-This is chapter 3 of "Crack of a Whip"! I like to thank the two people who reviewed my story. And all the people that reviewed for chapter 2, which is no one. I know I shouldn't expect to have reviews for all my chapters (especially since from the looks of it, there aren't a lot of Totally Spies fics, and in turn, readers), but…(over inflated ego alert) compared to my other stories, I get so many reviews! Though…(deflating ego) not many and quite a few are negative recently (my first new story after this one, only got 1 so far). Still, since I know there are people reading this fic (and even if there was only one) here is chapter 3 for all ya!
-I also finally saw "Nature's Nightmare" today. This in itself won't affect the plotline per say, but in terms of referencing this story to the animated series it does help tremendously. Originally, I had another villain from the series as the source of new information. However, it's quite clear that Rasputin Zero is a much better choice for obvious reasons.
-Now, enough of my rant, on with the story!
Beverly Hills Mall-3:20 PM PST
The girls were walking down the mall looking from side to side. Sam was wearing a green dress skirt, green button shirt, white socks that reach just above her knees, and green shoes. Clover was wearing a yellow spaghetti strapped top over a white shirt, yellow skirt, and yellow boots. Alex was wearing a sleeveless shirt with a butterfly on it, blue jeans with flowers on it, and strapped blue shoes.
Clover sees a dress at one of the stores. "Hey Sam, I know just the thing that would get Scott away from Mandy!"
Sam looked at the dress Clover was pointing to. It was a dark red dress with slits on the side. It also has a belt with connected rings going around it. Sam shook her head. "I don't know. He seems pretty hung up with Mandy." Sam scowled.
Alex looked around the mall, and saw a man drinking Canada Dry ginger ale. This gave Alex an idea in order to lighten the mood. "Maybe we could convince Mandy to take a trip to Canada? All we had to do is tell her that really hot boys are there, and she'd be running to the border!"
Sam smiled brightly. "That only works for Clover."
Clover scowled. "That is so not true. Just because I hear about cute boys, does not mean…" Clover looked at a 'cute' boy walking out of Foot Locker. "Excuse me girls."
"See what I mean?" Sam, along with Alex, chuckled. At that moment, something snapped in Sam's brain. "Hey wait a second…" Sam stopped Clover from walking off.
Clover tried to continue walking, but she was being dragged back by Sam. "Hey Sam! Just because you are having boy problems, doesn't mean I should!"
"This is not about boys!" Sam also took a hold of Alex. They both entered a boba shop.
Alex looked around the shop and raised an eyebrow. "You want a boba drink Sam? You know, you didn't have to drag us here. You could've just asked." Alex looked at the people drinking. "In fact, I think I'm going to get one!" She was about to get in line when Sam stopped her.
"This is not about that Alex…" Sam crossed her arms. "This is about the mission!"
Clover sighed. "Mission, mission, mission. Does everything have to do with that stupid 'mission'? Can't we go shopping for once without mentioning it?"
"Sorry Clover, but this is important." Sam turned back to Alex. "Remember that mission in Saskatchewan?"
"Saskatchewan?" Alex blinked not knowing what she meant. "Was that a mall?"
"You know, camping, killer trees…" Sam continued.
"Really hot boy who turned out to be married and had kids." Clover smirked.
Sam gritted her teeth. "That too!"
Alex blinked as realization hit her. "Oh yeah! And I was being turned into fertilizer." Alex frowned at that though. "What about that mission?"
"Think about it girls…" Sam looked at the two. "What do these two missions have in common?"
Clover and Alex thought about it for a second, before both snapped their fingers.
Clover was the one to respond. "Psycho tree loving people!!!"
"Exactly!" Sam responded. "It maybe just a hunch, but I have a feeling both this case, and that one, is connected somehow."
"But how?" Alex wondered. "Zero is still in jail. How could they be connected?"
"Not to mention the fact that Zero loser didn't, want to hurt innocent people." Clover narrowed her eyes and looked to the side. "Not like the loggers and the farmers weren't innocent people."
"True." Sam thought about this for a minute. "But this is too much of a coincidence to just be…" Someone tapped Sam on the shoulder. She turned back and sees the person who tapped her on the shoulder.
The other spies look at the one who tapped her on the shoulder. Their eyes threatened to pop out. "JERRY?!"
Jerry waved at his spies with his free hand. In his other hand, he held a boba milk Thai ice tea drink. After looking around the shop to make sure no one was listening, he huddled the group closer together so that no one else would overhear their conversation. "Hello girls, I couldn't help overhearing…"
"Forget that Jerr." Clover interrupted. "But what the heck are you doing here?!"
"I know. It's just so weird." Alex said looking at their boss in, of all places, a boba shop. "It's like, rabbits are flying."
"It's pigs flying Alex." Sam corrected.
"Really?" Alex looked back at Sam. "But rabbits are cuter!"
