Tesla Coils & Steam Vents

Lady whipped her head around, her long ears fluttering across her shoulders. Sure, Enzo may have been a bit over dramatic, but her brows arched, and her eyes where laced with panic at the sight of the little canine squirming within Zira's grasp. She spun around, her head held low, as if ready to charge. She took a small pad forwards, towards the bars. Still, she did not let Zira's prodding get the best of her. She kept herself calm, posed, and her voice even. Letting a slight hint of anger into her tone.

"You're the one who is supposed to be leading this army...you save him."

Her stubby tail rose, and the fur on the back of her neck bristled as she spoke. She wanted to charge at the lion, to snarl and bark at her. But she knew doing so would only endanger Enzo more. While they where Dixie's pups rather then her own, and sure they where rude, and lacking of manners, she still felt a protective urge.

"Why should I trust anything you promise to do. Torture me shall I refuse to help? You might anyways, just out of spite. Release me if I cooperate? Into death, or when it suits you, more like."

She looked away, her eyelashes fluttering, before takeing a deep breath to settle her nerves. She could feel her heart racing ever since Zira made her presence known. The honer furred spaniel knew she was balancing on a knife's edge. Not only was her safety at stake, but the lives of a litter of innocent pups.

 But she still held her ground. She would not help Zira.
 

The girls gasped. Lady had been so friendly before...why was she refusing to help their brother? Sasha's eyes narrowed darkly. If Lady looked close in the flicker of the torch light she might have seen the trust drain from the sweeter of the girls' face. Enzo whimpered. Zira stared blankly, the shock apparent on her face.

"You're the one who is supposed to be leading this army...you save him."

She dropped Enzo to the ground and gave Lady a stern, annoyed look. "I have told you NOTHING but the truth during your stay here," Zira panted, "I have done nothing but what I said I was going to do. And you, sit here in PRISON for your crimes, and treat me like I am not holding your pretty PATHETIC little life between my CLAWS!" Her pride had indeed been bruised and she wasn't afraid to hide it. The pups were still too frozen to move and Zira was not pulling that card until her last possible hand.

"How DARE you," she rumbled. With that she raised her paw and, to get Lady's attention, slipped her claws through to cage as best she could and sliced at her back. Just to get her attention, you see.

If Zira was wanting to get her attention, then it worked. To be truthful, It wasn't any worse then when Aunt Sara's cats lashed out at her when she blocked their egress up the stairs to the baby's room. But it still made the cocker jump. Lady spun on her paws, her long ears flopping over her shoulders, keeping her head held low. She backed away from the bars, out of reach of the feline. The cuts on her back where not deep. They barley even bled. But the message was clear. The spaniel held her head low, the tips of her ears just brushing the dusty earth. Her iron collar clinking slightly as is slid down her slider neck.

"My crimes...?" She whimpered. "My crimes where saving my own daughter from the hole in which you and your mate buried her. You left her to die!"

She turned her gaze to the pups. At least Zira had dropped Enzo, so at the moment he wasn't in immediate danger. The spaniel wanted to beg them to run, leave the prison for their own good. It didn't take a genus to see that their presence was giving Zira a hand to deal, and it wasn't one that Lady liked.

Looking at Sasha, the older female felt her heart sink. It was that same look Scamp had given her years ago, whenever she tried to dismay him from his wild dog intentions. The same look he gave her when she tried to talk him out of his self imposed attic prison. It tore at her heart.

"You have tortured me, wheeled me about like some trophy, threatened my family, locked me away, and made me into some sort of pet. Yes, you've done everything you have said you would do. I'm sorry, but you need to give me a reason to trust your word."

Zira's eyes narrowed. As much as she wanted to lash out and slice the female's ear clean off of her pretty little head she knew that any physical threat to Lady herself would prove useless. A curl grew on her maw, teeth poking through in a look of pure disgust and annoyance, almost like a child who was about to throw a tantrum. She had to be smarter than the dog before her. Her head lowered, her eyes shooting to the side as she spotted the pups again. Enzo was still cowering.

"I have not BEGUN to torture you yet," Zira said with a snarl, "Not even STARTED. I could strip you from that cage. Use that iron collar of yours to hang you from the highest tree. Then I would go fetch your mate and daughters and make them watch as the hyenas devoured your mangy corpse ALIVE. In between bites, you'd look up as I ate out your daughters' lives and your mate's eyes."

