Chapter 39: Siege on New Babylon
A soft humming was emitted from the fluorescent light set in the center of the ceiling, filling the emptiness that the small concrete room produced. Within the damp and bland walls of the small abode, few items were present, among them being three chairs, a flimsy table, and a trash can in one neglected corner. On the wall containing the only entrance and exit was a large mirror, which gave the area an offbeat feel.
Two of the chairs, which stood next to the table, were occupied. In one sat Princess Bubblegum, crownless and extremely nervous. The pink lady was fiddling with her hands on the tabletop as she waited for someone to enter through the door. In the other seat sat Marceline, remaining quiet and fairly still, since she was still recovering from the minor burns the sun had inflicted on her.
The duo didn't say a word to each other, as if scared that breaking the silence would cause some unforeseen repercussion. They just stared anxiously at the empty chair in front of them, awaiting the judgment of the humans who had discovered the two women were not what they seemed to be.
Marcy finally dared to speak, tired of the unnerving quiet and wanting to relieve the tension.
"What's with the mirror? This is just some empty room."
PB looked over briefly at the reflective glass, taking a few seconds to analysis its purpose. Finally, she turned back to the vacant seat and answered her friend's inquiry.
"That's a two-way mirror. They can watch us through it without having it work vise-versa."
The vampire frowned at the deceptive glass but decided to just return her attention to the same spot her companion's was on. They resumed the dense silence for another ten or so minutes, not exactly sure that talking was a good idea considering the humans might also have microphones hooked up to the walls.
Eventually, the knob on the door began to turn, instantly attracting the two girls to its movement. With a short creak, the wooden panel swung open, revealing none other than Colonel Fierro, who wasted no time in pacing past the frame of the door and walking over to the empty seat in front of the two ladies. The woman slid the metal chair out and set herself into it, pulling in closer to the table and laying a folder down on the surface.
She placed her elbows on top and interlocked her fingers, settling in and taking a hard look at the pair of foreigners. Next, she looked back to the still open door and cocked her head to the left, beckoning whoever was still outside the room to join them. A moment later, Ashton and Weiss entered, each armed with an assault rifle, a sight that put PB and Marcy further on edge.
Lastly, Dr. Tessner stepped through the door-frame, wearing protective gloves as he carried Peeble's purse with both hands. Atop the handbag rested the princess's crown, shining slightly in the light from above. The three most recent arrivals took positions in the room, with the two soldiers stopping between the table and the exit while Tessner stood beside the colonel. Awkward staring commenced for a few minutes while Peebles and Marceline tried hard to avoid eye contact. Fierro at last cleared her throat and readjusted her shoulders.
"Well then, care to be a little more honest this time?"
Her tone was serious, indicating that not a single thread of sarcasm existed in the question. PB opted to give the response and took a deep breath, letting it out smoothly.
"Alright, but, just to warn you, you probably won't believe much, if any, of what I'm about to say."
The colonel made no reply, pushing the gummy monarch to continue unimpeded.
"Marcy and I come from a different universe. And a different timeline."
The two soldiers noticeably reacted to the statement. Tessner's expression shifted from emotionless to skeptical. Fierro just sat there, staring carefully at Bubblegum. The princess pressed on.
"In our world, the bomb that lies outside this compound did in fact go off, ending the war but also spreading a hideous mass of mutagenic radiation across the planet."
She now had the courage to look the colonel in the eyes.
"The two of us come from a time roughly one-thousand years from now, where nearly all life has been vastly mutated by the effects of the nuclear fallout."
PB placed a hand against her chest.
"To a certain extent, I have small bits of human DNA, but the majority of it is crossed with gum base, therefore causing my appearance and composition."
Dr. Tessner spoke up.
"So, who exactly are you in this universe of yours?"
He placed PB's bag on the table and held the crown up. The candy princess gazed at the item longingly.
"I am Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, ruler of the Candy Kingdom."
Ashton could barely hold in a snicker. Her commander just raised an eyebrow while Tessner just intensified his skeptic look. After a minute, the colonel finally spoke.
"Doctor, if you wouldn't mind returning the young lady her crown?"
The scientist did a double take and gazed wide-eyed at the woman.
"Wh-what?"
The darkly toned woman twisted her neck to stare at the man with a hard look.
"Did you not hear me the first time? Give back her sign of authority."
