(Frank's POV)
The next day, Jenny and I meet up with the team outside Knightsbridge station, and we wait for Zeke to arrive. When he does come, the six of us make the short walk to the Ageless Care Spa.
"Wow… Look at all these cars," says Carrie as we pass a number of them.
"Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Lamborghinis," says Oscar. "It's a life-sized, luxury collection of Matchbox Cars."
"Well, that's Millionaires' Row for you," says Jenny. "Besides, we're not here to ogle at cars like Jeremy Clarkson; we're here to investigate the spa."
"And speaking of which, here we are," I say, stopping outside the building. "Now remember to be on full alert, keep all communications open and beware of anything suspicious-looking."
Everyone nods, and we enter the spa. We're greeted by two women at the reception area to confirm our appointments. Afterwards one of the women, with shiny auburn hair and called Flora on her name label, gives us all white bath robes and matching slippers.
"Welcome to the Ageless Care Spa. My name is Adelaide – I'm one of the instructors," says the other woman. She has clear, pale skin, blue eyes, and long black hair. She reminds me of a porcelain doll. She's dressed in an all-black uniform: tunic, cropped trousers, and flat shoes.
"We're here to improve your health, beauty and relaxation during your time here," she continues. "Our treatments include body massage, foot massage, facials, waxing, microdermabrasion, body treatments, manicures, pedicures, aromatherapy, moxibustion, ear candling, and guasha."
"Oooh!" squeals Carrie in excitement. "I wanna try them all!"
"Me too!" Jenny joins in.
Adelaide rings the bell on the reception table and a muscular, swarthy and light-haired man appears from the door behind the reception table.
"Hans will take care of you," she says. She turns to him. "Take them to the treatment room."
He nods and leads the giggling Jenny and Carrie to the room.
"If the day spa is not for you, we offer a comprehensive program, such as yoga, Tai Chi physical fitness activities, wellness education, healthy cuisine and life coaching," Adelaide informs us.
"I would like to know about the instruction on wellness," says Rose.
"I would, too," says Oscar. "As well as focus on mind and body with Tai Chi."
The bell rings again and a curvy, dark-skinned woman with short cropped hair appears.
"Monique will take you where you need to be," Adelaide tells Rose and Oscar. "If you would like to follow her."
It's just me and Zeke.
"As for you two gentlemen… I see you're more into relaxation," the raven-haired woman says. "Follow me."
Zeke and I follow Adelaide across the spa, pass the gym and through the maze of rooms, passing people wearing white bath robes, until we reach the facilities where the pool, hot tub, Jacuzzi, and whirlpool are. The air is warm and smells of chloride, the water is brilliant, sparkling blue and the sound of calm, tranquil music fills the air.
"The changing rooms and lockers are to your left," Adelaide tells us. "Enjoy."
The raven woman makes her exit, leaving me and Zeke.
"Right," says Zeke. "Well, you heard the woman – let's get changed into our trunks, hit the pool and enjoy ourselves."
We head into the changing rooms where an attendant hands us keys to our lockers. There's a group of men in the changing rooms – some are talking to their friends while they're either changing or dressing, while others are in the showers.
When I reach my locker, I turn my back to take off my clothes and change into dark blue swim shorts with white side stripes. I stow my clothes in the locker and slip on my slippers and put on my bath robe. When I turn back round, Zeke is already in his robe, and without his glasses. He's wearing an orange swimming hat and swimming goggles above his eyes.
"You ready?" he asks.
I nod, and the two of us head out of the changing room and into the pool area where we find two empty sun loungers. I take off my robe on place it on the chair, and Zeke does the same. He's wearing orange swimming trunks that complement his skin, but all I can focus on is his body. For someone who spends all day sitting at the computer and inventing gadgets, I thought Zeke would be skinny and fragile. But instead he's lean and athletic, like an Olympic swimmer, with a smooth chiselled chest and washboard abs.
Zeke looks back at me, and smiles. "Like what you see, cutie?" he asks huskily, winking at me.
"What?! Erm… I-I didn't… I-I-I mean, I wasn't…" I stammer, feeling my cheeks burning.
"Frank, relax – I'm kidding," Zeke tells me. "I know why you were staring – Jen was the exact same way. Every morning before I go to work, I run to the local baths and swim laps for two hours. I've doing it since I was eight, and it's the only time I have to myself that doesn't involve me being in front the computer all day or have my head in the books."
"Huh. OK," I say, calming down.
"Just because I spend most days on my arse doesn't mean I'm lazy. I enjoy kicking back as much as the next person. Now less talk, more swim." And with that, Zeke snaps the goggles over his eyes, dives in – despite being a spa pool with a sign that says, 'No diving in the pool' – and swims away, his arms smoothly dipping through the water, his pointed feet kicking.
I, however, don't dive in. Instead I sit on the edge and slide into the sparkling turquoise water. It's beautifully warm. I swim two fast and furious laps and when I get back to where I slid I can feel my muscles tensing up. It's been forever since I last went swimming. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Zeke's book and go to my local swimming pool for an early morning session before I go to St Hope's.
