Chapter 33: Day 19 Part 6 —The King's Arrival
King Furry got off Air Force One at the Jakarta Airport. He waved to the crowd and the press as he walked across the tarmac. He then switched to a helicopter and was off.
"We've gotten word from the producers," his lead security detail said, "They are running an hour late with filming. Something about Vegeta and a crocodile costume."
King Furry rubbed his hand down his face. "Anything else?"
"Reynolds wants to know if they do not get back in time because of Vegeta's stupidity, if you would be willing to get back in the chopper to stage a proper landing for the cameras."
He sighed, "Let's see what happens first."
"Yes, sire."
It wasn't even twenty minutes to the resort.
"Holy fucking Christ," King Furry said pressing his hands and face to the window. He looked back in the cabin, "Tell the pilot to circle around!"
"Yes, sire."
The helicopter began to slowly circle the scene.
King Furry thought back to that happy laughing baby his father had once put in his lap without a second thought.
"That baby did this… Father, you had no sense of danger."
Suddenly he heard the pilot scream and the helicopter shook as it made sudden movements.
The helicopter stabilized and hovered.
King Furry opened the door to the cockpit. "What the hell is going—" he facepalmed, "Of course…"
Yamcha was outside waving his arms apologetically. He then wrote on the whiteboard in his hand.
"SORRY! I NEED TO GUIDE YOU TO LAND. FOLLOW ME."
"Augh…" the king sighed. "Just follow him…"
They land at a private airport some distance from the resort.
Yamcha landed in front of the king causing the secret service to draw their weapons.
Yamcha doesn't react. He bows, "I am so sorry I spooked the pilot. I didn't think he would react like that."
"Put those away. All that would accomplish is killing bystanders with the ricochets," King Furry ordered.
The servicemen backed down and the king stepped out of the helicopter.
"You people have such a skewed concept of normal, I still doubt all of you are fullbloods. Stand up."
Yamcha stood.
"Now, why weren't we informed you were coming up?"
"Oh, we saw you circling and were worried you were trying to land on the helipad on the roof."
"So," King Furry tapped his foot, "you came up on your own volition?"
"No, no," Yamcha waved his hands in front of him. "Security told me to go up before there was an accident. You were really low from our perspective." Yamcha put his hand on the back of his head and laughed very awkwardly. "Sorry for the misunderstanding."
King Furry sighed. "No harm done at least." He looked around, "Where is the security?"
"Yeah, good point…" Yamcha jumped in the air.
Everyone murmured and King Furry put his hand on his chest.
"I'm never going to get used to that…"
He came back down. "I can see smoke from their tires from a different part of the airport. I ummm… may have landed you in the wrong spot."
Two minutes later an armored Humvee slid sideways to a stop as others circled the group.
Two men jumped out.
"Are you alright, sire."
"I'm fine, Chuck."
"You idiot!" Arnold shouted. "Couldn't you see us from the air?!" He turned to King Furry, "My deepest apologies for this moron."
"Coming from the guy who tried to shoot me point blank in the back of my head."
King Furry pinched the bridge of his nose, "For the love of God… Let's just get this mess underway."
"The producers are still on the beach with the contestants," Arnold said. "They will radio once they leave."
The King sighed, then turned around. "I'll be waiting in the air conditioning then."
He climbed back in the helicopter and closed the door.
Fifteen minutes later, a secret service agent knocked on the window of the door before opening it.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Schneider says Reynolds and Conner are on their way and will be here in fifteen to twenty minutes, but all the camera equipment is set up at the original location. It would save everyone time if you would reland the helicopter since we are already very behind schedule."
"Yes…" he rubbed his temple, "Yes, we'll do that… Anything to hurry up and get to lunch already…"
Fifteen minutes later King Furry landed for the cameras. Conner approached holding onto his hat as the blades slowed down.
The camera crews rushed ahead to catch King Furry departing the helicopter.
Conner shook King Furry's hand. "It's a pleasure to have you here!" he shouted over the downdraft.
"I wish it was under better circumstances!" he answered.
"This way, your majesty!" Conner motioned towards a vehicle.
King Furry followed him inside. Then the convoy left the airport with the king's vehicle in the center of the circle of Humvees.
Reynolds and Conner sat in front of the king, with several secret service agents already staged in the vehicle.
King Furry crossed his arms. "This has to be the most botched reception I've ever had…" he said, his eyebrow twitching. Now, what did Vegeta do this time that delayed your arrival?"
Conner pulled his phone out and handed it to the king.
"You delayed my landing so Vegeta could wear the skin of a crocodile he killed?"
"This is a TV show, and Vegeta is solid gold."
"Vegeta is a total disaster," Reynolds corrected.
King Furry raised his hand, "No fighting, please. And I suggest you both remember I will be having final say in the final editing and presentation of this show."
"Of course, your majesty." Reynolds said. "I'm glad to have an ally in containing Vegeta."
"I am NO ONE'S ally here," King Furry said forcefully. "We will play nice for the cameras. But as soon as the tour is done, I see no situation that will cause me to smile in the foreseeable future."
"Yes… King Furry," Reynolds bowed his head.
"Now, I want to eat lunch before we do the tour. The food should be ready since we are running almost two hours late."
"Of course, sire," Conner smiled.
"So, an eternal optimist and a fixer…" King Furry thought, "This is going to be a nightmare even without Vegeta."
The lunch was being filmed as the staff greeted and spoke with the king.
Suddenly a security guard and a medic burst through the doors. They ran over to the table where the three were sitting.
"Sorry to interrupt," the security guard began, "but there's been a battle between Vegeta's group and Berapi. Jason got caught in the crossfire and is being rushed here with crossbow wounds to the arm and groin."
"A crossbow?" King Furry wiped his beard, "A working crossbow?"
"Yes."
"But also," the medic said, "While Michael was being examined for his wounds, they discovered burns similar to the one Jason suffered from Bulma Brief. His heart beat is also erratic. They are worried he's in the middle of a heart attack."
"Then why are you even asking, get this Michael here," the King ordered.
"Because heart attacks are only supposed to be filmed with no intervention," the medic said bowing, "Thank you, your majesty." He ran out the door.
The king glared at the producers.
Conner silently pointed at Reynolds.
"Ok. Filming is over," he declared. "Bring whatever food is left to whatever board room," he pointed at Reynolds, "You set up in the next five minutes!"
Reynolds stood up. "Yes, sire." He left the dining room.
Conner began to stand.
"Not you. Stay."
Conner sat back down. "Now, I need to know everything you do about this lack of medical treatment before I go in there."
"I'll do one better, Conner said picking up a briefcase he had with him. He took out a three-ring binder with lots of tabs. "Got this from one of our doctors this morning. It's his dog eared copy of the rules for the show. All the tabs are in the medical care section. He told me to give it to you without Reynolds knowing."
The king immediately took it and began reading.
"You got to be kidding me… Oh my god…" was said already from just reading the first of many pages.
Reynolds returned to the room and saw Conner put something in his briefcase. King Furry was on the phone. He saw Reynolds and ended the call.
Reynolds' court experience told him the opposing side had something they shouldn't.
