Chapter 9:
The harmonica-playing was the worst. It was far past merely bad to the point of grating, such that Astartes wanted to claw her own ears off to stop the pain. It helped not at all that her stomach was so empty, it was gnawing at her spine. And she'd spent a night trying variously to claw her way out of her bonds or just trying to get to any sort of comfortable position where she could sleep. And now the fucking harmonica.
The sinister figure on the rock was having a grand old time. She would look up from time to time, offer Astartes a crooked grin, and go right back to what she was doing. Bundled up in a heavy jacket, the killer cat was comfortable in spite of the chill. She'd beaten three dangerous customers to get to the mark and managed to get clean away. All she had to do was get this donk back to the civilized kingdoms and drop her on the customers' doorstep.
A glance at the sky told her that it would be light enough to travel soon. Rising, the former junior assassin strolled over to where she'd left her gear, sliding her harmonica in a pocket as she walked. As the wizard watched, the contract-kitty saddled the two horses that stood patiently at the edge of the clearing. Heedless of the eyes watching her, Me-Mow dusted the camp clean of traces that she'd been here, packing anything incriminating and even burying the trash. Finally, she came strolling over to where the mark lay glaring up at her.
The contract-kitty jerked Astartes to a seated position, but if the wizard got the idea that things were changing for the better, those hopes were quickly dashed. Me-Mow pried open the wizard's mouth and put the cup to her lips, giving Astartes little choice but to drink. The killer-cat made the wizard drink far more than she really needed. Petting the wizard on the head, the evil kitty declared, "it takes weeks to starve to death. I only need to keep you from dying." With a sinister grin, the cat explained, "your belly's full of water. It'll kill your hunger-reflex some, without giving you the strength to run." The wizard glared up at her. She was wanted alive. That told her something. The question was by who? Cenobia? Catalina?
It didn't matter. What really mattered was that she get out of this. No creature meaning her good will would tie her up and starve her. "I'm going to kill you," the wizard rumbled. "I'm going to skin you alive. I'm going to use magic to keep you from dying while I do it." "Awww," Me-Mow chuckled. "How sweet! I love you too!" And she jerked the wizard to her feet and shoved her towards the horses.
Back in the pirate port, Jake returned from an excursion into the mean streets with news. "It was Me-Mow," she declared. "She was here. I tracked her to a horse-barn on the outskirts of town. She bought two horses and a bunch of supplies." "She's riding out of here," Star murmured. There was no way she could get to the next town before they did. They could head out and beat her there. "I'll get the crew up and have them get the train going," Star said. Jake dropped into a seat. She planned to spend a fair bit of the time sleeping.
A scant ten minutes later, Star came rushing back into the private car shouting to wake the dead. "Jake," she shouted! "Jake!" The shapechanger, having dozed off, mumbled something about prophecies. "The crew," Star howled! "They're dead!" Heart accelerating to sudden, vibrant life, Jake came crashing to wakefulness. "Me-Mow," she babbled. The killer-cat had taken out the crew of the train to keep them here. "We have to get horses," Star muttered. "We have to get on her trail." They were already behind.
As the two women tried to regroup and figure out how to catch up to the assassin, Ragnhild Mertens entered the little bedroom she shared with her husband to find the big man staring into space, his eyes looking distant and lost. The headache was bad today, and Ragnhild wondered if she shouldn't just tell him to go back to sleep. There were hours to go before the train pulled into Clusone. The guards could handle things until then. The big man had been kind of a mess after using the arcane power within him to help the Grid-Face peeps get the reactor loaded on the train. William had done everything from chilling the air to help the airship's engines as it lifted the heavy thing to providing ice to slide it onto the massive carriage that would carry it through the mountains. Ragnhild had insisted on putting him to bed right after he got done with dinner, somewhat depriving Anders of the time he would have spent with William.
As that thought crossed her mind, a squeal of excitement caused her head to whip around to the narrow hall. Finding nothing there, she spun back towards William to find her son about to go piling on his stepfather. Before the little boy could pounce on his stepfather, Ragnhild caught him, and that somewhat let him know that this wasn't a good time for that. A glance to the stranger showed that the Froyo Princess was justified in her worry. Ragnhild wasn't a wizard, and she had no basis for understanding what her husband was going through, but the Nine-Tailed-Fox knew. Katsumi Mertens' pretty face was clouded with her worry, and if the ancient sorceress was worried, that left Ragnhild terrified.
