Chapter 33:

A carnival atmosphere prevailed among the folk gathered there on the peninsula. Kim had provided the money to bring in the refreshments and entertainment. The pack of treacherous nobles and wealthy chattered away in excitement. They were moving—finally.

Across the bay, a ship lay anchored before the forgotten ruins of an ancient city. The ship carried a sinister air, in spite of its innocuous appearance. Of course, only the people gathered on the shore would've had any idea what the ship concealed.

Prince Gumbald and his companions had been working on the weapon for weeks, making steady progress. Kim Kil Wan was well aware of how much was involved in getting to this point due to the steady drain on his wallet.

John Hersey had burned up the rails rushing around to procure some of the more obscure things the mad genius needed to make the weapon work. Now, it was time to demonstrate it before their companions.

Kim himself bounced between being giddy and being terrified. Their coalition desperately needed this to be successful. Even though he'd seen video of the original weapon sinking a ship, he still feared catastrophe.

The top members of the coalition were all gathered. The treacherous peanuts, Henrietta and Clovis were chatting near one of the tables with the food, while Clovis's wife and sister circulated through the crowd showing off their daughters.

The wax-hustler, Anwen Mallory, was chatting with Gumbald himself, while Nicia Bianchi sat amongst a horde of fawning male admirers. Ademir Othman was present, looking even more sickly than when Kim had last seen him. Kim's own personal following were scattered here and there in clumps with their bodyguards and attendants.

He'd had to push to get most of them to step out of the shadows for a moment to come here. They were all a little nervous after the brutal murders of some of their number at the hands of various agents of the nobility.

Everything was in place. The demonstration was due to get underway at sunset. Gumbald and his companions would show off a weapon they swore was the equal to the terrifying machine in the Desert of No Return.

Kim checked his watch, then checked it again, moments later. The closer they got to the event, the more anxious he became. He hungered for this to be over. He wanted to be moving on down the road towards his future. He wanted his throne.

"Quiet, everyone," shouted Gordon Wells! "I'd like everyone to take their seats... Quickly now! Quickly!" Kim shivered. This was it.

It took all he had in him to slowly and calmly make his way to his own seat at the edge of the impromptu amphitheater. What would the members of the coalition do if the test failed? How would they move forward? More to the point, could he avoid the ugly fate that personally awaited him should Finn find out he'd been a part of this?

There was a part of him that believed that Finn the Human would never dare to touch him. Beholden to his idiot father, Finn would hesitate to sanction Kim, no matter what he did. The cold realist in him knew very well how money and power drove you to increasingly ugly acts.

Get through this, Kim thought. Make your decision after you get through the demonstration. Stop jumping at shadows and worrying at what might never come.

Around him, the other key members of the coalition were taking their seats. As the sun sank below the horizon, Kim forced his heart to slow down. They were moments away from either greatness or catastrophe.

Down below, the side of the ship's superstructure that faced out on the ruins ratcheted open, and Kim felt something. There was a tremendous amount of energy flowing through time and space around him now.

A lambent glow lit the opening in the ship's side, building and building until it was almost blinding. And then a bolt of incandescent malice licked out, slamming into the forgotten remnant of human civilization.

Over and over and over the light flashed, smashing into the land opposite the observers, all but blinding some of them. Rumbling and the sounds of thunderous collapses announced the efficacy of those shots. Indeed, when Kim's vision finally cleared, the ruins were mostly gone.

"That's just seventy-percent power," Gumbald announced. Every face in the audience snapped over to his. The tall candy-person stood with his hands behind his back, a pair of goggles hanging around his neck.

Bastard, thought Kim! You should've warned us! Then, moments later, it occurred to him that he was now in the position of being able to complain! The weapon had worked!

Striding forward, Gordon Wells announced, "let's go to the tent. We can talk about our next steps over refreshments."

The gathered conspirators rose almost as one and trooped into the nearby tent to find seats arranged around a conference table—a round conference table. He knows how to play the egos, thought Kim. The dog-icorn thought none of these folk would've accepted being at the end of a table.

There was still a little jostling and jockeying as this or that faction tried to one-up their adversaries. Still, in the end, every ass was in a seat, and every face was focused on Gordon Wells and his tame madman.

"As has been abundantly demonstrated, the weapon is capable of smashing structures from the size of a family home to those as large as a palace," Gumbald declared. "We have solved the problems of scaling, and we've managed to make the unit modular enough to be broken down and transported easily."

The tall candy-person went on and on in that vein, explaining all the little tricks and subtleties he and his companions had worked into the weapon. The long words and fat syllables flew thick and fast to the point where Kim lost the plot himself.

Thankfully, their erstwhile savior seemed to have a sense that he was boring his audience. Rattling to the end, he declared, "we're ready to move forward with the next steps."

