I probably should have written this at the start of the story, but this just occurred to me.
If anyone here has noticed that some of the characters have changed a bit i.e. Arnold, Harold, Rhonda and Helga, well you are right and that is intentional. The reason for this is simple; they are now teenagers. It is expected, for me at least, now that they are older they would not just develop a bit, but in some areas, they would be more mature. For example, Harold is no longer self conscious about his sensitive side and fully uses it to guide himself through this moral labyrinth. At some point in time, Rhonda has become aware of her shallowness and superficiality and has tried to overcome them through intellectual development as befitting of someone in her class, e.g. learning other languages. Helga, thanks to Arnold and Dr. Bliss has developed a moral compass and is now more conscious about how her actions affect others. Arnold has also changed, but in more as a flawed human. Because of what he went through he is less sure of himself of where he belongs and like everyone else, is now prone to falling to such emotions as jealousy and anger. Gerald too, because of Arnold's absence, has now taken on more of a role as the 'cool-headed' person of the group.
At the same time, I also tried to retain their original character traits because in the end, that's who they are. Plus, like any other teenager, they are more mature in some areas, but just as immature in other areas. They still have a lot of growing up to do, including Arnold.
I'm not sure how characters like Arnold, Sid, Harold, Rhonda would be like in the The Patakis spinoff, but I would imagine they would have changed than how they were as kids.
With Helga specifically, because Arnold went away, whether in my story or in the The Patakis spinoff, I would imagine her to be more quiet, more reserved than she was as a kid. As a teenager, because she is more preoccupied on counting the days when or if she can be with Arnold, I don't see her as being the extroverted person that she would kind of shut herself away from the rest of the world, not really caring too much about it.
Meanwhile...
Arnold and his group were in his room, preparing for tomorrow's protest rally that they had organized and scheduled for in front of City Hall. Despite only having half of their friends available, they still resorted to doing as much canvassing as possible, trying to convince the neighbourhood's residents and beyond to support them again. Although they had some measure of success, Arnold was not completely sure how many of them will turn up at the rally the next day. Nevertheless, he felt optimistic that many will come.
By the time Arnold called Phoebe to give her his answer to Nadine's plan on that same day, it was already night. Not to Phoebe's surprise, Arnold declined to go along with Nadine's plan, citing the same reasons as he previously gave. What did surprise Phoebe was that Arnold remained firm on continuing with the original plan; organize two more protests, as well as go on a city-wide canvassing, all within the month. Phoebe implored Arnold to reconsider, again stating that they did not have sufficient time to do all of that. Plus, she also explained to him that the internet and online postings were now much more effective tools of communicating and getting their message across to quite literally millions of people. Hence why she urged him to either consider Nadine's plan or postpone their upcoming protest to give her and her team more time. Arnold however, uncharacteristically refused to budge and instructed Phoebe to find other means to get more people to support their cause.
Phoebe got off the phone with Arnold that evening feeling utterly frustrated. However, she had no intention of following Arnold's instructions. Before Arnold called her, she was looking at the online postings and blogs she and her team had posted online and to her dismay, the amount of supporters or confirmation that they would attend the protest had actually decreased since that same afternoon! Given these figures, Phoebe now had proof that Arnold's plan was too unrealistic of them to reach. So, she decided to take her own initiative; she would proceed with Nadine's plan. Ever since she arrived home and waited for Arnold's answer, she had more time to think about the reasons why they should proceed with Nadine's plan. The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced.
After getting off the phone with Arnold, she immediately contacted Sheena, Lila and Nadine and informed them of the situation, much to their own dismay, frustration and disappointment. But then, Phoebe explained to them that they should nevertheless go ahead with Nadine's plan, behind Arnold's back. While she admitted that earlier that day she would not go forward with the plan unless Arnold was onboard, she realized things had now changed and they were pretty desperate. Nadine was onboard with it, but it took some time to convince Sheena and Lila to also agree with the plan. Eventually, after more than an hour of deliberation, they made a unanimous decision.
Early the next morning, both Phoebe and Nadine got to work on the latter's plan. Via through Rhonda's granting Nadine permission to use her account, they were able to hack in and gain full control of Rhonda's social media account, all without her knowing it. As promised, Nadine, posing as Rhonda, only re-activated Rhonda's posts and blog back online and after making a few verbal adjustments and changing any dates, quickly logged off from it. However, Nadine would occasionally log back in to respond to some of the users' comments or questions, yet even that, Rhonda was none the wiser.
