Episode 6: It’s a Small World
Part 7
Dr. Rough’s senses were on overload as he waded through the canal of the ride. The cool water quickly saturated his robes, and he shivered at the sudden temperature change. He rounded the first bend of the canal and was rendered temporarily blind. The tunnel of water was plunged into darkness, but his eyes adjusted to take in the bright lights and colors of the platforms on both sides, where little animatronic dolls danced and spun.
He could no longer see the HimTak agents, not even their shadowy silhouettes. However, he could still hear them splashing ahead of him for a few seconds. Then their watery footfalls were drowned out by the music. That horrible music…
The words were being sung in a language he didn’t recognize, but the awful, unchanging melody was one he would never forget. It would be stuck in his head forever.
Dr. Rough shuddered and pressed on. His waterlogged costume had become heavy; it tangled around his legs as he tried to jog. On his shoulder, Dr. Twitches squeaked in annoyance as he was splashed with a few drops. “We can’t let them get away, Dr. Twitches!” he gasped. “They’ll ruin everything!”
Hitching his dripping robes up with one hand, clutching his gun with the other, he slogged on through the canal.
***
“This music is the most fucking annoying thing I’ve ever heard!” Emerald hissed as Brian reached down from the bank of the canal and offered her his hand. She ignored it, boosting herself up and out of the water with ease.
As soon as she was on the stage, standing among the happy, moving puppets, she aimed a kick at one of the little Swedish girls dancing on a rotating platform. The doll toppled stiffly over, pulling her dancing partner with her. They lay dead among the other dancers, still spinning round and round.
“Aw, c’mon, don’t break the ride,” Brian chided her. “Let’s just get out of here before he catches up to us. We can nab him on the other side.”
They hurried through the scores of animatronics representing Europe. Brian was careful not to disturb any of the props, while Emerald grew progressively aggravated by the endless repetition of “It’s a Small World.” When they passed the neat rows of toy soldiers, drumming away in time, she couldn’t resist drawing her gun again. Like ducks in a carnival game, the soldiers dropped one by one as she shot them point-blank until none were left to stand guard.
“Emerald! Summer!” Brian cried out, appalled. “Stop that!”
He grabbed her shoulder and twisted her away, yanking her through the rest of the Europe room so quickly, she didn’t have time to aim.
***
Dr. Rough heard the distant shots and quickened his pace, determined to catch up. He could not let the two agents get out of the ride alive.
Then a disturbing thought occurred to him: What if they were not just trying to outrun him but planning to ambush him? They could be hiding anywhere, among the moving scenery and hundreds of dancing dolls. The gunfire could be one agent’s diversion while the other was lurking somewhere, taking aim…
His head jerked about on his neck, his frantic eyes darting in all directions. He felt very exposed, standing in the middle of the water without even the hull of a boat to protect him. Fearful, he ducked low in the water, sinking up to his neck. Dr. Twitches, now half-soaked, chattered angrily. “Shush, Twitches!” Dr. Rough hissed. “Daddy needs his Twitches to be a good little boy now. You like to swim, don’t you, baby?” He mollycoddled the ferret in hushed tones, nervously stroking its damp, matted fur. Dr. Twitches, who was getting wetter with each pat, had had enough and sank his teeth into his master’s neck.
Dr. Rough swore and reached up to swipe at the ferret, but it was too quick for him. Dr. Twitches launched himself off his shoulder and onto the dry bank of the canal, which served as the ride’s stage. Watching his precious pet disappear among the animatronic scenery, Dr. Rough gasped and splashed after him, struggling to pull himself up onto the stage.
He temporarily forgot about the threat of Himitsu Takana as he raced through the foreign lands after his prized minion. Europe became Asia, which transformed into Africa as the ride darkened. Monkeys, elephants, and giraffes loomed overhead while tribal drums pounded along to the obnoxious music. His enemies could be here, hiding among the tiny natives…
He knelt behind a pyramid topped with a man on a camel and lifted his wrist to his face. He slid back a hidden panel on the black wrist cuff he wore to reveal a small, glowing touchscreen. A couple of taps was all it took to connect with one of his minions. After a few moments, Mickey Mouse’s grinning face filled the screen.
