Hi everyone. I came back to this story and have worked on it a little more, so I decided to put up a chapter and see if you are still interested. I hope to eventually finish it but that was my intention when I started it a few years back, too. I know it's been a while and I am sorry it's taken so long to get back to this story. So, here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

How On Earth Chapter 11:

Father was once again in his pink and yellow robe, with a container of ice cream in hand. He was sitting in the very chair he had been in earlier when he'd talked to his brother and his little brat of a nephew. Now he was brooding to himself.

That morning, he had been head of the most powerful group of child controlling villains on earth. Now all he had control over was what was under his own roof. He wondered if his pappy would threaten to take even that from him.

He felt betrayed. He had restored his dad in hopes of sharing power with him and the man had taken away everything he'd built up. Pappy had always been good at making him miserable. He'd spent years building up his empire and had exhausted plan after plan to defeat the KND. The older villain had no right…
He didn't get it. It was him who had followed in their father's footsteps while Monty had turned his back on their ways. If it wasn't for him, the family legacy that Grandfather held in such high regards would have collapsed. Yet he was the one who their dad rejected.

He glanced out the window. Some of the light from the citizombies' camp was filtering through them. It felt like an intrusion into his home. He was tempted to chase them out of the neighborhood. Maybe in the morning he'd do that. The KND actually might prove to be useful for getting the job done, too.
He could already feel the first parts of a plan forming in his mind but he mustn't get ahead of himself. What would the ultimate goal be, anyway? He couldn't exactly take over anything major without taking power away from his dad.

Thinking back to the way his dad had treated him all day and especially a couple hours ago, he suddenly realized he didn't care. No, that wasn't it. He cared a heck of a lot. He wanted to push his dad off of his high horse. It had taken him nearly three decades longer than big brother but he'd finally reached the end of his rope.

He looked around the room as he picked up his pipe from the table he'd placed it on when he'd started on his latest ice cream spree. Empty Ice cream containers were scattered across the floor and he realized that he had even stained his robe. Look what he had allowed his Pappy reduce him to. "No more." Ben said and shook his head and repeated himself with more conviction, "No more."

The spy fly that the Delightful Children sent out should be back by now. He'd start by seeing what has been going on in Sector V tonight and make his own plans from there. No doubt tomorrow morning the old man's minions would try to attack them again. If he wanted to be ready by then, there was a lot of work to do.

He'd have to wake up his Delightful Children early tomorrow morning, too.

Number Three Sixty Two stood tall as she listened to the latest reports. None of the Salons that they had checked out had any information on their lists of scheduled appointments or walk-ins that had Katherine Uno. With only two salons in town unchecked, Rachel was starting to get worried. If Nigel's mom didn't stay in town, she could literally be anywhere.

She didn't want to think about the consequences for failure. There was no telling how Grandfather's duplicate would make good his threat but she knew he would if she couldn't locate the woman she had been volunteered to find. After all she'd done to tick him off; she imagined he was probably happily devising his possible punishment at that very moment.

So instead she was waiting as agified employees from each place checked their databases called in, the latest of which was now on the phone. "We found her information."

Rachel sat straight up as she spoke into the phone, "She was there?"

"No she went to our sister store in the mall."

"The mall?" Rachel queried as she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "you mean the one KND and the Villains consider neutral territory."

"That's the one."

"Of course it is," She said and added, "Thank you for your participation in this search Grandfather ordered."

"Oh with pleasure. Anything for Grandfather!"

"Anything for Grandfather…" Rachel repeated listlessly as she hung up.

She turned to Number Four One One and asked, "We confirmed that the Teenagers and nerds had chosen that mall for their stronghold, right?"

"Yup."

Rachel chuckled.

"What's so funny?" The other operative queried.

"It seems like none of Numbuh One's family got agified." Then she frowned, serious again. "Don't stop the search. Just because she was at the mall to get her nails done today doesn't mean she was there when Grandfather took over."

"What are you going to do sir?"

"I'm going to report to the Villain's Duplicate, of course. He'll want to know what I've discovered."

