Disclaimer: Tin Man isn't mine.

It was well past dark when one of his aides tapped on the door to his office. He finished writing his name at the bottom of a report quickly. It wasn't much more than a scrawled series of illegible loops and lines anymore. Between all the paperwork he'd done as a young man at the station and the number of things he signed now he never wanted to sign his name again. It wasn't really an option anymore though. He figured if hand cramps were the worst thing that happened to him at this point he should thank his lucky star for it. Stretching his fingers after he set the pen down he glanced up. "Yes?"

The young man jumped straight to the point. That was a good thing. He'd run through at least fifteen soldiers before he settled on two that he could handle having around all the time. The ones he'd kicked away had either been inefficient when it came to office work, fawned over him as if he were some sort of deity to be worship, or were flat out dimwitted. He needed efficient people to help him, not ones that got underfoot. It helped that the two worked in tandem as well as they did. The sheer amount of information that went in and out of his office was staggering. He couldn't afford to have any hold ups and he couldn't have anything going to the wrong places. This wasn't a business that could afford to loose or misplace anything. People's lives were literally decided with the things he ordered and the decisions he made. He didn't take that responsibility lightly.

"Princess Dorothy is having a meeting in the library in half an hour."

"Who else is goin' to be there?" He made sure his aides were good at listening as well as being efficient.

He began to list off people quickly. "Her Majesty, the Consort, Raw, Glitch, Princess Azkadilla, Tutor, General Cain, and yourself."

"Alright." He closed the folder and set it on top the stack that was slowly growing. "Have all those sent out and then go home. I'm not the only one that was supposed to be on vacation and isn't."

"Yes, sir." The man took the pile of papers quickly and vanished. He was sure he was trying to escape the chance of getting called back before he escaped. He knew well enough the soldier had a wife and young baby at home. He was sure he was eager to get back to them. If their positions were reversed that would certainly be what he wanted. Finishing up, he made sure his desk was cleared and everything was in order before he headed to the meeting. He glanced at the clock on the way out and realized he should have dragged the kid out of the library about two hours ago. He got caught up and his little surprise wasn't going to be ready for at least another hour. Hopefully the meeting wouldn't last longer than that. He would hate for the food to go cold on them.

He'd had the head chef, with a serious demand for discretion, make him a dinner for two and have it delivered to his room. The portly man had given him a knowing look but made no comment over the request. He had a feeling he wasn't the only one that had ever made such a request over the years the man had worked here. The food would be in his room soon and he'd managed to find some candles to set the table with as well.

He hadn't been lying when he said he wanted to romance Deeg no matter how funny she'd thought that had been. She might have laughed when he said it, but he was confident she wouldn't when he actually put his romancing into practice. He didn't care how untraditional she was, how much she liked pants, or if she knew more curse words than half the soldiers, tin men, or sailors he met, or was fully self-sufficient. She was still a woman. She had a deep seated, if hidden, love of attention in her. Sure, she usually turned the attention she wanted away, or directed all the energy she could give to herself to someone else, but he knew she wanted to be pampered a bit. Not that she would ask for it, but she did. Everyone liked to be taken care of. She took care of him more than he rightly deserved. It was really her turn. Their relationship had been lopsided in his direction for quite awhile now.

The kid spent more of her free time entertaining him, keeping him away from his thoughts, or trying to help him mend his relationship with his son than he had. He hadn't put much thought into his own emotional wellbeing, pushing it away with thoughts of work or his past. He hadn't even realized how much she was taking on when it came to his family situation until they were at Finaqua. Then he'd been out with Jeb camping and he worked it out pretty fast. Considering he hadn't spent more than fifteen hours separated from the kid in the last two years he had no reason to think about it. But two days into the strained and awkward silence between him and his son and he knew Deeg had been running some sort of subtle negotiation between the two of them for a long time. She kept the tentative peace he and Jeb lived under since they were reunited. When she was out of the sphere of influence it all went to hell.

