Chapter Five: Surveillance and The Pact With Turbo Troll
Disclaimer: Same as before.
Pelekai Residence
8 June 2003, 1522
Kokua Town, HI
United States
"Ok...RoboTarantula activated," Jumba said as he turned the switch that activated his robotic tarantula.
"Good...and it only mistook me for an intruder twice before you managed to adjust it!" Pleakley shouted.
"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka," RoboTarantula chanted as it skittered off the workbench.
"And you still haven't changed its speech?" Pleakley said.
"Hey, adjusting its sensors and recognition software took a lot more work than I expected," Jumba said as he reached into a cabinet and pulled out a trio of robotic skunks about as long as Stitch lying on his side.
"Jumba," Lindsay's voice could be heard outside the door before it opened, "Do you have any more...yike..."
Lindsay barely moved her leg out of the way as RoboTarantula skittered away from Jumba's workshop and up the nearest wall.
"What's a yike?" Jumba said.
"An expression like oh, in the context of me trying to avoid getting tripped by RoboTarantula," Lindsay countered, "And anyway I was going to ask do you have any more information about how to shut down Gnomekop or Turbo Troll?"
"Well, actually I didn't build off switches into either of them. So we might need to wait until their batteries run out," Jumba replied.
"First off, why does it not surprise me that you didn't design off switches into either Gnomekop or Turbo Troll? And how long would that be before their batteries run out?" Lindsay asked.
"Uh, well..." Jumba said.
"Ballpark figure?" Lindsay prompted.
"Erh, well...there is the matter of the photovoltaic panelling I built into both robots and..." Jumba replied, scratching his head.
"Solar panels. You built solar panels into two very destructive robots, meaning they can extend their battery lives?" Lindsay began, "So assuming they don't use the solar panels, how long will they last."
"About fifteen or so hours. However the solar panels automatically activate when battery levels are detected to be at 20%," Jumba replied.
The sound of the front door opening rather violently and smacking against the wall could be heard together with Chuckles guffawing loudly.
"Oh shut it, wanker!" Henry could be heard over the laughter.
Now what? Lindsay thought to herself as she headed downstairs with Pleakley and Jumba behind her.
As Lindsay reached the foot of the stairs, with Pleakley and Jumba in tow, she saw an irate Henry Tresckow come clomping into the foyer.
"Let me guess, Mrs. Edmonds wants to sue the ACME Detective Agency for many times the cost of the sign and the car," Lindsay countered.
"Whahahahahahaha!" Chuckles laughed, as he wiped a tear from his right eye, "Not at all."
"Leave it alone," Henry growled.
"Guys, what happened?" Lindsay interjected.
"Well, Henry was able to talk Mrs. Edmonds out of a lawsuit," Chuckles said.
"That sounds good," Lindsay replied.
"Evidently Mrs. Edmonds is divorced. And she's also, what's that bloody word again? Oh, she's also a puma," Henry replied sourly.
At this Lindsay burst out laughing, her left palm against the wall. She barely managed to sputter a reply, "You mean a cougar?"
"Yes, that," Henry replied.
Chuckles let out another roar of laughter, hands clutching his abdomen, doubled over.
"How the Hell is that funny?" Henry commented, "She was hitting on you as well."
"Well," Chuckles said, "I think you wound up taking the cake because, in her words, 'You've got that dreamy accent'."
"She was also quite taken with your Southern twang," Henry replied.
"Alright, amorous divorced ladies aside, it seems like you guys were successful in preventing a lawsuit," Lindsay replied, and with a smirk added, "And one of you could well have even scored a date this weekend."
"Sorry, she's not my type," Henry replied before noticing RoboTarantula crawling across the ceiling, "And is there a reason that Jumba just activated the house's sole security system?"
"Hah, not the only security system...I've made some more security devices," Jumba said as he walked back up the stairs.
"Jumba," Lindsay called up after him, "just what kind of insane device did you create this time!"
"Well, if there are Cobras slithering around we probably could do with some help," Henry offered.
"And what would you do to help?" Lindsay asked.
"Well I could put several hundred meters of concertina wire around the house, maybe add a couple of landmines…" Henry joked.
"Henry, first off this isn't South Africa and second I think that might violate one or two zoning ordinances around here," Lindsay replied.
"Hah!" Jumba said as he came down the staircase holding a large box in his hands, "I've got something even better than landmines."
He set the box on the floor and put four identical robotic skunks side by side and declared, "Behold, the bouncing skunk bomb."
"So what the hell do these Pepe Le Pew lookalikes do?" Henry replied.
