It was a day like any other for the De-Crime Duo. They were having a drive through the fair city of Steelwood in their personal super-vehicle, the Fee-Line (which was a modified Jaguar E-Type). Suddenly, their ride was abruptly stopped by the commotion of a huge crowd in front of the local superhero museum. Super-Duper and Whisper-Whiskers looked at each other and nodded before exiting the car. They knew a situation like this either meant something awesome had happened–or something awful.

They nudged through the crowd to get to the front of the museum, where they saw police tape wrapped around the entrance steps and a policewoman on standby, not allowing anyone to come close.

“Hold up there, sweetheart,” the policewoman said, stopping the Duo from crossing the tape. “The museum will be closed to the public for a little bit.”

“We noticed that, officer.” Whisper-Whiskers calmly retorted. “And as local superheroes, we’ve come to assist you on this investigation.”

The Duo flashed their IDs at the cop’s face, who looked at them with concerned confusion. She especially took notice of Super-Duper, who was ten years old and had the size to prove it.

“Wait, you two are ‘really’ superheroes? Aren’t you a little… young for this?” the cop asked.

“The fight for peace and justice has no age limit.” said Super-Duper, deadpan.

The policewoman reluctantly let them through, and the first person to greet them was a man in a tan suit.

“Ah, two superheroes come at last to save the day!” the man said, jovially. He shook Whisper’s paw with enthusiasm. He tried to shake Super’s hand, but it was like trying to shake the hand of a statue.

“I am the museum’s curator, Miles Jetson,” he proclaimed, pointing at the duo. “And YOU two must be here to investigate the burglary!”

“That’s right, Mr. Jetson,” said Whisper-Whiskers, who was confused by the man’s attitude. Why would somebody be this happy after their museum has been robbed? Super-Duper brushed it off as just politeness, though he did find him a bit annoying.

“Perfect!” said Miles. “Let me show you around.” He led Whisper and Super through the museum before they even got the chance to introduce themselves.

The Superhero Museum was an impressive sight- a large neoclassical building of three stories, all jam-packed with commemorative pieces and statues detailing the complete history of superheroes. Heroes of old, such as Shadowman, Captain Battle, and Paul Bunyan, have their belongings put on display for everyone to see and learn from. Much to the Duo’s disinterest, Miles rambles on about all this information and more as he meandered through the museum halls.

“Uh, Mr. Jetson?” Whisper-Whiskers finally interrupted the curator’s endless lecture. “I don’t mean to sound aloof, but could you please take us to the scene of the crime?”

“Oh, yes!” Miles exclaimed. “I almost forgot about that. It’s just down this corner. Follow me.”

With a not-so-subtle sigh of relief from Super-Duper, they were taken to the crime scene within one of the larger galleries. They’d already passed lots of cops during their unwanted tour through the museum, but the gallery holding the crime scene had the highest concentration of them. The police made their way out of the gallery after seeing the curator with two superheroes on the case. Some of them gave second glances to the smaller one while leaving. The Duo is finally able to see the crime scene, a large display case with shattered glass and random knick-knacks scattered everywhere on the floor.

“Welp-“ Miles clapped his hands together. “I’ll leave you two to start the investigation. Good luck!” He quickly turned around and left the heroes alone in the room.

Whisper-Whiskers wasted no time observing the room for any potential clues. Meanwhile, Super-Duper wasted no time standing idly waiting for Whisper to say something interesting. Whisper looked at the broken display case, then at the stuff on the ground. Something seemed off about this scene.

“Hm. For thieves successful enough to get away, they made quite a mess. If I were a criminal, I certainly wouldn’t leave so many valuables on the floor like this. What do you think, Duper?” Whisper-Whiskers inquired.

“Have I ever told you how incredibly bored I get during investigations like this, Whiskers?” Super-Duper responded.

Whisper ignored that remark. “In fact, I don’t think anything from this display has been stolen.”

