I am back, and I'm making one hell of an effort to catch up on all the requests I've been putting off for far too bloody long. Guys, seriously, I am sorry. But we're halfway there, I only have like, four or five more requests to hack my way though? Thank the ever so patient and awesome BlueBubblegumBubble for today's request fic, your daily dose of super villains Bubbline.
Content Warning: implied sexiness, bad language, nudity, injury, gratuitously awful super-persona nicknames. And a scene that might make arachnophobes shudder in horror.
It was well known by everyone within the organisation that the boss' daughter absolutely despised their new head of research and development. At first they'd managed to stay more or less civil towards each other; maybe there was a little tension there but no more than would be expected between two ambitious young women trying to climb to the top of their career paths. Everyone agreed Abadeer had the connections, since her father was their boss, but Sugar had the talent and raw ambition. And once they had to work closely on a new super-secret project together the tension exploded into open warfare, so much so that Hunson had more than one moment of regret at teaming them up. Still, they were his best and brightest. He would do Marceline no favours if he continued to coddle her and only keep her around people she felt comfortable with. Being able to work with anyone no matter how objectionable was important for any supervillian. He tried to keep that in the forefront of his mind as he surveyed the trashed lab equipment.
"If there are any more incidents like this I will be forced to reassign you both. Do you understand me?" he asked them coldly. Sugar's eyes were glued to the floor in shame and her cheeks had been flushed with embarrassment before he'd even been called to the room. Marceline was staring at him defiantly, chin raised and mouth set into a hard line very much like his own. His eyes fixed on her and she stared him down for a moment before huffing and looking away.
"Yes, Daddy." she muttered angrily.
"Sir, not Daddy. We're at work, sweetheart. Try to use your big girl voice, and please be a little friendlier with people. You'll always be Daddy's little monster but other people need to see what a capable young woman you can be." he relented, sparing a smile for her. He'd been just the same at her age, full of eager ambition and a hot headed need to prove himself. Hunson had high hopes for his daughter, he just needed to give her the opportunities and environment to come to those decisions for herself. He strode from the lab with a sigh, determined to get back to his evil scheming before the day was completely wasted.
"Has he gone?" Bonnie asked quietly after a silence that stretched twenty heartbeats. Marcy craned her neck to peer out of the small window in the lab door.
"Yup. Right back to his paperwork. Fucking hell, that was close."
The two women collapsed into each other's arms with eager kisses and giggles, relief at not getting caught making them dizzy.
"No more fumbling in the lab." Bonnie admonished when she felt nimble fingers trying to work loose her belt again. "He's gonna go ballistic if he catches us fucking in here, not to mention it's a violation of a thousand different health and safety protocols."
"You mean if he catches us fucking in here again. We're lucky that those security guys have as much brain power as your average banana. You'll come by my place tonight instead then?" Marcy pressed.
"Of course. Now get out of my lab, I still have to test the invisibility serum. Can't have The Golden Idiots arrest you on your biggest hit now, can we?"
Marcy smirked and pressed one last lingering kiss to her girlfriend's sweet lips before she turned and headed out of the door. Sooner or later her father would discover that his little monster was getting incredibly freaky with the bright young thing he'd hired to cover the science parts of their operation and he'd probably not take that so well since he barely trusted Marceline to choose her own breakfast cereal, let alone take a lover. But they'd deal with that when they had to. And besides sneaking around just made it that much hotter. The first time they'd been walked in on in a compromising embrace she'd managed to slide a hand around Bonnie's throat and make it look like they'd been caught trying to murder each other and since that was a totally acceptable pastime for a couple of ambitious young villains people had accepted it without much question. It made perfect sense why the redhead wanted to keep it a secret too; if anyone found out she was fucking the boss' daughter then they'd never believe she was achieving anything on her own merits. And Bonnie was the most frighteningly intelligent person Marceline had ever met, it would be criminal for her talents to go unrecognised.
