systemcat: I try to keep the feel of the old show intact, even though this series is a bit on the more serious side. I'm glad to hear I am succeeding.

All properties except some OC's belong to Cookie Jar Entertainment.

Assignment 7.1: Phantom Appearance

Wednesday, May 28, 2087

Metro City Museum of History

"Alright, boys, careful with that cargo!" The call of the supervisor was not hard to hear, considering that the museum was dead silent at the moment. It was late at night, and the renovations that had been going on were almost finished. The last few artifacts were being loaded into the museum, and things were almost ready for the grand reopening on Friday.

"Where do you want this to go?" one of the workers asked, motioning to one of the large boxes that had been taken in.

"That?" The supervisor overlooked the box to figure out what it contained. "That looks like it's more C.O.N.T.R.O.L. junk."

"C.O.N.T.R.O.L.?" The work man looked down at the box and opened it up to get a look inside. "This stuff isn't junk. This is amazing! I mean, look at this!" He pulled out what looked like an ordinary shoe, which had been one of the items packed in. "This one of the shoe-phones they used until 1985! I can't believe Washington's letting us have all this stuff."

"They didn't want it cluttering up the Smithsonian," the supervisor replied with a shrug. "Considering we really don't have many reliable records about C.O.N.T.R.O.L. before it was absorbed into W.O.M.P., we really can't tell how much they actually helped."

"Yeah," the other worker laughed. "For all we know, they were a greeting card company."

The first snorted with indignation. "So, you're telling me that everything done by Max Smart was a hoax?"

"Oh, I'm sure something along the lines of those stories really happened," the second worker responded, "but they were probably done by ordinary cops and maybe the odd FBI agent and everybody lumped them together under the name of a fictional agent who was declared to be Agent 86. It's just way too far-fetched to be one guy. "

"No way, he was real," his companion retorted. "If it's so far-fetched, how come a lot of those stories seem to be real similar to the ones of Inspector Gadget? Or are you telling me you don't believe in the Inspector, either?"

"First of all, we have pictures of Inspector Gadget," the second snapped, "something we don't have of the supposed Maxwell Smart. Secondly, while I know he exists, I don't think Gadget's responsible for all the 'successes' that W.O.M.P. claims he has."

"Oh, you're just parroting that hot air Deboir's been spitting out," the first said with a snort. "Everyone knows he's full of bologna."

"Alright, you were hired to move artifacts, not discuss politics," the supervisor said, cutting into the argument. "Mr. Gailson's going to want the new holographic system tested before Friday, and the techies can't do that unless everything's been moved into place. Talk about the election in the truck, if you want, but as long as you're here, you should be getting everything in place."

"Yes, sir," both men said, and they shut the box up, moving to another room. This was one of the newer rooms of the museum, which was filled with artifacts from the history of the local W.O.M.P. section. Since the American segment had been known as C.O.N.T.R.O.L. before merging in with other counterparts to form the organization as it was today, there was an area sectioned off for what historical items could be found of the organization.

Unfortunately, a fire started in what was the main C.O.N.T.R.O.L. HQ meant that what artifacts they had were few and far between. Thus, the few items they had, such as the shoe, a few articles of clothing, and an odd looking umbrella, were priceless, and were going to be very valuable to the museum.

Once they were finished putting the artifacts in their designated corner of the museum and were packing up to leave, something changed. The lights began to dim, and the holographic image of a woman dressed in a dress-suit from the 1970's appeared.

"Hey, what's going on?" The second workman asked, staring closely at the hologram.

The woman flashed a bright smile. "Get out of this area right now, or pay the consequences," she said in a voice that was way too bright and chipper for the message.

"Alright, who's the wise guy?" the workman asked, looking for whoever was controlling the hologram. "Who's setting up this prank?"

There didn't appear to be anyone around. At the very least, no one came to claim responsibility. Instead the woman spoke again. "I will repeat myself only once," she said, still keeping the chipper voice. "Get out of here and don't come back. This is your final warning."

