Chapter 2:
The King of Ooo slipped into his wife's office to find his family waiting on him. Other than Bonnie, his wives were all present, either physically or as holograms. Star occupied the seat closest to the door, while Bonnie the Younger sat a little further down the line, across from Bon and Frenchie.
"Good morning, everyone," the big man announced, as he went down the row. Unlike the last time, there were no kisses and warm greetings, telling Bonnie that this meeting was business only. Her brother was the reason for the tension, and she couldn't wait to see him, so she could kick him in the boin loins.
The minute the King's ass hit his seat, the Informer—or rather her hologram—rose. "Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Orzsebet announced. "Orzsebet," Finn responded. "I'm told you have news from the east." Nodding, the Lady of Spies responded, "I do."
Touching an unseen control, the Agent Princess caused a second hologram to appear. "This is the base that my former associates had constructed near the blasted lands," Orzsebet remarked. Bonnie's eyes flicked to her father, finding him already wound up.
"The few survivors that we were able to question indicated that the outlaw, Gumbald, had a scheme to enter the city at the heart of the blasted lands using the unique powers of His Royal Highness, Prince Jay," Orzsebet explained.
Bonnie's mom also tensed, her expression suggesting that Bonnie might be competing for the honor of kicking her brother in the balls. "How," asked Princess Nadia? "The radiation zone..."
"There's no radiation zone in Bonnie-World," Bonnie responded. When the tall princess turned to face her, Bonnie explained, "my world—the piece of Pillow World that's still inside me—has no radiation, Your Highness. The deadly rays aren't there. I can walk through the blasted lands as if I were strolling to Woolsock on a warm summer day. Likely Jay can do the same thing, taking anyone he wants with him."
"Why would my son want to take this Gumbald to obtain death-weapons," Roselinen demanded? Her tone sounded brittle to Bonnie's ears. Her brother's antics were doing her mother no favors.
They'd sinned against the larger family. True, they hadn't understood the world they found themselves in, but Rosie Mertens especially had made mistakes. Having Jay play games that threatened tens of thousands of lives was far more than the ripple they'd caused earlier, though.
"The plan appears to have been to lure Gumbald to a place where Prince Jay could ambush him," Orzsebet responded. Bonnie couldn't miss the smirk on that bitch's face. She was enjoying this. There was no love lost between Bonnie's mom and her father's Informer/mistress.
"What's the state of the weapons," Finn demanded? "Safe, Your Majesty," Orzsebet responded. "For now." Finn frowned at the hologram. "The machines are there," the Lady of Spies explained. "Prince Jay brought a woman named Akari Maeda into the lost city. She disabled many of the machines, so they can't be used."
"The technology is still there, Orzsebet," Minerva interrupted. "Circuit cards. Backplanes. Servo-control units. However much this Akari thinks the machines are disabled, the technology's still valuable all on its own to a man like Gumbald." "Just so, Your Highness," Orzsebet agreed. "I saw the significance immediately. Thus, my distress call."
The Finn-mom began to pace, suggesting that the situation was very delicate. "We have to get those machines, honey," Minerva declared. "We have to retrieve all of them. That includes the ones in the city, but it also includes the ones that you destroyed last year in Nagumo's awful war."
Finn grimaced. They'd left the things right where they lay. It hadn't seemed to matter at the time. He wasn't sure what his mother was talking about because he lacked the understanding. Gizmos and science was Bonnie-Senior's thing. His eyes flicked to Nadia, who now looked very worried.
Taking note of her husband staring at her, the cyborg hottie admitted, "my mother-in-law is quite correct, Finn. A meathead like you would find little there but junk. A man of intellect, like Mr. Bubblegum could learn a great deal from examining the parts. If there are enough salvageable materials, he could construct a duplicate machine..."
Finn shot to his feet, his hands going to his hair. Before he could start pulling, Bonnie primly announced, "then we will take an airship to the east, daddy. I can get us into the city of the dead. I'm sure my stepmother can conjure up enough machinery to move these broken toys somewhere safe." Her eyes flicked to Nadia, as she added, "this is preventing a war, after all, not starting one."
