Hi! So, last chapter was a bit of a shocker, to say the least. This one is a bit of a breather for the most part... at least until the very end. If you want to read the last section of this chapter with a dry eye, you'd better have tissues handy.
Read and review!
Chapter Fifty-Three
Zooney World
Beverly Hills-7:43 PM
All was quiet on this mid-spring evening in this Beverly Hills neighborhood. In one house in particular, a boy named Jimmy Hale ran into his room, beaming with excitement as he put on an odd, sleek futuristic helmet that really more resembled a cross between a headband and a crown.
Elated, he turned on his T.V as he plopped down on his bed.
"Get ready, kids!" a male announcer's voice called out from the T.V speakers. "Cause it's time to get Zooney!"
"Zooney!" Jimmy repeated happily.
Outside his room, Jimmy's mother carried a tray that held a miniature pizza, a small baguette and a cup of apple juice.
"Jimmy?" she called into his room, opening the door. "Are you hungry? I got some snacks."
But as she opened the door, it became apparent that her child was nowhere in view.
"Jimmy? Jimmy?!" she asked again. By now, it was clear to her that something was very wrong as her hands loosened their grip on the tray in shock, dropping it to the floor.
Clover's Mansion-9:15 AM
"We now return," the T.V announcer declared as Sam, Clover and Alex huddled together on the couch, their faces leaning forward and their teary eyes glued to the screen. "To our program, Beautiful People, Miserable Lives."
"Oh, Blair," a young, bare-chested man said ruefully on the screen to a young, beautiful blonde woman dramatically. "I don't know how to tell you this, but the diagnosis has been confirmed! I have... dandruff!"
The girls could barely hold their tears back even as the woman on the screen began to speak reassuringly.
"Oh, Clay," the woman said, throwing her arms around the man. "Be strong! It's not like it used to be. They have special shampoos now!"
All at once, the girls' favorite daytime drama was interrupted by the screen suddenly cutting off.
"Hey!" Sam complained and the girls turned to their right. At the entrance to the living room was a blond, eleven-year old boy, tossing the remote up and down in his hands.
"Normie!" Clover shrieked at her obnoxious younger cousin. "What are you doing?! That's our favorite show!"
"Like I care," Normie said disrespectfully. "Besides, it's time to get Zooney!"
He waved his arms in the air for emphasis.
"I thought you were with Sean!" Clover exclaimed.
On cue, Sean burst into the room, looking exhausted.
"Sorry," he panted to his friends. "He...runs... fast... for... a short... kid."
"SEAN!" Clover bellowed, dashing up to her future stepbrother. "You were supposed to take Normie to the arcade!"
"I tried!" Sean defended. "But he got away from me! Plus, you should see the bruise he left on my shin!"
For emphasis, he pulled up the left leg of his jeans, showing a dark purple spot on his shin from where Normie had kicked him earlier, demanding to be taken back home in time for his favorite show.
Clover growled, before turning on her cousin.
"And you!" she said. "You're gonna get a lot more than Zooney if you don't give me back that remote right now!"
"Nuh-uh!" Normie fired back. "My mom told your mom that as long as I'm staying here, you had to be nice to me!"
And then he stuck out his tongue in an insulting manner.
Clover's face went red with rage. "Okay, that does it, you little creep!"
"Now, Clover," Sean tried to step in. "Go easy on him, he's just a kid, you know."
But Clover was too angry to listen and began to chase her cousin around the room. Sighing, Sean watched the situation unfold as he sat next to Sam on the couch. Due to his parents being out of state on their second honeymoon, Normie's mother had contacted her sister, Stella to watch him for about three weeks. It had only been three days since he got there and he was driving Clover up the walls.
Considering his own family troubles with his cousin Michelle, Sean couldn't say he blamed Clover for her reaction and it was even more understandable, given what an unholy terror Normie could be.
Family troubles, he thought, thinking back to that awful conversation he had with Tim Scam earlier that week. The one where he learned the truth about his mother... and his father. As much as he wanted to convince himself that Tim Scam was lying about it, he couldn't help but notice a type of sincerity in the man's voice. Granted, it was masked behind Scam's lack of concern for human life and playful sadism, but Sean could see nothing that indicated a lie in the man's claims.
He had kept what he learned to himself so far, but he lived in fear of his friends and especially Sam, finding out.
I'd lose her, he thought miserably, looking over at the girl to his right. Since his father had tried to kill Sam two times, Sean didn't want to think about how Sam would react to the news.
And then there was Jerry, whom Scam claimed to have known the truth about them, but kept it hidden from Sean deliberately. Sean had considered talking to Jerry about it, but he could never pluck up the courage to even go into Jerry's office unless it was W.O.O.H.P-related.
For now, Sean had mostly kept himself distracted by spending time with the girls, doing his usual routine with them. Well, he had to deviate from it just this once to babysit Clover's cousin, who had been less than enthusiastic about going to the arcade and made that... painfully clear when the younger boy's foot had connected with his shin.
Thinking of that incident brought Sean back to reality as Clover continued her pursuit of Normie, like a cat chasing a mouse. A really annoying mouse.
"Aunt Stella!" Normie cried. "Aunt Stella! Clover's trying to pummel me!"
As soon as Clover caught up to Normie and gripped him by the wrist, the sound of high heels clicking across the floor stopped her from doing anything else.
"Clover!" Stella reprimanded. "You let Normie go!"
"What?!" Clover asked, astonished that her mother would take Normie's side. Normie wrenched out of his cousin's grip and walked over to Stella, his voice full of fake tears.
"She hates me!" he wailed, wrapping his arms around his aunt's midsection. "I'm scared, Aunt Stella!"
As Stella patted Normie's head reassuringly, she shot a glare at Clover.
"Look what you've done! If you don't start being nice to Normie this instant, I'm gonna have to punish you."
"Punish?!" Clover yelled, outraged. "Like, hello! If anyone should be punished around here, it's him!"
Normie stuck out his tongue again, though Stella didn't see it.
"Oops," Sam whispered.
"Wrong thing to say," Sean added.
"Yup," Alex agreed. "She's done for."
"Clover," Stella said firmly. "Go do your homework."
"Already did it," Clover revealed.
"Then... go do the dishes!"
"Finito."
Stella's tone became more dangerous. "Laundry, then."
"Washed, fluffed, folded," Clover boasted, holding up three fingers, checking them off.
