Disclaimer: Still ain't getting any pay checks for this puppy.
This chapter heavily inspired by Stoker1439's "New Years Eve" fic. I figured since I was using the characters, I needed them to remain in character, and that included keeping their continuity. So yeah.
By the way, sorry about the rotten spacing, html really screws it up and I just don't have the time to go through and correct all of it.
Chapter 8: Last Stand at Jimmy's Bar
Dark had fallen, and still there was not so much as the smell of a Plutarkian in the vicinity of James Orion's bar.
The two friends, with the addition of Chaos, had lingered around the bar all day, acting strangely in the young female's opinion. When it finally came closing time, Jimmy approached her, grinning from one huge ear to the other.
"What is it, Jim?" she asked, expecting some disgusting comment involving a three-way.
Instead he hugged her and kissed her cheek. "Just saying goodnight." he answered. He handed her an envelope, as was his usual custom at the end of the night to pay her for her work.
Chaos examined it. "Jimmy, this is way more than what I usually get...what's going on?" she asked.
"Eh, just a little extra. Why don't you go treat yourself, sweetheart? Go have some fun tonight and leave the boys to take care of the cleaning?" he offered sweetly.
Chaos smelled a big fat rat.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"Nothing. Just, you've been working so hard and I thought—" Jimmy began.
"You thought you were gonna trick me into getting out of here before you and Stoker have to take on the bad guys, is that it?"
Jimmy's cover was immediately blown. He stuttered. "Ha! What an imagination, that's a good one sweetie!"
Chaos shook her head. "Nice try, Orion. But I'm not going anywhere."
"Aw sweetie, you can't stay here. Things are gonna get...well it's just too dangerous." he insisted seriously. "I don't want you here when this all goes down."
"Too bad Orion." She shrugged with a smile. Jimmy turned exasperatedly to Stoker who had finished locking up for the night.
"Stoke, will you talk some sense into your girlfriend and tell her to get her hot little ass out of here?" he cried.
Stoker smirked at them both. "Already tried, Jim. There's no changing her mind."
Jimmy hung his head in defeat.
Chaos smiled and hugged the bartender. "Besides, honey, without me all you have is Stoker who's practically a cripple at the moment, and you who well...need I say more?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Stoker said.
"How much longer do you think we have?" Jimmy asked then as he turned off the open sign and shut down the lights in the bar, save for a few along the upstairs landing.
The distant rumble of a jeep and the twin dots of light coming from the road indicated they were now officially out of time.
"I think our party guests are trying to get the drop on us." Stoker said, licking his lips and loading his gun. The three headed swiftly and silently upstairs, taking their positions.
Downstairs, the Plutarkians had broken down the door and had made their way into the dark and empty bar room.
"Looks empty." Cheddar, the first Plutarkian to enter the room said. He was a pale blue color with a long dorsal fin atop his head that was shredded and ripped in several places. He was followed by another member of his squad, a short and extremely obese fish slightly greener in color named Swiss.
"Do you think they scattered before we got here?" he asked huskily.
The captain of the squad, a stately looking fist with a monocle entered the room behind them. "They're hiding somewhere in here, the cowards." he sneered.
The last member of the group, Colby, stepped into the room then, looking pale and nervous. He had been sent on this mission on a whim from command, and what at first seemed like a good opportunity to advance in ranks, now seemed like a very poor choice.
"How many do you think there are?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking, as it always did when he was nervous.
"Not many, maybe three or four." Swiss answered. He looked to Monterey for instruction. The fish with the monocle grinned slyly.
"Two of you take the upper floors, we'll search down here. You know what to do if you find anyone." he said in a smooth yet acidic voice.
Colby and Cheddar moved to the upper floor while Swiss followed their captain through the darkened room.
Cheddar was the first up the stairs, Colby sulking behind. He knew the other fish was afraid, and while that didn't encourage him any, he felt sorry for the little tadpole. He himself had been on plenty of these missions, but Colby was still inexperienced, and if he didn't grow a spinal cord soon, would probably end up at a desk job, or just plain dead.
"This should be no problem right?" the fish behind him asked in a whisper. "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard to take them down if they are here right? I mean, they're just Mice...Mice are weak."
Cheddar figured Colby was either incredibly stupid or just trying his damndest not to piss himself in fear. Cheddar decided to give it to him straight.
