Continuing from where we left off, Henry and Stanley were in the elevator with Mr. Confine.
"So Mr. Confine, where exactly are we going?" asked Henry.
"I'll tell you when we've reached our stop" he said.
"Hopefully, it's a way out of here." Stanley said "Without us getting seen by Mr. Miller's security."
Finally, they arrived on the 14th floor and got out of the elevator.
"Where are we going?" asked Stanley.
"You'll see" said Mr. Confine.
Mr. Confine led the boys to some kind of small room, where he unlocked the door to reveal that there it was practically empty and they saw someone in a cage playing sad music on a harmonica.
"Wham bam!" Stanley remarked "What am I seeing here?"
"That my boy, Peter Potamus, our biggest star in children's television" said Mr. Confine.
"He looks a less jolly in person" Henry remarked.
"Why isn't he so jolly?" asked Stanley "And why is he in this tiny room?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" suggested Mr. Confine.
"He doesn't look so well." Henry observed as he and Stanley walked over to the cage.
"Um...excuse me?" Stanley asked as he tapped on Peter's shoulder.
Peter turned around, stopped playing his harmonica and saw the boys.
"Oh, hello" said Peter "Are you the new interns for the studio?"
"Uh...not exactly." Stanley said.
"We're here to stop your producer's evil plot to use your show to brainwash the kids" Henry replied.
"Yeah" said Stanley "Your evil show is driving us adults insane! No offense"
"That's okay, I don't blame ya" said Peter "This whole career is driving me insane"
"I'd imagine playing all that music must've been a royal pain in the neck, eh?" Henry asked.
"If I had a neck that is" Peter remarked "I can't stand singing annoying kiddie songs about sharing, waiting your turn, the number three, and especially about how everybody's special"
"And I thought just listening to them was torture" Henry remarked.
"Anyways, we're here to get you out of here." Stanley says.
"But how do you plan to do that?" asked Peter "These bars are too heavy for me to bend"
"Maybe the keys those guards left at our cell door includes on for this inhuman cage." Henry said.
"Worth a shot" Stanley shrugged.
Sure as luck would have it, one of the keys managed to unlock the cage, freeing the anthropomorphic hippo from his prison.
"Hey! I'm free!" he exclaimed "Thanks boys! I was getting really cramped in there"
"Anyways, let's get out of here." Mr. Confine urged.
"But you guys don't understand, I can't just leave all willy nilly" said Peter.
"How come?" asked Stanley "Don't you want to leave this business, Peter?"
"And what do you mean by 'all willy nilly'?" Henry added.
Peter sighed "I'm not just working for Mr. Miller, he's also my owner"
"Owner?" asked Stanley.
"He sure is" Peter nodded "I wasn't always the jolly children's television host you see me as today. I was once your average, ordinary talking hippo, traveling in my magic balloon with my best buddy, So-So the Monkey. We would travel all the time and face off new opponents. It was a good life"
"Sounds like the only way to live" Henry remarked.
Peter continued "Unfortunately, we were low on funds, so we landed on this island to make some money and settle down. We found a perfect career when Mr. Miller recruited us to become the new faces of children's television. Sadly though, he tricked us into signing a legal binding contract that allows him full custody over us and that's when everything turned bleak..."
"What happened?" asked Stanley.
"He took full control of our lives and forced us to perform to his satisfaction." Peter sighed. "And he also planned to use us to brainwash all the children that watches our show."
"Geez that's terrible" said Henry.
"But what happened to So-So?" asked Stanley "We've never seen him on the show"
"Miller didn't want some simian in his empire, so he sold him to a zoo in Crystal Cove for seventeen cents" Peter explained "Then, he sold my magic balloon to private collectors. Because Miller's my owner, I couldn't do anything to rescue So-So or buy back my balloon, and without So-So or my balloon, I could work day and night!"
"That's terrible." Stanley said.
"And the worst part of it is, I can't do anything about it" Peter sighed "I'll never be free"
"Gee Peter, I wish there was something we could do" said Stanley.
"What we just hear is a textbook example of modern-day slavery." Henry agreed. "There's got to be something we can do."
The boys started thinking of something that they could do to help Peter. Finally, Stanley came to an idea.
"I've got an idea!" Stanley snapped his fingers.
"If it involves changing our names and moving to another island, I'm so in" Henry deadpanned.
"Now hear me out, guys." Stanley said as he motioned everyone to gather around him.
After talking it over, our heroes finally agreed to the plan.
"So we all know the plan, right?" asked Stanley.
"Right" everyone said in unison.
"Good" Stanley nodded "Henry, Mr. Confine and I will go to the set and knock Mr. Miller out cold. Peter, you meet us there before the show. Got it?"
"You got it, Stanley!" Peter gave a thumbs up.
"Then, let's get moving" said Henry.
Everyone nodded as they put their plan in motion.
At that same time, the two guards were still searching through the area for the brothers and the escaped prisoners with no success.
"Where did those guys go?" Joe asked Kevin.
