Wow! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! So glad that so many folks are enjoying this as much as I am, it has been fun adapting my favorite movie to my favorite characters. A special thanks to DaisyDay and Purdys Pal for all their assistance and encouragement! It is gonna be another long chapter so brace yourselves. :-). As usual, none of them are really mine, though I sure wish that they were.
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"Now at the same time that the man in black is catching up to Brennan and Fiona the Chief Special Operative Larry has since found out that Fiona has been abducted. After finding the scrap of fabric and drawing the expected conclusion, they have traveled across the bay and arrived at the top of the Wall of Insanity. He is closely examining the ground while his henchmen look on." Maddy explained to Charlie.
"There was a mighty duel. It ranged all over. They were both masters." Stated Larry while placing his feet in the footprints that are all over the ground and acting out a few lunges of his own.
"Who won? How did it end?" Asked Vaughn, Larry's second in command and general lead henchman.
Larry continues to follow the path of the fight around the area at the top of the wall, finally reaching the area where the unconscious Sam had been laying. "The loser ran off alone, and the winner followed those footprints toward Guilder Corp..."
"Shall we track them both?" Vaughn questioned.
"The loser is nothing." Larry scoffed contemptuously. "Only the Special Agent matters. Clearly this was all planned by operatives of Guilder! We must all be ready for whatever lies ahead."
Vaughn nods in agreement. "Could this be a trap?"
"I always think everything could be a trap. That is why I am still alive." Larry said with an air of supreme confidence.
Larry and his men scurry off to follow the trail of the man in black. At the same time the man in black has finally caught up to Brennan, who is calmly setting up a sumptuous meal on a low boulder and holding a combat knife to Fiona's throat as she sits quietly bound and blindfolded.
"So, it is down to you, and it is down to me..." he quips at the man in black. "if you wish her dead, by all means keep moving forward"
The man in black holds out both hands to show he is unarmed and keeps moving slowly towards the seated pair. "Let me explain..."
"There's nothing to explain. You're trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen." Brennan stated baldly.
"Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?" The man in black replies still moving smoothly forward.
"There will be no arrangements...and you're killing her." Brennan responds while using the knife to lift Fiona's chin and causing her to gasp.
"But if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse." Continued the man in black.
"I'm afraid so. I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains." Brennan stated practically brimming with confidence.
The man in black raises an eyebrow. "You're that smart?"
"Let me put it this way: Have you ever heard or Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?" Asked Brennan with a smirk.
"Yes." Replied the man in black with a slight smile.
Brennan gestures wildly. "Morons!" He exclaimed.
"Really!" Replied the man in black with a growing smile. "In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits."
"For the special agent? To the death? I accept!" Brennan proclaimed in a grand manner gesturing for the man in black to sit across from him.
"Good, then pour the wine." Says the man in black while sitting down and reaching into a pocket in his shirt and removing a vial. "Inhale this but do not touch."
"I smell nothing." Brennan replied after inhaling above the now unstoppered vial.
"What you do not smell is Iocaine powder. It is odorless, tasteless, and dissolves instantly in liquid and is among the more deadly poisons known to man." Explained the man in black.
Brennan shrugs with laughter. "Hmmm."
The Man in black picks up both wine glasses and turns his back on Brennan, when he turns back he has an empty vial of poison in his hand along with the two glasses. "Alright, where is the poison?" He states, moving the glasses back and forth in front of both of them before setting a glass down in front of each of them. " The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink - and find out who is right, and who is dead." He smiles a large shining smile at Brennan.
"But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine it from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemies? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you...But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me." Brennan pontificates at length.
"You've made your decision then?" The man in black patiently asks.
Brennan grins happily. "Not remotely! Because Iocaine comes from Australia. As everyone knows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me. So, I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you."
"Truly, you have a dizzying intellect." Quipped the man in black, somewhat sarcastically.
"Wait 'till I get going! ...where was I?" Brennan practically crowed.
The man in black answers dryly. "Australia."
"Yes! Australia! And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me." Brennan continued.
The man in black interrupted before Brennan can really get going again. "You're just stalling now."
