Chapter 25:
The aging farmer looked up at the early morning sky, much as she'd done all her life. Indeed, it was the same as her father had done it and the same as his father had done that same practiced glance. The weather was turning. She and her sons had to get the last of the silage in to keep their animals for the long winter ahead. Winter was coming early. She could feel it in her withered old bones.
As the weathered old matriarch raised her sickle to turn back to the task at hand, a glint of light off of something metallic caught her eye. And then, moments later, a thunderous crash sounded as a bolt of artificial lightning struck her silo, blasting it to flinders. A thrill of stark terror filled her heart as a massive machine landed in her yard with a colossal thud. Leveling one of its strange, mechanical appendages, the thing unleashed another powerful bolt of light, laying into the house where she'd been born and grown old.
Her jaw came open in horror. Her daughter-in-law was in there. Her grandbabies were there. The old woman began to run, shrieking at the machine as she did so, but the machine cared nothing for her impotent rage. It continued to lash out, blasting the barn with her cows and setting the harvest-machine alight. The old woman felt her heart giving out, as she raced across the field. They were destroying everything her ancestors had worked for, and there was nothing she could do. Done with its awful work, the machine bounded away, headed for the next farm. The city-state of Sonbong was just miles away. These were the last of the farms that supported the city's population. They would be starving soon–and surrendering to Lord Tatsuo not long after.
As Tatsuo Nagumo's soldiers executed their grim orders, back in the Candy Kingdom, Astartes the wizard awoke with a dry mouth, an empty bed, and a sore pussy. The King was gone–back to his world. She felt all of a fool, as she sat up and slid out of bed. Of course he would be careful. Every mistake he made was magnified. He wouldn't bang some anonymous bitch he met in a club like a common dude. Sitting at the edge of the bed, the plump nymph stared off into space. Shit, that had been good. He'd gone for over an hour, fucking her like he owned her. He'd fucked her under the table.
Climbing to her feet, the wizard sighed as she took in the size of her failure. No closer to getting her family out of the Confederation and no closer to getting Cenobia and Catalina off her back. Muttering curses, she headed for the bathroom. She should wash and get out of here, though really she wanted to go back to bed and wallow there for a bit. Fighting off her inner demons, the curvy nymph went into the toilet and sat down on the commode a moment to relieve herself. She had the money to book passage on an airship. She could get back to the Confederation. She'd have to convince her mother to leave the warmth of the islands to go somewhere else. Tequila Kingdom, she thought? It wasn't quite far enough from Cenobia's reach.
As she pondered the possibilities of seeking refuge somewhere powerful people didn't want to smash her, her eyes fell on a singular object sitting at the bottom of the toilet's little trash-can. He'd taken the rubber off and dropped it in the trash–likely just before relieving himself. The plump nymph felt heat come to her face. There was still a hope. The fertility spell was still working.
Across town, Billy strode up to Olesia's home wearing a fireshield spell. The big man knocked on the door with the heavy iron gargoyle that hung there for the purpose. Moments later, his brother-in-law opened the door. "Larry," Billy greeted Olesia's brother. "Bill," the elemental replied, as he stepped aside. Billy stepped into the house, offering up sincere apologies for disturbing the peace. "It is the nature of power, Your Highness," the elemental responded, as he shut the door.
Nieve came out of a door on the side of the atrium. Billy felt his heart lurch at the sight of her. Striding forward, the big man embraced his wife. "I'm sorry you're going through this, baby," he whispered, as he stroked her long, sable hair. "I have you," she replied. "I have Olesia. That's enough." Olesia came out from what Billy guessed was the parlor, looking radiant. She offered Billy a sweet smile. "I hate her," Nieve hissed. "I know, baby," he rumbled. "Tried to talk to her. She's..." "Being a bitch," Olesia agreed.