Sam sweat dropped.
'Nice to know Clover and Alex put have their priorities straight.' Jerry sweat dropped. "In case you haven't realized, I don't spend all my time at WOOHP headquarters. Besides, I want to try out this 'tapioca drink' that everyone your generation seems to be raving about."
"They're called boba drinks Jerr." Clover corrected.
"I also heard them being called pearl drinks." Alex looked at Clover.
Clover eyed Alex. "Then they are wrongo! They are boba drinks."
"Both are…" Sam sighed. "Anyways, back to the mission…"
"That's right." Jerry reached inside his coat. "It seems your suspicions were correct. There is a connection between the now one-eyed gang leader…" Jerry raised an eyebrow at Sam.
Sam sweat dropped. "Hehehe. Ummm…sorry?"
"Don't worry Sam. Given the circumstances, we believe that it was an appropriate move at the time." Jerry reassured Sam. "Now, where was I? Oh yes…" Jerry gave Sam a picture that showed the gang leader standing next to Rasputin Zero. "There is a connection between the gang leader that you caught, who we found out be named Corey, as well as a number of thugs to one Rasputin Zero."
"So, Sam was right! The psycho hippy tree lover was connected!" Alex eyes widened.
"Ummm…yeah. Anyways, is he somehow running this from the high security prison?" Sam wondered.
Jerry shook his head. "I'm afraid not Sam. We've been monitoring to see if there were any calls coming to or from Zero with any of his operatives. None so far that we know of."
Sam nodded. "Well, that was too much to hope for." She returned her attention to Jerry. "Still, he should know something about this new group and their leader right?"
"My feelings exactly. And given the connection to that mission…" Jerry reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the boomerang buzz saw berets. "These might come in handy." He hands them to the spies who gladly accept them.
Alex adored her panda bear buzz saw berets as Sam had another question for Jerry. "So, about Zero…"
"I want you three to talk to him." Jerry continued. "Given that so far, none of my other agents have been able to get information out of him, maybe he'll talk to you three."
"Him? What about the gang leader Corey?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Sure, Zero might be give us something, but wouldn't he have more information for us?"
"Well…" Jerry looked from side to side. "When WOOHP tried to get him for interrogation, we found him…" Jerry showed another picture that stunned the group. It showed the one-eyed Corey as plant food. "He committed suicide while in custody. We believe that he had a package surgically implanted inside that opened when by some sort of electronic device in his lung and, well, this is the result."
"And the others…" Alex asked.
"Same thing." Jerry responded.
"Wait. Didn't they expect to be captured by us?" Clover narrowed her eyes. "Talk about taking it for the team!"
Sam sighed. "That leaves only Zero."
"Correct." Jerry gave the spies information and prison passes. "I want you to go there before anything unfortunate happens to him as well."
"I don't know Jerr. We can certainly try…" Sam thought about this some more.
"But first, I'm going to have some honey dew boba drink to recharge!" Clover walks towards the counter.
"Which reminds me…" Jerry takes a sip from his boba milk Thai ice tea. "Hmmmm. Not bad. Though I still prefer just regular black tea." He takes another sip, however, this time a tapioca ball goes up the straw too fast and goes down the wrong tube. "Beyak!" Jerry eyes widen in shock as he held his throat.
Clover grinned at the chocking Jerry. "Amateur!" Clover slapped Jerry's back returning Jerry to normal.
Jerry sighs.
High Security Prison-4:46 PM PST
The spies walk down the prison hallway towards their destination. They were wearing their spy cat suits. Two security guards were accompanying them.
"Remember girls, we're hear to gather information about what's happening." Sam led the way.
Alex stopped in front of Tim Scam's cell, made faces and stuck her tongue out. "Bweeaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
Tim Scam narrowed his eyes.
Sam grabbed Alex. "Alex…"
They finally reached Rasputin Zero's cell. They looked inside. They see the old bearded man with a long hippy like haircut with two breads on it. He was wearing the typical prison jumpsuit that everyone else was wearing.
Sam was the first to enter. "Zero, about the recent incidents in New York and Brazil…"
Zero looked at Sam, and then returned his attention to the floor. "I had nothing to do with it! I would've never hurt any innocent people! Also, I'm in here, remember?"
Sam frowned. "We know you don't have anything directly involved with what has been happening. But…" Sam showed him a picture with him and the gang leader. "Any information you provide us will reduce your sentence by half."
"Yeah. So, instead of having no life left, you'll still be able to have some of it back!" Clover smiled brightly.
"Clover, you're not helping…" Sam said through the corner of her mouth.
Zero shook his head. "I have no information about this, and so, I don't have anything to say to you!"
Sam sighed. "Fine." She turned around and ushered the others to follow her. "Come on girls, he's obviously no help to us."
Sam, Clover, and Alex left the cell room with Sam.