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you!" Exclaimed Brennan excitedly. "You've beaten my strong man, which means you're exceptionally strong...so you could have put the poison in your own goblet trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Navy SEAL, which means you must have studied...and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me!"
"You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work." The man in black interjected into the momentary silence.
Brennan gleefully exclaims. "It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!"
"Then make your choice." Respondes the man in black with patience.
"I will, and I choose..." Brennan paused and giving a bit of a jump, pointed behind the man in black. "What in the world can that be?"
The man in black turns quickly around to glance behind him, and while he is looking back Brennan switches the glasses. "What? Where? I don't see anything."
Brennan laughs a bit awkwardly." Oh, well, I...I could have sworn I saw something. No matter."
"What's so funny?" comes the suspicious reply.
"I...I'll tell you in a minute. First, lets drink, me from my glass and you from yours." Brennan replies picking up the glass in front of him and offering a silent toast to the man in black.
The man in black picks up his glass as well and returns the silent toast, they then both tip back their glasses and toss back the wine. "You guessed wrong."
"You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia; and only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!" Brennan laughs hysterically for several minuets and then suddenly stops, gets a funny look on his face and keels over dead.
"Who are you?" Fiona asks as the man in black removes her blindfold.
"I'm no one to be trifled with. That is all you'll ever need know." Is the brisk reply.
Fiona looks at the man in black and shakes her head slowly. "And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned."
"They were both poisoned." The man in black tells her. "I spent the last few years building up immunity to iocaine powder."
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By this point Larry had reached the area where Jesse and the man in black had had their battle, Jesse is no longer there.
"Someone has beaten a strong man. There will be great suffering at Guilder if she dies." Larry states to his men.
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The man in black and Fiona are running across an open plain, it is obvious that she is exhausted as he is nearly dragging her. They reach an area with a bit of cover on the edge of a steep hill and the man in black comes to a stop. "Catch your breath."
"If you'll release me, whatever you ask for ransom you'll get it, I promise you." Pants Fiona.
The man in black barks out a laugh. "And what is that worth... the promise of a woman...You're very funny special agent."
"I was giving you a chance. It does not matter where you take me. There is no greater hunter than Chief Special Operative Larry. He can track a falcon on a cloudy day. He can find you." She tells the man in black, sounding less and less winded by the moment.
The man in black gives her a half smile. "You think your dearest love will save you?"
"I never said he was my dearest love." Fiona replies quickly sounding thoroughly insulted. "And yes, he will save me - that I know."
"You admit to me you do not love your soon to be partner?. The man in black sounds surprised.
"He knows I do not love him." Fiona baldy states.
"...Are not capable of love is what you mean." Snaps the man in black.
Fiona looks thoroughly scandalized. "I have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream!"
The man in black pulls back his arm like he is going to backhand her and then seems to catch himself, "That was a warning, special agent! The next time my hand flies on its own; where I come from there are penalties when a women lies."
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"Now by this time Larry has reached the spot where the great battle of wits between the man in black and Brennan had taken place." Continues Maddy to a wide eyed Charlie.
Larry looks over Brennan's now still dead body and then turns to carefully pick up the empty vial still lying on the rock. He sniffs at it delicately. "Iocaine! I'd bet my life on it. And there are the special agent's footprints. She is alive, or was an hour ago...if she is otherwise, I shall be very put out!"
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Now since they have taken a bit of time to catch their breath the man in black has himself and Fiona on the move again." Madeline explains.
"Rest, Special Agent." The man in black says to Fiona, practically tossing her to the ground in another area that offers sparse cover along the edge of the hill.
Fiona looks up at him defiantly. "I know who you are. Your cruelty reveals everything. You're the Dreaded Spy Chuck Finley, admit it!"
"With pride." Replys the man in black with a cocky head tilt and slight bow in Fiona's direction. "What can I do for you?"
"You can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces." Fiona practically spits at him.
The man in black shakes his head at her slowly and looks up at the sky. "Hardly complimentary, Special Agent...Why do you assure venom on me?"
"You killed my love." Fiona responds dejectedly.