"He'll also know that you probably won't be able to retrieve his daughter-in-law by morning. How do you think he'll react to that?"
Rachel sighed and said, "probably not very well."

She walked into the portable communications center and punched in the code for the convention center.

When the screen turned on at the opposite end, instead of being met by a view of Grandfather's imposing figure, Mr. Boss and Number Eighty Six were there. "Number Three Sixty Two." The villain said in an annoyed tone as Number Eighty Six Saluted her.

"Where's Grandfather's duplicate?" she asked.

"Taking the information everyone gathered on his grandson back to the villain who summoned him and reporting what we know about other groups of resistance." Number Eighty Six said.

"Other groups? There's more than Sector V and the one in the mall?"

Number Eighty Six nodded.

"Why are you calling in?" Mr. Boss asked in an annoyed tone before the woman could continue. Despite their being on the same team under Grandfathers rule, the people who were Kids Next Door and Evil Adult Industries still had their memory intact and were distrustful of each other.

"I have a lead on Numbuh Zero's wife, that's why. I'll keep looking into it and call back later." She was about to hang up but a question popped into her head. "How is the plan to attack sector V's base coming along?"

"Quite well actually." Mr. Boss said. "I'm looking forward to putting sector V in their place. It's just a pity Numbuh One won't be amongst them when we take the base down. I'd have liked to see what he looks like when utterly defeated."

"We'll swamp their defenses when their security system shuts down in the morning." Number Eighty Six said joyfully. " And I even get to do it with my dad." She turned to Mr. Boss and said, "isn't it nice to get to plan it out together, Daddy."

For once, the villain gave an actual smile, one without an ounce of malice, and said, "It sure is, my little Fanny Pants."

"Not so little anymore, being agified and all."

She heard a couple of snickers in the background, until the parent child duo glanced behind. Then it all fell silent.

"Anything else," Mr. Boss queried in an annoyed tone.

"I don't suppose he went through the doors to leave this time, did he."

"Actually," Numbuh Eighty Six replied, "He did."

"He could have actually opened them first, though." Mr. Boss added. "Then again, we've been complaining about the lack of ventilation in this building for years."

As they came to the last row of houses in the back field, the kids stopped the truck and Numbuh Fourteen got out to peak around the corner.
The other children took the moment to prepare for the pace to pick up again. During the ride in the truck, they had become aware of just how tired they were.

They had all been running at full speed and on high alert all day. Even under normal circumstances, they'd have all been in bed long before now. It was so weird to see the clock on the dashboard showing 11:23.

Still, they all knew that they had no time to sleep. Everyone was depending on them.

When she came back a few minutes later, she said, "the whole place is crawling with citizombies. Jessica, are you sure that there is not a safer place to enter the school from.

"Probably, since it seemed to be part of a whole underground city but I don't know where they are," the younger girl responded as she squeezed her doll.

"And we most certainly don't have time to go looking for them if we want to get the fuel to Sector V in time." Numbuh Forty-Two B added as he stifled a yawn.
Numbuh Fourteen sighed before stating, "A couple of us need to stay here and guard the truck while Jessica shows the rest of us where the entrance is. Numbuh Three Sixty Three, since you are already injured, it's probably best that you stay here until we know where to take you."

The boy nodded in response but looked annoyed at having to be left behind.

"Numbuh Forty Two B, you'll stay with him. Jessica and I will find the entrance and get some help to get this stuff underground. We'll be back as soon as possible."

The other boy nodded and asked, "should I watch from here or hide in the bushes?"

You two would probably be harder to see in the bushes. Not to mention that an empty truck will draw less attention than an occupied one.
Jessica opened the passenger side door and jumped to the ground. Numbuh Forty Two B followed, Closing the door behind him.
Numbuh Three Sixty Three crawled out the other side, refusing help from Numbuh Fourteen to get down for fear of touching her. He winced as his foot touched the ground.

Numbuh Fourteen grabbed the keys from the ignition, locked the truck doors and closed the driver side door. She then passed the keys to Numbuh Three Sixty Three, who was careful to avoid physical contact with her as he took them.

