Disclaimer: If it ain't Disney's it's mine.

Thanks: Aero for threatening my life if I didn't write the next part.


**********
Tick tick tick.

Ricia stared at the wall.

Tick tick tick.

She didn't blink or move a muscle.

Then....

Every clock chimed the hour. Hundreds upon hundreds of clocks ringing and clanging.

"Your joke science has been wiped from Saint Canard University"

"Joke science"

"Joke science"

Ringing and clanging

"You're the last one Ricia"

"You're the last!"

"The last"

Ringing and clanging

"All the time in the world"

"All the time in the world"

Time

Ringing

Time

Clanging

Then it stopped

Tick tick tick

*************
"So you see that's how I won the Hyzine Award for chicken farming."

Ricia nodded. Her personal ad had worked. Sort of. She had arranged 
a date with a Mister Quackren. So far he was boring, rude and 
obnoxious She smiled sweetly and said, "That's wonderful. Now if 
you'll excuse me I have to go before I beat your head in with the 
napkin holder. Good night."

Ricia walked out of the restaurant. She seemed to be doing that alot 
lately. She was sick of people. Maybe she'd just become a hermit and 
live in a cave. Normal flow of time be damned. Chaos sounded kind of 
nice. 

She found her self walking past the old lighthouse. Now there was 
the perfect place. Great view. Nobody to bug you. Really good 
reading light.

"Look out!"

Huh?

WHAM!

Ricia was sprawled on the ground. Next to her was a slightly dented 
toaster.

"Are you alright?" 

Ricia groaned. "I think so."

The stranger looked annoyed. "Not you! The toaster!"

Ricia stared at him. He was a rat type creature, dressed in a 
strange jumpsuit with a battery on his back and a plug hat on his 
head. She recognized him from the papers. Megavolt.

When confronted with a toaster wielding super villian, the sensible 
course is to scream and run.

Ricia stood up and glared at him. "That toaster nearly gave me a 
concussion!"

Megavolt looked at her. "You put a big dent in him"

"He started it!"

"Did not"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too...I'm not having this conversation. Look I want an apology 
and I want one right now!"

"From the toaster?"

"I don't care who apologizes! I'm in pain and I just got fired and 
had a really bad date! I'm in a very bad mood."

Megavolt considered this, at least he looked like he was considerng 
it. He could have been thinking about bagels. At last he looked at 
her. "You're hurt?"

Ricia blew up. "No! I always bleed from my forehead!" 

He backed away a little. She continued to seethe at him til the 
dizziness took over and she collasped.

*********
She awoke in a small room, her head bandaged. It took her a second 
to realize she was inside the lighthouse. Megavolt sat staring at her.

"Um...are you okay?"

Ricia looked warily at him. "Who? Me or the toaster?"

"You."

"I've got a headache but I'm okay."

"He's sorry. The toaster is sorry"

Ricia's facial expression softened. "How is he? Is he okay?"

Megavolt looked at her in surprise. "You really care?"

"Of course. I know how it is. I have...clocks."

"Clocks?"

Ricia closed her eyes. "Clocks. Hundreds of clocks. And I know all 
their voices and all their songs. Joy. Fear. Anger." She opened her 
eyes and gazed steadily at Megavolt. "So you see I understand such 
things."

Megavolt just continued to stare at her. She sighed and glanced at 
her pocketwatch.

"That's nice."

Suddenly Ricia remembered she was with a supervillian. She clutched 
her watch to her. "You can't have it! You can't touch it!"

Megavolt tilted his head. "Why?"

Ricia blinked. "Um......" Truth be told she had no idea. Her father 
had said something terrible would happen if somebody besides a 
Fedora touched the watch. "You can't touch the watch cause you're 
not a Fedora."

Megavolt blinked in confusion. "I can't touch the watch cause I'm 
not a hat?"

Ricia laughed in spite of herself. "No! My last name is Fedora. Only 
people with Fedora blood can touch the Time Keeper's pocketwatch."

Megavolt just nodded and wandered off to check on Mr. Toaster.

Ricia sat in the bed looking around her. The room was filled with 
odds and ends, most of which we're a complete mystery to her. She 
got up and walked over to something that looked like it was made of 
coat hangers and an old washing machine. She reached over to press 
the button. Suddenly a gloved hand grabbed hers. "Don't", Megavolt 
commanded. 

Ricia started in surprise. "I...I didn't mean...I was just...um...
How's the toaster?"

"He wants to see you."

"Lead the way"

Ricia and Megavolt spent a good part of the day talking to different 
household appliances. Megavolt introduced her to the blender. She 
was a willful creature who did what she liked. Ricia admitted it 
reminded her of her own blender. Megavolt assured her most blenders 
were like that. The dryer was a old and wise machine who'd seen many 
things. Ricia listens enraptured by his tales of lights and darks, 
of delicates and permanant press. She listened with pity as he 
sobbed out his story of a shrunken sweater. 

Just as Megavolt was introducing the desklamp Ricia looked at her 
watch and gasped. "I have to go! My clocks need to be wound!"

Megavolt looked disappointed. "Do you have to?"

Ricia nodded pulling on her coat. "They need to be wound. Some of 
them anyway. A few are self-winding...some are digital. But I need 
to get home. Thank you for everything." She patted the toaster 
gently, quickly hugged Megavolt and ran out the door.

Megavolt's eyes widened as he stared at the closed door.

Then he smiled.

*******
Ricia fumbled for her keys. A eerie silence met her ears. She was 
late but...not all the clocks should have stopped. She opened the 
door and saw the reason for the silence.

The mess was incredible. Clock parts strewn all over the place, 
splintered wood and broken glass littered the carpet. Ricia picked 
her way through it desperately looking for something intact. 
Everything was destroyed.

Trying to keep herself from screaming she reached for the phone to 
called the police.

End Part III