Chapter 21:

Holding up the phone that he'd been given to communicate with his daughter, Mortimer Stanek declared, "my daughter tells me that they plan to take over New York." Nodding, Eisthir responded, "this was a foregone conclusion the minute you were off that rock, Mr. Mayor."

Settling on the edge of his desk—and showing off those sleek legs—the little wax-person declared, "the crowned heads of Ooo were always going to take the colony. The world you've returned to isn't the one your ancestors left. Ooo doesn't have the vast resources and industrial capacity that produced your colony. We're the heirs of a holocaust, and it's very much every kingdom for itself."

The mayor shot to his feet. Just as he always did, he went to the transparent plastic window stitched into the side of the tent. She knew just what he was seeing. Squalor. Death. Failure.

"The first tranche of weapons is on their way," Eisthir murmured. Rising, she strode over to him. Stroking his back, she declared, "a thousand spear guns. Three hundred dart rifles." "They have thousands of men over there," Mortimer muttered. "We need more." "You need a plan," Eisthir replied.

Nodding at the colony, she said, "you have just this summer, Mr. Mayor. You have that long until the winter closes in again. You lost a hundred last winter. How many will you lose this winter? A thousand? Ten thousand? While that man dwells in a vast palace in the east? While he hordes that beautiful palace on the island?"

"We're not soldiers," muttered Mortimer. "We... The damned Seekers did all they could to beat the war out of us... They made sure the people of New York turned inward. By the time I landed in the mayor's office, all we had left was just a few hundred revolvers and a handful of antique shotguns."

Patting his back, Eisthir responded, "then we shall teach you." When he glanced down at her, she said, "the guns aren't coming alone. I've got some trainers. We'll teach your men to fight." The mayor relaxed visibly.

Across the ocean, Tallulah the water nymph submerged herself in the beautiful pool on the bottom floor of the grand castle they occupied. This was the life she'd been born to lead—servants to see to her every whim, delicacies to eat, and money to purchase whatever she wanted. There was only one fly in the ointment.

They'll try to replace me, thought the nymph. I can't let that happen. All that Cenobia and Catalina cared about was blunting any threat against their positions that Finn represented. They'd manipulated her mother for years, now, and Tallulah feared that Margarida would give in one more time, eschewing her biological heir for Finn the Human's bastard. And what would become of Tallulah then?

It had amused the young nymph to toy with the thirsty men of this world, letting them see her beautiful body without ever letting them have so much as a taste. It was exciting to have a hundred fools throwing every coin they had at her. She'd thrilled at the idea that some were neglecting spouses and families to provide her with disposable income that she used to buy purses and pursue her own pleasures.

Now, she faced the very real risk that shaking her ass for money would become her sole means of support. With no marketable skills, she risked starvation.

"Something's bothering you," remarked Glennis. The pop-tart girl was dipping her toes in the pool. Though she couldn't swim a stroke, she liked to hang out in a bikini by the poolside. Glancing up at her fellow stripper, Tallulah responded, "thinking about my idiot mother."

"I don't understand you," the breakfast treat rumbled. "You're a princess... Why hang out with us?" "Because you didn't grow up around treacherous bitches," Tallulah retorted. "Nymphs stab each other in the back before going to bed at night and at least once before breakfast..." "But you'd be the top nymph," Glennis responded.

"You don't get it," muttered Tallulah. "The higher you go, the more backstabbing there is. Only a nobody can slip through life in the Confederation without having to duck the knives, but you basically have to live hand-to-mouth. I'm not gonna' be doing donkey-shows for thirsty dudes off the ships that sail by."

Just then, knocking on the door of the pool room interrupted the conversation. Momentarily, the maid stuck her face in the door, announcing, "milady has a visitor..." Tallulah frowned. All her friends were already here. She'd basically given them the run of the castle, so they really had no reason to be so formal.

Just as the young princess reached that conclusion, an unpleasantly familiar face came in. "Melosia," Tallulah burbled. "To what do I owe the pleasure." "I'm here at the behest of your mother," Melosia responded, as she approached the poolside. "Huh," Tallulah responded, as she tread water, "Catalina didn't..." "Catalina's been relieved of her responsibilities. I'm now in charge of this mission."

Speaking of back-stabbing, thought Tallulah. "So, what does that mean," she asked? "It means that you're to pack your shit and go," Melosia responded. "I'm supposed to be looking after that bastard kid," Tallulah reminded her. "I'll be taking over that job," Melosia responded. "You and your friends have until tomorrow to clear out." Without a further word, she turned and strode out, her unstylish wooden heals beating a tattoo on the tiles.

