2:17 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
"I saw that coming a mile away," Melissa chuckled when she saw that both Sam and Mat had already jumped into the pool. The spies had just returned from a trip to The Groove, and the weather had gotten real hot and humid real fast.
"Hey, it looks like it's gonna be one of those days," May admitted, using her X-Powder to change into her own swimsuit. "And when in Rome... well, you know the rest."
"Tell me about it, girl," Britney laughed.
"All right, then, who wants to hit the pool?!" Alex proclaimed, earning a loud affirmative from the rest of the spies.
But before they could change and head for the pool, a strange light appeared near the ceiling of the living room. Alex barely had time to reach for her X-Powder before she looked upwards and saw that it appeared to be a glass plate with cracks in it. Suddenly, that glass shattered outwards and a familiar purple glow surrounded the "doorway", the 'glass shards' hanging there in the air.
Before any of the spies could react, Ashley fell through the rift and onto the floor before the rift closed up just as quickly as it had appeared, the "glass shards" retreating to reform the "glass plate" before it disappeared.
"Okay, wasn't expecting that," Dawn quipped.
Nick quickly noticed that Ashley was carrying a large rifle in her hand, with an oddly-shaped spherical barrel and a glowing purple stone in the center that Nick recognized as the Phase Quartz he'd helped her mine in the Moonflow Tides.
That meant this could only be one thing.
"Wow, Ashley, you finally rebuilt the Dimensionator?" Bridget gasped.
"Yeah, and I went through what is essentially hell to do so," Ashley admitted. "But I won't bore you with the gritty details."
Ashley aimed the Dimensionator and fired, opening a Quantum Rift just ahead of her.
"I came here first because... well, I think you know what time it is," Ashley proclaimed.
(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 88: Dimensional Cataclysm
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: August 9th, 2023
Story Summary: The one-hundred and twentieth co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode eighty-eight of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. With the fully repaired Dimensionator finally in her grasp, Ashley is at last ready to take the fight to Emperor Terrence and his army, and the spies are coming along for the ride to ensure that the Emperor is truly defeated. But it won't be anywhere close to easy, as the Emperor is a formidable foe with a massive army of robots at his beck and call. Worse, the resistance that's fighting against the Emperor is in danger, having been spread too far and thin by the dimensional chaos. Can Ashley and the spies defeat Emperor Terrence and repair the fabric of the dimensions before reality itself falls apart?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, the time has come for us to bring down the curtain on our seventh season of The New Adventures. What started out as snow mission involving Doctor Gelee, then featured Jerry returning to W.O.O.H.P. following a temporary leave of absence, is now ending with a scene concerning the new Ashley OC that Nick introduced early on. When are the spies going to go back to Mali-U? Well, that may not be until around halfway through our eighth season – maybe earlier. That's right – we're having ANOTHER season coming up after our movie fic, Forgo Dreams. For now, we hope you enjoyed our last project, Grim Tide-ings, and that you're looking forward to this S7 finale. BTW, for those of you who may have seen the Maui fires on the news, I am perfectly fine – I don't even live on Maui FTR. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: And behold, we have reached the season seven finale! A lot of dimensional shenanigans have occurred this season, even if they've mostly been showing Ashley's search for a way to rebuild the Dimensionator. But now, Nick's dimensional counterpart is ready to stick it to Emperor Terrence, hopefully once and for all. I won't waste any more of your time, so let's bring season seven to its epic conclusion! 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?
Act 1: Round Up the Resistance
6:49 P.M. – Corson City, Megalopolis
Despite everything the spies had seen on their adventures, they were still shocked to see the state of the city that Ashley had brought them to with the Dimensionator. Megalopolis was nothing more than a shell of its former self, buildings that formerly stood tall in the skyline now cracked and listless, there was wreckage strewn everywhere across the city streets, and the atmosphere was pretty gloomy, no doubt given the low morale of everyone trying to fight back against Emperor Terrence and his army.
"Yikes, this place looks like it got hit by a meteor or something," Clover stated.
"Given what Emperor Terrence is capable of, you wouldn't be wrong in assuming that," Ashley admitted.
"At least there's still a city here, busted up as it is," Nick quipped, remembering the very first time the spies had traveled to an alternate dimension to take down an evil version of him. There, most of the cities around that area had been flattened completely with almost nothing left.
