Rakesh al-Makan ran for his life. The shayaateen were hounding him through the halls of the power plant. They were once his friends and colleagues, but now they were soulless husks that did shaytaan's bidding. His legs burned, but he didn't want to stop. His very soul was at stake.
"No!" He yelled, grinding to a halt in front of a wall, "No! No! It can't be! Allah!"
The shaytaan's spidery whisperings were getting closer. Rakesh pounded on the wall, as if somehow he could knock it down with his bare hands. He felt a pressure in his mind.
"You must be so afraid and lonely, Rakesh." The demon said, "Come. Join us."
"No!" He yelled back, "Never!"
Icepicks stabbed into his brain as a thousand voices rose and fell in chorus, "Join us! Join us!" they chanted. Rakesh felt his memories slipping away from him. How he had proposed to his beautiful Almeera, how proud he felt when he received his posting in Iran's first nuclear power plant, how he had suffered long and hard in earning his degree in nuclear physics. Rakesh felt that there was something there, but he didn't know what exactly it was.
"Join us and you will know." The voice whispered, each word grating against his mind like sandpaper against glass.
His will slowly sapped away. Rakesh tensed, blood dripping from his nose. He relaxed, and he was Rakesh no more.
The reconstruction of Princess Bubblegum's tower was moving quickly with Jake's help. The first priority was getting her lab back in order, and there was already a basic set of lab equipment on hand. It was now also being built with extra security in mind to lessen the chances of another incident taking place.
Princess Bubblegum looked sadly out of the hospital window as her tower slowly began to rise. Alex's laptop had once again been a big help. The teenager had many hobbies, and more often than not, those hobbies were related to professional work. She didn't believe it at first when he had first told her that he tried to design architecturally sound buildings just for fun.
She and a few colleagues had rigged together a computer that was compatible with the design software on Alex's unit and he had gladly copied the program over, teaching the Candy Kingdom's finest engineers and architects how to use the software. Sarah was hunched over a record book, meticulously entering data and balancing accounts. She had been learning from bookkeepers and accountants since she had been a girl, it seemed.
Still, she couldn't keep her thoughts away from Finn. He had recklessly charged into battle, and nearly lost his life for it. Her hero had three broken ribs, a crushed lung, a broken arm, and a light concussion.
"Oh Finn." She sighed, "Why must you be so reckless? You're hurting not only yourself, but those who love you most."
She stroked the boy's golden hair and placed a light kiss on his forehead.
"Get well soon, Finn. We need you."
She turned around and slowly walked out of the room.
"How's he?" Alex asked.
"He's still unconscious. EKG reads alright though."
Alex ran a hand through his hair. She initially thought he was flirting with her, then she realized that he only did it in stressful situations. He had been doing it quite a lot recently.
"Look, my lady." He looked into her eyes, "We're just kids. Weird kids, yes, but we're still kids. There's nothing more that we can do."
"That's where you're wrong, Alex." She replied, "You guys have been a big help! We now know more about the relics we find than we ever could because you were there to tell us what they were. You and your friends are helping us rebuild. You even helped save me from the Ice King!"
She remembered something Sarah had said, 'speak of the devil and the devil will come'. The Ice King chose this moment to burst into the hallway.
"Your hero is no longer there to save you, Princess! You're mine!"
The Ice King grinned as shackles of ice materialized around her wrists and ankles. The Princess lost her balance and fell over.
"Jake!" She called out.
"None of that!"
The Ice King flew over and gagged her with an old sock. He picked her up and was just about to fly away when an Axe Bass sailed through the air and sliced off his beard.
"Marceline!" Alex gaped in shock as she flew into the hallway in her bat monster form.
"Put her down, you psycho!" She roared.
A putrid scent filled the air.
"I think I soiled my tunic..." The Ice King said in a tiny voice.
"Why Marceline?" The Princess demanded, "Why did you do that? I could have handled myself, you know!"
"Oh," The vampire replied acidly, "so you don't want me to save you from that freak? Well sorry then! I'll let you be carried away by him next time!"
"No! It's not that..." The Princess' mask was breaking, "I thought you hated me!"
"Hated you?" The vampire said, "Look, Bonnie. You're a self-centered, stuck up bitch, but that wouldn't make me hate you. I've seen too much in my life for that. It's just that... we're polar opposites. I want to be your friend again, Bonnie. You're making it hard for me to do so!"
"What?" Princess Bubblegum looked at her with disbelief, "You want to make up?"
Marceline sighed, "Yeah. I really want to, Bonnie."
It was Marceline's turn to be shocked. The Princess had enveloped her in a tight embrace, sobbing noisily.
