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bigasswritingmagnet · 10 days ago

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Blood Will Out Ch 3 of 39 - Time to Go

Summary: When Agatha Sannikova learns she is, in fact, Agatha Heterodyne, she inadvertently kicks off a series of events that reopens old wounds, drags secrets into the light, and brings war to the doorstep of the all but defenseless Mechanicsburg. Saturnus struggles to crush his enemies with a town almost as broken as his body; Agatha, determined to undo the chaos she's unleashed, plunges into the depths of Castle Heterodyne.

Raised by a literal saint and the devil incarnate, Agatha - with an unleashed mind, a burning spark, and a band of very unexpected allies - will fight to do the unthinkable: be a good Heterodyne and a good person.

[yes you DID see the number of chapters jump way up, that's because I realized some chapters were nearly TWENTY PAGES LONG]

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“...and that’s why he thinks you can’t reanimate insects.”

“Fascinating,” Tarvek said, adjusting his glasses. “I guess I always assumed this was written before Linnaeus’ Anthology of Arthropod Attitudes was published.”

“Lo–a friend of mine said Dubois fulfilled his university’s athletics requirements by jumping to conclusions.”

Tarvek burst out laughing, then hurriedly covered it with a cough.

“Did your friend—” He cut himself off, tensed and turned away, cocking his head to the side. Soon Agatha heard it as well: Prince Aaronev coming down the hallway, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“...cannot come barging in here! This is unacceptable! This is outrageous! Vassal of the Empire or no, I will not be undermined in my own—”

The door to the library swung open and Captain Vole walked in.

On her first week in Mechanicsburg, Lady Teodora had pointed him out to Agatha and given her two rules: never go near him, and never mention him to Lord Saturnus. The latter, Agatha had easily understood, once the rumor mill had told her what he had done. The former had never made much sense to her.

Until now.

“Ah. Und here iz de girl dot hyu said hyu had not seen,” Vole said, his curling sneer of derision revealing a mouthful of dagger-sharp teeth that glinted in the light.

Aaronev stuttered and flushed. Agatha recognized the expression she’d seen on tourists getting kicked out of bars and shops for bad behavior. This was someone who was used to obedience at all times, and certainly not used to backchat from ‘subordinates’.

“Well – well – how was I supposed to know this was who you meant?” he blustered. “She never said she was from Mechanicsburg!”

Agatha jumped to her feet automatically, the book tumbling from her lap, but couldn’t find her voice.

“How many unattended young girls come through dis city of hyurs?” Vole asked, dryly. “Must be a lot, if hyu cannot tell dem apart. Mebbe I should say zumtink to de Baron.” His amusement vanished and he pointed at Agatha. “Hyu come vit me now.”

Agatha shook her head, hard.

“You can’t just barge in here and take her away!” Tarvek said, putting his hand on Agatha’s shoulder. It was more comforting than Agatha anticipated, and it gave her the strength to stick out her chin defiantly.

“Oh, yez I can,” Vole said to Agatha, even though it was Tarvek who had spoken. “I iz Captain Vole of de Mechanicsburg Security Division. Hyu is a shneaky runavay, und I am here to take hyu home to hyu grandpoppa.”

Agatha’s stomach dropped in fear. He knew. Everything she’d heard about the captain said that he was not the kind to go haring after lost children out of the goodness of his heart, and everyone knew he’d turned against the family, the whole family.

She had asked, once. She hadn’t been able to stop herself. Saturnus had been talking about the Jägertroth and what it meant, and it had just popped out. He hadn’t gotten angry; hadn’t ranted even a little bit about traitors and betrayal. He’d gotten very quiet, which was much, much worse.

“Jägers aren’t allowed in Mechanicsburg,” Tarvek said, his eyes narrowing. Vole’s lip curled.

“I iz not a Jäger.”

Tarvek raised his eyebrows.

“You look like a Jäger.”

There was the teeth, of course, but there was also the hat, slightly taller than was normal for even a dress uniform. Vole was young enough to be humanoid, but old enough for claws and seafoam green skin.

Old enough for his first Jäger gift: enormous eyes of pure black, shining like liquid pools of bitumen pitch.

“Not effery construct from Mechanicsburg iz a Jäger.”

“You sound like a Jäger.”

“I sound like I iz from Mechanicsburg,” Vole said, irritation visibly increasing. “I vork for de Baron, und dot means if hyu obstruct my progress any more, I can haff efferyvun here arrested. Hokay? Hokay.” He pointed at Agatha. “Come. Efferyvun has been very vorried about hyu.”

Agatha shook her head. She wanted to leave, she really did, but getting torn to shreds by Vole as vengeance against her family the moment she set foot outside Sturmhalten was not exactly better.

“I iz not goink to go back und tell efferyvun dot I found hyu und let hyu go because hyu asked nizely,” Vole said. “Hyu vill be coming back to Mechanicsburg vit me – und hyu can valk, or hyu can be carried. Is up to hyu.”

“I’m not a child,” she said. “You can’t make me.”

Before Agatha knew what was happening, she found herself tossed over Vole’s shoulder like a sack of flour. It took him apparently no effort, and he didn’t even seem to notice the weight.

"Put me down!”

“I said valk or be carried, und I meant it,” Vole informed her. His voice held no amusement or enjoyment, and his hand was firmly latched onto her belt, which was the only reason she didn’t immediately put an elbow in his eye.

“You can’t—!” Aaronev burst out. Like swatting a fly, Vole gave the man a small shove that knocked him off his feet. “You dare—!”

Vole ignored him, heading down the hall with the struggling Agatha over his shoulder.

“The Baron will hear of this!” Aaronev shouted.

