Masquerade Lovers
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Assignment
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"That's nothing new," Clover grumbled. "You interrupted my wedding plans for that?"
"The sales assistant has already been informed to deliver three dresses of the kind you were wearing to your penthouse, in Alex's, Britney's and Sam's sizes."
Clover's eyes went wide. "Wait, how would you know?"
"WOOHP has connections," Jerry said. "All leading wedding companies in California have been notified about you looking for wedding-related items and should they come across four girls of your description they will give exactly what you need."
"Somehow, I don't think I'm making the wedding plans anymore," Clover mused.
"So, Jerry, who anyway escaped the WOOHP prison facilities?" Sam said, thinking she should have told Jerry when she saw him on Saturday after That Night that Tim Scam escaped and avoid this whole mission to catch him.
"Well, almost the whole of LAMOS," Jerry said.
"No kidding," Alex said, eyes widened. "How did they do it? They barely have a brain between them!"
"Don't underestimate villains. Especially Terry and Scam," Britney said, darkly.
"Actually, of all the villains associated with LAMOS, Tim Scam did not escape. He has been safely ensconced within the WOOHP facility since you girls captured him. The villains who escaped are: Terence Lewis, Helga Von Buren, Myrna Beesbottom and Boogie Gus."
Impossible, Sam's eyes widened.
"Really?" Alex said. "I thought he was the smartest of the lot?" She continued, referring to Scam.
"He's escaped," Sam said to herself.
"Excuse me?" Clover said, turning to her red-haired friend.
Sam realized she'd spoken aloud. She felt her face get hot. "He's escaped," she said, more loudly this time, and more firmly.
"GLADIS, please show the spies the camera surveillance of Prisoner #3557."
"Prisoner #3557, Name: Tim Scam, Charges: 1 count of Sedition, 1 count of Homocide, 23 counts of –" GLADIS began, as she searched the WOOHP database of camera surveillances.
"That's enough, GLADIS," Jerry said. "Just the camera surveillance, please."
The camera surveillance was placed on the large screen. The four girls and Jerry saw a man, who was Tim Scam, lying in his tiny bed in the 6 by 6.
"No," Sam said, breathlessly. "He must have escaped. Otherwise –"
"Otherwise?" Britney interjected.
Sam tried to use logic. "Okay, Clover said he was the smartest of the group. So, for the others to have been able to get out, he must have gotten out first, right?" She turned to Jerry. "Where's the food trays?"
"Near the door. They usually are disposed of at regular intervals where the floor gives way and the plates fall into the incinerator."
"Well, rewind then," Sam said.
Jerry ordered GLADIS to rewind. Tim Scam was doing the same thing, again and again, until she came to a part where he was laying down.
"He's done that for twenty-four hours straight!" Britney exclaimed. "Impossible!"
"How can he?" Clover asked.
"He must have been able to hack the security systems," Sam said, realization dawning upon her. "And since alarms wouldn't go off as long as he was believed to be inside the room when the guards believed him to be trapped inside there the whole time, no one would care or be the wiser!"
"Of course!" Britney said. "While he was hacking the WOOHP security system, he'd have needed to fool the cameras!"
"How could he access the WOOHP security systems from there?" Alex pointed out.
Jerry sighed. "This is serious." He typed some instructions into his computer (and GLADIS responded with, "Infra-red scans now being reinstalled.") and frowned, beads of perspiration on his forehead. "However he did it – (his computer screen beeped) I have received confirmation that Tim Scam has indeed escaped."
"And we have to catch him and his band of villains, I suppose," Clover sighed. "This is so not how I imagined my wedding celebrations would go."
"Clover, the world does not revolve around your wedding," Sam said, irritated. The last thing she wanted to do was to face Tim Scam and at the rate things were going it would seem pretty likely that she would.
"Uh oh," Alex said. "No, Clover, I'm sure Sam didn't mean –"
"Well, I'm sorry, Sam," Clover said. "I'm sorry I pay too much attention to what is supposed to be the most important time of my life. Things aren't going well for me at this point and I think I'm allowed to wallow in self-pity."
"You're not the only one with things on your mind, Clover," Sam said, annoyed. "We all have our problems."
"Oh yeah?" Clover asked. "What's yours? Oh, I'm going to get less than an A+ in my next exam? Oh please, Sam."
"Enough!" Jerry commanded, his voice, after Sam's and Clover's, was like distant thunder.
"That's unfair, Clover," Sam said, turning aside. Tears were beginning to well up and she was afraid to speak, fearing her voice would crack up with emotion. She never lost to Clover, especially not in petty arguments such as this. What was she, pregnant?
Oh shoot, Sam thought, feeling sick. No, I can't be. She shook of the thought, an involuntary shudder coursing through her body, which did not go unnoticed by Britney. There was no sure way of knowing, because it had only been a few days past when she was supposed to have her period, and she hadn't been worried about pregnancy at all, until now.
After a while, she turned to Jerry. "Jerry, if it's okay with you, I think I will skip this mission. I feel unwell."
Alex's and Clover's eyes went wide, while Britney's frown grew deeper. Clover began to feel the slightest bit guilty, feeling that she'd unfairly taken out her frustrations on a wedding that was at least four months away on Sam and the rest. Alex, however, was surprised at Sam's change.
Sam never misses a mission if she can help it, Alex thought, confused. Her whole life revolves around WOOHP and studying.
Jerry himself looked perturbed by this sudden change in events. "Why, yes, Sam. The three of you girls (meaning Alex, Britney and Clover) are quite capable of handling the mission on your own. If need be, we could ask Blaine or Dean to help out."
"Thank you, Jerry. I – I think I'll go home now. I don't feel so good," Sam said.
The other girls stared at her, as Jerry told her to wait for a car to take her home. Britney shook her head.
"I wonder, could Sam be pregnant, perhaps?" Britney unknowingly asked that aloud.
Alex laughed. "Don't be silly, Britney! Hey, that rhymed!"
Clover added, "Britney, you have to have sex to be pregnant. And Sam's a virgin. Like duh!"
"I was hoping you would have grown out of your Valley Girl accent, Clover," Jerry remarked, randomly.
"Hey, once a Valley Girl, always a Valley Girl," Clover shrugged.
Britney had grown quiet, while Alex laughed and Jerry ordered GLADIS to provide the girls with their gadgets.
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Author's Note
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Is Sam pregnant? What do you think?
Sam bailing out of the mission? Hell has frozen over, hasn't it? No, it hasn't? But Sam really did bail out! What's going to happen?
Love a cliffhanger, don't you think?
Review, if not for the sake of the story, then for the sake of my sanity! I agonized over this chapter (and the ones that followed)! It wasn't easy! Besides, I promise to be more regular! Really! But you have to review too, lol. OMG, I'm like a review-addict. But seriously. I would love to update every day, but I like to see what you think before I update. That's why I haven't updated all 31 in one go.
But do tell me what you think. :)
Love,
lianneharmony
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References
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Valley girl is a pop culture reference to girls in California, like Clover. :)
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Shoutouts
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Cresenta's Lark, Beth and Redheaded Devil, for giving in and reviewing. You guys get cookies. :)