Chapter 2
The Return
Agatha's last two weeks were a blur of preparation, gathering equipment and finalizing equations and cramming in a last few hours of movies and conversation. While Agatha and Violetta kept busy in the labs and around the city, Krosp kept busy transcribing conversations between Martellus and Lucrezia, who were allowed a few hours' visit every afternoon to seduce information out of each other. More than once Agatha found herself wishing she could find a way to return, to bring Gil here and explore more of the city at their leisure. But something always happened—an offworld crisis, an argument in a lab, a threat from the IOA—that reminded her why she couldn't stay. And then, on her last Saturday in Atlantis, all her friends got together to watch the original Star Wars trilogy, which left her inspired and ready to return to the fight for Mechanicsburg.
Baron Wulfenbach was no Emperor Palpatine, true; that threat came more from her mother. And Tarvek wasn't exactly Luke Skywalker, not least because he'd actually been brought up in a politically-minded household of royal sparks. But if Gil was Han Solo—he even looked a bit like Harrison Ford—and Agatha was Princess Leia, maybe the strength of their love and Tarvek's friendship could propel them to victory over The Other's plans as Han, Luke, and Leia had overcome the Empire.
Monday morning saw a last frantic burst of packing and securing before Dr. Beckett took the hover cart off to the brig. There was just enough time for breakfast before Agatha had to go collect the wasp eater from the biology department, and then the travelers went to the Gateroom for the last time, arriving at the same time as Dr. Beckett pulled in with Martellus, back in his Storm King clothes, and Lucrezia sedated and secured to the cart's platforms. Herr Woolsey was waiting to receive her report on the exploit, which she handed over cheerfully, and had to visibly restrain himself from making a long farewell speech. A large contingent of Agatha's friends had turned out to say goodbye as well, and time didn't permit her to spend very long speaking to each one. Still, she shook as many hands as she could, and so did Violetta and Krosp.
Col. Lorne, however, gave her a hug. "Take care of yourself, Sparky."
"Thank you for everything, Herr Oberst," Agatha replied.
Todd put his hands on her shoulders with a surprisingly gentle smile. "Did I not tell you that you would succeed?"
Agatha chuckled. "You know, you're welcome to come with us. The Jäger horde would be happy to have another smart guy."
"I thank you. But even if Mr. Woolsey would permit me to leave the city... my place is here. Your stars are not mine. And if there is to be any hope of saving my kind with Dr. Keller's gene therapy, I will have to be the one to convince the others to accept it."
"All right. I understand. Thank you for all your help."
"Farewell, my queen," he said quietly in Wraith. "I shall remember you all my days."
"And I you," she replied and kissed his cheek.
"You got this, Agatha," Ronon said as she moved over to take leave of him and of Amelia. "If anybody can pull this off who's not us, it's you."
Agatha laughed. "Thank you."
"Gonna miss having you around for movie nights, though," Amelia confessed.
"I'll miss having movie nights! But thank you both for training with me."
"Eh, it was fun," Ronon replied with a smile.
Agatha hugged them both before turning to Dr. Zelenka, who handed her a data crystal. "This contains the dialing information for the Mechanicsburg portal," he explained. "Gen. Carter will be going with you, so she can explain how to do this, but simply insert the crystal in the dialing device on P9E-384, and it will dial the Gate automatically until it connects." Then he handed a slip of paper to Violetta. "And these are the coordinates you must set on the other end to let your doubles pass through."
"Thank you so much, Herr Doktor," Agatha said. "Your help has been invaluable."
Dr. Zelenka beamed. "It's been a very interesting challenge, and it's been a pleasure working with you."
"Likewise."
"Yes, we try not to encourage him," Dr. McKay chimed in, but the comment had the air of a very old tease, and Dr. Zelenka only rolled his eyes in response.
Dr. Beckett was next. "Milady."
"Herr Doktor, I can't thank you enough," she said and hugged him.
"You take care o' yoursel', now."
"I will. You, too."
"Keep an eye on your mom," Dr. Keller cautioned. "If something goes wrong, she may not have more than a week or two before her tissues start to break down."
"Well, with any luck, that won't be my problem for long," Agatha replied. "But thank you for your concern and your help. And the same to you, Herr Doktor," she added to Dr. McKay. "Thanks, too, for the use of your piano."
"Hey, no problem," Dr. McKay replied. "And thank you for, y'know, not blowing up half the city or anything."
