Chapter 38:
Akari Maeda glanced up with a frown. The alarm was going. Why was the alarm going off? "It's a drill," rumbled Gin. He was always saying that. He had an image in his mind of the life of a soldier. Discipline. He expected discipline. He expected that they were going to be ruthlessly tested again and again, and the thought excited him. Rikuto was his opposite. In spite of growing up in the rough life of a farmer, Rikuto was astoundingly lazy. The farm boy announced, "another false alarm. Nagumo should have spent more money on the rad-sensors."
They had been plagued by false alarms since coming here. While they'd all been assured that this place was safe–that the forcefields would protect them–they'd all taken to wearing radiation badges when they ventured out of their quarters. Akari had even worn hers to bed. After all, if there could be faulty radiation alarms, could there not be faulty radiation shields? Nobody wanted a nuclear tan.
It was another sore point with the men and women brought here by the nominal police chief of the kingdom. They had gotten pulled into this against their will, and there were more than a few who feared they were being drawn into something immoral. The Kingdom of Truth was also the Land of Peace. Only the Yakuza owned weapons, and they were re-educated whenever they were caught.
Lord Nagumo had insisted that their people owned a glorious heritage of battle and conquest, and he'd invited them to partake of the supposed 'new era' of glory. Truth? Most of Akari's companions had been voluntold to come here. Akari had gone along because her father was the Lord's chief subordinate. Kaito Maeda had exalted his superior. Akari, who'd joined the service out of love and respect for her father and the family's traditions, had come along on this venture because it was expected. Still, she'd had a very hard time believing the happy tales that the Lord told them.
The men and women of the cadet class called Akari the 'Sand-Bagger'. She was seemingly born to be a cop. Her mind was sharp, and her body was fit and lean. She had no trouble with the discipline, the academic testing, or the physical exertion. Now, she showed that same keen wit, as she announced, "this isn't a false alarm. They would have shut it off by now. Something's happening." Turning to her fellows, she said, "get your safety equipment on. Prepare for action."
Folk called her the princess when she was out of earshot. She tended to give orders like that, as if she expected to be obeyed. The lithe young woman had attracted more than a few rude hand-gestures when her back was turned, but she was the Lieutenant's daughter, wasn't she? There was a deeper truth, though. Men and women obeyed her orders because she delivered them in the confident tone of someone who knew what they were about. Her fellows followed her commands simply because they made sense. Today was no different. The cadets scrambled for the shelters at the edge of the exercise ground, retrieving rad-suits and other protective gear.
Two miles away, a heavy war machine landed in the midst of the Army of Ooo like an ugly metallic spider. Instead of poison, it's mandibles sprayed bolts of incandescent heat into the soldiers. The men scattered. Some were blasted to gobbets of burnt meat. Others fell and were trampled. Still others acted with courage and bravery. One intrepid soul rushed forward under the brutish machine, toting a heavy dart gun. Throwing himself on his back, he sprayed fire up into the thing's underbelly, firing again and again and again.
Inside the machine, the pilot saw tell-tales begin to flash red, confirming what he could feel through his feet. Pressing the thruster pedals, the pilot rocketed away, his machine trailing smoke. He'd won a momentary fight in the midst of an epic battle, but at a high price. Heartened, the Army of Ooo surged forward. As the last of the soldiers entered the blasted realm that had once been a thriving metropolis, Bonnie Mertens collapsed the strange parallel world, locking the two armies together in a death-struggle. Either they were going to win, or they would die here. There were no other choices.
In the west, Tania Stanek followed the strange candy-prince through the halls of the Candy Palace, taking in the sights as she listened to her host's explanations. Far from being an absolute monarch, the self-styled King of Ooo had others that he answered to. Those others were potential allies for the people of New York, and this was leverage that they hadn't had before. Tania needed to figure out who among the strangers could be allies. She didn't have a lot of time.
As they approached the door to the audience hall, Boniface Bubblegum said, "you can go up and view the meeting from the gallery, or you can dive straight in and stand down in the hall. Your choice..." Tania pondered that only a moment before announcing, "I'll dive straight in." Flagging down a servant, Bon handed the young blonde off to him, before heading for the secure entry to the audience chamber.
