Author's Note: Recommended Soundtrack For The Big Showdown: Bad Attitude by Hollywood Suite
Inspired by DM's confession, it was now Dawn's turn to open up to him about her own dreams
"You say you got engaged, married and divorced in an hour during this dream?" DM asked as he poured himself another cup of coffee from the pot.
"Yes, It was to a boy I had sort of had a crush on, well over eight years it lasted" she revealed, taking a freshly served jug of orange juice and pouring it into her own glass. "I'd only ever met him about three times, one time I wanted to tell him how felt was when I lent him a DVD box set of a tv series he loved. I tucked in a note expressing my feelings, but five minutes later I pulled it out for fear I'd have to come clean to him about what my Dad did, and some of the things I'd done on my own. He probably wouldn't take to me if I knew how far along the opposite end of the tracks I was"
"So you pined for him long afterwards?" DM asked.
"Yes, that dream I had where I married and left him is only a few days old. I don't know why I would think of hurting him like that"
"You're not hurting him...you're liberating him" DM replied.
"We're all so...expendable aren't we?" Dawn lamented, "Time is precious to us, time is so little, and life for us criminals is never easy...even when we have our desires presented to us in illusion, as we advance in age, we tend to welcome in a harsher reality...the truth is we don't want an Oasis, we are as barren as the desert, and we want even our inner worlds to reflect what we experience in everything outside. As adults, the world outside our windows has never had such a more strenuous pull, that's why I prefer to stay enchased in childlike amber...only reason I look the part here is because I feel I need to be noticed this time, to be acknowledged by the wider world, to show this Princess can, if she so desired, be a queen among her peers"
"Perhaps we should concentrate on the world in here then" DM said, "Look around, how many do you think we can take?"
Dawn glanced at the huddled mass of inhumanity gathered at the tables. Reptiles, one-eyed Giraffes, well-manicured scarabs in evening wear, foxes dressed in casual light green shirts and ties indulging in a game of cards with a pack of Alsatians.
Each one giving the other dirty looks.
"You're seriously thinking of instigating a confrontation? We're here to take the Rugby diamond, not cause a ruckus"
"I'm just weighing our options" DM insisted.
"Now you're reminding me more and more of another hothead I'm usually around, the one comforting thought is he isn't here to bungle things up"
DM kept his temper in check. Now was not the time to forfeit his disguise in favour of proving Dawn's point.
"You're right...of course you're right. We ought to try something that doesn't leave too much of a a fuss...at least until we make it out of here with the diamond"
"Then listen up, because here's my strategy" Dawn began, "I'd like to whisper it in your ear if you've got a minute"
DM felt apprehensive. If he were to let his ears loose, his disguise would be compromised.
All would be lost, and much would be broken.
"I can read lips you know" DM told Dawn.
"Oh, but where's the risk in that?" she countered.
"This isn't some child's game, this is business"
"That's before I knew it was you, now we're having fun" she said, digging her foot into DM's heel
"Ow, ow, Ok" DM replied.
"I am curious...if your ears are tied back, how are you even able to hear me at all?"
DM grinned, and beckoned her over to him.
He would whisper the secret in her ear.
"My I-Patch has a built-in back-up sub title generator; it translates lip readings and creates a virtual transcript that I can read"
"You really can read me like a book then" Dawn said, clapping her hands enthusiastically.
"And nobody can do it better" DM remarked.
DM's attention turned to a lip reading of a different sort from someone who had taken to the podium at the centre of the hall, the mesmerising Rugby diamond visible as it was carried out and placed within a glass case.
All around him, the assorted mobsters and underhanded were raising their hands, the transcript readings on his I-Patch only registering numbers, not words.
Numbers that were increasingly going up.
"The auction for the Rugby Diamond, it's going on right now, I've gotta make my own bid" Dawn replied, about to raise her hand, only for it to be grabbed by DM and placed firmly down
"If you do, and you win, what happens then? You know your only option will be to hand the Diamond over to me" DM cautioned.
"And how do you suppose that'll make me look to everyone else? I'll never be welcome among them again, and my Dad..."
"Dawn, your father is gone, and these aren't the sort of people you want to curry favour with"
"Is this where we start fighting?" Dawn asked.
"..Your special sir" announced the waiter as he served them their meal.
DM was now preoccupied on what they'd been served.