As predicated, Nadine's calculation soon proved their worth. By the end of the day, many of Rhonda's fans and other users began to return to the posts and blog and offered their support. It was not up to the same level as it was previously, but it was enough for everyone in Arnold's group to breath a sigh of relief, as it gave everyone hope that they still had a lot of support in the city. The postings and blog even managed to convince some residents of the neighbourhood to revert back to supporting Arnold.
Even though he himself had actually considered on going along with Nadine's plan, the very fact that Nadine, Phoebe, Sheena and Lila would actually think of and agree to such an awful plan only served to further inflame Arnold's feelings of resentment and scorn for Rodrigo. He felt that it was he that somehow drove the girls to do something so mischievous, even if he ended up disapproving it. He thought that at some point during their association throughout the year, he must have influenced him with this 'radical' ideas.
I can't believe he would do this to them! Arnold thought in fury. Who does he think he is? He can't just come to this group and start causing all of this...chaos! Doesn't he realize that it took me such a long time to set everyone straight?!
As furious as Arnold was, he shook that off and just focused on the task.
"OK." He said, trying to remain calm. "Phoebe, Sheena, Lila and Nadine; thank you for getting our online posting up and running again." He continued.
"You're welcome, Arnold." Phoebe said with a seemingly innocent smile.
"How did you guys managed to get more people onboard?" Arnold asked.
"Oh um," Phoebe then nervously tried to think of something, "we just used certain...words, phrases and slangs that are up to par with today's youths. You know, the whole 'fitting in' technique."
Sheena, Lila and Nadine said nothing and just nervously nodded in agreement.
Despite their plan working, all four female teens nevertheless felt really bad for doing something like this behind Arnold's back. They just hoped it was worth it
"That's some technique!" Arnold said with an approving smile.
"So, what time are we allowed to have our rally tomorrow?" Sheena asked, wanting to get back on topic.
"At 11 a.m." Arnold answered. "We officially only have a few hours to protest, but so long as everything goes well, we can stay there for as long as we need to."
"I'm surprised our permit to hold this rally got approved so fast." Gerald remarked. "How did you managed to achieve that?"
"Instead of filing the permit through the regular channels," Arnold began to explain, "this time I submitted it straight to the Mayor. I went to see her a few days ago, asking her to approve it. I explained to her that I did not trust the regular process to have this rally approved, after what happened last time with the blockapolooza party. The Mayor knew full well that Von Scheck was involved in our party being sabotaged, so she informed me she will ensure it will get approved this time. That same day, I got a call from her confirming that our permit got approved."
"Nice! Good job, Arn!" Gerald said happily.
"Thanks Gerald." Arnold said. "Just be sure that everyone brings as much water as possible. The Weather Network says it's going to very hot tomorrow."
"Not surprised." Gerald said as he rolled his eyes. "Why can't we just enjoy this summer like any other adolescent kid? Why is it always us that have to resolve things?" He complained.
"I know Gerald, but this is our home too and we have just as much as a responsibility to defend it as any adult." Arnold reassured him. "I'm confident that after just a few protests, Mayor Dixie and everyone who supports FTI will have no choice but to withdraw their support and come up with another solution to resolve our neighbourhood's problems."
"Man, I hope you're right." Gerald said. "Not just about the summer, but also about the rest of our friends. I'm worried that if this schism continues, it might make things harder for us to get back together."
"I'm worried about that too, but let's not allow it to get to that point." Arnold said confidently. "Let's save the neighbourhood again and once that is done, we can then focus on our friends."
Gerald said nothing and just smiled, fully confident in Arnold's words that things, no matter how bad they get, will eventually get better.
"Are we all going to be meeting up here or at City Hall?" Nadine asked.
"We should meet here and then make our way to our rally." Arnold suggested, to which everyone agreed.
After a few more talks, everyone decided to call it a today and head for home. Gerald however, decided to stay a bit and ask Arnold about something. He had noticed that during these last few days, he had been looking a bit, angsty. While knowing that the stress of organizing a protest rally can be tough, it was obvious to him that he was still heavily bothered with what happened with Rodrigo. After saying goodbyes to everyone and to Phoebe, Gerald made his move.
"Hey Arn, you feeling OK?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah, Why?" Arnold answered.
"Cuz you seem a bit...angsty." Gerald responded. "And I'm not talking about the stress that comes with organizing a protest."
Arnold initially said nothing and just sighed, slumping on his bed and began rubbing the back of his neck.
"I'm just still bothered over what happened three days ago." Arnold said.
"You mean about the group splitting up?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah." Arnold said. "We never should have invited him." He remarked, referring to Rodrigo.