"Maybe you should ground her," Normie suggested.
Clover gasped in disbelief. "Ground me? Give me a break!"
"Oh, I'll give you a break!" Stella declared angrily. "A very long break because you are officially grounded!"
"Mom!" Clover tried to protest, but her mother was having none of it.
"You are forbidden to leave this house for three days other than for school! And I don't want to hear another word about it!"
Clover squealed in fear, suddenly imagining herself in a prison cell as her mother angrily marched up the stairs and Normie stood in front of her, smirking in triumph.
He let out a nasty chuckle as he turned on the T.V and his show came on. Dejected, Clover sat down between Alex and Sam.
"I can't believe I'm grounded," Clover complained. "Talk about major embarrassment! I haven't been grounded since I was, like, twelve!"
"Be lucky you only got three days," Sean tried to reassure her, remembering the time he was almost grounded for a week thanks to a... misunderstanding between him and his mother concerning Sam in his room while he was nearly naked. Jerry had thankfully erased her memory of that event, but it was probably the most embarrassing moment of Sean's life.
While Normie's back was turned, the couch flipped over and dumped the spies down a trap door and into the familiar metallic chute.
"I can't get WOOHPed!" Clover shouted to be heard over her friends' screams. "I'm supposed to be grounded!"
It did no good, for a few minutes later, they were deposited on the fuchsia cushion in front of Jerry's desk.
"Hello, spies," Jerry greeted. "Glad you could come."
"Well, actually, Jer," Clover tried to say. "I'm supposed to be-"
"There have been a rash of child disappearances throughout the city," Jerry interrupted. "And we need your help to decipher how it's happening and who's behind it."
To demonstrate his point, Jerry brought up images of dozens of children that had apparently gone missing.
"Okay," Sean said, processing the information. "Any leads so far?"
"Our only clue is that during each disappearance, a pirated transmission was detected using the broadcast frequencies of the Family Fun Network, which is run by media mogul Lewis Hightower."
An image of a middle-aged man with a blond combover appeared on the screen.
"I've read about him!" Sam declared in realization. "He's never been one to turn down an opportunity to have his picture on a magazine cover!"
"So, I guess we start with talking with him." Sean added. "Looks like a little undercover work is in order."
A hatch opened up from behind Jerry's desk, displaying four mannequins modeling domes on their heads with oxygen tanks attached to tubes from the back.
"I believe you're familiar with the U.P.W.A.T.I and Ice Queen Perfume spray," Jerry said as another hatch opened on his desk and a star shaped bottle of perfume rose out next to a ring.
"Wow!" Alex exclaimed, putting the ring on. "Is this a mood ring?! How retro!"
"Not exactly, Alex," Jerry clarified. "Point the ring away from you and press the bottom of it."
Alex did so. In a split second, a flickering image of her materialized before everyone's eyes, striking a pose.
"Hey, it's me!" Alex said happily.
"Or, more exactly," Jerry explained. "A hologram of you or whoever the ring records."
"Snazzy!"
Alex turned the ring off as Sean gathered their gadgets.
"Good luck, spies," Jerry said, pressing a button on a remote that sent them down another trap door.
Downtown Los Angeles-11:03 AM
The Family Fun Network's main building wasn't all that different from any other office building in L.A. It was tall, of course, presumably to reflect the owner's ego.
The four spies approached Lewis Hightower's desk, which stood in an office surrounded by tall windows on each side. Hightower himself was seated behind his desk, reviewing what Sean assumed were the ratings of his network.
"Mr. Hightower?" Sam asked as they approached. "We're from Teen Scene magazine. I'm Sam and this is Clover, Sean and Alex. Thanks so much for taking the time to meet with us."
Hightower placed a stack of papers inside a folder and rose from his seat.
"You're certainly welcome," he said. "Always have time for an interview. You did say it would be a cover shot, didn't you?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Clover confirmed.
"As a matter of fact," Sam interjected. "For the photo, why don't you sit behind your desk and maybe hold up some papers?"
As Alex began to take pictures with the camera secured around her neck, Sam pushed the folder Hightower was handling toward him.
"You know," Sam continued. "Like you're working? You look more execu-cool."
"Execu-cool!" Hightower said, amused. "I like that!"
He took the folder from Sam and sat back down, crossing his legs on his desk.
"Remember to use the special indoor lens, Alex," Sean said to her, winking.
Alex didn't seem to get the memo at first but then caught on.
"Oh, of course," Alex replied, chuckling nervously. "What was I thinking?"
"Just keep flipping through the papers, Mr. Hightower," Clover said. "It'll seem more natural that way."
As Hightower held up the folder, Alex aimed her camera carefully at it. Pressing a hidden button on the side, she took a picture... of the inside of the folder. Through the paper, Alex could see printouts of some kind of satellite receiver.
"I think we've got all we need, sir," Sam said after a while, giving Alex the signal to stop taking pictures. "Thank you very much."
"My pleasure, young lady," Hightower replied. "Now, I suppose you're here to ask me about Zooney World."
"Zooney what?" Sean asked, bewildered.
"Zooney World," Clover reminded. "That's the stupid show my cousin watches."
Withering glares from each of her teammates reminded her to backpedal in front of present company.
"I mean 'stupendous' show!" she corrected herself.
"Not just your cousin," Hightower informed. "Kids everywhere think it's Zoon-tastic!"
To demonstrate, he turned on the screen behind his desk, displaying footage of the show. All across the screen flashed images of cheering kids wearing some of the oddest-looking helmets Sean had ever seen and cheering.
"And they're really Zoon-ing in on this," Hightower continued as he turned the screen off and pulled out a replica of the same kind of helmet from his desk drawer. "The new Zooney Helmet. They're flying off the shelves."
Don't see why, Sean thought. If I were a kid again, you couldn't pay me to buy one of those.
Suddenly, the doors to the office swung open as a young boy, perhaps no older than ten, barged in. He was dressed in a blue shirt with brown pants, along with red hair, blue eyes, and dozens of freckles on each of his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hightower," the receptionist said as she stood in the doorway. "I couldn't stop him."
"Dad!" the boy exclaimed, running up to his father's desk. "You said we were gonna go to lunch together today?"
But Hightower's face hardened at his son's words.
"Jason," he said sternly. A little too sternly, Sean noted. "Never interrupt me when I'm in the middle of an important interview! Now, run along and if I have time, maybe we can have lunch next week."
