Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

PART 4: Techno Joe

"Come now Marceline. Surely you didn't think we wouldn't meet again," Techno Joe spoke as he continued to play he keyboard guitar. "After all, I made my feelings for you clear."

"And I thought I made myself clear to you!" Marceline responded as she took Bonnie's hand. "I'm with Bonnie. And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't be remotely interested in trash like you."

"Oh I heard you. But you see sweet Marceline, I'm the persistent type. I intend to win you over no matter what. And to that end, I decided one of the things I needed to do was eliminate the competition."

Bonnie gasped. "You donked up Candice's programing and turned her against me, didn't you?"

Joe laughed. "All I did was show your lovely computerized assistant the truth about you. She made her own decisions about you based on the programming you gave her. Of course, I must admit so far Candice has had more trouble getting the job done than expected. So I decided I needed to make a personal appearance."

With those words, Joe changed the settings on his keyboard guitar and began to play a different tune on it from before. Suddenly pieces of the fallen Rattle Bots began to float into the air and move towards Joe. The torso of one Rattle Bot attached itself to Joe's back and became sort of a pack connecting to his jacked with smaller pieces of Rattle Bot armor that had changed shape. Two pairs of Rattle Bot arms connected themselves to the sides of Joe's new pack.

Joe began to laugh as his four new cannons opened fire on Marceline and the others. Marceline grabbed Bonnie and took cover behind a nearby building. Finn and the others quickly took similar action.

"How is he doing this?" Bonnie asked over the hail of gunfire.

"Apparently his thing is manipulating technology," Marceline answered.

"You tell me this now?"

"Well, I didn't think it would come up! I was hoping I'd never see the butt-hole again! Should've known he'd be a total psycho."

As Joe continued his assault, Huntress Wizard prepared to launch an arrow into the air and began quietly chanting a spell. As soon as she finished, the magic huntress fired the arrow towards the sky. The arrow glowed with a golden light and exploded into a thick green mist. When the mist cleared, Joe discovered that his targets had vanished and stopped firing.

Though initially outraged, a smirk soon formed on Joe's face. "Decided to run and hide, eh Marceline? Ah well. You can't have gone far. Besides, I rather like girls who play hard to get."

Marceline and the others had discovered they were now in an old abandoned warehouse of some kind. Finn and Huntress Wizard quickly scanned the warehouse to make sure there were no robots before the group gathered together in the middle of the room.

"That was a nice move back there, H.W.," Finn praised.

"It was just a translocation spell I picked up," Huntress Wizard responded. "Never thought I'd actually use it. Anyway, the spell didn't move us far. It shouldn't be long before that demon picks up our scent again. He's a formidable predator."

"Yeah, but this buys us some time to come up with a good plan. So what do you think P.B.? Any ideas?"

Bonnie crossed her arms. "We still need to get to the castle so we can shut Candice down. That's going to be even harder now though with Marcy's suitor chasing after us."

"Marcy, did your father really set you up with that jerk?" Simon asked.

"Yeah. From what I understand, Joe came to my dad saying he was interested in me," Marceline began. "My dad agreed, thinking it might be good for me to settle down or something."

"Doesn't your father know you're with Princess Bubblegum?"

"It's not like I keep in regular contact with him. Anyway, my dad thought Joe and I would make a good match since we're relatively the same age and both musicians. Of course I've never really been into the techno stuff Joe likes to play. During my last concert he burst onto the stage and started playing one of his own numbers! The fans were about as ticked off as I was."

"In any case, we'll need to get past Joe in order to get to the castle," Bonnie interjected. "Shutting down Candice still takes priority. Once we finish dealing with her, we can worry about the psycho Marceline's dad tried to set her up with."

"H.W. and I could try and distract Joe while you get to the castle," Finn suggested.

"I just wish there was something more I could do," Simon remarked. "If only we had more information on Techno Joe. For all we know, he might have some weakness we could exploit to get rid of him easily."

Bonnie smiled and snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Peppermint Butler had a pretty extensive occult library. It's still in the castle just as he left it. There might be a book in there that could have the information we need."

"Just leave it to me!" Simon declared as he pumped his fist. "I may not have the powers I had when I was the Ice King, but I do have something just as valuable. Research skills!"

"Okay. Here's what I think we should do," Finn began. "H.W. and I will keep Techno Joe distracted while the rest of you book it to the castle. Bronwyn, I want you to stick with Simon and help him get to Pep-But's library. P.B., you and Marcy just focus on pulling Candice's plug."

The others agreed to this plan and quickly headed out of the warehouse. Most of them left knowing their current chances of surviving the night were very low.

