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Chapter Ten

True Colors

Fabutopia-12:31 AM

Staring through the glass of the pod he was now trapped in; Sean regarded the man in front of them, who's name turned out to be Yuri. After being trapped in a circle of mirrors, he and the girls had fallen through a trap door and then knocked unconscious. Upon waking up, they found they had been enclosed in four cylindrical chambers that Yuri had explained were early versions of the Fabulizer.

"So, Yuri," Sam said angrily, in the chamber to his right. He was between her and Clover with Alex on the far right.

"How did a nice henchman like you ever hook up with a creepy uber villain like Fabu?"

Yuri smiled smugly.

"When I was cosmonaut," he explained. "Fabu helped me practice my spacewalk."

"Spacewalk?" Sean asked incredulously, as Yuri demonstrated it for him.

Yuri stopped.

"Fashionable walk very important in Russian space program," Yuri finished.

"And in return," Fabu's drawling voice came from behind him, before its owner stepped into full view.

"Yuri was kind enough to build me Fabutopia and the Fabulizer."

"Fadulizer is more like it," Clover retorted from Sean's left.

"I mean, hello, conformity is so three years ago!"

"Yeah!" Clover concurred. "Cause when everyone looks the same, beauty has no real meaning."

Fabu clearly wasn't swayed.

"Well, I don't care what the four of you think, which is why I'm not gonna waste my perfect look on you."

"Then why are we strapped into your stupid machines?" Sean asked.

"Because," Fabu replied. Then he pressed a switch on the floor with his right foot, lifting up an advanced computer console.

"With a few simple adjustments, the Fabulizer can make you look incredibly unfabulous."

"Unfabulous?" Alex asked, scared.

Fabu began pressing numerous buttons on the console.

"Undateable," he explained. "Unattractive times ten, hideous beyond your wildest dreams!"

Clover gulped.

"On second thought," she said, pleadingly. "Why don't you go ahead and sign me up for a lifetime Fabutopia membership?"

"Clover!" Sean admonished. "Whose side are you on?!"

"What?" she asked defensively. "This way I get to keep my face!"

"Yeah and lose our planet!"

Fabu ignored them. "I'm afraid it's too late for that."

Yuri chuckled. "Tell them the rest of your wicked plan, boss!"

"Ah yes," Fabu said as he turned back to the four captive spies.

"After I give you the ultimate bad face day, I'm going to launch you into space where you'll be stranded forever!"

"You'll never get away with this!" Sam shouted.

"Nice line, spy girl," Fabu fired back. "No who's being 'unoriginal'?"

He made air quotes at the last word.

Then he pressed a button on the control console, turning all four of them around.

Sean closed his eyes so he couldn't see what was happening to him inside, though whatever it was appeared to involve a sharp needle stabbing into his cheekbones.

He was relieved when it was over, but his mouth suddenly felt a little heavier for some reason.

When the capsules turned around, he opened his eyes. Looking through the semi-reflective surface of the glass in front of him, not much about his face had changed, except for maybe the fact that his six top teeth were now covering his bottom lip.

The girls on either side of him screamed, and he looked to see they had undergone similar transformations.

Alex's face was covered in dozens of pimples, Sam's skin was green, and a thick, brown unibrow had appeared on Clover's forehead.

Fabu laughed, then waved a hand to Yuri who pulled a switch causing the floor beneath the capsules to open, revealing that all four were attached to rockets.

Fabu pressed another button.

"Space capsule propulsion sequence engaged," an electronic voice said. "Ignition in five minutes."

Then a clock began to count backwards.

"Enjoy your trip, spies!" Fabu taunted, flipping his platinum bang before leaving with Yuri.

Sean, at the moment, couldn't care less about his new overbite or even the fact that he was about to be launched into space.

No, what bothered him the most was that because he and the girls had failed their first mission, billions of innocent people were about to be obliterated. What was he thinking? He couldn't handle this. He couldn't fight evil. Tad could have done a better job than this. He might have been an arrogant, self-absorbed bully, but he was one of the more competent agents in W.O.O.H.P.

He actually succeeded when it mattered. But Sean...

He had failed. And because of that, everyone on Earth would die.

Punching the glass of his prison, he thought of Jerry, who was probably looking for his newest field agents. And then of his mother, who he would almost certainly never see again, and who he had failed to protect.

Exhaust began to leak up from the propulsors.

"This all that stupid sushi roll's fault!" Sam exclaimed miserably. "I wish we'd never stopped it!"

"And I wish I didn't leave the stupid house this morning without a stupid eyebrow tweezer!" Clover added. "What was I thinking?!"

Alex just kicked the glass, but Sean knew it was no use. After all, he'd already tried when woke up in his. It was simply too thick.

"How did our simple high school lives become such a mess?" Sam asked no one in particular.

Sam looked over to Sean, who by now was leaning in the back of his capsule in resignation.

"Oh," she said in sympathy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean your life-"

"No, it's okay," he said flatly, with a slight lisp thanks to his enlarged front teeth. "You're right. Our lives are a mess. I can't believe I actually thought I could do it."

"But you're a better spy than we are!" Sam protested.