“‘Herr Baron,’” Vole called back sarcastically, without slowing, “‘I found a girl dot ran avay from home und kept her in my castle, und vun of hyu soldiers came und took her back to her family.’ Ya, he vill be very unhappy vit me, I am sure.”

Aaronev’s expression was one of panic and fear, and it was frightening the same way his excitement had been frightening.

But beside him, Tarvek looked almost relieved.

Then Vole turned the corner, and both were out of sight.

“Are you going to kill me?” Agatha asked quietly. Vole snorted.

“After effryvun has seen me take hyu avay? Und I vould haff to explain hyu mysterious disappearance?” There was a brief silence. “I iz doing a favor for hyu grandpoppa.”

“Put me down,” Agatha said. “I can walk.”

He dropped her none-too-gently to her feet. Agatha followed him in the sullen silence of a chastised teenager, though secretly she was grateful to him for taking her out of this place. She could always try and escape him once they were outside of Sturmhalten, and continue on her way to Beetleburg.

Although...if he could track her here, he could probably just find her again. How much inconvenience would he put up with on the order of the former Lord of Mechanicsburg? Who he rather vehemently no longer served.

“I thought you don’t work for my family anymore.”

“I don’t,” Vole said, tightly. “Iz like I said. I iz doink hyu grandpoppa a favor.”

“I heard you hate us. A lot.”

Vole’s mouth thinned, and he said nothing.

“Don’t you?” she asked.

No response.

“What happened when—?“

“Dese iz all very personal qvestions,” Vole said, sharply. “All hyu need to know iz, I respect Lord – I respect hyu grandpoppa enough to leave my post und use my time off to—”

Vole stopped short. The hallway ahead of them was barred by two women – strange, colorless women, all white from hair to eyes to skin. They weren’t wearing much by way of clothes, but they both carried long, sharp swords.

Agatha took a nervous step back and glanced up at Vole. He was grinning with wild excitement.

“Ho, so de prince of Sturmhalten is de fun kind of shtupid,” he said.

The women lunged, Agatha shrieked, but Vole was a whirl of claws, and in what seemed like seconds, the women fell dead. The captain seemed almost disappointed at the brevity of the fight. He looked down at the blood spattered across his neat white jacket and frowned.

“Tch. Dot vill stain.” He glanced at Agatha, but Agatha was staring at the bodies. She’d never seen a dead body before. Next year, the biology teacher would take the class on a field trip to the town morgue to witness an autopsy of a suitably grisly death. Agatha had been quite looking forward to it.

Now she was not so sure. It was one thing to think of a body laid out on a slab in a sterile medical environment, or as parts in a grand experiment. But these were just…people. They had been alive, and now they were dead. She felt numb, except for a distant sort of relief that their eyes were already clouded, with no iris or pupil, so that she did not have to see what eyes looked like with no spark of life within them.

Vole grabbed her forearm and jerked her forward a step, roughly. “Stay close. Ve move qvickly now. ”

Agatha did so, scurrying to keep up with Vole’s long-legged strides.

The hallways were empty of even the guards she had seen before, which only increased their wariness. No servants, no voices, no life.

They made it through two more doors before they heard a sudden grinding of stone, and Vole pivoted sharply, letting a long, crescent-bladed spear slide uselessly past him. He grabbed the haft and wrenched it out of the hands of the startled warrior – another one of the pale women, standing in the mouth of a hole in the wall that had not been there a moment ago. Vole spun the spear around, placed a hand on the butt of the spear, and Vole thrust forward, impaling not just the woman who had attacked, but the one behind her as well. Both bodies crumpled to the ground, locked together by the spearhaft.

Vole looked around sharply, but was startled when he saw Agatha still standing behind him.

“Oh,” he said, surprised. “I thought hyu vould try und run avay vhile I vuz distracted.”

“As if,” Agatha said hotly. “You said you’re here to get me home safely on behalf of my grandfather. They’re obviously trying to stop me from leaving. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Vole looked impressed.

“Schmott girl.”

They froze when the lights overhead flickered and dimmed. After a few seconds, they brightened again.

“What was that?” Agatha whispered.

“Nottink good for us,” Vole murmured.

“It’s the—”

Vole whirled, lashing out, and his claws missed Tarvek’s nose by a hair’s breadth.

“I’m here to help!” Tarvek insisted, raising his hands and backing away hurriedly. “My father turned on the lightning moat; you’ll never get out on your own.”

Vole grabbed Tarvek by the front of his jacket and lifted him one-handed off the ground, so they were nose to nose.

“Und vy do I trust dot hyu vant to get us out of here?”

Tarvek showed no sign of intimidation, meeting Vole’s glare with a level stare of his own.

“Because you don’t have a choice. You can’t fight your way through a lightning moat. If you want to get out of the castle – and believe me, you do – you have to take the secret passageways, and you don’t know them like I do. You’ll waste time getting lost even before you get to the tunnels that connect to the town.”

Vole’s eyes narrowed. Agatha knew he knew that Tarvek was right, but didn’t want to admit it.

“You knew this was going to happen,” Agatha said. “You were going to try and get me out.”

“Yes,” Tarvek said, twisting his head around to look at her. “I don’t know what, exactly, but it’s never good when Father takes an interest in someone. I didn’t tell you because I was worried you’d get frightened and run off. They’d just catch you and lock you up, and then I’d never be able to get you out. Late afternoon is when Father would be in his workshop and the guard would be changing shifts.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t have to know someone to not want them dead,” Tarvek snapped. “Or worse.”

Agatha did not ask what might be worse. She looked to Vole, who gritted his teeth and dropped Tarvek. The boy landed neatly on his feet, like a cat, which visibly annoyed Vole.

“Fine,” Vole said. “But if hyu iz lyink, I vill kill hyu in a very painful vay, und I know lots of painful vays. Yes?”

Tarvek glared at Vole.