For emphasis, he pointed behind Jason to the doorway. "I'll have my assistant call you."
Jason's eyes welled up with tears and then his mouth contorted downward into an angry scowl directed at his father. Finally, he ran out of the room, his sobs still audible when he was on the other side of the door.
Sean's heart panged with sympathy for the boy, knowing what it was like to be disappointed by a father. Or father figure, in Sean's case, if Scam turned out to be telling the truth about Jerry lying about their relationship.
It was strange. Even though his father had never been around for most of his childhood, Sean had come to think of Jerry as sort of a substitute dad. Really, he was the only paternal figure in his life. So much so that one year, when Sean felt left out from Beverly Hills' annual Father's Day Picnic and his mother was busy working a double shift at the hospital, Jerry filled in.
Sean had been touched by the gesture. More than touched, really. It was first time he felt like he had a dad. And even though Jerry had made mistakes during his time at W.O.O.H.P, Sean was proud to consider him the closest thing he had to a father.
Which was why he struggled to reconcile Jerry's kind, patient demeanor during his training and early years as a spy with a man who lied to him about his real father for four years.
"This guy makes my mother seem like a sweetheart," Clover said as the spies stepped onto the elevator.
"Ew!" Alex cringed. "After meeting him, I feel like I want to take a shower!"
"Try a car wash," Sean said. "Without the car."
"Did you see the way he talked to his kid?" Sam asked her teammates.
"Yeah," Clover answered. "Which reminds me, we've gotta speed this mission up before my mom finds out I'm gone and goes Medusa on me!"
"Sure thing, Clover," Sean said. "Right after we print out the x-ray shots Alex took of those papers. I have a feeling they'll give us some important clues."
Pacific Ocean-9:14 PM
The spies' boat sped along the open, still water under the starry sky.
"According to these documents," Sam announced. "The Family Fun channel's satellite dish is on this island."
"Maybe we can find out something about the pirated broadcast transmissions Jerry mentioned," Alex hypothesized as their boat landed on the shore.
"And maybe find out why those kids disappeared," Sean added as he hopped out.
When the girls followed, they searched around the island for any sign of the satellite dish. They found it alright... at the top of a cliff near where they landed.
The climb up was long and arduous, but soon enough, they reached the top of the cliff and the dish.
"Next time," an out of breath Clover panted. "Let's take the escalator.
As the four began to approach the dish, Sean felt a shocking sensation course through his body, bringing him to his knees. Apparently, the girls felt the same as they were soon on the ground in the same position.
"Whoa!" Alex gasped. "That was totally uncalled for!"
"You're telling me!" Clover wailed in agreement. "I broke a nail!"
"What was that, anyway?" Sean asked.
"Obviously," Sam explained. "There's some kind of high-tech inviso shield around this satellite dish. Somebody doesn't want us messing around here."
"So what do we do?" Alex asked.
"Find a way to lower the shield, I guess," Sean answered.
But that wasn't necessary. When Sean extended his hand to feel the shield, it only fell through air.
Just a few feet away from them, the dish turned in their direction.
"Dive!" Sam exclaimed.
Out of the receiver came a series of sonic waves that were being sent to somewhere in space.
"This must be the pirate transmission," Sean said, pulling out his wallet phone. "I'll try to track the origin of the signal with my wallet."
He pressed a button that would capture the signal and triangulate its origin point just in time for the dish to stop sending the transmission.
"Where'd that nasty shield go?" Clover wondered when Sean shut his wallet phone.
All at once, out from behind the dish, emerged dozens of short figures advancing on them, growling menacingly. The only detail about them Sean could make it was that they were very short, but the darkness obscured every other feature.
"Does that answer your question?" Alex said nervously.
The figures jumped at the spies and Clover maneuvered carefully to avoid their blows, as did Sean, Sam and Alex.
At least three charged at Sean before he sent them flying backwards with a roundhouse kick. Nearby, Clover continued her evasive maneuvers when her Compowder rang out. Nervously, she answered it, turning on the voice only option.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Clover, where are you?" Stella's voice asked sternly. "I told you not to leave the house!"
"Um," Clover fumbled as she dodged another blow. "I couldn't help it, Mom. I had a rehearsal for the school musical, Kung Fu Chorus Line!"
"Yes," Stella said in a tone that Clover knew meant she didn't believe her daughter. "From the sound of it, you're having quite the party. But I think it's time you made your curtain call."
"I'm kind of busy right now! It's the big fight scene!"
"You'd better get home this instant!" her mother threatened. "Or you're grounded for life!"
And she hung up.
"What a cast-iron tyrant!" Clover complained. "No wonder Dad left her!"
"Clover!" Sean called as he threw another assailant back. "When you're finished complaining, would you mind helping us out?!"
Nodding, Clover reached behind her and grabbed another figure approaching her from behind. Lifting them over her head, she threw them into the crowd and took dozens of them off of Sam and Sean.
"That'll teach you to get me more grounded!" she shouted.
In no time, more and more of the figures advanced on the four, backing them to the edge of the cliff. As Clover began to lose her balance, the ledge the spies stood on began to crumble and it wasn't long before it gave way and sent them tumbling down into the sea below.
Surfacing, the spies climbed back onto their boat.
"Luckily," Sean informed the girls. "I captured a sample of the pirate signal on my wallet phone to send to W.O.O.H.P for analysis." With the press of a button, he send the audio file to Jerry.
"Maybe we should get out of here," Alex suggested. "Before those munchkin freaks with the hard hats come looking for us."
"I'd almost rather fight with them than go home and face my mother," Clover said.
Clover sat at her bed, reading her favorite manga. Since she was forbidden from doing much of anything else, including talking on the phone, she was happy that this was still permissible.
Not that it stopped her from groaning her current predicament.
Rolling over on her back, she looked at the door to her balcony.
"Psst!" Alex whispered.
"So can you sneak out yet?" Sam asked just as quietly.
But the sound of the door opening kept Clover from answering and Sean, Sam and Alex had to duck behind the walls of the house to avoid being seen.
"I thought I heard voices," Stella said suspiciously. "You weren't on the phone, were you, Clover?"
"How could I be?" Clover asked rhetorically. "When you took it out of the room?!"
If Clover wasn't in a bad mood before, Normie storming in with his brand new Zooney Helmet really sent her over the edge.
