Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Joke with relevance to the story: So there's this guy from Beijing, this American guy, and this Cantonese guy, right? And they're just walking along, when they come along this spaceship. They're all like, "OMG, a spaceship!" The guy from Beijing says, "We have to make sure it knows our rules and follows them!" The American guy says, "Let's study it!" And the Cantonese guy says, "Let's deep fry it!" (just for the record, I heard that joke from a native of Beijing.)
--
"I knew there were a lot of people in China," whispered Marion as they threaded their way through the dissipating crowd towards a block of hutongs, "but I never realized that they were all in one place!"
"We need to get out of this city! Shorty, where were we supposed to meet our contact?" Indiana carefully threaded his way through the narrow, winding streets, dodging more rickshaws and women on their way to the market. The houses were getting further and further apart, and the crowds of people were smaller and smaller.
"Over here!" Shorty dragged the company to a small airstrip at the edge of the city. "It's this one!"
As Indiana Jones boarded the plane, he got that feeling in his gut that he was missing something. He looked around. He had everything. They were all there, Marion and Shorty… All the same, he had this feeling something wasn't right. As the plane took off, spinning the propellers noisily and vibrating slightly, he realized, suddenly, with a jolt, that they had lost Willie.
"Oh, shoot. Shorty, when did we last see Willie?"
"When we were entering the block of hutongs, I think…" There was a dull thud, and Shorty's voice faded.
"Hello Doctor Jones." A heavily accented German voice spoke out if the shadows.
Marion screamed. Shorty was already unconscious. All Indiana remembered was being hit on the head by some very blunt, very heavy instrument.
--
Willie was hopelessly lost. She wandered the streets for a while, but, realizing that Indiana, Shorty, and Marion would soon notice they were separated and try to find her, she should stay in one place. She stood in Tiananmen Square, next to the Forbidden City.
"Ohhh… Where is he?" Willie was tired, cold, and hungry. She had hardly any money, didn't speak a word of Chinese, and had no idea where she was or where she would find someone who spoke English.
As darkness fell, Willie wandered into a street market. After passing stalls selling bao, dumplings, and fried rice, she came to the section of the market frequented by the Cantonese.
"Oh my god." She looked into a deep fryer. It looked like chicken. But it had six legs. And pincers. And a poisonous tail. And it was… alive. There were rows of scorpions with skewers through them. But some were still alive and trying to pull themselves free. Suppressing the urge to puke, she wandered further into the market. She encountered snakes, more scorpions, grubs the size of a lighter, sea stars, birds, crickets, water bugs, cockroaches, chicken feet, pig snouts, and pretty much anything else that could possibly be eaten. Avoiding the sights and smells of ethnic Cantonese cooking, she ran into a man.
"Why hello!" The man recoiled in surprise at meeting a white woman out alone at night in a Cantonese street market.
Willie was ecastic! He was an American! Even better, she thought she recognized him as one of the people she had seen in a museum. The head of Antiquities retrieved by Dr. Jones or something like that.
"Oh my gosh! Have you seen Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.? I was here with him on a dig, but we were separated and now I'm lost…" She looked up at him, with that wounded look that would have made Marion retch but she knew from experience all men were susceptible to.
"Oh yes. I have met him, and have seen him just this afternoon! Remarkable gentleman, that Dr. Jones." The man's dark green eyes sparkled in the glow from a nearby fryer. "My name is Edward. Edward Smith."
"Well, I'm Willie Scott." The pair walked arm in arm down the dark streets of Beijing.
--
"Ow." Indiana Jones regained consciousness in a dark room. "This has happened to me way too many times. Why always the bashing over the head with blunt objects?" He was tied up, but from the little light coming from a window high in the wall he could tell that Marion and Shorty were there, and that they were in a basement. He lay on his side, but felt something long and sharp digging into his thigh. "Don't tell me they forgot to search us. That would just be too easy."
But they had forgotten. Either they were ameuters, sloppy, or just plain stupid. But it was Indiana's knife in his pocket. He managed to reach it and cut his hands and feet free. After similarly releasing Shorty and Marion, they conferred in whispered tones.
"Shorty! Why did you pick this plane?" Indiana hissed angrily.
"Ummm… The only one with open space?" Shorty grinned nervously. "Actually, we were supposed to go in the first plane that presented itself without a government sticker on the wing." He had received these instructions from Sallah as part of their transportation.
"We could have walked!" Marion was grumpily pulling herself off the floor. "Indiana, why do you pursue this kind of work? You could be having a nice, calm summer break. We could be at the beach. Or in Nepal. Or ANYWHERE EXCEPT IN THIS STUPID F…" Indiana grabbed Marion and pushed his hand over mouth.
"Marion! Do you want them to come back in here and tie us up again?" Indiana hissed into her ear angrily.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor towards the trio. "See?"
"Hello Doctor Jones. Fancy meeting you here. And your beautiful companion, too!" The man in the white hat so similar to Indiana Jones'. The rival archaeologist who stole Indiana's treasures after Indiana had braved the booby traps. René Emile Belloq.
"Belloq! I thought you were dead!" Indiana couldn't believe his eyes. He was the one who had been sucked in by the Ark.
"Sorry, Indy," he said with sarcasm, "But, you see, I'm like a bad penny. I always turn up." He grinned sardonically.
"What do you want, scum?" Marion was unfazed by his reappearance from the dead. "I don't have all day."
"What you came here looking for, of course!" Marion looked confused. "Now come on, darling. (at this remark, Marion glared at Belloq and Indiana was ready to strangle him) You, of all people, must have been told why the discovery of Qin Shihuang's tomb is so important."
"What? You want Indy to go through all the booby traps so you can get all the loot? Oh, and I suppose you are jealous because I always loved Indy more than anyone will ever love you!"
Belloq turned red and slapped Marion so hard she fell backwards. "No, you little slut, I was actually referring to the elixer of immortality discovered by Shihuang."
"So you are having me do the dirty work so you can be immortal?" Indiana was incredulous. "How do you know I won't drink it myself? Or dump it all on the floor?"
"Actually," Belloq stated with a sneer, "I am being paid a very large sum to retrieve the elixer for my client."
Just then, another man entered the room. "Herr Belloq, when are we leaving?"
"As soon as possible, sir." Belloq had dropped the joking mood he had used with Indiana, Shorty, and Marion. He was serious, all buisness.
The trio was tied up again and forced into the back of a covered truck. They bumped down a dirt road in silence, looking at each other and sweating from the oppressive heat.