Chapter 10 Rescue and the Battle

After a couple hours Hogarth awoke hearing noises, what sounded like people talking. His felt his head throbbing and hurting like hell. When he opened his eyes he couldn't see clearly. His vision was blurry and was trying to adjust but he could make out the voices that were coming from Dexter and Tut, finally his vision adjusted and he could see. They were in a dark room probably back at Notre Dame, he could hear yelling and cheering coming from outside probably Frollo's men along with the captives. At the front of the door where they were being held Tut and Dexter were banging on the door and both yelling in unison.

"LET US OUT, LET US OUT."

While Elizabeth was timidly standing behind them, not sure what to do. When she saw Hogarth waking up she felt relieved he wasn't hurt.

"Hogarth, oh thank goodness you're alright," she exasperated as she ran over to him and helped him off the ground. Hogarth's vision finally cleared up and he could see her lovely face clearly now, she wasn't bruised or hurt but she looked deathly afraid.

"Elizabeth, is that you," Hogarth said as he struggled to sit up before he put his hand to the back of his head to massage it because it was still sore and hurting badly, "ugh, ow my head, God that hurts so much," he whined.

"Shh Shh it's okay, you're fine," Elizabeth said in an attempt to call him down.

"Are you okay Elizabeth they didn't hurt you did they," he asked hoping the guards didn't hurt her after what happened back at the Court

"Mm-mm", she shook her head.

Tut stopped banging on the doors of the cell they were being held in and came over to help out with Hogarth. "Well, I see your feeling better so far buddy," Tut said sounding calm and relieved.

"Tutenstein, what happened back there?"

"One of the guards hit you in the back of the head. We were in all thrown someplace dark and he we couldn't see anything until we got back. We tried to wake you up but you weren't responding and we didn't want to make your condition worse so we decided to wait until you woke on your own," Tut said before Dexter jumped him having been trying to find a way out while Tut was talking.

"Hogarth, that psycho Frollo and his men have Phoebus, Esmerelda, and the gypsies. They're outside in the courtyard I heard him say that he's going to burn Esmerelda for witchcraft and we're stuck in a damn locked room. WE"VE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE" Dexter angrily screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Hogarth I'm really scared, I don't want to die, my children are all I have in the world", Elizabeth said with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry Lizzie, we're going to get out of here, I heard Frollo say that Quasimodo was being held at the top on the roof, so we'll have a better chance of getting help if we go there."

Hogarth turned to Dexter who was pacing furiously, frustrated. "Dexter calm down, we'll find a way out but you need to keep calm."

"How can I dumbass, we're all going to die, God I'm so pissed." Dexter then picked up a rock that was lying on the ground and he through it at a mirror in the corner of the room. The mirror didn't fully break but it cracked.

"DEXTER," Elizabeth practically yelled, "you know better than to do that, let's just keep calm and try to think this through."

"Ohhhh so now the talking, timid, and fearful little mouse in the room is going to preach to us," Dexter said in a mocking tone. This sent Elizabeth over the edge as her face turned red with anger. "Hey, just because I ask you to stop doesn't mean you can mock me for being a mouse, and I'm not fearful you saw what I did back there."

As they argued Hogarth looked over at the partially broken mirror and looked through the hole of the broken glass. Intrigued he looked through and found it showed a set of stairs that no doubt led to the very top of the church. Hogarth's face lit up, and immediately he knew they had a plan. "Hey guys I found a way out." They didn't listen as Elizabeth and Dexter were still arguing as Tut tried to calm them down. "guys, listen to me, guys, YOU GUYS," he yelled getting their attention.

"What?"

"Look this mirror is covering a door that leads to another passage way," Hogarth said as he picked up the rock on the floor and threw it at the mirror this time fully breaking it. It revealed the passage way that led up to the very top of the church. Hogarth turned smiling to his friends, "bulls-eye our way out."

Elizabeth jumped in joy and ran over to Hogarth, embracing him and kissing him on the cheek. "Oh thank you Hogarth, you're the best" she squealed, immediately running out the passage way. "Wait Liz come back, we need to call the others at the ship," Tut called out to her.

"Oh sorry."

Hogarth pulled out his communicator from his backpack giving it to Dexter. Dexter made some quick adjustments and set it on the ground opening it up revealing it could turn into a computer monitor that was huge. Everybody looked at the device with wide eyes, dumb struck at how Dexter's device just transformed from a simple walkie talkie into a complex computer.

"Pretty cool huh? I just connected it to the ship, we'll call Hogarth's mom, Dean, and Cleo, along with your kids Elizabeth. With that they'll come over and they'll help us out with reinforcements," Dexter said. Elizabeth didn't seem content with his idea as she looked very worried.

"Dexter no, I can't put my children's lives in danger. Not after what happened last time at the farm with you-know-who during the you-know-what."

