Silver was speechless as he saw the form of the general who knew was dead so long ago. He honestly couldn't find the words coming to his mouth as he just kept staring. "John?", Emma touched his shoulder.
John shakily spoke, "Three years...Sarabi was in town, talking to me about wanting to have a brief family trip out to sea on my ship...The fire...When we realized that it was the manor...I ran after Sarabi...I had to hold her back from running into the manor...", tears falling down his face, "She screamed at me to let her go...".
"I'm sorry.", Emma whispered at this revelation she had just heard. The rest of the group was also surprised by this information. "I understand your pain, John. I know how much it has haunted you for these years.", Mufasa said.
John looked at him, "Simba? Did it hurt?", and Mufasa smiled sadly, "It was quick. We got crushed by burning wood, and the fire took us before we could've suffocated on the smoke. Simba misses his mother and best friend, but he has plenty of friends to play with, including your dear cousin, Ryan, Miss Emma. Snow White and Ferdinand are his favorite storytellers/babysitters.", with a chuckle.
"Wow…", that was all John could say to that. "I know you probably have so many more questions; but now sadly is not the time. If we don't hurry, this Lilo girl's sister will join us and many more of the town will too.", Mufasa warned.
Emma nodded, "Right, what was your idea?", and Mufasa grinned softly, "Golem trick.", and John blinked before laughing, "That's brilliant!".
"John?", Emma asked in confusion, and John smiled at her, "Golem trick was one of our distractions plans back in the day. We had a conjurer magician in our ranks, and we had word about a small battalion making trouble with a community of good people. We had ourselves copied into golems, sending them to one side of the town while the real ourselves pulled the people out to safety, and the enemy battalion was killed shortly after. It was a victory that landed Mufasa here to the position of General, and I followed him ever since.".
"Misdirection would be a good idea.", Logan admitted. "Certainly, would not be something those mercs would see coming.", with a grin. "To be honest, would they expect anything we have in store?", Jason snickered.
Emma chuckled, "Indeed. Alright then, I will somehow deliver a message to Nani to use the bathroom, and in a minute's time, a golem of Nani will be outside, grabbing their attention, thinking that Nani somehow got out of the house while at the same time, I will have a portal where Lilo, at this side of the portal, will call her to come to her, and close it after she joins Lilo.",
"And then an entire team of golems like us uses the south path, but to a trap where one or two of our dragon forms will attack all the mercenaries even before they get the chance to run while the others are safe somewhere further down with the horses.", she finished with a smirk, seeing that they didn't even have to risk the townspeople around.
"That might just work.", Haku smiled as the group quickly got prepared. If they could quickly overwhelm the mercs, they might just be able to free the town. And there was also the issue of making sure none of them quickly report to Tremaine.
Jason, with quick, careful work of his magic ring, conjured up golems of Nani and the team, perfectly to the last feature that everybody swore that it was literally perfect copies, and with specific orders for the golems, with the golems having a subtle glow in their auras to split them from the originals to tell the difference.
Mufasa, with instructions to Silver, got accepted to be his spirit guide and icon of his dragon form, becoming a tattoo that rests upon his cyborg arm with his eyes staring straight out on the wrist, hidden by the sleeve of Silver's long coat.
Then it was time to begin the plan, and the United Talons prayed that it would go extremely well without a hitch. If this plan of 'Golem Trick' landed a victory with Mufasa and Silver back then, it should be another victory with the team.
Especially since a group of mercenaries were so much dumber than an actual army led by a competent commander. Of course, there also had to be a sure way they wouldn't think that Lilo didn't spill the beans about the mercs' plans for the 'travelers.'
The golems went to ride the horses, making Garn, the head merc to follow, with Emma using a portal for Pippa and Logan to the spot where the trap is, after Adam checked the mirror for the perfect location to attack the mercs.
When Jason saw that the merc is halfway behind the golems, he passed the message to Emma, and Emma smirked, creating another portal for the golem of Nani to a spot fairly deep in the alley from the house, and once it closed, Adam waited for a window of opportunity, and then nodded to Emma to use a very small portal to deliver the message to Nani, vanishing almost immediately.
Nani saw it, recognized Lilo's handwriting, and pushed it back under the couch where she was kept at, and asked one of the merc guards that she has to use the bathroom badly. The merc guard obliged and followed her up to the door, guarding it, knowing that the window is watched by another merc guard outside.
"What's going on?", one of the mercs asked another while the one guarding the bathroom watched.
"No idea, those strangers Garn mentioned seem like they're starting to head out, so he gathered most of the group to hunt them down.", replied the second merc.
"Heh, poor bastards will never know what hit them.", the first merc laughed; unaware he'd be eating those words in just a few moments.
