On Today's Episode: It's been a rough few days since Tim Scam escaped and murdered Nick's parents, but thankfully, W.O.O.H.P. is hot on his trail, and it seems like they've finally cornered the madman in a place all too familiar to Nick. The spies band together to head to Scam's lair to take him down for what he's done, but what devious tricks does the maniacal murderer have up his sleeves when they arrive, and are they somehow related to the schemes of another villain who's been biding their time, waiting for the right moment?
Act 4: Walk Forward Through the Cold Dawn
11:39 A.M. – Beverly Hills High School
A Few Days Later
"Hey, buddy," Bridget stated as she met up with Nick just as he was walking out of his science class, easily noticing how out of it he still was. "How are you feeling?"
"...about as well as I could be, I guess," Nick replied.
It had been a couple days since Nick's parents had been murdered by Tim Scam, and the spies were just waiting for their opportunity to find Scam and enact some well-deserved payback. Jerry and RiCO had advised the spies to just take it easy in the meantime while they searched for any sign of Scam.
"I'm pretty sure I know what you're thinking about," Bridget noted.
"...it's all I've been able to think about lately," Nick answered. "My mind has been playing dirty tricks on me ever since then, Bridget, and it's driving me up the wall, since Scam probably took his shot while we were busy rounding up Kandinsky, and I have this sinking feeling that that's part of why Kandinsky kept flitting all over the place, to distract us and leave mom and dad defenseless, and..."
"Stop," Bridget proclaimed, knowing exactly where Nick's train of thought was headed. "Don't say that it's your fault they died, Nick. That's just what Scam wants you to think. The only one to blame for this is that scumbag, nobody else."
Bridget leaned forward to stare directly at Nick. "We'll get him before too long, Nick," Bridget stated. "And he'll get his for everything he's done. I promise you that. And, well, I learned from someone very special to me that promises are made to be kept no matter what."
Despite his sadness, Nick couldn't help but crack a smile at how Bridget relayed the creed he always lived by.
"There we go," Bridget giggled. "There's the Nick I remember."
"I really don't know where I'd be without all of you," Nick admitted as he moved closer to hug Bridget.
"Hey, that's what friends are supposed to do, right?" Bridget responded. "We'll pick you up when you fall down, and if you ever do fall into the darkness, we'll yank you back into the light no matter how many times we have to."
Before Nick could answer, he heard another shouting match starting up nearby.
"Ooh, boy, it sounds like Clover's ranting at Mandy again," Bridget groaned.
"Let's go and put a stop to it, then," Nick replied, and the two of them rushed hand in hand towards the western hallway, where once again Clover and Mandy were getting into a rather heated argument, with Sam, Alex, Mat and May standing off to the side as usual.
"You're really getting on my case about my choice in skirt, Mandy?! Look at you!" Clover shouted.
"But mine's clearly superior, since I paid more for it than you probably did," Mandy cackled before noticing that Nick and Bridget had showed up. "Oh, and look what the cat regurgitated."
"Mandy, I'm only going to warn you once," Bridget retorted. "We're really not in any mood for your nonsense today, so either knock it off right now or I'm gonna yo-yo trip you again."
"Like you have the guts for something like that," Mandy quipped, just then noticing that Nick's expression was different than the last time. "And what's your problem, boy?"
The other spies all wanted to say something, knowing that Mandy was unknowingly treading on dangerous ground.
"You don't have your usual get up and go, it seems," Mandy stated. "In fact, you kinda look like someone died on your watch or something."
Bridget actually gasped in shock at that statement, quickly reaching for her yo-yos.
But Nick had finally had enough.
"I mean, come on, you're acting all gloomy and morose," Mandy taunted. "I didn't think you'd get so sketchy about..."
All of a sudden, Nick lunged forward, reaching out to grab Mandy by the shirt collar and yank her up.
"H-Hey, watch the shirt, it's a designer material!" Mandy gasped.
But Nick wasn't in the mood, harshly slamming Mandy back into the nearby lockers.
"Are your stupid 'designer clothes' all you freakin' care about, you heartless bitch?!" Nick shouted. "You're the one who just crossed a line with your selfish comments!"
"B-But I was just trying to get under your skin!" Mandy responded. "You never got upset about that before!"
"That's because you just had the gall to imply that I'm acting like this because, and I quote, 'someone died on your watch or something'," Nick snarled, his tone indicating that he was finally fed up with Mandy. "How about I refresh your memory, in case you didn't bother to read between the damn lines. Did you hear about that house explosion a couple days ago? That was my house. Some freakin' psychopath broke into my house and murdered my parents before blowing my home up to cover their tracks! And here you are, still spouting all your atypical teenage school nemesis bullshit because you just wanted to get a rise out of me when you don't even give a shit about what I've lost!"
