Two of the animatronic pirates turn in the direction of Henry's ventriloquism and stalk off with metal claws bared. Four remain, continuing to play out the auction scene.
"Four of them and six of us," Greg says. "Maybe we can take them if we get the drop on them."
With a shaking hand, Mortimer reaches for Greg... But pulls back.
No... No... They could still be useful...
Slicking back his hair one more time and licking his lips, Mortimer says in a high pitch whisper,
"We... we could send someone out... as bait... Or, that is, a decoy...?"
Helen gives Mort a dubious look. "I don't know if we need to do that. But maybe we create some sort of distraction?"
Jen gives Mr Isney (as she still thinks of him) a scornful look. "Nobody is using anyone else as bait." Trust a lawyer to come up with that idea.
She looks with interest at the robot head Helen has fished out. "Want me to pound another 'factory reset' into it?"
Helen eyes the head suspiciously. "I'm definitely curious to see what this things's got to say... just worried it's gonna start making noise once I boot it up. But maybe it can help us somehow?"
She pulls out her screwdriver and starts fiddling with the head. "Get ready for a fight, everyone. Here goes nothing."
Helen doesn't see anything else here that might be immediately useful, nor does there appear to be anything secret or hidden about the situation. It is straightforward in its danger.
The mechanic's fiddling restores power to Captain Hank's head. His eyes blink open and he spouts one of his catchphrases from the movie. "Why is the rum gone?"
Hearing the sound, the other pirates immediately cease their acting. Their blank, painted eyes begin to glow red, and two of them begin stalking towards your location. The auctioneer and the large pirate holding the barrel remain behind with the chained guests...
What do you do?
How smart are these things, really? Let’s find out. Helen rolls the talking head towards the corner of the room, hoping the pirates will chase after it long enough for the group to focus on rescuing the women.
"Why is the rum gooone?" asks Captain Hank as his head rolls across the room. The two pirates who were heading towards you divert towards the head, chasing it as it bounces and skips into the far corner. It gives you a brief window of opportunity to act...
Hmm, these things aren't too bright, are they? With that in mind, he quickly affects a limp and swagger/staggers up to the remaining pirate bots. "Belay that nonsense. The Master wants us to deliver these wenches! Says 'e 'as plans fer 'em."
The two pirates turn their angry glares on Henry as he swaggers forward. The auctioneer pirate levels his pistol at the man. It doesn't look like they're falling for his bluff!
Mortimer stays behind the rock, clutching his knife, as the others run into battle. If it looks like any are in real trouble, he'll come out to help... Hopefully...
Helen jumps out and charges the auctioneer with her wrench, hoping to throw off his aim.
As the pistol is leveled at him, Henry gets the distinct feeling that they aren't falling for his ruse. Well, I guess this is it, he thinks to himself. And then he sees Helen charge. She's risking her life for me. I need to get in there, too! As the robot's head turns toward Helen, Henry charges for the double whammy.
I think I recall seeing my brother do this as in his football days.
Helen and Henry both rush in at the auctioneer. His pistol goes off, and while no bullet is actually loaded, sparks and flames shoot out, scorching the side of Helen's face! Her skin chars painfully, but she continues her charge.
Henry hits first, going low and shoulder checking the animatronic pirate. Its metal body gives way slightly, and it wavers unsteadily on its feet. Helen then smashes it on the head with her wrench, knocking it completely off-balance. The pirate pinwheels its arms and cries out as it plummets into the ride's waterway. Electricity crackles and smoke and sparks shoot from the animatronic before it falls inert.
The remaining pirate lets out a staticky squeal and raises the barrel over his head, prepared to strike!
Seeing that his only ways out were about to be squashed by a barrel, Mortimer suddenly stood up and let out a high pitch squeal of "Objection!" before he knew what he was doing. If he could just distract it for a second, the others would be able to take it down!
The pirate turns towards Mortimer as he emerges from hiding. With a snarl, he hurls the heavy barrel at the lawyer! He's succeeded in causing a distraction, but now a massive plaster barrel is rolling towards him at an alarming rate of speed!
Upon seeing that *he* was now the one in danger, the lawyer makes a move to dive back to cover!
"Mort, look out!" Although he didn't necessarily intend it, something about Henry's demeanor, his plaintive cry, stirred something inside him. His whole being seemed to glow.