Bill was already waiting on him, looking dapper in a well-fitted suit. "Bon," the older man greeted him. "Bill," Boniface replied. "What's the topic of the day?" "Talking about the reactor project," Bill replied. "The machinery's almost done. We've got to basically shutdown rail traffic through Cerelia's kingdom for a few weeks to get all the machinery moved." Which would cause a great howling and gnashing of teeth with Purple Kingdom, the Suncoast, and the other bandit realms.
Out in the audience hall, Roselinen announced that the audience would come to order. She was starting to find her place in the family–a fact that Bon was rather grateful for. The Finn-Family needed to be firing on all cylinders just to keep ahead of the constant arrival of new crises to deal with. Bill immediately moved through the door, with Bon not far behind. While the Heir climbed up onto the dais, the younger prince strolled out into the audience, settling in at the front of the gathering. Moments later, Nieve and Noemi sat themselves on either side of the Ice Prince.
"Good morning, everyone," Billy announced. "We have a fair bit to cover today. My father has brought the would-be warlord, Tatsuo Nagumo to bay. The battle to defeat his rebel army is underway." Tania Stanek filed that away. It was more interesting news. The tall, handsome fellow on the throne continued to talk, filling the gathered nobles in on what was going on in the east. There appeared to be a lot of rebellion in the Kingdom of Ooo.
Tania's job here was to find allies. She was to try to get them access to the network of flying machines for travel, and she was to look for ways to get the people of New York back up to their city. There appeared to be potential allies all around her–from this mysterious 'Princess Beautiful' to this Nagumo character.
Moving on, Billy announced, "the first of the reactors has been completed by the Grid-Face People. The material is being staged in the Emerald Kingdom for shipment to its final destination." "And that destination is," demanded Lady Dagny? The new representative of the Elbownians wore a frown on her pinched face. "The reactor will be installed in Clusone," Billy replied. That precipitated an uproar, with many of the assembled nobles howling protest. To Tania, this was clearly a big deal. She knew what a reactor was. There had been nearly a dozen buried under New York. These people had the ability to build such things, which begged the question. Why hadn't they given her people help repairing theirs?
Billy cut through the screaming with a shrill whistle. In cool tones, the big man said, "the infrastructure to support such a machine doesn't exist in Elbow Kingdom." He didn't remind the Elbownians that there was pretty much no infrastructure remaining in Elbow Kingdom. "We have to build the strength of the kingdoms evenly," Billy declared. "My father doesn't want pockets of poverty. The small domains north of Purple Kingdom are deluged in crime and poverty, and that needs to change."
Tania raised her hand to speak, and Rosie recognized her. "If you have the technology to make new reactors, why did you not repair the reactors of New York," she demanded? It said something about the council that there were several voices crying out in support of that question. Boniface found himself wanting to belt the wench. He hadn't invited her here to bring trouble!
Calmly, Billy responded, "the colony was in a critical state. There was insufficient time to diagnose all the problems, much less repair them. We don't..." "Then you could have given us one of these new reactors," Tania interrupted. In even tones, the big man replied, "as my father has already told your father, the King of Ooo will not advantage his own people over others. We're not going to spend other people's money on a project based on emotion. The reactor will be installed in Clusone as planned." Tania would have interrupted, but Rosie announced, "it is rude to interrupt others in such an a brupt manner. You're given a time out."
The blonde girl's jaw came open. Not even the teachers at her old grammar school had dared to give her a time-out when she was a child. As Tania Stanek sputtered, the Ice Prince announced, "the new reactor supports efforts to restore Elbow Kingdom. Tapping a tithe of the clothing and other goods manufactured with the help of the new power source, we can send aid to Elbow Kingdom while building up the Bandit Lands. The reactor will pay for itself and eventually provide funding for further construction of additional units."
It was a well thought out scheme. The Bandit Lands had the highest potential for the sort of explosive growth that could power the economy forward. Eventually, they would top out, but that would come a lot later than it would in somewhere like the Candy Kingdom where industry was well established. Now, Billy moved on to the delicate part. Taking a deep breath, the big man announced, "the movement of the reactor will require shutting down all but essential rail traffic through Clusone. The rail junction will be shut down for a month." With those words, the big man waited on the explosion.
The room was silent–shockingly, worryingly silent.
