CHAPTER 5: THE BREAKUP
After the announcement of Clover quitting the team, Clover had serious reputation makeover. She never responded to any of the jokes pulled by the English teacher (which really shocked him because she was always the first one to laugh and enjoy his jokes) during his class. She didn’t show a single disgusted reaction towards dissecting a rat during biology class (except Alex, who fainted in the spot). She didn’t even blinked at any of the cute guys in school even though they were just right under her noses and she didn’t even respond in usual emotional way when A.J., the science whiz, asked her out on drive-in movie. She practically just shrugged him off coldly, leaving A.J. drowning in emotional scars.
The most surprising thing (although Sam and Alex have half-expected this to happen) was that when the dream guy David they were attracted to at the same time passed by and said his good mornings to the girls, Clover didn’t even twitched an eyebrow. She just watched him pass by coldly while Sam and Alex practically swooned as he disappeared out of sight. Even when a really cute guy from Science class or a charismatic guy from Literature or a handsome jock from gym class asked her out on a date, her eyes would just bore at their coldly and replied just briefly, “Not interested.”
Within weeks, Clover was automatically crowned as the Ice Queen of Beverly Hills High and became even more popular for her cold attitude than Mandy was at her so-called talented charisma. Practically she was even more popular than the time she was voted Homecoming Queen with the help of A.J.! Sam and Alex were beginning to worry about her sudden change of attitude.
Slowly, Clover began to spend lesser and lesser time with Sam and Alex and more with herself. Before she would at least accompany them wherever they go with limited conversation and stand there and watch while Sam and Alex get sucked into one of Jerry’s devices leading to WOOHPS. Soon, she started to become apart from them and became much of a loner. She sat alone when she had her lunch in the cafeteria, she sat alone during classes nowhere near Sam and Alex and she doesn’t even go out shopping nor do her favourite things anymore with her girlfriends.
Finally Sam and Alex thought that enough was enough. It was OK for her to finally succeeding in controlling her emotions but this was too much. One day after school, they rushed up to Clover who was walking towards the bus station on her way home.
“Hey, Clover!” Sam exclaimed cheerfully as possible, just to try and get Clover into the mood. “Long time no see! So how’s life?”
“Everything’s just fine,” Clover replied coldly as usual, her eyes not looking directly at them.
“Hey, Clover,” Alex joined in the conversation. “We’re thinking about going to that new boutique down at our favourite mall. They have a new stream of clothes for the new season. Besides, you still haven’t got that dress for the Spring Season Dance, and it’s about time you get one before that Mandy starts outdoing herself.”
“Nope. Not interested. I probably won’t be going to the lame dance after all,” Clover said, her voice showing a very convincing trace of boredom.
“Lame? But this is the season you’ve been looking forward to all day!” Sam said desperately. “You can’t be missing this event, can you? I mean you’ll be meeting so many guys there and you’re gonna…”
“Guess I was mistaken.”
“Come on, Clover,” Alex was also getting desperate. “Cheer up a little. You’re not thinking straight! I’ve just rented a great movie and if you could just come over to my house and watch it and give a little thought about the dance, you might change your mind.”
“Sorry. Got literature paperwork to be done.”
“David might be asking the three of us out for clubbing night at that recently built barhouse,” Sam said. “Wanna head to my house and wait for the call and get ready? I’ll lend you my dress.”
“No, thanks.”
“How about we skip that movie I rented and go out on a real movie instead? I heard there’s a new movie called ‘Gattaca: Replay’ on,” Alex suggested.
“No can do.”
Sam and Alex groaned. They got so frustrated that when the bus came and Clover was going to get on it, they just slammed the bus door shut, stopping Clover from getting on and they went straight to the point. They kept holding Clover back until the bus driver got sick of waiting and rode off. Clover gave them her famous piercing cold glare and said icily, “What is it that you really want, girls?”
“We want you back, Clover!” Sam practically wanted to yell at her. “We want the old Clover back! The ol’ Clover whom we know would jump at the sight of a bug, who would swoon over the latest cute guy in school, who would flip her gourd over Mandy’s notorious antics, who would go out shopping and do the normal things we do together, who we know would never give up WOOHPS for the world! The ol’ Clover we used to know is not standing in front of us right now!”
“Yeah, Clover,” Alex was in the verge of going down on all fours and beg. “The Clover we know would never abandon the team and would never abandon our friendship, no matter what the circumstances. We’re all glad that you’ve finally learned how to control your emotions but this is too much! You have gone too far! You’re not the Clover we used to know anymore! You’re turning into that virus’s pawn. The Ice Queen, remember? That virus is really making you live up to its name!!”
“Then you’ll just have to live with it because I have,” Clover replied, not looking at them. Her cold face made Sam so pissed off that she reached out her hand and wanted to slap her. But Clover had the upper hand. She grabbed Sam’s hand without a single expression on her face, glare at her icily before slapping Sam instead. She then pushed both Sam and Alex away onto the bench, well, actually hitting the bench and sent flying about a foot or two away from Clover. Clover’s strength sure hasn’t changed one bit and she was using it against them. And all the while, she did it without even as much as twitch an eyebrow.
“Sorry, girls,” Clover said coldly. “But I got loads of work to do and have no time to waste them on dates or movies or of any kind of entertainment. You know what those things can do to my life and you’re trying to snuff it out of me, don’t you? It’s not gonna work, because I have a life to live. So if you can’t take it, then beat it.”
Before Sam and Alex could get up to stop her, Clover has already gotten up on the next bus. The thunder rolled and drops of rain came pouring down. As the girls remained on the floor not knowing what to do, the rain continued to fall and got heavier and heavier, drenching them from head to toe.
“What are we gonna do, Sam? We…We can’t let her be like this forever!” Alex moaned, her tears mixing with the rain on her face. “We need her! The team needs her! WOOHPS need her!”
“I don’t know…I just…don’t…know…” Sam said as she began to cry too.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Ice Queen of the Century-Chp4
CHAPTER 4: THE RESIGNATION
It really was easier said than done.
The first few days turned out alright as there wasn’t much of a big event going on at school and no missions to do since Jerry had announced that the North Dakota case was to be put on hold for a while until they have gathered enough clues to investigate. But soon the challenge began. Mandy was walking around boasting about her stink gas to her henchwomen and the other guys and how the professor gave her an A for it. Whenever she walks by the girls, especially Clover, she pretended to pinch her nose and screw her face at an imaginary smell, reminding her of her victory in being able to make a fool out of her unaware. Clover’s blood began to boil and all whenever she does that and it took Sam and Alex a very huge effort to calm her down—Mandy has always been her pet hate.
But the biggest challenge was when missions occur. There are often times when they were under attack or were ambushed or were caught by surprise and Clover would sort of accidentally get herself so shocked that her heartburn and asthma-like attack came. And when that happens, they have to stop their mission halfway through so that they could get her to a nearby hospital and help her calm down and her breathing. Sometimes, when the mission got so uptight and so exciting that they had to call for WOOHPS to jet in and help her up with WOOHPS latest technology.
It’s not that Jerry never looked for a cure. He had tried a lot of remedies and he himself volunteered to join forces with the medical team to try out in looking for a cure for this Ice Queen disease. At first Jerry thought that Sam and Alex were infected since they were pretty close to her ever since her first seizure at school, but after they did a thorough check-up, they were clear and not affected at all. In fact, they couldn’t find a single trace of the virus in them. Now, the biggest problem Jerry has to face is to find a cure for Clover, how did this virus come about and why is only Clover infected yet no one else was when they did have close interaction with her.
Throughout Jerry’s quest for the cure, Clover had to endure the most torture. Besides the constant but tiring job of temper control, whenever Jerry ‘had a hunch’ on having the cure, she became the lab rat or somewhat. She dreaded the most when it comes to testing out the cure to see if it works. Some tasted nice or a-OK, but the others were like heck (Jerry’s famous quote “We’re working on the taste”). She was glad that she didn’t have to go for chemotherapy or she would die out of horror or sorrow because of her bald shining head after the chemo. Sam and Alex gave her a lot of moral support but they knew that this wasn’t enough as it was Clover enduring the whole thing and not them.
Finally it was the last straw. It was when the girls went into another mission on chasing a baddie who ran off with a full set of governmental secret plans to sell them to the highest bidder, namely every crime-doer known to man. The girls were trying to fight off the baddie’s henchmen and Clover, the strong and feisty one (well, not so feisty now), got past all of them and was running to get the baddie. She was gaining close to him when all of a sudden the baddie flung a great deal of sharp tiny spears at her, slicing her skin everywhere and getting at her blonde hair she was so proud of, making it look like it was seriously in a bad hair day. Clover treasures her looks most and the one thing—the PRIME thing—she hated was anyone ruining her hair. Never mind her scars on the body, but a ruined hair was a nightmare.
Forgetting the naggings about keeping her cool and without thinking twice, she burst into a fit of serious rage and pounced onto the baddie, throttling him like never before. Come to think of it, she was much angrier right now than she was when she was being taunted by Mandy. Whether she was venting her anger out at all the injustice done to her ever since she was infected with the Ice Queen or she was just plain mad, only she knows. She hits him again and again, yelling, “How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!! You ruined my perfect hair! You’ve totally ruined my look! I’ll teach you to mess with my hair, you son of a…”
Bad move. No sooner she started ranting and raving about her hair that the heartburn caught up with her. But it was much more serious than that. It was like feeling the bullet shot through your chest all of a sudden. The pain was searing and so sudden that she was caught off guard. Blood immediately shot out of her mouth like a fountain and she found herself clutching her throat, trying to breathe. More blood came out of her mouth and she was both choking in her own blood and choking to breathe properly. As she struggled to get air into her could-be punctured lungs, she fell sideways from on top of the baddie. He saw the chance and quickly kicked Clover away and made his escape, but he was too late—the WOOHPS team has come in and took it from there. Sam and Alex stopped whatever they were doing and rushed towards Clover who was regurgitating more blood and was in the brink of severe asphyxiation. Jerry clicked his fingers and immediately, the ever familiar medical squad came over with a stretcher and an oxygen tank and all. They quickly fitted the breathing mask over her face and carried her into the jet.
Whether she choked too much of her own blood or the air came in too late, it was evident that while the WOOHPS jet was on its way to the HQ, she was slowly slipping away. Her breathing became slower and slower and soon she wasn’t breathing at all. The heartbeat machine let out a long beep that didn’t seem to end. Everyone was startled, especially Jerry, Sam and Alex. Alex was practically bursting into pool of tears more than when Clover cries over a lost date or a chipped nail. Sam was also panicked and she was grabbing Clover by the shoulder and shaking her to wake her up. Jerry, although panicked, had no time to act emotionally. He quickly grabbed the heart-starter pump and ordered one of the medic members to turn on the machine. After yelling “Clear!!” he removed—stripped, actually—Clover’s spy outfit and pumped her chest with the heart-starter pump. He did again and again, all the while muttering, “Come on, Clover. Come on, come back to us! You’re too young to die, you said that when you first came into the WOOHPS agency! Come on, Clover, come on!”
After what seemed like a very, very long time, the heartbeat machine finally showed signs of heartbeats in Clover. Everyone sighed in relief as Clover has finally come back from the dead. The medic team quickly added more air for Clover to breath and did everything they could do to keep Clover alive until they finally reached the WOOHPS HQ.
Unknown to everyone, a single tear came out of Clover’s closed eyes.
“Ah, Clover! I’m so glad you’re finally up and about!”
The girls were standing right in front of Jerry’s table and Jerry was looking at Clover with a face of leveled enthusiasm. After that near-death experience, Clover had to stay in the WOOHPS medical ward for almost a week. Visits were prohibited, and that includes Sam and Alex. They had to tell Clover’s mother a white lie that the hospital has found out about what Clover was having and will be keeping her in another hospital somewhere out of town and visitors aren’t allowed. Of course, Clover was allowed to give her mother a call to tell her that she was alright, provided that she didn’t give away where she was. After the week was over and that Clover was quite fit to walk about, Jerry had called the other girls to come and visit her and take her home, but not before he announced that he might have another cure for Clover that just might work.
“How are you feeling right now, Clover?” Sam asked, holding her girlfriend’s hand tight, as if she hadn’t seen her for about a century long.
“Peachy,” Clover replied briefly, her face not showing any concern, just bored. Jerry saw that as a good sign; at least she has learnt not to be so emotional as before.
“I have very important news to tell you girls,” Jerry said enthusiastically. “The medical team and I have been working day and night after Clover was admitted in our organization’s ward. And I truly believe that I have found the perfect cure for Clover’s…”
“If I may be allowed to speak,” Clover suddenly voiced out of the blue in the midst of Sam and Alex’s excited faces. “Thanks, Jerry. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I really do.”
“But…?” Jerry asked, expecting something from her sudden proclamation.
“No thanks, Jer.”
“What??” Sam and Alex were surprised. Clover’s face went cold all over before announcing this bizarre statement.
“I’m quitting the team.”
“WHAT??!!” Now it was all of them, including Jerry who stood up abruptly with eyes wide open, to be shocked.
“You heard me,” Clover replied coldly. “I quit the team. I’m not going to be a spy anymore.”
“But…But, Clover!” Alex was the first to protest, as she was the one who treasures teamwork and friendship the most. “You can’t quit! We’re a team! We can’t be a team without you with us! You’re like the strength, the power and the juice-pumper in our team! You can’t just leave!”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “What would we do without you? What would become of our team? It’s just not us without you around!”
“There’s always a first time for everything,” Clover replied, the cold look on her face seemed permanently stuck. “You’ll just have to do things around here without me.”
“This time I must agree with Sam and Alex,” Jerry said sternly. “I will not allow you to leave the team. Your condition is too vulnerable to be out there when anything can stimulate your emotions. If you leave the team, I won’t be able to have a close look at you and won’t be there to help you out whenever you get the heartburns and seizures. You might even die! I cannot…”
Jerry’s words trailed away when Clover walked stealthily towards Jerry’s table and suddenly banged her fist on it. The weird was that her face was still that unemotional, cold state when she was doing it. There was no trace of anger, pain, hate, frustration or anything on her face. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just the plain, cold and unemotional piece of facial expression right before his eyes. Even when she answered, her voice was as cold as ever.
“If I stay, I will die. You saw what happened the past week. And don’t try to say that I can be exempted from missions after this, because I want to be completely out of the team and completely out of WOOHPS. No strings attached, you got me?”
Without waiting for Jerry’s answer, she pressed a button on Jerry’s table which opened a trapdoor to let her fall out of WOOHPS HQ. She didn’t even scream as she fell, like she used to. There wasn’t a single peep out of her. As the trapdoor closed, Sam and Alex were able to find their voices again.
“Jer…Jerry…she really meant what she said,” Alex said, her voice quivering and her eyes close to tears. “She’s leaving…she’s out of the team…for good!”
