"Wazowski. You didn't file your paperwork last night. The third time this week," Roz lamented from the confines of her office window. She had to place her left hand down on the files quickly or else the sneaky green pipsqueak would try to snatch them away without a second's notice.
Mike grimaced at her gloomy tone, but knew it was nothing his confident nature couldn't resolve. "Rozzzz! My succulent garden snail. Did you get your nails done? C'mon you can tell me. You look absolutely fantastic this morning." He paused and looked up at the administrator with a smile.
"Listen, that darn paperwork. It would be so much easier if it all went away. Sulley is the scarer of the month 33 times running. It won't be 34 if he is stopped by some darn paperwork."
"Wazowski," her voice raised slightly as she leaned forward in her desk chair. "This will be the last time you are late with the paperwork or you are going to have to deal with Mr. Waternoose."
A wide grin reappearing on his face, Mike grabbed the files and headed into the scare floor. On the way, he passed under a large poster that read:
Nothing more toxic or deadly than a human child
The threat of a human now seemed insignificant.
Highs from Sulley setting the all-time scare record two years ago and Mike's wedding with Celia Mae not long after were short lived. With the scream shortage at an all-time high, there was a lack of optimism in Monstropolis. There was a recession and layoffs everywhere: The Child Detection Agency (CDA), Monsters, Inc., and even Monsters University.
At his scare station, Mike sighed as he glanced across the four other stations. The room had never been this empty. Mike currently fills in as Noodles Rivera's assistant scarer, in addition to Sulley, because Betty lost her job a week ago. He could not believe it, since Betty and Noodles always met their quota. Even with his dream job at stake, Mike tried not to worry too much.
"Mike, let's get it going already!" Sulley and Noodles said in unison. Mike snapped out of his haze and rushed over to call two doors for the two scarers. As always, the need for power in Monstropolis rested in the hands of Monsters, Inc.
Katherine Gibbs shook her head in disapproval as her daughter Mary pushed the carrots to the side of her plate. As the CIA's head agent for the last eight years, you would presume that parenting would be a walk in the park.
Boo, a nickname she gave her daughter for her love of the game Peekaboo, returned a look Katherine had seen too many times. Boo's mind had already moved on from vegetables and now she was ready to go on an adventure that would end up navigating all throughout the house.
Although numerous counselors told Katherine there was nothing wrong with her daughter's curiosity, she was still troubled by Boo's infatuation with monsters. Ever since Boo learned how to speak, she had described a purple, eight-legged chameleon-like monster to friends at school, family over the holidays, and even the occasional passersby in the street.
Not only did Boo talk about the monster, she also commonly drew him using her Crayola crayons. Sometimes he was purple, yet sometimes she would only sketch his outline because of his ability to blend in with his surroundings.
When Boo was younger, few nights ended without muffled sobs over a monster crawling around her room. She saw monsters resembling sharks, hyenas, and tarantula spiders. Yet, the purple monster visited Boo's nightmares the most and she never argued the existence of any others.
Although Katherine dismissed Boo's behavior at first, the obsession with monsters was too much for her not to investigate. Every kid thinks monsters are real, but for whatever reason this felt different. Boo no longer received visits from the purple monster or any for that matter. Katherine always thought the shift was a result of the counseling sessions, but Boo seemed to believe she was too old.
Since Boo was not visited anymore, Katherine offered to babysit for her neighbor's toddler, who demonstrated similar crying habits to Boo, every now and then. Katherine made it clear that she and Boo would sleep over at the neighbor's house, so that the toddler would stay in the same room and bed.
Used to long stakeouts, even with less patience nowadays, Katherine would hide on the ledge outside of the window and wait for a monster to come in. Eight days of babysitting passed, and Katherine saw nothing. She was ready to give up and dismiss it as fantasy, but one night a nine-foot-tall, blue-furred giant with horns and razor-sharp claws entered through the door.
