CHAPTER 4

DANIEL SPILLED HIS SLUSHIE.

In all honesty, Dang and the others had seen it coming, what with the way he’d been flailing his arms around while making an impassioned argument about how an octopus would emerge victorious in a free-for-all animal dance battle. And now, there he was, slightly stupid look on his face as he looked at Megan and Dante, both of whom had gotten some of his slushie on their clothes.

“Sorry,” Daniel said sheepishly, glancing hastily over his shoulder to be sure store owner, Mr Nguyen, hadn’t heard the spillage occur. With the coast looking clear, he crouched slightly, shooting a glance up at the rotating CCTV camera, waiting until the instant it’d turned away from him before hovering a hand over the spillage on the tiled floor. Daniel’s eyes glowed orange, as did his hovering palm, intense waves of heat emanating from it. In a matter of seconds, the puddle had all but evaporated. Daniel picked up the cup, straightened to his feet and slid his smoking hand into his pocket, turning to the others as though nothing had just happened.

“So where were we?” he asked.

“An octopus absolutely wouldn’t be a better dancer than a beaver,” Dante said, taking the now empty cup from Daniel, cleaning around the edges with the hem of his shirt before putting the cup to the dispenser and filling it up again. He grabbed a straw from atop the dispenser, fit it into the cup and slurped on the slushie. “I feel like you’re all mentioning the expected stuff but could you imagine a beaver getting down? Getting all boogie and moving with the rhythm? It's the sort of thing that’d get the whole club hyped.”

“I’m not even sure beavers know what rhythm is,” Megan responded, eyebrows burrowed into a concentrated, hard-thinking frown. “I think I might have to go with Daniel on the octopus here. I mean, it’s got eight legs. I don’t see how anyone else stands a chance against that in a dance contest.”

“Octopus wouldn’t be much good if the dance contest was happening on dry land. Besides, what if it’s an octopus who’s got eight left legs?” Dante suggested, frowning as he pondered the possibility and then chuckling to himself.

“No, no, hang on now. We can’t disqualify animals on basis of habitat. I mean, a beaver wouldn’t be doing a lot of dancing underwater either,” Megan retorted. “I think the only way an argument like this works is if we throw all rules of logic out the window entirely. Otherwise, we’re just running around in circles.”

“I thought we were way past the point of logic being thrown out the window,” Dang said in a low voice, heard only by he and Daedalus, the both of them exchanging subtle grins and shaking their heads, neither one of them having very much riding on the nonsensical debate that’d started after they’d encountered a weird-acting pack of squirrels on their way to Nguyen’s. “Say,” Dang began, moving away from the wall he’d been leaning against and folding his arms, “How about we make this interesting?”

“What’ve you got in mind?” Daniel asked, a flicker of excitement in his eyes as he licked his lips.

Dang shrugged. “Dunno, how about…whoever loses this has to pay for the slushies.”

Daniel blinked. “Wait, how many slushies?”

“All of it,” Dang responded with a shrug, grinning.

“Hang on now, there’s no way to decide on a winner for a debate like this,” Dante chimed in. “I mean, it’s not like we can get animals to actually dance to prove our points and there’s no objective way to figure out which animal would be the best dancer. How’d you suggest we pick a winner?”

“We all make our cases, and then take a vote,” Daedalus suggested, warming up to the idea now. “Highest votes, wins. Lowest, well, you pay the bills.”

“Sweet!” Daniel grinned.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Dante said quickly. “If we’re actually going to be doing that then I think I’d like to change my response from beaver.”

“What, you don’t think beavers are good dancers anymore?” Megan queried.

“Not when there’s money riding on it.” Dante snorted then folded his arms and stared down at his feet, Dang taking the now empty cup from him and moving to refill it. As Dang filled his cup, Dante’s eyes widened with inspiration and he snapped his fingers, very suddenly and very loudly. “I’ve got it. If we’re talking dance then we’re talking balance, right? Can’t be a graceful dancer if you’ve got no balance, right?”

