08:03 AM - SUBURBS

A man sat down to eat breakfast. He got a milk carton out of the refrigerator, and poured himself a glass of milk. It's a typical morning, right?
Well, after one sip of the milk, the man collapsed on the floor, asleep. No matter how hard his wife tried, nothing could wake him.
This isn't the kind of milk that you would want to put in …
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A Redhead's Lunch

Author's note: I should probably stop coming up with these original stories and write an episode for a change. Nah.

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Chapter 1: Another Day
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11:58 PM - BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA
The girls and I sat together at one table. Sam didn't seem too happy.

Alex was the first to ask the inevitable question: "What's wrong, Sam?"
"My mom packed me a bag lunch today," Sam explained. "She hasn't done that in a while, and she's forgotten why. I haven't, though. It's because she's a horrible cook."

Clover tried to comfort her. "Come on, Sam. At least she tries. That shows you that she cares about you."
"If she REALLY cared about me, she'd let me get cafeteria food. I mean what I say; the lunch she packed me is completely inedible."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Alex countered.

Sam took out the contents of her lunch box. "Look at my lunch: a thermos of soup so spicy that one spoonful causes fire breath, homemade crackers that an elephant can't break, a health drink stickier than glue, and for dessert, gelatin so rubbery it'll bounce your fork and knife right out of your hands."

I cocked my head to one side. "You remind me of Jerry passing out our gadgets."

Clover blinked. "Nobody's that bad a cook."
"My mother is," Sam responded as he packed her lunch back in her lunch box and hooked it to her belt. "I can't eat this stuff for lu-"

The sentence could possibly have been finished right then and there, and it would have been, had we not been WOOHP'd at that point. (You're probably wondering whether all that wordiness was necessary.)

Next thing we knew, we were in a heap on top of each other in the WOOHP mission briefing room. Sam's lunch box was still clipped to her belt. I fetched my pencil, which was on top of the box.
Jerry approached us. "Leo was right, Sam. When you talked about your lunch, you did sound a bit like me. But that's not relevant right now. It's time for a mission."

The monitor provided visual aid as Jerry continued speaking. "A mysterious phenomenon has swept the nation. Drinkers of milk have suddenly and spontaneously fallen asleep, and not woken up for days."
"And it's our job to investigate?" Alex deduced.
"Exactly. You have to figure out who or what is causing this to happen. On my desk here is the address of one victim you should visit. You might be able to obtain some information."

Jerry bent over to pick up a piece of paper, but when he tried to straighten up again, his back didn't cooperate. "Ouch! Darn these cramps. Age must be starting to catch up with me. Now, if you'll walk this way, I'll show you to your jet."
As Jerry started to lead us out of the room, he looked at us. I was bent over just like he was.
There was a silence, which Jerry broke. "Leo, when I said walk this way, I didn't mean walk that way. Your sense of humor can be annoying at times."

After we were gone, Jerry needed a well-aimed kick from a WOOHP employee to straighten up. He then glanced at us through a window as we left.
"Good luck, spies. I have high hopes in you. … Why do I have a sinking feeling that I forgot something important, though? … Gee, can't think of it. Maybe I'm just overworked. I'd better take a few hours off."

Any die-hard Totally Spies fan should realize in an instant just what Jerry forgot. For those of you who aren't die-hard Totally Spies fans, Jerry had forgotten to give us our gadgets.
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I've actually been thinking for a while about this concept. The spies got along well enough without their gadgets in the episode "Vacation", how badly can they do here?

Uh … don't answer that last question.