"I don't know when we'll be able to get you home," Billy admitted. The Candy Palace wasn't really safe anymore–not as it had been. Much of the security apparatus that Finn and his allies had set up over the last few years had moved to King's Island. And Frenchie had made Boniface dispense with a lot of the remainder for the sake of convenience. The young heiress wasn't really a fan of all the complication, but she'd now made them all less safe. "I'm sorry I'm a burden," Nieve howled, as she began to melt down. Billy and Olesia both hugged her. "Never a burden," Olesia insisted. "We're going to get through this."
Back at Lady's house, Bronwyn walked out of her grandmother's house to find Finn there at the grill, cooking up breakfast. "Where've you been," demanded the half-bear? "It didn't go well with Jake," Finn rumbled. His expression was troubled, giving her an inkling of just how badly it went. "I didn't want to bring that anger back here with me," the big man said with a sigh. She could see it in his eyes. He'd had an awful row with Jake. Bronwyn threw her arms around him and hugged him. "I'm ok," he rumbled. "I... I just have to get used to this. I've lost my brother." Charlie and Viola emerged from the house just then. Yawning, Charlie asked, "what's for breakfast?" Bronwyn very nearly belted her.
Inside the house, Lady was headed for the patio when the doorbell rang. Changing course, the rainicorn shouted out, "coming!" Lady opened the door to find her ex-husband on her doorstep. "Hey," Jake greeted her. "Jake," she replied. Doffing his hat, Jake rumbled, "is... is Finn here? Simone said he might be visiting." "Come in," Lady said, as she threw the door wide. Samantha turned to go back to the car. "You can wait inside, Samantha," Lady announced. The dog-woman stiffened. No, there was no escaping confrontation today.
Lady told her ex, "I think he's on the patio, making breakfast." Jake frowned. Veggie-sausages. He would really have liked to forget veggie-sausages. It was a reminder of the life he'd left behind when he left the treehouse. He and Finn probably ate every kind of garbage there was to eat in the world. Then they'd both settled down and gotten married. When Finn had still been alone in the treehouse, Jake would sometimes sneak over for a beer and some pizza.
All that ended when the Ice King dropped Simone on Finn's doorstep. The fucking off and hanging out for hours at a stretch had gotten cut off on the spot. Finn had handed Simone his balls, and she'd put them up in her purse for safe-keeping. There had been moments where Jake had resented the Ice Queen's presence in their lives because he'd lived Finn's life of freedom vicariously, using his younger brother to recapture his youth. Shaking off the unhappy memories, the stretchy dog announced, "thanks." With no further word, he headed for the patio.
Finn was indeed cooking up veggie-sausages as the stretchy dog came out the sliding door. Both Vi and Charlie were here, but of Junior there was no sign. "Grampa," Bronwyn burbled. "Dad," Viola greeted him. "Hey, baby," he greeted her. She didn't exactly rush to him today. It was a painful reminder of what he'd lost when he left this house. Focus, he reminded himself. He was here for a reason.
"Hey, man," Jake greeted his little brother. "Jake," Finn responded. He sounded pretty angry still. "Want to talk," Jake rumbled. Turning the tongs over to Viola, Finn headed over to the fire pit. Moments later, Jake joined him. Charlie and Vi watched him the whole way, making him feel two inches tall. How much of his anger at Finn was his anger at himself? Finn still had his family. Simone loved him more than ever. His kids adored him. Jake's kids... weren't fans.
"I... got out of line," Jake rumbled, when he'd sat himself beside Finn. With a nod, Finn agreed, "a lot." "She's my favorite kid, man," Jake protested. "She was my favorite pup too, Jake," Finn retorted. With a sigh, he said, "you... you don't know how hard it was to send her away." He'd fought with Simone. He'd fought with Emeraude. He'd fought with Princess Bubblegum. In the end, it had come down to some hard truths. Jake Junior wasn't changing, and nothing they did seem to convince her to see the error of her ways. Jake stared at him. He hadn't known any of that.
"That's the past," Finn declared. "I... I want to help her, Jake. That's all I wanted to do. She's... Dr. P says she's got some mental problems, Jake," Finn rumbled. "I wish I'd known it at the time. I swear. I'm gonna' help her get fixed." Staring down at his feet, the stretchy dog let out a long, heartfelt sigh. "You were always a better uncle than I was a dad," Jake muttered. "You tried, man," Finn interrupted. "You got your handicaps too. So do I." Finn had always been good at helping Jake see himself as a better man than he was. It was just as true now as it had been when they were young.