Not wanting to argue further with his superior, Tessner placed the crown on the table and swiftly slid it over to Peebles, who picked it up gingerly and returned it to the top of her head. The human scientist suddenly decided to gamble and took one last shot at questioning the colonel's command.
"But ma'am, how can you just take her word for it?"
Fierro sighed with irritation and swung her head to once more stare down the doctor. The power in her eyes made the man nervous.
"As a person who constantly seeks evidence I'm stunned that you aren't able to see it. Here sits a girl made of a sugary chewing substance, in possession of a real golden crown, and who managed to create a cure for our undead problem in a fraction of the time you've been researching it."
Tessner lowered his head, admittedly embarrassed. Fierro looked over to the pair of soldiers.
"The two of you have any problems with this?"
It sounded more like a threat, but nevertheless, the duo stood at attention and stiffened themselves.
"No ma'am!" they replied in unison.
The colonel nodded approvingly and resumed her gaze at the pink princess. PB was quite confused herself.
"If I may colonel, why are you so defensive of two strangers who are clearly not human? We only met a few hours ago."
The leader of the compound surprisingly made a smirk.
"I've been around Bonnie; there are times when it calls to be accepting of others, no matter how different they are. Humanity could learn to use this value more often if you ask me."
She shrugged nonchalantly, momentarily breaking her professional demeanor.
"Plus, you've been most cooperative, friendly, and like I said to this genius…"
She nodded toward Tessner, who was still shifting uneasily.
"…you found the answer to the zombie infestation."
Bubblegum managed to form a smile of appreciation, as did Marceline. The colonel then switched her focus to the pale-skinned lady.
"I'm guessing you're a vampire, correct?"
Both Ooocians recoiled at this inference. Fierro however, just kept up her stride.
"It's pretty obvious at this point. Turning into a bat, burning up in the sunlight; we're not that stupid you know."
Marcy finally managed to reply after shaking off her stunned look.
"Yeah ok, you got me. Are you gonna stake me now?"
Weiss seemed to tighten his grip on his weapon.
"Depends. Are you having the need to feed yet?"
The raven-haired girl shot the man a mocked expression.
"Calm down weenie, I don't need to suck blood like others of my kind. I usually eat shades of red."
Every human in the room raised an eyebrow. To demonstrate, Marcy quickly looked around to find an object she could drain. Luckily, the table itself seemed to be a bright tone of maroon, regardless of how dusty and faded it was. She grinned and brought out her fangs. The soldiers jerked and were about to bring up their rifles before the girl suddenly plunged her sharp teeth into the tabletop, producing a bewildered look from all spectators except Bubblegum.
The humans watched as the color was sucked out of the surface of the table before them, turning it a dull shade of grey that matched the depressing atmosphere of the rest of the room. As the vampire finished absorbing the last hint of crimson-like pigment, she brought her head back up and licked her lips with satisfaction.
"Mm, a little rusty but still good."
The pair guarding the exit was astounded, eyeing the table with disbelief. Tessner placed his hands on the surface, trying to feel for some change to the texture or whatnot. The colonel however, just seemed to relax a bit and shrugged.
"Well alright then. No worries about you apparently."
Again, the two visitors were amazed at the woman's calmness. She truly was a collected leader.
"I suppose you're immortal too?"
Marcy nodded.
"So how old are you?"
The pale girl shifted to a somber expression and lowered her gaze to the drained tabletop.
"I'm actually just over a thousand. I was a little girl when the war ended."
Fierro seemed to sympathize with the vampire, evidenced by her slightly softened composure. Of course, she never dropped the dominant authority in her face.
"Being back here…it both hurts and feels somewhat joyful. Humanity was given one last chance here, to stop all the fighting and rebuild rather than continue to destroy itself."
She smiled a little through the flow of emotion.
"If we had to be thrown into any kind of dimension, I'm glad it was this one."
PB placed a comforting hand on the vampire's shoulder, giving a proud smile to her companion, which she returned. Fierro meanwhile, was intrigued.
"Thrown, you say?"
Peebles realized they'd never explained how the two of them had ended up there in the first place. Although she decided to explain, the gummy lady chose to leave out all the complicated details.
"Yes. You see, back in our dimension the two of us and our friends were in pursuit of a dangerous individual who's planning to destroy all of existence. We came close to stopping him but unfortunately got separated and flung into different universes."
The monarch looked over to Tessner.
