7:39 P.M. – Unknown Location
She emerged through the portal she'd created with her cube into what could only be described as a long sewer tunnel.
Good. That meant it was still intact.
At least one good thing had come of her "education" over at that place. She could use the power inside of her cube to open what was essentially a tunnel sitting between the rifts of reality itself.
If she remembered correctly, the term they'd given it was "hyperdimensional pocket".
And as long as she could freely move between these pockets, then they wouldn't be able to trace her, considering that the doorway into a pocket only left a entrance and an exit signal, meaning it would take even them a lot of work to connect the trails.
Hopefully that would buy her enough time to find her way to freedom.
As she traveled through the hyperdimensional pocket, she couldn't help but think back on all of the friends she'd made in that place.
The friends she'd left behind in order to make her escape.
She knew she'd have to go back there to free them eventually.
But right now, her first priority was getting as far away as possible from that place so she could start searching for somebody who could help her.
After all, despite her admittedly awesome cube and all the nifty things it could do, she knew there was no way she could fight... him... all by herself.
She needed allies. And all of her friends at that place were still under his control.
And if he somehow managed to escape...
...well, to put it lightly, that would be the end of everything. Nothing would be able to stop him.
(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 90: Nautical Nasties
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: October 2nd, 2023
Story Summary: The one-hundred and twenty-third co-op project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, and episode ninety of our mission-based series Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Helga von Guggen and Doctor Fox are taking a third shot at their mutant project, and this time, they seem to have succeeded where past attempts have failed. Their new mutant commander, a stingray girl named Rei, is quite the formidable opponent, especially given her powers over water. Worse still, she hasn't actually been brainwashed, but she still believes the spies are a threat to her habitat thanks to Helga and Fox's lies. Can the spies find a way to expose Rei to the truth and defeat Helga and Fox, maybe with the help of another mutant friend of theirs?
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Well, we got season 8 started with the possibility of May Iwakura's last mission as a W.O.O.H.P. agent, along with the return of Natalie Valentine with her cheap perfumes. As it turns out, May will not be leaving W.O.O.H.P. after all. We hope you enjoy this next project – Nautical Nasties – and that you'll also be tuning in when we get to episode 100 of our Fanfiction series – our S8 finale. We've also got our seventh movie lined up already, which is titled Another Side, Another Story, but that's going to come much later. For now, here's The Blue Time Ranger for anything he'd like to say.
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: Eleven to go! Season eight of The New Adventures is rolling on, and for my first offering of the season, we've got the return of a certain pair who likes to make mutants that we haven't had to deal with for a while. They've got a new commander and new headaches for the spies to deal with, but we also might be seeing a mutant ally we haven't seen since season five. And as for the mysterious girl in the cold opens, you'll see soon enough. Like Mat said, we've also got another movie in the works! Yes, it's probably a lot sooner than expected, but let's just say I had an itch that needed to be scratched. I'll give some more details at the end of this, but for now, let's catch some waves! 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: Chased By the Current
12:45 P.M. – Santa Monica Beach
"SUCK IT, SOUJI!" May shouted as she did jumped a wave and did a stylish flip off of her surfboard before landing back on it, even winking towards Nick, who was recording her as May had asked.
"She's really got something against Souji when it comes to her surfing skills, huh?" Britney chuckled, the rest of the spies enjoying a relaxing day at Santa Monica Beach.
"Well, considering he used to be so much better at stuff like that when the Jellyfish Pirates were younger," Nozomi quipped. "May's probably laughing her keester off now that the shoe's on the other foot."
"Trust me, I can relate," Nick admitted. "There were a lot of things I wasn't good at in my youth that I am now. I'm forever thankful that swimming is one of them, because I couldn't swim for beans when I was a kid."
"Oh, yeah, Haruka told us some stories about that," Alex giggled.
Nick quickly glared Haruka's way as she tried to put on an innocent face. "...what, exactly, did you tell them?" Nick stated, hoping Haruka hadn't told them a certain story.
"Oh, nothing much," Haruka giggled, still having way too much fun getting a rise out of Nick.
