7:30 AM - Downtown Beverly Hills
A fifteen-year-old girl with long, wavy auburn hair could be seen walking down the streets of Beverly Hills, a bright smile on her face.
May Iwakura was another close friend of Nick's, though she'd left about a few years ago to see the world at her parent's request.
The second she'd returned, she sent Nick an email hoping that they could meet up again. As of now, she was heading towards the spies' villa, where Nick was currently living with his friends.
"Wow. I can't believe it's been over three years since I've seen him," May stated to herself, looking at the bracelet that wrapped around her left wrist. It was a locket bracelet, given to her by Nick before she'd left for the world. Inside the locket strapped to the bracelet was a picture of Nick and May together at the park, hand in hand and smiling.
May sighed wistfully. She'd always loved that picture...
Suddenly, a series of loud honking sounds brought May out of her reverie. She looked up and groaned - the traffic was becoming too congested. Typical rush-hour nonsense.
Suddenly, May smiled brightly. "Guess I can hoof it."
Saying nothing, May tensed up, bending backwards a bit. Suddenly, a few of the random people looked towards May's position. One second, they saw her...
...but a split-second later, the people only saw thin air.
May had taken off in a rapid streak, her well-exercised legs propelling her forward as she effortlessly weaved through the congested traffic towards her destination. Many people that May sped by reached out of their vehicles to yell, but they only yelled at air.
Meanwhile, in a shady-looking building...
Somewhere in a dark building, a mysterious figure was watching May's speed-running on a set of viewscreens.
"Interesting... this girl's speed is something I will have to... acquire," the mystery man stated, laughing maniacally. Then, he turned to a girl he was holding captive.
"Isn't that right, Dawn?"
7:55 AM – The Spies' Villa
It seemed like a normal day to the spies, at least for a short while after the intense battle that nearly cost them two of their friends. Alex, Nozomi, Mathew, Sam, and Clover were still asleep, while Nick, Haruka, and Bridget were sitting together on the couch, watching the sunrise.
"Man, it feels good to be just sitting here with my friends, just relaxing, especially after what just happened," Nick stated to nobody in particular.
"We're just glad you're all right, Nick," Haruka explained in a slightly worried tone. "I was so afraid we were going to lose you back there..."
"You girls have to learn to stop worrying so much. It's gonna take a lot more than that to bring me down," Nick explained.
After a while of her super-quick running, May finally reached the suburbs, stopping right in front of the spies' villa.
"I think this is the place. I just hope he's home..." May said to herself, walking up and knocking twice on the villa's door.
(Memories can be deceiving. They can be a benevolent ruler, or a cruel mistress. But what happens when they're both?)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies! Undercover: Disillusioned Memories
Story Rated: T for Teen (for intense moments, a bit of harsh language, and lots and lots of action)
Story Summary: My third joint project with Mat49324 that picks up right from where Beyond the Looking Glass left off. It seems life is going back to normal for the spies and their friends after seemingly finally defeating Terrence once and for all, but when it comes to being an agent of WOOHP, normal is forever a relative term. A new bad guy has risen, but this time around, it's personal, as this villain is someone Nick knows, despite his insistence that this person is supposed to be dead. Can the spies take down this latest superbad, and can Nick put the demons of his past to rest?
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and I do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters created by us truly for the story (in this case, Nick, Haruka, Bridget, May, Nozomi, Dawn, and Melissa on my side, and Mathew on his side). Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
Author's Note from The Blue Time Ranger: This is NO LONGER Mat49324's last Totally Spies story period, since we've been brainstorming ideas for a sequel to this! And I PROMISE (and I mean it this time) that we won't take NINE FREAKING YEARS to get it done. I seriously don't know why that even happened the way it did...
Episode 1: Fragmented Memory
Before Haruka could say anything else, the three friends heard a few knocks on the door.
"I'll get it!" Nick exclaimed, heading for the door. When he opened it, he gasped in surprise: a fifteen-year-old girl with long, wavy auburn hair, pure emerald green eyes, and an orange and black dress was standing in the doorway. Nick instantly recognized her.
"Is... is that you, Nick?" May asked.
"Holy crap, May!" Nick exclaimed back, throwing his arms around his friend, who in turn did the same.
"I knew I'd find you here!" May exclaimed. "You ALWAYS put your address on your emails, silly."
"I guess it's a habit," Nick responded. "I take it you already know Haruka?"
"Clear as crystal," May replied.
"And this," Nick explained, pointing to Bridget, "is Bridget Taylor, a friend I met when I first came to America."
"Nice to meet you, Bridget," May greeted, to which Bridget responded with a shy wave of her hand.
"Didn't you say you had some more friends?" May asked.
"Yeah. They should be waking up just about now. When they come down here, I'll introduce you to them," Nick explained, just in time to hear a yawn from upstairs.
(Sam's P.O.V.)
I awoke from my slumber and stepped into the bathroom to change to my swimsuit for a morning swim. When I came down, I noticed another girl with Nick, Haruka and Bridget.
"Hey, who are you?" I asked.
"Oh, hey, Sam," Nick said. "This is May Iwakura, another one of my close friends; May, this is Sam."
"Geez, how many 'close friends' do you have?" I said.
"It's a habit, I guess," Nick replied.
The four of them noticed me in my swimsuit.
"Another morning swim, Sam?" Haruka asked.
"Mm-hmm," I simply responded.
"Care to join?"
"Sure," Haruka and Bridget said.
Nick joined us.
"What about you, May?" Nick asked.
"Sure, why not," May responded.
Meanwhile, in the pool...
"Wow, Nick," Sam stated to Nick, "you sure seem to have a lot of friends from Japan, huh?"
"I was kinda popular back at Umi no Hoshi," Nick explained. "But May was a different story. She saved me from a bully, and we kinda just hit it off after that."
Nick was walking through the hallways of his middle school alma mater, Umi no Hoshi, just hoping he could get to class without running...
"Hey, kid!"
...into him.
The local school bully, Burt, had just come around, and he'd been making it a habit to bother the heck out of Nick recently. As you could tell, Nick was getting pretty sick of it.
"Look, Burt. I'm in a real hurry, and I'm not in the mood for this," Nick responded. "I have a VERY IMPORTANT English class I cannot afford to miss, so would you kindly shove off?"
Nick tried to dodge around Burt, but he wouldn't let Nick get by. "I don't think so, buddy. Your lunch money has a very important meeting with me today, so fork it over!"
Even though Burt had brute strength on his side, he wasn't very smart. "Um, dumbbell, does this answer your question?" Nick shot back, holding us his Super Sentai-patterned lunch box. "Now MOVE. I'm not in the mood today!"
Nick attempted to dash around Burt, only to feel a clenched hand come down on his back, causing him to fall to the linoleum floor and drop his schoolbooks.
"Give me your lunch money before I do something you'll regret," Burt said with a menacing tone, advancing on Nick, but was stopped by a new female voice.
