Chapter 35:
Billy the Human woke from a pleasant night's sleep to the insistent chiming of Abeiuwa's phone. He'd had a wonderful night with the kids, playing with them, reading to them, and making cookies. It was a side of him that Abeiuwa had always found fascinating, though Olesia had seen those things in him from the first she'd met him. He'd gone to bed with the pair, snuggled up, and drifted off with happy memories. Rags was due back soon, having gotten things a little better organized back home. Noemi was a little further out from returning, but Billy was now keeping their little girl–with Olesia's help. The princesses were even behaving. Unfortunately, the insistent ringing of Abeiuwa's phone suggested that the problem of the week had just arrived to smash his hard-won peace.
A groggy Jungle Princess climbed out of bed, wearing only her birthday suit. She stood there a moment, yawning and scratching before slowly wobbling across the room to the table where the phone-chargers sat. "Go," she yawned. Billy, laying on his side, found himself watching, listening, and, most importantly, hoping that it was nothing. Unfortunately, it was a vain hope. He watched as his wife went from the sleepy/groggy of someone who'd gone down hard and slept like a baby to the wide-eyed of someone who'd just gotten horrendous news.
Meanwhile, in the fortified hostel that the King of Ooo was currently occupying, Orzsebet the Agent Princess stood before the man who'd pulled her from a watery grave taking her lumps and praying that matters got no worse. The big man was angry, and he tended to do very unpleasant things when he was in that frame of mind. "You disobeyed me," the King rumbled. The spymaster trembled, her body betraying her terror. "I-I thought to...," she started to say. "Don't lie to me," Finn growled. "I told you. The Lady of Spies is my creature. You disobeyed me. You threw away valuable resources of mine. What do you have to say for yourself?" "I failed you," she murmured. "I'm... a failure." It came out almost as a sob. Nodding, the big man growled, "this will not happen again, My Lady. Do you understand?" "I swear it," she replied. "Now," he said, as he stepped back. "Tell me what you saw. What did you learn?"
The spy went down through the story again–telling of how they'd pulled numbers from the phone he'd given her and used their influence to obtain the names behind those phone numbers. They'd happened upon a name that was known to them. Jorge Leone had a history as a small-time gangster with big ambitions. He was just the sort of man who'd throw in with the Bandit Princess to take a risky chance at advancing himself. It wasn't hard to lean on him and get a name out of his mouth. That name was Jaime Carreira. Jaime was a former union man at the closed sawmills. He had long been rumored to use the sawmill as a place to store mob-property that was passing through the area–for a hefty fee of course.
"Jorge was a front," rumbled Finn. "He was paid by a man named Todd Hansen to lead you to the sawmill..." Frowning, Orzsebet's companion growled, "how do you know this?" Finn ignored him. Turning to his spymaster, the big man said, "I want Mr. Hansen collected. Bring him to me. We're going to ask some questions..." "As you wish," said the Lady of Spies. She turned and signaled her fellows, who joined her as she walked back across the room and out the door. "I don't understand," growled her lieutenant. "That information is valuable. This Hansen could be an asset. We could learn much from him. We should be selling him the information..." The Agent Princess shut her subordinate up with a curt wave of her hand. "Only a fool crosses that man, Allen," Orzsebet rumbled, "and I won't be protecting you from his wrath."
As the spies went out to serve notice on a would-be tyrant, Billy the Human found himself standing in the shoes of the King of the World and wishing that he could swap places with his dad. He would rather be doing anything other than dealing with yet another world-smashing crisis. The princesses were, as usual, fighting over nothing. Half of them saw no problems at all. It was the ugly calculus of power. If Jungle Kingdom exploded, what was that to them? Jungle Kingdom was on the other side of the souther sea.
It helped not at all that Abieuwa–either because she didn't understand the problem entirely herself or because she was hiding the depth of it–was doing her best to obfuscate the situation while demanding help from the Privy Council. And Billy? He was stuck there in the middle and close to wilting under the pressure. Down in the pack of princess-problems, the Dowager-Princess, Odessa, stood frowning at him. His first test, and he was looking like he would crack. It was a bad sign, and she found herself resolving to test him. Interrupting the barrage of questions, the tall, lean woman demanded, "will Your Highness do nothing? My people are under threat if this mystery explosion envelops the south!"
