Chapter 11

Saturday, April 4th, 1895

Castle Wulfenbach Airspace

5:24 A.M.

Scraaakkk. . . .

"Don't you dare! Don't you bloody dare!"

The voice cut through Marty's dreams, pulling him abruptly back into the real world. He yawned and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. "I take it we're having problems again," he muttered, sitting up.

"It's this blasted engine!" Emmett ran back and forth, flicking switches. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?"

"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" Clara said, yawning. "I told you. . . ."

"Yes, yes, I know. Give me that we haven't crashed yet, at least."

"Emmett murdering the airship's engine again?" Holly asked, propping herself up on an elbow and smirking.

Emmett glowered at her. "Do I have to remind you of what nearly happened when you tried to fly this thing?"

"No, no, that's all right," Holly said hastily, the smirk disappearing.

The noise finally stopped as Emmett adjusted the steering controls. The teenager sighed deeply. "If this thing makes one more weird noise. . . ."

"Well, hopefully Othar will pick a place to land soon," Marty said, opening one of the lockers in the cabin. "Biscuits, anyone?"

"Thanks," Holly said, grabbing one. "Max! Emily! Breakfast!"

Emily blinked open her eyes. "Oh, good," she yawned. "Another night without crashing."

Maxim plopped his hat back on as he got his share of breakfast. "Anyting interesting happen?"

"Nope. Just us and Othar and the open sky." Emmett looked over at the small figure of Othar's airship ahead of them. "I'd really like to know how well he's managing. Being a crew of one must be terrible when you need to go to the bathroom."

"Serves him right," Holly said, ripping into her biscuit viciously. "After all he's done to us."

"Und Miz Agatha," Maxim added.

"And any other unfortunate Spark he's come across," Emmett agreed, starting on his food. "You know, his motives make a lot of sense if he's following the Other's philosophy."

"I dread the thought," Emily shuddered. "The first Other War was horrible enough."

"Well, if he really is an agent of the Other, we'll stop him," Emmett said firmly. "I refuse to let him ruin anybody else's life."

There was a brief silence as they finished off their breakfast. Then Emily said, "I wonder how Agatha's doing back in Sturmhalten."

"I'm sure she's fine," Emmett replied, brushing the crumbs off his lap. "She's tough. And she has the circus and Dimo and Oggie to look out for her."

"Dey had better be," Maxim nodded, frowning. "But ya, Miz Agatha ken take care of herself."

"If the royal family tries anything, they'll probably find Sturmhalten in ruins," Holly agreed with a smirk. "Or worse."

"I don't know, Agatha might be–"

Emmett stopped as he spotted a shape in the cloud bank before them. "Hey! We're coming up on something!"

Everyone got to their feet to look. Sure enough, there was a large, dark thing hovering before them. "Mountains?" Emily asked, wringing her hands.

"Can't be, the shape's all wrong. It looks like a giant cylinder." Emmett traced the shape with his finger. "See?"

"Looks like another airship to me," Holly said, nodding. "A big one."

"Could that be Castle Wulfenbach?" Clara asked.

"Mebbe," Maxim said. "Looks abut the right size."

"Well, Othar's heading straight for it, so we'll see shortly," Emmett said. "Just need to lose these clouds first. . . ."

After a few minutes of fiddling with the controls, they were up and over the clouds. The crew's jaws dropped. Looming in front of them was the biggest airship any of them had ever seen. Glowing portholes and windows dotted the steel-gray surface, and the image of Castle Wulfenbach – a golden castle with wings – was displayed prominently on the side. Hundreds of smaller airships orbited it, all painted with the Wulfenbach logo. "Holy shit," Marty whispered. "This is heavy."

"I can't see the end!" Emily said, looking to the left. "At all!"

"The Baron's done well for himself," Holly said, looking awed. "Maxim, was it like this when you left?"

"Not zo many leettle airships," Maxim said, looking around. "But de Baron did haff de big vun."

"I wonder if it can land," Clara said, eyes wide.

"Even if it could, I doubt it does – you'd never get it in the air again," Emmett replied, marveling. "Great Scott!"

Marty spotted Othar's ship heading for what looked like some sort of dock. "I think Othar's planning on going inside."

"Really?" Emmett looked himself, then sighed in frustration. "Great – either he intends to kill the Baron, or he wants to use my existence as some sort of bargaining chip. Neither are attractive options." He turned their ship in the direction of the dock. "We'll have to stop him before he gets too far."

