Preface: I was watching Hey Arnold the Movie the other day and I thought, hey - writing a story about the oh-so-secret spy organization would be great! This story is set during The Patakis period, which means that the gang in high school and Arnold moved out from the city.
Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.
Chapter 1: Changing of the Guards.
It was a typical night at Hillwood. The sounds of gunshots, the sirens of emergency vehicles, the rattle of the elevated train line and streetcars zooming by were all added into the gritty ambiance of the urban atmosphere. Even unusually late at this hour many streets in the city were still hustling and bustling with human activity and most shops were still open even. A strike contrast however near at one particular area at the docks, since it was abandoned for nearly 50 years ago at the end of the Second World War. It was a wonder why the City Council still weren't bothered by it. No soul was there, as the buildings were devoid of human life, but strangely it didn't show any sign of decay at all. Could it be that someone actually occupied one of the buildings there?
"How goes in Sector 17?" a young adult female asked.
"Quiet as a tomb." Another young adult female answered, as she watches the monitor screens.
"Bridget," yet another young adult female called as she lowered her headphones down, "our informant Monkeyman is on line three." She informed.
"Patch him through." Bridget ordered.
"Yes, milady," and she did so.
"Bridget?" a distorted, static noise called her.
"Yes, Monkeyman," Bridget said. Dissatisfied by the unwanted noise, she turned her head to a person near the receiver booth. "Boost the frequency a bit, Candice." She ordered.
"As you wish, milady." She answered, and proceeded to do so.
The voice finally became crystal clear. "Bridget? Bridge, are you there?"
"We can hear you loud and clear, Monkeyman. What can we do for you?" Bridget asked.
"I don't know…" he said with a trail of panic, "I've been following these two suspicious characters for two hours now… M-Monkeyman… and they're like stopping at the back of a bank at the corner of Magistrate and Elk… and I have a bad feeling about it… Monkeyman… I'm going to need some backup, incase anything happens."
"Affirmative." She answered back as she puts on a communicator on her head, "attention Agent Natasha and Agent Sarah, your assistance is greatly needed in Sector 39."
"That's a confirmative." Agent Natasha replied on the other side of the line, and Bridget nodded, "continue as ordered, meet our informant Monkeyman there, over and out." She then put the communicator on the cradle, walking away from it as she tried to find a chair to sit because she was too tired after been working for sixteen hours non-stop. Luckily, there was one unoccupied near the coffee maker and she quickly went to it. She then took a mug from the table and poured a cup for herself. As she looked at the warm cup of coffee, she sighed depressively, because she had agreed to a decision that she didn't want to do.
"Feeling down in the dumps today, Bridget?" her friend asked as she jolted something down on the clipboard.
"Yeah… just a few more weeks until I get decommissioned, Jessie. I really don't want to do it… I really don't… I don't wanna leave this fine organization…" she paused for a while. "But what can I do? It's inevitable. I'm sure going to miss being a secret agent and all…" She said dejectedly.
"Hey, chill, don't be sad…" Jessie comforted as she placed a hand on Bridget's shoulder, "all of us will get decommissioned sooner or later. Come on, it's hard for us too you know. Without your guidance and leadership, this organization would've fallen apart years ago."
Bridget smiled weakly, "Oh come on Jessie, I'm not the only person who's doing all the work around here. All of you are doing a wonderful job too."
"We all do." Jessie said with a smile, and Bridget responded with a smile too. "Say, regarding the standard procedure, have you selected fresh new recruits for the organization?" Jessie asked, trying to focus on her job this time.
"Potentials' information should arrive any minute now. I asked Aishya and Michelle a week ago to hack into every high school database in town to find any possible new recruits."
"Hack? Don't you have any more professional and legal way to obtain the files?"
"Well, while I do admit it's a little unethical, but the City Council had granted special rights to us to do anything if we were to acquire new recruits."
"Really?" she said in disbelief, "since when the City Council acknowledged the existence of our little secret organization here?"
"Apparently Mayor Dixie was one of the organization's first members." With that little bit of information Jessie lowered a half of her eyebrow in complete bafflement.
Jessie shook her head, "Girl, you have got to be kidding me." She said in utter doubt.
"Yeah, that's what everybody said when they first heard it." Bridget replied with a half-smile as she took a sip from her coffee.
"Oww, hot…"
"Milady, potentials' information is up and ready." Somebody informed.
"Ah, finally." Bridget said in relief. "Patch it to the big screen, Wren." She ordered as she got up from her seat. "Could you excuse me for a moment, Jessie?" Jessie nodded, and walked away from her.
"With pleasure." Wren said, then did as ordered. The screen lit up with a picture of someone's face, her personal information like height, weight, age, race, hair color, her whereabouts and what school she attended. "Here's potential #1290 – Helga G. Pataki."
"Helga Pataki? Is she Olga Pataki's sister?" Bridget asked.
"Presumably." Wren replied.
"Wow, talk about all-time twist of fate… is she just good as Olga?"
"She's a tough, street-smart girl with an attitude to boot. She once helped a boy named Arnold to save his neighborhood."
"Ah, yeah… I remember that one." Bridget said as she snapped her fingers. "So she's the one who helped Arnold saved the neighborhood from Scheck… She'll make a great agent, heck, even replacing me as chief."
"Even if it's a long shot, she could surpass Olga, one of the best agents we had…"
Wren pushed the same button again, "here's potential #1291 – Rhonda W. Lloyd." Again the screen changed, revealing Rhonda's information. "A girl with a great fashion sense, persuasive, and most importantly, rich."
"Heh, she'd be a great relief for our cash-strapped organization. Next."
"#1292 – Phoebe Hyerdahl. Has the book smarts, intelligent, diligent, has fencing skills, but unfortunately, lacks physical strength. "
"Never mind, we can train her for that. Next one."
"Potential #1293 - Lila Sawyer. She's chic, smart, and surprisingly tough, despite her sweet behavior."
"Hmm…"
"And finally, potential #1294 – Nadine… last name unknown. She's very knowledgeable about nature, so she'll be a great asset to us if we ever have to do missions at the outskirts of the city."
"I see, but how come all of them are in the same high school? Didn't Michelle program the algorithms to search and analyze for a potential from every school in the city?" Bridget said as she took another sip from the coffee.
"She did," Wren replied. "But they kept coming back with the same results. All these five girls are the city's best of the best."
"Interesting." Bridget said. "I want Agent Farrah to get a hold of Phoebe, Agent Natalie for Nadine, Agent Cady for Lila, and Agent Elaine for Rhonda. And I want every one of the potentials to be here tomorrow after school's out."
"Affirmative." Wren said. "But what about Helga?"
"She's mine." Bridget promptly said, cracking her knuckles. "I'll be reeling her in."
Thus the reason why the abandoned buildings at the docks weren't so abandoned. It was retrofitted, upgraded and converted into a secret organization's main base of operations.
Yay! Please, please review and tell me what you think. :)
