Chapter 38:
"You really tore them up..."
Simone flushed. She hadn't known who to call when she was done securing the house. She'd spent the night in a state of terror, wondering if there were any more of these men lurking around. When morning came, she'd called Marceline–the one person she thought might have the connections to quietly sweep this under the rug. Which Marceline completely failed to understand.
"I don't understand why you don't just call Bonnie," rumbled the vampire. "I don't want Finn to know," retorted Simone. Which she'd said three times now. "It's not like you were cheating on him," said the vampire. "Right...?" The wizard drew herself up to her full height, and her eyes blazed. There was still a little Ice-Queen in her. "Don't get your panties in a knot," said the vampire. "Had to ask..." Severely, Simone told her, "if you must know... Finn's in the middle of tracking down the last of his father's flunkies. If he finds out that I've been attacked, he'll come rushing back. Flunkies get away. They call for help. Ooo gets blown up. Simple enough for you?"
The vampire flushed. She had some good points there. Marceline picked the last of the dead men up by his wrist in a negligent grip and carried him down the stairs. She looked almost like she was carrying a nasty diaper. When she'd moved the corpse, Simone got to work scrubbing the floor clean of his blood. She'd tried to keep the mess confined, but a couple of the ice-shards she'd conjured inside her opponents had pierced the skin. By the time Marceline had finished disposing of the problem, she'd scrubbed the spot clean. She was vaguely aware that in the distant past, before the Mushroom War, someone would have been able to detect traces of the stain with special chemicals, but Finn's inept troops would scarcely have known about that.
"So," said Marceline. "Will you tell him when he gets back?" Mopping at her brow with her sleeve, Simone replied, "would you?" Again the vampire flushed. This woman wasn't the happy-go-lucky babbling fool that Simon had become when the crown took his mind. She wasn't even the kind-hearted man who'd adopted Marceline and looked after her. She was shrewd and intelligent. The vampire would do well to remember that.
"Yeah," sighed Marceline, "the weenie would freak..." Finn would be a wreck, patrolling the grounds of the house day and night, and he'd never get anything done. Calmer now, Simone said, "thanks for helping with this..." Floating on her back in mid-air with her arms crossed behind her head, the vampire replied, "no prob, bob..." "How'd you get rid of the corpses so fast anyway," asked the curious wizardess? With a negligent shrug, Marceline replied, "I had them dig their own graves. You should get lots of good fertilizer for your garden out of them..." "Marceline," howled Simone?!
Hundreds of miles away, Nadia maneuvered her airship between bolts of incandescent lightning as the aliens struggled to draw a bead on her. She'd spent a little time analyzing the signals from their targeting radars, and now she was able to twist their technology against them, deflecting their attempts to get a solid bead on her. The guns were now trying to fill the sky with fire in a vain attempt to tackle the airship. Unfortunately, they had two targets to deal with, and they couldn't get clean shots at either. Flint kept circling in and out, dodging gunfire to deliver stinging bolts of blue flame that melted portions of the heavy steel structure. The aliens had adapted Grid-Person shields to help with the defense, but some of the elemental's fire was still getting through.
Gorg paced the command deck, cussing and shouting at his minions, and even the little genius was bent over in terror from the threats he leveled. This was all heading south. He should have cut things off when the first raid failed. This disastrous state of affairs likely could have been avoided if they had finished the job with what they had. Gorsh had been mad to harvest as many 'computers' as he could get, even after their raiders failed. He'd wanted to finish the calculations swiftly, and waiting another six or seven days to align the damned antenna had him angry enough to spit.
Knowing that Martin's kid was somewhere in the vicinity had made Gorg very nervous. He wouldn't have dared Martin on a bet, and somehow that kid had taken the evil bastard down and lived to tell the tale. Gorg didn't give two fucks about whether or not the calculation took another six months. He wanted to get out of here in one piece, and now he realized he should have over-ruled the little shit. Above them, the burning man swooped in again, laying into the tower. Warning alarms blared, indicating that their main defense-shield was failing. The antenna array was in jeopardy now. If that damned ship of theirs had any weapons, they could do serious damage to it. Fortunately, so far they hadn't shown any.