"I could go further; I don't think we should have invited any of our friends into this." Gerald said. "It should have been just us two, plus maybe Helga on the sidelines."
"Really? You think so?" Arnold asked.
"Definitely" Gerald confidently replied. "This group became split even before I made the suggestion to invite Rodrigo. We couldn't even agree on one plan. The very fact that we had to get outside help, whether it was Rodrigo or someone else, was proof that there was just too many of us. I often wondered why it was only us that was taking on Von Scheck several years ago and why we never called any of our friends to help out. Now I know. That, or the story of that part of our lives was really not thought out properly."
"I guess." Arnold somewhat agreed. "But we needed help this time and we can't blame them for wanting to lend a hand. How were we suppose to know that half of our friends would not only agree with his plan, but actually side with him?" Arnold continued, now frowning. "I don't understand how they could do that."
"What do you mean?" Gerald asked.
"I mean how could they not see just how wrong and malicious his plan was?" Arnold said. "What did this guy do to get into their head like that? I thought I could trust him with our friends. I never thought he would steer them down such a dark path!" He angrily exclaimed.
"Whoa there, Arnold." Gerald said, trying to calm his friend down. "You're making him sound like he is Von Scheck or something. I know his plan was never 'morally upright', but it's not that much different than what we did several years ago. We did break into an office building, stole video footage and even 'commandeered' a public bus."
"Yeah but, we had good intentions!" Arnold tried to counter. "We were never trying to hurt anyone. Actually, we weren't even trying to hurt Von Scheck. We were just trying to stop him. Rodrigo's plan is entirely based on just punishing people."
"Look, all I'm saying Arnold, is that aren't you taking this a bit too personal?" Gerald asked.
"What do you mean? He manipulated half of our friends to side against us. How could I not take it personal?" He sternly asked.
"That's the thing; what exactly are you mad about; the fact that he is steering our friends down a wrong path, or that they sided against you?" He asked.
"What? What are you saying?" Arnold asked, surprised at what Gerald was implying.
"Look man, I've known you practically my whole life," Gerald began to say, "you have always been there for people, giving out advice in order to help them. There were some people who decided not to take your advice and it never bothered you and the times when it did, you intervened for their sake. But with Rodrigo, the way you just suddenly attacked him, it looked like you have a personal vendetta against him. It just came out of nowhere! And even the way you were trying to prevent our friends from siding with him, the whole thing looked more like a power struggle rather than a genuine concern for our friends' well being. For what power? I don't know if it was for influence in the group, or for a fair woman's heart."
"No, Gerald! It's not like that all!" Arnold exclaimed
"Then why did you attack him like that?" Gerald asked.
"I don't know what came over me and why I just suddenly verbally attacked him like that. I wish I knew." Arnold frustratingly said. "I just couldn't take it anymore. I mean, I was fine when he was on the sidelines, but he then all of a sudden started taking charge, in some ways or form he sabotaged my plan, took over Helga's plan and made it into his own, all in one night! It was as if he was planning this all along. He wanted me to fail. And the fact that some of our friends were agreeing with his plan and ignoring his behaviour...I don't know I just lost it." He groaned in frustration.
Gerald looked at his friend with both sympathetic, but also suspicious eyes. While he didn't think he was lying to him, he could tell Arnold was not telling him the whole truth. He was hiding something, which is why he wasn't surprised when Helga just bluntly asked him if he came back to try and get back together with her.
Gerald knew Arnold to be a bit dense back when they were kids, if one could call it that. He preferred to use the word 'naïve'. But as they grew up, even after Arnold left, the blonde teen proved to Gerald that he was no naïve person, especially when it came to people's feelings and concerns. So, it was obvious to Gerald that Arnold knew full well what was bothering him. He was hoping Arnold would now be in the mood to want to talk about it.
I guess not. Gerald thought.
Like everyone else, Gerald was suspicious that Arnold returned to Hillwood for one reason only; Helga. However, he was very much bewildered by Arnold's behaviour since his return; he made very little, if any attempts to hang out with her.
It doesn't make any sense. Gerald thought. Why bother to come back at all for her and not at least try to spend some time with her? Summer is almost over and even before this whole FTI thing started up again, he spent most of his time hanging out with us or with his grandparents; anyone but her! I even spoke with Phoebe to see if Helga had spoken or hanged out with him, but nothing!
"And what do you think about Rodrigo now?" Gerald asked.
"I don't think he's a good person." Arnold said. "I thought he was a nice guy, but after coming up with such a plan, and getting half of our friends worked up about it and now putting them at risk, I find his good intentions, questionable, at best."
"Is that why you frowned when everyone was here?" Gerald asked.