Hot plates of simmering seeds.
"Do you mind if I record this?" Squawk asked as she and Penfold barged in, taking out her portable video camera.
"Pardon?" DM asked
"Turns out she's spent the whole of our evening recording our conversations, bit of an inconvenient time for home movies Professor" Penfold added, he waved to DM nervously.
"Hi Chief, now's not the time to say I'm sorry is it?"
"This is why I come up with the plans Penfold, this isn't the sort of thing I'd have ever agreed to if I knew it'd involve Dawn"
"Yes, the Colonel tried to warn me a few chapters ago this would happen, I guess it was a requirement of the plot"
DM nodded in agreement.
"Apologies for the video camera, it's just one should always keep a record of dreams coming true" Squawk said.
"Yes, these are seeds, exactly what I'd been thinking of earlier...but why was that so important?"
"Perhaps they are a means of averting my fate?" DM asked.
"Your fate?" a curious Dawn asked, about to place one of the piping hot seeds into her mouth. DM slapped the seed out of her hand.
"Don't eat it, it's poisonous" he said
"How do you know?" she said.
"Think about it, think about why everyone is quiet...trance-like, as if they were all...sleeping awake...all except us and the service..."
"Yes, but how does that and mutual dream experience mean you...we...are about to be killed?" Penfold asked.
"Because I chose the words Dead In Their Tracks" DM revealed.
Dawn was still confused.
"Don't worry, that look on your face was mine too when those words were first sprang on me...they meant something significant, but the how and why eluded me"
"That's to be expected. Sometimes you can get too over-ambitious with how you think your plans out, then when morning comes, like many dreams; they simply cease to be as the mind is too pre-occupied with other things. Only the odder ones linger" Squawk revealed.
"So you're saying you could be killed...but you've managed to avoid it by...bring reminded of a lucid dream you've forgotten about?" Dawn asked.
"This was a direct result of he and Penfold tampering with my megabyte modem earlier, it was powering my Lucid Undercurrent DetEctor, L.U.D.E for short, but their tomfoolery caused it to go haywire and bath us all in their rays. I had to find a means of keeping an eye on all three of us, so I agreed to a date with Penfold seeing as he was going to join up with you on this mission"
"So you were just using me?" Penfold asked.
"I had a wonderful time with you heading up here, don't judge the journey based solely on the destination, we can always go out again without any of this hanging over us"
DM sensed a lot more were now hanging over them, and looked up to find the assembled rogues looming over the table.
"Finish your last meal, its vegetarian" demanded Count Duckula.
"What gave me away?" he said, dropping his phony accent and sounding almost deflated.
"You came across like a foghorn when you tried 'whispering' the secrets of your Eye-Patch to Dawn" pointed out King Kong Brunel.
"Crumbs we're spent talking about dreams deciding life and death, and they're all so wide awake" Penfold spoke out in alarm.
"Then let's send them back to sleep" Dawn replied, springing out of her seat. DM joined her.
Dawn flipped her hair forward, and it expanded, slapping the rogues sharply in the face. She made a dash for the Rugby diamond, only to be blocked by the Snowman, who threw several ice daggers at her, she was able to swiftly duck them.
"Unlucky for you, I have some experience with the cold" she said, levitating herself and inhaling a sharp intake of breath before pouring it out as a thick sheet of ice that covered Snowman from head to toe, with a snap of her fingers, the cage of ice tipped itself over, shattering both it and it's prisoner into a million pieces.
Dawn headed over to the glass canister, she eyes glowed a translucent pink, an energy aura surrounded the case, it flew off as her eyes widened, leaving the diamond exposed.
Dawn took hold of the diamond, and pondered what to do next, hand it to DM, or take her leave here and now.
She sighed, this wasn't an easy decision.
She summoned Mr. Snuggles with a loud whistle. He had been waiting outside of the restaurant for a good ten minutes, having been late due to commitments at a comedy gig.
With a sudden and swift leap, he jumped from the ground level all the way to the top floor, crashing through the windows, he rolled up along the floor like a bowling ball, knocking over several of the London underworld as if they were ten pins
They all came at them faces both familiar and unfamiliar...and each stepped straight into a great big clunking fist from Mr. Snuggles, a well timed judo kick from the Danger Mouse, a trip from a receding carpet as Penfold pulled it out from underneath them just as they advancing on Professor Squawkencluck, who in turn swiftly smashed her video camera firmly on the noggin of Duckula as he steadily rose to his feet.
