Chapter Eleven

Ragtime Reason and Rhyme

Night fell over the quiet sea as water lapped gently at the sides of the freighter ship as it cut smoothly through the minute waves. Only a few lights peppered the surface—lights to guide sailors across the deck, and the bright light shining from the Captain's quarters. The purple haired mongoose had her elbow balanced on the edge of the rails, staring listlessly out into the dark sea as the deck light flickered erratically across the rumpled sailor's blouse she had been shoved into.

After crashing and recovering in Spagonia, the Marvelous Queen had made quick time to a freighter dock on the strait that separated Efrika from Soumerca. An hour of bargaining later, the Hooligans had managed to get themselves passage across the strait. To Mina's utmost dismay, the sailors let them know early on that the trip would be an overnight one…and that they didn't have rooms to spare. All of them were taken up by the crew of the trip. It was pretty much how they had managed to bargain their way on board to begin with, but Mina couldn't help but be glum about the lack of a bed and the cold air of the sea.

Indeed, she has ended up just sitting on the deck watching the sea while sailors passing back and forth behind her. It wasn't like she could sleep in this cold. Behind her sat the Hooligans and the Marvelous Queen, its repaired frame held tight against the ship with a series of chains. Bean was already miraculously asleep in the sidecar but she could feel Bark's eyes watching her carefully. Somehow it was less intimidating with the pint sized duck in his lap. Nack seemed to be paying her fewer minds as he tinkered with one of his handguns. Tinny music played softly from the player jammed into the Marvelous Queen. Glancing back, her hair slapping against her face in the wind, Mina could see the small white fox sitting next to the weasel. She seemed interested in his work on the gun but it was obvious she was fading out.

"Um, Stella…" Mina began but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears; the only response to her was a slight flip of the girl's left ear. The mongoose turned around and strode closer to them; Bark's eyes stayed on the pop star and Nack's fingers ceased their work as he glanced up. She ignored the both of them. "Stella, you're a growing girl. It's almost midnight. I know this is all…interesting…to you, but you really should go to sleep."

"Don't wanna." The girl huffed—before she could continue she let out a loud yawn. Mina shook her head. "You're not either."

"Well…I've got a lot on my mind. We all do. But see, Bean's sleeping too." Inwardly Mina could only help but think that Bean only could fall out so easily because he never had ANYTHING on his mind. "I guess it's not my business, but…"

It was too late. Stella's head had already thudded lightly against the weasel's fur, her blue eyes sliding shut. Nack only shifted so that Bark could reach under his arms and scoop the girl up; Stella made a small moan of protest as she was tucked in next to Bean. Mina shook her head. Even after the calls to Erik Fairfield, she still found herself lost on the girl's presence with convicted felons. It wasn't like either Stella or her uncle did anything as blatantly illegal as the Hooligans did…

"Do you got somethin' to say or are you just gonna sit there staring?" Nack commented, not even bothering to look up from his weapon; he just held it up to the side and clicked the parts back into place. Mina flushed in irritation. Somehow the weasel always knew exactly the wrong thing to say—though it was unlikely he felt he was obligated to be nice to her or anyone else that he kidnapped.

A lot of insults ran through her mind at that moment, but Mina realized something: she was way too tired to deal with arguing with Nack right now. Instead she just shrugged noncommittally and dropped down into the free sidecar. Ironically that caught the weasel's attention more than anything else as he loaded up the handgun and spun the barrel into place. After it clicked shut, the only sound on the boat was the soft breathing of the sleeping pair and the tinny music from the airbike.

"So are you going to tell me what she's doing here? Now that I've met the extended family and all." Mina piped up finally. Nack rolled his eyes and shoved the gun back into its holster. "Look, you can clam up as much as you want but I'm officially involved in this whole…fiasco that you're not telling me about. So I want to know where you three stand in it too."

Mina was greeted, once again, by silence. All that could be heard was soft snores and tinny music, adjacent to lapping sound of the waves against the side of the boat, and the sounds of the sailors talking from the other side of the freighter. She would've crossed her arms and insisted further if it wasn't for the look on the weasel's face—pensive, almost thoughtful, an expression unfamiliar to his person. At least it wasn't a look she had seen on his face before.

