Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time.

PART 5: Candy Queen

"You have ten seconds to vacate the area," the giant Rattle Bot warned Marceline. "If you do not leave, this unit will remove you with deadly force."

"Yeah, not happening," Marceline responded.

Marceline then morphed into the same giant armored werewolf creature she had been transforming into to fight the Rattle Bots all night. The robot opened fire on her the moment Marceline began to charge at it. This time though the bullets actually penetrated Marceline's armor, causing her to roar with pain. Angered, Marceline grappled with the giant machine, biting into its head with her fangs while digging her claws into its armor. With a twist of her neck, Marceline tore the Rattle Bot's head off and flung it into the side of a nearby building.

The vampire queen then turned and hurled the robots body to the ground and jumped on it. She jumped on the machine several times until it was rendered completely flat. With the Rattle Bot destroyed and her wounds fully regenerated, Marceline shrunk back down into her normal form and wiped her brow. Bonnie and the others emerged from their hiding place and ran up to Marceline.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked Marceline as she put her arms around her.

"Yeah, but these robots of yours are kind of starting to wear me out," Marceline answered.

"We better get into the castle before more of those things show up," Bronwyn told them.

Bonnie nodded and gave Simon and Bronwyn some quick directions to Peppermint Butler's library. The four then rushed into the castle and split up to perform their respective tasks.

It had not taken long for Simon and Bronwyn to reach Peppermint Butler's library. A few times they had to duck behind a corner to avoid patrolling Rattle Bots and drones, but the pair had made it to the room without much difficulty. When Simon tried the door though, he found it was tightly locked shut. He tried forcing the door open by hurling his shoulder into the hard wood, only to end up hurting himself.

"Step back, Prof. Let me handle this," Bronwyn told Simon.

"Oh! Are you going to use the old key hand trick your grandfather used?" Simon asked.

"Not exactly," Bronwyn answered. She then gave the door a hard kick with her right foot, causing it to bang open. "Key foot."

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever works."

As soon as Simon and Bronwyn entered the library, Bronwyn shut the door behind them as tightly as she could. Meanwhile Simon began to scan the shelves for any text that might help them against Techno Joe. As his eyes and pointed hand moved over each book, he gasped and recoiled when he saw a certain title. The book in question was called the Necronomicon. It was a forbidden book Simon had heard nothing but terrible rumors about during his early days in academia.

Simon quickly moved on though and continued scanning the shelves. He at last found what he thought they might be looking for. It was a large encyclopedia of sorts on all of the known major demons. Simon removed the large tome from the shelf and took it over to a nearby table. He opened the book up to the table of contents. It turned out there was an entire section on Techno Joe.

"Eureka!" Simon declared as he began to flip to the proper page. "This may have most of what we need."

"What about this other book you looked at?" Bronwyn asked, pointing at the Necronomicon.

"Oh that? That's nothing. Can't help us at all."

"Are you sure? You reacted like it was kind of important," Bronwyn pointed out as she pulled the forbidden book from the shelf.

"Bronwyn, no! You don't want to look in there!" Simon told her as he turned from the open encyclopedia. "It's said the contents of that particular book can drive its readers insane!"

"Oh please! How bad can a little ancient book be?" Bronwyn asked as she began to scan a random page. Her exposed eye went wide and expression of absolute terror formed on her face. Bronwyn quickly slammed the book shut and put it back on the shelf where she found it before wrapping her arms around herself, shuddering. "Okay, yeah. That was a bad idea."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good," Bronwyn answered before tamping back a wave of vomit. "So that other book has what we need?"

"Well, it at least has extensive information on Techno Joe," Simon answered as he turned back to the open encyclopedia. "He's a relatively young demon born during the height of humanity's digital age. He has the power to make computers and all forms of technology do his bidding. Joe's also capable of freely traveling to different dimensions, even onto what we once called the Internet. There's a rumor he used this power to send insulting emails to various world leaders that fanned the flames of hatred leading to the Great Mushroom War."