"I've got the feeling we're gonna be here for a while," May stated. Thankfully, the spies had put in a call to Jerry and RiCO before they'd crossed dimensions to let them know they'd be away for a while.
"I'd take it that the Emperor doesn't know we're here right now, right?" Alex asked. "What should we do in the meantime while we're waiting for him to show up?"
"We need to find where the rest of the resistance is holed up," Ashley responded. "I have no idea if they're still in Megalopolis or not, considering what's been happening."
Ashley glanced at her wrist device. "Glitch, can you scan the area for any resistance frequencies?" Ashley asked.
"Already on it!" Glitch answered.
It took about fifteen seconds of scanning, but Ashley eventually heard a voice trying to break through the local radio interference.
"Wh-who's trying to scan this frequency?" someone proclaimed.
"Captain Quantum, it's me, Ashley!" Ashley shouted, having clearly recognized the voice. "I didn't know you were still in the city!"
"Yeah, well, a lot of us hunkered down in the secret bunker when the Quantum Rifts started opening, since they only seem to be showing up in the sky, thankfully," Captain Quantum answered. "Where the hell are you, exactly?"
"I'm back in the city," Ashley explained. "When I shot the Dimensionator to keep it out of the Emperor's hands, I... I may have been the cause of all this. But, I repaired the Dimensionator during my travels, so I think we can fix this."
"Honestly, I'm just glad you're all right, Ashley," Captain Quantum responded. "You know where the bunker is, so you should probably hightail it over here before the Emperor gets wise."
"I'm on my way," Ashley stated as the feed cut out.
"I guess 'the bunker' is our next destination?" Sam wondered.
"That's where most of my friends in the resistance are holed up," Ashley responded. "It's thankfully only known to members, like me, so I can lead you to it. Follow me."
Ashley set out into the destroyed city with the spies following right behind her.
"It looks like some wildfire wiped this place out," Mat told the others.
"No doubt," Haruka stated in agreement.
"Believe me, what Emperor Terrence has done is way worse than a wildfire," Ashley told the spies.
"Is there anything in particular that we need to know, Ashley?" Nick wondered.
"What do you mean?" Ashley asked back.
"Have you told your friends or members about us?" Nick clarified.
"Oh, THAT kind of stuff!" Ashley gasped. "Yes, they all know about you; I told them right away."
"Good to know," Melissa quipped.
7:42 P.M. – Corson City, Megalopolis
The Bunker
"I've arrived, Captain Quantum," Ashley called out.
"Good to see you," Captain Quantum replied, just then noticing all thirteen of the spies and asked if this was the spy team Ashley was referring to.
"That's us," Sam answered.
After a rundown of names (along with hearing "fiancée" twice between Sam and Alex), there was some surprise of hearing Nick and Mat had two additional girlfriends.
"Well, we do appreciate the help regardless," Captain Quantum told the team.
"We'll spare you the details, but we're not 'cheating' or some sort with our fiancées," Mat pointed out.
"I'm sure you have quite a bit to tell us, right?" Haruka quipped.
"Yes, indeed," Captain Quantum stated, getting down to business right away.
"Well, we're listening," Nick remarked.
"I'm sure that Ashley here has told you the basics of what's happened here," Captain Quantum stated.
"That this dimension's Terrence got into a horrifying accident, got turned into a robot, and went ape-shucks on everything?" Clover replied. "That's the plot synopsis in a nutshell, basically."
"But Emperor Terrence didn't know that other dimensions even existed until he ransacked the artifact museum about two or three months ago," Ashley cut in. "That was where he discovered the existence of this W.O.O.H.P.'s final invention, the Dimensionator, a weapon that, as you no doubt already know, can open portals to different dimensions."
"We mobilized practically everyone currently in the resistance to protect the Dimensionator," Captain Quantum continued. "But the Emperor found it first, and sent most of us to other dimensions. We can consider ourselves incredibly lucky that most of us found our way back, and that the Emperor was getting flung through dimensions just like Ashley."
"Talk about serious," Bridget replied in complete shock.
"You see, you may be the best chance we have at taking down Emperor Terrence," Ashley added.
"And possibly save our future summer vacations, too," Clover commented.
"Oh, believe us," Captain Quantum remarked. "Everybody's future is in the balance here."
"So, what's the game plan exactly on stopping Emperor Terrence?" Britney asked.
