Hi! Let me start off by saying I really enjoyed writing this chapter. And I'm especially proud of the reception to the last one. As for the mystery of Sean's father, that will reveal itself in time. All I can say is, some of you might be surprised. Anyway, here's the latest. Read and review!
Chapter Twenty-One
Abductions
Boston Museum of Science-8:53 PM
As day faded into night in the busy city outside the building, two scientists walked through a less than busy hallway inside.
One turned to his left, waving a small goodbye to his colleague out front. Opening the door to his office, he sat down at his desk, turning the light on.
But as he checked his watch, a shaft of bright green light encircled him, taking him completely by surprise.
He had no time to process as he was sucked up into the air, and through the ceiling toward an unknown fate.
Outside in the hall, the other scientist heard his colleague's scream, and before he could run to investigate, the same thing happened to him.
Just like that. No witnesses. No suspects. Nothing left behind.
Beverly Hills High School-10:00 AM
"I'm gonna get this role," Clover said into her compact mirror for the thousandth time that morning. "I am gonna get this role. Gonna get this role. Gonna get this role. I'm gonna get this role."
Sam and Alex, who like Clover, were waiting outside the auditorium for Sean, each gave a reassuring smile.
"You really shouldn't put so much pressure on yourself, Clover," Sam said.
"I'm not putting pressure on myself," Clover denied, quickly putting away her compact. "I'm psyching myself up."
"And I'm just looking out for my best friends," Sam gently returned, referring to Sean who was somewhere in the auditorium.
And speaking of Sean, he came walking out of the massive room, a triumphant smile plastered on his face.
"Yes!" he said in celebration. "I'm in!"
Squealing in delight, the girls rushed over to him.
"That's great, Sean!" Sam said, congratulating him.
"You're gonna be amazing!" Alex added.
"Don't worry," Clover reassured. "I'll try not to outshine you, but I make no promises."
"Uh... thanks, Clover. I'm just glad I got the part."
"Remind me," Alex broke in. "Who're you playing again?"
"Javert," Sean answered.
Clover's face went blank.
"Isn't he that crazy inspector?" she asked.
"Yeah. But he's actually a very complex character. I thought you'd know that, considering all the reading you said you did."
"Actually..." Clover admitted. "I only got through the title page."
Sean, Sam and Alex facepalmed.
"Seriously, Clover?" Sam asked. "You're auditioning for Les Misérables and you don't even know what it's about?"
"I know what it's about... sort of."
"Really?" Sean asked, skeptical. "Then what's Cosette's last name?"
"Uh..." Clover stumbled for an answer. "Dion?"
"That was a trick question," Sean rebuffed. "She's an orphan, she doesn't know her last name."
Clover slumped.
"'Dion'?" Alex asked, incredulously. "Really?"
"It was the only French last name I knew!"
"Hey," Sean said, reassuringly. "At least you know what you're getting into if you get the part. And be glad Cosette is a good role. I should know, every time I'm in a play, I get stuck with the worst parts."
"Really?" Sam asked. "Like what?"
"Well, 3rd grade, my class did a play about George Washington. I got stuck playing a cherry tree."
He rubbed his left arm, wincing.
"During rehearsals, I had to fall on my face every time I felt a plastic ax on my ankles. My nose was swollen for a year after that!"
The girls contorted their faces, imagining it.
"Then last year, I tried out for Romeo and Juliet. I auditioned for Romeo, I wound up playing a statue."
He scoffed.
"Why they couldn't just make a statue, I'll never know!"
He took a sharp inhale of air before letting it out to prevent a rant.
"Anyway, this time, I'm getting a role that doesn't suck!"
He looked to the long line of people, all clamoring to get even the tiniest role in the play.
"And it looks like I got it just in time."
"Yeah!" Alex agreed. "Practically everybody in the school's auditioning!"
"Everybody who's anybody," Mandy said, coming over with a copy of the script. "Plus a few nobodies."
She looked at Clover specifically, before walking off.
Clover growled in anger.
"So," she said, calming down before turning to Sam and Sean.
"Do you guys think I'm good enough to play the poor orphan Cosette?"
"Of course you are," Sam said. "In fact, you're the most dramatic person I know."
"But are you sure you can learn all those lines?" Sean asked.
"What?!" Clover responded, shocked. "Starring in a play is about more than just memorizing lines, Sean. But of course, I wouldn't expect a performer like you to understand art. That's for true virtuosos like Picasso, Da Vinci, Madonna! And of course, me!"
At that, her friends laughed.
"Next!" Mr. Tetley, the French teacher who also taught drama, yelled.
"Please," he added softly.
That was when Clover stepped onto the stage, wearing a patchwork dress you'd expect from a 19th century French peasant girl.
"Oh, Monsieur Valjean," she said, dramatically, mispronouncing both words. "What ill fortune to be poor with no family!"