“This isn’t a trick.”

“Proof it.”

Tarvek led them down another hall and drew aside a tapestry. He pressed down on part of the mortar between two stones, and a section of the wall shuddered and slid away.

“Down here.”

Vole snagged him by the collar, none-too-gently.

“I go first. Der Geisterdamen iz comink up trough dese tunnels. Hyu stay out of my vay.”

“The what?” Agatha asked, following Vole down the tunnel, Tarvek right behind her. It was wide enough that she did not feel uncomfortably confined, but not so wide that anything could easily push past Vole to get to her. She felt comforted to have Tarvek at her back. He seemed the sort of person who could not be snuck on, and she didn't need to be tensed for someone grabbing her from behind.

“Der Geisterdamen,” Vole said. “Hyu mostly see dem out in de Vastelands. Der Baron alvays thought dey vuz suspicious, but dey neffer caused enough trouble to be vorth lookink at dem too close.” Agatha heard the smirk in his voice. “Heh. Und now ve know dey is plenty suspicious. How many of dem does hyu Poppa have down dere?”

“Not quite a small army, but enough to be trouble,” Tarvek said.

“Why does he want me?”

“Because he’s insane,” Tarvek growled. “Bad enough trying to keep you here when he thought no one would notice you gone, but to try and stop a soldier of the Empire? Idiot.”

“Qviet,” Vole said sharply. “De sound echoes. Dun talk unless hyu need to.”

Agatha did not need to look at Vole’s face to know he was thinking the same thing she was. Attacking an officer of the Empire was a dangerous and stupid thing to do. No one would think an ordinary girl worth invoking the Baron’s wrath.

But if that girl was the Heterodyne...

Prince Aaronev had known, Agatha realized. She didn’t know how, but it explained why he had been so...excited. Something about her, something about the way she looked…

Let me go!

...or maybe something she’d said?

The tunnel wound erratically, occasionally splitting off, always going downward. Tarvek would whisper the direction to turn, but otherwise no one spoke.

The tunnel flattened out suddenly, opening into a chamber so wide the corners were lost in the gloom. Down the middle ran a river – although to Agatha, used to the churning, racing waters of the Dyne, it seemed more like a long, narrow lake.

“Dese are de tunnels, yes?”

Tarvek nodded.

“Good. Hyu vill go back now.”

“No! You can't get out withou–!"

“We can’t leave him here!” Agatha protested. Tarvek's mouth stayed slightly open, but no sound came out as he stared at her.

“If de prince is involved in dis, so is he.”

“You don’t know that!” Agatha snapped. “You don’t have any proof!”

“I dun need proof. I iz not arresting him, I iz not trusting him.”

“He hasn’t done anything but help us!”

“This place is a maze,” Tarvek interrupted. “It’s worse than the secret passages in the castle. I know the safest routes, and while I’m sure you could handle the monsters, you need me to tell you where the traps are.”

Vole wavered, clearly torn, and getting angry about it.

“First, hyu tell me vut hyu poppa vants vit Agatha.”

“He wants to give her to the Geisterdamen.”

“Dun play games,” Vole snapped, jabbing Tarvek in the chest. “Hyu know vut I iz asking.”

“I don’t...I don’t know exactly what they do,” Tarvek said. He stared into the distance, his gaze hunted. Haunted. “I wasn’t lying about that part. I don’t know how often it happens or where they get the girls or why, but...” He wrapped his arms around himself and swallowed hard. “It was a year ago. I was in the passages one night, and I saw two of the Geisterdamen carrying something wrapped in a sheet, down into the tunnels. I followed them, and when they left, I went down. They’d unwrapped it and left it by the water.

“It was a girl, about my age, and she was...she was dead. I couldn’t see why, she didn’t seem hurt, but her eyes were, were all strange. She didn’t look like she was from Sturmhalten, but I don’t know how they could have...” His grip tightened. “They took her and they did something to her and then they left her body here for the monsters to eat.” His voice was barely a whisper. “Like trash.”

He forced himself to keep going.

“The way they’d acted with the body, it looked...practiced. Like they were following a procedure. I went down to that spot every night for four months. And one day, I went down, and I found another body. Another girl. Same age. No marks. But they both...they looked scared.”

Agatha felt nauseous and slightly dizzy. She’d been right. She’d been horribly, awfully right, and never in her life had she before so desperately wished she had been wrong. And that could have been her – would have been her, if Vole hadn’t come and Tarvek’s plan to get her out hadn’t worked. It would have been her body lying beside the river for the monsters to take.

And no one would have ever known what happened. Agatha would have simply vanished, nothing left of her for anyone to find, not even her bones. What would that have done to Saturnus?

What would it have done to Teodora?

“So sad,” Vole said, his icy sarcasm a knife through Agatha’s horror. “I can tell hyu iz very upset about it, so upset hyu dun report it to anyvun.”

“To who?” Tarvek snapped. “My father? The captain of the guard?”

“Der Baron.”

“I don’t have any proof,” Tarvek said. “And my family is very, very good at hiding secrets. And if he did believe me, and he did come down here, when he didn’t find anything, he’d leave and they’d kill me.”

“But you’re his son!” Agatha exclaimed.

Vole snorted.

“Hyu dun pay much attention in hyu classes, do hyu? Dis is de Sturmvoraus family. Dey vould kill each odder over who took der last sausage at breakfast.”

Tarvek did not disagree.

“My father would probably be the one holding the knife,” he said quietly. He grabbed Agatha’s wrist, desperation in every inch of him. “Please. Please, I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want them to, to do whatever it is they do. Please believe me.”

Agatha twisted her wrist out of his grip, but only so she could take his hand and squeeze it tightly.

“I believe you.”

She looked up at Vole, who sighed.

