Hey there : )
Daily update coming up.
WARNINGS:- Bit of swearing. Nowt too bad though. I didn't lie to you about the gory-ness of the fighting did I? Well I'm not lying about this either. But there is a bit more non-gory violence too.
Thanks to...
Yuul
and
CherryBerryB (and the review)
for Favouriting. It means a lot, so thanks.
And to...
Readergirl99 - as usual :)
Steinbock - Hmm... I might write a fic about that - if Butler ever had any spare time that is :)
And
CherryBerryB - Sorry it took all day :)
Seagulls warned Butler of the oncoming dawn before the pirates started trying to get in.
Trying being the operative word.
Both children jumped awake at the thumping. Then the shouting started.
"The bastard's blocked the door!"
"That's it! It's not worth it. Kill the big one and get the kids on deck."
Juliet actually whimpered and clung to her brother's neck, breathing in his coppery-beat-up-hard-work brother-smell and pulling his sandpapery head closer. In a tiny shaft of light she could just make out his battered face.
"Hey. Hey. It's ok." he hugged her. Even the normally icy Artemis touched his bodyguard's arm gently and gave Juliet's hand a squeeze, in what he hoped was a comforting manner.
"I don't want you to get hurt." Juliet mumbled into what was left of his bloodstained shirt.
"So long as you're both alright, nothing else matters." He whispered, breath ruffling her hair.
"It matters to us, Butler." Artemis said sadly.
"The Major will come and get you. I promise. They'll get you out of here soon." Butler put on a brave face. He had a feeling there wouldn't be a second time escaping death by pirate.
He looked up. The crew were still battering at the trapdoor. There was a wrenching sound and one plank was ripped from the rest. A man pressed his face to the narrow slat, leering into the darkness.
Butler looked down. In the light cast by the cabin lights flooding in from above, two frightened faces stared back of him.
"We're gonna kill you, you son of a bitch." The man hollered through the hole he had made in the trapdoor.
"Come up here and face it you coward." Another yelled out.
"You're going to wish you'd never been born."
Juliet clung closer and it was a testament to Butler's pain threshold that he didn't flinch when she accidently squeezed his bullet filled bicep.
"Come on, Jules..."
"I know, I know..." She sniffed.
"Man up." They said in unison. Artemis looked on, feeling strangely like an outsider in their little trio. It appeared to be a family joke of some sorts. He was slightly saddened that the only 'Family thing' he could think of that he shared with is parents was the motto 'Aurum potestas est'.
The soft laughter from the siblings was quickly drowned out by shouts of :
"Get a crowbar or summit."
"Yeah, then we can use it to brain the bugger too."
"I won't let them." Juliet said fiercely. Butler smiled at the ferocious determination of his little sister. But up against a team of sea-gangsters armed with crowbars, neither of them would have much of a chance.
"You're finished."
"When we're done there won't be enough of you left to feed the fish."
The threats bounced off. Butler was sure he'd heard that last one in a cheesy action film.
Artemis rested his hand on the less bloody shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Butler."
"No. This is nothing to do with you." Butler said firmly. "Don't blame yourself for things out of your control."
He knew his bodyguard was only doing his job, but Juliet was in danger too. And now he faced losing the best friend he had. All because someone wanted to kidnap him, Artemis, because of something his father had done.
"I... I won't forget you."
The words were barely audible, but the statement went straight to Butler's heart, faster than a bullet from a gun.
You're just going to sit here and get shot like some helpless animal? Something roared inside his head. These kids need you.
"Right." Butler growled, dislodging his sister and principle as he got to his knees. Animals aren't always helpless - even captive ones. Experience had taught him that.
"What you going to do?" Juliet scrambled back upright.
"Just you grab onto something that floats." He advised, lurching to his feet. "I'm getting us out of here."
"But Butler, the hull of this ship is designed to withstand substantial beatings from waves and objects alike. It would be practically impossible, especially without any equipment." Artemis protested, looking for something floatable anyway. "You can not possibly hope to break through using only brute force."
"Watch me." Butler's eyes glinted dangerously.
Juliet did what she was told without complaint, scrambling for something to hold onto. Butler had that look on his face. The one that made her remember that, at some point or other in not-so-long his life, he hadn't been her brother. Hadn't been like she knew him at all.
