Chapter 9: Barrier
Huntress Wizard could just tell something was off. The streets of Wizard City had been mostly empty of any guards for an entire week. If she knew the Grand Master Wizard well enough, he would have never risked leaving the city so unprotected unless it involved something very important. But then again, being the leader of all wizards, she found very little that could actually make him worry.
Or maybe she was simply thinking too much into it. Maybe Wizard City was okay without the need of the wizard police's presence every single day. And even if it was not, she could care less either way. The only reason she ever visited Wizard City was to purchase some potions from the local alchemist, but truth be told, she hated the place. All of these robed wizards lurking around, masking their faces under their hoods, doing Glob knows what; be it an ancient necromantic ritual or the summoning of an ancient evil being, it was always on the verge of being completely sucked into a vortex. Huntress only hoped that she was far away when it happened. But just close enough so she could see the fireworks.
Her head jerked when the alchemist banged his hand on the counter to get her attention. "Hey, I asked if you'd be paying in gold or jewels," he said.
Huntress shook her head to come back to her senses. "Gold," she replied while placing a small purse of it on the counter. The alchemist counted the money and handed her the bag filled with all of the potions she had asked for. "Thanks. I'll come back when I run out."
She left the shop without another word.
The sun was now at its highest peak in the sky, but several clouds that blew past only allowed some rays of light to reach the ground. Every street around Huntress was quiet and lacked any kind of wizard traffic. No doubt they were all holed up in their homes working on their usual experiments. But Huntress could care less. She only wanted to leave the city as soon as possible without interacting with anyone.
To take the quickest route possible, she decided to take the back alleys around the buildings rather than the main roads. Not the most sanitary route seeing as they were all covered with trash from tipped over trash cans and riddle with rats, roaches, and other vile creatures. However, what may have seemed disgusting to someone else was just a slight inconvenience to her. Living in a rundown tree house on the edge of a cliff for most of her life, she had grown used to living under less than desirable conditions. That is not to say it still made her uneasy to be walking down the alleys of the city, where the filth was almost all man-made rather than natural.
When Huntress came to the end of one of the alleys, only a short distance away from Wizard City's main entrance, she stopped right at the edge when she caught of peak of three wizard police grunts conversing to each other as they walked in her direction. Rather than show herself to them, she decided to just lay back and wait for them to pass.
"Did you hear the news?" one of them asked, almost in a whisper.
"What? That the human got sent to jail?" replied the second grunt.
Huntress' eyes widened, even if they were not visible to anyone else. 'A human? Could it be…No, what would he be doing in Wizard City? Then again, how many other humans could there possibly be in all of Ooo?'
"It happened two days ago, didn't it?" the second grunt continued.
"Yeah. Apparently him, his dog companion, and Ice King got caught breaking into an old building and were arrested. After that, they were taken to the temple, where the human supposedly got on Grand Master Wizard's bad side. Now he's being guarded by almost every single one of Wizard City's guards around the hour, making sure he doesn't escape."
'Magic dog? Ice King?' Huntress wondered. 'It has to be him. Finn…'
"It makes our job harder, though," replied the second grunt. "With less guards patrolling the streets, crime has gotten way up. Especially at night. We don't have the manpower to deal with all of these goons at once."
"Well, maybe if we…"
Their voices began to fade as they walked further down the street. Huntress stepped out of the alley when they were out of sight, and turned to make her way out of Wizard City with her bag of potions. But, for reasons even she did not have the answer to, she stopped dead in her tracks, unable to keep going. Something was keeping her from leaving.
'He…he'll be fine,' she told herself. 'I mean, this is Finn the Human we're talking about. With Ice King and Jake by his side, I'm sure they can all break out on their own soon, right?'
She shook her head and began to walk again, only to come to another halt after just a few steps. Huntress had never been sentimental about anyone in her life. So how come she could not just walk away from this? Deep down, she knew better. Wizard City's prison was nothing like other prisons. If the three of them were still alive, and not put to medical beds yet, they would be soon. But then again, she was thinking about breaking someone out of prison. And not just anyone, but one of the most well-known individuals in Ooo, and the two others along with him. She was close to slapping herself.
