Chapter 2

WOOHP Headquarters, Beneath Los Angeles

There was something peculiar about Sam, Clover, and Alex.  It was something so dangerous to have known by the wrong person that they all tried their hardest to avoid spilling the information (Alex had almost let word of it slip previously that very morning).  They were, in fact, agents of the World Organization of Helping People, commonly abbreviated as WOOHP.

The spies were now hurtling at breakneck speeds through a series of tunnels that would soon take them to the office of their boss, Jerry Lewis.  A British man in his 60s, Jerry has given the spies their missions ever since they joined WOOHP a couple of years before.  Through all the contact they've had with each other, he was seen as a sort of father to the girls.

His office, in an undisclosed location under the surface of Los Angeles, had the letters 'WOOHP' sculpted on the far wall.  The second 'O' opened down to the ground, revealing a couch-like mat and the opening of a tunnel.  Within moments of the tunnel opening, the three spies shot out of the exit and landed on the round couch.  After extricating themselves from the dogpile their bodies formed upon landing, they sat on the edge of the couch and looked around Jerry's office.

Something was not right about the state of his office, however.  The giant computer display behind his desk was gone, and numerous boxes were piled up along the left side of the room.  Sam was about to ask what was going on, but before she could open her mouth, Jerry's revolving chair swiveled around to face them.  But it was not Jerry who would answer her question.

The man now in Jerry's seat was an African-American man, not nearly as old as Jerry but not too old either.  Like Jerry, however, his long head was almost completely bald -- or just shaved, the girls weren't quite sure.  Allaying their worries, the man told them, "Welcome, spies.  I understand your fear and uncertainty, but you have no need to fear.  Trust me when I say that you and the rest of WOOHP are in good hands.  But you don't need to take my word for it."  He motioned his hand over to the boxes blocking part of the left-hand entrance, and who should come into the room, but Jerry himself.

Jerry immediately greeted and waved to the spies, then instantly went to explaining the current situation.  "Good day, girls.  Now, you're obviously curious about our current situation--"

"No duh," interjected Clover.

"--But there's something else you should know, so I shall start at the beginning of it all.  We -- by which I mean our organization, WOOHP -- have just recently been annexed by the Delta Defense Alliance."

"And just what is the Delta Defense Alliance, exactly?" the other man asked hypothetically.  "Well, in all honesty, we serve a purpose similar to WOOHP.  The DDA is a place where all the major powers of the world contribute intelligence that can be used to prevent danger and preserve peace for the whole world.  We've just been doing it for longer -- we were set up in the years after World War II -- and on a larger scale.  And, by the way, I am the top man of the DDA.  You are to address me as Director 3. That goes for you too, Jerry.  Everyone, is that clear?"

The girls merely nodded, but Jerry had a question for Director 3.  "If you'd pardon me asking, can you tell us what the '3' means?  Or is it another classified part of your secret identity?"  It was clear that he was having a little fun asking this.

"As a matter of fact, Jerry and everyone, I am the third person to hold my position since the DDA was founded.  I assumed the post only a couple of years ago, actually.

"So let's back up for a while and explain why we came and annexed WOOHP in the first place.  There's something we at the DDA have been dealing with for years; in fact, it's part of the reason we were created.  You'll have to believe me when I say this, but we are fighting a war... against psychics."

At this point, Director 3 expected one of two things to happen.  Either the spies would be speechless, or they would be abuzz with statements of disbelief.  The former happened first, for only a moment or two, before the silence broke down.  Alex laughed and laughed, while Clover jested, "So what, like, fortune tellers are taking over the world nowadays?"

Equally shocked, Sam asked, "Whoa, whoa, psychics are real?  What kinds of stuff can they do, anyway?"

Director 3 interlocked his hands underneath his chin and answered, "More than you could imagine, Sam, and more than I could explain in detail.  Basically, when they said 'you can do anything you set your mind to', with psychics, they mean it literally.  We're talking using only one's mind to move objects, control the elements, teleport, and yes, Clover, a little bit or fortune telling, too.  Now, granted, there are very, very few psychics in the population of the world, and a huge majority of them are just regular people, only gifted.  But once a psychic goes bad, he or she becomes pretty much the most dangerous adversary you could ever face.

"In fact, there's this one body of psychic terrorists founded shortly after the end of World War II, the Omega Order.  In fact, the Order is part of the reason why the DDA was created.  They believe in eliminating all non-psychics, or mortals as they call us, in order to become the pre-dominant... race, if you can call them that.  Even though the Order has been quiet for quite some time, its leader, Morgana Rubanenko, is still at large.  Here to inform you all of her identity is one of our top agents, mister Jacob Langley."

The next person to enter Jerry's office was a younger man, in his mid-twenties.  He had a shaggy mop of brown hair and, as the girls noticed immediately, was quite handsome.  "Good day, ladies," he spoke to them.  "I am Jake Langley, and...  I read your dossiers but I'm having a little trouble, see, I'm getting you all mixed up now.  Care to introduce yourselves, one at a time?"

"I'm Sam..."

"...Clover..."

"..And Alex, the luckiest girl in Beverly Hills!  I mean, I just met two totally hot guys in a row!  You, and that contortionist guy up at--"

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Claude Duchamp, would you?"

"Claude?  Oh, yeah, that was him."

"Right.  See, we're... real close.  That's all I can say.  And it's not what you think.  But enough about that.  Delta needs your help in monitoring Morgana Rubanenko.  We have confirmation that she is currently in the Los Angeles area.  And based on where we... extracted you from, I have a feeling you might have seen her already."

