Hello and welcome to Season 2! This is the season I've been looking forward to writing ever since I started this series. Get ready, because this next season features new characters, new villains and an all-new story arc for Sean, which you may see a hint of at the end here. But first things first, enjoy the second part of A Spy is Born.
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Chapter Forty-Two
A Spy is Born Part 2
Why does this keep happening to me? Alex thought as her captor, Marco Lumiere, picked up a small piece of cloth from beside the chair he had tied her to after ambushing her outside her house about an hour earlier and dragging her to an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town.
It wasn't the first time she had been kidnapped, of course. She had escaped Lumiere's clutches very recently, in fact. But that was on an island where she could move and had the advantage. Now she was tied up, with no gadgets, no backup, and without her Compowder, no way to contact her friends or Jerry.
Lumiere had allowed her to send a message to Sean, Sam and Clover just to get their attention, but that was only for a few seconds. There was no other way to say it: Alex was at Lumiere's mercy.
"There's no way you're gonna get away with this, loser!" she taunted him, trying to sound as brave as she could. "Sam, Sean, Clover and W.O.O.H.P will do whatever it takes to save me!"
Unfazed, Lumiere just stepped behind his new captive and tied the cloth around her face, preventing her from speaking.
"That's precisely what I'm counting on," Lumiere said, chuckling maliciously.
Beverly Hills High School-9:30 AM
The three friends were speechless, staring at the blank screen of Sean's wallet phone with terror and concern for their best friend.
"Alex has been kidnapped!" Sean said, finally breaking the long silence.
"We've gotta do something!" Sam exclaimed as Sean shut the device. "Quick!"
"I can't believe I'm actually saying this," Clover said, grabbing her friends' wrists. "But I think we better try and get WOOPHed, A.S.A.P."
The trio ran down the hall, as Clover opened her locker. Then Sean's, then Sam's, and leaving Alex's for last.
When these seemingly did nothing, she opened a trash can to Sean and Sam's disgust.
"Clover," Sean said as the blonde began to pull trash out with her bare hands. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Clover answered with her own question. "I'm trying to find a button or a lever or a secret passage!"
"Huh?" Sam uttered, confused.
"Why is it that we only get WOOPHed when we don't want to and can never get WOOHPed when we need to?"
She came over to Sean.
"Sean," she said. "You've been a spy longer than us? Any idea how it works?"
"If I had any idea," Sean replied. "Do you think I would have told you by now?"
"But you did it before," Sam reminded. "When we first met."
Sean sighed. "Yeah, but that was only because I paged Jerry using a feature on my wallet phone. When I got promoted to field agent, that feature was disabled."
Sam and Clover groaned.
They were about to give up altogether when Sam's Compowder rang.
"Maybe it's Alex!" she said hopefully and answered it.
But her face fell when she looked at the screen.
It wasn't another distress call from Alex, but an e-mail that, judging by its casual tone, was from someone else completely.
"'It doesn't matter that you're not the most popular girl in school,'" she read. "'I still think you're the greatest. Meet me at lunch today, your secret admirer, A.J.'"
Sean peered over Sam's shoulder to read the e-mail, his stomach clenching with envy.
"A.J?!" he asked, shocked. "Who's that?!"
"Well, it could be Andrew James, that total cutie from science class!" Clover theorized, making Sean feel even worse. "Or maybe it's Aaron Jennings, the football player with the buff bod!"
"Why would those guys be interested in me?" Sam asked.
Who wouldn't? Sean thought.
"Hello!" Clover answered. "Because you're smart, funny and totally cool!"
Then she reached over and grabbed Sam's Compowder.
"Hey!" the redhead protested. "Clover, there's no time for this!"
"She's right," Sean concurred. "We have to find Alex!"
"There's always time for secret admirers," Clover said, directing her tone to Sam in particular. "I'll tell him you'll definitely meet him for lunch."
Sam tried to snatch her Compowder out of Clover's hands, but to no avail. The message was sent, leaving Clover feeling satisfied, Sam frustrated and Sean absolutely betrayed.
"Clover!" he whispered harshly, dragging her off to the side. "How could you do this to me?! You know how I feel about Sam!"
"I do," Clover admitted. "And you're taking way too long to make a move! I thought a little competition would make you get off your butt and ask Sam out already!"
"Competition?! From those two?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Clover shrugged as if to say "A little."
"I'm gonna die alone," Sean moaned.
"What're you guys whispering about?" Sam asked, catching the two off guard.
"Nothing," they replied quickly in unison.
She could ask her friends no more before a trap door opened up, sending the three spiraling down the chute.
"See what I mean?!" Clover shouted over Sean and Sam's screams. "WOOHPing only occurs at the most inopportune moments!"
The ride was shorter than it was normally, which was probably a good thing due to the pressing matter of Alex's abduction. They landed on the fuchsia cushion in Jerry's office.
Jerry himself sat at his desk, drinking tea.
"Good morning, spies," he greeted.
"Jerry!" Sam said, sitting up.
Jerry just calmly took a sip of his tea.
"Alex has been kidnapped."
"No, Alex has been kidnapped!" Clover exclaimed.
"Yes, that's what I said," Jerry stated.
"Wait," Sean said. "You know?"
Jerry nodded. "Yes."