Surprisingly, that idiotic demand brought a moment's clarity to the proceedings and shut down the shouting for a precious few seconds, buying breathing space for the big man. Steepling his hands in front of him, the Ice Prince rumbled, "we need facts, Your Highness. Facts are thin on the ground at the moment. Right now we don't even know if there is a threat, much less how big a threat there could be. I will lead a delegation to the Jungle Kingdom with our finest scientific minds to assess the problem. In my absence, my sister, Star, will take over leadership of the council until my father's return..." When Crab Princess began to shout for Finn to come back and take over, Billy shut her down with, "the threat in the east is dire. We have reasons to believe that Bandit Princess is attempting to acquire dangerous weapons. She's already made attempts to procure the Zombie Virus. I'm afraid my father's focus must remain on her defeat. That will be all, Your Highness."
Rising, the big man beckoned his wife, saying, "we have much to discuss Princess Abieuwa." The tall woman flinched. That sounded ominous. With a nod to Bonnie, Billy said, "I need your advice, Princess Bonnibel." Turning to Lollipop, the big man said, "please have Princess Blargetha, Princess Nadia, and Lady Sarah brought to the Privy Chamber." Billy blew out of there, leaving the princesses no opening to say a word, and again Odessa found herself wishing she was younger. This was a prince worthy of a princess, and Nieve was fucking things up.
Billy went straight to the private meeting chamber behind the throne. Settling himself in the seat at the head of the table, the big man looked his wife square in the eye and said, "you're going to come clean about this. There's too many lives at stake." Abiuewa opened her mouth and shut it again as she realized that Billy wasn't going to be swayed by her usual tactics. "How much fuel is in the bunker, Abieuwa," asked Bonnie? The Jungle Princess balked. That was a closely held secret. It was her people's great legacy! "How much," Billy growled? "I demand to know. You will tell the Crown of Ooo just how much nuclear material is there."
"We... we've been... we don't know," Abieuwa admitted. They had been refining fuel, off and on, for centuries. It was the last imperative of a people that were seemingly forgotten. Mine fuel and refine it. Stash it in the bunker. It had almost become a holy quest for the people of the Southern Jungle. Billy grimaced. This was going somewhere very dangerous. He knew, from his admittedly limited education, that nuclear fuel could 'cook off' all on its own if there was enough of it in one place. That was, in essence, the basics of making a bomb. Trouble was there was so much that was unknown in all of this.
As the big man pondered that, Sarah came in, leading Blargetha. Moments later, Nadia came in as well. "Sarah," Bonnie greeted her double. "I need computation mode. Will you give it to me?" It was a far cry from the imperious behavior of the past where Bonnie ordered the android-girl around like a dog, and Billy found himself both pleased by that and a little disturbed. There were rumors and rumblings about just what kind of relationship the two had.
"Sure," Sarah replied. "What's going on?" "Abieuwa's bunker may be going critical," Bonnie replied. Nadia's mouth gaped open in horror. Sarah though, was already going into the hard-logic mode that locked out her emotions. Pacing back and forth, the bubblegum princess announced, "calculate... Assume an average content of U235 per ton of raw ore. Assume... ten to twenty days of processing a year... Assume roughly one-thousand years of processing..." Sarah's eyes flicked back and forth in a blank/glazed look that Billy found disconcerting as Bonnie fired assumptions and numbers at her in a bewildering stream of numerical gibberish. Finally, the pink-haired princess rattled to the end. "Finish calculation," she announced.
Sarah stood there a moment, running down through the math, her eyelids fluttering and nose twitching in a worrisome display that made Billy think of the overheating issue when Bonnie's malware overclocked her processors. "Could have used that," Blargetha rumbled. Nadia jabbed her in the side with her elbow, eliciting an 'oof'. Sarah was her friend, not a fucking pocket-calculator! "Four-thousand, seven-hundred, ninety-six tons of high-enriched uranium fuel," Sarah burbled. "Phew!" Blargetha spat out the tea she'd been drinking, and Nadia's jaw came open again. "We have a problem," Billy muttered. He didn't even want to think about the size of boom that would make!
