Lea opened the door that led outside. It was a part of the building Myrtle didn't see a lot of. The second bike rack lot was claimed as the hang out area of Sam's gang. None of the student's dared to go anywhere near it anymore. There were short brick walls on either side, closing the area in, with the bike rack being up against the left wall. The grass looked barely touched, only walked on by a few people, but was littered with garbage here and there. Over the right wall, Myrtle could see the school's field, eerily empty. The rocky pavement leading from the door to the sidewalk, like a red carpet at a movie premier. She thought it was odd that the sidewalk also had no one walking home on it, school had just let out moments ago and everyone should be rushing home.
After her short scan of the area, her eyes finally caught the three girls leaning up against the bike rack. Once Lea and Myrtle stepped forward, the murmurings of the three came to a close. The girl with fiery red hair pointed out the two approaching. After readjusting her jacket, the girl Myrtle knew as their leader, Sam, walked towards her.
The girl's jean jacket and designer top and skirt were high end clothes that Myrtle always wanted to have. However, she never had the money to afford it. Instead, the best she could do was knock offs. Her current t-shirt and ripped jeans looked like garbage in comparison.
When Sam walked, she walked with confidence. There was nothing in her path that could get in her way. Except Lilo. Her long dirty blonde hair flowed freely behind her as she moved, like a veil blowing in the wind.
"Hey, Myrtle." Sam said like they had been friends forever. Her cheery demeanor was a huge contrast to the attitude the other girls showed. "I'm, Sam."
"I-I know." Myrtle had trouble hiding her excitement, finally the moment she'd waited forever for had come. "I've idolized you for, like, ever."
"Idolized huh?" Sam looked back at the others with a smile. This is going to be easy. "I like the sound of that. So then, as you probably know, that's Lea. Our short firecracker is Abby, and the tan beauty leaning against the wall behind the two of them is Jen." The three girls nodded as their names had been said. "I expect that Lea explained why we want you in our group."
"Yeah. I want what you want. To ruin Lilo." Myrtle said with an evil grin, but the confidence she had quickly left her. Is it always going to be because of Lilo? "I just don't know why you're asking me to join you. Couldn't you do it on your own?"
"Yeah." Sam said simply, returning back to her group. "But." She turned on her heel once she made it to the rack. "Every now and then we give someone the opportunity to join us. Since you hate that girl as much as us, we've decided to give you a chance."
"What happened to the others?"
"They weren't quite up to snuff." Jen stated as the other girls laughed.
"But I'm sure you can handle it. I get a good feeling from you." Sam ran forward and grabbed Myrtles hands. "Now come on." She started to pull Myrtle along before running ahead on her own.
"W-where are we going?" Myrtle said as she regained her balance.
Abby walked by her, eager to catch up with Sam. "If you're gonna hang with us."
Lea quickly came up her other side. "You're gonna need to look the part."
"Look the part?" Myrtle saw the girls get into a black car, Jen was the one opening the driver's door.
"Get in!" Sam said, sticking her head out the passenger window. "We're going shopping!"
Without hesitation, Myrtle instantly ran to the car to let herself in. She had just met Sam, and she could already tell that they were going to be great friends.
Since Lilo and Stitch were grounded for the next two days, they had nothing to do but sit at home. Immediately when Lilo got home, Stitch told her he wanted to talk to her. Lilo started putting her thing from school away as Stitch explained meeting up with Angel and Reuben outside of Jumba's ship.
"That's odd." Lilo said with her brow furrowed as she threw her backpack against the wall. "We've never done check-ups on any of the experiments before. Did you talk to Jumba about it?"
"Yeah. He said it was nothing." Stitch was looking out the window, towards Jumba's ship. He felt like something was being hidden from them. Something big. Before he was excited about what Angel and Reuben had to say, now he was downright curious. "Jumba bad liar."
Lilo laughed at Stitch's comment. "He always has been." She looked at the ship too, then grabbed Stitch and flung him onto their bed. She jumped in after him and they wrestled around for a few long moments. Finally settling into each other, Lilo continued. "What are we going to do about it?"
"Meega guess we can only wait until we see them Saturday." Stitch said, rubbing his hand along Lilo's side.
"Or." She said with a mischievous smile. "We sneak out and take a peek at Jumba's records to find out for ourselves."
Stitch gasped at her suggestion. "Lilo. Weega could get into more trouble if we're caught."
"Then we just have to make sure we don't get caught." Lilo sat up, full of excitement. "Don't you want to know what's going on?"