"It hurt me bad when you said I turned my back on you," Jake rumbled. Nodding, Finn said, "I lost my temper. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, Jake. I didn't come there to hurt you. I... It sometimes feels like I've been abandoned... like I have to carry it all." "Finn, I'm ten years older than you," Jake reminded him. "I'm too old for that shit." And Jake hadn't had a friendly witch cast a spell on him. "Thinkin' of retiring," the stretchy dog remarked. Finn nodded. He wasn't sure that was in the cards for him. There was a lot of shit still to get done. "Proud of you, man," Jake rumbled. "I ain't been good with sayin' that. You... you kept at it, when I guess I gave up..." Finn responded, "you're my brother, Jake. I'm never gonna' stop loving my brother." As the rest of the family looked on, the two brothers embraced.
"You gonna' stay for breakfast," Finn asked? "Nah, man," Jake replied. "You know what those veggie-sausages do to my gut." Finn laughed. Jake had always been a little gassy. The veggie-sausages and burgers turned that up to eleven. The big man walked his brother back up towards the house. On the way, Jake stopped before his daughters. Time seemed to stand still. Glancing down, at Vi's feet, Jake rumbled, "I'm... I'm sorry I haven't been a better dad." Charlie retorted, "we're sorry too." Jake flinched, but Viola hugged him. After a moment, Charlie did the same. "You're getting fat, dad," Charlie accused him. "That's not good for your heart." Jake sighed. He knew. Sam was after him to lose the weight. He was trying. "Cut the beer and liquor," Viola advised. The stretchy dog promised that he'd keep trying. "Give my love to Junior," he said. Both girls kissed him on either cheek. Then Jake got on his way.
Inside, he found Sam and Lady talking in hushed voices, but he couldn't quite hear what they were saying. As the stretchy dog approached, Lady broke off the conversation, announcing, "I'm glad you were able to see our daughters." Jake nodded. "Thanks for letting me come in," he
said. Lady hugged him. "Don't be a stranger," she said, as she opened the door for the pair to go.
Meanwhile, just east of Oceanside, Jake Junior awoke from an ugly dream of a wizard casting a spell on Finn, all while she tried to warn him again and again. Scrubbing a hand through her hair, the shapechanger tried to force away the cobwebs. "You ok," asked the Huntress? "Been better," Junior blurted. Nodding, Emeraude admitted, "I have dreams too." Sighing heavily, the warrior-wizard said, "it's our subconscious, reminding us of the stuff we tried to run away from." The nymph was much older than she looked. "Does it get better," Junior burbled? She was pretty sure she knew the answer. Giving Jake Junior's shoulder a squeeze, Emeraude replied, "with my family's help, I've done better." It was a shade of a hope, just like her connection to Finn.
Moving on, the Huntess announced, "my agent tells me that the event is tonight." The event. Jake Junior flinched. Her daughter was for sale. To the highest bidder. It was everything she'd feared and then some. "W-what're we doing," she asked? She felt helpless. Strong as she was, she wasn't strong enough to fight her way into the lair of a notorious gangster and slaver to rescue Liz. "I have help on the way," Huntress Wizard replied. "Right now, we get into town, go to ground near the target, and we keep watch."
Back in the Candy Kingdom, Simone Mertens walked into her office to find an unpleasant visitor waiting there in front of her desk. The Ice Queen stopped short, causing her mom to blunder into her back. The curvy wizard immediately turned to assess the damage. "I'm ok," Betty burbled, though she was a little surprised. Roselinen took her by the arm and steered her through the door, though she too stopped short at the sight of the figure on the other side. As the pillow-woman got Betty seated, Simone turned to the Agent Princess and announced, "Orzsebet. To what do I owe the pleasure?" "War, Simone," responded the Lady of Spies.
