Hey guys! Welcome again to the eleventh chapter of Totally Kids Next Door! I've tried to cut the time between updates a bit this time, so thanks for sticking with me Eventyraren! Also thanks to Gossipgal for reviewing again. Anyway, to the story. Last time, Sam, Alex started a mission from Jerry to check out the crime scene of one of the "kidnappings", with Numbuhs 1 and 225 in tow. Meanwhile, Numbuh 362 ordered the rest of Sector V to search for the two missing operatives. There's more Totally Spies in this chapter than KND, but I have to balance it somewhere.
Disclaimer: Pbm23 does not own Kids Next Door or Totally Spies. I do however own the KND Commandos.
On with the show!
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The car turned and twisted along the corners of sloped hillside, Sam pushing it to its limit in an attempt to reach their target location before darkness completely fell. It was early evening and the sun was slowly beginning to set over the horizon.
"Are we there yet?" called Numbuh 1 over the wind, holding on to his sunglasses to make sure they wouldn't fly off.
"Nearly!" yelled Alex back, checking the satellite tracking system installed on the car's dashboard. "Should be about a minute until we reach the edge of this guy's compound." The next minute came and went in silence, until Sam slowed the car, parking superbly next to a tall, barbed fence. A burly, black-dressed security guard approached them as they got out of the car.
"You must be the people Mr. Maximillion hired to help find the twins." he said gruffly.
"That's right." replied Sam.
"Right this way." the guard said, pressing a switch on a remote control in his pocket. The barbed gate swung open and the guard led the girls through, followed by the KND operatives, who were having problems keeping up with the long strides of the others. Leading them to a huge, white house complex, the guard opened the door and sighed.
"The twins' room is the second on the left upstairs. Mr. Maximillion is away on a business meeting tonight, but feel free to look around there." Sam and Alex nodded and began the trek to a huge set of elaborate stairs. The guard took one last look at the two kids following them, then shook his head dismissively and walked off, back to his rounds.
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After some searching, they eventually found "the second on the left" the guard had been describing. There had been many left turns up the stairs and even more after that, containing an untold number of closets, several bedrooms and more than enough bathrooms than would probably be necessary.
"From what I've seen of this house already..." Alex panted as they finally found and entered the twins' bedroom. "This family has too much money for their own good..."
"Yeah..." groaned Numbuh 1, breathing hard. "I'm exhausted..."
"At least you're not wearing armour." grumbled 225, tripping over a pile of clothes and falling onto a fluffy pink bed. Sam flicked on the light switch to get a better view of the room, taking in the blinding gold-coloured paint on the walls and the high number of wardrobes and drawers scattered around the huge room. She muttered to herself and then shut the door.
"It seems a bit... tidy... for a crime scene." Alex commented in front of her, crossing her arms. Nothing was really out of place in room, except for a few ruffled clothes.
"All right." she said, turning to the others. "Let's spread out and see if we can find anything unusual, anything at all that might helps us find Clover." Sam nodded and started looking around. Numbuh 1 lazily followed suit and 225 started searching under and around the huge beds in one corner of the room. All four searched for a long five minutes, finding nothing, until...
"Got something... I think..." 225 called, his face partly under one of the beds.
"What is it?" said Alex, looking up from a pile of DVDs she had been carefully trying to sift through without touching any of them for fear of contaminating any "evidence".
"I think it's a... ring..." he replied, extracting the object from under the bed with a pair of shiny tweezers and extracting it for all to see.
"I don't know why..." Sam finally said after staring at it for about a minute. "But it seems familiar, like I've seen it before somewhere..." she took the tweezers and ring from 225 and took out her X-powder. "I'll send it to Jer for analysis, it could help."
"Eww!" Alex jumped suddenly onto a cushion. "There's a used tissue down here!" She squealed, pointing to the incriminating object, her face screwed up in revulsion.
"Great job Alex!" exclaimed Sam, running over and picking up the tissue with the tweezers. "You've found another clue!" Before Alex could reply, her X-powder rang. She activated it, to be greeted with the holographic face of Jerry on the screen.
"Any luck yet Alex?" he asked.
"Well, we found a ring and a tissue, Sam's sending them to you now." she replied. Jerry nodded and typed for a minute on his computer.
"Interesting... I'll have the WOOHP lab look over them for now; it should take about a day for the full results. In the meantime ladies, it might be a good idea to go home and sleep on the case for now. Need I remind you that you have school tomorrow?" Sam gasped across the room.
