Chapter Two: Escape and Abduction.
By DeceptiveSoftness [ Softie ]
Bruno cursed again when the lad exhaled slowly in something akin to a death rattle and went limp in his arms. This wasn't something he could fix, this wasn't something he could mend and patch back together because people, living people, weren't his area of expertise.
Oh give him a machine. Give him a wrench and some screws and a hard drive and he could make miracles. Give him wires and chips and bolts and he could create masterpieces. He could build and fix and maintain cool steel and whirring mechanics. But people, they were the real mystery.
Bruno let out a frustrated sigh as the tower gave an ominous grumble and some debris floated morosely down from the broken ceiling. He looked up at the jagged hole in the plaster and winced at the blood splattered across the wood and steel alike. The poor boy had fallen from god knows how high to here. It was a wonder he was still alive.
Bruno's lips twisted into a grimace when he looked down at the broken child in his arms. He could barely even begin to categorize his wounds, the most obvious of which were his broken arm. The boy's clothes were filthy with dust and patches of blood that grew steadily with each passing moment. Even if he had survived the fall Bruno doubted he would last much longer.
From the sound of the boys gurgling, shallow breaths he'd probably broken a rib that had, in turn, pierced his lungs and they just didn't have the facilities in the village to deal with such injuries. What use did a village of robots have for a hospital? Little Flora was as lovely and as delicate as her late mother and hardly ever left her house on top of the tower so it wasn't like she needed advanced medical attention. It wasn't like any of the residents of St Mystere would so much as let the wind touch her too harshly. Flora was never to need it so it hadn't existed.
Thinking of Flora sent a small pang of worry though the elderly mechanic. Before he had felt like he could trust the clever Professor who'd unknowingly fought his way to become the protector of the greatest treasure in St Mystere. Before he'd had no doubts that the man would be able to take care of Flora or that he'd protect her with all he had but now...
Now there was a living, breathing contradiction lying limp in his arms. How could he expect the Professor to keep Flora safe when he hadn't even been able to protect his own apprentice. What if it had of been Flora that had plummeted to her death? Slight, delicate Flora who's voice barely raised above a whisper. Tiny, brave Flora who'd never so much as hurt a fly. What if it had of been her that had fell.
Bruno cursed again as the tower started to shake and then hurried out the door with the unconscious boy in his arms. Just across from the door was what Bruno liked to call his 'Emergency Exit'. When he'd first designed the tower he'd had untold amount of space to work with. Each floor had but one puzzle in it and all he had to do was make sure that the floors were only traversable once you completed the puzzles. He'd basically been given the rest of the tower, except for Floras house on top, to do with what he wished.
He had been like the proverbial child in a candy store and he'd made a whole bunch of stairways that led to no where, rooms without doors and great spiralling machines that had no other purpose except to look weird.
His favourite creation though had to be the window that opened into a vent that if followed would turn into a slide along the outside of the building that deposited the slider outside safe and sound at ground level. For a minute moment Bruno questioned the wisdom of sliding down the side of a crumbling building with a dying boy in his lap but when the tower gave yet another warning shake he was left with no choice.
He swiftly kicked open the window and climbed in the vent backwards, pulling the boy in after him so that he could drag him gently towards the slide. There really wasn't a lot of room in the vent and the slide had only been built to be used by one person at a time but desperate times called for desperate measures. When Bruno reached the dip in the metal and smelled the new freshness of the air he knew he'd reached the top of the slide.
He adjusted the lad in his arms so that the boy was cushioned against his chest before kicking off backwards and shooting off down the oil slicked metal. He was getting far, far too old for this, Bruno mused as he fought to stay on the slide and not slip off the edge. It had really been built for one person to use at a time and the added weight of the boy was making it hard for Bruno to manoeuvre about on the slide without skidding to his death.
He glances above him and then his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates because, good god, there above him, flying above him on some ridiculous looking contraption, is that damned Professor and Flora. Bruno feels a bit like he's flying himself, except backwards and down instead of up, so he entirely sympathises with the slightly nauseous, slightly fearful look on Flora's face.
It's the look on Layton's face that makes him pause. He's steering the strange flying thing and his eyes are locked on the giant purple metal machine floating in the air. Bruno shudders lightly at the look in those eyes and is suddenly very grateful that he is not in the man in the purple ships shoes.
