Rick immediately felt the unmistakable presence of Gus. Something must have gone wrong.

“What’s going on, Jimmy?” Rick asked as the two walked into the first floor.

“Well, your guess was spot on. The invaders are Chrotos. Nasty ones too. However, they’re not nearly as dumb as Atrono suggested,” Jimmy said.

This came somewhat of a surprise to Rick, but he understood Jimmy’s attempt to fill him in. The ships had activated but clearly hadn’t targeted Gus. Rick had ensured that the DNA targeting system for him wasn’t active, but was unable to shut down the targeting for Chrotos DNA. Still, it couldn’t have been more than half an hour since he rolled out the Pest Control ships. “What exactly happened out there?”

Jimmy shrugged, “I pressed the buttons – and almost got incinerated ‘ya prick,” this caused a chuckle from Gus. “Then immediately after, they opened up and those drills went after every Chrotos. One of them was a tough bastard though and the drills didn’t seem to do much damage,” Jimmy finished.

Before Rick could ask how he knew they were Chrotos, Gus chimed in, “The vile creatures were hiding in human skin, but the drills exposed their true identities. I’m certain they were planning a hostile takeover right under our noses.”

“I see,” Rick drew out the words, thinking. “Blink twice if Gus doesn’t know that the ships can also target him and we’re not in danger right now.”

Jimmy blinked twice, calming Rick’s nerves, then turned to Gus. “Rick is very excited that the experiment worked.”

“As am I,” Gus said. “But I thought we were partners now. Why didn’t you inform me about this? I can’t have spaceships being launched within my city without prior knowledge.”

Rick didn’t miss the thinly veiled threat or the fact that Gus called it his city. “Tell him that I’ll make him a few more, but he needs to start bringing the trash back. I have a lot more Energy that needs replenishing.”

Jimmy translated and Gus smiled and nodded.

“Yes, yes,” he said with a wave of his hand. “but you still haven’t lived up to much of your end of the bargain. Not only do I need enough of these ships to blot out the sun, but I need more fuel, food, and water.”

“I think I can oblige,” Jimmy continued as Rick’s mouthpiece. Rick was giddy at the fact that Gus was asking him to make more, unaware of the danger the ships posed to him.

“I need to make a big show of our dominance over these creatures,” Gus continued. “I’m going to be capturing some of them and throwing them in here. Not only will you grow, but the multiverse will see that outsiders are not welcome in the Eagle Empire.”

“Don’t you think that’ll be kicking the hornet's nest? Won’t more of the stronger ones come?” Rick asked as Gus began pacing around with his hands behind his back in thought. The man was looking and sounding more like a dictator every day.

“Yes, but I have a secret weapon for that,” Gus said without giving any further information.

“Please tell me that it isn’t your brother, Marv,” Rick asked. Jimmy nervously translated.

Gus tilted his head. He hadn’t known what had happened to Rick and everyone else within the dungeon, “Now, why would you ask that?”

“Because he’s more of a psycho than you are, and his power is downright dangerous to everyone. Including you, pal.”

Jimmy hesitated before translating, drawing a genuine laugh from Gus.

“Between the three of us – you are either overestimating Marv or severely underestimating me,” Gus said. “Not to mention that my brother’s priorities have always been skewed. While we both might be greedy, his wants and needs tend to be on a much smaller scale and unsustainable.”

Rick thought that Gus had a point. While Marv was scary as an individual, he would never be as ambitious as Gus. Marv would never be able to rally people around him willingly the way that Gus did. “So what is your plan with your brother? Even if you use him against the Chrotos, his curse magic will infect everyone eventually.”

Gus looked at his wristwatch – a Rolex after further inspection – and gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Oh, Marv should be long gone by now. I must say, he was easily fooled by your childish rumor tactic.”

Jimmy froze and Rick struggled to find words for multiple reasons. Was Gus suggesting that he had his own brother killed? How did he know about their plan?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Elaborate,” Rick demanded.

Gus laughed again, appearing to be in a genuinely good mood, “I have eyes and ears everywhere. That Spell & Sword group you hired aren’t exactly the brightest bunch, but they’re good for PR, I’ll give you that.”

Rick had known this was a risk, but he had hoped that the group would have been more discreet. So far at least, it seemed that they hadn’t revealed the Pest Control ship’s true function. Rick decided to avoid that line of questioning and moved the focus toward Marv, “So what do you mean that your brother is ‘long gone’ by now?”

“I had my men follow him and inform him of my decision to send him away. He can pursue his odd tastes elsewhere,” Gus said casually. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the encounter. Diane was very enthusiastic in her attempt to distract me. So, I suppose it worked in a sense.” Gus waved a hand dismissively, “Anyway, I’m told that Marv was accepting of the idea and is currently on his way to Mexico City.”

