Chapter Four
Bianca closed her eyes and forced back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. There was no way she was going to let Max see her distraught. She glanced over at Larry, who sat tied in a brown metallic chair identical to hers, but he was biting his lip nervously. She noticed he kept glancing towards the room where Balki was being held alone. How dare Max keep them apart?
"You really don't think you're going to get away with this, do you?" Bianca asked, her voice low and menacing as she glared at Max, who stood in the left corner, playing with his phone.
Max looked up at her and laughed. "My dear, who is going to be looking for you; your precious robots? Your multi-lingual microwave? I think not. Now sit tight for a little bit while Daddy figures out what to do next."
"You mean, you don't even have a plan?" Larry asked, eyes wide.
Leave it to Larry to wig out when even his kidnappers aren't organized, Bianca thought, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, I have a plan, alright. I just need the supplies to get here first. You see, my dear Bianca, you are going to build another time machine so that I can use I for what I need to do. If you don't, I'm afraid your dear friends will have to be eliminated. They managed to elude death in the past, but this time, they won't be so lucky."
Bianca snorted. "I was barely able to build my time machine. What makes you think I'll be able to build you one?"
"Because if you don't," Max reminded her, using his fingers as an imaginary gun to aim and shoot at Larry, "they die."
"No pressure, right?" Larry asked nervously, glancing from Max to her.
"Now what is taking Urpos and Lylo so long?" Max asked aloud, walking towards the door.
"My guess is they're out looking for new names," Bianca muttered under her breath, still struggling to get out of her ropes, which were now starting to hurt her torso. Of all times to get kidnapped, it had to be when she was wearing a tight dress and heels!
Suddenly, with a loud bang, Bianca jumped as if she'd been shot. The door dividing she and Larry from Balki was wide open and Max had disappeared. The man in the doorway, however, was not who she expected.
"Like Kenny Loggins say, I'm free, baby!" Balki cried, throwing his arms wide.
"Balki!" Larry and Bianca cried in unison.
"How did you get untied?" Larry asked.
Suddenly, Bianca looked down. "The cat! The cat clawed you out of the ropes?"
"You are correct," Balki replied, scooping up the furry creature. "This little kitty helped Balki to get his feet untied and then I tip the chair over and he do the same thing with my hands! All he wanted was a few head scratches and the catnip in my pocket."
Larry smiled. "Way to go, Balki–wait a second–did you say catnip in your pocket?"
"Yes. Don't you always carry catnip in your pocket, Cousin?"
"Guys, as much as I'd love to hear about why catnip is important, can we please get out of here before Max and the minions get back?" Bianca asked.
"Ugh," a voice moaned from somewhere in the room.
"That sounds like one of them now," Larry said, his voice strained as Balki quickly untied him.
"It is, but apparently, Max is out of commission for now. When Balki threw open the door, he must've hit him with it. He's on the floor and down for the count," Bianca smiled, feeling better than she had in awhile as Larry moved to aid her escape.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" one of the guys cried out as he and his companion entered the room.
"Aw, crap," Bianca muttered under her breath as she realized she, Larry and Balki had nowhere to run.
"I said, where do you think you're going?"
"Well, I thought we'd go back to Bianca's place, have a nice chat and then call it a night," Balki replied slowly and Larry instantly placed his hand over his face in frustration.
"You thought wrong, idiot," Urpos snapped, getting ready to grab his Mypiot cousin.
Suddenly, an idea hit Larry and he sprang into action. "Hey, Balki, buddy; how happy are you?"
"I am very happy, Cousin," Balki replied with a smile.
"How happy are you, Balki?" he repeated.
"I am very, very happy!" Balki said with much more fervor, catching on to what Larry was leading up to. "In fact, we are so happy, we do the dance of joy!"
As Larry and Balki danced, he noticed how the two men could do nothing but watch in confusion and awe. Larry knew there was no way he could afford to mess this up. As he leapt into Balki's arms, he flung both legs out, squarely kicking each of them simultaneously in the jaw. Both Urpos and Lylo fell to the floor like dominoes, unconscious.
"Well, dat's gonna leave a nasty mark," Balki observed before scooping up the cat.
"Bianca, what are you doing? He's waking up!" Larry hissed, trying to pull her away as she leaned over Max's semi-unconscious body and pulled his phone from his pocket.
As the three of them ran out of the warehouse and out into the street, Larry noticed Bianca frantically trying to use Max's phone.
"I'm trying to send a message to R.O.B. so he can reboot and send the machine here so we can leave!" she panted before he could ask.
"Who cares about the machine?" Larry argued. "Let's just hail a taxi and lay low at a motel! We can have your machine sent to us there!"
"Guys, I lost–" Balki began, screeching to a halt, causing Larry and Bianca to run into him.
"Balki, don't you ever–EVER–do that again," Larry growled, spinning him around to face him.
"But, Cousin, I–" Balki stammered.
Suddenly, Bianca cried out and both Larry and Balki focused their attention to the busy street ahead.
"The cat!" Larry and Bianca cried as the feline weaved through the busy intersection, causing horns to honk and brakes to screech rapidly. The cat then darted back to Balki, but not before just bouncing off the hood of a yellow taxi, whose driver swerved and ended up squealing to a halt right next to them.
"TAXI!" Balki yelled anyway as Max's former cat returned happily in his arms.
"Well," Larry began, his face twisted in confusion as he opened the car door for Bianca, "that was oddly convenient."
Bianca's only reply was a loud and nervous sigh of both relief and exhaustion.