She laughed, knelt to hug Torren, and stood again to face the Sheppards. "Thank you both for everything."
"It has been an honor to know you, Agatha," Teyla said and stepped forward to touch foreheads with her. "And you have been a good friend to the people of this galaxy as well. I know you will succeed in saving your own world."
Agatha smiled and swallowed down the lump in her throat. "Thank you. Herr Oberst," she added as Teyla stepped back, "I will miss our runs."
"So will I," Col. Sheppard confessed. "Go get 'em, Sparky."
She hugged him. "I will."
"Take care," he whispered as he hugged her back.
I also wish you well, Agatha, Lantea whispered as Agatha finally let go of Col. Sheppard. I will miss you.
And I you, Agatha replied. Take care, Lantea.
"All right, Chuck," Herr Woolsey called. "Dial the Gate."
As Agatha, Violetta, and Krosp took their places on the hover cart, Chuck dialed, and the Gate connected. Agatha turned to wave to everyone one last time, then swallowed hard once more and drove through the Gate to Earth.
Gen. Carter was waiting at the bottom of the ramp with an assistant Agatha didn't recognize. "You're right on time," she said as Agatha drove up to her. "You ready to get home?"
"Yes and no," Agatha admitted. "We've made good friends here, but... we still have our own world to save."
"Yeah, I know how it is." Gen. Carter turned and looked up at the control room. "Dial it up, Walter."
A warning klaxon sounded as the Gate began to dial out. Agatha had just enough time to turn the cart around before the wormhole connected, and then they were off again to P9E-384.
"This planet used to be under the control of the Goa'uld Ishtar," Gen. Carter explained as they arrived in what looked like Babylonian ruins. "About a hundred years ago, our allies the Tok'ra killed Ishtar by destroying the Gate that was originally in the temple here. Then they replaced the Gate a few years later, once the people had gotten used to their freedom and the Goa'uld System Lords had lost interest in the planet."
"I see," said Agatha. "And this is the planet to which we're to send our doubles as well?"
"Yes, it'll be safe enough. They'll be affected by the same solar flare, but they should be arriving at a time when the Tok'ra are active here and can take care of them." Gen. Carter sounded strangely certain of that, but Agatha decided not to ask questions. "Did Zelenka give you the data crystal for the DHD?"
"He did, yes." Agatha pulled the data crystal from one of the many pouches on her belt and handed it to Gen. Carter, who went to the dialing device, quickly opened a panel on the base, and inserted the crystal.
"I left orders to keep the Earth Gate dialed out for the next hour so we won't be able to connect to it by accident," Gen. Carter said as the Gate began to dial. "The solar flare should begin within the next ten minutes, but we'll have to time your departure to the second to get you back to the right year." She handed a radio to Violetta. "Keep transmitting a signal until you get through, then radio back when you see where you are. If something does go wrong, we'll figure out a solution as fast as we can."
Violetta nodded. "Understood, Frau General."
The Gate failed to connect, shut down, and started to dial again. The assistant stepped over to the dialing device to monitor it, and Gen. Carter kept an eye on her watch. Agatha got turned around again and tried to calculate how fast she'd need to go and how hard to brake on the other side.
Finally, after almost exactly ten minutes, the wormhole connected. Violetta activated the radio and her hunting light, but Agatha waited until Gen. Carter yelled "GO!" to send the hover cart through the Gate.
They arrived in mid-air, startling the Crypt Keeper that was on guard in the room that was lit with a green glow from the cathedral portal, rather than the blue of the Stargate. "Who goess there?!" the Crypt Keeper hissed in Romanian.
"Agatha Heterodyne," Agatha replied.
"Misstresss! What are you doing here? We thought you were sstill in the casstle!"
"What day is it? Include the year!"
The Crypt Keeper's reply nearly made her faint with relief. It was the day of the siege.
Violetta raised the radio to her mouth as Agatha lowered the hover cart to the ground and shut it off. "Gen. Carter, this is Mondarev," she reported in English. "We've made it."
"Thank God," Gen. Carter radioed back. "Pleasure knowing you both. Godspeed."
"Thank you, Frau General." Violetta switched off the radio, and the portal shut down.
And a split second later, the Doom Bell rang.
"That's appropriate," Krosp deadpanned.
"Yes, and that tells us what time it is," Agatha noted. "It's going to be an hour or two before the coast is clear enough for me to take her back to the castle for safe-keeping. So we might as well start setting things up in here."