"I guess she's raining on the party," Glennis rumbled. "Let's just swim," Tallulah muttered. As her friend slipped into the water, the nymph pondered the meaning of this.

The fact that Melosia was now involved suggested her mother was making a play. Either the play was to take the whole business over from the governors and run it herself, or it was to shut the whole thing down.

The former could be disastrous. If Margarida was taking over, it was highly likely she was going to take the path of least resistance and adopt Finn's bastard as her heir. That would see Tallulah dispossessed. If she were particularly unforgiving, she might try to have Tallulah murdered. No conflicting claimant, no problem.

Why tell me to go, she thought? That was the wild card. It didn't make sense. If Tallulah was here, it was easier to keep tabs on her. The minute she walked out that door, she was in the wind and a potential problem. None of this made any sense, but she feared she was running out of time to figure it out.

As the sun rose over the Candy Kingdom, Charlie Rainicorn rose from bed, feeling somewhat refreshed. Though her project to get pregnant was somewhat on hold due to Finn's grueling schedule, she'd been taking the time to do a little honest self-assessment, while she planned out their next encounter.

It helped quite a bit to have Viola climb down off her back and for their mother to get a grip on herself. It no longer felt like what she was doing was wrong, which she imagined was half of the problem.

I was lying to myself, she thought, as she climbed into the shower. Jr said to come clean, but I had no idea that I'd need to come clean with myself. There was a lot of angst there to confront, with pretty much all of it on her side of the bed.

He was the man of our collective dreams, thought Charlie, and always right there just out of reach. I buried those feelings, but they ended up festering into jealousy and hate because Bill, Fionna, and Star had a good dad. My aunts had a good husband. And me? I had a deadbeat dad who hardly ever came around, and like my mom, I jumped in bed with the first guy to spit game at me.

"You get a second chance, Charlie Rainicorn," she thought. How many other girls not only got the chance to find a man who treated them well after sport-fucking their way through life, but actually got to live somewhat happily-ever-after? The odds hadn't been in her favor, and, deep down, she sort of knew she'd been fucking it up still.

Make it up to him, Charlie, she told herself, as she toweled off. Be an adult, instead of a woman-baby.

At the breakfast table, she found Viola in a positive mood. "What's got into you," Charlie asked, as she sat down with a cup of coffee? "Going out to execute step one of the plan," Viola responded. "I'm meeting with General Urk today to arrange the schedule for the tour I've been planning. This afternoon, I'll meet with Sarah to figure out what the best choice is for a dog homeland."

Charlie stared at her sister. From pushing Finn away and acting at least as much like an ass as Charlie, Viola was going in feet first. But this isn't a selfish dream, thought Charlie, and maybe that's the problem with me. I've come at this selfishly. It was time she was moving on too.

Dressed in her working gear and delighted by the warm weather, the thicc pup sauntered out of the building, her mind focused on work. Viola had been making noises about acquiring a car, though it had been years since either of them drove. Viola's jet-setting life had seen her become reliant on hire-cars to get around, and Charlie had been in the far east, where mechanical transportation was something you only saw when riding between major cities.

As she settled in on the bus, the hybrid found her eyes wandering to her fellow riders. She'd been unreasonably angry at Finn for dragging her into his paranoid life. Now, she was seeing the world with new eyes.

The world was always dangerous, she thought. Finn rescued you from a fucking massacre at the library, for glob's sake. You got used to the peaceful world he'd created here in this city. "Fuck," she murmured, "I can't think of a single fucking time anybody ever thanked him for what he did."

More to the point, the faces around her were strange to her after years of living in the far east. Though most of them were candy-people, there were a lot of folks from distant lands, including a few who were probably from beyond the famous wall everybody talked about. While she'd never feared Princess Bubblegum's mad little candy citizens, she found she had a great deal of fear of the foreigners who'd come to live here.

Exiting the bus, Charlie did her best to shake off the worry. I'll chip in to get the car, she thought. She had a decent chunk of savings from her old place, and since Vi was no longer thinking of shoving her out the door, she didn't have to worry about a place to stay.

Down the street, a car rolled up beside the sidewalk, having trailed the bus across town. The driver sighed heavily, as he contemplated what he was about to do.

