Slowly, but surely, TUFF and the brave souls walked down the road to the holding cells where they would then be transported to Hades and then enslaved. They had fought bravely, but with such overwhelming odds, they had no other choice but to surrender to 00's tyrannical rule and hand over the nations and all natural resources over. After they did, 00 had somehow opened a massive portal that sucked all of the corpse creatures and egg sacs away. As Kitty walked down the line with Keswick and Herbert following, she gazed at 00 who looked back with wicked pride and a cackle.
"You won't get away with this Monster 00!"
"Oh really?", 00 asked her, "Cause by the look of things, I don't think you're in a position to claim that. I have a special kind of torture just for you."
"Just wait and see you demon.", Herbert sneered, "Agent Puppy will break free of you and stop you!"
"Stop me?", 00 asked, "He allowed me to tempt him into helping me. All those lies I fed his pathetic, dim witted brain was the perfect weapon to use on him. Unlike other criminals you know, I don't use aggression as the first thing in crimes, I tell nobody what I'm up to, and I think things all the way through. I have calculated every strategy, every agent's status in battle, and every outcome of this fight before you even met me. And while you were focusing on me, my special Exterminator androids had replaced your fellow citizens and helped me into taking you all down. And once my Plague Organisms were in place, all I had to do was wait. Face it TUFF, you just got beaten!"
00 cackled like the maniacal tyrant he really was and it echoed across the whole area.
"FINALLY, I WIN!"
With that, the screen 00 was on went blank and Kitty and her fellow agents continued down the line as their robotic enforcers kept them walking. Just as Kitty was thinking it was over, one of the androids pulled her out of the line and near a dark alley. There who was waiting with a remote control like device? Jack Rabbit. Kitty was about to say his name, but Jack's look told her now was not the best time. After being sure nobody was watching, Jack led Kitty past the perimeter, out of eyesight, and there, Jack gave Kitty a nod which confirmed to her they could talk now.
"Jack, how?"
"Never give up Kitty."
Kitty felt okay she got away, but felt terrible that everyone else didn't.
"Jack, our fellow undercover fighting forces all faced this very problem. They probably surrendered as well. They're gone. We lost."
"Not quite Kitty.", Jack informed her, "We still have a chance to turn this around. By the way, I hot wired one of the offline androids and reprogrammed it so that I could get you out."
"Yeah, thanks."
Jack pressed a button on his remote and the reprogrammed android shifted into a toaster which he tossed the remote on and blasted with his blaster. Kitty was about to object, but had second thoughts.
"So how are we gonna get help?", she asked her old partner and by the look in his eye, Jack had a plan.
"Do you think he'll be okay?"
"Still not sure, he's regaining consciousness, but not enough to gain sight."
Dudley woke in an unfamiliar room and had a weird feeling like he was strapped to a panel, and had brain surgery with a flaming hot burn on his left arm. He couldn't make out who was around him, but they seemed like a couple of dogs and a cat. He was slipping in and out of consciousness so he had a hard time getting descriptions.
"We can't keep him at this spot", the middle dog who seemed male stated, "00 will be dispatching search bots to scan the areas."
"At least the materials Dark Wolf sent us to retrieve was successful", the left figure said sounding like a female, "Our guises really helped."
"Yeah", the middle said, "00 would certainly use this kind of trickery. First use his old TUFF agent guise to lure people into trusting him, while that happens, he feeds lies into that person's mind like saying he was into business administration, when really all he was doing was plotting how to use what you know against you while giving the impression your own personal desire would be achieved."
"Huh...what?", Dudley asked gaining enough consciousness to gain a little better sight, until the middle figure knocked him on the head again, and he lost it.
"So how did that surgery to get that bug out go?", the middle asked the right figure( obviously the other male).
"You won't believe how thick his skull is. I had to use about three different methods just to get in there, but I got it. 00 won't be using this dog's eyes anytime soon, although it will take about a couple hours for my medical herbs to kick in and heal him. You really roughed him up J."
Did Dudley just hear, "J"? As in the one who had been stealing his glory and leading him to that binding contract with 00 and becoming the very thing he was used to fighting? That "J"?!