On his side, Billy tried to rise to the occasion, fighting past the fog of pain clouding his head. He wasn't sure what the hell was wrong with him, but he'd slept terribly with awful dreams haunting him all fucking night long. Having finally been able to get home to his family for an extended period, the last thing he wanted was to let them all down. "It's ok, poppy," Anders announced, as he hugged the big man. "We can play later." Billy hugged the young fellow. He was getting so big! "Give us a kiss," Bill insisted. The little boy kissed his step-dad on the cheek before heading back to his room.
Fighting off the fog, Billy climbed to his feet and stood there a moment scratching. Coffee, he decided. Maybe a good cup of coffee would clear the cobwebs. Dr. P had made him quit the coffee, and he knew he had a little caffeine withdrawal going on. Giving Kat a kiss as he passed her and even copping a feel of Rags' bottom, the big man got on his way, headed down to their little parlor where the staff were laying out breakfast.
Ragnhild sat down next to the sorceress and demanded, "ok... talk. What is it that you see?" Katsumi glanced away. "Something's wrong with him," Ragnhild insisted, "and it's not coffee. What do you know?" "I don't know anything," Katsumi muttered. But it was clear she suspected. "Why won't you talk about this," Ragnhild demanded? Katsumi wasn't sure how to say this. As a soldier, her father had always stressed the need to be sure before you dropped something heavy on somebody. Lives sometimes depended on your words. She hadn't understood that until she landed in Shiyan. "I'm not sure," Katsumi murmured. "I... need to do some investigation." Ragnhild grimaced. "Don't play this too close," the Froyo Princess rumbled, before she stood up and walked out of the bedroom.
To the south, on the far side of the sea, Gordon Wells entered the little cubicle that was his office in their new Secret Base to find his little problem sitting there in his chair. Gumbald was going through the pictures of Finn's space-weapon, wearing an expression like thunder. "Can I help you," Gordon asked? "You're keeping things from me," Gumbald replied. He didn't look up. His eyes were focused on that weapon with laser focus. "It's heavily guarded," Gordon declared. "There's a double-layer Tesla-Barrier around it along with heavy guns at the corners of the site and hundreds of soldiers." Finn had clearly anticipated somebody making a play for his most powerful weapon.
"And the castle," Gumbald growled? He had the pictures Eisthir took of Finn's castle too. Glancing up at his host, the madman said, "with a weapon like this in his hands, any place we try to make our stand is vulnerable to a literal bolt out of the blue." Which Gordon well knew. What he wondered was what the fuck this man expected him to do about it. The island was just as heavily garrisoned as the Big Gun.
"We're not soldiers," Gordon reminded him. "You're supposed to be solving the problem of an army, remember? That's our deal. I get the information to plan the attack. You provide the army to make that attack with." "Your people damaged the plan to build an army," Gumbald retorted. He was apparently still rather salty about abandoning his little kingdom in the east. Truth be told, Gordon wasn't exactly delighted about that either. He was still searching for the person who'd outed Melinda.
In soothing tones, Gordon reminded him, "we needed to obtain fuel to support the army anyway. I'm working the issue of a new secret base. Be patient. We'll soon be out of reach of Finn's empire." It was clear that this was all he was going to get. Gumbald rose and stormed out, leaving Gordon staring at the door where he'd gone. The master spy blew out a breath. That was becoming a bit of a problem. He didn't need the fool going off half-cocked with them camped just a hundred miles from Jungle Kingdom. The strike on the uranium reserves was going to happen in the morning. They were too close for him to be doing anything crazy right now.
As the wax-hustler reconsidered the choices that had put him in that spot, the Bad Bunny strode down the ramp of an airship, looking the business in a soft, backless silk dress in grey. Round bottom swaying rhythmically, the curvy blonde girl attracted the eye of every male watcher. Her big, braless knockers jiggled with each step she took, causing more than a few men to drool. Abieuwa couldn't really help wanting to roll her eyes. She, the supposed prettiest woman in the Kingdom, was being shown up. More on point, she wasn't excited about more of the fireworks that had gone off the last time Fionna stuck her elegant nose into business with the Nuke-Fuel Repository. The business made her prickly because there were so many competing interests, and she was walking the tightrope to keep them all happy.
Almost as if she knew exactly what Abieuwa was thinking, the Bad Bunny strode straight up to her and embraced her. "You could pretend as if we're a loving family," Fi whispered. The Jungle Princess felt heat come to her face. Yeah, she'd been guilty of mean-mugging her sister-in-law. As if that was going to help the situation. "I'm glad you came, Fi," the older woman murmured, as she returned that embrace. Stepping back, the Bad Bunny announced, "let's talk." There was a lot to get done while she was here, and she feared they were short on time to get everything done.
