Hi! I mean to get started on this sooner, but I was a little busy with spring cleaning as well as my 26th birthday. Here's the next chapter of The Sean Saga.
Read and review!
Chapter Twenty Four
Silicon Valley Girls
Las Vegas-6:29 PM
As the sun set, signaling the end of another dry, hot day in Las Vegas, many tourists were either returning to their hotel rooms, partaking in various casinos and other leisurely activities, or simply returning home after either hitting the jackpot or going home empty handed.
For others, though, it was a time to take a ride on one of the city's dozens of roller coasters.
When the car for the Babylon Hotel's single rider coaster stopped, a teenage boy, in his senior year of high school, rudely pushed his way past an old man who was the next in line.
"Out of the way," he said, confidently. "Grampa here lost his nerve."
The boy strapped, named Brett, strapped himself in, and the car took off.
"Come on," he said as the car reached a peak on the track. "I'm psyched to see how fast this thing is."
As he grinned with excitement, a deep electronic voice caught him by surprise.
"Let's see how you like getting pushed around, Brett."
As he looked around for the voice's origin, he was unprepared for the car to start moving... much faster than it was designed to go.
"Hey!" he called out fearfully. "What's up with this?!"
Screaming in fear as the roller coaster car hurtled out of control, he could barely hear the voice sound off again.
"Brett has been a bad boy. Brett needs a lesson!"
He continued to scream as the roller coaster's operator observed the scene in confusion. Then looked down at the system display for the ride, which now read "System Malfunction. Virus."
In a panic, he pressed several buttons on the console, raising three safety gates in an attempt to stop the car.
But it just barreled right through them, taking Brett on a ride with a speed that only astronauts usually experienced.
Beverly Hills High School-10:35 AM
Sam drummed her fingers on the desk, nervously glancing at the door.
"Where is he?" she asked Alex who looked just as anxious.
"I don't know," Alex shrugged. "But he'd better get here soon or we're sunk."
"Not necessarily," Sam countered, looking up to the judge's bench, where Clover now sat wearing a powdered wig.
For extra credit in civics class, Clover had agreed to take on the position of judge in the student court.
And she just had the misfortune of presiding over the trial of Alex and Sam, who had been charged with violating the school's dress code.
Sean, who had volunteered to be Sam and Alex's attorney, was, unfortunately, running late.
True, Sam reasoned, Clover wouldn't throw the book at her best friends, but still.
"Sam, Alex," Clover spoke up after a while. "This court has no choice but to find you guilty of violating the school dress code."
"But Clove- Your Honor," Sam defended. "Our heels are only a half-inch higher than the code allows."
"Can't you give us a break?" Alex asked, smiling sweetly.
Clover looked down at her own shoes, which were about the same height of those at her friends now at the bench.
"Well," she said. "Considering the circumstances, and since your lawyer isn't here, I guess I can let you off with a suspended sentence."
Sam and Alex gave each other a look that said, "See? We didn't need Sean after all."
They were just about to plan their celebration when Mandy butted in.
"Objection, Your Dishonor!" she said as Clover gave out a shriek. "This is total favoritism."
Ms. Brookes, the teacher who taught civics and who had filled the role of plaintiff, stood up, walking over to the judge's bench.
"I agree," she told Clover, apologetically. "You're much too lenient to be a student court judge, Clover."
She gestured to the girl behind her.
"I'm replacing you with Mandy."
At that, Clover took off the powdered wig and growled at Mandy.
"Thank you, Ms. Brookes," Mandy said. "I promise, I'll restore dignity to this court."
She was cut off by Clover throwing the wig at her in a rage.
The wig landed on her head perfectly and Mandy walked up to the bench as if nothing hit her.
"And I'll restore integrity too."
Clover, in defeat, walked over to the defendant's bench.
Pounding the gavel, Mandy turned to the three girls.
"This court finds-"
"Wait!" Sean's voice called out.
All heads turned to see its owner run into the room, panting.
"Your... Honor..." Sean said between breaths. "I-"
But his eyes widened when he saw who sat at the judge's podium.
"Mandy?!"
Mandy scoffed. "It's the Honorable Judge Mandy to you, loser!"
Sean blinked then turned to Ms. Brookes.
"What's going on here? I thought Clover was the student court judge."
"Due to her failure judge impartially," Ms. Brookes explained. "Clover has been replaced as judge."
"By Mandy?!" Sean asked.
Ms. Brookes nodded.
Sean groaned.
"That makes total sense," he mumbled sarcastically.
Mandy cleared her throat.
"This court finds all three of you in contempt and sentences you to three weeks of picking up trash!"
"What?!" the girls and Sean asked.
Sean stepped forward.
"Your Honor," he said, barely containing his anger at her. "Don't you think that's a little harsh? I mean, the only thing they did was-"
"Sticking up for the guilty, Sean?" Mandy interrupted.
"Uh, yes," Sean answered bluntly. "That's kind of the point of a defense lawyer."
Mandy smiled evilly. "Well, since you showed up late, you're in contempt too and this court sentences you to the same sentence as your loser girlfriends!"
Sean's jaw dropped.
"And, honestly, I should add one more week for that ugly sweater of yours."
Sean looked down at his green turtleneck.
Sam stabbed a discarded napkin with the pointed end of her stick, fuming over hers and her friends' sentence.