"Freaky!" Clover commented.
"In fact, I've just received this rather disturbing message."
He reached for a remote and pressed a button on it, turning on the screen behind his desk.
On it appeared the image of a certain filmmaker the spies thought they'd seen the last of.
"Sam," Lumiere greeted mockingly. "Clover, Sean!"
"Lumiere?" Sam asked, confused.
"So good to see you again," the deranged director continued as he shifted his frame to reveal Alex bound and gagged behind him.
"I thought we just locked him up!" Sean said, perplexed.
The message went on.
"I'm happy to inform you that you've been cast in my latest movie: a spy thriller! Since you're top secret agents, I figured it'd be right up your alley."
"Whatever, creep!" Clover exclaimed.
Lumiere glared into the camera. "I'll be filming you as you go up against my special effects and dangerous sets."
Behind him, Alex struggled against the ropes and tried to shout something through the cloth tied around her mouth.
"What's that, Alex?" Lumiere asked. "Oh, yes. Thanks for reminding me. Alex says if you ever want to see her again, you'd better hurry!"
"We can't let him get away with this!" Sam exclaimed as Jerry paused the message.
"Wait," Jerry said. "There's more."
He resumed the video, allowing Lumiere to continue his threat.
"Hope you kids can take direction, because here's your first scene: Roses are red, violets are blue, the same two colors of your next clue. If you head to the station, you'll be on the right track. And you just might get your friend Alex back."
Lumiere stepped behind Alex, leering over her menacingly.
"Now," he continued. "Chop, chop, you three! We're rolling!"
He ended his message with a shot of a clapperboard and allowed Alex to get one more scream in for good measure.
"Apparently," Jerry explained as the screen turned off. "He escaped our custody and abducted Alex early this morning."
"That makes sense!" Clover said. "He got to Alex when her defenses were down. She's so not a morning person!"
"We've gotta figure out what station he's talking about," Sean said as he stood.
"It could be a radio station," Clover offered. "Or maybe it's a gas station."
Sam's face brightened up and she joined Sean in standing.
"Or," she realized. "Maybe it's the train station! 'If you head to the station, you'll be on the right track. And you just might get your friend Alex back.'"
"Sam," Clover said congratulatorily, rising. "You're brilliant! Let's hit it!"
The three began to walk out when Jerry stopped them.
"Wait. I've got some gadgets you might find helpful."
"Okay," Sean said. "But make it quick, Jer."
"We don't have time for your usual blathering," Clover added, before blushing in embarrassment. "No offense."
"None taken," Jerry said.
Beverly Hills Train Station-9:15 AM
Sean had never been to this part of Beverly Hills before, let alone its train station. He had no idea where to start looking. And neither did Sam and Clover.
"I don't see Alex or Lumiere anywhere," he whispered to the girls.
"Me neither," they replied.
As they walked past a stand, Sean looked up and saw a camera tracking their every move. And he had a feeling this wasn't one of the train station's security cameras, but one Lumiere had placed to film his "masterpiece."
Before Sean could even mention the camera, Clover pointed off to a train waiting on a platform just ahead. It was a freight train with a red locomotive with blue highlights.
"Sean, Sammy!" she exclaimed. "There's our train!"
"Huh?" they pondered.
"'Roses are red, violets are blue. The same two colors of your next clue!' Come on!"
The spies ran toward the platform just as a conductor stopped them.
"Not so fast, you three," he said, raising his hand. "I need to see your tickets."
"But you don't understand," Sean tried to argue. "It's an emergency!"
"We're secret agents trying to save our best friends from an evil independent filmmaker!" Clover added, with Sean hoping that the conductor wouldn't buy it.
Evidently, he didn't.
"Sure you are. And I'm Mary, Queen of Scots. No tickets, no ride."
They didn't have time to argue as the train had already begun to move.
"Fine," Sam said as she and her friends put on one of the gadgets Jerry had given them: the Spring Loaded Sneakers. "If you won't let us through then we'll just have to go over your head."
Sam turned out to have meant that literally, as the spies jumped over the confused conductor and ran toward the receding train.
"Maybe there is something to be said for wearing sensible shoes," Clover said as they got closer. But not close enough.
"Jump!" Sean instructed as they did so.
After a near miss, they soared over the track and gripped onto the railing of the rear car.
As the climbed aboard, Sean noticed another camera mounted on the wall.
"Great," Clover growled. "That beady-eyed Spielberg wannabe is watching our every move!"
"Look on the bright side, Clover," Sean said. "You do love the spotlight."
Clover frowned.
"Not this much, Sean."
"That wasn't so bad," Sam said as they entered the car.
"Yeah," Clover agreed. "If you like profuse sweating!"
"Don't be discouraged, kids," Lumiere's voice came from somewhere inside, prompting the spies to look around. "You're doing very well."
The filmmaker's face appeared on a screen hanging from the ceiling in front of them.
"And as you can see," he continued as footage of them at the station flashed across. "You look just wonderful on camera."
"We wanna know what you've done with Alex!" Sean exclaimed.
Lumiere laughed.
"You'll find out in due time. Right now, you have other things to worry about."
Before any of them could ask what, the door to the car closed behind them. And judging by the clicking sound coming from it, there was no going back.