“Right,” Dang and the others said in unison, nodding their heads slowly in agreement, eyebrows raised in curiosity as they anticipated where Dante might have been heading with this. Dang slurped his slushie, downing the entire cup fairly quickly, and moving to refill it almost immediately.

“The flamingo,” Dante said after a brief pause, as if fully decided on his response. “Think about it. They’ve got impeccable balance even on one leg, you’d expect they’d be able to dance and moonwalk circles around the competition. And and and…hear me out…there’s a reason why a group of flamingoes is called flamboyance. It’s in their DNA, man, they’ve got all that sauce and more.”

“Yeah, sure, but what happens if the flamingo’s got stage fright?” Megan asked. “Besides, dance is about a lot more than just balance, you know. You could win a dance battle on style alone and any of you think there’s any animal with more style than a peacock?”

“A peacock?” Dante repeated, an incredulous expression on his face. “A peacock? You’re joking, right?”

“Peacocks are majestic,” Megan argued. “And they’ve got style. They don’t necessarily have to outrightly be the best dancers, but they’ve got enough style to captivate even the least biased panel of judges and swing things in their favor.”

“This is ridiculous,” Daniel said then, shaking his head. “You’re both being rather ridiculous. I got it right the first time around. An octopus would be the best dancer. No one’s going to care about your flamingos or peacocks when the octopus is wowing the audience breakdancing on eight legs. Think of all the dance styles an octopus could invent? You can’t go up against that.”

“Tch.” Daniel rolled his eyes, then turned to Daedalus. “And you? Who do you reckon would be the best dancing animal?”

“Oh, uh,” Daedalus said, lowering his slushie cup. “Uhm, I don’t care about any of this. But if I really had to go along with this or contribute to this insanity in any way, I suppose I’d go with Daniel and his silly octopus thing.”

“Haha, yes!” Daniel said excitedly, punching the air. “That’s one vote on Mr. Octopus. How about you, Dang?”

“Octopus too,” Dang said, nodding.

Dante groaned loudly then, slapping a hand onto his face and shaking his head. “You guys are trolling, right? You’re pulling at my legs? You don’t really think Carson’s got any fighting chance against Diego?”

Dang glanced to Dante then, expression of confusion on his face. “Huh? Who the hell are Carson and Diego?”

Dante blinked. “You guys aren’t naming the animals in your heads? Are you even invested in this debate?”

“Why is the octopus named Carson?” Daniel asked with a tone of genuine curiosity. “My octopus wouldn’t be called Carson…if I had to name him, I think I’d name him something like DeAndre. That sounds a lot more like something an octopus who could dance would be called…yeah, DeAndre, I kinda like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Dante rolled his eyes again. “The point is, there’s no way DeAndre could stand his ground against the absolute beast that is Diego.”

“Sorry, buddy, I’ve got two votes that say otherwise,” Daniel replied smugly.

“Three,” Megan said then, earning a look of horror from Dante. She looked toward him apologetically. “I hate agreeing with him as much as the next person but I think he’s right this one time. An octopus would be the best animal at dancing.”

“Haha, sucka!” Daniel exclaimed excitedly. “And I vote for DeAndre too so looks like you’re paying for the slushies.”

“No, no, hang on,” Dante said quickly, holding up a finger. “Dang, I believe the rules of the game were whoever had the least votes would pay, right?” He asked, with Megan’s eyes going wide as soon as he posed the question.

Dang responded with an unsure shrug. “Uhm, yeah.”

“And as I see it, with all of your votes placed so far, the lowest votes would be myself and Megan, no?”

“Yeah,” Dang answered, a mischievous grin forming on his face as he realized where this was headed.

“Well, then I vote on Diego,” Dante said finally and with a shrug, before turning to Megan and smirking at her. “Looks like the slushies are on you, Meg.”

“I hate you,” Megan muttered.

Dante simply grinned at her.

“Hang on, hang on, how about a different sort of game?” Daniel suggested, then went quiet for a few seconds, appearing hard in thought. “Okay, how about, people started to get abilities based on specific animals, what animal-based power do you think would stand the highest chance at besting you in a fight? Dang?”