"Aw, I totally forgot!" she wailed. "Good thing all my homework's done..."
"All right Jer, it just won't be the same without Clover." Alex sighed.
"Can we go back to the KND yet?" put in Numbuh 1, leaning across to stare at Jerry's face on the X-Powder.
"Not yet, we might need you on the case." Jerry replied. "I hope you've got sleeping bags though."
"Why?"
"You'll be staying at WOOHP while the girls are at school."
"Wait just a minute, we never agreed to-" 225 walked over angrily, until he was cut off by the sound of a rushing wind. A poster on the gold-painted wall beside the two operatives opened and both were pulled inside, yelping, by a strong gust.
"Nice one Jer." grinned Sam. "It's funny watching other people experience the pain of being WOOHPed."
"Yes, well..." he trailed off as the sound of a rough landing and an "ouch" could be heard over the X-powder. "We'll resume the case tomorrow, goodbye for now." He cut the link, leaving the two spies in silence. They turned off the lights and left the room, walking out of the house and back to their car.
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Meanwhile...
"Any luck so far?" Numbuh 5 walked to the front of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R, looking out of the window. It had been two hours since Numbuh 1 had been officially designated Missing in Action and Sector V had searched almost half of the USA in an attempt to find him, but even with no success Numbuh 5 wasn't ready to give up yet. He wouldn't give up on any of us of we went missing, so we can't give up on him... she thought as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. soared over a particularly rocky mountain range.
"Nope." said Numbuh 2, breaking through her thoughts. "I'm beginning to think Numbuh 86 was right... Those spy girls might have done something to him while we were gone..." Numbuh 5 sighed and closed her eyes. C'mon Numbuh 1... Numbuh 5 knows you're out here somewhere, we just need a sign to prove it... A siren suddenly bleeped on the control panel of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
"Status report!" Numbuh 5 shouted as the siren grew louder.
"I think it's a video transmission, I dunno who it is though..."
"Put it on da viewscreen Numbuh 2." she said and moved to face the huge white screen next to the pilot's screen.
"Got it." called Numbuh 2, flicking a final switch. A familiar, grinning face appeared on the screen and a chorus of four separate voices shouted the same thing at the same time.
"NUMBUH 1!!"
"Fly da ship!" screamed Numbuh 5 at Numbuh 2, who had turned completely away from the controls in his shock at seeing Numbuh 1 again. He scrambled back to the steering wheel and narrowly managed to avoid crashing into a large boulder, missing it by inches. When the danger had subsided, Numbuh 5 turned back to the still-grinning form of Numbuh 1.
"As hectic as ever, huh?" he said, straightening his sunglasses.
"Where are ya Numbuh 1?" Numbuh 362's had da whole KND searching for ya!" Numbuh 5 asked swiftly.
"Tell her I'm sorry about that. They wouldn't let us talk to anyway until now, but we've reached more of an... Understanding... now."
"But where are ya?" she pressed. Numbuh 1 scratched his hairless head, his smile starting to fade.
"I don't really know. We have to stay here until the teen problem's been solved, in return for our "kidnapping" attempt earlier. No, it's ok." he added, catching her startled look. "It's not that bad here, it's not like they're starving us or anything..."
"Ya keep saying we." she noticed. "Numbuh 225's still there as well?"
"Oh yeah, he's here." he said, grateful for the change in subject. "I'd rather have someone else with me to be honest, Numbuh 362 or you preferably. This guy's more boring than I am." He suddenly ducked as a laser blast shot across the screen.
"I heard that!" another voice rumbled over the communication.
"Well... If ya definitely sure ya'll be all right..." Numbuh 5 sighed and smiled weakly, adjusting her prized hat. "Numbuh 5'll head back to the treehouse; Numbuh 362'll have a full report on her desk by tomorrow mornin'."
"Thanks Abby." Numbuh 1 grinned again. "Take care of the team while I'm gone." The transmission cut, leaving a hushed silence courtesy of Numbuhs 2, 3 and 4 in its place.
"All right, you heard what Numbuh 5 said." she sighed, sinking back into Numbuh 1's command chair. "Set a course back to base." Numbuh 2 complied. As the ship quickly turned to match its new course, Numbuh 5 slowly began to start her report to Numbuh 362. Numbuh 5 just hopes you know what you're doing Numbuh 1...
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The next day...