"Right," Krosp and Violetta chorused and started unpacking the naquadah generator while the wasp eater scampered down from Agatha's shoulder to explore the room.
"Er, Misstresss..." the Crypt Keeper began.
"Long story," Agatha interrupted. "There's time travel involved. But the short version is, we need to secure this room. Tell no one that you've seen us—especially not the abbess. Is that clear?"
"Yess, Misstresss."
Krosp and Violetta got the generator and the shield emitter set up while Agatha checked on Martellus and Lucrezia, who were still well sedated. But Agatha had to be the one to connect the two devices and test their function, which took half an hour mainly because the Crypt Keeper kept interrupting with questions. She managed not to snap at him, because she actually did need to take her time for reasons beyond working with a nuclear reactor, but it was irritating all the same.
When gritting her teeth caused an audible squeak, however, the Crypt Keeper stepped back and bowed so deeply his wrappings almost fell off. "Forgive me, Misstresss. You are working. I sshould not intrude."
"Apology accepted," Agatha replied. "Go find out what's going on out there, would you?"
"Yess, Misstresss." The Crypt Keeper obediently shuffled out of the room.
Krosp watched him go with a frown. "Why does your family have undead townspeople guarding the cathedral crypts?"
"Why does my family do anything?" Agatha returned wearily. "They were Heterodynes. And they could."
While the Crypt Keeper was gone, Agatha finished testing the shield emitter, and she and Violetta got the shape charge set to deploy. Then they unloaded Martellus and stuffed him in a corner. Krosp was just about to switch the shield over to a cloak when the Crypt Keeper returned.
"The air iss clear, Misstresss," he wheezed. "At leasst, none of the airsshipss are firing. But I do not ssee..."
"No, you don't, and you won't. Are you ready, Violetta?"
"We'll take care of things here," Violetta replied. "You go on. See you after the battle."
Krosp pulled the switch, and the shield emitter gave its characteristic groan as the invisibility field raised over the emitter, the generator, the bomb, the cat, and the humans in the corner. The Crypt Keeper's jaw threatened to fall off.
"Please hold the door open for me," Agatha asked then.
"Yess, Misstresss," the Crypt Keeper rasped and did so.
Cart cloak on, Agatha ordered mentally, and a quieter groan heralded the cloak's deployment around the hover cart. Then she powered up the cart, lifted it several centimeters off the floor, and zipped out past the astounded Crypt Keeper, through the crypts to a flight of stairs, and then up to the cathedral's courtyard. She hadn't ever been in this part of the building herself, but it had been pictured briefly in Agatha Heterodyne and the Siege of Mechanicsburg, so she knew it was an open-air space. Now that most of the heaviest equipment had been unloaded, the cart was capable of enough altitude to climb over the cathedral's roof and fly directly to the castle—or as directly as one could while dodging flying idiots like Cornelius Senear and his Aeroapes. There weren't many of them, but they did seem to cross Agatha's path with greater frequency than she'd have liked without a Jumper.
Finally, however, she soared past the castle wall and landed in a courtyard. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she dropped the cloak and called, "Castle?"
"Mistress!" the castle replied, stunned. "What—how—why are there two—three of you? And what are two of you doing here when there is so much to be done in town?"
"Never mind the why and wherefore," Agatha returned, then caught herself before she could start singing the comic opera tune she'd just quoted.* "I'm sure you'll overhear me telling Gil later on. The one across town is still me and needs your help. We're forming a time loop."
"Oh, dear. And you've crossed your own timeline. That's generally Not Done."
"Like that matters to a Heterodyne!"
"... True. And the third?"
"The third is a copy made to house my mother's consciousness."
The castle made a noise that was probably supposed to be a gasp. "And you've brought her to me to crush?!"
"NO! I've brought her here for safe-keeping until the battle's over. I'm handing her over to the baron."
"Can I torture her, then? Just a little?"
"No. She's sedated anyway; she wouldn't feel it."
"Hmph. Oh, all right."
Agatha felt a headache coming on and missed Lantea terribly.
The castle did behave itself after that, however—probably at least in part because its power reserves were still dangerously low—and gave her directions to a secure dungeon with a nearby storage closet that had sufficient rope and a hood that Agatha could use to tie Lucrezia up before sending her to the baron. She debated doing so at once but then decided she really didn't have time.