Not to mention she still remembered the time she kissed Finn. A moment that even she did not fully comprehend herself at the moment it happened. It only made her annoyed that it was the first thing that popped into her head when thinking of him.
Huntress sighed. 'It wasn't that good of a kiss anyway,' she told herself. 'But…I can't just leave Finn in prison. Or Jake. Or…even Ice King. What is wrong with me?!'
Finally giving in, Huntress went back into the alley and hid her potion bag behind some tipped over garbage cans, currently not in use. She painted a mental map so that she could come back and get it later, but for now, she left it behind and began to climb up to the rooftop of the nearest building.
After a while of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, she was able to locate the two guards she was eavesdropping on earlier. Both were still talking, but she was still too far to make out their exact words. And it was made even more a chore when they continued to turn sharp corners, making her lose them every so often. If she wanted to have to slightest chance of entering the prison, she needed them. Otherwise, she would have to wait for hours to spot another patrol with the lack of them on the streets.
Analyzing their walking pattern, she ran across the rooftops further ahead of the street, waiting for them to pass underneath. In the meantime, she focused on hearing more of their conversation as it got progressively clearer.
"I've been thinking," one of them said. "What if the human actually manages to somehow escape?"
The other laughed. "Are you joking? Almost every guard in Wizard City is making sure he doesn't. He may have been able to do it once with the bubblegum princess, but not this time."
"Okay, but let's just pretend that he does. Do you think the Grand Master would be desperate enough to summon…them?"
Huntress raised an eyebrow. "Them…?" she mumbled.
"Wha…you mean the Wardens? That's just an old story they tell to little kids, man."
The first grunt seemed uneasy. "I don't know. My old Nan used to tell me stories. As strong as gods; masters of the magical arts; more fearsome than any dragon. If they're sent after you, you're already dead. Some say even the Grand Master Wizard is afraid of them."
"The Wardens don't exist, and you better get that junk out of your head. Now come on, we still have a job to do."
Just as they finished, Huntress jumped down from the edge of the roof, catching both guards by surprise as they were too slow to notice the threat coming from above. She landed on top of one and made him fall to the ground, allowing her to quickly stand up and kick him across the head, knocking him unconscious.
The remaining guard was quicker to react. He shot several blast of energy from the palm of his hand. It missed Huntress by only a few inches as she jumped out of the way. Before he could shoot again, she used her own magic to pull an arrow from her quiver and shoot it at him. Unfortunately, he was able to get out of the way as well, just in time to avoid getting hit in the chest. Instead, the arrow hit the wall behind him.
What the guard failed to realize is that Huntress missed him on purpose. While he was distracted by the arrow itself, she ran forward as he moved out of its way and kneed him right in the gut, forcing him to drop down to his knees while groaning from the impact. It was all he could do to react before she kicked him across the head as well, knocking him down along with his already unconscious partner.
Huntress blew away of loose strand of her green hair that hung over her eye. The arrow that she shot flew back to her grasp as she raised her hand towards it, allowing her to place it back in its quiver.
Carefully, she kneeled down next to one of the guards and removed the yellow gem that covered his singular eye. If her hunch was right, she would need it if she was to have any chance of breaking Finn, Jake, and Ice King out of prison. There was little time to waste dragging the bodies to a secluded location, so she just left them on the street for someone else to deal with.
She began to climb back up to the rooftops, successfully avoiding the attention of any bystanders. For a moment, she wondered if she should have kept going. It was not too late to turn back. But she knew perfectly well that she would only feel guilty later.
It had been a long time since Huntress went anywhere near the prison. But if memory served well, it was located on the very edge of the city, near the stone walls that formed the crater hiding it from the outside world. She needed to go as far away from the main entrance as she could, which she was not find of at all, but continued to press on nevertheless.
Huntress always preferred to do things the old fashioned way. Meaning she never took a liking to learning the powers of flight. When she hunted, she wanted to use the trees to her advantage and use whatever elements nature gave her. Now, however, maybe flying would not have been such a bad idea, considering she decided to climb up the side of a tower in order to get a good bird's eye view of the prison.
Narrowly avoiding falling to her death when her legs slipped on the rocks several times, Huntress stood on top of the pyramid-like roof of the tower, where she could see right below the prison where they kept all enemies of Wizard City.
