"The Hendersons Find a New Home"
Within seconds, U.S. Marines began running into the room like ants out of a damaged anthill. Their guns were drawn as they swarmed into the room. A bunch of them surrounded the terrified group of friends. Others wandered over to the damaged portal. Still others were trying to apprehend the other treasure chests.
Before anyone could do anything more, a small man approached them. Courage recognized the man immediately. He had bushy eyebrows and a big bushy moustache. (You Courage fans might recognize him as the man who was the explorer in the "Courage and the Mummy" episode or his common role as the General, as well as other roles.)
"Excuse me," said the man in a gruff voice. "I'm from the 'Center for Really Abnormal Parapsychology'. I've been ordered here to retrieve the tax money."
"What?!" shouted Kevin.
"Ordered by who?" demanded Agent R.
Agent Gammon said, "You do realize what the letters of your company spell, right?"
The man thought for a second, and then whispered into a tape recorder, "Note to self: think of new name for the company."
"Do something," whispered Kevin to the agents.
Agent R reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge. "Don't shoot! The four of us are secret agents!"
"…who should've reported in hours ago!" shouted a frustrated voice from the doorway.
The hearts of all four agents sank as they recognized the voice. Agent R was so stunned he nearly dropped the badge.
Walking towards them, surrounded by bodyguards, was the agents' Boss…Agent R's father.
"It's alright," said the Boss to the moustached man. "I'll take it from here."
The agents were stunned. They had never seen their boss outside of his office before.
Agent R spoke up. "Look, Boss, I can explain…"
"Really?" asked the Boss. "You really think you would have enough time to explain to me how you four ended up causing so much chaos and worry back in Washington? My entire staff was alarmed that you hadn't notified us about your whereabouts. Not to mention your awful civilian disguises, your poor interviewing skills (which was one of the tests you all failed in back when you first became agents), and worst of all, the RV is a complete mess! All the information you've gathered has been confiscated and the vehicle is currently being impounded!"
The agents looked like a group of kids who were getting scolded by a teacher. Kevin, Courage, Sandy, Zalost, and Shirley couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
As for the Duck Brothers, they were hiding behind a crate. They dodged out of sight when the soldiers stormed the room.
"What are we gonna do?" whispered the green duck. "If those people find us we're history."
"Don't worry," said the blue duck. He took the remote control out of his pocket; the one that had been used to activate the cloaking device on their spaceship. The blue duck pushed a button on the device and the three duck disappeared.
Instantly, the Duck Brothers reappeared behind Eustace and Muriel's house. The twilight sky showed that that there was still a couple hours before dawn would arrive and Eustace, Muriel, Carl, and Diane Henderson would wake up.
"How did that happen?" asked the green duck.
"What? I never told you this was also a teleporter?" asked the blue duck.
"No!"
"Well, you should've asked."
"But…"
"Shhhh," said the orange duck. The Duck Brothers peeked around the corner of their house. Their invisible ship was parked right next to the RV, which was swarming with government officials.
"Now what?" asked the green duck.
The blue duck thought for a moment. "You still have those modified mind control devices?"
Five minutes later, all the government officials were standing perfectly still as the green duck deactivated the cloaking device. The officials were wearing chips on their ears, which worked the same way as the mind control helmets the ducks had used the last time they were on Earth.
"This certainly is one strange planet," said the green duck, as the three brothers boarded their ship.
"Think you'd want to live here?" asked the blue duck.
"I sure wouldn't," said the orange duck.
"Me neither," said the green duck. "People here have to deal with so many problems like war and famine and diseases…"
"And dictators and poverty and crime…" added the blue duck.
"And blackouts and Internet viruses and milk going bad…" added the orange duck.
The two ducks looked at their orange brother oddly. "What?" he asked.
The door of the ship closed, and the ship blasted off into the air. Moments later, the officials woke up and found the devices on their ears, but when they touched them, they turned to dust. Shrugging their shoulders, the officials continued their task to confiscate the RV.
Back at the lab, the agents' Boss was taking a deep breath as if to say one final comment. The agents gulped expecting the worst.
"As disappointed as I am on all those matters," said the Boss, sternly, "I congratulate all four of you on completing 'Operation Nowhere.' The information that I had been ordered for you to collect was meant to lead you to the tax return money hidden under the Stromwell residence." The Boss waved his hand and the soldiers let down their weapons…at least, the ones that were pointed at the agents.
"Now that the money has finally been retrieved," continued the Boss, "you four agents are immediately dismissed from this case. You are to follow the soldiers to the airport at once."
For a moment, Agent R, Gammon, Barsby, and D.M. couldn't believe what they were hearing. They had blended in so well to their surroundings, they had almost forgotten that they were government agents. After all they had been through, they were finally leaving.
Agent R turned to Kevin and said, "Hope you find a new home, kid. And keep on talking, if you know what I mean," before being led away.
Agent Gammon said, "Hey, Kev. It was great meeting you. I hope we see each other again…real soon."
Agent Barsby added, "And have fun wherever you go, pal."
Agent Darkest Moon said nothing. All she did was lean in and give Kevin a quick kiss on the cheek before being led away.
Kevin watched the four agents being led out of the room by the soldiers.
An hour later, Kevin, Courage, and Sandy sat on Dr. Stromwell's front lawn as the tax money was being hauled into two armored cars. Shirley and Zalost had gone back to their homes after thanking Kevin.