"Considering the way I've messed things up, that doesn't make me feel any better. I was supposed to help you, and I couldn't. I don't even know why Jerry picked me. I'm not field agent. I'm not a hero. I'm just a regular guy from Beverly Hills. I'm just... a failure."

The girls looked at him, their faces softening.

He smiled as best he could with the way his teeth were.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess."

"Hey don't sweat it," Alex reassured. "We probably wouldn't have met if you hadn't."

"Well," Sean said. "I guess if there's one good thing about this, it's that I met you three. I know we had a rough start, but I'm glad we met and became friends."

And he knew he meant it. They were the first friends he had since... as long as he could remember.

"Aw!" the girls cooed.

"Yeah," Clover said. "Too bad it's only gonna last a few more seconds!"

Sean sighed, remembering the countdown was still in progress.

"Hello, agents!" a familiar voice greeted.

He looked up.

There, in the doorway, wearing a black spy suit was...

"Tad!" the girls shouted with joy.

Sean, however, was more curious than relieved.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Clover scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? He was crushing on me so much he simply had to come and save me!"

Her teammates looked at her as if to say, "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"I mean to save us!" she corrected.

Tad, however, just laughed. The same laugh he used when he pulled that graffiti prank on Sean.

"Save you?" he asked tauntingly. "I don't think so!"

"What?!" Sean asked in outrage.

"But... you have to save us!" Sam pleaded.

"Yeah!" Alex concurred. "We're, like, fellow spies!"

Tad turned so that his side was facing them.

"Exactly my problem," he said. "Until you three came along and your little boyfriend was promoted, I was Jerry's number one agent. Now you're in my way!"

He gestured to the large windows around them.

"So, I'm gonna let you get jettisoned and take credit for saving the day!"

Clover let out an appalled gasp.

"I can't believe someone so nice could turn out to be such a lame-o!" she yelled.

"Naive much?" Tad asked rhetorically. "Apparently you've never heard of a double agent!"

"You know, Tad," Sean said, narrowing his eyes. "Before today, I just thought you were a bully. But it looks like I was wrong. Compared to what you are really, 'bully' is a compliment!"

Tad just scoffed.

"Really? Well, who cares what you think of me?"

Sean continued to glare at him.

"Before you go, there's one thing I wanna know. What did I ever do to you?"

Tad's smile vanished.

"You really wanna know?"

Sean nodded.

Tad exhaled. "Training as spy was harder for me than it was for you. I had to work hard to get where I am now, but everything you wanted just fell into your lap! Gadget usage, self defense, surveillance. It all just came easy to you! When you became an instructor, I finally thought you got knocked down a peg or two!"

"So that's why you picked on me in training? That's why you're leaving me for dead?"

Tad laughed again. "No, that's not why I'm doing the last thing, anyway."

His voice became angrier. "When you got promoted, Jerry decided to give me your old job. An instructor? With my credentials? I don't think so. I became W.O.O.H.P's top agent through years of dedication and hard work. Well, now it's finally paying off. And I'm not gonna let some nobody from Beverly Hills ruin it for me!"

Sean crossed his arms. "Petty, much?"

Tad turned to leave the room.

"Now if you'll excuse me," he said. "I have a planet to save. And a spot to reclaim. Farewell!"

As soon as he was gone, flames began to shoot from the bottom of the capsules. They were about to take off.

"That's it!" Alex yelled. "No more Miss Nice Spy!"

She tried to break the glass again, but this time she was joined by Sam and Clover.

"If only we could reach a gadget!" Sam strained.

Alex gasped as if remembering something.

"I've got one!" she announced pulling out a piece of Ever-Expanding Bubble Gum.

She put it into her mouth, and after five good chews, began to blow a bubble, a bubble that soon filled the entirety of her capsule.

After about ten seconds, it popped, sending the roof of the capsule flying off and allowing Alex to escape.

"Awesome!" Sam and Clover cheered.

"Way to go, Alex!" Sean congratulated.

But then the capsule containing Clover began to lift off of the ground.

She began to scream in worry.

"Clover!" Sean and Sam yelled.

Alex activating the grappling cable on her belt, using it to hook the switch Yuri pulled back into its original position.

"Ignition canceled," the same electronic voice from earlier said.

Clover sighed in relief.

"Now that that's over," Sean said to Alex. "Would you mind getting us out of these things?"

"Uh," Alex said. "Sure."

She walked over to the control console, as if looking for the right button to push.

She looked confused for a little bit, but then brightened up.

"What does this button do?" she asked.

Sean shut his eyes tightly, almost expecting the capsules to explode.

But instead, the glass slid open, letting him and the others go free.

"Wow!" Sam said. "Alex, you saved our lives!"

"That's what friends are for!" she responded.

Sean nodded.

"Now we just need to stop Fabu!" he said.

But Clover had other ideas.

"I'm not saving anyone," she insisted. "Until I get my face back!"

She pointed to her unibrow, which, to Sean became a few inchers thicker since she'd grown it.

She zipped over to the control console.

"It's time to go through the unfabulizing process in reverse!"

"Could I go first?" Sean asked. He pointed to his teeth. "These are getting very uncomfortable!"

A few minutes later, he was turned back around to face his teammates, his teeth now a normal size.

He let out a smile.

"Now that's more like it!" he said.

Eagerly, the girls began to surround the capsule, impatient for their turn to begin.