Chapter Two: Clouds Gathering

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Author's Note: I couldn't help but wonder how characters similar to Philip Stryver and John Daggett from Dark Knight rises would work in this universe so I made up some OCs based on them.

Watching an old episode of Jackie Chan Adventures inspired another of Jumba's machinations.

CIA Safehouse
June 8, 2003, 0814
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"I hope you two are well rested," Cobra said as Lindsay and Henry walked from two other bedrooms in the safehouse on the outskirts of Kokua Town, "I am glad that headquarters sent some reinforcement. Ever since Stitch, Dr. Jookiba, and Pleakley came to live here on Kaua'i I've been worried since Cobra set up its embassy on Oahu."

"Cobra setting up an intelligence operation here is our chief worry," Chuckles explained.

"That was what I was briefed at headquarters," Lindsay replied, "What did your agency tell you, Henry?"

"Basically what you had been told, that aliens were living on Kaua'i and there was a worry about intelligence or paramilitary operations coming out of the Cobra Island Embassy on Oahu," Henry replied.

"Good, we're on the same page," Cobra said.

"And like any overworked group of bureaucrats they're going to want to take vacations off Oahu," Lindsay concluded.

"Exactly," Cobra replied.

"And of course what better way to conduct reconnaissance than on a vacation," Henry added, "And we're wanting to prevent them from either finding our out of town visitors or prevent them from absconding with any alien technology."

"Great, that means we'll have to make sure Dr. Jookiba cleans up his messes," Lindsay replied.

"To be fair it seems a lot of his inventions seem to explode in a spectacular fashion," Henry countered.

"We still have to make sure the remains of said experiments don't fall into the wrong hands," Chuckles said.

"Already we're certain one place that's likely to be popular with Cobra Island agents is going to be the Princeville Hotel," Cobra Bubbles continued, "It would be wise if we had a safehouse in town."

"We'll start looking for locations," Chuckles continued, "But who would be best to stay there?"

"I think the choice is obvious," Cobra said, looking over at Lindsay and Henry, "They naturally sound like a married couple if you listen to them argue long enough."

Chuckles nodded, "I agree. A man and a woman in one house doesn't raise much suspicion."

"I guess we start house hunting then," Lindsay replied.

"Now that that's settled, we need to talk distribution of duties. At least one of us needs to keep an eye on the Pelekai house," Chuckles added.

"A full time job in and of itself, but I agree," Cobra said, "I believe for today that's your piece, Lindsay. Henry, you're her back up for that one."

Cobra Island Consulate
June 8, 2003, 0830
Honolulu, HI
United States

Ambassador John Daggett said, "Close the door, Philip."

He stood up as he spoke, he was a tall, lean fellow in his early forties, and tugged on the lapels of his tailored pinstriped suit to ensure the garment fit just right before he stood up, watching as his intelligence executive closed the door behind him.

Daggett began, "I want to know your plan for the Kaua'i operation."

"As you know," Stryver began as he organized his notes in his hands, "There was a meteorite strike last summer on the island of Kaua'i. Our satellite photographs believe that the meteorite was actually a spacecraft from another planet."

Stryver handed Daggett a couple of satellite photographs. Daggett remarked, "That just looks like any impact crater, Stryver."

The man with the coiffed and well combed brown hair replied, "Notice the vaguely disk shaped object being moved..."

"Huh," Daggett said as he looked at another photograph that showed Stitch's disk shaped vessel.

Stryver continued, "And additionally three more meteorites were sighted within days of the first impact, yet no impact craters were found, leading us to believe at least three alien vessels landed."

"What are you asking for, Stryver?" Daggett said.

"Further intelligence assets and operations to be authorized for Kaua'i operations. If aliens with interstellar flight are still on the island then we have to see if they left any traces, especially for technology for our scientists and engineers to get a hold of," Stryver said, "It could be a good long term investment."

"Agreed, but let's start with a small exploratory team first. I believe we have tour groups among the embassy staff wanting to go off island," Daggett said, "Based on what your survey team finds on Kaua'i we will see what additional assets we can commit to the Kaua'i operation."

"Ok boss," Stryver replied. He had Daggett's approval to get a foot in the door for Kaua'i. If he produced good intelligence out of this endeavor then he would get more assets committed his way and the more assets committed his way.

All he had to do was confirm the presence of extraterrestrials on Kaua'i...

Pelekai Residence
June 8, 2003, 0935
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"Thank you so much for babysitting Lilo," Nani said, "I got called in to work today."

"It's no problem," Lindsay replied, as she set her blue, gray and white North Face backpack down onto the couch, "Anything I should be aware of?"

Lindsay's eyes flickered over to the couch, noticing a hardbound black book with a red spine. It's title, Practical Voodoo, flanked by a skull and crossbones on either side.