"How about you let that kid get to class before I do something you'll regret?" the new voice stated. Burt turned around to see a girl with long, flowing auburn hair and an orange outfit standing in a fighting stance.
"Oh, crap, it's you!" Burt exclaimed with a bit of fear in his voice, scrambling to his feet and making a run for it. The girl that had scared Burt off walked up to Nick and started picking up some of his books for him as Nick picked himself up.
"Wow. Thanks," Nick said to the girl. "Why was he so scared of you?"
"He'd heard rumors of the special karate classes I've been taking, but apparently, he didn't really believe they were true," the girl responded.
"Either way, thanks for scaring him off," Nick replied, holding his hand out to the new arrival, who promptly shook his hand.
"By the way, my name's May Iwakura," the girl stated. "Would you like to be friends?"
"Sure," Nick replied. "Anyone who can do THAT to Burt is a winner in my book." With that, Nick finally picked up the last of his books.
"Okay, let's get you to class," May noted, leading Nick towards his next class.
"May really saved my butt that day," Nick replied.
"Okay, guys, I'm ready to swim!" May called out, coming back downstairs in an orange-and-black one-piece swimsuit.
Suddenly, Nick heard a beeping upstairs. Someone was trying to call him on his X-Powder, which he'd hooked to his phone line a couple weeks ago.
"You girls go ahead and get some swimming in. I'll be right there," Nick stated, dashing upstairs.
Inside Nick's room, his X-Powder was beeping like mad. Nick quickly opened up, looking at the screen, which displayed a random assortment of jumbled letters.
"Oh. Looks like someone sent me a message in secret code," Nick noted, pressing a green button on his X-Powder. A second later, the letters began rearranging themselves as the X-Powder began decoding the secret message.
A few seconds later, a loud beep rang out as the decoding finished. Unfortunately, when he saw the decoded message, he gave out a loud gasp of shock.
"No... no, that can't be..." Nick gasped, picking up his X-Powder and bolting downstairs and out of the house.
May dove underwater, relying on her gracefulness and agility to put on a good show for Sam and Haruka.
"Wow, girl, you're pretty good," Sam noted as May came back up for air.
"I guess after being on the track team for so long, you get used to stuff like this," was May's simple reply.
That was when May noticed that Haruka had gone missing. May simply smirked, tensing up.
The exact second Haruka (who had dove underwater for a surprise attack) surfaced and lunged at May, she gracefully dodged and retaliated with a powerful arm sweep attack that left the other two girls completely drenched.
"How'd you see me coming?" Haruka asked while brushing off the splash.
"I could hear you from the other side of the pool," May replied. "I attribute that to my martial arts training."
"Really?" Sam asked. "What style do you prefer to use?"
"You know, I never really thought of that..." May pondered. "Sometimes I prefer to use Shotokan karate. That's the style I grew up with. But, other times, I like using Tai Ji Quan martial arts. Nick taught me that style."
Suddenly, Haruka heard some rapid footsteps. "Who's making all that noise?"
Nick made a run for it, not even noticing that he'd dropped his X-Powder on his way down. Completely forgetting about the girls, and the secret message still ringing in his head, Nick stormed out the door, earning a few looks of confusion from Sam, May, and Haruka.
"Where's Nick going?" May asked. "I thought he wanted to swim with us!"
"Is it me, or did he look a little freaked out to you guys?" Haruka asked, walking back towards the spot where Nick had dropped his X-Powder, a towel wrapped around her body.
"Hey, he dropped his X-Powder... he must be in a real hurry, whatever that..." was about as far as Haruka got as she read the decoded message that was still on the screen of Nick's X-Powder.
"Okay, girls, we officially have a problem!" Haruka shouted, racing back to the girls.
"What's the matter, Haruka?" Sam asked.
"Look at this!" Haruka exclaimed, thrusting Nick's X-Powder towards Sam and May, who read the message on display:
"To Nick Kelly:
I have your beloved cousin Dawn as my hostage. You will come to the 9th Street Pier in twenty minutes or you will never see her alive again."
(Mathew's P.O.V.)
I had just got up and decided to have a morning shave of my chin. When I came downstairs, only Sam was outside in the pool waiting.
"Out here again, Sam?" I asked.
"Mm-hmm," Sam responded.
"But I got a feeling that something bad has happened."
That's when I noticed another girl I didn't recall seeing before.
"Sam, we've got a problem here," she said to her.
"Wait a sec," I said.
"Just who the heck are you?"
"Nick will explain once we find him," Sam said to me, climbing out of the pool.
"Now come on, Mathew... We've got to get Clover, Alex and the others up and tell them we've got another emergency."
Somewhere in the city...
Not daring to look back, lest he lose time, Nick only began to speed up as best he could, racing towards the 9th Street Pier to save his cousin. He didn't even know that his spy friends were chasing him, shouting for him to explain just where the heck he was going.
"Dawn... I don't know what this freak's done to you, but I swear to god I'm going to make him pay," Nick said to himself, hanging a sharp right at the downtown intersection, taking him into the city.
"Holy cow, he's going so fast that I can't even keep up with him anymore!" Alex exclaimed, and she was usually the athletic one of the group.
"Then let's split into teams and try to track him down," Nozomi explained. "Alex, you go with Sam, Clover and May and check downtown. Mat, Bridget, Haruka, you guys are coming with me. We're going by the wharf."
Once everyone had grouped into Nozomi's suggested teams, they split and headed towards their destination.
Nick checked his watch, no small feat at the speed he was going. According to said watch, he only had about five minutes left to make it to the pier, which was all the motivation Nick needed to kick it into overdrive.
In a few more minutes, he'd reached the 9th Street Pier, desperately searching for an entrance. Soon enough, he'd found a door that held a sign no doubt addressed to him.
"Guess I found my way in," Nick said to himself. Wasting no more time than was necessary, Nick brought his foot up, and in one swift kick, the door to the 'lair' was down.
Inside was a tangled mess of computer consoles, with a man standing by the central console. Nick couldn't see who it was, since the dark and dankness of the pier was keeping the man in the shadows.
To the other side, Nick could see a girl tied up; a girl with long, wavy violet hair that reached down to her waist, along with a pink and blue blouse and dress combo. The pink and white scarf wrapped around her neck was a dead giveaway as to her identity.
"Well, well," the shadowed man stated. "I was almost beginning to think you wouldn't show."
"Stow it, you jackass," Nick shot back, raising his fist. "Let Dawn go or else you're going to get it."
"Oh, Nick. I thought you knew me better. I never capture hostages alone. I always go for pairs."
"What?" Nick exclaimed, but that was when he noticed another girl next to Dawn, both struggling to break free of their bindings. The second girl was wearing a pink t-shirt covered by a blue sweater, and a light blue skirt that reached down to just above her knees. Her hair was a mix of orange and brown, and fell down to her waist, and her eyes were same shade of brown as Nick's. Nick gave a gasp of shock as soon as he'd recognized the second girl.
