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lefemmerougewriter · 2 years

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Revenge of a Reagan: Carmen, I.M.P., and the Glowing Hands Girl

This is the second part of my series, The Cognito Files. While the first part was a crossover between Helluva Boss and Inside Job, this fic adds characters from Carmen Sandiego and Kim Possible. This mature fic as graphic dipictions of violence, just be aware. This is set right after the battle with VILE in the final season of Carmen Sandiego. For this story, let's just say that Carmen Sandiego takes place in the same world as Helluva Boss, Inside Job, and Kim Possible. In a future part of the series, I believe I can fit in Stolas. I am going to continue this series, although I can’t say when Part 3 will be out. Hopefully, sometime in the next two months.

Friendships: Reagan Ridley & Brett Hand, Reagan Ridley & Rand Ridley, Blitzo & Moxxie, Magic Myc & Reagan Ridley, Reagan Ridley & Gigi Thompson, Reagan Ridley & Shego, Reagan Ridley & Carmen Sandiego, Glenn Dolphman & Reagan Ridley, Dr. Andre & Reagan Ridley

Romantic pairings: Moxxie/Millie

Words: 7.0k

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38195077

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1254729126-the-cognito-files-revenge-of-a-reagan-carmen-i-m-p

Characters: Reagan Ridley, Rand Ridley, Brett Hand, Gigi Thompson, Glenn Dolphman, Dr. Andre, Magic Myc, Grassy Noel Atkinson, President Domp, Vice President Melosi, Blitzo, Moxxie, Millie, Loona, Stolas Goetia, Carmen Sandiego, Zack, Ivy, Shego, Zabith Infierno, Aril Lllitar

Summary: Carmen thought the defeat of VILE was the end and she could relax. Little did she know, but she would be pulled into a conspiracy bigger than a group of villains and learn of a shadowy government organization which manufactures conspiracies. In the process, she, her friends Zack and Ivy, and her hacker friend, would cross paths with one woman who wanted to get back at her former employer for firing her, and a woman with glowing green hands, while a group of demons from the depths of Hell tries to kill them all!

Police swarmed the headquarters of the Villains International League of Evil, commonly called “VILE.” The evildoers had finally been defeated. She could take it easy for once. She had spent her entire life as an international thief. And with ACME, the Agency to Classify and Monitor Evildoers, now on her side, what could go wrong?

“Red, we have a problem,” she heard in her earpiece. She groused. They had ended the reign of pernicious villains. What could be the issue? What could interrupt this great victory? “Player, what is it?” she asked, clearly annoyed that he was bothering her.

He grumbled. He would have liked to enjoy their victory. As he was surfing the web, a story caught his eye. “Reagan Ridley takes helm of Cognito, Inc” the title of the Underground Conspiracy Times ran. He shared it with Carmen on her phone. “Red, here’s what I’m worried about…this Reagan Ridley fellow.” She shrugged. Why would this be a problem? What did it matter? Who was Reagan Ridley anyway?

“I don’t know much about 'Reagan Ridley,' but I do know about Cognito…it’s a shadowy government organization which supports VILE.” Carmen’s ears perked up. An organization…which backs VILE? Why hadn’t he mentioned this before? Wouldn’t it have been better to go after them instead of spending all this time fighting VILE? “Let’s go after them!” she exclaimed. Player explained why this would be a challenge. He hoped she’d understand. “I agree, Red. We must be careful…they have eyes everywhere.” She snickered. What could Player be worried about? He was a skilled hacker. He could stop them in their tracks.

He scurried around his room, looking under anything, searching for anything that could be a camera. He didn’t want to be captured. From what he heard on the dark web, people who talked about Cognito were never seen again. He breathed deeply. Everything would be fine, he thought.

Seconds later, C armen stared at her screen in horror. She saw three men in suits burst into his room. She yelled. “Player, watch out!” He shrieked. They had trapped him between themselves and his computer. He hollered. “If you take one step closer, the computers will get it!” The men shrugged. They didn’t dare approach. A 30-something woman dressed in a lab coat, green paints, low-cut socks, and white sneakers appeared out of nowhere. She pulled out what looked like a lipstick tube. She snickered. “You aren’t going anywhere, buddy.” Touching a button, it released an electric shock. He slumped onto the ground.

Carmen saw this all unfold and was horrified. She shouted. “Let him go!” The same woman she saw before donned a ski mask and wore a hoodie, to disguise her identity. The woman chuckled. She addressed Carmen directly, looking into the camera. She declared, “if you want your friend back…you need to come to Cognito.” The woman then turned to the side, remarking, “I’ll be expecting you…Red lady.” She walked out of the room. Player was dragged out by three burly men. His mother would have objected, but she had been given a sedative.

Turning the video off, Carmen stuffed her cell phone in her pants pocket. She ran over to her friends, Zack and Ivy, who were celebrating the victory over VILE. “Uh, guys, Player was kidnapped,” she said matter-of-factly. They looked at her with shock. Was she pranking them? Ivy had to make sure. “Are you being real with us, Carm?” She nodded solemnly. Zack shuttered, as did Ivy. Who would do such a thing? Carmen wasn’t sure.

Trying to find him would be a challenge. She had technical skills and know-how. She depended on Player to commit her acts of international thievery. As she started to talk to her team about their next steps, her phone buzzed. Quickly pulling it out of her pocket, she nervously pressed the home button. The screen shimmered. “I have you now, Carmen Sandiego,” a voice off screen declared. She recognized the voice. It was the same one as the woman who had kidnapped her friend! She saw Player restrained and tied to a chair. “Don’t hurt him!” she pleaded. The woman laughed. Carmen was unaware of the power of Cognito. She said softly, “Gigi, activate the hypnosis setting.” Her phone began emitting a specific frequency which put her in a trance. Zack and Ivy tried to snap her out of it, but they were sucked in too.

“Come to Cognito, Inc. Your friend will be safe,” the message commanded. From there, they blindly followed its instructions and marched onto a black helicopter. Back at headquarters, Reagan sighed. Was it worth it to go to all this effort? She pressed a button and the restraints on Player were released and the ropes were sliced apart.

He was surprised. Did they want him to escape? As he started to leave, Reagan came close to him and shook her finger. She stood in his way. “You are one of the best hackers out there…and I brought you here for a reason…don’t you want to know why?” He shrugged. He wasn’t sure how to answer her question. Was he supposed to be curious? Should he fight or flee? He decided to entertain her notion, for now. “Sure…Ms…” She grumbled and rolled her eyes. Did she really need to tell this hacker who she was? Would that even help? She decided to tell him anyway. “Ridley…Reagan Ridley…CEO of Cognito, Inc…how about you…Mr. Hacker.” He chuckled. He responded, introducing himself. “I’m Player.” He extended his hand. Reagan remained wary. She took a step back, then pulled a file folder out from under her jacket. “This says that your last name is Bouchard…there is no first name listed…how convenient.”

Player shrugged. He had no intention of revealing his first name to her or to anyone. It wasn’t anyone’s business! Not even Carmen knew it. Neither did Zack or Ivy. Luckily for him, Reagan could care less about his first name. She had brought him there with a specific purpose in mind, although he wasn’t sure why. He would find out soon enough.

