Chapter 25:
The atmosphere at Riley's place was one of excitement when Finn arrived there. Along with selling their home, she and Teri were selling their club to Velvet and Nickie. Finn had given them the bar on his island, giving them the chance to move on and go, more or less, straight. Several of the girls were excited, and a couple of them were treating this as though Riley and Teri had struck gold and landed the fairy-tale prince. All but Velevet. The thicc stripper-girl was a little down in the mouth about the whole business, strangely enough. Not that it at all damped the enthusiasm of the rest of the girls. There was no end of giggling and laughter, though it often seemed like Finn was the only person doing any actual work.
The big man bore it all with good grace, including the stares and the questions. He was looking fit for a dude pushing fifty. He was kind of scrumcious, and a couple of the girls tried pinching his ass when he would pass them. It might have been an enjoyable moment for a man wearing the body of an eighteen-year-old with nanobots racing around in his blood. The horny teenager in him would have banged the pack of them. The old man would have at least savored the attention, if not for a couple of problems.
One, he was about to disappear. He was having trouble keeping his mind away from the unhappy possibilities waiting on him out there. Problem number two were the suspicious customers who'd shown up once again to help. The wizard-woman didn't even pretend to be helping. She sat off in a corner, watching the proceedings much in the manner of a school-teacher watching fractious kids as she decided who to punish. And Tallulah? She circulated through the crowd trying to position herself where Finn would have to pass her or talk to her. Polite to the last, Finn spoke when she pushed the issue, but he didn't engage with her if he didn't have to.
As the sun began to set, the melancholy mood got to be a little too much, and the big man found himself standing on the porch upstairs, staring out at the setting sun. Riley appeared at the door behind him. "Hey," he said, over his shoulder. "Hey, yourself," Riley replied, as she stepped out onto the porch beside him. There was a short pause, and then she asked, "what's bothering you?" She'd noticed the long pauses and the distance. He wasn't his usual self, though, looking back, she'd be pressed to remember a time she'd seen him the last couple years where he'd been himself. "I have to go somewhere tomorrow," Finn admitted.
Riley knew what that meant. "What's happening," she asked? "I have to go look in on something," he said. "Not going into a fight, if that's what you're worried over." Her eyes said she didn't quite believe that. Finn said, "I won't be able to stop by. I wanted to tell you that so you didn't worry. I'm'a be gone a couple weeks. Lollipop will help you and Teri get settled when you're ready." "Ok," she said. There seemed little else to say. Turning to face her, the big man gathered her into his arms. "I'll get back as soon as I can," he said. He wanted to be here when they gave birth. Impulsively, the ex-hug-wolf said, "stay the night. Please." "Ok," Finn said. Then, "shit, I gotta' tell my bodyguard and driver to piss off." Riley giggled. Oh, the trials and tribulations of being a king. Kissing his rough lips, the curvy lycanthrope said, "you have two beautiful women who want to lay with you for the night. It's good to be King."
As the sun peeked over the horizon in the east, the King of Ooo awoke in the arms of two dear friends. It had been a long, mostly sleepless night. Finn wasn't sure what to make of his relationship with Riley and Teri. The last thing he wanted was to be between them, especially when he might not be around. In the right now, though, he had to get cleaned up, get dressed, and get his ass to the airfield. Blipping himself out from between the pair so he could leave without disturbing them, the big man slipped downstairs to the little bathroom off the entrance and washed himself as best he could at the sink, splashing a little water here and there. Heading out into the living room, the King of Ooo gathered on his clothes. It was time to go.
Across town, Olesia opened her eyes to find that, after a night of restless tossing and turning, William had finally gone to sleep. He was worried. Really, he was strained to the breaking point. Nothing they did had been able to get through to him the previous evening. He'd been an inattentive dad, which was out of character for him, and he'd basically ignored his wives across much of the previous day and evening. His father, the King, was leaving today. His father was going away on a mission from which he might never return. And where would William be? He would be on the Throne, dealing with the antics and bad faith decisions of princesses everywhere. He was now the bulwark between the citizens of Ooo and the evil deeds of greedy peeps.
As Olesia was about to get out of bed with the idea of cooking up breakfast, Nieve suddenly leaped from bed and rushed into William's bathroom. Moments later, Olesia could hear her there throwing up. Olesia sighed. Another Royal Child was on the way. At least this would get Odessa off of Nieve's back. Rising, the plump girl walked around the bed to the bathroom door. Arriving in the entry to William's toilet, the curvy girl knelt beside her friend. "Bad memories," Nieve groaned. Olesia flushed. Nobody wanted to go back on board the Black Naga for another long slog across the ocean.
