Chapter Twenty-Six: From Bad…

Belle was elbow-deep in legal history.
Even though she was only a part-time uni student, she still had
assignments that needed to be done.

Due to the destruction of the
University, Belle had to do all of her courses now online. While it
meant she could do school full-time again, it was still a
disappointment. Belle had loved being a uni student.

She could hear Woof yelping outside as
Meow chased him. She figured one day she'd teach that cat to leave
the poor dog alone. It was embarrassing really.

“Hey Belle! We're heading off to the
movies, you wanna come with us?” Charlie poked his head in the
window.

“I can't. I have an assignment due.”
Belle replied.

“The Legal History one that you have
a month to finish?” Charlie looked at her quizzically.

Belle sighed.

“Who else is going?” She asked,
preparing to close her books.

Charlie hesitated. Belle immediately
turned back to her books.

“If it's just you and Sunny then I'm
not going.” She said flatly.

“It's not!” Charlie protested.
“Actually, it's just me.”

“DEFINITELY not going.” Belle
picked up her pen.

“We used to go to the movies together
all the time Belle! Why not now?” Charlie begged.

“You have a girlfriend for that sort
of thing.” Belle fired.

“Sunny doesn't have a problem with
it!” Charlie snapped back. “You're the only one acting like
this.”

“I don't feel comfortable with it,
why is that such an issue?!” Belle turned around.

“Because we used to be inseparable.
Don't you remember?” Charlie begged.

“Yeah, I remember. But you have
someone else now.” Belle turned back to her books. “Go to the
movies with Sunny. If everyone else is going then I'll come.”

“Belle-,”

“Go away Charlie, I'm busy.” Belle
brushed him off. Charlie sighed. He climbed back across the shaky
tree to his own bedroom and slammed the window shut.

Belle sighed too. On one hand, heading
out to the movies with Charlie and everything being like it used to
be sounded great…but things weren't the way they used to be. Plus,
if she got this assignment done early enough, she could apply for an
extra credit assignment, making getting into the University her
father had studied at in Brisvegas a whole lot easier.

It had been a few months since Tate
died. Webster and Maddy had headed back to Brisvegas to continue
studying – Maddy was now pregnant too, which Webster was thrilled
about. It seemed the impending baby took the edge off his pain of
losing Tate.

Soon after, Bill came up with some
snacks for Belle.

“Thanks Uncle Bill.” Belle dug
into the yummy cream puffs.

“No problem.” Bill sat down on the
bed. “You know, your father and Thomas had a HUGE fight just
before we left for Brisvegas.”

“Really?” Belle perked up.

“Yeah. Your Dad was pretty jealous
that Thomas had gotten School Captaincy, especially as your Dad was
top of the class.” Bill remembered. “They needled each other
all year, before finally they had a huge dust-up in the school yard.
It didn't help that Thomas was a right royal prat about the whole
thing.”

“He was?” Belle asked, curious.

“Your Dad thought he'd try and help
out, try and pretend he wasn't jealous. Thomas let the power get to
his head a bit and passed on a few of Petes ideas as his own. They
were both in the wrong.” Bill laughed. “They made up a few
years later when you were born though – Thomas flew down to
Brisvegas almost the moment he heard you were in hospital, bringing a
lot of Charlies old baby clothes and stuff. The night they found out
that you were going to be okay, they went out drinking and made up.”

Belle smiled.

“The fact is, you can't just throw
500 years away over petty jealousy. Sooner or later you two will
make it up.” Bill looked out of the window. Sure enough, Thomas
and Peter were sitting down drinking a beer together.

“Yup. The moment they found out the
secret of the Clause, they were inseparable again.” Bill laughed.

“The secret of the Clause?” Belle
asked.

“Anyway, how's your studying going?”
Bill quickly changed the subject.

“Okay…” Belle figured she wasn't
going to get any more out of Bill.

“You're just like your father.”
Bill chuckled. He ruffled her hair and let her continue her work.
“He'll be late home too by the way – he's got a meeting to go
to.”

“He's had a few of those.” Belle
commented as Bill left.

–

“Kidnapping and extortion,”
Mobster Marion said as she sat in her expensive limo with Master
Revolver a few nights later. “Are two of my families staples. It's
how we've kept a firm hold of the City Council for so long.”

“I still don't see how brute force
wouldn't be at least as effective.” Master Revolver argued. “The
Death Valley Gang was easily as powerful as the Mob, and we didn't
resort to such wastes of time.”

“You were only able to keep your
foothold because of our hard work!” Mobster Marion fired back.

