FicWad

Chapter 12

As soon as they got Uzzura back to the apartment, she was amazed at the sight. She had never seen anything of décor outside of the shop, and now her electronic and mechanical neurons were firing on all synapses. A human would call it sensory overload, but for her, it was a dream come true. “Well, Uzzura how do you like…” and that was all that Rue got out of her mouth. Looking like the Flash, she was into everything: turning on the stereo, the television, tearing off the couch cushions, in the bedroom, pulling off the sheets, and flushing the toilet, to name a few things. One would have thought that, by the number of people there, they could catch her. However, because of the size of the apartment, that would be an almost impossible task. They were giants compared to Uzzura, and Uzzura took full advantage of this. Despite the apartment’s space, the others spent time colliding with one another trying to catch something that thought the merry chase was nothing but a fun game. She was always one step ahead of the “giants.” Finally, Uzzura saw the huge fish tank with the Japanese fish in it, and she just had to get into it. She was teetering on the edge, and then lost her balance…just as Nana caught her! “Sacre bleu, that was close, petite enfant,” said Nana, wondering if she would have been fried, or if there were electronics in her that could be fried. However, Uzzura cried out, “Yea, Nana wins-zura! You won-zura!”

Yet, they looked over the house, and saw the damage. After about a half hour, (while Nana kept Uzzura busy,) they had the place straightened out. At that, Ahiru said, “Silly little doll, what are we going to do with you?”
Uzzura thought about it, and somehow, it provoked her to ask what she had asked Drosselmyer before, “What is my purpose-zura?”
The kids all looked at each other, not knowing what to answer. Neither Ahiru nor Rachel could get into her mind, because she was a machine. Mytho obviously not get a reading on her for the same reason. Elly looked her over, and sat down with Nana and Uzzura, saying, “Little one, we all ask that question sometimes, and we all spend our lives trying to answer that question more and more.”
Uzzura looked sad at this, and they were surprised just how much a machine could emote. Uzzura then said, “I’ll never know-zura?”
“That’s not necessarily true,” said Nana consolingly, “but that is not a question that is easily answered.”
Elly chimed in and said, “Let me tell you what: I spent two years sick and in bed, and during a time when I was asking the same question. I still really don’t know. I do my art to try to help me answer that, but I am still searching.”
“You don’t know-zura?” asked Uzzura.
“How would you like to find out together-zura?” said Elly as she smiled.
Uzzura was letting things calculate, and then she shouted, “Elly is now my friend too-zura!”
Uzzura then leapt up into the arms of a surprised Elly, and gave her a hug. All Elly could do was return the favor. Uzzura then said, “Mmm…soft and warm-zura!”
Elly did not quite know how to respond to it, and she just said, “You are a mechanical marvel.”

After they ate supper, a discussion began to break out about the fall variety show. They called up Mai and Yuma and put them on the speaker so they could talk as well. However, Yuma said, “I have to say, you did cause quite the stir here on campus Friday night.”
“Yeah,” said Mai, “The headmaster is all up in arms about how the security treated you.”
“I certainly hope it was enough to make Mr. Johansson fire those clowns!” said Billy.
“Not exactly, love,” said Yuma, “But he did get into their ears about it, and Mr. Luthor as well. Mr. Luthor then fired the one in charge and put someone else in there, and told them that they answered to Mr. Johansson. They have been more cordial, but things are still a pain in the neck here.”
“Well, let’s talk about more pleasant things,” said Ahiru, “like our idea for the variety show.”
“We’re planning on doing a mini-Moulin Rouge,” said Mytho, “And we need the help of you two. Nana’s in on this as well.”
“What are you planning,” asked Mai.
“The boys are going to get into some traditional Parisian clothes,” said Rue, “Billy and Duck are going to do something from An American in Paris with me and Mytho, Fakir and Mary are going to do the danse a l’apache, and it finishes with us girls doing the Can-Can.”
“Splendid!” exclaimed Yuma, “That will be so much fun!”
“Then Rue, Mytho, and I will be there Monday afternoon,” said Fakir, “We can put this together after AP class, and Mr. Katt will be helping us. He loved the idea when we bounced it off him.”
Elly then said, “Let me look at the backdrops that we have at school,” said Elly, “I think I can get the scenery together. If I can’t find anything, I think I can get my friends in the art school to help with making some.”
“Well, you guys will have your hands full with the fall festival,” said Mary, “You know what we are doing, right?”
“That’s right, it’s the Fantasia thing, isn’t it?” said Elly.
“That was Miss St. John’s idea,” said Ahiru, “She figured that it would be fun, but challenging enough to make us earn our grades.”
“I think we can pull it off,” said Elly, and Mytho then said, “I think that there are enough there to use, so making something fresh should be no problem. Besides, if there is an issue, I think that I can talk to the company and get some help. They love helping the school.”

