Now all of this was all nice, but it was all about to come crumbling down again. 01 as you might have guessed, was watching every detail that occurred. From the time Dudley and Jeremiah were partnered up, to the Sassy Salmon party that just happened.
"Oh, how I HATE Jeremiah Jackal!", he screamed, "Not only his he now getting along with my host, he's causing him to slip between my fingers!"
Man was this guy throwing a major tantrum. Having to watch Dudley learn how to manipulate fire with the special device HIS team devised( an element HE chose), watch Dudley and Jeremiah play together, even the way they danced together. It really sickened him. What happened to the times when Jeremiah was an enemy? From the critics, to the beatings, to the harsh comments. That he wanted to see again.
"Dudley thinks he's so clever, DOES HE?!", 01 sneered wickedly, "Well, we'll see about that."
Seeing Dudley was sleeping, 01 saw his chance. Dudley was dreaming about his times with Jeremiah( the time when they played frisbee) and when Jeremiah turned away, 01 knew what to do.
"Okay, toss it back", Dudley called.
"I don't want to throw it back", Jeremiah said coldly turning around, "I WANT OUT!"
Dudley was stunned to see 01's face on Jeremiah's body which changed into 01's.
"You may think you're in the clear, but I am not easily forgetful."
Dudley flinched. In all this time, he had forgotten 01 was in his mind.
"I not afraid of you.", Dudley said trying to be brave, but 01 could see through him like a clear window.
"I can see you shaking.", 01 smiled as he vanished along with the room, "You think I'm just a thought in your head, well, may I remind you that Jeremiah is the reason you came crawling to Zero?!"
The room reformed as the place where Dudley met Zero the first time. Dudley didn't hear anything, but 01 could tell this was getting to him. After seeing himself sign the dotted line, the room shifted to Dudley's tree house where Dudley saw himself on his bed sleeping peacefully. Just then, Zero materialized out of nowhere and pulled a little box from his coat. Zero walked over to Dudley( the one sleeping) and opened the box. Silently, several ghostly hands with claw like fingernails lifted up with a black ribbon that wrapped around Dudley's left arm. Dudley watched in horror as the ghost hands each took a needle from the box Zero was holding and pale thread snaked from the needle's eyes to the box's interior. Then the arms started to stitch the black ribbon to the sleeping Dudley's arm. This time, Dudley heard whispers.
"Vanity...greed...treachery...wrath...pride...lust...gluttony...deceit...envy...sloth"
Constantly repeating the words that were just written, the arms continued until the ribbon was completely sewn into Dudley's arm. Only then did the arms retract back into the box and Zero waved his hand and vanished. Dudley went pale. Just when he thought it was over, he saw other things. The time he used fake tears, the time he slept on the job, and many others. 01 appeared be hind Dudley and seeing that this was getting to Dudley, decided to step it up.
"I saw it all. Didn't it feel nice to make your fellow agents suffer just to let them know the pain they caused you?"
Dudley spun around fast and as always, 01 disappeared before Dudley even touched him. 01's chuckle rang out and it still caused Dudley's spine to shiver.
"Even after all that training, you still can't see that you're only proving that I am the better than the two of us. Face it Dudley, you don't have what it takes to expel me."
Dudley turned around, but 01 was nowhere to be seen. Just then 01 appeared in front of him and had his wings out, and his clawed hand on Dudley's neck.
"All that you knew, all of your soul, and all of your being will be mine. And there's nothing you can do to change that."
Dudley tried to grab 01's claws away from his neck, 01 scratched Dudley's palm, and Dudley woke up.
"JEREMIAH!", Dudley screamed as he ran down the halls, "THERE'S SOMETHING I NEED TO TELL YOU!"
Just when Dudley went around the next bend, he bumped into Jeremiah. Because Jeremiah was taller, Dudley fell onto the floor and looked up to see Jeremiah looked both concerned and upset. Even though he was wearing red briefs,his utility belt and a black tank top, he looked pretty scary.
"Dudley, what are you doing up with all this infernal screaming?", Jeremiah asked, "Don't you know it's three thirty in the morning?"
Dudley got up and dusted himself off.
"Sorry, I just had a nightmare."
Dudley instantly looked at Jeremiah with his "puppy eyes"( in case you're wondering, it's when Dudley's eyes get real wide and teary, his lip is quivering and he's talking in a whimper like way).
"Can I sleep with you til morning?", he asked.
Jeremiah didn't look any different.
"No. You'll sleep in your own dormitory."
Dudley's whimpers got louder.
"No, I'm not falling for the dog face", Jeremiah insisted.
