Yes, I had to pull a Disney character from another movie. There aren't enough bad guys in Tangled! I can't use the ruffians because they're not bad guys and I don't want to tarnish their grotesquely optimistic image.

Chapter 8 – Far-Fetched and Out on a Ledge

Somehow, Rapunzel arrived back at her office alive, but her nerves were shot. As she got out of her taxi and walked to the revolving doors, she saw another taxi pull up. She squinted at it; the red haired thug stepped out of it. Rapunzel gasped and ran into the building, pushing people aside, apologizing as she went. In the lobby, all the elevators had already gone up. Rapunzel looked at her other options. There were only the stairs, so she took them running.

Stairs were slow goings, especially when one dashes the first seven flights. Rapunzel had no idea if she was being followed, but she stopped for a quick rest. As she gulped mouthfuls of air, she told herself she needed to be in better shape. After a few minutes, Rapunzel felt she was safe, but then she heard heavy footsteps, coming up the stairs.

He's followed me! thought Rapunzel desperately. She ran up two more flights to her floor and seeing the pane of glass that read Corona Publishing, she almost cried with joy. She would be safe in the confines of her office. She took the handle, but it was locked. Confused, she jiggled it, thinking maybe the tumblers were stuck, but it would not budge. She could still hear the footsteps. Rapunzel chewed her lip, thinking about what she could do. Having read Death on the Roof, she knew that going up any higher would be her doom. There had to be another way out.

Rapunzel saw an open window. Against better judgment, which she did not posses at that moment, she climbed out and onto the ledge. When she was clear of the window and closed it, a cleaning lady walked by with a bucket. Finally safe, Rapunzel sighed to herself, but made the mistake of looking down. Her heart leapt into her throat and she couldn't swallow it back down. Cars zoomed ninety feet below her, not even aware of her precarious predicament. Very slowly, and pressing herself as close to the wall as possible, Rapunzel crawled along the ledge.

Inside the office of Max Corona, he was giving a speech to his executives about the company's quarterly report.

"And with the new quarter coming, Corona publishing plans to put out more magazines with more in depth stories that tear at the hearts of the readers. We'll be having people falling out of their chairs because they won't be able to stand the suspense. And the cover art will be dazzling and as realistic as is if they were photographs. I know this to be a fact because I have an industrial, hard working staff behind me and-" As Max turned around to gesture to his charts, he noticed Rapunzel of all people, backing into the open window of his office. Very gingerly, she put her feet down on the floor. She didn't even look in to the room as she stood. With her back to the wall, she inched down it, still looking out the window. Max put his hands on his hips, glaring at her.

"Mitty!"

"AAAAAH!" Rapunzel jumped, her hand going over her chest. Suddenly, one of her pigeons flew in.

"What the?" It fluttered around Max's head. "Get this bird out of here!" The bird landed on Max's shoulder. Rapunzel walked up to it.

"Elmer, shoo, go on, get out of here. Shoo." The bird only flitted around the room again. Max bore down on her.

"What do you think you're doing?" If thunder could look like a face, Max had it.

"There's a man following me," Rapunzel started, wringing her hands, "with terrible eyes and very large knife. He has a huge scar running down his face and I think he means to kill me." Elmer landed on her head and cooed to her with moral support. She brought her hands up on the bird. "I'll explain it to you later, sir. Go away, Elmer, shoo." She sent the bird out the window. It flew away without a care. "I'm so sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Corona. I know how busy you can get, so I'll be leaving now." She went straight for the door, all the while, Max scowled at her.

Out in the hall, Rapunzel dialed the number Eugene had given her for his aunt's house.

"Hello? Yes, is Miss Fitzherbert or her nephew home? Oh, well, do you know when they'll be back?" Rapunzel was so intent on her call, that she did not notice a dark skinned, baggy-eyed man with a long, gaunt, and shady face walk up behind her. "Well, will you leave a message that a Miss Mitty called? A Rapunzel Mitty."

"I know how to kill a man with mere human hands."

Rapunzel abruptly stopped her conversation and slowly turned around to the man behind her. She didn't even look at the phone as she hung it up. She swallowed.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Facilier and I have a most intriguing manuscript about the incomprehensible methods of homicide." The man had the smooth voice of a door-to-door salesman, but he didn't look as friendly as one. Shifty like one, but not friendly.

"I'm sorry, doctor, you have the wrong person. Mr. Corona purchases all the stories." Rapunzel tried to brush past the man, but he put an arm up.

"I already spoke with him and he wanted me to drop my manuscript off with you, so you can pick the most horrifying scene for the cover."

"Oh, I see." Rapunzel managed to get past the man and walked back to her work station. She startled at the realization that her office was void of all other office mates who were still out to lunch. She was completely and utterly alone.