"Melissa..."
Nick quickly turned back to the shadowed man. "You shadow-dipped son of a bitch, you took my sister, too?!"
"I'd prefer to have company when the Zero Requiem begins."
Nick immediately made a break for the two girls, only to be stopped by the returning voice of the shadowed man.
"Ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you. One more step towards them and they'll pay the price."
Nick stood rooted to the spot, secretly charging his attack. "All right, what do you want?"
"All I prefer is for you to ally with me. Together, we could conquer the world!"
Nick just flashed a playful grin. "Just who do you think I am?! FINAL SHINE ATTACK!" Nick shouted, raising his right hand and unleashing a concentrated blast of neon-green psychic power that blasted the strange man clear into a nearby computer console.
Nick took advantage of the moment of distraction to run over and untie his cousin and sister.
"Nick? What the heck did you just do to that guy?" Dawn asked as Nick undid the bindings holding the two girls.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get out of here before recovers from that!" Nick responded.
Suddenly, the shadowed man began stirring, and Nick could hear a series of familiar voices coming from the nearby door, which quickly gave way to reveal the rest of the spies.
"Why didn't you wait for us, Nick?" Alex asked.
"To be fair, villains don't usually wait on ultimatums," Nick responded, turning his attention to the mysterious figure. "Right, you asshole?!"
The shadowed man just snickered as he picked himself back up. "You apparently don't seem to understand the position you're in."
"Oh, you'd like me to believe that, wouldn't you?" Nick growled, his psychic aura bursting to life around him.
"Um..." Clover asked, just now noticing the two new girls. "Who are these two?"
"Long story short, the girl with blue hair is Dawn, my cousin, and the girl with orange-ish hair is Melissa, my sister," Nick explained. "You girls need to get them out of here before this gets ugly!"
"I'll take care of that. Come on, girls, let's let the professionals handle things here," Haruka giggled, rushing over to Dawn and Melissa and leading them towards the door.
"Hey, hey, at least tell me if Nick's gonna be all right!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Trust me, he's used to things like this," Haruka responded. "Let's just leave it to him."
Back on the battlefield, Nick stared down the shadowed man.
"Why don't we just put an end to this?" Nick stated.
"Funny," the shadowed man responded. "I was about to suggest the same thing."
Not wasting any time, Nick rushed forward, lashing out into a spinning kick that the shadowed man couldn't dodge in time, knocking him straight into yet another computer.
However, unseen to Nick, the shadowed man had tossed out something that had landed on Nick's back.
"Now are you gonna knock it off before I have to get nasty?" Nick challenged. The shadowed man was silent.
"I thought so."
And with that, Nick ran out of the lair to rejoin his spy friends.
"Nick, do you have any idea how worried I was?" Alex exclaimed, pulling Nick into a tight hug.
"I could probably take a wild guess," Nick laughed, quickly returning the hug.
However, just then, the mysterious device that the shadowed man had tossed activated, covering Nick in an electrical field that shocked him into unconsciousness.
"NICK, NO!" Alex screamed.
"Hold it!" Haruka spoke before Alex could even move a muscle.
"Whaddya got, Haruka?" Sam asked.
As Haruka moved even closer, she could see the electric device on the unconscious Nick's back.
"He's fine, but I see something on his back," Haruka replied. "Does anyone have anything to clip it off?" She asked the group.
"Try grabbing it with your hand first," Sam suggested. "If you're shocked, I've got a rubber glove in my backpack, and I'll get it."
"All right, then," Haruka replied.
(Alex's P.O.V.)
I watched in grief as Haruka carefully reached her hand in on the electric device on Nick's back.
Please let her grab it, I thought.
Just when she was about to touch it, Haruka's hand was electrocuted. She came back, holding it.
"Guess I better try the old rubber touch," Sammy replied, putting on her rubber glove.
She tried it out, and was able to successfully pull it off of Nick's back.
"Rubber always works," she said.
"Okay, what next?" Mathew asked.
"We send this to Jerry for an analysis," Sam answered.
"And hope we get something good from him," Clover added.
(Nick's P.O.V.)
My eyes slowly opened, trying to adjust themselves after I had gotten the literal shock of my life.
The first thing I noticed was that I was back at WOOHP, on one of those uncomfortable as heck steel operating tables.
"Hey, he's awake!" I heard Haruka exclaimed, and was just as quickly near-tackled by Alex.
"You feeling all right, Nick?" Alex asked, her arms around me.
"Mostly. My head still hurts a bit, but I should be okay," I responded, returning the hug. "The last thing I remember was walking out of that place, and suddenly I saw a bit of a spark... then, nothing."
"Whoever that guy was, he probably threw something on you that electrocuted you when you walked out of there," May answered. I suddenly realized that she was in a spy suit like ours. Her color was orange, apparently. It fits.
"You're a spy now, May?" I asked.
"Yep," May giggled. "Jerry asked if I wanted to give it a shot, considering you're a friend of mine."
"Are you feeling well enough to travel, Nick?" Jerry asked.
"I should be," I stated, hopping to my feet. "My back's kinda sore, but it's nothing I haven't handled before."
"Good. We're picking up some strange energy signals in Egypt," Jerry explained, gesturing to the viewscreen. "One of the pyramids there is outputting a very odd energy signature, and we'd like you all to investigate."
"On it, Jerry!" we all exclaimed. The girls and I used our X-Powders to switch into our spy suits, while Mat used his GBA SP to change into his motocross outfit.
Jerry suddenly smiled. "Good luck, spies."
Acting quickly, I surrounded us with a protective psychic barrier before Jerry could drop us through the floor.
"You're slipping, Jerry," I teased.
"There's always next time," Jerry responded as I dispelled the bubble and we all landed in the Skyskimmer.
6:51 A.M. - Somewhere Over the Skies of Egypt
("Flowing Star Sand" by Mahito Yokota & Ryo Nagamatsu plays)
"Approaching Egypt," Mat stated.
"All right, let's take a look," I proclaimed, slipping on my Cyberjacker Sunglasses and taking a look at the pyramids. I figured, since the pyramids don't normally (if ever) put out weird energy signals like this, I figured someone must be messing around with some equipment in there.
"Bingo!"
"Got something, Nick?" Alex asked.
"That pyramid over there is generating some very unusual frequencies. It sounds like someone's chatting in there, but I can't quite make out what they're saying," I explained. "We should go in and crash their party."
"Best idea I've heard all day," Sam and Haruka stated at exactly the same time.
Leaving the Skyskimmer on autopilot, we all powered up our Jetpack Backpacks and shot towards the pyramid I'd identified.
"It looks pretty normal and dusty to me," Clover noted.
"Have the Cyberjacker Sunglasses ever steered you wrong?" I teased.
Before Clover could respond to that, something shot from the ground, nearly missing us.
Before anyone could query, another laser bolt shot right at us, but I quickly deflected it with a short burst of psychic energy.
