The Mouse Watch, Volume 1

  “We gotta move! How do we get down?” said Bernie.

  “Para-shoes,” said Jarvis. Bernie was glad he thought so quickly on his feet. It must have been his famous puzzle-solving skills.

  “Right!” said Bernie. She’d forgotten she’d put them on back at the EEK. She looked down at her feet with her goggles and was happy to see a pop-up balloon appear with instructions on how to use the Para-shoes.

  Click heels twice and leap free of all obstacles.

  “Okay, I’m going. Click your heels twice and jump!” said Bernie.

  After taking a quick breath, Bernie clicked her heels twice and released her hands from the Nerf darts on the wall. She jumped as far out as she could. Jarvis, not wanting to be left behind, followed quickly after.

  They’d barely cleared the wall when the Para-shoes deployed their chutes. They worked perfectly—well, almost perfectly. Bernie hadn’t considered that because they were on her feet, the Para-shoes swooped them both upside down. As she and Jarvis were drifting upside down toward Earth, she couldn’t help letting out a surprised squeal!

  They were able to land gently, paws-first on the ground. But Bernie’s squeal had caused all the rats to stop what they were doing and glance over in their direction. Bernie and Jarvis froze. All eyes were on them.

  It certainly was the distraction Bernie had asked for. But, unfortunately, all the attention was on her, too.

  Germy Fangtooth turned from the human he’d just led to the tracks. A confused look crossed his ugly, crumpled face.

  “Jarvis Slinktail?”

  Bernie gave Jarvis a sharp look. How did this notorious R.A.T.S. criminal know him by name?

  Jarvis, thinking quickly, removed a small device from his pocket and fired it at the rat. A condensed cloud of Gadget’s purple sleeping spray surrounded Germy, who promptly fell asleep.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you had that?” demanded Bernie.

  “I forgot until now! I grabbed one of these Mini Sleepers just before we left the EEK. I thought it might come in handy.”

  Conveniently handy, mused Bernie. Especially when you’ve just been recognized by the enemy and you want to shut him up.

  A horn blasted. Bernie looked into the dark tunnel, past the row of stupefied humans, and saw the distant headlight of an approaching train. There was no time left!

  Suddenly, a chorus of shouts saying “FOR THE WATCH!” rang out from the stairway that led to the street above. Bernie wheeled around, and what she saw made her heart leap for joy. A group of Mouse Watch agents charged down the stairs with their weapons drawn.

  Bernie knew she had to take advantage of the distraction. While all the rats rushed to meet the advancing agents, Bernie had only one goal…to save the humans! The train was seconds away. How in the world could she get them off the tracks in time?

  Desperate for a solution, she rummaged through her pockets. As luck would have it, her paw seized upon the one gadget that could help her now.

  SUP-A DUP-A INST-A GLUE-A. BONDS WITH ANYTHING SO FAST YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT. STRONG ENOUGH TO EASILY HOLD FIFTY TONS.

  When she’d grabbed it back at the EEK, she’d done so because she thought it might come in handy if she ever broke something by accident—like a window, or one of her bones. If she’d had it back when she’d done the zip line with Poopie, she might have been able to glue her parents’ smartphone back together. But now, gazing at the incoming train, she knew she had only a few seconds to spare if she were to do the thing she had in mind.

  Bernie leaped through the crowd of fighting rats and agents. Because she was so small, most of them didn’t see her as she dodged and wove among the tangle of furry fighting bodies. The headlight of the train was coming out of the tunnel now. The human in front, a little girl, stared straight at it with a frozen expression. Bernie saw the bright light reflected in her lifeless stare. A word escaped her lips, the merest whisper, “Smells so…cheesy….”

  With a mighty leap, Bernie sprang from the subway platform. For a second she flew through the air before landing perfectly on the track below. She ran nimbly along the biggest rail as fast as she possibly could, speeding toward the incoming train. She was so close she could feel the vibrations through her whiskers.

  When she was just a few feet from the humans, she unstoppered the glue and squeezed it all over the grimy metal tracks. Sharp, pungent fumes filled her nostrils as the glue made contact with the metal. The tracks shook as the train sped closer. Bernie looked up just in time to see the huge wheels screaming toward her.