In Central City, the planetary attorney general pushed a button on his phone to end the call with King Furry, but not the other person on the line.
"You will take no action. You understand?"
"Yes, Mr. Nahm."
"Now, I have given a draft bill to several members in the house and senate and it should be made public in a few days on my signal. You are going to support it full heartedly and will enforce it religiously the second it is signed into law, got it?"
"Yes, sir. May I ask what the—"
He heard the busy signal on the other side. He sighed, hanging up the phone.
The man pulled out a picture of his ex-wife and children.
He was staring at them when an Asian child ran into the office suddenly. "Appa!" the girl jumped on him.
He quickly put the picture away in a drawer.
"Hello, darling."
The woman he hated most in the world came into the room.
"What are you two doing here? What about school?"
"I switched her to afternoon kindergarten, sweetie. Didn't I tell you?"
"Eomma says we can spend time with you before school!"
The woman smiled at him.
It always felt like a death sentence to him. In the back of his mind, he knew it would be one day.
"Yes, we will be spending time with you all morning for the next few weeks." She tilted her head, "Will there be an issue, husband?"
"No, no, of course not. You two are always welcomed in my office."
He truly hated himself. Yes, it was his fault he gave into temptation on that plane ride. But who in their right mind would think the first family of Protestantism would take the used condom and use it for artificial insemination like some old mob family?
"Appa!" the girl took out a book from her school backpack, "Let me read to you!"
He smiled at the girl. The little girl he wanted to strangle to death and bury in the backyard every time he looked at her.
"Of course you can, sweetie," he kissed her on the forehead.
He truly hated himself.
Back at the resort…
King Furry was screaming holding a fresh copy of the rules.
"Plausible deniability does not belong in a guide to medical treatment!" He slammed it down on the conference table so hard everything bounced. "You've deliberately not only changed the rules to allow violence up to the point of death, that only surface level care be given if there were visible signs of blood, but also to not intervene if death is imminent and just film it with no medical intervention whatsoever! If I didn't know better, you planned all of this to specifically murder someone this season!"
He pointed at Reynolds, "This has everything to do with that cop that was supposed to be serving decades for corruption being found here as your go to contact with the police, doesn't it?! How much have you paid the locals to look the other way while you run your little hunger games here?! Well, I'm not going to let this stand! That call I was on was to my attorney general! I'm going to rack this entire archipelago with a flea comb until I get every bloodsucker out of the weeds!"
Conner couldn't help but smile while Reynolds was stone faced.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" the king yelled.
An aide nervously peaked his head in the door. "Umm, Michael and Jason have arrived. The doctor said Michael is suffering from an irregular heartbeat. But he has brought up with the doctors that Jason tased the player Sam 17 times in a row yesterday, then isolated him, even overnight. He said he thought Sam had died when he stopped moving that afternoon until this morning when Jason took two air horns and blasted one in each ear."
"WHAT?!"
The aide flinched.
"Where is Sam now?!"
"Vegeta's camp," Reynolds said. "He's the one the battle was over."
"Excuse me," they heard another voice in the hall.
The aide traded places with a new one. "Mr. Reynolds, I have the footage you wanted of the battle over Sam. The editors isolated it into three segments. The first attempt. The second, then the shootout."
"Attempt at what?" King Furry asked.
"Carrying Sam to Vegeta's camp. I don't know the details. I'm just the messenger." He extended a hard drive, "It's all in here."
The king took it. "Thank you, young man. If the two of you don't have any other business, you may leave."
The second aide looked back into the hallway before sticking his head in again. "Thank you, sire." He closed the door.
King Furry returned to the desk. "Plug this in, Conner," he ordered.
Conner took it and plugged it in. Then he used the touch screen in the table to turn on the large TV in the room and pull up the files. There were three video files, but also some text files.
"Relevant info one, two, and three," the king said. "Open them first."
Conner opened the first one.
Vegeta and a man identified as Piccolo have been planning Sam's abduction for a few days. They meet before dawn and are seen floating in the sky briefly. Afterwards Vegeta informs his group of things he should have no way of knowing about what is happening on the other beach. Sam has talked about being visited by angels telling him to go to Vegeta's camp and his visitor Luke said he had dreams of carrying Sam through a battlefield while on the meeting beach speaking to Vegeta's group.
King furry sighed, "Of course the Namekians are involved. Why wouldn't they be… Next."
Conner opened the next.
Michael perceived Isaac as a possible threat for removing Sam from the beach. So he informed Jason, who told Luke Isaac was gay and his wife was trans. This made Luke turn against Isaac. Isaac later used a smoke break to—
"Set the forest on fire?! Oh my god," King Furry said out loud.
To cause a diversion and escaped with Sam into the trees. Michael's dog followed Isaac's trail and tackled him on the ATV track just short of the dividing line between both camps marked by a wall Vegeta built.
"And the third?"
This happens afterwards and is taken from tree cam footage where the shooter comes out of the trees to identify themselves. Vegeta was not involved nor seemed to have preknowledge of the assault.
King Furry took a deep breath. "Alright, let's get the video started."
They watched the scene on the beach.
It started with Trunks hovering over a human wall on the beach. He ran to his mother.
"MAMA! MAMA! There a man tied up with tape on mouth like TV!"
"What?" King Furry said forcefully, glaring at Reynolds before looking back at the screen.
He saw Jason waving his tasers around, but the king stayed silent as the video progressed.
There was a jump to a new segment. He heard a scream before the wall broke and the men walked off with bungee cords and duck tape. He saw the ghost of a man covered in his own filth.
"He's so thin," he thought.
The screen then jumped to Jason tasing Luke and taking the package the Brief's had carried earlier into the ocean. A masked man went to help him, but was hindered by a large dog.
The time stamp said twenty minutes had passed when the man in the blue shirt was allowed to approach Sam. He practically leapt on him asking to be taken away.
Then Sam began talking about the harassment and his fear of it escalating to assault.
Then he saw Sam emotionally crumple when he saw Jason and a film crew at the beach.
King Furry's tirade was interrupted by the shit literally hitting the fan. He tried hard to stifle the laugh.
The scene jumped again. Sam was in his visitor's pants and the man was in the sun in his shorts with the blue shirt over his face.
Lunch arrived, and out of the corner of a camera, he saw Sam get on the man's back and they ran for it.
They were quickly found. Jason had sent men to block the trail. The King saw them zip tied and carried off. Sam was shoved into the sand. His visitor was zip tied to a tree.
The video ended.
"Next," he ordered.
Conner started the next video.
It began with a fist fight. Then the lunging dog wrapped its jaws around one of the men's necks as a screaming match began with the other fighter and another man.
"Michael and Isaac Weidemann. This isn't going to end well."
The two men called off the dog and Isaac walked off towards Sam's visitor before he was stopped.
The visitor was then cut from the tree and led away.
A fight began between the two brothers, then afterwards Isaac went to smoke in the trees.
Another time jump and the trees on fire, with three distinct columns of smoke.
"He set multiple fires."
In the panic, Isaac grabbed Sam and ran.