"Evasive maneuvers, they're firing on us!" I shouted.
"I have an idea," Mathew replied, looking at me. "Nick, how long can you, Dawn, and Haruka distract them?"
"We'll do our best!" Dawn giggled. "Just leave it to us!"
"Alright, let's work fast at this," I said to the girls.
Sam and the rest of us flew away from Nick, Haruka and Dawn.
"I hope they can distract them long enough," Alex replied.
"If they can, how will they know where to find us?" Clover asked.
"Simple, we don't stray far from them to a point where they'll have trouble finding us," Mathew replied.
"Think we'll need extra help from Britney?" Alex asked.
(Nick's P.O.V.)
"I just put in the call," May stated. "Britney will be here just as soon as she can. She just finished a mission with Megan and Yuki, so that's why she'll be delayed a bit."
"As long as she gets here, that's good enough for me!" Clover proclaimed.
"Is Clover always like that?" Dawn asked me.
"She's just impatient. We've been through quite a few missions in the past couple days, and it's kinda taking its toll on all of us," I explained, deflecting a few laser shots with more well-timed psychic bursts. "In fact, when we get back to WOOHP, I'm gonna ask Jerry if we can take a few days off. I REALLY need the rest."
Not wasting any time, I quickly pinpointed what was firing at us, and began to charge my psychic energy in my right hand until it began to glow green instead of its usual yellow.
"Suck on this, sniper dude! FINAL SHINE ATTACK!" I shouted, releasing my gathered energy in the form of a massive, pulsing neon beam that thundered from my palm and easily destroyed the turrets that were firing on us.
"Oh, that was AWESOME!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Trust me, you'll get to see more of my talents when we find whoever's messing with us," I stated. "Now let's get into that pyramid and take care of business."
Minutes later, we caught up with Sam and the others.
"Oh, you guys were able to hold them at bay?" Mathew asked.
"Definitely," Dawn answered.
"Piece of cake," Haruka added.
"Wonder if Jerry's got something on whatever that... thing that was on your back," Sam wondered.
Just then, her X-Powder rang.
"Indeed I do," Jerry replied. "So, how's the mission going, ladies... and gentlemen?"
"Despite distractions, we haven't found much," Mathew replied.
"I know where you're going at," Jerry replied. "Why don't you spies come back and I'll inform you of what I found."
"AWESOME!" We all cheered.
"I know the first place I'm going once Jerry finishes briefing us," Sam replied.
Before the spies could head off, however, Sam's X-Powder rang again. Thinking it was Jerry, Sam quickly answered it, only to see someone unfamiliar on the other end.
"Who... who are you?" Sam asked whoever was calling her.
"Never you mind that," the shadowed figure responded. The figure was so cloaked in darkness that it was impossible to make out any of the features, and the voice was being modulated so Sam couldn't run a vocal scan to determine who was talking.
"I will not have you interfering with our plans," the figure proclaimed. "So I must keep you busy until we are able to finish our business. I hope you've had fun with your little spy games, because this is where your game ends."
And with that, the transmission was cut. Almost two seconds after the call was cut, a gigantic robot dropped down from seemingly nowhere. It was a very spherical robot, with no legs (it was floating by unknown means) and it had two hulking hammers for arms.
("Megahammer" by Mahito Yokota & Ryo Nagamatsu plays)
"The signals from the pyramid didn't say anything about a welcoming committee!" Clover exclaimed.
"That thing didn't come from the pyramid," Mat noted, taking a look at his GBA SP. "This robot was dropped from this odd-looking helicopter a few minutes ago."
"And it thinks it's going to smash us into dust particles?" Nick challenged, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "Fat chance of that!"
Nick immediately broke into a sprint, circling the robot while peppering it with rapid-fire psychic energy bursts, none of which seemed to do any noticeable damage.
Alex quickly whipped out her X-Powder as Nick continued to circle the immense machine. After about twenty seconds of scanning, Alex looked towards Nick.
"Nick, I can see three weak spots on that thing!" Alex exclaimed. "Try aiming for those blue glass orb things!"
As per his girlfriend's instructions, Nick charged up and fired a bolt of psychic energy at one of the two glass cases on the front of the robot. This one did the trick, cracking the case. After a full circle around the robot, Nick fired another bolt, shattering the case.
"Jackpot!" Nick exclaimed.
Just then, one of the robot's hammer hands came smashing down to the sands in front of Nick, which would have flattened him had he not skidded to a stop.
"Too close for my palette," Nick noted before firing another bolt into the second glass case, cracking it easily.
After a couple circuits, Nick managed to shatter the second case, leaving only the one on the robot's back.
The problem? The damned thing wouldn't stay still long enough for Nick to get a clear shot.
Luckily, Alex was thinking quickly, reaching into her Jetpack Backpack and pulling out a gadget she never thought would actually be useful in a situation like this.
"Eat this, Terminator ripoff!" Alex shouted, tossing the can down onto the ground under the robot. Nick picked up on the idea quickly, firing a bolt of psychic energy that pierced the can and caused the Tornado in a Can of Hairspray to start up, a roaring whirlwind whipping up around the robot and spinning it around like mad.
When the winds died down, the robot had been slammed into the sands, with its final glass case exposed to a direct attack.
"FINISH THAT THING, NICK!" Haruka shouted.
"That was always the plan! FINAL SHINE ATTACK!" Nick exclaimed, firing his signature attack into the glass casing, instantly breaking it and overloading the robot's circuits, causing it to explode on the spot.
"Owned," Nick proclaimed.
"Hey, guys, the signals from the pyramid just disappeared," Mat realized.
"And I'm willing to bet this has something to do with it," Nick stated, stepping into the wreckage of the robot and pulling out a tiny radio transmitter.
"Let's take this back to WOOHP and see if Jerry can trace it back to the source."
9:49 A.M. - Downtown Paris, France
"Ah, France..." Clover swooned, gazing down at the city of love. "I've always wanted to come here..."
"You were here last week, remember?" Haruka teased. "You started swooning over that one guy at the baguette stand?"
"Let's remember why we're here, girls," Nick responded. "That transmitter we found in Egypt had a similar energy signature coming from here in Paris. Whoever contacted Sammy must have a base somewhere around the world. So our first priority before Clover gets to check out any boys is to find this jerkoff."
"Aw, you're no fun, Nick," Clover pouted, with a wink to show she was only teasing.
"Hey, when we're done here, you can swoon all you want," Nick stated. "But for now, let's get to work!"
"I'll go on ahead, guys!" Melissa exclaimed, shooting off towards the residential district.
"Your sister's pretty energetic, huh?" Mat asked.
"She just likes a good adventure," Nick admitted as the rest of the spies shot off in separate directions to investigate.
Nick landed by the bay, deactivating his Jetpack Backpack when he reached solid ground.
"Okay, experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows," Nick noted, having noticed something glowing on the edge of the lake.
