Chapter 26: Trouble in Toyland

"You said that it wouldn't involve anything illegal!"

"Would you relax? It's not-"

"-we're breaking into a toy store in the middle of the night!" Mindy hissed as she gestured to the window, "What about that doesn't scream illegal!"

"Would you relax?" Peter questioned as he searched for a loose panel, "I've done this a million times in the London back home, and I haven't gotten caught once! Sometimes, I even snag a couple snacks for the boys and-"

"-You steal?!"

"Listen, desperate times call for desperate measures." He snapped, "Believe it or not, Neverland experiences cold weather every now and again. Food refuses to grow, so I have to resort to this… yes!" Peter's eyes lit up as he pushed a circular piece of glass forwards, "We're in. Follow me, and stay close."

Mindy gathered her nerves and trailed behind him. She carefully shut the panel behind her, and whirled around with a startled gasp. An enormous jack-in-the-box loomed over her with an almost too sadistic grin on its face. Its complexion was a translucent white, and its eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of their sockets. He had a bulbous cherry red nose, a large pointed chin, and a checkered harlequin hat.

It almost reminded her of The Projectionist…

She gulped before making her way around the clown. Mindy released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding only to inhale sharply as Peter drew her in close by the shoulder.

"Looks like the place is ours!"

She slipped out of his hold, "I don't know. Something doesn't feel… right."

"What do you mean?"

"We shouldn't be here."

"Pssh! That's just the jitters talking." He insisted, "Here, I'll prove to you that this place is deserted."

Mindy's eyes widened as he cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Peter, don't!"

"ERR! ERR! ERR! ERR! ERR!"

She winced as Peter's ear-splitting crow reverberated throughout the seemingly abandoned toy store. She expected to hear the pounding footsteps of a human-sized constable bursting in to investigate, or the owner's pet cat to bolt straight to their location and gobble them up for dinner.

She was stunned speechless when everything remained still.

Peter put his hands on his hips with a pleased smile, "See? This is officially our establishment now… I wonder if they have any candy around here."

Mindy let out an uneasy chuckle, "This is a toy store, not Willy Wonka's chocolate factory."

He tilted his head, "Willy who?"

"Never mind." She waved it off, "Okay… I think we've had enough weirdness for one day. We should probably head on back and call it a night don't you agree?"

"Hey, check this out!" Peter dashed off to gawk at one of the many wind-up toys, "I wonder what it does."

"It's a ballerina." Mindy explained as she stared up at the porcelain figure, "It's a type of dancer that wears frilly skirts called tutus and pointy shoes that can cut off the circulation of your ankles. I used to take ballet in my younger years, but you know… almost every little girl has that phase where they want to be a ballerina but give up for some reason or another and forget everything they've learned."

"How do you get it to start?"

"It's pretty straight forward." She pointed to the side of the ornate base, "You just crank the key a couple of times."

"You think you can show me a few moves?"

"Are you sure? I haven't done it since I was nine, so it'll most likely be trash."

"Give yourself some credit!" He chirped as he approached the toy, "You're an incredible dancer. Even if you have no idea what you're doing, I doubt I'll notice because I have no idea what it's supposed to look like. Besides, it's just you and me in here, so it's not like anyone else will see you."

"Okay." Mindy shrugged, "But when I make a fool of myself, just remember that I did try to warn you."

"Noted." Peter replied as he struggled to turn the key.

All at once, a soft eerie tune filled the air as the ballerina rotated and moved its arms in a steady mechanical fashion. The boy-who-wouldn't-grow-up leaned against its base as Mindy rolled her eyes and started to do mediocre pirouettes and ball-changes in time to the music. She attempted to do a leap when she unexpectedly collapsed onto the floor.

Peter wheezed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Mindy giggled as she hovered a few inches off of the ground, "Just miscalculated a bit."

"Wow if that's what ballet looks like, I can see why you decided to quit." He flashed his signature smirk, "That was two seconds of my life that I'll never be able to get back."

She gestured beside her as the music faded into nothingness, "If you think you can do any better then be my guest."

"Alright." Peter hopped into the vacant space and began to mimic Mindy's steps from before in an over-the-top manner while also speaking in a posh British accent, "Look at me, I'm a ballerina! I'm so cultured! I can point my toes until they break off, and can lift my leg so high that it puts flamingos to shame! I can also do so many turns at once that I become too dizzy to be able to continue, so I just flop onto the floor like dead weight!"

