Seras little snippet thread

The morning sun was rising and I looked on at the horizon.

The horizon that was practically hidden behind all the airships.

Dirigibles filled the sky, hundreds of them approaching my home. My castle.

I smirked as I rested on the edge of the wall.

“Mistress?”

“What? Are you worried?” I asked almost teasing and my Seneschal puffed on his pipe.

“Of course I am.”

“Smart of you. Rest assured. The defenses are in place, and the Baron will see that. I’m not intending on starting a fight. He’s here to enforce his Pax Transylvania, and he’ll find me accepting of the concept. In fact, I’m going to tell him the truth.”

“The Truth Mistress?”

“Oh yes. I’ve discovered it’s the most terrible weapon of all.” Won’t that be hilarious to a man like the Baron? Paranoid and suspicious, I’m going to tell him the truth of my intentions and everything in between, and he’s going to chew and gnaw on what I say and never be satisfied.

I’ll be living rent free in that man's head until he finally gets it.

“Do you think he’ll try to invade the airspace?” I asked, watching the fleet approach.

“Hmm.” Carson mutters as he thinks it over.

If he does I might have to wake up the Torchmen just as a reminder to Klaus about respecting personal space.

“Shall we head to the castle mistress?”

“The Castle? No. I intend on meeting the man at the walls.” I turned and did just that, headed through my streets. Back alleys and street corners I was growing more familiar with by the day.

Soon the ships slowed and ended up anchoring a ways away from the walls.

Then a single airship descended and to my continued surprise it didn’t head towards the castle, or invade my air space. Instead It landed a short walk away from the main gate, and when the front of it opened, there he was Klaus Wulfenbach stepping out surrounded by Clanks and guards.

None of them Jagers.

He’d better not have done something to my Jagers.

The front gate opened at my nod as Klaus approached and as the door let in the morning sunlight he caught sight of me. Standing surrounded by my people. Jagers, monsters, and townsfolk. I know I already said monsters, but sometimes the Townsfolk pretended to be normal so I counted them twice.

The massive man stalled out half way through the gates though.

Lilith and Adam were obviously at my side, and there was a moment where Klaus’s harsh grey eyes softened and I swear he might have teared up a little for a moment.

“Klaus Wulfenbach, friend to my father Bill, and my Uncle Barry. Be welcome in my Mechanicsburg, the gates will always be open to you.” I said openly and happily, no doubt wrongfooting Klaus.

That’s right Klaus. Whatever your expectations? I’m crushing them today.

“Lady Heterodyne.”

“Please Uncle Klaus, call me Agatha. I’m sorry that it’s taken this long before we had a chance to meet. I hope we’ll have a chance to get to know each other better from here on. Oh, but please, don’t let me intrude. I’m sure long missing friends are more important than our meeting.” I wanted to smirk as my use of ‘Uncle Klaus’ got an uncomfortable look on the Barons face. To keep from laughing, I looked to Lilith and Adam, and only smiled brighter as Lilith sent me a glare.

“Punch, Judy? I thought you were dead. I searched for you but found nothing…” Klaus looked to be growing into a temper.

Seriously, the guy was hotheaded.

“Uncle Barry rescued me when I was very young, and placed me in their care.” I interrupted before he could work up into a temper and say something stupid. “They had orders to keep me hidden. From anyone.” I filled in, and Klaus blinked that anger slowly vanished.

“Barry? Bill?”

Adam and Lilith both looked away. Neither able to really speak.

“We aren’t sure. I think… I think my dad died, Barry didn’t speak of it. Uncle Barry left to do something. He wouldn’t tell us, about eleven years ago. He was… Distrustful of everyone.” I offered as kindly as I could without saying he didn’t trust Klaus.

“I see.” He offered, a momentary sadness that didn’t last.

“Uncle Klaus. Why don’t we walk and talk? I have a lot we need to talk about.” He frowned, and his guards didn’t look comfortable before I rolled my eyes.

