Chapter 2:

Yet despite his brief flare of suspicion, Dean couldn't get another word out of his brother about where he goes for such long periods. He also lost his chance at taking back the InVisiWatch, meaning Hank could still evade him whenever he chose. It did no good that they're dad was too preoccupied in his own business to notice that one of his own sons would be off the compound for hours on end.

Both boys were running across the grounds between the manufacturing wing and the main compound when helicopters dotted the horizon over head. They reached the front side of the compound when the helicopters began their hovering descent. Dean continued towards the door but Hank faltered a bit.

"Hank, whats holding you up?"

Hank looked at Dean shrewdly. "Don't tell me you don't want to know what they're here for." he said. That adventurous tone staining his voice in a way that made Dean mentally role his eyes. "Not really, Hank" said Dean. The first helicopter had already touched down in the field and some O.S.I officials stepped out into the open, one of them was General Traister.

"Ah. You're here. In timely fashion as usual." Dr. Venture was coming down from the front of the compound to meet them at the Venture Industries statue. He saw Hank and Dean standing off to the side. "Go inside boys. Your father has important business to tend to." he said with an absent wave while passing his sons to meet the officers. It was easy to see he wasn't in the mood for questions or back sass.

"C'mon, Hank" Dean said, going inside.

"But what if they found something awesome? Do you know how long its been since we've been on an adventure...?"

"Hank..." Dr. Venture grumbled over his shoulder.

"What if they found something buried under the building? What if they found a secret portal to MARS! A-and-and then, that has a secret portal that leads to HE- "

"HANK!" The sound of his father's angry shout knocked Hank out of his vapid yet action packed day dream. "Inside. Now!" Hank reluctantly obliged, dragging his feet, arms folded against his chest in a huff. "Ugh. Always when something cool is happening..."

"Hmmm." was all the elderly yet well muscled leader of the O.S.I. could give as a comment. This was an odd family. General Traceter and Dr. Venture shook hands "Evening, Dr. Venture we're here to collect the property as stated under our agreement." He said in his usual intense voice though he decided to keep his greeting brief.

"Of course of course." said Dr. Venture, using a casual tone to try and break up the tense atmosphere. "I guess you want to get what you came for and leave as soon as possible. Follow me then." He gestured and the OSI leader along with his crew followed Dr. Venture to the manufacturing wing.

"Bored bored boored...boooored." Hank muttered laying in his bed and tossing a soccer ball in the air, higher and higher with each throw and catching it stiffly on its descent. Dean looked out the single window of their room. He had been reading before but from the corner of his eye he'd spotted his father exit the old building along with the OSI officers, and several men wheeling out large steel crates.

"Whoa—hey Hank look at this!" Dean said in an urgent tone.

"What is it...?" Hank sounded uninterested.

"Remember that room that had all those creepy tubes and machinery and our Christmas presents inside them?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It looks like the O.S.I. Is taking all that stuff away in boxes." Dean replied pointing to the window.

"What? No way you su-ow!" He had forgot to catch the ball. Rubbing his nose as he got up from his bed, Hank ran up to join his brother at the window. "But there's nothing written on those boxes how can you tell whats in them?" Hank asked squinting his eyes.

"Well think about it." Dean said "We've been in and out of that place hundreds of times. I think its safe to say we saw most of what was inside at some point." Hank thought quietly for a second. "Yeah and the place was pretty darn empty."

"Exactly! The room with our Christmas presents is the only one with enough stuff to fill boxes that big."

"Yeah you're right." said Hank. Then it dawned on him. "Aw man but why? Now pop won't be able to make new Christmas presents!" His brother shrugged. "Search me. It might have something to do with what the general said on that day that big fight happened...something about...illegal cloning?"

"What about it? I wasn't paying attention." said Hank.

"Its illegal." Dean reiterated. "Christmas gift or not, I think pop shouldn't do something he'll get in trouble for later." This made Hank roll his eyes. "Oh like the hundreds of other times?"

