Chapter 16:
"I don't understand," Finn rumbled. "It took me a while to figure out that it was you," Tallulah said. "Did you think Teri was the only nymph you ever rescued." Finn flushed. He'd rescued packs of nymphs in the past. He'd fought slavers literally in the middle of the Grey Forest. He honestly wouldn't have remembered Teri at all if the moment hadn't embedded itself in his consciousness. He'd been seeing red at the time. He'd seen a man so full of his power that he felt he could literally torture somebody to death for a sick thrill, and he'd literally thrown him out a fucking window to his death.
The curvy stripper was pacing about, showing off that hot little body in a gauzy robe like they wore in the Confederation. His mind felt like he should have remembered her, but he didn't. "You burst into the cell where I was being held with my maid and some others who'd been abducted," she said. "You were with her..." Finn vaguely remembered his first mission with E a lifetime ago. They'd found nymphs held prisoner in Kid-Twist's basement and freed them. Still, he couldn't place her face.
"Stepping up behind him, the slender woman rested her hands on his shoulders and said, "does that really matter?" It did. To him. Maybe that was foolish, but it mattered to him. "You know me," she murmured. "Isn't that enough?" Standing up, the big man said, "not for a King, Your Highness." Turning to face her, the big man said, "I need to understand why you want to do this?" "These are just names," she insisted, as she stepped back into his space. Resting her hands on his shoulders, "we have put on names, Finn the Human, but we are still the same two people. You saved me from a life of slavery, and then again from certain death at the hands of gangsters. Now, perhaps we can make something of that."
Downstairs in the castle's situation room, the Finn-crew sat watching the proceedings with a strange mixture of puzzlement and concern. Nieve was puzzled about the whole business. Even if she got her mind around the idea that maybe William–and by extension, his father–weren't primarily interested in collecting notches for their bedposts, this was still a puzzlement. If the name of the game was power, why would he turn down the possibility of gaining power over the Confederation. After all, the water-nymphs had been quite shockingly clear that they regarded him as a 'foreign power'.
Nearer to hand, Finn's erstwhile mistresses were getting a grilling, which did little to endear the family to them. "How long did this woman work for you," Bonnie asked? Riley had been a fixture in the Candy Kingdom for years, though Princess Bubblegum had scarcely noticed her. When Finn cured himself of the Hug-Wolf curse, the Candy Kingdom had, more or less, moved on. "Uh... just a few years," replied the former lycanthrope. "And you had no idea she was a Royal," Ingrid demanded? "It wasn't in her resume," Riley retorted. "She signed on to shake her ass for coins. Who was I to argue?"
Before the bickering got much further, Simone shushed them. "She wants something more than to take a ride on Finn's pecker," the Ice Queen murmured. Her eyes flicked to Ingrid, who promptly flushed and glanced away. Everybody was aware of how the Warrior Princess had done everything she could to find herself in Finn's bed, egged on by the former Lord of Mortality. Death had wanted Ingrid to seduce the big man and twist him into using his power to commit endless acts of brutality against the peeps of Ooo. Question was, who was behind Tallulah, and what did they want?
"You can go to your quarters," Simone declared. Riley goggled at her, but Teri's hand on her wrist suggested she wait and go along. The little wood-nymph had seen firsthand the maneuvering that gangsters did–and how easily bystanders got smashed. She didn't want them to be flattened in the backlash from whatever Tallulah was doing. The pair got up and walked out, where two guards promptly fell in behind them, subtly guiding them out of the castle's massive basement. It was a message. They didn't belong here.
"What're we going to do about her," Nieve asked? "Whatever she's doing, it's a certainty her mother's wrapped up in it. Margarida doesn't seem to have a lot of use for Finn or his dreams of empire." "Nymphs always have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the real world," Emeraude muttered. That was kind of a shocking statement for a nymph to make, but Nieve, guided by the others' reactions, let her keep on talking. "The world is a grand game of hide-the-ball for nymphs," the Matriarch rumbled. "How long can we keep on doing our dirt before people get pissed? When do we have to move on down the road? That bitch is like my mom... Usin' other peeps to get what she wants and fuck them if they get hurt in the process."
Simone had met Marjolaine, and she wasn't a fan. "Margarida's whole business model is at risk," Cherry opined. Those formidable faces turned to the candy gangster who sat, legs crossed and arms folded, near the back of the room. "What is Finn's cardinal rule," Cherry asked insistently? "Olesia said that William told Red Kate the slave markets of Stilt Town would have to go," Nieve murmured. "Bingo," muttered Emeraude. "There's her angle." It made a lot of sense. If you couldn't compromise the law, compromise the man who wrote it.