The cyborg-cutie flushed to her orange hair. Slowly a grin spread across her face, and she agreed, "da. We can do this. I think my counselors will be very interested in preventing proliferation of this technology."
The matter got decided just like that. Now, Ragnhild rose to address the gathering. "There's been an incident with William in the west..." Various flavors of alarm greeted that news. Minerva Mertens knew that some sort of cosmic entity was cohabiting her pretty-grandson's body like a rogue computer program. The AI rumbled, "say on..."
In the background of Ragnhild's quarters, a voice that Minerva recognized as the Nine-Tailed Fox, declared, "there has been a full-on possession. The entity appears to have taken complete, if temporary control of William's body. There may have been an attempt to carry out its prime directive."
Frowning, the AI asked, "and what is the entity's prime directive..." She didn't really understand all the details. While she was more comfortable with magic than Bonnibel, she couldn't claim to understand it.
Finn fielded that one, declaring, "nothing less than the complete destruction of Ooo. Nearly as I can tell, the Ice Tiara was a warped echo of the Ice Crown. The Ice Crown was intended to protect the planet from the impact of a meteor by covering everything in ice..."
"That's idiotic," Minerva retorted. "Hey, I didn't make the damned thing," Finn responded. "I'm just telling you what Simon and me figured out."
"I, Finn," Minerva corrected. "Simon and I..." The big man flushed to his hair at being corrected by his mom in front of his wives. Frowning, the AI burbled, "you're doing that thing where you pretend as if your ADHD hasn't been suppressed and your intellect limited. Never-mind. Do go on, son."
Blowing out a breath, Finn explained, "the Hand of Abadeer is dip-yourself-in-the-stuff evil. When he created Simone, he made the Ice Tiara an eviler copy of the Ice Crown. The Tiara doesn't want to protect Ooo. It wants to bury the planet in ice a mile deep."
Minerva's face flicked to Raghnhild. In tones that belied the terror she must feel, the Froyo-Princess said, "William is onboard the Red Wind, a ship commanded by Captain Cassiopeia Antoine. I've instructed Captain Antoine to take William to the Lady of the Lake."
Several faces flushed. It was an open secret in the family that Bill was gettin' busy with Red Kate. At the same time, that might just be the safest thing that could be done.
Moving on, Finn asked, "what's being done to go get Bill and get him home to us?" Katsumi responded, "we've sent orders to the Lady of the Lake to keep William drugged and asleep. I have to finish work on the device that's intended to keep the Entity in check." It wasn't a great answer, but it was clearly the answer they were going to get.
"Ok," said the King. "I need a progress report on that within a week. I'd also like to have Thor go down and collect him to take him back to King's Island." "I'll get it done," Katsumi declared.
Turning to Nadia, the King asked, "how long to gather up the necessary equipment?" With a sigh, Nadia responded, "I'll need some help from Sakura. I'll go east and meet with her." She offered Finn a crooked grin and remarked, "with no monster in the river mouth, we should be able to sail up the river with a fleet and collect the machines from within the city. That just leaves the wrecks near Sonbong."
Nodding, Finn said, "that'll be on me. I'll leave tomorrow." "Two days from now," Rosie retorted." Finn's face snapped around. "There's something we need to talk about," Roselinen explained. Nodding, Finn said, "ok. Two days from now."
Rising, Star announced, "I'm still working on the investigation of Astartes the water-nymph." Hearing those words, Finn and his wives sat up and took wood-nymph wonder declared, "the investigation has given us some tantalizing information. While I don't have anything conclusive to report, the suspects in question have hinted in conversation that there's some flavor of secret that they're keeping from us."
"Any idea what that could be," asked Minerva? With a sigh, Star admitted, "they're keeping their cards close to the vest. I'd hoped that they would be comfortable enough in Castle Lemongrab that they'd let their guard down." "Maybe you should pull the guards and servants," Breakfast suggested. "I was never excited to talk about anything important around servants."
Orzsebet laughed, drawing irritated glares from everyone. "You're not very good at this," chuckled the Lady of Spies, "so you should probably stick to being a secretary..." When Breakfast shot to her feet, Minerva snapped, "be quiet." Face hot, Breakfast sat down.
