Mythlands: THE HEIST

A Certain Skillset

It wasn't until the van hit the bridge that The Golden Goose jolted awake again.

He had been vaguely aware of orderlies transferring him from the bed in his hospital room to a gurney, then images flashed in and out as he was wheeled down the corridors and through doors and ... was he remembering right? Had they gone out of Myth Vegas General to an ambulance? If so, why should that be and why ... he asked himself with a shudder of realization, was he strapped down.

A small but evil looking face peered down at him, it's long hooked nose almost blocking out the visage, but not quite. Those malicious brown eyes bore into his very soul. The Goose gave an involuntary grimace and pushed his wings against the straps that fixed his rounded body to the ... yes, the same hospital gurney.

'Ah Signor Oca D'oro, finally you are awake. Welcome back mio amico.'

'Wh where am I?' stuttered the Goose.

Punchinello grinned and leaned closer, close enough for the goose to smell the scent of wood and varnish mixed with a pungent liquorice.

'By now we are almost out of the desert Signor. I am theenking, we jhuss pass the bridge. Yes, I am sure but as you can see here in back of thees truck, we have no way of knowing.'

The Goose tried to raise his head. They seemed to be alone in the back of a big truck. 'Bridge?'

'Si. Soon we will arrive at the border and pass into Elephantland.'

Elephantland! Then they were heading Northwest. 'What do you want with me?' GG croaked defiantly, his voice still weak from disuse after his time in a catatonic state.

The wooden animated thug grinned some more. 'You have been, how you say ... recruited? Si, the Master has need of your skills.'

'What skills? I'm an Events Manager at the Lucky Cactus casino ...' He stopped short. Surely the puppet didn't mean. Oh no! NO!

That part of his life was locked away, done, finished and over ... except, now it seemed it wasn't!

***

At roughly the same time, in the corporate offices of Mythical Creatures Interdimensional - the 98th floor.

'Finally ... did you unlock and enter the office of the Tortoise on the night in question and steal data from his computer?'

The Hare looked Capricorn in the eye and calmly stated. 'No, I did not.'

The needle remained constant and the Ram Headed man in black stood after a moment's examination of the data. 'Thank you, Mr Hare. That concludes our questions. Zodiac apologizes for the inconvenience.'

'I'm free to go?' asked The Hare, as Gemini removed the blood pressure cuff from his upper right arm.

'You're free to go Sir. Could you ask The Owl to step in please.' The formerly brusque security men were all deferential politeness now it was over. The Hare had passed.

Outside he found Renard lounging in the corridor, smoking a cigarette. The Fox beamed at him. 'Come mon ami, let us be away.'

'Yeah, sure,' mumbled The Hare as he went to tell The Owl to go in.

The pair entered the elevator in silence and descended to the basement garage, where Renard indicated they should enter his mercedes. Once inside, the crafty fox turned to the cony he believed to be his friend.

'So ... we ave both pass ze lie detector. My faith in you, Hare, it was not misplaced. Now, more than ever am I sure we are both cut from ze same cloth.'

The Hare reached inside his jacket pocket and removed a silver flask, gulping down a few mouthfuls of whiskey before he turned towards Renard. 'They say the Two of Hearts is still in a bad way.'

'Ah mon frere, do not concern yourself. Fortune, she is with us and Mam'zelle Adventure ... this lovely lady lays ahead. Togezzer, mon ami, we and our team, we embark upon a grand escapade. We shall pull off ze biggest an mos eem poss eeblah ... an Eist zat will go down in legend. Now tell me my lop eared companion, are you ready for ze next step.'

'I'm ready,' replied The Hare, attempting to inject just the right dose of dull resignation into his tone. The fox was a masterful liar and a con man and charmer par excellence ... but these bastards had resurrected something ... something they hadn't reckoned with. They had brought back the old Hare ... a part of his personality that he had thought long buried, but who had returned by necessity.

Inside, a part of The Hare was smiling, calculating the odds, gaming the system and playing the players. So far he had fooled both Renard and the lie detector and with Jessica backing his play the part of him that had lain dormant for ages, was waking up and this Hare played to win.

Renard was completely unaware - he still saw the hapless patsy who was being manipulated and used at every turn. 'Bon. So now we return to your jet. Now ze board members are free to depart, you will be accepting ze invitation of King Babar to attend the upcoming celebrations for Queen Celeste's birthday. We travel to Elephantland this evening.'

The Hare reached into another pocket as he opened the car door and took out his mobile phone. 'Elephantland eh? Alright, let me just go back up to reception, where I can get reception. Heh. Then I'll call my flight crew and have them prepare the jet.'

Renard nodded. 'Very well. I shall call the master and tell him that all is on schedule. I congratulate you Hare, mon ami, for not resisting this calling of ours. You are a valuable member of our enterprise, you must nezzer forget this. All ze gears, they must turn, non?'

'Really? I thought I'd be found washed up in the river after I'd got the data.'

The fox shook his head mock sadly. 'Ah non, Loki is not so ungrateful. You shall find yourself well rewarded and fret not mon frere, yours is a valuable contribution, You ave, how you say? A certain skill set.'

The Hare nodded and walked away. Then he thumbed up Jessica's number in his contacts and hit dial.