“Fatone!” Dr. Rough gasped. “You’re still in Fantasyland?”
“At my cottage, guarding the machine like you told me to, Dr. Rough,” replied Joey through his Mickey mask.
“Leave it for the time being, and get to the Small World ride. Bring as many others as you can find. Himitsu Takana is here, and they’re waiting to ambush me inside the ride… but not if FANS surprises them first. Come in through the ride’s exit.”
“On it, boss. Over and out.”
The screen faded to black. Closing the secret panel on his communicator, Dr. Rough straightened and took off again. His breath came in short gasps as he ran, bogged down by his soaking wet costume. He looked neither right nor left, determined to get himself through the attraction and back out into the sunlight.
***
Finally out of the darkness, Brian and Emerald stopped running and took cover behind a trash receptacle just past the exit to “It’s a Small World.”
“He couldn’t have been far behind us,” Brian spoke in a low voice, keeping his gun concealed between his body and the trash can. “He should come out any minute.”
And then they would make their move. Point their guns, force him to surrender his weapon, and arrest him, even before he was clear of the exit line. With any luck, no children would even witness what was about to happen. And if they did, they could play it off. “Daisy and I are honorary police! We’re here to arrest Jafar for his crimes against Aladdin and Jasmine!” The kids would buy it, no problem.
So they waited, eyes trained on the exit for the first sign of movement.
But movement in their peripherals got their attention first, yet too late for them to react. Emerald managed to raise her gun, but it was quickly kicked out of her hands by Pluto. Before Brian could get in a shot of his own, Mickey Mouse — the Mickey they had been looking for — raised his own weapon and pistol-whipped him. The light and heat of the Florida sun disappeared as The Rok sank into a dark, cold oblivion.
***
Inside the neverending ride, Dr. Rough skidded through Antarctica, where penguins, rather than children, twirled merrily. He thought of MJ and the ice fortress destroyed by 00Carter. Was Carter here now? Dr. Rough could see his plans falling apart before his eyes. Yet he continued on through South America, Hawaii, and Australia and thought with some desperation, Someday, I will own them all. Himitsu Takana had meddled yet again, but he would not fail. He would take over the world one day, and it would be his.
“It’s a small world after all…”
He found himself in a large room where all the dolls were dressed in white and danced and sang in English.
“It’s a small world after all…”
A shudder ran through him. The world controlled by Dr. Rough would not be a small one. It would be an empire, the likes of which had never been seen. He would do what the great leaders of history, what Alexander, what Napoleon, what Hitler had set out to do, but never accomplished. He would rule the entire world!
“It’s a small world after all…”
And that world would not be small! He hated the word small!
“It’s a small… small… world!”
“No!” Dr. Rough cried out. “It’s not a small world! It’s not a small world! It’s not! It’s not!”
“There is just one moon and one golden sun…”
“I shall rule the moon! I shall rule the sun! I am the sun!” screamed Dr. Rough. “The fate of the world depends on me!”
“And a smile means friendship to everyone…”
“There shall be no smiles! There shall be no friendship!”
“Though the mountains divide, and the oceans are wide…”
“No! Noooooo!” Dr. Rough fell to his knees, clapping his hands over his ears.
“It’s a small world after all…”
“It’s not! It’s not a small world!” he pleaded, lowering his forehead to his knees and rocking. “It’s not… a small… world! I’m… not… small!” The great leader of FANS fell over, curled into the fetal position, and twitched there on the floor, whimpering over and over again, “I’m not… I’m not small; I’m not…”
When his minions found him there, Joey gave Abs a grave look and murmured, “No one is to ever know about this, got it? You calm him down and get him out of here. I’ll take care of our HimTak friends.”
***
Pearl did not like the feeling in the pit of her stomach. She pushed Shazam; they needed to keep moving. They forced their way through the crowd, attempting to join the throng of people in line for Space Mountain, and managed to find a clear, open area. A small beeping noise emanated from her wrist. Despite Shazam’s earlier protests, her “watch” blended in with her costume enough that no one noticed it, even after she pushed down her glove. As the device beeped at her, she examined its screen to see just how close they were.
“Hey, Cinderella!” someone shouted.
