Chapter 5 - Mission Redux New Partner
Penny and Gadget both arrived at WOMP Headquarters together, heading down the elevator to WOMP.
Penny turned to her uncle with an insane glare.
"YOU IDIOT! YOU LET CLAW ESCAPE! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO MY IDEAS YOU DELIBERATELY SCREWED UP MY MISSION IT'S A WONDER IF YOUR GADGETS WORK AT ALL" She snapped at her uncle.
As soon as they got off the elevator, Penny furiously walked away and then bumps into Alec.
Penny what happened replies Alec. My idiot of an uncle happened just as I was about to arrest dr. Claw at the mountain of Limbo he screws it up
And this is how it happened Digit and I made it to the mountain but then my uncle messed up my mission by letting Dr. Claw escape.
"...and that's what happened." Penny sadly concluded.
"That is so unfair." said Alec. "It was your only failure after one year of excellent service, you went all the way to capture Doctor Claw, he tricked you, none of our best Agents ever got that close to him, and you get back to paperwork because you couldn't get him? Plus, it wasn't even your fault!"
"I know, Alec..." Penny sighed. "But what could I do? I can't report that an inspector officially screwed up a simple Agent's mission. Who would believe that anyway? I could even get fired from WOMP for such words!"
"GADGEEEEEET!" somebody shouted.
"You're right, Alec." Penny nodded. "That is so unfair."
"It was your only failure after one year of excellent service, you went all the way to capture Doctor Claw, he tricked you, none of our best Agents ever got that close to him, and you get back to paperwork because you couldn't get him? Plus, it wasn't even your fault!" said Alec.
"You uncle might be a respected inspector here, but if you allow me to think out loud, he's also the perfect example of blatant incompetence." said Alec.
"GADGEEEEEET!" somebody shouted.
Alec's thumb pointed towards the scream, "...and the only other person smart enough to see this is Chief Quimby.
"You're right, Alec." Penny nodded.
"Last time I heard that scream, you bumped right into me." Alec pointed out.
"Yes, I remember." She sighed. "Thanks for cheering me up, but I really reached the lowest point, here..."
"Oh I'm sorry!" said Alec. "I didn't mean...
"No, you're right, this IS the lowest point." Penny shook her head. "Even the janitor has a better salary than us, and no one yells at him all the time."
The printer bleeped.
"My file is all done, I must go." Penny turned towards the printer.
Penny opened the lid and tried to gather the papers without success.
"Mind if I help?" asked Alec.
Penny stepped back, and Alec made his joints creak.
He rummaged over the papers and piled them up perfectly.
"Here you go!" He said.
"How in the world do you do that?" asked Penny.
"I have an acute dexterity, this is probably why my boss hasn't fired me yet." Alec replied.
"You're too modest." Penny giggled.
"ALEC!" Someone shouted.
"Why do you think he constantly yells at me like that?" Alec sighed. "Hegwen has no patience and no idea how slow this machine is! I've gotta go! See ya!"
"Bye Alec." Penny waved goodbye, then looked at her papers and raised an eyebrow. "He even put them in order... How does he do that?"
She grabbed the papers.
"PENNY!" shouted Chief Quimby.
Penny rushed upstairs and blasted through the chief's office.
I'm here, Chief, I'm here!" She saluted.
She saw that the chief was all tied up in a lake of honey. Penny put the papers down somewhere safe and helped him out.
"I'm terribly sorry, Chief Quimby..." She said.
"No need for apologies, Penny, you're not guilty in all this." Nozzaire got up. "Just as you weren't in your mission."
"You... You know about that?" asked Penny.
"Of course I know." Chief Quimby nodded. "Gadget showed up and everything went wrong, isn't it what happened?"
Penny shrugged. "I haven't filed this in my Official Mission Report."
"Gadget just came by to tell me about the great party his bank threw yesterday to celebrate its grand opening...in the Mountain of Limbo!" Chief Quimby slammed a newspaper on his desk.
Penny raised an eyebrow. "The Mountain of Limbo has been destroyed?
