Chapter 7: The World's Greatest Criminal Mind
"Run!" cried Kim. Grabbing Darkwing's arm, they raced back up the tunnel. Behind her she could hear Barker and Ratigan shouting as they sprang through the door in pursuit.
Basil, who had been riding in a pouch at Kim's belt, now leapt down and ran ahead, a dark shape scuttling through the gloom. A second later and Kim had lost sight of him.
Reaching the cavern at the far end of the tunnel, Kim risked a glance back. Barker was close behind them; whip in hand, his face purple with rage. The thing like a man in an opera suit followed at his shoulder. There was no sign of the tiny Ratigan.
The children in the cavern cried out at their sudden appearance. Some called to Kim and Darkwing for help; others simply sat down in the dirt and wailed. The Heartless guarding the children turned to watch Kim with their bright yellow eyes, but they did not move.
"Darkwing, you…" Kim began, and then paused. Darkwing was nowhere to be seen.
Barker and his companion in the opera suit had reached the head of the tunnel. Kim turned to face them, fists raised.
"Deal with her! The mouse is mine!" the man in the opera suit said. It sounded like Ratigan.
"Not so fast!" a voice cried, echoing among the cavern's many galleries. A cloud of smoke rose up around them. Barker and the man in the opera suit turned this way and that, searching for the hidden speaker.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night," the voice continued, "I am the woodworm that gnaws at your furniture. I am, Darkwing Duck!"
From high on an upper gallery, Darkwing descended. He swung down on a rope attached to his gas gun, cape flaring out behind him, eyes flashing with righteous anger. He passed over Barker's head, struck the lintel above the tunnel entrance and rolled end over end into the darkness beyond.
"Well, that was helpful," Kim muttered.
"Enough of this," the man with Ratigan's voice snapped, "Barker, get her!"
Barker rushed at Kim through the cloud of smoke, his whip raised high. Kim closed with him. Making a quick sidestep, she stuck her foot out. Barker, carried forward by his own momentum, tripped and crashed to the ground. The children lining the galleries gave a nervous cheer.
Kim did not give the man in the opera suit more than a moment to react. Springing forward, she planted a flying kick square in the centre of his broad chest. Pain shot through her foot. A dull, metallic note rang through the cavern. It felt like kicking a wall.
Kim dropped to the floor and back flipped out of the way, just in time to avoid a blow from the man in the opera suit. Glancing around, her eyes fell on a pickaxe lying nearby. Seizing it in both hands, she charged towards the man in the opera suit, aiming to drive the point straight into his stomach. The man's hand shot out and grabbed the haft of the pickaxe, stopping it dead in mid-swing. Kim was flung forwards by the sudden stop and smacked into the man's unyielding shoulder.
She staggered back. Barker had almost regained his feet. There was no sign of Darkwing or Basil. The Heartless around the edge of the cavern still had not moved but their terrible yellow eyes followed her wherever she went.
The man in the opera suit discarded the pickaxe with an almost contemptuous flick of his wrist. He closed with her, punching with great speed and strength. Kim avoided the first two blows and attempted to block the third. It was like being struck by a sledgehammer, all but fracturing her arm.
Dodging his next punch, she circled to her right and aimed a karate chop at the base of her assailant's neck. This did no more than dislodge his top hat but it at last revealed why spoke with Ratigan's voice. Under the hat, where the head should have been, was a clear structure shaped like a bell. Within, she could see Ratigan seated on a chair, surrounded by numerous levers and other controls.
Kim fell back, eyes desperately searching the cavern for something that could harm this deadly machine. She spotted a cart filled with loose rock on a gallery behind her. She turned and ran as fast as her battered limbs allowed towards the ladder. Ratigan pursued her. She reached the ladder with a running jump, landing almost halfway up it. Ratigan was right behind her. He grabbed her ankle. It was literally an iron grip, like a vice biting into her skin. For a second Kim clung to the ladder, straining to free herself. Then Ratigan jerked his arm and she was hurled back to the ground.
"Leave her alone!"
Kim looked up. Mickey was standing at the main entrance, his keyblade levelled at Ratigan. Behind him came Tarzan and Basil, riding on Hercules' shoulder.
"The King!" gasped Ratigan, his voice transmitted through a speaker near the base of his cockpit.
