(Jenny's POV)
The next few hours are a whirl of photo shoots, interviews, fabulous restaurants and amazing venues. Oscar, Carrie and I should be in heaven… but we're not.
Rose is missing – along with the thousands of Jason Beaver fans who went to his concert last night – and we have no idea where she is as she left her Disguise Watch and pencil communicator behind. To make things worse, the only evidence we had on this mission – the glowing CD – is gone, too. Rose must've taken it with her when she disappeared.
Oscar, Carrie and I try to be as normal as possible but it's proving to be difficult as I keep looking at my phone every thirty seconds to see if Frank has texted and the other two are drooping miserably over their food. And it seems that we're not the only ones who's distracted – Jay keeps sending and receiving texts (from Mr. Harlow, I presume), while Jason keeps nattering away without pausing for breath. He doesn't even care that no-one is listening; he keeps going on and on and on. What is wrong with this guy? Other than the fact he doesn't sing his songs.
"Anyway, guys, I hope you're coming with me to my recording studio to hear my new song," says Jason. "It's gonna be totally cool, totally fresh and totally funky, and it's gonna get people jumping on their feet… on their feet… on their f-f-f-feet…"
"Ehh?" Carrie, Oscar and I stare at Jason with confused expressions.
"Their f-f-f-feet… f-f-f-feet… f-f-f-feet…" Jason keeps stuttering.
"Oh, er, excuse us, kids," says Jay, standing up. "Let me just, er…" He doesn't bother finishing his sentence. Instead he takes the stammering Jason by the arm and starts to lead him to the men's room at the back of the restaurant.
After they disappear, I stare at Oscar and Carrie who both have the same perplexed expressions on their faces that I've got.
"Can someone explain what just happened here?" I ask.
"It seems that Jason has a… stuttering problem," says Oscar, still stunned.
"But we've just spent half the day – as well as yesterday – with him and he seemed all right to me," says Carrie. "Well… until now, that is."
Just then, my phone rings. It's a video call from Frank.
"Hey, you," I answer.
"Hi," he says. "How's it going over there?"
"Beyond the boundaries of weird. We were just have lunch with Jason, and he was talking about inviting us to his recording studio to hear his songs when suddenly, he started stuttering!"
"Stuttering?"
"Yeah," Carrie breaks in, "like some… malfunctioning robot!"
"Hmm. That is most strange indeed. Where is Jason now?"
"In the men's room with Jay," says Oscar.
"He couldn't be arsed to come up with an excuse as to why Jason's acting like this," I say. "Anyway, how are things up your end? How you found Rose?"
"No luck, I'm afraid. But I did find some information on Jay Oz and Mr. Harlow. While Joseph Osborn – Jay Oz's real name – is your typical, run-of-the-mill music producer and tour manager, Mr. Harlow is actually Lieutenant Nathan Harlow of the British Army."
"What?" we say loudly, causing everyone in the restaurant to stare at us.
Then I clear my throat and say quietly, "Are you serious?"
"I am absolutely serious."
"But what would an Army Lieutenant be doing with a pop singer and his producer?" Oscar asks.
"We'll find out more when we get to Jason's recording studio." I look to see Jason and Jay coming out of the bathroom and heading to our table. "Uh-oh, they're coming over. We gotta go, Frank – bye!" I hang up, and quickly slide my phone into my pocket.
"Sorry we took so long, kids," says Jay. "Jason had some food lodged in his throat and he didn't want to embarrass himself by coughing it out in public."
What a lamebrain excuse! Even Pinocchio can think of better lies than that.
"Anyway," Jay continues, "how about I pay the bill and we can shoot over to the studio for a jamming session, eh?"
After he pays the bill, Jay calls for a car to pick us up. A few minutes later, a black car with matching tinted windows arrives outside the restaurant. We all pile in, even though there's a tight squeeze at the back, but we soon venture of to the recording studio.
xxoOoxx
It's about an hour and a half later when we finally get to the recording studio – all the way in Chelmsford, Essex! But rather than the studio being held in a small office building in the middle of town, the studio is actually held in what looks like – and probably is – a military airbase on the outskirts of town. The base is heavily guarded and protected, with high, anti-scale fencing stretched along the perimeter of the base. The two access roads that lead to the base contain military checkpoints, with armed guards inspecting any personnel that arrive. The base also one main airstrip, one secondary airstrip, three large hangars, a few smaller hangars, a munitions depot, a fire and rescue station, a refinery, an air traffic control tower, a main office, and some barracks.