Thankfully, Haruka decided to show some mercy and let Nick go out to surf with May while she told the spies other stories of Nick's youth that weren't as embarrassing.
"I still don't know why she loves doing that," May wondered.
"You'd think I'd know my oldest friend by this point in my life," Nick replied like he had so many times before.
All of a sudden, before May could start maneuvering her surfboard around, what appeared to be moving tendrils of water snaked around the board and yanked it underwater, almost taking May with it.
"W-what the hell?!" May gasped. "Tell me you saw that, Nick."
Nick instinctively used his psychic radar to scan the area for any sign of troublemakers, his senses eventually pinpointing something strange far out.
Before Nick could call out to the other spies, though, those strange tendrils of water came back and yanked May underwater as well, forcing Nick to submerge and swim after her.
Eventually, Nick caught sight of legs skimming the surface of the water before rushing forward to blast the tendrils apart and free May from their clutches. The two of them swam back to the surface to behold an interesting sight.
Floating there in the water just ahead of them was a girl who appeared to be about their age, with long, flowing light blue hair, slightly darker blue eyes, a rather nice figure dressed in what appeared to be a combination of a dress and a hoodie with stingray designs printed on it, and a long, pointed tail.
"...well, if that don't beat all," Nick quipped.
"I'll only give you this one chance," the stingray girl proclaimed. "My name is Rei, and I'm asking you to leave these waters."
"Um, lady, we were surfing here before you did whatever you did to try and abduct me," May retorted. "So don't try that with us."
"Well, can't say I didn't try," Rei sighed before rising out of the water, surrounded by a small whirlwind of water.
"Wait, now what's happening?!" May gasped.
Nick snatched May in his psychic hold and levitated them both out of the water just in time, as large bubbles had manifested underneath where they'd just been before exploding violently.
"You've got some nerve, you know," Nick stated.
Rei chose not to answer, simply aiming her hand for Nick and firing blades of concentrated water from her palms. Nick quickly raised a psychic barrier to protect both himself and May before firing a Final Shine Attack from his free hand that broke through the whirlwind and hit Rei in the chest, causing her to fall back into the water before swimming away rapidly.
"So, I officially have several questions," May quipped once Rei had vanished.
"It sadly looks like the rest of our beach trip will have to wait," Nick admitted. "Let's get back to dry land so we can round up the others and head to W.O.O.H.P., because I've got a feeling our rogues' gallery is involved somehow."
May nodded as they flew back towards the beach.
1:31 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
"Well, this is a surprise," Jerry admitted once all thirteen spies were in his office. "I'm still not used to all just coming here by yourselves."
"Let's make this quick, Jer, because I really want to stomp whoever's trying to ruin our beach day," Alex proclaimed.
"You said you ran into someone out there in the ocean, Nick?" Melissa asked.
"Yeah, and here's the weird part," Nick replied. "I think she might have been a mutant."
"Wait, you don't think..." Bridget quipped when she realized who might be responsible.
"And you would be right on the money, Bridget," RiCO stated as she materialized in the office, waving her hands to change the office viewscreen to a mugshot of both Helga von Guggen and Doctor Fox.
"Looks like they're going to 'third time's the charm' mentality," Sam chuckled.
"Even weirder still, this mutant lady had powers," May proclaimed, catching everyone's attention. "When we caught up with her, she attacked us with a bunch of water-based moves."
"You don't think he's behind this, do you?" Mat wondered.
"Thankfully, it's not Wavemaster, since he's still in custody," RiCO answered, the office viewscreen showing Wavemaster in his containment cell to prove RiCO's statement. "Regardless, I think you all should start investigating this further."
"Hey, don't start the fun without me!" a voice from outside proclaimed, and the spies all turned around just in time to see Sortiliena skid to a stop in the office.
"You're right on time, Sortiliena," Nick chuckled.
"Hey, the LAMOS are back on the attack, and that means that so am I," Sortiliena proclaimed. "Now let's go and find these dastardly jerks already, shall we?"
The spies all retrieved their gadgets and followed Sortiliena out of W.O.O.H.P. and back into Beverly Hills so they could start searching for Helga and Fox, and possibly figure out what Rei's deal was.
