Chapter II.

Of course, as with all wonderful ideas, it took planning. And planning had to occur in the right place.

Bueno Nacho.

"You know, dad still grumps that I've joined "the enemy,"" Cindy said around a mouth full of Grande Naco.

"Well betrayal is sort of a villain thing." James responded, "He should be proud."

"I think he was more upset mom wasn't letting him go to Bueno Nacho himself." Cindy replied.

"Oh?"

"He didn't intercept the doctor's report, and it had bad things to say about his Cholesterol levels."

"Oh." James said. "Mom's just happy as long as dad doesn't eat so much he turns into a ugly fat monster."

"That's harsh."

"Well it did actually happen." Now James put his soda down and got a serious look. "And it's time to decide who runs things on this operation."

"You ran things last time."

"That wasn't a mission, that was looking for a kid's cat."

"Oh and that doesn't count as a mission? We were engaged in a directed activity to achieve a goal." Cindy pointed out, leaning back, flipping her long braid of dark hair over her shoulder, the light catching the subtle green highlights in it.

"Um, well, you didn't say it was a mission."

"Hmph. Well, there's one way to solve this." Cindy held up her hand, and gestured at James. James nodded.

"Ready…" Cindy did three motions with her hand, leaving it in the form of a pair of scissors. "Scissors, I….James, what are you doing?" James had his hands up under his chin, waggling all fingers.

"Winning."

"Winning? That's not even legal."

"Sure it is, and it beats scissors."

"How."

"Simple, Paper, covers rock, scissors cut paper, rock smashes scissors. Correct?"

"Yes."

"And Unnamable Cthuloid horrors from beyond space and time, crumble rock, rusts scissors and inscribes paper with blasphemous secrets that cause your eyeballs to explode while your tongue catches fire from the unholy hymns your crazed mind forces you to scream out." He paused, and took a sip on his coke. "Thus, I win."

Cindy glared at him and muttered, "Never should have given you those Lovecraft books for Christmas…"

"And I heard that your dad was muttering about the lawn again… and I'll just happen to be mowing our lawn and offer to do it so you don't have to."

"Now you're talking…okay, you get to plan the first part of our mission."

"First part?"

"Don't push it."

"Me, when would I ever push it beyond good sense?"

"Training Wheels."

"Ah…" James loosened his collar, "In any case, the first thing we have to do is to get into the museum to take our core samples."

"And we need a core sampler."

"Easy enough, I can modify a laser drill to make a tiny hole—too small to see, and then use one of your dads gravatomic rays to pull out the fragments—nobody would even notice the different from the outside."

"And you can do this in…"

"By this evening." Now James looked at Cindy. "Of course it depends on you being able to clone them…"

"Not a problem." She finished her grande Naco and continued, "Like I said, Dad's old lair has everything we need."

"This is…a safe old lair."

"Oh yeah," Cindy said, "remember, our moms cleared it out when we were ten?" James thought, then started to laugh.

"That one?" He got serious, "But all of the mutated head lice was removed, right?"

"Sure." Cindy said, trying not to laugh, "Especially after mom threatened dad with what she would do if she ever saw any again."

"It made for a funny time when they picked us up." The two looked at each other, and laughed.

Then, in unison, James and Cindy both said: "Mom…why are you bald?"

Moments later, their giggles subsided.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"I'll ask dad if I can go out late…he'll agree." James said.

"And I'll…wait until dad starts working on one of his projects." Cindy paused, "I could say I was going out to burn the city down and he wouldn't notice."

"Cool! We can meet in front of my house at 8:00—and by 9:00 everyone should be out of the museum." He peered at her, "And we can get in?"

"Please, mom taught me everything she knew… and she's old. " Cindy said in a superior tone. "What about you?"

"Oh you don't worry about me! Remember I'm the scion of mystical monkey power and I know technology."

"Take the last, I saw you on the field yesterday—unless mystical monkey power is codeword for "Klutz." "

"Hmph. I got distracted. "

"You ran into a pole!"

"I was really distracted." He shrugged, "Besides, nothings going to go wrong—we've got it all under control!"

TBC.