"So what do we do now," Bonnie murmured? She sounded as though she were going to waffle. She hadn't exactly planned this whole thing. None of them had. At the same time, once this had all gotten off the ground, she'd been one of the primary forces driving it forward. Margarida's kingdom was the most prosperous kingdom in the west. Tequila Kingdom was a distant second. The other kingdoms were barely anything at all, with Deer Kingdom being more of a loose-knit conglomeration of bickering tribes than anything. There were a lot of attractions to an alliance with the Matriarch of the Confederation.
Fortunately, there was another strong will there to shut the whole thing down. "I will not allow a slaver to join this family," Simone declared, as she stood up. Bonnie flushed to her hair. She'd really been considering that. It made her a little queasy to think about it. Finn's right, thought the Bubblegum Princess. Power is corrosive. It was very tempting to think that, in spite of Maja's magic, Bonnibel Bubblegum would outlive Finn and replace him as the Queen of Ooo someday with all the kingdoms finally obeying her instructions. A dark speck inside her suggested that putting up with Margarida's awful business for a little while was a small price to pay to get there.
Simone was standing at the door, when Cherry stopped her. "We need to tell this Tallulah something, Simone," she said. "Margarida can do us a great deal of harm." Anything passing between Stilt Town or Tequila Kingdom and Coca Kingdom's Sacred Site would have to pass through or near the Confederation's waters. They couldn't be shipping everything across the ocean. "I won't bend on this, Cherry," Simone replied. "I will not allow an overt slaver, someone blatantly profiting from the misery of others, to be a member of this family." The Ice Queen stormed out, leaving the others staring after her. Nieve sighed. It was going to be war, then.
Days later, Finn the King followed his wood-nymph daughter into the castle's underground parking garage. Star was dressed in a chick-suit in red over black heels that made her look beautiful and professional all at once. It was another of those moments where a piece of him wanted to hate the life he'd led because he felt like she'd grown up overnight while he wasn't looking. He wasn't the only one feeling the angst of the moment, though.
Stopping in front of the car that would take her back to the Candy Kingdom, the little woman turned to her father and said, "we're losing the house, aren't we?" He could hear the pain in her voice, and there were tears in her eyes. The big man hugged his daughter. He felt it too. He'd become a man in that house. He'd started a family in that house. "The house will always be here, Star," he said, as he pointed to her heart. Leaning down, the big man kissed her on either cheek. "See you in a bit," he said, as he stepped back.
Star got into her car, and the driver set out. His granddaughters were staying here, of course. Now he had a somewhat more safe place for them to stay than a house made of dry, flammable wood. His old life was gone. Their old life was gone. As the car rolled up the ramp and into the light, Finn turned for his own car. He had an appointment of his own to get to. Muttering under his breath, the big man opened the door himself and climbed inside. His bodyguards jumped into action a couple of beats late.
Rolling out of the garage, the car wove its way through the pack of cars there and out the gates. They didn't go far. Just off the end of the drawbridge, the limo turned and rolled into an encampment there. Riley had put together most of the entertainment for the normies. She'd gotten them a carnival with clowns (*shiver*) and acrobats. She'd rustled up a small troop of players to put on a couple of shows. She'd even built up a video theater. He'd given Riley and Teri the job as much to make amends for Chelsea disrupting their club as anything else.
They players were starting the process of shutting things down and tearing down the tents, and Finn found himself feeling sad and wondering what the peeps on the island would be doing for fun when this place was gone. Climbing out of the car in front of Riley's tent, the big man strolled inside to find TV crashed on the stage with a couple of cans of beer next to his head. Around him, the peeps were already shaking themselves out and starting the job of tearing down the tent. Helga the bartender acknowledged him with a nod. The Froyo-person offered, "coffee, Mr. Finn?" "No, but thanks," Finn replied. Spying Riley near the entrance to the dressing rooms, dressed in familiar shorts and tee-shirt, Finn strode over.
After her experience a few days ago getting the third-degree from his wives, the former lycanthrope wasn't really interested in talking to him. Teri stopped her from walking away, and she was still whispering urgently to the older woman when Finn approached. "Hey," he said, "take a walk with me. Please." Teri's eyes urged her to go along. Of course, this man was a Royal now. He could make her go. Nodding, Riley turned and strode for the entry, leaving Finn to catch up. "I'm sorry," Teri mouthed. "Forget it," Finn replied.
Outside, the big man motioned for her to climb aboard the car and reluctantly she did just that. The driver took them into town, as Finn did his best to apologize for what she'd been through the last few weeks. "I didn't want this for you," he said. Riley glared at him, and he could tell she was moments from swearing at him. "This is my life, Riley," he said. "I didn't choose this. You had a choice, though." The former hug-wolf glanced away.
