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

Chapter 18.5 Leaving Las Nevadas Part 6: Fundy and Jack Manifold

Jack lay on his king-sized mattress, his head nestled in the soft embrace of a pillow.  On the bedstand next to him were two empty silver platters, the result of his inability to choose between the steak and chicken dishes and the knowledge that he didn't need to.  Warm air blew in from the vents.  He remembered how the cold wind bit into his bones on those nights under the bridge.

It truly was his best life.  He had everything available to him at his whim. 

 And he was going to give it all up.

Was he, really?  Over the Egg?!  The Egg that nearly enslaved everybody and clearly had no intention of stopping in its sinister plans?  Give up everything he had because Wilbur took his prototype and used it to go full Pro-omelette?  No.  Stole his prototype.  Stole it because he knew Jack wouldn't give it to him.  He had to remember that.  It wasn't that Wilbur used it to destroy the Egg, it was that he did it knowing Jack would be against it; did it in secret because he knew Jack would be against it.  

But it wasn't like he'd just dropped it on the Eggpire and killed everyone in one fell swoop; he could have, but he only used it on the Egg, the one thing they knew couldn't be destroyed in any other way and couldn't be reasoned with.  Besides, hadn't Wilbur paid for it?  Didn't it need to be tested?  Wasn't the Egg the best option?

And what about the next time when it was missiles launched at Snowchester?  Or pointed at Kinoko Kingdom?  Would Wilbur be able to persuade him again of the rightness of their use?  Because there was always going to be a good reason.  And he'd probably allow himself to be convinced each time because the reason was good and the bed was soft, and the food was delicious, and everyone knew his f-ing name.  

He could already hear Wilbur in his head, whispering poison into his ear about nukes in Snowchester, the power of Kinoko...

He flipped over in the bed and screamed into his pillow.  First just a primal thing that quickly took form into, "F-ck you!  F-ck you, f-ing Wilbur Soot!  F-CK!  I f-ing hate you!"

Wilbur put him in this f-ing position!  And now what was he going to do?

He needed someone to talk to and get all this rage out.  He looked at his phone.  Two in the morning.  Too late for Niki, not that she'd answer, anyway; and Fundy was on the late shift.  He laid it on the bedside table and fell back onto the pillow.  Absently, he reached over and groped for another pillow.  Finding it, he pulled it over his face, blocking out any light.  What a f-ing sh-tshow this f-ing place was.

His phone buzzed and shook as the tinny ringtone played.  He scrabbled for it.  "Fundy?" he cried as he answered it.

"No... It's Wilbur," the voice on the phone said.

"Oh, yes.  Right.  What do you need, Wilbur?"  Jack tried to sound nonchalant, but his face burned.

Jack could almost hear Wilbur's bemused smile.  "It sounds like what I need aligns with what you need."

"Don't even.  You can f-ck all the way off." Jack growled.  He was in no mood to feed into Wilbur's imagined relationship drama today.  At least, more than he just had.

"That's fair.  Anyway, I need your help with a project..."

—---------------------------------

"No." Jack said as he stood in front of the monstrous pile of dynamite in the entry chamber of the tunnel.

"Why not?" Wilbur asked, a smile threatening at his lips.

"Niki will be pissed when she finds out we blew up her underground city."