Team 19: Superheroes of our World

“Come on, dear! I have a surprise for you!” said Natalie, her grandma, in a friendly way.
Amara followed her into the kitchen. The kitchen was a tiny room, with a big, round table in the middle. In the left corner, there were four recycling boxes in different colors with labels on them. On the table, there was a ceramic vase with daffodils and a huge plate of chocolate cookies, which were just taken out of the oven.
“All for you, my dear!” exclaimed grandma Natalie while handing Amara the plate.
“They look delicious! Thanks grandma!”
Amara only loved two things about her grandma:
1. The magnificent food she made and…
2. The fact that she recycled and she cared for nature.

The days went by and Amara started liking her grandma more and more.
One day, the girl wanted to eat pickles. She couldn’t open the jar, so she went into the garden to look for Natalie. But then… something strange happened. Her grandma was RUNNING!!! YES, the same woman that she saw using a cane 5 minutes ago!
She quickly hid behind some trees to spy on her. Her grandma was running to the shed that she always kept locked. After that the girl saw Natalie taking down a plank and entering a code.

She saw her grandma enter the shed and close the door behind her.
Amara had so many questions. Why would grandma enter a code to unlock the door to the shed? Why didn’t she use a key? What was she hiding? Did she have 1 million dollars behind that door, and she wanted to keep it all for herself? Or maybe she had 1 million cookies or 1 million jars of pickles? Or a portal to another dimension? Amara had to find out as soon as possible. The girl planned to enter the shed next day, while her grandma was visiting her neighbors.

The next day, grandma left the house at 11 o ’clock in the morning. Amara knew she would have 2 hours until Natalie came back, so she had plenty of time to finish her secret mission. The girl made sure grandma was far enough from home. Then, she sneaked to the shed. She entered the code. After that, the door magically opened. Inside, it was very dark. Amara turned on the light and she couldn’t believe what she saw. She knew her grandma loved nature, but she did never expect her grandmother to be a….

The next day....

....SUPERHERO

On the biggest wall, opposite the door, there was a big board with a plan. But what was it about? It took her some time to understand, but then she saw it all clear. Her grandma was a superhero in a fight against Dr. Pollution. But who was this doctor? And what did he want? Below the board, there were many baskets with cleaning sprays, gloves, trash bags and all sorts of different instruments. But how could she defeat a villain with those weird instruments? Was Dr. Pollution so dangerous? She had so many questions. Amara knew she had to ask Natalie about this. And most importantly, she knew she had take part in whatever she was doing.

Amara and her grandma talked for 2 hours. The girl was amazed by everything Natalie was telling her. Her grandma explained the purpose of the plan: She wanted to stop Dr. Pollution, a monster created by a scientist. The researcher created a ‘’heart” that collected garbage. Soon, it would became a monster, which got bigger and stronger every day by absorbing rubbish. She wanted to stop it.

At night...

Finally, the night came. But Amara couldn’t sleep. There was so much going on and she still had so many questions, but no answers. Why would a scientist create such a monster? Was he really a bad man?
Meanwhile, Natalie was crocheting a light green suit for her granddaughter. She was worried and she couldn’t sleep, either. Will her granddaughter give up? Is she going to tell everybody about their secret mission? Was it a good idea to include her in the scheme?

The next day…

In the morning, while grandma was teaching Amara how to prepare her famous cookies, they heard the news anchor saying:
“Right now, a terrible creature made of green slime and garbage is attacking Sanhold, a small city, 50 km away from London ….”
“Found it! That’s 10 km away from our village, Watfold! Quick, put your suit on! We’re going after him!
They put on their suits, got some ‘’weapons’’ from the shed. Then, they got on grandma’s pink old scooter. Suddenly, Pablo ran to the scooter and hopped into his basket. What a cute team!
Grandma started the engine and pressed the accelerator.… But the only thing that happened was that a cloud of smoke came out. The scooter was broken.
“Grandma, what happened?” asked Amara.
“Well… We’ll have to take the bus…” answered her grandma, a bit embarrassed.
“But grandma, SUPERHEROES don’t go by BUS!” said the girl angrily.
“Then we’ll be the first!”
“Grandma, but we can’t be the first if there’s no second! You’ve got so much to learn! It’s obvious you haven’t read any comic books!”

A few moments later Amara heard a voice… IT WAS HER GRANDMOTHER! She came back from her neighbor, Maya, earlier!
“I’m home!” shouted Natalie while petting Pablo who came to greet her.
Amara ran fast into the kitchen slamming the back door. Her grandma didn’t even get to sit down before Amara showed her the plan.
“Who is Dr. Pollution? How can you defeat him with all that weird stuff?! Why...” but Amara didn’t get to finish her question before her grandma stopped her.
“I know you have a lot of questions, but before that… How did you get into the shed without turning the alarm on?”
“There’s also an ALARM?!” said Amara madly, but also excited because she started to think her grandma was rich.

So, poor Amara, Natalie and Pablo had to go all the way to the bus stop. Luckily, they got there in time. But just imagine a grandma and a twelve-year-old in superhero costumes on the bus!
When they got there, they could see Dr. Pollution in the distance and people running away from it. They got their “weapons” and started cleaning the city. Some people joined them. But their method wasn’t efficient. There were to many cars and factories which caused the

monster to get bigger. They tried their best, but they couldn’t destroy Dr. Pollution.
While she was running, Amara stumbled. The monster saw her, and it threw a big plastic ball towards her, which looked like a ball of threads. It was about to hit Amara, when Pablo ran and pushed the ball away.
Natalie realized their strategy didn’t work, so they withdrew. They went back home, disappointed.

A few hours later…

“What should we do, grandma? We can’t just ignore Dr. Pollution. We’ve got to find a solution.” asked Amara, a bit worried.
“I know that. But it’s a lot stronger than I imagined.”
“I think we should try to talk to the creator of the monster. He knows how to defeat it.”
“No. He won’t tell us anything. And it’s too dangerous! We don’t even know where he lives!” said Natalie.
“But maybe he’s not a bad man. We should at least try.”
“Fine. But I’ll go alone. It’s too dangerous for you.”
“Grandma, it’s not fair! We’re a team, we have to do it together!”
“Meow!” meowed Pablo.
“See, even Pablo agrees!” said Amara, trying to convince her grandma.
“Give me some time to think.”
Grandma left the kitchen. Amara was worried. What If her grandma leaves without her or something happens to her? Or what if that man had a house made of cookies and pickles, and she wouldn’t even be able to see it?