Francine peddled hard and fast down the sidewalk, not bothering to say "excuse me" as she blew by countless numbers of people. She didn't care. She had a person she had to see. After a few more minutes of pedaling, she skidded to a stop in front of a house. Sue Ellen's house to be exact. She had to get some information and this was the best place to start. Sue Ellen knew close to everything going on around Elwood City. If anyone would know where to find Brain and Binky, it was her. She marched up the front walk and rang the doorbell. When no one came, she rang it again. "Come on, come on, where is she," Francine muttered with her arms crossed, tapping her foot furiously. Just after the third ring, the door was opened by Sue Ellen.

"I had a feeling it was you, Francine," she said, and then smiled. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm kinda in a rush," she said. "Have you seen Brain or Binky today?"

"Well, yeah. Why," she asked.

Francine continued to pepper her with questions. "When did you see them? What were they doing? Where are they going next?"

"Uh… they didn't say where they were going next," she started, "I saw them a little over an hour ago, and they were making some kind of rocket ship?" Francine stopped asking questions and just stared wide-eyed back at the cat-girl.

"What did you say," she asked slowly. "The last part."

"That… they were building a rocket ship," she replied with a question. "Why? What's going on?"

Thanks, Sue Ellen," she said and immediately tore down the front walk and hopped back on her bike. She then continued to pedal up the streets as fast as she could.

The troop was walking down the sidewalk, heading to Ratburn's house. "I still think this is a bad idea," Brain said. "What if he find out what we did? We'll be arrested for sure. And how do we even know he'll help us?"

Buster suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "WAIT! I'VE GOT IT," he exclaimed. "What about Ladonna?"

Ladonna Compson was new to their town, but she became very fast friends with Buster, and more so with Arthur. "Why her," Arthur couldn't help but ask.

"Why not," Buster asked back. "She's nice to us, her house isn't that far away from Brain's, and she'll do anything for you, Arthur."

"What," Arthur exclaimed. "No she wouldn't… would she?"

"It's settled then," Brain interrupted. "Ladonna's it is. Let's get a move on, though. We're running out of time. Someone is bound to be onto us by now."

As if on cue, Binky looked down the street and saw a bike start to round the corner. "HIDE," he yelled. Everyone turned and looked, but there were no bushes this time. The only thing they could hide behind was if they went through a picket fence. Thankfully, there was a loose board at the base of one of the pickets. Binky quickly shoved it aside as Brain, Arthur, and Buster squeezed through. When they were clear, he lunged through, but got stuck halfway through. His waist was too big! "HELP," he cried out to the others running away. They turned around and immediately rushed back. They grabbed his arms and tried to pull him through, but he barely moved. They heard the *click click* sound of the bike getting closer. In 10 seconds, it'd be too late for Binky.

They continued to pull, but nothing changed. Then Brain had an idea. "Suck in, Binky," he said. When he did, they gave one last, big tug and he flew through the fence. It thudded back into place just in time. They all laid there, catching their breath, when they heard they squeaking of brakes and the burning of rubber on the sidewalk. Only one person could have that much ferocity and skill on a bike; Francine Frensky. They all held their breath as they heard her climb off of their bike.

"I could have sworn that I saw something," she mumbled to herself. Just then, her pocket vibrated. She was getting a phone call. She pulled out the phone and read the caller I.D. Call from Muffy illuminated the screen. "Hey Muffy," she answered. "What's up? Did you find anything?"

"No," she replied with a sigh. "I looked all over the top of town and didn't find anything. Did you?"

"As a matter of fact I did," she replied with a sense of urgency in her voice. She trembled as the next words came out. "Muffy. They're building another one. I repeat. They're building another rocket."

"What," she exclaimed. "But, that's impossible. Why would they want to do it again?"

"I don't know, but I still have some places to check out," Francine interrupted. "I'll call you if I find anything else, but I'd suggest you start making your way here."

"I'm on my way now," Muffy replied and hung up. Francine slipped the phone in her pocket, gave one last look at the fence and pedalled away.

They all waited for the sound of silence before they finally took a sigh of relief. They all laid there for a minute, thinking about what they had just overheard. After the brief moment of silence, Binky got to his feet and started to walk away.

"Where are you going," Arthur said, sitting up.

"You heard Francine," he responded. "They're onto us. We need to be one step ahead. We have to keep moving."

