The Pauper Princess and the Way of the Trilobite - Part 5
Part four is here.
What: a fanfiction for Girl Genius, featuring my literary stand-in and stunt double Mara
Time: still approximately four months after the events of The Pauper Princess and the Born Legacy
The story so far!
--Agatha and Mara had a bit of a royal tour and royal row
Legal disclaimer stuff:
"This story is not approved by, sponsored by or affiliated with Studio Foglio LLC or Airship Entertainment."
The Pauper Princess Fanfiction Theatre Presents:
The Pauper Princess and the Way of the Trilobite - Part 5!
Mara stepped into the family's private exercise room. It was situated at ground level and within easy walking distance of her workshop. The room was of an impressive size, allowing for equipment both standard and Spark-customized, plus an open area for freeform movement, stretching, even a bit of sparring.
She pulled a one-piece, snug exercise outfit from her locker and changed into it from her dress. She removed her wedding and betrothal rings and placed them on her locker's top shelf, pulled on her sturdy boots and fingerless gloves, and tied her hair back. It was quiet in here. It helped her to focus. She stood and did some basic arm and spine stretches, then opened a panel on the wall and fiddled with some controls.
A mechanized voice droned over the room's speakers, warning about safety protocols being disabled and urging the room's occupants to reset them, due to the risk of severe injury or even death. The message was repeated as several doors slid open at the opposite end of the room. Eight clanks designed by Mara herself for sparring marched out of their storage room and spread out in the open area. Under normal circumstances she and Heather squared off against up to two each to sharpen their reflexes and keep up their respective unarmed combat skills.
Mara cracked her knuckles and shook her arms and shoulders to loosen up. The mechanized voice droned its warning message one last time, and all of the clanks snapped at once into fighting positions. Mara kept her arms loose at her side. Her pupils fluttered as if trying to decide what size they should be, before settling into the dilation that signaled her Madness.
The clanks closest to her lunged forward. With the safeties off, every strike that connected had the potential to be lethal, and was intended to be.
Three clanks surrounded her and attacked at once. The others would join as soon as there was an opening. In an instant Mara went from relaxed to a blur of motion: dodging, parrying, deflecting, blocking whatever they threw, and, as her father had taught her, always counterattacking simultaneously.
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Violetta sat in her mistress' motorcycle side-car and decided not to inform her Lady that she was still quite visible in the woods while doing her "business." Much easier to keep an eye on potential danger this way. They had made it halfway to Mechanicsburg until Agatha's failure to "go" before going had caught up with her. Now the motorcycle was parked slightly off-road while Her Ladyship Most High tried to avoid stinging nettles while relieving herself.
Violetta adjusted her riding scarf and goggles when her Lady returned. Agatha threw her right leg into position and unintentionally jostled the vehicle enough to dislodge some items in a saddlebag. She pushed the loose items down, until happening to grab her own "talkbox." That thing that Mara had made for long-distance communication. She stared at it for probably longer than was her intention, and then, rather than stuff it down deep into the saddlebag, dropped it into one of the small packs on her belt. She adjusted her own scarf and started rolling the motorcycle onto the road proper, then jumped up for the kick-start. The engine roared to life, but instead of revving the motor and peeling away, she let the vehicle idle a while, then shut it off.
"What?" she said.
Violetta looked around but saw nothing suspicious. "Me? I didn't say anything."
"Just say what's on your mind and get it over with."
"I'm..." said Violetta. She propped up her goggles. "I wasn't going to say anything. It's not my business."
"Good," said Agatha. "Because I don't want to talk about it."
"All right, then. Glad we agree."
Agatha grunted. She put her goggles in place, grabbed the handlebars, stepped up to kick start again... then slumped into her seat. "Violetta, I thought I'd be able to count on her," she said.
"Oh, boy..."
"I guess I was too deluded to realize," said Agatha, "That I couldn't count on her to pass marmalade! How can somebody live like that? How can somebody be so willfully-- stubbornly-- obtuse! So naive and-and--" She shuddered violently in frustration. "It would kill me if something happened to them all, yet it would be of their own making!"
"Well!" said Violetta, clasping her hands together, "Now that you've gotten that out of your system, let's-"
"Is it too much to ask?" said Agatha. Violetta wasn't certain if her Lady was addressing her, or herself. "Were my hopes too high? Is it crazy that I had this-- wild, insane idea that maybe... maybe we'd make a great, adventuring team someday? Inspire new stories as the Heterodyne Girls? Or am I just as stuck in my own ridiculous fantasy world as she is?"
"Maybe," said Violetta. "Oh, I can speak now, right?"
"You always could."
"...Right," said Violetta. "First, I can count on one finger the number of family members that I can depend on. One bent finger, so I don't know much about 'counting on family.' And I can't say that I really get their happy-happy joy-joy pacifism, either, but..."