"I've got a Zooney Helmet!" he taunted in a sing-song voice. "I've got a Zooney Helmet! And you don't!"
He stuck out his tongue at his older cousin.
"You should put that tongue back in your mouth," Clover said, still sore at him for getting her grounded. "It might attract flies."
He ignored her and ran out of the room.
As Clover began to fume again, her friends stuck their heads back inside the room.
"I think you guys are gonna have to bust this case without me," she told them. "I can't believe I'm stuck here!"
Sean's wallet phone rang, prompting him to take it out of his pocket.
"Yeah, Jerry?" he greeted.
"Hello, spies," Jerry responded. "We've traced the frequency sample you gave us and oddly, it's coming from the same island the satellite dish is on."
"There must be some kind of underground broadcasting station on the island," Sam guessed.
"We're also detecting a pirate transmission that's taking place right now," Jerry informed. "I think you four have some more investigating to do on that island."
"Sorry, Jerry," Sean consoled. "But it's gonna have to be just three. Unless Stella the Strict lets up the grounding, it looks like Clover's stuck here."
"Way to remind me, Sean," Clover said dryly.
But before the two could begin another of their arguments, the sound of footsteps rushing out of the house rendered everyone silent.
"Hey!" Clover exclaimed. "That's Normie!"
She ran over to her balcony railing to witness her cousin run clear across the yard and exit through the bushes.
"Normie! Where are you going?!"
He didn't appear to hear her and instead just kept running down the sidewalk.
"Okay, as nice as it is to see him with his mouth shut, something's wrong. I'm coming with."
"How are you gonna do that?" Alex asked.
Sean looked at Alex's hand, or rather, the ring that was on it.
"I think I have an idea," he said.
Once Clover was in her spy uniform, she placed the ring on top of her Computer monitor and left her Compowder on the desk. After a little programming by Sam and Sean, the ring would activate whenever her door was opened, giving her mother the impression that she was doing her homework. To help sell it further, Clover left a prerecorded message that would only play in response to Stella's voice.
She could only hope her mother wouldn't look too closely. Or try to touch the hologram, for that matter.
Downtown L.A.-8:52 AM
The spies' helicopter hovered hundreds of feet above the city streets while Clover looked through the binoculars, scanning the landscape below for any sign of her cousin.
"Spot anything, Clover?" Sam asked.
"Not yet," Clover replied, taking the binoculars away from her face. "Too bad I didn't tag Normie's ear with a tracking device when I had the chance."
"Well, keep looking," Sean encouraged. "He couldn't have gotten very far."
A little further into the city, Clover spotted him among a small group of children wearing the same type of helmet as him.
"Got him!" she announced. "Normie's down there with a group of kids. And they're all wearing those Zooney Helmets."
"That's Zoon-creepular!" Alex shuddered as Sean opened his wallet phone.
"I'll say," he informed the girls as he looked at the screen. "Those helmets are receiving a signal that matches the signal of pirate transmission!"
Clover tilted her binoculars when she noticed the direction that Normie and the others took.
"They're headed for the pier," Clover informed.
"Better put the chopper down, Alex," Sam instructed her friend.
When the helicopter landed, Sean and the girls took cover behind a cluster of bushes as they observed Normie and the other kids run across the pier and hop into a speedboat.
"Okay, this is too freaky!" Clover exclaimed. "It's like Normie and the other kids are hypnotized or something!"
"We gotta stop them!" Alex said.
"Wait!" Sam interrupted before either of them could charge out of the bushes. "If we stop them now, we could lose our chance to find out who's behind this."
"Sam's right," Sean concurred. "I say we follow them to wherever they're going."
After only about fifteen seconds of waiting, the speedboat took off, carrying Normie and the other children to parts unknown.
"We'll be noticed if we use the chopper," Sam said as soon as it was out of sight. "Let's break out the U.P.W.A.T.I's."
"Up-whatty?" Alex asked.
"Don't even start with that!" Clover snapped.
As the boat zoomed across the water to the same island that the spies visited the night before, the teens themselves propelled themselves under the water's surface, following the craft from a safe distance but not so far away that they would lose it.
Surfacing, the spies watched as the boat headed for the face of a cliff... which opened like a door, letting it in.
"Hurry!" Sean said as he propelled himself forward. "Or well be locked out!"
"Locked out?!" Alex asked incredulously. "We'll be anchovy paste!"
The spies maneuvered themselves under the water and through the gaps of the door just as it closed.
When the four surfaced again, Clover looked back at the wall that had once been a gaping doorway.
"I've heard of close shaves," she commented to the others. "But that was more like a full body wax."
Zooney World-2:15 PM
After discarding their U.P.W.A.T.I's, the spies journeyed out of the cave that was their entry point until they reached an alcove. Makin sure they weren't seen, they observed what was constructed below. And they could hardly believe what was flashing before their eyes.
All across the cave floor looked like a small city. And by small, it was practically tiny. The buildings where only half the height of Sean's house. Each building had at least one screen plastered on the side, all of them about the size of a jumbotron. What was even more bizarre were the city's inhabitants. To Sean's surprise, none of them were any older than eleven. And all wore the same type of helmet that Sean had seen on Clover's cousin Normie.
"Okay," Clover said, observing the scene below. "This is totally unexpected."
"Hey," Alex realized. "That's why those people who attacked us at the satellite dish were so short. They were kids!"
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Kids with seriously bad attitudes."
"What's really worrying me," Sean broke in. "Is the way they're acting right now. I mean, look at them!"
Every child down below was marching in perfect sync, much like German soldiers that Sean had seen in a World War II documentary. And they all had expressions to match. Come to think of it, Sean realized, the only thing missing was a power-mad dictator.
"Welcome to Zooney World!" a boy's voice echoed throughout the chamber. The spies turned around to look at the screen behind them and saw that its entire center was dominated by the face of a young boy, his face partially obscured by the visor of his helmet.
"A place where kids rule," the boy continued. "And always will!"
"I thought this was looking like a George Orwell book," Sam whispered to Sean. "It even has its own Big Brother."
"I think you mean 'Little Brother,'" Sean corrected jokingly.
"Zooney World is a brave new world!" the boy ranted as every screen across the cave lit up with his face. "And I am your brave new leader! Remember, everyone over the age of twelve is your enemy! Train hard and prepare for the coming war against the adults!"
