Ich Schenk' Dir Die Welt 12/13
Previous | Master Post
Chapter 3
Exchange
Klaus had all the time in the world for regrets as his drop armor fell toward Mechanicsburg. He hated what he’d done to Gil-what she had suggested, though he was sure his condition couldn’t be transferred and his own consciousness would be capable of defending Gil against the power of her voice. Desperate times, though, and none were more desperate than these, with Lucrezia in possession of Mechanicsburg and her puppet in possession of Klaus. If he played his cards right with this move, he’d keep the empire, keep Gil, out of her hands for good.
He could only hope it would be enough to save the rest of Europa.
Gil would have to be the one to deal with Lucrezia’s puppet. If Klaus couldn’t trust the boy’s judgment, he could trust that of the copy of himself he’d placed in Gil’s mind. And after that, after Europa was free at last and Lucrezia could do no more damage, perhaps Gil would find a way to shut down the stasis bomb Klaus was about to use on Mechanicsburg. The fact that even its inventor, a protégé of Dio Zardilev’s, hadn’t known how to shut it off had given Klaus cause to confiscate it, and only the lack of better non-lethal options prompted him to deploy it now.
This wasn’t suicide. It was temporary. Gil would free him when the time came. They would deal with this version of Lucrezia masquerading as her daughter. And then, perhaps, Klaus could undo what he’d done to Gil without too much damage.
(Zantabraxus would have his head if she knew what he’d done to their son. But then, there was the Skifandrian girl with Lucrezia-had Zantabraxus sent her to find him, or was she an assassin after Gil? Or both?)
His ruminations were cut short, however, as the drop armor shook from the bombardment Castle Heterodyne was sending against it. Klaus needed to devote his full attention to landing safely in front of the Red Cathedral. Once he was down, he heard Gkika growl a challenge, although he couldn’t hear what she said. Bracing himself, he took the stasis bomb in his left hand, lowered the door, and stepped out.
“FREEZE!”
Klaus froze in mid-stride, every joint and voluntary muscle locking instantly in response to that voice.
No.
No.
She should be in the cathedral, undergoing the accession rites. She shouldn’t have had time to be out here, be behind him, be able to get past his guard this way. And how could she possibly know what he’d been about to do?
Oddly enough, Gkika looked surprised, too. “Miztress? Vot-”
“I’ll explain later,” said Lucrezia, sounding more like the Agatha Clay persona. “Can you get that thing out of his hand without pressing any buttons?”
“Ho, yah, Hy ken do dot.”
Klaus tried to will his hands to move, to trigger the bomb before Gkika could swipe it away from him, but the effect of the wasp was too strong.
“Ketch!” Gkika teased, tossing the bomb into the air above his head.
Then a death ray whined, and bits of molten metal rained down around him. And a split second later, there was a muffled explosion inside the cathedral just as Tarvek Sturmvoraus appeared among the Jägers with a female Smoke Knight hanging onto his arm with her left hand. Said Smoke Knight was just pulling her right hand away from a brass armband on her left arm, and Sturmvoraus looked totally disoriented.
“What-how-Agatha?” he asked, putting a hand to his head.
“In a minute,” Lucrezia answered. “Mamma, would you mind moving the baron out of the way?”
Gkika obligingly picked Klaus up as if he were no more than a tailor’s dummy and set him off to the side of the drop armor.
“Thank you. I’m really sorry to have to do this, Herr Baron. Uh, you can blink if you need to,” Lucrezia (or was it?) added as she stepped into the drop armor.
Klaus did need to blink and found himself doing so rapidly.
Then his heart sank further as he heard, “Mechanicsburg calling Castle Wulfenbach. This is Lady Agatha Heterodyne. I have the baron. Repeat, I have the baron.”
Oh, no. This was swiftly devolving into a very bad plan. Boris ought to know what to do in such an emergency, but-
“I wish to propose an exchange of prisoners.”
Worse and worse.
“Bring Gilgamesh Wulfenbach to the Monsters’ Gate in fifteen minutes... what? Oh, all right, half an hour, then.” What, was she playing at being reasonable? “Baron Wulfenbach is currently incapacitated”-points for tact, though he wasn’t sure why she bothered!-“but he will receive the antidote once the Jägers have escorted him to your side of the field... whereupon I will surrender The Other to the baron’s justice unconditionally.”
... What?!
Sturmvoraus clutched his head. “Agatha, what are you doing?!”
“It’s okay,” the Smoke Knight assured him. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Half an hour,” Lucrezia repeated. “We’ll be waiting.” A moment later she emerged from the drop armor and blew the air out of her cheeks-huh. That had looked more like Barry; Lucrezia would never have done that before. In any case, she turned to him apologetically. “I am sorry, Herr Baron. But more than Europa would have been lost if you’d triggered that thing. I couldn’t let you do that.”
He blinked. There was nothing else he could do. (But add another tick to the capable of time manipulation column, if she knew the outcome of the bomb’s use better than the man who’d made it.)
“Agatha, what is going on here?” Sturmvoraus demanded.
“I’ll explain later, I promise,” Lucrezia (Agatha?) replied and turned to the Smoke Knight. “Where’s Krosp?”
“I left him minding the shield emitter,” the Smoke Knight replied. “But he should-”
“Help, help!” cried another young man’s voice from inside the cathedral’s open doors, followed almost immediately by said young man, impeccably dressed and with hair that was blond on top and dark below, running out dragging what looked like another Valois descendant in his arms. “Prince Martellus-he’s been stabbed!”
“I told you,” snarled the cat that was hard on the boy’s heels, “the blade’s poisoned. It’s too late for him.”
Sturmvoraus turned to the Smoke Knight. “Violetta-”
“It’s his own poison and his own fault,” the Smoke Knight-Violetta?-interrupted. “That knife was meant for you, idiot. And he’s probably already dead by now anyway.”
“So what exploded? What shield emitter were you talking about? Why is Agatha out here when I saw Tweedle carry her off in there?”
“It is a very long story,” Lu-Agatha? replied in tones that reminded Klaus an awful lot of Bill. “And we have to go back to the castle to get something before the exchange, so if you’ll come with us, I can explain at least part of it. Herr Baron,” she added, turning back to Klaus, “you can relax your arms and move your legs to go where the Jägers lead you, but you are not to resist them or attempt to escape.”
Something in the back of Klaus’ mind itched, but regaining even a modicum of control over his limbs was a relief. He supposed he should be grateful.
“But my lady,” interjected the young man holding what apparently used to be Martellus von Blitzengaard, “aren’t you going to-”
“No!” Lucrezia snapped. “He tried to kidnap me and murder Tarvek, and he would have done worse than that if he’d had half a chance. Besides, supposedly he’ll start dissolving within thirty minutes, so there’s no point in trying to reverse the poison anyway. Find some way to document his death and dispose of the remains safely. Gen. Gkika, Gen. Goomblast, please escort the baron to the Monsters’ Gate for the exchange; we’ll meet you there momentarily. C’mon, Tarvek.” That last was in English for some reason.