Techno Joe flew over an alley scanning for signs of Marceline and the others. Suddenly an arrow came from nowhere and struck the cannon of the upper right arm of his mechanical pack, causing to to explode. Three more arrows flew in from different directions and destroyed the other three cannons. Joe quickly played another quick riff on his keyboard guitar and landed in the alley to avoid getting hit by another arrow.

The moment Joe touched down, Finn emerged from around the corner of the alley with his sword in his metal hand. "Techno Joe!"

Joe smirked. "Ah! Marceline's human warrior friend. I've heard some interesting things about you."

"I'm gonna give you one chance," Finn declared as he pointed his blade at the demon. "Leave now and forget about Marceline. Otherwise I'm gonna mess you up!"

Joe laughed. "You seriously think you can do any serious harm to me? You may have some impressive skills as a warrior, but in the end you're still just a powerless mortal. But if you wish to fight me, I'm more than happy to oblige."

With those words, Joe took hold of his keyboard guitar by the neck and held it like an ax. Suddenly a blade emerged from the side, turning it into an actual weapon. Joe charged at Finn with his weapon raised high and swung it down towards the bearded warrior's head. Finn easily parried the attack though and managed to force Joe back.

"Why don't you just take a hint? Marceline isn't interested in you!" Finn declared as he blocked another of Joe's attacks.

"I'm still fairly confident I can win her over," Joe responded as he dodged a counterstrike from Finn. "Most ladies find me quite charming in the end. Besides, if I'm being totally honest, I don't care if Marceline is truly interested in me or not. Don't get me wrong, she's a nice bit of skirt, but I'm mainly trying to marry her so I can one day take over the Nightosphere from her old man."

Finn's left hand balled into a fist at his side. "You are one sick freak!"

Joe shrugged. "I'm a demon. We're all sort of like that."

"And do you honestly think Marceline would be interested in you after arranging to try and get Princess Bubblegum killed?" Finn asked as he took another swing at Joe.

Joe jumped back and avoided Finn's slash. "I'll admit things aren't going exactly like I planned. Ideally, Marceline wouldn't have even known about my involvement if you and that wizard girl hadn't decided to butt in. Still, I feel like my chances with Marceline will be better once I eliminate the competition."

"Well I won't let your twisted plans succeed! I say this both as Marceline's friend and as the hero who has sworn and oath to Princess Bubblegum!"

Here Joe let out a long deep laugh. "Oh that is rich! A so-called hero vowing his allegiance to someone like Bonnibel Bubblegum? Maybe you haven't realized it kid, but she's about as evil as any demon I know."

Suddenly a hail of arrows came from behind and struck Joe in the back. The attack caused Joe to fall to his knees.

"You should've kept that pack on," Huntress Wizard's voice remarked from the shadows. "It would've at least given you some protection."

Joe grinned. "Please. To me this is nothing more than a paper cut. I think it's time I stopped holding back with you two."

With those words, Joe raised his bladed keyboard guitar and swung it into the pavement. The second he did, a blinding surge of electricity exploded around him and hurled Finn away several feet, knocking him onto his back. When the light faded, Joe was on his feet again and the arrows sticking out of his back were gone. There was no longer a sign he had even been scratched.

"Now then," Joe spoke as he rested his keyboard guitar over his shoulder. "Let's get the real battle started."

Marceline and the others had managed to make their way through the kingdom without being spotted. Several times they had to take cover to avoid being spotted by a passing pair of Rattle Bots or the occasional peppermint drone, but eventually the front gate of the castle was in sight.

"Looks like Candice doesn't have any bots protecting the gate," Bronwyn observed. "Guess your computer slipped up, Princess."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Bonnie responded. "It is odd there wouldn't be guards."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Marceline declared as she stepped out from the group's hiding place. "You guys hang back while I make sure the coast is clear."

The vampire queen calmly walked towards the seemingly unguarded gate. She had only made it half way though when a brand new robot descended from above. It looked like a Rattle Bot, but was three times the size. The machine had six arms instead of two, and the cannons at the end of each arm were all trained on Marceline.

Bonnie sighed. "I was afraid of this. Candice went ahead and rolled out the MK-2 model. Why did I even design a MK-2 version this big? Now that I'm looking at it, its way too excessive."

"You know, I feel like you could've warned us about this sooner," Bronwyn remarked.

"Halt, intruder," the giant Rattle Bot ordered. "You are not authorized to enter the castle. Leave now or be destroyed."

Marceline sighed and cricked her neck. "This really is not my night."

Please review and let me know what you think.