Part 07: Mission Complete

A massive yawn escaped Clover's lips as she leaned against the side of the shuttle, her eyes feeling heavy. They'd all gotten naps on the way to the moon from Earth, but they had been short lived since it hadn't been very comfortable. Now in the downtime on their way across the moon's surface to Lady Luna's antigravity-beam generator she was really beginning to feel exhaustion creeping up on her. But sleep would have to wait, because they would probably be there soon.

"This place is so relaxing, isn't it?" Lady Luna asked idly from the co-pilot's seat, leaning back and staring out the window. "We could sit still and relax for the rest of eternity, with no worries or interruptions." She took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh. "This is why I wanted to come up here... no non-believers breathing down my neck. Just the majesty of the stars to guide me."

"Yeah, it's great." Sam replied with fake enthusiasm.

"If you like being bored out of your mind." Clover grumbled. Soon they came over a small hill and saw a large machine looming ahead of them. It looked somewhat familiar, since they'd tangled with Major Snell's original anti-gravity device in the form of a satellite, but this one was embedded in the ground, pointing straight up into the dark sky.

Alex raised her hand like a schoolgirl. "Um, I have a question Lady Luna." She called toward the front. Lady Luna looked back at her.

"Yes, sunspot?" Luna asked.

"If you use that thing to get back and forth between the Earth and the moon, how did you get it up here in the first place?" Alex asked. Lady Luna just stared at her while Sam and Clover both turned to look at the former villain steadily.

"Uh... a big crane?" Lady Luna smiled nervously. The three spies just narrowed their eyes, mentally demanding the truth until finally she cracked. "Okay! I stole a rocket from NASA! But only because I couldn't afford the fifty billion dollars they wanted for one! But living among the stars has been my lifelong dream... I'm entitled to follow my dream aren't I?"

"How on Earth did you manage to steal a rocket without anyone knowing about it?" Sam asked.

"They're government, they don't want anyone to know when they lose something. It makes them look bad." Lady Luna shrugged. "Besides, I went through their program for ten years, I know how it works in and out. I was there right up until that upstart punk stole my flight..." She growled and clenched her fists in front of her, then suddenly sat up with a happy look on her face. "But enough about that, we have a device to turn off."

Clover exchanged a frightened glance with Alex while Sam turned back to her flying. "We're there girls, I'm going to set it down." Sam said as they neared the rather large device. The ship slowed until finally it hovered down to the ground. "Clover, go out with Lady Luna and help her turn off the machine." Sam said.

"Just me?" Clover asked in surprise.

"There's no reason for us all to go, Lady Luna's doing all the work. Just provide any support she needs." Sam stared at her meaningfully. In a moment Clover blinked, then nodded in understanding and stood up. They would need time to analyze the data they extracted from Lady Luna's computer, but they couldn't do that while she was around. Clover was a distraction.

"Okay, no biggie." Clover turned to head toward the airlock, feeling a bit like a babysitter. "You ready to go Lady Luna?"

"I was born ready sunshine." Lady Luna grabbed her helmet. "And please, you girls don't have to be so formal. Just Luna will do."

"Whatever." Clover mumbled as she pressed her collar to activate her bubble-helmet. She stepped into the airlock, waiting for Lady Luna to join her before depressurizing and slowly bouncing out from the ship, landing on the moon's craggy surface once again. Lady Luna landed beside her and gestured toward a small hole in the machine, bouncing toward it.

Clover followed after her as she slipped through the hole, activating a pair of lights on top of her helmet. Clover pulled out a little flashlight and turned it on as she slipped into the hole after her, finding herself inside a small chamber with computer consoles all around them. Some were glowing faintly, while others were dark.

Lady Luna turned to a particular console, so Clover bounded up behind her, looking down at it curiously. The glowing numbers didn't mean much to her though, so she couldn't tell if Lady Luna was turning it off or just playing with it. That made her a bit nervous, the woman was too unstable to trust, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

In a moment Lady Luna moved her hands from the console, the lights all around them going dim. Clover looked around slowly, moving her flashlight around the machine. It looked like everything was all shut down. She looked at Lady Luna, who gave her a victorious smile and a quick nod. She turned to leave, but Clover stopped when she saw a light blink to life on the other side of the room.

Curiously she hopped up to the console so that she was close enough to read the lone glowing message. UNKNOWN ANOMALY DETECTED. Clover blinked and looked back at Lady Luna, who had turned to watch curiously. The star-obsessed woman's eyes went wide, and she quickly gestured to the door, bouncing toward it. Suddenly Clover felt the very air around her begin to shudder, hauling her off the ground suddenly.

