Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (14 page)

“So?” 
Rumpelstiltskin demanded.

“So,
no way will the person who cuts the power be able to make to the library.  They
will be trapped behind all the automatically locked doors.”

Silence.

“What’s
the other option?”  Esmeralda finally asked.

“We
take out the backup power,
too
.  If it can’t come on, none of the doors
will be able to electronically lock.  Ten minutes to midnight, we blow
everything and all six of us escape through the library window in the
confusion.”

“I
like this plan better.”  Avenant decided.  “Let’s go with option B.”

“Just
wait.”  Scarlett held up a hand.  “If we cut the backup power
, none of the doors
will lock
.  Think about that.  We will have literally opened up the cells
of everyone in the WUB Club.  We will be escaping at the same time that
everyone else is suddenly running around here free.  Some of them will probably
escape, too.”

“I
can live with that.”  Esmeralda shrugged and pushed away her tray.  “A lot of
people in here are political prisoners, just like us.”  She’d obviously been
thinking about Scarlett’s speech about justice for Bad folk.  She tapped an
agitated blue finger against the tabletop.  “We
all
deserve to go free.”

Scarlett
wasn’t willing to go
that
far.  “I wouldn’t say
all
, but…” 

Avenant
cut her off.  “I’m still liking the plan.”  He opened his cardboard carton of
milk.  “Granted, the others will be benefiting from our hard work, but, if
anyone else gets away, the flying monkeys will have to split their resources to
follow them.  It’ll give us more time.”

“
Whose
hard work?”  Marrok challenged.  “Certainly not yours.  What have
you
contributed?”

“I
add much needed class to this consortium.”

Scarlett
ignored that, too.  “Alright, so even if we’re okay with the freeing
everybody
aspect of things, there’s a bigger problem.”  She continued.  “The backup
system is in the boiler room and the boiler room is in the basement.”

“The
dungeon?!”  Rumpelstiltskin paled.  “No
way!
  No
way
am I going
down there.”

Esmeralda
looked over at Avenant’s tray.  “Are you going to eat your porridge?”

“Yes.”

She
sighed.  “The first thing I’m doing when we get out of here is have a big spicy
taco.”

“We’re
not
getting
out of here.”  Rumpelstiltskin sounded frantic.  “Not if we
have to go down in the dungeon!”

“You’d
rather one of us stay locked in here?”  Marrok retorted.  “You volunteering?”

“I’m
not leaving anyone behind.”  More cynically, Scarlett was also pretty sure
nobody in the group was willing to fall on their sword for the others.  Baddies
weren’t into self-sacrifice, so Plan A was doomed.  “That’s why I’m voting that
we go with the basement option.”

Avenant
gave a “told ya so” wave of his elegant palm.

“I’m
not going down there!”  Rumpelstiltskin insisted.

“I
didn’t say
you
had to do it.”  Scarlett retorted.  “I’m saying one of us
will have to sneak into the dungeon and…”

Marrok
laid a hand on her arm, forestalling her words.  Scarlett glanced over at him
in surprise and saw that his attention was fixed on a pack of men stalking
across the cafeteria towards them.  Dower’s cronies were looking for him and
conducting a table-by-table search.  Terrified inmates shrunk down in their
seats as the four hulking wolves demanded answers from them.

…And
now the pack’s eyes had fallen on Marrok.

“Oh
no.”  Scarlett glanced over at him and tried not to panic.  “Now, what?”

Topaz
eyes glowed.  “Just don’t say anything.  You suck at lying.”

Her
grandmother was always saying the same thing.

“What
are we lying about?”  Esmeralda turned to look at the wolves.  “Wait, did we
have something to do with Dower going missing?”

Scarlett
winced.  “Kinda.”

“Am
I supposed to know who Dower is?”  Avenant inquired.  “Because, I don’t.”

“He’s
the guy Marrok and I left tied up in the library.”  Scarlett tried not to stare
at the wolves bearing down on them.  “I think his men have noticed he’s gone.”

