Chapter 32:
Gordon Wells frowned at the sound of Eisthir's voice. "You're not supposed to call, unless you have something big," rumbled the master spy. She was in the west, and she was using a precious satellite channel. There was a risk that Orzsebet's people were listening. "It is important," Eisthir responded. "Finn may have seen me." Gordon frowned. She'd been talking to Melinda. That was more bad news. They were his best and worst agents. They turned in good work, but they would wander off topic from time to time. Reese had always been the more methodical of the trio, but Reese had turned him down in favor of working for Orzsebet, so she'd had to go.
"Stay off this channel," Gordon growled. "Is there else?" "The fourth tranche of people has been taken south," Eisthir reported. "The mayor's son went with them." "And the work on the island," Gordon asked? "The army is still in position," responded the spy. "All entrances to the palace are locked up tight. The only person who's been able to routinely access the interior is the mayor's wife. She's made some inroads with Lollipop. She's even been down into the sublevels." "And," Gordon demanded? "Not trustworthy," Eisthir replied. "Yet." The nasty harridan was far more interested in creature comforts than anything else. "Work on her," Gordon growled. He hung up. He'd put his foot up Melinda's ass the next time she called in. In the right now, he had to deal with Nagumo.
Back in Sonbong, the King of Ooo sat down with his coterie of advisors. The situation was stable after a few solid weeks of hard work. Peeps were calm again. The harvests were coming in. Late, but they were coming in. Mass-starvation had been averted. They'd even managed to find some of the missing farmers, rescuing them from a pen in the wilderness. Jay had done the honors there, smashing the war-machine that had been guarding the compound. The pilot had been killed, but the few guards had surrendered and been taken prisoner.
"Ok," said Finn. "Where we at?" Blowing out a breath, Nadia put on a grim, unhappy expression and admitted, "the council won't budge. They won't give you forcefield equipment to support a war. I... I've tried..." Finn held up a hand. "I understand," he said. "I understand that I've asked them to violate a principle, and principle can only stretch so far. Thanks for asking, honey." Nadia flushed to her spikey orange hair and glanced away.
Jay was next. With a heavy-hearted sigh, the tall man admitted, "I'm not strong enough, dad. I can't do it." He'd taken a boat down to the sea off the Great Burn three times, but he'd never managed to extend his bubble-world far enough inland to reach Nagoono's camp. Finn hadn't been happy to hear about his little excursions, but he'd swept the business under the rug. The information his son had brought back was very good. It at least let them bound the problem.
The focus shifted to Sakura. The Truth Field Projection Princess was a bit of a mess. Traumatized and in a state of profound depression from the loss of her children, Sakura was clinging on by her fingernails. Finn had found her wandering the halls in the middle of the night twice, when he'd woken up to do some late-night working. "Any news," Finn asked? It was gentle as he could manage it. Everyone could see that he was trying to spare her. Staring down at the table, the little woman looked for a fair bit as if she wouldn't speak. Finally, as the moment grew too long, the little princess admitted, "he's issuing decrees using the council. I can't get anyone in the government to listen. I'm shut out."
Bonnie grimaced. She'd heard the story of what had happened to the Truth Kingdom's ruling council. It was a hideous thing to do. That sick bastard had turned them into walking turnips! He was using them to enforce his will over innocent people! It made Bonnie want to torture the bastard herself!
Finn turned to the spy, Reese. Bonnie didn't trust her. She had scant trust for Orzsebet. Nobody in Lord Woolcot's domain trusted one of his informers. Not that you typically knew who was an informer, mind you. Still, the few of them who were out there in the open and known to the people were despised men. At the same time, Orzsebet was a Mother. She was one of the Royal Mothers. That bought her a sliver of Bonnie's trust and sympathy. Reese was... unknown. It helped not at all that people had been talking about what it meant to be a 'wax-hustler'. Bonnie was horrified to think that there could be a whole race of people who got by on swindling their neighbors.