"Ok," said Billy. "Pack your stuff. All of you. We're taking a flight to Jungle Kingdom. Bring whatever science-biz you can lay hands on. We're going to assess the bunker." It was firm and decisive. Lollipop? Need you to go grab Star and let her know I'm going. Also need you to send a message to Fi. I may need her..." Lollipop rushed out of the room, almost smacking Odessa in the head with the door. She paused a minute, wondering why the old bat was there. Then, knowing how important it was to keep a Mertens on the throne in full sight of the sundry bothersome hang-arounds, the skinny sugar-snack got on her way.
With the decision made, it was all hands on deck. Taking custody of Billy's kids, Olesia took the quartet to the nursery and handed them over to Drew and Breakfast, while Billy personally went down to the science-academy with Sarah and started basically cleaning the place out, sending truckloads of gear to the Candy Kingdoms' airport under guard. Bonnie, Blargetha, and Nadia closeted themselves together down in Bonnie's lab with a recalcitrant Jungle Princess and began the tedious task of dragging information out of her on just what was in the mysterious bunker in the jungle.
Bonnie and Nadia had both seen the thing. It was a half mile on a side, and heavily overbuilt of concrete so thick and tough that centuries of rain, wind, sun, and the occasional earthquake, had done little to harm it. Trouble was, that was all any of them knew. They'd seen the surface, and Nadia had once seen the ancient machinery that refined raw uranium ore from a distant mountain, turning it into deadly enriched material suitable for powering machinery–or building a bomb. Big as it was, the bunker hardly looked like something that contain thousands of tons of uranium–certainly not in a form that was safe.
"It's... a cube," Abieuwa admitted. They'd been going around and around for the better part of an hour, and it was clear that the Lady of the Southern Jungles was getting very nervous. They were getting closer and closer to things she didn't want to tell them. At the same time, the prideful princess was dealing with tremendous risk. Her people could be obliterated by the very treasure they'd so jealously guarded. "It's a cube," she muttered. She'd seen ancient documents showing just how big the treasury was. It was a cube, a half-mile on a side. "That thing goes a half mile into the earth," howled Nadia?! Flushing, Abieuwa nodded.
"Never mind that," Blargetha interrupted. "That's enough fucking mushroom bombs to beggar the bomb that smashed Ooo! You're fucking insane!" The plump princess began pulling at her hair, and Bonnie could easily understand why. The thought of that much 'boom' made her giddy. She almost wished she'd left Sarah here and gone down to the Science Academy herself.
"What are the safeguards," she murmured. It came out far calmer than her seething heart was managing just now. With a sigh, Abieuwa admitted, "there was an ancient plan... that laid out just how the chambers were to be stored. The machines store them for us. The machines our ancestors left take care of much of the business inside. Only a handful of my people have ever gone within and none in the last hundred years." Oreva's family had been leaders among the men who tended the bunker.
"Wait a minute," growled Nadia. "You've been buying lead storage vessels from my people for the last twenty years. What the hell were you using before that?" The Jungle Princess glanced away, her expression telling the tale. They'd been cobbling together whatever they could to store highly-enriched uranium. There was no telling what was down in the bunker or what the quality was. This was every flavor of not-good. Bonnie halfway wanted to call Finn herself and tell him to get his ass back here! She didn't want to deal with this! She wanted to make this somebody else's problem!
Taking calming breaths, the tall princess pressed the buzzer, summoning her butler. "Peps," she said, "get Simone and Betty. Hell, get Maja if you can pull her out of whatever she's doing down in that lab..." Much as she had no use for 'magic', right now they needed a miracle. "Better call Cherry," said Nadia, "and tell her to stop executing those tomb-raiders and antiquities fences. We might need ancient-tech to get out of this mess." "Right," said Bonnie. "All of you... pack your shit. The court's moving to Abieuwa's place for the duration. Either we fix this mess, or..." The or didn't really need saying. Everyone moved.
As the sun was setting, a cavalcade of vehicles converged on the Candy Kingdom's airfield. Billy was already there with Sarah, watching as the last few necessities got loaded. Olesia was at his side, and Abieuwa, who'd been putting up with the young wench, might have cussed her. She might have, if Billy wasn't instructing her on what to do to take care of his kids–their kids. The princess found herself feeling about two-inches tall as the younger woman promised to make daily vids of their children.