She let that sink in for a bit before rising from her seated position. "But I'm not going to do that. I'm a JUST ruler," she hissed. Her head shot to the side, a grin creeping up her face, She raised up her paw and with one swipe pushed the puppies as close to the cage as they could go. Their little noses were pressed again the bars.

"So I'm going to give you a choice," she purred, "Either help me...or I will let you chose which pup is going to die right here on the floor in front of you." Her eyes rose.

"Tick. Tock. Time's a wasting, Miss Lady. Which one is worth your time?"

Lady whimpered, peering over her shoulder, unable to suppress the shiver that bristled the fur on her backside as Zira's description of what would happen to her and her family sank in. Her lower lip trembled as she felt the iron collar sinking into the soft fur and flesh around her neck as she was hoisted aloft by it, hearing in her mind the screams of her three daughters amidst the howls of the hyenas as they pelt up to snatch at her canine form, hanging like a cut of fresh meat.

She was snapped out of her nightmare by the sudden movement of Enzo, Sasha, and Umeme being shoved against her cell with the single swipe of the Outlander Queen's claw. If Zira's threats where not horrifying enough, the sight of the three pups, forced into a line line prisoners set before a firing squad shook her to the bones. The spaniel's mouth was agape, her chocolaty eyes wide and brows arched. Three little lives, she could either choose one to die, or give in and try and present Zira with something that wouldn't make the Queen even madder.

"Y-you wouldn't dare!" She objected. "They did nothing wrong! Please...I...I...don't know anything. Oh please, do believe me. I'm just a house pet!"

She examined each individual face, three little black noses pressed against the bars. A soft plee of a whimper escaped from her muzzle.

"Please, spare them! If you must hurt someone, take me and do what you want. Just spare them."

Zira grinned softly. She's at least poked at the facade Lady was putting up in front of her. The pups obviously were a low card to play but Zira didn't like losing. If she had to cheat, she had to cheat. That was the case now obviously. She squeezed her grip on the pups again as the girls and the boy let out simultaneous yelps. "Do what I want to you? Why would I do that? I NEED you. I don't NEED them." A little tighter squeeze was given to the pups.

She ran her tongue over her fangs, letting silence (and baby whimpers) settle on the air for a few minutes. "I don't believe you at all," she said harshly, "You drove a train into my home. Knew all the right levers to pull. Knew how to steer. You know more than you're letting on and it's terrible that you are trying to lie to me."

She moved her other paw to the back of the pups' heads. She pushed them closer. Enzo sobbed, Sasha sputtered and Umeme tried to breath as if she was having trouble with her nose against the bars. "I'm going to ask you again," Zira said calmly, "Help me light my kingdom."

Lady held her head low, even with the plain of her back, her long ears just touching the floor. For a good few moments, all that could be heard was the soft whimpering of the three pups. Each sob, cry, and panicked look chipped away at Lady's resolve. She didn't need to imagine Annie, Cole, Dani, or Scamp in their places. They may have been obnoxious little brats...but they where somebody's children. She could never forgive herself should any harm come to them on her behalf.

There was the fear that what she had to say wouldn't be enough. How much could see give to Zira to satisfy her. Heaven above, Lady herself couldn't build anything. The only place she knew to get the device was from the Heroes...or a massive trip to possibly Agrabah, Nottingham, or London. Could she keep up Zira's bluff?

Her chocolate brown eyes drifted across the pups. Sasha, Umeme, Enzo. each face looking back at her. Should their blood be spilled, it would be on her delicate paws. Finally, after almost four silent minutes...the graceful spaniel spoke. Her voice a meer whisper. The corners of her eyes softening with the moisture of oncoming tears.

"Okay...you win." Eyes fluttered closed, fallowed by a gentle heave. "Oh please, just don't harm them.

"What you are looking for is called a steam dynamo. I only know about them because our locomotive has one. I'm not sure exactly how it works. But it's got a fan, and as the steam passes over the fan it spins it and the fan does something and makes electricity. I guess you could stick one over the vent in the graveyard."

