Wally and Kuki ran through the living room of the Delightful Mansion and pressed their backs against the entry way to the kitchen to listen for danger.

"In here!" Wally whispered as quietly as his rising adrenaline level would allow. He pulled Kuki behind a cushy sofa and sat down.

Kuki hugged him nervously. "Wally, you don't think Father's in there, do you?" Number 4 didn't say anything. He was turning fire truck red from the hug. The only voice they could hear didn't sound like Father, but he could have already known that they were there. He might be right around the corner just waiting for them to walk right into his clutches. Didn't Father have shapeshifting powers ? Whoever's voice it was got more distant and disappeared from the kitchen into the dining room.

"Whoever it is, he's gone now." whispered Number 4. " I'm going to check it out, Kuki. Stay here until I give the word ."

She nodded. "Be careful, Wally!"

Number 4 took a deep breath. Holy crud, this was crazy! What if Father was in there eating Rainbow Munchies Cereal ? He'd get burned to a crisp!

With his fingers on the ice cream pistol's trigger, Wally rounded the corner. To his surprise and great relief, it was completely empty. Well, empty expect for five matching cat beds where the Sinister Felines From Atop The Litterbox(the Delightful Children's lookalike cats) were sleeping.

Kuki was listening in the living room waiting for the signal. She was thrilled when Numbuh 4 stuck his head around the corner and pointed into the room. "Come on!"

That was the signal, and Kuki came.

"…And don't touch the cats!"

Number 4 hissed at Number 3, who was already starting to move in the direction of the cat bed. She sighed sadly and changed course to follow Number 4, who was already opening the petri dish. "Alright. Number 2 says he wants it released right under the fridge ..." Mumbling to himself, Number 4 dropped the cockroach at the base of the gigantic fridge and the little bug robot skittered underneath. For a raid on the Delightful Children's mansion, things were going smoothly.

A massive cookbook sat on the kitchen counter. Taking a small camera that was hidden in her oversized green sweater, Number 3 flipped though the book, snapping pictures as she went.

When she finished, she figured she would reward herself.

The cats, like their lookalike masters, were selfish little brutes who did not like kids. However, there wasn't a single kitty cat on the face of the Earth who could resist getting ear scratches from Number 3. The Sinister Felines decided exceptions could be made, so Kuki stroked and petted them until they wandered off into the living room. They may have tolerated her, but they had a limit to how much petting was too much.(Unless she came back with treats.)

After petting the cats, she walked back to Number 4, gracefully tiptoeing across the fancy tile floor without making a sound. It was fun going on missions together.

Number 3 gave Number 4 a thumbs up.

"Let's get outta here." Number 4 blurted out. Number 3 nodded solemnly and the two began to sneak back to cold storage together.

They were just past the living room when they bumped right into Jenkins. He crossed his arms and stared down at the two intruders.

"Do we have a couple of little rats?"

Jenkins asked. Before they could do anything, he grabbed both of them right off the floor. Wally was kicking and scratching against the arm holding him back. He was about to bite the butler's hand when Jenkins gave Kuki's arm a painful squeeze. She let out a soft gasp without meaning to. The tall man tightened his grip.

"Tut, tut, tut, Mr. Beatles, we wouldn't want anyone being hurt, would we? Remember that I AM Father's butler, Mr. Beatles. I have some tricks up my sleeve. One more move out of you and I will pull Miss Sanban's arm clean out of its socket."

The threat was clear and Jenkins was smiling at Kuki, who was almost in tears. Wally made no more protest, even when they were carried into the dining room where Sector V crashed the Delightful Children's party on numerous occasions.

The Delightful Children sat at the table enjoying lunch…with a guest, apparently. All six of the figures at the table wore identical white robes. Most of them had already finished their food, but the sixth person still had a full plate.

"Cruddy creeps." Wally muttered as they were dragged in. It was bad enough when there were only five of them.

Then again, the new kid didn't look too happy to be there. The Delightfuls were watching her with strange grins, like those awful teachers who can't wait for their class to mess up.

"What's wrong, Miracolina? You haven't touched your steak. Is something the matter?" The voice—or should it be voices—came from the Children sitting across from her. "The Delightful Children from Down the Lane " is what Roberta had called them, but Miracolina thought they were more like "The Demonic Cretins from the Deepest Pits of Hell".

Why did they talk together? It was almost as unsettling as—well, everything else that went on here. Miracolina was sitting in an elegant dining room, probably the most elegant she had ever been taken to in her entire life. She was hungry, desperately hungry, but she dared not touch the food in front of her, for every time she did, one of the Despicable Creatures from Satan's Loins would press a button to set her temples alight with electricity. The blond girl holding the remote had the same malicious grin as the rest of them.

"Go on, drink, you must be parched!" they all said in unison. She was parched. Who wouldn't be if they were left in a stinking cell for three or four days(she couldn't quite remember how long)given nothing to eat, and barely anything to drink?

Maybe they'll be kind, maybe their black hearts will have a little bit of compassion...maybe?

With her thin fingers shaking, Miracolina reached for the crystal glass of water and brought it to her lips. When the first drops were trickling down her throat, she felt bloody murder go through her head as the electrodes on her head lit up with an ungodly fury.

The pain was so bad that she fell from her chair. To her shame tears were rolling down her cheeks(It was a miracle she had enough water in her system to produce tears though, she thought). The ungodly pain from the electricity was accompanied by the unholy laughter of the Delightful Children. Mercifully she was on her way out of consciousness, when Jenkins entered the room gripping a kid in each of his arms. One was a girl in an oversized green sweater. The other one was a tiny blonde little boy griping at his kidnapper. He kinda reminded her of Lev, in a way. That thought made her smile in spite of herself. Weird little boy.

