Meanwhile, in Beverly Hills, there was a flurry of activity at a certain beach house, which had previously belonged to the three WOOHP superspies, Sam, Clover and Alex. Since the girls had moved into the penthouse at Mali-U, the beach house had spent the last couple of years in disuse, but now the house belonged to Clover's sister, Daphne, who had recently moved in along with her son, Trevor. The pair of them had settled in quite quickly, and were now hosting a small housewarming party, with Trevor and some of his friends splashing about in the pool, while the more grown-up members of the party were helping themselves to food and drinks. In the background, some appropriate music was playing on the speakers.
"Wow, cool party, sis," remarked Clover as she and Blaine walked arm-in-arm over to Daphne, who had been chatting with Sam, Alex, and their respective boyfriends, Dean and Ray.
"Yeah, you've really pulled out all the stops here," agreed Blaine as he took a sip of Pepsi from his glass.
"Thanks," smiled Daphne. "Though it's Alex I should be really thanking for suggesting that Trev and I could move in here. It's such a great place to live."
"Yeah, it was a nice idea, Alex," added Ray Smith with a grin. He was a tall, handsome guy with a medium brown skin tone, side parted brown hair, a stylish goatee beard, and a pair of rimless rectangular glasses perched on the end of his nose. He and Alex had been attending veterinary studies together for the last couple of years, and they had quickly found they had a lot in common, as they both had a fondness for comic books and computer games. However, it was only a few weeks ago that Ray finally plucked up the courage to ask Alex out on a date, to which she quickly said yes, and since then, they quickly realised they were in love with each other.
"Hey, no prob," said Alex as she chomped on a veggie burger. "I'm just glad you like the place so much, Daphne."
"It's kinda strange being back here again after all this time," said Sam, casting a nostalgic look about the place. "This place holds quite a few memories in its walls."
"Mainly good ones, I hope," said Dean, as he planted a kiss on his smiling girlfriend's cheek.
Trevor called out from the middle of the pool, as he and his friends waved to the grown-ups. "Hey, Mom! Do you and Auntie Clover want to join us in here?"
"Okay, sweetheart," chuckled Daphne as she dived into the pool, closely followed by Clover and Blaine, with Sam, Alex, and everyone-else following suit. Soon, the pool was jammed pack with people happily splashing, laughing and cheering away.
Eventually, the party wound down, and everyone started to head home, until eventually only Daphne, Clover, Trevor, Sam and Alex remained to help with the cleaning up, as Ray had to head back to Mali-U to catch up on some studies, while Dean and Blaine had some work to do at WOOHP HQ.
"Phew, that was some party!" breathed Alex as she slumped onto the couch with the others, having finally got the last of the party food back in the fridge.
"Yeah, I'm just sorry it had to end," said Daphne as she turned to the others. "So, do you guys want a pizza or anything?"
"No thanks, Daph," chuckled Clover. "I'm still full from all that party food."
"Besides, we ought to head back to campus, before it goes too late and the Deans come out prowling," added Sam.
"Can't you just take one of those secret tunnel slides that Mum's been telling me about?" asked Trevor.
"Um no, I don't think so," replied Clover, before turning back to Daphne. "So you told Trevor then?"
"About the whole spy job? Well, I kinda had to," said Daphne. "If I'm going to be a spy as well as a supermodel, I have to let my son know where I'm disappearing to. Besides, considering that your boss recklessly woohps people at a whim, like you told me he did with Mom and Cousin Normie, it wouldn't exactly be easy to hide all this from one's own kid."
"Don't worry, Auntie Clover, I won't tell anyone," promised Trevor, noting his Aunt's worried expression. Clover gave her nephew a reassuring smile, then turned to Alex.
"Talking of trusting people with secrets about being a spy, have you told Ray yet, Alex?"
"Well, um, yeah," admitted Alex sheepishly. "I know Ray and I have only been dating a few weeks, and we shouldn't give away our spy identities on a whim, but it's been working out so well for the two of us, and I felt that I could trust him with all this. I think we're pretty much committed to each other."
"You know, I've been feeling the same way about Dean and me," mused Sam. "It's weird, but ever since that brief time travel adventure into the future, I feel pretty changed by the whole experience, even though we have no conscious memory of the whole thing."
"Yeah, I've been getting that vibe that too," agreed Clover. "It's like there's something at the back of my mind, telling me that now's the right time for Blaine and me to get back together, as though there's something great waiting for us all."
"Man, I've never known you to be so philosophical, Clove," said Daphne.
Before she could say anymore, the couch suddenly turned in on itself and, with a cry, they all tumbled through a hidden opening, which led to a chute which took them right to WOOHP.
"Ah man, and there we were talking about ill-timed woohpings!" called out Alex, as within seconds, they landed on the sofa in Jerry's office, with Trevor landing on his mother's lap.
"Yahoo! That was fun!" said the young boy. "Can we do that again, Mom?"