Kevin sighed sadly as he looked at the two dogs. "Y'know, it's a shame all that money is going back to some government back or something." Courage and Sandy nodded. "We should at least have a reward or something for all the work we've done. I wish the agents were still here."
The agents Boss soon walked up to Kevin. "You're Kevin Henderson?"
"Yessir," said Kevin. Courage and Sandy peeked out from behind Kevin's legs. This man looked like he was born to be a head of the government.
"I should especially thank you for solving this one-hundred year old case. There was a $500 reward for finding this money, and that reward is yours to keep." (Double-check Stromwell's bio, the reward is actually mentioned.)
Kevin felt like someone punched him in the stomach. $500 was nothing, at least, not enough to buy a new house. How was his family going to live with that meager amount?
The Boss man smiled just then and said, "The reward was issued back in 1901. Nowadays, adding other factors, that amount should add up to be about…" The man took out a piece of paper and read it. "…$750,000."
The look on Kevin's face mirrored the one on Sandy's face…absolute shock.
"Of course," grinned the Boss. "I can only issue this money to you if you promise not to reveal anything you've seen to anyone. We will board up and destroy all evidence to Stromwell's lab as well as the case itself. Do I have your word?" He held out his hand.
Kevin was on the brink of tears. Wait 'til his parents heard about this!
Kevin shook the man's hand. "You have my word."
The man smiled. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Kevin. I'm sure you'll lead a good life. As for the money…" The Boss called over one of his men, who gave him a suitcase. The Boss opened the briefcase and showed Kevin that it was full of thousand-dollar bills. "…make you sure you don't spend it all at once. And if your parents ask, tell them…the government shows its appreciation to those who help solve our cases."
"Uh……you bet," uttered Kevin.
"C'mon," said the Boss. "Why don't I give you a ride back to the house?"
At this point, Kevin would've agreed to go with him to the moon.
The Boss dropped Kevin and the dogs off at the house just as the RV was being towed away. Everyone drove away, leaving Kevin, Courage, Sandy, and the suitcase.
"What now?" asked Sandy. Courage was equally curious.
"Now?" asked Kevin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the printout of the website Agent R had given him. "Now, we go house shopping. I hope my laptop's battery is recharged."
"Kevin!" shouted a voice from the house. Kevin turned and saw his sister, Katie running towards him with Mr. Furry. At last, Kevin and the dogs didn't feel nervous or scared upon seeing the teddy bear.
Kevin scooped up his little sister in his arms. "I told you I'd be right back." They hugged each other before Katie said, "Mom and Dad are still asleep."
Kevin looked to the east and saw that the sun was about to come up. Stromwell said that Carl and Diane would awake right when the sun peeked over the horizon.
"C'mon, Katie, you need some breakfast. Hey, do you know where my laptop is?"
Upstairs, Eustace, Muriel, and Kevin's parents began to wake up.
"Wha-what huh?" muttered Eustace as he sat up in bed.
"Oh my," said Muriel. "That was quite a dream I had!"
"How did we get up here?" asked Diane, who looked around the room.
Carl wondered about that too, but before anyone could say anything more, a bunch of shouting could be heard downstairs.
"Kevin?" gasped Diane with alarm. At once the four adults got up left the room and stopped at the top of the stairs.
To their amazement, they saw Kevin, Katie, Courage, and Sandy dancing around the laptop.
"Mom! Dad!" yelled Kevin. "We found it! The perfect house!"
For the rest of the day, the Hendersons made all the necessary arrangements for moving to their new house. The house was a $250,000 two-story home on an 8-acre piece of property located on the outskirts of Kansas City, Kansas (right across the Mississippi River from Kansas City, Missouri…the birthplace of Leonard Stromwell!) Of course, Carl and Diane were shocked to discover the money that was going to pay for it, but Kevin eventually convinced his parents that it was an actual reward from the government.
"I take back every bad thing I said about them," said Carl.
Kansas City was perfect, not only because it wasn't too far away from their apartment in Columbus, Ohio, but also because they would only be three hours away from Courage's house!
Of course, it would take a while for Carl and Diane to sign all the legal documents. They got on the phone and called Kansas State Realty (the phone number was on the printout.) The good news was that the house was for sale and they could transport all their possessions into the house. The bad news was that they would have to leave Nowhere as soon as possible and drive to Kansas City to make the deal go through.
After a splendid dinner, the Hendersons packed all their belongings and placed them in or on the car. Carl gave his family a talk about heading to new places, but given their experience in Nowhere, Kevin said that they could be ready for anything.
As Eustace and Muriel helped the Hendersons load up, Courage sat with his back to the water pump as Sandy sat in front of him. As they talked, Sandy gave Courage a quick kiss between sentences.
"I hope you like living in Kansas," said Courage.
"Mmm…I hope so too," answered Sandy. "I always wished I could live closer to you, Courage."
"Well, I for one am glad it came true."
"Yeah. I hope we get to see each other again real soon."
On the other side of the house, the car horn honked.
Courage sighed. He got up and walked Sandy to the car.
"Don't worry, Courage," whispered Kevin as Sandy got into the car next to him. "When I get my driver's license, I could drive you and Sandy somewhere really nice. "I've heard of this little desert town out west called Perfection. I hear that place is really cool."
"Okay, Hendersons," announced Carl. "Off to our new house!"
"Good-bye!" yelled Muriel as the car lurched into gear.
"Rrrgh," grumbled Eustace as he waved. He wished some of that reward money had gone his way.
"See you soon," whispered Courage sadly, as the car drove off once again into the sunset.