Aboard the aircraft, Nadia took note of the gap in their defense. Flint had been as good as his word, providing distraction and now an opening for them to begin the attack. Keying the microphone, the princess announced, "it's now or never, Finn." "Got it," replied Finn. Then, "uh... Roger..." Nadia smiled, as she lowered the ramp. He was sweet, her champion. She just hoped he fucking survived this! This had to be the craziest thing yet–crazier even than the stunt with the truck!
As the Grid-Face Princess swooped down low over the towering antenna, she matched speeds as best she could with the rumbling construct, throwing the aircraft into a hover. This was very tricky. One false move could send her precious ship tumbling out of control. She could hit the tower or crash into the ground. That didn't even get into the risk of just being shot from the sky.
Finn took a deep breath as he took in the sight of the antenna. This was the craziest thing he'd ever done, and he wished Jake were here to see it. Hell, he wished Jake was here to help! He could really have used his bro's stretchy-powers right now. "Let's do this, donk," growled the wizard. Nodding, Finn stepped into the air. Almost immediately the slipstream took him. He had just enough time to offer a prayer to glob, and then he slammed face-first into the heavy iron antenna-dish.
The hero hit hard, and the force of the impact stunned him. He went sliding down the surface of the dish at high speed, towards a certain fall at the end. Digging deep, he fought off the cobwebs in his mind. As the pitted and rusty surface tried to scrape all the meat off his exposed skin, Finn conjured up one of the defense-disks. It sprang to life just below his feet. Gathering himself to a seated position, he climbed on top of it and did his best to steer it with his mind.
Leveling his crossbow, the hero took careful aim at one of the steel posts that jutted up from the surface of the dish. He fired the arrow that Huntress had put her special sauce on, and the bolt buried itself up to the fletchings in the metal. Now it was time for the sucky part. Finn cringed as the rope attach to the arrow payed out the last of its slack. His eyes crossed as the swiss-seat tied around his butt clenched tight, squishing his nads a little.
Moments later, he heard rather than saw Emeraude come sliding down the dish. Flicking his face up to where he expected to see her, he locked eyes with the pretty wood-nymph. There was a look of sheer terror on her face, and he knew she was in trouble. Conjuring one of the defense discs he caught her and slowed her down. Swinging out, he grabbed for her hand as she went by and caught it. The additional weight bearing down on the swiss-seat constricted the ropes tighter around his mid-section, and Finn squealed like a woman.
Cussing like a sailor, Finn levered his ex-girlfriend up and swung her over towards the platform Nadia had spotted on one of her loops around the radio-dish. Recovered from her terror, the wizard grabbed the railing and pulled herself onto the platform. Finn pulled himself up next and, with the aid of his dagger, severed the rope. Rattleballs would be joining them in a minute. "Aliens," growled Emeraude. She could hear them coming up from below. Finn was waving Nadia off. With Rattleballs on the antenna now and working his way down to the platform, she could get clear.
As Finn watched, the aircraft dove for the ground, accelerating as it went, and then tore out of there as if all the demons of the Night-O-Sphere were chasing it. Finn joined the little beauty at the edge of the platform. The aliens were close now. He could hear them talking. There were two ways onto this platform–if you didn't count the way they'd just come–and the aliens had both covered. Coming up with a quick plan, Finn whispered instructions at his partner. This was going to get almost as crazy as getting on the radio dish in the first place.
As the aliens came rushing up the stairs, spraying the platform from two directions at once, the two heroes dove over the side. Finn landed on the platform below, but Huntress missed, barely catching the railing. Finn's heart leaped into his throat at the sight of his on-and-off girlfriend hanging there in mid-air, but he knew he had to finish this fast. There was no time for worries. Rushing the closer of the two aliens, with the Finn sword and his personal forcefield deflecting bolts of red light, Finn got right up on the alien and cut him down, slicing him in half from his right collar to his left hip. Finn quickly spun about to face the other alien as his assailant realized where the interlopers had gone. Finn rushed him, deflecting gunfire. As the alien tried to draw a bead, gunfire from behind cut him to pieces, shredding his body in a gory display. "Thanks, Rattleballs," shouted Finn, as he rushed back to E.
He found the wizard hanging on by her fingertips. Finn reached down and hauled her back to the platform. No sooner had he pulled her to safety, than the wizard shrugged off his hand, stood up, and started walking for the next set of stairs. She was angry at him. Still. They were no closer to reaching an agreement on ending their affair. It was hurting him to see her like this, but what was he going to say? They couldn't keep doing this. He was cheating on his wife, and he was using her. "Let's get this done," the wizard muttered. With no other recourse, Finn set out after her.
