Chapter 39:
The police cadets could hear the sounds of the battle, and they could see the occasional sights of Lord Nagumo's war machines swooping at the foe that was assailing the camp. Gin had immediately suggested they march to the battle to help their fellows. That was what they were here for, after all. Whether it was the reality that they were well-trained policemen and poorly trained soldiers, or perhaps the ingrained habit of pacifism, nobody had been anxious to follow him. Indeed, Akari had shut the whole thing done with just two words. No weapons.
They didn't have weapons to fight with. If an enemy had come into Nagumo's supposedly impregnable bastion, they were a well-equipped foe indeed. They would have had to cross miles of blasted and irradiated lands to reach the walls of the camp, and then they would have had to figure out how to get through those walls to reach the people inside. If they could do that, what good were a few handfuls of poorly-trained recruits? The princess had decided. They were staying here.
Akari gave them little time or opportunity to spend worrying at their situation. She insisted on having them at work. With no idea of what they were faced with or what was happening, she had them gather up their equipment and any supplies they could scrounge up. Her plan was to march to the docks and get on one of the transport ships.
Some of it was her police training. She was a woman of action. She'd honed herself under her father's tutelage. A lot of it was the constant stories from the men of the police force. She'd lived those stories through their eyes. She knew that when disaster struck–when people were dying and others were fleeing for their very lives–the people who lived through the event were the ones most focused on their own survival. People sometimes forgot their own family when the chips were down, and if the cadets didn't get themselves on the transports, they'd likely get left behind.
When the recruits had all their gear packed, the young woman divvied them up into smaller groups, putting Gin in charge of one, Rikuto in charge of another, and leading the third herself. They set out for the docks, rushing to get there before the last of the ships sailed away. Akari pushed them. She pushed them to move as fast as they dared through the broken streets of this forlorn and forgotten town. The terrain was tough, and they'd mostly ridden when they had to go long distances from the training ground. Nobody was coming with a truck to get them today, though.
For his part, Rikuto thought they were in deep trouble. He knew Akari very well. Much as he ribbed her for being a sand-bagger and a 'princess', the big man knew his friend's quality. If Akari thought they needed to hustle, they were in deep trouble indeed.
Marching at the head of the little column, Akari Maeda was the first to notice the men coming down the remnants of the wrecked street. Her keen eyes picked out details. They were strange humanoids. Some seemed to have strange, translucent-green skin. Others were a stark white. All wore what appeared to be uniforms. And they were carrying that forbidden tool, the gun.
She'd overheard her father discussing the 'Army of Ooo' with Lord Nagumo. She'd even seen a couple of the reports from the previous two battles with the self-styled King of Ooo. Much of the matter had gone over her head. She was looking at illicit secrets after all, and she couldn't count on anybody to explain what was going on to her. Still, she'd learned what she could from those stolen glances. It might matter to her brother officers. The recruits were hers. She'd come to view them much like a mother hen viewed her chicks. She felt a responsibility for them.
Now, the young beauty held up a hand, motioning for the people behind her to stop. In short order, she had them all off the streets, moving them up into the rubble to hide. Summoning Gin and Rikuto, she hunkered down in the lee of a shattered wall for a quick conference. "What did you see," Gin asked? "Soldiers," Akari replied. "Coming up the street. I believe it's the King of Ooo's men." Finn the Human was here. Rikuto shivered, his mind remembering.
Once upon a time, Finn the Human had visited the Truth Kingdom. Rikuto hadn't been born yet, but his brother had been there. He'd talked of Finn as being a man consumed by violence. He was battle-scarred, with battered flesh on every inch of his massive body. He'd taken on a whole tribe of giants here on the mainland back then, slaughtering them down to the last soul. He would have no trouble with them, especially with an army at his back. "What we doing," Rikuto asked? "I have a plan," Akari replied. Rikuto nodded. Of course she did.
Down on the river, Captain Sana Aoyama checked the chart, forcing himself to focus on the job at hand. The river hadn't been dredged in all the long centuries since the Mushroom War. It was choked with debris, and they'd had precious little time and resources available to make it navigable. If you weren't careful, you'd run aground on a sandbar or worse. While they'd mostly tamed the area around their camp, there were still very dangerous creatures here in the ruins, and you didn't want to be going ashore here.
