Ned sighed. “Not much choice then?”
“Is there ever?”
“I don’t know why I’m doing this. I’m not even sure I’ve forgiven you yet,” started Ned.
Benissimo flinched, very slightly, before flitting back to his old bravado. “Oh, come on, pup, you think I’m brilliant.”
“No, no, I don’t.”
Annoyingly Ned did think Benissimo was brilliant, completely and utterly, but he wasn’t about to let him know.
“You’ll see – you Armstrongs always come round in the end,” grinned Benissimo, which was quite possibly the worst thing he could have said.
“Bene, Mum and Dad had every right to be furious. It’s going to take a lot to gain their trust again and this isn’t the best way to do it. You broke a lot of hearts when you disappeared, mine included.”
“I regret that more than you know.”
Ned stopped. “Then help me understand. This isn’t your personal fight, Bene. You had no right abandoning us like that, not after everything Mum and Dad have had to go through.”
“But it is personal, Ned – extremely. When there’s time I’ll explain, I promise.”
It was then that Ned remembered what Barbarossa had told him on the Daedalus. According to the butcher, it was not just any Demon but the Darkening King himself that had cursed the two brothers and given them their immortality. What Ned still didn’t understand was why. Was that what the Ringmaster meant? Either way, their mission came first. There would be time to talk when they returned. Ned had had the foresight not only to bring his trusty sidekicks but also the Tinker’s perometer. From the look on the Ringmaster’s face, there was little doubt that they would need it where they were going. Finally, at the end of one of the corridors, they came to a staging room lined with several mirrors. Great, thought Ned as Benissimo passed him his gear – a fur-lined coat, goggles and what looked like a small metal stick.
“One of the Tinker’s modifications to BBB tech. It’s a retractable Taser. It’ll give whatever we run into enough of a shock for you to get away. Just twist the top to activate it. And make sure you button up the coat properly – it’s still freezing where we’re going this time of year.”
“Dangerous and cold; Mum and Dad are going to kill me for this.”
“I should think they’ll try me first. If we’re lucky, I’ll get us home before they wake up.”
“If we’re lucky? Bene, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Indeed, Mr B., are you sure?” said a voice from behind them.
They turned to see Mr Fox, dressed from head to toe in winter gear, sitting on a bench at the back of the room. Next to him was the bulbous-eyed Mr Spider, in his regular grey suit.
“Sneaking off in the dead of night without telling anyone? Well, it doesn’t exactly glow with team spirit, does it?”
“Where did you come from?!” spat Benissimo.
“Actually, we were just behind the door when you walked in. I thought it might be a good idea if I tagged along.”
“Mr Fox, you and I have done some great things in our short time together and I am very grateful to your organisation, but I think it might be better if you remained in the Nest.”
The wording was polite enough, the coiled whip unfurling in Benissimo’s hand far less so.
“Mr Spider, go and get some sleep,” said Mr Fox.
“Sir?” said the thin-limbed agent. “I’m fine, thank you, sir.”
Mr Fox’s eyes rolled very slightly but he remained completely calm. “You are many things, Mr Spider, none of which is ‘fine’.”
Mr Spider grinned thinly, before excusing himself.
“Mr Spider has taken it upon himself to follow me of late and I’m not sure that I enjoy it very much. Now trust me when I say this, Mr B – I really don’t want to come with you.”
Ned watched Benissimo’s whip closely. It was wavering to and fro and he was quite sure that it was almost ready to snap.
“You are a confoundingly difficult man to work with,” Mr Fox went on. “Hot-headed, obtuse and with no regard for protocol. I hope you’ll agree that I have tried to be accommodating. But here’s the thing: for this partnership to work, for this entire operation to work, I need some ‘certainties’. You can’t, it seems, be killed, and for that I am – ‘we’ are – relieved. You can, however, be captured and being that you’re the only one who knows ‘the plan’, well, if you’re captured then we lose. I am not going to demand you tell me everything, but I’m afraid I must insist on making sure you return.”
Mr Fox said all this with a calm, almost apologetic voice. He also seemed strangely certain that Benissimo would agree. The Ringmaster, however, got that stubborn look. His cheeks became flushed and his whip now rose threateningly between them.
“Mr Fox, I’m not sure that I like it when people ‘insist’.”
Mr Fox smiled, but remained seated and spoke into his wrist.
“Mr Badger, are you ready to wake Mum and Dad?”
“On your order, sir,” crackled back his wrist.
“You wouldn’t dare!” gasped Benissimo.
“Actually, it would be quite in character,” smiled Mr Fox.
Ned flinched. If his parents found out before they left there would be trouble – bags of the stuff. “Err, Bene, maybe we should hear him out?”
“Nonsense, pup, I won’t be blackmailed and I won’t delay our mission.”
“And besides –” Mr Fox pulled a sliver of mirrored glass from his sleeve – “you won’t get very far without this.”
It was a mirror key and no doubt the very one that they needed from the shelves to their left. Benissimo appeared to be in something of a checkmate, and all three of them knew it.
An angry twitch of a moustache later, and a powerless Ned made ready to step through the glass. He may well have lost his powers, but he had a mouse, a slovenly shadow, a Ringmaster and now a fox to help him on his way.
Ned pushed his face through the mirror and, a cool but clean tug later, found himself several thousand miles away, in a frozen and lightless wood.