Rumpelstiltskin
groaned and scurried under the table to hide.

“Fellas.” 
Marrok leaned back in his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world and
casually smiled as the other wolves surrounded their table.  “Did you want
something?”

“Where
the fuck is Dow?”  Richardson, the biggest of the men, snarled.

Avenant
shrugged.  “I still have no idea who that is.  The rabble just becomes a blur
of faces and whining.”  He drank from his paper carton and sighed.  “And why do
we never have
chocolate
milk?”

“This
has your paw-prints all over it, Marrok.”  Richardson loomed over him.  “You’ve
always
had it in for Dow.”

“We
have religious differences.”  Marrok allowed.  “I want him to rot in hell and
he disagrees.”

“Where
is
he?!”  Richardson bellowed.  His beefy hand seized Marrok by the
shirtfront and hefted him out of the chair.  “Tell me, you son-of-a-bitch!”

“Good
news, Red.”  Marrok’s gaze slid over to hers for half-a-second before sighting
on Richardson’s fuming face.  “I don’t think we’ll have to
sneak
into
the dungeon, after all.”  His skull slammed forward, crushing the bridge of Richardson’s
nose.

Scarlett’s
eyes went wide as all hell broke loose.

She
shouted Marrok’s name in panic as the other wolves surged forward to attack
him.  He went careening backwards into the table, sending trays and chairs in
every direction.  The fight was six against one.

“No!”
 Scarlett leapt forward to try and help him, although she had no idea what good
she could do.  The wolves were all trained fighters and double her size.  She
just knew she couldn’t stand by and watch Marrok get hurt.

Avenant
leapt to his feet to avoid flying globs of porridge.  “Oh for God’s sake, it’s
like dealing with children.”

Forgetting
that she was now housed in the body of an eight foot ogre, Esmeralda tried to
scramble out of the fray.  She climbed up on one of the mismatched wooden
benches along the wall, only to hit her head on the ceiling.  She grabbed up at
her skull, cursing in the forgotten language of witches.  Thankfully, everyone
was too busy to notice.

The
room descended into chaos as fighting broke out at everywhere simultaneously. 
The cafeteria attendants desperately tried to restore order as all the aggrieved
inmates took this golden opportunity to attack each other.  Trolls and monsters
and sorcerers and enchanted beings of every sort threw food, and plastic
silverware, and punches.  The emergency siren sounded a continuing loop of
high-pitched sound.

“Marrok!” 
Scarlett grabbed one of the wolves by his blond ponytail, wrenching him away. 
“Stop!  Leave him alone!”

The
blond wolf turned with a snarl of fury.  He drew his hand back and punched her.

Punched
her!

Scarlett
doubled over in surprise and pain, her eyes watering.  No one had ever hit her
before.  It hurt!  The guy prepared to strike her again and she wasn’t sure
what to…

Marrok
tackled the guy with a manic roar.  He launched himself at the blond wolf’s
midsection, dragging him to the ground.  The greatest player in Wolfball took
down his enemy like the other guy was sack of flour.  They hit the floor hard
enough to send them both sliding ten feet across the room, Marrok was already
on top and beating him.

“Son-of-a-
bitch!
” 
He slammed his fist into the other man’s face, looking incensed.  “
You just
hit my True Love!
”

Scarlett’s
eyebrows soared.

Hang
on,
wha
t did he say?  Had she heard that wrong over all the noise?

The
guy tried to break free of Marrok’s attack, still fixated on Scarlett.  He was
a Wolfball player, too, and he seemed to think his best chance of survival was
to get to Scarlett and use her as a shield against Marrok.  The sport was
brutal and basically without rules, so it was probably instinctive to use an
opponent’s weakness against him.

The
guy struggled to reach her, his hands clawing on the linoleum for purchase.  Scarlett
was too surprised to move… but she didn’t have to.  He wasn’t getting close to
her, anyway.  Marrok wrenched him back, catching him in a chokehold.  The other
wolf flailed around like a fish on a hook.  Scarlett just stood there breathing
hard, knowing she was safe from the man.

