Hours passed, and Fluey still couldn't figure out what the heck Big D was up to. And he was wracking his brains out over it. He had never known the chief to just have the Impossibles drop a case like that! It just wasn't like Big D.

"Hey," Daisy said, walking over, and sitting down next to Fluey. "You've been sitting on that couch for two hours now. Whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing," Fluey said. He didn't necessarily want to tell Daisy just exactly what he was thinking about, if she didn't know about Phyllis's job at the SSHQ.

"Two hours is a long time to be sitting and thinking about nothing," Daisy pointed out.

"Yeah, well . . . ."

Before Fluey could go on, he heard a car pull up outside. He quickly got up, looked out the window, and gasped.

"Holy Mesopotamia!" he shouted.

"What's wrong?" Daisy asked, as she stood up, and walked to the window herself. Phyllis followed.

"Uh oh . . . . ." Phyllis said, nervously.

"Aren't those the crooks that escaped from jail the other night?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah," Phyllis said.

"But what are they doing here?" Fluey asked.

"Maybe they're looking for a place to hide out from the law," Daisy suggested.

Phyllis and Fluey glanced at each other, and said nothing. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"We know you're in there!" the Spinner shouted. "It'll be a lot easier on you if you give up now!"

"What in the world is he talking about?" Daisy asked, shooting Phyllis and Fluey a confused look.

"I dunno," Fluey said, shrugging and playing dumb.

"Now are you going to come out?" the Spinner asked again. "Or do we have to come in?!"

Without saying a word, Fluey, Phyllis, and Daisy began backing away from the door, nervously. The three of them heard the criminals trying to get it open.

"How heavy is the lock on the front door?" Phyllis asked.

"Pretty heavy," Daisy said. "It'll take them awhile to break through it. They won't be able to break the door down, either. It's pretty heavy, itself!"

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and a hole was blown through the door. Fluey and the girls ducked to avoid getting hit with flying splinters.

"This doesn't look good," Phyllis commented.

"You're so right," Televisitron said.

But Fluey had something up his sleeve. He took a couple of steps back, jumped, and gave Televisitron one heck of a kick, karate style, right in the stomach.

"Gaaakkkhhhh!" Televisitron groaned. Before he had a chance to recover, Fluey gave him a karate chop to the side of the neck.

"Hiyah!" he shouted.

"Let's get out of here!" Daisy shouted, and she and Phyllis began running.

"Oh no you don't, ladies!" the Spinner shouted, firing his gun at the girls. It was still loaded with that super sticky spider webbing. Both of them got caught up in it.

"Eeeeuuuuuuuuwww!" Daisy grimaced. She couldn't stand spiders, or spiderwebs. The Spinner merely laughed and continued shooting the spider silk at the girls, until they were completely cocooned in it. Not only was this stuff super sticky, but it was also super strong. It was going to take awhile before the girls could get out of there.

"Hang on, girls!" Fluey shouted, pulling his transformer out of his pocket. "I'll get you out of there!"

"Oh no you won't!" Cronella shouted, and she jumped right into Fluey's chest as hard as she could. The force of the kick sent Fluey crashing to the floor, causing his transformer to go flying.

"Hey!" he shouted. Cronella then cackled, and gave Fluey a swipe to the face with her claws, resulting in a nasty looking scratch.

"Ow!" he shouted.

"We've got him now," Televisitron said, as he and the Spinner grabbed Fluey by the arms and pulled him to his feet. Fluey groaned, and struggled to break out of their grip.

"You've had this coming a long time, Fluid Man," Mr. Instant said with an evil laugh. He pulled his fist back, and gave Fluey a good, hard punch in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of him.

"Oooh!" Fluey moaned. Televisitron let go of the dark-haired Impossible's arm, and the Spinner held him upright.

"I've been waiting for ages to do this," Televisitron laughed, and he gave Fluey a hard uppercut to the jaw, leaving the teenager seeing stars. The Spinner laughed, and passed the dazed hero over to Mr. Instant.

"I believe I owe you some lumps from our last encounter," he said, giving Fluey a good punch in the nose as hard as he could. That last punch ended up knocking Fluey out, and he crashed to the floor like an old rag doll once Mr. Instant let go of him.