"Alright, Bozo, the joke is up," the first workman snapped. He stormed into a side room where the controls for the hologram equipment was kept. He expected it see the person playing the prank to be inside.

No one was in there.

"I warned you," the woman said, and in a moment, she had shifted into a horrifying banshee. The two workers could only tumble over each other and they attempted to get out of the museum and away from the creature.

As they hurried out, phantom forms appeared in other exhibits, all looking like twisted, horrifying representations of the eras the exhibits were from. "Get out!" all of them snarled. This time, the workers didn't need to be told twice.

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Friday, May 30, 2087

Gadget Household

"Oh, yeah!" Fidget called out in excitement. At that moment, he and his brother were waiting for Gadget to be ready to head into HQ, and were taking the opportunity to try out one of Penny's video games in the meanwhile. "Another one busted! Who ya gonna call?"

"Come on," Digit groaned, having difficulty catching up to his brother's score. "How the heck did you get so good at this?"

"I just play it at night when you keep insisting on patrolling." Fidget fist pumped again as he finished a level. "Yeah! Another successful case!"

Brain just rolled his eyes and turned back to his book upon hearing the twins' conversation. He had never seen the appeal of video games, but when someone liked them, they could get competitive.

It was then that Gadget himself came into the room. "Alright, Officers, Brain, it is now about two thirty, and the Chief is expecting us to be at HQ for a meeting at three. Are you all ready to go?"

"We're ready to go when you are, Inspector," Fidget responded, putting down his remote control so that he could pull on his coat.

Digit nodded in agreement. "Since we don't need to do human things like eat or bathe, we're ready 24/7."

"Glad to hear it!" Gadget grinned. He considered the duo to be trainees, and had a primary concern with training them to be better law enforcers. "With an attitude like that, you'll get very far in no time."

Brain snorted a bit at the praise, a tinge of jealousy seeping up. A part of him couldn't help but feel like the little robots were here to replace him. He knew the feeling was unfounded. After all, he was Penny's best friend, and she would never replace him with a set of robots. However, considering they could do things he couldn't, like talk or have opposable thumbs, it wasn't always easy to shake that feeling.

He was soon distracted from the thought by a slight tapping at the window. Going over to where the sound was, the dog was able to push up the window. Outside, a little blue ball had been rolling at the window, trying to get in.

The dog wasted no time in seizing the ball in his teeth and carrying it over to Gadget. "Oh, Brain, what do you have there?" he asked. When the ball was handed over, a bright look came into Gadget's face. "Oh, we must have a mission!"

Pressing the small button at the top, the screen and speakers popped out, just as they had last time. Once again, the Chief's face could be seen on the screen. "Ah, good morning, Chief Quimby! How's everything going on today?"

"We're fine at HQ," Quimby answered, "but we've recently gotten some bad news from the city. Are you aware of what's been going on with the history museum?"

"Oh, yes, I think I heard about that," the inspector replied with a nod. "That billionaire, Rodger Gailson, commissioned the museum to be remodeled so that tour guides can use holograms of themselves to give better demonstrations of the exhibits. That was nice of him." He rubbed his chin, racking his mind for extra information. "Oh, and they're opening up a permanent exhibit on C.O.N.T.R.O.L. with the artifacts that were sent over by Washington. I was going to take Penny and her friends to see that this weekend, considering the interest they've had with W.O.M.P."

"Well, we've gotten some bad news from the people renovating the exhibits," the chief went on. "According to some of the workers, the museum is haunted."

When he heard this, Gadget burst into laughter. "Come on, chief? Haunted? That can't be serious! Everyone knows there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Well, yes, but not everyone is as easily convinced." Quimby brought some information up onto the screen and continued talking as he showed it to Gadget. "No one's been hurt, as of yet, but starting last Wednesday, the workers claim there have weird happenings going on, including monstrous phantoms appearing with no one at the controls."