“What are we going to get?” Sturmvoraus asked Violetta as they followed Lucrezia out of Klaus’ line of sight at a run.
“Monster wagon,” was all Klaus caught of Violetta’s answer.
“Foo,” sighed Zog, scratching his head. “Dot vos krezy.”
“Iz krezy,” Gkika corrected, taking Klaus by the right arm. “Kestle? Vot hyu know about all dis?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the castle’s voice responded from the paving stones. “But have no fear for the Mistress. She’s in no danger, and what I understand of her plan should satisfy even you, Klaus.”
Klaus doubted it, not that he could say so.
Khrizhan nudged Zog and nodded toward the young man who was probably the new seneschal, and they went off to help him deal with von Blitzengaard’s corpse. Goomblast, meanwhile, came over to take Klaus’ left arm, and he and Gkika marched Klaus off toward the Monsters’ Gate.
“Hyu schtill tink Miz Agatha is De Odder, dun hyu?” Goomblast asked Klaus quietly once they were away from the worst of the crowd near the cathedral. “De Odder iz in her hed, yez, und she does hef her mamma’s voice. But Miz Agatha iz not her mamma. Dot Lucrezia, she vould neffer say sorry for ennyting.”
Klaus sighed through his nose. That much was true, certainly. Lucrezia had definitely never apologized for exercising power over anyone, at least that Klaus had heard. And there hadn’t been even any implicit gloating in that radio message to Castle Wulfenbach demanding the prisoner exchange. Nor had she shown any intention of sending him back with instructions that would be detrimental to anyone’s interests, although there could be time enough for her still to do so depending on how quickly she returned from Castle Heterodyne.
(Why did she need a monster wagon? Not for him, surely?)
Klaus wasn’t certain he’d been wrong about the girl, of course. Lucrezia was a good actress and had admitted her identity to him in Sturmhalten only when no one else could overhear, and her puppet had everyone convinced she was Anevka Sturmvoraus. But the Jägers knew him well and knew when they’d made their point, so neither Goomblast nor Gkika said anything more as they completed the trek to the Monsters’ Gate and waited for the rest of the party to arrive.
The crowd, unfortunately, had followed, so the hushed murmur of speculation gradually grew until distant cheering, growing steadily closer, heralded Lucrezia’s progress. Klaus’ condition rendered him unable to turn his head or move his eyes, so he couldn’t see how she arrived behind him, but it sounded like she and Sturmvoraus were riding one of Castle Heterodyne’s tiger clanks-er, Fun-sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers-while someone else, presumably Violetta, drove the monster wagon. And when Lucrezia called Goomblast aside for a moment, the cheering drowned out whatever she said to him. But then the cheering died down, and Klaus was able to make out the drone of an approaching airship.
Then she sidled up to him and said quietly, “Herr Baron, I know you don’t trust me, but I have some information you need to remember.”
Red fire, here we go, Klaus sighed inwardly and braced himself.
“There are two other copies of my mother aside from the one I’m about to turn over to you-at least, that I know of.”
... What?
“One, as you may already know by now, is in the clank claiming to be Tarvek’s sister Anevka.”
Yes, he knew that all too well. He managed the slightest affirmative grunt.
“The other is in my cousin Zola Malfeazium-she was the pink fake who tried to steal the castle from me. Zola’s still in control, apparently, but she has conscious access to my mother’s memories. She was pretty beat up when she left the castle, and I don’t know if she had escaped from the hospital before it was shelled, but it’s probably best to assume she did and be on the lookout for her. She’s a lot more dangerous than she looks.”
He blinked. Was she... warning him? That hadn’t been phrased as a command.
She sighed. “Trouble is, the Geisterdamen got away with the equipment they used to force Mother into my head, so there may be more copies by now that I don’t know about. And I don’t know how to recommend that you test for them. I mean... well. Anyway. I just wanted to warn you.” And while he was still puzzling over the fact that she hadn’t ordered him to do anything, she stepped away and let Goomblast resume his post.
Klaus blinked again and wished he could shake his head. None of this made sense. If Lucrezia wanted her rival selves killed, she could have said so, ordered him to do it for her. But she had always struck him as the sort who thought multiple copies of herself would be a boon to humanity. Was she worried that they’d give him conflicting commands if they all gained access to him? But if so, why hadn’t she given him any sort of overriding command that would prevent such an eventuality? Come to that, she hadn’t given him any commands at all except to remember. Why only warn him and then let him go?
There wasn’t time for him to work it out, however. The Wulfenbach airship finally entered his field of vision and landed about a hundred meters away, and a hush fell over the crowd. The ramp lowered, and Gil walked out, his spine unnaturally straight and his gait too like Klaus’ own for comfort. Bangladesh Dupree, somehow already recovered from her apparent poisoning, and several other members of Klaus’ staff followed Gil off the airship; Dupree was remonstrating with her usual vigor, and Gil... wasn’t reacting at all.
Saints above, had Klaus destroyed his son?
The Wulfenbach contingent reached the road, and Gil evidently ordered the others to stop and wait where they were. Then, at some unspoken signal, Gil started toward town alone while Gkika and Goomblast steered Klaus forward. And as the distance between them diminished steadily, Klaus got an uncomfortably good look at the completely blank, impassive mask his son’s face had become. Gil wasn’t even looking at him, eyes fixed straight ahead as firmly as Klaus’ own.
He couldn’t speak, couldn’t apologize, couldn’t promise to make things better. He couldn’t even turn his head as they passed each other.
-But he could hear a clack and a slight rattle as Gil... handed something to Goomblast? Something metallic, like a tin or... maybe a syringe case. Lucrezia had promised an antidote, but... no, that wouldn’t make sense, would it, for Gil to be bringing the antidote himself?
Klaus was still puzzling over it, and growing annoyed at his inability to frown, when Goomblast said, “Vait,” and they stopped about five meters shy of the Wulfenbach crew. “Ve giff hyu dis now, Herr Baron. Open hees collar, Gkika.”
Klaus managed to take a deep breath, but Gkika was surprisingly gentle as she removed his sigil brooch, tucked it into a pocket of his waistcoat, and unbuttoned his shirt collar and the first few buttons below that. Then she held the fabric aside as Goomblast opened whatever Gil had given him and pressed something round and metallic against the carotid triangle on the left side of Klaus’ neck. Before Klaus had time to brace himself mentally, he heard a hiss, and liquid struck and sank into his skin, into his bloodstream, racing upward with every heartbeat....
... and then life suddenly flared through his body. He could move again, and his mind was completely clear for the first time since Sturmhalten. The wasp’s control was gone.
She had freed him.
“What-how-” he gasped, looking from Gkika to Goomblast.