Once Lucrezia was situated in a cell, the castle directed Agatha to a safe place to store the hover cart and then to a tower that had a good view of Castle Wulfenbach. She paused long enough to eat a power bar while she considered the best way in; she couldn't picture from the outside of the ship where any of Gil's labs were. Finally she decided to aim for the school, since she more or less knew her way around from there. The castle offered her a receptacle for her trash, and then she put on her teleportation armband and personal cloak, activated them both, and teleported.
Even after practicing around Atlantis, Agatha found the armband's warping of space dizzying. Still, she arrived in the school in one piece. So far, so good, she thought and headed out to check Gil's flight lab. She couldn't be sure he'd be there, of course, but he had sent Tarvek down in an experimental flyer from his secret lab, so he might go back to the flight lab to attempt his escape if there was another flyer there.
It took forever to get to the lab, unfortunately, especially since she had to dodge people running here and there in answer to various klaxons. And of course she had no radio to find out what was going on. She made it in the end, however, and teleported into the lab past the sentry stationed at the door.
Gil wasn't there. But Agatha hadn't been waiting very long when a panel low in the wall opened and Gil's construct Zoing hurried through, making distressed noises and wringing his blue claws.
"Zoing?" Agatha called quietly.
Zoing froze, his antennae straightening in alarm. "Hoozere?"
Cloak off, she ordered and stepped out of the shadows. "It's me."
"HEEP!" he gasped. "Prettigorl!"
She knelt as he ran toward her. "Where's Gil?"
"Ugo. Dadmad. GotzGil. Killu."
"I'm not leaving without Gil. Where is he?"
"Ugo! Ugonow!"
"Zoing." She looked the little creature in his single eye. "I came here to help Gil, to stop what the baron wants to do to him. But I need you to help me find him."
"Killu," he insisted, almost whining.
"Not if they can't find me. Watch." She turned the cloak on and back off.
He made some astonished noises before launching himself at her to give her a shaky hug.
"There, there," she replied, running a hand down his back. "It's going to be all right."
He pulled himself together and clambered down from her lap. "Disway."
She activated the cloak again and followed him closely enough that he would be hidden within the cloak field. He led her swiftly but silently through the giant airship toward several potential hiding places, but Gil wasn't in any of them. She was just about to give up hope when they rounded a corner and spotted Gil hanging by one arm from a ventilation pipe, setting a little black notebook inside an open vent.
Then Gil froze for a second before his head whipped around and he looked straight at her, eyes wide, and mouthed, Agatha?!
Her heart leapt as she nodded but sank again as he kept looking around wildly like he couldn't actually see her. She started forward, thinking, Cloak—
Footsteps sounded behind her. "There he is!"
—on! Stay on! She flattened herself against the wall, and Zoing instinctively scuttled between her feet and stayed within the cloak area.
Gil, for his part, dropped to the floor and ran, not noticing the book falling out of the vent behind him. Unfortunately for him, there were troops coming from both directions, and he was surrounded before he could get more than a couple of meters down the hall. Nor could she get to him readily to disappear with him. He fought, however, and she decided to take advantage of the chaos.
As soon as she had the space, she crouched down and whispered, "Zoing! The book!"
Zoing made a barely audible noise of acknowledgment, zipped off, and zipped back brandishing the book, which Agatha grabbed before scooting him back inside the cloak area. He clung to her leg, trembling, and she kept one hand on his back as the other tucked the book into one of her many pockets. Then Gil cried out as somebody got him with a sedative, and soon the soldiers were lifting his unconscious form to cart back to the baron. Zoing made a tiny noise that might have been his equivalent of a sob.
"I know," Agatha breathed, remembering Col. Lorne both restraining and comforting her. "I know. But I'll get him out." She knew just enough from Girl Genius to know Gil wouldn't be knocked out for long, but as close as the storm was, this was probably his last escape attempt before the baron forced him to consent to whatever mind control procedure he'd used. "I'll stop this, I swear."
"Ugud prettigorl," Zoing whispered back.
One of the passing soldiers frowned and looked around as if he'd heard Zoing, but nobody stopped. Once the last of the group was a five-count ahead, Agatha patted Zoing on the back and stood, and he finally let go of her. And then she was off to follow the soldiers into the heart of the Death Star—er, Castle Wulfenbach.
"There is... hope for you yet," Father said as he accepted Gil's surrender and flipped the switch to drain the tank in which Gil was floating. "Now. There is a simple procedure which I shall perform on you momentarily. When it is complete, there will be other tasks with which I shall entrust you. You must not fight or attempt to flee, or the Heterodyne girl will die."