After going over a few things on choreography, they wrapped it up and prepared for bed. As everyone was bedding down, Fakir took Mary out to the balcony. They spent time looking into each other’s eyes, and Mary said, “God, I miss you so much!”
“It’s been hard on me as well, lipshun,” responded Fakir.
She inched in closer, and they embraced and kissed. “We could have more time if it were not for that luftkof, (airhead,) killer on the loose.”
“I’m glad we could get this time,” she cooed in response.
They both sat down on the wicker love seat that sat out on the balcony, and spent time arm and arm watching the city roll by. They enjoyed one of the few quiet evenings they could get…or at least as quiet as things would be that night.

As they slept, because they had activated the dolls in the store as Drosselmyer had shown them, they were then set for a future activity. Once there was no movement, the dolls were able to detect this, and all began to go to work. Uzzura was on a hibernate mode to preserve her battery until she could move and recharge it, so she could not detect things at that moment. They were swift and quiet as they went. They found the trash bags and grabbed about two. They then proceeded to take money out of wallets, jewelry, gems, and anything else that their “programming” was geared for them to take. Once this was done, they prepared to go, but as they did, two more gemstones caught their eyes. One was in the master bedroom, and another was looking over Ahiru. Quietly and carefully they unclasped the pendants and took them as well. With that, they were out the door.

The next morning, Ahiru was just coming to life, but something felt funny. Ever since they had dealt with Edel, the pendant had never left her neck, as Rue’s never left hers. Because of growing so used to that, it was almost as if she did not even feel it anymore. However, because it was gone, something did indeed feel amiss. She reached up, and then said, “Oh no! My pendant is gone!”
Everyone was up like a shot, and Rue began to say, “It probably just fell off while you slept Duck. Just…” but she then stopped, and felt the same sensations as duck had felt. She reached up and said, “Mine’s gone too!”
Now everyone knew something was afoot. As Rue was making this discovery, Billy said, “And whoever took that cleaned out my wallet as well!”
By this point, people noticed things that were missing out of their personal belongings, as well as noticing other things gone as well. “How did someone clean us out while we slept,” demanded Fakir, “I sleep light enough that I would have noticed something!”
As everyone was discussing, Uzzura had been alerted by that, and began to try to get involved. As they talked, she listened to what was being said, and heard the statement about missing things, and just what was missing. “Uzzura knows something-zura,” she uttered, but no one seemed to listen. After some vain attempts, she finally began to roll on her drum and screamed, “UZZURA KNOWS SOMETHING-ZURA!”
They all wheeled around and said, “What do you know?”
“You said dolls stolen-zura,” said Uzzura.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Nana.
“I know where dolls are-zura,” said Uzzura, “They are at the shop-zura!”
“They’re all at the shop,” laughed Nana, “except for these.”
“They are with shiny things-zura,” said Uzzura, and that caught everyone’s attention.
“Where are these shiny things?” asked Rue.
“They are at the shop-zura,” said Uzzura, “There is lots of shiny things there-zura.”
Fakir was already figuring things out, and he said, “If Drosselmyer could make her, then he could also make something to steal as well, couldn’t he?”
“Most of all, we have to get those pendants back,” said Rue.
Only Elly did not understand why, (because she had never seen Ahiru actually transform in to Tutu. She only saw the change back.) Elly said, “Are they that important?”
“We hold them close to our hearts,” said Rue, “It’s a family thing.”
Billy then said, “Besides, I don’t think it’s going to take all that, we can resolve this as ourselves,” and then he caught himself, because Nana and Elly did not know about the others there being the Secret Six. They only knew of Tutu, (and in Elly’s case, Tutu and Raven.) “Well, let’s give this a shot.”
However, as they were going, Rachel brought Elly to the rear of the group and said, “Listen, I think you might be best suited for helping.”
“How so,” said Elly suspiciously, “I don’t fancy getting shot if I’m caught.”
“Believe me, with your gifts, that would not be a problem,” responded Raven, “On top of that, I want to talk to you about how you can actually improve what you can do, and who you can actually bring back through yourself.”

