Gilgamesh Wulfenbach and the Men of Letters 13/18
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Chapter 13
Monster Mash
Sam walked over to Wooster as the air shuttle flew toward Castle Wulfenbach. “What was all that about?”
Wooster raised an eyebrow. “What, with Dolokhov?”
“Yeah.”
“He happened to be present when I let myself into the Jäger generals’ meeting to warn them of the late baron’s plans to destroy Castle Heterodyne and kill Lady Heterodyne. In other circumstances, they could easily have killed him as a threat to her. I didn’t think about that until it was too late. So I’ve paid that debt now, and given him something to puzzle on into the bargain.”
“Mm. More like burning coals, probably.”
“Well, we may never be friends, but we’re hardly enemies. Still, as you say.”
“Haven’t had much chance to make that work for us, but most of our enemies aren’t human anyway. At least until we got here.”
“Yes, so I gather. And it’s humans you’ll have to watch out for here, especially after this incident. It couldn’t be helped, but now you’ll have the Knights of Jove curious, at best. And they’re not wrong about the Men of Letters. I had been counting on the dearth of information in Europa about America for cover, but now....”
“We can prove Barry Heterodyne knew about us. I’m sure there are Winchesters mentioned in his journal, and... what name did Gadreel take?”
“Haggerty.”
Sam nodded slowly. “Haggerty was the Man of Letters who spent the last years of his career trying to find Dorothy after she disappeared with the Wicked Witch.” At Wooster’s confused frown, Sam shook his head. “Never mind. Point is, he’s probably mentioned in Barry’s journal, too. So we can at least make it look like Barry knew us personally.”
Wooster raised an eyebrow. “If you’re given the chance.”
Sam huffed and smiled. “If we aren’t, I’ll be surprised.”
The shuttle docked just then, and as soon as everyone got off, Gil sent Wooster and Higgs “to check on that experiment I left running” (meaning, Sam assumed, the Frankenstein-esque humanoid constructs he’d seen briefly in the secret lab). The rest of the group headed toward a part of the ship Sam hadn’t seen before, with Dolokhov and Gil getting updates on the revolts further afield as they walked and both Agatha and Krosp chiming in with strategy suggestions. Actually, it looked like the Jägers, Zeetha, and Dean all had ideas as well, but either they couldn’t get a word in edgewise or someone else made the same suggestion before they could. And when that was taken care of, Gil and Agatha started talking about the preliminary treaty and whether it should be made permanent or renegotiated after peace was restored, and Sam stole a glance at Dean just as Dean’s eyes glazed over.
Sam was about to ask Gil whether Higgs and Wooster might need the Winchesters’ help when Gadreel appeared in the middle of the hallway, directly in front of Gil and Agatha. The whole group stopped short, and Dolokhov swore in Russian.
“Please forgive the intrusion, Gilgamesh,” Gadreel said. “Tarvek has called the Knights of Jove to council and wishes Sam and Dean to join them. He believes there may be questions about the Men of Letters, and he would not ask me to lie about what I do not know.”
“I suppose he is smarter than he looks,” Gil replied. “But it’s up to the Winchesters. They’re not mine to command, although we don’t particularly need them for this.”
Dean shrugged, so Sam said, “Sure, we’ll come. Could you go back to Mechanicsburg, though, and get Barry Heterodyne’s journal? Cas said they’d brought a copy.”
Gadreel bowed slightly and left, then reappeared a moment later next to Sam and handed him the journal. He waited just long enough for Sam to tuck the journal into his coat before flying both brothers back down to Sturmhalten Castle, landing with the three of them standing next to Tarvek’s chair at the front of a large meeting room. Only about half of the seats were filled with men wearing white and gold, and maybe a quarter of the men present had hair the same color as Tarvek’s. Most of them were startled.
“I say!” exclaimed one man. “Most impressive, chaps! Was it done with magnets? I’ve a theory-”
“Wolkerstorfer,” Tarvek interrupted.
Wolkerstorfer didn’t seem fazed. “Oh, but science-”
“Can wait, my lord count. Maganox questioned the existence of the Men of Letters. I don’t want any of you making the same fatal mistake. That’s why I’ve asked these men to join us. May I present Mr. Sam Winchester, Mr. Dean Winchester, and Mr. Gadreel Haggerty from America. Gentlemen, the Knights of Jove, or at least a part of them.”
“No, it’s not done with magnets,” Dean stated. “It’s done with mirrors.”
Count Wolkerstorfer looked disappointed.
“All right, you got questions, ask ’em.”
“That badge of yours,” said another man, adjusting his glasses and peering at Dean’s lapel. “The, er....”
“Aquarian Star,” Sam supplied. “It’s the symbol of the Men of Letters.”
“And what are the Men of Letters? You’re all sparks, I suppose.”
“Some of us are, and some of us aren’t,” Dean answered. “Plenty of smart people don’t have the Spark.”
“And intelligence alone isn’t sufficient for what we do,” Sam added. “Even sparks don’t always have what it takes.”
“Yes, what do you do?” asked a third man.
“We’re preceptors, beholders, chroniclers of all that man does not understand.”
“It’s a secret society,” Dean continued, “and its existence has been a closely guarded secret for generations. We didn’t know about it until our grandfather filled us in. We’re legacies-but there’s only a handful of other members, and only a couple of people beyond that who know we exist. Most Americans haven’t even heard of us.”
“But Barry Heterodyne had.” Sam produced the journal, showing the embossed trilobite on the cover plainly, and the knights either sat up straighter or raised eyebrows or leaned forward. “In fact, he left us this journal when he came back to the States after the war with The Other.”
“How do we know that’s Heterodyne’s journal?” someone further back asked. “How do we know you’re not just making things up?”
On a hunch, Sam handed the journal to Gadreel, who opened it and began to read. “‘Haggerty has asked for more particulars about the Dyne. Unfortunately, the castle had some significant differences of opinion with Bill and me, so many of its secrets were withheld from us, including the location of the Dyne’s source and what is done with the energy it generates. Winchester speculates that the water may be radioactive, given its mutagenic properties, but of course we have no way to test that hypothesis here, nor does it explain other tales I have heard growing up in Mechanicsburg.’” Gadreel turned the journal around and held it up for everyone else to see. “If you know Lord Heterodyne’s handwriting, you can see this is no forgery.”
A couple of the older knights got up to come examine the journal and hemmed and hawed for a moment before pronouncing it definitely Barry Heterodyne’s handwriting. Some of the others looked considerably happier about that than others did. Dean crossed his arms and smirked.
“I still find it difficult to believe that no one’s heard of you,” said one of the more skeptical knights as the older knights sat down again.
“Well, hell,” Dean returned, “when’s the last time someone from Europa actually made it to the US?”
The knights exchanged uncertain looks.
“The last was Barry Heterodyne,” Tarvek stated. “Before that, the Heterodyne Boys were the first in a very long time-in fact, I don’t think anyone had managed it since the time of the Storm King.” He shot the Winchesters a sidelong look. “When the American colonies declared their independence, there was little Albia could do about it, considering that she had her hands full with the Long War.”
That... explained a lot about Wooster’s reaction to Kevin’s copy of the Declaration of Independence, actually, and also about why people kept calling Queen Albia Her Undying Majesty. When things were calmer, Sam was definitely going to have to dig into a history book to find out just how different things were in this world and just how old Queen Albia really was.
“I keep telling you,” Wolkerstorfer piped up, “with a big enough magnet-”
“Oh, shut up,” said the man next to him.
“But how did the Heterodynes know about this society,” pressed the skeptical knight, “if its existence is such a closely-guarded secret?”
“I told you,” Dean replied. “We’re legacies.”
There was a pause while the knights filled in the gaps, or at least tried to.
“We’re descended from the Ht’rok-din’s second son,” Sam lied. “Our grandfather never told us exactly how he made contact with the Heterodyne Boys, but clearly he felt they deserved to share in that legacy with the rest of our side of the family.”