"Zooney rules!" the kids below chanted repeatedly as they saluted their leader.
"War against the adults?!" Alex asked.
"Okay, I don't like the sound of that," Sean said. "We've got to get to the satellite dish and stop this kid's signal from being broadcast!"
The spies leapt down from their perch and, sticking to the shadows, sprinted through the cave. As they ducked behind a wall, Clover spotted a familiar face amidst a group of kids.
"Look!" she gasped. "There's Normie!"
Against her better instincts, she ran over and plucked him out of the platoon he was marching in.
"Normie!" Clover said pleadingly. "Come on! Snap out of it! Be your usual, obnoxious self!"
Normie didn't appear to recognize Clover or even register she was there at first. But then his eyes focused directly on her and he opened his mouth as wide as possible. And considering the shouting he'd committed against Sean the day before, that was saying something.
"ADULTS!" he screamed. "ZOONEY!"
Sean moved to clamp his hand over the young boy's mouth, but it was too late. By now, a shrill alarm was ringing in all directions.
"Adult alert!" Zooney, as the hypnotized kids' leader was apparently called, announced through the speakers attached to the screens. "Adult alert! Eliminate them!"
Hundreds, perhaps more, footsteps began to cascade in their direction.
"Let's see," Sam said analytically. "Four of us, a thousand of them."
"Any way you look at it," Sean told her. "It still adds up to one thing."
"RUN!" Alex yelled. And the spies took off from behind their position, rushing through a plaza and leaping over the kids' heads.
They were just about to duck inside a small building when they heard Clover shriek with terror behind them. A tank had fired its cannon at her and she was now glued to the wall with an unnamed, sticky, sweet-smelling substance. The other three had no time to come to her rescue before the same tank fired upon them, and Sean, Sam and Alex found themselves in the same predicament as Clover.
"Mm," Alex said happily as she licked some of it off her cheek. "Taffy. Pretty good too."
Sean tried to break out of his bonds, but for taffy it felt more like cement. He could only sigh in defeat as hundreds or more hypnotized kids began to advance on him and his friends.
Stella opened the door to her daughter's bedroom to see Clover at the alcove above her bed which held her computer. She was doing, Stella assumed, her homework and not sending an e-mail as that was one of the things she had forbidden Clover from doing during her grounding.
As much as she deemed this necessary, Stella did not enjoy punishing Clover, no matter what she thought.
"Clover," she said, trying to sound as gently as possible. "I just want you to know that this is all for your own good. One day, you'll thank me."
"You're right, Mom," Clover's voice said in her usual bored tone. "This is exactly what I deserve. Thank you for a just and appropriate punishment."
"Well," Stella replied, a little confused. "Alright then. I'll check in on you later, dear."
She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Had Stella stuck around three seconds longer, she would have noticed Clover's image glitching out.
The real Clover, in the meantime, wasn't faring any better than she'd hoped she would. After being subdued by the army of brainwashed children, she, along with Sam, Alex and Sean were tied to four separate metal poles in the center of the miniature city. In front of each of these poles was a squad of kids, each holding a fire hose.
"You adults are gonna find out just how strong we can be!" Zooney called out over the loudspeakers as each team held the nozzles of their hoses at the ready.
"Adults?!" Clover asked, bewildered. "Hello! Teenagers here!"
"It's okay," Alex said nervously. "Honest mistake! Now, if you'll just untie us..."
"Not a chance!" Zooney refused. "The first team to get one of them to explode gets all the candy they can eat!"
"Zooney!" the kids all said enthusiastically.
"Explode?!" Clover asked in horror.
"I don't think I'm gonna like this," Sam said.
"Wait a minute," Sean said. "Let's not overreact. They're kids! What's the worst they can do?!"
Sean's answer came on the form of a stabbing torrent of water from the nozzle in front of him that collided directly with his face.
"We're gonna drown!" Clover gurgled from his left.
"Maybe not!" Alex said, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out her Ice Queen Perfume bottle and aiming it at the ropes that bound her wrists. With just one long spray, the nylon of the ropes turned to ice and became as brittle as glass.
As the stunned children tried to wrap their heads around Alex's actions, she repeated the process that freed her with her fellow spies.
"Nice work, Alex!" Sean congratulated as soon as all four of them were no longer secured to the poles.
"Thanks, Sean," Alex returned as Zooney's face on the screen above them hardened.
"Attack!" he bellowed.
The kids charged at the spies, who each took a combat stance. As Clover grappled with two of them, Sean and Sam evaded rockets fired from a nearby tank before two more began tailing them.
Nearby, Alex ducked out of the way of a kick from one boy and then another and three more after that.
"Wow!" she commented, impressed. "It's like a blender with feet!"
She took out the Ice Queen Perfume and was about to spray it before the boy kicked it out of her hand and into the air. The resulting mist rained down on the boy's head, more specifically, his helmet.
The headwear shattered and his gaze softened all at once.
"Where am I?" he asked, confused. "Who are you?"
Alex looked back at her friends knowingly. Sam caught the look and issued an instruction to Sean and Clover.
"Use the Ice Queen spray on the helmets!" she exclaimed.
Sean nodded along with Clover. The two pulled out their own bottles of the spray, rapidly spraying every helmet in sight. One by one, every child in that cave went from homicidal to bewildered and in some cases, scared.
"Normie!" Clover exclaimed, remembering her cousin. That was when he jumped down, his foot extended forward to attack her.
"ZOONEY!" he cried out. Clover jumped back and avoided his blow just in time. When he tried to charge at her, she simply grabbed him by the collar and ripped the helmet off of his head.
"Normie?" she asked in concern. "Normie!"
It took about a minute for Normie to regain his senses and his focus, though for a few seconds, Clover almost wished he wouldn't.
"Clover?!" he asked angrily, recognizing her. "You're gonna be so busted after I tell your mom you left the house!"
She just smiled and hugged him lightly, oddly finding herself not caring at the moment.
As soon as the last of the brainwashed kids were liberated, the spies ushered them safely inside a building while they finished the mission.
"Well," Clover said to the others as they exited the building and onto the plaza. "Normie's back to normal. As if that's anything to celebrate."
"We still need to stop that satellite transmission," Sam reminded her.
"And we'd better do it soon before more of those kids come to this island and tear us all to pieces!" Sean added. "Alex, Clover, you go up and see if you can take out that satellite dish. Sam and I are gonna find this mysterious Zooney."
