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phantomdoofer · 5 months ago

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Tower Town, Chaper 22 - The Final Slice

Part 1

Peppino sighed and leaned back, rubbing his temples. Fake paced the room, having a five-way argument under their breath. Giuseppe sat across the table from him, in more or less the same position as Peppino. Anita was beside him, on her phone with yet another of her underworld contacts.

“Please-a tell me one of-a you has something we can use,” Peppino groaned.

Giuseppe rubbed his closed eyes. “Nothing. Not a peep, ever since the Tower nuked that military base."

Anita muttered into her phone and hung up. Her lip curled in disgust. “No joy here, either. Even with eyes and ears around the world, it's impossible.” She put her phone down. “The governments are cooperating with each other for once, at least. They even released satellite footage of the poles, just in case the Tower was hiding in the polar regions. Gravitic maps of the planet’s surface. Seismic readings. Hell, they've even been trolling the conspiracy nets. Nothing.”

Peppino sighed again. “Well, remember… if the Tower doesn't-a want to be found…”

“It can't be found,” all four chorused in unison.

“But I thought Aldo said the Pizzamancer wanted us to find him,” Giuseppe muttered. He smoothed his mustache down, which had puffed up in irritation.

“He's probably waiting until he's ready to deal with us,” Anita said. “He has been dead for 2,500 years.”

Fake slouched over and crouched. “Orr perhaps he just enjoysss watching us squirrm.”

Peppino growled. “Probably a bit of-a both.” He cracked his knuckles. “The whole point is to catch this-a guy off guard. How can-a we do that if we can't find him?”

About that time, Giuseppe’s phone rang. Without leaning forward, he held the phone up to his ear. “Hey, Noisette.” He paused, then leaned quickly forward, his eyes wide. “He WHAT?” He paused again

“We'll be there ASAP!” He hung up, and looked at the others. “She says Pizzahead-I mean, Paolo- knows how to get into the Tower!”

Anita, and Peppino, both stood abruptly. “Seppe, call Vigi! Anita, call Pepperman!” He turned to Fake. “Do you want to-a bring Brando in on this?”

Fake looked solemn, but nodded. “He has inherited Gordo's power. While we do not wish to put him in harm's way, we must bring all possible options to bear.” They paused. “And he deserves to be able to make his own decision.”

Peppino nodded. “I'll-a call him.”

Giuseppe was nodding. “Sì. Sì. Ciao.” As he hung up, he looked at the others. “Paolo said to meet him… and John… at the Tower Pit.”

Peppino blinked. “John? Pillar John?”

Giuseppe nodded. “He said John is the one who has a way to get us into the Tower.”

Peppino stared into space. “Will wonders never-a cease.”

Anita hung up her own phone call. “OK, Pepperman's on his way.” She frowned. “I hope you know I'm going with you all.”

Giuseppe, Peppino, and Fake all turned. “Anita, no one's doubting your abilities, but… are you sure? We may not be coming back.”

She snorted. “I'm sure. Every hand on deck, right? Besides, you really think there'll be a world worth living in for much longer if we don't pull this off?”

Giuseppe nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. Of course.”