Mr. Tetley looked exasperated, while Sean, Sam and Alex, standing in the bleachers, looked concerned.
"Uh..." Clover struggled. "I even had to, uh... sell my car just to be able to get enough to eat!"
Sean facepalmed.
"Thank you," Mr. Tetley called out. "That'll be all, Clover."
While her friends clapped, trying to be supportive of her... lest than perfect performance, Clover was beaming.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed. "Thank you one and all! I'm so happy to be playing the role that I so richly deserve!"
Mr. Tetley walked up to the stage as Clover continued basking in her own spotlight.
"I'll be signing autographs in the lunchroom this afternoon!"
"Uh, Clover," Mr. Tetley interrupted, trying break it to her gently. "Although that was an interesting interpretation of Les Mis, it's not exactly what we're looking for."
He turned away from her.
"Next!"
Clover's smiling face now was now the perfect picture of disappointment
In front of a mirror in the backstage dressing room, Clover sobbed her eyes out while her friends stood behind her.
"Clover," Alex broke in after a while. "Aren't you getting a little carried away? It's just a silly play."
"A silly play?!" Clover turned around, her face stained with tears. "This is my career we're talking about! I mean, how could he not pick me?!"
"Well," Sean tried to say. "You didn't even know the lines. I had to read the whole book just to get ready for my audition."
But Clover wasn't listening.
"I have perfect hair! Perfect teeth! Plus, I just love Paris!"
As she continued to wallow in self-pity, she was unaware of Mr. Tetley walking outside the room.
"I'd like to see Mr. Tetley's teaching credentials!"
"You know, Clover," Sean said, as Sam knelt down.
"You should be happy you didn't get this part. I mean, it's not like Cosette's the most popular character. Éponine's more interesting, if you ask me."
"Plus," Sam added. "There's the whole rehearsing over and over. 'Oh, Monsieur Valjean, what ill fortune to be poor with no family!'"
But she didn't see Mr. Tetley standing in the doorway behind them, looking impressed at that brief performance.
"Sounds like such a drag!"
"That's it!" Mr. Tetley exclaimed, making himself known. "That was brilliant, Samantha!"
He rushed over.
"You were born to play Cosette! And I won't take no for an answer!"
While Sam, Sean and Alex looked confused, Clover just glared at the redhead, furious.
"Uh..." Sam said, her face pink. "Thanks a lot, Mr. Tetley. But Clover should really get this part. You know, she's a very talented actress. Plus, she has great teeth."
She brought Clover's face into her teacher's, highlighting the latter's sparkling, pure white teeth.
"See?"
"But, Samantha!" Mr. Tetley argued. "You've got the makings of a star!"
"No really!" Sam objected further. "Clover's my friend and I-"
"Perhaps even a Hollywood star!"
That was it.
All of Sam's resolve evaporated with those words.
"When do rehearsals start?" she asked.
While Clover looked ready to strangle Sam, Sean looked down, sighing.
"Looks like Les Mis isn't gonna be the only drama around here," he said, exasperated.
"'When do rehearsals start?!'" Clover quoted Sam as all four sat in French class half an hour later.
Sean and Alex looked up from their books to see Clover seething and Sam looking back at her, smiling.
"I can't believe you, you little traitor!"
"It's not my fault I'm star material," Sam argued.
"Girls, will you knock it off?!" Sean asked, dropping his book on his desk.
"You're supposed to be friends!" Alex added.
But they were cut off by the shadow of Mr. Tetley looming over them.
"Since the four of you are in such a talkative mood," he said politely, downplaying the fact that they were disrupting his class.
"Perhaps one of you would like to tell the class what you think the most dramatic scene in Les Misérables is."
Before anyone could answer, a voice broke in. A younger one.
"Well, I for one think it's the scene in which Jean Valjean escapes through Paris sewers."
They looked to see a boy who had obviously skipped a few grades. He wore a fine, cream-colored suit complete with red bowtie. He wore glasses, and was flanked by two men wearing dark suits.
"Greeting, my academic colleagues," he finished, bowing.
"You must be Percival, the Trobokistan ambassador's son," Mr. Tetley said.
"Indubitably," Percival confirmed, taking his seat. "By the way, sir, I always felt it would be appropriate to discuss Les Misérables in the context of a major strain in 19th century literature emphasizing pauperization."
Sean stared, his book forgotten.
This kid could give Sam a run for her money, he thought in shock.
"An interesting theory, Percival," Mr. Tetley complimented. "You should do just fine on tomorrow's quiz."
"Quiz?" Alex asked, standing up. "What quiz?"
"The quiz on the first ten chapters of Les Mis, that is, for those of you who didn't get a role in the play."
Clover growled in frustration, leering in envy at Sam and Sean.
"Don't look at me," he argued. "It's not my fault you didn't get the part."
Later, at a vending machine just out in the hall, Sean and Alex looked between the two girls, who had their backs turned to each other.
