CHAPTER 3

After Valerie recovered, Gabriel went back to the living room and sat down with Steve and Brent. Even though he read most of the comic books, he still couldn’t figure out how they got their abilities. He looked at Steve and asked, “How’d you get your steel forearms, really? I mean, what happened to your regular ones?”

Steve cleared his throat and explained, “One summer day, when I was six years old, I was playing some ball with my brothers in the city park. Someone was walking past us with a fierce bulldog that just started barking. We ignored it at first, but the dog suddenly broke off its leash and started chasing me. I ran as fast as I could.”

“Were they able to stop it?” Gabriel asked.

“Nope,” Steve replied. “Ken, Pete, Brent, and the dog’s owner all tried, but just before they caught it, the dog started attacking me, and ripped both my forearms off.”

Gabriel made a face and shuddered.

“Yeah, I know it’s gross,” Steve said. “Anyway, I had to spend two weeks in the hospital. They couldn’t put my forearms back together, so I got man-made ones, and I kept getting bigger pairs as my arms got bigger.”

He showed him his latest pair. “I got this model from Uncle Harry when I was eighteen. He was Marigold City’s most famous steel worker and mechanic.” He pointed to the switch and button on the left forearm. “With this switch, I can choose any weapon I want. Look, I can have a laser, bullets, missiles, mini-grenades or small gas bombs. And once I choose my weapon, I just push the button to shoot.”

“The best thing about those forearms,” Brent added, “is they both have unlimited ammo.”

Gabriel smiled. “Really?” he asked. “Is that ever neat!” He turned to Brent. “What about you, Brent? Where did you get your powers?”

Before Brent could answer, Steve said, “Oh, that’s simple. One night, when Brent was around ten, our father took us all for a night drive in the country, just to see the stars. Just as we got settled, a great big UFO touched down in the field. Then, some aliens came out. We thought they were harmless, but then they kidnapped Brent and took him back to their spaceship. At first, we thought maybe they’d take him to their planet. But then, it looked as if they gave him a brain probe.”

“Shut up!” Brent retorted. “I did not get kidnapped by aliens, and I did not get a brain probe! It was all a dream!”

“That ship looked pretty real to me,” Steve argued. “And if you didn’t get a brain probe, then why did you come out of there clutching your head, and looking all weird? And you know what happened the next morning? You could turn on the TV and radio just by looking at them. You made the dining room chandelier swing all by itself at breakfast. And why was the front door swinging open and closed by itself? It was because of you.”

Brent started to say something, but the sensor in the living room began to flash and beep. He and Steve took Gabriel and rushed to the computer room. Ken, Pete and Sara were already there, studying a crime in progress. They were looking at the crime in action.

“It’s a hold-up at the Second National Bank!” Ken announced.

Sara noticed eight men with guns, wearing black and grey suits. “Who are those guys?” she asked.

“Vinnie Napoleon’s henchmen,” Pete answered.

Gabriel ran over and took a quick look at them. He turned to Sara, grabbed her hand and said, “Sara, I’ll explain this to you on the way.”

Ken looked at his brothers and said, “Boys, we’ve got work to do! Let’s move out!”

Then, all four raised their fists in the air and yelled the battle cry: “It’s Manheart time!” They all quickly left the room, with Gabriel and Sara following behind. Moments later, Valerie came out of Ken’s bedroom.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Our first crime-fighting adventure,” Gabriel explained quickly. “Come along, Valerie. And hurry up! There’s a robbery going on.” Without a word, Valerie caught up to her siblings, and they ran out of the house, into the van.

Gabriel, Sara and Valerie were sitting in the back of the van. They were listening to Ken discuss fight plans with his brothers. Gabriel didn’t want to disturb him, so he huddled with his sisters and quietly explained Marigold City’s crime wave.

“You see, there’s this guy, Vinnie Napoleon, who wants to have total control over Marigold City,” he whispered. “And he’s the man behind every crime committed here. Robbery, shoplifting, kidnapping – if it’s wrong, he does it. And he hires the most famous bad guys to do his bidding.”

“Gee, this man is terrible,” Sara commented.

“How does he get his men?” Valerie asked. “Does he break them out of prison?”

“Maybe, but you wouldn’t believe what these guys do to get hired,” Gabriel answered. “In The San Francisco Moon, Napoleon hired a new guy after he shot a jewellery store owner, turned off the alarms, and stole the biggest diamond in the store.”

“Let me guess, the San Francisco Moon,” Sara said.

“You got that right,” Gabriel replied.

They arrived at the bank soon afterwards. Before he got out, Ken turned to Gabriel, Valerie and Sara. “Stay here, all right, guys?” he said. “We have some serious work to do.” Then he jumped out.

The children sat in the van for only a few minutes when Gabriel opened the back doors and stepped out. Sara stopped him, saying, “Gabriel, where are you going? Ken told us to stay here.”

“And miss out on all the cool stuff?” Gabriel asked. “I think not.” He started towards the bank. Sara looked at Valerie and shrugged, then they jumped out of the van, closed the doors and ran into the bank.

