~ Later That Afternoon—On The 'Bella', Docked In A Port In Cairo ~
The 'Bella' docked a few hours that afternoon, and Gerhard took Suzette out of the closet he had been keeping her in and met up with Josef and Greta on the ship's deck. Gerhard raised his eyebrow when he realized Greta was wearing the pendant. She noted his expression and smiled a bit…a hard, powerful smile.
Suzette noticed as well.
"You might not want to wear that thing…" Suzette warned, cocking an eyebrow. She had had the pendant since she had been born, and all it had done was bring her horrible luck. Suzette knew something was wrong with it…that despite however much power it had, there was something horribly off about the pendant.
"Shut up. Why is she still alive?" Greta spat, turning to Gerhard and motioning to Suzette, who shrugged.
"We may need her later." Gerhard explained shortly. He then turned to Josef. "Help me with the others. They may try to escape."
"May!? What kind of couenne idiot are you? Of course they're going to try to escape. Mon Dieu, how you ever beat us in the Franco-Prussian War…" Suzette exclaimed in exaggerated loudness, trying to attract someone's attention. She wasn't stupid enough to call out for help, but maybe if she could get someone suspicious enough, the Germans could be stopped.
"Wollen Sie gefaelligst den Mund halten!" Gerhard screamed at her, smacking her in the back of the head.
"I will not kindly do anything!! Especially not 'shut up!'" Suzette returned hotly, struggling a bit. She immediately stopped, though, when she felt the hard, metallic pressing of a hand gun against her neck.
A few people walking by looked over at him, and Josef cleared his throat, shooting Gerhard an angry look.
"Is anything wrong?" Someone asked, looking at Suzette in concern, who was desperately trying to motion with her eyes that Gerhard was concealing a gun. Of course, the person had to be oblivious and simply smirked at Suzette.
"Alles is ganz recht" Greta assured, smiling gently, and the stranger walked off. Suzette sighed…everything was not all right, as the German woman had related. Everything was far from all right. And Suzette knew that by Greta wearing that necklace, things had gotten much worse. Suzette couldn't say why, but she knew things had definitely taken a turn for the worse.
As if it were possible for things to be worse, Suzette reflected grimly.
Gerhard turned to Greta, and motioned for her to take the gun. Greta did so.
"Watch the girl…Josef and I will take the other three off the boat, then do away with them. Meet us at the port in a half hour…we need to take a boat to get their." Gerhard commanded.
"Ja. Come on, come with me. And do not make a sound, or I will shoot you." Greta demanded of Suzette, who nodded, sighing.
"Dieu." Suzette breathed, and tried to motion to other with her eyes as Greta led her down the gang plank. Suzette managed, though, if not to attract help, to catch a glimpse of her pendant, around Greta's neck, and she gasped in surprise. Things were definitely getting stranger.
The aquamarine pendant was glowing.
Brightly.
And dangerously. Yes…despite the soft color and the innocence of the simple stone, there was something infinitely powerful and deadly about the light that was emanating from it.
***
Ardeth, Jonathan, and Rick looked up in alarm as the door to the cabin burst open. Josef and Gerhard stood there, both cocking pistols.
"Time to go, gentlemen." Gerhard smirked.
Suddenly, Rick had an idea. Not a particularly good one, but an idea just the same. He turned to Ardeth and Jonathan, and mouthed 'follow my lead'. The two nodded, a bit unsure, but they did trust Rick.
Rick only hoped it would work.
"Fine. Just please…don't torture us or anything. If you're going to kill us, do it quickly?" Rick pleaded. Jonathan raised his eyebrows at Rick in shock, but Rick just winked. Jonathan licked his lips, hoping the crazy American could pull them out of this. Ardeth simply waited.
Gerhard and Josef glanced at each other and laughed.
"We shall see, Yank. Come on. Up! If you do not do as we say, then we will make it slow." Josef demanded, and Rick allowed himself to be picked up.
"Wait…we have to remove the ropes. Damn, we can't let them out like that." Gerhard sighed with realization.
"You're right." Josef nodded, then grabbed Jonathan, who was nearest to him. "If we see you two even think about escaping, I will shoot him." Josef threatened, pointing the gun directly between Jonathan's eyes.
