InvestiGators: Take the Plunge

InvestiGators: Take the Plunge

Author
John Patrick Green

Illustrator
John Patrick Green

Published on
September 29, 2020

Publisher
First Second BooksMacmillian

**"InvestiGators: Take the Plunge"** is the 2nd book of the InvestiGators' series. It was released on September 29, 2020.

Synopsis
**Sewer-loving secret agents Mango and Brash are plunged into a new mystery—and a BIG mess—in John Patrick Green's hilarious adventure-packed graphic novel, InvestiGators: Take the Plunge.**
S.U.I.T. headquarters is under attack, and Mango and Brash are going undercover and underground disguised as city sewer workers to unclog a sticky situation. But when their search for the criminal Crackerdile backfires, the toilets they travel through back up—and the InvestiGators take the blame for it!
Can Mango and Brash restore their good name and put the real culprit behind bars before the whole city is in deep water?

Main Characters* Mango
* Brash
* General Inspector
* B Team
* Crackerdile
* Prime Robot

Minor Characters* Bill Plungerman
* Monocle
* Head Scientist
* Sally Addison
* Thomas Morrow

Plot
Chapter 1
Mango and Brash are contacted by the General Inspector about a rocket that had exploded from the Opera House and that the duo had to stop and deactivate it. Turns out, the Gators were already on the case! And on the rocket. The G.I. then congrats the Gators for being so quick and then explains that the rocket they are on contains a code known as a combinotron, which could be dangerous, depending on how it's used. The combinotron code is able to combine several items together to create a whole new creation. So for example, if a pair of shoes combined with some wheels, it will turn into roller skates, which are cool and fun! However, if lollipops were combined with broccoli, it would ruin candy, which is bad!
C-ORB briefly interrupts the G.I. by mentioning that its going on a mission of its own. Mango is happy to hear it but Brash tells him to focus his attention on the mission, to which the General Inspector agrees.
And so, Brash proceeds to open a hatch and press a red button to deactivate it. But nothing happened. Then he realised that he had pressed the wrong button and makes a correct push on an identical red button. With that settled, he and Mango jump off the rocket with parachutes before it explodes! But little did they know, the rocket had transmitted the code into one of the Science Factory's radar dishes which goes through the vacant laboratory and into a robot.

Chapter 2
We cut to Cici Boringstories reporting live at the scene where the Opera House had been destroyed by the rocket coming out from a secret rocket base beneath it, luckily a trombonist and violinist (Mango and Brash in disguises) had destroyed the rocket carrying the combinotron code.
Meanwhile, Crackerdile is watching this news interview and mocking the Gators and wishing he had that code in his hands, if he had that combinotron code he could've combined himself with something much stronger, like wood, brick or metal. Then he could finally get rid of the InvestiGators and have his revenge. Without their V.E.S.T.s, they'd just be normal alligators, just like how Crackerdile was once a normal crocodile. If only he too had a V.E.S.T., then he'd be evenly matched against those Gators and as a former agent, he knows exactly how to get to S.U.I.T. headquarters- via the sewers! He could break in, steal a V.E.S.T., and have all the gadgets it contains at his disposal! But that's easier said then done. In his original cracker condition, it's too much of a risk to take. Crackerdile would get drenched from trying to sneak in through the toilets.
So instead of getting a V.E.S.T. for himself, he decides to form his own team to oppose S.U.I.T. They'll call it... the Opposuits! Oh wait, that name's already taken by an opposum ska band. What's the point of a team without a good name? What about... The Blazers! Whose mission is the **T**otal **A**nnihalation of **I**diot **L**aw-doers! The **BLAZER T.A.I.L.s!** While Crackerdile was still pondering his very clever team name, C-ORB is spying on him and Crackerdile notices and snatches the spy-ball! He takes it away and decides to make C-ORB his first member of his evil team and the key to getting him a new V.E.S.T.!

Chapter 3
The next morning, the Gators are seen at a diner getting breakfast, until they are interrupted by a message from the General Inspector to head to S.U.I.T HQ immediately. The two rush towards the bathroom but are stopped by a Code S.O.U.P. warning, meaning that the secret passageways to S.U.I.T. including the sewers are temporarily locked. So the Gators have to get there through other methods like taking the subway and riding a boat. Brash also has to eat his chilaquiles during the montage.

Chapter 4
We cut to the Science Factory, where we see the Head Scientist greeting his fellow doctors along the hallway. He's working on his latest invention, Prime Robot, and notices strange coding in his hugging subroutine until he's spooked by an anaconda. The botanist, Sally Addison, hears the Head Scientist's screams and checks to see that he has been tangled by the snake and needs assistance. The Head Scientist tells her to get the serpentologist Thomas Morrow to deal with the snake. Sally shouts for him multiple times until he arrives and retrieves his snake. After that commotion, the Head Scientist introduces the two other doctors to Prime Robot, who's built to simulate real human interaction like hugging. Once Prime Robot is turned on, he attempts to hug Dr. Morrow before lightning appears on his robotic claws. Sally unplugs him and he begins to shut down and wobble off onto the floor into pieces. Sally and Thomas just laugh Prime Robot off as a joke and leave, with the Head Scientist feeling bummed out about his failed invention.

