Notes: PLEASE READ! Remember that today is the 12th. Nominations for the First Annual Year's End Daughters of the Moon Fanfiction Awards end on the 15th! Get your voice heard! See the Daughters of the Moon Writers forum for details. Also, be on the lookout on the forum around Februrary 1st for a romance oneshot challenge just in time for Valentine's Day!
Take Your Daughter to Work Day: Part 2 of 3
This was, Adamantis decided, the absolutely most idiotic thing he had ever done. But, he heaved a long sigh, the Regulators had been thus far unable track down the terrible little wretch – uh, he meant, darling little girl. So it was up to him now, to actually do his own dirty work. He scoffed. He was the most evil Cinctus to ever live! He hadn't done his own dirty work in… He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he did his own dirty work, dammit – that's how long it had been!
But as long as he needed to keep up appearances with the Atrox, he would have to do what he was doing, which sadly happened to be crawling around in the sewers, getting his robes all icky.
He still didn't quite understand what the purpose of crawling around in human waste was, but that's what all the investigators did in all the documentaries known as "crime dramas" that Adamantis had watched while researching how things were done on Earth these days. Everyone seemed to live by those documentaries, so, he had supposed, he should too.
But after hours of walking around in unmentionable… well… shit, Adamantis had finally had enough. He let fly his molecules and turned into a velvety shadow, glided through the nearest drain grate and sailed into the fresh air. Ah, being able to breathe again… not that breathing was crucial to an immortal, but it got so stuffy when one declined to do so.
Almost immediately upon leaving that wretched city sewer (the health department really should look into that), he saw her! He knew it had to be her by how her cheerful giggle made him want to vomit more than the laughter of the other insufferable teenage girls, by how the joyful sparkle in her eyes made him want to punt small woodland creatures more than any other. His daughter! Atertra, how I hate thee!
But wait… Adamantis stopped short in his swooping down to kidnap his daughter, now called Catty (what an absolutely disgusting name). Was that… the Atrox's wife? The one that had gone missing as an infant (awkward, he knew)?
Oh this was too good to be true. If Adamantis could get his daughter to lure the Atrox's wife to Nefandus then he could simultaneously complete his goal of taking Atertra to work and rendering the Atrox completely useless in terms of the evil department. After all, Freud had once hypothesized (Freud, of course, being one of the most feared of the Inner Circle, until this unfortunate theory of his) that all of the Atrox's evil was in fact sexual frustration – ergo, Adamantis reasoned, get him laid, and the crown would be free for the taking. All he'd have to worry about would be that pesky whiny brat, but what could he do?
It took weeks of preparation. Adamantis was, afterall, a man of supreme intellect who never let a single detail go unnoticed, never let a single rock go unturned, never let a single… oh, you get the picture.
"So, let's go over the plan one more time," Adamantis said, eliciting groans from the Regulators, who quickly shut up when Adamantis zapped one of them with a lightning bolt of doom. "We kidnap the three goddesses, who are not the Atrox's wife. Understood?" They all nodded. "Then you bring the blonde and the curly haired one to the Atrox. Who do you bring to the Atrox?"
"The blonde and the curly haired one," the droned in chorus.
"And you bring the other one, the one who answers to Catty, straight to me. Who do you bring straight to me?"
"The other one, the one who answers to Catty," another droning chorus.
"Excellent." Adamantis sat back, satisfied.
The door creaked open, and a blonde head poked into the room.
"Ah, Whi - , I mean, Stanton, good you're here. Just the man I need for the job!" He turned to the Regulators. "Okay, go get 'em, tigers!" The Regulators scampered off (a bit too hurriedly in Adamantis's opinion). "So, Stanton."
The Whiny Brat had come fully into the room upon the departure of the Regulators, and Adamantis walked over to him, clapping him on the back.
"Stanton, Stanton, Stanton…" Adamantis shook his head and chuckled in a falsely good natured way.
"Uh… Adamantis, Adamantis, Adamantis…"
"You've heard of my plot to get my daughter Atertra back, I take it."
"Of course. I was in the board room when you announced it to the Atrox."
"So, I have a very special part in all this, just for you. Only worthy of the Prince of Night."
Stanton smiled brightly. "Aw, shucks, Adam, you shouldn't have!" he slugged Adamantis on the shoulder. What an idiotic child…
"Yes, well, what I need you to do is explain to the Atrox's wife, the Daughter called Tianna, who she is and what her purpose is so that she can fulfill it as a bartering tool to release the other Daughters."
"But," his face screwed up in pained frown, as though it hurt to think, "she'll have to sleep with the Atrox, and you know what Sigmund said – "
"How dare you even bring up such a thing! We all know it that it's a complete rubbish theory. I should report you to the Atrox for mentioning it."
"But then you'd mention it and he'd destroy you too."
Adamantis clenched his fists. "Anyway, will you do this very important task?"
"Sure," he shrugged. "Hey!" Sudden inspiration seemed to have struck the whiny brat. He pulled a sword out from… somewhere. "Should I give Tianna this sword I found?"
Adamantis looked blankly at the Prince of Night. Really? This was the best heir the Atrox could find? "Um, Stanton, it's a sword. Why would she want a sword?"
"Well, because I took it to Jedidiah to see if it had any latent mystical properties, as these things often do, and he said that it had the power to bind the Atrox forever into shadow. Cool, huh?"
"You really are just an imbecile who happens to somehow get all the major plot devices that put you into positions of extreme power and allow you to dictate whatever the hell you want, aren't you?"
"No," he seemed offended. "You forgot my broody, sexy look!" He struck a pose, and put an expression on his face that Adamantis supposed was supposed to look broody and sexy but to Adamantis, it just seemed like he was really constipated.
"Just give Tianna the damn sword!"