“Barry also made sure we had a way to get here if Agatha ever needed us,” Dean added. “And she did, so here we are.”
“Are you?” one of the other skeptical knights taunted, getting up and coming toward them. “How do we know you’re not a projection or some other sort of illusion? I don’t think you’re even real humans at all!” He took a swing at Dean-and almost before Sam could blink, Dean had the guy on the ground, immobilized and with his head in Dean’s hands.
“Real enough for you,” Dean growled, “or am I gonna have to snap your neck?”
“Yes! Yes!” the knight panted, panicking. “I yield!”
Dean’s lip curled, but he let the knight up, though not without ‘accidentally’ booting the guy in the ribs as he stood.
“That was uncalled for,” Tarvek chided, though Sam suspected he didn’t actually mean it.
“Gettin’ sick o’ people tryin’ to kill us,” Dean snarled, returning to his place. “Reminds me of Purgatory. Except there, the monsters actually attack you directly-none of this poisoning, backstabbing, bomb-planting business.”
“Pretty sad when a vampire’s more of a man than a knight is,” Sam remarked, mostly to see who flinched. Several of the skeptical knights did, but so did some of the knights who’d managed to project an air of disinterest and neutrality on the whole question of the Men of Letters’ existence. And Sam was reasonably sure Tarvek noticed.
All Tarvek said, however, was, “Well, I believe I’ve kept you gentlemen away from Lady Heterodyne long enough. Thank you for coming, and I’ll be seeing you this afternoon.”
Sam and Dean nodded, and Gadreel handed the journal back to Sam before flying the brothers back to Castle Wulfenbach. They landed in a luridly decorated meeting room, where Gil, Agatha, and the Jäger generals were studying a map that was spread out on the conference table in the middle of the room.
“No, I think Gil’s right,” Agatha was saying. “The Jägers are meant for the front lines, and so far there’s nobody left under Sturmhalten for you to fight. I think our best bet is going to be clanks equipped with cameras and some sort of wireless feed back to a display in a command center either on or above the surface.”
“On,” Gil decided, “and as close to one of the tunnel entrances as we can manage. If Tarvek doesn’t want it in the palace, we can set up in the courtyard outside the prison. But since we don’t know how far the tunnels extend, there’s no sense stretching the wireless range too far.”
“Makes sense,” Dean agreed, startling Gil and Agatha. “Either of you ever made a cathode ray tube before?”
“No,” they chorused.
“All right, you two work on the clank. I’ll build the monitors.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “CRT? Seriously?”
Dean snorted. “You think I can make liquid crystal here, dude?”
“No, I’m just... surprised you even know how to make a CRT.”
“Haven’t exactly made one from scratch before. But remember that summer I worked at the TV repair shop?”
“Oh, yeah. That was a lifetime ago.”
“Well, at least I’ve got experience fixing the things, so I know how they go together. Trick’s gonna be getting the vacuum low enough.”
Sam turned to Gadreel. “And that’s our cue to hang out somewhere else for a while.”
Gadreel smiled, and everyone else laughed.
Then Gen. Khrizhan checked his watch. “Ektually, Hy tink ve better hef zum lonch bevor anyvun buildz anyting.”
Gil nodded. “And after lunch, Sam, I’d appreciate it if you’d join Higgs and Wooster. They may need an extra pair of hands to get Punch and Judy ready for transport.” And you already know where the lab is remained unspoken.
Sam nodded. “Sure, that’s no problem.”
Gen. Goomblast went to the door to order lunch brought in, along with Zeetha, Violetta, Krosp, and the other Jägers. Sam, Dean, and Gadreel briefed the others on what had happened with the Knights of Jove while they waited for the food to arrive. Over lunch, Gil and Agatha returned the favor with regard to the preliminary treaty, the most immediately relevant provisions of which were that the Jägers were going to remain seconded to the Wulfenbach army and that certain projects like an asylum for truly certifiable sparks and a breeding and research center for the Vespiary Squad would be officially sanctioned by the empire but built in Mechanicsburg. That led to some wacky story swapping, especially involving wasp eaters-Theo and Sleipnir had gotten stampeded by the Mechanicsburg weasels, among other incidents-and by the end of the meal, even Gadreel, who didn’t laugh, still looked as highly amused as everyone else.
The hilarity was cut short by Dolokhov’s arrival with Tarvek and a couple of Smoke Knights in tow. “I’m glad someone’s having fun,” Tarvek grumbled. “I’ve still got about thirty of Lucrezia’s loyalists in the Order to ferret out-we had to kill five more before the meeting was over. At least von Bulen managed to rally the rest to my cause by pointing out that the late baron had acknowledged me publicly, and I did convince them to swear a greater oath rejecting Lucrezia than they’d sworn when Father made them agree to serve her.”
“Do you expect an attack?” Gil asked.
Tarvek sighed and sat down. “Yes and no. Depends on whether Leopold listens to Grandma-I’m sure she’ll want everyone behind me, whatever Grandfather thinks. What’s more worrying is that Seffie wasn’t there.”
“Seffie?”
“Xerxsephina von Blitzengaard,” Violetta supplied. “Martellus’ sister. Which reminds me, where are we burying his casket?”
Tarvek shrugged. “I’ll send a hearse tomorrow to take it to the Refuge of Storms. They can decide what to do with it.”
“Speaking of burials,” Dolokhov spoke up, “I’m afraid Wulfenbach is too ruined to be a suitable resting place for the baron. Lady Heterodyne has agreed to give him a space in the Mechanicsburg crypt.”
“I thought we’d have the funeral on Thursday,” Agatha added, “if that’s all right with you, Gil.”
Gil nodded. “Thanks. We should probably let Boris handle all the details with Father Yglyn. You’ll come, won’t you?” he asked Tarvek.
“Of course,” Tarvek replied. “It would be churlish of me not to.”
“And you’re welcome to stay in Castle Heterodyne,” Agatha added.
The Smoke Knights gasped in horror.
“It’s not that dangerous, now that it’s repaired,” Tarvek assured them.
“But Your Highness... you... you can’t!” one of the Smoke Knights stammered.
“Oh, can’t I? The castle knows me; it’s not going to hurt me.”
“But we have strict orders-”
“Orders from whom? I have officially succeeded my father, in case you’ve been asleep all morning!”
“Orders from your grandfather! No one is to enter Castle Heterodyne until you are acknowledged as the Storm King!”
Gil cleared his throat. “Maybe you should stay here while conducting business in Mechanicsburg, or else fly back to Sturmhalten every night. We won’t need the Smoke Knights to follow you into Castle Heterodyne for strategy meetings, but I hardly think it’s worth a mutiny over where you’ll sleep.”
Tarvek huffed. “Oh, very well.”
“Of course, Sturmhalten’s only an hour by ground, the way Dean drives....”
“Do I look like a chauffeur?” Dean jabbed.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Actually, in that suit-”
“Shut up, Sam.”
Sam chuckled. “Shutting up and getting out, unless you need me to stay, Gil.”
Gil smiled and shook his head. “No, I think Higgs and Wooster should be just about ready for you.”
“Boyz?” Gen. Khrizhan prompted.
The three junior Jägers stood at the same time Sam did, and so did Violetta.
Dimo turned to the Smoke Knights then. “Dey dun need uz for dis,” he said, spreading-both arms. Sam hadn’t noticed the mechanical prosthetic before. “Ve vait in de hall, yah?”
“Erm,” said the second Smoke Knight.
“Please do,” said Tarvek.
“Yes, Your Highness,” both Smoke Knights chorused and allowed the Jägers to herd them out of the room.
Sam and Violetta followed, but while Violetta sat down outside the door, Sam caught a passing airman’s attention and got directions back to the Winchesters’ quarters. Once there, he changed out of his suit and into clothes he could potentially get gunky, checked in with a very anxious Baby and left her reassured, and found his way to Gil’s secret lab.
“Ah, Winchester!” Wooster called as Sam walked in. “Master Gil sent you to help, did he?”