"Why do they need an army of security people by those hangars?" Oscar quietly asks as we go past it.
"Who knows? But we'll find out soon enough," I whisper.
The car stops outside the main office – a large six-storey tower, and everyone, except the driver, climbs out of the car and enter the facility. We follow Jay through the large reception area to the elevator where it takes us up to the second floor. When we come out of the lift, we walk down the hallway with several doors along it until we stop outside the door to our left labelled CONTROL ROOM.
"If you would to step inside," says Jay after he unlocks the door and opens it for us.
We enter the room. The facility features a professional audio mixing console with specialized software suites to manipulate and route the sound for analogue and/or digital recordings. There's a large window in front of us that sees into the studio, where Jason is. The studio is filled with various instruments – electric guitars, a drum kit, a piano, a saxophone and a trumpet. Jason sit on a tall stool, strap on an acoustic guitar and puts on his headphones.
After comes into the control room, he sits on one of the swivel chairs. "OK, Jason, whenever you're ready," he says into the microphone.
Jason starts strumming on the strings of the guitar, and then he begins to sing the opening lines of his song.
When I take the floor,
As I've often done before,
I feel a change come over me (over me),
I get such a thrill,
It feels like time is standing still,
And starlight is the only thing I see…
We clap after Jason finishes.
"That was great, Jason!" Jay says. "That was cool!"
"Thanks, Jay," he says, flashing us a smile.
"Right, let's get started with the new song – 'Under My Spell'."
"'Under My Spell'? That's a somewhat unusual name for a song," I whisper to Oscar and Carrie.
Jason gets comfortable when the music starts up and after the opening bars; he opens his mouth and starts to sing.
Under my spell you'll like it so well,
No problems, no worries,
Under my spell you'll like it so well,
No reasons to worry…
"Hmm… Th-this is… so good, I'm getting addicted," I hear Carrie say, her eyes taking on a dreamy expression.
"I love Jason's new song," Oscar says dreamily. "Jason's music is heavenly. It is beautiful."
"Huh? What are you guys talking about – mnnn… nn!" My head starts to feel fuzzy as I hear Jason sing. I try to resist, but it's no use. It's like he's… he's brainwashing me. Brainwashing me into doing something… joining something…
"Under my spell, no need to rebel, your heart is running riot, under my spell, under my spell… my spell… m-m-my spell… m-m-my spell…" Jason stammers again which causes me, Oscar and Carrie to break from his hypnotic spell.
"Mmm? Huh?" Carrie says, feeling a bit dizzy. "What's going on?"
"Look!" I say, pointing. "Jason's stammering out again."
"M-m-my spell… m-m-my spell…" Jason continues to stutter.
Jay quickly exits the control room and heads for the studio and takes Jason out. Oscar, Carrie and I leave the control room to try and follow Jay and Jason, but Jay stops us.
"N-nothing to worry about, kids," he says. "Jason's just feeling a bit under the weather. I-I'm just gonna go and… you know…" Jay leads Jason to the elevator, and they go up, leaving Oscar, Carrie and I in the corridor. We retreat back into the control room.
"It happened again," I say, closing the door behind me. "Jason spazzed out again, but guess this – no food in sight."
"And the song he sang," says Carrie. "It sounded so… hypnotic. Like he was controlling you with the music. I mean what is going on here?"
"I think it's time to take a closer look around this 'recording studio'," says Oscar.
"I totally agree," I say. "Guys, let's spy up." Opening my watch communicator, I press the blue button above the keypads and change into my spy outfit. Oscar and Carrie do the same with their Disguise Watches. "Right, let's do this." I open the door and leave the control room – only to jump back in when the elevator stops on the floor we're on and the doors open. I crotch down and raise a finger to my lips to Oscar and Carrie signalling them to stay quiet while we wait for whomever to go past our door. I quietly open the door and see the security guard, who was probably monitoring the corridors, enter the elevator, taking him down. "That was close," I say, standing up. "Looks like we can't walk around like this. Hold on to me, guys." Carrie links her arm mine and Oscar takes the other. I open my watch communicator. "Activate cloaking device." I render myself, along with Carrie and Oscar invisible.
