Chapter 47: Home

"Geoffrey," Joffrey says, recognizing the clone who lured him here with his false information.

"She's calling me Harris, now," the clone answers.

"You must be so proud," Joff answers, his disdain undisguised.

"Would you be?" the new Harris Landgraab answers.

"Me? No, of course not. But you..."

"We're not so different as all that, Joffrey," the clone says. Something in his voice makes Joffrey pause, "We both want the same thing, after all."

"We do?" Joffrey asks, surprised, "And what is it you think that I want?"

"To forge our own destinies," Geoffrey/Harris answers.

"I always thought you were on board for  the world domination agenda," Joffrey says, surprised.

"Oh, I am. The life you've chosen is...a humble one. Kind of pathetic, really, given what  you could be. My goals are far grander. But what you've done, set out on your own path...I respect that, and I mean to follow in your footsteps in this, at least."

"You're the heir, you will run MorcuCorp...what more do you want?"

"It's Cecilia who runs MorcuCorp. She uses us as figure heads, we're all just her puppets, and when we die, she replaces us with the next one. I'm going to put a stop to that. I'm going to father new dynasty of Landgraabs. No more clones."

Joffrey nearly gasps. Though marriages always arranged for the clone heirs of the Landgraab name, none are ever allowed to produce actual children. The next heir is always another clone. "With Cecilia?" Joffrey asks, "I've heard that you are engaged now."

"She's made the engagement very public," Geofrrey says, "But, no, she's not interested in changing the inheritance arrangement. Nor am I interested in having her for a wife or the mother of my children." His voice grows noticeably softer, "I have, for some time now, I've had..."

"You have a girlfriend?" Joffrey really gasps this time.

"Don't look so surprised," Geoffrey scowls, "You aren't the only one with 'outside interests'."

"Congratulations," Joffrey says, almost sincerely, "But none of this explains why you planted that file to bring me here."

"I need Cecilia out of my way. I need you for that."

"Out of your way? I'm not an assassin!"

"Don't tempt me," Geoffrey laughs, "No, I don't want her dead, if there are other options.  She told me that when the dragon captured her at the cloning facility, he brought her to Tania Summerdream to be 'bound'. It's apparently a permanent state, and will rid me of Cecilia for good."

"You do know that you have Summerdream captive, don't you?" Joffrey points out the obvious, "I'm sure if you brought her to Cecilia, she''d take care of her for you."

"I need more from the Summerdreams than just binding Cecilia. Now that she's gone public and informed Brooklyn Heights society of our impending wedding, her sudden disappearance would be investigated. I need them to glamour the whole town into believing Cecilia never existed. I don't think Tania would do me any favors, even if I released her, but you've married into that world, you have connections amongst the fae..."

Joffrey's brow furrows, "They want Tania and Auberon released, but what you're asking...MorcuCorp is no friend to them. If they help you, you'll just turn around and start taking them captive for your research again."

"It was the old MorcuCorp that did those things," Geoffrey says, "With Cecilia gone, it will be different." Joffrey raises a disbelieving eyebrow. "I mean that, brother. All this supernatural research...where has it gotten us? We have vaults full of spirits in jars, countless ancient relics supposedly imbued with special power, and mummies roaming around deserted labs. We used to be on the cutting edge of technology. Landgraab Industries made the first laptop...and now we poke around at ghosts and fairies. We're becoming laughingstocks, and our stock value drops at every quarter. I'm going to turn all that around, return MorcuCorp and the Landgraab name to its former glory. Help me with this, and MorcuCorp will leave you and your family alone forever."

Trusting his clone brother is a tall order, but Joffrey doesn't see much of a choice. "Tell me where they have the Summerdreams," he says, "And open that door for Sage," he adds, hearing his wife's muffled voice from behind the stone door telling him she'd failed to find any hidden switches or other doors out of the room she was stuck in.

"An old bunker, in Riverview," Geoffrey told him.

"Riverview?" The name sounded familiar. After a moment's thought, Joffrey remembered, "That town was evacuated and quarantined. Some kind of nuclear event? They say the radiation levels are still too high for people to return."

"It's wasn't a nuclear event, and there's no radiation," Geoffrey explained, "Our research into the supernatural brought that town down, and we've used the radiation excuse to keep people away. It's a ghost town now, except for our research bunker."

Joffrey and Sage would take care of getting Tania and Auberon out of the lab.

"Mr. Landgraab," Gwen Glover greets them as they come in, "We weren't expecting you today. Wallace is compiling our latest notes right now."

"Thank you, Ms. Glover," Joffrey says, "There's been a change of plans. We're transporting the subjects to our facility in Riverblossom Hills. Dr. Archer here will be in charge of the removal. I need you and your assistant to prepare to relocate."

"I don't understand," the scientist replies, "We built this facility especially to house these subjects..."

"You aren't questioning me, are you?" Joffrey answers coldly.

"No..no sir!"

"Then open the cage so Dr. Archer can prepare the subjects for relocation."

"We're moving you to a new facility," Sage informs the subjects.

Tania and Auberon are released, and brought to the circle of standing stones where Aymei and Ico wait for them.

The old friends have a tender reunion. They've all been briefed on the plan to bind Cecilia and then glamour the inhabitants of Brooklyn Heights to believe she never was there at all.

But these powerful fae aren't content to simply do the bidding of MorcuCorp.

"There's magic here," Tania says, her mind finally free of the specially treated walls of the cell that blocked her abilities.

"The mortals have sullied this place, but they are gone, their influence is fading..." Ico answers.

"We can cleanse this place," Tania says.

"And make it our own," Ico finishes.

"We'd have to destroy that...prison where they held you," Aymeri interjects.

"You've always been good at destroying human buildings," Ico answers him with a teasing smile.

When the human scientist have gone, Aymeri takes care of the lab.

In the Landgraab mansion in Brooklyn Heights, Cecilia tries on her wedding gown.

"You? It can't be!" Cecilia sputters as Tania teleports into her room.

"You promised me a child," Tania says bitterly, "You lied."

Not giving Cecilia a chance to respond, Tania weaves her binding spell.

"You were my sister's kin, you should not have betrayed us," Tania speaks her final words before leaving.

"It's good to be home," Joffrey sighs, sinking back into the pillows.

"Is this home for you?" Sage asks She was born here, but with all the traveling they do, Joffrey hasn't spent more than a few days total under this roof.

"I've never had any other home, Sage," he answers.

"Let's have a baby," she says.


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Challenge Notes:
So, Becky, you were mostly right. I wouldn't call Geoffrey a 'nice' clone, but his intentions towards Joff and Sage weren't malevolent.

In my spare time, I've been working on Riverview, adding some AP combined rabbitholes and other EP venues. And when it comes time to start a new legacy, I may do it in New Riverview.

In the last pic you can see Joff's 2nd tattoo. The tattoo addict thing is more drawn out, because so much time is spent in vacation worlds, and the occasional alternate save. We haven't been in the home world for more than a full week.