"Great," Sam said. "We're locked in!"
"Actually," Clover interjected. "That might not be such a bad thing!"
"Why do you say that?" Sean asked as the train began to speed up.
"This train's going so fast, I wouldn't want to accidentally fall out."
"Falling out is the least of you concerns," Lumiere said. "When the train reaches 150 miles per hour, it will derail and crash!"
"And the good news is?" Sam deigned to ask.
Lumiere grinned. "If you can figure out how to stop the train before any accidents happen, I might just let Alex free and my feature film won't have to be a... short subject."
"And if we can't?" Sean asked.
"Alex won't have a very happy ending, and neither will you. Action!"
Lumiere's face disappeared, being replaced with a single number inside a circular meter.
"88?" Clover said, reading the screen. "What's that?"
Then it went up to 89, then 90 and so on.
"I think that's the speed of the train!" Sean realized.
"Which means we've gotta get to the engine fast!" Sam added urgently.
The trio ran all the way through the train until the reached the front, scanning the controls. There was no one inside, announcing that the train was fully automated.
Clover gripped two levers, hoping that one of them would stop the train. But they wouldn't budge.
"It's no use!" she exclaimed. "All the controls are jammed!"
"Then we've gotta find a handbrake," Sean said. "Like they use in emergencies!"
"I'd say this definitely qualifies as an emergency!"
"I'll start here," Sam said. "You two start in the rear of the train and we can meet in the middle!"
Clover and Sean nodded in agreement before running back in the direction they came.
"Man," Clover said. "This is more exercise than I get in a whole afternoon of Pilates class!"
"And knowing Lumiere," Sean added. "I think it's only gonna get worse from here!"
As the two ran further in, it wasn't long before they reached the rear car again.
"Okay," Sean said, quickly taking a look around the room. "Look for anything that looks like a brake."
"What'll it look like?!" Clover asked, panicking.
"I don't know! Just look everywhere! We don't have a lot of time!"
He pointed up to the screen, which now displayed the train's speed of 120.
"Okay," Clover said. "If I was a handbrake, where would I be?"
She looked through a trashcan while Sean checked behind nearby crate, but he only found the controls for the train's interior temperature.
He shook his head as he continued the search. But he didn't have much time to continue before he felt a sudden lurch that threw him backwards and caused him to land face up on Clover's stomach.
"Sean," she grunted, frustratingly. "Don't take this wrong way, but you need to go easy on the pizza."
Taking the message, Sean climbed off of her.
He looked out the window to see that the car had split off from the rest of the train and was now speeding out of control in the opposite direction.
"Somehow we came loose!" he shouted.
"Please tell me I didn't just do that!" Clover whined as the tracks outside switched the car onto another line.
"Actually," Lumiere's voice announced through the screen. "Splitting the train was my doing."
"Splitting the train?!" Clover exclaimed, outraged.
"I thought it might add a bit of drama if I pitted my protagonists against one another."
"And in English, that means?" Sean asked.
Lumiere held up a small cylindrical trigger with a red button on top.
"I'm doing a little rewrite of the script," he said. "Let me show you."
He pressed the button, switching the tracks again and causing the engine to be on a collision course with the rear car.
"Okay!" Clover screamed, looking out the window. "I'm beginning to understand!"
"Honestly!" Sean growled. "James Cameron's a safer director than this guy!"
Back in the engine, Sam opened a compartment to look for the brake, unaware that the car containing her friends was about to crash into her.
"It's gotta be around here somewhere!" she said to herself.
Behind her, the train's motor rattled before it let out a cloud of smoke as the train's speed approached 140.
"What's the matter?" Lumiere asked tauntingly as his face appeared on the screen. "Afraid of a little special effect?"
"I'm glad you find this so amusing," Sam said, opening another compartment, this one containing a lever labeled "Emergency Brake".
"Bingo!"
She gripped the lever and pulled it forward. Outside, the locomotive's wheels locked in place, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Sam slammed the brake down harder, hoping to make the train stop more quickly.
After only a few minutes, all came to a screeching halt and she let out a sigh of relief.
"That was easy enough," she said as her Compowder rang.
She answered it and Sean and Clover's faces appeared on her screen. They both looked concerned.
"Uh, Sam? Clover asked. "I think we have a little problem."
"What do you mean 'problem?'' Sam asked. "I just stopped the train!"
"Actually," Sean admitted. "That was only half the problem."
Sam looked up through the window and saw the rear car careening towards her.
"Okay. So maybe that was a little too easy."
"Wait a minute," Sean said, reaching into Clover's backpack. "I have an idea."
He took out a small, blue star-shaped perfume bottle.
"It's a good thing one of the gadgets Jerry gave us was Ice Queen Perfume."
Then he looked back at Sam.
"Just stay put," he said. "Clover and I'll take care of this."
"Me stay put?!" Sam exclaimed. "You two are ones who are moving!"
Sean handed the perfume bottle to Clover while he pulled a fire axe off the wall.
"Time for a little rewrite of our own!" Clover said while Sean went to work, hacking away at the car's wooden floor.
When he finally made a hole big enough, she knelt down and aimed the bottle's nozzle at one of the wheels.
She sprayed it, encasing it in ice and halting its motion. The car stopped just inches from the locomotive.
