TWENTY

Clowns had always given Katie the creeps. And even being the indestructible Invulnergirl now couldn’t stop that. She remembered crying once at a children’s party when a clown had been hired to entertain the kids. She kind of just froze when she saw the clown with his red nose, big shoes and the helium balloons in his hand.

“Well who do we have here? A costumed do-gooder teenage girl,” the clown said. His big, white grin sent shivers down Invulnergirl’s spine.

“Balloon Clown!” Katie’s mom said, identifying him from the police reports she’d probably read about him.

“Ah, so good to be recognized. I know who you are as well, sweetie. You locked up quite a number of my pals. I will have you pay for that!” With those words he rolled a balloon towards Katie’s mom, hank and Invulnergirl like it was a bowling ball. To everyone’s surprise it started to grow and grow as it came towards them.

“Is that thing going to crush us?” Hank wondered. “It’s just rubber, right?”

“I read that it’s made from some kind of weird material that hardens,” Katie’s mom said. “It might!”

“Invulnergirl, do something!” Hank yelled at the superheroine. She didn’t answer, still mesmerized by fear.

“Snap out of it!” Katie’s mom said and slapped her. Although it didn’t hurt her, the action seemed to catch her attention.

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“Sorry, get behind me!” Invulnergirl said. Hank and her mom stood behind her as she told them to.

She braced for impact. The balloon, now almost as big as the room rolled against her like a boulder or something. It came to a stop against the superheroine. It pretty much obscured her sight.

“Give me some back support,” she told Hank and her mom.

Invulnergirl strained, pushing against the balloon. Hank and her mom putting their backs against hers in support, pushing with their legs against the wall. The balloon started to roll away from them, back towards Balloon Clown.

“Back atcha!” Invulnergirl said. “I hate clowns!”

Balloon Clown’s eyes widened as he saw the balloon come closer. It was so big it was almost impossible to avoid. He ran away through a door at his right. The balloon came to a stop against the door opening, now blocking it.

“Thanks for the help,” Invulnergirl told her allies. “And sorry about me freezing up for a second.”

“That’s okay. I understand. My daughter is afraid of clowns as well,” Katie’s mom said.

Invulnergirl could see the unease on Hank’s face as she said that. In fact, she felt quite some of that as well. Mom already told her she thought she looked familiar. What if she added this new finding to that, realizing that the indestructible teen in spandex is actually her daughter? She’d probably have her grounded. She would never allow herself to put herself at risk like that. And what would her dad think? He wasn’t much of a fan of masked heroes.

“A lot of people are,” Hank said. Quick save.

“Probably, yeah. Now how do we get out of here? That balloon is blocking the entrance,” Katie’s mom said.

“We moved it once, we can probably move it again,” Invulnergirl said.

Then a loud explosion deafened their ears for a moment. The balloon was blown to smithereens. Entering the room was a black man in SWAT gear. Sergeant Epps!

“I thought I heard your voices,” Epps said. “Come one, let me get you people to safety. There’s a whole crew of supervillains and thugs running around here.”