Hi! I'm glad everyone enjoyed Sean's origin story. Since Season 1 only had three original chapters, I'm planning for Season 2 to have more to make up for it, including an original two parter.
But for now, I'm back to writing canon chapters.
Read and review!
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Malled
London-10:00 AM
Anticipation ran high through the crowd gathered on the streets of London as the ribbon was cut on the large, ornate doors that soon opened for the very first time.
"Welcome to the Windsor Mall," a voice announced on an intercom as people rushed inside. "London's newest and largest shopping center!"
Although every store in the new mall received a reasonable amount of attention, there was one store in particular that everyone wanted to check out, a new chain called All the Rage.
And once you stepped through the doorway and gazed upon the store's luxurious items that would move even the boutiques in Beverly Hills and Paris to shame, you could easily see why this store was the most anticipated out of all the stores in the Windsor Mall.
"This store is everything everyone said it would be and more!" one shopper exclaimed with glee. "I could stay in here forever!"
Little did she know, she was about to regret those words. For that was when the windows and skylights shuttered closed, the lights went out instantaneously, and the doors were sealed shut behind metal gates. And even that was nothing compared to the fact that the whole store itself felt like it was sinking into the bowels of the earth. As the frightened patrons clamored to the locked doors, observers outside the store were shocked to see an entire section of the mall disappearing without a trace.
Beverly Hills Mall-10:24 AM
Across the street from the current mall frequented by Beverly Hills Residents, three teenage girls and one boy gazed at the ongoing construction in awe.
"This new mall is, like, the biggest thing that's happened to me since acrylic nails!" Clover said excitedly. "Can't wait until it's finished!"
"You said it," Sean agreed. "This mall's supposed to have everything: an indoor rollercoaster, an IMAX movie screen, a five star gourmet restaurant, over a hundred stores, and I think there's even a spa!"
Clover clasped her hand over Sean's mouth.
"Stop it, Sean!" she said. "I don't know if I can wait anymore!"
Even though construction was almost finished, and the mall would be open by the end of the week, to the teens and Clover especially, it felt like a lifetime.
The same feeling extended to Alex as the others quickly found out.
"Just looking at it gives me goosebumps! HEY, CAN'T YOU GUYS BUILD ANY FASTER?!"
She screamed that last part at the top of her lungs.
"Take it easy, Alex," Sam said, calming her down. "Malls aren't built in a day."
"Well, until the new one's done," Clover added. "It looks we're stuck with our old, tried and true luxury mall."
As a matter of fact, that was their destination.
Even though they were aching to try out the new mall, the old one did have its charm, Sean had to admit.
And for now, this mall had the only store that carried his favorite brand of cologne.
While Sean, Sam, and Alex perused the cosmetics store, Clover sat in front of a mirror, applying an obscenely heavy layer of makeup to her face. When Sean turned around, he almost jumped in shock at just how artificial her face looked.
"Okay, one guess!" she said, blinking in a manner that probably would have been alluring if not for the fact that she looked like a clown. "Who am I?"
Her friends tried to contain their laughter.
Predictably, it failed.
"Mandy!" they all said, chuckling uproariously.
"Yes?!" Mandy's voice called out from further away. She was standing in front of a display of perfume bottles, her back turned to her four nemeses.
"Who wants me now?! I am so popular, I can't even seek refuge at the mall anymore."
Mandy turned around and jumped at seeing Clover's face.
And she clearly knew just who the blonde was trying to imitate.
Clover wiped her face clean, but soon enough. Mandy was already in front of her.
"Ah, trying to be me?!" she scoffed. "As if! It would take you months for a professional makeup artist to achieve my look of perfection!"
Mandy's usual bragging earned her the four usual glares.
"I was totally just playing around, Mandy," Clover retorted.
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "Why don't you lighten up, Beauty Queen?"
"Let's blow this makeup stand," Alex said as they walked off, her disgust only rivaled by Mandy's.
"No one gets away with calling me 'Beauty Queen' and not really meaning it," she muttered, thinking of a way to get back at them.
That was when she saw the perfume display. And the star-shaped bottle of the most expensive fragrance available.
Caitlin and Dominique stood a little further away, the disapproval on their faces evident at what she was obviously about to do. But Mandy didn't care, and she would make sure that her two "friends" would stay silent on the matter.
"This should bring down that pathetic wannabe," she said sinisterly, picking up the perfume bottle. Zipping over to the departing teens, she stuck the bottle inside Clover's shopping bag.
Now all she had to do was stand idly by, and wait.
Her plan worked as Clover walked out of the store, the unbought perfume triggering the theft alarm.
Mandy laughed as two security guards ran out of the store in hot pursuit of Clover.
"Hey, you!" one of them shouted. "Stop!"
But the teens didn't notice before the elevator door closed, separating them from the guards.
As the two men scrambled up the escalator to the next floor, Clover's intended destination, they had no idea they wouldn't get the chance to arrest her, at least not right away.
For in the elevator, a trap door opened up beneath Sean, Sam, Clover, and Alex, sending them screaming down the same old tunnel.
As the elevator came up, the guards were shocked to see it empty.
Meanwhile, Sean and the girls ended their usual wild ride to Jerry's office on the same fuchsia cushion.
Jerry himself stood over them.
"Third floor!" he announced. "Gadgets, video, and info on your next assignment!"
"Ha ha ha!" Sean laughed unenthusiastically. "Very funny."
"This better be urgent, Jer," Clover added. "You interrupted a very important shopping spree!"
"Actually," Jerry began as the screen lit up behind him. "This mission hits very close to home."
Displayed on the monitor was the chaos at the Windsor Mall in London, complete with the store vanishing underground.