From what he knew of the Professor, and he knew a lot considering he'd been stalking him and his apprentice ever since they'd stepped foot in the village, he was a clever, polite and gentle man. Comparing the mild mannered Professor he knew to the steely eyed man flying above him was like trying to compare the day and the night.
Bruno realized with a start that the man didn't realise his apprentice had survived the fall. He thought the boy was dead. Rage didn't suit the Professor and neither did grief but both were painting their way across his face, twisting kindly features until he was almost unrecognisable. Briefly Bruno wanted to yell, to bring the poor man's attention down to him so he could see that his boy was alive, hurt, but very much alive.
He couldn't though, because the slide went faster than his thoughts and before he knew it Bruno had reached the end of the metal and his rear hit dry pavement instead. He really was getting too old for this and the impact jarred him more than he had expected but luckily he managed to keep his hold on the boy so they both ended up sprawled gracelessly on the pavement outside the tower.
The technician lay there winded for a moment before inhaling and slowly sitting upright. His spine ached and his head spun from the impact but he couldn't stay here. Just because they were out of the tower didn't mean they were out of danger. Bruno huffed out a sigh before gently hefting the boy back up into his arms, tactfully choosing to ignore the way the lad coughed wetly, and setting off down the winding paths of St Mystere.
He'd barely hobbled more than a street away when the tower behind him gave an almighty groan and then started to crumble in on itself. The falling building was mirrored in Bruno's eyes as he watched his masterpiece shudder to the ground in a choking cloud of dust and debris. The wall of dust was thick and oppressive and Bruno coughed with every breath he drew in. He wasn't going to be able to continue much further with the boy in his arms.
Bruno shuffled wearily forward until he came to a small alcove in the wall of the street. A closed shop and a small stone house on either side of it had shielded the alcove from most of the dust and it was as good a place as any to leave the boy so that he could go and get some help. He tried to remember if there were any robots he'd programmed with medical training and cursed fiercely when he couldn't come up with any names.
The technician softly placed the boy in the alcove and shrugged out of his coat so that he could create a make-shift blanket for the child until he came back. The weathered, brown material would also act as a flag of sorts that would allow him to find the boy once he'd found someone to help.
There had to be at least one and if none of his precious creations had any medical programmes installed then the good Professor himself would just have to take care of it. He had a car, even if it was a strange looking thing, and the nearest town wasn't too far away. He would be able to make it if he hurried.
Bruno kept going forward, half blinded by the dust, and soon found himself in a huge group of people, well, robots really but that was just a technicality. In the middle of the crowed, pale faced and deathly still, was Flora and Bruno's heart skipped a frightened beat.
He knew, he knew, that damned Professor wouldn't be able to keep her safe. He just knew it. Oh when he got his hands on the wretched-
Flora's eyes fluttered open and suddenly the aforementioned Professor was by her side, gently pulling her into a sitting position. Happy cheers rose up from the crowed and Bruno's own face was stretched with a relieved -if slightly hysteric because damn it he was too old for this shit- smile. Flora was okay, the Professor had kept her safe, she was fine and safe and, and she was crying.
Bruno pushed his way to the front of the crowd and the second Flora realized he was there she flung herself at him and sobbed wretchedly into his chest. Bruno looked over her head at the Professor who met his gaze with eerily blank eyes. It was unnatural to see such a bright man looking so empty and it was a stark reminder of what he had initially come her to do. He wrapped his arms gently around Flora's slim shoulders as she sobbed and made half hearted shushing noises before looking back up at the Professor.
"Listen, Layton, yer boy's alive-" at this the tall man's head shot up and a painfully bright spark of hope lit up his face. "Luke! He's okay? Where is he?" the Professor stood swiftly and spun in a circle, looking into the crowd as though Luke would be standing within the mass of people, grinning impishly up at him.
"I said he's alive, never mentioned nothing about 'im being okay. He's in a bad way Professor and we don't have a Hospital here in St Mystere. You'll have t'take him in yer car to the nearest town and hope t'god he makes it." Bruno said gruffly before gently disentangling Flora's arms from around his neck and marching off in the direction he'd left the boy.
"C'mon, he's this way." he said over his shoulder but he needn't have bothered as the Professor simply sped past him with worried, though painfully relieved, frown on his face. Bruno hissed out a curse as the man's longer legs made it almost impossible to keep up and shout out directions at the same time but he understood, time was of the essence and they would have to hurry if the boy was to make it.