Dang chuckled as he shook his head. “I don’t think any would stand a chance if I’m being honest.”

“So if Spider-Man was real, you think you’d beat him in a fight?” Daniel queried, raising one eyebrow over the other.

“Uhmm, I’m pretty sure I could take him in a fight,” Dang answered. “He’s got the powers of a spider and I’ve got the powers of, well, whatever I want to have the powers of. I don’t see how I could lose to him.”

“Look who’s gotten all cocky on us,” Dante said jokingly.

“Saving the universe does that to ya,” Daedalus responded, all five of them sharing a laugh afterward. “But seriously though, not a single animal you think you’d lose against if someone had their powers?”

“I mean, I don’t like roaches, they terrify me,” Dang responded. “So if I were up against someone with the powers of a roach and who looked like an actual roach, I think it’d mess up my mind enough that I could lose the fight. But other than that, I think I’d be fine against the others.”

“Even someone with the powers of an elephant?” Megan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What exactly would the powers of an elephant be?” Dang queried. “Wouldn’t that just be super strength?”

“An elephant can lift up to 20,000 pounds,” Daedalus said then, his eyes lighting up in a manner that indicated he was running the calculations in his head. “If scaled to human proportions, we’re talking incredibly high level strength, I’d say higher than any of us are capable of on a normal day, not to mention they’d also be resistant to bullets and would be able to withstand extreme heat and cold—which puts Daniel, Dante, and Megan at an outright disadvantage. Their enhanced hearing, sensitivity to vibrations, impeccable memory and super breath would make for an all around near-impossible opponent to beat.”

“Sure, sure,” Dang said, nodding. “But who would win?”

Daedalus paused for a moment, clearly continuing his calculations. “Based on data I have on you and your recorded peak strength levels,” he paused again, sighed, and then said: “You’d win.”

Dang held his arms out wide then, turning to the others and grinning. “See? Elephant Man wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against me.”

“Uh, actually, he’d stand a chance,” Daedalus corrected. “You’ve just got slightly higher odds at emerging victorious.”

“I’ll take that.”

“Wait, wait, hang on, you’re saying the rest of us wouldn’t stand a chance?” Daniel demanded, looking a little hurt. “You’re joking, right? You think we’d really struggle against some silly elephant dude?”

“None of you would be capable of matching him in physical strength levels, and he’d likely be able to withstand most of your physical attacks, as well as your heat-based attacks. Sure, you could turn the temperature up to ridiculous levels but then there’s the matter of collateral damage as well as potentially burning yourselves out. Your chances of victory are slimmer in comparison to Dang’s.”

Dang chuckled again. “Not an animal who could stop me.”

“Well, actually, I suppose you could encounter difficulty if up against someone with the powers of a dung beetle,” Daedalus said.

The others fell quiet then, looks of confusion on their faces.

“What?” Dang asked, frowning. “If I’m kicking Elephant Man’s ass, you really expect me to believe I’d struggle with dung beetle guy?”

“Dung beetles lift up to more than a thousand times their body weight,” Daedalus explained. “If translated to human proportions, well, that’s a lot of physical strength. Of course, the beetle doesn’t have nearly as much durability as an elephant so you’d have a pretty good chance at winning as long as the contest wasn’t on a purely physical basis.”

“So if it were on a purely physical basis?” Dang asked, raising one eyebrow over the other.

“Then you’d be screwed,” Daedalus answered with a tone of finality. “If my calculations are correct, you’d have exactly a 0.71% chance of winning a purely physical contest against someone with the proportional powers of a dung beetle.”

“Okay, okay, fine, whatever,” Dang said then. “I get it, dung beetles are cool.”

Just then, as Megan moved to refill her cup at the dispenser, a man appeared at the other end of the section of store they were in. He was short and stout, with a twirled moustache rested atop his upper lip. His face, round; his dark brown eyes a little narrow, with his eyebrows thin.

At the sight of him, Dang and the others all gulped.