Before Nick could take a few steps, just as he'd expected, something emerged from the lake: an immense, elaborately-designed airship.
"Experience has also taught me that the best way to solve your problems is to kick robot butt," Nick stated as the airship began to coast down the bayside.
"All right, then, let's dance," Nick challenged as he rushed off after the airship, his psychic aura flaring to life around him.
(Sam's P.O.V.)
"Remind me to ask him how he learned that, Sam," Mathew said to me.
I could only nod my head in agreement. I was curious myself to how Nick learned those moves.
With Nick and Melissa leading the group, we followed along... staying alert in case of a certain trap. After that, I heard a pretty loud thunk.
"Was I the only one who heard that?" I asked the group.
"Heard what, Sam?" Alex asked.
"We didn't hear it," Clover replied.
"I think I heard it," Mathew replied.
"We were so busy leading the group I didn't even pay attention," Nick replied.
"I know what I heard," I replied.
"We don't doubt you, Sam," Haruka replied.
The airship began firing missiles at Nick and the spies, but Nick deflected most of them with well-timed psychic bursts.
"Hello?! Evil airship, trying to kill us, why is it trying to kill us?!" Haruka exclaimed.
"How about we figure it out when we're done dismantling it?" Alex proclaimed.
Nick took his chance, firing a burst into the ground so he could propel himself upwards, straight onto the airship.
After a bit of running, Nick was ready to give the pilot of this airship what for, but when he reached the cockpit...
"Um, girls? There's no one flying this thing!" Nick exclaimed.
"What? Are you sure?" Mat asked.
"It's like this thing is on autopilot," Alex responded.
"Whatever the case, I'm putting this thing out of its misery right now," Nick stated, hopping back to solid ground and charging up his signature move.
"Let's end this! FINAL SHINE ATTACK!" Nick shouted, firing the emerald beam into the airship, making sure to hop to safe ground so he didn't get caught in the ensuing explosion that ripped the airship apart, many of the pieces falling into the bay.
One of the pieces fell into Nick's hands. "Hey, this is another transmitter!"
"Weird," Alex noted. "You think this mystery person is up to something?"
"Probably," I replied. "Let's call Jerry and see if he can analyze this."
"Jerry, come in," Nick stated.
"Hello, spies," Jerry said in his calm tone.
"We found this in the plane we investigated," Nick told him, showing the transmitter in Jerry's screen.
"I'm preparing to analyze it now," Jerry said as he sent a beam to grab the transmitter.
"Well, call us when you have something," I told him as Nick closed his DS.
"So now what?" Mathew asked.
"Well, maybe we could get a break from all this?" Clover suggested. "This hot weather's making it murder on my complexion... and I'm anxious to get wet in the pool."
"I second that," Haruka spoke up.
"Well, guess it's unanimous," I said to the group. "Head back for now, wait for Jerry to buzz us."
"Farewell, Paris," Clover said, dramatically. "For we shall return... eventually."
12:18 p.m. – Spies' Villa
After heading back home to good old Beverly Hills, Clover did just what she wanted and headed straight for the pool, using her X-powder to switch her outfit to her swimsuit. Haruka did the same, as did the rest of us.
"I wonder when we're going to hear from Jerry," I said to the group.
"Hopefully soon," Nick replied.
"Anyone up for pizza delivery while we wait for Jer?" Clover suggested.
"Okay, anchovies!" Sam exclaimed.
"You're out of your freaking mind, Sammy!" Nick shouted. "Who in the world eats little tiny fish that stink to high hell and back?!"
"But you LOVE fish, Nick!" Clover shot back. "Don't deny it!"
"Just because you saw me eating fish sticks that one time doesn't mean it!" Nick continued. "Fish sticks are completely different things!"
"Okay, how about pepperoni and olives?" Melissa asked.
"ACK!" May responded, faking a gagging noise. "Why is it always olives with you people?!"
"Hey, I LIKE olives!" Melissa shot back. "So there!"
"Don't diss one of my favorite toppings, May," Mat proclaimed.
"You LIKE that crapola?!" May exclaimed.
"May I make a suggestion of mushrooms?" Dawn interjected.
"Stay out of it, Dawn!" May and Melissa shouted together.
"Oh, just because I like exotic toppings on my pizza?" Dawn growled, pushing her forehead angrily against Melissa's.
"Black peppers!" Bridget shouted.
"No way! Those things burned the roof of my mouth once!" Alex shot back. "I've never trusted peppers since!"
"How about this, you guys?" Nozomi asked, having just come back from her big brother's house. "How about you order a combo pizza, one of those huge twenty-four inchers? I know this pizza place a few blocks from my house that has kick-ass pizzas at an economical price!"
"Do they mean 'economical' as in fair or disguised?" Alex responded.
"The first one, obviously. Do you not trust pizza places, Alex?"
Alex looked out the window. "This one pizza joint ripped me off when I was a kid. I've learned since only to trust the ones that can back up their claims."
"Well, then, trust me, Alex, you're in good hands. I've been there so much since I came to Beverly Hills, so I can vouch for their quality," Nozomi giggled.
"The way you're making it sound, Nozomi, I guess I'll have to see it for myself," Alex continued.
"OKAY!" Nozomi proclaimed, whipping out her cell phone. "I've got a good chunk of change saved up, so this pizza's on me. What do you guys want on it?"
"STUFFED CRUST!" everyone shouted.
"One side meat lovers!" Nick exclaimed.
"One side mushrooms and pineapple!" Alex exclaimed.
"WHAT?!" Sam shouted. "Who puts PINEAPPLE on a pizza?!"
"The Hawaiians, for one!" Clover shot back.
"Don't diss the pineapple, Clover!" Bridget responded.
"Well, this could take a while," Nick stated to himself. "I think I'll slip away while the getting's good."
With that, Nick snuck up to his room while everyone else argued about pizza toppings. Nozomi just watched the debacle while smiling.
While laying down on his bed, Nick gazed out the bedroom window. The sun was beginning to set, casting a glow on the horizon.
"Something about all this doesn't add up, damn it," Nick thought out loud. "We've been to three countries already, and every time we've been ambushed by freaky robots each holding a transmitter. My question is, what, who, or where are they transmitting to?"
"Everything okay up here?" Alex's voice responded as she poked into the room.
"Pretty much," Nick replied as Alex walked in and sat down by him. "I'm just trying to figure things out. This isn't like any other case we've been on. I'm still curious as to what these crazy robots are transmitting to..."
"We'll crack it," Alex giggled, leaning forward to kiss Nick on the cheek. "We always do in the end."
Just then, Nick's X-Powder began to beep. Not wasting any time, he reached into his pocket to flip it open.
"Is that you, Nick?" Jerry asked through the video function.
"Loud and clear, Jerry," Nick responded. "What's up?"
"We have your next destination," Jerry responded. "You and the gang are off to Japan."
"How's that for lucky, Nick?" Alex exclaimed. "You get to see home again!"