1:59 P.M. – Above the Skies
"So much for a beach day," Clover groaned.
"Was that what was going on?" Sortiliena wondered.
"Indeed it was," Nick stated. "Along with May catching a wave before Rei came calling."
The spies were in the Skyskimmer when they arrived over the spot where May had encountered Rei.
"These were the coordinates given," Sortiliena told the others.
"So, are we going down to check things out?" Melissa wondered.
"That's step one," Nick told Melissa. "Maybe that Rei girl could fill in the blanks."
"I just hope a déjà vu doesn't happen," May stated as she equipped her UPWATI.
She then leaped down into the wide ocean.
"Let's hope this won't be a wild goose chase," Mat remarked.
"I'm also picking up some readings via this radar," Sortiliena added.
"This might mean their hideout is underwater for a change," Sam told the others.
"Only one way to find out," Blaine quipped.
"It's likely not a wild goose chase though," Britney told Mat.
As everyone else began to drop down to the ocean, Sortiliena put in a request to RiCO to keep the Skyskimmer on autopilot and to bring it back to WOOHP if necessary.
"I've got control of the Skyskimmer, and it's on autopilot; I will transfer it back to WOOHP when ready," RiCO told Sortiliena.
"Just be careful of sharks or anything," Haruka told everyone.
"True there," Dawn commented.
Sortiliena was the last one in the water. They all then made a break for the underwater world.
"What's that?" May wondered, pointing about ten yards away.
"What do you see, May?" Bridget asked.
It turned out to be some light blue glowing substance.
"That's the same radiance I saw from that Rei girl," May told the others.
"I guess we found our clue, didn't we?" Clover wondered.
"We're far from done here, though," Sam deduced to Clover.
"There's gotta be more to it than that, though," Alex quipped. "I mean, the big question to me is, how does this Rei girl have her powers? I'm worried about what Helga and Fox might have spliced together this time for their sick experiments."
"Well, we're gonna shut it down regardless," Nick responded. "In the end, we always do."
"Oh, that's what you think."
A small drone moved through the water towards the spies, eventually stopping just in front of them to project a holographic image of Helga von Guggen and Doctor Fox, most likely from their secret lair.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, spies?" Fox chuckled. "I can't wait for you to see what we've got in store for you this time."
"In fact, I'm pretty sure you've already met our newest commander," Helga laughed. "She's quite the marvel, if you ask me."
"You wanna explain how you gave her hydrokinesis, or is that just not happening?" May taunted.
"It's the strangest thing, actually," Helga admitted. "When we were setting up our underwater base, Fox and I found a strange blue jewel piece lying on the ocean floor."
Now the spies were immediately on edge, as they realized it was most likely a shard of the manufactured nethicite that had granted Wavemaster his powers, though Nick was certain he'd completely destroyed that thing.
"Ah, it seems like you've dealt with that kind of thing before," Fox quipped. "It was a very small shard, say true, but look at what it did to our darling Rei."
"Now, we have better things to be doing right now, but we'll let you play with our commander for a while," Helga proclaimed as the drone flew away.
Bridget spun around just in time to see Rei swimming her way, managing to dodge her attack just in time.
"Okay, lady, that was low," Bridget taunted.
"Besides, I could sense you coming," Nick quipped. "You have to be a lot trickier than that to fool a psychic."
"I'm usually a lot stealthier than that," Rei responded, and the spies weren't really surprised to see that she could talk just fine underwater. "But just because you have psychic abilities doesn't mean you're going to stop me this time."
"Come on, Rei, you don't have to listen to those two nutballs," Alex stated. "Just because they created you doesn't mean that you have to do their every bidding, right?"
"But it's people like you who are threatening our habitat," Rei retorted. "And now that I have the power to do something about it, I won't stand for it."
Nick did a quick psychic radar scan, suspecting that Rei might have been brainwashed, but was surprised to find that there wasn't anything wrong with her mind. She genuinely believed what she had just said.