The doors opened, letting the spies exit.
"You okay?" Sam asked her friends, rushing over.
"Yeah," Sean confirmed.
"Needing reconstructive nail surgery," Clover added. "But I'm fine."
Sean looked at both sections of the train, his face grim.
"We must've looked through the whole train," he said. "There's no sign of Alex anywhere."
Before they could discuss it any further, Sam's Compowder rang again.
"Maybe it's Lumiere with another clue," she said hopefully as she answered it. But she was crestfallen as it turned out to only be an email. "No, it's A.J again. He says he's looking forward to lunch."
She closed her Compowder.
"Who can think about lunch at a time like this?!" Sean asked, jealousy panging him again.
Clover took him aside.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked him quietly. "Now's your chance!"
Sean looked from Sam to Clover then back again, sweat trickling from his forehead.
"My chance for what?" he asked, pretending not to know.
"What do you think?! To ask Sam out!"
"I did, remember?! When she broke up with James?!"
Clover scoffed. "That was a pity date. It doesn't count."
"Have you forgotten our best friend is in danger?!" Sean reminded her. "We don't have time for this!"
"There's always time for romance, Sean," Clover countered. "And frankly, I think you're just using Alex as an excuse to not talk to Sam about it."
Sean looked offended.
"Am not!"
"Are too! Keep this up, and you may wind up with Alex instead."
He facepalmed before looking at Sam again.
"Look, saving Alex is our top priority right now," Sean said firmly to Clover. "I can worry about this later. Besides, Alex is like a sister to me."
"What about me?" Clover asked.
Sean rolled his eyes. "You're a more annoying sister."
Clover glared at him as Sam's Compowder rang again. This time, it was Lumiere.
"Good show, kids," he said, clapping. "Now here's another riddle for you: Hickory Dickory Dock, the spies are racing the clock. Colorado's where you'll find the key that will lead you to where Alex will be. Good luck!"
The screen went dark, leaving the spies to ponder what he said.
"Here we go again," Sam groaned.
"Yep," Clover agreed. "Looks like we're on our way to Colorado."
"Don't be so sure," Sean said. "Lumiere hasn't been straightforward so far. I don't think he's gonna change that now."
"What do you mean?" Clover asked. "Don't you want to find Alex?"
Sean nodded. "Yeah. But we have to be smart about this. Let's look at the riddle again."
Sam looked down in contemplation.
"'Hickory Dickory Dock,'" she recited from memory. "'The spies are racing the clock. Colorado's where you'll find the key that will lead you to where Alex will be.'"
Rubbing his fingers under his chin, Sean thought carefully before he remembered something from his occasional trip to Santa Monica beach: a ship that would pass by every Thursday. And the name on its side was always...
"I think he's talking about the cruise ship Colorado!" he said, Sam nodding in agreement.
"Cruise ship?" Clover asked in confusion. "I didn't even realize Colorado had a waterfront!"
Both of her friends sweat dropped as they activated their jetpacks.
"We'll explain on the way," Sam said as she and Sean flew off, with Clover not far behind.
Marina Harbor-10:30 AM
The spies landed at the harbor that encircled Santa Monica Bay in front of the glistening white cruise ship docked at the closest pier to the shore.
"There it is!" Sean announced as his jetpack turned off. "The Colorado!"
"Now that's my kind of boat," Clover said, admiring the vessel. "If this is where Lumiere's holding Alex, I hope I'm next in line to get abducted."
Sean and Sam deadpanned at Clover's comment.
She really needs to straighten her priorities, Sean thought as they climbed up the boarding ramp... only for the steps to fold downward into trap doors and deposit them into the water below.
They surfaced minutes later, startled but no worse for the wear.
"I'm getting really sick of Lumiere and his pathetic petty thrills!" Sam exclaimed angrily.
"Looks like we're gonna have to find another way to get onboard," Sean analyzed
"I think I've got it," Clover said, taking out the buckle to her Bungee Belt.
Taking the hint, Sam and Sean followed her lead and attached the buckles to the side of the ship.
"All aboard!" Clover shouted as they zipped upwards.
They landed over the railing and onto the deck above.
Rounding a corner, they could see several people in white uniforms mopping the deck. Apparently, the crew was too preoccupied with cleaning to pay them any mind.
"Okay," Clover said to her friends. "If I were a lunatic filmmaker spy abductor, where would I hide Alex?"
"My guess would be below deck," Sam offered.
Sean nodded in agreement as he stood up.
"Let's check it out," he said.
As they got further along the promenade, they came to a corner.
"We'd better spread out to cover more ground," Sam suggested.
"Good idea," Clover concurred, pointing off to the corner. "I'll go this way. You two go that way."
"Good luck," Sean said as he and Sam took off running.
While Sean and Sam searched the lower decks, Clover looked around on the parts of the ship that were a little higher. She had looked in the dining room, the movie theatre, a nightclub, and the spa. But Alex was nowhere to be seen.
"Alex?" she asked as she entered another hallway. "Are you down here?"
That was the least of her concerns, as she soon found out. For at that moment, at least six metal barriers emerged from the walls, sealing off all possible exits.
Clover screamed in distress.
Could this get any worse? she thought.
It could.