"By the way," Jerry continued. "We analyzed the voice-prints we took from whoever contacted you in Egypt, and, well... does this person look familiar to you?"
An image appeared on the X-Powder screen. Nick gasped in complete surprise.
"No freaking WAY," Nick gasped. "That couldn't be HIM, could it?"
Alex took a look and she was shocked as well. "We gotta warn the others," She said to Nick.
"Hold on a sec," Nick shot back. "Should we?"
"If he's the bad guy, I don't know if we really have a choice," Alex noted.
"All right..." I just know I'm not going to like this...
(Sam's P.O.V.)
Clover, Haruka, and the others were tackling each other while Mathew and I snuck in some kisses on deck. That's when we heard the doorbell.
"I'll get it," I said, running off.
It was Nozomi with her hands full of pizza boxes. Our food had come, and I went upstairs to let Alex and Nick know.
"Guys, the pizzas are here," I told them.
"Great," Alex said. "I'm ready to dig into some..."
"Then let's get it while it's hot," I told them.
(Nick's P.O.V.)
I decided to wait until everyone had their fill of pizza to tell them the news. I wouldn't want to ruin the meal, would I?
Once everyone had dried their hands of the pizza grease (ick), I cleared my throat to get the group's attention.
"Did Jerry figure anything out?" Clover asked.
I sighed heavily, and showed the others the image on my X-Powder.
"Is that our villain du jour?" Sam wondered.
"Hey, he looks a lot like you, Nick," Mat noted.
"Yeah, almost looks like he could be your brother!" Clover exclaimed.
"He is our brother," Melissa answered, her face tense. "Nick, is that image for real?"
"I'm afraid so, Melissa," I responded.
"Wait, wait, hold up, what's going on here?" Clover interjected. "Do you two have a history with this kid?"
I sighed again. This was one story I hoped I wouldn't have to tell anyone.
"You may not like this story, girls," I stated. "And boys," he quickly added to Mat. "But if my brother is the one behind all of this, then I guess I don't have any other choice."
"It was a good few years ago, way before our family moved from Japan to here," Melissa started. "We used to have a brother, Nick and I."
"The sad news is, Kevin died when we were only five," I continued, noticing that a few tears were falling from Melissa's eye.
"The report was that he had been mugged, but that wasn't the whole truth," Melissa stated, her voice breaking up at points. "We were walking to school when some hoodlum jumped us."
"I tried my best to defend Melissa and Kevin, but that jerk knocked both of us out," I continued, trying not to cry myself. "By the time we woke up, Kevin was already dead."
"Wait just a second here," Sam interjected. "If he's dead, how come Jerry's reports peg him as our next nutcase?"
"You think it could be a clone?" Bridget wondered, still shuddering every time she heard that word. Not too long ago, during our previous mission, Macker the Safecracker had created a clone of her deceased brother Jeremy that had literally stabbed her in the back. Bridget probably wouldn't even be here right now if I hadn't been there.
Surprisingly to the others, I shook my head. "Jerry's reports indicated that this is my brother Kevin. The DNA tests were a hundred percent conclusive. What I don't understand is how he's still alive..."
"Well, I guess that's what we'll have to find out," Alex proclaimed, striking a cute pose. This brought six sets of eyes to stare at her in confusion.
"What?"
Just as Clover was about to make a witty response, explosions began to rock the villa, sending all of us into a crashing tumble.
"Jeez, enough earthquakes already!" Clover shouted.
"Good thing Jerry reinforced the structures since that last mission," I noted as we all rushed outside to face our latest attacker.
The gigantic mech that towered twice the height of our villa wasn't anything that was familiar to me, but when I got a good look at the machine's pilot, I immediately knew why.
The person piloting that machine was my brother Kevin.
"How appropriate that I'd find all of you here," Kevin growled. I definitely didn't like that look on his face.
"Kevin, what's the deal?!" I shouted. "You were never like this before!"
"How about you shut your mouth before I shut it myself?" Kevin shot back. "I have nothing to say to either of you."
"Can't we just talk this out, Kevin?" Melissa asked, hoping to knock some sense into Kevin.
The machine he was piloting just swiped at all of us.
"Forget it! The two of you are dead to me. You left me to die that day, and it is something I will never forgive!" Kevin shouted, his machine retreating down the street.
Not wasting any time, I threw my arms outwards, and my psychic aura sprung to life around me.
"Okay, so we're going to do this the hard way, huh?" I growled, shooting off down the streets, leaving the others to catch up.
(Sam's P.O.V.)
"I don't need three guesses to figure out that's not Nick's late brother," Mathew told us.
"Neither do we," I interjected.
"Let's help!" Alex inquired.
"Come here, you little..." Nick growled, leaping forward to attack only to get swatted away each time. "Stop playing hard to get!"
"No, I will not cease!" Kevin shouted. "I will never forgive you for what you've done!"
Nick rolled under another swipe and fired a psychic burst at the machine, wobbling it slightly.
"Jeez, what is this thing made of?!" Nick shouted.
I noticed he was right. Nick's psychic blasts can usually cut through anything.
"Okay, let's try this now," Nick noted, drawing his hand back.
"Please," Kevin sneered. "My robot has been configured with psychosis-resistant armor. Your psychic hooey can't hurt me."
"Try this, then!" Nick exclaimed, not really noticing how Kevin knew about his psychic powers. "FINAL SHINE ATTACK!"
A bright, lime-green energy beam burst from Nick's right hand, blasting forward and tearing a nicely-sized hole in the machine's armor.
"Damn you! Don't consider this our last meeting!" Kevin shouted as the robot retreated.
"Well, he'll be back," Nick said to us.
"That he will," Mathew agreed.
"You know, I'll bet that Macker the Safecracker's behind this again," I told the group.
"And I'll bet a hundred bucks that she's right," Mathew added.
"For now, we should enjoy our pizzas while they're fresh," Alex suggested.
"I have a feeling this is the calm before the next storm," Mathew inserted.
"Tell me about it," I said. "Anyway, should we eat inside, or should we eat poolside?" I asked the others.
(Nick's P.O.V.)
"POOL!" we all unanimously shouted. It was another sweltering summer day, and I'm starting to sweat through my shorts. That's not even funny!
As we sat by the pool and munched, I suddenly realized something. I quickly grabbed my X-Powder and dialed Jerry.
"Is everything okay over there?" Jerry asked on the video.
"Jerry, we just got attacked by Kevin, and everyone thinks Macker's behind it again," I explained.
"I'm not entirely sure about that, Nick," Jerry answered. "Macker has been locked up ever since your last mission."
I groaned at his name, glad that he was still in jail, especially after trying to destroy our city and WOOHP at the same time.
Suddenly, Jerry's words registered in my head.
"Wait, he's still locked up?" I stated, catching everyone's attention. "Now that you mention it, Macker never knew that I had a brother. Something isn't right here..."
"There goes that idea, huh?" Alex noted.