Reagan paced across the room. Where was Carmen Sandiego and her friends? She started to grow impatient. Suddenly, three guards in black camo gear brought Carmen, Zack, and Ivy into the same room. As the door closed behind them, Reagan typed on her phone the message “turn it off.” She received a one word reply from GIGITHO, the name that her friend used in the chat program. She placed her phone into a compartment on the door and it was sucked away to her office. She pressed a button on the wall. it made all electronic devices inoperable, like a localized EMP. They were completely alone. No one would be watching them, this time.

Carmen came to her senses, followed by Zack and Ivy. She got in Reagan’s face. She was furious. “Why the hell did you kidnap us…and Player…what the fuck do you want?” She moved her head from side to side. Carmen had it all wrong. She knew that she had to set the record straight. She did not want them to be enemies. She stared right back at Carmen with her brown eyes. To get ready for this meeting, she had done the unusual thing of putting on makeup to cover up her eye bags. She wanted to hide her sleep deprivation from others, realizing that characteristic could easily be exploited by those around her and others.

“I’d like to recruit you,” she said, seriously. Player knew this was coming, Zack and Ivy were confused, while Carmen was thoroughly surprised. She snapped back to reality and became incensed yet again. She hollered “couldn’t you have just asked us?” Reagan grumbled. Carmen really didn’t understand what Cognito did. Reagan then rolled her eyes and decided to give her the down low. “We are a shadow government organization…we have rules and protocol…we can’t just go to you…and ask.” She then sheepishly added, “...and I thought you’d all flee if we tried to come in and talk…after you took down those people you call ‘villains’.” Carmen thought she’d say that Cognito worked with VILE. It would make sense after what Player had told her about the connection between the two organizations. How were they able to stay afloat after the defeats at her hands? It seemed logical.

Reagan made clear that wasn’t the connection. This meant that either Player had been incorrect and misled, or that Reagan wasn’t being honest with them. “VILE were a bunch of jerks…so thanks for taking them down.” She cleared her throat. She believed it was time to announce why she had brought all four of them there to Cognito. She had to be honest, at least this time. “I’d like you to steal the silver patriot jewel from the Ladies of the Great Rebellion…from their museum, which is right here in the nation’s capital.”

Carmen had not predicted that this woman, who seemed mysterious to her, would propose she take an object from a museum. Staying a bit skeptical, she demanded to know why this jewel had to be taken. What value did it have? “Why do you need it anyway?” Reagan laughed. She didn’t expect such a question from a person she thought was so smart. She explained why it mattered. “The LGR is a wicked place. I once worked there…they canned my ass because I wasn’t as productive as they had wanted…what pretentious jerks.” Zack piped up. He couldn’t believe his ears. “You want to get a jewel so you can screw over your former workplace?” Reagan rolled her eyes. When he put it like that, it seemed malicious. She could care less about that belief. “I want to expose their sorry asses to the world and make them pay. They need to suffer for what they’ve done, those White supremacist posers.” She added, “I regret even spending over five months there…and they made me go through online training so I could analyze requests to join their fucking hoity-toity society.” Just thinking about it made her angrier. Impulsively, she growled and lashed out. She shouted. “Can’t you see that I’m in agony over this! Aren't you all about justice and doing the right thing?”

Carmen was taken aback. Realizing she had gone too far, Reagan stepped back and started to apologize. She didn’t want to turn them off. At times she really couldn’t deal with people. Too much interaction caused her to be socially exhausted. “I…didn’t mean to yell at you and your crew…you are the best in the business…will you do it…and help me, please?” She mulled it over. She murmured with Zack, Ivy, and Player. It could be a gamble or a trap. Reagan recognized that Carmen might be close to rejecting her offer. Without much thought, she blurted out, “Such a cute, snappy dresser like you wouldn’t turn down an offer from a pretty girl like me, right?” Carmen’s face became as red as a strawberry. She wasn’t prepared for this at all. Even when she met Julia Argent, an ACME agent that Zack and Ivy guessed that she had a crush on, she could keep her cool. She couldn’t do that in this case. Reagan’s little hair flip made her totally lose concentration. She was in total panic mode. She quickly exclaimed, “I’ll do it!” She covered her mouth right after, realizing she had made a mistake. This made Reagan happier than anything in the world. She said, softly, “sorry about…that comment earlier…thanks so much for doing this.” Carmen couldn’t back out now. Still a bit flustered, she huffed while Reagan opened the door with the push of a button, allowing them to leave. She waved as they left. “Best of luck, Carmen Sandiego and friends!”

The door closed in an instant. Reagan had a lot of thoughts about what had just happened. Had she done the right thing? Did she really have to flirt with a woman who was, by her guess, only 22 or 23? She knew that as a thirty-year-old, she could date anyone between the ages of 22 and 46, according to that silly "Half Your Age Plus 7" relationship rule. One could say that she was a little attracted to Carmen and she hoped to see her again. She even blushed when she thought about it. This was all necessary to make sure her plan came to fruition. Collecting herself, she pressed a button and the energy field deactivated. She touched another and a disk came out of the wall. With the disk in her hand, she left the room and walked toward the war room. She would be ready to coordinate the operation to steal the jewel from LGR. It was all part of her plan to take over the world and beyond, one step at a time, even though she wasn’t sure exactly how it would all fit together. That would come to her…in time.

Carmen was glad to be free. This Reagan Ridley person continued to confound her. Could she trust her? She wasn’t sure. She believed in her team, often called “Team Red.” She felt like she was in a bind. She asked them for advice, starting with her close friend in crime. “Ivy, what should I do?” Ivy was surprised. She didn’t think that her boss, of sorts, would ask for her help. Usually, it was the other way around. Carmen had led Team Red for years. “You should do this for her and try to bring her to the side of good.” Zack chimed in. “Yeah, sis, you are so right! She can’t be all on the side of…evil.” Player grumbled when hearing the conversation between them. He didn’t really like being around people, like Reagan. He’d rather be sitting in front of a computer screen by himself, in his room, a dark cave only lit by the light emanating from his computer screens. Carmen could see Player’s apprehension on his face and moved over to him. In the meantime, Zack and Ivy argued about the difference between “good” and “evil.” Carmen wanted to check up on Player. “Are you ok?” she asked. He shook his head.