And now Nick knew that this was going to be that much harder, knowing he couldn't just throw out a psychic pulse and snap Rei out of brainwashing that wasn't there.
Rei didn't wait for anyone else to reply, swinging her hand and sending a blade of water towards the spies. Nick quickly raised a psychic barrier to block the water blade before retaliating with a Final Shine Attack.
Much to his surprise, however, Rei swiftly dodged it, gracefully swimming through the water and around the spies a few times to disorient them before swimming in closer to attack directly.
"This could be bad," Sortiliena admitted. "I may be pretty good at fighting underwater, but if Rei was mutated from a stingray or some other kind of aquatic animal, she's clearly got the advantage. This ocean is her element."
"Yeah, but speed is mine," Bridget quipped as she deactivated her UPWATI, equipped an Aqua Lips Waterproof Lipstick, and reached for her brooch. "Sonic Mode, online!"
When the light from Bridget's transformation had faded, she swam towards Rei at lightning speed, meeting the stingray woman blow for blow for a couple seconds before sideswiping her to send her off-balance.
Bridget swam back around and prepared to charge again, only for Rei to surround herself with a whirlwind of water that forced Bridget to back off.
Rei reached back, then clapped her hands together to send a barrage of exploding bubbles straight towards the spies that they all dodged as best they could.
"Dang it, this isn't working!" Melissa shouted. "She's clearly got the upper hand here!"
"What should we do, you guys?" Mat wondered.
"Simple," Rei retorted. "Get out of my ocean."
Rei spun around before slashing her hand upwards to send a concentration of exploding bubbles towards Mat...
...only for someone else to swim closer and swipe at Rei from behind, distracting her enough for the bubbles to explode before they got anywhere close to Mat.
"All right, who's the wise guy?" Rei growled as she spun around, looking for her new attacker.
"Oh, nobody special."
The new presence swam swiftly through the water and headbutted Rei in the back, causing her to stumble enough for the spies to get a good look at who had just saved their bacon.
It was a girl with light lavender hair, violet eyes, two long antennae sticking out of her head, a dress resembling lobster claws and shells, and a large lobster's tail sprouting from her back.
"Just somebody who doesn't appreciate troublemakers around my island," Siren proclaimed.
"Fancy seeing you here, Siren," Nick quipped, happy to see Siren was doing all right.
"Well, I saw a couple of strange mutants who didn't look familiar hanging out around the island, so I decided to investigate," Siren explained. "And lo and behold, I see little miss stingray here attacking you guys."
"You literally could not have popped in at a better time, Siren," Sortiliena proclaimed. "Most of us really aren't that built for underwater combat, so Rei's kinda showing us up."
"Always happy to assist," Siren replied before turning to face Rei. "Well, Rei, let's see how you fare against me."
"Gladly," Rei proclaimed as she and Siren swam forward to meet each other head on.
"I hope Siren is able to take this Rei character," Alex stated, knowing there was no time to ask that question.
"Sure she can," Britney deduced. "Besides, we are in need of someone of that caliber against her."
Both combatants ricocheted off each other as per drawing first blood.
Rei attempted to fire ice beams at Siren, but Siren was quick to dodge each shot adeptly.
"No... maybe double and triple the fun!" Rei seethed as she used her extra hand and both of her breasts as extra makeshift guns.
Siren continued to swim around, easily dodging the ice beams before taking advantage of a lull in Rei's attacks to charge in and whack Rei with a spinning attack from her lobster tail, sending Rei skidding backwards.
"Hey, the ocean may be your element, but it's mine, too," Siren quipped.
"You're a mutant like me, aren't you?" Rei responded.
"It would seem so," Siren replied, wondering what Rei was getting at.
"Then why aren't you attacking them?" Rei countered, gesturing to the spies.
"Because they're my friends," Siren answered. "And let's just say that you've been lied to."
Siren began swimming circles around Rei, hoping to confuse her.
"Ugh... you're not playing fair!" Rei growled.
"You're one to talk about 'playing fair', after all," Siren shot back.
"Totally!" May exclaimed from the sidelines.
