A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Anyway, this chapter is longer than most of the others, so enjoy!

Fillmore stared up through the top of the pit as he pondered over how he and Ingrid were going to climb out. Ingrid had angrily slapped the plastic motion detector into the earthen ground and begun to examine her side of the pit. After about five minutes Fillmore sighed and turned to Ingrid.

"I think the only way to get out is to climb out," he stated. "You can climb onto my shoulders and I'll push you up…and do you think you can pull me up from there?"

"Of course," Ingrid replied quickly. "Let's get out of here."

Ingrid then climbed onto Fillmore's shoulders as gently as she could, despite the fact that she was wearing a dress (A/N: but otherwise didn't have much trouble because, as she had mentioned before, he's only four feet tall. =0) ) Once Fillmore had hoisted her over the edge of the pit, she reached down as far as she could without falling back in and took hold of his wrists. Wincing as she strained against his weight, she pulled him up as hard as she could manage while he locked his feet against the dirt wall and climbed up to the top as fast as he could.

Fillmore swiped the bits of filth off of his shirtfront and said to Ingrid, "Well, the clubhouse is straight ahead. Let's be on our guard and be careful so we don't get caught. We need to catch whoever's in charge here."

Without another word the two of them proceeded towards the treehouse.

Inside the Clubhouse Office

The dark figure belonging to Sticky Fingers tapped his fingers against the top of his desk as he surveyed the two Safety Patrollers from the window of the treehouse. "They shouldn't have gotten that far!" Sticky spat angrily to Scissorblade as he spun around in his chair to face him. "If that pit was as foolproof as you had told me it was then they would be stuck there until they die from starvation and unclensliness!"

Scissorblade took half a step back in fear of his master's rising temper. "I'm sure it's nothing our agents can't stop, Sticky Fingers…"

"Good idea," Sticky muttered, picking up a cheap black walkie talkie from the desk. He flipped the switch on and began to talk to the recipient agent. Behind him Scissorblade sighed in relief.

Back to our heros...

Ingrid had already found the rope ladder leading to the top of the tree and she and Fillmore were now progressing to the top. Fillmore looked over his shoulder and down to the ground, already three quarters of the way up. Suddenly he saw something move out of the corner of his eye and his head snapped around as he tried to see what it was. He could've sworn that he'd seen something move in that patch of shrubs…

"Fillmore, what did you stop for?" came Ingrid's voice from below him.

Fillmore snapped out of his somewhat-trance and turned his glance back up at the entryway to the clubhouse. "Nothing…I just thought I saw something down there…but it was nothing. Let's go…"

Less than a minute afterward they reached the top of the treehouse. The two of them surveyed the room they were in closely; it was rather dark, with only a few dull flashlights set in the corners for light. But of what they could see there were several rows of cardboard boxes lined up along the walls and above that was a wooden rack holding eight metal rods. On the other side of the room there was another doorway leading to a hall the branched off to more rooms. The clubhouse was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Fillmore made his way towards the boxes while Ingrid came up from behind, keeping a sharp lookout for anyone who would want to attack the officers. Fillmore ripped one of the boxes open and was greeted by the sight of piles of neatly stacked bumper stickers that read, "My Child is an Honor Roll Student at X Middle School".

"Well," Fillmore said, setting the box back down on the floor. "Smith was telling the truth. Too bad he's serving a week of suspension for doing the right thing for once."

"Yeah, too bad," Ingrid replied distractedly. "Wait…do you hear something?"

Fillmore spun around to face the entryway to the treehouse. Sure enough, he could hear the sound of someone scrabbling up the ladder.

"Stay there," Fillmore hissed to his partner. "I'm going to check this out."

Cautiously he began to approach the entryway as silently as he possibly could. The scrabbling sound was becoming louder every second. "Fillmore," Ingrid called from behind him, "stay on your—" Suddenly she was cut off.

The air was briefly filled with a dark, stiff silence. "Ingrid?" Fillmore said worriedly. Slowly he turned around. One of the metal rods from the rack was gone and was now in the hands of a tall, muscular boy, who was pressing it against Ingrid's throat. Ingrid's eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open; she seemed to be in shock.

"Ingrid!" Fillmore cried out. He was about to rush to her aide when suddenly another metal rod reached around him from behind and stopped him by his throat. The metal was chillingly cold against his skin.

"You've been stupid, coming here tonight," an all-too-familiar voice hissed in his ear. "There's no wonder why you didn't make the honor roll top four."