Gil gritted his teeth and rested his forehead against the wall of the tank as his feet touched down. "Yes, Father," he forced himself to say even as he tried to figure out a way to escape that wouldn't jeopardize Agatha's life.
He hated this whole messy situation, not being able to trust anyone, even Father, even himself. That buzz under his skin that told him Agatha was near, the residual effect of that last phase of the Si Vales Valeo when she'd saved them all—it couldn't be real, could it? It had to be an illusion. Agatha was still on the walls of Mechanicsburg; he'd seen her there with his own eyes on Father's viewscreen. He had to get a grip on himself, on reality, so he could counter Father's plans at the first opportunity.
Once Gil was out of the tank, Father barely gave him time to towel off before marching him into another part of the lab and ordering him into a chair that looked an awful lot like one he'd seen in Lucrezia's lab. Swallowing hard, he sat down and prayed for deliverance as Father strapped him in and settled one headpiece over his head.
"Just hold still," Father said, put the second headpiece over his own head, and turned away to put his hand on the switch. "This will only take a moment."
"Stop."
Father froze with his hand on the switch handle, and Gil's heart started pounding. That sounded like... but it couldn't be...
"You have already completed the procedure," ordered the voice that couldn't possibly be Agatha's except that it made Gil's soul sing. "You will continue as normal, and you will not remember hearing these instructions."
Gil had just enough time to slump forward, start panting, and let his eyes go unfocused before Father took off his headpiece and turned back to Gil.
"Gil?" Father brushed the hair back from Gil's forehead with one hand as the other moved the second headpiece out of the way. "Are you still with me?"
"Uh," Gil grunted and nodded.
"Rest a moment."
Father pushed Gil to sit back against the back of the chair while he undid the restraints, missing the slight motion of Gil's damp hair as invisible fingers carded through it the moment Father wasn't looking. And as he stooped to release Gil's feet, the voice breathed three words in Gil's ear, so quietly he hoped Father wouldn't have been able to hear them:
"I've got you."
It was a good thing Gil was supposed to be suffering from whatever this procedure was. There was no way he could have hidden the way his breath caught and his heart stuttered. He'd almost forgotten—he'd thought that was a dream, somehow, that accidental moment when their souls had touched and embraced, that raw instant of knowing and being known, of loving and being loved, without filters, without words. That hadn't happened with Sturmvoraus, and Gil hadn't had a chance since to ask Agatha if she remembered it, if it had been real. He could still be imagining things, of course, but... somehow he suspected he'd be finding out sooner than later. If she really was here, if she'd found some way to hide herself and smuggle herself on board, she must have a plan. And if she had a plan, she'd brief him on it as soon as she could.
"Can you stand?" Father asked as he straightened.
Gil pretended to struggle for breath a moment longer before nodding. "I... I think so." But the way his limbs trembled as he rose wasn't entirely an act.
Father nodded. "Good, good. Go clean up and get dressed. Then meet me in Bay 15 in one hour."
"Yessir," Gil sighed and dragged himself out of the lab, not bothering to look for his shirt or shake off the guards who were waiting outside the door to escort him back to his quarters. As he'd expected, the... presence followed silently all the way.
Unfortunately, the guards went into his room with him. He couldn't have that.
He heaved another weary sigh as he turned to them. "Does my father mistrust me even now?"
The guards looked at each other, and one fidgeted before replying, "Well, his orders were most specific..."
"I assure you, I couldn't escape from here even if I wanted to. Wait outside." When they continued to hesitate, Gil added, "Unless his orders include accompanying me even into the shower?"
At that, the guards beat a hasty retreat.
And exactly five seconds after the door closed, Agatha appeared, a strange brass armband with a circle of green lights in the center resting just above her left elbow and a smaller device falling from her bodice into her waiting left hand. "Great performance," she whispered, smiling at him as she pocketed the smaller device. "If all else fails, we can go to England and join the circMPFH!" she squeaked as Gil kissed her hard, hungrily, desperately.
He managed to keep enough self-control to keep his hands from going places they shouldn't. Doing so by latching hold of the edges of her corset... well, at least he kept his hands outside her bodice. That was about the limit of the decorum he could muster, however. He couldn't even think straight. She was here; she was real; she had saved him again. Finally, for the first time in hours, here was something, someone he could trust, and he clung to her like a drowning man.