"Professor, what about your documentation of our Lucid experience?" asked Penfold.
"With the benefit of hindsight, I should have been documenting the whole of our time together" Squawk replied.
"Anyone for a bear hug?" Dawn said, instructing Snuggles to take what was left of the rogues and crush them in a suffocative grip, squeezing them until, depleted of oxygen, they passed out.
As the fight settled down. DM, Dawn and Snuggles dusted off their hands. A war well waged.
"Well, safe to say this fine New Year's Day has gone by like a dream" DM replied, his ears suddenly popped back into their rightful places, the fight having loosened them from the elastic holding them backwards.
Snuggles was fuming.
"Oh I knew it" she said, and proceeded to batter DM soundly.
Penfold and Squawk watched the spectacle, each of their hands holding the others.
"Ah DM and Dawn...what dreams may come...whenever Snuggles calms down and lets them have any" Squawk replied.
Suddenly, the roof caved in as the Frog's Head Flyer, the warship of the nefarious Baron Silas Greenback, touched down, a hatch at the base of the craft opened up and a metal arm slowly protruded from it, fastening itself around Dawn and then shooting upwards into the sky again.
DM leapt into action, he summoned the Mark IV using a remote control signal installed in his com-watch. He waited for it to arrive by the shattered remains of the top floor window, letting the chill air quell his raging temper.
He was bruised, but not broken, he couldn't afford to be. Dawn needed him.
Mr. Snuggles crept up behind him, placing a paw on his shoulder.
Both locked eyes with one another, both nodded in silent communion. They now had something in common. Dawn's safety was sacrosanct.
The Mark IV, in flight mode, swiftly arrived. Mr. Snuggles shrank down to his regular size and leapt into DM's arms, he clutched on tight as Danger Mouse took one step off the edge of the window and fell straight into the lap of the cockpit.
Penfold and Squawkencluck looked on, nervous but hopeful, as the Mark IV sling shot across the sky in pursuit of the Frog's Head Flyer.
Greenback was anticipating such a pursuit, and instructed Stiletto to ready the frog's head missile launcher. A hatch at the back of the craft opened, and the launcher was primed, and the targeting systems were activated.
Dawn had been placed in an energy nullifier, which left her feeling very tired, unable to muster up the strength to weave her own unique brand of chaos.
"Fire everything" Greenback instructed as the Mark IV came into sight. The targeting system locked on to the craft, and the missiles were deployed.
With some expert steering from Danger Mouse, veering left to right, up and down, as well as Mr. Snuggles practically swatting some of the missiles to one side with a gargantuan paw, each one of them missed their mark.
"You ought to fire everyone, they're lousy shots" teased a mischievous Dawn.
Greenback snarled.
"Take the diamond from her" he told Stiletto.
Stiletto reached for the diamond, but Dawn wasn't about to surrender her prize. She still had some strength left and was keeping it in reserve, managing to let out the occasional bursts of repellent energy, enough to keep Stiletto's hands off of the diamond.
"This is your last warning Princess, hand over the diamond, or we may just have to drop you from further social events"
"I'd sooner drop dead" Dawn
"Hard to argue with that" said Greenback, pressing a button on his console, opening a hatch underneath Dawn, she let go of the diamond and hung on to the edge of the craft.
Her strength ebbing away due to the effects of the neutraliser cage, and her fingers steadily slipping off of the edge of the hatch, she let out a small telepathic s.o.s, knowing only one soul out there would pick it up.
My Dangerous Friend...
And within the instant of one heartbeat, that soul responded.
"Snuggles, have you ever had a driving test?"
"Never passed a single one" Snuggles admitted.
"Good. Me neither" said Danger Mouse, offering Snuggles the wheel while he clambered over the windscreen and perched himself on the bonnet of the car.
He spotted the Rugby diamond as it descended to the Earth, in pursuit was Stiletto on a jetpack. Danger Mouse was presented with no less than three choice, rescue Dawn, apprehend Greenback, or secure the diamond.
He opted for all three.
He leapt off the Mark IV and descended, latching onto to Stiletto's back, braving the heat of the jet pack's thrusters; he wriggled the pack loose and attached it to himself, then grabbed Stiletto before he could begin a descent of his own.
