Previously on Totally Spies: A Getaway Gone Wrong...
"You're going to pay dearly for ruining our romantic getaway, captain," Nick growled. "Now get up and face the music!"
"Honestly..." Captain Hayes wheezed as he picked himself up. "Should you be worrying about beating down on me right now? Or would you rather look for the rest of my hostages... before something bad happens to them?"
"Oh, you wouldn't," Nozomi growled.
"You should know that a villain always has backup plans," Captain Hayes responded before throwing down some smoke bombs to make his escape.
"Damn you, get back here!" Dawn shouted.
Nick closed his eyes and focused his psychic power, using it to perform a "radar sweep" (May's term and idea) of the area, trying to hear the thoughts of any other nearby hostages.
"I hate to admit this, spies, but Hayes was right," Nick stated. "I'm sensing a lot of fear in the other patrons around here. Do you think we should go help them?"
"It's our job as the good guys to help the people in need!" Alex proclaimed. "We'll catch up with mister nutball soon enough."
"Lead the way, fearless leader!" Bridget proclaimed.
"...wait, I thought Sam was the leader," Nick teased.
"Well, she's probably somewhere else right now, so until we all get back together, we decided to appoint you our interim team leader," Nozomi giggled.
With that in mind, Nick began to lead his group back through the hallways in hopes of finding and saving all the people trapped in the hotel.
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies!: A Getaway Gone Wrong
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: February 10th, 2020
Story Summary: The eighth joint project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, collectively known as Totally Spies: The New Adventures. One day after a bout of shopping at the Groove, Sam and Mat learn that they've won a contest for sweethearts; Alex and Nick have won, too. The main event is a week-long stay at a fancy hotel! Unfortunately, the sweet quickly turns to sour when it's revealed that yet another of the spies' old foes, the celebrity-worshipping Captain Hayes, has marooned everyone inside the hotel, celebrities and all, including Sam and Mat. Can the rest of the spies break everyone out before Captain Hayes can enact whatever his newest sinister plan is?
On Today's Episode: The two spy groups race through the hotel in hopes of saving everyone trapped within its walls, but bad seems to become worse when one of the hostages is an eight-year-old girl whose mother was taken away by Captain Hayes' henchmen. Now the spies have to find Eri's mother before anything unspeakable happens, and hopefully stop whatever Captain Hayes has waiting in the shadows. And the getaway was going so well, too...
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger 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?
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Episode 2: Captain Calamity
"Man, it's absolute chaos in here," Nozomi quipped as Nick's group dashed through the hallways of the hotel, guided by Nick's psychic "radar" towards anyone who needed to be rescued.
"Well, when a celebrity-obsessed psycho basically traps you in the ritziest pad in Beverly Hills and uses you as his bargaining chips, what do you expect?" Alex teased.
"Sam, what's the situation on your end?" Bridget asked as she called Sam on her X-Powder.
"We just got jumped by some of Captain Hayes' henchmen, but we're doing all right," Sam answered. "We're moving on to search for hostages."
"Practically the same here," Nozomi replied. "We actually ran into the good captain himself, but he predictably chickened out before we could do any damage to him."
"I got to throw him around a little, at least," Nick quipped as he glanced ahead...
SOMEBODY HELP!
...only to stumble forward when someone's panicked thoughts blared so loudly in his head that it almost knocked him off of his feet.
"Whoa, Nick, you okay?" May asked.
"Someone's scared," Nick replied. "And from how loud that shout blared in my head, whoever that was in real deep trouble. We'll meet up with you guys soon, okay?"
"Roger that," Haruka stated. "Now go and be heroes, you guys."
"Where did that shout come from, Nick?" Melissa asked.
Nick followed his psychic "radar" towards where that shout had been the loudest, and, of course, they only met another steel wall, like almost every other hotel room around the area.
"Why am I not surprised?" Bridget sighed.
Nick didn't waste any time, gathering energy into his hand and aiming it for the steel wall, firing off a Final Shine Attack that blasted a hole through the metal and allowed the group to enter the hotel room in question.
And the sight within caused Nick's blood to start boiling.
Three of Captain Hayes' henchmen, a trio of rather burly and "macho"-looking men, were surrounding an eight-year-old girl with bluish, off-white hair, and wide, innocent-looking red eyes filled with fear, no doubt of what these scary men were going to do to her.