"Lizzie, we're not going to let that happen again. We're a team and we gotta stick together. " Hogarth reached his hand out and gently lifted her chin with his finger, putting his hand on her soft cheek, "remember the vow we made to Nicodemus, we promised to protect you and with that we'll protect Teresa, Martin, Cynthia, and Timmy just like we did before," he said smiling at her.

"Thank you," she said blushing so much that the red could be seen through her fur causing Tut who was watching right behind them to chuckle, trying to keep from bursting out laughing of course.

"Everybody the monitor's turning on quickly," Dexter said. They all gathered around the screen as it turned on changing from static to Dean sitting at the computer in the ship looking up.

"Dean can you hear, it's us," Hogarth said to his step-dad.

"Hey squirrel boy, and friends, I thought you guys were gone forever. Your mother and I have been very worried about you Hogarth along with your friends. You're going to be in so much trouble when you get back here kid."

"Alright save the punishments for later, can you put Elizabeth's kids and Cleo on," Tut said impatiently, "we've got an important matter of life and death that needs to be discussed right now."

"Alright I'll go get them." He walked away from the screen and came back a couple seconds later with Cleo and Elizabeth's four children Teresa, Martin, Cynthia, and Timothy."

"Mommy, you're okay, I've missed you so much," little Cynthia said jumping up and down bubbling with giggles as she saw her mother.

"Cynthia, I've only been gone for a day and I saw you not that long ago," Elizabeth said to her daughter.

"Yeah, but it felt like a long time Ma," Martin said to his mother.

"Have they been good while I was gone Cleo? I'd hate to hear that they've given you any trouble."

"No Elizabeth, it was no problem, these sweet little angels were a breeze to take care of. Well except for Martin," Cleo said under her breath.

"Mother, where are you," Teresa asked

"Well honey, you're going to have to ask Hogarth about that," she said turning to Hogarth and patting him on the shoulder. From there Hogarth, Elizabeth, Dexter, and Tut told them everything from how when they arrived in Paris, to when they met Quasimodo, got caught up in Frollo's plans, and now had to stop him from killing the gypsies.

"It's going to be a difficult thing to do, but we have to stop this man or all of Paris will be doomed," Tut said in a mock dramatic voice.

"Well kid, I would talk you out of this, but after hearing this story I suggest you should go along with what you think it right. Remember you are who you choose to be, and I think that if you're going to help these people and save lives then you'll pull through just fine," Dean said, "go for it kids, but do you need any help with this?"

"Well that's where you all are going to come in," Hogarth said, "we need help to do this and we need you to pilot the ship and get over here to Notre Dame to help us, just try to create a diversion and help out in anyway while we take care of the problem. You know how to pilot the ship right Dean?"

"Yeah it'll be a walk in the park. Besides I worked in a scrap metal field working this kind of stuff I think I can manage," Dean said reassuringly.

"Mama, is there anything we can do to help," Timmy asked.

"Timmy I don't think you could..." Elizabeth was about to say before Hogarth cut her off.

"Come on Liz they can help besides they won't have a big part anyway," Hogarth said winking to her. "You better be right about this or I'll do something very dire to you Hogarth," Elizabeth said waving her finger at him. Hogarth shrugged and gave her a look that said, "yeah, sure, whatever," before turning back to the monitor to talk to the children

"Don't worry Tim, you all can help us out. Hey Martin remember what you said about not being afraid of anything?"

"Yeah, because I ain't scared of nothin," Martin said trying to sound like he wasn't afraid, while really just being a show-off to his siblings and his mother.

"Well now's your chance to prove it buddy, when you get to the church we want you, Tim, Teresa and Cynthia to get to the high roofs, that's where we'll be. If we run into any trouble you come in and help us out kids. But be careful to not get hurt by anyone or anything and don't fall off the roof," Dexter said as a strict warning to the kids.

"We'll do what we can to help sir, you just give the order and we'll get right to it," Teresa said, sounding like a drill sergeant in the military.

"Excellent, be here soon when you get here we'll call you up and then you get to work," Hogarth said.

"Roger that sir, you all get going and we'll meet you halfway, Dean out," Dean said as the monitor switched off.

The group went through the passage way behind the broken mirror. It was pitch black and they couldn't see anything. They hadn't brought flashlights either and that just made the situation more difficult. Eventually they climbed the stairs in the passage way and opened the door at the top which led to the roof of the cathedral where they looked down and saw crowds of thousands of people in the courtyard in the front of the church. A huge majority of them were cheering, possibly over Frollo capturing the gypsies. Looking down they saw Phoebus along with several of the other captured people in cages. Frollo was standing on a pedestal that had Esmerelda tied to a stake as she was being prepared to be executed. Frollo walked up to Esmerelda and began to speak.

"ESMERELDA, THE GYPSY HAS BEEN ARRESTED AND TRIED FOR WITCHCRAFT. THE SENTENCE IS DEATH!" he shouted at the top of his lungs to the crowds of people. The crowd of people responded with cheers but only did because they were scared of Frollo. Frollo then turned to Esmerelda who looked away from him in anger.

