Penny was up early, as she was most mornings. Though she was practically grown-up now, she still felt a little excitement on waking and realising it was Easter Day. She had fond memories of Easter egg hunts in Uncle Gadget's garden, and hot cross buns on their occasional visits to England. Today was going to be a nice family Easter. They were going to church – she had even convinced Talon to come – and then they would have lunch cooked by Talon's mother Ariadne, at Uncle Gadget's apartment.

Then she saw the present waiting for her on the mat, in a huge purple box tied with pink ribbon. Someone had left it there for her to find – no easy task, since their apartment was within the HQ building and they didn't have a letterbox.

Cautiously, she went and picked it up. The box had a huge, beaming rabbit pictured on top, and pink lettering that said:

Bunny's Easter Selection.

Chocolates!

She did a quick scan with her Codex. No, it wasn't a bomb. No, they weren't poisoned. They were exactly what they appeared to be.

She opened them. It was a lovely continental selection, and they looked exactly as other chocolates... except that all those with flat surfaces had a letter printed on them.

N, S, I, P, I, E, R...

There was a beep and a flashing red light on the Codex, and Penny groaned. Not work! Not today!

Talon came out of their bedroom, yawning and half-dressed. Penny showed him her screen.

"Summons to the Chief's office."

"Aw, no way!" Talon looked put out. "Don't we get one day off? Why do good guys have to work such long hours... and who's been sending you candy?"

Penny showed him the chocolates.

"It's some kind of a clue."

"Of course it is."

"Let's get down there." Penny gave a quick whistle. "C'mon, Brain!"

On reaching the Chief's office, they found Inspector Gadget waiting. The Chief was behind his desk, and looking apologetic.

"Sorry to drag you in on a holiday, but look."

He held up the mission ball. For a change, it was a chocolate egg. They saw the Chief's face, and heard the mission.

"Hard Centre, the chocolatiers' terrorist cell..."

Penny frowned. "Talon, stop laughing."

"... have kidnapped the Easter Bunny and forced him to plant bombs disguised as Easter eggs, all over Metro City. These will be activated sometime today, by a microwave signal from an unknown point. Your task is to hunt as many of these eggs as possible, prevent the signal from being sent and return the Bunny. This message will self-destruct."

"Wowsers!" Inspector Gadget took the egg. "High-eggs-plosives!"

Carelessly, he threw the egg back at the Chief, who didn't even have time for a word before it exploded and covered him with melted chocolate. Gadget frowned.

"Chief, you really should wait until after lunch."

"The Easter Bunny..." Penny mused. She moved to the chocolate box, which she had placed on the desk. "That must be who these chocolates came from. Maybe he's trying to tell us where he is."

"Or where the signal's being sent from," mused Talon. He lifted the lid and dipped his hand inside. "N...S..."

"Hey, will you quit poking 'em? I may want to eat those, after!" Tutting at Talon's teenage lack of hygiene, Penny came and looked too. "N, S, I, P, I, E, R?"

"Is there a pier with those initials?"

"No, it must be a different order..."

"It's an anagram..." Gadget came and viewed the box. "Go-go-Gadget Word Generator." A dictionary in a gloved hand emerged from his hat and quickly flicked through the pages. "Spine... no... spinner... not enough Ns... spinier...GOT IT!"

Everyone jumped. Penny looked hopeful.

"P.I. Siren! Maybe the signal's hidden in the siren on the Gadgetmobile!"

Everyone looked the other way. Penny tried again.

"I...N...S... ins...INSPIRE! That's it! Inspire!"

Talon frowned. "What's that mean?"

"To make someone feel they can do something..."

"Yeah... what does it mean, here?"

"I... I dunno. But it's a clue. We need to look out for something that inspires." She tried not to look at her uncle.

"We need to get on the trail of those eggs." Gadget made for the door, and the others followed. "Happy Easter, Chief. Enjoy your chocolate."

The door closed after them.

For most of that morning, Gadget and his party drove around Metro City, looking for the explosive eggs. They weren't too difficult to find, as they were oval, made of chocolate, and wrapped in fancy multicoloured paper. Some were being uncovered by children in the bushes of Metro City Park. They looked very annoyed when Penny took them and one, a very chubby little boy, didn't want to let go of his.

"It's mine! I found it!"

Talon came over with a friendly smile. "It's a bomb, kiddo. Keep it and you'll be in more bits than a thousand-piece jigsaw."

The kid howled, dropped the egg and ran. Penny just caught it in time.

"Talon! You really need to revise your people skills training." She took a deep breath.

"Relax, they're not gonna go off without the signal."

