Lilo and Stitch: The Summer of the Spies

[Nace Bilby]

Prologue: All Aboard​

Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo and Stitch, G.I. Joe, or Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego. The characters of Lindsay Moretti and Henry Tresckow are my own creation.

Author's Note: I've used the ACME Detective Agency as a substitute for Interpol for this particular universe.

Summary: In a world where Cobra is a recognized and legitimate state a young intelligence officer is reassigned to the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i to a project involving visitors from way out of town.

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CIA Headquarters
June 5, 2003, 0840
Langley, VA
United States

Lindsay Moretti walked through the halls of the Directorate of Operations, towards the conference room for her newest assignment. After some years working in Skojpe, Macedonia and the other former Yugoslav republics she had been recalled to Washington, D.C. for some form of special assignment.

Or a euphemism for something unpleasant like reassigning me to some office where I won't ever see the light of day. Lindsay thought to herself.

She could hear the heels she wore clicking on the tile floor as she headed towards the of course sterile looking conference room where she could see six manila envelopes at one seat, and four others at another seat.

There was a blonde haired, blue eyed case officer she knew as Philip M. Provost, but everyone called him Chuckles, after his military codename. He had worked as a counterintelligence agent, attached to a secret military unit known as G.I. Joe, the ones who had fought against Cobra in the 1980s and 1990s, most recently in its South Africa endeavors in the early nineties.

It never ceased to amuse her how the man always seemed to wear the loudest and most garish of Hawaiian shirts no matter where he was.

"Good morning, Lindsay." Chuckles said, with an easy grin and a faint Southern twang.

"What's going on?" Lindsay asked, "And please don't try patronizing me. There has to have been a reason I was pulled out of the Balkans."

"They always said you were a sharp one." Chuckles replied, "And that's why you were reassigned."

"To where exactly?" Lindsay asked, her own blue-gray eyes meeting Chuckles' clear blue ones.

"You're still going to be with the Directorate of Operations, but you're heading to the Office of Interagency Cooperation." Chuckles said.

"And what, exactly, did I do to warrant being sent to work with other agencies?" Lindsay replied, "I know my number of agents isn't as high as some of the others."

"This isn't a question about agents, or sources, or in fact what you got up to in the Balkans." Chuckles said, "This is about a unique assignment."

"Ok, what is the unique assignment?" Lindsay replied, eyes narrowing and fingers brushing a stray strand of her dark brown hair from her face.

"Well, you are about to be read in." Chuckles said, "We're waiting for Mr. Adler."

Rene Adler, head of the Office of Interagency Cooperation was a six foot tall, lean bodied fellow in his late fifties, his close set blue eyes deeply set into his head, on opposite sides of a long, pointed nose. He wore a blue and white shirt, the top button unbuttoned with no tie, blue jeans and brown suede shoes and a dark blue blazer.

"Mr. Provost, Ms. Moretti, good morning. Please, have a seat." Adler said, his voice having its usual gravelly growl to it.

Lindsay took a seat to the right of Adler and Chuckles one to the left at the head of the table. Adler donned a pair of reading glasses and seemed to be looking through the sheaf of papers he extracted from a black leather briefcase he had been carrying into the room.

A glance towards Adler, actually more towards the flat screen television behind him, revealed the document he was looking at was her own dossier.

"In case you were curious, Ms. Moretti." Adler said, "I was looking over your file. It seems you had a fair bit of success in the Balkans and that you requested to be assigned to Eastern Europe right out of the Farm."

"That's right." Lindsay replied, wondering where this was headed.

"You did reasonably well as a CST." Adler replied, adjusting his reading glasses a bit, referring to Lindsay's training five years earlier as a Clandestine Service Trainee, "And I suppose you're wondering why you're here."

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes." Lindsay replied.

"Your work in the Balkans and Iraq did recruit quality agents, and your focus on quality of agents and information versus quantity brought you to my attention." Adler replied, referring to Macedonian, Bosnian, Serb, and other former Yugoslav as well as a couple of Iraqi nationals she had recruited for various tasks over her years there.

"I'll get right to the point." Adler replied, "Last summer various news sources reported seeing a meteorite strike the island of Kaua'i, in the Hawaiian Islands."

Lindsay glanced down at the files and papers at her particular seat, reading over half a dozen newspaper clippings about a meteorite that had impacted somewhere on Kaua'i.

"It wasn't a meteorite." Adler said, "We had confirmed that it was a spacecraft of extraterrestrial origins."

"What?" Lindsay asked, letting the statement soak in. If this was some office prank, then this was something elaborate. But then again Adler wasn't exactly known for having anything approximating a sense of humor.

"We had one of our officers, Cobra Bubbles, on Kaua'i in less than twenty-four hours due to past experience in these sort of matters." Adler replied.

Lindsay reached over for the dossier labeled Cobra Bubbles, one of the six files she had in front of her. She saw the color photograph of a powerfully built African American man. Masters degree in Social Work. Thirty years of service. To include one incident in 1973 at Roswell, New Mexico and an accolade for brokering the first ever interstellar treaty. Telling an alien leader that Earth was a preserve for an endangered species, brilliant. But couldn't he have picked something else other than the mosquito?

"So what happened after we discovered the spacecraft?" Lindsay replied, slowly wrapping her mind about extraterrestrials existing for one, and that evidently they had made landfall at least twice, to include one in the last year.

"Well its occupant was struck by a car and taken to an animal shelter in the mistaken belief that he was a dog." Adler continued.

"So we found a corpse and it was taken to the animal shelter?" Lindsay asked.

"Not quite. The spacecraft pilot survived the impact and because the locals mistook him for a dog he was taken to the local SPCA. Look into the file labeled Stitch for more information." Adler replied.

Lindsay picked up the manila envelope as directed and read through the file. She saw a picture of a blue, vaguely koala-like alien standing about 3 feet tall with spikes on his back, and a second set of arms. Then there was a second picture where evidently Stitch had retracted said spikes and one of his two sets of arms into his body, now that sort of made him appear vaguely canine when he was on all fours.

She read the information in the file. Stitch, also known as Experiment 626 was the product of the machinations of one Dr. Jumba Jookiba, a self proclaimed "evil genius". Evidently both he and his creator were on trial by the United Galactic Federation whereupon Stitch was sentenced to life imprisonment on a desert asteroid. The events of Stitch's escape led to the crash on Kaua'i, Hawaii.

"So effectively Experiment 626 crashed on Kaua'i, was mistaken for a dog, and was adopted by the Pelekais." Lindsay surmised, noticing two files one on a Nani Pelekai and a Lilo Pelekai.

"Correct. Cobra Bubbles' report contains the events in detail, but in summary Stitch was pursued by his paroled former creator and an assigned a handler, Agent Wendy Pleakley, listed as an expert on planet Earth." Adler replied, "Anyway, their lack of success did lead to the United Galactic Federation sending Captain Gantu to attempt an arrest. This failed and ultimately Stitch was exiled to Earth, along with Dr. Jookiba and Agent Pleakley."

"So what's my role in all of this, a year later?" Lindsay asked.

"I was getting there." Adler said, "Given the extraterrestrial nature of the three men and thus their access to advanced technology I need you and Mr. Provost there to work with Mr. Bubbles to thwart any efforts on the part of Cobra to steal any technology from the Pelekai household. I am sure you're aware that Cobra Island opened its own consulate on Honolulu on the neighboring island of Oahu, so we can only surmise they have some knowledge about the three."

"Additionally the ACME Detective Agency has sent one of its own agents to assist Mr. Bubbles. The dossier for Mr. Henry Tresckow should give you the information you need." Adler said.