Billy Mertens glanced to his wife. Noemi was filing her fingernails. The plump Purple Princess glanced up at him with a puzzled frown, as if she couldn't understand why he was staring at her. A glance to Abieuwa found the Mistress of the Southern Jungles looking back with an ironic expression on her pretty face. Billy blew out a breath. He'd never expected that to be the easy piece of news to get over. It made him wonder what other unpleasant shoes were waiting to drop. "Moving on," he announced.
Back in the east, Tatsuo Nagumo was facing down the end of all his schemes. The spymaster, Gordon Wells, had told him that Finn's alien progeny couldn't manage to cast their net so far as to cross the Burn to reach him. He'd sworn that the redoubt was safe. Wells had assured the warlord that Finn's alien children had been sent back to the west. Now, they were here, storming the last bastions of his defense!
Kaito Maeda had been trying to get through to his master for several minutes now. They had enemy soldiers marching into the repair yards, where several machines were being converted. They stood to lose dozens of their weapons at one go. They had more enemy troops headed for the barracks and supply areas. Still more troops were hooking around to the southeast to come in at the training fields. The only place they didn't have foes was the far side of the river. That would have completed the encirclement and doomed them. Kaito feared that was just a formality, though.
Daring much, the younger man shook his master, shouting, "sire, we must leave!" That finally got through to Lord Nagumo. Gathering his scattered wits, he said, "you're right. It's useless to fight here at disadvantage. Order the evacuation. I'm going to get our prizes to the docks." That was better. Kaito raised the microphone to his lips and began dispensing orders. They could obtain new supplies at home. It was important to get the bulk of the army out of here. He ordered the transports to cast off and set sail. Then, he ordered the pilots who'd not yet boarded a ship to mount a final defense of their overlord.
Finn became aware of Nagoono's resolve twenty minutes later. The Army of Ooo was marching along a shattered street, eyes peeled for signs of their foes. Two war-machines came dropping out of the sky to the thunderous sound of rocket-motors. The first of the machines landed short, keeping the range. The crew of one of the truck-mounted guns swung the cannon into line and shot the machine just off center, sheering off the right half, leaving two of its legs on the ground.
The second pilot was a little sharper and quicker. Before the gun could strike him, he boosted back into the air, correcting his landing point. With a tremendous crash, he slammed into the truck, turning it on its side and knocking the gun off the bed. As the terrified soldiers reacted by scrambling away from the wrecked vehicle, the machine began spraying gunfire into their ranks.
Snatching up a gun from one of the downed soldiers, Finn shouted, "Jake! Boost me!" The big man waited for Jake Jr. to hurl him up onto the war-machine's back with her stretchy powers. He found himself waiting a fair bit. Glancing to his right, the King found his bodyguard/girlfriend staring back with a frown on her face. It was clear from her expression that she intended to do no such thing. His eyes pleaded with her. Men were dying. Jake was unmoved, though.
Striding forward, Bonnie brushed past her father. The young/old woman focused her powers. Suddenly the war machine was gone–shunted out of the world into a space of its own. Finn could see the look of utter concentration on her face. They didn't have a lot of time here. "The gun," Finn shouted. "Get that gun up here!" The dazed soldiers rushed over to the overturned cannon. Throwing their backs into the effort, the soldiers struggled to right the cannon.
Taking a breath, Jake Jr. strode over to where Finn's dudes fought to get the cannon righted. Throwing all her might into the equation, she latched onto the sturdiest looking building with her left arm and leg, then, with her right arm and leg and even her hair, she latched onto the cannon's carriage. With her pulling, and the soldiers leveraging drag-ropes, they got the gun righted once more. Just in time.
Bonnie let the terrifying war machine loose from its confinement. The pilot had been fighting her the whole time, flying as far and as fast as he could, stretching her to the limits as she tried to contain him in her ersatz Pillow World. Freed from confinement, he soared high into the sky for a moment before realizing he was back in reality once more. Now, the pilot turned and flew back towards his foes, firing as he came.
He was tracking straight and true for the place where the King stood. He could clearly see the tall, blonde man through the machine's cameras. Jake reached out to her boyfriend, but Finn brushed her off. His lips mouthed two words. Not yet. Swallowing her terror, Jake tried to hang tough as the machine rushed closer, while the men manning the gun tracked him as fast as they could, spinning the traverse wheel in manic fashion. Just as the machine would have blasted the King of Ooo into gobbets of burnt meat, the gun cut loose, striking the machine dead-center. A glut of flame blasted out of both ends. Jake snatched Finn out of reach, as the thing slammed into the ground on the spot where he'd stood.
