Chapter 47:

Eric Stanek had felt a surge of exhilaration when they boarded the boats to cross the lake. Feeling the sting of the spray and the cool wind against his face had only served to amp up the excitement of the moment. After a year of being under the thumb of the fucker who'd stolen the Ark from them, they were getting payback.

Marching up through the hills to get to the road leading from the far side of the island had left him a bit winded, in spite of his years of workouts and bouts with the light bag in the gym. It was likely the farthest that anybody had walked in their lives. On the Ark, you were typically not very far at all from one of the many subway stations, allowing you to simply ride the rails to your destination.

It was one more of the petty tyrannies of this hostile world they'd landed in. There was no subway, and there were certainly no private cars. At least there weren't on shore.

The little green-skinned bitch that his ma spent time with had access to vehicles to ride anywhere she wanted to go, though ironically she tended to walk most places.

Eric's mother had admonished both he and his brother to try seducing the weird little slit. As older brother, the business should've fallen to Dick, but Dick had dipped out. Eric had honestly tried his best to work himself up for the job, but every time he got close to pulling the trigger, he got cold feet.

Lollipop—the candy-person—had a nice round little ass, and long, lean legs. She looked in almost every way, like any of the skinny little models Eric banged in his youth. At the same time, none of those girls had green skin.

Every time Eric looked at the little bitch, he kept wondering if she had the right parts. The last thing he wanted was to get to the moment and find there was nowhere to put his dick. In the end, neither brother had managed to pull the trigger, leaving their mother to do much of the heavy lifting of keeping track of what the 'Seneschal' was up to.

It doesn't matter, he thought. None of that matters now. We're in business. We're going to get the Ark back.

His mother was enamored of keeping this fucking island. Eric wanted their people back on the Ark where they belonged. Let these fucking mutants keep this dustball.

"Sun's coming up," remarked John Gordon. John was Eric's bodyguard and a member of New York's finest. They'd gone to school together in their teens, with Eric's father making bank on shady deals while John's dad scraped by.

But John had been a bruiser of a boy, six-feet tall in his early teens and stacked with muscle by the time he left high-school. While he didn't have the background to move in the world Eric moved in, he had two fists of iron and the mean disposition of a street-fighter, making him the perfect henchman.

Slowly, as the sun came over the horizon, they got a better and better view of the threat they were facing. Everyone on the shore knew about the army camp on the far side of the island. They'd been told never to sail too far out into the lake, lest they catch a glimpse of the camp, though really nobody knew how to run a boat anyway.

They'd all seen the flying machines—the airplanes—coming and going from the place, dropping off weapons and taking the self-proclaimed king's soldiers here and there. Eric's sister had ridden on one, though she hadn't really been able to describe the facility when questioned. Now, they were getting their first look.

"It's bigger than we thought," John muttered. The army camp spread out before them, looking every bit as big as the town. A vast expanse of concrete lay front and center, with the airplanes that Tania had described scattered down its length.

"There won't be many there," Eric muttered. "Eisthir lured a lot of them away..." John grunted, sounding unconvinced.

"We're going to do this, John," Eric rumbled. John was another of their people who'd begun to see this business differently. Like Eric's mom, he wasn't all that excited about going back to the Ark. He wanted his son to live a good life here.

"There's no diseases on the Ark," Eric lied. "Remember that, John. Jacky won't ever have to worry about being sick again on the Ark..." Reluctantly, John nodded.

Resting a hand on the big man's shoulder, Eric reminded him, "we shouldn't have to fight them. We'll... We're going to post up here in this canyon. They won't be able to get through..."

As they sat on their vantage point watching, activity at the facility began to pick up. They could see figures moving down on the concrete apron.

One of the men behind Eric opined, "they don't seem to be in a big hurry..." Eric grimaced. That was starting to worry him just a little big too. He would've expected them to come rushing up the road to this canyon. His brother had control of the palace, after all.

I would've expected that guy to be shitting himself, Eric thought. His kids are in that place. Of course, if you watched the typical blockbuster from the entertainment industry, men like that typically lived their lives in 'no fucks given' mode.

Slowly, as the sun spun across the sky, those figures gathered themselves up and began to form themselves into what Eric imagined was a combat formation. Still, they stayed put.

Instead, a pair of creatures came riding across the open ground on those horse-things that these people seemed to love. "Buck up, John," Eric rumbled.