The next few shots looked more like surveillance footage then a TV camera as Isaac ran at full speed down the trail. The camera then changed to bouncy footage taken from a pack of ATVs and caught the dog tackling them to the ground and started licking them.
"He really did build a wall of thorns."
Vegeta came out of an opening in the wall.
The king glared at Reynolds again hearing of the arson attempt and the destroyed footage.
Then the arrows started flying. The camera fell to the ground and he heard two men screaming in pain. The camera caught Isaac putting the leash on Sam's arm, then he threw a stick. The dog pulled Sam through the opening in the wall.
The shooting stopped, along with the video.
"Next," he ordered.
The final video started. It was the same surveillance-type footage. Vegeta was carrying Sam and now his visitor was on Isaac's back.
King Furry clenched his fists in rage as he heard Vegeta confess to being both an alien and a murderer so casually.
Then a small Asian girl wearing an oversized shirt that came down to her calves came out of the jungle.
"Sugar? You were the shooter?"
"Yes!" she said proudly.
Then he stopped walking. "Wait… Why do you… Did you sharpen the blunts?!" he shouted, seeing the half machete.
"Yes?" she said hesitantly.
Vegeta threw his head back and laughed.
The video ended.
King Furry took a calming breath. "Alright. This is what is going to happen. First, I want an EKG on Sam. Second, while we wait, we are going to go out, allow the press pool onto the premises and take the tour. And once all the smiling headline pictures are taken. We are going to come back here. Get a medical update on everyone. And I want to watch that entire encounter Vegeta mentioned. And the footage better match what Vegeta tells me tomorrow."
"King Furry, rules say if a player attacks staff, they are to be expelled," Conner said. "What do you want to do with her?"
"Keep her in for now, that can wait."
While the tour was going on outside, the doctors were with Michael and Jason.
"Very good news, Michael. Your arrhythmia has corrected itself with medication. Whoever shot you in your nether regions probably saved your life. The shock needed to cause those marks on your chest and back would be pretty substantial."
"Shock?"
"Yes, and there is a similar burn on your legs. Did any impacts happen in those locations today?"
"… Bulma kicked me in the balls and when I was on the ground she stomped on my chest."
"I see, with everything else that has been confiscated off of her, she must have a shocker of some kind in her clothing, or maybe subcutaneous implants considering it's the Briefs. God knows what they have."
"She… She tried to kill me?"
"Not judging by the mark she left on her other victim. It was probably because you got shocked twice on wet sand with the size of the exit burn on your back."
"How burned am I?"
"No more than a blistering sunburn on the surface. But we can't rule out nerve or tissue damage. You should get a full exam once you're off the show with your personal medical team."
"Wait, I'm being sent back?"
"Yes, your heart is normal, and there's nothing else wrong that does not trace back to lack of calories. But if you like, we can continue to do EKGs until you are released."
"And when will that be?"
"We need to sneak you out to avoid the press pool. So, it will depend on them. But it will be a few hours, so enjoy the bed, air conditioning, and clean water."
"Could I possibly be sneaked food?"
"We'll need to watch your sugar for possible food shock, but I'll look for a solution."
He left the room and entered the next.
"Hello Jason, you're all stitched up and ready to go."
"Do you know who the hell shot me?"
"I don't think spreading rumors would be appropriate. You can ask Reynolds later. If you want to get dressed, we can release you back to your team."
"And Michael?" he nodded towards the room.
"He will be sneaked out later to avoid the press pool. So, he will be staying put for another hour or so."
The wolves were let out of the gate and the press spread out over the resort. Most followed the king around, but some tried to sneak off. They found the elevators disabled, the fire escapes bolted shut, and no boats docked anywhere. These wayward souls were quickly rounded up, zip tied, and marched to a holding area at gunpoint. They were stripped searched and anything found on them was destroyed along with their equipment. Pictures were taken of their press badges before they were then loaded up into vans in their underwear and driven off site.
"Hey! Whatever happened to freedom of the press?! You think you're going to get away with this?!" one of the younger reporters shouted as he struggled.
"Calm down and shut up!" An old press staff shouted. "This isn't a simple detainment. This is a hostage situation."
"Don't you recognize the badges?" she whispered. "Stop it before you get shot."
Gas suddenly erupted from the vents. The fog caused everyone to cough and start passing out one by one. The van then stopped and the back door opened. The old reporter was dragged out, still semi-conscious.
One of the guards was holding his cell phone. "Zlata Shevchenko. Foreign correspondent for Kyiv International. Covered the "Eruption of the Sahara" before being kidnapped and shot by rebels ultimately losing her arm." He looked up from his phone, "Very convincing prosthetic arm by the way." He continued, "Was given a medal I can't pronounce by Ukraine and the EC sector and was transferred to cover the planetary government. Currently lives in the suburb of Old Berlin, yada yada yada." He shoved the phone back in his pocket. "Lovely Wikipedia page." He gestured to his companion, "Yerik."
Zlata coughed, then looked up at her executioner. "Who the hell on this planet is powerful enough to hire Blackwater and you monsters at the same time?"
Her answer was a bullet.
A Pedialyte, really?" Michael asked.
"Would you rather have nothing at all?" the doctor said.
Michael raised his hand and waved his fingers to give it to him "No," he sighed.
He drank it in two gulps.
"Thanks," he handed back the empty bottle.
A guard suddenly stuck his head in.
The doctor shoved the bottle in his pocket hoping it wasn't noticed.
"Hey, we got three patients waiting to come in. The press is getting ready to enter the building. We are going to have ten minutes to sneak him out and get them in." He looked at Michael. "Get dressed now, we need to get him into the south stairwell."
Michael was led through the hallway to the tip of the south arm. The guard held up his radio. "The fire alarms are turned off?"
*fuzz* Yes. You have 10 minutes. *fuzz*
The guard put his badge at a random part of the wall and he heard a click. The door was pushed open and Michael was pushed through. He ran down the three flights of stairs trying to stay ahead of the guard's hand pushing him on his back. At the bottom, he was surprised to see a keypad. The guard held his badge again and he saw bolts release from the floor and ceiling.
"Well that's not legal…" Michael thought.
He was grabbed by his arm and dragged outside.
Michael saw three boats pull up to the dock in front of him, and one boat pointed in the opposite direction.
The driver of that boat waved him over.
Michael ran across the boardwalk and onto the dock. He jumped in the boat and it raced off.
The tour ended and the press was scurried off by the secret service and private security.
"Where's Zlata?" King Furry thought as he watched the press pool he knew so well get onto the buses. "Some of the kids are gone too."
After the buses drove away, he turned to one of his secret servicemen, "Chuck, tell Reynolds to get Yamcha and Conner to get the video I requested ready. I want to head back inside."
"Yes, sir," he nodded.
King Furry found himself back in the conference room, with the afternoon sun glaring through the plastic sheets over the broken windows.
Conner walked into the room. He held up a hard drive. "Here it is." He leaned in when he placed it in front of the king. "There's an earlier fire too," he whispered.
Almost ten minutes passed when Reynolds and Yamcha came into the room.
"What took so long?" King Furry glared at them.