After the boys had hidden well enough to satisfy Numbuh Fourteen, she turned to Jessica and said, "lead the way."

Jessica nodded as she hugged her stuffed bunny tightly.

She led the other girl into a ditch outside the football field. From there, they could see the gear that had previously used to pump a salad dressing well on the playground had been relocated to pump the one full of prune juice. She felt sorry for whoever had to be out in the middle of the night to pump that stuff. It wasn't a freezing cold night, but it was still a little nippy.

She came to a spot where some boards were laying against the ground, looking like nothing more than trash being left there. She knocked on them waited. A few seconds later, the boards lifted and the head of a second grade boy with brown eyes and red hair popped out from under them. "Jessica?"

"I've come back from Sector V with some operatives. We have a way to help each other."

Joaquin was having trouble balancing as the gunny pigs whom had captured him and his team lead them to an area closer to the trunk of the tree. By now, he was thoroughly confused as to where they were in relation to the main base.

It was clear that the larger rodents knew where they were, though. One had even been sent ahead sometime earlier, probably to report their capture, he imagined. Ahead to where, though?

And what would happen when they get there. The guinea pigs had never been known to attack a hamster before but that didn't mean they were friendly. In fact, the hamsters have very much tried to avoid them up until now. Hopefully, it was a good sign that they were willing to chase off that feathery giant earlier.
Joaquin was startled from his thoughts as the leader of the hunting party who'd captured them gestured for them to stop. They did as told. The area was close to some of Sector V's structures, which were rather sparse in this part of the tree.

He studied the larger rodent as they waited. This one was brown with a white spot over his left eye. He wore a leaf on his head, and some sort of skirt made out of what looked like some sort of torn fabric, as did the others. Unlike the others, he also a collar that looked like it was made from a thin strip of inner tree bark.

Suddenly, another guinea pig appeared from the leaves ahead and started chattering with his leader. Although they communicated with squeaks similar to the hamsters, they were just different enough that it was like hearing another language.

They both glanced at him. By now, he was sure they knew he was the leader of the group he'd brought but he wondered if they knew he was the highest ranking hamster in Sector V. Just because they didn't interact with the hamsters didn't mean they couldn't have kept an eye on them. And what would it mean if they did know?

Then they were being forced to move again. They went under the roof and into the room, long abandoned by any humans. It was very dark and it took a moment for Joaquin's eyes to adjust to it as they descended the wall but once they did, he saw that the room was comparable in size to the debriefing room. He saw a dim green glow from the other side of the room.

As they got closer, he saw that the guinea pig village had been built using all sorts of ancient KND base materials; books, busted weapons, tools, boxes, toys and all sorts of other stuff were used in the construction for nest areas. It was so odd to see, being that the hamsters were supplied with their own nesting materials by the humans.

The guinea pigs whom had brought them here made his team stop and wait again, guarded by other guinea pigs. As they waited, one of their captors offered them some unfamiliar looking seeds which they accepted, so as not to offend the larger rodents.

Their guide appeared again and pointed to Joaquin and gestured for him to follow. He glanced back to see his friends, who were trying to put on big smiles as if they weren't scared. They waved him off to go on. He followed the guinea pigs, leaving the other hamsters behind.

Tommy and Patty poked their heads out of the bushes, looking about to make sure there were no citizombies close by.

"See anybody?" Patty Asked.

"Nope."

"Me neither."

"All clear," Tommy said, loud enough for Lee and Sonia to hear from under the nearby picnic table.

They were using a leap frog technique where one group would scout ahead to make sure the coast was clear, then the other would run past them and check the next stretch of terrain. Although he had learned about the technique in the Arctic Training Facility, Tommy had never gotten to apply it in the field before, since he had been working alone as The Tommy. It was nice to get to finally apply the group work aspect of what he'd learned after so long out of the KND.

Lee and Sonia signaled that it was safe to move again and Tommy and Patty moved forward again. "We need to stop with Lee and Sonya, there's something I want to talk to you about." They were about half way to the school from the parking lot where they had begun but Tommy didn't plan on making the whole journey on foot.