As the sun approached its zenith in Clusone, the train carrying the massive reactor shuddered to a halt just outside of town. Pat Rainicorn was there in the audience as the Ice Prince stepped down off the platform at the end with his own Royal Entourage. The tall fellow looked dapper in a blue suit, with the wind blowing his pale hair about. Pat remembered when he was a boy and his father was a nothing. Those had been better times for her family, and it felt like Kim had peaked too early. Now he was kinda' circling the drain.
The unloading of the heavy machine began not long after the train arrived with its precious cargo. Finn's people were heavily involved in the business. His security guards kept the curious at bay while the work proceeded, herding people out of the way as a corduroy road got built to haul the thing up the hill and away from the tracks. Others stood watch over the Royal Entourage itself, as Finn continued to entertain the local rulers, chatting with them over bits and pieces of his plan as a lunch buffet was laid out. The Royal Train had come stocked with goodies, and the King had the two heavy boxcars thrown open to lay out a feast for some of the luckier peasants in a gesture of generosity.
Pat could hardly remember the last time Kim actually showed generosity to anybody outside their immediate family. He'd become a miser and a bit of an asshole. The curvy bear-woman found her eyes going to her daughter. Far from being on the sidelines, the half-bear was heavily involved in the business. While Nadia the Grid-Face Princess lead a klatch of her fellow brainiacs in getting the reactor moved to its final home, Bronwyn took care of the social end of things. Pat's daughter soothed the nobles' touchy honor, even as she made sure that none of the peasants went home hungry.
The business went for hours, interrupted only by an impromptu football game put on by the locals to entertain His Majesty the King. As the sun was headed down in the sky, the work on the reactor site wound down, with the cyborgs tying down the transport sledge so it would stay put overnight until they could finish the work in the morning. Somewhere near four in the afternoon, with the shadows already long, the King of Ooo released his Royal Mistress from her duties, letting Bronwyn finally catch a break.
The half-bear found her mother sitting amongst the ruins of the vast feast, staring into space. The plump woman finally looked up when her daughter sat down and took her hand. "What do you think," she asked? Pat simply stared at her. Bronwyn chuckled, "this is what I joined, mom." Far from being a fuck-toy for a man who seemed to have plenty of selection already, she was an active participant in the very serious job of building peace.
"We have to start small," said the younger woman, "but he fully intends to seed the world with such machines–to banish poverty." Prosperous people had no need to butcher each other. There would always be ugly men and women who thought with their fists or went reaching for weapons, but they would find little traction in a world where the average normy had food on the table and a roof overhead for his or her family. And it hurt not at all that Bronwyn still had the flashy clothes, the lavish lifestyle, and even a scrumcious, sexy man in her bed. "I don't want this to be goodbye, momma," she said with a sigh, "but this is my world now. I'm... not coming back." With a heavy-hearted sigh of her own, Pat nodded.
Taking her mother's hand, the younger woman placed it on her belly and declared, "we still need you, momma. Don't make my kids grow up without grammy." Pat cussed her. Her vanity didn't want her thinking about being a grandmother. The aging trophy wife feared for her future with a husband that was going off the rails. Bronwyn leaned over and kissed her mom on the cheek, saying, "pull him back from the brink, mom. It doesn't have to be this way. I want my kids to see gramma and grandpa." Pat nodded. It was time for her to go catch the train.
As Bronwyn got up to walk her mother to her train, the Nine-Tailed Fox cornered her father-in-law for a somewhat urgent conversation. Finn was chatting with Lord Enzo when the sexy sorceress slipped up on his right side. Finn knew she was there just from the expression on the Lord's face. The chubby Purple Person was in instant lust with his Billy's wife, and Finn wouldn't have been at all surprised to see he'd popped a woody. Not that Finn was going to look, since he was uninterested in another dude's junk. "May I have a moment of your time," the witch asked in that melodious voice of hers. "Sure," Finn responded. Excusing himself from the conversation, the King of Ooo followed the sorceress over to a quiet area.
"What's up," the big man asked? In the sort of calm tone that spoke of worry, Katsumi said, "tell me about the Ice Tiara..." Finn grimaced. He didn't want to think about the Ice Tiara. At the same time, it felt as though his fate was shackled to it when the entity that had been within the Tiara was co-habiting his son's body.