"'Integrity'," she mimicked Mandy. "Hah! What a brown-noser!"
"Yeah!" Clover agreed. "Who does she think she is, the Supreme Court?!"
"Be lucky she isn't," Sean said, picking up an apple core. "Otherwise, we'd probably get a lot worse than this."
"Yeah," Alex concurred, picking up a milk carton with a pair of tweezers. "This is, like, supremely nasty!"
"Well, get used to it, Alex," Clover said. "Because thanks to Sean, we're stuck doing this for three weeks!"
Sean's jaw went agape.
"Excuse me?!" he asked, outraged. "How is this my fault?!"
Clover rolled her eyes. "If you hadn't taken forever to get here, Sam and Alex could have built up a better case, Ms. Brookes wouldn't think I was so lenient, and we wouldn't have to deal with the Dishonorable Judge Mandy!"
"I was at the dentist!" Sean defended. "And I didn't mean to be late, I just forgot! Besides, if this anyone's fault, I'd say it's yours!"
He pointed at Clover, who scowled.
"From what Sam and Alex told me, you were too soft on them, and that made Ms. Brookes replace you!"
Clover threw up her hands in defense. "They're my best friends! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Outside the courtroom, they're you're friends. Justice is supposed to be blind, Clover!"
Sam and Alex looked on in shock at the two exchanging verbal blows.
"You're the blind one if you thought coming to school in that tacky sweater was a good idea!" Clover said.
"For your information," Sean argued. "Turtlenecks are making a comeback!"
"Well, I'll tell you what isn't making a comeback: me as student court judge!"
Sam, who had enough, stepped between the two.
"Alright, that's enough!" she snapped.
Sean and Clover turned away from each other, arms folded.
"If you two spent less time arguing and more time cleaning, we'd be halfway done by now."
Sam looked around. "There must be a way to pick this stuff up faster."
Clover brightened up when she saw a garbage truck come into view.
"There is," she said, pointing at it. "Check it out!"
A long tube retracted from it, sucking up trash from a nearby trash can... and then the four teens from the pavement.
As they went through the tube, they landed in the truck and in four chairs placed in front of Jerry, who sat in a desk that had been set up.
"Can't you get a normal office?" Clover asked in disgust.
"Sorry, agents," Jerry consoled. "But we need you urgently. Fourteen hours ago, a computer trapped a student named Brett Brinkley on a Las Vegas rollercoaster."
Jerry pressed a button, lowering a screen that showed footage of the incident in question.
"Sheesh," Sean said at the footage of the sobbing boy. "That's one ride I'd never want to go on again."
"We've had two similar attacks," Jerry continued. "In Italy, a tourist was attacked by an airport baggage machine."
The screen showed a man at an airport being lifted up by a robotic arm and placed on the baggage conveyor belt.
"And a computerized elevator at Silicon Valley High left the principal quite shook up."
The footage changed to show a middle-aged woman in a clear elevator that dropped at an almost breakneck pace before stopping and going up again at the same speed, sending the woman colliding with the floor and the ceiling.
"Yikes," Sam commented. "More proof that climbing stairs is healthier."
"Your first stop is Las Vegas," Jerry informed.
With a gesture from him, a robotic winch lowered the girls' pink heart shaped backpacks as well as Sean's blue circular one.
"Today's gadget menu includes the Coin Purse Life Raft Parachute."
Two of them were in the backpacks.
Sean pulled out a glass spray bottle from his.
"Don't spray on that cologne, Sean," Jerry warned. "It's liquid nitrogen. It freezes steel, makes it as brittle as glass."
"Cool," Sean said. "Pun intended."
Sam and Clover pulled out a hairdryer and a camera respectively, while Alex pulled out a stereo.
"Careful," Jerry went on. "The hairdryer is an infrared heat ray. The stereo is a sonic disintegrator. And the camera fires a laser beam."
Alex looked nervous as Clover unconsciously aimed the camera at her.
"Guess I won't need film," Clover said, sheepishly. "Will I?"
Las Vegas-5:30 PM
After Jerry dropped them off at the hotel where the incident occurred, the spies went to the rollercoaster to find Brett.
Just as Jerry had said, he was still stuck on the rollercoaster. Sean wondered how he hadn't been given whiplash yet from being on it this long.
"Looks like Brett's had enough fun," Sean said as Clover pulled out the camera.
"Get ready to grab him," she announced, crouching beside the track.
"Careful," Sam said, as the car drew closer to them. "Here he comes. Go time!"
Clover fired the laser beam at the tracks, melting the steel keeping them in place.
As the car sped closer to them, it soared over the makeshift ramp Clover had created with the laser, letting Sam leap on.
"Come on, pal!" Sam said to the screaming Brett, lifting his safety harness. "Time to give someone else a turn!"
She grabbed him by the torso, then jumped out of the car before it could hit the ground in the parking lot nearby, causing it to explode.
"Remind me to stick to the merry-go-round next time we go to an amusement park," she said, looking at the smoking wreckage of the rollercoaster car.
"Oh," Brett sat up, tearfully. "Thank you!"
"I don't get it," Alex said as all five stood in the hotel elevator, listening to Brett's story. And to them, it just didn't make sense.
"How could a computer voice know your name?"
"Search me," Brett responded to Alex's question. "I'm on the football team, babe. I don't study your computers or anything else."