"Come on, boys," Cronella said, using her claws to loosen Fluey's wrist communicator. Once she got it off, she threw it across the room. "Let's get going!"

The Spinner then fired some of his webbing out of his gun, and used it to bind Fluey's wrists and ankles. Then Mr. Instant hoisted the unconscious teenager over his shoulder, and the four crooks started to leave the cabin.

"What about Blondie?" Televisitron asked.

"What about her?" Mr. Instant said. "She can't do anything to us in that cocoon, and the boss only needs one of the two of them, anyway."

And with that, the four villains left, cackling madly. Phyllis and Daisy had heard everything, and Phyllis was fuming.

"We have to find a way out of here!" she shouted.

"Did they call Franky what I think they called him?" Daisy asked.

"They did," Phyllis said, grabbing a piece of the webbing and pulling at it.

"Then that would mean he's one of . . . ."

"Yes, he's one of the Impossibles. And I work for the Secret Security Headquarters. I'm a secretary there. And my dad's the chief."

"Wow! How come you never told me?"

"Because my dad swore me to secrecy. He doesn't want too many people to know I'm his daughter, and Fluey's his grandson. And once he finds out I told you, he's gonna kill me."

"Oh, I won't tell anyone, Phyllis, I swear!"

"Okay. Now help me get out of this cocoon. I've got to call my dad!"

The two girls began pulling and tugging at the spiderweb cocoon until they managed to tear a hole in it. Once they were out, Phyllis ran to her purse, and pulled out her compact communicator. She opened it, and pushed a couple of buttons inside.

"Phyllis calling Big D," she said. "Urgent. Repeat, urgent!"

"Big D here," the chief replied, coming in on his own communications console. "And you'd better have a good reason for this call, young lady. I explained I would call you and the boys when I was ready for you to come back to work, not the other way around."

"I know, I know," Phyllis said. "But somehow or another, Mr. Instant, the Spinner, Televisitron, and Cronella Critch showed up here at Daisy's cabin."

"They what?! Of all the . . . . . . oh never mind. Are you and Fluid all right?"

"Well . . . . . yes and no."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm fine, but I think those crooks took Fluey with them. Daisy and I ended up wrapped up in the Spinner's spiderwebs, so we didn't exactly see them but we heard some fighting going on."

Big D groaned, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He turned away from his console for a moment, and pounded on his desk with his fist in frustration.

"Phyllis, return to headquarters at once," he ordered. "I'll contact the other two."

"Yes, sir," Phyllis said, and she sighed off.

Big D then tuned his console to Coiley's guitar first, and then Multi's, and told them to get to HQ, and his office, PDQ. While Big D waited for them, he got up, and began pacing his office, muttering under his breath.

"How they found out so quickly, I don't know," he mumbled.

After awhile, Coiley, Multi, and Phyllis returned to HQ, and prepared themselves for Big D not to be in a good mood. And they were right.

"We're here, chief," Multi said. "How do you want us to handle this?"

"I'm still thinking about that issue," Big D said. "And I'm still trying to figure out how in the world they discovered your location so quickly, Phyllis."

"Maybe they managed to plant a bug or something," Phyllis suggested.

"But how could they without someone noticing?" Multi asked.

No one had an answer for that, at least not until Coiley suddenly smacked the palm of his hand against Big D's desk, startling everyone.

WHACK!

"And what, may I ask, was that for, Coil?" Big D asked, looking a little perturbed.

"Sorry, chief," Coiley said, a bit sheepishly. "But there was a fly buzzing around and it was starting to drive me crazy."

"Wait a minute," Multi said, getting a closer look at the squashed bug on the desk. "Since when do house flies come with crackling wires?"

"What?!" Big D shouted, and he got a closer look at the smashed insect himself. "Phyllis, get Johnson in here immediately!"

Phyllis ran out to the outer office and called in Dr. Reginald "Reggie" Johnson, the head of the science and technology foundation. He came a few moments later and investigated the bug himself.

"No doubt about it, Big D," he said. "This is definitely a miniature spy camera. Or at least it was until Coiley smashed it."

"So that's it," Big D grumbled. "We've been bugged."

"I'll bet anything that thing followed me and Fluey to Daisy's cabin," Phyllis said.