"Gordon Wells, sire," Reese announced. She was looking at her fingernails. She was forever filing at them and painting them. "Mr. Wells has control of the network on the Island of the Truth Kingdom. We've been making... inroads, but it's slow and dangerous going. I can say that he's making progress on his conscription plan." They'd heard rumblings that Nagoono was going to snatch men off the streets and force them to be soldiers. It was news that made Jay very queasy. His deal with Annabelle was for evil souls. He didn't want to be handing over nobodies.
"Ok," said Finn. "I guess that's what we know for now. We need to keep working on ways to either block Nagumo inside his cave or dig him out or both." In the right now, he had audiences to hold. Nagumo's war had swung a lot of the local nobles and city-states around to joining his empire. It was important to lock them in, while he had them. The gathering trooped out. With Jake Junior at his back, Finn headed for the audience hall.
North and west of Sonbong, Gordon Wells sat down to a meeting of his own with an unpleasant visitor. Tatsuo Nagumo had arrived in the middle of the night, demanding a meeting with the master spy and his unpleasant associates. Gordon had put him off instead, shunting him off to a small cabin to wait out the hours until morning. He'd given the fool the polite fiction that he didn't want to disturb Prince Gumbald, when the reality was that the madman and his family were just as likely to be up in the wee hours of the morning, working on something diabolical as they were to be abed. Truth? Gordon scarcely saw how they got enough sleep!
Now, with an irritated Gumbald in tow, the spymaster walked into the little conference room they had here in this town of the damned to find the would-be warlord climbing the walls. It was clear just looking at him that things hadn't gone to plan in the east. Before the mask came down over his face, Gordon saw terror. Something had the cold-hearted warlord terrified. That was worrisome news, when Gordon was headed closer and closer to conflict with Finn the Human.
"Well," announced the spy, "what can we do for you, Lord?" "Finn the Human has some kind of weapon that distorts space and time," Nagumo replied. Those words left Gordon utterly baffled. He turned to the madman at his elbow. "Describe what you saw," Gumbald replied. "I can do better than that," Nagumo replied, with a nod for his companion. The tech put a portable computer on the table and turned to face them. Typing some commands, he brought up the data Commander Kaito had brought back.
Gumbald Bubblegum bent over the machine, staring at what it showed. "What did you see," he demanded? "What happened, when you gathered this data?" Nagumo responded, "somehow they were able to transport my weapons out of normal four-dimensional space. They were able to transport them to a place where they had their own soldiers positioned with heavy guns and fighting machines. It was like a sort of ambush." His machines had been unable to escape, no matter how far or fast the pilots tried to fly.
"This sub-realm is unreachable from our world," the tech added. "Commander Kaito was able to fly into the edges of the bubble. It disabled his computers and flight systems..." "Computers run off clocks," rumbled Gumbald. "If the flow of time is disrupted such that the clocks fault, your computers would have shut down." It sounded very dangerous. To Gordon's eyes, the madman was awfully calm to say that Finn had disrupted their plan before they'd even launched it.
"I need a counter," Nagumo rumbled. "I need a way to prevent him from encapsulating my machines in this distorted space. "You ask too much," Gumbald rumbled. "I need to do research." The warlord protested, vigorously. "Go home to your island," the madman rumbled. "Hunker down, while we investigate." When Nagumo might have become violent, the tech announced, "I can stay and help with the research, lord." It was what he was going to get. It was clear from the expression on the gum-person's face, there was nothing more to do here.
Meanwhile, in the Grey Forest, the Lawkeeper came rushing up to the east gate of the forest at the summons of the guards. There was a flood of people coming past, and the inner gates were already in the process of closing. The wizard went rushing up the stairs to the wall-walk, finding her soldiers already on line, staring out at the terrifying sight beyond the Wall. "What's going on," she demanded? One of the soldiers from the Army of Ooo announced, "our patrol was on the way outbound when they ran into them." The patrol had barely had time to issue any warnings at all before the threat came swarming up.
Voletta's mind was on the little town beyond her walls. The undead were between the Grey Forest and the refugees. "We didn't have time," the soldier rumbled. She could hear the angst in his voice. They'd saved the merchants and traders who'd been going out to do business or coming in from the wilds, but there had been nothing they could do for an entire town. Down below, the last of the people were coming in. "Get the gates shut," Voletta snapped. "Do it now." The undead were hot on the heels of the terrified people coming through the gates. This was what her mistress had always told her was the price of power. You had to make ugly choices like this.