"I'm afraid you won't be around to do that," Bonnie announced, as she passed the pair. "I might need an elemental, and Phoebe can't come. You're now a critical person for the crisis. Hand the kids off to Drew and Breakfast, get your shit packed, and get back here." "I just need some clean sand," Olesia murmured. "Get on the plane," Bonnie commanded. Hitching up her skirts, the plump girl scooted her ass up the ramp as if she'd been standing next to a freezer. "We ready," asked Bonnie? Billy, who'd been a little startled to have this woman just start bossing Olesia around like that goggled at her. "Yeah," said Sarah. "Plane's loaded. Everything I could beg or borrow."
Simone and Cherry came striding up to the plane then. "Where's Betty," Bonnie asked? "She's going to Lizard Kingdom," Cherry replied. "Lizard Princess has a library full of antiquities. There might be things there that could help us." Nodding, Bonnie said, "get on board. We'll talk in flight. Conference ten minutes after we're airborne." Without a further word, Bonnie herself shouldered her bag and started climbing the ramp.
As the airship carrying his people began rolling down the runway to build speed for takeoff, the King of Ooo was busy interviewing an unlikely guest. Orzsebet and her team had searched across most of the day for Todd Hansen. The green-skinned giant shouldn't have been hard to find here on the edge of Engagement Ring Kingdom. He stood head and shoulders above nearly everybody in the town. When you threw his skin-tone on top of things, he stood out all the more–a green-skinned, blonde-haired giant in a nation full of blue-skinned pee-wees. And yet he'd been rather scarce.
That scarcity told volumes about just how involved he was in the Bandit Princess's business. Finn was almost eager to question him. Time was wasting, and every moment took Breezy further and further away from him. He was feeling a lot of angst for not having taken care of her when she'd done so much to take care of him over the years of his life, and more than that, he had come to a deep and abiding love for her. He feared that he'd never see her again in this life, and he'd already resolved that anybody responsible for harming her was going to die as ugly a death as he could manage.
Todd Hansen's eyes told that he knew exactly who he was dealing with. He wasn't at all surprised when Finn came through the door to the basement space where he was being held. His hard eyes followed the other man as he came striding across the dimly lit, low-ceilinged chamber under the hostel's common room.
Finn could hear the thumping beat from the party going on in the commons. The spies liked there to be a continuous party in their hotel. The noise from the crowd, the din of shouted conversation, and the pounding music drowned out anything that might be going on in the basement. There was no reason at all to play with this man, and the King of Ooo resolved to get right to the point.
Stopping before the bandit-chief, Finn asked, "tell me, Mr. Hansen, do you know what it feels like to have every bone in your body slowly crushed?" The giant gangster stared at him, his expression a strange mixture of puzzlement and fear. Indeed, the spies were also staring. That wasn't really part of the script. Reaching out with that monstrous mechanical arm, the big man took the gangster's big right hand, as if he were going to shake hands. At first it wasn't clear that anything was happening. Then as the pressure increased, Todd Hansen's expression quickly changed from puzzlement to fear to horror. And then the bandit was on his knees, screaming. When he tried to fight back, the King cruelly backhanded him, breaking his nose in the process. Todd Hansen's face turned deep red, and he screamed and screamed as his hand was crushed into a bloody pulp.
The spies were now staring at their nominal master in shock. At Finn's nod, the two brutes on either side jerked the weeping gangster back to his feet, where he stood wobbling in shock and pain. Wiping his bloody hand all over the big man's terrified face, Finn rumbled, "you were trusted with a cargo. A cargo came through. Where did it go?" His voice was utterly and terrifyingly calm. Trying to man up, the big man clamped his mouth shut. Finn reached out and grabbed his forearm. The gangster began to fight again, but, down an arm, he didn't have much of a chance. Finn kicked him in his right knee, splintering his knee cap and dropping him on the ground, where he lay screaming pitiably. "I'll do your chest and head last," the King rumbled, as he slowly crushed the gangster's right forearm, reducing it to mush.
