A/N: Hello! I'm back with chapter 14! Enjoy!
Things started to move in slow motion. As she stood, Ella reached over to the end table and grabbed Hugo's knife. No one was supposed to be coming or going from that door, and her instinct kicked in. When she turned to face the door, she was immediately dismayed. No less than six gestapo soldiers poured into the room. And all each of the three remaining Basterds had was a knife.
"Ace, get!" she shouted, not wanting them to shoot the dog. He hesitated, then darted into the bedroom. Ella faced the Nazis, the dagger in her hand. She promptly threw the dagger at the closest soldier and jumped forward to retrieve it. A shot echoed in the hotel room. Ella yanked the dagger out of the soldier's throat and whipped around to see where the bullet came from and where it went.
"Hirschberg!"
He was bent in half, his hands over his stomach, trying to staunch the blood escaping from his torso. The same Nazi that had fired took a step closer to him and shot him between the eyes.
"No!" Ella shouted, staring down at her fallen man. The distraction proved enough for the remaining soldiers to wrestle Ella and Utivich into submission.
"Klar, Oberführer," one of them called. Ella's eyes went wide as she fought against the man holding her arms. She looked over to Utivich, who was in the same position, and mouthed, "Landa." He stopped struggling and returned the stunned look.
Before they could even think, a heavy pair of boots made their way into the room. Ella looked up at the man in grey, and it was exactly who she thought it would be. Colonel Hans Landa was standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face.
"It looks like we hit the jackpot." He stepped over to Ella. "I think I know who you are."
Ella drew herself to her full height, held her shoulders back, and looked him in the eye. With her heels, she almost matched Colonel Landa, but with her hands being held behind her back, all she could do was stare him down.
"You must be the famous Wölfin."
"And you are the Jew Hunter."
"I must say, you are quite a bit prettier than I imagined. Usually brutish violence does not come from one so...young."
Ella laughed. Even at the worst possible moment for her, she laughed. "Ah, Colonel, you have severely underestimated me."
"You find this funny?" He didn't look angry, but curious.
"You are lucky you didn't offend me. The last man who did that came away…" She searched for the right word. "...Damaged. I'm sure you met him."
"I doubt you are in the position to damage me. Quite the opposite, actually." The look in his eyes sent a spark of unease through Ella. This man was crazy. Cunning, surely charming in any other situation, very intelligent, and crazy. He was close to her, too close for her to be entirely comfortable. That unease grew when he let his eyes wander over her figure, still clad in the red dress she had saved for Donny's last day.
Ella lurched forward, her forehead colliding with the Colonel's nose. The soldier holding her loosened his grip on her wrists in shock, and she made the best of it, turning with her momentum and throwing a punch at his face as hard as she could. She felt his fragile ocular cavity crunch a little under her knuckles, but it wasn't enough. Another soldier grabbed her around the waist and threw her to the ground. When he hauled her to her feet, she smiled at the Colonel's attempt to stop the bleeding from his broken nose.
"I beg to differ, Colonel. You kill one of my men and I will take every opportunity to hurt you."
"Cuff them, hood them, and get them out of here. Then take me to the theater. I have more work to do." The Colonel gave Ella a death glare as she was cuffed, and then she could only see the blackness of her hood.
Ace managed to scoot out the door behind the SS soldiers and follow them to the truck that they threw his Ella and Utivich into. The vehicle started to drive away and the dog took off after it, desperate to stay close to the girl that took him in. His claws clacked on the cobblestone street for the five blocks it took to get to the cinema, and then he settled in to wait.
Ella felt the truck come to a stop, and figured that they'd come to the cinema. She had no idea, however, of what they were doing there.
"Utivich?"
"Yes sir?"
"Oh, cut that out. Whatever happens after this, I wouldn't have done a damn thing differently. I couldn't ask for a better unit. So, thanks."
Utivich was quiet for a minute. "I didn't want it to end like this, though, Corporal."
"Some things we can't help. We have to roll along with what we get. And right now we happen to have hoods over our heads in the back of a Nazi truck. But we killed more of those fuckers than anyone else, and we terrorized the fuck out of them the entire time, so I think we did what we were sent in to do."
Utivich chuckled, a sad, conceded sound. "You sound like Donny and the Lieutenant combined."
"Good. I'll take nothing less."
The doors to the back of the truck flung open and another body was thrown in with them. From all the hollering, Ella could guess who it was.
"Aldo?"
"Ella," Aldo said, resigned. "I was hoping it wasn't you."
"And Utivich." She paused. "Is it just you?"
"Yup."
Ella hung her head. The truck started up again and they bounced along the uneven streets for ten minutes before stopping. The doors opened and they were hauled out of the back and into a building. Ella could hardly even see shadows through the hood, but she could tell when they were lined up against a wall.