"Just sit still, little girl, and we won't have to rough ya up like we did your mother," the first henchman proclaimed.
"Hey, shut up," the second henchman groaned while elbowing the first in the gut. "We're not actually going to hurt her, are we? She's just a little girl!"
"Yeah, but the boss' orders are absolute," the third henchman responded. "We already got her singer of a mother so she can serenade the boss, and now we have to get her daughter, too."
Nick glanced back at the rest of his group, silently asking them if he could go on the offensive before his anger got the better of him.
"Go nuts," Alex stated.
"Hey, assholes!" Nick growled, causing the three thugs to spin around and face him.
"Hey, how'd he get in through the wall?!" the first thug proclaimed.
"Who cares?! He's one of those spies that boss told us to watch out for!" the second thug shouted.
"Let's take him down!" the third thug exclaimed as all three bum-rushed Nick at the same time.
Nick retreated out of the room and into the hallway, causing the thugs to just miss a diving attack. "Try again for a nickel?" Nick taunted.
"Hey, stand still, you little punk!" the second thug growled.
Nick let his psychic aura explode to life around him, causing the three thugs to take a step back in unison.
"Oh, I'm the punk?!" Nick shouted. "I saw you harassing that little girl. I seriously don't understand why you villain henchmen have absolutely no morals sometimes!"
"Hey, I was the only one against it!" the second thug shouted in hopes of getting a reprieve.
"No damn excuses!" Nick exclaimed, raising his right hand to snare all three thugs in his psychic hold.
"W-what... what are y-you going to do to us?" the first thug asked, suddenly fearing for his life.
"Well, I'd rather not fly off the handle and hurt someone that's not the bad guy we're trying to stop," Nick answered, backing up a few steps and eyeing the pool at the far west end of the hallway. "So I figured I'd let you jerks cool off for a bit."
Nick thrust his hands forward, sending all three thugs flying down the hallway, crashing through the already shattered door, and straight into the pool.
"Wow, remind me never to get on your bad side, Nick," Nozomi giggled. "You're scary when you're angry."
The thugs taken care of, Nick softened his expression as he walked back into the room to see how the girl was doing. "You okay?" Nick asked.
"I... I am now," the girl replied. "Thank you for saving me."
"It's kinda what we do," Nick answered, bending down to meet the girl eye to eye. "What's your name?"
"Eri," the girl replied.
Nick reached out to pat Eri lightly on the head as a way to calm her down. No doubt she was still scared of what those thugs had already done to her mother and had been planning for her. Thankfully, it seemed to work, and Eri smiled slightly.
"Nice to meet you, Eri," Nick continued. "My friends and I are helping everyone who's been trapped by the bad men. What exactly happened to your mother?"
Eri looked up at the ceiling. "Someone... someone said something on the big speaker about holding everyone here 'hostage', and then... that big metal wall trapped us in here," Eri explained. "After that, three of those big men came through the vent, and... t-they took mama from me..."
"Why would they go after your mother like that?" Alex asked.
"Mama is a very good singer," Eri answered. "And one of the bad men said that... their boss wanted mama to sing for him..."
"Okay, now he's really gone too far," Bridget proclaimed.
"I guess that's our next primary objective," Melissa realized. "We find Eri's mother."
"Didn't Eri say that Captain Hayes took her?" Dawn asked. "So she's probably with him or somewhere close."
"Let me call the others quick," Nick stated, opening up his X-Powder. "Sam, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Nick," Sam answered. "What's the situation over there?"
"Slight change of plans," Nick explained. "Can your team take care of the hostage situation? We've got a more pressing reason to go after Captain Hayes."
"Basically, the 'good captain' personally kidnapped this little girl's mother, and we're going to find Captain Hayes and get her back by any means necessary," Nozomi stated.
"And the heroes come through again!" May giggled. "Don't worry, you guys, we'll get the other hostages to safety. You just find mister captain and kick his butt five times to heck and back for what he did to that poor girl."
"Roger that," Nick replied before closing his X-Powder and turning back to Eri. "Now, Eri, we're going to find Captain Hayes and get your mother back. Would you rather stay with us until then, or...?"
Eri responded by running up and clutching Nick's hand in her own hands. "I think I'd be safer with all of you," Eri answered. "After all, you did all that cool mind stuff and got the bad men to back off, right?"