“Fine. But if ve get ambushed und killed, dun hyu come cryink to me about it.”

#girl genius #agatha heterodyne #tarvek sturmvoraus #vole girl genius #aaronev sturmvoraus

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bigasswritingmagnet · 4 months ago

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Absolution

Fandom: Girl Genius Summary:

When an assassination attempt goes very right, Agatha is trapped beneath a collapsed building, saved by a Jager she does not recognize...at first. Vole has done his thinking, and he's got a question he can't quite bring himself to ask. Down in the dark, there's nothing to do but talk.

(warning for claustrophobia!)

AO3 Link

Agatha should have brought Tarvek.

She should have insisted that she and Prince von Lundburg be allowed to bring with them an aide or an assistant or something, so that she could stand in the background, nodding seriously, while Tarvek did the actual negotiating part.

He loved the negotiating part.

Agatha hated the negotiating part. She and Prince Oswin were now on minute twenty-seven arguing whether Mechanicsburg would give them a ten percent or nine percent discount on snail exports. Agatha didn’t know why Oswin had insisted they meet with not even a guard in the room, especially considering he was flipping frantically through his notes as much as she was, but she needed this to go well.

Lundburg was a two days journey from the Heterodyne Valley by foot, and Mechanicsburg had thought of it much the same way your average citizen thought of their local corner store—a good place to swing by for a cup of coffee and a quick pillage on your way to work. If Agatha could make friends with them, the rest of the neighbors might stop shoring up their defenses every time she set foot outside the valley.

“Fine,” Agatha said, already hearing Van’s furious shrieking in her ear but well beyond caring. “Ten percent. Fine.”

Prince Oswin, a ferrety man whose first words to Agatha were hoping she had better breeding than the Baron, scribbled down a note.

“I suppose we shall have to let the clerks put this into the proper language,” he sighed. “Lady Heterodyne, while I appreciate your…enthusiasm, let me advise you, as one raised to rule, it is far better to leave these things to the help, and simply apply one’s signature when neces—do you hear something?”

Agatha had registered the screaming about a minute ago but, despite having only lived in Mechanicsburg for six months, had already learned to tune it out as background noise.

“Yes,” she said. “Someone’s screaming. What did you mean, my enthusiasm?”

“Your request that all negotiations be handled privately. It’s hard the done thi-aaahh!” The word turned into a scream of terror. Agatha whipped around…and frowned.

“It’s only a Jӓger,” she said, disapprovingly. “They follow my orders, they won’t hurt you. Well, they follow my orders except for the ones about not following me.” This was said very pointedly, but the Jäger did not seem to notice.

“He’s. He’s. Big,” the prince gulped.

True, this Jӓger was much larger than the usual Jӓgers—actually, he looked more like one of the Jӓger generals than your average Jӓgersoldier.

“Oh!” Agatha said suddenly, brightening. “Are you General Zadipok? We’ve been looking everywhere for y—”

“No,” the Jӓger said. “Ve gots to go now, right now, come on.” He glanced out the window and then back to Agatha. “Fast.”

“We’re in the middle of—”

“Hy’z not interrupting hyu for de fun of it, ve need to go.”

Something about him was familiar. She would remember if she’d met a Jӓger this shape before, but his eyes—deep wells of black, apparently without pupils—those she was sure she had seen before.

But a Jӓger was a Jӓger, and this one was worried about something.

“Let me just—”

Faster than she would have thought possible for his size, the Jӓger lunged forward, grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her out the door. She yelped as her arm nearly popped out of its socket; he muttered an apology and loosened his grip, but did not let go.

“Excuse you!” the prince exclaimed, hurrying after them. “We are in the middle of negotiating—”

“Negotiations go a lot better ven efferybody doing dem is alive,” the Jӓger called back over his shoulder. “So if hyu vould like to stay part of de negotiations, hyu come vit me, too!”

When Agatha had arrived that morning, the place had been a bustle of activity, servants and soldiers everywhere. Now they lay dead, some as if they were asleep, some staring out at the world with cloudy eyes still wide in surprise.

“What happened? What—oh no.” She stopped walking, recognizing Mechanicsburg uniforms, recognizing faces—but the Jӓger did not let her stay there.

“Dun stop unless hyu vant to join dem!”

“What the devil is all this? I demand an explanation!” The prince was more indignant than outraged. “Do you have any idea how inconvenient it is to train new servants? Was this your doing? Some kind of Heterodyne…joke…?”

The whistling began. It was high pitched and overhead, growing steadily louder.

“What is that?” the prince demanded. Agatha and the Jӓger did not stop moving. That was the last Agatha saw of the prince: standing stock still and staring up at the ceiling in irritable confusion.

They rounded a corner into the main hallway and the door seemed to be a thousand miles away and the whistling was getting louder and the Jӓger scooped Agatha up and began to run, charging for the door but it wouldn’t be fast enough.

And it wasn’t.

Agatha didn’t know what was the roar of explosions and what was the Jӓger and what was her own screaming as the ceilings and walls came down around them and the floor gave way and they fell into darkness and the thunder went on and on and on and on and

One would not think the words ‘puppy dog eyes’ and ‘Jӓger generals’ would belong in a sentence together, unless the words ‘never ever ever ever’ were also in there, but it was the only term Agatha could think of to describe the looks they were giving her. She’d known they wouldn’t like it, and that it would probably bring up all sorts of bad memories about her father and uncle and the last time the Jӓgers had been left behind by a Heterodyne.

She hadn’t expected to feel like such a heel about it.

“It’s not that I don’t want you there,” she said, as reassuringly as she could. “I just think the negotiations will go better if I don’t bring walking reminders of why half of this trade deal is just me promising not to invade Lundburg.”