Turning to Orzsebet, Minerva rumbled, "I don't like that you prick at members of this household. That will have to change. In the now, I'd like to hear what you're thinking..." Finn grimaced. His mom was in full-on 'Helper' mode. He'd have to have a chat with her about that. This wasn't the Ark, and they'd already shut down Bonnie over similar antics. In the meantime, he'd have to smooth things over between Beeps and Orzsebet.
Coolly, the Agent Princess declared, "shuffling servants around actually makes people more nervous, not less, Your Highness. Anything that disrupts the flow of the household is likely to draw unwelcome attention from the conspirators, causing them to clam up. If you want them to talk, it's better to cause one single massive disruption that attracts attention to somebody they already perceive as a potential liability. That focuses them on the detection and elimination of someone they already perceive to be a problem..." "...causing them to open up when that person's gone," Star burbled.
Turning to her father, Star remarked, "there's one servant they suspect of being a spy. He's not, but he has a bad habit of asking uncomfortable questions. I'll arrange for a scandal implicating him and allow him to be yanked." "Timing," asked Simone? "It'll take me at least a couple of weeks," Star replied. Glancing at the Agent Princess, she said, "I'll have to do it slowly, so it doesn't look suss." "Good girl," Orzsebet chuckled.
The meeting broke up after that, with His Majesty's wives and children offering him well-wishes before signing off or getting up to go. As Bonnie shut the door, Finn found himself alone with Rosie.
"Ok," said Finn. "What's bothering you?" Rising, his wife came around Simone's desk, and Finn rose to face her. Slipping her arms around his broad shoulders, the plush pillow lay her head on his shoulder. "Are they well," she asked?
Finn nodded. "Rough business," he rumbled. With a heavy sigh, he admitted, "you find out you don't really know people."
Stepping back, Rosie stared up at him in puzzlement. "Marcie's dad," Finn sighed. "I... had to make him relive the death of Marcie's mom." Her eyes went wide. No, that couldn't have been pleasant.
Shaking himself, he admitted, "business of the cosmic beings. I shouldn't..." "No," Rosie agreed, "you shouldn't."
Moving on, she asked, "what comes next?" "Bonnie's working on getting the kidnap victims out of there. Then she has to work a deal on how to see to the Glass peeps' needs. They're a little better off because they can use the furnace to fix themselves when they get hurt, but they're very fragile. They need..."
"People who won't break if they fall down to do a lot of their work," Rosie burbled. Nodding, Finn said, "Bonnie thinks we can trade on their knowledge from the time before the bombs to pay for workers to take care of them."
It was the same way of thinking she always expected of him—help others without cheating anybody. She was proud of him, and she said so. Moving on, she sighed, "we have a problem to talk about, honey." Finn grimaced.
Straightening his tie—they all liked to adjust his clothes like a favorite toy—Rosie said, "the matter with Jacob and Charlene and their children needs to be resolved, honey. You've put this off too long. I asked Breakfast to make reservations for us to meet with Lady and Jacob Senior. Tonight."
Finn sighed heavily. He was not looking forward to this. Stepping back, the plump woman announced, "we should probably have a family meeting, honey. Before you go east..."
Finn nodded. There were a lot of issues hangin' out there with various members of the family. Everything from Bill and Fi's ongoing health issues to the potential 'new' family members, to the drama with the nymphs. They had a lot going on that needed solving. In the now, he had a little work to get done before this meeting with Jake and Lady.
Returning to his office, Finn buried himself in his work, sorting through all the problems that had been left to hang while he'd been in the Glass Kingdom. The biggest deal was Odessa's failures to keep crap out of the food supply. He wanted to schedule a deep-dive into what she was doing there.
After that was the task of getting materials out of the new human homeland in the west to support them financially. He had to figure out which direction they were going to ship things.
His natural instinct was to use the river route they already had, seeing as it ended at Stilt-Town, which he more or less already had some control over. At the same time, there was a temptation to investigate this St. Lawrence Seaway that Kara and Frieda talked about, as it might be more direct.
