Sam studied the workings of the villain's micro-sub carefully with the Infrared Motion Detector Sunglasses, trying to find any way that they could repair the shields in the short time they had before the acid got through to the nuclear battery and cause Alex to quite literally explode, along with WOOHP HQ.
"Hey, I think I can see an access panel on the side of the sub," Sam said at last. "We should be able to access the sub's power unit from there."
"So we can try to extract the nuclear battery and get it back to our sub where the acid can't get at it," realised Clover. "Nice thinking Sammy! But what about Vomesa and Smalls? We can't leave them to be reduced to food waste, even if they are bad guys."
"Well, I think Jerry gave us something else in the gadget cabinet that can help us with that," said Sam as she extracted a pair of shield belts from the locker. "These were meant to help protect us from the acid in case our Amphibious suits failed to work, but perhaps we can link them to the micro-sub's systems and generate a new forcefield bubble."
"But the power of those things won't last forever," pointed out Clover. "I know Jerr said that the WOOHP scientists had improved the batteries of those belts, but protecting that sub will still take a lot of juice out of them."
"We'll just have to hope that the power will last long enough for us to get the micro-sub out of Alex's stomach," said Sam gravely as she bundled her long red hair into a swimming cap. "Now we better get out there before it's too late!
Minutes later, the spy subs' airlock hatch opened and the two girls began swimming their way down to the villain's own submarine, each of them carrying a piece of equipment necessary for the mission, including the shield belts and an acid-proof lead box to contain the nuclear battery. As they got closer and pushed their way through the weakened forcefield, they could see Vomesa and Smalls still arguing with each other, apparently oblivious to the two spies coming to their rescue.
"Boy, those guys really don't like each other do they?" sighed Sam. "They're not even trying to do anything to get themselves out of this mess."
"Maybe it's just as well," said Clover as she swam over to the access panel on the side of the sub. "So long as they concentrating on each other, they might not get any clever ideas and try to bump us off or something."
As Sam swam over to join her friend, Clover got out her laser lipstick and quickly began to cut through the panel in order to access the systems inside. Sam nervously looked at the acid-proof timer strapped about her wrist, all too aware that they only had a limited amount of time before the acid would start eating its way through their suits.
"You better hurry, Clover. We only have about 12 minutes before we end up being acid-fodder as well!" Sam said urgently.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" retorted Clover. "Hang on, I'm almost there."
A few seconds later, Clover had managed to finish cutting through the panel, which began to float away until she quickly moved to catch it. Sam floated over to the exposed machinery now displayed and quickly began to wire the shield belts into the sub's systems, taking care not to accidentally to cause a short-circuit and leave the sub with no shields at all.
"There, that should do it," she said finally, making sure the belts were properly wedged in place. She then flicked a switch on the junction box and the sub immediately began to generate a large energy field that engulfed it, stopping the acid from getting in.
"Phew, that's better," said Sam. "Now let's get that nuclear battery out of there."
The process of removing the battery took a bit longer to do, but now that the energy field was in place, the girls did not have to worry at the moment about the acid eating through their suits. Taking care not to damage the lead container that held the battery and prevented any radiation leakage, Sam carefully pulled the whole thing out of the complex machinery and deposited it into the acid-proof box that Clover held out in front of her.
"Are you sure those two won't need this for life-support and everything?" asked Clover as she closed the box and locked the latches in place.
"Nah, the oxygen and heating systems work on ordinary electric power," replied Sam. "They just need this radioactive baby to make their defences and weaponry super-powerful for their evil plans!"
"Fat lot of good it did them in the end," grinned Clover. "Now let's get back to our own sub and blow this this joint! Oh, sorry. Bad choice of words there."
Luckily for the girls, their suits were designed to enable them to pass through the strengthened force-shields without any problems, so they got straight on with swimming back up to their own craft.
Suddenly, Clover stopped as she spotted something shoot past in the corner of her eye. "Er, Sam. Did you see that?"
"See what? We don't have time for sightseeing, Clover. We only have about seven minutes before the acid starts eating us up."
"I'm being serious here, Sammy!" rejoined Clover. "I think we may not be alone here."
The two spies floated about for a few seconds, looking apprehensively for any sign of danger, but there did not seem to be anything about.
Clover sighed. "Sorry, I guess I must be getting jumpy."
Sam turned her head to one side and her eyes widened in alarm. "Er, 'fraid not, Clover. Look!"
Sam pointed towards a swarm of spongy 'Y'-shaped creatures a short distance away, moving menacingly towards them.
"Eew, what are those things?" gagged Clover in revulsion.
"They must be antibodies," realised Sam, "and I don't think they're too happy about us being here. Come on, let's get out of here!"
The girls frantically began to swim back to the sub, but the antibodies were faster than they were and as a result, the gap between prey and hunter was quickly diminishing. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, Clover let out a squeak of alarm as she could see the deadly proteins getting closer and closer by the second.
"Oh man, what is the problem with these guys? I mean, we are trying to save them and all."
"Yeah, but they don't realise that," pointed out Sam breathlessly. "Don't worry, we're almost at the airlock. We'll be safe inside the sub."
But no sooner had Sam said this, a few of the antibodies had managed to catch up with them and had begun wrapping themselves around Clover's foot!
"Hey, get off me, you microscopic jerks!" shouted Clover as she tried to kick the antibodies off with her other foot.
Realising what had happened, Sam began to swim back to help, but to her horror, the rest of the swarm had now managed to catch up with them. Realising what was about to happen, Clover had just enough time to toss the case containing the nuclear battery over to Sam, before the blonde superspy found herself completely engulfed by the antibodies that were intent on consuming her.