Nani noticed it around the same time that Lindsay did and nervously remarked, "Lilo is a very unique little girl."

"I can see that," Lindsay said, suppressing an audible gulp of nervousness. Practical Voodoo, not a book I'd expect a seven year old girl to read.

"She's had a few issues fitting in, but doesn't everyone..." Nani replied.

Easy, she's just a little girl. You've dealt with worse people in your line of work, to include heavily armed worse people. Lindsay thought to herself.

"Must find Turbo Troll," a voice blared into the living room as Lilo ran through the room carrying a seafoam green action figure with a blue police helmet, blue greaves and bracers, and a yellow badge.

"What is that?" Lindsay asked.

"That's Gnomekop," Nani said, "That was one of two action figures that Cobra Bubbles bought Lilo for her birthday...a battery operated nuisance."

"Oh, right, that new cartoon for kids," Lindsay replied, the recognition coming, "It wasn't in the Balkans, at least not yet."

"Rar...Turbo Troll Rules!" Stitch ran by holding a coral pink action figure wearing a black motorcycle helmet, black greaves and wrist bracers and a black motorcycle vest.

"Lilo! Stitch! Quit charging around the house!" Nani shouted as she ran after them.

ZZAAAAPPP!

"Wocka! Wocka! Wocka!"

"OUCH!" Pleakley could be heard screaming from the garage.

Lindsay ran over to the garage in record time in time to see Pleakley covered in soot, hanging from a net suspended in the ceiling with RoboTarantula affixing the electrified web to the trusses of the roof of the garage, yelling at Jumba, "Are you insane!?"

Nani, Lilo, and Stitch arrived at roughly the same time.

I'm beginning to wonder if that's a rhetorical question. Lindsay thought.

"Hah! It works! It works!" Jumba shouted.

"I'm almost afraid to ask this," Lindsay said, "But I will. What works?"

"Simple, now I know why I invented RoboTarantula! It was part of my patented security system I'm building for the house..." Jumba said.

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka..." RoboTarantula said.

"I improved my creation so it now can fire electrified webbing at intruders," Jumba explained.

"I think it could do with an improvement or two more, like, oh...IDENTIFYING WHO IS AN INTRUDER!?" Pleakley shouted.

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka." RoboTarantula said.

"And by the way do you realize that is a high order insult in my language!" Pleakley replied.

"Eh, heh heh. I think it could do with a few modifications," Jumba replied.

"I think I'll 'modify' it with a sledgehammer when I get back down!" Pleakley replied, waving his arms, and then the electricity coursed into the web again.

"OW!" Pleakley replied.

"I think the webbing is designed to emit electrical shocks when intruders struggle in the web," Jumba said.

"You think?" Lindsay replied, "What kind of inventor doesn't know exactly what his inventions do?"

"Eh, I usually know what they do," Jumba said.

"What do you mean by usually?" Lindsay asked.

"Inventions I make in my sleep I don't usually know what they do entirely," Jumba said.

"Unbelievable," Lindsay remarked, "So where some people sleepwalk you sleepinvent?"

"Yes," Jumba replied.

"I need to get to work," Nani said, "Lindsay, do you think you could help Jumba get Pleakley off the ceiling."

"Don't hurry or anything," Pleakley commented, "I just love hanging upside down from the ceiling with a demented robot spider menacing me."

"Come on Jumba," Lindsay said as she went over for a small step ladder, "Let's go deactivate RoboTarantula and get Pleakley down from the ceiling."

"No need for manual labor, dear lady," Jumba said, "I created an off switch in my sleep."

Jumba held up a garage remote and hit one of the buttons which deactivated RoboTarantula and also caused Pleakley, web and all, to fall to the ground with a crash.

"Oops," Jumba said.

Much later, after getting Pleakley both literally and figuratively off of the ceiling, Lindsay sat down on the couch and pulled her copy of E.M. Forster's A Room With a View. That had been one really hectic morning, especially with Lilo and Stitch chasing each other around the house playing as Gnomekop and Turbo Troll respectively.

"Great, I'm going to have phrases like 'Belt Blaster' and 'Gnome Power' stuck in my head all day," Lindsay muttered to herself as she went into the book she hadn't quite finished on the flight to Hawaii.

She heard the sound of the front door opening and saw Henry Tresckow walking through there, holding cardboard coffee cup holder with two large cups of coffee. She smiled and said, "My hero."

"You did ask for coffee and I happened to be at the coffee place," Henry said with a smile, holding up his phone.

"Thanks either way," Lindsay said as Henry closed the door and crossed the room, taking a seat beside Lindsay and handing her one cup of coffee.

Lindsay let out a tired sigh and Henry replied, "Rough day?"

