Chapter 16: Madam Lava's Defeat
Within the factory, Madam Lava, while holding her golden dragon necklace, was commanding the Chinese servants who were exercising to cease their workout.
"Miss Lava," one of the masked henchmen asked, "why are we having some of them exercise anyway?"
Madam Lava replied, "The ones working out are the ones that will be sold off as soldiers, and the buyers who want them wish for them to be in excellent shape." While waving her hypnotic necklace, the gypsy ordered, "Okay, my servants, line up over there for your uniforms."
"Yes, Master," the hypnotized workers said as they walked over to a corner.
Unbeknownst to Madam Lava, the Chan Clan were watching from a walkway directly above her.
"Wow," Alan clarified, "she really is hypnotizing them."
"If we could get that necklace from her, she won't be able to control them anymore," Henry reckoned.
Anne once again asked herself, "Where have I seen that necklace?"
"But how do we get it?" Stanley asked his elder brother.
After looking at Anne's backpack, Henry instantly came up with a plan. "I got it! It's risky, but it might work. Chu-Chu, get down there and distract the goons. After that, get Lava into a corner."
Chu-Chu barked and headed down to the bottom floor. While hiding behind a large wooden crate, the clever Pekingese imitated a loud train horn.
"What was that?" asked one of the masked fiends.
"Probably just a train going by," one of his accomplices guessed. "There is an old underground subway station right below the factory after all."
Madam Lava was about to agree, but quickly remembered, "Wait a moment. That old station has been out of business for decades now. I don't like it. Go find out what it really is." As told, the masked men all went inside of an elevator and left the room to investigate the strange sound.
With the nefarious woman left alone, Chu-Chu came out of hiding and charged at Madam Lava barking.
"A dog?!" Lava squealed. "What's a dog doing here? I hate dogs!" Terrified, Madam Lava, despite her age, ran in fear around the factory with Chu-Chu chasing after her.
The Chan Clan watched the whole chase from above. "Boy," Stanley noticed, "she moves pretty fast for an old bat, huh?"
Henry agreed, "I'll say."
Eventually, Chu-Chu chased the gypsy woman into a corner, having her quavering in fear, covering her eyes.
"Perfect," Henry smiled. "Right where I want her."
The Chan Clan leader then grabbed one of Anne's ropes and explained, "Now for Step 2. I need to tie this rope around someone, then lower him down so he can grab the necklace. So who's the lucky candidate?"
Raising his hand, Scooter volunteered, "I'll do it!"
"Absolutely not, Scooter," Mimi forbade. "You could get hurt."
"No way," her little brother bickered. "Henry will be holding the rope. I'll be fine."
With her hands on her hips, Mimi refused, "I still say you're much too young this. Remember, you're just a child."
Remembering Anne's words to Tom earlier, Scooter, having had enough of his sister's bossiness, snapped, "Child or no child, someone's gotta get that necklace, and like it or not, that someone's me!"
"That's the Chan spirit, Scooter," a proud Flip agreed. "Now let's get crackin'."
Once the rope was wrapped around Scooter's waist, he was slowly lowered down above the petrified gypsy.
Just then, one of the henchmen returned. "Madam Lava!" he shouted. "Look out! Above you!"
Unfortunately for the hired thug, he was too late. Scooter was lowered just enough to snatch Madam Lava's necklace right off. "I got it! I got it!" he exclaimed. With that, Henry immediately pulled his youngest sibling up and Chu-Chu ran back up to join his owners.
"It's those Chan brats!" Madam Lava screamed. "Get them! Don't let them get away!"
"Now what?" Stanley fretted.
"What else?" Henry replied. "We run for it!"
The Chan Clan rapidly ran into the factory's hallway and up the stairs to another floor, entering another hallway. "We gotta find a way out of here!" said Henry.
At that moment, the largest and most muscular of the masked men appeared in front of the Chan Clan leader. "Stanley, this is no time for jokes! Lose that stupid disguise and…"
Alan then tapped on his big brother's shoulder. "Uh, Henry…"
Once he had turned around, Alan showed Henry that Stanley was still right behind him. Realizing that the masked person in front of him was one of the thugs and not his younger brother in disguise, Henry gulped, "Oh, boy."
