Thought I would show you guys what Scarlett looks like! I promise you'll learn more about her soon but some other stuff has to happen first. Hope you're liking this story so far! - Sunbeam
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Their first impression of her was that she wasn't going to last long. It hadn't been the first time Father had tried hiring a nanny to watch over them but for whatever reason, they couldn't explain all the previous ones had quit and never returned to their mansion again. The five of them couldn't understand it. They were good kids, weren't they?
Along with her new job at the Villain cafe, Father proposed that Scar worked for him and his darling children after listening to her explain the reason why Robin and her moved to this town. He was very intrigued and thought they could work together. She would serve coffee while they were in school and attend meetings with the other villains then after she would tend to things in the Delightful Mansion along with their butler, Jenkins. Being a nanny wasn't something Scar saw herself doing. She didn't necessarily despise kids. She's watched over Robin plenty of times and the two of them had a good relationship despite the age difference but around other kids, she didn't know Scar felt awkward around them and usually avoided them if she could. That went for some adults too but she's practiced hiding her anxiety pretty well at this point.
"So this here is the kitchen and the back door leads to the garden along the side of the house. You're welcome to visit it if you like but only after your other work is finished." Father invited Scar over to show her around the mansion a bit and to meet his Delightful Children now that she was going to be hanging around. Hey, the amount he offered was too good to turn down. Mama needed to continue making a living somehow.
"I think I understand where everything is." Scar nodded as they came to the end of the tour, heading back into the living room. When they were finished with everything Father was going to have his driver escort her back to her apartment. "So when will I get to meet-"
Just as she began asking about his children, they heard a chorus of voices telling Father they were home, and in stepped the Delightfuls themselves. Almost immediately Scar locked eyes with them as they froze in the doorway feeling as if they were interrupting something. They didn't know Father was having company over today. Not many people were even allowed over unless they were using someone to help hatch one of their schemes or when they captured other children and forced them to come to their birthday party. This reminded them; they had to plan something better for their next birthday soon. The Big Badolescent had been a total bust. They never should have hired that girl.
"My Delightful Children you should know better than to stare. It's impolite." Father's voice brought them back and they immediately apologized before he could get angry with them.
"We're pleased to meet you, adult person." They bowed.
"It's alright, Father. I am a stranger in their home after all." Scar assured him that it was no biggie and went to approach them. "Father has told me about you five. Hope you don't mind but we were discussing about me becoming your new nanny.."
Seeing the confused and doubtful expressions his children were giving her, Father sighed and ordered them to sit down on the couch. Even he knew that it was a bit odd of him to suddenly try and hire someone again after it's been months since the last nanny quit. He honestly got tired of the same outcomes but if this woman could help them destroy the Kids Next Door it didn't matter if she left in the end or not. Though with an attractive face like that, he kinda hoped she would still be in the area at least.
"Scarlett here is working together with a child who has infiltrated Nigel Uno's home pretending to be a long-lost relative." Father gave a quick explanation as the Delightfuls now perked up in interest. They wondered how well their act must have been to convince the Unos'. Either they were good or Monty and Jen were bigger morons than they thought.
"Robin informed me that tomorrow she is going to Gallagher to be registered. As soon as you can get her alone I'll need you to give her this" Scar told them as she gave them a USB drive and then pulled out a photo of the girl they were to look out for. It was of Robin wearing an apron with some flour on her face; smiling at someone off-camera. Shouldn't be too hard to find her if she's the only new face in the whole school but getting her alone without suspicion would be a little tricky.
"Not that I doubt your kid but- yeah no I doubt your kid." Father began as he sat in his chair with one leg over the other and his arms crossed. He didn't have much trust in kids and if she was constantly around Sector V they could fill her mind with nonsense and distract her from the real mission. "Even if she's set on getting revenge for what they did to her, how can we be sure that she'll follow through? I don't want to rely on any promises that aren't guaranteed to be kept."
"Then that would be her choice." Scar sighed. "But given what's at stake here I strongly feel that Robin will do all that she can. It's kind of hard to back out now and if word gets out about what we did she could be taken away to an actual foster home. Not until her father is freed from that prison anyways."
Somewhere in the coldest part of Antarctica was a maximum prison that held some of the worst adult villains and among them was Robin's father. He was laying low for now but there would be consequences for making him wait too long. Scarlett just wanted Robin to be safe in all of this. She thought of her as her little niece and wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her.
"If we may suggest something."
Both Scarlett and Father turned to the Delightfuls who were already plotting something. This could be an opportunity to test Robin for her loyalty and to have a little fun.
"Our delightfulization ray is now fully operational and we have a plan to turn those snotty brats into perfect children like ourselves. We can inform Robin when we meet with her and see if she is willing to give Sector V the bait."
