Inside the state-of-the-art filming studios of 'Sprint Media Studios', Rodney Hines was sitting on his customary presenters' chair, on the main set of his fabulous show. The cameras in front of him were all ready to start filming live to television screens all across the country in just a few minutes and right now he was struggling to keep his composure. His main guest speaker for this evening was a right spoilt brat, bossing the entire crew around like mad and practically hectoring the producers into giving her as much screen-time as possible, with most of the cameras now set to focus on her instead of the presenter. If there was one thing Rodney Hines hated, it was a glory-hog.
"But seriously though," droned on Mandy as she settled back into the comfortable guest chair placed next to Hines, "the focus should really all be on me. After all, I am the one the public really wants to see."
"You don't say," muttered Hines, grinding his teeth in the process. He still had a headache from having to hear the recording of Mandy's song, which to him sounded like the wails of a cat being strangled by barbed wire. Hines had quickly developed a personal dislike towards Mandy and he was really beginning to hope that something would occur during this show that would utterly show this obnoxious girl up. He had no way of knowing at the time, but his wish was about to come true.
Hidden behind the main backdrop of the set was Jerry, who had disguised himself as a maintenance man and was intently taking in the whole scene for anything that might upset the girls' little operation. When Clover had explained the problem with Mandy to him, Jerry heartily agreed to loan the refuelled micro-sub to the girls, but only on the condition that he would be on hand to make sure that nothing went wrong and the girls would not be left in a perilous situation like Vomesa and Smalls were.
Satisfied that the time was right, Jerry carefully opened his hand, to reveal the miniaturised spy-sub in his palm. Inside the sub, the three girls were all seated at the controls and ready to put their little scheme into operation in order to expose Mandy for the fraud that she was.
"I think now's as good a time as any, girls," whispered Jerry into the microphone hidden inside his cap.
"Okay, Jerry. Wish us luck!" said Sam as she hit the thruster controls and set the micro-sub in motion. As the tiny vehicle began to rocket through the air, Alex punched a button which activated the craft's inbuilt cloaking device, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. That way, there was less danger of someone mistaking them for a fly and trying to swat them out of the sky.
Clover carefully steered the sub towards Mandy, her large taunting face growing increasing large before them, like something out of a horror movie. Trying to ignore the unpleasant visage before their eyes, the girls manoeuvred the micro-sub, until it discreetly hovered right inside Mandy's left nostril.
"Eww, that is so gross!" remarked Alex at the sight of Mandy's hairy and snot-covered nasal opening.
"Yeah, let's get this done already!" said Clover as she flicked a switch on the control panel. A second later, a vent opened up on the side of the sub and began to dispense a clear puff of smoke. This was Cyril Hearsay's truth serum and as it climbed its way up Mandy's nose, the vulgar girl suddenly began sneezing, unknowingly blowing the spy-sub away from her.
There was a tense few seconds as the spies struggled with the steering lever, but they managed to get the sub under control and quickly made their way back to Jerry, landing onto the palm of his outstretched hand.
"Man, do you think we gave her enough of the serum in time?" wondered Clover.
"We'll soon find out," said Sam. "Look, the show's starting!"
As the girls watched through their craft's main window, they could see the main lights dimming and the spotlights and cameras switching on as the show started broadcasting. In his seat, Rodney Hines put on a forced smile for his audience and began with the introductions.
"Hiya folks! Tonight my guest star is a young lady by the name of Mandy. You may all know her as the winner of this year's annual Malibu singing contest, a victory that has somewhat surprised many people, as popularity figures at the time indicated that Tara Robson was going to be the winner. But, there was a major surprise as the judges declared Mandy to be the winner, giving her the opportunity to launch her new singing career."
Hines swivelled his chair to face Mandy, who had a large smirk on her face. "So Mandy, how do you feel about your new unexpected success?"
"Well duh!" said Mandy. "It was hardly unexpected, since I have the judges in my back-pocket!"
Mandy's eyes widened as she suddenly realised what she said and the camera crew looked at her in astonishment.
"Err, pardon me, could you say that again?" said Hines as he tried to comprehend what he had just heard.
"I said I bribed the judges, you idiot!" exclaimed Mandy. She clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to understand why she just said that.
The smile on Hines' face grew less and less fake as he suddenly saw an opportunity to boost his ratings. He did not understand why Mandy was suddenly behaving this way, but clearly someone had just heard and answered his prayers.
"And how were you able to do that, Mandy?" he asked with a look like the cat that had just got the cream.
"I had my intern Trent make some 'anonymous' donations to the judges, enough to convince them to vote me as the winner, instead of that loser Tara!"
Mandy's face grew increasingly red as her brain tried to tell her mouth to shut up. But her mouth seemed to have developed a mind of its own and she could not help but tell the truth.
"But doesn't that mean that Tara was the real winner and you were the loser? That's hardly good sportsmanship, you know," continued Hines.
"Oh puh-lease! I've been rigging competitions like this for years and no-one has bothered to notice," Mandy unwillingly went on. "Losers like that are like so gullible and easily intimidated by my good looks!"
"And I suppose there's nothing that intimidates you?"
Mandy's blush deepened as she heard herself speak. "Well actually, I've always had this fear of pink poodles."
Hines raised an eyebrow. "Poodles? And why is that, may I ask?"
In the micro-sub, the girls watched the whole scene unfold with tremendous glee.
"Man, I almost feel sorry for Mandy," chuckled Alex.
"I sure wish we had brought some popcorn along," added Clover with a grin as they continued watching the show.
A new day dawned at Malibu and with it came a new flurry of activity at the Mali-U dorm. Having been returned to their normal sizes after the show, the spies were currently exiting their penthouse to do a bit of early shopping before their classes for the afternoon. They were just starting to make their way down the corridor when they noticed that a large crowd of reporters had gathered outside Mandy's room with Trent desperately blocking the door, barring their way in.
"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but Mandy can't take any more interviews at the moment," he announced nervously. "You'll have to come back another time."
"But has she nothing to say about her shocking revelation on the 'Rodney Hines Show' last night?" asked one reporter persistently.
"Is there any truth to the rumour that she once tried to quite literally eliminate the competition at the 'Miss Beverley Hills' pageant a couple of years ago?" added another journalist.
"And does she really have a wrinkle on her..." began one of the other interviewers.
There was a sudden terrifying yell from the other side of the door that made all the reporters jump.
"TRENT! Keep those nosey creeps away from me or you're fired!"
The girls watched the scene unfold with amusement as Tara and the other dorm members came over to watch.
"Guess Mandy's having second thoughts about her fame and fortune," chuckled Donna Walker.
Sam turned to look at Tara. "Well Tara, I guess you're this year's singing champion after all."
Tara smiled. "Yeah, now that the truth's come out, all the record companies are now ringing me to ask if they can sign me up instead of Mandy. Not only that, but Rodney Hines also wants to interview me about being the true winner. How rad is that? I sure wonder why Mandy suddenly fessed up the way she did."
"I guess she just got herself a bad whiff of stage fright," Clover chuckled as she shot a meaningful wink at Sam and Alex. The two girls giggled and the three of them got going, leaving Mandy to the tender mercies of the nosey reporters and paparazzi.