“If I fight you. You’ll be with your people, in your ship and you’ll get a warning before I pull the trigger to the deathray. No one will harm you within Mechanicsburg.” I said firmly, and made sure everyone could hear my declaration.

He still looked to Adam and Lilith who nodded for him, even if they looked uncomfortable.

They had not wanted me anywhere near the Baron.

“Ah! Of course, I’m so dumb. I forgot. I had a test I had to do first.” I said almost fakely, because I hadn't forgotten at all.

“What-?”

He started when I let the madness place rise up. “I AM AGATHA HETERODYNE! KNEEL AND COVER YOUR EARS!” I yelled and suddenly behind the Baron two of his guards did just that without hesitation.

The sudden utter silence as I smirked and looked at the two men that both looked shocked at what had just happened.

“Those two are Revenants. My voice is close enough to my mothers, that I have some partial control over the Slaver Wasps.” I said loudly, loud enough that everyone could hear it.

Was I informing everyone that the Other was my Mother?

Of course I was. Would it cause me trouble? Sure, but it would cause her more issues if she ever had to show her face again.

I looked at Klaus as he processed what had just happened.

“Secure those two!” He barked and while there was a brief struggle eventually the two guardsmen were tied up and everything was getting awkward.

“You’re welcome.” I decided to say just when the silence grew a bit too long. Yes that was it. That annoyed look. That’s right, I’m going to be the most annoying ally you’ve ever had, and I’m going to do it by just being helpful.

I smiled at him happily showing teeth.

Ah! I really needed sharp teeth! It would seriously look so much better when I smiled like this.

Oh well, there’s always next week.

“I have questions.” The Baron demanded and I nodded.

“Of course you do. You have parts of the puzzle, but are missing others. I have some and am missing others. We’ll share and maybe put some answers together. Come on.” I turned and moved and the people of Mechanicsburg split down the street letting me saunter up the road towards my Castle.

Ah, this was going so well!

—--

Klaus Wulfenbach

This was not going well. Were those guards revenants or some other trick? He’d been planning to demand this Heterodyne girl's compliance with the Pax but before he could even speak she’d wrongfooted him. HIM. First with her words, and then with Punch and Judy, who he noted were pointedly walking with some distance from him, but always watching, protecting the girl.

The worst part? As they walked the girl never stopped talking.

“We had to repair that Torchman, did you know you’ve had men coming around trying to disable them? That’s rather silly. But I got them all working again. No upgrades yet, but they’re back to full effectiveness. At least they won’t fall out of the sky anymore!”

His eye twitched.

“Oh and did you ever meet Klurg? He’s part of the monster guild. He’s one of the ones that father and Uncle Barry tried to… Well, I won’t allow that silliness. Honestly. They’re my people! I’m going to have to get the Guildhouse back up though. It’s hiding currently. The Castle is being evasive about it, but I already know where, I just haven’t had the time.”

The monsters of Mechanicsburg were not just back but welcome in the sunlight. Klaus wasn’t the Heterodyne boys with their vendetta against them, but it did mean that the girls combat potential just ticked up to an even more dangerous category.

He’d hoped by putting all the Jagers on slower ships he could arrive and find out what was going on before they arrived to reinforce her, but if she had the old monsters.

The ones that all of Europa had feared? Dangerous. No he was wrong. The worst part was the girl was just telling him everything.

“Welcome back to the Castle. It’s fully functional again. I had to pull a copy of it from the Muse of Protection if you can believe it? My Mother THE MISERABLE WORM Put a copy of the Castle into the Muse, You have the brain of the Muse in a construct right? Von Pinn or something?”

Yes his eye was twitching as the girl just offered him up everything that was happening in mechanicsburg without a single worry!

So if she was being this honest… What was she hiding?

“I do. I’ve been looking for her body.”

“Lucrezia had it down in her lab. We’ll talk about that later, but I don’t mind helping out.”