"ACME?" asked Chuckles.

"The Academy for Combat Mission Enhancement was founded in 1921 after World War I and evolved to tackle international crime." Adler replied.

Lindsay replied, "So our main mission is counterintelligence."

"Officially, that's all Mr. Bubbles or Mr. Tresckow needs to know. Additionally I want you two working to see if you can't recruit any agents out of Cobra Island's consulate. We need to learn what their intentions are." Adler said.

"When do we leave?" Lindsay replied.

"Mr. Provost is leaving tonight. Your flight out of Dulles is tomorrow morning at 6 A.M." Adler replied, "Any questions? No? Good."

And so, after an hour and a half long meeting Lindsay went back to her hotel room, after all she had moved out of her old place and put her belongings in storage when she went on assignment to the Balkans and had gotten deployed to Iraq so fast she didn't have time to scope out a new lease.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Seattle Tacoma International Airport
June 6, 2003, 2124.
Seattle, WA
United States

"Sorry about that." the man with the nearly British accent remarked as he accidentally bumped into Lindsay as the two of them walked into the terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

"It's alright." Lindsay replied. She turned to see a man she had never met before but knew a lot about thanks to the dossier on him she had in her backpack.

Henry Tresckow stood 5'8", with jet black hair sort of combed forward with no hairgel, dark brown eyes and a fairly deep suntan. He wore blue jeans, slip on brown suede leather shoes, a forest green collared shirt and a black blazer. She noted the 'winged dagger' lapel pin and knew that it was a trademark of the Special Air Service. From the dossier she knew that he was a former officer with the Rhodesian Special Air Service and later served with the South African Special Forces Brigade after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1999. From that same dossier she knew he was thirty years old, four years younger than her own thirty-four years.

Her blue-green eyes locked onto Tresckow's brown eyes, as it seemed that he was sizing her up. Not surprising. Lindsay thought. Someone who served in the Rhodesian SAS and South African Special Forces over thirteen years could definitely spot an intelligence officer.

"That's bad tradecraft you know." Lindsay quipped, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Tresckow's gaze flickered down to the winged dagger badge on his lapel and a small, ironic smile creased onto his features, "Well, miss, it's not like too many blokes outside of Rhodesia would recognize this."

"Let's not forget the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand have similar units." Lindsay replied, and met the Rhodesian's gaze again replying, "And we say Zimbabwe now."

"Old habits do die hard." Tresckow said before adding, "And I should like to know your name."

"Lindsay Moretti." she replied, holding out her hand.

She knew for this assignment she wasn't travelling under an assumed name, that would be when she would work sources and agents with any Cobra Island types she would encounter in Hawaii.

The Rhodesian reached over and shook her hand, and with a smile introduced himself, "Henry Tresckow. Do you have any baggage to pick up?"

"No, they're transferring it to my final destination. You?" Lindsay asked. Of course she knew Tresckow's final destination matched her own, first to Honolulu International Airport and then onto Lihue International Airport on Kaua'i.

"Right, would you like to have a drink then?" Henry offered.

I'm supposed to work with the man, so why not. Lindsay said, "Sure, do you know any good places?"

"According to the airport guide there's one called the Seattle Tap Room in this concourse. I'm sure you'd want a pint after a long flight." Henry replied.

Lindsay countered, "Well, mister, what makes you think that I didn't already toss back a few on the flight over here?"

"My obvious indicators are that your complexion doesn't appear to be reddening and you don't smell of alcohol." Henry replied.

"Maybe I'm just a heavier weight drinker and I freshened up before I left the plane." Lindsay countered gamely.

"But how 'freshened up' can one really get on an aircraft lavatory of any sort." Henry replied as he began to walk in the direction of the bar.

"This is true." Lindsay replied.

Presently they arrived at the bar and after getting small two person table with high chairs they sat down, having ordered their drinks.

"I do say this Alaskan Ale sounds rather promising. Evocative of the 'frontier spirit' of the frozen north." Henry quipped and took a drink of his beer.

"Let me guess, liberal arts degree?" Lindsay asked as she took a pull of her own drink.

"How did you guess?" Henry replied.

"Your trend towards pontificating, most recently on the 'frontier spirit' of a pint of ale." Lindsay replied.

"Good. And I would suppose you are also a liberal arts degree, perhaps English or History. Possibly both. And likely from an Ivy League school." Henry countered.

"And what led you to those conclusions, Mr. Tresckow?" Lindsay replied.

"Well, first off your manner of speaking English." Henry replied, "Marks of someone educated and quite comfortable with reading, writing, and speaking. And your use of the odd, what's the Yank expression, five dollar word lends further credence. In this case the term 'pontificate' springs readily to mind."

Henry Tresckow regarded the woman sitting across the table from him. She stood 5'7" to his 5'8" and was somewhere in the neighborhood of his age of 30 years. By his estimate, and in all likelihood the estimate of practically every other male eye in the room, she was definitely beautiful. Her dark brown hair was pulled behind her head in a simple, if slightly messy bun which served to bring those blue-green eyes of hers out. Her slim figure had a certain athleticism about it, by the shape of her thighs he figured she was some form of endurance athlete or perhaps a climber or hiker. She also had a tastefully conservative way of dressing, wearing a light green blouse, blue jeans and black flat bottomed shoes, her black jacket set on the chair behind her.

"So you're a runner or hiker then?" Henry observed.

"What makes you say that?" Lindsay replied.

"Your slim build has an athleticism to it." Henry observed, "I have you pegged as a cyclist or distance runner."

"Yes and no." Lindsay replied, "I swim too. I've done a couple of sprint triathlons, but I'm more of a hiker and rock climber."

Lindsay had, of course, made her own assessments on Henry. He too had a certain athleticism about his lean build, but there was also a good deal more musculature than she would figure on a hiker or climber. He had the lean build of an infantry soldier, for sure, but also some of the bulk that showed he had at least some familiarity with a weight room.

"What about you?" Lindsay asked, "Do you play any sports?"

"A bit of rugby on occasion. And since I moved to the coast in South Africa I took to surfing." Henry replied, then asked, "So what is your final destination?"

"Hawaii. And you?" Lindsay asked.

"Hawaii as well." Henry replied, finishing his own drink. Their server came back and Lindsay reached into her purse for her wallet only for Henry to hold up a hand.

"I'll get the check." Henry said.

"This isn't a date." Lindsay protested.

"That may be, but I am, dear lady, a gentleman first and foremost." Henry replied.

Lindsay put the purse down and let Henry hand his credit card over to the server, "Thanks for the drink."

"Not a problem." Henry replied.

Definitely officer class, like his file indicates. Lindsay thought before she stood up after their check cleared.

"When's your flight?" Lindsay asked.

"The 1:55 P.M. flight." Henry replied, "Yours?"

"Same." Lindsay said in reply, "So are you splurging for a hotel?"

"Doesn't seem quite worth it, and after all there are plenty of chairs hereabout." Henry replied, "If you're not adverse to sleeping in the terminal that is."

Lindsay quipped, "This isn't the first airport I've ever slept in."

"I've slept in worse places over the years. Long story, or rather series of stories." Henry replied. From Lindsay's comment he had figured she was definitely an experienced budget traveler, the sort who knew hostels as well as she knew her own home.

From your file, that's something I know to be true. Lindsay thought to herself as the two of them stood beside one another, looking at the various information monitors before determining the concourse for their particular flight.

She saw Henry suppress a yawn, putting a hand in front of his mouth, "Excuse me."