"Next steps," babbled Nicia Bianchi? "W-we should be making a target list!" Sitting up straight, she said, "just smash a few cities, and the Privy Council will toss Finn out on his ass!"

"And which cities do you propose we smash," Gordon Wells queried? The curvy harlot flushed, her pole-axed expression suggesting she hadn't the faintest idea.

In cool tones, the spymaster declared, "we could smash the capitols of Emerald Kingdom and Engagement Ring Kingdom. After that..."

Chagrined, Nicia glanced at the table. Kim found his own jaw hanging. The weapon, as it stood now, was useless! All the cities were far inland. Chocago. The Candy Capital. Breakfast Kingdom. They were all deep in the interior of the continent. He'd been a little premature in his excitement.

"We need the mirror satellite," Othman opined. Kim's face snapped over to the Elbownian. Coughing into his handkerchief, the fallen noble, wiped his lips and declared, "the weapon in the Desert of No Return doesn't move either. It's far enough away from pretty much everything as to be worthless. And yet it's able to reach every corner of Ooo. Bonnibel's mirror satellite would make our weapon useful."

"But the satellite is controlled from inside the Candy Palace," Henrietta responded. "We... I thought we couldn't get anyone inside the palace." Her face flicked to Gordon Wells, hope in her eyes.

Shaking his head, Gordon responded, "the Candy Palace is the second most guarded place on Ooo..." Kim had a sinking feeling he knew what the first was. "So we're stuck," he rumbled. "Is that what you're telling us?"

"We should hardly have brought you here if that was true," Gumbald snorted. Reaching into a pocket, he brought out a curious device. Flicking it on, he caused a hologram to appear before them.

"This is or was the homeland of the remnant of humanity," the madman declared. "It's called the Ark, I believe." "It's up in space," muttered Kim. "Not even my kid could teleport that far safely."

"We have a much shorter distance for your daughter to teleport, Mr. Rainicorn," Gordon retorted. Kim's face snapped up in alarm.

The hologram changed to a view of a muddy rainforest. Said Gumbald, "my niece has been helping these primitive fools reconstruct a launching facility for spacecraft with the express purpose of reaching this Ark. She's got some foolish idea of searching out the remnants of humanity out among the stars. I have something much less esoteric in mind."

Flicking through images, he came up with one that had every person present ooh-ing and ah-ing. Their rogue genius planned to mount their new weapon to the Ark and aim it at their enemies on Ooo.

"But how're you going to get it there," Nicia demanded? "Obviously, he intends to commandeer one of these spacecraft his niece has been building, Nicia," Anwen Mallory retorted. She sounded bored.

Leaping ahead, Kim asked, "won't that place be heavily guarded too?" Nodding, Gumbald responded, "that's where your daughter comes in, Mr. Rainicorn. Your daughter's unique talent can get our strike force into the heart of the facility. By the time they realize we're there, we will be in position to take over."

Kim Kil Wan felt his jaw come open at the same time he felt his heart drop. Was he in a bad state with Bronwyn? Yeah. He'd threatened her, even if obliquely. At the same time, that was still his kid.

More to the point, there was a big fly in their pie. "She's with him, now," Kim retorted. In irritated tones, the dog-icorn hybrid muttered, "she travels with two or three bodyguards. You'd have a tough time abducting her, and she isn't listening to me at the moment."

Resting his elbows on the table, he opined, "there's a bunch of holes in your plan. They can pro'lly bring down scads of soldiers. There's probably a bunch there even now. Throw in some of those machines..."

He was pooh-poohing the thing that he'd been so much in favor of, only minutes ago. At the same time, he had to be realistic. More to the point, they only had the one weapon. If they squandered it striking at this rocket-base...

"You present cogent arguments, Mr. Rainicorn," Gumbald responded. He didn't sound as though he was agreeing, though.

Gordon Wells returned to the conversation, declaring, "we have a diversion planned." Chuckling an evil little chuckle, he explained, "Finn the Human's own kith and kin are going to assault King's Island as a diversion."

"Why would they do that," demanded Henrietta? "Because we instigated it," Gordon chuckled, "and because they think that our operation on the rocket base is the actual diversion."

Kim sat up and took notice. That was monstrous. They were going to burn up hundreds, maybe even thousands of Finn's fellow humans to take a swipe at this rocket base! It was horrifyingly evil. At the same time, Finn had gained his throne by being ruthless. It was past time for Kim to do the same.

"I know somebody who can be our entry into the rocket base," Kim declared. "I know someone we can take hostage to assure his cooperation. He'll slip in, open an isolated gate, and we'll be able to do what we want."

"Someone who's not your daughter," Gumbald rumbled? "We don't need or want her," Kim retorted. "Finn keeps her close to him. She's his lover. He's bound to notice if he doesn't hear from her..."