Butler closed his eyes and took a breath, bouncing slightly on the spot, focusing his energy.
Gearing himself up, Artemis deduced. Blocking out the curses from above, building up the strength in his muscles for the feat he is about to attempt.
Artemis decided that if he got them out of this, he would never underestimate his bodyguard again.
Juliet didn't bother mentally justifying what her brother was doing. And she knew him well enough not to doubt what he was capable of.
So she braced herself and got a firm grip of Artemis's damaged dinner jacket.
Jace answered the phone at the third ring, smirking when he saw the caller ID.
"Ah, Fowl, so nice to hear from you."
"Guess again, Jace." The Major growled.
"Oh I get it. Put the brute on the phone. Funny, I didn't think talking would be your thing."
"This isn't a friendly chat. Where are the children?"
"I'm shocked." The pirate captain said in mock horror. "You suspect I have them? You should be more careful where you leave them. Easy to loose, kids are."
"I am not a man to messed with, Jace. Release them immediately, or there will be consequences."
"Oh? Like last night's little disturbance? I'm afraid your little sidekick didn't last long against my men. He was one of yours, wasn't he?"
The Major didn't answer, hand tightening on the handset.
"Shame really. He could have been useful one day."
No emotion slipped into The Major's voice. "He never would've sided with you."
"True. He didn't seem like the traitorous kind. More the stupid kind." Jace taunted. He had noticed the family resemblance immediately and although the younger Butler might not be dead yet, judging by the noise going on downstairs, he soon would be.
"Hand over the children unharmed, Jace." The Major reverted back to the reason for the call, brushing over the apparent death of his nephew. He could deal with that later, once Artemis Junior and his niece were safe.
"Now why would I want to do that?"
"Then what do you want?"
"That depends on what you're offering."
"That's your choice, isn't it?"
"Yes I suppose it is." Jace paused a moment, calculating. "I'll be generous. Call it three million."
"Three million." The Major repeated for the Fowls, who were hanging on his every word his end of the conversation.
"Each." Jace finished, severing the connection. This could be more fun than he thought. He got up from the futon he was lounging on, checking his appearance in the mirror. It was slightly askew. The mirror, that was. Not his perfectly smoothed tresses. He frowned, straightening it. Behind him an expensive vase slid from the dresser, shattering on the floor.
It wasn't the mirror that was slanted, he realised as he crashed into one of the walls.
It was the floor.
Butler considered his options before he began. This was going to be painful whichever way he did it. Picking a spot along the boat's wall he started with a kick. Then another. And another. He was suddenly very glad that Madam Ko had always insisted on training barefoot so his feet were well used to being put into action with no protection.
Soon the boat was rocking under the repetitive force. Before he lost balance and fell, he gave the curved wall a few shoulder barges but, as he only had one fully useable arm, he shortly had to switch to the fist approach, powering blow after blow into a concentrated area with both hands.
At the twenty-something punch a small jet of water started to hiss through the wood. Butler redoubled his efforts. Unfortunately, so did the pirates. The wood began to splinter and groan under the pressure.
"Grab hold of me and don't let go." Butler said through gritted teeth, still punching away with increasingly bloody knuckles. Both children obeyed instantly, latching onto his belt and shirt like limpets.
It wasn't exactly a shock when the splintered wood finally gave way, but it was still terrifying to feel yourself being dragged backwards towards a certain drowning with only one man and the strength of your grip keeping you alive.
Coincidently the breaking through of the hull coincided with the exact moment the trapdoor gave in too and several pirates almost fell through until they noticed the water.
Butler ripped more broken planks from the hull, wasting a few seconds of precious 'getting-away' time until he could pull them all out into the open ocean. His shoulder screamed bloody murder but there wasn't time to worry about that now.
Pushing his sister and charge towards the surface with the rest of his energy Butler gave a few kicks to clear himself from the soon to be wreck.
Juliet broke the surface first, spluttering as she helped Artemis onto a piece of debris.
"Where's Butler?" Artemis gasped, salty water obstructing his airways.
"Coming I hope." Juliet bit her lip. There was a noise like a whale breaching the waves and her brother appeared beside them.
"Swim." He choked, trying to breathe and speak at the same time. "Let's get out of here."
Juliet almost laughed at the Scooby-Doo-like quote but suddenly realised the cause of it. The pirates were abandoning ship and they did not look happy with their ex-prisoners. One ex-prisoner in particular.
