Season 1, Episode 6: It’s
a Small World
Part 6 of 9
Emerald
and Brian were still searching the grounds.
Their conversation had picked up after it turned out that they were
following the wrong Mickey Mouse – as they’d quickly learned, there was more
than one Mickey wandering around the park at any time. Emerald found herself even more amazed at how
much of a gentleman Brian was as they continued to talk, but after they had
gone some time without noticing any suspicious activity, she began to wonder if
they were even looking for the right sort of behaviors. That was, until they found themselves in the
middle of Adventureland.
“Hey,”
she said to Brian as she stuck out her arm to stop him mid-stride. “Check that out.” She nodded towards Jafar, who was shouting at
a few children who were tugging at his costume.
“Get
away, you little brats!” Jafar shouted, one hand on the parrot on his shoulder
and the other swiping at the children at his feet.
“Jafar
in Adventureland?” Brian questioned. “You’re
right, that is suspicious.”
“Hmm,
I was actually just gonna say he looks like he’s too short for his costume, but
I like your answer better,” Emerald replied as they made their way over to
Jafar.
Dr.
Rough, still frustrated by the crowd of children screaming at him, looked up as
Dr. Twitches squeaked frantically on his shoulder. He saw Donald and Daisy Duck pushing through
the crowd to get to him and quickly shoved away the two children tugging at his
arms and darted off.
“Looks
like he’s definitely making a run for it,” Emerald confirmed, pulling out a gun
she had concealed and beginning to fire at Dr. Rough.
“What
are you doing?!” Brian shouted as Emerald’s bullets narrowly missed the
innocent tourists.
“I’m
trying to stop the bad guy from running away, so we can catch him easier!”
“Well
it’s not working!” Brian countered. “All
you’re doing is putting everyone in danger!” Just then, he spotted a ride he knew they
could use to their advantage. Luckily,
their “Jafar” was heading straight for it. “Come on, I have a plan.” He nodded towards the ride and pulled Emerald
along with him so they could approach it from the other side.
Dr.
Rough laughed to himself as he looked back and noticed he was no longer being
chased, not realizing he’d been pushed into the middle of the line for one of
the most popular rides in Disney World: The
Mad Tea Party, commonly known as the “spinning teacups.” He tried to move against the crowd and escape,
but it was no use as he was forced onto the ride and landed himself in one of
the teacups, next to a couple of young children.
“Are
you sure this can work?” Emerald said as they heard the ride operator
instructing the ride’s passengers on the safety rules.
“Only
one way to find out…” They hid near the
control panel, waiting until they heard the ride operator return and the
machinery spark to life before they set to work. Emerald helped Brian open the back of the
control panel, then leapt up to try and distract the ride operator with small
talk, pretending to be one of his coworkers, all while Brian plucked a few
wires out of the control circuit and rearranged them in what he could only hope
were the correct places he needed them.
Peering up to watch the results of his work, Brian saw that it was a
success.
Dr.
Rough screamed at the top of his lungs as the ride moved faster and faster. It didn’t help his nerves that the children
sitting next to him were shouting and laughing and using the pole in the middle
of their teacup to make the ride spin more and more. He clutched Dr. Twitches tightly as his
stomach churned wildly, and the ride continued to pick up speed.
“So,
when did you say your break was again?” the ride operator asked Emerald with a
wink. Before she could come up with an
answer, though, his expression turned serious, and he began to fumble with the
controls in front of him. “That’s not
right… The teacups are moving three
times as fast as they should be! No
wait, four times as fast as they should be! I need to stop this ride right now and
call maintenance…”
Emerald
took the opportunity to sneak away from him unnoticed, as she was sure he would
call security once he saw that the back of his control panel had already been
opened and the wires were tampered with. She found Brian waiting on the other side of
the ride, watching closely as people exited the ride. “That kid’s gonna figure something out soon;
we better go before we get busted,” Emerald reported.
“But
he hasn’t gotten off the ride yet,” Brian replied.
“He
will, but we can’t catch him if we get caught first, so come on!” she urged,
pushing Brian to move through Fantasyland.
Moments
later, a nauseated Dr. Rough emerged from the ride and immediately ran towards
the nearest trash can, pushing the headdress of his costume higher on his head
as he practically threw himself inside of the trash can to throw up.