The Colonel nodded. "Vaporized, exploded, turned into ashes, there's literally nothing left of it! And this is blamed on the MAD organization, of course. But we both know who caused this. Gadget did this. Am I right?"
"Well, he was on nitrous oxide, so he got a little wonky." said Penny.
"We both know what disasters he can do in his normal state, so on some laughing gas...
"Okay, it might have been him." said Penny. "Are you thinking about something?"
"I want to make sure Gadget was there and caused this, and eventually get you reintegrated for the side proof he interfered in your mission." said Nozzaire.
Penny couldn't believe it. "You would do that?"
"Listen, Penny...they made you my assistant because you are Gadget's niece, and also our best agent here." Chief Quimby continued. "I actually am happy about this decision, because you understand me, and you're a hard worker...but let's be serious, you don't deserve that menace, Gadget. So, what I propose here, is that you get back to the Mountain of Limbo."
Penny shrugged. "Well, I don't mind, but I'm not an agent anymore, I'm not supposed to go on a mission."
"The General was online before your uncle came here. He demanded that an investigation was performed in the Mountain of Limbo, and he let me choose two people to conduct it.
"Two people?" Penny raised an eyebrow:
The Chief nodded, "The General said the mountain was even more dangerous now it's blown up. He wants to make sure someone would be there just in case."
"So you chose me?" asked Penny.
"Exactly." I trust you more than anyone to lead this mission to a success.
"Thank you, colonel." Penny saluted.
"You're welcome, Penny." Chief Quimby nodded.
"Who did you choose to go with me?" asked Penny.
"Well, after checking a long list of names, I came across a young man... His dexterity and sense of tidiness make his superior's happiness. And his superior is known to be hard to satisfy." Nozzaire grabbed a paper and showed it to Penny.
"Alec?!" She gasped as she saw the picture. "You chose him?"
The Chief nodded:
"He has great potential, and I know great potential when I see it."
He went to his chair and sat down. "I am the one who got you out of the paper mess."
"Y... You? I didn't know about that..." Penny stammered.
"I didn't think it would be relevant to tell you, but you need to believe in you right now." said Chief Quimby.
Penny took a deep breath. "You believed in me, and you trust me again. I won't disappoint you."
"I know, Penny."Chief Quimby said as started to call someone on his phone. "Hegwen! Send me your assistant right now! Yes my office, you nuthead! I want to see him NOW!"
In no time at all, Alec arrived in Chief Quimby's office.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Alec gulped.
"Ah, Alec..." Chief Quimby said calmly. "Come in, boy, don't be afraid, I'm far less dangerous than a certain cyborg..."
Alec stepped inside the office and stood straight.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked.
"Relax here, boy." Said Chief Quimby. "If you are here, it's for your very first special mission."
"My first mission?" Alec gasped.
"Yes." Chief Quimby nodded. "Now listen, Penny here will lead you in this mission."
"P...Penny...?" Alec gasped.
"Is that an issue for you?" asked Nozzaire.
Alec shook his head. "Absolutely not, chief!"
"Very well, then." Chief Quimby cleared his throat. "Penny will debrief you, she already knows about the mission. Dismissed!"
"Yes,Chief! I won't disappoint you!" Alec saluted.
"You'll find him back at the cafeteria for lunch." said Nozzaire. "Go to the D Aisle to debrief."
"Understood, Chief!" Penny saluted.
"Just one more thing!" Quimby added. "As you told me, Gadget was on drugs when he was at the mountain?
"Doctor Claw sprayed a mix of sleeping gas and nitrogenous oxygen to capture him." Penny replied.
"I see." Chief Quimby nodded. "Then, if we make the clear proof he was there and responsible for all this, he won't be blamed for anything anyway."
Penny shrugged. "You don't seem pleased about that."
"I was hoping I could get him fired for leading a capital mission to a failure and destroying a precious piece of security artwork." Nozzaire grumbled.
"Sorry." Penny shrugged.
When lunch came, Penny looked for Alec and found him in a corner of the cafeteria, alone.
