6:34 P.M. - Kedaro Station, Cordelion
Rubicon Forge
"All right, so far, so good," Ashley stated as she continued making her way through the Kedaro Station. She'd initially worried that she would be forced to start shooting things, as she'd never been good at stealth, but Glitch had managed to allow her inside the station without much fuss.
Ashley glanced around, looking for any sign of the Rubicon Forge.
"Glitch, any updates?" Ashley asked.
"I'm still mapping out the station, but what I do know is that the Rubicon Forge appears to be on the lower levels of the station, in the underwater areas," Glitch answered.
"Yeah, that's definitely different from our Kedaro Station," Ashley quipped. "Keep your 'eyes' peeled for me, okay?"
"Roger!" Glitch replied.
Making sure she had access to her weapon transfer device just in case, Ashley walked down a flight of stairs, passing by a gaggle of workers on the way down. Thankfully, they didn't seem to notice her, as wrapped up in their work as they were.
Then again, I'm not even sure if any of these people are hostile or not, Ashley thought. I've been ambushed by Emperor Terrence's robots at practically every turn so far that I guess I'm just used to it.
After finding an elevator that would take her to the underwater levels of the base, Ashley pressed the button and let the elevator descend...
...only to jump back in fright when something swam towards her and crashed into the reinforced wall of the elevator tube, roared at her, then swam away almost as quickly as it had shown its face.
"W-w-w-wh-what the hell was that thing?!" Ashley shouted. "There was never anything like that at our Kedaro Station!"
"A native life form, maybe?" Glitch wondered.
"Oh, I highly doubt that," Ashley sighed, hoping that she wouldn't have to deal with that thing anytime soon.
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(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies: The New Adventures
Episode 85: Melee on Vacay
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: July 10th, 2023
Story Summary: The one-hundred and seventeenth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode eighty-five of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. A new hotel has opened up in Beverly Hills, but there's a bit of a problem, in that guests at the hotel are starting to fight with celebrities that are staying there. Naturally, the spies are suspicious that Captain Hayes is back on his usual nonsense, but this time, the good captain has recruited Sebastian Saga to stoke the fires of rage in the hotel's guests. But as the spies try to defuse the arguments going on, Mat and Melissa get caught up in some of the scuffles and get hurt bad enough to be taken off the mission. Can the spies defeat Captain Hayes and Sebastian and restore some civility to this new hotel, or is this the end of service?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, we're beginning #85 right now. Last time, we had Macker the Safecracker and a clone of Genesis dig up bad memories of Nick's slain parents while all hell broke loose around the Venice Boardwalk – after Alex and Haruka were rescued of course. What's going to happen today? Well, we're bringing back an enemy from the TV series that we haven't seen since our first season with A Getaway Gone Wrong for starters. In case you might've forgotten that one, it was Captain Hayes. Of course, in that one was when May confessed her feelings to Nick as well. Anyway, we're dealing with a SECOND enemy as well in Sebastian Saga, and I'm going to leave it at that. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: It's been a while since we've had to deal with the celebrity-obsessed Captain Hayes, all the way back to season one of The New Adventures, so we figured it was time to bring him back into the fold once again, and of course he's got a hotel as the hotspot for his latest scheme. We're getting close to the season finale, but for now, let's go and help some celebrities! ROLL IT!
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters or locations created by us truly for the story. Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
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Act 1: Hell in a Hotel
1:38 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
Summer was still here for the spies as they continued their summer vacation at their beach house. Currently, most of the spies were indoors; Alex had just made herself lunch, and Sam was having the same thing, too – sandwiches.
"Thanks, Alex," Sam stated as she sat down to have her lunch.
"No prob, Sammy," Alex replied.
"Mail call!" Clover called out when she saw Sam and Alex having lunch.
Sam and Alex sifted through the mail.
In the meantime, Britney and Haruka came to the kitchen to grab some snacks for some of the spies, who were enjoying some Mario Kart 64 races.
"AARRGGH!" Bridget chastised.
Currently, she, Nick, May, and Dawn were having a 4-player race in the 100cc Flower cup at Toad's Turnpike. Bridget was trying to get by Nick, but she was messed up by a semi-truck.
