Even though things were bad enough for Wildfall and MK in the first piece, it gets worse here!

 
Mary and Wildfall have so far successfully evaded Boss Bat, Baron Von Ratsworth and a plant wielding stranger, but were attacked by a swarm of bats on their way back to the town of MexiCaliVada. They had to fight of the bats until they could find a place to hide in hopes of losing them and have found a couple trash cans to hide behind for now, doing their best to keep quiet and stay hidden as swarms of bats flew by.

Wildfall trembled. No doubt his previous experiences with bats had colored his expectations for this time around.

Mary touched Wildfall to get his attention and mouthed, "What do we do now?" since she was worried the bats would hear her whisper and give away their hiding place.

Wildfall shrugged, still clearly worried, and ducked down further. A few painfully tense minutes passed by as the two stayed crouched, watching the hordes of bats darken the streets in front of them, but finally they let up. With a sigh of relief, Wildfall and Mary finally carefully looked towards the rest of the alley.

The alleyway was pretty clear of any other possible hiding areas so they had to plan their next moves carefully to avoid being seen. There were still some buildings on each side of the alley and Mary could see many had door openings. She motioned to Wildfall, who looked over and nodded. The two crawled quickly towards the closest door, keeping as quiet as they could.

The building they crawled into was a large abandoned warehouse looking place with nothing left inside for cover. The only things Mary saw in there was a bunch of spiderwebs and rats that just stared at the couple before running off. No sooner had they entered the building, then the bats had doubled back. Some zoned in on our couple.

Wildfall motioned for Mary to be quiet and still as the bats swooped around. Luckily, only a couple thought to make their way into the warehouse building, where Mary and Wildfall quickly punched them out as they entered. Wildfall had his solid oak knucks to help while Mary relied only on her fists.

Wildfall finally felt safe enough to whisper to Mary, "With all those bats, it's gonna prove a real pain tryin' to find a hiding spot."

Mary nodded and whispered, "I know but as close as these buildings are to each other, I wonder if that door to our left leads into the next building. We might be able to get in there and find something to hide behind or in and wait them out till they go away. What do you think?"

"What? Oh." Wildfall shrugged, focusing his attention back on Mary. "Worth a shot, I guess. Lead the way, Mary."

Mary started toward the doorway, cautiously opening the door praying it didn't squeak, and stopped abruptly causing Wildfall to crash into her. Whispering she said, "Jarlsy, remember you saying you messed up earlier? Well I think I did one better than that. I think I just took us from the frying pan into the fire. . . look!!" With that Mary quietly stooped down and pointed to a room of sleeping bats.

Wildfall slowly shook his head, hoping the rustling of his hair wouldn't wake the bats up. "Let's just go back the other way and let maid service wake 'em up later, honey."

Mary nodded, easing the door shut as they quietly retraced their steps, their hands already trembling. As they did, they quickly saw a trio of bats floating mid-air, watching them. The bats took off as soon as Wildfall and Mary registered their presence.

"Crap," Wildfall said, panicking. "Cra-cra-crap. Best bet now might be to get out of here and find somewhere else to vanish to, MK!"

Without need for further discussion, the two darted out of the building, giving only minimal attention to keeping quiet. After all, they'd already been seen. Mary started to run towards the street when Wildfall grabbed her arm, pulling her back and soundlessly pointing towards a ladder. Mary looked confused, but went up it anyway, with Wildfall close behind her. She ducked down as she made room for him to get up. When Wildfall went to stand, she grabbed his arm, motioning for him to stay low.

Being as the two were keeping quiet, they had no problem hearing the screeching of dozens or hundreds of bats flying around the small village, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Then beyond that noise was another, even more disturbing noise - the sickening sound of children and adults alike screaming at the sudden influx of bats into the village.

Climbing the ladder to the roof and keeping on all fours, Wildfall turned to Mary, also on her hands and knees, to ask, "What in the near holy name of our Ireland's Lost Saints is going on down there?"

Mary placed a finger to his lips and whispered, "Keep it to a whisper; bats have extraordinarily good hearing."

"Sorry," Wildfall whispered, frowning. "Didn't think we were important enough for a whole battalion of. . . I mean a whole bat battalion. So what is going on?"

"I can hear . . ." Mary spoke at a normal voice at first and struggled to keep her voice down as she frantically answered Wildfall. "I can hear lots of screaming and see some fighting going on down there around one of the tents. The town is in trouble, honey."

Wildfall gently pulled her back, making sure she kept low. "Gotta get a plan first, honey. We're just up here to get a view of the next place to go. Don't worry. We'll help 'em. Somehow."

"What are we going to do? We have to get down there and help them!" Mary frantically looked around for a way down and was about to bolt away, but Wildfall still had a grip on her arm.

"Where are the bats weak?" Wildfall whispered, starting to worry himself. There were a lot of them. "There's probably going to be rats next, thanks to our old buddy Ratsworth. Just stay calm, Mary. We've been through worse. Stay focused on the next objective; figuring the safest spot to head down."

Wildfall paused, ducking and pulling Mary down near the side of the roof in a shadowy area. The two rolled with her landing on top of him but the bats, by maybe fate and fortune alone, passed by with the two unnoticed.

Mary realized where she had landed and blushed, started to get up but relaxed and laid there, listening to everything going on while trying to get an idea of what was available to them from the rooftop.

Wildfall closed his eyes, listening for a few moments, trying to sort out what was going on without exposing himself. Considering Mary was on top of him, Wildfall figured that might have a couple meanings but he pushed that thought out of his mind to focus on the moment. "Hmm.. sounds worse in the distance than it does here, MK. But if we can find somewhere to get to the ground safely. . . . I have no idea."

"I hear music down there where most of the screaming is coming from," Mary whispered as she raised up to peek over the edge of the short roof wall.

Wildfall glanced up at her with his best "Are you crazy?" look, but instead he softly advised her, "Careful . . ."

Mary nodded, ducked back down and whispered, "As best I can see and tell, it looks like the bats are attacking the town. Seems the music down there is confusing them and they are attacking anything that moves. That must be why the band is still playing, to keep the bats confused."

Wildfall's eyes light up with a gleam. "Then I guess I'm takin' you to a concert, babe. And I think I see the way down when you're ready to run for it."

"Since you see the way out, you take the lead; I have your back," Mary whispered back, getting off him. Wildfall glanced around, trying to time his moment just right and grabbed her hand.

The two took off, darting for the door. It wasn't a short trip but as they got near the door, the giant form of the Renaissance Giant rose over the wall, looking directly at them. He attempted to slam his hand down on the two but Wildfall pulled back, throwing himself and Mary Kate out of the path of the Giant's hand.

His hand was almost as big and fat as Mary and Wildfall combined!

"Fools!" the Renaissance Giant called out. "Knaves! Charlatans!"

Mary was instantly pissed off and without even thinking about it, she yelled, "Hey FAT HAND, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

"You knave! You tiny troublemakers hath begun to destroy my town!" The Giant winced as he lifted his hand up and snarled as he observed the damage to the roof. "Gazeth upon'ith the damage thine foolishness hath done to this roof! Thou doest not have the right to cometh here and ruinith my town."

"Dude," Wildfall called out. "That was your hand!"

"I careth not!" The giant made a fist and slammed it down on Wildfall, but Mary pulled him to the side at the last minute. The Renaissance Giant winced and flexed his hand, trying to relieve the pain.

Mary reached down and picked up a large piece of debri, looking at Wildfall still holding his shillelagh, she nodded and pointed to the Giant's hand. "NOW!!" Mary yelled as she slammed the debri down on the Giant's hand at the same time that Wildfall slammed his weapon on the hand.

Both of them ran past the Giant to the nearest door, not giving the Giant time to realize what was happening other than he had a terrible pain in his hand. Before the Giant could make another swing at the couple, they were out of his sight and he stood there holding his aching hand.

Holding his hand, the Giant roared, "DAMMITH YOU, YOU WENCH!!! I willth findth you and smashith you to dustith."

Meanwhile, Wildfall and Mary Kate found themselves in a long, nondescript hallway with several doors which lead to another set of stairs. Only a couple of random paintings dotted the wall - two faded and worn watercolor paintings of the local landscapes, done mostly in browns and shades of yellow.

Again holding Mary's hand, Wildfall glanced towards the staircase. "Guess we better get down and see if it's safe to get on the streets before -"

Just then, the building shook as something obviously hit the side of the building, causing Wildfall and Mary to stumble, shocked.

As Mary stumbled she instinctively reached out to grab hold of Wildfall and with a frightened look on her face and a quiver in her voice, she asked, "Are we g-g-g-going to die in here?"

Wildfall pulled her close and hugged her tight. "Naw, I always pictured us dying in somewhere colder. We'll be fine, we just gotta get out of here or hope fathands gives up." He give her a kiss on the forehead, hoping to distract her. "Fathands, I love that one, honey, very nice. Ready to go help the band out?"

"Yea but don't know what we can do to help out a band. I don't play any kind of an instrument, but I can swing a mean frying pan I guess," replied Mary as she let Wildfall lead her toward the sound of the music. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any more attacks from the Giant on the building but Wildfall and Mary Kate weren't waiting around to see if he started up again or not.

See? Told ya! It's a shame we don't get to see the giant used more in AIL, as he makes quite a unique challenge. Of course, in her time, Sassy Snake dealt with a giant all her own, but that's another story.

With two pieces down, it's time to see someone else's story- SnowCatCuties! Check out the next piece to see the next twist in her dealings with the town and the mysterious Dr. Vince Valour!