“She is de Heterodyne,” Gkika replied, amused.
Klaus spun to see Gil walking up to Lu-Agatha. They spoke to each other, apparently, and embraced each other. After a moment’s hesitation, Sturmvoraus threw his arms around both of them.
“Herr Baron?” Goomblast prompted, and Klaus turned back as Goomblast pocketed the strange syringe and pulled another small device from his other pocket. “De Miztress vants hyu should vatch dis,” he said, handing the device to Klaus.
Warily, Klaus took it and, for lack of another option, pressed the arrow in the center of what looked like a viewscreen, then held it up and out slightly so that Gkika and Goomblast could watch alongside him. Immediately, the interior of someplace that wasn’t Castle Heterodyne appeared, along with several strange men and Agatha. Some of the men were in some kind of uniform, but the image was too small for Klaus to see any sigil patches on their sleeves. One man in a lab coat stood in the foreground and looked straight into whatever recording device had been used.
“Hullo, Baron Wulfenbach,” the man said with a Scottish accent, and Klaus was unsurprised that what followed was in English. “My name is Carson Beckett; I’m a medical doctor. I’m afraid I don’t have time to explain where I am or how Lady Heterodyne came to be in my care. But she insisted that you’d need evidence of the procedure we’re about to perform here to remove Lady Mongfish’s presence from her mind.”
In the background, Agatha waved. She was wearing a black shirtwaist and black trousers in a different style than Klaus had seen anywhere in Europa, similar to the black uniforms of the men around her; but still prominently visible on the choker around her neck was her trilobite locket, the one Barry had put some kind of device into and Boris had reported was keeping Lucrezia’s consciousness suppressed. (Red fire, where had he sent Boris?* Had Lucrezia forced him to murder his best administrator just as she’d ordered him to try to destroy the Vespiary Squad? He’d been operating on the edge of sanity; he couldn’t remember.)
“Now, the first steps in this process are classified,” Dr. Beckett interrupted Klaus’ train of thought, “and Lady Heterodyne herself has asked that we not explain them even to her. We’ve just reached the point of performing the separation itself.” Dr. Beckett stepped away from the recording device just as Agatha handed her glasses to Violetta.
“Are you sure about this, my lady?” Violetta asked her quietly in Romanian.
Agatha nodded. “We have to risk it. It’s the only way.” Then as Violetta backed away to stand beside the uniformed men, Agatha squared her shoulders and declared in English, “I’m ready, Herr Doktor.”
“Right, then, here we go,” Dr. Beckett replied.
And after some murmuring out of shot and a brief zap that made Agatha sway, a beam of light swept over her... and she vanished.
“That’s it,” said another male voice with a Bohemian accent. “Reading two stable life-signs. Power levels are steady. Rematerializing.”
The beam of light passed again over the place where Agatha had been standing. But what appeared this time was not one Agatha, but two, one in the same clothing she had been wearing before and the other in a mauve dress Lucrezia would have liked. Klaus’ eyebrows shot up, then down again in concern as both Agathas collapsed.
Dr. Beckett stepped into sight again as a medical team went into action. “The separation process is taxing, milord, but by the time you watch this recording, both Lady Heterodyne and her mother should be completely fine. And Lady Heterodyne assures me you’ll know what to do once you’ve seen it.” He smiled a bit and nodded once, and the recording ended.
Know what to do?
Klaus turned back toward Mechanicsburg to see Agatha reaching through the bars of the monster wagon with another syringe. She pulled her arm back and handed the syringe to Violetta, then signaled the driver-a Mechanicsburger Klaus didn’t recognize-to start driving the monster wagon forward.
Oh. Oh, of course. She had promised to hand over The Other.
“Klaus?” Dupree called.
Klaus turned back briefly. “It’s all right, Dupree. Let me handle this.” As he returned his attention to the monster wagon, he added more quietly, “Castle, if you can hear me, have the Torchmen ready to act on my command.”
Three Torchmen immediately rose into the air and hovered above the crowd still lining the walls.
Klaus schooled his features carefully as the wagon driver turned off and stopped the wagon perpendicular to the road. Then, as Klaus approached, the driver came around to unlock the back and help the bound, hooded, mauve-clad woman out. Once she was standing in front of Klaus, the driver removed the hood... and the same face that had gloated over Klaus outside Sturmhalten blinked up at him before breaking into a delighted smile.
“Klaus!” Lucrezia cried. “Isn’t it marvelous, darling? I’m back!”
“So I see,” Klaus replied, returning the smile.
“I’m so glad to see you, and I know you’re glad to see me.” The command was unmistakable-but it triggered no compulsion this time. Whatever antidote Agatha had arranged for Gil to bring Goomblast, it had freed him for good.
He smiled more broadly anyway so as not to let on. “Of course. You have no idea how glad.”
“Be a dear and untie me, would you?” She held out her securely-tied hands.
He obligingly drew a dagger from his belt and cut the rope. “There you are, my sweet.”
Her smile brightened. “Always the gentleman. Oh, Klaus, what a fool I was to send you away. I really am glad to see you.” She threw her arms around him-and gasped in shock as he slid the dagger into her heart.
“And I am glad to rid my son, your daughter, and all Europa of you,” he growled. “TORCHMEN! DESTROY!”
As the light went out of Lucrezia’s eyes, the Torchmen sailed over and caught her corpse as he pitched it up to them, their fire immediately engulfing it and reducing it to a pile of ash in moments. Not even Sun would be able to revive her now. The version in the puppet might be safe to interrogate if he removed the head and retuned the voice, but this one... no. Klaus was taking no chances.
Watching the Torchmen return to town, Klaus let his eyes travel down to the gate and felt a pang of remorse when he saw that Agatha’s contingent was still there. But Gil and Sturmvoraus were standing shoulder to shoulder with their backs to him, effectively blocking Agatha’s view of the scene, and he could just barely make out her cowlick sticking up above where she was hiding her face against them. Perhaps she hadn’t had to watch him kill her mother after all.
“What the hell was that?” Dupree demanded, running up beside him.
“That was Lucrezia Mongfish,” Klaus replied, turning to her. “Lady Heterodyne upheld her end of the bargain; she surrendered The Other to my justice. And I believe I owe her an apology,” he added, looking at the Jägers.
“Hit vould help, Herr Baron,” Goomblast conceded.
Dupree stared at him incredulously. “An apology?! After you killed her?!”
Klaus shook his head. “I didn’t kill Agatha Heterodyne. Look.” And he pointed toward the gate, where Gil and Sturmvoraus were breaking ranks to reveal Agatha, swiping at her face with a handkerchief.
Dupree’s jaw dropped. “How the hell-”
“I wish I knew. But now’s not the time to ask.” With that, he squared his shoulders and strode back toward town, Dupree jogging beside him and the Jägers following.
