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They blew into Angus's field of vision like a storm cloud against a shock of blue sky. Faces grim, feet shuffling along the cold pavement as though they could make themselves unobtrusive by slouching down.
They looked at him plaintively. Already begging their case before a word had even left their mouths.
Angus recognized them alright. And if they were coming to him it meant trouble. Big trouble.
You see the three boys standing before him were none other than the three members of The Thundermen Crew. The third biggest crew in the sixth grade. Only beaten out by The Pine Guard and, of course, The Hornets.
And if a whole crew was coming to him with a problem then that could only mean one thing. Someone had disrespected the Thundermen.
(These three were also in his homeroom and orchestra class but that was beside the point.)
Angus shouldered his bag and leveled them with an expectant stare.
"How can I help you, gentlemen?"
"You're the detective kid right?" Asked Fitzroy Maplecourt, a slight half-elf but without a doubt the leader of the trio. He had a loud voice and a loud personality to match.
At his sides stood Argo Keene, a genasi boy who had earned a reputation for supposedly having traveled with pirates before he got to this school, and Firbolg, without a doubt the brains of this operation.
Angus nodded, "That's me."
He'd recently gotten into the business when Aubrey Little's rabbit, one Dr. Harris Bonkers had gone missing.
People had been coming to him since.
"We got a mystery for you," Argo Keene said, stepping forward.
Angus smiled, whatever this was he was gonna bust this wide open.
*
"So… someone threw mud at a rock. And you want me to do what about it?" Angus said unable to hide his disappointment. This was it? A dirty rock?
"Not just any rock!" Fitzroy cried, "This is the Big Rock! The biggest rock in a mile of the school! We marked it clearly as out territory and someone came and threw mud at it!"
Angus frowned up at the Big Rock. It really was very big, probably technically a boulder. It stood nearly six feet tall with a wide flat top. One side was marked with a big chalk lightning bolt which was now spattered with dried mud.
"Hmm."
None of this was adding up, something here smelled less fishy than a conspiracy should.
He looked down at the ground, narrowing his eyes at the slightly muddy ground.
A sigh left him like a birthday candle going out, "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do here guys. This wasn't people. Look if it was Hornet's you'd see bike tracks here or even Pine Guard you might get a good boot print. But all I'm seeing are animal prints. Looks more like a deer slipped and splattered your rock with mud than any malicious action."
“...”
"Oh," Fitzroy said quietly, a long pause, "please don’t tell anybody, this is very embarrassing, and we're trying really hard to get people to take us seriously.
Angus softened, "I get it, but really Fitzroy most everyone is pretty good people at school when it comes down to it. Hornets might get a little rough and tumble sometimes but they mostly don’t bother anyone who isn't in the way of some sweet stunt they want to do."
"I uh- I prefer Sir Fitzroy please but… thank you. I… We're all pretty new here. I just transferred, Master Firbolg used to be homeschooled and Captain Argo here grew up traveling. We're still working on the whole social hierarchy thing."
Argo sighed leaning against the Big Rock, pushing his hand through his hair, "I told my mom I wasn't cut out for this."
Angus chewed his lip thinking, "you know… if you all want. I could maybe sorta- show you the ropes tomorrow? Introduce you to everybody? I've lived here all my life so I know most of them."
“Would you really?” Fitzroy said hopefully.
*
The next few weeks leading up to winter break were some of the best Angus had had in quite a while.
It seemed that when the Thundermen had taken Angus up on his offer they had also decided that meant Angus was now an unofficial member of the team. They saved him seats at lunch, lagged behind so they could all leave school together. Invited him to join them in the woods after school and listened intently when he told them about some person from school or even just something he was interested in.
Fitzroy also insisted on calling Angus by a title.
"It's the respect you deserve!" Fitzroy told him, then turned to the rest of the lunch table which included Rainier and her friends, "Tell him to pick a title guys c’mon."
She nodded, "You should, he really will call you whatever you say, even if it's silly."