Drowning. He needed to breathe. Right.
When he broke the kiss, she hauled in a deep breath before putting a hand to his chest and pushing a little. "Now, Gil..."
"Marry me," he pleaded. "Marry me now, please, before he changes his mind again—"
"Shh," she interrupted, moving her hand up to put a finger on his lips. "We can talk about it once I get you out of here." She kissed the tip of his nose lightly. "But first I need you to trust me."
"I do." He kissed her finger, and she withdrew it with an amused smile. "I trust you with my life."
"All right. I have a plan, but you're going to have to do exactly as I say. That includes playing along with your father for a few more hours, until I can set up a prisoner exchange."
"Why can't you get me out the same way you came in?"
"Because in order for this to work, I have to set up a stable time loop. That means I can't change too much yet. I have a way to compensate for stopping what your father tried to do to you, but you can't just disappear right now."
"Time loop?! Agatha, what—"
She cut him off with a hand to his chest again. "It's a long story. I can tell you everything after the exchange. But we don't have time to go into it all in detail right now. Hurry and get your shower; I'll tell you as much as I can while you dress."
He sighed. "All right." After a brief pause, he added, "Father... tried to tell me I'd been wasped. Years ago, back in Paris."
She smiled sadly. "If that were true, you never would have tried to argue with me about anything. And you would have left the castle when I told you to."
He swallowed hard. "Are you sure?"
"You saw how your father reacted when I gave him those orders just now—which I hated to do, by the way. When have you ever obeyed me at all, never mind as automatically as he did?"
"Well, there was that time you ordered me to live..."
She rolled her eyes. "Against your will, I mean. Besides, we were still synced for the Si Vales Valeo when that happened."
With a huff of relief, he pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair. "I thought I was losing my mind."
"I can see why. But Tarvek said there was only one spark wasp anyway, and my mother used it on your father in Sturmhalten."
"Thanks."
She relaxed in his arms for the first time and rubbed his back gently. "Oh, Gil, I've missed you so much."
"I haven't been gone all that long."
"Not you. I have. It's been months."
He pulled back in alarm. "Months?!"
"Shower," she said sternly.
"Yes, Mistress," he replied with a wink and kissed her cheek before heading into the bathroom and taking a very quick, very cold shower. A shirt, trousers, and underpants were waiting for him on the sink when he finished, so he put them on rapidly and returned to the bedroom, still buttoning his shirt, to find Agatha sitting at his desk looking at something he couldn't see past her back.
"Wear the, um... the dark teal waistcoat with the violet trim," she recommended without turning around. "And no brooch." Now that he thought about it, there was something different about the way she spoke, almost as if she'd been speaking another language—maybe English?—long enough for it to affect her pronunciation. That would square with her having been somewhere else for several months, although how she'd gotten back here apparently before she'd even left was a question for later.
"Are you all right?" he asked as he started toward his wardrobe.
"No. Yes. I—" She sighed. "We're so short of time, and there's no easy way to explain all of this."
"Well, try."
She finally turned to look at him as he pulled out the waistcoat she'd suggested. "Your father's about to send you to capture me. That is, the version of me that's still in Mechanicsburg. I'm probably on my way to recharge the castle now."
"O-kay... this is why you can't change too much yet?"
"Part of it. Look, before... you failed. We fought, and I had Franz bring you back here. And then your father... he did something, triggered some kind of device that stopped time in town. I think he was hoping to trap me along with him, but that didn't work because Tarvek's cousin Martellus stabbed Tarvek and kidnapped me through a portal in the cathedral just as your father triggered the device. Violetta and Krosp came through with us. I don't know all the details from there because... well, I still don't understand all of the physics behind the timeline split. I do know we escaped, and I helped you try to shut down the device. But something went wrong, and... and..." She looked down at the floor.
He started toward the bed, where his boots and socks were waiting. "It exploded?"
"Worse."
"Destroyed the town?"
She dragged her eyes up to meet his again and couldn't hide the haunted look in them. "The entire solar system."
He sat down hard on the edge of the bed. It took him a moment to recover enough to reach for his socks. "Then how..."
"Because the portal was still open on this end, somehow the explosion sent the four of us to another universe, to Atlantis. The sparks we met there helped us get back. This time I've got to stop your father before he can trigger the device and seal the rift between universes—but I still have to let Martellus kidnap the other version of me who hasn't been through the loop yet."
