had they ever fought back NO They had to protect their secret identities and the work they did around the world Well it was all bunk What was the point of having superpowers if you couldn’t fight the bullies who tormented you One day while the school’s resident meanie was dunking Simon’s head into a toilet the boy had realized that knuckleheads like this one would always torment people like him The only way to change it would be to change everything He decided to destroy the world With society in shambles people would be forced to rely on those with great intelligence namely himself Once again reading and learning would be held in high regard and people like Simon would be admired rather than abused and humiliated But his brilliant plan had been foiled by his own teammates Of all people in the world he had been sure his former friends would join him They too were misfits outcasts spazzes they’d been bullied stuffed in lockers and forced to hand over their milk money on a daily basis But Simon had failed to see the effect Duncan Dewey had on the others The chubby kid had always been a walking ball of positive energy The abuse he suffered time and time again seemed to roll right off his back And his grating optimism had infected the team He’d even managed to convince the others to accept Jackson Jones one of their cruelest tormentors as a new member When Simon finally revealed his brilliant plan to the NERDS Duncan turned against him and the others followed They acted as if he had betrayed them Simon’s thirst for revenge kept him going now through the painful climb He was close to the summit At the top he hoped
to find the remains of Dr Jigsaw’s secret fortress or at least some clothing and food But when he was only a few inches away the mountain shook violently He bit hard into the ice with what was left of his strength He knew well the source of the tremors Jigsaw’s continental-shift machine was still active and was forcing the mountain farther into the sky There was another quake and this time Simon’s teeth could not hold on The next thing he knew he was falling down down down into the sea He hit the waves with a painful splash and exhausted sank into the icy black abyss For Simon death seemed inevitable But fate had another plan It flash froze him like a fish stick His heartbeat slowed to an almost undetectable rhythm as did all his brain function Every molecule in his body crystallized and a block of ice quickly formed around him turning the boy into an ice cube of evil For weeks he floated south with the currents bumping into ice floes around Iceland and Greenland drifting past Canada and right down the eastern seaboard of the United States Several lobster boats tried to reel him in but the block was simply too heavy and by the time Coast Guard officials got there to investigate Simon had drifted away The cube shrank a bit as it bobbed along in the warm waters of the Florida Keys and on down past Cuba Eventually what was left of the chunk of ice washed ashore on a tiny uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea The waves hurled it onto a pebbly beach where it was met by a squirrel with huge front teeth Shocked by the cube’s sudden appearance the squirrel fled into the jungle and didn’t
return for three days By then the ice had melted considerably When the squirrel mustered enough bravery it hopped on top of the cube It licked the ice and then spat out the salty water Then just as it was sure the ice posed no danger or benefit it peered into the crystal cube and saw Simon’s giant buckteeth It let out a startled squeak and began to dig at the ice with its little claws Its excited chirps brought dozens of squirrels out of the jungle and together they scratched and chipped at the ice working to free the boy Squirrels are not big thinkers as a rule but if one had read the minds of these particular squirrels one would understand that they thought they had stumbled upon their god Three months later High in the jungle trees a dark figure jumped from limb to limb It ran along impossibly narrow branches and leaped across insanely large gaps As it hopped it shook a feast of wild nuts from the branches down to a pack of squirrels waiting below They scurried about gathering the nuts until a fight broke out between two of the bigger squirrels There was much squeaking and screeching until the figure from above swooped down and landed in front of them The squirrels suddenly lowered their heads not from fear but as if they were under a powerful spell Their master had arrived He was not a squirrel but a boy with shaggy red hair and blue eyes wearing torn jeans and broken shoes His thick glasses were held together by tiny strips of sticky vines and his two front teeth protruded out of his mouth like totem poles He
spoke None of you should be fighting over nuts These are for the trip If you want something to eat work on the blackberry bush the berries won’t keep aboard the boat The boy pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked up Black clouds were gathering in the east He muttered If my calculations are correct this entire island will be under water by tomorrow night Prepare yourselves minions We leave in the morning