"What all needs to be done for this to work?" Scarlett questioned, twisting one of her pearl bracelets around her wrist, watching as each of them began to smirk.
"Well, to start we'll need to have some invitations prepared.."
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"Your friend Scarlett said you can upload everything you record of Sector V onto this." The Delightfuls spoke in unison as they gave Robin the drive.
Robin and the Delightfuls had moved into a secluded classroom so they could discuss matters in private. They made a deal with the hall monitors to keep Robin ending up in detention from the principal and Uno's parents on the down low for now. She can still start with a clean slate! Woo! Wonder how long that would last?
"She prefers Scar, but thanks!" Robin pocketed the drive and turned to look at them. She knew Scar was going to locate other villains in this town but she didn't expect other kids to want to take down Sector V as well. Most of them were in the organization or were simply living innocent lives like kids should. Robin didn't fit in either of those categories ever since that day they ruined her life but she'd get everything back on track.
"We'll cut to the chase, Robin." The Delightfuls began. "We already informed Scar of the plan but we would like your help too if you're interested."
"What do I have to do?" Robin jumped right into it. If they could finally move forward with something she'd be willing to hear what they had to say.
"This coming weekend we are planning on hosting the Kid's All-Town Cotillion and of course, Nigel and his friends will be invited."
"A cotillion? I finally get to go to a cotillion?" Robin's eyes lit up as she considered the fun that could be had during this event before frowning. "Wait, I am invited, right? Is there going to be some sort of theme? Where is it being held?"
"You really should keep your focus Robin."
"Right! Right! Sorry!" Robin apologized realizing she was probably getting too excited over something that would most likely be used for a trap. "Continue."
"I suppose we could answer your questions though." They told her in the order she had asked. "Of course, you're invited. It might raise questions if you weren't and being new to town isn't an excuse cause almost every kid should be there."
Robin nodded, knowing they were right. She just felt the need to make sure since her dad wouldn't let her go to the last cotillion being held near her hometown; having to spend most of the evening helping him test out a new invention. She fought the urge to shudder from the memories.
"There isn't a theme in mind exactly. It's mainly just a formal event you can dress up for." Robin looked at them again as they explained it would be held at their mansion. "We do have the room for it after all so no need to rent any place out."
"Uh-huh.. So am I supposed to just make sure Sector V comes to this event?"
"Precisely." They nodded."We will be mailing out invitations but we'd like you to hand deliver their invitation yourself just to make sure they receive it and convince them to attend which we doubt will be hard. Nigel will be suspicious of course but he'll be dealt with soon enough."
"I've only known Nigel for a day and he isn't exactly trusting of me yet." Robin rubbed her arm slightly. "Wouldn't surprise me if he tried bugging my room." After saying it out loud Robin realized there was a high possibility that he would do something like that. "Well, I know what I'm doing once I get out of here.."
"Once the party does start they'll be allowed to enjoy themselves for a little while but after we open up the photo room that's when the real fun will begin." The five of them grinned evilly and Robin raised a brow at them.
"Photos?"
"It'll be better to show you how it works in person but let's just say our "camera" isn't really a camera." They held a hand to the side of their mouths as if to prevent anyone else from hearing even though it was just the six of them in the room and leaned a little closer to her.
Robin nodded, making notes to stay clear of whatever machine they had ready for the other guests. "Thanks for the heads up." Looking up towards the clock that was on the wall, Robin's eyes widened seeing how long she had been gone.
"They're probably wondering why I'm not back yet. I hate to cut this short but-"
"It's alright." They assured her that they still had plenty of time to prepare and to meet them at their mansion this Friday to go over some last-minute details.
"Got it! It was great meeting you five!" Robin grabbed the hand of the blonde boy in the front and shook it before turning and heading towards the door. "Oh!" She turned her body around when she was near the exit. "Tell Scar I said hi, would ya? She's cool once you get to know her so hope you'll give her a chance!" Since she was walking backward, Robin bumped into the doorframe with a hiss but regained her composure and smiled at the Delightfuls as she disappeared into the hall.
"Likewise, Robin." They said it was nice to have officially met her as well. "We'll be sure to deliver the message."
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"And you're sure you didn't see the Delightful Children?" Nigel asked one more time, not hiding his suspension at all.
It was after school now and Sector V had been freed from detention. They returned to the treehouse and found Robin sitting in their television room watching some cartoons and munching on a bag of chips.
"I don't know who you're talking about dude." Robin paused to take a bite of another chip, crushing it against the roof of her mouth to get more of the bbq flavor in the process. "I went straight back to the principal's office and Monty and Jen brought me back here where I raided your snacks and turned on your tv. Which is awesome by the way."