"Oh, thank goodness," Nick sighed in relief.
"Have I mentioned how much I freakin' hate the traffic in this level?!" Bridget exclaimed. "Is it only there to annoy the player?!"
"If that curdles your cheese, Bridget, you'd hate Moonview Highway in Mario Kart Wii," Nick chuckled. "That track is a pain in my..."
"BLUE SHELL, BITCH!" May shouted as the Blue Shell she'd thrown collided with Nick and sent his character into a tailspin.
"Thank you for that!" Dawn laughed as she took advantage to speed by Nick and right into the lead.
Blaine, Britney, and Haruka were on the sidelines and getting the next race.
"I'm surprised Mat isn't taking part," Blaine commented.
"Well, the little bit I heard is Mat does like Mario Kart," Nick told the others. "But he normally prefers doing the games by himself; he won't say no to a challenge... except..."
He looked outside to see the remaining two spies – Mat and Melissa – at the pool together. Some of the spies paused the game for a look themselves.
"Well, you have to give Mat credit for going into a line of work that does get up there in some notoriety or whatnot," Blaine commented.
"True," May replied.
They saw Mat and Melissa hand in hand – Mat in his swim shorts and Melissa in a multi-colored bikini – with their backs to the window; Mat and Melissa then ran and jumped in the pool together.
Nick looked on, still happy that Melissa found love, despite Mat already being engaged to Sam. Nick still vividly remembered the day that Melissa had told him that she'd fallen in love with Mat and her worry over what he'd think, considering the situation.
Inwardly, Nick wondered if that was the reason that Nozomi had wanted to reconnect with him, having seen Melissa work up the courage to confess her own feelings.
Looking back at Melissa and Mat and seeing how lovey-dovey they were being with each other, Nick couldn't help but smile. He knew that Mat was probably the perfect match for her, and he was happy for her.
"Great, now I want to swim..." Bridget groaned.
"Leave them be," Nick told Bridget. "I overheard Melissa and Mat agree to a pool date, and I'm very sure that's it."
"Well, that's a wash," Dawn commented.
Meanwhile...
Outside, Mat and Melissa were enjoying their pool date.
"Thanks again for agreeing to this, Mat," Melissa stated after they'd both resurfaced.
"Oh, my pleasure," Mat chuckled.
"And even though you're engaged to Sam... I love you, Mat," Melissa giggled.
"Love you, too, Melissa," Mat replied as they shared a hug and a kiss.
He couldn't help but feel like those same feelings he had towards Sam seemed to be reflecting with Melissa more than Britney, granted he and Britney hadn't gone out much since the first mission with Eugene Snit.
"I'm just glad that you gave me a chance, Mat," Melissa admitted. "I know I've said it a lot, but..."
"It's because it'd probably be a strange situation to many other people," Mat replied. "And we're not exactly normal ourselves, are we?"
"Too true," Melissa giggled as she leaned in to kiss Mat.
While this was happening, Haruka was taking pictures with her phone just in case.
"You know, sometimes, I wish you weren't already engaged," Melissa told Mat.
"You aren't in the way, you know," Mat chuckled. "Sam's okay with sharing, after all."
"That's definitely a relief," Melissa admitted.
"Besides, even after Sam and I tie the knot, I won't leave you out in the cold at all," Mat added.
That earned him another kiss.
"Um, what exactly are you doing?" Alex wondered when she noticed Haruka holding her phone up.
"Look at the lovebirds," Haruka giggled. "Aren't they just the most precious EEP..."
Just like clockwork, Nozomi reached out to drag Haruka off by her ear.
"And there it is," Nozomi quipped. "Seriously, can you just let lovebirds be lovebirds in this house for once?"
"But it's fuuuuuuuuuuuun," Haruka groaned.
"Well, good to see that hasn't changed," May laughed.
4:15 P.M. – Downtown Beverly Hills
"Wait, so where is this place again?" Nick wondered as Nozomi guided the thirteen spies through downtown Beverly Hills.
"It's just down Fifth Street!" Nozomi responded.
When they finally reached the place that Nozomi had been talking about, the spies couldn't help but be awed at the sight of the building in front of them.
"That's actually pretty glamorous, holy crapbaskets," Alex quipped.