"...But?"
"Oh, boy," Violetta sighed. "I can't believe that I'm saying this - keep in mind that it's me, my Lady, but... I think you were too hard on her."
Agatha scoffed. "Then I really don't want to talk about it."
"Hey, you dragged me into this kicking and screaming, so here it is: I don't know if you noticed the subtle-as-a-brick behavior, but she idolizes you. Or maybe that's past-tense at this point, but still, she was hanging on your every word, practically begging for any pat on the head or 'attagirl' she could get from you. Now I understand your disappointment that she's late on her, uh... assignment, but I don't think you really needed to shatter her world in the process. Now, I'm guessing that you set-- really, really-- high standards because she's a Heterodyne - so we've heard - but... wow."
Agatha had no reply. She stared straight ahead and gripped the motorcycle's handlebars tightly, twisting them as though revving the motor, though it was not running now.
"That's all I've got," said Violetta. "Onward to Mechanicsburg? Please? I'm getting a bit peckish and there's a roasted wyvern on a stick with my name on it!" She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
"If she 'idolizes' me," said Agatha quietly, "Why didn't she do what I say?"
"Not my business," said Violetta. "And you know I'm not some doting acolyte that agrees with everything you say. For instance, I disagree that we're sitting here talking and not on our way home. Personally I don't think that woman's worth all this anguish. But you know what is? Taking me dress-shopping tomorrow for Zeetha's wedding!"
"Ohh, yes," said Agatha, perking up. "At House of Nikola. But you know, I really like your blue dress. Why not wear that? You've only worn it once? Twice?"
Violetta cocked an eyebrow. "My blue dress," she said flatly. "The one that the Princess gave me."
Agatha thought a moment, then remembered and shook her fists. "Gyahh!!" she said. "Never mind! You definitely need something new."
She jumped up and kick-started the engine, hopefully for the final time that evening, and revved the motor. She was just about to set the first gear, but felt Violetta tugging on her sleeve. "Whoa! Whoa!" she was yelling over the noise. Agatha left the engine idling this time.
"Oh, come on!"
"Can't you feel that, my Lady?" said Violetta, rubbing along her arms. Puzzled, Agatha did the same, and realized that there was a charge in the air causing her hairs to stand up. The massive mane on her head was starting to react as well, with the hairs beginning to repel each other. Agatha looked up, but saw no clouds, no obvious cause for this static electricity.
"Is it from this?" said Violetta, pointing to the motorcycle. Agatha shut off the motor, but the tingling continued. It was growing, in fact. A discharge was imminent, and sitting on a big metal vehicle was not the best place to be for it.
"Violetta, we need to-"
"My Lady!" cried Violetta, tugging quite violently now and pointing to the sky behind them. Agatha turned, looked up, and went wide-eyed.
They were looking at-- something, but what it was was not easily discerned. That something was very large, in the air, and was using some manner of device that rendered it almost - but not quite - invisible. There was a distortion along the edges as it moved, allowing the women to determine from its shape that somebody's airship loomed above. An airship using sound dampeners that all but sucked the noise from the very forest, until even the high chirping of birds became a low drone. And something in that ship was emitting electrical static that raised the hackles on their necks.
"Oh, no," Agatha whispered , and started and revved the motor for all it was worth.
"Punch it!! Go!! Go!!" yelled Violetta. There was no argument from Agatha. The tires spun in place for a full second before finally grabbing the dirt and jolting them forward. On open, flat terrain it could reach over 120 kilometers per hour, but on this narrow, winding, dirt road, it was all she could do to keep it at half that speed without making a fatal mistake.
Violetta caught her Lady trying to sneak peeks over her shoulder. "Eyes on the road!" she snapped. "Let me deal with it!"
"It's an airship!" Agatha called back. "We should be able to outrun it!"
"Well, we're not!"
"What??"
"It's keeping up just fine, my Lady!" yelled Violetta. "Stop distracting yourself and pour on the speed!"
The road reached a point where there was a long stretch of a straight path, allowing Agatha to, indeed, pour on the speed. Violetta dared not take her eyes off the thing shadowing them.
"We're pulling ahead!" she said. "If you can add even more, great, but if not, keep up this speed as long as you can!"
Violetta looked ahead and rummaged through her own saddlebag for anything that could be hurled at the airship and, if not damage it, at least impede its progress somehow. She found a nice smoke bomb and primed it, then turned back to hurl it.
She let out a startled yelp as the distorted edges of the airship were back, and even nearer than before. It showed no signs of struggling to keep up with them. Having already primed the bomb, Violetta had no choice but to toss it as hard as she could. It hit what seemed to be a bottom edge, and rather than bounce away, exploded immediately. Unfortunately, the smoke that should have spread out was sucked in to- somewhere - and cleared up almost immediately.
