Hi. This is the first fanfiction I've ever written about anything. I hope ya'll enjoy it.

Note: Rated T because of gambling references, humourous drunkeness, some violence, and a rude gesture. - Nothing too major.

Disclaimer: I do in no way support or condone gambling, drinking, lying, stealing, trying to dodge bullets, or picking fights with Thembrians twice your size. All of these unhealthy activates you will find in this story.

Talespin is © the Walt Disney Company.
Rem is mine, though.

Any Port in a Storm

1. Hurricane Rem

"Broke again." Rem sighed and brushed her short, blonde hair out of her eyes, momentarily taking her hands off the flight controls. She was a cat of small stature, dressed in a messy, oil-stained tee-shirt and a pair of worn, knee-less blue jeans that reached to her the calves. Her fur was mostly white with several large black and orange patches. Her blue eyes were bright and intelligent, and if her hair hadn't been haphazardly thrown about and her clothes weren't so unkempt one might even say she was…pretty. Though that could be a stretch.

Outside the cockpit, lightning flashed across the night sky as sheets of driving rain pounded against the windshield like a swarm of bats out of hell. Rem adjusted a pair of old flight goggles on her forehead as she checked her altitude and fuel level. The small, single engine, float plane rocked and tipped violently in the storm, and the petite, Japanese bobtail pilot struggled with the wheel to keep the nose level.

"Man, my luck never changes," Rem said to herself aloud.

She continued in thought, "They lured me in with the flashing lights, and bright sounds. I always fall for it. And at first, it looked like I was going to get lucky this time. Just one more time, this time I'm gonna make it big! Blackjack was going really good, the chips were rolling in. Then I lost most of it on roulette, and then the last of it disappeared into the slot machines. Two grand, gone, down the drain. Two grand! Maybe I should try the greyhounds."

A huge bolt of lightening flashed very close, blinding Rem and causing the cockpit light to flicker.

"Man, that was way too close. I got to land her, but where?"

The cat stretched her neck to peer out the cockpit window and down at the pounding waves below.

Rem's eyes widened. "Wow, I'm a lot lower than I thought I was." She looked at her altimeter. It wasn't moving. She tapped on it. Still no movement. "Great, must have been that last lighting bolt." She looked ahead, scanning the horizon for any sign of civilization. Finding none, she unfolded a map with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel.

She studied the map closely, "Hmm…there should be a bay close by here…and some small islands." She picked up the radio receiver and pressed in the button. "This is Chrysanthemum seven nine seven. My position is…" She tilted the map sideways a little bit. "…Is somewhere in the neighborhood of…55 by 39 degrees. Does anybody read me? I need to land." She got back nothing but static. Her ears went flat and she scowled sullenly. "Great. My luck never changes."

She scanned the horizon again. Nothing. She was about to look away when a faint red glow caught here eye. Her ears moved forward and her face brightened by leaps and bounds. Another bolt of lightening flashed, illuminating an island out her portside window. She made out several structures near its shore and a tall, rocky mountain further inland.

"Land-ho!" Rem shouted and clapped her hands together gleefully, pulling her legs up into her chair. The plane pitched down sharply and she quickly grabbed the wheel, and got her feet back on the rudder pedals to steady the plane. She brought the nose back up and breathed heavily, "Whew. Don't do that again, Remie."

Rem headed towards the island, steadily dropping her altitude as the island grew larger in her window. A few moments later, she could see the source of the red glow she spotted earlier. It was apparently a huge, florescent sign perched on the peak of the mountain, with some palm trees. She squinted, to try to make out what it said, but the rain continued to blur her view.

Guessing her altitude, at around 500 feet, she tried to keep her path steady just a few moments longer on her final approach to the island. She gripped the wheel tightly and focused on her goal, "Come on, almost…there." 400, 300, 200, 100 feet. Her left pontoon hit the water roughly, nearly throwing the aircraft into a deadly fishtail. Rem instinctively pushed the rudder pedals sharply to the right. Thankfully, the aircraft straightened out as the right pontoon met the water's surface and the first part of the landing was successful. She pulled the throttle down. A wooden pier came up fast in her view…too fast…way too fast! Rem put the plane into reverse thrust. The distance to the pier grew smaller.

Rem gritted her teeth, "I'm still going too fast!" She swung the tail of her plane from side to side, attempting to slow it further. It was working. But was it going to be enough? The continued to slow as it reached the pier but it was still moving. Her plane hit the pier roughly, throwing her forward. The plane came to quick halt.

