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Chapter Six: Redemption

"What, with all the time I am spending out here, what do you think Jumba is doing?" Jumba asked with a chuckle of amusement. His features quickly became angry again, his mouth frowning, his brow furrowed. He stood a ways into the woods behind the house with Lilo and Stitch at his side. Nani had taken Pleakley back to the house once they had found him near the site of his stolen ship. Jumba had to admit, to 003's credit; Pleakley's heart monitor was showing two steady beats. But that still didn't excuse what he had done.

"Yeah, but I still can't believe that you built a space ship. And without anyone knowing," Lilo replied, gawking. The ship before them was about one third the size of Jumba's red ship and its build was a cross between the Police Cruiser and Gantu's ship. Though he had not bothered to paint it, its natural silver sheen was impressive enough. Its cabin housed two seats and Jumba had said that there was a third in the ship's belly to man the guns.

"We had best be going before Larger Girl is coming back," Jumba said as he climbed up into the cabin.

"So we're really going to your old lab?" Lilo asked, her excitement mounting.

"No," Jumba answered, "Little Girl is not going anywhere. Jumba and 626 are going to Jumba's old lab."

"But-"

"No," Jumba's voice was firm. This was clearly not a time to try his patience. "Come, 626." Stitch gave Lilo an apologetic look then climbed up into the seat behind Jumba. The cockpit hissed shut.

"Jumba," Lilo said, her voice being played through the cockpit's speakers. "Please try and remember that it wasn't his fault." Jumba gave her a hesitant nod, and then turned to the ship's controls. The landing gear retracted as the ship hovered a few feet off of the ground.

"Please be clearing launch zone," Jumba commanded, his voice projected through speakers as well. A glance out the window held no sight of Lilo, and the ship's radar was showing nothing. She must have already cleared out. She was a smart girl. The ship slowly rose past the tree line and Jumba locked in the hyperspace coordinates. Twin engines flared as the ship broke out of orbit and vanished into space.

Nani walked out of the house as she heard the ship's sonic boom. "Lilo?" she called out.

Nearly four hours later, Jumba's silver ship docked at his old lab, right next to his red one. Until now, Jumba had never really given his old home much thought; he was surprised that the Federation hadn't destroyed it.

"626, there are weapons under seat," Jumba demonstrated by pulling out what appeared to be a brightly colored shotgun. Stitch followed his example and equipped himself with four plasma pistols. Then, they entered the lab, moving very slowly and keeping their eyes peeled. But they saw nothing, nor heard a thing. The lab appeared abandoned. They moved past doors both open and closed, pausing when Jumba noticed that 003's creation chamber was open. He stole a quick glance into the room, noting that his lab coat had been torn along the bottom. 003 had been in here. "Come, 626, I am figuring where they are being."

Jumba led the way to the main chamber of the lab. With what Jumba knew about Hamsterviel, the rat would put himself in what he considered to be the throne room. Sure enough, as the door hissed open, Hamsterviel's smug face smirked back at them.

"It was only a matter of time before you came," Hamsterviel said calmly, "So I made sure I was prepared." From behind the Jumba sized seat in which Hamsterviel sat, came 003. His stair was blank.

"Hello father, brother," he nodded at both of them in turn. It was now that Stitch noted the silver ring that was set around his third eye. Jumba had his shotgun leveled, but Stitch kept his pistols lowered. Stitch had fought alongside of 003 against the hydra, and he could tell that the experiment that stood before him now was different.

"What are you waiting for?" Hamsterviel sneered, "Kill them!" 003 snapped into action. He thrust out both of his hands, slamming the two of them into the wall. The blow had been powerful, knocking the wind out of Jumba. Stitch was unfazed. Propelling himself off of the wall, Stitch fired two shots at Hamsterviel. A force field from 003 blocked the blasts, but left the experiment open as Stitch slammed into him. Tumbling along the ground, 003 quickly righted him self and formed a sword of force. It was a saber that projected directly from his palm. Blocking three more shots, he rushed at Stitch, cutting the barrel off one of his guns. Stitch dropped the useless weapon and connected his fist with 003's face.