It sounded as simple as that but she did check her room for any strange device that didn't belong to her. Nothing so far but she still had to be cautious when contacting Scar and those who she worked with now. Even if it was business related to taking down a common enemy, a part of Robin wasn't sure how she felt about Scar spending so much time with other children. She was the only adult in her life still right now and she wanted to keep it that way even if they had to stay separated for the time being.
"Ah, let it go Numbuh 1," Hoagie said, sitting next to Robin on the couch and reaching for her bag of chips which was brought closer for him to grab a few. "If Robin says she didn't see those Delightful Dorks, I believe her."
Robin smiled, glad that he trusted her even if Nigel was right and it had been a lie. She was even more glad that he brought her Flying Yipper cards back to her in one piece. She did notice one was missing and called him out for it but with a nervous laugh, Hoagie pulled it out of his pocket and handed it back to her. He knew better than to take a fellow Yipper fan's stuff but couldn't blame him for trying. It had been a rare card after all.
"Hey Robin, you play any games?" She heard Wally ask and turned to see him pulling out some controllers.
"I've spent a lot of time at a local arcade before I moved here so I think I can handle whatever you throw at me," Robin smirked, accepting his challenge.
"Not going to be much of a challenge if you're the one competing against her." Numbuh 5 chuckled lightly as she and Numbuh 3 came and sat down with more snacks for everyone.
Wally loudly exclaimed that he was really good and would kick Robin's butt in some fighting game that he was setting up. He sat on the couch to her left with Kuki while Nigel and Abby sat on the one to the right. As the game started up the others cheered the two of them on as they waited to see who would win the first round. Wally almost had her pinned but by breaking free, Robin's character took advantage of Wally's health, and with a quick punch he was knocked out and she was pronounced the winner.
"Told you," Abby said, which made her shorter friend grumble.
Robin turned to look at Wally and decided he needed a little encouragement.
"It was just the first round. I'm sure you can totally crush me in the next one. I mean Crushzilla wouldn't give up, would he?"
With a newly determined smirk, Wally spoke, "You bet he wouldn't!" And pressed start once again. He was good at video games when he put his focus into them but his friend's teasing when he did lose served as a distraction and pretty soon his controller would be thrown across the room. Robin's words had the opposite effect and before they knew it, she was the one knocked to the ground with the words 'Game Over' written above.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Wally jumped up on the couch, doing a little dance to celebrate his victory.
Robin only chuckled before handing the controller over to Hoagie for a turn so she could open up a soda. After a few more rounds, Kuki finally brought up what happened earlier.
"It was super duper nice of you to help us Robin when you didn't have to. Thanks!"
"It was nothing." Robin tried to wave Kuki off. She mainly only did it to earn their trust but the idea of no recess didn't sit right with her either so she supposed she didn't mind giving them a hand this once.
"Have you considered joining the Kids Next Door?"
Her question caught them all off guard. Kuki had a turn with the game now and with Hoagie's focus on something else, it was a rather easy win for her. "Yay! I won!" She yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.
Robin could feel all eyes on her now and she wished they weren't. Where did that come from? I mean she knew where but that didn't mean she had an answer.
"If we're being honest, I was thinking about it too." Numbuh 2 confessed, setting his controller down so they could discuss this. "It would make sense, right? You'll be hanging around here anyways so why not become an operative like us?"
"I uh..haven't thought about it," Robin told them honestly. This wasn't part of the plan, right? Then again she should have known better than to assume it wouldn't be brought up at some point. All she had to do was infiltrate their headquarters and find out all their secrets that would lead to their doom while also figuring out a way to rob the Unos' of enough money to cover the damages to their family's bakery that were caused by the kids sitting around her. She didn't want to think about how it had been brought up in flames right now.
"You seem nervous."
Turning her head, Robin could see Nigel eyeing her suspiciously; his sunglasses lowered down enough to show his blue eyes.
"Any particular reason for that?" He asked, leaning back into the couch and folding his arms.
"I'm just..I'm just not sure I'm cut out for it, you know? I mean you guys make it look so easy. I wouldn't want to slow you down.." She traced her finger around the edge of her soda and averted their gazes.
"Are you kidding?" Abby questioned, setting her magazine down that she had been reading while the rest of them were fighting over getting the higher score. "Look we might not know where your skills lay but that's what training is for. Plus the way you showed your bravery to that adult today Numbuh 5 thinks you are more than suited to become a cadet."
"You'll get to go to the Arctic Base and go through all sorts of simulations! It's so cool!" Wally grabbed onto the sleeve of her black sweater and told her she had to join. Having another kid to fight adult tyrants with sounded good to him.
