This Sub was much grander than Professor Calculus'. It was ten times as big. The inside was designed almost like a ship. The hall ways seamed ominous as rugged men dragged the group toward the control room.
The door slammed open and they threw the two in as one dropped Snowy in an old crate.
"Hello, Tintin, Rowen. How nice of you-"
"Don't start with me Rastapopoulos! I demand you return that scepter and free us immediately! And that wasn't a yes or no question it was an order!" Rowen fumed.
Tintin grasped her hand gently and pulled her next to him as Rastapopoulos stood from his seat. His sickening smile made the girl's stomach flip. Thick footsteps echoed as he paced over to the pare.
"You stupid girl. I have won. The scepter is mine. You are in no position to give orders. Tomorrow we will reach MY new country and, as king, I will have you both executed!" He screamed in her face.
Tintin jumped in front of her, "The Captain will know something's wrong. He'll find us or Interpol! We've got nothing to fear! You, however, have every right to be terrified."
Rastapopoulos bellowed a hearty laugh,"Yes! A drunk old fool will come to the rescue! Or perhaps the bumbling twins! No! No! Even better! The deaf professor!"
"He's not deaf! Just hearing sensitive," Rowen rebutted.
"Yes, well, none of that matters. Tomorrow you die. Allow me to give you a nice place to think about what you have done in you short lives."
*********
"Well, at least there are no rats."
The dim cell was barely the size of a restaurant bathroom. Snowy sat next to his friend and whined quietly. Tintin had positioned himself across from the door with no intent of moving. Rowen was pacing and trying to be positive.
She was getting fed up with the actionless Tintin," Gosh! Would you do something already! I can't take much more of this. All these cells are getting to me." She slid down the wall next to him and Snowy.
"I did," he smirked. Not turning his head.
"What?"
"I sent a distress signal. The Captain must have locked onto our coordinates and is tracking us. The men haven't moved the sub from the ship, to my knowledge, so we'll be fine. Our friends will find us."
Rowen leaned on his shoulder and sighed. "You're brilliant!"
"I know." He laughed placing his head atop hers. Snowy curled up in Rowens lap.
An hour of silence passed before he spoke again. "Thank you."
She frowned, confused. "Why?"
"You where there for me. Like a real friend. After we got the Professor you could have left on the fisher trawler and gone home. The only other people to stick by me like that are Captain Haddix and my friend Chang."
"What about the twin police men?"
"Well, they have to stand by the law and I sometimes don't abide by it. Also, they get scared easily." He laughed.
"I see... And thank you for helping me. I know it'll be a great story."
"I didn't just do it for the story, you know?"
She moved to look at him. He was watching her intently. "I really liked you. You had guts and some of the moral ideals I wish to uh old in this crumbling world. Then I opened up o you and you didn't change your opinion of me from my down falls."
She smiled up at him. "I'm going to admit, I wasn't your biggest fan. Even when you have me your shoes the first morning I thought you put itching powder in them. But as I got to know you, I saw how truly amazing you were."
"Thank you. And there's something you need to know."
"... Alright."
"You told me about your family but I never told you about mine. I've never told anyone this... except the Captain."
"I won't say a word till you're through. And only tell me as much as your comfortable with."
He sighed. " I was little when I told my father I wanted to be a police detective like him. He taught me everything he knew. A few years later my mom, bother and I were making dinner when father told us we had to hide. He had put a street gangs leader in jail for life sentence. They weren't happy.
My older brother took me with him to the cellar of the home, while mom cover its entrance with an old rug. My parents hid in the attic. Not long after we heard loud voices and banging up stairs. Then screams that fallowed give me nightmares. My parents died that day. One member found the hidden door. Before he could open up, Theo hid me under a couple sacks of flower. I was a teenager then and it took too long to place all the sacks atop me. He didn't have time to find a place to hide. They took him. Then the police arrived.
I wrote a whole story about that day and it was published in the local paper. Hoping that someone had seen something, I sent it to the biggest paper around. But nothing came of either.
A few weeks later I spotted a man wearing my brothers cap. I fallowed him. Caught the gang and wrote my first real story about it. Eventually, trouble came naturally and I was happy to flow with it. Sometime I still think I can find him. But..." He paused.
"But you don't really think you can."
Tintin nodded solumly. The quiet ate away at them. Rowen pulled him into a hug as silent tears trickled down his cheeks. A gentle hand rubbed his shoulder as he tried to stay manly.
"We will find him, You, the Captain and me, If it takes an eternity." Rowen input.
He only nodded. The tears were becoming all to real and his shoulders occasionally shook. He found himself pulled in tighter. The realization that someone else, besides the Captain, had pledged to be there for him practically forever made him feel warm again.
"It not tough to hold back tears. It's human to feel pain. It's okay to cry to me." She cooed.
For the first time in many years, Tintin had a good long cry.
