Alex, Sam, Clover. A trio of Malibu U Seniors, And also, one of the World Organization Of Human Protection's top teams of agents. This spy trio had years of experience under their belts despite being in their early twenties, veterans beyond their outward ages. And yet, for all their experience, they had been caught on what seemed a relatively routine mission.

It may have been that routine feeling that caused the problem. The short version,  Regina De Leon, industrialist and billionaire, had put herself on the WOOHP radar due to strange things. First, the fact that the reclusive woman supposedly in her late eighties, had been seen looking younger and younger at her Florida mansion, while her staff appeared older and older. Second, a number of chemical and technology purchases leading back to her indicated she was constructing, or had already made, some kind of Supervillain Machine That Did A Thing.

The assumption was draining age and possibly transferring it to herself, especially since she had been making hires of many younger employees over the past few months, but all surveillance of the mansion showed only elderly workers.So, the three WOOHP spies worked themselves into one of the groups of new hires, did some casual spying, and then, got caught.

The trio were currently bound firmly to chairs in the basement of a Florida mansion, unguarded, and yet, frustrated that they were unable to free themselves of the thick straps tying their arms and legs in place. The room held five such chairs bolted to the floor sat before your common or garden Big Evil Science Raygun machine, complete with cone/coil tip and disco ball muzzle as well as optional blinky lights that just looked pretty. Each of them therefore had an empty chair between them and their nearest friend. Covert conversation was therefore probably not an option.

They usually wore jumpsuits in their spy roles, but tonight, the trio were in their disguises that had been part of infiltrating the place. Alex wore a French maid style dress, with a knee high skirt and white suspenders plus apron, the uniform for Kitchen workers as she had been posing as. Sam was in the green overalls of Garden staff, a relatively unflattering and simple set of working clothes. Clover, finally, was in the Housekeeping dress, plain black with only a little white banding at the shoulders. All three also had a small blue badge, that was supposedly part of the security key system to unlock doors in the mansion for staff to access certain areas.

"So... No luck with any escapes from either of you?" Clover spoke up from the fifth seat.

"Nope," Sam, in seat three, sighed.

"No luck here, no. Wish we'd brought some hidden gadgets..." Alex said.

"I could have sworn I had. I can't even remember getting here," Sam said.

"Me neither. I think we might have been zonked out."

"And we probably got mind controlled into dropping any gadgets and tying ourselves in," Clover realised.

"I hope so, I don't like the idea of being searched by any of those old men working here," Sam shuddered.

"Or even the old ladies. Like, I know they're just victims of the latest evil supervillain nutcase, but... yeesh, they didn't get prematurely aged gracefully."

"Probably on purpose, and probably what she has planned for us," Alex reminded the two.

"Ew. Yeah, let's hurry up and escape...."

"Not so fast, spies," a new voice cut in, and the trio sighed.

In walked the mistress of the mansion and the villain of the week herself. For a woman supposedly pushing ninety, she clearly had been reversing in age. She wasn't a frail old woman covered in wrinkles with grey hair, but instead, seemed to be a tall and healthy lady in her mid-forties, with long brown hair without a hint of grey, not even as a result of dye. She had a few worry lines, but nowhere near the pruney appearance her birth certificate should have indicated.

She looked almost disappointed as she surveyed the trio.

"Hm, not even one of you has escaped partially? What a shame. The FBI agent I caught last month had one of her hands free by the time I showed up. Then again, I was using a walking stick then, so maybe she had more time."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry to rush you, old lady, but can we just get to the part where you explain the evil ploy, we act like 'oh teh noez we're all doomed' and you do some demo on one of us, we're all  'aaaah she's old', we escape, turn her back, kick your butt, then save all your staff too and stop you?" Alex said.

"Hmm, no. I don't think so, but I do like the confidence even if you keep using that foolish Generation X terminology..."

"Um, the youngest Gen X'er was born in like 1980?" Clover said.

