Dorothy had nearly cried herself to sleep, and by the time she opened her eyes the next day, the monkeys were lowering her, Effigy, and Toto to the ground in front of the cabin for the Munchkin Incognito Coup of the East. The sun was at the top of the sky already. It had been just that long since they had been attacked. It had been just that long since they left Bo behind as he was wrestled to the ground by the Wizard's soldiers.

Dorothy rubbed her bleary eyes as her feet touched the ground. The monkeys unwrapped their hands from around her arms and bounced about some, screeching loudly.

Monkeys, go... monkeys, leave, monkeys go, she thought groggily as she took a few steps forward.The monkeys flapped their wings and ascended up into the sky, gliding far, far away from the cottage.

The door to the cabin opened suddenly, and one of the Munchkins stepped out. She was a plump Munchkin lady with jeans and a shirt, her long brown hair in a high ponytail.

"Dorothy Gale?" she asked quickly, running towards Dorothy.

She let out a quiet sob. "Yeah, that's me," she said, nearly choking on the lump in her throat.

The Munchkin lady put a hand on Dorothy's left elbow. "Are you okay? Those monkeys didn't hurt you, did they?"

Dorothy shook her head.

"What happened, honey? Wait, you can tell us what happened once we go inside," the Munchkin lady said, "You had a rough night, I'm sure."

Dorothy nodded again as she gathered her hair between her fingers at her scalp, tugging slightly. She knew that her eyes were probably so wide that they looked too big for her head."Toto, Effigy, come on," she muttered as she dropped her hands and stepped forward towards the cottage. The two robots followed quickly.

Effigy went around Dorothy and the Munchkin woman and was the first to step into the cabin, and she turned as she scanned the room strangely. She probably didn't recognize it, since she had to have her parts replaced and altered over the past several weeks. So, Dorothy didn't pay any attention to the caretaker android.

The lady lead her inside the cabin. She lead Dorothy to the kitchen, where Aras and a few other Munchkins were crouched together at the table, whispering quietly. There was a large piece of paper-- a map-- on the table, and Aras was pointing at a specific location on it. The leader of the M.I.C.E. picked up a pen and scratched a red circle around it, then crossed out an x on another spot on it.

The lady who had lead Dorothy inside cleared her throat loudly.

Aras looked up quickly, then her cold blue eyes fixated on Dorothy. She scooted out of her chair quickly and stood up.

"What happened?" Aras asked.

The lady shook her head a little and nudged Dorothy to an empty spot at the table and slid a chair out for her to sit down in. Dorothy sat down obediently, and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"We were leaving the city through the tunnels..." she choked, "We were surrounded. Bo held the guards off as I summoned Maridina's old monkeys to help us... they couldn't get him free." She folded her arms on the table and put her face down in them.

The Munchkins who were also sitting at the table began to murmur among themselves.

Aras stepped over to Dorothy and put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get him back. He's going to be okay. He knows how to take care of himself. He'll be okay."

Dorothy looked up at her a little, though the side of her head was still resting on her arm on the table.  

"Did he tell you about our plan?" Aras asked.

Dorothy shook her head. "He was going too... but he never got the chance to," she told her quietly.

"Well." Aras pulled a chair up beside Dorothy and sat down. "We're going to overthrow the Wizard."

Dorothy blinked and sat up. "Maridina was an ally of yours, wasn't she?"

"She was," another Munchkin chimed in.

"Yeah, but she defected because she couldn't stand the idea of us killing her sister. She supported he too much," Aras said with a roll of her eyes as she propped her head up with her hand, her elbow on the table. "And she and Glinda were at odds too much anyway. It doesn't matter anymore, anyway, since Dorothy killed her."

"The Glinda bit doesn't matter either," another Munchkin shot back. "She's the Wizard's little butt kisser. But hopefully she'll change her mind soon. She'll be great with rallying the people."

Dorothy shrunk back a little. "Well, Maridina wanted me to work with her to kill the Wizard. Is that your plan?"

Aras laughed. "That's exactly one of the reasons why we decided to add the word  coup to our name. There's going to be a total government upheaval once we kill that--"

"So that's really what you're doing? And that's the reason why you haven't disbanded since my ship landed on the Witch, isn't it?" Dorothy questioned.

"Well, yeah," Aras said. "I'm glad you finally caught up. So, I take that you're interested in joining our endeavours?"

Dorothy nodded, a more determined glint in her eye.

A Munchkin man suddenly burst into the room. "Guys, newsfeed. Now!" he said quickly.
On que, everyone else scrambled out of their seats at the table, the bottom of the chairs squeaking against the old tile flooring.

Aras stayed back with Dorothy for a moment. "Come on, the newsfeed has got something important," she told her quickly, then went off quickly after the others.

Dorothy got up and followed as well, not really caring what was on the news at the moment. Unless it had any news about Bo, which she doubted, but didn't entirely doubt, somehow.
She entered the living room, where everyone was settling in their seats. Aras held down a button on a remote controller to turn up the volume.

"Shut up!" she said quickly, glaring the room at the others before she turned her focus entirely to the newsfeed on the TV.

Dorothy sat down on the floor and looked up at the TV as the news reporter, all dressed in green as he stood in front of the green wall of the Emerald City, gestured towards a crime scene that was surrounded by a border of tape in a bright, neon green that read 'Do Not Enter - Crime Scene' all over it, and there were many people inspecting the area. Despite the reporter's position in terms of the so-called crime scene and the way that the camera was pointed at him, she could see one of the mechanical wings of one of her monkeys sticking up in the air.

"Last night, two conspirators against the Wizard and their robots-- reportedly a caretaker android and a dog-- attempted to escape Oz from a secret tunnel underneath the city. Experts believe that the tunnel was built by a terrorist group, but the identity of the group and their members is currently not definitive," the reporter said.

"However,  only one of the identities of the two conspirators are known. The one known is Bo Woods, who was detained and arrested last night. The unidentified conspirator is currently on the run with the two robots. Please report any suspicious persons or robots to your local officials. Back to you, Philia."

Dorothy spotted a tiny rectangle at the corner of the screen with a woman who was nodding seriously, and the rectangle expanded to fit the entire screen.

"Good morning, Oz, I am Philia Continga. The Wizard has personally released a statement for the people of Oz, and it reads as follows: 'Dear citizens of Oz, I commend you for your bravery as a people, as well as your loyalty to the one who is truly deserving of it. While many a fear has died with the death of the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West, there may be a growing fear about these terrorists who seek to strike fear into the hearts of each and every law-abiding citizen of the planet. Put these fears to rest, my dear friends, for I will have the situation handled.' Thank you, great and wonderful Oz. May the Wizard live as long as Oz does."

Aras clicked a button on the remote and the screen turned black as it had been turned off. She let out a few swears as she stood up from the couch.

"I knew it," Aras spat. "I knew it."

Dorothy nodded, bile rising up through her throat like a mole pushing through a tunnel.

"We need to do some planning. Bo's a strong person, and he's great at not talking, but we need to get him back to safety as soon as possible. Come on, everyone, we have a revolution we need to finish planning," Aras said with a hiss as she clenched her fists tightly.

"I couldn't agree more," Dorothy said as she pushed herself up off the dusty floor.

Effigy stepped into the room, and walked right past Dorothy. She stepped to the center of the room, turned slowly, appearing to scan it. She stopped, the main sensors on her face fixed on Aras.

"Aras Keeb detected," Effigy said in a cool voice that was completely unlike her usual caring tone. Aras froze at the sound of her name and turned to the android.

"Kill mode activated."