"High Dive from Heaven"
a fanfic by Jacob "Robertoa" Corley
Chapter 3: Infiltration
Lilo was growing impatient; it had been over two hours since Jumba began working. She knocked on the door. "Jumba, are you okay in there?"
"I am being fine, little girl. Is just taking longer than I had been anticipating. Please remain patient."
Jumba had already worked up a sweat trying to hack into what was most likely his most secure experiment ever. He had spent the first hour and a half just trying to unlock 627's brain: an action that would have taken less than five minutes with any other experiment. He couldn't tell Lilo what he was doing for fear that she would disapprove. He knew that there was no other way to capture 583, and, if she refused to partner with 627, they would all be doomed.
Ten more minutes passed before Jumba called Lilo back up to his room. "I have finished, little girl."
Lilo and Stitch both stepped into Jumba's room. "What have you been doing all this time, Jumba? Who's the 'new friend'?"
Jumba was sitting in his chair with his back turned. "Lilo, 626, I would like to present to you your new partner." Jumba turned around, and Lilo saw 627 sitting on his lap. Lilo gasped, and Stitch jumped in front of her.
Stitch snarled. "Grr.. suu nigel!". 627 glared back at Stitch.
"626, please calm yourself. There is no danger; 627 has been completely reprogrammed to be good, no longer evil."
"Evil!" 627 barked at Stitch. "Evil! Evil!!" Stitch still growled at him. The two's eyes were fized upon each other.
Lilo looked at Jumba disapprovingly. " 'completely'?"
Jumba frowned at his oversight. "Ahh... it would be taking too long to teach him to speak, so you will just have to be getting used to it."
Lilo looked at Stitch and 627. They were both growling at each other, and she couldn't see the two of them ever getting along. "I don't know, Jumba. Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"Bah, it is the only way to be sure that 583 is being captured!"
Lilo thought. I guess if there's no other way... she thought to herself. "Okay. We'll try him out."
Lilo and Stitch left the room, but 627 did not follow. Jumba sternly explained the situation to him. "627, you must watch out for little girl to make sure that no harm comes to her or 626." 627 sighed. He mumbled to himself and slowly followed after them.
Angel peered through a small bush near the Rental Pavilion and saw Neutrino meandering around. At the moment, he was standing directly below the counter where Nani was working. Blitznag, she thought, he just has to be right in front of the only woman on this whole island who could recognize me. Several tourists had already seen Neutrino and had mistaken him for some type of rare Kauaian cat, but Nani wouldn't. She never saw him, but had she, she would have recognized him as one of Jumba's in an instant. Being secretive about subduing him would be difficult.
Angel crouched down and held her sniper blaster ready, which she had loaded with tranquilizer from 625's collection. She aimed carefully, knowing that she only had a few shots. Since there were no people around who looked like guards, Neutrino kept his radiation to himself and wandered around aimlessly. She waited until he wandered far enough away from the pavilion that no one could see him, and she fired a shot.
Neutrino fell to the ground, and Angel ran over to pick him up. Upon reaching him, she slung his unconscious body over her shoulder and headed back to the ship. At the time, she was unaware that she was being watched; she was being watched by the one woman who could possibly unknowingly ruin her entire plan.
Once Angel got back to the ship, it was time to begin setting the trap. The main trap was going to be placed in the entryway to the ship. Angel removed the plasma miniguns from below the ship and reinstalled them in the main level. She placed several lasers near the door, also; once a beam was broken, the guns would begin automatic aim and fire.
625 was nearly unconscious from the tranquilizer, so it was easy for Angel to lug him to the lower level and stash him in the inactive teleporter tube she once inhabited. Angel went back up to get Gantu's body, which had been lying in blood since early that morning. 625 had never noticed it.
625 was coming to just as Angel entered the storage room dragging Gantu's body.
"Gantu?!" 625 shouted, assuming Gantu had been tranquilized. "Gantu!! Get me out of here!" 625 waited for a response. "Gan-" He choked on his words upon seeing the trail of blood that his body left.
Angel turned to him. "He's dead. If you don't want the same to happen to you, I suggest you be quiet." Angel was constantly calm; she felt it was necessary if Stitch was to ever again love her.
625 was shocked. "No," he murmured. He spoke quietly, trying desparately to believe what he had just heard. "How could you do something like that?!"
Angel glared at him and spoke as though what she said was already obvious. "Gun?" She stuck her hand into the hole in Gantu's head, pulled out a glob of congealed cerulean blood and threw it at the teleporter tube. The blob stuck to the side of the tube, and 625 jumped back. Angel let out a single cold laugh. "There's a little something to remember him by, now shut up! I'm busy."
After hiding the body and cleaning up the trail of blood across the floor, Angel continued setting traps. She was very meticulous about all that she did: such was necessary.
Nani got on the phone and quickly called home to tell Jumba that she saw Angel, although she failed to mention Neutrino.
Jumba was delighted for Angel. "So, 626's booji bu has escaped, heh heh! He will be so happy to be hearing this!" Jumba prepared to activate the alert on the dunebuggy, but he changed his mind. He decided to wait until 626 returned home to tell him the good news: something like this would certainly distract Stitch from the business at hand.
Stitch drove the buggy as 627 scanned the horizon using his Geiger vision. Lilo sat in the back and acted like she was doing something important. After a few moments, 627 saw something.
"Evil!" he shouted and pointed. Stitch turned the buggy and let 627 navigate. For a few minutes, they drove until they pulled up in front of Gantu's ship.
The three of them hopped out of the buggy and saw Neutrino approaching, so they hid in a nearby bush. Lilo was trying to whisper, but she couldn't help an outburst once she saw the experiment. "There he is!" Stitch and 627 both shushed her.
