inSPYrd Chapter 1

A/N: Still working on the next chapter of Non Serviam, here's a little pallet cleanser

Chapter 1: It Starts With a Bang

I smashed the glass case with a rock and the alarms started to blare.

“Stupid spy movie alarms.” I hit the case again. “Red spinning lights, sirens, what are you even for?”

The alarms didn’t answer.

For my part, I brushed away the rest of the glass to finally get at prospective power up number 42. Yep, you heard that right, audience. It took Taylor Hebert less than a month to revert back to crime after Contessa dumped me in this bizzarro world. I’d seen high school girls getting kidnapped in broad daylight, a giant laser blimp menace the city, and what I swore was an ICBM take off from inside a sky scrapper, before pausing mid air to reorient like something out of a bad cartoon. Worst of all, local ordinance about homeless camps was worse than we’d had back on Bet.

I wanted out. I wanted to go home, back to my friends, if any of them were still alive. To get there, I just needed a little bit of juice.

From inside the museum’s display case, I pulled a set of five rings and a bracelet connected by intricately woven gold chains. The sign called it the ‘Gauntlet of Khepri’. Here’s hoping.

“Right-handed, of course.” I struggled with the rings, managing to slip one over my finger. “Do you think Khepri will care if I put it on upside down?” I blew out a frustrated breath. If you couldn’t tell, I was at the end of my rope here. I really needed this random artifact to be the one blessed with ancient power, because I’d run out of escape plans two heists ago, and my sanity was quickly following.

Finally, I managed to get the filigreed bangle over my wrist by leaning onto the case. The chains let the golden sigil of a scarab pushing the sun fall directly into my palm, and I could see my own reflection in the burnished gold.

I took a deep breath, and then held my hand out, palm up. Nothing happened.

“Come on!” With a grunt, I shoved my hand away to shake the stupid thing off, before a golden beam of light erupted from the scarab and crashed into the far wall of the display room.

I jerked back in surprise, tilting the scarab towards myself yet again, before my brain caught up with that action. I took a breath, before pushing my hand out yet again. Once more a golden laser shot out of my hand, smashing into the far wall with physical force. I could feel the heat from across the room as it melted the marble façade to slag before quickly cutting through to the next room, then the next, then the next.

I lowered my hand a few seconds later, panting, to see that I’d carved a tunnel all the way through to the outside…at the opposite end of the museum that I’d started on.

I felt a pang in my chest at the damage; who knows what displays I’d hit, what artifacts that might have just been melted to slag. It would all be worth it, if I could just get back to my Earth. I clenched a fist around the gauntlet of Khepri. Now I just had to get out of here before the cops arrived.

“It’s a long road home, Taylor,” I murmured. “Better start running.”

 ~  ~ *

Sam was late for a history quiz when the lockers ate her.

Two steps away from the door to Miss Burns’s class, and the whole wall of lockers just opened up like something out of a bad horror movie and swallowed her down a metal chute that really had no business being in her school. A few seconds later, and the chute spit her out onto a pile of sand in the middle of a brightly lit room.

“Gosh dang it.” Sam jumped up, desperately trying to get the sand off before it slipped into her clothes. “Didn’t I tell you to stop WOOHPing me from school, Jerry?”

A screen set in the far wall lit up, revealing a sharply-dressed British man. “And I believe you also said, ‘when the world needs me, I’ll be there’, didn’t you, Samantha?”

Sam sighed. Being a spy really wasn’t as glamourous as the movies.

A second later, two more chutes popped out from the ceiling. Clover fell out of the first one with a scream. “Ow!” She rubbed her back. “Jeez Louise! What happened to the couch?”

“At least if you get sand in your hair, no one will notice?” Sam offered.

“Sand?!’ Clover jolted upright, frantically scrubbing at her short blond hair to make sure nothing stuck. “That’s not my color at all.”

The second tube rattled.

“Oh dear,” Jerry said. “I believe it’s gotten stuck.”

Sam blanched. “Wait, gotten stuck, what do you—”

“Not to worry, ladies.” He pressed a button, and the tube stilled, expanding rapidly until a box shot out of it hard enough to send the sand whirling around the room.

Sam coughed, waving away the worst of the dust. The box faded into view, revealing—

“No way, is that a mummy?” Clover leaned forward, eyes blinking rapidly. “Jerry, why’d you steal a mummy?”

“It’s not a Mummy, Ms. Clover it’s—”

The sarcophagus rattled.

“It’s alive!”