Rem, sat there for a few seconds, covering her head with her arms. She slowly put her arms down and looked around. She looked at her hands and smiled, "Wow, I'm not dead. Sweet!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped up, "Well now, let's see what sort of place I've crashed into." She walked towards the door of the aircraft and then stopped. She turned back around and lifted a panel behind the pilot's seat, and reached into a compartment there, pulling out a short barreled thirty-eight revolver. "Better take this. No telling what kind people I'm going to find here." She clicked the revolver open, checking to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied, she closed it and slipped it into her right jeans pocket.

Finally, Rem adjusted a, five-compartment, green utility belt she wore around her waist and opened the door. A cold blast of wind and rain hit her in the face. She pulled her goggles down over her eyes and carefully stepped out onto the right pontoon of the plane. She quickly unwound a rope from a hitch near the front of the pontoon. Fighting to keep her balance as the plane rocked on the rough water, she took the free end of the rope and climbed onto the pier. She stretched the rope out over the pier and looked for a place to tie her plane down. She found one a few feet away and tied it. She turned towards what she guessed was the main building; a large, thatched structure surrounded by several smaller ones, at the opposite end of the pier. Rem shielded her face from the fierce winds of the storm as she made her way towards it.

She reached the front of the building and stopped and stood before two green, swinging doors with her hands on her hips. The doorway was lit by two standing torches. Through a small, circular window on each door, she could see bright lights inside, and she could hear a din of voices mixed with the sound of brass music. She looked up at the sign hanging above the entrance to the big bamboo and thatch structure. She lifted the goggles back onto her forehead to get a better look.

"Hmm…Louie's", huh? Sounds boring…Oh well, any port in a storm, I suppose." She rubbed her hands together. "Okay, time for a Rem-style grand entrance." She charged forward, pushing the doors open with both hands.

"Hiiiiiii!" She yelled loudly, bursting inside. The doors swung back on her and slammed shut. A moment later, she carefully pushed the door open again with one hand, clenching her sore nose with the other.

"Ouch."

The cat recovered from the blow and threw her head, flicking wet bangs out of her face. "Whew, man alive! It's worse than flying blind and deaf through the Bearmuda Trapezoid out there! Woooo-hoo!" Mixed startled and irritated faces were turned towards the sudden racket at the front door, to stare at the short, noisy, bobtailed cat standing there. Even the brass band, playing from a large stage at the front of the room a few seconds earlier, had been cut off in mid staff. Rem smiled and looked around, enjoying the reaction. "Well, nobody's shot at me yet, that's refreshing. I guess this place is okay," She thought.

She stood in a large room, with round tables made from barrels scattered throughout. There were tribal masks and other oddities hanging on the balconies and walls, and the ceiling was decorated with a hanging, wooden chandelier and colorful streamers. There were also lamps made from old bottles sitting on shelves attached to the room's support pillars. Rem observed the patrons seated around the tables in wicker chairs and milling about between them. "Looks like a pilot's hangout. Sweet. I've landed right in my element." Monkeys dressed in colorful shirts, served the guests; the place seemed to be run by them.

Rem's eyes widened and heart jumped when she spotted the bar. Various bottles lined the uppermost shelves above the bar. Vodka, beer, wines… Rem's pupils began to dilate. "Alright, booze! This place is even better than I thought. Of all the dumb…Maybe my luck is changing."

Rem strode towards the bar, with a skip in her step. The band on the stage resumed from where they left off. Most people lost interest in the blonde and turned back to their own business. Several of them snickered and gave catcalls as Rem passed by. She pretended not to hear them.

Rem stopped beside one of the barstools and turned her back towards it. She jumped up into the stool and spun it around to face the bar, with much finesse. She noticed a huge, burly rhinoceros clad in a heavy flight jacket sitting in the stool beside her, staring at her with a scowl. Rem slowly looked up at the figure towering above her. She could sense a strong smell of tobacco on his breath. She smiled uneasily and gave a little wave.

"Hiya," she said cheerfully.

The rhino grunted and looked away, murmuring something dark under his breath. Rem shrugged. "Tough crowd here." She turned to a squat orangutan behind the counter "A pint of your hardest liquor to drown my sorrows, barkeep!" she ordered with a melodramatic fainting motion, laying her head upon the counter.

She quickly sat back up with her finger in the air. "No, no…no…threeee of 'em."