Inside the Clubhouse Office

"Have the agents caught up to them yet, Scissorblade?" Sticky Fingers drawled.

"Yes they have, Sticky," Scissorblade replied quickly. "The best of the lot, out there to stop 'em…"

"Perfect," Sticky murmured, fingering the blade of a pair of scissors. He tossed them to Scissorblade, who caught them rather messily. "Guard the office. I've been watching those two, and they both have the material to get farther than they already are…especially the girl. I would rather not take the risk of leaving the top level of the treehouse unguarded."

"Of course, Master!" Scissorblade exclaimed, obediently backing up toward the door. "That's really clever of you, Master, really clever, I won't let them get past my scissors—"

"Go, already!" Sticky Fingers commanded, casting a plastic pencil sharpener at Scissorblade. His strongest agent quickly abandoned the room and shut the door tightly, ready to guard his master with his life.

At the Main Entryway

"At least I'm not stupid enough to attempt to steal five thousand dollars from the leading school in the district…" Fillmore retorted as he grasped the rod gingerly with his fingers, "…Linda Wincoff."

"We have good reasons to steal the money!" Linda declared. "And if you think that we're going to allow a pair of imbecilic Safety Patrollers stop us, then you're wrong! Let's take 'em in to the boss, Jerry."

Christiansen nodded, still keeping his metal rod close to Ingrid's throat. Suddenly, he cried out as Ingrid jabbed him hard in the stomach with her elbow. He dropped his weapon and recoiled, clutching himself where he had been hit. Ingrid caught the metal rod in her own hands and wielded it at Linda.

"Jerry, you nimrod!" Linda yelled with a mixture of dismay and anger. "Grab her!"

Christiansen obediently attempted to catch Ingrid by the shoulders, but she swiftly dodged his hands and brought the rod down on his arm as hard as she could. Christiansen let out another howl of pain and allowed her to run out of his grabbing range and toward Fillmore and Linda. "Let him go," Ingrid snapped at Linda.

"As if!" Linda snorted. "You may have beaten Jerry, but if you think I'm going to let you get past me then you're wrong!"

But just as suddenly as Ingrid had gotten Christiansen to release her, Fillmore ripped Linda's weapon from her grip, spun around, and smashed the rod against the top of Linda's head. She yelped and took a step back—but she had run out of floor. Her foot fell, taking the rest of her with it, and she gave one last scream as she toppled outside.

Inside the Clubhouse Office

Scissorblade burst into the office once again, brandishing his scissors. An audible sigh was heard from Sticky's chair. "What is it now?"

"Master, the Safety Patrollers are really strong! They've knocked out Christiansen and threw Wincoff out the door!"

"Is Wincoff dead?"

"No sir, but she is caught in the ladder! She's tangled up really bad, and it's not likely that she's going to be able to make it back up there in time."

Sticky Fingers spun his chair around to face his accomplice. "We'll have to send everyone down there to fight them off. They can't possibly make it the rest of the way if they are outnumbered."

"Brilliant plan, Master!" Scissorblade gushed. "You are a genius!"

"I did make it to honor roll, didn't I? Now stop stating the obvious and stop those Safety Patrollers!"

"I'm on it, Sticky!" Scissorblade hurriedly exited the room.

The Main Entryway

"Seven!" Ingrid dropped another bumper sticker out the door. It fell and hit Linda in the face as she let out cries of indignance and protest. "Eight!" Ingrid dropped another sticker.

The sticker landed in Linda's mouth. She growled and tossed her head from side to side, trying to spit out the sticker as her hands were caught in the rope ladder. When she had finally managed her goal, she glared up at the female Safety Patroller. "You quit that and help me up!" she commanded angrily, writhing against the rope ladder's bonds. "If you're such a good person then you'll help me!"

"No can do, Linda," Ingrid replied, thoroughly enjoying herself. "You lied to us…and now you're paying the price."

"We'll be off to confront your master and put a stop to this operation now," Fillmore informed the helpless girl cheerfully.

"You won't make it past the first floor!" Linda declared, still struggling to free herself safely. "The master has many allies, and together they'll be able to stop you!"

"We'll just have to see about that by ourselves," said Ingrid, being completely unfazed by Linda's threats.

A/N: Sorry about the awkward ending. I just wanted to end it here; otherwise the last chapter would be incredibly short. =0) So, tell me what you think!

Teazer