"Wow!" Carrie exclaims, looking down at her invisible body. "This is so cool!"
"I know," I say. "Now let's find out what Jay Oz is really hiding."
Oscar opens the door and the three of us leave the control room and head for the elevator. When the lift comes to our floor, the doors open and we enter.
"What floor?" Oscar asks.
"Top floor," I say. "That's usually where all the secrets are kept."
Carrie pushes the '6' button and the lift takes us all the way up. Once we reach the floor, we walk down the long corridor. When we turn a corner, we see a large metal door at the end of the corridor. We go up to it – only to find that we need a code to open the door.
"I've got this," says Oscar. He takes out his Spy-Pod and holds it over the buttons. After a few seconds, he enters the code and the door slides open.
"Nice," I tell him. We enter the room, the door closing behind us. It's a large laboratory, with many complex panels, screens, and computers. In the centre of the room is a large glass cylinder, and there's also an isolation booth. "Deactivate cloaking device," I say, and our bodies become visible. "Right, let's look for clues – though, this laboratory is a big enough clue as it is."
Oscar takes the left side of the room, Carrie takes the right and I take the centre. I head for the computers and start typing to see if I can find anything. After a minute or so, a list – a massive list – appears on the screen.
"Whoa," I murmur, my eyes darting down at the long list. As I do a run-down of the list, I notice that there's a list of places and their locations – the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and… the Hammersmith Apollo, London. "No way! Guys, I've got something. It's a list of all the concert venues that Jason performed at. The list contains the names of everyone who went to his concerts. They must be in those hangars that we went past. Rose's name must be in the system, too and she must be in the hangar too."
Silence.
"Er, guys? Did you hear what I said? The list of people who went to Beaver's concert is on this computer," I say again.
No reply.
"OK, guys, whatever stunt you're pulling is so not…" I turn around and stop mid-sentence as I stare at what Oscar and Carrie are looking at. "What the heck?" I leave the computer and head to the glass cylinder. There's someone in there. I say someone – it's an android. There are wires and a USB drive coming from the control panel on their back. But when I go to see who's in the glass cylinder, I get the shock of my life. It's Jason Beaver! "Oh… my… God," I say, stunned. "Jason is a robot."
"This explains why he keeps his private life to himself," says Carrie.
"And why he was stuttering," says Oscar.
Then we hear voices coming outside.
"Quick, hide!" I say.
All three of us hide underneath a large workstation desk. We hear the door sliding open. I peek my head out from the side of the desk to see Jay Oz entering the room, along with a security guard and a third man. He is a tall, slender and slightly muscular man in his late-forties, early fifties, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He's wearing a khaki jacket and trousers, with shirt and tie and a peaked cap.
"The man who looks like an extra from the Village People must be Mr. Harlow," I whisper to Oscar and Carrie.
"The new song is ready, Mr. Harlow, sir," Jay says.
"Excellent!" says Harlow. "I want to hear it now. Has the special frequency been set?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Guard, step into the isolation booth!"
"Yes sir!" says the guard, saluting Harlow.
The guard enters the booth near where we are.
"We'd like to know what you think of the new song," says Jay, taking out a glowing CD from the inside of his jacket. He places the CD in the music system by the booth.
"Cover your ears!" Oscar tells me and Carrie.
We do what he says. Then Jay presses play on the music system and the song starts to play.
"Hummmhum… Mmhummhum… Mmhum!" the song hums.
Then Jay stops the song and opens the booth, and out steps the guard. He looks like he's in a state of trance – like he's being hypnotized.
"So… what do you think?" Harlow asks the guard.
"I have to join the Army," says the guard as drool trickles from his mouth. "To protect my Queen and country… I have to join the Army."
"Ha-ha-haaa!" Harlow laughs. "Thank you my good man, you may go."
Suddenly it comes to me. "Of course! The CD!" I mutter. "There's a message in the CD – a subliminal recruiting message – to join the Army."
"That would explain why Rose keeping saying she wants to join the Army," Carrie murmurs.
"And why the green room was soundproofed," Oscar whisper.