Knocking Stiletto out with a direct steal of the Vulcan nerve pinch, he used his remaining free hard to grab the diamond before heading upwards and depositing both in the cockpit of the Mark IV.
Snuggles seized an opportunity to somewhat one-up the white wonder in his own manner, he set the Mark IV on a collision course with the Frog's Head Flyer, leapt out of it with Stiletto and the diamond in tow, as well as one of the car's parachutes, and joined DM in freefall.
Danger Mouse rocketed towards the Frog's head flyer to retrieve Dawn, her grip finally loosening. She plummeted to the Earth, only to be scooped up in DM's arms. Dawn held on to him tightly, affectionately rubbing her head against his in gratitude.
Greenback was fully prepared to do something about this, but time was not on his side. The Mark IV was headed directly towards him, and his missile supply had been totally depleted.
Grabbing a parachute, Greenback leapt from the head flyer as the Mark IV collided with it, triggering a tremendous explosion.
Danger Mouse and Snuggles successfully touched down at the top of London Bridge, while Greenback wound up in the very drink and had to be fetched by coast guards.
Mr. Snuggles presented Danger Mouse with the Rugby diamond, only for Dawn to snatch it back, using her steadily replenishing powers to compact it down to a microscopic size that she placed around her neck. Danger Mouse realized it would take a bit of a fight to pry it from her hands.
This was energy a spent Danger Mouse simply did not have.
He wondered aloud if he'd ever be able to muster up such strength.
He had to face facts, something about him had changed, he just couldn't decide on whether or not it was for the better.
As the police rounded up the auctioneers into their vans, DM and Dawn, exhausted from the ordeal, perched themselves down on the pavement and stretched their legs.
It had been an exhausting night.
And now it would prove a decisive one.
DM had already informed the officers that he was taking Dawn into 'special custody'; an excuse he knew would only buy him only a few precious minutes of time.
Dawn hadn't returned the diamond to him. And he knew he would lose her if he were to insist he did.
Mr. Snuggles, Squawkencluck and Penfold walked over to the two.
Snuggles picked Dawn up in his arms and gently rocked her from side to side, cradling her like he would a needy child.
Danger Mouse smiled. Whatever those two went through, they always worked it out in the end. Protective, caring, loyal, Snuggles had more than made up for what was missing in her life.
It was something to envy.
"They're particularly affectionate tonight" observed Squawkencluck.
"Turning point in both their lives Professor, so long as she has the diamond on her person, the government will be keeping a much more permanent eye on her, she won't be heading home any time soon if I turn her in, and he could wind up confiscated"
Dawn asked Snuggles to put her down, she ran back over to Danger Moue, wrapping her arms around him snugly.
"You ready to go?" asked DM.
Dawn reached for the travel sized diamond, now hanging around her neck; it's bedazzling and alluring beauty still tempting her. She quietly shifted from adult, to teen, to child and back across all three, but no such form represented a changed mind nor a reformed manner, more a perturbed and distressed one.
"I can't part with it, I can't" she insisted.
"Why can't she just give it up?" Squawk asked.
"She craves status, leverage in her continued role in the criminal underbelly, and you know how she gets, she won't change her mind unless something moves her to"
"And she's one rock hard boulder to push" Squawk noted. Danger Mouse nodded, cradling Dawn and delicately stroking her locks of her hair with his hand.
Squawk could tell Penfold was acting most apprehensive, he was now truly feeling the weight of this uncertain new status quo he had a hand in creating bearing down on him.
He needed release
"I'll leave you two alone for a bit, catch you tomorrow Penfold" Squawk said
"I don't think I'll be around the lab much tomorrow, I'm on Danger Baby monitor duty"
"I meant after work, my place" Squawk replied, giving Penfold a peck on the cheek which left him blushing crimson red.
"Take care of yourself" Squawk said, rubbing DM's shoulders warmly before heading off.
There was a momentary pause, a period of silence that Penfold took it upon himself to eventually break, for Danger Mouse looked a little too distant, concerned more for where Dawn would end up than where he himself was mentally.
"Where do you think we're headed now?" asked Squawk
"Oh, I don't know...somewhere further north maybe...where the water is always cold, the air is chilled, and we don't know the names of the players"
"Plenty of fish too" Penfold joked.
"A lot of fish" DM said.