± ± ±
Donnie adjusted his costume as he stared up at
He started wringing his hand nervously. This was his chance to show his master that
he really was trustworthy. He alone was
the best guard for the bomb – and he would make sure Dr. Rough knew that.
Donnie then ducked behind a post just as some
children passed by. Now was not the time
to risk socializing with children. He
turned his head slightly and saw a nubile girl poke her head out of the nearby
entrance to the Utilidors. He gave her a
wink.
The young actress tossed her red hair slightly
and smiled back at him.
Donnie turned his head back to
She winked at him.
“Spread out!
We’ll keep them from getting close to it!”
Donnie turned to see more of Dr. Rough’s minions
nearing the ride. Well, if they were
there, perhaps it wouldn’t hurt…
He strolled over to the Utilidor entrance. “You know, it’s dangerous for Disney
princesses to be in Tomorrowland…”
The redhead ran her hand over her shell bra. “Wouldn’t you like to show me Prince Charming
of the future?”
A large grin spread across Donnie’s face. He turned back toward the door and then
slipped his hand around the girl’s waist.
“I hear there’s a grotto with your name on it,
Mr. Lightyear.”
A smile crossed Donnie’s face again. Let the lesser minions guard the bomb; women
were the perks of being a top-ranked minion.
± ± ±
Only
the security cameras wired among the bare pipes and fluorescent lights that ran
along the ceiling of the Utilidors saw a disoriented Jafar stagger down the
steps, into the stark, gray world of poured concrete built beneath the
No,
security in the Utilidors was the last in the long list of concerns which had
been growing over the last couple of days.
Disney’s behind-the-scenes personnel were too preoccupied with puzzling
over the disturbing weather patterns – which followed no logical pattern at all
– and the sudden surge of energy being burned by
And
so, no one noticed as Dr. Rough leaned back against the concrete wall, his hand
pressed weakly to his churning belly, Jafar’s turban leaning crookedly upon his
head. Even after throwing up, he still
felt nauseous, too nauseous even to feel enraged that he had been forced onto a
teacup that spun too fast by a couple of cartoon ducks, who were not what they
seemed. He knew by the way Daisy Duck
had wielded that gun that she was no Disney cast member. She and her partner were agents, like the
others his minions had alerted him to.
Agents of what? The FBI? No... an FBI agent would get canned for
firing a weapon in the middle of a crowd at Disney World, especially without
being attacked first. Only agents of
Himitsu Takana would be that reckless, that daring, for they didn’t have the
HimTak. Could it be?
Had the meddlesome agency really tracked him here, to Disney World,
where he had tried so hard to stay undercover?
The thought made him even more nauseated.
“They
won’t stop us,” he whispered to Dr. Twitches, petting the quivering ferret in
maniacal strokes. “If they try, I’ll
have Donnie detonate the bomb early.
They will be too late, and it will be all their fault. Their fault…”
His spastic eye fluttered as he struggled to regain his composure. He would need to have his wits about him, a
clear head, if he was to change plans and strike early.
But
first, he needed to sit down. There was
no furniture in the Utilidors, not even concrete benches, but there were a
couple of battery-powered carts parked here.
They looked something like golf carts, but the Disney people called them
pargos. He climbed into one of them now
and slid down in the seat, resting the back of his head against the cool
plastic.
He
shut his eyes for a moment. His stomach
was beginning to settle now that he was resting, here in the quiet,
air-conditioned sanctuary of the Utilidors.
He would be content never to see Fantasyland again, with its bright
light and unbearable heat, its shrieking brats, and those ungodly spinning
teacups. He would give the order to
detonate the bomb from down here, watch the park’s destruction on the security
monitors, and emerge only once his work was done, when there were no more
HimTak agents or children to get in his way.
The
thought had no sooner crossed his mind than he felt Dr. Twitches’ body stiffen
upon his shoulder, the ferret’s claws digging into his flesh like needles. He winced, then tensed himself, as he heard
the doors to the Utilidors open and two pairs of footsteps descending the
concrete steps. He shifted silently in
the seat, reaching for the gun stowed beneath the folds of his black robe.
± ± ±
Donald
Duck held hands with Daisy as he pulled her down into the Utilidors. As soon as the door had shut behind them, he
dropped her hand and pulled off his own head, and then he was Agent Brian
Littrell again, sighing as the relief of the air conditioning met his
perspiring skin.