Clover slammed into the roof of the machine hard, grunting at the impact. She watched Lady Luna slam into the ceiling beside her soundlessly. The monitors all around them flared to life one by one, each flashing a warning or showing a slowly building gauge. Clover tried to push herself from the ceiling, but some force was holding her against it tightly.

The machine began to shudder violently, as outside the small hole she could see the surface of the moon fading from sight... no, the moon wasn't moving, they were. As the machine moved through the stars Clover was able to move from the ceiling, floating toward the exit. The moon faded fast below them, as did the pink shuttle Sam and Alex were in.

"Sam! Alex!" Clover screamed, though she knew it was useless. Sound didn't carry in space, she was just screaming to herself. She gulped and glanced back at Lady Luna, who looked just as confused and stunned as Clover felt. She looked out the entrance again, and gasped when she saw that they were hurtling straight toward the Earth at what must've been a blistering pace. She didn't feel it, but there was no atmosphere to slow her down out here.

She gasped in surprise when she felt Lady Luna shove her out of the machine, sending her floating into space. For an instant she thought she was being left for dead, but the astrologist quickly followed her out, coming up behind her and wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Luna's solar-powered jetpack flared to life, attempting to halt their plummet toward Earth. The machine hurtled past them toward the planet, but they didn't stop. They'd gained far too much momentum.

Clover straightened her legs, the heels of her boots retracting into two small steel jets as her Nuclear Powered Jetboots activated, adding more thrust to Lady Luna's jetpack. Their descent slowed a bit faster, but Clover was afraid it still wouldn't be enough as they approached the fringe of Earth's atmosphere. If they fell into it, nothing would save them from bursting into uncontrollable flames.

Thankfully they managed to stop their momentum, losing track of Lady Luna's gravity generator. Clover took a moment to compose herself after her near-incineration, breathing heavily and staring down at the blue planet. In fact it was bluer than she'd ever seen it. The oceans were engulfing every piece of land down there...

Lady Luna tapped on her bubble helmet, drawing her attention. She pointed back toward the moon, where they could see their space ship moving through the stars after the gravity generator. Clover was surprised when she heard a voice coming through the small communicator built into her bubble helmet.

"Clover, Lady Luna, is anybody there? Where are you?" Alex's voice sounded frantic even through thick static. They must have figured out how Lady Luna's accidental transmission pierced through the interference.

"Alex! We're here!" Clover shouted quickly. Lady Luna turned on her jetpack and flew toward the space ship. Clover followed with her Jetboots, flying through the stars as quickly as she was able.

"Clover, thank goodness. We thought you were still in the gravity thingy." Alex sighed in relief.

"Well we're not." Clover decided not to reveal that Lady Luna had saved her life. At least not yet. "Just open the airlock so we can get our butts inside."

"Oh, right." Alex replied sheepishly. Soon the airlock on the side of the ship opened, and Clover floated inside with Lady Luna. In a few moments, they were pressurized and the inner door opened, allowing them to move into the ship proper and remove their helmets. They both took deep breaths and let out a sigh.

"What the Hell happened out there?" Sam demanded as the two space-worn women plopped down onto nearby chairs to rest their shaking limbs. "Did the gravity generator malfunction?"

"No... someone else has one far more powerful than mine." Lady Luna replied. "And it looked like it was coming from Earth."

"Is there a way we can find it quickly? We're seriously running short on time here." Sam pointed out. It was true, Clover and Lady Luna had made it from the moon almost to the Earth in a matter of minutes at extremely high speeds. The moon would probably reach impact within the day if they didn't stop it or slow it down.

"Well if the gravity field that took my machine is still active, I should be able to trace it to its source." Lady Luna said.

"Come do it." Sam jerked her thumb toward the control panel. Lady Luna stood and walked into the front with her, leaving Clover to recover her composure in the back. She sighed deeply and put a hand to her head as Alex approached her.

"You okay Clover?" Alex put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I guess so... just a little shaken." Clover smiled up at her. "Guess I should be used to being scared after working for Jerry for so long." Alex giggled and sat down in the seat beside her.

"I'm glad you're okay. Me and Sam were so scared when we looked up and noticed that the machine was missing. It took us five minutes to realize it was floating off." Alex said.

"Well at least you found us before we ran out of oxygen or something. That's what matters." Clover replied. Alex nodded. "How did you break through the interference? Did the data from Lady Luna's computer help?"