Nick stared directly into Mandy's eyes, his rage clearly visible. "I lost both of my parents, Mandy," Nick growled. "I lost a part of my life than can never be replaced. And I'm seriously not in the mood to hear you flapping your stupid mouth when you clearly don't care in the slightest about anybody but yourself!"
Mandy could only look back silently as Nick let loose.
"So unless you actually want me to knock your stupid lights out right here and now, I'd recommend you shut the hell up and leave us alone," Nick proclaimed, on the verge of tears. "You have no idea what I've lost. It doesn't matter to me if your father walked out on you when you were young, at least you still have your father! Both of my parents are dead, and all you seem to care about is your stupid clothes!"
Nick wanted to do so much more, but he felt like he'd gotten his point across and let go of Mandy, causing her to fall to the ground in stunned silence.
"Maybe you need an attitude adjustment if this is how you treat people," Nick stated. "Think about that."
Having said everything he needed to, Nick stormed off with the other spies following him.
"...holy crapbaskets, Nick, I've never seen you that angry before," May quipped.
"I hate to say it, but Mandy totally deserved every word you shoved her way," Clover stated. "She clearly crossed a line with what she said."
"Are you... going to be all right, Nick?" Alex wondered. "I mean, I know you just kinda went off, and..."
"I just needed to get it out of my system," Nick responded. "And hopefully that got through to her that she needs to change her attitude, though I kind of doubt that."
Just then, a nearby trash can opened up by itself, and seven mechanical hands reached out to grab the spies and pull them in. Thankfully, nobody saw a thing.
12:04 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
Jerry's Office
When the spies all landed in Jerry's office, the first thing they noticed was that the viewscreen was displaying a tracking program, no doubt RiCO's scanners hard at work.
"I may never get used to the trash bin method," Clover chuckled, hoping to release some tension.
"Jerry, RiCO, I know that we said we'd be ready for anything, but I sincerely and seriously hope that you called us here because you have some news about Scam," Nick proclaimed.
"Thankfully, Nick, the answer is yes," Jerry responded.
"I've been tracking Scam's location for the past couple days, since he seems to have been trying to throw us off," RiCO explained. "But it seems like his signal has finally settled down somewhere in Mistralton, South Carolina."
"That... that bastard," Bridget growled. "Now he's going after our hometown, too?!"
"Is there really no low this freak won't sink to?" May gasped.
"He's one of our most heinous foes for that very reason," Sam admitted. "He seems to just keep finding new lows to sink to with each passing caper."
"I've already got your gadgets loaded and a Skyskimmer ready for you, so all you have to do is take off," RiCO stated.
"Good, because when I find that son of a bitch, he's gonna pay for everything he's done to me," Nick proclaimed. "Let's get moving, everyone."
That was all that needed to be said as the spies retrieved their gadgets and headed for their Skyskimmer, hoping to put a stop to whatever Scam had planned before he could wreak any more havoc than he already had.
While on the way there, Mat and Alex looked on at Nick a bit, mainly how he was holding up, and if the principal would not give him a punishment if he found out.
"I can't say I'd have reacted any differently if I were in your shoes, Nick," Mat replied, trying to get through to Nick.
"It's always hard when we lose someone we love, especially in situations like this," Alex noted.
That was when Jerry's visage appeared in the Skyskimmer.
"I'll take care of that debacle," Jerry told the others. "But, Nick, the principal's actions are out of my hands, be forewarned."
The spies kept up the flight, and Nick managed to get his blood pressure back down two notches to what a normal person's should be.
Alex couldn't help but scoot closer, wondering if there was something she could do to help her boyfriend out.
Nick looked back at her, and he simply leaned over to hug her as the Skyskimmer approached their destination.
2:00 P.M. – Mistralton, South Carolina
"Well, here we are," Sam quipped.
"Let's hope we aren't way beyond late," Bridget remarked.
"All our favorite hangouts better be intact," May stated.
"I hope so, too for your sake," Mat replied.
"It looks like everything's still like it should be," Bridget stated as she glanced around to make sure all of their favorite places were still there. "Oh, hey, the old café's still running!"
"Wait, you mean the one that we always used to go to on weekends as kids?" Nick gasped. "I thought the owner passed away a year ago?"
"I think their kid's running it now," May answered, looking around and seeing that the old tennis courts in the municipal park were also still standing.
"We have to go there and pick up some sweets when we're done here," Bridget quipped. "Trust me, everyone, you'd love it."
"RiCO, we certainly need your radar help," Sam emphasized as the spies began to make a break for who-knew-where.
"Already on it," RiCO stated from Sam's X-Powder.
"I never thought we'd be coming back here under these circumstances," Nick told the spies.
"And I think after this, I'm not ruling out a mission in Hawaii at all," Mat sighed in agreement with Nick.
"I almost hope that happens," Alex commented, knowing Hawaii was her dream destination.