"Point taken," Gordon responded. "I'll take the name and get started on our plan. The Ark will be here over Ooo very soon."

The matter got decided just like that, with Gordon and Gumbald handing out tasks to the various members of the conspiracy. With the 'crisis-point' past and plans in place to move forward, Kim was in a very good mood and feeling horny. His eyes scanned the gathering, looking for someone he could get some action with.

Usually, when he and his associates had a meeting like this, there were plenty of sluts they could use, when they got done with business. He'd take one or more with him to his hotel, plow the shit out of them half the night, and head home in the morning.

Unfortunately, treason was a bit of a different ball-game. He couldn't hire a bunch of ho's to come to this event. More to the point, he wasn't sure even the thirstiest nymph would consent to be bundled into a lightless cabin on a ship and hustled over the sea to somewhere she didn't know.

There were women here that would've fit the bill. Lady Nicia was looking quite fuckable. Even Anwen Mallory had come dressed to the nines.

Of course, his experience with Chelsea put him off wanting anything to do with another wax-hustler. He'd been a fool to trust that little bitch. Nor was dallying with Nicia a very good idea, since Purple-Folk were infamous for using their pheremones on those they considered gullible marks.

Clovis's daughters and nieces were young enough to still be fuckable, though one look at their mothers told him what he could expect when they were older. If that wasn't enough, Clovis was an ally and friend.

As he contemplated the quartet of young girls, another option came on the scene. As Kim watched, the two young girls carried trays of refreshments to Clovis and his family.

The business tycoon licked his lips. He'd been overcome with remorse after basically raping Finn's daughter. He'd spent the next days rationalizing the whole business.

He hadn't been the first. Clovis had been pimping the twins out for years. He hadn't used violence. He'd simply done what he wanted to do. He thought maybe the girl even got off.

Watching those two, with their long, golden hair, curvy hips, ripe asses, and heavy-duty tits, he decided that rather than stand there with a hard dick in his hands, he'd get some ass instead.

Sidling up to the closest of the pair, the rogue businessman grabbed a big hunk of her ass. "Good evening, Feena," he rumbled. The girl barely flinched, suggesting that a lot of men had groped her. "I-it's Faea, sir," she responded.

Smiling at Clovis, Kim rumbled, "why don't you take a walk with me, Faea?" "S-sir," she burbled. "Don't insult my friend," Clovis growled. "Y-yes, sir," the girl agreed.

On the far side of the ocean, Natasha Stanek slipped into an innocuous metal box in the middle of a bustling working yard amidst the rumble of machinery. There were literally hundreds of such boxes on site here, being used variously to carry and store materials or as working spaces for the strange mutant creatures who'd come here on King's Island. With folk going in and out of those boxes at all hours of the day, Natasha didn't stand out at all.

Passing down the length of the shipping container, the Mayor's wife looked around her one more time before slipping through a second door at the far end. It wouldn't do to get caught meeting with their confederates after all, and she was well known to some of the mutants due to the company she kept.

The space beyond had been built up from multiple containers, with a roof built of concrete slabs. Ostensibly, the space was just another workshop, but there were no machines on the wooden floor. Instead, rows of seats suggested this space was being used as a meeting room.

"Last one," Eisthir burbled. Nodding to her assistant to shut the door, the wax-hustler motioned for Tasha to join them at the front of the room.

Heels thumping on the rough planks, the First-Lady of New York came to the head of the room. Her husband was meeting with the City Council, keeping their adversaries focused there instead of on what his wife and sons were up to.

Settling alongside her oldest son, Tasha crossed her legs artfully, even as she took note of who else was here. There were many more of the strange mutants known as candy-people here, suggesting that Eisthir had gotten a lot of help.

No sooner had her ass touched the seat, than the little spy brought the meeting to order. "Good afternoon, all," said she. "We'll get started now."

Tasha sat up straighter. She hadn't been able to meet with the wax-person very much. She feared either missing something important if she was off King's Island or that she'd get found out.

"We're getting closer to action-day," Eisthir declared. "We have two-thousand spear-guns on hand in a remote location just outside this camp. We've completed training of two-thousand soldiers to perform the storming operation for the castle..."

Dick Stanek interrupted, "that don't seem like nearly enough t'me..." Glancing around him, the Mayor's son and heir-apparent declared, "we was expectin' help. They got them crazy war-machines. They got ten-thousand soldiers at that camp..."

"But the castle is the key, Mr. Stanek," Eisthir retorted. Tapping the board beside her, she said, "if we secure the castle, we literally have control over King's Island. We can fly it anywhere we want. We can shutdown the machines. We can control them ourselves."

The little woman's eyes flicked to Tasha. Swallowing hard around a cold lump of fear, the treacherous trophy wife announced, "there is a console inside the Seneshal's office. She controls the handful of machines in use on the island from there. There is a main console, but it's buried down deep inside the castle in a guarded war-room."

