Chapter Forty-One: Mistake

                     http://thienuncage.deviantart.com/

The loud roar of the crowd carried all
the way to the Council building, where Mr. Jones was waiting.

“It sounds like Giggles has mobilized
the entire city. This doesn't look good at all.” Master Revolver
looked out of the window.

“It doesn't help that SOMEONE had to
commit a crime right in front of everyone and give the little wretch
ammo.” Daryl scowled at Mobster Marion, who glared back.

“Blaming isn't going to solve
anything.” Mr. Jones walked between the pair towards his desk. He
opened the top drawer and pulled out his Demon mask. “I originally
donned this mask to get rid of those interfering mongrels, who
invaded my home and interfered in my personal affairs with my
daughter Sunny. Now could be the time to not only remove the
vigilante problem, but destroy any future hope of a resistance.”

He walked back to the window, clutching
the mask in both hands as he watched the advancing crowd.

“Pleasantville has thrived on the
darkness for two centuries. It has become a prosperous city dealing
in dirty little secrets. It is where I was born, it is my home, and
I won't see it brought down by some upstarts who think they know
better!” He growled.

“Plus there's the fact that crime
pays much more than this so called 'honest work' they keep
sprouting.”

“So what's the plan?” Master
Revolver asked.

“Daryl, has the Ruby Suit been
repaired yet?” Mr. Jones looked at his son.

“I'll go and check.” Daryl quickly
scooted off. Mr. Jones beckoned to the others to join him.

“Call the rest of the DVM.” He said
“It's time to face the music.”

–

The crowd were roaring behind the
Knights of the Last Order, who stood with Chuckles beneath Giggles,
who was floating proudly, arms folded in triumph.

“Get your buns out here Demon, it's
time to face the music!” She cried. “We aren't scared of your
mob any more, we out-number you a hundred to one!”

The thunderous roar from the crowd
signalled their approval of their leader and the chants for Demon
Jones and his crew to show their faces were deafening.

“She's really doing it.” Sir Dark
looked around disbelievingly.

“She's really doing it.” Sir
Hedgehog echoed, thinking of his wife, daughter and long-lost best
friend.

“It's all going to end.
Pleasantville is finally going to be free.” Lady Luck whispered.

Lady Courage looked up at Giggles.
There were no more pangs of jealousy now, only a fierce pride and
loyalty to her friend.

“Thank you.” She said quietly.

Finally, Demon Jones stepped out of the
Council building, flanked by Master Revolver, Mobster Marion and Ruby
Daryl. On the roof of the building stood the entirety of the Death
Valley Mobsters, all armed and ready to attack.

“We still out-number you even with
the DVM! The age of darkness is OVER Jones, and the sooner you
realise that the better off you'll be!” Giggles yelled.

“Oh? You think sheer numbers will
win?” Demon smirked.

“I KNOW they'll win. We've finally
had enough.” Giggles pointed out.

“Enough you say? Enough of
prosperity and an easy life?” Demon looked down his nose at
Giggles. “I thought you were intelligent Giggles.”

“Easy for whom?” Giggles snapped.

“Easy for everyone!” Demon laughed.
“Less people get hurt when the status quo is maintained.”

“Unlike you, we're not afraid of a
little pricked finger in the name of progress.” Chuckles stood
underneath the floating Giggles. “The time for a fair go is now!”

“Very well. Have it your way. We
gave you a chance to back down but you foolishly gave it up.” Demon
shrugged.

“YOU'RE the fool Demon, and the time
of Pleasantvilles freedom is nigh! Who's with…me?” Giggles spun
around, ready to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

The only ones behind her were Chuckles
and the Knights of the Last Order. Everyone else had vanished.

“They took one look at the guns and
remembered who's in charge and why. They know their lives are better
served by minding their own business instead of challenging the
system that has worked for centuries.” Master Revolver told them as
Giggles slowly dropped to the ground. “It's over Knights, your
crusade is over, you've lost. Give up now and we'll go easy on you.”

Giggles felt all the blood drain from
her face. They'd all run away on her. She'd failed and now because
of her rashness, something she'd always held against Chuckles,
because of her the Knights of the Last Order, her friends, they were
all going to die.

