over to a recorded video of an interview between a news reporter and an old librarian.

"So, what were you doing when you had spotted the children?" The male news reporter asked, as he held up a black microphone to the little, old librarian.

"Well, I was checking out a book for this kid when all of the sudden, he looked out of the window and told me that there was some kids spray painting the library wall," Mary Marie explained, "I then looked out of the window to see that I was correct. I then went outside to tell them to stop and all of the kids that were in the library at the moment followed me."

"Did they stop?"

"Well, at first, I just shouted at them and asked them questions- I didn't necessarily tell them to stop. But, while they were talking to me, they did stop."

"What did you ask them?"

"I asked them if their parents allowed what they were doing, where their parents were, if they let him go out of the house by themselves, how many days a-week they went out, for their parents' cell phone numbers, if they lived in Swellview, what school they went to, and what their names were."

"And what did they say?"

"They said that their parents don't approve of it, that their parents were at home and work, that their parents didn't let them go out by themselves, that they snuck out of the house everyday, that they forgot their parents' cell phone numbers, that they didn't live in Swellview, and they refused to tell me what school they went to and their names."

"Do you think that they lied to you at all?"

"Yes, I think that they lied to me about forgetting their parents' cell phone numbers and that they didn't live in Swellview, if they turn out not to be on that web show that the kids told me about, iCarly."

"Have you ever watched iCarly?"

"No, but I looked it up after the kids told me that four of the kids looked like they were from it and saw that they were correct."

"So, what happened after that?"

"I said that I was going to call the police to give them discipline, which didn't seem to bother the vandals one bit."

"Really? They didn't get nervous, even on bit?"

"Nope."

"Interesting. So, what happened after you called the police?"

"They just took off, which caused the police to chase after them."

"Are you upset that the police weren't able to catch them?"

"Very."

"So, what happened after you and the police read what the vandals wrote on the wall?"

"We got very upset and decided that this might be an interesting news story, so the police kindly asked the children to send the pictures and videos that they took on their smartphones, while the whole entire thing was happening, over to them and if they had any idea of who the kids could possibly be. Then, one of the kids said that four of the vandals looked like the kids from the iCarly and the other children and some of the policemen and women agreed with her. Then, the police further investigated the pictures, videos, and iCarly and said that the four other kids looked like a bunch of kids that made a guest appearance in the web show."

"That's very interesting. Do you think that the kids from iCarly were the ones that vandalized the wall or do you think that a bunch of kids that look like them did it?"

"I honestly have no idea. Like I said, I've never watched iCarly, so I don't know anything about their personalities."

"Oh, ok. Thank you for sharing this information with us, Mrs. Marie."

"You're welcome!"

I then hit the pause remote, causing the tv program that I was watching to pause. Barb and I turned towards Carly.

"It wasn't me!" She blurted out, "I swear!"

"Carly, do you have an identical twin sister that you didn't tell us about?" I asked.

"No, I don't and you should know that!"

"Barb, does Carly have an identical twin sister that you didn't tell us about?"

"Of course doesn't!" Barb exclaimed, "If she did have one, she would of lived with her for her whole entire childhood and she would be here with us now!"

"True, but there's not one person that I know that looks like Carly! Do you?"

"No," Barb and Carly both answered at once.

"And I know that she, Taylor, Freddie, Dice, and Frankie couldn't of done it because for one, there's no way that they could of gone to New York, without us catching them. For two, Carly, Freddie, Taylor, Gibby, and Dice would never do something like that, they probably don't know who Captain Man is. For three, Carly had been with us the when the vandals spray painted the wall! I don't know about Gibby though."

"But, she could of snuck out at night, but that's impossible because the kids clearly vandalized the wall in the daytime," Barb added.

"Gibby would never do something like that. And besides, if he did, he wouldn't be able to get way with it, like those kids did, because he's too Gibbyish," Carly told us, "Sam might have done it, but there's no way that she could of went to New York. Her twin sister, Melanie might of done it, but I know that she would never do anything like that because she's the complete opposite of Sam!"

"Yeah, she did tell us that."

"The only person that could of gone away with this whole entire thing in Swellview is Max!" I told Barb and Carly, "Although he probably doesn't know who Captain is, he might!"

"We'll have to talk to him about it when he, Phoebe, Nora, and Billy get home from school."

"Yeah," Carly and I agreed.

"But, what if Max didn't do it?" Carly asked.

"Well, there is a great possibility that he did it. But if he didn't and they don't find out who it really was, then we would have eight innocent kids that would be accused of a crime that they didn't do."

"And that is exactly why we need to do something about this, Hank!" Barb exclaimed, "We can't let them get arrested for something that they didn't do just because it was done by a bunch of kids that look like them!"

"I agree with you, Mom," Carly agreed, "We'll have to call Spencer, Gibby, Freddie, Nona, Goomer, Sam, Cat, Dice, Mr. Preston, Ms. Hathaway, Taylor, Miles, Frankie, and Louie, once Phoebe, Max, Billy, and Nora get home and talk about it with everybody."