“He did,” Sam confirmed. “Said you might need an extra pair of hands.”
“We might well. We do have Zoing, but certain tasks may take a bit more dexterity than he can manage.”
“Zk,” Zoing... agreed? Sam wasn’t sure. In any case, Zoing was out of the way on one of the two cots that were standing near the giant glass vessels Higgs and Wooster were tending. On closer inspection, each cot had a stretcher on top of it; given the need to carry the patients out through an electrical access hatch, that made more sense than a wheeled gurney.
“All right,” said Sam, stopping at the foot of the other cot. “What do you need me to do?”
“For the moment, just watch,” Wooster replied. “We’re about to decant these two, but we’ll likely need your help to get them out of the healing chambers.”
Sam nodded, and Wooster made one final check of the dials on each chamber before opening a valve that allowed the fluid in which the constructs were suspended to drain out slowly. As the last of the fluid drained away, Higgs opened another valve to spray rinse water over each patient, then flipped a switch to turn on a fan that gently dried their hair and skin.
“Now comes the hard part,” said Wooster, moving a ladder over and climbing up to unbolt the top of the male construct’s chamber. “Punch, in particular, is quite heavy-I’ve no idea how Master Gil got him in here while I was gone.”
“You chaps see to Mr. Punch,” Higgs ordered. “I’ll see to Miss Judy.”
Sam glanced over at that point and finally realized that both constructs were stark naked. He cleared his throat and looked back at Wooster. “That’s fine with me.”
Zoing brought over a second ladder for Higgs, and between them they got both Punch and Judy out of the tanks and onto the stretchers.
“They’re not injured,” Wooster explained as Sam helped him wrestle a pair of boxers onto Punch. “At least, they’re not injured now. But they will be quite weak for several days still.”
Sam frowned. “What happened to them?”
“They were trying to help Lady Heterodyne escape the baron’s custody. One of the baron’s other constructs killed them.”
Sam blinked at him, then looked back down at Punch, who was quite clearly breathing just fine on his own. “What-then how-”
“Master Gil has studied under Dr. Sun,” Wooster answered and shook out a blanket. “He’s one of the best, if I may say so. He’s a doctor twice over, you know-medicine and electrical engineering.”
“Huh. In our world, you usually have to make a crossroads deal for this sort of thing.”
“Crossroads? As in-”
“Yeah. Demon.”
Wooster inhaled sharply and shook his head before spreading the blanket over Punch.
“Ready over here,” Higgs reported as Zoing pulled another blanket up over Judy.
Just then Punch groaned and stirred.
Wooster put a hand on Punch’s shoulder. “Here, now. Easy, Mr. Clay.”
Punch’s eyes fluttered open, and he peered up at Wooster. “V-v-v-oos-ter?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve come back. Master Gil asked us to decant you and your wife.”
Punch looked at Sam and back at Wooster.
“This is Mr. Winchester, from America,” Wooster said. “He and his brother came to help Lady Heterodyne.”
Sam nodded when Punch looked at him again. “Hi.”
Punch nodded back and returned his attention to Wooster. “A-ga-tha?”
“She’s safe,” Wooster assured him. “The baron’s dead. Lady Heterodyne’s in a meeting with Master Gil at the moment, but we’re to send you back to Mechanicsburg with her shortly.”
Punch visibly relaxed at that. “Th-th-thank hyu.”
“To Mechanicsburg,” Judy repeated, and Sam looked over at her just as she looked up at Higgs. “She’s done it, then? She’s taken the castle?”
Higgs nodded. “She has, and repaired it into the bargain. But there, I’m sure she’ll want to tell you all about it herself when you’re up to hearing.”
“And you’re keeping an eye on young Wulfenbach for us?”
“That I am.”
She smiled. “You’re a good man, Axel. Thank you.”
Higgs gave her what could only be called a paternal smile and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Just rest now. I expect it won’t be more than a few hours.”
She nodded and closed her eyes.
Wooster caught Sam’s elbow and led him out into the hall. “They raised Lady Heterodyne,” he whispered once they were out of earshot. “Punch and Judy were the names the Heterodyne Boys gave them when they were first made, but in Beetleburg they were known as Adam and Lilith Clay.”
Sam grimaced. “I think Dean and I’d better stick with ‘Punch’ and ‘Judy.’ We had a half-brother named Adam, and I killed Lilith in our world-the demon, I mean.”
Wooster’s eyes went wide. “Great Scott! Master Castiel had said something about you being caught in a trap Lilith had set, but I never dreamed....”
“Yeah, killing Lilith was the last seal to open Lucifer’s Cage. Even Cas didn’t know until it was too late.”
“And his superiors wanted that?!”
“Some of them had this idea that God wanted them to jumpstart the Apocalypse that way. But they hadn’t figured on us,” Sam added with a smirk.
Wooster put a hand to his head. “And I thought this mess was bad.”
“It’s bad enough,” Sam admitted. “We don’t want it to get any worse. But yeah, we know what worse looks like by a few orders of magnitude.”
Wooster sighed heavily. “Well, worse is coming. I know Master Gil’s already dealing with the revolts; I don’t know whether the incident this morning with the Knights of Jove will help or hurt.”
“Tarvek’s mostly got the Knights of Jove under control. He says there are still thirty or so loyal to Lucrezia he needs to root out.”
“That means only that they’re now loyal to him. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stop trying to topple the empire. And Master Gil’s right; that’s the last thing Her Majesty wants. Weakened, certainly, but not gone. That would mean war-and war would make all Europa wish the baron still lived.”
“I don’t know how much we can help with that side of things,” Sam confessed. “But we’ll do what we can to help keep Lucrezia from being even more of a complication. We’ve got a line on where the beacon engine is, and as soon as we can capture it, we’ll work out how to get Lucrezia’s memories off of it.”
Wooster’s face lit up. “Good Lord. You really think you can?”
“Don’t know why not. Might take a while, but at least we’d be sure we weren’t about to be overrun with new Lucrezias while we work. And Tarvek’s got a formula that breaks the slaver wasps’ control of the revenants.”
Wooster jammed his hands into his hair, but given the way he was grinning, that was probably because he didn’t know whether to dance a jig or turn a cartwheel instead. “Why, that’s-that’s-Winchester, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day. I can’t even tell you.”
Sam smiled, but he was spared having to come up with an answer by the sudden appearance of Gadreel. “The briefing is over,” Gadreel announced, “and the Jäger generals have gone back to Sturmhalten with Tarvek to discuss troop placement should Prince Leopold attack. The other Jägers may not be happy about that, given their history, but they are already in Sturmhalten and thus are best placed to defend it. Gilgamesh and Agatha have gone to build the... MALP, I believe Dean called it?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe. It’s from Stargate. We’re planning to use those instead of the Jägers to finish exploring the tunnels under Sturmhalten,” he explained to Wooster.
“Ah,” said Wooster.
“Does Dean need my help with the monitors?” Sam asked Gadreel.
Gadreel shook his head. “Until the prototype is tested, there will be no need for more than one, and after, Gilgamesh has technicians who can replicate his work from diagrams. Agatha did ask, though, that you and Ardsley come with me to oversee the preparations for transporting her guardians back to Mechanicsburg-it should be a matter of only an hour or two.”
Wooster nodded. “Of course. I’ll just let Higgs know.” With that, he ducked back into the lab.
Sam blew the air out of his cheeks. “Dunno if I can get used to having this kind of support system. Normally we have to do everything ourselves.”
“It should never have been so,” Gadreel murmured, then sighed. “Sam, I truly am sorry that I tricked you into accepting possession again. I simply did not see another way.”
Sam grimaced. “I can’t say I wish you hadn’t saved my life. I just... wish you hadn’t lied. Wish Dean hadn’t lied. If I’d known what I was agreeing to and why, I might still have said yes. But at least it would have been my decision, not Dean’s.”
“Had there been time, had I been sure of your trust... but that is no excuse, I know.”
