MAGIC IN MECHANICSBURG

CHAPTER 2:

REUNIONS

Hermione Granger had seen many wondrous things during her nineteen years of life. Hogwarts had been one set of wonders, but a whole world ruled (albeit somewhat ineptly) by mad scientists was another. And despite being in danger upon setting foot here, it felt better than home. Her parents were dead, murdered while buying Hermione time to escape. The Death Eaters were almost wiped out…but Hermione had little to live for there. Not anymore. Coming to help Harry, to warn him against Dumbledore's single-minded obsession with ending his life to ensure he remained a martyr, that gave her purpose.

And wouldn't you know it? When she finally found some lead on him, he was having another bloody adventure. His saving people thing led him into conflict with none other than the dictator of Europe. True, Klaus von Wulfenbach wasn't actually a bad man, more of a ruthless pragmatist. And there were other factors involved. There was Agatha Heterodyne's mother, who turned out to be this world's equivalent of Voldemort, complete with immortality obsession, not to mention a conspiracy around her.

Hermione had to admit, she was a little jealous of Agatha. Hermione's feelings towards Harry were more like those of a sibling, but it wasn't like she hadn't had more romantic feelings at all. Oh, they weren't that strong, but they were there. Perhaps more of an infatuation than actual love, but she still felt attraction towards him.

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be, it seemed. A shame, really. But she was happy for Harry, that he had found someone. True, they weren't quite at romance levels yet, but with a soul bond in place, Hermione's gut told her it'd be only a matter of time. And Agatha had been in a similar position to Harry, unaware of a famous legacy for a long time, protected from it…though Punch and Judy, at least, did a better job of raising Agatha than the Dursleys did to Harry. Though that was probably the late and unlamented Dumbledore's manipulations at work, trying to hone Harry into a disposable weapon.

Trying to get rid of the thoughts that welled up within her at the thought of Dumbledore, Hermione turned to her companion. She'd split off from the others to walk around (the Jägers having disappeared, slinking away for now), but Krosp, the cat Construct, had opted to follow her. The sardonic, intelligent cat was a bit too sarcastic for her liking, but he was at least a decent conversation partner, and sharper than any cat ought to be. "So, any thoughts?"

"I've been keeping an eye out while you've been woolgathering," Krosp said, his green eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'm sure. This place is a tourist trap," Hermione said. "And like any tourist trap, if you pay attention, the merchants and townsfolk stop giving their fake smiles when the tourists go away…and the stuff above ground level's not as well-maintained, unlike most tourist traps."

"Okay, so you were paying attention," Krosp admitted grudgingly. "I'm supposed to notice such things, being effectively a spymaster. This place…it's like a revenant, a shambling parody of itself."

"…It's like Diagon Alley when news of Harry's death leaked," Hermione mused out loud. "They'd spent most of the prior year or so thinking he was delusional…and when they learned he had died, and that Voldemort was back…no fear on these people's faces, not like back home…but they lack hope."

Krosp looked at her sharply, and then nodded. "Yes…yes, you're right…I know what it is. They're missing the Heterodyne family, I'd bet. The Heterodyne Boys are gone, along with the Jägers, they don't know about Agatha, and the only heir they may have known, Klaus Barry…well, Judy said he died during The Other's attack."

"Should we tell them about Agatha, then?" Hermione asked the cat.

"…Not for now. We'll go find someone in authority once Agatha and Harry have finished hobnobbing with the Baron. Apparently some guy called Carson is running the show, according to Judy, though his grandson is running some of it." The cat suddenly looked to the skies near the hospital, and frowned. "There's an airship coming this way. I think Gilgamesh is coming. Send that Patronus thing to your friends…"

Gilgamesh waited impatiently at the boarding ramp for his personal transport, Ardley Wooster, his valet and spy for Her Undying Majesty Albia of Britain, waiting rather more patiently by his side. He'd had barely enough time to pack the apparatus he had been working on, having a hunch that, given the current political climate and the condition of his father, he may need it. It had been tested somewhat in the lab, but this would be its first field test, if it came to that.

As the airship finally landed, and the ramp opened, he was met by Harry Potter and Agatha Heterodyne, the source of trouble for his father, but also the ones who had helped him get the hell out of Sturmhalten. A Construct woman with mismatched eyes, matching the descriptions his father gave of Judy, was also waiting, as was Von Pinn. "Young master," Von Pinn greeted him.

Gilgamesh nodded to the leather-clad Construct. "Von Pinn. Agatha. Harry. Judy, I presume?"

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Gilgamesh."

"It'd be a greater pleasure if it weren't for the circumstances," Gilgamesh said, striding past them after giving orders to his attendants on the airship. "My father, what is his condition?"

"Bluntly? He's banged up," Harry said. "He's conscious, but pretty much immobile. DuPree and Punch are looking after him with Doctor Sun. Also…another one is looking after him. Someone who you should have met some time ago."

