Villain School (16 page)

“Of course!” I said. “Deven had a jar full of caterpillars! When they touched Doctor Do-Good, his powers were drained. Caterpillars are his weakness!”

Wolf snickered. “Caterpillars are your weakness? That's just sad, man.”

Doctor Do-Good reached out his hand and lifted Wolf off the ground by the scruff of his neck. “What was that, young pup?”

“Uh, nothing. Sorry, sir,” Wolf said.

“Can someone please tell me what's going on?” asked the doctor, releasing Wolf. I handed him his shirt back.

“We need your help, Doctor Do-Good,” I said. There was another explosion, closer this time.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

We tried to explain everything to him, how Deven had made a pact with Morgana and kidnapped my father. How he'd betrayed the doctor, his own father, and planned to take over the hero community.

“And now he's here, attacking our school. Please, won't you do something?” I asked.

“I don't know if I should,” said the doctor. “After all, this is a school of villains. Maybe I should let my heroes destroy all of you.”

I didn't really have an answer for that, but thankfully Jezebel did.

“Oh, we're the villains?” she asked, getting all up in the doctor's face. “
We're
the villains! Our school Master was kidnapped by
your
son. The same person who made a pact with a villain witch to deceive you. The same person who betrayed and imprisoned you, who used your one weakness against you.”

“And who was it that saved you from your tower prison?” added Ileana. “Who saved you from this?” she asked, holding up the little squirmy caterpillar.

Doctor Do-Good flinched away.

“You owe us,” Jezebel said.

“It seems I might have been mistaken,” said Do-Good. “You're right. I will help you. This one time.”

“What's the plan, Rune?” asked Wolf.

“We have to get Doctor Do-Good to explain to the
heroes that Deven is a traitor. He can convince them to stop the attack. Let's go.”

“Wait,” said Do-Good, reaching out his hand to stop me. “There's something you should know first, in case anything happens to me.”

“What?” I asked.

“Deven's weakness. I'll tell you what it is, and you'll be able to subdue his powers.”

We all exchanged glances, then I looked back at the doctor.

“Tell us.”

Another explosion and more shouts echoed through the corridors. The sounds were getting much closer.

We rushed out the door into the hallway, and straight into Deven Do-Good and his gang.

“Deven!” Doctor Do-Good shouted.

“Father!” Deven looked alarmed, but quickly recovered. He rushed forward and hugged Doctor Do-Good. “Thank goodness you're safe! We've been so worried!”

“Worried?” asked the doctor. “You tried to betray me!” He pushed his son away.

“What are you talking about?” asked Deven.

“You used my weakness against me, locked me in a prison. I had to be rescued by … by a bunch of villains!”

“No, that's not true, Father. I would never do that.
These villains put a spell on you!” Deven pointed an accusing finger at us.

Doctor Do-Good looked at us. I could tell he was confused. Behind him Deven smiled wickedly at me.

“He's lying!” I said. “He's trying to trick you. Don't trust him.”

“Oh, of course, villain. As if my own father would trust a warlock's word over his son's. Father, they came to our school and kidnapped you. Do you remember anything?”

“I—I remember you betraying me, Deven.”

“Why would I do that? You had just welcomed me back after I brought you a villain Master as a prisoner, Father.”

“Yes,” said Doctor Do-Good, rubbing his temples. “I remember that, but … I just don't know what to believe.”

“Then let me prove my loyalty to you, Father. Get them!” he shouted to Vortex, Aero-boy, and Omnibrain.

Vortex blasted us with a rush of swirling wind. I ducked to the right with Jezebel while Ileana shoved Wolf to the left. Immediately, Ileana shot a spell at Vortex.

While they struggled against each other, Omnibrain went after Wolf, and Aero-boy levitated toward Jezebel. I heard the tiny
pop
that meant Jez had changed
into a bat, but I didn't see it happen. My focus was on Deven Do-Good.

I tried to hex him, but he flew to the side and came up behind me. I spun around, throwing another spell, but again, he was too quick.