"It seems something or someone is kidnapping shoppers at exclusive stores called All the Rage, destroying the stores in the process."
"Destroying stores and abducting people while they shop?!" an appalled Clover asked as the video ended. "How evil and horrible!"
"I know, I know," Alex said reassuringly, gently tapping her friend's shoulder. "I'm here for you."
"Who could be behind this?" Sam asked.
"That's where you come in," Jerry replied. "You'll be going undercover."
"As four gorgeous shoppers?" Clover asked hopefully.
"Actually, as four TV fashion reporters."
Clover cleared her throat in a threatening manner, catching Jerry off guard.
"Better let her have this one, Jerry," Sean cautioned, knowing that denying Clover pretty much anything would be certain death.
"Of course, as four gorgeous TV fashion reporters," Jerry relented, as a cart carrying their gadgets was pushed in. "You'll be going to Cairo, where we're fairly certain this group's next action will be. It's your job to find out where they are and-"
"Yeah, yeah!" Clover hastily interrupted. "We know! Come on, guys, we have to save a store!"
"Hang on," Jerry reminded. "Don't forget your gadgets."
"Oh, yeah," Alex said. "My favorite part of our missions."
"Ultra Energy Laser Lip Balm," Jerry began as he held up each gadget. "Jetpack Backpacks, Hair Clip Monster Grips, Fume Emitting Cameras, Voice Alterer, compact parasol which doubles as a laser sword, and of course some C.A.S.H."
"Hello!" Alex called out. "It's the 21st century! We all have credit cards!"
"And some of us go overboard with them," Sean added, shooting a glare at Clover, thinking of a time when she borrowed Rachel's credit card to pay for a $600 ruby ring she just had to have.
"C-A-S-H," Jerry clarified, holding up an armored plating meant to be worn on the torso. "Changeable Application Spy Halter-top. It could be a parachute, an air floatation device."
"Cool," Alex said as Jerry threw them their gadgets.
"Yes, only the coolest for you four. Well, cheerio! Good luck in Cairo!"
He pressed a button, opening another trap door, this one in the ceiling. And the section of floor the spies stood on was raised upward as the gaping hole enveloped them.
Cairo-9:58 AM
The store looked very much like the ones Clover frequented. In fact it was so much like them, that Sean and Sam had to physically restrain her from running in.
"We're here to spy, not shop," Sean had reminded her. Clover whined pathetically, but acquiesced to playing the role of a fashion reporter.
The store in question, All the Rage, was attracting a large crowd, which gave the spies the perfect opportunity to begin assuming their covers.
"We're here live in ancient but fashionable Egypt!" Clover said into her microphone as Alex, with Sean and Sam on either side of her, pointed the camera at their friend.
At least momentarily, for Alex was distracted by a boy walking past her, causing her to shift the camera's focus on him.
"Hey!" Clover complained as she gripped the lens. "Point the camera at me, Spielberg!"
"Sorry!" Alex apologized, but Sean took the camera from her.
"Maybe I should be the cameraman, Alex," he suggested as he focused on the mall's manager cutting the ribbon to the store.
The crowd rushed in eagerly while the spies slowly walked up to the mostly deserted entrance.
"See anything strange?" Alex asked as Sam snapped a few photos with her camera.
"Not yet," Sam answered, lowering the camera a little. "I'm gonna go look around."
But before she could take another step, Sean's hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Be careful," he advised.
Sam smiled, gently taking his hand off of her.
"Hey," she said. "I've been in tough scrapes before."
That's what I'm worried about, Sean thought to himself as she went inside.
Sam ducked through the crowd, taking snapshots of shoppers and merchandise alike, while all the while trying to look for anything that did not belong in a shopping center.
Her suspicions were aroused when the lights above the crowd began to flicker. And they were confirmed outright when the entrances sealed themselves just like the store in London.
When people were clamoring to the exits, Sam tried to join them in their escape but was too late before the front doors locked in front of her. Her last sight before they closed was that of a terrified Sean.
"What's happening?!" Sean asked as he repeatedly bumped himself into the doors, trying to break them down. "I can't get them open!"
"They're too thick!" Clover realized, as she rushed in, pulling him away from the doors. "You're not gonna get in that way!"
Reluctantly, Sean nodded.
"We have to save her!" he shouted desperately as they ran outside the shopping center.
"There's a skylight!" Alex pointed out, gesturing to the roof. "Let's go!"
The spies activated their jetpacks and soared up to the roof.
When he landed, Sean looked through the skylight, searching for Sam.
He found her trapped in a cluster of scared and confused shoppers, her expression matching theirs.
Hang on, Sean thought. We'll get you of there.
But he wasn't sure himself.
"Use the Parasol," Clover suggested, handing the umbrella-like gadget to Alex.
"Good idea," Alex agreed.
She opened it, pressing the button that would emit a laser hot enough to cut through steel.
But before she could get started on cutting the hole needed for Sam's rescue, the section of building that contained the store began to sink lower.
At first, Sean thought that whoever was kidnapping them was copying one of their earlier enemies, Wilhelm Krenz, and trying to destroy the store with a sinkhole. But that theory was disproven when he noticed that A., it was moving slower and much more smoothly than the buildings Wilhelm destroyed, and B., he could see their surrounds, while dark, were still metal.
And then there was what he saw lowering the store.
"Cables," he commented.
"Do you think-" Clover tried to ask before Alex interrupted her.
"It's like a huge elevator!"
Understanding, Alex took out the Hair Clip Monster Grip and applied it to the elevator cables, constricting them and stopping the descent of the store long enough for Clover to regain her concentration.
The blonde resumed her work on cutting through the glass, but to Sean it wasn't fast enough.
