Chapter Ten

Bullet Time

Martinez was actually worse off than he appeared to be. His eye had become infected, forcing the doctors to do advanced surgery and completely get rid of the eye in order to save Martinez's life. Martinez took the fact that he now really only had one eye rather well, for now he had a good reason to wear an eye-patch and he had always wanted to be a pirate.

"Hey Maria" Martinez said looking to his right, "What do you think if I became a pirate? Pirate Martinez..."

Maria, who was sitting next to the bed, smiled and said nothing. On a personal level Maria had absolutely nothing bad to say about Martinez. She understood that she was just doing his job as a landlord, true she believed that at times he was a bit unreasonable, but Martinez had to live somehow. Maria unfortunately knew about his involvement with the Mafia, it pained her to think about it, about what it would to Martinez's children.

"A mafia" Maria said suddenly without answering his question, "no matter how much good they do, is still a mafia. They still resort to violence."

Martinez sighed, "Mafias aren't known for their good deeds amor" he replied, "We are cruel because we have to be. To protect those that we love, those that we want to keep safe...I can't even do that. Not like this. What kind of father I am if I can't even protect my own kids?"

Maria felt immense pity for the vulture but said nothing, no words of encouragement, nothing. Just let him cry and let him feel sorry for himself. Maria knew that the best thing for Martinez to do was to rest. Martinez's heart wanted to go after Ophelia and Jorge himself, his parental instincts overriding his reasoning skills, Maria however kept him in line.

"Martinez" Maria said softly, "You're hurt. Please rest."

Martinez nodded and laid his head against the pillow, he could swear that he felt Maria rub his cheek, but he must been dreaming, for nothing so good could ever happen to him now, not until his kids were safe would anything good happen to him, for nothing meant more to Martinez.

Jose, Donald, Panchito, Iago and Horatio walked in the room. Martinez sat up and looked them over.

"I know how this must look" Martinez began, "But believe me my intentions are benign."

"I know" Jose answered, "Horatio filled us in on the way."

Martinez nodded and smiled at the same time, "Then you are no doubt aware of my involvement in the Mafia."

Jose nodded but said nothing.

Martinez repositioned himself on his pillow, "I have every bird under my control looking for them. But we've came up with nothing. I figure, a smaller force would be less noticeable. Get behind the enemy, flush him out of every hole, every knick and every tree you see."

Panchito and Donald's eyes widened as Martinez added on more details

"You would carry with you all of my authority" the vulture continued, "Be clothed in my full power..."

Martinez then turned to Jose

"And when my kids are found Carioca, you will have your house, your belongings. Your friends will be left alone, protected by the Mafia and you will be given the finest that Brazil and all of South America has to offer. That is my gift to you, and your friends should you succeed."

Martinez didn't want to think about what would happen if they failed, still he said it anyway.

"If you fail" Martinez said sadly, "Know that you have my friendship regardless, but I'm afraid that due to the complicated circumstances, me being a landlord, I will be unable to get your house."

"I understand" Jose replied confidentially, "I will not fail you Martinez. Your ninos will be safe, by the grace and power of Sao Cristóvão."

Martinez nodded and slowly drifted off into sleep. Maria turned towards Jose.

"Don't worry" she said, "I'll keep him safe. Besides I've got John Valjean."

Jose looked out the window and saw John Valjean, carefully watching over Martinez and Maria, his eyes glued to the room and his immediate surroundings.

"I see" Jose replied, more for himself than anything.

"Good" Maria continued, "Now go find those kids Jose. Maybe it'll inspire you."

Jose was confused by her meaning.

"Inspire me for what?" he asked, pressing for information. Maria gave a coy laugh and a smile. Panchito and Donald picked up on it instantly. Iago already knew just from looking at her, Horatio didn't really care and personally wanted to get out of the room and avoid the comedic situation all together. Angel and Devil rolled their eyes and whispered into Jose's ear what Maria meant by finding his inspiration, upon hearing this Jose smiled and walked out of the room.

Outside of the hospital, they were met by Norman, who was panting heavily and looking like he had just seen a ghost.

"Eh?" Jesus began, "Senor Norman, o que ha es errado?"