"Yeah, it's been something they've been building here for a while, and they finally finished it about a month ago," Nozomi explained, gesturing towards the Into the Night Hotel in front of them. "Basically, they wanted to find a way to put the old Beverly Hills Hotel to shame."
"And it looks like it worked," Dawn chuckled.
"I kinda wish our one time at the Beverly Hills Hotel hadn't gotten ruined by Captain Hayes," Clover sighed. "His creep-o face was the one thing I didn't want to remember..."
"Even if it did have some upsides," May quipped as she scooted closer to Nick and smiled at him, remembering that the old hotel was where she'd finally confessed her own feelings for Nick.
As the spies discussed that particular mission, Nick suddenly tensed up in his spot.
"Is something wrong, Nick?" May wondered.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but I just picked up what sounds like a very heated argument coming from somewhere inside that hotel," Nick stated.
"...oh, lordy, you don't think..." Alex quipped, feeling a very strange case of déjà vu.
"Oh, it looks like you're already here," Jerry called out as his chopper approached the spies. "That means we can skip a few steps."
"Oh, what's up, Jerry?" Sam asked. "Is there another baddie on the loose?"
"And is he a certain celebrity-worshipping psycho that we haven't dealt with in a while?" Melissa quipped.
"You'd be right on both counts," RiCO responded, materializing inside the chopper so she could activate the viewscreen and show a mugshot of Captain Hayes.
"Whatever he's planning, it definitely can't be anything good," Mat stated.
"I've already got your gadgets loaded up and ready for you, so you just need to head inside the hotel and see what exactly the 'good' captain is up to," RiCO proclaimed, snapping her fingers to bring down a tray with the spies' Jetpack Backpacks, loaded with their gadgets.
Once everyone was properly equipped, the chopper flew back to headquarters so that the spies could head inside the Into the Night Hotel and figure out what exactly was going on.
Even as the spies gazed in awe at how fancy the inside of the building looked, Nick kept his psychic radar attuned, listening for any signs of approaching trouble.
"Things look normal for the moment," Dawn stated.
"Yeah, but the key words are 'for the moment'," Britney replied. "I'm sure the captain and/or his goons will be crashing the party any minute now."
"We'll be ready for 'em," Alex quipped. "We always are."
"Any sign of danger, Nick?" Melissa asked.
"I can hear more arguments going, but it doesn't look like there's any chaos in the hotel yet, though that's obviously subject to change," Nick responded. "Let's just stay on guard for now."
As the spies continued to explore the hotel, they suddenly heard footsteps coming their way. Expecting an attack, the spies all reached for a gadget to defend themselves with.
"Stand down, everyone," Nick proclaimed. "I know who that is."
Sure enough, it was Eri, who looked very happy to see the spies.
"We've gotta stop meeting like this, Eri," Nick teased as he kneeled down to hug Eri when she got close enough.
"I didn't know you were all here, too," Eri admitted. "Does that mean there's trouble?"
"It would seem so, sadly," May sighed dramatically. "Alas, a spy's work is never done."
"Is your mother all right, Eri?" Alex wondered. Eri's mother Emi was a very talented singer who had gotten wrapped up in some of the spies' capers.
"She's back in her room right now," Eri answered. "She's getting ready for a concert tonight."
"Maybe we'd better check that place out first," Nozomi quipped. "Just to make sure Emi's not in trouble."
"Stay close to us, okay, Eri?" Melissa stated.
Eri simply nodded, having been through situations like this before, and stayed right behind Nick as the spies followed her directions to the room where she and Emi were staying.
And sure enough, on their way there, a bunch of burly mooks dropped down from the ceiling to get in the spies' way, flanked by who else but Captain Hayes.
"Well, well, my darling spies, we meet again," Hayes chuckled. "It's definitely been a while, hasn't it?"
"Not long enough for our tastes, buddy," Alex quipped.
"And oh, look, you brought a friend with you," Hayes stated, glancing at Eri.
"You'd better stay away from my mother, jerk," Eri shot back. "You want me to slap you again?!"
"And she'll do it, too, if you give her a chance," Nick taunted, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "That, or we're going to kick your face in first. Take your pick, really."
