Part 3
Results

Chapter 1
I Think I'm a Clone Now

Carson didn't remember the last time he'd felt this giddy about something going right. He'd had his share of triumphs, sure, both before and after being cloned, but he didn't think even his most unequivocally good achievement to date, the ATA gene therapy, had left him wanting to do cartwheels. Returning to Atlantis after being rescued from Michael? Atlantis rising the first time? John's agreement to join the Atlantis expedition, which at the time had meant mainly that people wouldn't be relying on Carson for his ATA gene? Getting into med school, his ticket out of working-class life in Paisley?

Well, in the end, it didn't matter. Even if everything else about Lady Heterodyne's plan failed utterly, even if her attempt to save her own universe killed her, at least she'd die free. Carson now had the means to ensure that.

It took every ounce of self-control he had to walk from the Jumper bay to the transporter and thence to Lady Heterodyne's lab rather than running. He couldn't keep from grinning, though, and he didn't even pause to knock when he burst in.

"Agatha!" he cried, forgetting his place entirely and ignoring the looks he got from Todd, Krosp, and Lady Mondarev. "Agatha, luv, we found it!"

Thanks be to God, Lady Heterodyne wasn't doing anything that could explode or catch fire; she was on the floor on a roller board, halfway under something that looked like a cart. Startled, she dropped her spanner, then rolled out far enough to sit up. "You found—oh! The Asgard facility!"

"Aye! The planet itself has no Stargate, but there's one fairly nearby, only two hours by Jumper. The atmosphere's suitable for life, unlike the planets where the Asgard had been hiding from the Wraith. And Radek's confirmed that all systems are functional; there's plenty of power; and we can stop the process after the body is formed but before the personality is copied."

Krosp's ears pricked up. "How soon?"

"Thursday or Friday, probably. Radek's gone to brief Mr. Woolsey, and then we've the separation stage to set up and test. I'll also set up a charade to convince Lady Mongfish she's being captured. But barrin' a major galactic crisis? We'll have her in the brig before the week's out."

Lady Heterodyne grinned in delight and jumped up to hug Carson. "I can't thank you enough, Herr Doktor."

Carson smiled and returned the hug. "It's my pleasure, milady."

"This separation stage," Todd cut in. "You are planning to use a Wraith culling beam, I take it?"

Carson released Lady Heterodyne. "Aye, we've done it before."

"Nevertheless, I believe I should assist Dr. Zelenka with as much of the process of retrieving the equipment and setting it up at the site as possible. At the very least, I can provide diagrams and instructions, even if Mr. Woolsey does not allow me to accompany you." And before anyone could agree or disagree, he left, followed by his guards.

"We'll need some way to deactivate the locket temporarily," Lady Heterodyne noted, slipping back into Spark mode, "like a short aetheric—er, electromagnetic pulse, and we should probably take hers off afterward, but Violetta has the key, so—what?" she broke off as Carson chuckled suddenly, now that Todd was out of earshot.

Carson nodded toward the door. "Todd, bein' a right mother hen. You're a bad influence, milady," he teased.

"So I'm told," she replied brightly.

Violetta and Krosp laughed.

So did Carson. "Locket, aye, wise idea."

"We'll need to record the separation, too," Lady Heterodyne continued. "We can get some sort of pocket-sized playback device to take back with us, can't we?"

"Aye, I think so. You're worried about the baron?"

Lady Heterodyne nodded. "He'll need proof that I'm not my mother. I should be able to coordinate a way to cure him of the wasp's control, but that probably won't be enough to convince him. Once he is convinced, of course, he'll know what to do when I turn her over to him."

"All right. We'll want to make sure the equipment's properly protected if we do use an EMP to disable the locket, probably with a Faraday cage, but I think we can get a camera that's well enough shielded to do the job."

"Excellent. Thank you."

Carson turned his attention to the cart-looking thing, which had a platform on either side that looked big enough to hold a stretcher. "What's this you're workin' on?"