"Can you skip to the part that helps us figure out how to stop him?"

"I'm looking," Simon answered as he flipped to another page. "This may take some time though."

Bronwyn frowned. "Time probably isn't something Finn and H.W. have a lot of, so you better hurry it up."

Simon nodded. "Believe me, I'm well aware of what's at stake. One way or another though, I will find a way to get rid of Techno Joe before he hurts either Finn or Marceline!"

Bonnie and Marceline raced down into the deeper levels of the palace towards Candice's core. The deeper they got, the more Rattle Bots they encountered. Bonnie had ended up taking out most of them using root beer and cream soda sprayed from the palms of her hand. She suddenly found she was glad she hadn't made the Rattle Bots waterproof. Within under ten minutes Bonnie and Marceline finally made it to the hallway leading right to the core.

The core was behind a thick steel door guarded by two Rattle Bots. With a signal of her hands, Bonnie told Marceline to hang back before suddenly leaping out into the hallway. The candy princess sprayed the two robot guards with streams of soda right as they raised their cannons towards her. Both Rattle Bots shorted out and dropped to the floor as inert clumps of metal and wire. Once the robots were out of commission, Bonnie ran up to the metal door and opened the control pad on the right side of the doorframe.

Marceline walked up and examined the fallen Rattle Bots. "Gotta say Peebs, you're getting pretty good at the whole candy elemental thing."

"Thanks," Bonnie responded as she punched a few numbers into the control pad. "Now we just need to get past this door. How easy that'll be depends on whether or not Candice changed my access codes."

Marceline looked up at the door and put a hand on her hip. "If your code doesn't work, I guess I could try breaking the door down."

"Nice idea, but the door is a solid piece of carbon steel about eight feet thick," Bonnie revealed as she put her palm against the handprint scanner under the control pad. "It's probably too thick for even you to break through." The handprint scanner dinged and Bonnie smiled. "Looks like we won't need to worry about how to break in."

The massive door slowly slid down into the floor, revealing the chamber on the other side. Candice's core was built into the wall at the other side. The electronic eye of the computer looked on coldly at Bonnie and Marceline as they walked in.

"Hello Princess Bubblegum," Candice greeted in her usual pleasant tone. "Your arrival here has defied my predictions. I calculated only a two-point-four percent chance you would actually make it here to my core."

"That explains why you didn't change my access code," Bonnie realized, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, now that I'm here, I'm going to try and remove the virus Techno Joe put in you to turn you against me."

"Techno Joe placed no form of malware in my system, Princess. He merely gave me a true account of your past actions during the course of your reign of the Candy Kingdom. From these actions, I have concluded that you are the one true threat to the kingdom you claim you wish to protect."

"I don't know what sort of data Joe fed into your system, but obviously it's based on a pack of lies that I need to purge from your memory banks," Bonnie declared as she started towards Candice's panel.

"Your Uncle Gumbald, Aunt Lolly and Cousin Chicle," Candice spoke, causing Bonnie to freeze.

"What about them?" Bonnie asked.

"During an attempt they made to neutralize you hundreds of years ago, you turned them into more simple-minded candy people."

"Okay, see? This is what I'm talking about! Uncle Gumbald tried to use that dum-dum serum of his on me! And he was the one who used it on Aunt Lolly and Chicle."

"True, but you made no attempts to reverse the effects of the serum."

Bonnie looked down and to the left. "They…they seemed happier that way."

"The more likely reason for you inaction to cure them is because in their diminished state, they were no longer a threat to you."

"Hey! Bonnie made the right move leaving them as candied goofballs," Marceline interjected. "After the whole crazy Elemental thing, Gumbald got turned back to his original self and went to war with the Candy Kingdom! If you ask me, he deserves to be a stupid punchbowl."

