I'm Doing This For Them

Final Piece of the Puzzle

As the time continued to roll on, though, neither Alison nor JPG nor any of their other allies were able to make any progress against the Sorceress. Or at least, they were unable to make any direct progress, but all their hard work was not in vain. Instead, they continued to work together in secrecy to try and unravel as many of the Sorceress' plots now as they could so that when the nine heroes finally arrived, most of the work would already be done.

Sireen continued to guard the grounds and search for secrets outdoors and she used some of her magic to help the others hide easier. Sampson acted as a link between her and all those inside the mansion. And the kitchen itself became a favorite place for meetings because, for some reason, the large oven in the Gingerbread Woman's kitchen led outside. No one was quite sure what this design was for, except maybe for airing out the oven after a meat pie was done baking, but it did make for a very quick, easy meeting place, especially now that the Gingerbread Woman was such a heavy sleeper. Alison continued to eavesdrop on her father and everyone else in the estate in case someone revealed that they knew info on the Sorceress. JPG, meanwhile, built all kinds of little machines to help them spy and keep in contact safely.

The only person in this secret alliance unable to do much was Riley, but this was hardly her fault. And Alison and JPG had since agreed to keep her secret from everyone else in the mansion, including Sireen and Sampson. Part of the reason they kept Riley secret was because they were trying to protect Sireen and Sampson. In case the Sorceress ever came to learn that Alison and JPG were friends with Riley, only they would be punished for it. What's more, Riley had personally requested confidentiality. It was for the same reason JPG and Alison never told Sireen or Sampson: safety. But even though Riley was unable to directly contribute, she kept Alison and JPG motivated and they, in return, kept Sireen and Sampson motivated. So every single person in that secret alliance was needed somewhere, and all of them played their parts as best they could.

Admittedly, though, it was hard to play such a big role with so little help. Every single member of this little alliance had, at least once, expressed desire in finding new members. Sadly, it didn't seem like anyone else in the mansion was trustworthy enough. The vampires were definitely out and neither JPG nor Sampson would ever trust their bosses and neither Sireen nor Riley had anyone else to vouch for. That left a bunch of servants, some morally gray spider-women, the werewolves (which received a hard 'no' from Alison) and the two armies, though Alison also gave a 'no' to that. Like the spider-women, both of them were very morally gray. Alison was sure she'd never trust Cash as far as she could throw him and even Arlyn, of the Dark Army, didn't seem like someone she wanted to trust with a Sorceress rebellion. Honorable as he was, from what Alison understood, he was on the Sorceress' side of the fight. Alison wasn't going to try and recruit him. (Sireen backed Alison up on this choice, having met both armies serval times due to the fact that all of them lived outside. Sireen didn't like either army anymore than Alison did, finding Cash to be hideously aggressive and Arlyn to be far too shady, literally and figuratively, to make a trustworthy friend).

At most, the little secret alliance received help from some of Sireen's fairy friends, or some of the gentler, friendlier magical beings that lived in the mansion, but even they had their limits. They weren't really helping Alison or her alliance because they believed that it was for the greater good, they only helped because the help was requested of them. If anything, they were more of a neutral party and, as helpful as that was, Alison still preferred to keep the bigger secrets within a circle that seriously wanted the Sorceress gone as opposed to a group who was more neutral about her. She wasn't willing to risk any slip in confidentiality just because they wanted a few extra hands. So the group remained tiny, but their motivations were strong and the occasional help from the neutral parties was just fine as it was.