The guards were not lying when they said most of their band had been placed on guard duty around the structure. There were multiple sentries placed on the wall surrounding the courtyard, even though it was currently empty of any prisoners. The main building, a fortress of stone and metal bars for windows, with watchtowers on each corner of the roof, had a lot more spotlights than normal. Any wizard could easily break through stone, but Huntress knew this was different. While invisible, the prison was covered in all manner of wards to keep anyone from suing spells against the structure. Since it was backed against the canyon wall, one could only enter through the front. A trench had been dug around the structure, so the only way in for anyone who could not fly, like Huntress herself, was the bridge leading to the main entrance, guarded by two stone golems with spears as weapons.
Huntress knew she was taking a huge risk infiltrating such a place, but she still refused to turn back and run. If there was a way, she would find it.
Years of hunting had given her all of the senses she needed to properly scout the terrain. She scanned the area below for any point of entry with little resistance. Every guard position-at least on the outside-was clear to her. But even if she somehow found a weakness in the prison itself, there was the still the matter of bypassing security. However, perhaps there was little need to take the long way in.
Only one entrance seemed promising; a grate built into the building's wall underneath the main entrance's bridge. It was once used to allow passage of a river that went through the canyon, but it saw little use ever since the river became dry. Stone had been placed over it, but now the opportunity opened itself again with the trench being built. It was honestly shocking how no one thought about guarding it as well, but she did not argue.
Huntress was hating herself at this point. She had never been sentimental in her life, and yet here she was. On the brink of breaking into one of the most heavily guarded fortresses in Ooo for someone she only knew for a short while.
'Finn, I don't know what you did to get the Grand Master Wizard angry, but you will owe me big time once I get you and your friends out of there.'
Getting down from the tower was easier than climbing up it, if still a bit tedious. When Huntress reached ground level, she looked to make sure there was no one around to notice her. If Wizard City was anything, it was a den of people who spilled the secrets of others. Getting spotted breaking into a prison by anyone besides the guards would not bode well for her mission.
She used the alleys for cover, deciding that traveling along the rooftops while so close to the prison would make her easier to spot. There were a few wizards walking around here and there, but they just kept to their own business for the most part. After stopping and peeking her head around the corner of the street's end, all that stood between her and the prison's trench were about ten meters of empty land. If she was too slow, she would be spotted by the watchmen on the towers for sure. But if she managed to reach the trench, it would only be a matter of getting to the grate under the bridge and she would be in. But the window of time necessary to run would be seconds. And if she did manage it, there would be no turning back.
No, Huntress knew perfectly well that running would be the stupidest way to go about it. She needed something to get the guards' attention first. But with so many on watch, it would still be a gamble either way.
'Not to mention I'd have to walk back out with three others on tow,' she though. 'I could…No, it won't work. I've barely tried it. And when I did, I messed up bad.'
It was the only shot she had. One that she would have preferred not to use, but it was the only way she could see this working with minimal hitches. "Minimal" being the key word, since she highly doubted any of her actions would go unnoticed. In fact, once the two guards that she knocked out earlier woke up, she would be unable to show her face in Wizard City again for at least a few weeks, give or take. But, if it did go according to plan, maybe she could use the grate underneath the main bridge to get Finn, Jake, and Ice King out without actually having to go in herself.
Huntress sighed while rubbing the bridge of her nose. 'Better than nothing. Might as well give it a shot.'
At least if it went wrong, Huntress would not be near the prison when it happened. She started by taking a rock from the ground, not too big and not too small, that fitted perfectly in the palm of her hand. Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and concentrated as much as she could. But the rock remained the same when she opened her eyes a few seconds later. After repeating the process several times, she was met with the same result. However, as long as it took, she did not allow herself to become frustrated.
After losing count of how many attempts had gone by, Huntress finally felt the rock slightly shift in the palm of her hand. Her eyes opened in surprise; a few more minutes and she would have given up, but she managed.
The rock, which was as deformed as any other she saw along the floor, began to shift its very shape. Its rough edges began to smooth themselves out, like bones popping back into place after being dislodged. Huntress could only chuckle as it finally took its final shape: a perfect pelt-like sphere, with a surface so smooth that no one would be able to possibly tell it was once a rock to begin with. And to top it off, a light pink aurora now surrounded it, waving around with its bright luminescence.