"I can answer that," Ashley quipped.
The spies listened in.
"I'm sure you all know that the Emperor has a literal army of robots at his beck and call," Ashley stated. "I figure that, while the Emperor is still trying to find his way back, we should assault his tower, where he has a central beacon that allows him to control his army. We take that down, and we'll have one less problem hanging off of our backs."
"And the Emperor?" Melissa asked.
"...I'll let you know when I think of that," Ashley admitted.
"Hey, one step at a time, right?" Nick responded. "Let's just focus on cutting off his support first, so he'll have that much less to throw at us when we finally confront him."
"Say, are any of our counterparts here part of the resistance?" Alex wondered, only to immediately realize the answer when Ashley's expression turned solemn.
"...I wish I had something more reassuring to say, but... your counterparts here were victims of the Emperor's initial rampage," Ashley sighed, raising her wrist device. Glitch pulled up a casualty report from the initial attack, and the spies were slightly saddened to see that, indeed, their dimensional counterparts were victims. "Of our friend circle, I was the only one who survived."
"And that's why you're fighting so hard to topple Emperor Terrence, aside from the obvious reasons," May stated. "He made it personal by killing your friends, didn't he?"
"They'd want me to keep fighting the good fight," Ashley answered. "They wouldn't want me to fall into despair because of that. However, I do still wonder what could have become of me if I'd let my grief get the better of me..."
"Trust me, Ashley, I can relate," Nick responded, resting his hand on his counterpart's shoulder. "Our first trip to another dimension involved us taking down an evil dictator version of me who lost everyone he cared about and catapulted head-first into the darkness because of it. You've already proven you're stronger than he ever was."
Ashley couldn't help but smile at that.
"I was definitely lucky to have met you all," Ashley admitted. "Now let's go and take care of business. One way or the other, this long and drawn-out war ends today."
That proclamation was met with a chorus of cheers from everybody present in the bunker.
"Wait, I'm worried about something," Bridget stated. "Won't the Emperor find you guys if we're not around to draw his attention away?"
"Oh, I've got that covered," a very familiar voice answered.
One of the large viewscreens in the bunker flickered to life to display this dimension's version of RiCO.
"Ah, you're all a sight for these sore digital eyes of mine," Other RiCO proclaimed. "As for the Emperor finding us, there's no need to worry. I've got special firewall programs that redirect any signals this place gives off to other areas to keep the Emperor guessing. He hasn't found us yet."
"Then let's hope we can keep that streak going," Clover replied.
With that, Ashley and the spies set back out into Megalopolis to find Emperor Terrence's tower while the resistance continued to monitor the city from the safety of the bunker for any signs of trouble.
"All right, Ashley, you probably know this place better than we do, so can you take us to the Emperor's tower?" Mat asked.
"No problem," Ashley answered. "I've been there a few times before, doing what I can to disrupt his operations. I practically know it like the back of my hand."
"Lead the attack, then, fearless leader," Nick teased.
Ashley nodded in response, but the group had only made it a few feet into the remains of the entertainment district before she raised her hand, signaling for them to wait.
"Something wicked this way comes?" May wondered, bringing out her anchor.
"That's the feeling I'm getting, since I'm not a psychic like Nick is," Ashley responded, tapping on her wrist device to summon the Shock Ravager to her free hand.
And sure enough, a platoon of Emperor Terrence's robotic soldiers flew in and surrounded them.
"Yup," Ashley quipped.
"You will not resist further," one of the robots proclaimed in a monotone voice, bringing out a laser pistol from its inner arm. "You will be detained for the Emperor."
"Fat chance of that, roboto," May exclaimed. "Come on, everyone, let's commence with the beatdowns!"
And with that, the spies went to work attacking the robots.
One of the robots tried to shoot the ground underneath Clover, but Blaine was already on the offensive, firing the Boomerang Bazooka to keep the robots away until Ashley fired her Mag-Net Launcher to trap two of the robots in their place.
Nick flew into the air, psychically grabbing missiles fired from the robots and flinging them right back into their progenitors, and this allowed Ashley to switch to the Negotiator and blow up the robots with one well-placed missile each.
Eventually, the robots stopped showing up, leaving the spies to wonder if they were in the clear.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it, as Nick could now sense something else approaching quickly.
"Was that all of them for now?" Bridget wondered.