The man in black seems to consider her statement for a moment. "It's possible, I kill a lot of people. Who was this love of yours? Another company head like this one...ugly, rich, and scabby?"
"No, a bartender and IRA agent... poor! Poor and perfect, with eyes like the sea after a storm." She seems momentarily lost in reflection and then continues. On the the high-seas your insurgency group attacked, and the Dreaded Spy Chuck Finley never takes prisoners!"
"I can't afford to make exceptions. I mean once word leaks out that a spy has gone soft people begin to disobey him and its nothing but work, work, work all the time." The man in black explained pacing a bit.
Fiona looked at him in outrage. "You mock my pain!"
"Life is pain, Special Agent! Anyone who says differently is selling something." The man in black responded bitingly, he then continued sounding a bit reflective. "I remember this young man of yours I think. This would be what? Five years ago? Does it bother you to hear?"
Fiona's reply was despondent. "Nothing you can say will upset me."
"He died well, that should please you. No bribe attempts or blubbering. He simply said please, please, I need to live. It was the please that caught my memory. I asked what was so important for him; 'True love' he replied. And then he spoke of a girl of surpassing beauty and faithfulness..." The man in black paused for a moment before continuing with a bit more rancor in his voice. "I can only assume he meant you. You should bless me for destroying him before he found out what you really are."
"And what am I?" Fiona questioned defiantly.
The man in black responded with anger in his voice. "Faithfulness he talked of, madam, your enduring faithfulness! Now tell me truly, when you found out he was gone did you get engaged to your Chief Special Operative that same hour or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?"
"You mocked me once! Never do it again! I died that day!" Fiona shouts at him, clearly enraged. In the distance they see Larry and his henchman and while the man in black is momentarily distracted Fiona takes advantages and pushes him. "You can die too, for all I care!"
"As...you...wish..." Is the response she hears as the man in black tumbles down the steep hillside.
"Oh, my sweet Michael, what have I done?" Fiona cries out as he hurls herself down the steep slope after Michael. Slipping and tumbling the whole way.
Larry turns to Vaughn as the couple drops out of sight. "They disappeared. They must have seen us closing in, which might account for his panicking into error. Unless I'm wrong, and I'm never wrong, they are headed straight into the old abandoned munitions dump nicknamed the fire swamp."
Michael and Fiona finally reach the bottom of the hill and Michael crawls over to Fiona and wraps her in his arms. "Can you move at all?:
"Move? You're alive! If you want I could fly." Fiona replies joyously, gazing up at him lovingly.
Michel holds her a bit closer, "I told you I would always come for you. Why didn't you wait for me?"
"Well, you were dead." Fiona told him in all sincerity.
Michael looked deep into Fiona's eyes. "But death cannot stop true love...All it can do is delay it for a while."
"I will never doubt again." Fiona replied touching his face lovingly.
"There will never be a need." Michael responded as their lips meet.
"Oh, no! No. Please!" Charlie interrupts sharply.
Maddy pauses and looks at him "What is it? What's the matter?"
"They're kissing again." States Charlie in total disgust. "Do we have to hear the kissing part?"
Maddy chuckles under her breath. "Someday you might not mind so much."
"Skip on to the fire swamp, that sounded good!" Charlie prodded.
"Oh...you're sick, I'll humor you. Oh, okay..." Maddy said turning the page in the picture book in Charlie's lap and pointing to a picture of a deep ravine. "Michael and Fiona raced along the ravine floor.
"Aha! Your pig perspective partner is too late! A few more steps and we'll be safe in the fire swamp." Michael exclaimed.
Fiona looked at him slightly worried. "We'll never survive."
"Nonsense!" Michael stated confidently. "You're only saying that because no one ever has."
As Michael and Fiona proceeded into the dark, dank, creepy and swampy old ammunitions dump, Michael looked around with interest. "It's not that bad..." He stated while receiving an incredulous glance from Fiona. "Well I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here but the trees are actually quite lovely."
They continue moving forward through the maze of mossy, damp trees when there is a sudden popping noise and a burst of flame shot up from the ground right at Fiona's feet, causing her to jump back with a bit of a shriek as her skirt caught fire.