"It's ok." Lindsay said, "Long flight?"

"Quite." Henry replied, "Flew from Cape Town to Atlanta, then that's when I got onto the flight we shared here."

"I'm not complaining about my flights at all." Lindsay commented as they found their particular terminal.

She lay across one long set of chairs, setting her folded jacket atop her bag and purse like a pillow. She noticed the Rhodesian stretching his legs to his backpack, leaning against the back of his seat and the wall.

The better to react if suddenly awakened. Henry thought to himself. It was a force of longstanding habit, although the last times he slept like that he had his AK-47 rifle cradled across his lap and wore the camouflage pattern of first the Rhodesian and later South African militaries.

That can't be too comfortable a way to sleep. But then again that's how he probably saw the sun set on the Battle of the Line. Lindsay thought, observing her new travel companion's method of selecting a place where his back was to the wall and how he was scanning the room for, but for what she didn't know. If she had any doubt Tresckow was a veteran soldier they would have been erased now.

"Good night." He muttered, before shutting his eyes.

"Night." she replied before shutting her own eyes. A combination of drink, time zone changes, and long flights meant sleep came rather rapidly for her.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Pelekai Residence
June 6, 2003,1300
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

BOOM!

Just half an hour after lunch the island tranquility (or what passed for it anyhow since Stitch, Jookiba, and Pleakley had moved in) was shattered by a loud boom from downstairs, jerking seven year old Lilo Pelekai from her bed where her sister Nani insisted she go since she had come down with the flu earlier.

The loud boom was followed by Dr. Jumba Jookiba's laughter, "Ha ha ha! Success! Success!"

Nani ran outside to the back yard to find Jumba standing over a large scorch mark in the ground.

Irritated, Nani shouted, "Ok Jumba, which one of your experiments failed this time!?"

"Not failed. Worked! Eureka! I am a genius." Jumba shouted.

"Ok, which one of your experiments worked this time, using the term loosely?" Nani asked.

"Why the walking cherry bomb of course." Jumba replied, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Ok, now the sixty-four dollar question: why on Earth or any other planet would you invent a walking cherry bomb?" Nani asked.

"Eh, I just dreamed of the idea." Jumba replied.

"Do you think you could find somewhere else to test it? Like, I don't know, the bottom of the ocean?" Nani snapped.

"Ah...now I would have to think of a waterproof fuse and..." Jumba said.

HONK! Nani pulled an air horn from her pocket and said, "Jumba no! No more testing explosives in the backyard...that might mean."

"What was that?" the voice of Cobra Bubbles could be heard from around the side of the house.

"Evidently Dr. Jookiba chose now of all times to create a walking cherry bomb." Nani remarked.

Cobra Bubbles regarded the situation with not even a smidgen of emotion. Yes, that was typical Jumba alright, experimenting on something. "Now, Dr. Jookiba, why would you invent a cherry bomb with legs..."

"Arms and legs, actually." Jookiba replied, "They're self lighting cherry bombs and..."

"Ok, fair enough, but why would you want to invent a walking explosive device?" Cobra asked.

"I dreamed of it last night and I just had to create it." Jumba replied, "And which reminds me has anyone seen my..."

"GAH!" Chuckles could be heard screaming from the front of the house.

Nani, Jookiba, and Cobra all ran around to the front of the house. From underneath the house had crawled a large mechanical tarantula about the size of two of Stitch lying end to end on the floor.

From a loudspeaker built into RoboTarantula the song Itsy Bitsy Spider began to play, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out..."

"What in tarnation is that thing?" Chuckles asked.

"Why it appears to be a robotic version the species tarantula gargantua." Cobra Bubbles deadpanned.

"I can see that!?" Chuckles said.

Simultaneously Cobra Bubbles and Nani Pelekai turned on Jumba Jookiba, "Did you invent this thing!?"

"Uhm...yes." Jumba asked, "And there it is. I've been looking for it all day."

"Ok, here's my other sixty-four dollar question." Nani asked, "Why would you invent a robotic model of a large hairy spider that plays a nursery rhyme that gets stuck in your head?"

"You know, I can't figure that out myself." Jumba said, "You see I went to bed last night and when I woke up I had built it."

"So you invent things in your sleep and don't even know what they do?" Nani asked.

"I guess I do now." Jumba said, "This is the first time this has ever happened..."

"Ok, before we were distracted by Dr. Jookiba's devices, what brings you here?" Nani asked, hoping it wasn't the explosion.

As if reading her mind, Cobra began, "No, nothing to do with the explosion, after all you do have the cover story of the mad scientist uncle who lives with you now with Dr. Jookiba. This is to do with some new help I'm going to have here. One of whom you've just been somewhat informally introduced to. This is Philip Provost, he's from my agency. The other two are scheduled to arrive today and I'm going to go with Pleakley to pick them up at the airport. Their names are Henry Tresckow and Lindsay Moretti."

Chuckles reached out his hand to greet the others, his Southern accent twanging through his voice, "Pleased to meet y'all. You can call me Chuckles. It's my old nickname."

"Hi Chuckles." Nani said, "Sorry to rush, but I've got to get back to work, I was only here to check on my sister Lilo who's home sick today."

The spider continued to parade around the lawn, the speaker now reciting the Itsy Bitsy Spider in Mandarin Chinese.

"Will somebody turn this thing off? It's kinda distractin'." Chuckles remarked.

"You know, I don't think I designed an off switch into it." Dr. Jookiba remarked.

"I've got to get back to work..." Nani replied.

"Uhm, before you go, do I get my 128 dollars for answering two sixty-four dollar questions?" Jookiba asked.

"Argh..." Nani remarked as she headed back to work.

"I guess that means no?" Jookiba said.

RoboTarantula suddenly began to start a completely different beat. From its internal speaker it began to sputter, "Wocka. Wocka. Wocka."

And it began walking in ever smaller circles around Chuckles. "H-hey! What on Earth..."

"Eh-heh-heh..." Jumba said, "I don't think I remember that being in my dreams."

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka." the spider said and promptly jabbed Chuckles in the butt with its fangs that had tasers built into them. The spider then dragged Chuckles up the nearest tree and wrapped him in webbing from chin to toe.

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka." RoboTarantula said.

Lilo and Stitch came running out of the front door, and on seeing Cobra Bubbles she beamed and said, "Hi Cobra...what's that?"

She was pointing at RoboTarantula on the tree limb intoning 'Wocka. Wocka. Wocka.' repeatedly.

"That's RoboTarantula, apparently it likes to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider in multiple languages and randomly sting people and tie them to trees. And evidently Dr. Jookiba created it." Cobra remarked.

"What does it do?" Lilo asked.

"He doesn't know, apparently he invented this thing in his sleep." Cobra replied.

"Huh..." Stitch said as he eyed the thing.

Then RoboTarantula jumped down from the trees and walked over to Stitch before it promptly fell over on it's back and curled its legs inward like a dead spider.

"Since when do you invent things in your sleep?" Lilo asked.

"Evidently today...Come on Dr. Jookiba, give me a hand in getting Chuckles down from the tree." Cobra Bubbles said and then he and Dr. Jookiba climbed the tree to get the now wakening Chuckles down.

"I'm terribly sorry about my invention. I didn't know it would do that." Jookiba said.

"It's ok. I'll just remember to wear body armor next time I visit this house." Chuckles quipped.

---

To Be Continued…

 

[Nace Bilby]

Chapter One: To the Station​

Disclaimer: Same as before...