"Tsk-tsk-tsk, always resorting to that..." Captain Hayes taunted.
"You'd better have made a pick, Captain Crock..." Mat retorted.
"My 'pick' is the latter," Hayes replied.
"And don't think you're off the hook for your botched hotel getaway either," Sam added.
"That's not my concern," Hayes retaliated.
"On the contrary, buddy boy, Sam has a VERY valid point!" Nick proclaimed.
"Those are the kinds of things that don't go away so easily!" Alex added.
"I think you mean you will go away so easily," Haynes sneered.
"After Nick's already picked up on your whacked out activity... I don't think so," Nozomi replied.
She then turned to Nick. "Let's go!"
Nick liked the sound of that, and he came forward to tag-team with Nozomi.
"Let's see how you two fare," Hayes cackled.
"Um, did you forget what I did to you last time?" Nozomi taunted as she and Nick lunged forward to strike, Nick elbowing Hayes in the chest to daze him, then backflipping over him so he wouldn't get in the way when Nozomi hopped onto her hands and started twirling around, her legs extended so that her spinning feet kicked Hayes in the face multiple times.
For the finale, Nozomi sprung upright and pounced on Hayes, driving him to the ground before stomping on his foot to make him jump right back up, after which Nick blasted him down the hallway with a Final Shine Attack.
"Checkmate, punk," Nick proclaimed.
After that was done, Nick felt he'd been sent down memory lane.
"Well, it seems I was a bit careless," Hayes growled. "No matter... your doom will come sooner than you think!"
With that, he just pressed a button at the front desk and he fell through the floor.
"Ugh... seems our rogues' gallery has this rule for villains down to a science," Haruka groaned.
"Unfortunately, yes," May admitted.
"No matter though," Mat quipped. "It doesn't mean that it's over just yet."
"What kind of 'arguments' did you hear, Nick?" Blaine wondered.
"A lot of expletives, for starters," Nick answered.
"I don't get it..." Sam commented. "Why would Captain Hayes have people fighting for no reason?"
"Actually, there's a legit reasoning of sorts," Nick remarked. "Eri said her mom is here, and when you add in multiple expletives, looks like Captain Hayes is looking for bloodbaths to ensue..."
"Like actual fistfights, you mean?" Melissa wondered.
"No doubt," Nick answered.
"And no doubt he wants praise for being the peacemaker," Britney deduced.
"This guy has C.W.S. written all over him!" Clover chastised.
The spies then heard some screams of anger from people nearby.
"I guess we don't have to wait long," Sam remarked.
"Let's get there, guys!" Bridget told everyone.
Thankfully, none of Hayes' mooks were in the way, giving the spies ample room to maneuver towards the source of the arguments.
When they passed by a room, a loud banging sound came from it, forcing the spies to take a step back, and just in time, too, as the door suddenly crashed open and two people spilled out of it, trading fisticuffs all the while.
"Yikes, that looks brutal," Clover quipped.
"Why are they fighting?" Dawn wondered. "Nick, can you catch anything from them?"
Nick used his psychic radar to determine what was happening, and he grimaced when he realized what was going on.
"Welp, it appears that both of our guests have been hypnotized," Nick quipped, waiting for a break in the fight to jump in and knock both patrons down with a psychic pulse.
When both patrons picked themselves up, they looked around in confusion before heading back into their rooms.
"So, if they were hypnotized, who's the one who's brain-bleaching them?" Sam wondered. "Because I don't think that's Hayes' shtick at all."
"That, my dear, would be me."
The spies all turned around as who else but Sebastian Saga appeared from the nearby hallway just up ahead, strumming on his guitar as he did so.
"Should have figured," Clover groaned.
"I'd have expected a nicer welcome than that," Sebastian laughed. "But it doesn't really matter now, does it? Our plan is already in motion, and there's really nothing you can do to stop it."
"All right, music man, that line's getting really old," Nick retorted, his psychic aura flaring to life around him. "You said that last time, too, when you busted out the giant robot to end all giant robots, and we still beat it. So I'd either start reading up on rules for villains number seven or prepare yourself for a beatdown."
"Oh, bring it," Sebastian taunted, bringing his guitar back before swinging it downwards to unleash a booming sound wave that pushed the spies a few feet back.