While people would reply “Sure” or “Yes,” he decided to tell her the truth. He whispered to her, “no, I’m not. I need to get on a computer if…we are going to do this.” She understood. She began walking away from Zack and Ivy. She told them to stay put. “I’m gonna help Player get a computer here…which they are bound to have…to help us with this mission.” Zack and Ivy were ok with that. She and Player began walking around the halls until she came across a door labeled “War Room.” She guessed that they might have a computer inside. Busy with helping Player, she didn’t even recognize the familiar voice. She quickly opened the door. “Does anyone have a computer…a…,” Player then interjected, “a clean room so I can do my hacking to help Carmen here…with this theft.” Gigi, Brett, Glenn, Dr. Andre, and Magic Myc were eating lunch at their weirdly shaped table. Eying her outfit, Gigi exclaimed, “come in, Ms. snappy dresser…dang, you look fine!” She said this, even though she recognized her as Carmen Sandiego. Glenn kept snarfing down his lunch, not really looking toward her, and Dr. Andre kept smoking his chemtrails. Magic Myc asked, “let me read your mind” as he began extending one of his tentacles. Carmen backed away and tried to be nice about it. “No thanks…Mr…uh…mushroom man.” Brett got up and walked toward her. He was the only one who wanted to introduce himself to Carmen in a “normal” way. “Hi, I’m Brett Hand, what’s your name?” She answered sheepishly, “Carmen Sandiego…and this is my friend, Player…Reagan put us on this mission…” Before she could say anything, Reagan came into the room like she knew the conversation was happening and was annoyed she hadn’t been part of it.

“Can you leave MY new…asset…alone?” she said, dumbfounding everyone. When did Reagan ever have an asset other than them? Who was this woman anyway? At that moment, Carmen felt grateful for Reagan being there, although she still wasn’t sure if she could trust her. Reagan went a step further and exclaimed, “get her what she and her…friend…needs…this mission is important to me.” Gigi, Brett, Glenn, Andre, and Myc nodded their heads in agreement. Brett led Player to an isolated room where he could engage in hacking of information systems to help Carmen with her theft from the LGR. Without wanting to embarrass herself, Carmen exclaimed, “I’ll be…getting that silver patriot jewel for you” and began walking the other way. Gleeful, Reagan replied, “thanks a million! We will coordinate what we can from here.”

Right after Carmen left the room, Gigi turned to Reagan. She said, loudly, “what are you doing bringing a nice thing like her around here? It’s like she could be…” Guessing what Gigi would say next, Reagan rolled her eyes and added the word “girlfriend” afterward. That wasn’t what Gigi was thinking. she messed with Reagan a little bit. “So, you really like this woman, do you?” Reagan’s cheeks got warm and reddish. She didn’t know what to tell Gigi. She breathed in and answered firmly. “It’s all part of the plan. Whether I like her or not is not relevant.” Brett jumped to her defense, as a caring and sensitive person. He didn’t want an argument in the office. They needed to stick together. “Now, now, let’s simmer down now…Reagan can love anyone she wants…even this Carmen Sandiego fellow if she wants…that’s her business.” Reagan was on board with what Brett said. Glenn had left the room to test his arsenal of new weapons and Myc had gone to read people’s minds. Andre remained. “You two look cute together,” he said, clearly very high. Reagan shook her head.

Unfortunately for her, Carmen had overheard the whole conversation and she felt even more uneasy. The person she was working for…liked her? What was she supposed to do now? The only thing she knew how to do was to complete her mission. That was what she had to do. She put all her feelings aside and focused on the task ahead. Breathing deeply, she put in her earpiece and heard a familiar voice on the other end. “Red, are we ready for this?” Carmen was glad to hear that Player hadn’t been harmed. No one at Cognito seemed intent on harming her or anyone on Team Red. She replied, matter-of-factly, “yes, Player, we are. Everything is in place.” She didn’t want to ask Player if he was ok. She believed that a person from that shadowy organization would be listening. She had to use her words very carefully.

An unmarked van pulled up outside of Cognito. A masked woman threw Carmen, Ivy, and Zack inside, then sped off. Back in the war room, Glenn looked at the monitors with concern. “Reagan, we have a problem.” She laughed. She had contingencies in place if anything like this occurred. She knew what they had to do. “Call in the assassins,” she told him. He feigned ignorance. What people did she mean? He was confused. “Reagan, what do you mean?” She grumbled. How could it be that hard? Didn’t anyone remember them? “I mean I.M.P., those demons I worked with to try and off my dad…the ones we met last week.” Glenn knew who she meant. He liked those demons. They were the best assassins he had ever seen. Picking up a telephone, he typed in the number 1-800-TO-HELL. A phone line had been established from Cognito to Hell for this very occasion. Those in Hell were so cheap they got a 1-800 number rather than a direct line.

At the I.M.P. headquarters, a tired Hellhound answered the phone. “Hello, this is I.M.P. Now, what the hell do you want?” Glenn tried to answer carefully. He wanted to make sure these assassins would do their job. He also did not want to offend them. “I’m Glenn Dolphman from Cognito and I’d like you to kill…a couple humans.” Loona vaguely remembered that name. It didn’t come to her at first. Then she remembered who they were: humans who ran a shadow organization on the surface. They gave her the creeps. “Sorry…we don’t take requests from humans…or dolphins.” The line disconnected. Glenn got up out of his chair in a rage. He couldn’t believe what she had said to him. No one turned him down! He complained to Reagan. “That damn woman hung up on me!” Reagan half-guessed this would happen. She knew what to do. She picked up the phone and dialed the same number. She got the same response from Loona.

“I know you might want to hang up,” she began, “but I’m willing to pay a generous sum,” she continued. Loona considered it. She said, tentatively, “hold one moment please.” She put down the phone and grabbed Blitzo. She looked at him, utterly terrified. “It's those Cognito people again…led by that lady who had us kill her dad.” Blitzo remembered. He didn’t want anyone to hurt his precious Loona. He would never let that happen. He started speaking into the phone. “Can you guarantee our safety?” Reagan chuckled. She was willing to give them all and everything she wanted if they never entered Cognito itself. She wanted to, paradoxically enough, keep their secrets. “Yes. And I’ll even get you a base to set up a permanent headquarters on the Earth's surface…you are the best assassins in the business, right?” Blitzo couldn’t argue with that. He smiled. Everything was on the up and up. “It’s a pleasure doing business you miss…” She then remarked, “just call me Reagan.”

Blitzo remembered that name from before. He wanted an answer to one question. What was their mission and why was she asking them? “Ok, Reagan, what’s the target?” She laughed haughtily. She almost screamed out the name. She would have a chance to get rid of it forever and not have any regrets. “The LGR…the Ladies of the Great Rebellion…in downtown D.C.” Blitzo had no idea what building she meant, and he didn’t care. If they were paid well and got rid of the people they were supposed to, he could care less about a stinking building. Besides, they were assassins. What could go wrong?

On another side of the city, the unmarked van came to a stop. Carmen, Ivy, and Zack looked at one another. A woman with a greenish sock mask opened the vehicle’s two back doors. She easily picked them up by their clothes and hurled them onto the sidewalk. “Sayonara, suckers!” the woman exclaimed. She slammed the doors, then hopped into the driver’s seat and sped away. Carmen, Ivy, and Zack were puzzled. What had just happened? Who was that woman? They had no idea. That didn’t matter now. What Zack saw next made him shiver. He pointed at the placard above the door. “Uh, guys, we are at the…LGR.”

Ivy was worried. Was the masked woman working for Reagan? Or had she brought them there for another reason? Carmen put all that aside and realized they had a job to do. Her feelings were irrelevant, she believed. Instead, she saw this heist as necessary to protect her team. That is what truly mattered to her. “We have to get this silver patriot jewel…so, let’s get going, team!” Ivy and Zack were less than enthusiastic. They decided to follow her need regardless. They hoped that this would end well for them.

