Chapter Twelve

"Well, how does she look?" Bianca asked, wiping the sweat from her brow as she stood in their hotel room.

Larry stroked his chin thoughtfully while carefully observing her project. "'She' looks like a giant egg. Now let's just hope it's an egg that can travel through time," he told her after a minute.

"I need to test it first. I can send myself to the art gallery ten minutes into the future. It needs to crawl before it can walk."

"Great. Let's hurry before–"

Bianca placed her hand up to stop him. "No. I need to go by myself. You stay here with Meego, also known as Cupydon. I'm only ninety percent sure that this works and you need to be here in case something goes wrong. If I'm not back in twenty minutes, call R.O.B. and he'll know what to do. I sent him the machine codes via the computer inside. He can control it now if need be."

Larry rocked back and forth on his heels. "Okay. Just please promise me you'll be careful. Maybe you should take Meego, just in case."

"No. If Urpos finds out you're here alone, he could come after you. I'll be fine," Bianca protested, grabbing his hands and squeezing them gently before stepping into the machine.

"Please, please be careful," Larry begged as she punched the destination in the computer and closed the door.

Bianca crossed her fingers, pressed the power button and held her breath. At least she didn't tell him about the chance that the machine could self-destruct while trying to travel through time. That would have been tough to explain….

When Bianca opened her eyes again, she knew she couldn't be dead. The machine was still in one piece and when she turned to her left, she saw the best thing ever: the art gallery! It worked! Her beloved machine's sequel was a success. Throwing open the door with exuberant joy, she skipped out of the machine and towards the entrance to the gallery.

"Serge?" she called out, but he was nowhere to be found behind his post.

"Looking for someone?" a voice not belonging to Serge asked before grabbing her from behind.

"Urpos!" she cried out, struggling to free herself. "Serge, HELP!" she screamed, but he clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Bad move, Bianca. Looks like I'm gonna have to kill you and the receptionist now."

Bianca's mind raced. Surely Urpos didn't really plan to murder Serge! Either way, she had to do something and fast. Raising her foot just barely off the ground, she managed to stomp as hard as she could on Urpos' toes. Howling, he let her go and stumbled around, grabbing his wounded foot.

Suddenly, Bianca saw Serge come around the corner and Bianca quickly grabbed the head of a nearby statue. "Urpos, catch!" Bianca hissed before tossing the statue at him.

Urpos let go of his injury and caught the marble cranium just as Bianca ran towards Serge, who was heading for the back door. "Serge! That man is trying to steal that statue head!" she yelled as she ran past him and out the door, Urpos not too far behind.

Serge let out a dramatic gasp and Bianca thought she heard him say something about Urpos being a pheasant fiend before literally running and jumping on Urpos' back, tackling him to the ground. As Urpos fell, the statue head came tumbling out of his hands as if in slow motion.

Quickly, Bianca dove to the ground, arms stretched wide, barely catching it before the piece of valuable art shattered on the parking lot.

Serge clutched his heart with one hand while expertly pinning Urpos down with his other hand and his knees. Urpos let out a cry of pain as the foreigner's kneecaps dug into his back.

"Thank you for saving this particular piece from the injustice about to occur," Serge told her.

"I'll just put this back while you, uh, hold him there," Bianca replied nervously.

When she came back outside, she noticed Serge not only had Urpos still pinned down, but he was staring at her machine with wonder and confusion. "I see you look at this piece," she giggled. "It's a very important piece. It's how I get around. See you later, Serge! Bye, Urpos!"

Larry was just about to pick up the phone and dial the front desk for the number to the art gallery when he felt something at his feet. Looking down, he saw it was Meego, or the alien formerly known as Cupydon. "What do you want, Meego? Can't you see I'm trying to see if Bianca's alright?"

Within seconds, Meego morphed back into his human form and grabbed the phone from Larry. "She has only been gone for five minutes, Larry!"

Larry ran his hands through his hair and paced madly. "You don't understand, Meego! We don't have time to waste! Balki has been Max's prisoner far too long and I just can't sit on my hands anymore. Bianca needs to come back now so we can rescue Balki! I can't lose him, Meego! If anything happens to him–"

"Nothing is going to happen to him, because the machine works and now we can go rescue Balki," Bianca's voice confirmed from behind, causing Larry to jump.

"Bianca!" Larry ran, hugging her tightly. "Thank God you're alright!"

"Thanks to Serge. Urpos found me at the art gallery, but I managed to get away and Serge took care of the rest. I may not be able to understand him well, but he's smart enough to know how to handle himself. Now, what are we waiting for? Let's go pay Max a visit and rescue our friend and cousin!"

"But how will we know where Balki is? Surely he's not still in our apartment!" Larry cried, the realization making his eyes bulge.

"I've got a confession to make," Bianca answered guiltily. "Remember when we were at the roach motel? The one Meego blasted us to? Well, while you guys weren't looking, I sort of placed tracking devices in your shoes. You both were wearing loafers, so I just slipped the tracking chip where you usually place pennies for luck. If Balki still has his, it will give us his exact location on the computer!"

Instinctively, Larry lifted his foot and peeled back the saddle far enough to see a small silver and black square chip. "Under any other circumstances, I'd say this was beyond intrusive of our privacy, but right now, it's pure unadulterated genius!"

"Well, then you're in luck because I even have a plan," she grinned, turning to Meego. "Meego, would you mind being Cupydon one more time?"

"Well, okay; just know that later, I'm gonna be coughing up one serious hairball!"

Bianca giggled. "You won't if you're in danger of being hairless."

Meego laughed but then turned serious. "Wait; what?"

Larry laughed as well, just excited to finally reunite with his cousin and best friend. Things were looking up!