Hi! This is a chapter I've been looking forward to writing for some time. Hope you enjoy it.
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Model Citizens
Somewhere in Greece-11:00 AM
With each camera flash, the three women standing in front of the ruined temple struck a new pose.
As the three photographers in front of them continued their shoot, all uttered noises of excitement.
But they didn't count on the helicopter rising from behind the cliff below.
Nor did they expect a huge metal net to drop down and drag the three screaming models into the helicopter.
But as he turned to run, one of the photographers stopped to look at the models, snapping photos of them.
Not exactly the kind of picture people wanted to see, but you never knew.
Beverly Hills Mall-7:30 PM
"Clover," Alex said as the blonde ushered her, Sam and Sean up an escalator.
"Where are you taking us?"
Clover didn't answer.
Sean didn't know himself. Earlier, he'd received a phone call from her, telling him to meet her in the mall along with Sam and Alex, dragging him away from dinner in the process.
Luckily, his mother was working late that night, so it was unlikely she would notice his long absence.
He didn't ask why they were there, nor did he ask why Clover suddenly blindfolded them.
"Last time she did this," Sam recalled, sighing. "We ended up at the Body Piercing Hut! Remember?"
"How could I forget?" Sean said. "It took us four hours to convince her that a lip ring wasn't going to enhance her natural beauty!"
"Relax, guys," Clover reassured. "This surprise is totally piercing free. Now, take off your blindfolds!"
Sean did so, along with the girls beside him.
"Ta-da!"
Sean opened his eyes, and once they adjusted to the light, he could see he was in...
"The Groovy Smoothie Shack?" Sam asked, unimpressed.
"Clover, we go here all the time," Sean added. "How is this a surprise?"
"Are you thirsty or something?" Alex asked.
"No," Clover denied. "I'm here to sign up for the Miss Groovy Smoothie beauty contest."
She wrapped her arms around them, bringing them closer to her.
"And you're here to support me."
She pointed at a poster on the wall behind Sam, which depicted a girl in a swimsuit wearing crown and sash typical of those who won beauty pageants. In the woman's hand, she carried a cup.
"A food court beauty contest?" Sean asked.
"You're kidding, right?" Sam broke in. "I mean you know beauty's only skin deep."
"Of course!" Clover answered. "I'm not kidding."
Sean rolled his eyes.
"And judging by the competition, I'd say I'm a shoo-in for victory."
She looked off at the stage, where several girls were getting their picture taken after signing up for the contest.
"Um, not so fast, Clover," Mandy's voice came from out of nowhere.
They turned around, and stepping off an indoor vehicle probably borrowed from mall security, Mandy zoomed in on the four teens' faces.
"This is my competition, and mine alone!" she emphasized. "Nothing or no one is gonna stop me from becoming Miss Groovy Smoothie and launching my modelling career!"
She turned around to pose for several photographers whom she had brought with her.
"Is that a fact?" Clover asked.
"Yes it is," Mandy said, stepping away from her photographers. "Cause everyone who's ever won this contest has gone on to bigger and better things."
She began to walk away.
"And I intend to join them, thank you very much. Now, why don't you and those cheap shoes of yours just step off?"
She smiled for another camera.
Clover just stood there, stunned, then angry.
"The only thing that's cheap around here," she said confrontationally. "Is your pathetic attempt at trying to get me to back down. Now, out of my way!"
She shoved her way past Mandy over to the sign-up board. Writing her name, she soon rejoined her friends.
"Come on, guys," Clover said. "Let's go plan my victory party."
"As if," Mandy scoffed.
But as Sean followed the girls out, he was forced to admit Mandy had a point.
"Don't you think it's a little too early to plan a victory party, Clover?" he asked as they left the smoothie shop and came to an elevator.
"What do you mean?" Clover asked.
"Well, you don't know what you'll have to do to win."
Clover waved a hand dismissively.
"It's a beauty contest, Sean. It's right there in the name."
"Yeah, but you do realize it takes more to win than just good looks."
Clover blinked for a moment, then laughed for what seemed like two minutes.
"Wait, you're serious?" she asked after calming down.
"As serious as a heart attack," Sean affirmed.
"Since when do you know so much about beauty pageants?" Sam asked.
Sean groaned. "My cousin Michelle won one back in 3rd grade. She's been bragging about it ever since."
He turned around, outraged.
"And if you ask me, she didn't deserve that title. Sure, she looked cute enough, but that stupid tiara made her head bigger than it already was. And who do you think she got to polish that trophy? I swore if I ever saw that thing again, I'd snap it in two. And really, 'Little Miss Sweetheart?' 'Little Miss Cold Heart' is more like it. I mean, if you grew up with her, you'd wish you had someone like Mandy torturing you! I still get flashbacks to the time she pushed me in that pond when we were 10!"