As they began their mission, Reagan, back at Cognito, received a text. It was from a person labeled “green hands girl” in her phone. Flipping her phone over, she saw what it said: “Op Red is a go.” She smiled. Everything was going as planned. She quickly typed back a response, “Be on standby. Initiate Op NPC if necessary.” She quickly received a response: “Acknowledged.” She snickered and began to laugh maniacally. Since she sat in the chair in her office away from everyone else, no one else saw her actions, or knew her plan.

Carmen entered the dimly lit library with anticipation. Only a lone security guard patrolled the halls, checking to make sure if anyone was there as he whistled to himself. If she had been there in the daytime, the researchers would be fast working, under deadlines from their bosses who wanted them to work faster and faster on complicated forms. Even though they had the technology for everything to be digital, their members were mostly elderly White ladies. All the changes had to be made by hand, scanned in, turned into digital documents, then printed out. The process could be confusing and bureaucratic. The bosses shouted orders and declared that the workers were not being productive enough. At the same time, they kept on workers who were so incompetent that they would have failed the rigorous tests given to new employees.

Reagan had been one of those people. She had the naive idea that her passion for learning more about her past could be a skill that she could use in a job. She created ways to track her progress as a new employee, hoping she could use it to show how much work she had done. To make matters worse, her bosses, a 30-something woman, who had a book on Asperger's on her work desk, and a man in his forties, turned these tools against her. Despite this, she remained optimistic that everything would be fine and that she would be ok. When she walked to a nearby park often filled with onlookers playing with flying disks, walking their dogs, or other fun activities, she continued to reassure herself about her self-worth. She would rather read a book, decompress, and talk to herself than have any “friends.” She often wore an earpiece to make it look like she was talking to another person while she talked to herself. She survived through it all.

She enjoyed her job on a level despite the soul-crushing labor. She even got a travel stipend, riding the subway from a suburb outside town. She lived in a crowded hovel with six other people, a place clearly meant for far fewer. She loved the cash. She used to shop at a gourmet food store and buy artisan sweet bread every week. She could walk to work, past museums, nonprofits, a building looking like a pastry gone wrong. Other people couldn’t do that. She loved it all, even her coworkers. Still, she felt so alone, like these co-workers didn’t care about her at all. Instead, they cared about inane topics which never interested her.

One day around 3:30 PM, she came back from the bathroom. The workspace was empty. She wondered where everyone was. She got a call on her work phone. It told her to come into the office. She did as she was told, marching herself in, like a dutiful worker. There were signs before this that things weren’t going well. She had met with her bosses, who told her to pick up the pace and work more “efficiently.” She said she was trying. They wanted more and they wanted it faster. She tried her best, but it wasn’t good enough. When she walked into that office, the HR director handed her a paper, and explained that her position was being terminated. She read over the letter carefully, explaining why they thought she should no longer be working at the LGR, handing her last paycheck, and letting her keep her paltry retirement account.

After tidying up her desk and handing in her badge, she walked out the building for the last time. Her boss told her to “have a good life” and that this job was “not a good fit” for her. She walked down the street shamefully, back to the subway station, and her hovel. If she had a more supportive family, she would have called them without delay. She would have said that the LGR had fired her and cried while sitting on a chair on the porch of the hovel where she was staying, wondering what she could do and why this happened to her, of all people. If that had happened, her mom and her dad would have comforted her, calming her down and making her feel better about herself. She then would have left the next day like nothing ever happened and toured around the museums in the nation’s capital. Later, she would have told her landlord that she couldn’t stay at the hovel anymore. He would have understood and let her shorten her stay. Her parents would have picked her up and taken her home.

None of that happened for Reagan. She had no support network and no one looking out for her. She knew enough to not trust her father. Even so, she had no choice but to reach out to him. She called her father. “Dad, can I work at Cognito?” She could almost hear him grinning through the phone. “Yes, Reagan, I thought you’d never ask.” He didn’t even mention her earlier job. It didn’t matter. She wanted to forget it. She’d rather start another job instead. Now that she had control of Cognito, she could do what she wanted all along. She could get back at the fuckers who fired her. They would experience what it was like to be lonely, depressed, unemployed, and alienated. They needed to feel her pain.

Inside the LGR, Carmen quickly approached the glass case surrounding the silver patriot jewel. Unlike other museums, this jewel did not have the same security systems. She easily cut through the glass and snagged the jewel. The security guard had been knocked out with a rag dipped in chloroform by Ivy, while Zack remained as a lookout. She began speaking into her earpiece. “Player, we got the item.” He responded carefully. He didn’t want to say anything which could hurt Carmen. Unknowingly, their conversation put her in jeopardy. “Red, congrats. I’ll let you…” The transmission began to be interrupted with static. The next words she heard made her chill in fear. “Red…they are trying to kill you…a rocket is heading your way.” When she tried to speak to him again, all she heard was static. She wasn’t sure if he was right, until she heard a window smash and saw the rocket screaming toward her. She quickly grabbed Zack and dashed out of the room, just before an explosion engulfed the LGR library in flames. Ivy joined up with Carmen and Zack who were running out of the building as quickly as they could. They were afraid for all their lives.

A few rooftops away, a reddish-skinned demon cackled. It was Millie. Still holding the bazooka on her shoulder, she smiled with glee. She had thrown Molotov cocktails, used various firearms, and a battle ax, but never a weapon like this. “Isn’t it beautiful, Mox!” she exclaimed, as she held him close by. He smiled and whispered “yeah, it’s great.” He then shrugged her off. He didn’t want anything distracting him from his focus. He used the sniper rifle to focus on two individuals getting into a car, doing exactly what Reagan had predicted. As soon as they entered the vehicle, he fired off a single shot. The bullet had been specially designed to go through any surface and explode upon impact with gasoline. It accelerated through the air at an incredible speed. The unsuspecting people never knew what hit them. In an instant, their car exploded and the two people were incinerated. Moxxie was ecstatic! He rubbed noses with his favorite demon. He was more relaxed now that the job had been finished, or so he believed. “Aw, you cute Angel of Death…you were great today” he told her. Millie reciprocated, happily. Loona would have loved this if she had been with them.

Blitzo rolled his eyes. He wasn’t a person who liked public displays of affection, especially when they weren’t done here. He angrily snarled. “Take your love fest somewhere else…we still have to finish the job.” He took the bazooka from Millie, who willingly gave him the weapon. She saw no use for it at that point. He aimed it at the LGR building. A rocket flew out and toward the main power generator of the building, causing it to explode. The flames traveled through the air vents, with fire engulfing the building and the nearby music hall. “That’s how you do it,” he told them. He took out a phone and typed the words “It’s done.” He then took out a fancy book, an arcane spellbook belonging to Stolas which allowed them to travel between the human world and Hell. Opening the pages, it created a portal, which the three of them stepped into. They were on their way back to I.M.P. headquarters, feeling triumphant. Even so, Moxxie was slightly peeved at how dismissive Blitzo had been.