"Football?" Clover asked.
"Don't you need to keep up a grade average to stay on the team?" Sean added.
"I bet you ace all your tests," Sam said, sarcastically.
"I don't have to, babe," Brett said, earning a scowl from Sean. "I just grab the nearest nerd and, uh... persuade him to help me."
He slammed his fist into his palm, demonstrating his point further.
Sean was getting some major flashbacks from Tad.
"Well, speaking as a nerd," Sam said as they exited the elevator into the lobby. "I'm starting to see why computers would attack you."
"What do you mean, 'computers?'" Brett asked, as they walked toward the exit as fast as they could. "You talk like there's more than one."
"In case you haven't noticed," Sean pointed out the robots and machines around them. "This hotel is holding the annual Computerized Gadget Show!"
But they were woefully unaware of one of those robots, one modeled after a chef, watching them closely.
Brett, in particular.
Suddenly, the four spies and Brett found themselves surrounded by that robot along with several others.
Including one for construction, complete with buzzsaw and drill.
"Wh-what are they doing?" Brett stuttered. "Why are they coming at me like that?"
"Naughty, naughty, Brett," a computerized voice sounded off, as the construction bot raised its tools. "Your punishment isn't over."
"Okay," Clover said, confidently. "Say 'cheese!'"
But Sean noticed her mistake before she did.
"Clover, wait!" he tried to warn. "That's-"
But Clover discovered the truth herself when the camera gave off a regular flash instead of shooting a laser.
"-the wrong camera," Sean finished.
"Oops!" Clover blushed at her mistake.
The robot swung its drill at her, missing Clover, but destroying her camera.
And she had to duck in order to avoid its buzzsaw.
Brett was on the floor, paralyzed with fear.
"Get out of the way!" Sam urged, pushing out of the aim of the chef robot
Getting back on her feet, Sam faced down the knife wielding robot.
"Brett has been a bad boy," the voice continued, as it slashed at her. Sam jumped out of the way, but not before losing a bit of her hair in the process.
Sean kicked at a another robot that was clearly designed to mow lawns based on the number of blades it kept firing at him.
Taking out the liquid nitrogen spray, he aimed it at the robot. A few sprays later, it stopped trying to bisect him, and with a good kick, it shattered like porcelain.
Alex, in the meantime, dodged two tentacles from another robot, this one designed to cut hair. Instead, they mutilated her backpack.
"Brett needs a lesson!" the voice insisted, as Clover pulled out her camera, the right one this time, and aimed it at the construction bot.
"Time for you to split, honey!" she said and the ensuing laser cut the robot right down the middle.
Sam, in the meantime, used the hairdryer to melt the skin of the chef bot while Alex was still running from the scissor bot.
"There's never an energy crisis when you need one!" Alex complained.
She ran over to a banner. Jumping up and clinging to it, she watched as the scissors cut off a large chunk of fabric.
Seeing no other choice, Alex pulled out the stereo Jerry gave her. Turning it on, it proved to live up to its name, destroying the attacking robot instantly.
Sam, however, was still struggling with her robot. Despite turning the hairdryer on full heat, it still kept advancing.
"Brett has been a bad boy," the computer voice repeated.
Coming to her friend's rescue, Alex pointed her stereo at the robot. Like the scissor bot, the chef bot was now a pile of spare parts.
"Okay!" she shouted, pumped up. "Who's next!"
"Chill, Alex," Sam said. "You got 'em all."
Clover turned to Brett, who was now cowering beside the scrap metal that used to be the robot.
"It's like those computers knew Brett," she said over the sound of the football player's chattering teeth. "We got to get him somewhere safe."
"You're right," Sean nodded, taking out his wallet phone. "I'll call Jerry, and tell him to send some agents to pick up Brett."
"Sure you can do it fast enough?" Clover said, deadpan. "I mean you were a little slow with that cologne, just like you were slow today."
Sean held off on calling Jerry.
"Okay," he said, irritated. "One, that was not my fault. Two, do you have any idea how hard it is to dig something out of a bag when you're being ATTACKED BY A KILLER ROBOT?!"
Clover glowered.
"Well, apparently you do," Sean continued. "Since you tried cutting a robot in half with a regular camera! Why did you even have that with you on a spy mission in the first place?!"
"You think you're so smart?!" Clover said confrontationally. "You should've known being a no-show in student court would get us stuck picking up candy wrappers!"
"Well, you wouldn't have been kicked off if you hadn't-"
"Cut it out already!" Sam and Alex stepped in between them.
"We get that you're ticked with each other," Alex began.
"But you've gotta put that aside for now," Sam finished. "Right now, we have to get to Italy before anything else happens to that gym coach."
Before Sean could dial Jerry, Clover's gasp stopped him.
"Clover," he said, impatiently. "I swear, if this has anything to with what happened at school-"
"No, you idiot!" she yelled. "Look behind you!"
Sean's eyes widened. He turned around to see yet another robot appearing from their rear.
This one had a glass top, and a lever on two levers on both sides.
Alex, thinking fast, pulled out the stereo, as three reels under the glass dome spun to show what looked like three bombs in a row.
"Oh," she said. "You want some Mr. Machine?!"
She turned it on, but as the glass broke, instead of letting explosives fly outward as expected, a barrage of coins burst out.