"Yeah. Evidently Jumba modified his RoboTarantula to shoot electrified webs at intruders and it keeps misidentifying Pleakley as a target," Lindsay replied.

"Sounds like a rough day," Henry continued as he sipped his own cup.

"And Lilo and Stitch are addicted to the latest action figure craze. I've got all the catch phrases from Gnomekop stuck in my head," Lindsay replied.

"Gnomekop?" Henry asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Evidently some gnome police officer that guards the Gnome Princess, and Turbo Troll is his arch enemy," Lindsay replied.

"What?" Henry asked.

"It's a popular cartoon apparently and…" Lindsay said.

"Belt blaster!" Lilo came running by shouting with her Gnomekop in her hands.

"Hit me with your best shot Gnomekop!" Stitch came running by chasing Lilo with Turbo Troll in his hand.

"And the kids are obviously hooked on that whole lot," Henry replied as he sipped his own coffee.

"Yeah," Lindsay said.

"It could be worse. After all Jumba could implant microchips into the toys and he could turn them into small robots and…" Henry said.

"NOOOOO! Don't give him any ideas!" Pleakley screamed, waving his arms as he ran into the room, "You crazy heads! He might actually do it!"

"What are you reading?" Lindsay asked as she noticed Pleakley was carrying an issue of Cosmopolitan under his arm, "Wait, did that come from my backpack?"

"Eh-heh heh," Pleakley said.

"Pleakley, yes or no," Lindsay asked.

"Uhm, I might've borrowed it and…" Pleakley said.

"Pleakley. Next time ask if you want to borrow something. And don't go through my backpack without my permission again," Lindsay replied, "Otherwise I might well give Jumba a few more ideas for RoboTarantula."

"Ok. Do you mind if I borrow it for research for my paper?" Pleakley asked.

"Sure," Lindsay replied, "What is this paper on?"

"It's titled: Mapping The Mating Psychology of the Human Female. It's my graduate dissertation," Pleakley said.

"That might be a tad difficult a paper to write," Henry remarked before Lindsay semi-playfully elbowed him in the side and glared at him.

"Interesting, I could start with an anecdote on pre-courtship rituals that include the female striking the male..." Pleakley thought aloud.

"Pleakley, no!" Henry and Lindsay said near simultaneously.

"Gnome Power!" Lilo shouted excitedly as she thrust Gnomekop at Stitch as they ran into the living room again.

"Turbo Shield!" Stitch said. The two action figures collided with enough force that both Turbo Troll and Gnomekop's arms broke off.

"Stitch!" Lilo shouted, "You broke them!"

Lindsay put her book down and headed to the little girl, "I'm sure we can fix them."

"It is lunchtime, perhaps you two can go into town with us to get lunch and we can get some glue to fix these two action figures," Henry added.

Lilo sighed and said, "Ok."

"That's the spirit," Lindsay said.

"I'll get the car warmed up," Henry said as he stepped outside.

Shortly thereafter Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch followed, Gnomekop and Turbo Troll forgotten.

Four eyes watched the interactions going on and after the foursome had left the house. Jumba lumbered into the living room and picked up the two action figures. "Well it seems like I could do something for Lilo and Stitch."

He headed over to his workshop, muttering to himself, "This is perfect use for the AI microchips I created last week..."

Kokaua Chinese Restaurant
June 8, 2003, 1145
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"How's it going, guys?" Chuckles asked, as he stood up from the table where he sat eating with Cobra Bubbles.

The seemingly innocent question was a way that three spies and one law enforcement officer would be able to have a seemingly normal conversation while passing information without attracting attention.

"Traffic wasn't bad. Certainly not as crazy as Oahu," Lindsay replied, giving the coded phrase that they hadn't been followed.

Lilo had to wonder about the entire trip to the restaurant. The way Henry drove wasn't the quick and direct way to the restaurant. He seemed to be sticking to the big main roads, or at least what passed for big main roads in Kokaua Town, and he did mention to Lindsay that he did 'the route' before lunch just to be sure.

She quickly guessed it had something to do with surveillance and avoiding being followed. And now she was listening to how Lindsay and Chuckles were talking about traffic when Kaua'i wasn't exactly known for congested roads the way Oahu was.

"How's the house hunting going?" Chuckles asked.

"It's going alright," Lindsay replied as Henry went to go order their food and after paying for it went back to join the three spies at the table to wait for it to be prepared.

"I thought you might like some more listings," Chuckles said and handed Lindsay a manila folder.

Lilo got a brief glance before Lindsay put the folder into her backpack. She saw the edge of a piece of paper sticking out of the folder that read Philip Stryver, Cobra Island Intelligence Station Chief. Definitely not real estate listings.

"How is everything at the house?" Cobra asked.

"Not bad, minus RoboTarantula attacking Pleakley with electrified webs." Lindsay replied.