To make things worse, the rest of the masked hoodlums appeared from behind the muscular one.
"Scatter!" Henry commanded.
Obeying their brother, the Chan Clan ran off and split into three different directions in the halls. The henchmen divided up and went after each group.
On the bottom floor of the factory, Madam Lava was long gone and the four middle Chan children entered. Knowing the villains were right behind, Anne shouted, "Split up!"
Anne and Tom ran in one direction while Suzie and Alan ran another.
Instantly, four of the masked men arrived on the bottom floor. To cover more ground, they, too, decided to split up into pairs to look for the four teens.
While searching, two suddenly heard someone whistle to them. They looked over and found Anne standing by a steel wall, waving to them. They immediately ran towards her, but before they could grab her, a large horseshoe magnet came out of nowhere and pinned them to the steel wall. The magnet was revealed to have been tossed by Tom. He and Anne shook hands to congratulate each other.
On the other side of the bottom floor, the other two men were still searching. They eventually found Suzie hiding behind a couple of barrels. However, before they could seize her, they were grabbed by Alan, using a grasping claw from a bulldozer he found to lift them into the air.
Having captured their pursuers, the four middle kids regrouped.
"Mission accomplished here," Tom stated.
"Yeah," Anne nodded. "Let's meet up with the other kids."
While the young teenagers were talking, someone approached them from behind. The moment the four turned around, they gasped in shock.
Meanwhile, four other masked men were racing through the halls searching for the rest of the Clan. All of a sudden, Chu-Chu ran by barking and dashed into an office room. Knowing he belonged to the Chan children, they followed him.
The very moment they entered the office room, they tripped over a coat rack which was placed there by Nancy and Mimi. "Come on!" Nancy told her younger sister.
Unfortunately for the two youngest Chan daughters, two of the fiends were able to swiftly get up and grab Mimi before she could leave the room. As he held Mimi up by her shirt, the scoundrel said to Nancy, "Hold it right there, little one, unless you want something to happen to your adorable little sister here."
Unable to leave without her sister, Nancy was forced to submit. "Now," the crook threatened, "are you gonna tell me where the rest of your little squad is or am I gonna have to get rough?"
Before Nancy could answer, a young voice shouted, "Let Mimi go!"
At that moment, little Scooter ran up to the masked criminal and stomped hard on his foot, forcing him to drop Mimi as he screamed in agony. It wasn't long until he stopped, turned towards Scooter, and snarled, "Why, you little…"
The crook and his three partners prepared to lunge for the youngest Chan child, but suddenly, Flip appeared waving Madam Lava's hypnotic necklace in front of them. "You are in power," he said to the crooks. "I am your master now."
The henchmen, now in a trance, replied in a hypnotic state, "Yes, master. We shall obey."
"Way to go, Chief!" Scooter cheered.
"Scooter Chan," Mimi lectured, "what were you thinking attacking that creep like that. You could've been harmed."
"Mimi…" Nancy put a stop to the unnecessary scolding.
While she was embarrassed to admit it, Mimi realized her little brother did save her and bashfully said, "Thanks, Scooter."
"You're welcome," her proud sibling smiled.
Meanwhile, in the factory's control room, Madam Lava entered with three of her henchmen.
"Those meddlesome kids," the corrupted gypsy swore. "The second they're captured, I'm selling them to an army."
The very moment Madam Lava sat down in her chair, a net was thrown over her. When her accomplices tried to assist her, a lasso rope ensnared them. The net was revealed to have been thrown by Henry and the lasso was tossed by Stanley, who proceeded to tying up the henchmen from their shoulders to their legs.
"Wow," Stanley snickered. "This stuff Anne bought really did come in handy."
Afterwards, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, Scooter, and Chu-Chu entered with the hypnotized henchmen.
"Alright!" Flip marveled. "You bagged the hag!"
"Right," Henry nodded. "Hey, where's Suzie and the others?"
"Haven't seen'em," Flip shrugged.
"Well, let's find them and then go down and free Pop," Henry ordered.
