Wicked Comet 2, part 10
Rich, Elphaba and Fiyero flew as fast as they could force the brooms they were flying on to go. They all knew how critical time was. Madame Morrible was planning to harm Glinda somehow and the trio couldn't allow that to happen! Rich was flying ahead of Elphaba and Fiyero, which surprised them as Rich had no magical powers to speak of.
Below them, the desert sands gave way to the farmlands of Munchkinland and eventually, after what seemed like forever they flew over the suburbs of the Emerald City, starting with Shiz. When the Emerald City came into view over the horizon, nothing seemed amiss at first. However, an air of fear and despair quickly hit Rich, Elphaba and Fiyero as the Emerald City drew closer. The whole city looked blackened and burnt, some buildings had been smashed to pieces and smoke rose all over the place.
"We're too late!" Fiyero cried out.
Both Elphaba and Rich hissed at him to shut up.
"First thing Elphaba and I learnt during the Wicked Years is never believe a situation is hopeless until it actually is!" Rich snapped.
"Rich is right" Elphaba agreed.
The three soon landed on a rooftop which overlooked the central districts of the Emerald City. The citizens looked tired and upset, they were being treated like slaves both by Morrible's mutant creatures and Mercenaries.
"Sweet Oz!" Rich, Elphaba and Fiyero gasped at the exact same time. All three wanted to do something but they had a rescue mission to perform and they couldn't let anything stand in the way of that.
The three quickly dashed along the rooftops of the Emerald City, past the airport and finally arriving on a hidden rooftop overlooking the front gates of the Palace. There was a huge crowd here, all of them shouting in anger at several mercenaries and creatures who were on either side of Madame Morrible, all of them were standing on a raised platform above the crowd.
"I have liberated you from the Evil which has been corrupting Oz!" Morrible announced to the crowd.
The crowd did not like this as their shouts of anger became ever louder. Rich, Elphaba and Fiyero all had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.
As soon as Morrible had spoken to the crowd, she stepped to one side to reveal Glinda, battered, bruised, bloody and tied up to a steel post!
Rich seethed in anger and started to spring forward but was halted by Elphaba and Fiyero.
"You're just going to get yourself killed!" Elphaba hissed.
"But Glinda's down there!" Rich snapped back.
"We need a plan; even I know we shouldn't go in guns blazing." Fiyero added.
Rich knew Elphaba and Fiyero were right so he took a deep breath to calm down. He took a look down at the crowd and an idea came into his head.
"Elphaba, do you have any of those smoke bombs left?" he asked.
Elphaba checked her pockets,
"Just one. Why?" She asked.
Rich smiled before he said,
"I have a plan. This is what we are going to do"
A little later on
Morrible was busy giving a rather long winded speech to the angry crowd about how evil Glinda was and that she had been collaborating with the Wicked Witch of the west the whole time. The crowd refused to believe this and angrily pushed forwards in an attempt to attack Morrible but the mercenaries and mutant beasts forced them back. Throughout all this chaos, a man dressed entirely in black, which included a long greatcoat and a Stetson hat, slowly and carefully made his way through the crowd until he was almost at the front. Once he was there, he slowly drew out an ex Ozian Army mk1 revolver, pointed it at the sky and fired. The whole square went silent as everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the man.
"HOW DARE YOU FIRE THAT WEAPON!" Morrible screeched.
The man smiled before he raised his face up to look right at Morrible. It was Richmond Julius Thropp!
Glinda's face lit up as she recognised her love's face.
"Well how dare you make a hostile takeover of the Emerald City, enslave its citizens and hold the love of my life hostage" Rich replied with a smirk on his face.
"SIEZE HIM!" Morrible screeched but Rich was faster than any of the Mercenaries and he quickly pulled out a small green orb.
"If anyone moves, I will smash this orb!" Rich warned everyone.
Morrible cackled before she said,
"What can a little orb like that do?"
Rich gave another smirk before he said,
"As you all know, I am a very clever bloke. I designed and built the Comet, Oz's first powered aircraft from scratch and with no idea of what I was doing. That and amongst other things. It was during the past few years when I discovered a way to bring people back from the dead."
The crowd murmured amongst themselves and the Mercenaries and mutant creatures all looked hesitant to move.
Rich then continued his speech,
"I managed to recover some of my Cousin's remains and I have carefully concentrated it into this tiny orb. If this orb should break, my Cousin will be brought back to life and no-one would want that would they?!"
The Crowd all knew that Rich's cousin was the Wicked Witch of the West and no-one wanted her to return so they stepped back from Rich like he had the plague!
Morrible of course knew that Rich was bluffing, Glinda did too. Morrible couldn't call Rich out on this as it might destroy what little credibility she had left.
She had to keep up the act.
"KILL HIM!" Morrible ordered.
The mercenaries and mutant creatures shot forwards and Rich smiled.
"Wrong move" he said with a smile.
He then threw the orb to the ground, smashing it into tiny pieces.