"A hover cart," Lady Heterodyne replied. "Dr. McKay approved the design yesterday. The bottom edge of the portal opening is a good half-meter above the ground, and we'll have Martellus and my mother to transport plus all of the equipment and the three of us. The wasp eater can ride on my shoulder, of course, but there's only so much we can carry. Which reminds me that I haven't asked: can we sedate them both with something that will keep them asleep until they're given the antidote?"

"Aye, though I'd not count on it lasting more than twelve hours. We've enough hypospray vials to spare, though, so I'll send a second dose just in case."

"I'd better check the stuff first," Violetta said. "If Martellus had Smoke Knight training, he's immune to most conventional sedatives, but one that's not known in our world should still work on him."

Carson nodded. "Fair enough."

Lady Heterodyne hummed briefly. "How many injectors can you send? That would be a great way to treat the baron, but if you can't send more than two, we can probably work something out."

Carson chuckled. "I'll ask Dr. Keller. So tell me about your hover cart!"

Not being an engineer, he understood only about half of Lady Heterodyne's explanation, though it seemed she'd adapted several concepts from the design of the Jumpers. It wasn't space- or sea-worthy and had no built-in weapons, but it did have both cloaking and shield capability, and the space beneath the platforms was quite sensibly divided into storage bins. "Dr. McKay was quite excited about the possibilities for other applications," she concluded. "In fact, one of the conditions for his approval was that I agree to let Stargate Command keep the design, which I thought was only fair."

Carson chuckled. "I'm sure Mr. Coolidge will have kittens trying to stop it going into mass production."

"I resent that metaphor," said Krosp. "If Coolidge is any animal at all, he's a mimmoth."

"Miniature mammoth," Violetta explained when Carson blinked in confusion. "They're mouse-sized and have a tendency to wander into machinery and stop up the works."

Carson snorted in amusement. "I'll have to remember that."

"Well, whatever he is," Lady Heterodyne said, retrieving her dropped spanner at last, "he'll probably have twice the fits over the file I sent with the latest data burst. I found a way to dial Destiny without having to draw power from the core of an Icarus-class planet or attempting something on the order of Project Arcturus, which we already know would be a disaster. Of course, my solution's only theoretical at the moment, but I probably wouldn't be able to do much better on site anyway."

"Really? Why not?"

"It requires drawing power from the core of a star instead." And as everyone else laughed, she grinned cheekily and ducked back under the hover cart to finish whatever adjustments she'd been working on when Carson had interrupted.

Preparations for the separation procedure went smoothly... almost too smoothly, though Todd did have a couple of flaming rows with Woolsey over whether he'd be allowed to help supervise. Carson hoped that would satisfy Murphy's Law well enough that there'd be no worse hiccups later. But all systems tests were good, and Thursday found Carson in a Jumper's co-pilot's seat beside Evan while Radek triple-checked the video camera's shielding and the young ladies sat in the back, chatting quietly in Romanian—about the locket, Carson thought, but he couldn't be sure. Lady Heterodyne was wearing the mauve dress she'd made to suit her mother's tastes, but she'd brought her black offworld uniform to change into before the separation. Baron Wulfenbach might not be able to see fine detail on the five-inch screen of the smartphone Carson would be sending back with Lady Heterodyne, but the difference in outfits should still be clear enough this way.

"Hey, Doc?" Evan suddenly asked quietly. "You sure we don't need more of a security detail on this?"

Carson shook his head. "Lady Mongfish won't have time to gain full consciousness before the separation, and after... well, Rodney and Cadman collapsed the moment they rematerialized. But even if that doesn't happen this time, Lady Mongfish strikes me as a planner, not a runner. She'll try seduction first. That gives us plenty o' time to sedate her for the trip back to Isolation."

"Well, I guess if she's in good enough shape that she does try to make a break for it, we won't have to put her in Isolation. We can just take her straight to the brig and you can 'sneak in' to explain. Or something."

"Aye, true. Suppose we'd best cross that bridge when we come to it, though."

