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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5027150" data-attributes="member: 3285">No Pain, No Gain: Part 9 – Domestic BlissThe lab outside of the pen consisted of a large table, handmade from lumber remnants. It was covered with basic lab equipment, books, and papers. Mounds of household objects and appliances rose in odd corners. Boxes and former living room furniture were stacked in disarray. Table lamps, track lighting, and desk lamps illuminated the cavern.Archive had managed to bind most of his wounds and, through his healing trance, mend his broken bones. Hammer was badly bruised but otherwise okay.  The first day after she captured the agents, Armbruster busily tidied up the caverns. She arranged old bed sheets into relatively modest clothing for herself. She swept up and organized her deep dwelling into one more appropriate for family life. She appears content and determined as she transformed her haphazard environment into one of newly ordered boxes, carefully placed lamps, and scrubbed tables: everything was cleaned and put in proper place. Finally, Armbruster stopped to address them through the bars.  "Well, here we are. Look, I'm sorry to pen you up like this, but you kind of barged in on me, you know? I think you can understand my need for privacy." She laughed grotesquely, every tooth gleaming in the cavern of her mouth. "I know you're going to take this hard, but you're going to have to stay here. Hey--don't worry, Really, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not. I'm not one of those dangerous types who chop people up." She blushed, flustered. "Oh, that's the wrong thing to say. Sorry."  Armbruster cleared her throat. ''It's pretty clear you guys know a lot about me, and how—y'know, how I got like this. We'll talk. But not now." "Jenny, we're agents of the federal government," said Jim-Bean. "People will come looking for us."Armbruster changed the subject. "So, what do you guys want for dinner? My friends always tell me I'm a pretty good cook.""Uh…we don't really plan to stay here long," said Hammer."Microwave dinners and soup it is!" exclaimed Armbruster.  She left the room and bustled back in with microwave dinners, canned soups, and two-liter bottles of soft drinks. Along with the hot meal, she passed in a latrine bucket."All the comforts of home," muttered Archive. Jim-Bean gaped as Armbruster downed six entrees of Chicken Kiev. "You said there are people who know you are here," she asked around mouthfuls. "Who do you work for?""We're part of the Central Intelligence Field Agency," said Jim-Bean.  "We investigate terrorist activity—""I'm not a terrorist!" exclaimed Armbruster.  "I haven't bothered anyone…""I'm not saying that you are," said Jim-Bean carefully.  "But we were investigating some experiments performed by Dawn Biozyme.  In fact, we brought them down recently."Armbruster looked thoughtful.  "How did that lead you to me?""Long story."She smiled.  "We've got time."Jim-Bean sighed.  "Walter Morrow, CEO of Centurion Computer Systems, was a majority stock owner of Tiger Transit. It turns out he accidentally caught the attention of a Hound of Tindalos while experimenting with a pure form of drug known as Blink, and he was using all his company's resources to try to stop it – only a research scientist he assigned to the task, James Morton, made a deal with the Tindalosians instead. Morrow ended up committing suicide so that his stock wouldn't go to the Tcho-Tchos, who were distributing Blink."Armbruster leaned forward, intrigued.  "Go on.""We stopped Morrow," said Jim-Bean.  "And then discovered that Blink was created from Fumo Loco, which was made in Dawn Biozyme labs. That led us to investigate Dawn Biozyme, which we shut down a few weeks ago.  Then we discovered that they were summoning something…""The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young," said Armbruster."Uh yeah.  That.  And they were milking it, using Mother's Milk to mutate…" Jim-Bean trailed off, careful not to insult Armbruster."And that led you to the Sisterhood of New Potential?"Jim-Bean nodded.  "Apparently the Sisterhood has been stealing members from Full Wilderness."  He shot Hammer a glance.  "A mutual friend of ours gave us a tip, and those leads led us to Cynthia Dexter.  We interrupted her ceremony.  So there was nothing left to do but to arrest the leader of the organization.""Me," said Armbruster with a frown. "I'm not really the leader.  In fact, I don't agree with their methods.  I'm more their figurehead.  They see me as an incarnation of the All Mother. But I don't run the place."  She spread her massive hands, gesturing at herself.  "I mean, look at me.""Are you going to let us go?" asked Hammer.  "It will go better for you if you do."Armbruster smiled.  "That depends on your behavior. But it's late.  Get some rest.  We've got a busy day tomorrow."She thudded off to retire to bed.  Willie merely turned a few circles and lay down, huge snout facing the pen."Majestic will send someone, eventually, right?" asked Archive.Hammer and Jim-Bean didn't answer.</blockquote>

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