"Lieutenant Aldo Raine, I presume?" came Landa's calm voice.
"Hans Landa," Aldo said, the name sounding ridiculous with the Tennessee accent.
"You've had a good long run, Aldo. Alas, you're now in the hands of the SS. My hands, to be exact. And they've been waiting a long time to touch you," Landa sneered. Ella heard him tap Aldo's nose. "Caught you flinching," Landa teased.
Ella heard a familiar thud, and Landa exclaimed "Nicht schon wieder!" (not again!) under his breath. She laughed again, and was not prepared when the knee of an SS soldier met her stomach.
"Nein!" Landa ordered. "Nehmen Sie sie dort." (Take them over there.) Wheezing, Ella stumbled where she was directed.
"Okay, El?" Aldo murmured.
"Gimme a minute. Yeah."
They were sat at a table and their hoods were yanked off. Ella could see again, but with stars in her vision for a few more seconds. She hadn't been prepared for that blow at all, and she was cursing herself for that. Landa sat across from them at the table, which had a phone, a bottle of wine, and four glasses on it.
"Oh, Christ, another tavern," Ella grumbled.
Ignoring her, Landa turned to Aldo. "Tell me, Aldo, if you were sitting where I am, would you show me mercy?"
Aldo shook his head slowly. "Nope."
"What's the English expression about shoes and feet?"
"Looks like the shoe's on the other foot. I was just thinkin' that."
Landa dismissed the soldiers and looked at his prisoners, pride easily readable in his maniacal eyes. "So you're Aldo the Apache."
"And yer' the Jew Hunter."
"I'm a detective. A damn good detective. Finding people is my specialty, so naturally, I worked for the Nazis finding people. And yes, some of them were Jews, but Jew Hunter? Just a name that stuck."
"You have to admit, it is pretty catchy," Utivich said conversationally.
"Do you control the nicknames your enemies bestow on you? Aldo the Apache, The She-Wolf, The Little Man?"
Utivich hesitated. "What do you mean, The Little Man?"
Landa shrugged. "The Germans' nickname for you."
"Their nickname for me is The Little Man?" He looked at Ella, who had gotten her breath back.
"Sorry, Private. Hadn't the heart to tell you."
"As if to make my point, I'm a bit surprised at how tall you are in real life. You're a little fellow but not circus-midget little as your reputation suggests," Landa continued. "And I was telling your little Luder here that with a nickname like She-wolf, she turned out to be quite the beautiful young woman. Not what I expected."
"Where's my men? Where's Bridget von Hammersmarck?" Aldo interrupted.
"Let's just say she got what she deserved. When you purchase friends like Bridget von Hammersmarck, you get what you pay for." The look of disgust on his face was palpable. Ella enjoyed every second of it.
"Now as far as your Pisanos, Sergeant Donowitz and Private Omar -"
"How do you know our names?"
The Colonel shuffled in his seat. "Lieutenant Aldo, if you don't think I wouldn't interrogate everyone of your Swastika-marked survivors, then we are not operating on the same level of mutual respect that I assumed." He looked genuinely offended.
"Wie fühlt es sich an, Landa?" Ella asked with a smirk. (How does it feel, Landa?)
"No, I guess not," Aldo replied mildly.
Landa blew him off. "Back to the whereabouts of your two Italian saboteurs...at this moment, both Omar and Donowitz should be sitting in the very seats we left them in, explosives still around their ankles ready to explode, and your mission, what some would call a terrorist plot, is still a go." He looked perfectly happy as relayed this information. Ella couldn't hide her mixed feelings. The mission was still on, but her Donny was still in it. She closed her eyes and held back a cry of frustration.
"What's that I see?" Landa mused, leaning in to get a closer look at her face. "I dare say we have a little internal conflict here. May I guess at a romance?" He paused, gauging Ella's reaction. She didn't give him much, but he could tell. She had to admit, he was good at his job.
"It seems we do. Now, if I had to say, it would not be Omar. No offense to him, but a beautiful young girl has her standards set a little higher, doesn't she? The rugged and handsome Donowitz it is, then. He's such brute, though, isn't he?" Landa said, sounding like a lady in a gossipy sewing circle. He smiled with satisfaction at Ella's furious look. "Anyways, if everything goes according to plan, he will be blown to bits soon enough."
"He's more than a man than you could ever be," Ella growled through gritted teeth.
"Sit back, El. That's a pretty excitin' story, Landa. What's next, Eliza on ice?" Aldo scoffed, taking Landa's attention off of Ella. She fumed in her chair, thinking of all the things she could do to Landa if her hands weren't tied.