"We'll save you the trouble," said the voice of Anne.
Right away, their tomboy sister appeared at the door of the control room with Suzie, Alan, and Tom by her side. "I see you caught the double-crossing gypsy," she grinned.
"Yeah," said Stanley, "now all we gotta do is save Pop and we'll be on our way."
"That won't be necessary either," Tom told his older brother.
"Why not?" asked Scooter.
At that very instant, a familiar figure came from behind the four middle kids and said, "Because I do not really require rescuing." It was their father, Charlie Chan!
"Pop!" Henry, Stanley, and the four youngest Chan children happily shouted.
"You're not hypnotized anymore!" Mimi exclaimed.
"But how?" asked the dismayed Madam Lava.
With everyone inside of the control room, Charlie explained, "Sorry to disappoint you, Madam, but I've been free from your mind control for some time now. If I recall, we met hours after I arrived in Independence, and I believe that was when you used your hypnotic necklace on me, telling me to come to your Marigold Mountain Inn the very next day, but on my way, Lady Luck had me trip over a rock and bump my head on a nearby tree, thus snapping me out of my trance. When I noticed more hypnotized Chinese citizens heading for the inn, I made the decision to play along and follow them inside to discover what was happening to them. Alas, I left my cellular phone behind at the Pleasure Hotel and with guards watching me by day, the phones in the factory disconnected by night, and surveillance cameras watching both day and night, I had no way of contacting anyone, let alone my children at home, to assure them I was fine. I do apologize for concerning everyone."
"It's okay, Pop," Suzie assured. "We're just glad you're safe. Now with all this over, maybe I can meet up with Amelia tomorrow for another shopping trip."
"Amelia's your friend who told us Pop was at the Pleasure Hotel, right, Suzie?" Mimi asked.
"Right," her eldest sister nodded.
"Hey, wait a minute…" The mentioning of Suzie's friend caused Anne to remember something greatly important. Back in the city when she bumped into Amelia, the item that Amelia dropped and picked up was a golden emerald dragon necklace!
"That's it!" the teenaged tomboy acknowledged. "That's where I've seen that necklace! Your Chinese friend, what's her name, Amelia? She had one just like it!"
"Japanese!" Madam Lava angrily shouted with a younger voice.
"Hey," Scooter wondered, "how come her voice sounded different?"
Chu-Chu started to stare curiously at the elderly woman's face. He quickly noticed something strange and leaped up to grab her face with his teeth, revealing she was really wearing a mask. Once Chu-Chu removed the mask, the villainous woman's true face was revealed. The Chan family were shocked to see that Madam Lava was really the young Japanese girl, Amelia!
"Unreal!" said Alan.
"Amelia?" a devastated Suzie asked. "I don't believe it. But why?"
"Why?!" the furious Amelia insanely responded. "Because my whole life I've been compared to you Chinese! I'm sick and tired of being mistaken for one of you, so if there's a way to have less of you, I'll take it!"
"Boy, girly," Scooter opined, "you're nuts."
"Scooter," Mimi chastised, "don't be rude."
"No, Mimi, he's right," Flip agreed with his little brother. "She's a loony."
As Henry returned his father's necktie to him, Nancy sighed, "Well, at least we got Pop back and it's all over."
While placing his tie back on around his neck, Charlie disagreed, "Not quite, Nancy. I'm afraid it's far from over. The true culprit behind all this has yet to have been captured."
"What do you mean?" Flip puzzled. "Didn't we catch Madam Lava…uh…I mean, Amelia?"
"Come now, Flip," Charlie Chan corrected. "This Amelia may be as clever as she is insane, but it is quite impossible for someone her age to run an operation this immense on her own. She is indeed working with someone else."
The Chan family suddenly heard the sound of clapping hands behind them. At the door stood a caped man wearing a furry white wolf mask covering his face, applauding as he entered the control room.
"Uh, who is that guy?" Stanley nervously asked.
Once the mysterious figure ceased his clapping, Charlie calmly demanded, "Do be as so kind as to remove your mask…Tony Vito."
As told, the caped culprit took off his mask, revealing himself to be Charlie Chan's old nemesis, Tony Vito!