Olivia Goes West - Chapter 22

The weeks had felt like an eternity to Olivia. She sat looking over the edge of the cage, with Fievel by her side, as two of the orphan mice, Chula and One-Eye watched over everyone imprisoned at the mine. It was late at night now, One-Eye had dozed off but the others were playing cards near Hiram's workbench. Fievel and Olivia exchanged glances.

"A-are you sure this is gonna be a good idea?" Fievel whispered worriedly.

"Yer sick o' bein' in this cage aren't ye?" she whispered back, "We got to at least try something."

The two of them had had a lot of time to plan this scenario out, with input from Hiram and Wylie. In the last two weeks the tunnel had grown deeper, and more gold was being extracted. The area they were in was now lined with barrels of gun powder and sticks of dynamite. Waul and Ratigan were going to blast through the rest of the way just before Ratigan's election, so the sudden abundance of gold would guarantee his election. But Olivia was determined not to let Ratigan ever get elected mayor once she busted out and warned the town. If they saw her and Fievel alive, they'd have to believe her.

Hiram looked over his shoulder, at Chula and the mice playing poker, and then up at Olivia. She gave him a nod, and he nodded back.

"Okay Olivia, but…please be safe…" Fievel said, holding her hand.

"Don't worry Fievel," she said, giving him a peck on the lips and patting his cheek, "We can do this. We been through worse."

Chula, Simon and Sammy were playing blackjack at a small table.

"Man, I still can't believe Roc took our salaries and bailed on us back to New York," said Sammy, "I thought we was friends."

"Ah you can't trust nobody in this world," Simon sighed, looking at his cards, "Hit me."

"Yep, the fat little runt is probably stuffing his face usin' your money right now, heh heh," Chula chuckled, handing Simon another card, and knowing the truth about what had happened to Roc.

"Pitiful, ain't it?" Sammy asked.

Olivia then turned, and called down from the cage, "Um, 'scuse me but I hafta go outside…it's an emergency…"

Chula looked up and frowned, "We've gotta quit giving these damn kids stuff to drink."

"Eh ignore her," said Simon, "She can just go in the cage."

Sammy chuckled, "Yeah, forget 'em. Hey I've busted, deal me another hand will ya?"

"But it'll start stinkin' up the place if we don't," Chula groaned, "Man I can't wait to have that steaming hot mouse haggis. Just got to put up with that stupid brat long enough."

Chula left the table irritably and used his spider web like a lasso onto the cage door, pulling himself up.

"Chula do this, Chula do that…" he muttered.

"Right then…" Olivia whispered, as she discreetly dislodged one of the bars from the cage while Chula climbed. On the ground was a small steel saw, one of her father's tools. He'd been able to toss it up to the cage several days ago, using a bit of leftover spider web to make it stick.

"Alright you little menace, I'll take you outside for two minutes, and if you ain't done by th--"

Olivia whacked Chula over the head with the bar from the cage, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Before anyone else even knew what had happened, Fievel and Olivia were climbing down the strand of spider web themselves. Sammy turned, and noticed them escaping.

"Hey! Whaddya think you're doin?"

"Run fer it laddies!" Hiram called out.

The two of them slid down, landing hard on Chula's body. Fievel grinned at that. He and Olivia  then darted for the cave that was filled with rubble, climbing up the rocks so that they could sneak in between them. This way they couldn't be followed or cut off.

"Hey One-Eye!" Simon called out, "Get yer furry ass up and catch those kids!"

One-Eye snorted and awoke with a startle. He looked around, seeing the open cage and Chula on the ground.

"Not this again," he groaned, getting to his feet and starting to run.

As he did, Wylie, pretending to be asleep, stuck his foot out, causing One-Eye to crash to the ground.

"You clumsy idiot!" Sammy said.

One-Eye snarled, "I'll get you for that."

Wylie grabbed the cat's tail as he tried to move on. One-Eye turned around and kicked Wylie a few times, but he wouldn't let go.

"If I ever get outta this, you'll be rotting in prison fer life," Wylie said, before One-Eye finally pulled his tail back, and then darted after Fievel and Olivia, reaching his arm into the rubble just as they climbed through.

"Run, Fievel!" Olivia said, who was ahead of him.

One Eye's hand grabbed Fievel's leg, and he fell, "Olivia!"

She turned around, and saw Fievel clawing through the rocks, being pulled backwards.

"Oh no, Fievel!" she reached toward him, "Grab mah hand!"