"Miss Kuki Sanban and Mr. Wallabee Beatles." Jenkins announced, shoving the two captured operatives into the room. He left with a loud THUD as the door closed.

"My, my…" the Delightful Children mused in unison. Miracolina was zoned out from pain, hunger and dehydration, but the two names rang like a church bell on Sunday Mass and for a moment, she wasn't in the Delightful Mansion's Dining room anymore.

"Hoagie, Kuki, Wallabee, and Abigail. Abby would never let you do this!"

"Abby would never let you do this…" Miracolina mouthed from her crumpled position on the floor when the pain from another shock brought her back to the present.

"Miracolina? Roberta said you were a rude little urchin, but we didn't know you were so rude as not to greet our new guests." Miracolina crawled back into her chair gripping the white silk dining room tablecloth and sat in her chair again. The shocks hadn't come yet.

"Good," The Delightful Children said again in unison, " Roberta was right to trust us with your rehabilitation. Now say hi to Kuki and Wallabee."

Miracolina looked at the two children. The girl looked shocked and distraught. The short Lev-looking boy only made eye contact for a few seconds before looking down.

"Who is she?" the boy asked in a thick Australian accent.

"A 'cruddy teenager', Wallabee." the Delightful Children said mocking the boy's accent. "None of a Kids Next Door operative's concern."

Wally caught a few extra glances at Miracolina's eyes. The Delightful Children were right(now there's something nobody ever said before). Officially, this teenager was of no concern to them, but those eyes...they kinda reminded him of Kuki...

The Delightful Children gave another evil laugh before focusing on their new guests. "So what brings you Kids Next Door to our mansion on such a lovely day? And where are your friends Hoagie and Abigail?"

Wally silently crossed his arms. Kuki stuck out her tongue.

"Not in the mood, I see?" The Delightful Children asked in unison. "That's unfortunate. Oh well. We can't force you to talk if you don't want to."

More silence, but this time the Delightful Children smiled. "Say Wallabee, do you want to play a game?"

The boy glared at them. "Yeah, let's play kick-your-stupid-heads-in."

The Delightful Children laughed and said, "No, that doesn't sound very fun at all, but you know what does sound fun? A little game called three questions."

While Wally, Kuki and the Delightful Children were having their stare-down, Miracolina took advantage of the moment. Now that those Demonic Creeps were distracted, she'd finally been able to gulp down her glass of water and down a roll that was on her plate. Nothing ever tasted as good as this did.

She was zoned out enjoying the food until she heard the word "questions". She jumped in her seat, accidentally knocking over her empty glass. Another wave of electricity had hit her. It was bad, but not nearly as bad as the currents she had been getting earlier. It was easier to put up both because of the decreased current and the fact that now she had some food in her stomach. Gripping the tablecloth in pain, she waited for the current to stop. It didn't.

"Stop it, you're hurting her!" the little girl in the sweater shouted.

The shocks kept coming and coming and coming. Miracolina cried out(not very loud, for every fiber in her mind, body and soul was exhausted, but she screamed). The Delightful Children went on smiling.

"The rules of the game are really quite simple, Wallabee. We are going to ask you three questions. How are you feeling today? How do you like the weather? And what are you doing tonight? Answer all three of them and pay no mind to our friend Miracolina and you and Kuki can walk right out of the gate."

The girl's cries were not loud, but they were very pained. It was torture for Wally and Kuki to listen to her in such misery.

"Knock it off! She didn't even do anything, stop it!" The boy growled and lunged for the remote, but they only smiled, patted him on the head and gave the remote to David, the tallest of the Delightful Children who held it tauntingly out of Number 4's reach.

"Come on, Wally, can't you see she's just like us? Look. She's even wearing the same outfit as us, white robes, she's the same as us."

Miracolina, who had worn tithing whites for most of her life up until about last year, would have spat at the Delightful Children if it wasn't for the electricity pounding though her head. They were a disgrace to the robes, and even if she did have rather mixed feelings on unwinding, the fact that these wretched children could be like any one of her old friends made her sick.

"So, Wally…how are you feeling today?"

Kuki leaned down as far as she could(for Wally WAS very short) and put her head on Wally's shoulder. She couldn't stand the girl's suffering and she knew that Wally probably couldn't stand it either. Wally gave her hand two pumps... two pumps ... Did he want to? Was he sure? Two more pumps... She looked at Wally with tears in her eyes and nodded.

"I feel fine today, how about you?" He forced out.

Miracolina continued to wallow in pain. Were they doing it? Were these kids just going along with the demon's sick twisted game?

"Abby wouldn't let you do this..." Maybe the boy in chains was wrong.

"Fine. Thank you...How do you like the weather?" Wally actually smiled. "Can we come back to that one later?" The Delightful Children looked puzzled but said, "Sure...What are your plans for this evening?"

Wally had a big grin on his face like he was talking to Number 2. "Playing Yipper. Also I might take myself a nice long bath!"

Kuki giggled filled one of her pockets with her sweater sleeves. Number 4 hated baths so much that he'd climb out the window and run if he got the chance. He was an escape artist whenever he needed to be.

The Delightfuls rolled their identical glowing eyes. "How are you enjoying the weather, Wally?"

"It's great!" Wally said, "just the most perfect day for a skunking!"

"A... What?"

Just then, a putrid smell began to fill the air, making it's way through all of the mansion's air vents. It smelled… well ... it smelled just like a skunk.