“Ve can be sottle!” Gkika insisted, desperately. “Ve vill follow behind, qviet like!”

“And if someone saw you, there is nothing I could say that would convince them I wasn’t trying to smuggle Jӓger troops into their territory for a surprise attack.”

“Hyu could at least take Higgs,” Dimo said, dangerously close to pleading.

“He and Zeetha aren’t due back from Skifander for another month, and I can’t delay that long. I’ll be lucky if Prince von Lundburg doesn’t change his mind in the middle of negotiations, nevermind in a month. Listen,” she said, firmly. “You are not coming with me. You are not going to follow me. This is me asking politely, but I will make it an order if I have to.”

Six pairs of eyes stared at her as if she had just told them she’d cancelled solstice that year. She raised her eyebrows, expectantly.

“Yes Mistress,” the generals said at last.

Agatha allowed herself an internal sigh of relief.

“Thank you for understanding,” she said. “I promise when I get back, I’ll find go find a big monster and we’ll all go fight it together, okay?”

Agatha opened her eyes—maybe.

She was in pitch black, the kind of darkness you got in underground caves where the animals were bleach white and blind. The only noise was the distant sound of rock and wood settling, and slow heavy breathing very, very close to her.

“Who’s there?” Agatha demanded, trying to sound forceful.

“Iz just me.”

Agatha relaxed. Right. The Jäger.

“Are you alright?”

A noncommittal grunt.

“Been better. Been vorse.”

Agatha dug around in her pocket and felt another wave of relief when her hand closed around one of her pocketwatch clanks. She had taken it absentmindedly, just in case. Fumbling a little in the dark, she managed to press the button on its head to activate it.

The light from its eye was not very bright, but in the darkness it was nearly blinding. All the same, it was a welcome relief, a hand to hold back the clinging shadows.

“Okay, little guy, let’s see what we’re—”

As she spoke, she turned the clank around, shining the light on the rubble around her. It lit up the face of the Jӓger, barely a foot away. Agatha gasped and jerked backwards, the clank tumbling from her hand. She immediately slammed into the wall behind her—she could get no further than an arm’s length away.

It was his eyes. Despite the new tusks and the shaggy beard, the way the light shone on the starless void of his eyes made something click in her memory.

Captain Vole.

“Vuz vonderink if hyu vuz goink to recognize me,” the not-Jӓger said, false humor not quite managing to mask the wariness.

“What are you doing here?” Agatha demanded.

“Right dis minute?”

With the little clank on its back, the ambient light made her surroundings visible. Vole was on his knees, half-hunched and looming over her. At his back was a massive stone, big enough that it could have crushed Agatha, but also big enough to hold back the rest of the debris. Held on Vole’s back, it formed a pocket in the destruction big enough to breathe, but not enough to dig their way out.

“Hy’z not here to kill hyu,” he said, simply.

“No,” Agatha said, softly. “I can see that.”

Vole was all that stood between herself and a quick, painful death—although the alternative was a slow and very unpleasant one. It wasn’t by coincidence, either. He had come looking for her with the goal of getting her out before the bomb even came down.

“You knew this was coming.”

“Ya. Hy vuz…” he hesitated. “Nearby. Hy saw some of dese guys sneakink out of de house, and some of de servants. Hy din’t see hyu vit dem, so Hy knew hyu vuz still inside. Hy saw an airship comink, und dey all got real excited. Vun of dem says ‘ve finally goink to bury de bastard’, de odder says ‘hurry, ve got to get to de top of de hill so ve can see de show’. Hy came in here to get hyu. Saw vut dey did to everyvun else.”

“’The bastard’—so this was about Oswin. Was I just…acceptable collateral damage?” Agatha scooped up her little clank, but kept it on its back to keep the little space as illuminated as possible.

“Maybe, but Hy dun tink any of dem vould cry about a dead Heterodyne. Two birds, vun stone, ya? Plus, if dey lose deir guy in de attack too, nobody goink to blame dem for hyu dying.” He looked thoughtful. “Hy bet dot’s vut dey voz countink on. Efferybody vould be lookink for who vuz tryink to kill hyu, dey vouldn’t effen think to look at him. Vy hyu looking at me like dot?” he asked, more hurt than indignant. “Hy got promoted to captain for a reason.”

Guilt replaced the surprise on Agatha’s face.

“Hy learned a lot about how pipple tink, vorking for de Baron. He voz good at seeink how all de pieces move. If hyu kill dis guy dis vay, hyu start a var. Kill him anodder vay, hyu keep de peace. Turned out, Hy vuz not bad at dot kind of tinkink.” He grimaced. “Probably could heff made higher den captain if Hy din get stuck on de start a var part.”

Vole grimaced again, but this time it was as he tried to shift his grip on the rock at his back. He froze as a small shower of pulverized stone trickled down from the ceiling.

“Demn.”

“How long do you think you can hold that up for?”

“Not forever,” Vole said. “Mebbe a few hours? Hy’s really stronk now, even for a Jӓger, but Hy dun know my limits yet. Haffen’t been like dis for long enuff.”

“What ha—” Agatha shook her head. “No, plan first.”

She strained to listen, but could not hear any voices overhead. Had anyone managed to escape? Had anyone survived who wasn’t in on it? Did anyone know what had happened? Was there anyone left to come looking for her?

“First step,” she said, “air flow. It won’t matter how long you can hold that up for if we suffocate first.”

Using the clank to light her way, she more closely examined the space they were in. She had to work very hard not to think about how little space there was.

They had fallen into the corner of a basement room, so there were two small sections of clear stone wall meeting at the corner. Agatha carefully examined the mortar around the stones, but it was all disappointingly well built. Chipping through would take a lot of time and effort for no guarantee she wouldn’t find more dirt on the other side.

