Phillipe sat on one of the large, ornate leather lounge chairs, nursing his drink while he considered what Mr Watkins had asked him to do. Mr Watkins was sitting opposite him, looking at him with a considered gaze as he awaited some kind of response from the young prince. While he was still new to the political arena, he had already stood before some intimidating people. However, this just felt like a whole different level of awkward.
"So Your Highness, do you think you can help?" Mr Watkins asked. Phillipe took a deep breath as he put his drink down on a table.
"I'm not really sure what you think I can do." Phillipe responded.
"You are an exceptional role model for people your age." Mr Watkins complimented him as he looked to Phillipe. "You're educated, you're driven. You have accomplished more in 25 years than many people do their whole lives."
"I didn't do all of that by myself..."
"I'm aware that you had certain opportunities, but I like to think opportunity is like a cart without a horse. If no one puts in the effort to take it, it just sits there rotting." Mr Watkins continued. "I have met men twice your age who aren't as skilled in negotiation and deal-making as you are. It's little wonder you're taken seriously as an ambassador."
"I'm afraid you give me too much credit where that is concerned." Phillipe responded. "I've already been to meetings where people confused me for a seat-filler."
"I just want what's best for Shelby." Mr Watkins told him. "I'm not going to be around forever, and when that time comes, I just want to be sure she's going to be taken care of."
"If there's anything I would never doubt about your daughter it's her ability to take care of herself." Phillipe answered him with a little smile. Mr Watkins returned the gesture.
"I've got a number of opportunities that could set her up for life." Mr Watkins told him. "I've already got a place for her at the business school I graduated from. I'm on good terms with the lecturers; I have some standing with the board. I have a job just waiting for her with room for advancement, and yes...one day when I'm looking at retirement, she could even take the company."
"It sounds like you have a lot to offer..."
"I know she loves all this dinosaur nonsense, but...they've been there for millions of years. They'll be there in a few years." He pressed on. "I'm not saying she can't study this if she wishes. I myself am getting acquainted with the Greek Classics through the local college. When she's financially set, she can study whatever she likes as much as she likes."
"Mr Watkins, I appreciate that you're doing what you believe is best for your daughter." Phillipe responded as he took another sip. "However, I don't really feel comfortable trying to talk her into doing something I'm not sure she wants to do."
"But your father..."
"Mr Watkins...a lot of what I've done is in spite of my father...no offence intended." Phillipe replied as he gestured around. "This Embassy, my position here, my charity work...I did a lot of that despite my father's insistence on Zandar remaining a stand-alone nation."
"But you're going to take over from him one day." Mr Watkins reminded him.
"And in the meantime I'm living approximately 6,000 miles away to get away from the man so I can actually do things on my own." Phillipe responded. "Believe me, I love my father, but I'm speaking from experience. The last thing you want to do is risk driving your daughter away."
Mr Watkins finished his drink and got up from his chair. He offered Phillipe a hand.
"I appreciate your advice Your Highness." Mr Watkins told him. "But I think this is one matter we'll have to agree to disagree on. Perhaps if you have your own children some day, you'll understand."
"Enjoy the rest of your day Mr Watkins." Phillipe responded, before gesturing to the door. "Would you like a ride home?"
"That's perfectly fine, I'll get a cab." Mr Watkins answered. As he left, Margaret came back into the room. She could see that whatever they had been discussing, it had not been a comfortable conversation. It wasn't hard to see that neither man was happy with the outcome.
"Good meeting?" Margaret asked him. Phillipe shook his head.
"It wasn't exactly business." Phillipe told her. "Mr Watkins wanted me to convince Shelby to go to business school."
"He did?" She asked him. "Isn't that kind of...?"
"I wouldn't judge him too harshly. He means well." Phillipe interrupted her. "I just told him I wasn't sure it would be right to use my position as a friend to try and convince Shelby to do something against her wishes."
"Really?" She asked, smiling a little. He just nodded.
"It leaves me in something of a quandary. I'm not sure how I feel about talking about Shelby behind her back." He continued. "But...I don't know how she'll feel if I tell her about our little conversation."
"I'm not so sure she needs to know." Margaret suggested. "I doubt she'll exactly thank you for telling her that her dad is trying to get his business associates to convince her to give up her dream."
"I suppose you have a point." He said with a sigh. "I just couldn't bring myself to encourage anyone to stop pursuing their passion."
Margaret moved a little closer, putting her arm around him, beginning to stroke his shoulders. It was only when he turned and looked at her that she realised what she was doing. Bringing her arm back, she averted his gaze.
"So...um..." She started to stammer. "Jelly donuts and coffee? You can look out that Animaniacs DVD."
"Margaret, sometimes I think there's no one in this world that knows me like you do." He responded, kissing her cheek gently. "I'll meet you in my room when you get back."
As he left the room, Margaret turned to the wall, gently banging her forehead against it.
"Margaret, why the hell do you keep doing this to yourself?" She asked, before gathering her things and heading for the door.