As his ship cleared the most treacherous of the sandbars, the captain glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the camp. The sounds of the battle were getting worse. He could see their machines. There were several in the air now, swooping at the enemy. Of their foe, he could see no signs at all. They were down in the streets. It should have been no contest at all. With the weapons they had, men with a handful of rifles should have had no chance at all.
As Sana watched over his shoulder one of the war-machines seemed to flicker out of existence, causing his heart to lurch. It was just like Kun-som. Finn the Human's alien children were out there, somewhere. They were out there, blinking in and out of existence. Sana imagined them 'popping' up out of the ether to surprise one of his comrades, taking them into their alien world to destroy in an act of utter treachery. I have a hundred machines onboard, he thought. The fleet was carrying many of the war-machines. If he could get them back to their homeland, that would preserve them for a future retaliation when they'd solved the puzzle of Finn's children.
The captain stepped to the door of the bridge and out onto the wing, staring down into the muddy water. He could see they were crossing the interface. They'd soon be out into the deeper waters of the bay. He could get the fleet up to speed and be away. It felt like cowardice. He was abandoning those still on the land. Trust in Lord Nagumo, he told himself. The Lord was no fool. If anybody could come through this fight with his skin intact, it was his master. Tatsuo Nagumo had faced down ferocious giants and terrifying creatures with little more than his cunning and a defense-field. His boundless courage should see him carry the day.
A little longer, thought Sana. Just a little longer. The deep water was drawing ever closer. They could get the ship up on its foils and speed away from here. His hands gripped the rail in a white-knuckle grip, as the city began to fall away. So close.
The tragedy began to unfold in an eyeblink. Off to his right, one of the vessels abruptly stopped, as if someone had deployed a massive anchor. A second ship slewed to the right, careening out of control. Sana's head whipped back around just in time to spy a massive arm made of rubbery, black flesh jam a rusted iron beam into the side of his ship. The ship shuddered and heeled over, nearly throwing Sana Aoyama over the side. Several of his sailors weren't nearly so lucky. As they crashed into the water, the ocean came alive with a swarm of sharks. The sharks tore into the men and women who'd been flung into the water, turning the dark waters red.
The ship that had made the sudden turn began to steer in a circle, carrying it back into the fleet, which only added to the chaos as their fellows tried to dodge their rudderless comrades. As Sana watched in mounting horror, one of his ships came up short, as their out-of-control neighbors slammed into the side of their ship, slicing deep into the hull and opening the ship to the sea from deck to keel. He had two ships going down now, and his own ship was taking on water fast.
More rubbery arms raised out of the water, revealing the deadly trap that was waiting for them there at the mouth of the river. Latching onto debris from the bottom, the terrifying creature showed its malignant intellect as it jammed pieces of debris into the ships' propulsion pods, jamming the whirling blades and causing shards of high-strength steel to shoot up into the ships' hulls from beneath. In short order, four more ships were holed aft and dead in the water, their engine rooms flooding quickly.
Several ships steered for the shore, beaching themselves in the shallows there to take their chances with the terrifying creatures on land. Two ships made a break for the open sea, gunning their engines to get foil-born to escape. The terrifying sea-monster hurled a massive boulder into the foils of the first ship, tearing them off and ripping a hole down the length of her keel. The wrecked ship very nearly cartwheeled, and dozens of sailors hit the water. The second ship hit a submerged reef and grounded, throwing more meat into the water for the monster's accompanying sharks. It was the proverbial 'bad place to be', and Sana had no idea how to get them out of there.
As the terrified crews of Nagumo's fleet desperately fought to save themselves, south and east of the river, Jay Mertens came padding through the forest of shattered buildings and piles of rubble, following a trail left by his father's soldiers. He was rushing to catch up to them after disposing of a second war machine that had pounced on him not long after the first. Unfortunately, the second soldier had been even more canny than the first. Jay hadn't found himself in the same tight spot as before, but he hadn't been able to score a quick victory against his foe either. He was falling behind, and he feared he wouldn't get to Nagoono before his dad did.