"Huh?" Arnold asked, surprised that his thoughts of Rodrigo were transmitted into his facial expression
"After Nadine told you what she and the girls wanted to do, you seemed pretty ticked about it. You think Rodrigo had something to do with this?" Gerald said.
"Well, I just don't think Nadine would have ever thought about trying to do something so invasive like that." Arnold quipped. "She wasn't like that before. Something made her change." He said as she frowned again.
"Arnold," Gerald said to him, "you know you can always talk to me, right?" As he placed his hand on Arnold's arm, worried at how much he was patronizing his friends. He didn't want to call him out on it for fear of making him confrontational, but at the same time, he was growing worried and even frustrated that whatever Arnold was not telling him, it was surely clouding his judgment.
Gerald had been trying to push him to get him to talk about what's really been bugging him without crossing a line. Yet every time, Arnold seemed unwilling to open up to him. He figured that with this last strong hint, Arnold could finally tell him what was wrong.
"I know Gerald. Thanks." Arnold said with a smile, ignoring the hint. "But, you believe me, don't you?" He asked him.
"What? About the reason why you came here?" He asked, to which Arnold simply nodded in response.
Gerald just sighed and sat down beside him on his bed.
"I liked to believe that you came back here to visit us." He admitted. "But you do understand just how fishy all of this looks. We're not angry with you, Arnold, if you came back solely for Helga. Your reasons for wanting to come back, whether it was Helga, your grandparents, or even the weather, we are just happy that you are back. But you have to admit that you just showing up all of a sudden here, without your parents, without telling anyone that you were coming; what would have motivated you to face your fears of never seeing your parents again to take such a bold stand and coming back to Hillwood? I gotta be frank Arnold; I seriously doubt it was us that motivated you, which is OK. We're not angry at you about that. It's just, well, you didn't really make that much of an effort during the first three years since you left. You only took this bold step at the time when Rodrigo and Helga starting dating. I just don't see what else could have motivated you to come back like that. It just seems fishy, that's all."
"Either that, or there is something else that is going on that you're not telling us." He continued and waited again, for Arnold to respond.
Arnold look at his best friend with neutral face. He knew full well that Gerald had been giving him opportunities for him to calm clean, whether it was about why he felt such resentment towards Rodrigo, or his reason why he returned to Hillwood. For a moment, Arnold considered about telling him the truth. He didn't like lying to his best friend and he trusted him with his life, so why not tell him?
Perhaps if I tell him, he could help me out with it. Arnold thought for a second. But then again, I don't want him, or anyone else to feel bad about it. I don't want them to worry. And besides, this is something that I have to deal with. I shouldn't include Gerald or anyone else into this mess.
Arnold just sighed and said,
"It's just as I said before, Gerald. I missed everyone. I was homesick, so I wanted to come home and visit. You'd be surprised how powerful homesickness can be; it can be a great motivator to face some of your fears."
Gerald couldn't help but give him a disappointed look. However, he didn't want to further interrogate him. There was a bigger fish to fry anyways. Once the whole neighbourhood was saved, perhaps after that he can do some investigation.
"Well alright, man." He said as he got up. "Anyways, I gotta head back home. We have a big day tomorrow and I would like to get some shut eye."
Gerald then said to goodbye to Arnold and proceeded to go home.
Arnold felt a sour taste in his mouth after Gerald left. As much as really wanted to tell him, he felt it was probably best if he didn't know, for now anyways.
I need to talk to Helga about this first. He said to himself. I would have liked to also talk to Rodrigo about it, but after our fight and his suspicions of me, I doubt he would want to talk to me.
Not really wanting to further think about it, Arnold pushed such thoughts aside and decided to go to bed early. Tomorrow, he would need all the energy he would have.
The next day…
Arnold woke up the next day and after eating breakfast and getting himself ready, he met up with his friends, or what remained of them, at his house a little before 10am. He and everyone else, after gathering all of their items, supplies, and protest signs, then made their way to downtown, where the city's City Hall was located by taking the train.
Much to Arnold's and his group's delight, were almost immediately met with supporters from within or outside of their neighbourhood. Slowly, more and more supporters were seen during their travel. However, the hope for more support was only temporary. Upon arriving in downtown, and then making their way towards City Hall, Arnold became dismayed when he arrived there.
"Is that it?" Arnold asked as he looked at his phone to see that it was almost 11am.
"It looks like it." Gerald said with a neutral face. "Hmmhmmmhmm. This is a poor sight."
"This is less than half the people that was at the school meeting four days ago!" Arnold lamented. "Not even!"