"He's too strong…" Fievel held onto a gold nugget, trying to fight it, "The opening is near the top, just climb, get out and send for help!"

Fievel was pulled free of the rubble. Olivia watched helplessly, biting her lip.

"Ah don't know if'n I can make it through there on me own…" she looked back nervously. Everything was pitch black behind her.

"Where's the other rat?" One-Eye demanded, shouting in Fievel's face.

"Put me down!" Fievel shouted, punching the air as One-Eye held him upside down by the leg.

Fievel had told Olivia the mine collapsed a couple years back, after Chula and Waul set off a trap in the chamber filled with gold, and the dead body of the mine's former owner Jebediah. The opening had been in the ceiling of the chamber, so up was the only way to go. They'd surely have been caught going through the main tunnel, so this was the only way.

"The boss ain't gonna like this," said Sammy.

"Yeah, but we ain't taking the heat for it," Simon insisted.

"I gotta find that other rat before she makes it out of the mine," One-Eye said, "You'll get what's coming to you later, brat."

He threw Fievel back into the cage and slammed the door shut, stepping over the unconscious Chula. He then came back to the rubble, rolled his sleeve up, and reached in.

Olivia gasped, backing up until she felt a rock behind her. She turned around, feeling for a place to climb upwards. But, it seemed like a dead end. It was a dangerous notion trying to climb anywhere in here. Soon she felt the cat grab onto her leg, and she shrieked as she was dragged out.

"Ha! Gotcha you little brat," One-Eye said, holding her upside down, "Nice try though, heh heh."

He opened the cage and threw Olivia in violently. She landed on top of Fievel.

"Ah don't like ye treatin' me daughter that way," Hiram said threateningly.

"Oh? And whatcha gonna do about it old man?" One-Eye gave a sneer, "You stop working and that girl's gonna get much worse than thrown back in her cage."

Olivia groaned, rolling off of Fievel as the two of them rubbed their heads in pain.

"We've still got that missing bar in the cage," Fievel whispered, "All we need is something to climb down on."

Olivia winced, "We'll wait a bit for that…but we're bustin' outta here one was or another. Never say never, right?"


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Basil busied himself going through all of Nellie's notes, figuring out everything that Ratigan and Waul had done and had been overheard saying since resurfacing in Green River. Obviously they wanted to take over the town. But for what? Why this little town in the middle of nowhere? Was it simply that Ratigan wanted to keep a low profile, but was still power hungry enough to want to be in charge of a near-ghost town? Or was there some grander scheme at work? Perhaps the kidnapping of Hiram Flaversham had something to do with it, provided he really was kidnapped and not eaten by something, which Basil was almost completely sure of, as was Nellie in her letter to him. The last time Ratigan wanted Hiram to build a robotic Queen Moustoria. Was it the same sort of plan here?

"You know, I'd almost think you're more into Ratigan than you are me," Nellie said with a grin, setting another cup of tea and a hot crumpet onto the coffee table.

"It is simply that I cannot have this meeting with the others if I'm not completely sure of Ratigan's motives," Basil answered, sipping the tea but not taking his eyes off her notes, "Obviously he and Waul are attempting to extract gold from that abandoned mine, correct? And Fievel and Olivia were regrettably eliminated for going there, meaning it must be of some importance, perhaps even beyond simply procuring wealth. If I'm not very much mistaken, Wylie and Hiram are in all likelihood being kept there against there will. I highly doubt that Hiram fell prey to something and Wylie simply left after Waul took his position as Sheriff. It would be too much of a coincidence."

"If you'll read some of the last pages, I wrote down Tanya's testimony," Nellie said, "She said that when Tiger tried to tell her Waul and Ratigan were up to no good he mentioned that Olivia was convinced they had her father trapped in that mine. Tanya had dismissed it at the time as Olivia just not wanting to believe her father was dead, but you have to wonder if the kid was onto something."

Basil flipped to the last few pages and read through them, "Hm, second-hand information can be jumbled and lost through so much hearsay, I should like to speak to Tiger myself tonight and get his full word on it. But, obviously the children must have stumbled onto something big for them to be taken out like that, at the risk of attracting the attention of the town."

Basil bit into a cheese crumpet, reading through the notes, before asking "So, is it almost closing time for the saloon?"

Nellie glanced at a clock on the wall, "Just about. Vartan will bring Tony up with him. Tanya and Tony said they'd sneak their way up here about ten minutes apart from one another so as not to attract attention."