Peeking her head around the corner again, Huntress prepared to fire the rock at one of the guards patrolling on the high wall utilizing the same propulsion spell she used for firing her arrows. It was a moving target, constantly going from side to side and only stopping for a brief moment when turning around to go the other way. But she had been able to shoot deer running faster than horses through trees. If anything, this was a cakewalk. Right when it seemed like the guard was going to turn around, Huntress shot the rock. It was not very fast traveling for it to actually kill him, but it was evident by his reaction to getting hit on the side of his head that it still hurt.
The pink aurora that surrounded the rock passed on to the guard, evident by the yellow gem on his head changing color. Then, in a weird turn of events that made Huntress lose her composure, she now found herself in the guard's shoes, looking at the world through his eye.
There was now a faint pink glow about the world. In fact, just about everything felt wrong besides the vision. She felt taller, heavier, a lot less balanced and composed, and disoriented beyond all belief. But it worked. Despite all of her initial doubts, it worked. Huntress was now controlling the guard's very mind and making him do her will.
"Nice," she said, feeling uncomfortable hearing a voice that was not her own. Nevertheless, she needed to act fast before anything went wrong and lost control. Out of all the times she tried telepathy, this was the first time it ever actually worked, but there was also a lot open to question about how long she could keep it up. "Okay, just find who you're looking for and get out. No sightseeing."
Another neat feature to telepathy was the ability to see into people's thoughts. Unfortunately, the guard did not seem to have any knowledge regarding Finn's exact location in the prison cells. It seemed like his only job was guarding the wall. Finding him was going to be a bit harder than imagined.
All that could be done at the moment was go inside and look around for any clues to his whereabouts. There was a door at the base of the watchtower at the end of the wall, which she used before anyone else could notice her strange behavior. Once inside, she found herself going down a circular flight of stairs ending in a long stone hallway. While one side had doors, the other had railings that allowed anyone to see out into the courtyard. The gate leading out was currently locked, but Huntress doubted she would even need to go out there.
After reaching the end of the hall, she went through another door. The entire place would have been a maze to her if it were not for the guard's mild knowledge of the general layout. And because of it, she was able to find herself in the prison's main cells.
It was a large room with two floors, each with a row of cells for the prisoners. Each was currently occupied by someone, but Huntress immediately shifted her gaze away after she made sure Finn and his friends were not in them. Luckily-or unfortunately-for her, all she needed to know where they were was the two guards posted in front of the cell at the very end of the room. And when she got to it, it was them.
The cell only consisted of two bunkbeds and a single toilet and drain. Finn was lying on one of the beds on top, and Jake right underneath him. Ice King was sitting on the edge of the lower bunk on the opposite end of the room, and on the bed above him was just another random prisoner she did not know; a raggedy old man with a puffy beard. All of them wore orange jumpsuits, and Jake in particular had a strange metal collar strapped around his neck.
'Must be so he can't use his powers,' Huntress guessed.
"Hey," called out one of the guards while holding up his hand. "What are you doing here, Carl? You're post is elsewhere."
"I, uh…the boss gave me a bit of time off for now," Huntress replied. "I figured I'd come by to check how you guys were doing with the prisoners."
"Fine," the guard replied. "Hmm. Hey, Carl, what up with your gem?"
Huntress gulped. She forgot the gem was no longer yellow like all others. "Just…trying out something new."
"Huh, never took you for a fan of pink," said the other guard. "But hey, who am I to judge? Just make the boss doesn't see it. He's very strict about our uniforms."
"Yeah," responded the first guard. "Besides, pink is stupid."
The second guard raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with pink?"
"No, nothing. I'm just saying."
"No, you weren't 'just saying'. What did you mean by him liking pink?"
"I wasn't saying anything. I just think pink with our shade of skin color looks ridiculous."
"I'll have you know my grandma was buried in a pink dress!"
"Uh, guys?" Huntress tried to interrupt.
"What are you getting so worked up about, man?" asked the first guard. "I didn't know."
"Yes you did. You were there! Are you saying my grandma looked stupid?"
The first guard sighed. "Ugh, every day with this. You always get worked up over the most stupid of things."