"Yeah," Barb and I both agreed, as we nooded our heads.

About an hour later, when it was around 2:40, I heard the door open and close.

"MOM, DAD, CARLY!!!" I heard Phoebe shout, "WE'RE HOME FROM SCHOOL!!!"

I then hopped off of the grey bed that Barb and I shared and raced out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the living room. Barb and Carly immediately followed me.

"Hi, Phoebe, Max, Nora, and Billy!" We all greeted them.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, and Carly!" They greeted us back.

"Well, I'm going to go do my homework," Phoebe announced, as she started to wander off towards the kitchen.

"And Billy and I are going to go play outside. Come on, Billy!" Nora urged Billy, as she started to head towards the backdoor.

"Coming!" Billy joyfully replied, as he joined Nora.

"And I'm going to go do something that is more exciting than those two things!" Max added, as he started to head towards the yellow hatch that leads down into his evil lair.

"Woah, hold it!" Barb told our children, "Your father, half-sister, and I have something to tell you guys!"

"And something to ask Max!" I added.

Phoebe, Max, Billy, and Nora all stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at us.

"Ok, so what did you find out about Max?" Phoebe asked, "Because if you have something to tell us and something to ask Max, that means that he did something!"

"I did NOT do anything, Phoebe!" Max argued.

Phoebe put her hands on her hips and raised one eyebrow.

"Well, as far as you know."

"So, what do you have to tell us?" Nora asked Carly, Barb, and I.

"Is it something big?" Billy asked.

"Yes, but none of you are going to like it, especially Max!" Carly replied, "I already know that I don't like it!"

"Alright, so what do you think that Max did?" Phoebe asked.

Max then gave Phoebe his, "Seriously!?!?" look.

"Well, today on the news, there was a story about these four kids that look exactly like Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby, Max, Taylor, Frankie, and Dice that spray painted a wall in Swellview, New York, saying mean things about your father and Captain Man," Barb explained.

"Who the heck is Captain Man!?!?" Max, Nora, and Billy asked.

"Oh, he's a super hero that fights crime in Swellview," Phoebe explained, "I know that because I read about him in a magazine called, Supes Illustrated."

"Oh."

"Anyways, we know that Carly didn't do it because she was with us when it happened," I stated, "And we know that Freddie, Gibby, Dice, and Taylor wouldn't of done it because they would never do something like that."

"And we also know that Sam and Frankie couldn't of done it because there's no way that they could have gone to New York," Carly added.

"So, Max, what we want to know is that if you did it or not," Barb stated.

"What makes you think that I did it!?!?" Max asked, seeming offended.

"The fact that you would have done something like that makes them think that you did it!" Phoebe told him, "It even makes me think that you did it!"

"Yeah, me too!" Nora and Billy both agreed at once.

"Well, I'll have you know that I did not spray paint that wall!" Max said.

"Oh yeah?" Nora asked, "And how can we be sure of that?"

"Well, for one, I have no idea where Swellview is or who Captain Man is. For two, I surprisingly don't even own a spray paint can. For three, I probably don't even know the other kids that spray painted the wall. For four, I wouldn't even do something like that with a bunch of kids that I don't even know. And for five, I don't even believe you!"

"Well, you do have a point there," I agreed, "Come on, we'll show you it on the news! I recorded the whole thing!"

Phoebe, Max, Carly, Nora, Billy, Barb, and I all gathered around the tv to watch what I had recorded on it. I quickly picked the tv remote of off the coffee table and pressed the play button.

Max, Nora, Billy, and Phoebe stared at the tv in disbelief the whole entire time. When it was over, Phoebe started to shake her head. She got up off of the couch, headed towards her back pack that she left right next to the front door, and began to rummage through it.

"What are you doing, Phoebe?" Billy asked her.

"This just isn't happening, this just isn't happening!" She exclaimed, "I mean, first, Cat, Taylor, and Frankie get kidnapped, then Max, Carly, Nevel, and I get kidnapped, then Sam, Freddie, Spencer, Gibby, Dr. Colosso, Cherry, Ashley, Kelsey, and Sarah get kidnapped, and now a bunch of vandals committed a crime and Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby, Taylor, Max, Frankie, and Dice might get the blame. WHAT THE HECK DID WE DO TO DESERVE THESE SERIES OF HORRIBLE EVENTS!?!?"

"I honestly have no idea, Phoebe," Barb sighed, "But, I do think that it is a bit odd how all of those bad things happened to us in a row."

"Yeah, me too," Carly, Max, Billy, Nora, and I all agreed with Barb.

"I gotta Skype everybody and show them what happened!" Phoebe cried.

"Why don't you just call them?" Max asked.

"Or send record it with your phone, then send it to them in a text?" Nora added.

"Because, with Skype, I can show them news story, while I talk to them!" She answered.

