R E N E G A D E

[John Silver]

"If this turns into a bleeding civil war, I'm not wanting any part of this" Silver pipes up from the back of the group. His red colored eye shines brightly in the darkness. "Jasper murdered the king of this land, plan and simple. I'm not saying i want the man to die but this is the lions land, this is there home and cause of this blasted war, is the only reason we are here. I don't know how long Jasper has known Simba, only joined a month or so after Simba died but i do know we should respect the rights and people of this here land." Silver peers over at Nevada still frowning before looking at Zamora. "Me crew and i came 'ere to fight the Blackbloods and Rouges not people on our own side" he growls softly.

-----
Grey Brother lays under the shadows of a nearby tent listening to the group talk. He had little to no intention of helping, for one he didn't know Jasper or his family that well and second his main focus was to keep his brother safe and sound.  

[Mulan]

  It felt like the world was quickly crashing down around them.
 
  Mulan had been invited to this meeting as an act of good faith. Of that she was certain. She trusted Jasper, she believed him to be a man of good judgment. He always had the best intentions of the Freedom Fighters at the forefront of his mind, almost to the point that it was hurting him. She trusted Jasper.

  ...Or at least, she had.

  Now, Mulan hesitated. She could feel herself standing at a precarious ledge, the footing crumbling around her, and her only solace would be to pick a side. But how could she? How do you choose between two groups when you had come to see both as family? Mulan heard the others speaking around her, but their words barely reached her. They were already planning Jasper's escape. They were speaking of corruption, of murder, and of righteous indignation. It didn't feel real.

"Who in the hell do you all think we are, the goddamn Blackblood Legion?"

  Mulan's eyes flicked upward as Flynn took center stage. Her brows furrowed as his words began to cut through the daze. She found herself agreeing with him. This wasn't how the Freedom Fighters work.

"...but that doesn't mean the pride wouldn't."

"You really think that group of self-righteous powderpuffs is going to give him a fair trial...?"

  Had the royal family truly become so corrupt? Mulan's thoughts went back to Kiara, who had shrunk away during Jasper's arrest. She had been so certain at first, but the doubt was clear. Mulan only felt sympathy for the lioness princess, as she too struggled with this newfound uncertainty. Even if the family as a whole had become morally swayed, Mulan couldn't believe the same for each individual in turn. She rose to her feet.

  "If what you say is true, Shani, then I think Flynn Rider is all the more right." Instinct forced her voice to remain level. To control her tone and her breathing in the face of adversity. Mulan stepped forward until she had fallen into place beside the former rogue. "The Freedom Fighters would not wantonly murder him for his transgressions. They... we would not resort to such cruelty and barbarism." 

"If this turns into a bleeding civil war, I'm not wanting any part of this."

  Neither do I, Mulan thought quietly.

[Dhall]

Molten gaze shifts from one human, to a cyborg, to another, growing harder upon each pass. By the time Mulan has added her piece, the smell of incense was beginning to be overwhelmed by the smell of burning. The lax creature shifts slightly, rolling stones pulling her to her full height. It's obvious she's doing her best to be civil, but this is weighing rather heavily on her.


"You're missing the point. We're not trying to start a civil war. Those who stand before you understand that he's killed someone of high importance, certainly, but we have faith he wouldn't do so without proper reason. And there's a cub sitting in front of you, with first-hand knowledge, and you disregard her. She has been told, and she has faith, that we're on borrowed time. They don't want to start a war-- we don't want that. We want to take our leader back. But you know-- we all know --that they won't stand idle if they find out. Like I said, we need to be prepared."


Hardened gaze shifts between the three standing before her.


"If you're not here to prepare with us, I request that you give us space. Go back to your tents, and get rest. You'll either have our corpses to clean up in the morning, or a much more vacant camp to watch over."

[Deleted]

Many voices were speaking at once, conflicting with one another. Some were against charging in and killing their allies, while others demanded they acted now. Rafael felt conflict bubble in his own chest, he wasn't above doing what was purely necessary but he hadn't meant to cause so much trouble. His muzzle wrinkled as the voices around them grew with the tension and confusion bubbled over in his mind. He was acting more like Malik than himself at this point and time and he did not agree to this. His tribe would have been disappointed in him.

However, Shani's voice lulled him out of his own abyss. He looked down at her, his ears drew back, showing off his teeth before he gazed towards the others. Dhall's words rung true, but running on fear would not help and he had started it. With a rough shake of his head, he turned to address Silver and Flynn even though Dhall had done just that. "We do not aim to cause chaos, we want our leader out here and safe, and you're right. We are not the Blackbloods, we are not the Rogues, but we have no idea how deep this corruption runs, I... I do not believe we can trust those we use to call our allies, but I know one thing for certain and that is they will not give them a fair trial. Maybe the child would, Kiara, but she is not in charge. Not from the way her mother looked at her, her brother, Kopa, wants his blood that blonde rat does too. Even if Kiara were to go to his defense, or even Kanzi, it would be two against so many in their pride. He stands no chance." He exhaled roughly before he glanced up at the small geck against Gourmand's pod. "No he would not, he'd be telling us not too but...

