systemcat: Yeah, this explanation came relatively late. I realized as I looked over my work that I had forgotten, from Initiation on, to include any glitch-out moment, which is a staple in IG. Thus, I decided to explain why they were happening instead of just having them suddenly be there for no reason.

I hope you enjoy!

IG belongs to Cookie Jar Entertainment

(Also, when you run into the word 42n8 later in the chapter, it's pronounced as the word "fortunate.")

Assignment 8.1: The Family Business

Wednesday, June 4, 2087

Gadget Household, Metro City

"So, have you thought about it yet?" Penny asked early that morning. As one of the first days of summer, it was one of the first times that the whole clan had been able to gather together at breakfast.

Gadget glanced up from the paper he had been perusing. "Thought about it? Have I thought about what?"

"You know what I mean," she responded with a smile. Grabbing a plate of toast and scrambled eggs (that she had prepared for herself), she wheeled up to the table. "Chief Quimby suggested it last Monday, and you told him you'd give your answer today. So, have you made up your mind yet?"

"Oh, yes. That." The man sighed. "You know how I feel about this, Penny. If I had my way, you would just have a normal teen's life. I don't think it's good that you ended up in the whole fight against M.A.D. so young."

Hearing this, the girl looked down. "I understand," she said, and there was disappointment clear in her voice. However, he wasn't quite finished.

"That said," he went on, "it appears that I don't have complete say over what's going on. I know Claw and his ilk, and they're not going to just let you go because I wish they would. They're still going to come after you; that Talon boy has already proven that. So, though I might not prefer it, I've decided to accept the Chief's proposal. You will begin training as a Junior Agent today."

Hearing this, Penny brightened up. "Really? Thank you, Uncle Gadget!" She went around the table to hug him. "You're the best."

Gadget gave a small smile before returning the hug. "Now," he said when she released him, "there are some conditions. Since you will be working with Agent Connelly and myself, you must do as you are told. As a Junior Agent of W.O.M.P., it is imperative that you listen to your superior officers. Also, when school rolls around again, you'll have to keep your grades up."

"Of course," she responded. She went back to her seat and settled down to her breakfast. "I wouldn't think of doing otherwise."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Before either of the humans could move, Fidget shot up. He and his brother had been sitting nearby going over some notes from previous cases, and he was already looking for an excuse to skip out on the rather dull organizing task. "You guys eat," he called out. "I can handle this."

"Just be careful that it's not more…" Penny started, but her warning had come too late.

As soon as the orange robot had opened the door, a familiar and none too welcome voice spoke up. "Jessie Harbain from Teen Scene," a chipper woman said, briefly patting Fidget on his head "This is my photographer, Edward Claimsy." She leaned in until she was able to see the table from the door. "You must be Penny Gadget! May we come in?"

Inwardly, Penny wanted to scream. Outwardly, however, she was able to restrain the frustration. She detached her crutches from her chair. "Please wait just a moment. I'll come to you."

As she was preparing to come over, Gadget got up and wandered to the door. He was not as anxious over media interviews as his niece was, but in the last few days, he had seen the effect it they were having on her. Thus, he wanted to make certain of their intention towards her before she dealt with them.

"John Brown," he said, introducing himself. "Most people call me Gadget. I'm Penny's guardian."

"Yes, Inspector Gadget. I've heard of you, too." The reporter's smile became rather forced. "Know, we'll just want about a moment of Penny's time to ask her a few questions. Metro City's just dying to have a juicy expose on the teen heroine."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Metro City's going to have to wait" he said, standing firmly in her path. "We don't have time for an interview. We are on a time schedule and will need leave pretty soon. Breakfast isn't a good time to approach us, anyway, so if you would be on your way, I'd greatly appreciate it."

"I'd want to hear that from the lady herself," Harbain insisted, standing firmly where she was.

