The B Team M.I. High

A storm came in. We're completely cut off.

I do hope you've packed an extra pair of socks.

-What is it?

-We received a distress call

from our expedition in the Himalayas.

Seems the weather's taken an unexpected turn for the worst.

We're going to be stuck here for days.

I don't understand. You said you'd checked the forecast.

I let you out of prison so you could help us!

The expedition was your idea!

Oh, this is a disaster! When was the last...

Grand Mistress! Grand Mistress!

SINISTER LAUGHTER

The 21st century faces a new kind of threat.

Old-school spies have had their day

and MI9 must create a new breed of skilled undercover agent.

Hidden in a place no-one will think to look.

Welcome to MI High.

As you know, this week's assignment is to see the world

from someone else's perspective.

Yes. Now, that involves giving the person who is "taking a walk"

in your shoes something of special personal significance to you.

And our first report is from Timothy. Come on up, Timothy.

So, Timothy, whose shoes have you been "taking a walk" in?

I've been walking in Rose's.

I gave Scoop my X48.

-Your what?

-It's a model rocket.

This year's must-have toy.

Er, the X48 is NOT a toy.

It's a radio-controlled scale replica of a real missile.

I studied its aerodynamics.

On behalf of Rose being known as Science Geek and that,

um, she got me a toy.

It is NOT a toy!

So I could learn the hair-o-dy...

No, no, the aerodrome...

No, the...

How it flies.

Fascinating! And how does it fly, Timothy?

Not that well, actually, sir.

Oh...

Ah...

BELL RINGS

Um, look, I'm sorry, Rose.

I mean, it was all them little knobbly control thingies.

I'm sure you can buy another one.

No, I can't!

The shops are completely sold out!

You're such an idiot, Scoop.

-Hey, Avril. There you go.

-What's this?

-It's for the project.

It's got all my exercise books and stuff in there.

This doesn't tell me anything about you.

Not the real you.

What do you mean?

There's another side to you, Oscar.

I can sense it. You're hiding something.

BUZZING

Sorry, Avril, got to go.

Why won't you let me in?!

The Grand Mistress has escaped?!

Before she took over SKUL,

the Grand Mistress was an exceptional business manager.

So, as part of her rehabilitation, she was invited to give her input

into how WE might improve the running of MI9.

Well, what bright spark thought of that?

Yeah.... Um, one of her ideas was to send all the agents

on an Outward Bound expedition into the Himalayas.

It was supposed to be a bonding exercise, good for morale.

Our invitation must have got lost in the post.

-That's not all that got lost.

-Yes, thank you, London.

Ahem. A blizzard came in.

And apart from all the people in this room, every other person

that works for MI9 is now stranded in the Himalayas.

The Grand Mistress knew the storm was going to hit,

and as soon as all the agents were snowed in, she grabbed her chance

to get away. Your job is to find her.

Please.

One thing's for sure - the Grand Master won't be harbouring her.

He hates her, ever since she tried to take over SKUL.

Then where did she go?

Before she joined SKUL, she ran a toy factory.

X48s.

Frank, look at this.

'What could a Grand Mistress want with all these missiles?'

-'Watch out!'

-Rose!

-'Duck!'

What's going on?

'Well, this is just too, too perfect.'

The Grand Mistress!

Er...come in.

London!

-Where are you going?

-To get my agents.

Don't be a fool! If the Grand Mistress can capture

your entire team, what chance do you have on your own?

-We need a rescue team.

-Everyone's stuck in the...

Himalayas. We don't have any agents!

What if we did?

What about Smart Ease?

This is no time for jokes.

Oh, no. Oh, no! London!

This is the last sample of Smart Ease in existence.

OK. This has gone far enough.

I order you to put that back.

That's my team out there. DO NOT try and stand in my way.

So what do we do?

SCHOOL BELL RINGS

Um...

Get... One... One at a time...

HIGH-PITCHED TONE

Hmm!

Did you see who got the Smart Ease?

-I dread to think.

-I just hope they understood the message.

-Frank?

-Where are we?

What is this place?

-We got a message telling us to come urgently.

-We work for MI9.

-IMITATING HIM:

-"We work for MI9."

-SNIGGERS

-Pull the other one, Frank!

Next you'll be telling us you went to university!

I did go to university, Scoop.

What... And you still ended up as a school caretaker?

You're agents.

-Agents?

-Secret agents.

They work for the Government.

-What's going on, Frank?

-We haven't got much time,

but there's a lot to explain.

Working on the principle an elephant never forgets,

MI9 developed a compound

derived from the milk of the rare Tibetan elephant.

The aim was to dramatically speed up agent training.

Called Smart Ease,

it worked by stimulating those parts of the body that had memories.

Brain, obviously, but also the body's muscles, enabling them

to super speed learn new skills.

The results were astonishing.

Years of training, everything from foreign languages

to combat and endurance were perfected in a matter of hours.

