The author of this story would like to thank fellow 'Totally Spies' writer jettmanas, who was kind enough to create some new cover-art for this adventure.
High up in the cold, snow-covered peaks of the breath-taking Swiss Alps was a fortress. It was a well-built concrete structure, designed to act like some kind of bunker in the event of a global catastrophe, and was cleverly camouflaged in white paint in order to blend in with its snowy surroundings, making it look like a solid block of ice. If there had been any mountain climbers in the area at that moment, they would have been puzzled by the rectangular hatchway that began to slide open in the top of the structure. Through the hatchway, the nozzle of a large, cannon-like device emerged and took careful aim at the sun.
Inside the command centre of the fortified building, the notorious Dr Gelee was at the control panel of his new upgraded freeze ray, busying lining up the weapon so that the deadly ice beam would hit the sun dead on target.
"Excellent, everything is prepared," he said gleefully to himself. "Once my freeze ray cools down the sun, the entire Earth will be frozen solid in the process. Then when the entire human population is disposed of, I will reheat the sun and rebuild the Earth into my personal utopia!"
But as Gelee poised his eager finger over the red firing button, the main door suddenly burst open and three all-too familiar figures strode into the command room.
"Not so fast, Gelee!" said Clover defiantly.
"Yeah, your Earth-freezing days are over!" added Alex.
Shocked by this sudden intrusion, Gelee immediately leapt out of his chair. "What!? How did you girls find my lair so quickly?"
"WOOHP has been on the lookout for you ever since you broke out of jail last week," explained Sam with a smirk. "So when we discovered that pieces of expensive scientific equipment were being stolen in this particular area, it wasn't hard to put two and two together."
"Yeah, couldn't you come up with a more original scheme, Gelee?" asked Clover sarcastically. "I mean, the whole 'turning the Earth into a giant igloo' thing is like so cliché these days."
"We've already taken care of your henchmen downstairs," grinned Alex, "so why don't you do yourself a favour and surrender now?"
"Never!" screamed Gelee as he quickly moved in order to press the firing control. Reacting at once, Alex leapt forward and collided into him, knocking the scientific mastermind away from the firing button and into a significantly different set of buttons. Almost immediately, sparks of electricity began to dance about Gelee's machine and flames started to burst out on the control panel.
"You interfering brat, look what you've made me do!" exclaimed Gelee in a state of panic. "The whole system is overloading! In a few minutes this whole bunker will be reduced to a pile of ash!"
He turned to make his getaway, only to receive a resounding punch to the face by Clover, knocking him out cold.
"Err guys, maybe we should think about getting out of here," said Sam tensely as the flames spread towards the freeze ray and the whole building began to shake.
"I second that suggestion!" agreed Clover as she finished tying up Gelee and hoisted him over her shoulder. "Oof, this guy sure is heavy!"
With Clover carrying the now-subdued mastermind, the girls quickly dashed out of the room and down the stairs to the main exit. At the bottom, they could see that the henchmen they had just taken down were groggily waking up and frantically making for the lair exit too. Within seconds, the main doors burst open and a flood of people swarmed out, desperately trying to get as far from the quaking bunker as they could. The spies themselves had just managed to get outside and take cover behind some rocks, when the entire lair exploded with a colossal bang!
"Phew! That could have been nasty," breathed Sam as the debris finished falling down about the place.
Sam must have spoken too soon, for at that moment a loud rumbling noise filled the air.
"Alex, please tell us that noise is just your stomach," said Clover nervously.
Alex shook her head vigorously. "Uh-uh! I had some lunch just before we busted into the lair!"
With a fearful expression on their faces, the girls looked back up the mountain where they could see a cascade of snow tumbling down towards them!
"Avalanche!" shrieked the spies in unison.
"Quick, girls! Activate your AWFUL boots!" yelled Sam.
Hurriedly, the girls activated their respective 'All Weather Fleece Ultra Light' boots and a snowboard formed under the feet of each spy. With great speed, they began racing down the mountain, trying to get as much distance away from the avalanche as possible.
"Why does it have to be another avalanche? I have way enough nightmares about those as it is!" complained Alex as they zoomed down with the fast-moving pile of snow close on their tails.
"Don't worry, you guys!" called out Sam reassuringly. "If we can just overtake the snow and reach the bottom of the mountain, we should be okay."
"Easy for you to say, you're not having to carry this nutcase while you're still snowboarding," retorted Clover as she struggled to keep her balance while keeping the still unconscious Doctor Gelee over her shoulder.
"Hey, I think I can see the woods!" shouted out Alex. Sure enough, they could see a line of trees just a few yards ahead of them.
"Watch your step, girls! This is going to be tricky!" said Sam as they swiftly swerved their boards to dodge each tree that blocked their path. It took all of the spies' skill and agility, but they just about managed to avoid the obstacles of the dark forest.
Then, just as the girls thought they were in the clear, disaster struck. Just ahead of them was a large fallen log, buried in so much snow that the spies could not immediately see it. As they reached it, their boards suddenly snagged on the timber block and with a cry of surprise, they were all sent flying into the air. As they were about to hit the ground, the avalanche finally caught up with them and the girls, along with Gelee, found themselves practically bouncing on top of the sliding snow, crashing and banging into various rocks and trees on the way.
"Oof!" cried Alex.
"Yeow!" screamed Sam.
"Argh!" shrieked Clover.
Finally, the snow slowed down and the spies, together with their prisoner, were sent sprawling across the ground before they finally came to an agonising halt.
"Ohhh, I don't feel so good," groaned Alex dazedly as every part of her body seemed to cry out in pain.
"Aah, I think I've broken something," added Sam with an agonising moan.
"Me too," joined in Clover as she rubbed her pounding head, feeling as though she had just gone through World War Three. She tried to move her feet, but immediately cried out in agony and collapsed back onto the ground.
Alex rubbed her head. She could feel a whopping big bruise on her forehead and something wet and sticky was running down it.
"Ow! Girls, I think I'm gonna… I'm gonna…" Before Alex could complete the sentence, her world suddenly went spinning and she passed out.
"Oh no, Alex, wake up!" cried out Clover, ignoring her own aching head. She struggled to crawl over to her friend, but the excruciating pain in her legs caused her to collapse with an awful groan.
Sam tried to reach for her compowder with her left arm, but immediately stopped and grimaced as a fiery stinging sensation ran through it. She tried again with her right arm, which throbbed terribly, but was in better shape than her left one. Hurriedly, she pulled out the compowder and activated the inbuilt distress beacon.
"Please hurry, Jerry," said Sam almost in a whisper. "We are so in need of rescuing!"