So I swim off again – ploughing backwards and forwards, ten lengths breaststroke, ten lengths freestyle, ten lengths backstroke. Then repeat. Thank goodness I'm quite good at swimming so I don't look too stupid. Some of the people in the pool are faster than me but I'm quicker than some others – apart from Zeke.
We're about even-steven and we find we can't help racing each other. First he steams ahead so I concentrate fiercely and push myself that little bit harder so I'm gasping every time I take a breath. I draw closer, closer – and then I'm suddenly in front, and I whizz off even faster, but it's hard to keep it up. I'm slower the next lap, floating a little, and Zeke suddenly flashes past.
We carry on this mad competition and end up neck and neck, laughing at each other.
"I think that's enough swimming for one day. Let's take a breather," says Zeke.
"OK," I say, scarcely able to draw breath.
We swim out of the pool and dry ourselves with our robes. When we're done, Zeke spots the hot tub which is currently vacant and goes over to it, with me following. He drops his robe on the edge of the tub and climbs in. I do the same.
"Oh, my God, this feels so-o-o good," says Zeke, whipping off his swimming hat and leaning back against the tub.
And he's not wrong – this is really relaxing as I find myself closing my eyes and sinking into the succulent water.
I hear Zeke letting out a luxurious sigh. "Oh, man, if this spa wasn't being operated by an evil organization I would be coming here every weekend. Hell, I'll probably live here – I could buy this building and spend the rest of my days here. I mean I do come from a wealthy family."
"What do you mean?" I ask, opening my eyes, turning to him.
"Ah yes, I should have told you this before. Here goes." Zeke takes a deep breath. "My parents, are both brilliant scientists… they are also the founders, owners, and Managing Directors of KLAST – the Kingston Laboratory for Advanced Science and Technology."
I gape at Zeke. I never knew that he is the son of the parents who founded the multi-billion pound research and development facility, KLAST – a nationwide chain of research laboratories unconnected to the government or any business interests. They succeeded not only on a national scale, but an international one as well, currently maintaining facilities in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States, as well as in the UK with the total number of facilities numbering between twenty and thirty at last recorded count, according to an article I read a few years ago.
And come to think of it, I vaguely remember Jenny mentioning Denzel and Carmen – when Zeke broke into MI9 to rescue her. But I never pieced together that they were his parents. This also explains how he can afford the resources to build his gadgets and the lab under his house.
I must have been staring at Zeke for too long because he waves a hand in front of my face, making me jump.
"Earth to Frank!" he says. "You OK, man?"
"Yeah, sorry. Sorry about that," I say. "It's just… I never knew you were the son of the smartest and wealthiest people in the UK."
"Not a lot of people do – other than you, Jen and Director Fairchild," says Zeke. "I don't want people to be friends with me just because I have rich parents, live in a big house and have fancy cars. I want them to be friends with me because I'm funny, smart, and an all-round good guy who can get you tickets to any concert or A-list party of your choosing via hacking."
"Well, you're lucky that you have friends who don't think of you as the son of rich, scientists. We think of you as the most brilliant scientist and inventor of the 21st century."
"You… you really think that?"
"Of course I do. As does Jen and the team. You are highly intelligent and confident because of it, and you don't brag about it. You're a computer and communications genius hailing from Oxford. You use your knowledge and resources to create a vast array of gadgets to help us fight SKUL, and you are an expert computer hacker. With your computer hacking skills, you are able to breach the highest security systems. Your skills are rivalled by none. We don't consider you as a person with rich parents – we consider you as one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, possessing a mind so brilliant it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test."
When I'm finished, tears are welling up in Zeke's eyes.
"Dude… that has to be… the nicest thing… that anyone has ever said to me," he says, his voice cracking up. Suddenly, he wraps his arms around me. "Thank you, Frank. You truly are a good friend."
"No problem, Zeke," I say, giving him a pat-pat-pat on the back while getting awkward stares from people in and around the pool area. "Um, Zeke?"
"Just another minute, bro," he says, and then whispers, "Just another minute."
After a whole minutes passes by, Zeke pulls away – and we look up to see Jenny and the team watching us, sniggering.
"I hope we weren't interrupting anything," says Carrie, giggling.
Zeke and I laugh nervously as we move away from each other, blushing very red with embarrassment. "How long were you standing there?" I ask.
"Long enough, Frank," Oscar smiles. "Long enough."
My face turns even redder while Zeke sinks deeper into the hot tub until only the top half of his face is partially submerged in water as the team giggle.
"OK, guys, I think we've embarrassed them enough," says Jenny.
The rest of Zeke's face submerges to the surface. "Thanks, Jen."
"No problem. So other than stumbling in on a bromance, did either of you two stumble on anything SKUL-like with this place?"
I shake my head. "Nothing unusual of any sort. What about you?"
"The same – nothing," Rose responds. "What now?"
"Hmmmm. We may have to take a different approach," I say. "I suggest we leave now and come back later when the spa is closed so we can conduct a more thorough investigation."
Everyone murmurs in agreement. And as me and Zeke climb out of the hot tub, Adelaide shows up and heads to our direction.
"There you all are," she says. "I hope you're enjoying yourselves."
