BRUTUS was elated to see Marty. “Well, welcome aboard.” he said, “I don’t know how you got here so fast but it’s good to see you again.”
“Cut the pleasantries, Brutus.” said Marty, “I’m here to secure the release of Calpurnia and the two boys.”
“Well it seems to me that you’ve helped yourself to them already.” said Brutus.
“And now that I did, me and my companions would like to take our leave of you.” said Marty.
“Not so fast, butthead.” said Brutus, “Not so fast. I’ve got a score to settle with you.”
“Yeah.” said Marty, “Like what?”
“You know what.” said Brutus, “The damage you caused when I crashed my chariot into the manure cart.”
“Well you’re supposed to pay attention to where you were going.” said Marty, “Not to where I was going.”
“Are you telling me how to ride a chariot?” demanded Brutus.
“No.” said Marty, “I’m telling you to stop blaming someone else for something that was your fault.”
“Oh I see.” said Brutus as he reached for the hilt of his sword, “We’ll see about that. Draw your sword.”
Sword? said Marty to himself. Then, he realized that he was in one of the soldiers uniform and it had a sword attached to it. So he said “No!”
“No?” exclaimed Brutus.
“You heard me Brutus.” said Marty, “What’s the matter with you? I said no. Are you deaf and stupid?” Turning to Calpurnia and the boys, he said “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are four going?” demanded Brutus.
“Off this ship.” said Marty.
“Do you know how far you four are from shore?”
“Hey, if there’s a will, there’s a way.”
“There is, huh.” said Brutus, “Do you know what? I don’t think you want a sword fight with me. Know why? Because you’re a chicken!”
The word “chicken” hit Marty real hard. He turned around and approached Brutus.
++++++
At the port of Aternum, the ships were being boarded for the trip across the Adriatic as Antony and Octavius were talking to the captain of one of the vessels.
“Let me get this straight.” said the captain, “I don’t care if you’re on a rescue mission for Zeus. I just don’t want you to put those horses on my ship anymore unless you want me to raise the rates.”
“Why would we endeavor in doing such a thing?” asked Antony.
“Because the last time I allowed them on board,” said the captain, “I had the cleaning crew be paid extra.”
Immediately, Octavius intervened. “You will allow those horses on your ship or I’ll have you demoted.” he said.
“Very well.” said the captain. And then, to himself, he said Wait ‘til I join a union you twerp.
++++++
Abruptly, Marty said “Nobody calls me chicken.”
“Then prove it.” said Brutus.
Marty paused. It’s been months since he learned that getting upset over being called a chicken almost eventually cost him Jennifer and nearly resulted in him crashing into Jan’s new gallery. But now that resentment was starting to surge again.
“Alright.” he said, “I’ll prove it.”
“Marty.” pleaded Jules but Marty wouldn’t listen to him. However, the lad noticed that Marty was dangling the keys to the DeLorean from his hand.
“On one condition.” Marty went onto say.
“Name it.” said Brutus.
“That Calpurnia and the two boys are allowed to go their way.”
Brutus laughed. “How can they leave this barge?” he asked, “We’re a kilometer off the shore.”
“Take the boat to shore when you get the chance.” suggested Marty, “Just leave them be.”
Meanwhile, Jules was noticing why Marty was dangling the keys. It was his was of saying Jules, take the keys, take your brother and Calpurnia to the DeLorean and get the hell out of here. So he quietly took the keys from him.
“Very well.” said Brutus, “They may leave.”
“You heard him.” said Marty to his companions “Go!”
Reluctantly, the three left. Once done, the two combatants drew their swords and started fighting.
++++++
Once on deck, Verne asked his brother “Where’s the DeLorean?”
“Good guess.” said Jules, “He had me take the keys from him. But I don’t see it unless, oh yes. It’s been cloaked. All we have to do is feel our way to it.”
Just then, a voice was heard.
“Hey, the hostages, They’ve escaped.”
The trio turned to see soldiers with their swords drawn charging after them.
Calpurnia put her hand out and said “Stop! Brutus has agreed to our freedom.”
The men laughed. “Since when does the descendant of the mighty Junius Brutus agree to granting freedom to the widow of a would-be king and his two heirs?”
“Was it not agreed that if Rome was to see me and the two boys alive again Charlton Heston had to come alone or we would’ve perished?” demanded Calpurnia, “He did. So a deal is a deal.”
“I know.” said one of the soldiers, “I’m the one who put the note on the pillow. And it read ‘see them alive’. Well, he did. Which means that you three won’t die first. It’ll be Heston. Guards! Attach some weight to them and throw them overboard.”
The three looked at each other in fear. Then, Verne asked “What are we going to do?’
“Leave it up to me.” said Calpurnia, “I’ll create a diversion while you two look for that time chariot.”
“DeLorean.” whispered Jules, “It’s a DeLorean.”
“Just go, Jules.” whispered Calpurnia .
He and his brothers did. However, they were stopped by some men with a couple of millstones in their hands.
“Where are you two boys going?” asked one of the men.
“Oh, come on.” said Calpurnia, “Leave them alone. They’re only kids. You don’t want to drown little innocent boys will you?”
“Ma’am.” said one of the men, “Our orders are to kill you and the heirs of your husband Julius Caesar.”
Calpurnia approached the man who said that and said “Now you wouldn’t do that to a lady would you?”
“No ma’am. Not on my own free will. But I’m following orders…”
“What’s a nice handsome man like you working for a couple of losers like Brutus and Cassius?” asked Calpurnia. Then, she turned to the rest and started to get mushy with them saying “In fact, all of you are nice guys. You don’t want to work for the men who murdered my husband do you?”
Jules and Verne began to notice the attention that the shipmates were giving to Calpurnia that they became oblivious to the possibility that the two would escape if ignored.