Rising, the slinky spy-girl sauntered across the room. Simone grimaced at the sight of her. She wasn't a fan. In some ways, she was less a fan of this woman than she was of Blargetha, and that was saying a lot. At the same time, much like Cherry, this woman was a key piece of Finn's government. "The former Chief of Police of Truth Kingdom has gone rogue," announced the spymaster. Betty's face whipped around. It was apparent to Roselinen that this was significant. Nodding, Orzsebet said, "I'm looking for Finn. We're going to have to clean up the mess."
"He's on vacation," Roselinen responded. "My husband gets one week a year." It was a shocking notion. Finn had, to the best of her knowledge, never had a moment's respite when he ran the farm. Nor, for that matter, had Jay when Finn was taken from them. At the same time, the world was a much bigger place than their farm, and she could see all the ugly ways that was grinding Finn down.
"I'm afraid this won't wait," Orzsebet remarked. To Simone, she said, "Tatsuo Nagumo has violated the Peace of Ooo." Betty's jaw came open. Nodding, Orzsebet declared, "he's deployed the technological might of Truth Kingdom against the petty city-states and domains on the coast." People were dying. Betty asked the obvious, "what's Sakura doing?" "The Truth Princess is missing," Orzsebet replied. That was very bad news. "He did her in," Roselinen surmised. Power. She was sick of it already.
"I will summon the Privy Council," Simone declared. "I'll let my son know. I expect your report to be delivered to Bill's desk tomorrow morning. You can go, Orzsebet. Know that you're expected to visit the Candy Clinic. An appointment with a therapist has been arranged, and you've been skating on it." The spy cussed her. The Ice Queen got in her face and growled, "not negotiable. Everyone goes to their appointments." "As you wish," the spy ground out, as she stormed out.
"Therapy," Roselinen burbled? "Counseling," Betty responded. "We..." Shaking her head, the wizard-woman gave vent to a bitter chuckle. "This life isn't for the faint of heart, Rosie," she said, "as you can see. Most all of us came to it in various ugly ways. I... I let my ambitions kill my husband." Nodding at her daughter, she said, "I did a lot of damage to her family. There's moments the guilt of all that threatens to overwhelm me. I see a counselor, once a month... to try and keep my head straight."
The pillow-person glanced to Simone. "Do all of you...," she started to ask? "I walked away from my husband," Simone reminded her. "I turned my back on the lovely little house and beautiful life we had... for this. If that wasn't enough, I spent a year as the Lich's sock-puppet, watching every evil thing he did with my hands. You better believe I need someone to talk to." Roselinen sighed. "Maybe I need it too," she murmured. She'd unburdened herself to the minister of her little town when she found the time. As her heart weakened and her body grew more infirm, that had been less and less. "We'll arrange a visit," Betty chuckled. "Everybody goes. Even nasty spies." Rosie's face whipped around to the door. "She's... she's Finn's Informer," the pillow-person burbled? She hardly looked the type. She didn't look like Lord Woolcot's men. The new world was strange indeed when a woman could do such things.
Moving on, Roselinen asked, "what were you saying about a Peace of Ooo?" Gesturing at their surroundings, Simone said, "you've seen all the wonderful things we have here. The trains and the cars, and our castle." Rosie nodded. She'd marveled at all the things they had. She'd lived in a home with candlelight and a fireplace that Finn and Jay endlessly chopped wool to feed. "There are many ways to use such things to do harm to others, Rosie," Betty murmured. "Only it's been forbidden. For centuries. My people destroyed the world with such weapons, down to just tenths of the people left alive. We vowed, collectively, never to let it happen again. This Tatsuo is breaking the vow." "And Finn has to take it seriously or risk massive destruction all over again," Roselinen murmured. It reminded her of the Wizard Sheetz and the destruction of her homeland. "He's not going to get his vacation," she sighed. Simone nodded. Probably not.
He was still the man Rosie had fallen in love with, and now she could see how he became a King. Not by conquest, but by standing up to men like this Tatsuo. Now he needed her support more than ever, and that meant she needed a clear head. "When is my appointment," she asked? "I'll get you scheduled," Betty said. Petting her swollen belly, she said, "I have to go in tomorrow anyway."
