Chapter 8: Devil In Disguise

Just outside the Kokaua Town prison, Lilo, Stitch and Demon stopped to rest. Having run all the way there from the beach, the human girl and two almost-drowned experiments were not currently in top form.

Once Lilo caught her breath, she led the other two around to the entrance.

'You two stay here,' she addressed the experiments. 'I don't think they'll let 'dogs' in.'

She ran in, leaving the two experiments, holding each other's hand, standing outside.

Demon promptly sat down on the floor with a sigh. Everything still seemed so strange, like a long dream… seeing everything while running through Hawaii in a flash was an overload for someone who had been so sure that they weren't going to see anything ever again. Now it seemed more like a nightmare she wished would end.

Stitch sat down beside her. 'You okay?'

'Yeah, fine… I suppose,' she signed again. Stitch leaned over to put his arm over her, then wrapped her into a warm, furry hug.

'What was that for?' she asked, her tone lighter.

'Stitch just happy…' he said with the cutest smile, 'that you still here.'

'Me too,' she laughed, letting herself fall onto him and muzzled his chest with her head. For a few moments, even within the hectic situation they were still enveloped in, they both felt relaxed and more carefree, for the first time since everything had gone wrong when Angel had reappeared.

'Come on, guys!' Lilo said to them as she ran out of the prison. As Stitch and Demon got up they saw she was being closely followed out by another two experiments. All five of them managed to come together to run as a group.

'Lilo, what's going on?' Demon called. 'Who are they? Cousins?'

'Yup! Pleased to meetcha,' replied one, a short, primarily green experiment. 'My name's Bonnie, and this here,' she gestured to her partner, a larger, brown experiment whose most noticeable feature was his mechanical arm, 'is Clyde. Lilo asked us for help on your little mission.'

'Bonnie and Clyde are experiments made for stealing,' Lilo said, while trying to run at the same time, 'we found 'em and they're good now, but they're stuck in prison. I figured they'd be able to help us, seeing as how they're "great criminal minds".'

'If they're in prison,' Demon continued, now running on all four paws as Stitch was, 'don't they have to stay in there?'

'Naw, they lets us out all the time,' Clyde spoke for the first time, 'on account of Jumba gave them this DNA tracker, so the cops always know where we are.'

'Umm… where are we going?' asked Stitch, not being very fond of careening towards an unknown location.

'Well, I asked Bonnie about it one the way out,' Lilo was now gasping for breath, 'and if Angel stole 627's pod, but doesn't know what to do, apparently she'll stay in a familiar location. It's something psychee... psychoiee...'

'Psychological,' Bonnie completed in an exasperated way. 'And it turns out that this 624 spent most time while on Earth at your very own pad.'

'You mean…' said Demon hesitantly, 'we're going…'

'Home!' yapped Stitch happily.

As they took the left turning to Lilo's house, the group split up. Bonnie and Clyde headed towards Jumba's parked spaceship to find the others and get their help. Lilo, Demon and Stitch headed straight for home. Stitch and Lilo found running up the path towards their house comforting – they had done it so many times before, it was some welcome recognition after the strange events of the past few days. Demon saw the blue and red house and felt comforted for a different reason – it was the only home she'd ever known. As they reached the blue stairs Lilo ran up as she had always done – Stitch and Demon climbed the woodwork instead as it was faster.

Throwing the door open, the three dashed inside. The house was completely askew – nothing seemed in its proper place. But none of them stopped to check, they ran from room to room as quickly as they could, scanning the area for signs of their adversary. But as they reached the kitchen doorway, they all stopped.

There was Angel, standing next to the dryer. The kitchen itself had been turned upside-down, apparently in her search for an instrument that would open the pod she held clutched in her hand.

As she saw the three, standing in the doorway, she froze. Lilo was reminded of the first time she had seen the pink experiment, when they had collided in an alleyway, and recalled Angel's look of surprise and spite, similar to the way she looked now.

Almost too late, they all realised Angel had released 627's pod in shock. They saw it slip through her fingers and head for the floor, which was covered in puddles of mess, more than likely containing some form of water.

Stitch wasn't one to forget himself easily. He leaped into the air, seizing the pod as it fell, and then rolled to a stop. Before Angel could react, Demon jumped onto her, and pushed her to the ground so she was unable to move.

At that moment, the front door could be heard opening as Jumba, Pleakley, Nani, David, Bonnie and Clyde rushed in. Jumba reached the kitchen first, clasping something under his arm.