"Great," Alex moaned. "More climbing!"
After briefly wishing their friends luck, Sean and Sam ran off into the distance. As they rounded a corner, they heard Zooney's voice laughing over the intercom.
Before they could even take a look around, the trap door opened up beneath them, sending them down a slide that took them to a lower level. Some kind of control room, if Sean had to guess judging by the equipment all around them.
"You think you can beat me," Zooney's voice taunted them as the boy himself showed up on a screen off to the right. "But you can't! You and your friends will soon be destroyed!"
"Stop hiding, you coward!" Sam exclaimed as she and Sean stood up.
The boy just laughed again. But this time, Sean didn't just hear it from the screen. Though it was very faint, he could have sworn it was coming from somewhere in the room. If this was a control room, this had to be where he was broadcasting himself.
As he felt along the wall, he came across a section that felt thinner than the others. Taking a closer look, he could see it was made of tinted glass. Tapping it with his knuckle, he listened to the hollow thud that indicated there was something behind it.
"Bingo!" he said, gesturing for Sam to spray the wall with the Ice Queen Perfume. When the glass became brittle enough, Sean kicked it. The glass wall crumbled to the floor, revealing an eleven year-old boy in a modified version of the Zooney Helmet that hid his eyes and a cape clasped to his shirt with a brooch with the letter "Z" on it. He sat at a large tech array and turned around in shock when he saw the two spies.
"I had a feeling you'd be in there," Sean said. "Roaches like to hide in the dark."
Sam leapt into the air, balling her fist and aiming at the younger boy. Zooney, however, just ducked out of the way and hid behind a table only to come face to face with Sean who jumped down after flipping backwards into the room.
Zooney tried to run, but learned the hard way of the hazards of capes when Sam gripped the back of his and then let him go so he bounced across the room.
"Okay, Helmet Head!" Sam said as she placed each head on the side of the boy's temples. "Show your face!"
She lifted the helmet off of his head and all at once, Sean knew why Zooney sounded so familiar.
"Hey, I know you!" he exclaimed. "Aren't you the Family Fun channel executive's son?"
"Why should you care?!" Jason asked Sean bitterly.
"Look," Sam tried to reason. "You have every right to be angry at your father, Jason. But you can't take it out on every adult in the whole world!"
"Yes, I can," Jason snarled. "And I will!"
He rose to his feet, crossing over to a map of the world where there were dozens of lights on every continent.
"Soon, satellites placed in every country will allow me to beam my hypnotic signal across the globe! Won't my father be surprised with the ratings I generate when Zooney World is an actual world and not just a show?!"
"Man," Sean said. "Have you got a discipline problem."
Jason laughed as he reached into a compartment and pulled out what looked like a toy gun. But by this point, Sean knew better than to make any assumptions about this place.
"I'll show you what discipline really means!" Jason retorted as he pulled the trigger, sending out a red projectile that almost looked like a small ball, but both Sam and Sean could see at once that it was made of metal.
They each dodged a shot before Sean crouched behind a computer terminal while Sam clung to a screen suspended from the ceiling.
"Okay," Sean said under his breath. "I normally don't approve of spanking. But in his case..."
Fortunately for Sean, Jason was otherwise preoccupied. The bad news was, he was shooting at the screen Sam hid behind. The monitor shattered into pieces as Sam was sent colliding with the floor.
Sean knew he had to think fast. If Jason's gun to do that to a screen, he didn't want to think about what it would do to human skin at point-blank range. He jumped up to the ceiling and clung to a lighting fixture that was just above Jason, who was taking aim at Sam.
"Time for you to take a time out!" Sean said as he jumped down, taking Jason completely by surprise.
By the end of that fight, Jason was tied to his chair and looking very grumpy.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Let me go or I'll-"
"You'll what?" Sam asked mockingly, pushing the chair a few feet from her and Sean. "You'll tell your daddy on us?!"
"I don't think so!" Sean added as he and Sam high-fived each other.
Outside, on the top of the island, Alex and Clover finally managed to reach the satellite dish.
"About time!" Clover complained. "I was really getting sick of that thing!"
In no time at all, she and Alex got to work dismantling the dish. After loosening dozens of screws, the girls finally managed to lodge the dish free from its restraints on the ground and push it into the ocean below.
As the rescued kids were led out into the plaza by Sam and Sean, they found that dozens W.O.O.H.P agents had already secured it. On one side of the room, Sean saw Jerry along with Lewis Hightower.
"Excellent job once again, spies," Jerry congratulated the two.
"Thanks, Jerry," Sam returned before directing her attention to Hightower. "I think you owe someone a big apology."
Nodding in understanding, Hightower walked over to his son, who was sulking a few feet away.
"Jason," he said, kneeling down. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you. What do you say I make it all up to you by taking you to the amusement park?"
Jason's expression softened and he turned back to his father, a big smile on his face.
"I'll check my schedule and have my assistant call you," Jason said as he threw his arms around his father.
Sean allowed himself a grin at the heartwarming moment but it quickly faded. Although happy that Jason had made up with his father, he could still remember the harsh words Lewis Hightower had said to his own son back at his office. It was easy to see why Jason did all of this.
You have every right to be angry.
That was what Sam had said to Jason earlier. And now that he'd heard them, those words kept buzzing around in Sean's head like a mosquito. And he knew why. Jason had every right to be angry with his father.
Just as he had every right to be angry with Jerry for keeping the truth about his own father from him.
Sean's smile lowered itself until it became a frown and he shot a brief glare at Jerry, who didn't appear to notice.
"He's got his work cut out for him," Sam said, referring to Lewis Hightower.
"It would appear so," Jerry agreed before clearing his throat. "Don't worry, children! You'll all be back home safe and sound before you know it!"
On the other side of the crowd, Alex and Clover had found Normie, who had returned to his regular, bratty self almost immediately after he had reunited with his cousin.
"Take me home now, Clover!" he demanded. "I'm hungry! And I wanna tell on you!"
Clover rolled her eyes, almost regretting breaking Normie out of the spell of the helmets.
"Can I use your Compowder?" she asked Alex. "I left mine at home."
Alex complied, handing the small pink device to her. Then Clover picked up a helmet that hadn't been destroyed in all the commotion, placing it on Normie's head and opening the Compowder.