"I'm only going to tell you what my uncle's already said," Penny commented, coming to stand next to Gadget. "We're in a bit of a rush, and I'd like to finish my breakfast before we have to go. Maybe if you try again later and at a more opportune time, you'll have better luck."

Harbain didn't seem very pleased with this response, but couldn't see any other way around it. "Well, fine. Here's my card." She handed Penny a small business card. "Call me when you have more time." She then turned on her heels and headed back to her van.

Once the door was shut, Gadget turned towards Penny. "I don't want you to have anything to do with that magazine," he said firmly, not even bothering to dance around the issue.

"Don't worry, Uncle Gadget," the girl responded with a laugh. She picked up a banana and began to peel it. "I don't intend to have any juicy exposes at all, none the less from a magazine with a reputation like that."

"A reputation like what?" Digit asked. He had just finished with the papers and had come in, the box of files in tow.

"Teen Scene has gotten a reputation over time of being a gossip rag, and one with an interest more in scandal than opinions," Penny explained. "It's nothing too scandalous, but it's considered a gateway into harder stuff."

"There's no way in heck Penny's going to appear in such a publication," Gadget said, a bit of a huff in his voice. He picked his newspaper up and attempted to turn back to it as he ate. "It's bad enough the regular media's been sticking its nose in our business as of late."

As they spoke, another tapping started up, this time at the window. "What's that?" Digit asked, turning to the sound.

"It's probably just that reporter, trying to get another try at an interview," Penny responded before taking a sip of her chocolate milk. "Just ignore them; they'll go away eventually."

Despite what she said, the tapping persisted after a few minutes. Eventually, it became too much, and Gadget went over to the window to get a look at what was going on. He found no one there, and when he opened the window, he found a blue ball attempting to make its way in.

"It looks like the chief's trying to contact us," the cyber said, picking up the small orb and clicking it open. "Morning, Chief," he said as the screen came up. Do you have a mission for us today?"

"Yes, I do," Quimby said with a nod. He was standing next to a dark haired woman in a suit. "Before we can go into that, though, I have to ask, have you made up your mind about Penny?"

Gadget sighed, a little disappointed that topic had come up again so soon. "I have," he responded. "I've decided that it is probably for the best that she join Agent Connelly and me as a Junior Agent. That way, at the very least, she can be trained to defend herself, and she will be in contact with us."

"Good to hear that," the chief responded with a nod. "I ask because we've already got a mission for your team. It looks like it's not too dangerous, so it'll be a good one for Penny to cut her teeth on."

Quimby then motioned to a woman standing next to us. "This is Ms. Myra Falden. She is the chief engineer in charge of nuclear engineering for Albincorp International."

"How do you do?" the woman said, giving a smile.

"Nice to meet you," Gadget replied.

"Now, Ms. Falden supervises a team of nuclear engineers who had recently found a new way of producing energy that will have fewer negative side effects than the methods currently used. I won't go into too much detail, but they'll need to test this method for several days and in several stations across the country, and the Metro City power plant is one of the places chosen for this testing."

"Now, long story short," the chief went on, "we're not the only ones interested in this technique. We have reason to believe the M.A.D. might be attempting to get their hands on this method as well, and as such, we have decided to assign W.O.M.P. agents to protect the various members of the teams while these experiments are being conducted."

"Oh, I see," Gadget said. "You want us to protect Ms. Falden through the experimentation." He flashed her a smile. "Do not worry, ma'am! I and my team are the best at what we do. There's no chance that M.A.D. will get anywhere near you."

"Actually, Inspector, that's not what's going on," Ms. Falden answered. "I'm just here to make sure you are all correctly briefed before moving on. You will actually be guarding one of my team members, Alan Connelly. He will be supervising the tests here in Metro City. He's not here at the moment, but he'll be waiting for you at HQ when you arrive."

"Alan Connelly, huh?" Gadget asked. "That's quite the coincidence. My partner's name is Heather Connelly. I'll bet she'll get a real kick over that."

