A great distance away from the glistening city of Nun, a bus-sized transport arrived in the Aqueenian capitol. Inside sat the four bandits from the small mining village with their hands and legs tied together, and keeping a close watch on the bandits was the trio of the Princess Fiona Fan Club. Each of the trio held one of the captured Needaimus close, but little worry was needed as the mechanical creatures showed no interest in bonding back to their former partners.

After the village contacted the capital, a force of troops was sent in the large transport. The soldiers had thought the situation was of the utmost urgency and arrived only a day after the group had departed. Since the bus-sized vehakul was too large to go up the mountain, the soldiers spent a whole day marching up with the anxiety of future battle hanging over their heads. They were surprised to find the town liberated and the people celebrating.

Lieutenant, an Aqueenian soldier who sought to redeem himself after Dia’s regicide, had taken charge of the troops and came prepared for a severe battle. Once it became clear that a fight was not required, he sat down with Mamie, Old Gus, and Adan to get the whole story.

In the end, a head count was taken of all the captured bandits. Including Vidkun, who had betrayed the town, and the four generals, the bandits, should have numbered 45 in total. Grimes himself admitted to the count when interrogated. However, no matter how many times they counted, only 35 were captured.

The soldiers fanned out across the city and through the mines. The villagers helped, and no stone was left unturned, but none of the missing bandits showed up. The only clue Lieutenant’s troops got was Grimes cursing “the dirty spies” as he was interrogated about the head count.

In the end, Lieutenant decided to leave two of his commanders, the twins Maxon and Jaxon, and 10 of the soldiers that accompanied him to the village in case the missing bandits returned. He marched the captured bandits and his troops back down. Lieutenant had stayed in Horizon village for four days and hardly slept the whole time; he was ready to leave.

As his troops had marched out of the town, a trio that called themselves the Princess Fiona Fan Club stopped him and pleaded to join him. He didn’t have the energy to refuse and let them come. The bandits were marched down in one group and a second guided some of the mine vehakuls, which were loaded with Savvy’s captured inventions.

Upon contacting Quenth, Lieutenant stopped in Qu to drop off the majority of bandits in the manufacturing towns prison. He decided to leave the rest of his soldiers behind in case the sudden influx of prisoners caused unexpected issues. The instructions had been only for the leaders to be brought to the capital.

Grimes twisted the tied wrist that used to have his crimson Needaimus bonded to it. He frowned as the rope ached his mangled skin.

“Grimes dear, if you do that, you’ll make it worse,” Flora offered gently. The leader ignored her and looked away. The ears on the calico Bentulousian drooped.

“We’re going to get out of this, right Grimes?” Icarus asked as they entered the shining capitol. He had asked the question multiple times after their defeat but was answered only with silence. The golden Zenotote still held out hope that their leader had a plan.

Savvy made a hollow laugh.

“It seems like we are getting treated like serious prisoners; I wouldn’t expect to get thrown in a prison with lax security.”

Of all the bandits, she had been paying the most attention to the actions of Lieutenant, who had decided to drive the large vehakul with his Needaimus attached and in plain sight. From what Savvy could tell, he followed orders, and she worried about what the orders would lead to.

The large transport vehakul turned and began to descend into a tunnel under the city.

“We’re going to get out of this, right Grimes?” Icarus asked.

“Shut up!” Grimes replied in a gruff voice as he answered the golden Zenotote for the first time since their capture.

Icarus let his head hang.

As the bandits talked, the trio of the Fiona Fan Club watched closely.

“Should we say anything to them?” Simeon asked.

“Just leave them be,” Sinatra replied, “They will get their punishment; we just need to watch that they don’t do anything funny.”

The transport finally stopped, and Lieutenant stretched his arms to the ceiling.

“That was too long a drive,” he muttered as he got out of the driver’s seat and opened the door. Prince Donn waited outside with his two blue, muscular arms crossed. Behind him stood a small force of his elite guard.

“Thank you for bringing these bandits here,” he said to Lieutenant and the fan club as they exited the bus. Prince Donn’s guards swapped the bandit's ropes for energy handcuffs and began to guide them off the vehakul.

“Who’s this?” Simeon asked as he looked at the wide Aqueenian. Sinatra and Siegfried elbowed their green companion in the side.

“That’s Lady Fiona’s older brother! Didn’t you pay attention at all during our pre-capitol trip meetings!” Sinatra hissed. Knowing full well that the trio would look like a bunch of country bumpkins, Sinatra had held several days of study sessions for their trip to the big city.

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“Ow, careful with the arm!” Simeon protested. The trio’s broken bones were recovering well, but they still had them bandaged. Donn laughed.

“Lieutenant had you three in his report!” he spoke in a booming voice. “Your fans of my sister, I hear?” he added.

Siegfried and Sinatra bowed; Simeon remained standing until the other two reached up and pulled him down.

“Yes, my liege. We have vowed to become knights that are worthy to serve Lady Fiona,” Sinatra said in a respectful tone.

Donn didn’t reply for a moment, but he made a happy smile. Since her birth, Fiona had been scorned by all. He was the only child who clearly remembered the reason, but he never saw any fault with his baby sister. It made the older brother glad to see his younger sister had found some support, even if it was the strange trio.

“Please stand; you’re all injured from a tough battle. Why don’t you all go and get some rest? I’ll see to it you get the best knight training available! If you wish, I’ll even personally train you.”

“Yessir!” the trio shouted in unison.

The Fan club smiled and happily were escorted to comforting accommodations.

