Superhero School Page 5
‘Very,’ agreed Stan. ‘If I was a short-sighted teacher, I might even fancy you.’
Miles scowled and straightened his wig. He was tottering along like a giraffe on roller skates.
‘I still don’t see how this is going to help,’ he moaned.
‘I told you, it’s Miss Marbles he wants,’ said Stan. ‘So you’ll be able to get close to him.’
‘I don’t want to get close,’ said Miles.
‘You’ll be fine,’ said Stan. ‘Don’t worry – we’ll be right behind you.’
Miles sighed. As plans went, this one wasn’t the most brilliant he’d ever heard.
Stan held up his hand. His ears had begun to tingle . . .
The next moment, a wall at the far end of the corridor collapsed in a heap of rubble. Pudding’s enormous head appeared through the jagged hole he’d made. He clambered over the bricks and emerged into the corridor, dragging the Green Meanie, who was trying to hold on to his lead.
‘Uh-oh,’ murmured Miles. ‘Don’t look now, but here they come.’
‘Don’t panic,’ said Stan. ‘Remember, superheroes don’t run away if they’ve got a foolproof plan.’
‘You try running in these shoes,’ muttered Miles.
Pudding lumbered on, his huge shaggy body practically filling the corridor. His tail wagged, causing a picture to crash off the wall with a shattering of glass.
The Green Meanie pulled at the lead, holding Pudding back. ‘Not yet, my pretty. All in good time,’ he purred.
The two parties came to a halt, facing each other about twenty paces apart.
‘So, Miss Marbles, you decided to come?’ sneered the Green Meanie.
Stan nudged Miles. ‘That’s you, idiot! Say something!’
‘Umm, hi, how are you?’ squeaked Miles in a high-pitched voice.
The Green Meanie narrowed his eyes suspiciously. There was something odd about the head teacher. She seemed to have shrunk since his interview, and her hair looked like a bird’s nest. No matter – soon he would be rid of the old bat and he could put his master plan into operation.
First he’d take over Mighty High and rename it the Meanie School of Evil. Once he had weeded out all the simpering weaklings, he’d begin to train his army of supervillains – and that would just be the start. Soon he would rule this pathetic town, the whole country, and eventually . . .
‘Pardon?’ said Stan.
‘Just my evil joke,’ said the Green Meanie. ‘Now, why don’t you kiddies run along straight back to your class and leave the grown-ups to settle this?’
‘Never,’ said Stan. ‘We are the Invincibles and we’re here to stop you.’
‘Oh, please, spare me the heroic speeches,’ said the Green Meanie with a sigh. ‘Just hand over Miss Marbles and no one will get hurt.’
Stan considered. ‘You promise?’
‘Scout’s honour,’ said the Green Meanie.
Stan turned to Miles and lowered his voice. ‘Remember, all you’ve got to do is grab that gizmo.’
‘But what about Pudding?’ said Miles.
The Green Meanie folded his arms impatiently. ‘I’m waiting! I will count to three. One . . .’
‘Go on,’ said Stan.
‘Two . . .’
Miles gulped and tottered forward on his high heels, with his heart thumping. He could see Pudding waiting hungrily for him up ahead, straining on his lead. At that moment Miles wished he had the kind of superpowers that were actually useful – invisibility, for instance. He stopped.
‘Well?’ he said. ‘You promised no one would get hurt – Scout’s honour.’
‘So I did,’ smiled the Green Meanie. ‘But I was thrown out of the scouts.’
He loosened his grip on the dog’s lead.
‘Supper time, Fang!’ he declared.
Pudding bounded forwards, free at last. Miles backed away as a blast of hot doggy breath hit him in the face.
‘Stan, do something!’ cried Minnie.
Pudding lowered his head, opened his huge jaws and . . .
SLURP!
Miles wiped the doggy slobber from his face.
‘You dopey, moth-eaten mongrel!’ raged the Green Meanie. ‘I said “Get him!”, not “Lick him!”’
‘I told you he was my dog,’ said Minnie.
‘So, Mr Meanpants, it looks as if your evil plan has failed,’ said Stan.
‘Fools!’ snarled the Green Meanie. ‘You think you can defeat me – the greatest supervillain of all time? Not while I still have this!’
‘A hairdryer?’
‘Don’t be stupid. This is the Gigantinator. All I have to do is turn the dial like this and I can make anything monster-sized. Heh heh heh!’
‘Wicked!’ said Stan. ‘What if you turn it the other way?’
‘I’ve never tried,’ snapped the Green Meanie.
‘No, you’re right,’ Stan agreed. ‘It might be too evil.’
‘Ha! We’ll see about that!’
‘Pudding!’ cried Minnie, holding out her arms. He bounded up to her, wagging his tail.
The Green Meanie stared. Once again he’d been tricked, and this time by a bunch of snivelling super-brats. The one in the dress had even lost his wig. Still, he wasn’t finished yet. He still had his brilliant invention.
Suddenly a frisbee zipped out of nowhere and struck his hand, sending the Gigantinator spinning from his grasp.
Stan was the first to grab it. ‘Now,’ he said, taking aim. ‘I wonder what happens if I press this button.’
The world-famous supervillain backed away. ‘No!’ he said. ‘Wait . . . let’s talk about this . . .’
The following day, the Invincibles were called into Miss Marbles’ office.
‘Well,’ said the head teacher, putting down the phone, ‘I think that about wraps it up. I’ve just spoken to the police and given them a detailed description of the Green Meanie.’
‘I still don’t know how he managed to get away,’ said Stan. ‘One minute he was there, the next he’d gone.’
‘I wouldn’t worry. I’m sure he won’t have got far,’ said Miss Marbles. ‘The main thing is that his evil plan failed and, thanks to you three, the school is safe. We can go on with our vital mission of training the superheroes of the future. In fact, that’s why I wanted to see you. I think the least you deserve is a reward.’
‘A reward?’ said Stan, leaning forward eagerly.
‘Indeed,’ said Miss Marbles, reaching into a drawer of her desk. ‘That’s why I asked Mrs Sponge to bake you this very special cake.’
She brought out a lopsided greenish-brown sponge. Cutting them each a fat slice, she handed them round.
‘Mmm . . . urgh . . . umm,’ said Stan, chewing with some difficulty.
Minnie pulled a face and spat out a soggy leaf on to her plate. ‘Ugh! What’s in it?’ she asked.
‘I’m not exactly sure,’ said Miss Marbles. ‘I think it was a new recipe, something like chocolate cabbage cake.’
Stan and his friends all looked sick and put down their plates.
‘By the way,’ continued Miss Marbles, ‘I found this hairdryer on my desk.’
They all jumped up. ‘Miss,’ warned Stan, ‘whatever you do, don’t press that button!’
Also by Alan MacDonald
The Troll Trouble series:
Trolls Go Home!
Trolls United
Trolls On Hols
Goat Pie
The History of Warts series:
Custardly Wart: Pirate (third class)
Ditherus Wart: (accidental) Gladiator
Honesty Wart: Witch Hunter!
Sir Bigwart: Knight of the Wonky Table
The Iggy the Urk series:
Oi, Caveboy!
Arrrrgh! Slimosaur!
Euuugh! Eyeball Stew!
BOOOM!
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in May 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Text copyright © Alan MacDonald 2014
Illustrations copyright © Nigel Baines 2014
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
ISBN 978 1 4088 2523 5
eISBN 978 1 4088 2714 7
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