He imagined all the artifacts being placed back on display, realizing that everything on the ground would fit perfectly in the case, and there would be no missing pieces to the puzzle.

Whisper finally piqued Super’s interest. “Wait, what do you mean?” He asked.

Call it intuition, but Whisper-Whisker’s super feline senses made him turn his head to the center of the gallery. In the center was an artifact of great value encompassed in glass on a display pedestal- seemingly untouched by the supposed robbers.

The artifact in question was a magic top hat that belonged to none other than Magnifico the Magnificent- a magician and superhero from the late 19th century. Legend has it that whoever wears Magnifico’s magic hat will inherit all his magical powers.

“So why would the crooks just leave something this priceless and steal -or fail to steal- all this little junk?” asked Super-Duper.

“I’m not quite sure…” Replied Whisper-Whiskers, staring intently at the hat’s display case. “But I think there’s more to this case than just incompetent burglars.”

Looking closer, Whisper noticed something strange happening within the case. The hat would flicker, ever so slightly. The flickering effect looked like some sort of video distortion… or a hologram!

“Wait!” exclaimed Whisper.

He opened the case that was mysteriously unlocked and reached his paw in to touch the hat, except it went right through.

“Woah!” Super reacted to Whisper opening the case and reaching in. “Don’t tell me YOU’RE the secret twist villain.”

“No, you knucklehead,” said Whisper. “It seems as if somebody replaced Magnifico’s Magic Hat with a holographic decoy!”

“What?” Super-Duper said. He was really confuzzled now. “Why would somebody dump all these trinkets on the ground if they were just gonna steal the magic hat? That just completely blows their cover!”

“Indeed,” Whisper contemplated. He picked up one of the littered trinkets. “Maybe these were used as a distraction from the real crime.” He put the trinket back on the shelf and made his way to the gallery exit. “There’s only one person I suspect is part of this magic mystery at the museum.”

Whisper turned to Super. “You stay here and continue the investigation. I’ll have a word with the curator.” Before the super boy could protest, the super cat was already out of the room.

Whisper-Whiskers backtracked through all the twists and turns in the museum they had taken previously to search for Jetson Miles. He came across a janitor mopping the floor and approached him.

“Excuse me, sir.” Whisper said to the janitor. “Do you happen to know the whereabouts of the curator, Jetson Miles?”

The janitor looked up and hesitated. “Eh… no speak engliss…”

“Disculpe, señor. ¿Conoces el paradero del curador, Jetson Miles?” Whisper translated.

The janitor hesitated some more, less subtly, before trying to take a swing at Whisper with his mop. Whisper was able to grab the mop from the janitor, smack him across the face with it, and slam his body against the wall with his claws.

“I suppose violence is a universal language,” said Whisper, still pinning the janitor to the wall with one clawed arm. “Now allow me to ask you again. Where is the curator?”

The janitor grunted. “He’s in the storage room underneath the museum. Head over to the Starman exhibit and turn left. You’ll need a keycard to get through the door, though.” He said, in fluent English.

Whisper thanked the janitor for his cooperation before knocking him out, cuffing him and ‘borrowing’ his keycard and walkie-talkie. Whiskers followed the instructions the janitor had

given him and discovered a metal door hidden behind a dark, unremarkable corner. He unlocked it with a keycard and continued through the unknown, moving as stealthily as possible so as not to attract any unwanted attention.

Through Wisper-Whisker’s night-vision eyes, he saw crates full of unused artifacts for unused exhibits. He gently opened random containers and peeked through drapes for a sign of anything out of the ordinary. Strangely, there was no sign of Jetson or the hat -that is, until he heard footsteps. In an instant, Whisper turned around to the noise source and saw Miles Jetson, wearing a black suit, a red cape and Magnifico’s magic top hat.

“You’re a long way from the crime scene, Super Kitty,” said Jetson, sporting a wicked grin. “What could you possibly have figured out that led you down here?”