They both guffawed at his ridiculous dancing, when they abruptly stopped at the sound of an unfamiliar third laugh. It was throaty, crackly, and downright creepy. Without hesitation, Peter grabbed Mindy's arm, and rushed her into a box for tin soldiers. He left the door just wide enough for them to take a peek at who had entered the store.

It was none other than the deranged peg-legged bat from earlier.

He looked as battered and stingy as Mindy remembered.

His jagged yellow teeth were as sharp as knives, and his beady eyes seemed to illuminate the entire room. He smelled like he hadn't showered for over a month, and his clothes were unkempt, tattered, and covered in soot.

The bat's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he searched for the source of the noises he had heard. When he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, he shrugged and began snatching the clothes off of all of the tin soldiers lined up beside the box Mindy and Peter were hiding in.

Once he had stuffed all of them in his burlap sack, he withdrew a sheet of parchment from his wing and read aloud in a voice similar to nails on a chalkboard, "Get the following: tools, check-I got the tools! Gears, double check-I got gears! Girl-" The bat started to check it off, but stopped and erased it, "No, I didn't get girl! Uniforms- hehe! I got plenty of uniforms!"

A sudden howl from outside caused everyone to flinch unanimously.

"Oh no!" The bat swooped up and grabbed the rest of the uniforms before hobbling away as fast as he could, "I gotta hide! I gotta hide!"

He was so preoccupied with getting away from the scene, that he hadn't even realized that he had dropped the to-do list directly in front of the hiding kids. Peter was about to emerge, when Mindy grabbed his hand.

"No, there's a dog out there." Her voice was under a whisper, "If we're smart, we'll remain here until it decides to go away."

He nodded in agreement.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before they heard a familiar muffled voice from outside the window, "Splendid job Toby!"

Mindy face-palmed, "We're dead."

Peter stifled a laugh at her reaction, "You can say that again."

Approximately ten minutes or so later, they caught the sound of a cacophonous toy marching band echoing from the area Peter and Mindy first entered. Not long after that, they heard footsteps outside of their hiding place. Through the crack they could make out Basil, Dawson, and Olivia investigating the muddy footprints scattered about the naked tin soldiers.

The detective had his nose to the ground, holding his magnifying glass to his eye as he hummed to himself. He then stopped and glanced up at one of the soldiers with a contemplative look on his face, "Hmm… how very odd."

"What is it Basil?" Dawson questioned.

"Isn't it painfully obvious doctor?"

Mindy rolled her eyes so far she thought that they were about to fall right out of her skull. If I had a nickel for every time he said that-

"-These dolls have been stripped of their uniforms." Basil then bent down to inspect the footprints while looking at Olivia, "And not by any child either."

Attempting to be as discreet as possible, Peter pushed on the door a tiny bit further, when it made a barely audible creak. Unfortunately, the detective's ears perked up, and he swiveled his head towards the box.

In a panic, Peter slammed the door shut.

Mindy pursed her lips as her eyes narrowed. He mouthed an apology as they heard footsteps approach the tin box. They tiptoed as far away from the door as they could and held their breath in anticipation.

"Hello."

They didn't dare utter a single word in response.

"Someone has taken the liberty to remove the clockwork mechanisms from these toys."

Simultaneously, the two breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that Basil was now far away from them.

"I have a plan." Mindy whispered, "We stay in here until this whole thing blows over, then hightail it back to the apartment as fast as humanly possible before the three mice do… sound good?"

"I can't think of a better idea."

Once again, they listened and waited… they couldn't catch all of the words being spoken between Basil and Dawson, but then they heard all of the toys from around the shop being turned on at once.

"What's happening?" Peter asked.

"I don't know." Mindy replied, "But whatever it is, I have a bad feeling."

Right on cue, a terrified shriek pierced through the air.

"Olivia!" Dawson breathed.

Without hesitation, Mindy burst out of the box, "Come on! We've gotta help them!"

She didn't stop to check if Peter was following her, and sprinted to where the noises were coming from. A tambourine rolled past them as Basil and Dawson dove to safety on an around the world toy. Just then, a humongous porcelain doll wobbled and started to fall forwards. The two mice scrambled to their feet, and ran for their lives, not realizing that they weren't actually moving.