“Yeah, well.” Sam paused and managed to find the grace to continue. “Apology accepted.” He might not feel so forgiving if circumstances were different, but he genuinely didn’t remember any incidents where Gadreel had taken over to do anything but save a life.
Gadreel smiled a little. “Thank you.”
Wooster returned then, and the three of them walked to the nearest hangar bay, where Zeetha was giving orders to a bunch of nurses. “Wooster! Winchester!” she called, waving, as she spotted them. “We’re over here.”
Sam looked over the airship as they approached, noting the Wulfenbach tower badges with added caduceus snakes. “Huh,” he said. “Don’t you guys have the Red Cross yet?”
“The what?” Wooster and Zeetha chorused.
“The International Red Cross. It’s a protected medical organization.”
“The staff at the Great Hospital wear a red trilobite,” Gadreel said. “But I have seen no sign of anything like the Red Cross as yet.”
Wooster huffed. “Yes, and good luck getting enough rulers to agree that such protection for medical personnel is even advisable. Or to agree on anything, for that matter.”
That was disturbing. Sam was beginning to realize just how bad even a completely natural war could become in this world, with World War I technology (or better or weirder) and no Geneva Convention. They really couldn’t afford to let it come to that.
“Er, right,” said Zeetha. “You wanna come see what the ship looks like inside? It’s pretty nice, actually.”
So the four of them spent a pleasant hour and a half puttering around on the ship, making sure the patient beds were comfortable and stable and checking all the supplies, although Gadreel went back to Sturmhalten after the first hour. Sam had just stepped out to see if anyone had heard anything from Gil when Dean and Krosp arrived-and Dean, also back in T-shirt and jeans, was grinning bigger than Sam had seen him grin since the night he scored with identical twins.
“This idiot is your responsibility, yes?” Krosp asked Sam crossly.
“Only when he’s drunk,” Sam deadpanned.
“Dude,” said Dean. “I built a color TV from scratch. And it WORKS!”
“You-seriously? Color?!”
Dean nodded and somehow managed to grin even bigger than he had been.
“So does that mean the MALP works, too?”
“Almost drove over my tail,” Krosp groused.
“Yeah, almost,” Dean shot back. “You got out of the way in time. And Gil was driving it, not me.”
Ears back, Krosp glared at him and seemed seconds away from hissing.
“Still have to test the range on the transmitter,” Dean continued explaining to Sam, “see if it works underground. But yeah, seriously. Full color. From scratch. I mean, somebody else had to blow the glass, but the rest was all me.”
Sam shook his head, grinning back. “Dude. That’s-wow. That’s awesome.”
Dean practically glowed. “Wanna see?”
“Hell, yeah, I wanna see.” Back home, Sam might not have believed it possible. Here? After Baby? He still wanted to see it-but mainly because he did believe it.
He hadn’t felt so proud of his big brother since he was twelve.
Dean talked a mile a minute on the way back to the lab, explaining how it had all come together so easily. Normally, Sam wouldn’t have cared, but something about Dean’s Spark high was contagious, so much so that when they arrived, he barely remembered to say hello to Baby. He really wanted to see what his brother had done and could hardly wait for Dean to turn the dial to switch the monitor on.
It worked, all right. And apparently Agatha and Gil had gotten caught up in the joy of success, too, because they were kissing. Hard.
Sam cleared his throat and turned the monitor off. “Full color,” he concurred.
“Geez,” Dean said, actually blushing. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Neither were they, clearly. We’d better go tell ’em Punch and Judy are ready to go.”
“Yeah, before Gil does something Punch will hit him for again.”
Baby laughed.
By the time the brothers passed Agatha’s grinning Jägers and got to Gil’s main lab, the kissing session was apparently over, although Gil was still catching his breath and Agatha was hurriedly straightening her hair, and they were both blushing furiously. The reason became clear when Violetta emerged from where she’d been hiding among Gil’s bookshelves.
“Sparks, I swear,” Violetta was grumbling.
“Ah!” Gil cried with evident relief when he saw Sam and Dean. “Everything all right in the other lab, Sam?”
“Yeah, fine,” Sam replied, trying not to let on that they’d seen. “And the transport ship’s ready to roll.”
“Good! Good, I, uh...” Gil cleared his throat. “I think we’re done here.”
Sam turned to Agatha. “Punch and Judy both regained consciousness briefly. They asked after you and were relieved to hear you’re okay.”
“Oh, good,” Agatha replied, nodding. “Good. Wonderful. Thanks.”
After an awkward pause, Sam said, “We’ll... go... bring ’em to the ship?”
“Good idea, yes,” said Gil. “And, uh... maybe get Wooster?” His voiced squeaked a little on that last.
Sam couldn’t help smiling. “Sure. We’ll see you at the ship.”
Wooster was actually looking a little bored by the time the Winchesters collected him, but they didn’t rush getting Punch and Judy to the ship, both because the constructs were still asleep and because Gil and Agatha definitely needed time to regain their composure. Higgs reported that Punch and Judy hadn’t woken again and definitely wouldn’t be able to walk under their own power yet. So Sam and Higgs took Punch’s stretcher while Dean and Wooster carried Judy’s, and Zoing ran ahead to open the access hatch and get doors where needed.
Gil and Agatha had reached the hangar bay by the time the medical procession arrived, and it looked like they were indeed composed, although the Jägers hadn’t quit grinning yet. Romance was forgotten, however, as soon as Agatha saw Punch and Judy. She immediately ran over to check on them, but Gil went ahead into the ship to stand ready to help move them onto the beds once they were on board.
Both Punch and Judy roused as they were being moved. But they were all smiles when they saw Agatha, and Agatha was nearly crying.
“Look at you,” Judy breathed, reaching up to put a hand on Agatha’s cheek. “Our beautiful grown-up girl-Lady Heterodyne. We’re so proud of you!”
Agatha burst into smiling tears and hugged her foster mother. “Oh, Lilith, I thought I’d never see you again. Isn’t Gil wonderful?”
Gil ducked his head with a sheepish smile and started to back out of the cabin.
But Punch caught his wrist. “Hyu... still... vant... mar-ry... A-ga-tha?” he whispered hoarsely.
Gil bent down to whisper back, so only Sam, who was still standing by Punch’s head, could overhear. “Yes, I do, though I haven’t asked her again yet. I’m waiting for things to calm down a bit first, and I would like to ask your blessing.”
“Ve... talk... la-ter, then.” Punch smiled a little and patted Gil’s shoulder gently before returning his attention to Agatha, who was pulling herself away from Judy.
Sam and Wooster followed Gil out to the main cabin, and Dean and Higgs followed them, though Higgs stepped off to the side to claim a farewell kiss from Zeetha. Krosp was lounging on a seat already and flipping through what looked like one of the textbooks Gil had promised Agatha, and the Jägers and Violetta were squabbling quietly about who got to sit where.
Agatha came out last, wiping her face with her handkerchief, but a few fresh tears fell as she hugged Gil. “I can’t thank you enough,” she told him.
“It was nothing, really,” Gil replied.
“No more than any other lovesick fool would have done,” Dean quipped.
Gil and Agatha laughed and let each other go.
“Do you mind if I keep Sam and Dean until the funeral?” Gil asked. “There’s still a lot of work to be done here; I could use their expertise.”
Agatha shook her head. “No, I don’t mind at all. I’ve got Castiel and Kevin, and Wooster. I think I’ve got all the help I need for now.”
Gil nodded. “All right. Thanks.”
“Should we plan on signing that preliminary treaty next Friday? I can let you know before then if there are any changes I want.”
“Sure. We should plan on a strategy meeting afterward as well, and I will want Wooster there for that.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
“Ready for departure, Herr Baron,” called an airman.
Gil gave Agatha a tender farewell kiss, and he, Higgs, and the Winchesters left the ship but turned back to wave goodbye as the ramp was raised.
Yet as Agatha waved back, Sam suddenly saw Loki the wasp eater poke its head up over her shoulder. And he could have sworn the weasel winked at him before ducking out of sight again.
