In this chapter, our heroes are going to try to stop the Sticky Bandits and Wormwood from robbing Duncan's toy chest.
Can they do it?
They beat the Wet Bandits once already.
Though maybe they were lucky once.
Old Man Marley showed up.
But he's not this time. He's still in Chicago, and our heroes are in New York.
Someone else might show up though.
Chapter 6: For the Birds
Unfortunately for the McAllisters and Honey, there didn't seem to be any sign of the two kids.
Which was strange, given that Matilda told Miss Honey where to find them.
"We're looking for Kevin McAllister and Matilda Wormwood." explained Miss Honey to the concierge.
"Oh, they ran in a hurry." noted Mr. Hector.
He had forgotten about them following the incident with the insane man with the Tommy gun.
"So Kevin was here!" exclaimed Peter in realization.
"So was Matilda apparently." answered Miss Honey.
Though she found it baffling that she would use another person's credit card.
Unless...that person happened to be her father.
"Why'd you have to scare them off?" asked Kate. Things would be so much simpler if the two children were still there.
"Well, they were thieves..." noted Mr. Hector.
"They were just children!" exclaimed Miss Honey.
Though to be fair, they both were smart for their age.
Uncle Frank wondered if he had scared Kevin away from his family as well.
"I actually had a scare myself last night. I barged in on somebody who was in the shower. He yelled at me for being a nosy little pervert and he threatened to slap me silly." remarked Mr. Hector.
Frank noted just how familiar that was.
Perhaps Kevin was recording him singing, not recording him in the shower.
Maybe he should apologize to him.
Meanwhile, Matilda and Kevin encountered the pigeon lady once again.
She and Michael had been looking for his father.
Instead, they found his sister.
"Aaahhh! It's the pigeon lady!" exclaimed Kevin.
"Don't worry Kevin, she's harmless." answered Matilda.
The boy sighed in relief.
She reminded him of someone he had met last year.
But he wasn't sure who. Perhaps he had met them at the church? He remembered going there when he was left home alone.
"Thanks for finding Michael. It doesn't surprise me my dad left him by himself." noted Matilda.
Although, she was left at home rather than in a city.
"I appreciate you looking for me." noted Michael.
"I've got to go now. We're kind of busy." remarked Matilda.
The two were working on Operation: Hoho.
The tagline was "You can mess with a lot of things, but definitely not kids on Christmas!"
"But I want to help..." spoke Michael.
"If you insist." answered Kevin.
"By the way, do you always hang out with those pigeons?" asked Matilda.
"They're my only friends these days." explained the pigeon lady.
"Really? How come?" questioned Kevin.
"I once had a boyfriend...but he walked out on me just as we were about to get married." noted the woman.
"He did? That's sad..." remarked Matilda.
"I stopped seeing other people after that...I simply didn't want to experience the heartbreak again." remarked the pigeon lady.
"Well, maybe it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." noted the girl.
Miss Honey's life was better off knowing her father...though losing him certainly was painful.
The pigeon lady noted Matilda had a point.
Perhaps she should start loving other people again.
After seeing the pigeon lady off, the three got to work.
Fortunately, while Michael wasn't as experienced as Kevin and Matilda were when it came to making traps, he was still helpful.
Eventually, the clock struck twelve.
It was time to get to work.
The three of them went to Duncan's toy chest.
There, Matilda discovered some disturbing information.
"Oh no..." said the psychic.
"Are we too late? They said they would strike at midnight..." explained Kevin.
To his knowledge, it was currently midnight.
Of course, his parents wouldn't be happy with him if they found out he was up past his bedtime.
But he had a good reason for that.
"No...my father is working with them." answered the brunette girl.
"He is?" asked the boy who once wished that his family would disappear.
She honestly didn't think her father would sink this low.
Although, he did seem to be getting greedier around the time that Miss Honey told her about the police investigation.
"Merry Christmas, Harry!" exclaimed both Harries in unison excitedly.
"Wait, your name is Harry too?" the two Harries asked each other, as they looked each other in the face.
What were the chances?
"Happy Hannukah, Marv!" bellowed Marv.
He was too enamored by the cash to notice the surprising coincidence. Then again, the two Harries had more in common than just their names.
"Wait, you're Jewish?" asked Mr. Wormwood curiously.
"Is that a problem?" asked the partner of Harry Lyme.
"Um...no." answered Harry Wormwood.
Suddenly, they saw the flash of photography.
The three witnessed Kevin, right outside the store window.
"He took our picture!" exclaimed Harry Lyme.
"How did my hair look?" asked Marv, oblivious to the trouble he was in.
"If he takes that to the police station, we're finished!" bellowed Harry Wormwood.
Suddenly, Michael noticed that his father was robbing the toy chest.
Remembering how nice Duncan was to him, he decided he would stop his father.