  At the last possible moment, she dove out of the way, closing her eyes. There was a tremendous SCREECH, as if all the metal in the world were suddenly scraping and bending at once. A mouse’s heart can beat 632 times per minute, but Bernie’s felt like it was beating twice that fast!

  When the sound stopped, Bernie looked up to see that the train had stopped just a few feet from the humans. The rats in the conductor’s seat had been thrown through the windows and were all piled in a heap, staring stupidly around them as if they were unable to comprehend what had just happened.

  “YES!” Bernie pumped her fist in the air.

  Suddenly, she felt a strong paw grip her shoulder. Fearing an attack, Bernie wheeled around and put her paws up in a pose she’d seen the Watchers practicing back at HQ during her tour.

  “Agent Skampersky! You need to come with us!” Major Flatpaw’s glowing blue goggles stared down at her.

  “Major! Did you get the sprayer?” she asked breathlessly. “Where’s Jarvis? Is he okay?”

  “We’ve got it. The rats are taken care of for now, but you know the saying about rats: If you see one, there are more nearby. Jarvis is up on the platform with the rest of the agents. We’ve got to go now! Here, take this!”

  The agent handed Bernie a white tube with a glowing blue button.

  “What do I do with this?” she asked.

  The major produced one for herself. “It’s called a Pop! Cycle.” She pressed the button, and the tube popped open. Within the blink of an eye, nanobots had assembled the sleekest-looking mouse-size motorcycle Bernie had ever seen!

  “Okay, let’s move out!” shouted Flatpaw.

  “Wait!” said Bernie. She glanced over to the stunned rats that had been thrown from the train and spotted one that was unconscious. Dashing over, she located a silver device in his ear and yanked it out.

  “Here,” said Bernie.

  “What is it?” asked Major Flatpaw.

  “It’s a communication device. They’re using it to talk to someone called Dr. Thornpaw. He seems to be giving them all orders.”

  “Good work, Skampersky. The director will definitely want a look at this. Maybe we can use it to trace back the source of the signal.”

  Bernie beamed. But she didn’t have time to revel in the compliment. Flatpaw mounted her Pop! Cycle, lowered her goggles, and gunned the engine. She called back to Bernie as she rocketed off, “Mount up!”

  Bernie didn’t have to be told twice. Even though she’d never ridden a motorcycle before, she followed the agent’s lead, leaping onto her Pop! Cycle and slamming her finger on the START button.

  She’d wanted a motorcycle for a long, long time. And now she had one.

  VARRR-OOOM!

  The Pop! Cycle let out an electronic roar. Bernie had no time to react as the bike shot forward, racing alongside the train tracks faster than the train itself. She careened up a maintenance ramp, following the agent in front. Back on the high platform, she saw what the major had been talking about: Almost all of the rats had been immobilized in heavy, collapsible nets. But there were also a few big ones running free, wielding pocketknives, which, although small for humans, made deadly swords in the hands of a rodent. Racing along, she spotted Jarvis with the other agents. Now that the sprayer was in hand, they were preparing to evacuate.

  Bernie saw an agent toss Jarvis a Pop! Cycle tube, but Jarvis immediately let it slip through his fingers. The important piece of tech clattered
to the floor and rolled over to the feet of an approaching rat.

  “No!” Jarvis dove to save it, but the rat brandished a pocketknife in his direction. Jarvis took one look at the thug and dashed away through the crowd.

  Bernie’s suspicions resurfaced. What if Jarvis was just pretending that he was afraid of the R.A.T.S. but was secretly working as a double agent? Dropping an important piece of technology at their feet might be one way to work with them without making it look like he was in league with them. She just couldn’t shake the memory of the rat that had recognized him earlier, and it really bothered her.

  Better keep my friends close and my enemies closer, she thought. When we get back to HQ I’ll tell the director all about it. If he thinks Jarvis might be the spy, then we’ll have him in custody.

  “Jarvis! Over here!”

