Rio 41
It was very early in the evening when they had arrived. The town looked peaceful and very well lit.They had been exhausted when they arrived and for some reason after Cora had changed the fisherman to a fish she was so tired she had to lay down. He decided now was as good a time as any to attempt to find the crocodile.
He started down the dock briefly pausing when Cora called his name. In truth he was done with the witch. Rio was right he needed to wash his hands of her with as much haste as was prudent. "Well my dear Cora this is where we part ways thanks for…everything, but it's time for me to go skin a crocodile," said Hook He turned to walk away from her and she teleported right in front of him blocking his path.
He gritted his teeth in irritation, he hated that annoying ability. Cora swayed some and she looked like she intended to faint for a second, so he reached a hand out to steady her. Rio was right there was something seriously wrong with Cora or her magic.
"You might want to rethink that," said Cora He narrowed his eyes at the woman and removed his hand. "We had a deal now get out of my way," said Hook Cora frowned at the hostility in his tone, but it didn't deter her one bit. She needed this man's help like it or not.
"Believe it or not I'm doing you a favor," said Cora He stepped forward and she could see he was rapidly losing patience with her, just by the way the man's eyes seemed to darken. She really couldn't blame the chit for ditching him the first chance she got. Cora normally wasn't intimidated by any man but lately, her magic had been failing her and that scared her, because it meant she no longer had the edge she once had.
"By preventing my vengeance?" said Hook Cora took a small step back and tried a different tact because as loathe as she was to admit it, Hook was dangerous to her right now.
"Ask yourself how I did that?" said Cora Hook frowned and rocked back on his heels. "By using your dark magic," said Hook Though he practically spat the last word. He started to go around her and she moved into his path again.
"Exactly, magic is here, and that makes matters a bit more complicated," said Cora She gave him a few minutes to draw the conclusion that she already had. He still wore that angry expression, but for now, he was listening to her and like it or not she desperately needed an ally in this.
"If you go off half-cocked after an empowered Rumpelstiltskin do you know what will happen?"said Cora, He looked down and she could tell he was reconsidering his earlier decision "So you do, good"said Cora She opened her mouth to say something more when she felt the dock sway underneath them and hook's eyes focused behind her.
"If you two are looking to go fishing the tackle shop doesn't open until six but I could open it earlier," said an old man Cora turned and spotted the old man who had walked upon their conversation. She wasn't sure what he had heard and there was no way she was going to let him ruin their plans. Seriously what gave with the amount of old men on the docks."No, we're good," said Hook
He caught the look on Cora's face and started to reach for his sword. "Wow! nice ship when did you get in?" said the old man He was oblivious to the looks both Cora and Hook were now sporting. Cora inwardly groaned like it or not the old idiot was right, the ship suddenly appearing in the harbor would give away any element of surprise they hoped to achieve.
His tart or her friends were sure to recognize it in a heartbeat, and she owed that girl some payback. Now that the girl had magic she was decidedly more dangerous. With a sigh Cora made the ship vanish right in front of the fisherman's eyes.
"Wow, where did it go? Are you some sort of magician back home?" said the fisherman Hook rolled his eyes and looked at Cora as if to ask are you done yet. She shook her head and then simply turned the man into a fish. Hook kicked the fish into the water and eyed his companion, she looked somewhat green now and she noticeably swayed, though she quickly recovered her composure.
Hook could tell the magic was taking a bigger toll than usual on her and wondered why. "Are you all right witch?" said Hook He didn't really care but hoped the old woman would give him some sort of clue as to what was causing this behavior.
"Yes... I'm fine... it's just that magic here seems a bit more difficult to use" said Cora He shrugged as if it didn't matter, but internally filed away the information perhaps it was something he could use against the lizard. "Very well, lead on your majesty," said Hook
She gave him a considering look and proceeded him off of the dock. The town looked deserted at this hour until he spotted several strange carriages parked alongside the road leading to the only well lit building in town. Cora paused and looked at the building next to her. He could see what she had planned without her even needing to say it.
He calmly broke the lock on the building's door and they climbed the stairs up into some sort of office building and then quickly found the stairs to the roof. They stood on the edge watching what appeared to be a party in a small building that said Granny's diner above the door.
Hook raised his looking glass and observed the group until he spotted a familiar head of red hair. She was laughing and talking to her friends as if she didn't have a care in the world. Cora made a snorting noise beside him. "You're pathetic stop stalking the girl already, she ran away from you remember," said Cora
He lowered the glass some and observed the witch she looked irritated a little too irritated to be just annoyed. Could Rio be right? Did the old witch have a crush on him? Oh lord, he hoped not, because he was so not interested.
"It was a misunderstanding that will be corrected," said Hook Cora snorted again "She looks happy without you, perhaps it's you that misunderstood her intentions," said Cora He snorted in response, yeah that was definitely jealousy and something else.