The monster chuckled to himself and slowly walked towards the toddler with big strides before letting out a thunderous roar. His eyes looked straight down in a way that you could see every single one of his teeth; and he raised his claws over his head. Almost immediately, the toddler broke out into a sob and lifted the blanket over his head as a last line of defense.
It took everything for Katherine herself not to jump into the room to protect him. Instead, not knowing what the monster was capable of, she quickly grabbed her camera and snapped a few photos of the blue monster before he returned through the closet.
After the horrifying performance, Katherine felt paralyzed. One thought kept going through her head: Boo was right. Monsters are real. Gathering up the courage, she dashed over to the now crying toddler and comforted him as he rocked back and forth in her arms.
Once asleep, she navigated her way through the room towards the closet. As Katherine peered in, she was surprised not to see a nine-foot monster crouched in the corner. Maybe the door only led back to their world for a certain amount of time.
Over the next few months, Katherine conducted research on behalf of the CIA into the blue freak of nature. Unfortunately for her neighbor, the house was constantly monitored by agents. And Boo had to endure the babysitter for even longer.
There was in fact a pattern to the nights that the monster visited. He would scare the toddler every 8 or 9 days. She also pieced together that the monster world does not take too kindly to human objects. Another CIA agent sneakily attached a secret camera to the monster's hairy back that broadcasted its film back to them. Before they could see much, a four-armed monster wearing a yellow suit pointed towards the camera and in a matter of seconds the footage was over.
From the few seconds, the CIA got a brief look at what the monsters know as the scare floor. There were around 10 monsters and a few doors locked into the ground with red lights attached. It was unclear if there was anything past the room.
The CIA's interest in exploring the monster world led to their decision of sending their lead agent. The biggest question was how she would enter their world, but the CIA solved that one by constructing an exact replica of the big blue monster. They would kidnap and bring him to interrogation, while she slipped into the monster world. Hopefully the monsters would not suspect anything.
"Sulley you're automatic" exclaimed Mike, but little did he know it wasn't Sulley at all.
Katherine reciprocated a high five from the circular, green monster and took in her surroundings. What she now understood is that the floor was a part of a larger complex. Was there anything beyond the complex? Guess that was for her to figure out.
"Alright guys. Noodles you've got door 8271 and Sulley you're on for door 4712."
The blue monster's name must be Sulley, but what did it mean to be assigned to door 4712? Mimicking the monster next to her, who she assumed was Noodles, she tried to follow his movements to fit in. Based on the assemblage of doors, with one rotating into the spot she entered from, she realized she would return to the human world.
Entering a dark gray door with a black knob, Katherine took a deep breath and glanced around the room. She, at first, noticed a boy who seemed to be around five years old, but also found a Paris Saint Germain flag and French words inscribed on books shelved alphabetically. Must be Paris.
So many questions consumed her thoughts. What monster technologies allowed them to teleport through the doors? Did she have to scare this toddler to return? Would the monsters know she wasn't Sulley if she didn't scare them? She didn't want the little boy to be scared of a human scream coming from monsters, so she opted to return through the door.
"Sulley what's wrong champ?" Mike called out.
Clearly, there was some way Mike noticed that she did not scare the Parisian boy. If this happened again then she would surely be exposed.
Katherine lowered her voice as she addressed Mike. "I'm fine, I just have to go to the…" She caught herself. Did monsters even have bathrooms? "I have to go on a break."
Katherine scurried off without giving Mike a chance to ask more questions. She needed to sneak around and gather more intel. Otherwise, it would be way too hard to believe that she was a nine-foot monster that scared children for a living.
As requested, before another monster detected her lowered voice was fake, the CIA taped the real Sulley from back home, sent the recording to her phone, and gave her permission to play his scream in the rooms of children. Showing just how important her research is to the CIA, they gave her permission to play it in the rooms and cause nightmares for hundreds of children. On the other hand, at least she would fit in.
Over the next two weeks, Katherine collected more recon on what she came to know as Monstropolis. She learned the whole world was powered by the screams of children that Monsters, Inc. produced. There were hundreds of monsters who didn't seem all that different from humans. Oh, and there was also the CDA. She stayed away from them.
