Willy Wonka had come up with many different creations throughout his life, but no invention was as revolutionary and practical at the same time than the Great Glass Elevator. Sure, unique candies were nice, but never before could an individual travel such long distances in such a short amount of time until the inception of this mode of transportation. Originally designed to get around his sprawling factory, Wonka knew that he would have to venture out into the world at some point in the future, therefore, he had a team of Oompa Loompas create a device that could take him wherever he wanted, and thus the idea of a flying elevator made of glass was born. Now, while the elevator was created with Wonka in mind, it was Charlie who used it outside the factory most of the time because once Wonka had his heir, he could delegate all the responsibilities to engage with the outside world to Charlie, thus allowing him to grow even more reclusive in his perfect world. Now, Charlie only used the Great Glass Elevator when he had to travel beyond the UK or the countries surrounding it, or whenever he was not in the mood for driving. Therefore, a trip to another hemisphere, like the one he and his fellow Golden Ticket winner were about to depart for, would require the usage of this magnificent contraption. Charlie had parked it on the corner of Stourton so that he could put on a grand reveal for Veruca; once they were on the roof of her penthouse, he summoned the glass elevator with his phone and within seconds the device soared up towards the heavens to face the two former Golden Ticket winners. With Charlie smiling and Veruca starting at it in awe, the Great Glass Elevator proceeded to hover from across the ledge of The Stourton Block and glided on down towards the roof before commencing its decent onto the floor so its passengers could board it.
And once Wonka's greatest mode of transportation stationed itself firmly on the rooftop above Veruca's penthouse and opened its door to accompany its passengers for the upcoming trip, with a quaint bell ring following, Charlie gestured towards the machine with both of his opened palms, and declared, "All aboard."
It was not long until the amazement in Veruca's expression morphed into fear and dread, she then turned to face the Good Boy, and asked in a super serious tone, "We're taking that?!"
"Sure, didn't you want one as a kid?" Charlie joked in response.
After giving the contraption another glance, Veruca was in no way moved by the joke, her large eyes bulged out and she exposed her incisor teeth to form an expression of both fear and disgust as she barked back, "Yeah, but not to cross the ocean in one!"
"Don't worry, I've done just that many times, it's perfectly safe," the heir assured her in hopes that she would calm down. As wacky as Wonka and his inventions were, Charlie had developed complete faith in the Great Glass Elevator as he had in the master chocolatier for both had never failed him, well, except for that one time Wonka got him and his family in a boat-load of trouble for insisting on using the contraption for a ridiculous homecoming entrance.
Unlike Charlie, Veruca was not one to cower when a situation upset her, instead, she grabbed it by the horns and faced it, or in this case, she stepped inside the glass box, and reminded Charlie, "Don't forget my luggage."
Charlie dragged all three of Veruca's suitcases into the Great Glass Elevator and placed them next to his one bag, creating just another physical manifestation of their differences, one traveled light while the other packed up every conceivable article of clothing, appliance or beauty product she most likely wouldn't even get a chance to use. Although, the one item she did not pack for this trip was one of her signature fur coats, because even though she wore one throughout the entire time she participated in the tour of the warm factory, Mexico in the summer would just be too hot for a stuffy fur coat. Her current outfit featured the most amount of skin Charlie had ever seen from the little brute, her look, which just missed the iconic pith helmet to be described as something along the lines of neo-colonial-tourist. Surely, the outlandish look must surely have pleased all of Veruca's ancestors who spent their lives oppressing colonized peoples in service to the British Empire. That was not to say Charlie's outfit was not the embodiment of a cliché, but at least the clothes he wore served a purpose other than to harken back to the colonial era. Regardless of the social implications their clothes brought up, at least they would be comfortable when they landed in Mexico following a few minutes of travel, something that seemed unbelievable to Veruca after Charlie told her how long their trip would take.
Once Charlie set the destination on his phone and tapped the button on the screen to take off, the capsule began to vibrate as it began to lift off the rooftop. At first, the view was amazing, the two former Golden Ticket winners could see all of Central London and as they got higher up, and they could eventually see the smokestacks of Wonka's factory in the distance, emphasizing the structure as the tallest thing within a radius of a couple miles. However, the view got less comfortable for the brat the higher they got; within a few minutes the entire London Metropolitan Area was within sight, and then all of Southern England, then all of England, then the entire United Kingdom, and then most of Western Europe was below their feet, with only a layer of glass below keeping them from falling to their deaths. In contrast to what the two were like inside the mystery house at the carnival the week before, Charlie managed to keep his cool this high up, mostly since he had taken trips like this so many times in the past that the view and sensation of being this high up no longer fazed him. That was in stark contrast to Veruca, the spoiled brat who never had qualms about voicing her discomfort in any given situation, began to take in deep breaths and visibly shake in her place. She had never been this high up in her life, let alone in a contraption made of glass that gave her a clear view of what was below her. The shock that something made out of glass could have taken her this high up overpowered her ability to overreact, like what happened when the squirrels pinned her down, so instead of screaming her lungs out, all she could do was vocalize a few groans.