He panted, pausing his tirade.
Then he turned back to the girls, who were looking at him, stunned.
He cleared his throat.
"Like I said, it takes more than looks to win this kind of thing."
"I didn't know you had a cousin, Sean," Alex commented.
"Unfortunately, I do," Sean sighed. "She's my mom's brother's daughter and let me tell you, she makes Mandy look like Wonder Woman!"
"Speaking of Mandy," Clover said, trying to stop Sean from going into another rant. "Can you believe the nerve of that girl?!"
"Tell me about it," Alex agreed. "I mean, how dare she accuse you of wearing cut rate shoes?"
Sam looked to the other girls.
"I say we ditch the mall," she suggested. "Grab a mani-pedi, and forget all about boring old Mandy."
The elevator door, opened.
"Deal," Clover and Alex said.
"I think I'll just go home," Sean said, apologetically.
They stepped into the elevator.
Reaching for the elevator controls, Clover pressed the button for the lobby.
But instead of the usual effect, namely the elevator slowly but smoothly descending, it moved downward so fast, the four teens collided with the ceiling.
When the harrowing ride, and their screaming, finally stopped, the elevator doors opened, revealing a long, dark train tunnel.
Rubbing their lower backs and groaning in pain, they stepped out of the elevator.
Once the pain subsided in each of them, Alex looked around.
"I don't remember the parking structure being quite this dark," she said.
"Uh, Alex," Sean broke in. "Something tells me we're not at the mall anymore."
Right on cue, a train came speeding in their direction.
They attempted to run, but were stopped by the train door opening and four passenger seats ensnaring them, pulling them in.
The seats retracted into the back wall of the car, leaving them face to face with...
"Hello, agents," Jerry greeted.
"Jerry," Sam said, dusting herself off. "Should've known."
"Nice to see you, too," Jerry returned, sitting down. "Now allow me to brief you about your new mission."
"So much for that mani-pedi," Clover lamented.
Jerry continued. "We've just been informed that approximately a dozen models from all over the world have literally been stolen within the last 24 hours."
"What do you mean, 'stolen?'" Alex asked.
On the screen in front of them, they saw footage of three of those models in question being lifted up into a helicopter by a steel net.
"Oh, that's what you mean," Sean said.
Jerry turned the footage off. "We're currently en route to New York, where you four will go undercover as journalists at Fashion Week: a hugely important where you'll have access to everyone who's anyone in the world of modelling."
"And you want us to see what we can find out about the abductions?" Sean asked.
"Precisely," Jerry confirmed. "And now, for the gadgets."
A metal tray lowered down from the ceiling, displaying the assortment of gadgets they'd be using.
"This time you'll be utilizing the Magnetic Spring-Loaded Bungee Belt in Faux Snakeskin, the Ultra Inflatable Nylon Tech-Vest, a pair of Hologram Projecting Mood Rings, the Titanium Drill Heel Boot for impromptu tunneling, and last but not least, the M-Ray Contact Lenses in aquamarine."
"M-Ray?" Alex asked in confusion.
"For seeing through metal," Jerry explained, as he went into the doorway of another car.
"Now, goodbye and good luck, spies. I'll be in touch."
He pulled a lever, closing the door... and disconnecting the two cars, sending the one the spies were in careening down the tunnel.
Before any of them knew it, they were out and in another city.
St. Mark's Place, New York-8:00 PM
Entering the crowded convention center along with the girls, Sean couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.
Even more so, because the event had attracted so many people that the organizer's had set up guards and metal detectors like the ones found at airports.
"I've heard of Fashion Police," Clover said, referring to the security detail. "But this is ridiculous!"
"Must be because of the abductions," Sam hypothesized, placing her backpack on the conveyor belt.
The other spies did the same.
Entering the stage hall, they shoved their way past the crowds until they found a quiet space in the back.
"Man," Alex said, awestruck. "Talk about a mob scene!"
"Everyone's here to see the new model, Gazelle," a woman said from behind them.
"Gazelle?" Sean asked, turning to face the woman.
"She arrived on the scene practically overnight," she explained. "And the witch is already getting all the available modelling work. That means me and the rest of the supermodels are pretty much out of luck."
Sean blinked. "You're a supermodel?"
The woman scoffed. "I was, but since Gazelle came along, I haven't gotten a gig in a month!"
The lights dimmed, and spotlights shone on the stage as electronic music played.
The woman had disappeared into the crowd as the spies turned to the stage.
"I think we need a better view," Sam said.
Gripping the buckle of her belt, she aimed it at the metal ceiling.