It probably wasn't as exciting as people imagined but she ended up having to take the subway home; junior villains didn't earn a ridiculous fortune no matter how rich their fathers were or how glamorous the comic books made her job look. Even if she had owned a fancy car she'd still end up stuck in the rush hour traffic so it was just as easy to blend in with the rest of the commuters. It wasn't her favourite way to get around the place but she had a cover to maintain and average-Joes took the subway. Marcy entertained herself on the way by reading a breathlessly written article in the free city-wide newspaper about her father's nemeses, Wonder Boy and his faithful sidekick The Hound. They were a couple of would-be heroes who ran around in stupid outfits trying to prevent crimes and Marcy especially had had a lot of fun hanging out with their daytime personas, Finn and Jake. All the while she was laughing behind their backs because they had no idea she knew who they were and they thought she was just a nice girl who lived in the same building. Little did they know she was actually Lady Evil, the heir to the biggest supercriminal organisation for hundreds of miles and the daughter of their sworn nemesis, assigned to watch and report on their movements by her father and if possible seduce them into revealing their weaknesses. That had been an especially awkward conversation and she immediately ignored that aspect of the plan; no way was she letting Finn stick his gross tongue down her throat, not even in the name of crime. It had taken months for her to get an apartment down the hall from them and establish her cover as a struggling musician who needed some strong guys to help her move her stuff in. And she'd been reporting back on their movements ever since; they thought she went to a recording studio every day when she was actually at her father's evil organisational headquarters planning strategy and illegal deeds. She just liked fucking with them. The whole thing was a huge game of cat and mouse. At least, it was until she finally reached the solitude of her apartment and opened the top secret briefing her father had given her that morning.
"Mother fucker." Marcy whispered to herself in shock as she looked through the paperwork. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick message to Bonnie:
daddy wants F+J taken out fml this isnt funny anymore
…
"So what are you gonna do?" Bonnie finally asked that night when she'd gotten her breath back, rolling onto her front and pulling the sheets up to cover at least a little of her naked ass. Marcy took a moment to appreciate that perfectly round peach-butt, still sporting her faint pink hand print, before she lit up her cigarette, took a drag, and blew it out the open window into the night. The city glittered below her, full of innocent people who didn't have to face assassinating their friends. Lucky bastards.
"Well I'm not gonna kill them. Fuck, that's taking it too far. We're... if there's no good guys to outsmart then what's the point, you know? And Finn and Jake, they're good guys. They're nice guys, you know? I met Jake's girlfriend last week, she's pregnant with their first baby. I can't kill him. I can't kill Finn, we play video games together sometimes. How the fuck am I supposed to fix this?"
"That sounds a little militant, you thinking of playing for the other team?"
"I've been playing for the other for years. Or do I need to get you screaming my name again to prove my point?" Marcy asked with a ghost of her wicked smile lingering on her lips. Bonnie sighed and stretched out, thrilled at the way the other woman's eyes tracked her curves and definitely ready to stop talking again for a while.
"I could use the reminder." she purred, sliding a hand suggestively down her chest. "Are you gonna finish that smoke and come back to bed?"
It took a lot to wear Bonnie out; the secret military experimentation she'd been subjected to before she'd escaped and wound up with their band of misfits and outlaws had taken care of that. It also meant she was more or less impervious to damage so long as she could get the missing body part back in place quickly enough, it just stuck back onto her like she was a reverse chameleon. But despite being thoroughly spent and exhausted by the time her lover was finally tired enough to sleep Marceline stayed awake, staring at the ceiling and thinking.
There were two things that were certain in her life. That yes, she was Evil but she wouldn't kill a friend in cold blood just because she was ordered to; she wasn't thoughtless. And that it was suicide to cross her father. It didn't seem like those two principles would ever come into conflict but suddenly she had to choose between being the perfect daughter or being a faithful friend. Alignments could change easily with money, morals or persuasion but loyalty couldn't be bought any more than it could be trained into someone. Both sides valued loyalty highly, Good and Evil, even Neutrals preferred their companions loyal. Hunson had taught her that himself, it was one of the first things she remembered him ever telling her. Sending her to befriend the men he now wanted her to murder must be a test of her loyalty to him, them.
She lit another cigarette and watched the smoke curling upwards through the dull gloom of the bedroom; Bonnie would be mad at her for smoking in bed but she was too fucking stressed to care. She took a drag viciously hard and tried not to cough up her lungs and wake her girlfriend. The whole thing was getting on her fucking nerves so in the end Marcy slid noiselessly out of bed, opened the window and jumped, still as naked as the day she was born.