"And why everyone has disappeared," I say. "They've all decided to join the Army!"
"Security! We have intruders!" Harlow yells when he sees us under the desk. Crap!
"AAAAA!" Oscar, Carrie and I scream. We jump out of our hiding place. Harlow tries to make a grab for Carrie, but she kicks him hard in the stomach.
"Oof!" Harlow groans, clutching his stomach.
"Quick, we've got to get away!" she cries.
"You don't have to tell us twice! Let's get outta here!" says Oscar.
Oscar leads the way out of the door, running at full speed. Carrie and I are right behind him. The alarms in the corridors blare loudly as we make our escape. We reach the elevator at the end of the corridor, but the doors open and five security guards exit the lift.
"Damn! We're trapped!" says Oscar.
I spot the fire exit nearby. "Not yet! This way!" I say, pointing to the exit. "The stairs lead to the roof."
We take off again. The guards are following behind, but from my utility belt, I snap off one of the canisters and pour out the Slo-Mo Bombs, causing the guards to step on them and slowing them down.
"Let's go!" I tell Oscar and Carrie, and we carry on up the stairs. "If there's a helicopter on the roof, I can take us all back to London."
Up and up and up – and then we reach the door. Wrenching the door open, we find ourselves on the roof… only to be met by a helicopter.
"What's that?" Carrie asks.
Suddenly the helicopter fires a bubble at Oscar, Carrie and I at great velocity and with great force, trapping us. We try to punch and kick our way out of the bubble but I don't think this bubble is bursting anytime soon. Then, we see Jay and Harlow approaching us.
"Let us go!" I shout.
"Oh, but you don't want to leave us already," Harlow sneers. Then he lets out an evil laugh.
Oh boy.
xxoOoxx
"Get in there!" says the security guard when he shoves me in the studio with Oscar and Carrie. After he shuts the door, I go for the handle, but it won't open. I brace my shoulder against it and shove, but the door still won't budge.
"Now look at that…" I hear Harlow say in the control room, "it seems that our support band were spies. To be more specific, child spies. The government must be desperate."
"Hey!" I cry. "I have you know that I am not a child – I am twenty-four years old!"
"Does it look like I care?"
"Grrrr…!" I growl, baring my teeth.
"Why are you doing this, Harlow?" Oscar asks.
"It's simple, really. I am working to recruit people for the British Army. I thought you of all people would have known that."
"But why use a singer – or should I say an android – for the recruiting?" Carrie asks.
"Countries like China and North Korea have often used bands for recruiting…"
"That's because they run a dictatorship!" I say.
"Like I said," Harlow snarls, "countries like China and Korea have used bands to recruit and by creating the perfect teen idol, people will worship Jason Beaver and do whatever he tells them to do – like tonight, at his final concert at the Royal Albert Hall. It's gonna be broadcast live around the country. After the concert, Jason will have millions of devoted fans. And these slaves will help me and the rest of the British Army to help win the war against Afghanistan!"
"But this isn't the way to do it!" I exclaim. "If you want people to join the Army you have to advertise yourself – through TV, radio. Go travelling to schools up and down the country, for God's sake!"
"But it doesn't work! You kids are all too interested in your blockbuster movies and your video games. You all live in a fantasy world. Well, let's see have fantasized everyone will be when they're drop in an Afghan village filled with bullets, mortar and dead bodies!"
"This guy seriously needs some therapy," says Carrie.
"Ain't that the truth?" I say.
Jay looks at his watch. "Sir, we need to get going."
"Sorry that I've got to cut this meeting short, but I have a concert to attend to. It'll be devastating if I miss the show," says Harlow. "But don't worry… I'll see to it that you'll be the first to hear his new song." He presses play on the control panel, and 'Under My Spell' comes on through the speakers of the studio. "See you all later… officer cadets." Then he leaves the control room with Jay, leaving Oscar, Carrie and I in the studio with Beaver's awful music.
"Cover your ears!" I tell Oscar and Carrie.
They do what I say.
"So this is it then. We're trapped," says Carrie.
"There must be a way out of here," says Oscar. "We can't cover our ears forever!"
I look around the room to see if there's anything to break down the door or the window. But there's nothing but instruments in the room… Instruments… Hey, that's it!
