Everyone landed softly on the Fire King's mountainside, Flame Princess having quickly found the bluff she was looking for. Finn pulled Jake out of his pocket, handing him his protective necklace and ice club as he grew back to normal size. Flame Princess walked to the rocks of the mountain and poked around, looking for something.
"It was around here somewhere... uhmm... Aha!"
She pressed her finger in between a pair of rocks that had a small space between them and the mountain face creaked and groaned as a passage opened inside. Finn looked nervously over the bluff to the small specks that were the guards below, but couldn't see for sure if the noise had reached them or not. Flame Princess waved the others on and entered into her father's domain. Ice King and Jake followed, and Fionna moved to do so as well but Finn placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She turned and looked at him inquisitively.
"Fionna, I know that I don't really have any reason to tell you this, and I trust that you can take care of yourself, but promise me you'll be careful in there." he said quietly.
He tried to cobble together something else to say to her but just couldn't form a coherent enough thought to do so. It wouldn't have mattered, as before he'd had a chance to even start to speak he felt Fionna's hands on his face and once more felt the soft brush of her lips against his. He automatically moved to pull her a little closer to him, and she obliged, sliding her body forward to meet his. This time they both kept from overindulging, and they separated quickly but remained close to one another, relishing the other's touch.
"I will, but you have to as well. You're pretty much everything I've got in this world, so watch your step alright?" she whispered to him. Her voice so close to his ear sent a shiver down his spine. They parted slowly, knowing that they didn't have time to waste but still unwilling to let the other go.
"Of course, milady." Finn offered her a short bow, and she gifted him with a radiant smile before they both turned their attentions back to the mission.
They followed the others through the open portal, passing Flame Princess along the way as she waited to close the door behind them. Finn heard the rocks slide back into place, but fortunately the area inside was well lit by distant torchlight and a soft glowing from the lava-infused mountainside. Flame Princess caught up to Finn quickly and gave him a sidelong look.
"Just staying with you huh?" she said, her face difficult for Finn to read.
"She was, this is kind of a new development." Finn replied uneasily.
Flame Princess carried on past him with a faint "Mhm" escaping her lips before she took point for the group. Finn skipped up a step to fall in beside Fionna, but decided now was a good time to keep his mouth shut. Flame Princess led them down the long corridor, taking a few turns here and there such that Finn totally lost track of where they were going. FP's stride didn't seem to slow, so he assumed they were still on track, but his nerves were rising from spending so long wandering around with nobody else in sight. The others seemed to also be on edge, everyone expecting to walk face-first into a pile of elementals. The corridors quickly shrunk, causing everyone to fall into single-file and hunch over a bit as movement space became scarce. After what seemed like an eternity of wandering, Flame Princess held up her hand to bring everyone to a halt.
"Alright guys," she said in a low voice, "we're right above the War Room right now." She pointed her finger to a small opening in the corridor and Fionna peered through it, looking into the empty chambers below.
"What are these tunnels?" Jake asked in a whisper.
"These are for the flambits my dad uses as servants, it lets them get around faster." Flame Princess explained, "Nobody is down here right now, but they left all their slates out so they can't have gone far. We should wait here and drop down on them when they come in."
"Alright," Finn nodded in agreement, "but I hope it doesn't take too long, I'm still worried about these necklaces." He held his up to punctuate his point, and the others noted that it had already begun to shrink down, melting in the oppressive heat.
The Ice King held out a hand and quietly murmured a few words, causing the necklace to start to grow back to its original size. He quickly repeated the gesture for Fionna and Jake, who nodded gratefully at him. Flame Princess kept her gaze out the small window, looking for signs of activity below them. She didn't have to wait long, as everyone soon heard the echoing voice of her father discussing something with his council. The loud sound of a heavy door opening reached them, and everyone crowded their faces around the opening to peer down and look.
"Alright, Ice King, you have to keep my dad busy while I fight his advisors," Flame Princess whispered matter-of-factly while they watched Flame King and his retinue surround the table, "I won't be long. Jake, try and stay small and out of sight if you can and bash some heads when they aren't paying attention to you. Finn, Fionna, you two hold the doors and keep the guards out. If you get a breather feel free to help us out, but we need you to keep this a small fight." Everyone nodded, understand their roles.