The gangster moaned pitiably, but the King merely moved on to his right foot. When he felt that awful pressure on his right foot, the gangster began to sing. The broken man began to tell everything he knew of the mystery cargo that had passed through his pub. He hadn't seen it, but he knew it was a person. The gangs always used the same coded phrase when they were hauling a kidnap victim versus a slave. The victim was in a box. The box had come in on a wagon and been carried out of there again under heavy guard, headed east towards the bandit kingdoms.
"Destination," Finn asked? The terrified gangster admitted that he didn't know, but he'd heard a name mentioned. As the spies scrawled down the last of Mr. Hansen's words, the big man pondered what they had to do now. The bandit kingdoms were the favorite place for shipping illegal cargoes. There were no inspectors looking at cargo there. Ships came from all across the world with cargoes that evil men trafficked, and they left with slaves and drugs to take back to their foreign masters. He didn't have a lot of time before Breezy was taken beyond his reach.
"There's a man on Fifth street," said Finn. "His name is Bollinger... Take Mr. Hansen to him. There're other people who want to talk to him about matters that don't concern me..." The spies snatched up the broken gangster, hauling his battered body out of the room immediately. They were going to take him to be further tortured by the gangsters for the crimes he'd committed against their laws. Likely, he'd be in a river or unmarked grave in the wilderness after that. Allen Lloyd turned his pale face away from the sight of the big man wiping that ugly mechanical hand clean of blood. Orzsebet was right. This was not a man you crossed.
The King of Ooo turned to his spymaster and said, "attend me, Princess Orzsebet." As he turned to go, the Lady of Spies fell in at his side. Silence reigned, as the pair headed back upstairs to the hotel's best suite. Arriving upstairs, the King led the way into his quarters, his bodyguard shutting the door behind them. Stopping in the center of the room, the big man turned to his spymaster. "We'll track the name," she said. "We can get leads from his phone and the papers from his office." Nodding, Finn agreed, "that will be fine. I'm pleased, Orzsebet..." She bowed to him. When she straightened, the big man took her chin in his hand–the very hand he'd used to brutally sanction the gangster. "Master," Orzsebet murmured, a quaver announcing her terror.
Reaching down, the King eased the waistline of her skirt down, showing the strange tattoo there. He'd seen it the night she'd drowned. Her sodden clothing had very nearly been torn off by the rush of water in the millrace and river, and he'd spotted the tattoo while he was saving her life. Finn's Toy. Her face flushed. "Who hit you," he asked? The trembling came back. Cupping her chin with his left hand in almost tender fashion, the big man rumbled, "tell me who did that..." "The Committee," she blurted. "Why," he asked? Flushing, she admitted, "punishment. The Committee had me beaten... and... they did that." They'd dared not do anything worse to her, though having her raped had come up in the vote twice. In the end, the very real risk of Finn's catastrophic reaction to that had squelched most of the uglier sanctions. Nobody particularly wanted to have their head pulled off their body or to be turned into a living candle or something equally as wicked.
Brushing her face with the back of his hand, the big man told her, "the Lady of Spies belongs to me. No-one has the right to put hand to her without my permission." Shocking him, the slim woman pressed her face against his hand as if it was a soft and luxurious pillow. "Master," she murmured, her voice sounding plaintive. That told him something of just how bad things had been, and he found himself thinking of the months where he hadn't heard from her. Stirrings of rage filled him. Calming the anger in his heart, the big man told her, "we will address this later." His mind went to his wife. Drew had wanted to give her a good looking over. "I want you to stand down for a while," the big man said. "Your aide seems competent..." "Master," she pleaded. "D-don't send me away..." She was afraid. He could see the fear in her eyes. She feared the optics of being sent away.
The skinny woman pressed herself against him, and he knew immediately what she was doing. She was offering herself to him–giving him her body. "Nothing's going to happen to you, Orzsebet," he murmured. "Let me stay," she pleaded. A part of him wondered if this was calculation. Everything had layers with Orzsebet. Nothing was ever quite what it seemed with the Agent Princess. Another part of him... was tempted. He found himself tempted as he had been with Hurletta and Aerwin. He was tempted to take advantage of her. At the same time, this wasn't a victim of a violation, and it wasn't a vulnerable young woman who's mother had been kidnaped out of their home.