"Two contestants and one guest were rushed here with serious injuries during the tour."
"What? When?"
"I was only just told myself because I have been with you, your majesty."
"What happened?"
Reynolds rubbed his temple. "A fight on Samundra. The football player Jamal chucked a large rock at Daisuke's head. He has not woken up yet. Daisuke's father is a black belt and made short work of Jamal. The third was Bulma Brief pushing Craig off of a ladder. Fell about 13 feet hard on his back."
"Samundra broke down? Peaceful Samundra?" Conner's jaw dropped. "Wha-? Why?!"
"A fight over Vegeta's identity. They are not handling being saved by one of the greatest mass murders in the galaxy well."
"Vegeta is not even close to the greatest," King Furry said, thoroughly annoyed. "He was a deeply below average soldier forced to fight as a slave in a slave unit. At the time he attacked Earth, his unit was given missions above their ability because the emperor at the time was too lazy to execute them for incompetence. All the power everyone is afraid of was achieved after being secretly trained here under my father's nose. He may have been born 'The Prince of all Saiyans' but he is a product of Earth."
"He's right," Yamcha said. "We lost four men, including me, but we wiped them out. Only reason Vegeta is alive is because our leader personally spared him and let him literally crawl away into his ship. He had a broken everything at that point and was moving out of pure willpower. After that, Frieza stopped being lazy and Vegeta ran to us for help."
Yamcha scratched his nose. "Got to at least respect him for his pain tolerance and sheer stubbornness. He could be literally standing in front of King Yemma and his corpse would still be fighting out of pure rage."
Reynold's answered his own question before he had a chance to speak it.
"Another alien." He moved his eyes between him and the king. "And the government has no control over these people. These humans answer to some alien government that rules Earth in the eyes of the rest of the galaxy." He looked at Yamcha. "That means this idiot is actually the person in charge in this room."
Just as he thought this, Yamcha jerked his head towards the wall.
"Oh shit!" he shouted, then he burst through the plastic and disappeared out the window.
"Hallways, now!" King Furry shouted and ran out the door.
King Furry crouched down in the hallway like he was in a tornado drill. The secret service covered him.
Minutes went by and nothing happened.
Reynolds pulled his radio out.
"Yamcha? Yamcha! Where did you run off to! The king was talking with you, damn it!"
*fuzz* Sorry Reynolds, I felt someone's ki shoot up. Thought there was an emergency. *fuzz*
"What did Vegeta do now?"
*fuzz* If it was someone I recognized, I wouldn't have flown over. It was one of the visitors who's currently in a panic attack. Spooked herself with whatever she did. *fuzz*
"THERE'S ANOTHER ONE?!"
King Furry got up and grabbed the radio. "Reynolds, give me that. Yamcha, this is King Furry. What happened, your own words."
*fuzz* Sorry, sire. I felt a strange energy that seemed to form a ki ball. I thought there was a fight so I flew off. I'm sorry, I'll be right over. *fuzz*
"What. Happened." King Furry stressed.
*fuzz* Here, give that to me *fuzz* Hi Ferdie! It's Aunt Panchy. Um Rachel was singing and her fingers started to glow because of how into it was. You know ki responds to strong emotions when you're not trained to stop it, right? *fuzz*
"Yes, I've become keenly aware of that in the past few days." He sighed and looked at the ceiling. "Yamcha, if you can still hear me fly this person back to the resort, now."
"What?! Why!" Reynolds shouted.
"She might need medical care. Untrained ki release can injure the person involved. Or do you not remember the boy ended up in your ER after the blowout."
Yamcha's voice returned to the radio. *fuzz* I don't think that's a good idea. At least until she calms down. There's something wrong with her ki and she's not in control of herself right now. Was screaming about witches and demons. *fuzz*
"Reynolds, who is this Rachel?"
"She's from a Jasher community. It's a break off from the IBLP."
"That cult still exists…" King Furry said, pinching his nose. "How many times does that blasted thing need to be shut down before it dies."
"It's been inducted into the Nahm Society Alliance."
King Furry lifted his arms in the air, "Of course the Nahms would legitimize it. Why wouldn't they!"
He put the radio back to his mouth, "Yamcha, I've changed my mind. Stay there with her and make sure she calms down."
*fuzz* Yes, your Majesty. *fuzz*
King Furry handed the radio back to Reynolds, "Let's get back on topic."
Conner had just plugged the hard drive in when Yamcha came in through the window. "I'm back."
"I told you to stay with the girl."
"Oh, that thing with her energy? She's pregnant. Very early before you can tell there's two kis."
"She's pregnant?!" Conner said. "She's a designated visitor. We can't let her stay on the show."
"I agree," Reynolds said to Conner's visible shock. "The fallout if she miscarries will be worse than if Vegeta did not kill that crocodile before it ate everyone."
"But the only other person here right now would be her husband," Conner said. "We need his medical or we'll need to fly someone in."
"You may need to fly someone in anyway," Yamcha said. "Jessica said their community doesn't allow women to interact with men outside their community. Rachel was hiding behind her trying to make herself as small as possible when I tried to make small talk with her to calm her down."
"Wait, Jessica? Jessica McConnell?!" King Furry shouted.
"I don't know her last name."
"Yes," Conner said. "She's some kind of crime survivor from her file."
King Furry stood up suddenly, turned his back, and literally clawed the air as only a beastman could. "Prosecuting her parents is what ended my fucking career!" he growled loudly.
King Furry took several breaths to calm down, but when he turned back around, his claws were still visible.
"Ok, let's return to the videos and we will deal with all the guests after dinner."
"Why are there multiple videos on this drive?!"
"Reynolds, shut the fuck up," King Furry cursed, clearly losing his patience.
Reynolds looked back at the video titles.
Sugar religious items destroyed. (Hidden Cameras)
Sugar beaten. (Hidden Cameras)
Sugar discovered by staff (crew cameras)
Sugar religious items burnt. (Hidden Cameras)
Berapi destroys Vegeta's food supply. (Hidden Cameras)
Berapi tried to burn Vegeta's camp down. (Hidden Cameras)
King Furry spent the next hour and a half watching Berapi's greatest hits.
He sat there silently as he watched one by one. His only movement was fiddling with his cuffs on his wrists when the Asian girl sang while being beaten senseless.
Conner had thrown up during the second video. Then after he recovered enough, the secret service had to restrain him when he tried to punch Reynolds and he was taken from the room.
A secret service member took Conner's place and progressed through the video clips.
"Take that hard drive," was all King Furry said when the last video ended. He then looked at his watch, stood and left the room.
Outside, he spoke to one of his agents. "Find a staff member to lead us to the hospital wing. I want to talk to the injured before dinner.
King Furry was waiting on the docks when the visitors' boats pulled in. The first was Vegeta's camp. Panchy just went right up and hugged him and Dr. Brief put his hand on his shoulder. He had to interrupt the old people talking by saying they could talk later and he needed to greet the others first.
Bulma was carrying Trunks who just waved over her shoulder at him as they walked past.
Isaac departed next with Timmy. The dog was very excited for pets and soon Isaac had to pull the poor dog away to continue down the dock.