Fionna noticed a light moving out of the corner of her eye, and turned her head to see that a confused and hostile looking flambit had wandered into the corridor. Fionna pushed everybody else to get their attention and they all turned to stare at the flambit, who filled with alarm at the sudden attention. It opened its mouth to cry out but Ice King pointed his finger and shot a small ball of snow into the creature's mouth, causing it to wheeze and spit out the painfully cold substance. Jake stretched his arm out in a flash to bash the flambit's head with his mace, laying the small flame out cold on the stone. Everyone held their breath and peered back down, hoping that none of the noise made had been heard, but the elementals below them didn't seem to register that anything had occurred. They collectively let out their breath, relieved but still high strung, as they waited for Flame Princess to decide on a course of action.
She watched her father from above, remembering all the reasons why she wanted to stop him and letting her fury make her stronger. She felt her flames rise, and knew that if she held out any longer they'd notice her glow from the window and then they'd all be in trouble. She motioned to the others to get ready, and with a deep breath she exhaled a small but white hot ball of flame. It flew into the corridor wall, demolishing it with a small blast as if it were nothing. Flame Princess acted immediately, jumping out of the hole and floating down to the middle of the room. Finn and Fionna gave each other a quick look before following suit, leaving Jake and Ice King to bring up the rear. Finn saw the look of surprise on the elementals' faces as they descended, ready for battle, in the middle of their meeting. The Flame King recovered quickly, rising from his seat and wearing an extremely evil grin.
"Oh you've finally returned, what a good daughter you are." he said, his voice dripping with false sincerity. He turned his gaze to the others as they recovered their footing from the fall, "And you were even nice enough to bring to me everyone I need destroyed for this invasion to work. You've outdone yourself my little princess!"
"Shut up! I've come back to take your evil butt off the throne! You're not invading anything dad!" she shot back, her flames licking higher by the second.
"Very well acted, worthy of our own thespian performers, but you don't need to pretend any longer. You got them here, that's all you had to do." he replied cooly, his eyes staying locked on Finn's.
"Nice try dude," Finn called to him, "but you aren't going to turn us on her!"
Flame King deflated somewhat, looking resigned. "Darn, I was hoping that would work. No matter, GUARDS!"
Flame King's booming voice echoed through the room and out into the main halls, and Finn could already hear the sound of stamping boots heading for them. He and Fionna wasted no time rushing to the doorway and taking up defensive postures there, eyeing the initial handful of fiery guards who were quickly heading for them. The pair intercepted them neatly, bringing their icy blades to bear against the elementals. Flame Princess flew to one side of the room and conjured a wall of flames that she dragged towards the Flame King's council, causing them to scatter as she corralled them to the other side of the room. Jake slinked off to the side of the chamber, shrinking himself enough to hide behind the slate tables while still holding his club. This left the Ice King to casually flap up to the Flame King, and the two stared each other down.
"Been a long time Icicle-nose," The King said haughtily, "I'd hoped my assassins would have dealt with you, but I suppose that's what I get for sending a flambit to do an elemental's job."
"Tough talk Coal-butt, but I think you forgot who whooped who last time we fought!" Ice King snapped back.
"So you drag your frozen carcass to MY mountain and try to challenge me in my own fortress? Leave me some ice to wrap your heart in; I want your penguins to watch it stop beating!"
"That reminds me..." Ice King drew his hand up and blasted Flame King full in the face with a torrent of sharp icicles, blasting him back a step. "THAT was from Gunter."
Flame King recovered quickly, projecting a veil of fire around himself to melt the shards of ice as they flew at him. He sneered at the Ice King through his simple shield, and his own flames began to grow in size and intensity.
"You have gravely erred penguin-lover." he said rigidly, without his usual pomp.
Ice King's eyes widened and he pulsed his beard, carrying him off the ground as a torrent of fire flew from Flame King's eyes to the spot he'd just been standing. The fire elemental surged forward, similarly lifting from the ground to pursue his foe. The pair faced off in midair for a brief moment before the chamber filled with a tremendous hiss of steam as fire met ice between them.
Flame Princess touched down just outside the center of the room, placing herself squarely between the disjointed elementals that made up Flame King's council and the king himself. They slowly gathered themselves together, exchanging frantic looks of uncertainty while Flame Princess looked on, a smug smile on her face.
"Take all the time you want," she said, making a show of brushing some dirt from her dress, "I've got all day."
One of the elementals reacted to her statement, and Flame Princess could see the fury in his eyes. "She mocks us!" he yelled to the others, "Her! A mere child! Pull yourselves together!"