The others followed suit, and the cables attached to the buckles propelled themselves at the ceiling.
Once they were attached, the spies zoomed up into the rafters, looking down at the scene below.
From behind the curtain on the stage stepped a young woman with honey brown skin, luxurious chocolate-brown hair, and wearing a hot pink dress.
Sean had to guess that this was Gazelle.
And as she turned and did a few poses for the cameras, he could see why she had become an overnight sensation.
"I've never seen anyone so... so perfect," Clover said. "It's unbelievable."
Sean nodded in agreement, before turning to Alex, who he remembered seeing take the M-Ray Contact Lenses.
"Better keep an eye on her, Alex," he said. "If she's anything like the other models, she's probably the next target."
"Right," Alex agreed, taking out the contact lenses. Putting them in her eyes, she blinked.
Looking behind the stage, she could see Gazelle walking into a metal trailer.
Adjusting the lenses to see through the trailer, she saw the model sitting at the trailer's vanity.
Then looked closely as she began to peel off her left glove.
"What's she doing?" Clover asked.
"Taking off her gloves," Alex answered.
But as Alex continued to observe, she noticed something... unusual.
"Now that's odd," she commented.
"What?" Sean asked.
"The skin on her arms and hands, it's all sorts of different colors!"
"Different colors?" Clover asked. "As in her tanning bed's on the fritz?"
"Different colors as in the Bride of Frankenstein! Maybe she's not so perfect after all."
Sam looked to the others.
"How about we go backstage for a closer look?" she suggested.
Sean nodded, agreeing, as they descended.
"Now remember," Sam cautioned, as they strolled backstage. "We're supposed to be journalists so act professional."
But as Gazelle exited her trailer, with her arms and hands looking as if they each belonged to different people, Clover immediately broke this rule.
"Ew! Nast!" she shrieked.
"Not exactly the professional demeanor I would've picked, Clover," Sean whispered.
Sam, ignoring Clover's outburst, approached Gazelle.
"Hi, Gazelle," she said. "I'm Sam from Trend of the Moment magazine. I just want to tell you how much I enjoyed the show."
"Thanks," Gazelle responded. "But the truth is, I owe everything to my agency. Really, I wouldn't exist without them."
"Yes," a male voice said from behind them. "And we wouldn't exist without her."
They looked to see an older man with dark brown hair and a short beard step backstage.
"I'm Helmut from Picture Perfect. I represent Gazelle."
"Picture Perfect?" Sean asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of that."
"We're relatively new," Helmut explained, as he placed a towel around Gazelle's shoulders. "But she practically put our agency on the map."
Clover rushed over to Helmut, looking eager.
"You're a modelling agent?" she asked.
"That's right," Helmut answered.
"So, you'd know if I had what it takes to be a model?"
Sam grit her teeth in frustration, while Alex facepalmed.
"Clover, now's not the time," Sean said.
Ignoring them, Helmut answered Clover's question.
"My philosophy is that everyone has something about them that's perfect. In your case, it's your legs."
He looked her over, as if thinking.
"So," she said gleefully. "You're saying I'm model material?"
Helmut's face was blank. "Sorry, not quite."
Clover looked aghast, as Helmut began to usher Gazelle away.
"Come on, Gazelle," he said, helping her up after she tripped.
"You need your beauty rest."
As soon as they were out of sight, Alex knelt down, picking up something that fell.
"Gazelle, wait!" she called out, picking it up. "You dropped your..."
But she trailed off upon seeing what it was.
"...ear?"
Moaning in shock, she fainted.
Running over, Sean checked on Alex.
"She'll be fine," he said. "We just need to get here out of here."
Then he looked at the ear.
"Okay, that's weird. Not to mention disgusting."
Back at their hotel room, Alex woke up to see Sean's face coming into view.
"I've sent the ear to W.O.O.H.P for analysis," he informed, handing her an icepack.
"Our next move is to investigate Picture Perfect," Sam added, from behind Sean.
"Picture Perfect? Please!" Clover said, offended. "I mean what kind of pathetic agency are they anyway? Take that Helmut guy, for instance. He calls himself an agent? He wouldn't know a model if she sashayed right into him!"
"Come again?" Alex asked, sitting up.
Clover turned around, facing the window.
"No matter what Helmut says, I know I'm model material."
Sean rolled his eyes as there was a knock on the door.
"Special delivery!" a voice called out from behind it.
Walking to the door, Clover opened it.
A bellhop stood in front of her, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a smoothie in the other.
"It's from the Groovy Smoothie Shack," he explained
Clover took a card from the top of the bouquet, reading it as her excitement grew.
"It says I'm a finalist in the Miss Groovy Smoothie beauty contest!" she exclaimed gleefully.