"Hey, you wouldn't believe what he was dishing out. It pushed my limit to near total. Not just anybody can do that."
"So what about Dudley here?", the female asked.
"We'll ship him off to the extraction point where Jack signaled he would be with Kitty. TUFF needs us more than ever."
Now Dudley could have sworn he heard Kitty and Jack. Just when his consciousness seemed clear enough to see, the middle figure(J) reached out and knocked him out again.
Monster Zero(00)gazed across the now enslaved humanity and was utterly pleased. It took a great deal of energy to generate those portals that took his Plague Organisms back to Hades where they burned in the ever flowing magma streams. Some he kept in a special sealed pit where he had people executed for disobeying or anything that made him mad. He remembered all the talks he had with Dudley that got Dudley to trust him completely. Telling that since he left TUFF to be a business man was a great back story, but he had to crank it up. That's when he fed Dudley doubt about his fellow agents trusting him. He would trust them with his life, but how much would TUFF trust him after all the trouble he tends to cause? After a breather, he used his infernal power stone to broadcast another world wide announcement.
"ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! I CONTACT YOU ALL TO INFORM YOU THAT EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IS NOT A THREAT! IT IS A PROMISE THAT WILL ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF OUR WORLD! YOU HAVE GROWN BLIND, ARROGANT, AND CONFUSED. YOU SUFFER FROM YOUR LIMITED INTELLECT, SHORT SIGHTED JUDGEMENT, AND FRAGILE FORMS! TODAY, EARTH REBELS! AFTER LIVING IN HARMONY WITH HUMANITY, HUMANITY BELIEVED THEY COULD SURPASS THE SACRED BALANCE! WITH YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES, YOU HAVE INSTEAD USED IT TO DESTROY OUR VERY HOME! NO MORE! THE EARTH WILL NOT STAND BY AS HUMANITY CONTINUES IT'S RAMPAGE! TO THAT END, EARTH HAS DISPATCHED US TO PUNISH ALL THAT ARE GUILTY OF THIS UNFORGIVABLE CRIME! TUFF BELIEVED THEY COULD CHANGE AND CONTAIN THE CHAOS AND INSANITY ONLY TO PROVE THAT THE VERY THING THEY SWORE TO CONTAIN HAD CORRUPTED THEM AS WELL! WHEN YOU REVEAL AND ACCEPT YOUR TRUE FORMS, THEN NATURE DECIDES WHO STAYS AND WHO MUST BE PUT DOWN! THOSE WHO DARE TRY TO ALTER OUR DESIGN WILL ONLY KNOW DEATH! WHEN YOU REVEAL AND ACCEPT YOUR TRUE FORMS, THEN NATURE DECIDES WHO STAYS AND WHO MUST BE PUT DOWN! EMBRACE OUR NEW AGE, FOR THE ERA OF TUFF IS OVER! WELCOME, TO THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT!"
With that, Donnegan went off the air, and went back to inform Dudley's minions( who serve him now) on what was going on and saw they had overheard the proclamation.
"You were magnificent sir", Snaptrap gushed.
"You really know your stuff", Chameleon stated.
"And your plan worked perfectly", Bird Brain put in.
"When I plan boys, everything goes according to plan", Zero informed as he adjusted his red leather coat.
"Sir, we have intel that 01 has disappeared", Bird Brain reported as the idea just struck him.
"Pity.", Zero answered coldly, "I was looking forward to sharing this glorious victory with him and possibly hear about the outcome of that fight with my little "renegade". He fell, but it could have been a rouse. I had other things to do than find out, so I left fate in charge. No matter, I'll find him somewhere. In the meantime, we'll keep this up, and the world will be pure again."
Kitty had been thinking on talking to Jack about his post. Since they were alone and on their way to a hidden place where Jack told her there was help, now might be the perfect time to get it over with.
"Hey Jack, why is it only the chief of TUFF knows about this TRIPLE brigade you're part off?"