Alex watched the two girls enter from his seat at the conference table. Princess Bubblegum's eyes were red and puffy, while Marceline didn't look like her usual carefree self. The light chatter that filtered into the air stopped dead in its tracks as the Princess cleared her throat.
"I have grave news, my friends, vassals, and allies." She said, "My castle has been attacked by the Lich and one of our greatest heroes has been gravely injured."
It was old news to Alex and his two companions, but it came as a shock to the rest. The Earl of Lemongrab stood up.
"You mean to say that your incompetence has nearly cost you the life of our defender?" His high-pitched voice cracked with barely controlled rage, "This is unacceptable!"
Princess Bubblegum brushed off the insult, "This is the reason I have called you here today. We need to draw up contingencies and strategies for our continued peace and safety."
"What about the Newcomers?" The Duke of Nuts rose his voice, "What use are they to us?"
"They have much knowledge of the past, and we may be able to use that to our advantage. Sir Gray?"
Alex cleared his throat and stood up, "I have here dozens of documentaries and hundreds of books on medieval and modern military strategy, as well as software to re-enact and simulate battles from squad level to army level battlespaces."
He prayed to Tom Clancy that he had used the right terms and extracted the laptop from its bag.
"We also have knowledge on many of the relics from the Great Mushroom War as they are common in my time. Furthermore, we also have backup copies of Princess Bubblegum's laboratory notes up until the attack on the Candy Castle. That is all."
"But what about actual combat experience? The Kingdom needs Heroes, not armchair generals!"
Heads turned towards Lemongrab, and slowly began to nod. They had a point. The three of them were useless as warriors, and they knew that. Nika snapped out of her haze.
"I motion to..." She stood up, "To enter apprenticeship as heroes... I hope that makes sense."
People exchanged glances and discussed the motion.
"Nika, what are you-"
"All in favor, say aye."
The vote was unanimous.
"It has been settled then. The Newcomers shall enter a rigorous training regiment under the apprenticeship of the Kingdom's best. If they fail, then Glob help us all."
"Princess! Princess!" A messenger burst into the room, "Prince Gumball has arrived! He requests an audience."
Princess Bubblegum's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. She stood up and cleared her throat.
"This meeting is adjourned. We will reconvene tomorrow at ten in the morning."
Everyone slowly filed out of the room until it was just her, the Newcomers, and Marceline inside the room.
"Speaking of which." The Vampire Queen spoke up, "I gotta leave for a while. Vampire matters and crap."
"When will you return?" Princess Bubblegum asked.
"I'll be back in a month or two. Three tops. If I'm not back by then, start worrying."
"Very well. We wish you luck on your journey."
"Oh, by the way, Alex." Marceline turned towards him, "Take care of yourself, kid. Being a hero's hard."
"I will." Alex nodded, "You too, Mars."
"Cousin?" Bonnibel couldn't believe her eyes, "Is that really you?"
"It's me, Bonnibel. I came as fast as I could when I heard that the Candy Castle has been attacked. I trust that things are going well."
"I hope they would go better. The last week has been hard on everyone. Nobody sleeps safe anymore, lest the Lich King attack again, and one of my best heroes is gravely injured. We have a contingency to train the Newcomers, but it'll take months until they are ready, even under the best. I am sorry, Cousin. I am getting ahead of myself. Let us have some tea."
She showed him inside her quarters, which were spartan in comparison to her old room. She called Peppermint Butler inside and asked him for tea and crumpets, with which he returned a few minutes later.
"So tell me about the situation, Bonnibel." Prince Gumball said, his rich voice filling the small room.
Princess Bubblegum sighed and took a few moments to compose everything.
"I guess I should start from the beginning. I must warn you, it is a long story."
"I have time." Prince Bubba Gumball smiled gently.
The hours passed as Princess Bubblegum recounted the events of the past two months. Her cousin's expression changed several times, shock having registered on his face at least twice in her story. Finally, she told the events of today's meeting and ended with a sigh. Gumball cupped his chin in his hand and hummed.
"I think I may have a solution to one of your problems. My Kingdom is safe at the moment so I can spare my heroines to help defend yours, and perhaps train your new set of heroes as well."
Princess Bubblegum's face brightened considerably, "Oh thank you! Thank you!"
A/N: Longest chapter so far. Hope you guys enjoy it!
A/N2: Caught another formatting derp. Also, I'm not quite happy with the ending of the first scene, but I'm not sure if I should change it as well. I'll put this up to a vote. I also realized I've been misspelling 'Bonnibel', I'll go through the previous chapters and set things straight if it's too glaring.
Anyway: Thanks for reading!