Disclaimer: I do not own "Lilo & Stitch" or any of the characters therein.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:
WENDY'S ANGELS
The last thing Pleakley remembered was light. Bright white light, blinding him, drinking him in, devouring him. Then darkness. Had he died? No. Of course not. He could still feel the pain in his wrists. Was this Hell? He opened his eye. Dull gray metal surrounded him. Lilo was crouched by his side, her face buried in his muumuu, whimpering. He had blacked out, only for a minute, though it had been long enough for him to lose his bearings. He had no idea where they were, until a hauntingly familiar voice spoke to him from somewhere nearby.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the bastard child of my favorite whore, Wendy Pleakley."
Beside him, Lilo gasped. Pleakley sat up slowly, following her frightened eyes as they stared, transfixed, at the towering form of none other than Horsthar Le'Kruune. Instinctively, Pleakley grabbed hold of the little girl, pulling her close into a protective embrace. Le'Kruune smiled sweetly, a gesture that made the smaller alien's stomach churn.
"What in the cosmos are you wearing, my dear boy? You look like a cheap floozy in that getup. Following in your mother's footsteps, are we?"
In spite of his fear, Pleakley flashed his captor a deadly look. When he did, he saw in that moment just how different Le'Kruune himself appeared since the last time he had seen him, some nine years before. The entire left side of his face was shriveled and discolored, as though it had suffered some second or third degree burning. His left eye was sealed shut, and the skin over and around it sank into what was unmistakably an empty socket. Most startling of all, though, was his antlers. One of the front ones, which were only half the size of the ones which sat further back on his head, had been severed off, clear down to the skull, with the other one still intact. One of the larger antlers had also been broken off, though a prominent stump remained, while the other one was only missing a prong. Pleakley had little time to wonder what had happened to him, for just then Le'Kruune was attempting to address Lilo.
"And what is this intriguing little creature you have here?"
"Her - her name is Lilo. She's a little girl I live with back on -"
"I didn't ask for it's life story, you imbecile! I asked you what it is!" Le'Kruune roared, suddenly losing his gentility. Pleakley trembled, pulling Lilo closer to him.
"Sh-she's a human. A human girl. A child."
"Hmmm… and you say you live with it? Funny, I was under the impression that Earthlings were nothing more than a bunch of primitive ape cousins. Do you keep it as a pet, then, or as food?"
"Neither!" Pleakley shouted. "She's just as much a person as you or I! Well, not YOU, maybe, because unlike YOU, she's civilized! AND -" he added, growing light-headed again, "she's part of my ohana!"
Le'Kruune looked down at them both in disdain. "And just what the hell is 'ohana?' Some alien slang you picked up on this pathetic rock?"
"No! Ohana means family, which is something you'll never understand!"
"Oh, really? Don't underestimate me, Pleakley. I know quite a bit about family. In fact, I've been planning a little family reunion for quite some time, and now that you're here, the festivities can finally begin! Captain -" he turned to a nearby officer, "bring in the others."
Without a word, the officer obeyed, disappearing behind a stainless steel door and returning moments later with three prisoners in tow. First to appear was ZaiLeia Miik, grand councilwoman of the Galactic Alliance. She stepped across the threshold into the large, empty room, arms behind her back and her head held high as if to maintain her staunch air of diplomatic dignity. She did not appear the least bit upset by the situation. Standing over Lilo and Pleakley, she gave them a slight nod of acknowledgement, and nothing more. Second into the room was Vay, looking equally unfazed. Pleakley's jaw dropped. "Mother?"
He had no time to wonder at her presence aboard the Kaizaxx ship, for just then the third and final prisoner stepped into sight. Seeing her, his jaw dropped even further. Even after all those years, he still recognized that lovely face, that pleasant figure, that long blonde hair. He blinked. No. It couldn't possibly be… could it? Pleakley gaped, wide-eyed, at the enchanting ghost of his past … "Leera?!!"
At the sound of her name, the woman looked up. Their eyes met, locked. In that instant, a million things seemed to transpire. All the lost years, all the memories, all the emotions, became everything and nothing as they rushed to embrace each other. His heart throbbing painfully, Pleakley squeezed her tight, as if by doing so he could hold onto her forever, and never lose her again. A loud sob escaped him, and suddenly he felt very weak. Overwhelmed, he buried his face in her hair and cried. Sickened by this display of affection, Le'Kruune seized Leera roughly by the shoulder, yanking her out of Pleakley's arms.
"NOOO!!!" he screamed, falling forward onto his knees. Le'Kruune glared down at him, a triumphant grin on his hideous face as he stood with Leera in front of him, his claws resting on her shoulders. Pleakley looked at her desperately. She looked back, her eye pleading with him.