Numbuh 1 yawned as he turned over in his sleeping bag. Despite his words to the contrary, the man called Jerry had been able to produce a single sleeping bag, which, going by KND tradition, he and 225 had promptly fought over, to decide who would have the honour of using it. 225 lost badly, having slipped on a tube of what appeared to be lipstick on the floor of the office early in the spar. He had then tripped over a large hairdryer as he tried to get up, which made him very easy to tackle and subdue. Numbuh 1 then claimed the sleeping bag and 225 had been left to try to sleep with a pillow on the sofa seated directly under the trapdoor. Numbuh 1 sat up and stretched his arms, yawning again. Behind him 225 did the same, but lost his balance on the sofa and fell off onto the floor.
"Ow..." he groaned, rubbing his back while Numbuh 1 stifled a laugh. "I'm really starting to hate that sofa."
"So, what do we do until Sam and Alex are done in school?" asked Numbuh 1.
"Breakfast would be a good thing to start with, hmm?" Jerry entered the office, carrying a plate with a huge stack of toast. He placed it on the sofa next to the two operatives and moved to his desk.
"Thanks." said Numbuh 1 as he and 225 began to devour the plate's contents. Twenty minutes later all the toast had been reduced to crumbs.
"So, what now?" asked 225, standing up properly and stretching.
"Well, we do have a large supply of so far experimental and un-tested gadgets that we've had no time to check over yet, if you want you could have a go with them."
"Heh, why not?" 225 shrugged. "It should use up a few hours." Jerry smiled and pressed a button. A large pile of gadgets dropped from another trapdoor onto 225, covering him completely.
"Excellent, that's the first set, out of ten." Jerry replied. Numbuh 1 grinned and started to sift through the pile.
At Beverly Hills High...
A clock on the wall of the chemistry lab ticked slowly towards nine o'clock, with only ten more seconds to go. The professor at the front of the class glanced at it and then turned back to his class. He scratched his head, noticing how depleted it was, but shrugged and gave up looking for an explanation. He was about to begin the lesson when, with a few seconds to spare, Sam and Alex came skidding through the door and ran towards their desks, getting to them just in time, The professor sighed and began talking about new lab safety precautions.
"Woah, Mandy's been really busy..." whispered Alex, looking round at the rest of the class. There were three others out of a class of twenty behind them, two boys and one girl, who looked as confused as the professor at the lack of their classmates in the room.
"Let's just hope she doesn't come back for more." muttered Sam, tying her hair up as both girls took out their books and began to take notes on the boring speech.
After school...
"I miss Clover." groaned Alex, as she met with Sam next to her locker. "We would have had Maths together last, and it's so much easier to do and to concentrate on when we're working together."
"I know what you mean." Sam agreed sadly. "It's just not the same without her with us. Well... Maybe Jerry had some luck..." Both girls looked around and, upon seeing no-one, quietly slipped into a nearby janitor's closet and activated their x-powders. Jerry's urgent-looking face appeared on the holo-screen.
"Hey Jer, any luck with the data from analysis of the ring or the tissue yet?" asked Alex.
"Actually, yes, we had a DNA match with - oh dear, that's not good!" Jerry suddenly cried. A crash and a bang could be heard, along with fairly high-pitched laughter.
"What's happening Jer?" Sam gasped in surprise. "Is WOOHP under attack again!?!"
"No, it's just-" Jerry was suddenly cut off as the camera rotated, revealing a certain KND operative in a red jumper with what appeared to be an upgraded laser-lipstick in his hand. He switched it on and the red laser shot out of the tip, towards 225, who swiftly picked up a mirror from Jerry's desk and angled it so that the beam deflected upwards, burning through the ceiling. More cries of laughter followed this, and the camera rotated back round again to face Jerry.
"I let them try out some of the experimental gadgets..." he said mournfully, watching the girls giggle at the sound of the KND operatives "experiment" with the gadgets. "With hindsight, that probably wasn't a good idea... Ahem... Like I was saying, the analysis of the ring showed traces of Mandy's DNA, but the tissue had particles of what we assume to be the spray that the teenagers used to brainwash Clover and the others. We might be able to reverse-engineer them to find a way to break the brainwashing."
"That was a good find then." commented Sam.
"Indeed." Jerry nodded, straightening his tie. "I'll see you in a few seconds for the next part of your mission, ladies." With that, the video link ended and a ventilation panel on the wall opened, pulling Sam and Alex, screaming, into it.
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Well, that's all this time folks! R/R please!