Roselinen didn't let him forget the little meeting she'd organized. As the clock struck for four in the afternoon, Breakfast barged into his office, carrying his coat. Her expression told that if he even tried stalling, a beating was on offer.
Muttering curses, the big man slipped into his coat. "I don't understand what the problem is, Finn," Breakfast muttered. "You have official permission to get some snatch. It's not like you don't like the sex. You banged Jr like a drum in the far east..."
"You don't understand," he muttered, but he was out of time for arguing about it. Rosie was there at the door.
With his first wife on his arm, the big man went down to the carport, rehearsing what he'd say to Jake in his mind. This was going to be rough. He had to face down Lady and Jake both, and he still wasn't quite sure how to approach this. It didn't feel good to be having sex with their kids, even if those kids were the one to raise the issue. He still felt like a dirty dog.
Arriving at the restaurant, the King found he still had no idea how to open this conversation, but he was out of time to come up with a plan. As Rosie's bodyguard drew the door for them, Finn stepped inside to find Charlie waiting near the head waiter's counter at the front of the restaurant.
Before Charlie could say a word, her father came out of the bar, while her mother approached from the sidewalk.
Spying her parents, Charlie rumbled, "ok, what gives?" In cool tones, Rosie responded, "we're having a long delayed conversation, Charlene." Charlie felt her face go warm, as she realized just what kind of discussion needed her parents, Finn, and his wife to be present.
No sooner had Lady entered the restaurant's lobby, than Viola also arrived. Full house, Charlie thought, but what's the game? I thought Finn worked this all out.
"Hey," Finn greeted the gathering. "Rosie and I thought we'd invite you all to dinner and kinda' chat about where things are..." Jake gave the big man a look of utter bafflement, though his ex-wife looked stricken. Resigned, Charlie rumbled, "ok... let's get this over with." With no further word, she headed for the back room that had been reserved for them.
The curvy pup sat herself at the head of the table and crossed her arms in irritation. As he passed her, Finn rumbled, "babe... don't... don't be like this. We need to work this out." Charlie glared at him, not least because she didn't want to work it out with her parents. In her mind, this wasn't any of their business.
The family filled in around the table, with Finn and Rosie sitting opposite Charlie, somewhat forcing Lady and Jake to sit together on Charlie's right, while Viola occupied one of the seats on the left.
The waitress came in, forestalling the expected fight. Jake wasted nary a moment in ordering a martini for each hand and a massive steak. "Dad," Vi howled! "You need to stop drinking! You're headed for an early grave!"
Jake glared at her, but she cut him down to size, remarking, "is that what you want? To leave us early?" It was an uncomfortable reminder of his lack of involvement in his kids' youth. "What we here for anyway," Jake asked?
Rosie glanced at Finn. Blowing out a breath, Finn opened his mouth. Charlie beat him to the punch. "I'm in a relationship with Finn, dad," she announced. "I had a dream of prophecy. Finn's going to father Gibbon, my son." Jake's head whipped from his daughter to his adopted brother and back again.
It would have made Charlie laugh, if the moment wasn't teetering on the brink. With a sigh, she said, "I'll admit that I didn't take Finn's need to talk to you about this seriously. We've been in a relationship for some time."
With a growl of irritation, Lady phased through the wall, shouting, "Charlie and Viola! Outside! Now!" Charlie rose from the table. A beat late, Viola joined her, the pair phasing through the wall and out into the alley. Finn was left with his wife and his adopted brother.
"What the fuck," Jake rumbled? With a sigh, Finn said, "when we were in the east, Jr was having some emotional difficulties. I was kinda' head down, trying to shut down Nagumo's war, so I wasn't really paying attention."
It was a little difficult looking Jake in the eye. Forcing himself to keep going, Finn explained, "it's the Quicksilver Curse. I guess one of the side effects is that people who are close to me who have the power to see the future kinda' get turned around. Jr... saw herself pregnant, and it upset her. I kinda' thought it was about Charlie's house, so I went down to look in on her."
Jake's eyes got big. "W-what happened to her house," he burbled? Frowning, Finn rumbled, "Nagumo told his men to smash every farm around Charlie's home-town, Jake. Didn't matter if you were growing crops or not, they smashed everything in sight. They smashed Charlie's place, while she was here visiting."