Nick looked the most perplexed among everyone else.
"Tim Scam is approximately fifty yards ahead!" RiCO told the spy team.
"Just the news I wanted to hear," Nick sighed.
"We're in line after you, Nick," Bridget replied.
"Yes, your folks may as well have been our folks, too," May added.
When they got to the said destination, Nick, May, and Bridget were all surprised.
"You know this place?" Clover asked them.
"No doubt we do," May stated.
"Care to fill us in?" Sam requested.
"That's our old middle school," Nick responded, glancing over at Mistralton Advanced Middle School, which, like everything else here, was thankfully still intact. "Just what the hell is he doing here, of all places?"
"Oh, I felt like you might have wanted to get a little nostalgic."
The seven spies all spun around in their spot as Tim Scam walked up to them, still with that unbearably smug grin on his face.
"After all, everything you grew up with is still here, isn't it?" Scam chuckled. "But as for how long that'll last, well..."
"This is the only warning you're getting, Scam," Bridget growled, whipping out her yo-yos. "You keep talking smack and I will strangle you with my yo-yos."
"Like you'd have the guts," Scam taunted. "After all, the 'heroes' don't kill, am I right?"
"You're dangerously close to toeing that line, you monster," Alex shot back. "And when I'm the one who starts getting angry, that means you really screwed up."
"Now out with it, Scam!" Sam shouted. "What exactly is your game?! Why did you come here, of all places?!"
"I thought it was obvious," Scam quipped as he looked up towards the skies, clouds that were slowly turning dark as if foreshadowing a storm. "Not to be morbid, but I know many ways to kill someone. Flesh that burns, bones that break. But to break a man's spirit is to truly destroy them."
Scam turned back to the spies. "I wanted to see what would happen if I managed to break one of you little punks," Scam stated. "Simple, but highly effective, as you no doubt noticed."
And with those words, Nick had finally lost what little patience he had left, his psychic aura exploding to life around him so fiercely it actually cracked the concrete underneath him.
"So, let me get this straight, Scam," Nick growled. "You murdered my parents, destroyed my home, tried to turn me into a quivering mess... simply because you were curious?!"
"You said it, not me," Scam quipped, beginning to laugh maniacally...
...only for Nick to rocket forward and start rapid-fire punching Scam in the face, driving him backwards with each hit.
Not satisfied with just this, Nick ducked down and leg sweeped Scam off of his feet before kicking upwards to strike Scam in the back, then stepping a bit away to grab Scam by the ankles and powerslam him directly into the ground.
"Get up," Nick snarled. "I'm not done with you yet."
"Such bold words, little man," Scam taunted as he picked himself up, only to be forced to duck backwards when one of Bridget's Super Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos slashed through the air in front of him, just barely missing his face.
"I warned you," Bridget quipped, spinning her yo-yos around her before flinging them forward, only for Scam to grab the string connecting them.
Scam's moment of triumph was fleeting, however, as Bridget simply yanked her yo-yos back, causing Scam to stumble towards her and giving Bridget the perfect vantage point to land a wicked haymaker across Scam's face.
While Scam was stumbling backwards, May continued the combo by barging forward to shoulder-tackle Scam in the back, sending him tumbling right towards Alex, who now looked probably the angriest she'd ever been.
"Anger doesn't suit you, little girl," Scam stated.
"Well, you tried to hurt my boyfriend," Alex retorted. "In my eyes, that is unforgivable."
Before Scam could get another word in, Alex raised her left leg to kick Scam in a rather... personal area.
"Ouch," Nick chuckled.
"He deserved it," Alex quipped.
While Scam was stumbling from getting kicked in the lower deck, both Sam and Mat rushed in to attack, punching Scam from both sides before hitting him with four synchronized punches and kicks, then knocking him into the air with dual rising kicks.
Not wanting to be left out, Clover jumped into the air and thrust her right leg downwards, kicking Scam in the chest and sending him crashing back down to the ground.
"Now get your shit together for once in your freakin' life and give it up," Nick growled. "Because you do not want to know what I'm going to do to you if you keep doing this stupid runaround."
"A story for another time, I'm afraid," Scam laughed as he glanced back up towards the clouds. "I have an appointment with this city's destruction, after all."
With that said, Scam activated a device on his coat to teleport away before Nick could start wailing on him again.
"Damn you, Scam, don't you run away from me again!" Nick shouted. "I'm not done kicking your teeth in yet!"
"Um, I think we might have bigger problems to worry about," Bridget stated as she pointed towards the clouds.
Descending from the sky was a gigantic floating fortress shaped like a cauldron, and it actually looked intimidating silhouetted alongside the rain that was now beginning to fall over the city.
"Oh, that can't be any sort of good," Alex noted.
"What the heck is that supposed to be?!" Clover gasped.