---

Somewhere over the Pacific
June 7, 2003,1450
Enroute to Honolulu, HI
United States

By some odd coincidence Lindsay Moretti would find herself seated beside Henry Tresckow. Henry had the window seat and she had the aisle seat, and with all the attendant hazards of an aisle seat, such as beverage carts.

"Ouch." Lindsay said as for the second time in this flight a beverage cart banged into her left arm.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked as he looked up from the Nook e-reader he was holding in his hands.

"I'm fine." Lindsay replied, rubbing her elbow, before turning back to her own book. He noticed she was quite tucked into A Room With A View by E.M. Forester, and so he tucked into his own reading.

It was another half hour later the attendant hazard of beverage cart struck once more. "Ow."

"I do think we should switch seats." Henry replied, "If I hear you go like that again I'm likely to think the lady pushing the cart broke your arm."

"That really isn't necessary." Lindsay replied.

"Look, if you think this is some bloody ploy to get in your pants I assure you, it isn't." Henry replied.

"Oh, so if trying to sleep with me isn't why you're being such a nice guy, what are your motives, exactly?" Lindsay replied.

"Do I have to go into detail about such minutiae? After all, couldn't it be in the distinct realm of possibility that I am in fact a gentleman and a nice sort of bloke to boot." Henry countered.

"Based on what I've seen you are a gentleman, but I also noticed you didn't answer my question." Lindsay replied.

"Well, it is a complex answer." Henry replied as he closed his Nook, noting that Lindsay put a bookmark into her book, "And since we're basically a captive audience of each other for the duration of this flight, I'm assuming you'd like the complex answer."

"Try me." Lindsay said.

"Well, first off, I was raised to be a gentleman by my father. Anytime I failed to open a door for a lady I'd get a whack in the back of the head with the flat of a hand." Henry replied, "And second, and an obviously less altruistic reason, I'd rather not have you yelping in pain whenever the wanker with the beverage cart comes past, tends to disturb both of our reading."

"Point taken." Lindsay said, and undid her seatbelt, standing up and stepping into the aisle, taking a step back.

Henry scooped up his e-reader and stepped into the aisle and with a flourish of the hand and a smile said, "Ladies first."

"Thank you." Lindsay said, before taking the window seat and after taking a glance out at the featureless blue waters of the Pacific Ocean before going back into her book.

Henry took his own seat, reading from his own e-Reader. Presently he had to get up to use the restroom. As he did so the flight attendant that had been pushing the cart and had accidentally hit Lindsay's arm three times walked over.

"Oh I'm so sorry about that." she said as she knelt beside the seat.

"It's ok. No harm was done." Lindsay said with a small smile, "No harm was done."

"I don't mean to be nosy," the flight attendant, whose nametag read Cathy, asked, "But that was really sweet of your husband to switch seats. How long have you guys been married?"

"Oh, we're not married." Lindsay replied.

Cathy's face took a somewhat awkward expression, "Engaged? Dating? Casual..."

"We're not involved at all." Lindsay replied, "We literally just met yesterday, we're going to be working together."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Cathy said, "I could have sworn you two were married by the way you two were just bantering back and forth."

Cathy stood up and said, "Well, have a good flight."

"Thanks." Lindsay replied, and then breathed to herself, "Awkward."

Henry returned from the lavatory just then and took his seat, "What was that all about?"

"Evidently the flight attendant who liked hitting me in the arm with the baggage cart seems to think we're married." Lindsay replied.

"Huh, what gave her that idea?" Henry asked.

"To her we sound like a married couple when we talk." Lindsay replied. Not to mention the fact that you let me switch seats with you, in fact insisting on the matter. That was awfully kind.

"Well I could go through how she arrived at that conclusion." Henry offered.

"Please don't." Lindsay replied.

"Right." Henry replied, "However Lindsay Tresckow has a nice ring to it."

With a wry smile Lindsay replied, "I think hyphenation is the way to go, personally."

"Although I do think Lindsay Tresckow-Moretti has a nice ring to it."

Lindsay countered, "Henry Moretti-Tresckow sounds even better."

"Touché." Henry replied, before going back to his own book. Presently he yawned and shut his eyes.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Suspected ZANLA Camp
29 October 1991, 0550
Near Chioco, Mozambique

“Contact Front! Contact Front!” Henry shouted as a ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army) insurgent stood up, his own AK at the ready as the sound of the Rhodesian fighter-bomber flying overhead had awakened him. The insurgent didn’t even get a chance to level his weapon as Henry reflexively emptied his magazine into him, before unloading the empty magazine, tucking down his shirt and reloading another one.

More shooting as the surprised ZANLA men reacted to the sudden SAS raid on their encampment that had been preceded by the fighter-bomber overhead dropping two bombs into the small compound.

Almost as soon as it had happened the attack had concluded. Surprise had quickly overtaken the ZANLA, who hadn’t expected to encounter any Rhodesian forces within Mozambique’s safety.

The unit moved amongst the shattered remains of the camp, looking for documents, communications equipment, or anything else of intelligence value. Henry stepped over the corpse of the man he had killed earlier in the battle.

Man? No, a bloody boy just like him, not even out his teens probably younger than his own nineteen years. The youth’s eyes were still wide and open, face frozen in that same surprise he had when he had raised his own rifle. Bullet holes riddled the lad’s torso and neck, with even two rounds having shattered the jaw. He’d just killed someone possibly younger than he. He noticed the rubber band around the lad’s arm, and the syringe full of God knows what he had shot into his veins. Soberly realizing that Pistol Pete had been right, had he not given the insurgent damn near the entire magazine the hopped up ZANLA bloke might have offed him.

Best not think of it now…

--

“God help me, I was only nineteen.” - from the Redgum song I Was Only 19.

--

Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean
7 June 2003, 1600
Enroute to Honolulu, HI
United States

Henry sat up to a start, remembering that eleven year old memory, feeling a tap on the shoulder.

“Jumpy much?” Lindsay said, “We’ve got a form to fill out from customs for Hawaii.”

“Thanks.” Henry said, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and reaching into his shirt pocket for a pen, one of two he kept there.

“Why someone, if they were hypothetically carrying anything illegal, would admit something on these things I don’t know.” Lindsay commented.

“Well gives the bureaucrats something to do.” Henry quipped, “Or might catch the odd wanker every now and again. There are honest to God idiots out there.”

“That’s also true.” Lindsay said with a smile as she filled out her own form. She had noticed that Henry had woken up suddenly and mentally filed that jumpy reaction away.

From the file the Agency had given her on Tresckow she knew he had survived the Battle of the Line which was also known as South Africa’s Thermopylae and before that he had fought in Rhodesia’s long counterinsurgency against the ZIRPA, ZANLA and ZANU organizations as well as a resistance fighter against Cobra when it decided to act by invading Rhodesia.

She noticed the South African passport he was referring to for his passport number and mulled to herself. I can’t imagine what its like to fight for a country, have it invaded, and then some treaty says your nation no longer exists. The Treaty of London declared that Rhodesia was now Zimbabwe which means a lot of Rhodesians live in South Africa.

Henry did notice the glance his way regarding his passport. From his impressions since the previous evening’s meeting he was damned certain that Lindsay was one of the three CIA blokes ACME Headquarters at San Francisco had briefed him he would be working with. She was friendly, but there was something guarded about her, and the fact that she had commented on his poor tradecraft over the SAS lapel pin definitely were giveaways to him that she was one of the three CIA officers he would be working alongside for the duration of this assignment.

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully, both of them tucked in their respective reads, with Lindsay lightly napping near the end of the flight. Presently it was time to land in Honolulu. Henry gently nudged her and found himself yet again looking into those blue-green eyes of hers as she stirred awake.