"Well, chief, ma'am," the cyber said, finishing up the debriefing, "there's nothing you have to worry about. Mr. Connelly is just as safe as you are!" He then closed the orb, once again starting with the mic and stereo.

Quimby was only just able to get Falden down before the intense burst of sound came over the speakers. "That's what I'm worried about," he muttered under his breath.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

W.O.M.P. HQ, Metro City

Around fifteen minutes later, the team made it to HQ. The Gadgetinis and Brain had already moved inside the building, but the two humans had hung back for a moment to finished up some of the paperwork to get Penny instated as a Junior Agent. They had begun getting out of the Gadgetmobile when Heather arrived on her motorcycle.

"Ah, good morning, Heather," Gadget called out. "It seems we had pretty good timing."

"Morning, partner," Heather replied as she clipped her helmet onto her bike. "Penny, good to see you here, too. I guess that means you talked your uncle into letting you join us."

"Yep," the teen responded with a smile. "I'll be getting my badge after we meet up with the engineer we're protecting."

"That's right," Heather responded with a nod. "I got word about that mission earlier this morning. The chief was kind of in a hurry, though, so I didn't get the guy's name."

"That's alright," Gadget responded with a smile. "The chief did mention it to us this morning. You're really going to get a kick out of this. The man we are protecting is named Alan Connelly."

When she heard this, Heather paused. "Wait, his name is Alan Connelly."

The cyber gave a nod. "Yep. Isn't that a funny coincidence?"

When Heather didn't answer, Penny caught on that there was something still being said. "Is it a coincidence," she asked, "or do you know him?"

The older girl sighed. "I should hope I know him," she said, pausing outside of the main door. "He's my cousin, and we practically grew up together."

"Well, that's good then, isn't it?" Penny asked. "After all, if you grew up together, then you know each other pretty well."

"Oh, I know him very well," Heather sighed. "It's just that…well…he's kind of a fan of you, Gadget Boy. A big-time fan."

"Oh, there's no problem with that," Gadget said as he reached out to open the door for the two girls. "I've always got time for a fan."

"No, I mean a huge fan," the redhead went on. "Like president of your fan club for five years straight huge. It…might get a little weird."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it," Penny responded as she made her way into the building. "After all, how bad can he be?"

As they went into the building, they could spot the rest of their team pretty quickly. The Gadgetinis and Brain were standing in the back, talking with Chief Quimby and another, younger man. He appeared to be around the same age as Heather, if not a little bit younger, and also had red hair.

That, however, was where the resemblance stopped. He was also shorter than Heather, and had glasses and rather prominent front teeth. If it wasn't for the professional looking lab coat he was wearing, he would have looked like he just walked out of some goofy preteen sitcom.

"Hey, cuz," Heather called out as the trio approached. "Funny seeing you here."

"Good morning, Heather," the man called back. He looked over and was going to continue, but his expression changed when he saw who she was with. "That-! That-! How-?! Who-!? Your!?" he stammered out, unable to find a way to articulate his thoughts.

The agent sighed and gave a nod. "Yes, Alan, this is who you think it is. Meet my partner, John Brown. This is also his niece, Penny Dollar, who is the Junior Agent assigned to us. I see you've already met the Gadgetinis and Brain. They also help us, though I'm not sure if their positions hold a title yet."

Not even bothering to continue to speak to Heather, the man rushed over and began shaking Gadget's hand. "You're Inspector Gadget! Oh, it's such an honor to meet you, sir. My name is Alan Connelly, and I'm your biggest fan!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alan," Gadget respond with a smile. "So, I hear we are going to act as your defense while this testing is going on, is that right?"

"Oh, yes, it is, oh excellent Inspector," Alan replied, still giving a big, fan-boy grin. "Is it weird if I called you that? I mean, I thought there might be some special way to address you, but I came up with that when I was eleven."