He nodded slowly as he pulled on his socks. "Which means I still have to fight with you. Her. Which means I have to look the same, act the same, all of that. And Franz still has to bring me back here so Father will go into town with the device."
She sighed in relief. "Yes, exactly."
"And Franz is..."
"Oh, my dragon."
"... Of course he is." He reached for his boots.
"And he sensed something was wrong when you first showed up." She reached into one of the pouches on her belt, pulled out a golden choker, and handed it to him. "This is an exact duplicate of my locket, and it's running. If you keep that in your pocket or something, it should cause enough of an aetheric disturbance around you that Franz will still react the same way."
He opened the locket just long enough to see the pictures of Bill and Lucrezia Heterodyne. "Exact duplicate, huh?" he echoed as he tucked it into his waistcoat watch pocket. "How'd you manage that without... her taking over?"
She smiled. "Almost anything is possible in Atlantis. They even got Mother out of my head." She picked up the palm-sized device on the desk and turned it so he could see the viewscreen as he pulled on his boots, then played a short video recording proving her assertion.
"Huh. That's... wow."
"I'll be giving a copy of this to your father, too." She turned the device back to face her and pressed the screen a few times before coming over to sit beside him. "Now. Here are your lines." And she handed it to him, revealing... a caricature.
An uncannily good caricature, down to the swirls on the gondola of the smallest airship in the Wulfenbach fleet, which he'd already concluded would be the one Father would want him to take.
"I know," she said when he frowned. "It's spooky. But it's exactly the way I remember the conversation going. I'll have to explain where we found it later."
He blew the air out of his cheeks. "Right. Let me see this."
She bit her lip. "You... think you can memorize it all? It's a fairly long scene."
"Sure. Photographic memory."
"... Of course you have."
She had to show him how to move and change the image, but after that he swiftly committed the pages to memory with the intent of reviewing them on the way to Mechanicsburg. "So what happens after Father leaves?" he asked as he handed the device back.
She pulled Sturmvoraus' notebook out of another pocket. "I caught up with you just as you went to hide this," she admitted sheepishly. So he had sensed her out there. Huh. "But there's a formula in here that we can use to cure your father. Once you get back, get to a lab and mix up a dose. Put it in this." She pulled what looked like a syringe case out of yet another pocket. "Bring it down with you and hand it off to Gen. Goomblast as you pass each other during the exchange."
He shook his head. "I'll be watched too closely. I won't have a chance. But you remember how to get to my main lab, right?"
"Yes, I think so."
"And you can read those notes?"
"Yes. It's a cipher Dr. Beetle sometimes used."
"How much time will you need to get back to the ground?"
"Er, well, with this"—she gestured with her left elbow, indicating the device on it—"I should be able to get to the cathedral square almost instantly."
"All right. The main lab should have all the supplies. You mix up the formula. Use your invisibility device. Then meet me on the bridge of Castle Wulfenbach and give me the syringe after Father leaves the room. That should still give you time to get to the cathedral before he does."
"Gil..."
"Look, even if the people who think I'm wasped aren't on the bridge when I get back, Father will put me in charge as soon as I walk in without you. If he hasn't already announced his intention to take care of Mechanicsburg himself, he'll do so then. Everyone will be looking at me. I can't just disappear into a lab for twenty minutes in the middle of a full retreat." When she huffed, he caressed her cheek. "Hey, you asked me to trust you, remember? So I'm trusting you with my own lab, where you could build who knows what, and with my father's life, when I've seen how easily you could control him if you chose. I'm handing you the keys to the empire and trusting you not to abuse them."
"Why?" she asked, covering his hand with her own. "Even in Atlantis, they wouldn't let me build helpers, and if I had to leave the main parts of the city, someone was always with me to make sure I didn't turn on the wrong thing by accident. And given my luck, I would have. They had every right not to trust me. Why do you?"
"Because I know you. Better than anyone does, except maybe Zeetha." He rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone. "And because right now, I think you're the only person in the world who trusts me."
"Tarvek does."
"But he's not here telling me his deepest, darkest secrets."
She smiled. "And a good thing, too, because that means I can do this." And she kissed him.
Before he could completely lose the plot, there was a knock at the door. "Five minutes, sir," the guard called.
"I'll be out shortly," Gil called back. Then to Agatha, he whispered, "You know, you could take the formula back with you, not wait to hand it off to me."
