"Here we are. The Snuggly Duckling. A quaint little place. All in all, perfect for lunch. After all, we wouldn't want to scare you before you get to see your dream realized. It might be better for you to stay here while I check to make sure it's safe."
"You think we'll just sit back and let you order us around, Flynn? You better think again. I'm following you," Arabelle snapped.
"Of course you have a problem following orders. Princess. But maybe you should try just this once." Flynn replied.
"Uh, guys? Can we get out of the middle of the street and go somewhere else to have this conversation? We don't need the guards seeing Arabelle here with us." Eugene, as usual, attempted to be the voice or reason.
"So, The Snuggly Duckling, huh? I do like ducklings. Besides, maybe Arabelle is right, there's safety in numbers, right?" Rapunzel asked, attempting to help relieve the tension between Flynn and Arabelle.
"Fine, whatever. Come on. We might as well go in now." With that, Flynn turned to go, expecting the other three to follow his lead into the pub since it was obvious that they were determined to stick together. Flinging the door open, Flynn called out, "Bartender, your finest table please!"
Glancing around, Rapunzel's eyes grew wider with every person she saw. None of them looked safe to her. Gasping, she brandished her frying pan around as Flynn herded her into the pub. Eugene and Arabelle close behind.
"You smell that, Blondie? Take a deep breath through your nose. Really let that smell seep in. What do you get? To me, it's part bad man smell, and the other part really, bad man smell. Overall, it just smells like the color brown."
"Uh, um…" Rapunzel stuttered before she felt a tug and whirled around. One of the men had a hold of her hair, looking at it carefully.
"That's a lot of hair," the thug said, glancing at Flynn.
"She's growing it out. Wait, is that blood on your mustache? Guys, look at all the blood on his mustache. That's a lot of blood."
Pulling her hair out of his grasp and gathering it up, Rapunzel didn't respond. She was too busy backing away from the thug now that he was no longer holding her hair. She backed up so far, she ended up backing into another thug in the pub. Rapunzel quickly moved a small step forward and brandished her frying pan again. Eugene hovered behind her, trying to look brave in the face of his fear, and show his support of Rapunzel.
"You don't look so good, Blondie. Maybe we should just take you home and call it a day. You can give us the satchel back and we can pretend this never happened." Flynn hoped he didn't sound too eager for this outcome. Flynn glanced over to his brother, only to recognize the fear Eugene was trying to hide. Instead of pushing for Rapunzel to leave and go home, Flynn decided it was better to make sure that Eugene was ok.
"Flynn what are you up to? This isn't the kind of place you bring a nice girl to." Arabelle whispered quietly. "Are you trying to scare her out of her mind? That's not very nice. I mean, you scared Eugene too, not just her."
"Shhh," Flynn whispered. "If we're careful we can still make it out." At that, Flynn turned around and slowly pulled Rapunzel and Arabelle back towards the door, with Eugene close behind. Before they could leave, however, one of the thugs, Vladimir, slammed the door.
"Is this you?" He asked, holding up a wanted poster, pointing to Flynn. "Or is it him?" turning to Eugene.
"Leave him alone." Flynn said as he glared and put a protective arm in front of his brother. "And what if it is me? What exactly are you gonna do about it? Arrest me? You aren't guards and I bet the guards would be interested in some of the things you guys do too. Maybe if you let these three go, I will stick around and let you turn me in."
Eugene, you have to get out of here. I will see about causing a diversion, then you can run. Make sure you get the girls to follow you out. I'm sure I will be able to get out of this and meet you back in the clearing near the cabin.
Flynn, don't do anything stupid, I couldn't handle losing you, either.
Just trust me.
You know I do, Flynn. Whatever you do, be careful.
Always.
Before Flynn could say anything else to Eugene or anyone else, someone spoke up.
"Oh, it's him all right," another thug, this one with a hook hand, said. "You there, go find some guards. That reward's gonna buy me a new hook."
That started a trend, one by one, the thugs began arguing amongst themselves as to who would get to turn them in. They didn't know who the real thief was and they didn't really care. Flynn was starting to get nervous. Right when he thought it was hopeless, Rapunzel surprised them all.
"STOP!" Rapunzel yelled. "Give me back my guides. I need them. Are you all just ruffians and thugs or what?"
Arabelle spoke up, unconsciously using the same authoritative voice her father used when he was asserting his authority. "This is ridiculous, neither of these guys are the infamous thief and none of us has done anything wrong. Just go back to eating and drinking or whatever and let the four of us go."
This caused more muttering amongst the thugs, but they were no closer to getting out of the pub.
Finally, giving up on the thugs hearing her, Rapunzel looped her hair around a tree branch protruding from the ceiling of the pub. Pulling hard, she waited until she had it sufficiently tied back and released her hair. The sudden loss of counterweight sent the branch into the middle of the crowd, hitting the thugs and grabbing their attention.
"Put them down!" she exclaimed. "Look, I don't know where I am, and I need them to take me to see the floating lanterns, cause I've been dreaming about them my entire life. Find your humanity. Haven't any of you ever had a dream?"
