Flight of the Hawk (6 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“Sorry, Mr. Townsend. But I’m afraid
I
don’t understand.” Andy stood in the doorway with his feet apart and his wings out-stretched, trying his best to look like a superhero.

“It’s the bird from the warehouse!” Smoke said, staring. “What’s a bird doing here?”

“I don’t care who it is! He’s heard everything.” Townsend pounded his desk. “Get him, you moron!”

Smoke reached into his jacket.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Andy unclipped the Super Stun Gun.

Smoke laughed. “What are you gonna do, Bird Man? Shoot me with your banana?”

Andy pulled the trigger. For a second nothing happened. Then, suddenly, Smoke froze in place. His hand was still in his coat and his eyes were glazed.

Townsend drove his portly body into Andy, knocking him off balance and making the Super Stun Gun fall to the floor. The lawyer grunted and brought his fist up into Andy’s chin, pounding out two of his front teeth. Then he grabbed an iron paperweight from the desk and slammed it into Andy’s head, knocking him unconscious.

Townsend stood over him, breathing hard. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” He moved to his desk and had picked up the phone when he heard something behind him.

The lawyer turned just in time to see Andy sit up and rub his head. “That one stung a little.” He felt in his mouth. Both teeth were
back.
It’s great
, Andy thought.
Works every time
.

Townsend watched, his mouth open, as Andy unclipped the Gloop Gun. Then he ducked behind his desk. “Don’t shoot! I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but I’ll pay you double whatever you’re getting if you come to work for me.”

“I’m the Hawk, Mr. Townsend. And I work for …” Andy stopped to think. “Oh yeah, for the good of humankind.”

Andy fired the Gloop Gun over the top of the desk and a big round yellow blob of Gloop landed in Townsend’s hair and somehow also managed to catch his right foot, pinning the side of his head to his shoe, a position his body had never enjoyed before. Townsend grunted and rolled around on the floor, picking up bits of paper when he knocked over a wastebasket.

Andy watched until he heard the high-pitched blare of sirens outside. He glanced at his watch. He’d been in here longer than he’d intended. Henry must have gotten worried and called the police. Andy had just enough
time for a good finish. He moved to where Townsend had come to rest, stuck to the side of a chair leg.

“The police are on their way. You’ll have plenty of time to think about this day while you’re rotting in jail. And when you do, don’t forget that it was the Hawk that put you there.”

“Listen to this, Henry.” Andy shook out the front page of the newspaper. “ ‘Millionaire lawyer Clayton Townsend confesses to crimes of fraud, burglary, accessory to attempted kidnapping, and murder. While being questioned by police, Townsend claimed to have been captured by a large, talking bird. He is calling the winged creature “the Hawk.” He also claims this same bird glued his head to his foot. Prosecutors discount the story, calling it an attempt by the noted lawyer to credit a possible plea of insanity, although
they remain puzzled by the fact that one of Townsend’s partners seemed to be frozen for three days.’ Hmmm. Maybe the Super Stun Gun is set a little high.”

Andy folded the paper. “We’re on our way to being famous, Henry. Someday the police will probably call in the Hawk to help them on some of their really tough cases.”

“Yes, sir. Sir …?”

“What is it, Henry?”

“Might I ask why you are still dressed in the Hawk suit? I had hoped you might take the weekend off. I had some laundry to do and a bit of shopping.”

Andy picked up the Hawk headpiece and slipped it on. “It’s like this, Henry. I found out that this superhero stuff has a few added bonuses. And one of them told me she was free this weekend if I wanted to fly by.”

“I see. And would you like me to follow along in the car, Master Hawkes?”

Andy smiled and hit the button on his rocket booster harness. “Not this time, Henry. I’m pretty sure I can handle this one by myself.”

What is a superhero? You probably think of Superman. Batman, Wonder Woman, or Spider-Man when you hear that word. The word
superhero
means a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers. But it can also mean an exceptionally skillful or successful person—which means that you too can be a superhero!

Just for fun, design your own superhero. First pick out an animal you really like. It could be a high-flying bird (like the hawk), a quick-moving cat (a jaguar or a tiger), or a mighty and powerful beast (an elephant!). Or, instead of an animal, pick out a quality you think is really cool. For example, Stretch Armstrong could stretch his arms way out like rubber bands to capture bad guys.