She turned back to the others, grinning satisfactorily.
"This proves it! I am model material!"
Sean, Sam and Alex just looked on, unimpressed.
Taking the flowers, which were mostly roses, and the drink, Clover closed the door with her back.
But as she lowered the bouquet, she accidentally brushed it and a few rose thorns against her right leg.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed in pain.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked, concerned.
Holding the bouquet back up, Clover resumed her smiling.
"I'm fine," she assured. "It's just a scratch."
"Oh, good," Sam said. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to our favorite potential beauty queen."
"You better hope that contest doesn't have a swimsuit portion," Sean added. "Or else that scratch would take off a few points."
But before Clover could walk over to the couch to deliver a reply, the loud sound of helicopter blades prompted her to turn, and scream.
At the window was the helicopter responsible for the noise, and from it's front, fired a long steel cable which broke through the window.
At the end of the cable was claw-like device large enough to ensnare Clover, causing her to drop the flowers and the smoothie.
"Clover!" Sam and Sean yelled.
Sprinting out the window, they jumped, Alex taking hold of Clover's right leg while Sam held onto her left. As for Sean, he was dangling precariously from Sam's left foot.
The helicopter continued to fly, but despite the noise, Clover's protests could still be heard.
"You're stretching out my perfect legs!" she yelled.
As the helicopter did a swerve, the other three spies struggled to hold on.
"They're trying to shake us off!" Alex screamed.
"And it's working!" Sean yelled.
In no time at all, they lost their grip on Clover, plummeting to the city streets below.
When it seemed like they were done for, they remembered they were wearing the Ultra Inflatable Nylon Tech Vest.
They each pulled the button on the right side, triggering a ripcord.
True to their name, the vests inflated, covering Alex and Sam in what could only be described as the world's most cumbersome snowsuits. The material was pink, and upon impact with any hard surface would bounce like a ball. Sean was wearing similar padding, but blue.
As Sean and Alex made impact with the pavement, they bounced harmlessly before their vests deflated.
"Okay," Alex said as Sean dusted himself off. "That was a little too close for comfort."
Sam had bounced her way over to them.
"Speaking of comfort," she said, the padding putting pressure on her cheeks. "You wanna get me out of this thing?"
Sean nodded, pulling the plug that let air out of the vest.
Then they gasped, looking up at the helicopter holding the now captive Clover.
"Help me!" she screamed.
"Quick!" Sean urged Alex. "Look inside the helicopter and see if there are any clues!"
Nodding, Alex put the M-Ray Contact Lenses into her eyes.
Looking inside, she peered into the cockpit, taking a close look at the pilot. At the sleeve on his uniform, to be exact.
She gasped. "The pilot has the Picture Perfect logo on his jacket!"
"We'd better call Jerry," Sam said, taking out her Compowder.
Dialing it, Jerry showed up on its screen instantly.
"Hello, agents," he greeted. "How's the Big Apple?"
"Rotten, Jerry," Alex said.
"Clover's been kidnapped," Sean quickly added.
"Oh, dear," Jerry said. "That's the second time this month."
"We think we have a good idea where to find her, though."
Sam nodded at Sean's statement.
"What do you know about the Picture Perfect modelling agency?" she asked.
"Well, let's see," Jerry responded, typing.
Before too long, the image of a woman with red hair, sporting a cane and wearing a magenta dress popped up on the screen.
"Apparently, it's run by an ex-model named Tuesday Tate. Their headquarters are in Sydney, Australia."
"Then that's where we're going," Sean said.
Picture Perfect Agency, Sydney, Australia-1:27 PM
The flight to Sydney was over before Sean knew it, as was the trip to Picture Perfect's headquarters.
"Hi," he said, walking up to the building's receptionist. "We're journalists from Trend of the Moment here to see Tuesday Tate."
As the woman looked through the folder, Alex noticed three scratch marks on her left leg. Very familiar scratch marks.
"You aren't on Miss Tate's schedule," she said, authoritatively. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
She gestured for three women to come over... right behind the spies.
The next thing any of them knew, they were rudely thrown out of the building.
"Is it me?" Alex asked. "Or was there something very familiar about that woman?"
"Not to mention something very rude," Sam said.
Sean turned back to the building.
"Looks like we're gonna have to enter Picture Perfect the hard way," he said.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the spies stood behind the back entrance to the building, where Sam took out the Titanium Drill Heel Boot, which turned out to have a literal name.
Using the boot to bore into the ground, it wasn't long before they had a tunnel.
"Never underestimate the power of a good accessory," Sam said.
Soon enough, they had reached the end.