"There 'e is. Get 'im." One man shouted, thrashing towards them.
"Go." Butler jettisoned the children forward. "Keep swimming."
"But..."
"No arguments. Look after each other." Butler pushed the pair further away, treading water between them and the approaching pirates. Rapidly approaching pirates at that. Butler kept his distance for as long as possible, paddling backwards towards the shore. But eventually the first man reached him, hesitating for a moment, unsure whether or not to start the attack without his buddies. Butler took the choice for him, using his body as a push off to escape and winding the guy so badly he could hardly swim.
Further away some of them pulled guns and, before Butler could dive to safety, pumped the triggers. Instead of deafening bangs and severe pain there was a series 'phooting' noise. Apparently their guns weren't waterproof. One man swam forwards, holding his weapon like a club. Butler recognised the handgun instantly.
"That would be mine." He said, prising it out of the pirate's grip.
In hindsight, he was very lucky the gun hadn't gone off. Normally it worked under even the worst of circumstances. Thanking his lucky stars and possibly his Sig Sauer's loyalty, he set about performing the manoeuvre the guy had been planning to do to him, by clobbering him over the head with it.
"Thanks." he finished, pushing the prone pirate back into one of his buddies.
Butler almost laughed at the looks of outrage on the other men's faces, but then they all piled on him like a deranged metaphor for Juliet's favourite dunking game and he suddenly didn't feel quite so jovial.
He thrashed like a shark in a net, managing to grab a few breaths before they all joined in. A blade flashed silver through the water. Great. He may have missed out on being shot with his own gun but he was about to get stabbed with what was probably one of his own daggers. Crimson clouded in the water although Butler wasn't entirely certain it was him who was bleeding. In the writhing tangle of arms and legs it could have been anyone.
At some point he managed to bring his shirt over his head and half strangle one of his attackers with the remaining sleeve before the unfortunate man's shipmates helped him out, forcing Butler back under.
The water looked as though it was boiling, not that Butler could see that. He thought he could hear an engine but that could have just been the blood roaring in his ears.
There were so many of them.
Which was probably how he managed to survive long enough for the police boat to pull alongside and pepper spray them all on a crowd dispersing scale.
Whilst everyone was busy splashing sea-water into their eyes and screaming Butler managed to reach the surface to be rewarded with a blast right in the face. He ignored the irritation, a little more pain didn't make much more difference right now, and span in a circle desperately searching for the two small shapes in the water. Finally he spotted them being lifted onto the second police boat, pointing and obviously trying to get him out of this mess. It wasn't exactly working.
Butler grudgingly allowed himself to be cuffed and dragged into the boat like some fisherman's prized catch, wondering how they would have got him aboard if he had struggled. A pirate gave the answer to this question when he fought back and got a generous helping of pepper spray and a whack from a baton for his antics. Butler was searched and even more unwillingly than he had been at being caught, handed over the gun he'd somehow managed to keep hold off in amongst all the fighting and drowning he'd been doing.
They sat him in-between two of his recent enemies on the 'Apprehending and Detaining for the Safety of the Seas' boat's bench. They did not look happy. Neither was he. Now he'd officially been mistaken for one of the crew he'd likely be put in a group cell with them.
The man to his left tried to elbow him, Butler curled a lip at him and growled.
Animalistic, he thought. And probably a bit over-the-top.
But it had the desired effect - no more elbow jabs from that direction and only worried looks coming from the other.
The man opposite was missing a tooth and seemed to be holding him personally responsible, despite the fact it was probably one of his buddies. A scowl, stare and stretch of the legs to prove that, yes, he could quite comfortably reach to kick the man somewhere painful, thank-you very much, soon shut him up.
The boat lurched towards shore, hampered by its heavy cargo. Through the door Butler could see the result of his handiwork disappearing under the waves and he smiled. Then one policeman slammed it and, crammed together with twelve people who would all be happy to murder him on the spot and a bawling Jace ordering them to do it, Butler stopped smiling and started wondering how he was going to escape certain doom this time.
After all, he had to be optimistic.
This chappie and the next one were going to be one monster chapter but I changed my mind.
Thought I'd drag it out a bit :P
Still, this one was longer than usual anyway, eh?
Took longer too - sorry I was busy.