"Ah, gents, better do what the man says." Jonathan pleaded, his voice shaking a bit as he swallowed hard in fear, going a bit cross-eyed as he stared with fear at the gun.
"Exactly. Now…the Med-Jai first." Josef motioned to Ardeth, and Gerhard walked over, undoing the ropes that bound him. Ardeth was almost trembling with the urge to kill the German, but the gun pressed against Jonathan's head dissuaded him from doing anything irrational. Ardeth simply stared with cold fury at Gerhard, who smirked cruelly as he pushed Ardeth to the ground.
"Fearless warrior. Hah!" he spat, and kicked Ardeth hard.
"Hey! Don't do that!" Rick cried, struggling to get to his feet as Gerhard Ardeth again, and the Med-Jai let out a small groan of pain.
"Do not move!" Josef demanded, pressing the gun harder against Jonathan's head. "I will shoot him!"
"Rick!" Jonathan exclaimed, his voice small and tight in fear.
"Rick…" Ardeth pleaded. Gerhard laughed again, harder, angrier, and he kicked him again. There was almost a tangible fury around the German, and even Josef looked a bit confused.
"STOP IT!!!" Rick screamed, and Josef swung the gun around, pointing it at Rick.
"I told you to…" But Josef was cut off when Jonathan, acting on sheer impulse and adrenalin, threw himself forward, knocking Josef to his feet. Jonathan was still tied up, but he managed to keep Josef against the ground. Gerhard turned, and Ardeth, struggling to his feet, punched him in the face. Gerhard cried out, and Ardeth punched him again, but he was still reeling from the German's cruel attack and couldn't do anymore. Fortunately, as he knelt down, he managed to grab Josef's gun before Gerhard could.
"Do not…do not move." Ardeth panted, turning to small hand gun to face Gerhard, who slowly put his hands up. "I'll kill you." Ardeth threatened.
"SOMEONE BLOODY HELP ME!" Jonathan screamed desperately, as Josef struggled to get up. The German was much larger than Jonathan, and the Englishman knew he would not be able to hold him for much longer
Ardeth nodded, and keeping the gun on Gerhard, crawled over to Rick.
"Are you all right?" Rick demanded, concerned.
Ardeth nodded, and untied Rick. Gerhard cried out in anger, but Ardeth swung the gun back around, and Rick was able to remove himself from the rest of the ropes.
"Give me that." Rick suggested, and Ardeth handed him the gun. "Go untie Jonathan before…" but Rick was cut off when Gerhard lunged for Ardeth as Josef finally dislodge Jonathan, who fell to the floor with a thud. Jonathan cried out, and rolled over on top of Josef again before the German was able to get up.
"GET OFF!" Josef screamed.
"Highly unlikely." Jonathan sneered.
"Damnit!!" Rick cursed, and Gerhard grabbed the small ship's lamp off the bedside table and threw it at Ardeth. The Med-Jai cried out in pain, this time, and Rick shot wildly, and, unfortunately, missed Gerhard completely.
"Nice shot." Gerhard smirked.
Suddenly, Rick looked up, and smiled. He shot again, this time aiming straight up, and the light fixture that had been hanging directly above Gerhard was knocked down upon the German. Gerhard cried out and collapsed.
"Damn right that was a nice shot." Rick nodded, self-righteously.
"A little help, perhaps!?" Jonathan called as Josef pushed him off again. The German took one look at the situation and ran out, leaving Gerhard, still unconscious, in the middle of the room.
"Coward." Ardeth muttered, his voice slightly hazy, but he sounded quite happy with the German's lack of courage.
"Thank God. All right Jonathan…Lord, you're more use to us when you're tied up." Rick smirked, and just as he was to undo Jonathan's ropes, Josef ran back in, wielding a hand gun.
"Who's the coward now." He smirked, cocking the pistol and pointing it at Jonathan.
"Damn." Rick muttered. This looked pretty bad. He turned to Ardeth, who had struggled to his feet. The Med-Jai suddenly smiled, and motioned to Jonathan, who was staring up at Josef in fear. Rick raised an eyebrow, but smirked.