Jumba slowly stood up, trying desperately to catch his breath. That blow had been strong, too strong. Whatever that ring around 003's eye was, it was amplifying his powers. But the nature of 003's power was so that it couldn't be amplified. It could only be forcefully drawn out, resulting in the loss of the experiment's powers. Of course, Hamsterviel wouldn't care about that. As soon as he had caught his breath, Jumba took aim and fired at Hamsterviel, hoping to catch him while 003 was distracted. But the force field that he had thrown up before was still present; another show of 003's enhanced power. Hamsterviel just smiled.

Stitch ducked a sword swipe and returned with a plasma blast. Another blade erected from 003's palm, deflected the shot. "Enough," 003 said, his blades vanishing. He waved his hand, and Stitch's guns were ripped from his grasp. With his other hand, 003 telekinetically grabbed Stitch by the neck. He slowly lifted Stitch from the ground, his legs kicking feebly in the air.

"Drop him!" Jumba shouted, leveling his shotgun. 003 barely looked at him before disarming him with a wave of his hand. Jumba grabbed at his own neck as the invisible force began to strangle him.

"This is the end," Hamsterviel said with one of his mocking laughs, "Done in by one of your own experiments. Ha! A failure even. The only way I was able to control him was by using your old emotion-draining bug! It worked wonderfully! I even had him place one on you. He broke in during the night and planted it. But that apparently didn't work out nearly as well. It was as close as I get to asking you to join me, but you turned it down. So now you die."

Jumba's vision started to narrow, then he heard a familiar voice.

"I won't let you hurt my ohana!" Lilo shouted. She fired the shotgun before 003 had a chance to act. Stitch and Jumba dropped to the ground as 003 was thrown against the wall. Gathering his weapons, Stitch rushed over to Lilo and Jumba. She stood holding the shotgun in a white knuckled grasp, her hands trembling. Pulling the trigger had been easy when 003 had been squeezing the life out of the two, but now it dawned on her that she might have just killed him. Jumba knelt down and slowly took the weapon from her.

The dust slowly cleared around the area where 003 had impacted the wall. He had managed, just before the blast had connected, to wrap himself in a shield. Dismissing the protection, he sought out his targets, raised his hand to attack, and then stopped. He saw the newest threat, the girl, surrounded by Jumba and 626. She looked terrified, while Jumba had his arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her. He saw the emotions written clean on his face. Jumba was now scared as well. He had not been a moment before, but something had changed. Had it been coming so close to death? No, it was the girl; he was scared for the girl.

"Attack! Don't just stand there, you waste of life, kill them!" Hamsterviel was shouting. 003 felt a shudder run up his spine. The cloth that was tied around his neck grew warm, while the insect that was stuck to him grew cold. For a moment the two forces seemed to battle each other, his body racked with chills and heat flashes. But with an abrupt suddenness, it ended. Warmth flooded through him, and he felt the bug detach and fall to the floor. Instantly he saw everything in a different light, a different state of mind. The only thing that had changed, he realized, was that he could feel.

Emotions, both his own, and those from Jumba's old lab coat, raced through his mind. Anger, joy, fear, grief, and determination. He took hold of the last one and drew strength from it. Turning to Hamsterviel, 003 created a sword of force, a traditional blade held in his fist. "You're dead!" he shouted, and with the aid of his wings, leaped into the air with his sword aimed to kill.

As if sensing its master's need, the huge gorilla-like creature appeared from through a door and slammed its meaty fist into 003, tossing him aside like a rag doll. 003 quickly rebounded to his feet and took a good look at the creature. It was over double the size of any gorilla on earth. The creature's fur was a virtual tie-dye of different colors, though no bright colors were present. Its face was a nearly identical to an earthling gorilla, except for the bony ridges on the brow or the fangs that protruded from its lips. A pair of jagged bone blades extended from the back of each hand.

"Do you like my experiment?" Hamsterviel cackled, "How about the one that I sent with Gantu?"