“No it’s—”

A twisted hand shoved the lid open, and the girls screamed.

Then a disoriented Alex popped out. “Ugh, did anyone see what just hit me?”

“That would be a MUMI,” Jerry replied. “Municipal Undercover Man Interceptor. We’re testing them out.”

Sam crossed her arms. “What about the Woman interceptor?”

“Engineering is testing out the acronym as well,” Jerry replied.s

“Wow.” Clover crossed her arms. “Never thought I’d prefer getting WOOHPed.”

“We will be taking all reviews into account.” Jerry cleared his throat. “But if we could focus for a moment, ladies, there is a mission to be had.”

Sam sighed. “Now I’m going to fail that quiz for sure.”

“Not to worry.” Jerry pressed another button, and three pyramid seats rose out of the sand for the girls to sit on. Sam helped Alex stumble out of the sarcophagus and over to her own personal pyramid of Giza. “Your teachers have been informed of your absence; you had a ‘family emergency’, Samantha.”

“Oh, thanks, Jer!”

“Not a problem. Now.” His faced minimized to show pictures of break ins across Beverly Hills. “Over the last few weeks, there have been a series of unsolved robberies targeting items of note across the city. It was not deemed something that required the World Organization of Human Protection to intervene, as for the most part, nothing was even taken.”

More pictures, showing smashed display cases and opened vaults, their contents lying on the ground right next to them.

“Local authorities had it pegged as an insurance scam—”

“Oh!” Alex leaned forward, brown eyes sparkling as she grinned. “Like the one <T-Sala> did?”

“I saw that!” Clover pointed. “It was all over the news. Like, oh my god, if you’re gonna do the crime, you better do the time.”

“Quite right,” Jerry continued. “Only it seems that was not the case, merely that our thief was looking for something of more, mystical significance.” A new set of pictures appeared of a museum with multiple walls melted away. “And last night, they found it.”

“Holy crud, what did that?” Clover asked.

“Analysis of the scene suggests that only one artifact is missing from the collection, the Gauntlet of Khepri, a ceremonial set of joined rings and bangles that is associated with the Egyptian god Khepri.”

“Yeah, in case you couldn’t tell by the name,” Clover said.

Sam nudged her. “You know, the quiz we have to make up is on Egyptian history.”

“I’m not studying while we’re doing spy stuff!” Clover waved a hand. “Besides, there’s no way something weird like that will be on the test!”

“Ladies…I’m still here,” Jerry said.

Sam sat straight up in her pyramid. “Sorry, Jer, we’re listening.” She glanced at her friends. “Promise.”

“There’s not much more to tell, actually,” Jerry continued. “But I appreciate the thought.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Alex tilted her head. “They stole the magic rings then ran away.”

“Indeed. The thief hasn’t been spotted since the robbery, and there have not been any reported sightings of giant stone melting lasers though given the danger of the gauntlet, I’ve decided to put you on the job early. Your task, track down whomever stole this artifact, and ensure they cannot put it towards any dastardly ends.”

Sam flexed an arm. “We’re on the job, Jerry!”

“Excellent. For gadgets today, I’ve had the boys in engineering whip up some special toys.” A sphinx dropped down from the ceiling, mouth opening to reveal a pair of mirrored sunglasses, a sun-themed makeup compact, and a pyramid-themed umbrella. “They’re a bit different than your usual fair, so allow me to go over the instructions.”

“Ugh, no one has time for that, Jerry!” Clover hopped up, grabbing the makeup compact. “Let’s just get this one wrapped up so I can swing by the mall on our day off, right girls?”

Jerry sighed as Sam took the mirrored shades and Alex picked up the umbrella.

“Not sure about the branding,” Sam said. “But we should be able to figure it out ourselves like we usually do.”

“Suit yourselves, ladies. But remember, those who don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it.”

“Yeah, sure, just—” The rest of Clover’s words were swallowed up as an Egyptian sarcophagus shot out of the floor and slammed shut around her.

Two more rose up behind Alex and Sam.

“Uh, Jer. Think we could maybe…take the stairs?” Sam asked.

“Unfortunately, the stairs are closed for maintenance.” Jerry waved. “Be sure to forward your reviews of the new MUMI system to our transportation department!”

Then the sarcophagus ate Sam as well.

A short, bumpy, ride later, and all three girls were spat out in the museum, before their rides quickly shifted back into their display on Egyptian burial practices.

“That was, so the worst.” Clover got up, brushing herself off. “Zero stars.”

