The Journal of a Connecticut Yankee Ch. 03

"I guess I really am just a fuck up after all..." I mumbled.

Furry paws cradled themselves around my head as I looked up to see Romie's face.

"No, you're not." She said gently to me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered up to her, "I never meant to-"

"It's okay," She interrupted, "I know and I'm sorry too, I never should have left like that."

She pulled me up and grabbed me in a tight hug as she said, "I love you."

"I love you too, but we have to hurry. There's a little girl inside that house. Those Order bastards, they murdered her parents, we have to get her out of there."

Romie looked to the cottage then back at me with pain in her eyes. I was reminded that for me, being human and all, it was easy to forget that things like this were a regular occurrence for Mamono.

"What can I do to help?"

"Come with me inside and tell her the truth- that you're a princess and you're going to take her away from all of this."

"Okay, but where are we going to take her after we get her out of there?"

I chewed on my bottom lip as I regarded her, "I have absolutely no right in asking this of you but... Could you take her to Wonderland? There's gotta be someone there who could care for her maybe even adopt her?"

"I- I could, I mean I could take her to the castle ask mother for help, but what about you? What if something happens to you? I don't want to leave you alone again!"

"Hey, I'll muddle through," I said bravely at her then turned my head towards the door, "But that little Raiju in there won't. She needs our help. Today's the worst day of her life, she's lost everything. It's up to us now."

Taking her paw in my hand, we walked back into the nightmare. It was deathly quiet inside, save for the sobs of the poor child still huddled in the corner. I was a bit amazed as I watched Romie reach into her magical Gucci purse and withdraw a crystal tiara, similar to the one I always saw her mom wearing.

"I hate this thing, it always chafes my ears," She mumbled as she put it on her head and walked over to her.

Looking up, girl stared in awe as Princess Romie knelt down to her and gently said.

"Little one, I know a lot of horrible things have happened today, there's nothing I can do to change that... But I can help you. Let me take you to Wonderland it's a magical place where your pain will heal, where you will be safe and no one will ever try to hurt you again. You'll meet my mother, the Queen of Hearts, and be forever happy. What do you say, sweetheart?"

The child stared at Romie, then over to the covered corpses of what was once her parents. Was it a messed up choice to have her make? Yeah, I'll admit to that. But it was the only thing I could think of, other then leaving her alone to fend for herself, and that, I would not do.

There's a lot in my life that I'm not proud of, this moment was one of them. But if it lead to her surviving, to her having a chance to grow up and possibly being happy again, then I'd accept this one more sin.

Finally the little Raiju nodded and held her hands out. Romie grabbed her up and swung around to face me. With the child in her arms, my Cheshire blew me a good-bye kiss as they popped away to Wonderland and hopefully a new start for her. When Romie would return, I had no idea, but I knew she would. That alone helped as I set to my next morbid task.

Grabbing a shovel from one of Rudolf's saddle bags, I dug two graves. Burying the mother and father was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I talked to them as I laid both to rest. I told them that their daughter was in good hands... paws. She would be safe, happy, and that I was sorry.

With tears in my eyes I covered their bodies with dirt and used some pieces of their picket fence as grave markers.

It was the best I could do.

Exhausted, I summoned up as much strength as I could for one more thing. As tired as I was, I refused to let those two bastards continue to be in that home.

I dragged each of them out as far as I safely could, threw oil on their corpses and as my faithful horse watched, I set fire to their bodies.

"Have fun in Hell," I mumbled as I walked away from the flames.

Grabbing the bags off their horses, I undid the saddles and set them free. Least they didn't have to carry around those assholes anymore. After boarding up the cottage door, I set up camp a few feet away from everything. I wasn't hungry or anything, but I badly wished that I could listen to some music. Today... today was a bad day...

"Prayer 1, come in, over. What's your status, over." Came a voice from the priests bag.

Da hell?

Curious, I walked over and rummaged through it. My mouth ran dry as I pulled out a black military issue walkie talkie.

"Prayer 1, answer, over. What is your status, over."

Holding the walkie in my hand, my mind raced with all the implications. How the hell did these guys have modern day tech? I needed some answers and there was only one way to get them. Taking a breath, I decided to do what I did best- start some shit.

"We're sorry, the number you're trying to reach has been disconnected at this time. Please hang up and dial your operator."

