Sixty Seconds Ago…

Just a minute before the drama at the control tower of Geraldine's Island had started to unfold, an incredulous Jerry was being briefed by the girls about their findings at the security room.

"What? Tad is our saboteur? Are you positive about this, girls?" said Jerry, not quite believing this turn of events.

"Well that's what the DNA scan of the toothpick told us," said Alex grimly. "The blood sample we found is a 100% match with the medical records on Tad here at WOOHP."

"I guess it's possible that the toothpick was planted to give a false lead," conceded Sam, "but let's face it, Jerr. Tad is one of the few people in WOOHP who would know all the ins and outs of the building, not to mention the know-how to steal some gadgets and hack the security system."

"And let's not forget what a total backstabber he was in the past," added Clover bitterly. "He totally tried to hi-jack our very first mission and was willing to leave us floating in space for like all eternity, just so he can keep his 'number one agent' status!"

"Yeah, he sooo has the perfect motive," said Alex. "He'd be more than happy to help those baddies break out, just to make life majorly tough for us."

"Yes, I'm afraid what you girls say makes complete sense," sighed Jerry. "It is such a pity though. I had hoped that in time he might have learned his lesson and re-applied for WOOHP agent status again."

"What I don't get is how he got back into the building," said Sam. "Didn't you kick him out after he served his term at the containment facility?"

"Ah, well, not exactly," said Jerry awkwardly. "It was felt that WOOHP ought to keep a close tab on Tad, so when he was released, he was reassigned to general cleaning duties about the building."

"Cleaning duties? Man, I doubt that would have helped him get over his grudge," said Clover dryly.

The discussion was brusquely interrupted by the sound of the WOOHP ringtone coming through on Jerry's computer. Jerry quickly hit a switch and a moment later, Carmen and Stella's faces appeared on the desk monitor screen.

"Stella? Carmen? Is everything all right?" he asked in concern.

"Not really," said Stella seriously. "Gabs and Britney have gone missing and we… ARGH!"

To the mutual horror of Jerry and the girls, Stella was suddenly zapped by jolts of electricity and collapsed, whereupon the video feed went dead. Alarmed, Clover swiftly wheeled herself to the desk and pulled the display screen around to face her.

"Mum, are you okay? Can you hear me? MUM!" exclaimed Clover, desperately bellowing at the screen to get a reply, all to no avail.

"Oh no, what's happened to them?" cried Alex, her face turning pale in fear.

"Jerry, quick! Rewind to the frame just before we lost contact," snapped Sam franticly.

Jerry quickly hit some buttons on his keyboard and the recorded video feed rewound and paused on the second just after Stella collapsed out of sight of the frame. Standing a few feet behind where she had been was Tad who was holding a hoisted electroshock stun pistol in his hand.

"Oh my! You girls were right," said Jerry.

"For all the good it does us now," said Clover bitterly. "We've got to get our moms and Britney out of there like now!"

"Yeah, but how?" asked Sam. "Most of the best WOOHP agents are still busy out there chasing the remaining escapees and we're only left with a basic security crew who are trying to man the WOOHP building all by themselves."

"There's only one thing for it then," said Jerry resolutely. "I shall have to go out there and attempt a rescue attempt myself."

"You can't go out there alone, Jerry!" protested Alex. "Tad is bound to be ready for you and for all we know, he may be working with Geraldine! You're going to need some serious back-up for this rescue."

"Oh, if only we weren't stuck in these stupid wheelchairs," griped Clover as she pounded her leg casts with her fists in despair. "Then maybe we could have done something to help."

Jerry's face suddenly lit up as a thought occurred to him. "Actually, I just remembered something. There's a prototype gadget in the lab that might just get you girls back in the field."

He quickly hit a button on his desk and established a comm link with the WOOHP gadget lab.

"Dean, meet me and the girls in the lab in two minutes. I think it's time to put 'Project: Robospy' into operation."

By the time Carmen and Stella finally come round on the control tower floor, they had already been securely bound along with Gabby and Britney by sturdy interconnecting chains locked about their wrists and ankles. As Geraldine finished fastening the chains, Tad removed the last few gadgets from the spies' persons as Terrence looked on with malicious glee.

"Ohhh, what hit me?" groaned Stella. "I feel like I was hit by a bolt of lightning."