"So," Sean said, trying to diffuse the tension. "Anyone want to go the movies tonight?"
"I would," Clover replied, bitterly. "But now I have a quiz to study for. You know, ever since somebody stole my part in the play!"
"How about you, Sam?" Alex asked.
"I have to go over my lines," Sam answered. "You know what they say, the more practice, the more perfect."
She glared at Clover, sparks flying between them.
"Guess Sean and I'll go it alone, then," Alex said in defeat.
"Actually," Sean countered. "I have to practice too. Javert has more lines than you think. Sorry."
Sighing, Alex turned and pressed a button on the vending machine... which prompted a trap door to open up beneath them.
"Whoa!" they yelled all the way down the chute.
Their unexpected trip ended with them being dumped into a hydrofoil speeding through the sewers beneath L.A.
At the controls was Jerry.
"Nice timing, Jerry!" Sam said, recovering from the shock.
"Yeah," Clover agreed, standing up. "We were right in the middle of an important fight!"
Predictably, Jerry didn't care about their disagreement.
"Sorry, spies," he said. "But it's an international emergency."
"What kind?" Sean asked.
"You see, the annual Nobel Prize winners conference is going on today. The world's top scholars are there."
"International emergency?" Clover asked, bored. "Sounds more like an international snooze-fest."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "Where can we not get tickets?"
Jerry cleared his throat, turning on the small screen in front of him, showcasing the disappearance of one of the scientists who went missing in Boston.
"As you can see from this surveillance video, several prize winners have been mysteriously kidnapped. They must be found."
Clover groaned, still not excited about the mission.
"Did I mention the conference is in Paris?" Jerry added.
"Paris?!" the girls asked, boredom now mitigated.
Then, like the retractable roof on a convertible, a metal covering enclosed the hydrofoil, wings protruding from its sides and it took off.
Soon, the craft was soaring over Paris.
The spies looked down below at the city where they would probably spend some amount of time.
"And now," Jerry said after a while. "For the gadgets."
He pressed a button, opening a drawer on top of a console
"This week we have Steel Cable Launcher Boots, Jetpack Backpacks, Infrared Heat Detector Glasses, Exploding Lipstick and last but not least, Emergency Propeller Watches, vibrant spring colors."
Taking their gear, the spies nodded in understanding.
"One more thing, agents," Jerry added. "Tomorrow, you'll be having a surprise quiz in biology."
Alex gasped. "Two quizzes in one day?! That's totally unfair!"
"Unfair for some of us," Clover grumbled, glaring at Sam.
"Couldn't you at least tell us what the quiz is on, Jer?" Sam asked.
"I mean, you already told us it's in biology," Sean added.
"Sorry," Jerry consoled. "But it would be completely unethical for me to disclose that the test is covering the chapter on Cro-Magnon man."
Then he stopped, realizing his mistake.
"Oops."
"You were saying, Jer?" Sean asked.
"Oh, would you like at the time?" Jerry said, casually, donning a parachute. "I've really got to run. Ciao!"
And with that, he jumped out of the plane.
"I really hope this thing's on autopilot," Alex said.
Paris Conference Hall-4:30 PM
Walking into the conference room, packed from one end to the other with Nobel Prize winners, the four spies observed the crowded space, each wearing a pair of Infrared Heat Detector Glasses, and in Sam's case, a beret.
"Okay, spies," she told the others. "Keep your eyes open for anything strange."
"And try to blend in," Sean quickly added.
As the group separated, Clover scanned the crowd. They were whispering, she observed, about the abductions that had taken place.
But neither she nor her friends could find anything suspicious.
"Excuse me, miss," a man with dark hair and glasses said, coming up to her.
"Aren't you the one who wrote that article about the expansion of the universe?"
Nervously, Clover turned.
"That's me!" she replied, quickly. "Brains and beauty! And yourself? What have you written?"
"Well," the man answered. "My specialty is prehistoric man, in particular Cro-Magnon."
Listening, Alex looked between Sean and Sam.
"Can you believe it?" she asked. "This guy could actually help us on our biology quiz!"
"Uh, Alex?" Sean broke in. "I think he has more important things to do."
"Friends and colleagues!" the man hosting the conference announced into a microphone on the podium.
"I just found out that the specialist on the expansion of the universe has honored us with her presence!"
A spotlight shone on Clover as the rest of the room clapped.
"Would you be so kind as to share your latest findings with us?"
As Clover smiled sheepishly, Sean could only stare in shock.
"Clover, don't do it," he said to himself, knowing that Clover was hopeless at anything academic.
But his wish was not to be, as she was soon escorted up to the podium.
Taking off her sunglasses, she cleared her throat, that same nervous smile stretching across her face.
"Actually," she began. "The universe is as easy as pie. It's like... um... one big shopping mall!"
To his left, Sean could see Alex and Sam's dismayed faces while he facepalmed.
