Totally Spies: Clover's Totally Fabulous Birthday
Chapter 7
Jerry landed the helicopter in the middle of The Groove and met up with the spies along with Britney, Dean and Blaine.
"Thanks for coming, Jerry," Sam said in appreciation.
"My pleasure, Sam," Jerry responded. "So, it would seem that Mandy has gone spy-sassin again along with two others, is that right?"
"Yep," Sam groaned. "Right over there."
Sam pointed to Mandy, Mindy and Phoebe who were tied up and gagged.
"My word," Jerry said in surprise.
"Tell me about it," Clover groaned.
"Are you girls alright?!" Britney asked urgently.
"We're fine, Britney, thanks," Alex said in appreciation.
"What happened here?" Dean asked.
"Am I to assume that The Inventor is behind this?" Jerry inquired.
"No," Clover answered. "Mandy said that she and her lackeys were working for some… 'mistress' of theirs."
"Mistress," Jerry said in surprise. "And who do you think they might have been referring to?"
"Who knows?" Alex said with a shrug.
"All we know is that they tried to kill us and take Clover hostage," Sam explained.
"They didn't even say what their 'mistress' wanted with her," Alex added. "Or why they wanted the rest of us dead."
"Someone is clearly after me again, that's for sure," Clover chimed in. "And on my birthday of all days."
"Oh my, that does sound serious," Jerry commented.
"I'm really sorry, Clover," Blaine spoke up with a guilty look. "I should have gone with you guys instead of staying at your penthouse. Maybe I could have helped."
"That's sweet of you to say, Blaine," Clover said with a smile. "But it's really ok. None of us had any idea we were about to be ambushed."
"Well, that makes me feel slightly less terrible, I guess," Blaine said.
"Well, in any case…," Jerry spoke, getting their attention. "I'll have to take Mandy and her family back to WOOHP headquarters to administer the spy-sassin antidote. Then we'll drop them off in Mandy's dorm room."
"Wait!" Sam said suddenly. "Maybe you should wait on that, Jerr."
"And why is that?" Jerry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because, I'm willing to bet that Mandy, Mindy and Phoebe were infected by the SUDS while they were in her dorm room," Sam surmised. "If we search around, maybe we might find a clue or two as to whoever might be behind this."
"Good idea, Sammy," Alex agreed.
"Snooping through Mandy's dorm room on my birthday?" Clover said with a big smirk. "This is too good to be true."
Clover noticed everyone staring at her.
"Of course, we also really need to find out who sent Mandy and her lackeys to attack us," Clover added nervously.
Jerry cleared his throat, "Yes, well, it does sound like the necessary course of action. Go ahead with your investigation, spies. We'll return Mandy and her family to her dorm room as soon as you've completed it."
"Alright," Sam spoke up. "Clover, Alex and I will investigate Mandy's dorm room."
"Mind if I join you?" Britney chimed in. "I feel like it might do me good to lend a helping hand. Plus, no one targets my friends and gets away with it."
"Sure, Britney," Sam replied. She turned to the others. "Dean, Blaine, Stella… you take Daisy back to the penthouse. And keep an eye out for any more attacks planned by spy-sassins or anyone else out to get us."
"But… why do I have to go?" Daisy said discouragingly. "If someone's after my sister and her friends then I should be there. I want to help."
"Daisy…" Clover said gently as she put her hands on her sister's shoulders. "I know you want to help and I think it's very sweet and all. And I was really impressed when you held your own against Mandy for as long as you did despite not being a spy. Not to mention you punched her in the face which I really enjoyed seeing. But things might get a little more dangerous from here on in. And as your sister, I just don't want you to get hurt."
"Yeah, your sister's right, Daisy," Alex chimed in.
"You'll be safer back at the penthouse," Sam added.
"You should listen to your sister, Daisy," Stella chimed in. "I worry about Clover risking her life enough as it is."
