Back on land, George Washington feared for his son's life. "We have to get him back Martha! The merpeople probably have him locked up in a cell down there as a hostage."
Martha who was still feeling quite guilty for starting this whole fiasco merely shook her head, "You know that's ridiculous George..." leaving the unspoken truth lying like a sour taste in the air.
"It's better than the alternative!"
"Oh George..."
"If those creatures have my son and have harmed him in anyway, I want him back!"
Martha took a cautious step away from her husband. When spurred into action, George Washington could be quite fearsome indeed.
"I think it's about time we declared war!"
In his sea lair, Thomas was cackling in delight. Every pawn was falling into place just perfectly.
"Where are we going now?" John flustered, and quite ironically, out of breath. He was asking for what felt like the 7th time. Alexander and Hercules had swam down a number of different colorful hallways but they were starting to meld together in John's mind. Every few moments they would stop at the intersection of two hallways and would listen for something that John never seemed able to hear. Whether a bump or a voice, if the two heard a noise they would turn around and backtrack till they found new hallway and continued their way down there and then repeat the whole process over again. John was feeling more and more exhausted with each stop and soon it felt like Alexander was pulling his dead weight every time they moved.
"I'm going to scout ahead..." Hercules muttered, holding out an arm to slow them down, and with a quick flick of his tail he disappeared down another side hallway.
Silence descended over the two teens. "Sorry for all of this," Alexander eventually said, squeezing John's hand, "Bet you didn't expect any of this to happen today huh."
John snickered but just shrugged, "This is better than anything that could have happened Alex." he tucked a piece of hair behind Hamilton's ear, "At least I get to spend it with you..."
Alexander's beam was cut short when an entirely new voice echoed through the hallway.
"You guys make me sick, you know that?", A red - tailed merman wearing an odd sort of toga, floated at the end of the hall.
"Burr." Hamilton growled out, "Shouldn't you be off hiding in your rooms?!"
Aaron Burr expected a nail pretentiously, "Well you see, dear brother of mine, when they said you had gone off and found yourself a little human friend I just had to join in the search. Couldn't have you betraying any of our war plans now could we?"
Alexander had John's hand in a death grip by this point and Laurens could see his fingers slowly growing purple as they lost circulation.
"I told our father, I told him that you were way too chummy with the humans, but did he listen?! No! Of course not! It was always Alexander this, and oh! Alexander that. It made me nauseous to watch your unloyal tail get all the recognition and praise."
Hamilton's eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth.
"But no more! For soon you will be the one in prison along with your little boyfriend. And they will see how right I was!" Burr's grin was feral in its ferocity.
Behind Burr's back, Hercules made a reappearance, but upon he seeing the tableau in front of him, quickly retreated with a discreet nod to Alexander.
With renewed confidence, Hamilton spoke up, "This isn't going to get us anywhere Burr! We have to leave now so that John and I can show everyone that merpeople and humans can coexist peacefully! Think of how many lives you will save if you let us leave now!"
Burr sneered, "Oh yes, so you can make peace between the humans and merpeople, how ambitious of you baby brother, what do you think you're going to do?! Throw around a few words hoping that everything will turn out alright and be hunky dorey?! Well no cigar, Hamilton, I'm not letting you get to the surface!"
"Oh contraire, mon ami," a cheerful voice said from behind Burr, "I think it's about time you let Alex and John go save our world, non?"
Aaron Burr whipped around, only to find Lafayette, a whole head shorter, with his sword pointed straight at his chest. Mulligan floated behind him, cracking his knuckles ominously.
Burr gulped, voice rising several pitches, "This is treason against the crown, Lafayette, and you know it. How do you think the King will react if I tell him you aided the escape of wanted criminals?"
The French merman shrugged, his hold on the sword unwavering, "Not too bad I would think. Because if Alex and John don't make it here might not be a crown to protect in the first place." With a jerk of his head, Lafayette directed Burr to the castle wall, opening the hallway for the Hamilton and Laurens.
Hercules swopped them into a hug that nearly took their breath away before ushering them in the direction of the entrance, "Good luck you two! Stay alive until this is over please!"
"Bonne chance à vous deux! Jusqu'à ce que nous nous revoyions! Don't die my friends!"
The last thing Hamilton and Laurens heard as they quickly made their way down the passageway was Aaron Burr warning them that they had made a huge mistake and Mulligan telling him to shut his mouth for once.