Raising his phone to his ear, Finn asked the circling elemental, "where we at, Flint?" "You're two levels down from the antenna," came the quick reply. "You're a hundred feet from the next stairs. There's four guns on this level, one at each corner..." "Roger," replied Finn. Turning to Rattleballs, Finn said, "let's go, buddy. Everybody keep low. There's guns and aliens down below us too."
The pair worked their way across a long catwalk with Finn deflecting gunfire the whole way. The aliens below hammered away with their blasters, while the four gunners continued to try and smoke Flint. Finally, Finn and his team reached the catwalk at the right rear corner of the machine. They found a frog-faced alien there splitting his time between shooting at the flying elemental and shooting at them. As they got in range, Finn suddenly dropped his defenses, letting Huntress reach out and smoke the alien. Striding forward, Finn took command of the platform as a half dozen aliens came rushing across from two of the other gun platforms.
Rattleballs took the platform at the front, while Finn and the wood-nymph warrior took the one at the left rear. Flinging defense discs left and right, the Finn-Sword flailing, the hero rushed the other platform. The aliens took a tight formation, some kneeling, some on foot, and one even laying prone on the deck aiming at Finn's feet. Finn could feel Nadia's gift straining as it deflected those deadly bolts of energy. One by one E picked off the aliens. As they got closer and the alien gunfire got more intense, the fearless madwoman even jumped off the catwalk and onto a nearby platform, hurling lightning bolts into their midst, causing one man to even jump off the platform to his death.
As the pair took possession of the gun platform, Finn turned to his ex-girlfriend and said, "I-I'm sorry, E." "We're in a fight, donk," muttered the wizard. The hero retorted, "I need to say this stuff while we're still alive to say it." Emeraude ignored him. Walking up behind her, he stopped, just outside of arms reach and stood staring at her. "I... we can't keep doing this, E," said Finn. "You know we can't..." "I don't care," rumbled Emeraude. "E," Finn protested. "You always fucking do this," snarled Huntress!
As he stared at her back, he could hear her crying. Hesitantly, he put a hand to her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She jerked away from him. "This is my time," she sobbed! "This should be my time. She gets everything else!" Finn flushed. He knew who she was, and he was a little startled by those words. At the same time, the aliens were coming, having been flushed off the other platform by Rattleballs. They were about to be in it, and now Finn moved to the front, raising their defenses, playing meatshield while the woman he cared so much for did her best to keep them alive.
The aliens were in a panic as the war-machine chased them across that rusty steel, guns blazing. Finn had to be careful not to get smoked by his friend as the blaster-bolts came thick and fast. When the aliens were within range, the wizard hurled a blast-orb into the packed group of aliens, killing all but one. Finn ran that last man through, watching the terror fade from his eyes as he passed from life.
Emeraude was sweating, and Finn could see the strain on her face. She was at the limit. They all were. "You gonna' make it," he asked? "Fine," snarled the wizard. She pushed past him, saying, "coming, Rattleballs?" The war-droid set out after the wizard. With a heavy sigh, Finn fell in behind the two of them. He'd screwed this up, and he still didn't know how to get out of this. Whether against each other or the aliens, it seemed all they had was the fight.
Flint was still circling the platform, with the aliens still hammering away at him, and he helped the crew as they worked their way from level to level, eliminating the aliens one by one. They found them at their posts, manning the guns, and they found them patrolling or lying in ambush. Finn or Huntress or Rattleballs ruthlessly shot, stabbed, or blasted them to pieces. All the while, the massive machine rumbled and tottered across the landscape. The structure beneath their feet shuddered, and the steel groaned, telling Finn that this machine the aliens had cobbled together had never been intended to do this. He was afraid they wouldn't get off this thing alive. At the same time, it was one more arrow in the quiver. If they couldn't get to the control booth and stop it the easy way, he could always force it to crash.