'Little girl! 626! 623!' he gasped, apparently out of breath from the run. 'Was 627 activated?'

The three of them speechlessly shook their heads.

Jumba sighed with relief. 'I have brought insta-dehydrator for to make 624 back into pod.'

'Naga!' Angel squeaked, and reached out her paw for Stitch. He looked at her; she really was pretty. But for some reason, though her looks had captivated him before, Stitch could see straight through them. With a look of distaste, he tossed the blue pod in his hand to Lilo, and watched as Angel's gaze and pleas followed the orb through the air. It was still him she wanted. Lilo grabbed the pod and pocketed it with a scowl, while Angel kept struggling to get to the pod. Demon's four arms were holding her, pinned down.

Jumba set the insta-dehydrator of the floor, and Lilo picked up Angel. Even the Earth girl was able to hold down the experiment's pitiful attempts to free herself. With a push, Lilo placed 624 inside the insta-dehydrator's bubble.

Angel looked up through the glass to see Stitch standing over her. Even curled into a ball, she begged Stitch with everything she could, through one look, to save her.

Stitch looked right back at her. The whole room watched the two of them, communicating but still. Stitch raised his hand to the control panel of the machine, hovering over a button.

He looked Angel right in the eyes. 'Bye bye, buchibu.'

With a crackle and a flash, Angel heard his sarcastic comment too late, and a second later she disappeared. With a rattle, a small coloured pod rolled out from the machine, bearing the numbers 6-2-4. Lilo picked it up, and held it together with 627's blue one.

'Allow me,' Jumba strode over to the little girl, 'as soon as I repair the damage 624 did to my ship with that plasma blaster, both of these go right away under the safest secure doors Jumba can imagine.'

Demon ran straight up to Stitch and hugged him. 'It's finally over…' she breathed into his fur.

'Way to go, you two!' Bonnie announced, walking into the room. ''Specially you, Red. High-five!'

Demon grinned and high-fived her big sister.

A few minutes later, Bonnie and Clyde had left to go back "home", and everyone else was pitching in to clean up the house. Stitch was trying to reorganise heavy things that had been knocked over, Pleakley was dusting and vacuuming, and Nani was trying to clean up everything Pleakley "dusted". Lilo found her home-made doll Scrump all alone under the sofa, so she was trying to locate all her missing toys.

'Hey, Lilo…' Demon called to get her attention. Lilo wandered over as Stitch lifted a toppled bookcase with a single hand, and Demon pulled out everything from underneath it. As Stitch replaced the bookcase, Lilo recognised some of her belongings.

'What's this?' Demon asked, pulling out a green box. Lilo pulled it towards her, checking it over.

'That's my record player!' Lilo was anxious to see if it had taken any damage. 'I hope it didn't get broken…'

After looking for cracks, Lilo grabbed a nearby record on the floor and located the speaker, ready to check if the machine still played. She set the disc and powered up the machine, and waited worriedly to see if music started.

"You look like an Angel…

(Look like an Angel…)

Walk like an Angel…

(Walk like an Angel…)

Talk like an Angel,

But I got wise…

You're the Devil in disguise,

Oh yes you are…

Devil in disguise…

You fooled me with your kisses,

You cheated and you schemed,

Heaven knows how you lied to me-…"

Lilo quickly removed the record, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

'Looks like it works fine…'

Stitch and Demon were sitting very uncomfortably, staring at the floor. Nobody spoke.

'Sorry…' there was some confusion as to who had spoken, then the two experiments realised they had both said it together. Then they smiled at each other and the awkwardness was forgotten.

Seeing that the moment had passed, Lilo was relieved. 'You know, I think that song suits you two.'

The experiments looked up at her quizzically.

'I mean, Demon and… 624…' Lilo tried to explain. 'She wasn't an Angel, but her looks fooled most of us. And she was pure evil all along…' she looked at Demon brightly, 'but you're like a Devil in disguise too! Anyone who looks at you would think that you'd be evil, just based on your appearance… but inside, you're as sweet as an angel could be.'

Demon smiled, the brightest, most sincere smile she possibly could, made ironic since she couldn't hide her large fangs.

'You too, Stitch,' said Lilo, bringing both experiments into a group hug. 'You're the nicest angels anyone could have wished for.'

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Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe this story is nearing completion. This is the penultimate chapter. So thank you, as always, to the people who reviewed me, and I very much hope you'll consider it, too.

Now that you've read this chapter, you'll find a piece of artwork dedicated to it on my user page. Why not head over there to check it out?