Gil and Sturmvoraus looked at each other in alarm and apparently argued briefly with each other and with Agatha, who put a hand on each boy’s arm before stepping forward alone. And then the Jäger horde came charging around the corner of the city walls-with the Skifandrian girl at their head. Gkika and Goomblast peeled off to intercept the horde, but the Skifandrian raced straight toward Agatha, bright green hair streaming behind her as she ran.
“Ashtara’s daggers!” she called once she was in earshot. “Agatha, what-”
“It’s all right, Zeetha,” Agatha called back.
Klaus nearly stumbled. Zeetha. Red fire, he’d... he’d almost killed his daughter back in Sturmhalten.
Dupree noticed. “Klaus?”
“Not now,” he returned but slowed his pace to give Agatha time to calm things down on her own side.
And calm them she did, though the atmosphere was still very tense by the time Klaus arrived. Zeetha had fallen back to join Gil, Sturmvoraus, and Violetta; the latter two matched her scowl, but Gil’s face was a blank once more. And the Jägers were hanging back but were grumbling audibly, clearly ready to tear Klaus into more shreds than Von Pinn had shredded Punch and Judy if he made one wrong move toward their Heterodyne.
Klaus stopped several meters in front of Agatha, within easy speaking range but still at a respectful distance, and made sure his hands were clearly visible at his sides. “Lady Heterodyne,” he began at a volume he knew would carry, “I regret exceedingly that I have not been fully myself of late, and I apologize for the grave misunderstanding that has led to today’s unpleasantness. I cannot restore the lives that have been lost, but I will make restitution to the city of Mechanicsburg for the destruction I have caused or allowed.”
Agatha nodded once. “I accept your apology, Herr Baron, and request that said restitution be made in the form of assistance with rebuilding.”
“I shall provide that assistance most willingly, and afterward I hope we shall have restored sufficient mutual trust to conduct negotiations regarding the future governance of Mechanicsburg.”
“That is my hope also. Thank you, Herr Baron.”
Klaus nodded back and looked at Gil. “Come, Gilgamesh. We... have private business to discuss.”
Gil’s eyes flashed with sudden fury, but Agatha spoke before he could. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Herr Baron. The whole point of this exchange was for your son to become my hostage.”
Klaus frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The peace of Europa and the eradication of The Other’s plans are your highest priority. The safety of Mechanicsburg is mine. Until I can trust that you are satisfied that our goals are not in conflict, Gil is to remain my prisoner. With his help, I hope to be able to provide you a full catalogue of the contents of my mother’s secret lab within a reasonable amount of time. And perhaps you’d be good enough to send down some of his things, especially the contents of his labs, for his use while he is in my custody.”
The contents of his labs-including Punch and Judy, of course. They were only a day away from being ready to transport to what remained of the hospital. Klaus swallowed hard; he hated to lose the chance to talk with them, to find out what Barry had said that had made them mistrust him so. And he hated to leave Gil in his current state, though... perhaps this Dr. Beckett she had found, whoever and wherever he was, would stand a better chance of undoing the damage Klaus had wrought. Maybe giving Punch and Judy time to digest the news of what had just happened would be to his benefit as well.
Sturmvoraus cleared his throat and stepped forward. “If I might suggest, Herr Baron, that you take me as a hostage of your own, I’m certain that would help to ensure Lady Heterodyne’s good treatment of your son. I do have valuable information about The Other’s plans and her confederates that I will gladly give you while I’m in your custody. And as the High Command can attest, I did render valuable assistance in stopping units that had been subverted by the Knights of Jove while in the empire’s custody this morning.”
Agatha turned to him. “Tarvek, are you sure?”
Sturmvoraus nodded. “Might help draw off anyone else with bright ideas like Tweedle’s, too.”
Klaus sighed. It wasn’t an ideal option, but it was better than many. “If those terms are acceptable to you, Lady Heterodyne?”
“They are,” Agatha replied.
“Then I accept also. I will send the requested items tomorrow.”
“Before you go-Violetta?”
Violetta retrieved a satchel from the tiger clank and drew a rather full portfolio out of it.
“We had some trouble getting this into printed form,” Agatha explained as Violetta brought the portfolio to Sturmvoraus. “And we didn’t have a great deal of time. But these are transcripts of the interrogations we were able to conduct while The Other was in our custody. Of course, there’s not much telling how truthful she was, but....”
Sturmvoraus flipped through the papers and let out a low whistle. “This will help, definitely.”
Klaus nodded. “Excellent. Thank you, Lady Heterodyne.”
She shrugged. “Whatever I can do to help. I want her plans stopped, too.”
Klaus smiled a little, then looked past her to Zeetha. “Look after your brother, my daughter,” he said in Skiff.
Gil frowned, but Zeetha swallowed hard and replied in the same language, “May Ashtara strike me barren if he comes to harm, my father.”
That was an extraordinarily strong oath for a daughter of the Warrior Queen, and Klaus had to fight not to react to it with more than a nod. He really had been a chump the past two weeks. Then he nodded again to Agatha and gestured to Sturmvoraus, who kissed Agatha on the cheek and walked across to join Klaus. And finally, though it took every ounce of self-control he possessed, Klaus turned and led Dupree and Sturmvoraus away from town toward the waiting airship, ignoring the roar of triumph that erupted from the Mechanicsburgers and the Jägers.
A wasp eater kit poked its head out of Sturmvoraus’ pocket. “Kee?” it squeaked.
“Not today,” Klaus replied, and it hid again. “I suppose that means you were able to rescue the Vespers?”
“I did my best,” Sturmvoraus answered evasively.
“I’m glad someone dared.”
“Only fitting, considering the role my family played in causing the Lady Lucrezia’s return. I got as much information out of her as I could while she was in Sturmhalten, but of course I don’t know everything.”
“And the clank version? Was that your doing?”
Sturmvoraus hesitated briefly before replying, “I’ll shut her down for you, Herr Baron.”
“I expected no less.”
“Look, for what it’s worth, I did try to get Agatha out of Sturmhalten unharmed. And I do want to help clean up the mess we’ve caused.”
“You’ll have your chance. But I’m assigning Dupree to guard you.”
“Really?” Dupree gasped, plainly delighted. “Thank you, Klaus!”
Sturmvoraus wilted visibly.
“Just tell me one thing now,” Klaus continued as they approached the airship. “How did Lady Heterodyne find time to have her mother extracted from her mind?”
Sturmvoraus sighed and shook his head. “She didn’t really explain much. She only told me it happened ‘a long time from now in a galaxy far, far away.’ And Violetta laughed like it was some kind of joke.”
Frowning, Klaus looked back toward town, but the Jägers were crowded around the gate so thickly that he couldn’t see whether Gil and Agatha were still there. “I wonder,” he murmured.
Next
* I wrote this aside several weeks before Boris’ triumphant return to canon, but I’m leaving it in as a token of just how messed up Klaus was at the time. (Plus, as of this writing, we still don’t know where Boris has been for the duration of the time skip.)