Emily eyed the other small airships. "Do you think they'll give us any trouble?"

"Hope not," Clara said, edging away from the side.

"We'll go as fast as possible," Emmett promised.

They made it through the maze of airships without being shot down or otherwise injured, much to everyone's relief. Emmett gritted his teeth as he approached the dock. "Here goes. Brace yourselves. . . ."

Everyone else grabbed the railings tightly. Metal scraped on metal as Emmett carefully guided the airship in. Moments later, they stopped. Emmett released the controls and wiped the sweat from his face. "We're in."

"Thank God," Holly said, rubbing her temples. "That noise was driving me crazy."

"Probably attracted a bunch of attention too," Marty said, looking nervously over the side.

"Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing. We do want to talk to the Baron. Keep your weapons close at hand, though – just in case."

It didn't take long for someone to show up. A boy about their age jogged into the dock, followed by a group of what appeared to be modified footmen. "Hello there!" the boy called up to them. "Messengers from Sturmhalten?"

"Sort of – we come in peace, at least," Emmett called back. "We're here to speak to Baron Wulfenbach, if possible."

The boy gave them a strange look. "Baron Wulfenbach is in Sturmhalten. Investigating the death of Prince Aaronev."

Emmett barely kept himself from smashing his face into the control panel. Damn it! Irony, why do you mock me so?!

Emily, however, zeroed in on something else. "Prince Aaronev is dead?!"

The boy lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are you really from Sturmhalten?"

"Not originally, but we did visit," Holly said. "We left about four days ago – when was Aaronev killed?"

The other eyebrow went up. "About four days ago."

The group exchanged a nervous look. "Okay, this isn't looking good for us," Marty muttered. "Look, uh–"

Marty suddenly blinked and leaned over the railing. The boy's hand went to his belt while the footmen formed a tight circle around him. "Holy shit! You must be Gilgamesh Wulfenbach! Can't believe I didn't notice that before. . . ."

"How do you know?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, how?" Emmett said.

"'Cause he looks like you," Marty said. "Remember those people who thought you were him back when we were traveling around on our own? I can see why they thought that now."

"What, really?" Emmett took a closer look himself. Sure enough, the boy bore something of a resemblance to himself, only with a far smaller nose and darker hair. "Oh, wow."

Gilgamesh looked a little surprised himself. "There is a bit of a resemblance. . . . Okay, yes, I am the Baron's son. Now what do you want?"

"Just to talk," Emmett quickly reassured him, not wanting the situation to turn nasty. "Can we disembark, please?"

Gilgamesh hesitated, then nodded. Emmett allowed the girls to climb down first, then came down himself, followed by Marty and Maxim. Gil's eyes widened as he spotted Maxim. "You're traveling with a Jaeger?"

"We're – kind of – together," Holly said with a blush.

There was a snort of laughter from one of the footmen. "No, really," Gil said.

"We are!"

"Believe it or not, she's telling the truth," Emmett said.

"But how–"

"Please, it's not important," Emmett interrupted. "We've got some potentially catastrophic news for you. Though if your father's in Sturmhalten already, he probably knows about most of this."

"Oh?" Gil abruptly brightened. "Is this about a certain Agatha Heterodyne?"

Emmett nearly had a heart attack. "What – how – she said you all thought she was dead!" he blurted, before he could catch himself.

"Father tried to resurrect her," Gil explained. "He was pretty angry when he discovered the body was some mystery girl." His expression turned worried. "But you know Agatha? Is she all right?"

"As far as we know," Holly said. "The last time we saw her, she was on her way to have dinner with Aaronev."

"Sounds like that went horribly wrong, doesn't it?" Marty added.

Gil frowned. "Damn. I do hope she's okay. . .Wooster had better reach her first, that's all I can say. . . ." he muttered.

"Sounds like we got away from Sturmhalten just in time," Emily mumbled, glancing around.

"I know you must be concerned about the situation in Sturmhalten, but we have a bigger problem right here on the ship," Emmett said, not wanting to delay any longer. "The other Sturmhalten airship that just docked was stolen by Othar Tryggvassen. He's on board."

"What? Damn it!" Gil whirled to face the footmen behind him. "You three! Go around and lock every lab you find! The rest of you, alert the rest of the crew and start searching! We can't let him get away again!"