"Oh, whatever, they were the young brats back when I was paying attention, and frankly, I can't be bothered blaming millennials or whatever it is your generation is. But soon enough you'll look like baby boomers!" Regina cackled.

"Yeah, we figured that part out. It was even in our briefing," Sam noted.

Regina sighed.

"For spies you sure love talking. What does WOOHP already know?"

"Oh, right, yeah. We're not telling you. Unless you tell us, and we already know," Clover said smugly.

"The fact that getting younger means I might need to talk more with people like you three makes me reconsider this whole plan. Almost," Regina grumbled, and walked out.

The trio blinked.

"Did she just... skip out on the middle of the villain speech bit?" Alex asked.

"Uh, evil villain lady? Can you come back? We're kinda busy..." Clover shouted

Regina did return, but this time, with a bottle of bourbon.

"The fact my staff are all senile old morons that would bring the wrong drink if I'm lucky is also a drawback. And I can tell I'm going to need this to deal with you three idiots before I'm done."

"Ah, right. Kinda rude though, just saying," Alex retorted.

"Have you seen all my staff other than the new hires? I've drained them of their youth completely, and they're basically useless now. It's slow. Very slow. I drain a twenty year old into a senile crone in her eighties, it's at least sixty years of life drained but only sends me back about one year! And that's why I need a different method to achieve immortality!"



"Just immortality? No anger at the youth, no loathing of modern technology, no world domination, no demands for trillions of dollars?" Alex said.

"I already have billions and ruling the world seems like it'd be a lot of effort for very little actual gain. And frankly it's not like modern youth are anything exceptionally stupid for wasting their best years. Goodness knows I did it myself. And it's rather odd to hate modern technology when it's made me who I am today in so many ways."

"Anyway, the scheme. WOOHP and yourselves surely know it involves draining youth from people and as I said, it's not very efficient."

"Sounds like you're wasting youth again," Alex snarked.

"Quite. Perhaps there's a reason why it isn't working very well. You see the staff all look and act very much old... but they're otherwise in perfect health. Well, close enough. Their bones are perfectly fine, their organs still seem to be the same age as them bar a few that drink or smoke, all that's changed is the outside and the mind. They even have psychosomatic joint pains and weakness."

Regina walked over to her Big De-Aging Ray Thing. It seemed to feed into a large detachable glass tank that currently sat empty.

"I feel that may be the cause of the inefficiency. The change is, so to speak, only skin deep. So factor in it's repairing all of me, mind, organs, and all. I have two options. Improve the current device, or... go bigger."

She patted the machine. With a flick of a switch, it buzzed to life, the lights blinking.

"This one only drained one person at a time in the first design. The final machine will be far larger, and I plan to aim it at Miami beach during spring break. Thousands of young beachgoers rendered into old senile fools."

"But that's months away!" Clover realised

"Yes, it is, I want to have a machine that actually works. I've only just modified this one to drain up to five. I figure starting with three to make sure it works that low is the safe way to do it. By the way, Alex, was it? Still confident about escaping or turning yourself back when done?"

"Yep," Alex lied.

Regina smirked.

"I'll ask again when you're eighty and senile."

And she flipped a lever on the device.

Blue beams shot out, striking the three, who groaned for a second as an odd sensation overtook them. For a moment, little seemed to change, but each felt a tingling all over as slowly, the machine did the work...

"Ah, I forgot the mirror. You three should enjoy watching your youth fade. I know I did, but in my case, it took me years!" Regina grinned.

"Are you sure this doesn't take years too? I don't feel any different," Clover said.

Regina frowned.

"Hmm, larger numbers may go slower. One person would at least be having joint pains by now..."

She walked out, leaving the trio to be drained, as she knocked back the last of her drink.