"Barker, you imbecile, stop them!" he cried, turning from Kim and heading back towards the side tunnel that led to Barker's room.
Barker cracked his whip above his head. Instantly, every Heartless in the cavern hurled themselves at the League. In the dark corners of the galleries the shadows began to bubble and writhe, spawning even more Heartless. They streamed down the walls and rushed across the floor like a black tide.
Mickey charged towards Barker, his Keyblade cutting through the Heartless in golden arcs.
"I've got your back," said Kim. Side by side they fought: Kim's fists and Mickey's keyblade driving a path through the Heartless and toward Barker.
Hercules and Tarzan had placed themselves between Ratigan and the side tunnel. He swung for Hercules. He caught Ratigan's fist in one hand. With his free hand, Hercules struck Rattigan in the chest, sending him tumbling across the floor. Tarzan leapt on Ratigan before he had a chance to recover, grabbling with him as he would a gorilla or a bear. Too late did Tarzan realise that this opponent had no windpipe to crush. Ratigan tore the ape-man's grasp apart and threw him aside.
Hercules drew his sword and lunged at Ratigan's chest but, although it pierced the delicate linen shirt, the point glanced off the metal surface beneath.
In the centre of the cavern Kim and Mickey were making slow progress towards Barker. The King slew many Heartless with each stroke, and Kim sent her fair share spinning aside with well-aimed blows, but they were two swimmers struggling against an ever-rising tide.
Ratigan and Hercules were exchanging blows like two prize fighters, each punch harder than the last. Now Tarzan was on his feet again. Snatching up an empty bucket lying beside the cart track, he stood close behind Ratigan and jammed it over his head. It took Ratigan only a few seconds to remove it, but it was enough.
Hercules lifted a great piece of timber from a pile by the side-tunnel, and hurled it at Ratigan. There was a clang like a deep bell being struck and Ratigan was plucked off his feet. He soared through the air to land flat on his back, where he was pinned fast beneath the timber.
Mickey and Kim crashed through the last of the Heartless, bringing them face to face with Barker. He fell back, white faced, trying to keep them at bay with vicious strokes of his whip. Mickey thrust his keyblade forward, allowing the lash to wrap around the shaft, and then wrenched it from Barker's grasp with a sudden jerk. Startled and thrown off balance, Barker fell down on his wide backside.
"You're not used to someone standing up to you, are you?" Kim sneered as she knocked Barker cold with a chop to the neck.
His transport machine pinned beneath the timber, Ratigan opened a hatch in his 'cockpit' and sprang out. Basil had dived from Hercules' shoulder towards him. There was a brief struggle as the two rodents rolled together across the floor, a storm of blows flying between them, but Rattigan was too strong. Thrusting Basil aside, he vanished down the side-tunnel.
"After him!" Basil cried, scrambling back onto Hercules's shoulder.
"No!" Mickey called, "Protect the children!"
Hercules and Tarzan did not hesitate to fall on the Heartless. Kim and Mickey moved to join them. Wherever they went, the shadows fell back. It was the work of minutes to clear the cavern of them, leaderless as they were.
When Mickey finally decided to give chase, they found that Ratigan had vanished, along with the pile of diamonds and the sack that Barker had left in his room. They did, however, find Darkwing, still unconscious, lying on the floor of the tunnel.
Hercules carried him back to the cavern, while the others took the ring of keys from Barker's belt and set about freeing the children. It took a long time to search the sprawling warren of tunnels, galleries and dead ends. In the deepest and darkest pit, they discovered seven little bedraggled figures, six of whom wore impressive, if grubby beards. When they had been brought blinking back into the light of the main cavern their leader, Doc, explained that they were the Seven Dwarfs: the rightful owners of the mine.
"It all happened so suddenly!" he said, while the other dwarfs sat around him and nodded in agreement,
"We were hard at work, same as usual, when that fat oaf walked in," he pointed to where Barker lay unconscious "I asked him what he wanted and he said: 'Your mine!' Well, of course, I told him you can't have it and a good day to you! Then he appeared…"
The dwarfs all shivered.
"We never saw his face," said Doc softly, "He wore a sort of helmet but you could hear his voice. He said that he was taking our mine and that we'd better do as he said.