Next
Chapter 13
Monster Mash
Sam walked over to Wooster as the air shuttle flew toward Castle Wulfenbach. “What was all that about?”
Wooster raised an eyebrow. “What, with Dolokhov?”
“Yeah.”
“He happened to be present when I let myself into the Jäger generals’ meeting to warn them of the late baron’s plans to destroy Castle Heterodyne and kill Lady Heterodyne. In other circumstances, they could easily have killed him as a threat to her. I didn’t think about that until it was too late. So I’ve paid that debt now, and given him something to puzzle on into the bargain.”
“Mm. More like burning coals, probably.”
“Well, we may never be friends, but we’re hardly enemies. Still, as you say.”
“Haven’t had much chance to make that work for us, but most of our enemies aren’t human anyway. At least until we got here.”
“Yes, so I gather. And it’s humans you’ll have to watch out for here, especially after this incident. It couldn’t be helped, but now you’ll have the Knights of Jove curious, at best. And they’re not wrong about the Men of Letters. I had been counting on the dearth of information in Europa about America for cover, but now....”
“We can prove Barry Heterodyne knew about us. I’m sure there are Winchesters mentioned in his journal, and... what name did Gadreel take?”
“Haggerty.”
Sam nodded slowly. “Haggerty was the Man of Letters who spent the last years of his career trying to find Dorothy after she disappeared with the Wicked Witch.” At Wooster’s confused frown, Sam shook his head. “Never mind. Point is, he’s probably mentioned in Barry’s journal, too. So we can at least make it look like Barry knew us personally.”
Wooster raised an eyebrow. “If you’re given the chance.”
Sam huffed and smiled. “If we aren’t, I’ll be surprised.”
The shuttle docked just then, and as soon as everyone got off, Gil sent Wooster and Higgs “to check on that experiment I left running” (meaning, Sam assumed, the Frankenstein-esque humanoid constructs he’d seen briefly in the secret lab). The rest of the group headed toward a part of the ship Sam hadn’t seen before, with Dolokhov and Gil getting updates on the revolts further afield as they walked and both Agatha and Krosp chiming in with strategy suggestions. Actually, it looked like the Jägers, Zeetha, and Dean all had ideas as well, but either they couldn’t get a word in edgewise or someone else made the same suggestion before they could. And when that was taken care of, Gil and Agatha started talking about the preliminary treaty and whether it should be made permanent or renegotiated after peace was restored, and Sam stole a glance at Dean just as Dean’s eyes glazed over.
Sam was about to ask Gil whether Higgs and Wooster might need the Winchesters’ help when Gadreel appeared in the middle of the hallway, directly in front of Gil and Agatha. The whole group stopped short, and Dolokhov swore in Russian.
“Please forgive the intrusion, Gilgamesh,” Gadreel said. “Tarvek has called the Knights of Jove to council and wishes Sam and Dean to join them. He believes there may be questions about the Men of Letters, and he would not ask me to lie about what I do not know.”
“I suppose he is smarter than he looks,” Gil replied. “But it’s up to the Winchesters. They’re not mine to command, although we don’t particularly need them for this.”
Dean shrugged, so Sam said, “Sure, we’ll come. Could you go back to Mechanicsburg, though, and get Barry Heterodyne’s journal? Cas said they’d brought a copy.”
Gadreel bowed slightly and left, then reappeared a moment later next to Sam and handed him the journal. He waited just long enough for Sam to tuck the journal into his coat before flying both brothers back down to Sturmhalten Castle, landing with the three of them standing next to Tarvek’s chair at the front of a large meeting room. Only about half of the seats were filled with men wearing white and gold, and maybe a quarter of the men present had hair the same color as Tarvek’s. Most of them were startled.
“I say!” exclaimed one man. “Most impressive, chaps! Was it done with magnets? I’ve a theory-”
“Wolkerstorfer,” Tarvek interrupted.
Wolkerstorfer didn’t seem fazed. “Oh, but science-”
“Can wait, my lord count. Maganox questioned the existence of the Men of Letters. I don’t want any of you making the same fatal mistake. That’s why I’ve asked these men to join us. May I present Mr. Sam Winchester, Mr. Dean Winchester, and Mr. Gadreel Haggerty from America. Gentlemen, the Knights of Jove, or at least a part of them.”
“No, it’s not done with magnets,” Dean stated. “It’s done with mirrors.”
Count Wolkerstorfer looked disappointed.
“All right, you got questions, ask ’em.”
“That badge of yours,” said another man, adjusting his glasses and peering at Dean’s lapel. “The, er....”
“Aquarian Star,” Sam supplied. “It’s the symbol of the Men of Letters.”
“And what are the Men of Letters? You’re all sparks, I suppose.”
“Some of us are, and some of us aren’t,” Dean answered. “Plenty of smart people don’t have the Spark.”
“And intelligence alone isn’t sufficient for what we do,” Sam added. “Even sparks don’t always have what it takes.”
“Yes, what do you do?” asked a third man.
“We’re preceptors, beholders, chroniclers of all that man does not understand.”
“It’s a secret society,” Dean continued, “and its existence has been a closely guarded secret for generations. We didn’t know about it until our grandfather filled us in. We’re legacies-but there’s only a handful of other members, and only a couple of people beyond that who know we exist. Most Americans haven’t even heard of us.”
“But Barry Heterodyne had.” Sam produced the journal, showing the embossed trilobite on the cover plainly, and the knights either sat up straighter or raised eyebrows or leaned forward. “In fact, he left us this journal when he came back to the States after the war with The Other.”
“How do we know that’s Heterodyne’s journal?” someone further back asked. “How do we know you’re not just making things up?”
On a hunch, Sam handed the journal to Gadreel, who opened it and began to read. “‘Haggerty has asked for more particulars about the Dyne. Unfortunately, the castle had some significant differences of opinion with Bill and me, so many of its secrets were withheld from us, including the location of the Dyne’s source and what is done with the energy it generates. Winchester speculates that the water may be radioactive, given its mutagenic properties, but of course we have no way to test that hypothesis here, nor does it explain other tales I have heard growing up in Mechanicsburg.’” Gadreel turned the journal around and held it up for everyone else to see. “If you know Lord Heterodyne’s handwriting, you can see this is no forgery.”
A couple of the older knights got up to come examine the journal and hemmed and hawed for a moment before pronouncing it definitely Barry Heterodyne’s handwriting. Some of the others looked considerably happier about that than others did. Dean crossed his arms and smirked.
“I still find it difficult to believe that no one’s heard of you,” said one of the more skeptical knights as the older knights sat down again.
“Well, hell,” Dean returned, “when’s the last time someone from Europa actually made it to the US?”
The knights exchanged uncertain looks.
“The last was Barry Heterodyne,” Tarvek stated. “Before that, the Heterodyne Boys were the first in a very long time-in fact, I don’t think anyone had managed it since the time of the Storm King.” He shot the Winchesters a sidelong look. “When the American colonies declared their independence, there was little Albia could do about it, considering that she had her hands full with the Long War.”
That... explained a lot about Wooster’s reaction to Kevin’s copy of the Declaration of Independence, actually, and also about why people kept calling Queen Albia Her Undying Majesty. When things were calmer, Sam was definitely going to have to dig into a history book to find out just how different things were in this world and just how old Queen Albia really was.
“I keep telling you,” Wolkerstorfer piped up, “with a big enough magnet-”
“Oh, shut up,” said the man next to him.
“But how did the Heterodynes know about this society,” pressed the skeptical knight, “if its existence is such a closely-guarded secret?”
“I told you,” Dean replied. “We’re legacies.”
There was a pause while the knights filled in the gaps, or at least tried to.
“We’re descended from the Ht’rok-din’s second son,” Sam lied. “Our grandfather never told us exactly how he made contact with the Heterodyne Boys, but clearly he felt they deserved to share in that legacy with the rest of our side of the family.”
“Barry also made sure we had a way to get here if Agatha ever needed us,” Dean added. “And she did, so here we are.”