Nick quickly threw his hands outward to surround everyone with a large psychic bubble, and it turned out that he'd acted just in time, as a massive orange laser blast had thundered down from the sky, colliding with the bubble only to dissipate against it.
Nick glanced up into the sky and noticed who had just tried to blast them.
"Well, well, Emperor Terrence, we meet again," Nick taunted.
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you, boy," Emperor Terrence laughed as he floated down from the sky. "Oh, and look at this, you brought some friends with you this time. How convenient for me."
"You're going down today, 'emperor'," Clover proclaimed. "And when I say 'down', I mean all the way down, possibly into a scrap heap!"
"Oh, don't think you intimidate me," Emperor Terrence cackled. "You really think just the fourteen of you can defeat me where thousands more have failed?"
"We're not the same as the others," May retorted, hefting her anchor proudly. "We've got years of experience on our side, and we're specifically trained to deal with madmen like you."
"Watch your tone when you speak to your ruler, you little pirate brat," Emperor Terrence growled, advancing to attack May only to be blasted backwards by a Final Shine Attack courtesy of Nick.
"That's another thing you should know, by the way," Nick stated. "Insult my girlfriends in front of me at your own peril."
Emperor Terrence quickly recovered himself and prepared to go on the offensive. "I've been meaning to pay you back for that cheap shot in that pirate dimension, boy," Emperor Terrence proclaimed. "And it looks like, with all of your 'friends' here, I can pay you back with interest."
"Oh, if you want to throw down, Emperor, then by all freakin' means, let's throw down!" Nick shouted, his psychic aura flaring to life around him.
"You picked the wrong people to mess with, Emperor!" Haruka proclaimed.
"Oh, did I?" Emperor Terrence sneered.
Haruka and Nick were the first to exchange blows after Emperor Terrence immediately drew first blood on the fourteen spies.
"You shall fall like all the rest!" Emperor Terrence laughed as he flew forward, only to get trapped by a shot from Ashley's Mag-Net Launcher.
This gave Nick and Haruka the opportunity to get in close and start attacking, striking Emperor Terrence from both sides to daze him long enough to land four different strikes in perfect sync, then launching him into the air with dual leg lifts, and finishing by jumping high into the air and coming down with a double kick to the chest that sent Emperor Terrence crashing to the ground.
"Never gets old, does it?" Haruka giggled as she high-fived Nick.
"Your goose is cooked!" Bridget remarked. "You just don't know it yet... Sonic Mode, online!"
"Absolutely!" Clover exclaimed. "We'll turn you into 'Emperor Eggbrain' after we're done!"
Bridget was quick to dash in circles around the Emperor. Having built up a lot of kinetic energy, she executed her attack after Emperor Terrence executed several punches to try to stop her.
"I admit it has a nice ring to it, considering the Terrence back in our world is a petty loser!" Sam quipped.
"Agreed on that," Mat added.
The spies then went to battle on Emperor Terrence, but the Emperor had some tricks up his sleeve as well.
"Be ready, guys!" Sam told everyone.
"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve," May quipped, hurling her anchor like a makeshift boomerang.
Although Emperor Terrence managed to catch May's anchor via the chain, Nick put the odds in her favor via his psychic powers. He used his powers to make the anchor too hot for Emperor Terrence to handle. It was enough to make him let go and drop it, but Nick wasn't done yet. He then made May's anchor knock him on his backside.
"That's what we can offer," Nick quipped as he made May's anchor float back to her.
"I haven't begun to fight yet," Emperor Terrence sneered. "Now let me show you what I am capable of!"
Emperor Terrence floated into the air slightly before dashing down to the ground and punching it, unleashing a bright red shockwave that forced everyone nearby to scatter away.
"You're lucky that you're mostly robotic now, because that would have hurt otherwise," Bridget taunted.
"Benefits of my clearly superior cyborg body, my dear," Emperor Terrence quipped as he moved to attack Bridget, but she was still too fast for him to catch, causing him to turn his attention to the others.
After Terrence had cornered most of the spies, Captain Quantum and Ashley felt they had to help.
"I have an idea," Ashley told Captain Quantum.
As Emperor Terrence moved in, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a short-range field of electricity and unable to move.
The cause was revealed to be Ashley and Captain Quantum, having paired a group of Tesla Spikes and Ashley's Mass Inverter in order to make the Tesla Spikes float and entrap Emperor Terrence in the air.
