The name hit Magnus like a punch in the gut, more visceral than any other news Nikola could have delivered. She kept her face stony and impassive as she took in a breath.
"Adam Worth is dead, Nikola. There is no way that he survived, I made sure of that."
"Oh no, he didn't survive."
"Then how –?"
"Do you remember when I trapped computer Adam, or should I say, computer Hyde –"
"You trapped?" Will raised his eyebrows.
"Alright, remember when we trapped the consciousness of Adam Worth in the Praxian spider bot?"
"Yes, of course." Magnus' heart began to sink.
"Well, unfortunately, when the sanctuary was blown up, you, Helen were not the only thing to come out. Apparently, spider bots are more resilient than you give them credit for."
"Dear Lord."
"Indeed. Anyways, in an extremely unfortunate turn of events, those idiots down at SCIU got ahold of it, and sent it to their very best apes down in the lab. It seems that they underestimated the little bugger and it hijacked a rather questionable human cloning project. It, shall we say, altered the parameters a bit. I don't know if Adam's finished erm, growing himself yet, but we have to hurry, those fools have no idea what they have."
"And you know this how, exactly? You were fired from SCIU." Will said.
"I still have my sources and connections since I left."
"There's something else, isn't there?" Magnus knew Tesla better than anyone, and there was something that he wasn't telling them.
"Yes, well, I did say that they sent the spider bot to the best goons that the government has to offer. And it just so happens that they also have all of my research."
"Nikola, what did you do?"
"Well, there's no way that any of the fools from SCIU could figure it out, but if Adam Worth comes back, and if I know Worth, there's nothing to stop him from using my rift energy node to power a well, a – "
"Another time machine." Helen breathed.