A Talespin fanfic by Lizzy Spencer (KarmaCat) Page 17

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������� Orly leaned against a wall behind a bulkhead, in the dark, where she was sure none of the pirates could find her. A drip of nervous sweat glistened on her forehead. She was deeply afraid of meeting that Arson at every turn.
������� She leaned back against the wall and felt it give and little, creaking. It wasn't a wall she was leaning against, it was a cabinet of some sort. She slid away a sheet of metal and saw, to her surprise, and arsenal of guns.
������� "Oh," she whispered to herself. "Oh my God." They were large, threatening rifles. The kind of gun she had never learned to shoot.
������� There was a glint of silver in the corner. She looked down and saw a pistol.���� A pistol that looked awfully familiar. She picked it up and rubbed her finger over the barrel, feeling the small indents of designs in the steel,� feeling the smooth, polished pearl handle.
������� All at once she realized that she held her sister's pistol.
������� "What is this doing in here?" she asked into the darkness. She looked down and saw the dark bulge of Sarabi's purse thrown in the corner. One of the pirates must have swiped it in the struggle. Orly grinned and picked it up, thinking that her sister would be glad to have it back.
������� Because, she knew now, she was going to see her sister again. They needed her alive if they were to ransom her. And there was only one person on this craft who wanted her dead.
������� "Well," she said to herself, "at least now I'll have something to talk to Gabe about."
������� The girl looked around, trying to get her bearings, which was a difficult task considering that she had no idea of the schematics of the Iron Vulture. She had to make do with what she had.
������� There was a ladder in the corner leading to what looked like a vent. She climbed up and, tearing the grating off the hole, climbed into the vent, figuring that she could access almost any part of the ship from it.
������� Somewhere in the ship she heard a great ruckus. echoing. "WHAT!?" she heard Karnage yell. 'The girl has escap-ed? FIND HER, YOU IDIOTS! FIND HER!!"
������� Orly gasped and began to crawl through a cramped, dark vent, not knowing where she was going but heading there. Her knees thumping along was louder than she preferred, but she was too frightened to care. She wanted her father. She wanted her father. She wanted her fath-
������� Orly felt the floor give out from under all of a sudden. She had hit a spot that was too thin to hold her and out of the vent she came, tumbling, hitting the floor with a terrible slam. "Ooof!" she gasped, dust clouding around her. Another dark room. No, a hall.
������� She stood, not knowing which way to go, but then heard a voice accompanied by the creak of leather and the click of weaponry.
������� "Fancy seeing you here, sweetheart. It's a thin spot, in the ceiling right there. Fell through a couple times myself." Orly recognized the voice. It was Arson. Oddly enough, Orly wasn't frightened. In fact, she felt perfectly calm.
������� More calm than she had ever felt in her life.
������� Wherever she was, she didn't come into the light. Orly clutched her sister's pistol in a sweaty grip.
������� "So tell me, do you love your daddy?" Arson asked, silk threaded in her voice.
������� "Yes," Orly replied.
������� "I loved my daddy too." Click, creak. Orly could hear the bear shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "And, when I was seven, my daddy," click, "doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire," creak, "because of your daddy. Small world, isn't it?"
������� Orly swallowed and backed against a wall, so she could be sure of one direction the bear couldn't attack her from. "Sometimes sad things happen, ma'am," Orly said in a tone that echoed her father's to a tee. "But I had nothing to do with your father's suicide."
������� "I didn't say you had anything to do with it."
������� "Then why are you trying to kill me?" Orly felt for the trigger.
������� "Just desserts, kiddo." And she came into the light, every leathered inch of her. "I want him to find your body the way I found my father's." She pulled her aviator's glasses over her eyes. "Daddies and daughters, daddies and daughters, what a crazy pair," she mumbled to herself. She gave the flame-thrower a blast and advanced toward Orly.
������� "Just hold still, kiddo. It'll only hurt for a minute."