"What is this tomfoolery?!" Emperor Terrence shouted.
"You keep underestimating all of us, that's what," Clover remarked.
As it turned out, Emperor Terrence did something he didn't plan on... retreating – for the time being, anyway.
"Great moves, guys," Mat quipped.
"It's the least we can do, of course," Captain Quantum stated.
"Absolutely," Ashley added.
"Makes you wonder if the LAMOS exist in this dimension," Alex told the others.
"I think that's a strong possibility," Britney remarked.
"We learned about those LAMOS," Ashley stated. "They ARE still running loose after Emperor Terrence broke them out."
"And they ARE also on board with Emperor Terrence here," Captain Quantum added.
"Knowing Emperor Terrence, he's retreating for his tower," Ashley added. "We'll get you there."
9:38 P.M. – Emperor Terrence's Tower
"This is it," Ashley stated.
"Careful though," Captain Quantum told the spies. "There are likely to be A LOT of booby traps in there."
"Wait, I just thought of something you told us before, Ashley," Melissa stated, catching Ashley's attention. "When you explained your situation to us way back when, you mentioned that Emperor Terrence had murdered all of the LAMOS after he was converted into a cyborg, right?"
"...about that," Captain Quantum sighed. "Remember how we said that the Emperor's tower is where he maintains his robot army?"
Ashley gestured to a line of conveyor belts full of robot parts and other assorted knickknacks. It didn't take long for the spies to put two and together, and they all gasped in shock when they made the connection.
"...he turned them into cyborgs, too?!" Alex gasped.
"He really did lose his mind when they turned him into a cyborg," May quipped. "Holy crapbaskets, Ashley, you were right, the LAMOS should have just let him die."
"The greatest mistake they could have possibly made in this or any dimension," Ashley stated. "Because their mistake was what caused all of this."
"That doesn't sound pleasant at all," Britney admitted.
"That's the understatement of the century," Captain Quantum responded. "So we might still have to deal with them before all of this is over."
"Wonderful, that's all we need," Sam groaned, knowing she'd likely be seeing Tim Scam at least once or twice before all of this was over.
"Um..." Alex stuttered.
Sam couldn't help but roll her eyes. "He's right in front of us, isn't he?" Sam sighed as the spies all looked just up ahead, and sure enough, standing there with a psychotic grin that looked even more unhinged on his current cyborg body, was this dimension's version of Tim Scam, most of his body robotic with the only organic parts being his hands.
"This is why we learn to study advice for heroes number two," Britney groaned.
"It's really an ongoing process," May noted.
"Well, well, spies, we meet again, it seems," Other Scam cackled. "Even if you're not the wretches I specifically remember, you'll definitely do."
"If you've got something to say, Scam, then say it to our faces," May challenged, hefting her anchor towards Other Scam.
"I really wish that I could have eradicated the lot of you myself and not left it up to Terrence, but hey, it looks like I've been granted a second chance at my greatest desire."
The instant Sam shuddered at the implications, both Nick and Mat stepped forward, Nick's psychic aura flaring to life around him.
"You take even one step towards my fiancée and you're going to get it, buddy boy," Mat taunted. "I'm already not in any mood for your bullcrap, especially considering we've got more pressing matters to deal with than flitting around with the likes of you."
"But why fight it, you little dish?" Other Scam laughed. "You, of all people in this great, wide multiverse, should know that Sam is destined to be my bride whether you like it or not. You really have no say in the matter."
"From what I can tell, you really haven't changed that much from the Scam we know," Nick proclaimed, his right hand glowing a bright green. "And that means we really have no compunctions against wailing on you like you deserve!"
As Other Scam made his advance, Nick immediately blasted him backwards with a Final Shine Attack, while Mat threw Electric Snare Bolas to trip him up and shock him into staying down.
"Now get up so we can stomp you back down," Nick stated.
"Oh, but you'll quickly see that I have many tricks that the Tim Scam you know probably doesn't," Other Scam laughed. "More specifically, tricks like this!"
Other Scam suddenly surrounded himself with a field of electricity that allowed him to break free of the Electric Snare Bolas and charge in to attack the spies.
