Tulip growled threateningly. ‘Oh, yes you will.’

  Weird-Warp threw the drill down and reached for his laser freezing gun, but Tulip was too fast and snatched it first. She tossed the gun on the floor then jumped on it to break it. ‘Now you won’t be able to freeze anyone ever again,’ she hissed at him.

  The moment Beth released Romeo from the chair, he felt his powers surge through his body. Using his super speed and super strength he lunged at Professor Weird-Warp, pushed him into a cage, and locked it. ‘How do you like being treated the same way you treat everyone else?’

  Weird-Warp smiled wickedly. ‘Not bad, actually. You cute little nitwit, you’ve locked me in the only cage that has a back door.’ He flicked a switch on the wall. A panel opened behind him, and he stepped through it. ‘This room once formed the bottom of the penguin enclosure, which was filled with water. I’m so glad we kept that functionality when we converted the space to a laboratory.’ He pressed another button. The locks on the doors clicked. Grates opened at the base of the walls and water began gushing in.

  ‘I hope you can hold your breath for a really, really long time,’ Weird Warp said. ‘Otherwise you’re going to be in a whole lot of trouble when this place fills to the top. Such a pity you weren’t willing to come to the Mutant Animal Experiment Party. We would have had such fun. Anyway, I’m off to lead my chick-oats through the city so we can fully and finally destroy it. Toodle-oo!’

  Weird-Warp stepped back. The panel snapped shut, leaving the four friends staring at each other as the water rose rapidly around them. Already it was up to their knees. Several of the lighter tables and chairs began to float, drifting around in the water.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Beth said.

  Ham paced up and down, splashing in the cold water. ‘We need time to think.’

  ‘We don’t have time,’ Tulip said. ‘The water is rising too quickly.’

  Romeo jumped onto a table to survey the room. He noticed a slight difference in the paint on one of the walls.

  ‘I wonder,’ he murmured.

  He knew that many animals in the zoo had indoor spaces – like dens – where they could relax away from the visitors. There were often tunnels from the dens out to the public areas where the animals performed. Like in a theatre that had backstage areas and dressing rooms for performers to prepare. If this was the stage for the penguins, then perhaps through the archway there was a dressing room.

  At least, I hope there is, Romeo thought.

  He leapt into the water and swam over to the wall, scraping at it with his claws to reveal an archway that had indeed been covered up. ‘I think I’ve found something,’ he shouted to the others.

  Everyone waded over to him.

  ‘Can you break through it?’ Ham asked.

  While he trod water, Romeo punched through the brick archway using his super strength. The wall trembled and shook and bits of plaster and brick fell into the water, which was so deep that now everyone was floating.

  ‘Hurry up!’ Beth gasped. ‘I don’t think I can’t hold on for much longer.’

  ‘Throw me at the wall, Tulip,’ Romeo said. ‘As hard as you can.’

  Tulip looked uncertain. ‘Are you sure?’

  Romeo rapped the top of his skull with his knuckles. ‘I have a hard head – it’s saved me more than a few times when I’ve fallen out of trees.’

  ‘All right.’ Tulip plucked Romeo from the water.

  He curled himself into a tight ball and shouted, ‘Do it!’

  Tulip lifted her arm up high and threw Romeo at the wall. It was a bad shot and Romeo completely missed the archway, rebounding off the wall to skim like a stone across the water before landing with a splash on the other side of the room.

  The water continued rising.

  ‘I’m okay!’ Romeo swam back to Tulip. ‘Let’s try that again,’ he said.

  Tulip lifted Romeo out of the water and did a wind up like a baseball pitcher, swinging her arm around and around. Once she had enough momentum, she pegged Romeo at the wall. This time he burst through it, landing in a corridor on the other side.

  ‘I’m through!’ he cheered.

  Romeo tore at the wall from his side, making the hole bigger. Water gushed out of it and splashed into the corridor. But now the hole had been made, the others were able to climb through. All were exhausted and soaked, but they were safe and alive.