"Well, we weren't going to stand for that, were we?" he said as the others dwarfs shook their heads, "I was just about to order them both off our property when he set those… shadow thingson us. They just appeared; jumped up out of the ground like gofers!
"We never saw him again but he left the fat one in charge. He put us in chains, working day and night. It must have been months since we last saw the sun. But it didn't matter how long or how hard we dug: he always wanted more diamonds. It wasn't long before he started bringing in children.
"That was too much for us. We refused flat to do any more digging until he had returned those children to their homes."
"Too right we did," the other dwarfs chorused.
"But he took away our tools and threw us in that hole, where we've been ever since!"
Having freed everyone in the mine, the League was faced with the problem of what to do with the children. They had found Scrooge's nephews, alive and well, but they did not have room aboard the Excalibur to take all the others with them. In the end, Mickey arranged for the dwarfs would look after the children until the League could arrange for a ship to collect them and take them to Radiant Garden, where Leon and his friends could begin the long process of returning them to their homes. Barker was thrown into the pit where he had imprisoned the dwarfs, to be kept there until he agreed to apply himself to some useful work. .
Scrooge was waiting for them at the landing pad when the Excalibur touched down in Radiant Garden. As soon as the cockpit was open, his nephews had rushed into his tearful embrace. After a few confused moments, in which the three boys all tried to explain what had happened at the same time, Scrooge hushed them into silence.
"I think yae'll have tae leave the explainin' tae the grown-ups, lads," he said, smiling genially.
Together with Scrooge and his nephews, the League retired to Merlin's house, where Kim and Darkwing recounted the conversation they had overheard between Barker and Rattigan.
"Interesting," Merlin said thoughtfully when they had finished, "I can't help but wonder who is behind all of this."
"Xehanort?" suggested Leon. Mickey shook his head.
"No, and it's not Maleficent either: Master Yen Sid told me that they have not returned."
This seemed to settle the matter as far Leon and Merlin were concerned.
"There are other powers for evil in this world," said Merlin darkly, "It may be that this is a new threat; something we have not encountered before."
"Whoever it is, they must be a fiend indeed to have recruited Ratigan to their cause," said Basil, "He's the most cunning criminal ever spawned."
"You know him, then?" said Hercules.
"Know him? My dear man, he is my nemesis!" said Basil, "My only equal in mental ability and the greatest ne'er-do-well imaginable."
"I can hear the wedding bells already," said Kim.
"What about this 'Waternoose' that Ratigan mentioned? Do we know who he is?" Hercules asked, oblivious to the loathsome looks Kim and Basil were exchanging across the table.
"Ach, that's nae secret!" exclaimed Scrooge, "That'd be Henry J. Waternoose. Leastways, he's the only Waternoose I've ever heard of.
"He's CEO of that there 'Monsters Incorporated'. It's a tidy interest. Small fry, y' understand, but tidy."
"Monster Incorporated? That's in Monstropolis, right?" said Mickey.
"Looks like that's your next stop, Your Majesty," said Leon.
"Wait," said Darkwing, "what about the Isla de Engano? I thought we were going there next?"
"A wild goose chase, Your Majesty," said Basil contemptuously, "This Waternoose fellow is clearly in cahoots with these scoundrels. He should be our focus."
"Something doesn't feel right about this pirate meeting," said Kim, "I can't believe it, but I agree with the duck. We need to check it out."
There was silence as Mickey sat thinking, his chin rested on his hand.
"We've gotta split up," he said, at length "They're both important and we can't afford to ignore either of them. I'll talk to Cid about borrowing a gummi-ship that'll take me, Tarzan and Hercules to Isla de Engano. Meanwhile Kim, Basil and Darkwing, you take the Excalibur to Monstropolis to have a look at this Waternoose fella. I'll ask Cid to stand in for me as your pilot.
"We'll rendezvous at Traverse Town the day after tomorrow to share what we've found, okay?"
Nobody disagreed, although Kim, Darkwing and Basil clearly did not relish working as a trio.
"Excellent! Now, yae'll be needin' some disguises if yae're hopin' tae pass unnoticed," Scrooge said, rubbing his hands together, "and it just so happens that I can sell yae some costumes at a vaery reasonable discount."