"Hurry!" he urged, not wanting to think about the position Sam could end up in.
His despair only grew when the laser stopped altogether.
"Great!" Clover complained. "I hope Jer got the extended warranty on this thing!"
That parasol wasn't the only gadget that would fail them, as they were about to find out.
The hair clip was loosening its grip on the cables before shattering under the strain altogether.
Now free, the extra momentum caused the store to plummet at a faster rate, barely giving the panicking teens time to activate their jetpacks.
Flying downward, they pursued the store which just seemed to sink into the darkness.
When they got to the end, the store wasn't where they assumed it would be, namely beneath them.
Instead they found what could only be train tracks.
But who would build them under a mall? And more importantly, where was the store?
The last question, at least, was answered by a vague, purple rectangular shape receding down the long tunnel.
"We have to go after it," Sean said, gritting his teeth in determination.
"What's that sound?" Clover asked nervously, referring to a chorus of squeaks from all around them that was getting louder by the second.
They looked to their left to see a colony of rats huddling together.
Clover and Alex screamed and disgust while flying back upward, and much to his protest, dragging Sean with them.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Let me go!"
But it was too late. Soon they were back at the surface just as the hole where the store's skylight had been closed up.
"That was the most disgusting thing I've seen in my life!" Clover shrieked.
"No," Sean muttered.
"Sean's right, Clover," Alex seemingly agreed. "You're forgetting about Mrs. Muckle's seafood gumbo. I couldn't stay out of the bathroom for weeks!"
"No," Sean repeated. "No, no, no!"
He pounded at the pavement where the hole had been, his knees aching from kneeling.
"Okay," Alex said as calmly as she knew how. "What's your problem?"
That set it off.
"What's my problem?" Sean repeated the question back, seemingly calm.
Then he turned to face Alex, his face the very definition of rage... and grief.
"What's my problem?!" he said again, much angrier this time. "My problem is that Sam's been taken to... who knows where?! And we-I couldn't do anything to save her! And I couldn't even go after her because you got freaked out by a few rats!"
He pointed an accusing finger at Alex.
"Hey!" Clover defended. "I know you're upset about Sam, but don't go blaming Alex for it! It's not like she got her kidnapped!"
"No," Sean retorted, still angry. "I don't blame Alex. You were too slow with that parasol!"
"How was I supposed to know it would be such a lemon?!"
Sean ran over to a ventilation shaft not too far from where they stood and began to kick it repeatedly.
The sheer force of his kicks knocked the grate off the vent and he collapsed back onto his knees, tears running down his cheeks.
"It's gonna be okay, Sean," Alex tried to console him.
"You don't know that for sure," he said miserably.
It was Clover's turn to reassure him now. And she would probably do a better job, since unlike her, Alex had no idea what Sam meant to Sean.
"We'll get her back," she whispered into his ear kindly.
"How?" Sean asked. "We don't know who took her or where."
"Well, that's what we're gonna find out. I can hack into the mall's security system with my Compowder. Maybe we'll find a clue."
She helped him to his feet, as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
"But first we need to call Jerry and tell him what's happened."
At their hotel, the three remaining spies looked over the security footage as it played through their TV through Clover's Compowder.
Unfortunately, Sean's patience was beginning to wear thin as they reviewed the tape for the eighth time that day. And they were still no closer to figuring out who was behind this.
"I'm sick of watching this tape!" he said, frustrated. "We have to find a way to get Sam back!"
As he was about to turn the footage off, Alex pointed at the screen.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Who's that freak?!"
It took a while for Sean and Clover to see what and more importantly who Alex was referring to: a middle-aged blond man in a beige sweater and in contrast to everyone else in the room, he was perfectly calm, smiling even.
"Major freak," Clover agreed. "Why is he so zoned, while everyone with half a brain is in a major panic?"
"I don't know," Sean replied, taking out his wallet phone. "Let's see what Jerry thinks."
In an instant, Jerry's face appeared on the wallet's screen.
"Hello agents," he greeted with a sympathetic tone directed at Sean in particular. "Sorry about Sam."
Sean briefly lowered his head, despondent, before remembering what he had called him for.
"I just sent you some footage of what happened in that store," he explained. "There's this really weird calm guy in the middle of the crowd!"
Jerry looked over the footage with interest.
"Yes, I see him. Suspiciously calm. Oh, by the way, Clover, the Beverly Hills Mall's security office needs to see you A.S.A.P. Some trouble involving shoplifted perfume."
All of Sean's worries about Sam subsided, though they were not completely forgotten.
"I didn't do it!" Clover cried in disbelief.
"I'm just the messenger," Jerry said as an offscreen hand gave him a sheet of paper. "Ah, yes. Here's the scoop: the calm man on the tape is Simon Tucker. He's the former owner of a popular Mom and Pop store in Ireland that was bought out by Harrows, a high-end store that recently opened a mall in Dublin. Simon Tucker fought to save his store, but couldn't."
"But why would he be kidnapping people?" Sean asked.
"Sounds like we're going to Ireland to find out," Alex suggested.
"You are spot-on correct, my dear," Jerry confirmed her question with a smile. "Ta-ta!"
Sean's screen went dark while Clover took out her Compowder, calling security at Beverly Hills Mall.
The image of the two guards showed up on her screen. They were watching surveillance footage of the mall.
"Hi," she said nervously. "I'm calling about-"
"Hey!" one of them exclaimed, turning his face toward the screen. "You're the shoplifter!"
"I'm so not the shoplifter!" Clover defended. "I'm totally innocent!"
A well manicured hand shifted the camera further to the right, revealing the last person Clover wanted to see at that moment.