Overhead, several heavy wooden rafters had fallen across each other, catching the debris between them. It was compacted together, but less sturdy than the stone walls—for good or ill. Agatha searched along the walls of rubble until she came to the part behind Vole.

To her horror, a long, thin piece of metal had pierced his shoulder, the other end disappearing into the ceiling.

“Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Does vut hort?” Carefully, Vole turned his head. “Oh.” Then, in a slightly annoyed voice, “Vell now it does.”

“Should I pull it out?”

“Only if hyu sure it von’t make de ceiling come down on us.”

Agatha set the clank down on Vole’s shoulder. Gripping the metal rod with both hands she pushed. There was a moment of resistence, then it jerked forward, out of Vole’s arm and further into the debris. Very slowly and carefully, she angled the rod so she could pull it over Vole’s shoulder and free of the rubble. A trickle of air brushed across her face; not as much as Agatha would be like, but enough that she could be sure they wouldn’t choke to death.

“Great,” Vole said. “Now ve can die of starvation instead.”

“Don’t,” Agatha said, sternly. “We’ll get out of here.”

“Hyu tink dot ting could climb out of here? Iz small enough.”

Agatha looked at her clank thoughtfully.

“Maybe. They are very good at getting in and out of places. But I don’t know if it could help. You said only the people who knew about this got out.”

“Ya, but hyu got about a hunnert Jӓgers followink hyu,” Vole said. “Dey could dig us out no problem.”

Agatha’s jaw dropped.

“What!” she exclaimed, indignantly. “I specifically told them not to do that!”

Vole smirked.

“After everyting dey been trough to get hyu, hyu vould have to nail every vun of dem to de floor.”

Agatha scowled…then gave up with a sigh.

“Well…good for us, I suppose.” She looked to the clank, still balanced on Vole’s shoulder. “Go out there and find the Jӓgers. Bring them back here. Tell them where we are. Got it?”

The clank gave her a little salute. With a little hop, it jumped into the new gap. Its legs kicked for a moment, and then it was gone.

And now Agatha and Vole were alone in the dark. Agatha felt blindly around until she found the corner, and sat down with her back to the wall. She could sense the panic hovering in the back of her mind, and firmly kept it there. Breaking down into hysterics would do nothing but waste air.

She needed to keep herself occupied, keep her mind off the fact that there was nothing to do but sit and wait.

“What happened to you?” she asked. “You look…different.”

“Hyu boyfriend happened, dot’s vut.” Vole’s voice was sardonic.

“Um. Which one?”

A snort of amusement.

“Wulfenbach. Effry time he tried to pull someting out ov de time shtop, it vould age to dust. So he figured he vould pull out somevun who could age a few hundred years vitout dyink, and do some tests to see how to shtop it.”

“But why you? Why not one of the generals?” Oh, what she wouldn’t have done to have Khrizhan or Gkika to help. Dimo certainly would have appreciated it.

“Cuz he didn’t care if Hy lived or died.”

It was the matter-of-factness of it that startled her.

“Oh.”

“But it vorked. He figured out how to keep me alive, and used dot to get hyu odder boyfriend out of town. Und now Hy iz like dis.”

“If Gil brought you out, where have you been? Why haven’t I seen you?”

“Hy vuz vit Higgs ven Hy voke up. Ven Hy got better, he vuz…lookink after me. Den he needed to go to Paris, but Jӓgers isn’t allowed in Paris. Hy isn’t technically a Jӓger, but ve didn’t tink de Master vould care about technically. So Hy vent to an old Heterodyne stronkhold from vay back, und Hy stayed dere.”

“All alone?”

“Ya. Hy vanted time to…think.”

“About what?”

“Lots of tings.”

Agatha recognized a deliberately vague answer when she heard one.

“Was the stronghold near here? I haven’t heard anything about it.”

A pause.

“No. Iz in de valley.”

“So what are you doing here?”

Silence.

“Did you follow me here?”

More silence.

“We have to talk about something,” Agatha said. “I need to think about something other than...than all this.”

“Maybe hyu tell me someting,” Vole said. “How do hyu feel about Mechanicsburg?”

Agatha blinked—probably.

“How do I feel?”

“Hyu poppa din’t like it. Din’t like any part of it, not der castle, not der monsters, not…” He trailed off.

“Not the Jӓgers.”

No reply.

“I love Mechanicsburg,” Agatha said, simply. “All of it. I even love the castle, as crazy and evil and obnoxious as it can be.”

“Hyu told de Jӓgers to stay.” It was utterly emotionless.

“Just this one time!” Agatha exclaimed. “I thought it would make the negotiations run more smoothly—I know,” she said, when Vole snorted. “Believe me, I am fully aware of what a bad idea that turned out to be.”

She slumped back.

“I told myself I would be a better ruler than my father,” she said, softly. “When I heard the whole story about the monster’s guild I was so…I got so angry. I know there were a lot of objectively terrible things about Mechanicsburg, but not all of it. They didn’t even try to sort out what was worth keeping. They never tried to understand. I promised myself I would never let my people down just to make other people like us more…and then I did.”

She felt tears well up in her eyes and Vole made a small sound of distress.

“Hy vosn’t tryink to make hyu cry,” he said, slightly panicked.

“You can see me?” Agatha said, startled.

“Hy gots good eyes.”

Agatha wiped at her face and told herself to watch her expressions.

“So hyu dun vant to be hyu poppa.”

“I want to be me and do it my way. I want people to stop judging me based on my family, and that includes when people say I’m doing a great job because I’m not catapulting kittens into the sun or something.”

“Dot vuz ven Hy tried to kill dem,” Vole said, suddenly. “Ven dey forst started goink on de adventures und ve realized dey vuz alvays goink to leave us behind. At de time, Hy tought Hy vuz angry because dey vouldn’t let uz fight, but now…Hyu spend a hundred years alvays beink de family favorites, und suddenly dey don’t vant hyu anymore, dot gets to hyu. Hy tink maybe dot had someting to do vit it too.”