However...

-To most people, this is a racket...

-HIGH-PITCHED TONE

..but someone who'd taken Smart Ease would hear this.

'Report to the caretaker's broom cupboard,

'where you will find the secret lift.'

The message was a puzzle hidden in the noise,

but only someone with a superhuman memory could decipher it.

Literally, you cut through the noise,

and it was so effortless, you didn't even realise you were doing it.

You gave us Smart Ease without permission?

You fascist!

I'm sorry, Avril, but I had no choice. It's an emergency.

Your country needs you. MI9 needs you.

There's no way I'm working for the man.

-Man?

-The Government.

You're not making me a tool of state oppression.

Avril, wait.

Please. Rose, Carrie and Oscar need you.

Oscar? What's he got to do with this?

They're secret agents, too.

-Oscar's a secret agent?

-And he's in trouble.

Rose and Carrie, too.

-Oscar's really in danger?

-And we're losing time.

Then I'm in.

Sure. Why not?

Be a laugh!

If we DO save the country, can we sell our stories to the newspapers?

Carrie, any luck with these ropes?

No!

Take them inside.

-Italian.

-Malizioso.

-Cantonese.

-Xiee.

-Welsh.

-Drwg.

The spypod. MI9's finest gadget.

But can it be recycled?

THWACKING

Ooh!

I never thought I'd say this,

but this lot make those kids of yours look good.

I've always been very sensitive,

so hopefully, combined with my new encyclopaedic knowledge

-of lock mechanisms...

-CLICK-CLUNK

I did it!

Oh, my God! I'm an emo safe-cracker.

Respect!

Frank, 10,000 gyroscopes have been

delivered to an address across town earlier today.

Yes!

Kneel before the Scoopmeister.

Scoop, this is no time to be playing silly computer games.

It's not a computer game, Mrs Think-You-Know-Everything.

Look what I found.

A blueprint.

Sounds summery.

No - instructions for building.

The X48.

Like the one Rose had.

Hang on.

I knew there was something!

In the last six months, thousands of X48s have been shipped

to the same address as the gyroscopes.

'Frank, we're going to check out the address.'

X48s.

So YOU'RE the reason they've all sold out.

You've cornered the market and created the toy draught.

So you can make millions when the price...skyrockets.

Do you really think I'd waste my time on such feeble returns?

Ha!

Oh, no.

-That looks like...

-It is. An X48, only for real.

It was quite straightforward building a full-size missile

from the spare parts of the toy missiles.

Only, I need lots of them.

That's why you bought up all the stock.

That's why you're using the gyroscopes -

-to keep the X48 flying on course.

-On course to where?

Let's just say that when I'm finished,

there's going to be some changes at SKUL,

at boardroom level.

You know, there really is only one difference between a toy X48

and the one that I've built.

The one that I've built has got a massive bomb attached to it.

And you're going to be in it when it goes boom!

Lock them in the warhead.

What's taking them so long?

You see, this is the problem with kid agents.

You can't rely on them to be punctual...

-AVRIL:

-'Frank! We're there.'

Avril, at last.

-It's no good!

-We've been in worse scrapes than this.

There must be something we can do.

Never come between a girl and her makeup.

RECORD SCRATCHING

RECORD SCRATCHING

Give it up for the Scoop!

Well, my day's just got better and better.

You can keep your precious communicators.

This cell block's been equipped with a radio jammer.

Such a shame you didn't come down earlier.

You could have joined your fellow agents.

Oh, well. Never mind.

You won't miss a thing.

Hmm! Come!

Do you know when you will be getting more in stock?

SCREAMS: No!

SOBS

I'm sorry, Flopsy.

I've tried, but everywhere is sold out.

It's as if every X48 in the country has been spirited away.

PHONE RINGS

Hello? Yes, 'tis he.

An X48?! Yes, of course I'm interested! Where is it?

I'll be right over. Who is this?

LINE GOES DEAD

I want a helicopter ready to take off in five minutes.

Maybe we could use something to override the lock mechanism.

Guys, isn't that the guidance system?

-So?

-Well, if we much up the guidance system and this thing still launches,

-it could land anywhere.

-Carrie's right.

Millions of people could be killed and it would be our fault. We can't.

Now what?

Look what those brutes did! They broke a nail!

Oscar, Carrie and Rose are in danger,

and that's all you care about?!

Rose?

Rose.

Today's been quite a day.

I learnt that the mystery girl who saved my life

was Rose Gupta.

She's not just a science geek that we always tease.

The real Rose, you know. Someone else.

Someone that no-one ever thought she could be.

Yeah.

Been quite a day.

Do you know what else I've learnt?

I've learnt that today is going to be my day,

my chance to make something of myself, to prove to everyone

that Timothy Hinklebottom is not just some sort of idiot, yeah?

Now, I don't know about you, all right,

but I'm not going to give up, not today.