Chapter 5
Finally, inside S.U.I.T. headquarters, Mango and Brash arrive to see the General Inspector instead of C-ORB. He introduces them to Agent Monocle, who built C-ORB and monitors the robot's activity. She informs the Gators about what happened to C-ORB, explaining that it's been kidnapped by Crackerdile and lost contact. She and the General Inspector believe that Crackerdile plans to break into headquarters, and since he's a former agent he would know the many secret passageways to get there, hence the Code S.O.U.P. and sealing off the sewer systems.
Although C-ORB's tracking device had been disabled, Monocle still knows its last recorded location before it was turned off. So it's up to Mango and Brash to retrieve C-ORB and if possible, capture Crackerdile! Brash suggests that they could flush the sewers since Crackerdile is still made of regular cracker dough, so even a little bit of water should be enough to stop him. While flushing the sewers could work, it would require flushing the whole system, which would cause a huge catastrophic flood in the city. So under no circumstances are they to flush the system, even as a last resort. The General Inspector believes that the Gators can do their best and asks them to head to A.R.M.S. for their new V.E.S.T.s, they're going undercover as plumbers!

Chapter 6
The Gators are suited up to go on their mission and head straight to the sewers disguised in their plumber V.E.S.T.s, meanwhile the Head Scientist is seen till feeling gloomy about his failure with Prime Robot, that is until the robot miraculously puts itself back together. The Head Scientist is initially ecstatic by this groundbreaking event but realizes that the hugging subroutine is still connected to Prime Robot, he tries to change the code but is unsuccessful so he decides to just delete it off the robot but it doesn't work. Prime Robot starts rampaging out to other Scientists trying to hug everyone. Turns out that Prime Robot was not plugged back so the code changes were not saved in, which means that Prime Robot will not stop hugging!

Chapter 7
Inside his lair, Crackerdile is reworking C-ORB and notices the Gators travelling down the sewer, so he leaves the robot as a distraction while he escapes to high ground (into a large restaurant building called High Ground). Once the Gators reach the sewer's Central Control Junction, they meet up with C-ORB... who's been made into **E-ORB!** It lunges at the two but accidently pushes the flood release lever, an alarm goes off and water starts flooding in.

Chapter 8
The flood spreads throughout the city and seeps into everywhere from fountains to the maximum security cells. We then cut to the Gators swimming out of the sewers and reporting to S.U.I.T. Headquarters to get E-ORB unevil again.
Meanwhile, various scientists are still being affected by the flood and have to call a plumber over to the Science Factory, unbeknownst to them of what lurks behind from Prime Robot's short-circuited remains.

Chapter 9
Upon returning to S.U.I.T. Headquarters, the General Inspector is upset with the Gators for flooding the city and demotes them to janitors to clean up the mess.
At the Science Factory, a plumber named Bill Plungerman arrives at the scene to clear the drainage. Once he does so, Doctor Morrow’s anaconda slides down onto his arm, but he's not the biggest threat yet…Bill and the anaconda are spooked by Prime Robot…now as a GHOST! They’ve been zapped by one of his hugs, who knows what will happen!

Chapter 10
Mango and Brash are busy mopping up the bathroom when they hear about the news bulletin of what's been happening at the Science Factory. The B-Team is called to take over the Gators’ mission but Brash thinks that they wouldn't be as capable of handling the mission as him and Mango, so the Gators decide to flush themselves over to the Science Factory and sneak on the B-Team to get more info on what went down.
Turns out that Bill Plungerman and the anaconda had been combined, went berserk and swept off into the city to who knows where. One of the scientists also noticed that Prime Robot had also disappeared into an electrical outlet. The Gators then leave the scene to go find these weird combinations, and if anyone knows weird combinations, then Crackerdile must be behind all this! Mango taps into the badgers' business card to track their location and they head off!
Speaking of Crackerdile, he's been in that elevator for a while.

Chapter 11-ish
Later that night, Thomas returns to his apartment after a long day of bun-less hot dogs. To satisfy his craving for more tube-shaped food, he goes to eat a banana and watch TV before he’s interrupted by Prime Robot, now as Robot Ghost, phasing through his television screen and zapping him!
Elsewhere, the Gators are walking around trying to figure out the whereabouts of the snake-armed plumber until Mango’s V.E.S.T. starts beeping, meaning that one of the scientists is contacting the B-Team. So they take the sewers over to try getting there before the badgers could. But once Brash checks to see if the coast is clear, the two are busted by Bongo and Marsha. After some bickering, they settle on a truce to solve the mission together and head over to Thomas, whose hands have been turned into bananas! He seems to be very sweaty and tells them what had happened earlier and then the agents’ V.E.S.T.s beep again, someone else needs their help so they all take the badgers’ Badger Balloon to get there quickly!
Shortly they meet up with Sally Addison, whose head’s been turned into a salad! She happens to be combined with the salad she was eating for dinner, she’s also all wet, probably from the salad dressing (though she claims to eat her salads dry “like nature intended”.) She tells them the Robot Ghost emerged from her lamp and attacked her, which is how she got into such a predicament. She’s about to be rushed to the hospital and Brash suggests he and Mango should take the ambulance with her, but the Badgers suggest they should take the ambulance, stating it's their case and they’ve got it all under control. The Badgers’ theory is that Robot Ghost is simply an electrical malfunction that turns people into whatever food they're eating.
That leaves the Gators in the street still figuring out how such combinations came to be. The two conclude that Robot Ghost only combined the scientists with their food because it's what they happened to be touching at that moment. Then they remember the snake-armed plumber? How'd he get a snake on his arm exactly? He couldn't have been eating the snake, meaning he happened to be in contact with it! With that in mind, they go find the one person who may be Robot Ghost’s next victim, his creator, the Head Scientist!

Trivia* The book's initial title was Plumb and Plumber. [1]
* In a few mentions, characters refer to the serpentology room that Thomas Morrow works in as "the aisle of Dr Murrow" which could be a reference to The Island of Doctor Moreau, a science fiction book about a mad scientist who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection.
* The kittens shown are a reference to characters Marmalade, Sampson and Bubbles from another book series by John Patrick Green, Kitten Construction Company.