“Her face…she looked so different…” Sam said softly. “How long did she train herself to keep that sort of emotional state…? I mean, she banged the table but she doesn’t sound angry…I don’t understand…”
“I guess it’s for the best, girls,” Jerry finally sighed in defeat. “If we want her to be in good hands, keep her alive and not let last week’s incident happen, I guess…we have to let this happen.”
It really was easier said than done.
The first few days turned out alright as there wasn’t much of a big event going on at school and no missions to do since Jerry had announced that the North Dakota case was to be put on hold for a while until they have gathered enough clues to investigate. But soon the challenge began. Mandy was walking around boasting about her stink gas to her henchwomen and the other guys and how the professor gave her an A for it. Whenever she walks by the girls, especially Clover, she pretended to pinch her nose and screw her face at an imaginary smell, reminding her of her victory in being able to make a fool out of her unaware. Clover’s blood began to boil and all whenever she does that and it took Sam and Alex a very huge effort to calm her down—Mandy has always been her pet hate.
But the biggest challenge was when missions occur. There are often times when they were under attack or were ambushed or were caught by surprise and Clover would sort of accidentally get herself so shocked that her heartburn and asthma-like attack came. And when that happens, they have to stop their mission halfway through so that they could get her to a nearby hospital and help her calm down and her breathing. Sometimes, when the mission got so uptight and so exciting that they had to call for WOOHPS to jet in and help her up with WOOHPS latest technology.
It’s not that Jerry never looked for a cure. He had tried a lot of remedies and he himself volunteered to join forces with the medical team to try out in looking for a cure for this Ice Queen disease. At first Jerry thought that Sam and Alex were infected since they were pretty close to her ever since her first seizure at school, but after they did a thorough check-up, they were clear and not affected at all. In fact, they couldn’t find a single trace of the virus in them. Now, the biggest problem Jerry has to face is to find a cure for Clover, how did this virus come about and why is only Clover infected yet no one else was when they did have close interaction with her.
Throughout Jerry’s quest for the cure, Clover had to endure the most torture. Besides the constant but tiring job of temper control, whenever Jerry ‘had a hunch’ on having the cure, she became the lab rat or somewhat. She dreaded the most when it comes to testing out the cure to see if it works. Some tasted nice or a-OK, but the others were like heck (Jerry’s famous quote “We’re working on the taste”). She was glad that she didn’t have to go for chemotherapy or she would die out of horror or sorrow because of her bald shining head after the chemo. Sam and Alex gave her a lot of moral support but they knew that this wasn’t enough as it was Clover enduring the whole thing and not them.
Finally it was the last straw. It was when the girls went into another mission on chasing a baddie who ran off with a full set of governmental secret plans to sell them to the highest bidder, namely every crime-doer known to man. The girls were trying to fight off the baddie’s henchmen and Clover, the strong and feisty one (well, not so feisty now), got past all of them and was running to get the baddie. She was gaining close to him when all of a sudden the baddie flung a great deal of sharp tiny spears at her, slicing her skin everywhere and getting at her blonde hair she was so proud of, making it look like it was seriously in a bad hair day. Clover treasures her looks most and the one thing—the PRIME thing—she hated was anyone ruining her hair. Never mind her scars on the body, but a ruined hair was a nightmare.
Forgetting the naggings about keeping her cool and without thinking twice, she burst into a fit of serious rage and pounced onto the baddie, throttling him like never before. Come to think of it, she was much angrier right now than she was when she was being taunted by Mandy. Whether she was venting her anger out at all the injustice done to her ever since she was infected with the Ice Queen or she was just plain mad, only she knows. She hits him again and again, yelling, “How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!! You ruined my perfect hair! You’ve totally ruined my look! I’ll teach you to mess with my hair, you son of a…”
Bad move. No sooner she started ranting and raving about her hair that the heartburn caught up with her. But it was much more serious than that. It was like feeling the bullet shot through your chest all of a sudden. The pain was searing and so sudden that she was caught off guard. Blood immediately shot out of her mouth like a fountain and she found herself clutching her throat, trying to breathe. More blood came out of her mouth and she was both choking in her own blood and choking to breathe properly. As she struggled to get air into her could-be punctured lungs, she fell sideways from on top of the baddie. He saw the chance and quickly kicked Clover away and made his escape, but he was too late—the WOOHPS team has come in and took it from there. Sam and Alex stopped whatever they were doing and rushed towards Clover who was regurgitating more blood and was in the brink of severe asphyxiation. Jerry clicked his fingers and immediately, the ever familiar medical squad came over with a stretcher and an oxygen tank and all. They quickly fitted the breathing mask over her face and carried her into the jet.
Whether she choked too much of her own blood or the air came in too late, it was evident that while the WOOHPS jet was on its way to the HQ, she was slowly slipping away. Her breathing became slower and slower and soon she wasn’t breathing at all. The heartbeat machine let out a long beep that didn’t seem to end. Everyone was startled, especially Jerry, Sam and Alex. Alex was practically bursting into pool of tears more than when Clover cries over a lost date or a chipped nail. Sam was also panicked and she was grabbing Clover by the shoulder and shaking her to wake her up. Jerry, although panicked, had no time to act emotionally. He quickly grabbed the heart-starter pump and ordered one of the medic members to turn on the machine. After yelling “Clear!!” he removed—stripped, actually—Clover’s spy outfit and pumped her chest with the heart-starter pump. He did again and again, all the while muttering, “Come on, Clover. Come on, come back to us! You’re too young to die, you said that when you first came into the WOOHPS agency! Come on, Clover, come on!”
After what seemed like a very, very long time, the heartbeat machine finally showed signs of heartbeats in Clover. Everyone sighed in relief as Clover has finally come back from the dead. The medic team quickly added more air for Clover to breath and did everything they could do to keep Clover alive until they finally reached the WOOHPS HQ.
Unknown to everyone, a single tear came out of Clover’s closed eyes.
“Ah, Clover! I’m so glad you’re finally up and about!”
The girls were standing right in front of Jerry’s table and Jerry was looking at Clover with a face of leveled enthusiasm. After that near-death experience, Clover had to stay in the WOOHPS medical ward for almost a week. Visits were prohibited, and that includes Sam and Alex. They had to tell Clover’s mother a white lie that the hospital has found out about what Clover was having and will be keeping her in another hospital somewhere out of town and visitors aren’t allowed. Of course, Clover was allowed to give her mother a call to tell her that she was alright, provided that she didn’t give away where she was. After the week was over and that Clover was quite fit to walk about, Jerry had called the other girls to come and visit her and take her home, but not before he announced that he might have another cure for Clover that just might work.
“How are you feeling right now, Clover?” Sam asked, holding her girlfriend’s hand tight, as if she hadn’t seen her for about a century long.
“Peachy,” Clover replied briefly, her face not showing any concern, just bored. Jerry saw that as a good sign; at least she has learnt not to be so emotional as before.
“I have very important news to tell you girls,” Jerry said enthusiastically. “The medical team and I have been working day and night after Clover was admitted in our organization’s ward. And I truly believe that I have found the perfect cure for Clover’s…”
“If I may be allowed to speak,” Clover suddenly voiced out of the blue in the midst of Sam and Alex’s excited faces. “Thanks, Jerry. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. I really do.”
“But…?” Jerry asked, expecting something from her sudden proclamation.
“No thanks, Jer.”
“What??” Sam and Alex were surprised. Clover’s face went cold all over before announcing this bizarre statement.
“I’m quitting the team.”
“WHAT??!!” Now it was all of them, including Jerry who stood up abruptly with eyes wide open, to be shocked.
“You heard me,” Clover replied coldly. “I quit the team. I’m not going to be a spy anymore.”
“But…But, Clover!” Alex was the first to protest, as she was the one who treasures teamwork and friendship the most. “You can’t quit! We’re a team! We can’t be a team without you with us! You’re like the strength, the power and the juice-pumper in our team! You can’t just leave!”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “What would we do without you? What would become of our team? It’s just not us without you around!”
“There’s always a first time for everything,” Clover replied, the cold look on her face seemed permanently stuck. “You’ll just have to do things around here without me.”
“This time I must agree with Sam and Alex,” Jerry said sternly. “I will not allow you to leave the team. Your condition is too vulnerable to be out there when anything can stimulate your emotions. If you leave the team, I won’t be able to have a close look at you and won’t be there to help you out whenever you get the heartburns and seizures. You might even die! I cannot…”
Jerry’s words trailed away when Clover walked stealthily towards Jerry’s table and suddenly banged her fist on it. The weird was that her face was still that unemotional, cold state when she was doing it. There was no trace of anger, pain, hate, frustration or anything on her face. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just the plain, cold and unemotional piece of facial expression right before his eyes. Even when she answered, her voice was as cold as ever.
“If I stay, I will die. You saw what happened the past week. And don’t try to say that I can be exempted from missions after this, because I want to be completely out of the team and completely out of WOOHPS. No strings attached, you got me?”
Without waiting for Jerry’s answer, she pressed a button on Jerry’s table which opened a trapdoor to let her fall out of WOOHPS HQ. She didn’t even scream as she fell, like she used to. There wasn’t a single peep out of her. As the trapdoor closed, Sam and Alex were able to find their voices again.
“Jer…Jerry…she really meant what she said,” Alex said, her voice quivering and her eyes close to tears. “She’s leaving…she’s out of the team…for good!”
“Her face…she looked so different…” Sam said softly. “How long did she train herself to keep that sort of emotional state…? I mean, she banged the table but she doesn’t sound angry…I don’t understand…”
“I guess it’s for the best, girls,” Jerry finally sighed in defeat. “If we want her to be in good hands, keep her alive and not let last week’s incident happen, I guess…we have to let this happen.”
Ice Queen of the Century-Chp3
CHAPTER 3: THE VIRUS
“I have never seen anything like this ever before.”
Clover, who was horribly sick and was rushed into the hospital in the nick of time before the effects of the breathing mask from Beverly Hills High sick room ran out (they didn’t have much oxygen left by the time the paramedics arrived), was now in the ICU with her breathing mask on and loads of tubes and needles stuck through her arms. There were loads of other medical gadgets surrounding her and she didn’t seem much of a good state, although her colour has come back.
“What is your interpretation of this thing she’s carrying?” Sam asked, her eyes filled with worry.
“I can’t make out a head or toe of it. It was happening too fast that we couldn’t figure out what she was infected with,” the doctor replied, his face contorted into an expression that tells the girls that his expertise has been challenged and his pride has been wrecked. “But we will have to keep her here and run some tests to see whether we can figure out what she has.”
“Yeah,” Alex muttered a little too loud in earshot. “If we have forever to wait.”
The doctor gave her an Are-you-questioning-my-expertise look but answered in a forced reassuring voice, “Don’t worry. I’m a doctor, and I will find out what has happened to your friend.”
“Can we go in and visit her, I mean, she’s our best friend and all,” Sam tried to make things less cloudy for the both of them, especially at a critical time like this.
“I don’t see why not,” the doctor replied. “But only for a few minutes. We’ll have to take her in for testing later.”
Alex looked distastefully at the doctor as he left and pulled out her tongue behind his back. As soon as he was out of earshot, she grumbled at Sam, “That doctor seriously needs a wife! I don’t think he’ll ever find anything that is causing Clover so much pain, since he couldn’t find out in the first place. We gotta do something or she’ll die!”
“Well, we are allowed to visit her,” Sam replied, taking out her Com-powder. “So let’s do a little medical research of our own.”
Sam and Alex, with silent footsteps, slowly walked into Clover’s ward, trying to keep their presence to nil as they didn’t want to wake her up and cause her to become sick again. They stared at Clover’s sleeping face—so peaceful and innocent, as if she had never been sick at all and that what had happened just now at Beverly Hills High was just an illusion. They prayed hard that their girlfriend—their best friend in the whole wide world—would get better and have no more attacks just like this. They looked at each other and nodded; the time was right to investigate her illness. Just as Sam was about to hold out her Com-powder towards the sleeping Clover, it suddenly rang. Sam quickly opened the Com-powder so that the ring wouldn’t alert Clover.
“Hello, girls,” it was the ever familiar Jerry, munching a cookie with one hand and a glass of milk in another. “I have received news that there has been an accident at school. Anything wrong, girls?”
“Jerry! Your call almost woke Clover up!” Alex hissed, looking back at Clover from time to time to see if Clover had stirred. So far, so good.
“Sorry, Alex,” Jerry apologized. “Have I got you girls at a bad timing?”
“No, Jerry, it’s OK,” Sam replied wryly. Jerry could tell that something was wrong by the look on his girls’ faces.
“Sam? Alex? What is wrong with Clover?”
Sam and Alex told everything that had happened at the lab, explaining every gory detail they could remember. They were almost in the verge of tears when they’ve finished—they were really worried that Clover was going to die. Her suffering didn’t seem very light at all. They were so scared of losing her.
“Oh my,” Jerry replied, dropping his half-eaten cookie into his milk in shock (I find that scene very amusing in one of the Totally Spies series). He tried to collect himself over this bizarre news he got. It took him about 10 minutes to finally get his voice back, “So, has the doctor found anything wrong with her yet?”
“So far they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her,” Sam replied, wiping the tear off the corner of her eye. “They say they will run some tests on her and find out what’s wrong or what virus she is carrying but…I’m afraid that it might be too late for Clover.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Jerry replied. “Use the Com-powder to take a sample of her saliva and her breath. I might try to find this out myself.”
Sam and Alex got to work. Alex took out a cotton bud from her purse and took off Clover’s breathing mask slowly. She opened her mouth slightly and rubbed the cotton bud against her tongue to get her saliva. She laid the sodden cotton bud on the scanner of her Com-powder while Sam used her Com-powder and brought it close to Clover’s mouth. She turned on the sensor and captured some of the breath Clover has exhaled before replacing the breathing mask carefully back on. Jerry got the samples from the other line and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Hmm…this is more work than I thought,” Jerry replied. “I’ll check on this first. When Clover’s fit to walk, call me and I will send a jet to pick you all up. We’ll do a more detailed examination on Clover at WOOHPS HQ then.”
“Right, Jerry. We’ll keep in touch,” Sam replied before closing her Com-powder. Alex did the same.
“Oh, I hope Clover would pull through,” Alex whined. “I can’t bear her to be out of the team because of her condition. It’ll ruin her, and it’ll ruin us, the team!”
“She’ll pull through,” Sam replied, giving Alex a reassuring hug. “She’s a fighter. I’m sure she’ll be back on her feet in no time at all.”
Secretly, she hoped she was right.
Clover was in a huge spacious lab-like room. She was discharged from ICU after seeing that there was nothing else wrong with her, although the doctor promised Clover that he will contact her as soon as he finds out what was she infected with (A headstrong guy, I must say!). After a couple of days at home resting, Clover decided to volunteer to go for the testing as soon as the girls were given a complementary practical Science test so that they wouldn’t flunk their mid-term exam. She was too anxious about what kind of sickness she got herself into to be sitting around brooding without anything to do at home, especially when she was treated like an ICU patient even at home. Sam called for Jerry and immediately the WOOHPS org. sent in a helicopter to pick the girls up at the park.