Rick shot again, wildly into the air, but just close enough to Josef so the German would duck, and Rick and Ardeth struggled to lift the still-bound Jonathan. Rick heard the Med-Jai cry out in pain, but before he could ask, Ardeth simply shook his head.
"What are you doing!?" Jonathan demanded.
"Getting us out of here!" Rick cried back, and as Josef was getting to his feet, Ardeth and Rick bowled past him, using Jonathan almost like a battering ram.
They managed to get out on deck, and ignoring the strange looks the other passengers gave them, they ran off the boat.
"What about Suzette?" Rick asked, concerned.
"WHAT ABOUT ME!?" Jonathan screamed.
Rick raised an eyebrow as more people stared, and he flashed them a winning smile.
"Er…he gets seasick. Ya…that's it." Rick smirked, and he and Ardeth brought Jonathan behind a pile of discarded wooden cargo boxes.
"Finally." Jonathan breathed as Rick undid the ropes.
"Stop your whining." Rick returned, but smiled good-naturedly. Jonathan rolled his eyes, but smiled back, and both turned to Ardeth
"Are you all right?" Rick asked softly. The Med-Jai had received quite a battering, and he was bleeding from his arm, where Gerhard had struck him with the desk lamp.
"Yes…I should be fine." Ardeth breathed.
"Are you sure? That damned Kraut really took it out on you." Jonathan persisted, scowling a bit.
Ardeth allowed a small smile.
"I will be all right. Anyway…we have to find Suzette and that pendant before the discover how to utilize its power. Even I am not sure what exactly will happen if they unlock it." Ardeth prompted, getting to his feet slowly and painfully. Jonathan and Rick still regarded their Med-Jai friend with concern. Ardeth smiled at them.
"Nice shot, Rick." He whispered, gratitude lacing his quiet comment.
"Well…I was always good at thinking on my feet. Now, Jonathan, on the other hand, is good at thinking on the floor." Rick turned to his almost brother-in-law with a snide smirk.
"Hey!" Jonathan protested.
"Probably because you've had so much practice, huh?" Rick persisted.
Jonathan rolled his eyes, and the three set off the rescue the French girl and avert the Germans from taking over the World.
The 'Bella' docked a few hours that afternoon, and Gerhard took Suzette out of the closet he had been keeping her in and met up with Josef and Greta on the ship's deck. Gerhard raised his eyebrow when he realized Greta was wearing the pendant. She noted his expression and smiled a bit…a hard, powerful smile.
Suzette noticed as well.
"You might not want to wear that thing…" Suzette warned, cocking an eyebrow. She had had the pendant since she had been born, and all it had done was bring her horrible luck. Suzette knew something was wrong with it…that despite however much power it had, there was something horribly off about the pendant.
"Shut up. Why is she still alive?" Greta spat, turning to Gerhard and motioning to Suzette, who shrugged.
"We may need her later." Gerhard explained shortly. He then turned to Josef. "Help me with the others. They may try to escape."
"May!? What kind of couenne idiot are you? Of course they're going to try to escape. Mon Dieu, how you ever beat us in the Franco-Prussian War…" Suzette exclaimed in exaggerated loudness, trying to attract someone's attention. She wasn't stupid enough to call out for help, but maybe if she could get someone suspicious enough, the Germans could be stopped.
"Wollen Sie gefaelligst den Mund halten!" Gerhard screamed at her, smacking her in the back of the head.
"I will not kindly do anything!! Especially not 'shut up!'" Suzette returned hotly, struggling a bit. She immediately stopped, though, when she felt the hard, metallic pressing of a hand gun against her neck.
A few people walking by looked over at him, and Josef cleared his throat, shooting Gerhard an angry look.
"Is anything wrong?" Someone asked, looking at Suzette in concern, who was desperately trying to motion with her eyes that Gerhard was concealing a gun. Of course, the person had to be oblivious and simply smirked at Suzette.
"Alles is ganz recht" Greta assured, smiling gently, and the stranger walked off. Suzette sighed…everything was not all right, as the German woman had related. Everything was far from all right. And Suzette knew that by Greta wearing that necklace, things had gotten much worse. Suzette couldn't say why, but she knew things had definitely taken a turn for the worse.