Daisy sighed, "Ok."
"Don't you worry, Sis," Clover said with a warm smile. "We'll take these baddies down very soon and then we can get the party started."
Daisy smiled sadly and nodded, "Ok, big sis. But please hurry back."
Clover shrugged, "I'll try. Can't make any promises though. It's never that easy."
"I'll say," Stella added.
"Look on the bright side, Daisy," Dean chimed in. "At least you get to spend some time with us till they get back."
Daisy smiled big time and blushed.
"Oh, yeah, I guess you got that right," she said with a nervous giggle.
Clover and the others giggled.
"Come on, we'd better get moving," Sam spoke up.
As Clover's group and Stella's group started to leave in different directions, Jerry grabbed Clover's arm.
"Clover, wait. Before you go, I have a question for you," Jerry spoke.
"What is it, Jerr?" Clover asked with her arms crossed.
"Is it really true that your sister tried to take on Mandy all by herself and even punched her in the face?" Jerry asked.
"Um, yeah, it is, Jerr," Clover asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Interesting," Jerry said thoughtfully. He then walked away towards his chopper.
Clover had a hunch she knew what Jerry was thinking, but she'd have to worry about that later. For the moment, she turned and ran to follow Sam, Alex and Britney.
Stella and the others with her had know idea that they were being stalked by a man in the bushes.
"Mistress Husk… target is in sight," the man spoke into a radio.
"Good," Grace's voice came from the radio. "Be ready to snatch her when the time is right."
A little later, Sam, Clover, Alex and Britney showed up at Mandy's dorm room. Sam and Alex had changed out of their WOOHP catsuits in case they were spotted by anybody. As they walked inside, they noticed that the front end of the room had spatters of SUDS all over it.
"Well, looks like you were right, Sam," Clover speculated.
"This is definitely where Mandy and her family got SUDSed," Alex added.
"The question is, who did it?" Britney wondered aloud.
"Spread out and look for clues," Sam said. "There's gotta be something that can tip us off."
But before anyone could look anywhere, they heard the sound of thumping and muffled screaming.
"What's that?" Alex wondered aloud.
The girls soon noticed that the sounds were coming from the closet.
"It's coming from the closet," Clover announced.
Clover opened the closet and came upon a startling site.
Inside the closet was a young man with pointy black hair and a black and white business suit, who was tied up and gagged.
Sam, Clover and Alex recognized him.
"Trent?!" the girls said in unison.
Sam and Alex helped to get Trent untied and took the gag off his mouth.
"Thanks so much!" Trent said in appreciation. "I was stuck in that room for hours."
"What happened? Who did this to you?" Sam asked.
"Um," Trent hesitated. "Would you believe that it was Mandy?"
"Yep, actually we would," Clover groaned.
"Good. Cause it totally was Mandy!" Trent exclaimed. "She's gone totally psycho!"
"Take it easy, Trent," Sam spoke, trying to calm him down. "Can you tell what happened?"
Trent took a breath before he started explaining, "Well, I was bringing Mandy's drycleaning to her dorm room. As I arrived, I heard Mandy saying stuff about 'hunting down and eliminating spies'. I tried to eavesdrop without being noticed, but Mandy noticed me and tied me up before locking me in the closet."
"Do you remember anything else?" Sam asked.
"Well…" Trent continued. "I think Mandy said they were following the orders of someone called, 'Mistress Husk'."
The second they heard that, Sam, Alex and Clover went wide-eyed.
"Did you say, 'Husk'?!" Clover said in a horrified voice.
Meanwhile, back at the girls' penthouse, Daisy, Stella, Dean and Blaine were finishing up the preparations for Clover's birthday party.
Stella and Blaine were finishing up Clover's birthday cake. Blaine kind of suspected that Stella wanted to partner up with him just to keep an eye on him. And while that was partially true, Stella assured Blaine that she also wanted to just get to know him.