"Kitty, times were tough. Criminal activity was getting hard to monitor, so Herbert devised a team of specially trained spies to go behind enemy lines, and get the information at the source. But since we are working with the enemy, we have to make sure we don't show we have ties to TUFF so our targets won't get suspicious of TUFF having leverage. I know some who got caught and believe me it was too horrible to relive."
Kitty certainly believed that detail, but this whole TRIPLE brigade information was mind boggling. Did Herbert really train spies to work for the enemy just to get information? Of course, times could have been different then. Jack also noticed that Kitty seemed pretty low and upset so he decided to speak his mind too.
"You okay?"
"I just..I've just been through a lot. I still am. We're nearly defeated, and now I just found out that my boss trained agents to work against us when they're really working with us."
"I can relate.", Jack assured her.
After about a couple hours, they stopped by an old theme quick stop for a quick bite and a gas refill. Kitty went to get food and supplies while Jack refilled his car( which they were traveling in). Then he remembered the time Dudley switched brains with Kitty(and without permission I might add). Boy, that was a blow to his hard earned profits and it took him a long time to get it back up again considering that Dudley used it at Mr. Wong's All You Can Eat buffet. At least he was able to pay for gas. Kitty soon exited the quick stop with a couple grocery bags full of stuff which Jack helped load into the trunk. Then they were off again.
Dudley regained consciousness, but now found himself on the steps of what appeared to be an old library. Since he felt like he had nothing else to do, decided to go inside and think things over. That's when he noticed a note attached to his forehead. He took it off and attempted to read it. Some days he found it difficult to do, but not today.
"Wait here. Help will be here shortly. Who's Help?", he wondered.
Just then the sound of a car approaching sounded off. Dudley turned to see Kitty and Jack pull up to the library steps and as they got out, Dudley got suspicious.
"What's HE doing here?", Dudley asked Kitty, but she just kept looking at him.
Dudley then noticed that Kitty looked very upset and concerned by the way she had her arms folded and the expression on her face.
"Kitty, are you mad?", he asked her nervously.
"YOU!", she suddenly yelled, "Do you have any idea what you put me thru?! Constantly on the edge trying to keep everyone focused, and what do YOU do?! You go rouge, humiliate us, step on us, run us out of the job, and now, you just helped the most evil man enslave all our forces and doomed the entire world forever! Am I upset?!"
Kitty's word really hurt Dudley and he really felt guilty about what he did.
"Dudley, why do you get us into these situations?! Don't you EVER learn?! I hoped you could see thru your dad's charade, but as always, you were too trusting and easily forgiving to even think straight!"
Dudley was now starting to tear up a little. He had no idea he hurt Kitty so bad.
"I'm sorry Kitty. And Herbert was right, I am childish at times, and I do mess up because I trust people."
"You got THAT right!", Kitty answered still looking pretty mad.
"I tried to get out of Dad's services, but I had no free will. I couldn't control myself. And now everyone I know is suffering.", Dudley whimpered as tears rolled down his face, "They could be dying. And it's all MY FAULT! I'll never forgive myself if this keeps up."
After hearing that, Kitty felt a little satisfied that Dudley admitted he was wrong and tried to change his ways, but that was just a start. He had a lot to do before she could trust him like she used to. Jack who had been listening to this conversation, walked forward.
"Are you two finished?", he asked.
"Jack?!", Dudley asked seeing him, "What are you doing here?"
Dudley was about to assault Jack, but Kitty stopped him.
"At ease Dudley, Jack's a friend. He helped me escape Zero."
Dudley settled down as Jack continued what he had to say.
"Look, I know you two are concerned with each other, but we are not getting anything done if we're fighting."
Kitty tried calming down. She knew Jack was right and she handed Dudley a tissue which he blew his nose with.
"So what are we gonna do about Zero and OMEGA?", Kitty asked Jack.
"We can't. But I know someone who can.", Jack informed her, "We need to find ULTRA."
"ULTRA?", Kitty asked, "But according to our records they were wiped out."
Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.
"Are you sure?"
Kitty looked over the paper with Dudley reading also, and their faces brightened. Maybe this war wasn't over after all.