Then came Pastor Luke in his shorts and a now buttoned suit shirt.
Next came Lesley and Brook. He chuckled at Brook's nervous attempt at a curtsy.
"You don't need to do that child," as he took her hand and shook it before moving on to shake Lesley's.
Next came a face he never wanted to see again.
"DA Fred Furry. I see the angel of vengeance is still biding his time."
"Elijah Crawford. I can say the same for you." King Furry noticed the woman trying to make herself disappear behind him.
"My wife is of no importance," Elijah pressed forward.
This resulted in guns being drawn on him.
King Furry raised his hand, "Let them pass."
The two were shoved along and the last people stepped forward.
"Greetings, your majesty," the small Asian girl curtsied. "I am Maple Syrup of E-Sweet."
King Furry bowed his head in return. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
One of her guards said something in another language and the girl bobbed her head quickly, then rose and walked away.
The next boat was Berapi.
Meiko came out and did a deep bow to the king. He returned a shallow bow and she continued on.
Then came Angelica, who when he shook her hand she did not let go and began complaining and berating him like a department store manager.
He patiently listened for about forty-five seconds before he tried to speak.
"Silence, I'm not done," she pointed in his face, and continued to berate him.
"Chuck," King Furry said.
The secret service moved. "That's enough, speaking to the King. Move along."
"Wait, the king?! I thought he was staff!" She shouted being forced along by a herd of men.
"To be fair, there's 43 beastmen here," Chuck chuckled, "That's over an eighth of the staff."
King Furry sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Everyone returned to their rooms to freshen up before the filming of dinner with the king.
Rachel got out of the shower and looked at herself in the mirror. Since she was adopted by Elijah, she had never known herself to be other than gaunt in the face. The now tenth pregnancy since she was 12 was just an insult to injury on her body. Her stomach was one large amorphous stretch mark that hung like a pouch over the top of her thighs, and the new rashes and sores meant another round of gestational diabetes was beginning.
Then she felt a trickle down her legs.
She looked up at the ceiling and cursed herself. She had looked too long in the mirror and did not place the diaper cloth in time, and now her vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistulas made her shower moot.
"Woman! What's taking so long?! Don't make me come in there! You know what will happen if you dirty my clothes with the red filth in your veins!"
"What do you mean there's no medical records for Rachel?" Conner asked.
He was back in the meeting room with the king and Reynolds.
"I don't know," the aide stammered. "There are references to it in other files, but the actual document is missing."
"I'm not surprised," Reynolds said. "If Bobby wanted someone on the show, he got it done no matter what. It's not the first medical record I've discovered to be misplaced since I got here."
"Examples?" King Furry demanded crossing his arms.
"Vegeta's psych eval," he answered. "He snapped and blacked out the day I arrived to replace Bobby." He sighed. "I'll get the footage ready…"
"That won't be necessary," the king said. "What does Crawford's say?"
"Ummm, overweight, mild high blood pressure, and prediabetes are the only flags. They are marked as yellow."
"That means he's good to go," Reynolds said. "He may not be physically capable, but there's no serious issue."
"And his psych eval?" King Furry looked at the aide.
"None was conducted because he is an accessory and not a visitor."
"Let us handle the details, your majesty," Reynolds said. "We don't want an incident at dinner."
"Yes…" King Furry said. "Let's try and avoid bloodshed. I don't want my men in therapy if I can help it."
Another aide knocked on the door, then poked his head in. "Sirs, Luke has a request for his majesty."
"What does he want?"
"An inconspicuous recording device."
Everyone gathered in the dining room. It was just the visitors, so the room was almost empty.
There wasn't assigned seating, so everyone was mingling.
Shohei and Meiko were conversing in Japanese.
Brook tried unsuccessfully to speak with Maple again, then watched her be guided over to Shohei and Meiko by her guards.
Lesley saw her disappointed face and took her hand. She brought her back to join her with Denise and another woman.
"Brook, this is Denise, Jamal on Samundra's wife, and this is Vicky, also from Samundra. She was the first person voted off."
"Oh, really," Brook said. She looked around, "Are there any other former players here?"
"Sorry," Vickie said, "but I'm the only one so far. Seems they skipped the next elimination challenge because of a medical evac. I'm told Lisa from Berapi needed surgery after shattering multiple bones in her hand. Since they are every 6 days, the third one would have been yesterday."
"Oh… poor Lisa," Brook said. "I hope she'll be ok."
Isaac tried to speak to Luke but was turned away. He was then pounced on by Angelica who began complaining about the plebeians filling the room.
Not long after, the Briefs entered the room late, and Isaac sighed in relief.
He turned to Angelica. "By the way, Mrs. Summers, I'm sure the isolation means you're not up to speed in the social circles," he raised his hand, "I just married a plebeian." He then lowered three of his four fingers and walked towards the Briefs, leaving her red in the face.
"Isaac! My boy!" Dr. Brief called out loudly.
Panchy rushed to hug him. "Oh I'm so glad you're out of prison," she said, stepping away. "We have so much to talk about."
"Yes, we do," he smiled.
Then he got on his knees to be eye level with Trunks.
"Hi, I'm Isaac. I'm a friend of your grandparents. We never really got a chance to talk today."
Trunks looked up as his mother.
Bulma nodded.
Trunks looked back at Isaac. "I'm Trunks!" he beamed.
Isaac extended his hand.
Trunks suddenly looked scared and darted behind his mother's legs.
Isaac looked shocked and looked up at the adults.
Bulma leaned down to pick him up.
"He had an accident with his powers today. He's just nervous," Panchy said.
"Ah," he stood. "Takes after his father in more than looks, huh?"
"Is there assigned seating?" Panchy asked.
"Nope. Let's grab some extra chairs and push some tables together."
Luke was on a mission. As much as he wanted to run away from the Nahms, even they wouldn't stand for this. But they would never take the word of pagan or a woman.
He needed to get Elijah to confess to corrupting the sacrament.
He had worn his best for dinner, shined black shoes, pressed black pants, black starched shirt with his clerical collar perfectly visible, a cross around his neck, and most important, pins with the symbols of the Nahm Evangelical Society and the Nahm Society Alliance on his chest.
He clicked his new cuffs thanks to the secret service and walked over to Elijah and his wife already sitting at a table.
Elijah was completely relaxed while Rachel was as stiff as an ancient Egyptian statue.
"Excuse me," he said, tapping his chest. "But I couldn't help but notice your tie pin. You are also a reverend in the Nahm Alliance?"
"Yes!" he said, surprised. "I'm the leading elder on my church's ruling council. He stood and extended his hand, "Bishop Elijah Crawford, Jasherite."
Luke took it, "Luke Miller, Reverend at large, I currently work at the Nahm Alliance Headquarters under the guidance of Willy Nahm's grandson Ga-ram Park. Before that, I was on missionary work in northern Great Korea and Jilin Province."
"I see, sit. Sit young man."
The two sat down.
"May I call you Bishop Elijah?" Luke asked.
"Elder Crawford. You're far too young for first names."