"And it probably was around at one point when we were talking about . . . ." Coiley started, before Multi clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Sssshhhh!" he hissed. "Ix-nay on-hay ig-bay ee-day's amily-fay ecret-say! Eggie-ray is-hay ill-stay in-hay the-hay oom-ray!"

"Sorry, I forgot," Coiley said, pushing Multi's hand off.

"In all due respect, chief, when you told us to drop this case and sent us on vacation," Multi said, "you shouldn't have split us up."

"Yeah, no offense, Big D," Coiley said. "But that was a pretty dumb decision."

"I know," Big D said. "I thought it would be safer this way. I didn't want you boys, or Phyllis, getting involved with this."

"With what Da---uhhh, chief?" Phyllis said, catching herself from calling Big D "Dad."

"Someone I used to know," Big D said. "A character far more dangerous than Antonio Manikatti. I've been tangling with this one longer than the Syndicate. Even before I became chief of the agency. Long before any of you were even born. I should have known better than you insist you boys split up. If I hadn't, then Fluid might not have been captured. I had completely forgotten about him, and I know he's out to get me."

"If this guy's out to get you, Big D," Reggie said, "then why'd he capture Fluey?"

"We can't tell you the reason, Johnson," Big D said. "If the Shadow is around, it would be far too dangerous. I need an All Points Bulletin put out immediately."

"Do you want to send some agents to look for the Shadow, chief?" Multi asked.

"No," Big D said. "The best thing to do now is wait for the Shadow to make the next move. And I don't want anything done until I give the word. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" Coiley, Multi, Phyllis, and Reggie shouted, all saluting. Skittles barked, stood up on her hind legs, and saluted as well, telling Big D she understood as well.

Big D then dismissed them, and they all left. Except Skittles. She started following Multi out of the office, but turned back and looked at the chief. She noticed he was beginning to look nervous, which was very unusual for Big D. He was usually a rock, even in the most dire of situations. Her mind made up, she walked over to the desk, jumped up onto it, and snuggled against Big D's arm. She had a feeling she was needed more with him, than with Multi right now. Big D said nothing, and just stroked the puppy's back.

Meanwhile, Fluey was just starting to come to. He was still feeling a bit dizzy from the earlier attack, and everything, especially his head, hurt.

"Ooooh . . . . ." he moaned. "What hit me?"

Fluey shook his head to regain his composure, and looked around his surroundings. He could tell he was in some kind of shack, which was probably down by the docks, because he could smell the salty air and hear waves crashing outside. He also noticed he had been tied to a chair.

"Finally woke up, did you?" Cronella asked, and she began washing one of her paws. "We were wondering how long it would be before you came to."

Fluey didn't say anything. He just glared at Cronella, and began maneuvering his hands to untie himself. As he was doing that, the Spinner, Televisitron, Mr. Instant, and the Shadow came into the room.

"Is he awake yet?" the Shadow asked.

"Just now," Cronella said, rubbing her paw against her head in order to wash her ears.

"Who are you, anyway?" Fluey asked, glaring at the shadowy figure.

"I'm an old . . . . friend of your grandfather's," the Shadow said. "We go way back."

"Old friend my foot," Fluey said. "What do you want with me?"

"Revenge, my dear boy. Simple revenge. I'm going to take out the Secret Security Headquarters, but to do that, I must first take out the head man. I managed to do so twenty years ago, but your grandfather ended up stopping me before I could get far. I've waited a long time to get my revenge on Davis Dawson."

"I don't know who you think you're kidding, pal. Big D isn't the head honcho of the SSHQ for nothing! You'll never get away with whatever you have in mind!"

"We'll just see about that, won't we?"

The Shadow chuckled evilly, and sat down, propping his feet up on a nearby table.

"So what do we do with him now?" the Spinner asked.

"Nothing," the Shadow replied. "We wait."

"Drat," Televisitron groaned. "I was looking forward to cleaning this kid's clock!"

"They'll be enough time for that," the Shadow said. "But for right now, all we do is wait. You know the old adage. Good things come to those who wait."

The five villains merely laughed. Fluey gulped, and continued to try to maneuver his way out of the ropes holding him to the chair. It was about all he could do, for now.