Emerald
may have spent most of her time in the
She
removed the gloves and her mask as well, shaking out her mane of dark
hair. “Whew,” she sighed. “There may be snow out there, but it’s as hot
as a fucking crotch. And humid too. Ick.”
She drew her hand across her sweaty forehead, then wiped it off on her
costume. “And let me tell you, those
stupid gloves make it pretty damn hard to pull the trigger on a gun.”
“You
shouldn’t have pulled the trigger at all!” Brian exclaimed, looking at her
incredulously, as his mind rewinded back to the scene in Fantasyland. He had blocked it out until now, when they
were alone and could talk freely. “What
were you thinking, firing your gun in the middle of the
“I
was thinking a bullet to the leg would take ol’ ‘Jafar’ down, and then we could
get to the bottom of the freaky shit that’s been happening at this place. That’s what I was thinking,” Emerald fired
back hotly.
“I
understand, but… someone could have been hurt.
Or killed! A child could have
been killed!” He could feel his eyes
bugging out of their sockets as he stared at her. Even flushed and wearing a giant duck suit,
she was a beautiful woman – beautiful, and a little frightening. Now that the adrenaline had retreated from
her system, didn’t she feel some remorse over her rogue actions?
“Chill,
Donald.” No. No, she didn’t. She was being sarcastic again. “I’m a far better markswoman than you know. I wouldn’t have hit a kid, even with those
stupid gloves on. I would’ve gotten him,
if you hadn’t interfered.”
“Emerald!” Brian paused, frowned, and cocked his head at
her. “Say, what’s your real name,
anyway?”
“Summer.”
“Really?” That surprised him. “You don’t look like a Summer.”
She
shrugged. “Hence why I’m called Emerald
Ecstasy.”
“Yeah,
that name does suit you better.” He
swallowed, tearing his gaze away from her green eyes. “But…”
He refocused. “Summer! You didn’t hit him, and you almost hit a
bunch of tourists. I had to do
something!”
“All
you did was let him get away. Though I
will say, watching him spin around on those teacups was pretty funny.” Her mouth twisted at the corners. A smirk.
She was amused, not irritated.
The look on her face was infectious, and he cracked a smile too.
“It
was pretty good,” he admitted. “His face
was turning green.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry, Rok, we’ll
find him. There can’t be nearly as many
Jafars running around this park as there are Mickeys. Especially not little shrimpy ones like him.”
He
joined in with her laughter as they rounded the corner… and stopped dead in
their tracks.
Brian’s
heart sank as he looked into the barrel of the gun pointing straight at
him. How could he have been so
stupid? He had forgotten the first
lessons he’d learned in his weapons training, how to navigate corners and cover
himself and his partner, and now they were both about to die for it.
The dark eyes behind the gun were fixed and crazed. One of them drooped slightly. Brian stared into those eyes, frozen in
horror, and knew he was about to take a bullet for the first time.
When
the gun fired, he blinked and flinched away instinctively, reaching for his own
weapon, hoping he could get in a good shot before he was rendered
incapable. He expected to feel the
bullet tearing through his flesh, but there was no pain, and when he raised his
gun to aim, he saw that his nemesis had ducked, disappearing behind the hood of
the motorized cart.
The
smell of gunpowder was coming from the smoking barrel he now recognized out of
the corner of his eye, and he looked over in astonishment at Emerald, standing
fiercely with her gun still trained on the cart. There was a small, round hole through the
back of the driver’s seat.
He
had to give her credit: she was a far better markswoman than he’d
known. A second sooner, and her bullet
would have ripped straight through Jafar’s chest. A second later, and his bullet would have
discharged first.
And
in the current second, he saw the barrel of the villain’s gun appear over the
hood of the cart. This time, he was able
to react. He grabbed Emerald, yanking
her out of the way just as the gun fired.
She fired another shot over her shoulder as they leaped into the other
pargo.
The
keys were in the ignition, and Brian, in the driver’s seat, fired up the motor
and shifted the cart into gear. “Drive!”
screamed Emerald, who had climbed in backwards and was on her knees in the
passenger seat so that she could shoot behind them. He slammed his foot down onto the pedal, and
his arm thrust out to grab hers, keeping her from launching headfirst over the
back of the seat with the inertia of the sudden jerk forward.