"That's her," Mandy sneered. "That Clover girl!"
The sound of Mandy's voice prompted Sean and Alex to take a closer look.
"What is she doing there?!" Clover demanded. "She's a liar!"
"You better turn yourself in, fugitive!" Mandy taunted as she shoved the guard out of the way.
"There's gotta be some mistake," Sean said as the guard calmly got up. "I know Clover. I admit she's materialistic, but she's not a thief."
"Really?" one of the guards asked, skeptical. "Then why did the store manager report this stolen?"
He held up a photograph of the star-shaped perfume bottle that-unbeknownst to the spies-Mandy had slipped into Clover's shopping bag.
"Maybe Clover just forget to pay for it?" Sean answered weakly.
"As if!" Clover scoffed. "That perfume is so 1994! I wouldn't wear it to my own funeral!"
"Well, looks like you'll be wearing it at your trial!" Mandy said, laughing as she hung up.
"Why was that little witch Mandy there?" Alex asked as Clover angrily snapped her Compowder shut.
"Who knows," Clover replied, fuming. "I'd like to squash her overly perfumed head!"
"Later," Sean said. "Right now, we've gotta get to Ireland and find Sam before it's too late."
Dublin-2:33 PM
Harrows, the store built on the former site of Simon Tucker's old store, was just about as grand as the luxury mall in Beverly Hills or any other mall Sean had been in.
No, scratch that. It was more impressive with velvet sofas where patrons sat to try on shoes, dressing rooms complete with catwalks, and even a crystal chandelier hanging beneath a wrought iron skylight.
But the spies had to remind themselves that they weren't there for pleasure. If this store was where Simon Tucker's old one was originally built, Sean deduced that maybe the current staff knew something about his whereabouts.
"The problem is," he said as he pretended to admire a pair of sunglasses on a display next to him. "How do we ask without getting anyone suspicious?"
"Leave that to me," Clover whispered before raising her voice a few octaves. "I wonder whatever happened to that nasty little Mom and Pop store that used to be here!"
That definitely raised a few heads and it wasn't as subtle as Sean and Alex would have preferred. And to make matters worse, it attracted the attention of the store's manager: a thin, elderly woman who, from the looks of things, had so much plastic surgery she looked completely artificial.
"Yes," she said in an Irish accent. "Simon Tucker did formerly have a shop on this site. We bought him out and built over him. That's business."
"He mustn't have been to happy about that," Alex remarked.
"He was paid handsomely," the manager said quickly.
"Do you know where we could find him?" Sean asked.
"I couldn't say. He dropped out of sight years ago. Now, please leave the store."
That widened the three teens' eyes.
"We only cater to a select, upscale clientele, and you're not it."
She gestured to their clothes, prompting all of them to look down.
"Okay," Sean gritted, offended. "I don't know-"
"You really must leave," the woman said again. "Or I'll call security."
"Okay, I'm having enough trouble with mall security," Clover said, before turning back to her friends. "Let's go."
"You know," Sean said as they stepped through the open doors. "I'm starting to see why my great-great grandparents left this place."
"Forget it, Sean," Alex said as she marched out behind him. "We've been kicked out of better stores than this."
Sean sighed, frustrated that they were no closer to finding Sam than they were previously.
"So, what do we do now?" he asked.
"Well," Clover said. "If this store is built over Simon Tucker's old shop, then..."
"...maybe we should drop by later to do a little after hours spying."
"Okay," Sean said. "Let's head back here after closing."
They left the store, unaware of three window washers listening to their every word.
Several hours after the store closed, the spies snuck in through a vent on the roof and quickly located the filing room.
They had to have looked through at least fifty folders worth of documents, but they found no mention of Simon Tucker.
"Exactly," Clover said in affirmation. "There isn't squat about Simon Tucker in any of these files."
"Tell me about it," Alex agreed, closing the file she was reading. "This was just a big waste of time in a gross room!"
That was when they heard a clattering noise from a slightly ajar door off to their right.
"Or maybe it isn't," Sean said.
Taking the lead, he pushed the door open further, revealing an old boiler room filled with shelves that were stacked with tools, cleaning supplies, and electrical equipment.
"Okay," Alex said. "This room is grosser."
Clover knelt down beside the boiler, where she found a huge pile of folders clustered together.
"Hello!" she said to the others. "These are Simon Tucker's old files."
"This must be part of his old store," Sean deduced as Clover opened a folder.
"Listen to this. 'If they try to steal my store from me, they're going to pay dearly. These capitalist pigs will feel the wrath of Anti-Consumerism Teams.'"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sean asked.
But several squeaks coming from the floor kept that question from being answered.
Several dark, furry shapes leapt onto a workbench in front of the spies, prompting screams from the girls.
"Great," Sean said. "More rats."
"Don't worry," Alex said, taking out the Fume Emitting Camera. "I know how to get rid of them."
Pressing a button on the side of the camera, she let out a cloud of purple gas which sent the rats scattering and coughing.
Strangely enough, many of those coughs sounded almost human.
When three men came out with menacing expressions glued to their faces, the spies instantly understood why.
Thinking fast, Alex threw a folder at one of them, distracting him long enough for the teens to make a break for it.
The men gave chase, each taking out what looked like a wooden club.
The spies quickly ducked behind a bookshelf before running out the doorway that lead to the basement stairs.
"What do we do now?" Alex asked, catching her breath.
But there was no time for reprieve, as the door opened revealing the three men, their clubs ready.
"Just run!" Sean insisted, as they ran off into the darkness of the basement.
Soon, they came to a dead end. The passage cut off at a blank wall.
"Looks like this is the end of the passageway!" Alex lamented.