[-]
Don Paolo was annoyed, no, he was far more than that, he was furious. All of his carefully made, beautifully intricate plans had been destroyed by that stupid top hat wearing menace. When he'd first crashed into this curious little village and found out it's secret he'd been intrigued.
The robots were incredible pieces of machinery and he couldn't help but feel a little respect and jealousy for the man who'd created them. As a fellow inventor he just couldn't wait to figure out how they had been made. His mind had reeled with the possibilities, the opportunities, the minions!
But now everything from his helicopter to his stolen robot had been taken from him and he still was unable to get out of this damned village. He kicked a piece of rubble in irritation and listened to the rattle of the stone against the pavement. It was almost therapeutic and he gave the rock another vicious kick but this time it only clattered once before stopping.
Don Paolo scowled. Now even his rock was turning against him. He waved a hand on front of his face to try disperse the fog like dust that still wallowed in the air after the tower had collapsed. He let out a sad sigh, If only Layton had stayed inside the tower like he was supposed to then Don Paolo wouldn't be in this mess. But nooo the pesky fool had to go and survive and destroy his brand new flying machine.
Well, it wasn't like he didn't make a spare because, really, what sort of villain would he be without a contingency plan? The smaller, less powerful machine was hidden somewhere near the tower and Don Paolo only hoped that it hadn't been destroyed when the building had come crashing down. It hadn't been one of his better ideas, stashing his spare get-away helicopter right net to the tower he was planning on knocking down, but what was done was done.
His feet took him over to where the rock had abruptly stopped and Don Paolo raised an eyebrow when he saw the stone next to a shoe. Connected to that shoe was a leg and from there the man could clearly see the battered body of that fool Layton's apprentice. He frowned and kicked the boy lightly in the leg and was rewarded with a low, watery sounding cough.
So the boy was alive then. Barely, Don Paolo amended noting the blood seeping through the boys clothes and trickling down his face from a cut on his forehead. At least someone had the decency to follow his plan and die. But did it have to be the child? He felt something twist guiltily in his stomach and groaned.
It was so much easier plotting murder when you didn't have to see it happen. The boy had obviously been injured when the tower collapsed though why he was just lying here was a mystery. Why wasn't Layton tending to his apprentice? Why was the boy abandoned by the side of the street, hidden away in an alcove as if to stop him from being found?
Don Paolo looked around sneakily and strained his ears to try hear anything through the blanket of dust. He'd seen enough of the two during the past few days to know that the boy was precious to Layton. It made a beautiful kind of sense. Layton had stolen something precious from him so now he was going to return the favour.
Something sparkled in his peripheral vision and Don Paolo grinned widely to see a glint of his second flying machine. It had been hidden by the dense wall of dust but now that it was beginning to settle he could clearly see the metal outlines of the helicopter. The boy was injured and despite being rather proud of his villain status Don Paolo really didn't want to kill a defenceless, unconscious child. It was just lame and pointless seeing as the boy was probably going to die anyway.
No, he would get the boy to safety. He wondered how the child would react once he told him that his precious Professor had abandoned him and that he, Don Paolo, had saved his life. What would the boy do once he was told that he had been simply tossed away by his hero in favour of the fair Flora. It wasn't the truth of course but Don Paolo had no problem with telling a few lies to get what he wanted.
He carefully picked the boy up and walked over to the waiting machine. A slow, deadly smile spread curled his lips as he imagined the look on Layton's face when he realized that his little apprentice had been taken by his worst enemy. The sheer horror on his smug face when he realized that said enemy had turned the boy against him. Oh this was going to be simply beautiful...
A/N: Ahem, yes, Dan Paolo has abducted Luke and, no, he will not be returning him for a while. You see, Don Paolo likes minions [at least my one does] and seeing as Layton stole his pilfered robot minion he's had to make do with an almost dead Luke.
Never fear Luke will not die. I know that normally a person with a punctured lung has precious little time left to live but I'm just going to pretend that Luke has super lungs and he can live much long than your average person without proper air... it's fanfiction guys, cut me some slack!
I know that this chapter was mostly Bruno-centric but he kind of kidnapped my muse and held her at gunpoint so I couldn't very well write anything except for him.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.
If you liked it then please review and, heck, if you didn't like it then review anyway and tell me why you thought it sucked. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
- Softie.