"Whatever it is, Scam's gotta be holed up in there," Sam responded. "Which means we need to find our own way into that thing so we can stop whatever he's got planned for the city!"
"Well, all up who's going up, then," Nick quipped as everyone got close to him so he could raise his right hand and surround everyone with a large psychic bubble. Nick then aimed his hand to the sky, towards the fortress, causing the bubble to start floating towards the fortress.
Much to the spies' surprise, however, nothing on the outside of the fortress sprung to life to attack them. No laser cannons, no machine guns, no nothing.
"Wait, he's not trying to shoot us down?" Mat wondered.
"According to my scanners, the fortress apparently does have weapons along its outer shell, but none of them are active right now for whatever reason," RiCO answered from Nick's X-Powder.
"Then he's waiting for us," Alex replied. "How can we be sure it's not a trap?"
"Hey, sometimes you have to walk into the obvious trap to get somewhere," Clover chuckled. "Oh, the times we've had to deal with that before..."
"Hey, Nick?" May asked. "Are you gonna be okay? I know you're kinda high-strung right now, and for good reason, too, so..."
"As long as I have all of you by my side, I can endure," Nick responded. "Now let's get on that fortress, and let's wreck his shit."
"That's the idea," Bridget giggled as Nick guided the bubble towards what appeared to be an entrance to the fortress.
The spies all activated their Jetpack Backpacks as Nick dispelled the bubble so he could fire a Final Shine Attack from his hands that blasted a hole in the wall large enough for everyone to slip inside.
"Ooh, I don't like the look of this place," Alex noted, seeing that most of the metalworks on the inside of the fortress were colored a sinister and eerie shade of dark green.
"I'm more curious what all these conveyor belts are for," May wondered. "And for that matter, when the flip-truck did Scam have the time to build this freakin' thing?!"
"One of the great villain mysteries that'll probably never be solved," Mat chuckled.
"Well, thankfully, our satellites have finished mapping the place out, and it looks like the path northwest is the way to go," RiCO stated, displaying a digital map of the fortress on Nick's X-Powder.
"Then let's get moving, shall we?" Alex proclaimed.
Following RiCO's map of the fortress, the spies all set out to search for any sign of Scam or his big scheme, whatever he planned to use in this fortress.
"P...U..." Clover gagged. "I didn't know that it reeks in here!"
"Worse than the stink bombs that smell like rotten eggs," Mat added. "I totally sympathize, Clover!"
"Almost smells like Tim Scam hadn't taken a shower in at least a month or two," Bridget replied.
"We don't need to smell this stench," Sam emphasized and got out the Pouffy Pendant.
Everybody jumped on that bandwagon.
"Great, now I can breathe!" Alex exclaimed.
"Now we don't have to live like garbage dump employees," Nick sighed in relief.
"Or at least know what it's like to be one of them," Mat replied.
"Scam probably did this to make us turn back..." Bridget groaned. "Fat chance of that happening!"
"Careful, though," Sam remarked. "Something tells me this stench is only the tip of the iceberg."
"No doubt," Mat stated. "It smells like two dead bodies in here if not the stink bombs."
All of a sudden, a hatch on the nearby wall opened so that a mechanical claw could toss what appeared to be a bottle of corrosive acid their way.
Nick and Mat happened to see it out of the corner of their eyes and dove to save Alex and Sam respectively.
"Thanks, guys," Alex replied when they saw what had just happened.
"I've detected Tim Scam is not far away from you," RiCO stated, appearing on Sam's X-Powder.
"Just the news I was looking for," Nick replied.
After going through numerous parts, the spies finally found their way to a control room.
"And there's Tim Scam in the flesh!" May exclaimed.
"Allow me to beat the living daylights out of you first," Nick remarked, standing forward. "You don't want to know how many lines you've already crossed, Scam!"
"This ought to be one of the easiest duels I've ever been given..." Scam sneered, but Nick was having none of it.
"Oh, just stuff it down your craw, you son of a bitch!" Nick shouted as he rocketed forward to slug Scam in the face with a wicked right hook. While Scam was stumbling, Nick raised his hand, then snapped it down to psychically drive Scam to his knees.
"I'm just getting started, you monster," Nick growled as he jump-kicked Scam away.
"We can't let Nick have all the glory," Sam quipped to the others.
"I thought you'd never say that, Sammy," Clover added.
"Let's go help our buddy kick some faces in!" Bridget proclaimed as the rest of the spies moved to join Nick in the battle.
Scam jumped forward, throwing a pen towards Alex that split into a razor-sharp boomerang, but Bridget swung one of her yo-yos to deflect the boomerang harmlessly into a nearby wall.
May then lunged forward, but when Scam threw an explosive her way. She instead activated her Groovy Gravity Boots to jump to the ceiling and avoid the blast.