"Sounds like typical Jumba," Cobra remarked.

Henry headed over as soon as their order was called and headed over to Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch.

"Is anyone watching Jumba?" Cobra asked.

"Pleakley's at the house," Henry replied.

"Pleakley doesn't have the greatest record for keeping Jumba under control," Cobra replied.

"How much damage can he do in half an hour?" Henry asked as he, Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch headed back out to the car.

Pelekai Residence
June 8, 2003,1202
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"Jumba, Pleakley, lunchtime!" Lilo shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran inside the house.

"If we ever needed a replacement for a loudspeaker," Lindsay commented as she watched Lilo run upstairs shouting for Jumba and Pleakley and Stitch go racing into the kitchen and sitting at the table.

"I do believe that's inherent to having little kids about," Henry replied.

"I have brothers, Tresckow," Lindsay replied, irritably.

"Older or younger?" Henry replied.

"Both older," Lindsay replied.

"So that was you when you were Lilo's age," Henry said with a smile.

Lindsay let out a sigh and headed into the kitchen with her share of the food.

Meanwhile Lilo had run to Jumba and Pleakley's shared room finding Pleakley doing one of the quizzes in Lindsay's Cosmopolitan magazine.

"Where's Jumba?" Lilo asked.

"In his lab," Pleakley said, before going back to his quiz, "Hmm...that's a tough one...decisions decisions..."

Lilo headed back downstairs to the room that served as Jumba's lab.

"Jumba, lunchtime and...is that Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lilo asked when she saw both Gnomekop and Turbo Troll standing on Jumba's work bench.

"Yes, I just put the finishing touches on the repairs." Jumba said.

"Just repairs?" Lilo said.

"Uhm...yes," Jumba replied.

"Are you coming to lunch?" Lilo asked, not forgetting about Jumba's brief pause, merely tabling it for the time.

The pair walked back towards the dining area unaware that a book fell from a shelf, landing on Jumba's electrical testing kit, which Gnomekop and Turbo were hooked up to. This activated their on buttons and Turbo Troll rose to his feet...

"Thank you for fixing Gnomekop and Turbo Troll, Jumba," Lilo said, with a mouthful of rice and General Tso's chicken.

"Lilo, swallow your food before you talk," Henry began.

"You were definitely an older sibling," Lindsay replied, "You've got oldest brother written all over you."

Lilo gulped down her food and said, "Guys, Jumba fixed Gnomekop and Turbo Troll."

"Just fixed or did he modify them somehow?" Lindsay asked.

"Just fixed," Jumba said.

"Jumba, I'm no expert on your species," Henry interjected, "But I can't help but notice you looked down and to the left with your outer set of eyes just now."

"Ok Jumba!" Pleakley shouted, "What did you do to modify them? Rig them to explode? Shoot electricity? What?"

"Pleakley, calm down," Henry said, "He probably just improved their battery capacity."

"Henry, you might be right but let's also consider Jumba's track record here," Lindsay argued.

"This is true. But one mechanical spider an evil genius does not make," Henry replied, "Besides it was useful as a security device."

"That mistook me for an intruder!" Pleakley bellowed.

"Ok, exactly what modifications did you make to Lilo's Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lindsay asked.

"Where is Turbo Troll, Scourge of the Elven Realm?" The voice blared.

"Jumba...what exactly did you do to Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Henry added.

"More important why didn't you tell me sooner?" Lilo interjected.

"Eh heh heh..." Jumba said, twiddling his thumbs, "Would you believe that it was meant to be a surprise..."

"Turbo Troll!" Gnomekop shouted and slid down the bannister.

"It certainly was a surprise," Henry remarked as he, Lindsay, Jumba, Pleakley, Lilo, and Stitch ran into the hallway.

"Jumba, again, what did you do to Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lindsay asked.

"I added two prototype artificial intelligence microchips programmed with data from the Gnomekop and Turbo Troll cartoons and also added small servo motors so as to animate Gnomekop and Turbo Troll and…" Jumba said.

"So you basically made two small and very destructive robots," Lindsay said.

"I don't know about very destructive," Jumba replied.

"Considering your inventions' other track records…" Lindsay began as Gnomekop noticed the fivesome approaching.

"Who goes there?" Gnomekop said.

"We come in peace, uhm, Gnomekop…" Henry began hastily.

"Gnome power!" Gnomekop said as he jumped and bounced off the top of Henry's head and ran through the doggie door.

Henry bolted after Gnomekop, flinging the door open in time to see Gnomekop run into the trees.

"Oh bollocks…" Henry groaned.

To Be Continued…

It seems like Lilo's toys, animated by Jumba's experimentations are on the loose. Sharp eyed readers will notice I lifted the characters of Gnomekop and Turbo Troll from Jackie Chan Adventures.