"Right then, I'll finish up here." Basil said, "I'll leave you in charge of making sure everyone's accounted for, and that we aren't being spied on."

"Tony and Tanya both said they'd tell us who was with Waul and Ratigan and who wasn't, so we can be sure who isn't off potentially snooping around."

"Very good indeed," Basil said, staring down at her notes, before looking up at her, "You know, after the meeting I should have a small gap of free time, I think, you know just for the two of us…"

Nellie smiled, leaning down and kissing his cheek, "What a coincidence, so will I."


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Earlier in the evening, Miss Kitty had found Tiger still camped out by the river, too afraid to go back to town and still clinging to the hope that maybe Fievel and Olivia would come walking up the river bank. She'd been bringing him food and staying with him until she had to go to work, but after the first week or so she really began to worry that he was losing it. When she went to tell him that Basil had arrived and that he wanted Tiger in on their plan to defeat Ratigan and Waul, he was frightened to return to town, but did so on the condition that he be dressed in a longcoat and cowboy hat to at least hide his identity somewhat. Luckily she'd gotten Tiger into town  and up to her room without incident under the cover of nightfall, with the saloon packed, and the two had just made it there when Nellie exited the mousehole in the ground with Tanya, still decked out in her stage clothes.

"Oh, Tiger, you're here," Tanya said, looking up at him, "Listen…I'm s-sorry I didn't believe you."

Tiger kneeled down, "Ah I don't blame you Tanya, I'm just glad you haven't been hurt."

"No, I'm fine I guess," she answered, "Though ever since I found out what they did it's been pretty hard to focus on singing for the saloon."

"Do you uh, still got that feeling that Fievel's alive by any chance?"

Tanya nodded, "It hasn't gone away since that day…"

"I think I feel it too," said Tiger, "Even though it's been weeks."

"Yeah well, the sooner we take care of these chumps and I get my bar back, the sooner you can come home Tiger," said Miss Kitty, sitting in her chair, "Gets awful lonesome around here you know."

"I'll help put Waul in his place in anyway I can," said Tiger, mustering up his bravery.

"So where's Basil?" Tanya asked, eager to meet the detective.

"Basil will be out shortly," Nellie said, "He's just gathering all his information."

The four of them chatted for a bit, until Tony emerged with Vartan, followed soon by Basil. Tanya blushed at the sight of him, but knew that he was taken. Nellie got all the handsome guys, she thought with a sigh, remembering Reed Daley.

"Alright, all them filthy crooks is downstairs talkin," said Tony, "They don't know we're up here. I don't think we hafta worry none about bein' spied on, I hope."

"You sure you saw all of them?" Miss Kitty asked, opening her door a crack and peering through.

"Yeah, including Fidget," Tony answered, "But uh, Chula and the orphan kids neva showed up tonight. But they don't show up every night."

"They could be at the mine," Nellie said, "Even so, make sure we don't say anything about our plan too loudly."

Basil nodded, "Right. Anyway, according to my findings it would be my guess that Fidget was the one who spied on the children, and overheard something about their penchant for riding a raft on the Green River."

"Oh, because Ratigan said the plan was Fidget's idea," Tanya realized, "That makes sense."

"Yes, quite," Basil said, pacing, "Now then, I have read all of Nellie's notes, which also include all of Tanya, Tony and Vartan's findings. I have almost pieced together everything about the events that have transpired in the past few weeks since the arrival of the Flangersams to Green River."

"The who?" Tiger asked.

"The Flavershams, he means," Nellie answered, rolling her eyes, "You know it was because of that I didn't know at first Olivia and her dad were the same people you knew in England, you kept calling them different names in your letters."

"Whatever," Basil answered dismissively, "Anyway I should be most interested to hear what you have to say, Tiger. Specifically, anything you recall about visiting that abandoned mine with Fievel and Olivia."

"Alright uh, I'll tell you everything I remember," said Tiger, who started from the day he took them to see the mine, recounting how Fievel had shot Fidget down with a slingshot, and then the two of them had been chased out from inside the mine by One-Eye. He mentioned also the clanging sounds coming from inside, and that Olivia and Fievel had overheard the cats say something about Hiram and Wylie being in there.