"They fight like cornered animals, rookie. You ever seen a cornered animal?"
Colby gulped loudly behind.
"Now don't go pissin' your drawers, kid. It's only a few of them. Shouldn't be much of a struggle. None at all if we play our cards right." he assured him.
They stopped in front of the first door they came to. It was open, and they could see it was empty. There were four more doors along the landing, and only two doors were closed. They approached the next one cautiously, Cheddar leaning in gun first. This room was also empty.
Cheddar took a steadying breath and moved as silently as his girth would allow him along the hall, to the third door.
He looked at Colby and gave him the signal to shoot when ready. The fat fish kicked the door ajar and leapt in, finger squeezing the trigger. The room contained a desk and a bed but no sign of living things.
The window in front was open and the night breeze whistled through the still room. Cheddar made a quick sweep of it, with Colby standing guard at the door. "Nothing." he said looking back at him.
"Maybe they really did leave." Colby said, feeling some relief at this. Cheddar did not appear as optimistic. "One room left up here. Come on."
The fourth door was locked, which Cheddar discovered because he had to kick it three times to break it open. Adrenaline was surging through his cold blood as he walked into the bedroom, knowing this one must contain at least one of the vermin. But at first glance the place was as empty as all the other rooms.
"The hell? Why lock an empty room?" Colby asked.
Cheddar's eyes wandered to the curiously ajar closet door. He smirked and moved forward, standing in the darkened opening. He leaned in, his hand testing the side of the wall to find the light switch.
He did not know he was standing back to back with Stoker, with only the thin wood of the closet door diving them. Stoker's eyes gleamed in the darkness and he grinned, holding his breath. The stupid fish had no idea what was coming.
An instant after Cheddar found the light switch, Stoker used all his weight to slam the door backwards on the Plutarkian, simultaneously smacking him in the face and catching his fat arm in the door frame.
Cheddar cried out in pain as he felt pain first across his face and then an even stronger pain in his forearm as it cracked under the force of the slamming door.
His broken arm made him lose his grip on his weapon which clattered to the closet floor. Stoker released it and landed a hard right between the man's two watery yellow eyes, sending him reeling cross-eyed backwards, sprawling across the floor next to the bed.
Colby jumped at this and lifted his gun when he suddenly felt a tight squeezing sensation around his fat neck. Jimmy had him in a strangle hold and was squeezing with all his might. Colby tried to get away from him, but damn the rodent was stronger than he had given credit for. The room and the other mouse at the end of it started to go hazy, and then dark, and then nothing.
Jimmy let the unconscious fish flop to the floor with a muffled thud.
"Well...that was ridiculously easy." Jimmy shrugged.
Stoker turned his eyes on the door. "There are more downstairs. Where's Chaos?" he asked.
Swiss and Monterey had throughly examined the bar room and found nothing. They turned their attention now to the kitchen and found it equally dark and silent.
"What a dump." Monterey muttered distastefully. Swiss moved towards the stoves and packed several plastic explosives under each and turned on the gas.
"That'll take care of that." he said, setting the timers on each for forty minutes.
From upstairs they heard the sounds of scuffling. "Looks like Cheddar and Colby found the owner and his friends." Swiss said.
"Lets go check on them, then. I want to get out of this rat hole as soon as possible." Monterey said tiredly. They turned to leave, when something caught his attention. The soft clunk of pots clanking together from across the room, where several long counters lead behind another wall that probably lead to the freezers.
Monterey smirked. "Looks like they missed one." he said. He nodded to Swiss, who move in immediately. He walked quickly towards the tables, checking underneath each with no sign of anyone.
He turned the corner and found a short, narrow corridor, lined with more counters covered with boxes that lead to a large latched door that was the freezer.
"Come out, come out wherever you are..." he purred, holding his weapon ready as he headed down the narrow hall. He glanced quickly to the right of him to admire a rack of knifes and thought unpleasantly of what one of those might feel like buried in his back.
In the middle of these thoughts, he did not see Chaos who was lying flat against the cold tile floor under one of the high counters that lined the wall, under the cover of the many boxes that Jimmy left lying around in the back room.
She watched with bated breath was she watched the fishes's shiny black boots move across the floor and come to stop just inches away from her. In her hand she held one of the very knives he was currently admiring along the wall.