Chapter 3
Exchange
Klaus had all the time in the world for regrets as his drop armor fell toward Mechanicsburg. He hated what he’d done to Gil-what she had suggested, though he was sure his condition couldn’t be transferred and his own consciousness would be capable of defending Gil against the power of her voice. Desperate times, though, and none were more desperate than these, with Lucrezia in possession of Mechanicsburg and her puppet in possession of Klaus. If he played his cards right with this move, he’d keep the empire, keep Gil, out of her hands for good.
He could only hope it would be enough to save the rest of Europa.
Gil would have to be the one to deal with Lucrezia’s puppet. If Klaus couldn’t trust the boy’s judgment, he could trust that of the copy of himself he’d placed in Gil’s mind. And after that, after Europa was free at last and Lucrezia could do no more damage, perhaps Gil would find a way to shut down the stasis bomb Klaus was about to use on Mechanicsburg. The fact that even its inventor, a protégé of Dio Zardilev’s, hadn’t known how to shut it off had given Klaus cause to confiscate it, and only the lack of better non-lethal options prompted him to deploy it now.
This wasn’t suicide. It was temporary. Gil would free him when the time came. They would deal with this version of Lucrezia masquerading as her daughter. And then, perhaps, Klaus could undo what he’d done to Gil without too much damage.
(Zantabraxus would have his head if she knew what he’d done to their son. But then, there was the Skifandrian girl with Lucrezia-had Zantabraxus sent her to find him, or was she an assassin after Gil? Or both?)
His ruminations were cut short, however, as the drop armor shook from the bombardment Castle Heterodyne was sending against it. Klaus needed to devote his full attention to landing safely in front of the Red Cathedral. Once he was down, he heard Gkika growl a challenge, although he couldn’t hear what she said. Bracing himself, he took the stasis bomb in his left hand, lowered the door, and stepped out.
“FREEZE!”
Klaus froze in mid-stride, every joint and voluntary muscle locking instantly in response to that voice.
No.
No.
She should be in the cathedral, undergoing the accession rites. She shouldn’t have had time to be out here, be behind him, be able to get past his guard this way. And how could she possibly know what he’d been about to do?
Oddly enough, Gkika looked surprised, too. “Miztress? Vot-”
“I’ll explain later,” said Lucrezia, sounding more like the Agatha Clay persona. “Can you get that thing out of his hand without pressing any buttons?”
“Ho, yah, Hy ken do dot.”
Klaus tried to will his hands to move, to trigger the bomb before Gkika could swipe it away from him, but the effect of the wasp was too strong.
“Ketch!” Gkika teased, tossing the bomb into the air above his head.
Then a death ray whined, and bits of molten metal rained down around him. And a split second later, there was a muffled explosion inside the cathedral just as Tarvek Sturmvoraus appeared among the Jägers with a female Smoke Knight hanging onto his arm with her left hand. Said Smoke Knight was just pulling her right hand away from a brass armband on her left arm, and Sturmvoraus looked totally disoriented.
“What-how-Agatha?” he asked, putting a hand to his head.
“In a minute,” Lucrezia answered. “Mamma, would you mind moving the baron out of the way?”
Gkika obligingly picked Klaus up as if he were no more than a tailor’s dummy and set him off to the side of the drop armor.
“Thank you. I’m really sorry to have to do this, Herr Baron. Uh, you can blink if you need to,” Lucrezia (or was it?) added as she stepped into the drop armor.
Klaus did need to blink and found himself doing so rapidly.
Then his heart sank further as he heard, “Mechanicsburg calling Castle Wulfenbach. This is Lady Agatha Heterodyne. I have the baron. Repeat, I have the baron.”
Oh, no. This was swiftly devolving into a very bad plan. Boris ought to know what to do in such an emergency, but-
“I wish to propose an exchange of prisoners.”
Worse and worse.
“Bring Gilgamesh Wulfenbach to the Monsters’ Gate in fifteen minutes... what? Oh, all right, half an hour, then.” What, was she playing at being reasonable? “Baron Wulfenbach is currently incapacitated”-points for tact, though he wasn’t sure why she bothered!-“but he will receive the antidote once the Jägers have escorted him to your side of the field... whereupon I will surrender The Other to the baron’s justice unconditionally.”
... What?!
Sturmvoraus clutched his head. “Agatha, what are you doing?!”
“It’s okay,” the Smoke Knight assured him. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Half an hour,” Lucrezia repeated. “We’ll be waiting.” A moment later she emerged from the drop armor and blew the air out of her cheeks-huh. That had looked more like Barry; Lucrezia would never have done that before. In any case, she turned to him apologetically. “I am sorry, Herr Baron. But more than Europa would have been lost if you’d triggered that thing. I couldn’t let you do that.”
He blinked. There was nothing else he could do. (But add another tick to the capable of time manipulation column, if she knew the outcome of the bomb’s use better than the man who’d made it.)
“Agatha, what is going on here?” Sturmvoraus demanded.
“I’ll explain later, I promise,” Lucrezia (Agatha?) replied and turned to the Smoke Knight. “Where’s Krosp?”
“I left him minding the shield emitter,” the Smoke Knight replied. “But he should-”
“Help, help!” cried another young man’s voice from inside the cathedral’s open doors, followed almost immediately by said young man, impeccably dressed and with hair that was blond on top and dark below, running out dragging what looked like another Valois descendant in his arms. “Prince Martellus-he’s been stabbed!”
“I told you,” snarled the cat that was hard on the boy’s heels, “the blade’s poisoned. It’s too late for him.”
Sturmvoraus turned to the Smoke Knight. “Violetta-”
“It’s his own poison and his own fault,” the Smoke Knight-Violetta?-interrupted. “That knife was meant for you, idiot. And he’s probably already dead by now anyway.”
“So what exploded? What shield emitter were you talking about? Why is Agatha out here when I saw Tweedle carry her off in there?”
“It is a very long story,” Lu-Agatha? replied in tones that reminded Klaus an awful lot of Bill. “And we have to go back to the castle to get something before the exchange, so if you’ll come with us, I can explain at least part of it. Herr Baron,” she added, turning back to Klaus, “you can relax your arms and move your legs to go where the Jägers lead you, but you are not to resist them or attempt to escape.”
Something in the back of Klaus’ mind itched, but regaining even a modicum of control over his limbs was a relief. He supposed he should be grateful.
“But my lady,” interjected the young man holding what apparently used to be Martellus von Blitzengaard, “aren’t you going to-”
“No!” Lucrezia snapped. “He tried to kidnap me and murder Tarvek, and he would have done worse than that if he’d had half a chance. Besides, supposedly he’ll start dissolving within thirty minutes, so there’s no point in trying to reverse the poison anyway. Find some way to document his death and dispose of the remains safely. Gen. Gkika, Gen. Goomblast, please escort the baron to the Monsters’ Gate for the exchange; we’ll meet you there momentarily. C’mon, Tarvek.” That last was in English for some reason.