"What are you doing?" Alex questioned.
"Just connecting with the hypno-frequency Sean sent over to Jerry," she answered. "I'm sure it's still stored on the W.O.O.H.P databank."
When she finished tapping into the signal, she shut the Compowder and looked into Normie's eyes, which had gone completely blank.
"You are going to forget everything you've seen today," Clover instructed. "As far as you know, I've been happily locked in my room all day. Not only that..."
After she and her friends separated, Clover rushed back home faster than she had in her life. As soon as she entered her room, she quickly changed out of her spy uniform, turned off the hologram of her and silently prayed that her mother didn't catch on to her ruse.
It was only a few minutes later when Stella entered the room and Clover yawned in her bed, pretending to have just woken up from a nap.
"Well, Clover," Stella said congratulatorily. "I'm happy you managed to make it through the whole day without disobeying me once."
"It was no big deal, Mom," Clover said, secretly relieved that her mother didn't find out.
"Well," Stella chuckled. "Just to show you how impressed I am, I'm ending your grounding as of now."
"Alright!" Clover cheered.
"And not only that," Stella added. "I'm gonna let you take your cousin Normie to the park to play!"
Clover froze for a minute, thinking her next words over carefully. Before today, she would've cringed at the very thought of babysitting Normie. But after some... adjustments on her part, she suddenly found the idea more enjoyable.
"I can live with that," she replied.
Downtown Park L.A-3:40 PM
Clover, Sam and Alex laid back on the grass, content to just bask in the sun.
"Here you are, girls!" Normie's voice announced, making them catapult themselves up into a sitting position.
Normie stood over them, three cans of drinks clutched in his arms.
"Can I get you anything else?" he asked, more politely than Clover had ever heard him sound in all the time she knew him.
"No, Normie," Clover responded sweetly. "That's good for now. You can go play."
"Thank you, Clover. I love you!"
Normie smiled as he ran off, waving to the girls as he disappeared.
"I know you do," Clover said, though he couldn't hear her.
"So, how long are you gonna leave him like that?" Sam asked.
"Not too long," Clover promised. "Just until he's about fifteen or so."
"In the meantime," Alex brought up. "Do you think he could learn to give a good foot massage? All this spy work is hard on my pedicure and Sean's terrible at it!"
The girls laughed briefly before Clover spoke up.
"Where is Sean, anyway?" she wondered.
Sam shrugged. "He said he was busy with something else."
Sighing heavily, Sean forced himself down the hallways of W.O.O.H.P H.Q. He could hardly believe what he was about to do, but he knew if he didn't do it now, he might never have another chance to get answers.
Everything you've said is a lie! he remembered saying to Scam on that fateful day.
But Scam's harsh reply kept playing in his mind like a broken tape recorder.
You're confusing me with Jerry.
Whether the lie came from Scam or Jerry, Sean had to know. As he stood before the sliding doors of Jerry's office, he took a deep breath and willed himself to enter. As usual at this time of day, Jerry sat at his desk drinking tea from a navy blue teacup. As he swallowed the warm, comforting beverage, he looked up to see Sean standing in front of his desk and smiled in greeting.
"Ah, Sean!" Jerry said. "This is an unexpected surprise. But what are you doing here? I don't remember WOOHPing you."
"I let myself in," Sean said, trying to sound unemotional. "I was actually hoping I could talk to you about-"
"Your latest mission," Jerry assumed. "Of course! I must say, you performed splendidly! I knew assigning you to Sam, Clover and Alex's team was the wise decision! The three of you work so well together. Especially with Sam! I can see why you like her so-"
"That's not why I'm here, Jerry," Sean interrupted. "I'm actually here for something a little more... personal."
Jerry put the teacup back on his desk as the boy exhaled, trying to find the right words.
"What do you know about my mother?" he asked at last.
"Uh," Jerry uttered, a sound that Sean never knew to come out of him. "What's there to know? Your mother was born in San Francisco, moved here to pursue her life's dream, had you when she was only eighteen and is now a nurse at Cesar's Sinai Medical Center."
"That's all?" Sean asked, suspicious.
"I don't know why you're asking me things you should already know," Jerry said, taking another sip.
"Okay then. Why don't you tell me about my father... Tim Scam?"
Jerry spit out his tea in a fountain that almost sprayed Sean in the face. Then he looked at him in shock.
"How do you know about-"
"How I found out isn't important," Sean cut him off sharply, not wanting to talk about his visit with Scam. "What's important is what I'm about to ask you and I want the truth. Is Tim Scam my father?"
Jerry's face went eggshell white as he dropped the cup on the floor, shattering it. When his color returned, Jerry closed his eyes in shame and brought his head up slightly before bringing it back down.
"I'm afraid he is," he answered at last.
Sean may have already suspected Jerry of keeping this from him, but that didn't change the sudden weakness in his knees that returned with a vengeance after that trip to Scam's cell. Nor did it slow down his breathing, which had picked up speed again. But worst of all, hearing it confirmed that everything Scam had told him was a hundred percent accurate.
Jerry pressed a button on his desk and a couch appeared out of the floor in front of it, which Sean collapsed into.
"I can't lie to you anymore, Sean," Jerry said solemnly. "When I recruited you four years ago, I omitted the fact that you were not the first of your family to be a W.O.O.H.P spy. Many years before, I encountered a brave, compassionate and brilliant young woman who went on to become one of W.O.O.H.P's most legendary agents. Your mother."
An image appeared on the screen behind Jerry, showing a face that Sean knew all too well. It was the same face that had been there to guide him when he learned how to walk, the face that always gave him a grateful smile whenever he brought home his art projects when he was still in kindergarten, the face that had always reassured him whenever he was sad or woke up screaming from a nightmare.
But Rachel Warren certainly looked out of place in her orange W.O.O.H.P spy uniform. And his mother had always been so demure despite her fierce protectiveness of her son. He could imagine her with the bold confidence that she wore in her smile in the picture.
"Rachel was one of the fines agents I've ever trained," Jerry continued proudly before his smile dropped. "But not long after that, I recruited your father to work as a weapons technician. However, he wanted to be a field agent. When I decided he wasn't ready, he became determined to prove me wrong. But I didn't know how far he would go."
Jerry rose from the desk and walked over to Sean.