For anyone else leaping from the forty third floor of a skyscraper would be suicide. For Marcy it was basically like having a water slide out of her window. She let herself hurtle downwards until she figured she'd almost hit terminal velocity, grinned savagely at the oblivious pedestrians scurrying like a swarm of ants below her and then reached in and down somehow, to the essence of herself. She pulled herself into a shape she'd been practising since she was five years old and with a squeal too high pitched for humans to hear a kitten-sized fuzzy black bat was swooping through the night where a naked woman had been tumbling moments before. Of course Wonder Boy and The Hound were mutants too but they used their powers for good so they weren't the ones the government wanted to register and neuter, they had a free pass to simply exist. Marceline and her father and in fact every one of her extended family and most of Hunson's employees had been born that way; mutant powers had been steadily on the rise for generations and people had just now decided they were a threat. Other kids had read X-Men as a fun fantasy series, little Marcy had finally found a comic that she felt accurately represented herself and her family. Representation was important, she knew. They were the Brotherhood, they were Robin Hood and His Merry Men standing outside the law against the tyrannical King John. They were the baddies but their reasons were good. They were rebels, freedom fighters.
And now of course Hunson was going to fuck all that up by making her murder her friends. Why he didn't want to suck their souls out and add their empty husks to his zombie army she didn't understand; it was more and more obvious she was being tested. When she thought through the options as the wind rushed through her fur and she raced the traffic on the streets below there was only one thing she could do and still be able to sleep at night. With a sigh she banked hard up the side of a building and headed home. There was some stuff she'd need to do.
Bonnibel was still fast asleep when Marceline slid back through the open window; she didn't hear her girlfriend dress, slip out of the room on literal cat paws and go four doors down the hall to knock Finn and Jake awake.
…
"Jake? Get out here, we've got company." Finn called to his brother a touch nervously. He grinned back to Marceline where she stood leaning against his doorway and shifted a little to block her view of the apartment beyond where no doubt there was some evidence of their heroic alter egos in view. She rolled her eyes, wondering if she'd really made the right choice.
"Dude, let me in. I already know about your other job, I've got some stuff to discuss with you and dogboy." she muttered, glancing around to make sure nobody was peering at them out of any other doors. Finn gaped and she took the opportunity to elbow him out of the way and slide past him.
Jake came crashing out of his bedroom still with a surveillance headset pushed up on his head and tried to grab her but she was quicker than him, always had been. She shifted her shape just a little around the waist and his arm closed around empty air. He growled in annoyance but there was nothing he could do except chase the lithe woman into the lounge where Finn had apparently been in the process of taking apart and rebuilding his extra-sensory helmet. Marceline was unimpressed to see he still hadn't taken off the stupid antennae built to look like bear ears.
Both men skidded to a halt in the lounge doorway with identical horror-struck expressions on their faces.
"I can explain-" Finn started hurriedly. "We... um... it's for..."
"Cosplay." Jake butted in confidently. "It's for ComicCon. We're cosplaying Wonderboy and The Hound. Right, Finn?"
"Yeah. Cosplay. That's us, nerdy cosplayer boys. Lady's going as Lady Evil and we're gonna chase her around and try to find a net she won't shape-shift out of. Yep. It's gonna be awesome, we're starting a blog and maybe getting some sponsors, we'll be kings amongst nerds. Next year we're doing Scooby Doo." Finn elaborated, warming up to his story with surprising speed. Jake nodded fervently behind his head.
"Guys, relax. I already know. I've known for ages. And I'm gonna do something right now that's gonna freak you out but I want you to remember that I'm your friend and I love you guys and I'm here on a mission of peace, you understand?"
"Uhh... right?" Jake agreed with a shrug. He was staring at her hard, like he'd only just realised she was tall and slender and had a sheet of straight black hair that cascaded past her knees when it was unbound. Exactly like-
"Lady Evil." Finn breathed in shock. She nodded slowly, raised her hands and let them briefly shift into the furred paws of her demonic she-wolf form.