“Landing soon. Best return the seat upright and all.” Henry said.

“Just getting comfortable too.” Lindsay ruefully replied.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Lihue International Airport
June 7, 2003, 1930
Lihue, HI
United States

Wendy Pleakley and Cobra Bubbles stood at the baggage claim with Pleakley holding a piece of cardboard with the words: Lindsay and Henry Tresckow.

“I think you might want to change that sign, Pleakley.” Cobra remarked.

“Why, aren’t their names Lindsay and Henry?” Pleakley replied.

“They are.” Cobra said, “But the fact that you put Lindsay and Henry Tresckow on the sign says that their married when they’re not.”

“Oh...heh heh. My mistake.” Pleakley said, “Anyone can make that. What was Lindsay’s last name again?”

“Moretti.” Cobra said, “Spell that M-O-R-E-T-T-I.”

“Oh, ok, thanks.” Pleakley said and turned the sign around and started writing, saying, “M-O-R-E-T-T-I...there.”

Pleakley held up the sign and Cobra said, “That still says that they’re married. And the sign is upside down.”

“What?” Pleakley said, staring at the sign which now read Lindsay and Henry Tresckow-Moretti.

“Couples here sometimes hyphenate their names as a sign of both husband and wife being equal partners.” Cobra explained and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Lindsay Moretti and Henry Tresckow around the same time that they saw him and Pleakley.

He could hear snippets of their conversation as they walked closer.

“That must be our reception.” Lindsay began.

“Hah, told you that Tresckow-Moretti had a nicer ring to it.” Henry quipped at the sign Pleakley had hastily turned upright.

“Did I miss something?” Cobra asked, “Did you two get married in transit to Hawaii?”

Lindsay looked up at the massive African American in a black suit, with the gold earrings, black sunglasses and the black tie with a blue streak at a diagonal in the middle of it. She briefly gave Henry an ‘I’ll get you for this later’ look. After all the Agency didn’t quite take kindly to its officers marrying foreigners without vetting.

“No, we didn’t.” Lindsay said, looking into the dark sunglasses of her fellow officer, “That was just a running joke we had on the flight.”

“About married names?” Cobra replied, looking straight at both of them.

“Funny story behind that.” Henry interjected, “Evidently we got mistaken for a married couple on the flight.”

“Could be a useful thing if I ever have to send you two undercover.” Cobra said, “Sorry about Pleakley’s confusion, but he’s not from around here, you understand.”

“Right.” Henry replied. The CIA had in fact sent ACME some information about the assignment here in Hawaii and its entailing visitors from well out of town.

Both Henry and Lindsay glanced at one another, saying what was both on their minds. Both of them thought the same thing: Some expert on planet Earth.

Henry and Lindsay headed back for the baggage carousel, with Henry having grabbed a baggage cart and presently they had their bags and taking them back to the car parked outside.

“It will be almost an hour to get to Kokaua Town.” Cobra remarked, “I do hope you’re both hungry. Dinner should be ready by the time we get to the Pelekai household.”

“Should?” Lindsay asked.

“Let’s just say Nani is many things but a contender for Gordon Ramsey’s job she isn’t.” Cobra remarked.

“She invited David over and he volunteered to help cook.” Pleakley supplied from the front seat.

“Good.” Cobra remarked, “And Jumba?”

“He volunteered to help.” Pleakly replied.

“Oh no.” Cobra groaned, resisting the urge to shove the accelerator into the floorboards of the car, “I hope the house is still standing.”

“How much trouble could cooking for a dinner party be?” Henry asked.

“With some families you never know.” Lindsay said, with a wry grin, glancing over at him.

 

[Nace Bilby]

Pelekai Residence
June 7, 2003, 2035
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

“Hmm, that smells good...yeah.” Nani said as she walked into the kitchen and gave David a light kiss on the lips.

David smiled back and kissed his girlfriend lightly.

“Ahem…” Stitch could be heard behind them.

“Uhm, there are kids here.” Lilo quipped as she walked into the room as well.

Quickly Nani and David let go of each other, embarrassed smiles on their faces. “Uh, caught red handed?” David said.

“You could say that.” Lilo replied, holding up the phone, “Cobra should be here soon...which is good, because I’m hungry.”

“I know, Lilo, but we have guests and they flew a long way.” Nani replied.

“From the mainland?” Lilo asked.

“That’s right.” Nani replied, smiling and walking over to her baby sister and kissing her forehead.

“Yuck.” Lilo said.

“Didn’t one of them come from South Africa?” David asked, “The blond guy, Chuckles, said that.”

“Oh yeah.” Nani replied.

“I hope they get here soon. I’m hungry.” Lilo remarked.

Stitch said, “Me too…”

“When are you not hungry, Stitch?” David joked.

"Where's Jumba?" Nani asked, changing the subject.

"He's in the garage dismantling the RoboTarantula." Lilo said.

"And you left him over there?" Nani asked, an eyebrow raised and her heart racing,"You know what insane things Jumba is capable of creating..."

"He did create Stitch." Lilo protested.

"My point exactly." Nani replied.

David, lightly stirring his beef stew and adding a light pinch of black pepper after giving it a small taste.

Nani's cell phone chimed just then with a text message and she checked it, "Cobra is on his way with our guests."

"Good, I'm hungry." Lilo replied.

"Yeah, me too..." Stitch replied.

"Guys, please keep an eye on Jumba to make sure he doesn't set the garage on fire or something." Nani said.

"Ok." Lilo sighed, "Come on Stitch."

The pair of them headed to the garage that also doubled as Jumba's lab. They of course found Jumba amongst an array of machine parts, wires, and diagrams. On his workbench was RoboTarantula.

"Hmm, it appears that RoboTarantula has software that helps it recognize threats, and thus engage its defense. The 'Wocka. Wocka. Wocka' is a warning in the language of Pleakley's people..." Jumba said, and then went for a soldering iron, "There...one or two connections and..."

"Uhm Jumba." Lilo said.

"Ahem..." Stitch added as the pair walked into the garage, "Nani says dinner is in forty-five minutes when our guests get here."

"Guests? Oh yes, the other two working with Cobra..." Jumba said, "One more adjustment..."

"You didn't take Scrump out of my room and experiment on her again, did you?" Lilo said, pointing to a doll that looked exactly like Scrump.

"No, I didn't. I just made my own version of it, and it actually plays music." Jumba said and flicked a three position switch.

The first switch caused the doll's head to sway side to side like a metronome and an instrumental version of It's a Small World After All began to play.

Stitch started to go nuts and began howling and growling angrily at Jumba.

"Ok, ok, I get your point." Jumba said and flicked the switch to the off position.

"Lilo! Stitch! Jumba! Dinner's ready, our guests are here." Nani shouted from the kitchen.

Jumba and Lilo walked out of the room. Stitch stayed behind long enough to kick the Scrump lookalike, unaware the three position switch had gotten stuck into the third position.

--

Lilo, Jumba, and Stitch arrived just in time to see Pleakley and Cobra arrive with Henry and Lindsay.

"I hope you two brought your appetites." David said, "Because there's plenty of food for everyone."

"Everyone," Cobra said, "This is Henry Tresckow and Lindsay Moretti."

"Uhm," Lilo said, "But Pleakley's holding up a sign that says Henry and Lindsay Tresckow-Moretti."

"Eh-heheh-heh. Apparently I don't know Earth marital customs the way I think I do..." Pleakley replied.

"You guys are married?" Lilo asked.