The order was passed, and, in short order, the outer gates were cycling closed. There were cries of terror and shouts from down below. Still, the guards did as they were told. The gates clanged shut with a terrifying boom. There were still people below, and now the Lawkeeper had the small sallyport opened, allowing them in a few at a time. They kept that up until the undead were within steps of the gate, finally closing the door on the last handfuls of people.
Silence reigned, only punctuated by the terrified screams of the people still trapped outside. The undead made no further moves, staying right where they were. There were thousands. It reminded the grim soldier of the height of the assault from the Dipped. "Why aren't they attacking," one of the nymphs asked? "I don't know," Voletta responded, but she aimed to find out. In the right now, they had a little breathing room. "Get the rest of them in," Voletta commanded. "Do it now, while we have this moment."
Hundreds of miles to the south, William Mertens awoke in the warm arms of his new wife. With them already at war with Odessa, the big man had decided to say 'fuck it'. Ragnhild had conducted the ceremony before a small, intimate gathering with their closest friends and relatives. Lina had been delighted. Of course, her appearance had been a bit of a shock too. She'd arrived months pregnant and looking radiant. And that, of course, had solidified Billy's own plan yesterday evening.
He'd done the deed. He'd sort of given Olesia no choice in the matter, springing it on her by surprise in the middle of the act of consummating their marriage. His plush pretty was getting a baby of her own, and to hell with what Odessa wanted or thought. The big man wanted to wallow in bed a bit. These last couple of years had been a hell of rushing around, and he'd almost forgotten what it was like to be lazy.
A part of him wanted to do some more consummating. He hadn't been spending a lot of time on O for a fair bit, either. As he was pondering the idea of sneaking an early-morning piece, his phone began to ring. Billy groaned. Fuck! Why did it always happen when he was looking at scoring?! "Answer the phone," Noemi rumbled. Billy flinched. He'd forgotten bumping into her in their little kitchen last night. She'd sort of got added to the fun. With a yawn, Olesia opened her eyes and said, "it's probably important, darling." He knew. He just didn't want to be bothered.
With an irritated sigh, the big man climbed out of bed and padded over to the bureau with its collection of phone-chargers. Drawing his phone, the young hero flicked it open, announcing, "Billy... Go." As Noemi watched, the big man's face went from a slight frown of irritation to a frown of dismay. Yup, she thought, our latest crisis is upon us. They had been having a relatively pleasant time of it without the endless flights around the world and endless crises to resolve. Even Odessa's games hadn't dampened their happiness. Until now.
Hanging up the phone, Billy said, "that was my stepmom. There's a horde of undead outside the gates of the Grey Forest. I gotta' go." Noemi's blood went cold. "Not the Dipped," she burbled? "No," Billy replied. "Conventional zombies and skeletons." It was nothing they couldn't handle. It was quite possible that Billy could call his half-brother and have him send the pack of them away. In the right now, Billy was needed down at the palace to figure out what they were going to do about this mess.
The Candy Palace was a scene of chaos when Billy's car rolled through the courtyard. There was already a pack of carriages and cars here, suggesting that the princesses had gotten wind of the undead menace fast. He was going to be dealing with panic, and that was not going to be fun. Indeed, everywhere he looked, he saw soldiers, telling him that the usual suspects had all brought bodyguards, as if they were afraid the undead would come over the walls of the palace at any moment.
The limo rolled down the ramp, through the gate, and into the underground garage. As the gate closed behind them, Billy hopped out and headed for the elevator, rehearsing what he was going to say, and exactly how he was going to say it. Moments like this, he felt for his dad, who got a never-ending diet of this crap. Other times, he found himself thinking of what this was going to be like when Finn the Human was dead and buried. Billy might find himself eating a never-ending diet of fun times like this.