“What are we going to get?” Sturmvoraus asked Violetta as they followed Lucrezia out of Klaus’ line of sight at a run.
“Monster wagon,” was all Klaus caught of Violetta’s answer.
“Foo,” sighed Zog, scratching his head. “Dot vos krezy.”
“Iz krezy,” Gkika corrected, taking Klaus by the right arm. “Kestle? Vot hyu know about all dis?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the castle’s voice responded from the paving stones. “But have no fear for the Mistress. She’s in no danger, and what I understand of her plan should satisfy even you, Klaus.”
Klaus doubted it, not that he could say so.
Khrizhan nudged Zog and nodded toward the young man who was probably the new seneschal, and they went off to help him deal with von Blitzengaard’s corpse. Goomblast, meanwhile, came over to take Klaus’ left arm, and he and Gkika marched Klaus off toward the Monsters’ Gate.
“Hyu schtill tink Miz Agatha is De Odder, dun hyu?” Goomblast asked Klaus quietly once they were away from the worst of the crowd near the cathedral. “De Odder iz in her hed, yez, und she does hef her mamma’s voice. But Miz Agatha iz not her mamma. Dot Lucrezia, she vould neffer say sorry for ennyting.”
Klaus sighed through his nose. That much was true, certainly. Lucrezia had definitely never apologized for exercising power over anyone, at least that Klaus had heard. And there hadn’t been even any implicit gloating in that radio message to Castle Wulfenbach demanding the prisoner exchange. Nor had she shown any intention of sending him back with instructions that would be detrimental to anyone’s interests, although there could be time enough for her still to do so depending on how quickly she returned from Castle Heterodyne.
(Why did she need a monster wagon? Not for him, surely?)
Klaus wasn’t certain he’d been wrong about the girl, of course. Lucrezia was a good actress and had admitted her identity to him in Sturmhalten only when no one else could overhear, and her puppet had everyone convinced she was Anevka Sturmvoraus. But the Jägers knew him well and knew when they’d made their point, so neither Goomblast nor Gkika said anything more as they completed the trek to the Monsters’ Gate and waited for the rest of the party to arrive.
The crowd, unfortunately, had followed, so the hushed murmur of speculation gradually grew until distant cheering, growing steadily closer, heralded Lucrezia’s progress. Klaus’ condition rendered him unable to turn his head or move his eyes, so he couldn’t see how she arrived behind him, but it sounded like she and Sturmvoraus were riding one of Castle Heterodyne’s tiger clanks-er, Fun-sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers-while someone else, presumably Violetta, drove the monster wagon. And when Lucrezia called Goomblast aside for a moment, the cheering drowned out whatever she said to him. But then the cheering died down, and Klaus was able to make out the drone of an approaching airship.
Then she sidled up to him and said quietly, “Herr Baron, I know you don’t trust me, but I have some information you need to remember.”
Red fire, here we go, Klaus sighed inwardly and braced himself.
“There are two other copies of my mother aside from the one I’m about to turn over to you-at least, that I know of.”
... What?
“One, as you may already know by now, is in the clank claiming to be Tarvek’s sister Anevka.”
Yes, he knew that all too well. He managed the slightest affirmative grunt.
“The other is in my cousin Zola Malfeazium-she was the pink fake who tried to steal the castle from me. Zola’s still in control, apparently, but she has conscious access to my mother’s memories. She was pretty beat up when she left the castle, and I don’t know if she had escaped from the hospital before it was shelled, but it’s probably best to assume she did and be on the lookout for her. She’s a lot more dangerous than she looks.”
He blinked. Was she... warning him? That hadn’t been phrased as a command.
She sighed. “Trouble is, the Geisterdamen got away with the equipment they used to force Mother into my head, so there may be more copies by now that I don’t know about. And I don’t know how to recommend that you test for them. I mean... well. Anyway. I just wanted to warn you.” And while he was still puzzling over the fact that she hadn’t ordered him to do anything, she stepped away and let Goomblast resume his post.
Klaus blinked again and wished he could shake his head. None of this made sense. If Lucrezia wanted her rival selves killed, she could have said so, ordered him to do it for her. But she had always struck him as the sort who thought multiple copies of herself would be a boon to humanity. Was she worried that they’d give him conflicting commands if they all gained access to him? But if so, why hadn’t she given him any sort of overriding command that would prevent such an eventuality? Come to that, she hadn’t given him any commands at all except to remember. Why only warn him and then let him go?
There wasn’t time for him to work it out, however. The Wulfenbach airship finally entered his field of vision and landed about a hundred meters away, and a hush fell over the crowd. The ramp lowered, and Gil walked out, his spine unnaturally straight and his gait too like Klaus’ own for comfort. Bangladesh Dupree, somehow already recovered from her apparent poisoning, and several other members of Klaus’ staff followed Gil off the airship; Dupree was remonstrating with her usual vigor, and Gil... wasn’t reacting at all.
Saints above, had Klaus destroyed his son?
The Wulfenbach contingent reached the road, and Gil evidently ordered the others to stop and wait where they were. Then, at some unspoken signal, Gil started toward town alone while Gkika and Goomblast steered Klaus forward. And as the distance between them diminished steadily, Klaus got an uncomfortably good look at the completely blank, impassive mask his son’s face had become. Gil wasn’t even looking at him, eyes fixed straight ahead as firmly as Klaus’ own.
He couldn’t speak, couldn’t apologize, couldn’t promise to make things better. He couldn’t even turn his head as they passed each other.
-But he could hear a clack and a slight rattle as Gil... handed something to Goomblast? Something metallic, like a tin or... maybe a syringe case. Lucrezia had promised an antidote, but... no, that wouldn’t make sense, would it, for Gil to be bringing the antidote himself?
Klaus was still puzzling over it, and growing annoyed at his inability to frown, when Goomblast said, “Vait,” and they stopped about five meters shy of the Wulfenbach crew. “Ve giff hyu dis now, Herr Baron. Open hees collar, Gkika.”
Klaus managed to take a deep breath, but Gkika was surprisingly gentle as she removed his sigil brooch, tucked it into a pocket of his waistcoat, and unbuttoned his shirt collar and the first few buttons below that. Then she held the fabric aside as Goomblast opened whatever Gil had given him and pressed something round and metallic against the carotid triangle on the left side of Klaus’ neck. Before Klaus had time to brace himself mentally, he heard a hiss, and liquid struck and sank into his skin, into his bloodstream, racing upward with every heartbeat....
... and then life suddenly flared through his body. He could move again, and his mind was completely clear for the first time since Sturmhalten. The wasp’s control was gone.
She had freed him.
“What-how-” he gasped, looking from Gkika to Goomblast.
“She is de Heterodyne,” Gkika replied, amused.