While I.M.P. had left, they had only been partly successful. Although the LGR was on fire and two people had been killed, Carmen, Zack, and Ivy were still alive. The two people had been an important part of Reagan’s life: her bosses when she worked at the LGR. One was his direct supervisor, a woman named Zabith Infierno, and her boss, a man named Aril Ilitar. When Reagan heard they were dead and gone, it felt like a weight had been lifted. No longer could they mess with her thoughts and be part of her life. She could even use the services at Cognito to forget all the memories she had of that awful workplace. She grumbled at the fact that Carmen and her team remained alive, as a text from “green hands girl” informed her. She wrote back three simple words: “Initiate Op NPC.” The woman stepped out of her van and stashed her phone in her pocket. She snuck up on Carmen, Zack, and Ivy, who were caught off guard in their weakened state. She easily knocked them all out, dragging them inside her gray van. She took off Carmen’s trademark red hat and coat, fancying herself in the same clothes. She placed small computer chips on each of their foreheads, which blinked in succession. Cackling, she said, ominously, “Carmen Sandiego, you have no idea what’s coming, do you?”

Not long after, Carmen, Zack, and Ivy arrived at Cognito, Inc., taken inside by their captor. No one paid them any mind as she brought them straight to Reagan’s office and took the bags off their heads. “I’ve brought the miscreants here…into this super creepy place.” Reagan smiled. She didn’t expect to meet a woman she called the “green hands girl.” Unlike with Carmen, she genuinely felt attracted to this woman, although what the woman said about Cognito annoyed her a little. She even addressed her by name. “That will be all…Shego.” Hearing her name, Shego looked intently at Reagan. She had wanted to see Reagan, one of the first clients for her new firm, Green Hands Girl Enterprise, a contracting group which took mercenary jobs. She thought that Reagan, and Cognito could be an end to her one-off jobs since she had become “good.” She could be a forever client! She came up with something on the spot. “This place you have is…uh…rad…let me show how these neuro-compliance clips work.” She belted out a command: “WALK FORWARD.” Carmen, Zack, and Ivy followed her command mindlessly. They could remember and see what was happening to them. However, they could do nothing to stop it. Reagan was impressed. With such a device, Cognito could easily put anyone she wanted under her control. What impressive power to have.

“Shego, these devices are great. You can start as one of our field agents, at once! You can make sure that people don’t figure out about our…conspiracies.” Nervously twirling her hair, Reagan then added, “uh, let’s hang out sometime.” Shego was surprised to hear that. She chuckled and added, “anytime, Ray-gun…see you on the flip side…I gotta blast on outta here!” As she said that, her green energy concentrated in her hands, and she blew a hole in the wall, followed by flips outside the building and onto the ground below. The damage to the building made her slightly angry. However, she was overjoyed to meet another woman who was the same age as her and could help Cognito accomplish its goals. It was a win-win. Coming into the executive suite which she now occupied since she had taken care of her father, she sat down behind a desk. She relaxed in a comfortable leather chair. She pressed a button on the desk and two guards appeared in her room, holding Carmen, Zack, and Ivy. She directed the guards to bring these miscreants to the re-conditioning room on level 7. The guards complied and took them away. Their fate, and that of Player, remained in the balance.

Just then, Gigi burst into her room. “Reagan, we have an emergency. People are beginning to ask questions about the explosion at the Ladies of the Great Rebellion and the killing of those two people. I’d like your advice.” Reagan shrugged. She tried to reassure Gigi. “Do what you do best. Spin and manipulate the news, blame anyone else for the actions.” Scratching her head, an idea immediately came to her. After remembering the day’s news, she suggested, “blame it on Russia. Nowadays anyone will believe that they are behind anything. People are so damn gullible and pliable, it's too easy to convince them of bullshit.” A smile went across Gigi’s face. She appreciated the support. There is nothing better than for your supervisor, and your friend, to believe in you. “Thanks so much, Reagan!” Grinning, Reagan added, “not a problem!”

After Gigi left, Reagan slumped into her chair. She had enough social interaction for the day. She hated that phrase “not a problem” but it slipped out. She thought it was an annoying phrase that goofballs used. The book How to be a Badass Female Boss by Dijonay Jones, now the head of Dijonay Industries, had told her that phrases like that would get coworkers to respect you. So, she tried it. Reagan wanted to take a rest after everything that had happened. She unveiled a huge television screen and tapped the controller. With some static, it turned on. The first channel she began watching had a breaking news report. It began just as she expected:

“Hi, this is Glock Rod. Two senior intelligence officials are telling NNC News that Russia is behind the heinous assaults of two outstanding citizens in Washington, D.C., and the bombing of the Ladies of the Great Rebellion in the downtown. Let’s cut now to an announcement from President Ridrump on the evolving crisis:

‘This is a cowardly act by the Russian government to strike fear into the hearts of the American people. I am sanctioning their intelligence apparatus…they will pay for what they have done and will suffer the pain of a thousand suns. No one stands up to America and…’

Reagan had heard enough. This type of jingoistic claptrap could convince anyone to do anything, even making people mindlessly support the blame of a whole group of people for an action committed by a country’s government. Utter poppycock. She flipped to the next channel.

“I’m Olf Litzer. We are hearing from government sources that Russia is behind this despicable act which strikes at the heart of American democracy. We mourn the deaths of Zabith Infierno, and Aril Ilitar. They will live in infamy…”

She clicked onto the next channel. It had reporting on the same issue, although had a different spin. The chyron at the bottom asked “CIA behind assassination? Unnamed source says YES.” The host wore a suave suit. He had hair that looked like it had gone through a blender and a washing machine at the same time. This host, named Rucker Narlygrin, claimed they had information no one else on any other channel had, an exclusive story:

“The rest of those other channels are saying it is Russia. We have the REAL scoop here. It was the CIA! An unnamed government source gave me intimate knowledge of the plans. It all makes sense. It’s clearly a false flag operation so that the government can institute martial law. I will never stand for such American tyranny. We are the land of the brave and don’t you ever forget that. I will die on the grave of American freedom with a flag stabbed through my heart!”

Reagan was a bit thrown by the last one. What was that guy even talking about? She had no clue. She knew that Gigi’s disinformation campaign and spin about the assassinations, and bombing, had been successful. No one would ever suspect that a group of demons, from the depths of hell, were behind it all. None of these pundits, half of whom were reptilian clones who served the Shadow Council, cared about the truth. All they wanted was money and more money. They would say anything to stay on the air and the public would eat it up, with lively debates on social media between those who believed Russia was behind the attack and those who believed it was the CIA. They had fostered this discord and Reagan couldn’t be prouder. In many ways, everything was going according to plan.

*********

Notes: Used “A.C.M.E. (2019),” “Carmen Sandiego (2019 character),” “Player (2019 character)” on the Carmen Sandiego wiki, “Loona,” “I.M.P.,” “Millie,” “Moxxie,” on the Hazbin Hotel wiki, and Neuro-compliance chip page on Kim Possible Wiki, Reagan Ridley page on Inside Job Wiki. This story is slightly inspired, in one part, by real events.

