Sebastian switched off his phone and angrily slammed his metal fist into the desk of his office, causing splinters of the wood to fly about the place. "Another WOOHP snooper! And not even one of those annoying girls!" he growled.
A chuckle came from the other end of the room. "Temper, temper my dear Saga. We have more pressing matters to worry about than your petty vendetta against those meddling spies of yours."
Sebastian rounded on his associate. "Petty? Do you have any idea how many times those girls have ruined my plans to take over this world?"
'Twice," responded the Master with a sneer, "and that is nothing compared to the number of times that my own arch-enemy has foiled my schemes. Compared to the Doctor, those girls are mere infants, petty amateurs!"
Sebastian looked at the Master with contempt. "Those 'mere infants' can still wreck our operation. Why, their own mothers were able to track us here!"
"Thanks to the tracking device that YOU allowed those prison cretins to place in that pitiful excuse for a metal arm. You should have checked it after they screened you for hidden weapons!" The Master composed himself. "But no matter. My hypnotised 'associates' will soon deal with our inquisitive shopper and in a few short hours, the world will be at our mercy."
"Well that was rather rude," muttered the strange man in the Edwardian outfit, as he perched himself on a nearby bench and looked again at his scanner. There was no doubt that the energy surge he had detected was coming from that music shop and it would not surprise him if the manager knew more about what was going on than he was saying. The strange man had to find some way to get back into that building and see exactly what it was that the shop was concealing.
Suddenly, three black-clad figures leapt down from the nearest roof and the man was surprised to find himself face-to-face with three masked female ninjas, all armed with formidable-looking fighting staffs.
"Ah, good afternoon," he said, before one of the ninjas charged straight at him. With surprising speed, the man leapt out of the path of the attacking ninja who crashed into the bench.
The second ninja attacked instantly, swinging her staff right at the man's head. However, he caught sight of her in the corner of his eye and instinctively ducked out of the way. As the staff passed over his head, he grabbed one end of the wooden pole and flung his assailant into the air, sending her crashing straight into a nearby burger van. The ninja slumped to the floor, knocked out cold.
"Now ladies, I'm not sure what this is all about, but perhaps we can talk this over a nice cup of tea like civilised people," said the man as he scrambled to his feet. But before he could say any more, the third ninja was upon him, knocking him back down to the ground with a rabbit punch. By this time, the first ninja had recovered her senses and moved in, raising her staff to deal a killing blow to their dazed victim.
Suddenly, there was a blur of red, green and yellow, and the two ninjas were knocked off their feet. As they gathered their senses, the ninjas realised that three catsuit-clad Super Spies had just attacked them!
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size," said Sam, as she, Clover and Alex moved into a fighting stance. The two ninjas jumped back up and went on the attack, swinging their staffs down towards the girls. The spies leapt clear out of the way and sprung into action, delivering kicks and punches to their attackers.
One of the ninjas tried a karate kick at Clover, but she ducked and grabbed her opponent's leg, before throwing her across the street into a pile of bins. The other ninja tried another swing with her staff, but Alex kicked the staff right out of her hand, whereupon Sam punched the ninja, knocking her right through the air and landing her in a pile on top of her comrade. The two dazed ninjas hesitated for a second or two, and then beat a hasty retreat, apparently deciding that the odds were not in their favour.
"Well I guess that takes care of them," said Clover.
"Weird though," pondered Sam. "Since when did Sebastian start employing ninjas to do his dirty work?"
Alex meanwhile was helping the strangely dressed guy to his feet. "Are you okay mister?" she asked.
"I've been worse," admitted the man. "I ought to go back and ask Bruce Lee for some more Wing Chun lessons, I seem to have become a bit rusty." He looked at the girls, smiling appreciatively. "Well, a most timely rescue ladies, thank you. I see some of you got tired of being redheads."
Alex and Clover blanched. "Err, we so don't know what you're talking about," said Clover hurriedly, shocked that this guy managed to see through their disguise.
The man gave a disarming smile. "Oh, I saw you two looking me over in the shop and I'm very good at spotting fake hair. I gave Louis XIV a few tips on what would be the best wig to wear you know. Or was it Louis XIII?" he added absentmindedly. He turned his attention to Sam. "And you were hiding in the alleyway when I first arrived. I saw your reflection in the shop windows as I made my way to the store."
Now it was Sam's turn to panic. "Ah well, you see it was like this…" she started to say, but the man raised his hand indicating her to stop.
"So judging by your sudden appearance, the little Kung-Fu display and the rather fetching catsuits, I'd say you're a trio of government investigators who are currently investigating our friendly neighbourhood music store for evidence of nefarious activities," completed the man.
"Something like that," admitted Alex, still shocked by this guy's observation skills.
"Who are you, some real-life Sherlock Holmes?" asked Sam almost demandingly.
"Something like that," replied the man. "Though most people generally call me the Doctor."
"Doctor Who?" asked Clover raising an eyebrow.
"Err quite," said the Doctor. "And who might you ladies be then?"
"Well, I'm Sam and these are Clover and Alex," said Sam.
"Okay mister," frowned Clover, "You clearly know a lot about us, now perhaps you can tell us a bit about yourself, starting with why you're so interested in the 'Pop N' Rock' place. You don't look like a WOOHP agent to me."
"Ah, so you're with Jerry's little band then," said the Doctor. "Well you could say I'm a freelance investigator. My transport detected an unusual energy signature, one that has no business being on this planet. I managed to trace the source to the CD store, but as you saw, my attempts at covert entry were not entirely successful."
"You think?" said Alex sarcastically.
There was a sudden groan and everyone turned towards the burger van. The ninja that the Doctor managed to knock out was starting to come round. "Oh dear, I forgot about her," said the Doctor. He dashed over and started to check her over for any injuries, leaving the three flabbergasted spies looking on.
"This guy is way too weird," Clover finally said.
"Yeah, let's call Jerr and see what he can tell us about him," added Sam. She opened her Compowder and a hologram of Jerry's face appeared in front of them.
"Ah girls, how's the investigation going?" he asked.
"Really bizarre," answered Alex. "We just rescued this weirdly-dressed guy from a band of ninjas and he seems to know a bit about WOOHP!"
"He turned up in some freaky blue box that materialised out of thin air just like that grandfather clock," continued Sam. "He hasn't given his name, just calls himself 'the Doctor'."
Jerry was astonished. "'The Doctor' did you say? Oh my! The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce used to have a scientific advisor by that name. He helped them investigate strange phenomena and foiled numerous alien invasions. Rather an impressive CV for someone who isn't even from this planet."
"Wait, you mean he's an alien?" exclaimed Clover.
"So I gather," confirmed Jerry. "Apparently he travels in time and space in a ship disguised as an old London Police Box of all things! If it really is him, you girls might find his help invaluable. By reputation, he tends to turn up when the situation is at its most dire and he could also offer some insight into the identity of the mastermind working with Sebastian."
Before the girls could ask any further questions, they were distracted by a call from the Doctor.
"She seems to be all right, just had the wind knocked out of her," he said as he finished his examination of the ninja. He took hold of her mask and pulled it off. When they all saw who was behind the mask, the girls gasped in shock.
"No way!" cried Sam.
"It can't be!" gaped Clover.
"MUMMY?" wailed Alex.
The unconscious ninja, who had just a few minutes ago tried to kill the Doctor, was none other than Alex's own mother, Carmen.
