"I know there's a major emergency going on and everything, but you'd think that Jim Band could at least have given me his phone number in return for saving his life," groused Clover as she slumped back dejectedly on the comfy sofa in West Coast Hall.
Alex looked up from the veterinary studies book she was reading. "Oh come... Hic! On, Clover. After all the missions we've been through, I thought you... Hic! Realised by now that office romances never work out. Hic!"
"Whoa, Alex! Are those hiccups really still bothering you?" asked Sam, a little concerned for her friend.
"Sorry, there's... Hic! Something stuck at the back of my throat and it... Hic! Keeps making me hiccup!"
"Well, hang on a sec. Let me give you a hand," said Clover. She went across to Alex and gave her a couple of strong pats on the back. Alex spluttered slightly and then she smiled in relief.
"Phew, that seems to have done the trick. Thanks Clover!"
"No prob," smiled Clover, but the smile quickly faded as she spotted an annoying figure heading their way. "Oh great, here comes Mandy again."
"Probably come to gloat about that song contest again," sighed Sam wearily as the bane of their lives strode over to them.
"Well, what are you wannabes up to? Reading up on how to be even bigger losers than you already are?" leered Mandy mockingly at the girls.
"Was there something specific you wanted, Mandy? Or did you just come here to carry on being the spoiled meanie you always have been?" muttered Alex crisply.
"As a matter of fact, I thought you losers would like to know that I am going to appearing on live television tomorrow evening, being interviewed by none other than the nationally famous tv host, Rodney Hines," crowed Mandy.
"WHAT?! You're appearing on 'The Rodney Hines Show'? But that's like the biggest chat show on the planet!" exclaimed Clover infuriatingly.
"Yes, the studio wants to interview me about what it's like being Malibu's new top singer, before they sign me up for promotional tours across the country. I just thought you three nobodies would like to tune in tomorrow to see a real winner in the limelight! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to practice for my interview. Later losers!"
And with that, Mandy walked briskly off, leaving three fuming spies sticking their tongues out at her.
"Can you believe her nerve?" groused Clover. "If she does manage to land all those contracts, she's going to be completely unbearable!"
"Totally! She'll spend the rest of the term boasting about her success and become even more obnoxious than before!" agreed Sam.
"And the worst part is, it should have been Tara's big break," fumed Alex. "There's got to be some way we can show everyone what a real cheat Mandy really is."
The girls pondered about this for a minute, then Clover's face lit up as an idea came to her.
"Hey, I've just remembered something! Didn't Jerry once say that he kept hold of some of Cyril Hearsay's truth serum in the gadget lab?" she asked in a hushed tone so that other students would not overhear.
"Yeah, Jerry thought it would be useful for obtaining evidence from criminals who are particularly hard to question," replied Sam. "Though the serum is only really used as a last resort, due to the ethnic problems it sometimes brings up."
"Hang on a second there, Clover. Are you suggesting that we give some of the serum to Mandy?" asked Alex, quickly catching on to her friend's idea.
"Well, why not? Mandy's spent her whole life lying and cheating to get what she wants. I think it's time she started being a bit more honest from now on," said Clover emphatically.
"Well I guess considering the amount of trouble Mandy has caused WOOHP in the past, Jerry would have no objection to us using the serum if we asked him first," said Sam. "But how would we be able to administer the serum without anyone noticing?"
"Why don't we ask Jerr and see if he has any ideas?" said Alex. She was just starting to reach for her compowder, when the communication gadget suddenly started to ring with its traditional ringtone. Hurriedly, the girls dashed outside and took cover behind some bushes where they would not be seen and overheard.
"Hey Jerr, we were just about to call you. We kinda have a small favour to ask..." started Clover.
"Sorry Clover, but whatever it is, it will have to wait for the present. I have some rather troubling news regarding Vomesa and Diminutive Smalls," said Jerry solemnly through the compowder's holographic projector.
"You mean they've managed to infiltrate the UN building already?" gulped Alex.
"No, we've run a complete scan of the entire building right down to the smallest atom and every person has been checked for micro-subs lodged in their brains. The results are all negative. It seems that Vomesa and Smalls have given up on their plan and disappeared without a trace."