"Lilo!" Nani admonished.

"We're not married." Henry began.

"It was a joke that someone carried too far." Lindsay added, blushing as well as glaring at Tresckow.

"As I recall, someone else didn't mind said joke until Pleakley held up the sign." Henry replied.

"And you both have been arguing about that sign all throughout this trip, which makes me want to say the following: Save that for when you actually are married." Cobra Bubbles remarked.

"Wow, you both managed to annoy Cobra in less than a day." Lilo said, "I'm impressed."

"Lilo!" Nani exclaimed with irritation.

"Anyway." Cobra said, "Before I was interrupted, this is Nani Pelekai, David Kawena, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, Lilo, and Stitch."

Lindsay knew about Nani, the young Hawaiian woman of twenty years, from her dossiers, had known about David Kawena, a handsome looking Hawaiian, Dr. Jookiba, the four eyed alien scientist, Lilo the seven year old girl and Stitch, the blue furred alien.

David said, "It's dinnertime, everyone. I made my famous beef stew for everyone to enjoy. I hope you enjoy it."

"Sounds lovely, actually." Henry said, "I'm starving."

"Sounds like you, Lilo and Stitch have bottomless pits for stomachs." Nani observed.

"That would be you as well." Henry remarked to Lindsay.

"I made one complaint after Seattle about airline food. That was mostly about taste." Lindsay countered.

"More like taste and quantity." Henry observed.

"Very funny." Lindsay remarked as they sat down to eat.

As they were eating the Scrump-Clone doll climbed up onto the table and began disco dancing in the center of it.

"Everybody. Come on sound your funky horn." From its internal loudspeaker the music of KC and the Sunshine Band's Funky Horn blared loudly as the doll began John Travolta dancing around the dinner table.

"Chagga, wagga...." Stitch warned, glaring at the doll.

"What is that thing?" Lindsay asked.

"One of Dr. Jookiba's inventions." Chuckles remarked as he walked into the room from outside the house, scanning around and above him.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners." Chuckles said, "I'm Phillip Provost, but everyone calls me Chuckles."

"Pleased to meet you, Chuckles." Henry replied.

"What are you looking around for?" Lindsay said, grateful that there was something else to pay attention to other than the disco dancing rag doll in the center of the table that was currently singing Shake Your Booty.

"This is gonna sound weird, but y'all ain't seen a mechanical tarantula creeping around here that sings Itsy Bitsy Spider and chants 'Wocka. Wocka. Wocka.' have you?" Chuckles replied.

"No, I haven't." Lindsay said, a quizzical look on her face.

"I can't say that I have." Henry added, equally curious.

"RoboTarantula is currently disassembled on my workbench." Jumba said.

"Jumba tends to invent things a lot." Cobra explained.

"To include disco dancing and singing rag dolls that...." Lindsay began.

Stitch chimed in, "Annoying..."

Then Stitch climbed onto the table and grabbed the rag doll before hurling it into the wall.

"Stitch!" Nani admonished.

"Ha ha ha ha, staying alive, staying alive. Ha ha ha ha Staying aliive..." the rag doll sang and Stitch charged after it and threw it on the ground jumping up and down on it.

As he did so, more disco hits began to play one after another as Stitch was angrily trying to tear the rag doll to pieces.

"Is this normal?" Lindsay asked.

"Yep." Lilo quipped from beside her.

What have I gotten myself into? Lindsay thought.

---

TBC

 

[Nace Bilby]

Chapter Two: Clouds Gathering
​

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Author's Note: I couldn't help but wonder how characters similar to Philip Stryver and John Daggett from The Dark Knight Rises would work in this universe so I made up some OCs based on them.

Watching an old episode of Jackie Chan Adventures inspired another of Jumba's machinations.

---

CIA Safehouse
June 8, 2003, 0814
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"I hope you two are well rested." Cobra said as Lindsay and Henry walked from two other bedrooms in the safehouse on the outskirts of Kokua Town, "I am glad that headquarters sent some reinforcement. Ever since Stitch, Dr. Jookiba, and Pleakley came to live here on Kaua'i I've been worried since Cobra set up its embassy on Oahu."

"Cobra setting up an intelligence operation here is our chief worry." Chuckles explained.

"That was what I was briefed at headquarters." Lindsay replied, "What did your agency tell you, Henry?"

"Basically what you had been told, that aliens were living on Kaua'i and there was a worry about intelligence or paramilitary operations coming out of the Cobra Island Embassy on Oahu." Henry replied.

"Good, we're on the same page." Cobra said.

"And like any overworked group of bureaucrats they're going to want to take vacations off Oahu." Lindsay concluded.

"Exactly." Cobra replied.

"And of course what better way to conduct reconnaissance than on a vacation." Henry added, "And we're wanting to prevent them from either finding our out of town visitors or prevent them from absconding with any alien technology."

"Great, that means we'll have to make sure Dr. Jookiba cleans up his messes." Lindsay replied.

"To be fair it seems a lot of his inventions seem to explode in a spectacular fashion." Henry countered.

"We still have to make sure the remains of said experiments don't fall into the wrong hands." Chuckles said.

"Already we're certain one place that's likely to be popular with Cobra Island agents is going to be the Princeville Hotel." Cobra Bubbles continued, "It would be wise if we had a safehouse in town."

"We'll start looking for locations." Chuckles continued, "But who would be best to stay there?"

"I think the choice is obvious." Cobra said, looking over at Lindsay and Henry, "They naturally sound like a married couple if you listen to them argue long enough."

Chuckles nodded, "I agree. A man and a woman in one house doesn't raise much suspicion."

"I guess we start house hunting then." Lindsay replied.

"Now that that's settled, we need to talk distribution of duties. At least one of us needs to keep an eye on the Pelekai house." Chuckles added.

"A full time job in and of itself, but I agree." Cobra said, "I believe for today that's your piece, Lindsay. Henry, you're her back up for that one."

 

[Nace Bilby]

Cobra Island Consulate
June 8, 2003, 0830
Honolulu, HI
United States

Ambassador John Daggett said, "Close the door, Philip."

He stood up as he spoke, he was a tall, lean fellow in his early forties, and tugged on the lapels of his tailored pinstriped suit to ensure the garment fit just right before he stood up, watching as his intelligence executive closed the door behind him.

Daggett began, "I want to know your plan for the Kaua'i operation."

"As you know," Stryver began as he organized his notes in his hands, "There was a meteorite strike last summer on the island of Kaua'i. Our satellite photographs believe that the meteorite was actually a spacecraft from another planet."

Stryver handed Daggett a couple of satellite photographs. Daggett remarked, "That just looks like any impact crater, Stryver."

The man with the coiffed and well combed brown hair replied, "Notice the vaguely disk shaped object being moved..."

"Huh." Daggett said as he looked at another photograph that showed Stitch's disk shaped vessel.

Stryver continued, "And additionally three more meteorites were sighted within days of the first impact, yet no impact craters were found, leading us to believe at least three alien vessels landed."

"What are you asking for, Stryver?" Daggett said.

"Further intelligence assets and operations to be authorized for Kaua'i operations. If aliens with interstellar flight are still on the island then we have to see if they left any traces, especially for technology for our scientists and engineers to get a hold of." Stryver said, "It could be a good long term investment."

"Agreed, but let's start with a small exploratory team first. I believe we have tour groups among the embassy staff wanting to go off island." Daggett said, "Based on what your survey team finds on Kaua'i we will see what additional assets we can commit to the Kaua'i operation."