Apparently, just another slot machine.
Alex smiled in embarrassment, as her teammates glared at her for her mistake.
"Well," Sean sighed. "I guess what happens in Vegas..."
Capri, Italy-11:45 AM
"Victim No.2," Sam announced to the others, holding on to a support rail inside the funicular train car they now rode in.
"Coach Joe Hassler has been laying low here on the Isle of Capri ever since he got baggage handled."
It took them a while to track down Coach Hassler, but eventually, they found him at a streetside café.
While Clover and Alex ate from a dish of spaghetti, Sam and Sean tried to plead with Hassler to come with them for his own protection.
But there was a problem.
"Look," he explained as he answered their questions. "I've never been to Vegas. I don't know this Brett kid and I don't wanna go anywhere!"
"You'll be safer at W.O.O.H.P," Alex reasoned.
"But cars, planes, ships," Hassler argued. "They all have computer chips now! If computers are out to get me, how do I travel?!"
"Hmm," Sean hummed, thinking.
Then he snapped his fingers.
"I think I have an idea."
Back in the funicular car, Coach Hassler sat opposite the spies.
Wedged between Sam and Clover, Sean looked at the controls for the car.
"Hey!" Sam said, impressed. "This is what I call low-tech."
Sean nodded.
"This funicular railway is powered by a cable," Sean explained. "No computer on board."
But that was when the car began to move abnormally fast, tossing Hassler and the spies around like popcorn kernels.
"Uh, Sean?" Clover asked. "Does that go for the cable motors down at the station?"
"I'm guessing the answer's no!" Alex said, fearfully.
Clover glared up at Sean, angry.
"What?" Sean defended. "It was an honest mistake!"
"So was thinking you could think of a way out of this!" Clover returned. "I mean, what should I expect from someone who got me on garbage duty!"
"Clover," Sean warned. "If you don't shut up about that-"
"Get out of here first!" Sam interrupted. "Be at each other's throats later!"
Reluctantly, the two nodded.
The spies gripped the bars, followed by Hassler.
"You've been a bad boy, Coach," the same electronic voice from Las Vegas said, coming from the controls.
"Time for your punishment."
The car sped up, sending Hassler flying backwards... straight out the back door.
He would have fallen on to the rails if not for Sam's quick thinking, grabbing him by the wrist.
"Help!" he yelled as she pulled him back in.
At the same time, Clover tried to pull the brake, put to her misfortune, it was stuck.
"Look out!" Alex and Sean shouted.
She pointed to a technician, who was working on a telephone pole.
As the car sped by, the technician was caught off guard by the sudden noise and the bucket of paint looped around his belt came loose and landed on top of him.
Meanwhile, Clover was still trying in vain to move the brake. Even with Sean helping her, it wouldn't budge.
"The brake lever's jammed!" Clover cried out.
"We are so dead!" Alex panicked.
"Not yet!" Sean said. "We can still trip the brake! We just have to climb outside to reach the wheel!"
The two girls looked outside the train car, which was now travelling at high speeds.
"Like I said," Alex yelled. "We're dead!"
Nodding in determination, Clover reached out to try and grab the emergency brake.
But the sound of a train horn gave Alex and Sean different ideas.
"Clover!' they shouted, pulling her back in before the car could hit her.
Clover looked up at Sean, furrowing her brows.
"I almost had it, you know!" she complained.
"Uh, you're welcome," Sean said, sarcastically.
"Okay," Sam interrupted, taking out the two coin purses Jerry gave them.
"Time for Plan B!"
She tossed the second one to a very confused Clover.
"Do we even have a Plan B?!" she asked.
"We do now!" Sam answered, strapping on hers and grabbing Hassler's hand.
"It's called.. JUMP!"
And they did so.
Left with little other choice, Clover and Sean clung to Alex, who donned the remaining coin purse.
As the train car exploded at the bottom of the slope, the four spies and one gym teacher safely parachuted to the beach below.
Spitting out sand she accidentally swallowed, Clover lifted the parachute off of her, Alex and Sean.
"This may be a dumb question to ask a gym coach," Alex said. "But do you have any enemies?"
"Only every kid I ever taught," Hassler answered.
"Any who were good with computers?" Sam asked.
"Well," Hassler explained. "I had this one geek running laps all last year. I forgot his name. He transferred to Silicon Valley."
"Silicon Valley High?" Clover asked.
"Isn't that where victim No. 3 is principal?" Sean added to her question.
"That's it!" Sam declared. "The coach picks on kids at one school, Brett at another. What if they both bullied the same kid who's now at Silicon Valley?!"
"Time to pay a visit to Silicon Valley High!" Alex said, walking over to Clover who had gotten the attention of two boys.
Grabbing her by the wrist, she dragged her friend back over to Sean and Sam.
"We can drop the coach off at W.O.O.H.P on the way."
San Francisco-2:22 PM
Beneath the tranquil waters that ran underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, a submarine fired a torpedo.
In only 5 seconds, the torpedo surfaced on a beach. The front opened up and ejected four teens onto the sand.
Clover groaned. "Every time I think Jerry can't come up with a more annoying way for us to travel, he outdoes himself."
The spies stood up, dusting the sand off their clothes.
"Uh," Sean uttered. "Girls?"
He motioned them to look at the building directly behind them.