As if it were possible for things to be worse, Suzette reflected grimly.
Gerhard turned to Greta, and motioned for her to take the gun. Greta did so.
"Watch the girl…Josef and I will take the other three off the boat, then do away with them. Meet us at the port in a half hour…we need to take a boat to get their." Gerhard commanded.
"Ja. Come on, come with me. And do not make a sound, or I will shoot you." Greta demanded of Suzette, who nodded, sighing.
"Dieu." Suzette breathed, and tried to motion to other with her eyes as Greta led her down the gang plank. Suzette managed, though, if not to attract help, to catch a glimpse of her pendant, around Greta's neck, and she gasped in surprise. Things were definitely getting stranger.
The aquamarine pendant was glowing.
Brightly.
And dangerously. Yes…despite the soft color and the innocence of the simple stone, there was something infinitely powerful and deadly about the light that was emanating from it.
***
Ardeth, Jonathan, and Rick looked up in alarm as the door to the cabin burst open. Josef and Gerhard stood there, both cocking pistols.
"Time to go, gentlemen." Gerhard smirked.
Suddenly, Rick had an idea. Not a particularly good one, but an idea just the same. He turned to Ardeth and Jonathan, and mouthed 'follow my lead'. The two nodded, a bit unsure, but they did trust Rick.
Rick only hoped it would work.
"Fine. Just please…don't torture us or anything. If you're going to kill us, do it quickly?" Rick pleaded. Jonathan raised his eyebrows at Rick in shock, but Rick just winked. Jonathan licked his lips, hoping the crazy American could pull them out of this. Ardeth simply waited.
Gerhard and Josef glanced at each other and laughed.
"We shall see, Yank. Come on. Up! If you do not do as we say, then we will make it slow." Josef demanded, and Rick allowed himself to be picked up.
"Wait…we have to remove the ropes. Damn, we can't let them out like that." Gerhard sighed with realization.
"You're right." Josef nodded, then grabbed Jonathan, who was nearest to him. "If we see you two even think about escaping, I will shoot him." Josef threatened, pointing the gun directly between Jonathan's eyes.
"Ah, gents, better do what the man says." Jonathan pleaded, his voice shaking a bit as he swallowed hard in fear, going a bit cross-eyed as he stared with fear at the gun.
"Exactly. Now…the Med-Jai first." Josef motioned to Ardeth, and Gerhard walked over, undoing the ropes that bound him. Ardeth was almost trembling with the urge to kill the German, but the gun pressed against Jonathan's head dissuaded him from doing anything irrational. Ardeth simply stared with cold fury at Gerhard, who smirked cruelly as he pushed Ardeth to the ground.
"Fearless warrior. Hah!" he spat, and kicked Ardeth hard.
"Hey! Don't do that!" Rick cried, struggling to get to his feet as Gerhard Ardeth again, and the Med-Jai let out a small groan of pain.
"Do not move!" Josef demanded, pressing the gun harder against Jonathan's head. "I will shoot him!"
"Rick!" Jonathan exclaimed, his voice small and tight in fear.
"Rick…" Ardeth pleaded. Gerhard laughed again, harder, angrier, and he kicked him again. There was almost a tangible fury around the German, and even Josef looked a bit confused.
"STOP IT!!!" Rick screamed, and Josef swung the gun around, pointing it at Rick.
"I told you to…" But Josef was cut off when Jonathan, acting on sheer impulse and adrenalin, threw himself forward, knocking Josef to his feet. Jonathan was still tied up, but he managed to keep Josef against the ground. Gerhard turned, and Ardeth, struggling to his feet, punched him in the face. Gerhard cried out, and Ardeth punched him again, but he was still reeling from the German's cruel attack and couldn't do anymore. Fortunately, as he knelt down, he managed to grab Josef's gun before Gerhard could.
"Do not…do not move." Ardeth panted, turning to small hand gun to face Gerhard, who slowly put his hands up. "I'll kill you." Ardeth threatened.
"SOMEONE BLOODY HELP ME!" Jonathan screamed desperately, as Josef struggled to get up. The German was much larger than Jonathan, and the Englishman knew he would not be able to hold him for much longer
Ardeth nodded, and keeping the gun on Gerhard, crawled over to Rick.