The shapechanger swore at him. Finn didn't waste any time on emotion, though. Striding forward past the lifeless machine and its dead occupant, Finn continued walking towards the large prefab building that the Grid-Face peeps had shown him. He was sure that was where he'd find Nagumo.
In the Candy Kingdom, Tania Stanek watched as Fionna Mertens-Petrikov climbed into a car in the castle's courtyard. "Bound for the Grey Forest," Anwen Mallory announced. The leggy blonde turned to face the wax-person. She'd come up and introduced herself after the audience ended. As Tania watched, the car began to roll out. She'd heard the announcement in the meeting earlier. She wanted badly to know what Fionna was going to do in the Grey Forest. "She'll use her powers over earth to build a wall around that damned refugee village," rumbled Henrietta Kirchner. The fat woman's voice dripped contempt. "Who's Princess Beautiful," asked Tania? Anwen shuddered. "Beside the Vampire King, she's the strongest undead left in Ooo," Henrietta rumbled.
Tania goggled at them. "You mean...," she burbled. "Like in a video?" She had no idea if these people even had motion pictures. "Yes," Anwen replied. "Like in a video. She got hacked off because somebody stole something from her and showed up at the Grey Forest with an army." Anwen knew exactly what had been taken, just as she knew who'd done the taking. She wasn't sure of this wench, just yet, though. Tania sighed. It didn't appear she was a likely ally. Henrietta remarked, "but you have allies right here, right now, dear girl. And we're not outside the Wall." "Come along," said Anwen. "We need to talk." In for a dollar, thought Tania.
As the daughter of New York's Mayor followed the fat woman and her strange little friend, Jay Mertens hurled a bolt of flame at one of Nagoono's death machines, missing it cleanly. They were getting a little better at dodging, which made a critical situation even more critical.
The enemy had been smart enough not to get caught alone. Jay could no longer easily take them into Pillow World to burn. Adapting to the situation, he'd taken to bringing weapons from his own inner world to hurl at them, but they were now getting wise to that too.
Jay Mertens was in over his head, and he knew it. He'd done exactly what his father had admonished his sister not to do. He'd wandered off. Truth? He'd slipped away from his family to go hunting Nagoono by himself. He wanted to find the would-be warlord and put an end to him. He wanted to burn the bastard with unholy fire. That would satisfy Annabelle. She'd be happy to have the bastard delivered into her hands. Trouble was, Jay was looking at losing his own life just now
The battle had devolved into a chaotic mess, with little parties of soldiers chasing Nagoono's war-machines, doing their best to bring them to bay in the shattered streets of this forgotten city. At the same time, those war-machines would strike without warning from above or from the rear, using their ability to fly to get the jump on the Army of Ooo. They'd drop onto the soldiers, landing in their midst to lay into them with their light-rays, before leaping away again. Jay had smacked down two of them, but there were still very many more to go.
The sergeant at Jay's elbow announced, "Lord, we have twenty men down! We must retreat!" His voice was edging up on panic. Jay remembered his own panic at seeing men scattered on the ground with their stuffing hanging out. He remembered his dad standing fast when Jay wanted to run. Finn's calm and courage had brought Jay home. He'd taught Jay a valuable lesson. Sometimes one man could make a difference for hundreds simply by being an example.
In cool tones, the pillow-person responded, "they'll just jump us when our backs are turned! The fight's here! We're staying!" Now, he began dispensing orders, sending soldiers scattering among the disparate buildings. It was a variation of what the enemy was doing to them. He was forcing them to split their attention.
Time seemed to stand still a moment, as their foes tried to figure out what to do. Jay waited with baited breath on what they were going to do. Finally, the pair jumped. One darted towards the largest clump of men. The second went straight for Jay. Gathering himself, Jay ran towards the machine slaughtering his father's soldiers, hurling a bolt of crackling flame. As the second machine swooped at him, he took them both out of the world of Ooo.