"I will thank you not to manhandle my personal property," Le'Kruune growled, squeezing her shoulders until his claws dug into her flesh and she gasped.
Just then, Pleakley couldn't care less about how powerful Le'Kruune was. Trembling from fatigue, he raised a long, slender arm from which the bandages were starting to come undone, and pointed an accusing finger at their captor. Then, in a blood-chilling hiss, invoked this curse upon him.
"You will SUFFER for what you have done to these women! You will die horribly, and you will rot in Hell for all eternity! I will see to that personally!!!" Clinging tightly to his side once again, Lilo gasped, then, after a second's thought, added "Yeeaaahhhh!!!" in a mockery of her old rival Myrtle Edmonds.
To their surprise (although they should have expected it) Le'Kruune chuckled. He let go of Leera, and she ran back to Pleakley, who caught her in his arms and held both her and Lilo protectively. In a moment, Vay had joined them. The grand councilwoman remained distant and stone-faced. They all watched as Le'Kruune howled hysterically with laughter, clearly out of his mind. He shut up quickly as a voice called out over the intercom: "WE HAVE BEEN DETECTED. FEDERATION FORCES ARE CLOSING IN! REPEAT: FEDERATION FORCES ARE CLOSING IN! REQUESTING HIS HIGHNESS HORSTHAR EVETH XEYJII LE'KRUUNE TO THE MAIN CONTROL ROOM."
"Oh, trog-feathers!" Le'Kruune cursed. He turned toward the door, then looked back over his shoulder. "Put them all in detention cell D9. Except for the human. Put it in quarantine to await decontamination. I can't have a filthy Earthling mucking up my ship, now, can I?"
"Uh, excuse me, sir," an officer spoke up, "why don't we jettison her? She is of no use to us."
"That's where you're wrong, Lieutenant. Dead wrong." And without warning, Le'Kruune pulled a ray gun from his belt and shot the man in the heart. Pleakley screamed and turned away, covering Lilo's face with his muumuu so that she couldn't see. A terrible ringing silence followed, as Le'Kruune's officers stared in absolute shock at the lifeless body of the lieutenant. Not having been part of the elite group that had undergone the molecular remapping procedure, he was not lucky enough to survive this assault.
"Mackayl!" Le'Kruune barked, and all his men jolted and looked up at him, fear evident on their faces. The one called Mackayl stepped forward, trying to conceal his terror. Le'Kruune bent down and ripped a small metal pin from the front of the dead man's uniform, then handed it to Mackayl.
"You've just been promoted to lieutenant. Congratulations!"
Just then another officer stepped forward. "With all due respect, your highness, Mackayl's only a corporal. I'm sergeant, so that means I should be promoted to lieu -"
A second shot was fired, taking the man down. Instead of dying, he fell over onto his back, clutching at the smoking hole beneath his ribcage. In a few moments, however, it had healed. Le'Kruune stood over him, this time aiming the weapon at his face at point blank range.
"I'll do it again!" he said, a maniacal gleam in his eye. "Cross me once more and I'll do it till you're dead! Or maybe… yes… one shot in the eye ought to do the trick. You do know, don't you, that your eyes are not covered by our invincibility insurance? I had to find that out the hard way, thanks to a certain little slut whom I need not mention by name…" he glared back over his shoulder at the three huddled Splorgnarians, plus Lilo, who was still concealed under Pleakley's muumuu. Pleakley glanced at his mother, questioning. Reading his thoughts, she shook her head, then nodded toward Leera.
"Now, then," Le'Kruune said loudly, tucking his gun back into his belt, "Is there anyone else here who isn't quite convinced of their place aboard my ship?" When no one answered, he smiled, satisfied that he had managed to instill terror into his men. "Alright, then," and he headed toward the door. "Oh, yes. Make sure one of you jettisons Salwen's corpse on the way out. But not the human. If I find so much as a scratch on it, you will all be eating your own excrement for a week!"
"Hey, what's going on out there?" Lilo shouted, her voice muffled under layers of fabric. She jabbed Pleakley in the side, and he winced. "Pleakley, lemme out! I can't breathe! And you smell bad! C'mon!" But Pleakley held her firmly, keeping her covered until two petty officers grabbed the corpse by the antlers and dragged it out of sight down a dark corridor. The instant he let her out, two more officers made forward to take her, and he quickly tried to cover her up again. With absolutely no idea what was going on, Lilo fought her way out from under her textile prison, only to be seized roughly from both sides and caught up in a tug-o-war between Pleakley and a Kaizaxx man. But Pleakley's arms were still too weak, and he could not hold onto her for more than a couple of seconds. The Kaizaxx man had won. Ignoring everyone's screams of protest, he tucked the little girl under his arm and carried her off down one corridor while Pleakley and the women were herded off down another toward their cell.