The three seemed no different a few moments in. Alex had short black hair, light brown eyes, unblemished skin. Her maid dress let her ample and perky bust be obvious. Sam had her red hair, green eyes, and similarly perfect complexion. Even the unflattering green working jumpsuit let her bosom be clearly well defined. And Clover, blonde haired blue eyed and in the tightly fitting housekeeper dress still looked youthful. The three had toned bodies, mostly muscle, and barely any excess fat.

But the three realised a few small changes were happening. Alex squirmed a little.

"I feel like my butt might be getting bigger..." She groused

"My skin feels so dry," Sam said.

"I feel kinda bloaty," Clover added.

Regina returned, with three standing mirrors.

"Here you go, future crones! You enjoy the show. I'll be back in, ooh, ten minutes."

And she left again.

"Great, we can escape now! Ow.... Why do my joints hurt so much?" Sam said.

"Um, girls? Anyone else feeling like their boobs are saggy yet?" Clover fretted, as she realised her breasts seemed to be getting heavier, but less firm...

"No but, I'm definitely getting a fat butt...."

"Great, and I'm losing my beach bod," Sam sighed as she realised her stomach was developing less muscle and a little more flab.

Each looked in the mirror before them, and Clover winced to see she already had a few new blemishes on her skin, crows feet and worry lines.

"Gha, I almost look like my mom now...."

Sam and Alex had similar sensations as they looked in the mirrors.

"Yeah, but I don't think my mom ever wore a maid outfit," Alex tried a joke.

"I'm pretty sure my mom didn't get this chubby... I've got a fat belly and I'm getting a big butt too," Sam sighed.

Clover paled and stared at the mirror.

"My eyes got a little blurry... Is... Is my hair going grey?"

The other two looked, and realised their eyesight also wasn't as perfect as it had been. But Clover's hair did seem a little lighter than blonde.

"Uh, yeah. And I think I might be growing some facial hair," Sam fretted.

"My boobs are definitely getting saggy," Alex said.

The beam kept flowing into the trio, as they groused and moaned at the changes. In the mirror, even with loss of clarity in vision, they could see some changes.

"Ah, no, my legs are getting all hairy!" Clover cried.

"Mine too...."

"I can't tell but I bet I have the same thing. I'm pretty sure I am growing facial hair...." Sam then groaned as she realised that her hair was certainly turning grey.

She looked at herself in the mirror, despite her blurred vision. What looked back had wrinkled eyes, greying hair, and seemed to be in her mid or late fifties. She saw that her belly, even with the loose jumpsuit, was flabby. She noted her boobs were sagging a little. She knew her butt too had gained some flab too.

Alex also looked at her aging self, her boobs obviously drooping a little, and she could clearly see that her butt and lower body had taken on excess weight. Her own hair was turning grey too, and she swore her brown eyes were turning a little milky as cataracts seemed to develop.

And Clover too looked at her reflection. Her breasts now sagged heavily, and while not as portly in the middle as Sam, she had become a little flabby at the middle. She at least felt like her rear end hadn't got too bloaty, but bemoaned the obvious and dark growth of hair on her bare legs, and the many wrinkles developing on her face, as well as a few dark splotches on her skin that seemed to be age spots... or even a mole? She shuddered, realising that her rapid ageing was far from graceful.

"Come on, focus, we can escape, we can figure out the reverse, and... Ah, my back!" Sam wailed as she felt something pop as she struggled.

"Uh... Why were we here again?" Clover wondered, looking at herself still.

The sixty-plus year old woman looking back looked as confused as she felt.

"Um... I don't know. Something about pie?" Alex said, a scratchy tone to her voice.

Sam saw herself look horrified as the words from the others settled in... and then realised two things. They seemed very quiet as they spoke, and the other problem was, she too wasn't all that sure why they were here.

"Can you speak up? I can't hear so well..." An old woman said, her voice croaky.

Sam barely realised it was her own voice at first.

"What? Can you say that again?" Another asked, and it took a moment to realise it was Clover, the elderly voice so harsh and aged.

"I said speak up!"

"I'm not going to pee in a cup!"

"No, she said SPEAK UP!" Alex shouted.