Norman lifted up his wing to signal that he needed a minute, the bird was sweating profusely, his breathing was shallow and his eyes were redder than they should've been. Horatio immediately became concerned when he didn't answer, for this never happened before.

"Norman!" Horatio yelled, "Answer him!"

Norman continued breathing heavily and remained unresponsive, his wing still in the air as if he were asking for help and simply not communicating what was wrong properly. Donald stepped in.

Donald, once being a sailor and thus trained in medical situations pulled out a defibrillator from his pocket and charged it, he then turned to Panchito and ordered him to count to three. Panchito, not wanting to waste time asking why Donald had a defibrillator to begin with, complied with the order without hesitation.

Donald shocked Norman as soon as Panchito said three. He waited five seconds for a response before he increased the voltage and shocked him again. Still nothing. Donald increased the voltage again, same result. Horatio, Jose and Jesus made the sign of the cross and began giving Norman last rites. Donald increased the voltage for a third time.

This time Norman shot up and "came back to life." He looked around and quickly turned to Jose.

"I know where they are" Norman hurried, "They're at Machu Picchu...in Peru."

Panchito, upon hearing this, whistled and called upon Serape, his magic flying carpet. Iago produced an ululation summoning Carpet.

"I think I win" Iago said smugly to Panchito, who rolled his eyes annoyingly.

"Yeah, yeah sure" Panchito replied, "But only because you did the tongue thing."

Iago huffed at Panchito's lack of cultural awareness, "It's called ululating. Look it up sometime, you might learn a few things."

Panchito made a note of it. He would forget it within five minutes.

Jose and Donald took Serape, for she could only bare so much weight, Carpet, who was stronger, took on Horatio and Jesus. Iago and Panchito then piloted their respective carpets towards Peru.

Machu Picchu-Three Hours Later

10:00pm

The Three Caballeros and Iago, Horatio and Jesus crept through the ruins of the Machu Picchu. Carpet and Serape meanwhile, were busy having their own conversation through a series of complicated gestures. It went sometime along the lines of this.

Carpet started first.

"So how's work with Panchito? He hasn't unraveled you yet has he?"

Serape shook her head, "Not yet" she answered, "But I've come close too many times to count."

Carpet carelessly swept his tassels through the dirt; he noticed how Serape looked as if she were crimson in the moonlight. It would've been romantic had it not been for the constant reminder of Machu Picchu which, for Carpet at least, kept him in reality.

Serape continued the conversation, her voice; if you could call it that was flowing and reminded Carpet of flowers gently gliding down the Euphrates River (Carpet had spent some time in India before the Cave of Wonders and so was familiar with the area). This image temporarily took Carpet into the realm of fantasy.

"How's Iago?" Serape asked, "Not as bad as the rooster I hope?"

"He's great actually" Carpet answered mechanically, "Things between us could never be better..."

Carpet trailed off as if he were remembering painful or unpleasant memories. Serape looked concerned but couldn't show it because she was a carpet and thus had no facial features.

"Is something wrong?" Serape said as she moved closer to Carpet, who remained silent

"It's nothing" Carpet declared after a few minutes of silence and some contemplation, "At least nothing important. What matters is that I'm fine and you're fine. We should be grateful for that."

Serape nodded, knowing that this was Carpet's way of saying the three words that every girl wants to hear. At the same time it was the also Carpet's way of asking the four words that every girl wants to hear after she hears the first three. Serape already had an answer for the second, she embraced Carpet and they simply breathed, thankful that Iago and Panchito brought them together once again.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jose screamed suddenly, "Let's get back on track here. This is about us, remember?"

Panchito, Horatio, Donald, Iago and Jesus were staring glaringly towards the computer screen as if the writer had done something wrong, which he had.

"Really dude?" Donald said, "Really? You're blowing us off for that? Come on. We've got kids to save from a homicidal bird killing, manic, ain't nobody got time for that!"

We'll get back to Carpet and Serape later. Right now we have to focus on the task at hand.

"Thank you" Jose said annoyingly, "Now do us a favor and make it a little more obvious. Fernando is apparently invisible."