"He's right," Buster said, getting to his feet. "We have to get to Ladonna's fast!" Arthur and Brain both nodded, got up, followed Binky and Buster as they ran off through the yard. But, they didn't make their way back to the streets. They wanted to stay under the radar and not take any chances of being spotted by a passing car. They jumped more fences and crashed through more brush, until the arrived the the Compson home. They walked around the front of the simple, rectangular house. There was a single oak tree in the front yard and a few windows on each of the two floors. The house had a single door right in the center of the wall. It seemed to split the house perfectly in half. They quickly ran up to the door and Binky wasted no time. He pounded hard on the door three times, THUD THUD THUD! They didn't have to wait long enough to knock again as Ladonna opened the door in her normal, cheery attitude. "Hey guys! What'ch y'all doin' over here?" Her Louisiana accent was very thick as she spoke. She was dressed in her normal, green sweater and jeans, even though it was the middle of summer. She had stringy, red hair with rabbit ears poking out through it. Her face was like Buster's, except her skin was a tan color instead of white.

"Hey Ladonna," Arthur said, stepping in front of the group. "We're really sorry to intrude, but is it ok if we lay low here for a while? It's really important."

"Uh, sure," she replied, scratching her head. "Come on in." They all walked silently inside. She closed the door before asking her next question. "Soo.. what kind of stuff is goin' on?"

They all looked at each other and knew they couldn't keep this secret from her. "We're doing a top secret experiment," Brain said. "It's really crucial that no one else finds out about it." As he explained, Binky pulled the half of the rocket out from behind his back. Ladonna gasped at the sight of it. "We need a place to lay low and finish this."

"Well, sure thing guys," she said with a smile. "My home is your home. Do what'cha gotta do." They all thanked her and went to work, except for Arthur. He stayed next to Ladonna. She looked over at him.

"So, this rocket," she started, "is it a model er what?"

"No," Arthur said. "It's much bigger than that." He continued to explain what had happened earlier and what they were planning to do. All the while, they all failed to notice the tin can hanging down by the stairwell.

At the top of the stairs, Bud Compson was holding another tin can to his ear as it was attached to the one hanging below by a string. He wiped the sweat off his brow and he continued to spy on his older sister. Bud was 4 ½ years younger than his 9 year old sister, same as D.W, who was speaking into the Bionic Bunny walkie-talkie Bud was holding in his other hand. "What's going on, Agent Compson," she asked. She was back in her room, four houses down the street.

"Not a whole lot," he whispered back. He had the same accent as his sister, making it hard for D.W. to understand at times. But, she made the best of it. "They're goin' on an on 'bout some kinda rocket. Wait! Yer brother's talking about them launching a rocket inta the Crosswire's house. And they're making another one!"

"Now, that's what I like to hear, Agent Compson," D.W. said, giving a fist pump. "Get closer and get more information." This is just the kind of information I need to get Arthur in major trouble, she thought to herself.

"Will do," he answered, as he moved his can system more towards Buster, Binky, and Brain, who were all working hard on the rocket. He carefully positioned it right on the outside of the group. It would have worked had Buster not sneezed. He reared his head back to sneeze and as he did, his head hit the can.

"Huh," he said, looking up at the can. He grabbed it and grabbed a pair of scissors from Binky and cut the string it was attached to. He then carried out his sneeze and went back to work.

A few blocks away, Francine was continuing her investigation. "Where's the last place they'd expect me to look," she thought to herself. She looked to her left at the houses she was biking past, then to her right. Then, she skidded to a halt. She caught her breath as she had been pedaling for 15 straight minutes. She took off her helmet and turned her attention to the house she stopped in front of. "Of course," she thought. "Why didn't I think of it before? They would never suspect me to look here." She marched up the front drive and knocked hastily on the door. The person who opened the door was exactly who she expected; Fern.

"Um, hey Francine," she said sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was actually coming to look for you," she answered. Fern let her in and Francine walked into the house. She followed Fern up to her room.

"So, what is it you wanted," Fern asked Francine. She picked up one of her drafts off the floor, looked it over, before pitching it into the waste basket next to her desk.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase," Francine answered. "Have Binky and Brain been here today?" This caused Fern to break the led off the pencil she was writing with. "AH HA," she exclaimed. "I KNEW IT! Spill it!"

This shocked Fern back into her chair and she almost fell out of it. She regained her composure before she began to answer Francine's questions. But, every time she was about to answer one, Francine just launched a new one. "Uh.. well, they were… no, they.. Uh.. STOP," she yelled out at last. "If you want the answers to the questions, let me answer them please." Francine then took a breath and started asking her questions again, one at a time.

"When did you last see them?"

"Uh.. about an hour ago."

"Did they say where they were going next?"

"No."

"What did they do when they were here?"

"I'm… not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I was upstairs the whole time with Binky."

"What were you doing?"

"Uh… showing him some poetry, but I kicked them out?"

"Why?"

"I.. can't say."

"Why not?"

"I can't say."

"Tell me."

"I… can't, but I can show you."