"Well, since you asked so nicely," Bridget quipped, reaching for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Once the light of her transformation had faded, Bridget was already on the move, rushing forward to yank Sebastian further down the hallway into a much more open, circular lobby so she could really cut loose.
Not giving Sebastian a chance to recover, Bridget started running circles around Sebastian to build up kinetic energy while Nick flew closer and distracted the mad musician by taking psychic potshots from the air.
"Stand still, you devils!" Sebastian shouted.
Bridget skidded to a stop, her suit glowing brightly.
"Well, you're saying that to a track star, which is kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?" Bridget quipped before snapping her fingers, expelling her gathered kinetic energy in the form of an emerald-green shockwave that blasted Sebastian away from her and right into a nearby wall.
"Well, it seems like I need a tune-up," Sebastian conceded, gathering what was left of his guitar and making a break for it. "This won't be the end of our performance, you wretches!"
"Well, at least now we know how Captain Hayes is getting these people to fight each other," Britney stated.
"Yeah, a lot of baddies are teaming up with baddies we really wouldn't expect them to lately," Nozomi noted. "Is that weird to anyone else?"
"Rules for villains, number ninety-seven," Haruka responded. "Always be open to a team-up, as you never know if another villain will compliment your own plans well."
"All right, then, let's keep moving, shall we?" Sam stated.
With that in mind, the spies continued moving through the hotel, following Eri's directions so they could find Emi's room and hopefully find her before she, too, fell to the chaos growing inside the hotel.
"Whoa, they even have a movie theater in this place?" Blaine gasped as they passed by said movie theater on their way. "Man, this hotel is definitely ritzier than the old place. Lord only knows how much it'd cost to stay here..."
Nozomi, meanwhile, suddenly had a warm and sunny smile on her face as she turned to Nick. "Hey, Nick, does that theater bring back some memories?" Nozomi asked.
"How could I ever forget?" Nick chuckled as the memory came rushing back to him. "It was in a theater like this one that you and I had our first kiss, after all."
"That must have been something else, huh?" May giggled.
"Yeah, it was during a particularly romantic moment in the movie, and I think Nick wanted to kiss me so badly, but he wasn't sure what I'd think, because I could see him fidgeting in his seat," Nozomi replied. "So, I leaned over and kissed him so he wouldn't have to worry, and what does he do when his brain reboots? He kissed me again!"
"Let's just say I got into the mood, and it kinda fit what we were watching," Nick quipped. "But that was definitely a way to make a first kiss memorable, that's for sure."
The trip eventually concluded in front of a slightly ritzier-looking room than the others had been, at least the ones they'd seen. Eri quickly ran towards the door, flinging it open and running into the room to search for her mother.
Thankfully, it appeared that Emi was perfectly fine, as evidenced by her walking into the area only to be hugged by her daughter.
"Is everything okay, Eri?" Emi asked, and only then did she see the spies standing there. "Oh, you're all here? Is there trouble afoot?"
"I don't know if you've heard what's been going on, Emi, but Captain Hayes is back in town, and he's teamed up with Sebastian to hypnotize the guests into fighting with celebrities," Alex explained.
"That ruffian's on the loose again?" Emi gasped.
"Sadly, most of our baddies don't learn their lesson," Haruka sighed.
"And on that note, Emi, we should probably get you and Eri somewhere safe before Hayes or Sebastian makes a house call," Melissa proclaimed.
"Um..." Alex sighed.
"...they're right behind us, aren't they?" Melissa groaned. She turned around, and sure enough, both Captain Hayes and Sebastian were standing just outside the room with a group of mooks backing them up. "...advice for heroes number two, Melissa."
"Indeed," Sebastian cackled as the mooks began to advance.
Mat was quick to come forward and tackle Melissa out of the way before the mooks could even commence an attack.
"Appreciate it," Melissa giggled to Mat.
The mooks did not stop and went for the other eleven spies anyway. Sebastian and Captain Hayes just watched in full confidence.
"This shouldn't be a problem, right?" Nick told everyone.
"No doubt," Bridget stated.
"Let's get these spodes outta here!" Haruka exclaimed as she and Bridget shared a look.