"True. Gumbald would have been a potent threat to the kingdom's safety," Candice admitted. "But Princess Bubblegum is also just as big of a threat. They are relatives after all. Then there is what had happened to the Gumball Guards, the precursor to the Rattle Bots. You had them all eliminated."

"They were becoming too violent," Bonnie argued. "I had no choice but to destroy them. They might have turned into a threat to the kingdom's people. Surly you can understand that."

"True. Had I been in service then, I probably would have done the same thing you did, Princess. However, I calculate a forty-two percent chance you destroyed the Gumball Guards because they were a threat to your authority."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Candice."

"There is also the general way you've treated your subjects. Over the years you've kept them under near constant surveillance and at times even used them as expendable pawns, such was the case with the candy person known as James. Based on all of this data, Princess Bubblegum, I have to conclude that you created the Candy Kingdom and its citizens for the sake of your vanity and to satisfy your need for power."

"That is so not true!" Bonnie declared, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"You have made yourself into a goddess, Princess. Your candy subjects were made for the sole purpose of serving as your mindless worshippers. Any threat to your authority, you crush without mercy. You have used any means necessary to do this, such as employing an infamous dark wizard like Peppermint Butler to see that your will is carried out."

"Hey! I didn't know about half the stuff Pep-But got up to."

"But his actions were mostly in your favor. Then there was the incident where you infected the people of the Fire Kingdom with what could be considered a life-threatening plague all so you could infiltrate them and disable their primary means of defense."

"P.B., did you really do that?" Marceline asked.

Bonnie looked away. "I…it was all to protect my kingdom! I thought it was too dangerous for the Fire Kingdom to have those mechanical golems. They could've used them for an all-out war with all of Ooo! Besides, I did leave them one golem for protection."

"And such a gesture was a mistake," Candice coldly responded. "There is a thirty-eight-point-two percent chance the Fire Kingdom could use their single golem to attack the Candy Kingdom. No doubt you left them the golem as a way to make yourself seem merciful and generous to others. Princess Bubblegum, you programmed me to protect the Candy Kingdom and serve its people, and to remove any impediments to the kingdom's prosperity. A self-serving monarch like you is only a threat and an impediment. Therefore, my directives dictate you must be destroyed."

Marceline growled and stepped forward. "Okay! I've had just about enough of you! Bonnie may have made a few mistakes in the past, but she's the best thing that's ever happened to this kingdom! I say it's time we pulled your plug!"

"I think you'll find that doing so is easier said than done."

Before either Marceline and Bonnie could respond, the entire chamber began to shake. Small bits of mortar began to fall from the ceiling.

"Candice, what did you do?" Bonnie asked.

"I made a few improvements to myself to better protect and serve the kingdom," Candice answered. "I think you might get a kick out of this, Princess."

Finn's battle against Techno Joe had quickly become a losing one. In the time Simon had started his research and Bonnie had gone to confront Candice, Finn and Huntress Wizard had ended up on the defensive. Joe had not only started using more powerful attacks against the duo, he had used his keyboard guitar to summon more Rattle Bots to provide backup. Ever since, all Finn and Huntress Wizard could do was fall back. Eventually they were forced to flee and take shelter in a house near the castle.

Finn and Huntress Wizard were sitting in the bathtub of a bathroom on the second floor of the house. The bathtub was next to a window, which Finn was using to keep an eye out for Joe.

"Hopefully it'll be a while before Joe finds us," Finn spoke. "How you doing on arrows?"

"I only have four left," Huntress Wizard answered as she examined her quiver. "I had to use up most of them to fight off those Rattle Bots."

"Can't you like make more out of thin air?" Finn asked as he sat back down next her.

Huntress Wizard shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. Besides, I've already used up most of my magic. Pretty soon I won't have any fuel left in the tank. This demon, he's a way stronger predator than us. And he's got a strong pack backing him up."

"Well then…looks like we may have bought it."

Huntress Wizard took Finn's mechanical hand. "If we have, then I'm glad to have you at my side at the end of this last hunt."

