The Truttyfores had gone to the opera to see “The Magic Flute.” As always, they had left out a lovely spread for the kitties. They understood that dance practice was grueling, so they knew that Poppy, Rosie and Willie would be working up a good appetite. And if guest dancers showed up, the kitties would be more than proud to offer a fancy salmon buffet.
Poppy, Rosie and Willie lined up at the door–waiting for their good-bye hugs. They were getting anxious, but didn’t want to arouse too much suspicion. Today was going to be a big planning day at COBRA headquarters. Poppy had invited all the leading experts to a huge brainstorming session. All the chief scientists and top-level thinkers were being assembled to plot the big “take-down” of Brutus-G. Everyone was just itching to spring into action. A chance to neutralize such a sinister character did not come along every day.
The familiar sound of whirring helicopter blades could be heard in the distance, and soon all the kitties came in and filled every available hammock. It was an impressive array of talent. All the highest ranked agents were there to help hatch a clever plan. All the dignitaries and genius scientists were there, too.
The spies got right to it. Poppy strode to the podium, wearing the speaker’s feather boa.
“Everyone knows Brutus-G is an evil genius, so our mission has to be brilliant, air-tight, and very well executed,” said Poppy. “There can be no room for mistakes.”
All the spy kitties nodded in agreement.
Willie and Rosie then joined Poppy, and said, “We are anxious to hear all your ideas–so now we’re going to open up the floor for discussion.”
All the high-level agents and inventors lined up to take their turn at the podium. While they waited, they listened with great respect and attention. All eyes and ears were trained on the esteemed speakers.
Dr. Clever-Claw and Dr. Doppler-Wave, inventors of the hypno-sonic zappers and alpha-wave blockers, were first up to speak.
“I think we should use our brains and our technology to outwit the Bad Cats. We do know that Brutus-G does not have any of the genius inventions that we have.”
Everyone agreed, and Willie said, “That’s right. We learned that from our last jungle mission.”
Professor Paw-Plant from Vets Without Borders suggested that it was really important to protect the supply of Furbain. “I think we should send in enough agents to completely surround the plant fields,” she said. “It would be just awful if the Bad Cats felt threatened and started to destroy the plants before we could secure them.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Robo-Paw. “We are going to need hundreds of troops and supplies to overwhelm Brutus-G’s evil operation. I would like to step up production of collapsible robotic arms, and produce many more copies of Cybella–the free-standing robot.”
“That’s right,” said Dr. Techno-Cat. “We will need many more recruits, more stealth helicopters, more hypno-sonic zappers, more alpha-wave blockers, and more ‘meowie-zeowies.’ Translators will be needed, and we’ll have to train new spies to use all our cool inventions.”
Everyone agreed that they would have to work day and night to mass-produce all the high-tech stuff that they would need. Rosie said that she knew of two factories, which were currently making jingle-billy toys and rubber mousies.
“We can retool these plants to make what we need,” she said, with great excitement.
Poppy had some ideas, too. She walked to the front of the room, and put on the speaker’s feather boa. “I have thought of something that we could do to disarm and isolate Brutus-G,” she said. “As you all know, Brutus G-Kitty and I go way back. We were young spies together, and over the years, we have both been Word Buzz Champions. The last few years I have soundly defeated him, so I know he would just love to beat me. Because his ego is so huge, I think he is ripe to be taken in by a clever plan. I’ll challenge him to a Word Buzz Opposites Tournament on his own turf–and while I have him engrossed in the showdown, our spies can move in, surround him, and take him into custody.”
“Holy Flipping Flounders,” said Rosie. “That’s just too brilliant!”
“It’s a genius plan! said Dr. Doppler-Wave. “It could work if we send hundreds of spies, and just overwhelm the Bad Cats. We can put them in a hypnotic trance–so we can move in, and capture Brutus-G.”
All the spies were revved up and excited. The air in the room was just electric. The broad outline of a plan had emerged, and Operation Bob-Cat had been born.