Taking Nieve by the hand, the plump girl helped her get up and wash her face. Together, they walked out to the suite's parlor, where Olesia would have immediately started making breakfast. Nieve bade her sit. If this was what a wife was supposed to do, she wanted to learn it. Chances were, none of them would be doing very much for William–or even seeing him very often–in the future. Nieve had been a little shocked to learn just how the King's household ran and, by extension, how William's would be run.
It was another ugly epiphany. The King of Ooo spent a lot of his time alone, carrying the weight of the world on his back. The various Royal Brides were often away, either doing their part for the Empire or, more often than not, managing their own business. Sometimes they even worked at cross-purpose to their husband, though that had gotten tamped down rather a lot lately. Still, Nieve knew that she had business of her own waiting back in Muscle Kingdom. Beyond the usual summer tournaments and the doings of the nobility, she needed to have a look at the roads and the rails and the ports. With so much of Ooo now dependent on her people's fields, she needed to make sure the food could move. It was doubles-or-nothing. Again. Still.
It was an enormous job that was going to be made all the greater when juggled with the additional job of mother. That was another thing she'd never considered. She'd been raised by her family's servants. Her Royal Mother and noble father had scarcely seen her before she was old enough to get about on her own. Now she saw what a terrible way that was to raise a child, and she was determined not to make those same mistakes. She was a Royal. It was what it was. Her world view had been informed by the antics and gamer of her class, and that awful person was still there inside her, waiting to get out. She'd always be fighting it, but she saw a hope of being better now.
All of that was waiting on her in the future though. In the right now, she was a wife and an ally in the grandest and most important coalition in Ooo's history. She was determined now to do the things that would make this alliance work, and some of that would be what she'd once considered the work of a servant. It left Marisol clucking at her in consternation, but Nieve put her off.
A wife cooked for her husband. Sometimes the wife was also a princess, but this was what wives were supposed to do. In exchange a worthy husband took care of his wife and his babies, and even sometimes cooked the food himself on special days or even just because he wanted to make his family feel special. Noise in the bedroom announced that William was awake. Nieve got down to business, making up a breakfast of sausages, eggs, and hot-cakes. Minutes after she had finished, William came out of the bedroom in a robe. "Good morning, husband," said Nieve. "We've made you a breakfast, Olesia and I." Wrinkling her nose, the Muscle Princess added, "hopefully the sausages aren't too crunchy."
Elsewhere, the princess of the Water Nymph Confederation found herself sitting on the hotseat, facing down the wrath of her mother's councilors. They were all there. Every sneering face was there before her, and they were very unhappy. "That woman has people here spying on us," growled Cenobia! "We've found six agents prowling around the port district, and two more were asking about Port Rochelle!" Tallulah grimaced. Some of their greatest treasures were stored on Port Rochelle. "What have you been doing," Catalina demanded?! "We're paying for you to be fed and housed there, and you've got nothing to show for it!"
"I-I can explain," Tallulah interrupted. "Th-there's something dangerous going on. There's rumors that it's those creatures from the darkness come back." The news of aliens from beyond the veil coming to land on Ooo–and intending to destroy the entire world–had sent something of a shock through the strata of the Confederation. The screeching and squealing calmed down a moment. Getting a little steam back, Tallulah explained, "he's... he's gone off to go deal with it. He left this morning..."
"Are you sure of this," asked Jakinda? "Certain," Tallulah replied. "Princess Bubblegum has some kind of flying machine. He's taking the flying machine and he's taking the princess's mechanical double with him." "Why aren't you involved," asked Daria? Flushing, Tallulah shot back, "I'm a nymph, not an egghead. I can't fly an airship or figure out how to destroy an alien flying vessel." That shut them up a moment. Her mother piped up next, asking, "who's in charge while he's gone? Princess Bubblegum? The Ice Queen?" "His son," Tallulah replied. "Prince William's in charge."
It was both good news and bad news. They had run disastrously afoul of William Mertens when he was in the Confederation. Margarida had treated him like a fool. They'd sheltered a mass-murderer and let her do her dirt on Port Rochelle. At the same time, this was an opportunity of sorts. William was a young man. Older men like Finn tended to slow down, and they tended to stop being ruled by their small head. William was still young enough that a pretty woman could sway him. William was married to a pack of old hags, and his marriage to Nieve was a political one. That gave them an opening. "Right," said Margarida. "Your target... your new target... is William. Get to know him. Get yourself into his inner circle. Learn what you can." The council broke the connection from their end, leaving Tallulah muttering curses under her breath.