“Uwaaa.” Alex stumbled, eyes spinning. “I don’t feel so good.”

“Pull yourself together.” Clover helped catch the other girl. “The sooner we nab this baddie, the sooner I get my spa trip!”

“I thought it was the mall,” Sam said.

Clover shrugged. “The mall is like, soo two thousand, you know? Plus, what if someone gets a picture when we’re supposed to be on a family emergency?”

“Right.” Sam fiddled with her sunglasses. “I agree that we should get the thief as quickly as possible. Who knows what they’ll do with those lasers.” She ran her fingers along the frames, finding several buttons. “Got it! Ooooh, they’re tracking glasses. I see footprints. They go up to the case and then…out the wall.”

“I could have told you that!” Clover said. The three of them followed the footprints out onto the sidewalk, where they mixed with the rest of the city’s traffic.

Sam frowned. “It’ll be hard to follow the footprints when there are so many people. Girls, what do your gadgets do?”

“Well mine will help me stay fabulous.” Clover popped the mirror open. “What the heck, it’s not even a mirror. Just a tiny screen! And what do these buttons do?”

Sam glanced over at the compact, seeing a plus and minus button along with a big red one in the center labeled ‘EMERGENCY’.

Clover gave it a nervous look. “Think it explodes if I use that one?”

Sam giggled. “Only one way to find out. What about you, Alex?”

Alex pressed a button on the umbrella. It opened into an umbrella. “I think I figured mine out!”

Sam bit her lip. “Maybe we should have stuck around for the instruction manual…”

She was just about to pull out her phone when a flash of light shot out from the city’s skyline. Another followed right after it.

“Nah, we don’t need no gadgets!” Clover pointed. “There’s our thief right there. Oh, I think the lasers lit up on my compact. It must be a laser detector!”

“Then lead the way, laser detective,” Sam said. “Let’s get this thief!”

“On it!” Clover looked down at the screen one last time before darting off into the city. Sam and Alex followed right behind.

As they got closer to the source of the blasts, Sam saw people running in the opposite direction. Some looked scared, others just looked confused, but more than a couple had their phones out and pointed at the sky, trying to catch a third laser.

“Wow! This thing keeps lighting up all over the place.” Clover waved her compact, showing flashes playing across the screen. “But I don’t see anymore lasers.”

“We only saw the first ones because they were aimed at the sky!” Sam shouted. The three of them darted across an intersection, cars thankfully stopped because of the light show. “If we don’t see any more, then the thief might be using them on targets on the ground!”

“Or underground. Woah!” Alex skidded to a stop at the next corner. Ahead, the girls spotted a massive hole. It cut through the doors of a hulking skyscraper before digging into the floor and the ground beneath.

Sam wove through the fleeing crowd and arrived right at the edge of the tunnel. It cut through to the elevator shaft. A cable hung, end still molten and glowing.

“Looks like we’re just in time, ladies!” Sam pressed a button on her belt. “Suit up.”

“You got it!”

In a flash, Sam’s emerald-green spy uniform unfolded over her clothes like a second skin. She flicked a hand over the tracking glasses, confirming footsteps and… “Looks like he climbed down the shaft!”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Clover jumped into the elevator shaft. “Let’s catch up!”

A ruby-red rappel soared up the shaft, anchoring Clover to the super structure.

Sam jumped after. “Mind if we borrow your line?”

Clover grinned up through the darkness. “Go for it, girl! Also, I found our stop!”

Sam and Alex slid to a stop right above Clover, in front of another gaping hole melted in the elevator doors. “Looks like they found what they were looking for.”

The inside was a sleek scientific laboratory, with banks of computers and stainless steel floors. Sam led the way through the door, taking a moment to check on one of the nearby scientists. She was fine for now, but unconscious.

“We gotta make sure the ambulance is on the way for these people.” She stood. “Clover, make sure 911 is on the way, Alex and I are gonna nail this thief!”

Clover pulled out her phone as Alex and Sam raced deeper into the facility.

“Woah, I didn’t know Beverly Hills had a place like this!” Alex said. The two of them darted around a corridor, skidding to a stop when they saw an open door leading to the BEVERLY HILLS FABRON COLLIDER.

“Beverly Hills has everything,” Sam said. “And judging from the sounds inside, I bet it has our thief as well.”

Alex spun her umbrella. “Ready when you are!”

Sam nodded and waved them both forward. Alex and Sam crept up on either side of the door, while on the other side, the unmistakeable buzz of a high-powered laser echoed through the air.