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lefemmerougewriter · 2 years

Text

Reagan's Revenge Scheme and the Assassins from Hell

This is the first part of my series, The Cognito Files. This is set right after the end of Part 1 of Inside Job. I love both series so much that I couldn't resist writing this. In sum, I wrote this for fun and am seriously considering making this a series. Although, I haven't decided whether it will continue to be a Helluva/Inside Job crossover or not, but I'm leaning towards a continued crossover of both. If you are interested in that, please let me know in a comment. If you have any other suggestions on series that you'd like this story to crossover with, or you have any other comments/constructive criticisms, feel free to leave a comment as well. This fic as graphic dipictions of violence, just be aware.

Friendships: Reagan Ridley & Brett Hand, Reagan Ridley & Rand Ridley, Blitzo & Moxxie

Words: 4.2

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34720408

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1254727529-the-cognito-files-reagan%27s-revenge-scheme-and-the

Summary: Reagan Ridley thought the Shadow Board would choose her to be the head of the shadowy government organization, Cognito, after the departure of J.R. Instead, they chose her toxic, gaslighting father as the CEO. Distraught and unsure of what to do, she is intrigued when she learns that the puppet president has been killed by an assassin. She then works with her team members to frame someone else as the assassin and find out who the real killers are. Once she meets them, she comes with the idea of getting rid of her dad, so she can gain the trust of the Shadow Board, allowing her to become the CEO in his place. Reagan is prepared to do the impossible to get her father out of her life, even if one of her close work confidantes is unsure about her scheme.

"You motherfucking snake!" Reagan shouted. She was angry. The Shadow Board was supposed to make HER the head of Cognito, not HIM. She had hoped that banning him from Cognito the previous day, after learning he had erased memories of her only friend in school, Orrin, and telling him to live somewhere else would do the trick. She had clearly underestimated him, which she regretted. Even so, she resolved to stay at Cognito. She remained hopeful she could eventually become the CEO one day, although she had no idea when that would happen.

Rand sighed. He still loved Reagan on some level. On the other hand, he would use any means possible to stay in power, even if involved wiping some of his daughter's memories. "Wait...Reagan...I," he began, before his daughter cut him off. After everything he had done to her, she couldn't trust him. She needed him to be out of her life. She needed to be done with him. "Fuck you. I want nothing to do with a gaslighting jerk like you." She huffed and walked out, marching to the War Room. Rand leaned back in his chair. His time as a paranoid conspiracy theorist had come to an end. Now, he could wield power with an iron fist.

Cursing under her breath, Reagan walked into the War Room. Gigi, Glenn, Andre, Nyc, and Brett were sitting around the triangle-shaped desk, bored, just like they were every day. She sat down in her chair and slumped onto the table. She couldn't take this anymore. She thought that maybe Bear-O was right about her. Brett, the only person on her team who consistently cared about her, was surprised to see her, since he thought she was the CEO. "Reagan, is everything ok? I thought you'd be in J.R.'s office." Reagan shook her head. She felt she owed them the truth, at least in this instance. "They chose my dad to be the CEO instead of me." Everyone was shocked. How could this happen? Nyc made a wise crack, saying "I knew that manipulative father of yours couldn't be trusted." Andre suddenly stopped smoking his pressure vessel full of chemtrails. He wanted to mess with her dad. "Fuck that guy." Glenn then thundered, "I'll blow up his office with a bomb!" While she appreciated the support, which she saw as strange. She wasn't aware they appreciated her more after watching the message she had recorded about them in her lab. What they said made her feel a little better, it didn't do a thing to rectify her situation. As Gigi began to open her mouth, about to make some sassy remark, one of the screens, a newscast, blared with a news alert. All of them stared at it in shock.

"The President has been shot! I repeat President Domp has been shot!" the announcer said frantically. She went onto say. "Today, when the President Domp was giving a speech on his plan to create a legion of dolphins which could shoot lasers, a bullet from an unknown assailant hit him straight in the forehead. Vice-President Melosi has taken on the duties of the Presidency." The TV crackled. She then added, "we can confirm that President Domp has been pronounced dead on the scene. The shooter is still at large."

Reagan cackled. She could use this to her advantage. "I know for sure that it wasn't anyone at Cognito who killed Domp. We can't let my dad know who really killed him...I say we frame Grassy Noel Atkinson for the assassination." Her co-workers weren't completely on board with this plan. Would she try and throw him under the bus, yet again? She tried to assuage their concerns. "We can always bring him back...and he will still be on the payroll...we need a fall guy...for now." This convinced people enough that she wouldn't attempt to get rid of him and fire him as a "cost-saving" measure. She began giving orders to everyone on her team. They were traveling to where the President had given his speech. "Gigi, convince people that Atkinson is the shooter using media manipulation. Nyc, we are going to need more of that memory-erasing liquid. Glenn, we will need lots of weapons. Andre, we need some drugs to sedate the security guards if they get in our way. And Brett, prepare the Shadow Copter." They all saluted her and went about their duties. Again, this seemed odd to her. She shrugged it off. She'd rather have loyal co-workers than ones who questioned her. This would be one of the hardest missions she, and team, had ever done. And everything depended on it. She hoped to prove herself to her dad and the Shadow Council, in hopes they would see her value.

She went to find Grassy Knoll Atkinson. She had to convince him to take the fall for the shooting. She nervously entered his office, if it could be called that. This could either go very well or very badly. "Hey, Atkinson, I have a big favor to ask of you." He looked up, still polishing the barrel of his antique rifle. He remembered her as the person who tried to can her, so he was a little skeptical. "Reagan, what it is this time?" She grumbled. She knew it would be a challenge to get him to do this for her. She would rather he agree than have Cognito to drag him of the building out kicking and screaming in protest. "Well...I'd like you to take the fall for the recent shooting of President Domp. Could you do that for me?" He chuckled. He thought she'd say he would be fired. He was getting old anyway, he wouldn't mind getting out of the business and retiring somewhere. "This is about getting back at your dad, right?" She nodded. She couldn't lie to him about that. He expected as much. He whispered to her, "I don't like the guy either, I don't trust him. I'll do it."

She smiled. She was glad that he was on board. "To not blow your cover, and so you can stay here at Cognito, you'll need a pseudonym...what name would you like?" He scratched his chin. He hadn't thought about it much. One name came to him. "How about Darryl Street?" That seemed innocent enough to her. She shook his hand. "That sounds good...Mr. Darryl Street." He snickered. Everything was going as planned. Her dad had no clue this plan was unfolding and had been kept completely in the dark.

A few hours passed. Everything was ready for their mission. Reagan, Brett, Glenn, and Andre jumped aboard the Shadow Copter, while Gigi stayed behind to coordinate the media manipulation. They needed to figure out who killed the President and why. Where Domp had been killed had been secured by Secret Service. Even so, would be no problem bypassing them. Brett used his White male privilege to fool the guards into moving out of the way, just as he had done with the robot president Reagan had made, while Reagan used a stun gun on each one. In no time at all, they made it to the event room, where they found everyone in the room was dead, lying on the floor and bleeding, including the President. This seemed odd. Who could have committed such carnage?