Drilling a hole in the floor above them, Sam leapt through it, followed by Sean and finally, Alex.
Taking note of their surroundings, they realized they were inside the hallway leading to Tuesday's office.
Alex ran over to a door, looking through the glass window at the top.
Sam and Sean joined her and what they saw amazed them.
Inside was a widespread array of medical equipment and technology, including an operating table.
"Looks more like some kind of high-tech clinic than a modelling agency," Alex said, awestruck.
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "What would they want with all this?"
Deciding to investigate that area later, they rounded a corner.
At the end was some kind of waiting room, with four chairs surrounded by a table.
Turning around, they gasped at the sight of glass doors leading into a luxurious office.
The name "Tuesday Tate" was inscribed on a gold plate to the right.
"I wonder what's in here?" Sam asked, as she and the other came closer to the doors.
They opened automatically, letting the three teenagers explore the room freely.
On a wall behind the desk was an assortment of photos of various models.
"Hey," Alex whispered loudly. "Check that out."
Sean and Sam came over, reading the names on the bottom of the frames.
"Those are both Gazelle?" Sam asked, confused.
"Man, talk about a split personality!" Alex said.
Sean went over to Tuesday's computer, turning it on.
The images of six women popped up on the screen, their names written next to their pictures.
"Jackpot!" he said to the girls.
Then he looked closely at the screen.
"'Gazelle's Donors'" he read. "'Stacey, Amy, Anna, Kelly, Gretchen.'"
Before he could read the last name on the list, his wallet phone chimed.
"Yeah, Jer?" he asked, answering.
"Hello, agents," Jerry said. "I thought you'd be interested to know that the ear you sent me belongs to a model who was abducted last week."
An image of the model in question flashed across Sean's screen before it switched back to Jerry.
"Her name is Gretchen."
Alex gasped.
"Guys," she said. "That's... that's one of the names on the donor list!"
"Donor list?" Jerry asked.
Sean and Sam looked at Alex, shocked.
"I know what it seems like, Alex," Sam said. "But how could it be possible?"
"I don't know," Sean answered for Alex. "But this mission just got way more disturbing than it needed to be."
Before they could discuss anymore, the sound of a woman clearing her throat told them that they couldn't spend too much time in that office.
"Can I help you three?" the woman asked.
The spies turned to see the woman Jerry showed them in New York standing before them.
Tuesday's face was the perfect blend of shock and suspicion and she carried a gilded cane topped with a yellow diamond.
"Uh..." Sam fumbled to find an answer. "Yes. Yes you can. We're journalists from Trend of the Moment..."
"...and we're here to interview you!" Alex picked up.
Tuesday blinked, her brow furrowing.
"Okay," she responded, sounding suspicious. "But you'll have to make it snappy. I'm leaving soon for a model search in New Zealand."
Moments later, Tuesday stood in front of her desk, arms folded.
"So," Sean began the fake interview. "I hear you used to be a model, Miss Tate. Why did you quit?"
"I injured my leg at a photo shoot two years ago," she answered. "It was a circus theme and I was play the role of lion tamer. Unfortunately, the lion tamed me."
She shifted the hem of her dress, revealing a metal prosthetic leg.
"Now, I have this."
Sean widened his eyes.
"I'm surprised you survived that," he said.
"So," Sam broke in. "Why don't you tell us about Picture Perfect and how it is you've achieved this sudden success?"
At that very second, the phone on Tuesday's desk rang.
She answered it.
"Tuesday speaking," she spoke into the receiver, then looked intrigued. "Oh. I see."
She turned to the three teenagers.
"Would you mind moving to the waiting room down the hall while I take this call?" she asked.
"No," Alex answered.
"Not at all," Sean said.
"No problem," Sam added.
Stepping through the glass sliding doors, the three spies found the waiting room, unaware of what was to transpire in Tuesday's office.
She looked to another automated door off to the side, seeing Helmut step through.
"Those three are definitely trouble," he said as soon as he got to her.
"Well, then," she said maliciously. "We'd better eliminate them."
She pressed a button on the underside of her desk, causing an alarm to sound off.
"Uh-oh," the spies said, still outside.
"I'd say our interview's just been cut short," Sam said.
"We'd better find Clover," Sean said, taking off the Hologram Projecting Mood Ring he'd been wearing. "Before it's too late!"
Putting the ring on the table, he and the two girls ran into the next room, where Alex pried off an air vent, allowing them to climb in.
Back outside Tuesday's office, she and Helmut came into the waiting room, now accompanied by three female guards.
Helmut snapped his fingers at the images of the three smiling teens.
"Get them," he ordered.
The guards dove at the spies... only to fall through them.
The images flickered as Tuesday walked over to the table, where she picked up Sean's ring.