The deeper they went, the stronger resistance got as more and more aliens came piling on. They were desperate, and they let loose extravagant amounts of firepower in a determined and concerted effort to bring down their tormentors. Finn could feel the strange gadget Nadia gave him faltering. A sense in his mind was telling him that it couldn't take much more of the pounding. At the same time, they were starting to run out of other options. An exhausted Flint retired from the field to rest, dropping back at last when the last of the weapons stations quit shooting at him. Chugging along towards the endgame, the others carried on best they could, but when they encountered the robots, Finn knew they'd more or less reached the end of the road.
They were standing on one end of a narrow walkway. On the far side was the control booth. And in the way were four of the deadly robots that had caused him such grief in town. "Got anymore arrows," asked Finn? "Tapped out, donk," replied Huntress. "We're boned," muttered the hero. There was no way the Finn-Sword alone would get them past those robots. "I can try," rumbled Rattleballs. Finn knew exactly what he was thinking. He could block their fire–survive it–for several minutes. It was maybe enough time to get them across the bridge. And then he'd be pretty much dead. "Not yet, buddy," muttered Finn.
"Finn," rumbled the machine. "You have a brood of offspring. You must survive to nurture them until they are fully grown. I am a machine..." "You're my friend," retorted the hero, "so let's drop it. I need to think this through." The hero found a corner that was sheltered from fire. He wracked his brain a long few minutes as the robots fired, and the machine thundered across the landscape, creaking and groaning as it went.
He thought of swinging like Tarzan on a rope, but it was obvious they'd just be shot off the rope. He thought of just bumrushing the aliens, but there was no way he could block so many gunshots at once. They had sixteen guns total! The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there was no way to get across and live to tell the tale.
So what else can we do, thought the hero. They couldn't get to the other platform. There was just one bridge and four robots covering it. They had the three of them, but Huntress was almost out of weapons herself. Flint was out of the fight. The only other person they had was Nadia, and he wasn't sure he would have risked the Princess's life that way. Still, they were running out of options. Finn drew his phone, speed-dialed the princess and said, "hey, Nadia... It's me, Finn. We're pinned down here. There's four more of those robots, and they're blocking our way. Can you do something? Maybe a distraction?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Finn waited with baited breath. They all did. And then Grid-Face Princess responded with, "I have something even better... Give me a moment..." Finn waited as, on the other end of the line, Nadia went deep into a meditative state. They'd silenced the guns. For the moment, she was safe enough flying straight and level. Programming the autopilot, she entered a trance and went digging.
It didn't take long to find the first nodes. Just as she suspected, the monsters who had murdered her people hadn't bothered removing their communicators. Now she had a second hunch to play. It was painful connecting to the minds on the other side of those modems on a physical and spiritual level. Some had gone quite mad, their minds overwhelmed by the horrors inflicted on them. Others felt like sumps of anger and grief. Still others were lost in their pain and the desire not to experience that pain again.
The princess did her best to work quickly. She didn't have forever with this. Each moment of contact risked her getting pulled into the maelstrom. If that happened, she'd be as lost as they were. Locating a few isolated nodes of sanity, she reached out, identifying herself, "this is Princess Nadia. I know what's been done to you. I promise your murderers will pay the consequences for your suffering, but right now I need your help..."
Aboard the platform, Gorsh was in quite a state. They had only a handful of survivors left. All their plans had come apart. The only thing holding the enemy at bay was their unreliable battle-bots. He didn't know how things could be worse. Even Gorg seemed to have abandoned him. As the little genius wracked his brain for a solution, a shout announced things had just gotten worse. Gorsh ran across to the master steering console to find the display painted with a sea of yellow. "What the fuck are you doing," howled the alien intellect?! "It ain't me," retorted the driver! "The fucking brains quit working!" "Get them back online," shouted Gorsh! "I'm trying," the terrified driver replied! But the mutant brains they were using as expert-systems to control their cobbled together mobile radio station were in full rebellion, refusing to respond to any commands and allowing the system to slowly drift out of alignment.
The creaking and groaning of distressed steel increased, and they could hear several thunderous pops and bangs like gunshots as rivets gave way and went flying. The front steering arms were getting further and further out of alignment, and if nothing was done, they would reach a point of no return. "Apply the shock," snarled Gorsh! "Apply the shock!" "Been shocking the shit out of them," howled the terrified alien! Then, as the banging got louder, he simply jumped up and ran like hell, leaving Gorsh at the console. Hearing the terrifying sounds of their ride breaking up, the aliens all fled.