"We need to get him out of here, perhaps with no bloodshed, but we need him out. Tonight. If you want to help us, stay, but if you are going to get in our way then leave. We do not want to fight friends, but Jasper is a part of us and we won't let kin die." He then turned his attention abruptly down to his cub. "Now, Shani, you know pride rock. Do you know any way we could get in and out of there without being spotted? Do you know where'd they hold him?"

[Shani]

Shani is once again bombarded by the sounds of many voices. Everyone is talking so much, that it starts to become overwhelming.

Out of the thrall of voices, she heard Huela bring up the thundersticks Boso had mentioned. Offering to make one that would incapacitate instead of kill.

"How quickly could you make one?" She asked, turning her gaze in the direction of the geck, "We don't have a lot of time..."



She then goes silent again as more voices speak up, some agreement, some disagreement. Her ears pinned back as she tries to make sense of the voices all beginning to jumble into one.

Then Dhall speaks up again. Then Rafael. Both putting a stop to the questions and arguments, letting everyone know they don't have time to stand around and shoot the breeze like this.



Rafael then asked her about pride rock, and she shook away the overwhelming feelings, trying to replace them with determination.

She racked her brain, thinking of all the places she knew.

"There's a cave, it's not far from the main cave of pride rock. It's smaller, but it runs deeper into the rock. I think it was used as a holding cell in the past? I know the other cubs and I would play there from time to time, and there's a weak spot in the wall. It would lead out to the rear east side of Pride Rock. We just have to knock out the rocks that were put in place to fill the hole. We might be able to get in and out with few if any of the pride members noticing. They would probably put guards at the entrance to the cave, but not the back."

[The Gourmand]

The Gourmand slowly found himself liking his peers less and less, save maybe the magma creature. A look of irritation gave way to an apathetic eye-roll so exaggerated one would think his eyes had somehow gotten stuck in the back of his head. Oh here we go... Curse these self-righteous hero types and their need to over-complicate things with morals. The warlike merman definitely wasn’t a towering pillar of rightness, but say what you will about him, when given a cause, he gets shit done.

The bickering was completely unhelpful and he was overjoyed when it started to get swat aside.

After casting his eyes down to Huela in a look that could only be described as sheer disappointment, he leaned up and spread his thick arms out to either side of him, briefly taking on an uncharacteristically sassy demeanor.

“Are we done?!”

Tiny slits moved back and forth, almost challengingly. A smile stretched across his face, although one of his eyelids began to quiver, as if he was one more nerve away from exploding.

“What will we do tomorrow when her majesty says ‘death’? Sit there slack-jawed because we spent valuable darkness debating ethics and cowering? We’re planning. Now.”

He tilted his head down again. His expression wasn’t more friendly per say, but it certainly was less on the verge of fury than it had been. The merman took a breath and leaned forward, resting an elbow above the pod’s dashboard. His voice had lowered.

“I have about a dozen guns in my quarters. Most of them are meant to be mounted: too big and heavy to be practical. But I have… five that can be held and concealed easily,” the Gourmand grit his teeth as he continued, “They can be set to a lower power. It will wound the beasts - oh yes... - but it won’t kill.”

Intelligent red eyes looked off into the dark, pondering, before he brought them back to the bodies around him. He drummed his fingers.

“I may suggest a distraction if you doubt the safety of the back entrance. They’ll be expecting the leader’s family to try something. We could play into that expectation. If we can keep their attention at the front of the cave, that would make it easier to creep up on them from behind.”

[Tarzan]

Tarzan had been Listening to the whole conversation going on, and he didn't like were it was going. Hearing Mulan, the woman he spoke to earlier and the man who sort of reminded him of Terk (maybe it was the hair) named Flynn talk about not doing something so drastic helped him settle what he needed to say." The point of this meeting is for nonsense. We fight for something much bigger than ourselves. I am sure Jasper knows that, and i am sure the lions know that. These are their lands, true. and they have invited us here. to do what? Stab them in the back over a Assumption?! It is now if not ever we need to stay united. Jasper's fate may to be exile. But we do NOT kill. nor will they." Tarzan looked towards the Gourmand and felt what could only be hatred. "And one last thing..." He pointed his finger at the Gourmand " Guns will do nothing but cause death. we need to talk to them. Directly. "

[Huela]

The look of disappointment The Gourmand gives the tiny creature is enough to collapse the last bit of confidence Huela’s got. She visibly shrinks back, sliding from the side of the pod and down to the ground. There’s an odd air to the creature, as it seems Tarzan’s words are lost to her.

“Th... thirty minutes. They can be printed in thirty minutes. I’ll.... I’ll get to work on that.”

There’s a rasp to the creature, like a scream trying to escape. It was so easy for the others to say they were ready to fight. A lion couldn’t swallow them whole. And the creature she’d been looking towards for safety seemed so upset with her...

The little Geck slips from the group, heading back towards camp in obvious distress.

[Dhall]

There’s a wild noise as Tarzan puts in his piece, as stone and fire roll and coil over themselves rapidly. It’s a motion of annoyance, like the rattling of a snake’s tail. Broad fingers press against the bridge of a stony nose, form shifting angrily.