"Ok boss." Stryver replied. He had Daggett's approval to get a foot in the door for Kaua'i. If he produced good intelligence out of this endeavor then he would get more assets committed his way and the more assets committed his way.

All he had to do was confirm the presence of extraterrestrials on Kaua'i...

 

[Nace Bilby]

Pelekai Residence
June 8, 2003, 0935
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"Thank you so much for babysitting Lilo." Nani said, "I got called in to work today."

"It's no problem." Lindsay replied, as she set her blue, gray and white North Face backpack down onto the couch, "Anything I should be aware of?"

Lindsay's eyes flickered over to the couch, noticing a hardbound black book with a red spine. It's title, Practical Voodoo, flanked by a skull and crossbones on either side.

Nani noticed it around the same time that Lindsay did and nervously remarked, "Lilo is a very unique little girl."

"I can see that." Lindsay said, suppressing an audible gulp of nervousness. Practical Voodoo, not a book I'd expect a seven year old girl to read.

"She's had a few issues fitting in, but doesn't everyone..." Nani replied.

Easy, she's just a little girl. You've dealt with worse people in your line of work, to include heavily armed worse people. Lindsay thought to herself.

"Must find Turbo Troll." a voice blared into the living room as Lilo ran through the room carrying a seafoam green action figure with a blue police helmet, blue greaves and bracers, and a yellow badge.

"What is that?" Lindsay asked.

"That's Gnomekop." Nani said, "That was one of two action figures that Cobra Bubbles bought Lilo for her birthday...a battery operated nuisance."

"Oh, right, that new cartoon for kids." Lindsay replied, the recognition coming, "It wasn't in the Balkans, at least not yet."

"Rar...Turbo Troll Rules!" Stitch ran by holding a coral pink action figure wearing a black motorcycle helmet, black greaves and wrist bracers and a black motorcycle vest.

"Lilo! Stitch! Quit charging around the house!" Nani shouted as she ran after them.

ZZAAAAPPP!!!

"Wocka! Wocka! Wocka!"

"OUCH!!!!" Pleakley could be heard screaming from the garage.

Lindsay ran over to the garage in record time in time to see Pleakley covered in soot, hanging from a net suspended in the ceiling with RoboTarantula affixing the electrified web to the trusses of the roof of the garage, yelling at Jumba, "Are you insane!?!?"

Nani, Lilo, and Stitch arrived at roughly the same time.

I'm beginning to wonder if that's a rhetorical question. Lindsay thought.

"Hah! It works! It works!" Jumba shouted.

"I'm almost afraid to ask this," Lindsay said, "But I will. What works?"

"Simple, now I know why I invented RoboTarantula! It was part of my patented security system I'm building for the house..." Jumba said.

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka...." RoboTarantula said.

"I improved my creation so it now can fire electrified webbing at intruders." Jumba explained.

"I think it could do with an improvement or two more, like, oh...IDENTIFYING WHO IS AN INTRUDER!?" Pleakley shouted.

"Wocka. Wocka. Wocka." RoboTarantula said.

"And by the way do you realize that is a high order insult in my language!" Pleakley replied.

"Eh, heh heh. I think it could do with a few modifications." Jumba replied.

"I think I'll 'modify' it with a sledgehammer when I get back down!" Pleakley replied, waving his arms, and then the electricity coursed into the web again.

"OW!" Pleakley replied.

"I think the webbing is designed to emit electrical shocks when intruders struggle in the web." Jumba said.

"You think?" Lindsay replied, "What kind of inventor doesn't know exactly what his inventions do?"

"Eh, I usually know what they do." Jumba said.

"What do you mean by usually?" Lindsay asked.

"Inventions I make in my sleep I don't usually know what they do entirely." Jumba said.

"Unbelievable." Lindsay remarked, "So where some people sleepwalk you sleepinvent?"

"Yes." Jumba replied.

"I need to get to work." Nani said, "Lindsay, do you think you could help Jumba get Pleakley off the ceiling."

"Don't hurry or anything." Pleakley commented, "I just love hanging upside down from the ceiling with a demented robot spider menacing me."

"Come on Jumba." Lindsay said as she went over for a small step ladder, "Let's go deactivate RoboTarantula and get Pleakley down from the ceiling."

"No need for manual labor, dear lady." Jumba said, "I created an off switch in my sleep."

Jumba held up a garage remote and hit one of the buttons which deactivated RoboTarantula and also caused Pleakley, web and all, to fall to the ground with a crash.

"Oops." Jumba said.

--

Much later, after getting Pleakley both literally and figuratively off of the ceiling, Lindsay sat down on the couch and pulled her copy of E.M. Forester’s A Room With a View. That had been one really hectic morning, especially with Lilo and Stitch chasing each other around the house playing as Gnomekop and Turbo Troll respectively.

“Great, I’m going to have phrases like ‘Belt Blaster’ and ‘Gnome Power’ stuck in my head all day.” Lindsay muttered to herself as she went into the book she hadn’t quite finished on the flight to Hawaii.

She heard the sound of the front door opening and saw Henry Tresckow walking through there, holding cardboard coffee cup holder with two large cups of coffee. She smiled and said, “My hero.”

“You did ask for coffee and I happened to be at the coffee place.” Henry said with a smile, holding up his phone.

“Thanks either way.” Lindsay said as Henry closed the door and crossed the room, taking a seat beside Lindsay and handing her one cup of coffee.

Lindsay let out a tired sigh and Henry replied, “Rough day?”

“Yeah. Evidently Jumba modified his RoboTarantula to shoot electrified webs at intruders and it keeps misidentifying Pleakley as a target.” Lindsay replied.

“Sounds like a rough day.” Henry continued as he sipped his own cup.

“And Lilo and Stitch are addicted to the latest action figure craze. I’ve got all the catch phrases from Gnomekop stuck in my head.” Lindsay replied.

“Gnomekop?” Henry asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“Evidently some gnome police officer that guards the Gnome Princess, and Turbo Troll is his arch enemy.” Lindsay replied.

“What?” Henry asked.

“It’s a popular cartoon apparently and…” Lindsay said.

“Belt blaster!” Lilo came running by shouting with her Gnomekop in her hands.

“Hit me with your best shot Gnomekop!” Stitch came running by chasing Lilo with Turbo Troll in his hand.

“And the kids are obviously hooked on that whole lot.” Henry replied as he sipped his own coffee.

“Yeah.” Lindsay said.

“It could be worse. After all Jumba could implant microchips into the toys and he could turn them into small robots and…” Henry said.

“NOOOOO!!! Don’t give him any ideas!!” Pleakley said as he ran screaming into the room, “You crazy heads! He might actually do it!!!”

“What are you reading?” Lindsay asked as she noticed Pleakley was carrying an issue of Cosmopolitan under his arm, “Wait, did that come from my backpack?”

“Eh-heh heh.” Pleakley said.

“Pleakley, yes or no.” Lindsay asked.

“Uhm, I might’ve borrowed it and…” Pleakley said.

“Pleakley. Next time ask if you want to borrow something. And don’t go through my backpack without my permission again.” Lindsay replied, “Otherwise I might well give Jumba a few more ideas for RoboTarantula.”

“Ok. Do you mind if I borrow it for research for my paper?” Pleakley asked.

“Sure.” Lindsay replied, "What is this paper on?"

"It's titled: The Mating Psychology of the Human Female. It's my graduate dissertation." Pleakley said.

"That might be a tad difficult a paper to write." Henry remarked before Lindsay semi-playfully elbowed him in the side and glared at him.

"Interesting, I could start with an anecdote on pre-courtship rituals that include the female striking the male..." Pleakley thought aloud.