"Just 'Gadget' is fine, thanks," The cyber responded. "Now, if you can just wait for a moment, Alan, Penny and I have a bit of paperwork we're going to need to fill out. Don't worry, this won't take long."

"Oh, take your time." The engineer was still clearly in a state of euphoria. "We'll be right over here!"

As uncle and niece walked over to finish turning in the paperwork, Alan walked over to stand next to Heather. "Oh, boy, this is so great!" he said with a squee. "We get to spend at least a whole week with Inspector Gadget! Well, I get only a week. I guess you get to hang out with him all the time, since he's your partner. You're so lucky, Heather."

"Things certainly have gotten more exciting," she said with a shrug. "So, last I heard from you, you were working for a plant just outside of the city. Where'd all this experimental division stuff come from?"

"Oh, that? It's nothing." Alan gave a shrug before continuing. "Just a few ideas I'd posted on my blog. It wasn't the entire work, of course. That was developed later after the entire team formed. However, they liked what I had and asked if I'd help."

"Seems things turned out pretty okay for you after all," Heather commented. "So, do your folks know anything about this yet?"

Her cousin shook his head. "Nah, most of this is pretty top secret. I can't even discuss most of this stuff with you, and you're on the security detail. Besides," he said with a shrug, "if I called and talked about my job, all I'd hear was questions on why I didn't join the military like you, Andy, Jean, and Bruno did."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," the agent said, playfully punching her cousin's shoulder. "It's been five years; by now they've probably come to grips with the fact that you're the only Connelly cousin who didn't have a military career."

"True," Alan responded, "but there are sometimes I wonder if they were right. After all, you joined the Army, and look at you! Now you're working at W.O.M.P., and as Inspector Gadget's partner! Maybe if I had taken a military career that could have been me." He gave another of those fanboy grins. "Just imagine, all the adventures we'd have gone on. Maybe I'd even have that flight cape I designed when I was six. It'd be great to have a flight advantage on the enemy."

Heather struggled to restrain a laugh at the thought of her cousin running around in a brightly colored cape. "Sure, whatever you say," she said, doing her best to smother the laugh.

The conversation was then cut short by Gadget and Penny, who had finished up there work. "Alright, it seems everything is set and we're ready to go. So, Alan, where are you staying?"

"The Broad Street Callway Hotel," he answered. "Are we going to get to drive in the Gadgetmobile? Can I ride up front?"

"Indeed we'll take the Gadgetmobile, but Penny needs to ride the in front," Gadget explained as they left. "It's the only place we can get her wheelchair in."

"That's alright," the engineer said with a nod. "It's just awesome that I'll get to ride at all. Just wait until the folks in my fan forum hear about this!"

As they left, Heather hung back a bit, embarrassed by her cousin's display. Seeing her posture, Fidget approached her. "Agent Heather, are you alright?"

"Just fine there, Sunny," she sighed. "Just standing here wishing the ground would swallow me whole."

"I don't know why you'd want that," the little robot commented, "but I'm afraid this isn't likely to happen. The nearest fault line is far, far away from here, and earthquakes don't hit this area."

"Don't worry," Digit groaned as he passed the two of them. "I know exactly what you mean."

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Telman's Pub, Metro City

"So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?" A tall man with dark hair smirked as he held out several sheets of paper to his companion.

The other man, a younger man with blond hair, looked over the sheets. "So, you say that M.A.D. can make sure that he disappears?"

"Oh, I can do much better than that, my friend," the first man said with a smile. "I'm one of M.A.D. contractors myself, so I can give you one-hundred-percent guarantee that Mr. Perfect vanishes off the face of the planet, leaving you to sweep the love of your life off her feet. All you need to do in return is promise that if the time ever comes for you to do M.A.D. a favor that you'll play along. Alright?"