"Maybe more people will come later." Sheena said, trying to sound optimistic.
"I'm sure they will." Phoebe joined in.
However, Arnold didn't say anything and just looked on disappointingly at the amount of people that showed up.
Despite the shock and disappointment, Arnold was not overly surprised. He had expected a less of a turnout than the amount of people that showed up at the school meeting, but he was nevertheless trying to remain hopeful that he could reach those numbers again by the time the rally commenced, or at least close to it. To boost their numbers, Arnold had to reluctantly ask his grandparents to come to the rally. The rest of the boarding tenants were already going. Despite the lower turnout, Arnold was still determined to go ahead with the plan.
"Come on." He said determinately. "We'll use whatever we have."
And with that, he walked towards the group of people that were already present. His friends followed him and prepared to start the rally.
As the weather channel predicted, the day was going to be almost unbearably hot. It was not even noon and already the Sun was permeating is full energy onto the protesters, almost as if the Sun itself was trying to deter them from continuing on with their endeavors. Nevertheless, the protesters pushed on. Everyone brought with them as much water as they could carry; they were going to need it.
Meanwhile…
Right around the time when Arnold and his group were just gathering at the boarding house and were about leave to head to downtown, Rodrigo and his group were also just meeting up.
"Morning everyone." Rodrigo said to them. "Is everyone and everything ready?" He asked them.
Everyone either just nodded or responded a simple "yes". Then, they were off, but not together.
To ensure no one was following them, Rodrigo came up at the last second with the idea that everyone should split up and head to City Hall on their own. One by one, they started to head there on their own way. While some headed there via the train, others took the bus and even that, each person took different routes. Obviously, this process took longer to get there than expected; by one hour. Nevertheless they made it. After rendezvousing at a particular intersection in downtown, the group then made their way towards City Hall and were stunned at what they saw when they got there.
"A protest?!" Rodrigo exclaimed in shock.
"How did we overlook that?" Peapod Kid asked, equally shocked.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me?!" Curly exclaimed frustratingly. "A protest means more security in and around the building."
The group then slowly made their way closer, trying to see who was there and what was the nature of the protest. It didn't take long for them to know what it was about.
"Arnold?!" Rodrigo exclaimed again. "He's the one who set up this protest?!"
"Golly, do you think he knew about our plan?" Stinky asked.
"Of course he knew!" Curly exclaimed. "We were all there when Rodrigo laid out his plans to everyone."
"What I meant to say Curly, is do you suppose Arnold knew we were planning on infiltrating City Hall today?" Stinky rephrased his question.
"No way!" Sid said. "There's no way he could have known that we would be doing it today... unless, we have a mole in our midst!"
"A mole?" Stinky asked. "That can't be true, Sid. None of our friends would rat us out."
"Oh, they sure could." Curly then added. "The mole could be ratting us out to the enemy."
"Enemy? Those are our friends." Park said.
"They were your friends." Curly countered. "Now they are out to destroy us by sabotaging our plan to break into City Hall. They are our ideological enemies, no different than Von Scheck."
"Ideoglo-what?" Stinky said confusingly. "Curly, I think you getting this whole group division thing way in over your head. Our friends would never do that. Sure, we have different opinions on how we can save the neighbourhood, but that doesn't mean they are our enemies."
"Oh you poor simple minded folk you." Curly poetically scoffed at Stinky. "Don't you see that the every fact that they think differently than you means that they already are the enemies? They can't be trusted. And one of us is in league with the enemy!"
"We must expose him and make an example of him!" Curly exclaimed.
"Calm down, Curly." Rodrigo said to him, trying to control the group.
"Do you really think someone here ratted us out?" Lorenzo asked, now a bit worried.
"I know so!" Curly confidently said. "Why else would Arnold organize a protest on the every day we were going to put our plan into action?"
Everyone then started looking at each other with both worrying and suspicious eyes. Rodrigo noticed this and realized he needed to intervene.
"Whoa, whoa, guys, calm down!" He said loudly. "Don't panic!"
"How could we not panic Rodrigo when we have a mole within our ranks?" Sid worryingly asked.
"Because if we did have a mole, he/she would have reported our plans to Arnold already and the football head would have confronted us before we came here. But he hasn't, has he? Hence, there is no mole and this is all just a big coincidence." Rodrigo reasoned.
"How do you know?" Rhonda asked.
"Thank about it." He said. "If Arnold wanted to really stop us, why hasn't he confronted us already? Why would he allow us to plan, organize and come all this way here unhindered? Surely if he knew we were going to do it today, he would have said or done something to stop us."
