Chapter 20:
Ragnhild the Frozen Yogurt Princess woke to the soft sounds of her sweet boy breathing gently beside her. He'd been quite the animal last night. They hadn't really exchanged anything beyond moans of passion and cries of 'yes' or 'more' or 'harder'. Blushing and grinning, she realized that words hadn't really been needed. Even now he had one big, powerful arm around her middle, holding her tight against his powerful body. She'd gone into this just for the pleasure of a quick fling with a man she'd likely never see again. Now she found herself wondering if she could have more. Rolling over–intending to kiss his sweet lips once more–the beautiful older woman got the shock of her life.
Billy got a startling shriek that hurt his ears and sent him shooting up out of dreamland. He sat bolt upright–just in time to see his beautiful host go scrambling back over the edge of the bed. Froyo Princess landed with a loud thump on the hardwood floor, and Billy scrambled to free himself from the entangling covers to check on her. The young man found her sitting there rubbing at her side totally, stark naked.
She was just as hot in the light of the morning as she had been in the sheets last night, and he found himself filling his eyes with the sight of her. It was hard to believe that she was as old as his dad was. His mom was built like a brick shit-house, but she was born out of a wish-spell. Froyo Princess was all natural. In spite of the angry glare she was giving him, he kind of wanted to do her again. "W-what are you doing here," she demanded? "I could ask you the same," he retorted. As he recalled it, she'd slipped into his bed. "Well, I thought I was...," she started to say. Almost immediately she clammed up. Billy grimaced as he realized who she thought she'd been crawling into bed with.
"Dad's taken," muttered Billy, as he climbed out of the bed. He didn't so much as bother trying to hide his nudity. Instead, the irritated human boy walked over to his bags and fished out some clothing. Froyo's face went red hot as she realized just what kind of predicament she'd put herself in. She'd just screwed Finn's son. She'd screwed his son on accident and then gone on to reveal that she was aiming at the man himself–the married man. She was doubly screwed, and she could expect every kind of shame if word of this got out.
Rising, she went to the younger man and began to plead with him. Billy, who'd had a moment to calm down, stopped her. Finn was the Alpha Dude, right? Every female Royal on Ooo had chased him at one time or another. This girl–woman–was just taking her shot. On its face, it wasn't anything like what JJ or Cherry had done to his family. And he was sure his dad wouldn't have had anything to do with this woman. Finn the Human just wasn't that kind of guy. Sure there was the thing with Cherry, but she'd kind of had a gun to his head at the time. With a heavy sigh, Billy said, "it's ok, Your Highness. I won't tell if you won't." Blushing, she nodded. Taken with a notion, she asked, "did you like it?" Billy rolled his eyes. "Uh, yeah," he retorted. "I got to get it on with a beautiful woman. What dude wouldn't want some of that?" Her blush got deeper, but she actually giggled.
Billy took her hand, bent down, and kissed her fingers. He smiled up at her as he said, "I am yours to command, my Lady. Always." Of course getting to ogle that body was a pretty good perk just now. "Well," said she. "Let us take a shower." A few more minutes of intimacy would hardly hurt them, and he wasn't the only one enjoying the view. The pair washed and then the beautiful princess slipped away to her quarters through a secret passage to dress.
An hour later, Finn arrived in the audience chamber to find his son and Ragnhild already present. He had spent a while last night wondering/worrying about his son, and a little more time in the shower this morning pondering the identity of the mystery woman Cherry left in Billy's bed. Now he'd arrived in Ragnhild's office to find Billy actually flirting with his old flame. A shiver of fear went down his spine at the thought of Billy sexing his old flame. At the same time, seeing them get on so well gave him a measure of fatherly pride. And he was delighted by the idea of Billy moving on.
"Like father like son," murmured Cherry. Finn glanced down to find the nasty bitch standing beside him. She'd slipped out while he was sleeping. "I'm told he railed her nine times last night," she murmured. "He fucked her bow-legged..." Finn blushed to his hair. She actually sounded proud! Her hand grasped his, giving it a squeeze. As the Princess walked to the conference table, Finn was shocked to realize Cherry was right. She was walking funny. "She wanted my man," growled the candy-person. Calming herself, Cherry added, "so I gave her the next best thing." She found his blush amusing, and she actually giggled, but then Ragnhild called out to them to join her.