“On three…” Sam whispered.

Alex nodded.

“One—”

Alex sprinted into the room. “Give up now, evil—”

Sam winced when a bright blast of golden light blew Alex right out of the room.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked.

“Owowow.” Alex shook her head, before lifting up the umbrella. “I figured out what the umbrella does!”

Sam blinked in surprise. It had blocked a laser strong enough to melt through steel? Incredible. “Looks like we’re gonna need that.”

“Right!” Sam bounced back to her feet just in time for Clover to catch up. The three of them squared up, Alex’s umbrella in front, and faced towards the door.

Beyond, the thief had shifted so that they could see each other through the door.

“Uh, is it just me, or is that totally a chick?” Clover asked.

“She’s the one who shot me with a laser!” Alex said.

“And she has the gauntlet of Khepri.” Sam pointed towards the woman’s arm.

Her only arm.

Clover grinned. “I guess you could say the thief is…armed and dangerous!”

Sam groaned. On the other side of the lintel, the woman sighed as well.

“A blond, a brunette, and a redhead.” Her voice was a low contra-alto. “This really is my own personal hell.”

“Don’t hate because you ain’t,” Clover shot back. “Come in quietly, and we won’t have to put you down hard.”

The woman smiled. “Has it ever been any other way?”

Clover opened her mouth, and the woman’s hand snapped up.

Sam was treated to a giant wall of face-melting laser heading right towards them.

“Eeep!”

The pyramid umbrella snapped up, blocking the laser. Alex skidded back, but this time Sam and Clover caught her.

“Hold on!”

“I’m hooooolding!”

A second later, the laser stopped. Alex panted, lowering her arms. Right beyond the edge of the umbrella stood the thief, her arm extended. The golden rings on her fingers glinted ominously.

“Do you need a second helping?” She asked. “I can keep going.”

Sam grit her teeth. That was one power relic. Trying to force their way through probably wasn’t the best idea.

Reaching out, she squeezed Clover’s wrist, pointing down a side corridor behind the cover of the umbrella.

“Look,” Sam said. “Whatever you’re trying to do here, violence isn’t the answer!”

The woman cocked an eyebrow. “Has that ever worked for you?”

“…Maybe?” Alex shrugged. “It could work this time.”

“You’re right, it could.” The woman nodded.

“Uh?”

“So why don’t you tell me what you’ll give me, not to trash this place.” The rings glowed. “I’m thinking seven figures in an offshore bank account and a helicopter is a nice starting point for negotiations.”

“What?” Clover glowered. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

Sam pinched her side.

“Ow, Sam!”

“Shh!”  Sam took a deep breath, facing back towards the woman in the other room. Now that she took a closer look, she could see that the woman looked tired. Long black hair was slightly unkempt, her clothes were wrinkled too. But those eyes didn’t look like someone who was in it for the money.

“Is that what you’re really after?” she asked.

“It’s what I asked for, isn’t it?”

“Yeah but…” Sam shrugged. “No offence, you’re kinda, a lot more normal than most of the villains we run into.”

The woman laughed. “I’ve never been a normal villain.”

“Soo…” Sam tried again. “Will you at least tell me something to call you? It doesn’t have to be your name or anything, but it would be nice.”

Clover flicked her eyes over towards Sam, then to the hallway. Sam squeezed her wrist again, signaling to wait.

“A nice start to our negotiations?”

“Sure!” Sam smiled. “So we can tell HQ about you.”

“She used to smile just like that,” the woman said. “It always got her what she wanted, too.”

“Um, whonow?” Clover asked.

The woman smiled. “Call me Emma.”

 Sam and Clover shared a glance.

“Okay…Emma. Why don’t you tell us if there’s anyone else in there with you?”

“Just me, thanks.”

“She’s lying, she—”

Emma’s hand whipped to the side, sending out a pencil-thin beam of light that ended in a yelp. “No one in here that will be going anywhere until I get what I want.”

“If you let them go, it would make it a lot easier to negotiate with you, Emma,” Sam said.

Emma winced. “Yeah, I bet it would. It’s pretty easy to negotiate after someone’s given away all of their leverage.”

“Not all of it, dummy.” Clover rolled her eyes. “You still have a big particle accelerator that you could blow up.”

“Yeah!” Sam said. “A particle collider…that’s running. With scientists still inside…”

The woman stiffened, and Sam knew she was on the right. She could see into the collider through the window right behind Emma, strands of light cutting through the darkness, growing brighter.