The orangutan, dressed in a blue and green Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat, with a floral lei around his neck, looked at the cat with interest. "Well, hello, I'm Louie," he said, in a slow, scratchy voice. "I'm the proprietor of this establishment."

"Hey, my name's Rem; just Rem."

Louie studied her for a moment. "Hey…aren't you a little young to be ordering liquor?"

Rem rolled her eyes. "Doink! I'm 22, man. I got ID if you need it."

She quickly reached into her jeans pocket and drew her revolver. The big rhino took one look at the gun and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He jumped, almost falling backwards out of his seat. He stared at the small cat wide-eyed. A little drop of tobacco juice escaped his lips and dribbled down his chin.

Louie stepped back, "Hey now. Watch it! "

Rem looked at the gun and flushed crimson. "Ah, uh…sorry, wrong pocket." She quickly slipped it back in her pocket. "You can't be too careful, ya know," Rem laughed. "You never know when you're gonna need a little extra protection, right?" Nobody said anything. Rem looked to the side and nervously played with the flight goggles on her forehead, "Yyyyeah. Well, just a minute here…" She reached into her other pocket and pulled out her wallet. She flipped it open and held her pilot's license up so Louie could see it.

He glanced at it and nodded. "My sincerest apologies for the mix-up, Cuz. Three mugs of the best I've got, come'n' right up." Louie turned around and took a bottle from the top shelf, and began filling the mugs.

Rem waived her hand, "No biggie, I get that a lot." The rhino relaxed but continued to regard Rem warily out of the corner of his eye. Rem looked back at the rhino and grinned. "I always keep one with me just in case. …Doesn't everybody?" The rhino shrugged and minded his own business.

A moment later, Louie turned back around and laid three full mugs in front of his feline customer. Rem picked up the closest one and downed half of it in one swig. She wiped the froth from her mouth with the back of her hand and set the mug down roughly. "Ahhh! That hits the spot. A few more of those and this whole rotten day will pass into memory. That's right, just a bad memory."

Louie smiled. "You wannna talk about it, Cuz'?"

"No thanks. That would just make it worse."

"Suit yourself."

Rem took another gulp. "Hey, how can a down-on-her-luck pilot make a quick buck around here?"

"Cape Suzette is the place to go looking for work. It's just east of here. It's a big town; you should be able to find a job, no problem."

Rem smiled mischievously. "Who said anything about working?"

Louie chuckled and shook his head.

Rem lowered one ear and looked at him quizzically. "What?"

"You just remind me of a guy I know, that's all."

"You don't say. Would I like to meet this 'guy you know'?"

"I don't know. I think you two would probably get along."

"You don't say?"

"I sure do."

Rem laughed out loud. "You're hilarious!" She leaned closer to him over the counter. "…Can I get your phone number?"

Louie blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Just kidding. Heh-heh! I actually prefer taller men."

Louie frowned at her suspiciously.

Rem punched him in the shoulder. "Come on, I'm just joshn' with ya, man.

Louie raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. I think that whiskey is already go'n' up to your brain."

Rem smiled animatedly. "I hope so." She smacked her lips and folded her hands in front of her. "Soooo…Cape Suzette, huh? Sounds boring."

x x x x x

As the evening moved towards midnight, Rem finished off another mug and slammed it down on the counter, immediately grabbing up the next one. Now six empty mugs lay on the counter in front of her. Her flight goggles were slipping down onto her face crookedly.

Fortunately for him, the big rhino had moved on, leaving a particularly high-strung ferret in his place. He was trying to enjoy a perfectly non-alcoholic sarsaparilla but was being harassed by a very intoxicated cat.

"Hey, then you know what he said?" Rem continued in a loud, obnoxious voice. "Do you? I mean do you really?" She pushed the nervous ferret in the shoulder roughly, causing him to spill his sarsaparilla. He franticly grabbed at the tipping glass, catching it just before its contents went all over the counter and his lap. The ferret shuddered and gritted his teeth, gripping the glass with both hands.

"Hey, are you still listening?"

The ferret glanced at her, "Y-yeah…sure."

"'Cause… 'cause…I'll tell you what he said. I'll-I'll tell you right here…right now, I'll tell you! He said, he said I was the one who needed a bath. Can you believe that jerk? I mean, can you believe him?

"I…guess not."

"He comes waltzing onto my plane with that dumb pacifier thing in his mouth and telling me…telling…telling me… Oh my goodness, w-what where were we?"

"He told you, you needed a bath."

"Oh yes, that's it! He tells me I need a bath, when he's the one who stunk worse than a skunk!"