"I suppose that's true." Lorenzo said as he thought about it.
"Or, he wants us to follow up with our plan and then set a trap for us by triggering the alarm and alerting the police, thereby getting us all arrested and ensuring we are out of his way!" Sid insinuated, now letting his paranoia getting the best of him.
"Ah come on, Sid. Arnold would never do that to us." Stinky countered.
"Stink's right." Rodrigo said. "I don't think Arnold would ever want to do that to us, at least not to you guys. It's not like him to stoop that low."
"But how can you be so sure?" Curly said, now also getting almost paranoid. "How? How? How?!"
"Because it's Arnold, Curly." Patty interjected. "Do you really think he would do that to you, to Rhonda?"
"Exactly." Rodrigo said. "And besides, if he did that; allow us to infiltrate City Hall; he would be putting his own plan at risk. Why would he do that? Just to eliminate us? I don't know what got into Arnold four days ago, but you and I both know he would not have endangered his plan to save the neighbourhood just to stop me. It wouldn't make any sense for him to do that."
Curly, despite still in his state of paranoia, thought about it for a second, and then another second, and then another second…and then another second...
"Well, I guess you have a point there." He then calmly said.
"So, this is all just a coincidence?" Sid asked.
"It looks like it." Peapod Kid said. "That's some unique coincidence."
"So are we going to do this, or not?" Rhonda asked, getting a bit annoyed at the delay. "I have a hair appointment later this afternoon and I really do not want to be late. My hair is about to have a frizzle fest. I'm surprised it hasn't yet."
"Right, let's get to it." Rodrigo said. "Relax guys, we got this. Arnold is not the enemy here. We should be more worried about the extra security. That's going to be our major challenge here."
"How do you suppose we get past the guards?" Park asked.
"We just need to be more careful and take our time." Rodrigo said. "Actually, with the protest going on, security will be more worried with that than with what will be happening inside. We can use that to our advantage."
"But, we better make sure we do not arouse any suspicious, or do anything that will cause chaos or any panic inside the building." Rodrigo continued. "Apart from the fact that we could get caught, it would also jeopardize the protest that Arnold organized."
"Come again?" Curly asked with a raised eyebrow. "You actually care about this mob of a protest?"
"Yes." Rodrigo began to explain. "Despite that I am confident that we can achieve our objective, I also don't want to disrupt the protest that will encourage security to act swiftly. Not only will that cause panic and may force the building to shut down, thereby trapping us, but it could also close on a potential alternative to save the neighbourhood. I still don't think Arnold's plan will succeed, but in the event if my plan doesn't, we at least have the option to still follow Arnold's plan, as Park stated a few days ago."
"Hm, sounds reasonable." Peapod Kid said.
"Sounds good to me." Stinky said.
Everyone else just nodded.
"OK. Places everyone and let's just this thing started." Rodrigo said to everyone.
Everyone then started dispersing and went to their respective positions. Everyone initially, with the exception of Rhonda, ran together to go around and then behind the building. It was a good place to break-in or rather, 'infiltrate' from. At the back, there was an alleyway, narrow, but not without various places to hide. There were two dumpsters, with other forms of garbage or leftover items. On both sides of the alleyway, there were emergency exit fire escape routes, which Curly's team planned to use to climb up and use the building's ventilating system to get inside. Also, because of the walls, the lack of sunlight obscured people's vision from seeing anyone properly, allowing Sid to conceal himself.
Upon arriving at the back of the building, Curly, Lorenzo, Sid, Patty and Park stopped right at the corner of the building and waited for Rhonda to appear on the other side. Rodrigo and Peapod Kid crossed the street went on the opposite side of the street, keeping a look out.
Once in position, everyone then turned their own cell or iPhones off and turned their burner cell phones on. Using a one-piece ear phone, they connected it to their burner cells, allowing them to use them more like walky-talkies and thus, able to communicate with each other. Curly and Lorenzo had restructured and reconfigured them to make them more suitable for their mission. This meant that they only needed to whisper in order to be heard well by everyone else.
"Dude! There are three security guards guarding the emergency fire escapes!" Sid said quietly on his burner cellphone.
"That's more than that one guard we saw a few days ago." Park worriedly remarked.
"Rogers that. There sure is a lot of security around the building, too." Sid said. "Do you think we outta call it quits?"
"Hmm, maybe we should and try this tomorrow, after the protest." Peapod Kid agreed.
"No, we can't!" Rodrigo said firmly to everyone. "There isn't any time! Once we gather all the evidence, we need time to organize to pick out the relevant ones and then make it all intelligible!"