A scream distracted me. I turned to see Wolf Junior with his head in his paws, writhing in agony. Beside him, Omnibrain had his hands to his temples and was concentrating his energy on Wolf. I realized the big-headed hero was using some kind of mind power to torture Wolf. I ran to help my ally, but before I could, someone grabbed my wrists, and I found myself chained.

When I turned around, I was surprised to see Doctor Do-Good. He had captured me. Then he chained Wolf, who, being released from Omnibrain's power, fell limply to the floor. It wasn't long before all my allies were in chains. Even Jezebel had been captured. Aero-boy was dragging her down the hall toward us.

“Good work, Father!” said Deven, patting the doctor on the back. “Why don't you take them back into the study while the boys and I rejoin the fight?”

“I'm sorry I doubted you, son,” said Doctor Do-Good as he shoved Wolf, Jez, Ileana, and me into my dad's study.

“You couldn't help it. You were deceived,” said
Deven, coming up behind his father. He had something in his hands.

“Doctor Do-Good! Look out!” I shouted, but I was too late. Deven had dumped the entire jar of caterpillars directly on his father's head. The old superhero collapsed to the floor, unconscious with a squirming mass of furry insects crawling all over him.

“Now I can finish you all off one by one,” said Deven, bearing down on us with an evil grin, but he was interrupted by an explosion just outside the door. The fighting had finally reached us.

Out in the hallway, hexes were flying around and so were superheroes. Sparks of fire sizzled against blasts of ice as villains and heroes faced off.

“We can't let anyone see them,” said Deven to his gang. “Aero-boy, you stay here and stand watch.”

“But, but, Deven,” said Aero-boy, frowning at the comatose Doctor Do-Good. “Doesn't this seem … wrong?”

“Aero,” said Vortex, “why are you always such a baby?”

“I'm not a baby,” Aero-boy muttered.

“Then do what Deven says, numbskull,” added Omnibrain, thunking Aero-boy on his skull-cap mask.

“When the fighting is over,” said Deven, “we'll come back and finish them, and tell everyone my father
was destroyed in a struggle to free himself.” He flashed another wicked grin at me. “But not before he took down four villain kids.”

Then Deven left with Omnibrain and Vortex, closing the door behind them.

“Don't try anything funny,” said Aero-boy, levitating onto my dad's desk.

“Why are you hanging out with a jerk like Deven?” asked Jezebel.

“He's not a jerk. He—he's a powerful leader,” said Aero-boy, looking down at his dangling feet.

“You don't really believe that,” said Ileana. “
You
could be a powerful leader, Aero-boy.”

“You're trying to trick me!”

“No, I'm serious. You have a chance to do the right thing here. Doesn't he, Rune?” said the princess.

“Huh?” I asked.

Ileana raised her eyebrows meaningfully at me.

“Oh, yeah!” I said. “Why do you let Omnibrain and Vortex push you around?”

Aero-boy continued to stare at his feet. I glanced at Ileana. Behind her, Jezebel was plucking a hairpin from her head and lowering it into the princess's hands. I had to keep Aero-boy distracted.

“They totally pick on you, and Deven always takes those two guys along with him, and leaves you behind
to sit and wait until the heroes get back. Aren't you sick of it?”

“But—but Deven's my friend,” said Aero-boy.

“He's trying to get you in trouble. He betrayed your school Master and now he's plotting to take over the entire hero community! He's not your friend. He's a villain!” I said. It pained me to give Deven the name of
villain
, but I had no choice. I had to keep Aero-boy distracted.

The hero looked uncertainly from the unconscious Doctor Do-Good, to me, then back to the doctor again, but before he could decide what to do, Ileana was free from the handcuffs and hexing him from behind. One spell and Aero-boy was slumped over and snoring on my dad's desk.

“I did it!” Ileana said, holding up the magical manacles.

“Nice job!” Jezebel said. There was a moment of awkward silence.

“Did you actually just compliment me?” asked Ileana, breaking into a grin.

“What? It's not like I want to be Best Fiends Forever or anything,” Jez said quickly. “I just meant nice job using
my
hairpin to pick the lock. That's all.”

“And from behind my back, too,” said Ileana. “Man, I'm
good
.”