While Scam was distracted wondering how she'd done that, this gave Nick the perfect vantage point to send Scam flying into the opposite wall with a point-blank Final Shine Attack.
"It's going to take a lot more than a nasty stench to leave us away," Alex told Scam after they had subdued him.
"Consider this a draw!" Scam proclaimed as he obviously felt the impacts on his body in multiple places.
He then used a smoke bomb to get away.
Nick then heard a reminder beep on his X-Powder.
"Crapbaskets," Nick sighed. "It's time I learn my possible fate with the principal at Beverly High..."
"This could go either way, guys..." Bridget told the others. "Nick's NOT someone whose bad side you want to piss off."
The spies then made their way back to Beverly Hills High School to see how this would turn out for Nick.
3:27 P.M. – Beverly Hills High School
The air around them was appropriately tense as the spies all waited just outside the principal's office while Nick talked with her about what had happened with Mandy.
"I really hope Nick doesn't get in trouble for this," Sam quipped. "After all, Mandy was the one who tried to provoke him, and that was totally uncalled for."
"And considering everything else Nick's had to deal with in the past few days, too," Clover answered. "That's really the only reason why Nick snapped the way he did. He was already having a bad time and Mandy just made it worse."
Alex simply stared at the door to the principal's office...
...the door that was just now opening.
And judging by the way Nick was walking out of the office, reasonably calm instead of upset, seemed to be a good sign on how the talk had went.
"So... how'd it go, Nick?" May asked.
"Well, it went a lot better than I thought, honestly," Nick answered. "I explained everything to her, well, everything I could explain, and told her how Mandy was the one who set me off in the first place. Thankfully, she let me off with just a warning, since I didn't actually punch Mandy's lights out, even if I seriously wanted to. She just warned me not to do it again."
"Okay, good, that's a load off of my toad," Alex sighed in relief.
"And now that that's been taken care of, I think we'd better jet back to Mistralton as quickly as we can," Bridget quipped.
"Yeah, who knows what Scam's doing while we were dealing with this," Mat replied.
4:01 P.M. – Mistralton, South Carolina
Scam Fortress
Much to the spies' relief, nothing seemed to have changed when they returned to Mistralton, as the rain was still falling, the sky lit up by an occasional flash of lightning, and the Scam Fortress was still floating there ominously in the clouds.
"That's really strange," Clover noted as the spies all flew into the air and through the same hole they'd made before to get back inside the fortress. "He didn't do anything while we were back in Beverly?"
"I've got this odd feeling that he's waiting for us somewhere in here," Mat stated. "He probably wants to spring his secret weapon on us."
"It's almost like it's a rule for these kinds of villains, huh?" May quipped, before starting to think about what she'd just said. "...huh. 'Rules for villains'."
Before May could think any further on that, a large hatch suddenly opened beneath the spies that led down a long tunnel.
"Of course he would!" Sam shouted.
Before the spies could start falling, though, they all activated their Jetpack Backpacks to float there. Nick looked down and saw what appeared to be a ring-shaped arena at the bottom of the shaft, no doubt where Scam was waiting for them.
"I think he's extending an invitation," Nick quipped. "Let's accept it and put an end to this madness."
The others all nodded and followed Nick down the shaft until they reached the arena in question.
"Well, color me impressed, spies," Scam's voice echoed over loudspeakers. "You actually showed up."
"Why don't you just cut the crap and get your pasty keester out here so we can kick it a few thousand times?!" Bridget shouted. "You're going to pay for murdering Nick's parents, you monster!"
"Well, if you wanted so badly to rush to your demise, you dumb teenagers, then all you had to do was ask!" Scam laughed.
A hatch on the outer wall of the arena opened up, and Scam flew out of it, riding on a pod-like air bike with yellow armor, a dark blue-gray hull on the bottom, and an open cockpit, a single blue seat in its cockpit and rockets on the sides that were covered by blue, ellipsoid-shaped pieces of armor, a steering mechanism extending upward from the front of the vehicle, consisting of hand clutches covered in yellow armor with a windshield on the top of the front and an instrument panel on the back.
"Okay, was not expecting that," Alex admitted.
"Good, that means I surprised you," Scam laughed. "Behold, my new Marvelous Queen, the instrument of your demise!"
"Not just a little full of yourself, I see," Bridget sighed.
"I don't care how 'marvelous' your stupid little air bike is, we're going to trash it, and you!" Nick shouted, his psychic aura flaring to life around him.
"Then let us dance!" Scam cackled as the Marvelous Queen flew to just outside the ring of the arena and started charging at ludicrous speeds for the spies, forcing them to scatter in different directions so they wouldn't get blindsided.
After a few charges, the Marvelous Queen fired a pair of steel orbs that fired lasers between them to create a spiraling ring of lasers that attempted to box the spies in, but Nick destroyed the orbs with a few psychic bolts to dissipate the lasers.
