the replacements: a daring rescue

by nita dee

disclaimer: "the replacements" belong to dan santat and walt disney productions.

chapter five: making plans

riley was walking along a sidewalk in her hometown of pleasant hills. she looked up and saw a cloud coming out of the sky towards where she was standing.

riley's mother was dressed in a white version of her catsuit she wore often and was seated on a white unicorn with wings. riley almost swore the unicorn was rainbow jumper. next to k was dick, also dressed in all white on a white motorcyle.

"hello, dear riley! we can't stay long. we just wanted you to know we are thinking about you here in heaven." k said, blowing a kiss to her daughter.

"we are going to the elvis presley/buddy holly show. wish you and todd could come with us." dick said with a broad smile.

"mom! dad! come back!" riley yelled. but the cloud drifted away.

"boom..boom..boom!!"

riley looked up and a giant version of todd's stuffed elephant mr. wiggles was marching through the town crushing everything in sight.

"no!" riley screamed as the elephant's huge foot came down to crush her.

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riley awoke with a start. she had been dreaming.

riley looked at the clock next to her bed. 4:15 in the afternoon.
had she really slept all day? then riley remembered. she and her family were in london and her father would be leaving that night to try and rescue her mother in a small far off country riley had never heard of.

todd's bed across the way was made up. he had been up for hours.
the time change didn't bother him like it always did riley.

yawning, riley got up and got dressed. she almost dreaded to go downstairs and see what happened during the day. the past several days had been a surreal nightmare.

riley eventually made it downstairs. todd was sitting on a couch in the study watching something that he wasn't enjoying.

"british tv is lame." todd said, snapping off the remote.

"where is everyone?" riley asked.

"grampa, dad, carter and cooky have been locked up in the library working on how they are going to rescue mom tomorrow. i wanted to help but gramma said 'it would be too disturbing' for me. so i've watched lame tv all day and watched gramma try hard not to cry. i finally told her to go work in her garden." todd said.

"todd, you know if things don't work out tomorrow we are going to be living with grampa and gramma." riley said with a sob.

"it's going to work out. dad won't let mom down." todd said with confidence.

"i wish i could believe that. haven't you ever noticed, todd, that every time we seem to get a good break in life something happens?" riley said. "remember when our real mom and dad left us because they had found better jobs? and they never came back? and how many times did this foster home and that foster home simply not work out? now, we are losing mom and dad.." riley said, starting to cry.

"stop it, riley!! dad won't let mom down. he'll rescue her and they'll be here tomorrow night and then we'll go home on sunday and everything will be normal and it's going to be alright..it has to be alright.." todd started to sob and ran off into the kitchen.

riley sighed. so todd had been thinking along the same lines as she had.

"oh look, there is my other darling!" gramma said. she had come into the kitchen to begin preparing tea for the afternoon.

todd was helping himself to some sugar cookies and any sign of the emotion he had in the study was gone.

"may we take the tea into the menfolk?" riley asked.

"let's all go in and see what is going on." gramma said. she was trying very hard to put on a happy face for her grandchildren.

gramma rapped on the door of the library and asked permission to enter. a "yes" was replied.

the men were sitting around a table and dick was pushing evil bearnevel on his motorcycle towards mr. wiggles who was set to step on the head of a celebrity starr doll. cooky was writing something down as carter's modulator blinked on and off. gregory was explaining to dick for the thousandth time the order of the action.

"dick, son..listen to me! when you and carter enter the arena,
you need to shoot a grenade towards the guards, shoot a smoke bomb towards the spectators, then go forward, shoot a second grenade towards the viewing stand then grab k and ride like the devil to the exit of the arena. red, blue, red, blue, blue.." gregory said. he was getting a little impatient with dick's lack of espionage experience.
"i told you we should have hired snake river-canyon." car said tiredly. carter was attacted to a british motorcycle that would be flown to b'ajai that evening with dick and cooky.

"look, i'm with you on this..the red grenades blow things up,
the blue grenades smoke things up. carter and i will ride in on the motorcyle, make a lot of noise, pick k up before she can be crushed and move on to exit out into the jungle where cooky will fly a small plane into a clearing and wisk us all away." dick said with a tired voice. he had not had a good night's sleep in nearly a week and it was telling on him.

"okay, what happens if someone captures you?" cooky asked.

"then i take the little gun out of the handle bar of the motorcycle and shoot them." dick said. "i don't know why k even stays in this line of business..it's too violent."

"because it is what she does best." carter said snappishly. he hated the idea of being pared with of all people dick daring even if it did mean an attempt to rescue his beloved agent k.

"once upon a time we all thought katherine would be a world class concert violinist." bea said quietly. "but her stage fright always interfered and finally madame serina suggested we not push her in that direction any longer. i guess she went into the spy trade because it's what her father and i did and what our parents did before we did it."

"well, when we get her home i'm having a long talk with her.
i'm putting both of my feet down. k will simply have to give up this spy mission stuff. it takes her away from her family too much anyway." dick said with anger.

"if you get her home, you mean. i swear dick daring if you fail k i will never let you forget it! not ever!" carter said in anger.
dick looked at the motorcycle with anger. he had always liked carter even as carter despised him.

"carter, if i fail katie tomorrow..you won't have to remind me about it. every day of my life i'll think of her and remember how much was riding on me and how i failed her." dick said. "i'll get her out of b'ajai or i will die trying."

"gentlemen, please..fighting about this matter doesn't help anything." gregory said quietly.

"i need some air." dick said shortly. he rose and left the library and went out into the garden.

todd and riley watched quietly uncertain what to say or do next.

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london's big ben clock struck midnight as dick and cooky loaded carter into the back seat of the black bentley to begin their journey to b'ajai.

gregory, bea, todd and riley watched as the car was being loaded,
not knowing what to say.

"well kids..wish me good luck!" dick said. it felt more like dick was off to another stunt performance rather than the most important day of his life. dick even had his red, white and blue spangled jumpsuit on.

"good luck, dad!" todd said, giving the large man a hug.

"dad, hurry back and bring mom with you!" riley said, kissing her father's cheek.

"richard." gregory said, shaking the hand of the man who married his daughter. "godspeed."

"dick.." bea came up to dick with tears in her eyes. "when you see katherine, give her this."

bea unwrapped a small gold ring out of a piece of tissue paper which held k's wedding band.

"they found this in car's wreakage. the ring must have slipped off of katherine's finger when the accident occurred." bea said, handing the ring to dick.

"'k..with all my love forever..dd". dick said, reading the inscription.

"don't worry, bea! when you see this ring again, your beautiful daughter will be wearing it! we'll be home in time for supper tomorrow night..make something hearty!" dick said. then, he turned to the family and said his trademark saying.."look out below!!!" and got into the bentley on the passenger side, waving goodbye as cooky drove the car away.

todd and riley watched as the car pulled away and waited until it was out of sight before both children hugged their grandmother and cried.