Nick couldn't help but chuckle at how innocent Eri sounded, even in the midst of all this. "All right, then, but stay close to us, okay?" Nick replied. "Because things might get messy soon."
"You got it!" Eri proclaimed, standing close to Nick.
"Well, girls, let's go find Captain Hayes," Nick proclaimed. "And give him a good dose of hurt."
(From Mat49324)
"I couldn't agree more," Melissa quipped.
"Nick, I don't think this could be Marnie's kid, eh?" asked Dawn.
"Not that I know of," Nick deduced. "Marnie seems to be young enough to not have kids yet."
"Hey, Eri," Nozomi then said. "Could you tell us what your mom looks like?"
"She's..." Eri started. "She's about three mes tall, with long hair like mine and she wears glasses."
Alex tried racking her brain on female singers she remembered from before. Unfortunately, only guys came to mind – T-Bone, Ricky Mathis, Triple Threat, and Teensicle just to name a few.
"Any bells ringing, Alex?" Bridget asked.
"None," Alex said. "All I can think about are male singers."
"Dang," said Bridget. "Eri's mom might be anybody if it's not ringing any bells for Alex."
"Probably," Nick quipped.
Meanwhile...
In another section of the Beverly Hills Hotel, the other spy team was searching around for Captain Hayes.
"I kinda thought you might want to try dinner all over again, Sammy," Mat said to Sam.
"Yeah, but we'll worry about that later," said Sam. "It's time to make Captain Hayes pay for it big time."
The two got back to the task at hand. It was very disturbing to the spies seeing steel walls cover every hotel room door, but every steel wall Sam saw just angered her inside – for good reason, too.
"I wonder if Jerry's made any progress on that tracking device," Haruka quipped.
"Hopefully he has," Britney replied.
"Totally," said Clover. "I feel like we're going around in circles to some extent."
"Yeah," Sam replied. "Too bad this turned into a botched getaway, too; I feel like Mat and I got one notch closer together, too."
Clover's X-Powder chirped.
"I bet that's Jerry," said Haruka as Clover answered her call.
"Hello?"
Jerry's visage popped up.
"Hello, spies," said Jerry. "How's the mission going?"
"Do the words 'This mission sucks' sum it up?" Sam replied.
"I get the picture, Sam," said Jerry, fully understanding Sam's angry tone. "In the meantime, I've finished analyzing the tracking device you found in Sam's hair."
"So, what's the verdict, Jer?" Mat asked as he held Sam to keep her calm.
"It's meant to travel in undetectable ways, then 'nest' near the persona's brain and scan their brainwaves," Jerry answered. "Most likely, it's how Captain Hayes deduced who at the hotel were celebrities."
"That might explain why it was caught in my hair, too," Sam deduced.
"Hopefully it wasn't there long," said Mat.
"Anyway, thanks, Jerry," Sam replied as Clover closed her X-Powder.
"Sammy, are you feeling OK?" Clover asked.
"I can't imagine how pissed you must be," said May, completely sympathetic.
Mat listened in, too.
"All I can say is I think I know how Mat felt about one of those races he was watching earlier," said Sam, who then looked at Mat.
"Anaheim 3 2001?" Mat asked.
"If that's the one you were telling Nick how pissed you were upon first seeing that," Sam said, getting her facts straight.
"Yeah, that's the one," said Mat. "No worries though, Sammy. We're gonna stop that dumbass if it's the last thing we do."
"Couldn't have said it better," said Sam with a grin and kissing Mat on the cheek. "And why I'm saving my anger for him."
Unknown to the two lovers, an attack on them was commencing. May saw it and dove to save the couple.
"There's only one thing judging from that shot," said May when she looked at the small amount of rubble near them. "It's..."
"That's right, little girl!"
"Captain Hayes!" the group exclaimed.
"Are you ready to go back to the WOOHP Containment Facility where you freakin' belong?!" Haruka exclaimed.
"Or do we have to make you go there?!" Sam growled, going directly at Captain Hayes. "You're gonna PAY for ruining my romantic getaway with my boyfriend!"
"Sammy, we need a plan!" Clover remarked.
Surprisingly, Sam managed to land a blow on Captain Hayes.
"Wow, kudos to her," Mat quipped.