“Quick, before tourists catch us,” Shazam seethed.
“We have to be careful; with a bomb there, someone will surely be here to stand guard!” Pearl shouted as they ran. The duo raced by everything so quickly that they did not notice the strange behavior of Buzz Lightyear as he pursued Ariel, the Little Mermaid.
They managed to find a doorway towards the back that led to the maintenance room for the ride. Shazam tried the door. When it did not budge, he glanced around quickly and found the key badge lock. He was not going to make himself look a fool again by attempting to bash down the door.
“Another room full of computers.” Pearl smirked. She was shocked, however, that this room wasn’t constantly monitored. The ride was always breaking down, so you would think someone would be there to make sure it ran smoothly. Her eyes skipped down to the watch that wouldn’t shut up.
Shazam was already tired of hearing it. “What is that annoying thing you insisted on having?” he asked, knowing full well that with her, watches never told time.
“It’s what the military calls a Fido sensor; it sniffs out bombs. Only mine’s a better model — and easy to wear in watch form. I wear it on missions, just in case.” She had forgotten she had the thing on when they had left for the so-called vacation. Lucky for them.
Pearl searched the room for some way to access the ride. Studying a schedule taped on the wall, she realized there were two tracks, the Alpha and the Omega track. “C’mon!” she shouted to Shazam as she found a door on the opposite side of the room that said OMEGA TRACK: EMPLOYEES ONLY.
“No lock on this door.” Shazam grinned and shoved the door open. They stepped through and were plunged into total darkness. He knew they were close when he heard distant screams and the rattle of roller coaster cars racing along the track, but the sound made his blood run cold. “Great, how are we supposed to find this thing now? And how are we supposed to avoid the coasters?”
“I saw a schedule inside that room. This is the Omega track, and according to the schedule, it’s closed for repairs at the moment. Perfect opportunity for someone to place something inside this ride.” Putting her gloved hand against the wall, Pearl started to walk towards the blinking light that was growing stronger. “This way.” She held up her wrist so Shazam would know what direction to go.
After a few minutes — and more than a few curses as Pearl stumbled along in her blue dress and heels — her device let out an earsplitting screech.
“Over here.”
She scoured the building as her eyes adjusted to the dark, but the flashing blue lights disoriented her, making the search seem longer.
“What is that?” Shazam tapped her shoulder and grabbed her head, turning it toward the large box attached to the track.
“I can move my own head.” Pearl shrugged his hands off her and stared in the direction he had forced her to look. “Shit, that’s it. This may be the real problem… but then why bother with the weather machine?”
Without waiting for an answer, she crawled onto the track to examine the bomb. “We’re in luck; it’s a simple device. I should be able to disarm the timer and remove it from the track, but I’ll need to take the entire thing back with us to neutralize it. It’s too dark in here. Something else is a bit odd, too, almost like it’s supposed to be some sort of power source…”
“Right; I should have known.” Shazam looked anxiously around. Though Pearl assured him this track was shut down, the proximity of the other coaster running the track left him uneasy. “Hurry up,” he urged.
“I’m trying. I can’t get a good grip on the wires with these stupid gloves on.” Pearl sounded frustrated.
“So take them off.”
Pearl was already one step ahead of him. The satiny white gloves fluttered to the floor as she tore them off. With her bare hands, she was able to grab hold of the wires, but the darkness and flashing blue lights made it difficult to see which wire needed to be cut in order to stop the timer that now showed a matter of minutes. “Do you have a knife?” she asked Shazam.
“Careful,” he said as he placed something hard in her palm. It seemed he had managed to sneak something useful into his costume after all.
“Thanks.” She wrapped her fingers around the handle of the knife. Holding her breath and wishing for luck, she severed the red wire. The clock on the timer automatically shut off. She let out her breath and set about unstrapping the bomb from the track.
“About time.” Shazam sighed with relief. He was glad it was dark enough in the room that Pearl would not be able to see the sweat pouring off his brow.
“Let’s take this to K.” Pearl started back towards the door when the distant rumbling and screaming sounds grew louder. Shazam pushed her up against the wall and flattened himself just in time as a rush of wind passed: the Omega track was up and running after all.
“Thanks,” Pearl squeaked out.
***