"Hi, Alec." She waved to him.
Alec looked up. "Oh, hi, Penny."
"Follow me." said Penny.
Alec left the table and took his meal with him. They walked all the way to the Aisle D and found themselves alone. Aisle D was closed for renovations, and the workers were all eating outside at the moment. This was the best place and time of the day to debrief a special mission.
"Let's sit here." Penny said, sitting on the large marble stairs.
"So, what's the mission?" asked Alec.
Penny grabbed her fork. "We're going to the Mountain of Limbo."
"Really?!" Alec gasped.
"The General wants to investigate about the explosion that happened there." Penny explained. "Chief Quimby chose us to do this and make the proof it was my uncle's doing. Find me after work at the South-East secret entrance, we'll get ready for this."
"Understood." Alec said as he looked down at their meals. "Now how about eating?"
"Request accepted, partner!" Penny nodded. Penny tell me about your life growing up. said Alec "ok well my parents names are James and Andrea Brown and she is a field agent while he is a scientist for WOMP who mysteriously disappeared without a clue as to their whereabouts the only thing we know for certain is that MAD has them but don't quote me on that." alright Penny
Soon enough, they had finished their lunch, aware they had very little time before getting back to work.
"That was nice, Alec." said Penny. "Thank you."
"I usually eat alone." Alec blushed.
"I can see that." Penny remarked. "See you at the scanner!"
They left the D Aisle and went back to their superiors' offices.
"Okay colonel, we are ready for our mission." said Penny.
"Good." Chief Quimby said as he grabbed a pile of papers and handed them to her. "I need you to scan these.
"Sure thing, sir." said Penny.
"Be careful with those." said Chief Quimby. "It's important O.M.R. from our terrain agents that need to be read by the other Worldwide Organizations' Leaders as soon as possible, so no one touches it, understood? I trust you."
"I understand, sir." Penny nodded.
Penny went downstairs with the file and walked to the scanner. As she was carefully squeezing the papers, someone popped in front of her. It was Gadget.
"Hi, Penny!" said the inspector. "I'm on my way to Colonel Nozzaire's office! But I can help you with those papers."
"No, no, it's fine, I can handle it..." Penny assured him. "These are sensitive documents, I can't let anyone touch them! Not even you."
- No one is more concerned about protocol than I am, Penny, but I am an inspector, I am allowed to handle sensitive documents.
Penny tried to explain, "They're from a higher instance, and you know thi-"
"Don't be ridiculous now, Penny." Gadget said as he grabbed the papers from her hands and turned around. "Let's do this!"
Penny ran after him as he was dropping about the half of the file, and they eventually arrived at the scanner with the documents all safe and sound.
She tried to stop him. "Okay, I can do this, now, you can..."
"I'm doing this for you as well, Penny." Gadget replied as he put the papers on the scanner and started.
Everything was going well, until the machine began making some funny noises.
"Hmm, something seems to be not working..." Gadget said as he bent over.
You shouldn't touch it, Uncle Gadget!" Penny warned him. "I know this. It sounds like..."
"Everyone knows it, it's a classical paper jam sound." Gadget proclaimed.
Penny face palmed. "It's a scanner!"
"I got this!" Gadget assured her.
"Get out of this scanner, Uncle Gadget!" Penny shouted.
Gadget still didn't listen and kept fiddling with the machine.
"GET OUT!" Penny shouted again.
Gadget left the insides of the scanner, covered in grease.
"All done, and good as new!" He said as he retreated.
"How did he get all covered in grease?" She shrugged and grabbed her papers. "No matter, at least it seems to be wor-"
Just then, the papers flew in the air and fell all over the place.
"Spoke too soon." Penny sighed, trying to gather them.
"What happened, here?" Alec just rushed in.
"My uncle wanted to fix the scanner." Penny responded.
Alec looked up at the scanner. "Well, that's just great, this one was the fastest scanner we had."
"Yeah, I know..." Penny sighed.
"Let me help you gather these..." He said.
"No!" Penny shook her head. "These are O.M.R files, you can't touch them!"