"Yes, we are thanks," says Jenny. "But unfortunately, these sorts of things don't last forever, so we'll be on our way."
"Oh, but you haven't tried our sauna and steam room. We have state-of-the-art technology for the rooms that once you're finished, you'll be feeling like a new person. And once more, you six will be the first ever people to try it."
"Well…" The six of us glance at one another, and then back to Adelaide.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt…" I say with some uncertainty.
"Excellent! Follow me," says Adelaide, turning and walking off before any of us can change our minds.
We follow the raven-haired woman out the pool area and down a few doors, stopping outside two rooms – one labelled SAUNA and the other STEAM ROOM.
"Make a choosing of which room you would like to be in, and I guarantee that the end results will make you feel more… rejuvenate," says Adelaide.
"I think I'll try the sauna. I need to sweat a few pounds if I want to fit into my wedding dress," says Jenny, going into the room.
"I'll join you," says Rose, following her, and Carrie joins them.
"I'm going for the steam room," says Zeke, entering the enclosed space. I follow him, as does Oscar. We sit on the benches and get comfortable – or at least try to. It's very hard to relax when there's an evil organization that plans to take over the world with a youth treatment formula of all things. What's proofing to be more difficult is how we're going to stop them.
"There's something strange about this spa," Oscar says after a long silence. "Particularly Adelaide – I feel like I've seen her from somewhere, but I don't know where."
"And we still have no idea what SKUL intend on doing with the youth formula," I say.
"I think I might have some idea," says Zeke. "Look at your hands!"
We look down at our hands – and my eyes widen with intense shock when I see that they are starting to shrivel up.
"What in the the…?" I start. I look up and I watch in muted horror as Oscar and Zeke's faces and bodies begin to wrinkle and contract and their hairs start to turn white. The two are staring at me in shock, and then at each other.
"What's happening to us?" Oscar asks hoarsely.
"We're… we're growing older," Zeke croaks.
"Quick – we need to get out of here," I rasp.
The three of us carefully lift ourselves off the bench and we s-l-o-w-l-y make our way to the door. We try to open it, but with our combined strength we're too weak to move it.
"It's no good – we're too old and too frail to open the door," says Zeke.
"We have to keep trying," I say.
Suddenly, the door swings open causing me, Oscar and Zeke to fall back on the floor. And standing at the doorway is Hans – with two SKUL henchmen.
"You three old-timers are coming with us," says Hans with a sick smile, and he and the SKUL henchmen advance towards us, and capture us.
(Jenny's POV)
Thirty seconds after entering the sauna I'm already starting to sweat. I sit on the bench and get comfortable – but I can't. I find myself not being able to relax one bit – mainly because I'm thinking of what SKUL's plan of action is with the youth formula. Even after the body and foot massages, facials and mud baths, and manicures and pedicures I'm still feeling a bit of tension in my body.
"I don't get it," says Carrie, disrupting my thoughts.
"Huh? What, what? What don't you get?" I babble.
"SKUL. Why would they steal a formula to renew your looks and then set up a health spa under false pretences? You would have thought that they would have built some sort of ray gun that would turn everyone into five year olds and the Grandmaster would be living in Downing Street or Buckingham Palace by now."
"Carrie's right – there's something not quite right about this," says Rose. "There's also something not right with that instructor, Adelaide. Every time I see her, I feel like I've met her before."
"Same here," I say. "With that pale and dainty skin and those icy blue eyes, she kind of reminds me of that… SKUL agent."
It is then I suddenly realize that Adelaide and the SKUL Agent Ada Greer is one in the same – Adelaide is SKUL Agent Ada Greer!
And judging from Rose and Carrie's surprised expression, I'm sure they've figured it out, too.
"Oh, schnitzel," says Carrie. "I can't believe we didn't see it. She was staring right in our faces and we didn't see it."
"And now she's lead us in here. It could be a trap!" says Rose.
"We need to get out of here and tell the guys that it's a…" I stop when I notice how big the room is getting. "Hey – what's going on? Why am I shrinking?"
"I don't think we're shrinking," says Rose, her voice suddenly sounding high-pitched. "We're ageing backwards!"
"We're turning into five year olds!" Carrie squeals.
"We have to get out!" I squeak. We head for the door and try to tug on the handle. We can't move it. We rattle the handle and pound on the door, but we still can't open it.
"It's hopeless," says Rose. "There's no way we can open the door – we're too little and too weak."
"What do we do?" Carrie cries. "We can't stay in here – we'll die of dehydration!"
"Quiet!" I say, putting my head to the door. I can hear footsteps. "Someone's coming."
"It must be Greer with some of her SKUL friends," Rose comments.
I take a few steps back away from the door. "OK, here's the plan. If that is Greer with reinforcements and they open the door, we're gonna rush them. Now we may be little, but we're sure as heck feisty."
Suddenly the door starts to rattle. I turn to Rose and Carrie, both of whom have determined looks on their faces.
The door flies open, and there standing straddle-legged, with hands on her hips, is SKUL Agent Ada Greer. Her light brown hair hangs below her mid-back rather than the raven-black shoulder-length wig.
"You MI9 brats have meddled in our affairs for the last time," says Greer. She turns to the two SKUL henchmen behind her. "Get them."