Babies, the big man thought. He had lots of brothers and sisters to take up some of the slack. Some of those brothers and sisters were going to be running the very kingdoms these airheads were supposed to be leading. If they could raise a better class of ruler in the civilized kingdoms, that would go a long way towards reducing the grief and aggravation. More to the point, Billy found himself thinking that he could bow out himself after a few years and maybe hand the job to a hand-picked son or daughter. Sitting on his ass hadn't seemed like the ticket for a man of action, but Billy was getting a little tired of all the action.
Arriving in the secure wing of the palace, Billy found his stepmom waiting outside the private meeting room. She'd been at the wedding the previous day, looking relaxed and at peace for the first time that Billy could ever recall. Striding up, the big man swept her off her feet and hugged her. The Notorious Huntress Wizard hugged him back. "You ok," he asked? "Fine," she said. "Your dad's work kept things from turning into a shit-show." The Wall had been a gloriously infamous example of Finn's boundless largesse. It was the ultimate example of just how big a heart the King of Ooo had. He'd built a work of love to protect the unloved harlots of the Grey Forest from their own ruinous behavior. Now, to Billy's mind, his dad's act seemed prescient.
Moments later, the Ice Queen appeared with Betty and Roselinen at her side. When Star arrived, they had a quorum. Stepping inside the conference room, Billy asked, "what do we know?" "A swarm of zombies and skeletons walked up out of the east this morning," Emeraude replied. Sitting herself beside Simone, the Wood Nymph Matriarch said, "they've set themselves up between the eastern gate and the refugee town. They're just standing there, like they're waiting for something." "Or someone," Simone burbled.
Every face there snapped around to hers. "There are only three Lords of Death in Ooo," the Ice Queen declared. "Rose, the Zombie Princess, Marshall Lee, the King of Vampires, and..." "Princess Beautiful," Star rumbled. Rose was sealed away behind an impenetrable wall of demonic grass and vines, to sleep out the last little bit of her existence on Ooo. This was much too big to be one of Marshall's inane pranks. That only left Princess Beautiful.
"What would stir her up," Betty asked? Rosie, who had been following the conversation with difficulty, asked, "who's Princess Beautiful?" "She's the undead lord of the former Kingdom of Beauty," Star replied. "She was supposed to be a beautiful woman, with long, black hair that shone like obsidian. The legend says she died from having her hair fall out... which makes no sense." "It does, if you think about radiation," Betty retorted.
The plump woman sat back, her expression thoughtful. The gathering hung on what she was going to say next. "Every kingdom of Ooo sits on top of something awful from the time of the Mushroom War," Betty said. "Every Royal has something to guard. I'm betting that Princess Beautiful guards something radioactive. It's something so radioactive that it killed her." "I don't know what radioactive means," Rosie murmured, "but I do know that lords guard their property jealously. If she's come to our lands like this, it means somebody stole something from her, and she wants it back." "That's it," Simone agreed. Trouble was, she feared what had been stolen from Princess Beautiful. If her mom was right, that was very bad news.
"They're going to want to bring daddy back," Star opined. "Your father's fighting a war, honey," Rosie burbled. The wood-nymph wonder frowned at her, but Emeraude agreed, "she's right, Star. If Princess Beautiful really wanted to push this, she could wipe out the refugees anytime she wanted." "She wants to parley," Rosie surmised. "This is meant to bring somebody out to parley. Somebody with power to make decisions."
With a sigh, Billy said, "I guess that's me." "No," Betty blurted. Billy frowned at her. That didn't make sense. "We have to wean people off the habit of seeking attention this way," Betty said. "We have to stop doing business like everything's a crisis. Your mom and I will go." "Nope," Rosie said. "I will go with Simone. You're pregnant, dear."
There was a lively little debate after that. Star and Emeraude felt someone with fighting skills should go. "But we're going to parley, girls," Roselinen reminded them. "We'll be talking to her, not fighting her. More to the point, we want to calm things down. I can take this village she's holding hostage out of her grasp. It'll be... hard... but I think I can do it. That takes away her leverage, and we can talk this out like civilized people." It made sense. Everyone present could see that. Of course, now it was time to go face the music.