"Seems like a good idea," Carly complemented her, "Go ahead and FaceTime them."

Phoebe then pulled her MePhone out of her backpack, turned it on, and began to call everybody on Skype. Obviously, some of them had given her their usernames of their Skype accounts on one of our vacations. About a few seconds later, we saw four different faces pop up pop up on the screen of Phoebe's phone. They were Sam, Taylor, Freddie, and Gibby.

"Hey, aren't you that girl that helped rescue me that one day, Phoebe?" Gibby asked.

"Yeah, I am," she answered, "I can't believe that you remembered!"

"You helped save my life! Of course I'm going to remember you!"

"So, Pheebs, what are you up to?" Taylor asked.

"Why did you call us?" Sam asked.

"Do you think that we could come over again to visit for Christmas?" Freddie asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer any of your questions right now because we have a HUGE situation to take care of!" Phoebe told them.

"Was it big enough for you to call me and interrupt my afternoon snack?" Sam asked, seeming a bit annoyed.

"Yes, it is!"

"Well, what is it then?" Taylor asked.

"Here, we'll show you!" Carly replied, as Phoebe walked her phone over to our tv.

"Hey, is that Carly?" Freddie asked.

"Hi, Carly!" Gibby greeted, as he waved into his camera.

"Hi, Gibby!" Carly greeted him back, "We really don't have any time to say 'hi' right now!"

"Why?" Taylor asked, "What's the matter?"

"Oh, we'll show you what's the matter!" Max exclaimed, "Dad, play the news story!"

I then picked the tv remote back up, rewinded my recording back to the very beginning, and pressed play. Just like Max, Nora, Phoebe, and Billy, they stared at the tv the whole entire time in disbelief.

"Ok, I know what you guys are thinking, but it wasn't me!" Sam blurted out, as she held up her hands, once we were done showing her, Freddie, Gibby, and Taylor the news story, "Nor was it my twin sister, Melanie! She would never do anything like that!"

"We already know that, Sam!" Carly told.

"Oh, you do?"

"Yeah, there's no way that you've could of gone to Swellview and did that!" Barb exclaimed, "You don't even know where Swellview is or who Captain Man is!"

"Touché."

"This is fake, right?" Freddie asked, "Oh, please tell me that it's fake!"

"We wish that it was fake!" Billy replied.

"What are we going to do guys!?!?" Taylor asked us, "If they don't find out who really did it, Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby, Dice, Frankie, Max, and I are all going to get the blame and get arrested!"

"I know!" Freddie agreed, "This is just terrible!"

"Come on, people, think!" Sam told us, "There has to be something that we can do about this!"

Sam, Carly, Freddie, Gibby, Taylor, Max, Phoebe, Barb, Billy, Nora, and I all began to think for a moment. About a minute later, it hit me.

"I've got it!" I announced.

"What is it, Mr. Thunderman!?!?" Gibby asked me.

"Well, how about we all go to this Swellview city in New York and have a steak out there, until we catch the vandals?"

"But, Dad, what if we have to stay there for Christmas?" Nora asked me.

"How the heck is Santa going to find us in New York!?!?" Billy asked.

"The same way he found us in Hiddenville when we moved that one year," Phoebe replied.

"So, what do you guys say?" I asked, "Are we having a steak out in Swellview or what?"

"I guess so, but I'll have to talk about it to Cat, Nona, Dice, and Goomer first," Sam told me.

"And I'm going to have to tell Mom, Ray, Miles, Frankie, and Louie about it," Taylor stated.

"And I'm going to have to tell Spencer about it," Freddie added.

"Alright," Phoebe, Max, Gibby, Carly, Nora, Billy, barb, and I all agreed.

"Hey, Phoebe, do you think that you could record that news story with your phone and send it to us in a text?" Taylor asked, "I don't think that Mom, Frankie, Louie, Ray, and Miles are going to believe me when I tell them that a bunch of vandals that look like me, Sam, Freddie, Carly, Gibby, Frankie, Max, and Dice spray painted a wall and we now have to catch them before we get the blame."

"Alright, I'll send it to you," Phoebe agreed.

"Ok, thanks!"

"Ok bye!"

"Bye!" Sam, Gibby, Freddie, Max, Nora, Billy, Carly, Barb, and I all replied.

Phoebe then tapped the little button on her phone that caused her to hang up on Sam, Taylor, Gibby, and Freddie. She then rewinded the recording on the tv and began to record it on her phone. Once she was done, she put it in a text and sent it to Sam, Taylor, and Freddie.

About ten minutes later, they all got back to her, saying that they showed them the video, that they believed it, and they also think that we should go on the steak out. We decided to go on December 12th and come back on December 27th. But if we don't catch the vandals within those two weeks, we're going to expand our stay. We also decided to stay at the Swellview Hotel in Swellview, New York. Man, I really hope we find those vandals within those two weeks because I do NOT want to pay anymore money than I am already paying and I don't want anybody to get accused for a crime that they didn't commit!