The footmen nodded and raced off. Gil sighed deeply and put a hand to his forehead. "I don't want to deal with this on top of everything else. Why did he have to come now?"

"Don't ask us, herr – um – what do you call the heir of a Baron?" Marty asked, puzzled.

"Oh, just call me Gilgamesh. We can worry about formalities once we've dealt with Othar." He looked at them, suddenly suspicious. "Though it's odd you'd come on board to warn us about Othar Tryggvassen. Most of the common people think he's a hero. What's going on?"

"Well, he nearly killed Emmett back in our hometown," Emily admitted. "And he murdered both our mother and Holly's."

". . .Oh."

"Yes, so we're not his biggest fans," Emmett nodded. "And while in Sturmhalten, we overheard a rather disturbing conversation – well, monologue, technically. . . ."

Emmett recounted Othar's confusing speech for Gil. The young man lifted an eyebrow. "Who's Lucy?"

"I believe she's Lucrezia Mongfish, based on the fact he said she had an intimate relationship with the Baron," Emmett said. "I'm starting to suspect either she or her sister had ties to the Other, if one of them weren't the Other themselves."

"Er, not to say anything insulting about your father's taste in women," Marty added hastily.

"Don't worry about it – you wouldn't be the first," Gil said, waving a hand carelessly. "Though how could Lucrezia be the Other? Her sister, I could see possibly, but Bill Heterodyne's wife?"

"I'm just giving you my opinion," Emmett said with a shrug. "I can't be sure of all the facts myself. All I can say is, it looks like Aaronev and Othar could be working toward the Other's purposes. At the very least, Aaronev is harboring Giesterdamen. Other called that place he ended up a Geister chapel."

Gil looked thoughtful. "That is suspicious. Though I've never heard of that chapel before – we've been visiting there a couple of times before."

"They seem to be the secret hideout sort," Marty shrugged. "They hid a weapons locker in their music room."

"Your father's probably taking care of the Sturmvarous family right now," Holly said. "I say we focus on taking out that bastard Othar."

Gil nodded, still frowning thoughtfully. "Do you really think he's working for the Other?"

"Definitely," Emmett nodded. "They're certainly not working at cross-purposes, are they?"

Gil shook his head, though he still looked a bit skeptical. "I knew he was a dangerous lunatic – but advancing the cause of the Other? I don't know if I can believe it."

"Well, dangerous lunatic is a good enough reason to catch him too."

"May we volunteer our services for the hunt?" Holly asked with a large, almost-evil smile. "We've got weapons in the airship and a number of personal grudges against him."

"So you said. Be my guest," Gil said. "Just try not to kill him if you can help it. I think I might make Father a present of his brain once he gets back."

"That's – sweet – of you," Emily said, looking highly disturbed.

"Jah," Maxim said, grinning in a disturbing way. "Hyu iz a good son. Hy'll get our gear."

Gil looked the group over as Maxim retrieved the weapons. "You lot certainly don't look like the typical airship crew. Where are you all from, anyway?"

"Clara's from Passholdt, Marty from Grass Valley," Emily said. "Holly, Emmett, and I are from Hill Valley."

Gil's eyes widened. "Hill Valley?" he repeated.

Emmett suddenly felt uneasy. "Um, yes. . . ." he said, pretty sure what Gil's next question would be.

"And Othar killed your mother? Your father wouldn't happen to be–"

Emmett sighed deeply. "Yes, Elias Von Braun! I swear, we're nothing like him!"

"I don't doubt it. Sounds to me like you got more of our genes."

Emmett went white. "You – know–"

"I found out shortly before we met Agatha – when we captured Othar the first time," Gil explained, grinning faintly. "I couldn't believe I actually had cousins." He paused a moment, the smile fading. "Father was pretty broken up by Sarah's death, you know. It's the only time I've ever seen him cry."

Emmett smacked his forehead. "Damn! I didn't even think he might know about me from Othar already!"

"Why don't you want–"

"Master Gilgamesh!"

One of the footmen came flying in. "We've found Othar. He's in one of the catwalk rooms, the one left of the main gas control room. We managed to bar most of the labs, but he succeeded in setting a few experiments free."

"Damn! Whose labs did he get into?"