"It sounds good, but what if it doesn't work?" The man looked rather concerned. "I mean, it would be great for Baskins to just disappear, but what if he doesn't? I don't want the cops or W.O.M.P. breathing down my neck. And what about that favor Claw wants?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that favor at all," the M.A.D. agent assured. "Claw makes thousands of these deals. There's no way he'd ever cash them all. Odds are, you'll never have to hear from us ever again, if you don't want to. As for Baskins surviving his little run in with M.A.D., well," he said, turning to pat a covered cage that sat next to the table, "I don't think that's going to be a problem." Snarling and squealing came out of the cage as he patted it. "My boys here will deal with your little problem, or my name isn't Rick Boulden. So, have we come to an agreement?"

Before the man could answer, a ringing started up from Boulden's pocket. It was a shrill ring that just sounded like an obnoxious ringtone to most people, but the M.A.D. agent knew exactly what it meant.

"I have to take this," he said, slipping away from the table. "You have a look over the papers and I'll come back to you, alright? Alright." He then grabbed the jacket and slunk off to the pub's restroom.

As soon as he was in private, he turned the communicator on. "Boulden here," he said giving the salute as the image of Montan came onscreen. "Does Claw have a job for me?"

"Ya got it," the M.A.D. lieutenant responded. "Have ya heard anything about that new development in the world of nuclear engineering?"

"Ugh, that kind of math and science gives me a headache," the agent said with a groan. "I left that stuff all behind me when I joined M.A.D. to do what I'm really good at."

"I see that," Montan replied, giving a chuckle as he spoke. "Well, you don't need to know exactly what's goin' on there to do your mission." A picture of a bespectacled, red-headed man came on screen. "This is an engineer named Alan Connelly. He will be your target."

"He looks like a real dweeb," Boulden said with a smirk. "The boss wants him rubbed out? That'll be easy enough. I'll just show my boys a ripped picture and they'll finish him off in no time."

"No, you are not to kill him," the superior agent ordered. "Believe it or not, Claw believes Connelly could be of some value. You are to capture him and bring him to us alive and in one piece."

The thug gave a shrug at that information. "That'll make things take a bit more time, but eh, alright. We'll bring him in alive. It won't be as much fun, but I've got other jobs for that."

"Oh, don't worry," Montan reassured. "It's not going to be an actionless mission. W.O.M.P.'s already gotten an idea about the fact that we want this guy brought in and have arranged for a protection squad. You know that so-called Team Gadget?"

"So I'll finally get to face off with the famed Inspector Gadget for myself." Boulden smirked. "He seems like a goof, but his redhead partner's kinda hot. Maybe I'll leave her after we deal with the others."

"Don't get cocky," Montan warned. "Despite his appearance, Inspector Gadget can be very dangerous. Do not allow his unassuming appearance deceive you. You are to make sure he and everyone on his team are dead, including the gals."

"Fine," Boulden responded. "Still, seems like a waste of a dame. Oh, well. Gotta do what you gotta do."

"Just keep that in mind," his superior said. "Claw doesn't like insubordination, and should you disobey him, the consequences will be severe."

"You don't have to worry about me double-crossing Claw," the agent replied. "I remember what happened to the last guy who did that."

"Which is why such examples are made," Montan said with a nod. "Now, go and bring him to M.A.D." With that, the transmission ended and the lieutenant disappeared.

Slipping the communicator back into his pocket, Boulden snuck back into the main pub area. "Well, Jimmy, I'm afraid I'm goin to have to cut this meeting short," he said, going over to the covered cage and sliding it onto a nearby cart. "You hold onto that paperwork and contact me once you've made up your mind. Right now, me and the boys have got another job to do." He chuckled as then squealing and snarling started up in the cage once more.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Callway Hotel, Metro City

"So, are you guys robotic clones of the Inspector, or are you from the future in a time when robots have replaced the human race, but they are still building you guys in the image of the heroes of the past," Alan asked as they pulled in. "Personally, I think the first one, but the forum I'm on is pretty split on the issue. An official statement from you would be great in settling the issue."

