Authors Note:So, after my extended hiatus there, I'm back people. And looking at the current pool of Adventure Time fanfictions, I'm kind of disappointed. I mean, there was a silly amount of Fiolee shipping before, but ever since Bad Little Boy it seems like it's either Finn X OC or Fionna X Marshall. Glad to See TheJamJam, LoneDarkKnight, and SCIK are still around and kicking.

I apologize in advance for the low quality of this chapter, since I needed a connecting point and I had tonnes of problems when I got my new laptop, I don't feel this chapter is terribly good. But then any time I say that it seems people disagree about it.

Dealing with the discrepancies between what I've predicted and how the actual outcomes on the show are (like the puppies) I'll choose to ignore them and continue with the fic-canon for the sake of simplicity and my own sanity. Although future works WILL follow the cannon as closely as possible, I promise.

Special thanks goes out to Dragonlorerd6, Halesmash, UnseenFaces, Allenfairytail, Angerunleashed4doomsday, and Excited Reader for following my story. Also to Ultimoto The Great for favoriting the story (as well as the aforementioned bunch). And I'd also like to thank everyone who's had such excellent patience and my reviewers who pushed me onward. Without you guys, this story would be dead and a wasted effort. I promise to also make the next chapter even better to make up for (what I perceive to be) the lack of quality here :P

As always, Adventure Time is the creation of Pendleton Ward and the property of Frederator Studios. Please support the source material, buy the dvd's.

Marching through the darkness was a lot easier for Orson then he would've figured. Maybe it was the concern he had for the two people overseeing his well-being, or maybe he just couldn't believe that somebody like Princess Bubblegum would be trying to do something as despicable and dastardly as murder a girl like Flame Princess. But something drove his feet all the way to the gates of the candy kingdom, through its streets and all the way down to the pink haired princess's lab.

Standing in the cold darkness of the dungeon, he stood just inches away from the lab door. Orson took a moment to consider this. Yes, everything looked bad; yes, he didn't actually know much about Bubblegum; and yes, the list of evidence he had against her was lacking. But if something wrong was going on behind closed doors, and he kept quiet about it, Orson would probably spend the rest of his life beating himself over it.

From underneath the lab door, a soft light poured out accompanied by the sounds of papers and lab supplies moving. Bubblegum was definitely inside, doing god knows what at this hour. What if he did catch her doing something villainous? Would he be able to put a stop to it, or would he just end up 'missing'? And if he was wrong, then he was definitely about to make an ass of himself.

Orson stood in front of the door for a while longer, until he heard something strange from the other side of the door. It was faint, but definitely familiar, and pressing his ear to the door's crack confirmed his suspicions. Coming from the other end of the room was the sound of what appeared to be cat claws scratching at the side of a box. Finn HAD told him about Bubblegum's habit of making abominations, maybe this could be the bit of evidence he needed to find out if she was truly malicious in intent or not.

Opening the door to the lab, Orson wasn't exactly sure what to make of the scene before him. In the lab was a somewhat exhausted looking Bubblegum, still wearing the enormous circular glasses and wearing her hair in a ponytail as she jotted down some notes on a clipboard. Splotches of blue dust stained her white lab coat, and on table at the center of the lab was a box of what appeared to be kittens made of fire. Laid out on the counter behind her, were an assortment of amulets, all made from the blue-white stone he'd seen earlier.

Bubblegum, hearing the sound of her lab door opening looked up from her clipboard at Orson. Looking from Orson, to the box of flaming kittens, to the arrangement of amulets; Bubblegum returned her gaze back to Orson with a blank expression that seemed to say, 'there's no logical explanation for this, so I'm not even about to try.' After a few moments of silence between the two, save for the mewling of the flaming kittens, Bubblegum finally broke the silence with a simple, "Sup?"

"I… Came here to talk with you about something that's been troubling me, but now I'm not entirely sure what's going on." Orson replied, slowly stepping towards the table. He looked into the metal crate that contained the fiery kittens, who all stared up at him in a mixture of curiosity and amazement.

"Well, what's been troubling you?" Bubblegum took one of the flame kittens out of the box after donning a set of heavy heat-proof gloves. She took it over to a small cloth on the opposite counter next to the amulets.

"Well, I've been coming across tidbits of information on what you're working on. And while I can't say for certain what it is, the information all leads to… troubling work." Orson circled around to where Bubblegum was, carefully observing what she was doing with the kitten and the amulets.

"Well, I'll forget the fact that you were snooping," Bubblegum joked as she picked up one of the amulets and examined it, "if you'd be so kind as to explain exactly what's troubling you about my research."

Orson was about to voice his concerns in the most tactful way possible, "Well, from what I've seen and read, it looks like…" He stopped out of shock, for as Bubblegum placed the amulet around the kitten's neck, it shrank down in size and began shivering. He immediately lunged at the poor thing before it could get any smaller, ripping the amulet away from its neck while shouting "AREYOUTRYINGTOKILLFLAMEPRINCESS!?"