Dudley pointed to the tear that was starting to run down the side of his face.
"Fine", Jeremiah sighed, "If I let you sleep with me, will you promise to leave me alone and be quiet?"
"Yes?", Dudley squeaked.
Jeremiah issued Dudley to follow him. Jeremiah's room was in the room OO-7. The room was pretty ordinary. A bed( large enough for two so you know), a dresser, a bathroom, a kitchen and even a few home gyms lying around or hanging up in storage. The floor had carpeting and other than that it was like a dorm room you find in college. Jeremiah got back into bed after putting his belt on his dresser. Dudley however was taking his time. Jeremiah looked at him with the expression he had in the hall.
"I usually sleep on the left side of the bed.", Dudley informed.
Jeremiah fluffed his pillow and just watched as Dudley got on Jeremiah's bed and crawled around in a circle a few times before lying down( he did this in Cruisin' for a Bruisin'). Jeremiah turned and had just closed his eyes when Dudley rubbed his shoulder.
"Jerry?", he asked.
Jeremiah's eyes shot open.
"What?",he asked trying to keep quiet.
"Will you tell me a story?", Dudley asked.
Jeremiah looked ready to explode.
"Once upon a time, I knocked a moron unconscious.", Jeremiah still trying to keep quiet but loud enough so Dudley heard him, "The end!"
"I don't like that story.", Dudley told Jeremiah who groaned and put his pillow over his face.
"Will you just sleep already?!", Jeremiah screamed behind his pillow.
Dudley cautiously got himself comfortable and Jeremiah clapped his hands together once and the lights went out.
Morning arrived later and I'll just say that Dudley got a rude awakening when he noticed Jeremiah wasn't in his bed. Dudley ran out thinking Jeremiah had left only to run into and fall down again in front of Jeremiah who was standing right outside( obviously waiting on him) wearing his sneaking suit and looking concerned.
"Uh..good morning?", Dudley asked hoping to get Jeremiah in a good mood.
Jeremiah just sighed.
"Dudley, a soldier is up before dawn. If you're late again, I'll be putting your-"
Jeremiah was interrupted by a growl and Dudley quickly tried to look casual, but Jeremiah could tell he knew something.
"What..was that?", Jeremiah asked raising an eyebrow.
"My stomach?", Dudley answered.
Jeremiah then looked at Dudley and noticed another thing.
"Dudley, where's your pants?"
Dudley was about to answer when he paused and started to chew his behind, and then Jeremiah bonked him on the head.
"And another thing, knock it off with this butt chewing. It's not polite and it's annoying me."
Dudley looked cross.
"I don't tell you how to do your life."
"Then put your pants on."
Dudley could tell Jeremiah ment what he said so against his judgment, he put on the pants Jeremiah had brought out. Jeremiah could tell Dudley looked a little hurt and after catching his breath Jeremiah looked remorseful.
"Sorry I snapped at ya.", Jeremiah said calmly, "I'm just not used to you just yet."
Dudley saw Jeremiah wanted to show he didn't mean to act mean, so Dudley forgave him.
"When's breakfast?"
Jeremiah got that mischievous look in his eye.
"We're not eating anything til we make it first."
Well, that went well. After causing the stove top to ignite into flames a few times, Dudley managed to make breakfast for himself. Charred and a little black, but he finally got something edible. Jeremiah wanted to point out where Dudley went wrong, but had second thoughts. Just then, the alarm went off followed by Dark Wolf over the loudspeakers.
"Attention, all operatives. We are facing a 3597! This is not a drill!"
And if that wasn't enough, as Dudley and Jeremiah ran through the halls( as well as other operatives) to their destinations throughout the base, Dudley looked confused.
"What's 3597?", he asked Jeremiah as they headed toward their destination.
"That's when we get deployed during an emergency infiltration mission. We're going into the field now."
Kitty met up with them in one of the conference rooms( this was where operatives got their assignments) with Iris as well. Jeremiah fetched the file on the desk and the table flipped to reveal a set of equipment. Jeremiah had Dudley sit while he started to point things out.
"Alright listen up, we're going into a city under OMEGA influence. Our job is to go in and put OMEGA out of commission. We'll be going with the specially designed micro cell prosthetic face masks( he pointed to the transparent disk in a case), the latest motion detecting snares( he pointed to a couple land mine like devices), explosive ninja stars(he pointed to the pile of sharp pointy disks), and the rest we'll get on the move."Iris and Kitty put the equipment into place, and then all four agents were sent down the deployment chute. Being TUFF agents, Kitty and Dudley were used to this. Finally, the ended up in a hanger where Jeremiah's motorcycle and Dudley's car were.