The crowd was anxious, when Billy walked onto the stage. He felt like he was on stage. The big man made a point of seating Nieve and Olesia both at either elbow. Let Odessa see that. Olesia was a valued member of his family, and that wasn't going to change no matter how she tried to bully him or Nieve. "Good morning everyone," the Ice Prince announced, with a smile. He was calm. He tried to project that calm. "Rumor control," he said. "It's been brought to my attention that Princess Beautiful has had something stolen from her domain. My mother, the Ice Queen, is going out to meet with her to defuse the situation..."
Those words had the calming effect he'd hoped for. This was nothing new. The Royals of Ooo stole from each other, jerked each other's chains, and collectively fucked with each other ad-nauseam. They'd been doing it for centuries before Billy was born. Likely they'd be doing it for centuries more. Typically, there was an ugly and unpleasant overreaction after the moment. Then both sides started looking for a way to save face and get out of the confrontation. This was more of the same.
As those faces grew calm, the big man took control, announcing, "we'll be having a chat with the Princess about her behavior and her threat against the Grey Forest. In the right now, all is under control. We'll find out who stole from her and see that her property is returned." Turning to Olesia, he said, "darling? Why don't you tell the Privy Council about progress with the Rocket Base in Coca Kingdom?" In her soft, clear voice, Olesia Mertens began to speak. Two rows in from the front of the crowd, Odessa's face froze over in a rictus of rage.
Back in the east, Finn wrapped up the last meeting of the day. As the various nobles and advisors trooped out, Finn turned to his erstwhile girlfriend, who'd been having headaches every day for the last month. "Hey, babe," he said. "Why don't you go and take a spa-day? Hmm?" Jake Junior frowned at him. Resting a hand on his daughter's shoulder, the King reminded her, "I've got Bonnie with me. No more meetings for the rest of the day. You're kinda' stressed." When Jake glanced away, the big man wrapped her up in his arms. Jake pressed her face into his chest and cried. Stroking her long, blonde locks, the King of Ooo told his Royal Mistress, "go into town and have a nice night at a spa, my sweet." The King glued his lips to hers and gave her a scorcher of a kiss. It made Bonnie jealous. Fuck, she needed a boyfriend!
Jake wandered off, her mind fogged. After weeks of giving him nothing... That was what he gave her. Any doubts she'd had were erased. At the same time, she couldn't reward love with ugliness. She wanted an exit, and she wasn't sure what the fuck she was going to do.
When she'd gone, Finn turned to his daughter and said, "grab your jacket and purse." "We going somewhere, daddy," Bonnie asked? Nodding, Finn said, "something's eating Jake. I'm afraid it's something to do with Charlie, her sister. I've been putting this off..." "Now, it's time to stop just going along with it," Bonnie agreed. Jake had been very mysterious about what was going on with her sister. When pressed, all she would really say was that Charlie was ok. At the same time, Bonnie had noticed that there were no longer cries of animal passion coming from her father's quarters anymore, and Jake Junior had gone back to conservative girl-suits. Something was wrong.
Acquiring a carriage in the Lord's stables, the King headed out with his daughter and a driver. Meanwhile, his erstwhile chief spy slipped off to a secluded section of the palace to take a phone call. Closing the door behind her, Reese toggled her phone open, announcing, "I'm here." Gordon Wells growled, "it took you long enough." "We were having a meeting," she replied. "I couldn't get away."
He started in on her right away, reminding her, "I told you not to call Eisthir, Melinda." He sounded angry enough to chew nails. "It's cool," the spy-girl responded. "I used that compression algorithm. They wouldn't have been able to hear anything but a mouse squeaking." "No more calls, Melinda," the master spy growled. Yeah, she'd been hasty with that. She'd just wanted Eisthir to be a little more careful before she blew both their covers. "Sure," the younger woman replied. "No calls. Got it."
Moving on, Gordon said, "Finn's got some kind of weapon. Nagumo's here. He's spooked. What's going on?" "Not a weapon," Melinda replied. "His kids. They've... got some kind of power. They can mess with space or something." "How does it work," Gordon demanded? "Fucked if I know," she retorted. "Finn seems to know." "Then find out," her boss growled. Yeah, she was out on the ice. He sounded like that just before he put a TOS out on you.