"Doctor, the zombies aren't created by any kind of infection, they were made by reanimated people who were simultaneously killed then converted to undead."
The man couldn't hold back his shock and furrowed his brow trying to take in the information. The colonel resumed the conversation.
"And I suppose you know exactly what's causing that."
Bubblegum nodded.
"A dangerous being was sent in after us to make sure we stayed here. In our world, he's the ruler of the dead, guiding passed on souls in the afterlife."
Weiss pondered with a thoughtful noise.
"Sounds familiar, we've got something like that, in mythology of course."
PB continued.
"However, while he's normally a neutral entity that resides in the land of the dead, he's been corrupted by a great object of evil, a shard of unholy power that only furthers his supernatural powers."
Tessner had regrown his skeptical look and crossed his arms.
"Seems a bit too science-fiction to me."
Peebles looked defensively at the scientist.
"And the two of us aren't?"
The man rethought his judgment and shrugged, defeated. Fierro regained control of the talk and cleared her throat again.
"So how were you planning on getting back to your world?"
The candy monarch sighed sadly and shook her head.
"I'm not quite sure. The technology of this world definitely isn't sufficient enough to create a portal back home. I'm afraid we're stuck for the time being."
The colonel nodded solemnly, and then leaned back in her seat.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but at the very least you two have sincerely blown your cover to earn back our trust."
The Ooocians nodded to the woman and gave a respectful smile.
"Thank you colonel, we really didn't think you'd accept us as we are."
Fierro scoffed.
"I know that most humans are judgmental morons at the moment but some of us still have the decency to ask before shooting."
She looked over to her three subordinates.
"You people have any outlying issues with our guests?"
The soldiers and scientist straightened up.
"No ma'am," they declared together.
The leader nodded and turned back to her guests.
"Moving on then."
She took hold of PB's purse and slid it over to her, where the pink lady retrieved the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Fierro then reached over and opened the file that had been lying on the table.
"I won't ask for the details on your 'fate of the universe' deal, that's not my business and I'll stay out of it. I will however ask how you came up with the cure to our flood of undead."
PB cleared her throat.
"Of course. You see back in our time period zombie outbreaks are regrettably common. As such, I did a fair amount of research to come up with a serum to purify reanimated flesh. The reason it works better than anything here is because we've faced this type of conversion before."
Tessner was listening carefully, having been intrigued by the woman's success in the labs. The colonel had been slowly nodding the whole time.
"I see. That certainly explains it better. Well, I suppose it's high time we-"
A crackle was echoed throughout the room, its source apparently being a speaker in the walls. A low quality transmission was heard through it.
"Colonel! We have a situation over here!"
Fierro stood up from her chair and gazed strictly at the ceiling.
"What is it?"
Another crackle signaled a coming response.
"You'd better get up here; I doubt you'll believe this if I just told you."
With that, the speaker cracked out. The colonel looked back at the two Ooocians with a sarcastic expression.
"After all this, I'm fairly sure I'm ready for anything. Come on."
The woman gestured for the duo to get up. They followed the order and joined the others in leaving the room through the one door. The hallway back outside was fairly narrow, forcing the group to walk two by two. As they made their way to the exit, Ashton struck up a conversation with Bubblegum.
"So, just curious, how old are you?"
PB nervously rubbed her arm but answered regardless.
"Eight-hundred twenty-seven."
The soldier nearly stumbled from astonishment, but luckily regained her balance and stared wide-eyed at the pink lady.
"Dang! You people in the future sure know your cosmetics."
The woman put on a mischievous grin and looked ahead to Weiss, who was right in front of the two ladies and likely heard the princess's statement.
"Hey commander, I hate to break it to you but this girl who you said looked cute is way out of your age range, heh heh."
Peebles blushed slightly at this and tried to hide it by turning away. Meanwhile, Weiss simply retorted back at his subordinate.
"Shut up, lieutenant."
Ashton let out a giggle, clearly entertained by the man's reaction. The group had neared the exit by this point. Before walking out though, Colonel Fierro strolled over to a nearby counter and picked something up. She made her way past everyone until getting to Marcy. The woman held up the vampire's ax bass.
"I believe this is yours."
Marceline accepted the instrument and thanked the colonel, strumming a few chords to make sure no one messed with it. With that, the assembled individuals stepped out of the building and into the open air. Fortunately, the sun was nearly down at this point, producing a beautiful sunset in what little clouds appeared on the horizon. Marcy was relieved that no further burning would be dealt with.