"My apologies, the Jasherites are the newest member and I haven't been involved in any of your membership accounts. I'm incredibly curious. There hasn't been a new member in the 50 years beforehand."
"I see, but first and foremost," his face suddenly became unfriendly. "Why did you bow to Jessica?"
Luke had practiced a convincing lie, after all, it did happen, just to multiple people.
"Well," he looked at the table, "that's a story and a half." He looked up and put his chin in his hands. "One of my church's main tenets is to make yourself right with your neighbors before presenting yourself to God. I had gotten into a car wreck with Jessica and it was ruled my fault about two weeks before what happened… happened. But she was whisked away into hiding before anything could be done legally. Even though I graduated with my degree and became a reverend, the fact I never made myself right with Jessica ruined my career. My family's church congregation rejected me and the reverend marked my license with a disciplinary because of it. I bounced from one location to another until I was offered to go on mission. In their mind, they were throwing out the trash, for me it was an escape from the constant daily harassment. It was in China that I came to the attention of the Nahms when I figured out an embezzlement scheme. Mr. Park brought me into the accounting office but because of my mark, I couldn't be promoted because of the respect bylaws. So, he promised to track down Jessica if she was still alive. That was a year ago."
Luke chuckled and wiped his eyes. "I just couldn't believe it when I recognized her. My 12 years of hell are almost over. All I need to do is write her that stupid check and it's done." He put his hand down, "Sorry for the unsightly emotion."
"No need to apologize, young man. Seems that witch has ruined more lives than I have ever thought. I do remember her car having the side doors crumpled when she came back for break. So, you're the one that hit her?"
"Yes," he said.
That part wasn't a lie. That is how they met. He was just happy Mary was with him to smooth things out.
"So, tell me young man, are you married yet?"
Luke shook his head, "I haven't had a stable job to provide for one until recently."
"I see," Crawford said with a glint in his eyes, "Well, that won't do. A man of your age needs a wife."
"Yes, Mr. Park said the same thing. But things need to be resolved first."
"Of course," he said.
He and Crawford kept talking, and as a missionary, Luke knew a conversion attempt when he heard one. He knew that the group sent women out to bring back men. Knowing of their treatment of women, bringing a woman from outside would just end in heartache. He wanted to get a confession out of curiosity, but now he was a mark in the eyes of the bishop. He was probably thinking of one of his own granddaughters from his earlier wives. A wife to a Nahm apprentice and rising star would be good for business.
Suddenly one of the secret services shouted. "The king will arrive shortly. All stand to greet him."
Cameras were set up, then King Furry entered the room to a standing ovation.
King Furry nodded his head in gratitude. Then he raised his hand and the clapping died down.
"Everyone, it is a pleasure to meet you. Although a tragic act of God brought us together today, it should not sour us enjoying each other's company this evening. Now enough boring speeches. Let's get to what this gathering is really about. Food and Friendship. Everyone take your seats and let's get this meal started."
Everyone sat back down where they were before and the food began being placed. Everyone noticed an extra seat and a meal was placed at each table. Soon it became obvious why when King Furry sat at a table.
"You have some nerve sitting here," Crawford glared at him.
"I'm supposed to sit at every table and have a conversation, I might as well rip off the Band-Aid so I have a pleasant ending to this event."
Crawford turned his glare to the cameras circling them.
"Excuse me."
The cameras parted to reveal Craig with a plate. "Everyone else seems to have found a group for tonight. May I join you, Reverend?"
"You may," Crawford said. "As long as you treat my wife with respect and do not talk to her."
Craig looked at her. She was completely obscured by her plan, hand sewn clothes.
"Are you from a closed religious sect?" he looked back at Crawford. "Like the Amish or Mennonites?"
"Bishop Elijah Crawford, of the Communion of Jasher. But no, we do not ride horses. We are a modern community technology wise, just censored and curtailed to our needs."
Craig sat down, "Sorry, but to be honest, I've never heard of you."
"We broke away from that dying vine and rooted ourselves 208 years ago. Our last census we had a little over 20 thousand men in our order."
"And women?"
Crawford glared at him. "Is none of your concern."
"I meant no offense."
"Which is why I will forgive you this time," Crawford looked at the king, "Now if the demon would leave our table, we can discuss matters of the men."
"I am more than happy too," King Furry stood and left without touching the food.
"What was that about?" Craig asked.
"It is a private matter. Despite our personal dislike for each other, our community has only grown with his brief involvement a decade ago." He looked at Luke, "We would have never been adopted into the Alliance without him, right?"
"I can't personally speak to that," Luke answered.
"So, Craig, are you married?"
"Yes, with two children."
"I see," Crawford said, almost sounding disappointed.
Luke noticed a distinct change in the conversation from when they were alone.
He knew he just lost all chance for tonight.
King Furry went to move to the next table, when he heard a loud oops and a woman scream. He turned and saw Dr. Brief had dropped his drink all over Angelica's dress.
"Oh my! I am so sorry." He held up his trembling hand. "Old people hands."
Panchy got up and did a poor job of trying to clean it up.
"Stop! Stop! Stop it!" Angelica shouted. She raised her hand to slap her, only for her arm to be grabbed by a member of the secret service.
She was escorted from the room.
After she was gone, Dr. Brief started laughing loudly.
Panchy hugged him from behind and sat back down.
"Wait, did you do that on purpose?!" Craig called out.
Dr. Brief lifted both his hands high in the air. "Steady as a surgeon," he declared.
A soft chuckle went through the room, some genuine, some awkward.
King Furry facepalmed as high fives were exchanged at the Brief's table.
"May I sit down," King Furry asked, coming up to the group table.
"Of course." Shohei said, hopping his chair over slightly.
He sat down and took a deep breath, "So… Now that the excitement has calmed down, how is everyone?"
Various versions of fine, ok, and alright were said.
He looked at Vickie, "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you from my briefing. Who are you again?"
"Oh, I'm Vickie, I was the first, and so far, only person voted out."
"I see. You must have been a last-minute addition. You weren't on my list."
He raised his hand to calm her look of panic, "Don't worry. If you're in here, you cleared my guards."
King Furry took his silverware, "So what have I missed?"
"Oh, I was just telling them about the introductory dinner and the first day. I don't remember much of the dinner except it was an all you can drink bar and Vegeta made a really good impression on me, don't remember what he specifically said. But they had us partying till dawn, then they made us change our clothes and threw us overboard in the water to swim to shore. I almost drowned and took two people with me. I got a lot of water in my lungs and could barely breath until they voted me out because it was the only way I'd get medical help. I'm still on antibiotics."
King Furry stopped cutting into his food. "They threw a bunch of drunk people in the water and expected them to swim to shore?"
"Basically."
He folded his hands, "Do any of you know what happened to Berapi that day?"
"Vegeta threw the outboard driver overboard, stole the boat and led a chase until he rammed it into the beach," Lesley said. "Worst part he didn't know how to operate it to begin with. Almost collided with a camera boat. Scared everyone to death."
"Why didn't we think of that, damn it. I could still be in it."
King Furry sighed, "I'm pretty sure only Vegeta could get away with so many out of the box actions... He's completely unpredictable…"
Vickie leaned in. "So, is he really an alien prince?" she whispered.