She felt her fingers brush the Lucky
Seven Gun. Even if she wasn't opposed to killing, they still
wouldn't survive against the hundred or so Mobsters who had their
guns aimed at the heroes. She felt herself sink to the ground next
to her best friend, to whom she owed a huge apology if they somehow
survived this.

“We're dead. We're completely dead.”
She gulped.

“At least we tried, right?” Sir
Hedgehog tried to remain positive, but his voice was laced with fear.

“We'll certainly go down in history,
but not for the reasons we wanted to.” Lady Courage thought of her
daughter. Of how Melody could very well grow up without a mother and
without hope.

“We're going to fight our way out of
this.” Chuckles growled, pulling out the Lions Claw Blade.

“Charlie are you INSANE?” Giggles
hissed so the others couldn't hear. “They're all armed to the
teeth and out-number us twenty to one!”

“We'll just distract them. Up you
go!” Chuckles grabbed Giggles before she had a chance to protest,
throwing her into the air.

She squeaked angrily, the Backpack
making her soar high into the air. She sighed and pulled out the
Lucky Seven Gun.

“Here's to the Improbability Clause.”
She muttered, before firing blindly.

“GET HER!” Demon screamed. The
hundred Mobsters began firing. Giggles braced herself for the rain
of bullets, but only a few scratched her.

It was then she realised that she was
right in front of the large setting sun. They were missing because
they couldn't see her.

She looked to the ground. The others
had scattered, and Demon was furiously yelling at the Death Valley
Mobsters to follow them.

Giggles continued to fly into the sun.
The others were still being chased, but now each of them stood a
chance at hiding and surviving.

She saw Chuckles get backed into a
corner by twenty eager Mobsters, who wanted nothing more than to be
the one to hand his head to Demon.

She quickly swooped down and grabbed
her best friend. Alas for the faulty Backpack! It got them around
the block before flinging them both to the ground.

“Darn it, darn it, darn it!”
Giggles scrambled to her feet. She felt Chuckles grab her elbow and
help drag her up and both of them ran as they heard footsteps
hurrying behind them.

They bolted down the street, ducking
behind cars, street signs, open doors, ANYTHING to protect them from
the sprays of bullets that often rang out as they desperately tried
to get away.

Chuckles could feel his lungs burning,
and every footstep and every gunshot sounded louder and closer than
the last. Giggles fired a shot back every so often to disperse the
crowd, but even those were getting fewer and less effective as she
ran out of ammo and the Mobsters grew wise to the fact she would
never kill any of them.

There were too many of them. Where
ever the pair ran there were more Mobsters, hunting them down,
wearing them down. Chuckles was gasping for air and Giggles was
close to tears. Every turn seemed to bring them closer to the end.
Fear and exhaustion gripped at Chuckles heart, and he didn't know how
much more he had.

Suddenly a miracle happened. A small
beep issued from the Backpack – it was charged! With one last
great effort, Giggles heaved Chuckles up into the sky with her,
swerving through the rain of bullets to an abandoned old building.
The pair ran inside.

“They went in there!”

“FIND THEM!”

“We have to hide!” Giggles
squeaked. The pair ran down the corridor, terrified the squeaking
boards would give them away. They could hear the Mobsters coming up
the stairs behind them – what would they do?!

Chuckles quickly pulled Giggles into
one of the rooms and as quietly as he could closed the door. They
heard a loud crash as one of the doors down the corridor was kicked
in. Then another. And another. Closer and closer.

“We can't stay in the open like
this!” Chuckles hissed.

Giggles looked around. The room was an
old bedroom of sorts, the curtains moth-eaten and falling apart, the
carpet worn and torn, and the mattress on the bed sagged with mould.

“It's disgusting, but we have no
choice.” Giggles lifted up the mattress as much as she could. “Cut
a hole in the bottom and we'll hide inside, hopefully they won't
think to turn it over.”

Chuckles turned green, but he had no
other alternative. Cutting just underneath the seam of the mattress,
he made a hole barely enough for them to squeeze in. Giggles as the
smaller went in first, barely able to fit between the rusted old
springs. Chuckles squeezed in after her with a lot more difficulty.

Chuckles felt for Giggles hand, and
squeezed it tightly as the door was kicked open loudly.