Growling in anger, she threw it to the floor, breaking it.
In the air vent, Sam led Sean and Alex through the cold metal corridor.
"We have to get to that restricted area we found earlier!" she informed.
"But how're we gonna find it?" Sean asked.
"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" Alex said, optimistically.
Then, as they came to the end of the long stretch of vent, Sam saw a slope that went downward.
Sean and Alex, who kept crawling, bumped into her, sending her tumbling through the vent's closing.
Her companions followed soon after, crashing through another grate and landing them inside an unfamiliar room.
Sean looked at the wall behind him, which was covered in dozens of hexagonal holes.
In seven of these were women he remembered were the abducted models as well as...
"Clover!" he exclaimed, rushing over.
Pressing a button on the side, the gurney-like slab Clover was forced lie stomach first on retracted, letting her go free.
"What happened to you?!" Alex asked.
Clover sat up, stepping behind the gurney.
"Picture Perfect steals body parts!" she explained. "That's how they created Gazelle! Right now, there's someone else out there running around with my perfect legs!"
The other three looked down, where they saw that Clover, in place of her normal, feminine legs, now had a pair of muscular, wide ones disproportionate to the rest of her body.
Sean, Sam, and Alex gasped.
"Don't worry," Sam reassured. "We're gonna get all of you out of here!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," an unfortunately familiar voice said.
They turned around to see Tuesday standing in the entrance to the room along with four guards.
"We can't just let you leave and risk you telling the world about our little secret."
She gestured to the four teens, signaling the guards to move to restrain them.
As they struggled against the guards, Sam spoke up.
"Why are you doing this?!"
Tuesday laughed.
"It's simple, really," she answered. "I want to create an army of perfect models so that I can dominate the industry that destroyed my career!"
"Couldn't you just steal yourself a new leg, instead?" Alex asked. "I mean it seems like a lot less trouble."
"Hmm," Tuesday conceded. "You've got a point, but somehow my evil revenge plan just sounds like a lot more fun."
"Well, it'll never work!" Sean growled up at her.
"Perhaps you'll feel a little differently after my demonstration, darling."
Tuesday snapped her fingers, and Helmut came in along with the girl who had stopped them before.
The one Sean just realized now had Clover's lower body.
"Hey!" the blonde protested. "Those are my legs!"
"Correction," Helmut said to her. "They were your legs. Now they belong to Picture Perfect, just like your friends' body parts are about to."
"Ha!" Sean said, mockingly. "Too bad this is a female modelling agency! I don't have anything you can use!"
"I wouldn't say that," Tuesday countered, running a hand over his face. "Your eyes are by far the most perfect I've seen. They'll look even better on one of my models."
Sean gulped.
"Okay, you're officially sick, lady."
"You say 'sick, I say 'ingenious'," Tuesday shrugged off, gripping his face. "Prepare to be modelized."
While Clover was restrained to the gurney as it went back into the hexagon, Sean, Sam, and Alex struggled to get free from the guards.
They pushed them into an indent in the far wall. Sean didn't like the fact that it was shaped like a coffin, but the idea of what it was about to do to him and Sam and Alex terrified him even more.
A glass pane lowered itself, trapping them inside.
In another indent in the wall, the woman who now had Clover's legs stepped in.
Tuesday took off the pendant she was wearing, sticking it in a small hole between the two spaces.
Turning it like an ignition key, she flooded both the inside of both indents with smoke.
From the far side of the room, Clover could only watch and listen as her friends were now being subjected to... who knows what?
When smoke cleared and the screams of the three teens stopped, the woman stepped outside... now having Alex's hair, Sam's skin and teeth, and Sean's eye color in addition to Clover's legs.
As for the spies themselves, when they looked at each other they could see that Sam was now stuck with freckles and braces, Alex's hair was messy and red instead of her usual smooth black, and in place of his normal, sparkling blue eyes, Sean now had a pair of dull, uninteresting gray ones.
They all screamed in fright upon seeing what had become of each other.
"And I thought I had it bad," Clover said.
"Now," Tuesday said, securing her pendant back onto her neck. "Since I'll be getting plenty of new donors from all around the world at the Auckland Convention Center, I'm quite ready to dispose of you."
She pointed at the three teens still stuck inside the Modelizer.
"Dispose of us?!" Alex asked in fear.
"Yes," Helmut concurred. "We're gonna dump you in the ocean, where you'll join a school of ferocious, man-eating sharks... for lunch."
They all screamed again.
In a plane soaring over the Pacific, Sean sat in the large steel cage, along with with Sam, Alex, Clover and the abducted models.