They
sped through the Utilidors, and though there were no mirrors on the cart, Brian
knew the shooter was following them in his own pargo. Another set of shots rang out, but Emerald
didn’t fall, and neither, apparently, did their enemy. Brian tried not to think about what was going
on behind him, just concentrated on driving through the tunnel with as much
speed as he could get out of the pargo and prayed the FANS agent would go down
before either of them did.
“Look
out!” he shouted as they hurtled through the central hub of the Utilidors,
passing half-costumed Disney cast members.
The staff exchanged bewildered looks, but didn’t seem to recognize the
danger. In this world of make-believe in
which they made their living, they must have thought the guns were just props,
the cart chase just a game, a fun way to blow off steam.
Brian
rounded the circuit of the Utilidors, hoping he’d gained enough ground on the
FANS agent to lose him. He feared that
one wrong turn would run them into a dead end, and the only way out would be
up, up into the park crawling with civilians, innocent families with
children. He dared to look over his
shoulder, and his heart sank again: the
other pargo was not far behind them, the madman driving in a frenzy, his
fingers gripping the wheel like claws while his free hand wielded his weapon
wildly. He wouldn’t be able to steer and
aim well at the same time, but if he got in a lucky shot…
At
that moment, he heard a pop, and the cart took a sudden swerve to the
side. It took all of Brian’s skill to
steady the wheel and keep the cart from crashing into the cement wall. He realized the back right tire had
blown. A split second later, a second
shot, a second pop, and the back left tire was obliterated too. There was a horrible screeching sound as the
pargo bottomed out, its back rims scraping against the concrete floor, spitting
a shower of sparks behind it. In
desperation, Brian floored the pedal; the cart’s small motor revved, but its
speed was lost. The chase was over. They were done for.
Then
suddenly, a chance. As their cart
lurched past a door marked Lion King
Green Room, the door opened, and a whole troupe of actors, fully costumed
for their stage show, paraded out into the tunnel, blocking the path of the
other pargo. Brian heard the cart’s horn
honking for them to get out of the way and knew the diversion would give them
only seconds, but that was all they needed.
He leapt out of the crippled cart, pulling Emerald with him. They could hear the FANS agent roaring in
outrage as they lost themselves in the safari of animal suits and raced up a
set of stairs and out into the bright, open air of the park.
Brian
didn’t know where they had come out, and he didn’t stop to find out. Still holding onto Emerald’s hand, he kept
running, looking for cover. A shot rang
out behind them, and he looked over his shoulder: the FANS agent had ditched his pargo and was
still tailing them, his black robes billowing around his ankles as he ran.
“We’ve
got to get him away from here before someone gets hurt,” Brian hissed to
Emerald as they ran. In his peripherals,
he could see children staring at them in confusion: Donald and Daisy Duck, only partially
costumed and missing their heads.
Knowing that a more disturbing sight was on its way – a dangerous one,
at that – Brian shouted, “Hey kids, watch out for evil Jafar! Be safe and stay out of his way! Look for Aladdin instead!”
“The
Hall of Presidents!” Emerald suddenly cried, pointing. “Let’s go there; no one else does!” But just as she said it, they noticed a
cluster of kids in blue polo shirts and khakis being led to the attraction’s
entrance. Emerald swore. “Fuck, a school group.”
“Over
there!” Brian bellowed, pulling her in a different direction. They passed Peter Pan’s Flight and slipped
beneath a sign that read “It’s a Small
World.” The line of waiting people
cried out in protest as they cut through it.
“CIA!” Brian yelled, wishing he was not dressed like a duck so that he
could flash his credentials at the discombobulated ride operator. “Shut the ride down; this is an emergency!”
There
was no need; the gun fired again from behind, and the line scattered with a
chorus of screams. The operator ducked
behind his podium as Jafar darted past.
The boat which had just been loaded emptied again as guests leapt out
and ran in fear. Brian jumped into
it. Emerald used it like a vault,
springing off one of the seats and into the canal. Realizing the boat was not moving, Brian
followed, and they splashed off through the shallow water, around the corner
and into the ride, knowing their opponent would follow.
± ± ±