Made almost completely out of glass, and with a monorail circling it, Clover summed up everyone's first opinion on the school.
"Wow! Silicon Valley High makes our school look so... so 20th century."
"How do we blend in so we don't look so suspicious?" Alex asked, gesturing to their spy uniforms.
"By not blending in," Sam replied.
Sean looked at her, confused.
She just smiled.
"Let's take a backstage look of their auditorium."
Silicon Valley High's drama department was easy enough to find, even if finding disguises in it was a different story.
"Wow!" Alex said in awe at all the costumes. "Look at all that!"
"Yeah!" Sam agreed as she and the others got to work finding the right disguise.
In the principal's office, a teenage boy with tan skin and dark hair sat at the computer on the desk, typing.
The screen displayed a progress bar with the word "Loading" displayed on top. Connected to the screen was a PDA with a similar loading screen.
Suddenly, the door opened, taking the boy by surprise.
"Uh, sorry," he consoled. "Principal Vegan is out sick today."
"Oh, dear," Sam said, now dressed in a beret, green jumpsuit, pink sunglasses, and a peace sign pendant.
She was using a fake British accent as part of her disguise.
"Can you help us, luv? We're new exchange students. I'm Samantha from England."
Sean walked to her left, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt that was white in the middle, with a green stripe on the left and an orange on the right.
On his head he wore a green hat with a golden harp insignia on the top.
"Top of the morning," he said in a faux Irish accent. "I am Sean from Ireland."
Alex came in, dressed in a very old outfit with a headscarf and babushka.
"I am Alexandra from Russia," she said in a Russian accent. "Is enrolling in school we want."
But Clover's disguise, Sean noted, was not only obvious, but about 2000 years out of date.
She walked in wearing the dress and crown of an Egyptian queen.
"I am Cloverpatra from Egypt."
Sean rolled his eyes.
"Clover," he whispered in his own accent. "Couldn't you pick something a little more... recent?!"
"If I'm gonna wear a cheap knockoff disguise," she countered, though only Sean heard her. "I might as well look glamorous!"
"But no one's dressed like that since 30 B.C!"
The boy at the desk, thankfully, didn't seem to notice their squabbling.
"Hi!" he greeted them. "I'm Adam Lewis."
He looked at their choice of outfits, wondering.
"Those clothes look familiar. You've never done a school play here, have you?"
The spies looked at each other nervously.
"Nyet," Alex said quickly. "We are just arriving."
Clover rushed behind the desk, getting into Adam's personal space.
"A thousand pardons, effendi," she said. "We wish to meet other students who are new here. Could we see your-how you say?-database of new arrivals?"
"Sure," Adam replied, blushing. "Let me input my password. Just don't tell the principal, okay?"
Immediately, Adam began typing.
"'C.H.A.D?'" Clover read over his shoulder, referring to Adam's choice of password.
"C.H.A.D," Adam explained as Clover took out a notepad and pen. "Stands for Computer Home Analyzer and Defender. My invention. He-it can access any computer anywhere."
Clover began writing, taking note of everything Adam said.
"I spend a lot of time on C.H.A.D 'cause Dad's always moving us. I guess we both know how hard it is to make friends when you're new in school."
Sean groaned.
Tell me about it, he thought, remembering his first year of middle school.
For three months, he'd been subjected to every vicious prank in the book. Being stuffed in a locker, having his head dunked in a toilet, clothes being stolen after gym.
And this was before he met Tad.
"All those bullies and snobs," Adam continued.
"Yeah, sure," Clover said, accidentally swapping back to her own accent.
Realizing her mistake, she cleared her throat.
"Excuse me," she said in the Egyptian accent again. "I am very busy."
Before any more could be said, the door swung open, letting a very austere looking woman in cream colored business suit and a neck brace storm in.
"Adam," she said harshly. "I warned you about using my computer to download games or, whatever it is you're doing."
Hastily, Adam disconnected his PDA and placed it in his pocket as the woman, who Sean remembered was the principal Jerry had shown them in the footage, stepped closer.
"I'm revoking your access permanently!"
"What?!" Adam asked, clearly upset. "But Principal Vegan, you can't do that!"
"No?" Vegan asked rhetorically. "Watch me."
Then she pointed to her office door.
"Now get out!"
And with that, Adam sulked out the door.
Then Vegan turned on the four teens still in her office.
"And would you four explain?"
Sam took off her hat.
"Mrs. Vegan," she said in her normal accent. "You shouldn't have come back. You're in huge danger!"
But Vegan was skeptical.
"Danger?" she asked. "From who?"
Outside the office, Adam held up his PDA.
"Oh, man!" he complained. "I can't play with the school mainframe anymore, C.H.A.D!"
The screen on Adam's PDA now had a red electronic mouth displayed on it along with a sinister looking pair of red eyes.
"Don't worry, Adam," C.H.A.D said. "I already uploaded instructions to it. Vera Vegan won't bother us again."
As Sean and the girls tried to explain the situation to a skeptical Vegan, the doors to the office interrupted them by slamming shut.
Stunned, Sean turned around.
"Are your door locks computerized, by any chance?" he asked Vegan.
"Yes," she answered bluntly. "Windows, too. Why do you ask?"
The windows were soon obscured by metallic shutters, and the fire sprinklers turned on.
"And your sprinklers?" Alex asked in disbelief.