They leapt through the large holes in the front windows, the tinkling of broken glass beneath their shoes. They saw frightened customers kneeling on the ground, and tellers ducked behind the counters, peering over at the action. Then, they saw the Manhearts fighting the crooks.

Ken punched one man hard enough to send him through a window. Pete picked up two men and threw them over the counters. Brent was using his powers to make a man stick to the ceiling. And one man was quick enough to dodge Steve’s laser beams. They noticed a white sphere-shaped device with an antennae and lens, floating around to catch the action.

“Wow, is this ever cool!” Gabriel whispered. He started running towards the battle, but Valerie tried to stop him.

“Gabriel, get back here!” she called.

But Gabriel didn’t listen to her. He ran up to one of the grey-suited crooks, and stopped when the man’s gun was aimed at him. “Don’t move, buddy!” the crook shouted. Gabriel made fists at him, prepared to fight.

Ken saw this and ran over to rescue the boy. Before Gabriel could do anything, Ken grabbed him and took him out of the battle. The others noticed Gabriel too, and the fight soon stopped.

“Gabriel, what are you doing?!” Ken cried.

He never answered him. Instead, Gabriel put up his fists and made punching movements at the crooks. He looked like he was trying to break free from Ken. “Come on, who’ll fight me?!” he yelled. “Put ’em up, boys! Put up your dukes!” The other crooks prepared their guns and aimed at Gabriel.

Meanwhile, Sara was staring at the mysterious device focused on Gabriel. She whispered to Valerie, “What is that thing?”

“I have no idea,” Valerie whispered back. “Looks like a camera or something.”

Ken took Gabriel back to the girls, while the others fought the rest of the crooks. “Stay here, all right, Gabriel?” he whispered. “We’ll talk about this later.” He looked at the girls. “Keep him out of our way.” Then he ran back to the fight.

The device started straight towards the children, stopping a few feet away from them. The lens was staring at them all. Gabriel whistled. “Cool video camera,” he said.

Valerie looked at him in amazement. “How did you know?” she asked.

He pointed at it. “Look at the lens, how its concave shape is just below the surface. Only a small video camera would be built like that. Plus, the light above it is shining, meaning that it’s still on.”

Meanwhile, at his headquarters, crime boss Vinnie Napoleon was shaking his head, grumbling and sighing. He was on his own computer, watching the action the flying camera was taping. He didn’t like what his saw. The Manhearts were foiling his plans once again. He buried his face in his hands.

“Failure, failure, failure!” he moaned. “Drat, I have to find a way to slow those boys down somehow.”

He brought his head back up to see Gabriel preparing to fight, and Ken rescuing him. He focused in closer to study him.

“Interesting,” Napoleon said. “Very interesting.”

The camera wasn’t focused on the fight anymore, but on Ken and Gabriel. Napoleon heard Ken say, “Gabriel, what in heck do you think you’re doing? Why aren’t you in the van? I think you’d better come with me!” Napoleon watched as they left the view, and it was back on the fight.

Napoleon was thinking deeply. “Gabriel,” he said. “Such an interesting name. I wonder how he got in their picture?”

He looked at the screen again to see the camera moving towards Gabriel and his sisters. He listened to them talking. Gabriel had finished talking about the camera, then looked at the fight again. He said, “Valerie, Sara, I’d say this device belongs to the bad guys.”

Napoleon laughed spitefully and said, “Oh, you got that right, boy.”

He stood up and walked over to his mirror. He was staring at himself, his balding, oval-shaped head, his stocky build, the black suit he wore. He grinned at his reflection.

“Valerie, Sara and Gabriel,” he said to the mirror. “So, the Brothers Manheart have new friends, do they? Well, that’s just perfect. I’m sure they’ll enjoy being in a far off place, so I can have complete control over Marigold City.” He laughed evilly.

Back at the bank, the Brothers Manheart had defeated Napoleon’s henchmen, and tied them all together. While they waited for the police, Ken took Gabriel aside for a private talk.

“What in the world do you think you were doing?” he said through gritted teeth. “You were supposed to stay in the van.”

“And miss out on all the action?” Gabriel said. “I don’t think so.”

Steve walked up to them and looked at Gabriel. “You really had no business getting involved,” he said to him. “It’s just like when I showed you the weapons room. You can’t handle our weapons, and you’re not really that skilled in fighting. You could’ve gotten hurt today.”

Ken spoke to Gabriel again. “Look, we know how much you like us, and that you want to be with us all the time. But there are times when you just can’t. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Gabriel lowered his head and replied softly. “I guess I do.” He brought his head back up, and saw all the brothers standing together. “Look, you guys, I’m sorry for what I did. I’ll bet I put you all in danger.”

“Not really,” Pete said. “We’re all brave souls who laugh in danger’s face. You put yourself in danger, Gabriel.”

Ken looked at his brothers, and Gabriel, Valerie and Sara. “Come on, let’s go home,” he said. “We’ll continue this later. There’s a lot we need to teach you.”