We ran all the way back to campus, and found Nero coming across the lawn to his special dorm, briefcase in hand.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he snapped. "This better not be about the dumb voting permission."

"We have permission from the principal," I said. "The real principal." I handed him the note signed by the man.

For a while, Nero said nothing. Then he threw his head back and laughed. I don't know what was so funny, but something wasn't looking so good.

"What the heck is so funny?" Isadora said.

"YOU!" Nero cried. He crumpled the note and pressed it to my chest. "You stupid kids, just because you get permission from the principal doesn't mean you have my permission!"

"He's your boss, retard," Quigley said. "You have to do as he says. You may not realize this, but he can fire you."

Nero grabbed Quigley by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "Punk, he never instructed me anything! He said NOTHING about what I have to do! Now shut up and get out of my sight."

He tossed Quigley to the ground like an old rag doll. "Don't touch my brother," I warned Nero. "Or else."

"Or else!" Nero poked me in the chest. "What're you going to do, Quagmire? You gonna make me, huh? You gonna make me?"

I started to make fists. The guy was only a few inches taller than me. Barely two or three.

Isadora grabbed my shoulder and said, "Forget it Duncan, he's not worth it."

Nero said, "That's right, Quagmire. Get back. Now you get in your dorms. I'd hate to have to suspend you."

Everyone else took a step back. I stood my ground.

"Are you trying to challenge me, Quagmire?" Nero yelled. "I said beat it! All of you! NOW!"

"We want our permission," I said through clenched teeth.

For a while Nero was still. Then his fist shot out and whopped me across the face. I fell backwards and Isadora caught me.

"You'll pay for that, Nero," she snarled. "Brutality to students. Defiance to employer. You're nothing but a filthy piece of garbage. If I were principal, I'd chase you off campus with a machete."

"Is that a threat, Quagmire!" he yelled. I rehabilitated myself and said, "What if we go ahead, huh? What'll happen if we go to Town Hall tomorrow?"

"You'll be expelled," Nero growled. "All of you. Even the six-year-old. You have five seconds to get before I write your expulsion forms right now."

He pulled out a small booklet from his briefcase and waved it in front of our eyes. We fled.

We met back at Violet and Isadora's dorm.

"Are you okay, Duncan?" Violet asked. Everyone looked at the cut on my face. "It still kind of hurts, especially from the ring on Nero's finger," I said, "but it'll be fine. If I had a sniper-rifle, I'd put it to good use."

We all laughed. "You mean one of those bomb-blasters," Violet said. "Bomb-blasters, shmomb-blasters," Klaus said. "What you would need are Akimbo5-10s. Nero would be torn apart in seconds."

"Let's not get off subject," Isadora said. "If we don't go tomorrow, we don't get the sixty billion."

"And if we do go, we get expelled," Sunny stated. "Right," Isadora agreed. "I really didn't want it to have to come to it, but we'll have to resort to plan X."

"What?" Klaus said. "We never had a Plan A, let alone B through W. What're you talking about, Izzy?"

"Plan X," Isadora said. "Or, as I prefer to call it, Operation: Nero Knockout."

"Let me guess," I said. "We're supposed to knock Nero out, sneak off to Town Hall, and then come back when he wakes up?"

"Partially," Isadora said. "I have plenty of sleeping pills. Tomorrow morning, here's what we do: we go to Nero's office. We apologize for being such a burden the day before, and when he's not looking, we drop the sleeping pill into his coffee mug. We wait until he drinks every last drop, then return to class."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Klaus said. "But there's two parts missing: we need his permission to go, and coffee is a caffeine stimulant. It'll keep him awake."

"Trust me, Klaus," Isadora said. "It's a really powerful pill. Once, I read about a man who swallowed one, and he slept until the afternoon-the next day! And here's the rest of the plot: once he's asleep, we take his hand and sign the note. The pill's fast-acting, too. Duncan, you still have the note?"

I pulled it out of my pocket. "Good," she said. "Then we show it to our teacher, and we get there. We take a taxi there."

"But the banner," Violet started. "We'll manage," Isadora said. "The voting's what's going to matter. So is Operation: Nero Knockout unanimous?"

We all sat, staring at the floor. "Come on!" Isadora said. "You guys were the ones complaining as much as I have. You can't back out now. Think of all we've been through."

Everyone sat, glued to their seats. Then, as if by magic, I stood, and said, "I'm in." Then Quigley stood, and said, "So am I. Even if it's only the Quagmires who show the world even a taunting menace doesn't deserve to be wrongly convicted, this deed will be done, whether you Baudelaires will be in on it or not."

Violet said, "Okay, I'll be in on it." "I will, too," Sunny said, rising.

Klaus was just twittling his thumbs. Violet elbowed him. "What?" he said.

"Stand up!" she said. "You're in on it, too."

He reluctantly stood. "Okay, I'll do it, too," he said.

We all put our hands in the center, and Isadora said, "Operation: Nero Knockout is officially on!"