"Who is this? Identify yourself!" Demanded a staticky voice on the other end.

Grinning evilly at the talkie, I deepened my voice as I said into it, "I'm Batman."

There was a very long pause at the other end and I couldn't help but feel rather smug about confusing the shit outta those dicks. Finally another voice came on, this time female,

"You're from Earth," She said, not in a questioning tone but as a statement.

"Gotham city to be exact," I joked, returning my voice to normal and added,

"You're from Earth too aren't you?"

"What happened to my men?" She asked, ignoring my question.

"Your men were getting their jolies off to killing an innocent family and now they're dead."

"That's interesting," the she replied, "You know what else is interesting? The fact that you're interfering with a US Military operation."

Well now, for me, that was very interesting...

"Oh really? The US Military is now going to other planets? Ya got the whole SG-1 team right next to you as well, huh? O'Niel, Carter, Daniels and Teal'c too?"

"Stop what you are doing and go turn yourself into the next Order officers you see. Tell them you want to see Colonel Faith and you won't be harmed."

"Well, the thought of being captured by the best and the brightest you've got here is certainly very tempting, but I'm gonna have to turn down your offer. Ya see, I got places to go, people to see, bombs to dismantle and unfortunately lady, your goons were at the wrong place at the wrong time, killing the wrong innocents. Collateral damage, I'm sure you're aware of the term." I spat into the walkie.

"Bomb... You have the weapon, don't you?"

Oh fuck me 6 ways from Sunday, did I just blab to Miss Happy that I had her nuke? Maybe I can bullshit my way out of this?

"Uh, weapon? What weapon?" I said as innocently as I could.

"Turn it and yourself over immediately and if you're lucky you won't end up as a traitor, shipped off to Guantanamo Bay with your citizenship revoked!"

Well that didn't work.

"Uh, no. I'm not going to let you go all nuke happy on this planet, GI Jane. And for the record, Getmo is a little too far away for you to send me, isn't it?

"You are threatening the stability of this world, the weapon will be used as leverage against the Monsters and nothing more. You have my word on it. Now turn over the weapon to us."

Shit, this was a lot to take in, I had to think... make up some excuse to end this conversation.

"Well hey it's been real, loved the threats and all, but I got dinner in the oven and the ol' ball and chain will really get pissed if I burn the pot roast again, so talk to you later?" I said quickly as I switched off the walkie.

Yeah I know... that wasn't my best.

I stood and started to pace, she was out there somewhere and wanted Big Boy over here as a kind of bargaining chip. But bargaining chips only work if the other side knows what it is. The Maou would need a demonstration, and somehow I knew GI Jane wasn't the kind that was worried about body count. She wouldn't just take the thing to some empty field and set it off for all to see... No, that's not how the military mind thinks nor the kind of effect that would do the job.

My money was on that she would take the nuke to the biggest city in the baddest Demon Realm out there... the Royal Maki. Set that sucker off right in the middle of the place or maybe near the Maou's castle... maximum fatalities , maximum effect.

It would work too. Doing something like that would halt all Mamono military progress. Maybe it would even demoralize them enough for The Order to make a come back, under GI Jane's leadership of course. It was a brilliant, terrible plan.

It would also save the human race here. Give them a chance to bounce back, maybe even figure out a way to keep a balance. Above all else It would buy them the most precious gift of all... Time. But then at the cost of how many thousands of Mamono? What would be the body count at the end? How many more dead families? How many more orphaned little girls?

'The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.' Came the haunting voice of Leonard Nimoy in the back of my head.

"Fuck you, Spock! I'm not trading lives of one race for the other!" I yelled out loud, kicking a stone in the direction of the nuke. "Not exactly a very Starfleet thing to do!"

No... I'm not going to have that much blood on my hands. I'm not going to be that kind of Hero. That bitch can call me a traitor all she wants, have my citizenship revoked or whatever the fuck the US government would do in the end, if what she was saying was true.

Shit, I'll just take my happy ass up to Canada, maybe watch some hockey with Ryan Reynolds, eat a lotta maple syrup and listen to Celine Dion . The last part, I wasn't looking forward to but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

I looked back over at the nuke, no I guess I should call it Big Boy from now on. Time was ticking and because of my big mouth, the Order knew I had it. If any of this was going have a happy ending, I had to get Big Boy to Victoria...