"Yeah, that's it! See, it starts out small, but the more business it does, the more it expands. So, no need to worry. By the way, did I tell you? I just love Paris!"
The audience stood stunned, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Though Sean did have to admit, that was one of Clover's better attempts to save face.
A scream broke through the already loud silence.
Sean, Sam and Alex rushed into action, shoving their way through the crowd, as a glowing, swirling vortex opened in the ceiling above.
"I don't see anything," Alex commented.
"Me neither," Sam agreed.
Sean nodded, looking around for the source of the shriek.
"It's like she vanished into thin air!" he added.
Then they looked back to the stage... only to see the man who introduced Clover be sucked up to who knows where.
Clover held on to his legs to try and save him, but whatever was pulling him up was too strong.
As the panicking crowd, left the conference hall, her teammates rushed to her aid.
Alex gripped Clover's ankle, while Sam gripped Alex's and Sean held on to shoulders, trying to stabilize the chain.
Unfortunately, Clover's hands couldn't keep their grip for much longer and the man disappeared into the hole in the ceiling like the other Nobel Prize winners.
The thing keeping her airborne gone, Clover fell to the floor, her friends serving as a crash pad.
"What a disaster," another man with white hair commented. "He's the foremost authority on 19th century French literature!"
Sean and Sam looked at each other, stunned.
"Okay," Sam said, as she and Sean stood in front of the stairs outside the conference room, while Alex and Clover sat on the bottom steps.
"This is officially weird.
"'Weird' would be an understatement, Sammy," Alex said. "Two people just got vacuumed into the ceiling like dust bunnies!"
"No," Sam shot her down. "Not the abductions, the people who got abducted."
"Um," Clover chimed in. "You wanna try that again in English, Miss Cosette?"
"She's saying that the timing of this is too perfect to be coincidence," Sean defended. "I mean, think about it. Jerry tells us we'll be quizzed on Cro-Magnon Man in biology tomorrow and the Cro-Magnon specialist gets kidnapped."
"We're also supposed to have a test on Les Misérables and guess what? The expert on 19th century French literature just vanished," Sam said.
"First of all," Clover said, confrontationally. "We aren't being tested on Les Misérables."
She indicated Sam and Sean specifically, standing up.
"Second of all, do you actually expect us to believe that there's a connection between these kidnappings and our quizzes in L.A?"
"That's exactly what I expect you to believe," Sam replied. "Miss Sore Loser!"
Clover clenched her teeth in anger so hard that Sean was afraid they'd break for a minute.
"Alright," he snapped, stepping between the two. "That's enough, you two."
"Look," Alex said, trying to aid Sean in preventing another catfight. "We'll just ask Jerry for the subjects of all our upcoming quizzes and then see if any of the prize winners at the conference are experts on those subjects."
She pulled out her Compowder, calling Jerry.
But before the question could even leave her lips, Jerry narrowed his eyes sternly.
"No way," he said in an authoritative tone. "Absolutely not. I am not allowed to reveal quiz subjects to you four!"
"How did you even -" Sean trailed off, before deciding he didn't want to know.
"But this is different," Alex said, pleading. "It's for our mission! It could be a matter of life and... and someone being sucked into the ceiling!"
Jerry sighed, relenting.
"Well, when you put it that way."
He began typing.
"Your next quiz is in math class. The topic is Isaac Newton, but that's all telling you!"
"Since when do we study cookie designers in math class?" Clover asked, confused.
"Newton wasn't a cookie designer, you dimwit," Sam insulted.
"Who're you calling a dimwit, traitor?"
And with that, the two girls looked ready to tear each other's throats out again.
Sean jumped between them once again, holding up the itinerary for the conference.
"Will you two cut it out already?!" he asked, annoyed.
Knowing that they would likely ignore him again, he opened the small blue booklet he'd received upon entering the building.
"Here."
He pointed to a name on the second page.
"There's an expert on Isaac Newton, right here."
An hour later, in the helicopter Jerry had sent them, the spies hovered above the Parisian streets, tailing the Isaac Newton expert.
"He just went into that restaurant," Alex announced, showing the man in question entering a building with the words "Chez Paul" written on the doors.
"Make sure you don't lose him," Sean added. "We see what happens to him, we can find the other prize winners."
But Sam and Clover remained silent.
Sean and Alex sighed in exasperation.
"Are you two still harping on that role in the play?" Alex asked.
"You obviously have never been stabbed in the back by one of your best friends," Clover said, acidly.
"A-ha!" Alex exclaimed. "I knew it! You admit that Sam is one of your best friends."
"Clover," Sean said. "I understand being frustrated, but don't take it out on Sam. I mean, she didn't even want the part in the first place."
Clover folded her arms.
"Besides, you're overreacting. I mean, look at me. I actually wanted to try out for Marius. But I'm happy with what I got."