The thugs were intrigued. Hanging Flynn and Eugene up on hooks on the wall of the pub, they turned to Rapunzel. Rather used to being overlooked, Arabelle blended into the shadows, torn between speaking up again to help the brothers or to help Rapunzel. Hook Hand turned and stalked back to Rapunzel. She backed away instinctively.
"I have a dream," Hook Hand said. "I've always wanted to be a concert pianist. Can't you just see me up on a stage performing Mozart?"
This elicited a few snickers before another one of the thugs spoke up.
"I've got a dream. I have scars and lumps and bruises, and something even oozes, but despite all my extra toes and my nose, I wanna make a love connection," Big Nose said. "Can't you see me with a special lady? I may not be a looker, but I'm a lover, not a fighter."
"So, what's your dream?" Hook Hand asked, pointing to Flynn.
"Oh, I don't have a dream." Flynn responded.
"Oh, come on. You don't expect us to believe that. I mean, look around. Tor there wants to be a florist. Gunther loves interior design. Ulf is into mime and Attila's cupcakes are just divine. Then you see Bruiser there knits and Killer sews. Fang does these puppet shows…"
"I guess I do have a dream deep inside. I just want to go somewhere where my brother and I can start over." Flynn's response temporarily silenced Hook Hand, but not for long.
"And last, but certainly not least. Vladimir there collects ceramic unicorns." Hook Hand finished.
"Really? Ceramic unicorns? But…" Flynn cut in. "Isn't that a little girly for you?"
Vladimir snarled. "Oh yeah, who you calling girly? Your dream stinks."
"I don't think he meant anything bad about it." Eugene said. "It just surprised him, that's all. Right, Flynn?"
"Uh, no, of course not. It's a great dream." Flynn stated solemnly.
"Really?" Vladimir was skeptical. "So, you don't really think it's girly that I collect these unicorns?"
"Nope," Flynn responded again. "Not at all."
"And what's your dream?" Hook Hand asked, pointing at Eugene.
"Well, um. I guess my dream is to find out what happened to my dad. I know my mom died in a fire when my brother and I were young, but I don't remember much about my dad. I really want to find out as much as I can about my parents." Eugene responded quietly.
"Oh, um Eugene, Flynn. I actually know a bit about what happened to your parents. They…" Arabelle's statement was cut off by the sound of running and another thug ran into the pub yelling the guards were coming.
"Oh, no. We have to hide." Flynn almost looked panicked. He couldn't bear the thought of something happening to his brother or the girls.
"Go on, live your dreams," Hook Hand said, opening a panel to reveal a tunnel and then reaching up to pull Eugene and Flynn down from the hooks. "We'll cover for you. Go."
"Thank you, seriously. If there is anything any of us can do, you can get word to me." Flynn spoke quietly to avoid being heard by the guards outside.
"Your kindness will be rewarded. Thank you again," Arabelle whispered.
Rapunzel turned, still holding onto her hair and ran into the tunnel. After all four of them had made it into the tunnel, Hook Hand quickly closed the panel to hide the tunnel and turned back to the bar. Soon after, the door to the pub was shoved open by the guards.
"Where is he? We were told the infamous Flynn Rider was here," the first guard asked sharply.
Right behind the guards were the Stabbington brothers.
"I believe this is the man you're looking for." Vladimir said, holding up Shorty who was holding up a wanted poster for Flynn Rider.
"You got me," Shorty said, slurring his words. He held up his hands, "Here, cuff me."
Before anyone could respond, another guard came running up yelling "There's no sign of Rider, sir."
"Any idea where he went, Frank?" the Lieutenant asked. "How did he get away?"
The remaining guards glanced at each other and looked around the room. No one wanted to speak up as to how he had gotten away. Before long the doors to the tavern were thrown open and there, standing in the doorway, was the captain's horse.
"Maximus?" the guard questioned. "What are you doing here? Where is the captain?" Maximus entered the pub and began sniffing around like a bloodhound on the trail of a scent. It didn't take him long to go up to the bar and push one of the beer taps, revealing the tunnel leading away.
The Lieutenant gasped. "A tunnel? So that's how he got away. Where does this tunnel lead?" Not waiting for a response, the guards turned and followed Maximus into the tunnel and away from the pub. The Stabbingtons watched carefully, noting the tunnel's direction. The guard who had been left behind to take the Stabbingtons in custody, watched them warily. He knew they were up to something but wasn't sure what.
Not long after the guards had disappeared into the tunnel, the Stabbingtons glanced at each other. Soon, they were back-to-back. The guard was paying too much attention to them. With more stealth than was believable the brothers had managed to remove the bindings tying their hands together. Reaching around his brother, the one with the eye patch, punched the guard, rendering him unconscious. Without a word, the brothers took off, disappearing down the tunnel after the guards.
Outside, Mother Gothel had coerced Shorty to give her the location of the tunnel exit before she too took off.