  ‘We need to get back to the hideout to develop a plan to stop the chick-oats once and for all,’ Romeo said.

  The others agreed. When they raced out of the underground tunnels and into the main part of the zoo, there was no one around. As they drove the sloth-mobile towards Lower Manhattan, the streets all appeared deserted. There were no people, no animals. Only discarded cans, papers, and packets rolling around in the breeze.

  ‘It’s a ghost town,’ Tulip said.

  ‘Everyone’s evacuated because of the chick-oats,’ Ham said from the backseat. ‘Turn the news on.

  Tulip tapped a button on the dashboard and the screen lit up.

  ‘With chick-oats destroying all in their path, the only safe place is the harbour.’ Romeo recognised Jim Ruffnutt, the reporter from NYC4U News. ‘Battery Park and the ferry terminal are teeming with people and animals trying to escape the hideous infection that’s taken over our once beautiful city. This is a dire situation. I honestly don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to hold on.’

  Behind Jim Ruffnutt, Professor Weird-Warp could be seen whipping the chick-oats into a frenzy, tearing down buildings and frightening passers-by. Crying children, pups, joeys, and cubs huddled together. It was a pitiful sight.

  ‘The diabolical man responsible for this pandemonium, Professor Ian Weird-Warp, has told Mayor von Shoo to step down so he can take over,’ Jim Ruffnutt bellowed into his microphone over the noise around him. ‘If she doesn’t, Weird-Warp has promised to level the city. We’ve already lost several iconic statues and buildings to these destructive bird-brained mini bulldozers. What more can we give?’

  As the news report ended, the team found themselves back at their hideout. They parked in the garage then hurried into the Hub, a large round room filled with computers, TVs, and other tech that Ham managed.

  Live footage of the chick-oat invasion played on various screens lining the walls.

  ‘This isn’t fair,’ Beth said, taking a seat on a tall stool behind the communications desk. ‘Look at the destruction they’re causing!’

  Ham cleared his whiteboard and grabbed a marker. ‘Let’s put our heads together and come up with some ideas to stop this destruction,’ he said. ‘Go!’ As the team brainstormed ways to stop the chick-oats, Ham scribbled everything down.

  ‘Do they have a queen?’ Beth said. ‘Like a beehive or swarm?’

  ‘Are they hungry? Tulip said. ‘Those baboons sure were.’

  ‘Are they friendly?’ Romeo said. ‘Or do we need to overcome them with force?’

  ‘Should we talk to the police?’ Tulip suggested. ‘Can they help?’

  ‘They’re doing all they can,’ Beth said. ‘All the emergency services are, but they’re out of their depth and I don’t blame them. I feel the same.’

  ‘Can we control them with food?’ Romeo said. ‘They have an insatiable hunger, maybe because they’re not getting what they want. What do chickens and goats eat? Grass? Flowers? Worms? Grain?’

  ‘They do act like they’re starving,’ Ham said.

  ‘Maybe Weird-Warp hasn’t been feeding them,’ Beth replied, ‘that’s why they’re in a frenzy. A feeding frenzy.’

  ‘They belong in a circus if you ask me,’ Tulip muttered.

  Romeo’s eyes lit up. ‘What about Circus Berserkus? I saw ads for it. That would be perfect for the chick-oats. They can learn tricks and acrobatics and it’s out in the country so there’s plenty of space.’

  ‘And fencing,’ Ham added.

  ‘Right,’ Romeo continued. ‘Plus, they’ll have plenty of food and things to do. These chick-oats would be perfect for a circus that claims to be totally berserk.’

  Agreeing that the circus was their best option, the group focused on finding a supply of food to attract the chick-oats.

  ‘We can’t sacrifice worms,’ Ham said. ‘Even if they are repugnant little wriggly things, they still have feelings. Besides, goats don’t eat worms, do they?’