"The invisibility machine," one of the new spies asked? "Controlled from the same room," Tasha confirmed. With an expression that was half irritated grimace and half grin of amusement, the Mayor's wife added, "she's quite the little chatterbox."

Clearing her throat, Eisthir drew the conversation back to her. Said she, "the Candy People are little cowards. Some of them might literally die on the spot if frightened. They won't fight us."

Tapping the board, she said, "the real trouble is the army camp on the other side of the island. They'd be marching through the gaps in the hills here and here. We can blockade them, take the people in the capital hostage, and make our demands..."

"But there's too many of them," Dick Stanek insisted. In a soothing voice, Eisthir responded, "we have a way to get them out of there."

Flipping the map over, she said, "there's a rocket base down here, capable of launching spaceships to orbit. We aim to launch an attack against it as a diversion... Based on past history, they'll send a large number of soldiers south to reinforce the base, enabling us to take King's Island."

Tasha remembered the evening that she'd heard the flying machines lifting off from the army base in the hills. Her little friend had told her just that—the machines were taking soldiers south to that very facility—though Tasha had never been able to find out just how many had gone.

Eisthir's never lied to us, she thought. This could very well be the moment. She could taste the luxurious lifestyle of the palace.

While there weren't nearly enough houses in the little town outside the castle, they could eject the mutants from the village down the coast and occupy the army base. Moving King's Island south to the warm waters near the equator would help too.

Tasha Stanek couldn't help the way her toes wanted to curl at the thought of sunning herself on a beach down in the warm southern lands. With a literal flying island, they could move across the globe, staying constantly ahead of the chill winter winds.

Maybe I'll turn that little bastard of hers into a little page-boy, thought Tasha. She was already planning on turning sweet Lollipop into her maid. She couldn't wait to see the look on the bitch's face!

"What about that Prince," Dick Stanek interrupted? "He's here and his sister too. They brought one o'dem fire people."

Nodding, Eisthir responded, "yeah, I've seen him. We're working on something to get William and Fionna out of here. If he leaves, the elemental girl will pro'lly go with him. We're still in this. Just be patient and keep moving forward." Flipping the board back over, she said, "moving on... logistics. We're going to need everyone prepared, if you're all moving onto the island..."

Elsewhere, Eric Stanek stepped away from the nasty road-side bar that an enterprising New Yorker had set up here. Carrying two beers, he walked across the road to the little park-let that some of the locals had created for their kids.

Carefully juggling the two beers in their wooden cups, he climbed the slope to where Tania Stanek sat staring out at the rough village they now called 'home'. His sister was in a bit of a state just now, causing him to worry about what she'd been through back in the east.

"I look at this, and I feel like I failed," Tania rumbled. "We're still in this wilderness. I didn't get the Ark back."

"We're gonna' get it back," Eric insisted. "Worse comes to worse, we just take something suitable."

Tania's face flicked to his. They'd been keeping her out of things. A lot of that was because nobody trusted 'His Majesty's' telephone system. Who knew who might be listening in? With Tania back here among their people, maybe it was time to level with her.

Cocking his head towards the waterfront, Eric rumbled, "we're gonna' take that island." Tania goggled at him. "Fair trade," Eric declared. "He took our city. We take his."

Turning to face her, he said, "it's got all we need. Power for lights and heating, land for growing food, and we can fly it wherever we want on this rock."

"Does daddy know," Tania murmured. "Eric... This... it sounds so dangerous." Eric chuckled, "any more dangerous than havin' some damned animal wander in out of the trees and eat a few people?"

"H-has that really been happening," Tania howled?! "Some folks went up in the woods... just to see, and ran into a monster," Eric responded. "Two... made it back. Council passed a law banning goin' out into the woods."

Shaking himself, he said, "anyways, there's no monsters or animals on that island. We take it... we go south and grab out people out o'them camps. We screw off over the ocean to somewhere nice and warm."

The decision was already made. Everybody was working towards putting the right measures in place to get it done. They were going to take King's Island. "If we do everything right," Eric rumbled, "we get control o'that weapon he threatened to use on us. Then we can use it on him."

Tania knew who he was. Having seen the cold, vacant look in that man's eyes, she feared that no amount of weaponry would deter him from smashing the people of New York. In spite of being human himself, Finn Mertens loved the mutants far more, and she feared he'd slaughter them all.

Still, she kept her peace. The world had seemingly moved on, and there was little point in arguing over a decision that had already been made.

We are closing in on the climax of this volume. The Humans are about to get out of pocket, and Kim is increasingly going off the rails. Both sides may well discover what Fuck Around and Find Out truly means. While Blargetha is hunting around for something to arm the Ark, Gumbald may well get their first. Stay tuned. The shocks are just around the corner.