“That’s Whisper-Whiskers to you, creep,” said Super Kitty/Whisper Whiskers. “And for your information, I know of hurricanes more discreet than you.”

Miles chuckled. “Well, I was able to fool everyone else -including that kid you were babysitting.”

Whisper’s ears perked up as he remembered Super-Duper. and how he was the only one who could take down a villain like Jetson.

“And besides, it doesn’t matter if only you figure out my conspiracy…” Miles continued. “Since I can just make you… disappear!” He quickly throws three spectral cards from his hand, which Whisper had just dodged.

The cards blew up at Whisper’s original position into magical smoke and sparks. Miles then pulls a rope out of his hat and throws it at Whisper in an attempt to lasso him, but Whisper was able to catch the rope. He pulls the rope, sending Miles flying towards him. But before Whisper can land a hit on him, he disappears and reappears to kick Whisper in the back. That moment of hesitation was enough for Miles to wrap Whisper tight in magical chains.

“I hope Super can find his way down here by himself. I could really use him right about now.” Whisper thought to himself as Miles cackled victoriously.

Meanwhile, Super-Duper just finished pretending to investigate the room and thought now was a good time to meet up with Whisper-Whiskers. He walks down the same hall that Whisper went through to try and find him. After a few minutes of wandering, Super came across a custodian

lying on the floor unconscious, his hand raised from being cuffed to the wall. He went up to the unconscious man and tapped him on the chin with the tip of his boot. The sleeping janitor groaned and opened his eyes to the sight of Super-Duper looking down at him.

“Great, another one.” said the disgruntled janitor in Spanish.

“Hey, have you seen a large anthropomorphic cat anywhere?” asked Super-Duper.

“Try the storage room behind the Starman exhibit.” the janitor sighed. “You’re not going to knock me out, are you?”

“Why should I?” asked Super.

“Because your furry friend just did.” answered the janitor.

“Good point!” said Super-Duper before knocking out the janitor and leaving for the Starman exhibit.

Super was luckily able to find the same hidden door shrouded in shadows that Whisper went through. However, unlike Whisper, he didn’t have a keycard on him. This held no concern to Super-Duper, who just kicked the door so hard that it flew off its hinges and slid down the stairs.

Miles halted his evil cackling to turn back to the noise. He sees a metal door tumbling down the stairs, followed by a young boy briskly walking down them.

“What the-?!” Miles exclaimed.

“Oh, so he was the secret twist villain!” said Super-Duper upon examining the situation. “Thank goodness it wasn’t somebody we actually liked.”

Miles hung Whisper-Whiskers from the ceiling by his chains and summoned a spectral bubble around Super. This didn’t faze either of the Duo in the slightest, as the small hero just walked up and shattered the bubble with the tiniest amount of force.

“What?!” cried Miles as he shot bolts of magic energy at Super-Duper.

These bolts were just as effective as the bubble -and they became completely nullified once they hit the young hero. Miles threw everything he could imagine at him; rope, chains, cards, sharks, explosive doves. But they all reacted like a gust of wind upon hitting Super-Duper.

“How is this possible?!” cried Miles some more. “I am supposed to be the most powerful magician in the city!”

Super-Duper jumped and grabbed Miles by the collar. “What’s a powerful magician to a Super… Duper?” the boy said, trying to sound cool.

Super-Duper gently headbutted Miles Jetson, which knocked him out completely. With Miles defeated, Whisper was free from his magical bindings and walked up to Super.

“Thanks for the rescue, Super-Duper. I’m glad to see you got here all by yourself.” said Whisper-Whiskers.

“Was there ever any doubt?” replied Super-Duper.

With the magic mystery revealed, the Duo arrested Mike Jetson, and everyone associated with the conspiracy, including the janitor they knocked out a couple of times. The police thanked them for their services, and they returned to the Fee-Line after another job well done.