"Um, not right now, Trevor," said Daphne, as she scowled at Jerry who was sitting behind his desk with an abashed expression.
"Oops, sorry about that girls," said Jerry, rubbing his head awkwardly. "I thought Daphne's son was in bed. Seems the house's motion sensors are on the blink again."
"Well, at least you didn't try to woohp us during the party," sighed Alex. "That would have been asking for trouble!"
"Speaking of trouble, what's up this time, Jerr?" asked Sam.
"A rather unusual robbery occurred last night at the Weinger building downtown," explained Jerry. "It seems to be the work of a professional thief, who broke into the office currently being used by Frank Freeman, the founder of a charity organisation to help people in poverty around the world."
"Poor Frank!" exclaimed Daphne. "I've worked with him a few times for some charity events in New York. Ah man, he must be devastated."
"So, what did the thieves take, Jerry?" asked Alex.
"That's the strangest thing," said Jerry. "According to Mr Freeman's statement, nothing of value was missing at all. Just an old lamp that he purchased a few months ago."
"That's weird. I guess you want us to go to the scene of the crime and find out what it's all about?" said Clover.
"Quite right," confirmed Jerry as he handed out some gadgets to the girls. "Here are some gadgets to help you with the investigation, including a scanner watch, a Compact Collapsible Teflon Coated Armored Umbrella, a bottle of Ice Queen Perfume, a Friendship Ring Zirconium Trackers for each of you, and some Jetpack Backpacks."
"Okay Jerry," said Daphne, as the four girls pocketed their gadgets and put on their backpacks. "But while we're busy, you'll have to look after Trevor."
Jerry paled a little at this, remembering the initial trouble he had looking after Clover and Daphne's cousin, Normie.
"Um well, that is..." he started to say, glancing at Trevor, who smiled sweetly back at him.
"Well, someone has to look after him, while we're busy with this mission," stated Daphne firmly, with a wag of her finger. "Just keep him amused for a bit and bedtime is at nine."
"Oh, very well," sighed Jerry, as he pressed a button, which opened up a chute in the ceiling, which sucked the four spies into it, sending them on their way to the Weinger building.
Back at the student dorm in Mali-U, Trent was busy cleaning Mandy's room, when his employer suddenly bellowed "TRENT!" and stormed up to him, a furious expression on her face. Wearily, Trent wondered what the matter was this time.
"Yes, Mandy?" sighed Trent as he straightened himself up and set aside the mop he was using to wash the floor.
"I can't find my new leather cleat heeled boots anywhere!" hissed Mandy. "You were sorting my clothes, so where are they?"
Trent's face took on a flustered expression. "Oops! They were next to the pile you asked me to bin yesterday. I thought they were part of the load, so..."
Mandy's face turned purple with rage. "You stupid loser! Do you have any idea how much those shoes cost me! You've messed things up for me once too often! You are so fired!"
Trent's jaw dropped. "You... You can't be serious!"
"Does this look like the look of a jokester, Trent?" snapped Mandy, pointing at her face. "Now get out of here. You're history!"
And with that, Mandy booted Trent out of the room, sending him flying into the corridor. Gingerly getting back to his feet, Trent rubbed his sore backside as Mandy slammed her door shut behind him.
Trent sighed again and made his way back to his room, not really feeling that sorry for himself. Truth be told, he had found Mandy near unbearable to work for, and he was secretly relieved that she had finally sacked him. Of course, knowing Mandy, she would later come up to him and 'graciously' rehire him, as she was too lazy to sort out her own stuff. But did Trent want to go back? Not really. He had finally had enough of being pushed around like someone's slave, so perhaps now was the time to find some other line of work.
As he wandered back into his own room, he noticed the lamp he had found earlier, which he had placed on his desk. Looking for something to take his mind off things, he got out a cloth and some polish, sat down by the desk, and started to give the lamp a good clean over.
"Hey, this is in actually pretty good condition," Trent remarked to himself, as the lamp started to shine and glisten from the polish. "You'd probably be worth quite a bit in an antiques sale."
He carried on rubbing away, until the lamp suddenly started shaking and seemed to fly out of his hands, before landing on the desk. A little taken aback, Trent's eyes widened as a purple smoke began to shoot out of the lamp's nozzle, forming a human-sized cloud before him. Then, before Trent's very eyes, the cloud changed shape and solidified into the form of an attractive girl with a dark complexion and deep green eyes. She was dressed in a long dress apparently of Arabic design, made out of of a crimson silk material, and had long attractive black hair in a ponytail that ran down to her shoulders.
The girl stretched out her limbs and gave out a loud yawn. "Oh, thank goodness," she said, with a pleasant-sounding voice. "It's so good to be out of there again."
As the girl got her bearings, she spotted Trent, whom she gave a friendly smile, showing a row of perfect white teeth in the process.
"Hello," she said with a cheery wave. "Are you my new master?"
Trent continued gaping for a few seconds, then collapsed in a complete faint.