She gave a hard snort, before plopping down on her haunches, raising her head to stare Zira eye to eye. Hopefully that would satisfy her thirst. Lady's own eyes where a cocktail of defeat, embarrassment, and what was unmistakably anger.  "That's all I know...I promise."

"Okay...you win."

With those words, Zira released her claws and the pups fell back letting out a trio of yelps. Umeme was crying, Sasha was comforting both of her siblings. Enzo was still petrified. He was whimpering something fierce, cries that only a puppy who wanted his Mommy could give. The girls started to dash out. Enzo went to follow behind but a massive paw to his tiny body sent him squished down to the stone floor.

"Not so fast, darling," Zira hissed, "I'm keeping this one for safe keeping." The girls stopped, staring from the entrance of the jail. They didn't leave but they didn't come back either. Enzo squirmed. "STOP it," Zira hissed at the pup. She listened to Lady's words and nodded. As if she hadn't just threatened the life of the pups. As if she was just having a conversation with a contractor.

"This...steam dynamo...can it be built? Must it be purchased or can it be built? ANSWER. Now! I know you know more than you are letting on."

Each whimper and whine resonated inside the graceful spaniel. She breathed a sigh of relief when the three pups where released, watching as the the started to scurry away from the lioness. Once to whence as Enzo was caught under paw. Lady's ears rolled back  and she let out a soft whimper of her own. As a mother she had heard those same cries many a time before. The longing of a litter for their mother's protection. It was not for the bars separating them, Lady would have most certainly pushed her way between Zira and the squirming pup.

She glanced up at the two sisters, silently begging them to run and find their mother, before returning her gaze to the Queen. How Zira could be so at home with Enzo thrashing away under her paw, when all she had to do was press hard enough to snap the little pup, was beyond Lady's comprehension. Still, threw teary eyes and grit teeth, the frazzled cocker answered as best as she could.

"You'll have to find one. I don't know how to build one, honestly!....Perhaps London, maybe Paris. The Heroes may have one." 

Her voice cracked as she spoke, a small hint of a canine whine rolling out between the words. Lady was usually a pretty silent dog. She almost never whined, whimpered, or yapped. Always polite and minding her Ps and Qs. But the situation was plucking at her heartstrings. She could feel her fur bristling, her pulse racing in her own throat.

"Thats all I know. Please, just let him go."

"Thats all I know. Please, just let him go."

She tightened her grip on Enzo's fur. He whined. "No," she said, "I think I'll keep him as collateral. You have a son, don't you?" Her voice hiked a bit before turning sick and acidic once more.

"I will not have my troops bumbling around in the dark like a bunch of idiots when I know the heroes and human villains are lighting their way somehow. I will not be embarrassed in such a way. So CUT THE BULL SHIT. I know you know more than you're letting on so STOP insulting me and answer my questions."

One more squeeze was given to Enzo who had stopped struggling and was just crying. Not like a puppy, but fat tears were rolling down his muzzle. "And if we hook this contraption up to one of those steam vents then what? I can hang lights?"

Her heart plummeted when the queen mentioned her son. Scamp was safe, right? He was home in Marceline, where Zira couldn't get a hold of him. That's where they all would go once this was over. Home. Her lower lip trembled, her eyes the size of dinner plates. Obviously effected by Zira's mentioning of her little whirlwind. But her trepidation was unchecked by Enzo's sobbing.

She thought about the dynamo she had worked with. The one on Casey's boiler. It was about the size of her canine body, and she had never really worked on it. Only examining it from outside while others, usually Audry or someone with more mechanical knowledge then her, pulled it apart to maintain it.

"Yes, you can hang lights, you can run electrical lines, you can power things. As long as you can pipe steam at pressure through the thing it will make electricity.  But I'm telling you the thruth. I don't know anywhere close by to fetch one. Paris would be my first guess."

She winced at each squeeze given to the panicked puppy. Her tail was firmly between her legs, and she kept a good distance from the bars. She could feel the cuts on her back bleeding through her fur. She was frightened herself for him. She could see the sharp claws on the lioness's paw. It would not take much to slice open the back of his neck and bleed him out right there on the floor.

"That's all I know. I'm not lieing. You don't have the materials out here to build one, and I don't know how one could be built. Just what one looks like and how it was installed."