Peter swooped in, threw his arms up, and was barely able to stop the doll from crushing them. Mindy rushed forwards grabbed their paws, and got Basil and Dawson off of the toy. With a grunt, Peter shoved the doll onto its back, causing it to shatter as a result.

"What are you two doing here?!" The detective shouted.

"We'll explain later gramps!" Peter snapped, "Jump!"

Simultaneously, Mindy, Basil, and Peter sprung upwards as a wind-up knight on a horse charged towards them at full-speed. Unfortunately, the collar of Dawson's coat caught onto the point of the jousting stick and he was propelled onto a bulls-eye. When the trio landed, Basil whirled around only to get his head bashed by two cymbals on the firefighter band. A wide cartoonish grin spread across his face as he struggled to maintain his footing.

"Oh for the love of-" Mindy dashed to the detective's side and slapped him in the face, "GET A GRIP! THE BAT IS GETTING AWAY!"

This snapped Basil out of it, but he stumbled and landed on top of a pile of marbles.

"Duck!"

Mindy and Peter dropped to the floor as the marbles flew over their heads. Dawson did the best that he could, but a shiny purple one knocked him out cold.

"Peter! Help Dawson, I'm gonna go after the bat!" Mindy barked as she headed off in the direction the fiend went in.

"On it!"

Basil shook his head before following behind her, "Wait, princess! You have no idea what he is capable of!"

"Yeah, well he doesn't know what I'm capable of so I guess we're even."

They skidded to a halt when they reached the window.

Fidget was laughing crazily as he waved to the pair, "Hehehe! Bye! Bye!"

He opened the glass panel only to slam it shut upon seeing the growling blood hound on the other side. Panicked, he clambered up the cash register, and scrambled up a mountain of toys leading to an open window on the ceiling.

Basil hopped on top of a springy horse and bounced up the shelves of the store. "Stop! You fiend!"

Thinking quickly, Mindy grabbed a pogo stick and trailed behind him.

She watched in horror as Basil and Fidget raced to the top. The bat eventually reached the peak and grabbed onto the edge of the window. Basil leaped up to grab at the sack but missed and plummeted into the vast pile of toys below.

"Oh no you don't!" Peter came out of nowhere, and zipped upwards to attack the scoundrel.

Fidget's eyes widened, "Uh oh!"

He lifted his feet right as the immortal boy whizzed under him, and barreled straight into the abyss of toys with a grunt of frustration.

Mindy gasped before narrowing her eyes at the cackling bat, "Stop right there you peg-legged menace!"

Without hesitation, she threw her palms out as her amulet emanated the same midnight-bluish glow from the battle between the Black Pearl and The Jolly Rancher. Sweat beaded down her forehead as she concentrated solely on tugging the kidnapper's legs towards her.

"How're you doin that?" Fidget questioned anxiously, "S-stop it!"

"Not…until…you…let...go!" She managed to gasp out.

Mindy could feel the power slipping from her fingers, but she held onto it with every fiber of her being. She ground her teeth and dug her toes into the floor to keep herself from sliding forwards. Meanwhile, the bat was clinging onto the railing for dear life whilst begging her to let him go. It was then that Fidget took a closer look at the girl with the telekinesis. He gasped upon realizing that she was a pint-sized human, and not just any pint-sized human. The magical aura radiating from her chest was all he needed to figure it out.

"Hey! You're that princess everyone's lookin' for!"

This threw her off-guard, "Huh?"

She lost her mental grip on his legs, and the bat took the opportunity to scramble out of the window, and vanish into the night while singing to himself: "I got the tools, I got the gears, I got the uniforms, I got the girl! Hehehehe!"

"No!"Mindy cried out in anguish as she collapsed onto the floor.

Her hands trembled as she held them out in front of her…

She yanked on her hair as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. The gears in her brain were whizzing at supersonic speed, and she felt like she was about to start hyperventilating. Dots clouded her visions as her mindset struggled to get back to normal. Mindy's eyes rolled upwards, but she pinched herself in order to keep them open. With some difficulty, she rose to her feet. Her knees racked as she trudged through the mountain of toys.

"Peter?" She croaked out, "Peter? Where are you?"