Jen may be into athletics, and even into wrestling, but when push comes to shove she hasn't got what it takes to really hurt people; to want to hurt them.
She rushes up to the robot that Helen is struggling with, trying to push it off balance and let the engineer hit it with the wrench.
Helen turns to the remaining pirate and aims a mighty wallop at it with her wrench.
The pirate's metal claws rip through Helen's coveralls, digging deep bloody gashes in her stomach, but with Jen's help, the mechanic is able to shove the hefty animatronic into the water. It sparks and spasms as the water wreaks havoc on its internal motors.
"Hurry, before they come back!" Lizzie shouts. She and Greg move to start unshackling the captive women.
Henry speaks softly to the recent captives to try to keep them calm. "It's gonna be okay, but we need to get moving. Try to stay as quiet as possible."
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It looks like Mortimer is going to be too slow to dodge the rolling barrel, but a moment before striking the lawyer, it slows down signficantly. Instead of breaking his leg with the impact, it simply bounces off of it and wobbles to a stop. Mortimer will have a nasty bruise, but it could have been a lot worse. It's a miracle!
With the women released, you rush ahead around the corner before the other animatronic pirates can return. You're lucky to have survived that harrowing encounter. Still, Helen is badly wounded.
Her radio crackles to life. "Helen? Helen, it's Ethan. Wh-what's happening in there?"
There's a lot that Helen would like to say to Ethan right now, but she focuses on the essentials. "Some really dark sh*t. The robots are killing people. Got a small group of guests here; we're heading to the exit to override the lockdown. I'm hurt. Send help... if you can."
Gritting her teeth through the pain, Helen examines her wound. This isn't good.
For a moment, Henry tries to recall the required medical training the park employees had to go through. Mostly it consists of asking every guest who might be injured "Do you require first aid?" at least 3 times. Stupid liability rules. Focusing on his friend, he does his best to stop the bleeding, though she looks pretty beat up.
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Patting his pockets, Henry discovers a colorful band-aid with the smiling visage of Mr. Mouse on it. Not knowing what else to do, he places it on Helen's burned cheek. Somehow, it makes her feel a little better.
Another voice sounds over Helen's radio. "Ms. Whittle? This is Blake Gomez, from Upper Management," he says, his voice smooth and calm. "We are working to keep the situation contained. I would advise finding a safe place to hunker down and not expose yourself or the guests to potential harm. If you just sit tight, I can promise this will all be over soon."
Helen hesitates. This guy sounds more competent than Ethan... but I'm not sure that's a good thing. "This will all be over soon" is a little too ambiguous for my taste.
"What exactly do you plan to do, Mr. Gomez?"
Gomez hesitates before responding. "This is not the first time an attraction at Mouse Park has malfunctioned beyond repair. There are certain...methods known to Upper Management to remove the blemish from our facilities and uphold our pristine reputation. I'm afraid Pirates' Landing is past its prime, and it must be retired."
Helen's blood runs cold. "And the people inside? Will we still be here when the ride is 'retired?'"
"An unfortunate consequence. I can assure you that your next of kin will be fairly compensated for your sacrifice," Gomez says calmly.
F*ck.
Helen silently motions to Henry and the guests to start moving in the direction of the exit. Gotta get out of here. Now.
She speaks softly into the radio, so that hopefully the guests won't hear. "Mr. Gomez. I'm sure you can agree that this course of action is hardly in line with Mouse Park's mission. Closing down a ride is one thing. Allowing over half a dozen guests to die is a PR nightmare, to say nothing of the potential lawsuits. Not to mention, it will ruin the magic for all of them... and we do care about magic here, don't we? Surely there's no reason we can't allow these innocent people to escape the attraction unscathed before we shut it down."
"What the actual ****?! Are you KIDDING me me?! I'm not going to let you do that!"
Jen is steamingly angry - and disbelieving. They can't do that, can they? Well no point hanging around to find out.
"OK everyone, we are moving out NOW! You, get everyone up and moving. You, keep an eye out for trouble. You, guard the rear. Now listen up cuz I'm only gonna say this once. My granddad was a Marine, my father's a Marine and I'm gonna be one too. And there's no way - no g@&~## way! - that some g$#*#$ theme park is gonna get in the way of that. Now MOVE! HUT HUT HUT!"