The golem of Nani counted the seconds, and when the minute passed, she walked out of the alley, sauntering and smirking at them, and the merc guards outside saw her, "What the hell?! How did she get out there?! I swore I was watching the window!", unknowing a portal was inside the tub on the wall, and Nani saw Lilo, waving her on, and Nani ran to her, sprinting over the tub, reuniting with Lilo under a split second.
Immediately, the portal vanished just as the bathroom door opened, revealing the guard outside, screaming out in frustration, "Get her, find her!", running from the door to down the hallway, unknowing that the golem of Nani is running down the alley, using shortcuts to make it to the team of the golems, leading the mercs to their trap.
"How did she get away?!", one shouted as they turned another corner before they cornered Nani… only for her to suddenly vanish into dust as the golem served its purpose. "Did she just…", they quickly noticed the alley had more than just their shadows.
Reptilian eyes of golden and light brown stared icily and furiously at them from the shadows, trapping the mercs on each side of the alley, growling and snarling as they came out, revealing Pippa and Logan's dragon forms.
"What the-", nothing more was said as the dragons attacked the merc squad. There were only loud yells of panic and pain as the two dragons quickly finished off the men.
Emma saw the signal from Jason on his high spot above the alley, using a piece of glass to shine off the sun, and nodded to Adam who quickly asked the magic mirror to track down any more remaining mercs, and sure enough, there's Garn, along with just two others left, watching the team of Golems at the signpost of the three paths, and they went southeast, causing Garn to realize that the team was lying, and ordered his fellow mercs to follow him to go attack the team of golems.
But as soon as they got there, there's no team, just the horses, unknowing that the team of golems turned to dust, having done their part, and out of nowhere, darts came out, landing perfectly on the trio of mercs, two of them instant poison, and the last one on Garn is a tranquilizing dart, blacking out just as the real John, Zuri, and Jim came out holding hollowed pond shoots, for Emma came up with the last part of the plan, wanting to interrogate Garn about Tremaine, knowing that her powerful shield is completely complete with no holes, no tunnels, nothing, keeping out light magic including the magic mirror.
Back at the inn after everything was said and done; with the sisters happily reunited and safe for now at least; the matter of cleaning out the merc group as well as Garn's interrogation was quickly set in motion.
"Ugh…", Garn groaned as he slowly came back to. He was properly tied down and much of the Talons had him surrounded and were ready on the draw if he tried to attack or make a break for it.
Haku spoke, "Hey, boss, he's waking up.", and Emma smiled icily, "Excellent.", and Garn, upon realizing that a female coordinated the attack on his buddies, growled, "Just brilliant. I tolerated it when Clayton allowed Tremaine to lend me and the others, and I loved it when she gave permission for us to make this town ours to our desires, but a woman leading a team, that's not natural!".
"Please let me break his nose.", Logan sighed as Emma rolled her eyes. "Later, we need to at least understand what he's going to tell us, and a broken nose isn't going to help… yet.", Emma coldly spoke.
Garn shivered at the tone in her voice, and snorted, "I ain't telling you anything, bitch!", and Emma raised an eyebrow, "Jasmine, did you say that Rajah needs a walk? Tell the sisters to exercise him, and they will have a tiger to protect them.", knowing that Jim is either taking the horses back to the stables or making out with Eilonwy already, and she didn't want Lilo to witness/hear the extremes of making Garn to talk.
Jasmine nodded, "Sure thing. How about it, Rajah? Maybe Nani knows the best meat from the butcher shop for ya.", and Rajah purred loudly with a nuzzle, and Jasmine smiled, asking the sisters to take Rajah out, glad that the interrogation is happening upstairs, so they couldn't bother Roma in his business as a host of his inn and all.
Emma nodded, "Let's see if you can handle this.", before using her dragon strength to bash Garn's toes on his right foot with her boot hard.
Garn screamed out in pain as he looked at them with death in his eyes. "That hurt?", Emma taunted. "It'll hurt more if you don't start answering us.".
"Maybe he needs another hit or something.", Jason suggested. "Sort of loosen up his tongue, you know?".
Emma nodded, "Not a bad suggestion...He's sexist with women...Let's show him how women can be nasty. Pippa, your turn.", and Pippa smirked wickedly, "Back in the day, I would always kick him where the sun doesn't shine, but to our boys here, I think they would prefer something else, especially to the fact that he molested women...Ah, yes, I have it.", walking over to Garn, "Perhaps this will make you talk.", before shifting her fingers into claws, and as quick as a flash, blood erupted through claw cuts in the fly/crotch of Garn's pants.
"Oh, shit!", the guys all collectively shouted upon what Pippa did. "Why the hell did you do that?!", Logan screamed.
Pippa growled lowly at Logan, "Did you forget that he and his buddies molested women at their pleasure? Heck, I bet, they molested men too!", as Garn cried, sobbed, and tried to cover himself up, but the ropes held him really tight, forcing him to be humiliated.