Basil listened intently, "Then there's little doubt in my mind that Hiram and Wylie are in there. I taught Olivia everything she knows after all, she's quite the little sleuth now. Or rather...was...a-anyway, ahem…"

The thought that Olivia and Fievel had been sent up the river suddenly pulled on the detective's heartstrings at that moment. He swallowed the sadness for the time being, and turned it into determination to bring justice toward Ratigan.

"My question now," Basil continued, "would perhaps be, what really became of the children? Do we have any definitive proof besides the word of Ratigan and Waul that the two of them were pushed down the river?"

Those in the room scratched their heads and exchanged glances.

"I'd never considered anything else," Nellie admitted, "Though we do have what Tanya overheard."

Tanya nodded, "They were speaking in private when they said that was what they did to Olivia and Fievel."

Basil nodded, "Then it does seem rather likely. But, it does present another possibility."

"And that is?" Nellie asked.

"We don't know if they perished," Basil said, "Because, if you'll remember quite clearly Miss Mousenwich-"

"Mousekewitz," Tanya corrected him.

"-Fidget was saying that Waul ought to have simply eaten Fievel and Olivia, rather than push them down the river. And Ratigan angrily scolded the bat by reminding them whose idea it was. Now, does that not imply that something, perhaps, went wrong with their plan?"

"Ya think they survived?" Tony asked.

"It's quite possible," Basil said, folding his arms behind his back, "Almost probable. And I'm not saying that just because I want so badly for it to be true either."

Tanya couldn't help but smile widely, and neither could Tiger.

"So…what do we do then?" Nellie asked.

"Anyone up for an expedition tomorrow?" Basil asked, "I'm not saying that we'll find them, but, if we journey up the river, perhaps we'll find clues as to whether or not they survived, and if so, where they went after that. If they survived and Ratigan and the others are aware that they survived, then perhaps any clues we find will point to what became of them, and where, if alive, they might be now."

"Oh I just know they're alive," Tanya said, "I want to go but…I'm expected to sing at the rally tomorrow."

She gave a disgusted look.

"Ah but that takes us to the second part of the plan. I'll of course be wanting some of you to stay behind and tell me everything that happens at that rally when I return. I for one don't want to take the risk of being recognized by Ratigan just yet."

"I suppose I'm going with you then, Basil," said Nellie.

"I will go too and assist you," said Vartan.

"Շատ լաւ, դուն կու գաս:" Basil replied, "The three of us should be enough I think. And we could use some speedy transportation as well. Tiger?"

"You can count on me, detective," Tiger said proudly.

"Excellent. Miss Kitty, Tanya and Tony? Keep a sharp eye out tomorrow, and don't miss a single detail."

"Sure thing Baz," said Tony, "And don't hesitate to tell us what ya find either."

"Yes, perhaps we'll have another meeting, same time tomorrow night," Basil said, "Very well then, I think we all know what we need to do. Meeting adjourned."

With that the mice carefully filtered through Nellie's apartment. Tony and Tanya were careful to exit about ten minutes after one another to avoid suspicion if they were being watched. Tiger decided he could risk spending the night with Miss Kitty again and leave with Basil and Nellie in the morning.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you both tomorrow night," Tanya said as she got ready to exit.

"Very well dear girl," Basil said, "And while intuition isn't scientific proof, I do certainly hope that maybe there's something to your bond with your brother, telling you he's alive."

"Me too," she said, before glancing toward Vartan, "Good night, Vartan."

She shot him a little wink before exiting through the door, making his cheeks go pink. With her gone, Basil began to unpack more of his things, taking his robe and slippers out.

"Will Basil be needing my room?" Vartan asked, "Am I to be sleeping out here?"

"Oh, no that won't be necessary," Nellie said with a sly grin, draping her arms around Basil's shoulders from behind as he sat, "We wouldn't want to...um...make you sleep on that uncomfortable old sofa."

"Oh dear heavens no," Basil said, putting his hand over one of hers, "I suppose I'll just have to squeeze into bed next to Nellie and hope she doesn't hog the covers."

"Because if I don't you will? I seem to remember a time, oh about four years ago, when you left me chilled to the bone by morning--"

Vartan snickered, "Thank you, Basil and Nellie, I will just go to my bedroom now."

"Very well, Vartan," Nellie said, "See you in the morning."

The two of them exchanged warm smiles, and Basil stood up with a yawn.

"Alright," he said, "Let us, ahem, make our sleeping arrangements then?"

They'd certainly earned a bit of alone time, though they understood this was far from a honeymoon. Come morning, it'd be back to business.