"Dr. Pendergloss's, Dr. Trankton's, Dr. Anderson's, and–" the footman swallowed nervously. "And yours, sir."

"Mine?! Did he do anything to the constructs I'm working on?" Gil demanded, grabbing the footman's collar."

"No!" the man said quickly, obviously fearing Gil's wrath. "No, they appear to be stable. But he did release the clanks you were planning to fight later."

Gil groaned loudly. "Red fire. . .at least my main experiment was untouched. The big room left of the main gas control chamber, you said?" The footman nodded. "All right, I know that place." He looked back at Emmett and his friends. "If you really want to fight Othar, you'd better follow me right now!"

"Lead on!" Emmett said, grabbing his lightning gun from Maxim.

They raced down the halls, following Gil as best they could through the various twists and turns. They made a brief stop at Gil's lab, where, after checking the constructs he was working on, he grabbed a sword. "No death ray?" Marty said, surprised.

"No time," Gil said. "My work with the constructs has kept me pretty busy. I have the plans for one, though."

"Do you really think Othar will get close enough to let you use a sword?" Emmett asked as they resumed their run.

"Probably not," Gil admitted. "But whatever he's released from the labs might. And, frankly, I've always felt a bit more comfortable with swords than with death rays and the like."

"Ever consider combining them?"

"What do you mean?"

Emmett pulled his firesword from his belt and demonstrated. Gil looked impressed. "Not bad."

"Thanks. Imagine what you could do with that lab of yours."

Othar was waiting on one of the catwalks as they entered. "Aha! Gilgamesh! So, you – you people again?! What do I have to do to be rid of you?!"

"Kill every last one of us," Emmett told him, checking the charge on his gun. Just a few more seconds. . . .

"If I must, I must," Othar said with a dramatic sigh. "For I am sworn to rid the world of power-hungry, evil–"

"Oh, shut it, you waste of a good roll in the hay!" Holly roared. "Sparkiness does not automatically equal evil! I'd wager that most of the Sparks you've gone after were just kids who hadn't hurt anyone!"

"And I saw what you did in Passholdt!" Clara snarled. "Not many other Sparks would do such an awful thing! Especially to a town they'd supposedly saved!"

"So he created the monsters infesting Passholdt? Figures," Gil grumbled.

"I was merely trying to dispose of an experiment by a Spark I'd recently defeated! You should thank me – Dr. Clayton was fiddling with slaver wasps!"

Clara's jaw dropped. "Slaver wasps?" she repeated weakly, voice higher than usual.

"Yes, with a man named Snarlantz. That powder was ground wasps and dried venom mixed together. Obviously an attempt to create more revenants!" Othar preened a bit. "I disposed of it properly after killing him, being the good citizen that I am."

"You dumped it in the water supply! How is that disposing of it properly?!"

Othar sighed. "The girl is obviously delusional. I'm tiring of these repeated conversations – it's obvious none of you want to listen to reason."

"So let's end it – right here, right now," Emmett said, seeing his gun was finally ready. He swung it upwards and shot a bolt of electricity directly at Othar. The adventurer managed to leap to another catwalk just before it hit. Grumbling, Emmett started to recharge. "Damn, damn damn. . . ."

"Is that the best you have?" Othar said, striking a heroic pose. "Ha! I laugh at your feeble attempts to capture me! Allow me to introduce you to my new companions!" He pulled a large back out from somewhere behind his back and flung it open. "The FLYING PIRANHA FISH!"

A large number of pale blue fish with wing-like fins and huge mouths full of needle-sharp teeth – fell out and flopped helplessly on the floor. The group looked at them, then at Othar. "Forget the water tank, Othar?" Holly asked sweetly.

"Um – ah–"

Maxim jogged forward and picked up one of the fish. It snapped weakly at him, wiggling its fins ineffectually. Maxim swallowed it down mouth-first. "Tasty!" he proclaimed, grinning. "Hy like my food to haff a lettle bite!"

Othar looked distinctly annoyed now. "Well, I was hoping to use this one to take care of the Baron when he arrived, but if I must waste it on you. . . ." He pulled a crude remote off his belt and pressed the solitary button.

A huge, crab-like clank burst from the shadows, scuttling toward the group of heroes. Gilgamesh pushed his way to the front, sword at the ready. "You people focus on Othar! I can handle this!"

"Are you sure?" Emily squeaked, backing into a corner.