The pair separated at the table with Cherry joining the princess on her side of the table and Finn sitting with his son. "The conspiracy stretches well beyond the borders," Cherry announced. "Recently my operatives in the Candy Kingdom detected a plot to enter the candy monarch's secure laboratory..." Finn grimaced. He'd thought he was smashing her organization. He was appalled to learn just how much was left. And if he was appalled, Billy was shocked.
Cherry was completely unfazed and unconcerned by their shock. She had lots to tell them about their adversary. He or she had a legion of loyal operatives from the wastes and a shocking penchant for violence. Many of her more volatile operatives had met their ends after confronting the other organization. Billy asked the obvious, "who are they?" With a sigh, Cherry admitted, "I don't know, Bill. I can only tell you that it's somebody out of the wastelands to the southwest. They're bad news." Finn found fear in her voice. She was afraid. That made him a little afraid.
Moving on, Cherry put a slip of paper on the table. "Brevik's contacts think your simpleton's here," she said. "His name is Sweet-P," Billy muttered. "Right," Cherry said with a chuckle. She slid the paper over to Finn, saying, "it's an old warehouse on the river. The pier collapsed, taking half the structure. Brevik says it's often used for dealings with outsiders." Finn took the paper and folded it into a pocket.
Catching her former boyfriend's attention, Ragnhild said, "would you and William wait outside. I want to speak to Miss Soda alone." Finn immediately rose and thanked her for her time. Billy was a beat late, his eyes suggesting he didn't trust Cherry to remain behind. Finn took him by the shoulder and steered him towards the door. This wasn't the time.
Out in the hall, the younger man immediately started in on Finn. "Dad," Billy hissed, "are you sure we can trust her?" Finn knew exactly what he meant. "Nope," said Finn, "we can't. She's manipulating me. It's what she does. She can't help it any more than Bonnie could." Which was saying a lot. Calmly, the big man said, "we have a connection. That's the only advantage I have. Right now she has a commitment to this crazy thing between us. We can use that. Right now Ragnhild has power over her. As long as that's the case, I think we can slip by, find Sweet-P, and get out of here."
Done with their private conference, Ragnhild and her advisor came striding across the room. They were two very-beautiful women and both men stared. Ragnhild was blushing faintly as the pair stopped before the two men. She still thought Finn was sexy, and she could even see it in the son he'd raised. At the same time, she found herself a little smitten with the younger man. He was like the Finn of her youth–young and attractive in an almost primal way.
Both men smiled, as Ragnhild said, "Wulf has taken the location under watch. He's waiting for you." "Thanks, FP," Finn replied. "I really appreciate the help..." Ragnhild offered him a smile and a 'no prob, bob', just like he used to say it to her. Then she stunned both men by giving both a hug and kiss on the cheek. Finn was used to that. Billy blushed to his hair. With Cherry at Finn's side, the trio left Ragnhild, heading out to the carriage yard where Cherry's coach waited. With little real choice, the two men piled aboard, with Billy taking the seat opposite their host. Cherry merely smiled. It didn't matter. Finn still loved her. That was all she cared about.
The ride out to the riverfront was tense, with Billy doing his damndest not to talk to or even look at Cherry very much. He cast a pall on things, and Finn too mostly clammed up and stayed that way. Cherry had wanted to ask about their son a little, but the moment was just wrong for that. In the end, all three were relieved when the chauffeur announced that they'd reached the destination. Glancing out the window, Finn found Wulf and his team had the place surrounded, with guards at either end and men at both the two front doors.
Rolling up to the main entry, Billy jumped out of the carriage. Finn was a little slower. Cherry stopped him there and kissed him–for 'luck'. The two clambered down to find Billy already grilling Wulf on what he had seen so far. That consisted of a whole lot of 'not much' and 'quiet'. He hadn't sent anyone inside. He'd been admonished to hang back and 'let Finn do it', which wasn't doing much for his mood. Cherry didn't really like him. He was a lot like Finn but without all the charm and grace that let him smile in the face of things that bugged him.
Done with the grilling, Finn said, "well, I guess we better get at it." Billy said, "I'll go around to the north, dad." Wulf sent seven guards with him. Wulf was going in the south, taking another seven or eight men with him. That left Finn going straight up the middle. "Be careful, honey," sighed Cherry. The way she said that sent a chill through him. It reminded him all too much of the way Simone said it. Staring at the ruins of the half-sunken warehouse, the evil hottie murmured, "I don't like this..."