A second Jumper with the rest of Evan's team, a medical team, and several engineers from Radek's department had left an hour earlier to finish the last of the setup, so everything was ready the moment Lady Heterodyne and Lady Mondarev followed Carson and Evan through the door. Lady Heterodyne was quick to surmise that the place had once been an Ancient lab but was intrigued by the Asgard technology, which she hadn't encountered before. Carson and Radek took turns explaining what everything was and at least some of how it worked.

"And this," Carson concluded, having saved the key component for last, "is the cloning table. We'll have you lie here while it takes a scan. Then—"

"No," Lady Heterodyne suddenly interrupted, no longer in Spark mode and looking rather sad. "I'm sorry, Herr Doktor, but... please don't explain this part."

Carson frowned. "All right, but... why not?"

"Because I'd remember it. I'd take that knowledge home with me. And Europa does not need this technology." Lady Heterodyne put a hand on the table surface. "My mother caused my brother's death. She had her servants search for me only so that they could copy her into my mind. I was just a tool to her. If she'd been able to copy her own body this way... I'm not sure if I'd ever have been born."

"I suppose it depends on whether her plans required her to have Heterodyne DNA," Lady Mondarev replied quietly. "But the Mongfishes were biology sparks—she might have found a way that didn't require bearing Bill Heterodyne's children, like the ATA gene therapy."

Carson shuddered involuntarily. "That's a disturbing thought. Aye, milady, I'll not burden you with that knowledge."

Lady Heterodyne visibly relaxed. "Thank you."

"In that case," Radek suggested, "should we go ahead and get started?"

Carson nodded. "Aye. Milady, if you would?"

Lady Heterodyne promptly handed her pack to Lady Mondarev and lay down on the table, and Lady Mondarev helped her get situated. Then Radek ducked into the Faraday cage shielding the computer equipment, checked his readings, and initiated the scan. After the flash, Lady Heterodyne got up again and joined Carson, Evan, and Lady Mondarev well out of the way while Radek triple-checked everything. Another flash followed, and when it faded, there was a second Lady Heterodyne on the table.

"Fulger dulce," the original breathed.

"Hullo, dear," Carson said gently as he approached the table. "Are you feeling all right?"

The clone blinked at him, her eyes vacant and her face blank. He tried again in German and in Romanian—having previously asked Lady Heterodyne for a few useful Romanian phrases—and still got no response.

"Right. Let's just take it slow, then." He turned to Lady Mondarev, who handed Lady Heterodyne's pack to someone else and came over to unlock the locket clasp. Removing the locket didn't result in the clone exhibiting any sign of having Lady Mongfish in residence (or Lady Heterodyne, for that matter). So while Lady Mondarev put the locket in a containment box and took it inside the Faraday cage for safe-keeping, Carson helped the clone sit up and then stand, and one of the medics came over to assist in guiding her to the target area for the culling beam. "Just stand here," he instructed her as he backed away. "This will just take a moment."

The clone blinked uncomprehendingly but stayed still. Radek didn't waste any time beaming her into the Wraith storage buffer.

"Well, that was somewhat disturbing," said Lady Heterodyne.

"If all goes well, though, she'll not be such a blank slate when you next see her," Carson replied. "You'd best go and change, milady, while we set up the camera."

Lady Heterodyne nodded, and Lady Mondarev followed her as a nurse showed them down the hall to another room. They returned just as Radek finished setting up the camera, by which time Carson had figured out how to frame his address to Baron Wulfenbach. From there, it was only a matter of moments to get everyone in their places: Radek back in the Faraday cage, one of his assistants behind the camera, and Evan's team ranged around the target area for the culling beam. Lady Heterodyne and Lady Mondarev took their positions as well, and after quickly checking that everyone knew what to do, Carson had the assistant start the recording, said his piece, and got on with the separation.