“Ah, we aren't going to the throne room, or the meeting rooms.” She interrupted as he made to turn towards that side of the Castle. “Bedrooms first. My mother made a secret lab, I figured you’d like to see it, and we can have a more direct discussion about what is going on there.”

“A lab? Here?”

“Hidden, even the Castle didn’t know about it. I’m afraid it’s going to be private. Leave the guards. Yes I know that sounds threatening, I’ll explain why when we get closer.” Then without waiting she simply turned and kept walking.

Adam and Lilith looked from Klaus to the girl to the Guards and both looked at eachother. They nodded.

“Klaus. I’ll go with you, it’s safe. I promise. Adam will stay with your guards in the sitting room… Please trust us.”

He felt his jaw clench. This was foolish but… “Stay here.” He ordered, then he turned and soon caught up with the girl, again she chattered about the protections of the castle around them, the working and nonworking parts.

“Tikhoffen actually came up with a device that stops the Castle from attacking him if you can believe it. Granted him total protection. He was planning on installing himself as the new family in the Castle. I stabbed him of course. I’ve been working on fixing the loophole he used, fascinating work though.”

“Indeed?” He offered out, partially in actual interest because Castle Heterodyne was a masterpiece. To control it? That was… Interesting.

But also because if only the Professor had told him! Klaus had been trying to access the Castle since that night. There were secrets he’d hoped to find.

She led him into Lucrezia’s room, and he could detect the barest hint of her old perfume.

Nostalgia, and yet his fist clenched.

“Yeah listen, I know you were my mothers MAY SHE BURN IN HELL lover or whatever, but I’m putting an order that we never talk about that. That is the sort of knowledge I want nothing to do with.”

“Deal.” He agreed, almost amused at the girl's disgust. Although her hatred of Lucrezia…

A panel was opened, and down they went.

“It’s actually under the Great Movement Chamber. Which is why your guards aren’t welcome. Not even Uncle Barry or father knew about the Movement Chamber. The source of the Castle's power. How she managed to get this setup is… Ugh I hate that woman.” She grumbled, giving Klaus more information that he was shocked she’d just said without concern.

They stepped off the stairs into a lab. Lucrezia’s type of lab. He recognized the setup. Everything about it screamed Lucrezia.

It also screamed the Other.

“So, just to make sure we’re on the same page. My mother, Lucrezia Mongfish is the Other. She’s… Probably at least half dead. Right now I think she’s dead, but she had backups.” The girl started and Klaus was forced to listen as she spoke out truths he didn’t like.

“I was with the Geisterdamen. They worship Lucrezia. At least some of them. They have a device that can implant a copy of Lucrezia into a compatible host. Me. That’s why I’ve been hidden all this time even from you. As I showed you, the Revenants aren’t as gone as you thought. The ones you saw before the mindless ones? Those were the failures. The ones that succeed end up men and women that sometimes don’t even know they’re wasped. Perfectly normal yet still serving.”

“I suppose you have more proof than the little show you did earlier?”

“All I have is what I know. And my mothers secret lab we’re both standing in.” She even did a little flourish at the lab as if saying ‘use your eyes’ he wanted to throttle her.

“And the reason you never got a message to me Judy? Not in over a decade? Not in all the time I’ve thought all of my friends dead?”

Judy stared at him back and there was no sorrow in her eyes.

No, that was fierceness.

“Uncle Barry thought you were serving Lucrezia. I wasn’t so sure, but I did send you a letter about six years ago with some information.” The girl answered instead and Judy did that thing with her lips where something was being done around her she didn’t like.

“Me? A spark working for the Other?”

“Yes.” The girl said with such surety that Klaus stopped. Horror.

“No.”

“Yes. Sparks can be slaved. I don’t have any proof other than the fact Uncle Barry was very convinced.”

“I’ll need more than that to go on.” Klaus grumbled as he couldn’t help but start looking around the lab. The devices here Mostly Lucrezia’s own personal work. He started looking things over as they talked, despite himself getting distracted by what he was looking at. The actual notes were nowhere to be seen, but he knew Lucrezia, had seen her work from start to finish.

