The Villain Virus

“So who is left up there?” Flinch cried.

“Just us,” Hooper said. “We hid.”

“‘Us’?”

“Your friendly neighborhood juvenile delinquents.”

The panic hit Flinch like a slap in the face. He was a tiny, microscopic secret agent trying to save the world inside the body of a monster … and his support team consisted of four kids whose sole goal in life was to clog up toilets.

“It’s all going to work, big guy,” Toad said. “We’re going to help. Hooper’s a doctor.”

“My dad is a doctor, Toad. Not me.”

“What happened to Benjamin?”

“The librarian put a whammy on it,” Wyatt said. “It’s on the floor, popping and hissing.”

“So you’re all I’ve got,” Flinch stated.

“We are your loyal soldiers. Lead us, O great one,” Jessie said.

“Lead you! I can’t lead you. I’m the spaz.”

“The leader of the weirdos,” Toad croaked.

Flinch couldn’t help smiling. Yes, he was the leader of the weirdos, and somehow that calmed his nerves. “OK, someone needs to find a picture of a brain. Dr. Kim was mapping one, so it should be there.”

“It’s on the screen right in front of us,” Wyatt said.

“Good. Do you see a flashing dot inside it?”

“I see two!” Jessie said through his whistling nose.

“Good, one of them is me. I’m at the base of the brain.”

“We’ve got you,” Wyatt said.

“And the other beeping dot is the transmitter. I need to get to it, but I can’t just cut my way through. I could kill Heathcliff. So we need to find a path that isn’t going to hurt him.”

“Piece of cake, bro!” Wyatt said. “Looks like right now you’re hanging out on the spinal cord, and directly overhead is the cerebellum. What it does I have no idea, but it’s on the map and it’s in the way. So just push on through.”

“No way, man!” Hooper cried. “The cerebellum is the part of the brain that affects balance and muscle coordination. You screw that up and this head will never walk again.”

“It doesn’t walk now,” Toad pointed out.

“Please, guys, stop arguing. I need to hurry. I only have twelve minutes left before I’m back to normal size.”

“Hey, don’t freak,” Jessie said. “You can climb up the cerebellum and reach the brain at the top.”

Flinch did as he was told, activating the jet boosters to fly to the bottom of the brain.

“Awesome,” Hooper said. “Now you’re at a part called the occipital lobe. The chart says this part affects vision and, to a lesser degree, recognition of letters and numbers. So you gotta ask yourself: ‘Fate of the world, or a head that can’t sing the alphabet song?’”

Flinch cringed but used his laser to cut a small hole big enough for him to enter the brain. “I hate this,” he cried as he entered. “What if I just made this guy into an idiot?”

“Reading is pretty overrated, dude,” Toad said.

Once at the top of the brain, Flinch saw an amazing sight: a lightning display of little green electrical impulses and chemicals swirling from one place to another. He floated over it using his boosters.

“Bro, you are doing great. You’re out of the occipital lobe and approaching the temporal lobe,” Hooper told him. “The chart says it handles the memory of faces, as well as emotions and language.”

“Poke it and see if Heathcliff will suddenly start speaking Italian!” Wyatt said.

“I’m not poking it,” Flinch grumbled. “How much farther do I have to go?”

“Halfway there, buddy,” Hooper said. “You’re headed toward the frontal lobe, which deals with creative thinking and impulse control. The transmitter is buried there, right near the surface.”

Flinch kept moving through the gray mass until in the distance he could see a little red pulsing box.

“I see it,” Flinch said.

“Awesome possum,” Jessie said. “Uh-oh.”

“What’s ‘Uh-oh’?” Flinch cried. “You don’t get to say ‘Uh-oh.’ Only I get to ‘Uh-oh’!”

“There are two more little dots moving in your direction and they’re coming in fast. It’s got to be the librarian and her creepy boyfriend.”

Before Flinch could ask “How close?” the two figures were on him. The bigger of the two villains punched him in the chest, and even with the suit’s deflector force field, it hurt. It also knocked him backward. When he righted himself, he could feel his pack growing lighter. The Antagonist had caused a rupture, and Flinch’s fruit punch supply was seeping out. In desperation he drank as much as he could before it was completely gone.

The second figure reached down and grabbed the transmitter. He couldn’t see her face, but there was something about the way she moved. He knew it was Ms. Holiday.

“Julio, you blew it,” she said, proving his suspicions. Her voice wasn’t sweet like always. Now it was filled with a wicked glee. “I guess that’s what happens when you send the freak.”

Flinch snarled and fired his boosters, making a beeline toward Ms. Holiday’s partner. Flinch put out his fists and slammed into the man, causing him to fly in the other direction, entirely disappearing within Heathcliff’s brain.

“Dude, whatever you’re doing in there, you’d better stop,” Toad said. “The head is doing some crazy stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Well, its eyes opened and then a beam came out and the entire wall turned to ashes,” Jessie said. “Basically, it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Flinch cringed. They weren’t messing around in the head of a normal person. He had forgotten about Heathcliff’s power. The boy could change reality to suit him. “I’ll try, but you guys need to stay as far from the head as possible.”

A moment later the Antagonist pushed his way through the gray matter like a bull in a china shop. Flinch charged at him and they traded uppercuts, sending each other flying backward, only to spring back into the fight. Meanwhile, Ms. Holiday headed back the way she came, with the transmitter and without the Antagonist.

“Looks like your girlfriend is dumping you,” Flinch said.

The Antagonist growled and continued his attack.

“Listen, man! You got ten minutes before you are large and in charge,” Toad said.

“I’m on it!” Flinch said. He had to do something drastic. When the Antagonist drew close, Flinch punched him as hard as he could. The villain flew backward and slammed against the inside of the skull. Flinch fired several harpoon cables from his arms, stapling the villain against the hard bone.

No matter how much he struggled, the Antagonist could not free himself. He cursed and threatened, but Flinch was already racing after Ms. Holiday. The boy activated his foot boosters to catch up, knowing if he used his own speed, he would be out of power in no time. But soon the fuel was spent in his boots and he was forced to run on his own power. He ran along the surface of the skull and found her crouched at the base of an artery. She was cutting a hole in it and ready to climb in.

“Don’t do this, Ms. Holiday. You’re not evil.”

Ms. Holiday laughed as if what he had said was the silliest thing she had ever heard. Then she dove into the artery and disappeared. Flinch went in after her and was quickly pulled through the bloodstream.

“Where am I, guys?” Flinch shouted.

“You’re in something called the superior vena cava. It’s a vein that’s going to send you back toward the heart—that is, if you take the wrong path,” Hooper said. “Or it might take you to the mouth. I can’t tell. This chart has so many branches, it looks like a willow tree. Take the tu

Flinch did as he was told and spotted Ms. Holiday around the turn. She was swimming with the current, and so Flinch did the same. When he got close to her, he reached out and snatched her foot. She tried to kick him off, but he held on tight, clawing his way up until he had his hands on the transmitter box. She refused to release it, and the two of them fought as they plummeted through the bloodstream.