"Guys! We can use the instruments to escape," I say.
"Great!" Carrie seizes an electric guitar and raises it in the air, ready to smash the window.
"Er, Carrie, not like that," I tell her.
"Huh?"
"Strap the guitar on. Oscar, get on the drums."
Carrie straps on the guitar and Oscar gets seated at the drums. I head for the large speakers and turn the dial on the loudest volume. Then I hand Oscar and Carrie headphones so we don't get deafened. Then I put on my headphones and strap on a guitar.
"OK, guys, on my count," I say. "One, two, three."
Carrie and I play a power chord on the guitars and Oscar beats loudly on the drums. The sounds of the instruments are so loud that it shatters and destroys the window.
"And that how you escape," I say, taking the guitar and the headphones off. "Now, let's go!"
We climb out of the studio – being careful not to cut ourselves – then we head for the elevator taking us down to ground level. Then we find ourselves outside of the facility.
"I better call Frank and tell him to send agents down here," I say.
Before I can open my watch communicator and make the call, an army of security guards appear.
"Intruders!" says one of them.
"What do we do now?" Carrie asks.
"What do you think – run!" says Oscar.
We make a run for it, dodging any of the guards who come for us. One of them makes a grab at me, but my hand flies out and I scratch his face. He screams and staggers, clutching his head.
I spot fire station. If there's a fire truck in there, I can drive us back to London. "Head for the fire station!" I yell. "Quickly!"
We head for the station. But when we get there, we find that the door is padlocked.
"Dammit!" I exclaim, kicking the door.
Then we hear the cocking of guns. We turn around to see the guards have their guns pointed at us.
"Great!" Carrie says sarcastically. "We're trapped – again!"
"What do we do now?" Oscar asks.
"Oh, er… uhm…" Come on, come on, come on! Think, think, think! There must be something – anything! After some serious thinking, it hits me. "Tornado Hairdryer 3000!" I take my backpack off and bring out the hairdryer. "Hang on! It's about to get blustery!" I point the Hairdryer at the guards and flip the switch.
A tornado comes out of the Hairdryer and coming in contact with the guards, the twister sucks them in.
"AAAAAHH!" the guards scream.
After about a minute, I switch off the Hairdryer, causing the guards to come crashing down to the ground.
"Urrn…" the guards moan. One of them even ends up throwing up. Ugh – carrot and coriander.
"Wow. Talk about your bad hair days," says Carrie.
"Well, that's what happens when villains come between a girl and her accessories," I say, putting the Hairdryer back into the backpack.
"Actually… I was talking about you."
"What?" I take out a small mirror and gasp in shock when I see that my hair is sticky up all over the place. It's like I had an electric shock. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"Er, rather than worrying about how your hair looks, shouldn't we be call for back-up?" Oscar interjects.
As he says these very words a fleet of black cars and vans arrive out of nowhere. The doors open and out pops out black-suited agents and the SWAT team – it's MI9! Then the sound of a helicopter fills the skies. It lowers itself and lands quite near where Oscar, Carrie and I are standing. The door of the helicopter opens and more agents hop out – including Frank!
"Frank!" I cry, running up to him.
"Hey there – oh," says Frank when he sees my hair. "I, er, love what you did with your hair."
"Ha-ha. Very funny," I say, rolling my eyes. "Remind me to laugh later."
"Frank!" Oscar and Carrie have caught up now.
"How did you know where we were?" I ask Frank.
"GPS," he replies. "When I saw that you, Oscar and Carrie were taken out of London, I called in for some back-up. So what's being happening here?"
"It turns out that I was right all along – Jason Beaver is an android!" says Carrie. "That's why he doesn't sing his own songs, and why he was stuttering."
"And that's not all – Lieutenant Harlow is using subliminal messages in Jason's songs to recruit people into the Army," says Oscar. "That's why everyone has disappeared without a trace – including Rose."
"So where could they be?" Frank asks.
"Remember when we went past the hangars and there were a ton of people guarding them?" I say to Oscar. "I think I know where they are."
I lead Frank and the other agents to the three large hangars across the base. When we get there we find that like the fire station, the door is padlocked.
"Great," Oscar mutters. "Now what?"
Then one of the agents approaches us with a key. "Got this from one of the guards."