"Now!" I shout as soon as the henchmen step forward into the room, and we charge for the door.
I barge past the men and slide under Greer's legs to make my getaway, but I scream when she reaches out and grabs me – by the hair!
"You evil old witch! Let me go!" I shriek, struggling. Then I whirl around and my hand flies out, scratching her face.
Greer screams and immediately lets me go as she clutches her face.
"Why, you little bitch!" she yells, glaring down at me. She tries to make a grab at me, but she topples over when one of the SKUL henchmen crash into her and lands on top of her when he loses his balance.
It seems that Carrie has won her struggle – as has Rose when she kicks the other henchmen in the shin and then stomps hard on his foot.
"Ow!" he cries as he falls to the ground, using one hand to rub his foot and the other his shin.
"Come on!" I say, and we take off running.
"Get those horrible little monsters!" I hear Greer's scream echo throughout the corridor as we turn a corner.
"We need to find somewhere to hide!" says Rose.
"But where? All the rooms are filled with SKUL agents," says Carrie.
As we run I look up at the ceiling and see that there are several pipes running along it. "I know where we can hide! Follow my lead," I say.
I throw myself at a wall and bounce off it to the next wall and then spring off, launching myself to the ceiling and cling onto one of the pipes. Carrie does the same, and so does Rose – but her jump isn't as high as me or Carrie. As Rose stretches her hand, I release my arms from the pipe and catch her, and I swing her to the one of the pipes where she catches it gracefully with her legs.
As we hang onto the pipes we watch the two henchmen run past us, followed by a very pissed off Greer – and I can see why. There are four red lines on her cheek, with blood trails running down it. It must have been my manicured nails that scratched her. Given that the nail technician who did my nails works for SKUL, she certainly knows how to turn a cosmetic beauty treatment into razor-sharp weaponry.
"When I get my hands on that brat she's gonna wish that she never attacked me," Greer says. We watch silently as her and the SKUL henchmen turn a corner – none of us moving until we can't hear their footsteps anymore.
I hear Carrie sigh with relief. "That was a close one," she whispers.
"You can say that again," I reply. "Let's get down and try and find the…" I stop when two more SKUL henchmen, along with Hans, are walking the same path of the corridor as Greer did just seconds ago with three aged men. They look very familiar. And then it's only Rose.
"Oh no," she murmurs. "It's Frank, Oscar and Zeke."
"They've been captured," Carrie whispers. "We need to help them."
"And we will," I say. "As soon as Hans and the guards walk under us, let go of the pipes."
We wait until the kidnappers pass underneath and then we drop down, falling feet first into the face of Hans and the henchmen. They fall flat on their backs, looking almost certainly knocked out. I climb off Hans and turn to Frank, shocked about how grey and ancient he looks with his wrinkles, white hair and liver spots. His expression of shock is the same as he sees how little I am.
"Oh, my God, Frank," I say. "What happened to you?"
"What happened to you?" he asks.
"We can find out about that later," says Zeke. "Right now we have to go!"
"You'll have to get past me!" says a voice, and we all turn to see Hans getting to his feet.
"Fine by me!" I say, and I whip off my towel (luckily I'm wearing a swimsuit) and throw it in his face. And just as Hans removes the towel from his face, I swing my arm around and punch him in the crotch. His eyes bulge, his mouth goes slack and he doubles over, trembling with pain.
"Let's get of here!" says Frank. He takes my hand and with the rest of team, we rush past Hans and race down the corridor.
"Look – the exit!" Rose exclaims, pointing to the door at the end of the corridor. We sprint towards it, yank the door open and out onto the street – an alley to be exact.
"Thank goodness we're out of that madhouse," says Carrie.
"Yeah, me too," I say. "But we can't be running around London wearing just our robes and towels and swimsuits." It's a good thing I have my watch on me rather than in my bag with my clothes which are in the spa. And the same goes with the team and their Spy Watches as we use our devices to change into something that doesn't get us arrested for indecent exposure. I also use my watch-communicator to change Frank and Zeke's bathrobes into casual and comfortable clothing.
"That's better," I say, looking down at my clothes. "Now that we're properly dressed, we can get a move on."
"Well, let's get moving," says Oscar. "Because I think I can hear someone coming."
And he's right – I can hear footsteps approaching.
"Come on," says Frank, leading us down the alley. I glance over my shoulder and see the anger on Hans' face, red with anger, as he follows us. But it's not long until we're out of the alley and onto the busy street – and into a policewoman.
"Careful!" she says. "Watch where you're going."
"A police officer – thank God," I say, relieved. "There's a man chasing after us. You need to arrest him."
"He's a SKUL agent," Frank adds, just as Hans shows up. He stops in his tracks, sweating like a sinner in church. He'll be getting his just desserts now.
"Listen…" the policewoman starts. "I've been doing this shift for nearly nineteen hours and during that time, I have dealt with robbers, the drunk and disorderly and assaults. I don't have time for silly little children and kooky old men who are clearly making up stories."
"But…" Rose starts.
"I want all of you to leave. Right now. I've already got more than enough hooligans in my area."