Donn’s smile quickly faded as he turned to the bandits who were standing just outside of the bus. Each had their arms restrained behind them by a member of the elite guard.

“Now, you four…” the Prince said with no hint of friendliness in his tone.

Prince Donn walked in front of the bandits and eyed each of them closely. His royal guard presented the captured Needaimus.

“Take them somewhere comforting for the time being. And give the ones with black paint a gentle scrub,” the blue prince ordered before turning back to the captured leaders.

“If I shall be thrown in a hole, then throw me in. If I shall be executed, then off with my head. Spare me your empty words,” Grimes spat as Donn stared at him.

“I’d like to know why you took over a whole village for a year,” The prince demanded.

Grimes shrugged.

“It seemed like fun,” he nonchalantly said.

The Aqueenian prince could only shake his head in disapproval. He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, your bit of fun has placed you in the highest form of Aqueenian prison possible.”

Icarus squirmed at Donn’s words, and Savvy made a soft hum as she pondered. Flora leaned closer to Grimes as if she wished to protect him with her giant stature. The guard that held her had trouble keeping her in place. Grimes sneered.

“Do as you wish; I will be free before long!” he confidently declared. The blue prince had no idea where such confidence came from. He shook his head and waved for his guards to take the bandits away.

The four bandits were led down a weaving spiderweb of stairs. As they descended, the air grew colder and bit at the injured arms of the three that had previously overclocked their Needaimus.

Icarus began to make a weeping sound as they entered the bottom of the dark dungeon. A large wall was in front of them with a single wide archway cutting through it. The space they were in was dimly lit, but beyond the arch was pitch black. They could not see where they were about to enter.

Donn steadily made his way down the steps after the bandits. He shivered at the cold but took care not to let the prisoners see. The underground prison was his least favorite place to go to, but a future king could not let others see that.

As they entered the darkness beyond the archway, the bandits were greeted to a sight of a long hallway. Metal doors with thick bars were placed going down the hallway; each housed one or several prisoners inside. They eyed the newcomers as they passed but didn’t say anything with the Aqueenian royalty present.

Before long, the bandits were shown their new home. A square cell with stone walls, ceiling, and floor. The large metal door slammed shut behind them as the elite guard locked it. Donn stood in front and crossed his bulky blue arms.

“Do you wish to say anything else?” he asked.

Grimes spat at the prince.

“I see, then I shall take my leave.” With his last words, Donn left the prisoners alone in the cell. His guard followed after him.

Once the Aqueenian group had gotten out of earshot, some laughter came from the cell across the hall.

“What an interesting bunch to come in today,” a large shadowy figure grumbled in a deep voice.

Grimes rolled his crimson eyes. He sat on the floor and began to scratch at the bony spots on his forehead. He had to file every day to keep them from growing. Even with only a couple of days since his defeat, the spots had already started to grow into a Hobusian-esk crown.

“I suppose new arrivals are the only amusement you get around here?” he said to the shadowed figure. The other prisoner made a laugh that sounded somewhat like a grumble.

“I’m happy to have some new conversation partners, the last one in your cell sought to take the easy way out,” the figure said.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Savvy jumped in, “Might you be willing to grace your new neighbors with a name?” she asked.

The shadowy figure remained silent a moment.

“Your pretty cute for a Hobusian he said as he eyed the scientist,”

“I get that a lot, but your name please?” Savvy did not attempt to hide the annoyance in her voice. The shadowed figure laughed.

“I’ll tell you when the time is good and right; for now, why don’t we get to know each other a little. I’ve been down here so long; what’s going on in the world above?” The grumbling tone of the shadowed figure made it hard for the bandits to tell if his question was serious or not.

“We’ve been out of the loop for about a year, but Array was making some big plans prior to that,” Grimes answered sincerely.

“Oh, Array, that makes me a bit nostalgic,” why don’t you tell me everything.” The bandits could not see it, but the shadowed figure had a wide grin on his face.

Grimes told the shadow everything he knew of his former employer leading up to his departure. The shadow happily listened and took in everything, and he waited until Grimes finished before speaking again.

“It sounds like some real fun is going to start soon. I’ll have to get out of here before I miss it,” the shadow concluded.

They chatted about mundane things for a while. Eventually, the sound of footsteps took up the attention of everyone in the prison hall. Queen Whitlock and two of her royal advisors stepped in front of the bars that held the bandits. She ordinarily would have had more escorts but had come in secret after Donn was long gone.

“Well, the Queen graces us today!” the shadow said with a deep cackle. Queen Whitlock ignored him and pointed to Savvy.

“I heard some interesting things about you in the report. Your gadgets are something else,” she said.

Savvy laughed.

“Did you come to recruit me?” she asked.

Queen Whitlock shook her head.

“No to command you,” the blue ruler replied. She pulled up a sleeve of her dress to reveal something in her hand. The bandit's eyes grew wide, but neither the guards behind her nor the shadow saw what she showed. “I hear that Netzian is your leader; you do realize he could be executed for staging such a takeover,” she added.

Savvy bit her lips and looked to the others. Icarus looked confused. Flora kept a solemn expression. Grimes took a deep breath and nodded his head.

The Hobusian scientist stepped forward and was let out of the cell. She departed with Queen Whitlock without another word.

Grimes laughed and leaned back against the wall.

“Well, some real fun is about to start,” the leader said through his chuckles. The shadow cackled with him.

“Let’s chat a bit longer then,” the shadow said. Grimes smiled, and they continued talking through the night.