Chapter Nineteen: A member of the Power Council is captured by aliens?
Nikki’s dad had acted strangely during dinner. He told Nikki and her mom what had happened in Cragglyville and how Nikki Powergloves had saved him. But he didn’t seem that excited by it. Or that thankful to Nikki Powergloves, which worried Nikki. Because she was Nikki Powergloves. And she wanted her dad to like her both as a daughter and as a superhero.
Luckily, Nikki had been able to eat fast. Her parents gave her permission to go over to Spencer’s afterwards. Nikki met him on the street. He ran up and hugged her when he saw her.
“You were amazing today, Fly-Girl!” Spencer said. The way you dodged those pigeons was incredible.”
“Thanks, Spence. But you were the true star sidekick. All of your gadgets worked perfectly!”
Spencer couldn’t hide his pride. His face was practically glowing. “You really think so, Nikks?”
“Absolutely,” Nikki confirmed. Spencer beamed.
“I can’t wait to talk to the others about it,” Spencer said.
“Me, too,” Nikki replied. “Let’s go.”
Spencer led Nikki behind his house. His mom was working at the hospital so they were able to change into their costumes behind the privacy of his backyard fence. Once they were ready, Spencer hopped on Nikki’s back and she took off into the dark, night sky. They were ten minutes late by the time they got to Cragglyville.
Samantha and the rest of the Power Council were already waiting on Main Street. Cragglyville seemed quiet after all the action that had occurred during the day.
Samantha smiled as they landed. “We were getting worried,” she said.
Spencer cracked a smile. “You didn’t think a couple of parents could stop us after what we did today, did you?”
Samantha chuckled. “I guess not.”
Mike said, “Where can we go to talk things over?”
Nikki shrugged, looked at Spencer. Spencer said, “How about the parking lot behind the shopping center? It’s closed and no one will be there.”
They all agreed and Spencer led the way behind a large building that was only two blocks away. They found a grassy spot on one of the parking islands to sit down. It was all smiles as they joked and laughed about how they had defeated the pathetic villains. Nikki was enjoying spending time with her friends. She didn’t want to think about what would happen when the villains came back.
Samantha stood up. Nikki and the rest of the Power Council looked at her. She looked strong, capable. She was born to be a leader. Nikki was glad she was the unspoken leader of the Power Council. Samantha said, “Today we won because we worked as a team, all together, both superheroes and sidekicks equally. I am proud to call you my friends, my teammates.” Despite the darkness, Samantha’s face was shining. “There will be a next time. The villains will be back. But we will be ready.”
Samantha stopped abruptly and cocked one ear to the side, as if she was listening to something. Nikki couldn’t hear anything. She wondered what Samantha was doing.
Bright floodlights burst from the heavens, blinding Nikki as she gazed skywards. Nikki slapped a hand over her face, trying to protect her eyes. She was seeing spots. Where had the light come from? And what was that noise? Nikki was suddenly aware of a loud, churning sound, like a giant blender mashing up big hunks of fruit to make a smoothie.
“Ahhhhh!” she heard Samantha yell. Nikki’s heart sank. Samantha had been standing up, exposed. Someone—or something—had attacked her. Nikki had to save her!
Despite still not being able to see, Nikki leapt in the air, feeling the wind buffet her hair as she flew blindly into the night. She decided to risk opening her eyes, and when she did, she could see again. The bright lights were gone.
Looking down at the parking lot, she scanned her circle of friends, who had flung themselves to the ground, trying to hide from the bright lights. There were Mike and Freddy, Chilly and Dexter, and Spencer, of course. Someone was missing. Samantha! She had screamed because someone had grabbed her, kidnapped her! Nikki bobbed her head around her, looking for the source of the bright light and the churning sound. There was nothing. The night was dark and empty and quiet. Like it had been before.
Nikki left her friends and did a few laps around the town, searching, searching. Samantha was gone.
Nikki flew back to her friends, who were waiting where she had left them. She landed in the middle of them. They looked at her expectantly. No one spoke, but she knew they were all asking the question Did you find her? Nikki shook her head. She had failed.
Nikki sat down and pulled her legs underneath her. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Dexter said, “Do you think we’ll be able to get Samantha back from the aliens?”
Nikki looked at the small boy. He looked sad, like he might cry, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes watery. Dexter was Samantha’s sidekick. She didn’t know what to tell him. She had no idea where she had been taken, who had taken her.
Spencer spoke for Nikki. “We’ll get her back, I know we will.” Nikki looked at her best friend, thankful for his optimism. He smiled at her. Then he said, “But first we need to figure out who took her. Why do you think it was aliens, Dexter?”
Nikki hadn’t even realized Dexter had suggested it was aliens. A month earlier and she wouldn’t have even considered the possibility that aliens had abducted a friend, but now Nikki thought Dexter could be right.
“Because of the bright lights,” Dexter said. “Aliens always use beams of light to abduct people, don’t they?”
Spencer hummed softly to himself. “I don’t know. If I had to guess, I would say it was the government. They probably think we have some kind of new technology that allows us to do all these amazing things, and they want to get their hands on it.”
Nikki thought about it. A government conspiracy was possible, but there was just one problem. “But how did they disappear so quickly?” Nikki said. “It was like they were there one minute and gone the next. No one could have done that except aliens, or maybe other kids like us, with powers.”
“You could be right, Nikki. But I still think it was a secret government organization. There are lots of them and they have incredibly advanced technology that average citizens don’t even know about. They probably used some kind of stealth equipment to sneak in, grab her, and then sneak back out. The bright lights were probably just a distraction and a way of tricking us into thinking it was aliens.”
Nikki looked at Spencer. He was so convincing. And he was a genius, after all. This was like one of his puzzles, or a chess match, or a school test. And he always did well at those. She needed to trust him.
“Okay, we’ll follow up the government idea first. Then the alien theory.”