He groaned and rested his chin against the handlebars of the Marvelous Queen. "You're not gonna shut up about it, I'm betting?"

"You could probably make good money on that bet."

"Dammit. Alright, fine. If it'll get you to shut up, then fine." Nack groaned, glancing over to Stella quickly to check if she was asleep. The fox had curled up into herself in Bark's lap, one arm hanging limply across Bean's face. "A few months back…I guess almost a year now, actually…the kid gave us a job. She offered up a diamond worth millions as payment. Jus' one job: find her parents."

"I recall her mentioning her parents are…"

"Missing. Dunno the full story. They're officially dead as far as the records are concerned, but there was suspect of foul play. We don't know jackshit about it as is." Nack lolled his head to the side with a groan. "In the end we had to bring her back to Frost Manor. Which ended up being a stupid decision, since her aunt had been planning to kill her for a long time. Kid is currently the heir to the whole Frost fortune but Vanessa wanted it for herself. I guess this cult had something to do with that."

"Fairfield mentioned a Vanessa, but…wait, she tried to kill her? Her own niece?" Mina said incredulously; Nack waved his hand at her to keep it down and she clasped fingers across her mouth. Stella just murmured in her sleep and turned a bit. "She actually tried to kill her own niece? But how did she…"

"She hired some hitmen, old frienemies of mine, to go get the kid so she could throw a party and have an 'accident' to clear any suspicion." Nack interrupted. "It probably would've worked if Stella hadn't hired us. We ended up bringing her back instead of her goons and ended up intercepting her attempt."

"You…saved her."

"Well don't put it that way, you're gonna put a blemish on my flawless record of being heartless scum." Nack laughed, but it was a bitter sound. "She's been travelling with us ever since, officially because Fairfield thinks we 'understand' her more. But based on this cult bullshit, I'm startin' to think it was less because we understand her and more because we have lots of muscle and lots of guns. I guess he was afraid that Vanessa would try to finish the job from prison."

"…Wow." Mina bunched her legs up against her chest, eyes staring back out over the sea. "I mean. Like, wow. That's…a lot to take in."

"You don't believe it? I mean, can't blame ya, I guess."

"Well, it's certainly hard to believe that you and your boys could care enough about someone to save their life. Much less a little kid." Mina mumbled, tugging at her own hair thoughtfully. Then she chuckled. "It's pretty hard to see you as anything but a jerk. But you have a soft spot for a little kid. That's definitely not what I expected."

Nack's ears had flattened against his skull now, a frown crossing his face in annoyance—but the flush across his muzzle told her that she had hit it dead on. "We're still gettin' PAID to do it, y'know."

"Nice front."

"It's not a front, I can show you the damn check stubs."

"Really, you need to show me evidence that you don't care about anyone? Stop being such a moron, jeez." Mina hid her smile in her knees, then paused. Smiling, laughing. God, she hadn't really done that genuinely in what felt like weeks. Certainly not the whole time she had been here. The last thing she had ever expected when the Hooligans had snatched her up out of Westopolis was to be on a freighter ship talking on almost friendly terms and laughing about it.

It seemed like the weasel had crossed the same thought, an unreadable expression crossing his face as he stared out to sea as well. There wasn't much to see in the dark waves, but the distant crashing sound seemed to almost go in tune with the weak sound of music emitting from the speakers by Nack's knees. Mina peeked over her own knees at the speaking as it spit out the poor quality rendition through its weak speakers—it was hard to understand the lyrics but there was a beat there.

"This is really dance music."

"What?" Nack looked confused by her change of subject—not that either of them didn't want to get away from the previous topic. "It's swing music, not dance music."

"Swing music was the original dance music." Mina stated matter-a-factly, pushing forward to fall feet first against the deck. The speakers went quiet for a moment before a new song piped out of the old player.

Nack snorted, pulling out a small metal case and swiping a cigar out of it to light up as the singer moved her hand upward to pump down on her knees with the beat of the music. Quickly, she moved back a few steps, only to slide forward in one smooth motion forward to repeat the pattern. Then, with a slight click of the heels, she jumped surprisingly high in the air with a spin to slide back. Her knees still bumped with the rhythms, hands moving back and forth weightlessly in front of her as she pushed back and forth in place.