Out of the gaps behind the metal walls, water began to pour out and flood the tiny space that now served as her prison.
She looked ahead and saw one barrier that was closing much more slowly than the others.
Taking the chance, she made a run for it, jumping on her stomach and using the low traction surface of the water to slide under the barrier just as it closed.
She stopped, thankful that she didn't drown.
"Well," she said to herself. "No sign of Alex in there."
Elsewhere on the ship, Sean and Sam had reached the engine room, which like most of the other places on the ship, was abandoned.
"Well," Sean said. "We've already looked everywhere else."
"She's gotta be in here somewhere," Sam suggested, before looking around. "Alex?"
"Are you in here?" Sean added. Just as a red-uniformed shape came in.
"Any luck?" Sam asked as Clover came into view.
"Not so far," Clover responded, then froze her gaze at a key on a nearby console. "But our luck may have just changed!"
She shoved her friends out of the way to reach it.
"Remember the riddle? 'Colorado's where you'll find the key that will lead you to where Alex will be.' This must be the key in the riddle."
She gripped the key, preparing to turn it.
Sean, who had studied multiple weapons systems as a part of his training, wasn't so sure. There were tons of weapons that could be triggered by keys. And he recognized this piece of machinery in particular.
"Clover!" he tried to warn. "Wait!"
But he didn't warn her soon enough as she had already turned the key.
In less than a second later, the whole ship began to shake and a noise that sounded like an engine starting up echoed through the room. And this wasn't coming from the ship's engines.
"That doesn't sound good," Sam said nervously as another screen came on.
"Nice job, kids," Lumiere said as his face came into view again. "You just activated an intercontinental ballistic missile!"
The spies gasped as, on the main deck, a hatch opened up. On another screen, the missile in question was warming up, burning a hole in the bottom of the ship's hull.
"I just love explosions in big action scenes," Lumiere finished.
"Why couldn't your stupid movie be a nice romantic comedy instead?!" Clover asked.
"Never mind that now," Sean said as he rushed to the missile control console. "We've gotta stop it! That missile could have a nuclear warhead in it for all we know!"
He pressed random buttons on the console in front of him, hoping to disarm the missile before it launched.
"You don't think disarming the missile will be as easy as that, do you?" Lumiere asked mockingly. "Ten seconds till launch."
Enraged, Clover punched the screen displaying Lumiere's face, breaking it.
On another screen, a countdown clock came up, displaying the number 10, which began to count backwards to 0.
"Great," Sam said, frustrated. "What else could possibly go wrong?"
That was when water began to pour in to the engine room from a hole above them.
"Haven't we all learned by now to never ask that?!" Sean stated.
"Come on!" Clover said to the two. "We've gotta get the workers off the ship!"
When they finally got above deck, the crew had somehow been alerted to what was going on for they were exiting the ship in droves. But the be on the safe side, Sam held up a bullhorn she'd found abandoned by the side of the pool.
"Everyone," she said into it, amplifying her voice. "Evacuate the ship in a calm, orderly fashion. It's sinking."
While this was going on, Clover tried to take the opportunity to abandon ship herself. She didn't get very far before Sam grabbed her backpack.
"I wasn't talking to you," Sam said irritably.
As soon as the last crewman was off the ship, the missile had already launched itself thousands of feet into the air.
"Where do you suppose it's headed?" Clover asked.
"Looks like we're about to find out," Sean said, running down the ramp himself. "Come on! We've gotta follow that missile!"
Sam and Clover weren't far behind him, waiting for an explanation.
"Remember the riddle? 'Colorado's where you'll find the key that will lead you to where Alex will be!' This missile should lead us to Alex!"
In a flash, Sean was able to procure a W.O.O.H.P jet that could match the missile in speed. He took the pilot controls while Sam and Clover sat beside him.
"This should help us close the gap," he said, activating the jet's turbo engines. In seconds, the jet had overtaken the missile and was now ahead of it.
"Great," Clover said. "We caught up to the missile. What now?"
But Sean and Sam already knew the answer to that as they looked ahead.
"Oh no!" Sam exclaimed. "Look!"
Clover followed their gazes to see exactly what had them so terrified.
"It's headed right for the city!" she exclaimed.
"Take a closer look!" Sean told her.
She did so and her look of horror only grew.
"Oh no!" she cried. "It's aimed at..."
She trailed off as a familiar "W" shaped skyscraper came into view.
"...W.O.O.H.P!" she finished as the plane's communication screen lit up, once again revealing Lumiere's grinning face.
"WOOHP, I did it again," he said as another countdown screen came on. "T-minus ten seconds until impact."
"Getting really sick of this beady-eyed little weasel!" Clover snarled.
"Forget about him," Sam said, pressing a button. "We've gotta stop this missile!"
Outside the jet, a hatch opened on the front, letting out a net that ensnared the missile... but only momentarily before the G-force shredded it to pieces.
"Nice try, Sam," Clover said sarcastically. "But I think we need something with a little more firepower."
Sean's face lit up in inspiration.
Pulling back on the yoke, he brought the jet higher to the missile's position, then flew back downward directly into its path.
"I didn't mean that much firepower!" Clover shrieked.
"Get ready to eject!" Sean called to the girls.