"Then let's make a new passageway!" Clover said, taking out the tube of Ultra Energy Laser Lip Balm
She pointed it at the wall, twisting it. A blue laser beam came out of the tube, allowing her to cut through the wall and leave a large circular hole in its place.
The hole opened up onto the Liffey River, and the spies had the good fortune to dive out just as a barge was passing by.
They quickly turned around to see the three men still in hot pursuit. Left with little other options, they jumped out of the hole in the wall just as one of the men threw his club at the retreating spies.
They landed on the barge along with the club that they threw.
Sean picked it up.
"What's this?" he asked.
"I mean, how weird is that?" Alex reported as they sat in a restaurant, recapping the events that happened in the store to Jerry. "A bunch of anti-mall freaks chasing us with wooden clubs!"
"Freaky indeed," Jerry returned. "It appears the club is made from a very rare Sydney Red Gum Tree which only grows in Sydney, Australia."
"So the whackos get their wood from Australia, okay," Clover said as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Is Simon Tucker from Australia or something?" Sean asked.
"Fair assumption," Jerry answered. "But we're not definite. What we do know is that his former store was an Australian import shop."
Clover scoffed.
"No wonder his store went under."
"Speaking of under, you three will be leaving for down under in one hour. Good day, agents."
Australia-9:27 AM
Luckily for the spies, the jet Jerry had provided them with was fast enough to reach Australia in under two hours.
Sean gently brought the plane down onto a lake in the middle of the Outback, and he and the girls climbed out onto the roof, surveying the area.
"Okay," Clover said, stretching. "Time to find Simon Tucker. This should be cake. Luckily, Australia's a tiny little place."
Sean stared at her in disbelief.
"Uh, Clover?" he asked. "Australia's bigger than you think. He could be anywhere! And so could Sam!"
Before the debate could continue, Alex spoke.
"Wait. Do you hear that?"
Both Sean and Clover turned their ears to Alex's direction. Indeed, the air around the trio was filled with the droning noise of digeridoo music.
"It's coming from over there," Sean said, pointing to a cluster of bushes not too far from the shore.
After a quick swim to the other side of the lake, Sean, Clover, and Alex parted the bushes to see at least three dozen people sitting cross-legged on the ground next to a cluster of trucks. Many played digeridoos in combination with drums.
Neither Clover nor Sean could really stomach the noise, but Alex seemed to enjoy it.
"Peace, love and groovy times, baby!" she exclaimed eagerly.
"What is this place?" Clover asked, uncovering her ears enough to her own question.
"And what's with those patches?" Sean added, referring to the dime shaped electronic patches each person in the group wore on their temples.
Simultaneously, everyone stood and Sean got a good look at them for the first time. They all wore tan cargo shorts with cream colored tank tops. And in addition, both their faces and arms were covered with odd blue markings, though he couldn't tell if they were tattoos or just paint.
Seconds after they stood, they began to perform some stretching exercise that Sean didn't recognize.
"Are those people doing tai chi?" Clover asked.
Alex and Sean shrugged, just as confused as their friend.
"Attack!" they heard one man shout, pointing with his club. On his command, the group charged at a crudely constructed, life-sized model of a store, smashing windows, throwing merchandise to the ground and ripping structures out of place.
"Down with consumers!" they chanted in unison. "Down with malls! Stop all shoppers! Demolish the walls!"
"Whoa," Clover whispered. "These people are serious whackos!"
"It looks like a training camp to learn how to destroy stores," Sean observed.
"These people are like my worst nightmare!" Alex exclaimed, as the ground began rumbling beneath them.
A large section of ground opened up and a huge metal platform was elevated up to the surface, carrying a section of building that looked like it belonged in a mall.
"All the Rage," Sean read the sign as the doors opened and the uniformed figures pulled out dozens of frightened shoppers.
"So this is where all the stores end up!" Alex said.
"They shoot through the tunnel like the one in Cairo!" Clover added.
Desperate, Sean scanned the crowd, looking for any glimpse of red hair among the anti-shopping militia.
"That's means Sam's gotta be around here somewhere," he said.
"I think I've perfected a more potent patch," an older male voice said. The spies ducked into the bushes, peeking out from behind the leaves to watch two men in white lab coats walk by.
When they were sure they could no longer be seen, they made an unspoken agreement to follow the two scientists to a large building that was neither for training or used to kidnap people.
On the roof, they found that the building was the size of their gym back at Beverly Hills High and contained some sort of laboratory. Through the enormous windows, the watched the two scientists work on a device identical to the ones seen on the people outside.
To their surprise, the glass was thin enough to hear through.
"Putting the patches on the temples," one of the scientists said. "Stimulates more of the nerve endings faster. Now the mind-think serum travels directly to the brain's core. Our revolutionary anti-shopping army will be even more powerful! I think Simon will be happy."
"Well," Alex said. "Now we now what those patches are."
"Yeah," Sean agreed before remembering the most important reason he came there (well, for him, anyway.) "But where's Sam?"
"YOU CALL YOURSELVES ANTI-SHOPPING REVOLUTIONARIES?!" a familiar voice shouted from down below. "I THINK NOT!"
Against his better judgement, Sean turned around.
Below he saw a redheaded teenage girl barking orders to a group of mind controlled people like a drill sergeant.
It took him a while to register what he was seeing, and even then he wasn't completely sure.
"Sam?!" he asked in astonishment as Alex and Clover followed his direction, jaws slack.
"As we carry out the revolution," she said, unaware of her friends perched on the rooftop. "Remember our goal: to destroy all shopping, right?!"
"Right!" the jogging revolutionaries chorused.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Sam shouted for emphasis.