The girl had a way about her he didn't fully understand. She could get warring factions of Ozians to reach peaceful agreements in a few days. Considering a few of the guilds had been fighting since before his grandfather had been born he was rightfully impressed. He knew her parents were too even if they didn't remark on it. That had been his doing.

It wasn't that he didn't want Deeg to know that she was doing astonishingly amazing things. It was that he knew, the second she knew, she would over think the whole thing. He didn't want her to choke up or get so muddled in her own thoughts that she lost sight of how she managed to negotiate. For her it was innate. He was sure it was part of the same ability she had when it came to making friends. It was just something she did. The first time he saw Ahamo approaching her to praise her he'd practically tackled the man and dragged him off under a flimsy excuse. After a quick conversation over the kid's abilities the consort had agreed to keep his peace and left her alone.

He found his girl in the library surrounded by a wall of books and figured he was one of the first to arrive. Only Tutor was here as he talked to her from the other side of her fortress of dusty tomes. They were stacked as high as her hip all the way around her but she didn't seem concerned that she was trapped. She had one small book about the size of her hand open on top the stack as she said something to Tutor. Her teacher nodded and pointed to something on the page of the open book. Straightening up she shook her arms out and stepped to the center of her small fortress. She looked like she was loosening up for a fight instead of getting ready to cast a spell.

"It doesn't seem too complicated. You've done more complex spells than this." Tutor said calmly. The kid seemed to agree with his assessment.

He walked closer and Deeg caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye. She smiled in greeting even as a slight blush rushed over her cheeks. The kid fought it down valiantly but he couldn't stop his lip from twitching once at the sight. Sometimes she still caught him off guard. He never would have thought she'd go anywhere near shy on him. Ignoring her reaction to him she forged on. "I think we found the spell."

He took in the books again. "Always the last place you look."

Her eyes glinted with humor. "I always thought that was a weird way to look at things. Doesn't it have to be the last place you look? You stop when you find it."

"Fair point, Kid." He waved at the book. "But knowin' you that might not be true."

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Before she could come up with a reply her parents and Glitch walked in. They weren't even halfway to them when Raw and Azkadilla appeared in the doorway. Her sister moved to her and began to read over the spell as Raw moved next to him. The queen and consort were mid-conversation with the former headcase and continued on without pause. He caught something about antibiotics and a city nestled up in the mountains before he noticed the viewer's attention focused on him. Since they were far enough away from the distracted group not to be noticed, he took the bait Raw laid for him. "Can I help you with somethin', Furball?"

"Cain feel different today."

How surprising. He wasn't about to deny that spending the night wrapped up with a very warm and welcoming princess had an adverse effect on how he felt. He tried to throw the viewer off. "Don't know what you're talkin' about."

Raw looked at him in a way that told him the gentle man wasn't buying that at all. At least he let the subject go without a fight. Not that Raw ever put up much of a fight with him. He was too passive for him to bother unless something really mattered. He supposed this didn't register on the viewer's scale of importance high enough to push the issue. He figured the man knew he would work this out on his own sooner rather than later. Being a viewer came with an awareness of social interactions that humans didn't get. Thinking on that he wasn't sure if that were necessarily a good thing or not.

Jeb walked in a second later and the talk died down. He nodded to the royal couple and he noticed Jeb looked tired. He'd need to be sure he got some sleep tonight. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was in a meeting."

Ahamo sent him a friendly smile. "I think we can let that go. DG, if you're ready?"

"You bet. Tell me if any of you recognize the sound. If you don't then I'll try to think of something else." With that she wiggled all her fingers as Tutor picked the book up and read the incantation yet again.

He instructed her calmly as she prepared herself. The mutt was wary of letting her try this when he wasn't familiar with the spell. At least he was worried about her welfare during their lessons. "Be sure to focus on the sound instead of the rest of the memory. You might accidentally call up things you don't want to."