The blue beam flowed for a moment more... and then halted, finished.

The trio that sat before it as it cooled off, were shouting to try and be heard properly.

Alex had short grey hair, clouded brown eyes, and was badly wrinkled at her eyes and forehead. Her skin sagged a little at her cheeks and jaw, many splotchy age spots present. Faint hair was on her lips, and her body was changed. Skin hung loose on her upper arms, her hands and lower arms were wrinkled and flecked with the age spots, while her breasts were drooping and the once tighter maid outfit hung loose at some spots, and heavier at others, her slightly flabby belly pushing against it. Her wrinkled legs also had excess hair and loose skin in spots.

Sam's hair was now long and grey, her eyes milky green, and the jumpsuit was tight on her stomach, flabby and pushing at even the once loose material. Her breasts had sagged a little, and while less of her skin could be seen thanks to it, what there was was dry looking, and wrinkled. If it was visible, she would be clearly a far cry from the toned and pretty young woman she had been just ten minutes before.

Clover, finally, was now grey haired and grey eyed, crow's feet deep at her eyes, worry lines thick, and her boobs fat and drooping. Her rear was also a bit heavier, but not quite as flabby as Alex, but thanks to her costume the wrinkles on her hands and arms were easier to see, as was the hair of her legs and the ageing of those lower limbs.

And then Regina returned, grinning.

"Are we done, Ladies?" The now younger looking woman smirked, as she went to the machine.

"What? I'm sorry, young lady, but my hearing isn't so good, can you speak louder?" Sam said, but Regina ignored her for now, looking at the tank.

The once empty glass tank on the machine was now about half full.  The brunette sighed at the meagre harvest in the machine's tank.

"Three at once, and only about half? One person usually fills it about a fifth. I guess the mass drain must lose some more energy. If I had to guess, five is barely giving me eighty percent. Still, this should give me a couple less years on the clock," She mused.

She frowned, as the old women kept asking her to speak up.

"Still, even if each person I drain is only one percent the final form will be draining thousands. I'll get at least a century's worth of de-aging that way. But I can get more. Maybe I need to hire another scientist and not age him into a mad old coot this time...."

"I say, young lady! Please let us out of these chairs!" Sam shouted.

"Ah, yes, sorry... I'd better let you get back to work."

She pressed a button on a remote, and the three old ladies were freed. They stood up, groaning and moaning as their stiff limbs moved.

"Thank you, dearie... Let's head back to work, ladies," Clover said, leading the three away, as Regina pondered her scheme more.

***

The three doddered out of the basement, groaning as they climbed the stairs.

"Oh, my old back can't handle stairs any more," Alex sighed.

"Mine neither," Sam agreed.

Into the main house they went, the trio passing other workers. Every one of them was in their eighties, it seemed, except five that passed by, two young men and three young women, moving stiffly, eyes blank, and blue badges glowing.

"Little brats," Clover groused, seeing the frustratingly pretty girls pass.

"Still, those boys... If I was a few decades younger...." Sam sighed.

"You filthy old thing!" Alex laughed.

Clover rolled her eyes and winced as even that made her muscles ache, and then saw a doddering butler. For a moment she almost recalled something...

The new hires sat in the hall, eight women and four men. 

"How come so many of the butlers are grampas?" One of the other hires wondered, a young woman with brown hair.

"Dunno, but at least we have some actual handsome guys around," Another mused, looking at the male new hires across the way, who were looking back with winks and flirty glances...

The though vanished, and a new comment rose to mind.

"Hmm, you know what, ladies, it does occur to me, we do have some handsome men closer to our own ages around here," She said.

The other two for a second seemed baffled, the last lingering remnants of their youthful thinking maybe behind it, until they nodded.

"Yeah. Those little whelps are just skin deep pretty. The real hunks are finely aged," Sam grinned.

The trio laughed, hoarse cackles, as they went back to work, and in the basement, Regina began draining five more victims....