"Over here!" A voice shouted back.

She turned and maneuvered her way past stuffed animals, marionettes, and rocking horses. Mindy forced herself to keep going and ignored the searing pain in her mind. Eventually, she shuffled past a scattered stack of wooden blocks when her eyes fell upon a gargantuan baby cradle with an arm sticking out through the bars.

Mindy made a mad dash towards it.

It took a couple of tries for her to jump up, grab the edge, and hoist herself into the cradle. She put a hand to her mouth in horror as she approached the boy-who-wouldn't-grow-up. He was sprawled across the pillow with half-lidded eyes, and his mouth was pulled into a grimace.

She crouched down to get eye-level with him, "My God…"

"Mindy, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"You're making a big deal out of nothing."

"And you aren't fooling anyone."

He stared at her long and hard before he ultimately lost the battle, and sighed, "It's my leg from Hangman's Tree… it's never hurt this much before."

"How much are we talking about?"

"A lot."

"It's a miracle that fall didn't kill you."

"Disney characters can't die unless the story calls for it."

"How can you say-"

"-Basil! Peter! Mindy!"

The familiar voice caused her to snap her head forwards.

"Dr. Dawson!" Mindy stood up and waved at him, "We're over here! Hurry, Peter's hurt!"

The doctor scurried over to where they were, and she helped him up into the cradle.

He knelt down and pressed his hands against his leg in different places. Peter winced in pain, but allowed it to happen anyway. He refused to cry. "Thankfully, it isn't broken…you will be alright, but I'd refrain from flying if I were you. You shouldn't push it too much. Can you stand?"

Peter hissed as he grabbed the bars and rose to his feet.

He started to collapse, but Dawson was quick to catch him by his shoulder and help him regain his balance. Mindy removed her amulet from the inside of her shirt, and pressed the golden gem to release a shower of pixie dust on the three of them.

"Think of happy thoughts everyone." She advised.

Mindy pictured earlier that night when Peter took her soaring over the Thames River, and couldn't help but smile at the memory. For the first time, she had instigated the sensation of joy that allowed her to fly out of her own free will.

Steadily they swooped up and over the cradle, and helped Peter meander through the toys.

"Basil?" Dawson called out, "Basil?"

Mindy's brows scrunched in puzzlement, "Do you guys hear that?"

Simultaneously, their ears picked up the sound of a detached feminine voice saying over and over again: "Mamma….mamma…mamma."

They followed the noise and found Basil (whose foot had gotten caught on the pull string of a porcelain doll; causing it to repeat the phrase continuously). If this were under different circumstances, Mindy would be rolling on the ground laughing over the aggravated upside-down countenance of their resident detective. But she could tell that this wasn't the time for fun and games.

Dr. Dawson came forwards, "Olivia…she's-"

"-She's gone Dawson!" Basil cut him off as he bungeed up and down, desperately trying to untangle the knot, "Confound it! I told you to watch over the girl!" At that moment, the string broke off, and he fell in a frustrated heap on the ground. The doctor attempted to help him up when Basil sprung upright, and continued his rant as he paced, "Now she's been spirited away by that maniacal little monster! Soon to be in the clutches of the most depraved mind in all of London! I should've known better than to-"

"-oh come on." Mindy intercepted, "Go easy on him, it wasn't his fault that-"

"-And you!" Basil lashed out, "What in Disney's name were you two thinking?! You deliberately disobeyed me, and as a result you were both put in mortal danger! Because of your recklessness, now Ratigan will find out that the wanted fugitive that The Projectionist is looking for has fallen right into his lap!"

She bit her lip as she hastily started to explain, "Look, we had no intention of following you guys whatsoever. Peter hated being cooped up in the apartment, so we decided to go for an innocent nighttime flight. By mere coincidence, we ended up where all the action was going down., I get that you're angry about the villain now knowing who I am, but in all honesty it's only a matter of time before the more dangerous villains of the Disney-verse will figure out who I am, so I might as well start dealing with it now, am I right? Thirdly, don't blame Olivia's kidnapping solely on the doctor… now I'm not gonna tell you what to do because you're an adult, but I will make a suggestion. How about instead of screaming at everybody, you take a chill pill and do a bit of self-reflection?"

"On what?"