"Yeah. And I come in peace. And also that nickname is awful, I didn't choose it, I wanted to be The Silent Dagger. Good luck getting the papers to change it once they've picked a name for you though, do you know how many death threats I sent them at first? Can't believe a simple black eye-mask is enough of a disguise that you had no idea it was me all these months. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The point is I'm here with some information for you. Jake I can see your arm stretching around the corner of the room, don't even think about getting your plasma lasso gun. Can we call it a ceasefire, for tonight?"
"Ceasefire." Finn agreed, sticking out his hand. It could be a trap, Marcy thought briefly. He could crush every bone in her wrist to dust with his superhuman strength and she'd be too crippled by pain to focus on shape-shifting away. That had happened once before and Marceline had learned her lesson the hard way. But after a moment's hesitation she reached out and grasped his hand and they shook on it. Finn was honourable, after all.
"Ok, so what's this all about?" Jake asked with a frown. He stretched his arms into the kitchen to fetch three beers from the fridge without moving the rest of his body and nodded to the sofa.
"First of all, my father wants you two dead. And obviously I'm not keen for that to happen. So, I came up with a compromise, something that would work for everyone." Marceline told them with a smug grin. She was proud of her plan, really. The only accurate description for it was dastardly, and that wasn't a word the daughter of the world's greatest living villain used lightly.
…
"I'LL KILL YOU, ABADEER! I'M SERIOUS! GIVE ME THE FUCKING COFFEE OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL- I'LL- JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING COFFEE!"
Marceline grinned down from the ceiling and dangled the coffee pot just out of reach. Making Bonnie jump around naked and furious trying to catch it never stopped being hilarious.
"I'm serious, if you don't give it to me right now I'm going to Starbucks on my way to work instead!" the enraged redhead fumed at her.
"Oooh you're gonna go to Starbucks in your birthday suit? Seriously?" she laughed back. One of her many legs loosed its hold on the ceiling and reeled in the coffee, she lifted it to one mandible and tried to take a sip which was easier said than done. With a sigh Marcy let her lips and mouth at least shift back to human shape and she took a large mouthful of the coffee, sighing when the heat and caffeine slid down her throat to warm her soul.
"Could you not do that? It's freaky enough when you turn into a giant spider on the ceiling but now I have the mental image of a giant spider with a human mouth grinning and drinking my coffee upside down. Come on, I don't wanna be late." Bonnie tried, with her most pleading tone. Marcy huffed and lowered the coffee on its thick strand of silk low enough for her girlfriend to reach.
"You're no fun sometimes. I don't even get a scream out of you when I turn full on Man-Spider any more. Fine, just for you I'll go girl again. Do you know how long it takes to learn to control eight limbs? Are you not even a little impressed by my coordination and motor skills?" she asked with a sulk, descending from the ceiling but not shifting back just yet.
"Oh great, now I have the mental image of a five foot wide tarantula with human lips pouting at me. Thanks for the nightmare fuel." Bonnie replied with a grumble.
But she was fixing herself a mug at the breakfast bar and didn't seem too distraught. She did freeze when two long, hairy legs clicked their way around her waist in an affectionate hug.
"Get off me right now or I will find the world's biggest rolled newspaper and end you." Bonnie hissed, rigid with horror. Marcy swiftly shifted back, aware that she was pushing her luck.
"Sorry, babe. Forgot I was still wearing my Spider-Gwen suit. But, you still love me, right?"
"You wish."
"Is one of those coffees for me? I see two mugs." Marcy tried hopefully. Bonnie picked up a mug of coffee in each hand, turned to glare at her girlfriend and promptly took a sip from both of them.
"No. Neither is for you. You put tarsi on me, you don't get coffee." she replied with a stern poker-face.
"I did not!" Marcy replied hotly. "I would never put tarsi on anyone without their consent!"
"You don't know what tarsi are, do you?"
"...Not completely, no."
"Spider feet. The scientific term for them is tarsi. One tarsus, eight tarsi. And I do not appreciate giant shape-shifted ones against my bare skin. I suddenly have a newfound sympathy for people with arachnophobia. If you get dressed quickly enough you might have time for some coffee." Bonnie added with a smug smile. Marcy sighed and headed to the bedroom to dress, shaking the leftover strands of silk free from her limbs as she went.