Though, granted, the part of Marius had already been cast by the time he auditioned.
"At least you got a part!" Clover fired back. "I'll be lucky if I'm even an usher!"
"Well, Mr. Tetley knows star quality when he sees it," Sam broke in, smugly.
"Don't think you're being any better, Sam," Sean said to her. "It's nice that you got the part, but don't try to brag about it."
Sam looked down, thinking. Then her attention snapped back to the surveillance screen.
"Hey," she announced to the others. "Look at this."
They watched the screen carefully. The man took only a few steps behind the waiter about to seat him before his foot got caught in the carpet, causing him to trip.
That was when the beam of light shot down from the ceiling, sucking the waiter up and causing him to vanish into thin air.
The expert looked up in shock.
"We've gotta get down there!" Sam called to the others. "Our expert's clearly the next in line!"
She landed the helicopter in the alley on the other side of the restaurant, allowing the spies to jump out and run inside.
"You're in danger!" Alex shouted to the still confused expert.
Then the shaft of light appeared again, nearly sucking up the expert until Alex pushed him out of the way.
But Alex, still smiling from preventing the abduction, was unable to stop herself from being sucked up, letting out a brief scream.
"They got Alex!" Sean shouted.
"Quick!" Sam said, the urgency notable in her tone. "The Jetpack Backpacks!"
Nodding, Clover and Sean activated their jetpacks along with Sam, ascending into the air, before crashing through the skylight.
What they saw upon exiting the building left them stunned.
In a strange hovercraft-like vehicle floating before them, driven by two men in black suits and goggles, Alex was trapped in a long, glass tube, banging on the surface.
"Help!" she yelled out, as the craft took off.
"Incredible!" Clover said, impressed. "The kidnappers vacuum their victims up into these tubes."
Sean narrowed his eyes.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" he said, taking off after the craft.
With the girls following, they managed to catch it as soon as it landing in an opening on the roof of a large truck.
The truck, according to the writing and image of bread inscribed on the side, had originally belonged to a bakery.
But Alex's kidnappers, whoever they were, had repurposed it for their own uses.
Soaring down in front of the truck, the spies flew back up, then back down so that they were facing the truck's front.
They pushed against the truck, trying to stop it in its tracks.
With their jetpacks being as powerful as they were, they succeeded.
"Let our friend go!" Sam shouted at them through the windshield. "Right now!"
"And tell us why you kidnapped the Nobel Prize winners!" Clover added.
But then, five more men jumped out of the truck, all wielding machetes.
Sean and the girls took a step back.
"Oh, wow," Clover said, trying to hide her fear. "Look at the time! Gotta fly!"
She, Sam and Sean typed at the controls for their jetpacks on their belts. But the packs just coughed up smoke, and went silent.
"Out of gas," Sean muttered. "Perfect."
The thug standing on the truck, leapt down at them, machete brandished.
His targets, Clover and Sean easily dodged out of the way.
"Looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way," Sean said to the girls. "Run!"
And they took off like bullets, Alex's abductors pursuing them.
"Hey!" Alex shouted from inside the tube. "Don't leave me here! I thought we were friends!"
Taking off their helmets, the spies threw them on the ground at their pursuers, causing two of them to trip.
Further down the street, they leapt over a wall leading to a flight of stairs, then over those to a dock on the Seine.
Hopping off the dock, they landed on three jet skis. Starting the engines, they took off.
Their assailants, in the meantime, hopped into motorboat, following them down the river.
Looking back at the men chasing them for a moment, Sean turned back to ahead of him to see a large catamaran floating between them and the rest of the river.
Ducking their heads as low as they could, they maneuvered their way under the catamaran.
Behind them, one of the thugs, who didn't see the other boat fast enough, hit his head on the edge and was sent flying off their boat and into the water.
Ahead, Sean and Clover sped past a tied boat while Sam jumped over it.
Their pursuers had a similar idea, jumping over the boat, before landing in a different part of the river.
Turning around, they continued to chase the spies who now sped under a bridge.
Soon, they came to an ovular opening, one that led to the sewer system.
"What now?!" Sean asked Sam.
"How should I know?" she replied.
"Well, you'd better think of something fast," Clover said, irritably. "Cosette!"
Sam gasped. "Wait! That's it! In Les Misérables, Jean Valjean escapes through the sewers!"
Taking out a tube of Exploding Lipstick, Sam threw it through the grate leading to the sewers.
"Look out!" she called.
True to its name, the lipstick exploded like a grenade.
Crawling through the remains of the grate, the spies looked down, noses wrinkling in revulsion at the smell.
"Ew!" Clover said, disgusted. "Nast! I'd rather fight those jerks than go in this filthy pipe! I mean, hello! My complexion is too sensitive!"
Sam just took off running, followed by Sean, splashing Clover with sewage by accident.
After a momentary shriek, Clover glared after them.