Agatha was surprised.

“That’s very…introspective.”

“Hy told hyu, Hy’ve been doink a lot of tinking.”

“About my father?”

“About everyting. Voteffer Wulfenbach did to keep me alive, it vos…bad. By de end, Hy realized dere is good fightink and bad fightink, und Hy vuz a leedle sick of both kinds. Higgs told me to tink about tings, so Hy did. Den de more Hy thought, de more some tings made more sense, end odder tings made less sense.”

Agatha drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

“Nobody ever told me what happened. Just that you tried to kill the boys and they threw you out.”

“De generals trew me out,” Vole corrected. “Hyu poppa and hyu uncle, dey forgave me.”

Agatha stared.

“Oh,” she said, distantly. “That was…”

“Nice?”

“I was going to say not well thought out. I mean, you’re a Jӓger. They might as well have told you to your face that you weren’t enough of a threat to be worth killing.”

“Schmott gorl,” Vole said, audibly impressed despite himself.

“That’s why you wanted to kill me, wasn’t it? If they’d kicked you out or tried to kill you, you’d have only been mad at them, but then they insulted you and you wanted to take it out on the bloodline.”

“Ya. Talk about not takink rejection vell.”

Agatha choked on a laugh, but Vole was silent. She cleared her throat.

“Sorry. I thought you were making a joke.”

“Hy vuz,” he said, sounding surprised. “Hey, hyu vont to hear anodder funny vun? Higgs tinks Hy should be a general.”

Agatha goggled at him which, judging by the amusement in his voice, was the reaction he’d been aiming for.

“Hy know, dot vos my reaction too.”

“Don’t you have to be a Jӓger, to be a Jӓger general?”

“Ya.” Vole sounded less amused. “He told me to tink about it, but Hy dun tink it matters vot Hy tink. De generals definitely von’t listen to me. Hyu von’t listen to me. De Jӓgers von’t listen to me, not vunce dey know.” There was a thoughtful pause. “Hy alvays tought efferyvun knew, but ven Hy ran into Maxim under Mechanicsburg, he thought Hy vuz…Hy don’t know. He didn’t know vy Hy had gone missing.”

“The generals probably didn’t give any details because the other Jӓgers would have immediately tried to chase you down and kill you, regardless of what my father said,” Agatha said, dryly. After a pause, she said, “If you were thrown out, why go back when the Jӓgers were forced to leave Mechanicsburg?”

“Hy din vant to. Hy vuz vorking for de Baron already. Ven he hired de Jägers, he assigned me to de vun place he could be sure Hy vould neffere run into dem, und Hy vuz stuck dere. But den Hy could rub it in everyvun’s faces dot de vun Jager dey didn’t vant dere, vuz de only vun dey got.”

Agatha could not keep the disapproval off her face.

“Hy dun know if hyu noticed,” Vole said, dryly, “but Hy iz not a very nice person.”

“I don’t know,” Agatha said, softly. “Saving my life was pretty nice of you.”

For a moment, she thought he would go silent again, but eventually he spoke, and when he did it was in a soft, distant voice.

“At de time it vuz all so important. De hats, de clothes, hurtink de Heterodynes, hurtink efferybody, blood, var, it drove me. Now Hy tink about doze tings and Hy don’t feel anyting.” The tone of his voice changed; he sounded somewhere between embarassed and nervous. “Hy dun even feel like fighting, deze days.”

Agatha managed to keep her expression sympathetic, rather than horrified—although it wasn’t Vole’s feelings that so horrified her. What had Gil done to him, that a Jӓger would no longer want to fight?

She felt a now-familiar bubble of overprotective defensiveness rising in her chest and tried to shoo it away. Vole wasn’t even a Jӓger, he wasn’t hers—in fact, he was so much not hers that he had tried to kill her more than once—but he was Jӓger shaped, and that was apparently enough for Heterodyne instinct to kick in.

Vole was waiting for her to respond, but Agatha couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I’m sorry?” she hazarded.

“Iz maybe better dis vay,” Vole said.

“For me, certainly.”

Vole chuckled. They fell into silence again, though it was a less awkward one this time, almost companionable. Agatha leaned back against the wall and wondered how long they had been down here. Vole had said the Jӓgers were travelling half a day behind her, but they would have been travelling slowly to avoid running into her. Jӓgers could move very quickly when they wanted to, and they would come running as soon as they heard.

But when would they hear? How fast could her dingbot travel? They had little propellers, but Agatha had never bothered to test how quickly they could go. Surely the Jӓgers would have noticed something was wrong, would have been worried enough by the sight of the airship to move closer...

Vole grunted suddenly, and Agatha felt a trickle of dust and heard small stones rattle against the floor.

“Vole?”

“Hy’z okay,” he said. “Just gettink in a better position.”

They fell into an awkward silence.

“How iz Maxim doink deze days?” Vole asked.

Agatha’s eyebrows shot up.

In a slightly defensive tone, Vole said “Ve vuz good friends, back in de day.”

“Really?”

“Vut so veird about dot?” Vole asked, slightly indignant.

“I...Well, nothing. I guess I’m just used to you being…” She trailed off.

“De ex-Jӓger,” Vole finished for her. “De evil vun. De crazy vun. De bad vun. Traitor. Monster.”

His voice was not angry. It sounded like he was reciting a list.

“It must have been lonely,” Agatha said, not sure why she was saying it. “I know the pack is very important to Jӓgers.”