Henry is aghast at the words of the "management." He shouldn't be surprised. Cogs in a machine, right? He shakes his head to clear such despairing thoughts. That's not who he is or what he's about. Awww HELL naw! We ain't going out like that!
Henry stands up and squares his shoulders. He takes the new additions by the hand and pulls them up like Jen says. "Come on, now. We got to move." Mort looks pretty shaken, too. He taps the lawyer on the shoulder and smiles. "When we get out of this, and win our court case, YOU are gonna be the richest person I know. Let's move." His voice betrays no sound of fear, only confidence and hope.
Henry's words wake Mortimer from his trance. Mortimer stands up, his head twitching to the side... When he leaps at the walkie talkie!
"If I'm not out of here within the hour, this ride won't be the only thing to 'retire'! I'm Mortimer 'Killjoy' Isney! I'm the one who closed down Maple Point! This park will be a distant memory when I'm done with it! So if you ever want to be employed again, Mr. Gomez, I highly suggest you send someone down here to get me out, right f***ing now!! The entire thing is said with a voice of bitter rage as he screams into the walkie talkie.
Gomez replies to Helen. "Yes. There is great magic in Mouse Park, if you know how to call upon it," he says ominously. "We cannot risk letting those murderous atuomatons escape into the park at large. If you could find some way to stop their rampage, then we might be able to reevaluate our options. But I cannot count on that happening, so in the meantime, we will proceed with our original plans..."
Gomez is silent as Mortimer goes on a tirade. At length, he replies, the slightest bit of a quaver in his voice. "Mr. Isney, I did not realize you were among the guests there. Of course, I will send Ethan in at once to do what he can to help."
"ME?!?" you hear Ethan squeak in the distance. "But I--!"
Gomez terminates the connection, cutting off any further comments. There is no response to any further attempts at communication.
Helen lets out a string of curses and turns to the rest of the group. "What now? Even if we make it to the exit, it sounds like they won't let us leave. But I'm not sure we have a choice. Maybe if we keep going, we'll be able to figure out what's causing all this... and stop it."
Jen shrugs. "Sure, they might not let us leave. But if we stay here, we're definitely dead. And you need to see a medic. So let's move, already!"
Your haggard band of survivors continues on along the ride's path. You pass by a few other boats filled with the gory remains of guests that the pirates have ripped apart.
Ahead, the boats pass under a bridge. On the side of the bridge, a single pirate sits on a barrel with a treasure map spread across his lap and a key in his hand.
"Oh, yes! It's the treasure map for sure, and no mistake. We will take back what were stolen from us and be whole once again. I tell you once, landlubbers, you'll never find the treasure without a look at this here map... and this lovely key to the treasure room. Har har har!"
It's unclear if the pirate is talking to you or just reading his pre-scripted lines.
"That dialogue sounds awfully pointed," Helen whispers to the others. "Does this ride even have a 'treasure room'?"
"There is a treasure room at the very end, right before the exit," Lizzie whispers.
Henry nods the the others. "Then perhaps we should check the map. Who knows? With everything else going crazy in here, maybe it'll actually be useful."
His voice tense and out of breath from his screaming, Mortimer says,
"It's rather suspicious though... But I guess if we 'ave to pass it anyway... "
Jen shrugs. "Fine. So let's see what's on the map already."
Taking a moment to centre herself, but without giving her companions time to try and talk her out of it, she breathes in, and then - breathing out - dives forward in a crouching roll, rising out of it for long enough to grab the map from the pirate, and then somersaulting out of reach.
Jen sprints toward the robot like a greyhound. Henry grabs a somewhat bloodied sports bag from one of the boat's former occupants and starts whirling it around his head. When Jen is almost there, he releases the bag, throwing with all his might at the robot, hoping to tangle it up for a moment or two.
Henry's hurled projectile wraps around the pirate's head, momentarily blinding it. Jen uses the distraction to dive past it and snatch the map from its hands.
"Yarr! I've been hornswaggled!" the pirate declares. It rips the sports bag to pieces, eyes glowing with red menace!
What do you do?
Jen stands tall (well, as tall as she can) and faces the pirate. "Nope, you've been tested - and you lost. You aren't worthy. Stand down and deactivate. NOW!"