Blowing out a breath, the big man asked, "what have you been seeing?" It was clear from his tone that His Majesty was already far down the road that Katsumi was walking. "He's having ass-kicking headaches," Kat responded. "He can't sleep. It's like something is tormenting him..." Finn's face went very pale, and he turned and stared at his son, who was hanging out near the reactor just now. He'd been there for the better part of an hour. With anybody else, Finn would have thought it was curiosity. With Bill, this was anti-social. His son would never have been hanging out with a fucking inanimate object when he could be with his wives or his kids.
"The Tiara doesn't have the power to take control," Finn rumbled, "not right away. My father-in-law modeled it on his imagined version of the Ice Crown... with an evil twist." Turning to his daughter-in-law, the big man said, "the Ice Crown... was like a badly made computer... Dude who made it didn't half seem to understand what he was doing. The Crown did... weird things. It was mostly interested in self-preservation... and fulfilling the last command its creator gave it. The Tiara... I'm not sure what the Ice Tiara wanted."
Frowning, Kat said, "your father-in-law created it. Why didn't you ask him?" Finn gave vent to a bitter chuckle. "Simon was crazy as a loon, Kat," Finn replied. "The Ice Crown scrambled his brain. It was trying to fulfill that last command... had been trying for thousands of years... just jumping from body to body. It... overwrites your mind. Like a computer." Kat gasped and turned to stare at her husband... her sweet, kind husband. "Simon... His subconscious was fighting the program," Finn murmured. "He was acting out... He would write stories... He basically invented a fictionalized version of his life, and he tried to bring some of the characters to life with a wish."
As Katsumi stared in stupefied shock, her father-in-law told of the accident that had created Bill's mother. The King's beautiful, serene wife was the product of a madman's fever-driven wish. "The Hand of Abadeer did the best he could, plucking Simone's image and personality out of Simon's head... and he kinda' filled in the blanks," Finn muttered. Katsumi grabbed at her orange-hair and pulled. The absolute last fucking thing she would have wanted was a demon filling in the blanks of her wish!
"The Ice Tiara always saw my wife as a flawed tool," the big man muttered. "From day one, it wanted to get rid of her for something or somebody it could control. Simone had too much of her dad in her. It was never really able to completely take over her mind... so... it helped to make Billy." "What do you mean," Kat demanded? Blowing out a breath, Finn said, "Simone was always careful... about getting preggers. She never wanted to do it when... she might catch. I think the Ice Tiara blurred her memories of... of..." "...her monthly cycle," Katsumi mumbled. "It was workin' on him the whole time he was in Simone's tummy," Finn muttered. "Bill... he could sense the Ice Tiara from an early age, even though it was hidden far away in a vault. He... he could draw on its powers, even though he wasn't wearing it."
Katsumi gasped in terror. "Do you know what that means," she demanded? Finn allowed that he didn't. "A wizard needs a source for her power, Finn," the kitsune growled. She sounded like an angry fox. "A soul-pact like mine that lets her tap cosmic entities... Or a device, like the Tiara. For Bill to have powers... Finn, he's a living Instrument." The King gulped, and she could see the implications of that weren't lost on him. It wasn't a question of if the Ice Tiara took control of his son. It was more a matter of when. The tall woman turned and stared at her husband. She had her answer. She just wasn't sure what the hell to do with it.
Roselinen appeared on the platform at the end of the rail car. "Finn," she called! "Simone and the girls are on!" With a sigh, the big man rumbled, "I have to go." He had to deal with the crisis in the east. He left a very troubled Katsumi staring at his back, as he headed for the stairs up to his private car.
The Nine-Tailed-Fox strode over to the sledge where the reactor sat and slipped her arms around his right arm, startling him out of the fog he'd been in. "Oh, hey, baby," the big man murmured, as he turned to face her. The Ice Prince pulled his woman into his arms and kissed her thoroughly, as if he'd just come home to her after being away for months. A corner of her mind couldn't help wondering if there was a reason for that. When he let her go, Billy found tears in her eyes. "You ok," he asked? "Fine," she sniffed. "Let's... let's go in."
Inside the King's private railcar, Finn sat down before the holograms of his wives. He was a little disturbed after his conversation with the Nine-Tailed-Fox, and his eyes flicked to Simone's smiling visage. He had to have a heart-to-heart with her. They had to figure out what they were going to do about Billy's condition. Trouble was, Finn had no idea what to do or if anything could be done. And, if that wasn't enough, Simone had a hundred things on her plate already.