  Bernie raced her cycle to Jarvis and grabbed him, helping him jump onto the back. She joined the group of agents on motorcycles as a roar from a side tunnel filled the station. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw the unmistakable shapes of a fleet of Mouse Watch drones from Los Angeles HQ hurtling forward. Her heart soared. Surely they were piloted by the Mouse Watch agents who had gone missing—Alph and Digit and the rest of the California team. The thought was almost enough to distract her from the hordes of R.A.T.S. agents pouring out of the side tunnel.

  But Bernie’s spirits sank when she realized the rats were cheering the drones on, roaring in approval as they chased down the fleeing Watchers.

  “They have our drones!” Bernie shouted. She twisted the throttle on the handle of her cycle and shot off after the agents, racing back up the subway stairs and onto the city streets above. Gotta get back to base, we’re outnumbered!

  The mice on bikes roared through the rat-infested streets like a wild, high-tech motorcycle gang. The Watchers’ gleaming bikes responded to the slightest touch, maneuvering easily between any obstacles in their path. As the drones closed in, several of the agents broke ranks, peeling off down side streets to try to shake their pursuers.

  Bernie had never ridden a motorcycle before and was surprised that her slightest touch sent the bike wobbling this way and that, swerving between parked cars and narrowly missing a row of parking meters.

  “AAAAAAGH!” she screamed as she and Jarvis ducked their heads at the last minute, just missing a gigantic pigeon that could have knocked them right off the bike.

  “Watch out!” shouted Jarvis, pointing at the wheel of a taxi that Bernie only managed to avoid at the last possible second. “Stop swerving so much!”

  “I can’t help it!”

  Gotta get control of this thing! Bernie thought. And no sooner had she thought it than something exploded behind her, and a foul stench enveloped her and Jarvis. It was so overpowering that Bernie almost lost control of her bike, swerved, then regained control just before crashing into a hot-dog cart.

  “What is that?” she yelled.

  “It smells like…like…stinky cheese bombs!” Jarvis moaned.

  As Bernie wiped smelly, melty Limburger cheese from her fur, she caught a glimpse of the pilot, a leering rat with a scar down her nose, laughing maniacally as she went buzzing by. Leave it to rats to turn something delicious into a weapon.

  Miraculously, Bernie managed to hang on and control the bike. She zipped over a rain gutter, navigating along one of the metal slats like on a tightrope to avoid falling through. She let out a triumphant shout as the bike raced away with the R.A.T.S. hot on her and Jarvis’s heels. “WHOOHOOOOO!” she yelled as the wind whipped through her fur.

  This is what Bernie had always dreamed being a Mouse Watch agent would be like.

  Well, except for being covered in cheese that smelled like feet.

  The farther Bernie rode the Pop! Cycle, the better she got at it. She was a natural. With the drones hot on her tail, she had to reach deep and focus her instincts for survival. She tore through the streets of New York, doing everything possible to shake her pursuers.

  At a certain point, Bernie realized the rest of the agents were nowhere to be found—they had all swerved off in different directions.

  “How many drones are behind us?” Bernie shouted over her shoulder.

  Jarvis hazarded a look. “There’s three,” he shouted back. “And it looks like they’re gaining on us.”

  “Hang on!” shouted Bernie as she twisted the throttle and sped down a side street. She swerved underneath abandoned buses and taxis that loomed above them like mountains, used stray litter such as tin cans as ramps onto the high curb, and navigated through sidewalks. Since most of the humans were underground, there was no need to worry about being stepped on.

  She saw a sign for Bowling Green on her right. Bernie, being a native of California, had no idea where in New York that was, but when she spotted the big park and the many trees, she made a split-second decision. She made a quick turn into the park, where the grass under her wheels made her feel as if she were off-roading. Fortunately, Gadget had seen to it that the motorcycles could handle almost any terrain. Bernie pushed through grass taller than her head and made sure to swerve around every massive tree trunk she could find.

  The maneuver worked beautifully. THUD! THUD! THUD! The sound of drones smacking into the overhead branches behind them made Bernie and Jarvis cheer.

  “You got ’em!” shouted Jarvis excitedly as he watched two of the drones get caught in the tree branches and the third smash directly into the trunk of a huge maple and erupt into an explosion of cheese and flames.