"Oh, okay, I didn't know, sorry." Alec blushed.
"At least they haven't been damaged by the explosion." Penny said as she grabbed all the papers and piled them as neatly as she could. "You said this was the fastest scanner?"
"Yes, but we have two antique ones somewhere else." Alec nodded.
"Mind to lead me there?" asked Penny.
"Sure thing." Alec nodded. "Follow me."
They walked all the way to the G Aisle and entered a dark room, and Alec patted an old machine:
"Let me introduce the good old GITSY." He said. "She's slow but she has never broken down. "We named her as a tribute to Gitsy Minsky, the most reputed paper worker of the WOMP."
"Is she retired?" asked Penny.
"Judging by her birth date, she's probably dead right now." Alec looked at Minsky's file. "But we was the best nonetheless."
Penny started to scan the papers. "Thank you, Alec."
"You're welcome." Alec nodded.
They waited for what seemed to be hours.
"So, ready for the mission?" Penny asked Alec.
"I'm freaking out, to be honest, but I'm also very excited!" Alec said.
"Yes, I know this feeling." Penny smiled. "I got the same on my first mission."
Just then, the GITSY growled very loud.
"Wow, what's going on?" asked Penny.
"She's done!" Alec patted the scanner.
- Is that noise normal?!
- Absolutely.
Penny opened the scanner to take the papers back. "Well, thanks again, see you at the mission."
"You know it!" Alec winked.
Penny left the G Aisle and went all the way back to Chief Quimby's office.
"The transmission of the documents have been a bit slow, Penny..." He remarked. "Is there something wrong with the scanner?"
"I only used the Gitzy, sir." Penny said.
"That old thing in the G Aisle? Why?" asked Chief Quimby.
"The other scanner had an accident." Penny grinned.
The Chief nodded and understood
"Say no more, I got the picture." Chief Quimby nodded. "Thank you for your steady work, Penny, I will miss you as an assistant, but I'll be happy for you to be back at your real place."
"Thank you, sir." Penny bowed.
"I have nothing left for you right now." said Chief Quimby. "I'll call you back if I need your services. Dismissed!"
"Very well, Chief!" Penny saluted.
She left the office and went to the assistants' room.
"Hi, Penny!" said one of the agents.
"Hi, Donnie." Penny smiled.
"Hey, wanna go out tonight?" asked Donnie. "I heard they play this great movie at the theater for a premiere..."
"Sorry, Donnie, but I'm busy tonight." Penny shook her head:
"You always say that!" Donnie crossed his arms. "Even before being an agent, you were always too busy for anything!
"I have work to do, Donnie, I'm an inventor, I always work on something." said Penny.
"I haven't seen you in a year, Penny, I only would like to spend some time with you now you're one of us." said Donnie."
"She's just not interested, Donnie!" Sheila intervened. "Go away!"
"Thanks, Sheila, but I can handle this." Penny crossed her arms.
"Is it true, Penny?" asked Donnie. "You're not interested?"
"You're a nice guy, Donnie, but I don't think we would ever understand each other." said Penny.
"You didn't even give me a chance to know you!" Donnie retorted.
- You're pretty much allergic to technology Donnie, and I build robots. I don't think we are compatible.
"You'll never give me a chance." Donnie growled.
Donnie left the assistants' room, clapping his shoes as loud as his anger was commanding him to.
"Well, that's done at least." Sheila commented.
"He's so annoying." Penny rolled her eyes.
"Tell me about that." Sheila agreed. "Before you, he was on my back. First I was relieved, but then I felt sorry for you."
"How long had he been stalking you?" asked Penny.
"Two years..." Sheila sighed.
"And you never said anything?" asked Penny.
"Donnie got his seat paid." His father is an influential businessman, he's untouchable.
"That sucks." Penny pouted.
"You handled him great." said Sheila. "But I doubt he'll give up on you so easily. But just out of curiosity, are you actually busy tonight?
"I am." Penny nodded.
"Oh, do you see that? And what are you up to, if I may ask?" Sheila smiled maliciously.