She shook her head. "I'm sure he'll be able to hear the handoff during the exchange. I don't expect him to be able to fight the Jägers if I order him not to, but he'll be less likely to resist even mentally if he thinks the formula comes from you and not from me or Tarvek."
"All right, then. You'd better put the invisibility device on before I open the door."
"Right. I'll follow you out and then head for the lab." With that, she pulled the invisibility device out of her pocket and attached it to her blouse, giving him a brief glimpse of the stylized green-and-silver beetle-shaped object before it lit up and she disappeared.
"That's amazing."
"Dual function, too," came her voice from seemingly thin air. "It was originally designed to emit an energy shield, but they let me make it capable of cloaking as well. Unfortunately, it can't do both at once."
"So how does it..."
"Later. I promise." She kissed his cheek. "Let's go."
Since he couldn't exactly kiss her back, he took a deep breath and stood, went to the closet for the greatcoat pictured in the caricature, and went to the door as he put it on. She stuck close behind him as he left his quarters, but they hadn't gone far down the hall before he sensed her turn off to go to his lab. He had to force himself to review his lines for the upcoming argument rather than giving any outward sign that he missed her already.
Sure enough, Gil arrived at Bay 15 to find Father already waiting by the airship pictured in the caricature and the gargoyles prepped to accompany him. Father gave Gil two syringes of sedative and strict instructions as to how to bring Agatha back. Gil made all the appropriate noises and somehow managed not to alert Father that he hadn't been mind-controlled, and finally Father gave him leave to set out for Mechanicsburg and stalked out of the bay.
Gil had only a moment before launch, but that was enough. In a flash, he unbuttoned his collar, slipped the choker around his neck, and fastened his collar again to hide it. Then he had to steady himself against the tiller as the harmonic interference from the locket made his head reel as if he'd just had one of Theo's cocktails.
Sweet lightning, was this what Agatha had dealt with growing up? No wonder she'd had headaches; no wonder stealing the locket had been the death of Omar von Zinzer. Only the mental disciplines (Skifandrian ones?) Father had taught Gil allowed him to shake off the effects enough to launch safely and steer accurately through the storm toward Mechanicsburg, reviewing his lines again and again as he went. Even so, he had a raging headache of his own by the time he reached the topmost tower of Castle Heterodyne.
It was good that he had a script to follow, because everything that happened from that point until Franz carted him back through the air to Castle Wulfenbach felt surreal and dreamlike, almost as if he had been mind-controlled or was too lost in the madness place to have a firm grasp on reality. Fortunately, Franz had a firm grasp on him—almost too firm, though he didn't actually hurt Gil—and deposited him safely in an open bay.
"No hard feelings?" Franz asked as Gil got his feet under him. "I mean, since the Mistress likes you and all... if you come back after the battle, I bet she can help you."
"We'll see when we get there," Gil replied. "But no, no hard feelings. And sorry about the sedative."
"Ah. That's all right. Wore off fast." Franz smiled, which was disconcerting on a dragon, and turned his pedal-powered flyer back toward Mechanicsburg.
And as Gil watched, Castle Heterodyne righted its ruined towers and unleashed a swarm of flying clanks and monsters, all of which headed toward Castle Wulfenbach.
Still dizzy from the locket's effects, he heard himself shouting orders before turning to run—fight his way back to the bridge. Reality slipped and slid around him until, grappling with a clank, he crashed through a floor panel and a ceiling panel and landed a few feet from Father. He managed to smash the clank, dust himself off, and say something moderately coherent to Father... but he wasn't watching where he was going, and a loose bearing caused his feet to fly out from under him. Dazed, he lay where he fell as Father transferred command to him and left the bridge.
A moment later, an invisible hand felt of his shirt collar. "You weren't supposed to put it on!" Agatha squeaked in his ear.
"Hsst!" he managed to hiss.
The syringe case slid into his coat pocket, and she kissed his brow before he heard a slight noise and her presence vanished. A second after that, an airman came over to help him to his feet.
"Are you all right, sir?" the airman asked.
"Just winded," Gil lied. "What are my father's orders?"
"He was still issuing them, sir—"
"Retreat?!" Dr. Chouteh's incredulous booming voice echoed back from the hall. "Craven, ignoble retreat?!"
Gil nodded. "All units fall back to Sturmhalten at once. Castle Heterodyne isn't playing around; every second we hesitate costs us more lives."
He could only hope, as the crew began carrying out the order, that putting his trust in Agatha wasn't about to cost even more than that.
.
* Said tune is from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore.