“So she really is sick?” Jackson asked.

“Maybe,” Duncan said. “But it would explain why she didn’t go back to normal when Flinch destroyed the virus.”

A flicker of hope sparked in Ruby’s chest. If their former friend was in the midst of a nervous breakdown, perhaps she could be treated.

“What’s this?” Jackson said. On the blackened floor there was a large pristine circle.

Duncan removed a device from his backpack. He flipped it on and a needle on its screen bounced around erratically. “The radiation here is off the charts.”

“Probably one of her doomsday devices. Think we got lucky and it blew up in her face?” Matilda asked.

Duncan shook his head. “Only if it vaporized her. This circle is completely free of dust or ash. No, it’s like something was here … and then it wasn’t.”

“Maybe it’s a teleportation device,” Heathcliff suggested.

Duncan shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll have to turn these readings over to the big brains. They might be able to make something of it.”

“Tell them to make us some pizza, too,” Flinch said.

“I say we split up and search this place,” Heathcliff said. “Miss Information and her goons might have left something behind we can use.”

Ruby bristled at Heathcliff’s overstep, but it was a good idea.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “Just stay on the com-links.”

The children went their separate ways through the expansive facility. Every room seemed so familiar. It was both creepy and sad for Ruby, since she knew they’d never be able to return to their own headquarters.

She came to what appeared to be an upgrade room. She knew that Miss Information’s BULLIES had upgrades, and it made her sick to her stomach that the very thing that made her special could be twisted into something so ugly and dangerous.

“Find anything?”

Ruby jumped. Heathcliff was right behind her.

“Geez …”

“Didn’t mean to scare you, boss,” he said.

Ruby searched her allergies for signs of duplicity. Even though she didn’t find any, she was still suspicious. Nanobytes had turned Heathcliff into a terrible monster. Brainstorm, as he once called himself, could literally change reality with a single thought. She didn’t like seeing him so close to an upgrade chair.

Ruby sneezed and heard Duncan’s voice in her head.

“Hey, guys, I found something!”

“C’mon,” she said to Heathcliff, and breathed a sigh of relief when the boy followed her.

They found Duncan hovering over one of the science stations.

“What’s that?” Jackson asked, pointing at a huge drawing tacked to a corkboard. It looked like a Frisbee with a wheel in the center. There was also one of the most complicated math equations Ruby had ever seen written alongside it.

“Think that’s what caused the explosion?” Flinch asked.

“I have no idea,” Duncan said, gesturing to Heathcliff. “But I know someone who might understand it.”

Heathcliff studied the drawing.

“What is it?” Jackson said. “Some kind of death ray? An atom smasher? A dinosaur-cloning device?”

Heathcliff scratched his head, then said, “These are the schematics for a time machine.”

“A time machine!” Jackson cried. “Evil or not, that’s cool!”

“Flinch, pull that down and we’ll take it back to the base,” Ruby said.

“Who?”

Ruby turned to Jackson. “Flinch.”

“Who’s Flinch?”

“Jackson, he’s standing right—”

Ruby turned to where Flinch had been standing, but he was gone.

She turned her head back and forth, searching the room for her missing teammate. All the while the pressure in her head grew. The ache was intense. What was causing the swelling?

“Where did he go? You can’t just get up and leave during a mission. Flinch! Flinch! ”

“Ruby, are you feeling OK?” Matilda asked.

“Where’s Flinch?” she said.

Everyone looked at her as if she were smacking herself in the face with a flyswatter while singing “I’m a Little Teapot.”

“Ruby, there’s no one on the team named Flinch,” Duncan said.

Ruby wondered if she was in the middle of a prank but quickly ruled it out. She was allergic to pranks, and besides her fat, agonizing head, she wasn’t experiencing any other allergic reactions.

“None of you remember Julio ‘Flinch’ Escala?” Ruby asked. “Strong kid, eats a lot of candy?”

The other agents looked back at her with mystified expressions.

“Duncan, he’s your best friend!” Ruby said.

What was happening? Did her friends really not remember their hyper teammate? No, that wasn’t possible, unless …

“She’s built a time machine!” Ruby shouted, suddenly realizing what her swollen head was trying to tell her.

“I know where Ms. Holiday and the BULLIES have gone,” she said. Her teammates looked at her, and she took a deep breath. “August 16, 1987.”

TOP SECRET DOSSIER

CODE NAME: RAGS THE WONDERMUTT

REAL NAME: RAGS

YEARS ACTIVE: 1983–84

CURRENT OCCUPATION: UNKNOWN

HISTORY: RAGS WAS NOT THE

ONLY ANIMAL TO BE ON

THE NERDS ROSTER, BUT HE WAS

THE FIRST. FOUND OUTSIDE NATHAN

HALE ELEMENTARY, THIS STRAY

POOCH STOLE THE HEART OF THE

ENTIRE TEAM AND SOON SPENT HIS

NIGHTS EATING PUPPY CHOW AND

SLEEPING IN THE PLAYGROUND.

ONE NIGHT, WHILE THE TEAM WAS

ON A MISSION, RAGS WANDERED

INTO THE UPGRADE ROOM. HE

EMERGED JUST AS STINKY BUT

WAS FASTER AND STRONGER AND

HAD A MONSTROUS BITE.

UPGRADE: WITH THE UPGRADES,

RAGS NOT ONLY CHASED CARS BUT

NOW COULD CATCH THEM. WITH

HIS SUPER-ENHANCED TEETH AND

JAWS, HE ONCE STOPPED A TANK

THAT WAS BARRELING TOWARD

THOMAS KNOWLTON MIDDLE SCHOOL.

UNFORTUNATELY, RAGS SANK HIS

TEETH INTO THE WING OF A SPACE

SHUTTLE AS IT WAS TAKING OFF

AND WAS NEVER SEEN AGAIN.

Heathcliff watched Ruby’s face fill with desperation. She looked frantic and overexcited. Yes, she was uptight, controlling, and bossy, but she was usually the calmest person on the team. Seeing her so freaked out made him nervous.

“Flinch doesn’t exist anymore!” she cried.

“Maybe you should sit down,” the principal said.

“NO!” she shouted. “I checked all the computers. Julio Escala was never a member of this team. In fact, he was never even born.”

Ruby paced back and forth. “I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. I’m not crazy. We’re in the middle of a crisis, people. And we need to move fast.”

“Where?” Matilda asked.