King Furry put his hands on the table so forcefully the plates clattered. "Please stop gossiping about classified information like a bunch of high school girls."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"So, omitting that little piece of information, how is everyone?"
"Vegeta dragged that man out of camp and he and Sugar Petal tied him to a tree all day," Maple said, looking over her shoulder.
King Furry looked over his shoulder. "Crawford?"
"The old man," she said.
"I will have to examine the footage later," he said, hoping his mustache hid his smirk.
He started eating his food "So, Vickie, I got a run down of everyone's bio, but I know nothing about you. Who are you and how did you end up here?"
"Well, I'm a triathlete. I run for women's charities. When I'm not beating kids half my age, I'm an English professor at Poli'ahu University in Hawaii. My husband is on Title XI compliance board for the Greater Islands District.
"Ah, I know why you liked Vegeta. On women's issues Saiyans were probably the most progressive in the galaxy."
"Were?"
"He's the last of his species."
"You don't sound sympathetic," Vickie's face soured, along with everyone else.
"His people were the galactic version of the Huns. Have attacked Earth multiple times and we are the only planet ever able to repel them. Psychopaths, all of them. And Attila himself is two miles away. His only redeeming quality is his respect for women."
Suddenly Trunks began to cry.
A hand quickly gripped the king's shoulder tightly.
"Ferdieeeee," Panchy said in her happy sing-song tone. "Now I don't know if you were told by the producers, but Trunks is developing psychic powers like his papa and feels pain around negative emotions, especially directed at him and our family in general. Now I know you don't like my son-in-law, but not in front of Trunks, ok? Just think happy thoughts and change the subject. You hate talking about Vegeta even more than you hate him."
Panchy let go and followed her family and Isaac out of the room.
After dinner, King Furry was led to an outside patio.
The Briefs and Isaac had been joined by Yamcha, and now the group was eating and laughing next to a rock with a giant hole in it.
Trunks noticed first and suddenly whined, bringing the conversations to a halt.
Dr. Brief sighed. "What do you want, Ferdie?"
King Furry also sighed, walked the short distance, and got on his knee.
Trunks tried to crawl inside his mother.
"Trunks I'm sorry. I did not know I could hurt you. It was an accident."
Trunks continued to whine. "It hurts."
"Ferdinand, I know what you are trying to do. But just stop," Bulma said. "Mom and Dad are fine, but stay away from my family."
King Furry stood without a word and left.
After dinner, all the guests were led back to their rooms for the night.
Not long after Timmy claimed the entire bed for himself, the landline rang in Issac's room.
"Hello? Oh, Alcibiades. What do you need?"
"How was your first day?"
"Wasn't able to provoke him into a physical fight, but I dropped bread crumbs during our argument. I saw the girl you mentioned. She's in high spirits considering what that bastard put her through. Also heard the team's producer on site is psychotic. He's also gone after Sugar Petal and almost killed another contestant named Sam. And I thought I looked bad after that hit in prison, poor guy. At least he's safe for now."
"Yes, I heard about the fire you set and the shooting. You've cemented yourself in Vegeta's good graces?"
"He was delirious from lack of sleep and collapsed so I did not spend time with him. He literally built a city on the hill and they're still constructing new buildings."
"We'll have to rely on your carrying of Sam and your previous friendship with the Briefs then. Just remember to turn that magnetic ring over when the time comes."
"I still don't see why being with Vegeta will help get rid of Michael. I know you want him gone because of what happened is going to come out whether we like it or not and you want to save your asses like the folks on Lover's Oasis."
"We need to throw him under the bus as much as possible. Just get close to Vegeta and Sugar Petal. Get them talking, sharing stories, what their plans are for any retaliation. And assist them."
"Alright, if you say so, but I see a major problem going forward."
"Oh?"
"Michael slipped my family's situation, and there are a lot of religious people here. Sam and his cousin Luke have turned on me. Sugar Petal said she was mentored by Willy Nahm himself. I don't know what will happen when she is told. There's also her visitor and her very armed guards."
"Vegeta won't let anything happen to you. And Sugar Petal has broken multiple commandments at his direction. Just stay close to him, and Sugar Petal will follow. And don't let them know you're talking to me."
"Because yours and Vegeta's family have beef, yes, you were very forthcoming admitting you had relatives in the Red Ribbon Army... You could have mentioned he was an alien royalty."
"Would you have believed me?"
"No," he admitted. "And I would have found the whole thing suspicious."
"Good. Just keep me informed so we can move to assist him."
"I will."
"Thank you."
The call ended.
In another room, another call was being made.
"(Hi Mr. Park. It's Luke Miller.)"
"(Miller? You resigned and disappeared on us. We found out you boarded a plane straight after you left the building. If you want your job back, it's not going to happen.)"
"(No, it's not about that. I'm calling because I've heard some disturbing information I need to pass along to the Alliance.)"
"(Alright, I will humor you. What is it?)"
"(I ran into some members of a Jasherite community, including a bishop.)"
"(Miller, I know your history—)"
"(They are poisoning the sacrament to kill members. They call it the Last Communion.)"
"(What?)" he said harshly.
Luke was glad he was now paying attention.
"(How did you come by this information?)"
Luke sighed, "(Your relatives probably already know, but I'm in Indonesia on The Last Survivor. I'm the visitor for my cousin Sam.)"
"(Oh?)"
Luke closed his eyes. "(Jessica McConnell is a contestant. Her visitor is Bishop Elijah Crawford. He bragged about killing two of his wives. One through poisoning the sacrament, the other strangling her to death when she refused to take it.)"
"(And there's video of this?)"
"(Yes. I also tried to get a clean recording without Jessica in the conversation at the king's dinner, but the presence of other people steered the conversation in other directions.)"
"(You are correct, with Jessica in the video, we cannot give any of his statements weight. We can't even use your statements as a jumping point to investigate.)"
"(You're going to have to once this hits TV.)"
"(It will just be edited out.)"
"(Maybe. But Jessica is on the fast track to win and the events that have happened have prominently circled around her. Unless the Nahms have the power to completely cancel this show and destroy all the footage, this is getting out. And the fact the Jasherites were never publicly announced to have joined after the horror that made sector wise news, it is going to hit big and bring scrutiny on the Alliance.)"
"(I see. Thank you for your loyalty to the Alliance. I will bring this situation to the attention of my relatives immediately.)"
He hung up.
King Furry was being driven back to the helicopter with Reynolds and Conner in the vehicle again.
"I will be touring the surrounding villages tomorrow afternoon. I will not tolerate any delays. I don't care what Vegeta or any other player does. I don't care about this show or its continued existence. I will not hesitate to shut this down. Remember that going forward."
"Yes, sire," Reynolds said with a slight smirk.
King Furry did not like it.
The trip continued in silence the remaining few minutes until they reached the private airport.
King Furry stepped out to the show cameras on one side and the press pool on the other.
"Zlata isn't here. Where could she be?" he thought as he waved to the crowd.
Conner came out of the vehicle and proceeded with the script.