"Well, that was a waste of time." Alex stated.
"He's hiding something. What could it be?" Sam looked back at the cell room.
"Well, we can't do anything about it now. I mean if I was in his shoes, I'd look for every way possible to get out of here. I mean could you imagine surrounded by gray walls? Like ewwwwww!" Clover shivered disgusted.
"Yeah. Well, we can't do anything right now." Sam closed her eyes and sighed.
Alex snapped her fingers. "Maybe someone else can!"
Clover eyed Alex. "Like who?"
Alex resolve disappeared. "Ummmm…I don't know. Maybe Jerry can think of someone?"
Sam and Clover sweat dropped.
-Few hours later…
-7:28 PM PST
A woman, wearing a black leather mask that covered her entire head except for her eyes, mouth and chin, wearing a black leather corset with her midsection and shoulders exposed, black arm bands, and long black pants with slits on the sides, black boots, and black lipstick, slowly edges herself to the cellblock housing Rasputin Zero. She was careful to avoid the cameras that were sweeping the area. Seeing the cellblock, she quickly opened it and entered.
Zero looked up from his position. "What now?"
The woman held her hips. On one side was what appeared to be a short sword. On the other side, there was a whip. "Just someone looking for information." The woman narrowed her eyes at the man.
"Another WOOHP agent huh? Well, like I said to the others, I'm not talking." Zero looked away from her.
Alarms started ringing through the prison. "Freeze!" Two guards were behind the woman with their guns drawn at her. "Put your hands in the air now!"
Zero raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second…"
The woman smiled, took out her whip, and slashed the two guard's guns away. The crack of the whip stunned Zero as he could only watch at the end of the prison cell. The two guards were stunned when the woman kicked one man, then spun around and kicked the other. The end result was that they bashed into each other. The woman returned her attention back to Zero. "As you can see, I'm not exactly a part of WOOHP."
Zero eyes widened. "I'm…I'm still not telling you anything! They'd, they'd kill me!"
The woman threw a dagger to the wall next to the Zero. The dagger nicked the Zero's ear. "Aggggghhhhhh!"
"Oh, and what I did to those guards…" The woman ushered to the now unconscious guards behind her. "I only did this because they were innocent." The woman smirked in satisfaction. "What I'm going to do you, well…" The woman cracked the whip again. This left a slash on Zero's face. "I don't think you want to know." The woman got closer and closer. "Now, I want answers, and I want them now!"
Zero continued to shake. "You wouldn't dare…"
The woman took out another dagger, threw it, and struck Zero's arm, pinning him to the wall. "Need another example?"
Zero screamed in pain. "Agggggggggggggh! Okay, Okay! I'll tell you all that I know!"
The woman looked back as she hears more guards coming. "Better speak quickly or they will not find much when I'm done with you!"
Zero quickly nodded. "Okay, I know the man in that picture. He was a student of mine when I still had a job at the university! The last time I spoke to him, which was a few weeks ago, he said he found another leader who shared our goals! But this time, he wanted to take it globally!"
The woman took the dagger out of the wall not connected to Zero's now bloody arm, and put it away. She grabbed the handle of the one that was connected to Zero's arm. "Tell me about this new leader!"
Zero shook his head. "I don't know much…"
The woman got closer to his face.
Zero shrieked back in fear. "But I do know that he wears a mask and a top hat. I also know that he is planning on something big. Something that would give the world's loggers, hunters, miners, and polluters notice! That's all I know, I swear!"
The woman smiled. "Well then…" She took the dagger out from Zero's arm. Zero held his arm as cold air passed through his wound. Zero was still shaking with fear as he looked up, and saw that the woman disappeared.
Clover's House-8:24 PM PST
Clover plopped on her bed and sighed. "What a day! I didn't even get any shopping done! As for my hair…hmmm…I need to get it stylized…" Clover hears her compowder ring. "Hey Jerr! What's up?"
At the same time, the compowder's screen was then separated into three. One screen has Jerry, the others had Sam and Alex.
"Hey Jerr, what's up?" Sam and Alex both responded.
"We had an incident right after you three left the High Security Prison." Jerry sounded in his normal tone. "It seemed someone broke in!"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Who would want to break into a prison? Don't people normally break out of them?"
Sam looked to the side to where Alex would be in the compowder. "Maybe they were breaking into the prison, in order to break someone out?"
Jerry shook his head. "Good guess Sam but, not in this case. It seemed that this woman actually wanted to help us…"
Clover raised an eyebrow. "A she? Really? You sure she didn't want to acquire some of those oh so fashionable prison jump suits?"
Jerry mentally slapped himself. "No. It seemed that she wanted to gather information from Rasputin Zero."
Alex blinked surprised. "Hey, that was the guy we just talked with!"