Up on Sledge's ship, Fury and Sledge made their way towards Wrench's lab. It had been a few days since Sledge had given Wrench the sample he needed for his latest run with the re-animator. They were used to screams and anguished cries, but as they got closer, there was a spine-chilling scream that almost seemed to shake the ship. They arrived at Wrench's lab, finding him working on one of his many machines. He turned a dial, eliciting yet another scream so agonising that Fury even seemed to react to it.
"How are things progressing?" Sledge asked him. Wrench gestured to some safety glass he had erected.
"See for yourself." Wrench answered. Sledge looked through the glass, seeing a human-looking creature secured to what looked a lot like a medical exam table or a dentist's chair by thick, heavy manacles that looked more like they were suited to restraining a wild bear than a person. The form on the table was quite small, slender, and appeared to be a young girl, though her head was completely encased in a steel helmet, and her body was completely encased in a one-piece suit. The helmet had a series of wires coming from it, leading into Wrench's computer console. Several electrodes were attached to her bodysuit, many of them to track her vitals, but others were there to assist with the torture. The body on the table started thrashing again as Wrench adjusted some controls.
"She's alive, but how is the conditioning going?" Fury asked him.
"I've been running the programme for a couple of days now." Wrench explained to them. "Fortunately her sensory deprivation helmet was still functioning after last time. You should have seen her reaction when she saw it, she was terrified. I think there might be a component of DNA memory in the clones. It's really quite fascinating..."
Sledge cut him off with a huge roar, letting Wrench know that he was tired of his scientific fascination with the art of torture and the characteristics of the clones. He trembled under Sledge's gaze, but got the message to get to the point.
"Under the helmet, and in that suit, she cannot experience any form of sensory stimuli...except for what I feed into it through the console." He told them. "The average mind can only take total sensory isolation for a couple of hours. After a day or subject is so grateful for any form of stimulus, they become very susceptible to suggestion. All I need to do is periodically pipe some 'educational' footage into the helmet."
They all looked to the screen to see what he was feeding her in short bursts. It was footage of the Rangers in their battles, but it was very heavily edited. The footage didn't show anything about monsters attacking the city, or of them harming people, it was a constant loop of the Rangers destroying monsters, again and again. Every brutal take-down, every single time they had destroyed one of the monsters had been destroyed. Some of them even showed monsters begging in vain for mercy as the Rangers, at least in the context of the edited footage, mercilessly vaporised them.
"By the time I'm finished with her, she'll be completely helpless to do anything other than what you order her to do." Wrench told him.
"But she is all but useless without her powers." Sledge reminded him. "I like seeing a good torture session as much as the next man, but have you managed to repair it?"
"Well...that was a little more difficult." Wrench told them, taking them over to another machine. "I managed to put her crystal back together, but magic really isn't my strong suit. I've managed to get some of her power back, but it's nothing like as strong as before."
"Fury, when was the last time we checked the crushing power on the garbage compactor?" Sledge asked. Wrench started to back up quickly, realising that Sledge was losing patience again.
"I've managed to return some of her power, but...it only works if people...write it down." Wrench explained. Sledge grabbed his blaster and trained it on Wrench.
"If they write it down?" He asked. "YOU EXPECT US TO GET THE RANGERS TO WRITE DOWN...?"
"I think I might just have an idea." Poisandra said as she emerged from her hiding place, where she and Curio had been eavesdropping after stumbling on this meeting during a spirited game of hide-and-seek...something of a pointless endeavour since they were both on the same team and had neglected to get anyone else to play with them! "Though it would require us to borrow a few things from Wrench."
"What do you need my sweet?" He asked her. Poisandra went to a bench and picked up a bone-saw.
"They'll recognise her from last time." Poisandra told him. "Curio, it's time for a make-over!"
"YAY! Makeover!" Curio cheered as they started dancing around. Wrench took the bone-saw off her.
"What do you want me to do?" He asked, realising that if this plan was going to have any chance of working at all, then the last thing he needed was to let a raving lunatic like Poisandra run loose with surgical tools.
Down in Millport, the Harvest Festival was beginning to wind down, and Kendall and Matt had decided to return to the farm as the evening shifted towards those few who just didn't want to admit that the party was over and were hitting the tavern. They weren't really in the mood though, given what had happened.
Mrs Griffin had seen them heading out, and subtle as a sledgehammer, had decided that she really wanted to stay and continue the party. The whole walk home was a little awkward, and most of the way, they didn't even say a word to each other. Kendall had her arms wrapped around herself, and the wire crown from the 'coronation' was hanging from her fingers loosely. Matt's crown was wedged over the top of his cowboy hat. As they walked, he could feel the silence beginning to eat away at him. He looked up for some inspiration.
"Hey, the Big Dipper's kind of low tonight." He commented, pointing up. Kendall looked up, following his arm.
"It is." Kendall responded as she noticed it. She had once spent a little time showing Matt the constellations. She was a little surprised that he actually remembered any of it. She knew when she was nervous around him at the beginning; she had a habit of letting her mouth run away with her. Whenever she was nervous, she always defaulted to her safe zone. Their first date had been when he asked her to give her a tour of Amber Beach...and she'd proceeded to spend more than three hours on that guided tour! Matt had just quietly sat and listened to her as she gave a full run-down and history of practically every landmark in Amber Beach that would put the local tourist board to shame.