* * * *
"But why? Why did you do it?" Pleakley whined, regarding his lost love Leera in their detention cell a half hour later.
"Because - (sigh) - because there was just no other way that I could think of. I had to go under completely if I was going to accept the mission. When I wrote you that note, I hadn't intended it to be my last. If you will remember correctly, I simply stated that I could not keep living knowing that Le'Kruune was still out there, and that even though it pained me to leave you, that we would be together again someday. I never actually said I was going to take my own life, but I did write that note so as to sound ambiguous about it."
Pleakley sighed painfully, looked at the floor. "God, Leera. You have no idea how much I've suffered, thinking you were dead all this time. I just can't believe that you're alive. It's a miracle. I only fear that this is just a wonderful dream, and nothing more. If it is, then I don't ever want to wake up."
"I'm so sorry, Wendy. I never meant to hurt you. But when ZaiLeia asked me to undergo this mission, I just couldn't refuse. Once I'd infiltrated Le'Kruune's inner circle, I was sure that in no time at all, I would be able to take him down. But I was wrong. And I couldn't go back to Iyerba after that, or he would most certainly have come looking for me, and destroy our planet in the process. And I couldn't contact anyone, either. Not you, or Vay, or even the Alliance. If I had, it could have put you all in danger, as well as put the entire mission into jeopardy. Believe me, I had no idea things would be this complicated. I had expected to complete my mission and return to Iyerba within a few months' time. A year, tops. I managed to take a good whack at Le'Kruune on four separate occasions, but after each attempt, I had to stay on the lam."
"How do you think he ended up looking the way he does now?" Vay asked from a nearby bunk, smiling proudly at the younger woman. Pleakley looked back and forth at the two of them, questioning. "That's right," his mother replied. "The first time, she only succeeded in taking his eye out. The second time, she threw flesh-eating acid on his face. And the third time, she tried to dehorn him."
Leera blushed bright pink at this. "Yes, and I still have a piece of his antler. I saved it as a souvenir of that wonderful day when I almost succeeded in killing him."
Pleakley stared at her, disbelieving. "You really did all those things?" Leera nodded. "Wow. I don't know what to say, except… you go, girl!!!" She blushed even darker.
"But… what about the fourth time?" Pleakley asked. "You said you attacked him four times."
Leera blushed again. "Oh, yeah. That. Well, actually, I did, just recently. A couple of days ago, in fact. I got him really good that time, only you can't see what I did because…" she trailed off, blushing yet again. Glancing down, she made a gesture with her eye toward his crotch, and suddenly he understood. His own eye widened in horror.
"You mean you…?"
She nodded. This time, everyone looked shocked.
"Well, that's news to me!" exclaimed Vay, looking at Leera with a mixture of awe and admiration. ZaiLeia, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "And just what exactly did you do? There's more than one precious item downstairs to rob him of."
Leera opened her mouth to reply, but Pleakley cut her off.
"Wait! Don't tell me! I don't even wanna know! That's a very sensitive subject, and while I'm very proud of you for doing… whatever you did, I'd just as soon not hear all the gruesome details."
"Well, we do!" said Vay, looking eagerly at Leera. "Go on, tell us!"
Leera barely opened her mouth a second time when Pleakley flung his hands up to cover his antenna and started singing incoherently in an attempt to block her out. Leera shook her head and smiled before answering loudly, "Well, technically he can still do the deed, but he ain't gonna get slapped with any more paternity suits, if you get what I mean."
Despite his efforts, Pleakley still heard this. He dropped his hands to his sides and gaped at her.
"I don't suppose you managed to save those, did you? You know, as a souvenir?" Vay asked, grinning. Pleakley glared at her in shock. "Mother!"
"Hold on a moment," ZaiLeia said. "I'm afraid I don't understand something here. Horsthar underwent molecular remapping, so with the exception of his eye, everything else should have grown back. What's up with that?"
"Apparently there seems to be some flaws in his molecular formula," Vay answered. "The procedure was still in its hypothetical stage when he underwent it, so of course certain risks were to be expected. After all these years, it would appear that his modified molecular map is beginning to break down, thus reverting him to his original state, or possibly worse."
ZaiLeia nodded in agreement. "That would explain the deterioration of his mental state, which, I am assuming, is the only reason that Leera here is still alive. After what she did to him, I am quite shocked that he didn't kill her."
"Unless he's got something else planned for me," Leera said quietly, and Pleakley turned to her, a worried look in his eye. "Well, he's already tried to rape me," she told him, quite frankly. "Lucky thing I had my knife with me at the time. I waited till the right moment to whip it out, and then I took it and -"
"That's okay, Leera!" Pleakley said loudly. "You don't have to reiterate! He got what was coming to him, and that's all I need to know." He blushed and Leera giggled.