She then used the Emergency Gadget Transporter to summon her anchor. After that, May hurled her anchor directly at Rei, who had just blown May's comment off.
"What you got is..." Rei started until she was directly hit by May's anchor.
"Perfect aim..." May emphasized as she recovered her anchor.
"Not what I had in mind..." Rei grumbled as she got up.
"Don't think for two seconds you're off the hook for earlier while I was surfing," May told her.
"Nasty and naughty to be still sour over something like that..." Rei commented.
"Telling us to leave the ocean when we've done nothing wrong is still a nasty thing to do," Sam added.
"Only the lifeguards can make that call on whether people have to leave or not," Clover stated matter-of-factly.
"Totally," Sam quipped.
"Oh, bah!" Rei scoffed.
"And you don't qualify as sea life either," Haruka added matter-of-factly as well.
Rei had overheard some communication from Helga and Dr. Fox.
"Forget them for now," Dr. Fox stated.
"Well, call this a draw then, spies..." Rei told them.
She then morphed into a bunch of bubbles and was gone in a matter of seconds.
"Of course she would do that..." Nick groaned.
"We better get moving and find her before she starts a round two on us unexpectedly," Blaine told the others.
Nick was already using his psychic radar around the wide ocean to pinpoint where Rei got to.
"Crazy creature, eh?" Alex commented.
"Tell me about it," Haruka stated.
"We need to head north," Nick told the spies.
The spies moved forward in their UPWATIs (Bridget had re-equipped hers) to that said location.
"We better be careful, spies," Sam told the others. "I'm willing to bet our next car wash battle that we might've swam into a trap..."
"I wouldn't put it past that," Melissa quipped.
"I think I see it," Mat told the others as a submarine was in front of them.
"Sounds like something we'd come in if we didn't use the UPWATIs," Clover commented.
Mat couldn't help but feel like this was a callback to the sunken ship or Bowser's sub in Super Mario 64.
"Is anybody picking up anything?" Nozomi wondered.
"Not from what I can tell," Nick quipped, using his psychic radar to make sure that nothing was trying to ambush them inside the submarine.
"So, what's been up with you guys lately?" Siren wondered, hoping to relieve some tension while they had the chance to.
"Well, for one thing, I got possessed by a psychic alien blob thing in another dimension," Nick chuckled. "Yeah, that was fun."
"Why do you all always seem to have the super-crazy adventures when other dimensions are involved?" Siren chuckled. She knew what Quantum Rifts were thanks to Jerry and RiCO, as they'd told her as much after checking in on Siren Island earlier, not too long after the whole 'Forgo Dreams' incident.
"Like the time when we helped one of Nick's dimensional counterparts defeat an evil-er and more successful version of Terrence?" Nozomi giggled. "Yeah, other dimensions usually hold the craziest capers for us."
"We really have to introduce you to Patty and Pirate Nick if they're ever in the neighborhood, Siren," May quipped. "You'd love them, methinks."
"Hey, I think I found something," Siren stated as she pointed towards what appeared to be a computer console near the front of the submarine.
But as soon as Sam tried to type something on it, the screen displayed a cartoonish version of Helga and Fox on it.
"Uh-uh-uh, you didn't say the magic word," a digitized recreation of Helga's voice laughed.
"Damn it all, I may be the smart one, but I hate this hacker crap," Sam groaned.
"That's what you've got me for," RiCO giggled.
Glad that their X-Powders had recently been upgraded to be waterproof, Nick swam over to the computer console and held his X-Powder up to it, allowing RiCO to hack into it and see if there was anything useful on it.
The computer screen suddenly displayed a bunch of different schematics and notes about Helga and Fox's latest attempts at creating mutant soldiers.
Naturally, the most detailed notes were on Rei, their new commander, who had been mutated from a regular stingray and implanted with a "shard of a strange blue gem", most likely a nethicite piece that had been left over after Wavemaster's defeat.
"It's so weird that they didn't actually brainwash her this time," Nozomi noted.
"Kinda sounds like they took advantage of a certain way of thinking," Sam quipped. "Rei said something about us 'threatening her habitat', so maybe Helga and Fox tricked her into thinking that we're a threat to her and her fellow mutants."