Pick a name for your superhero, and then start drawing a picture of what you think he or she might look like. If you picked out an animal, make sure your superhero has some of the qualities of that animal in his or her costume, just like Batman’s batlike ears and cape. Then figure out what kind of special powers your superhero has and how he or she might use them. Your superhero’s powers should match the kind of creature he or she is. For example, Spider-Man can spin a net for a trap and climb up the sides of buildings, just like a spider.

Then make up a story for your superhero. And be sure to make up some villains for your superhero to fight. Write the story down, or draw your own comic-book adventure starring your superhero.

If you could be any superhero, which one would you choose to be? Why? Do you know anyone you would consider a superhero?

The Legend of Red Horse Cavern

Will Little Bear Tucker and his friend Sarah Thompson have heard the eerie Apache legend many times. Will’s grandfather especially loves to tell them about Red Horse—an Indian brave who betrayed his people, was beheaded, and now haunts the Sacramento Mountain range, searching for his head. To Will and Sarah it’s just a story—until they decide to explore a newfound mountain cave, a cave filled with dangerous treasures.

Deep underground, Will and Sarah uncover an old chest stuffed with a million dollars. But now armed bandits are after them. When they find a gold Apache statue hidden in a skull, it seems Red Horse is hunting them, too. Then they lose their way, and each step they take in the damp, dark cavern could be their last.

Rodomonte’s Revenge

Friends Brett Wilder and Tom Houston are video game whizzes. So when a new virtual reality arcade called Rodomonte’s Revenge opens near their home, they make sure they’re its first customers. The game is awesome. There are flaming fire rivers to jump, beastly buzz-bugs to fight, and ugly tunnel spiders to escape. If they’re good enough they’ll face Rodomonte, an evil giant waiting to do battle within his hidden castle.

But soon after they play the game, strange things start happening to Brett and Tom. The computer is taking over their minds. Now everything that happens in the game is happening in real life. A buzzbug could gnaw off their ears. Rodomonte could smash them to bits. Brett and Tom have no choice but to play Rodomonte’s Revenge again. This time they’ll be playing for their lives.

Escape from Fire Mountain

“… 
please, anybody
 … 
fire
 … 
need help
.”

That’s the urgent cry thirteen-year-old Nikki Roberts hears over the CB radio the weekend she’s left alone in her family’s hunting lodge. The message also says that the sender is trapped near a bend in the river. Nikki knows it’s dangerous, but she has to try to help. She paddles her canoe downriver, coming closer to the thick black smoke of the forest fire with each stroke. When she reaches the bend, Nikki climbs onshore. There, covered with soot and huddled on a rock ledge, sit two small children.

Nikki struggles to get the children to safety. Flames roar around them. Trees splinter to the ground. But as Nikki tries to escape the fire, she doesn’t know that two poachers are also hot on her trail. They fear that she and the children have seen too much of their illegal operation—and they’ll do anything to keep the kids from making it back to the lodge alive.

The Rock Jockeys

Devil’s Wall
.

Rick Williams and his friends J.D. and Spud—the Rock Jockeys—are attempting to become the first and youngest climbers to ascend the north face of their area’s most treacherous mountain. They’re also out to discover if a B-17 bomber rumored to have crashed into the mountain years ago is really there.

As the Rock Jockeys explore Devil’s Wall, they stumble upon the plane’s battered shell. Inside, they find items that seem to have belonged to the crew, including a diary written by the navigator. Spud later falls into a deep hole and finds something even more frightening: a human skull and bones. To find out where they might have come from, the boys read the navigator’s story in the diary. It reveals a gruesome secret that heightens the dangers the mountain might hold for the Rock Jockeys.

Hook ’Em, Snotty!

Bobbie Walker loves working on her grandfather’s ranch. She hates the fact that her cousin Alex is coming up from Los Angeles to visit and will probably ruin her summer. Alex can barely ride a horse and doesn’t know the first thing about roping. There is no way Alex can survive a ride into the flats to round up wild cattle. But Bobbie is going to have to let her tag along anyway.

Out in the flats the weather turns bad. Even worse, Bobbie knows that she’ll have to watch out for the Bledsoe boys, two mischievous brothers who are usually up to no good. When the boys rustle the girls’ cattle, Bobbie and Alex team up to teach the Bledsoes a lesson. But with the wild bull Diablo on the loose, the fun and games may soon turn deadly serious.