“Are you?” one of the other skeptical knights taunted, getting up and coming toward them. “How do we know you’re not a projection or some other sort of illusion? I don’t think you’re even real humans at all!” He took a swing at Dean-and almost before Sam could blink, Dean had the guy on the ground, immobilized and with his head in Dean’s hands.
“Real enough for you,” Dean growled, “or am I gonna have to snap your neck?”
“Yes! Yes!” the knight panted, panicking. “I yield!”
Dean’s lip curled, but he let the knight up, though not without ‘accidentally’ booting the guy in the ribs as he stood.
“That was uncalled for,” Tarvek chided, though Sam suspected he didn’t actually mean it.
“Gettin’ sick o’ people tryin’ to kill us,” Dean snarled, returning to his place. “Reminds me of Purgatory. Except there, the monsters actually attack you directly-none of this poisoning, backstabbing, bomb-planting business.”
“Pretty sad when a vampire’s more of a man than a knight is,” Sam remarked, mostly to see who flinched. Several of the skeptical knights did, but so did some of the knights who’d managed to project an air of disinterest and neutrality on the whole question of the Men of Letters’ existence. And Sam was reasonably sure Tarvek noticed.
All Tarvek said, however, was, “Well, I believe I’ve kept you gentlemen away from Lady Heterodyne long enough. Thank you for coming, and I’ll be seeing you this afternoon.”
Sam and Dean nodded, and Gadreel handed the journal back to Sam before flying the brothers back to Castle Wulfenbach. They landed in a luridly decorated meeting room, where Gil, Agatha, and the Jäger generals were studying a map that was spread out on the conference table in the middle of the room.
“No, I think Gil’s right,” Agatha was saying. “The Jägers are meant for the front lines, and so far there’s nobody left under Sturmhalten for you to fight. I think our best bet is going to be clanks equipped with cameras and some sort of wireless feed back to a display in a command center either on or above the surface.”
“On,” Gil decided, “and as close to one of the tunnel entrances as we can manage. If Tarvek doesn’t want it in the palace, we can set up in the courtyard outside the prison. But since we don’t know how far the tunnels extend, there’s no sense stretching the wireless range too far.”
“Makes sense,” Dean agreed, startling Gil and Agatha. “Either of you ever made a cathode ray tube before?”
“No,” they chorused.
“All right, you two work on the clank. I’ll build the monitors.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “CRT? Seriously?”
Dean snorted. “You think I can make liquid crystal here, dude?”
“No, I’m just... surprised you even know how to make a CRT.”
“Haven’t exactly made one from scratch before. But remember that summer I worked at the TV repair shop?”
“Oh, yeah. That was a lifetime ago.”
“Well, at least I’ve got experience fixing the things, so I know how they go together. Trick’s gonna be getting the vacuum low enough.”
Sam turned to Gadreel. “And that’s our cue to hang out somewhere else for a while.”
Gadreel smiled, and everyone else laughed.
Then Gen. Khrizhan checked his watch. “Ektually, Hy tink ve better hef zum lonch bevor anyvun buildz anyting.”
Gil nodded. “And after lunch, Sam, I’d appreciate it if you’d join Higgs and Wooster. They may need an extra pair of hands to get Punch and Judy ready for transport.” And you already know where the lab is remained unspoken.
Sam nodded. “Sure, that’s no problem.”
Gen. Goomblast went to the door to order lunch brought in, along with Zeetha, Violetta, Krosp, and the other Jägers. Sam, Dean, and Gadreel briefed the others on what had happened with the Knights of Jove while they waited for the food to arrive. Over lunch, Gil and Agatha returned the favor with regard to the preliminary treaty, the most immediately relevant provisions of which were that the Jägers were going to remain seconded to the Wulfenbach army and that certain projects like an asylum for truly certifiable sparks and a breeding and research center for the Vespiary Squad would be officially sanctioned by the empire but built in Mechanicsburg. That led to some wacky story swapping, especially involving wasp eaters-Theo and Sleipnir had gotten stampeded by the Mechanicsburg weasels, among other incidents-and by the end of the meal, even Gadreel, who didn’t laugh, still looked as highly amused as everyone else.
The hilarity was cut short by Dolokhov’s arrival with Tarvek and a couple of Smoke Knights in tow. “I’m glad someone’s having fun,” Tarvek grumbled. “I’ve still got about thirty of Lucrezia’s loyalists in the Order to ferret out-we had to kill five more before the meeting was over. At least von Bulen managed to rally the rest to my cause by pointing out that the late baron had acknowledged me publicly, and I did convince them to swear a greater oath rejecting Lucrezia than they’d sworn when Father made them agree to serve her.”
“Do you expect an attack?” Gil asked.
Tarvek sighed and sat down. “Yes and no. Depends on whether Leopold listens to Grandma-I’m sure she’ll want everyone behind me, whatever Grandfather thinks. What’s more worrying is that Seffie wasn’t there.”
“Seffie?”
“Xerxsephina von Blitzengaard,” Violetta supplied. “Martellus’ sister. Which reminds me, where are we burying his casket?”
Tarvek shrugged. “I’ll send a hearse tomorrow to take it to the Refuge of Storms. They can decide what to do with it.”
“Speaking of burials,” Dolokhov spoke up, “I’m afraid Wulfenbach is too ruined to be a suitable resting place for the baron. Lady Heterodyne has agreed to give him a space in the Mechanicsburg crypt.”
“I thought we’d have the funeral on Thursday,” Agatha added, “if that’s all right with you, Gil.”
Gil nodded. “Thanks. We should probably let Boris handle all the details with Father Yglyn. You’ll come, won’t you?” he asked Tarvek.
“Of course,” Tarvek replied. “It would be churlish of me not to.”
“And you’re welcome to stay in Castle Heterodyne,” Agatha added.
The Smoke Knights gasped in horror.
“It’s not that dangerous, now that it’s repaired,” Tarvek assured them.
“But Your Highness... you... you can’t!” one of the Smoke Knights stammered.
“Oh, can’t I? The castle knows me; it’s not going to hurt me.”
“But we have strict orders-”
“Orders from whom? I have officially succeeded my father, in case you’ve been asleep all morning!”
“Orders from your grandfather! No one is to enter Castle Heterodyne until you are acknowledged as the Storm King!”
Gil cleared his throat. “Maybe you should stay here while conducting business in Mechanicsburg, or else fly back to Sturmhalten every night. We won’t need the Smoke Knights to follow you into Castle Heterodyne for strategy meetings, but I hardly think it’s worth a mutiny over where you’ll sleep.”
Tarvek huffed. “Oh, very well.”
“Of course, Sturmhalten’s only an hour by ground, the way Dean drives....”
“Do I look like a chauffeur?” Dean jabbed.
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Actually, in that suit-”
“Shut up, Sam.”
Sam chuckled. “Shutting up and getting out, unless you need me to stay, Gil.”
Gil smiled and shook his head. “No, I think Higgs and Wooster should be just about ready for you.”
“Boyz?” Gen. Khrizhan prompted.
The three junior Jägers stood at the same time Sam did, and so did Violetta.
Dimo turned to the Smoke Knights then. “Dey dun need uz for dis,” he said, spreading-both arms. Sam hadn’t noticed the mechanical prosthetic before. “Ve vait in de hall, yah?”
“Erm,” said the second Smoke Knight.
“Please do,” said Tarvek.
“Yes, Your Highness,” both Smoke Knights chorused and allowed the Jägers to herd them out of the room.
Sam and Violetta followed, but while Violetta sat down outside the door, Sam caught a passing airman’s attention and got directions back to the Winchesters’ quarters. Once there, he changed out of his suit and into clothes he could potentially get gunky, checked in with a very anxious Baby and left her reassured, and found his way to Gil’s secret lab.
“Ah, Winchester!” Wooster called as Sam walked in. “Master Gil sent you to help, did he?”
“He did,” Sam confirmed. “Said you might need an extra pair of hands.”