Jake tapped around a bit on a tablet computer he was holding, and then handed it to the girls.  The computer showed photographs of a young woman with long black hair and a seemingly sweet, yet commanding, expression on her face.  Sam gasped when she realized who this woman was.  "You're right, I have seen her...  Alex, you're not going to like this, but..."

Alex understood what Sam was going to say before she finished her thought.  "Yeah, she was with Claude...  I can't believe it, so cute and now he's our enemy..."

Tears started to form in the corners of Alex's eyes.  Sensing her oncoming depression, Jake put a hand on her shoulder and told her, "Now, now, just because you saw them together doesn't necessarily mean he's with them.  Yes, it's likely, but for all we know, maybe he's just using her for our cause!

"So, anyway..."  Jake clapped his hands together as he gathered his thoughts.  "Your mission is to observe Morgana -- and this has to do with Claude, so you'll be seeing more of him Alex, don't worry.  First of all, when you first, did you hear about the contortion classes he's holding over the next few weeks?"

Sam fielded the answer promptly.  "Yes.  In fact, we got flyers for it -- handed to us by none other than Morgana herself."

"Really... well, then I guess you'll be seeing more of her, too!  Which is good, for the mission, I mean."

Director 3 took over in explaining the details of the mission.  "Should you accept this mission, we will sign you up for that class of his.  If Morgana is present at the meetings, you are to spy on her.  Learn if she's planning anything with the Omega Order, and what her relationship with Claude is, if there is anything going on between them.  Otherwise, question Claude and find out everything he knows about her.  If he doesn't know who exactly she is, the least you can do is inform him of the bad news."

"Actually, he and Morgana have met in the past," Jake interjected.  "Before she went evil.  But I don't think they've seen each other since.  As a matter of fact, I don't see him often anymore either.

"Now, before you accept this mission, I should let you know something.  Contortion is not exactly for the faint of heart, I'm sure you could guess.  You try to bite off more than you could chew, and you could pull a muscle or something and remain out of commission for weeks.  That said, you're not going to have to practice it at nearly the level Claude's at -- he's really good, you've seen him, right? -- and he'll show you all the proper stretching techniques to ease you into the harder moves.  So, you think you're up to the challenge?  And I want to hear from all three of you."

Despite having taken a blow to her confidence, Alex was the first answer, telling Jake, "Okay, I'll do it.  I am not giving up on Claude."

"Very well, but we're not giving you this mission just so you can get back with him.  I expect you to carry it out professionally, is that clear?"

This order seemed to snap her back into the real world.  "Yes, Jake, I can," she answered seriously.

"I'm in," Sam agreed.  "Looks like my instincts are right about that Morgana girl.  So Clover, are you in or out?"

After taking just a moment to consider, Clover answered, "Sure, I'll do it!  Like, call me crazy, but contortion sounds like a lot of fun!"

"And I'm sure it will be, for all of you!" encouraged Jake.

Sam raised her hand to interrupt him.  "Excuse me, but what about gadgets?"  To Director 3, she explained, "Jerry always gives us gadgets before he sends us out on our missions, so I was wondering what we'd be getting.  I mean, what could you give us that would help us in a contortion class?" she added with sarcasm.

Assuming the question was directed at him, Jerry answered first.  "It's not that you should be worried about.  But the selection we do have for you has been tailored largely towards infiltration."  He opened a briefcase and pointed out different objects, each in sets of three.  "Here is your Laser Lipsticks, Suction Cup-Bottomed Gogo Boots, Multi-Function Charm Bracelets, and this..."  He picked up a small case in the shape of two connected circles and flipped it open.  "These are the Anti-Hypnosis Contact Lenses, something new we've developed with the help of Delta.  They will block out the suggestive frequencies accompanying any psychic-based hypnosis signal."

"These will certainly be of great help for you," Director 3 added, "but you must always bear in mind that it is incredibly dangerous to fight a psychic, for reasons we've already mentioned.  Therefore, whenever possible, do not engage any psychics."

"Yuh-huh," added Jake.  "Leave that to the professionals."

"And you wouldn't happen to be said professional, would you?" Sam asked him.

"Yes, Sam.  As a matter of fact, I am licensed to kill, on a mission-to-mission basis as assigned by Director 3.  But for this mission, I'm strictly here for clean-up.  If you three find out that Morgana's up to something serious, I'm the one you need to call.  Oh, and Director 3 or Jerry."

Standing up, Sam responded, "Will do, Jake."  She held his hand and softly added, "And speaking of clean-up, what do you say we get together after the mission and go somewhere for--"

Holding up his free hand, Jake kindly objected, "Thanks, but I'm too old for you."

"And how old would that be?  Or is that classified--"

"Twenty-five."

"Meh, that's okay.  Other fish in the sea, right?"  Sighing, Sam came over to Jerry, followed by Clover and Alex, and together they picked up their gadgets from Jerry.  All that was left for Sam was to ask, "Anything else, Jerry?  Director?"

"No, spies," Director 3 answered.  "You are dismissed.  It was a pleasure to meet you all.  Best of luck in everything."

Getting up from his seat, Jerry went over behind his desk to quietly ask Director 3, "Pardon me, but shall I let out our guests?"  Director 3 nodded, and Jerry pushed a button on the underside of his desk.  Immediately, a trapdoor opened underneath the spies, dropping them back into the series of tunnels from whence they came.

This action seemed to have left a bad impression on Director 3.  "Do you always have to take them out like that?"

Jerry shrugged and said, "Uh, it gets them out quicker.  Time is of the essence when there's a mission to be done, am I right?"