Haruko Kanzaki felt a tremor of fear as she found herself floating above a burning landscape with flames as far as the eye could see. Below her stood her foe, standing on a burning hill beside a burning house. Her sensors were scrambled, and her computers were having a fit. Calming herself, the new-minted soldier squeezed the directional controls, angling to maneuver around her foe. That was a bit of a surprise for Jay Mertens. Every other pilot had attempted to fly away, moving as far and as fast as they could go. He'd been prepared for that. He was hardly prepared for his foe to stand his ground.
The war-machine was fast, and it was quickly behind him. Instinctively, Jay opened the range, forcing the machine away from him, as the pilot opened fire. Haruko was surprised and terrified to find herself pushed away that way. She'd heard from the few survivors they had that they couldn't fly away, no matter how fast or hard they flew. She'd determined to stick it out and get in on her foe. He was just one man, after all. Now, she found herself flying towards him and making little in the way of progress.
Changing tacks, the pilot turned and tried to fly at an oblique, firing off her lasers and homing missiles to divide his attention. Jay very nearly found himself headed off to the Havens as his foe's heat-rays bracketed his position on the hill long enough for the missiles to come up behind him. He'd never had to stop so many foes at once. Fortunately, instinct won the day for him, as his mind conjured a wall of flame from the malleable world around him. The concussive blast of the missiles exploding in the flames still threw him off the hill to land halfway to the bottom. Angry, Jay conjured up a swirling tornado of flame, unleashing it on his adversary.
Unable to dodge, Haruko ran right through the vortex of death. Tell-tales flashed red, and she could smell wires and hydraulics burning. A persistent buzzing of the alarms in her headset alerted her that she was headed for a fall as the machine careened out of control. Done with his foe, Jay banished his inner world, returning the both of them to Ooo. The wrecked war-machine went crashing into a distant building with a sound like thunder. Jay was unsurprised to find that the soldiers had moved on while he was occupied. He didn't know if they'd retreated or moved forward. His mission was still the same. He had to find Nagoono.
Miles away, Finn the King was in the lead as his soldiers crossed a bridge. Halfway across, the ground began to shake beneath his feet. With only that moment's warning, a massive tunneling machine burrowed up out of the ground, sending men scattering. A beat ahead, Finn snatched up his daughter and girlfriend, blinking out of danger, as the machine began laying into his men with its terrible weapons.
Jake Jr. was barely aware of having been basically teleported a hundred feet, and she was just getting her bearings when she saw Finn race back into harm's way. Finn was vaguely aware of somebody screaming his name. With the speed lent him by the curse, the big man lashed out with one of Sybil's vines, catching hold of the machine's armored hide. As Bonnie watched, her dad flipped himself up onto the machine's back, but he had nothing to hand but a sword.
"He needs help," the young woman murmured. Grabbing Jake by the scruff, Bonnie pulled the far side of the little brook to her. "Grab him a gun," she snapped, as Jake goggled at her! Reaching out, Jake snatched up three. And then Bonnie returned the world to its original shape and size. They were back beneath the machine, watching as the enemy tried to draw a bead on her father. It was on the shapechanger now.
Jake grabbed Bonnie by the waist and, extending her legs as far as she could, carried the pair of them up to Finn. As soon as they were in reach, Bonnie thrust one of the guns at her father. Taking the gun, Finn immediately started blasting away at anything that looked important. A beat late, Jake started looking for someplace vulnerable. Spying an array of pipes that disappeared into a heavy metal cover, the shapechanger thinned out her fingers and slid them under the cover. As the pilots flailed at them with the robot's appendages, Jake began prying at that cover with her alien strength. Finally the latches holding it down gave way, revealing what looked like a pump. Finn and Bonnie immediately turned their guns on it, blasting gaping holes in it until hot oil came spurting out at high pressure. Snatching out a lighter, Finn struck it and tossed the thing into the oil. Before Jake could blink her eyes, they were on the ground again.
As the mining machine burst into flames, Finn turned his thoughts back to the problem at hand. They had to get around the wrecked bridge. Signaling the soldiers on the opposite bank, the King barked orders. There was another bridge within sight just down the road. As the big man began walking again, Jake Jr. sighed heavily. Her promise was starting to look like it was going to be very hard to keep.
The fight is on. It took me a couple of tries to write this one. It was running long, so I decided to break it up into two chapters. We're almost there.