A huge steel door opened and the golden Yuri-nator appeared, frogmarching a defiant-looking Mr Dangerfield into the enclosure.

‘Hah – you don’t frighten me,’ Johnny’s dad barked at Yuri Boom-Boom. ‘You’re the disease  . . . I’m the cure.’

‘Um, who is he?’ Penelope whispered.

‘My dad,’ Johnny said quietly. ‘Supposedly.’

Boom-Boom lifted Mr Dangerfield’s arm up in the air, displaying a strange tattoo just below his wrist.

‘Agent Danger is a prize catch, but this agent here is an even bigger catch. He is one of the notorious MI6 ghost team that made my life a misery two decades ago. None of them have ever been caught alive. He will be the first ever to be sacrificed by an evil villain.’

‘Is there anything else you need to tell me about your family?’ Penelope mumbled.

‘This is all breaking news to me,’ Johnny gasped.

Dr Disastrous waved at Johnny. ‘Thumbs up or thumbs down, Danger? It’s time to choose. His and your fate depend on it.’

Johnny looked across at his father and then looked over his shoulder at Penelope. Silently, he raised his forearm and poked his thumb up in the air.

‘What?’ trembled Penelope.

Then Johnny twisted his thumb over and pointed it firmly at the ground. ‘Never in a million years, you rotten scumbag!’

Dr Disastrous’s face screwed up. Yuri burst out laughing.

‘Comrade, I admire your fighting spirit, but you have chosen poorly. Now you and your friend will pay with your lives.’

He turned and shook Dr Disastrous’s hand. ‘Da, it is time to return to our original master plan. Let us dispose of these spies and I can get on with my goal of ruling the world with an iron fist, just as our glorious founding fathers of Oobleckhstan prophesied.’ He clapped his hands together warmly and pointed at the pool. ‘Yuri-nator, please arrange for these troublesome spies to go and sleep with the fishes.’

The glistening cyborg scratched its head. ‘Negative, daylight still in operation – sleep not possible.’

‘No, you idiot, you don’t understand me,’ Yuri groaned. ‘I want you to dunk them like they are cookies in a cup of cocoa.’

‘Negative – cookie supply empty. Refill required.’

‘Agh, listen you digital dunderhead – I want you to kill them!’

‘Negative. Energy levels too low. Liquid intake levels require urgent replenishment. Many hours of chasing, running and swimming have depleted supplies. Coca-Cola, Pepsi or Dr Pepper will assist recovery.’

Dr Disastrous tugged at his dreadlocks in frustration. ‘I can’t believe this – a fifty-million-dollar machine that craves sugary drinks?’ he barked.

‘Comrade, these cyborgs are more humanlike than you will ever understand,’ Yuri commented. ‘They share our love of junk food as much as anyone standing in this enclosure. That’s why my new generation of Yuri-nators have been constructed with their sense of taste and smell deactivated.’

Johnny’s eyes lit up as the cyborg tried in vain to drink from the empty bottle stored in its shoulder compartment.

‘Miss Pounds, I think we’ve just found a chink in their armour,’ he whispered over his shoulder.

He slipped his arms behind his back and cupped his hands. ‘Pass me my special drink bottle,’ he said quietly.

Penelope discreetly removed the doctored Cherry Coke from Johnny’s bag and slipped into his hands.

Johnny held it up boldly. ‘Someone looking for this?’ he said with a cheeky wink.

The killer robot immediately scanned the bottle in Johnny’s hand. A second later it shuffled over to Penelope and handed her its laser pistol and Mr Dangerfield’s outstretched arm.

‘For that thirst that burns like a fire,’ Johnny taunted.

Penelope held Mr Dangerfield’s forearm tightly and peered closely at the strange tattoo. ‘No way,’ she stuttered.

‘Down the hatch and up the bottoms,’ the Yuri-nator boomed, lifting Johnny’s spiked refreshments towards its lips.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Penelope’s evil clone marched Tim through the entrance and into the pool enclosure. ‘I’m back. Did everyone miss me?’ she boasted loudly.

Tim tried to wriggle free from her grip. ‘Johnny, I have more bad news!’

The golden Yuri-nator paused to look at the two Penelopes, the contents of Johnny’s drink bottle hovering at its mouth.

‘What??’ Dr Disastrous howled.