…
Bonnie was not in her best mood ever by the time they made it to work that morning and it was entirely Marceline's fault. If she hadn't forgotten her subway card and had to shift into a little corn snake to wrap around her girlfriend's wrist it would have been fine. Better still if she could have just stayed put instead of trying to wiggle her way up Bonnie's arm to 'find somewhere warmer'. She'd made it all the way to the shoulder before the redhead realised she was headed directly toward cleavage and clamped her in place with her hand.
"Behave yourself." Bonnie hissed as quietly as possible. Of course since it was a rush-hour subway train absolutely packed with commuters several people turned around to stare at the crazy girl telling her own shoulder to behave and she ended up getting a seat to herself for the rest of journey. So by the time they reached HQ and accessed the secret lab through the hidden doorway in the bathroom Bonnie was fuming. Marceline slithered out from her sleeve and exploded upwards into her human form again, grinning like she'd done something hilarious.
"You're the biggest asshole in the world." the redhead admonished her, not just playing it up for the rest of the staff that time. "I swear, some days you're just my problem. How are you managing to be so cheerful with no coffee in your system?"
"Guess I'm just feeling energised after last night." Marcy replied quietly, tipping a wink to her girlfriend as they grabbed a lab coat each.
"Would you not mention it around here? I dunno who else is in yet." Bonnie hissed, looking around nervously. Marcy rolled her eyes but obediently shut up as they opened the door into the lab proper.
"Good morning, Doctor." their technician Peter Butler greeted Bonnie as she came through the door.
"Morning, Peps." she replied neutrally. It was likely he had more than a small idea that there was more between her and Marceline than met the eye, Peter was a very observant man.
"Abadeer." he added in a frosty tone when Marcy sauntered in a couple of seconds afterwards.
"P-Butt. It's early for you, did you sleep in here?" the greeted him with her most obnoxious grin. He frowned and turned back to his work. "So where do you need me, Dr Magnifique?"
"Get undressed and get in the tank, Abadeer." Bonnie growled. She hardly had to put any effort into her pretend annoyance.
"Kinky. And you didn't even buy me dinner first, le sigh. The things I do for villainy." Marcy replied. She disappeared into a side room to undress and climb inside the huge floatation tank full of scientific liquid of some kind, sliding an oxygen mask over her face as she went. Hopefully P-Butt wouldn't wander close enough to notice the faint hickey on her shoulder; he generally left them alone when the science required her to be naked.
After a few minutes Bonnie approached and waved through the glass and green liquid at her, their agreed signal for 'we're alone for now'.
"He went to get coffee." she mouthed.
"For me?" Marcy mouthed back, pointing at herself. Bonnie shook her head. She scribbled something on her notepad and held it up to the glass; I'm going to add the serum to the fluid now, it'll feel cold. Sorry x
Marcy braced herself and tried to repress the urge to shift a thick pelt of fur across her body for warmth. She despised the cold anyway. The serum felt like she was being frozen from the inside, the first time they'd tried it she'd shifted antifreeze into her blood and completely ruined the preliminary formula. As usual the icy cold seeped into her bones and she shivered violently against the sensation. Bonnie gave her the thumbs up; she must have gone fully invisible. Now they just had to wait and see how long it would last. Marceline glanced at the clock over her girlfriend's shoulder nervously. It was almost ten, any minute now-
The emergency alarms went off without warning and Marcy almost jumped out of her skin. Bonnie dropped her clipboard in shock and Peter sprinted back into the room, flinging his coffee in the trash as he passed it.
"That's the intruder alarm, clear the lab!" he shrieked in panic. "Where's Abadeer?"
"In the tank, calm down." Bonnie replied, although her voice gave away that she was terrified too. There was only a very brief window of opportunity and Marceline had to time things perfectly. She pushed the lid of the tank open and let her invisible head break the surface with a conspicuous splash.
"I'll stay here, we don't know what the emergency is and I can shift down to practically nothing if I need. You guys evacuate, I'll come find you when it's safe. Go!"