"Oh, so now you're calling me stupid for liking pink?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"Guys?" Huntress tried again.
"How dare you bash on my favorite color?!"
"I wasn't bashing on anything!"
"It sounded like you were! You think pink is stupid!"
"I could care less about any color!"
"Then what color do you like?!"
"I don't like any!"
"You have to like some color!"
"Well I don't! It depends on the light. Sometimes I can be a bit colorblind, all right?!"
"That makes two of us," Finn said from within the cell. It turned out all of them were paying attention to the commotion.
"You know what, man?" the second guard unsheathed his wooden wand and threw it on the ground. "You can guard the prisoners on your own. I'm not having any of this. Until you appreciate the awesomeness of pink, we are through."
The first guard seemed to be trying to come up with further arguments, but instead just took his own wand and threw it on the ground as well. "You guard them, Carl!" And without another word, Huntress was left alone inside of a room filled with dozens of prisoners.
"Well that was awkward," said Jake from inside the cell.
Huntress walked forward and leaned against the metal bars. "Finn, you're okay."
"Yeah…" Finn replied, tilting his head in confusion. "Why would you even care?"
"It's me! Huntress Wizard!"
Everyone in the cell looked at each other confusingly before bursting out into laughter. "Y-you?!" Jake asked. "If you're Huntress Wizard, then that makes me the king of Sausage Land!"
"No, it's really me!" Huntress groaned. "Look, long story short, I'm actually standing outside the prison taking control of this guard's body. I can get you all out of here if you cooperate."
Finn jumped off from his bed and stood right in front of the cell. "Even if it really is you, what plan do you have to get us out of here?"
Huntress pulled out the wand sheathed on her belt and aimed it directly at Jake. Before the yellow dog could jump out of the way, he yelped as she shot a ray of energy that disintegrated the collar around his neck.
"We bust our way out," she replied.
Ice King chuckled. "She scared you good, Jake."
The canine mumbled in annoyance. Now able to use his powers, he stretched out his arms to large size and ripped apart the cell's bars.
"Good, now break through the ground underneath the toilet and sink," Huntress ordered.
"Ew, gross," Jake said in disgust.
"Just do it, bro," Finn said. "Quit being such a grump about everything."
Jake mumbled some more. "I'm not so grump…"
Stretching his fist to maximum size, Jake slammed the toilet into the ground. The hole created allowed the most gut wrenching smell possible to enter the cell, prompting everyone to nearly vomit.
"Okay, now crawl in there," Huntress said.
"Oh, come on, you're just messing with us right now," Ice King said.
"It'll lead you into the trench surrounding the prison, just under the main gate's bridge. If all goes well, I'll meet you outside."
"Meet?" Finn asked. "You're not coming?"
"I'm technically already out. I'll see you all on the other side."
Finn nodded. He allowed Jake to go through first, then he followed behind. Ice King however, stayed behind to talk to the fourth prisoner.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked.
"I'm too old for such adventures," he replied. "I think I'm better off staying here."
Ice King seemed genuinely upset. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around the prisoner. "I'll never forget you, Honcho."
"My name is Bob," replied the prisoner.
"There, there, Honcho. You'll he okay without us."
"I hate you."
With no other words, Ice King released Bob and went down the hole along with Finn and Jake. Huntress, however, had to buy them the time they needed.
At the opposite end of the room, near the main entrance, was the lever that opened all cell doors in the prison. She ran to it and placed her hand on the handle, looking up at all of the prisoners in their cells.
"Time to start a riot!" she shouted.
All of the prisoners cheered as she pulled the lever and all the cells opened, allowing them to be free from their confined spaces. Before Huntress could see what else came from these events, she finally deactivated the telepathy spell and found herself once again in her own body, leaning against the same wall where she had left it before going in.
It did not take long for the sirens to begin going off in the prison. Soon, all guards on top of the walls and the golems guarding the main entrance went inside to deal with the escaped prisoners. However, as time went on, there was no sign of Finn, Jake, or Ice King anywhere. For a moment, she thought they failed to make it out in time, but that changed when she saw Ice King fly right out of the trench with a large Jake in tow as Finn rode on his back.
When all three of them reached her, smelling quite horrible, she asked, "What took you so long?"