With that, he launched himself forward, bring a flaming fist towards her and crying out in anger. She watched him approach, and spared a glance to see the others were preparing to follow him. Nodding imperceptibly to herself, she drew her own hand back and punched forward, summoning a swirling flash of fire to intercept her charging opponent. He took the hit full force, flying backwards past the others and crashing into the wall. The rest of the council all turned to look at him, and Flame Princess took the opportunity of their distraction to fill herself with her power, growing rapidly as she assumed her more base elemental state. Her face disappeared inside a wall of fire, though her piercing gaze and malicious smile were turned squarely on the shuffling elementals before her. They turned and noticed her, but none had a chance to act before Flame Princess descended on them in a howl of fire, knocking them everywhere across the chamber. Jake took the opportunity to pop out of his hiding place, and also inflated himself to Flame Princess' size. He joined her in knocking the council around, bringing his icy mace to bear on them with satisfying results.
Finn and Fionna clutched their ice blades tightly, letting the cold chill of the swords guard their hands from the flames of the elementals they engaged. Fionna bobbed and weaved her way through her opponents, watching for the clumsy swings of fiery halberds and carrying herself around them. Her blade snaked in and out, scoring repeated hits on her opponents as she circled around a group of them in an attempt to keep from being surrounded. She was a little less certain of her tactic, since Finn had managed to knock her off guard when she last tried it, but a quick look at the guards before her banished her worry. Unlike Finn, these elementals weren't terribly perceptive, and the ice blade seemed to be doing its job, as any of the guards who felt its bite were extremely hesitant to do so again. She side-stepped a vertical slash from one of the guards and darted in, driving her sword into its face and watching the elemental pop. Its armor fell to the ground empty and a few flambits dashed out. The adventurer drew back, continuing to circle as she picked out her next target. Fionna knew she was on something of a timer, but was comfortable for the moment to play it safe. A quick look at Finn however, showed her that others disagreed with her use of caution.
Finn's battle cry filled the halls, accompanying the shouts and yells of pain and terror that came from the guards that he brutalized. Finn's trademark aggressive style of combat seemed to be working for him, as he battered aside any of the guards who got within sword's reach of him. He was already impressed with his ice sword, which seemed to be holding up well, and it certainly made short work of the elementals before him, leaving a trail of downed guards and empty armor in his wake. The boy had already sustained some minor hits, and small scorch marks were visible on his arms and face. He didn't seem to mind, as the ice pendant was dulling the burn of his enemies' flaming weapons and he was high on the victory he was experiencing. He saw Fionna handling herself fine, taking her time and precisely dropping her foes, and couldn't help but smile. Maybe all his worrying had been for nothing after all.
The Kings of Ice and Flame circled each other in the air, blasting back and forth with powerful elemental attacks, each looking for an opening in their foe's defense. Ice King kept a confident face on, seeing Flame King's frustrations rise as he failed to hit the floating wizard with anything substantial.
"What's the matter Fireball? I've been burned worse by candles!" he taunted.
The Ice King watched as rage filled the visage of the Flame King, but to the wizard's surprise the elemental backed down.
"You know, I'm almost glad I didn't win this fight immediately." Flame King said, "It would have made for an awkward conversation with my contingency plan..." As he spoke, he reached into his armor and retrieved a small piece of slate, showing the Ice King while wearing a sadistic smile. "Hope you've made peace with your penguins."
Ice King looked at the slate, initially confused at the Flame King's surge of confidence. The etching on the slate was hard to make out, but one word screamed out to the Ice King above all others, and immediately made his blood run cold(er).
Scorcher
The Flame King held a contract for Scorcher, the target: Ice King. The wizard shuddered involuntarily, and immediately started to look around in a panic. He scanned the room for the figure he didn't want to find, and he saw something that filled him with fear. Above him, in the same tunnel where the group had initially burst out from, a pair of burning eyes stared at him. Ice King yelped, and immediately started flying towards the door, but was blocked as a cloud of sickly black smoke materialized in front of him. It solidified, and he looked straight into Scorcher's face as the flaming hit-man stared a hole in him.
"Oh, uhh, hey there buddy, long time no see..." Ice King stalled, slowly flapping away from Scorcher.
The imposing figure in front of him remained stony, and Ice King considered his options. He wasn't sure if he could actually take Scorcher in a fight at all, much less inside the Fire Kingdom with his rapidly diminishing snow reserves. He also knew the Flame King wouldn't hesitate to destroy him if he got the opportunity.
"Hey Flame Princess!" he shouted, "Could use some help here!"