"On what it means to be considerate." Mindy answered, "You think that you're the only one who is feeling devastated? Just look at him, and ask yourself that question again."

Basil opened his mouth to ask what she was referring to, when he caught sight of Dawson with his back turned in the corner. His shoulders were slumped, his tail was slightly drooped in a miserable fashion. He looked more like a deflated balloon than the optimistic helpful doctor that he knew.

"Err…Dawson?" When he didn't respond, Basil bit his lip and cleared his throat, "Dawson?"

Once again, he refused to respond. The detective winced at the realization that he had gone too far. He glanced over at Mindy, his eyes pleading for assistance. She gestured to the doctor and mouthed: "Talk to him."

Basil approached the mouse, and raised his hand as if he wanted to put it on his shoulder in comfort, "I…I say." He bailed at the last second, and instead placed it onto his own chest with an anxious smile, "Dawson old chap?"

A sniffle came from the doctor as he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face, "Oh…that…that poor girl…I should have watched her more closely."

"Don't worry old fellow." Basil rubbed the back of his neck, "It's not entirely hopeless."

Peter rolled his eyes, "Reassuring."

Mindy shot him a look that told him he wasn't making the situation any better.

The detective contemplated his next move, and eventually put his hand on Dawson's shoulder with a gentle smile, "We'll get her back."

"Do…do you really think that there's a chance?"

"There's always a chance doctor." Basil pulled out a match and struck it against a marionette's wooden head. He used the flame to light his pipe, and narrowed his eyes in determination, "As long as one can think."

He stuck it in his mouth and puffed a few times.

Mindy snatched it out of his hands, "Woah, woah, woah what do you think you're doing? You can't show this to the kids watching! Didn't anyone ever tell you that smoking is bad for you?"

Basil grabbed it back, "To answer you rather rude question, it helps me concentrate! And in order to do that I will need absolute quiet."

Before she could protest further, he placed the pipe in his mouth, and paced back-and-forth across the floor. Mindy walked the boy on her shoulder to a wooden block and helped him sit before settling next to him.

For a while, there was a period of awkward silence.

Dawson reached into his pockets before his eyes widened in bewilderment. He then pulled out Fidget's list, and started to read it aloud to himself, "Get the following: Tools, gears, girl-"

"-What?" Basil was by his side in an instant, and yanked it out of his hands, "Get the follo-" His eyes gradually lit up in excitement, "Dawson you've done it! This list is precisely what we need!"

"What?" Everyone questioned in unison.

The detective was already running towards the window, "Quickly! Back to Baker Street!"

Mindy turned towards the doctor as Basil disappeared around the corner, "Is it okay if we hitch a ride back with you guys?"

"Of course." He answered without hesitation, "Here, I'll help you."

"Seriously, you both are treating me like a baby I'm fine." Peter insisted, "You're worse than Tinkerbell after the explosion in Hangman's Tree."

"Don't be so stubborn." Mindy chided as she and Dawson hoisted him to his feet and walked in the direction Basil had gone, "Just be grateful that you have people, fairies, and mice that care about your wellbeing, okay?"

When they arrived outside of the window, Basil was tapping his foot impatiently, "Where have you three been? Come on, there's no time to lose!"

Mindy glanced up at him before speaking through clenched teeth, "Peter is hurt…bad."

That seemed to shut him up.

Once they had been introduced to Toby the bloodhound, they carefully helped Peter onto his back, sandwiching him between Mindy and Dawson. On the detective's command, they took off into the night at supersonic speed. Mindy didn't let go of Peter's hand the entire time, constantly worried that he would accidently slip and fall off. Soon however, she could feel her once iron grip starting to loosen…

The recent telekinetic exercise combined with the whizzing streetlights caused Mindy to unwillingly go in and out of consciousness. Her mind was fuzzy, heavy, and almost paralyzingly nauseated to the point where she looked around to see if it were possible to vomit over the side of the dog they were gallivanting on. In a panic, she wrapped her arms around Basil's torso as she felt her lids drooping. She kept digging her nails into the palms her hands as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Noticing the immense pressure this action had on him, Basil turned to tilt his head at her in concern… she wasn't sure if she was hallucinating, but she could've sworn that she heard him ask if she was alright.

She didn't have time to process this, as she was consumed by an overwhelming darkness…