“Then how come you were never able to
get rid of us?” Master Revolver smirked.

Mobster Marion's eye twitched.

“Look, the point is, we're here to
scare the Mayor into acting on our orders. Usually we don't need to
resort to this, but due to the emergence of certain brats we don't
have a choice.” She snapped.

Master Revolver didn't reply, but wore
a satisfied smirk that rankled Mobster Marion.

“Stop here.” She barked at the
driver. She limo stopped and she quickly got out. Master Revolver
lazily joined her.

She went over to a nearby limo and
punched out the driver. Her driver quickly stole the mans clothes as
Mobster Marion pulled off the licence plate and swapped it with her
own.

“Seriously?” Master Revolver looked
amused.

“The Mayor has started taking
security measures – not very good ones, but they're there none the
less. We're just making sure we don't get caught.” Mobster Marion
explained.

“Isn't this how you lost the Lions
Claw Blade though?” Master Revolver asked.

“Don't remind me.” Mobster Marion
growled. “At least I didn't lose the Lucky Seven Gun while trying
to kidnap a bunch of kids!”

Master Revolver growled back. That
foolish mess had been his idea, trying to mimic the Mobsters of
Misneach, thinking that by expanding their operations they could
become the dominant crime syndicate in Pleasantville. It had lost
him his father and the family gun.

Never again.

Meanwhile, up above, Lady Courage,
Chuckles and Giggles were sitting on the roof of a nearby building.

“The others are hanging around the
Mayors house in case we stuff up.” Lady Courage explained.
“Hopefully that won't be the case though.”

“This'll be easy. Let's just go in,
kick some backside and get outta here. Mum's making meatloaf
tonight.” Chuckles grinned.

“Whatever you say.” Giggles
deadpanned. Chuckles was rankled, usually she'd rip his plans to
shreds.

'I still have the Improbability Clause
though. She can't take that off me.' He thought foolishly.

Chuckles bolted out first, followed
closely by Lady Courage. Giggles flew overhead.

“And look who we have here.”
Master Revolver pointed to Mobster Marion. “Now who'd have thunk
it?”

“Luckily for you, I did.” Mobster
Marion clicked her fingers.

“Argh!” Chuckles quickly stopped.
Fifteen Mobsters had jumped out of the limo, and stood facing the
heroes.

“Uh-oh.” Lady Courage looked at
the group. “Well?”

Chuckles was frozen. He hadn't thought
of what to do if they'd brought back up. He'd just assumed the
Improbability Clause would mean it was only the three of them,
proving that he had no clue on how the Clause really worked.

“Get them.” Mobster Marion
smirked.

“Oh NO!” Giggles fired the Lucky
Seven Gun at the feet of a few of the thugs, but it didn't deter
them. She could only keep them at bay.

She panicked. Chuckles ALWAYS knew
what he was doing, but now he looked like a fish out of water. She
hadn't realised how much she relied on his confidence for her to know
what to do. She thought of trying to take out the tyres of the limo,
but the moment she aimed at them Master Revolver shot at her, making
aiming impossible.

“Nice try little brat, but I learnt
from the whole truck incident.” Master Revolver smirked.

Lady Courage and Chuckles were in big
trouble. Lady Courage was already being contained by five of the
Mobsters, while Chuckles was badly bruised and in danger of succumbing
to them too.

Giggles swooped down and fired at the
Mobsters who had a hold of Lady Courage. They jumped away giving
Giggles enough time to grab her friend and deliver her to safety on
top of a nearby roof.

“I'm going back for Chuckles, you let
the others know what's happened.” Giggles commanded.

“Giggles! Wait! It's not safe!”
Lady Courage tried to stop her, but Giggles was gone.

Chuckles was barely holding his own
against the horde. Mobster Marion clicked her fingers again and the
siege subsided. She slowly walked towards Chuckles, the clicking of
her heels contrasting with the silence of the night.

“Now. This is where your life ends,
and you stopping annoying the living daylights out of me.” Mobster
Marion raised her sword. She brought it down hard, but one of the
Arm Scythes stopped her.

She kept pushing, forcing the Arm
Scythe back into Chuckles arm. He dropped the Lions Claw Blade in
pain, just as Giggles swooped in firing the Lucky Seven Gun. She
grabbed Chuckles and made her escape.

“No!” Chuckles cried, trying to
reach for his sword. Too late, it was gone.

The last thing Chuckles and Giggles saw
was Mobster Marion holding the Lions Claw Blade up to the sky.

“The Improbability Clause…it didn't
work?” Chuckles looked dumbfounded as Giggles flew him off into the
night.