"RIGHT!" they repeated, louder this time. "SHOPPING IS EVIL, SIR!"
"Man," Alex commented. "Sam is totally brainwashed!"
"It's gotta be that patch on her head," Sean agreed, getting over the initial shock of the girl of his dreams being brainwashed... again.
"Whatever it is," Clover said, activating her jetpack. "We have to get her out of here, like now!"
She took out another gadget that Jerry had sent them prior to their departure to Australia: the Net Launcher Handgun, a large orange device that could fire a net attached to a cable from up to twenty yards away.
Alex and Sean followed her lead, activating their own jetpacks and each taking out the same device.
"Okay," Sean instructed the two. "Sam looks pretty distracted, so I say we fly down there, net her, and bring her back to W.O.O.H.P. Ready?"
Clover and Alex nodded, following Sean as he swooped down.
The spies pulled the trigger on their net guns, each firing a net attached to a cable. The nets closed around Sam and they began to carry her the way a rescue helicopter might rescue a stranded hiker.
The only difference was that Sam was putting up more of a fight.
"Let me down!" she screeched. "You won't get away with this!"
"Sorry, no can do," Sean replied. "It's for your own good."
They didn't get very far before the other brainwashing victims began throwing their clubs at the surprised spies.
Shockingly, the cables holding the nets were severed and their jetpacks were severely damaged.
For gum tree wood, those clubs were very hard.
"Retreat!" Alex tried to shout as they continued to evade the barrage from below.
It did little to no good, for their jetpacks were too damaged to stay airborne and they plummeted back to the ground... into the waiting clutches of at least a dozen anti-shopping fanatics.
After being caught, Sean, Clover and Alex were delivered to the store that was just brought up from the tunnel. Once there, they were brought into one of the stores changing rooms, which looked looked more luxurious than was necessary. The room was covered in velvet carpet, had a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a small table that held a box of assorted cookies.
"Attention, anti-shoppers," a voice called out over an intercom. "We have caught the infiltrators. They're in Prison One."
"I couldn't have designed a better prison myself!" Alex said, as she took a cookie from the box.
"Yeah!" Clover agreed, both girls oddly happy to be captured for a change. "I hope there's a sale going on!"
"Uh, girls?" Sean said. "I think you're forgetting we're still prisoners."
The doors opened, revealing the same blond man from the security footage in Cairo, along with Sam and two others Sean didn't recognize.
"Simon Tucker!" Alex exclaimed.
"That's me," he confirmed in a soft voice. "Welcome to your final minutes as misguided, materialistic consumers."
"Just what are you going to do to us?" Sean asked, glaring.
Simon smiled as he held up two of the patches seen on Sam and the rest of his army.
"After my technicians apply these to your fragile temples," he explained. "I'll be proud to have you in my army."
"We are not joining any army of yours!" Alex exclaimed.
Simon's smile widened.
"You're from Beverly Hills, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes," she confirmed. "And proud of it!"
"And you love shopping?"
"Well," Sean admitted. "Not as much as Clover and Alex, but-"
"Then you'll love this," Simon interrupted.
A panel in the changing room wall opened up, letting out an avalanche of gift wrapped boxes, each letting out a pair of shoes as it fell open.
"Sweet!" Alex cooed, picking up a pair of pink high heels. "These are fabulous! And expensive!"
"Oh, they totally match that short blue skirt you just bought!" Clover agreed.
"Will you two stop window shopping?" Sean snapped at them. "We have an actual problem here!"
"Sorry," Clover quickly apologized. "It's in the blood!"
"Beverly Hills is a scourge," Simon ranted. "The ultimate paradise for evil shoppers. The most heinous example of consumerism on Earth."
Sam and the two men accompanying Simon repeated the chant from outside.
"I don't know what Beverly Hills you're talking about!" Clover scoffed.
"And you're not gonna get away with your evil plan!" Alex added, pointing in anger. "By the way, what is your evil plan?"
"Well, since you'll soon be helping to carry it out," Simon began. "I guess I can tell you: I plan on ridding the world of all materialism and consumerism, the very things that ruined my life. "
"Couldn't you just open another store?" Sean asked. "I mean, if you can build all this, you can go back into business."
"An interesting idea, young man," Simon said. "But after my store was closed, I came to realize that consumerism is a plague, one I intend to cure. I and A.C.T, my Ant-Consumerism Teams, will destroy malls around the world, starting with the new mall in your Beverly Hills."
Sean's jaw dropped.
"But that's opening today!" he realized.
"No way, you creep!" Alex said furiously. "You can't!"
"That's our new mall!" Clover added. "Nothing's going to stand between us and that mall! You're going down, mister!"
Simon just laughed before snapping his fingers again, letting more panels open and dropping more bags and boxes, quickly flooding the room.
"The jets are ready to leave, sir," Sam reported. "The armies of A.C.T are mobilized."
"Sam," Sean tried to plead. "How can you help him? This is Beverly Hills we're talking about! Our home!"
Sam and the other two guards just repeated the chant again.
"I'm sorry you won't be in the army to destroy your own mall," Simon said as he began to close the doors. "But there are many others. Well, time to go to the grand opening... I mean closing."
The doors shut and more boxes began to fall in.
In no time at all, the room was filled with so many boxes that the spies had practically swim in them just to get around. The pile rose up to the ceiling and pressed them very close to it.
"Hey," Clover said as she picked up a blue scarf. "These scarves are from Paris!"
"Uh, Clover?" Sean asked. "I hate to break it to you, but if you don't help us find a way out of here, you'll never shop again. Actually, no one will."
Instantly, Clover dropped the scarf.
Then Alex pulled out a tube of Ultra Energy Laser Lip Balm, and untwisting it, pointed it at the vent.