"Are you all right?" Rick demanded, concerned.
Ardeth nodded, and untied Rick. Gerhard cried out in anger, but Ardeth swung the gun back around, and Rick was able to remove himself from the rest of the ropes.
"Give me that." Rick suggested, and Ardeth handed him the gun. "Go untie Jonathan before…" but Rick was cut off when Gerhard lunged for Ardeth as Josef finally dislodge Jonathan, who fell to the floor with a thud. Jonathan cried out, and rolled over on top of Josef again before the German was able to get up.
"GET OFF!" Josef screamed.
"Highly unlikely." Jonathan sneered.
"Damnit!!" Rick cursed, and Gerhard grabbed the small ship's lamp off the bedside table and threw it at Ardeth. The Med-Jai cried out in pain, this time, and Rick shot wildly, and, unfortunately, missed Gerhard completely.
"Nice shot." Gerhard smirked.
Suddenly, Rick looked up, and smiled. He shot again, this time aiming straight up, and the light fixture that had been hanging directly above Gerhard was knocked down upon the German. Gerhard cried out and collapsed.
"Damn right that was a nice shot." Rick nodded, self-righteously.
"A little help, perhaps!?" Jonathan called as Josef pushed him off again. The German took one look at the situation and ran out, leaving Gerhard, still unconscious, in the middle of the room.
"Coward." Ardeth muttered, his voice slightly hazy, but he sounded quite happy with the German's lack of courage.
"Thank God. All right Jonathan…Lord, you're more use to us when you're tied up." Rick smirked, and just as he was to undo Jonathan's ropes, Josef ran back in, wielding a hand gun.
"Who's the coward now." He smirked, cocking the pistol and pointing it at Jonathan.
"Damn." Rick muttered. This looked pretty bad. He turned to Ardeth, who had struggled to his feet. The Med-Jai suddenly smiled, and motioned to Jonathan, who was staring up at Josef in fear. Rick raised an eyebrow, but smirked.
Rick shot again, wildly into the air, but just close enough to Josef so the German would duck, and Rick and Ardeth struggled to lift the still-bound Jonathan. Rick heard the Med-Jai cry out in pain, but before he could ask, Ardeth simply shook his head.
"What are you doing!?" Jonathan demanded.
"Getting us out of here!" Rick cried back, and as Josef was getting to his feet, Ardeth and Rick bowled past him, using Jonathan almost like a battering ram.
They managed to get out on deck, and ignoring the strange looks the other passengers gave them, they ran off the boat.
"What about Suzette?" Rick asked, concerned.
"WHAT ABOUT ME!?" Jonathan screamed.
Rick raised an eyebrow as more people stared, and he flashed them a winning smile.
"Er…he gets seasick. Ya…that's it." Rick smirked, and he and Ardeth brought Jonathan behind a pile of discarded wooden cargo boxes.
"Finally." Jonathan breathed as Rick undid the ropes.
"Stop your whining." Rick returned, but smiled good-naturedly. Jonathan rolled his eyes, but smiled back, and both turned to Ardeth
"Are you all right?" Rick asked softly. The Med-Jai had received quite a battering, and he was bleeding from his arm, where Gerhard had struck him with the desk lamp.
"Yes…I should be fine." Ardeth breathed.
"Are you sure? That damned Kraut really took it out on you." Jonathan persisted, scowling a bit.
Ardeth allowed a small smile.
"I will be all right. Anyway…we have to find Suzette and that pendant before the discover how to utilize its power. Even I am not sure what exactly will happen if they unlock it." Ardeth prompted, getting to his feet slowly and painfully. Jonathan and Rick still regarded their Med-Jai friend with concern. Ardeth smiled at them.
"Nice shot, Rick." He whispered, gratitude lacing his quiet comment.
"Well…I was always good at thinking on my feet. Now, Jonathan, on the other hand, is good at thinking on the floor." Rick turned to his almost brother-in-law with a snide smirk.
"Hey!" Jonathan protested.
"Probably because you've had so much practice, huh?" Rick persisted.
Jonathan rolled his eyes, and the three set off the rescue the French girl and avert the Germans from taking over the World.