"That's right…" Jerry continued. "And apparently she, whoever she is, did a better job of acquiring that information." Jerry showed a video of the incident.
Sam looked at the video. At first, the camera moved back and forward. Once the alarms went off, this particular camera stopped at the cellblock containing Rasputin Zero. They couldn't see much other then the two security guards going down. "Jerry. Do you have a better angle?"
Jerry shook his head. "No. Although if you keep watching…" A woman zoomed out of the cellblock. "We do get this shot of her. It isn't much, but…"
"Ewwwww. Girl has an S&M fetish." Clover made a face. "Looks like she shopped at the same place our current group of villains shopped at."
"Yes. Ironically…" Jerry paused before continuing. "She appears to want to stop this group as much as we do." Jerry typed on his computer. "I'm uploading the information that she sent us."
The spies looked at the information. Their eyes widened.
"Masked man wearing a top hat?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, images of Phantom of the Opera are popping into my head." Clover frowned. "Apparently our new masked woman isn't the only one that needs to get out more."
"Now, we are getting a clearer picture of what is happening." Jerry continued. "We still don't have a name for this group, or its leader, but what they are planning is coming into focus. If what we seen was only the tip of the ice burg, then, whatever event that would bring these groups together, must be the main target."
Sam tapped her chin. "What could bring these groups together in one place?"
"I don't know Sam." Jerry replied. "Heck, given what just a few of these men could do, it is possible that they that there could be multiple attacks at once."
Clover sighed. "At least we might be seeing the world some more!"
Sam narrowed her eyes at Clover. "I think there are more important things right now Clover…"
"By the way, what happened to Zero?" Alex wondered.
"Oh yes. Zero." Jerry showed a video of Zero being taken out on a stretcher. "He's fine, but his arms going to take time to recover. Courtesy of 'The Whip'."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "The Whip Jerry?"
Jerry shrugged. "Well, we don't have any other name for her so…"
"Man, you must really not pay your agents very well when it comes to naming people." Alex replied.
"Yeah Jerr." Clover smirked. "The Whip? Can't you come up with a better name then that?"
Jerry sweat dropped. "I think it is a good name. Anyways, point is, at the moment, The Whip did help acquire some key information that will come in handy for us. However, given what she did to Zero, her methods are highly questionable, and since we don't have much information on her, I am reluctant to call her an ally. Much less associate this organization to her. Please keep an eye out for her as well as this masked man in a top hat."
"Got it!" The spies all said before they signed off.
Clover closed her compowder. She sighed. "Great, not only do I have a weirdo in a wearing a mask and a top hat to worry about, now I have a woman who's into bondage to worry about."
Unknown Location-9:00 PM PST
"According to our sources, a woman broke into High Security Prison, and tortured Zero into talking." Doctor Root said to the masked man. "WOOHP is calling this person, 'The Whip' since that seemed to be her main weapon." Behind him was a TV monitor showing the exact same footage that Jerry had of the incident. "As you know, Zero doesn't know much about us. But what little he did know, he apparently spouted it out like broken fire hydrant."
The masked top hat wearing man rubbed his chin. "Interesting. Not a bad name for her." The man said in a highly digitized voice. "This was also not exactly what I had planned either."
"Should we bump up the schedule sir?" Root asked.
The masked man shook his head. "Despite this new unknown, everything is going as planned. Besides, I find this new challenge quite interesting. Whoever this Whip is, she will soon know the name of…!"
"That reminds me, what are you calling yourself if you are not going to use your real name?" Root asked.
"From this day forth, I shall be called, PHANTOM OF NATURE!" The man replied in a highly digitized voice.
Root stood slightly stunned before frowning. "Phantom of Nature? You don't pay people much to come up with names do you?"
Phantom sweat dropped.
-------End of Chapter 3
Yup, we now have a new character introduced into the mix. Now who she is will be revealed later. All I can say is, well, it has already been mentioned if you ever so choose to read my profile.
Now Rasputin Zero, originally I had it where the villain was Dr. Gilee, another environmentalist villain who, in that case, wanted to destroy the world by freezing it. Since this story is still being developed (with the ending set, just the middle in question), it is possible that he could be involved somehow. However, at the moment, after watching "Nature's Nightmare" for the first time, it is obvious who was closer in terms of the goals here for the Phantom. Though both want to save the environment in their, strange way, Zero's goal at least didn't involve destroying the world. Just protecting the forest of the here and now which would also happen to be the goal of Phantom. Oops, am I saying too much? Well probably not. You probably could've guessed that.
Also, I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes in this chapter. I will fix them when I proofread it later. which I just did since I felt the errors were a little more annoying then usual for this chapter.
Next chapter…Phantom's group strikes again! But what happens when The Whip gets there just in time? Oh, and Scott seems to be eyeing Sam more! But wait, whom is Scott hanging out with? And it isn't Mandy! Until then…later!