Finn and Huntress Wizard looked deeply into one another's eyes. Just as it seemed like they might kiss though, the wall behind them broke away. The two quickly got to their feet and saw Joe floating before them with a pair of Rattle Bots at his side.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you two have an appointment with death," Joe remarked.

"Death and I happen to be old friends, sort of!" Finn responded as he pointed his sword at Joe. "Bring it!"

Before Joe could order the Rattle Bots to open fire, the entire earth began to shake. Suddenly there was a loud noise, and Finn and the others saw a massive object rising out of the ground behind the castle, taking out a few houses and other buildings as it ascended. The object was a floating prize ball machine with a purple base that had a glowing green sphere on the bottom. The front of the square glass case on top had two rectangular eyes and a rectangular mouth on the front. There was a curled pink wig covering most of the glass case, and on top of the wig was a small gold crown.

"This night just keeps getting worse, huh?" Huntress Wizard remarked.

Joe grinned. "Well this is a fun little surprise. I bet it won't be much longer before Princess Bubblegum is ready for a coffin."

Marceline flew out of the hole where Candice's chamber with Bonnie clinging to her back. The two were perfectly fine after the chamber fell apart. The couple floated in the air several feet away from the giant prize ball machine. Bonnie took a good look at the contraption and noticed its glass case of a head was filled with not only prize balls, but some sort of strange green liquid.

"Candice!" Bonnie called out. "What is all this?"

"You are looking at my new main unit," the prize ball machine spoke in Candice's voice. "I call it the Candy Queen. From this point on, I shall be taking over leadership of the Candy Kingdom. Princess Bubblegum, your reign has now ended."

Bronwyn and Simon had also felt it when the entire castle shook, though they had no idea about the event's significance. Simon at the moment had four books open before him on the table. He was still frantically flipping through pages as plaster fell from the ceiling in the wake of the tremor.

"Prof, looks like we may be all out of time here," Bronwyn spoke.

Simon cried out in frustration and flung the open books of the table with a sweep of his arm. "Dang it all! It's pointless!"

"You mean you can't find a way to take down that demon?"

"…Actually, I did find one way to get rid of Techno Joe, but I really don't want to use it. It would be potentially bad for everyone, especially Marceline."

"Well it's not like we have any other options. Whatever that quake we just felt was, it can't be good. If there really is a way to get rid of Marceline's psycho demon suitor, we need to take it no matter how bad it is."

Simon sighed. "I suppose you're right. Do you have a marker on you?"

Bronwyn pulled out a black felt-tip marker from her pocket. "I like to tag stuff sometimes."

Simon took the marker and looked around the library. He saw a small fridge right by the door and went to open it. As Simon hoped, he found a carton of bug milk inside. He assumed Peppermint Butler had kept the milk in there for certain occult rituals. Simon had seen other pieces of occult objects around the room that probably served a similar purpose; in all likelihood the library had also been Peppermint Butler's workshop.

With the carton in hand, Simon went over to a bare brick wall at the end of the library and began to draw on it. The drawing was an odd smiling face of a man with glasses and pronounced stubble.

Simon splashed a bit of bug milk on the drawing as he chanted the words, "Maloso Vobiscum Et Cum Spiritum!"

The milk soaked into the lines of the drawing and the wall suddenly opened up onto an endless sea of fire. A cluster of blood and organs flew from the flames and assembled together, quickly forming into a humanoid creature in a dapper black suit with a red tie. The entity had grey skin, pointed ears, slicked back black hair, a fanged mouth, and large reptilian eyes.

Bronwyn began to shudder with fear. "I take it back! Let's find another way!"

Simon could understand Bronwyn's terror. He nearly wet his pants the moment the demon appeared before them.

In spite of his fear though, Simon took a breath and stepped towards the demon. "Hunson Abadeer? You probably don't remember me, but my name is Simon Petrikov. You and I need to have a serious talk."

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