Neutrino turned, but he saw no one, so he continued on his way. Lilo pointed towards Gantu's ship and, sure enough, Neutrino was walking in. Lilo waited until he was all the way inside the ship, then ran after him. 627, remembering Jumba's instructions, followed her. Stitch stayed in the bush for a moment, confused as to why Neutrino would voluntarily walk into Gantu's ship like that. He shrugged it off and followed them all in.
"Let's get 'im," Lilo said to 627 as they approached the ramp entering the ship. She was about to walk in, but 627 held her back. He too knew something wasn't right. "Evil," he whispered to her. Even with his single word vocabulary, Lilo could understand him. "Okay, okay. You go first and check to make sure it's all clear."
He slowly stepped into the ship. No lights were on, so it was difficult to see anything other than the wall opposite the door, which was lit by the ambient outdoor sunlight. 627 stepped cautiously, suspicious that someone was nearby lurking in the shadows. Lilo was scared. "Is everything all right?"
"Evil," whispered 627. However, as soon as his foot tripped the first laser beam, the guns were activated.
The miniguns, which were mounted to the ceiling, immediately locked on their target and started blasting 627, filling the room with pulsing flashes of greenish light. Angel lurked in the shadows angrily, wishing it had been Lilo who was being blasted.
As soon as the shooting stopped, the guns began to recharge. Lilo ran in after him. "627!!"
"Naga!!" Stitch ran up behind her and grabbed her as the cannons turned to face the door. Stitch threw her out of the way as the guns fired their second round. Stitch was knocked onto his back and forced several feet backwards as dirt piled above his head. After the guns had depleted their energy supply, they shut off. Angel immediately shut them down completely, not wanting to further harm Stitch.
As soon as the guns shut off, Lilo ran into the ship to see if 627 was okay. Stitch sat up and watched as Lilo ran in. He sighed; his fur was singed and his back was covered in dirt, but what hurt him more than the gunshots was that Lilo didn't even acknowledge that he had just saved her life. The reason was understandable, though; Lilo knew Stitch well enough to know that even plasma cannons wouldn't kill him, but she was not fully aware of 627's shields and did not know if he could do the same. Yet, he still felt ignored. After brushing the dirt from his shoulders, he went into the ship.
627 had been pounded into the floor. The floor around him had been burnt, and his silhouette was visible once he got up.
"Are you okay?!" Lilo asked.
627 stood up and brushed himself off. "Evil." Lilo took it to mean "yes". After regaining his compsure, 627 switched his Geiger vision back on and looked around. What with the thick metal walls inside Gantu's ship, it wan't surprising that he detected nothing. "Evil."
"That's great," Lilo muttered sarcastically. "Let's look for him, then!"
Stitch lead the way, since he could see in the dark (another aspect of 627 that Jumba was forced to sacrifice for greater skills), and Lilo followed with 627 in the back, so he could keep an eye on her. The three of them proceeded through the upper level of the ship and then to the lower. Unfortunately, Angel had beaten them to the lower level, had concealed Gantu's body and 625, and had immobilized Neutrino.
Walking down one of the narrow corridors in Gantu's ship, 627 noticed a thin door with a window. Without realizing that Lilo and Stitch were still walking, he stopped to look through the window. He peered in and saw Neutrino in the next room strapped down lying on a metal table with thick blocks of lead around his hands. 627 was prepared to enter the room and capture him, until he saw Angel. She was glaring at 583 and circling him. Unable to escape, 583 screamed out. "Aga taka!"
"How could you lead them all here?! You were only supposed to bring Stitch!! You little.. trog!!"
583 struggled to blast Angel full of alpha-particles but his hands were both encased in thick lead boxes: too thick for even gamma rays to penetrate. Even his antennae were tied tightly to the table. He knew any resistance would be futile, so he gave up trying to escape and decided to just give her dirty looks instead. "Meega nala queesta!!" he shouted.
Despite the insult, Angel cleared all signs of her anger from her face and took on a very serious tone. "It's okay. Plans fail: that's what backup plans are for." Neutrino sighed a sigh of relief. "However, I will no longer require your services." Neutrino sucked his sigh back in. Angel pulled out her gun, placed it on his stomach, and aimed it up his chest into his chin.
Two shots penetrated his chin and blasted out of the top of his head. A thick stream of sticky, glowing green fluid flowed from both holes and ran down his chest. By the time the blood had pooled on the floor, its mysterious glow was gone, and it had turned black. The bullets stuck in the opposite wall had been almost completely dissolved in the blood.
627 gasped at the sight and, realizing that the whole thing had been a trap, ran after Lilo and Stitch to warn them. He got to them just in time.
"Evil!!" he shouted as he ran towards them; ironically, it was exactly what he meant to say. As soon as he got to Lilo, another shot rang out: aimed for Lilo, it hit Stitch's back and bounced off. Stitch turned around and, for the first time in what had seemed like an eternity, saw his booji bu again.
For a moment, Stitch was entranced. It had only been a few weeks since the two had been separated, but to Stitch, it had seemed like a lifetime. Even under the dim greenish interior lighting of Gantu's ship, she still looked exactly he remembered her. When he came to his senses, he spoke. "Angel?"
Angel looked at him sadly, ashamed to see herself in front of him with a gun in her hand and another experiment's blood spattered on her face. She quickly turned and ran.
"Angel!!" Stitch began to run after her, just as he did when he first met her, but 627 refused to let him.
"Evil!!" 627 yelled at him. Stitch still stood looking reminiscently at the spot where his booji bu once stood, but, after some coaxing, turned and left the ship with 627 and Lilo. 583 was gone, there was no need to stay.