Radek didn't waste any time between triggering the EMP and activating the culling beam, so Lady Mongfish didn't have time to surface before dematerializing. And as expected, both Lady Heterodyne and her clone collapsed immediately after rematerializing. Carson stepped back in front of the camera to add a closing reassurance to the baron while the medics went to work, but as soon as the assistant stopped the recording, Carson hurried over to Lady Heterodyne's side. She started to rouse a bit just as he reached her gurney.

"Milady?" he asked cautiously, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she gave him a tired but triumphant smile. "Viva Las Vegas," she replied—the code they had set earlier in the day to confirm that the separation had worked as intended.

There were exclamations of relief all around, and Carson patted her shoulder. "Just rest now, m'dear. You'll be right as rain in a few hours."

She murmured something else in Romanian and drifted off again.

When Carson looked up at Lady Mondarev for a translation, she looked like she was fighting tears despite her smile. "She said, 'It's a small price to pay for freedom,'" Lady Mondarev stated quietly.

A groan from the other gurney saved Carson from having to come up with an answer, and he hurried over before the other young woman's eyes opened and her brow creased in confusion. "Was... wo..."

"Lady Mongfish?" Carson asked.

"Dr. Beckett," she returned promptly if groggily. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm sorry, milady. It's part of the plan. We have to sedate you in order to get you away safely."

Lady Mongfish grumbled a little. "Oh, all right. But you will explain everything after."

"Of course, milady."

The medic with the sedative administered it quickly, and Lady Mongfish was out cold in a matter of seconds.

"Right," said Carson to the room at large. "Let's get them back to Atlantis."

The flight back was uneventful, and scans in the infirmary confirmed that Lady Heterodyne was alone in her mind once more. So Carson left Lady Mondarev cautiously picking the clockwork out of Lady Heterodyne's locket and went to Isolation.

Jennifer met him at the door. "Carson. You're gonna want to look at this."

Carson's gut twisted. He should have known this whole thing was going too smoothly. "Is it residual damage from the locket?"

"No, not that we can tell." Jennifer stepped aside to usher Carson into the room. "And so far all our scans are suggesting it's only Lady Mongfish in there. But I guess what you found was an old facility, abandoned before the Asgard had perfected the process based on their experiments with humans. Look." She pointed to a monitor. "There's already been some cellular degradation."

Carson looked at the readings and frowned. "That's a bit fast, innit? It's only been a few hours."

"Yes, but those are only the very earliest signs. It's not as severe or as fast as yours, probably because Lady Heterodyne is so young. But still... I mean, she might not start showing the effects before the end of next week, but I wouldn't want to gamble on her living more than two weeks."

"Well, we've got the serum Michael developed to use on me. It should theoretically work just as well on her. I'd say we halve the dose, or thereabouts, and see if that does the trick."

"I agree, but how are we gonna sell it to her?"

"When in doubt, tell the truth."

"Will she believe it?"

"O'course not." Carson chuckled at Jennifer's skeptical face and patted her shoulder. "Leave it to me, luv."

"Doctor?" Marie, the head nurse, suddenly interrupted. "We've administered the antidote. It looks like she'll be waking up in a few minutes."

"Right," said Carson and looked up to the observation deck. "You all set?"

Evan waved. "Ready when you are, Doc," he replied through the intercom. "You're patched into our radios; we'll wait for your cue."

"Great. Everyone else out o' the room, please."

As Jennifer herded the rest of the staff away, Carson sat down on the edge of the bed to wait. Only five minutes or so later, Lady Mongfish took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and looked at him.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I'm afraid the Council won't allow me to tell you the details, but it was much easier to transport you while you were unconscious."

"Tch. The Council," she replied. "Lot of old fusspots. Still, I suppose I should be grateful they sent you at all." Then she felt of her throat, and her eyes widened in shock. "The locket—you removed it!"

"Aye, once it was safe. Lady Mongfish, I... I have to tell you... I had to separate you from your daughter. It's rather a long story, but..."

She held up a hand to examine. "I am still in her body. And now she cannot fight me for it anymore." Then she smiled seductively at him and ran her hand up his arm as she sat up. "Please allow me to show you my gratitude."