"We had to make a quick stop," Finn replied. "Ice King wouldn't leave without his stuff."
"Hey man, this blue robe and crown is who I am," the ice wizard said. "I ain't letting no wizard police confiscate them."
"What about your stuff, Finn?" Huntress asked, noticing he still had his prison jumpsuit.
"Ah, I left all of my stuff at home. I'm only down a cheap wizard disguise."
She nodded in understanding. "Let's just hope you won't need to fight with just your fists. And you owe me a very good explanation as to why you were in prison."
"Thanks, Huntress," Finn said, forming a light smile on his face. "We owe you a lot more in the future."
"Don't mention it," Huntress replied, with no smile but appreciative of his words. "Let's go."
The group began to lengthen their distance from the prison, hearing the sirens and fighting fading away. They avoided the streets as much as possible while making their way out of Wizard City. And as they ran, or flew, Finn and Jake both laughed as they fist bumped.
"Home free, baby!" Jake said.
Unfortunately, Jake's days of jinxing things were not over.
Everyone looked up at the sky as a thundering sound filled the air. Despite there being no gray clouds, strikes of lighting spread across the sky, wrapping themselves all around Wizard City until they reached the floor, just outside the canyon that surrounded it. Then, a wall of energy formed in between the lighting, which ended up forming an enormous electrical dome barrier that covered the entire city.
"What's happening?!" Finn asked.
Before Huntress could answer, a large hologram of Grand Master Wizard's face appeared in the sky, looking down upon everything below.
"People of Wizard City!" he said; his voice boomed. "This is your ruler, the Grand Master Wizard. There has been a security breach in our correctional facility. Until the problem is dealt with, and every single prisoner has been brought back, no one leaves or enters this city!"
GM's face disappeared as his message ended. Meanwhile, everyone just groaned in annoyance.
"Great," Jake said. "How are we supposed to get out of Wizard City with that barrier covering every way out?"
"Any ideas, Huntress?" Finn asked.
"Let me think," was her only response.
"Oh, oh!" Ice King said excitedly while raising his arm in the air, like a student wanting to answer a question. "What about Oldtown?"
"Absolutely not!" Huntress answered without any hesitation.
"What's Oldtown?" Finn asked.
Huntress placed both of her hands on her hips. "I only know what I've heard. Wizard City was built on top of the ruins of an older city. It was a lot larger, so chances are that it manages to go past the barrier. We'd have to go underground in order to get to it."
"Sounds good to me," Jake said. "What's the problem?"
Huntress sighed. "Wizard City is home to all manner of wizards. Wizards who spend the majority of their time making countless experiments. And most of the time, these experiments tend to go wrong in one way or another. Whatever spawns from these mistakes is thrown down there. In short, if we go to Oldtown, I have no idea what we could possibly find down there. I just don't wanna risk it."
"But there's no other way, is there?" Ice King pointed out.
Huntress thought for a few seconds. "No. Not that I know of."
Finn stepped off of Jake, allowing the dog to morph back to his original size. "Well then, Oldtown it is. Let's just hope there's nothing actually alive down there."
She was still hesitant, but Huntress saw no other alternative. Everyone stayed on her trail as she motioned for them to follow.
After sneaking around some more, using the alleys as cover from any patrols, they eventually reached a manhole in the middle of one of the roads. It was clear by the look of Ice King's face that he hated having to go into another horrible smelling place like this. Finn was the first to jump in, then Jake, then Ice King, and Huntress was last.
Once they closed the manhole cover, the group was left in complete darkness. At least until Huntress summoned a floating ball of green light that hovered just above her, lighting the way through the slimy and grimy sewers.
"Let's not waste any more time than we need to," she said, dreading the worst as she led everyone through the darkness.
Note: I would say that I'm pissed at Adventure Time for killing off Rattleballs in the season finale, but those of you who have been with me since the beginning know why that would be a bit ironic. So…moving on
By the way, for those of you waiting on Sentinels, I promise it'll come back soon. Winter vacation is nearly here and then I'll have a lot more time to focus on finishing it while also working on this one. If it's any comfort, the ending is already written. Just a matter of getting there.
-DRAGONNINJAMAN: Thanks. Will do.
-Fiery Crusader: Supposedly...
Next Chapter: The Dead City