"Ok," Finn rumbled. "What do we have on the town in the east?" "It's definitely dum-dum juice," Bonnie burbled. Her face was troubled. The Wolf agreed, "their minds aren't working. Lights on, nobody home." Taking charge, Simone said, "I have the best minds in Wizard City working on the problem, honey. We'll... We're going to find a way to fix this." Bonnie's expression was skeptical. She'd seen the effects of dum-dum juice first hand, having almost been a victim. Coolly, Minerva remarked, "science is always expanding, Bonnibel. If our colleagues can find a cure, it adds to our knowledge. Let's let them work in their area of expertise. We've got plenty of work in our own to manage."
Bonnie Bubblegum frowned at Finn's mother. Of all the people in the world of Ooo, she would have expected Minerva to be on her side. It was somewhat hitting at her prejudices. She didn't like wizards or magic, and she wasn't shy about letting the wizards of Ooo know that. At the same time, Bonnie knew her mother-in-law was correct. They were burning daylight on a fix for the Ark. The sad fact of the matter was that the population of that town was small beer, and much as the wizards annoyed her, she would much rather have use of their powers as standby to fix the Ark rather than trying to save a bunch of people she knew were probably doomed.
"Finn," she said. "We... Have to move on. We have to get the first cargo rocket tested, then we need Blargetha on an airship, headed for the Candy Kingdom." Frowning, the big man said, "I thought firing the rockets without the water system will damage the launching platforms." "It will," Minerva agreed, "but one launch isn't going to wreck the platform. Launching the first rocket will accomplish a few things, my sweet boy." Finn squirmed at those words. No matter how tough he'd tried to act as a boy, Margaret could make him squirm by treating him like her little baby, and Minerva's words had much the same effect.
Ticking down the list on her fingers, the former Helper explained, "we prove that we can build and fly a rocket... That gets the Privy Council off your back, sweet boy, and it shows our resolve to the Coca People. It helps us find any flaws or faults that we didn't catch in the test-firings. It will also prove to the holdouts in Coca Kingdom that we do need the water system." Nodding, Finn agreed, "ok. Get the rocket built and ready to launch. We'll... We'll go next week." His mom blew him a kiss, making the big man's squirming all the worse. It was hard to feel like a stud when your mom was pinching your cheek in front of all your ladies.
As the sun was setting on a fruitful day, Fionna Mertens-Petrikov sat bouncing her niece on her knee, feeding the little girl with a kiddy-spoon, while her sister-in-law watched from the far side of the room. Little Adaeze was just like Fionna's daughters–cute as a button, giggly, and happy. She was the quintessential child. It sometimes saddened the tall blonde to think of how that would change. The world wasn't going to let little Adaeze stay an innocent little girl. She was going to have to grow up fast. Fi would have to remember that when she was dealing with Mona and Nadine.
Genetic, thought Abeiuwa. Fionna looked much like Billy did when he was feeding the little girl. Or maybe it's the upbringing. She couldn't help thinking that this was what Simone looked like, cradling an infant Fionna. In spite of everything that was weighing her down, Fionna was the sort of woman who made time to be a mom, even if it was for somebody else's kids. Abieuwa would have to admit she hadn't been doing very well with that herself. The Royal Nanny had been doing a lot of the raising of Adaeze when Abieuwa and Billy were apart.
Looking up from her work, the pretty blonde declared, "I've been talking some things over with Thor and Pedersen..." Abieuwa frowned. She knew Leo Pedersen was Bill's right-hand and Thor was Finn's captain of the guard. This again, thought the Jungle Princess. Her in-laws couldn't help meddling. "The old caves are pretty good for storage," Fionna murmured. "I could build you a vault entrance... I've been... playing around with my powers... We could fortify the caves..."
Abieuwa felt heat come to her face. Yeah, she was being an a-hole again. Fi was trying to figure out how to help her without hurting people's feelings, and Abieuwa had her back up for nothing. Blowing out a breath, the curvy princess said, "we were putting aside work. You're supposed to relax. We can talk about this some more tomorrow. We'll have time in the afternoon before you have to get back on that airship..."
Fi's expression suggested she thought Abieuwa was being stubborn. "I... I'm willing to listen, Fi," Abieuwa said, "but neither of us has been spending much time on family things. Let's... Let's be family tonight and princesses tomorrow." That beautiful smile came out like the sun from behind a cloud. "Deal," Fi pronounced.
Looks like all's not well with the Ice Prince, and Fionna's headed for a showdown with Gordon Wells and his gang.