"Amateurish."

"Let's see you do better, big shot."

"Like hell I'm playing into your game, Popcorn."

"I bet you just can't." Mina smirked, holding out a hand and gesturing forward with her fingers. Nack blew out a large cloud of smoke—it didn't mask the irritation on his face. The weasel didn't like being challenged and there wasn't anyone who had met him that didn't know that. His common sense told him not to rise to the provocations of some goody two shoe pop singer.

Unfortunately, common sense took up a fairly small amount of the bounty hunter's thought process.

His heels clicked as he slid seamlessly off the driver's seat of the airbike, confidently walking up to the mongoose. Mina froze for a few seconds; having the weasel right in front of her, cigar in hand and dark glint in eye, reminded her that she was playing with fire and that this man was a multiple count felon. But the freezer in her blood did not last long as her hand was grabbed and the light of the tobacco was thrown over the rails.

Mina had always been a professional. When she had become a star she had gotten all the assistance she needed for showmanship. Singing lessons to improve her range, guitar lessons to increase her abilities, and dancing lessons to give the audience the best show they could want. The finest of instructors was hired by her manager, and the tough and curt lemming that had taught her had passed the mongoose with flying colors and generous applause—something the teacher did reputedly give to many students.

And yet right now she felt like she was being easily led and dominated in the dance. A hand on her waist as they spun, the heel of her foot clacking as her feet rose and fell rapidly, the shadow that passed over her as Nack's hand curtly led her body to dip forward with his own. She could almost feel the wood surface of the deck against her knuckles before they pulled back upwards and his hands released from her own to turn away from her. Almost instinctively she turned as well, spinning around back to meet his grip again. The tinny music played on in the background but in the haze of movement, Mina could barely hear it anymore. She barely felt like she was controlling her own body at this point.

Exhilaration—true improvisation at her hands. Even the sweat and pounding of physical strain didn't make her want to stop dancing. In the back of her head, she could hear the faintest sounds of that song she was trying so hard to learn playing.

A small beeping sound interrupted the reverie she had fallen into.

Mina's eyes snapped to attention as her hands tore away from Nack to stare back at the Marvelous Queen. The bag in the sidecar that held the laptop was beeping furiously. The weasel shot her only a cursory glance before he ran back over to the airbike to fish the computer out of the burlap bag—Mina just stood in place, some of her long curls going somewhat astray while others stuck fervently to her muzzle.

Well, at the very least, she wasn't cold anymore…

"Am I…is it getting through? Dammit, I hate this technology crap…"

Mina's ears perked up; that was Erik Fairfield's voice. But he was calling so late—whatever he had to say to Nack, it had to be important. Pretending slyness, she crept forward to poke her head behind the driver's seat to see the screen. To her surprise, the copper fox seemed somewhat disheveled—he had looked slightly tipsy before but now he just looked flat out of it.

"Ah, hello there, Miss Minnie. It's good you're here." Erik said hurriedly. Nack raised a brow, leaning back in the driver seat. "Ah, are you, um, okay? Are you in trouble or busy? You're looking rather out of it."

"I could say the same of you." Nack commented before Mina could reply. "You look like you just got hit by a train, Fairfield."

"Ah, well, I've been up all night. I happened upon a rather interesting collection of, um, reading materials." Erik rubbed one eye—it was clear he was dead tired and very out of it. "Listen, Nack, I'll make this brief. I did some digging into the cult that Vanessa was involved in. The Frost family records had quite a few documents on them that I used to be banned from reading, but ah, see, since I'm the head of the manor currently, I, uh, you see…"

"Get to the point."

"O-of course. I can read them now since I'm the manor head. I've found some very interesting reads, very interesting reads. About, you know, the cult. That cult. " The fox didn't seem to care that he was repeating himself. "They're an odd bunch, old friend. It took a while to get down to any documents that actually said anything but the group is called Primum Semper."

"Primum Semper? What the hell does that mean?"