So Jules whispered “Let’s go Verne.”
“Right with you, Jules.” said Verne, “But what about Calpurnia and Marty?”
“One thing at a time, Verne.” said Jules as they started to sneak away and started to look for the DeLorean.
Then, a voice was heard.
“Hey, the kids are getting away.”
Immediately, Jules and Verne turned to run only to bump into something invisible. It was the DeLorean! Then, Jules noticed something else. The sleep inducer was attached to the key chain
“I hope dad fixed it for wide field ranges.” said Verne.
“There’s only one way to find out.” said Jules as he made some adjustments on the device as the men got closer. They were upon them when he whipped it out and fired.
It worked!
Immediately, the men fell to the floor of the deck. At once, Jules and Verne got in the DeLorean and disappeared.
More soldiers arrived at where the two boys were last seen and asked “Where did they go?”
Then a strange noise was heard. It was a sound that the soldiers never heard before. It sounded like a roar of a lion but more vicious. Then a draft was felt after which something invisible struck one of the soldiers knocking him to the ground. And there they were. Sitting in chairs as if suspended in midair were the two boys who made off. They were sitting in some hole in the air like a doorway. But what was holding it up?
“Yeah!” cried out one of the youngsters.
The soldiers were awestruck by what they were seeing.
After closing the door again, Verne asked “Now what’s next?”
“We fly back to get Calpurnia.” said Jules, “Knock out some more men and we pick up Marty.”
He steered the car towards the group holding Caesar’s widow.
Calpurnia realized that the distraction cause by the two boys actions had diverted their attention away from her enabling her to remove a sword from the scabbard of one of her captors and started swinging it around knocking down several of them with the flat of it.
“Sorry boys.” she said, “I’d like to keeping being mushy with you all day but since I have a chance to escape, I’d better take advantage of it or I’ll overstay my welcome here.”
The men drew their swords and started after her. But she fought back and it became a swordfight. However, the men had the numbers and she was being overpowered.
Jules and Verne were in the DeLorean watching the drama below.
“Jules.” said Verne, “We’ve gotta do something. We can’t leave Marty and Calpurnia here.”
“We’re not.” said Jules, “Watch this.”
He pushed the button to the cloaking device. Immediately the car de-cloaked.
“Look!” said one of the men attacking Calpurnia.
The others did.
“What madness is this?” exclaimed one of them, “A huge floating object appearing out of nowhere.”
Calpurnia looked up and was elated. “Those are my friend.” she said as she smacked one of the men across the mouth. “And that’s for sword fighting a lady.” she said.
Jules stuck his head out of the car and said “Calpurnia. Get as far away from the men as you can. I’ll get between them and you.”
Calpurnia paused. Then she nodded affirmatively. She found an opening in the crowd of men and took advantage. The men pursued. Then, Jules lowered the DeLorean landing it between Calpurnia and her pursuers. Then, he whipped out the sleep inducer and tried the wide field range again. At once, the men fell to the floor of the deck.
“Nice going, Jules.” said Calpurnia.
Jules opened the door saying “Get in.” And Calpurnia did.
Once inside, Calpurnia asked “What about Marty?”
“Leave that up to me.” said Jules as he steered the car towards the opening from which they escaped, “Verne, you stay here with Calpurnia while I go find Marty.”
“But I want to go, too.” insisted Verne.
“Verne.” said Jules, “I can’t risk both of us going in there for Marty. Now, if I’m not back in five minutes, get into the drivers seat, set the ‘Destination Location’ for Rome and take Calpurnia to safety.”
Immediately, he got out with Verne protesting “Jules wait!”
“Just do it.” said Jules as he headed to the entrance only to be greeted by more of Brutus’s men. “Uh-oh.” he said.
Just then, a spear hit the deck. Jules and the men fronting him turned to see an armada of ships appearing in the harbor with men throw spears and shooting fiery arrows at them.
“We’re under attack!” said one of the men.
In the DeLorean, Verne got out the binoculars and looked out.
“What is it?” asked Calpurnia.
“A bunch of soldiers firing at us.” said Verne.
“Let me see.” said Calpurnia as she took the binoculars from the boy.
Verne saw that Calpurnia had a hard time trying them so he guided her. Putting his hand on the them, he showed her how to use them by positioning the eyepieces to her eyes. With the proper use, she scanned the vessels with them. And then, she came across one of them.
“Mark Antony.” she said, “and Octavius Caesar. They found us.”
Immediately, she tried to get out of the car but Verne held her back. “Wait a minute.” he said. Sticking his head out of the window, he said to Jules “Jules, it’s the cavalry! They’ve come to the rescue.”
“Antony.” muttered one of the soldiers, “Go warn Brutus. The rest of you grab the boy.”
Immediately, Jules ran back to the DeLorean, got in, activated the cloaking device and lifted off.
While they were hovering, some of the soldiers stood in the spot where the car was and asked each other, “Where did he and that thing go?”
They had no time to ask each other more questions as the armada was upon them.
++++++
Down below decks, the swordfight between Marty and Brutus were interrupted by sudden thudding. Then, one of Brutus’s men showed up.
“My lord.” he said, “Mark Antony and Octavius have arrived with a fleet of ships.”
“Antony and Octavius here?” asked Brutus. Turning to Marty he said “Heston! Didn’t I tell you not to bring Antony and Octavius along with you?”
Marty was startled. “I didn’t.” he said, “They must’ve been talking to your wife.”
“That’s it.” said Brutus. Turning to the soldier who brought the word, he said “Find Calpurnia and those two boys and kill them.”
“Yes, my lord.” said the soldier and he left.
Marty looked up at the entranceway hoping that the three had found the DeLorean and escaped.