The fact that they were now speeding over the Atlantic Ocean at hundreds of miles per hours only made the little brute panic even more, so much so that cold Veruca began to move closer to Charlie in a subconscious search for comfort. The Good Boy could relate to Veruca's pain, the first time he rode in the Great Glass Elevator, he froze up completely and did not move much until Wonka began to steer the device closer to his home, and even then, the elevator was barely above the corner of East London the factory was located in. With his guest terrified and looking for comfort, Charlie put his left arm out and brought Veruca in for a closer embrace, which at first, she approved of by clinging even tighter to Charlie. Unfortunately, the more Charlie was there to help her get over the fear that was overcoming her, the sooner her mind returned to its typical state in which she reasoned that the Good Boy who tried to kiss her was more than willing to take advantage of her weakened emotional state to fulfil some fantasy of getting close to her.
Immediately after, Veruca forcefully broke away from Charlie's embrace, pushing him away as she gave him one of her disgusted sneers to pretend, she did not like what had just happened. Despite the little brute distancing herself as to not become too dependent on the wimpy Good Boy for support, Charlie could still see her lips twitching in fear and he could sense her desire to rush back into his arms where she could at least feel a bit safe in this most unsafe of environments. But, alas, the little brute did no such thing because her pride did not let her give into her weakness. She also could not backtrack on her previous decision to push away from Charlie because such a reversal would give him the message that, if the stars aligned, he could have a chance at being something more intimate than just friends with her, which was not what she wanted, or at least that is what she kept telling herself was not what she wanted.
But, still struggling to keep her fear under wraps, the little brute looked up in order to keep herself from facing what lied below her, and asked Charlie, "How does this thing fly?"
That question brought back so many memories for Charlie, such as when his Grandma Josephine asked that same question to Wonka after Charlie agreed to move into the factory now that his family was welcomed to come as well. In fact, he thought he could answer the little brute's question in a fashion similar to that of his mentor, by pointing to the rockets on every side, and replying, "See those propulsion rockets? Mr. Wonka and the Oompa Loompas invented them, Skyhooks he calls them. They're state of the art and no one else on Earth has been able to create anything matching their power at such a small size so far. Overall, the device has had a few updates since you first saw it, I can now control it from my mobile."
Veruca was not that interested in the technical mumbo-jumbo, nor was she interested in the upgrades the elevator saw throughout its history, all she cared about was getting back on the ground in one piece. Apart from the Skyhooks failing or them blowing up, a question about the elevator and its function rattled around in Veruca's mind so much so that she again turned to the inventor's heir for clarification, and asked, "What happens if we go too high?"
It seemed that all of Veruca's concerns were ones that had been raised inside the elevator by members of the Bucket family when they too were first-time passengers, something which was to be expected considering the awesome nature of the device. And, with a sense of confidence in his tone, seeing as he was the brave one in a situation for once, Charlie simply responded, "Been there, done that. Don't worry, Mr. Wonka and I learned that lesson the hard way, we have all that figured out."
"When? When did you learn what happens when you go too high?" Veruca asked, growing even more worried that something bad was going to happen.
"That time with the aliens on the space hotel I told you about, it happened a couple of weeks after the tour of the factory," Charlie replied, reminding her of one of the stories about his life from after the tour he told her when they went out for dinner.
To this day, Charlie still wondered whether Veruca even believed him when he told her about the time he and Wonka fought vicious aliens after getting trapped in space, but, surely, a trip half away across the world in a flying glass elevator went a long way in proving that such an unusual encounter thing was possible. Something else he pondered about was what exactly would Veruca have done with her own flying glass elevator if her father would have gotten her one instead of giving her a spanking after leaving Wonka's factory for being such an ungrateful brat. Perhaps she would have gotten used to the heights after having ridden in it over and over, it took Charlie several trips before he grew completely comfortable in the device. But, knowing Veruca, she probably would have discarded the elevator in a fit of rage the moment after she realized it was not all sunshine and rainbows. It would have joined the rest of the cool toys she saw one time and threw a fit to get them, only to either grow bored or discontent with them and have them end up in storage or in a large waste bin waiting to be taken away to the landfill.