"That would galvanize people against something, to be fair," Alex replied.
Nick glanced out the nearby window, tensing up when he realized who was most likely approaching them.
"Uh-oh, I know that look," Bridget sighed. "Something wicked this way comes, Nick?"
"Yep, and it's approaching fast," Nick responded. "I say we get the hell out of this place!"
"No arguments there!" Britney exclaimed as the spies all ferried themselves out of the submarine.
It turned out they'd acted just in time, as almost the instant the spies were out of the submarine, a beam of ice blasted the sub, freezing it completely, before a giant crescent blade of water slashed through the sub, cutting it clean in half, and finally surrounded by exploding bubbles that decimated the remains.
"...okay, overkill much?!" Clover shouted.
"I think a lot of our rogues' gallery don't know the meaning of the word 'overkill'," May replied. "It's just a sad fact of life."
"I will do whatever I must to protect my ocean," Rei proclaimed as she swam closer to meet the spies. "I really wish I didn't have to do this, but sometimes direct action is the only way to get people to listen."
"Come on, Rei, you just said it yourself, we don't have to do this," Sortiliena pleaded. "Just listen to us and we can talk this out."
"Sorry, but that time's passed rather quickly," Rei countered, surrounding herself with an orbiting shield of large bubbles that she quickly froze with an ice beam to turn the bubbles into solid ice boulders that still orbited her.
"Okay, I gotta admit, that's clever," May quipped as she brought out her anchor.
Rei raised her hands to make the ice chunks bunch closer to her, effectively giving her a barrier.
"Oh, please," Nick taunted, firing a Final Shine Attack from his right hand that blasted apart a good chunk of Rei's barrier, followed by another Final Shine Attack that sent Rei backwards.
Not deterred just yet, Rei quickly righted herself and fired an ice beam at Nick, only for it to be deflected by a psychic bubble that Nick had surrounded himself with.
"You can't hide in there forever!" Rei exclaimed, moving closer to attack the bubble directly.
"That's your mistake for thinking I was hiding," Nick quipped before snapping his fingers to pop the bubble, the outward recoil blast destroying a good number of ice chunks and sending Rei reeling again.
"I'll give her this, she's persistent," Nozomi stated as she moved in to strike while Rei was reeling, sending her further back with a Sonic Disintegrator Boombox.
"Someone needs to stop her, quickly," Sam shouted. "I don't know how long we'll be able to keep this up!"
"Let me try something," Siren answered, swimming forward to meet Rei head-on.
Rei tried to counter with another crescent water blade, but Siren simply weaved around it before once again smacking Rei with her lobster tail, then swimming around and hitting her in the back.
"We're both mutants, you know!" Rei shouted. "We shouldn't be fighting each other!"
"That's right, we shouldn't," Siren countered. "I was mutated by the same two clucks that mutated you, and I've seen their plans multiple times already, so I know exactly why they're doing it. They don't want to protect the oceans, they just want an army of mutants to conquer the world.
"Y-You... you're lying!" Rei quickly retorted, but the stutter was a clear indication that she was confused.
And that gave Nick an idea on how to convince Rei that they were telling the truth.
"I'll teach you to fill my head with lies!" Rei shouted, swinging her hands wildly to fire multiple crescent water blades towards the spies.
Nick raised psychic barriers where he could to block the blades before dashing straight for Rei.
Before Rei could fire another ice beam from her hands, Nick reached out and placed his hand on Rei's head, focusing on linking his mind with hers so he could send some memories into her own mind.
The spies seemed to notice what Nick was doing and ceased their attack for the time being, hoping that this would yield some results.
After a couple seconds, Rei seemed to calm down, and even looked very conflicted about what she'd seen.
"Wh-what... what was..." Rei gasped.
"I shared some of my memories with you, since I'm a psychic," Nick responded. "I simply sent you some memories of the last few times we've had to deal with the people who mutated you into what you are now."
"...why would they..." Rei stuttered.
"Because they're bad guys," Alex replied. "They only care about their own self-interests, pretty much. And that includes making mutants out of ordinary animals to make an army."