"You'll pay for this, both of you! And I mean that literally! It's gonna cost a fortune to have my boots cleaned!"
Reluctantly, she followed them.
Outside, the two remaining thugs hopped out of their boat to see the ruined sewer grate.
"Forget about them," one said. "We'll just interrogate their girlfriend."
"Good luck trying to pry anything out of that one," the other said.
"Oh, I can be very persuasive."
The two left, unaware that the three spies were now walking on the ceiling thanks to the suction cups in the bottom of their boots.
Later in the helicopter, the spies contacted Jerry to inform him of what happened to Alex. And what almost happened to them.
"You're lucky Sam thought of the sewers," he told them. "Otherwise you would have been French toast."
"Well, we're not through yet," Sean said. "We still need to find Alex and the Nobel Prize winners."
"Wait a second," Jerry announced, a blinking red light from his desk illuminating his face.
"I'm getting a weak signal from Alex's Compowder. I'll patch it through."
On the screen in front of them, appeared an image of Alex, hanging upside down and looking very terrified.
"Help!" she cried out. "What are you three waiting for, an invitation?!"
"I'm locking in on her location," Jerry continued.
After a few moments, he spoke up again.
"Oh my. It appears she's being held at 12118 Marmalade Street in Beverly Hills."
"But that's-" Clover began.
"-the house next door to mine!" Sam finished.
"That's right," Jerry concurred. "And according to W.O.O.H.P records, that's where the ambassador from Trobokistan and his son have been living for the past two weeks."
"Isn't that the fat-headed kid from Mr. Tetley's class?" Clover asked.
"Yeah," Sean answered. "We'd better get back to Beverly Hills."
He gripped the controls, setting the course back to California.
"Farewell, gay Paris," Clover said, ruefully.
Ambassador's House-1:52 PM
In a vast room beneath the ambassador's palatial estate, two men interrogated Alex, who now hung upside down in a tube.
"I'm gonna ask you one last time," one of her captors rasped. "Where's W.O.O.H.P Headquarters?"
"I wouldn't tell you in a million years, chump!" Alex said defiantly. "Just you wait and see what I do to you when I get out of here!"
"Okay," the man said. "You want to play games? Fine. I got a game for you."
Behind the man, his companion pressed a button on a large control console.
To Alex's horror, the tank she was trapped in began to fill with a thick, dark purple fluid.
She screamed as it was about to cover her head and suffocate her.
A drilling noise prevented her from saying anything else.
The two men looked above to see a circular hole being cut in the ceiling above.
Out of it jumped three teenagers, two girls, one boy.
Sean, Clover and Sam glared at the two men.
Kicking her foot in their direction, Clover let a steel cable fly from the heel and cling around one of the men, who fell headfirst into Alex's tank, shattering the glass and freeing her.
"It's about time you three got here!" she said, shaking off the fluid she was almost covered in.
Clover ran toward Alex then jumped up in the air... landing a kick to thug about to shoot Alex with some sort of device.
Once he was down, Alex gripped his cheek.
"I warned you not to mess with me!" she growled.
But the man recovered, giving chase to Alex for a brief moment before falling to the floor.
They looked to Sam, who had gripped his ankle. The man was now lying on the ground with a concussion.
"Not bad for a bookworm," Sam said to herself.
Sean nodded.
"Now," he said. "Let's find the Nobel Prize winners."
But the sound of an elevator opening told them that wasn't going to be so easy.
Four men came out, dressed in dark suits.
The ambassador's bodyguard's, if Sean had to guess.
Upstairs, in the ambassador's office, a screen on a phone lit up, revealing a man in dark sunglasses.
"We got all three of them boss," he said.
"Good," the ambassador said in a deep voice. "Bring them in."
After being apprehended, the spies were led into another room filled with glass cylinders exactly like the one Alex was kept in.
Inside these were six people that Sean recognized as the abducted Nobel Prize winners.
But there was a seventh figure in one of them. Sean recognized this one from French class.
"Hey!" Alex exclaimed. "It's the big head freak from our school!"
Percival, and Sean was just now remembering his name, was suspended from the tank's ceiling by a harness attached to his head.
The other prize winners had similar devices on their heads.
But Percival's head appeared to be getting bigger.
"Pi r squared times logarithm of ZY equals..." he said, almost as if he were in a trance.
"Weird," Sean said, unable to stop staring.
"It's like they're sucking the intelligence from the prize winners and putting it into his head!" Sam observed.
"No wonder he's such a know-it-all!" Clover added.
The elevator opened.
The ambassador of Trobokistan, a stocky, balding, middle-aged man stepped out. He wore a cream-colored suit similar to the one his son wore.
"Mr. Ambassador," two of his bodyguards said.
"Ambassador?!" the spies asked.
"That's right," he answered. "And also soon the father of the most intelligent child in the world. My son will be a genius in no time. A star pupil in school. No one will dare pick on him the way they picked on me."