“We might well. We do have Zoing, but certain tasks may take a bit more dexterity than he can manage.”
“Zk,” Zoing... agreed? Sam wasn’t sure. In any case, Zoing was out of the way on one of the two cots that were standing near the giant glass vessels Higgs and Wooster were tending. On closer inspection, each cot had a stretcher on top of it; given the need to carry the patients out through an electrical access hatch, that made more sense than a wheeled gurney.
“All right,” said Sam, stopping at the foot of the other cot. “What do you need me to do?”
“For the moment, just watch,” Wooster replied. “We’re about to decant these two, but we’ll likely need your help to get them out of the healing chambers.”
Sam nodded, and Wooster made one final check of the dials on each chamber before opening a valve that allowed the fluid in which the constructs were suspended to drain out slowly. As the last of the fluid drained away, Higgs opened another valve to spray rinse water over each patient, then flipped a switch to turn on a fan that gently dried their hair and skin.
“Now comes the hard part,” said Wooster, moving a ladder over and climbing up to unbolt the top of the male construct’s chamber. “Punch, in particular, is quite heavy-I’ve no idea how Master Gil got him in here while I was gone.”
“You chaps see to Mr. Punch,” Higgs ordered. “I’ll see to Miss Judy.”
Sam glanced over at that point and finally realized that both constructs were stark naked. He cleared his throat and looked back at Wooster. “That’s fine with me.”
Zoing brought over a second ladder for Higgs, and between them they got both Punch and Judy out of the tanks and onto the stretchers.
“They’re not injured,” Wooster explained as Sam helped him wrestle a pair of boxers onto Punch. “At least, they’re not injured now. But they will be quite weak for several days still.”
Sam frowned. “What happened to them?”
“They were trying to help Lady Heterodyne escape the baron’s custody. One of the baron’s other constructs killed them.”
Sam blinked at him, then looked back down at Punch, who was quite clearly breathing just fine on his own. “What-then how-”
“Master Gil has studied under Dr. Sun,” Wooster answered and shook out a blanket. “He’s one of the best, if I may say so. He’s a doctor twice over, you know-medicine and electrical engineering.”
“Huh. In our world, you usually have to make a crossroads deal for this sort of thing.”
“Crossroads? As in-”
“Yeah. Demon.”
Wooster inhaled sharply and shook his head before spreading the blanket over Punch.
“Ready over here,” Higgs reported as Zoing pulled another blanket up over Judy.
Just then Punch groaned and stirred.
Wooster put a hand on Punch’s shoulder. “Here, now. Easy, Mr. Clay.”
Punch’s eyes fluttered open, and he peered up at Wooster. “V-v-v-oos-ter?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve come back. Master Gil asked us to decant you and your wife.”
Punch looked at Sam and back at Wooster.
“This is Mr. Winchester, from America,” Wooster said. “He and his brother came to help Lady Heterodyne.”
Sam nodded when Punch looked at him again. “Hi.”
Punch nodded back and returned his attention to Wooster. “A-ga-tha?”
“She’s safe,” Wooster assured him. “The baron’s dead. Lady Heterodyne’s in a meeting with Master Gil at the moment, but we’re to send you back to Mechanicsburg with her shortly.”
Punch visibly relaxed at that. “Th-th-thank hyu.”
“To Mechanicsburg,” Judy repeated, and Sam looked over at her just as she looked up at Higgs. “She’s done it, then? She’s taken the castle?”
Higgs nodded. “She has, and repaired it into the bargain. But there, I’m sure she’ll want to tell you all about it herself when you’re up to hearing.”
“And you’re keeping an eye on young Wulfenbach for us?”
“That I am.”
She smiled. “You’re a good man, Axel. Thank you.”
Higgs gave her what could only be called a paternal smile and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Just rest now. I expect it won’t be more than a few hours.”
She nodded and closed her eyes.
Wooster caught Sam’s elbow and led him out into the hall. “They raised Lady Heterodyne,” he whispered once they were out of earshot. “Punch and Judy were the names the Heterodyne Boys gave them when they were first made, but in Beetleburg they were known as Adam and Lilith Clay.”
Sam grimaced. “I think Dean and I’d better stick with ‘Punch’ and ‘Judy.’ We had a half-brother named Adam, and I killed Lilith in our world-the demon, I mean.”
Wooster’s eyes went wide. “Great Scott! Master Castiel had said something about you being caught in a trap Lilith had set, but I never dreamed....”
“Yeah, killing Lilith was the last seal to open Lucifer’s Cage. Even Cas didn’t know until it was too late.”
“And his superiors wanted that?!”
“Some of them had this idea that God wanted them to jumpstart the Apocalypse that way. But they hadn’t figured on us,” Sam added with a smirk.
Wooster put a hand to his head. “And I thought this mess was bad.”
“It’s bad enough,” Sam admitted. “We don’t want it to get any worse. But yeah, we know what worse looks like by a few orders of magnitude.”
Wooster sighed heavily. “Well, worse is coming. I know Master Gil’s already dealing with the revolts; I don’t know whether the incident this morning with the Knights of Jove will help or hurt.”
“Tarvek’s mostly got the Knights of Jove under control. He says there are still thirty or so loyal to Lucrezia he needs to root out.”
“That means only that they’re now loyal to him. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stop trying to topple the empire. And Master Gil’s right; that’s the last thing Her Majesty wants. Weakened, certainly, but not gone. That would mean war-and war would make all Europa wish the baron still lived.”
“I don’t know how much we can help with that side of things,” Sam confessed. “But we’ll do what we can to help keep Lucrezia from being even more of a complication. We’ve got a line on where the beacon engine is, and as soon as we can capture it, we’ll work out how to get Lucrezia’s memories off of it.”
Wooster’s face lit up. “Good Lord. You really think you can?”
“Don’t know why not. Might take a while, but at least we’d be sure we weren’t about to be overrun with new Lucrezias while we work. And Tarvek’s got a formula that breaks the slaver wasps’ control of the revenants.”
Wooster jammed his hands into his hair, but given the way he was grinning, that was probably because he didn’t know whether to dance a jig or turn a cartwheel instead. “Why, that’s-that’s-Winchester, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day. I can’t even tell you.”
Sam smiled, but he was spared having to come up with an answer by the sudden appearance of Gadreel. “The briefing is over,” Gadreel announced, “and the Jäger generals have gone back to Sturmhalten with Tarvek to discuss troop placement should Prince Leopold attack. The other Jägers may not be happy about that, given their history, but they are already in Sturmhalten and thus are best placed to defend it. Gilgamesh and Agatha have gone to build the... MALP, I believe Dean called it?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe. It’s from Stargate. We’re planning to use those instead of the Jägers to finish exploring the tunnels under Sturmhalten,” he explained to Wooster.
“Ah,” said Wooster.
“Does Dean need my help with the monitors?” Sam asked Gadreel.
Gadreel shook his head. “Until the prototype is tested, there will be no need for more than one, and after, Gilgamesh has technicians who can replicate his work from diagrams. Agatha did ask, though, that you and Ardsley come with me to oversee the preparations for transporting her guardians back to Mechanicsburg-it should be a matter of only an hour or two.”
Wooster nodded. “Of course. I’ll just let Higgs know.” With that, he ducked back into the lab.
Sam blew the air out of his cheeks. “Dunno if I can get used to having this kind of support system. Normally we have to do everything ourselves.”
“It should never have been so,” Gadreel murmured, then sighed. “Sam, I truly am sorry that I tricked you into accepting possession again. I simply did not see another way.”
Sam grimaced. “I can’t say I wish you hadn’t saved my life. I just... wish you hadn’t lied. Wish Dean hadn’t lied. If I’d known what I was agreeing to and why, I might still have said yes. But at least it would have been my decision, not Dean’s.”
“Had there been time, had I been sure of your trust... but that is no excuse, I know.”