“One of these days, you people are going to listen to the words spoken to you, or it’s going to get you killed. There is no assumption, and there is no time. You all sing the praises of putting faith in rulers that aren’t yours, yet when an ally tells you someone’s going to die before the sunrise, and the corruption runs deep, and she’s got first hand knowledge, suddenly you shouldn’t trust anyone! Suddenly it’s all assumptions! This is a meeting of action, and you were all invited here on good faith. If you’d rather pick flowers and talk about your feelings, then get the hell out, or I’ll remove you myself. And don’t think royal hands are above drawing blood in the process.”

What calm countenance observed them previously was now twisted into anger. Some of these mortals were like talking to a wall, and it was about to drive her insane. Stone fingers drag against temples that don’t truly exist, and fiery eyes snap to the four family members.

“I must agree with our aquatic friend here. If they’re expecting any resistance, it will be from you four. If we arm and armor you proper, would you be willing to sort out a distraction?”

[Flynn Rider]

Tensions rose. That was to be expected, he did barge in and basically call them out on their entire plan. And what had been mentioned to Flynn was true; the forces involved are all biased. The royal family now had a killer they could pin the murder of their patriarch; Jasper's tribe had to deal with the imprisonment of their leader. No one could enter this thing with a completely clear head. Hell, not even Rapunzel and him.

You know, maybe I do have a clear head. I just don't think they'd trust me to run a justice system. 

"If what you say is true, Shani, then I think Flynn Rider is all the more right...The Freedom Fighters would not wantonly murder him for his transgressions. They... we would not resort to such cruelty and barbarism." "If this turns into a bleeding civil war, I'm not wanting any part of this." "The point of this meeting is for nonsense. We fight for something much bigger than ourselves. I am sure Jasper knows that, and I am sure the lions know that... Guns will do nothing but cause death. we need to talk to them. Directly. "

Emotion ran strong through Flynn’s whole body, but his face remained strong (Hey, nothing’s more important than a fake reputation). The fact that Silver, that Tarzan guy and the incredibly admirable Mulan had seemed to take his point of view was not only invigorating, it was an honest relief. It made his almost rant, almost confession feel worthwhile. He looked at Mulan and nodded respectfully. He could see she was someone he could trust and agree with.

That’s when Nevada snarled and Dhani burned red hot.

"You really think that group of self-righteous powder puffs is going to give him a fair trial now they know he was behind Simba's assassination?  If you're not going to help then leave." "One of these days, you people are going to listen to the words spoken to you, or it’s going to get you killed. There is no assumption, and there is no time. You all sing the praises of putting faith in rulers that aren’t yours, yet when an ally tells you someone’s going to die before the sunrise, and the corruption runs deep, and she’s got first-hand knowledge, suddenly you shouldn’t trust anyone!... If you’d rather pick flowers and talk about your feelings, then get the hell out, or I’ll remove you myself. And don’t think royal hands are above drawing blood in the process.”

Nevada’s cold glare and sharp words, followed with a swift and even more hostile retort from Dhall rang in Flynn’s ears. If you’re not with us, you’re an enemy waiting to be trampled over, and tonight we strike...whether or not you are out of the way or out of this life. Flynn looked to the people who had shared his sentiments. Then he looked again at the Gourmand, Rafael, Shani, and Dhall.

Suddenly Flynn started to laugh.

No warning, no signs, just a genuine burst of chuckles that brightened the rogue's complexion. He laughed for a short time, before wiping a tear from his eye and looking the molten crevices he assumed (hopefully rightfully) were the eyes of the angry molten queen. "This is..." 

Another burst of laughter.

"Do you all see this? I'm a former expert thief who swore his life to a princess with magic powers from the sun, being threatened by a literal walking volcano, a merman who floats of the ground, a giant talking saber-toothed cat and an angry little lioness who also talks, about the politics of lions in Africa. This is ...Folks, I didn't even know magic was real until a year or so back. Now it's slammed in my face, I'm surrounded by it everywhere I look, and it challenges everything I know. But it doesn't change facts. Just because the fiery volcano queen is ready to, I don't know, explode and melt me down to nothing but ash, doesn't change that I am willing to fight and die for a fair trial and a fair judgment."

The fist re-clenched. Tight. "I'll march up the goddamn rock and prostrate myself before the Council, before Nala, hell, before all of them. I do anything it takes in order to remove bias."

Eugene threw his hands into the air. "Y'know, I'm just gonna come out and say this since everyone is being so forward today. You guys are just as biased as the lions you say are corrupt. I already said I can't do anything to stop you, I just want you to stop and think! What happens if you're caught? What happens if you DON'T get caught? Where do you go? Defect to the Rogues? I'm not sure they respect traitors and turncoats who attack and injure on points of corruption...Sounds more like the Blackbloods to me."

A part of him wanted to point out that these... these renegades could side with the people they trusted enough to kill Simba, but enough harshness had already been thrown by the plotting faction. Someone had to try and be more civil.

"So? What's your plan?"