“Sadly, yes. You
are
good. Probably beyond cure,” said Jezebel. “And since you obviously think you're the supreme princess of lock-picking, would you mind?” Jez held out her hands, and just like that things were back to normal between Jez and Ileana. Soon, the princess had freed all of us.

Wolf moaned in agony, clutching at his head.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, except for a raging headache. Let's go. I can't wait to get my claws into Omnibrain.”

“Hang on. What about him?” I asked, pointing to the doctor.

“Forget it, Rune,” said Jezebel. “He'll just betray us again.”

“But how are we going to convince the heroes to stop the attack?” I asked. “We have to wake him up.”

“Even if he helps us, there's no guarantee we'll be able to stop Deven,” said Ileana.

“Oh, I think there is. Remember what Doctor Do-Good told us. Jezebel? Can you help?” I asked, looking meaningfully at her.

She seemed confused for a moment, then grinned wickedly. “Oh, I am
so
on it!”

With a tiny
pop
Jezebel turned into a bat and flew out of the study.

“I don't get it,” said Wolf Junior. “What's going on?”

“Deven's going down. That's what's going on,” I said.

We began plucking caterpillars off Doctor Do-Good. We were only about halfway finished when Aero-boy woke up.

“What are you doing to him?” he asked groggily.

Ileana prepared another hex, but I held out my hand, motioning for her to wait.

“We're saving him. He's the rightful Master of your school, not Deven. Whose side are you on, Aero-boy?”

The hero looked indecisive. Then his eyes hardened. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

Just then Jezebel returned with a pack slung over her shoulder.

“I ran into someone in the hall,” she said.

“Not Deven?”

“No, this!” Jez's fist was wrapped around a handful of nothing.

“She's finally cracked,” said Ileana.

“Princess! You're safe!” squeaked a familiar voice. Slowly, Invis-a-boy materialized in his gray-and-white costume. He rushed forward to kiss Ileana's hand. Behind the tiny hero's back, Jez wrapped her hands around herself and made kissing noises. Ileana glared at her.

“We've got trouble,” Jezebel said, removing her pack and tossing it to me.

“Understatement of the year,” said Wolf.

“What's going on?” I asked.

“Deven and his cronies have defeated your school Masters,” said Invis-a-boy.

“They've rounded up all the villain students in the cafeteria cave,” added Jezebel. “I think we're too late, Rune.”

“It's not over yet, but we have to hurry!” I turned to Aero-boy. “Get these caterpillars off Doctor Do-Good! When he wakes up, tell him Deven's plans. Convince him to stop this attack.”

Aero-boy began frantically plucking furry insects off the doctor.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“We're going to stop Deven Do-Good,” I said.

“How?” asked Invis-a-boy.

I reached into the bag Jezebel had brought and pulled out our secret weapon.

“With this!”

I ran toward the cafeteria cave with Wolf, Ileana, and Jezebel behind me.

When we reached the doors, we could hear Deven talking inside. I peeked through a crack and saw him standing on a lunch table with Omnibrain and Vortex beside him. The villain students were all gathered in the center of the room, and the superheroes were standing guard around them in a circle.

“I don't see Master Dreadthorn or Queen Catalina anywhere,” I said. “Or Morgana. Where can they be?”

“We can't worry about that right now, Rune,” said Jezebel. “We have to stop Deven before he destroys all the students!”

“Yeah, and I still need to introduce my fist to Omnibrain's face,” said Wolf, pounding one furry paw into
the other. Whatever Omnibrain had done to Wolf had really made him mad. He wasn't usually so, well,
tough.

“We can't just rush in there,” said Ileana. “We'll be caught before we can even reach Deven.”

“She's right,” added Invis-a-boy. I had a feeling the hero kid would agree with anything Ileana said.

“I might have a plan. It's dangerous, but we have to risk it,” I said. “Jez, I need you to fly to Stiltskin's classcave and get a potion bottle. Ileana, do you still have those hero costumes?”

Wolf groaned, “Not that cape again!”

After the villainesses returned, I explained the plan to my allies. When I was sure everyone understood, we put on the hero costumes.