Peppino stood. “Va bene. Let's-a do this.”

~~~~

Pepperman and Paolo were already waiting beside John and Noisette when Peppino and Giuseppe ran up, Anita, Fake, Gustavo, and Brick driving up behind them.

“You-a really have a way to get us into the Tower, John?” Peppino said without preamble.

The immense stone man smiled sadly. “Yup. I'll explain when everyone gets here.”

Noise's car pulled up not long after, and the others were surprised to see Vigi and Brando step out. Noise grinned. “Figured I better grab Cheeseboy, an’ I found the kid about to burn that scooter of his out.”

Peppino looked around. Two former Spec Ops agents, two former soldiers, a cowboy-obsessed marksman cheeseslime, a giant bell pepper with super strength, a vengeful, still-injured Ninda, a giant rat, a trainee chef with super-toughness, a shape-shifting pile of pizza dough with a man and four frogs for a brain, a TV star with a bomb fetish, and a walking cartoon rabbit-woman.

What a motley group to save the world.

John crouched down, smiling. “Good t’ see ya all again. Yeah, even you guys,” he said, eyeing the Tower Bosses. “Got no hard feelins, really. Cept maybe you,” he said to Noise, who at least had the grace to look embarrassed, “but ya know better now, right?”

Noise gulped, but nodded. “I'm tryin’ to be better, big man.” Noisette walked over and gripped his shoulder, smiling. He smiled back.

“That's good, that's good.” He looked at Paolo. “I already know about you. You still ready to kill this guy?”

Paolo nodded, gritting his teeth. “He's gonna pay for what he did to me.”

John nodded, then stood. “Now then. Gerome's in the Tower right now. He's down near the bottom, in an old storeroom.” The Litha paused, seeing to listen to a faraway voice. “He don't know where they are, but it don't matter. Long as I know where he is, I c’n send ya there.” He frowned. “Once I send the lot of ya, I'm bringin’ Gerome back. I ain't riskin’ him no more.” John looked down at Peppino. “Ya may have killed me, but ya brought me back, too. We owe ya.”

Peppino stammered. “Oh, uh, it was-a mostly un incidente…” He scratched absent-mindedly at the back of his head.

“Maybe. But ya still did it.” John looked up. “I hope ya still got that fire I saw in ya in the Tower, Peppino. An’ I hope the rest of ya do, too.” He looked the group over. “My people are almost dead ‘cause o’ this bastard. An’ Gerome says he's got somethin’ planned. Somethin’ big.”

Paolo nodded. “I'm starting to get fragments of what I did as Pizzahead. I can't remember what, but… he got something very nasty planned, all right.” He walked up. “I'm sorry, John. For what he did. For what I did.” The pain in the Ninda's voice was wrenching.

John crouched again. “Yer as much a victim as anyone here, kid. Moreso, ‘n some ways.” He stood again. “Whatever he's doin’, it's soon, Gerome says. Says he's cacklin’ and prancin’ around. Hope yer all ready.”

Peppino looked around. “Everyone ready?”

“And eager!” Pepperman said.

Brando punched his fist into his other hand. “Confident and prepared, Signore.”

Noise smiled his fanged grin, and Noisette hefted her hammer. “Say the word, Italian.”

Fake stood to their full height, looking unusually stable. “We must stop him.”

Gustavo patted Brick's side, who squeaked confidently and took a heroic stance. “Ready when you are, Pep.”

Giuseppe cracked his knuckles, and Anita stood with her hand on her hip. “Say the word, boss.”

Paolo walked up to Peppino. “You trust me to help you?”

Peppino looked up at the Ninda who'd threatened to destroy his last hope. Who'd turned out to be another tormented soul. “I-a trust that you hate this guy enough to do what's-a right.” He looked at Noisette. “And I trust-a her judgment.”

Paolo nodded. “Fair enough.”

Peppino turned to John. “All right, ragazzone. We're ready.”

John nodded, and held out his hands. “No one move. This might feel a bit weird…”

Suddenly the world blurred, seeming to smear, and Peppino felt like he stopped existing for a second…

And then the world snapped back into place, and they were in a dark room. In front of him, Gerome stood, in his familiar overalls and hat.

“Good luck,” he said. Then he vanished.

“Always was a man of few words,” Vigi said.

“All right, let's see what we're dealing with,” Peppino said. “Anita, Vigi, mind taking-a point?”

“With pleasure,” Anita said, drawing a pistol and easing out the door, Vigi behind her. After a few moments, Vigi poked his head around the corner, waving them out.

The group crept out…

~~~~

Gerome popped into place in front of John, and walked up to his gigantic little brother. “Hope they can stop him,” Gerome said.

John turned and stared into the distance. “They're the last chance th’ world's got,” John muttered. “If they fail, won't take long for the bastard t’ take his revenge.”

~~~~

The group tried not to gape. The inside of the Tower was completely different.

“Guess dear old Grandpa didn't like my decorating style,” Paolo muttered.

Pepperman looked around. “This was my floor, but I don't recognize anything. What do we do?”

Peppino shrugged. “The same-day thing we did before. We explore.”

Giuseppe crouched. “We should split up, look around, then we'll meet back up and exchange intel.”

Peppino shook his head. “We have-a no way to communicate with-a each other.”

“So we set up a meeting time,” Anita said. “say, thirty minutes. Here,” she said, pointing back at the storeroom.

“Hopefully the building don't change shape on us,” Noisette said, sounding more serious than they'd ever heard her.

Peppino sighed. “All right, let's-a group up. Let's-a put people together who've worked together if we can.” He pointed. “Seppe, Anita, Paolo, you're together. Noise, Noisette, Fake, Vigi, Pepperman, you're-a group 2. Gus, you, Brick and Brando are with me.”

“Why you got us together?” Noise growled.

“I'm-a grouping skills and experience,” Peppino said. “Seppe, Anita and Paolo are the most technical. I'm-a hoping they find a way into the Tower system.” He pointed at himself. “Gus, Brick, Brando and I work together daily. We might not even-a have to speak. We'll be general recon.” He pointed at the gremlin. “And you five worked together in the Tower. You probably know the place best. You-a see what-a secrets you can-a ferret out.”

Everyone looked at each other.

Peppino put his hands on his hips. “Well? Come on, then! Every-a second we wait is another this-a nut could destroy the world! Go on! Partire! Meet-a back here in thirty!”

Giuseppe, Anita, and Paolo nodded. “Be back in thirty, on it.” They walked away, down a tunnel.

Pepperman and Vigi shrugged, and started towards another tunnel. Fake and Noisette followed. Noise stopped and stared. “Hey! Hey, wait fer me, ya mooks!” And took off at a trot.

When they were out of sight, Peppino seemed to slump, sighing loudly. Gus, Brando, and Brick stood around him. “Pep?” Gustavo said.

“I'm… I'm-a not a leader, Gus,” Peppino whispered. “I don't know what I'm doing. A lot of times, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm-a out of my element here.”

“Just do the best you can, Signore,” Brando said. “That's all we can do.”

Peppino looked at the young man, and finally nodded. “Hai ragione, ragazzo.” He stood straighter, throwing his shoulders back. “Let's go.”

The four set off down a third tunnel…

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