Right now, in the lab-like room, Clover was being poked and prodded by the medical members of the WOOHPS. Jerry, Sam and Alex were looking from the other side of the room through the two-way mirror (is that what they call it: a glass that can show you the inside but the person you’re looking at doesn’t know that you’re looking at them?), watching as the medical team took blood samples, blood pressure, DNA sample; checked her heartbeat, her responses, her eyes, her ears, into her mouth and almost everywhere. As the restless little spy she was, Clover was beginning to think that this might take forever.
Finally, after which seemed like forever, Clover was allowed to leave. She trotted out of the lab and went towards her girlfriends, her face tired of all the tests and experiments. Sam and Alex could see that not a huge amount of homework or exams could match this kind of tiring experience. Jerry went towards the whacked up Clover and rubbed her back.
“Sorry if this has tired you. We need all the necessary information from your body so that we can determine what have you got and whether if it is lethal or curable.”
“It’s alright, Jer,” Clover moaned, then slumped and fell like a falling tree onto Sam and Alex’s lap. “I’m just as curious as you are about what have I got. What’ll I do for a nice and warm fluffy bed right now so that I can just fall onto and not bother a thing!”
“Don’t worry, Clover, it’ll be all over in no time,” Jerry replied. “I’m sure it’s something poisonous you have smelt that caused that massive seizure. We’ll find a cure for it and you’ll be up and about within a couple of days.”
Deep down inside, Jerry and Clover, along with Sam and Alex weren’t too sure whether it’s as simple as that.
The girls were soon back again in the WOOHPS HQ at about a week or so. As usual, they were doing their shopping at their favourite mall to buy their dresses for the upcoming Spring Season Dance, and needless to say they were in the ladies’ room when WOOHPS suddenly ‘whooped’ them in. They were sure that when they reached the HQ, they would be greeted with one of Jerry’s corny jokes again before getting right down to business, but this time, no corny jokes. He seemed very, very serious indeed. The girls were quite taken aback that they have forgotten all about how annoyed they were in the middle of their shopping.
“Girls, I have a very serious announcement to make,” Jerry broke the ice after a long 5 minutes of silence.
“Uh, yeah, we can see that,” Clover broke out of her daze.
“What seems to be the problem, Jerry?” Alex asked, worried. “You never looked this serious before. Is everything alright, Jerry?”
“No, to tell the truth, everything is not alright. It’s regarding about Clover.”
“What?! Me?!” ours truly the emotional member of the group squealed in horror. “What’s wrong with me? Is that I’ve flunk the mid-terms? Is that my hair or my face or my figure has gone bad? Is it that I’m off the team? Is it…?”
“Calm down, Clover, calm down!” Jerry began to look horrified now. “Don’t get acted up now, Clover! Your calm state of emotion is the most important thing to keep you alive now!”
“My what?” Clover asked, a little bit calmed but still surprised. The girls looked back at Jerry curiously.
“Please, Clover, you have to remain calm. What I’m about to tell you is going to shock you but please, remain calm.” Jerry said slowly, as if trying to coax a baby to eat its food. “Take a seat, Clover.”
Clover’s mind was filled with questions but she obliged. She sat between Sam and Alex and listened to what their head had to say.
“We have already run the tests of your DNA and stuff we’ve collected from you, Clover, and we have received results from it. It turned out that you have a very rare—probably very, very rare—one of a kind virus that has never existed in this whole wide world before. We call it the Ice Queen virus.”
Clover popped a vein. That name reminded her of that time when that demented villain tried to freeze the whole world and keep her as his chessmate and his Eve—his Ice Queen.
“The Ice Queen attacks the vital part which stimulates emotion. Once it has attached itself into it, it will stay there and whenever the patient gets overreacted or excited or any kind of hyper-emotion, it’ll trigger the virus right away to eject its acidic entities into the emotion stimulator and causes it to boil and churn. Once the acids attack the stimulator, it’ll spread quickly into your bloodstream and into your heart, which is why you’re getting sudden heartburns and breathing difficulties, because it also attacks the cardiovascular system. If matters become worse, the acid would spread all over your body and finally into your brain causing immediate brain death and instant expiration.”
So far, Sam was the only one being able to understand such a complicated theory and was the first to gasp in horror. Clover and Alex sweatdropped and turned to her, “Uh…would you mind translating that to English, please?”
“What Jerry means,” Sam replied, “that you got some sort of virus that is infecting the part of your body that makes you have emotions—you know, happy, sad, angry, whatever. And if you ever become too excited or too emotional, the virus will attack that part and would cause you to have that heartburn and lack of oxygen, and worse, it might attack your brain and could kill you before you could say ‘Mandy is a jerk’!”
Finally, Clover and Alex gasped in horror too at Sam’s simplified explanation. Jerry quickly stepped in, “Which is why I want you, Clover, to take it easy. Don’t make yourself overexcited or anything. You must control your emotion and do not get emotional over things. In fact, if you are able to show no reaction at all to a certain issue, it would be even better. Please, your life is at stake here.”
“Guess I am turning into an Ice Queen,” Clover whined, close to tears. Sam and Alex quickly hushed her and comforted her, for fear that her usual emotional bawling and wailing could cause her to fall on the floor and kaput. Jerry laid a finger on his lips, trying to shush her. Clover was quite annoyed at this.
“Cut it out, guys,” Clover replied, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. “You’re making me look like I’m a baby or somewhat. I’m OK, I’m just a little edged about all this, that’s all. I’ll be fine.”
“Remember, Clover,” Jerry said. “Control your emotions. Don’t go astray, like you used to.”
“I will, Jer, I will.”
Easier said than done.
“I have never seen anything like this ever before.”
Clover, who was horribly sick and was rushed into the hospital in the nick of time before the effects of the breathing mask from Beverly Hills High sick room ran out (they didn’t have much oxygen left by the time the paramedics arrived), was now in the ICU with her breathing mask on and loads of tubes and needles stuck through her arms. There were loads of other medical gadgets surrounding her and she didn’t seem much of a good state, although her colour has come back.
“What is your interpretation of this thing she’s carrying?” Sam asked, her eyes filled with worry.
“I can’t make out a head or toe of it. It was happening too fast that we couldn’t figure out what she was infected with,” the doctor replied, his face contorted into an expression that tells the girls that his expertise has been challenged and his pride has been wrecked. “But we will have to keep her here and run some tests to see whether we can figure out what she has.”
“Yeah,” Alex muttered a little too loud in earshot. “If we have forever to wait.”
The doctor gave her an Are-you-questioning-my-expertise look but answered in a forced reassuring voice, “Don’t worry. I’m a doctor, and I will find out what has happened to your friend.”
“Can we go in and visit her, I mean, she’s our best friend and all,” Sam tried to make things less cloudy for the both of them, especially at a critical time like this.
“I don’t see why not,” the doctor replied. “But only for a few minutes. We’ll have to take her in for testing later.”
Alex looked distastefully at the doctor as he left and pulled out her tongue behind his back. As soon as he was out of earshot, she grumbled at Sam, “That doctor seriously needs a wife! I don’t think he’ll ever find anything that is causing Clover so much pain, since he couldn’t find out in the first place. We gotta do something or she’ll die!”
“Well, we are allowed to visit her,” Sam replied, taking out her Com-powder. “So let’s do a little medical research of our own.”
Sam and Alex, with silent footsteps, slowly walked into Clover’s ward, trying to keep their presence to nil as they didn’t want to wake her up and cause her to become sick again. They stared at Clover’s sleeping face—so peaceful and innocent, as if she had never been sick at all and that what had happened just now at Beverly Hills High was just an illusion. They prayed hard that their girlfriend—their best friend in the whole wide world—would get better and have no more attacks just like this. They looked at each other and nodded; the time was right to investigate her illness. Just as Sam was about to hold out her Com-powder towards the sleeping Clover, it suddenly rang. Sam quickly opened the Com-powder so that the ring wouldn’t alert Clover.
“Hello, girls,” it was the ever familiar Jerry, munching a cookie with one hand and a glass of milk in another. “I have received news that there has been an accident at school. Anything wrong, girls?”
“Jerry! Your call almost woke Clover up!” Alex hissed, looking back at Clover from time to time to see if Clover had stirred. So far, so good.
“Sorry, Alex,” Jerry apologized. “Have I got you girls at a bad timing?”
“No, Jerry, it’s OK,” Sam replied wryly. Jerry could tell that something was wrong by the look on his girls’ faces.
“Sam? Alex? What is wrong with Clover?”
Sam and Alex told everything that had happened at the lab, explaining every gory detail they could remember. They were almost in the verge of tears when they’ve finished—they were really worried that Clover was going to die. Her suffering didn’t seem very light at all. They were so scared of losing her.
“Oh my,” Jerry replied, dropping his half-eaten cookie into his milk in shock (I find that scene very amusing in one of the Totally Spies series). He tried to collect himself over this bizarre news he got. It took him about 10 minutes to finally get his voice back, “So, has the doctor found anything wrong with her yet?”
“So far they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her,” Sam replied, wiping the tear off the corner of her eye. “They say they will run some tests on her and find out what’s wrong or what virus she is carrying but…I’m afraid that it might be too late for Clover.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Jerry replied. “Use the Com-powder to take a sample of her saliva and her breath. I might try to find this out myself.”
Sam and Alex got to work. Alex took out a cotton bud from her purse and took off Clover’s breathing mask slowly. She opened her mouth slightly and rubbed the cotton bud against her tongue to get her saliva. She laid the sodden cotton bud on the scanner of her Com-powder while Sam used her Com-powder and brought it close to Clover’s mouth. She turned on the sensor and captured some of the breath Clover has exhaled before replacing the breathing mask carefully back on. Jerry got the samples from the other line and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Hmm…this is more work than I thought,” Jerry replied. “I’ll check on this first. When Clover’s fit to walk, call me and I will send a jet to pick you all up. We’ll do a more detailed examination on Clover at WOOHPS HQ then.”
“Right, Jerry. We’ll keep in touch,” Sam replied before closing her Com-powder. Alex did the same.
“Oh, I hope Clover would pull through,” Alex whined. “I can’t bear her to be out of the team because of her condition. It’ll ruin her, and it’ll ruin us, the team!”
“She’ll pull through,” Sam replied, giving Alex a reassuring hug. “She’s a fighter. I’m sure she’ll be back on her feet in no time at all.”
Secretly, she hoped she was right.
Clover was in a huge spacious lab-like room. She was discharged from ICU after seeing that there was nothing else wrong with her, although the doctor promised Clover that he will contact her as soon as he finds out what was she infected with (A headstrong guy, I must say!). After a couple of days at home resting, Clover decided to volunteer to go for the testing as soon as the girls were given a complementary practical Science test so that they wouldn’t flunk their mid-term exam. She was too anxious about what kind of sickness she got herself into to be sitting around brooding without anything to do at home, especially when she was treated like an ICU patient even at home. Sam called for Jerry and immediately the WOOHPS org. sent in a helicopter to pick the girls up at the park.
Right now, in the lab-like room, Clover was being poked and prodded by the medical members of the WOOHPS. Jerry, Sam and Alex were looking from the other side of the room through the two-way mirror (is that what they call it: a glass that can show you the inside but the person you’re looking at doesn’t know that you’re looking at them?), watching as the medical team took blood samples, blood pressure, DNA sample; checked her heartbeat, her responses, her eyes, her ears, into her mouth and almost everywhere. As the restless little spy she was, Clover was beginning to think that this might take forever.
Finally, after which seemed like forever, Clover was allowed to leave. She trotted out of the lab and went towards her girlfriends, her face tired of all the tests and experiments. Sam and Alex could see that not a huge amount of homework or exams could match this kind of tiring experience. Jerry went towards the whacked up Clover and rubbed her back.
“Sorry if this has tired you. We need all the necessary information from your body so that we can determine what have you got and whether if it is lethal or curable.”
“It’s alright, Jer,” Clover moaned, then slumped and fell like a falling tree onto Sam and Alex’s lap. “I’m just as curious as you are about what have I got. What’ll I do for a nice and warm fluffy bed right now so that I can just fall onto and not bother a thing!”
“Don’t worry, Clover, it’ll be all over in no time,” Jerry replied. “I’m sure it’s something poisonous you have smelt that caused that massive seizure. We’ll find a cure for it and you’ll be up and about within a couple of days.”
Deep down inside, Jerry and Clover, along with Sam and Alex weren’t too sure whether it’s as simple as that.
The girls were soon back again in the WOOHPS HQ at about a week or so. As usual, they were doing their shopping at their favourite mall to buy their dresses for the upcoming Spring Season Dance, and needless to say they were in the ladies’ room when WOOHPS suddenly ‘whooped’ them in. They were sure that when they reached the HQ, they would be greeted with one of Jerry’s corny jokes again before getting right down to business, but this time, no corny jokes. He seemed very, very serious indeed. The girls were quite taken aback that they have forgotten all about how annoyed they were in the middle of their shopping.
“Girls, I have a very serious announcement to make,” Jerry broke the ice after a long 5 minutes of silence.
“Uh, yeah, we can see that,” Clover broke out of her daze.
“What seems to be the problem, Jerry?” Alex asked, worried. “You never looked this serious before. Is everything alright, Jerry?”
“No, to tell the truth, everything is not alright. It’s regarding about Clover.”
“What?! Me?!” ours truly the emotional member of the group squealed in horror. “What’s wrong with me? Is that I’ve flunk the mid-terms? Is that my hair or my face or my figure has gone bad? Is it that I’m off the team? Is it…?”
“Calm down, Clover, calm down!” Jerry began to look horrified now. “Don’t get acted up now, Clover! Your calm state of emotion is the most important thing to keep you alive now!”
“My what?” Clover asked, a little bit calmed but still surprised. The girls looked back at Jerry curiously.
“Please, Clover, you have to remain calm. What I’m about to tell you is going to shock you but please, remain calm.” Jerry said slowly, as if trying to coax a baby to eat its food. “Take a seat, Clover.”
Clover’s mind was filled with questions but she obliged. She sat between Sam and Alex and listened to what their head had to say.
“We have already run the tests of your DNA and stuff we’ve collected from you, Clover, and we have received results from it. It turned out that you have a very rare—probably very, very rare—one of a kind virus that has never existed in this whole wide world before. We call it the Ice Queen virus.”
Clover popped a vein. That name reminded her of that time when that demented villain tried to freeze the whole world and keep her as his chessmate and his Eve—his Ice Queen.
“The Ice Queen attacks the vital part which stimulates emotion. Once it has attached itself into it, it will stay there and whenever the patient gets overreacted or excited or any kind of hyper-emotion, it’ll trigger the virus right away to eject its acidic entities into the emotion stimulator and causes it to boil and churn. Once the acids attack the stimulator, it’ll spread quickly into your bloodstream and into your heart, which is why you’re getting sudden heartburns and breathing difficulties, because it also attacks the cardiovascular system. If matters become worse, the acid would spread all over your body and finally into your brain causing immediate brain death and instant expiration.”
So far, Sam was the only one being able to understand such a complicated theory and was the first to gasp in horror. Clover and Alex sweatdropped and turned to her, “Uh…would you mind translating that to English, please?”
“What Jerry means,” Sam replied, “that you got some sort of virus that is infecting the part of your body that makes you have emotions—you know, happy, sad, angry, whatever. And if you ever become too excited or too emotional, the virus will attack that part and would cause you to have that heartburn and lack of oxygen, and worse, it might attack your brain and could kill you before you could say ‘Mandy is a jerk’!”
Finally, Clover and Alex gasped in horror too at Sam’s simplified explanation. Jerry quickly stepped in, “Which is why I want you, Clover, to take it easy. Don’t make yourself overexcited or anything. You must control your emotion and do not get emotional over things. In fact, if you are able to show no reaction at all to a certain issue, it would be even better. Please, your life is at stake here.”
“Guess I am turning into an Ice Queen,” Clover whined, close to tears. Sam and Alex quickly hushed her and comforted her, for fear that her usual emotional bawling and wailing could cause her to fall on the floor and kaput. Jerry laid a finger on his lips, trying to shush her. Clover was quite annoyed at this.
“Cut it out, guys,” Clover replied, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. “You’re making me look like I’m a baby or somewhat. I’m OK, I’m just a little edged about all this, that’s all. I’ll be fine.”
“Remember, Clover,” Jerry said. “Control your emotions. Don’t go astray, like you used to.”
“I will, Jer, I will.”
Easier said than done.
Ice Queen of the Century-Chp2
CHAPTER 2: THE INFECTION
After a long flight up in the sky and drive through the city, the girls soon reached their destination: a building of white bearing the name ‘North Dakota Health Research Lab’. The girls told the receptionist their reason to be there and the receptionist called for a few guards to lead them to the base lab just right down at the basement.
As they went in, they were sure that this place was where the real work was done. There were dozens upon dozens of scientific gizmos filling up the whole place and there were loads of animal cages filled with animals that were ready for any kind of animal testing on their latest drugs or so. While the girls (especially little genius Sam) feasted their eyes upon everything there is in display, the guards continued to lead them until they entered an office where an old man greeted them.
“Good day, spies,” the old man shook the girls’ hand. “I’m Prof. William Gus, the head of this research lab. I’m the one who contacted Jerry at WOOHPS. We really need your help; you’re the only higher authority we could trust.”
“Why don’t you show us the crime scene, Prof. William?” Sam said. Prof. William nodded and dismissed the guards, leading them to the far back of the lab. He used his pass card to open the door and did a retinal scan through the scanner at the right side of the door. As the door opened, the room revealed a stand where the drug was supposed to be.
“There you have it, spies,” he said as he gestured them to the stand. “We had the drug on this stand, fully secured under lock and key, that is, until now. We created this drug so that we can totally eliminate severe depression and cure them entirely. The normal drugs could only keep them in control, but this drug was going to revolutionize all depression drugs in the world. No one would ever have to suffer this emotional disorder and can be free from drug-dependence. A pill a day for a week and you’re no more a walking zombie anymore.”
“Cool,” Alex said. “That would definitely work great if I ever get sad about failing my mid-term.”
“Oh, please, Alex, don’t get started,” Clover said with a frown. “That’ll only remind me of Mandy’s stupid stink bomb experiment and this afternoon’s practical exam. Let’s just get this over and done with.”
The girls got into work. They checked around the perimeter and looked for clues. They put on their heat-sensor and fingerprint scanner sunglasses and turned it into fingerprint mode to search for any fingerprints left behind. No luck; there wasn’t any fingerprints lying around for them to see. As they took off their sunglasses, they saw that there was a small piece of torn garment on it. Sam picked it up, slipped it into her Com-powder and called Jerry at the same time. While she was doing it, Alex turned to Prof. William and asked some questions.
“You told Jerry that you suspect that this theft could be done by someone inside the lab. Who do you suspect it is?”
“We have no clue,” Prof. William said. “I’ve sent some of the guards you just saw to check everyone of my staff that is involved in this drug experiment and we even went to their houses to interrogate them and check their houses but we couldn’t find anything. We have no proof to pin-point anybody.”
“What about the cards?” Clover asked. “I mean, if you can’t find anyone inside the lab who might be the thief, then it has to be someone outside who has the card.”
“Unfortunately, that would be impossible. This pass card is specially designed for members of the lab. It is colour-coded, configuration-coded and ID-coded. There is no way you can duplicate it because we made it as complicated as possible.”
“Unless that thief ‘borrowed’ the card from the owner,” Clover muttered.
“We have thought about it, but it is also impossible, because retinal scan is needed even if you want to enter this place or almost everywhere here.”
“So I see,” Alex remembered the retinal scan Prof. William did before entering this secret room.
Meanwhile, Sam has got through and was talking to Jerry. The other girls moved towards her to hear any further instructions from their head.
“Hello, girls,” Jerry’s face appeared in the screen of the Com-powder. “I’ve just checked the piece of torn garment Sam had scanned through the Com-powder and the analysis showed that it happens to be made from the same material the members of North Dakota Health Research Lab. This is, as proven, an inside job.”
“But Prof. William said that they couldn’t find any evidence to pinpoint anyone that were involved in this experiment,” Clover replied.
“And it couldn’t be an outsider either,” Alex said her share of information. “Their pass cards are specially designed and unable to duplicate. And the room only approves people who are involved in this experiment to enter with their retinal scan.”
“I see,” Jerry replied thoughtfully. “Well, is there anything else you have found?”
“No, unfortunately,” Sam replied. “We couldn’t find any fingerprints or anything else suspicious or out of place either. Not even a footprint. Whoever it is, this guy is good.”
“Alright, girls,” Jerry said. “We’ll have to put this case on hold for a while. Why don’t you go back to school before your professor starts flunking you out of science?”
“Oh no, the practical test!” Alex exclaimed, snapping back to reality. “We promised we’ll be in the lab at 1 o’clock!”
“We still have 10 more minutes,” Sam said as she looked at her watch. “Come on, girls, let’s go!”
“Oh yeah!” Clover squealed with glee. “After that it’s heavy duty shopping!”
“I’m glad that you girls are able to make it.”
Sam, Alex and Clover were barely minutes away from being late for their practical test. The professor was looking at them disapprovingly through his thick glasses and motioned them to take their places at their lab table. It was an individual kind of work, so the girls had to stand at separate tables.
“Right,” the professor said as soon as the girls were at their places. “We shall begin the test. There are the question papers on your table. There are 3 experiments written on the papers. Choose one, and don’t peek. You can start right now.”
The girls picked up their question papers and scanned through the questions. They made their choices and started their experiment with the lab ingredients and utensils right before them. Alex, the not so bright one, was beginning to scratch her head. Sam has already started mixing and matching her stuff. Clover was getting started, but her eyes were still seeing red just thinking about what Mandy had done to her that mid-morning.
“That darn Mandy!” Clover muttered to herself as she started pouring hydrochloric acid carefully into her test tube. “What exactly do I have against her? She has been going up and down my nerves and constantly taunting and raving at me and my friends! What does she have that we don’t? We’re equally as beautiful as her, we’re equally popular as her, we’re getting as much boys as she does and we’re as great as she is—no, maybe even better than she is! Further more, we are highly-secret government spies! Who is she? Just a common Miss Popular of Beverly Hills High, nothing else! Why is she looking down on us while we are the ones far more superior than she is? Just you wait, Mandy, just you wait! Someday, somehow, I’ll…”
Her mutterings stopped abruptly when she suddenly felt her heart skip a beat. The heartbeat skip slowly turned into a gradually painful heartburn. She could feel her simple lunch of strawberry yogurt and cocoa latte she had together with her friends in TINY TIM on the way to school was going up her throat. Her heartburn got worse and worse until she had to drop her experiment and double over on the cold lab floor. She felt herself suffocating, unable to breathe, and she knew that it had nothing to do with the smell from the lab chemicals.
There was something wrong with her. Something very, very wrong.
Her girlfriends were so shocked that they couldn’t care less if their experiment was complete or not. They stopped whatever they were doing and rushed over to Clover who was already on the floor clutching her neck, trying to breathe. The professor noticed what was going on and dialed 911 on his cellphone. Sam and Alex quickly carried her out of the lab to the corridor to give her more air. Clover started coughing blood while she still struggled desperately for air. Tears flowed out of her eyes. She was suffering terribly.
“Hang in there, Clover, hang in there,” Sam said, trying more to calm herself than Clover. “The professor has already called 911. Just hang in there.”
“Yeah, Clover,” Alex said, her copper-brown eyes close to tears. “You’re the strongest member in our team. You can’t just die! You gotta hang on!”
“The paramedics will be here soon,” the professor said as he hung up his cellphone. “Let’s take her to the sick room first and try to give her some oxygen. I think there’s a breathing mask and an oxygen tank in that sick room. It might do her some good.”
Sam and Alex nodded and carried their girlfriend all the way to the sick room. The nurse in charge was shocked at Clover’s suffocating and bleeding condition and quickly fitted the breathing mask over Clover’s nose and mouth and turned on the breathing mask.
Throughout the hustle and bustle, Clover slowly slipped deeper and deeper into unconsciousness…
After a long flight up in the sky and drive through the city, the girls soon reached their destination: a building of white bearing the name ‘North Dakota Health Research Lab’. The girls told the receptionist their reason to be there and the receptionist called for a few guards to lead them to the base lab just right down at the basement.
As they went in, they were sure that this place was where the real work was done. There were dozens upon dozens of scientific gizmos filling up the whole place and there were loads of animal cages filled with animals that were ready for any kind of animal testing on their latest drugs or so. While the girls (especially little genius Sam) feasted their eyes upon everything there is in display, the guards continued to lead them until they entered an office where an old man greeted them.
“Good day, spies,” the old man shook the girls’ hand. “I’m Prof. William Gus, the head of this research lab. I’m the one who contacted Jerry at WOOHPS. We really need your help; you’re the only higher authority we could trust.”
“Why don’t you show us the crime scene, Prof. William?” Sam said. Prof. William nodded and dismissed the guards, leading them to the far back of the lab. He used his pass card to open the door and did a retinal scan through the scanner at the right side of the door. As the door opened, the room revealed a stand where the drug was supposed to be.
“There you have it, spies,” he said as he gestured them to the stand. “We had the drug on this stand, fully secured under lock and key, that is, until now. We created this drug so that we can totally eliminate severe depression and cure them entirely. The normal drugs could only keep them in control, but this drug was going to revolutionize all depression drugs in the world. No one would ever have to suffer this emotional disorder and can be free from drug-dependence. A pill a day for a week and you’re no more a walking zombie anymore.”
“Cool,” Alex said. “That would definitely work great if I ever get sad about failing my mid-term.”
“Oh, please, Alex, don’t get started,” Clover said with a frown. “That’ll only remind me of Mandy’s stupid stink bomb experiment and this afternoon’s practical exam. Let’s just get this over and done with.”
The girls got into work. They checked around the perimeter and looked for clues. They put on their heat-sensor and fingerprint scanner sunglasses and turned it into fingerprint mode to search for any fingerprints left behind. No luck; there wasn’t any fingerprints lying around for them to see. As they took off their sunglasses, they saw that there was a small piece of torn garment on it. Sam picked it up, slipped it into her Com-powder and called Jerry at the same time. While she was doing it, Alex turned to Prof. William and asked some questions.
“You told Jerry that you suspect that this theft could be done by someone inside the lab. Who do you suspect it is?”
“We have no clue,” Prof. William said. “I’ve sent some of the guards you just saw to check everyone of my staff that is involved in this drug experiment and we even went to their houses to interrogate them and check their houses but we couldn’t find anything. We have no proof to pin-point anybody.”
“What about the cards?” Clover asked. “I mean, if you can’t find anyone inside the lab who might be the thief, then it has to be someone outside who has the card.”
“Unfortunately, that would be impossible. This pass card is specially designed for members of the lab. It is colour-coded, configuration-coded and ID-coded. There is no way you can duplicate it because we made it as complicated as possible.”
“Unless that thief ‘borrowed’ the card from the owner,” Clover muttered.
“We have thought about it, but it is also impossible, because retinal scan is needed even if you want to enter this place or almost everywhere here.”
“So I see,” Alex remembered the retinal scan Prof. William did before entering this secret room.
Meanwhile, Sam has got through and was talking to Jerry. The other girls moved towards her to hear any further instructions from their head.
“Hello, girls,” Jerry’s face appeared in the screen of the Com-powder. “I’ve just checked the piece of torn garment Sam had scanned through the Com-powder and the analysis showed that it happens to be made from the same material the members of North Dakota Health Research Lab. This is, as proven, an inside job.”
“But Prof. William said that they couldn’t find any evidence to pinpoint anyone that were involved in this experiment,” Clover replied.
“And it couldn’t be an outsider either,” Alex said her share of information. “Their pass cards are specially designed and unable to duplicate. And the room only approves people who are involved in this experiment to enter with their retinal scan.”
“I see,” Jerry replied thoughtfully. “Well, is there anything else you have found?”
“No, unfortunately,” Sam replied. “We couldn’t find any fingerprints or anything else suspicious or out of place either. Not even a footprint. Whoever it is, this guy is good.”
“Alright, girls,” Jerry said. “We’ll have to put this case on hold for a while. Why don’t you go back to school before your professor starts flunking you out of science?”
“Oh no, the practical test!” Alex exclaimed, snapping back to reality. “We promised we’ll be in the lab at 1 o’clock!”
“We still have 10 more minutes,” Sam said as she looked at her watch. “Come on, girls, let’s go!”
“Oh yeah!” Clover squealed with glee. “After that it’s heavy duty shopping!”
“I’m glad that you girls are able to make it.”
Sam, Alex and Clover were barely minutes away from being late for their practical test. The professor was looking at them disapprovingly through his thick glasses and motioned them to take their places at their lab table. It was an individual kind of work, so the girls had to stand at separate tables.
“Right,” the professor said as soon as the girls were at their places. “We shall begin the test. There are the question papers on your table. There are 3 experiments written on the papers. Choose one, and don’t peek. You can start right now.”
The girls picked up their question papers and scanned through the questions. They made their choices and started their experiment with the lab ingredients and utensils right before them. Alex, the not so bright one, was beginning to scratch her head. Sam has already started mixing and matching her stuff. Clover was getting started, but her eyes were still seeing red just thinking about what Mandy had done to her that mid-morning.