"What's going on," Sonya asked, looking away from the streetlight which she had been looking at longingly.

"What do you think about making the rest of the way to the school by ship?"

"It sounds cool but where are we going to find one ship around here?" Lee queried.

"It would mean going a little off course but my house is in this neighborhood. Hoagie and I have all sorts of inventions there. On top of that, we have some of our dads old stuff, as well as thing Hoagie and I work on during our own free time. We don't have much KND quality equipment, we can't afford it on our own but we do have a few of vehicles to choose from and some nice machinery that may prove useful later. I would have suggested it earlier but the route we took to reach the truck was much further away from my house."

"It might be worth a shot," Patty stated. "What are the potential risks?"

"Other than the citizombies that we might meet on our way there, my mom will almost definitely be home, and I doubt she escaped becoming a citizombie. She was doing some gardening when I left to help the KND and told me to get Hoagie and be home in time for dinner." Tommy winced, "I hope she won't be too angry about that."

Sonya patted him on the back and said, "I'm sure she'll understand, Tommy. It's not every day that an evil guy agifies everyone in the world. It could kind of ruin anyone's plan."

"I think we should have enough anti-aging water to risk it." Patty stated. "Lee, Sonya, What do you guys think?"

"It works for me," Lee said as he took out a yoyo and did a couple tricks with it.

"I like that plan, too." Sonya stated.

For a few more minutes, the kids followed the road but as Tommy became more familiar with the surroundings, he started taking them over fences and into backyards, going around pools, passing patios and climbing trees as he led the others to his home. There were a few times where they had to change course because a citizombie was staring out of a window or rocking on a porch swing but they made it through without incident.

As they landed in a yard with a shed filled to the brim with used mechanical equipment stacked up within, the boy said quietly, "here we are. Home sweet home."

"So where are these ships?" Patty asked.

"In the Garage.," Tommy replied. "Come on , I'll show you. He went to one of the two doors of the main house and opened it, only to find it wouldn't budge. "Oh, I guess it would have been easier to get in here if Hoagie and I took some time and cleaned the garage like mom told us to do a kajillion times. I think the stuff is holding the door shut."

"Is it going to be a problem?" Patty asked, giving him an annoyed look.

Suddenly, there was a click and the door opened and there was his mom, who was in fact still not a zombie, whom cleared away some of their stuff, to reach the door. "Hello dear. Sorry it took a moment to unlock the door, your father's old security system is a little overly complex. Oh and I see you brought friends. Is Hoagie here, too?"

"No, he's still in the treehouse."

"Oh my, well I guess you better come in before those things realize take advantage of the fact that we're standing out here in the open.

The whole time, the KND operatives stared in shock. Finally, Patty asked incredulously, "Your system was able to hold off the citizombies?"

"My husband and I designed it to protect our from anyone who might try to hurt us. It just so happened that these citizombies were the ones who tried." Then she changed the topic by saying, "the meatloaf I made for dinner is cold. If you kids want, I could reheat some for your dinner."

"Actually, mom," Tommy said, "we'd love to but we have to get over to the school."

"Then how about meatloaf sandwiches?"

"Sure."

As his mom made meatloaf sandwiches, Tommy showed his friends all the ships had. Most were tiny, one person vehicles but a couple could hold two or three people. Then he showed them some of the other technology they had lying around the garage.

They were still trying to decide who would ride in what ship and which items they could afford to take with them when Mrs. Gilligan came back with dinner.

"Hey Mom," Tommy asked, which ship would you like to ride in?"

She looked confused for a moment before saying "Oh, you thought… no dear, I'm not coming but you kids can always come back here if you need to."

"But why not?"

I'm not about to leave my house alone for a bunch of strangers to break into and use. Besides, if anyone else like you turns up, I could offer them a safe place to stay.

"But what if the citizomies get you?"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. You just be careful and come home as soon as you can. Oh, and the next time you see your brother, tell him that I managed to get that stain out of the shirt I got him for his birthday."