Tugging at her collar, Melinda replied, "he's... he's suspicious... hard to talk to... He doesn't trust our kind." "You're a woman, Melinda," Gordon reminded her. "He's a man. Make it work. I want an answer for Nagumo. I need him raising hell and occupying Finn's attention. That doesn't happen if he's hunkered down in that rad-zone, in terror of his life." "Got it," Melinda replied. "Pump Finn for information. Anything else?" "Compromise his kids if you can," Gordon answered. That weapon of theirs could be useful to us too." "Got it," Melinda agreed. Gordon hung up.
Out in the town, Finn the King gave the driver directions to take him to the noodle shop where Jake had been spotted. The town was heading into evening, with most people closing up shop and heading home for the evening. Some, like Jake, would be heading out for a night on the town after cleaning up at home. Others would be stopping off on their way to hoist a few and eat good food.
That last was getting better. Kelp was pretty bland stuff, but Sheila's peeps had done a good job of turning it into tasty things that Finn could get down with no problems. With the farms working again, there were even things to help that along.
The noodle-shop was busy, when the King of Ooo got down from the carriage. People were wall-to-wall inside, and a rather harried Charlie was rushing back and forth serving them alongside a quartet of waitresses. It immediately struck Finn that his once-and-former niece had been a home-owner and had run a small business teaching people to do yoga. The fact that she was here waiting tables suggested she'd fallen on hard times. Hard times here in Sonbong meant one thing. Nagumo's thugs had smashed her place.
Finn and Bonnie strolled in and occupied a table in Charlie's section, leaving her little choice but to go over and deal with them. Striding up, the thicc pup announced, "Finn..." "Charlie," Finn greeted Jake's daughter. Resting a hand on Bonnie's arm, the big man said, "this is my daughter, Bonnibel. Bonnie for short." "Bonnie," Charlie greeted her. Jake had told her about the strange woman from another world. Indeed, her presence tickled the edges of Charlie's senses.
"The soup is good," she said. "We have dim sum, if you prefer." "Dim sum is good," Finn replied. The curvy woman turned and stepped off, that big ass of hers wig-wagging as she strode away. "What's up with her," Bonnie murmured? She seemed... hostile. "Family conflict, Bonnie," Finn replied. "Bill was married to Jake." Bonnie's face snapped over to his. "It's kind of a story," Finn said. "Charlie and Jake's granddad adopted me. I was a baby laying out in the woods, and he found me and took me home. In a way, I'm kind of their uncle. At least I was."
As Bonnie listened, the big man told the tale of how his adoptive brother's kids had come into the world. Like everything else with Jake, having kids had been an accident born out of his typical recklessness. He'd botched raising them, and they'd grown up like weeds. When you added in Jake Junior's mental health challenges, that was a big problem. With a heavy sigh, the big man said, "Jake Junior was a mess, and when my son fell into her world one night when she was in trouble with the gangs... it was like a savior coming into her life."
Bonnie chuckled, her face going a bit warm. Her little brother was a handsome fellow, especially with those eyes. "I wasn't happy about it," Finn admitted. "I... wanted things to stay the way they were." Which was a strange sentiment for someone who was now sleeping with the girl in question. "That was the moment the family started going in the ditch," Finn rumbled. It felt that way. Finn explained, "Charlie and Vi, Jake's sisters, were never really thrilled about Jake and Bill getting married. Maybe it was Charlie's ability to see the future... Maybe it was jealousy. I dunno. They were pretty down on things from the start. When Jake's mental-health issues blew up on us, the pups took Jake's side... They froze Billy out. He didn't even get to go to the funeral." And Finn? He'd gotten frozen out too.
Charlie returned, just then, laying out dishes before them. She gave them plates and silverware and towels to wash their hands. Finn thanked her, letting her get on her way. For a while, father and daughter sat there eating, with Finn talking about the past and the unpleasant things that had happened inside the family. Bonnie was astonished and horrified to find out that Jake had faked her death and let Bill think he'd killed his entire family at one go. She now saw the reason for all the anger and sadness. When you threw in the shapechanger's mental illness, it was a recipe for tragedy.