  Bernie sped through Bowling Green Park and past a sign that said BATTERY PARK. There, she skidded to a stop, breathing hard. As she paused to catch her breath, she glanced back at Jarvis. The rat was white as a sheet but looked as relieved as she felt. Suddenly, the two of them grinned at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Okay,” Bernie said. “You have to admit that was fun.”

  “It was fun.” Jarvis smiled. “When it was over.”

  Bernie glanced down at the motorcycle with a growing feeling of love and admiration. It wasn’t the way she’d dreamed of learning to ride one, but it had worked. She patted the frame of the bike affectionately.

  “I guess that agent back at New York HQ, Cooper, was right. There’s no better teacher than firsthand experience.”

  Bernie was about to turn around and head back to Mouse Watch HQ when her whiskers twitched like radar. She picked up the scent of something suspicious.

  “Hey,” she said to Jarvis. “I smell something weird.”

  “Uh, Bernie? I think it’s us.” They both still had the remains of the stinky cheese bomb stuck in their fur.

  “No, that’s not it.” She turned in a circle, then pulled Jarvis behind a big tree. “Look over there!”

  They peeked out. On the other side of the park was the Hudson River. A big boat was docked in the harbor, under a sign that said FERRY TO STATUE OF LIBERTY.

  “A big boat?” said Jarvis. “I don’t know, water freaks me out.”

  “No,” said Bernie. “Down there.” She shifted Jarvis’s gaze to the loading dock, where a group of small shadows was squeezing through a vent in the bottom of the boat. “What’s that? Oh, great…rats,” Jarvis said with a grimace.

  Excitement swelled inside of her. “Do you know what this means?”

  “No,” confessed Jarvis.

  “The Statue of Liberty. Why would rats take a boat to the Statue of Liberty unless…”

  “That’s where Corncob—er, Thornpaw is!”

  Bernie wheeled around excitedly and grabbed Jarvis by his shoulders. “We have to follow them. This might be our chance to take him down!”

  “I don’t know,” said Jarvis. “We promised to meet back at HQ. We can’t take on Thornpaw alone. We need backup.”

  Bernie’s excitement was quickly replaced with suspicion. She released his shoulders and crossed her arms. “Interesting,” she said flatly.

  “What do you mean?” asked Jarvis.

  “Oh, I just th
ink it’s interesting that now that we’re close to getting the villain behind all this, you don’t want to go. It’s like you want them to get away. I also think it’s interesting that you conveniently dropped your Pop! Cycle back there at the subway for the R.A.T.S. to find.”

  “Wait. Are you accusing me AGAIN?” said Jarvis, his long whiskers vibrating in frustration. “I dropped that Pop! Cycle by accident. And just because I don’t want to rush in without a plan and get killed doesn’t mean I’m a traitor or a spy!” Jarvis looked really hurt and angry. “Every time I try, you keep shutting me down. You judge me. You always assume the worst. Fine, if you want to go and get the bad guy all by yourself, you go right ahead. I don’t even care anymore.”

  “Fine, I will!” retorted Bernie. “And after I get him, I’m going to tell Director Whiskerpaw about all I’ve seen. I’ll let him decide what to do with you.”

  “Fine!”

  “Fine!”

  Jarvis stalked off through the tall grass. Bernie swatted her tail on the ground in anger. Then she mounted the Pop! Cycle, lowered her goggles, and took off for the ferry. She was boiling mad and more determined than ever to prove that she was right. Right about Jarvis and right about following her guts. Right that she deserved a place in the Mouse Watch.

  When she was within hearing distance of the ferry, she dismounted the bike, pressed the blue button, and watched in admiration as it folded itself back into a sleek white tube. Bernie shoved it in the pocket of her jumpsuit and scampered as quietly as she could to the dock, hiding behind a tall buoy. The last of the rats were climbing into the vent.

  “What are you doing???” a small voice whispered urgently. Bernie turned around and saw a mouse family hiding underneath a red life preserver that was propped up against a fence. There was a father, a mother, and a baby mouse huddling alongside what looked a lot like a suitcase from the Winter Nancy collection.

  “Don’t follow them!” the mother cried. “You should be hiding, like the rest of us.” Bernie’s heart cried out to the baby and her parents, the little family forced into hiding. The last rat was climbing into the ferry, and the horn blew.