The Gadgetinis could only glance at the engineer and then at each other, just stunned by the fact that they were being asked that question. Eventually, Fidget decided to try to answer. Emphasis on try. "Uh, neither. Miss Penny just built us to be able to help the Inspector, and we came to be able to make decisions without the help of a program. We're not sure why it happened, but we just know it did."

"Seriously, robot clones from the future?" Digit added. "What sort of weird reality do you think we live in?"

"Well, we are currently in a car with two cybers and a genetically altered bear/dog hybrid."

"Wait a minute," Penny said, turning around in her chair, "no one's ever announced that Brain is a chimera. Where'd you find that out?"

Hearing her, Alan grinned. "I made an educated guess. He looks a lot like a dog, but he's too big and heavy to be a proper dog. What's more, his hind feet are somewhat shorter and wider than the hind feet of a pure dog, and his fore feet are a bit flat and wide. Adding in the fact that he has a tendency to stand on his full foot when on his hind legs, as opposed to just on the balls of his feet like a normal dog, all the signs seem to point to him being at least part bear. Since it is likely that M.A.D.'s broken the rules of nature in similar cases, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together." Seeing the looks of concern on the others' faces, he quickly continued. "Oh, don't worry; you guys are the first people I've ever told this to. No one else knows."

"How do you know about Chimera at all?" Digit asked. "That stuff is top secret."

"Well, I haven't seen anything concrete, like documentation," the engineer said with a shrug, "but rumors about those sorts of creatures have been circulating through 42n8 for quite a while."

"What's Fortunate?" Gadget asked. "And how the heck is it getting a secrets like that?"

"Oh, it's just an online chat group," Alan replied. "We just give guesses, and sometimes they are right. Like now, I guess. Don't worry, though. If this stuff is supposed to be secret, I'll pretend you that I don't know. It'll be our little secret!"

At that point, they were at the hotel and began filing out of the car to get to the building. Upon getting out of the Gadgetmobile, Penny went over to Heather, who was setting up her motorcycle in the next parking space. "Heather, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Charm," the older girl replied. "What are you wondering?"

"It's about Alan," the blonde replied. "He's never seen any W.O.M.P. files, has he?"

When she heard this, the agent placed her face in her hands and sighed. "Let me guess. He said something he read on 42n8, combined with observations no normal person would make, and came to correctly guess something that was top secret?"

"It was Brain's nature as a Chimera," Penny answered. "He's done this sort of thing before?"

"Since we were kids," Heather said with a nod. "My Aunt Margery could never let him even see about Christmas or birthday presents or he'd guess them right just on their approximate weight and sound. He's always had a good memory, but only really for things he's interested in. Adding in the fact that he's got a good portion of the internet mapped out and is prone to joining those conspiracy theory sights, there are a lot of secrets he tends to learn on guess alone." She gave sigh and shook her head. "I'd better send a message to the chief to let him know about this once we're not in public."

"Probably not a bad idea," Penny said as she and the older woman headed towards the main building. "Until then, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem as long as we can stay away from the press."

"Are you guys coming in?" The two girls looked up to see Gadget waving to them. He and the others had made it up to the hotel building and were waiting for the duo to catch up to them.

"We'll be there in a moment, Uncle!" Penny called as they began to move in. As the group hurried into the building, they did not notice the hushed whispers that started out or the camera phones that were being turned on and pointed in their direction. Thus, they had no idea of the pictures and videos being uploaded to the internet at that very moment.

To be continued…

Author's Notes: Time to make mentions again! I have to owe Alan's first name to systemcat, who selected it in her IG AU for the character, who only had a nickname in canon. Her version of that character is named Alan Engenis, and I'm afraid to say that Alan Engenis is a lot cooler than Alan Connelly is. Both Alans, however, are less aggravating than their canon counterpart.-SilverWarriorWolf.