Fierro led her followers toward the enormous wall the surrounded the compound. At the base of the structure was a simple lift, which was operated by a solider standing dutifully nearby. The man greeted the colonel with a salute and motioned for the group to step onto the platform. Once everyone was aboard, he pulled a lever and the sound of mechanical movement reverberated throughout the machine.
A sudden jerk sent them on their way, climbing higher and higher up the side of the wall. New Babylon's expanse soon came into view, showing just how massive the recovery settlement was. PB and Marcy gazed in awe at the sight, observing as countless humans darted all over the streets, working hard to restore the damaged buildings and roadways that encompassed the isolated section of the burnt out city.
At last, they reached the top of the landing, quickly stepping off and following the colonel over to the outer edge of the wall, where a squad of lookouts was anxiously awaiting the leader's arrival. As Fierro came closer, the team of spotters noticed her and saluted. She put them at ease and asked for a situation report. The team of watchmen handed the woman a pair of binoculars and motioned for her to look over the side of the wall, indicating a range about a few hundred yards from the protective walls.
Everyone else from the colonel's group used their basic eyesight to examine the area the lookouts were motioning to. It didn't take long to see what the call had been about.
In the far distance, countless signs of movement could be traced; all of it slow yet persistent. A closer look revealed the tell-tale features of a zombie horde. This mass of undead was different that the one that the scout platoon and two Ooocians had encountered. It was far greater in mass and seemed to be fairly organized. Before anything could be said however, a nearby speaker crackled open it's line.
"Colonel! We've spotted additional lines of undead closing in on section 3 of the barrier!"
Another speaker chimed in.
"Ma'am, we've got zombies within sight of sections 4 and 5. Six is calling in with unidentified movements but are sure it's the same."
Yet another message came in.
"We've got a major problem here! Hordes are making their way toward barrier sections 7 and 8!"
One final voice was sent through the channels.
"Colonel Fierro, a large mass of enemies is approaching the main gate. Sections 1 and 2 are prepared to engage on your order."
All eyes turned to the leader of the compound, who slowly lowered her binoculars and gazed out at the approaching mob of undead. Her face was still set in her controlled and collected mannerism, but clearly she was struggling to decide what action to take. Finally, the colonel picked up the walkie-talkie strapped to her belt and opened the line
"1 and 2, once the enemy has reached a distance of 200 feet you are free to engage."
An acknowledgement sounded on the other end and Fierro replaced her walkie, turning to her group afterward.
"Let's go, we've got to see what's happening over there."
The others nodded and followed as their leader broke into a jog towards the main gate. The rest kept up pace with her and gradually made their way to the destination. While jogging, Bubblegum was constantly looking over the edge of the wall. Dozens of zombies were crawling from between the wrecked buildings, gathering together and marching upon New Babylon's defenses.
Marceline eyed the same event, growing more nervous by the minute.
"How are we gonna deal with this, Bonnie?"
The candy monarch sighed as she sadly observed the hordes climbing over burnt out cars and out of broken store fronts.
"I don't know, we're just going to have to hope that the humans can defend their compound."
After a few more minutes of light sprinting, the gang arrived at the colossal gate that granted entrance to the base, which had its two massive gun turrets pointed far below at the threatening hordes. Colonel Fierro rose up her binoculars again and examined the positioning of the enemy.
"Damn it, more just keep on coming."
She turned to the teams manning the turrets.
"On my mark, rip them a new one!"
The gunners gave a thumbs up to confirm the order and trained their targeting retinas on the undead army far below. The ammunition squads readied themselves to reload the huge weapons once all their rounds had been filled into the zombies below. By this point, there was near dead silence. Not even a light breeze swept by to ease the tension. Fierro held up her arm, motioning the turrets to hold until she said otherwise. Another minute passed and the rotting corpses neared the gate, coming within striking distance. The colonel threw down her arm.
"Fire!"
Instantly, the air was filled with what seemed like an endless grand finale of a fireworks show, magnified ten-fold. The constant bangs shook the walls of the barrier beneath everyone's feet, making it quite difficult to remain steady. Peebles and Marcy especially had trouble, since the two were unaccustomed to the loud and destructive machinery now hammering lead rounds at the hordes below.