"Since no one's been hurt," the chief went on, "Gailson wants to keep the schedule for the grand opening tonight, but there's going to be an extra inspection today at 3:00. He's going to be there himself, and he'd like it if your team showed up to help."

"I'd be glad to help, Chief!" Gadget responded. "It's a shame Penny has school today, though. I'm sure she would have loved to help."

"Perhaps," the chief responded with a shrug. "You had better get going. You'll be wanted at the museum soon. Agent Connelly is already alerted and on her way; you'll meet her there."

"Got it!" the inspector exclaimed. "I'll contact you once the mission is through." With that, he shut down the transmission ball, once again closing the microphone and speakers first, causing the explosive feedback back at HQ.

Unaware of the chaos he accidentally caused, he turned back to his companions. "Officers, Brain, we had best be on our way. We're needed at an inspection at the museum." With that, the four of them headed out.

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Abandoned Microwhelm Computers Warehouse, Metro City

At that very moment, in one of the abandoned sectors of Metro City, a gathering of teens had come together. They were all gathered around a computer screen, watching as one of them worked with the controls of a computer. Once he was finished, look up at the others.

"I've got everything all set up, Talon," Malware said as he disconnected from the computer monitor. "Almost everyone thinks that old museum is haunted!"

"Wait, why is Dr. Claw having us stage a 'haunting'?" Joltwave asked. "Sure, the museum's kind of lame, but if we wanted to ruin it, why don't we just preform an old fashioned robbery? I mean, there's a lot of valuable stuff in there."

Talon shook his head and laughed. "Ah, you're not thinking about the long run. If we just robbed the museum, then we'd only be causing them an amount of trouble for right now, but it would be trouble they'd get out of rather quickly. This, however, isn't aimed at the museum. It's aimed at Gailson. He's devoted millions to developing the hologram program from the museum. Once his big hologram program goes up in smoke, Gailson Incorporated will be ruined!"

"Forcing him to sell out to Deboir Enterprises, which puts more money in M.A.D.'s pocket," Malware continued. He got up and grabbed a soda from a nearby fridge. "Furthermore, with the problems going on, the Inspector and his band of goody-two shoes are being brought in as well for an investigation. If it so happens that the event that ruins Gailson is an unfortunate accident befalling W.O.M.P.'s favorite son, all the better for us."

"I guess that makes sense," Wildfire said, scratching his head as he spoke, "but if only Malware's going to be working on the project, why are all of us here?"

"That's the beauty part," Talon replied. "We've got another mission, and I think it's one you're going to like. Drillbit, remember how you said you wanted to have a little bit of real action, opposed to just the meetings we've been attending?"

"Oh, yeah!" The hulking teen cheered, changing his hands into drills with the excitement of anticipation. "We're going in to bust some heads!"

"Well, close," the head replied with a shrug. "We've actually got some specific targets." The boy pulled out a map marked over with red. "Dr. Claw believes it's time to start rebuilding some bridges that were damaged when he was taken to the Cistern. He's already started some work with Charybdis, who is just as eager to get back to business as usual. However, there are some areas where the new management isn't as eager to let M.A.D. take back the reigns."

"So you're going to be sending us into to make sure the 'new' new management knows who's boss, right?" Joltwave asked, giving a smirk.

"Oh, you know me so well," Talon replied with a laugh. "In specific, we're going to be setting up our connections with the people we left in the Metro City University. Now, you're not going to be going in there alone." He spread out to pictures, one of a middle aged woman and another of an elderly man. "These would be Dr. Thelma Botkin of the Anthropology department, Professor Drake Vernon of the Biology Department, and Dr. Elvin Spectrum of the Robotics and Cybernetics department. We have it in good faith that these three people are still loyal to M.A.D. They'll get you whatever you need."

"Now, not everyone is going to be a cooperative as them, so you'll need to apply an amount of pressure to make sure the other departments who used to be in our pay knows what's good for them." He gave a dark smirk. "I'm sure between the five of you you'll figure something out."