"Thank you, Queen Rainier. I do object to the word silly but beyond that, I appreciate the support," Fitzroy said, angling his head in a nod of appreciation, then stared Angus down, "Even Lady Flame let me call her something cool! So what'll it be?"
"I uh- Detective McDonald then."
Fitzroy grinned, "Perfect! I love it."
"It is very… accurate," Firbolg said approvingly.
Angus couldn't hold back a smile.
*
It was after school and Angus waved one last goodbye at Argo and Fitzroy and Firbolg as they all climbed into the Maplecourt Family minivan to have a sleepover.
"So like what's the deal with you and the Thundermen?" Mavis asked as they waited outside for Merle to pick them up, "You part of that now? Because my allegiances are leaning toward not picking yet and waiting until high school to figure out who’s cool then."
Angus shrugged, "I mean I think everyone is pretty cool right now. But no, I'm not a Thunderman. I just sorta hang out around them and Rainier and stuff."
"Rainier is pretty cool," Mavis admitted, and if Angus wasn't mistaken he could see a faint blush on her cheeks, "In a weird spooky way obviously."
"Obviously," Angus said solemnly.
"If she like- joined that crew I might think about it. Or whatever," She said kicking a rock, near her shoe, "anyway, have you read the Sasha Stern series?"
He shook his head, happy enough with the subject change, "What's that about?"
"Secret Superhero type stuff, you know. The first book is called Sasha Stern, Seventh Grade Sorceress. She fights the literal embodiment of entropy," She pulled the thin paperback out of her bag, "Wanna borrow?"
"Absolutely."
*
They were huddled behind a snow fort, taking heavy fire when Fitz turned to Angus with urgency.
"It's time, Detective McDonald," He said seriously, as Argo and Firbolg pelted the other side with snow.
"Now?! Sir Fitzroy, we're under fire!"
"It's time, I'm going to charge the other side and try to dump snow on their heads, the men will need someone to lead them if I fall. It's time for you to become an official part of Thundermen LLC. Boys, It’s time for the theme song.”
And with that they all sprung into song, frantically forming snowballs as they shouted their final battle cry, “Watch out Over the Mountain! Rain Storms coming today! DOn't get washed aWAY by the thunder- when it comes for you (for you!) (for you). If you are a bad customer, if you are a monster with big teeth (chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp chompity chomp) okay guys we just- big finish alright? AND THE LIGHTNING STRIKES!! AND THE THUNDER ROLLS!! (you are a thunder man!) TODAY!!!”
And with the ragged cry of “Today!” from Fitz he rushed out, a massive ball of snow in his hands.
He barreled straight through the wall of the other team's fortress, a rage burning in his eyes as he crackled with tiny sparks. He dropped the massive snowball on Mavis’s head and she flipped him off. But their victory came at a heavy price as Jake, in his seal form, dragged Fitz away into the igloo he’d built,
“Dang it!” Argo cried, “Mookie’s still going strong and that prison is impenetrable!”
“We are also running out of snow because Aubrey keeps melting our supply,” Firbolg said, looking down at their muddy patch of ground.
Angus set his jaw, “Sir Fitzroy sacrificed himself to bring those walls down, We have to advance while their weak, Master Firbolg, you take care of Mookie, Captain, you get Aubrey. I’ll go save our leader.”
And with that they took off, Angus casted blink directly into the prison. It was his only third level spell but he had to save Sir Fitzroy.
Fitz's voice rang out as he appeared with a pop, “Detective McDonald! I knew I could count on you, I’ve found a prisoner of war we must bring with us.”
Angus looked and saw the new kid sitting cross-legged on the ground.
“Bonjour, Ah- I am Devo? I am not very good at snowballs but I can distract the others while we run?”
Angus grinned, “Perfect.”
*
Soon everyone was shivering and so they vacated the woods behind the school and went their separate ways to get back to their homes or the lodge to warm up.
The rest of the Thundermen wanted to go to their hideout (Argo’s treehouse) to properly induct Angus.