"Please, milady, there's not much time."

She slid her hand over to the back of his neck and started to pull him forward, but before she could actually kiss him, the door whooshed open and Evan and twelve Marines barged in. "Well, well, well," said Evan. "What have we here?"

Carson jumped up and spun to face them. "Wait! It's not what it looks like! I—"

Evan raised a Wraith stunner and shot Lady Mongfish with it. "You all right, Doc?" he asked once she was unconscious again.

Carson blew the air out of his cheeks. "Aye, thank you. Excellent timing."

"All right. Let's get her to the brig."

The Marines weren't strictly necessary for escorting the gurney, since both Isolation and the brig were close to transporters, but there was no telling how quickly Lady Mongfish would recover from being stunned. Still, they got her settled quickly and stood their guard, and Carson dusted off his med school German and waited outside the cell once more until she came to again.

"My lady," he stage-whispered in German as she sat up groggily.

She frowned at him and responded in the same language. "What, now you speak German?"

"The guards speak only English. And they cannot learn that I am in league with the Knights of Jove. How are you?"

"Tired of being knocked out and kept in the dark. Where are we?"

"I am not allowed to tell you. I am sorry. But I can tell you that we are not in Europa or England."

She brightened a bit. "Then I'm safe. I'm out of Klaus' reach."

"For now. I overheard the colonel talking with the base commander. They plan to send you back to Baron Wulfenbach in a couple of weeks."

She pursed her lips. "Right. Can you get me out of here, Herr Doktor?"

He shook his head. "I am afraid not, my lady. The door lock is incredibly complex, and I cannot shut off the energy field that protects the cell. And even if I could, there is no escaping the city—the soldiers are everywhere, and the gate is too well guarded."

She sighed. "Well, as long as they take me to Klaus personally, it won't be a total loss. And my daughter?"

"I do not know," he lied. "Listen, my lady, there is a good chance they will try to drug you to keep you from escaping. Do not fight them—but do not believe what they tell you about it, either."

"I understand. Thank you."

Just then Evan walked in. "All right, Doctor, you've had long enough," he stated in English.

"I don't know how you expect me to examine her from out here, Colonel," Carson shot back.

"I said that's enough. Now get out of here before I decide to turn you in for harboring a spy."

Grumbling in Gaelic, Carson left, only to find John waiting for him in the hall.

"How'd it go?" John asked quietly.

"Quite well, actually," Carson replied. "O'course, I can't be certain she bought it; she's a bright lady. But Lady Heterodyne's sure her mother won't have absorbed any of her memories to know which side I'm actually on."

"Speakin' of which, I just saw Agatha in the infirmary, and she had an idea. Rodney's gonna set up a printer to get the results for her to take back. We're gonna try to interrogate Lady Mongfish, but there's a good chance it's not gonna work. So what if we put her and von Blitzengaard together in the same cell for a while, let them interrogate each other?"

Carson's eyebrows jumped. "Bit of a risk, that. Von Blitzengaard knows how long they've been here."

"Eh, not exactly. Krosp's been transcribing and translating his audio diaries for us. Von Blitzengaard's time sense is startin' to slip, and he's almost talked himself into the delusion that he's actually being held captive in some sort of time dilation field by someone called the Queen of the Mines—apparently it's part of the legend of the original Storm King. I'm willing to bet that if Mongfish tells him he's been here a week, he'll believe it."

Suddenly there was a shout and a zap from von Blitzengaard's cell, and a guard radioed for a medic.

"I thought he'd quit that," John remarked.

"Well, it might make things a bit easier for us that he didn't," Carson returned. "If we move him while he's still disoriented, he'll be less likely to spill how long it's been."

John smiled. "I like that plan." And as the medical team stepped out of the transporter, he went to head them off and inform them of Carson's idea.

For his own part, Carson hung back until the transporter was free, then went to the infirmary to check on Lady Heterodyne.