"No worries, Sam," said May, getting out her X-Powder to alert Nick and the others. "I'm calling the squad now!"
Captain Hayes reacted back at Sam's blows, but Mat got an urge to help his girlfriend out, and that's what he did.
"Allow me to help, Sammy!"
"We're coming, guys!" Bridget proclaimed from May's X-Powder.
With that, May shut her X-Powder, and the group went to assist Mat and (a REALLY angry) Sam.
(Written by The Blue Time Ranger)
"Better say your prayers, captain," May proclaimed. "Because the rest of the gang is on their way, and you probably wouldn't like being outnumbered twelve to one, would you?"
"Like I'd be scared of a bunch of teenagers," Captain Hayes responded.
"By the way, what's the point of taking everyone hostage?!" Britney shouted. "If you're only after celebrities, why would you try this with the normal people?!"
"Rules for villains, number four," Haruka answered. "Always take multiple hostages to get the good guys to hesitate."
"Well, we're saving your hostages, so you can just give it up now and spare yourself some pain," May stated, facing down Captain Hayes. "Or, how about this? You tell us where that little girl's mother is and maybe we'll let you off with just a few face punches."
"Hmmm... whoever could you be talking about?" Captain Hayes cackled sarcastically.
Before May could attack, something flashed by Captain Hayes at lightning speed and knocked him to the ground.
Bridget skidded to a stop, clad in her Sonic Mode getup, and turned to face Captain Hayes. "The lady asked you a question, dipwad," Bridget proclaimed. "Now out with it."
"Yeah, give me back my mom, you big jerk!" Eri shouted as the rest of the spies arrived on the scene.
"Oh, who's the cutie?" Clover asked.
"This is Eri," Nick answered. "She's the one whose mom got kidnapped by mister psycho captain over here. Now, captain, answer the question and tell us where she is!"
"Is this the part where you try to intimidate me into spilling the beans on all of my plans?" Captain Hayes laughed. "Sorry, boy, but I'm not gonna fall for that shtick."
Nick reached out to snatch Captain Hayes in his psychic grip.
"You want another round of me playing smashy-smashy with your spine?" Nick proclaimed. "Now tell me what you did with Eri's mother, before I get really nasty. And you don't want that."
Before Nick could wring any more answers out of Captain Hayes, he heard three different screams behind him. Nick quickly turned around just in time to see three burly men, no doubt more of Captain Hayes' henchmen, grab Mat, Sam, and Alex, then retreat into the ceiling via the ceiling vent systems.
"You're going to pay for that," Nick growled, turning back to the trapped Captain Hayes.
"Oh, relax, kid," Captain Hayes cackled. "It's not like I hurt her or anything. I may be a villain, but even I have standards."
"You still kidnapped her," Nick shot back. "Just like you did to my friends and girlfriend not five seconds ago! So don't feed me that week-old fuzzy bologna!"
"...huh. That's an image," May quipped.
Just then, another henchman dropped from another vent and crashed on top of Nick, knocking him to the ground and breaking his psychic hold on Captain Hayes.
"GET OFF!" Nick shouted, unleashing a quick psychic pulse to blast the henchman off of him and into the nearby wall, but Captain Hayes had taken the opportunity to make his escape.
"Okay, when did a lowly mook realize he could do that?!" Nick exclaimed.
"Rules for villains, number twenty," Haruka answered. "If all else fails, improvise."
"Well, now we've got another problem on our hands," Britney stated. "Guess we're going to have to split up again, huh?"
"And we just got back together, too," Melissa groaned.
"At least we can cover more ground in groups," Nick responded. "So, here's how I think we should divide and conquer. Haruka, Bridget, Nozomi, you three should try to find where Captain Hayes is keeping the others. Melissa, Dawn, Clover, Britney, you keep rescuing all the hostages you can. May and I are going after Captain Hayes."
Nick looked down at Eri, who was standing safely behind him. "After all, I made a promise to someone."
"And you never break a promise," Dawn proclaimed.
With that, the nine remaining spies split into their groups and set off, hoping that this case would be solved quickly, before any more nonsense happened.
(From Mat49324)
With that, Haruka, Bridget, and Nozomi meandered around the Beverly Hills Hotel in the hopes of finding either Captain Hayes or perhaps Mat, Sam, and Alex.