“Okay so we definitely need a sleepover to teach you all the secret codes and stuff, so how are we gonna convince all our parents to let us have a sleepover on such short notice?” Fitzroy was pacing in front of the school.
“I don’t think I can go tonight guys,” Angus told them, "I have homework so I need to head home now. Plus my dad is making green chile stew and I've been really looking forward to it.”
Argo frowned, “But this is gonna be your first proper club meeting!”
“This is true, I am still unsure what role you will be serving within the larger corporation,” Firbolg told him.
“How bout… I’ll talk my dad into a Thunderman Company Slumber Party during winter break?”
The other boys grinned looking at one another for confirmation.
“Sounds like a plan,” Fitzroy agreed.
*
Then came the difficult part. Telling his dad.
Taako wouldn’t have a problem with it, probably would be excited for him in his secret, too-cool-to-show-feelings way.
But Angus was sorta torn on the whole telling bit?
Like it was nice being in a secret club, it felt like he was practicing being undercover. Plus he had only just been accepted as an actual Thundermen the other day! His dad knew where he was after school, don't get him wrong! He knew Angus liked to hang out with kids from school in the woods or at the library and Angus had his Adventure Zune on him at all times so he could call if he needed help or a ride. And he always let his dad know where he was gonna be after school but he had a good bit of freedom.
"You sure he's old enough?" Angus had heard his uncle Barry asking his dad one evening while Lup helped Angus work out the key of a song he was working on.
"It's a small town, pretty sure we're the worst things to happen here," His dad had said, "He's a really smart kid and I trust him to know when he needs help. He knows to call me and tell me where he's going after school and he gets his homework and chores done. Not much more I can ask."
And he really Did wanna have a sleepover with Firbolg and Argo and Fitzroy, but the only way to do that was to blow his cover.
Maybe it didn't really matter, after all, he'd end up mentioning them at some point. These were his best friends! They were the first people who really took his detective thing seriously. But the other thing is he hadn't told his family yet about the detective stuff. And Angus didn't want to hurt Cap'n'port's feelings by switching from space stuff. But if the guys came over they would call him detective and his dad would hear and he’d have to explain and what if he teased him about the silly names. So maybe he should ask the guys not to call him that here? But all this also made him feel bad because he didn't actually Want to have all these secrets from all of them. But it also made him feel good because he was doing the sneaky detective thing. It was all very complicated.
"You okay kiddo?" Taako asked, setting a bowl of stew in front of Angus.
He knew his reply came too quick, "What? Yes! Why?" Oh gosh, he didnt even know what to say to Taako he hadn't decided what to do!
"You're doing that rumble leg thing you do when you're thinking really hard and I don't think I've seen you frown like that since that day you read the book about marsupials."
He frowned harder, "Their pouches have Mucus."
"Let's not talk about pouches at dinner hmm?" He laughed, "Really though, what's on your mind little man? You've been quiet." Taako gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
And then with that moment of gentleness, it was like something just sorta broke? One second he was sitting there looking his dad in the eye, the next Angus was in tears. Full-on sobbing, dropping his head onto his arms on the table and noises wrenching from his chest.
"Whoa whoa okay, pumpkin, c'mere alright," His dad said, and Angus was being gathered up, and deposited into his Dad's lap where he proceeded to sob into the wizard's shoulder, "oh oh, hey come on, that's alright. What's wrong?"
"Being a detective is hard," He said, choking back yet more tears. This was silly. He was in middle school and crying on his Dad's lap like a little kid. But he felt bad and crying felt nice and he very much didn't want to stop.
No. No, he couldn't risk Taako thinking he was being a baby.
"A detective??" Taako said, confusion evident.
Angus pulled back some, sniffling and trying to get his breathing under control, he nodded, "I want to be a detective and I'm really good at it, I've solved all kinds of mysteries at school but it's really hard and I'm not even supposed to tell you about the cases because detectives are supposed to be secret and I have new friends and I wanted to tell you about them but also I didn't because Its cool to be all undercover but also secrets are really hard."
