A. Nigma High
Toronto, Ontario

Holger stared down the hall at his target.

"It's okay, Holgermiester," he muttered to himself. "You can do this. You can be all Sven Svenson. Yes, Holger from school can do this. No more being scary, Holger. Time to be herohogen!"

He took another look at his target: a tall blonde girl, stylishly dressed and wearing very high wedge heels. He ducked back behind a bank of lockers.

"Or maybe teensy-bit no?" Holger muttered to himself. "Is not that important, yes? Holger doesn't have to..."

"Hey."

Holger screamed and leapt away from the person behind him who had just spoken. Turning around, he saw the girl he was previously looking at staring at him boredly. As Holger continued to quake with fear, she blew a bubble with her gum and then popped it.

"So, any particular reason you're staring at me? Because you should know, I've got a boyfriend." Kimmie blew another bubble. "And even if I didn't, please. I'm way out of your league."

"Um, well, yes! Yes, the Kimmie is far out of Holger's league! Yes!" Holger said nervously. "So far out of his league, it's a good thing the Kimmie is dating Biffy! Yes!"

Holger let out a nervous laugh. Kimmie eyed him up.

"Alright, flashypants, what do you want?"

"Oh, Holgermiester does not want anything, no, not at all," Holger warbled. "Except maybe to be telling you that Biffy is no longer with us because of mean men okay bye!"

Holger moved to run off. Kimmie reached out and snagged the back of his shirt with her right hand.

"What do you mean, Biffy is no longer with us?" Kimmie asked calmly.

"Oh. Well," Holger said nervously. "He has been, taken? By mean men?"

Kimmie frowned at him. "I see," she said flatly.

"But no to be worrying! Lee of Pings has plan for the saving of Biffy!" Holger said quickly.

Kimmie looked at Holger, unimpressed.

"One last question," she said calmly. "Where is Lee right now?"

"In the room at the back of the library oh Holger so scary please stop!" Holger begged.

Kimmie let go of Holger and walked away.

"Oh no. What has Holger done?" Holger asked himself pitifully.

A. Nigma High
Toronto, Ontario

The group was still in Genius Club headquarters, looking to finalize their plans and figure out their cover stories.

"Okay, Cam, you tell my mom what's going on," Lee said. "Brandy, can you say you've got Tina and Jenny staying at your house for some big school project or something?"

"They'll never buy that!" Tina complained.

"Yeah, even if my mom doesn't want to think about me running off there's no way she'll accept that excuse," Jenny added.

"Got any better ideas?" Brandy asked.

The room fell silent.

"Fair enough," Jenny finally admitted.

"Alright, are we ready to go?" Lee asked.

Everybody murmured noises of assent. Right on schedule, a video chat window appeared on Lee's laptop.

"So, kid, you got your team ready?" the old man onscreen grunted.

"Right here," Lee said confidently. "Me, Tina, Jenny, and–wait, where's Holger?"

Holger burst into the room. He was crying.

"Oh, Lee of Pings, I am so sorry!" Holger said. "I told the Kimmie, and she is mad, and, and, and she is, oh, Lee! Holger from school is so scary!"

Holger wept in Lee's arms. Lee comforted his friend while looking around awkwardly.

"So is this like normal behavior for you freaks or what?" the old man asked. "Because I gotta say, I'm not really understanding how you guys are ever gonna solve a mystery or anything."

Lee frowned. "Hey, I'll have you know that we're...uh...Holger, could you stop sobbing on me?"

Holger straightened up, instantly cheerful. "Of course, Lee of Pings!" he said brightly.

"Thanks, Holg," Lee said gratefully. He turned back to the computer. "Look, our competence is not the point. The point is–"

The door to the room flew open and Kimmie stormed in. She grabbed Lee by the front of his shirt.

"Lee. PING!" she screamed in his face.

A. Nigma High
Toronto, Ontario

Everybody stared at Kimmie, surprised. The old man onscreen was the first one to break the silence.

"Whoa, who's this angry woman?" he asked.

"Stow it, gramps," Kimmie said. She turned back to Lee. "What do you mean, my boyfriend's gone?"

"Oh, right, you're his girlfriend," the old man said. "Yeah, I heard about you."

Kimmie looked towards the screen. "Who are you and why are you interrupting us?"

"Who, me?" the old man said smugly. "I'm just the guy who knows where your boyfriend is–well, kinda–and what you've gotta do to get him back."

Kimmie dropped Lee and faced the screen completely. "Do you know who I am?" she asked.

The old man looked her over. "Lemme guess. Blonde, rich, self-absorbed; yeah, I've known a lot of people like you, kid. And lemme tell ya, you don't impress me much."

"Excuse me?" Kimmie asked, shocked. "I'll have you know, my mom–"

"Actually went out and made something of herself, yeah yeah yeah," the old man said. "And you, what have you done? You're either a spoiled brat who never sees her or you're completely under her thumb. Again, heard this story before. Don't really care. Point is, if you ever want to see your boyfriend again, you got one hope, and he's got a really stupid haircut."

"Hey!" Lee said, insulted. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"Kid, I'm told you have plenty of great qualities, but trust me, 'style' isn't one of them," the old man said.

"I like his style!" Tina piped up.

"...yeah," the old man said. "Not touching that one. Point is, if any of you want to see Biffy again, you'd better get your four butts down to Detroit."

"Detroit?" everyone asked, shocked.

"Yeah, it's a city in Michigan," the old man said. "You might want to, y'know, get moving."

The old man ended the video chat.

A. Nigma High
Toronto, Ontario

"Well, that's just great," Lee said to nobody in particular. "How are we supposed to get to America?"

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Then Kimmie spoke up.

"Hold on," Kimmie said. "Let me just try and understand this. Biffy has been kidnapped by some weirdo not related to my mother, maybe, in order to set up a humongous trap for all of you losers, in order to do who knows what?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it," Brandy said.

"Yeah, ese, that's all we know," Cam added.

Kimmie rolled her eyes. "Fine. I can get you to Detroit."

"What? How?" Lee asked, surprised.

"My mom may be...evil, and frozen in crystal...but...we're still rich," Kimmie said. "If it's buyable, I can get it for you."

"Gee, thanks–" Lee started to say. Kimmie stepped forward and hauled Lee up by the front of his shirt.

"But, if you don't bring Biffy back, I will END you," she told him.

Lee gulped.

"Got it," he said nervously.