"I figured you'd ask that. Primum Semper is in an ancient language, it translates to 'Always First'. This cult has been around for ages. It was founded by some guy named Agoston, though most records just refer to him as 'The Exalted'." Erik shook his head in frustration. "The members came from all across the board—businessmen, assassins, priests, musicians, fortune tellers…you name it then they probably had it. They only had one thing in common."

"And what would that be? Are we looking at some sort of Satan worship thing? Or some made up God to make the followers drink the magical kool-aid?" Nack asked, lighting up another cigar. Mina scrunched her nose at the smell and the comments. She couldn't help but feel a foreboding clutch at her heart.

"Much worse. Primum Semper had the goal of having the kind of influence that groups like the Free Masons have, but never achieved it due to their doctrine. Their founder, Agoston, created a founder's statement that claimed that only the members of Primum Semper were worthy of free thought." Erik explained hurriedly. He seemed increasingly uncomfortable; Mina couldn't blame him. "Obviously not many people liked the idea of abandoning free thought, so Primum Semper never gained the traction it desired, but they did design a formula that was supposed to give them the control they needed to force the large of society to abandon free thought and become the lowest tier of members in the cult."

"And what, pray tell, the hell was this 'formula' they designed?" Nack asked, taking a puff off his cigar.

"No documents actually state what it was that they specifically needed to do. But one thing that was consistently stated was that they needed a musician to execute it, and one with a lot of influence."

"A superstar, you mean." Nack's eyes slid over to the mongoose peeking over the screen. "So they need a musician to execute some crazy plan. Is that what I'm getting from all of this? Is any of this plan even feasible?"

"Since I have no idea what the actual methodology was, I have no idea if their plan was feasible or not. But they still hold the doctrine to this day, and hope to use this plan of theirs to rid non-members of free thought. Vanessa didn't seem to be in possession of any documents that explained it in more depth, just ones that stated that they needed a powerful musician." Erik hesitated, then focused in on the pop star sitting behind the weasel. "I believe that it is why they want to have YOU, Miss Mina."

He had gotten her name right.

That couldn't bode well.

Especially since he was very likely right.

"I can't go there! Who knows what they'll try to do to me! They might even kill me!" Mina cried desperately, reaching over Nack's shoulder to grab the laptop. The weasel shrugged it off; at this point he was getting used to it. "Will they kill me?! Do they need to SACRIFICE me?!"

"N-no, Miss Mina, there's no record of any kind of sacrifice in their cult."

"Aw, see, then you'll get along just fine. Just play with their failure of a plan and watch it crash and burn. It'll be funny." Nack quipped. Mina shot a sharp glare at the weasel, hands balling into fists. "So is there any connection to the missing parents thing or is that more pissing into the wind?"

"At this time I can probably say that it was Vanessa's reason, but I don't think I can connect them outside of one document I found. It's a memo from the leader, Thaddeus, warning Vanessa that she won't be of the 'future higher class' if she doesn't succeed in securing more Frost family donations. It was sent shortly before their disappearance, but it was in code so it took a bit to decipher it. I had some professionals work on it to get the message through, but the police weren't interested in it when they performed the initial investigation."

"They wouldn't be." Nack snorted derisively. "Never trust a cop to do a hunter's job. This Thaddeus bastard probably has more information than he let on when I first met him. I'll corner him after I do the exchange and get Bark to punch the details out of him. I'm sure Mister Big and Mighty will be willing to spill it after a few punches to the face."

"Alright, but be careful about that, I don't know what they plan to do with the girl. I'll talk to you all soon. Tell Stella I said hi."

With that, the image on the screen disappeared. Mina gaped wordlessly as Nack snapped the screen shut to tuck it back into the burlap bag. It wasn't until he had safely tucked it away and settled back into the driver's seat that she snapped back to attention, kicking the side of his bike roughly. It shook the whole bike; Bark protectively wrapped his arms around the duck and the small fox to keep them from feeling the waves. His glare wasn't enough to deter her this time, though.