She would never know the irony of what Swiss was thinking as she stretched out her hand and drove the blade deep into his foot.
Swiss howled as something ripped across his foot, severing flesh and muscle. He yelped loudly and reached for the offended appendage as Chaos launched herself from under the counter and continued her assault, this time slashing him across the knee of the same wounded leg.
Swiss cursed as his leg gave out and he dropped to his knees, firing blindly. He missed the girl twice and would have hit her a third time had Chaos not ripped her knife across his throat.
The blood spray caught Chaos in the face and she squealed in horror as Swiss fell to the ground making a gurgling sound. She had never killed anyone before, and she certainly had never seen anyone die at close range.
Her shaking hand dropped the knife and she turned to leave the room, only to find herself suddenly in a choke-hold.
The other Plutarkian regarded her with mild amusement as she tried to wriggle free, but this only made him squeeze her throat harder. He could snap her neck with the slightest move of his hand.
Monterey looked at Swiss bleeding all of the kitchen floor but his face remained emotionless. He looked back at Chaos, who was splattered with his comrades blood.
"My, my, my we are in trouble now, aren't we?" he sneered.
"Where's Chaos?" Stoker asked.
Jimmy peered behind him out onto the landing again. "Downstairs. We'd better go give her some back up." he motioned, shouldering his bazooka which he hidden behind the door.
Stoker stepped over the unconscious forms of Cheddar and Colby and made his way towards the stairs, ears perked, listening for the slightest sound of movement.
There was a soft clattering from the kitchen below them and they exchanged fearful looks. The two of them ran down the stairs, only to be met at the foot of them by Monterey, who had Chaos wrapped in one arm, a pistol in the other.
"Not another step if you please, gentlemen." he said smoothly.
Stoker and Jimmy froze.
"Drop her!" Stoker demanded, his own gun raised.
Monterey didn't look the least bit concerned by the Mouse's threat. In his left arm Chaos squirmed. "I'll snap her pretty little neck before you'd get a shot off." he said flatly.
Stoker's resolve wavered. He wasn't sure if the Plutarkian was bluffing him or not, but he wasn't prepared to take that risk.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"Your surrender." Monterey answered.
"Hmmm, no that doesn't work for me. How about, you let the girl go, and you and your guppies can leave in one piece?" Stoker replied.
Monterey squeezed Chaos's neck and she whimpered painfully. "She's very uncomfortable, gentlemen. I can kill her slowly or I can kill her quickly, either way it makes no difference to me."
He wasn't bluffing. Still there were two of them and only one of him. Stoker thought vaguely if he could distract him for only a moment he'd be able to take him down.
Behind him, Jimmy was reaching for plan B, which was a small handgun he kept in his back pocket. He was behind Stoker enough that the Plutarkian would not be able to see him reach for it, and he would not expect the shot to come from his direction anyway, with him shouldering his bazooka. His attention would be fixed on Stoker and that would give him the edge he needed.
A cold, clammy thing with a grip like iron suddenly twisted Jimmy's wrist and shoved him to the side, pressing him against the railing of the stairs.
Stoker turned his head to see that Colby was twisting Jimmy's arm behind his back only seconds before he saw Cheddar raise his good arm and beat him across the face with the butt of his gun. Stoker tumbled backwards and crashed to the bottom of the stairs flat on his back, unconscious.
"Bastard!" Jimmy shouted, wriggling in Colby's grasp.
"James Orion, I presume? Or would you prefer Jimmy?" Monterey asked as Colby marched the blonde-furred Mouse down the steps to stand in front of him. Jimmy's eyes went first to Chaos, who was still not out of danger, and Stoker was lying unmoving beside him.
"Yeah, you got me. You won." Jimmy sneered at him. "Let them go, they haven't done anything." he asked then.
Monterey did not look convinced. "They've done plenty." he said. "Go to the kitchen. Swiss is dead, get his tags and his weapon."
Cheddar did as he was told, still nursing his broken arm, leaving Colby standing there in shock. "What? What do you mean he's dead?" he demanded.
"My pretty little friend here slashed his throat." Monterey answered, not caring at all. He glanced at the bar. "I'm parched. How about a round before you die, Mr. Orion?" he asked.
"Fuck you and your mother!" Jimmy replied.
Colby flung him forward, causing Jimmy sprawl on all fours on the floor. "I'll kill you!" Colby shouted, lifting his gun and aiming at the back of Jimmy's head.
