"There?", Kitty asked.
"Where we need to go.", Jack answered as he shifted his car into an Eco-friendly setting.
The car gas pedals shifted to bicycle pedals and Jack started to pedal which made the car move forward( slow, but steady).
"What do you mean where we need to go?", Dudley wondered, "And what happened to our electric gear?"
"This is Mt. Vesuvius", Jack informed, "and it's surrounded by what we call: the Quiet Zone."
"Quiet Zone?", Kitty and Dudley asked at the same time.
"Basically, it produces a natural field of electrical magnetic energy which cuts off electrical devices and prohibits communications.", Jack informed as they got closer to the mountain.
Kitty felt like she shouldn't ask anymore, but Dudley didn't.
"So no communications?", he asked as he clicked his TUFF communicator which did nothing.
"Nope", Jack told him, "no communications over frequencies at all."
Soon they arrived at the base of the mountain and Jack got out followed by Kitty and Dudley as he made his way to a formation of rock and started pressing stones.
"Let's see...second rock from the left up...third on the right...first below the middle..."
After about several more of this, a small latch opened in the mountains side to reveal a lens and scanner.
"State your name and business.", came a voice on the receiving end.
"TRIPLE agent Rabbit, Jack. Permission to speak with Director.", Jack informed.
"Request granted. Prepare for drop.", came the answer as the lens and scanner went back to their positions under the latch which slide over them.
Dudley now looked nervous.
"Wait what's this about a-"
Then the floor gave away as an enormous trap door opened and the threesome dropped in.
"DROP?!", Dudley finished.
It started off as a straight fall, then before they knew it, the threesome were sliding down a ramp like a really fast roller coaster ride. Jack was the only one who didn't look worried as Dudley just screamed the further they went. From loops and curves to zigzags and drops, the ride kept going til finally the hit a wall which opened on contact and they fell onto a large sofa in front of a registrations desk where a llama was working on paperwork (and apparently was the voice behind the scanner and lens) with several waiting chairs on the opposite side of her desk along the large room's side. Jack simply walked up while Kitty helped Dudley relax after the ride experience.
"Do you have an appointment?", the llama asked( it's a girl).
"I thought I just said it earlier?", Jack wondered.
The llama looked impressed.
"I see. Please have a seat."
Jack sat on one of the chairs and Kitty and Dudley joined him. The one thing they noticed was that the room had no doors anywhere and the sofa they landed on had a door behind it that slide out of sight once more.
"Sally?", came a voice on the llama's desk, "Did our visitors arrive?"
Sally pressed a button on a speaker on her desk to begin the receiving.
"Yes Director, they've arrived. Shall I send them in?"
"Please do so. Director out."
Sally pressed another button on her desk and the chairs Jack, Kitty and Dudley were on started to whirl. Dudley held on, but Kitty and Jack just sat comfortably.
"Please hold on to your seats and keep your hands on your lap at all times", Sally instructed without looking up from the paperwork she was getting back to.
Then, another door opened on the side of Sally's desk, and the threesome's chairs slide out of the row of chairs and became hover chairs which floated peacefully down the opened door into a hallway.
"Have a nice day.", Sally called after them as the door closed behind them.
As they floated down the hall, a voice came from the threesome's floating chairs.
"Welcome to ULTRA HQ. I am your guide Stephanie and will be guiding you on your way to Director's office on top level. If you look to your left you'll see one of our lower inspections department where we inspect all visiting vehicles and pedestrians twenty-four seven."
Dudley and Kitty turned their heads to see that behind a see through wall, several large cranes and agents were both scanning and taking notes. One of the agents pulled the briefcase Jack put the mechanism discovered inside the Tuffmobile into and labeled it with a CONFIDENTIAL stamp and chucked it over to another agent who sent it into a chute and it went upward. Please keep in mind that these agents were wearing protective gear( such as radioactive proof suits,goggles, and rubber gloves) as the operated their mechanical machines and inspections. After seeing for about a moment, the chairs went upward as the hall leaded upward now and they were in another hall.
"When do we get to Director's office?", Dudley asked aloud.
"Please hold all questions til the end of the tour.", Stephanie answered, "Thank you. Now on your right is our environmentally safe power generators. Using the latest in solar, wind and hydro electric energy, ULTRA HQ is able to function at top notch while not using a single meter of carbon dioxide. And on your left is where our lower asylum ward is kept. Please no contact with any inmate at any time due the inmates being extremely unstable."
Dudley looked over at the asylum ward and saw several prison cells lined up along the walls. Some were occupied by some who were raging, laughing like maniacs, and others sobbing til they were crying rivers.