"Scam began a relationship with your mother during his third year at W.O.O.H.P. Things progressed... shall we say fast between them. A little too fast, but I found that out too late. Scam used your mother's feelings for him to trick her into handing over sensitive information. W.O.O.H.P barely survived what happened after that. The only reason Scam didn't succeed was because your mother came to me and told me everything. Scam was summarily fired but he escaped before we could arrest him."
Taking a seat beside Sean, Jerry placed his hands under his chin.
"Your mother retired not long after that because she wanted to forget her time with your father... and also because she was pregnant."
Jerry removed his left hand from his chin and placed it on Sean's shoulder.
"There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish I'd told you," Jerry finished.
"Then why didn't you?" Sean asked angrily, jumping off of the couch. "Why did you keep this from me for so long?!"
"Sean-" Jerry tried, but the young spy would not listen.
"Is this why you held me back from being a field agent?! Is that why you made me an instructor and promoted Tad of all people before me?! Is that why you were so quick to believe I robbed a bank in Phoenix?!"
"I was trying to protect you!" Jerry exclaimed desperately.
"Protect me from what?!" Sean shouted. "From ending up like my old man?! You never protected me, you were trying to control me!"
"Sean, please," Jerry said. "You have to listen-"
"Stop!" Sean spat. "Because of you, everything I thought I knew about myself turned out to be a lie! And I was stupid enough to believe you!"
With a growl, Sean stormed off, the door his destination.
"Sean, please," Jerry repeated. "You have to trust me!"
"TRUST YOU?!" Sean exploded. "You lied to me the whole time we've known each other! Why should I trust anything you say now?!"
And the doors closed behind him, preventing Jerry from seeing his tears.
"But Sean!" Jerry cried out too late. He was gone. And Jerry was alone as sauntered over to his desk, collapsing into the chair.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in vain, knowing no one could hear him.
Sean got home later that day, grateful his mother wasn't home to hear him slam both the front door and the door to his bedroom. Truthfully, he wasn't in much of a mood to explain anything to her by this point. She was just as guilty as Jerry.
Plopping down on his bed, he turned to the radio on his nightstand. Reaching over, he did what he always did when he was upset before he met Sam, Clover and Alex and turned to his favorite soft rock station.
As the gentle guitar music filled the room, he looked up at the ceiling, remembering Jerry but then trying to push the thought of the old man out of his head... and failing each time.
Jerry sighed sadly as the song came on through W.O.O.H.P's audio archive, the gentle echo of the guitar strings doing little to console him.
It's not time to make a change
Just relax, take it easy
You're still young, that's your fault
There's so much you have to know
He leaned back, remembering how Sean coldly brushed him off just hours before.
Find a girl, settle down
If you want, you can marry
Look at me
I am old, but I'm happy
Reaching into his desk, he pulled out something he, regretfully, hadn't looked at in some time. It was a framed photo of him and Sean on the last day of the latter's training. In the picture, Jerry had his hand on Sean's shoulder and the boy looked up at him with gratitude and admiration.
I was once like you are now
And I know that it's not easy
To be calm
When you've found something going on
Jerry closed his eyes, letting his tears fall on the image of Sean's smiling face.
But take your time, think a lot
Why, think of everything you've got
For you will still be here tomorrow
But your dreams may not
Slowly rising up from his bed, Sean pulled out his wallet phone, remembering the day he'd first received it from Jerry. How reluctant he had been to become a spy only to become so excited by the idea that it was now central to his life. And Jerry had been the first friend he'd had outside of his mother.
Or so he thought.
How can I try to explain?
When I do, he turns away again
It's always been the same
Same old story
Scowling, he angrily pulled open the drawer on his nightstand and stuffed the device inside.
From the moment I could talk
I was ordered to listen
Now there's a way
And I know that I have to go away
He collapsed back down onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow to muffle the sounds of his sobs.
I know, I have to go
Flashback
A thirteen year old Sean held up the flyer for the event that he had always wanted to attend.
"'The Annual Beverly Hills Father's Day Picnic?'" Jerry asked, confused.
"Yeah!" Sean said excitedly. "They hold it every year in Franklin Canyon Park! But I can't go. I don't have a dad."
"I don't know, Sean," Jerry replied, unsure. "I'm not your father. It would be highly inappropriate!"
"Oh, come on! It'd be a great way to celebrate my training ending!"
Jerry sighed and then smiled.
"Well," he conceded. "I suppose I could spare a little time."
"Yes!" Sean exclaimed in celebration before turning back to his employer. "Thanks, Da- I mean, Jerry."
Jerry placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're welcome, Sean."
Jerry put the picture back in the desk drawer. He couldn't look at it anymore, now that Sean hated him in all likelihood.
It's not time to make a change (Away, away, away)
Just sit down, take it slowly
You're still young, that's your fault (I know)
There's so much you have to go through (I have to make this decision)
"Forgive me, Sean," Jerry wept, placing his head in the cradle of his arms on his desk.
Find a girl, settle down (Alone)
If you want, you can marry
Look at me (No)
I am old, but I'm happy
Sean punched his bedroom wall, no longer caring if his mother was home or not, as his tears began to leave hot streaks on his face.
All the times that I've cried (Stay, stay, stay)
Keeping all the things I knew inside
It's hard
But it's harder to ignore it (Why must you go)
He reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out something he hadn't touched since that meeting with Scam. A simple key.
If they were right, I'd agree (And make this decision)
But it's them they know, not me (Alone)
Now there's a way
And I know that I have to go away
He clutched the key, remembering Scam's words that it could unlock a train station locker that held a gadget that would enable him to escape. Scowling, he put the key in his pocket and walked out of the room.
I know, I have to go
And the truth comes out. I know many of you may feel tempted to hate Sean for what he plans to do, but in his defense, manipulation isn't easy to shake off, even if you know it's happening. And besides, let's be honest, his anger at Jerry is understandable. Unfortunately, his father is using that anger for his own purposes.
By the way, I hope you enjoyed the extended ending. The song is Father and Son by Cat Stevens. I was inspired to use it in my fic after hearing it in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, which is also one of the inspirations for Season 2's arc in this story. I listened closely to the lyrics and thought they matched just how strained Sean and Jerry's relationship is at this point.
Well, that's all for now. The next chapter is another original one. But unlike the others, this focuses on Rachel and her time at W.O.O.H.P, as well as her ill-fated romance with Tim Scam. Stay tuned for The Ballad of Rachel and Tim.