I open my mouth to speak, but there's no point in explaining the situation to her. So Frank, Zeke, the team and I walk off down the street.
"I can't believe the nerve of that policewoman!" Carrie exclaims. "The way she spoke to us – like we're idiots. We've got rights too."
"Never mind about her. What about us?" I say, referring to me, her and Rose. "One minute we're sitting in the sauna, maxing and relaxing, and the next we've shrunken down to Munchkin height and speaking like chipmunks."
"And the same goes with us," says Zeke, referring to him, Oscar and Frank. "Except we were in the steam room – and we've aged like spoiled milk. We smell bad and we've turned into sour clumps."
"SKUL knew that we were at the spa, so they used the youth formula on us," says Rose.
"So what do we do?" Oscar asks. "Should we call MI9?"
"If a policewoman didn't believe that Hans is a SKUL agent, how are MI9 going to believe that it's us that they're speaking too?" I say. "I mean, look at us. We're aged from five to ninety-five – we are the people in the 'Seen but Not Heard' file. No-one's going to believe that we're actually teenagers and adults."
"Jenny's right – we're on our own for this one," says Frank. "We need to follow up on the plan that I came up with before all this happened. We'll return to the spa tonight, we need to find the formula and we need to figure a way to reverse the effects."
"But that isn't until a few hours. What can we do to keep ourselves busy?"
"We can visit the museums," Rose suggests. "I've wanted to go to the Science Museum for a while."
"Me too," says Zeke. "But first I need to go wee-wee."
"So do I," says Carrie, and everyone else says the same – and come to think of it, need to go myself.
"All right, fine," I say. "First the toilets, then the museum." And we all set off to find the nearest building with a toilet.
xxoOoxx
Later. Much, much later! We return to the Ageless Care Spa.
Make sure that the coast is clear and that awful policewoman isn't roaming the streets. Then we head down the alley that we used to escape Hans and rattle on the door handle – but it's locked.
"Now how do we get in?" Zeke asks.
"Look!" says Carrie, pointing to a vent that's five or six feet above us. She goes to it and tries to reach, but she's far too short – even standing on tippy-toes.
"Let's try this," I say, cupping my hands together. Carrie puts her shoes into my cupped hands, and I give her a boost. And from the way she's grunting, I'd say that she still can't reach the vent.
"It's no use. I can't reach up," she says.
"How about this?" says Frank. "You can climb onto my shoulders and you'll be tall enough to climb into the vent."
"Frank, are you sure?" I say. "I don't want you putting your back out."
"I'll be fine. Besides, you don't want to stay like this forever, do you?"
"Oh God, no. Carrie, you heard the man – saddle up."
Frank crouches down as Carrie piles up onto his shoulders. Then he slowly and carefully stands up and walks to the window. This time, Carrie reaches over and grabs the grille of the vent and it pulls off easily. I hear her grunt as she climbs in – and then the sound of cluttering.
"Carrie? Are you OK?" Rose calls.
Silence.
"Carrie?" the rest of us calls.
There's another moment of silence before any of us hear her. "I'm fine!" she answers.
"Thank God for that," says Oscar.
"Hmm. I better go in there, too," I say. "Two heads are always better than one."
I climb onto Frank's shoulders and reach for the vent. Then I climb in and I drop myself from the vent and onto a pile of squashed boxes that Carrie landed on.
"I'm in!" I tell the others, and set off to look for Carrie.
Luckily she hasn't gone that far and I manage to catch up to her, and we walk side by side down the corridor.
"Now if I were the Grandmaster who would use a formula to turn people into children or pensioners, where would I hide it?" I say.
"Maybe in an office – with a safe," Carrie replies.
"You read my mind. Let's head upstairs."
We make our way through the maze of corridors, past six (very creepy) mannequins wearing exercise clothes to a door labelled MR. ANT GRADES – which if you rearrange the letters, you'll get GRANDMASTER.
"There it is, Carrie," I say to her. "Let's go."
We sprint towards the door. And before we can reach it, a beam of light hits the door.
"Hey, what the…?" Carrie starts, stopping in her tracks. I do the same. Where did that come from?
The beam of light hits the door again. Carrie and I look over our shoulders and see that the lifeless dummies that we ran past… are alive!
"Oh, my God," Carrie and I exclaim. We watch as their 'eyes' glow red for a moment – they're ready to shoot again! "Come on!" I say, grabbing Carrie's hand and making a run for it.
We run as fast we can, dodging the laser beams as best as we can, but it's hard considering that there are six of them and two of us – and we have no gadgets to defend ourselves with.
"We can't run from them forever!" Carrie pants. "We need to find a way to get them off our backs!"
"And I think I've found the answer!" I say as we approach the gym. "Follow me!"
We enter the gym and fly past the exercise equipment that's laid out before we find ourselves in front of a mirror.
"Er, Jen? I really don't think that this was a good idea," says Carrie.
"Trust me on this, OK?" I say. "Just trust me."
The mannequins catch up to us. Their 'eyes' glow red once more with three of the six dummies pointing six laser dots are at me and the other three are pointing six at Carrie.
"When I say now – jump," I say to her.
The beams fire out of the mannequins eyes.