"Listen, can we at least talk about this?" He asked her.
"I don't really know what there is to talk about." Kendall answered. "We tried this, and it didn't work out."
"So just because we won't be dating we can't be friends?" He asked her. "You aren't just my little brother's tutor; you are also one of his best friends. We're kind of going to be in each other's lives."
"Matt, maybe this isn't the best time..."
"I think this is exactly the time." Matt told her as he stood before her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes. "Look, I know it hurts. You've got to believe me, this is tearing me up inside, and if I'm honest, yeah there's a part of me that thinks if you walked away now and I never saw you again that maybe this would hurt less."
"Matt..."
"But the thing is, even if it wasn't for Riley, I know I liked you as a person before we got together." He told her. "I'd very much like you to still be in my life."
"This is so hard." Kendall told him, wiping away a couple of tears.
"Nothing in life worth having is easy." He replied. "I know you're heading back tomorrow, but do you think when you do, you'd do it as a friend?"
Kendall couldn't answer. For once, she couldn't come up with the words, but she did nod to indicate that would be for the best. As they headed towards the farmhouse, looking to it, Matt realised there was one last issue he hadn't thought of until now.
"Um...right..." Matt said, trying to broach the subject. "I guess for tonight, I can take the floor."
"You don't need to do that." Kendall assured him.
"You are the guest, I can't exactly ask you to take the floor." He answered.
"You seem to be forgetting your brother has a room." Kendall said to him. She had spent a lot of time on campsites, where personal space became less of an issue. It wouldn't be the first time she had shared sleeping quarters with people she had no interest in. Hell, she had once shared a tent with Dr Runga, a guy who had de-railed her career for years by taking credit for her research. However, she was pointedly aware that it would be more than a little uncomfortable to share a bed with Matt only hours after they had decided to go their separate ways. She saw the crown still in her hand and held it out to Matt. "You should take this."
"I don't understand." He told her as he took it.
"You should keep it for your real queen." Kendall explained. "Maybe you'll get those little princes and princesses, and for what it's worth...they'd be lucky to have you. Who knows? Maybe I could be kind of a cool aunt."
"Thank you." Matt said as he looked to her. "Goodnight Ms Morgan."
"Kendall." She corrected him with a smile. Matt smiled in return. He was glad to know he hadn't been relegated back to 'Ms Morgan' territory. With that, they both headed for the house.
Over at the Embassy, Phillipe was sitting on the couch, watching one of his favourite DVD's. He started laughing so hard that he nearly spit out his drink as he watched the Warner Brothers outwit Death in their attempts to annoy him so thoroughly he would let them go.
"Dadoo!" He chuckled, reiterating the pet-name they gave him when they declared him their dad and reminded him they would be there with him forever. "Classic Yakko!"
As he turned to see Margaret's reaction to the show, he couldn't help smiling to see that she had already fallen asleep. He got up and went to the TV turning it off, and looked to her.
"This was perfect, Margaret, it was exactly what I needed." He said as he looked around. Finding a blanket, he picked it up, coming across to her, laying it over her. Margaret barely stirred at all, indicating she was down for the count. He knelt beside her, resting his elbow on the couch and his hand on his face as he looked at her.
"You know Margaret; you always seem to know what's best for me. You know when I need a night of cartoons and jelly donuts and you know when I need a good kick up the arse." He said as he watched her. "You know...sometimes I wonder what I'd ever do without you. I hope to God I never have to find out."
He watched her for a moment longer, before getting up and heading for his room.
The following morning, over on the farm, Matt had gotten up to begin his chores. He passed by Riley's room, finding the door open. Looking inside, he noticed that the bed was made. He was a little surprised that she was up and about already. He went inside, only to see that her bag was already gone. There was a letter addressed to him lying on the bed. He picked it up, before heading downstairs to where his mom was already making breakfast.
"Good morning Matt." She greeted her son, gesturing for a kiss on the cheek. Matt bet down to allow her to do so. "Do you want to go and fetch Rubik? I've put out his food."
"Sure thing mom." He answered.
"Oh, and can you tell me how Kendall likes her eggs?" She asked. Matt just sighed.
"Mom, Kendall's already gone." He told her. Mrs Griffin looked to him a little curiously.
"She's up early." She commented. "She's heading back already?"
"Yeah, she's...she's gone, gone." Matt explained sadly. "We talked a little last night, and...we've decided to go our separate ways."
"Oh Matt, I'm so sorry." Mrs Griffin replied, hugging her son.
"It was a mutual decision." He assured her, knowing how protective she could be.
"Oh Matt, I know you really liked her." She answered. "Are you alright?"
"I will be." Matt answered, parting from her. "I really just want to concentrate on my work for a while."
"I understand." Mrs Griffin answered. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry. She was a lovely woman. I know she made you happy."
"Yeah, she did." Matt replied. "But you know, one of your famous omelettes might make me feel a little better."
"I'll just look out the sausage." She replied. "You go and find Rubik."