Stitch followed her up, crossing his legs to sit better on the soft bed. "Weega find out Saturday." Stitch was always more than eager to sneak out, but they had just gotten in trouble with the hovercraft. If they were caught, the punishment would be far greater than being grounded for a few days. However, the old itch to break rules suddenly scratched in the back of his mind.
"We don't even know if the two things are related." Lilo was getting more and more excited at the idea. They hadn't done anything like this in a long time. She suddenly jumped up and ran to the board on the other side of the room. It was completely covered in the photo's she had taken over the years. She had never stopped taking pictures of tourists, and she wasn't planning on ever stopping. The photos weren't what she was looking for though. Lilo flipped the board around, revealing a clear white board, ready to make up a plan.
Myrtle stood, staring at herself in the mirror. She was completely amazed at how she looked. The tight designer blue jeans, yellow loose shirt, and thick yellow belt was a style she didn't know she could pull off. Her glasses didn't even look out of place anymore.
"Wow, Myrtle." Sam said, sitting on a bench with the other three girls. "It's like a whole new you."
"Yeah." She used the mirror to look at herself from every angle. "A whole new me." She continued to look at herself and Sam could see the joy in Myrtle's eye.
"So?" Sam said as she got up. "Are you going to get it?"
"I'd love to, but…" Myrtle looked at the clothes one last time. "It's way too expensive. There's no way I can afford this."
"Really? It would be a shame to let such a nice look go."
"Yeah. But we've already bought so much." Myrtle gestures towards the bags on the floor by the mirror.
"This is the best one, though." Lea said from the bench.
"You can't let this one get away." Abby added.
"Totally." Jen spoke for the first time since they arrived at the mall.
Myrtle looked at herself in the mirror again. "This does look really good."
Sam simply smiled. "Are you sure there's no way for you to get this? Imagine. Walking into school with us like you own the place in this."
"That would be amazing." The rush was starting to get to Myrtle. She could feel her blood pumping as she imagined looking large and in charge again. Something she didn't feel for a long time. "I suppose I could use my credit card. I'm only supposed to use it in an emergency though."
"Well." Sam put her arm around Myrtle's shoulder, grasping on tight. "I would say this counts as an emergency."
Hesitantly, Myrtle pulled her wallet out of her bag. Inside was her mom's credit card. The one she promised she'd never use unless she had to. She had second thoughts about using it for the clothing. Then she saw herself in the mirror again. Standing beside her idol, being where she had wanted to for so long. "I'll take it."
Lilo looked over the plan on the board. Darkness had already fallen and they kept their room lit with a single desk lamp. Stitch had scribbled Jumba's ship as well as the way to the computer they would need upon the board. Their path was set, all they needed to do was to get out of the house without being seen or heard.
Lilo stepped forward, into the light. She was wearing her dark sweat shirt and sweat pants. Her long dark hair was tied back and covered by her black toque. She memorized the path they needed to take through the ship as she slipped on her black gloves. "You ready, Stitch?"
"Ready." Stitch was wearing similar apparel to Lilo. The only different was that he kept his hands and feet uncovered in order to climb the walls.
"Good. Time to start operation: info grab." Stitch tilted his head. "What? I know it's not the best name, but I couldn't come up with anything better."
"Okay. Okay."
Stitch climbed down the elevator shaft, being careful not to make a sound. Keeping to the roof, he looked into the living room. Nani was still awake, watching TV. He looked down the hall and saw that Jumba and Pleakley's door was closed. He looked the best he could but couldn't find David anywhere. Figuring it wasn't something to worry about, Stitch opened the kitchen window and climbed up to the dome room window.
"Coast clear, Mutant Dog?" Lilo asked as she crawled out of the window. They had decided to keep code names for their secret operation. Stitch still didn't understand why they used them, but he loved the fun that Lilo got out of it.
"Couldn't find, Surfer. He must be out still."
"As long as we're quick, we should be done before he gets back. How's Big Sister?"
"Watching TV, just like youga said. Noodle and Genius are asleep already as well."
"Then we are good to go." Lilo climbed from the dome onto the roof, careful not break anything or step too hard. Keeping her balance, she slid down to the back side of the house before she jumped to the ground.
Stitch silently followed her. Knowing they were safe for now, the two headed through the trees. The path wouldn't be safe to take. Jumba had questionable sleeping habits, at any moment he could start heading up to his ship and find them. Instead they took the back route, keeping in the forest until the back of the big red ship was in sight.
Jumba's ship had a couple of entrances, but he didn't know that Stitch knew about the secret one by the tail fin. Stitch scaled the side of the ship until he found a loose panel. Carefully removing it he snuck inside and Lilo finally lost him from view. She knew it wouldn't take long for him to double back to the door she was waiting at. That's why she became worried when she sat there for ten minutes without a sign from Stitch.