"Yes mom." He said as he took his sandwich and climbed into his ship next to Numbuh Eighty Five.

"Thanks Mrs. Gilligan," Sonya said as she and Lee crawled into their own vehicle.

"Good luck with the citizombies." Lee added.

"Now you kids have fun but be careful."

With that, the kids took off into the night, headed for the school.

Jessica watched as Numbuh Forty Two B pushed another box out the door for the two third graders to carry down to the ditch where the entrance to the underground school was. There, a fifth grader waited to carry the load to the next part of the chain they had made to carry their tapioca contraband into the school.

Numbuh Fourteen had already taken Numbuh Three Sixty Three inside and was talking to whoever might be running things here.

Jessica was one of the kids standing guard. She had a kazoo, as did the others who were standing watch. There were five watchers, evenly spread out across the run

Everyone who was outside was armed with some sort of water container filled with fountain of youth water. It was easy enough to obtain once they knew where to find it that that all the kids in the secret underground building had been able to arm themselves with the liquid in the time since they had discovered it's existence.

"Only a few more boxes to go," Numbuh 44 B stated.

"Good!" one of the kids holding the box replied. "I'm getting sick of carrying my own weight in tapioca. I mean, we aren't supposed to be carrying loads this heavy until middle school."

"Shhh. They might hear us." The other third grader said. They carted off the load.

Jessica watched them start to make their way to the trench. Then she turned and glanced to where another student stood watch. This was a blonde girl who she sat next to in music class. She wouldn't quite say the girl was a friend, she didn't really know her all that well but it was nice to see a familiar face from her grade. She and the other girl had already exchanged a couple of smiles and waves since they'd taken their positions.

This time she didn't see her. As she looked she saw a bush rustle near where she should have been. She had a bad feeling as she hugged Hopsy Mopsy. Then she heard a kazoo sound off close to the ditch, followed by some yelling. She pulled out her spray bottle as Numbuh Forty Four B jumped out of the back of the truck did the same. Although she was closer, he ran so fast that he quickly passed her. They both had their spray bottles in hand.

As he topped the hill, she saw a citizombie try to grab him as he pointed his water bottle and sprayed it, turning the ancient man into into a dripping wet boy who looked like he should be in preschool but she suspected might actually be a member of the Six Gum Gang. As she caught up, she saw that the fight was already shifting in their favor.

The water made all the difference. The citizombies were retreating as the kids chased after them, while a bunch of kids stood stunned, soaked to the bone but free from Grandfather's powers.

When the other kids came back, they said that they got most of the citizombies but a couple got away.

"We better get underground then. We've got the truck mostly unloaded anyway. They know what we're capable of now so they'll be more prepared when they come back with reinforcements.

Meanwhile, at Grandfather's home, Monty was sitting in the living room with Grandfather. He would have stayed with Nigel but his Pappy had insisted on staying with him. Numbuh Zero doubted that the first sight Nigel would want to see when he woke up would involve having the world's greatest villain leaning over him. Especially after said villain had just forcefully awakened his powers.

So now they sat in the living room. Monty was on the couch and Grandfather in his chair. After a few minutes of halfhearted attempts at conversation, they'd fallen silent. Grandfather occasionally levitated a new piece of wood to the now lit fireplace but other than that, they just sat there.

Finally, Monty asked, "So Pappy, what do you plan to do next?"

"What?"

"Well," Monty asked, "You've got most of the world under your control and all the tapioca you could want. I am here, Nigel's upstairs recovering from having his powers awakened. Your citizombies will soon find my wife. And Ben, he's off at his mansion with his delightful children, although I doubt he'll be satisfied with that for long. He seems worse at bottling his anger than you are. And Nigel's friends are holding his tree house.

"I can keep Ben in line. As for what happens next, tomorrow, my citizombies and duplicates will defeat the last of the KND. Then my victory will be complete." Monty noticed that the villain sounded like he wasn't as sure of that as he wanted to be.

"Is the book of KND still giving you trouble Pappy?"