Taken by the notion that she was very much right and remembering how he had always made sure to collect a kiss from both his wives before going off to something crazy/stupid, Finn turned to her, leaned down, and kissed her soft lips. When he drew back, he surprised a tear going down her cheek. Yeah, it was still there. For both of them. Shaking his head at the madness that was his life, Finn whistled for the guards and headed through that half-rotten door.
The interior of the shattered warehouse looked just as rough as the exterior with half-rotten floors and decaying walls. Mottled sunlight filtered down from scattered holes in the half-rotten roof. Finn carefully picked his way along, testing each step as he went. He wasn't the lanky young man who'd been happy to climb a hundred foot tree with no safety rope. He was a big man–big enough that marginal floors would easily have given way on him. Fortunately he was also wise enough to know it.
Big as the old warehouse was, it might have taken days of searching to comb through. The half-wrecked state helped there, closing off much of the structure and sort of channeling their effort to rooms they had a chance of reaching. Step by step, they dug their way through rooms that had once been filled with trade goods from all over Ooo. As each room got cleared, Finn's bad feeling intensified. Cherry was right. Something strange was going on. Strange was bad news in their business.
Just now they were in a section with a relatively intact roof. Instead of weirdly alternating patches of sun and shade, they had an inky, terrifying darkness where anything could be hiding. A couple of the dudes had flashlights, but shit would get real in a hurry if a fight broke out. As he stepped into a darkened chamber at the heart of the structure, he came face to face with a big pile of equipment. It was like a corner of Bonnie's lab with honkin' big electric-spark making things, a console with a sea of blinking lights, and lots of things that hummed and whirred.
The big man stopped where he was and stood staring at the machinery. Some of it was very familiar. He was sure he'd seen it before somewhere. Bonnie's place, maybe, thought Finn? As he wracked his brain for the answer, a scream behind him and to his left announced trouble. Finn spun to face the source of the noise. Two of the guards were missing. Finn drew the Finn Sword as a blot of darkness rushed a third man. This man hacked and chopped at his foe with heavy, overhand blows. The creature went down, but didn't stay. To Finn's horror, the thing seemed only to touch the guard, and it was all over.
The inky blot slipped away as the guard screamed and wailed. He toppled over there in the darkness, and Finn knew he was dead. Grabbing a lantern from one of the remaining men, Finn cast about, searching for their foe. The creature was fast and smart though. As Finn closed on the most recent corpse, a shout from behind told that another of Wulf's men had bitten the big one. Finn spun about and charged a blot of darkness, thrusting with the Finn Sword. The blade bit deep, but when he shown the lantern on the creature, he found it was the mummified corpse of a guard.
Motion out the corner of his right eye alerted him just as a the creature grabbed his right arm. The pain was incredible. Almost immediately he let go his fabled blade. With a burst of speed, he swung the lantern, smashing it into the creature's face. As the creature let go of his arm, he tossed the lantern at it. Grabbing the Finn Sword with his left hand, he tore it out of the corpse and slashed the creature across the upper body. The thing squealed so loud it hurt his ears. Finn backpedaled. He was hurt bad, and he knew it. The creature was also hurt, but it kept right on coming.
Just then, Wulf came on the scene. He hurled a can of lamp-oil on the monster, chasing that with a flaming match. The creature howled in pain and turned to face the new threat. Wulf and his troops rushed in, swinging and stabbing with their blades. The creature lashed out, slaughtering two men at one go. Finn continued to back away, his arm sending cobwebs of pain through his mind. He felt weak as a kitten, and he felt like he was going to pass out. Two thoughts kept him going. What would happen to Bill? How could he protect Cherry?
As he stood there, leaning on the Finn Sword as he tried to gather his fading strength, the creature grabbed Wulf by the head. The big man didn't even get to scream. To Finn's horror and rage, the big man began to dissolve, just like AJ. He tried to get back in the fight, pushing off with his blade, but his legs gave out, leaving him toppling forward. Laying there on that nasty floor, struggling to rise, the big man watched the hideous pile of rancid goo come toward him. Just then, Billy Mertens burst through the wall to find a scene from his nightmares in that darkened space. Nearly a dozen mummified bodies lay scattered about the room. Front and center, he found his father sprawled on the floor, his right arm missing above the elbow. Worst of all was the hideous goo monster reaching for his father.
And... CLIFFHANGER! :^) Some of you HAVE suggested 'killing' Finn.