"It'd be nice to know where to look," Bridget said.
"I know," Nozomi proclaimed. "I'd sure hate to see the look on Sam and Alex's faces after this is all said and done."
"Hold on a minute," said Haruka when they rounded a corner.
A cap was found on the floor, and it was blue.
"I'll bet this belongs to Captain Hayes," Nozomi deduced.
"This must mean he's close by," Bridget deduced as well.
"Time to let Jerry do an analysis," Haruka quipped, only to hear another noise.
Staying on guard, Haruka checked out where that noise came from. Nozomi had just finished the scan for Jerry when she and Bridget saw Haruka carefully creeping around the corner.
"What's going on, Haruka?" Bridget asked.
"I don't know yet," Haruka answered.
The noises came from around three more rooms down. It sounded like someone was pounding the walls and noises were muffled.
"Okay, I can certainly hear something on the other side," Bridget quipped.
"I'll bet this must be where those henchmen took Alex, Mat, and Sam," Haruka deduced.
"Only one way to find out," Nozomi declared.
Bridget searched for a gadget to break the steel wall.
"Rules for villains, number thirty-two," Haruka quipped. "If you hold hostages, hide 'em in a hotspot like a hotel."
"AH-HA!" Bridget exclaimed, pulling out a Metal Mashing Boxing Glove. "Time to smash some walls."
"Hold on, Bridget," Haruka answered. "I'd think the good captain would know we'd go to rescue them. What if there's a trap waiting for us when we bust down the wall?"
"I've got that covered," Bridget responded, opening her X-Powder with her free hand. "Sonic Mode, Online!"
Once Bridget was clad in her Sonic Mode outfit, she reared back, ready to throw a punch. "Whoever's trapped in that room, stand clear of the doorway!" Bridget called.
When Bridget heard the sound of shuffling footsteps, she activated the Metal Mashing Boxing Glove and lunged forward with a dashing punch. The strength of the Metal Mashing Boxing Glove combined with the speed of Sonic Mode caused the glove to completely shatter the steel wall like it was made of paper.
Naturally, three electric stun batons extended out from the ceiling of the room and tried to shock Bridget, but she dashed backwards quickly thanks to the speed that Sonic Mode gave her, allowing Haruka to fire a blast from her Wind Tunnel 9000 that destroyed the electric batons and allowed safe passage into the room.
"Never fear, celebs and cronies, the cavalry has arrived!" Nozomi proclaimed.
"That was exceptionally quick," Mat admitted.
"Gotta go fast, right?" Bridget giggled.
"Come on, let's all get out of here!" Alex proclaimed. "I'm seriously going to tear that captain a new one for ruining our getaway!"
"Get in line, Alex," Sam responded.
"Well, then let's go do that," Haruka replied.
Meanwhile, Clover, Britney, Melissa, and Dawn were looking for Captain Hayes themselves.
"I guess I can safely say that Sam, Mat, and Alex are in the same boat as me now," Clover remarked.
"Yeah, except they had gadgets, and you didn't," said Melissa. "Or did you?"
Clover shook her head in regards to that matter.
"I had to call Sam and Alex – and brave their sour attitudes to boot... Mat, too."
Clover cringed at remembering Sam and Alex's angry looks over the last time.
"I have to wonder if those three will wanna hear the word 'getaway' after this," Melissa wondered.
"My guess would be no," Dawn remarked.
The four spies then heard some banging nearby. Clover put her ear to the wall to confirm it.
"I'll bet that's Eri's mom who is captured," Melissa deduced.
"You sure?" Dawn asked. "We really only have Eri's description of her to go by."
"Whoever that is sounds remarkably like an older Eri to me," Melissa admitted. "Regardless, let's bust this thing down."
Clover tried a karate kick, but she was left with a sore foot and went hopping away.
"How many people thought that was going to do anything?" Britney sighed.
"Dawn to the rescue," Dawn quipped, bringing out her Sonic Disintegrator Boombox and placing it right against the steel wall. "Anyone in that room, please stand clear of the door!"
Dawn waited until she heard the sounds of shuffling footsteps before activating the Sonic Disintegrator Boombox, the powerful sound waves battering the steel wall until it was cracked and brittle. Dawn raised her right foot and lashed out to strike the weakened wall, shattering enough of it to let the four spies into the room.