Adam spoke quietly, "You were holding all that angst in since yesterday, have you?", staring at Pippa with sad understanding, and Pippa nodded with a bitter scowl.
"Okay, okay, we get it. Still…", Logan pulled his collar of his shirt at the mental note that Garn is finally reacting at least, thanks to Pippa. "Alright then, wanna start talking, Garn?", Emma asked him as he continued to cry in the pain that he was in.
Garn looked up at her, "I'll talk, just please don't sic that woman on me again!", and Emma nodded, satisfied, "I won't. Now, tell all what you know about Tremaine, the castle layout, etc.".
"I'm not really sure. Clayton sent us over to here to assist her forces. Mostly she was gathering what armies she had before sending them to counterattack elsewhere in those recently liberated kingdoms.", Garn groaned as he was desperate to clutch his wound.
Emma nodded, "What about Tremaine herself?", and Garn sighed, giving up when he realized that he couldn't even move his hands either, "I visited her every month with deliveries of the food and all to the castle. Never stayed long enough to learn the lay about, but I can tell you that she got slaves, always trading them with Clayton back-to-back, and she got kids, her own blood grandchildren in fact, but for some reason, she neglected the boy and turned her attention on the girl when I was there. Something about being too soft and wanting to be absolutely perfect...".
"Poor kids.", Haku scoffed as Garn groaned in more pain. "Is that all we're getting out of him?", Pippa asked as Emma stomped down on his foot again.
Garn screamed out in pain, "Okay, okay! Tremaine's dark magic is strong, I mean, like big hill strong. She got a shield she only allows to let up when she lets in the supply carts, me, and slaves, otherwise, it's literally over the entire kingdom, solid with huge defenses that could kill an intruder within minutes.".
Emma raised an eyebrow, "What about her allies? Clayton, Frollo, anyone else beyond Andalasia?", and Garn shook his head, "No way! I ain't betraying Clayton!".
Zuri and Jasmine looked at each other, and grinned with nods. "How about double human girl power?", Zuri asked, and Emma chuckled, "Have a go at it, ladies.", backing away from Garn to allow Zuri and Jasmine to come closer.
The two of them quickly responded by throwing a few punches and roughed up Garn pretty good before he finally cracked.
"Enough… enough…", Garn whimpered as Emma got close, "Then fess up; tell us everything we want to know.".
Garn panted, "The Congo region is mostly wild of jungles and some villages. Clayton attacked the kingdom in charge of it all, ruled by King Tarzan, Co-King Shere Khan, and their Queen, Jane Porter. Clayton hated the fact that Jane Porter was sharing two men as Tarzan and Shere Khan is bisexual, and Jane Porter was straight yet open-minded to the idea of polyamory. It disgusted Clayton greatly, especially after the fact that Shere Khan himself has given birth to the heirs since Jane Porter was barren; triplets, I believe.".
"Are they all dead or alive?", Jason asked. "I think the better question at the moment is this. Does he have full control of the jungle?", Emma also threw in a question.
Garn sighed heavily, "It happened two years ago...I was there to witness Jane Porter's murder when she dived to save the children. I remember they were old enough to be in cribs. Clayton used this sort of cannon gun in his hands, claiming that he built it himself. It killed her right in the chest...The entire place got on fire. King Tarzan got injured while fighting Clayton while Shere Khan stole the children away to safety...I was ordered to go after him and the children...But he knew the jungles better than me, and I lost them in the mist. Tarzan is still alive when I last saw him before I left, having scars thanks to Clayton creating them in the first place...".
"And yes, by messenger bird for some time, he's having trouble with a rebellion, led by Shere Khan's two captains: Timon and Pumbaa. So, no, he doesn't have full control. Apparently, the Congo region loved the royal family too much, and became loyal to them on way of rebellion.", Garn finished with a scowl.
"Crazed hunter he pretty much is.", Emma sighed. "Honestly sounds like he wouldn't know too much about actual tactical command.".
"Still better to not underestimate. Same with Tremaine. But I think I have a few ideas of how we can sneak through Tremaine's defenses.", Logan had a small smile as a plan was already forming in his mind.
Emma smirked, "Alright, let's hear about them, but first, one of you boys, dispose of this trash.", sneering and snorting with a gesture at Garn as if she smelled something bad.
"I got him.", Jason grabbed Garn as he started to drag him out, deciding to tip him over the window into the ground, delivering his death instantly while treating him like trash. Logan walked over to Emma. "Mostly my plan was as he said about Tremaine's shields; only takes them down for supplies… so… simply pose as a supply train and we're in.", he smirked.
Silver grinned, "That's a brilliant idea, Logan, but I have another question. What about security at the gates?", with a raised eyebrow.
"Didn't think that far ahead.", Logan rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, winging it is not the best idea for us; especially considering who we'll be up against.", Haku reminded.