Down on the ground, the bullets were swiftly cutting the undead down to size, raising a huge dust cloud as rotting body parts were sent flying in all directions. The turrets' unrelenting blaze made sure that the zombies came no closer to the compound's gates. As visibility was lost, Fierro ordered a ceasefire.
The guns halted their hose of rounds and began to cool off, producing a heavy hissing while the ammo teams began loading fresh belts into the bullet feeders. The colonel brought up her binoculars once again and peered out on the destruction left in the turrets' wake. The dust cloud was beginning to settle and the area seemed to contain no standing zombies.
Fierro lowered her sights and grabbed her walkie.
"Sections, report in."
A crackle was heard before the squads defending the barrier replied.
"Northern walls are cleared. Mortars pounded the hell out of those things."
"Southern arc is secure colonel."
"Same for us at the west ma'am."
The woman unconsciously nodded and let out a breath.
"Excellent work everyone, standby."
She cut the connection and replaced the radio. Fierro gazed questioningly out into the streets below.
"It wasn't what I'd call effective. What was the purpose behind that charge?"
As the lady turned to discuss with Weiss and Ashton, Princess Bubblegum carefully examined the still prominent dust cloud. A second later, she noticed something odd in the mess of floating dirt. An eerie green glow could faintly been seen within the debris, growing brighter by the second.
Marceline spotted the same thing and walked over to lean over the wall to get a better look. It only took the vampire seconds to identify the anomaly. Her eyes narrowed while PB came to the same conclusion. Both girls stepped back from the wall and looked over to Fierro.
"Colonel!"
The woman broke her conversation with the two soldiers and all three of them gazed at the duo. PB pointed out to the dust cloud, prompting the humans to walk back over to the edge and observe the same phenomenon. The colonel eyed the green glow with a furrowed brow and swung back to Peebles.
"What is that thing?"
The pink princess swallowed hard and stared nervously at the leader.
"Him."
It took a moment, but the woman was able to piece together what the gummy monarch meant. She gazed back slowly at the glow, which had become noticeable enough to everyone on the wall. All eyes were trained curiously at the anomaly. Suddenly, a low whirring could be heard from the glow's immediate area.
The green light formed itself into an orb, which apparently began blowing the remaining dust particles away, revealing it's true nature. Everyone's muscles tensed up at the sight within.
The orb of green was being generated from a large wicked scythe, wielded by a humanoid skeleton wearing a hideous green gardener's suit. It's skull was shaped reminiscent of a horse, with hollow menacing eyeholes that seemed to peer into one's soul even at the great distance between them. PB stared with a fair bit of fear at the ruler of the dead, now overtaken by the vile energy within the Shard of Evil.
In a split second, the whirring stopped. Fierro squinted at the orb in the distance, and then threw her eyes wide open.
"Everyone get down!"
Death's orb suddenly fired itself at incredible speeds toward the gates of New Babylon. The soldiers, scientist, and two Ooocians on the wall didn't hesitate to follow the colonel's lead and hit the ground, covering their heads for added protection. A moment later, the world descended into chaos.
The barrier of the compound shook violently as the ball of cursed green flames impacted in the gate, instantly blowing the once thought impenetrable doors apart. Massive chunks of the towering barriers fell to the ground, unleashing their own mini quakes with each crash. Debris began raining from the sky, threatening to pulverize anyone who wasn't in cover.
On top of the wall itself, Colonel Fierro and the rest were shoved in all directions on the ground with the hit, which also momentarily deafened them. As the initial blast subsided, everyone got to their feet shakily and looked back at the damage to the wall. The gates were smoking, reducing visibility by a fair amount. However, the sinister figure of Death could still be seen far below.
The corrupted skeleton remained motionless, as if waiting to see if the barrier had suffered enough of his wrath before proceeding further. Atop the walls, Fierro glared down at the sickening gardener and bared her teeth.
"Son of a bitch! Open fire!"
She practically screamed the order at the turret teams, finally displaying the full might of her commanding voice. PB and Marcy found themselves shivering from the woman's strength. The squads at the turrets felt the same apparently, for they didn't even waste a second retraining their sights on the scythe wielding deity on the ground.
A moment later, the devastating bangs of the guns started up again, forcing Peebles and Marceline to cover their ears while the soldiers all gazed apprehensively at Death's form. The bullets rained down on the being relentlessly, pouring pound after pound of high speed metal at the corrupted entity. A monstrous cloud of dust resurfaced, engulfing the skeleton in its wake.