"Don't worry, everyone, we're here to help!" Melissa proclaimed to set everyone's mind at ease.
"Wow, there's a lot of celebrity people in here," Clover quipped.
"Target acquired!" Britney stated, glancing at a woman standing in the right corner of the room. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, with long, bluish off-white hair, light red eyes, and glasses, rather perfectly matching the description of the mother that Eri had been separated from.
"Well, well, you must be Eri's mother," Dawn stated.
"Y-yes, my name is Emi, and... wait, you met my little Eri?" the mother asked. "Do you know where she is?!"
"She'd been trapped in her room after Captain Hayes' goons nabbed you, but my big brother busted her out," Melissa answered. "She's with him and another of our friends right now, so you don't have to worry about her safety. Nick can definitely handle any of these dumbbell goons."
"I just hope this will all be over soon," Emi sighed.
"Wait, why did Captain Hayes kidnap you specifically because you can sing, then just toss you in a room with other celebrities like all of his other hostages?" Clover wondered.
"I refused to sing for that crazy man," Emi proclaimed.
"Makes sense," Melissa giggled.
"Come on, let's get everyone out of here," Britney stated.
Meanwhile, at W.O.O.H.P. HQ...
Jerry was in his office doing his usual analysis of the scan of the cap Nozomi sent him. Simultaneously, he was also working on other accommodations for the spy team after hearing Sam's angry response about their botched getaway that unexpectedly turned into a mission; he had a good feeling Alex's answer concerning the matter would be no different if he were to ask her.
"Ah, results!" Jerry exclaimed when he checked out Nozomi's clue.
When he did see the results, Jerry was met with a surprise.
"Oh my!"
"Sir, we've got a report that Captain Hayes had help in escaping," one of the agents reported. "Tim Scam. Thankfully, we were able to detain him before he could even think about escaping himself."
"What could that particular scoundrel have to gain from this?" Jerry wondered.
Meanwhile, back at the Beverly Hills Hotel...
("Recipe for My Love" by Austin Roberts plays)
Nick and May were looking around together for Captain Hayes' whereabouts.
"You see anything, May?" Nick asked.
"... no, no luck," May stammered.
"May, are you okay?" Nick asked, obviously concerned at May's sudden attitude.
Oh no... May thought. He knows, doesn't he? ...do I tell him? Do I not tell him?!
"May, is something wrong?" Nick asked. "You can tell me."
A hot flash came over May as she saw no way out of this.
(Written by The Blue Time Ranger)
A few seconds passed with May trying to think of a way to save face, only to find nothing.
Crapbaskets, May thought. He's got me backed into the proverbial corner.
Just then, however, May thought back to something Haruka had said to her.
"But this is Nick we're talking about. I'm sure he, of all people, would understand."
"Hey, if it's something you want me to keep a secret, I'll take it to my grave with me," Nick stated.
May looked back up at Nick, allowing herself to hope. "You promise?" May asked.
"You know I don't break my promises, May," Nick teased. "How many times have people said that about me?"
May sighed, summoning all the courage she had. "Okay," May replied.
Nick leaned in close to receive the transmission of secret information.
He definitely didn't expect May to meet him halfway, pulling him into a kiss.
The kiss only lasted a couple seconds before May retreated slightly, her entire face dusted red. "There," May stammered. "I said it."
Nick took a few seconds to process this new development, knowing that he didn't want to do anything to scare May off. That was the absolute last thing he wanted to do right now.
"How long?" Nick asked once he believed May was ready to answer.
"Since the end of our mission in Tachikawa," May admitted. "You helped me through one of the most horrifying experiences I've ever had to go through, Nick. You were there for me when Johnny was killed, you let me cry for him and didn't judge me..."
"So, all the kisses were...?" Nick wondered.
"Most of them were just me being so grateful for everything you did for me," May answered. "But when we got back home, I had a chance to think about why I kissed you specifically to show my gratitude. It wasn't until our impromptu sleepover that... I realized I had fallen in love with you."
"Was there a reason you didn't say anything to me?" Nick asked.
"You know why, Nick," May replied. "You and Alex are already a thing, and I don't want to come between you just because of my own feelings for you. It's like I said to Haruka, I don't want you two to get into some stupid tizzy just because I decided I wanted to be the third wheel."
"Wait, Haruka knows how you feel?" Nick wondered.