"Oh wow okay uh hmm," Taako said, "those Caleb Cleveland books Lucretia bought you sure had their effect huh? Listen, if you're a detective that's super cool. I'm proud of you for finding a new thing you're passionate about. But you're still just a kid detective so you should Definitely be telling me or another adult about your cases. I know it's lame to report back to your dad about this stuff but I'm sure your aunts and uncles would be happy to listen, or even the captain. Don't tell Merle though he doesn't count as an adult in this case."
"I'm sorry."
"No it's okay, I'm just worried about you, my guy. If something happens to you who's gonna be the getaway driver next time I rob a bank."
Angus managed a small laugh.
"Now about wanting to keep your friends secret that's… well admittedly not my favorite thing to hear but that's your right as long as they're good kids and you contact me if you ever need help. Is there a reason you've been keeping all this secret?"
"I thought you’d think it was dumb and I don't want the Captain to think I want to quit the IPRE thing but I'm scared I won't be allowed to keep doing it if I'm not trying to become a member anymore…"
"You having passions isn’t dumb, Ango. And as far as the captain goes, you were eight when you started, none of us exactly expected you to not change for the next decade. And I promise you Davenport least of all."
Angus frowned doubtfully and stood returning to his seat, scrubbing at his cheeks.
“I mean it, do you want to call him and talk about it? He’ll say I'm right!”
“I don’t wanna bother him…”
“We’re so bothering him,” Taako said, pulling out his Adventure Zune.
He then video-called the captain.
The gnome answered quickly, holding the camera a little too close to his face, “Oh Taako, Angus hi!”
“Hi, Cap’n, so we got a question because Angus here Dared to challenge my statement about you and we would love a tie-breaker here.”
“Oh sure, what's up?”
“If Angus wanted to, for instance, not do the astronaut thing when he grows up and instead wanted to do sort of a detective type thing. You would feel….?”
“Great?" Davenport said with an expression of 'isn't it obvious?'
His smile softened as he looked at Angus, "Ango whatever you want to do I’m happy for you, What did you think I’d feel?”
“I don’t know. Mad?”
Davenport shook his head and let out a laugh, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m proud of you any which way. And I suppose this is a good time to tell you both. I’m uh- I’m retiring!”
“What?” Angus said
“Yeah with everyone else having moved on … eh? I’m appointing Lucas as the new head, and I’m uh, I’m gonna start making enchanted steel drums!”
“That is… oddly specific, cap,” Taako said, “But hey I’m really happy for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Okay, but will Lucas still let me help because I'm super not sure what i’m doing with my summers after this without the IPRE,” Angus checked worriedly.
Davenport burst out laughing, “Yes, Angus, I took care of it. He’s completely happy to keep mentoring you.”
Angus smiled, feeling a little bashful, “Thank you, sir.”
“Of course, buddy.”
*
“Alright guys that’s it for practice today, you can have the last few minutes of class here to pack up and head to lunch a little early, but be quiet in the halls so I don’t get caught letting you go before the bell,” Mr. Kravitz said, using his fake cockney accent today. Angus was surprised none of the other kids had noticed how often their teacher’s accent shifted but hey Angus wasn’t gonna be the one to bring it up.
“Percussionists come see me for a moment before you go, also Mr. McDonald if you wouldn’t mind staying and helping me until the bell?”
“Of course sir,” Angus said, sliding his backpack on but setting down his viola case.
The rest of the Thundermen approached Mr. Kravitz as requested.
“Boys I Love the enthusiasm, but next practice I’d love you to really try to keep your count. Your rhythm is good but you have to remember your rests okay?”
Argo frowned, “What's the point of the rests when we’re keeping time, why shouldn’t we be consistent?”
“The person who wrote the music put those rests there to build tension, you wait wait wait and then the music crashes back in. It all has a purpose.”
“I will do my best but… the abstract numbers are not my strongest suit,” Firbolg said.
“What if we just shout REST during the rests,” Fitzroy suggested.