Reagan then overheard some heated voices between people who seemed to be arguing. One voice said "why did you kill him? Our client told us to scare him, not shoot him in the head!" Another snarled and shouted, "he was a bad man. He sexually assaulted all those women. That type of behavior is unacceptable." As they all were arguing with one another, Reagan, Brett, and Andre snuck up on them, slipping behind the red curtain while Glenn secured the room to make sure there wasn't anyone else lurking. She pointed her gun at the head of a crimson skinned demon with white blotches on the right side of his face, and black-and-white striped horns. She hollered angrily, "Who the fuck are all of you and why are you here? Answer me!"

The demons were in a bind. They weren't prepared for this and after two of them had been captured by the D.H.O.R.K.S. organization, a group of humans which tracks paranormal activity, they feared the same thing would happen again. Although he had a gun pointed at his head, this didn't shock Blitzo. "What are you gonna do, lady? You gonna blow my head off? I'm friends with a demon prince who will fuck you up!" Reagan laughed heartily. Someone thought they could challenge her, of all people? Who were these punks? "I don't know who the heck you are and your...crew, but my dad runs an organization which can disappear ALL of you. Would you like humans to experiment on you? Because we WILL." Blitzo gulped. Usually Moxxie, Millie, or even Loona, would help. However, they tried to play it safe, hoping their boss wouldn't get hurt. Their guns were raised, as well, at Reagan. Brett had his gun aimed at Moxxie and Andre had drugs ready to use if needed. Blitzo rolled his eyes. "What do you need from us, human scum?" he asked. She chuckled yet again. She might be able to use them to achieve her ends. Seeing them gave her a wild idea.

"Were you the ones that killed President Domp?" she asked inquisitively. Blitzo was unsure how to answer. Before he could say anything, Moxxie triumphantly declared, "I did it. That guy was a fucking misogynist pig. He had to go." Blitzo face palmed himself and shook his head. He knew Moxxie would spill the beans. Millie was more supportive. She held Moxxie's arm and said, "And I'd support him any day!" Loona, annoyed with everything, hoped to get out of there. She didn't like being on the surface for long, especially when Vortex wasn't there. She'd rather be in Hell. "Can we just let this lady and her friends leave and go on our merry way? I wanna go home." Blitzo sighed. He had to know what this woman's deal was and why she paid attention to them. "Fine. What do you need from us?" She laughed evilly and maniacally, that it even frightened the demons from Hell. They were the people she was looking for. "I need you to...kill my dad."

Blitzo, not Moxxie, Millie, or Loona had ever expected that. Could they even take a request from a human? They had only taken missions from demons and other beings in Hell to finish their "unfinished business." Could they really trust her? They didn't really have much choice. Blitzo had to decide on behalf of his company. "We'll do it. We are the Immediate Murder Professionals after all." She grinned. She appreciated their agreement. While meeting them had been unexpected, it could work out in her favor. "Great. Thank for your cooperation. I'll be in Greenway Park in a few hours and will bring my dad along. You are the professionals...figure out how to kill him in whatever way you feel fit." They nodded and went off on their way.

While Andre was too high to object and Glenn liked killing things, Brett wasn't so sure about this plan. He pulled her aside. "Uh, Reagan, are you sure about this? Do you really think your dad should be murdered?" She didn't know what to tell him. She couldn't trust her dad anymore and she needed him gone. She needed this toxicity out of her life. "I am. He was and is a psychopathic jerk to me. I don't need see him again, ever. He is what stands in my way from becoming CEO." Brett grumbled. He knew she was right. He secretly hoped she would change her mind, although there wasn't much hope of that happening at this point. So, he begrudgingly accepted her premise. "Ok, if this goes sour, remember that I told you so." Little did Brett know, but Reagan had a trick up her sleeve, when it came to her dad's death, in case he tried to do anything sneaky.

Later that day, Reagan and the team returned to Cognito. She went into her dad's office, while her other team members returned to the War Room. They were supposed to start working again. Instead, they messed around, doing their own things. Glenn would test out new weapons, Andre would smoke drugs, and Brett would sit at the table with Nyc, who made snarky comments toward him. Opening the door to her dad's office, the lights had been turned off. She entered tentatively and nervously. "Dad, can we go to Greenway Park? I'd like to talk about some...things!" There was a long awkward pause. A voice replied. "Certainly, Reagan, that sounds smashing!" This made her wary of him. Why would her dad talk to her like that?

Then, the voice added "I'm kidding, Reagan, let's go." She seemed a bit more convinced now. She told him to wait a second so she could go into the War Room. She told everyone on her team that she had suspicions about her dad. She instructed them to get to the cloning room to make sure her dad wasn't there. Glenn and Brett agreed to go, while Reagan brought her dad out of the building.

After a short drive, they arrived at Greenway Park. After both stepped out of the car, her dad exclaimed, "what nice summer breeze. I love this time of year!" Reagan wasn't sure what to make of his behavior. Why would he comment on the weather? Those things never seemed to matter to him. That didn't deter her. She had to get this over with. She sat at a bench; the same one she had sat on with Bryan Jacobsen earlier that year. She tried to strike up a conversation to act like she was being genuine. "Hey dad, I'd like to apologize for calling you some mean words earlier today. I didn't mean them." Her dad smiled. He patted her on the shoulder and remarked, "It's okay Reagan, I accept your apology."

At that very moment, the Moxxie focused his sniper scope on Reagan's dad, specifically on his head. Having him in his sights, he pulled the trigger. The bullet moved at an incredible speed and when it hit the skull of Reagan's dad, the head exploded like a grenade. Brain matter, skin, and blood went everywhere. In an instant, blood covered the the bench, part of Reagan's head, and some of her clothes. She was in shock. She couldn't believe this happened or that she had gone this far. Had she made a mistake? She mulled it over to herself. Was she still a good person? She wasn't sure anymore.

On the roof, Blitzo gave Moxxie a high-five. "Good job, Mox. Now, let's go home." Both could agree on that. He, Blitzo, Loona, and Millie stepped into the portal to Hell. Whether they would return or not would depend on if she ever gave them any missions in the future.

Quickly getting over her shock, she saw letters imprinted on the neck. It said two words: "CLONE #435617." She slammed her hand angrily on the bench. She couldn't believe her dad would do this to her. She opened up her phone and said "I need a cleanup team. Destroy Greenway Park." As she walked away, with her blood-stained clothes, the headless clone laid on the bench, its blood continuing to pour across the bench.

She walked to her car and opened the driver's side door. She knew where her dad was: at Cognito. He was probably laughing himself silly. She KNEW she would do this. It was like him to mess with her this way. As she drove away, a black plane flew overhead and dropped a bomb, incinerating Greenway Park. A ground team entered, taking the remains of the clone away. The team on the ground used a device which wiped memories of the park from everyone in the city, except those in Cognito. Another plane came in and dropped another park, just like the old one, in its place, naming it "Greenglen Park."

No one, apart from Reagan and those at Cognito, would ever know that the park had changed. Probably the demons from Hell could even tell if they returned to the park.