"Warner Brothers references aside," Lindsay added, "you did not just use the word skunk and bomb in the same sentence did you?"
"Well, it's not a bomb per se," Jumba replied.
"Oh, then what is it...exactly?" Henry asked.
"Oh it's actually a mobile odor generator and projector," Jumba said, "I can modify it to emit nearly any smell that exists on Earth. In this case I decided skunk would be the most appropriate setting."
"Why not just set it to waste treatment plant?" Henry commented.
"Well, I didn't think to add that one in, however it is good idea..." Jumba replied.
"Henry, don't give that man any more demented ideas." Lindsay replied.
Jumba began activating the devices, and they started bouncing around the house like their inspiration.
"Right, we've at least got something to help keep the house safe," Henry began, "So what's the situation with Turbo Troll?"
"Cobra Bubbles is with him, hopefully he can convince Turbo Troll to help us deal with Gnomekop. I've got Pleakley keeping an eye on Lilo and Stitch," Lindsay replied.
"Right, I'll see if Cobra needs a hand," Henry replied.
"And I'll help Chuckles look over the tapes from the shopping center," Lindsay replied, "Maybe we can get lucky…"
Henry snickered, causing Lindsay to blush slightly before replying, "Get your mind out of the gutter, Tresckow!"
Turbo Troll was currently sitting in an antique birdcage in the attic of the Pelekai house. He stared impassively back at Cobra Bubbles, having said nothing since the four eyed fiend with the net launcher had caught him earlier.
"We can sit here all day and all night saying nothing or we can have a discussion regarding your friend, Gnomekop," Cobra replied, "But you're not getting out of that cage if you don't help us out."
The attic door opened as Henry walked into the room, "We got that business with the shopping center taken care of,"
"Good," Cobra Bubbles replied.
"Right, Lindsay got me up to speed about this entire Turbo Troll piece." Henry added.
"And I could hear the two of you arguing with Jumba quite nicely," Cobra Bubbles said, "And we've got the house sorted out, however there's one vulnerability we need to cover."
"Let me guess, Nani?" Henry replied.
"Precisely. Firefly might try to target her next to try to get after Lilo to get her to turn over Turbo Troll," Cobra said, "I need you and Lindsay to trail her from work and back to the house."
"Right," Henry said and stepped out of the room.
"Now, sorry for the interruption," Cobra Bubbles said, addressing Turbo Troll once again.
Turbo Troll remained silent.
This is gonna take a while. Cobra Bubbles thought.
Stitch was literally climbing up the walls, following RoboTarantula. It wasn't that he didn't trust his creator's latest invention, far from it. He was curious to see how it worked. His quicksilver brain was running a mile a minute.
Rapidly assessing capabilities of potential foes was something built into his thinking, thanks to Dr. Jookiba.
"Pooka pooka!" Stitch shouted.
RoboTarantula turned around. Not especially agile, Stitch thought. Looks like it relies on stealth and coming in at unusual angles.
The large robot spider regarded Stitch and then continued on its way, skittering through the shadows. It can cover places I can't get to.
He continued his climbing around on the ceiling, his sharp ears taking in every sound in the house and even a certain radius outside of it. He could hear Cobra Bubbles upstairs trying to talk to a silent and recalcitrant Turbo Troll, Lindsay and Chuckles in the living room with Lilo watching some security tapes from the mall, and Jumba tooling around in his workshop.
He could hear Henry walking down the stairs, to the living room only to be intercepted by Pleakley.
"Hey, Henry, real quick," Pleakley asked, "Should I go for a red muumuu or an orange one?"
"I'm not exactly an authority on alien fashion, Pleakley," Henry replied, "Maybe you should ask Nani when she gets home."
"Oh, ok. Nani has better fashion sense," Pleakley said.
Stitch could hear Henry just about running down the staircase and then heading into the living room. He followed the Rhodesian, who glanced up and said, "Gonna have a look at the surveillance footage."
Maybe I can help. Stitch thought. My vision might be able to make out details that the video resolution can't.
He hopped off the ceiling, onto the floor just slightly behind and to Henry's right as he entered the living room. This prompted both Chuckles and Lindsay to turn their heads.
"Any luck?" Henry asked.
"Nothing we don't already know, I'm afraid," Lindsay said, "Namely that Firefly ran off with Gnomekop in the chaos after Mrs. Edmonds' car exploded."
"Alright," Henry replied softly, as he saw Firefly heading around a corner.
"Wait!" Lilo said, "Freeze the camera."
Chuckles hit the pause button. "What did you see?"