"You betcha," Bridget quipped. "Sonic Mode, online!"
Haruka extended her hand as Bridget ran by so the track star could take it, and while they ran, they did a circle around another group of mooks.
Eventually, Bridget turned around and threw Haruka towards the mooks, Haruka lashing out with a spinning kick to knock the mooks down into a pile.
"STRIKE!" Nozomi shouted.
"Nice job, girls!" Dawn exclaimed.
"I think it's time we triple-teamed," Sam told Alex and Clover.
"I'm all for it, Sammy," Alex quipped.
"Don't need to even ask me," Clover added.
"Try us, ladies!" one of the mooks cackled.
"Don't mind if we do," Alex chuckled as Sam and Clover ferried her into the air so she could equip a Metal Masher Boxing Glove and pound the ground in the center of the mooks when she landed, scattering them enough for Clover to lasso a couple of them with her Expandable Cable Bungee Belt and swing them around to topple other mooks.
Sam finished the team attack by whipping out a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer and firing, turning the blast around to knock the remaining mooks down.
"Never gets old, does it?" Alex giggled as she, Sam and Clover all high-fived each other.
The more the army of mooks began dissipating, the more shocked Sebastian and Captain Hayes began to get.
"You said they'd be dealt with!" Captain Hayes shouted to Sebastian.
"Hence why I have a plan B waiting in the wings," Sebastian told Hayes.
"Well it better work, because we need to stop this unfairly big spy team!" Hayes chastised. "I wasn't successful the last time after all!"
"Believe us when we say it WON'T work for either of ya!" Blaine remarked, overhearing them.
Sebastian and Captain Hayes looked to see that the army of mooks was defeated – ALL of them.
"And now it's your turn!" May exclaimed and hurled her anchor at the two villains.
They were not able to get out of the way in time, and May's anchor provided a direct hit.
"That ought to get you whooped up good enough," May remarked. "But call that a prelude because I'm not done!"
"And you're answering to Alex and me for getting us sucked into your underwater hotel scheme!" Britney added. (A/N: Remember S5's Evil Hotel?)
"Even if it may have been dumb luck by you!" Alex exclaimed, remembering that one.
"On the contrary, you'll have to stop something else instead..." Hayes sneered.
Sebastian managed to fire a gun, and screams were immediately heard.
"Hyper Raves are back with a bloodbath taste," Sebastian sneered maniacally as he and Captain Hayes disappeared through another hole in the floor.
"That's getting really annoying..." Dawn groaned.
"Now those screams can only mean one thing: more brawls are breaking out," Sam remarked.
"No doubt," Britney quipped.
"And that means we'd probably better hurry and stop them before this gets any messier," Melissa stated. "Let's get going, you guys. Eri, Emi, stay close to us, okay? We're probably gonna have to get you out of the hotel before we can get you to safety."
"Got it!" Eri responded.
The spies all continued making their way through the hotel, breaking up arguments and beating down mooks where they could.
"Okay, does anyone think we're not really getting anywhere?" Britney quipped.
"The trouble just keeps ramping up, really," Alex noted.
"Then that means we're gonna have to find Sebastian and the Captain and take them down," Clover proclaimed.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did we miss our cue?"
The spies turned around and noticed both Sebastian and Hayes standing there.
"Oh, you're back already?" Mat taunted. "I guess you're in the mood for another butt-kicking?"
"I've kinda already had enough of that, thank you very much," Hayes quipped. "In fact, I've kind of had enough of the lot of you as well."
"Well, isn't that just too bad," Nick taunted, raising his right hand to charge up a Final Shine Attack. "So either get out of our way, or you're gonna get it."
In retrospect, Nick wished he'd have acted a bit faster.
Instead of backing down, Sebastian raised his mechanical hand and launched it forward, much like he'd done in Tokyo, to snatch Melissa by the shoulder and drag her towards him.
Nick was about to on the offensive until he heard a loud and painful scream from Melissa.
He dared to look up at what had just happened, only to see Sebastian using his non-metal hand to stab Melissa in the shoulder with a knife.