"Positive! I've been clearing the Wastelands of these things ever since I thought one killed Agatha!" Gil expertly parried a blow from one of the clank's claws. "Go!"

Emmett, Marty, Holly, Clara, and Maxim ran around the clank, Emmett releasing another bolt of electricity. Othar dodged that one as well, though it was a closer call for him than the first. "You can't run forever!" Marty snapped as he, Holly, and Clara began laying down a curtain of bullets and energy blasts.

Other flattened himself against the catwalk to avoid the spray. "Neither can you! I promise you, this will be our final battle! I will destroy you all!" He yanked free his own gun and returned fire, forcing the group to split apart to avoid the rays.

"We've survived worse than you," Emmett told him coldly. "We know who you work for, Othar!"

"Everyone does! I work for myself!"

"So you admit it!"

"Admit what, you vapid boy?"

"That you're related to the Other!"

Othar froze. "Wha–"

"That's right! I overheard your conversation with Lucy! We know the truth!" Emmett smirked nastily. "You should really learn to control your temper better, Belinda."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Othar's face twisted into a very ugly scowl. "Think you're pretty smart, don't you?" he hissed – in a distinctly feminine voice.

Marty nearly dropped his gun in shock. "Holy shit, he's right?!"

"Unfortunately," Othar snarled, using the distraction to score a hit through Marty's sleeve. The teen yelped as the beam seared his flesh and promptly resumed firing.

"But – how?" Holly asked, eyes wide.

"Before those nasty Heterodyne Boys showed up, I made a special slaver wasp and put all my memories and knowledge into it – with Lucy's help, of course. It was our back-up plan in case something happened to Lucy and she couldn't get to that brat Agatha in time, but – believe me, I was not looking to end up male!" He – she – leapt to her feet abruptly. "I mean, look at me!"

BANG! Othar yelped as a bullet hit her shoulder. Holly smiled cruelly up at her. "Well then, wouldn't killing you be a mercy?"

Othar scowled. "I've managed this long," she said, returning fire. Holly ducked away, though her skirt took a few hits. "And now, I'll destroy you all!"

Emmett was about to snap back, "You already said that," when something collided with him. He fell to the floor with Maxim on top of him. "What–"

A fireball shot through the space he'd been standing in. ". . .Oh. Thank you."

Maxim nodded. "Dat clenk has lots ov surprises. Ve gots to be careful."

"I don't doubt it." They got back to their feet as Othar tried to outrun a fresh barrage of gunfire from Marty, Clara, and Holly. Emmett angrily smacked his lightning gun. "Power up, damn it! I should really add the option of regular fire to this thing."

"I see you've got the same recharging problems I had," Gil commented, risking a glance over. He and the clank's front claws were still locked in mortal combat. The young man's sword was moving so fast, it was almost a blur. The same was true of his feet. "Wish you'd told me earlier, I could have lent you something to reduce it."

"It's all right." Emmett whistled, impressed, as he watched Gil. "To have reflexes like that. . . ."

A second fireball and another hard shove from Maxim reminded him he was still in the middle of a firefight. Looking around, he saw a ladder to his left. He ran over, dodging both Othar's fire and one of the clank's side claws. He climbed up onto the catwalk, awkwardly using his gun to grab the higher rungs. It needs a shoulder strap too, come to think of it. . . .

"Emmett? What do you think you're doing?!" Emily demanded, still cowering in her corner.

"Taking away Othar's height advantage!" Emmett yelled back.

Othar laughed. "I don't need height to kill you!" She turned her gun on him as he ducked. "Your weapon is useless against me!"

"Only because of the damned charge time. Besides, I've got a backup!" He pulled his own sword and charged her, keeping his head well below the energy blasts.

Othar parried the blow with her gun. She and Emmett struggled for a few minutes, Emmett trying to stab her, Othar trying to block. She finally managed to grab the sword with her free hand, the point just inches from her face. "Hah!"

Click. "AUUGH!"

Emmett grinned coldly as Othar released his sword and began trying to extinguish the fire on her head. On the ground, Maxim burst into laughter. "Hyu might be vun ov de fun vuns after all!"

Othar finally managed to put out the flames by rolling on the ground. Marty tried to get in another free shot, but an axe popping out from the side of the clank forced him to dodge instead. "You want to hurry up and kill this thing?!" he yelled at Gilgamesh.