Though it would hurt him for his father to go to jail.
He threw a brick at the window, triggering the burglar alarm.
It looked like the three thieves were going to have to cut their robbery short.
"Those kids are going to pay for this! We're going to break into their hideout, and then break their necks!" exclaimed Harry Lyme.
"No! That's my daughter!" shouted Mr. Wormwood.
"Wait, she's your daughter?!" exclaimed Harry Lyme, his eyes widening with surprise.
What were the chances?
Apparently, they were around the same of him having the same first name as his new partner.
"It's a shame she couldn't be a little more greedy." remarked Harry Wormwood. She could become a criminal mastermind with her smarts.
But her conscience got in the way of that.
"I guess we'll have to abandon the plan of shooting her in the head then." noted Lyme.
Marv groaned.
"Don't worry. I have another idea...assuming she doesn't cooperate." explained Womwood.
"What would that be?" asked Lyme.
He whispered the plan into Harry Lyme's ear.
"Oh! I like that!" exclaimed the shorter of the Wet Bandits. It was devious.
"Like what?" asked Marv.
Lyme whispered the plan into Marv's ear.
"Oh, they're really going to get it!" exclaimed the taller of the Wet Bandits, a wide smile forming on his face.
Kevin didn't like the way they were grinning.
However, since they were in a hurry, it might be best to get Kevin to cough up the camera instead.
"Hey, if you give me the camera, you won't hear from us again!" exclaimed Harry Lyme.
Normally, he wouldn't mind killing Kevin (even if it was Christmas), but he was in a hurry.
Not wishing to surrender to the Wet Bandits (when they haven't even reached the traps yet), Kevin threw a brick at Marv.
"Ow!" exclaimed the taller of the Sticky Bandits.
"This is your father speaking! I demand you give us that camera!" demanded Mr. Wormwood.
Matilda noticed there was a bag of sawdust on the roof.
She knew exactly what to do.
"Don't worry, dad, I'll make sure you get what's coming to you." answered Matilda.
"Bring it to me!" exclaimed the man, raising his hands and grasping for air.
Matilda used her telekinesis to spray sawdust in her father's eyes.
"Aah! My eyes!" exclaimed Mr. Wormwood as the sawdust entered his eyes.
Quickly, he covered them with his hands.
"That's for using sawdust to pretend to fix people's engines!" exclaimed Matilda.
"How did she do that?" asked Harry Lyme.
"She has psychic powers!" shouted Mr. Wormwood.
"That's amazing!" exclaimed Marv.
Although, he and Marv had superhuman endurance.
"I've had enough of this. We're going in!" bellowed Harry Lyme.
Unfortunately, Marv discovered that the door was booby trapped with a stapler.
"Yeow!" exclaimed the man.
But he was still able to open the door...after being pierced by three different staples.
However, he then stopped when he noticed the pit.
Unfortunately, Mr. Wormwood's eyesight was poor after Matilda poured sawdust into his eyes.
He had followed Marv towards the front entrance.
He fell straight into the pit, not noticing it as Marv did.
"Aaah!" bellowed Wormwood.
The former car salesman landed straight on his face.
"Wow, what a hole!" remarked Marv.
Fortunately, he was able to get into the pit to help Wormwood to his feet.
Unfortunately, Marv slipped over some paint and crashed into some paint cans.
"Oof!" exclaimed the man.
This resulted in him being covered in paint.
Why Kevin had chosen a house that was under construction to hide in, he wasn't sure.
Mr. Wormwood helped him up, but he got some paint on his hands in the process.
He decided to wash them off using to sink...
...only to fall for one of Matilda's traps.
"Aaahhh!" exclaimed Mr. Wormwood as he was zapped by the electrified sink.
For a moment, his skeleton was visible.
"Are you sure you should have zapped him?" asked Michael. He was their father, after all.
"I once saw him scamming an elderly lady." noted Matilda.
Marv attempted to wipe off his face with a rag, only to fall victim to more superglue.
"Why do I find this iron-oh wait, now I get it." remarked Marv.
Luckily for Harry Wormwood, it seemed that the Wet Bandits had given him their gift of superhuman endurance.
Meanwhile, Harry Lyme attempted to get into the currently being renovated house through another entrance.
However, he fell victim to the familiar blowtorch, which set fire to his hat.
"Not again!" exclaimed the man, his eyes widening in fear.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any snow this time he could use to put it out.
However, there was a toilet he could stick his head into.
He found this ironic given the bullying he did in his younger years.
But when he attempted to stick his head in the toilet, he ended up triggering a kerosene explosion.
"That...wasn't water?" questioned Lyme.
Apparently not.
Miraculously, he was still alive. Though it wasn't a pleasant experience, he could tell Marv that.