"The five of us?" After-Shock asked. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"Nah, this would be a fun mission, but a simple one." The head grinned as he pulled out a knife. "I've got a tougher mission," he said simply as he played with the knife blade. "I'm going to make sure that a certain blonde monkey wrench doesn't come between Malware and the good inspector. She's really the only contingency that could ruin this plan."

"Now, everyone get to your duties," he ordered, and the others nodded. "This is going to be a fun day."

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Metro City Subway Station, Metro City

"Ohh! This is going to be such a fun day!" Rheeci squealed. She, Penny, and Kayla had previously decided to meet up and have a bit of a girls' day, since it was the last day of school.

"You're telling me," Kayla responded with a grin. "I've already set up the appointments at the salon. They'll be ready for us as soon as we get there." She then turned to Penny. "You'll really like the highlights they put in here. They've got this new formula that doesn't fade over time, so the colors stay bright weeks after the treatment."

"I've been meaning to try something new for a while now," the blonde responded. "Ever since that last 'haircut' I've kind of missed being able to play with my hair." She touched the end of her now just barely longer than pixie-cut hair. "I just hope it doesn't make me look like I have paintbrushes on my head when I can finally do pigtails again."

"Still going for the pigtails, huh?" Rheeci asked with a smile.

Penny shrugged. "What can I say? They're my style."

"They've been your style for as long as I've known you," Kayla responded, shaking her head. "So, at least three years."

"Longer," Penny replied with a smile.

"So," Rheeci commented, changing the subject, "do you think we'll be able to see the Gadgetinis when we're done today?"

"I'm not sure," Penny replied with a shrug. "Ever since they were assigned to be Uncle Gadget's assistants, he's been pretty strict on a training schedule." She laughed. "Not that it bothers them. They seem to like the work, especially Digit."

"Oh, look," she said, glancing at the door. "Looks like we've reached out stop. Once we're at the station, I'll have to call my uncle. After that, I'll be ready to go." With that, the trio headed to the exit to get off of the train.

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Metro City Museum of History, Metro City

"And here we are, team," Gadget exclaimed as he pulled into the parking lot. "The Metro City Museum Campus, and in specific the Museum of History. Thus is one of the best places in the whole city to go if you want to learn about the rich wonders of our world. Now, come along. They'll be expecting us about now."

Before they had gone very far, a familiar beeping started up, and a projector slid itself out of Gadget's hat. It turned itself on, and soon Penny's face came into view. "Oh, Penny," Gadget said, pleased to see his niece but somewhat startled by her unexpected call. "I forgot you were going to call in."

"Sorry for shocking you, Uncle," she responded. "I just wanted to let you know, Kayla, Rheeci and I have made it to the station and will be heading to the mall."

At this point, the other two girls leaned into the screen. "Good afternoon, Detective Brown," Rheeci called.

"Hey, I.G.!" Kayla said in greeting.

"Good afternoon, girls," Gadget responded with a nod. "Now, Penny, we're on an important mission right now, and it's rather urgent that we be on our way."

"I understand," she said with a nod. "We'll, I just wanted to let you know what I was doing. See you at home!" With that, the screen shut down and projector slid itself back into the hat.

"At least Penny's friends didn't see us this time," Digit said, crossing his arms as the group headed over to the museum.

His twin gave him a look. "You don't like Kayla or Rheeci? They seem pretty nice to me."

"They might be nice," the blue robot responded with a huff, "but if we're called the Gadgetinis one more time, I swear I'm going to bust a gasket. It's bad enough that you and I've already been saddled with the names 'Fidget' and 'Digit.' The last thing we need is another name that makes us sound like the Inspector's back-up singers."

"Really?" Fidget shrugged. "I kinda like it. It's like we have a last name."

"Robots don't have last names," Digit retorted.