The stretchy-dog visibly relaxed. "She lost most of her stuff," Finn explained, which sent Jake into another spiral. "She... she don't need money, does she," he asked?
"That's why I went down to the place she worked to look in on her," Finn responded. "I gave her a little money, and I hugged her and told her that we were all here for her... but she got a dose of the Curse, while I was doing it. She saw things..."
Outside, Charlie was getting a dose of her own. She'd immediately tried the 'none of your business' routine on her mother, who'd promptly broken out the water—between twisting Charlie's ear and screaming at her.
"I don't like this," Lady burbled. Rolling her eyes, Charlie retorted, "mom, do you think I would have chosen to get pregnant by my uncle..." Both women flushed. "Our lives changed when we all shit on him, mom," Charlie muttered. "I... caused a lot of the damage." In irritated tones, Viola rumbled, "Kim caused a lot of the damage too. Why isn't he here?"
Turning to face her sister, Charlie responded, "I'm sure he got an invite too, Vi. D'you think that woman would have invited you and not our brothers." Viola glanced away. She clearly knew the score, or she wouldn't have opened her mouth.
"It doesn't matter if my brothers are here or not," Charlie declared. "This is how it's going to be. I'm... I'm not crazy about where I am, not least because of the ways I shit on that man, but I'm comfortable with this fate. I'm going to fulfill my destiny. That's how it is."
"I wanted you to have a nice man," Lady muttered. Charlie glared at her, and Lady amended, "I wanted you to have a husband who'd be home with you and your children."
Blowing out a breath, Charlie retorted, "I wanted a man who'd fuck off and leave me alone to raise my son, but Finn refused that offer. He's part of my life, mom. He's going to be part of my son's life."
Turning towards Lady, Charlie remarked, "he wanted to be straight with you. We could have done this a half-hundred ways. He didn't want to play this like we played things with Jake, lying through our teeth and pretending that we weren't in the wrong. Maybe you ought to let up on Finn too. After all, when my idiot brother was screaming at you and acting like a jerk in your house, who showed up to get him squared away?" "Ouch," muttered Lady.
Silence reigned. There seemed little else to say. When the moment stretched too long, Viola muttered, "let's go in and eat..."
The trio turned and phased back through the wall, returning to the restaurant. They found that the food had arrived, and Jake was sitting with his brother down at the far end of the table. "Come join us," Rosie suggested. Not like we have a choice, Charlie thought. The plates had all gotten moved.
After dinner, the family moved upstairs to the restaurant's patio, where Finn immediately took Jake by the shoulder, leading him off to the patio railing. There were still things that needed to be said.
"Not sure why you felt like you needed this," Jake rumbled. "You're already doin' it with Jr." "Two reasons, Jake," Finn responded. "Lies aren't healthy. Not telling you that I was the father of your grandkids is just as bad as telling you it was somebody else." Jake harumphed.
Throwing an arm over Jake's shoulder, Finn said, "you're going to be their grampa. Kids should have grampa..."
Jake's face went red hot, and he muttered something under his breath. "Bronwyn wasn't my daughter," Finn chuckled. "I don't have an axe to grind against Kim, Jake. I understand him more than he realizes. I've done what I could to protect my kids too, but I never held much with kicking people out of my family or blocking family from seeing my kids."
Turning away from the awesome view of Peebles' city, Finn remarked, "families grow and change over time. I'm... we're gonna' get a bunch of new kids to love. That's how I'm looking at this." Jake rumbled, "you were too young t'see all the fights."
"I was kinda' too young," Finn responded, "but I saw the tail-end of some of it. You and Jermaine were the brothers I had, Jake, and I was happier with you than being alone. The lives we had together were lots better than what Jermaine had being by himself in that house."
Taking a sip from his beer, Jake rumbled, "it's weird, man." "Tell me about it," Finn responded. "I respect boundaries, man. I didn't really want to be sleeping with family members, but I can't fight a prophecy. It's stupid to try." "Like my croak-dream," Jake laughed. "Yeah," Finn responded. "That was a goat-rope." Chuckling, he added, "though we did meet Banana-Man."
