-Chapter 2-
Friday at six o'clock PM, the ice cream factory's garage was a very empty place. The last ice cream mechanic had left for the weekend, and only the guard at the gate remained, to absentmindedly scratch himself and curse the fact that he had drawn the Friday night watch – again.
Well, at least the job was easy enough. Those pesky kids always went straight for the ice cream; they had no interest in the vans, so he was free to indulge in coffee-drinking, popcorn-munching and a little light reading in House and Gardens.
"Hey, you? Open the gate!"
The guard almost fell off his chair at the sudden shout. He stared out of the window at the empty yard.
"Down here!" the voice came again.
He opened the little window in his booth and peered down on two short, bearded guys in grease-smeared overalls and red caps. The taller of the two was dragging some welding equipment.
"What do you want?"
"Boss sent us to check the welding on the van they'll use for the cake transport tomorrow," the shorter one said.
"Really? Now?"
"Yeah, stinks doesn't it. But when the boss says "weld" me and my buddy say "how much" and do it. Then we go out for coffee and talk trash about him. Could you open the gate now, so we can get to the last part ASAP?"
"All right, all right, come in." The guard opened the gate and led them into the garage over to a large menacing-looking ice cream van that had been fitted with two extra guard booths on the sides, and one on the roof. "It's that one. I'd hate to be the kid who tries to steal the cake tomorrow." He paused. "Say, aren't you two a little short for mechanics?"
"Well, my wife sure doesn't think so!" the taller of the two said.
"Right, right … well, just check out with me when you're done." The guard went back to his booth, slightly chuckling.
"My wife sure doesn't think so?" Egbert hissed to Barry as soon as the guard was out of earshot.
"Hey, it worked …"
"Just get under there and get to work."
Barry quickly ignited the torch, put on the welding goggles and disappeared under the van.
XXX
The rising Saturday morning sun gleamed in the menacing pincers of the humongous mecha as it came thundering down the street, leaving a trail of broken asphalt an smashed cars in its wake. It stumbled over the curb and came to a halt in the parking lot of the Supervillains Supermarket and Deli with a resounding crash.
Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb liked to get their shopping done early.
As Mr. Fibb pulled the keys from the ignition Mr. Wink was contemplating the roof of the building.
"Say, Mr. Fibb, I believe there is a flagpole less than usual in front of the supermarket today."
"Indeed there is, Mr. Wink. Obviously some bratty kids have stolen it during the night to use it as a prop in some nefarious scheme."
"Or perhaps it is simply being replaced, Mr. Fibb."
"That is also a possibility. Now, Mr. Wink, I believe there was a discount on dishwasher today…"
XXX
"All right, team" Numbuh 2 said, as he steered the COOLBUS out of the hangar into the clear mid-morning sunshine. "Here's the plan. We land at the designated area in the Heights and meet with the operatives from Sector W and T. Two or three of us go up the road as lookouts and signal back when the van with the cake is coming. Meanwhile the rest of us then set up the CARSNATCHER (Concealed Asphalt Replacing Sooper Net Apprehends Threatening Car Holding Edible Refreshment) to stop the van and then attack and drive the ice cream men away."
"Hey, relax, Numbuh 2", Numbuh 4 drawled. "You've told us the plan three times already."
"Yeah," Numbuh 3 chimed in, "it's not like we haven't done this before, y'know."
Numbuh 2 winced. Truth be told, he had mainly been going over the plan for his own benefit, to calm his nerves. Sure they had done this numerous times before, but this time it was different for him. It was his first mission as Sector Leader.
He had not wanted this. He had always been happiest staying in the background or tinkering with 2x4 gadgets; he had never, ever seen himself as leadership material. But when Numbuh 5 had asked him to take over from her as sector leader, it had simply been impossible for him to say no, given the circumstances.
It had not come as a surprise when Numbuh 362 had announced that she was stepping down as Soopreme Leader, but everybody had been gobsmacked when she revealed that there would be no game of "TAG" to find the new Supreme Leader, because Numbuh 5 had agreed to take over after her. Everybody except him. Abby had come to him the night before and told him that Rachel was going to step down and wanted her as her successor. She had been most un-Abby-like, full of doubts and completely at loss, scared of the responsibility and the enormity of the task, knowing what toll it had taken on 362 and 274 and 100 before them, and not wanting to leave him, Kuki and Wally.
And he had told her the truth: that 362 was right, that she was the best kid for the job, that she was the greatest leader he knew, that she was the only one who would ever be able to fill 362's sneakers and that she would regret it for the rest of her KND-days if she said no.
But he had not told her how much he would miss her.
"Tee-hee, that boat looks funny." Numbuh 3 interrupted his thoughts. She was looking down at something in the canal that ran through the city and once had been a bustling line of transportation, with scores of vessel carrying goods and passengers, but was now only the passageway of one or two prams and tourist boats a day – apart from being an excellent place for boating, swimming and fishing of course.
"Yeah, that's weird," Numbuh 4 agreed. "It's like the mast is way too tall."
Numbuh 2 looked in the ground mirror. That little boat in the canal sure did look funny; with the gihoogily tall mast that looked like someone had crudely tied a flagpole on top of an existing mast.