"However, all I have to do it pick up this phone right here, inform the cinema, and your plan is ka-put," Landa said.
"If they're still there," Ella snapped. "And if they're still alive. Which is one big if. There's no way you're taking those men without setting off those bombs."
"I have no doubt," Landa replied. "And yes, Germans will die, and yes, you will ruin the evening, and yes, Goebbels will be very, very mad at you for what you've done to his big night, but you won't get Hitler. You won't get Goebbels, you won't get Gerring, and you won't get Boormann. And you need all four to end the war."
Ella knew there was going to be a catch. There always was. Landa had come up with a brilliant plot to get himself out of this unscathed.
"But if I don't pick up this phone right here, you may very well get all four, and you would end the war tonight." He paused, letting this sink in. "So, gentlemen and lady, let's discuss this prospect." He laid out the glasses and uncorked the wine. The effect of him pouring them each a glass was not lost on Ella - their hands were still cuffed. Landa would be the only one drinking.
"The way I see it, since Hitler's death or possible rescue rests solely on my reaction, if I don't pick up that phone, it would be as if I'm causing his death even more than yourselves, wouldn't you agree?"
"I guess so," Aldo said.
"What about you, Corporal?" Landa said politely. "Utivich?"
"I suppose," Ella replied.
"If you want to win the war tonight," Landa said, placing the glasses in front of his prisoners. "We have to make a deal."
"I figured as much," Ella sighed.
Aldo sat back in his chair. "What kind of deal?"
"The kind you wouldn't have the authority to make. However, I'm sure this mission of yours has a commanding officer. A General. Perhaps OSS, I might guess."
The three of them sat silent, mostly surprised at how he had just nailed their operation. Landa smiled gleefully.
"Oooh, that's a bingo!" he giggled. He was smarter than Ella originally guessed, and also possibly a little more insane. "Is that the way you say it? That's a bingo?"
"You just say bingo," she grunted.
"Bingo! How fun!" Landa could tell he had the upper hand, and so could the Basterds. "But I digress. Where were we?" he said, regaining his composure. "Ah, yes. Make a deal. Over there is a very capable two way radio. And sitting behind it is a more than capable radio operator named Herrman. Get me somebody on the other end of that radio with the power of the pen, to authorize my - let's call it, the terms of my conditional surrender, if that tastes better going down."
"You know, where I'm from -" Aldo began.
"Yes, where is that exactly?" Landa asked, leaning forward.
"Maynardville, Tennessee. I done my share of bootlegging. Up there, if you engage in what the government calls illegal activity or what we call makin' a living for his family selling moonshine liqour…"
Ella snorted back laughter.
"It behoves oneself to keep his wits," Aldo said, shooting a glance at Ella. "Long story short, if we hear a story too good to be true...it ain't. Ain't that right, El?"
"Yessir, that's about right." Ella returned her gaze to the German Colonel.
"Sitting in your chair, I would just about say the same thing," Landa replied, nodding. "And 999,999 times out of a million you would be correct. But in the pages of history, once in a while, fate reached out and extends its hand."
"A beautiful statement, Colonel. Where did you read that?" Ella asked.
He ignored her. "What shall the history books read?"
A few minutes later, Aldo got on the radio and reached the General, and Landa laid down the terms of his 'surrender,' which included citizenship, property on Nantucket island, and the Congressional Medal of Honor for all members of Operation Kino.
"How fucking considerate," Ella grumbled from her position at the table. Their handcuffs had been undone and she had gulped the wine quickly. She turned to look at Utivich. "Once we get back on our lines, remind me never to go to Nantucket Island."
Utivich nodded his agreement.
A bark at the tavern's back door made Ella jump. She knew that bark. Shoving the German radio operator out of the way, she darted to the door before Landa and his officers could see. She flung the door open to see her pup, his tongue hanging out and his fur rumpled.
"Aw, Ace, come on boy. Come," she said, leading him slowly into the main room. His paws were sore, and it was easy to tell. Ella needed to take a look at them. She grabbed a bottle of clear alcohol from the bar and knelt next to the dog.
"Shee-it, he'd follow you anywhere, wouldn't he?" Aldo mused.
"That's my Ace," Ella said, distracted.
"What in the -" Landa started, and before he could even finish, one of his soldiers leveled a gun at the dog.
"You even think about killing Ace, it would be the exact same as killing one of my men, and you just struck a deal with our General. That, my friend, would not be wise," Ella snarled.
Landa rolled his eyes and told his soldier to stand down. Ella knelt next to Ace and began to tend to his torn-up paws.
A/N: Just a few more left! I hope you liked the interaction between Ella and Landa - they seem like a match made in heaven, don'y they? haha! Reviews are greatly appreciated :)