Up ahead at that crossroads, Annabelle announced. I think you need to go right. She'd gotten irritated with him for taking too long with that pilot. Now, she was back to helping again. He halfway feared she was going to get him lost–that he'd take a wrong turn and end up running into one of the terrible monsters rumored to haunt these ruins or worse. What if he ran out beyond the protective barrier into the deadly poisoned land beyond? What then?
You think I'd let you, the demon retorted? Jay didn't answer that. He didn't dare. His evil lover was a burden more than a boon, but she was all he had. Did he want to be alone? Annabelle pleaded with him to hustle now. Down to the crossroads, she told him. We can still get to Nagoono first.
Up ahead, Rikuto signaled Akari. There was another one coming. After ambushing that first little party of soldiers and taking weapons off the dead, Akari had posted them up here to hold off reinforcements to buy time for the rest of the cadets to escape to the docks. With weapons to hand, they'd managed to drive off two pretty strong groups so far. "Scout, maybe," burbled Gin? It was just one man. It didn't make sense for one man to be out here by himself. Uneasily, Rikuto replied, "maybe got separated from the others." He was running fast and hard, as if he was trying to get somewhere in a hurry, which meant he was either trying to catch his mates or running from one of their machines. Either way, he was an enemy.
As Jay approached the crossroad, a glint of something on the road caught his eye. Stopping there at the road–as Annabelle bitched at him to keep moving–the pillow-person stooped to pick it up, finding a rank-badge from one of his father's soldiers. It was one of a number of pieces of kit he'd found as he tried to catch up to them. Now, he began to smell a rack. Why would the men be losing bits off themselves?
As Jay straightened from examining the object on the ground, the sound of a rock falling alerted him that he was in danger. Instinctively, the tall pillow-person conjured up a small piece of his personal world as a half-dozen darts came tearing towards him. To the shock of his ambushers, the darts came almost to a screeching halt–as if they'd been fired into an ocean of syrup. To Akari's shock and horror, the stranger ducked and dodged around the darts as they lazily went looping past him.
Jay Mertens conjured up a burning brand of hellfire, announcing, "it's me! It's Jay!" His father's troops were shooting at him for some reason. He had to get that sorted. He didn't want to be killing nobodies. The men shooting at him ignored those words, though. They opened fire again, this time from two directions at once.
It was just like the dude in the flying machine earlier. Jay was a little smarter this time. Expanding the bubble out by a thousand feet, the half-breed darted through the gap. Caught up in the bubble as they were, Gin and Rikuto found themselves caught out, unable to escape what came next. The strange warrior-wizard rushed them, using his power to change the size of the world to fix them in place.
Rushing up on them, Jay was a little startled to find not the soldiers he'd been expecting, but a pack of strangers. He knew what Nagumo's people looked like. He'd seen the captives they'd taken at Kun-som. In rage and terror, he sliced the first man's weapon in half with the flaming sword in his hands before chopping the arms off the second man. When another pair of men turned to fire on him, he sent flaming bolts crashing into their bodies, slaying both instantly. Akari rushed to her friends' aid, but immediately found herself caught like a fly in syrup. Hard as she ran, she couldn't close the gap. She could only watch as the stranger slaughtered her friends with the terrifying sword of flame he clutched in his hand.
As the last man went down, Jay released the bubble. Almost immediately he spun at the sound of screaming. A young woman came rushing up and jumped on him, pounding at him with her fists. Using one of the martial arts moves his father taught him, Jay threw her off his back. The stranger threw herself on one of the battered corpses, clutching at it like a mother clutches a child. "Who-who are you," Jay murmured? He had a very bad feeling about this.
While Jay was trying to get something–anything–out of the young woman, his father was working on getting his army across the gap to his side of the small stream he'd crossed. They needed the heavy guns over on his side, and it was quite clear to Jake that Nagoono's dudes knew it. They'd been playing cat-and-mouse with a trio of Nagoono's machines, which would come swooping in the minute the soldiers tried to bridge the gap. They'd hit without warning, fire off a couple shots, and then bounce, giving Bonnie no chance to ensnare them. Things were becoming desperate, with Finn considering taking them back across the creek using Jake's stretchy powers.