  Beth shook her head. ‘Not last time I checked. And chickens don’t really eat flowers or grass. But they do love grain.’

  ‘Then it has to be grain,’ Tulip said. ‘Chickens and goats both eat grain.’

  Romeo tapped his chin with his claw. ‘I don’t know where we can find enough grain to feed all those chick-oats at short notice, but I might have an alternative.’

  It wasn’t grain that Romeo was thinking of. It was nuts. Lots and lots of nuts. The nuts the Central Park squirrels had put away at the start of the chick-oat outbreak.

  After some convincing, Romeo managed to get the squirrels to hand over their spoils so they could use them to attract the chick-oats. The problem was, squirrels forget where they put half of their nut stash, but with a little help from Ham – who complained he was much better at finding truffles than nuts – they managed to source plenty of nuts for the chick-oats.

  Beth’s billionaire father owned a transport company – among other businesses – so she was able to borrow several trucks from him. While she, Ham, and Tulip worked with the squirrels to collect the nuts and load them into the trucks, Romeo set out in search of the chick-oats. It wasn’t long before he came across the first tornado of mischievous mutant monstrosities.

  ‘Berk-berk-baa!’ The crazed mutants cried as they tore towards a Barnes and Noble bookstore on Broadway.

  ‘I can’t let you eat these precious books,’ Romeo said, throwing himself in front of the shop doors. ‘Look into my eyes! Look into my eyes!’

  The chick-oat tornado screeched to a halt. As the strange-looking creatures gazed directly at Romeo’s irresistible face, they became entranced.

  ‘Berk-berk-baaaaaaa,’ they sighed in unison.

  ‘Follow me,’ Romeo said, ‘and I’ll give you more food than you can ever eat.’

  The chick-oats were completely under Romeo’s control. They fell into line behind him, gambolling along contentedly as he searched for more mutants. He found a second tornado in the process of demolishing the LEGO Store on Fifth Avenue brick by brick. Literally.

  Romeo turned his super cuteness factor onto this new batch of chick-oats. ‘Look into my eyes!’ he said.

  The LEGO eaters fell under Romeo’s spell too. ‘Berk-berk-baaaaaaa,’ they sighed in unison, following him placidly out of the shop in a line behind the book eaters, their little goat hooves clip-clop-clipping on the footpath as Romeo went in search of the next chick-oat tornado, all the while keeping an eye out in case he saw Professor Weird-Warp.

  Romeo worked quickly, whipping through the city at super speed and hypnotising every chick-oat he came across. Then he led them all back to Central Park like the Pied Piper leading the rats out of Hamelin. When the chick-oats saw the trucks loaded with nuts they couldn’t believe their eyes. Berk-berk-baaing with glee, they galloped towards the trucks and threw themselves into the piles of nuts, devouring them greedily. Once they’d had their fill, a calm fell over them and they lay sprawled out in groups, their hunger finally sated.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Tulip whispered in Romeo’s ear.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he whispered back, ‘but I think this is my chance.’ He turned to address the chick-oats. ‘Please, chick-oats, hear me out!’ he began. ‘I know you didn’t mean to be so destructive. I know you were hungry and under the control of a very bad man. But I have a much nicer place for you to go to. It’s a circus in the country and we’re going to take you there. You’ll be happy and safe and well-fed. You’ll never have to attack another city again.’

  A moment’s silence ensued. Romeo glanced questioningly at Beth, unsure if the chick-oats had understood him and wondering what to do next. Before she could do or say anything, however, the chick-oats made a new noise. A contented noise. A happy noise. ‘Cluck-cluck-maa!’

  ‘Well, that seemed to work,’ Ham said, brushing his trotters against one another. ‘Let’s get them out of here while they still have full tummies.’

  The truck drivers rushed to close their doors before the chick-oats grew hungry again. As the last door swung shut, a buzzing noise overhead made everyone look up. It was the professor’s purple-and-green gyrocopter. Hector was flying the aircraft while Weird-Warp hung out the window shouting, ‘Where do you think you’re taking my chick-oats?’