He raised his glass and reluctantly turned his gaze away from Rio and spotted gold sitting with a young woman he vaguely recognized, he was still trying to recall from where, when Cora tugged on his arm "What woman?" said Hook She pointed to the approaching Regina. "they invited her?" said Hook
Cora frowned this wasn't good, it would be harder to turn people away from Regina, which in turn would force her to seek her mother for support if the people genuinely thought she had changed. "Well does she look broken to you?" said Hook "not yet," said Cora
They observed the party until the guests started leaving for the night and then headed back to the ship, to plan how they would stalk their quarry without being seen. In the end, Cora ended up enchanting two gold chains so that whoever wearing them would quickly be forgotten by any passing observer.
This would enable them to move about in broad daylight without anyone really being able to spot them, though Cora was forced to take a nap right afterward so Hook decided to test the spell and left her sleeping it off on his ship. He waited on the street until he saw Rio bid goodnight to her friends and followed her to the inn she was staying at.
She paused for some reason and turned in his direction with a frown on her face. He froze hoping she couldn't see through the disguise and wondering what she would do if she did spot him. Had the old witch been right? Did the girl move on or was she simply using him to get her friends home? He groaned because he had no way of knowing unless he talked to her and he could not do so now. The light shut off in her room so he made his way back to the harbor.
The next morning
He had dozed off on the deck after finding that Cora had stolen his bed for the night. The sound of slightly raised voices woke him. He could have climbed in next to Cora but he didn't want to encourage the witch and for some reason, it oddly felt wrong to him. Almost as if he was cheating on Rio.
He rubbed his hand down his face and shifted. The empty bottle of rum beside him rolled as he climbed to his feet. He turned towards the argument happening just beyond the end of the dock and calmly watched as Regina yelled at some man walking a dalmatian.
"I was simply trying to help you," said the man. He gave an exasperated sigh and Killian moved closer to the rail to listen closer. " I..I.. only mentioned that you come to see me as an example of your commitment to change," said the man Regina gave an irritated huff.
" I came to you in confidence. How am I supposed to prove to people that I've changed when you're there chirping in their ear reminding them of my past?" said Regina "I said nothing specific I would never betray doctor-patient confidentiality" said the man
"Doctor? Need I remind you that you got your Ph.D. from a curse" said Regina Hook barely resisted the urge to chuckle at the man's offended look. He heard a swish of skirts behind him and knew that Cora had joined him on deck.
A hot brunet in red short pants came running up to the couple arguing and asked if everything was alright Regina quickly told her to get lost and resumed the argument after she left.
"I can be trusted I assure you," said the man "you're lucky I have changed," said Regina and she flounced away. "hmm interesting," said Cora She watched the man walk away from the dock area occasionally pulling on the dogs leash because it kept turning towards their location. the man couldn't see them but the pet obviously sensed their presence.
"I think I'm going to go for a bit of a walk," said Cora She vanished off the deck and Killian sighed in relief. Now he could think clearly without having to worry about the witch interfering with his plans. Speaking of which it was high time he started figuring out how he was going to kill the old lizard without Rio getting caught in the crossfire. After a few minutes stewing on the deck he decided he was being stupid and walked off his ship with the intention of getting the lay of the land so to speak.
Killian wandered away from the docks and towards the diner he had spotted from last night. It looked almost deserted and he started to turn to go in another direction when he spotted a familiar redhead walk into the building. He paused and watched as she waited for the others for a few minutes, then finally gave up ordered food and walked towards the small blue carriage.
She climbed inside and he swore when he realized she was leaving and he had no idea where she was heading. He stepped forward with the intention of following her then suddenly stopped. Cora was right he was being pathetic and stalking the girl. He turned and walked down a side road and stopped; there was the girl from last night, the one who had been sitting with the crocodile.
He smiled wickedly and decided to follow her stopping only when she entered a pawn shop with the name Mr. Gold above the door. He saw the crocodile through the front window and paused to watch until the witch appeared beside him without warning and caused him to jump.
"Eh gads woman! do not do that" said Killian She paused for a second. "My apologies, but I require your assistance," said Cora He froze because he could have sworn she said she was sorry. Okay, something was definitely off with her.
"Lead on," said Killian He was curious as to what the old woman had been up to. She led him to a small building with the name Archie Hopper on a metal sign attached to the door. He frowned at the plague just what the hell was a psychologist? She opened the door and walked inside and he followed her up the stairs and into a small office. He frowned at the unconscious man adorning the floor. He gave the witch a curious look when he noticed what looked like a half-formed lump of clay.
Once the witch explained her plan he set about making the office look as though a murder had taken place while Cora turned the lump of clay into an exact duplicate of their captive. She took the captive back to the ship afterwards in order to stow him and to rest afterwards. Once again leaving him to his own devices. He wandered down the road somewhat until he spotted cars with lights on top stop in front of the building they had just staged a murder scene in. More people showed up and soon a crowd gathered. He stood to the back and watched as the crowd went from confused to angry.