This comment drew an indignant look from a black and white furred mammal sitting nearby. Rem took two more swigs of whiskey.

"So anyway, I grabbed my big crescent wrench—you should have seen the look on his face; his eyes got as big as saucers! I chased him all the way to the back of the plane and he ran out the door. Now here-here's where I got it good: When I ran after him, he hid on the other side of the doorway and tripped me as I came out. I fell, face first into the water below!

Then he-he hopped onto…onto the dock and was pointing at me, bobbing in the water like a soaked duck, just laughing his head off. But he turned his back on me, boy was that a mistake! Don't you love it when people do dumb stuff that? Where you just can't resist giving them what's coming to them?" She dug her elbow into the ferret's side and winked. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Huh? Huh? You do, right?" Yeah, so he was doing his little victory dance up on the dock and I was sneaking up behind the chump…"

The ferret threw up his hands and jumped up from the stool. "I can't take it any more! Why are we even talking about this? I don't care, you hear me? I don't care!" He turned to the door and ran towards it, leaving his barely drunk sarsaparilla behind without a second thought. "She's crazy, I tell you, crazy!" His voice faded out the door.

Rem reached out after him. "Hey wait, I was just getting to the best part!" Rem hiccupped loudly and teetered on the barstool, coming dangerously close to falling. She grabbed onto the edge of the counter to keep her balance. "Ah, who needs you? Yeah, yeah forget you and such! And all that…yeah." She gulped down more whiskey.

She turned to Louie. "You know, this place you got here isn't too shabby, Louis, Lowry…whatever your name is. It's definitely a lot better than coming in from a raging blizzard and sitting in a bar full of fat, sweaty Thembrians! Believe me, I know." Rem didn't notice that four Thembrian pilots had been sitting at the table behind her. The four warthogs looked back at her at the same time, giving her a deadly glare.

Rem continued without noticing, "In fact, I was just in Thembria. What an awful place, let me tell you. The weather is atrocious, the natives are ugly and smelly…and grumpy too, don't forget grumpy. They've got lots of brawn but not one brain among them." She finished off her seventh mug and wiped her mouth on her stained shirt. She let out a loud burp. "It tastes so much better coming back up, woo-hoo! Say, barkeep, how about another? I've still got plenty of room!"

One of the Thembrians, apparently the ringleader, stood up abruptly. He was the bulkiest of the four, with one broken off tusk and a scarred cheek. "That's eet, I haf heard enough!"

Rem turned around to face the Thembrians. She crossed her arms and smirked cockily. "Well, well, well, to speak of the devils…"

The Thembrian pointed at Rem menacingly. "She has been causing an uproar for over half an hour. Louie, I demand you ask this girl tu liv before I forget my manners."

Louie motioned to the angry Thembrian. "Cool your props, Boskov, I'll handle this."

Rem tugged on Louie's shirt sleeve, "Come on, Larson, I'm running dry here!"

Louie shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I think you've had enough, Cuz. Maybe you should give it a rest."

"What kind of talk is that? Come on, Louis, gimme another!"

"It's Louie, and I said, you've had enough. You're antagonizing my customers and you're making a fool of yourself."

Rem grew suddenly red in the face. "Y-you can't treat me like this! This is an outrage! Do you have any idea who I am? Do you? Because…I'll, I'll, I'll…I'll tell you who I am! I'm the queen of Macadamia! It's true! I'm undercover. On…on a top secret mission to discover the fountain of eternal youth—which I've heard is in whiskey. This is a royal mandate, peasant. You can't stop a royal mandate, you know."

"I'm afraid you picked the wrong ape to try that one on. I've met the queen of Macadamia, and she's a fox."

"But I am a fox! Seriously! Look, can't you tell by the bushy tail?" She looked back at her stub. "Oh wait, I don't have a tail." She burst into a fit of boisterous laughter. "Get it? Huh? I-it's-it's not there, at all ya know… Like, like someone took scissors to it…c-c-cut it right off or somethn'. She was laughing so hard, tears came to her eyes." Y-ya know? Like all I got is a little stump back there. Itty-bitty…thing…" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Hooo! Heh…okay, where were we?"

Louie propped his elbow up on the counter and rested his chin on his hand, smiling with his eyes half closed, "You're the queen of Macadamia."

Rem looked at him, confused. "The…the queen of what?"

"I think the alcohol killed one too many brain cells."