Reagan walked into Cognito, still furious. As she began walking to the War Room, Brett came running toward her. He saw her blood-stained clothes and told her, "Uh, your dad, he's...still alive." She stamped her foot. She knew that "dad" she brought to the park had been suspicious. She groaned. "Where is he?" she asked, exasperated. Brett answered her matter-of-factly. "He's in the cloning chamber, the same place that you did those memory experiments, where we tried to figure out about that code for Bear-O." She understood. She followed him into the room.

The room had somehow been fixed up since the fight the other day between Bear-O and the evil robot president, like nothing had happened. Glenn was in there too. "I wanted to leave him alive until you arrived, so you could decide what to do with him," he told her. That had been a good instinct on his part. He hadn't counted on Reagan being so tenacious. He was submerged in the glass tube, which had also been repaired, and connected to a machine. She told Glenn to guard the room, while she told Brett to pull her out of the tank in two minutes. She knew what she had to do. She had to make him experience what he had done to her. She saw that as fitting revenge for everything he had done to her. Some would call her cruel or say it was going too far. She believed that what she was about to do was clearly the right course of action. With Brett’s help, she was able to enter the tube, alongside her dad.

She entered her dad's mind. She saw him trying to repair memories and fix the damage he had caused inside his mind. "Reagan, what are you doing here?" She shook her head. She didn't tell him the true reason she was there. So, she made up a response on the spot. "I saw you in this tank and I thought I'd join you." He wasn't convinced. He knew she was hiding something. He moved a few steps backward. "Spit it out. Why are you REALLY here?"

Reagan chuckled. Even though she was in his mind, she could imagine anything. She thought long and hard and she imagined a Brain-Eraser-Bomb or BEB for short. She held it in her hands. She armed it and the countdown began. "I'm sorry dad. You have been so terrible to me. I need to have closure." Her dad looked worryingly at the bomb, halfway through its countdown. He knew exactly what she was trying to do: damage his memory beyond repair.

He pleaded with her to reconsider. "Reagan, why? I always loved you, you know that." She looked at him, angrily. She couldn't stand his gaslighting, his manipulation, and him as a person. She had grown tired of him. "You are a manipulative asshole, dad. I can't put it up for any longer. And I have to let you go. It's time to move on." She then waved, as she disappeared from his brain. She then said "bye!" She got out of the tank, helped by Brett. Her dad, still inside his mind, desperately tried to disarm the bomb. It was too late. The explosion obliterated his memories, and his mind, making it a blank slate, with no memories whatsoever.

Brett looked worryingly at the readout. "There's no brain activity from your dad. He is...brain-dead." Reagan acted like she was concerned and worked to pull her dad out of the tube, with Brett helping her. Her dad looked around, confused of where he was. He tried to ask questions, but Reagan shushed him. She told Brett and Glenn to return to the War Room. They agreed, although they were unsure what Reagan intended on doing with her dad. Glenn whispered to Brett, telling him to let Reagan deal with her own problems. He accepted that rationale for now, and both began walking away.

Reagan walked her dad through the Cognito building and out the front door. Once outside, she whipped out her phone and said, "I need an extraction team." Two men came out of nowhere and grabbed up her dad, taking him away to who knows where. She walked back inside, triumphantly. She had gotten what she had desired. Her dad was finally gone.

She walked into her dad's office to finally get the promotion she felt she deserved. As soon as she entered, a hologram of the Shadows appeared, frightening her a bit. She hadn't expected them to be there so soon. "It is a pleasure to see you, esteemed Shadow Board." One of the shadows began to speak. "Reagan Ridley. We are contacting you today to convey an important message. We wish to inform you of your new position: CEO of Cognito. After what we saw today, we know you have what it takes to be the head of this organization." She bowed. She knew they would come around, one day. Nothing stood in her way.

Reagan made her case for becoming CEO. "Thank you, Shadow Council. I will serve you dutifully. My dad was unhinged and out of control. He was a liability to this company, and I had to do what was necessary to make sure we were not exposed to prying eyes. I can lead Cognito without fail." Another member of the Shadow Board stepped forward. What he said was meant to try to reassure her in any way possible. The Board had to make sure she was ready to be CEO. "We apologize for saying you were not ready for the position earlier today. And while we have not filled the Shadow Board's vacancy, it is paramount to make sure someone competent is leading Cognito and you are one of those people, clearly. Best of luck, Reagan Ridley. The Shadow Board will always be watching."

The hologram disappeared. She felt relieved. The day had not gone how she had planned. Even so, her goal of becoming CEO had been achieved.

She took off her blood-stained coat and threw it in the garbage can. She reached in the room's closet and grabbed one of the grey suits, putting it on instead. This made it a power suit of sorts. She pressed a button. She began speaking in a message which broadcast holographically across Cognito, whether into the offices of the War Room or any of the organization's many departments:

"As of now, I, Reagan Ridley, am the new CEO of Cognito. This will be a new chapter in the history of this organization. We will be a place that cares about our workers. You will get generous bonuses and benefits, I can guarantee that, with more money for media manipulation, warmaking, and to expand our ranks. I will remain open to your suggestions. Thank you."

In the War Room, Brett, Glenn, Gigi, Andre, and Nyc cheered. They were glad for Reagan, even though Brett had questions about what she had done with her father. He put those aside. He saw her as a person with a good heart, even though she now headed a shadow government organization. He believed in his heart that she wouldn't do anything unethical. Whether his belief remained true or not, based on what had transpired that day, would remain to be seen.

Meanwhile, Stolas, sitting in his lush mansion, heard his phone ringing. He answered it, unsure of who it would be, since had nothing as fancy as Caller ID, or any of that jazz. "Stolas Residence. Who might this be?" A voice on the other end paused. The Shadows had been watching him, observing how ruthless he could be. And considering his role and position in Hell's society, as a demon of Aras Goetia and a Prince, they were optimistic about his candidacy. "Mr. Stolas, I am a representative of the Shadow Board. We would like to offer you a seat on the council." He raised an eyebrow. He had no idea who this council was. Why had he been chosen? He tried to play it cool. "Sounds great. Please send me the appropriate information." The voice stopped. He could hear the person he talked to snickering. It worried him a little. The voice continued, adding, "You will hear from the Shadows soon, Mr. Stolas. We are always watching," before the line disconnected.

Stolas was unsure what to make of the whole interaction. He hoped it was positive. Maybe it could help him to rise higher in the Hell hierarchy. He remained optimistic, believing this Shadow Board would help him achieve his goals.

As for Reagan, she was unaware of the innumerable challenges which lay ahead for her as Cognito CEO, involving those from Earth and those from other planets.

**********

Notes: I used some information from pages on the Hazbin Hotel fandom site, along with the Wikipedia pages for Inside Job and Helluva Boss series. This is the third fan fic for this series, from what I am aware, with another one being a gay fan fic with Reagan and Brett, which is cool, and one an explicit rape fic (why?). I would have rated this story "mature," but I know from experience that AO3 would age-restrict this story. As a result, I rated it a Teen and Up instead. Whether you think Reagan went too far in this story or not, I could definitely see Reagan as striking back at her dad, although I'm not sure she would choose this method.

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