Robin knew she was being put on the spot but when she thought about it she supposed it didn't matter if she gave in and accepted their offer just to please them. If this plan that the Delightful Children had to be rid of the Sector worked, she could just collect what she needed to and be on her way. She'd play along for now.
"The Arctic, huh? So how do I sign up?"
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"This place is gigantic!"
Robin had gone to the Delightful Children From Down The Lane's mansion that Friday as planned; taking advantage of the others being in school to come here. The butler had been the one to answer the door and let her in. She knew this place was big but it was still impressive. She spun on her heel to look around the room but in doing so, she lost her balance and fell on her back on the marble floor.
"Ow.."
Hearing footsteps, Robin tilted her head backward to see the Delightfuls staring down at her.
"Hehe. Hey, there." She laughed lightly to ease her embarrassment and got up. "Thanks for inviting me over. Love the place you got here!"
"You are welcome Robin and thank you as well." They wondered just how clumsy this girl was. First, running into the door frame, and now this.
"So what's first? Can I see that "camera" of yours now? Oh, what about the invitation? Is that ready? And what about-?" Scar!"
The girl ran past them and to the woman who appeared from another room. Scar had someone cover her shift at the cafe this morning so she could spend the day helping with the preparations for tomorrow night. Her wavy red hair had been pulled up out of the way in a high ponytail. She smiled seeing the child and let Robin throw her arms around her, patting her head.
"I brought the drive like you asked," Robin said, pulling it out and handing it to the woman. "It's not much yet but there's a pretty good layout of the treehouse and I have files started on each operative.
Robin would gather all she could onto the drive and then give it to them to upload the information onto their computer before Robin did the process all over again if need be.
"Good job, Kiddo." Scar smiled and turned to the Delightfuls who walked up to them. "Why don't you children take Robin and go over things with her while I take care of this?"
Ruffling Robin's hair one more time, Scar left the six of them to their own devices so she could collect the information on Sector V's treehouse.
"Told you she was cool." Robin gave a little smirk and pointed her thumb in the direction Scar had gone.
"Yes, we suppose she is but onto more important matters." The five children began. "You want to see how our ray will operate, don't you?"
With a quick nod, the Delightful Children had Robin follow them through their mansion. She noticed that other servants had been hired for this party as they all worked to set everything up. One guy was on a ladder cleaning one of the windows when another servant walking by tripped over the tablecloth he was carrying, knocking over the ladder in the process and leaving the guy holding on to the ledge and kicking his feet against the wall to try and pull himself up.
"Help! Help! This is why I don't do anything with heights!"
"It's not a long drop dude! You'd be totally fine!" Even if Robin was right that the guy was being a little overdramatic, she still went over and picked up the ladder so he could get down. He thanked her but then quickly dusted himself off and straightened his posture once he saw the Delightful Children.
"Pardon us Sir but may we have a moment of your time?"
"Why yes, of course! What can I do for you?"
They told him to follow them and they ended up in a room with a giant machine pointed at a beautiful background covered in red roses. Robin wasn't sure why he was brought in here with them but stood out of the way as told as the Delightful Children said they wanted to test out their camera and asked if they could take his picture. The servant was more than happy to ably and asked how he looked.
"Delightful." The five grouped children smirked as they pushed a button that zapped him and changed his appearance.
His side-swept hair stayed the same but his eyes turned an icy blue and his clothes looked similar to the Delightful Boys. He continued to stand there with a blank expression on his face. Now Robin knew why he was asked to come in here with them.
"As you can see Robin, our ray is a mind control device that will turn anyone into a delightful minion similar to ourselves. If you can lure some of our guests into this room and save us the trouble we'd appreciate it."
Robin turned and glanced up at the platform they were standing on. A thought crossed her mind as she looked at the other two girls' uniforms.
"I get the feeling you don't get asked for fashion tips often but any chance I can borrow your look? It's not my style but to blend in with your other minions I think I will need to play the part of being delightful as well. Any advice you'd like to give me to convince them?"
The Delightfuls looked at each other and then back down at the girl. Even if it was only part of the plan, she was right about no one taking an interest in what they wore or the way they behaved. They could just zap her in the end once they no longer required her services and turn her delightful for real but they would be lying to themselves if they weren't curious to see how she would pull it off.
"Delightful servant!" They called out to the man still standing in the same spot who lifted his dull gaze in their direction. "Have someone prepare us a pot of tea. Our new friend Robin and I have much to discuss.."
-End Transmission-
Operation D.A.T.E will be featured in the next episode! Do you think Robin will be able to pull it off and who might she steal a dance with? Stay tuned to find out! - Sunbeam