"I'm trying!" Gil snapped back, leaping over a claw. "I didn't get a chance to look at this one closely before I heard about Agatha! I don't know all of its surprises!"

"Clara, Maxim, you've both got pretty quick reflexes," Holly said. "Why don't you give Gil a hand? We'll never get a good shot at Othar if we have to keep dodging stuff from the clank."

Clara ran over immediately, but Maxim paused, glancing up at Emmett. The teen nodded, swinging at the recovering Othar. "Do it, Maxim! Holly, Marty, and I can take care of our body-possessing friend."

Maxim grinned and turned toward the machine, launching at it with claws extended. Gil frowned, puzzled. "Since when do Jaegers take orders from you?" he called, spinning out of the way of another fireball.

"Must be my Wulfenbach blood," Emmett lied quickly.

Othar, however, wasn't going to let him get away with that. "I doubt it's that so much as your Heterodyne blood," she said, parrying his blows again.

Gil nearly dropped his sword in shock. As it was, Clara had to pull him out of the way of one of the claws. "Heterodyne?!"

"She's making things up," Marty said, trying not to look too ill at ease.

"Hah! Emmett announced it himself, during their attempted escape from Aaronev! Shocked a lot of people, let me tell you!"

"I was upset!" Emmett snarled, finally getting his sword past Othar's defenses and into her arm. "I would have claimed to be the Other if it meant he would release us! He didn't believe me anyway!"

Othar yelped, then shot Emmett in the shoulder. The teen cried out and dropped his sword. "Aaronev didn't know the Heterodynes like I did! Your little speech up there reminded me of Barry at his worst!" She smirked at Gil. "I might be lying – but do you really want to take that chance? A Heterodyne heir related to you! Dearest Klaus would be thrilled!" She looked around. "Where is he, anyway? Surely this commotion would have caught his attention by now."

"He's in Sturmhalten," Gil told her, going back to his sword fight with the clank. Clara and Maxim started working on pulling off one of the side panels, hoping to expose the inner workings. "Investigating suspicious circumstances there."

Othar stared for a second. "So I came all this way to kill him, and he–" She huffed, eyes narrowed. "Well, I suppose your corpses will make an excellent 'welcome back' present!" She grinned at Emmett, who was holding his shoulder tightly, and raised her gun to his face. "Do you prefer a ribbon or a bow?"

"Go to hell," Emmett said, trying to reach for his lightning gun. He just wasn't quite close enough. . . .

"Emmett! Hold onto something!"

A minuscule vial of glowing yellow liquid came soaring onto the catwalk. Emmett quickly grabbed the railing and closed his eyes tightly. Othar backed away a bit, frowning. "What's–"

BOOM! The explosion blew out the catwalk's supports, bringing the left end down with a bang. Othar tumbled head over feet a few times before grabbing the railing herself. "Great shot, Hol!" Marty grinned, sending a few more bullets Othar's way.

Othar scowled, getting her bearings back. "Yes. Too bad it'll be her last!" She whipped up her gun and shot Holly. Holly tried to dodge, but was just a little too slow. She screamed as the blast tore through her side.

Maxim's head shot up from the clank. "Holly?!"

"I'm all right!" Holly said, trying to ignore the bleeding wound. "It just stung, that's all."

Othar shook her head. "No matter how many times I see something tender between you two, it's still disturbing."

"This from the woman trapped as a man."

"At least this isn't voluntary!"

Emmett slowly got up, keeping one hand tight over his shoulder. Othar didn't appear to have hit anything important, which was extremely lucky, but it still hurt like hell. His lightning gun was lying at the base of the catwalk, perilously close to Othar. If she got her hands on it. . . . "Maxim, why don't you have some fun and keep her busy?" he called over, sliding down the catwalk. "Just remember to leave her alive for the Baron."

Maxim beamed and drew his sword again. "Tanks! Hy hunt!" he roared, coming at Othar swinging.

Othar ducked under his blow, then ran for cover near the clank, which was still spitting the occasional fireball. "You all really think you can defeat me?" she said. "I've beaten far better than you lot! You all – you're – I–" Seemingly at a loss for regular insults, she began yelling at them in some sort of nonsense language.

Clara finally managed to get the panel off the side of the clank. She promptly threw it straight at Othar's head. "Gil! Over here!"