As the King was considering his options, one of the war-machines soared up above the line of buildings. Bonnie was already on the job, waiting on that. She'd had an idea while her father had a think about getting back across to the troops. Twisting space, she raised the height of the building in front of the war-machine as it darted forward, causing the pilot to slam headlong into the structure at full power. While he did plow through the stone, raining rubble down on the ground, the machine lost all four of its limbs and went tumbling over and over across the sky, landing hundreds of feet away with a deafening crash.
The soldiers on the far side got a second machine as it would have tried for Bonnie herself, blasting it out of the sky with one of their cannon. The third machine never returned. Finn gave his daughter's shoulder a squeeze, displaying fatherly pride. Bonnie grinned back at him. It made her think of the old days when she and her brother used to pretend to be their dad, battling monsters and villains with the Blood Sword. "Right," said the King, as he stepped forward towards the shattered bridge. It was time to end this.
Meanwhile, Jay was dealing with the fallout of his attempt to do an end-around of the enemy army to get at their leader. The strange woman who'd run up on him was inconsolable, but he didn't blame her. He'd killed everybody she knew. He'd just killed all her friends. He was just like Sheetz–a force of nature blasting through this poor woman's life. For the first time since he'd lost his son, he saw what he'd become, and he didn't really like the man he saw.
Hovering over him, his demon lover was almost frantic now. The decision point was rapidly closing. "Pull yourself together," growled Annabelle! "Nagumo's still out there!" Jay glared at her. "It was just a couple of nobodies," the demon insisted! "They'll... They'll go up to dead-world. They'll be fine!" Which wasn't received as well as she'd hoped.
"I was a nobody," Jay rumbled. "I only wanted to be a nobody. Instead, I became a monster... just like him." Rising, he bent and grabbed the young woman by the arm. Voice cold, he said, "you can't save them... no more than I could save my son." It was time to go. Judging by the fact that he saw no more war-machines in the sky, the battle might well be over. If he didn't want to be trapped here in this man-made hell, he needed to find his father's army. He'd figure out how he was going to atone for what he'd done when they got out of here.
He left the demon staring after him. She didn't need him to leave here. She could come and go from hell as she chose. "You... you can't leave me," howled Annabelle! "You'll regret this!" Walking after him, she shouted curses at him, demanding he come back. As the strange young/old man walked out of sight, the demon clutched at her hair and howled, "why do guys always dump me like this?!"
Elsewhere, the battle was moving toward it's crescendo. The attempts by the pilots of the war-machines to halt or even slow the progress of the Army of Ooo into their sanctuary was falling apart. Lord Nagumo hadn't been able to reach the facility where he'd stored his prizes, much less retrieve them. Even if he had, news from the fleet was horrifying. They'd run into some kind of terrible monster that had shattered many of his ships and bottled the rest up in the river. There seemed no escape from the confrontation coming his way. Indeed, as he scanned the skies, another of his precious machines came tumbling out of the air, landing violently in a shattered heap amidst a pile of ancient rubble.
Just a scant mile up the street, one of his fighters came swooping in to a landing above and behind the so-called King of Ooo. The would-be warrior fixed his sights on the tall, blonde man. Everyone in Truth Kingdom knew who Finn the Human was. As he trained his guns on his master's foe, Jake Junior snatched up a half-dozen fighters, pulling them in close with her stretchy-powers. Stretching her legs, using her alien strength, the shapechanger boosted the pack of soldiers up to the roof, depositing the soldiers literally on top of the machine. The soldiers wasted no time, laying into the former rescue-vehicle with their guns, shooting up anything that looked important.
Her boyfriend's troops had the game down now. In short order, the machine went down hard. Jake scooped the soldiers up once more, as the heavy piece of hardware toppled off the roof, falling into the cement canyon below. As the machine landed with a horrendous crash, Jake deposited the soldiers back on the ground. Finn gave her no more than a 'thanks, babe', as he kept right on walking. She wondered. She really wondered. Was this what Simone got? In her heart, she knew the truth. New Finn was in full-effect right now, and there was no time or space in his heart or head for the pain of a woman.
