The party had taken advantage of the unusually warm, dry weather for a British Autumn. Mary Margaret, Regina, Diana. Donna and Hippolyta were wearing little black dresses and Emma, Ava and Athena T-shirts and denim mini-skirts. The men and boys were in T-shirts and light trousers (or "slacks" as Mac, Joe and Sam referred to them).

For lunch, Mac and Sam took the visitors to a pub-restaurant in Richmond for warm steak and mushroom baguettes served with chips and a side salad. Joe, Chloe, Henry, Ava, Nicholas, Athena, Grace and Sappho had the same meal, but stayed in the restaurant area and drank soft drinks instead of beer (or cider in Mac's case). The men played a friendly game of darts, with Joe taking his friends to the skittles' alley for a friendly game of ninepins. He even tried to play snooker with Henry, but gave up after the twentieth time someone asked the rules. "Honestly, red, colour, red, colour, until all the reds have gone, then colour, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black. Reds are worth one point, yellow two, green three and so on. You play until you miss, then your opponent starts with red, or the next colour in sequence if the reds are all gone. Simple! Well, there are snookers and fouls, but I'll explain those if we have any. Basically, don't pot the white or a wrong colour."

"What is it about the British and inventing games with incomprehensible rules?" Nicholas asked. "Pool is simple; snooker can last forever!"

"Funny you should say that. The final match of the World Championship is the best of 33 frames, or individual games. That's the first to win 18 of them. It takes two days and in a closely fought match regularly finishes well after the second day has become a third!"

"This is a sport?"

"It is applying for Olympic status."

"Does it have cheerleaders?"

"Not usually, no!"

"Darn! That might make it worth watching!"

"You have a one-track mind, Nicholas!"

All the while, the small security detail provided by the Metropolitan Police was keeping a discrete eye on things. Until that is, Regina and Hippolyta were returning from the toilets, when they were approached by a tall stolid man dressed in the uniform of the security detail. "Your majesties, there is a need to come with us for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister."

They were led to a large black sedan similar to the ones used by the diplomatic protection officers. The two women were helped into the back and the doors shut behind them. Once the guard had got into the front with the driver, they drove off back into central London.

Henry looked up. "Mom and Hippolyta seem to have been gone awhile."

"They went to the ladies a little while ago," Mac noted.

"That's funny," Mary Margaret commented. "I've just come back from there and the other cubicles were empty."

They checked with the bar staff, one of whom remembered the two women being led to the exit. None of the security detail, however, were missing, or had led Regina or Hippolyta to the carpark.

"I'll ring Mom's cell phone," Henry announced.

Regina heard her phone's ringtone. She reached for her purse, but saw the floor on which both hers and Hippolyta's were placed slide back. Once the bags had fallen onto the road, the floor slid back into place. "What the hell is going on here?"

The door locks suddenly clicked to "locked", the clear security screen behind the front seat raised and sealed against the ceiling and two jets of gas fired from nozzles in the door. A voice came through the speakers: "You are both now captives of SPECTRE!"

Regina was unconscious seconds after. Hippolyta, as an Amazon, lasted slightly longer, but Morpheus soon claimed her as well.

The driver pushed a button on his dashboard as soon as they were away from traffic cameras. Both licence plates revolved, the car's paint scheme turned from black to blue and the windows' tint was altered. Holographic images were projected on the inside of the car, showing a family of four, with two teenagers in the back, a woman in the front passenger seat and a man in casual clothes in the front.

"We'll be back at base in twenty minutes!" the "guard" radioed to base. "Plenty of time to secure our prisoners before they awake."

"Good work! So, both queens have been taken!"

"No answer again!" Robin fumed as no-one could get through to either of the missing ladies. "What's going on?"

Sam finished on his mobile. "Those men and their car were not sent by the police. Regina and Hippolyta have been kidnapped!"

Joe quickly took charge. "Get onto the camera operatives, Uncle Sam! Call Mr. Weston and have him put the security services, including SHIELD, UNIT and the Auror Office, on full alert. Dad, take me back to Culver Bay in the Jet Air Car. I need the brain patterns of an expert in finding and retrieving alive abductees."

"Hostage negotiation? We haven't had a ransom demand yet," Sam pointed out.

"Wait, we found this in the carpark," one of the security detailed said as she ran towards them. It was a business card, with a picture of a stylised octopus on one side and the other side blank.

Joe recognised it immediately. "SPECTRE are after revenge for the Caribbean. I don't think they intend to ransom our friends, but to murder them!"

Regina awoke. She was seated in a chair, with her wrists handcuffed behind its back. Hippolyta was seated opposite, likewise secured. A large, bloated man with thinning hair was seated behind a desk, stroking an exotic white Persian cat.

"Greetings," he announced in a deceptively sleepy tone, as if bored. "I am Werner Karl Blofeld, the current Number One of SPECTRE, or at least a major faction of it. Welcome to our London branch."