"Thank you!" Gil ducked under one of the claws, dodged a mallet that popped out of the side, and buried his sword in the exposed wires and gears. The clank sparked, screeched, and shut down. Gil took a deep breath and brushed his hair back. "Incidentally, I prefer to have my insults yelled at me in regular language," he told Othar, wrenching his sword free again. "Even being evil, you should know that's very rude."

"You can make up better combinations in this one," Othar smirked, climbing on top of the clank to avoid Maxim's claws.

"What did you say, anyway?" Clara asked, attempting to pull off another panel for a fresh weapon.

"Like I'm going to tell you."

"I thought I recognized the words 'whore' and 'moronic bastard,'" Gil said, looking thoughtful even as he tried to stab at Othar. "Most of it seems to be nonsense sounds, though."

Othar blinked rapidly. "You – you understood me?" she asked, dancing away from the sword point.

"Sort of – it sounded a bit like whatever language my father swore in when I was little and he didn't want me to understand him."

"What's the problem now?" Holly snapped, holding her side. "Wouldn't a Baron's son know a few obscure languages?"

"But – she – they – they promised – and Milvistle went with – And they don't–"

"Yes?" Gil prompted, waving a hand. "Get on with it so we can get back to killing each other."

Othar's expression changed to the nastiest scowl they'd ever seen. "You want your insults in regular language? Fine! I don't know how it happened, but it appears the rumors are true," she hissed, lifting her gun. "Gilgamesh really is the SON OF A BITCH!"

"Don't you talk about my mother that way!" Gil snarled back, slashing with his sword and scoring a cut on Othar's leg.

"Whoever she is, I'll talk about her any way I want! She betrayed the lot of us!"

"You're not seriously suggesting Gil's mother was in league with you and your sister?" Emmett demanded, shocked.

"We thought she was! Obviously we were wrong!" Othar glanced back at Gil, muttering, "Could it have even been Milvistle? I've only seen reflexes like that on a giesterdame."

"I don't believe you!" Gil yelled. "My mother would have never been on your side!"

"Believe what you like – I'm going to kill you regardless!" She started spinning, firing at everyone in range. Those who could return fire did, while those who couldn't ducked and dodged.

Marty was one of the latter, having finally run out of bullets. "Shit," he swore. "Of all the luck. . . ." He looked over at Emmett, who had finally managed to retrieve his lightning gun. "I'm going to try and go for help. It's stupid nobody's shown up yet!"

"I suspect they figure it's best to let Gil deal with him – her – it. Be careful." Marty nodded and started running for the exit.

Unfortunately, Othar spotted him. She whipped around, punched Maxim in the mouth when he came for her, and fired.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion for Emmett. One moment, Marty was running – then, out of nowhere, there was a huge, bloody hole in his chest. The teenager collapsed, a look of shock and pain frozen on his face. Emmett's heart froze in horror. No. . .oh, God, no. . .not Marty. . . .

Othar laughed. "Ha! What do you think of that, my little Heterodyne heir? How about I take our your construct sex toy next?" She began focusing her efforts on Clara, who sought cover near one of the clank's claws.

Rage like he had never known filled Emmett. He couldn't – he wouldn't let Othar take away another person he cared about. Not again. Not ever again.

He rose slowly to his feet, keeping a tight grip on his lightning gun. He made his way over to the clank, ignoring the chaos around him. Othar barely noticed his approach, too involved with alternately trying to shoot Clara and fend off Maxim and Gil.

Emmett circled around to the exposed panel, opening up the inner workings of his gun as he did. He connected some of the wires from inside the clank to the ones inside his gun. It was a crude link, formed by twisting, but as long as he touched nothing metal during the discharge. . . . Making sure the gun was adequately charged, he aimed the barrel directly at Othar's head. "Maxim – MOVE!"

Startled, Maxim jumped off the clank. Othar finally noticed Emmett and laughed. "You called off your best fighter? What are you going to do now?"

"This," Emmett hissed, firing.

Othar's laughter turned into a scream of pain. There was a spectacular light show as Emmett drained the clank's power into Othar's body. Everyone's hair stood on end from the sheer amount of electricity in the air.

Finally, Emmett turned off the gun. Othar wavered for a moment, body burned and blackened nearly beyond recognition. Then she fell, hitting the floor with a very final-sounding thud.