"Mutant Dog. Come in." She said into her walkie-talkie. "Mutant Dog. This is Black Raven. Do you copy?"
Inside the ship, Stitch was trying to stifle the sound of the communication device as Jumba walked right underneath him. Stitch clung to the ceiling as best as he could while holding the speaker against his shirt. Jumba stopped, thinking he had heard something. He looked above him, but saw nothing and headed back towards the lab.
"Phew." Stitch let out a sigh of relief from the room vent right beside where he was hanging only a moment ago.
"Mutant Dog. Where are you?" Said Lilo's voice from the walkie-talkie.
"Mutant Dog here." He said. Lilo let out a sigh of relief, she was worried something might have happened in the unpredictable walls of the ship. "Weega have a problem."
"What is it?"
"Genius is still here." There was silence on the other end. Stitch waited a moment but didn't hear a reply. "What do youga want to do, Black Raven?"
"We have to continue. We've come this far."
Lilo waited only a few more moments. Suddenly the door swung open with Stitch on the other side. "Then weega better hurry." He said to her, helping her up into the ship.
The two ran through the winding halls, being sure to keep away from the lab. Since Jumba was still inside, they wouldn't be able to access the backup computer in the lab. Instead, they were going to need to hack into the main computer system.
"Do you know how to get there?" Lilo asked as they headed up a utility ladder.
"Of course." Stitch said as he looked back and forth down the hall way they just climbed to. "This way."
Stitch ran down the hall, stopping suddenly at a small panel in the wall. The words, "Do not Open," were written in red on the metal plating. Stitch used a single claw to pick at the lock until he heard a click. Once the panel was open, a small note gently floated to their feet. Lilo picked it up and stifled a giggle.
"What is it?" Stitch asked as he already began to hack into the computer.
"It says, 'That means you too, Pleakley." Lilo said making him laugh too.
It didn't take long for Stitch to gain access to all the files in Jumba's ship. Scanning through the roster of experiments, he finally found the numbers "624" and "625."
"Found them."
"Good." Lilo tapped the note back to the inside of the panel. "What does it say about them?"
"Nothing new." Stitch scanned all the files pertaining to them both and individually. "Their powers. The files of them being put into the machine. Nothing about a check-up."
"So they were lying?"
"Wait." Stitch came across one file. It had been entered that day. "Meega found something from today."
"What is it?"
Stitches hands were a blur on the keyboard. The moment he tried to enter the file he was shut out. A few more attempts and still nothing new had happened. "Meega can't get in." He tried to gain access to the block, but the moment he tried to get around it, "Nala Kweesta" appeared on the screen. Stitch's entire access was blocked and he was shut out permanently for the night.
"No good?" Lilo asked, slightly hopeful that Stitch had one more idea.
"No. Meega got nothing."
Slightly disappointed that they didn't get what they were looking for, the two quietly made it back to the house. Stitch looked through the window and saw that Nani was still lying on the couch. However, he could see that she was starting to nod off. They were going to need to hurry before she called up to wish them a good night.
Lilo grabbed onto Stitch as he started to climb up the side of the wall. Their movements stopped once they heard the metal ting of the garbage can below them.
"Hey guys." David said as he dropped the black bag into the metal can. "Little late for climbing. Don't ya think?" The two just laughed nervously as they hung there.
"David!" Lilo exclaimed like nothing was going on. "When did you get back?"
"Just now. I saw that the garbage needed to go out." He said, wiping his hands on his shorts. "Wasn't expecting to see two spies though. Does Nani know you're out?"
"No. Do you think you could keep this a secret?"
"Aren't you two supposed to be grounded?" He looked at them suspended fifteen feet from the ground. "You look anything but grounded right now."
"Weega just had some…information to get." Stitch said, not looking at the surfer below them.
"Uh-huh. You know I have to tell Nani."
"Please don't." Lilo pleaded. "Just this one time? We just really needed to get out and stretch."
David thought about it for a few moments. Lilo really thought he was going to turn her in, until he started laughing. "Alright. But get in quickly. Don't want Nani to catch you."
The two quickly made their way back up the house, jumping into their room just in time to tell Nani goodnight. With "operation: info get" a complete failure, Lilo started to erase their plans from the board while Stitch put away their spy clothes.
"That was a bust." She said as she flopped onto the bed.
"Yeah." Stitch added while crawling in next to her.
"What was that file called anyway? It must have been really important."
Stitch just shrugged. "Meega don't know. It was just labeled 'gen II.'"