"Well...super science has its risks. I guess."

Hank sighed. "I wanted my Hankinator army too. So I wonder what he'll give us this time instead."

"A reindeer sweater and matching Santa's elf socks?" Dean replied. Hank grimaced.

"-And I want rock solid security around here until we get this whole body guard situation sorted out." stated Dr. Venture "Without one of those, who knows how long it'll be before the freak shows spring up in drones."

"Don't worry about a thing, Dr. We'll provide the top most sophisticated security for your disposal as thanks for your cooperation." The O.S.I leader shook hands firmly with the frail bodied Dr. Venture and in just under an hour of arriving the O.S.I helicopters were gone. The next few days past without incident. In fact Dr. Venture was in much higher spirits after he received his new finances, staff, and top of the model security systems. He looked on from the observation room as numerous people walked about the lab, setting up for their new assignments that would be given to them by his order. It felt nice to have a competent working team under him and to be the boss for once. Getting the government orders finished by deadline would be a breeze!

"And a few young fillies that I can't wait to get to know better...oooh yes..." he thought to himself, rubbing his hands together deviantly. As it was true his new staff of scientists included quite a few lovely women.


The following weeks were a transforming experience for the compound. The cloning machinery was swiftly removed from the property. Now the place was a buzz with life and activity of which the Venture Industries hadn't seen in several decades. The government was eager to tap into this new source of production that had seemingly run dry for many years.

"Dr. Venture the plans for the updated micro teleportation engines are ready to move into the alpha prototype phase."

"Dr. Venture, there's a requested viewing of your schematics for the upgraded aerodynamic fighter jet model. When would you like to schedule a meeting with the NSC?"

"Dr., the first two phases of experimentation on the Joy Can were a great success, should my team continue on to phase 3? The interest in this product is enormous!"

It was this sort of attention that Venture was starved for. But it was the attention of the scientific elite that he longed for even more. Just wait until the next Scientific

Symposium. He'd get the respect he rightfully deserved. And to think all he needed to get off the ground was a little more funding. It were as if the work was being done for him.

"Wow, Rusty when did this happen?" Pete White and Billy Quizboy were awestruck. They had stopped by mere days ago for a chat( more like argue the loss of their lawsuit money to the Monarch) and now they'd returned to a completely transformed Venture Industries. "What the...Rusty what's going on here?"

Billy's eyes were fixed on the many employees scurrying around the work floor holding charts and graphs and talking amongst themselves. Engineer's circled several pieces of machinery with their toolboxes and blueprints. In the background computers buzzed constantly. Thousands of bits of scientific information flashing on the screen every second. Everything seemed to flow independently yet in harmony. A feature neither of these men had seen in the majority of their life time was now being showcased before their very eyes. Industry in progress.

Billy couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious, leering over his shoulder and then at Dr. Venture. "That Killenger guy isn't here again is he?"

"What? No! Of course not." Rusty rolled his eyes and looked away. "The mere thought of that man sent chills up my spine." "I'll have you know that I finally got this place operational. All it took was a little agreement with the government ,a little haggling over price, a signed paper here and there and presto!" He threw his arms out wide as if presenting a finished painting.

"Hey Rus if you haven't bothered to notice...!" Rusty turned around to see White and Billy looking cross. "What?" Rusty shrugged, seemingly oblivious.

"Dude this blows. You mean there's nothing around here to do? What happened?" Dermott was over again much to Hank's relief and his father's vague bewilderment. Dr. Venture sometimes wondered why the kid kept coming back and who his parents were but was too busy to care. But much to Hank and Dermott's disappointment, the new staff on the compound made horsing around and basic teenage tomfoolery a lot more difficult. The rules that used to be be extremely lax if only because nobody could catch them in the act were now held to their fullest expectations. Do Not Touch, Do Not Enter, Forbidden, Prohibited, Do Not Feed, everything you could think of doing for fun in a super scientific compound was now frustratingly off limits.