"Now!" I shout, and we jump out of the way as the laser beams blast out of their 'eyes' and hit the mirror. However the laser reflects off the surface and hit the dummies instead, destroying them.
I climb onto my feet and look at my reflection in the mirror. "See, Carrie? You should never underestimate the power of the mirror," I say, checking myself over. "I think we should get out of here while we still can. I don't want to take my chances running into more laser beam-firing dummies as much as you do."
Carrie and I head out of the gym and after walking through the maze of corridors we make it back to the room that we snuck into. Luckily we didn't need Frank to climb onto his shoulders as we spot a ladder close by and use that to climb out of the vent and into the arms of Frank and Oscar.
"How did you do?" Frank asks. "Did you get the formula?"
Carrie and I shake our heads. "Sorry, Frank," I say. "The place is guarded with mannequins that shoot laser beams out of their eyes. The office will be harder to get in than a nun's chastity belt."
"Besides, it's more likely that the Grandmaster will have it on him than leave it lying around," Carrie adds.
"Never mind – you did you're best," says Frank. "We should get home and think of a new plan tomorrow."
The six of us walk down the alley and out onto the busy street – and into a woman. For the second time today!
"Sorry…" I start, but stop when I stare at the old woman and gasp when I recognize the peachy-pale skin and almond-shaped blue eyes. "No way," I say. "It's Jasmine Allen."
Allen stares down at me. "Do I know you?" she asks.
"It's me – Agent Brownstone from MI9. I spoke to you yesterday with Agent Williams."
"That's me," says Zeke, waving.
"Oh, my God," says Allen. "They got you, too."
"Us too," says Frank, motioning to himself and the team. "The youth formula turned us into children and OAPs. Why did they use the formula on you?"
Allen sniffles, like she's about to cry. "After I left Pinewood yesterday, I went to see the people who shot the advert I starred to tell them that MI9 were starting to ask questions. I went to speak Mr. Grades…"
"Mr. Grades?" everyone asks.
"Mr. Ant Grades is an anagram for Grandmaster," I tell them.
"Anyway, I heard Mr. Grade or Grandmaster or whoever talking to one of his employees," Allen continues. "He was complimenting one of them on the process and says that once the world understands they own the anti-aging process, their vanity will be a path to his door. I didn't know that someone was watching me listening in on the conversation and they caught me and took me to Mr. Grades. I told him that I wasn't going to tell anyone about this. But he took no notice and made me decades older, telling me that it was such a shame that he had to do that to me, and he'll find some other pretty young thing to do the adverts rather than a wrinkled old prune. And now I'm ruined!"
Allen bursts into tears. Zeke digs into his pockets and takes out a tissue for her to dry her eyes with.
"So that's why he stole the formula," says Oscar. "He's using it to make a profit. People will pay millions to stay forever young."
"And he'll keep making them younger until they look six months old," Carrie adds. "This gives him the means to take over London."
"This doesn't explain why you and Maddocks did the advert for free," I say to Allen.
"That's because Mr. Grades told us that the proceeds of the advert will go to charity," she explains. "The Society for Kids and Underprivileged Labradors."
"SKUL?" says Rose. "Miss Allen, they're not a charity – they're an evil organization called the Secret Kriminal Underground League."
"And the Grandmaster – Mr. Ant Grades – is the leader of the organization," I say as a further remark. "And they sure as hell don't care about children or dogs. Rabbits, yes – but not dogs."
"You mean… I've been working with criminals?" says Allen, and we all nod. "Oh, my God – I've been such an idiot!"
"You are not to blame for this, Miss Allen," says Frank. "We'll do what we can to reverse the process and our youth and strength. Can you tell us where you went after you left Pinewood yesterday?"
"I went to their facility in Hertfordshire where I once visited while shooting an advert."
"Then that's where we'll go," I say – then I let out a yawn. "But not tonight – it's late and it's way past my bedtime."
"Well, I can't go home looking like this!" says Carrie. "Where can we go?"
"You guys stay at my house," Zeke offers. "My parents are out of town for the weekend so there's no-one around to ask any questions."
"That's very kind of you, Zeke – thank you," says Frank. "But how are we getting there?"
He's about to answer when we hear a horn beeping.
A large black car pulls up to the pavement. The window winds down and I gasp when I recognize the person in the driver's seat. "Victor!" I say. I turn to the others. "Guys – this is Victor Bishop. He works as chauffeur and handyman for Zeke and his family."
"Hey there, Jen!" he says. "You've gotten… smaller since I last saw you." He looks to Zeke. "And you… I only saw you this morning and now you're an old man. What happened?"
"I'm afraid I can't say, Victor," says Zeke. "I figured that you wouldn't recognize my voice if we spoke on the phone – which is why I texted you. We were hoping if you can take us all back to mine, and I promise you we'll return to normal before my parents get back by this time tomorrow."
"I'll take your word for it, Zeke. Hop in, everyone."
Rose, Carrie and I open the door and help Frank, Zeke, Oscar and Allen into the car before climbing in ourselves. After we close the door and buckle up, Victor starts the car up again and takes us to Zeke's house.
xxoOoxx
The next morning after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, we set off in a van for the SKUL base in Hertfordshire. But not before Zeke gears us up with gadgets!