Soon the jet was right in front of the missile as the spies activated their ejector seats. The trio jettisoned from the doomed aircraft just in time for the missile to collide with it and cause both to explode.
"Next time you want to jettison me from a speeding jet," Clover said as they parachuted down. "Let me know beforehand so I can plan to be on vacation that day."
"When we rescue Alex," Sean said as they safely floated down to W.O.O.H.P. "We'll treat you to a spa day to make up for it!"
As their seats landed on the helicopter landing pad, Sam and Sean unbuckled themselves.
"Come on!" Sam urged. "Alex must be inside!"
And the two took off, but not before giving Clover a moment to get herself free of her ejector seat.
W.O.O.H.P Building-11:50 AM
While the spies were rushing through W.O.O.H.P, Jerry stood in his office, overseeing a maintenance worker doing some repairs on the climate control of the building.
Hearing the door opened, he looked behind him to see three familiar faces entering his office.
"Oh, Sam," he said, surprised. "Sean, Clover. What are you doing here? I don't remember WOOHPing you."
"Lumiere's holding Alex somewhere in the building!" Sam explained sharply.
Jerry didn't seem convinced. "That's impossible. W.O.O.H.P has the tightest security in the world. I can account for each and every person in this building. Believe me, agents. If Alex were here, I would know about it."
"Great," Clover shivered. "But can you account for why it's colder than a meat locker in here?"
"Apparently, there's a climate control malfunction," Jerry answered. "Our technician is working on it as we speak."
"Uh, what technician?" Sean asked.
Jerry turned. The man who was kneeling down at the temperature controls was now mysteriously absent.
"That's odd," he said. "He was here a moment ago."
Just then, the screen behind Jerry's desk came on.
"Greetings, WOOHP-ites!" Lumiere's voice echoed through the room as his face once again dominated the screen. "Hey diddle diddle, here's another riddle. It will soon be freezing in this room. But if you want some relief, you'd better be brief. 'Cause Alex is about to go boom!"
His face disappeared, replaced by a gauge with numbers in red and blue wedges.
"Great!" Sam exclaimed. "Another race against the clock!"
"I don't think that's a clock, Sam," Jerry said. "I think it's W.O.O.H.P's interior temperature."
The teens took a closer look. Jerry was right. The needle in the gauge was currently in the right red side, but gradually shifting toward the left blue side, indicating the temperature dropping. And Sean could feel it.
"What do you think he wants this time?" he asked.
"There's only one way to find out," Clover answered. "We'd better get to the briefing room."
"Why?" Sam wondered.
"'You'd better be brief.' Get it? He's talking about the briefing room."
She ran out of the office, her teammates and Jerry following close behind her.
The briefing room was on the first floor of the building and consisted of dozens of desks arranged in two rows with one large desk at the end of the room for the speaker.
There was nothing out of the ordinary aside from a bucket of popcorn on the main desk.
"That's odd," Jerry noted.
"Not to mention convenient!" Clover said hungrily as she picked it up. "All this spying's got me totally starved!"
She reached for a handful of popcorn just as Sean's blue gloved hand stopped her.
"Clover, no!" he exclaimed. "It could be a trap!"
He shifted the top layer of popcorn away to reveal a small, black rectangular device with two blue cylinders filled with an unknown liquid on the right and a red meter on the left. And the meter was gradually lighting up with blue squares.
"It's a bomb!" Clover shouted.
"Correction," Sam said, taking it out of the bucket. "A temperature sensitive bomb. And something tells me that when the temperature in here hits zero, this thing's gonna blow!"
"Then we've gotta warm things back up in here, fast!" Sean said, turning to his boss. "Jerry, tell them to stop this!"
"Already on it," Jerry replied, dialing into a phone on the desk. "Maintenance, you must reverse the temperature immediately!"
But judging by the look on Jerry's face, there was no answer on the other end.
"Hello? Hello?!"
Then he paused, remembering that the temperature of the building only started dropping when that technician came into his office.
"Wait a second," he realized. "That maintenance man. He must be one of Lumiere's cronies. He jammed the temperature controls!"
Clover gasped.
"If we can't fix the temperature," Sean said. "Maybe we can defuse the bomb. Sam, think you can do it?"
"I'll try," she answered. "Let's see. I think if I just pull the red wire, it should defuse."
She pulled out one of the two wires on top of the cylinders. But it had the opposite effect of what was intended and the meter only lit up faster.
"Or not!" Clover screamed.
"Nice try, agents," Lumiere's voice sneered over the intercom system. "Looks like this is the end of W.O.O.H.P!"
The spies just narrowed their eyes in hate.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Clover exclaimed, taking off her backpack and rummaging through it. "Where did I put my lipstick?"
"Clover!" Sean scolded. "This is so not the time to worry about your appearance!"
"Who's worried about appearances?" she retorted, pulling out another gadget: the Laser Lipstick. "I'm looking to heat things up!"
She took the bomb from Sam and laid it on the desk.
Aiming the tube at the two cylinders on the bomb, she twisted it and let the blue laser hit it until the cylinders broke. The beeping stopped and all lights on the device immediately went dim.
Everyone around her was impressed.
"Clover, it worked!" Sam exclaimed.