������� The girl jumped, and, before her mind even knew what her body was doing, she raised the pistol, aimed, and fired, the sound reverberating like thunder through the walls.
������� Orly shrieked as the bear fell backwards, partly because of the whole situation and partly because of what she had just done. Arson curled to the floor, holding her head, yelling, "MY EAR!!! MY STINKIN' EAR!!!"
������� Orly saw blood drip to the floor. Adrenaline streaked through her and she felt completely separate from her body. She was watching herself from across the room.
������� The flame-thrower had skittered to the girl's feet. She picked it up by the barrel.
������� Arson glared at her and tried to stand, grimacing. "C'mon, baby pond scum. C'mere," she growled.
������� And Orly did. Very matter-of-factly she stepped over to Arson, raised the flame-thrower high over her head, and brought it down on the back of Arson's neck. The bear made a slight sound and fell to the floor. Orly saw that a good two thirds of her ear had been blown clean off by the pistol blast.
������� Orly dropped the flame-thrower.
������� "Just desserts," she said, and, her unconscious knowing that none of the other pirates were out for her head, passed out next to her would-be killer.
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������� The Green Girl Ballistic sat in the bay of the Iron Vulture, a place Kit Cloudkicker never wanted his baby to be. But it was bound to happen sometime, he knew. Better by choice than not.
������� "Hello there, Mr. Khan," Karnage yelled over a bullhorn. "Come out. We have many things to discuss. My men have orders not to be shooting. Do not be worried."
������� Kit looked to Khan, who said, "Open the bay doors."
������� "You sure?"
������� Khan returned the question with a cross look and Kit did as told.
������� Shere walked down the platform, feeling Mr. Baloo's eyes on his back. If only that gray bear knew how frightened he really was. When he got to the iron floor of the pirate's bay he took a quick inventory. His daughter, looking groggy, was tied up and being held captive by a few pirates. She smiled with relief when she saw him and Shere resisted every urge in him to run to her and sweep her up in his arms, to keep her from ever getting hurt again.
������� The yellow bear was handcuffed to a supporting pole nearby, looking angry. Her head was wrapped in mummy-like bandages.
������� The pirates were staring at him as if expecting him to say something.
������� "I want my daughter," Shere said.
������� Karnage grinned wickedly, extending a hand to him. "Come with me, mon frere. We will negotiate, yes-no?" Two pirates with rifles rushed behind the tiger, poking him in the back.
������� "Very well," Shere replied calmly. He heard a clicking and look to his right. The yellow bear was struggling against the handcuffs and immediately� stopped when she saw Shere looking at her. She grinned at him.
������� Karnage led him off, away from the rest of the pirates.
������� "Now," the fox purred, "let us discuss the sordid topic of coin."
������� "What do you want for her?"
������� Karnage raised his eyebrow. "You have so much, mon frere, it is hard to figure it. But, this is how it goes. A little thing my friend Maddog made up, you see. He has his moments, you know?" Karnage laughed. Shere didn't. "We want five hundred million."
������� The tiger almost sighed in relief. He could GIVE that away.
������� "For the little toe."
������� "What?"
������� "Maybe six hundred for the next largest. For the whole foot, why, that might be up to eleven hundred million, you get the idea." He laughed wickedly. "Is fun, you know? Creative ransoming."
������� Shere narrowed his eyes. "How much for all of her, you insipid cretin?"
������� Karnage's face lit up, getting a kick out of the fact that he had gotten a rise out of Shere Khan. He tapped Shere's chest with the tip of his sword. "Probably more than you have. Or care to give. So there we are stuck."
������� "I will give anything." Shere closed his eyes and took a breath, thinking. "I have heard that you have a daughter of your own, Karnage. You understand how very precious they are, do you not?"
������� The fox's face hardened momentarily. "She is not mine," he said.
������� "Perhaps not, but you feel affection for the child. You love the child, don't you? You loved her the moment you saw her imitate something you do that you didn't even know you do. We have a common ground in understand that feeling." Shere wasn't sure from where this sudden eloquence was stemming, but it was working for him, for Karnage's face was falling into thought.
