The Tale of Amaretto

Thirty-Third Grain...

In Which a Confrontation is Finally Had...

Katherine's eyes flared in annoyance. "I know that you are only a high school girl, but please, do you really think those words were necessary?"

Amaretto blinked in a rather confused way and could feel her cheeks heating up as anger slowly encompassed her being. "The strange metal woman wants to kill us and you're concerned about me saying a bad word?" As if to emphasize what it was that she was saying, Amaretto pointed at Mother Chime.

Katherine made a moue with her lips and then frowned in consternation. It was quite obvious that she was looking displeased, but Amaretto thought it was most certainly about the wrong thing.

"Just because we are doing this doesn't mean that I have to enjoy it." Amaretto crossed her arms in a defensive maneuver.

Katherine frowned. "You don't have to enjoy it, but you have to play within the rules of the world that you are in."

Mother Chime looked at all the women and snarled. "I am not a strange metal woman!"

Alice shook her head. "I knew that something was going on, but I didn't know what was actually happening. This is beyond anything that I thought was going on however."

Johanna snarled. "You stole the Stone from us." She reached for her sword, but it was no longer there. A flicker of confusion passed Johanna's face before she remembered. Amaretto also remembered how Johanna had stabbed a large IronMan with it and almost destroyed the rapier that she had. The Queen was decidedly confused.

"I swear, I did not know! I merely got it from one of the scientists. They said that it would help with the cultivation of the animus transfers!" The Queen's voice was a little high-pitched and she looked truly worried.

Johanna all but snarled her response. "I cannot believe that you stole from us!" She threw her right hand down so that it was parallel with the ground and muttered something under her breath.

Mother Chime was about to say something when Alice suddenly shouted. "No Johanna! Don't do it!" Katherine sputtered and then grabbed Amaretto and tried to drag her back. Amaretto tried to say something of her own as her aunt's hands closed over her shoulders, but she was cut off by a strange sound. There was a tremor in the ground and Johanna took a step forwards.

The wood floors that appeared to be a strange cherry suddenly reacted to the tremor. Bit by bit, the ground heaved its wood paneling from the ground and heaved itself upwards, atomizing as it lifted itself from its bonds. As the paneling atomized only a fraction from where it had originally lain, metal surfaces revealed themselves underneath. Amaretto felt the ground and then looked down as the floor atomized beneath her feet. Familiar planks were soon replaced by irregular beveling and Amaretto was sure that it was not the flooring that anyone was expecting.

Amaretto spoke in an awed voice. "What is going on here?"

Katherine pointed to Johanna and said, "I think she is trying to channel the powers of the Stone, but I don't know what is happening!"

Amaretto sputtered in indignation, her eyes growing wide, "You don't know what is happening? Aren't you the one who has magic flowing through her veins as a fairy? As my Godmother, I demand you do something!"

Katherine sighed with an explosive force that made Amaretto think that she was about to rip her head off with a screaming howl. Instead, Katherine pointed to the Stone that was still within the Queen's grasp. The stone was glowing a strange red color, and the Queen's old body was starting to shake a little in small jerks. "The stone is linking two separate powers at the same time and is confused as to which power it should be following. You and I both need that stone to get the coordinate that Tempus needs. At the same time, the Queen needs it to complete her Transfer from one body to the other, while in the same vein, trying to answer the call that Johanna is pursuing it to do as well."

Amaretto thought for a moment and then said, "So we need that stone, but, we have to figure out who will wind up with it in the end?"

Before her aunt could answer her, Mother Chime leaned her head back and cackled. "Those who come to the Cloister in faith will see what cold hard science has to offer! I will not allow you to go traipsing out there until my experiment is complete! Guards!" Amaretto said a string of filthy words that her Aunt had the audacity to look shocked about. Amaretto distinctly remembered as a child learning those self same words from her Aunt.

"Damn it Aunt Katherine! Why did you have to bring me here?" There was terseness in Amaretto's voice that sounded like the razor sharpness of a knife.

Katherine shook her head in a rather unreal response. "We can worry about our travels and their failures later. At the moment, I would be more concerned about Johanna."

The floor shook for a second and the terrified Queen jumped back onto the bed where her body lay, clutching at the frail woman as if to protect it. The queens' frantic eyes crawled over the room in apparent terror. Johanna lifted a finger and pointed it at Mother Chime. "You will pay for what you did."

Mother Chime's face twisted into a scowl and then a sneer of contempt. "Do you really think that you will make me pay for crimes I did not commit?" The contempt dripped from her voice like venom from a snake. Her eyes held a fierce light in her eyes. Amaretto could see that the woman was viciously inclined for some reason.

At that moment, the familiar clanking of iron against the floor and steam hissing was to be heard just outside the door. The doors flung wide open, and Amaretto didn't seem to remember who had closed them in the first place. As they did so, several IronMen in red cloaks walked through the door of the room with long metal protrusions on their arms all buzzing with the static hum of electricity. Sparks flew as one of them hit the door with his arm and electric blue skittered across the metal protrusions. Amaretto was sure it was supposed to be a scare tactic, and she was more than sure that it was working at least against her. She didn't want to appear weak, but then again, she would have preferred a History Final in school on history she had never known about, than being a part of an alternate history.

Mother Chime crowed in defiance. "Not a single one of them shall be left! Kill them all!"

Johanna frowned and at that moment, Alice stepped forwards. "Johanna," she said in a light voice, "I cannot let you do this alone. I shall allow you to use the seal." She took a step forwards before Amaretto could say anything. She pulled one of her guns and then shot the first IronMan that was coming close. She frowned at Mother Chime and then pulled her second gun and pointed it at the woman.

A thin sheen of wetness covered Mother Chime's forehead for a moment as her composure seemed to slip for a second. She seemed to gather herself again and the haughty look appeared once more. Her voice was a sneer when she continued. "You will all die."

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A/N: This grain is a little shorter than normal, I know, sorry. To make up for it, I will post a double grain today a little later on, more towards the afternoon. I hope you all enjoy it! Remember to Vote and Favorite if you can! Thanks!

~~Sean