Michael quickly and calmly smothered the flame. "Well now, that was an adventure. Singed a bit, were you?" He asked.
Fiona shook her head no in a slightly nervous manner. "You?"
Michael simply nods his head no, not losing an ounce of confidence, and they continue onward. Suddenly another popping sound is heard. Michael easily lifts Fiona out of the way as another burst of flame erupts from the ground. "Well, one thing I will say; the fire swamp certainly does keep you on your toes. This will all soon be but a happy memory." Michael cut through a mass of vines that were across the path and held them out of the way for Fiona. "Finley's yacht Revenge is banked at the far end. And as you know I am Finley."
Fiona looked at him in mild confusion. "But how's that possible, since he's been spying 20 years and you only left me 5 years ago?"
"I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks." Michael smiled at her. "See, what I told you before about saying please was true...it intrigued Finley, as did my descriptions of your beauty. Finally, Finley decided something. He said, 'Alright Michael, I never had an apprentice, you can try if you'd like. I'm most likely to kill you in the morning.' For three years said that. 'Good night Michael, good work, sleep well, I'm most likely to kill you in the morning.' It was a fine time for me - I was learning to fence, fight, design and operate weapons anything anyone would teach me. Finley and I eventually became friends. And then it happened." Michael paused in his story.
"What? Go on." Fiona prompted.
Well Finley had grown so rich, he wanted to retire." Michael continued. "He took me to his cabin and told me his secret. 'I am not the Dreaded Spy Chuck Finley,' he said 'my name is Simon. I inherited this ship from the previous Dreaded Spy Chuck Finley, just as you will inherit it from me.'" Michael lifted Fiona out of the way of yet another burst of flame. "The man I inherited it from was not the real Dreaded Spy Chuck Finley either - his name was Stecker-Epps. The real Finley had been retired 15 years and was living like a king in Patagonia.'." Fiona held a branch out of the way for Michael. "Thank you." He said smiling at her as he ducked under the branch and took her hand. "Then he explained the name was the important for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dreaded Spy Michael. So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew and he stayed aboard for a while as first mate, all the time calling me Finley. Once the crew believed, he left the ship and I have been Finley ever since. Except now that were together, I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else. Is everything clear to you?" Michael asked.
Fiona shakes her head yes and opens her mouth to speak, just as she stepped forward into what looked like a sandy spot on the path and vanished from sight. Michael, thinking quickly and creatively as spies are want to do, grabbed and sliced through a nearby vine, wrapped it about himself like a repelling harness and dove into the sand after her. Moments later his hands reappear above the sand, followed by the rest of him as well as Fiona, clinging onto his back for all she is worth. As they lie to the side of the pit of sand breathing heavily, Fiona gasps out, "We'll never succeed. We may as well die here."
"No, no." Michael gasped out. "We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the fire swamp? One, the land mine flame spurts - no problem - there's a popping sound preceding each. We can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too."
"Michael, what about the L.O.U.S.'s?" Fiona asked, sounding concerned.
"Lizzards Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist." Michael stated confidently, just as a giant lizard lunges from the underbrush, knocking him over and clamping onto his shoulder.
Michael and the giant lizard struggle and the lizard breaks free and begins chasing after Fiona who lets out a yell. "Michael!"
The giant lizard lunged towards her as she grabbed the nearest branch and started beating it about the head, kicking it away from her and trying to avoid the snapping jaws. Michael jumps on the beast and manages to roll it over. Suddenly there is a popping sound. Michael manages to roll one more time and the lizard is covered in flames just as he lets go. "Michael" Fiona calls out again as the lizard, still half alive crawls towards the bushes. Michael pursues the beast and stabs it a few more times until it stops moving. He then holds out his hand for Fiona, who comes forward and places her hand into his.
To be Continued…. (OMG… that took forever… thanks for hanging in there folks! I love all your reviews. *Flinging hugs and kisses at all my reviewers (see my new profile pic for the visual…though it may not be there till tomorrow)xoxo)