"Did you know that just by applying pressure to the sensory nerve located at the base of the neck with one's thumbs, the gesture causes a massive hemorrhage in the brain, which results in instantaneous death." Rapunzel grabbed her purse and pulled out her handkerchief. Her black book came out with it and fell on her table. Dr. Facilier noticed it. As Rapunzel dabbed her perspiring face, he looked from the book to her.

"Yes, I did know that. We used it in Revenge of the Brain Surgeon." Rapunzel opened the window by her work station and put her head out for fresh air.

Dr. Facilier walked up behind her, his hands coming up to the back of her neck.

"But did you know that the back of the neck is a very sensitive place, and in such an instance," Rapunzel turned around and Dr. Facilier puts his hands out. "Only the human hands are the weapon." Rapunzel nodded her head and walked away from him to get water from the cooler. Dr. Facilier took the chance and grabbed the book off the table. Rapunzel saw the quick movement of his hand from the desk to his vest pocket.

"Hey, put that back! You can't take tha-AAAHH!" Dr. Facilier seized her by the arms and heaved her up and out the window. Rapunzel dug her fingers into his clothes and he couldn't push her out without letting himself fall too.

"Help!" Rapunzel shrieked. "Help!"

"No one can hear you."

They struggled on the dangerous pinpoint and Rapunzel caught his vest front in her hand.

"Help-AAAAHHH!" The vest ripped in her clutch, and Rapunzel fell over the edge, but caught the ledge. "Help!" she screamed, trying very hard to not look down. Dr. Facilier bent down to her.

"Give me back my vest!" He reached for her. Seeing he wasn't going to save her, Rapunzel started to inch away finger by finger. Dr. Facilier was not a fool and could see that he had lost. He left quickly, closing the window without so much as sideways glance at Rapunzel.

Rapunzel tried to climb back up, but that was hard to do in heels.

"Help! Oh, my goodness, oh, please, somebody help me!" Rapunzel half expected Eugene to poke his head out an open window and rescue her, but that was just another fantasy that wasn't going to happen. She was just going to have to save herself. Willing her arms to hold her weight, Rapunzel managed to get footing on a protruding brick and hauled herself to safety. She sat for a moment, letting her life stop flashing before her eyes, before she once again crawled down the ledge to the nearest open window.

Back inside Corona Publishing, Max was just finishing up his meeting.

"And as you can see, by putting eight stories out twice a month, our profits go up a considerable percentage. Supply and demand, gentleman."

Rapunzel crawled back up to the window and let herself in, quietly. Some of the executives saw her and raised their eyebrows at her. With sudden great luck, she got down on all fours and scrambled away from Max, just disappearing when he turned around see what everyone was staring at. Seeing nothing, he continued.

"Of course, the releases will be staggered, but it will look like we're putting out more and our already faithful readers, will keep coming back."

Rapunzel bumped her head against the shin of an executive. He stood up, crying out and glaring down at Rapunzel.

"Uh, is there a question, Mr. Hook?" Rapunzel looked up at him and put a finger to her lips. She silently pleaded with him and he complied.

"No." He sat back down, but gave Rapunzel a funny look as she scurried away.

"Well, of course, to keep eight stories a month, I propose we put out-" he finally saw Rapunzel as she passed in front of his desk. "Mitty!" She bolted upright, caught. Once again, Elmer the pigeon flew in. "What the? Confound it bird! What in tar nation are you and that bird trying to do?"

"Oh, Mr. Corona, you have to listen to me, a man just tried to kill me!" Her claim fell on deaf ears.

"That's what you said the last time you were in here."

"No, this time it was a dark, skinny man, and he was very scary."

"What dark man?"

"The one you sent to me with a new manuscript, but he didn't have a manuscript. He came in to push me out the window!"

"I did not send a man to push you out a window."

"Well, here's his vest." She held up the torn garment.

"Who's vest?"

"The man's."

"Mitty! I don't know if you're playing me, or are just plain crazy, but you get that pigeon out of here and you get back to work."

"Go on, Elmer, shoo." The bird obeyed and hurried out.

"I'll talk to you later, Mitty."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Corona. I promise it won't happen again." Rapunzel could feel she was close to tears, but she did not want to cry in front of Max.

"It had better not happen again, or I'll be the one throwing you out a window next," Max threatened.

"Yes, sir."

"I think you need a vacation, woman."

"Oh, that reminds me, sir. My father wanted me to talk to you about having a month or two off for my honeymoon." Max's face grew mauve with rage.

"Mitty!"

"I'll be seeing you, sir." She left very quickly, slamming the door in her rush.