"What brain cells?" She laughed uproariously again. "Ya…ya know? I've been drinking so long…do I even have any left?" She was silent for a moment. "…Kinda reminds you of Thembrians, huh? Did I forget tell you about their incompetent military?"

"Well I—"

"The High Marshal sure has a headache on his hands with that bunch. No doubt half the problem is that they're run by that imbecile, Colonel Spigot. Did you know it was an error in paperwork that got him his job? There was only one Thembrian that I ever liked; a sergeant, big guy. But even he couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. Really though, he's a nice guy.

Hey, I just remembered a great joke. How many gears does a Thembrian tank have? Give up? Five gears! Four reverses, and one forward in case someone attacks from behind! Ever heard that one? Huh?"

This time all four Thembrians at the table behind Rem got up. They surrounded Rem's barstool. Boskov hit the counter in front of her with his fist. "You've gone too far now! You have insulted the name of our great country and our great military. I'll throw you out myself!"

Louie tried to calm him. "Boskov, I told you—

"You had your chance! Is thees what you call 'handling thees'? The time for talking is over; eet's time for action!"

Rem suddenly jumped off of the stool and faced the warthogs, snarling fiercely. Startled, the Thembrians took a step back.

"You want a fight, huh? I'll give you one! I've taken on whole squads of you brutes before. I'll take you all six of you…four of you! Come on!" She lost her footing and stumbled back and forth before carefully standing up straight.

Louie backed away from Rem. "You are crazy!"

Boskov laughed. "Ha. Did you hear that, comrades? She wants to fight weeth us.

Boskov's three cronies snickered among each other. Boskov pounded his fist into his palm. "You want to try eet, short stuff? You can barely stand; much less throw a pun-AGH!"

Rem struck out and kicked him very hard in the shin. "I can still kick just fine, though!"

Boskov howled in pain and grabbed his leg. "You leetle—!" Boskov grabbed at her with both hands." Rem swung to the side with almost impossibly swift footwork. She pushed Boskov has he stumbled by, sending him crashing into the bar and falling on his backside. One of the other Thembrians, even bigger around than Boskov, immediately took Boskov's place, aiming a left hook for Rem's face. Rem dodged to the right; the Thembrian missed. He hesitated for a moment, surprised by her quickness.

Boskov got up from the floor and joined his two buddies in watching the one take Rem on. "Take her down, Veski!" Boskov yelled. Veski shook off his initial surprise and smiled evilly. He punched again with a right hook. Rem dodged left. He struck again, Rem dodged right. Left…

Veski reddened with anger and clenched his fist tightly. "Hold still, you!" Rem hit him in the face with a short, focused strike. He stumbled back. He recovered and lunged at her again, angrier than ever. He struck; she dodged and punched him again in the exact same spot. The Thembrian's movements started to slow. He punched; Rem dodged and hit him again. The Thembrain stumbled as his vision became blurry. He tried his best to hit the irksome, blonde feline but could only manage a lethargic half-swing. Rem hit him again, then again. The Thembrian teetered for a moment and then crashed to the floor, out cold.

Rem stared at the fallen warthog, looking as completely surprised at what she had just accomplished as Boskov and his two remaining thugs did, mouths dropped open.

Rem broke into a smile. "Ha! Victory…victory is mine! Who's the girl, huh? Who's the girl? Rem hopped up and down in small circles on the floor.

Boskov purpled (more so than usual) with rage. "Get her!" All three charged forward.

Rem jumped onto the nearest table. The three people sitting there quickly scrambled away as the Thembrians charged Rem. Rem nimbly hopped up onto the nearest table top, knocking several mug off onto the floor. The four people seated around the table scrambled away. One fell over backwards in his struggle to clear out. Rem jumped to the next table just as the three Thembrians lunged at her. Boskov slipped on the spilled contents of the mugs and crashed straight into the table, smashing it with his weight.

The other Thembrians chased after Rem as she effortlessly jumped from table top to table top, always staying one step ahead of them. Then she stopped and turned around to face her pursuers. Another Thembrian jumped at her, trying to grab her legs. Rem jumped away just in time once again. The Thembrian couldn't stop his momentum and landed on top of the table smashing it to pieces.

Rem let out loud yell and jumped into the air with her arms and legs splayed out, aiming for the last Thembrian. He jumped aside and Rem crashed face down onto the floor. The crowd that had gathered around the scene and the Thembrians stood silently for a moment, staring at the motionless cat.

Just then, Louie ran in with two bouncers at his side, "Alright everyone, party's over!" The crowd quickly parted to make room for them. "Move away from that cat!"