Before the spies could shake off their shock, Hayes threw something that wrapped around Mat's waist and bound his arms so he couldn't move, which allowed one of Sebastian's mooks, who had stayed hidden (Nick hadn't sensed the mook due to his shock over what happened to Melissa) to lunge from the shadows and hit Mat with a devastating right hook to the shoulder, causing him to fall to his knees in pain as well.
"That's two down," Sebastian cackled. "Would anyone else like to step up and get 'wrecked', as the kids say?"
Hayes suddenly took a step backwards, his body shaking slightly.
"Hey, what's got you so worked up?" Sebastian wondered. "We just took down two of those wretches, right?"
Hayes, instead of using words, simply pointed to both Sam, who now looked like she was ready to murder something, and Nick, who held a similar murderous expression, and whose psychic aura was flaring up fiercely.
Even Eri and Emi, who already knew about Nick's psychic powers thanks to getting entangled in the spies' capers a few times, were surprised to see Nick like this.
They wisely stepped to the side.
"You have no idea what you two just stepped in," Nick snarled.
"That was my fiancée you just hurt," Sam growled.
"And that was my sister you just stabbed," Nick proclaimed. "Now, what's the golden rule of things you don't ever do around me?"
Both Hayes and Sebastian turned around and attempted to run, only for Nick to raise his hand and project a psychic barrier right in front of them, stopping their retreat cold.
"Oh, right, I remember now," Nick stated, his hands glowing brightly. "Nobody hurts my family and lives to brag about it. Sam, let's hurt them."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Sam responded as she and Nick charged in tandem towards the two villains.
Sebastian attempted to blast them with a laser beam from his metal hand, but Nick simply projected another barrier to deflect the shot, then jumped over Sebastian and fired a point-blank Final Shine Attack downwards to smash him into the ground.
Sam, meanwhile, spun around Hayes' feeble attempts to punch her before kicking him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground in front of the other spies.
"Really, Sam?" Hayes quipped as he picked himself up.
Suddenly, Eri started moving towards Hayes.
"Eri, get back! It's not safe right now!" Alex gasped.
"Oh, and what do you think you're going to accomplish?" Hayes laughed.
Eri responded to that by taking a step back before lunging forward with a straight punch that actually hit Hayes in the groin, sending him crumpling right back to the ground.
"...is it me, or was that incredibly satisfying to watch?" Bridget quipped.
"He deserved it," Eri replied.
Nick took advantage by grabbing Hayes in his psychic hold and tossing him into Sebastian.
"Now unless you want us to send you both back to the containment facility in body casts, I suggest you beat it," Nick growled. "Because trust me, you don't want that."
That was enough to get Sebastian and Hayes to run away.
"Please tell me their okay, RiCO," Britney gasped as she helped Mat get to his feet while Nozomi did the same thing for Melissa.
"According to my scans, Mat's arm might be fractured, but not broken, and Melissa's wound isn't too deep," RiCO answered after her scans. "Regardless, you should probably get them both back to headquarters so we can treat them."
"Britney and I will take care of that," Nozomi stated. "We'll get them back to HQ and rejoin you when we can. You all just find those two bad guys and give them some lumps for us, 'kay?"
"Oh, you better believe we will," Sam growled.
While Britney and Nozomi helped Mat and Melissa to leave the hotel, the remaining nine spies, with Eri and Emi close behind them, continued down the nearby hallway so they could find Hayes and Sebastian and administer some well-deserved revengeance.
To be continued...
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Next time...
Alex: They can't be this difficult to find, can they?
Bridget: You think they're trying to stay out of Nick's radar range?
Dawn: That, or maybe it's just harder to lock onto them specifically because of all the people in this hotel.
Nick: They probably don't want to get me any angrier than I already am, because when I find those two, I'm going to tear them apart.
May: Count me in, too, Nick. I swear, I'm going to bean them good when we get our hands on them.
Eri: Hey, what's that?
May: Ladies, gentlemen, and spies aplenty, I believe we have found a clue.
Clover: What exactly are they planning to do with this?
Nick: No clue, Clover, but we'd better hurry and figure it out, next time on Totally Spies: Melee on Vacay, "Song of Destruction"!
Melissa: You don't have to freak out, okay, Nick? I know how real it looks.
Nick: That just means the makeup department did their job. I just wish they didn't do it so well sometimes...