Chapter Seven

"Cousin? Bianca?" Balki asked softly as the machine disappeared from right in front of him. What had happened? One minute, he was letting Bianca get inside and the next minute, she and Larry had gone, leaving him behind with Max, Urpos and Lylo.

"Well, well, well," Max grinned from ear to ear, his face dripping wet after having to stick his head under the faucet to relieve the burning. "Look who got left behind."

"Ha!" Balki threw back his head and cried. "That what you think! What you don't know is you are in deep babasticki as soon as Cousin Larry and Bianca come back!"

"You really think they're going to come back for you?" Urpos scoffed.

"Well of course I do; don't be ridiculous."

"Okay, smart guy. When?"

"I have no idea," Balki grimaced.

"Grab him, Lylo," Max ordered.

Lylo quickly reached up and grabbed Balki around the throat with one hand, pinning him up against the wall by the apartment door. "What do you think now, smart guy?"

"Well," Balki replied, his voice strained. "You could use a breath mint and possibly some moisturizer for your dry skin, but other than that, you're good."

Max pulled out his gun and pointed it at Balki. "What about now?"

Lylo let him go and Balki placed both hands up in defeat. "I got nothing."

"You keep your mouth shut, understand? I don't want to hear a peep outta you until I say so. Got it?" Max spat, putting his arm around Balki while keeping the other hand with the gun tucked safely under his jacket.

Balki nodded in reply as he let the three men escort him out of the apartment building and hail a taxi. Where were Larry and Bianca? Surely they had a plan, didn't they?

"Where are we?" Larry asked, still feeling the Earth shake after the ride. "Balki, are you–?" Larry turned around mid-sentence to find an empty space where Balki should have been. Within seconds, panic set in. "Balki? Balki! Bianca; Balki's not here! He's not in the machine! What if he fell out when we forgot to close the door? There's no telling where he could be; he could be wandering through space and time! Bianca, what are we going to do?" he gasped, clutching her arms as if his life depended on it.

"First, we're going to let me go and breathe! We are in Beverly Hills," Bianca replied through gritted teeth as they exited the machine. "Then, we're going to quickly get another iPad and figure out how to destroy Max Fagen!"

Now it was Larry's turn to grit his teeth. "Question. How are we going to go back to get Balki and destroy Max Fagen when he already has your iPad?"

Bianca looked around to the darkened alleyway they had appeared in and saw a twenty-four hour hardware store across the street. "We need to go in there. Don't ask questions, just follow me."

"We're just going to leave your machine here?" Larry gaped.

"I said don't ask questions," Bianca replied icily as she ran to the crosswalk.

Larry shook his head in confusion and followed her. He was itching for his clipboard and liquid antacid, but mostly, he was worried about Balki. If he was still in the apartment with Max, there was no telling what could happen. Breathe, Appleton, breathe, he scolded himself harshly, trying to breathe from his nose but sounding more as if he were a dog sniffing out a trail. He just hoped that Bianca's plan would work and they could rescue Balki, get Bianca home and Max, Lylo and Urpos would be locked away for good.

Once inside the hardware store, Bianca quickly scanned each aisle, throwing several pipes, screws, nails and Plexiglas pieces into her buggy as if she did this all the time. The last thing she bought was a sledgehammer, which amused yet disturbed Larry.

"I know you said no more questions," Larry whispered as they walked to the check out line, "but just what exactly is your plan?"

"You'll see when I'm done," she answered before turning her attention to the sales clerk. "Excuse me, but do you guys have an all-night electronics store around close-by?"

The sales clerk popped her gum. "Yeah, there's one a couple of blocks from here. It's called Crazy Alex's Electronics–big neon sign–you can't miss it."

"Thank you," Bianca responded, turning to Larry. "Um, I need a favor."

"Sure."

"That'll be two hundred sixty nine dollars and seventy four cents," the sales clerk announced in a monotone.

"I know you have a fat wallet, right?" Bianca smiled. "I sorta left my purse at the house."

Larry's eyes widened. "Two hundred sixty nine dollars?!"

"And seventy four cents," the lady finished.

"Do it for Balki," Bianca winked.

"Huh. Women," Larry scoffed as he pulled out his wallet.

"I wouldn't complain, if I were you," the sales lady replied curtly, looking Larry up and down.

Larry grimaced. Bianca actually was incredibly beautiful. Too bad he already had a gorgeous girlfriend or Larry might have developed feelings for Bianca, instead. "She's my sister," he replied quickly, aware that the more he thought about Bianca, the more he felt his face turn red.

"Wait for me!" he yelled when he saw that Bianca was already walking in the direction of the electronics store. "Let me guess. I'll need to use my cash for our future purchases at the electronics place, too?"

"That would be helpful, yes," she drawled. "Then a clothing store so I can get the hell out of this dress."

"And exactly how is all of this money I'm spending helping Balki?"

"You'll see."

"No," Larry argued, stepping in front of Bianca to stop her. "I need to know now. If you have a plan, I need to know what it is. I don't like not having a plan. What's…the plan?"

"The plan is we're going to do what Max asked. We're going to build another time machine."

"What? You're just going to do what he asks? Bianca, that's insane! There's no telling what he could do with his own time machine! I mean, think this through!"

Suddenly, without any warning, Bianca kicked off her shoes and raced back toward the alley. Larry had to run as hard as he could to keep up with her until they reached her machine, right where they had left it.

"No, Larry; I'm not going to build Max another time machine!" she cried, grabbing the sledgehammer. "I'm going to build another one for me!"

Larry hollered as she raised the sledgehammer over her shoulder and swung it with all her might until her original masterpiece was in multiple pieces in the alleyway. Was she completely mental? How were they going to be able to rescue Balki now? "Oh my Lord! What are you doing?"

"Destroying this one so that Max and his goons can't use it anymore. Then I'm going to build another one from scratch. Then only I can control it!" she panted.

"Couldn't you have just loosened a wire and caused the computers to malfunction or something?"

"I could have, but why do something half-heartedly?" she smiled thinly. "Besides, that felt really, really good!"

Larry stood there staring at the pile of rubble that had once been their mode of transportation. Bianca Pierson was something else. He wasn't sure what, but she was definitely–

"Larry, come on!" Bianca cried.

Larry looked up, aware that she was already rounding the block. "Coming!"