Indiana Jones
and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
1952 Version
Summary: The events of the movie take place five years sooner: 1952.
Author's Note: Mutt is just fifteen when he tracks Indy down. Will follow story line of movie pretty well, if you haven't seen it DON'T READ THIS.
Warning: spanking later on.
Disclaimer: I don't own Indiana Jones or any of these characters. They belong solely to George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Paramount Pictures.
Chapter 14: The Riddle
(A.N: Mutt receives a few swats from Indy.)
"Falls!"
All the occupants, except one, screamed this, as the duck plummeted down the waterfall.
Luckily, it wasn't a very far drop and while the vehicle filled with water done of its passengers fell out.
Indy and the others continued to scream for a few seconds after the fact, but then calmed down enough to breathe again.
"Well," he said, sighing. "That's one."
Mac looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean 'one'?" he asked, confused.
Mutt, however, had figured out what his father was eluding to. "Ox," he told the Brit, gesturing to the 'crazy' man who still clutched the bag with the crystal skull in it that he'd grabbed as he was pulled into the duck, "said that it 'drops three times' so…"
"Falls!" Marion cried out, pointing up ahead.
They all turned to see a second waterfall they were approaching. Once more they began to scream as the duck went over the side. This waterfall was steeper than the last and almost succeeded in dumping them out of the duck; but not quite.
By now they were all drenched, and the current was moving rapidly…towards a third waterfall!
"Here comes three," Indy said, frowning.
This waterfall was the steepest of all and did succeed in dumping all of them out. As they fell, they screamed and then were all consumed by the water beneath. For several seconds, there was no sign of them but then five heads broke the surface and began swimming towards the shore.
As they crawled up, all bruised and battered from the drops, Indy made his way to Marion to help her up. "Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
She nodded, grinning. "I'll live," she said, "how about you?"
Indy smirked. "You know me," he said, shrugging. "It'll take more than that to take me out."
Marion laughed, pulling him down into a kiss. A groan got both their attention and they turned to stare at their son, who was still on his hands and knees.
Indy grinned, and went to help him up also. "Here, kid," he said, "let me help ya up."
"I don't need your help," Mutt snapped at him, still coughing the water out of his lungs. "I can get up on my own!"
Indy scowled. He was tired, bruised, and irritable; and what he certainly didn't need at the moment was a teenager with an attitude to deal with.
Reaching down, he grabbed a hold of the kid and yanked him to his feet. He then reared back and delivered three sharp swats to the boy's drenched backside.
SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!
Mutt yelped, grabbing his throbbing posterior and glaring at the older man.
"What was that for?" he asked, indignant.
"One was for the attitude," Indy told him, "one was for the disrespect, and the third…well, that one was just for being a pain in the butt! Turn about is fair play."
Mutt scowled, still rubbing his butt. "Sorry," he muttered, sourly. "I'm just not used to all this adventure stuff the way you are."
Indy grinned. "That's all right," he said. "There was once upon a time I wasn't used to it.
"Really?" Mutt asked him, curious. "When?"
"Oh," Indy said, smirking, "when I was first born."
Mutt rolled his eyes. "Gee," he said, sarcastically, "that helps a lot, Pops."
Indy chuckled. "Pops, huh?" he asked, grinning. "I can live with that."
"Through eyes that last I saw in tears," Oxley, who was staring at something in behind them, suddenly spoke.
Everyone was perplexed a moment, but then recognition brightened Mutt's face. "I've heard that before," he said, excitedly.
Indy rolled his eyes. "We all have, kid," he told him. "It's what he kept spouting back at the Russian's camp, remember?"
Mutt returned the eye roll. "I mean before then," he told his father. "It's from a poem written by T.S. Eliot that Ox had me memerize when I was like ten. It goes: Through eyes that last I saw in tears; the golden vision reappears. Through eyes that last, here in death's dream kingdom, the golden vision reappears!" He smiled, proud that he could remember it all the way through.
"What does it mean, though?" Marion wondered, curious.
Mutt shrugged. "H—" he started to say, but a disapproving scowl from both his parent's had in correcting himself "—eck if I know."
Indy followed Oxley's gaze, and then grinned. "I think I do," he said, pointing, "look." They all followed his finger back towards the waterfall they had just dropped from. On the other side of it was a cliff facing that looked like a skull! It's eyes were large and oblong, just like those of the Crystal Skull.
"That must be the way in," Indy said, smiling. "It looks like we have some climbing to do."
Mutt looked at him in disbelief. "Climb that?!" he exclaimed. "Without any gear! Ya've gotta be kidding me!"
Indy shrugged. "You don't have to come, kid," he told him, "but one way or another me and that skull is getting to Akator."
"After all the trouble that thing has caused us," Mutt grumbled, sourly. "I say we just toss the stupid thing."
Indy shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "but no can do. It has to be returned and I'm the one that has to return it."
Marion put her hand on his arm and looked at him in concern. "Why you, Indy?" she asked, puzzled by his determination.
"Well," Indy said, sheepishly, "because it asked me to."
"Asked you?!" Mutt asked a look of disbelief on his face. "How can a hunk of dead rock ask anything?"
Indy smirked. "Who says its dead?" he asked, grinning. "Come on, let's get started." Wrapping an arm around their shoulders, he started for the cliff facing to begin a climb.
Oxley, still clutching the skull and muttering the lines of the riddle, and Mac followed.
Little did they know, however, that Irina Spalko and her men weren't too far behind them.
TBC…