Silence reigned for a few moments as they rolled through the village. Around them, the peeps were hard at work building houses and facilities–preparing the place for the people who would be living here. "Is it always going to be like this," she asked? "I'm trying to keep this away from you," Finn said, "but it's hard. You've... you've tied yourself to me." Riley gave vent to a sob. Finn slipped an arm around her and hugged her. Their life wasn't going to be the same anymore.
Rolling up on the destination, Finn let go. He opened the door himself, stepping out of the car. Reaching inside, he helped his friend climb out after. Her eyes took in the sight of the place, and, for a moment, puzzlement replaced angst on her pretty face. Taking her by the hand, Finn led the way up into the building. The space inside was barren, but it was clearly built as a space for a business. "You could turn this into a bar," he murmured. "A regular bar. We don't have one, and peeps need to get a snoot sometimes." As she stared, wide-eyed, the big man said, "you wouldn't have to take your clothes off for thirsty losers..." "I can't," she wailed, as she ran out the door. When Finn reached the door, his bodyguards were standing there staring down the street. She'd run off.
The big man sighed heavily. He'd tried. His phone rang just then, reminding him that the King of Ooo didn't have time for such small things as a friend who was in emotional distress because her life was changing under her feet. Taking the phone out, the big man murmured, "go." Nodding, as the person on the other end of the line, talked, Finn finally said, "I understand. I'm on my way."
The King piled back into the limo. There was no time to go hunt down Riley and take her back to her peeps. With the news Cherry had, he needed to get his ass back to the castle right-fucking-now. His mind was racing as the limo took the turns, and he found his mind going back, again and again, to the words he'd spoken to his wife just days ago. He was afraid of the great unknown. They had done their best to hunt down Martin's crew, but, at the end of the day, none of them could say for certain that they'd gotten them all. He'd always gone to an uneasy sleep each night wondering. Had they?
The car rolled up into the castle and immediately went down into the secure garage under the courtyard. Finn was out of his seat and moving almost before the car was stopped. Almost prancing in place as he rode the elevator, he found himself silently cursing the machinery. He wanted to get to the situation room. He wanted to hear what his wife had to say. It was tempting to use the curse. Moments like this, he was tempted to jump himself to the meeting, but he needed to keep his promise to Sybil. Now was not the time. Not like I can do anything right this minute anyway, he thought.
Grim faces greeted the King of Ooo as he strode into the situation room. All but Star were present and sitting in their places around the table. Keeping his face placid, even as he seethed, the big man went to his place at the head of the table and took his time seating himself. This was the moment to be calm. He needed his peeps to see him in control. In this situation, more than any other, he needed to be seen as in control.
"Alright," he said. "What do we know?" Cherry started it. "I've had my agents looking into sales of antiquities," she said. Finn grimaced. Rumor around the palace was that she'd had her agents sanctioning men who sold antiquities. Not very long ago, he would have been one of those men. He was somewhat queasy about that, both because he'd been fucking around with some dangerous things he didn't understand himself and because he had respect and sympathy for dudes who made their cash that way. He'd have to figure that out. There were forces on all sides wanting the King of Ooo to get the tomb-raiding business under control. In the right now, it just didn't matter. Cherry had something. He needed to hear it.
"They found something," he rumbled? "A weapon?" "A creature," Cherry replied. Finn frowned, and Emeraude grimaced. They'd killed or captured everybody. They'd both been certain of it. "They found this creature wandering in the lands northwest of the Candy Kingdom." "Oceanside," Finn muttered. He and E had been there at Oceanside trying to shut down attempts to salvage ancient tech there. They'd slagged a bunch of Martin's dudes there on an old warship. His queasy feeling got worse. They hadn't exactly done a search for aliens. They'd gone straight to where Bonnie thought the aliens would be, and they'd been sort of proven right at the time.
Bonnie's face was frozen in a grimace, and he feared what this was doing to her. "There's more, honey," Cherry murmured. "It's worse." Finn wasn't sure how much worse this could be. There was a creature roaming around who might be alien, who might be looking for a way to dial up home. "The bandits in Oceanside captured the creature," Simone rumbled. "They sold it to Bandit Princess." Finn felt his heart sink. Indeed, you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
The King's face snapped to Orzsebet. "She went back west," the Agent Princess reported. Her eyes flicked to Cherry, as she explained, "she found Damien Vega's corpse in his office in Muscle Kingdom. She seems to have immediately understood the significance. I had men staking out his office, and she basically went up the front of the building to escape them. They had the building staked out, and she outmaneuvered them." Bad news. It was frustratingly bad news.
"Ok," Finn said, "we're now on high alert." Nieve interrupted with, "but why? What could she do with this creature that she hasn't done already?" "Sell out Ooo," Ragnhild replied. At Nieve's look of utter horror, Abieuwa explained, "she has nothing to lose. She's a cornered rat with nothing left to lose. No allies. No power-base. She has nothing left but whatever this creature knows." And Peihong cared for no-one but herself.