"Pleakley, no!" Henry and Lindsay shouted.

"Gnome Power!" Lilo shouted excitedly as she thrust Gnomekop at Stitch as they ran into the living room again.

"Turbo Shield!" Stitch said. The two action figures collided with enough force that both Turbo Troll and Gnomekop's arms broke off.

"Stitch!" Lilo shouted, "You broke them!"

Lindsay put her book down and headed to the little girl, "I'm sure we can fix them."

"It is lunchtime, perhaps you two can go into town with us to get lunch and we can get some glue to fix these two action figures." Henry added.

Lilo sighed and said, "Ok."

"That's the spirit." Lindsay said.

"I'll get the car warmed up." Henry said as he stepped outside.

Shortly thereafter Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch followed, Gnomekop and Turbo Troll forgotten.

Four eyes watched the interactions going on and after the foursome had left the house. Jumba lumbered into the living room and picked up the two action figures. "Well it seems like I could do something for Lilo and Stitch."

He headed over to his workshop, muttering to himself, "This is perfect use for the AI microchips I created last week..."

 

[Nace Bilby]

Kokaua Chinese Restaurant
June 8, 2003, 1145
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"How's it going, guys?" Chuckles asked, as he stood up from the table where he sat eating with Cobra Bubbles.

The seemingly innocent question was a way that three spies and one law enforcement officer would be able to have a seemingly normal conversation while passing information without attracting attention.

"Traffic wasn't bad. Certainly not as crazy as Oahu." Lindsay replied, giving the coded phrase that they hadn't been followed.

Lilo had to wonder about the entire trip to the restaurant. The way Henry drove wasn't the quick and direct way to the restaurant. He seemed to be sticking to the big main roads, or at least what passed for big main roads in Kokaua Town, and he did mention to Lindsay that he did 'the route' before lunch just to be sure.

She quickly guessed it had something to do with surveillance and avoiding being followed. And now she was listening to how Lindsay and Chuckles were talking about traffic when Kaua'i wasn't exactly known for congested roads the way Oahu was.

"How's the house hunting going?" Chuckles asked.

"It's going alright." Lindsay replied as Henry went to go order their food and after paying for it went back to join the three spies at the table to wait for it to be prepared.

"I thought you might like some more listings." Chuckles said and handed Lindsay a manila folder.

Lilo got a brief glance before Lindsay put the folder into her backpack. She saw the edge of a piece of paper sticking out of the folder that read Philip Stryver, Cobra Island Intelligence Station Chief. Definitely not real estate listings.

"How is everything at the house?" Cobra asked.

"Not bad, minus RoboTarantula attacking Pleakley with electrified webs." Lindsay replied.

"Sounds like typical Jumba." Cobra remarked.

Henry headed over as soon as their order was called and headed over to Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch.

"Is anyone watching Jumba?" Cobra asked.

"Pleakley's at the house." Henry replied.

"Pleakley doesn't have the greatest record for keeping Jumba under control." Cobra replied.

"How much damage can he do in half an hour?" Henry asked as he, Lindsay, Lilo and Stitch headed back out to the car.

---

Pelekai Residence
June 8, 2003,1202
Kokaua Town, HI
United States

"Jumba, Pleakley, lunchtime!" Lilo shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran inside the house.

"If we ever needed a replacement for a loudspeaker." Lindsay commented as she watched Lilo run upstairs shouting for Jumba and Pleakley and Stitch go racing into the kitchen and sitting at the table.

"I do believe that's inherent to having little kids about." Henry replied.

"I have brothers, Tresckow." Lindsay replied, irritably.

"Older or younger?" Henry replied.

"Both older." Lindsay replied.

"So that was you when you were Lilo's age." Henry said with a smile.

Lindsay let out a sigh and headed into the kitchen with her share of the food.

Meanwhile Lilo had run to Jumba and Pleakley's shared room finding Pleakley doing one of the quizzes in Lindsay's Cosmopolitan magazine.

"Where's Jumba?" Lilo asked.

"In his lab." Pleakley said, before going back to his quiz, "Hmm...that's a tough one...decisions decisions..."

Lilo headed back downstairs to the room that served as Jumba's lab.

"Jumba, lunchtime and...is that Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lilo asked when she saw both Gnomekop and Turbo Troll standing on Jumba's work bench.

"Yes, I just put the finishing touches on the repairs." Jumba said.

"Just repairs?" Lilo said.

"Uhm...yes." Jumba replied.

"Are you coming to lunch?" Lilo asked, not forgetting about Jumba's brief pause, merely tabling it for the time.

The pair walked back towards the dining area unaware that a book fell from a shelf, landing on Jumba's electrical testing kit, which Gnomekop and Turbo were hooked up to. This activated their on buttons and Turbo Troll rose to his feet...

--

"Thank you for fixing Gnomekop and Turbo Troll, Jumba." Lilo said, with a mouthful of rice and General Tso's chicken.

"Lilo, swallow your food before you talk." Henry began.

"You were definitely an older sibling." Lindsay replied, "You've got oldest brother written all over you."

Lilo gulped down her food and said, "Guys, Jumba fixed Gnomekop and Turbo Troll."

"Just fixed or did he modify them somehow?" Lindsay asked.

"Just fixed." Jumba said.

"Jumba, I'm no expert on your species." Henry interjected, "But I can't help but notice you looked down and to the left with your outer set of eyes just now."

"Ok Jumba!" Pleakley shouted, "What did you do to modify them? Rig them to explode? Shoot electricity? What?"

"Pleakley, calm down." Henry said, "He probably just improved it's battery capacity."

"Henry, you might be right but let's also consider Jumba's track record here." Lindsay argued.

"This is true. But one mechanical spider an evil genius does not make." Henry replied, "Besides it was useful as a security device."

"That mistook me for an intruder!!!" Pleakley bellowed.

"Ok, exactly what modifications did you make to Lilo's Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Lindsay asked.

"Where is Turbo Troll, Scourge of the Elven Realm?" The voice blared.

"Jumba...what exactly did you do to Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?" Henry added.

"More important why didn't you tell me sooner?" Lilo interjected.

"Eh heh heh..." Jumba said, twiddling his thumbs, "Would you believe that it was meant to be a surprise..."

"Turbo Troll!!!" Gnomekop shouted and slid down the bannister.

"It certainly was a surprise." Henry remarked as he, Lindsay, Jumba, Pleakley, Lilo, and Stitch ran into the hallway.

“Jumba, again, what did you do to Gnomekop and Turbo Troll?” Lindsay asked.

“I added two prototype artificial intelligence microchips programmed with data from the Gnomekop and Turbo Troll cartoons and also added small servo motors so as to animate Gnomekop and Turbo Troll and…” Jumba said.

“So you basically made two small and very destructive robots.” Lindsay said.

“I don’t know about very destructive.” Jumba replied.

“Considering your inventions’ other track records…” Lindsay began as Gnomekop noticed the fivesome approaching.

“Who goes there?” Gnomekop said.

“We come in peace, uhm, Gnomekop…” Henry began hastily.

“Gnome power!” Gnomekop said as he jumped and bounced off the top of Henry’s head and ran through the doggie door.

Henry bolted after Gnomekop, flinging the door open in time to see Gnomekop run into the trees.

“Oh bollocks…” Henry groaned.

---

To Be Continued…

It seems like Lilo’s toys, animated by Jumba’s experimentations are on the loose. Sharp eyed readers will notice I lifted the characters of Gnomekop and Turbo Troll from Jackie Chan Adventures.