Rick mentally shuddered, hoping that Marv would die along the way.

Jimmy frowned and looked at the door. He seemed to be the only one able to hear or sense anything on the other side. “Something’s happening out there.”

The cheerful demeanor Gus had been wearing moments before darkened as he approached the door. He cracked it open slightly and it pushed further open before he strained and slammed it shut again. “It seems that we did indeed kick the hornet’s nest. How many ships can you make right now?”

Rick thought for a moment. He could make at least a dozen, but he’d be burning quite a bit of his slower-to-replenish resources – something that he didn’t want to do unless it was an emergency. If the city was being attacked, a lot of civilians were in danger, so he supposed it did fall into the emergency category.

“Jimmy, tell him that I can make a dozen, but to also send any children, elderly, or noncombatants into the Auxiliary Room. I think we can hold a couple of hundred, but I’ll be spending the rest of my Energy on expanding the place.”

After Jimmy translated, Gus’ face grew more angry, “Don’t expand it, you idiot. Jam the space like sardines and create more firepower. I’ll need them back outside once it's over.”

Rick asked Jimmy to verbally agree, but he was going to expand it anyway. He kicked himself for failing to shelter non-combatants from the very beginning, but there was nothing he could do about it now other than try his best to remedy the situation.

Jealousy flashed across Gus’ face as he watched the ships materialize in front of him.

“Okay, Gus. Just press these buttons when you get out there and make sure to run like hell or you’ll be burnt to a crisp,” Jimmy started to explain.

The old golfer looked at Jimmy as if he were about to kill him on the spot, “You push the buttons you fucking troglodyte. I’ll be distracting the Chrotos while my men clear the area.”

“Oh, right,” sweat began beading on Jimmy’s forehead. “I’ll need to grant access to anyone who wants in, Rick. That’s going to create a risk of Chrotos entering as well.”

“Do it anyway,” Rick said. He’d just have to inspect every person that entered his domain. If any turned out to be an alien, he’d inform Atrono and hope the crowd would be able to kill or subdue it. An idea then formed as he was producing the Pest Control ships. Without missing a beat, he created a door in the far southeast corner of the 2nd floor, far away from any of his minions. If the Auxiliary Room filled up, he’d be able to put people there temporarily.

“Hurry up, Rick,” Gus raised his voice through gritted teeth.

Rick knew that Gus’ anxiety wasn’t due to the people’s well-being outside, rather it was that his image would be tarnished if people thought he was hiding in the dungeon while everyone was being killed outside.

As he produced the last ships, the door grew wider, “Clear the area!”

Gus and Jimmy both rushed out shouting into what appeared to be a void for Rick. He gave a painfully long countdown from ten to ensure nobody would be crushed as he pushed out the ships. His domain was eerily silent during the wait. Even Atrono, who had been watching the exchange with his crystal ball, waited with bated breath. Finally, his countdown ended and he rolled them out.

The silence became suffocating as they waited to see who, if anyone, would enter.

Atrono’s hooves clacking on the wooden surface of his home broke the silence. The locks on his doors being turned closed sounded like gunshots.

Dane and Danny sat in the medical clinic, ignorant of what was happening.

“Oh god,” Rick blurted out. “Penny, Danny! A lot of people may be coming in soon. Some of them may be injured. Will you be ready to help?”

Penny’s tail wagged and Danny nodded nervously.

“I’ll stand outside and make sure that people calmly form a line if that’s the case,” Dane said and went to the front of the small building.

Rick couldn’t think of anything else to do at the moment other than stress out over what was happening outside of his domain. His minions had heard only his half of the conversation, but they didn’t appear concerned. What happened outside of the dungeon seemed to have no effect on them as they continued about their daily lives.

Rick allowed the sounds of his minions to flood his consciousness to pass the time. The Drow continued their battles, Yosk and Elza cared for their young. Their small village was coming together nicely, forcing Rick to make a mental note to expand their area soon.

Before he could check in on the rest, the door to the Auxiliary Room burst open and children started racing in. Rick expanded the door to allow more in at once, but quickly found that to be a mistake as people started falling over themselves to get to safety.

“Atrono, open your goddamn doors and help,” Rick shouted.

“I’m sorry, Rick. This isn’t part of the job description, and from what I’ve been told, my presence will just cause more panic.”

While it was annoying, Rick knew that the centaur had a point.

In just a few moments, Rick would need to seal off this entrance and open up the second floor. Hopefully, all of the children would make it into the Auxiliary Room before that happened.