Finn arrived at the flying saucer's secret hangar as the distant bells of Bonnie's castle tolled for eight o'clock in the morning. His driver had been waiting on him when he stepped out of Riley's house, and, after swinging past the castle for a change of clothes and the bag of equipment he'd planned to take, the King arrived at the airfield with a little time to spare. Business was already underway with the various participants hard at work preparing for the launch. Blargetha met him in the entry, looking annoyed and exhausted, telling him something about how things had been going the previous evening. Finn hefted his bag and stepped off, brushing past her. There was no more time for delay, and, anyways, she was still on his shit-list for what she'd tried to do.
Pacing him down the hall, round ass swaying rhythmically back and forth with each step she took, Blargetha rumbled, "I don't think this is a good idea, Finn." Which just about everybody had said. "I'd almost think you care," Finn cracked. Flushing, she gave as good as she got, retorting, "you're the world's bulwark, King of Ooo. You're the guy who keeps the boogie-man away, so of course I'm a little worried that you're going to go throw yourself at this. On top of that, my life is literally in your hands. You're the one person with a reason to leave my head where it is, instead of handing it to 'Letta to decorate her office."
She stopped right where she was in the hallway and turned to face him. "I don't know if I'm pregnant or not, but if I am, you're pretty much gonna' be the daddy, so there's that too," she said. Finn flushed to his hair. Cupping his rough face in her hand, the plush princess rumbled, "I have a vested interest in seeing you continue to breathe, Finn the Human. As much as any of the women who profess their undying love for you, I have a need for you to live. If I'm your dog, a dog needs its master, understand?"
She abruptly began walking again, leaving him staring at her wiggling ass. "My rockets have been loaded onto the saucer," she announced. Finn found himself hustling to catch up. "Not tested, Finn," she told him. Finn flushed. He'd been guilty of being a little squeamish himself. He'd been hesitant to push Talia's forbearance by testing mushroom bombs. He'd had Sarah and Shoko both check Blargetha's math and called it a day. Now the world was dependent on those same equations. Stopping again, she said, "we need to have a comin' to Glob meeting, Finn. Someday soon. If we're really doin' this, we need to go all in and not fuck around, ok?" "Ok," he agreed. "We'll... We'll talk to Talia." "You will talk to Talia," Blargetha retorted. "You already tried to tear my head off. I don't need the same from her." She started walking once more.
"Your best chance," she said, "is to get aboard the enemy ship. I... I confess I don't know how you do that, but that's your best chance. The rockets might not work as rockets, but I'm pretty sure they'll go off if you set the timers..." Again Finn nodded. "The timer will give you up to an hour to get away," she explained. "Be careful, Finn. Don't cut it too close. I don't think anybody really knows how much effect a mushroom bomb has in space." Finn nodded. He wasn't planning on sacrificing himself in this. He'd made a deal with Simone. She would let him go, and he would do all he could to get home safe. He'd made her a Royal Promise, and he didn't fancy heading off to the Night-O-Sphere for breaking it.
There was a welcoming committee waiting on them when they reached the hangar where Bonnie's illicit spaceship had spent much of its life. Bonnie was already gone, having decamped to Finn's floating palace to take charge there, and she'd taken the majority of the cabinet with her. Cherry had already said her goodbyes in the car that morning. She was off on a whirlwind tour to get eyes on any of the empty places an enemy might try landing. Just like with the Lich and the Dipped, it was all-hands-on-deck. Strudel and Toast were engaged in the job of getting food stockpiled in case things turned nasty. That left Simone and Betty on the job of backing Billy up in wrangling the eternal bickering of the Princess Privy Council.
Walking through the door of the hangar, Finn found himself face to face with another little problem. With the world literally hanging in the balance, Sakura and Drew had come clean about their latest twisted family secret. Billy had been appalled and Finn horrified. His daughter and grand-daughter would be born to the same mother. At the same time. In spite of the trouble, Sakura was gamely trying to put in her share. It wasn't as though they could go back and change the past. Seeming to guess where his mind was going, she said, "watashitachi wa kore o saidaigen ni katsuyo shimasu." They were going to get through this. Finn did his best to smile back. "The ship is ready," she yawned. "Sarah and I have been working on it all night."