"That black SUV…" Lilo replied, "It wasn't in front of the mall till just before the car exploded."
"So that's how he got away," Henry replied.
"Who's the lady with the glasses?" Lilo asked.
"That's Baroness Anastasia Cisarovna, or the Baroness. She's an espionage expert in Cobra," Chuckles replied, "Not someone you want to run into."
"Good eye, Lilo," Lindsay smiled and playfully ruffled the little girl's hair.
"Hey..." Lilo groaned and reached up to straighten in.
"Lindsay, Cobra needs us to keep an eye on Nani, just in case..." Henry replied as he grabbed the keys to the white Nissan and headed for the front door.
Lindsay grabbed a hold of her purse, before hurrying after him.
"Henry will you slow down," Lindsay said, grabbing a hold of his right arm, around his tricep, "Do you think you could give me slightly more than a two minute warning?"
"Hell, I've done missions that had briefings that were about that short," Henry countered, turning around to face her.
"Tresckow, this isn't the Rhodesian Army or the South African Army," Lindsay replied, sourly, "We do need to sort out the route and any possible cover."
"Well we can always say we're tourists in a rental car," Henry said.
"And of course they're not likely to wonder overmuch about a man and a woman driving together," Lindsay replied, "fair enough."
Oh this is too easy. Lindsay thought, slyly grinning, "Of course if your girlfriend sees us we might be in for some drama."
"Oh for fuck's sake, Lindsay, she isn't my girlfriend. She isn't even my type," Henry replied as he opened the door to let Lindsay outside ahead of him.
"She can't help herself, what with that 'dreamy accent'...which she clearly likes. You better be careful with that, Tresckow," Lindsay needled, smile widening. Of course I agree with Mrs. Edmonds.
Despite himself Henry grinned, "I do suppose I can function as a Rhodesian James Bond."
"Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan?" Lindsay replied, as Henry opened the passenger side door to let her take her seat. That smile of hers can met a sodding glacier.
"What is it you Yanks say? Decisions, decisions," Henry replied before closing the door, heading over to the driver's seat and then starting the car and driving away.
Stitch, who had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation from the ceiling above, thought to himself. Humans are so weird. I wonder if those two were just arguing or what Pleakley called 'flirting'?
Cobra Bubbles came back down the staircase, "Lilo, as the expert in Gnomekop and Turbo Troll I need your help."
"Ok, I'm on my way," Lilo replied.
In over thirty years as a CIA case officer and several more ex-officio in his capacity as a social worker Cobra Bubbles thought he had seen it all. Today was a day that decidedly challenged that thought.
Lilo entered the attic, and said, "Turbo Troll, I bring news from the Emperor of Troll Castle."
"If you are an envoy of Troll Castle," Turbo Troll began, "Prove it."
Lilo reached into the pocket of her little blue denim shorts and revealed a black shield with a single lightning bolt in the center, a Turbo Troll sitting atop a motorcycle at the top of the lightning bolt.
Then she dropped to one knee and held the shield up.
"The child brings the coin of the realm," Turbo Troll replied, "Very well, I will hear what you have to say."
"The Cobra forces have signed an alliance with the Gnome Princess," Lilo began, "And they want to steal the Great Crystal."
"And that means what to me?" Turbo Troll said.
"It means that your boss, The Emperor of Troll Castle," Lilo replied, pausing for dramatic effect, "would be very upset."
"Hmm…" Turbo Troll began, before pointing at Cobra Bubbles, "But isn't that one named Cobra?"
"No relation," Cobra Bubbles replied.
"The Emperor of Troll Castle himself wants you to prevent Cobra from stealing the Great Crystal," Lilo said, and then added a conspiratorial whisper, "So that you can get close enough to steal the Great Crystal."
Turbo Troll replied, "I'm listening."
Lilo replied, "You'll need to be convincing though, you might even need to do things like work with Gnomekop to prevent Cobra from stealing the Great Crystal."
Turbo Troll said, "Double-crossing is what trolls do best. However I do want confirmation that the Emperor himself made these orders."
"I will need to confer with the Emperor of Troll Castle…" Lilo replied as she headed for the attic door.
Cobra Bubbles followed her out. And as the attic door closed he knelt down beside Lilo in the hallway, "Great improvisation, Lilo. However we might be having some issues with your little pact. And how to convince Turbo Troll that everything you said was the truth. Unless you use judicious video editing…"
Cobra Bubbles grumbled, "I never thought I'd say this, but we might be needing Jumba's creativity."
"Yeah," Lilo said.
To Be Continued...