"Hi there!" Alec saluted, stepping in.
Penny smiled and got close to Alec. "I'm going out with Him.
"Hooo I see..." Sheila made her Kawaii face: "Good choice, Penny. Have fun!"
"What is she talking about?" Alec asked Penny.
"It's a long story." Penny shrugged. "I'm glad you're here, that conversation was getting annoying."
"I have a few minutes to spare." Do you play chess?
Penny smiled. "That's a lovely idea."
"Okay, I have it just here...
He looked in his personal locker and grabbed a tablet he put on the little table. He turned it on, swiped on the screen a few times, and a holographic set of chess popped out of it.
"White or black?" He asked.
As soon as the game was over, Penny finally brought the last piece of a regular file on Quimby's desk.
"Here it is, Chief!" She said.
"Nice job, Penny." said Chief Quimby. "You can leave, now, it's time to go home."
"Thank you, Chief." Penny nodded. "Have a nice evening."
"You too, Penny." Chief Quimby nodded.
She left the office and rushed to the South-East secret entrance, where she found Alec, who was looking highly unsure about what he was doing in that precise location of WOMP.
"Penny... I was waiting for you." He said nervously.
"I had some extra work." said Penny. "Come with me..."
Penny led Alec to the secret entrance, and they took the elevator to the surface.
"Where are we going, Penny?" He asked.
The elevator opened up and they soon enough, ended up back at Penny's house.
"To my house." Penny replied.
Alec freaked out and was about to faint. "By your house?! You're actually taking me to your place?!"
"Yes, what's wrong...?" She asked.
"N...nothing..." He stammered. "It was just...unexpected.
Penny shrugged. "You don't have the required equipment for this mission, I have some spare. I think the best thing to do is to share it with you."
"Oh, thanks..." Alec smiled.
She led him inside and they went up the stairs. She opened the door to her room and approached Fidget and Digit.
"Hi guys, I'm back home!" She said.
"Penny!" The two robots rushed to her in relation and surprise.
"Hey, say, who's this guy?" asked Digit.
"I guess I should make the introductions, right..." Penny chuckled. "This is Alec, my partner, we're on a mission tonight to recapture Claw at the mountain."
"I thought you weren't an Agent anymore?" asked Fidget.
"Fidget! Digit growled.
"Oh I know you," Alec pointed to the Gadgetinis. "You are Fidget, and you are, Digit. Pleased to meet you."
"THIS is a man who knows how to talk to robots." Fidget shook Alec's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Alec!"
Alec turned to Digit. "And you are the serious guy, aren't you?"
"I can be fun too." Digit retorted.
"No you can't!" Fidget corrected.
"We should get ready for the mission." Penny reminded Alec, opening her closet.
Alec nodded, and they sorted out the equipment together which included multi vision sunglasses, a skintight jumpsuit for her fingerless gloves high heeled boots, and an earpiece and for her partner Alec he had a black jumpsuit,shoes,fingerless gloves and an earpiece The gadgets for the mission which were invented by Penny include modified smartphones which include decryption software and a camera, dart guns that knock the mad agents out instead of killing them and leaving them for WOMP to pick up and also a grappling hook concealed in a wristwatch and for recon a mini drone disguised as a robot cat.
"With all the equipment sorted we can head for the mountain!" said Penny.
"Let's go!" Alec nodded.
Unbeknownst to our heroes two shadowy figures appear out of the darkness to reveal themselves a woman with shoulder length Blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes wearing a standard issue WOMP skintight jumpsuit equipped with a 9mm pistol in it's holster and a man with Brown Hair and Light Brown eyes and square rimmed glasses wearing a lab coat, blue button up shirt and red tie James and Andrea Brown her parents. Andrea touches her ear to activate her earpiece"Chief do you read The plan worked and we will reveal ourselves when ready" said Andrea "Yes" said Chief Quimby "Proceed with the plan."
Author's Note:
Well folks, this story ain't dead yet! We take a long time to come up with these ideas, but trust me, the wait is always worth it! Stay tuned for the next chapter coming soon!