An amplified voice came from the airship. "This has been fun, ladies," said a familiar, creepily cheerful voice, "But time to bring in today's catch!"
"I don't think so," Agatha muttered to herself, and flipped a few switches on the handlebars. Violetta leaned away as two missiles suddenly shot from the back of the vehicle and flew at an upward angle. She watched as the two missiles hit a distorted edge, and seemed to vibrate violently before imploding in on themselves.
"Was there any damage?" Agatha yelled back.
"I-- I don't think so," said Violetta. "But they did make contact! They just didn't do anything!"
"Curses!" yelled Agatha. "I forgot about the shielding! Where is she getting that tech??"
"Who cares?? Drive!!"
It was not in Agatha's nature to take the straight and narrow path. If given a choice, she would almost always take the third, fourth or fifth option. Unfortunately, this back-road shortcut to Mechanicsburg, picked to get away from Guildern as quickly as possible, was thick with forest on either side and too winding and narrow to affect any sudden, dramatic moves such as dodging wildly or sudden, 180-degree turns to throw off their pursuers. Their best chance was to put the pedal to the metal and get to the safety of Mechanicsburg asap.
Violetta strained to hear what seemed like the whistling of something being dropped from up high. Unfortunately those cursed sound dampeners made it a near-impossibility to tell. Suddenly the road ahead was struck by a small canister. Plumes of white smoke spewed forth. Violetta took the quickest, deepest breath she could in the time allowed and covered her mouth and nose with her scarf. Agatha had no such option, needing to keep both hands firmly on the handlebars.
Three more thumps in rapid succession, and the road turned white with a 50-meter-long plume of C-gas. Agatha tried to suck in air ahead of time and hold her breath, but enough gas got into her lungs to make her eyes start blurring, her body start leaning forward, her grip faltering, her direction unsteady. Violetta stood up just enough to reach the handlebars and tried to steady them, but was pushed away by her own mistress' nearly-unconscious body.
"No, No, NO, fight it, my Lady! Fight it!" yelled Violetta, even knowing it was useless to do so. One does not "fight" the effects of C-gas if enough of it has been breathed in. They were almost through the gas, they were almost through the gas-
Violetta heard a soft "THRUP" from behind, and cried out in anguish as a harpoon-like device, attached to a rope, wrapped itself instantly around Agatha's middle, then yanked her up and back. Violetta tried to turn with it and leap in time to grab hold, but she was left with empty hands and could only watch helplessly as her Lady was pulled up, then away through a distorted edge, and was visible no more. So great was her despair that she temporarily forgot that the motorcycle was still racing helter-skelter and driverless on an uneven dirt road. She turned back around in a daze, saw the large rock directly ahead, and managed to leap clear a nanosecond before the vehicle's front wheel smacked into it, sending it tumbling over and over itself before smashing into a mangled heap in the bushes.
Violetta had no time to make her jump neat, directed or graceful. She started to curl into a ball, but hit a tree branch with her leg before finishing the move. That sent her roll out of control; she landed awkwardly and painfully on a "bed" of rocks, branches, brambles and part of a briar patch. After a few seconds, she groaned and made herself roll onto her back, and prayed to herself that the airship was still close. If only she could-
The sound dampeners were not enough this time to mask the whistle of something being dropped from the belly of the ship. Violetta's eyes went wide, and adrenalin alone fueled her mad scramble to find cover from the descending bomb. She had just reached the edge of a tree when the explosion happened. It was far enough away not to instantly burst her eardrums, but near enough that the shock wave launched her up and back, smashing her hard against a tree. The shock wave pinned her temporarily against it, and after it subsided, gravity took over, and she slid down, backside first. Unable to effect any kind of protective position, she fell limply to the ground and rolled away from the tree. Her hair caught on a branch as she rolled along. It was only her smoke knight-trained reflexes that allowed her to throw out an arm in time to stop her body from continuing the roll when her head could not. Or only just. She heard - and felt - a crunch in her neck.
Her momentum finally stopped, and she was on her back. Her head lolled to the side. Violetta immediately began running tests on herself. She could still breathe. She could still see. She could still hear. She could wiggle her fingers, her toes... no, just on one foot. A broken leg made those toes too painful to flex. And worst of all, it was imperative now that she absolutely not move her neck. Not even a millimeter. She dared not shudder in pain. She dared not speak. She wanted to dare not cry, but her body would do what it would do. Her eyes welled up with salty water and poured it down her face. All she could do now was despair, and think this one thought before the pain overwhelmed her senses and blackness came:
Failed you...
Part six is here.