“Yeah, well.” Sam paused and managed to find the grace to continue. “Apology accepted.” He might not feel so forgiving if circumstances were different, but he genuinely didn’t remember any incidents where Gadreel had taken over to do anything but save a life.
Gadreel smiled a little. “Thank you.”
Wooster returned then, and the three of them walked to the nearest hangar bay, where Zeetha was giving orders to a bunch of nurses. “Wooster! Winchester!” she called, waving, as she spotted them. “We’re over here.”
Sam looked over the airship as they approached, noting the Wulfenbach tower badges with added caduceus snakes. “Huh,” he said. “Don’t you guys have the Red Cross yet?”
“The what?” Wooster and Zeetha chorused.
“The International Red Cross. It’s a protected medical organization.”
“The staff at the Great Hospital wear a red trilobite,” Gadreel said. “But I have seen no sign of anything like the Red Cross as yet.”
Wooster huffed. “Yes, and good luck getting enough rulers to agree that such protection for medical personnel is even advisable. Or to agree on anything, for that matter.”
That was disturbing. Sam was beginning to realize just how bad even a completely natural war could become in this world, with World War I technology (or better or weirder) and no Geneva Convention. They really couldn’t afford to let it come to that.
“Er, right,” said Zeetha. “You wanna come see what the ship looks like inside? It’s pretty nice, actually.”
So the four of them spent a pleasant hour and a half puttering around on the ship, making sure the patient beds were comfortable and stable and checking all the supplies, although Gadreel went back to Sturmhalten after the first hour. Sam had just stepped out to see if anyone had heard anything from Gil when Dean and Krosp arrived-and Dean, also back in T-shirt and jeans, was grinning bigger than Sam had seen him grin since the night he scored with identical twins.
“This idiot is your responsibility, yes?” Krosp asked Sam crossly.
“Only when he’s drunk,” Sam deadpanned.
“Dude,” said Dean. “I built a color TV from scratch. And it WORKS!”
“You-seriously? Color?!”
Dean nodded and somehow managed to grin even bigger than he had been.
“So does that mean the MALP works, too?”
“Almost drove over my tail,” Krosp groused.
“Yeah, almost,” Dean shot back. “You got out of the way in time. And Gil was driving it, not me.”
Ears back, Krosp glared at him and seemed seconds away from hissing.
“Still have to test the range on the transmitter,” Dean continued explaining to Sam, “see if it works underground. But yeah, seriously. Full color. From scratch. I mean, somebody else had to blow the glass, but the rest was all me.”
Sam shook his head, grinning back. “Dude. That’s-wow. That’s awesome.”
Dean practically glowed. “Wanna see?”
“Hell, yeah, I wanna see.” Back home, Sam might not have believed it possible. Here? After Baby? He still wanted to see it-but mainly because he did believe it.
He hadn’t felt so proud of his big brother since he was twelve.
Dean talked a mile a minute on the way back to the lab, explaining how it had all come together so easily. Normally, Sam wouldn’t have cared, but something about Dean’s Spark high was contagious, so much so that when they arrived, he barely remembered to say hello to Baby. He really wanted to see what his brother had done and could hardly wait for Dean to turn the dial to switch the monitor on.
It worked, all right. And apparently Agatha and Gil had gotten caught up in the joy of success, too, because they were kissing. Hard.
Sam cleared his throat and turned the monitor off. “Full color,” he concurred.
“Geez,” Dean said, actually blushing. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Neither were they, clearly. We’d better go tell ’em Punch and Judy are ready to go.”
“Yeah, before Gil does something Punch will hit him for again.”
Baby laughed.
By the time the brothers passed Agatha’s grinning Jägers and got to Gil’s main lab, the kissing session was apparently over, although Gil was still catching his breath and Agatha was hurriedly straightening her hair, and they were both blushing furiously. The reason became clear when Violetta emerged from where she’d been hiding among Gil’s bookshelves.
“Sparks, I swear,” Violetta was grumbling.
“Ah!” Gil cried with evident relief when he saw Sam and Dean. “Everything all right in the other lab, Sam?”
“Yeah, fine,” Sam replied, trying not to let on that they’d seen. “And the transport ship’s ready to roll.”
“Good! Good, I, uh...” Gil cleared his throat. “I think we’re done here.”
Sam turned to Agatha. “Punch and Judy both regained consciousness briefly. They asked after you and were relieved to hear you’re okay.”
“Oh, good,” Agatha replied, nodding. “Good. Wonderful. Thanks.”
After an awkward pause, Sam said, “We’ll... go... bring ’em to the ship?”
“Good idea, yes,” said Gil. “And, uh... maybe get Wooster?” His voiced squeaked a little on that last.
Sam couldn’t help smiling. “Sure. We’ll see you at the ship.”
Wooster was actually looking a little bored by the time the Winchesters collected him, but they didn’t rush getting Punch and Judy to the ship, both because the constructs were still asleep and because Gil and Agatha definitely needed time to regain their composure. Higgs reported that Punch and Judy hadn’t woken again and definitely wouldn’t be able to walk under their own power yet. So Sam and Higgs took Punch’s stretcher while Dean and Wooster carried Judy’s, and Zoing ran ahead to open the access hatch and get doors where needed.
Gil and Agatha had reached the hangar bay by the time the medical procession arrived, and it looked like they were indeed composed, although the Jägers hadn’t quit grinning yet. Romance was forgotten, however, as soon as Agatha saw Punch and Judy. She immediately ran over to check on them, but Gil went ahead into the ship to stand ready to help move them onto the beds once they were on board.
Both Punch and Judy roused as they were being moved. But they were all smiles when they saw Agatha, and Agatha was nearly crying.
“Look at you,” Judy breathed, reaching up to put a hand on Agatha’s cheek. “Our beautiful grown-up girl-Lady Heterodyne. We’re so proud of you!”
Agatha burst into smiling tears and hugged her foster mother. “Oh, Lilith, I thought I’d never see you again. Isn’t Gil wonderful?”
Gil ducked his head with a sheepish smile and started to back out of the cabin.
But Punch caught his wrist. “Hyu... still... vant... mar-ry... A-ga-tha?” he whispered hoarsely.
Gil bent down to whisper back, so only Sam, who was still standing by Punch’s head, could overhear. “Yes, I do, though I haven’t asked her again yet. I’m waiting for things to calm down a bit first, and I would like to ask your blessing.”
“Ve... talk... la-ter, then.” Punch smiled a little and patted Gil’s shoulder gently before returning his attention to Agatha, who was pulling herself away from Judy.
Sam and Wooster followed Gil out to the main cabin, and Dean and Higgs followed them, though Higgs stepped off to the side to claim a farewell kiss from Zeetha. Krosp was lounging on a seat already and flipping through what looked like one of the textbooks Gil had promised Agatha, and the Jägers and Violetta were squabbling quietly about who got to sit where.
Agatha came out last, wiping her face with her handkerchief, but a few fresh tears fell as she hugged Gil. “I can’t thank you enough,” she told him.
“It was nothing, really,” Gil replied.
“No more than any other lovesick fool would have done,” Dean quipped.
Gil and Agatha laughed and let each other go.
“Do you mind if I keep Sam and Dean until the funeral?” Gil asked. “There’s still a lot of work to be done here; I could use their expertise.”
Agatha shook her head. “No, I don’t mind at all. I’ve got Castiel and Kevin, and Wooster. I think I’ve got all the help I need for now.”
Gil nodded. “All right. Thanks.”
“Should we plan on signing that preliminary treaty next Friday? I can let you know before then if there are any changes I want.”
“Sure. We should plan on a strategy meeting afterward as well, and I will want Wooster there for that.”
“Okay, that makes sense.”
“Ready for departure, Herr Baron,” called an airman.
Gil gave Agatha a tender farewell kiss, and he, Higgs, and the Winchesters left the ship but turned back to wave goodbye as the ramp was raised.
Yet as Agatha waved back, Sam suddenly saw Loki the wasp eater poke its head up over her shoulder. And he could have sworn the weasel winked at him before ducking out of sight again.
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