I take the key from the male agent and fit it in the lock. The key turns and unlocks the padlock. Then two agents slide the doors open. Inside we see thousands and thousands of people inside the hangar lying or sitting on mattresses, mumbling the same sentence over again: "I have to join the Army."
"Whoa," I murmur.
"Check the other two hangars," I hear Frank tell the other agents.
"I wonder if Rose is here," says Carrie.
"Never mind that. We need to find out how to stop an Army Lieutenant, a music producer and an android from brainwashing an entire nation!" says Oscar.
"But how?" I ask.
"Hey, remember when we were listening to Jason's song and we were almost under his spell when he started to falter," says Carrie.
"Yes, of course! His mild malfunction caused us to break from his mind control. Carrie you're a genius!"
"It has been said."
"So we need to cause a huge malfunction on Jason so he will no longer have any recruiting power," says Oscar.
"Exactly." I look down at my watch. It's quarter to seven. "We need to get to London right now before it's too late."
"Take the helicopter," says Frank. "I'll stay here and try and find Rose."
"Get someone to bring a radio in here. The broadcast is live – maybe Jason's computer breakdown will reverse the effects of everyone here," I say.
Frank orders the agents to get some TVs and radios, while Oscar, Carrie and I head for the helicopter. We hop in and strap ourselves in as the pilot starts the engine and takes us back to London.
xxoOoxx
It's about twenty past seven when we arrive at the Royal Albert Hall. There are lots of people wearing Jason T-shirts and entering the concert hall. The pilot nears the helicopter close – but not too close – to the balcony of the concert hall. I jump first. I make it to the balcony. I don't even fall over. I land on my feet. Carrie goes next, bending her knees and springing and landing perfectly like any gymnast should. Finally Oscar. He leaps for it, teetering on the balcony, and then landing on me and Carrie.
"Sorry," he says, getting up and dusting himself down.
"No problem," says Carrie, getting up. "Now let's stop this transmission."
I head for one of the windows and placing my foot on the glass, activate the Rocket Go-Go Boot. The heat from the boot breaks and smashes the window, spraying the glass all over the place inside. I peer in, making sure that's no-one is around, then I spring right through the window, covering my head as I do a forward roll so I don't cut myself on the broken glass. I get up and brush myself down, and help Oscar and Carrie into the building. We sprint through the corridor until we reach an elevator. We enter the lift to us down to ground level. I lead the team through the corridors. We keep going until we reach the grand tier of the auditorium. I look around – everyone is getting into their seats and the TV crew have finished setting up their equipment.
"Come on," I say, and set off again down the stairs to the stage where we find the door to the backstage area is wide open.
We peer through the doorway to see Jason being surrounded by security/bodyguards. One of the security men has the glowing CD in his hand. He's about to put the CD in the system when I pull out a small boomerang from my utility belt and throw the weapon at the man, knocking the CD out of his hand.
"Hey!" the man cries. He spots us.
"Coo-ee!" I wave at the man, waggling my fingers extravagantly.
"Hi!" Jason smiles, waving back.
"Get them!" the man orders the others.
The security men and the bodyguards come charging at us.
"Carrie, hold out your arms," I say.
Carrie holds her arms out in front of her and taking them; I lift her up and pivot, spinning her around, her legs knocking the burly men to the ground.
"OK, that was fun," Carrie says after I set her down.
The security men shake their heads and get up. Then they charge at us again.
"Split up!" I say to Oscar and Carrie.
Oscar takes the right side and Carrie takes the left while I take the centre, and we launch into an attack. One of the men comes at me, but I jump up and kick the man on the side of his head, knocking him out. Another man comes running at me but I face away from him, spin around in place and strike the man's face with the back of my elbow. After the man falls to the ground, I dart my eyes to see two more brawny men coming at me from different directions. But before they can reach me, I jump up and execute a split kick where both legs are kicked out like snap kicks in opposite directions. Immediately afterwards, I then begin to rotate my body in order to swing one of my legs around into a hook kick when another security man comes at me. I go back into a defensive stance to see if anyone else wants a piece of me, but I can see that Oscar and Carrie have taken care of the others. Oscar bashes the heads of two of the bodyguards together and Carrie finishes one of the security men off by doing the splits, and then she punches man in the groin, causing him to bowl over and go into the foetal position.