"Gonna have to do better than that, Scam," Nick taunted.
"Oh, but I'm just getting started, you little punk," Scam proclaimed, turning the Marvelous Queen to face Alex and launching two grappling hooks from its front bumpers to grab her by the wrists.
"Oh, you can forget it!" Bridget retorted, swinging her Super Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos to sever the grappling hook cords from Alex, and just in time, as an electric shock had traveled down the cords.
"Thanks for saving my bacon, Bridget," Alex quipped.
"No prob, Alex," Bridget replied. "Now watch me school this cluck and his dumb air bike."
"Oh, I'm the one with the dumb contraption when you're the one using yo-yos?" Scam taunted as he flew the Marvelous Queen towards Bridget, only for her to slash her yo-yos across the side of the air bike, carving a bit of a gash into its armor.
"You were saying, you dipstick?" Bridget retorted as she started doing more yo-yo tricks, daring Scam to come closer.
To Bridget's amusement, Scam took the bait, forming a laser barrier around the front of the Marvelous Queen and slowly advancing on Bridget.
This left him wide open for Nick to slip behind the Marvelous Queen and blast it into a tailspin with a Final Shine Attack.
"Should have watched your backside, Scam," Nick quipped.
"You're acting awfully chipper for someone in your situation, boy," Scam chuckled.
"That's because this is where we're going to take you down and avenge my parents, you sick bastard!" Nick retorted, firing his Cyclone Blast Hairdryer to send the Marvelous Queen backwards.
Scam flew higher into the air and once again began charging across the arena, surrounding the Marvelous Queen with a laser barrier as he did so.
It seemed like Alex was unable to get out of the way of one charge in time, but she managed, ducking under the Marvelous Queen and firing an Electromagnetic Curling Iron into its underside and causing it to spin out of control.
This gave Nick the perfect opportunity to fly into the air and put the Marvelous Queen out of its misery with one last Final Shine Attack that wrecked the back half of the machine and caused Scam to go spinning out and crashing into a nearby wall.
Suddenly, the arena began to shake and rumble, with explosions going off every couple seconds.
"Wait, is the place self-destructing?!" May shouted. "Is Scam really that petty?!"
"It's only this room that's blowing up, but you still might want to escape quickly!" RiCO exclaimed from Nick's X-Powder.
Eventually, an explosion blew a hole in the arena floor that seemed to lead out of the fortress and back to Mistralton.
"I think that's our exit cue, everyone!" Nick shouted. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
The seven spies all flew through the hole and out of the Scam Fortress as more and more explosions tore the arena area apart, though thankfully the fortress itself was still intact and floating.
"Well, that was a lot more grand of an explosion than I thought it'd be," Alex quipped.
"I'm curious if he survived all of that," Mat replied.
"Let's worry about that in a bit," Sam stated. "We should probably go and see how the city's doing, just in case."
The spies all headed back into the city just to make sure that nothing else had been disturbed. The first place they checked out was the middle school, only for a random passerby to glance up to the dark rainclouds.
"Hey, what the heck is that?" the person gasped. "Is that a robot?"
"Wait, what?" Clover quipped as the spies looked upwards to see what the passerby had noticed, only to all stare in surprise and shock.
"...what the hell am I looking at?" May gasped.
"Ooh, I should have known that was way too easy," Nick groaned.
What were the spies so concerned about, you ask?
Descending from the underside of the Scam Fortress was a massive bipedal robot designed in Scam's likeness, with three radar dishes attached to its chest, spiked hands, and silver chrome plating.
The robot landed on the ground just outside the middle school and waved its arms as if issuing a challenge to the spies.
"This is where you die, you wretches!" Scam laughed, his voice echoing from the robot's cockpit. "My incredible Scam Diablo will flatten your precious city into nothing but dust in the wind!"
To punctuate his point, the Scam Diablo raised one of its fists, and before the spies could even make a move, slammed it down and smashed through the middle school building, tearing a massive hole in it and scattering debris in different directions.
"Oh, jeez!" Clover exclaimed. "There wasn't anybody in that building, was there?!"
"Thankfully, no," Bridget answered. "That building's been abandoned for a couple years now, right after Nick and I finished our time in middle school. Regardless, he's definitely gonna pay for that!"
Nick fired a Final Shine Attack into the Scam Diablo 's chest, only to notice that it didn't do much visible damage, no doubt due to the stronger armor plating.
"...well, crapbaskets," Nick sighed.
"Look at the people and how they flee in terror!" Scam laughed as he beheld random citizens running away from the Scam Diablo . "This city will be your tomb, spies!"
"We're not giving up that easily, nut for brains!" Alex shouted. "We've beaten worse than you!"
"Then, by all means, come at me!" Scam exclaimed as the Scam Diablo marched forward, stomping through what remained of the middle school to attack the spies.