Gilgamesh nodded a little absently. He was more focused on his father being vulnerable than who this mysterious person might be. "And The Other?" Gilgamesh asked. "The dispatch I was sent stated that Agatha had a copy of her mother's mind downloaded into her head, but it's being suppressed."

"She still is, as long as this locket remains around my neck," Agatha said.

"Right." They made it to the room, and Gilgamesh opened the door. "Father!"

There was his father, alive, if somewhat battered and broken, looked over by a hulking Construct who had to be Punch, DuPree, Doctor Sun, and a green-haired girl about his age with a golden tinge to her skin. "Gilgamesh…I'm not dead, nor do I have any intention of ending up that way. And I've suffered worse than this," his father rasped. "But thank you for coming."

"I left as soon as I could, father." He looked up sharply at the green-haired girl, who had the air of a fighter to her. "Father…who is this woman?"

DuPree was snickering slightly, as if privy to a joke she knew the punchline to. The green-haired girl stood, and walked over to Gilgamesh, and looked him up and down. Then, an impish smile touched her lips. "Hi! I'm Zeetha, daughter of Chump. Or, as he's better known in Europe, Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach. Oh, and guess what? We're twins!"

Gilgamesh had been expecting any number of things when he heard that, but not quite that. He gaped, to general hilarity, before his brain rebooted. "You…are my twin sister."

His father cleared his throat, his face showing unaccustomed embarrassment. "She takes after her mother in looks," he said.

"…And 'Chump'?"

"I had been tricked into being sent to a distant, isolated land by Lucrezia Mongfish," his father remarked irritably. "I felt like a chump! Gilgamesh…this is your sister. I was forced to leave her behind with your mother…in Skifander."

"…Skifander," Gilgamesh said flatly. "Why…?"

"Was I left behind?" Zeetha asked. "One, our society is a matriarchal one. Two, our society has some pretty stupid superstitions involving twins and male rulers, and as our mother is Queen Zantabraxis of Skifander…look, Chump over there took you back to Europe with him to keep you alive. He thought I might be here to kill you. But I'm not going to unless you give me a damned good reason. I didn't even know I had a brother until recently."

"I didn't even know I had a sister until now," Gilgamesh retorted somewhat lamely. "So…my mother…she's the Queen of Skifander…"

His father nodded. "I'm sorry to have kept the secret, but…few have heard of Skifander, and even fewer know it is real. And you had enough enemies to worry about in Europe, without having to worry about any dangers from Skifander. She is in a relationship with Agatha known as Kolee-dok-Zumil, more or less a teacher-student relationship. Now, Gilgamesh, have you brought anything useful?"

"Yes, Father," Gilgamesh said, opting to ask more questions later. "I've brought in some devices to bolster Mechanicsburg's defences. With Castle Heterodyne unable to activate the defences of the town, I've brought in something that might prove useful." He turned to Agatha. "Agatha, if you and your friends can help me set them up, I'd be grateful. Father, will you be all right?"

"DuPree and Punch are here to protect me," his father said. "Along with Doctor Sun, they should be more than enough."

"Right…"

Along the way, they encountered Hermione and Krosp, with Harry introducing Gilgamesh to the pair of them. They made their way to the town's wall, to where one of a number of cylindrical apparatuses were being installed. Agatha and Hermione were already intrigued. "Ooh," Agatha mused after examining the device. "I wonder…an atmospheric ionization engine!"

"Exactly!" Gilgamesh said, nodding. "Well done. I was working on something like this when you were first brought to Castle Wulfenbach, but I never got around to demonstrating it to you before you escaped."

Hermione looked at the sky. "You're effectively supercharging the air with electricity," she said. And then, she looked at the staff Gilgamesh was wielding, with what looked like a focusing crystal and electronics. "Oh. Ohhh, that is brilliant!"

"What is?" Harry demanded.

"Don't you see?" Hermione pointed to the staff. "That's a focus. Gilgamesh intends to saturate the air with electrically charged particles…creating conditions not dissimilar to a thunderstorm!"

"Exactly!" Agatha said, nodding eagerly. "He can use that staff to effectively project a lightning bolt to whatever he wants to hit!"

"Good. Now, keep in mind, I need to have the exact details of this under wraps. I'm intending to use this to deter any armed force that tries to attack the town," Gilgamesh said. "Harry, would you be willing to support me with spells when the time comes?"

"As long as I'm not busy, yes," Harry said.

"I'll do so too," Hermione said. "Maybe we can put Notice Me Nots, or a Fidelius on them? You know, to camouflage them?"

Gilgamesh looked at Harry, baffled. "Magic," he said.

"Will-based Transmogrification Force," Agatha corrected.

"…I'll go with the second one rather than magic," Gilgamesh said. "The staff is a powerful weapon by itself, but against a War Clank, it needs these engines to boost the power."

"It ought to be spectacular, Gilgamesh," Judy said, peering at the machine. "But it needs improvement. I'm not sure how many discharges you can get at the level you need with these."

