Author's Note
I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events.
The first sign of trouble often comes in the form of a most unexpected thing. In this case, it was an eagle. It charged at the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home, screeching and clawing, tearing open one of the storage bags strapped to the side. Duncan chased it off with a rake, smacking it on the head until it wheeled away. Half an hour later though, another one came. This one Violet saw off with a well aimed jab from the screwdriver she was holding at the moment of the attack. Fifteen minutes later, yet another one came, and Isadora chased it away with a broom. Seven more minutes and a fourth one came, which Sunny drove off with a handful of ground pepper.
"This is ridiculous!" Klaus exclaimed. "Where are they all coming from?"
Isadora's eyes widened. "I remember reading something in The Incomplete History of Secret Organisations! The V.F.D had trained eagles, which they could use to attack their enemies. After the schism, they went with the fire starting side of things."
"We need something to fight off these eagles then," said Violet with a grim look on her face. "Hector! You should fly erratically to try and throw the eagles off. Take us up and down and side to side!"
"It's not designed to go down! Only up!"
"Do what you can!"
Violet worked with what she had to design a machine to fire small bundles of pepper and screws at the eagles, as well as weaving together parts of spare netting and fashioning a handle from the broom and rake to design a large contraption like a fly swatter. Isadora and Duncan wielded them while Violet, Klaus, and Sunny worked on a large net to catch the eagles in and protect the balloons holding the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home up in the air.
"Wha tha?" asked Sunny, pointing at something larger than an eagle in the air getting closer and closer. Violet and Klaus both looked. Violet shielded her eyes against the sun.
"I think it's a helicopter."
"Friend or foe?" wondered Klaus.
"Unknown."
The helicopter got closer and closer and closer, until it was close enough for a door on the side to open and two figures to lean out. On was a heavily pregnant woman with brown hair, but the other was a young boy with messy black hair. The Baudelaires had never met this boy but as he looked similar to Isadora and identical to Duncan their minds told them there was only one person he could be.
"Quigley?" whispered Isadora.
"Duncan! Isadora!" shouted the boy/Quigley.
"Quigley!" screamed Duncan.
"Baudelaires!" shouted the woman. "Quagmires! We're here to help you!"
"Sounds believable to me!" said Hector. "Hang on random complete strangers! I'll throw you this incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder!" He did, and the two strung it between the helicopter and the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home like a bridge to crawl across. Duncan and Isadora dropped the Eagle Defending Devices to run to Quigley and hug him tight. The helicopter broke the incredibly unstable and rickety rope ladder and flew away.
"Quigley," whispered Duncan. "We thought you were dead."
"I escaped in an underground tunnel," Quigley explained.
"Like the one between 667 Dark Avenue and our mansion," said Violet. The strange woman smiled.
"Yes Violet Baudelaire, exactly like that one. In fact, built by the same people as that one, except Quigley's tunnel connected to your Uncle Montgomery's house."
Quigley looked at them all. "Isadora, Duncan, Baudelaires, this is Kit Snicket. She's one of the noble V.F.D volunteers and here to help you."
"We don't want help from V.F.D. We don't want anything to do with any of them," Isadora said.
"Your parents were proud members and volunteers. They did good work," replied Kit Snicket.
Violet pushed a strand of hair away from her face. "And we're proud of them, but V.F.D has brought us nothing but trouble. It got our parents killed, it's nearly got us killed. We don't want anything to do with it."
"You'll have to accept our help though, or the eagles will destroy your home."
Kit Snicket was correct. Violet worked with the boy Quigley, who kept very annoyingly spouting V.F.D propaganda, a word which here means information he kept using to try to convince her and the others to join the organisation, to complete the net needed to catch the eagles, while Klaus, Duncan, Isadora and Sunny fought off the eagles alongside Kit Snicket.
It was too late for their valiant efforts however, and one by one the eagles popped the balloons supporting the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home. At last the damage was too much and it crashed down to the sea below.
The cold water was a shock, biting, numbing, hungry. All of them, Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Isadora, Duncan, Quigley, Hector, and Kit Snicket tumbled into it, the white froth churning around them.
Violet began thinking of inventions to save them.
Klaus began thinking of all the books he had read on the sea and creatures that lived in it.
Sunny began thinking of all the things in the sea she could bite and that could bite her.
Isadora began thinking of poetry about the sea.
Duncan began thinking of newspaper articles about people surviving at sea.
Quigley began thinking of all the maps of the sea he had seen.
Kit Snicket began to quickly form a Vaporetto of Favorite Detritus and shouted for the others to come with her. A large black question mark appeared in the water beneath them. Violet's mind turned and turned, thinking of all the material around them.
"We should go to her," Quigley shouted over the noise of the sea. "She's a good woman, and V.F.D is a good organisation, a noble organisation! They put out fires like the ones that killed our parents!"
Violet wasn't listening to him. She had grabbed one of the baskets that once formed part of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home and was using the screwdriver she had jammed into her belt to cut it free from the others. Realising what she was doing, Isadora grabbed the basket and used the small penknife she had taken to carrying with her to help. She once said that if she ever saw Count Olaf again and he tried to lay his hands on her again, she would drive the penknife through one of his shiny, shiny eyes. Together, they cut the basket loose and then with the help of their brothers managed to turn it over as the question mark got closer and closer. The six of them climbed into the basket and used large lengths of wood that had come loose from the remains of the Self-sustaining Hot Air Mobile Home to row. The question mark beast passed by underneath them, swallowing up some of the wreckage, and Hector, who they had lost sight of in the chaos.
Author's Note
Shout out and massive thank yous to the guest and number ten for the reviews and to MiraculousFanGirl, and cshdwolfm for the reviews and follows!