"Impressive," I tell Oscar and Carrie.
"Thanks," they say.
"Right, that's them taken care of. Now let's stop the transmission."
As I say these words we hear loud cheering.
"Jason! Jason! Jason!" the audience chants.
"Oh no! They're starting the show. We're too late!" says Carrie.
"Hahahaha!" one of the security men laughs. "That's right. And there's nothing you brats can do about it. Hahaha…!" His laughter is cut off when Oscar runs over to him and punches him across the face, knocking him out.
I run over to the music system, and unsheathing the Feline Fight Claws from my gloves, I slice the music system into pieces, including the glowing CD. "And that's the end of that!" I say triumphantly.
"Under my spell you'll like it so well, no problems, no worries…" I hear Jason sing.
"What the hell?! I just shredded the sound system!" I cry. "Why is Jason still singing?"
"Harlow must have downloaded the songs into Jason," says Oscar.
"There has to be a way to stop the live transmission. If we don't do something, the whole country will be turned into zombified Army cadets!" says Carrie.
"The only way to stop Jason is through a major malfunction. But how can we get him to have a breakdown?"
"There's only one way: an electric shock," I say. "And what's more shocking than the Lipstick Stun Gun?" I bring out the Stun Gun from my utility belt.
"Great idea!" says Carrie. "But how will you get to Jason?"
With a smirk, I open my watch communicator. "Activate cloaking device." And my body becomes invisible. "See you in a few."
I take a deep breath and then I walk out on to the stage. As I stand there, I watch as everyone in the auditorium has gone into a hypnotic state, including the TV crew and the presenters. I turn to Jason – he's still singing his song. Suddenly, I feel a pinch in my head.
"Argh, his music is starting to affect me," I say to myself. "I better put a stop to this."
I rush over to Jason, clutching my head in pain and trying to resist his singing, and open the panel on his back.
"Sorry, Beaver, but there's only so many annoying musical pricks in the world that I can deal with and unfortunately, you can't be one of them," I tell him. I jab the Lipstick Stun Gun into the panel. Then I step back as Jason's body becomes surrounded by sparks.
"Under my… under my spell you'll like it so well… Under my spell… m-m-my spell, m-m-my spell, s-s-spell, s-s-spell, s-s-spell…" Jason stammers as sparks comes off his body.
"Deactivate cloaking device," I say – and my body becomes visible.
"Jenny!"
I turn to see Oscar and Carrie coming on stage.
"Get back!" I tell them. "He's about to blow!"
We take cover as the electricity grows bigger around Jason as he continues to stutter.
"U-u-under my spell… m-m-my spell… m-m-my s-s-spell…" Then seconds later, Jason explodes with a bom!
After the explosion, I slowly stand up and look to the place where Jason stood. There's nothing left of him but the black hi-top shoes from where he stood.
"Jen! You did it!" Oscar exclaims.
"Urnn…?" Everyone in the auditorium start to wake up from their trance. "Huh? What's going on?"
"Thank God. Everyone's back to normal," says Carrie.
"Hey, what's going on? Where's Jason?" the audience murmur.
"We better make ourselves scarce before everyone figures out that we killed Jason – even though he was a robot," I say.
We exit through the backstage area and after dashing through the corridors, we make it outside the concert hall. Then we hear the sound of a helicopter.
"That must be MI9!" says Carrie, and then she starts jumping up and down and waving her arms in the air.
"Er, Carrie, I don't think that's MI9," say Oscar. "Look closely."
I squint my eyes. I see that it's a military helicopter.
"Oh crap. It's Harlow!" I say.
The helicopter starts to lower itself down on us. Suddenly, a laser fires from the barrels under the helicopter.
"Watch out!" I cry, and I leap out of the way.
Harlow keeps firing the laser but we keep performing backflips and somersaults between the beams.
"We need to stop him before he fries us!" says Oscar.
"And I've got just the thing!" I take out the Tornado Hairdryer 3000 and flicking the switch; a twister comes out of the Hairdryer and sucks in the helicopter.
"WHOOOAAA!" I hear Harlow scream.
After a minute, Harlow and Jay get tossed out of the helicopter and land in the branches of some trees in a nearby park. Then the resultant tornado tosses the helicopter in the park, where it lands with a large crash!
