So this is where the chapter really draws inspiration from Disney The Hunchback of Notre Dame but also from the Cordwainer Smith story The Dead Lady of Clown Town which was itself a retelling of the tale of Joan of Arc.
Now that it had become official the Federation had infiltrated Viola Strierra everything came crashing down, Don found himself quickly captured and the Wranglers reported on their radios they 'Found the Turtle that looked just like the other three on the specialists' ship' the stolen Wrangler Cruise Spaceships were found by the Specialists and everyone aboard was arrested. Marzipan had just led her fellow Mizzer Humanimals out of the underground into a meadow outside the limits of Capital City for a brief moment she stood on a mound and felt the breeze ruffle her fur and simply basked in what she thought for sure would be her proudest moment...And then the Wranglers on their Mechanical Steeds immediately showed up and recaptured them and since Marzipan was not easy to miss...Being a pink and purple Cat-Girl they knew they had the Humanimal they were looking for…
All the 'Heroes' were brought to the Town Square of Capital City, all four of the Turtles had been placed in individual cages each one hanging from the fingers of the giant golden statues of Adonis-like men that were Capital City's 'Symbols of the Greatness of Humanity' they had been stripped of all weapons and tools they could potentially use.
Those who were not in cages hanging from the statues fingers were in cages on the ground, these were for the less 'dangerous' prisoners. But Bimbo wanted as many of the Federation Heroes as possible to witness the executions of what she knew for certain were the keys to final piece of the Humanimals' Prophecy the Humanimal Girl and particularly the human boy whose love would somehow liberate all of Humanimal kind! If she could snuff out their last hopes than surely the Humanimals' hope would be crushed forever and the Wranglers would not only have their slaves forever but they would take back the Federation planets that rebelled and perhaps they could move on to taking over these new universes that had been discovered! They would be unstoppable!
"The human Ichabod Silvanus Isley-Crane and the Cat-Girl Marzipan Cheshire have been guilty of conspiring against Humanity...The sentence...Death!"
The human citizens of Viola Strierra cheered but it was a pretty halfhearted cheer as Bimbo had been terrorizing them for months! So they obeyed pretty much only out of fear…
The means of death was Ichabod's worst nightmare! Like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, his greatest fear was of fire since more than once he had been terrified of fires caused by the evil child hunters on Planet Alderbaren, he and Marzipan were to be burned side by side to be made an example of for everyone both human and Humanimal...As Bimbo's ghoul like minions laughed as they splashed gasoline on both of them Ichabod kept looking at his beloved Marzipan, the Cat-Girl said nothing, only kept her head down, often trying to conceal her face with her long head-fur…
The Turtles rattled at their cage bars "Donny!" Mikey shouted from his cage "Can't you do anything?! Ichabod and Marzipan are about to be burnt to a crisp!"
"I don't know!" Don yelled clutching his head "Ugh! I can't believe it! It's just a simply padlock but the bars are so close together I can't even slip my fingers through them and even if I could they took everything I could pick a lock with…" Don felt he was beginning to hyperventilate he felt personally responsible for this...He should have intervened with Ichabod and that Cat-Boy Kevin when he had the chance! He should have known in this world where magic is commonplace that what were in his world cartoon gags could actually happen and have real consequences!
While to Bimbo it seemed like this was the ultimate triumph for the Wrangler Empire, she knew there was one way she could make it sweeter for herself...And rub extra salt in the Humanimals' wounds…
She approached Ichabod a torch with a large flame in her hand, she saw Ichabod sweating buckets at seeing the flame approach…
"It is not too late Ichabod…" Bimbo purred "...I am offering you one chance to save yourself, choose me...Or the fire…" She didn't want to marry him because she felt any attraction toward the beanpole with a nose like a turnip, really she didn't actually love anyone but herself but to get the human who was 'The hope of the Humanimals' to betray his Humanimal and marry her instead would simply be to completely crush the hopes of the Humanimals...To show that no human could ever truly love a Humanimal!
And despite the fact he was facing his worst nightmare, Ichabod did not need to think twice about his response!
AKT-TOO! Loogie to the face of the Bimbo!
And even from their perch the Turtles could see the expression on Ichabod face as he snarled at Bimbo, the fire in his eyes that spoke loud and clear he would rather face Hell itself than ever be with her!
"The human Ichabod has refused to repent…" Bimbo told the crowd "...These conspirings between humans and Humanimals has put all of Humanity in grave danger…"
While Bimbo was giving her speech and everyone else's attention was on her, including the cameras that was broadcasting this live all over the Wrangler Empire, no one else noticed in the darkness above something dark as the night flying in, and the noise of Bimbo's amplified voice meant no one could hear the soft buzzing of the wings…
The creature landed on one of the golden statue's outstretched hands, and gingerly crept over to the cages containing the Turtles.
"Hey…" A familiar voice whispered the Turtles looked up and saw the blue eyed face of Beulah the Dung Beetle!
"Beulah!" Don exclaimed "How...Why…"
"The Federation Soldiers knew the Wranglers were coming…" Beulah whispered "...I asked if there was anything I could do before they arrived and they sent me in a pod with some tools...I'll get you out of there…" She pulled out a pair of lock picks.
"Quick!" Mikey said "Unlock Donny's cage first…"
Beulah climbed onto Don's cage and took out a pair of lock picks but as she was doing so Bimbo announced it was time to 'end the Beasts' Rebellion once and for all…' As she put the flame to the wood under both Ichabod and Marzipan…
So the next chapter is where we see how this mess gets solved as I learned from a YouTube channel called Literature Devil all about the art of story crafting on his video analyzing the BTAS episode 'Heart of Ice' he quoted some famous writer about the importance of suspense that 'How to bake a cake' has the wrong structure rather how to make your family hungry the answer is you make them wait for hours for dinner