Stella was taking the cake out of the oven. It had 'Happy Birthday, Clover!' written out of frosting in large letters. And below was a picture of Clover, Sam and Alex made out of cake frosting.
"Well, Blaine, I have to admit, this is a really impressive cake," Stella commented. "I especially like the little pictures you made out of cake frosting of Clover and her friends."
"Thanks, Mr. Ewing," Blaine said in appreciation.
"I'm sure Clover will love eating the cake when she comes back," Stella speculated.
"I'm sure she will," Blaine agreed.
Stella soon noticed that Blaine was looking a little depressed.
"Blaine, dear, are you alright?" Stella asked in concern.
Stella was beginning to suspect that she might have inadvertently made Blaine feel more guilty than before.
"Look, I'm sorry if I gave off an intimidating impression or made you feel uncomfortable or anything…" Stella spoke up. "But you have to understand, I…"
"I know," Blaine interrupted. "After what I tried to do to Clover, I wouldn't blame you for being protective of her. In fact, I still kind of blame myself for letting Geraldine trick me in the first place. And I realize that dumping her on the WOOHP blimp was way uncool of me too."
"But Clover said you apologized to her for both of those things, right?" Stella asked.
"I did," Baline said. "After I dumped Clover on the WOOHP blimp, I started to feel guilty for what I said to her back then. That's why I called and apologized. And I was kind of relieved that Clover was more accepting of my apology when I thought she was gonna be. But sometimes I wonder if Clover has actually forgiven me for what I said to her. And what I tried to do to her before that."
"Well, sometimes Clover is more forgiving than you think," Stella spoke up. "She forgave Sam and Alex for accusing her of stuff she didn't do. She forgave me for being so hard on her after I found out she was a spy. In fact, she evidently forgave you for your… assassination attempt."
"Yeah… that was more than I deserved to be honest," Blaine responded.
"My point is…" Stella continued. "We all make mistakes. The trick is to learn from them and move on. And if Clover has already forgiven you for your mistake, you should be moving on too. I think Clover would want you to as well."
"I know," Blaine said. "And you know what…? You're absolutely right. I'll try my best to move on. For Clover."
Stella smiled, "I'm glad to hear it."
Meanwhile, Dean and Daisy were just finishing the decorations for Clover's birthday party. Complete with a 'Happy Birthday, Clover!' banner on the wall.
"Looks like everything's just about ready," Daisy speculated.
"Yeah…" Dean said. "Your sister is going to be very happy when she sees how we decorated her penthouse."
"Yeah, she is!" Daisy said brightly. "As soon as she comes back…"
Dean noticed that Daisy still seemed worried about her sister.
"Look, I know, you're still worried about your sister," Dean spoke up. "But Clover's tough. I know this first hand from training with her to be a super-spy. She'll pull through and be back before you know it."
Daisy sighed, "I know… it's just…"
Before Daisy could say anything else, two black sphere-like devices suddenly burst through the window and started spraying some kind of purple gas.
"What the…?!" Dean said in surprise. The gas started filling up the entire room, before Dean and Daisy started to lose consciousness.
"What's happening…?" Daisy managed to say before she fell unconscious.
"Daisy…!" Dean barely shouted before he too fell unconscious.
Blaine and Stella heard everything and came into the room.
"What's going on here?!" Stella wondered aloud.
Right then, the gas started making Blaine and Stella lose consciousness too.
"No… knockout… gas…!" Blaine said before he and Stella passed out.
After everyone in the room was knocked out, two black suited men appeared and stood over Daisy.
One of the men took out a radio and spoke into it.
"Mistress, mission accomplished," the man spoke. "We have the girl."
"Excellent," Grace's voice said on the other end. "Now bring her back now!"
"Should we take the others too?" the second man asked.
"No," Grace said. "Only the little girl matters. Bring her back before those annoying spies show up."
The first man nodded, "At once, mistress."
To be continued…