Chapter 55:
The door splintered like it was rotten, scattering shards of wood across the room. Billy Mertens strode in with a sword in one hand, and an ugly expression on his face. His eyes took in the sights in a single glance, finding his wife of just one month in the middle of a frantic packing job. She'd claimed she had it down to a science, but the whole room looked kicked over, like chaos given rein, with clothes scattered across the floor and bits and baubles she'd collected piled in a corner. Slicking back her hair, Junior stood up from the suitcase she'd been stuffing and said, "hey, babe." By her tone, you would never have guessed she'd just been caught at high-treason. When Billy's eyes flicked to the pile in the corner, she said, "I couldn't leave it. It's all the stuff you gave me..."
"You're coming with me, JJ," rumbled Billy. "Caught, huh," she sighed? Billy went in his pocket and drew his cuffs. He threw them on the floor at her feet. "Gonna' bang me one last time," she teased? The human hero blushed to his hair, but he said, "put them on, JJ. Don't make me use force." "I'm not going with you, Bill," the shapechanger replied. "Force then," said he, as he stepped towards her. Shaking her head, she said, "this kingdom isn't ours, Bill. This place... it doesn't belong to us. This isn't the kingdom of the humans. It isn't the kingdom of the dogs either. Let's... let's leave this place. Go abroad like we were talking about. I know places we can go. I know people..."
Shaking his head, Billy retorted, "I can't follow you into whatever hole you want to crawl into, JJ. Put the cuffs on. Don't make this worse." Shaking her head, voice going deeper, she said, "you always have to fucking play it this way!" Lashing out with her arms, she slashed at him, cutting him across his chest and forearms as he backpedaled to get away. Stalking towards him, the shapechanger said, "we were good together. You just had to let go of this fucking hero-bullshit! What did it ever get your dad, huh?! What did it get my dad?! He's a broken down old man living by himself!" She lashed out again, and Billy tried to defend himself with his blade, but she was fucking fast. Her malleable flesh seemed almost to flow around his weapon, so that no matter how he tried to slash and hack at her, one of her arms got through and slashed him instead.
She heckled him in that deep, menacing voice, telling him how pathetic he was. He didn't really stand a chance against her. His father had never won a fight against her dad, and they weren't any different. "JJ," he shouted. "Fucking stop it! Stop it right now!" "Or what," laughed the shapechanger?! "You'll swing your sword at me?!" That made her laugh all the harder. That pissed him off. This time when she swung at him, he caught her hand and pulled as hard as he could. He was strong–shockingly strong–and Junior weighed ninety-eight pounds soaking wet. He jerked her straight off her feet, sending her flying. Billy met her in mid air with a boot to the face that sent her flying back over the bed.
Shaking that off, voice somewhat returned to normal, JJ said, "fuck that hurt. You didn't fucking have to kick me in the face, Billy!" Billy was angry now, and he shouted, "it's all a big fucking game to you! This whole thing's been a big fucking game! You gamed my whole family. Star. Fionna. Even me! Tell me, JJ, were you really even pregnant, or was that just a lie too?" "Yeah, Bill," retorted Junior. "I am. I still am. Three of 'em. Your own litter of pups." Pups he wouldn't get to see now.
He didn't quite believe her. "You fucking lie about everything," he growled! "Everything's a scam with you." "Oh, yeah," she shot back, "I was scamming you when I let you take me that first time!" Shrilly, she declared, "you were my first, Billy! You don't think that means anything to me!" "Then why the fuck are you doing this," demanded the hero?! "You're destroying everything! For what?!" "You act like I can help it, Bill," muttered the shapechanger. "You don't have any idea what it's like. There's... There's a darkness in me. It's always been there. It always wants me to do... things."
Billy stood there a moment absorbing that. After a moment, he said, "we'll get you help, baby. Just let me get you some help." In that demonic voice, she laughed. Shaking her head, she said, "do you know who my grandmother really was, Bill? A fucking monster. I heard it from uncle Jermaine. A monster bit by grand-dad and my pops sprang out of the wound. I'm tainted, Billy. I got a full dose of monster DNA." Sobbing, voice somewhere near normal, Junior said, "you can't save me, baby. I'm not saveable." Walking towards her, Billy said, "you were right before, honey. We work good together. Let me help you..."