They could hear several people tearing
the room apart. The sound of footsteps so close to them made their
hearts pound so loud they were sure the Mobsters would hear them
easily, even if they were still kicking in doors and ripping up
furniture all over the place.

Giggles wanted to cry. She was
terrified. If they were found there was no way they'd survive.

Suddenly the pair could feel themselves
being lifted upwards then falling back down again with a crash as one
of the Mobsters upended the bed to check under it. Chuckles didn't
know what hurt more, the landing that was barely cushioned by the
rancid old mattress or the heavy bed landing on them.

“Damn, not here either!” They heard
the footsteps move away, and another door crash in, much further down
the hall this time. Giggles felt herself breathe just a little
easier, but not much.

After what seemed like hours, finally
silence reigned. It took the pair a while to trust the silence
though, and eventually it was Chuckles who whispered.

“I think they're gone.”

“How can you be sure?” Giggles
whispered back. “They could have left someone here.

“I doubt it, they're not that smart.”
Chuckles tried to joke.

“Okay then, but try to be quiet!”
Giggles agreed with a hiss.

The pair slowly extracted themselves
from the disgusting old mattress. Sticking their noses out of the
room, they found out that Chuckles was right and they were safe.

“Let's get going while the goings
good!” Chuckles whispered, even though he knew no one could hear
them in the empty building.

“But how? It's too obvious if we fly
off and we're easy to catch on foot.” Giggles protested.

Chuckles thought for a second.

“If we leave by foot and try and
stick to the shadows until we get to the suburbs we should be okay.
It's night time now, and it will be easier to hide.” He said.

Giggles nodded. Misery was starting to
creep in alongside the fear and exhaustion, knowing that she'd sold
her friends into a deadly trap and could have possibly killed them.
Chuckles gripped her into a tight hug, before taking her by the
shoulders and bending down until he was at eye-level with her (and
given she's so short…).

“We're going to be okay, and so are
the others. I think the Mobsters were more focused on getting us,
not them.” He tried to reassure her.

She looked out of a nearby window.
Darkness had engulfed the city of Pleasantville, which meant that
they'd been in this musty old room for several hours. It didn't feel
like it though.

“Let's go then.” She sighed. The
pair headed back down the rotten old stairs, every creak and groan of
the old building making them jump. They decided to sneak out one of
the broken windows, both of them scared that the Mobsters were still
guarding the front of place. Thankfully they ended up in a deserted
back street, which led onto another deserted street. Keeping to the
shadows and the back streets, they managed to get out of the city and
into the suburbs, where Giggles held her best friend and lifted the
pair of them up off the ground and back towards the tip. It was
quiet up in the air, and both of them were tense, waiting for the
sound of a gunshot to force them back to the ground again.

They were in luck, however, as it
seemed to be late and most people were inside either sleeping or
getting ready to sleep. Chuckles and Giggles wondered what their
parents were doing – were they up worried or were they at the tip
waiting?

The stars shone brightly, their
white-blue light a stark contrast to the deep, dark blue-black sky.
The Moon shone down on them in all her glory, and as they got closer
to the tip they started to breathe easier and started to notice these
little details. Not many people get to soar through the night air
under the stars and the Moon with their best friend, it's a magical
experience that more people should get the opportunity to have.
Eventually though the pair touched down at the tip, hearts pounding
in their mouths – was everyone okay?

The pair hurried through the tip, the
last fear of losing their friends providing them enough adrenaline to
get through the aching muscles, the breathlessness. Tears began to
form in Giggles eyes – if any of them were gone, it was completely
her fault.

“I think I heard them over here!”
She heard the sound of Daniels voice and a small ray of hope opened
in her heart. The pair bolted towards the sound, desperate, scared,
exhausted.

They stopped. Everyone was there.
Daniel, TJ, Petunia, Sunny, Sammy, Tammy, Webster. Peter, Lara,
Bill, Thomas, Betty, Maddy, all the parents of the Noble Knights of
the Last Order.

“Thank heavens you're both all
right!” Betty rushed to her son and gripped him tightly.

Giggles pulled off her helmet and threw
it to the ground. Tears streamed down her face as she ran into her
fathers arms with a loud “Daddy!”

It had been a long, painful, horrible
day.