Minutes passed into eternity, and then the duo began to ascend the slope towards the New Yorkers. Rising, John shouted, "that's close enough!" Meanwhile, Eric took their measure.

The pair couldn't have been more different if they'd tried. One was clearly one of those 'slime' people. The other looked like a living banana, complete with bright yellow 'peel'.

It was the slime person that spoke first. Said he, "the King of Ooo has declared that you are in violation of a number of civil laws. You are urged to return to your camp on the shore. Those of you who do so peacably..."

Eric shouted back, "we make the rules here, weirdo!" Shouts of encouragement greeted his words. Still, the strange creature continued on, declaring, "those who do so peacably will be allowed to live, though you will be punished with hard labor. Those who do not do so peacably will be brutally sanctioned. You have until the end of today to decide..."

"We want the ark back," Eric shouted! "We'll deal for the ark!" Ignoring him, the slime person turned his horse and began to ride away. "We're in control here," Eric shouted! "We can turn up the heat on your pals in the palace!"

In short order, the duo were riding back in the direction they came, while Eric shouted furiously back at them.

Meanwhile, Dick Stanek was splitting his time between shouting gibberish orders at the control pedestal in the Seneschal's office, shouting at his mom, and screaming at Lollipop. The slim candy person stood in the corner, examining her finger nails as if determining whether she needed a manicure or not.

The whole business was slowly unraveling. They didn't have the hostages. They didn't have access to any of the secret rooms that Natasha Stanek had seen in her roaming with their irritating 'host', and they'd even seemingly lost access to the interior of the palace.

Efforts to access the controls for the robots had failed, and they were now arguing over whether or not the little bitch in the corner had any value. Dick had been edging up on murdering her—making an example to get their opponent to play ball. Natasha had been holding him up from doing that.

The one thing that had stopped Dick—so far—was that with the chicks locked up in their little rookery upstairs, the only real hostage they had was this woman. If her words were true, and the King's soldiers were on their way, the New Yorkers would need every hostage they could muster.

"Lemme' think," Dick growled, as he broke off the argument. Pacing back and forth, scrubbing his hand through his hair over and over, the eldest of the Stanek children muttered, "we have a town full of those mutants..."

Glancing up at one of his guys, Dick said, "bring one of them to the courtyard... one of the maids..." Turning to Natasha, he said, "you know how to operate one of their phones? Right?" Nodding, Natasha replied, "I was given one..."

Nodding to himself, Dick said, "I'm gonna' need you to send a picture to Tania in a bit... She's got to send it to somebody she trusts in the east. They can take it to the guy's people."

"What're you going to do," Tasha asked? "Make an example," Dick replied. "Murder is a capital offense," Lollipop remarked. Jabbing a finger at her, Dick snarled, "shut your mouth!"

With no further word, he took his mother's phone and stalked out of Lollipop's office. He was gone for a fair bit. Minutes passed into eternity.

While he was gone, Lollipop pondered the consequences of this moment. She'd always assumed she and the members of her family would be the targets. She'd reckoned without the possibility of them murdering the servants.

Her mind went to the people out in the town, while she did the calculation. The Candy-Folk were most vulnerable. The Slime People could hide out in the sewers, and the peeps from Warrior Kingdom could ably defend themselves.

Finn won't let us bring them back, she thought. They'd gone around and around and around the topic one night, with the big man putting his foot down. He'd made Lollipop and Cherry accept his edict. He couldn't stop them from reviving each other, but he'd be damned if it became a habit.

Slippery slope, thought Lollipop, with a heavy-hearted sigh. They were teetering on the edge of where James was—tampering with things that could wreck Ooo. She'd just have to apologize to the maid's family.

Finally, the first-son of New York strode back into the office. Shoving the phone under his mother's nose, Mr. Stanek growled, "send it. Tell her it needs to get to that King..." "What did you...," Tasha gabbled, "oh, my god! Dick! You..." "Send it," he growled.

Fighting the urge to empty her stomach, the evil trophy-wife sent the picture. While she worked, the younger Stanek strode up to her, declaring, "you made me do that..." "Can't handle your own karma," Lollipop retorted.

Pissed, he backhanded her. Lollipop murmured, "I'm going to enjoy the moment where my husband beats you to death with his bare hands..." "It's sent, Dick," Tasha declared, glaring at Lollipop for good measure.

I ended up breaking these up because there was too much happening in too many different places to do it in one chapter. It was messy and confusing, so I started over and did it in four separate chapters. Hopefully, this is cleaner.