"Well, mister," Regina retorted, "you could have sent us an invitation!"

"Unfortunately, you foiled the Society of Wreckers and murdered its leader. Whilst we will shed no tears over the latter, as quite frankly that incompetent oaf was a liability, the disruption to their work was a serious disruption to our plans. We need to avenge that, so here the two of you are. Your joint execution is scheduled for tomorrow morning."

"Our diaries are full all day tomorrow!" Regina snapped back crossly. "Just you wait and…" She tried to conjure a fireball, not that she could throw it handcuffed as she was. She couldn't even conjure one!

"Did I mention the capsules of a special serum I had injected into your bodies? After a tip-off from a couple of ex-Home Office people, we were able to devise a squid ink-based compound able to prevent magic use without causing immobility. Enough to prevent you both from performing any magic for 48 hours minimum!"

"What?" Hippolyta asked.

"Squid ink has anti-magic properties! No fireballs and no heart-ripping! It affects Harry, Wednesday and Zee too. I'm as good as powerless!"

"Indeed," Blofeld smiled thinly. "By the way, all walls and ceilings are lined with lead."

"Huh?"

"Superman has X-ray vision, Regina," Hippolyta explained to her friend. "He can see through solid objects, unless…"

"They are made of or coated with lead?" Regina guessed. "Now mind what you are doing with that thing, idiot!" The last was addressed to a man scanning her at close range with some electronic device. Once he had finished, he began to scan Hippolyta.

"Just to confirm you have no transmitters or homing devices hidden on your persons, after that son of yours, Ms. Mills, used one in the Caribbean."

"Well, the only thing my watch can do is tell the time and date! No lasers, flashlights, circular saws or distress signals! Oh, and no homing device!

"Now, please let us go. If you do not, you may find yourself literally as well as metaphorically without a heart once…"

"Since you are not leaving this place alive, that is not an issue. Indeed, the anti-electronic warfare circuitry in the building should prevent any signals from reaching potential aid. We just wanted to confirm that you couldn't have activated a trace before the gas took effect in the car.

"Now we have to take you both to your joint condemned cell. Dart Ms. Mills and her majesty!"

Before Regina could fire off another retort, she was shot with a tranquiliser dart, as was Hippolyta. Within seconds, they were both unconscious once more. At an order from Blofeld, their handcuffs were unlocked and removed. They were then carried out of the room.

Back in Dorset, Joe had used the B.I.G.R.A.T. to "download" the brain patterns of an SAS officer. Mac had then returned him to London in the Jet Air Car. They met up with their friends back at the pub-restaurant.

Harry Potter, Modesty Blaise, Willie Garvin, Jack Harkness, the Doctor and the man Willie had been talking to at the reception the previous day were all present, as was Shane Weston, the Director of the London branch of the W.I.N. "Everyone, this is Commander James Bond, of the Double-0 section of MI6. Nobody else alive has more experience of dealing with SPECTRE."

"Thank you, Harry. Strictly speaking, I shouldn't be operating domestically, but MI5 Section D have approved this mission.

"As he said, I have considerable experience of fighting SPECTRE. I killed their founder, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, back in the 1960s…"

"You don't look fifty now!" Emma commented. "Let alone seventy-plus!"

"Thank you, but I served in Naval Intelligence during the Second World War. I will turn 95 this year."

"Seriously…?"

"Wonderful stuff, Sherlock Holmes' Royal Jelly honey," Joe told her. "It can restore and prolong youth almost indefinitely."

Modesty nodded. "I'm in at least my mid-seventies myself and Willie is a few years older than me. Best beauty treatment ever!"

"Really…?" Mary Margaret asked. "Charming, for mine and Emma's Christmas presents this year…"

Regina awoke. Hippolyta was beside her, also stirring. They were in a room, with some food laid out on a small table between two chairs. In addition, there were two single beds, both made. A door lead into a small room with toilet, basin and shower. A CCTV camera was placed high up on one wall.

"This must be our condemned cell," Hippolyta commented, "and this must be the exit." She tried the only other door. "Locked and solid, with the hinges on the other side. We will only be getting out of here when someone opens it from outside."

Regina nodded. "I've tried magic. He's right about that serum, I'm afraid. You know martial arts…"

"Not enough to force this door open! Wonder Woman gave me a history of SPECTRE, Regina. These guys aren't amateurs!

"I suggest we take advantage of the food and drink. The wine is in plastic bottles, not glass ones, I see. Smart!

"At least, this cell is comfortable, thank Hera! We could have had worse accommodation."

Henry was surprised as he, Ava, Athena, Chloe, Nicholas, Robin, Clark, Diana and Lois were all taken with Mac and Joe by the Doctor in his Tardis to a quiet London square. "This is Brownlow Square. Here we are at number seven, with a door so scarlet, the house is known as the Fire Station. Now," Joe said, ringing the bell, "to seek assistance within."