"I guess that's something we're going to have to look into," I replied. "Thanks again, Jerry." And with that, I cut the transmission.
"So, what are we going to do, Nick?" Sam asked.
"We're going to finish our pizza, and then we're going on a little field trip," I responded. "It's time we got some intel on what's going on."
(Sam's P.O.V.)
"Okay, we've got to start putting two and two together," said Haruka.
"I agree," said Nick.
"Where are we heading?" asked Clover. "Paris, I hope."
"There's got to be a lot of hope in that department, I think," said Mathew.
"Seems like it," said Haruka.
"Stopping Macker is on our priority list," said Alex.
"We should be close," I said after quite a bit of time.
"Hope so," said Mathew.
"I'm anxious to know how we're going to stop Macker," said Haruka.
"Forming a plan there will take a bit once we get there," I said.
(Nick's P.O.V.)
To be honest, I was worried.
As we made our way to Japan to find the next transmission hotspot, I started thinking about certain things.
Namely, why is the brother I thought was dead still alive and trying to kill us?
I know I'm not going to get any answers until we find Kevin and stop whatever he's trying to do, but...
...you know what, let's just focus on the here and now. Let's actually find Kevin before I wring some answers out of him.
"Ah, home sweet home, we meet again," I couldn't help but state when we reached our destination. "Just standing here's already bringing back memories..."
"So, where exactly did you live, Nick?" Alex wondered. "You've never told us that specific bit."
"Well, to be honest..."
"I found you!"
Of course he's right on schedule. I reached into my Jetpack Backpack and brandished my Wind Tunnel 9000 as Kevin dropped down from the sky, still piloting the same strange robot from before. I could even still see the hole I'd blasted in its armor, how about that?
"All right, Kevin, just cut to the chase," I growled. "I'd really like to just blast that robot of yours to hell and be done with it."
"Oh, so callous towards your own family, eh?" Kevin cackled.
"Kevin, you need to stop this!" Melissa shouted. "What happened to the brother we used to know?!"
"He no longer exists!" Kevin exclaimed, the robot coming to life. "After you left me to die, you deserve no sympathy from me!"
The robot came quickly to life, opening ports on either side to spew a barrage of blades. That in mind, I made an executive decision.
"SCATTER!" I shouted. Thankfully, everyone had been ready, and they all dove off to the side to avoid the blades.
"Why won't you just accept your fate?!" Kevin exclaimed, firing off more blades. I'm seriously getting sick of this!
"FINAL SHINE ATTACK!" I shouted, firing off a great jade beam of light from my right palm, straight into the hole I'd made in the robot during our last battle. This caused the robot to spark before eventually tearing itself apart in a powerful explosion, though Kevin had escaped before the explosion could take him with it.
Eventually, once the dust had settled from the destroyed robot, Kevin reappeared, wielding a wickedly-sharp combat knife and an eerily creepy expression.
Seriously, it's creeping me out!
("Boss Battle ~Half-Genie Hero ver.~" by Jake Kaufman plays)
"Do you honestly think I'm going to back off just because you destroyed one of my robots?" Kevin laughed.
"Not even close," I shot back, channeling psychic energy into my arm, and forming a sort-of, well, "energy blade" that surrounded my hand. "The old saying is 'put up or shut up'. So, Kevin, let's see what you've got!"
And with that, we rushed to meet the other, our weapons clashing against each other multiple times from different angles.
Kevin tried to stab that blade of his into my head, but I simply ducked to the side and struck back, finally landing my mark and tearing a gash in that strange suit of his.
"Now snap out of it, Kevin!" I shouted. "This isn't who you are!"
"You turn your hand against your own blood," Kevin gasped rather melodramatically. "Now witness how I turn my hand against yours."
Before I could even react, Kevin shifted position and tossed his knife away.
Now, I'm really wishing I'd reacted faster than I had at that moment.
I only had a split-second after the throw to hear the sickening sound of sharp steel sinking into human flesh. My head whipped back so fast I'm surprised that I didn't give myself whiplash, only to see exactly what I'd feared.
My vision just about went completely red as I saw Alex vainly attempt to reach for the blade that had embedded itself in her chest before falling to her knees, unable to do much but fight through the pain.
I didn't hear the panicked cries of my fellow friends and spies as they all rushed to Alex's aid, even as she lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
But...
...when I saw the small trail of blood that came from Alex's wound, where the knife had struck her, I won't lie to you, I freakin' lost my mind.
My psychic aura exploded into existence around my body, surrounding me with a curtain of light so bright that it illuminated the area around me and cracked the ground under me from the sheer force alone. My eyes practically flared with a bright red light. Almost literally, as I swear all I could see was blood myself.
All I could focus on was Kevin, and my intent to tear him to pieces, possibly with my bare hands.
(Sam's P.O.V.)
"Go get 'em, Nick," I said to him.
Nick seemed very confident in stopping Kevin.
In the meantime, we were doing everything we could to not let Alex's wound get any worse.
"I hope this will stop the bleeding," said Haruka, using a lot of tissue she had brought along to cover up Alex's knife wound.
"I'm sure it will," said Mathew.
"Keep the pressure on as the tourniquet," I then said.
(Haruka's P.O.V.)
Now I'm infinitely glad that I decided to take a first aid class. Alex is out cold, but hopefully we can stop the bleeding.
As the rest of us kept up our work on fixing Alex up, I occasionally cast a glance back at whatever was happening between Nick and Kevin.
I'm not gonna lie to you, I've never seen Nick this angry before, not even when Bridget had been stabbed. The way his psychic aura is shimmering, and that look in his eyes...
I'm honestly scared of what Nick's gonna do while all that rage is clouding his sense of reason.
All right, Alex is all bandaged up and ready for transport back to WOOHP, and it looks like Sammy and Mat are taking care of calling Jerry.
Guess that leaves me to get Nick back down to earth before he does something he's gonna regret.
"Oh, what, are you angry because I stabbed your girlfriend?" Kevin cackled, only for Nick to move so fast I almost believed he'd phased out of existence itself for a brief second.
When I saw Nick again, he threw his fist straight into Kevin's stomach, causing him to double over in pain. And yeah, I heard that crack when it happened, too.
"She never did anything to you!" Nick screamed. "She has nothing to do with your stupid vendetta!"
"But see, that's the thing," Kevin laughed through his wheezing, as if that cracked rib wasn't hurting him at all. "What better way... to hurt my target... than to hurt those close to him?"
I couldn't help but cringe as Nick brought both of his fists down on Kevin's back, knocking him straight to the ground.
"You're going to regret ever messing with me, you son of a bitch!" Nick shouted, forming another energy sword on his right hand, his intent painfully clear.
With that in mind, I moved, faster than I ever thought my legs could carry me, over there to pull Nick away before he fell too far.
"H-Haruka, what the hell are you doing?! Let go of me!" Nick shouted.