“That darn Mandy!” Clover muttered to herself as she started pouring hydrochloric acid carefully into her test tube. “What exactly do I have against her? She has been going up and down my nerves and constantly taunting and raving at me and my friends! What does she have that we don’t? We’re equally as beautiful as her, we’re equally popular as her, we’re getting as much boys as she does and we’re as great as she is—no, maybe even better than she is! Further more, we are highly-secret government spies! Who is she? Just a common Miss Popular of Beverly Hills High, nothing else! Why is she looking down on us while we are the ones far more superior than she is? Just you wait, Mandy, just you wait! Someday, somehow, I’ll…”
Her mutterings stopped abruptly when she suddenly felt her heart skip a beat. The heartbeat skip slowly turned into a gradually painful heartburn. She could feel her simple lunch of strawberry yogurt and cocoa latte she had together with her friends in TINY TIM on the way to school was going up her throat. Her heartburn got worse and worse until she had to drop her experiment and double over on the cold lab floor. She felt herself suffocating, unable to breathe, and she knew that it had nothing to do with the smell from the lab chemicals.
There was something wrong with her. Something very, very wrong.
Her girlfriends were so shocked that they couldn’t care less if their experiment was complete or not. They stopped whatever they were doing and rushed over to Clover who was already on the floor clutching her neck, trying to breathe. The professor noticed what was going on and dialed 911 on his cellphone. Sam and Alex quickly carried her out of the lab to the corridor to give her more air. Clover started coughing blood while she still struggled desperately for air. Tears flowed out of her eyes. She was suffering terribly.
“Hang in there, Clover, hang in there,” Sam said, trying more to calm herself than Clover. “The professor has already called 911. Just hang in there.”
“Yeah, Clover,” Alex said, her copper-brown eyes close to tears. “You’re the strongest member in our team. You can’t just die! You gotta hang on!”
“The paramedics will be here soon,” the professor said as he hung up his cellphone. “Let’s take her to the sick room first and try to give her some oxygen. I think there’s a breathing mask and an oxygen tank in that sick room. It might do her some good.”
Sam and Alex nodded and carried their girlfriend all the way to the sick room. The nurse in charge was shocked at Clover’s suffocating and bleeding condition and quickly fitted the breathing mask over Clover’s nose and mouth and turned on the breathing mask.
Throughout the hustle and bustle, Clover slowly slipped deeper and deeper into unconsciousness…
Ice Queen of the Century-Chp1
Started: 10-05-03 Completed: 05-18-04“Oh man! Why does our last exam for the day have to be science? I can’t even remember the formula of water!”
Ours truly, the gals of Totally Spies were having their mid-term exam and were on their way to the lab of their Beverly Hills High for their practical test, which is the last Science exam to complete the paperwork. Alex was practically pulling a 100m long face as she was not exactly the brightest student in science.
“Don’t worry, Alex,” the ever genius Sam said as they walked down the corridor, getting closer and closer towards their destination. “It’s just an experiment. You’ll do fine. I’m sure you’ll pull through.”
“Yeah, Alex,” Clover replied jovially. “This is our last exam and after we’re done, we can do some unfinished business: shopping for the latest Madeline cosmetics and get a brand new dress for next month’s Spring Season Dance!”
Alex and Sam sweatdropped when they saw that the sparkling puppy eyes of Clover’s were acting up again. She is always predictable when it comes to dances and contests—anything to do with attracting boys or finding fresh new blood she had missed. They were really surprised at what a flirt she was and yet still was able to stay alive without worrying that there might be vengeful guys out there who might want to get back at her.
As soon as they entered the lab, Clover was suddenly attacked by a strong spray of vapour. Her eyes watered seriously and she coughed like mad as her lungs had taken in some of the stinky vapour. Alex and Sam thought their worries were coming true—that one of the vengeful boys had got back at her—but a naughty cackle proved them otherwise.
“Like my latest experiment? I’ve worked all night for this little concoction. Could’ve saved some for my little bratty brother, yet I feel so happy just to waste it all on you. Nya ha ha ha ha~!”
“Mandy~!!!” Clover growled between gritted teeth, clenching her fists and ready to give the bratty I’m-Miss-Popular girl a good sock in the eye.
“Ugh! Keep away from me, Clover! The stink gas I just gave you is gonna make you smell like you bathed in a garbage dump,” Mandy put on an exaggerated disgust look on her face and flapping her away as if she was nothing but a common fly. Clover couldn’t stand it anymore. She had mentally abused Mandy with her imagination just to control her temper and release herself out of utmost anger but this was too much. The stink gas really stank just like Mandy said and everyone was giving her a disgust look and worse, it ruined her blonde bangs. She jumped onto Mandy ready to claw and gouge her eyes out. If Alex and Sam hadn’t pulled her away and if Mandy’s henchwomen hadn’t dragged her up in time, Clover would probably have succeeded.
“Miss Clover, if you do not learn how to control your temper, you are asked to leave this class,” the science professor said with his hands on his waist. “Go and freshen yourself up. You are excused from this practical exam until you smell a little decent. You may take it later in the afternoon.”
“But…But that’s not fair!” Clover whined. “Mandy started it, and I have big plans at the mall this afternoon!”
“I will deal with Mandy personally. Now go and clean yourself up before you have to send in the SWAT team to get rid of the smell.”
Now it was Clover’s turn to pull a 100m long face as she left the lab, leaving relieved sighs and sniggers from other students—including Mandy and her henchwomen—at her wake. Seeing their best friend sulking like that made Alex and Sam feel really bad. They both turned to the professor and put on their best sympathy faces.
“Err…Prof, can we be excused too? I mean Clover might need our help in cleaning up the stink on her face,” Sam said.
“Yeah, Prof. I mean it really stinks and I don’t think she could get rid of it alone,” Alex chided in. “Anyway, you do want her to smell better, right? We’ll all take the exam together in the afternoon.”
The professor stared at them disapprovingly for a moment before sighing and said, “Very well. You girls are excused too. Be sure to be back here for your practical exam this afternoon at 1 o’clock.”
Sam and Alex thanked the professor before rushing to Clover who was heading towards the girls’ toilet. Clover sulked in front of the mirror as her blonde bangs fell lazily over her forehead, wet with the stink gas and its nasty odour. Sam and Alex tried to make her feel better.
“Aww, cheer up, Clover, it’s not the end of the world,” Alex said as she patted Clover’s back, wrinkling her nose as the smell shot up into her nostrils. “Mandy sure got her mischief and nastiness to the next level.”
“Not the end of the world?” Clover asked. “This is my hair we’re talking about! My hair is everything! With these stinky golden tresses, I’ll never get any dates for the Spring Season dance next month! My life is ruined! You should’ve let me get at Mandy! This is too much!”
“Relax, Clover,” Sam said, forcing a smile through the thick bad odour of her hair. “I’m sure we’ll get it nice and clean in no time. Let’s try some of the hand-wash solution.”
“What?!” Clover shrieked in horror. “Hand-wash for my hair?? My perfect hair is only tolerable to Silky Smooth Shampoo and Conditioning! You’re asking me to scalp my golden tresses here!!”
“Do you want to clean yourself up so that we can finish our final piece of exam and go to our favourite shopping mall for your Spring Season Dance outfit or not?” Sam was getting irritable at Clover’s whining and complaining over her hair.
Clover had no choice but to oblige. She made a mental note that after the exam, she was going to give herself a decent shower from head to toe before she go anywhere else. As she lowered her head towards the sink and Sam and Alex were about to start squeezing hand-wash solution to wash their girlfriend’s hair, they were suddenly sucked into a large hole opening in the sink and found themselves falling down a long chute.
Needless to say, it’s the girls’ cue to go on one of their missions again.
The girls immediately fall onto the ever familiar cushion of the WOOHPS right in front of the ever familiar head of the org, Jerry. Before getting right down to business, Jerry clicked his fingers and immediately, five ladies in nurse-like uniforms appeared and rushed over to Clover with loads of gadgets in their hands. Before she knew it, Clover’s hair was shampooed, conditioned, massaged, blow-dried and combed back into her perfect self, minus the nasty smell.
“My…My hair! My hair! It…It doesn’t stink anymore! I’m not a human skunk anymore! My beautiful hair is back!” Clover squealed in delight as she marveled in front of the mirror held up by one of the nurse-like ladies. Jerry smiled in satisfaction.
“I had a head start on things. That was a nasty thing for that Mandy friend of yours to do,” Jerry said as he turned on the big screen behind him. “Now let’s get down to business.”
The big screen came into focus and showed the map of the whole world. He clicked on a spot somewhere in the north side of Dakota and it continued to enhance until it showed some sort of a health lab. There were doctors and nurses and attendants and also a few animals which were evidently test subjects. Clover was the first to ask.
“Um, Jerry, why are we looking into this medical lab fest?”
“This is where your mission goes,” Jerry, who was already used to Clover’s outspoken attitude, replied. “This is the Health Research Lab of North Dakota and right now they were trying to experiment with some sort of drug that cures severe depression or such. The people from the Health Research Lab wouldn’t disclose further information about the drug—very hush-hush and all. At about 3 a.m. this morning, someone snuck into the lab and stole the drug somehow. Security was very, very tight and no one can go in or out without a specially designed pass card. They suspect that it might be an inside job.”
“Obviously,” Sam replied. “But such theft should be handled by the police, why are we doing the job?”
“Like I said, this is a very hush-hush business and they would not want some common people who might open their mouths once too many times to tell on them before they have finally done testing the drug and send it out to the market,” Jerry replied solemnly. “We’re the only ones they can trust.”
“Well, that’s what we spies are for!” Alex said, letting out a ‘Peace’ sign.
“Your job is to go to the lab and search for clue, bring in as much hints as you can find to me and get the perpetrator as soon as possible. Now for your gadgets you’ll have,” Jerry clicked on a remote control and out came a table filled with gadgets as usual, and Jerry picked them up one by one and explained, “Shocker lip-balm—perfect if you’re attacked at night in the middle of a dark alley; your usual jetpack backpacks, magneto high-heeled boots, heat-sensor and finger-print scanner sunglasses, laser hair brooch and our latest model TINY TIM.”
“Tiny Tim?” the 3 girls wrinkled their noses. “What the heck is Tiny Tim? Isn’t that a fairytale character or some kind?”
“No,” Jerry said as he clicked another button on the remote control and out came a jet-like sports car. While the girls’ eyes sparkled at the magnificent sparkling steel-blue colour and high-tech built, Jerry explained, “TINY TIM stands for Titanium-Induced Nuclear Yard Thundering Invincible Manoeuvre (made that up ^_^;), a latest technology that can both fly up in the air at 500 miles/hr and drive on land at 100 miles/hr. Auto-drive or auto-pilot available.”
Within minutes in their red, green and yellow spy outfits, our Totally Spies got into TINY TIM and were driving towards North Dakota Health Research Lab.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Damn Cold Night-Chp Finale
CHAPTER FINALE: REBORN
Everyone got off at Cocoyashi Village, the island where Nami stayed and grew up. They have dropped 3 2 1 Jango on another island quite far away from this island—they have no intention to have anything to do with this Michael Jackson wannabe anymore than he did. They hid the ship somewhere secluded just in case Smoker would be out at sea looking for them.
The Cocoyashi residents welcomed Nami back and gave an equally warm welcome to the rest of the crew. Of course, they had to get acquainted with Chopper for it was the first time they saw this member of the Going Merry crew. The village doctor took a look at Luffy’s condition and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“This boy is a real fighter. He may have been revived and being in a coma state for quite a long time, but his new heart is really beating away, since you said that Luffy was stabbed in the heart.”
“Any chance that he would wake up from his coma state?” Sanji asked.
“I can’t give you a conclusive answer. Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be anytime. You can never predict when a coma-stricken person will wake up. It’ll have to depend on his spirit now. Do you wish to leave him here for us to take care or take him home?”
“We’ll take him home and take care of him ourselves,” Zoro said as he carried the sleeping Luffy in his arms and walked out of the clinic.
“We can inform you when he wakes up, and we have the equipment…”
“It’s OK, doc,” Sanji laid a hand on the doctor’s shoulder to stop him from following Zoro, “we can handle it. We would rather get the news first hand.”
The crew walked all the way to Nami’s home at the far end of the village. Nojiko was quite surprised to see them all and even more surprised to see Luffy who was rumoured to be dead in Zoro’s arms. Nojiko’s husband, who happens to be studying a lot about the sea, said, “He may be fed with the self-generating fruit, a.k.a. the Dosu-Dosu fruit.”
“What the heck is that?” Usopp asked, surprised.
“It’s a fruit that can help the eater regenerate him/herself no matter how many wounds are infected on him/her. This fruit could be the fruit of immortality itself!”
“Wow!” Usopp was impressed. “To think we are about to suffer the same fate! We’re going to be immortals!”
“Yeah, but the idea of floating in a container filled with icky green fluid forever doesn’t give a good ring to our immortality,” Chopper said, his eyes half-closed in frustration.
“Whatever he’ll turn out to be, he’s here with us. That’s all that counts,” Zoro replied, stroking Luffy’s face gently. He then turned to his crew members and said, “Come, guys. Let’s get busy. We got a treasure to bury.”
“Let me do it,” Chopper said as he morphed to his battle mode. “The condition that you and Sanji are in is not appropriate to be carrying heavy objects, and as the Going Merry personal physician, I forbid you to do anymore strenuous exercise.”
“We’ll help out too,” Nami and Usopp said in unison.
So, with the help of Nojiko and her husband, the crew carried all the One Piece treasure from the wine cellar of Colonel Smoker’s ship all the way to the lime orchard of the late Bellemere. Nami and her brother-in-law took a shovel each and dug a hole under one of the lime bushes. Sanji and Zoro watched them from the house as they worked, propping the sleeping Luffy on their knees.
“Do you see that, Luffy? We’ve retrieved the One Piece you have been dreaming of for years now,” Zoro said as he stroked Luffy’s hair. “We’ve did it, Luffy. We’ve got back what was meant for you.”
“You are the one true Pirate King,” Sanji said too, as he popped a Gummy chewing gum into his mouth. “Our one true Pirate King.”
“Should we tell him, Sanji?”
“It’s now or never, Zoro. We won’t know when he is ever going to wake up.”
“OK,” Zoro took a deep breath before saying, “Luffy, I know you can somehow hear us, so listen carefully. Do you remember our first night after the wedding?”
“And do you remember the day you said that I could be your lover?” Sanji asked as he, too, stroked Luffy’s hair.
“Before you proposed to me, I have already made plans for anything incoming. I have bought myself some devil fruit from a person who works in some sort of black market. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it.”
“And I swiped some of it from Zoro when he wasn’t looking. It’s called the Piku fruit,” Sanji said. “It makes a person—especially men like us—able to conceive.”
“During our first night,” Zoro continued, “I ate a little of the fruit before we made love.”
“And I ate it too before we made love, Luffy.”
“The fruit took quite some time to take effect, but it actually worked.”
“And guess what, Luffy?”
“We’re pregnant,” Sanji and Zoro said in unison, loud enough for the sleeping Luffy to hear.
“Can you feel anything now, Zoro, Sanji?”