As day turned to night in the ugly city of Oceanside, a pair of burly guards led a tall, curvy female through a warren of passages. Her expression was bleak, and she'd clearly been crying. A lot. Everything had gone wrong. It had all gone wrong somehow. She'd presented herself to one of the gangs, just like her mom. She'd offered her services–a little burglary, a little pick-pocketing. Simple as that. She'd just wanted a chance to do her thing without any trouble, and she'd been glad to pay her tax.
But they'd locked her in a room. They hadn't even listened to a word she'd said. She'd been locked in a room and barely fed a little porridge for days. Then they'd put a bag over her head, dragged her out of that place and stuffed her in a car. And she'd ended up here. She'd seesawed the last few days, bouncing between terror of what was going to happen to her to anger at her family for not rescuing her back to terror again. Why hadn't her dad come to rescue her? Where were her peeps? Had they forgotten about her? It had only belatedly occurred to her that she had a.) not bothered to tell anybody where she was going to be and b.) walked herself into the hands of some really bad people. Her dad couldn't rescue her because he didn't know where she was. She hadn't bothered to call him. At all.
The ugly men on either side of her dragged her out into a big, open space and up onto a tiny stage. As her eyes adjusted to the sudden bright light, she found herself face to face with a couple dozen peeps all sitting in a semi-circle in front of her. It reminded her of the ugly strip-bar Simone danced at to earn them a little money to pay their rent. She'd been a shit to her sister. She'd made fun of Simone for shaking her ass for losers when she could just rob them. Simone had kept a roof over their heads, when Liz and Lady were fucking up. She'd been the responsible pup, and it made Liz want to bawl her eyes out.
Of course there were some key differences between this evil place and that club. Armed guards around the perimeter of the room suggested she wouldn't be getting rescued any time soon. There were men and women both in the audience before her, suggesting that this was going to be something much worse than a little ass-shaking. Indeed, one of the men reached out and literally tore the robe off of her, leaving her standing there in her panties and nothing else, telling her just where this was going. "A Princess," announced a deep, gravely voice. "Finn the Human's second-oldest grandchild." Liz flushed. She didn't tell anybody that! Did she? Her mind went back to a couple of conversations she'd had where she might have coyly suggested she was somebody special.
One of the rude men grabbed her big, right booby and hefted it. "Titties like the Ice Queen herself," the voice announced. "Who wants some of this? What am I bid to be the first to bust a virgin princess?" Liz shrieked at them. One of the rough men holding her would have stuffed a gag in her mouth, but one of the sickos declared, "leave her be! Like it better when they scream!" The voice announced, "ten-thousand coins to open. Who wants to play?" Liz cussed him. "I'll pay fifteen," announced one of the strangers! "Eighteen," shouted another. "Twenty-two," announced a third.
As she screamed impotently at them, the thugs holding the hapless girl made her turn around, and one of them squeezed her ass, as that evil voice announced, "look at that ass! Firm and young. You'd enjoy hitting this from behind. She's young and fertile! Surely that's worth a little more money!" "Thirty-thousand," shouted a frenzied sicko. "Forty," shouted another! Liz was mortified. They were bidding to rape her! She didn't even have a butter knife to protect herself!
As the bidding war reached a fever pitch, one of the people in the audience tapped send on her phone. The message was received just down the street. As the wayward young lady was made to twist and turn, showing off that beautiful female shape, the sicko in the announcing booth made suggestions as to what they could do with her. He even suggested after they'd gotten their sick jollies they could pimp her out to their friends to recoup their costs.
The bidding war was up to ninety-thousand coins and headed for an even one hundred when the doors at the end of the room blew open. A dozen wizards came storming in, hurling spells and blasting peeps out of their chairs. Among them, a sinister shape slashed and shredded her way through the pack. Chaos reigned, as the wealthy sickos and their bodyguards crowded the exits. The auction-house guards stood their ground and fought, but they were drastically overmatched. In short order, most were fled. Those who hadn't gotten out the doors were dead. Jake Junior strode up on the stage to find her daughter curled up in a ball there, sobbing.