"Like they tried to do to me," Siren stated.
"And if you need even more proof of what they've already done, just come with us," Sam proclaimed.
Rei knew that she couldn't argue with what Nick had shown her, as they were his memories, which meant he'd been there to witness these events.
In response, Rei simply nodded, and she followed the spies out of the water and back towards W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters.
3:45 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
Nick couldn't blame Rei for her wide-eyed shock as both Jerry and RiCO showed her video footage of both Helga and Fox's previous crimes, including the multiple times they'd tried to make a mutant army.
"So... they did lie to me," Rei stated.
"Villains like them tend to do scummy stuff like that, taking a noble cause and twisting it for their own end goals," Sortiliena admitted.
"They probably decided to make you think we were gonna mess up your own habitat so you'd fight us and keep us off of their trail," May responded. "That's one of many things our rogues' gallery really likes to do, now that I think about it."
"I know it's hard to admit it, Rei, but take it from someone else who was a victim of their plans," Siren quipped.
After a couple seconds of thought, Rei made her decision, and turned to face the rest of the spies.
"Where are they now?" Rei proclaimed. "Because I seriously have half a mind to make them pay for lying to me like that."
"You won't have to wait too much longer for that, Rei, because I'm actively searching for them right now," RiCO responded after materializing in the office. "It shouldn't take too long to find them."
Suddenly, an alarm went off in the office.
"Jerry, we're receiving a transmission!" RiCO shouted. "Putting it on screen now."
And sure enough, it was Helga and Fox, looking appropriately smug.
"Well, well, spies, you somehow escaped our death trap," Helga laughed. "I figured you would, given how stubborn you are. But how much longer do you think you can keep this up?"
"Yes, our darling Rei will eventually rip you to shreds, you know," Fox chuckled. "It's only a matter of time before she finds you and..."
"You two want to say that to my face?!" Rei shouted, a small whirlwind of water briefly surrounding her.
"W-wait a minute, Rei, what are you doing with them?!" Helga gasped.
"Oh, that's simple," Rei responded. "I'm going to be helping them cave your faces in for lying to me! You don't want to save my old habitat, you just want to destroy everything with your mutants!"
"I told you we should have brainwashed her when we had the chance," Fox groaned. "But you said we didn't need to do that this time!"
"Hey, it's not my fault you didn't put in something like that when we were mutating her!" Helga shot back.
"Okay, I'm cutting it off now, because this is just getting sad," RiCO quipped as she forcefully cut the transmission so they didn't have to hear the baddies' argument. "Regardless, I've pinpointed where they're transmitting from, and it looks like it's coming from a point deep in the ocean just to the northwest of where you all found that submarine."
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Alex proclaimed. "Let's go stomp on them a few times!"
"You're more than welcome to join us if you want, Rei," Nick stated. "I think your powers are gonna be very helpful in taking them down a few pegs."
"Count me in," Rei responded. "They just made this personal."
After getting a gadget refit, the spies all headed back out into the ocean, with Sortiliena and Siren right behind them and Rei leading the charge as they swam towards Helga and Fox's secret lair.
To be continued...
Next time...
Sortiliena: I believe we have found our destination!
Mat: It definitely looks the part.
Sam: I'd stay on guard, everyone. I have no idea what Helga and Fox have waiting for us here.
Siren: Oof, this is bringing back bad memories of my time in their labs.
Alex: Hey, we'll stop 'em. We always do, right?
Nick: Couldn't have said it better myself, sweetie.
Rei: How long have they been doing this?
Bridget: The mutant army thing? Only the past two times, but they've both had their own share of individual schemes for a while now.
Melissa: Trust me, if we listed them all, we'd be here all day.
Siren: Hey, I get to do the preview this time. Nice. Well, readers, our underwater adventures have only just begun, so don't miss the next act of Totally Spies: Nautical Nasties, "Dive Into the Deep"!
Rei: Wait, are they making copies of my hoodie over there?
Nick: Probably something to do with merchandise sales. Your hoodie is actually pretty cool-looking, if I'm honest.