"Yeah you can pretty much imagine, this place got ten times more boring over night." Hank said in a huff, hands stuffed in his pockets."

"Pfft. Looks like they got you on a leash. What the heck are you doing in that ugly powder blue jogging suit? Finally getting into the nerd biz?" Dermott scoffed, pointing at the light blue jumpsuit Hank was now required to wear around the compound. Hank bristled.

"Hey I don't wear this thing because I want to! It's that Hatred guy, our new "body-guard". He emphasized with air quotes. "He just waltzes in and-and starts acting like he's been here the whole time and pop doesn't even care!"

"So is he like...your replacement body guard or somethin? Say speakin of what happen to that big blond pus I used to see prowlin around. I thought he was your bodyguard."

"Oh you mean Brock. Yeah-he..." the Venture boy trailed off, running a hand through his longer scruffy blond hair. "Well stuff happened and he had to leave..." Hank knew he had to lie in those few instances somebody asked him about his old bodyguard. Not that it was hard. He didn't really know where Brock was or what he was doing. Dermott looked perplexed for a fraction of a second but his face immediately settled back into its normal mold. He shrugged. "Meh, shit happens."

"Yeah." was Hank's only response and they both stood silently.

"Well hey it's not like they got you tied in the front lawn like a dog. Let's jack your dad's car and ditch this borefest."

Hank's face brightened at the prospect of adventure before his dark eyebrows creased with concern. "There's no way my dad will let me take the car off the compound and all I got is a learner's permit."

Dermott walked over to him. "Dude, don't be a wuss. Your dad is probably too busy to notice if you or the car is gone for a couple of hours, it'll just be a joy ride."

"Eeeh...I dunno..."

"Pssh fine. Never mind me showing you this awesome night club in town I've been hangin at for the past 3 months." Dermott got up from his seat and headed toward the door, looked over his shoulder and noticed Hank staring at him square in the eyes. He grinned in his usual haughty manner. "Yeah I know the guy who works there. I totally saved his life one time so I get free entry. But anyway the place is really sweet. Music,chicks, any drink you can possibly think of, you name it."

"Girls?" Hank's eyes widened in all their naive eagerness to learn more about the elusive female.

"Duh, chicks. I just said that."

Hank concentrated his gaze to the floor, rolling the possibilities in mind and trying to form a conclusion. His father was in the lab most of the time now, recently he never saw him except at meal times and that was pretty brief. Brock had once said he would take him to a club when he was older but...well that certainly wasn't going to happen now. But if Brock said he was going to take him eventually that's just as good as getting permission to go, right? Right!

"Alright it's a deal!" the young blond jumped from his bed eager to be someplace where he wouldn't be bored out of his mind."C'mon I know where he keeps the keys."

Just as he exited the room, Hank's shoulder bumped against the side of someone who was standing just outside. "Oops sorry..er hey what are you doing up here?" It was a man in a lab coat and glasses so thick they might have been goggles. One of the workers from the lab was Hank's immediate assumption.

"Oh um, sorry," the tall man said. He looked like he was in a hurry."I gotta ask, where's the bathroom?" An aghast look came across Hank's face as he pointed absently to the hallway door leading to the bathroom. The only bathroom in the entire Venture residence. "Ah thanks, man!" He hurried to the door, hopping awkwardly in efforts to hold in his urine. "Gotta go gotta go gotta go..." the lab worker rushed inside, hastily slamming the door behind him.

"Dude, all of them?"Dermott looked mildly disgusted in the brief silence which followed. Hank groaned and turned toward the stairs as they were before. "I've GOT to talk to dad about this."

Just as both teenagers were out of sight, the man in the unassuming lab jacket peeked his head out of the bathroom. Pausing to make sure the coast is clear he spoke into his wrist watch. "Reporting,Subject A is leaving the compound. Awaiting signal to proceed. Over."


AN: that's all for now. I hope to get a new chapter down soon. Please review!