"They don't look so bad.", Dudley thought.
Then one inmate got sight of Dudley looking it's way and it really got him going cause he was acting more out of control than usual and was banging his fists against his cell walls and screaming behind the soundproof barrier the cell had for a door. A couple mechanical hands shot out and the inmate was in a jacket they use to restrain people. The inmate just kept screaming though. Jack however had not noticed anything. He just looked ahead while his chair(followed by Kitty's and Dudley's after her) just floated on. Kitty was looking at the power generators and she was pretty impressed. They were so huge, and so powerful that she though just one of them could power the whole United States. Several workers were walking around pushing carts full of tools, taking notes on notepads, or checking the power levels at the control panel located above it all. These workers had hardhats, safety glasses and leather gloves on besides their ordinary attire( hey this is a hazardous area and safety is a priority). And all this seemed to go on til they finally reach the end of the hall and went upwards to another hall.
"And here we are at the Conservatory Level", Stephanie informed, "We pride ourselves in growing natural plants with only the basic ingredients of sunlight, water and fresh air delivered daily by our very busy gardeners and farming equipment. These plants are harvested, packed and then shipped to our kitchen staffs, chemistry labs, and research departments. Please take a moment to observe our staff and keep your comments and questions til the end of this level. Thank you."
The Conservatory was huge. There were fruit trees, and natural herbs everywhere. Some parts were split into different kinds of environments( such as swamps, tundras, tropics, and natural forest) with fans large enough to be ship propellers hanging from the ceiling turning from slow to fast and everywhere in between in a clockwork like cycle. Some workers were tending the plants such as spraying insects, measuring lengths and heights, and plowing rows in freshly tended soil. Others were harvesting plants for berries, nuts, and fruits in large hovering dumpster like vehicles that had a meter on the side( the side going up) that glowed and went higher the more full it got. And some were pulling dead plants and trees out of the ground with special tractor devices and replacing them with fresh ones which were inserted into the same spot the rotted ones were. Then one worker pressed a button on the dashboard on top of his Herb Gatherer as they called it which then beeped and hovered over to a large conveyor belt and after unfolding a hose onto one of the valves on the belt's side, the herbs and provisions that the Gatherer had collected emptied out onto the belt which carried it to a series of pipes which were labeled Nuts, Berries, Fruit, and Herbs. As the assorted mixed up greens passed along, some workers sorted them out using special gloves that separated every batch into the appropriate category and were then sent into their respective pipe, and lifted by vacuum force to who knew where.
I'm just gonna skip ahead to the near end as it tends to tread on like this. Finally, they had reached their destination and by this time, Dudley was snoozing for who knows how long, and Kitty was looking really overwhelmed. Only Jack didn't look so frazzled.
"And we reach the end of the tour: the Director's office. Please exit your hover chairs and enjoy your stay at ULTRA HQ.", Stephanie finally concluded, "Thank you and please refer to the Director for questioning if you have any."
Jack got off fine, Kitty got off rather fast, and Dudley just snoozed on. Kitty finally got a glass of water from a nearby water dispenser and dumped it all on Dudley's head which woke him up fast (hey the water was ice cold).
"Uh..what happened?!", he asked as he shivered and got off his chair.
"You fell asleep again.", Kitty told him( she was used to this).
"Well education puts me to sleep", Dudley informed as he dried off the only way any dog could.
"A lot of things put you to sleep.", Kitty informed, "People working, education, total silence, and a bunch of other stuff."
Jack silenced them both with a look.
"Prepare yourselves.", he warned as he walked up to the double doors with Kitty and Dudley following.
The doors opened and the room the doors were in front of looked like any other office. A desk, a bookshelf along one wall, and a chair with it's back turned. As they approached the back of the chair turned and sitting in it was a dark gray timber wolf with an eye patch over his left eye and wearing a black sneaking suit with gray gloves and boots. The wolf paused a minute and brushed his hand through his light brown hair which was pure white at the base.
"TRIPLE agent Jack Rabbit I assume?"
"ULTRA Director Dark Wolf?", Jack asked.
"Take a seat.", Dark Wolf instructed as three chairs came out of the floor and in front of his desk.
Jack was quick to oblige, Kitty the same, Dudley was not so sure at first but he sat down anyway. Just before they started talking, all four agents dropped into a large conference room where agents were typing on computer screens and paying hardly any attention to the arrival. Dark Wolf was now behind a clear desk similar to the one in the office above while Jack, Kitty, and Dudley were seated in front of him (think of this room like the one from Despicable Me 2 in the AVL).