"Yeah, apparently it has something to do with the gravity fields. I don't really understand exactly what it is, but Sam said Lady Luna got practice breaking through it because she's been working with these gravity fields for a while." Alex replied. "So we don't have anything that says she's responsible, just that she's worked with these things before."

"Doesn't mean she's completely innocent." Clover said, though she knew it wasn't likely Lady Luna would trash her own gravity generator just to prove to them that she was innocent. There had to be something else that they didn't know. They still hadn't heard back from Jerry about Major Snell...

"Hey, girls. Buckle yourselves down. We have a source for the gravity fields." Sam called back to them.

"Really? Where are we going?" Alex asked as she grabbed her seatbelt and slipped it on.

"Egypt." Sam said as she turned the space vessel back toward the Earth. They soon plunged through the atmosphere, turning into a large steel fireball until they broke through and moved down toward the planet proper. They couldn't see anything but a massive ocean from the surface far below, there wasn't a trace of land anywhere.

"Wow... the entire planet's sinking..." Alex said softly.

"Straight to Hell..." Clover added under her breath. The ship streaked across the top of the water, occasionally spotting large boats or patches of land on the otherwise waterlogged planet. They soon approached another indistinguishable section of the ocean, except that this one had a small triangle pointing out of it, that almost looked familiar...

"What is that?" Alex asked curiously.

"It's one of the Egyptian pyramids." Sam replied. "The gravity field's coming from inside."

"Who knew the Egyptians had such powerful tech?" Clover quipped.

"Ha ha." Sam put the ship on autopilot and stood up. "I say two of us go, while one of us stays behind to keep an eye on the ship and keep a lookout for anything... dangerous." Sam put special emphasis on the last words, her eyes shooting toward Lady Luna, who remained unaware of the implication. She stood and moved beside Sam.

"I would go, but my forte is space, not the ocean or desert." Lady Luna said.

"Why don't you stay behind with her Alex? And while you're at it, see if you can get in contact with Jerry and tell him how to break through the gravity field interference." Sam suggested.

"What? Why me?" Alex demanded.

"Please, just don't complain." Sam pleaded. Alex huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, but didn't voice any more complaints. "Okay, it's decided then. Come on Clover, let's get down there." Sam marched into the back, with Clover following close behind her curiously. They reached the side door and pushed it open, looking down at the roiling ocean below.

"UPWATI time?" Clover asked.

"No, too bulky. We need to be able to squeeze through tight passages." Sam held out a small tube with a hole in the side and a slit along the top. "Aqua Lips Waterproof Lipstick should hold out long enough." Clover nodded and took the tube, slipping it into her mouth. The pink face-shield slid up to comfortably fit across her face, making it airtight.

Sam leapt from the shuttle, with Clover following close behind. They dove into the water, moving through it toward the entrance of the ancient Egyptian artifact that had once been a mark of the desert. They swam down to the tunnel, where Sam reached into a pocket and pulled out a flashlight. They both blinked in surprise when they saw a heavy steel door covering the entrance.

They exchanged a knowing glance, then Clover reached into another pocket for her Laser Lipstick and swam up to the door. The laser cut through the steel with ease, creating a small hold in the middle big enough for them to move through. Once the steel swung inward the water began to rush through into the pyramid, pulling both spies into the tunnels and washing them through.

"Grab something!" Sam shouted as they swept down a pitch-black tunnel, illuminated only by the wildly flailing beam of Sam's flashlight. Clover's hand lashed upward, grabbing hold of a surprisingly smooth edge above her. Sam grabbed her waist as she began to float past, still being pulled by the rushing waters down into the depths.

"Uh... Sam?" Clover asked. "I thought the Egyptian tunnels went down into the ground."

"They do. Why?" Sam asked. She shined her light up toward Clover, who'd managed to grab hold of the edge of a hole that led up into a large, surprisingly green chamber. They could see plant life of every kind, swaying in some artificial wind. They both narrowed their eyes as a piercing light came on. Clover pulled herself up toward the hole, pulling Sam up with her so they could both look into the room.

The light was coming from a large spotlight on the other side of the room, hooked up to a large generator. There was also a computer console set against the wall... in fact; it looked like the entire place was covered in metal except for the plants, which were kept in pots. They didn't see anyone in the room except the plants.

"Who would hollow out one of the pyramids and make an atrium?" Sam mused softly.

"Let's go find out." Clover pulled herself up through the hole and stood up straight in the bright, plant-filled room. Sam pulled herself up as well while Clover walked out into the middle of the room. The plants were moving lightly, some almost seeming to reach toward the blinding light that filled the room and reflected off the steel walls.