All right?

I'm going to write myself a new rap.

And it ain't going to be over till that fat DJ spins.

-If only Frank had given us a gadget to open a lock.

-Who needs Frank?

It's over an hour since we lost contact with the team.

We have to assume the worst.

-Please, a few more minutes.

-I'm sorry, London, but I'm calling it.

-Mission terminated at 15.35...

-'Frank, we've found them.

'But it's locked with a thumbprint scanner.'

I'll get a copy of the Grand Mistress' thumbprint straightaway.

Er, hate to spoil the gig, but this looks a lot like a countdown to me.

Come on! Come on! It's got to be in here.

Frank, where's that print?

Nearly there.

-Get out of there.

-What?!

-What?!

-There isn't time to get the print.

There's nothing more you can do.

It's over.

-No!

-No! Not when we're so close.

I'm sorry, Frank.

Agents, listen to me. If you're not out of there by the time

that rocket goes up, you'll be killed, too.

It's an order, agents.

Get out of there!

There must be something else we're missing.

There is.

If these are our last moments together,

then let's not waste them.

You're the one with the "never say die" attitude.

The one who doesn't give up.

Yeah, and I'd never give up on you guys...

..but if this is it...

then I want to say goodbye properly.

Avril!

Do you still have the sales ledger from the toy factory?

Bronzing powder. Always be prepared.

These, um, last couple of years...

I wouldn't trade them for anything.

It's been an honour serving with you guys.

The best team-mates an agent could ever ask for.

More than that.

You're the best friends.

You're my family.

-And I love...

-DOOR OPENS

OK, somebody pinch me, because I'm having this really weird dream.

Scoop? Is it really you?

Yeah. You saved my life once.

Thought we'd return the favour.

I work for MI9, too, like you.

How cool is that?

OK. Right, um, but how about we stop the launch?

There's got to be a way to shut down the countdown.

ALARM SOUNDS

Naughty, naughty! By attempting to stop the launch,

you've triggered the fail-safe. Goodbye.

RUMBLING

-Earthquake?!

-No, that's the rocket launching.

If we figure out the target, we can start an evacuation.

Have it for you in a second.

I'm here for the X48... Agh!

-Oh, never mind! I'm trapped!

-We'd love to take credit for it,

but this is down to your old friend the Grand Mistress.

Curses on me for being a fool!

And all because Flopsy wanted one of these toy rockets.

Oi! They're not toys.

Er, don't bother running anywhere. I've just calculated

the point of impact.

We're it.

But with me out of the way, there'll be nothing

to stop that dreadful woman from taking over SKUL again!

When that warhead goes off, it's going

-to take out half of London.

-Then we've got nothing to lose.

Oscar, get me manual control.

I just hope you can fly this thing.

I can't do it!

Scoop, what are you doing?

What does it look like?

But my X48 - you destroyed it.

You're right, Rose - that kid was an idiot.

Let's do this.

THEY GROAN IN STRUGGLE

-Has anyone got any idea where we can crash this thing?

-The ocean!

-What about the fish?!

-Avril, we've got no choice.

-Big blue it is.

-Go on!

Hmmm...

We should have heard something by now.

WHOOSHING

Blast!

Guys...where's Grand Master gone?

Oi!

Don't worry.

We'll get him next time.

Thank you.

We need to debrief Stewart, Gupta and Cole,

so you three report for duty again tomorrow.

We should definitely go shopping on the weekend.

I can sort out your wardrobe.

Er... Got you something.

Scoop, you shouldn't have!

Well, I'm sure they won't miss one.

No, really, you shouldn't have.

Chapter 12, Paragraph 18 of the MI9 Code of Conduct clearly states

that agents aren't allowed to benefit from missions.

Ah, well, there's the problem.

I've only read up to Chapter 11.

I get it. What the mystery was.

Why you couldn't let me in.

It's OK.

Thank you.

OK, now, now I can say it.

This is a bit weird.

Yeah, what are we going to do now there are three extra agents?

We won't need to worry about that.

However, the effects of Smart Ease wore off after 24 hours.

All the new memories, any new skills or knowledge gained

whilst the drug was in the agent's system were lost forever.

So you're saying that Avril, Scoop and Davina won't remember a thing?

They'll have no idea. For them, it will be as if today never happened.

'And there were the unfortunate side effects.'

What's wrong with you?

I don't know.

I woke up this morning and all of my muscles were aching.

I think I've run a marathon or something.

Me, too.

Maybe it's the flu.

THEY BELCH LOUDLY

Very well, Rose. You've been "taking a walk" in Timothy's shoes.

Everyone knows that Scoop is an idiot.

But that's just an act.

The real Scoop is brave and thoughtful and kind

with a ton of potential

and the only thing holding him back is himself.

So, if Scoop ever wants to hand in his silly hat,

there's always a place for him on my team.

HE BELCHES