������� The fox suddenly put on his bravado and leaned against his sword, tipping his head in a cocky manner. "What does that have to do with anything, rich man?"
������� Shere watched the yellow bear out of the corner of his eye. She was still struggling against the handcuffs and grinning at him creepily.
������� "I propose a prisoner exchange. Her for me."
������� Karnage shrugged. "So what? I'll just have a big tiger on my hands instead of a little one. But I am assuming that is not all."
������� "You assume correctly. When my daughter steps safely into the plane, I will sign my entire estate over to you, and all profits made thereafter. You'll be the richest man in the world, Karnage. Does that sound like a fair agreement to you?" Shere didn't make the proposal in a fool hearty manner. He was going to get out of it with both his daughters alive.
������� He just didn't know how yet.
������� But he would, even if it meant sacrificing his own life in order to do it.
������� Karnage's face lit up and he grinned, considered it for a moment. He extended a hand to the tiger, expecting a handshake.
������� "Deal," the fox said, holding his palm open.
������� Shere did not shake his hand. "Then let's get it over with, shall we?"
������� And across the room, a bent paper clip was being wedged into a handcuff lock by the two sweaty, yellow fingers of an enraged bear named Arson. "Almost there, c'mon baby, almost there...."
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������� Sarabi opened her eyes.
������� She had her own hands.
������� She was glitteringly, wonderfully aware.
������� She understood.
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������� "Take her into the plane," Karnage ordered, gesturing to Orly. "We have something much more valuable now." He grinned and LaRoca came up next to him. He leaned over and kissed her, saying, "Nous sommes tres riche, ma cherie!� Tout le monde est notre!//We are very rich, my love! The whole world is ours!//"
������� The pirates nodded and pushed the struggling girl into the plane. She looked back fleetingly to her father, yelling, "Don't do it, papa! Don't sign the paper!"
������� Shere only shook his head. This was the one time that his God-given paranoia had backfired on him. He always carried an unsigned legal contract with him that had the ability to transfer his estate to the person of his choosing in case of some unspeakable emergency.
������� It seemed that that had come up.
������� Shere looked to the plane as the pirates shoved Orly into the cabin and backed down the ramp. She tired to run out again, but Baloo grabbed her by the elbows. She fought against his grip.
������� Orly, he thought, Orly. So full of her mother's spitfire passion, the very thing that had made him fall in love with the woman in the first place. August may have appeared sweet as pie, but in reality, she didn't take anything from anybody, including her own husband. Orly was the same way.
������� He looked up, and, to his surprise, he saw Sarabi standing where the ramp met the plane. Her face was completely still except for what appeared to be a slight, Mona-Lisa-esque smile. And she was glowing. But this wasn't a healthy kind of glow like he had seen in the hospital room. This was a physical glow of light. A light blue glow that permeated through her whole body. All the pirates except Karnage were staring at it, trying to place what they were seeing. The red fox jabbed Shere in the side with his sword. "Take out the paper, mon frere."
������� Shere tore his eyes away from Sarabi and slipped the contract out of his jacket pocket, and then looked to Karnage. He would have laughed. "Do you have a pen?"
������� "A what?"
������� "A PEN, you arrogant dullard."
������� "No need for insults, Mr. Khan. Gibber, get our," he paused and looked Shere over,������������������� "ESTEEMED GUEST a pen, would you?"
������� The small dog whispered something in his ear.
������� "I don't CARE if it's red or black! Just get it!"
������� Gibber pulled a black pen out from one of the folds of his droopy clothing. Karnage snapped it out of his hand and jerked it towards Khan. "Your daughter is on the plane. Sign," he ordered.
������� Shere took a deep breath and touched the pen to paper, the tip scratching out a large, shaky "S"- but then he heard something that made him look up. It was a clink. The clink of metal against metal.