Instantly, a blue laser cut around the grate, letting fall free from the ceiling.
Alex gripped the edge of the open vent and flipped herself upward inside, with Sean following close behind her. Clover was last, but only because she snagged a hat that was buried in the pile.
"Come on!" Alex urged, dragging her up into the vent.
"That was not the kind of shopping spree I had in mind," Clover said as they began to crawl out through the ventilation system.
"We have to get back to Beverly Hills," Sean said. "Before Simon gets there."
"You're right," Alex agreed. "The future of shopping depends on us."
Beverly Hills Mall-9:58 AM
A massive crowd, bigger than any in L.A history, gathered to the front of the newly completed mall.
As the ribbon was cut, people rushed in, children let go of balloons in all the excitement and common sense and reason were virtually abandoned in favor of hysteria over a new place to shop.
Little did these shoppers know that their new destination was about to become a battlefield.
Outside, swarms of jets and helicopters descended on the mall. At first, no one raised an eyebrow, thinking that maybe they were carrying news crews. But then they saw the weapons on the sides of the aircraft.
They landed, letting out dozens of anti-shopping revolutionaries, each brandishing a wooden club and chanting the mantra Simon had them recite back in Australia.
Within minutes, the new mall was chaos. A smoke bomb was dropped in from an upper level, and Simon's army was already smashing, looting, and otherwise destroying everything that their eyes rested upon.
In the middle of it all was Sam, so deep in her trance that she actually enjoyed viewing the destruction of a place she was once previously ecstatic about the prospect of spending her time in.
Luckily, she wouldn't be that way for very long.
On a higher level of the mall, Sean, Alex and Clover spotted Sam amidst all the destruction, having arrived there early in anticipation of Simon's attack.
"There she is!" Alex pointed.
"Quick!" Clover urged, nudging Sean's shoulder. "Use the voice altering bullhorn... thingy."
Sean didn't need to guess to understand that she was referring to the Voice Alterer in his backpack.
The device resembled a bow tie, but with a speaker in the center. When Sean wrapped it around his neck, he pressed a button on the side and held it down.
It recorded every voice it heard, and he had set it so that it would mimic Simon's.
"This is Simon Tucker!" he said, his own voice now disguised. "My faithful A.C.T army, come destroy the third floor!"
The false announcement rang through the mall while he prayed that they would buy it.
"Troops!" Sam gestured to the third floor as the whole army ran up nonfunctioning escalators to the third level of the mall.
"Okay," Sean said, taking of the Voice Alterer. "That should keep them busy for a while. Now for Sam."
He dove off the railing of the balcony, aiming directly at Sam, who walked calmly in contrast to the more violent A.C.T revolutionaries.
Landing on top of her, he rolled with her on the floor into a store that sold mostly health products, knocking her into a pyramid of energy drink cans.
So that's what being on top of her feels like, Sean thought before mentally slapping himself. Get a grip, Sean. You have to help her!
"Sam!" Alex pleaded, coming inside the store with Clover. "You've got to snap out of it!"
"It's us!" Sean added desperately. "You're friends! Sean, Alex and Clover!"
Sam gave no indication of understanding them or even hearing them. Instead she just rose to her feet and pumped her fist.
"Shopping is evil!" she exclaimed with a passion her friends knew was not her own.
"We have to get that stupid patch off her head," Clover said.
But before they could move, Sam ran out the door, lowering the security gate to the store's entrance, sealing them in.
"Well, first we've gotta get out of here!" Sean said.
"Leave that to me!" Alex reassured, pulling out a spare Hair Clip Monster Grip. Attaching it to the bars, it cut through them like a knife would through cheese.
Sam stood on the balcony, observing the pandemonium below, unaware that her friends had just severed the last bar needed to free them.
"Put on your halters," Sean instructed the girls. "We can grab Sam and parachute down."
The C.A.S.H, which didn't really look like a halter top fit the spies like a glove.
They charged at Sam, with Alex and Clover holding her hands as they jumped off the railing while Sean just clung to her back.
As they opened their parachutes, Clover pointed to the huge fountain in the center of the mall.
"Over there!" she exclaimed. "Land in the fountain!"
"Ew!" Alex shrieked in disgust. "That water looks nast!"
"Just do it!" Sean said as Sam struggled against his grip. "I can't hold her forever!"
But he didn't have to. The spies landed in the fountain, their parachutes getting tangled in the shallow pool.
Sam surfaced, looking around for the spies.
"Wouldn't you like to take a nice refreshing bath, Sammy?!" Clover asked rhetorically as she surfaced, tackling the redhead underwater while Sean and Alex rose up, coughing and spitting out water respectively.
Sam broke free of Clover's grip and resurfaced.
"Stay away!" she warned as a blue gloved hand reached her temple, pulling at the mind control patch.
After only two attempts, Sean peeled it free, though not without causing Sam some minor pain.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, and all at once, the blue markings from the mind control faded, as if they had never been there. And her expression softened into confusion.
"Sorry," Sean said, letting the patch drop back into the water, then hugging her.
"Man!" Sam said, sounding more like her normal self. "That was weird. Was I like brainwashed or something?"
"You totally were," Clover confirmed as Sean let go. "But no time to chat."
"Wait!" Sam interrupted. "I remember! We have to save this mall! Simon plans to destroy it!"
"Duh!" Clover said. "What do you think we've been doing?!"
"There he is!" Sean exclaimed, pointing upward to an All the Rage store where Simon was walking to the doors, apparently planning to expand his army.
"We have to get the patches off the A.T.C army and stop Simon!" Sam said.
"Well," Alex suggested. "Water should do the trick. That's how yours came off."
