No one had slept except for Tony, who according to Daisy was not that different from a toddler, able to sleep anywhere and anytime at the drop of a hat. Lucy envied his ability to sleep so easily and was grateful when Bowser set out a pot of coffee and a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the counter for them all as they gathered in the kitchen. Lucy took one bite and let out a small sigh of delight as the sweet and chocolatey goodness melted in her mouth.
"Try dipping it in the coffee," Bowser said with a wink at her, which she did and it was amazing.
"I hope everyone has had a chance to rest. I think this is going to be a long night," Maverick said as he plopped a map down onto the counter and spread it out for everyone to see. It was a map of the city and Maverick took a pencil and circled a building and then took his pencil far from that spot and circled another building.
"This is us," he said, pointing at the first circle. "And this is where we have to go," he said, traveling across the paper to the other circle.
"The police station has always been outside of our area of influence," Tony said.
"Yes it has. Unfortunately the police don't let us help in their neighborhood. Just being there will be conspicuous and put us at risk of being arrested," Maverick said.
"But if the witches work with the police we should be fine right?" Daisy asked.
"Not necessarily. Not everyone will know what we're there for and when we do travel near the police station we usually do it in ones or twos to be covert. There will be four of us tonight. Tony, did you hear back from Dodge?" Maverick asked.
"Yes, she's on her way now. She should be here in a few minutes," he said.
"Good," Maverick nodded. "We should travel through the alleyways as much as possible, but I received word not long ago that the police chief has issued a curfew on the south and east parts of the city."
"A curfew?" Daisy asked, incredulous.
"There have been too many disappearances and deaths at night lately. The numbers are skyrocketing so they're trying to minimize the potential for bad public relations by keeping everyone in. Which means we will have to travel off the main roads once we get close to the police station," Maverick said.
"Bowser, I was going to have you stay here with Lucy but I think we need the car manned in case we need to get away in a hurry. Lucy, do you think you will be alright on your own for a few hours?" Maverick asked Lucy. She nodded.
The others continued to discuss the details of the plan as Lucy got lost in her thoughts, something she had no memory of doing before. What if the witches figured out that Dodge wasn't Lucy? What if they didn't let Bali go and the only way to get her back was to actually exchange hostages? Lucy hated the idea of Bali being locked up because of her. She felt guilty and was worried that this plan wasn't going to succeed. She had no reason to doubt that her new friends made a good team and could handle the situation, except that they had been surprised more than once by the enemies' plans and persistence to catch Lucy and she feared they would be surprised again that night.
Lucy hovered in the background as they all talked, feeling helpless, knowing she could not contribute, and she was relieved when there was a ping on Tony's cell phone and the conversation finally shifted.
"That's Dodge," he said with a smile, running to the bunker door and disappearing for a few moments before returning with a very short female.
Dodge was barely up to Lucy's shoulders. She had black hair that was so curly you could barely see her face and scrunched up nose that made her look like she had just sniffed something she didn't approve of.
"Wowza, this place is a mess! Hi ya I'm Dodge, nice to meet, howdy," the young woman muttered a string of greetings to the room at large, not looking any one person in the eye as she did so.
"Hey, are these cookies for just anybody?" she asked, grabbing three cookies off the plate without waiting for a reply and then dipping them into Daisy's mug of half drunk coffee without asking her first.
"Well, this is an interesting set up you have down here," she mumbled through a mouthful of cookies.
"We appreciate you coming on such short notice Dodge. Like I said on the phone this won't be a low risk job," Tony said frankly to the short woman who nodded and grunted and then stuffed more cookies into her mouth before turning to Daisy.
"You must be the girl, right? I can tell you got that desperate, I could get kidnapped at any moment look in your eye," Dodge said with a knowing nod, until Daisy shook her head, apparently at a loss for words and pointed at Lucy.
"Of course, that was a joke. I knew it was you all along, nice to meet you," Dodge said coming over to Lucy and getting uncomfortably close to her face as if she were trying to count her freckles.
"Ok, I'm ready," she said, turning away abruptly.
"Are you sure? You don't need any more time?" Tony asked her.
"Of course I'm sure pal, this isn't my first rodeo," Dodge said with an air of offense in her tone. She wiped the crumbs from her hands and closed her eyes and to everyone's amazement she transformed, growing in height as her hair straightened out and then wove itself into a loose French braid. It only took seconds and she looked so much like Lucy it was frightening.
Dodge turned and faced Lucy and then noticing the way Lucy held onto her casted arm with her good one, hugging it to her chest, Dodge did the same. Lucy dropped her good hand and Dodge dropped hers, then Lucy took a step back and Dodge took a step back.
"Cut it out!" Lucy cried, feeling very taken aback by how identical Dodge had become to herself.
"Sorry, I was just trying to get your mannerisms down," Dodge's voice came out of Lucy's mouth and everybody stared in horror.
"You still sound like Dodge?!" Daisy said.
"Of course I do. I can only copy appearances. The rest has to be learned and practiced, but since prince charming over here made it very clear there wouldn't be time, this is what you get," the Dodge that was Lucy said in her rough way.
"It will have to do. You will just have to remain quiet until we can secure Bali," Maverick said.
Dodge shrugged but said nothing as if already practicing her part in the final act of this weird play they were about to put on. Maverick looked at his watch and said, "it's showtime," and then everything happened too quickly for Lucy. They gathered their things together, everyone making sure they had their augmentors and Daisy was able to find a spare one for fake Lucy to have.
"Hey," Tony's voice startled Lucy as she leaned against the wall, watching all of the activity. "I know you wanted to come. I'm sorry, it must feel frustrating to watch us all getting to be part of the mission," he said, genuine concern evident in his face.
"It's not that," Lucy said blushing at his attention but without feeling the need to pull away from it. "Something just doesn't feel right to me Tony. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Listen, we've got a good plan. Maverick will be with us and he's amazing in a fight, honestly, and we have four augmentors this time. Plus we know what we are up against. We won't be walking into this blind. It will be ok."
"Come on Tony, it's time to go!" Daisy called and they all filed towards the door. Tony turned back to Lucy and reached out a little hesitant at first, putting his hand on her arm and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I feel better knowing that you are here and that you are safe," he added before turning and joining the others, leaving Lucy standing alone in the empty bunker.
Lucy sat down at the wall of computers and watched on the security system as five people traipsed up the staircase and into the alleyway, where another black car with tinted windows was waiting for them. They all climbed in, Bowser taking the driver's seat, and after a few minutes of silence the car finally started and drove out of Lucy's view.