"Are you sure," whispered a voice, filled with concern, "that this is safe?"

"It should be," replied a second, lower and more certain voice. "This place was always well locked up by now. No reason that should've changed."

Armed with black flashlights that produced a red beam, the pair of people creeped through the building they knew so well- even if it had been a few years since they were last anywhere near it.

They had been busy paying off debt. Debt to society, that is. Prison time in Swelliew's jail.

"What if..." the first voice started. The sentence wasn't finished.

The second person didn't acknowledge the uncompleted question. "The extra key should be above the door."

One person aimed their flashlight up. The other reached, and, after a moment of searching, clutched an extra key and put it in the lock.

Knowing that slowly meant squeaky, the person that the second voice belonged to swing the door open, the other person catching it right before the knob could smack into the wall. Their flashlights helped them examine the room.

"This brings back memories," said the first voice, both sarcastically and sincerely. The pair spent numerous hours in this building, either plotting, executing, or faking.

"Hello, old friend," said the second voice, shining his flashlight onto the control board that he knew so well. "Ready to help us out again?"

"Yes," breathed the first voice, making the second person jump. "Not funny!" Person 2 exclaimed, smacking her arm. Person 1 smirked.

"Just start packing," grumbled the second voice. "The last thing we need is to get caught."

Person 1's smirk disappeared, even if neither of them could see it, their flashlights being on all the surrounding equipment.

"This is going to take a few trips," said the first voice.

"I don't care," the second voice said, growing bitter. "You know what the goal is."

"Yes I do." Person 1 stopped packing. "Those two sorry excuses for superheroes."

"Technically, one of them is a sidekick."

"Whatever." The first person resumed their work. "I still hate them."

"Yeah."

A few silent minutes of packing equipment passed before Person 2 spoke again. "Let's get this down to the van and come back."

"Yeah," the first person agreed. Then, "I can't wait."

"Me, neither."

The first person's face was almost visible in the moonlight that was leaking through the curtain of the front door window. "We're coming for you, Captain Man and Kid Danger."

Miles away, in the same city, Kid Danger's alter ego was waking up in his bed at his home.

Henry sat up, gasping. He had been having a dream- no, a nightmare- that caused him to wake up covered in sweat. He wasn't sure what it was about, but the relief of knowing it wasn't real was washing over him. He felt a cool breeze; his window was open. I must have forgotten to close it.

Henry looked over at his phone. It was one-thirty in the morning. He yawned, stretching to get back to sleep.

The thought of getting some shut-eye was rudely interrupted by his watch, which started beeping three times.

It wasn't the beeping itself that made Henry really wake up; it was the knowledge that a triple beep meant there was an emergency. True, Ray had triple beeped him for non-emergency situations before, but better to be safe than sorry.

"What's going on?" Henry asked as he opened up with watch. Captain Man was staring back at him.

"Henry, I need your help."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out." Henry reached behind him and closed his hand around his gumball tube. "What's happening?" Henry asked as he popped a gumball into his mouth.

"Jeff is at the park."

Henry almost spit out his gum. "Wha- seriously?! That's it?!"

"Come on, Henry. I don't wanna go alone! I'll be bored!"

Henry sighed. "Fine. Where are you right now?"

"Hiya, Henry!" Captain Man stuck his head in the window.

"Ahh!" Henry jumped and kind of rolled off the bed, tangled in his sheet and quilt.

"Shhh!" Captain Man shushed him. "Don't wake your family!"

"Please, they could sleep through a hurricane," said Henry as he struggled to get up. "You were in the tree?!"

"Yeah, I sorta realized that I forgot to call you, but I had to pass your house, anyway." Captain Man shrugged before laughing at the look on Henry's face. "Blow your bubble, Kid."

Having finally escaped from the sheets and blankets trap, Henry stood up and took the stance he was usually in when transforming into Kid Danger; Charlotte, his best friend, had started referring to it as the "Ego Pose" because, well, the stance speaks for itself.

Henry chewed his gum a little more and blew. Lights engulfed him as he became Kid Danger, superhero sidekick to Captain Man. Grabbing his cell phone, Kid Danger followed Captain Man out the window.

Off to save the world, he thought, from the universe's most idiotic excuse for a villian.

Person 1 and Person 2 had just finished their work when they both got a chill up their spines. They both looked around.

"Did you feel that?" Person 2 shined his flashlight around.

"Yeah," said Person 1, doing the same. "What's happening?"

They both stood still for a short moment. That moment turned into a solid minute.

"Do you think…?" Person 1, once again, was unable to finish her sentence.

Person 2, however, knew what she was trying to ask. "Don't worry, sis. He can't do anything to us. We're legal adults now."

"Don't call me 'sis'," said Person 1 automatically. "But that also means we're in our own."

It had been long enough since their initial arrest that the two trouble making teens had become legal adults. They hadn't grown all that much physically, and their mental age… well, that hadn't changed much for them, either.

The two spent most of their time in prison thinking. Not reflecting on what they could've done to be better citizens, like they were told to, but constantly playing the "If Only" game. As in, "If only we hadn't stayed at the studio..." and "If only we didn't have to stop for gas…." Things that could've happened that wouldn't result in them getting caught.

They also spent a lot of time plotting. More specifically, coming up with scemes to get even with Captain Man and Kid Danger. Most of their little plans were incredibly stupid, but it's not like they ever got a chance to carry them out. The worst thing they had done while in prison was starting a food fight. Twice.

"Let's go," said Person 1. "They'll be expecting us."

"Right." Person 2 went straight for the driver's seat. They had argued for five minutes before agreeing that she would drive there and he would drive back.

As they opened the doors, the lights inside their van- their precious van, the only thing from their old life they still had- lit up. Even though they killed the lights immediately, anyone passing by could have identified them.

But no one was around to watch Derek and Maddy Richards speed away.

*Henry Danger villian voice* I hath returned!

*Normal voice* Hey, everybody! New story here as promised. :)

So, as far as the setting goes, I am placing this story in the time between "Up the Stairs!" and "Danger Things" because, well, reasons.

As always, spoiler warning, even episodes beyond "Up the Stairs" may be referenced or hinted at, so read at your own risk!

Which reminds me, this story has no relation to the previous two I have written. Shoutout to PicassoPenguin for asking about that in a review for Dream Busted because I hadn't thought to mention that. :)

Also, I realize it's been a while since we've seen Derek and Maddy, so, just to recap, they were the trouble making teens from "Spin and Win" on Let's Make A Steal. (Ah, memories.)

Ciao, and Happy Reading!