"But where is the signal, and when? And how many more of these do we have left to find?"

Brain helped. He was a splendid sniffer-dog, and found three more eggs before they left the park. Then Gadget drove them further into the city. There were eggs beneath lampposts, down subways and even in litter-bins. They loaded them carefully into the Gadgetmobile, then took them back to HQ for a controlled chocolate explosion in the Professor's lab. Then they were back on the road.

By late morning, they had found no more eggs, and still hadn't solved the clue.

"There could still be some out there," said Penny. "If they're going to set them off, they might do it at lunchtime, when everyone's together. Where is that Easter Bunny?"

Talon looked at his watch. "So much for the holiday. Mom's gonna have lunch ready, in an hour."

"And we missed church," said Penny. She turned to her uncle. "We were going to the Easter service at the Metro Cathedral... it'll be nearly over..."

She paused.

"Wait... inspire... in spire... IN SPIRE! That's it! It's not one word, it's two! There's a massive great spire at the Cathedral! He's telling us where to find the signal device!"

"And the community centre down below's called The Spire, too," said Talon. Penny looked at him in surprise. "I went there for my Supervillains' Rehab Group."

Gadget punched up the GPS coordinates of the Cathedral.

"Let's go!"

When they got to the Cathedral, the Easter morning service had just ended, and people were already coming out. Penny was glad. It would make their task easier.

"We need to fully evacuate the building." Gadget got out of the car. "Go-go-Gadget Loudhailer!"

"Uncle Gadget? We need to get everyone out, calmly."

"Penny, I have had some experience of these situations." Gadget raised the loudhailer to his mouth. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... POLICE! THERE'S NO CAUSE FOR ALARM, BUT THERE MAY BE AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE HIDDEN WITHIN THE SPIRE OF THIS CATHEDRAL!"

Everyone screamed and ran. A poor preacher, who had been greeting people at the doors, was being carried along with them. Penny raised her eyes to heaven... and saw their target.

"C'mon, Talon!"

She and Talon were both wearing their jet-boots. They took off, and headed up to the spire. Perched right on the top, inside the weather-vane, was what looked like a football... but when they got near, they saw it was a huge Easter egg, without its wrapper. It was humming and ticking. Talon reached for it.

"Hey, careful!" Penny hovered alongside him.

"Relax, Penn, I came top in MAD explosives." Talon held the egg in his hands. "We just need to disarm it... there's no need to panic. AAARGGHH, IT'S MELTING! MY SHIRT!"

Penny sniggered as she saw him covered in chocolate. The transmitter, and all of its chocolate components, had literally melted away. No further sounds were heard from it.

"Talon, you hero! You disarmed it!"

"It's OK for you, bobbing up and down there and laughing! That was a five-hundred dollar shirt!"

"It's The Shirt That Saved Metro City! Let's go find that Bunny."

Talon tutted. He did his best to wipe off the remains of the transmitter.

They descended to the cathedral.

Inside, Gadget and Brain were already on the trail of the Easter Bunny. Brain used his skills once again. The dog had seen the rabbit.

Penny and Talon ran inside to join them.

They opened the door to the choir vestry to find a six-foot tall brown Bunny with a pink bow-tie. It looked just like the one on the chocolate box. It was tied up and gagged. Gadget made to free it.

"It's OK, Bunny, the situation's under control... WOWSERS!"

He gave a yell as the head came off, along with the gag. A perspiring and annoyed young man glowered at them.

"You didn't really think the Easter Bunny was real, did ya?" Gadget made no reply. "I work for Bunny's, the chocolate company." He looked at Penny. "I managed to send you the chocolates, and that message, just before they kidnapped me and made me hide all those eggs. Glad you found the transmitter."

"All disposed of." Penny smiled.

"All over me." Talon didn't.

The young man pulled the costume off.

"And now I'm going home, to write out my resignation."

They arranged for him to come to HQ after the holiday, to give a statement, and then let him go. Talon grinned as he saw the young man's sweaty and angry face.

"Hey, Penn. He's a Hot Cross Bun. What? WHAT?"

After a brief report back to Chief Quimby, they went to Gadget's apartment. They found Ariadne waiting for them, aproned and indignant.

"About time! What happened? What's all this on the news about explosive Easter eggs? Talon, why are you covered in chocolate?"

They filled her in, over roast lamb. After the meal, Gadget raised a toast.

"Happy Easter, everyone!"

"Happy Easter!"

Gadget wiped a tear from his eye.

"And wherever he is, whatever he's doing...here's to the real Easter Bunny. And I hope he's safe."

Happy Easter!

Another Inspector Gadget story coming soon!