"I don't know what's worse," Clover said from Sean's right. "The fact that we're gonna be shark chow or the fact that these legs disqualify me from being Miss Groovy Smoothie!"
"Uh, probably the former," Sean said, rolling his now gray eyes.
I mean there is more to life than looking good, he thought.
"I don't know about you," Alex said, turning away from the bars she was looking out of. "But I'm not ready to be fish food quite yet."
"Me neither," Clover confirmed, running her hands over her legs. "Even if I do look like a science experiment gone bad!"
"Trust me," Sam lisped through her new braces. "We'll be out of here in no time."
She took off her boot, pressing a hidden button under the sole and a small, titanium razor blade extended from the heel.
She smiled, the light glinting off the braces.
"Fine," Clover said, wincing along with Sean. "I'll trust you. Just promise you'll stop smiling, because you're braces are blinding us."
In response, Sam scowled and got to work cutting through the wall of the cage.
But the two guards stationed at the entrance to the cockpit took note, each pulling out a stun gun.
By this point, Sam's square hole in the wall of the cage was almost complete.
Kicking the wall in, Sam leapt out of the cage, delivering a kick to one of the guards, sending her flying to the other wall.
Firing the cable attached to her belt buckle, she grabbed hold of the other guard's stun gun, jerking it out of her hands.
When the first guard caught a second wind and charged at her along with the second, Sam jumped out of the way of both of them, firing a stun blast at them.
Within seconds, the two women were down for the count, allowing Sam and Sean who had just now followed her to dump them out of the plane and into the ocean below.
Sean opened the cage door, letting Clover and Alex, as well as the abducted models, go free.
Then the spies directed their attention to the emergency exit door on the side of the plane.
"Nice going, guys," Clover complimented. "What's our next move?"
Sam slid the door open, letting gale force winds burst into the plane.
"Since we can't get into the cockpit," she explained. "I'll get the pilot to come to us. Just be ready for him."
"Right," Sean said, nodding.
With care and the dexterity of a cat, Sam crawled out on to the wing, toward the edge.
Once the cockpit was in sight, she aimed her mood ring at an angle where it seemed like her image would be right in front of the pilot.
Seconds later, the pilot was stunned to see the image of Sam crouched on the nose of the plane.
Confused and also scared, he ran from the controls into the cargo area, only to be knocked out cold by three fire extinguishers to the head.
"Good work, Red," Clover complimented Alex.
"Right back at you," Alex returned.
"Now," Sean said. "All we have to do is get to New Zealand and stop Tuesday."
"That's a great idea," Sam said, coming back in. "Except for one thing."
She gestured to the pilot's limp body.
"Now that you've knocked the pilot unconscious, who's gonna fly the plane?!"
Sean and the other two girls gasped sharply.
He certainly didn't think of that.
Sam and Clover sat in the pilot seats while Sean and Alex stood.
Sam had volunteered to read the manual on how to operate the plane, as it was a model none of them were familiar with.
As for Clover...
"Okay, why am I doing this?!" she complained, while seated at the flight controls.
"Because," Sean answered. "The pedals are hard to press and you're the one with the... stout, powerful legs."
Clover sighed in defeat.
"Right."
Auckland Convention Center-6:37 PM
The convention center was a large glass building situated on a dock and inside were Tuesday and Helmut, their guards, about a dozen potential models, and of course, the Modelizer, or at least a larger version of it.
"Oh, that skin," Helmut complimented a girl. "It's magnificent! We can definitely use you!"
"I'd say your toes are among the loveliest specimens I've ever seen," Tuesday told another smiling girl. "You're Picture Perfect material for sure."
Finished with their evaluation, Helmut gestured the girls over to the large machine, opening a door on the end.
"Why don't you step inside the Modeli- I mean photo booth so we can take some pictures of you?"
Though a few of the girls had misgivings, they all ultimately complied, unaware that several Picture Perfect employees had entered the other compartment in the machine.
"That should be plenty," Tuesday said satisfactorily. "In a matter of minutes, we'll have ourselves an army of picture perfect models!"
She made her way over to the machine's controls, and like she did with the spies, turned the key to activate it.
As the machine filled with smoke and the sound of screaming girls, Tuesday and Helmut could hear another noise in the air.
The sound of a plane engine.
"What the-" Tuesday started.
She looked back to see the plane she'd stuck the spies on barreling towards the convention center windows.
As Tuesday and Helmut ran for cover, the four spies crash-landed through the large windows, sending glass everywhere and damaging the planes propellers.
The plane skidded to screeching halt just in front of the Modelizer.
The door to the plane opened, letting an inflatable evacuation slide pop out.
Sam slid out, followed by Sean, Alex, and finally Clover, all now in their spy uniforms.