  The moment Hector landed the gyrocopter, Weird-Warp leapt out of the aircraft and lunged at Beth, grabbing her, and dragging her away from the others. ‘Unlock the truck doors or else!’ Weird-Warp cried.

  ‘Don’t do it!’ Beth said, wrestling against the professor’s grasp. ‘Don’t listen to him.’

  Hector ran over to the trucks, trying to undo the doors, but Tulip swiped him away with her paw. ‘Scram!’ she hissed at him.

  Hector giggled maniacally and scurried away.

  Romeo decided to try his super cuteness factor on Weird-Warp. ‘Look into my eyes!’ he commanded the professor.

  ‘I won’t!’ Weird-Warp turned away, but it was too late. He was caught in Romeo’s irresistible gaze like a fly trapped in honey. ‘Oh, you are an extraordinarily cute little sloth, that’s for sure.’ Smitten with Romeo, the professor released his hold on Beth.

  She ran over to Ham and Romeo. ‘Don’t ever touch me again,’ she told Weird-Warp.

  ‘Anything you and the little sloth sayyyyyy…’ Weird-Warp sighed, still in a trance.

  ‘Boss!’ Hector snapped his fingers in front of the professor’s face. ‘Snap out of it. Don’t let him draw you in. Boss!’

  The sound of approaching police car sirens filled the air. Distracted, Romeo glanced away momentarily. His hold on Weird-Warp broke and the professor came to his senses. ‘What just happened?’

  Hector tugged at Weird-Warp’s sleeve. ‘Come on, Boss. We’ve got to get out of here.’ The professor tried to argue, but Hector hurried him back into the gyrocopter and they took off. Weird-Warp couldn’t help himself, though, and even as they retreated, he leaned out the window and shook his fist at Romeo. ‘I will get you Super Sloth!’ he cried. ‘And when I do …’ his voice faded, his final words drowned out by the police sirens.

  ‘What did he say?’ Beth asked.

  Romeo smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter. All we can be sure of is that he’ll be back one day. And when he does return, we’ll be ready for him. Right, team?’

  ‘Right,’ Beth said.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Ham agreed.

  All eyes turned expectantly to Tulip. ‘What can I say? You’ve guys have grown on me like algae grows on Romeo.’ She shrugged. ‘So, it’s a yes from me too.’

  The friends cheered and hugged each other, relieved the city had finally been cleared of the chick-oat infection. As the trucks drove off, taking the mutant animals to their new home, the Super Sloth Team made their way back to their hideout where they celebrated their victory with a delicious Pancake Party.

  Although Romeo thought he’d earned a sleep-in, the following morning Beth woke him early while he was still snoring in his hammock.

  ‘Come quickly,’ she said. ‘You have to see this.’

  Romeo hurried into the Hub, his moth ecosystem fluttering sleepily after him. ‘Morning.’ He nodded to Tulip and Ham as the tech-savvy pig brought a TV news report up on the big screen.

  ‘Who would have thought that a new menace would plague New York City so soon after those horrendous chick-oats?’ Jim Ruffnutt said as he stood outside the Museum of National History in the pouring rain. ‘But here we are. Reports of large creatures emerging from the sewers have begun to flow through to our newsroom. These creatures look like a cross between a razorback hog and an alligator.’ The newsroom mustn’t have had any photos of the creatures because a hand-drawn picture of a mutant animal with a hog’s head and an alligator’s body – complete with long, scaly tale – flashed onto the screen before being replaced by the live video of Jim Ruffnutt once more. ‘We’ll have more on this story as it comes to hand. Until then, keep your eyes peeled and please, take care.’

  Romeo stared at the others. ‘Hog-ators?’ he said. ‘What new breed of freaky is this?’

 

 

  Aleesah Darlison, Super Sloth Episode 2

 

 

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