"It's not the first time a cosmetic saved my life," Clover said, applying some of the lipstick to her lips. "And it probably won't be the last."
"Well, now that that's over," Sean said. "We still need to find where Lumiere's keeping Alex."
Jerry pulled out his own wallet phone.
"I'll link to W.O.O.H.P's transmission mainframe and find out where Lumiere's last broadcast came from," he said.
After a few seconds of typing, he got his result.
"What does it say?" Clover asked.
Jerry looked at his screen, brow furrowed in concentration.
"Lumiere's last transmission came from... the 22nd floor of W.O.O.H.P!"
Luckily for the spies, W.O.O.H.P's elevators were faster than most. As the doors opened to the 22nd floor, which contained an observation deck, the spies and Jerry were greeted by a very horrific sight.
On the other side of the glass doors leading to the observation deck, Alex sat in a chair that was perched precariously on the edge of the railing. The only reason she wasn't falling was because she was holding with her teeth to a long rope, the other end of which was tied to the door handle. Judging by her face, she was trying her best not to scream.
"Oh, now that's something you don't see every day," Jerry commented.
"Poor Alex!" Clover sympathized. "If I were her I'd be screaming my head off!"
"If she opens her mouth to scream," Sam said. "She'll fall over the edge!"
"And if we open this door," Jerry pointed out. "It'll release the rope, causing her to fall!"
"Then we're gonna have to save Alex from outside the building!" Sean declared as they ran back toward the door, hoping to get to another floor and find a way to Alex from there.
"Don't move, Alex!" Clover tried to reassure her friend. "We'll save you!"
Sean tried to pull the door forward, but it remained firmly in place.
"Damn it!" he swore. "We're locked in!"
"Again?!" Clover asked in disbelief as Jerry pulled out his access pass and stuck it into the electronic lock.
The results were disappointing, but not unexpected. A light flashed by the slot the card was meant to go in, indicating that access was denied.
"Lumiere's crony must have jammed it," Jerry deduced.
"We have no choice," Sam said in resignation.
"You're right," Sean agreed, understanding and walking back toward the observation deck. "All right. On three, we open the door and jump on the rope."
The others nodded as Sean counted.
"One, two, th-"
"Wait!" Clover interrupted. "Wait. Do we go on 'three' or do we go on 'go?'"
Sean, Sam and Jerry stood there dumbstruck for a moment then fell over anime style.
"Three!" Sean exclaimed, getting back up. "Who said anything about 'go?!'"
"Sorry," Clover said. "Just wanted to be sure!"
Sean sighed.
"Okay, let's try again. One, two, three!"
On "three", the four forced the door open and Sean, Sam and Clover dove for the rope, grabbing it.
"We did it!" Clover exclaimed. "We saved Alex!"
But it wasn't going to be that easy. The rope had been frayed from being stretched between the door and Alex's teeth for so long. And even though her friends kept a tight grip on it, it snapped anyway, sending her chair toppling over the edge and taking her with it.
Alex screamed as she began her long fall to the ground.
"Alex!" he friends shouted, diving over the edge after her.
Not too far away from the W.O.O.H.P building, a helicopter hovered around the spot where the spies were falling, containing Marco Lumiere and piloted by the henchman he had infiltrate W.O.O.H.P.
"Quick," Lumiere instructed his pilot. "Follow them down. I want to capture their untimely demise on film!"
As her descent continued, Alex looked up at her friends, fear in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Alex!" Clover shouted over her friend's screams. "We've got you!"
Propelling themselves further, they caught Alex in their arms.
"Thanks, guys!" she exclaimed gratefully before remembering their situation. "Only who's got us?!"
Back on the observation deck, Jerry watched with anger as Lumiere's helicopter pursued the spies downward.
"I will show you that no one infiltrates my agency and gets away with it!" he said furiously before leaping off the edge himself. But instead of falling, he ran down the side the building's concrete and glass surface before jumping into the helicopter and struggled with Lumiere and the pilot for the controls.
"Somebody better do something fast!" Alex panicked as the ground was getting closer. "Otherwise, we're gonna make a very strong impression! I don't mean the good kind!"
"Wait, I know what to do!" Sean exclaimed, pulling a cord on the left side of his suit. The torso inflated with a suit of blue padding that encircled his whole body.
Sam, Clover and Alex followed his lead, only their padding was pink and the spies bounced harmless to the pavement below.
"Normally," Clover said as her padding deflated. "I consider layering a fashion faux pas. But today, I'll make an exception."
Alex looked up and pointed.
"Look out!" she screamed. The other three jumped out of the way as Lumiere's helicopter landed and Jerry forced the pilot outside, placing handcuffs on his wrists.
"Not so fast," Jerry said while Lumiere attempted to make a break for it only to be stopped by Sean and the girls.
"Lumiere thinks he's nimble," Clover said, taunting him in a very familiar tone. "Lumiere thinks he's sly. Lumiere just got busted by four tough spies!"
"Four tough spies," Jerry added as he cuffed the disgraced director. "And a veteran agent who still has a few fancy moves left in him."
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "For once, we get to congratulate you on a job well done, Jerry."
Alex, in the meantime, ripped the film camera off the helicopter and threw it to the ground, smashing it.
"No!" Lumiere cried. "My masterpiece!"