Aziz Binici had attempted to walk away from this job, when he realized that the mark had somehow made him. Rare was the woman who was so smart or observant of the world around her that she could see past flattery and realize you meant her harm. Chicks were all for the attention, weren't they?

Aziz had done some digging on his own to figure out just who the hell it was that he was targeting, and the truth had sent him down to the bar to indulge his illicit drinking habit.

Ms. Rainicorn was a somebody. While she wasn't some big-wig's wayward wife, she was the daughter of Jake the Dog. While the famous hero had gone downhill, his bro was anything but a pushover. We're not planning to hurt her, Aziz thought. I'm just here to bring her down to talk to some people.

That was the key thing. If he didn't hurt the girl, there would be no reason for her uncle to cram a sword down his gullet.

Do you really need this money, Aziz asked himself? He only owed half a dozen crooked gambling halls. He was only in hock across half the civilized kingdoms. If he just turned himself in, he could probably get by with just letting them cut his ring finger off or something.

As the thug pondered whether or not losing a finger or two was worse than being drawn and quartered, his antsy accomplice rumbled, "we going? We're just sitting here. She comes out of there, she'll make you again..."

Swallowing hard, Aziz nodded. Climbing out of the car, he strolled up the street to the entry of the building, clutching a mask at his side. Like a litany, the thought repeated in his mind, 'just get it done'.

Knowing the risks of using the elevator, the thug took the stairs, jogging up the three floors to the top with the vigor of youth. Get it done, Aziz, he told himself. Follow the plan. Get it done.

Trouble came to Charlie's peaceful morning with the sound of a commotion in the waiting room. She'd been laying out the mats for the morning's class, her mind on things she could do to atone for the sins she'd committed against Finn and his side of the family. Now, a shriek of utter terror made most of those concerns moot.

A corner of her mind that she'd always associated with her instinct for self-preservation counseled her to go out the window. She had enough of her father's stretchy-powers to get down to the first-floor. She was certainly in good enough shape to make a run for it after that.

Her morals decried the idea of leaving Rian holding the bag. Her boss was a slut and an idiot, but she didn't deserve to get hurt. Momentarily, she was all out of time for figuring out a course of action, as the problem brought itself into her presence, holding Rian Strypes in front of him like a body shield. The knife in his hand suggested he was ready to hurt someone to get his way.

"Hey," Charlie greeted the masked man. "I'm sure Rian's offered you the money from the cash box. I don't have a lot on me, but if you let her alone, I'll give you all I have."

"This isn't a robbery," the thug responded. "You're going to come with me. I'm warning you. Do as I say, and you won't be hurt."

This was everything that Finn had feared. Charlie felt her own terror ratchet up. What did this man have on him? What weapons did he have access to? She could see the terror in her boss's eyes. In calm tones, Charlie said, "I'll go with you, if you let Rian go."

"This slut," the thug responded? "She's a slut, but she has value as a person," Charlie responded. "Let her go, and I'll go with you..."

The thug paused, his dark eyes burning into hers. He couldn't hold them both. He had to drop Rian or the knife, and Charlie was pretty sure he wouldn't let go of the knife. Charlie whispered, "it's gonna' be ok, Rian. You're going to be ok."

The thug shoved Rian away and latched onto Charlie's arm. The hybrid blew out a breath of relief. This was her chance. Reaching inside herself, she focused her will, drawing on he second most significant power.

Bronwyn was good with teleportation, like her father. Vi was the flyer among them, while Jake had the most skill with her stretchy powers.

"C'mon," snarled the thug, as he tugged on her arm. He hadn't quite begun to feel it yet. When he finally did, his face whipped around towards her, his hand coming up with the remnant of the knife. "I do this to myself all the time," said the dog-icorn. "But I have implicit control, down to my atoms. You? Not so much..."

As the hapless thug's molecules disassociated into constituent atoms and blew away, the plump woman sighed heavily. Finn had been more right than she wanted to believe. The gumwads were going to force them all to choose up sides. Like it or not, she was committed to Finn's world.

They'd wanted her alive—this time. That dispensation might not apply next time. Reaching into the pocket of her yoga-pants, the plush-puppy drew out her phone and dialed up Finn.

"Hey, babe," she said. "I kinda' need you to not overreact..." With a heavy sigh, she admitted, "yeah, babe. A client pulled a knife on me... I... Uh... I think I'm gonna' need that bodyguard..."

The Mayor of New York is fucking around. He may soon find out. Kim makes a move on his sister, and Aziz comes to learn that there are things worse than being drawn and quartered. Oops.