"Good point!" Clover agreed. "But how're we gonna get all those patches wet?"
Sean rubbed his chin, thinking.
He didn't have to think too long or hard, for when he looked up at the ceiling-more specifically, the fire sprinklers-a plan began to form in his brain.
"I have an idea," he said. "Clover, Alex, you're with me. Sam, see if you can get the rest of the A.T.C army in one place."
While her friends hovered near the ceiling of the ravaged mall, Sam gathered the rest of Simon's army in the center of the mall.
"It's almost time to commence the grand plan!" she shouted, briefly channeling her brainwashed self. "Come in closer and listen well!"
The soldiers huddled closer together around her, while Sean, Clover and Alex pulled out the lip balm tubes Jerry had given them.
"Okay," Sean said to the other two. "Now's our chance!"
They quickly went to work, using their lip balm lasers to trigger the fire sprinklers one by one until a virtual rainstorm had started within the mall.
While the A.C.T soldiers were confused at first, they were still prone to suggestion enough to follow Sam's commands.
"Peel your patches off!" she barked. "That's an order!"
They did so and the same miraculous transformation hit them.
Once a feral mob of ant-consumerism zealots, the A.C.T now looked disoriented, bewildered, and maybe even a little ashamed.
"Simon is an evil man," Sam explained. "And he has no right to hurt innocent people and destroy malls. Now let's stop him!"
"Yeah!" they all shouted, and barged their way up to the All the Rage store, where a mall security guard had commandeered a forklift, trying to break in.
But inside, Simon was smiling to himself in satisfaction as his prisoners demanded to be released.
"You won't win!" he exclaimed, so sure of his victory. "You'll never win! I have my new army!"
Outside, Sean, Sam and Clover joined the scene, while Alex had volunteered to sabotage the elevator cables Simon was planning to use to abduct the shoppers.
"Are you close to it?" Sam asked into her Compowder.
"Yes," Alex replied as, on the other end, she was using her own lip balm laser to cut through the cables.
Back inside the store, Simon held up a remote he had used countless times before. But when he pressed the button that would send the store travelling through an underground tunnel to his store, nothing happened. The store remained as motionless and still as it was meant to be.
Confused and frustrated, Simon repeatedly pressed the button again. But the results were still the same.
He didn't know that Alex had severed the cables outside, effectively rendering his plan moot.
And to make matters worse for him, his former army had broken through the sealed doors, quickly overpowering him.
"This can't be happening!" he cried in shock as he dropped his remote. "My plan was foolproof!"
Outside the mall, several more helicopters landed. And these had the W.O.O.H.P logo painted on the side.
Alex rejoined her friends as several W.O.O.H.P agents rushed into the mall and Jerry came up from behind them.
"Congrats, spies," he said. "You've made the world safe again for obsessive shoppers."
The word "shoppers", however sent Clover crashing back to reality.
"Oh no!" she cried. "I forgot I'm still in trouble with mall security!"
Beverly Hills Mall-11:12 AM
At the old mall, Clover, along with her friends entered the main security office in an attempt to explain her case.
The good news was Sean, Sam and Alex had agreed to be her character witnesses. The bad?
Well, Mandy had gotten to the mall first just to see the look on Clover's face when her longtime rival had been banned from the mall. And she had the chief of security seemingly convinced that Clover had stolen the perfume.
"I swear," she defended. "I didn't steal it."
"It was found in your bag," the chief argued. "That's the point. And you have to deal with the consequences. And they're not pretty."
"You have to believe me! Please! I am not the kind of person who'd steal!"
"It's true!" Sean came to her rescue, earning a smile from her. "Although you did borrow my favorite pen without-"
Clover shot him a glare that he could only interpret one way.
"Shutting up," he said sheepishly.
"Case closed," the chief said conclusively.
"You are not gonna lie your way out of this one!" Mandy taunted.
That was when the huge security monitor came online, displaying an image of Mandy and Clover in the cosmetics shop.
"No one gets away with calling me 'Beauty Queen' and not really meaning it," Mandy on the tape said as she took a perfume bottle from its display. "This should bring down that pathetic wannabe."
And it was over just as the bottle was placed inside Clover's bag.
In the present, Mandy didn't look so confident. If anything, she was squirming like the worm she really was as the chief of security directed his wrath to her instead of Clover.
"You!" Clover exclaimed, pointing at her. "I knew you were in on this!"
The look on Mandy's face was priceless as the chief held out a broom.
"Nice try, lady," he said. "I hereby assign you to two weeks on the stores cleaning crew."
He placed the broom in Mandy's right hand and a cap on her head.
"Cleaning crew?!" she asked indignantly. "I have never cleaned anything in my entire life! Can't I just hire someone to do the cleaning for me?!"
"Sorry, Mandy," Sean said sarcastically. "But you're not gonna lie your way out of this one."
She looked horrified as Sean fired her own words back at her.
"While you're cleaning the mall," Clover said as Alex and Sean exchanged a high five. "Why don't you take this opportunity to clean up your act?"
The security chief dragged Mandy by the arm out of his office as she glared at her four rivals.
When they were gone, Clover looked up at the monitor.
"So, how did that T.V turn on by itself?" she asked.
"And then show the exact tape you needed?" Sam added onto her question.
"No need to thank me spies," Jerry said as his face suddenly came into view on the monitor, knocking them back in surprise. "It was my pleasure."
"Jer," Clover said in gratitude. "You rule!"
"Well, I think we all learned something today," Sean said as the screen went dark.
"Crime doesn't pay?" Alex suggested.
"No," he denied. "Never insult Mandy in a store."
The spies laughed, happy that Clover's ordeal was at an end.