Klaus spun to see Gil walking up to Lu-Agatha. They spoke to each other, apparently, and embraced each other. After a moment’s hesitation, Sturmvoraus threw his arms around both of them.
“Herr Baron?” Goomblast prompted, and Klaus turned back as Goomblast pocketed the strange syringe and pulled another small device from his other pocket. “De Miztress vants hyu should vatch dis,” he said, handing the device to Klaus.
Warily, Klaus took it and, for lack of another option, pressed the arrow in the center of what looked like a viewscreen, then held it up and out slightly so that Gkika and Goomblast could watch alongside him. Immediately, the interior of someplace that wasn’t Castle Heterodyne appeared, along with several strange men and Agatha. Some of the men were in some kind of uniform, but the image was too small for Klaus to see any sigil patches on their sleeves. One man in a lab coat stood in the foreground and looked straight into whatever recording device had been used.
“Hullo, Baron Wulfenbach,” the man said with a Scottish accent, and Klaus was unsurprised that what followed was in English. “My name is Carson Beckett; I’m a medical doctor. I’m afraid I don’t have time to explain where I am or how Lady Heterodyne came to be in my care. But she insisted that you’d need evidence of the procedure we’re about to perform here to remove Lady Mongfish’s presence from her mind.”
In the background, Agatha waved. She was wearing a black shirtwaist and black trousers in a different style than Klaus had seen anywhere in Europa, similar to the black uniforms of the men around her; but still prominently visible on the choker around her neck was her trilobite locket, the one Barry had put some kind of device into and Boris had reported was keeping Lucrezia’s consciousness suppressed. (Red fire, where had he sent Boris?* Had Lucrezia forced him to murder his best administrator just as she’d ordered him to try to destroy the Vespiary Squad? He’d been operating on the edge of sanity; he couldn’t remember.)
“Now, the first steps in this process are classified,” Dr. Beckett interrupted Klaus’ train of thought, “and Lady Heterodyne herself has asked that we not explain them even to her. We’ve just reached the point of performing the separation itself.” Dr. Beckett stepped away from the recording device just as Agatha handed her glasses to Violetta.
“Are you sure about this, my lady?” Violetta asked her quietly in Romanian.
Agatha nodded. “We have to risk it. It’s the only way.” Then as Violetta backed away to stand beside the uniformed men, Agatha squared her shoulders and declared in English, “I’m ready, Herr Doktor.”
“Right, then, here we go,” Dr. Beckett replied.
And after some murmuring out of shot and a brief zap that made Agatha sway, a beam of light swept over her... and she vanished.
“That’s it,” said another male voice with a Bohemian accent. “Reading two stable life-signs. Power levels are steady. Rematerializing.”
The beam of light passed again over the place where Agatha had been standing. But what appeared this time was not one Agatha, but two, one in the same clothing she had been wearing before and the other in a mauve dress Lucrezia would have liked. Klaus’ eyebrows shot up, then down again in concern as both Agathas collapsed.
Dr. Beckett stepped into sight again as a medical team went into action. “The separation process is taxing, milord, but by the time you watch this recording, both Lady Heterodyne and her mother should be completely fine. And Lady Heterodyne assures me you’ll know what to do once you’ve seen it.” He smiled a bit and nodded once, and the recording ended.
Know what to do?
Klaus turned back toward Mechanicsburg to see Agatha reaching through the bars of the monster wagon with another syringe. She pulled her arm back and handed the syringe to Violetta, then signaled the driver-a Mechanicsburger Klaus didn’t recognize-to start driving the monster wagon forward.
Oh. Oh, of course. She had promised to hand over The Other.
“Klaus?” Dupree called.
Klaus turned back briefly. “It’s all right, Dupree. Let me handle this.” As he returned his attention to the monster wagon, he added more quietly, “Castle, if you can hear me, have the Torchmen ready to act on my command.”
Three Torchmen immediately rose into the air and hovered above the crowd still lining the walls.
Klaus schooled his features carefully as the wagon driver turned off and stopped the wagon perpendicular to the road. Then, as Klaus approached, the driver came around to unlock the back and help the bound, hooded, mauve-clad woman out. Once she was standing in front of Klaus, the driver removed the hood... and the same face that had gloated over Klaus outside Sturmhalten blinked up at him before breaking into a delighted smile.
“Klaus!” Lucrezia cried. “Isn’t it marvelous, darling? I’m back!”
“So I see,” Klaus replied, returning the smile.
“I’m so glad to see you, and I know you’re glad to see me.” The command was unmistakable-but it triggered no compulsion this time. Whatever antidote Agatha had arranged for Gil to bring Goomblast, it had freed him for good.
He smiled more broadly anyway so as not to let on. “Of course. You have no idea how glad.”
“Be a dear and untie me, would you?” She held out her securely-tied hands.
He obligingly drew a dagger from his belt and cut the rope. “There you are, my sweet.”
Her smile brightened. “Always the gentleman. Oh, Klaus, what a fool I was to send you away. I really am glad to see you.” She threw her arms around him-and gasped in shock as he slid the dagger into her heart.
“And I am glad to rid my son, your daughter, and all Europa of you,” he growled. “TORCHMEN! DESTROY!”
As the light went out of Lucrezia’s eyes, the Torchmen sailed over and caught her corpse as he pitched it up to them, their fire immediately engulfing it and reducing it to a pile of ash in moments. Not even Sun would be able to revive her now. The version in the puppet might be safe to interrogate if he removed the head and retuned the voice, but this one... no. Klaus was taking no chances.
Watching the Torchmen return to town, Klaus let his eyes travel down to the gate and felt a pang of remorse when he saw that Agatha’s contingent was still there. But Gil and Sturmvoraus were standing shoulder to shoulder with their backs to him, effectively blocking Agatha’s view of the scene, and he could just barely make out her cowlick sticking up above where she was hiding her face against them. Perhaps she hadn’t had to watch him kill her mother after all.
“What the hell was that?” Dupree demanded, running up beside him.
“That was Lucrezia Mongfish,” Klaus replied, turning to her. “Lady Heterodyne upheld her end of the bargain; she surrendered The Other to my justice. And I believe I owe her an apology,” he added, looking at the Jägers.
“Hit vould help, Herr Baron,” Goomblast conceded.
Dupree stared at him incredulously. “An apology?! After you killed her?!”
Klaus shook his head. “I didn’t kill Agatha Heterodyne. Look.” And he pointed toward the gate, where Gil and Sturmvoraus were breaking ranks to reveal Agatha, swiping at her face with a handkerchief.
Dupree’s jaw dropped. “How the hell-”
“I wish I knew. But now’s not the time to ask.” With that, he squared his shoulders and strode back toward town, Dupree jogging beside him and the Jägers following.