Emma arrived and he watched her disappear inside. When a large carriage arrived with the word coroner marked on the side the crowd became angrier and some of them drifted off and down the road to the diner.A few minutes later snow and her husband arrived in one carriage and then Rio got out of her own. She went inside as well so he decided to wait.
Snow and her husband left the office and came back with a kid in tow. Rio stepped outside and was standing only a few feet from him. He longed to reach out his hand to touch her and realized that his hand had been rising to do just that. She was talking into a phone but her gaze was riveted on the diner. Snow and charming left the office left the kid with Rio and darted into the diner which was now filled with angry people.
Rio raised the device to her ear and called Emma just as an angry mob exited the most likely for regina's abode. He smirked for a second then realized that Rio was following the crowd and that the old witch had used magic earlier which meant Regina could as well.
He stepped into an alleyway as an angry mob left granny's diner. He watched as Emma,snow, Rio and some guy chased after some kid. She passed him close enough that he could have reached out and touched her as she walked past. He followed merging with the crowd and watched as they confronted Regina and when it became a magical firefight he ducked behind one of those carriages to watch.
He saw Rio enter the fray and then stared in shock as he saw her use magic. He didn't know what to think as he sat there and processed what he had just seen and tried to make sense of they shoved Regina into a carriage marked sheriff and drove away He shakily made his way back to the ship.
"Oh, my god Henry! what were you thinking?" said Emma The kid looked somewhat shocked as well as upset. Rio chalked it up to being yelled at. "I just didn't want her to hurt someone," said Henry His voice came out in a whine. Rio silently cursed herself for giving the kid a weapon in the first place, if she hadn't the kid might not have interfered in the first place. Emma glared at Rio as if she just read those thoughts from her head.
"Henry!..." said Emma "We really should put her in a cell before she wakes up," said Rio She wanted to shift the conversation away from Henry's impromptu tazing of his adopted mother. Emma turned and gave her another glare. "She is quite right, that spell will only hold her for so long," said Blue
Emma groaned "Fine help me with her will you," said Emma and reached down to grab Regina's legs while Charming grabbed her shoulders, together they stuffed Regina into the back of a cop car. Charming got behind the wheel and Emma headed for her car.
Rio had stepped in front of Henry because she wanted to say something to the kid before the others did. "Rio you coming?" said Emma "Yeah, hold on a minute, me and the kid need to have a chat," said Rio Snow was standing by the passenger door of Emma's car with a worried look on her face.
"If you want, you can meet us at the station," said Snow "Yeah, that will be fine," said Rio Emma turned her glare towards her mother, who just shook her head and climbed into the car. With a sigh, Emma did the same. Rio waited until they drove away.
"That was stupid," said Rio Henry gave her a shocked look and opened his mouth to defend his actions. "No, don't even say it, because I'm not done," said Rio The kid swallowed nervously and snapped his mouth shut. "I get what you were trying to do and believe me I understand your frustration….nope hold on…what I don't get is why you feel the need to intercede in adult affairs" said Rio
The kid gave her a blank look, so she leaned down to his level. "Try to see things from your mom's perspective, both of them, you just put yourself in the line of fire in a firefight between two magic users," said Rio
The kid swallowed nervously. "Now I know you are not suicidal, so out with it, why did you choose that course of action?" said Rio They had started to walk towards her car. The kid looked down at his feet and sniffled. If he thought she was going to be moved by tears, he had another thing coming.
"Are you mad at me Aunt Rio?" said Henry She tilted her head and evaluated her feelings before answering. Yes, she was a bit perturbed at the kid, but only, because he had done something stupid and incredibly dangerous. "A bit, for the rest I am grateful and disappointed," said Rio
The kid frowned up at her in confusion. "Grateful?" said Henry "Grateful that I am not helping your mothers to plan your funeral and disappointed that you didn't once consider how your actions would affect everyone else," said Rio
"Funeral?" said Henry "Yes funeral, what do you think your mother was trying to do when she threw a fireball at the crowd? Give them a tan? She meant to kill sweetheart and you stepped right in her way. Now give me the taser and get in the car." said Rio
The kid sighed and pulled the silver object from his pocket and handed it over to Rio. He climbed into the car and sank down into his seat."I'm in a lot of trouble aren't I?" said Henry Rio shook her head with a snort. "Duh!" said Rio
She started her car and followed the others to the station. She slowed to a stop at the stop sign and heard the kid sniffling beside her. "Will it help if I say I'm sorry?" said Henry
Rio snorted, not bloody likely, the kid probably just got himself grounded till he was old enough to graduate high school. "Doubtful, so I would suggest you think about what I said and find a way to offer up some serious contrition," said Rio "Serious what?" said Henry "It means guilty contemplation, not that it is likely to do you any good," said Rio or me she thought darkly.
They pulled up to the station and on the steps was a seriously pissed off looking Emma and Snow, obviously waiting for them. "Oh shit!" said Henry