Before anything more could be said, a familiar voice called them over. "Hey, there you guys are!" Heather called out. She was standing at the museum entrance with a man in a suit, and she motioned for them to join her. "Gadget," she said, motioning towards the man, "this is Rodger Gailson, the man who funded this renovation."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gailson," the inspector replied, a hand popping out of his hat in order to shake. "My name is Inspector Gadget, and these are my assistants, Fidget and Digit Gadgetini and my dog, Brain. You already know Agent Heather." Behind him, Fidget had to keep a clearly annoyed Digit from banging his head into a nearby lamppost.

"Nice to meet you, Gadget," the businessman replied with a warm smile, taking the hand and giving it a hardy shake. "Please, call me Rodger."

"Alright then, Rodger," Gadget said with a nod. "The chief said you were having some problems with the museum exhibits. What exactly are we looking at?"

"I'm guessing faulty technology," a newcomer said, striding up to the group. It was another businessman, though one that didn't look nearly as friendly as Gailson. There was a blonde woman next to him, and the two of them approached the little group."Of course, what would you expect when it was designed using Gailcorp tech?"

"Richard Deboir," Gailson said in a voice that made it clear he was not happy to see the other man. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"I've decided to attend the investigation," Deboir answered, never losing his smarmy grin. "You could say I'm acting as devil's advocate."

"Ah, Mr. Deboir," Gadget said, moving forward and once again offering his hat arm. "We haven't met yet, but I've heard that you're running in the mayoral election. I'm Inspector Gadget, and this is my team, Brain and the Gadgetinis, and this is my partner, Agent Heather Connelly."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Deboir responded, completely ignoring the outstretched hand. He motioned to the blonde. "This is my friend, Miss Lana Lamour. She's an actress, has a bit of an interest in technological development in use for special effects, so she was hoping to get a look at the holographic technologies."

"That's nice," Heather commented in a sharp tone, "but who said you were welcome to attend? After all, this is a private investigation, and neither of you are have been given permission to attend."

"On the contrary, my good agent," Deboir responded, pulling a slip of paper out of his jacket pocket. "This letter from the museum curator says that I have more than enough permission to attend. They agreed that Gailson himself might be a bit biased in the scrutiny of his technology, and there needed to be a bit of balancing off."

"Like you're going to be fair and unbiased," the redhead retorted. "Your political videos have been proof of that."

At this point, Lana walked over and took Gadget's arm. "Oh, we're not going to let a little thing like politics ruin a nice day like this, are we?" she asked, batting her eyes at him. "I'm sure we can all go in and enjoy a peaceful afternoon looking over all those fascinating little gears and wires, can't we, Inspector?"

Gadget turned beet red at her advances. "W-well, I guess if you have permission, I'd say it's okay," he stuttered out.

The woman's strategy hadn't gone unnoticed by the others, either. Heather shot a look that would have fried Lana's head if she had lasers and Brain's hackles had raised and he had started giving a low, rumbling growl. Something about this woman rubbed them the wrong way, and the way she had gotten all chummy with Gadget all of a sudden hadn't helped.

Only the twins had completely missed out on what was going on. "So, now that we're all caught up," Fidget called out, "shall we go in and begin the inspection?"

"Yes, lets," Gailson replied, suddenly eager to just prove there was nothing wrong with his systems. "Here, I'll lead the way."

They moved into the museum to begin, but as they entered, they came to a problem. The door guide allowed the humans and the robots in fine, but when Brain came to the door, he was stopped. "No dogs," the guard said firmly, blocking the path into the building.

"It's alright," Gadget said, trying to get it so the dog could enter. "He's with me."

"I'm sorry sir, but the rules are clear," the guard insisted in a rather huffy tone of voice. "No dogs allowed, with the exception of completely trained service dogs. Unless he's a service dog and he supposed to be helping one of you, he's not coming in the building."

Brain chuffed in annoyance but backed off. It was clear he wasn't going to be able to get in, and nothing said there was going to be able to change the guard's mind in the slightest. A part of the dog wished they were back in the old days, when he would have been wearing a disguise from the first moment.