"Then where could they be?" wondered Sam. "I can't believe they'd just give up on their plans just like that."
"They're probably just lying low till the heat is off," said Clover. "They'll probably strike the moment they think our guard is down."
"Indeed, which is why you girls need to remain vigilant and... Just a second." Jerry was suddenly distracted by an urgent beeping sound coming from the computer on his desk. As he checked the monitor screen, his eyes widened in surprise.
"My word, the WOOHP surveillance satellites are now picking up a faint distress signal and it seems to be being sent from Vomesa's micro-sub!"
"You mean they're giving themselves up? That sounds pretty fishy to me," remarked Clover.
"What, you think they're hanging out with fish?" asked a confused Alex.
"No, she means it could be a trap," clarified Sam, "though I guess it is possible that they crashed or something and now they expect us to bail them out."
"Well I guess this at least saves us having to track them down," sighed Clover who was still feeling a bit skeptical. "Though they do have some nerve asking us for help after all the trouble they've caused."
"So where's the distress call coming from, Jerry?" asked Sam.
There was a loud sound of keyboard buttons pressed as Jerry worked to trace the signal's exact location. "Just triangulating the signal now, girls. I'll have the answer for you in just a..."
Jerry's eyes widened again as the location of the sub's distress beacon came up on his screen. "Oh my, the signal is coming from your exact location!"
"What!? You mean they're here with us? But where?" exclaimed Clover as she whirled her head from one side to the other, trying in vain to catch sight of the miniaturised villains.
"Oh no, I've just had a nasty thought," said Sam, her face turning slightly pale. She activated the scanner function on her own compowder and ran the beam of light over Alex. There was an enthusiastic ping from the compowder as it completed its scan and the results came in on the screen.
"Oh, this is not good! Alex, the distress signal is coming from the bottom of your stomach! That 'fly' you swallowed earlier must have been the micro-sub with Vomesa and Smalls inside," said Sam with a grave look on her face.
"You mean, I ate the baddies?!" yelped Alex, her face turning a sickly colour. "Oh, all of a sudden I don't feel so good."
Clover urgently grabbed Alex by the shoulders. "Don't throw up now, Alex. Whatever you do, do NOT throw up!"
"This is all your fault, you buffoon!" bellowed Vomesa. "If you had just concentrated on the plan instead of trying to blast those wretched spies, we would not be in this mess now!"
"Me a buffoon?" snorted Diminutive Smalls. "It was you who didn't bother to make the engines more robust. If they were, we'd have escaped by now!"
Having crashed into the back of Alex's throat during the battle at the warehouse, Vomesa and Smalls had attempted to simply fly out the way they came, only to find that the engines had gotten damaged in the collision and they now refused to operate properly. Various attempts to repair the engines were severely hampered by Alex's constant hiccuping, which kept causing Vomesa and Smalls to bounce about the interior of the sub like a pair of tennis balls and almost deafening them at times. Furthermore, the two baddies spent more time blaming one another rather than concentrate on the repair job and by the time they calmed down even a little, it was too late as it was at that moment that Clover patted Alex on the back. This caused the sub to dislodge and tumble right down Alex's gullet before finally crashing down at the bottom of the stomach. The resulting collision caused further damage to the sub, rendering most of the controls inoperable, thus leaving the two baddies trapped!
"Aren't any of the controls working?" growled Vomesa, trying to put his temper back in check.
Smalls checked the control panel with an infuriated expression on his face. "Thrusters... Dead. Weapon systems... Dead. Scanners... Gah, the whole system is deader than the dodo!"
"All right, keep calm!" snapped Vomesa. "We still have life support and the forcefield is still operating."
"Yeah, but for how long? The power won't last forever, and once it conks out, this brat's stomach acids will tear this ship and us apart!"
"Well it's fortunate that the distress beacon is also still functional," remarked Vomesa. "Once those spies realise what has happened, they'll work to get us extracted to safety."
"What makes you think they won't leave us to be eaten away by the acid?" scoffed Smalls.
"Because they are far too much of goody-two-shoes to leave us to die," pointed out Vomesa. "And even if they weren't, they must realise that if we go, their friend is finished too!"