"Everyone, scatter and search for a weak point!" Sam proclaimed.
The seven spies all split off in different directions to find a weak point on the Scam Diablo .
Nick fired a few psychic bolts at the Scam Diablo to draw its attention away from the others so they could figure out what they had to do.
Bridget slipped in closer and swung her Super Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos to slash at the Scam Diablo 's legs, and she was elated to see she'd done some noticeable damage even if it didn't stop the machine.
Sam and Mat both attacked the underside of one of the Scam Diablo 's arms as it lifted to attack May down below, noticing that the joints of the machine's limbs weren't as armored as the rest of the machine.
Just as Mat hit the underarm with a Laser Chapstick (basically a guy's version of the Laser Lipstick), the machine's right hand reached out to snatch Mat up before he could get away.
"Mat!" Sam shouted.
"You'll learn that you're the only one for me, Samantha," Scam proclaimed. "You'll see why when I crush this Hawaiian dish like an overripe apple!"
But before the Scam Diablo could start trying to crush Mat, Bridget flew towards the arm and slashed at it with her Super Elongated Titanium Yo-Yos, doing just enough damage to force the machine to release its death grip on Mat and allow Bridget to pull Mat to safety with her regular yo-yos.
"Oof, I did not want to be a crushed melon there," Mat sighed. "Thanks for saving me, Bridget."
"Always happy to help a friend," Bridget giggled.
"Everyone, the joints of the limbs are the weak spots!" Sam shouted. "Try attacking those to disable the robot!"
"You really think I'm just going to let you do that?!" Scam taunted as the Scam Diablo lifted itself into the air before coming back down with a tremendous stomp that rumbled the entire surrounding area, forcing Nick and May to take off into the sky again to avoid getting stumbled by the quake.
The Scam Diablo marched forward towards a crowd of people that had been attempting to escape from the machine, forcing Bridget to start leading them in a different direction that was away from the rampaging robot.
"Everyone, this way!" Bridget shouted. "Try to not go in the direction of the big robot thing!"
"You're wide open, you little yo-yo brat!" Scam cackled as the Scam Diablo threw a punch with its spiked fists directly at Bridget.
It seemed like Bridget wouldn't have enough time to get out of the way of the strike, but Nick placed himself in front of Bridget and projected a psychic barrier to block the punch, even if he visibly struggled with it due to the size of the machine.
"This isn't really getting us anywhere, is it?" Nick quipped. "I think I'm gonna need to go heavy-duty if we're going to beat this thing before it beats us, Bridget."
"...Nick, you're not gonna do what I think you're gonna do, are you?" Bridget wondered, knowing exactly what Nick was implying. "You remember what happened the last and only other time you did that, right?"
"I know the risks, Bridget, but if we don't stop this thing, Scam's going to destroy Mistralton," Nick responded. "And I don't want to lose anything else."
Bridget saw the look in Nick's eyes and knew he wouldn't be swayed, and she realized that he was right. This had to be done.
"Watch my back, Bridget," Nick stated.
"Always, Nick," Bridget answered, placing herself in front of Nick as he clenched his fists tightly and concentrated, his psychic aura intensifying around him.
Sam, Alex and Clover all continued to fly around the Scam Diablo , firing Laser Lipsticks at whatever point they could to keep it from escaping into the city.
"Hey, I think we're weakening its armor!" Alex noted.
"Now we just need to land a knockout blow before this gets dangerous," Mat noted.
"You brats really think just weakening my armor is going to stop me?!" Scam laughed. "You're really more foolish than I thought!"
Before Alex could come up with a retort, though, a bright flash of golden light caught everyone's attention.
They all turned back to the source of the flash, only to see...
"...Nick?" Alex gasped.
'Oh, please don't tell me he actually did it," May quipped.
Even Bridget looked behind her, just to be safe.
Nick was now surrounded by an utterly gigantic aura of pure golden light, almost like a stage curtain of energy instead of the simple body-glow it normally was. Nick's hands were surrounded by spheres of yellow light, and his eyes had changed from brown to a sharp golden yellow.
"I don't really care how much more your body glows, you can't stop me, boy!" Scam laughed as the Scam Diablo raised its foot to stomp on Bridget...
...only for Nick to shoot forward like a lightning bolt and actually punch the underside of the Scam Diablo 's foot, his boosted powers actually managing to knock the machine backwards.
As the Scam Diablo attempted to right itself, Nick charged again, forming a blade of psychic energy that sprouted from his right hand and slashing at the Scam Diablo 's chest, actually tearing a large gash in it.
"Whoa, did Nick... get supercharged or something?" Alex gasped.
The Scam Diablo tried to punch Nick out of the air, but he simply ducked under the punch and slashed upwards with his psychic blade, causing enough damage to slice the Scam Diablo 's arm clean off the rest of the machine.