It appeared that the kids and their new sidekick were designing more powerful booby traps this year.
Perhaps it was because they were worse than they were back when they were still in Chicago.
After the explosion, Harry Lyme later attempted to climb up a ladder, only for it to collapse with him still holding onto it.
"Oof!" exclaimed the man.
He then had a bunch of tools fall on him.
Luckily, a saw was not one of them.
Afterwards, he reunited with Marv and the other Harry.
Again, things didn't seem to be going too well.
"I thought there was nothing worse than having my hat get set on fire with a blowtorch...then he added the kerosene." noted Harry.
Still, giving up meant that they would have to find a way to leave New York before the police managed to find him.
And considering Harry Wormwood's history, car dealers were a bit hesitant to let him near a vehicle.
However, Matilda used her telekinesis to redirect the buckets towards the duo.
"Ow!" exclaimed Harry Lyme.
"This kid's good." noted Marv.
Kevin then sent a pipe towards the trio.
"Yeow!" bellowed the trio in unison.
They were hit again when Michael cut the pipe.
Still, the villains did not give up.
The three were then hit with a giant tool chest when Michael pushed one down the stairs. Perhaps they shouldn't have stayed in front of the locked door.
Afterwards, the three men attempted to chase our heroes using a rope to climb down the building.
But for some reason, the rope was covered with kerosene.
They were confused by that.
Unfortunately for the crooks, there was a reason the rope was covered in kerosene.
Michael lit the rope and it was gradually set on fire.
"Aaaahhh!" screamed Marv.
"Climb back up! Climb back up!" exclaimed Harry Lyme.
Out of desperation, they decided to leap off.
But it was a long way down.
"Ow!" shouted Mr. Wormwood.
Seeing as they were out of traps, the three decided to take their leave.
Hopefully they could get the camera to the police station.
But just in case they couldn't make it, they also had fireworks.
Unfortunately, as the three were making their getaway, they slipped over some ice, causing the trio to lose their balance.
"This is ironic, isn't it?" questioned Kevin.
"Yeah. I'm sure the Wet Bandits would be laughing if they were there to see it." noted Matilda.
"We were there to see it, actually." answered Harry Lyme.
"Oh no..." spoke Matilda, her eyes widening with fear.
And yes, he did it funny.
But he decided to stay focused.
Marv on the other hand was laughing hard.
"We were originally going to put you on ice...like the ice you slipped over, but as per Mr. Wormwood's suggestion, we have another thing planned." explained Harry Lyme.
"What would that be?" asked Kevin.
"We're going to frame you for the crimes that we've committed!" exclaimed Marv.
Additionally, Harry Lyme would take the pictures from the camera so they could later admire their handiwork. Though they would have gotten more money if the kids hadn't interfered.
"What?!" shouted Michael.
The three crooks took the children back to Duncan's toy chest.
They then used Kevin's own camera against him.
Again, Kevin was experiencing irony.
Fortunately, the Pigeon Lady showed up.
It was lucky they had made friends with her.
And that Kevin didn't allow his fear to overcome him...much like he didn't allow it to overcome him last year.
Quickly, she covered the three crooks with bird seed.
"I appreciate the advice you gave me. Now allow me to return the favor." spoke the pigeon lady.
The pigeons began to swarm the crooks.
It was a pretty unpleasant experience.
"Aaaahhhh!" screamed the trio.
Afterwards, the four heroes called the police.
They used the fireworks to pinpoint the criminals' location.
Within a few minutes, the three villains were busted.
The Sticky Bandits wondered how children had managed to outsmart them...again.
"Well, would you look at that! We've finally caught you! You've caused a lot of trouble, Harry Wormwood! And unfortunately you've been very slippery." noted one of the cops.
"I remember him! I knew something was up when one of the cars I bought from him had a wheel break off just thirty minutes after I started using it." noted another cop.
"I know what the judge should do! He should sentence you to make license plates!" exclaimed a cop with black hair.
Harry Wormwood screamed.
It turned out crime didn't pay after all. It seemed maybe he should have listened to his daughter when he had the chance.
"You know, I didn't think you two would make it all the way to New York." noted a chubby cop as he looked at the pictures Kevin had taken.
"You know how I scolded you for leaving a calling card? I take it back." said Lyme to his partner. He had made a similar mistake, mot destroying the evidence when he had the chance.
"It wouldn't have mattered too much. We also have auditory evidence." remarked the chubby cop.
"He had a Talkboy?!" exclaimed Marv.
How could he have not noticed that?
The three men were taken to jail.
It looked like Duncan's Toy Chest would remain safe.
Now if only their parents and guardian would find them.
Well, it looks like the Wet Bandits are going back to prison. That's where they belong. Where else would you put them?
This time, Harry Wormwood will be joining them.
It's what they all deserve.