������� The clink of a pair of empty handcuffs hitting an iron pole.
������� "Sign! Sign! Sign!" Karnage fumed.
������� Shere whipped his head around, furtively looking for Arson. "The one you handcuffed," he began, "she's-"
������� "SIGN!!" Karnage's face was turning redder.
������� A creak made Shere look up to the corner of the bay. He saw the glint of a chain being pulled taught and then let go. But, to his surprise, the yellow bear was swinging on it, a demonic look on her face, swinging right towards him, screaming, aiming a large rifle right at his forehead, finger against the trigger, and Shere knew that this was the end for him, dying bravely at least, there was no way he could move before a bullet surely took him between the eyes - it would be quick - it would be quick - and in a moment he wouldn't be able to hear either the infuriated screaming of this woman or the terrified shriek Orly sent forth into the great chamber- a fitting end, he supposed, dying for the only two things that really mattered to him - the contract flittered out of his hand and onto the floor- he watched that yellow finger start to pull back against the trigger and refused to close his eyes in this moment of death-
������� There was a terrific flash of light, and all of a sudden, it all stopped. The bear's rifle clattered to the floor, the bear herself swiftly following. Shere blinked, not believing that he wasn't dead, the bear writhing on the floor, curling herself into a fetal position. One of her clips of gasoline cracked and spilled onto the contract. The entire chamber was filled with a brilliant blue light. He looked to Karnage. His eyes had gone wide and he was clutching at his throat as if he couldn't breath.
������� And then� Shere thought to look to his eldest daughter.
������� His jaw dropped.
������� A sphere of aquiline light surrounded her, eking warm power. She was walking, no, gliding, towards him, her arms bent in front of her as if she were carrying a tray, but instead of a tray there was a pulsating bolt of electricity careening back and forth between her hands. Her creamy hair flew above her in a cloud, blown by an invisible wind.� Sarabi's eyes were glowing solid, powerful white.
������� Seeing this, Shere still wasn't quite sure that he wasn't dead. Perhaps this was an angel sent from heaven to lead him into a business conference with the God he had forgotten to believe in?
������� No, it was his daughter. It was a goddess. It was both.
������� All around him pirates were choking on themselves.
������� "Sarabi," Shere chortled, "What...what did you do to them?"
������� "I have stopped their breath," she replied. "Only for a moment. They will not die." Her voice was a combination of his Sarabi, a tone deeper, and a tone higher. She looked to the curled figure of Arson on the floor and began to reach for her. "This one needs healing," she stated. "Her soul has many taints. I-" Sarabi looked to him for him for a second, and her glow suddenly faded away, all the light in the room rapidly slamming back into her body. Her eyes lost their whiteness and she looked at her father and smiled before her now blue eyes rolled back into her head and she fell, unconscious, into his arms.
������� All around him, pirates heaved in great breaths of air.
������� Shere picked up the limp body of his daughter and began to run. His foot skidded over one of Arson's matchbooks, scraping it against a rough spot in the floor, it ignited, setting the gasoline spill on fire, the contract burning away behind him.
������� He charged up the ramp and onto the blessed figure of the Green Girl Ballistic. "Go, Mr. Cloudkicker, get us out of here, now!"
������� "Right! Hold on, everybody, we're going through the beak!"
������� There was a roar of engines and a tremendous crash that sent most everyone in the cabin flying, and the next thing Shere saw was blue sky out the window, the Iron Vulture quickly receding behind them, it's beak deformed like the mouth of a slain dragon.
������� He couldn't believe it. Sarabi was still alive. Orly was still alive.
������� And he was still alive for them.
������� Orly, wide-eyed and bewildered, crawled to her father and hugged him around the neck. Sarabi rested limply against his shoulder. "Papa," Orly whispered. "what just happened?"
������� He smiled. "I don't know, my love. I don't know."
������� And then there was heard a sound that few mortals on that planet were ever to hear.
������� It was the sound of Shere Khan laughing.
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