Running
Missy paused, out of sight of the three brats. She hadn't expected to just be handed the control, but it would have made things so much easier. No one else in the small group who'd stolen it from the Gestapo back during that war had had any idea what it was and she wasn't about to enlighten them, even now.
But due to circumstances beyond even her control, she'd been unable to take it for herself at the time. It had been sitting safely forgotten in Link's possession until now. But now she had need of it, if she was going to take advantage of Romana's TARDIS.
When the brats had slipped past her, she'd detected a faint psychic echo. Not the same kind as that given off by Romana's pet or her TARDIS, but something she was sure she'd come across before. Possibly in that small town that the pet liked so much. Though that seemed to be drowned out by the sheer amount of energy pouring from the rift that that town sat on.
"Oh, well, that can wait," Missy said. "Robberies to plan, chaos to put in motion."
She didn't have an infinite amount of time, even if she was a Time Lady. Get the control, and then investigate the psychic entity, if there was time. She'd told Romana to go away for a couple days, but there was very little chance that she would actually do it, she and her pets were so predictable. So her ticket out of there was already punched.
"If I were a TARDIS with a stuck up Academy pilot, where would I hide?" Missy said, licking her palm and holding her hand up into the breeze. "Of course, where else."
She started walking towards the center of town. Where else would a phone booth be except where you expect one to be, near one of those quaint little stores.
It didn't take much time to find the TARDIS, parked in an alley next to McAllister's Drug Store. It was locked, but she'd always been good with getting into locked places.
"Hello! Anyone home?" Missy shouted through the door. "The prodigal sheep has come looking for her feast. Anyone?" Empty, as expected, she thought with a snort.
"The Mistress has gone out," the tin dog said, blocking her entrance.
"Or not so empty," Missy muttered. "And I wasn't invited?" she said, stepping around the creature and peering down at the console controls.
"The Mistress said, if you return before she gets back, don't touch anything," K-9 said.
"I'm heartbroken at the lack of trust," Missy said, taking out her handkerchief and wiping away pretend tears.
"Trust must be earned," Romana said from the entrance, "and not abused."
"She's really good at that part," Joyce said, appearing behind her. "You missed a great sundae."
"I don't consume pet food," Missy said, haughtily.
"Your loss," Joyce said, tugging off her jacket and hanging it up.
"Did you retrieve your item?" Romana said. "Where to next?"
"Not yet," Missy said. "It will take a little longer than expected to remove it from its current location."
"Whomever has it won't give it to you, will they," Joyce said smugly. "If you need out help all you have to do is ask."
"I don't need any help," Missy said, grumbling to herself. "Just a little more time." Turning, she stomped through the inner door, disappearing into the depths of the TARDIS.
"It must not have gone well," Romana said. "Hopefully she hasn't killed anyone."
"So, what are we going to do with our time?" Joyce said. "The library? A movie? Another sundae?"
"Ready to leave at a moment's notice, would be best," Romana said. "No time to get tangled up in any local events."
"Want to play chess, K-9?" Joyce asked.
"Certainly, Miss," K-9 said.
Alvin stared at the pile of parts on his invention bench. They didn't look anything like the puzzle box Mr. Link had shown them. He had s small tin box, with a hinged lid that he'd found in the trash, a pile of gears from an old clock, and some rubber bands. He wasn't sure how to turn it into something like that, but if anyone could get it to work it was the Magnificent Brain.
He poked and prodded the pile of gears. Looked at the boxes of pieces and parts of things on the bench, and under it. Alvin contemplated the belt from his mother's vacuum cleaner, but shook his head. That was a robot part, not a puzzle calculator part.
"What are you making?" A soft voice said, making him jump. The Pest had managed, once more, to get into his room, past his world famous Foolproof Burglar Alarm. Since it was meant to keep,her out, it obviously had some flaw he hadn't noticed yet.
"None of your business," Alvin said, pushing the pile of gears and rubber bands away from her prying eyes.
"You're trying to make one of these," she said, holding up the puzzle box.
"Where'd you get that?" Alvin said.
"Mr Link, said I could take it home and play with it, yesterday," the Pest said smugly. "He said some of these have secret compartments." She waved it in front of his face.
"Let me see that," Alvin said, making a grab for it. "I need to look at it."
"Nu uh," she said. Turning, she ran out of his room, Alvin in hot pursuit. Laughing, she dodged around Shoie, as he came up the sidewalk, and raced away as fast as her eight year old legs could go.
"Stop her!" Alvin shouted. "Stop her, old bean."
Shoie, Roosevelt School's mightiest athlete, did a cartwheel, stopping next to Alvin, who was wheezing, and leaning forward. "What'd she do, old man?" he said.
"She has Mr Link's puzzle and won't let me look at it. I need to see how it works," Alvin said.
"She can't have gotten far," Shoie said.
Daphne stopped suddenly, barely avoiding knocking over the scary woman from the other day.
"Where are you going in such a hurry," the woman said, an undertone to her voice that froze Daphne on the spot. "And what's that you have?" She plucked the puzzle box out of Daphne's hand.
"That's not yours," Daphne said, trying to grab it back.
"I think I should take it for safe keeping," the woman said, her smile sending a shiver down Daphne's back.
"No," Daphne said, trying to get it back. Just as she missed, Alvin and Shoie appeared from around the corner and plowed into them, knocking the woman, and Daphne off their feet.
Daphne grabbed the puzzle box off of the ground, and shouted at Alvin, "She tried to take the puzzle box, run!" before sprinted for home. Shoie, displaying once more his awesome athleticism, pulled Alvin to his feet, and back down the sidewalk in pursuit.
The three of them had disappeared around the corner, and missed the woman's rather sinister statement, before she too walked away. "She'd make a decent pet," the woman muttered. "Small, so she wouldn't need to be fed much, a touch of the psychic presence, and young enough to learn. There's plenty of room. And she has the control. Much easier if she gives it to us."