"We have to go," Huntress Wizard announced. "She ok." "Yeah," Jake Junior murmured. The wizard handed over her cloak, and Jake wrapped it around her kid's shoulders before scooping her off the ground. As the nymphs withdrew, Emeraude told her 'Minister for Industry', "I don't even want to know how you know about this place." "Bad memories, Matriarch Emeraude," replied Auda with a shudder. From the look, they might well have been personal memories. Emeraude let it go. This had been the information they'd needed.
Meanwhile, on King's Island, Natasha Stanek wandered the public section of the King of Ooo's grand palace. It beggared the former Mayor's Mansion up on the Ark, and its sumptuous furnishings were amazing to behold, although the sometimes clashing choices in decor were a little off-putting. Unlike her husband, Natasha wasn't enamored of the life they'd led on the Ark. She'd come to enjoy the feel of real sunlight on her skin. She enjoyed the wind in her hair, and the strange scents and smells of the real Planet Earth. What she was having trouble with was the loss of all their luxury.
Eisthir had gotten her on the island, which had been an excellent start. Her sons and daughter had been failing at that. They'd neither managed to seduce somebody important nor found levers to coerce an official. Every step had led them back to their ignoble digs in a cramped rescue-shelter. Now, Natasha had a pair of hotel rooms in one of the island's two hotels. Each and every day, the aging trophy wife invited herself over to the palace to dine. It wasn't far, and Eisthir had twice arranged a car to take her, though there weren't so many of them available that they were ready to hand.
Each visit aroused the same deadly thought. Why were the humans kept on the shore? This floating island was about as big as the Ark had been. Why could they not move onto the island? Why not take the island for themselves? It would give them everything they'd had with the Ark–a mobile home, free from the dangers of the wreckage of Earth. At the same time, it would give them freedom from the constraints they'd lived with on the Ark. No more rationing food and fuel. There was a planet full of resources here.
As Natasha dreamed of stealing the King's palace, one of the strangers appeared, coming down the hallway, headed in the opposite direction. "Hello," Lollipop greeted the Mayor's Wife. Natasha gave her a pleasant smile. This woman was supposedly made of living candy. The idea was mind-blowing. Finn had children with her. Three of them. "Hello," Natasha responded. "Where are you off to?" "Minerva's asked for some books," Lollipop said, as she held up the two hefty volumes she'd brought. Natasha wracked her brain. Who was Minerva? She knew that name. "Mind if I walk with you," she asked? "If you like," Lollipop replied. "It's a bit of a hike, though."
Natasha fell in at the stranger's side. She wanted to see more. She wanted to see everything the palace had to offer. She hoped it would be hers someday. As the pair walked, the candy-person kept up a stream of conversation, chattering away about all that was going on with the palace and daily life here. She and the green-skinned doctor had gotten loaded down with kids. Many of the King's harem were away, leaving their brats here to be cared for. Natasha nodded sagely.
On and on they walked, with the lollipop-creature nattering on and on about the things that mattered in her life. Deeper and deeper they went into the bowels of the palace, leaving the comfortable furnishings behind for networks of tunnels lined with pipes and cables. It only belatedly occurred to Natasha that they were actually in the machinery tunnels under the castle, and she found herself taking in the sights around her with new eyes. There was so much technology. They'd firmly believed there could be nothing left on Earth, though Finn had blown that idea away. Now she looked on with amazement at the things she was seeing as, finally, they came out in a vast, cavernous space.
"Lollipop," Min greeted her daughter-in-law. She'd been waiting for the schematics for hours, but she knew Lolli was very busy. She managed the island and its population while Finn was away because Bonnibel couldn't be bothered. She was, more often than not, involved in some heady scientific endeavor upstairs in the lab, or she was on shore playing busy-body and staring at people. Minerva had mostly given up on trying to get anything useful out of her. She'd been relying on Blargetha and Nadia for her work with the island's power systems, but she'd lost both to other critical tasks. Thankfully, she still had help from Sarah. Her granddaughter, Shoko, was a rather solid performer–focused and insightful–and even Maja was pulling her weight.