The colonel allowed the guns to let loose their fire until they completely ran out of ammunition, at which point the turrets stalled upon pulling their triggers and halted their hose of lead. The teams quickly worked to feed in new belts on the weaponry while the operators released coolant into the machinery of the guns, hoping to cool them down before the next volley.
The colonel brought up her binoculars again and studied the dust cloud. Unfortunately, she could find nothing in the mess of dirt.
"Damn it! I need eyes on that bastard now!"
Princess Bubblegum quickly rushed over to the woman and caught her attention.
"Colonel, this isn't going to work."
The tanned lady peered over to the gummy ruler questioningly.
"Why not?"
PB looked the colonel in the eyes with a hopeless expression.
"He can turn intangible."
Fierro's face froze into one of disbelief. She swung her head back down to the spot the guns had been firing at and didn't dare blink as she scanned the dust desperately. A moment of silence occurred. The teams had reloaded the turrets and the guns were standing by for orders to resume fire. Anticipation grew as no movement was detected on the ground.
Suddenly, a blast rang out from the dirty fog, unleashing a quick blast of green fire right at the top of the wall. The operator of the right turrtet barely had time to bail out of his machine before it was blown to pieces. He landed with a pained grunt on the floor. A second later, the second turret exploded as well. It's controller wasn't as lucky as his counterpart.
The colonel's group had shielded themselves as best they could from the blasts but still received several scrapes and hits from the debris of the guns. Of course, Marceline's healed immediately. Eventually, the gang stabilized their positions and examined the damage. Both turret holders were in flames, slowly catching fire to the surrounding machinery. Fierro cursed loudly and walked back to the wall, along with Ashton and Weiss. The three peered down to see where Death was positioned.
Slowly, the dust cloud dissipated once more, revealing the motionless skeleton down below. He made no further movements, just staring at the figures atop the wall. Marcy went up to the edge and glared at the gardener. He remained frozen. Peebles joined her friend and studied the being's stance. A slight whispering could be heard in the air, something that was familiar to the monarch.
Suddenly, Weiss's body jerked slightly, causing his fellow soldiers to look upon him with concern.
"Commander, are you alright?" Ashton inquired.
The man didn't respond. Instead, he suddenly brought up his assault rifle and aimed it at the two Ooocians standing by the edge. Everyone's eyes grew wide as he reached for the trigger.
"Bonnie look out!"
Marceline was fast enough to snatch her friend and fly at great speed behind a nearby pile of crates, dodging the first few rounds from Weiss's weapon. The commander's superior and subordinate quickly ran up and attempted to restrain him. He resumed firing, now aiming at the crates where his targets were hiding. The wooden boxes stood no chance against the firepower, but were luckily filled with something that protected the girls from piercing bullets.
Fierro and Ashton continued to wrestle with the out of control man.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" shouted the colonel.
"Put down the damn gun!" his subordinate yelled.
Weiss ignored them, continuing to fire recklessly as his aim was blown off course by his struggle with the two women. Finally, Fierro managed to get a good opening on the soldier and gave him a good slug in the stomach. He flinched, giving Ashton time to tear the rifle out of his hands. Fierro then proceeded to bring him down to the ground and pin him there, where the man continue to struggle.
PB and Marcy cautiously poked their heads out from the nearly destroyed crates. The colonel shouted over to them.
"He's unarmed, you're clear!"
They two ladies sprinted from their cover and came over to the three soldiers. Peebles instantly noticed Weiss's green eyes, causing her to gasp.
"What is it, what's wrong with him?" the lieutenant begged.
Bubblegum kneeled down to examine the man further.
"He's been possessed; we have to break the hold on his mind."
The princess stood up and took off her crown, gazing sadly at the blue gem at its peak. She looked over at her vampire companion.
"Marcy, I'll need your help."
The pale girl nodded, not quite sure what her friend meant. PB proceeded to yank the gem of power from her crown and place it on the ground. After taking a few steps back, the young woman nodded to Marceline. The raven-haired girl understood and reluctantly took out her bass, raising it over her head.