"She kinda figured me out considering how I acted when she brought you up in a certain way," May responded, only now starting to let the tears fall.
"Wh-whoa, whoa, May, what's with the tears?" Nick asked. "I didn't upset you, did I?"
"Don't you get it, Nick? This is exactly what I was so afraid of!" May cried, unable to stop the tears now. "I didn't want to say anything because I couldn't bear to come between you and Alex, but I was worried if I kept it secret for too long, it'd come out at the worst possible time and drive a wedge between us! And that's exactly what I just did, didn't I?!"
Nick stood there for a few more seconds, realizing that he needed to choose his next words carefully so as to not upset May any further.
Something Nick hadn't revealed to anyone yet was that, despite Nozomi being his first girlfriend, the honor of his first kiss had gone to May. It had happened when they were about nine years old, talking about a really sappy romance movie May had seen her parents watching. One thing had led to another, and May had kissed Nick to imitate what they'd seen in the movie.
Naturally, May had freaked out initially, knowing Nick might have gotten the wrong idea, but Nick was just happy that his first kiss had come from a friend he cherished, and there were no misunderstandings that day.
Nick then remembered the one time Alex had seen May giving him a kiss on the cheek during that mission in Tachikawa, and how she'd smiled at the sight in understanding.
Nick knew what he had to do now.
Despite the fact that May couldn't see him due to her tears, Nick walked up to her and placed his hands on May's shoulders, causing her to look up at him, silently pleading with him not to hate her.
"Hey, now, what's with the scared face, silly?" Nick quipped. "You know I could never hate you, May. You're one of my best friends, and that's never gonna change, no matter what the next few seconds bring. But... I wanted to give you something I think you'll appreciate."
Before May could question what he meant, Nick closed the distance and kissed her. It only lasted two seconds, but it was enough to send May's heart into a flutter.
"D-Do... do you mean it, Nick?" May asked.
"You know me," Nick answered. "Right, May?"
Unable to contain herself any longer, May threw herself into Nick's arms, her sad frown replaced by a happy smile.
"Thank you, Nick," May cried. "Thank you so much..."
"Any time, May," Nick responded. "We'll find a perfect time to tell the others about this, okay? I'm sure if we handle it delicately, it won't give anyone the wrong idea."
"Yeah, I don't think a swank hotel taken over by a psycho celebrity worshipper is the time or place to talk about relationship drama," May giggled.
"And knowing Alex, I'm pretty sure she'll understand," Nick noted. "It is Alex we're talking about."
"True," May admitted.
"Is... is everything okay?" Eri asked as she walked up to the two spies, having stepped to the side while Nick and May had their conversation. "I didn't wanna butt in."
"We're good now, Eri," May answered, patting Eri on the head. "We just had to talk it out."
"And now, I think we should continue our hunt for the captain," Nick proclaimed. "After all, we've still gotta get Eri back to her mother."
"Right," May responded. "Let's go find Hayes and kick him where it hurts."
Nick and May joined hands and raced down the hallway, Eri not too far behind them, as they resumed their search for Captain Hayes.
To be concluded...
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Next time on Totally Spies: A Getaway Gone Wrong...
Sam: Okay, I'm starting to get sick of this runaround. GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, HAYES!
May: Holy crapbaskets, I don't think I've seen Sam this mad since we stomped James.
Alex: Our perfect getaway's been ruined by a celebrity-obsessed nutball. I'm sure she and I have every right to hate his guts right now.
Captain Hayes: Don't think you've cornered me, you damned spies!
Nick: They say that every time, captain. Now, I'm only going to ask you one more time: where is Eri's mother?!
Captain Hayes: Hmph. You'll have to catch me first!
Nozomi: Is he running away from us again?!
May: For that matter, DID HE JUST SEND ANOTHER GIANT FREAKIN' ROBOT TO ATTACK US?!
Haruka: Remember rules for villains number sixty-one?
May: ...oh.
Nick: Well, that's not stopping me. I've taken down bigger robots than this!
Alex: We're all with you, Nick! We're gonna tear down some robots next time on the final act of Totally Spies: A Getaway Gone Wrong, "Flashy Finale"!
May: I hope you're ready for us to steel your hopes, Captain! ...wait. *flips through pages* Okay, who put this dumb pun in my script?!