The Baron motioned with his gun. "You three sit down with your friend."
Mike, Peter and Davy sat down on the floor next to Micky and helped him sit up.
"What's to talk about?" Mike said, "You're still up to your evil ways, still waving a gun around."
"Ah, but things have changed." Von Klutz said with a smile.
"Can we unchain Micky first?" Peter asked. "Please?"
"Very well." Von Klutz said with a scowl. He pulled a key out of his pocket and tossed it to him.
Peter unchained the padlock and Mike and Davy unwrapped the chain from around Micky.
"I'm so sorry, guys." Micky said, looking down, "Should've left a note. I thought I'd only be gone a short while."
"It's ok, Mick." Davy said, squeezing his hand, "Save your strength." He tossed the chain aside and Peter handed the key back to the evil Baron.
"Now that the reunion is over, let us begin." Von Klutz said. "I see the four of you are still the same long-haired boys."
"And you're still the same wanna-be race car mogul." Mike replied. "Looking for fame and fortune."
"That is true to a point." Von Klutz admitted, leaning against his car. "Now, however, Wolfgang and I work not for ourselves; but for the People's Republic of East Germany!"
"East Germany?" Peter asked.
"We are proud agents of the East German `Stazi'." Wolfgang said, "Or more commonly known as their secret police."
"So you've gone from Nazi to Commie." Davy stated.
"Oh, we've not forgotten the great ideas of our Fuehrer." Von Klutz said, "But we have adapted to the policies of the new world order."
"A world order that suppresses freedom of speech, religion and free trade." Mike said.
"One that will bring order and peace where we will live equally with our comrades!" Von Klutz shouted back. "You boys and your decadent American ways have no idea, no idea whatsoever, what Wolfgang and I have gone through to get where we are today!"
"Why don't you tell them, Mein Herr?" Wolfgang suggested.
"No, that's ok." Davy said.
"Shut up!" Von Klutz snapped, then got his temper under control. "I was born in the town of Klutzburg in the Bavarian Mountains in the waning months of what was then called the Great War." He said, "Humph! Great war for who? The victorious allies, that's who." He sighed. "My father, the twelfth Baron Von Klutz, was still able to hold on to his castle and property after the war, but my family was not as prosperous as before. As a youth, I would race cars around my father's property, indulging my fantasy of being the greatest car driver in the world."
The Baron looked over at Wolfgang. "When my father died I became the thirteenth Baron. It was during that time that Wolfgang joined me. His family had served my family for many generations. Together we would fix up old cars and I would race them, wearing my father's war uniform to intimidate the other drivers." His smile grew brighter.
"When the Fuehrer started his great conquest of the world, Wolfgang and I joined the Navy and served on a U-boat. Many a happy year went by as we blew American and British ships out of the water!" Baron Von Klutz began to pace around the Monkees, the gun still in his hand. "But unfortunately, the war did not turn out as the Fuehrer had hoped, and Wolfgang and I found ourselves back in Klutzburg - or what was left of it. My castle was severely damaged, my mother and fiance Hilda dead from an allied bombardment." Von Klutz stopped and glared at his prisoners, pain on his face.
They stared back at him with little sympathy, especially from Davy, who had relatives killed during the war as well.
"Then later on, my beloved Deutschland was split in two." Von Klutz said angrily.
"So the Baron took up race car driving again." Wolfgang said, continuing the story, "He and I traveled throughout Europe until a few unfortunate instances banned us from driving on most of the continent."
"So I raced my car in America, the country that had beaten my homeland twice!" Von Klutz added. He began to pace once again. "Then I finally had the chance to win the biggest race of all, then you four showed up to help my closest competitor, that old man Crumpets!"
As a favor to Davy's grandfather, the Monkees were helping T.N. Crumpets get his car ready for a big race when Von Klutz kidnapped Micky and Crumpets, then Crumpet's car engine, in order to get his own car ready. Davy had spoiled Von Klutz's plan by entering the Monkeemobile in the race-and beating him.
"You two were arrested for kidnapping and attempted murder." Davy said, "Not to mention all the sabotage you did. We heard you both were deported to be tried in your homeland."
Peter added, "So why are you back here in the states?"
The evil Baron and his henchman gave the Monkees feral smiles.
"By pure luck, we were sent back to an area where the Von Klutz name still meant something." The Baron said slowly. "The judges knew my family and the power it once had. In fact, one of the judges happened to be a cousin of Wolfgang's. So, we were given a very light sentence-but there was a price. I had to give up my title, my castle and my possessions."
"You mean you're not a Baron anymore?" Mike asked, delighted, "Tsk, tsk."
The other Monkees shook their heads in mock sympathy. Von Klutz face grew red, but he didn't rise to the bait as Mike had hoped.
"No, I am not." He said levelly, "But my bad luck didn't last for long. Days later, I was contacted by an agent of the East German Stazi and offered a job as a spy. My travels as a race car driver would be the perfect cover to gather information from other agents and pass it back to my bosses in East Berlin."
"So that's why you're in L.A." Mike stated.
"Correct, American child." Von Klutz replied. "And you four are here because your fuzzy-haired friend was looking for a job. I am pleased to announce that he now has that job, to help us get my car, the re-christened `Super-mobile' ready for the race."
He slowly turned to Davy, "As a bonus, you now have the honor of driving my car to victory!"