"What is this place," asked Natasha? "Main reactor level," Lollipop replied. "Flight systems are one level down." Min gave the candy-person a warning look. Maybe it was the Helper in her, but she didn't think the Mayor's wife really needed to know those things. "Perhaps you should take the Mayor's wife back upstairs, Lolli," Min suggested, tone warning. Lollipop blinked. It hadn't even occurred to her that she shouldn't bring Natasha Stanek down here. Now she took note of the expression on her mother-in-law's face. "Uh, yeah," said Lollipop, as she handed over the schematics. "We'll be going."
The AI watched the pair go. That bore watching. Most of the Mayors of New York were treacherous bastards, male and female alike. The Shadow Council had seemed to pick them that way, seeming to think that it made them easier to control. Honest men seemed to ask too many dangerous questions. Unfortunately, in the here and now, Min couldn't really help thinking that a man like Mortimer Stanek came with many more liabilities than benefits.
Muttering curses, the AI turned back to the task at hand. They needed a load-shedding system. Running electrical cables across the lake-bed and up onto the shore would make them vulnerable to damage. Said damage could easily feed back into the island's systems and do major damage. That damage could turn catastrophic for both the island's inhabitants and the remnant of humanity on the shore if they couldn't get the power systems back up in time. The last item they needed to get the town hooked up to power was a circuit-breaker. With the weather getting worse by the day, Min had very little time to waste.
"NEPTR," she announced, "I need a holographic projection of the thermal exhaust conduit to the surface." She needed to know how much space she had. Certainly, she couldn't block the whole thing with machinery. "As you wish, Min," NEPTR responded. Her son's strange little creation rolled out of hiding and engaged its holographic projector, displaying the schematic she was looking for. Minerva reflected on how naturally talented her boy was, as she began to make notes.
Back in the east, the Royal Train was clattering down the track, bound for the station at the edge of the Grey Forest. As Emeraude watched, Auda sat stirring her tea endlessly, as she stared into space. Yeah, those were personal memories. She'd not been a fan of the madame and all her friends in the Trade. The Notorious Huntress Wizard had been as happy to slag madames as she'd been pimps. Now she found herself seeing the world with new eyes. Those people had sold this woman. Once upon a time, decades before Emeraude was born, this woman had been sold in that ugly space–to be raped and abused and sold again.
"I'm sorry I made you relive that," Emeraude murmured. The madame glanced up, her face flushing. Before the wizard woman could take the opening, Jake Junior came in from the platform at the end of the train. The younger woman strode up and stood before her former in-law. For a long, long while the two stared at each other. "I'm sorry," Jake got out. It was painful, like she was giving birth. But Simone had explained what ailed the younger woman. "She ok," Emeraude asked? Nodding, Jake Junior turned and walked into one of the bedrooms and shut the door. Auda frowned at the strange woman's back. Knowing what was ailing Billy's ex, Huntress moved the conversation on.
Down in the Candy Kingdom, Simone sat before a fire with Billy's kids gathered around her. They were all growing so fast. She'd missed her first grandchildren growing up, as fast as that had been. She was taking full advantage of being here in the Candy Kingdom with Rags, Abieuwa and Noemi to have a second chance. As she read to the little ones, her phone rang. Marking her place, she put the book down and picked up the phone, announcing, "Simone..." "I'm sorry," Jake Junior announced. Simone frowned at her phone. "Jake," she murmured. The shapechanger hung up, before she could utter another word.
Well, things have certainly flip-flopped since the previous chapter. What was a fail has become a success. Unfortunately, with Astartes heading off for a date with a turkey-baster (google it), what had been a success is headed for the 'Fail' category. Looks like another stolen Finn-kid may be on the way. We find out what Tatsuo has been doing with all that lovely power he's stolen, and it looks like another would-be tyrant has to get his comeuppance.