"Wh-what is this?!" Scam shouted, clearly in disbelief.
"Oh, what, now you're scared?!" Nick retorted. "Maybe now you're realizing what you've unleashed?!"
Not letting Scam get his marbles together, Nick flew around the Scam Diablo and slashed at its other arm's connecting joint, severing that arm from the machine as well.
Nick then landed on the ground, dispelled his psychic blade, and fired off a much more powerful Final Shine Attack and swept it along the ground, blasting both of the Scam Diablo 's kneecaps and doing enough damage to destroy its legs, leaving the machine immobile and helpless.
"This... this can't be!" Scam exclaimed. "How can you damage my marvelous machine so badly?!"
Not in the mood to listen to Scam's rambling any further, Nick flew up into the sky, his right fist glowing brightly as well.
With one last battle cry, Nick shot back downwards and aimed for the Scam Diablo 's head, slamming his fist into it and discharging all of the power he'd gathered into his fist into the machine's head, crushing it handily and causing cracks to form along the rest of the machine.
Eventually, the Scam Diablo could take no more and exploded violently from the sheer force of Nick's final attack, turning it into nothing more than a mangled mess of parts and debris.
Scam himself bounced out of what remained of the cockpit, having wisely ejected before the machine exploded, covered in soot and ash from the machine's destruction.
"You wretches..." Scam groaned, attempting to pick himself up, only to see Nick landing right in front of him, his psychic aura still raging around him. "Oh, what are you going to do, kill me? You know you want to. Go ahead and take your vengeance for what I did. Just know that you'll be no better than me if you do that."
Nick said nothing, initially worrying the rest of the spies that he was actually going to consider that option.
"Oh, believe me, you really deserve much worse after what you did, Scam," Nick growled. "If there's anything you've proven with what you did today, it's that there is nothing redeemable about you, and there is nothing about you that can be saved. You're nothing but an irredeemable, unfixable monster."
Scam actually flinched back, really thinking that Nick was about to skewer him.
Instead, Nick simply raised his right hand and encased Scam in a psychic bubble.
"But that's not who I am, you freak," Nick stated. "If I'm being brutally honest, this world would be better off without you. But that's not for me to decide. I'd rather you simply keep on living so you can wallow in your failures, and just live the rest of your life knowing that you'll never defeat us, no matter what hare-brained scheme you come up with. That, Tim Scam, in my opinion, is a fate worse than any death I could possibly hand you."
Having said what he needed to, Nick flicked his right hand upwards to send the bubbled Scam off to a W.O.O.H.P. chopper that was passing by thanks to RiCO calling them during the fight.
The other spies all stepped closer to Nick, wondering if he was all right.
Nick simply looked back at them and smiled in his usual way.
At that precise moment, Nick's psychic aura suddenly disappeared and his eyes returned to their normal brown shade, just in time for Nick to suddenly collapse.
The last thing Nick saw as he fell into unconsciousness was his friends rushing to his side.
Somewhere far away from all of this, however, someone was watching the events unfold and looking back at their readouts.
Yes. Now was the time.
"We are just about ready to begin," they proclaimed, staring at the magnificent specimen in front of them, the one they'd worked so hard to complete over the course of these past few weeks. Helping those other villains escape to distract the spies with their own schemes had really helped.
"Soon enough, this world will know my wrath. After all..."
Professor Lasputin Zero stepped out of the shadows to smile wickedly at the progress he'd made.
"...nature always wins."
To be concluded...
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Next time...
Nick: Ugh... no, mom, I only had soup, I don't see why we should split the bill evenly...
Alex: Hey, I think he's waking up!
Nick: Hey, everyone, did I miss anything?
Bridget: I can't believe you can even joke right now.
Clover: And you're sure you're feeling okay? Jerry and RiCO checked you out while you were sleeping, and they pretty much gave you the all clear, but you've been asleep since seven-thirty last night.
Nick: Really, I'm feeling a lot better now, more so since we finally put that son of a bitch in his place. Hey, are we...
Bridget: Yeah, we're in the old bed and breakfast building. We decided to rest up here for the night so we could watch over you. Thank goodness it's the weekend so we don't have to worry about school for the moment.
May: So, since we've got some time to kill before we have to go back home, how about we show you guys around Mistralton?
Sam: I think we'll take you up on that offer. After all, you three know this town the best.
Bridget: Well, then, let's get explorin', next time on the final act of Totally Spies the Movie: Another Side, Another Story, "Always to New Horizons"!
Mat: Should I talk about what's coming up or not? Because I really want to commend the set and prop departments for the banger job they did, but at the same time, I don't want to spoil what's gonna happen...
Bridget: That's always the toughest part of these previews, trying to give a sense of what's coming without giving away too much. But yeah, if you thought the Scam battle was nuts, this final battle's gonna be even crazier.