"So," Clover began. "Let me get this straight. You kidnapped those scholars just to suck out their brains and pump them into your son's head?"
"Yes," the ambassador growled.
"And you think he won't get picked on? Hello! The guy's head is the size of a hot air balloon!"
Sam and Alex laughed, but Sean just glared at the ambassador.
"You really didn't think this through, did you?" he asked the older man. "I mean, the way his head is getting bigger? That can't be good for him."
"An unfortunate side effect," the ambassador explained. "But it will all be worth it."
He snapped his fingers.
A few moments later, the spies were trapped into the same type of tank they had just rescued Alex from.
In another, just a few feet away from them, was a hamster.
They couldn't figure out what the purpose of the hamster was until the same harness attached to Percival and the Nobel Prize winners clamped down on its head. And four more attached themselves to the spies.
"He's gonna turn us into hamsters!" Alex shouted.
"Keen observation," the ambassador said. "The hamster is really going to benefit from your intelligence."
He pressed a button on the console in front of him. Then he and his bodyguards left the room.
When the hamster started squeaking, the spies knew the process had already begun.
Banging against the glass, Alex had activated her Propeller Watch, slamming her into the tank's ceiling and causing her to come lose from her harness.
Sean looking up at where her head hit the glass, grinned, getting an idea.
"Alex!" he said. "Do that again!"
"No way!" she protested. "It hurts!"
"But if you keep it up, you just might break through."
Reluctantly, Alex jumped at the spot where the glass cracked.
Slowly, the crack expanded until...
An alarm sounded, alerting the ambassador to their escape.
Immediately, he rushed into the room along with three guards.
Seeing Clover out of containment and the others nowhere in sight, he snapped his fingers, and the guards lifted up their guns at her.
Activating her own propeller watch, she was catapulted into the air where her teammates waited for her.
Sean, Sam and Alex, carrying three glass tanks, dropped them onto the guards, trapping them.
Laughing, Clover shared a high-five with Sean.
The ambassador scowled as a hole was drilled into the floor, then another, and before any of them knew it, the room was crawling with W.O.O.H.P agents.
As they led the ambassador away and Clover let the hamster go free, Jerry entered the room.
"Another job well done, spies," he said.
"Thanks, Jerry," Sam and Alex returned.
"Wait a minute!" Alex exclaimed. "Couldn't you have broken out of your cylinders yourselves?! You all have propeller watches!"
"Uh," Sam struggled. "Yeah, I suppose."
"Yeah!" Clover agreed sarcastically. "And risk getting unsightly facial bruises? I don't think so!"
"I can't exactly be Javert if my face is bruised," Sean explained.
"Um, spies," Jerry interrupted, cuffing the ambassador. "Aren't you forgetting something important?"
And the elevator closed, leaving the spies alone.
They stood there, pondering Jerry's words.
Then Sean remembered.
"The prize winners!"
Looking back at the tank Percival was being kept in, he saw that his head was now larger than what the tank could hold.
In no time, the glass above him broke.
Sam rushed to the control console, gripping the lever to reverse the process before the boy's head could explode.
As Alex jumped on top of his head to try and stop the swelling and Sean gripped Sam's waist to try and help her pull the lever, Clover just folded her arms.
"That is one freak show I want no part of," she stated.
While Alex jumped up and down on Percival's head like a trampoline, Sean gave up.
"I don't think this is the right one!" he exclaimed.
Sam noticed a green button next to the lever. Pressing it, the swelling in Percival's head began to decrease.
Alex, still continuing her efforts, took notice.
"Hey!" she shouted. "What do you know?! It's working!"
"Nice job, Alex," Sam falsely congratulated, not wanting to spoil it for her. "You saved the world."
As Alex jumped off his head before it shrank back to normal size, Percival fainted.
"Guess this means from now on, he'll have to study for tests just like the rest of us!" Clover said.
"Oh, wait," she added, looking at Sam and, less directly, Sean. "I forgot. Some of us are exempt from tests!"
"Alright, that's it!" Sean groaned, stepping between Sam and Clover again.
"You've been giving us a hard time over this Les Mis thing all day!And Alex and I are sick of it! Look, I'm sorry you didn't get the part of Cosette, but you've given us enough grief over it! So why don't you and Sam make up and get over it?!"
Clover scoffed.
"Forget it!" she answered.
But as she and Sean continued their heated dispute, they didn't notice the hamster they'd set free sneak behind the cylinders, gnawing at a tube of fluid.
Suddenly, the tube snapped, spraying Clover with its sticky purple contents, forcing her to the floor.
As she shrieked, Sam wrestled the broken tube into her grip, allowing the fluid to spray her too.
When it stopped, Alex knelt down beside Clover.
"Lucky thing there was almost no fluid left in the tube," she commented.
"You alright, girls?" Sean asked.