Flame Princess finished throwing an elemental across the room before turning to Ice King to see what his problem was. She saw Scorcher staring at him and immediately knew that the wizard was in trouble; Scorcher had a, quite frankly, scary reputation both in and outside of the Fire Kingdom. More importantly she saw her father preparing to strike Ice King from behind, and she knew she had to act fast. She whirled to Jake, who was currently using one of the armored elementals as a club to bludgeon another.
"Jake, you've got to handle this yourself, Ice King's in trouble!" she yelled, already heading for her father in a blaze.
"No problem FP!" Jake called after her as he disposed of his makeshift club and switched back to his real one. The elementals before him were starting to regroup, and they seemed an awful lot more confident now that Flame Princess wasn't focused on them. Jake hoped that Ice King's amulet was going to last through what he had in mind. He moved cautiously, letting them gang up in front of him, before taking a steadying breath.
"Crazy old ice wizard, don't fail me now." Jake muttered as he leapt forward, stretching himself into a solid blanket of dog and collapsing on top of all the elementals in front of him.
He sat for a moment, stretching his head around to make sure he'd gotten them all, before a pain started building up underneath him. He winced as the elemental's flames started biting at his skin, but he could tell the amulet was working as the pain was pretty mild compared to other burns he'd had before. He held his body tight to the ground, and grit his teeth against the pain, waiting for the elementals to run out of air and burn themselves out.
Finn and Fionna finished disabling or dispatching the guards around them and had a moment to breathe. In the distance of the hallway before them they could see the light of more elementals moving around, but to their relief the great iron doors at the end of the hall leading to the main guard complex outside remained closed. The two looked at each other as they caught their breath, looking for any injuries on the other.
"So much for being careful you dummy, look at you! You're a mess!" Fionna half scolded as she looked over Finn's various scratches and burns.
"I'm fine, don't worry. Who doesn't want to get with the universe?"
"What?"
Finn realized that Fionna totally lacked context for his statement, but knew there wasn't really time to explain as the next wave of guards started coming up to them.
"Long story, ask me later!" he said quickly as he readied himself against the enemies coming at him.
He then noticed something odd, as did Fionna. The elementals in front of them weren't charging to attack, they looked like they were running away from something. A few brushed past the pair, uncaring of them as they headed further into the complex. Finn and Fionna exchanged confused looks, both unsure what to make of what was happening. They both looked back to the gate, and noticed that it was starting to creak open.
"That's bad news..." Fionna said gravely, hefting her sword for comfort.
"Wait, what's that?" Finn asked, pointing at the door.
The creaking of the door continued, but Finn and Fionna watched as strange shapes pushed through the doorway, grasping the doors and wrenching them apart. An awful screeching rose from the iron doors as they were forced to bend away, before they simply broke from the force and exploded inwards. The two stared dumbfounded as a huge metal contraption on treads rolled into the entryway, as two pairs of arms sprouting from it knocked guards around and sprayed them with water hoses.
"Finn, what the heck is that?" Fionna asked, caught between fear and wonder at the mechanical monstrosity.
"I have absolutely no idea, I hope it's on our side though."
The machine rolled up to them, idly swatting away elementals that strayed too close, until it reached the end of the space that it could fit into. The robotic torso leaned over somewhat, and a cockpit opened up. A figure poked its head out, and Finn felt a rush of satisfaction when he saw Princess Bubblegum inside.
"PB? What are you doing here?"
"Hey Finn! I had one of my candy servants put a microphone on Ice King's crown while he slept so I could hear what happened here. Then I followed you guys once I put the finishing touches on this bad boy," she punctuated by knocking her fist against its hull, "so I could give you backup if you needed it."
Finn and Fionna continued to stare at the machine until Bubblegum snapped her fingers at the pair of them.
"Uhh guys, shouldn't you two be doing something right now?" she asked.
"Right, c'mon Finn let's go help the others!" Fionna called, turning to enter the war room again.
Finn nodded and started to turn, but called up to Bubblegum before she receded into her robot.
"Thanks for coming PB, its going to mean a lot to everybody."
"Thank Fionna," Bubblegum replied in a more humble voice than Finn had heard her use in ages, "she kind of made me realize I was being a jerk about all this."
Finn nodded as Bubblegum vanished inside her machine, and he watched it rise up and turn back to the guards who were still flooding the chamber. He hoped her machine could handle it, but as he watched her easily blast a dozen of them aside as it they were nothing, he was sure it could. He turned back to the war room, where Fionna had already entered, and followed her in.