"How should I know?" replied Kevin "All I know is that those two are out there and we have to get them back before Miller finds out"
"And all I know is that if we don't, Miller will sure do something to us that's worst than firing us!" Joe said.
"What's the probability of that happening?" Kevin asked.
Joe thought for a while before he turned to his partner.
"I don't know" Joe said. "But it's not good."
"Maybe we'd better check the monitors again" suggested Kevin "They might still be in this very building"
"Good idea, Kev" said Joe "Come on!"
The two guards then raced back to the security room.
They looked at the playback tapes and saw the boys, Mr. Confine and Peter planning their attack on the show. Then, they saw them running downstairs.
"They're on their way to the set!" Joe exclaimed "And the show starts in two minutes! Quick! To the elevator!"
"Right behind ya, Joe!" Kevin exclaimed.
The two guards headed downstairs to the set.
Meanwhile, the trio made their way to the set, aware that at any moment now, the guards will be on their way.
"I suppose the guards must have saw us through the security cameras." Henry said to Stanley. "I hope we're quick in the next phase of your plan."
"No worries bro" said Stanley "All I gotta do is get close to Miller and then, you knock him out cold"
"But how do we do that?" asked Henry.
"It's quite simple, Henry" Stanley said as he came with a clothes rack "With the old disguise gag!"
"Gee Stanley, you sure know how to plan your distractions" Peter remarked.
"Anyways, we better be quick." Henry said as they heard footsteps. "Someone's coming!"
"I've got this." Stanley said as he quickly changed into a disguise as the others found a place to hide.
The door to the set opened up to reveal none other than Kevin and Joe.
"They must be around here somewhere..." Joe said as he looked around.
The two guards then spotted Stanley, though they couldn't recognize him due to his disguise.
"Let's ask that guy over there and see if he has spotted those meddling brothers." Kevin suggested.
They then walked over to the disguised Stanley.
"Hey buddy!" said Joe "Did you see two Asian guys inside of this place? One had a big upper body and orange sweater and one was scrawny and wearing a green long-sleeve shirt"
"Now I wouldn't say that second guy was scrawny, but I think I saw them leave the building" said Stanley "If you act now, you can still catch them"
"Thanks" said Kevin.
Kevin and Joe then went back upstairs and then ran outside the studio to go after the boys.
Stanley snickered "Suckers!"
"Close one" Henry remarked as they emerged from their hiding spots.
"Indeed." Mr. Confine nodded. "Now let's get moving. It shouldn't take long before those two realized they've been tricked."
"Right." Stanley nodded as they continued on to the studio.
At that same time, Miller was in his office behind the set, yelling on the phone to some people.
"I don't care if it's a grocery store! I want Peter Potamus merchandise in the display window!" he shouted into the phone "Forget all those useless vegetables and canned goods! Put Peter Potamus DVDs, toys and lunch boxes in that window! If you don't, I'll force Peter to tell all of his little friends to not let their parents shop at your chain of stores! Yeah, that's what I thought, and remember, you're special! But not so special that I can't crush you like a plankton!"
Miller then slammed the phone onto the desk.
"Shop owners" he huffed "They sure are unreliable."
Little did he realize that our protagonists were eavesdropping on him.
"Miller's in there" Mr. Confine whispered "Stanley! Prevent him from interfering!"
"Got it!" Stanley said as he gave a thumbs up.
"We'll head for the set" Mr. Confine continued "And fast, because we go on the air in one minute!"
Everyone nodded before they get down to work.
Disguising himself as a woman, Stanley then approached the producer from behind.
Miller sang to himself "I love you, you love me, I'm the richest guy in the world you see..."
"Excuse me, sir?" Stanley said a soft, female voice.
"Huh?" Miller asked before turning to his back and saw Stanley.
Stanley fluttered his eyelashes "Hey big boy. I'm the new Playhouse Dancer and I just want you to know that I love a man with so much money and charisma"
"Well, I try" Miller said smugly.
"So I was thinking that, maybe I could have an autograph?" Stanley asked as he held up a pen and paper.
"Why...er...sure." Mr. Miller replied.
Mr. Miller grabbed the pen and clicked the end thusly. However, a large boxing glove on a spring came out and it knocked him out cold.
"It's amazing what you can find in the back of those comic books, thanks to the Department of Defenae" Stanley said as he turned to the readers.
After tying up Mr. Miller, Stanley then raced off to reunite with the others.
"Alright gang, Mr. Miller is knocked out cold" said Stanley "Mission accomplished!"
"Not yet, Stan" said Henry "We need to expose this madness before it's too late and the brainwashing becomes permanent"
"Twenty seconds to airtime, Peter" the director called out to Peter.
"Ready, Pete?" Stanley asked the hippo.
"Ready as I'll ever be" Peter breathed in deeply.
"Me too." Mr. Confine added.
Author's Note:
Looks like Henry and Stanley are about to bring down Peter's evil empire once and for all. But can they do it? Stay tuned!