"What is the state of the flying army," Finn rumbled? Blargetha and Sarah both sat up straight. "We've got the first three hundred chassis finished," the younger slime princess replied, "but we're just not ready Finn. We... it'll take months to have meaningful numbers..." She began to go down the list of all the things they needed to get done. Finn cut her off. "The small death-rockets," he demanded? Bonnie flushed. She'd fought with him over that. Now, once again, he seemed prescient. "We have a design in hand," Shoko replied. "Daddy, it's not tested." "Get me as many of them as you can," Finn insisted. "I'll transfer the death-metal," Abieuwa agreed, as she rose from her place, "today! Nadia?" The Grid-Face people would need to transport the material. Grimly, the family's chief pacifist rose. There was no place for pacifism today.
Finn turned to Sarah and said, "your job... your top job is to get this fortress running. I want the island able to fly by the end of the month." Sarah swore she'd get it done. Turning to Shoko, Finn said, "your world just became about building rockets. As many as you can build." An uneasy Shoko nodded. Finn turned to Billy and said, "you, Olesia, and Nieve are going back to the Confederation. I need you to find Bandit Princess's lair. It has to be over there somewhere. You leave in four days time. That should give enough time for Morgana's ship to reach the western seas." Grimly, Billy swore he'd get it done.
Finn turned to Lollipop and said, "babe, I know this is a little over your head, but I need you to coordinate getting the parts for the flying machines pulled together at the factory. I need you to work with the elementals and Candy-peeps to get them built." "I-I'll get it done," she said. Finn turned to Simone and said, "you are now my voice. I'm headed west. I'll be out of pocket a lot." Bonnie grimaced. She'd had a lot on her plate, but not getting that second satellite built seemed like a mistake now. If she'd built the satellite, they could have hogged the channels and kept in touch. "Keep peeps in line, babe," said Finn. "I need things to get done, and I don't need the council getting in the way." The Ice Queen grimly nodded.
A nervous Blargetha piped up with, "and me?" She wasn't, nominally, a member of the council. She was Finn's dog, and the family was at pains to make sure she knew it. At the same time, if she had no value to Finn, where was her hope of survival? Her name hadn't been called out. "We're still going to Coca Kingdom," Finn replied. "I may need somebody who's up on the science-biz when we do find Bandit Princess's lair." If she was building a transmitter, it would be important to know just how far along she was.
As the King of Ooo was making plans, Riley the former hug-wolf returned to the tent-city she'd organized to find her former employee talking with her spouse. That was odd on its face because the water-nymph had never liked Teri. Tallulah had done all she could to run Teri out of the club, and she'd been almost offended that the wood-nymph had dispensation to tend the bar instead of shaking her ass on the stage. It helped not at all that Riley and Teri had become a couple not long after Teri's arrival, with Tallulah continually implying that the younger girl had gotten the job of bartender on her back.
It was the typical kind of cattiness you saw in a business composed only of women. No matter how much they professed solidarity, a pack of women went at each other in ways no group of men could ever match. Riley squashed things when the bullshit got too deep. She'd suspended the water-nymph on three occasions when her bullying got to be too much. That was what you had to do when you owned the bar. As Finn so often put it, you had to pay the cost to be the boss.
Of course, thinking of those words and the man who spoke them had Riley looking at this situation with new eyes. Her life wasn't going to be the same. She and Teri had both gotten their fervent wish–to be the princess of the story, if only for a little while. Neither had given any thought to just how hard it was to live happily ever after, much less all the complications a prince had in his life. People hated Finn. There were people who so hated the big man, that they would hurt or kill people who were just friends of his. So what did that say about the two girls who were carrying his babies?
Riley gave Tallulah a suspicious look, as she approached. Why had this woman come back? Could this really be about a hook-up with the man who supposedly saved her life? It didn't make sense. Paranoid, the curvy ex-lycanthrope wanted to know what Tallulah's game really was because her life, Teri's life, and the lives of their two daughters now depended on that answer. "Hey, babe," Teri greeted the tall woman. "Tallulah was just asking where you'd gone..." A shiver of fear shot through Riley. She'd been with the man Tallulah was so very interested in. "I told her Finn wanted to show you some things," Teri explained. "He was trying to talk me into taking his offer of hush money to go away," Riley interrupted. "I told him that he didn't have to worry. We're going back home. Today." Teri opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Riley's eyes worried her. Something was very wrong.
Will she do it? Will the Bandit Princess really sell out the whole planet? And, while Ooo burns, the water-nymphs are playing games. Maybe it's time for an ice-age in the Caribbean.