The teacher just laugh and shook his head, “Why don’t we discuss this more in homeroom tomorrow, you boys go ahead.”
Firbolg turned back to Angus, and said, “We will save a seat for you.”
“Thanks,” He said.
His friends left and Kravitz said, “Alright Angus I will admit I did not need your help with anything. I actually was hoping to discuss your grades with you?”
“Uhm… what?” Angus blinked, this had... well it'd never happened before.
“Well, as you know conference time is coming up and so I’m going over the grades for everyone in my homeroom class and I was rather surprised by what I saw in the grade book for yourself. Mr. McDonald, are you aware you have a C in astronomy?”
“WHAT.”
Mr. Kravitz winced, “I suspected as much, It appears to be because of the grade you got on the final project, there's a note in here about you supposedly cheating. Is that the case?”
“Absolutely not! It was a solar system model how would I even go about cheating?” He was fuming! He couldn’t believe Mr. Shaffer would be so petty as to give Angus a bad grade just because he’d corrected him in class a few times.
“Try to relax, Will your parents or guardians take issue with this grade?”
“I don’t think so but I do.”
“Okay, I will go talk to him and see what I can find out. I won’t mention that I talked to you. I just wanted to check in and keep you apprised of the situation. You go ahead to lunch, I see you tomorrow okay?”
“Okay, Thank you, sir.”
“Of course Mr. McDonald, you certainly deserve having some support in your corner. You’re an upstanding young man.”
Angus looked at the man, an idea percolating in his head, “Thank you sir, You're a good teacher.”
*
The Thundermen were sprawled out on the Big Rock. They’d spent over an hour training, climbing up and down the Big Rock and nearby trees and now they were all just exhausted.
“See this is exactly why we need to train, it will make us strong,” Sir Fitzroy announced to the clearing.
“I think tomorrow we should work on swords,” Argo put in.
“Oh that’d be really cool,” Angus said, still catching his breath, “We could practice magic together too, soon.”
“I am learning to shapeshift into animals in my magic class,” Firbolg told them, “I will teach you all.”
Angus’s Zune started ringing he picked it up, “Hello?”
“Hey, little man, how far from the school are you?”
“Uh? Five minutes walk into the woods, why?”
“Do you mind if Julia comes and picks you up when she comes to grab Mavis from the library? We’re having a retirement party thing for Cap'n'port tonight.”
“Oh yeah sure, when will she be here?”
“She’s coming from the shop so… probably ‘round twenty minutes.”
“Cool.”
“Great, see you soon.”
“Bye, I love you.”
“Love you too Munchkin.”
“Do you have to go?” Argo asked.
“Not for a little while, my aunt is gonna come pick me and Mavis up from the school,” Angus said, settling back down among the others on the Big Rock.
“You know if we all teach each other stuff we could become like Master Rogue-Druid-Barbarian-Sorcerers and travel the world and the most powerful adventurers the land has seen,” Fitz said dreamily, “Or the best pirates but like good pirates who solve crimes or maybe we can open our own adventuring school!”
“Or we could start a band,” Firbolg mused, "My clan greatly enjoyed music. I would like to carry this on."
“Yeah!” Fitzroy agreed.
“Are we gonna have to get married to people?” Argo complained.
“I don’t think it's a requirement,” Angus told him, “More of an opt-in sort of thing. Like my Aunt Lup and Uncle Barry are like super in love and they never got married.”
“Good,” Fitzroy mused, “I want my love to be the sea or the music or something cool like that where they say ‘Oh Sir Fitzroy? No, he never married. His love was for the chase. For the open road.’”
“That does sound cool,” Angus agreed.
They fell into silence for a long few minutes.
They looked up at the cloudy sky which was just starting to let down a few small flakes.
The woods were quiet and absolutely still.
“My face is cold,” Argo said, “Can we get out of here before I get slushy?”
“Yeah It’s gonna get dark soon we should head home,” Fitzroy said, sitting up and stretching, he turned to look at the rest of them, and he just smiled. Angus grinned, sitting up too.