"A little grossed out, but otherwise fine," Sam answered, dropping the tube.
Clover, on the other hand, looked absolutely stunned.
"I can't-" she panted. "I can't believe you just did that for me. You totally saved my life, Sam. Not to mention, my outfit."
"Well," Sam returned. "I wouldn't have done it for just anybody."
"Only for a best friend?" Alex asked as she and Clover rose off the floor.
"Exactly," Sam answered.
Clover began to tear up.
"Oh, Sammy!" she practically sobbed. "I'm so sorry I called you a thief and a traitor!"
"No," Sam consoled, running over and hugging Clover. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I never should have accepted the role of Cosette."
Sean just stood there, slack jawed.
"This is what got them to make up?" he asked, as Alex's Compowder chimed.
She opened it, gasping.
"Oh no!" she announced. "It's time for our quiz on Les Misérables!"
"No!" Clover exclaimed.
Rapidly running into the W.O.O.H.P helicopter, Sean called out to the pilot.
"Quick, to Beverly High!"
Coming out of the changing area, dressed in his civilian clothes, he noticed Alex and Clover looking desponded.
"I can't believe I forgot all about it!" Alex exclaimed. "Hell, I don't squat about Les Misérables!"
"Neither do I!" Clover agreed.
"What are we gonna do?!"
"Don't worry about it, girls," Sean reassured. "Sam and I'll tell you everything you need to know."
Alex and Clover looked ecstatic.
"After all," Sam added. "That's what best friends are for."
"Good," Clover said. "Cause we also need help cramming for our biology quiz on the Cro-Mags."
Sam and Sean looked to the cylinders containing the rescued prize winners.
One look and Sean knew he and Sam had the same idea.
Beverly Hills High School-10:53 AM
The next day, Sean walked between Sam and Clover, staring at the bright red "A" written on his biology quiz with pride.
He looked over at Clover's quiz which had the same grade as his.
"Wow," she said, impressed. "Who knew an artist like me could also excel at academics?"
"Looks like we're all multi-talented," Sam said, looking at her grade, "A+"
"Speaking of which," Alex said, rushing up to them. "What did you guys decide to do about the play?"
"It's simple," Sam answered. "I'm gonna convince Mr. Tetley that Clover is the right actress for the part of Cosette."
"And I'm going to insist he make Sam my first understudy," Clover added.
"As for me," Sean broke in. "I'm gonna offer to help Clover rehearse her lines and tell him that if he refuses, he's gonna have to find another Javert."
After hearing from Arnold that Mr. Tetley was in the auditorium, the four teens entered it.
Mr. Tetley was sitting before the stage, his face focused.
"Mr. Tetley," Sam said, walking up to him. "We need to talk to you right away."
"Yeah," Clover broke in. "It's about the part of Cosette."
"We really think you should give Clover a-" Sean started but was cut off by Mr. Tetley silencing them.
"Not now!" he insisted.
Sean was confused until he heard a voice coming from the stage.
"Oh, Monsieur Valjean," it rang out, monotone.
They looked back to see Mandy dressed in French peasant clothing and apparently, auditioning.
"What ill fortune to be poor with no family!"
She sank to her knees, clasping her hands pleadingly.
"That's it!" Mr. Tetley said, applauding. "That was brilliant, Mandy! You were born to play Cosette and I won't take no for an answer!"
Mandy shot a look at Clover and Sam.
"Huh?" the two girls asked each other, confused.
"Mandy, you've got the makings of a star!"
The four teens looked back at the stage, dumbstruck.
"Tell me something I don't know," Mandy said, boastingly.
Furious, Sam and Clover jumped on the stage.
"That thief!" Sam accused.
"That traitor!" Clover joined in, both chasing Mandy around the stage.
"That backstabber!"
"Here we go again," Alex said, sitting between a stunned Mr. Tetley and a mildly amused Sean.
"I'm suddenly glad I didn't get the part of Marius," Sean said, remembering there was a kiss in the script between Marius and Cosette.
Then he felt his chest give a pang, realizing that if he did get that role and Sam got to keep the part of Cosette, the two would...
He pushed out of his mind, but it latter came up again as they left the auditorium.
"I can't believe the nerve of Mandy!" Clover said, angrily.
"I can't believe Mr. Tetley thinks she's a better Cosette!" Sam said, equally furious. "I mean, my hair's way better than hers!"
"Forget it, Sam," Sean said. "If he thinks Mandy has more talent than either of you, he's an idiot."
Sean turned away, aware of the blush now forming at his cheeks.
"Thanks, Sean," Sam said, calming down before walking off with the other girls.
By the time Sam was out of sight, Sean straightened his head again, now aware of the longing sigh escaping his lips.
"Little she knows," he said to himself. "Little she sees."
Phew! It took me a while to finish this one, but I'm proud of it. I think it especially establishes Sean as the voice of reason in the group. Can't wait to get started on the next one!