Ashley, however, simply fired her Mass Inverter and caused Other Scam to start floating helplessly in the air. Naturally, Melissa and Dawn took advantage of this, bringing out a Helicopter Hand Fan and a Cyclone Blast Hairdryer, respectively, before taking to the air and flying around taking potshots at the floating Other Scam.
When Other Scam finally landed back on the ground, Nick started thrusting his hand forward to rapidly fire psychic bolts towards Other Scam, though each one seemed to miss wildly.
"Um, I'm not even dodging," Other Scam laughed. "Are you even trying to hit me?"
"No," Nick responded, knowing that this version of Scam hadn't seen this trick in action.
"What the hell do you mean by..." Other Scam quipped, only to then notice that all of the psychic bolts Nick had fired were currently surrounding him.
"This is why you keep an eye on the birdie," Nick retorted, clenching his fist so all the bolts he'd fired converged on Other Scam and exploded, knocking him to the ground.
"Now you'd better skedaddle before I personally come over there and smash that metal head of yours open," Sam growled. "And don't think I won't do it."
"I guess you can count yourself lucky that I have better things to be doing, like preparing for Emperor Terrence's ultimate conquest," Other Scam chuckled. "So we'll have to continue this little runaround some other time."
Ashley promptly shut Other Scam up by blasting him with a rocket from her Negotiator, sending Other Scam flying down a nearby hallway that he wisely retreated down.
"He definitely acts like our Scam," Blaine quipped.
"At least it's still fun to beat down on him," Bridget chuckled.
"Regardless, let's keep moving," Ashley responded. "I'd like to make it to the control center of this place before the Emperor makes an encore appearance."
"We'll see to it that happens," Mat replied to Ashley.
"And we should work fast," Nick added.
"I might have a bit of a start to an ultimate solution," Captain Quantum stated.
"We're listening," Clover replied.
"We're not too far off from the central station as well, which is basically the core of the tower," Captain Quantum stated. "Once we disable the control center for his robot army, we should find a way to collapse the tower just to make sure he can't just get the control beacon back online."
"So, disable the control beacon then smash the whole damn tower?" Bridget chuckled. "No complaints here."
"Sounds like a winner to me," Haruka quipped.
"Well, let's make this thing work," Ashley added. "I can take the lead since I know the full details of Captain Quantum's plan."
"Extra plus there," Mat commented.
The spies took off every which way with Ashley leading the way.
"At least we got a trip to The Groove out of the way before this happened," Clover told the others. "Just saying."
"We get ya," Bridget stated.
"If my guess is right, the Emperor is likely in his second favorite place – his study," Ashley told the others.
"The easy part should be destroying the control center," Captain Quantum added.
"No doubt," Alex remarked.
The spies came across a lot of entryways to other rooms.
"We gotta check all of these?!" Melissa chastised.
"Not at all," Ashley told them.
"Of course, you know this place well," Britney stated.
Captain Quantum had pointed out some hidden cameras that Nick had managed to sniff out and destroy with his psychic powers.
"I'll bet these are just a prelude," Nick told the others.
That was when an alarm had sounded, which Emperor Terrence heard.
"Hurry, guys!" May exclaimed.
Ashley was able to pinpoint the location of the control room. Captain Quantum was able to get to a nearby control panel and get the door closed and locked.
"That oughta hold him out there," Dawn quipped.
Just to be sure, Melissa fired an Electromagnetic Curling Iron around the edges of the door to seal it off.
The spies heard some banging from Emperor Terrence on the outside.
"You all handle the controls," Captain Quantum told the spies and Ashley.
"Are you sure?" Mat wondered.
"I'll be fine," Captain Quantum assured.
"Well, let's hear the plan, Ashley," Sam quipped.
"All right, Glitch, you're up," Ashley quipped, activating her wrist device and aiming it towards the control console. A crimson ball of light came from the device and flew into the computer system.
"Is Glitch an A.I.?" Alex wondered.
"Yeah, she's kinda like RiCO, except Glitch isn't a W.O.O.H.P. creation," Ashley explained. "A friend of mine helped me code and put Glitch together about a month before I joined W.O.O.H.P. here. She's also how I can access all of my weapons, since Glitch basically digitizes them and stores them in her own personal network until I need one."
"That sounds very useful," Nozomi noted.
"All clear, Ashley!" Glitch proclaimed as she returned to Ashley's wrist device. The instant she did, the computers making up the control center immediately shut themselves down thanks to Glitch's hacking.