She reached out and slid one transparent hand down Bonnie's cheek, silently apologising for what she knew must be a traumatic and triggering experience for her. The secret experimental military group had kidnapped Bonnie from her college dorm along with a bunch of other mutant kids and taken her to an underground research facility for testing that was basically just sadistic torture. When they'd failed to brainwash her into being an indestructible supersoldier for government run black-ops her captors had tried to execute her only to discover that she could reach in and fish the fragments of bullet out of the gunshot wound through her chest without too much problem. It had been a surprise to Bonnie too, she'd escaped by discovering how much she could take herself apart and put herself back together again. But what the experience had lacked in physical scars it more than made up for in mental trauma; sirens, intruders, there was a long list of things that triggered the redhead. Marceline watched her hurry away with her face drained of colour, disappearing out of the emergency exit without even a backwards glance. At least it left the invisible woman alone. She shifted to her bat shape out of habit and swooped off towards the main stairwell, making for her father's office. There was a choice to be made; two loyalties that could no longer coexist.
...
It didn't take long for an invisible bat to slide out through the stairwell window and streak up to the penthouse suite Hunson occupied. Apparently it was just a second or two too long though, because as Marceline approached she heard a man's scream of pain and her heart seized in panic. Who was hurt? Her father, her friends? Either would be bad, she cared about them all. As she hurtled though a broken window the first thing that caught her eye was the carpet of broken glass glittering like diamonds in the sunlight. Diamonds studded with rubies; there was plenty of fresh blood among the shards. That must have been how Finn and Jake had entered the building then, they managed subtle just about as well as a fish tap danced. Her eyes swept the room and when they reached the corner furthest from the window it felt like her heart had stopped.
Jake was curled on the floor holding his stomach and whimpering. Fresh blood oozed from between his fingers but at least it wasn't spurting out, he wasn't in immediate danger of bleeding to death. Finn stood behind him with his back turned and his fist tightening around Hunson's throat. The older man's mouth was stretched wide, trying to suck Finn's soul, but it was clearly a struggle for them both and they were caught in a deadlock. Hunson couldn't finish consuming the soul with his airway blocked, Finn couldn't keep up the required super strength with half of his life force torn from him. Marceline hovered, uncertain what to do.
"Give it... up... o-old man." Finn panted beneath his helmet.
"...nnrr..." Hunson growled through lips that were turning blue. Marceline made her choice.
She shifted back to human shape, still invisible, and nerved herself up to do something dangerous and probably painful. Then she shifted her arms and chest, bulking up as much muscle as possible until she figured she must be strong enough to wrench Finn away from her father, right? It was still like trying to push back an express train when she planted her feet between them and shoved with all of her unnatural strength; her chest and arms screamed in protest despite all the extra muscle. Finn was already weakened which was the only reason she managed to move him at all. His rubber soled boots still left skid marks on the polished marble of the floor though.
"Enough." Marcy ground out, panting around the exertion. Both of them dropped their arms, staring in shock at various points in the air around her invisible face. Stupid Finn, he at least should have known what was happening.
"Marceline?" Hunson rasped, rubbing his throat.
"Hello, Daddy. Surprise." she replied calmly. She shot him a bright grin before realising he still couldn't see her. Dammit.
"What are you doing, this wasn't part of the deal!" Finn started hotly.
"Shut up you idiot, you were supposed to wait for me in the lobby and let me bring you in nice and calm. Not break in through the window and fuck it all up. What happened to Jake?"
"He fell on the glass. I think he's ok though, it doesn't go too deep." Finn replied, surveying his fallen brother with his extrasensory scanners. "And, woah, Marcy, you're legit naked."
"Yes, I was in the floatation tank when you tripped the alarm, brainlord. You can't just change the plan and not let me know." she sighed in frustration. "Quit staring at me, Finn. Buy a goddamned magazine or something, you never seen an invisible naked shapeshifter before?"
"Is this... did you set me up?" Hunson gasped to his daughter, still staring around at the empty air and rubbing his throat.
"I didn't want to, but you forced my hand when you tried to turn me into a cold blooded murderer." Marceline snapped. She was over the adrenaline rush of the alarms setting off and now she was just angry. Why did guys always feel the need to go over her head, like she didn't have any say in her own damn plans? And Hunson, always treating her like a child who couldn't make decisions; it made her blood boil that he was so surprised she might try to usurp his power. Wasn't he the one who'd taught her to be power hungry and cutthroat?