The four of them all clambered down from the Big Rock and started following their earlier tracks back towards the school. Bigger snowflakes began falling as they went and Angus walked beside Firbolg, watching as Argo shoved Fitzroy into a nearby snowbank with a surprised cry.
The young knight sat back up in the snow, now covered in a curst of ice, “Thank you, captain, just what I needed.”
“Just trying to help you keep your cool buddy,” Argo cackled.
“Ha! Because the snow is cold!” Firbolg laughed.
Fitzroy wiped the snow off his face and looked to Angus for sympathy but found none as Angus stifled his giggles.
*
Angus was dancing, spinning, and linking arms with Grandpa Merle, then Uncle Mags, then Aunt Lucretia as Uncle Barry and the Captain jammed on the piano and steel drums.
Aunt Julia picked him up and spun him and set him all wobbly back on his feet as he laughed. Still dizzy, he made his way to sit down next to his dad who was sitting down, clapping along with the beat and almost smiling. Mavis sat to Taako's other side a book in her lap.
"Hey, who's that guy that Grandpa Merle keeps dancing with?" Angus said nudging his dad.
"That's John," Mavis answered with an unimpressed look, "his new boyfriend."
"Not a fan I take it?" Taako asked, seeming vaguely amused.
"Only one person in that house gets to be jaded and I called dibs," She huffed returning to her book.
"Ha! Mood. But try and play it cool maybe. This dude seems to make your dad happy for some reason."
"Yeah, whatever, " she said scooting further down in the armchair, after a pause she continued speaking, "It's just… weird? I kinda always expected Dad to end up with someone a little more... I don’t know. Happy? I guess?"
"I get that," Taako said.
Mookie shot out of the group of people to grab Mavis and Angus's hands and pulled them back toward the crowd despite Mavis's very vocal protestations.
“Oh okay, bye,” Taako said as they were dragged away.
Angus ended falling into the pattern with a rather lanky human who clearly had never danced before tonight if his general lack of rhythm was anything to go by, "Oh hello, sir. You're John right?"
"Yes, and you’re... Angus? If I remember the pictures Merle quizzed me on."
"Yep! Detective Angus McDonald of Thundermen LLC. at your service."
John's brow furrowed, "Aren't you a little young to be a detective?"
"Yeah probably!"
He seemed to consider Angus for a long moment before speaking again, "Forgive me for saying so but this family is…"
"Weird, scary, and Kinda alot to deal with?" He offered.
"Yes."
"I get it, I was brought on just a couple of years ago, myself. You'll get used to it, oh we switch now."
And with that Angus spun and found himself dancing with Killian, "Hi!"
*
"John seemed nice," Angus said, collecting glasses from around the house later that night to help clean up before they went home. He dumped them into the sink his dad was at.
"Yeah, seemed like an okay dude."
"Kinda cool how you can find love again at any age," Angus commented, leading a bit.
"Yeah, I guess," He agreed, easily enough.
"You could do that too I bet."
Taako turned to him eyes narrowed, "What's the game, little man?"
Darn, not sneaky enough, he'd have to move slower if he wanted this to go right, "Nothing! I'm just saying if you decided to date again that might be y'know cool."
Taako frowned, turning back to the plate he was washing, "Been thinking about Sazed lately?"
"Some," Angus admitted, "mostly about how nice it was having more than one person around?"
Taako's posture shifted a bit, "I'm sorry kid. I didn't know what he was like. I shouldn't have let him around you. Probably got used to the whole two-parent thing for a bit there huh?"
"No no," Angus said quickly, oh boy matchmaking your parent and your teacher was harder than the movies made it look, "don't feel bad, I'm sorry, I was just… I just mean if you find anyone who makes you happy like that again I don't think I'll feel like Mavis. I think that'd be okay, y'know? Sorry."
Taako looked down at him considering, "That means alot, Small Fry. Thanks. I'll let you know if anything comes up okay?'
"Okay."
And they finished the dishes.