With a sigh, Jake said, "I'm gettin' old, Finn. You... you took care of them better than I ever did." Those words and their deeper meanings conjured a lot of emotions, both negative and positive.
There was a lot that Finn wanted to say to that, with much of it being things he'd already said. That unhappy reality—that Jake was already pretty far down the road he was on—decided Finn on what he was going to say. "I'm always going to take care of them," Finn murmured, "as long as I'm able."
Lady approached then. To Jake, she said, "don't be a stranger, Jake. We should talk about TV sometime." Turning to Finn, she said, "still not crazy about you seducing my daughters..." Finn's face went red hot. "Take care of them," Lady said. "I'm trusting you." "I will," Finn responded. With no further word, the rainicorn vaulted into the air and flew off into the night.
"I guess I better get going too," Jake yawned. "Got work in the morning." Finn nodded, though he knew that the Candy Kingdom's Postmaster spent most of his working days sleeping at his desk.
Crossing the patio, Jake stopped off and hugged his daughters, who'd been chatting with Roselinen and Lady. With one last glance back at Finn, the stretchy dog went out the door.
Finn crossed the patio himself. They'd sort of taken over the space, and it was time to let the restaurant get back to its normal business. To Charlie, Finn said, "I'll call."
Rosie interrupted, "actually, I've already called for a car to take me home, honey. You're to go home with Charlene." Finn's jaw came open, though he wasn't the only one. Giving her husband a demur kiss, the plush pillow said, "do your duty, honey."
With a smile and a whiff of perfume, the King's wife strode through the door of the patio. Finn was left alone with Charlie, Viola, and his bodyguard. Tugging at his collar, the big man coughed, "a-heh..." Viola glared at him, but Charlie sighed, "ok. Let's... let's go."
The trip back to Viola's place was a little awkward, with Charlie sitting closer to the window than to Finn. This is the way things are, Finn thought. Why spend energy on anger, when we're supposed to be making a baby? Reaching over, the big man took hold of Charlie's arm and jerked her over onto his lap. "Oof," squeaked Charlie. The big man glued his lips to hers, while his hand slid up along her thigh and under her skirt.
In short order, Charlie found herself pressed into the corner of the limo's backseat, while Finn worked her over, stroking her heaving tits, sucking at her throat, and rubbing her pussy all at once. For a woman who'd thought herself jaded, it was shock to find herself getting turned on, when she really wanted to be pissed off.
Nibbling at her ear, Finn whispered, "make-up sex..." Those were the magic words. When he pinched her pleasure-button, the thicc-pup squealed. "Sweet-Tart Towers," the driver announced. Kissing her cheek, Finn whispered, "just a few more minutes..." Charlie nodded.
The minute the pair had exited the limo, Finn scooped her up and carried her into the elevator. Indeed, the big man carried her that way all the way up to Vi's penthouse, with Charlie snuggling in close, while they made out in front of His Majesty's bodyguard.
Leaving the green-skinned giant sitting outside, Finn walked straight past Viola, carrying his girlfriend. Laying Charlie on the bed, Finn slid the hem of her skirt up. Grasping the waistband of her panties, Finn slid them down, down, down before tossing them aside. Coolly, the big man rumbled, "cock 'em up!"
Outside, Viola fumed and glared at the door. She'd expected/hoped her parents would talk her sister out of doing this. "Oooh, baby," moaned Charlie. Viola grimaced. "Uhnnn... unnn... aiiggnnnn," wailed her sister. "You do that so gooood..."
Charlie had told her that Finn wasn't shy about going down on her. He'd eat her to a screaming orgasm before even taking off his clothes. By the time he got done, Charlie would be wet as an ocean. Having never had a boyfriend who wanted to do that, Viola was fiercely jealous. "I'm wet enough, baby," howled Charlie. "Do me... Make a baby in me..." Shooting to her feet, Viola went in her bedroom and slammed the door.
Ah, the troubles of girls with daddy-issues. Thankfully, Finn and Jake's relationship is on the mend. Meanwhile, Star closes in on the water-nymphs and their antics. I wonder what's going on with Billy.