"Daddy, you taught me that loyalty matters, that we're the bad guys for a good reason. Not because of petty rivalries. And how can I trust that you're taking the organisation in the right direction when you're getting hung up on these stupid diversions? What happened to fighting for mutant rights, civil disobedience, carving out a safe space for our kind? We should be working with other mutants irrespective of their moral alignment. If we're busy fighting each other how are we supposed to unite and fight the common enemy? What's the use in spilling more mutant blood than we need? We-"
She paused, noticing the small bright red spot fixed on the side of Finn's head. In slow motion Marceline realised that it was a laser sight and she moved without even thinking, blurring forward and shoving him before she even heard the crack of the gunshot. The world slowed to a standstill; Finn flailing and losing his balance, toppling over backwards despite his superior strength, Hunson's mouth hanging open because he'd seen the laser sight too, Jake whimpering on the floor and unable to reach out to help his brother. And then something incredibly hot and powerful punched through Marcy's shoulder and she let out an involuntary scream. The serum failed from the shock, the world sped up and she fell to the floor in a writhing heap, visible again and already bleeding heavily. Precognition was not one of her skills but somehow Marceline already knew Bonnie was the shooter. She could feel it in her bones. Actually she could feel the grind of damaged muscle and bone and the spurt of blood and the burn of the bullet hole and she was pissed. There was noise all around her, voices shouting and feet rushing around and confusing her blurry vision. She wasn't sure how fast time was going and instead of trying to keep track she focussed down and inside, reaching back to her default shape and trying to shift around the pain. If she could just move the blood vessels away from the bullet wound and get back to a stable form then she'd be able to focus but she was already light headed and her father's face blurred as he bent over her to press a handkerchief against the hole in her shoulder and stem the bleeding.
"Hang in there, little monster. Daddy's so proud of you, your very first power grab." he murmured with tears in his eyes, which made no sense at all. She didn't even remember being loaded into the back of the ambulance or Hunson being lead meekly away in handcuffs.
...
Marceline opened her eyes and stared at the hospital ceiling. If life had been kind then she'd have experienced a nice, gentle return to consciousness where at least for a while she could drift on a medicated high and not have to deal with the immediate return of recent memories. But of course because she had the shittiest luck of anyone ever she opened her eyes onto Bonnie's tear-stained face and immediately remembered that her fucking girlfriend had fucking shot her.
"You fucking bitch!" Bonnie snarled, coming forward when she saw that Marceline was awake and almost shaking with rage. Next second her hand collided stingingly with the other woman's cheek and Marcy only just managed to roll with the slap. She'd earned that, she figured. Then the redhead was crying again and collapsing across her in a hug, burying her face into the damaged shoulder and making Marcy groan with the agony.
"Sorry, sorry, I just, I thought I'd killed you!" Bonnie hiccoughed, pulling back enough to stare into Marceline's face.
"Takes more than a bullet to put down Lady Evil." Marcy replied with the ghost of a grin on her lips. It might have mostly been a grimace of pain but that wasn't the point, there was at least a bit of a cocky smirk in there.
"You better tell me what the hell happened right now before I slap you again." Bonnie said damply. She didn't return to her seat, just curled up on the bed next to her girlfriend and rested her head carefully on the pillow without jostling the damaged shoulder again. Marceline sighed.
"I made a deal with Wonder Boy and The Hound. I went to see them last night while you were sleeping, we agreed a ceasefire deal. Part of that deal was handing Daddy over to the authorities, helping them arrest him so that I could fill the power vacuum at the top of the organisation and steer us in a less casualty-heavy direction. They were supposed to meet me in the lobby, I was gonna help them sneak up to Daddy's office and arrest him nice and calmly. Apparently they decided to change the plan without telling me and come crashing through the window. Is Jake ok?"
"He's fine, it was just a flesh wound. He'll be sore for a while and end up with a badass scar. And so will you. Somehow I managed to shoot through the only place in your shoulder without any major blood vessels, or you managed to shift and repair them before you passed the fuck out. I got on the opposite roof with Peter, we naively thought it would be a good idea to protect the boss. Tell me about your plans in future, you idiot. How are we gonna have a relationship if you don't trust me enough to include me in your schemes for world domination?"