Marrok
was protecting her.

“What
the hell?”  Richardson grabbed Scarlett’s arm and dragged her closer.  “You’re
Marrok’s True Love?”  He got right in her face, breathing deep.  “Holy shit, you’re
Good?!
”

“No,
I’m…”  Her protest ended with a cry as he yanked her around.  Her back was
against his front, his hand at her throat.

“Marrok!” 
He bellowed.  “You ready to tell me where Dower is, now?”  His sharpened nails
dug into her skin and Scarlett flinched.

Marrok
froze.  His normally sardonic face was deadly serious as he slowly released the
other wolf and stood up.  The blond guy was now unconscious.  “Let her go.” 
The tone was ice cold.

“Fuck
you.  Where’s Dow?”

“Let
her
go
.”  This time it was an order.

“You
want her back, you tell me what I want to know.”  Richardson dipped his head to
sniff at her hair.  “And I’m betting you want her back
bad
.  Christ, I
hate her kind, by they always smell so damn… Good.”  He smirked at the pun.

Marrok’s
eyes narrowed.

“Don’t
you tell him anything.”  Scarlett warned, her attention on Marrok.  Dow knew
too much.  If he was released, the whole plan was ruined.

“Shut-up!” 
Richardson screamed.  “Marrok is going to tell what I want to know or his woman
will be headless in about three seconds…”

He
broke off abruptly and Scarlett felt the impact of something right through his body. 
Then, Richardson was toppling over on top of her, his whole form going limp. 
She heard Marrok swearing viciously as she was dragged to the dirty floor.

She
looked up and saw Avenant standing there, one of the metal cafeteria trays in
his hands.

“I
have no idea why hitting people when their backs are turned has such a bad
reputation.  I’ve always found it most effective.”  Casually dropping the
makeshift weapon, he sat back down and resumed drinking his milk.

“Letty!” 
Marrok raced over to crouch down next to her.  “Are you okay?”  He pulled her
free of Richardson’s unconscious weight, helping her up.  “Are you hurt?”  His palm
caressed her bruised cheek, scanning for more injuries.

Her
heart flipped over in her chest at his gentle touch.  “No, I’m…”

The
swinging doors to the cafeteria burst open and the dwarf guards came charging
in dressed in full SWAT gear.  They began hitting patients with their riot
sticks and screaming orders.  People who’d had nothing to do with the fight
were beaten to the ground.

At
least two dozen inmates shouted, “They did it!” it panicked unison.  Fingers pointed
at Scarlett and Marrok.

“Okay.” 
Letty swallowed hard as the guard closed in.  She quickly tossed Avenant
Ramona’s key and started desperately whispering instructions.  “Let yourselves
out of your cells tonight.  Remember, Benji will be back at midnight.  You guys
take out the primary power ten minutes before that.  We’ll do the backup.  Then,
we’ll meet in the library. 
Make sure everyone is there
.”

“Do
what now?”  Avenant asked with a frown.  It was impossible to know if he was
hazy from the drugs or just not listening.

Letty
wanted to shake him.  “Pay attention!  If you forget any of this, we’re
screwed!”

Marrok
sighed as they were surrounded by armed dwarves.  “In case you hadn’t noticed,
Red, I think we’re
already
screwed.”

We
intercepted more letters intended for Prince Charming today.  Scarlett is still
determined to contact him.

I’ve upped
her medication.

Again.

Psychiatric
case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae

Cinderella
barely resisted the urge to push the wedding cake onto the floor.

She
imagined smashing the hideous pink rosettes against the black and white tiles,
her too big feet jumping up and down on the stupid sparkly monogram.  Then
she’d rub the simpering baker’s face in the mess and have her mice beat him
with the dorky cake topper of a couple dancing.

She
asked for so little.  Demanded nothing more than her due as a princess.  And,
her disloyal subjects rewarded her restraint and kindness by giving her even
less
. 
They
wanted
her wedding to be an embarrassing farce.  They
wanted
her to suffer.