NO SPY FRY
Freddy and Howie went to the secret lab under the barn where the Fries were getting ready to go to work. Freddy quickly told them everything they had learned about Silas Finklebean.
“Sounds like an interesting fellow,” said Theodore. “So the plan tonight is for us to go to the Spankers’ lair in time to hear the details of their plot against you.”
“But we were almost caught last time,” said Ziggy.
“That won’t be a problem this time,” said Ziggy.
He pulled out his father’s Invisibrella and opened it above his head, instantly disappearing.
“AAGGHH!” screamed Wally. “Freddy’s gone, he’s gone!” The purple Fry was so upset he ran straight into a wall and knocked himself out.
Freddy closed the umbrella and reappeared.
“Light particle refraction, undoubtedly,” said Theodore while Curly mumbled, “WowI’venevernotseensomethinglikethat before.”
“That’s right, Theodore,” said Freddy as he and Curly helped a groggy Wally to his feet.
“The umbrella’s big enough to cover me and Howie. And you guys can stay upstairs at the Burger Castle and make sure my Dad and sister don’t come into the basement.”
“Your sister never goes in the basement,” said Theodore.
“Well, she might sort of come looking for me,” said Freddy sheepishly.
Theodore eyed him closely. “Freddy, you didn’t do something you shouldn’t have, did you?”
“Well, she made me mad so I might have played a teensy-weensy trick on her.”
“Way to go, Freddio,” said Si. “I’m sure she deserved it.”
“Speak for yourself, you happy-go-lucky maniac,” snapped Meese. “His sister scares me to death. And if I die, you die!”
After they finished working at the Burger Castle, Freddy and Howie snuck down to the basement with the Invisibrella and a ladder. They had covered up the hole that Wally had made in the wall with an old shelf. They moved it aside and slipped into the secret passageway; soon they reached the trapdoor under Stewie Spanker’s office.
Howie took a moment to devour four cheese cubes, swallow, and wipe his mouth. “Okay, I’m ready.”
They climbed up the ladder, eased open the trapdoor, and peered into the room. It was empty.
“This is perfect, Howie,” said Freddy. “Come on, hurry.”
They clambered through the trapdoor and stood in a corner. Freddy opened the large Invisibrella over their heads. He was able to confirm their invisibility by looking at a mirror hanging across the room. It didn’t show their reflections, but the boys could see each other because the light refraction only took place outside the umbrella.
“Now we just wait and hear their whole plan,” said Howie.
“Shh, someone’s coming.”
The door opened and Stewie and Adam Spanker walked through. They looked so ridiculous in their Patty Cakes uniforms that Freddy and Howie had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing. And then it got even worse — or better, depending on how you looked at it.
Stewie Spanker sat down and let out an enormous burp. “Gotta cut back on those burgers and shakes,” he groaned.
“Ha, that’s nothing,” said Adam, and he let out a gigantic fart that seemed to bounce off the walls like cannon fire.
“I knew I raised you right,” said Stewie proudly. “But grab that can of air freshener and give the room a real good spray, son.”
Freddy and Howie wanted to laugh so hard they could barely breathe. But they also knew the Spankers would tear them apart if they found out they were here.
“Okay, son, what have you come up with to get rid of the Funkhousers?”
“An unbelievably brilliant plan that I’ve already put into place, Dad,” proclaimed Adam proudly.
Howie and Freddy looked at each other and smiled. This was working perfectly.
Back at the Burger Castle, the Fries were cleaning up when Alfred Funkhouser came out of the kitchen.
“Hey, guys,” he said.
“Where is that little monster?” yelled Nancy as she ran out of the broom closet wearing a big hat.
“What’s the matter?” asked her father.
“Look at this.” She jerked off the hat and her red hair sprang out. It was a mass of curls and puffed up to about two feet over her head. She looked like walking cotton candy.
Her father remarked in a delicate tone, “I see you’ve changed your hairstyle again, dear. It’s very, well, it’s very interesting.”
“I didn’t do this,” shrieked Nancy. “That little jerk did. He must’ve slipped me one of his stupid perm pills when I wasn’t looking.”
Alfred looked very proud. “A perm pill? What a great idea.”
“Dad! I look like a pink cloud.”
Alfred refocused on his daughter’s mass of hair. “Oh, um, right, dear. I’ll tell him that what he did was wrong. Very clever and ingenious, but wrong just the same. Where is Freddy, by the way?”
“Well, he said he was feeling a little under the weather,” said Theodore.
“Yeah, he was puking his guts out the last time I saw him,” added Wally.
Nancy stared suspiciously at who she thought was Wilma. “I am so going to massacre that brat,” she said, still fuming.
“What did you want him for, Mr. Funkhouser?” asked Theodore innocently.
“Well, I can’t find my Invisibrella and I thought he might have it.”
“Oh, he’s got —” began Wally before Ziggy stomped on his toes. “Ouchie-oochie!” Wally yelled, grabbing his foot.
“I think what Wilma was saying,” explained Theodore, “was that if Freddy had gotten it, we would have seen it. And we didn’t.”
“Okay,” said Alfred, looking a little confused. “Well, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere. I need to find it and work out some bugs.”
“Bugs?” said Theodore quickly.
“I love bugs,” replied Si. “Bugs are my friends.”
“Good, because you sure don’t have any others,” said Meese.
“But you’re my friend,” said Si, looking hurt.
“I’m attached to you at the hip. That doesn’t make us buds.”
“Uh, exactly what sort of bugs?” asked Theodore.
Alfred said, “The last time I tried it, I became visible after about three minutes, and then streams of light started shooting out of the umbrella. Probably a loose wire.”
The Fries looked at each other in panic.
“Uhboylthinkwebettergoyouknowwherelikeyouknowveryfast,” mumbled Curly.
“What did he say?” asked Alfred.
“He said we have to leave the premises in the most expeditious manner possible,” said Theodore.
“No, he didn’t, he said RUN!” yelled Wally, who blew past them down the stairs to the basement.
The rest of the Fries took off after him, leaving Alfred and Nancy behind.
Once her father left to continue his search, Nancy looked in the direction where the Fries had run. She glanced back to make sure her father was gone, and then she raced off after the Fries.