As they walked to Drosselmyer’s shop Elly and Rachel still hung to the back, and Rachel then said, “I think you can make yourself even more unnoticeable by learning how to use what you can do to talk straight into the heads of the people around so they cannot get a bead on you.”
“Why is that important?” asked Elly.
“Well, it almost seems that the world has gotten back one of its earliest heroes in you,” answered Rachel.
Elly looked at her with a serious look, and said firmly, “Look, I’m not for all that superhero stuff, thank you very much. That’s dangerous work, and I am very fond of breathing.”
“That would never be an issue with what you can do.”
“How so?”
“Back in the Great Depression, there was a hero that was very powerful because of what he could do. How he could do it actually came from time spent in India with the gurus there. His name was Lamont Cranston.”
“Wasn’t that the guy that owned that newspaper up north?”
“That’s the very one. He learned how to cloud people’s minds and talk straight into people’s minds, making him seem invisible. He wasn’t immortal, and he could be hurt or killed if he was trapped. However, it was almost impossible to catch someone that seemed like a phantom. He was called ‘The Shadow,’ and he had a loathing for crime. Even when some depression era supers came around to try to gain him as an ally, he was so mysterious that they could never get to him and make this request. He retired, but came out once and a while to lend his hand to some of the heroes of the Justice League, where his unique abilities made the difference many times over. When he died, all the truth of Lamont came out, and he is revered in the Justice League Hall of Fame, well respected and well revered.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“If you were able to hone what you can do, as well as your thing about reading papers that are exposed to you no matter where you stood in the room, you could be the new Shadow, and maybe even more powerful.”
“Like I said before, I am not superhero material. Look at me!”
“Don’t cut yourself down so much, Elly. With what you can do, that does not matter. Besides, if you get in, the league has a program to help shape you up, and have you able to be at least fit enough to run away or after someone if need be.”
“I don’t ever think that I’ll stop being a big girl.”
“That’s okay. You can be big and still fit as well. There is no shame in being a big girl. What would happen, at least, is that a layer of muscle would develop, and you would be able to hold your weight even better than you do now. Who cares about outward appearances? It’s your heart that counts. I digress. Anyway, we could use you with what we are about to do.”
“What is that?”
“We need you to use your gifts to sneak back there and see if you can find out what is going on. If you can, you can find the pendants. I’ll have the girls tell you what they look like, and they should be on top as the most recent hauls.”
“I’m still not sure about this.”
“Can you at least help today? We do need your help.”
Elly nodded quietly, knowing that this would be the only time. After that, she would “hang up the tights,” and just go back to the normal life she had been seeking ever since she somewhat recovered.

Once they got to the shop, Rachel told Elly what the pendants looked like, and they all entered in, including Uzzura, under the pretext of returning her. When they came in, he said, “Well, well, well, it’s not often I have repeat customers so quickly! What brings you back today?”
Nana lifted up Uzzura, who was fighting it, not fully knowing Nana’s intent. “I believe this belongs to you,” said Nana.
“Oh, magnificent!” exclaimed Drosselmyer, “Where did you find her?”
“She actually followed us home like a lost puppy dog,” said Rue.
“Well, thank you so much!” said Drosselmyer happily, “I tell you what: look around, and if there is anything that strikes your fancy, let me know, and I shall let you have it on the house!”
While all that was going on, Elly was already doing her thing and had walked to the back. Nana was still holding Uzzura, making sure she did not blow the collar. When Elly did enter, she was stunned at the amount of loot, and she almost lost her concentration. Because she had not yet learned to talk into people’s heads yet, she walked over to Billy, and then whispered in his ear, “There is a ton of stuff back there! I’m going back for the pendants.”
That was all Billy needed to hear. He went outside and decided to call Fawcett’s finest. They would welcome that news. While he was doing that, and the girls were keeping Drosselmyer occupied by asking a slew of questions, Elly went back there and started checking the piles out for anything familiar. It was not going to be easy, because the pendants were just small enough to blend in. However, she then found a solid gold picture frame that looked just like the one that went around the wedding picture of Mytho and Rue. This had to be it. She started to sift through it, and she was fortunate enough to find the pendants. However, when she tried to extract them, some of the things fell of the floor and made a clatter. Drosselmyer went stiff. He knew where that had come from, and once he looked around and saw that a couple of people missing, he got angry and said, “You’re friend better not be messing around back there!”
He went in back and saw nothing. Elly was keeping very still, considering that, though she could not be seen by him, she could still be detected if she was not careful. He stared to move through the back, and Elly stuck out her foot, sending him crashing. He yelled in pain and started to curse and complain. He could still not see what or who had tripped him, but he was a bit more frantic now. By this point, the police came in and he heard Billy say, “He’s back there, and there is a ton of loot!”
That was enough for Drosselmyer. He immediately headed for the back and out of the building. Just after that, the police came in, and Elly allowed herself to be seen, saying, “He went that way! If you hurry, you can catch him!”
They ran out the back, but Drosselmyer was too clever for them. He chose to endure the stench and hide in the dumpster in back, knowing they would keep going in their search. After about a minute, he was out of there, and he then went up to his apartment above the shop. They knew that that would be the last place they would look. He would get some things together, and lay low for a few days. When they came back, they would start to look for evidence and he would have to wait for them to leave. The only thing he could think was that Uzzura had tipped them off somehow, and he cursed the day he ever built her. The only thing he could think to do now was to look up an old colleague and see if he could get work there. Considering who that was, he knew that there should be no problem. From that day on, he would then dedicate himself to finding out just who these kids were, and destroying them. Yes, he had lost this battle, but he was not about to lose the war!