Marcy stared up at the ceiling again and thought about it. She thought hard, about how life was and how it was going to be, about all the changes in their immediate future and how she was probably at a pretty high risk of dying young. About Bonnie and how all the colours in the world seemed brighter since the redhead had exploded into her life.
"I'm sorry babe, I'll always include you in my plans from now on. I'll even put it in my vows. You free next weekend? I thought we might head down to the courthouse." She said it casually enough but her heart was hammering against her ribs in sudden panic because like usual she'd thrown herself headfirst into something without allowing any time to think herself out of it.
"What? The courthouse? Are... are you asking me to marry you?"
"Yeah, I figured if I die young that way you get widow's pension and you inherit the family fortune. Gotta make arrangements to look after my baby if I croak too soon, right? And if it doesn't work out we'll just get divorced, no harm no foul. But, you know, if it's too soon or whatever, feel free to tell me no. I'm still fucked up on pain killers and junk, so I-"
"Yes. Ok. Let's get married, and you can vow to me in front of our witnesses not to leave me out of your plans for world domination. Deal?" Bonnie cut her off with a huge grin across her face. "And no more smoking in bed, your pillows smell like an ashtray."
"Yes wifey." Marcy replied with a roll of her eyes, but she was grinning too. Being reckless and fucked up on pain meds wasn't too bad all things considered. Besides, 'I married your Mom because she shot me while I was double-crossing your Granddaddy' would make a brilliant story to tell their kids one day.
"Excuse me, Miss Abadeer? Call for you from the federal prison."
They both looked up as a nurse stuck her head around the door of the room, holding a phone out to her. Marceline took it cautiously, wondering if her sixth sense for trouble was gonna be proved right again.
"Hello, Daddy." she said, already certain who was calling.
"Hello sweetie, how's your shoulder? They gave me my phone call and I just wanted to check how my little monster's doing. How are you feeling?"
"Uh, it hurts, but I'm ok. Daddy? Aren't you mad I got you arrested?"
He let out a deep, throaty laugh like she'd told him an excellent joke; Marceline wondered what the hell she'd missed.
"Oh, sweetie, I thought you'd never get around to overthrowing me! I was getting jealous of all my old colleagues having a nice relaxing retirement in prison! It's like a holiday camp in here, did you know they do three kinds of egg on the breakfast? Three! And the TV room has cable."
"Uh, ok? Listen, can you break out or something next weekend? We're heading down to-"
"To the courthouse to get married, yes, I already know." he interrupted with a smile in his voice. "I'm happy for you, sweetie. You look after that sweet young thing now, ok?"
Marceline let her eyes drift to the window of her room where a small sliver of the corridor beyond was visible through the blinds. There was Peter Butler smiling down at his phone; he looked directly at her and tipped her a wink.
"That bastard you put in her lab is a mind reader, isn't he?" Marceline demanded. Hunson just laughed again.
"See you next weekend, sweetheart. Congratulations."
He hung up the line with one final chuckle and Marceline handed the phone back to the nurse with a confused frown on her face. So Peter had known all along what the plan was? Peter had known she was going to double-cross her father, he'd known she was invisible in the room Bonnie had been aiming for; probably even known she was in line to get shot, the bastard. Oh fucking fucker Peter had known they'd been fucking in the lab-
"That sneaky, underhand bastard. I owe him a raise." she muttered sleepily. "Daddy's coming to see us get married. You wanna wear white?"
"Isn't that kinda a lie? I was thinking about flowers though, I might get some nice hydrangeas in cream and pink, put my hair up and stuff. I know you don't do terribly girly so if you just wanna go for a smart shirt and tie I'd be more than happy with that, you're gonna look so handsome. Oh, and we need to choose best men and book a reception, send out last minute invites..."
Marceline dozed off listening to her new fiancée list all the things they'd need to arrange for their short-notice wedding. Maybe the morphine finally kicked in or maybe she was just exhausted from a hard day's double-crossing. Tomorrow would be busier than any other day of her life and she needed to conserve her strength. They had a literal world of work ahead of them but that was future Marceline's problem. For once there was at least a little rest for the wicked.