"Nick, listen," I stated firmly. "I understand you want to beat the jerk's teeth in, but please understand this. If you kill him, if you just murder him in cold blood, how are you any better?"
Needless to say, I definitely didn't expect his response.
"Don't give me any of that self-righteous bullcrap!" Nick growled, knocking my hands away. "This bastard tried to kill my girlfriend, for no other reason than it amused him! I don't care anymore if he's my actually my brother or not, he deserves to die!"
"But that doesn't justify murder!" I shot back. "Look, he's clearly out of commission, so just let me call Jerry and we'll lock him up somewhere where he can't possibly escape."
"That's not gonna do any good!" Nick exclaimed. Why was I having so much trouble getting through to him? "Just sending him to prison won't atone for his crimes!"
"...Nick, what's wrong with you?"
"W-what?"
"Why do you think you need to kill him?" I stated as simply as I could. "You know it as well as I do, Nick."
"STOP TRYING TO DISSUADE ME!"
I only had about a split-second of warning before Nick's fist flew through the air and smashed into my face, sending me collapsing back to the ground.
I could only gaze back up at Nick and the unfettered rage clouding his eyes.
"I'm not going to be swayed by your words or anyone else's," Nick proclaimed. "So don't get in my way!"
Nick moved back to where Kevin lay, kicking him in the chest to make him roll onto his back.
And as he brought up his energy blade to strike that deadly blow, I could only reach out to my fellow spies, a desperate call for help to stop my best friend before he fell into the darkness.
Sam immediately stepped in.
"Nick, you think this is worth it?" she asked. "I understand how pissed you are, but think about this... you really think this is worth a criminal record over?"
Mathew was next.
"Hey, relax, man... just relax!" he said.
"Get real," said Nick. "It's very worth..."
He then second-guessed.
"Nick, come on!" I exclaimed. "They're right, this isn't worth it."
Nick abstained, but then listened.
"You stay away, then!" Nick then screamed to Kevin.
I sighed in relief.
"So, what's our new plan?" I asked.
To my surprise, Nick seemed to suddenly faint, his psychic aura fading away as he fell to the ground.
"Oh, jeez, now this, too?!" Clover exclaimed.
I kneeled down to check on him. Oh, thank god, he's just sleeping.
"I think he's just exhausted," I quipped.
I was about to go check on Alex's condition, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin reaching towards Nick, holding an odd weapon in his hands.
I was faster on the draw, quickly whipping out my Wind Tunnel 9000 and blasting that weapon out of Kevin's hands. Seriously, I've had enough of this nonsense today!
"I'm only going to warn you once, Kevin," I stated quite clearly. "Go on and beat it before I get angry, too."
Kevin just huffed, activating the teleporter thing on his wrist and vanishing in a dull flash.
Ah, just in time. I see Jerry's jet on the way!
Well, now that that ordeal's over, here's hoping we can finally relax.
So, that's that for now, I suppose.
While WOOHP is taking care of Alex, we decided to head back to the villa and relax. I'm sure Clover's already in the pool as we speak.
I decided to stay with Nick until he woke up, hoping to get some answers as to why he acted the way he did against Kevin.
And judging from that gurgle (I always thought it was funny), he's probably waking up now.
"Urgwhahapen?"
"Speak words, Nick."
"H-Haruka?"
Nick sat up, looking a little disheveled, and after what just went down, I can't honestly blame him.
"You feeling okay?" I asked.
Nick just stared at his hands for a few seconds.
"Haruka... what the hell just happened to me?"
"I can't honestly tell you," I replied. "All I can think is that when you saw Alex get hurt, you kinda lost yourself."
Nick suddenly jumped to his feet. "Alex! Where is she?!"
"Calm down, Nick, she's okay," I replied, hoping to get him to calm down. We definitely don't want him flying off the handle again. "She's getting treated at WOOHP, and Jerry himself said that the wound wasn't that serious. Kevin was just trying to get into your head."
"And damned if it didn't almost work, too," Nick stated. "If... Haruka, I'm going to be honest with you, if you hadn't tried to stop me, I probably would have just ignored everything the girls said and straight-up killed him..."
"That's what I'm here for," I giggled. "Alex and I, all of your friends here, we'll be your lifelines to pull you out of the darkness if you ever fall in."
"I'm just glad you got me back before I forgot that," Nick responded, pulling me into a hug. "Thank you so much, Haruka."
"Any time, Nick," I sighed, happy to see my best friend back to his usual self.
"There is one thing that I've been wondering, though."
"What's that?"
Nick opened his X-Powder (I always wondered why Nick used one of them, since Mat uses what looks like a modified Game Boy Advance SP, but Nick just said it's what he prefers since he always goes with the girls) and launched a map program that showed off a few marked points.
Specifically, they were Egypt, Paris, and Japan, the three places we'd already been to over the course of our crusade against Kevin and whoever's directing his actions.
"I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern with these strange transmitters we've found," Nick explained. "I can't seem to find a clear connection between the transmission spots. Maybe it might give us a clue as to Kevin's real objective..."
"...and I'll bet you're thinking that maybe it might lead us to whoever or whatever's making Kevin do all of this," I finished. "I didn't really know you had a brother until all of this began, but from what you and Melissa have said about him before, it's clear he wasn't like this back then."
"Hopefully," Nick stated. "Because I think we're out of leads at this point."
"Hey, that weird guy that contacted you back in Egypt mentioned something about South America, Asia, and Europe," I realized. "Maybe they're other transmission spots too?"
"Yeah, I never thought about that," Nick quipped. "If we add those spots, wherever they are, to the ones we've been to, maybe we'll get a connection!"
"Wanna tell the others?"
"After we've let them have their relaxing time," Nick answered. "We've all been pretty stressed lately, considering all the trips we've made, and, of course, that..."
"How about we hit the pool, then, too?" I offered. "I figure you could definitely use the relaxing time after the crappy day you've had."
"No kidding," Nick laughed.
And so, we both changed into our swim gear and headed to the pool to join the rest of our fellow spies.
Before we stepped outside, I felt Nick hold my hand and squeeze it gently, a sign that he really appreciated my help.
I squeezed back, so Nick would know I'd be there for him no matter what, and we made our way outside.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Nick: Well, it seems like everything's getting back to normal around here.
Sam: As normal as it gets for us.
Haruka: So, these strange transmission hotspots seem like they might be hiding something, and if we connect them to the ones we've been to, maybe we'll find a clue to all of this nonsense.
Clover: I hope so. I really wanna go back to Paris!
Mat: Do you still have your eye on that guy at the baguette stand?
Clover: It's not my fault that he's more hunky than your average French guy!
Bridget: Save the crushy talk for later, Clover, we've got a job to do!
Haruka: Nick, if we run into Kevin again...
Nick: Don't worry, I'll keep myself under better control. I definitely don't want a repeat of that. Next time on Totally Spies!: Disillusioned Memories, "Genesis of Evil"!
Alex: When am I gonna get my time in the spotlight?!