"Yes, it was something like that," confirmed Carmen groggily, before turning her head to Gabby and Britney. "How about you two? You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, we're all right," answered Gabby glumly. "Wish I could say the same for our situation though."

Terrence looked at the chained-up spies with mixed look of mocking amusement and disdainfulness. "So, WOOHP has taken to employing its best agents' old and feeble relatives now has it? Dear me, Jerry must be getting desperate in his old age."

"He's only as old as you are!" retorted Britney. "After all, you are his evil twin brother. You ought to show him a bit more respect."

Stella raised her eyebrows in surprise. "That's Jerry's twin? Oh dear, there's always one black sheep in the family isn't there?"

"Enough of this!" snapped Geraldine impatiently as she sat down on a chair, her white-furred cat lounging contently on her lap. "We didn't go to all the trouble of arranging that mass breakout at prison just so that you four spies can mess up our plans afterwards!"

"So you're the ones behind all this!" realised Gabby.

"Indeed so, my dear," said Terrence with a tone of pride in his voice. "You ladies are privileged to witness the revival of the 'League Aiming to Menace and Overthrow Spies'! You see, while I was stuck rotting in prison, thanks to those dratted daughters of yours, I met the acquaintance of Tad here. He cleaned my cell each week and as we got talking, I learnt that he had as much of a grudge against the girls as I do, so we made a deal. He was more than happy to plan out a foolproof escape strategy for me and he also aided in the escape of various other cellmates of mine, so that WOOHP would be forced to send out all its best agents in pursuit."

"Thus leaving only a skeleton crew to watch over things at WOOHP HQ, making it vulnerable to a well coordinated attack," added Geraldine as she stroked the fur of her purring cat. "Then once WOOHP is finished for good, nothing will be left to stop the new LAMOS team from plundering the world."

Britney glowered at Tad. "And what do you hope to get out of all this?"

"The pleasure of getting my own back on those stupid girls who replaced me!" said Tad resentfully. "I used to be WOOHP's absolute best agent, you know! Another few years and I could have been running the whole show as the new head! But then along came Sam, Clover and Alex. No sooner did they arrive, than I ended up disgraced and demoted to cleaning duties!"

"You only have yourself to blame for that, young man," scolded Carmen. "During our, ahem, grounding at their old beach house, the girls told us all about their first mission, including the part where you left them to be blasted off into space!"

"Yes, you ought to be ashamed of yourself," added Stella sternly. "Clover said she actually looked up to you before you betrayed her and the others on that space station. You can't seriously have expected Jerry to let you stay as on a WOOHP agent after the way you let everybody down."

"I don't need to take any criticism from a load of has-beens like you lot," snorted Tad arrogantly. "Not that it makes much difference now anyway. In just a couple of hours, there'll be nothing left of WOOHP but one large smouldering crater."

"And how exactly do you intend to achieve all that?" asked Britney. "Even undermanned, WOOHP has various defences to prevent any intruders from simply breaking in. In fact, they've seriously tightened security after the breakout!"

"Which is where I come in," smirked Geraldine. "You see the reason that darling Terrence here made sure I got out as well was because he learnt about my island's various hidden weapon systems which WOOHP had not yet discovered during their search. In particular, there is a large silo here disguised as a volcano containing a missile with enough explosive to level the whole of Los Angeles! I had been working on it prior to my last arrest, but was unable to complete it, as I couldn't steal the right equipment necessary for it."

"So instead," continued Terrance as he fiddled with his monocle, "we got Tad to do a bit of cleaning duty for the barge, enabling him to smuggle in the gear necessary for him to secretly complete the rocket in his spare time. As soon as the work was complete, he broke us out so Geraldine here can input the codes to launch our doom-dealing missile."

"Is it just me or does everyone else here think that plan sounds a bit too convoluted," remarked Stella sardonically as she tried to take in the villains' complex scheme.

"But if you fire that thing, you'll destroy the whole of Los Angeles as well as WOOHP!" protested Gabby with mounting horror. "Think of all the innocent people who'll be blasted to bits because of you!"

"Meh, simple missile fodder," said Tad dismissively. "You should be more worried about your own wellbeing. You see, when we launch the missile, you four nosey do-gooders will be going along for the ride, all chained up in the storage compartment."

Terrance gave an evil grin. "So, while we'll be watching from a safe distance on this barge, you ladies will be getting a much closer view at what will be known as one of the biggest explosions in history!"