Zoro and Sanji shook their heads. Chopper nodded and took out a scalpel. He also took out two cloths and stuffed them into their mouths.
“Just in case you do feel anything. The effects of the anesthesia are unpredictable. Ready, guys? I’ll start with Zoro first.”
Zoro bit hard on the cloth when he felt the pressure of the scalpel below his round belly. Nine months have passed after the burial of the One Piece in Nami’s lime orchard. Zoro, Chopper and Sanji decided to stay in Cocoyashi Village with Nami while Usopp returned to his island to be with Kaya. They used some of the One Piece to build a home right next to Nami’s old hut, and offered to renovate her hut so that both Nami, her sister and her brother-in-law could live more comfortably. Luffy was kept in a special room upstairs and Zoro and Sanji took turns taking care of Luffy, hoping that one day he would wake up and see his children that they were carrying for him inside them. Nojiko had a son of her own, so she and Chopper teamed up to make sure that Zoro and Sanji took good care of the babies inside them. Now the time has come to let the children out to the world and Chopper was about to perform a C-section for both of them.
“Are you sure you can do this, Chopper?” Nojiko asked worriedly, wiping the cold sweat off both Zoro and Sanji’s head.
“Trust me, ma’am. I can do this.”
The procedure was quite tricky and needed a lot of patience, but finally, after much cutting and prying and wiping off the excess blood, Chopper finally pulled out the baby inside Zoro. He held the baby upside-down and tapped the baby’s back a few times until the baby started wailing, letting air into its lungs. Chopper smiled as he cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to Nojiko to wrap.
“You have a son, Zoro. Congratulations!”
Zoro took the wailing baby in his arms and kissed him tenderly. He wanted to be cool and collected about this whole thing, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t help feeling touched at the sight of his newborn son. He kissed him over and over again, tears of joy flowing out of his eyes.
“Now it’s your turn, Sanji. Hang in there,” Chopper said after sewing up the gaping wound under Zoro’s belly. He laid the tip of the scalpel below Sanji’s round belly and started operating. Lucky for Sanji, the effects of the anesthesia had not worn off yet. The same procedure repeated: the cutting, the prying and the wiping of excess blood. Nojiko put her hand on Sanji’s shoulder, comforting him and telling him to relax. Zoro watched the whole procedure with interest, surprised to see that this was what happened to him before.
Finally, Chopper pulled out the baby inside Sanji. He did the same thing to the baby until it wailed to let the air into its lungs. Chopper cut the umbilical cord and handed it to the ever ready Nojiko. He quickly sewed up the wound while Sanji was occupied at the sight of the baby.
“You have a girl, Sanji. Congrats to you too!”
Sanji didn’t attempt to hold his tears of joy. He let it fall freely out of his eyes as he, too, kissed his daughter over and over again. Emotional kind of guy, but that’s how he is.
“Congratulations, both of you!” Nojiko said happily, clapping her hands with glee. “So, what are you going to name your children?”
“Luffy,” Zoro said almost immediately. “Monkey D. Luffy Junior.”
“I guess I’ll call her by your guardian’s name,” Sanji said. “Monkey D. Bellemere. It has a nice ring to it. If that’s OK with you, Nojiko-san.”
“No problem. No problem at all,” Nojiko smiled outgoingly.
“I have another surprise for you two, Zoro, Sanji,” Chopper said as he winked at the grinning Nojiko. “Nami, come down a second!”
Zoro and Sanji turned their heads weakly to see what he was talking about. Nami appeared—her face was all smiles. She seemed like she was supporting someone who was trying to walk properly. As the mysterious person revealed himself, Zoro and Sanji gasped. He was a little shorter than Nami and was wearing the ever familiar maroon vest and khaki jeans. He had a scar below his left eye and most importantly, he had the straw hat on. He opened his mouth and called out in his ever familiar voice:
“Zoro-chan? Sanji-chan?”
Everyone got off at Cocoyashi Village, the island where Nami stayed and grew up. They have dropped 3 2 1 Jango on another island quite far away from this island—they have no intention to have anything to do with this Michael Jackson wannabe anymore than he did. They hid the ship somewhere secluded just in case Smoker would be out at sea looking for them.
The Cocoyashi residents welcomed Nami back and gave an equally warm welcome to the rest of the crew. Of course, they had to get acquainted with Chopper for it was the first time they saw this member of the Going Merry crew. The village doctor took a look at Luffy’s condition and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“This boy is a real fighter. He may have been revived and being in a coma state for quite a long time, but his new heart is really beating away, since you said that Luffy was stabbed in the heart.”
“Any chance that he would wake up from his coma state?” Sanji asked.
“I can’t give you a conclusive answer. Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be anytime. You can never predict when a coma-stricken person will wake up. It’ll have to depend on his spirit now. Do you wish to leave him here for us to take care or take him home?”
“We’ll take him home and take care of him ourselves,” Zoro said as he carried the sleeping Luffy in his arms and walked out of the clinic.
“We can inform you when he wakes up, and we have the equipment…”
“It’s OK, doc,” Sanji laid a hand on the doctor’s shoulder to stop him from following Zoro, “we can handle it. We would rather get the news first hand.”
The crew walked all the way to Nami’s home at the far end of the village. Nojiko was quite surprised to see them all and even more surprised to see Luffy who was rumoured to be dead in Zoro’s arms. Nojiko’s husband, who happens to be studying a lot about the sea, said, “He may be fed with the self-generating fruit, a.k.a. the Dosu-Dosu fruit.”
“What the heck is that?” Usopp asked, surprised.
“It’s a fruit that can help the eater regenerate him/herself no matter how many wounds are infected on him/her. This fruit could be the fruit of immortality itself!”
“Wow!” Usopp was impressed. “To think we are about to suffer the same fate! We’re going to be immortals!”
“Yeah, but the idea of floating in a container filled with icky green fluid forever doesn’t give a good ring to our immortality,” Chopper said, his eyes half-closed in frustration.
“Whatever he’ll turn out to be, he’s here with us. That’s all that counts,” Zoro replied, stroking Luffy’s face gently. He then turned to his crew members and said, “Come, guys. Let’s get busy. We got a treasure to bury.”
“Let me do it,” Chopper said as he morphed to his battle mode. “The condition that you and Sanji are in is not appropriate to be carrying heavy objects, and as the Going Merry personal physician, I forbid you to do anymore strenuous exercise.”
“We’ll help out too,” Nami and Usopp said in unison.
So, with the help of Nojiko and her husband, the crew carried all the One Piece treasure from the wine cellar of Colonel Smoker’s ship all the way to the lime orchard of the late Bellemere. Nami and her brother-in-law took a shovel each and dug a hole under one of the lime bushes. Sanji and Zoro watched them from the house as they worked, propping the sleeping Luffy on their knees.
“Do you see that, Luffy? We’ve retrieved the One Piece you have been dreaming of for years now,” Zoro said as he stroked Luffy’s hair. “We’ve did it, Luffy. We’ve got back what was meant for you.”
“You are the one true Pirate King,” Sanji said too, as he popped a Gummy chewing gum into his mouth. “Our one true Pirate King.”
“Should we tell him, Sanji?”
“It’s now or never, Zoro. We won’t know when he is ever going to wake up.”
“OK,” Zoro took a deep breath before saying, “Luffy, I know you can somehow hear us, so listen carefully. Do you remember our first night after the wedding?”
“And do you remember the day you said that I could be your lover?” Sanji asked as he, too, stroked Luffy’s hair.
“Before you proposed to me, I have already made plans for anything incoming. I have bought myself some devil fruit from a person who works in some sort of black market. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it.”
“And I swiped some of it from Zoro when he wasn’t looking. It’s called the Piku fruit,” Sanji said. “It makes a person—especially men like us—able to conceive.”
“During our first night,” Zoro continued, “I ate a little of the fruit before we made love.”
“And I ate it too before we made love, Luffy.”
“The fruit took quite some time to take effect, but it actually worked.”
“And guess what, Luffy?”
“We’re pregnant,” Sanji and Zoro said in unison, loud enough for the sleeping Luffy to hear.
“Can you feel anything now, Zoro, Sanji?”
Zoro and Sanji shook their heads. Chopper nodded and took out a scalpel. He also took out two cloths and stuffed them into their mouths.
“Just in case you do feel anything. The effects of the anesthesia are unpredictable. Ready, guys? I’ll start with Zoro first.”
Zoro bit hard on the cloth when he felt the pressure of the scalpel below his round belly. Nine months have passed after the burial of the One Piece in Nami’s lime orchard. Zoro, Chopper and Sanji decided to stay in Cocoyashi Village with Nami while Usopp returned to his island to be with Kaya. They used some of the One Piece to build a home right next to Nami’s old hut, and offered to renovate her hut so that both Nami, her sister and her brother-in-law could live more comfortably. Luffy was kept in a special room upstairs and Zoro and Sanji took turns taking care of Luffy, hoping that one day he would wake up and see his children that they were carrying for him inside them. Nojiko had a son of her own, so she and Chopper teamed up to make sure that Zoro and Sanji took good care of the babies inside them. Now the time has come to let the children out to the world and Chopper was about to perform a C-section for both of them.
“Are you sure you can do this, Chopper?” Nojiko asked worriedly, wiping the cold sweat off both Zoro and Sanji’s head.
“Trust me, ma’am. I can do this.”
The procedure was quite tricky and needed a lot of patience, but finally, after much cutting and prying and wiping off the excess blood, Chopper finally pulled out the baby inside Zoro. He held the baby upside-down and tapped the baby’s back a few times until the baby started wailing, letting air into its lungs. Chopper smiled as he cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to Nojiko to wrap.
“You have a son, Zoro. Congratulations!”
Zoro took the wailing baby in his arms and kissed him tenderly. He wanted to be cool and collected about this whole thing, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t help feeling touched at the sight of his newborn son. He kissed him over and over again, tears of joy flowing out of his eyes.
“Now it’s your turn, Sanji. Hang in there,” Chopper said after sewing up the gaping wound under Zoro’s belly. He laid the tip of the scalpel below Sanji’s round belly and started operating. Lucky for Sanji, the effects of the anesthesia had not worn off yet. The same procedure repeated: the cutting, the prying and the wiping of excess blood. Nojiko put her hand on Sanji’s shoulder, comforting him and telling him to relax. Zoro watched the whole procedure with interest, surprised to see that this was what happened to him before.
Finally, Chopper pulled out the baby inside Sanji. He did the same thing to the baby until it wailed to let the air into its lungs. Chopper cut the umbilical cord and handed it to the ever ready Nojiko. He quickly sewed up the wound while Sanji was occupied at the sight of the baby.
“You have a girl, Sanji. Congrats to you too!”
Sanji didn’t attempt to hold his tears of joy. He let it fall freely out of his eyes as he, too, kissed his daughter over and over again. Emotional kind of guy, but that’s how he is.
“Congratulations, both of you!” Nojiko said happily, clapping her hands with glee. “So, what are you going to name your children?”
“Luffy,” Zoro said almost immediately. “Monkey D. Luffy Junior.”
“I guess I’ll call her by your guardian’s name,” Sanji said. “Monkey D. Bellemere. It has a nice ring to it. If that’s OK with you, Nojiko-san.”
“No problem. No problem at all,” Nojiko smiled outgoingly.
“I have another surprise for you two, Zoro, Sanji,” Chopper said as he winked at the grinning Nojiko. “Nami, come down a second!”
Zoro and Sanji turned their heads weakly to see what he was talking about. Nami appeared—her face was all smiles. She seemed like she was supporting someone who was trying to walk properly. As the mysterious person revealed himself, Zoro and Sanji gasped. He was a little shorter than Nami and was wearing the ever familiar maroon vest and khaki jeans. He had a scar below his left eye and most importantly, he had the straw hat on. He opened his mouth and called out in his ever familiar voice:
“Zoro-chan? Sanji-chan?”
Damn Cold Night-Chp8
CHAPTER 8: ESCAPE
The marine ship sailed across the vast sea for days. The Going Merry crew was not really well fed throughout the journey. Sanji felt the hunger he feared the most (bad memories of starving in the past) and would not give up even one small crumb of bread. Zoro refused to eat at all. He rather starve to death than be sentenced to death and be revived back again for all to see. It was Sanji who spent a whole of effort to persuade him to eat just a little bit. No one else, not even the quick-mouthed Usopp could talk him into it.
“Come on, Zoro, eat up before I take it away from you,” Sanji persuaded.
Zoro made no attempt to touch his food. Sanji sighed and went near his ear.
“Do it for Luffy. Remember that we have something important for him. If we ever get out of this joint, we will be able to give it to him some day.”
Zoro finally reached out for the plate and crammed the food into his mouth. He ate very little, but it’s better than none. Finally, after much travel, the boat reached Logue Island. Everyone got off the ship, including the Going Merry crew who was pretty tied up and walking in one single file. Again, they were taken into custody and locked into another prison, but not as dark as the dungeons in the Marine Force Centre and certainly not as damp and dark as the ship’s cabin.
Late that night, when everyone was pretty much asleep, the Going Merry crew gathered together in a circle for one last conversation.
“Well, mates, nervous about tomorrow?” Sanji started the conversation.
“Who wouldn’t?” Usopp hissed. “We are going to be executed in front of thousands upon thousands of people! I don’t see why I shouldn’t be nervous!”
“Yeah,” Chopper said sadly, “it’s actually our last day to live tonight.”
“Look on the bright side,” Sanji grinned, chewing his last piece of Gummy chewing gum, “at least we’ll be revived again and become a huge celebrity.”
“Not that it’s gonna make me feel any better! I cannot imagine myself become an exhibit item!” Usopp grumbled.
“No one likes to be stared at, even if you’re in a coma state,” Chopper folded his arms.
“Well, do you guys at least have any last wishes?” Nami asked, trying to act strong, as if this execution didn’t give her any emotional effect. “‘Coz I have. I don’t want to say it in front of everybody; it’ll mean nothing to me.”
“I have loads of last wishes!” Usopp stood up and exclaimed, then sat back on the floor and sighed, “But for now, I can only wish that Kaya will forgive me for my blind promise.”
“I wish that Nojiko will continue leading a happy life with her husband at Cocoyashi Village, and continue the lime business,” Nami said, struggling to hold back her tears which were beginning to well up in her eyes. “And I wish Bellemere will be proud of me.”
“Well, I wish that someday, when we are all revived and become exhibits, and are able to get out of this life-supporting cylinder ‘prison’, I will…” Sanji stopped abruptly, then shook his head.
“You’ll what?” Nami asked, brushing the tears off her eyes hastily.
“No. Nothing. I don’t think I have any last wishes.”
“You’re a worse liar than me!” Usopp grinned. “Come on, share with us! Don’t be embarrassed!”
“It’s not something you should know. Zoro and I have been keeping this secret ever since the beginning of this mission.”
“What? Zoro, you too? What is this big secret?” Chopper turned to Zoro, who was silent throughout the whole conversation. Sanji looked at Zoro with questioning eyes. Zoro noticed and considered for a while. Then he nodded reluctantly at Sanji, shifting his eyes to the wall beside him.