The journey is a bit of a long one, taking nearly an hour and a half. During that time we go over the plan about how we're going to take down SKUL, get back the youth formula and reverse the process.
When we arrive at the base we see that the building looks more like a factory than a film studio. The building is large, smoked glass and steel, each one joined to the next by a platform walkway. The factory is surrounded by a metal fence. Its ten metres high, topped with razor wire. Arc lamps on scaffolding towers stand at regular intervals and there are huge signs, red on white. You could read from them from the next county.
"Frontier Corporation – Strictly Private," Rose reads one of the signs.
"Trespassers will be shot," I mutter. Not if we shoot them first.
The van reaches the main gate, where a guard in his twenties, pale-faced, and dressed in a dark blue uniform stands at the barrier – and he has a rifle in his hands.
"Hi there," says Frank who is sitting behind the wheel. Allen is next to him in the passenger's seat. "My wife and I are heading to Center Parcs in Nottinghamshire and we must have taken a wrong turning. Could you give directions on where to go?"
"You are on private property," the guard replies. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."
I come up to the partition window. "Are we here, Grandpa?" I ask. "Are we at Center Parcs?"
"Yeah! We're here, we're here, we're here!" Carrie says excitedly, joining me, as does Rose.
"Grandpa – I need the toilet!" she says. "I'm bursting!"
We all talk at the same time while Allen tries to calm us down. "Kids, eh? They're so full of energy," she says.
"You can say that again, dear," Frank says, chuckling. He turns to the guard. "Those are our granddaughters – we're taking them on holiday with us. I don't suppose you can let us use the toilets? It's been a long trip."
"Oh, I don't know…" the guard says reluctantly. But when he sees me, Carrie and Rose give him 'the Bambi eyes' look, the last of his defences crumbles. "All right, all right – but be quick about it, OK? It's the first building on the left."
"Thank you so much, young man," says Frank as the barrier lifts up and drives inside.
"Hey, good work on the toilet idea, Rose," Zeke tells her, causing her to blush.
"Yeah – and good work on the 'puppy-dog eyes' look," says Oscar. "You girls were great."
"We sure are!" I say, throwing my arms around Rose and Carrie's shoulders.
"Uh-oh!" says Frank. "Guys, you better get ready – I think SKUL may have found out that we're not who we say we are."
I look at the window and see the Grandmaster, Greer, Hans and several SKUL henchmen surround the van. We quickly grab our gadgets and wait at the door.
"Hey, Mr. Grades – remember me?" I hear Allen say. "Or should I say Grandmaster."
He gasps. "How do you know my name?"
"Because I told her," Frank responds.
"Who the devil are you?"
"I'm MI9 – and so are these guys!"
That's our cue.
Oscar and Zeke throw the doors open, hitting some of the SKUL henchmen and me, Rose and Carrie ride out of the van in skateboards and roller skates.
"Hey, butt-head – here's mace in your eyes!" I say, shooting the compound from my Super Soaker water gun into the eyes of the henchmen, causing them a lot of tears, pain, and temporary blindness. Rose and Carrie are also shooting mace in the henchmen's faces, while Oscar, Zeke, Frank and Allen are spraying slimy green gunge.
"Nobody takes me by surprise!" the Grandmaster yells, and he looks like he's about a fraction of a second away from launching himself into battle when two SKUL agents come up to him.
"Sir, you shouldn't endanger yourself," says one of them. "We need to get you to safety."
"We'll fight them another day," says the other.
The Grandmaster hesitates, but he nods. "Fine – let us retreat while we've got the chance to. Once again, MI9, you've beaten me! But I shall have my victory one day!" And with that he is escorted away by the agents.
"Oh, no, you don't!" I say, knocking a SKUL henchman to the ground. I turn to the others who are continuing their battle with Hans, Greer and the other SKUL minions. "I'm going after the Grandmaster! Cover me!"
I take off after the Grandmaster on my skateboard, shooting mace with my water gun at any henchmen that comes in my way.
As I turn a corner I see a man standing in my path. He has the appearance of a dishevelled homeless man – and it's then I realized that it's the guy who rode the flying snowmobile who helped Greer escaped with the youth formula.
"Hold it, small fry!" he yells.
I skid my skateboard to a stop and look up at the homeless man.
"There's no point in going after the Grandmaster – he's long gone," he tells me.
"How do I know that you're telling the truth?" I ask.
"Because I was the one who helped him into his car and then told the driver to get the hell away from here."
I'm still unsure about whether or not to believe this guy – but then again, the Grandmaster has been known to make more disappearing acts than Houdini.
"So… what are you going to do to me?" I ask. "Are you gonna shoot me… or spank me?"
The homeless man laughs and shakes his head. "No. No, I'm going to do nothing of the sort. Instead, I'm going to give you this." He reaches into his pocket and holds me a piece of paper. I open it up – and gasp when I see what's on it.
"Madam LeClère's formula!" I say. "But…"
"When I helped the Grandmaster into the car… well, let's just say that my hand wandered into his pocket by accident," says the dishevelled man. "And let's just say that it fell out of my pocket while I was escaping."