"The time has come gypsy. You stand on the brink of the abyss. Even then I can still save you from the flames of this world and the next. Choose either me or the fire." he said holding the torch up to her face. In response she spat in his face and gritted her teeth in anger. He wiped his face and looked at her with a threatening gaze before turning back to the crowds and shouting.

"THE GYPSY HAS REFUSED TO RECANT. THE EVIL WITCH HAS PLACED THE LIVES OF EVERYONE IN PARIS IN MORTAL DANGER. LET US BURN THE WITCH!"

"My God, this guy is a freaking psychopath," Dexter said fearfully, "where's Quasimodo, I heard him say to the guards that he would bring him up to the tower."

"He's Over There," Elizabeth cried as she ran over to the other side of the roof.

"Liz, good job, gee you got to love that sharp sense of sight," Tut said as he ran after Elizabeth with Hogarth and Dexter following close behind. They ran to the other side of the building roof and found Quasimodo. Hew was chained up against the wall looking down at the ground with his eyes closed, a somber look was on his face. Hogarth ran over to him and shook him trying to snap him out of his state.

"Quasi come on, we need to get Esmerelda away from Frollo."

"No Hogarth, there's nothing I can do. It was all my fault if I hadn't of led them to the Court, Esmerelda and the gypsies would be okay. There's nothing more I can do Frollo won and we've failed. Just go and leave me alone," he said in a despondent and somber tone looking back down on the ground.

"Quasimodo you shouldn't think that way. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anybody's fault. We went to the Court and Frollo came there, we didn't know he followed us and we didn't know he was going to do this. You can't give up now, there's still a chance for you. Don't give up because if you do then we have to," Elizabeth said to Quasimodo in an attempt to boost up his confidence

Quasimodo then looked up to Elizabeth and the others and thinking for a moment he smiled and came to a decision. "You're all right, I shouldn't give up, I can't just let one mistake drag me down. There's so much more that I can do to help. Thank you guys," he said with a smile on his face.

"That's the spirit Quasi, now come on we have to get down there and get Esmerelda out of there before..." Hogarth said before Frollo's loud yelling interrupted him.

"AND NOW THE WITCH SHALL DIE!"

They ran over to the balcony and saw Frollo holding the lit torch in the air as he set fire to the wood. The fire would get close to Esmerelda and eventually she would die.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Quasimodo screamed and then broke free of his chains. He ran to the balcony and jumped right off. He grabbed on to a nearby robe and swung himself all the way down to the courtyard. He got to Esmerelda just before the flames reached her. Immediately guards tried to subdue him but fortunately he tipped over the burning logs at them fending them off. With Esmerelda in his arms he then swung on the rope climbing the balcony before reaching the stain glassed window in the middle of the church. He held Esmerelda over his head and then yelled out to the crowds of thousands of people in the courtyard.

"SANCTUARY, SANCTUARY, SANCTUARY!"

The friends and the crowds all looked at this astonishing sight and cheered clapping their hands and jumping into the air.

"Thank goodness, the sanctuary will save her," Elizabeth said with a relieved tone

"Not for long Frollo has the right to ban sanctuary and if that happens well let's just say things'll get ugly," Hogarth said putting his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

Quasimodo then moved away from the roof and slipped back to the balcony meeting up with his friends again.

"Alright guys, this is as far as we're going, Frollo will be up here soon."

Down in the courtyard Frollo began yelling orders to his men,

"SEIZE THE CATHEDRAL, BREAK DOWN THE DOORS!"

Just then a noise was heard and from behind the church came the ship. Dean was piloting the ship and finally he made it to Notre Dame. Using the controls he bombarded the bad guys with smoke bombs and other weaponry Dexter built into the ship.

"All right Dean, you made it," Hogarth said to Dean on the communicator.

"Come on kid, you didn't really think I wasn't gonna make it did ya, what's the plan now."

"We got Esmerelda free and we have to keep her away from Frollo, keep attacking Frollo's men and we'll give you a call when we're done" Dexter said after he took the communicator from Hogarth to talk to him.

"Got it," Dean said on the communicator before signing off.

"Nice to see you brought reinforcements," Quasimodo said to them.

"Is she alright," Elizabeth asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine, but right now we need to get her inside the tower and keep her far away from Frollo, got it?"

"Yep," they all said and they took off with Quasimodo while Dean and the others bombarded the ship.

Frollo however, managed to burst his way in through the door, knocking over the Archdeacon in the process, and he was heading up to the bellower with the intent of murder on his mind, to not just Esmerelda but the others as well.

Several plotholes I understand I'm just glad I got this out of my system. Sorry for the long update but I promise I'm almost done. I just need 2 or 3 more chapters and then I'm done. Hope you're all doing good this January and hope for the support. Have fun

-Videogameaddict237