"Your Majesty, it was an honor to host you today." He extended his hand.
King Furry shook it, "The pleasure was all mine."
King Furry then got in his helicopter and lifted off.
Once it was out of sight, Reynolds came out. "Attention all press! Load back on the buses behind the terminal for the trip back to Jakarta!"
On the trip back, the same conversation was occurring.
"Where are Zlata and the interns?"
"They must be on the other bus."
"I didn't see them all day."
"Probably supervising the interviewing of staff for B-roll. You know how she is."
Meanwhile, in a suburb of Los Angeles…
It was early morning, the lights still brightly obscuring the first rays of sunlight, when a large black vehicle pulled to a stop in front of a house in a rental development neighborhood.
A black woman wearing jeans, a pink long-sleeved shirt and a matching paisley headscarf ran out the door with a double stroller in one hand and a suitcase in the other.
"There's two more suitcases at the door," she said and she detached the two car seats from the stroller base and placed them in the back of the extended vehicle. One of the men inside moved the seats away from the door and she climbed in.
Before she could even buckle up, one of the men lunged at her and stuck a needle into her neck.
"Should have converted to Christianity," he said as her eyes rolled back in her head.
Her shaking and flailing on the floor woke up both children. The oldest was quickly silenced by a cloth over the face.
"Wasn't there only supposed to be one child?" he said looking at the baby.
"(Do you know what time it is in Korea?)"
"(Sorry sir, but it looks like the Njokus have a second child. A boy, can't be more than three months old.)"
"(Just bring it along. If our preacher in Abuja won't buy it too, we'll just drown it. Did you grab all the phones and computers in the house?)."
"(Yes, sir.)"
"(Get them scanned into the AI. We need to fake them being alive for the next week. Now get your butts to the airport before the sun gets any higher.)"
King Furry was staying in the old presidential palace from before the capital was moved to Borneo. He had a lot of papers in front of him laid out over his king size bed.
Names, bios, relations. He wished he had a corkboard like he had back when he was a detective in his youth, before he got his law degree and his life went to heck.
While looking over his notes, he was listening to the AI translation of the song the microphones in his cufflinks recorded. The computer had matched both times she sang, so he was listening to the longest version. On the surface it was a song about baking bread but it was making his hair stand on end. Especially considering the circumstances.
… Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Disobedient dough into obedient bread. Everything must be perfect to be present to Dear Leader on his birthday.
Yes! Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Bake me into bread.
No! No! Disobedient dough. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Disobedient dough into obedient bread. Everything must be perfect to be present to Dear Leader on his birthday.
Dough must be beaten, allowed to swell, then beaten again to make it well.
Beat it till your hands are numb. Beat it till it's nice and done. Take a knife and cut in the smile. Burn it in place with the oven pyre. Nice and slow don't leave a mark. Disobedient dough into Obedient bread. Everything must be Perfect to be present to Dear Leader on his birthday.
Yes! Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Bake me into bread.
King Furry expected the lyrics to circle again for the fifth time, but the song finally changed.
No! No! Disobedient dough. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Tell me dough, make your choice. The garbage heap or the oven pyre?
Yes! Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Everything is perfect. Bake me into bread.
Good. Good. Disobedient dough. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Beat it. Beat it. Bend it over. Disobedient dough into obedient bread. Everything must be perfect to be present to Dear Leader on his birthday.
Dough must be beaten, allowed to swell, then beaten again to make it well.
Beat it till your hands are numb. Beat it till it's nice and done. Take a knife and cut in the smile. Burn it in place with the oven pyre. Nice and slow don't leave a mark. Disobedient dough into Obedient bread. Everything must be Perfect to be presented to Dear Leader on his birthday.
*Ding* Recording Finished.
King Furry threw his headphones on the floor. "Oh, thank God. I thought that was just going to keep circle jerking like a cursed Song That Doesn't End."
He picked up one of the papers, filled with notes from the producers and the internet.
E-sweet, music group 10 years old. Sugar Petal and Maple Syrup were added 6 years ago as child proteges after two members went private to revive the group. Sugar Petal was replaced 2 and a half years ago and became a solo act. Last concert four Antis rushed the stage without security intervention. She bit one's ear off, got a hold of a ceramic knife off one and stabbed three. It was only after one of them shouted 'She stabbed me! I'm dying!' did security rush to help the assailants.
Sugar Petal was denied medical treatment, pulled back on stage by armed security, and finished the performance covered in blood and actively bleeding from cuts on her arms. She slipped three times on the blood during the following songs and dance routines to boos and heckling from the crowd.
The four men were released and were not charged as police could not prove where the knife came from. The four men settled out of court for a large unspecified sum when they sued her personally and the record label. She has not performed since but has appeared on several game shows and competitions trying to rehabilitate her image. This has led to boycotts and the canceling of one show. She has not appeared in public since the suit was settled eight months ago.
"Ok…" he said out loud.
"A side branch of the Nahms has owned that label since the 1980's. Filling crowds with Antis is something they have done before to break people when they think they get too prideful, but they've never used it to assault someone before. Definitely not a murder attempt, it's not their style. These men must have acted on their own. It's not like stars haven't been stabbed before on stage. All this hate against her can't all be staged. The Nahms own that tv station and the programming studios. Forced to bow like that would be hard to swallow. Definitely not someone they would want to marry off internally or otherwise. Becoming a wife is their idea of an award.
"Why haven't they just made her disappear like normal? Or even publicly faked her suicide to make an example of her? Putting her on this show to get preyed on by psychos for public entertainment is the exact opposite of their modus operandi."
"Willy, what the fuck are you thinking?" he said softly. He sighed, "The Briefs won't back down on this. That means Vegeta is fully off the leash right now." He rubbed the side of his face and adjusted his glasses. He picked up another paper.
"Jessica McConnell. A name I never wanted to hear again. Surprised she's alive. Can't believe she would come on here. Why would the Nahms go after her? Or was this all the show's doing? Has to be the show's, judging from the other contestants, she fits the profile. I need to ask her about possibly being blackmailed."
"THERE'S ANOTHER ONE?!" he remembered Reynolds screaming.
He sighed again, "And about how her and her sister are able to use ki… Piccolo Jr. has been visiting her, so she will probably end firmly in Z-fighter's care. The issue is going to be Rachel. Usable ki is usually passed down in families, so there could be a dozen or more ki users in that community and no one knows it. And now they are part of the Nahm group with a direct pipeline for money and lawyers, going after them again when they start killing people in a witch hunt is going to be impossible now."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Yes?"
The door cracked open. "Sire, word from Los Angeles, the Njokus are safely in custody."
"Good, keep me updated."
"Yes sire." The door closed.
"And Vegeta is off the Goddamn leash. Even if the Nahms can settle this peacefully, he could still blow a fucking crater in the middle of Kentucky."
He leaned back on the bed and grabbed his head.
"God why are you doing this to me!" He then let his arms fail limply to either side. "Dad… if you were here… you would tell me just to trust Vegeta, wouldn't you?" he took his glasses off and pressed his hands into his eyes in a vain attempt to stop the tears.
"I can't… I can't do it…"