“Well…OK, since Zoro approved…after we get out of this joint, I wish that…” Sanji lowered his voice only for the Going Merry crew to hear. The crew was confused at first, but when Sanji whispered an explanation, the crew (except Zoro) toppled onto the floor like a deck of cards.
“No way! No way is this happening!” Nami exclaimed in disbelief.
“You’re a liar! You’re even worst than I am! You’re lying!!” Usopp practically howled the whole place down.
“There is no medical proof that this thing is possible!!” Chopper was in a state of denial.
“Say whatever you want,” Sanji said. “It’s true all the way. Do you think Luffy’s death is the only reason why I stopped smoking?”
Before the crew could question him any further, they heard someone coming in. They almost panicked. It’s not sunrise yet—the sky was still dark and the moon is still high up in the sky. Why did they arrive so early? Was it because the people couldn’t wait to see another great performance like the death sentence of Captain Roger? This wasn’t fair! They didn’t even have a chance to say kind words to each other!
The footsteps came closer and closer. There were two people walking into the prison area. They turned to look and saw that it was the tiny short Cobby and the tall thin Hermeppo. They widened their eyes in surprise.
“Shh! don’t say a word. It’s not easy for us to bribe the prison guard to let us in. We’re here to help,” Cobby whispered enough for the Going Merry crew to hear.
“Help us? Why would you want to help us?” Usopp hissed. “You knew all along that we’re coming here and you arrested us yourself. Why should we trust you?”
“Because Luffy is my friend. I owe him more than my life. She saved me from the clutches of Albida the Beautiful, and he gave me strength to stand on my own two feet. And…as unlikely as it may sound, I believe that…the One Piece should be truly his. I understand what you’re doing for him now. He is, I’m proud to admit, the true Pirate King.”
The crew was so touched that they were at lost of words. Zoro gave Cobby a sideways glance and smirked.
“Now I have a plan. Listen,” Cobby said, gesturing them to come closer. He whispered his scheme to the Going Merry crew before leaving them alone to play their part of the plan.
The dawn has come. The prison guard came in with Colonel Smoker and his marine soldiers and unlocked the cell. The marine soldiers dragged them out of their cell and shoved them out to the open. The Going Merry crew squinted their eyes as they tried to adjust with the morning light.
As they stepped out into the open, they could see almost the whole population of the Logue Island. They were all quite excited about this execution. Luffy really lived up to his name. The crew passed by Cobby and Hermeppo. They nodded at each other secretly. The crew went up slowly to the death sentence stand. Zoro looked around and thought, ‘So this is what the late Captain Roger, Luffy and Shanks saw from up here.’
The Going Merry crew was forced to kneel on the stand, their heads lowered in front of the 5 executioners. Colonel Smoker has just decided to sentence them all to death at the same time to increase the impact on the citizens. Colonel Smoker came up to the Going Merry crew and asked, “Any last words, my dear friends?”
The crew didn’t answer. They have made their last wishes last night, no point saying it out.
“Good. Then let’s get on with the execution,” Smoker said. He turned around to face the citizens and said out loud, “Behold citizens of Logue Island! Here before you are the accomplices of the late most wanted criminal of the entire sea, the would-be followers of the so-called Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy!”
The citizens whispered anxiously, pointing at the Going Merry crew in anxiety and disgust. Looks like Luffy really lived up to his name. Even his partners were an enemy of the people on land. Smoker continued, “These people are charged with multiple counterfeits, a number of injuries inflicted to the public and even murder in the past during their days of sailing with Monkey D. Luffy. They have disappeared for a while after the death of their captain, but nevertheless, we have apprehended them. Their verdict: Guilty! The sentence: Death!”
His announcement brought a cheer to the citizens of Logue Island. Usopp was about to swallow but was given a stern look from Sanji. He shook his head, warning him through eye-contact not to swallow. They waited for Smoker to announce the commencing of the sentence. Then, on Zoro’s signal, they lifted their heads and spit into the executioners’ eyes. They snarled in pain, holding their bleeding eyes as they backed away. The crew shook the stand a little, forcing the executioners to back away further until they actually fall off the stand and to the solid ground below.
The crew stood up quickly and, with a slight tug, broke the ropes that bind their hands. Colonel Smoker was surprised and was about to use his smoke hands to catch them when all of a sudden, Usopp took out a net that was hiding in his overall and threw it at Smoker, entangling him in it.
“What the…?! This net…!! Where did you…” Smoker was too shocked to be able to finish his words.
“That’s right, Smoker!” Usopp said proudly, impressed with his aim. “That’s the net you used to catch criminals that ate devil fruits! Now have a taste of your own medicine!”
“Come on, Usopp!” Zoro said as he ran quickly down the steps from the execution stand. “Stop dilly-dallying! We gotta save Luffy!”
All of Luffy’s crew rushed down to the marine building, fighting their way through as they went. They had to make do with things on the roadside, as their gadgets were confiscated by the marines: Zoro had to grab a butcher’s kitchen knives as substitute swords, Nami had to borrow a Y-pole from a lady who was hanging out the washing, and Usopp had to use eggs instead of bullets to throw it at the chasing marines. And he had to throw it with his own hands, not shoot them from catapults. Only Sanji and Chopper didn’t have to use any gadgets—Sanji had his feet and Chopper only had to morph.
They also had to fight their way into the marine building. It wasn’t easy because some of them were highly trained soldiers, but they managed to get through. Zoro grabbed one of the defeated ones by the collar and hissed, “Where is Monkey D. Luffy?”
“On-On the top floor! The room on the right! Please don’t kill me! I have a family to feed!”
They raced all the way to the top floor. Finally, after much climbing up the stairs, they’ve reached the room the soldier mentioned and burst in. There he was—Luffy—floating peacefully in the cylinder container waiting to be exhibited. They were relieved when they saw that their gadgets were also in the room. The One Piece wasn’t there but that wasn’t the main issue. They had to get out of there as soon as possible with Luffy.
“It’s no use!” Nami complained as she hit the glass of the cylinder over and over again. “This glass is like solid metal! We’ll never get him out of there!”
“Yeah! And do you notice that breathing mask over his face? What if that’s the only life-support he has? What’ll happen when we get him out into the open?” Usopp was worried.
“We’ll just have to risk it,” Sanji said as he raised his foot. “Step aside, guys. Chopper, you ready? On three. 1, 2, 3!”
Sanji concentrated all his energy on his foot and Chopper on his fists. They hit the glass as hard as their body could give it. The glass actually shattered into a hundred pieces, spilling the green fluid allover the crew and the floor. Zoro caught Luffy just in time before his face hits the shards of glass. Unfortunately though, it caused Sanji’s foot and Chopper’s fists some damage. Chopper’s fist bled quite seriously and blood seeped out of Sanji’s shoe. Sanji felt a little bit of pain in his stomach but he kept quiet about it.
“Are you alright?” Nami asked them worriedly.
“We can still hang on,” Chopper groaned. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Zoro was about to pick up Luffy and carry him in his arms when his stomachache acted up again. He fell on his knees and groaned in pain. Nami rushed to his aid and said, “Zoro, are you OK? Let me and Usopp carry Luffy instead.”
“It’s that cramp!” Chopper said. “The first few months…”
“Urusai, Chopper!” Zoro growled as he forced himself to stand up and take on Luffy’s weight in his arms. “Don’t remind me! I know! I can do this! Luffy is my husband and I’m responsible for him!”
“Hey, he’s my lover too,” Sanji said as he struggled to stand properly regardless of his bleeding foot. “I’m also responsible for him!”
“You can try by watching out if the coast is clear and get those bastards out of the way!!” Usopp exclaimed as he pointed at the mob of marine soldiers charging towards them. This time, the Going Merry crew was ready with their gadgets to fight. They fought their way through again, making way for Zoro, who was carrying Luffy painfully in his arms, so that he can run through without many obstacles. They didn’t want to leave so many injured—or possibly, dead—people behind, but this was the only way to make a clear path.
When they went out of the building and into the public, they saw all the citizens of Logue Island fast asleep on the ground, including Colonel Smoker and the soldiers who tried to free him from the net. Everyone was snoring peacefully, except Cobby and Hermeppo. The Going Merry crew was surprised.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone asleep?” Nami asked.
“That’ll be my doing,” a voice said from behind them. They turned around and saw that it was no other than the Michael Jackson wannabe, 3 2 1 Jango!
“What the…what the heck is he doing here?!” Usopp yelled and prepared his bullets to catapult him.
“Saving your butt, you baka!” Cobby said exasperatedly. “It’s a small price I have to pay. I had to let a criminal go in order to persuade him to hypnotize everyone and help you get you out of this joint as peacefully as possible.”
“Besides,” Jango said as he put out a moon-walking dance, “I have a liking for this Monkey D. Luffy. In a way, he did rescue me from the iron fists of Captain Crow. I somehow feel freer than before. Is he really…?”
“He’s still alive and kicking, thank you very much,” Zoro gave him a sideways glare.
“But he’s the accomplice of a very well-known pirate Captain Crow!” Usopp exclaimed, his eyes still showing a trace of distrust to Jango. “Smoker should be well aware about his abilities to prevent himself from being hypnotized by him!”
“He wasn’t hypnotized. He was whacked on the head by me and fainted,” Tashigi’s voice suddenly came from behind. The crew turned, their hearts shrinking at the sight of the colonel’s right-hand man (or woman). Tashigi adjusted her glasses, ignoring their horrified stares.
“Don’t worry, guys,” Cobby said reassuringly, “she’s with us.”
“I don’t know why I listened to you, Cobby. You’re asking me to break the biggest rule in the marine book and release a bunch of potential and deadly criminal of the sea.”
“Then why did you want to help us?” Sanji asked, grinning.
“Because I let my pathetic conscience take over me! I don’t want to admit it, but I noticed the…good side of Luffy when we had our last encounter. I…I even saw the whole thing when Shanks stabbed Luffy. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him…” Tashigi slapped her forehead and groaned, “What am I saying? I’m actually feeling sorry for the world’s greatest, most dangerous pirate in the whole sea!”
“Isn’t it why you feel sorry for him? Because you admire him as the greatest pirate and your greatest nemesis?” Zoro said, his arms carrying the slumping Luffy. Tashigi huffed and looked away.
“Don’t you even get me started!”
“You better hurry and leave now,” Cobby said, looking around the silent area. “The effects of the hypnotism won’t last very long. You too, Jango, get out of here.”
“With pleasure,” Jango grinned, then put out another Michael Jackson pose at the Going Merry crew. “Yo, guys. Mind if I take a ride on your ship? You can just drop me off at any faraway island.”
“We couldn’t get you back the Going Merry boat—we scouted the area as Miss Tashigi ordered and destroyed it. Sunimase. But we can give you Colonel Smoker’s personal ship. That’ll do OK, for now.” Cobby wished that Smoker would not kill him for this.
“Arigatogozaimasu, Cobby,” Zoro smirked, “but how are you going to explain this to Smoker?”
All of a sudden, Tashigi took out her sword and slashed her arms. She also did a few slashes on her legs and finally she stabbed her abdomen. Nowhere lethal, though, thank goodness. The crew was shocked at her sudden actions.
“You escaped and took the criminal Luffy with you,” Tashigi was struggling quite hard to stand properly with the stab wound on her. “Then you freed and ordered Jango to hypnotize everyone to sleep. One of you came from behind and attacked Smoker to knock him out cold. We were the only ones to prevent ourselves from being hypnotized.”
Cobby also used his dagger and slashed himself and Hermeppo (which surprised and pained him a lot) and smother some dirt on himself before saying, “We fought really hard but were unable to take you down. You escaped successfully. You have defeated us.”
“If Smoker was to ask about how you escaped from the ropes, I’ll say I gave him the wrong ropes to tie,” Hermeppo also joined in the excuse-making, after giving a hard, annoyed punch at Cobby’s face. He, too, smothered some dirt on himself.
“Now go! Before I change my mind!!” Tashigi yelled before falling down to the floor, gasping for breath. “GO!!”
“Arigato,” the crew said before rushing towards Colonel Smoker’s ship.
The Going Merry crew hid low out of sight until they were miles and miles away from Logue Island. After making sure that their ship was really in the middle of the vast sea, then they eased a little and tend to their problems. Chopper quickly nursed Sanji and himself of the wounds inflicted on them. After much bandaging and stuff, Sanji moved to the kitchen and made honey-milk for both Zoro and himself. Nami, Usopp and Chopper quickly moved Luffy to the bedroom in Colonel Smoker’s ship. Jango helped out a little by scouting the area to see if Smoker and his soldiers came after them.
So far, so good. No one’s chasing them at the moment.
“What a waste,” Sanji said as he sipped his honey-milk. “To think we broke our backs and risked our lives to come this far, yet we still couldn’t get our hands on the One Piece for Luffy as we vowed to.”
“At least we got back our Luffy,” Zoro said, smiling a little. “That’s enough for me for now. We can get the One Piece another day.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary!” Nami said cheerfully as she came from behind them and clapped their backs. “Come and take a look, guys!”
Sanji and Zoro followed her curiously. They were even curious when Chopper, Usopp and even Jango were in all smiles. Nami gestured them to enter the wine cellar under the boat.
At upon seeing the glittering gold, the crew and Jango cheered like mad.
The marine ship sailed across the vast sea for days. The Going Merry crew was not really well fed throughout the journey. Sanji felt the hunger he feared the most (bad memories of starving in the past) and would not give up even one small crumb of bread. Zoro refused to eat at all. He rather starve to death than be sentenced to death and be revived back again for all to see. It was Sanji who spent a whole of effort to persuade him to eat just a little bit. No one else, not even the quick-mouthed Usopp could talk him into it.
“Come on, Zoro, eat up before I take it away from you,” Sanji persuaded.
Zoro made no attempt to touch his food. Sanji sighed and went near his ear.
“Do it for Luffy. Remember that we have something important for him. If we ever get out of this joint, we will be able to give it to him some day.”
Zoro finally reached out for the plate and crammed the food into his mouth. He ate very little, but it’s better than none. Finally, after much travel, the boat reached Logue Island. Everyone got off the ship, including the Going Merry crew who was pretty tied up and walking in one single file. Again, they were taken into custody and locked into another prison, but not as dark as the dungeons in the Marine Force Centre and certainly not as damp and dark as the ship’s cabin.
Late that night, when everyone was pretty much asleep, the Going Merry crew gathered together in a circle for one last conversation.
“Well, mates, nervous about tomorrow?” Sanji started the conversation.
“Who wouldn’t?” Usopp hissed. “We are going to be executed in front of thousands upon thousands of people! I don’t see why I shouldn’t be nervous!”
“Yeah,” Chopper said sadly, “it’s actually our last day to live tonight.”