Martellus was still too dazed to remember why he'd tried to lunge at the guards when the doctor finished his examination. "You really need to stop doing that, Your Highness," the doctor said. "Your brain and your heart are already close to sustaining permanent damage. Too many more shocks, and you'll kill yourself."

Martellus grumbled something incoherent. It was somewhat disconcerting that even he couldn't understand or remember what he'd tried to say.

"All right, since you're already out of the cell, let's get you to the restroom for a moment."

The guards came over and escorted Martellus to the WC. But he got turned around somehow on the way back, and when he did return to the cell... there was someone else in it, a blonde girl lounging on the bench. He thought he should remember who she was, but he was having trouble placing her; the face didn't seem to go with the dress, and she wasn't wearing a sigil brooch. But she was interested in him, clearly—her eyes raked over him two or three times before the cell door closed.

"So you're Hengst's little boy," she observed in Romanian. "I haven't seen you since you were... what, eight or nine? I don't know why my father wanted you as a pupil; you always liked that fool Vapnoople better. And your father never did trust me." Her mouth curved upward into a cruel smile. "Too bad for him he's not a spark. He may not remember it, but I've made sure he'll always do exactly what I want now."

Martellus found his voice at last. "Lady Mongfish?"

"Surprised?" She sat up. "So am I. I heard you'd been captured, but I didn't think that meant here." She paused. "You don't happen to know where here is, do you?"

"I... no. I can't remember. I'm sorry."

"Pity. I don't suppose you know how to escape, either."

"There is no escape," he confessed, walking toward her. "I've tried. The energy field on the cell is impenetrable, and the guards are as skilled as Smoke Knights. And there's at least one Jäger here."

"I suppose that's to be expected. They're in league with Klaus. Come sit down, Martellus dear; you look exhausted."

"Shocked," he corrected as he sat down. "I touched the field again. Perhaps they're right; perhaps I am... causing myself harm."

"Oh, poor darling." She slid closer, put a hand on his back, and started to rub lightly. The touch made him shiver. "Is it true," she asked more quietly, "that the guards speak only English?"

"I... yes. So far as I know. And I don't believe there's any sort of recording device in here. At least, I've never been able to see one."

"All the same, perhaps we should, ah... cover our words with other actions, so to speak." She put her other hand on his knee.

His heart started pounding. "What about your daughter?"

"My daughter's not here. It's just me. And besides, don't you need a Heterodyne girl at your side to become the Storm King?"

"The guards—"

"Shh. Just a kiss." She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Though I daresay you're more experienced than Tarvek. Did you really kill him?"

"Yes, I... is that a problem?"

"No. Not at all. He was trying to steal my work. But I'll give you the empire," she added in a low purr, "if you give me what I want."

He embraced her without thinking. "It's been so long..."

"Shhhh. Now tell me: do they have a portal here?"

"I—yes, I think so. They keep asking me for the coordinates to Mechanicsburg."

"Hmmm. I don't particularly want to go back there, but it would give us a chance to get to Klaus, assuming he's still nearby. If we can find a way out, you'll need to draw off the guards while I set the controls."

"That makes sense."

"I've never had to jump into Mechanicsburg, though—most other places in the network, yes, but not there. I'll need the coordinates."

"All right." He told her what they were, then pulled back and grabbed her chin. "But for now, no more talk." And he kissed her.

(Across the city, while McKay cursed at the printer he was trying to install, Krosp wrote down the coordinates Lantea had transcribed on the monitor he was watching and radioed Zelenka to come finish the calculations of the Gate address Agatha needed to get home.)

.

A/N: To edboy4926: Agatha finding information in the database on how to make ZPMs was an idea I did seriously consider but couldn't find a way to work into this already jam-packed story, as it would be a Very Big Deal but not at all related to her attempts to get back to Mechanicsburg (and the story's already three times longer than planned!). I suspect that it did happen, though, most likely while she was researching how to reach Destiny; if so, the information's probably on the flash drive she gives Woolsey in the next chapter.