"Nice going, Jen!" says Oscar, coming up to me.
"Yeah! You certainly kicked butt," says Carrie as she catches up.
"It's all part of the job," I say with a wink.
"U-urrnn…" Harlow moans, looking incredibly dizzy.
"M-mmm, I-I think I'm gonna be sick…" Jay groans before he ends up hurling… again… and again… and again.
Just then, a fleet of black cars arrive at the scene. This time, it's MI9. I peer through the crowd of agents and see Frank coming out from one of the cars. Rose is with him too. She sees me and waves. Thank God, she's back to normal.
"Hi, guys!" she says when she approaches us.
"Rose! You're OK!" says Carrie, wrapping her arms around Rose.
"Careful!" says Rose – but she laughs.
"Thank God you're all right, Rose," says Oscar, giving her a hug.
"When Frank found me, he drove us back to London with the radio on so the effects of Jason's singing could be reversed live."
"And it worked! Well done, team," says Frank. "Well done, Jenny." He gives me a peck on the cheek.
"Without Jenny, Jason would have possessed the whole country," says Oscar.
"Unhand me, you cretins! Don't you know who I am?!" I hear Harlow shout as the agents take him and Jay away. "I am Lieutenant Nathan Harlow of the British Army! Let go of me! I said let go of me! I'll have your jobs for this!"
"Hold this," I say, handing the Tornado Hairdryer 3000 to Oscar. I run over to the agents handling Harlow and Jay. "Wait!" I tell the agents. "Could you guys give me one second with Mr. Harlow and Mr. Oz?"
The agents stare at me – but they step back from Harlow and Jay.
"There's just one thing I wanna say to you guys…" I say to the Army Lieutenant and music producer.
"And what's that?" Harlow snarls.
With a smirk on my face, I deliver a kick to Harlow's chin, and then I sweep my leg at his feet, tripping him. Then I strike Jay in the midsection with the point of my foot, causing him to bend over. Then I raise my knee so that it hits Jay in the face, knocking him back.
"That's for creating an android of the worst singer in the world!" I yell.
"Urrnn…" Harlow and Jay groan.
I smile at the agents. "OK, you can take them away now," I say, and then I hop back to Frank and the other. "Ah, I feel so much better now."
Frank, Oscar, Rose and Carrie stare at me for a moment – then they burst out laughing. I join in, too.
The perfect end to a mission.
xxoOoxx
"Good morning, gang!" I say to Oscar, Carrie and Rose when I see them coming into the English room for their lesson on Monday morning.
"Morning Jenny!" they say.
"Wow, someone's happy," says Carrie.
"Yeah! I've just had the best weekend ever. We stopped an evil Army Lieutenant from using music to brainwash people to force them to join the Army and I got a taste of what it's like to be a pop star," I say. "This has to be one of the strangest yet exciting missions I've ever had."
"MI9 have concocted a cover story saying that Jason's publicity at the Albert Hall went wrong and he's decided to retire from the music business to become a goat herder in Boldovia," says Rose.
"Meaning that you don't have to see or hear Jason ever again," Oscar adds.
"Exactly." I lean back on my chair, head pillowed in my arms and sigh. "Yes siree, I don't think that I'll be hearing from anyone as annoying as Jason Beaver for a long, long tim–"
"She's got the power, power, she's got the power, power, power, she's got the power…" Davina sings when she enters the room.
"Oh, my God, who the hell is that?" I say, sitting up.
"The newest singer in the music biz!" Davina replies. "The media are already saying that she's the next Miley Cyrus – it's Millie Cyprus!" She shows me a poster of the singer. Millie's a slender and beautiful young woman, with fair skin, pink lips, medium-length strawberry-blonde hair with pink highlights and blue eyes, wearing a ripped tee and skinny jeans.
"What?!"
"And she has this great new track called 'She's Got the Power'. Isn't it amazeballs?"
My mouth drops open as Davina continues to sing the song when she goes to her seat. "She's got the power, power, power…"
Rose, Oscar and Carrie exchange worried looks when they see my expression.
"Uh-oh," they say in unison.
"Here we go again," Carrie adds.
Here we go again, indeed.
Argghhh…