"This movie is officially in the can," Alex said, satisfied.
Lumiere groaned as he struggled against Jerry's grip.
"Come on, Lumiere," Jerry said. "You're filmmaking days are over."
"For ten to twenty years, anyway!" Sean added as their latest villain was ushered away.
While the others were celebrating, however, Sam looked a little down.
"What's wrong, Sammy?" Alex asked, coming over. "Aren't you psyched we arrested Lumiere?"
"Yeah!" Clover added. "Now we don't have to listen to anymore of his lame rhymes!"
"Or go through anymore of his insane death traps!" Sean interjected.
But he knew in his gut why she was upset. And the reason was making him upset as well.
"Yeah," Sam said. "I'm happy about that. But I missed my lunch date with a secret admirer."
"You have a secret admirer?!" Alex asked, astonished. "Sam, you can't keep something like that a secret!"
Actually, Sean thought miserably. She has two.
Sam's Compowder rang again before Alex could ask anymore.
She answered it.
"What does it say, Sam?" Clover asked.
"It says," Sam began. "'It's not too late for an early dinner. Still waiting in the caf, A.J.'"
"Come on then," Clover said, dragging Sam by the wrist. "Let's get back to school."
Sean sighed, knowing he wasn't going to like where this was going.
Beverly Hills High School-1:30 PM
In the cafeteria, there weren't as many students as expected, but still enough for Sam to single out her two potential secret admirers.
"Andrew James and Aaron Jennings?!" she exclaimed in surprise. "How do I know which one it is?!"
"Hopefully, it's neither of them," Sean said, though no one heard him.
"I guess you'll just have to ask," Clover said.
Nervously, Sam walked over to the table the two boys sat at.
"Hey, guys," she said awkwardly.
"Hey, Sam," they said in unison.
Sam blushed as she plucked up the courage to ask.
"So, which one of you is it?"
Both Andrew and Aaron looked confused.
"You know," Sam continued. "Which one of you is my secret admirer?"
"Sorry, Sam," Andrew consoled. "But I totally have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yeah, me neither," Aaron agreed.
Now it was Sam's turn to be confused.
"But wait. I don't get it. You're both . It has to be one of you!"
Aaron just shrugged.
"Sorry, Sam," he apologized. "The only girl I admire is Mandy and that's not really a secret."
Sam was surprised.
"Same here," Andrew concurred. "Speaking of which, do you know if she has a date for the Winter Formal?"
Off to the side, Alex, Clover and especially Sean were shocked.
What could any guy possibly see in Mandy?! he thought. I'm not even attracted to her!
Sam groaned in defeat as another student came up behind her: Arnold.
Clearing his throat, he tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh," she said, acknowledging him at last. "Hi, Arnold."
"Don't you mean 'Hi, Secret Admirer?'" Arnold asked.
Sam was in disbelief along with the others.
"You mean you're A.J?!"
"Arnold Jackson!" he clarified. "That's me!"
He grabbed Sam's arm and lead her through the cafeteria.
"So, hope you brought your appetite."
"Uh, yeah. I'm, uh, starved," Sam replied, embarrassed as Alex and Clover watched the scene with utter astonishment and Sean with relief.
Why was I even concerned? he thought
Far away from Beverly Hills High, Marco Lumiere was ushered through the long row of clear prison cells, one of which would be his home for a long, long time. He was flanked by two guards.
"Did you hear how this guy was caught?" one guard asked the other.
"Yeah," the other guard said. "He was brought down by those kids from Beverly Hills. That's gotta be embarrassing for a guy like this."
"Yeah, but it's not too surprising; I heard Sean Warren is on that team."
The second guard looked awestruck.
"Warren?" he asked. "As in-"
The first guard nodded in confirmation.
"Wow! I can't believe it! I mean, I'd heard stories, but I never thought-"
"It was only a matter of time before Jerry made him a field agent. After all, it's in his blood."
The second guard looked at his companion with wonder.
"Do you think he'll be just as good as-"
"No," the first guard countered. "I think he's even better than her."
Had the two guards known whose cell they were passing, they would have dropped the subject altogether. For in that cell resided one of W.O.O.H.P's most notorious criminals and one of their most dangerous.
The man inside lifted his head up when heard that name.
Warren.
It was a name he hadn't heard in a long time. When he worked at W.O.O.H.P, he had been... well acquainted with an agent who had that same last name. And she had been the one to ultimately bring him down. And to hear that this agent, this boy had her last name truly piqued his curiosity.
Not only that, he had met him and his three girlfriends only once before. He thought the boy had a passing resemblance to her, but dismissed it as mere coincidence. But now, hearing this, if this boy was who he thought he was, then...
The man smiled a cruel smirk before pulling out a photograph that he had kept for the past fifteen years or so.
I think he's even better than her, he remembered that guard saying.
If that was true, then combined with who Sean Warren really was, this was the opportunity the man had been waiting for. But first things first. He had to determine whether his theory was true and he couldn't do it within the walls of the W.O.O.H.P prison.
It would take weeks, if not months for him to break out and begin his plan.
But Tim Scam was nothing if not patient.
Well, that's it for the Season 2 premiere! I hope you enjoyed both the canon parts and my little taste of what's to come. Wish me luck on the rest of the season!