"Hey, Brain, wait," Gadget said, not wanting to give up quite yet. "I'm sure we can make some agreement." He cast a pleading glance over at the guard. "Can't we?"

The guard frowned. "I didn't make the rules; I only enforce them. No dogs."

"That's alright, Inspector." Fidget said. The robot then exited, joining up with Brain. "The two of us can keep an eye on the perimeter outside the museum. You know, keep an eye on everything from outside."

Digit glanced at his brother in confusion for a moment, and then sighed. "I'll come, too," he said, following after.

Gadget didn't seem one hundred percent happy with the solution, but couldn't see any other way around it. "Alright, then. Call in if you need anything."

"Will do!" the orange robot responded with a cheerful wave. With that, the humans and Digit went further into the museum.

"Well, looks like it's just the three of us," Fidget commented. "We'd better get to looking, shouldn't we?"

"You do know there are specific protocol when surveying a perimeter," Digit commented. A roll of tape measure popped out of his hat, and he began measuring out the area around the museum as he rambled on about specific rules, most of which only he had memorized.

Brain let out a low grumbling sound and started moving, keeping his nose low to the ground to see if he couldn't catch any scents. As he did so, he gave a bit of a groan, wishing his companions would keep quiet for a moment. Since that didn't look like that was going to happen any time soon, he tried to distract himself with the work. It was undoubtedly going to be a long day.

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Once they were inside the museum, the investigation began in earnest. "So, Rodger," Heather commented as they walked through the exhibits, "this place looks pretty big. Where would you like us to begin?"

"The trouble all started in the new exhibit on C.O.N.T.R.O.L.," Gailson explained. "That seems like as good a place as any to begin."

"Indeed," Gadget said with a nod. "It makes sense, of course. Since it's obvious there aren't any ghosts, since they don't exist, then there's probably foul play involved, and it makes sense that anyone tampering with the equipment would begin with that exhibit. After all, I doubt whoever's doing this is a friend to W.O.M.P."

Thus, the group wandered over into the exhibit room, which was located not too far away from the entrance. The room was by now fully stocked with all the artifacts sent from Washington.

"This place looks really old fashioned," Heather commented as she looked around the room.

"That was on purpose," Gailson said with a nod. "While it never closed down, C.O.N.T.R.O.L. was in its heyday in the 1960's and 1970's, when it was spending much of its time in conflict with K.A.O.S. Thus, it was decided that it would be best to give the whole exhibit the feel as if you were stepping back in time to those decades."

"It certainly has worked," Gadget commented, wandering over to the shelf containing the smaller items delivered from Washington. "These look so real, Max Smart could have used them himself."

"Now, don't say you believe in that old folk legend," Deboir commented with a snort.

"I'm pretty sure he wasn't a folk legend," the inspector commented.

"Then why, pray tell, don't we have any photographic evidence of the aforementioned agent?" the politician asked with a snort.

"Simple, my good man," Gadget responded with a nod. "He was entirely devoted to his duty. I certainly know that if I was an undercover agent, I would avoid having my picture taken at all cost and whenever possible."

"And of course all successful law enforcement agents think like you," Deboir responded with a sneer.

"It is a little difficult to believe," Heather commented, "though not one hundred percent impossible. I guess it's just one of those things we'll never know entirely about."

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt," Lana said, cutting into the conversation, "but I think we now had a bit of proof about that ghost problem."

"Now, Ms. Lamour, please don't be silly," Gadget commented. "There is no such thing as ghosts."

"Alright," the blonde said with a roll of her eyes. "Then what is she?"

She pointed to a corner where the semitransparent of a woman in a 1970's business suit had appeared. She looked at the group and smiled. "You were warned about coming here," she said in an overly cheerful voice.

To be continued…

Author's note: Well, this doesn't seem very good. What will happen to our heroes? Log in next time to find out!-SilverWarriorWolf.