Just to be extra sure, Nick then shot the computers with a Final Shine Attack, blasting them into unrecognizable pieces of scrap metal.
"There, now we can take our time knocking this place down," Nick quipped.
"You wretches are going to pay dearly for that!" Emperor Terrence shouted outside the room, still trying to beat down the door.
"Try and stop us," Clover taunted as the spies beat it out of the control center, following Ashley's directions to the tower's central core.
"Okay, so do we have to do anything particularly tricky to bring this place down on the Emperor's head?" May wondered.
"I'd say just blow up the central core itself and we should be good," Ashley responded. "And I have just the tool for the job. Glitch, Vortex Grenade!"
A small, spherical purple grenade appeared in Ashley's hand.
"You might want to get behind something," Ashley quipped. The spies and Captain Quantum all retreated to a safe distance as Ashley threw the Vortex Grenade towards the core of the tower. When the Vortex Grenade made contact, it exploded into what could only be described as a miniature black hole that swiftly consumed the core.
When the core had been swallowed up, Ashley snapped her fingers and the black hole vanished, immediately followed by the area around them beginning to rumble and shake.
"Guess that's our cue to hightail it, huh?" Britney stated.
"Pretty much," Ashley responded. "Let's get the heck out of dodge, people!"
The spies didn't need a second opinion, as they all filed out of the central core room and made for the closest pathway that would lead them out of the collapsing tower.
But as soon as they started running down the hallway, Emperor Terrence burst through a nearby wall, and he looked angry.
"Did you really think I was going to just let the lot of you waltz out of here after destroying what is clearly not your property?" Emperor Terrence laughed. "I think I need to teach you snot-nosed little brats a lesson about breaking what doesn't belong to you."
"Well, if it came from you, then you probably didn't deserve it, so there!" Alex taunted.
"Sorry, 'Emperor', but we'll have to make this quick, since we'd rather not get crushed by falling debris," Ashley stated. "Glitch, Bouncer!"
As Emperor Terrence attempted to attack, Ashley fired a shell from the Bouncer that exploded when it hit Emperor Terrence, and though he shrugged off the initial explosion, the blast fragmented into many more smaller explosions that kept him at bay long enough for the spies to turn and retreat.
"Is there any quick way out of here?" Haruka asked. "Because some of this collapsing debris is getting way too close for comfort!"
"Then allow me to make a new door," Nick quipped as he turned towards a nearby wall and blasted a sizable hole in it with a Final Shine Attack, enough for everybody to filter out and fly to a safe distance from the tower so they could watch it collapse (both Ashley and Captain Quantum had activated their Hoverboots to stay aloft).
"That was... oddly satisfying," May quipped. "But I highly doubt that was enough to take down the Emperor."
"He's survived collapsing buildings before," Ashley admitted. "He'll be back. But at least we've set him back for now."
"Any idea what we should do next?" Bridget wondered.
The answer to that came in the form of a static-y transmission from Ashley's wrist device.
"C-Can anyone read me?" the panicked voice shouted. "Myself and a band of resistance agents are trapped in the residential district and engaging with a member of the LAMOS! Any agent within transmission range, please hurry and assist!"
"Should have figured they're out and about again," Sam groaned. "Well, shall we go and help the resistance?"
"Music to my ears," Nick stated as the spies all took off towards the residential district, Ashley and Captain Quantum following closely behind.
To be continued...
Next time...
Sam: Hey, I think I see the agents!
Alex: Never fear, everyone, we're here to help!
Clover: And it just had to be you.
Other Geraldine: Yes, yes, it's good to see you, too. Now please be a good little spy and die already.
Melissa: Not on your life, you hag!
Ashley: I'll get the agents somewhere safe! You all just take care of business!
Nick: We'd be more than happy to.
Other Geraldine: This ought to be fun. How about I show you what I can do with this brilliant new cyborg body of mine?
Bridget: I think this wacko's gotta learn the meaning of "talk crap, get slapped". Let's get her, everyone!
Ashley: Well, readers, we've got more conflict coming next time, so make sure you tune in to the next act of Totally Spies: Dimensional Cataclysm, "Megalomania"!
Haruka: That's a very fitting title considering who we're dealing with.
Nick: ...May, what are you doing?
May: Keeping an eye on this scriptwriter.