The Thembrians stepped back from the Rem. Boskov wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Fine, we were done anyway." He turned to his thugs. "Come on, boys, leets get out of thees loony bin. Get up, Veski."

Veski slowly got up off the ground, rubbing his head and teetering dizzily, "What… happened?"

"We're leaving, come on."

All four Thembrians walked towards the exit. Veski followed in back looking around the room, still disoriented.

Boskov stopped in the doorway and turned around. "You know, this proves the saying should go 'the smaller they are the harder they fall.' And she was very small."

The other Thembrians laughed uproariously as the group walked away, their laughter fading into the night.

A monkey knelt down beside Rem, studying her closely.

"How is she, William," Louie asked him.

The monkey looked back at Louie. "She's out cold, boss. Should I try to wake her up?"

"NO!" Many in the crowd, yelled in unison.

Louie looked out over the crowd. Others in the back shook their heads vigorously.

Louie sighed. "Alright, let's at least get her up off the floor.

x x x x

Rem felt very dizzy and sick at her stomach. She slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at first, but it gradually began to clear. She found herself sitting alone, in a quiet corner, slumped in a wicker chair at an odd looking table set inside the hull of a rowboat.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked around. Only a few tables were left occupied from earlier and the simian employees were sweeping the floor and wiping off tables and counters.

"Where in the world…?" Rem thought. She looked and saw Louie standing by the front door as patrons left. "See ya'll later, Clyde, Annette. Come back soon. See you tomorrow Mr. Benchly."

At the sight of the big ape, Rem's memory came back to her in a rush. She put her hand over her forehead. "Whoa, man…I shouldn't have drunk so much. It's a monster hangover if I ever had one." She repositioned her crooked goggles.

A monkey standing nearby spotted her. "Hey, Boss, she's awake," he called out to Louie.

Louie ambled over on his hands and feet. "So are you ready to pay up, Cuz? It's almost closing time."

Rem rubbed her eyes and sat up. "What?"

"You remember: seven whiskeys. Two ruined tables, and four smashed chairs. And plus a little extra for my trouble, bailing you out after that fight. Boskov had you."

Rem blushed, and nervously scratched the back of her neck. "Oh yeah, about all that…well you see I'm a little short on cash right now. Actually, you know what, I don't…have…any…money."

Louie laughed.

Rem smiled. "What? Do I remind you of that guy you know again?"

x x x x

Rem reached up to place another plate on top of the already precariously high pile to her right. An equally high pile of dirty plates sat on her left. As she took a plate down from the dirty pile it slipped out of her hand and landed in the brimming sink, splashing her with hot water.

"Man, not again!" Rem stepped back from the sink and looked down at her jeans. "Now my jeans are definitely soaked."

Louie walked into the room behind her, carrying more stacks of dishes. "After you get done with those I have a lot more stacks ready to wash. Then after you get done with that, I want you to mop the kitchen and the main room, including the stage, and then the balconies. After that, go around and help the others check the torches."

Rem looked back at him with a small sheepish, smile, "Yes, sir." She tilted her head to the side and looked at him dolefully, trying to make her blue eyes look as soft and pitiful as possible

"Uh-huh, you're really cute, but giving me bambi eyes isn't going to get you out of work."

Rem turned back around scowling, and roughly shoved another plate into the sink, which, incidentally, created a plume of water that hit her in the face. "A-aw, come on!"

"Temper, temper." He set the dishes down. "One more thing: after you get done checking the torches, I need you to patch some leaks on the roof from the storm. Think you can handle it?"

Rem sighed. "Yes sir."

"If you need anything else to do just let me know."

Rem laughed, despite herself. "Yeah…sure, Louie."

Later, Rem walked out onto the pier. She looked up at the clear night sky. The storm had passed and now it was only barely sprinkling. Rem admired the bright full moon and sparkling stars for a few moments before heading towards her plane, bobbing in the water a few feet ahead of her.

Rem yawned heavily. "Whew, it's time to turn in." She climbed into the plane and took a blanket out from the back. She sat down it the pilot's seat and reclined it back and putting out a foot rest. She pulled the blanket up to her chest and lay there for a little while with her hands behind her head, musing. "I guess it's as good a place as any," she thought, "Just as long as Karnage doesn't find me. Helmut better remember his promise, that big schnitzel." Rem smiled and stretched her legs out. "Yes. Look's like I'll be hiding out in this Cape Suzette for a while.

Stay tuned for chapter 2...