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"The Grandmaster can do so much better than turning London into a nursery or a retirement home. That is if you like being as you are now…"
"No, no! No, thank you. I was five once, and once is more than enough. Anyway… thanks."
The homeless smiles in response. "The prototype sauna and steam rooms are just down this path to your right," he points out.
"OK. Thanks again."
I hear screams echo through the building. I look over my shoulder. Frank and the others are in trouble. I have to help them – after I return to my correct age. When I turn back, the homeless man has vanished into thin air.
"I wish people wouldn't do that," I say to myself. "Anyway…"
I take off once again on my skateboard – heading for the sauna and steam rooms.
(Frank's POV)
We're fighting a losing battle. Our gunge and mace spray is running out and we don't have anything else to defend ourselves with. Rose and Carrie try to run circles around the SKUL henchmen but Hans takes out Carrie's skateboard with two shots of his laser gun and the wheels of Rose's roller skates with one shot.
"We need to retreat!" I tell the others. "Fall back! Fall back!"
We head towards the van but a missile hits the vehicle, destroying it. I turn to see Greer holding a bazooka in her hands.
"OK, Gramps – drop the gunge gun and reach for the skies," she says, pointing the rocket launcher at us.
I throw my gunge gun to the ground and hold up my hands. Zeke, Oscar and Allen follow. I watch as Hans carries Rose and Carrie over to us.
"You big bully!" Carrie shouts, hitting him. "Put us down! Put us down right now!"
"You got it, Titch," says Hans, and dumps the girls at our feet.
"Ow," Rose groans. "Next time, Carrie, tell him to gently place us on the ground."
"That's all of them, Greer."
"Not all of them," she says. "All right, where is she?"
"Where is who?" I say, feigning innocence.
"Don't play dumb with me, old man – you know exactly who I'm talking about! Where is the bratty little bitch who scratched up my face?"
"Up here, lame brain!" says a female voice.
We all look up. It's Jenny. And she's back to her normal age.
"All right, Cat-Girl," says Greer, "you have about five seconds to bring your black arse down here otherwise I'm gonna blow your friends into smithereens!"
"Go ahead, Greer! Blow them up – I don't care!" says Jenny. "Because if you blow them up, you'll be coming along for the ride!"
"What? What is she talking about?" I mutter to myself.
"Not only have I returned to my normal age, but I have also reprogrammed the prototypes to explode and destroy the entire base!" she continues.
There are panicked cries around us.
"She can't be serious, can she?" says Zeke.
Greer isn't too sure herself. "You're bluffing!" she screams.
Jenny smiles steadily. "Try me!" she taunts.
The SKUL henchmen tremble with fear and they take off running.
"You cowards! Come back here!" Greer calls after them. "Can't you see that she's lying?!"
"Lying or not, we're getting out of here!" Hans says, turning and running. "I don't want to be blown up!"
"Grrr!" Greer turns to Jenny, her mouth pursed in a smirk. Then Greer drops the bazooka and takes off running. "You cowards – wait for me!"
We all cheer at our victory and Jenny for saving us.
"Thanks for saving us, Jen!" I say. "You're brilliant!"
"I know!" she replies with a grin. "Now get yourselves up here so I can turn you all back to normal."
xxoOoxx
We were all relieved when we found Jenny and that she had the formula in her possession. She told us that she picked it up on her to finding the Grandmaster – and she figured out how to reverse the process. She tells Rose and Carrie to enter the steam room while the rest of us enter the sauna. The timer is set for five minutes – and we're hoping that we'll revert back to our normal ages.
xxoOoxx
"It feels so good to be back to my normal age," says Oscar, coming out of the sauna five minutes later. Me, Zeke and Allen are right behind, nodding in agreement. Rose and Carrie come out of the steam room at the same time as us.
"I know, right?" says Jenny. "And I can't believe those idiotic SKUL agents thought that I had rigged this place to explode."
"You mean you were bluffing?" Rose asks.
"Of course I was. I couldn't even rig a beauty contest if I wanted to let alone bombs."
"Well, your plan is something short of genius," I say. "If it wasn't for you we would've been blown to kingdom come."
"Just like the van," says Carrie. "How are we supposed to get home?"
"While you aging back to normal, I made a call to MI9 to come and pick us up as well as shutting this place down," Jenny replies. "They'll also return the formula to Madame LeClère."
"What about the Ageless Care Spa?" Allen says. "What will happen to that?"
"Knowing SKUL they would have cleared up shop and abandoned the place," says Zeke. "And that is fantastic! Because now I can buy the building and turn it into a spa – and it'll be made exclusively for spy agents."
"Wow, Zeke – that's amazing," I say, and he smiles gratefully.
We soon hear a horn blasting below us. We look down and see a black car. The window winds down and the agent waves up at us.
"Our ride is here," says Jenny. "Let's go."
We all head back down to ground level where more black cars appear. Jenny hands the formula to one of the agents and tells him to take it back to the rightful owner at the Cliffside Hotel and Spa in Cardigan. Then she climbs into the car and we all set off back to London – happy that we are all back to normal.