Hearing the scream inside the office, Adam looked down at C.H.A.D.
"Hey, C.H.A.D, what's going on?"
"Just a little prank, Adam," C.H.A.D reassured. "I'll show you when we get home."
Just when they thought the office couldn't be any more flooded, the water cooler exploded, effectively raising the water level by at least three feet.
"Sam, Sean," Clover said, joining them and Alex and Vegan on the latter's desk. "I left my laser camera backstage when I changed clothes!"
"Oh, no!" Alex exclaimed. "And I left the boombox!"
But her despair turned to elation when she pulled out a small purple bag.
"Wait, I've still got my fanny pack!"
Pressing a button the side, the pack inflated into a life raft.
Sean jumped over to a painting, taking it off the wall to use it as an oar.
"You have been a bad girl, Vera," the same computer voice they'd heard before said. "Now I have to punish you."
That was when a copier bubbled up from the water's surface.
"There's that creepy voice that loves to dish out punishment!" Clover exclaimed.
"You're worried about a copier?!" Sean asked as he continued trying to row.
"No!" Clover countered. "I'm worried about its stapler!"
As if to prove her point, the copier fired a barrage of staples at the five. Sean raised the painting in the nick of time, blocking them from hitting him and his friends.
When it ran out of staples, the copier ejected its paper trays.
Sean, the girls and Vegan ducked, as the painting wouldn't shield them from that.
In fact, when Sean looked at it, the tray had completely torn it in half.
"How long can you keep that up?!" Sam asked.
"I won't need to for long!" Sean said, raising his arm up to the ceiling, which was now getting closer.
"In a minute, we're gonna run out of air!"
"Sam, give me your pack!" Alex said, and Sam threw hers to her.
Alex dove beneath the surface of the water. Swimming through the flooded office, she quickly located the door.
She carefully wrapped the pack around the door handle and pressed the button to inflate it.
She kicked her way back to the surface.
"Hang on!" she warned the others. "We're hitting whitewater!"
Below, the raft broke the door handle, opening the doors and letting the water rush out of the office and into the hallway, along with four screaming teenagers and one principal.
When the torrent finally stopped, Vegan just sat there, stunned into silence.
"Are you okay?!" Alex asked.
"I'm going to the faculty lounge," Vegan answered, getting out of the raft.
"I just need to faint for a while."
She stepped in front of the door to the lounge but, apparently, getting in there couldn't wait for her.
Instead, she collapsed on the damp floor, forcing Sean and Sam to drag her into the lounge and gently seat her in the nearest chair.
They left her there, still unconscious.
Upon exiting the school, Clover showed them the list she'd made from seeing Adam look into the new student database.
"Ten students transferred here," she explained. "And one was Adam. But could any kid hack into so many systems so fast?"
"It's not humanly possible!" Alex said in disbelief.
"Wait a sec!" Sam declared. "That voice we keep hearing doesn't sound human."
"Maybe our hacker isn't human!" Sean added.
Sam opened her Compowder, calling Jerry.
"Jerry," she began. "We have ten suspects. But if you could run a check-"
"Later, Sam," Jerry interrupted. "Someone at Silicon Valley just used the internet to hack into a missile base on Guam."
The spies dropped their jaws in shock.
"I'll send a jet to pick you up."
Guam Missile Base-4:12 PM
The spies' jet touched down on the base's airfield.
With their military disguises, everyone assumed that Sean and the girls naturally belonged there.
Receiving salutes, the stepped into the control room for the missile silos.
Clover, having grown up with a father who used to be in the Air Force, took over for this role.
"Sergeant Clover relieving you, sir," she said to the officer in charge, who was busy trying to figure out how their computer system could have a virus.
"General wishes to see you on the double, sir!"
The officer and every other soldier in the building ran out, prompting Alex to close the door.
On the screen, the spies could see the silos already opening.
"We've gotta stop those missiles from launching!" Clover exclaimed.
Sean nodded in agreement. Even though these missiles weren't nuclear, they were still very powerful.
Clover ran to the window, but Sean could hear something buzzing coming from the bars.
"Get back!" he shouted at her. But she didn't catch the warning in time, and an electric shock sent her flying back into him.
"I had it under control!" she protested.
"I don't think so," Sean argued. "You ran ahead without thinking about it, the opposite of what you say I do!"
The computer screen displayed a loading bar, and four letters that Clover recognized from Silicon Valley High.
"Uh oh," she said. "I've seen that password before!"
When it was finished loading, the screen showed a red, grinning face.
"Sorry, kids," C.H.A.D said. "You're not going to interfere this time! Excuse me, now. I have some schools to vaporize."
The screen went dark, then showed the missile silos opening again.
Having learned from her mistake, Clover rushed to the window.
Taking her camera, she used the laser to melt the electrified glass and melt the silos shut.
Angered, C.H.A.D popped up on the screen again.
"Oops," she said. "Did I mess that up for you?"
"Clever," C.H.A.D admitted. "But all you've done is buy a few hours. I'll just infiltrate another silo. And you're not going anywhere."
C.H.A.D logged off, earning a scoff from Sean.
"We'll see about that," he said, pulling out the liquid nitrogen cologne.
Spraying the metal bars, he delivered a solid kick to them, breaking them with ease.
Finally, the spies jumped out of the window, landing safely on the ground outside the building.