The surprise was the woman standing underneath the boarding ladder, looking the machine over. "What're you...," Finn asked? With a shrug, Susan (Kara, he reminded himself), said, "you came to my rescue when Beautopia was overrun by those creatures. Figured, I could return the favor." Finn frowned in suspicion. This was weird in a lot of ways. At the same time, he didn't have piles of options here. He might well need help getting the charges set anyway. "Ok," he said. "Keep up."
Sarah arrived in company with the Lady of Spies. That was a bit of a surprise because the Agent Princess was supposed to be in the West, working out just who Bandit Princess had been working with. More to the point, Orzsebet was another maybe. He'd banged the shit out of her. A lot. She had been getting on in years before she inhaled a dose of Maja's magic dust, and the King had thought they were ok. The odds were pretty low. Of course, the equation had changed now. Finn had screwed the shit out of her for a couple of hours after the fact, and now he feared that she was all too young and fertile. "What are you doing here," Finn demanded? The Agent Princess gave him a sweet smile and said, "my job, of course..." With a wink, she reminded him, "you're terrible at sneaking around, Finn. You bludgeon people and batter into things when you get frustrated. Somebody's got to keep you out of trouble."
Sarah brushed past him, giving him a peck on the cheek. All business, she took Sakura and got down to the business of pre-flighting the saucer one last time. Hefting her bag, Orzsebet walked past. That left him with Hurletta. Taken with an urge, Finn wrapped his long, strong arms around her and hugged her. "Be careful," he whispered. "Stay safe." Hurletta gave him a harumph. "I'm going to be perfectly safe, Finn," she murmured. "We'll be safe as anything on Ooo. We'll be aboard a floating city under a cloak of invisibility..."
Finn flushed and grinned. Bonnie was still smarting from that one. Guiding his hand to her belly, the Slime Princess said, "lot of kids are going to be missing daddy if you don't get back here, honey. Don't disappoint our baby, ok?" Finn nodded. Both sisters were 'running late', suggesting that Finn might well have done the job sometime between the trip to Djanira's place and the discovery of the alien ship. The big man gave her a heated kiss. Breaking that kiss, he stared at her a moment before turning to go. It was time.
The King headed for the boarding ladder. Shouldering the bag with his equipment and weapons, the big man climbed up. After giving the slime-princess an odd stare, the strange woman he'd rescued climbed up after him. Sarah spent a few minutes on some last-second details, and then she headed back to the ladder to board the saucer too. It was going to be a long, cramped trip with four bodies crammed aboard.
As the saucer climbed into the early morning sky over the Candy Kingdom, Billy sat himself on the Throne of Ooo and faced down the most terrifying moment of his life. He would much rather have gone with his dad. Hell, he would have gone alone. The last thing he wanted to do was face down the sea of terrified faces before him. At the same time, that was exactly what he was going to do. "Good morning, everyone," the big man said. Ragnhild was proud of him. His voice held nary a quaver. "This morning, my father left to investigate the object that is coming towards Ooo," Billy declared. "The Crown of Ooo is taking all necessary precautions. The Machine Army is being deployed." Henrietta Kirchner interrupted him almost immediately, saying, "I'm told that the ship that's coming is ten times the size of the one your grandfather brought. Why have you said nothing on this matter?"
Somebody was leaking information. They were going to have to find out who that was. That leak needed to be shut down. In the right now, Billy moved immediately to deflection-mode. "I don't speak to rumors, Your Excellency," he replied. "I can only tell you what we have done to prepare. Right now, the Grid-Face People are moving four of the reactor machines south to the wastelands east of Jungle Kingdom. Princess Shoko is setting up a larger version of the heat-ray that served us so well during the Lich War. We expect to have the work completed within a week." "Why so quickly," demanded Duke Heinrich? Billy retorted, "would you rather we dither?" That brought a round of giggles. He'd managed to make the fat man sound like an idiot.
Moving on, the big man declared, "Princess Cherry is deploying... resources... to watch empty lands. I expect all of the crowned heads of Ooo to do the same. The last thing we need is for the aliens to land by stealth. We need as much warning as we can get. Watch the skies. Watch the wild lands. Report what you see. That's all. You may be dismissed." He could see the questions. The questions were right there in the various royals' eyes. Some feared that Henrietta's words were true. Billy hadn't exactly denied those words, had he? Still, they were clearly not going to get anything more. The pack of princesses and princes headed out. A relieved Billy held his breath, waiting. When the last of them had gone and the guards had shut the door, the big man wilted visibly. Nieve squeezed his left hand reassuringly. He had done very well in her eyes. Things were on his father now.
The calm before the plunge.