Endgame, Jake, she told herself. She could have her man back when they reached the endgame. Finn was focused. He had his eyes and his mind on the prize. The better focused she was on that, the more likely it would be that she would see him through to that prize. That one had been a little close for comfort. She had to do better. She had to be better to make sure he walked away from this. Her babies didn't get born if Finn fell here. She herself might well fall into darkness.
Jake rushed to catch up to Finn, grabbing Bonnie on the way. Getting in front of her boyfriend, the shapechanger insisted he stop and wait for the troops to catch up. Thankfully, the nano-whatsits or whatevers running around in his skull let him see clearly enough to listen. Instead of arguing, Finn agreed. Going one better, he issued orders for the troops to move up on the double. With his soldiers gathered around him, the King of Ooo moved down the street and into the open area that he believed housed Nagoono's main camp.
For their quarry, it was quite clear the jig was up. There were no more war-machines ready to launch against their foes. The majority of them were on the fleet of hydrofoils bottled up at the mouth of the river. The terrifying monster that had savaged several of Nagumo's ships already was still out there, attacking anything that looked as if it might try sailing away. Movement was punished by savage retribution. They weren't getting help from the fleet. The fleet couldn't even help itself.
The Army of Ooo marched onto the scene in their hundreds, armed to the teeth with spear-guns and dart-rifles, with a few heavy guns mounted atop trucks to make them mobile. This hodge-podge army had managed to smash the would-be warlord's high-tech army, knocking it out of action in the space of an hour or so. The mass moved to surround the men and women still gathered there on the camp's parade ground, and it was clear to Kaito Maeda that they weren't going to be getting out of this. They were cornered. There was nowhere to go.
Honestly, Kaito scarcely understood why they didn't just open fire. They could have just as easily mown down everybody there on the parade ground. His eyes glanced to his master and the two life-support cubbies at his side. Perhaps they did have something to bargain with. It was slim, though. He could see it was slim, and it made his stomach queasy. As a father, the idea of bargaining with a child's life was disgusting. At the same time, Finn the Human could slaughter his master's troops to a man right now, and what were two children against that?
Just then, the man himself came out of the crowd of soldiers with a most unusual pair at his back. Both were females. That was as obvious as what they carried under their blouses. He could see the family resemblance to the self-styled King of Ooo in the strange woman on Finn's right. The other reminded him of a dog, though she had no eyes at all.
"We meet again," Finn announced. Tatsuo Nagumo flushed and muttered curses. "You chose this fate," Finn reminded him, "but I'll give you all one last chance to turn aside from this..." "Do what you came to do," the warlord growled! Waving his hands expansively, the evil ex-cop snarled, "you came to kill us. That's what conquerors do..." "I came to offer these men and women a chance at salvation," Finn retorted.
Kaito frowned at him in puzzlement, nor was he the only one. In calm tones, the King of Ooo announced, "I offer amnesty to any man or woman who lays down the sword to return home. You can return to your old life... I'll see you returned to your old life. Any who feel they can't return to that world can take up arms with the Army of Ooo. We can use capable people. Our world isn't safe from the creatures in the darkness." Tatsuo spat at his feet. "You offer the lies and false pacifism that has held us back centuries," he shouted!
Bonnie's eyes glanced at the people around them. It was plain as the nose on the would-be warlord's face that he had no idea what to do with this development. Nor, for that matter, did his soldiers. How often across the course of history had a conqueror offered to spare the conquered? Bonnie imagined it wasn't very often.
Nodding, as if considering his words, Finn announced, "your glorious legacy..." His voice dripped sarcasm. Jake winced, as her mind absorbed what her boyfriend had just said. Indeed, Nagoono flinched as if slapped in the face, and his lieutenant flushed to his hair. Nor were they alone. All the soldiers of Nagumo's band had signed on to the dream of being conquering heroes. For some, it was the idea of pushing back the madness that lay in the wilderness around their homeland. For others, it was adventure and excitement–something different than the ho-hum of patrolling whatever nameless village they called home. Kaito was no less taken aback than anyone else. He'd taken his master's words as naked truth. He'd seen the fighting ships in the ancient harbor near his homeland, bristling with weapons.
