Special Delivery

Author's note: This fic is going to be, I'd say, seven chapters long, plus an episode-finale blurb. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out the last chapter of "Trouble on Toy Island."

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Chapter 6: In The Nick of Time
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CARLSBAD APARTMENTS EAST STAIRCASE - 13:28:8
We regrouped on the twenty-ninth floor of the staircase. "Say, Leo," Alex asked me, "the power's still out. How did the window-washing platform work while the power was out?"
"Gee, I really didn't stop to consider that," I responded. "I guess it was powered by an external source."

Leaving the subject behind, Alex, Sam, and I all climbed the stairs to the thirtieth floor. Sam seemed to make nice progress, given that she was a lion and the stairs were made for people.

Marvin had not backed down, however. A big barrier of wooden boards completely blocked the doorway. I tried to push it over, but no go.
I saw the answer, however, in Sam, who charged the barrier and made short work of it. No problems here.

Just as we began to walk down the hallway to Marvin's penthouse, my DS rang again. I got it out and answered the call. "Jerry?"
"That's who I am. Ten-minute warning. How's Sam?"
"Let's just say her being a lion isn't all bad."

"Oh. Well, I've figured out the nature of the change. It was caused by a malfunction of the clothes-alteration component of her X-powder, and a reaction between it and the lion costume Sam was wearing at the time."
"Do tell."
"A clothes-alteration aimed at Sam will fix her in a snap. Go on, try it."

Alex aimed her X-powder at Sam and pressed a few buttons. In a flash, Sam was back to normal, wearing her green jumpsuit and everything.

Sam looked around. "Oof. I feel like I've been a lion for the last fifteen minutes. What happened?"
I explained everything to her. At various parts of the story, she seemed excited, then scared, then somewhere in between. It was a little amusing, actually.

"Enough fooling around," Alex told the two of us. "We need to get moving. We've got eight minutes, twelve point seven seconds left to make this delivery."

We dashed down the hall, with Sam carrying the pizza, and were stopped by a janitor. "Sorry, I'm mopping the floor here. You'll have to wait until I'm done," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "And under what circumstances do you mop CARPETED floors?"
"Well … um … erm …"

Sam tackled the janitor. You guessed it; this was Marvin again. He fled back to his penthouse.

As we approached, Alex was about to knock on the door. I stopped her. "Don't, Alex. If you try that approach, there's no way Marvin will let you in. I've got a better idea."

Moments later, Marvin heard a knock at the door. He looked through the peephole and saw a brown-hair police officer with about 16 years of age.
The officer flashed his police badge. "Is this the residence of Marvin G. Schwartz? I'm here to arrest him on several charges."
Realizing that this officer was NOT here to deliver a pizza, Marvin let him in. He casually dropped something in the door frame, so the door would get stuck and not latch shut.

Marvin watched as the officer read him a list of offenses. "You're under arrest for impersonating a police officer, using the building's fire hose without permission, damaging the elevator …"
As the officer continued speaking, Alex quietly slipped in and placed the pizza on Marvin's table. She then left.

"… and on top of it all," the officer finished, "we have dozens of accounts of you abusing and tormenting pizza delivery men from Prince Pete's Pizza Parlor."
Marvin stuttered to get a word out. "Well, Officer, I-"

Just then, several things happened at the same time. Marvin's grandfather clock began to chime. My DS alarm went off. Sam's and Alex's X-powders sounded alarms as well. The 30-minute time limit had expired.

All of a sudden, Marvin recognized the officer. He had seen him before. The officer was actually me in disguise.
Marvin laughed. "Well, thought you could fool me, Gray? Well, no such luck. Your pizza team failed to meet the deadline of thirty minutes. And since your pal Yellow was kind enough to leave the pizza on my dining room table right before the expiration, I guess- oh no."
I retrieved my pencil from its spot in the door frame. "Oh yes. You have finally lost."

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The last two chapters will come at the same time, so keep an eye out for them sometime in the near future!