Hi everyone! I finally broke my writer's block! (It only took like half a year...) Some of you might have known me before as Emc Superbionics, but I decided a while ago that I needed a change, a fresh start. That is sort of what this story was meant for: moving on to new things. I still haven't managed to figure out what direction to take In the end, so that will be on hold for a while more. Sorry about that. I've just lost the motivation for the story at the moment, but I will get back to it eventually.

This is my first Henry Danger story, so I'm a bit nervous, but we'll see how it goes. It will be updated approx. once a week.

Okay, enough of my rambling. Hope you enjoy this story!

Prologue: The girl

The streets of Swellview were bustling on the hot Monday afternoon. Spring had come early this year, and everyone seemed to have decided to make the most of what little sun they had been blessed with. School had just wrapped up for the day, all the students adding to the already sizable crowd. In whatever direction you looked people were milling around, either visiting the various shops along the esplanade, relaxing in the playgrounds and parks, stopping for frozen yogurt at Yotally Togurt or simply enjoying a walk in the blissful warmth and soft light. All in all, the day couldn't have been more harmonious.

But so, it wouldn't remain for long.

A teenage girl pushed through the crowd, muttering apologies under her breath as she passed by. Her appearance was fairly ordinary: she was wearing black jeans, sneakers and a dark red hoodie. A mess of wavy brown hair tumbled carelessly down her back, framing a thin, oval face and stormy, green eyes. She could have easily passed as one of the many high-schoolers making their way home, if not for one thing. The look in her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder gave it away, as well as her tense jaw and the increasingly quickening pace. Despite her best efforts to conceal it, her very being was radiating unmistakable fear.

Making her way past an old couple who were busy arguing about where to eat - the woman insisted on going to Sushi Dushi, even as her husband over and over pointed out that they had eaten there only yesterday - she once more took the risk to look behind her, only to whip her head back even faster.

"Damn it," she cursed, turning hastily into a side alley. Here, the streets were less busy. Gone were the massive crowds, replaced with the occasional passing car or pedestrian. The cacophony of sounds from the esplanade soon died down the further she went, leaving solely the racing beat of her heart pounding in her ears. And also, she noted, the soft humming of a car engine.

Her eyes frantically searched the streets as the buildings around her grew more vintage with pillars, white and grey tones and uneven roofs: the older area of Swellview, from where the original city had been built in the 1890s. Normally, she would have enjoyed walking down the historic streets, but today she couldn't have cared less. There were other things that were much more important at the moment.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. Or rather, she heard it. Speeding up, she strained her senses and after a few seconds, she nodded in satisfaction. She hadn't been mistaken.

Ahead the road came to a soft curve around the neat houses and gardens that had just begun to grow in the warm spring weather. As she turned, voices floated down towards her and she could catch snippets of a conversation.

"Seriously, we could make a fortune out of it!"

A small group of teenagers - two boys and a girl - came into view on the opposite sidewalk. By the looks of them, they were about fourteen - just like her herself - or perhaps fifteen. The one who had just spoken, a round-faced boy with a mop of raspberry blonde curls, was walking slightly in front of his friends, an excited expression plastered across his features as he glanced from one to the other. The other boy and girl shared a look, before the latter spoke.

"Hate to break it to you, Jasper, but I think you're about the only one who collects buckets," she deadpanned, brushing the frizzy, black hair away from her face. She was at least a head shorter than the other two, but oozed confidence.

"Yeah," the other boy chimed in - he had short, blonde hair, styled to one side, and a somewhat muscular build. "I don't see how we could make a fortune out of buckets either. We sell them at Junk N' Stuff for two dollars-fifty - sometimes even half of that."

The raspberry blonde - whose name was apparently Jasper - shook his head vigorously.

"Have you seen the number of listeners on my bucket podcast?" he pointed out. "Plus, it's the Montgomery bucket: one of the rarest ones in the world!"

"It's still just a bucket," the black-haired girl sighed.

"No, the Montgomery bucket!" Jasper said indignantly, as if it made all the difference in the world, and made a grand gesture. "Also…"

Jasper and the girl continued bickering among themselves, while the second boy in the group simply smiled absentmindedly at his friends' antics, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. The girl on the other side of the street smiled too, but for a different reason.

They were exactly the people she was looking for.

Without hesitation, she hurried across the road, almost running to catch up with the trio.

That's the prologue then! I hope you liked it, and I'll see you (hopefully) next week!