"Make them what?" Sid asked confusingly. "Intelligent?"
"No, intelligible." Rodrigo said again. "We just make sure everyone understands what they are looking at." He clarified.
"Ooohh. Gotcha!" Sid said. Curly and Rhonda merely rolled their eyes.
"Come on, guys. We got this!" Rodrigo then tried to encourage everyone. "We spent days surveillancing this place. We know the building from inside and out and everyone knows exactly what they need to do."
"Rodrigo's right, we do got this! Besides, it could take many days for us to scan everything we gathered from the data storage system and pick out anything to use against Von Scheck." Lorenzo said.
"But there are a lot of security today." Patty countered. "We're taking a huge risk if we do this."
"Without risks, there is no victory." Rodrigo said. "Come on guys, we only need a few hours and then we can go. I know we can do it. I have full confidence in our ability to achieve what we came here to do."
"Rodrigo's right fellars. I say we move forward with this and don't stop until the chickens come home to roast." Stinky said.
Everyone then started getting motivated and with approving mumbles and grumbles, it was decided they would go ahead with it.
"OK Rhonda; whenever you're ready." Rodrigo said.
"Go get'em my beautiful Aphrodite." Curly said as he smiled. "Show them no mercy!"
Rhonda just rolled her eyes and began walking towards the three male security guards that were right next to the alleyway entrance. They didn't seem to notice Rhonda approaching them, as they were still completely distracted with themselves. Nevertheless, Curly and his team watched and patiently waited for them to draw their attention to the incoming popular socialite.
Rhonda walked slowly and took off her ear phone and hid her burner cell inside her purse. She then took out her iPhone. To ensure she would succeed in her mission, Rhonda wore a bit of skimpy shorts with a low cut stop, a bit of jewelry and some make up. Upon getting closer to the guards, she then took a deep breath and then changed her facial expression from stern, slight annoyance, but determined, to one of worry and concern. Even her walk became different; it became a rather sexy and flirtatious walk. Rhonda continued walking towards the guards, waiting for her cue. Just then, one of the guards turned his head to face her. This was it.
"Oh um, excuse me, but would you three fine gentlemen be able to help me?" Rhonda spoke to them with a southern accent. "I seem to be a bit lost."
As soon as she spoke, all three guards turned around to face here and were almost smitten by her beauty and accent. Much to Rhonda's relief, the guards were rather young and not bad looking at all, giving her some sort of motivation to do this charade.
The guard who first saw her, smiled and said,
"Why, sure young lady. Where are you off to?"
"I was on my way to the museum." Rhonda said with her southern accent. "I was using the GPS on my iPhone when it ran out of battery. I didn't get a chance to memorize the directions, so I don't know where to go."
As soon Rhonda got their attention, Curly then gave his cue to his team to make their move. Wasting no time, they quietly ran towards the nearest emergency fire escape stairs. Upon arriving, Patty quietly lowered the ladder down, allowing everyone to climb up.
"Oh sure, miss." The first guard said. "It's actually not far from there. You just go a few blocks down that way, then make a right turn and continue walking further down. You can't miss it."
"Oh my, thank you so much!" Rhonda dramatically exclaimed. "I cannot believe I took a simple wrong turn like that. I am so glad the streets are secured with such strong men like you to help a damsel in distress." She flirtatiously said with a smile.
"Why thank you." The first guard said, almost blushing.
"So what exhibit will you be viewing today?" The second guard asked her.
"The exhibit?" Rhonda confusingly asked.
"Well, yeah. I heard there are two exhibits. Which one are you interested in seeing?" The second guard asked again.
"Oh I umm..." Rhonda tried to frantically think of something fast. "The main...one?" She nervously said with a giggle.
"Oh, the Mayan exhibit!" The second guard excitedly exclaimed. "I love that one. The Polynesian exhibit is good too, but it does not compare to what the Mayan exhibits shows. Mostly, it's because there are more remaining artifacts and we have more information about that civilization than the Polynesian one. I love it.'
"Yes well, that is what I heard from the reviews." Rhonda said, feeling relieved.
While Rhonda was talking to two the guards, the third one was looking at her rather suspiciously. Curiously, he took out his phone and searched for something. It didn't take take him long for him to find what he was searching for.
"Wait, I know you!" The third guard said, catching Rhonda's attention.
"You...do?" Rhonda asked, now getting nervous.
"Yes. You're Rhonda Wellington Lloyd!" The third guard exclaimed. "The famous high status socialite."
"Well yes, yes I am." Rhonda answered. "How did you know?"