Charlie came back to ask if they needed anything else. Finn looked up at her and calmly responded, "yeah. Need to know what's up with your house?" Charlie's face froze. Rising, the big man stepped into her space, saying, "Jake's been kind of a mess, and I suspect that half of it's worrying about you. What's going on? How are you doing?" Nodding at the restaurant, he said, "I want to help you fix this..." Charlie turned away from him. The anger was still there, even though she knew she shouldn't be angry at him. If there was anyone she should be angry at, it was her sister.
Impulsively, Finn wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "I want to help," he murmured. "I don't want to take over your life... I just want to help you get things fixed, so you'll be ok again. Let me help you." On her side, the curvy sister felt a terrifying shock of something. Almost immediately, she realized she was feeling the power of the Curse. It was strong, and the effects were immediate. Images flashed before her eyes in a flood, sending a chill of stark terror through her body.
Pulling away, the buxom blonde said, "I... I'm ok, Uncle Finn. I'm fine. I... I'm a grownup. You know, that adulting thing... I need to fix this on my own." Nodding, Finn agreed, "a gal's got to be down for herself, but you don't have to carry it alone. I'm... I'll be here maybe another week or so. Call me. We'll talk." The King of Ooo put a wad of cash on the table–a massive tip that was hardly justified by the weak service Charlie gave him. Charlene Rainicorn watched the big man stride out to the carriage that brought him, with his daughter at his side. With a shiver of fear, she picked up the money and put it in the pocket of her apron.
Finn and Bonnie headed back to the palace, and Finn released his daughter for the evening to have some time to herself. Arriving at his quarters, the King strolled inside and stopped immediately when he scented perfume. The King stopped right where he was in the doorway. Jake was supposed to be out on the town, having a night to herself. That isn't the perfume she wears, the big man thought, as he took a good whiff of what he smelled. Jake's perfume was light–like smelling a field of flowers from a distance. This was heavy and cloying, and he didn't really like it.
As he was having that thought, around Reese came out of his bathroom, wearing something gauzy in pale cream. His man's eyes wanted to see hints of those plump, medium knockers or the join of her thighs through the thin silk. He immediately found himself having flashbacks to Chelsea and her plan to claw him to death with poisoned fingernails. "Hello," the wax-hustler burbled in a soft voice. He imagined she was trying to sound sexy, but she didn't quite carry it off. The wax-hustler sauntered over to him, making her hips shimmy. Maybe it was a thing with cunty spy-girls, but it looked fake as fuck. And maybe that was the thing. He only ever got real out of Orzsebet when she was in terror of him–or maybe when he was poling her hard and making her scream.
"Who told you to come to me," Finn growled? The spy girl stopped. Her hazel eyes did that dance that told him she was surprised by that reaction. Moving closer, she said, "perhaps I thought to discuss some matters in private... perhaps to give private counsel." Finn's eyes burned into hers, never wavering. The stranger stood there wavering. Finn turned up the heat, stepping into her space and glaring down at her. "I don't like surprises," he rumbled.
The King kept walking, backing her up, as she babbled apologies. She let out a squeak as she bumped into the wall. "I-I can explain," she stammered. "I've probably already heard it," Finn growled. Spinning her around, the big man grabbed her slim wrists and pinned them high over her head, making her stand on her toes. "I-I thought... I... you and that girl...," she babbled, as he ruthlessly searched her. It was just like Chelsea. She wasn't wearing anything under that nightie but her birthday suit. When the knife came out, the wax-hustler squealed in terror.
Calmly, Finn flicked the nail-clipper from his pocket knife and ruthlessly trimmed her nails down until they were past the tips of her fingers. It hurt her fingers, but he didn't give a fuck. With a painfully tight grip on her wrists, the big man dragged her towards the bedroom. He'd never banged Chelsea. Why the fuck not? With Jake not putting out for weeks now, he was some of that horny. This bitch would do. He'd figure out later what her game was.
Nagumo got some very bad news. Looks like his world-conquest plan's going to be on hold for a bit. Odessa gets a slap in the face with both Nieve and Odessa at Bill's side on the throne. Wonder what she's going to do now? And Gordon's stirred up something very dangerous in the former Kingdom of Beauty. Hopefully the Ice Queen and Rosie can get it sorted.