A dark-haired woman of obvious Romany descent opened the door. "Joe, we weren't expecting you. But be welcome none the less!"

"You didn't inherit your mother's precognitive abilities then, Fenella," the Doctor quipped. "Is your husband in?"

"I am," a fair-haired man announced, putting his arm around Fenella. "Hello, everyone, I'm Richard Morton, journalist of the Clarion, archivist of a number of hush-hush organisations and member of the Lone Pine Club, as is Fenella here."

"And as our children now are," Fenella added. "The rules are still the same. We even still sign the rules in our own blood on joining.

"Come in, all of you!"

Once they were all inside the comfy lounge and served with a high tea, their hosts asked what the party were after.

"Actually, I'm seeking assistance. Auntie George is in London?"

"As are Jon and Penny Warrender. They are visiting Jigger. I believe they are all doing some work at Old Park House."

"Not at Uncle Jigger's place near Sheldrake Grammar?"

"Sheldrake Academy of Excellence now Joe! Jigger's old friend Boko still says their alma mater is only standing due to the thickness of the paint though!"

"These are a party from Themyscira and Storybrooke…"

"We've met Clark, Diana and Lois before, Joe! We know who the first two really are, remember!"

"Actually, Clark Kent is as much who I really am as Kal-El and Superman."

"Not now, Smallville! Our mother-in-law has been kidnapped by SPECTRE, as has Regina Mills."

Joe nodded. "We need to mobilise those former young detectives, journalists, scientists and the like who have been recruited by the Crown."

He turned to the others. "We got the idea from the States, who recruited Nancy Drew, the Hardys, the Danas, the Bobbseys, the Swifts, Cherry Ames, Encyclopaedia Brown, Trixie Belden, the Three Investigators and so on to do sensitive work for them. So we have the Lone Pine Club, the Baker Street Irregulars, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers, the old boys of Sheldrake Grammar School and Linbury Court Preparatory School and many more. Most of them are now married with children…"

"Tom and Jenny Ingles have grandchildren," Fenella reminded him, "As do Dick and Jo Kirrin."

"True!"

"Mum, Dad, I didn't think we were expecting visitors," said a newcomer. About Henry and Athena's age (Ava being a couple of years older than her boyfriend), he inherited his mother's Romany looks. "Hi, Joe."

"Hi, Reuben," Joe replied. "Named for his maternal grandfather," he told the others.

"Richard and his elder brother David and twin sister Mary inherited this house from their parents. They had already given David Witchend, their holiday home in Shropshire and location of the famed lone pine, as a wedding present. As David, Mary and their spouses and children live in Shropshire and Richard works in London, he and Fenella moved in, with his siblings staying over if they are in the city."

"And who are these?" Reuben asked.

"Sorry, this is Chloe…"

"The girl who is your heart's desire?" Reuben asked.

"That's me!"

"This is Diana's niece Princess Athena…"

Reuben bowed. "Good to see you, your majesty."

"Your royal highness, technically. Call me Athena!"

"These are Nicholas and Ava Zimmer of Storybrooke, better known as Hansel and Gretel."

"Wow! Kill any witches lately?"

"One in our lives!" Nicholas told him.

"I killed her!"

"Your sociopathic! I'm not!"

"Hey, that's my girlfriend!"

"Dude, she's my sister!"

"I can fight my own battles, Henry!"

"I know, but chivalrous Fairy Tale boy, remember?"

"Sorry, Henry. Yes, there is that," Ava finished, leaning in for a kiss.

"Finally, this is Henry Mills, adopted son of the Evil Queen, paternal grandson of Rumpelstiltskin and maternal grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming. The man is their world's version of Robin Hood."

"He was real in this one?"

"Yes, I've met him. Rubbish fighter. I beat him with a spoon!"

"And Diana, Lois, Clark and the Doctor you know," Joe finished hastily before the Doctor warmed to his theme too much.

"Pleased to meet you all."

"Enchanted!" Athena nodded. "Now, can we go to this old house please?"

"Old Park House," Joe corrected her. "The family seat of Sir Jasper Ryde. Not to mention being the base of the Baker Street Irregulars!"

Regina sighed as she finished her simple meal of cottage pie, carrots and peas. "Not the last dinner I was hoping for. What I would give for lasagne, or one of Granny Lucas' steaks…"

"Indeed," Hippolyta said looking in the en suite. "No obvious cameras, thank Hera! I wouldn't want to be filmed on the toilet or in the shower."

Regina shuddered. "Yes and posted online, knowing my luck! Could be worse, I guess. At least we both have figures worth looking at!"

"Yes," Hippolyta agreed. "I wonder how they plan to kill us?"

"Is our pet tiger shark ready for its feast tomorrow, Number Twelve?"

"We have been progressively reducing its rations, Number One. It is really hungry for a double Queen-sized meal!"

"Very droll, Number Twelve!"