"I'll be sure to avoid that." She muttered. Then she started to glow softly and he bit the inside of his cheek in an effort to ignore the magic. Light raced over her body and her eyes fluttered closed as she increased her concentration. Her lips began to move silently and then her light flared out brightly before contracting tight against her body. Everyone was focused on her as they waited impatiently to see if this would work. About thirty seconds later and a bang echoed around the room.

Deeg cracked her eye open and looked at Tutor as the sound went off again. He saw her fingers swirling in a circle and wondered if she'd put it on some sort of loop that way. He was only vaguely aware of that though because his mind was suddenly somewhere far away from the library. He was so distant that he wasn't even aware of her magic anymore.

"Anything?" Deeg asked.

"No." Ahamo replied as he listened intently. "It sounds like a door doesn't it?"

"A door?" Azkadilla asked. "Are you sure? It sounds more like someone hitting a sheet of metal with a hammer to me."

"Stop." He said.

Deeg turned her head to look at him. "But I just worked it out-"

"Deeg, stop the spell." He practically snarled at her and her light went out abruptly. Shock over his rage was plainly visible and she searched his face.

"What's the matter?"

He pressed his lips together hard and stood there silently for a long moment as he reined himself in. Finally, he looked over at Jeb. His son ran his hand through his hair in agitation. "The crazy rambling doesn't sound so crazy anymore does it?"

Everyone else in the room was thoroughly confused. The queen asked what they were all thinking. "You know what it is?"

His lips were pressed tightly together as he answered. "An iron maiden closing."

Alarm raced over Deeg's face as the rest of the room shifted. "Are you sure, Cain?" Ahamo asked.

"I heard that sound for ten years. I'm sure."

The kid broke in with the lightest hesitation. "He did have magic. Maybe he figured out how to get break it open from the inside."

Azkadilla shook her head. "Only the most powerful mage could do something like that. Even you would have a hard time, and from what you said he didn't have much."

"He had enough to knock me down and keep me there." Deeg pointed out.

Her sister made a motion with her hands. "Yes, but he caught you by surprise. You can't catch a suit by surprise. It only has one purpose. They're made to keep people in."

Ahamo spoke. "You did say someone let him out."

"True." Deeg responded. For his part he knew it would be better to stay quiet. He'd gone from stable and happy to the edge in less than ten seconds. He could hear screaming in his head as he tried to stay with the conversation.

Jeb crossed his arms. "He came out of a suit. Fine. It either made him crazy or more crazy. This still doesn't help us. We don't know who let him out, where he came from, or why he was willing to break into the most well protected building in the country. We don't even know how he broke in to begin with."

Deeg was clearly disheartened over the lack of help she had been and guilty over making him relive his nightmare. She shut the book and tossed it on top the rest with a frown on her face. Her sister was having a totally different reaction. Her forehead was creased in concentration as she thought. She opened her mouth before thinking better of it. Raw prompted her after a few moments. "Azkadilla thinking hard."

The older princess spoke tentatively. "I think… I think I was wrong."

"What do you mean, Dearheart?" The queen asked.

"I think Deeg caught a suit by surprise."

"Huh?" His girl was baffled but her mother and Tutor shared a glance.

The mutt launched into technical jargon. "You're assuming the theory of joint relativity is at work. The suits weren't made to conduct through one another. It would defeat the entire purpose of their containment incantation."

The queen glanced at the kid. "Perhaps."

"Perhaps what?" Deeg asked. "What are you guys talking about? What's the theory of joint relativity?"

Tutor went into lecture mode. "According to the theory all magical items are inherently linked in a very fundamental, if tenuous manner. The more alike the objects are the easier it is for them to share magical properties." He shrugged. "But the iron maidens weren't built with that in mind. They were specifically designed to be self-sufficient cells, independent of outside help or influence."

He saw where this was going. "But Deeg influenced mine."

"Influenced? I hit a couple if pins with a hammer."