The big man shoved his hand between her skinny thighs and cupped her snatch through the silky drawers she was wearing. The slim woman's breath came out in a rush. At the same time, her narrow hips subtly began to bump and grind against his hand. He was a little surprised to find that she was already very wet. He found himself tempted again, as his mind skewed the equation towards calculation. She was afraid, but not so afraid that she was going into this with no thought of the possible outcomes. Eyes closed, the slutty spy-girl let out a soft, but unmistakable sigh. The King of Ooo stared deep into those dark brown eyes and rumbled, "entertain me. Dance."
Stepping back, the big man stood there, staring at her. Swallowing, Orzsebet began to dance. It was jerky at first, but slowly she began to get better, becoming more natural. She was very thin, like Lollipop, with the barest of bumps for breasts and narrow hips. She did have a cute, bubble butt, and lean, shapely legs, accentuated by the high-heels she habitually wore. "Show me," the big man whispered. Licking her lips, the slutty spy-girl began to slowly strip, popping the buttons on her blouse one by one as she danced there in his quarters. Underneath, she wore a bra in shimmery silver silk.
As the blouse came loose, she flung it into the corner. Her belly was flat as a board–amazing for a woman as old as he was. Hips bumping and grinding, the Lady of Spies put on a show best she could consider she had no rhythm at all. It was nothing like Aysun or Alexia. Orzsebet was the one princess who apparently didn't know how to dance. Unzipping her skirt, she let it lid down a little, trying to tease he imagined. She was awful at this, but the fact that she was so clearly doing this under duress was a very dirty turn-on.
They had a history. He had crossed blades with the Agent Princess on numerous occasions. He'd saved her from being butchered once when she got in way over her head. On the flip side of that coin, he'd slapped the shit out of her on one of her more excessive moments where she'd nearly killed a lot of people who didn't need it to punish a mark. And there was the casino. She'd vowed to make him suffer after he thwarted her plans to smash the casino that cheated her. They had a lot of history together, didn't they?
Popping the catch on her bra, the slutty princess tried to tease him, holding the bra up over her little knobs, as she flashed them at him. He would have been pressed to explain why he wanted to fuck her. She was skinny as a rail and cunty in demeanor. But you can do what you want to her, he thought. It was an ugly thought. He could do what he wanted, and she wouldn't resist. She was afraid of him and dependent on his good will. Her own people despised her and had considered butchering her. After the interview with the gangster, an ugly piece of him was in charge right now.
She was down to just her panties now, and he found himself eying that twisted tattoo. It was low on her belly–really just above her crotch on the left side. As her twisting, gyrating hips brought her around to face him again, he took a good look at it. 'Finn's Toy'. Grabbing the skinny slut by her arm, the big man dragged her into his bedroom. Dragging her over to the bed, the big man shoved her down on her belly, the big man slapped her hard little ass, causing her to squeal. At the same time, that hard little ass began to wriggle around in heat. Finn spanked that hard little ass a long five minutes, making her squeal and wail. He could tell she was getting hotter and hotter. Hitches in her breathing announced that she was getting off, and that little ass was still wriggling around when he quit spanking her.
Slipping his fingers into the waist of her panties, the big man jerked them off her ass and down her sleek thighs. Thinking of the tattoo just above her snatch, Finn cupped her slimy fuck-hole with his big left mitt and shoved two fingers inside, whispering, "so this is Finn's toy, huh?" Whimpering in heat, Orzsebet nodded. Roughly, the big man jammed his fingers in and out of her snatch, like he was juicing a piece of soft, wet fruit, while the slutty princess screamed into the matress. Her hips were wriggling and jumping, and she had both hands wrapped up in the sheets. His hand was sticky when he quit.
Grabbing a handful of her hair, the big man pulled her up against him, reaching around to cup one of her dainty little knockers. Roughly, Finn squeezed her hard little titty, making her gasp. Orzsebet's ass rubbed against his crotch. "I'm going to fuck you," Finn growled. Grabbing her hand, he pressed it against his pecker. Immediately, she began rubbing his dong with her tiny little hand. "Yes," she moaned. "Please..."
As Finn dances along the line between right and wrong, Billy heads south to answer the deadly question: What's in the box? Hopefully the Finn Crew can get the Jungle Kingdom's bunker straightened out before... really bad things happen.