Grandfather glared and said, "Mention that infernal book again and see what happens."

Monty decided it was probably best not to tick him off right now, so he changed the subject. "And what about my family?"
"Well…"

Suddenly, the front door slammed open, startling both of them, and in came one of Grandfather's duplicates, levitating folders, binders books DVD's and a television set with him.

"Ever heard of Knocking?" Grandfather said grumpily to his doppelganger from his chair as Monty just watched silently.

"It's my house," The duplicate replied before adding joyfully, "Hello Monty."

Before Numbuh Zero could respond, the original villain stood up and exclaimed, "It's not your house. It's mine! You're just a duplicated and you will show me proper respect. Do I make myself clear?"

The other rolled his eyes but said, "Fine. I'll knock next time. Do you want to hear my report or not?"

"Of course I do."

"Good. Now first, I think it's important to tell you that we have discovered more resistance groups scattered throughout the world."

The original stated, "that's unfortunate but at this point, not surprising. Are there any that we should be immediately concerned about other than that base next to Ben's Mansion?"

"Perhaps the group at the mall nearby but we plan to take care of them as soon as we've dealt with our most immediate problems."

"Good, now what have you brought me here."

"Some of the information you requested for Nigel. I decided to get it seeing as you'll want to know as much as you can to know how to best keep him in line."

"There's so much," Grandfather said, looking at the stack the duplicate had brought.

"I know and I set limits for what information the villains supplied. The kid's got the family talent for outdoing his enemies."

"Good to hear. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing but whatever the other duplicate told you is going on at the school."

Grandfather gave his duplicate a confused look.

In response, it stated, "Some of the citizombies were rerouting supplies out to there. I get the impression that they want to surprise us with something out there. After he got there, he called in and told me to send in more supplies for whatever they're up to and said he'd explain the situation to you later."

Monty tried not to laugh at the thought of Grandfather's own copies sneaking around and doing things behind his back as the villain glared at his doppelganger and asked in an annoyed tone, "am I going to have to send another duplicate out there to find out what this one's doing?"

"No need. There's nothing much going on for me right now and you know how much I love to fly around my kingdom at night…"

"You mean my kingdom," the original corrected him.

The duplicate glared at him before saying, "I'd best get to work then." He then opened the door and flew out into the night.

"I'm beginning to recall why I was never fond of using duplicates to do my work. His Kingdom. Ha!" He got one glimpse of his son, who was trying to keep a straight face and asked, "Is this somehow amusing to you Monty?"

"No, dad."

"You're a terrible liar, son."

Grandfather picked up a file from the top of the stack and opened it. He proceeded to move the folder various distances from his face, trying to find a distance far enough from his face that it wasn't blurry but close enough that he could read the words.

After a long moment of watching this, Monty finally asked, "Couldn't you just use your shape shifting powers to change the shape of your eye to see well?"

"Do you have any idea the level of detail that would go into something like that? With the amount of concentration that it would take, there's no way I'd be able to focus on the paper in front of me." Grandfather glared at the sheet as he added, "Still, having to sit here and do this makes me feel really…" the villain trailed off.

"Old?"

Grandfather growled before bitterly replying, "yes, it makes me feel old."

"And going by the name of Grandfather while agifying people and objects around you didn't?"

"That's different!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm in control. Unlike here, with this and…" Grandfather stopped and took a deep breath before saying, "…and I think we need to change the subject or I might have a blow out and accidentally disintegrate everything we have on your boy." He threw the envelope into the pile and changed the subject by asking, "How would you feel about watching some of those movies?"

Rather than push the previous subject, Monty replied "You know, I think I'd like to see my son in action. You should have seen him and his team during the school play. It was quite thrilling and I'm sure it will be even more so, now that I know what's going on. Surely there must be footage of that somewhere in this pile."

"I can hardly see how the words 'school play' and 'thrilling' can go together."

"What if I drop in the words 'Giant Robot' and 'special effects modified as weaponry' into the mix?"

"I'll admit, it sounds a great deal more interesting when you say that."

"Good, I'll see if I can find it in here."