"You learn ALL of that!" She shouted. "ALL of that—that they're crazy cultists, that they have some crazy plan, that they need a musician to do it—and you're STILL gonna turn me over to them?! What kind of heartless bastard ARE you?! They could kill me—hell, they could kill OTHER people! What if their stupid plan succeeds, huh? You're risking EVERYONE—"

"Unless you actually think their ass backwards plan will work out, then shut up. I have way more to gain from dropping your ass off than I do from withholding it." Nack snapped in irritation. Mina blinked tears back. "They'll make some ridiculous show of a ritual which, hey, let's remember, doesn't involve goddamn sacrifice, and it'll fail. I don't believe in that bullshit and neither should you. Then I can beat the hell out of Thaddeus and get what I need about Stella's parents. And you can go screw off to wherever you need to be once we've taken care of that."

"I'm not some sort of tool in your stupid plans! You don't know if their stupid ritual thing will fail—"

"Y'got a better idea, princess?!" Nack finally barked; Stella and Bean jerked awake. The white fox crawled over with bleary eyes to gaze at the pair in confusion. "Not everything can be nice and neat and ethical like your stupid prince charming's team of fighters for freedom! Some of us have to play against the rules and some of us have to use what we have on hand! And I hate to tell you this, but I got some bad news: YOU'RE what we got on hand! And considering the fact that you're more than likely going to get out of this without a scratch, jus' some annoyance from baby's first cult, then I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be complaining!"

"And if you're wrong?! If something DOES go wrong, and they CAN do this stupid ritual?!"

"Then we take it as it comes and deal with the results! It may be risky to do things our way, but we ain't gonna accomplish a goddamn thing without actually DOING something!" Nack shouted back. Some of the sailors were gathering to see the hullabaloo but neither party seemed to care. The Hooligans in the sidecar were watching with wide eyes and silent open mouths. "You listen to me, you little pop star wannabe. I've been playin' softball with you so far. And maybe its made you forget that we ain't friends and we ain't allies. I'm a bounty hunter and YOU are my target."

"Nack, I think—" Stella tried to interrupt the fight, sensing tempers rising and words growing harsher and harsher.

"Not right now, Stella." He said through grit teeth as he stared down the mongoose. She stood firm in her step but her frame trembled, eyes welling with tears. "Now. You. You're gonna sit down, shut up, and cooperate. I don't wanna have to restrain you or any stupid shit, so you just go with what we decide to do. There's important shit I can figure out here and I don't need your self-righteous bullshit to screw that all up. I am not Sonic, I am not Princess Sally, I am not your Freedom Fighters. I do things MY way and if you don't like it then that's just too goddamn bad."

"….You are such an asshole." Mina managed to blubber before turning heel and running through the crowd of sailors. Nack sighed and jerked his thumb in her direction; Bark got to his feet to follow after her, but not without sending a reprimanding stare in the weasel's direction. Nack just snorted as the sailors parted like the Red Sea to let Bark follow after the girl; he wasn't surprised that they were afraid of him. He looked down to his cigar burning down to the butt.

"How could you do that?"

He looked up in surprise to see Stella's steeled expression. She was glaring at him roughly—it wasn't her usual pout, with her lip stuck out and her shoulder's hunched. She was just glaring at him with a judgment in her eyes that was almost previously unknown to the young girl. Nack stared back at her in confusion, fingers holding the wrapped tobacco going limp in thinly veiled confusion.

"I'm glad you still want to help me find out about my parents. And I know Thaddeus knows something that Aunt Nessa won't say." Stella said, refusing to break eye contact with the weasel. "But I don't need anyone to make sacrifices like that because of it. I don't WANT anyone to make sacrifices because of it. Sacrifices are why my mom and dad aren't around anymore. I don't want any more people to have to be like them, and disappear away from everyone they care about. And everyone—EVERYONE—who cares about them."

With that, the small white fox jumped out of the sidecar and took off running in the direction Mina had gone. Nack watched with wide, confused eyes—then he groaned, dipping his head forward against the handlebars of the Marvelous Queen as he let the cigar butt fall out of his fingers to be smashed under his foot against the wooden deck. There was nothing he hated more than when someone put his plans in a different perspective—especially when they were the supposed benefactors.

And especially when they were completely right.

….But they couldn't turn back now.