Zira smirked and snickered. Children had their uses in this war after all. She placed that bit of knowledge in her back pocket as she stared towards the cocker who was pleading with her. Enzo it seemed had given up and was just hanging there. Every once and a while his legs would wiggle like he needed footing but otherwise his little cries were the only things heard out of his maw.

"Interesting," she mumbled between her teeth, "And you're SURE this will work? You're sure my troops won't be walking about like primitive morons?"

"Let's see," she huffed, "If I steal one from Paris, no lives are taken...no sense of fun...that won't do. Oh I know." She raised her paw, gesturing with the free one as she talked. "If I STEAL the one from atop that loudmouthed contraption you so rudely crashed into my home...why I might cripple the hero's sense of transportation!" She chuckled.

"And do you know WHY I tell you this so openly?" She asked, dangling Enzo in front of Lady's nose. He just stared at her, lost. "Because you, my dear fluff bucket, are going to HELP me."

Lady's eyes where glued to the limp puppy, as if takeing them off him would seal his fate. Each wiggle or squirm tore at her even beating heart. The spaniel's tail stood high, legs braced in a frozen "charge", even though the ivory bars would prevent any sort of action from being effective in saving the little boy's life.

Her gaze was torn away when Zira mentioned Casey...she wanted to what? An eyebrow rose in confusion, and Lady opened her mouth, a long explanation as to how it would be near impossible to catch the steam locomotive once he was at speed was derailed upon the Outlander Queen's next statement, her eyes once again focused on Enzo as he was dangled before her:

"Because you, my dear fluff bucket, are going to HELP me."

"I'm going to what?"

A look of shock rolled across her face as both her ears dropped. But any retort was silenced by the frightened look on Enzo's face. Zira could not have had any more control of Lady then if she was holding the spaniel on a leash. Her tail slowly dropped, as did her head, her chest rolling as she took a deep breath. No argument about the speed of the locomotive, his strength, or even how to remove his steam turbocharger from it's mountings atop his boiler would save her, or save Enzo. She was bound.

"Alright, just please, leave them out of this and I'll do whatever you need."

Zira chuckled, shoulders heaving as she listened to the pup speak. "Good dog," she purred, "Well at least you know your place." She shook Enzo as he let out another little 'wuff.' It was clear he had given up, was saying his prayers and just letting Zira do what she wanted. "Finally," Zira punctuated her prior sentence. She placed Enzo on the ground, her claws forming a bit of a prison for the infant canine. Her tail whipped back and forth, her tongue rolling over her jaws as she let a dramatic silence hang on the air.

"We're going to take that train down," she explained cruelly, "And I'm using you as bait. I figure if you're helpless on the tracks, that irritating locomotive will have to stop." She raised her paw that wasn't holding Enzo down and clutched it in a fist. This put a little more weight on the male who let out a sound not unlike extra air being let out of a deflated balloon. "And that's when my troops will be there to STRIKE. Steal the...thingy...and be on our merry way. Maybe I'll release you. Maybe I'll leave you and your fellow hero to bake in the sun."

"We'll have to snap the engine or whatever. I've seen humans working on those tiny trains in London..." She tapped her chin.

"Ah well. Details, details, details. What do you say? Oh fuff, you don't have a choice, I forgot!"

The spaniel's lower lip quivered slightly, soft brown eyes glued to the put trapped underneath the big lioness's paw. She felt her heart leap when he let out a little squeak as pressure was applied. She pulled her gaze off him to stare wide eyed as Zira explained her plan. Her ears perked and mouth opened in shock as the plan was laid out before her.

She was to be used as bait to stop the hero's supply train! This was a strange turn, and she could see this going of so very wrong. What if Casey didn't stop? Would he just run her over? She remembered how long ago she had come close to being mowed down by a streetcar, before being chased into a back-ally by a gang of dogs. Perhaps she was small enough for him to pass right over her...perhaps not.

Then there was the logistical issue with Zira's plan. Casey tended to pick the days and times of his trips at random. Doing his best to keep such raids on his supply train at bay. They could stand out there by the tracks for days, and not see him.

"if I may be so bold..." She trembled. "But what if the train...doesn't...stop?"