Honoria tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So, the little blonde girl and my son... and you actually challenged them to a duel?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" The woman asked, brown ringlets tossed over her shoulder. She was sitting down across from Honoria, hands lighting up now and then.

"Hmmph... Marshall might get hurt though. He takes after his father, always making poor choices."

The woman frowned, then shrugged. "Honoria, you're a beautiful, smart, very capable woman. Don't say such mean things about yourself."

Honoria glared at her. "Olivia, I didn't mean me. I meant trusting his brother, for one."

"Tobias was always more competent than Anthony, though. Anthony just sat around playing music."

"I know. That's another thing Marshall gets from him. In any case, you deal with the blonde girl, I'll keep Marshall away."

"Can I rub it in her face that he isn't there when I said that he wouldn't be?"

"Yes, of course. And if she happens to win... well, that just means that Marshall has finally done something right in his life."

Olivia burst into peals of laughter. "A human can't beat me." Then her gaze hardened. "Unless, you cheated me."

Honoria frowned. "I did no such thing. You have godlike powers of destruction, do you not?"

"Good. 'Cause if you did, I'd have to go after Marshall, seeing as you don't die and the blonde kid already hates me. Which is a shame, 'cause he looks just like Anthony."

"Whatever I gave you, I can take away." Honoria snapped.

"Does that mean you make me normal again?" Olivia asked, interested. "'Cause if you gypped me, I could still murder the kid in a normal way."

Honoria scowled in distaste. "No, a normal human couldn't beat you. And it wouldn't matter anyway, because you'd be dead."

Olivia burst into laughter again. "No, because your son, who you've hyped up to be super evil and stuff, has fallen for a damn bleeding heart!"

Honoria scowled at her. "I know that! But you're going to deal with it, and then Marshall will marry a suitable girl, and provide excellent grandchildren."

"...are you going to be a doting grandmother to make up for being a terrible mom?" Olivia asked, interested.

"Be gone, before I destroy you." Honoria spat.

"Fine. But Miss Goody-Two-Shoes would still be walking around town with your only child."

"I can handle her myself if need be."

"All the same... isn't Marshall shaping up to be close to your levels of power?"

"What about it?"

"If he's more powerful, then logically his kid would be even more powerful, right? And if she was carrying that kid... it'd be kind of hard for you to kill her." Olivia said thoughtfully.

Honoria glared at her. "Marshall knows very well my feelings on bastard children. Now go!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I have never seen you do this. Do you do it a lot?" Marshall asked as Fionna kicked the punching bag. "And... is that its intended purpose?"

She punched it. "I'm in shape, yeah, but no, I generally don't do this. I just don't have enough time between school, my job, you, my other job... hey, why aren't you training?"

"Oh, I am. I was planning on heading over to the target range. Wanna come?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to shoot her, Marshall."

He leaned against the wall. "Why not? It'll just end it, once and for all. Then we can go back to my place, and..." He trailed off, smirking suggestively.

"First of all, because you were right before. I don't want to kill her. Second, it's not a fair fight."

"Oh, right. Because the crazy green fire lady going up against the heroine who believes herself to be fully human is totally a just and fair fight already. Come on, firepower will help even things out."

"I don't need things to be evened out, because you're going to be there, right?" Fionna looked at him worriedly, and he nodded shortly. "Yeah, I'll be there..."

"Good. So no firepower. Come on, let's spar. I want to see how long you can last against me."

"As I recall, it didn't work out for you so well last time." Marshall commented.

"Yeah, yeah. Didn't work out so well for you either. And y'know, you actually have to try, Marshall."

"I do not. I acknowledge my powers." He pointed out. "And I use them. Hence, we will win."

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Fionna grinned.

Marshall smiled dazedly at her. "I love you."

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"What?" He repeated.

"You said that you loved me."

"Love. As in, present tense." He corrected. "Why is this an issue?"

She moved towards him. "Why are you trying to distract me...?"

"You know the appropriate response is to tell me that you love me too." Marshall replied, miffed.

Fionna smiled. "Of course I love you. But you're distracting me."

"So we can to this, and more of the kind." Marshall pulled her into a long kiss. "As soon as this is over, we can do something a little more fun..." He smirked, and she laughed.

"Later. After we defeat her. Hey, what's her name, anyway?"

"Why? You wanna Google her, or something?"

"It's easier than just calling her 'her', or 'the woman'."

Marshall shrugged. "Tough luck. I don't associate with my mom's friends. Newspaper people probably have some idea of who she is."

Fionna grimaced. "I'd prefer it if we didn't talk to them at all. I can't believe all of them haven't left yet."

"The most important ones have. But Marianne what's-her-name, from the Shylock Port Post? This could be her big break. She's not going to stop until she gets the whole story out of you."

"Oh, she will. She owes me." Fionna said confidently.

"Consider me convinced." Marshall said sarcastically, before sighing. "Owing you or not, some of these people are leeches."

"They'll move on once nothing happens, just like the others."

"If they haven't left by now... and tomorrow night will justify that." Marshall said quietly.

"They have to leave eventually." Fionna said firmly.

Marshall shrugged. "In any case... your butt looks nice in those shorts..."

She shot him a look before returning to her punching bag.