"Si" Jesus replied, "We've looked all over this place. He isn't here."

Fine, Fernando suddenly appeared behind them, gun in one hand and Ophelia in the other. The gun was pressed against Ophelia's temple threateningly.

"Looking for someone?" Fernando asked sarcastically, causing everyone to turn around.

The Three Caballeros turned towards the writer; they were giving him a 'What the hell?' look.

"What are you guys looking at?" Ophelia asked, shaking violently from fear, "You're supposed to be saving me!"

Jesus, Horatio and Iago got them back on track by slapping them in the face.

"Now, where were we?" Fernando said to himself, "Ah yes, this!"

Fernando fired his gun, thankfully the gun misfired. Ophelia took this opportunity to make an escape attempt and bit Fernando's hand, causing Fernando to reflexively flare his hands out, accidently pointing the gun towards his own face. Fernando quickly corrected this error and pointed the gun at Donald, at that moment the gun went off.

Panchito attempted to deflect the bullet by firing one of his own, but the rooster missed and instead hit a distant tree.

"Sorry tree" Panchito screamed, "Didn't mean to hit you!"

The tree that Panchito hit waved its branches in the breeze as if to say, "It's alright" Panchito imagined this to be in a stereotypical New York accent for some reason.

Jose tried to deflect the bullet by pulling out his umbrella, but then he remembered on what happened the last time he did this trying to do the exact same thing, it did not go well. Jose immediately retreated with his plan and stepped out of Donald's way. The bullet, which halfway to Donald, for it was a slow moving one, was lazily traveling along its path. Donald was barely in any danger at all, all he would have to do to avoid it was to move a little to the right or left. But Donald was oblivious to this, Jesus, Iago and Horatio were not.

"Dude" Horatio screamed, "Move!"

Donald was frozen. Ophelia was already on Jesus' back, who instinctively ran off to find Jorge. Panchito, seeing that this was going to take forever and being that he gets bored easily, went off with them, leaving Horatio, Iago and Jose to deal with the situation.

Carpet and Serape meanwhile, were doing a carpet dance that required a lot of weaving and tassel flirting. This was the equivalent of sex for them. Iago could hear a lot of noise going on from behind him; he turned around and saw the scene.

"Hey!" the parrot cried, "There are times and a places guys. 10:00 at night in Machu Picchu while we're saving some annoying urchins isn't one of them!"

Carpet and Serape didn't hear him, or ignored him entirely. Iago sighed heavily and flew over to them to try and tear them apart from each other. This left Horatio and Jose to deal with the situation.

Fernando, throughout all of this, was staring at the scene before him in total confusion and disbelief. The bullet was still moving an extremely slow pace; it was now closer to Donald though. Horatio nonchalantly picked the bullet out of the area and threw it towards Fernando, the bullet now moving the speed that bullets move.

"That's not fair" Fernando said in disbelief, "That's not fair at-"

Fernando didn't get a chance to finish to his sentence, the bullet hitting him in his neck, silencing him. Fernando fell to the ground; Jose could still hear Fernando wheezing and accordingly flew over and began beating Fernando to a pulp.

"You have ruined my life" Jose sneered as he punched Fernando in the stomach, "You kidnapped me, you tried to murder me...you almost murdered Martinez and you had the balls to kidnap his children. I could save you. I know how, but I will not. The world is a better place without Fernando Miguel. Know that. Know that it was not the bullet that killed you, but me, Jose Carioca."

Jose pulled out a switchblade; for he always carried it with him should situations like this arise. This makes you wonder why, when he was in Fernando's house in the beginning, he didn't use it then. The reason? He completely forgot about it when he was being tortured, drugged and tied to a chair for about three days or so.

Jose brought the blade to Fernando's neck and finished him off. It was over.

Jesus, Panchito and Ophelia came back with Jorge, who's right wing was broken and his face mildly scratched. Horatio, upon seeing them and remembering on what Martinez suffered, instantly thought about taking them back to Rio and having them tested for rape, STDs and then after that perhaps some therapy. But Horatio knew that ultimately he couldn't make any of those calls, for Martinez was still their father and his judgment would be final.