Bubblegum put down the clipboard, fed the shivering flambit a piece of coal, and then stared blankly at Orson. The only sound through the entire room was the sound of the tiny fire cat gnawing on its treat, as Orson and PB exchanged stares. Orson remaining slightly terrified of the mad scientist princess, while the pink haired psychopath in question just continued to pin him with the same expressionless stare.

"Oh god," Orson thought to himself, "why'd I think this was a good idea? Now she's just going to kill me to keep her secret safe! I'll probably be turned into some sugar-coated monster, or she'll use my corpse for some horrific experiment, or…" Orson stood there, staring down the princess. His mind a nervous wreck, and paralyzed with fear, he just barely noticed something.

The princess's mouth had started to curl up at the corners, and her lips were trembling. Her chest was heaving, and one of her hands had risen up to slightly obscure her mouth. She was… laughing at him? "What's so damn funny?" He demanded.

Bubblegum burst out into riotous laughter, guffawing loudly at the very confused Orson. The laughter became too much for her, and she had to take a seat. Pounding her fist a few times against the table, as if to hit an imaginary switch to quit laughing, she finally began to gasp out "Kill… haha… Flame Princess…" Bubblegum burst out laughing once more, putting her head against the table.

Orson's face started to turn bright red, and he started to relax. "A simple 'you're wrong' would be enough." Orson set the amulet down on the counter, glaring at the still laughing princess.

"I don't think even Cinnamon Bun would guess that!" The princess exclaimed, starting to calm down.

"Who?"

"Oh, you'll meet him eventually. But no, I'm not trying to kill Flame Princess." Bubblegum smiled, wiping a tear from her eye. "Oh glob, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while; thanks man."

"Then… then what are you trying to do? The Solid Water ore, the book on making and controlling explosions, all the secrecy, it just all stack up towards that conclusion." Orson sat down on a stool across from PB, scratching his head in confusion.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to let Finn or Flame Princess in on the surprise." Princess Bubblegum was smiling widely, happy to know that the stranger staying with Finn and Flame Princess was concerned about the safety of his gracious hosts.

"Ok, I promise."

"Royal Promise?"

"What's the difference between a royal promise and a normal one exactly?"

Bubblegum smiled, tenting her fingers beneath her chin "Time freezes and we have to undergo trial by fire."

Orson's eyes widened, "Ok, just be sure to stop me if I'm about to do something stupid in that case. I royal promise not to tell Finn and FP whatever it is you're up to." Orson and PB shook hands, and then PB made sure the room was absolutely secure. Checking windows, closing the door, even looking under the table to make sure Cinnamon Bun wasn't being Cinnamon Bun.

Sitting back down across from him, Bubblegum motioned for him to come closer before whispering, "Me and a group of people are currently working on a way for Flame Princess to be able to control her flames."

Orson stared at her in confusion, "So wait, that list of people labeled 'Project Super-Nova' was this project, correct?"

"Yup. But, if I'm being completely honest with you, the project is a biiiiiiiit larger than that. Come, let me show you something." Bubblegum stood up from her seat and brought over her holographic display computer from its place on the desk. Turning it on, she entered into what appeared to be an email box. Each email inside the inbox for up to two months back showed people from all over Ooo, messaging the princess with tips on various compounds, minerals, and artifacts that were known to limit the heat of burning materials. Each e-mail had the subject line "PS-N", and usually ended with some variation of the message "It's the least I can do after he…"

The look of shock on Orson's face must have been pretty noticeable, as the pink princess was now giggling at the expression on his face.

"How… but… why?" Was all he could manage, staring at the staggering amount of people willing to help.

"Finn has been the hero of Ooo ever since he was twelve. He's saved almost every princess in the land at least once, fought dragons and other nasty beasts, and even imprisoned the Lich between dimensions. So, the other princesses and I decided to help Finn with one of his major dilemmas after all the help he has been to us." Bubblegum stood up and pulled another fire kitten from a box. "I really hope this explains everything, it'd be weird working with you if you thought I was some kind of murderer." PB pulled another trinket out of a drawer, with a different style, cut, and engraving on it.

Orson sat in thought for a moment. He'd heard Finn referred to as a hero before, but had no idea on just how big of one he was. A hero and an extremely lucky one at that to have friends like Princess Bubblegum. And even though he was struggling with his own personal issues, he helped Orson without so much as a second thought.

Orson stood up and walked next to Bubblegum, "So, since I've already promised not to tell him about it or anything, is it ok if I work on this stabilization project alongside the time machine? Maybe you just need an outside perspective of things for the answer, and I owe the guy big time for his hospitality."

Bubblegum put down the amulet and gave Orson a friendly smile. "So, I need you to go out and pick some things up for me."