This was a mind transfer device, and that.

He looked at… Agatha. “You said she was trying to steal your body.”

“Yeah, until Uncle Barry rescued me. The Geisterdamen haven’t given up. You heard all those missing young woman sparks? That’s their work. They kidnap anyone they can get and stuff them into the machine. To try and find someone that it can work on since they lost me.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because that’s what they wanted from me since I was born. I was born to be nothing but a new body for my mother Klaus. It’s one of the reasons I hate her so much. She was planning to kill me before I was ever born. It’s why I will ruin her, whether it’s her name, or the Other. I’ll destroy every plan she ever has. Every plot and scheme. I’ll tear them all down one by one.”

He could… Almost respect that.

“Your appearance. Has been unexpected. It’s caused complications.”

“The Jagers, and of course everyone plotting. Yes I’m aware. I will be taking my Jagers back Herr Baron.” She said and this time there was none of the joking persona, no ‘Uncle Klaus.’ “They deserve to come home. To have a home. The fact that you banned them from their own home while also using my people. Demand after demand, is not something that I will forget so easily. No one. NO ONE. Hurts my people.”

They stared down at each other for a while, but then she smirked. “But I’m already getting my revenge. See I’m more than happy to sit back at home. Spend my days having fun, fixing and making things… While you have to run around and put out all the fires that my appearance has caused. I think I have you locked in pretty well Uncle Klaus. You hate this. Ruling. The constant idiotic trifles. It’s something you hate.”

Klaus felt his lips purse. “Everyone knows I hate this.”

“No, not at all. Most don’t understand. They think it’s a trick, or a mirage, A play where you claim to hate ruling but keep gobbling things up because of greed, but I know. I know people that actually know you. I’ve heard the stories. You hate it. I’d bet every day you wake up and have to force people to stop trying to destroy themselves and everyone around them is a day you loathe.”

“Your point?”

“See! I don’t have to do anything to get revenge on you for how you treated my Jagers! You’re already doing worse than anything I could do to yourself!”

It… Irritated him that the logic made sense, it was the exact sort of backwards logic that Heterodyne were known for. Damn. The girl's smirk was telling him everything he needed to know.

Heterodynes. Damn them all. Especially the good ones.

Of course it was at that moment that he realized while they’d been talking both of them had been pulling apart one of Lucrezia’s devices. The Mind machine transference.

“This part right here. She didn’t have a copy of herself stored, but I can tell. She made this with the plan of being able to store a copy of herself in it. See?”

“I do.” He grumbled looking over the innards of the device… The girl was talented, he realized. Not just a spark, but a Spark. The sort that was born into the Heterodynes all the time. A true and wondrous talent.

A monster in a girl's skin.

“You’re too dangerous.”

“People say the same thing about you, but you know the difference between us and them? I don’t have any interest in ruling, or dealing with idiots that think being sneaky is the height of fashion. It’s wonderful isn’t it? To deal with someone that just says what they want? That’s the sort of Heterodyne I’m going to be.”

“A blunt brick?”

“THE Blunt Brick.” She countered. “Every sneaky planner is going to meet me and come away desperate to find my angle, even after I tell them my intentions directly. Every time they’ll think that I’m tricking them. Liars think everyone is a liar. I hate the sneaky ones. Like my Mother. So I’m not going to do it. I’m going to simply bulldoze through all of it. I took the idea from you. Isn’t that basically what you did Uncle Klaus when you conquered everyone. I’m just doing it with all the politics.” She teased.

Teased.

She couldn’t honestly be telling… She was. But he could never accept it. He stared down at those green eyes and realized that this girl was going to be a thorn in his ass. She was right.

He couldn’t trust she was telling the truth, So she could tell him the truth without concern, and he’d always be wondering if she was lying now. If she was tricking him now.

He stood up, and a heavy hand ran across his face. This was… Just like a Heterodyne.