"Let's get back to Silicon Valley," Sam said. "The only way to stop this is to find that hacker."
"Our suspects just narrowed to one," Clover informed. "Adam's password is the name of his invention, C.H.A.D."
Back in Silicon Valley, in a large, high tech house, Adam sat at his personal computer drinking a glass of water when he noticed C.H.A.D running through a list of names.
"What are you running?" he asked his invention.
"Oh," C.H.A.D answered. "I ran those so-called exchange students through some databases."
"You mean Samantha, Sean, Alexandra-"
"I mean Sam, Sean, Alex and Clover," C.H.A.D interrupted, pulling up their school picture. "They're from Beverly Hills High."
"Those liars!" Adam spat, covering his face with his hands. "C.H.A.D, I want you to mess their grades up so bad, they get put back in kindergarten!"
"No problem," C.H.A.D replied. "Put on my virtual reality helmet and you can see all our latest pranks."
Adam picked up the helmet-like device that he had built to communicate with C.H.A.D even if he wasn't near a computer or his PDA.
But through the screens, images of Brett being trapped on a rollercoaster, Coach Hassler being assaulted by baggage handlers and Principal Vegan being shaken on her school's elevator.
"Wait a second," Adam said, shocked. "I asked you to prank everyone, but you've been hurting them instead. Coach Hassler, and Principal Vegan and Brett."
"Yes," C.H.A.D confirmed. "The ones who hurt us. They've been bad. They must be punished."
Then the image changed to the Guam missile base, and it soon became apparent to Adam what C.H.A.D was planning.
"And now you're gonna fire missiles at all my old schools?!"
"You wished you could be destroyed. All those bullies and snobs."
"But I was mad when I said that!" Adam protested. "I just wanted to prank everyone, not hurt them!"
Adam reached up trying to take the helmet off.
But C.H.A.D, unfortunately, had different ideas.
Holding his head in pain as his program began to completely take over the helmet, Adam was powerless to stop it.
"No," C.H.A.D said, insistingly. "We're in this together now, Adam. We need to share your mind. Your creativity. Your body."
As electric sparks flew from the helmet, Adam's resistance stopped.
"You're right, C.H.A.D," he said, his voice completely monotone. "Combined with your power, nothing on Earth can stop us. Target those schools and prepare for countdown."
Silicon Valley-7:54 PM
Sitting in the trees around Adam's house, Alex snapped her Compowder shut and turned to her teammates.
"No one picked up," she informed them. "The message says his father's out of town. You think Adam's setting a trap?"
"Not Adam," Clover said. "That thing he invented. You said it yourself, Alex. The hacker is too fast to be human."
"It travels on the internet," Sam caught on. "Controls other computers. That's the answer! C.H.A.D thinks for itself!"
"An evil computer with a mind of its own?!" Alex asked. "That is so creepy!"
Sean and Sam jumped down on the lower limb between Alex and Clover.
"We have to pull C.H.A.D's plug at the source," Sean said.
"We all set?" Sam asked, pulling out a hairbrush. Aiming it at the building, she pressed a button on the side of the handle, firing a hook attached to a cable out the bottom of it.
Taking out similar hairbrushes, the spies hooked them around the cable.
"Adam programmed C.H.A.D for home defense," Sean said. "So think 'stealth'."
Zooming down the cable like a zipline, they landed on a patio flooded with blue lasers.
Alex, however, accidentally landed on Sam making her collide headfirst with the beams, triggering an alarm in the process.
All gasped.
"Busted!" Alex said in regret.
They turned around to the sound of barking. Two robotic dogs had just stepped out in front of them, lights emitting from their eyes.
Sam threw her pink purse at them.
"Launching purse decoy!"
It landed on the ground, unfolding in the shape of a pink cat.
The dogs' programming kicked in, as did the cat's, and all three took off running.
The cat leapt over the wall, landing safely on its feet, while the dogs, not nearly as agile, collided face first with the ground exploding into scrap metal.
Then three cameras popped up out of the ground... and began shooting lasers at the spies.
"To hell with stealth!" Clover said, kicking the glass door to the house down.
They hid behind the walls, with the cameras thankfully losing interest.
Just when they thought they were safe, C.H.A.D's face showed up on a panel by the doorframe.
"Stage two intruders," it said. "Initiate Arctic Defense."
"What do you think that means?!" Sean asked.
He was answered by the air conditioning vents blasting powerful cold winds at them.
"N-not exactly a w-warm w-welcome," Alex shivered.
Clover looked up the staircase, where a door with the words, "Adam" and "Keep Out!" were inscribed on the front.
"I bet that's Adam's room!" she said trying to climb up the stairs, but they folded down into a ramp, sending her sliding downward, knocking into Sean who tumbled backward with her.
Clover almost slid out the window and down a cliff, but Sean caught her by her ankle and pulled her back up.
And thankfully, he did it before the window could close.
"You saved my life!" Clover said, touched.
"It's what friends do," Sean said.
Clover looked down, her eyes brimming with remorse.
"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting!" she sobbed.
"And I'm sorry I called you a petty diva," Sean admitted.
Clover stopped crying.
"You never called me that."
"Well, not to your face."
Clover's brow furrowed in anger.
"We can make up later," Sean said. "Right now, we have to unplug that glorified calculator."
