PLATO'S STEP-DAUGHTER I FLYNN CARSEN

Long John's Long Johns

Long John's Long Johns

"I don't like this," Eve said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not asking you to babysit him," Flynn said, trying to keep his temper, "just to get him in and out of the building alive."

"But this is Ezekiel Jones we're talking about," Eve argued. "If the shit hits the fan, he'll bail with that ball of thread before you can blink."

"You're not going to bail on us, are you, Ezekiel?" Flynn said, rounding on him. "You're going to saunter in there and steal a priceless magical artefact for us like a good boy, savvy?"

Ezekiel nodded, swallowing hard. Flynn had ruthlessly overruled Jacob's suggestion of going into Golden Axe Food's headquarters and breaking a few jaws. Instead, Flynn had formulated a plan involving Eve and Ezekiel entering the building incognito, and stealing the ball of thread, whilst Cassandra led the others back into the Labyrinth to see if Henry Birch or anyone else could still be saved. Ezekiel had been a mad old man when Karen had seen him, and Flynn was gambling on the chance she wouldn't recognize him in his true form, and as for Eve, she hadn't been present first time round.

"You need to nail this, Zeke," Flynn said seriously. "The thread is the power that's holding it all together. If you get it, it'll be like taking the battery out of a car. No more Labyrinth, no more sacrifices."

"What about the Minotaur?" Clara asked anxiously.

"We'll deal with that delicious dilemma later," Flynn said, doing a twirl.

"But the Minotaur's in the Labyrinth," Clara pressed.

"Later, Clara," Flynn trilled, executing another twirl.

"But if we destroy the ball of thread first," Jacob said, brow furrowing, "the Labyrinth won't exist anymore. So really, we don't need to go into the Labyrinth" -

- "We have to go into the Labyrinth," Flynn suddenly snapped, rounding on them, "if anyone's in there, we have to get them out, or it's puff of smoke time for them and the Labyrinth. Two birds, one stone, remember?"

"The Minotaur shall fade out of existence as well," Jenkins said loftily, "when we destroy the ball of thread, the whole multi-dimensional hoo-ha collapses in on itself with a whoosh." He illustrated the whoosh with a wave of his hands.

"Indeed," Flynn said, eying him oddly. "Let's hit the high notes, troops," he then said, leading them to the back door. "It's time to rock and roll."

When it's you and me
We don't need no one to tell us who to be...

~*~

After sending Eve and Ezekiel on their way, Flynn turned to face Jenkins and the others, looking rather smug with himself. "I thought that wasn't going to work," he boasted, "but it did, very well."

"Indeed," Jenkins observed, folding his hands together. "And your idea to send Ezekiel undercover in the guise of an intern was inspired."

"I know," Flynn agreed.

Clara did a double-take. "Wait, when did that happen?" she said, bewildered. "When did Ezekiel become an intern!?"

"It's in the magical documentation I provided him with," Flynn said, looking at her like she was mad. "Eve's flexing her bureaucracy muscles, and Ezekiel's an intern. It's the only way to get them in through the front door whilst we go in through the back."

"But they're sacrificing the interns!" Clara said in disbelief.

"Oh," Flynn said, as though this idea had just occurred to him.