"I'm hoping at least two," Gilgamesh said. "Any refinements you can help make to the machines would be appreciated, Agatha. And…Hermione, was it? How well versed are you with this kind of machinery?"

"Not at all. I know general principles, and I can work out the maths if you have the right equations, but…"

"That's fine. I may need someone to help with the math work, not to mention these…Notice Me Nots, you said? Anyway, we may not have much time. Father's injuries are going to call vultures."

"So, you're going to fry them with lightning?" Zeetha asked wryly, before giving a thumbs-up. "I approve!"

Soon, Harry was watching on as Gilgamesh and Agatha went into the Madness Place while working on the ionization engine, Hermione there to interject every so often. "You know, it's easy to forget Agatha is a mad scientist," Harry remarked to Judy as they looked on. "Aside from, well, having her mother in her skull."

"She has much of her father and uncle in her," Judy said. "Suppressing her Spark actually helped. It was agony to watch her sink into a mire of depression, and I was actually glad when she found a purpose in adopting you, back when you were still an owl."

"She still has too much of her mother inside her," Von Pinn observed with a growl. "Even without Lucrezia inside her head, there is too much of Lucrezia in her. Not to mention what her ancestors were like."

"I get the need for constant vigilance," Zeetha remarked, "but you need to relax a little. Wearing that much tight leather can't be healthy. Or easy to move around in, for that matter."

"I am not human. I am a Muse in a Construct body that is partly organic and partly metallic," Von Pinn said. "Physical comfort means little to me. I would prefer to find my original body, wherever that is. I would think it was in Castle Heterodyne. This body was born there, I believe."

"And the Jägers love you out of some masochistic thing," Harry remarked. "Hey, speaking of, where did those three go?"

"The Jägers, as part of their agreement with Klaus, are forbidden from setting foot in Mechanicsburg until the next Heterodyne is declared," Judy said. "There are exceptions. I have heard that a few Jägers working under Klaus have renounced the Jägertroth, the vow they make before undergoing the process that transforms them."

"Yes. Captain Vole of the Mechanicsburg Security Division is one I know of, though he was pretty much thrown out by the other Jägers," Von Pinn said. "We'll have to keep an eye out for him. Those who renounce the Jägertroth have no further loyalty to the Heterodynes. He may target Agatha out of spite."

"Vole…yes, I remember that treacherous sadist well," Judy said with a grimace.

Their musings were interrupted when a trio of people were escorted up. Harry recognised two of them. Tarvek Sturmvoraus had an aristocratic air, and well-groomed red hair, pince-nez sitting on his nose. His sister, Anevka, walked alongside him, a Clank in the shape of a girl. Harry glared, remembering how Anevka had helped Dumbledore. Though he had to wonder where the tank containing her actual body was. Alongside them was a girl, a little younger than them, with a short bob of dark red hair like Tarvek, dressed in functional dark purple and black clothes.

Then, Tarvek stormed up to Gilgamesh, and, before anyone could stop him, slugged him to the ground. As he was held back by his escort, Gilgamesh got up, rubbing his jaw. "Okay, I'd ask what that was for…but it's a pretty long list, isn't it?"

"You've got that right, Holzfäller!" Tarvek snapped. "Or should that be Wulfenbach?"

"You know, if this body could eat, I'd be eating popcorn," Anevka remarked.

"And what are you doing here?" Agatha asked, glaring at Anevka in particular.

"We're basically throwing ourselves at the mercy of the Wulfenbachs and the last Heterodyne," Anevka said with a shrug of her mechanical shoulders. "Given that our own family has none, it seems like a wise decision. And despite the existential crisis I have recently gone through, and am still labouring through, I would prefer to live, thank you very much. If that means helping you…well, I don't believe anyone developed indigestion from swallowing one's pride1."

The girl accompanying them rolled her eyes. "And I can smell the lies coming off you, Anevka. Or is that ozone?"

"Hush, Violetta, the adults are talking."

"Oh, are you the Smoke Knight?" Judy asked.

Violetta nodded, rolling her eyes. "Yeah. That idiot," she said, indicating Tarvek, who was being let go by his escorts, "sent me here to a dead-end posting. So imagine my surprise when, shortly after I hear the Baron's been brought here, injured, he decides to come too."

"Oh, Tarvek was probably keeping you out of the way of the plotting," Anevka said. "He liked you too much. I don't know why, given the frequency with which you insult him."

As Violetta stared daggers at Anevka, Gilgamesh looked at Tarvek. "Are we going to be fighting all the time?"

"We are on the same side for now, Wulfenbach," Tarvek said icily. "Given the help I gave Agatha, my family will be gunning for me. But we will be having words about the charade you and your father perpetuated…not to mention all those times in Paris…"

"What happens in Paris…stays in Paris," Gilgamesh said, though given Tarvek's glare and Anevka's amused tittering, that remained to be seen…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Gilgamesh, and the Sturmvoraus siblings, have arrived. Oh, and Gilgamesh has met his own sister.

1. Anevka is quoting one of Aramaki's lines from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode Cash Eye.