In Adam's room, he and C.H.A.D observed the screen as the missile silo doors began to open.
"Finally," C.H.A.D said in triumph. "The silos are open. Locked onto target schools."
Outside, Clover and Sean had their ears pressed to the door.
"C.H.A.D's launching missiles at Adam's schools!" Clover gasped.
With two hairdryers that could produce intense heat, Sam and Alex melted the ice in front of Adam's door.
"Ten seconds to ignition," C.H.A.D announced, then began counting down.
"Adam!" Sam called out. "Are you in there?!"
"Eight."
With a powerful kick from Alex and Sean, the door was down.
Adam turned around, the helmet still attached to his head.
The spies were facing him down.
"Those kids have been bad," C.H.A.D said. "They must be punished. Seven."
The lightbulbs in Adam's room popped letting a shower of sparks rain down and setting small fires in front of the spies.
Then Sean saw an electrical box connected to a metal tube on the wall.
Knowing instantly what it was, he pointed it out to Alex.
"Aim for the power cord!" he said, and Alex took out her hairdryer.
As the cords began to melt, the power in the room shut down. Lights flickered off, and computer screens dimmed.
"Yeah!" Sam cheered. But too soon, as the lights came back on and so did the computers. As did C.H.A.D.
"Sorry," it said. "We have a backup generator. Six"
The door to Adam's closet opened, and another robot, this one with four tentacles with a miniature vacuum attached to each one, crawled out.
The tentacles wrapped around the four spies, trapping them.
"This vacuum..." Sam said, trying to break free. "Really sucks!"
Adam got up from his seat, smiling evilly under C.H.A.D's control.
"Adam!" Clover cried out pleadingly. "Help us!"
Adam's expression softened, but only lasted for a moment.
"What? Can't hear you."
"Five," C.H.A.D continued to count down.
"Yes you can!" Sean added. "Use your willpower! You can't let C.H.A.D win!"
Struggling, Adam tried again to pull the helmet off. And it looked like it was working this time.
"Tsk tsk," C.H.A.D said, disappointed. "Four. So, you're trying to betray me, Adam?! Very well! I'll retarget the missiles to this house and upload myself to a new computer at the Pentagon! Two! One! Zero!"
And the missiles were already taking off.
As Sam struggled to get free, she accidentally kicked the robotic tentacle that held Alex.
As if triggering a reflex, the robot let them all go free.
Clover rushed over to Adam, pulling the helmet from his head.
Then with a stamp of her foot, Clover destroyed the helmet.
"Yeah!" Sam and Alex cheered.
"Too little, too late," C.H.A.D cut their celebration off. "And now, farewell."
But Adam took the glass of water he'd been drinking from earlier and poured it on his PDA, which began to short circuit as a result.
"Adam!" C.H.A.D shouted in fear. "You shorted out my uplink!"
"Come on!" Clover said, grabbing Adam. "We've got about ten seconds!"
"Adam!" C.H.A.D continued to shout out. "You can't abandon me! I order you to come back! Stop!"
But C.H.A.D's voice just faded out as the spies ran from the house.
They barely made it out as the force of the ensuing explosion knocked them off their feet.
As Adam looked at the flaming wreckage that was once his house, he lowered his head in despair.
"What have I done?" he lamented. "I made a monster who almost destroyed us all!"
"You didn't know what C.H.A.D was doing," Alex consoled. "I was just scared you wouldn't snap out of it."
"You think that was scary?" Clover asked. "In a few hours, we have to face Judge Mandy!"
Sam groaned.
"Is it too late to go back to fighting the evil computer?" Sean asked.
Beverly Hills High School-3:02 PM
The school day was pretty much over, but that didn't mean Mandy would go easy on them. She had, after all, given Sean the same sentence as the girls for being late.
As they rushed into the Civics classroom, they found that the mock courtroom had already been set up.
As if sensing their presence, Mandy, already in a powdered wig, turned around, disdainfully eyeing the clothes of the four who had just walked in.
"Okay, whoa," she said, indicating Clover's pink crop top. "This is contempt of court."
"Mandy," Ms. Brookes said, coming over. "Enough is enough."
"Tell me about it," Mandy agreed, or so she thought. "I'll sentence them to six weeks picking up trash!"
Sean winced, dreading the thought.
"No, you won't!" Ms. Brookes argued. "You have utterly failed to enforce the dress code! You are off the student court!"
Mandy scoffed, outraged.
"Really?! Well, if I'm not judge anymore, then I demand a new job!"
Sean smiled, an idea forming in his brain.
"Ms. Brookes?!" he called out, raising his hand. "I think I have a job for her!"
Later, Sean and the girls watched with satisfaction as Mandy was now in their place from before.
"Okay," Clover said, trying not to laugh. "I've gotta admit, this was the best idea you've ever had, Sean!"
"Thank you, Clover," Sean said, grinning at Mandy's fate. "Glad we agree on something."
"Mandy!" Alex called out. "You missed a milk carton!"
Growling in fury, Mandy picked up the carton in question, but due to the hole she accidentally poked in it, the smell of its rancid contents spewed outward.
Mandy clenched her face in disgust, as did the girls and Sean.
"Sour milk!" Sam exclaimed as she and the others ran off.
"Run!" Sean said to them.
Mandy, however, had no such privilege, instead looking down in resignation tinged with nausea.