“Turn off the collider, and we’ll negotiate,” Sam said.

“Redheads.” The woman sighed. “Every time.”

“This has nothing to do with my hair and everything to do with you holding everyone here hostage!” Sam shot back. “Now turn it off.”

“Think of the particle accelerator as…incentive to give me what I want,” Emma tried.

“No.”

“Yeah, that’s never worked either.” Emma laughed. “Look, I’m not going anywhere. Don’t test me, and get your boss on the line already.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed.

“Psst.” Clover leaned over, flashing the screen of her sensor compact. “It shows people too, and there are a bunch of scientists as well!”

Sam looked at the compact, but the dots representing the scientists weren’t in one group where they’d be easy to watch, instead, they were spread out around the room. Almost like they were still sitting at their terminals.

Sam’s head snapped up. “You’re stalling!”

Emma’s face went flat. Her hand came up.

“Go, Clover!”

Clover dived down the other corridor.

Sam and Alex hunkered behind the umbrella as the golden laser pushed them back yet again. With two people, it was still manageable. But they weren’t gaining any ground.

The laser cut.

“Forward!” Sam shouted.

They made it two steps before the next burst pushed them back again. Then two steps, then one step, then three.

A few minutes later, Sam and Alex were panting in the hallway, hands on their knees and taking turns holding the umbrella.

“Sure you don’t want to call it quits?” Emma asked. “I can do this all day.”

Sam peeked over the umbrella.

Emma looked more than a little tired herself. Even from down the hall, Sam could tell the woman was breathing heavily. And was her hand shaking?

Sam gave Alex a squeeze on the shoulder and stood up. “I think you’re pretty tired as well, Emma. Maybe it would be better for you to give up, before we make you.”

“I’ve handled worse.”

“You don’t look like it,” Same replied.

Emma scowled. “I’ll still be standing after I put you two in the ground.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sam asked.

“Phew!” Alex popped up, whipping her brow. “That was a good workout. Ready to go again?”

“Cause we can keep this up all day.”

With a deep breath, Emma raised her hand again.

“And there’s something else!” Sam shouted. “There are three of us!”

Clover broke through the ceiling, feet first. “Look out, losers!”

Sam sprinted.

Emma blocked the first kick, rolling away. She shot back at Clover, but Clover slid under the trio of smaller beams before kicking Emma’s legs out from under her.

By the time Emma got her back to her feet, Sam was in the room. “All of you, out out out!” She waved a hand. “We’ll take it from you.”

Emma shot a laser through the doorframe, blocking the first man trying to run. “You—”

Clover kicked her in the shoulder, sending her spinning again. “Have bigger problems to worry about, girl. Like, for real!”

Alex hustled the rest of the scientists out of the room while Emma backed up, hand raised. Sam and clover circled in opposite directions.

Emma’s hand whipped out. Sam jumped into a somersault and five beams of light went over her head, sparking against the far wall.

“Hiya!”

Emma danced back from Clover’s kick. She made the blonde dance back with another barrage of lasers. Sam darted to the side, pinning Emma between them.

“Sure you don’t need a hand?” She dashed in, forcing Emma to block her punch. Clover followed.

“Taaake this!” A hard kick caught Emma in the middle, sending her staggering back against the wall.

Emma ducked beneath a flying kick from Alex. She sent all three girls dodging with a sweeping beam. It raked the computers, sending alarms ringing. Through the glass wall, the particle accelerator spun even faster.

“Of course it doesn’t shut down.” Emma laughed. “Now I don’t have to hold back!” She fired again. Sam dove out of the way, circling at a sprint.

Beams of light tore up the control room.

Alex charged. Emma fired a beam, but Alex slid underneath it. The umbrella sent the laser up into the ceiling and Emma rolling back. Clover caught her with a follow up, and Sam snagged her leg, sending the woman rolling across the floor until she hit the floor with a groan.

“Nice work, ladies.” Sam hi-fived her fellow agents.

Across the room, Emma dragged herself to her feet.

“Not looking too good.” Sam said. “Sure you don’t want to throw in the towel?”

The woman looked at them, still fresh, gadgets in hand.

“Fuck it,” she said. She turned towards the particle accelerator.

“No!” Sam lunged.

Emma fired her laser.

Gold light washed over the world.

The blast sent Sam staggering back a step as a warbling scream cut through the air. Wind and heat washed against Sam’s face, and she peeked over her arms to see a golden beam of light crashing into the ring of energy inside the particle accelerator.