"Hey, Clover. Come check it out." Sam said from the console on the wall. Clover walked over curiously. "These are the controls for a gravity field generator. Someone managed to convert this entire pyramid into a giant machine." She shook her head confusedly. "But I still don't get why..."

"To avoid being noticed, of course." A familiar voice replied. Sam and Clover both whirled, facing a man with a long white beard, wearing a loose-fitting cloak with a headband around his forehead. "Hello again girls... just in time to see the price for shirking Mother Nature."

"Professor Zero?" Sam stared at him in confusion. "You're trying to destroy the Earth? But... but you wanted to PROTECT the Earth!"

"Sometimes you must protect what you love through force." Rasputin Zero replied evenly, an unstable glint in his eye. "Regrettable, but unavoidable."

"You're not destroying this planet!" Clover howled and lunged for the deranged professor. She managed to make it mere inches away from him before a mass of tendrils wrapped around her, hauling her back away from him into the air. A deafening shriek erupted from the plants that held her aloft, waving wildly in the bright light that engulfed them. She grunted when she slammed into the ceiling, held aloft by the plants. Sam howled as she slammed into the ceiling beside her.

"Even God himself cleansed the Earth of the filth by purging the light along with the dark... so too shall it be now." Professor Zero grinned and walked through the plants toward the console. None of them moved to touch him, in fact it seemed like several moved to get out of his way. "Noah had an arc so long ago... and so do I." He tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him.

Clover and Sam looked around in surprise when they heard a deafening sound echo through the chamber. The hole they came in through closed tight, and all around them windows began to open. Rooms upon rooms separated by glass, filled to the brim with greenery of every kind either girl could imagine. Some of them were moving, and not with any wind. Creatures moved within the foliage, insects and animals of all kinds.

"Have you completely lost it?" Clover scoffed. "An arc won't help when the moon SLAMS INTO THE EARTH!" Clover shouted. Professor Zero smirked.

"I have no intention of allowing the Earth to be destroyed." He replied smoothly. "I can stop it at any time, and I will when I'm satisfied that the Earth has been cleansed. Then I will put the moon back into place, and the Earth will once again be the sole domain of Mother Nature." Professor Zero smiled and spread his arms to the greenery around him. "Protected from the whims of humanity for the rest of time."

"There's no way you can get ALL the humans with a flood." Clover pointed out. "And when the waters go back down, you'll have to deal with a whole bunch of pissed off people howling for your blood. Including us."

"I don't see how you'll be a threat to me, especially when you are given back to nature as well." Professor Zero smirked and snapped his fingers. The plants holding them began to writhe again, moving them toward one of the windows. It lowered slightly to allow the plants to hurt Sam and Clover through the air into the next pen.

"Aaargh! Oof!" Clover grunted as she slammed into the ground. Sam slammed into her back. "Urgh... why can't we ever land BESIDE each other...?" Clover whined. The spies climbed to their feet, rubbing their bruised body parts.

"I wonder what he meant by 'when we're given back to nature'?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but at least it doesn't involve being digested by trees this time." Clover quipped. Both girls froze when they heard a soft rustling in the bushes around them. They slowly turned around to see a pair of eyes watching them from the darkness, almost seeming to glow in the lights that illuminated the entire pyramid with black vertical slits in the center.

"I suppose being digested by animals is better?" Sam smirked. Both spies backed slowly away from the bush, but the creature didn't move away. It just stared at them with those haunting, piercing eyes. Never blinking, never moving away from them.

Suddenly something leapt out from the side, bursting through the foliage with a frightening growl. Clover let out a piercing scream and stumbled back away from it, tripping over herself in her panic and falling to her back. The pitch-black panther came down on top of her, its hungry yellow eyes locked on her throat as it came down.

Sam grabbed her arms and yanked her back right before the large animal hit the ground with a heavy thump. "Come on Clover, run!" Sam shouted. Clover scrambled to her feet and took off at a run. The second panther joined the pursuit, running through the foliage beside them, pacing them easily as they ran through the bottled forest.

"Up!" Sam jumped straight into the trunk of a nearby tree and scaled her way up to the branches. Clover jumped on after her and went up, lifting her feet out of the way just in time to avoid a pair of claws that slammed into the bark below her. They both scrambled up the tree as fast as they could, climbing onto a pair of thick branches.

"Sam, was this really a good idea? Can't cats climb trees?" Clover asked. Already the cats had leapt up against the bark and were making their way up toward them.