"Sweet! You're the one who posted those postings online to draw up support for those residents over there, fighting against their homes from being torn down. Much respect for you Ms. Lloyd for what you are doing; fighting for the little guy." The third guard said.
"Oh well, thank you." Rhonda said with a nervous smile. "I do my part to help out." She continued to confidently say.
"Hmm, I thought you were a native-born Hillwoodian, though." The third guard said with a raised eyebrow..
"I'm sorry?" Rhonda confusingly asked.
"Your accent; I didn't think you originated from the South."
While Rhonda was still distracting the guards, Curly's team was careful not to draw any attention to them. They climbed up as fast as they could without making any sudden or loud movements. Sid meanwhile slowly passed the guards and hid at the nearest dumpster and waited.
"Oh well, I was umm, born in Georgia." Rhonda quickly said to the guard. "My parents had made the state of Georgia their home for some time because they decided to move to this state. I was very young when I came here, much too young to remember anything. But my parents, impressed with Southern mannerisms, for some reason, decided to raise me as a southern lady, which explains my accent."
"Oh, well I guess that does explain it." The guard asked. "But then, how come you're going to the museum when the protest that you helped organize is happening right now?" He asked.
Again, Rhonda had to frantically think of something quick before they got suspicious.
"Oh well, I was originally planning on attending the protest," she explained, "but I had already scheduled to umm...work with a nonprofit organization that helps encourage and teach young kids the value of learning. I figured taking them to a museum was a good idea to inspire them."
"Oh well, you sure are a busy person." The third guard remarked, looking impressed.
"And with a big heart, might I add." The first guard said. "It's great what you are doing for those kids."
"Why thank you." Rhonda said with a nervous smile.
Eventually, Curly's team succeeded and climbed up to the roof, and then immediately ran towards the nearest ventilating system.
"Wait a minute," Rhonda then said, "what did you mean by 'organized the protest'?"
"Well, your posting." The third guard said. "It's been active all week and despite the negative comments and drop in support that happened a few days ago, it picked up again. I must say, I'm surprised you managed to convince many people to support the cause for those residents."
"May I see your phone, good sir?" Rhonda asked, replacing her 'Southern smile' with a now Southern stern look.
The guard then gave her his phone and Rhonda scanned it. To her shock, she saw that her posting had indeed been active, with a history of activities and many responses to comments supposedly from her to many users, all within the last few days! It even had the date and time of when the protest was going to happen.
What the…Rhonda shockingly thought. Someone has hacked into my account and has been impersonating me! I never did any of this. I disabled these posts and blog days ago. Whoever this person this, he will rue the day he hacked into MY account and IMPERSONATED ME! There is only one Rhonda Wellington Lloyd and that's me! She angrily thought.
"Oh well yes," Rhonda then gave the guard back his phone and smiled again, even though behind it she was fuming, "it's the least I could do for them since I am not able to attend the rally."
Rhonda then took a quick glance upward and saw that Curly and his team was already on the roof. That was her cue to leave.
"Well, I thank you fine gentlemen once again for helping me find my way, but I must be off. The children are awaiting me and I must not be late. We have much to see at the Mayan exhibit and I would like to not rush."
Rhonda then said her goodbyes and then 'headed' towards the museum. To ensure that everything was authentic, Rhonda had to actually walk all the way to where the first guard had pointed and then make a right turn. It was only after doing that that she ceased her acting. While then taking the long way back to meet up with Rodrigo, Rhonda scanned her phone, trying to see just how her account was hacked.
Meanwhile, Curly's team arrived at the ventilating entrance that was big enough for them to slide inside.
"Alrighty," Curly said as he took out the building's blueprint, "we are here." He pointed at the blueprint. "We need to be here. So, we just need to slide into this ventilating tube, make a few right and left turns and then, Eureka! We're there."
"OK, put your masks on everyone." Curly then instructed everyone.
He and everyone else grabbed their masks that were inside a bag and put them on, concealing their identities. They also wore black clothes in order to not be seen inside the data storage room.
Curly went inside first, followed by Lorenzo, Park and then Patty. Using a rope after tying it good, each of them slid down the tube and descended into the building. There was now no turning back.
While Rodrigo's group was putting their plan into action, unbeknownst to them, someone had been following them and had been observing their entire movement.
Responses to reviews:
Cre8ivelybankgrup87: Yes, I initially only made that chapter into a short summary in this chapter. But I then realized that I had given Nadine, Sheena, Lila and especially Phoebe little dialogue in this story, so I wanted to expand on that. I didn't want to have little presence, especially Phoebe since she was virtually absent in the Hey Arnold!: The Movie.