"You never could make anything correctly," Jumba commented as he approached 003, "But at least this one is being better than hydra. That one is looking like you are stitching together parts from different animals." Hamsterviel's smirk faded into a sneer as he pointed one finger at Jumba. The gorilla charged upon command, bearing down on Jumba. But 003 jumped into the monster's path, raising a hand as if to protest. The creature was hurled back, thrown clean over Hamsterviel's chair to crash into the wall.

003 turned around to face Jumba, a slight hint of fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, "I got caught again and nearly killed you both." Jumba opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as his eye caught something. 003 heard a growl behind him just as Jumba looked up. Turning around, 003 saw the gorilla was nearly on top of them. But before he could raise his hand to defend them, he caught a blue blur in the corner of his eye. Stitch slammed into the monster, sending it skidding across the floor.

"Cousin?" Stitch asked, holding out his free hand.

"Not cousin. Brother," 003 replied, taking Stitch's hand and giving it a good shake. Releasing each other, the two experiments turned to face their opponent. As the monster stood up, Stitch peppered it with plasma fire. But the shots seemed to have no effect. Each blast struck the creature's coat and evaporated into colored smoke, until one hit it in on its bare chest. The creature gave a jerk and let out a roar of pain. 003 fired a blast of telekinetic force from his hand, striking the monster in the face. It let out another roar as it stumbled back, nearly falling on Hamsterviel.

Then it made a great snorting noise, and spit forth a glob of green goop. The two experiments and Jumba leaped out of the way as the putrid concoction splattered against the floor. It sizzled, and acrid smoke rose from the area. Jumba looked over at Lilo from his position on the ground and quickly leaped to his feet. He had to get her out of here.

"626, take care of experiment! You," he pointed a thick finger at 003, "Come." His eyes bore into 003 forcing him to look down. Stitch let out a battle cry and started firing at the gorilla. As Stitch kept Hamsterviel's experiment busy, the other two made their way to Lilo. "Little Girl," Jumba began as he took a knee in front of her, "You need to go back to ship."

"I can't leave, you might need me again," Lilo responded, though her trembling took most of the strength from her words.

"You have no weapons, no powers. Little Girl is being more burden than help," Jumba said softly, "I'm sorry, but you are getting in the way." Just as he finished, a shadow eclipsed them. Jumba turned to see the gorilla experiment hanging in the air. A quick glance to the side showed 003 with both of his hands up, his third eye glowing. With a heaving motion, 003 threw the experiment back where Stitch went to work on it.

"Okay," Lilo said as Jumba turned back, "But promise me that when you get back, you'll go surfing with us." She beamed up at him, her eyes shining with moisture. Jumba nodded and Lilo wrapped her arms around him in a hug, burying her face in his belly. He placed his hand on her back and smiled.

"003," Jumba instructed, becoming stern once more, "Be taking her to ship and getting home safely." 003 nodded as Lilo parted from Jumba. He looked into Jumba's eyes as he did and was surprised to find, not anger, but a small measure of trust. "Go!" Jumba commanded as he stood up. Again, 003 nodded, taking Lilo by the hand and leading her away from the battle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jumba turn and take aim with his shotgun.

Jumba fired the plasma shotgun, aiming for any bare spots on the hairy experiment. Hamsterviel had vanished, most likely while he was busy with Lilo. But on the bright side, the gorilla experiment looked as if it wouldn't last for very long. Not with two excellent marksmen blasting at it. He heard the hiss of a door, and spared a look out of the corner of his eyes. One of the large doors to the side had opened, revealing another gorilla experiment and a hydra experiment. Jumba turned and fired on them. His first shot hit the scaled necks of the hydra and fell as slag, while his other shot evaporated on the fur of the gorilla. Before he could get another round of shots off, the experiments split up. The hydra moved to help its fellow experiment against Stitch, while the other gorilla went after 003 and Lilo. "No!" Jumba shouted, firing vainly at the creature's furry back.

003 heard Jumba's shout, and turned to see the gorilla experiment running after them. "Run!"