“Look on the bright side,” Sanji grinned, chewing his last piece of Gummy chewing gum, “at least we’ll be revived again and become a huge celebrity.”
“Not that it’s gonna make me feel any better! I cannot imagine myself become an exhibit item!” Usopp grumbled.
“No one likes to be stared at, even if you’re in a coma state,” Chopper folded his arms.
“Well, do you guys at least have any last wishes?” Nami asked, trying to act strong, as if this execution didn’t give her any emotional effect. “‘Coz I have. I don’t want to say it in front of everybody; it’ll mean nothing to me.”
“I have loads of last wishes!” Usopp stood up and exclaimed, then sat back on the floor and sighed, “But for now, I can only wish that Kaya will forgive me for my blind promise.”
“I wish that Nojiko will continue leading a happy life with her husband at Cocoyashi Village, and continue the lime business,” Nami said, struggling to hold back her tears which were beginning to well up in her eyes. “And I wish Bellemere will be proud of me.”
“Well, I wish that someday, when we are all revived and become exhibits, and are able to get out of this life-supporting cylinder ‘prison’, I will…” Sanji stopped abruptly, then shook his head.
“You’ll what?” Nami asked, brushing the tears off her eyes hastily.
“No. Nothing. I don’t think I have any last wishes.”
“You’re a worse liar than me!” Usopp grinned. “Come on, share with us! Don’t be embarrassed!”
“It’s not something you should know. Zoro and I have been keeping this secret ever since the beginning of this mission.”
“What? Zoro, you too? What is this big secret?” Chopper turned to Zoro, who was silent throughout the whole conversation. Sanji looked at Zoro with questioning eyes. Zoro noticed and considered for a while. Then he nodded reluctantly at Sanji, shifting his eyes to the wall beside him.
“Well…OK, since Zoro approved…after we get out of this joint, I wish that…” Sanji lowered his voice only for the Going Merry crew to hear. The crew was confused at first, but when Sanji whispered an explanation, the crew (except Zoro) toppled onto the floor like a deck of cards.
“No way! No way is this happening!” Nami exclaimed in disbelief.
“You’re a liar! You’re even worst than I am! You’re lying!!” Usopp practically howled the whole place down.
“There is no medical proof that this thing is possible!!” Chopper was in a state of denial.
“Say whatever you want,” Sanji said. “It’s true all the way. Do you think Luffy’s death is the only reason why I stopped smoking?”
Before the crew could question him any further, they heard someone coming in. They almost panicked. It’s not sunrise yet—the sky was still dark and the moon is still high up in the sky. Why did they arrive so early? Was it because the people couldn’t wait to see another great performance like the death sentence of Captain Roger? This wasn’t fair! They didn’t even have a chance to say kind words to each other!
The footsteps came closer and closer. There were two people walking into the prison area. They turned to look and saw that it was the tiny short Cobby and the tall thin Hermeppo. They widened their eyes in surprise.
“Shh! don’t say a word. It’s not easy for us to bribe the prison guard to let us in. We’re here to help,” Cobby whispered enough for the Going Merry crew to hear.
“Help us? Why would you want to help us?” Usopp hissed. “You knew all along that we’re coming here and you arrested us yourself. Why should we trust you?”
“Because Luffy is my friend. I owe him more than my life. She saved me from the clutches of Albida the Beautiful, and he gave me strength to stand on my own two feet. And…as unlikely as it may sound, I believe that…the One Piece should be truly his. I understand what you’re doing for him now. He is, I’m proud to admit, the true Pirate King.”
The crew was so touched that they were at lost of words. Zoro gave Cobby a sideways glance and smirked.
“Now I have a plan. Listen,” Cobby said, gesturing them to come closer. He whispered his scheme to the Going Merry crew before leaving them alone to play their part of the plan.
The dawn has come. The prison guard came in with Colonel Smoker and his marine soldiers and unlocked the cell. The marine soldiers dragged them out of their cell and shoved them out to the open. The Going Merry crew squinted their eyes as they tried to adjust with the morning light.
As they stepped out into the open, they could see almost the whole population of the Logue Island. They were all quite excited about this execution. Luffy really lived up to his name. The crew passed by Cobby and Hermeppo. They nodded at each other secretly. The crew went up slowly to the death sentence stand. Zoro looked around and thought, ‘So this is what the late Captain Roger, Luffy and Shanks saw from up here.’
The Going Merry crew was forced to kneel on the stand, their heads lowered in front of the 5 executioners. Colonel Smoker has just decided to sentence them all to death at the same time to increase the impact on the citizens. Colonel Smoker came up to the Going Merry crew and asked, “Any last words, my dear friends?”
The crew didn’t answer. They have made their last wishes last night, no point saying it out.
“Good. Then let’s get on with the execution,” Smoker said. He turned around to face the citizens and said out loud, “Behold citizens of Logue Island! Here before you are the accomplices of the late most wanted criminal of the entire sea, the would-be followers of the so-called Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy!”
The citizens whispered anxiously, pointing at the Going Merry crew in anxiety and disgust. Looks like Luffy really lived up to his name. Even his partners were an enemy of the people on land. Smoker continued, “These people are charged with multiple counterfeits, a number of injuries inflicted to the public and even murder in the past during their days of sailing with Monkey D. Luffy. They have disappeared for a while after the death of their captain, but nevertheless, we have apprehended them. Their verdict: Guilty! The sentence: Death!”
His announcement brought a cheer to the citizens of Logue Island. Usopp was about to swallow but was given a stern look from Sanji. He shook his head, warning him through eye-contact not to swallow. They waited for Smoker to announce the commencing of the sentence. Then, on Zoro’s signal, they lifted their heads and spit into the executioners’ eyes. They snarled in pain, holding their bleeding eyes as they backed away. The crew shook the stand a little, forcing the executioners to back away further until they actually fall off the stand and to the solid ground below.
The crew stood up quickly and, with a slight tug, broke the ropes that bind their hands. Colonel Smoker was surprised and was about to use his smoke hands to catch them when all of a sudden, Usopp took out a net that was hiding in his overall and threw it at Smoker, entangling him in it.
“What the…?! This net…!! Where did you…” Smoker was too shocked to be able to finish his words.
“That’s right, Smoker!” Usopp said proudly, impressed with his aim. “That’s the net you used to catch criminals that ate devil fruits! Now have a taste of your own medicine!”
“Come on, Usopp!” Zoro said as he ran quickly down the steps from the execution stand. “Stop dilly-dallying! We gotta save Luffy!”
All of Luffy’s crew rushed down to the marine building, fighting their way through as they went. They had to make do with things on the roadside, as their gadgets were confiscated by the marines: Zoro had to grab a butcher’s kitchen knives as substitute swords, Nami had to borrow a Y-pole from a lady who was hanging out the washing, and Usopp had to use eggs instead of bullets to throw it at the chasing marines. And he had to throw it with his own hands, not shoot them from catapults. Only Sanji and Chopper didn’t have to use any gadgets—Sanji had his feet and Chopper only had to morph.
They also had to fight their way into the marine building. It wasn’t easy because some of them were highly trained soldiers, but they managed to get through. Zoro grabbed one of the defeated ones by the collar and hissed, “Where is Monkey D. Luffy?”
“On-On the top floor! The room on the right! Please don’t kill me! I have a family to feed!”
They raced all the way to the top floor. Finally, after much climbing up the stairs, they’ve reached the room the soldier mentioned and burst in. There he was—Luffy—floating peacefully in the cylinder container waiting to be exhibited. They were relieved when they saw that their gadgets were also in the room. The One Piece wasn’t there but that wasn’t the main issue. They had to get out of there as soon as possible with Luffy.
“It’s no use!” Nami complained as she hit the glass of the cylinder over and over again. “This glass is like solid metal! We’ll never get him out of there!”
“Yeah! And do you notice that breathing mask over his face? What if that’s the only life-support he has? What’ll happen when we get him out into the open?” Usopp was worried.
“We’ll just have to risk it,” Sanji said as he raised his foot. “Step aside, guys. Chopper, you ready? On three. 1, 2, 3!”
Sanji concentrated all his energy on his foot and Chopper on his fists. They hit the glass as hard as their body could give it. The glass actually shattered into a hundred pieces, spilling the green fluid allover the crew and the floor. Zoro caught Luffy just in time before his face hits the shards of glass. Unfortunately though, it caused Sanji’s foot and Chopper’s fists some damage. Chopper’s fist bled quite seriously and blood seeped out of Sanji’s shoe. Sanji felt a little bit of pain in his stomach but he kept quiet about it.
“Are you alright?” Nami asked them worriedly.
“We can still hang on,” Chopper groaned. “Come on, let’s get out of here!”
Zoro was about to pick up Luffy and carry him in his arms when his stomachache acted up again. He fell on his knees and groaned in pain. Nami rushed to his aid and said, “Zoro, are you OK? Let me and Usopp carry Luffy instead.”
“It’s that cramp!” Chopper said. “The first few months…”
“Urusai, Chopper!” Zoro growled as he forced himself to stand up and take on Luffy’s weight in his arms. “Don’t remind me! I know! I can do this! Luffy is my husband and I’m responsible for him!”
“Hey, he’s my lover too,” Sanji said as he struggled to stand properly regardless of his bleeding foot. “I’m also responsible for him!”
“You can try by watching out if the coast is clear and get those bastards out of the way!!” Usopp exclaimed as he pointed at the mob of marine soldiers charging towards them. This time, the Going Merry crew was ready with their gadgets to fight. They fought their way through again, making way for Zoro, who was carrying Luffy painfully in his arms, so that he can run through without many obstacles. They didn’t want to leave so many injured—or possibly, dead—people behind, but this was the only way to make a clear path.
When they went out of the building and into the public, they saw all the citizens of Logue Island fast asleep on the ground, including Colonel Smoker and the soldiers who tried to free him from the net. Everyone was snoring peacefully, except Cobby and Hermeppo. The Going Merry crew was surprised.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone asleep?” Nami asked.
“That’ll be my doing,” a voice said from behind them. They turned around and saw that it was no other than the Michael Jackson wannabe, 3 2 1 Jango!
“What the…what the heck is he doing here?!” Usopp yelled and prepared his bullets to catapult him.
“Saving your butt, you baka!” Cobby said exasperatedly. “It’s a small price I have to pay. I had to let a criminal go in order to persuade him to hypnotize everyone and help you get you out of this joint as peacefully as possible.”
“Besides,” Jango said as he put out a moon-walking dance, “I have a liking for this Monkey D. Luffy. In a way, he did rescue me from the iron fists of Captain Crow. I somehow feel freer than before. Is he really…?”
“He’s still alive and kicking, thank you very much,” Zoro gave him a sideways glare.
“But he’s the accomplice of a very well-known pirate Captain Crow!” Usopp exclaimed, his eyes still showing a trace of distrust to Jango. “Smoker should be well aware about his abilities to prevent himself from being hypnotized by him!”
“He wasn’t hypnotized. He was whacked on the head by me and fainted,” Tashigi’s voice suddenly came from behind. The crew turned, their hearts shrinking at the sight of the colonel’s right-hand man (or woman). Tashigi adjusted her glasses, ignoring their horrified stares.
“Don’t worry, guys,” Cobby said reassuringly, “she’s with us.”
“I don’t know why I listened to you, Cobby. You’re asking me to break the biggest rule in the marine book and release a bunch of potential and deadly criminal of the sea.”
“Then why did you want to help us?” Sanji asked, grinning.
“Because I let my pathetic conscience take over me! I don’t want to admit it, but I noticed the…good side of Luffy when we had our last encounter. I…I even saw the whole thing when Shanks stabbed Luffy. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him…” Tashigi slapped her forehead and groaned, “What am I saying? I’m actually feeling sorry for the world’s greatest, most dangerous pirate in the whole sea!”
“Isn’t it why you feel sorry for him? Because you admire him as the greatest pirate and your greatest nemesis?” Zoro said, his arms carrying the slumping Luffy. Tashigi huffed and looked away.
“Don’t you even get me started!”
“You better hurry and leave now,” Cobby said, looking around the silent area. “The effects of the hypnotism won’t last very long. You too, Jango, get out of here.”
“With pleasure,” Jango grinned, then put out another Michael Jackson pose at the Going Merry crew. “Yo, guys. Mind if I take a ride on your ship? You can just drop me off at any faraway island.”
“We couldn’t get you back the Going Merry boat—we scouted the area as Miss Tashigi ordered and destroyed it. Sunimase. But we can give you Colonel Smoker’s personal ship. That’ll do OK, for now.” Cobby wished that Smoker would not kill him for this.
“Arigatogozaimasu, Cobby,” Zoro smirked, “but how are you going to explain this to Smoker?”
All of a sudden, Tashigi took out her sword and slashed her arms. She also did a few slashes on her legs and finally she stabbed her abdomen. Nowhere lethal, though, thank goodness. The crew was shocked at her sudden actions.
“You escaped and took the criminal Luffy with you,” Tashigi was struggling quite hard to stand properly with the stab wound on her. “Then you freed and ordered Jango to hypnotize everyone to sleep. One of you came from behind and attacked Smoker to knock him out cold. We were the only ones to prevent ourselves from being hypnotized.”
Cobby also used his dagger and slashed himself and Hermeppo (which surprised and pained him a lot) and smother some dirt on himself before saying, “We fought really hard but were unable to take you down. You escaped successfully. You have defeated us.”
“If Smoker was to ask about how you escaped from the ropes, I’ll say I gave him the wrong ropes to tie,” Hermeppo also joined in the excuse-making, after giving a hard, annoyed punch at Cobby’s face. He, too, smothered some dirt on himself.
“Now go! Before I change my mind!!” Tashigi yelled before falling down to the floor, gasping for breath. “GO!!”
“Arigato,” the crew said before rushing towards Colonel Smoker’s ship.
The Going Merry crew hid low out of sight until they were miles and miles away from Logue Island. After making sure that their ship was really in the middle of the vast sea, then they eased a little and tend to their problems. Chopper quickly nursed Sanji and himself of the wounds inflicted on them. After much bandaging and stuff, Sanji moved to the kitchen and made honey-milk for both Zoro and himself. Nami, Usopp and Chopper quickly moved Luffy to the bedroom in Colonel Smoker’s ship. Jango helped out a little by scouting the area to see if Smoker and his soldiers came after them.
So far, so good. No one’s chasing them at the moment.
“What a waste,” Sanji said as he sipped his honey-milk. “To think we broke our backs and risked our lives to come this far, yet we still couldn’t get our hands on the One Piece for Luffy as we vowed to.”
“At least we got back our Luffy,” Zoro said, smiling a little. “That’s enough for me for now. We can get the One Piece another day.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary!” Nami said cheerfully as she came from behind them and clapped their backs. “Come and take a look, guys!”
Sanji and Zoro followed her curiously. They were even curious when Chopper, Usopp and even Jango were in all smiles. Nami gestured them to enter the wine cellar under the boat.
At upon seeing the glittering gold, the crew and Jango cheered like mad.
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