With a clean strike, the gem was shattered into pieces, leaving behind a pile of misshapen shards. Princess Bubblegum quickly gathered them up and reached for her purse. From inside, she pulled out several necklace chains. She took one of the gem shards and connected the two ends of the chain to the jewel, which was accomplished by a strange adhesive on the metal links. With the necklace complete, the candy ruler quickly made her way over to the struggling commander and kneeled down to him, placing the necklace around his neck.
A blue bubble of energy encircled the man's head, and then quickly dissipated. His eyes suddenly returned to normal and he stopped fidgeting. Fierro and Ashton looked relived and gazed up to Bubblegum, who was constructing more necklaces. She handed one to both the female soldiers. They accepted the items and slipped them over their necks, producing the same bubble field as Weiss's did.
"These will cut off Death's possession. I can't make one of everyone but at least the six of us can function as a coordinated team."
After giving a necklace to Marcy, she looked around and tried to find the doctor.
"Where's Tessner?"
A bang was heard from a pile of debris nearby. The group made their way over to it and scanned the mess. After a moment, they found the scientist sprawled over several metal barrels. They helped the man up, who was barely conscious, and got him clear of the site. Unfortunately, when he tried to stand, he shrieked in pain and nearly fell over. A quick analysis from Ashton confirmed that his leg was broken.
After slipping a necklace over Tessner's and her own neck, Peebles made sure everyone was protected and turned back to Colonel Fierro.
"What do we do, ma'am?"
The tanned woman thought for a moment. Before she could answer though, a loud explosion was heard in the distance. All heads turned to see a smoke plume at the far end of the compound walls. Another detonated a second later, further along. Three more blasts were seen along the southern arc of the barrier. Fierro grabbed her radio and tuned in.
"All sectors, report!"
She waited. No response.
"Report damn it!"
Static. No one answered, or even opened a connection to the colonel. Screams suddenly broke out. The gang ran to the inner edge of the wall and peered down below. The scene was a nightmare.
Death had made his way through the destroyed gates, now walking calmly into the compound while dozens of soldiers opened fire with their rifles. Naturally, the shots went right through him with no effect. What came next however was the true horror. The skeleton held up his hand and began generating a strange mist from it. The humans continued firing, not worrying what was happening. They should have been.
An expanding pulse was let loose from Death's bony fingers, enveloping the attacking troops in seconds and vaporizing their life force. Before their corpses could hit the ground though, the pulse retracted back into the gardener's palm, reanimating the bodies and causing them to join the ranks of undead that were filtering through the entrance to the base.
The group on top couldn't even comment on the situation, watching in despair as the corrupted ruler of the dead converted more humans into his servile zombies. Colonel Fierro seemed the most distraught, staring with a disbelieving expression as additional hordes began to crawl over the unprotected walls.
"New Babylon…has fallen."
Princess Bubblegum tore her eyes away from the chaos and looked to the scientist.
"Dr. Tessner, do you have the serum I made?"
The man snapped out of his trance and reached into his coat pocket, producing the requested item. PB nodded and turned to the one in charge.
"Colonel, we have to leave. Death will follow us away from the compound. We can deal with him then return with the cure. This can be fixed!"
He tone was one of desperation, knowing the woman wouldn't want to abandon her responsibilities. Amazingly enough, Fierro slowly nodded her head.
"I understand."
She turned to face her group, an expression of barely contained woe on her face. It was something her troops had never seen before.
"Responsibility demands sacrifice."
Bubblegum's eyes widened extensively at the colonel's statement, but she was overtaken by Marceline, who stepped back and called for the group's attention.
"Stand back you guys."
Everyone followed the request and waited. The vampire's form suddenly began to shift, morphing to a larger proportion before stabilizing with the addition of a pair of wings, fur, and the face of a bat. The humans initially were shocked but managed to snap themselves out of it, remembering the direness of the situation.
As the group piled onto Marcy's back, the girl flapped her extensions and began displacing the air around her. Slowly but surely, her bat form left the ground, hovering briefly before gaining the strength to shoot off in the sky, away from the base. Down below, the sickening gardener peered into the sky, spotting the retreating bat and humans heading west. Although he had no eyes, one could guess he was glaring.
...Dang, forgot what I was going to say this time.
Flame princess: Again, I don't really have the mindset to make a different shipping. Sorry.
nrbuer: I always will!
I am The7: I'll likely stick with a single story, I believe I can get through it without (too much) overkill.
Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!
next: Chapter 40: Young Love, Weaponized