Why on earth would someone build a boat like that? Any sail that you hung on that mast would immediately capsize the boat – even if you could put a sail on it, which even a casual glance at the rigging showed that you could not. It made no sense.
Oh, well, he would have to let that go. He had other responsibilities now. With a sigh he adjusted the course and headed the COOLBUS towards the Heights.
XXX
The gates to the ice-cream factory slowly opened, and let out the huge, menacing-looking cake transport. The van drove slowly down the road, armed guards in the turrets peering through the slits after any signs of marauding kids.
Johnny the Ice Cream man was in the shotgun seat, jittery as a balloon in a needle factory. He was clutching his rum-raisin bazooka and gave little jolts every time the van shook in an unexpected way.
"Will you relax, Johnny?" said big, black-bearded Jim, who was sitting behind the wheel, looking for all the world as if he was just on his way out on his regular day job, selling ice cream to mature adults and telling snot-nosed kids to get lost. "You'll get an ulcer if you carry on that way"
"How on Earth can you be so calm, Big Jim?" Johnny whined. "We are sitting four feet from the Kids Next Door organization's number one target. They could pounce on us any minute. And if we lose that cake, Father is going to flambé us!"
"What are you, Johnny, an adult or a mouse?" Big Jim slowed down for a red light "This is in the most powerful ice cream van ever built, we have elite gunners on all sides, ready to eliminate any opposition and can call in backup over the radio. Let those Brats Next Door try to steal our cake, they'll get their butts kicked so hard that their school chairs will feel sore."
"Well, that is true … AAARGH!" Johnny jumped in the seat when something large and colorful suddenly appeared right in front of the window. He frantically shouldered the bazooka, not noticing that it was pointed the wrong way.
"Relax, John. It's just a dumb kid with some balloons!" Big Jim pointed down to a chubby kid in a large duster coat, who was walking in the pedestrian crossing in front of them with a large cluster of colorful balloons hovering over his head.
"Why is he walking around out here with all those balloons?" Johnny whined. "Jim, I smell a rat. It could be a Kids Next Door ambush."
"Well, then we should let them know we're coming!" Big Jim rumbled and honked the horn hard. The boy gave a jump at the sound and lost grip of the balloons. Up, up and away towards the blue heaven they floated, while he ran for the safety on the other side of the road. Big Jim roared with laughter, floored the gas pedal and turned around the corner down towards the bridge over the canal.
XXX
Kyle stood frozen to the spot on the sidewalk and waited for the scary car to disappear around the corner, doing his best to calm down his 200 bpm hart. He sooo didn't have nerves for this job … for this whole life of crime in fact. Whenever Eggy's grand plans backfired, they tended to do so spectacularly, and this one could easily bring them in hot water with both the KND organization and Father - and then you really did not have many friends left. As many times before, he wondered why on Earth he and Barry always just went along when Eggy came with a new brilliant plan. He really had to learn to say no at some point.
Of course he really wanted that cake for Ysande as well.
Just thinking about her and how happy that cake would make her made him calmer and warmer inside. Not that there was anything girlfriendly about it, no no no, he just liked hanging out with her, because somehow, whenever they were together, everything felt all right. He leaned back towards the wall, closed his eyes and exhaled softly.
With a jolt Kyle remembered that he was supposed to be down by the canal in ten minutes. He almost got run over twice as he dashed across the street, jumped on his bike and started to paddle frantically towards the meeting point.
XXX
Barry was sitting in the small boat they had "borrowed" from the small yard next to the canal and fitted with the flagpole "kindly donated" by the Supervillains Supermarket and Deli as a mast extender. Even in the calm waves of the canal, the small boat rocked alarmingly from side to side, being more than a little unbalanced with the big mast on top. Still, to Barry this just added to the excitement. What a heist this would be. He could practically taste the cake already. Eggy was truly a genius.
He scanned the sky once again, and gave a small jump when he saw the huge cluster of balloons emerging from between the houses and slowly spreading like flower petals over the unknowing city. That was the signal. Immediately he cranked up the engine and swung around towards the drawbridge a hundred yards away.
XXX
The old bridge-master was sitting in the control room reading his paper. It was a nice, quiet job these days where only a few ships used the canal.
Suddenly the incoming ships alarm started to bleep and he looked up in surprise. There was no boat due until this evening – nothing tall enough to merit an opening, surely. He got to his feet and peered out of the window. At first he could not see anything. But then he noted a small, wooden boat sailing towards the bridge. A boat with a preposterously long mast which could in no way fit under the bridge. And there was some kid sitting in it, signaling frantically that he should open.
Well, rules were rules. He had to open the bridge for all vessels that needed it. With a grumble about stupid kids, he reached over and started the long procedure needed to raise the leaf.
XXX
"What the …" Big Jim exclaimed, as he saw the warning lights in front of them begin to blink. He stopped right in front of the gates that had gone down and closed the bridge. Why the fudge would they need to open the leaf now? He tried to locate the reason, but apart from a tall, white, violently rocking mast he could not see anything above the high edges of the canal. "All right people," he barked into the intercom. "We are going to stand still for a while, so keep a lookout."
The three ice cream gunners cocked their icy guns and scanned the surroundings for any suspicious activity, ready to unleash a barrage of headache-inducing soft-serve at the slightest provocation.
They did not, how ever, notice the cover of the manhole directly under the van starting to move ...