“Ah see! It’s already working! Isn’t it fun! Aren’t you so glad, I’m going to be so useful Uncle Klaus. An easy solution to so many problems! A reliable trustworthy ally against all the idiots? All you have to do? Is interact with me. Hehehahah-Mwahahahahaha!”

Evil. She was evil.

—--

They were sitting upstairs having lunch, the examination of Lucrezia’s lab hadn’t taught him much new, but… He had more pieces of the puzzle than he had before. Just like Agatha had told him.

“Don’t like Snails?”

“I never developed a taste for them.” he denied even as the good guest he ate the damn snail.

Mechanicsburg!

“And what exactly is your plan Lady Heterodyne, regarding Europa? The Pax Transylvania? You’ve told me some of your intentions, but not whether you would-”

“Oh that’s easy. I’m going to keep repairing and upgrading my Town. Until nothing can ever hope to bother me. Then I’ll get to enjoy building things, making something new, research, development, refinement! It’ll be so fun. And your Pax? Yeah whatever it’s fine. You see, I don’t need to start any trouble. I’m a Heterodyne. Trouble will come to me. I’ll have all the excuses I could ever want to head out and ruin the fools that dare think they can challenge me!”

She burst into laughter that reminded Klaus a bit too much of Lucrezia for any comfort.

“You… Will accept the Pax?” He repeated because a clear answer was best.

“Of course! Oh I’ve learned quite a bit from you Uncle Klaus, you want to know my secret plan for having lots of fun? Hang on I told Carson to have them made for me. I’m going to send them to every spark in Europa, just like you did.” She grinned far too much like a Jager as she pulled out a card and offered it to him.

Considering what he had dealt with so far, he feared what it would say.

He looked it over.

“Pfft.” He actually laughed, and then had to stop himself as he realized what he had done.

“I thought you might like it.”

“This is not going to work.”

“I disagree! It’s better than yours! See I think that’s the problem with your proclamation. It sounds like you don’t want to actually ‘go over there.’ So some of the Sparks think they can get away with minor stuff. I won’t have that problem. Because I’m daring them to give me an excuse!”

He looked at the card.

Please, give me an excuse to come over there.
-Agatha Heterodyne (Bored Heterodyne)

He offered her the card back and she waved him off. “Keep it.” She said and there was an undertone that Klaus realized.

The card was meant for him too.

What an utterly infuriating girl.

Bill would have loved her though.

—--

I watched the Barons broad back head back towards his smaller ship to head back to his castle. He’d be back tomorrow, but with the sun setting we decided to break here.

I expected I’d have diplomats bothering me over the next few days, but I’d throw Carson and Vanamonde at them to deal with.

I’d already told Carson my intentions, and he’d make sure it was conveyed.

Of course I was also waiting on my Jagers, which Klaus had very pointedly told me had been put on slower ships while he went ahead.

It was kinda funny that he was trying to attack me with honesty, which was my schtick.

The difference was that I believed him, and he still didn’t believe me.

What an awkward relationship. Adam and Lilith did not want the Baron around. Uncle Barry's warning made them fearful no matter what I said.

They’d never trust him, not without much firmer proof. Like Barry coming back and saying Klaus wasn’t working for the Other.

For me, I don’t think he was slaved yet. Maybe he’d avoid it, but either way he was handled for now. Time was all I needed, time to develop my skills and my foundations.

Today had been a good day. I’d even consider his offer to go onto Castle Wulfenbach. I mean, I won’t do it until I have a horde of Jagers to go with me. Ones that knew the Castle and knew how to get me out if needed.

I trusted Klaus, but I didn’t ‘trust’ Klaus.

The man was ruthless.

Hopefully I’d convinced him at least partially that I wasn’t his enemy.

Also hopefully someone would be stupid and would accept the implicit challenge in my card. I’d already had them mailed out when I saw the Castle on the horizon.

Please come and attack me. I DARE YOU.