"Is that what you think you did?" Tutor asked.

"Uhh, yeah. Glitch watched me do it."

"Only someone with magic can open a suit. The sealing spell has to be broken." Tutor said with conviction.

The kid's forehead crinkled. "The first time I cast any sort of spell was when we got out of the tower. I made my old doll spin around."

The queen stared at her. "The first time you cast a spell you were five years old in Finaqua."

He rubbed his forehead as a headache began to take shape. "What does that mean?"

"It means she opened the suit you were in with a spell."

"I understand that part!" He snapped. "You're hintin' at somethin' else!"

Azkadilla was the one to answer him. "She could have caused a cascade effect." When he raised an eyebrow impatiently the princess continued. "When she let you out she didn't have any control. She could have cast a spell, and a powerful one at that, if she got emotionally over involved."

The kid getting emotionally over involved? That never happened. Certainly not when she was faced with someone hurt or in danger. He wanted to punch something. "You're sayin' the spell she cast to open the suit I was in traveled from one to another until they all opened? How long would that take?"

Azkadilla corrected him. "They wouldn't open on their own, but she did break the sealing spell."

"Meaning anyone could open them." Deeg stated.

"Yes." Her sister responded. "If her magic did do that it wouldn't take long to siphon through all of the suits. No more than three or four weeks at the most."

The kid rested her elbows on the pile of books in front of her. "Is that really a bad thing? There were resistance fighters in them. It means they aren't trapped anymore. We've been trying to find them all since I got here."

"They weren't all resistance fighters, My Angel." The queen looked tired.

"What?" She stared at her mother hard.

"Many had violent criminals in them."

Deeg frowned. "Why?"

Azkadilla gazed at the floor. "The witch put them there. She had the longcoats pull them out of the prisons. She was smart. Even if a mage did happen to stumble over someone in a suit there was no way to know if they were a captured resistance fighter or a violent and unstable killer. Not many would take the chance."

"You're telling me there are a number of severely violent criminals loose in the O.Z.?"

"If your magic-"

Deeg lost patience with this. "I think we can assume my magic destroyed the network! We need to alert every law enforcement agency in the country! Not to mention the governments of the surrounding areas! They could have leaked over the borders! God only knows what these people are going to do!"

Glitch nodded. "I'll send out messengers." He turned to the older princess. "Azkadilla, we need to see if there are any records on who was put in the suits and where they might have been put."

"We need to go to the tower then. If there are any records of it that's where they'll be."

"Let's leave now."

She nodded and they both left the library quickly. "We have another problem." Jeb said.

He nodded. "Who's the one lettin' 'em out?"

"That's the problem." His son rolled his neck. "The possibilities are nearly endless. They wouldn't even need to know much about magic would they? If they got one iron maiden open that would be all they needed to know. They could get the other ones without a problem."

"They would need to know where the suites were." Ahamo pointed out.

Jeb grunted in agreement. "Okay, let me send this information out. My spies will know what to look out for. After that we'll need to wait for any reports Glitch and the princess find." He nodded to the kid. "Good work, DG. That was extremely helpful." Then he turned on his heel and breezed out of the room.

The kid was stunned by the praise and her parents began to talk to Tutor about what was going on. He made a motion with his hand and Deeg glanced about as she tried to work out how to escape the circle of books. Making up her mind she used her magic to levitate a portion of them several inches off the ground. She set them down carefully about a foot away, waved to her parents and Raw, and walked out of the library beside him. She kept her peace as they walked toward his rooms but he caught her darting glances at him out of the corner of his eye.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to retreat for a few hours while he banished the memories that were assaulting him. He caught her staring again and knew he was going to have to keep his word about talking to her sooner than he had imagined when he made her that promise last night. When they got to his door he braced himself for this and opened the door for her. She walked in ahead of him and he followed her, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Author Note: I need a pick me up guys. I had a really bad week. Be nice and leave me a review. Huggles to all of you!