"Way to go, Clover," Sam said as soon as they were all on the ground.
"All in a day's work," Clover said.
"Uh, guys?" Alex broke in, pointing at the machine, and at a girl banging on the glass inside.
"I think we've got trouble."
"We've gotta get them out of the Modelizer before they end up pieced together like us!" Clover exclaimed.
They ran over to the door, Sean gripping the handle. But it wouldn't move.
"Damn it!" he swore. "It's locked!"
"Don't worry," Alex reassured. "I'll find Tuesday and her key."
She put in the M-Ray Contact Lenses.
Looking through the plane with the lenses, she could make out two humanoid shapes.
"There she is!" she announced, pointing. "On the other side of the convention center with Helmut!"
Running up to the plane, Alex gripped the open doorway, doing a backflip onto the roof.
She was followed by the other spies immediately afterward.
Tuesday and Helmut looked up in shock to see that the four teens they had tried to feed to sharks were still alive.
Then, remembering what they were doing, made a beeline for the exit.
"Well," Sean said. "We'd better get moving."
While Clover jumped down, Alex leapt to the ceiling, gripping a space between to light fixtures while Sam and Sean catapulted themselves onto the center's balcony.
As Alex swung from the ceiling, Clover continued her pursuit on the ground while Sean and Sam kept up with the two criminals on the balcony.
Though thanks to her new enlarged legs, Clover got worn out very easily.
Tuesday and Helmut were almost at the door when the three spies pursuing from above jumped down.
Sam and Sean landed a powerful kick to Helmut's back, knocking him down, while Alex did the same to Tuesday.
"Gotcha!" Alex exclaimed.
Helmut, however, got up more quickly and tried to run the other way... only for Clover to jump up in front of him and collide with him in midair.
She sat on his chest, restraining him.
With Helmut out of commission, Tuesday was left to confront the four spies on her own.
"Now, hand over the key to the Modelizing Machine!" Sam demanded.
"You want the key?!" Tuesday said, yanking her necklace off. "Go get it!"
She threw it off to the side, it's crystalline shape indistinguishable from the hundreds of glass shards on the floor.
"Great," Clover said, sarcastically. "This is gonna be like trying to find a nail file in a hay stack!"
"We'll, you'd better hurry," Tuesday taunted. "Because once the Modelizing process is complete, it'll be irreversible. Just a new feature, I've added to the machine."
Sean pulled out his wallet phone, opening it.
"What are you doing?" Alex asked him.
"Trying to locate the key with the wallet's fingerprint scanner," he answered.
It must have search through about a dozen before it finally found the shard that had Tuesday's fingerpint on it.
"Bingo!" he announced. "Now let's get back to the girls."
He walked over to the key, picking it up.
"What about these two?" Clover asked, referring to Tuesday and Helmut.
"Don't worry," Jerry's voice said, accompanied by the sound of helicopters.
They turned around and sure enough, Jerry was being lowered into the convention center along with two guards.
-The spies smiled, satisfied at another accomplished mission.
"So," Alex said to Clover as they returned to the Groovy Smoothie shack. "You're sure about this?"
"You're definitely dropping out?" Sean asked.
"Absolutely," she confirmed.
After apprehending Tuesday, W.O.O.H.P had restored all of her victims back to normal, including the spies.
Because of that, Clover had decided to resign the beauty contest.
"I thought it over, and I've decided I've had enough modelling and beauty contests for one lifetime! The whole scene's just way to evil."
"Evil?" Sean asked. "Try insane!"
"Besides," Clover continued. "Ever since I got my legs back, I remember how gorgeous I truly am. I don't need anyone else's validation."
Sean stared, amazed that she could sound so... mature.
"I always knew you were beautiful and smart," Sam said, sincerely.
"Well," the voice of the owner said. "That's too bad, because you would've won."
Gasping, Clover turned around, followed by her friends.
The owner of the store, a middle aged man with glassed, came over.
"But since you dropped out, I'll be awarding the first runner-up your $25,000 cash and your brand new convertible sports car."
He gestured to a purple convertible surrounded by dozens of flashing cameras.
And posing on top was...
"Congratulations, Mandy!"
"Thank you!" Mandy beamed. "Thank you, one and all!"
As the owner walked away, he stopped upon feeling something grip his ankle.
"$25,000?!" Clover asked in disbelief.
He looked down to see the girl holding his leg, desperate.
"Wait! I was only kidding! It was a joke!"
Despite her pleading, he shuffled across the floor, Clover clinging to him like a tick.
"I wanna be Miss Groovy Smoothie!" she sobbed.
Sean, Sam and Alex looked away.
"Oh, well," Sean said. "So much for Clover thinking the whole scene is evil."