The Blinding Light of Sunrise: The Las Nevadas Arc - AU Short Stories

Chapter 17.5-18.5 Leaving Las Nevadas Part 5: Fundy and Jack Manifold

Fundy wasn't quite sure his dad would still be up.  They'd worked all night and into the early morning setting the dynamite.  Then there'd been the press conference.  He was sure Wilbur hadn't slept in between those two things.  Then meetings and plans until the evening followed by his dad's usual supper with Jack while Fundy prepared the crate and got it ready to ship to the Badlands.  

He'd wanted to ask why Jack hadn't just done it, but his dad hung up on him before he could.  It was such a weird thing to ship.  It looked like a pill half the size of him.  A very heavy pill.  With a smiley face painted on it in red over blue.  Jack could be a little strange with his projects.

As he approached the penthouse, he heard loud noises.  Really loud.  Like someone was fighting for their life in there!  

"Dad!" he cried.  He fumbled for his master key.  It fell from his fingers.  He quickly scooped it up and pressed it to the door.  He recognized the dull thunk of an axe.

He swung open the door.  "Dad!" he cried again.  Ceramic shattered in the office.

"How f-ing dare you!" Wilbur shouted. His voice shrill, an undertone of horseness cutting through, as though he'd been shouting for a while.  "How dare you f-ck him!  When I've done everything for you!  I've stayed my f-ing hand and this is how you repay me!  Did I mean so f-ing little to you?!  Did these mean so f-ing little to you?!"  Another dull thunk.

"Dad!" Fundy shouted.  The lock on the office door rattled as he tried to pull it open.  "Dad!  I'm coming in!"  He backed up to kick in the door, scared of who else might be in there.  He wasn't ready to fight, but he'd do his best.

"No!" The door opened and Wilbur slid out.  He had on his usual smile but his face was flushed and his eyes - there was something not at all right about the look in his eyes, something absolutely terrifying.  At his feet was a little half-circle of guitar string that had clearly flown from somewhere.  "No need to worry.  I just fell."

Fundy's brow creased.  There was no way all of that was from just tripping.  "I heard glass breaking."

"Yes, I tried using a shelf to pull myself up, but it wasn't as stable as I thought.  Anyway, I suppose that's one World's Best Boss mug I won't be using.  It was a bit ugly anyway, looked like it was handmade by someone who'd only heard what a mug looked like and had a lot of weird green smears on it.  What are you doing?" Wilbur said as Fundy tried to see around him.

"Well, I can help you clean it up."

"No need, that's what maids are for.  I didn't hire HBomb to sit around and drink all day."  Wilbur pulled the door shut behind him but not before Fundy could see the office was absolutely trashed.  Papers were everywhere.  An axe was buried in the whiteboard where a drawing of what looked like Eret's pyramid was.

Fundy sniffed the air.  There was nobody else there.  Hadn't been anybody else there.  He caught a whiff of Dream from the couch behind him and the light stale cigar smell from HBomb but that was it.  "Dad, I don't know what's going on, but don't lie to me."

Wilbur's smile turned seamlessly to a look of false concern.  "Why would I lie to you?"

  "I don't know why you are."  Fundy wasn't letting go this time.  "But you are."

Wilbur was silent for a moment, as though trying to figure out how to address this unforeseen snag.  Finally Wilbur snapped,  "You're right.  You don't know.  And you don't need to know."

Fundy clenched his fists in frustration.  "Dad, I'm tired of letting you gaslight me.  I heard you, just now."

His dad shrugged.  "You don't know what you heard," he said almost flippantly.