“Uh-oh,” Megan said, hastily straightening, and hiding the cup behind her, not that it mattered much. He’d already seen her.

“What the hell are you kids doing back here?” Mr. Nguyen demanded as he started toward them, moving briskly despite the persistent limp he always walked with.

“Uhh, nothing,” Daniel answered. “We’re just, you know, talking…getting ready to continue on our way to school.”

“Uh-huh,” Mr. Nguyen responded in a tone that revealed his lack of trust or belief in Daniel’s words. “And I suppose you’ve been helping yourself to more slushies while you’ve been talking? How many refills are you on now?”

Dang and the others exchanged looks. “19,” they said in unison.

“Nineteen?!” Mr. Nguyen repeated. “Why not all just get your own cups?!”

“Well, a cup costs one dollar,” Daniel responded as though the answer to that were fairly obvious. “We figured we’d just save, uhm, an extra four dollars? Cash that in on refills instead, maybe? Plus doing it this way gives us more time to talk.”

“Yes, but it also puts less money in my pockets,” Mr. Nguyen scolded. “I swear you kids will be the death of me. Every morning you come in here, every morning you do the same with your single cup and all of your refills, hogging the dispenser. You’re bad for business. I should give you all lifetime bans from the store.”

“But Mr. Nguyen, we’re your best customers,” Megan said. “You really think you could live in a world where we stop popping by here?”

Mr. Nguyen glanced down at his feet then, in a bid to mask the smile that crept on his face. When he glanced back up, he had a forced frown. “Yes!” he responded. “I could live in a world like that!” he said. “In fact, I’m thinking about that world right now and I think it would be amazing. Now come on then, you scoundrels, come pay for all of your refilled slushies and get out of my store!”

“Uhm,” Megan said, looking at her half-filled cup. “Think I could maybe fill mine up first?” She asked, flashing him a puppy-eyed smile, the sight of which made him falter.

“Ugh, fine,” he muttered. “Hurry up then! But last refill!” he said, as he turned to head back to the cashier. “And I’ll be keeping my eyes on the camera footage this time so don’t even think about being smart?”

Once Mr. Nguyen was out of earshot, Daniel turned to Daedalus and grinned. “You think he knows you could very easily loop the security feed without breaking a sweat?”

A few moments later, they were at the cashier, with Megan paying for all of the slushies, the consequence of garnering the least votes in their animal dance-off debate. Once she’d paid, Mr. Nguyen shooed them out of the store but also made sure to issue warnings to them, fairly cliché runnings like “pay attention to the road” and “don’t go running about recklessly.”

Once out of the store, Dante spoke: “Bless his heart.”

“Think maybe we should let him know we’ve got powers?” Daniel asked as they started to walk. “Reckon if we did, we’d get free slushies at his for the rest of our lives.”

“We would,” Dang agreed, “But we’d also be putting him in danger. The people who get close to stuff like this, the ones who can’t do what we can, they tend to end up getting hurt and often in the worst of ways. Best to let Nguyen think we’re just a bunch of high school rascals with an addiction to cheap slushies.”

“Right, right,” Daniel said, nodding.

They walked on a little longer and after a while, Daedalus fell back from the group. Only a few moments after Daedalus fell back, Dang halted too, turning to glance back at his doppelganger, a frown creasing his face.

“You okay?” Dang asked, heading toward Daedalus, the others also stopping to see what was going on.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Daedalus said. “I’m still synced with the scanners. I thought I picked up a signature now but it was just another false read. Nothing to worry about.”

“Course it’s nothing to worry about,” Dang said gently, smiling somewhat. “We saved the world, Daedalus. Because of us, nothing’s ever going to force its way into our universe again. This world is safe now. There’s no reason to be monitoring the scanners and whatnot, all we have to do now is just live our lives, alright? No more threats, no more grand battles, alright?”

“Alright,” Daedalus said, sighing and nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. Totally. Guess it’s just bad habit.”

“Now come on,” Dang said. “Let’s get to school early enough that I can get my Math assignment done in time.”