"Now then, I understand there's a problem TUFF can't take on?"
"You got it.", Kitty informed, "And quick question, where were you ULTRA agents when we needed you?"
"ULTRA is a carefully selected government agency that only works with severe cases.", Dark Wolf explained.
"There's a government?",Dudley asked, "Why wasn't I told?!"
"Agent Puppy, please.", Dark Wolf instructed, " Now what cases do we do? Rob a bank? Not our priority. Knock someone off? TUFF can handle that. However if you're going to cause a robotic invasion, submerge an entire continent below sea level, turn the world into an inferno, then we notice."
A huge screen dropped down to a side of the platform where Dark Wolf and his audience was sitting and started showing images.
"Ever since the president of the United Nations called us with the report on OMEGA activity, we have been on alert. Some of our agents were sent undercover to recover components for our assault on our enemy. OMEGA is on our most wanted list. Villains with unbelievable power and whole armies at their disposal."
Dudley raised his hand.
"Yes Puppy?", Dark Wolf asked raising an eyebrow.
"Are you really a secret division of TUFF?"
"Well you're right about us being the Undercover Fighting Force's allies, but you're mostly misinformed. We're a government agency deployed only by the United Nations in dire need", Dark Wolf answered before starting again, "Now then, as the new chief of TUFF, Katherine Katswell was a target for assassination by OMEGA. Luckily Jack was able to infiltrate OMEGA's ranks and get her to safety. Now Agent Puppy here had a little easier time."
The screen changed to some combat scenes of Dudley( in his Monster 01 form) fighting J.
"After a couple run ins with our top operative, we have reason to believe that Zero had managed to get a hold of Dudley through manipulation and guile. That said and done, we dispatched only our finest operatives for the duty of collecting the final things we needed. Being TUFF members, you three will remain here with our ranks til we get this OMEGA crises under control. Fortunately we have an elite group infiltrating Petropolis and getting your captured and enslaved fellow agents back in action."
The huge screen went blank and rose up again.
"So we are going to be operating on your behalf until this mess is cleaned up?", Kitty asked because she was listening the whole time.
"Apparently that is the case.", Jack said sounding serious.
Dudley just looked in awe.
"Your designated dormitories will be your home for now.", Dark Wolf informed as he flung a card key to Jack, Kitty, and Dudley simultaneously which they caught, "Our team Alpha is here. You'll be meeting them shortly. In the meantime, Katherine and Jack, because I took the liberty of checking your secret agent files from the TUFF database, I must say I'm impressed with your teamwork. But Dudley, on the other hand needs a little more work before going into battle."
"What do you mean a little more work?", Dudley asked wanting to know.
"Because according to your file, you're a class D, your field skills are below average, and your skills to follow orders are less to none.", Dark Wolf told him, "That is why I'm taking the liberty of assigning my top operative to be your new instructor and partner for your training."
"New partner?! More training?!", Dudley asked in a panic, "What about Kitty?!"
He had just got back with Kitty, now they were splitting up again.
"Oh calm down", Dark Wolf said strictly, "you'll get together when your schedules are done. Now if you three will excuse me, I have a very busy schedule."
Jack, Kitty, and Dudley's chairs started to shake a little, then they spun real fast.
"Dismissed!", Dark Wolf stated and he snapped his fingers.
Almost immediately, Jack, Kitty, and Dudley were in the hall where other agents were moving along like cars on a highway going one way or another. Finally after reaching the Dormitories department, they checked their key cards. Jack was assigned room GG-9, Kitty room KKK-7, and Dudley room I-9. Each row off rooms were lined across the sides like a huge hotel lobby in rows of 10 with Row A being the bottom and Z being the highest at least on the left wall, the center wall was AA to ZZ, and the wall on the right was AAA to ZZZ. After finding their designated rooms, they parted and Dudley slumped up to his new room. Just when Kitty and him were on the field together, now this? What else can go wrong? After reaching his room, he slipped the key card in and with a beep, the doors parted. Dudley couldn't believe it. The room was almost an exact replica of his tree house. From the wooden floorboards, to the appliances. It was like an exact match. Dudley went to the race car bed and flopped down, it still didn't feel like his tree house, but somehow it had that feeling. So he just laid there thinking about what to do, but he didn't need to wait all that long.
"TUFF agent Dudley Puppy", came Dark Wolf over a loudspeaker in his bedroom, "please report to the Dormitory lobby. Dudley Puppy, please report to the Dormitory lobby."
With that, Dudley took a breath, and headed for the door. It was gonna take some getting used to, but on the bright side, Kitty will have time for him. He hoped.