"Hold your fire, Colby." Monterey answered.
The youngest fish looked at him in shock. "But sir!" he cried.
"I said hold your fire you pathetic little piss-wad!" Monterey snapped. Colby's face flushed purple with rage.
Jimmy, on all fours in front of his attacker glanced at Stoker, who was lying beside him. He realized almost immediately that his friend was not genuinely unconscious, but playing possum. However, he was doing a damn good job of it at the moment. Jimmy suppressed a smile and looked up at Monterey.
"A man deserves a last drink, don't you think Mr. Orion?" he asked. Jimmy got obediently to his feet and walked over to the bar. Colby following close behind to see that he wasn't up to anything.
Cheddar returned from the kitchen then, holding Swiss's effects. He stood and watched as Jimmy grabbed three glasses from above the bar.
"Grab one for yourself, Mr. Orion. It would be rude to not have a drink with your guests." Monterey said. The captain took a seat at the closest table and forced Chaos to sit on the floor beside him like a dog. With one cold hand he kept a firm grip on the back of the woman's neck, ready to twist at any moment, but she could breathe freely now. He laid his own weapon idly on the table as Cheddar came over to join him, making a make-shift sling for himself out of his shredded sleeve.
Jimmy approached the table with the glasses in hand, filled with ruby wine. Monterey took it politely from the bartender's hand and raised it to him. "To our esteemed hosts and their quick demise." he said taking a long pull of it.
Cheddar drank some as well, but did not appear to like the taste of it. "Bah. Too sweet for my taste." He muttered.
Colby stared incredulously at them two of them. "I can't believe you! Swiss is dead and you're just sitting here!" he shouted.
Monterey looked at the whelp with irritation. "I'd advise you to watch your quick temper, boy." he hissed at him.
Cheddar stood up, tired of the bickering. "I'll take care of it, Colby." he said to his comrade and picked up his gun from the table and made his way over to where Stoker still laid unmoving.
"Coward! Shooting a man when he's down!" Chaos cried in protest.
Cheddar stood over Stoker, taking aim at his forehead. He looked up at Colby. "See, Colby? Nothing to it."
Stoker's eyes abruptly opened and his right leg landed hard in Cheddar's crotch, causing the Plutarkian to wheeze with sudden incredible pain. This pain was accompanied by a boot kick to his chin which sent his head snapping backwards and when Cheddar felt his neck brake, suddenly the pain between his legs ceased to exist.
The dead Plutarkian fell like a ton of bricks to the floor as Stoker rolled to the side without missing a beat and let off two shots, one which struck Colby in the shoulder and the other which took out Monterey's monocle and eye in one shot.
Monterey fell to the floor with a flop and Chaos scrambled off the floor and flung herself into Jimmy's arms as Colby crouched wounded on the floor.
Stoker got to his feet, smiling grimly. "Bum, bum, bum...another one bites the dust." He hummed to himself.
Colby stared wide eyed at him, caught between fear and rage. He reached for his fallen weapon, but Jimmy stepped on his hand, making the youngest fish wince.
"Sit still, shrimp." he ordered him.
The young fish thought briefly how everything had gone so horribly wrong, and that his career was going to be cut tragically short when suddenly he remember something...if Swiss had made it to the kitchen, that means he was able to plant the bombs.
Colby's watery eyes darted across the wall to the clock positioned there. And he laughed hysterically.
"What in the hell...?" Chaos asked, still shakily clinging to Jimmy.
Colby looked up at them with wild eyes. "You're still dead!" he laughed hysterically.
Stoker's eyes widened at this statement. "A bomb!" he shouted, looking to his friends. He grabbed Colby by his throat. "You stinking little bastard, when does it go off!" he shouted, shaking him.
Colby laughed in his face. "Two minutes!"
Stoker dropped him and stared at Chaos and Jimmy. "HAUL TAIL!"
The three of them started running at top speed towards the door, leaving Colby to fend for himself. Half delirious the fish began to follow them.
However, he had lied. They had less than sixty seconds.
Stoker's feet hit the pavement just as the timer hit zero seconds...
BOOM!
The silence of the aftermath was complete. Nothing within a ten foot radius of what had once been Jimmy's bar moved. As to complement the stillness, a light snow began to fall, covering the charred surroundings.