"Yes, but they can't swing out of them." Sam grabbed her Expandable Cable Bungee Belt buckle and held it up, giving Clover a wink. Clover grabbed her own buckle and they both stood up, trying to ignore the panthers that were rapidly making their way up to them.

The bungee belts shot across the forest, wrapping around a branch and tightening around it. The girls leapt from the branch, bringing their legs up as they swung away from the cats just when they reached the lowermost branches. They swung through the forest, heading right for the window that separated them from Professor Zero.

"Let's bust outta here." Sam put both of her legs forward, the heels of her boots retracting to reveal two drills where they once were. The drills flared to life, whirring wildly as they slammed into the glass wall. The glass shattered with an ear-splitting crash, the shards raining down around them as they let go of their bungee cables, flying through the air into the main chamber of the pyramid.

"What?" Professor Zero looked up in surprise, but couldn't move before Clover landed on him, drilling both of her boots into his stomach. "Aaargh!" He cried in surprise and pain.

"Sammie, go reverse the gravity thingy!" Clover shouted. "I'll take care of Zero."

"On it!" Sam ran toward the other side of the room while Clover rolled Professor Zero onto his stomach and grabbed his hands.

"You have no rights, speak and I will make you regret it." Clover took out a pair of WOOHP issue handcuffs.

"Stop it! The human race has earned its fate!" Professor Zero howled angrily.

"Hyeah I'd like to see you stop me." Clover smirked and reached down to put on the cuffs, but suddenly two brown tendrils wrapped around her wrists. Clover blinked. "Aw shiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaa!" Clover screamed as the branches hauled her into the air, weaving her around wildly before hurtling her straight down into the floor with a jarring impact. "Huurgh..."

"People like you are the reason the human race has become so unworthy of the world." Professor Zero climbed to his feet and brushed himself off coolly. Clover groaned as the branches wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground, holding her suspended in the air. "So arrogant and blind that they can't see the danger. There are no 'innocent' people, everyone turns a blind eye to the plight of the planet."

"Plight of the planet? Hel-lo, you're the one DROWNING EVERYTHING!" Clover shouted. Professor Zero snapped his fingers and the branches whirled her through the air. Clover screamed until suddenly she slammed into the large trunk of a nearby tree, letting out a pained cry. The branches pulled her back and slammed her against it again, stopping only when Professor Zero snapped his fingers again.

Clover groaned in pain, hanging limp in the grip of the branches as they moved her toward the professor. He put a hand on her chin and lifted her head up to look at him. "The planet will heal only after humanity is wiped off of it. And that includes you." His gaze had grown darker since Clover had confronted him last. Where once hope and kindness for Mother Nature had shined now seethed only hatred for mankind. What could have possibly happened to him to cause this kind of change?

"Not today Ivy." Sam wrapped an arm around his throat from behind, her arm cutting off his windpipe. "Let go of Clover. Now." Professor Zero didn't waste any time in snapping his fingers. The branches let go of Clover, dropping her to the ground with a heavy thud. Clover grunted and lay on the ground, wrapping her arms around herself and looking up at Sam. "You okay?"

"I didn't need those ribs anyway..." Clover forced a smile. "What took you so long?"

"I was busy reversing the gravity field. The moon should be heading back home very soon now."

"It doesn't matter." Professor Zero smirked. "The world has already been cleansed... humanity will never recover from this. And nature will thrive again!"

"Shut up." Sam smacked him in the side of the neck with her hand, striking a nerve and knocking him unconscious instantly. He fell to the ground, and the branches all around them fell limp as well. Sam knelt down to help Clover climb to her feet, still nursing her throbbing stomach. "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we should get you out of here."

"No, I'll be okay. We should stay and make sure nobody else tampers with the gravity thingy." Clover replied. Sam nodded and helped her move over to the control console in the side wall. Clover plopped down on the chair in front of the console with a grunt, her stomach still throbbing.

Sam took out her X-Powder, but picked up nothing but static. "Guess my X-Powder isn't strong enough to punch through the interference even with Lady Luna's modifications. Stay here a minute, I'm going to go see if I can contact Alex to get a message to Jerry."

"I'm not going anywhere." Clover replied. Sam smiled slightly and turned to walk back the way they came, taking the Aqua Lips out of her pocket. Clover just sighed and leaned back against the chair. Well this had been a heck of a mission, but they'd finally caught the bad guy. Though she wasn't sure they'd saved the world. They were victorious she supposed... but for some reason it didn't feel like much of a victory.

TO BE CONTINUED