Gil and Sturmvoraus looked at each other in alarm and apparently argued briefly with each other and with Agatha, who put a hand on each boy’s arm before stepping forward alone. And then the Jäger horde came charging around the corner of the city walls-with the Skifandrian girl at their head. Gkika and Goomblast peeled off to intercept the horde, but the Skifandrian raced straight toward Agatha, bright green hair streaming behind her as she ran.
“Ashtara’s daggers!” she called once she was in earshot. “Agatha, what-”
“It’s all right, Zeetha,” Agatha called back.
Klaus nearly stumbled. Zeetha. Red fire, he’d... he’d almost killed his daughter back in Sturmhalten.
Dupree noticed. “Klaus?”
“Not now,” he returned but slowed his pace to give Agatha time to calm things down on her own side.
And calm them she did, though the atmosphere was still very tense by the time Klaus arrived. Zeetha had fallen back to join Gil, Sturmvoraus, and Violetta; the latter two matched her scowl, but Gil’s face was a blank once more. And the Jägers were hanging back but were grumbling audibly, clearly ready to tear Klaus into more shreds than Von Pinn had shredded Punch and Judy if he made one wrong move toward their Heterodyne.
Klaus stopped several meters in front of Agatha, within easy speaking range but still at a respectful distance, and made sure his hands were clearly visible at his sides. “Lady Heterodyne,” he began at a volume he knew would carry, “I regret exceedingly that I have not been fully myself of late, and I apologize for the grave misunderstanding that has led to today’s unpleasantness. I cannot restore the lives that have been lost, but I will make restitution to the city of Mechanicsburg for the destruction I have caused or allowed.”
Agatha nodded once. “I accept your apology, Herr Baron, and request that said restitution be made in the form of assistance with rebuilding.”
“I shall provide that assistance most willingly, and afterward I hope we shall have restored sufficient mutual trust to conduct negotiations regarding the future governance of Mechanicsburg.”
“That is my hope also. Thank you, Herr Baron.”
Klaus nodded back and looked at Gil. “Come, Gilgamesh. We... have private business to discuss.”
Gil’s eyes flashed with sudden fury, but Agatha spoke before he could. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Herr Baron. The whole point of this exchange was for your son to become my hostage.”
Klaus frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The peace of Europa and the eradication of The Other’s plans are your highest priority. The safety of Mechanicsburg is mine. Until I can trust that you are satisfied that our goals are not in conflict, Gil is to remain my prisoner. With his help, I hope to be able to provide you a full catalogue of the contents of my mother’s secret lab within a reasonable amount of time. And perhaps you’d be good enough to send down some of his things, especially the contents of his labs, for his use while he is in my custody.”
The contents of his labs-including Punch and Judy, of course. They were only a day away from being ready to transport to what remained of the hospital. Klaus swallowed hard; he hated to lose the chance to talk with them, to find out what Barry had said that had made them mistrust him so. And he hated to leave Gil in his current state, though... perhaps this Dr. Beckett she had found, whoever and wherever he was, would stand a better chance of undoing the damage Klaus had wrought. Maybe giving Punch and Judy time to digest the news of what had just happened would be to his benefit as well.
Sturmvoraus cleared his throat and stepped forward. “If I might suggest, Herr Baron, that you take me as a hostage of your own, I’m certain that would help to ensure Lady Heterodyne’s good treatment of your son. I do have valuable information about The Other’s plans and her confederates that I will gladly give you while I’m in your custody. And as the High Command can attest, I did render valuable assistance in stopping units that had been subverted by the Knights of Jove while in the empire’s custody this morning.”
Agatha turned to him. “Tarvek, are you sure?”
Sturmvoraus nodded. “Might help draw off anyone else with bright ideas like Tweedle’s, too.”
Klaus sighed. It wasn’t an ideal option, but it was better than many. “If those terms are acceptable to you, Lady Heterodyne?”
“They are,” Agatha replied.
“Then I accept also. I will send the requested items tomorrow.”
“Before you go-Violetta?”
Violetta retrieved a satchel from the tiger clank and drew a rather full portfolio out of it.
“We had some trouble getting this into printed form,” Agatha explained as Violetta brought the portfolio to Sturmvoraus. “And we didn’t have a great deal of time. But these are transcripts of the interrogations we were able to conduct while The Other was in our custody. Of course, there’s not much telling how truthful she was, but....”
Sturmvoraus flipped through the papers and let out a low whistle. “This will help, definitely.”
Klaus nodded. “Excellent. Thank you, Lady Heterodyne.”
She shrugged. “Whatever I can do to help. I want her plans stopped, too.”
Klaus smiled a little, then looked past her to Zeetha. “Look after your brother, my daughter,” he said in Skiff.
Gil frowned, but Zeetha swallowed hard and replied in the same language, “May Ashtara strike me barren if he comes to harm, my father.”
That was an extraordinarily strong oath for a daughter of the Warrior Queen, and Klaus had to fight not to react to it with more than a nod. He really had been a chump the past two weeks. Then he nodded again to Agatha and gestured to Sturmvoraus, who kissed Agatha on the cheek and walked across to join Klaus. And finally, though it took every ounce of self-control he possessed, Klaus turned and led Dupree and Sturmvoraus away from town toward the waiting airship, ignoring the roar of triumph that erupted from the Mechanicsburgers and the Jägers.
A wasp eater kit poked its head out of Sturmvoraus’ pocket. “Kee?” it squeaked.
“Not today,” Klaus replied, and it hid again. “I suppose that means you were able to rescue the Vespers?”
“I did my best,” Sturmvoraus answered evasively.
“I’m glad someone dared.”
“Only fitting, considering the role my family played in causing the Lady Lucrezia’s return. I got as much information out of her as I could while she was in Sturmhalten, but of course I don’t know everything.”
“And the clank version? Was that your doing?”
Sturmvoraus hesitated briefly before replying, “I’ll shut her down for you, Herr Baron.”
“I expected no less.”
“Look, for what it’s worth, I did try to get Agatha out of Sturmhalten unharmed. And I do want to help clean up the mess we’ve caused.”
“You’ll have your chance. But I’m assigning Dupree to guard you.”
“Really?” Dupree gasped, plainly delighted. “Thank you, Klaus!”
Sturmvoraus wilted visibly.
“Just tell me one thing now,” Klaus continued as they approached the airship. “How did Lady Heterodyne find time to have her mother extracted from her mind?”
Sturmvoraus sighed and shook his head. “She didn’t really explain much. She only told me it happened ‘a long time from now in a galaxy far, far away.’ And Violetta laughed like it was some kind of joke.”
Frowning, Klaus looked back toward town, but the Jägers were crowded around the gate so thickly that he couldn’t see whether Gil and Agatha were still there. “I wonder,” he murmured.
Next
* I wrote this aside several weeks before Boris’ triumphant return to canon, but I’m leaving it in as a token of just how messed up Klaus was at the time. (Plus, as of this writing, we still don’t know where Boris has been for the duration of the time skip.)