Outside of Katherine's new job as a scarer, she often spent time chatting with Mike since they were also roommates. It was not hard to pick up that he was supposed to be her best friend. Mike was a great companion and usually took on most of the cooking and cleaning.
They often ate out with Mike's wife Celia Mae, a purple monster with snakes for hair and tentacles for legs, who she absolutely adored. Katherine wouldn't rate monster food that highly, but she had never tasted anything quite like the sushi at Harryhausen's. When Katherine eventually reports back about the technology of the portal doors, she'll have to bring up the necessity of replicating the sushi too.
Yet, the most pressing thing that Katherine observed was a city in a troubled state. There were frowns on every single monster all throughout Monstropolis. Through eavesdropping and her discussions with Mike, she figured out that there had been a serious scare shortage the last few years.
Sometimes evading Mike to navigate Monstropolis by herself, Katherine had ample time to think. Some of these thoughts, in addition to worrying about Boo, were about how the human world could build a mutualistic relationship with Monstropolis. Soon, Earth would run out of energy too. She envisioned humans sharing renewable energy with monsters, and the monsters sharing scream energy with humans.
Excited to share all she learned about Monstropolis, Katherine executed the escape that she was planning for days. Katherine got in contact with the CIA the night she would escape, explaining that there would have to be a "Sulley Swap" at any door close to headquarters.
Katherine was informed by the Director of the CIA that she could return; however they would not send Sulley back to Monstropolis. The CIA had other interests and did not believe the disappearance of one monster would compromise them. After she shared her in-depth findings with the CIA, they confirmed her suspicion that they did not want a mutualistic relationship with any monsters.
A normal afternoon in Monstropolis was turned on its head in an instant. A second scarer was taken and replaced with thousands of soldiers and numerous weapons (of course only if they fit through the door). The CDA resisted at first, but they were no match against the onslaught.
The fear of humans entering Monstropolis was all too real now. Monsters ran to hide all throughout the city, but there was no point. Even the taller monsters, including some over thirty feet tall, would fall as swarms of soldiers attacked their feet like a pack of wolves.
Katherine screamed at the Director while trying to reason with him that monsters are just like them, but it was no use from the confines of her handcuffs. Her vision for a mutualistic relationship had gone out the window.
"Doors that will lead us to anywhere in the world," the Director ominously announced to all of the high-ranking officials nearby. "And monsters with incredible strength that will cause any other nation to quiver."
"All right that's enough."
The daunting scene faded, and the screen cut to black. As the bright light from the scare board replaces the projector, Randall Boggs surveys the room. He breathes a large sigh of relief. No humans anywhere to be found. Oh, and fortunately no Mike Wazowski or Sulley either. They're still in Monsters Prison.
His head raises and meets all five of Henry J. Waternoose's eyes. Waternoose nods. They both know the educational video they produced was a massive success. Even though that skimpy human named Katherine does not exist outside of their computer edited film, she almost felt real. The other scarers and scarers assistants standing around Randall hide behind each other or cover their eyes. They are more anxious than they were after the 2319 from three weeks ago.
"Our old scare tactics are just that: completely outdated," Waternoose starts his speech. "Today, with the scream extractor, Monsters Incorporated is confident we will never have another scream shortage. Still, I hope our movie serves to show all of you how leaving the door open should just be the start of your concerns. Humans today are suspicious as ever. When you enter their world and bring back a child to the extraction room, exercise extreme caution."
"But what about the nice humans?" blurted out a short yellow monster who had just started as a scare assistant. "I mean...Katherine was nice, wasn't she?"
Upon this remark, Randall rolled his eyes and Waternoose shook his head.
"There is no such thing as a nice human. Even if there was, the toxic and deadly ones would take over and it would be the end..."
In the background of Waternoose's speech, Randall could hear the screams of hundreds of children coming from the extraction room. He smiled; mentally patting himself on the back. Oh how far Monsters, Inc. has come.
Waternoose now finishes: "We scare because we care. We SCARE because we CARE."