Junior shoved him into the wall, saying, "you can't save me, Bill. I'm evil, baby. I can't help it. I'm evil inside. Twisted. I-I shouldn't have taken us down this road." "Please, baby," said Billy. "Let me help... For our kids..." "Enough," howled Junior in that awful voice. As Billy struggled, she said, "ya shoulda' left when you had the chance, Bill..." As he watched, a sharpened bone spike appeared above her shoulder. He gasped as he recognized the strange bony protrusion that jutted out of the end of her spine. A detached corner of his mind realized that her powers were stronger than he'd ever guessed. She was as good as her dad. Maybe better.
"I'll do it quick, honey," chittered the shapechanger. "Close your eyes." Billy pleaded with her, reminding her of their kids. "What'll they think of you," he asked? "What'll you tell them? That you murdered their dad?" Pinning his arms above his head, the shapechanger leaned in close, whispering, "I'm gonna' raise 'em good, Bill. I'm gonna' tell them all about their dad. All about what a hero you were." She smiled at him. It was an evil, evil smile, and he realized that she wasn't lieing about one thing. There was a darkness inside her. He couldn't imagine how he could have missed that. Junior was still talking, telling him about how she would raise their babies. Far from here. She was going to go to the Jungle Kingdom like they'd talked about and lose herself there.
Bill growled, "they'd still be dealing with you!" Drawing a deep breath, he blew a burst of frigid air in her face, stinging her skin with shards of ice. Flinching back, she let go of him, and Billy punched her square in the jaw, sending her flying back. "How the fuck did you do that," howled the shapechanger? Chill air wafting up from his nostrils, Billy shrugged, "my mom was under the control of the Ice-Tiara the whole time she was pregnant with me. You didn't think I'd get through that unchanged, did you?" "I guess you had secrets too," Junior chuckled.
It was on then, as Billy conjured bolts of jagged ice, hurling them at his wife, as Junior found that maybe he could score on her. One or two of those jagged shards tore her right thigh and sliced along her ribcage on the left side, leaving her bleeding and back-pedaling before him. Billy wasn't quite ready to kill her yet, though. He focused most of his effort on boxing her in and binding her up with blocks of ice. His wife twisted and turned, flowing through all of that until the moment when he finally managed to corral her, sealing her torso in ice and quite literally stopping her cold.
Grimly, Billy closed in on her, saying, "that's it, JJ. We're going to take you down to Guard HQ. We can put you in a comfortable holding cell. I-I'll have Dr. Princess look at your case. Maybe we can get you some meds..." "Nah," Junior laughed. Focusing her will, she teleported clean out of the block, appearing beside him. Billy, who'd felt her somehow gathering energy, barely managed to duck to avoid her fist materializing inside his head. She still managed to clock him hard enough to knock him down. Now she went full out, her claws and stinger slashing at him, cutting his legs and slashing his forearms to ribbons until he was bleeding all over the floor.
As he backpedaled before his wife, doing his best not to let that sharp bone spike cut his innards out, he knew a stark terror and a moment's crystal despair. JJ wasn't going to stop. Whatever was wrong with her–whatever demon was inside her–she just wasn't going to stop until she'd killed him. In that moment of darkness he found himself faced with one stark choice. Pups or no, he would lose this fight if he kept holding back. He'd hoped there was something there to save. He'd really hoped that he wouldn't have to do this, but he couldn't leave this madwoman to raise their children on her own. Focusing his mind on a point deep inside her chest, Billy conjured a shard of ice.
Still hesitant to kill the woman he loved, he conjured one jagged sliver, just an inch long. He knew he'd gone wrong almost instantly. JJ collapsed, clutching at her chest. He'd been aiming for a lung, something to slow her down, but he was no doctor. He didn't understand anatomy. Junior could feel the blood spurting into her lung, and she clutched her chest in terror. Billy ran up to his fiancé and gathered her up. "I-I'm sorry, Billy," she wheezed. Foamy red blood spattered her lips when she coughed. "Baby, I tried," she sobbed. "I tried so hard." "I know you did," Billy whimpered. "I'm dieing, honey," she wheezed. "Stay with me, JJ," pleaded Billy. The shape-changer smiled. "It's ok, babe," she wheezed. "I'm free... I-I'm free, Bill..." Her hand came up and stroked his face. "I love you, Billy...," she wheezed. "See you on the other side..."