The King turned to the people around him. He didn't want to kill them. He was sick of killing and disgusted at the killing already done. "He has wreckage," Finn announced. "I have somebody who was there." It was known far and wide that Finn the Human was married to some of the most beautiful and exotic women in the world. Included in that number was one of the sole survivors of the time before the bombs.
Looking the scattered soldiers in the eye, the King said, "the times he wants to relive held great warriors, yes, but he left some things out." Staring Nagoono in the eye, the big man explained, "it was a time where evil men convinced the great heroes of their land to make war on their neighbors for nothing. Those evil men corrupted the heroes of your land, making them do all manner of unspeakable things in the name of their kingdom and their King. They slaughtered the innocent to take their lands. They did cruel and despicable things to their vanquished foes for the sport of their masters. When those men learned of what they'd done, they put down their swords forever out of shame."
Finn the King threw his sword on the ground. "War is evil, friends," he said. "I've fought in my share. The best I managed was to get back out the other side with my skin and my son. Like a trip to the gambling tables, you can't ever beat the house. Death always wins."
Bonnie could see the enemy soldiers wavering. Peace had been a way of life for them. None of them had understood it. Now, some of them found uncomfortable echoes in the King's words. Hadn't they burned innumerable farms in the campaign they'd just completed? Had any of those farmers raised hand against them? Kaito Maeda turned to look at his master–the man he'd followed most of his life. It was plain as Lord Tatsuo's face that he had no answer for those words.
"Quivering Palm," snarled Nagumo, as he hurled an open-handed blow at the King.
Jake, who'd been watching his eyes instead of watching the crowd, darted in front of the warlord, taking that blow across her right shoulder. There was a strange blue-white jolt of energy, and her whole arm went dead. As the shapechanger screeched in pain, Finn stooped, and snatched up his sword. In just a moment, the battle was joined. As the warlord's army watched, the two men battled over their fate.
Tatsuo was not a young man, but he was incredibly fit. More, he was one of the foremost practitioners of the Truth Kingdom's martial arts. Kaito was shocked to learn that his master had studied forbidden techniques. Tatsuo Nagumo rained blows on his foe, throwing open-handed strikes and attempting locks. In short order, he'd disarmed the King of Ooo, causing Bonnie to shriek in terror.
Far from being terrified, though, her father's face was serene. He had been here before. He'd seen this before–countless times in fact. He'd been one man with his wits against an army more times than he could really remember. Back then, he'd been a young fool with the barest skill at arms throwing down with older, more experienced foes. He'd been blessed to fill his flask with wisdom before his cup of luck ran completely to the bottom. Now, as a desperate Nagumo tried spamming him with the same move three times in a row, Finn stepped to his right, caught the old fucker's arm and wrenched it out of the socket, crippling him. Then, as Nagoono screamed in pain, the King of Ooo opened his windpipe, dropping him there on the ground.
A murmur went through the crowd, as the fight ended. Their master was dead. The man who'd promised to lead them to victory had led them to bitter defeat. What was going to become of them now? Finn stepped back from his dying foe. His eyes went to the warlord's lieutenant, and there was sadness in those blue eyes. The King's words replayed themselves in the minds of Nagoono's former soldiers. Their ancestors had made sport of vanquished foes. Now, they were the vanquished. This man could easily make sport of them. "I didn't want this," he said. "There was no need for this..."
Bowing before him, Kaito Maeda murmured, "Lord... Our sailors... our people... There's a monster at the mouth of the river..." Finn knew. He knew that very well. He'd sicced the monster on them in the first place. Reaching into his pocket, he drew a conch shell. Raising it to his lips, the big man softly murmured, "Murka... I say enough. I say they have had enough. You can return to your mistress now, with my thanks."
Finn dispensed orders now, having his soldiers take the vanquished in hand. There would be questions. The men and women who'd burned farms and slaughtered innocents would be punished. The war-machines would be turned back into rescue vehicles–eventually. In the now, the business was about getting everyone out of this radioactive hell alive. Finn turned to Jake, who was curled up on the ground, clutching at her injured arm. The King of Ooo turned and scooped up his mistress, shouting for a medic as he strode away.
Well, how was THAT for an ending? The Kraken is unleashed! Nagumo goes down! And Jay finally seems to realize the path he's put himself on.