"Great. Then show me." The next thing Francine knew, she was being tossed out onto the curb. She turned around just as Fern slammed the door closed. "She's definitely hiding something." She climbed back on her bike, but pulled out her phone before she went any further. She hit speed dial 3, Muffy. It only rang twice before she picked up.

"Find out anything else," she asked.

"I just talked to Fern and she didn't really give much information."

"Sue Ellen and now Fern. Why would they be talking to those people," she asked.

"I don't know," Francine admitted. "I mean, it's not like they're friends of either Binky or Brain. The only person could be friends with both of them would be…" She stopped and gasped and Muffy did the same on the other end. They both said the one name at the same time. "ARTHUR!"

"And if Arthur is involved, that must mean Buster is in on it too," Muffy said, piecing the puzzle together.

"So, now there's four of them," Francine asked. "This is getting out of control. We have to stop them."

"Agreed, but where would they be," Muffy asked.

"Well, I still have some houses in this area to check," Francine replied.

"And I'm right by Arthur's house," Muffy inputted. "I'll check there first."

"Alright," Francine said. "Call me if you find anything else out."

"You got it," Muffy said, and the line went dead. Francine hung up the phone, tucked it into her jeans and rode off.

Back at the Compson home, everyone was keeping themselves calm and focused on the task in front of them. The four guys were all finishing the rocket and Ladonna was sitting by the window, watching the streets for any suspicious activity. Upstairs, however, Bud was busy quietly panicking into the walkie-talkie. "I lost it, D.W," he harshly whispered. "I lost my feed. I don't know what's happenin'! What do we do? WHAT DO WE DOOO?!"

"Bud, calm down," D.W. ordered. She wished she was there to give him a slap on the head to get him to calm down. Instead, she had to settle for this. "We got most of what we needed. We no longer need that can contraption. Head downstairs undercover and report back to me when you get a visual of the rocket." She let go of the receiver and looked out the window. A bike rode up the street in front of the house and stopped. The only person who could have such a glamorous bike would have to be rich. She picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the SPEAK button, cutting off the sound of Bud panicking. "AGENT COMPSON," she yelled. That got him to stop. "Muffy just arrived here, so I'll have to deal with her. You, go undercover and get that information."

He sniffled. "Roger that. I'm goin' in." And with that, the line went dead. She put down her walkie-talkie and headed downstairs. Just as she got to the bottom of the spiral stairs, the doorbell rang. She took a deep breath, let it out, and opened the door. Muffy was standing there, her arms crossed. She did not look happy.

"Hey D.W.," started, looking around her into the house. "Is Arthur here?"

D.W. stepped to block her view. "Nope, he's not. Why? Is he in trouble?"

"Uh, no," she answered trying to look around the smaller child. "I was just wondering if he was here. I kind of wanted to talk to him. Do you know where he is?"

"Nope, not a clue," she answered with a smile.

"You sure," she asked doubtfully.

"Positive," she answered with another smile.

"D.W, is there something you're not telling me," she asked.

"Nope," she said cheerfully again.

"She's definitely hiding something," Muffy thought. "D.W., have you heard about anything happening today?"

"Not a thing," she answered. "Now, since there's nothing else I can do for you, it's time for you to leave." She gave Muffy a small shove and closed the door on her face. Muffy stared at the door in disbelief, and then heard it lock, which meant this conversation was over. She huffed and stomped back to her bike. "What a waste of time," she grumbled as she climbed on her bike. She fastened her helmet and pulled out her smartphone. She dialed Francine's number and drummed her fingers on the handlebars. The third ring, Francine picked up.

"H-hello," she sounded out of breath when she said it. "You kinda stopped me on my way to Arthur's."

"Don't bother," Muffy sighed. "It's a dead end. They aren't there and D.W. isn't talking."

"Rats," Francine exclaimed. "Well, where does that leave us then?"

"No where closer than when we started," Muffy grumbled. "What do we know?"

"We know that they aren't in the residential area, that Fern, D.W., and Sue Ellen are all in on it, and they aren't at Binky's, Brain's, or Arthur's, which means they probably aren't at Buster's," Francine said counting out the things on her fingers.

"Not to mention I'm going to get terrible blisters if I pedal anymore," Muffy moaned. "Where else is there to search?"

"They've got to be here in Elwood City somewhere, but the question is, where," Francine asked.

"Well, we know that they've been using people to get to their goal. Fern could have been persuaded by Brain or Binky, Sue Ellen… didn't she like Buster," Muffy pondered

"That's right," Francine said, snapping her fingers. "So that must mean they're probably going to use someone else. Someone Arthur could get to do what they needed." She stopped and Muffy knew why. They knew where they had to go. "Muffy! Get Bailey over to Ladonna's house, fast. We'll hopefully be able to catch them there."

"I already sent the message," she replied. "Francine, I think we've got them."