The air hissed and screamed. Space warped and bent.

“This isn’t how physics works!” Emma’s voice sounded ecstatic over it all. “This isn’t how it works at all!”

As Sam watched, a tear in space formed. It grew and stretched, electric edges pushing back at reality. Emma laughed. Somehow, she remained unmoved. She walked forward into the wash of howling unreality.

“What are you doing!” Sam yelled. Emma didn’t reply. Instead, she just took another step.

The rip in space grew until Sam could see through it, flickering colours that made no sense. As it grew louder, so did the wind. And then all of a sudden, it switched direction.

Air rushed into the room, into the portal. Sam slipped, on instinct she grabbed a chair. Thank god they were bolted to the floor. “Clover!”

“Yikes from me!” Clover caught Sam’s calf, leaving them both dangling sideways above the floor. Alex hooked the handle of her umbrella around another chair, kicking and screaming.

Somehow, Emma stayed grounded.

“It must be the gauntlet! It’s letting her do this!” Sam shouted.

“Yeah, but what do we do to stop it?” Clover asked.

Sam shook her head.

“Better think of something fast!” Alex slipped an inch on her umbrella.

“Ah screw it!”

“Clover!”

“If she can swear I can swear too!” Clover yanked out the sensor compact, slammed the emergency button, and threw it towards the portal.

It got sucked right in.

“Was that supposed to—”

And then it exploded.

The air stilled. For a moment, everything hung, suspended. There, in the middle of it all, Sam could see the glowing compact, somehow sucking in all of the energy. The wind howled harder for a second more, and then it all vanished into the compact. Then, there was one last massive, earthshaking boom.

When the smoke cleared, the entire side of the particle accelerator had been torn open.

Little bits of metal and sciency stuff rained down on the floor. Sam slowly lowered her arm to take in the wreckage. No portal, no compact, no Emma.

“Did we get her?” Clover asked.

“Well, whatever happened, she’s not here.” Sam gingerly rose to her feet, creeping closer to the dent in the floor and the rest of the particle acceleration chamber. No sign that anyone had been hurt though… “Look what I found though!”

Reaching down, Sam picked up the gauntlet of Khepri. The rings were a little scorched, but otherwise looked completely fine. “The gold chains don’t even look like they melted.”

“Woah, talk about extended warranty.” Clover leaned over Sam’s shoulder. “Think that crazy woman made it too?”

Sam frowned at the empty crater. “I hope so.”

“Really? She almost killed us.”

“Yeah, but. It didn’t seem like it was about us. Not really.” Sam shook her head. “We’ll probably never know.”

Clover shrugged. “And I’ll never need to know! Let’s call Jerry to get the cleanup crew here and we can get my spa day.”

Sam sighed. “Don’t you think you should study at least a little for our quiz tomorrow?”

“Quiz schmiz. No way we don’t get another day off after a building almost blew up.” Clover waved a hand. “Besides, I didn’t need to study to save the day, now did I?”

Sam sighed again. “Some things never change.”

“Yeah like my spa appointment! Let’s goooo!”

The next day, Miss Burns bustled into the room with a copy of the newspaper. “Well!” she told the class. “It’s not every day that history happens in your town. I’m sure you all saw the news? And to think a piece of history could cause so much damage!” She held out the newspapwer, showing a picture of the Gauntlet of Khepri, now safely back in WHOOP control.

“Just goes to show you, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Miss Burns nodded happily. “Now, I’m sure no one had time to study with all of this excitement going on.”

Clover turned, grinning at Sam.

“So why don’t we pull out a piece of notebook paper and have a current event’s quiz!” Miss Burns said.

Clover’s smile melted.

“Just write down your name…and the name of the ancient Egyptian artifact that destroyed the Large FABRON collider.”

 ~  ~ *

The air on the rooftop flickered and stretched.

It folded in on itself, warping in a way that real space should not. From most angles, one would see nothing, because the human mind was never trained to notice these things. But from just the right spot, looking in just the right way, the air appeared to bend like a napkin.

A woman stepped out.

Her shoes touched the rooftop flickering once: left, right. She stood, hair billowing out behind her in the evening breeze. With one last glance over her shoulder, space smoothed out, as if the fold had never been.

“Not ideal,” she said. “But…”

Then she lifted her hands. One solid, the other flickering like television static. Her flickering hand reached out and pinched the space in front of her, slowly pulling it open.

“I can work with this.”

inSPYrd

Worm/Totally Spies!