"Hey, the Tuffmobile is fixed", Dudley said as he noticed.
"Indeed.", Dorian assured as he came from behind both vehicles, "I've taken the liberty of rebuilding the Tuffmobile."
"That must have been hard.", Kitty said as she and Dudley came near.
"Are you as dim witted as a grade school drop out?", Dorian asked, "I can repair your car remotely. I also analyzed that little gadget in your car Jack found yesterday. It's a motor manipulation device. Definitely OMEGA tech. "
Dudley felt like he shouldn't ask anymore questions after that. He was just happy his car was fixed. Jeremiah had gotten on his cycle with Iris seated behind him. As the doors opened, Jeremiah and Dudley ignited the engines and once the doors were opened, both vehicles shifted into flight mode and were off( the others had already gone). The flight seemed to go okay til the radars went beeping. Dudley turned to see some androids in flight mode pursuing them. Kitty took the wheel as Dudley got his blaster and seeing Jeremiah jump off his cycle and activating the jet pack Iris put on him, the aerial combat begun. Jeremiah went toe to toe with several androids while Dudley took the rest. The androids were certainly good fighters. Kitty avoided shots while Dudley tried getting in a few shots himself, but the androids were just as elusive as they were. Jeremiah and Iris had their hands full too. Iris piloted the cycle with several missile launches and other weaponry, while Jeremiah( and this is true) pulled out a metal rod which extended into a full battle staff which he used to bat around the androids.
Now from afar, hidden in the clouds, Byron and Glacia Gemini watched the fight. Their wings kept them aloft and with special visors, they were able to see through cloud cover without being seen themselves. As much as Glacia wanted to join in the delightful fighting, Byron had gone over things with her before they got this far. So while the androids were having all the honor, Glacia stood back with Byron and kept watch. Soon the androids were taken down, and after recuperating Dudley and Jeremiah left. But the Gemini were far from done.
"I'd say that test run-", Glacia started.
"Was successful.", Byron finished, "Now, we see how the fare-"
"Against flesh thinking targets.", Glacia finished.
Both weasels activated the transmitter on their communicators.
"Fellow bounty hunters", they said in unification, "assault now!"
Soon they heard a deafening screech. And they were passed by a whole flock of bounty hunters( who were using the very same wings they were) in pursuit of the secret agents. The Gemini twins waited until they heard the sounds of battle before flying closer. Soon they had visual.
"Looks like our targets are-", Bryon started.
"Quite the adversaries.", Glacia finished, "After all that, 01 has improved-"
"By leaps and bounds.", Bryon stated, "Now I'm gonna get-"
"A wired tap?", Glacia giggled, "I want in."
The weasels each activated a microphone on the side of their visor and using special hearing technology, they were able to hear things far off. It seemed the fight was over and a conversation was underway( nice timing).
"What were those things?", came Dudley's voice.
"Zero's little infernal huntsmen.", Jeremiah's voice came, "They don't usually travel in packs like this unless it's for a reason."
The Gemini couldn't believe their luck. Zero was going to be eager to hear about this. Unfortunately their little spying was about to end on a sour note.
"Stop right there, foul villains!", Jack declared.
As you might have guessed, Jack was on his way to deliver some last minute results, and noticed Byron and Glacia for a moment, then decided to investigate further. Apparently his hunch was correct and equipped with a jet pack of his own, engaged the gruesome twosome. Byron and Glacia were not about to be found out by this little snitch. They armed their own arsenal and attacked. From the blaster shots to fist fights, this was no easy assignment. Even though Jack was experienced in fighting, the odds were still two against one. However, Jeremiah and Dudley had detected the fighting and were on the way over. Byron and Glacia looked at each other.
"Time to bail!"
Both weasels dove down and Jack followed. Soon, Jeremiah and Dudley came into view and Dudley saw the Gemini.
"Them again?!", he asked in awe.
Byron and Glacia could see that the odds turned on them and they dove into their pockets and brought out that infernal portal generator halves they had and activated them. Jeremiah, Dudley and Jack all stepped on the gas, but alas the Gemini twins went through the portal that had appeared and it closed the moment they entered. After reappearing at TUFF HQ, Byron and Glacia flapped a bit before landing on the roof and their wings reformed into their trench coats. A blaze of fire erupted in front of them and Zero stood before them when it cleared. The Gemini twins bowed as if on cue.
"Now then", Zero said as he eyed each weasel, "tell me what you've discovered. After that transmission you sent me about the Tuffmobile getting trashed, you better have something good."
The weasels looked up at him with devilish smiles.
"In fact, we do sir.", they told him in unification.