The detached Jӓgers had considered it a suicide mission, and they had been volunteers. To lose the pack not by choice, but to have it taken away…

“Hy vuz too angry to be lonely,” Vole said. “Or maybe too angry to notice dot Hy vuz lonely. Not sure. Dot voz vun of de tings I vos thinking about. Hy vunder if beink avay from de pack and de Heterodyne made me go crazy. Or maybe Hy vuz alvays dot bad, and ve neffer noticed because dot vuz vut de Heterodynes vanted from us.”

“You are what we made you to be,” Agatha said, softly. “I don’t think Bill and Barry understood that.”

“Ho, if ve goink to get into free vill versus determinism, ve gon have to get Jorgi down here,” Vole said, and she could hear a smile in his voice. “Ya, ve vuz vut hyu made us to be, but ve chose to be made dot. Ve chose to serve, chose to take de draught. Hy chose to break de troth. Ven Hy forst met hyu, Hy chose to let it stay broken.”

“You mean you considered not trying to kill me?” Agatha asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.

“No,” Vole said, bluntly. Then he amended, “Vell, Hy asked myself if Hy didn’t care dot hyu vuzn’t hyu poppa, end if Hy really vanted de line to stay dead. But de answer vuz ‘yes’ right avay.”

Agatha couldn’t help herself.

“So does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”

“It means Hy dun vant hyu dead,” Vole said, in a very final tone of voice.

“Maxim is doing well,” Agatha said, bringing the conversation to something less emotionally charged. “He and Oggie decided they’re my personal guards. Dimo would too, but he’s too busy being a general.”

“Vut—” There was a rumble and a crunch of wood on wood, and a string of hissed curses from Vole. Agatha’s hands flew up and pressed against the ceiling. She had no illusions that she’d be able to hold it up, but in this dark, she’d never know the ceiling was collapsing until it hit her.

If she was going to die, she wanted to see it coming.

But the rubble settled, and after a few moments of silence both she and Vole breathed a sigh of relief.

“Maybe dun surprise me like dot again,” Vole said, admonishingly.

“Sorry. I didn’t know you didn’t know.”

“Dimo a general. He iz not even dot older den me!” He sounded more amazed than indignant.

“All the generals were in Mechanicsburg while it was frozen, and he ended up taking charge. According to him it just ‘sort of happened’. He expected it to be temporary, but the other generals were so impressed that he managed to lead the entire Jӓger horde on his own, they made it permanent.” She couldn’t help but grin, remembering the look on Dimo’s face.

“Vell, maybe Higgs vill qvit bothering me about it, den.”

“Yes, I was wondering—don’t you have to be a Jӓger to be a Jӓger general?”

A brief silence.

“Dot’s it?”

“What’s it?”

“Dot’s de ting hyu have a problem vit. Not dot Hy tried to kill hyu poppa and hyu uncle, not dot Hy tried to kill hyu tvice, not dot Hy helped de guy trying to steal hyu castle—who also tried to kill hyu. Hyu’s stuck on me not beink a Jӓger.”

Agatha gestured around them.

“How many times do I need to point out that you are literally putting your life on the line to save mine?”

“Dot dun make up for de tings Hy did,” Vole said darkly.

“It’s certainly a start,” Agatha said, quietly. “Don’t you think?”

“Iz not not a start, Hy guess.”

Agatha laughed, softly.

“You’re secretly funny, aren’t you?”

“Dun tell nobody,” Vole said, dryly. “Vill ruin my reputation. How long hyu tink ve been down here?” he asked suddenly.

“I don’t know,” she answered, honestly. “It’s hard to tell. An hour, maybe two?”

Vole didn’t answer.

“Are you okay?”

“Hy vuz hopink it had been a lot longer den dot,” Vole said, his voice strained.

“They’ll get here soon,” Agatha said, with confidence and absolutely no supporting evidence. “I know they will.”

“Maybe ve keep talkink. Keep me distracted.”

“Okay,” Agatha said, settling back against the wall. “I’ve got lots of stories. I’ve had a pretty eventful year.”

She told him about growing up in Beetleburg with Adam and Lilith. She told him about meeting Maxim, Dimo, and Oggie. She told him about rescuing Othar and then almost immediately pushing him off an airship (he liked that one so much he asked her to tell it twice).

Agatha talked until her throat went dry and her voice was reduced to a thin rasp, and she was forced to stop. The only sound in the small space was Vole’s breathing—harsh, heavy, and painful.

“Hy vonts hyu to go into dot corner dere,” he said, abruptly. His voice was starting to waver. “As far back as hyu can go.”

Agatha did so, frowning suspiciously.

“Why?”

“De rock von’t hit hyu if hyu over dere, if Hy go down. Mebbe ve get lucky end de rest of it don’t come down all de vay. Give de Jӓgers more time to find hyu.”

“Don’t you dare talk like that,” Agatha said, fear rising up in her chest. “You’re going to be fine.”

“Gettink tired,” Vole whispered. “Hurts.”

“I’m not a fan of heroic sacrifices, especially when it’s to keep me safe.”

“Heh. Hyu in de wrong family, Heterodyne,” Vole said, amused despite the audible strain. “Effrybody in hyu city vould die for hyu—”

“I don’t let them,” Agatha snapped. Overhead she heard rock and wood grind together. “And it doesn’t even matter, you’re not a Jӓger anymore, remember? You’re not supposed to want to die for me.”

Vole said nothing and anger bloomed, clawing its way up over the fear.

“What is it with you?” she demanded. “You follow me here, you come charging in to save my life, and you won’t tell me why!”

“Hy had a qvestion, but…couldn’t…couldn’t make myself ask. Hyu know vut dey say. Hyu dun ask a qvestion if hyu dun vant de answer.”

He might as well have just told her. What other question could there be to drive a former Jӓger to such lengths?

“What if you do—”

“Don’t.” It was barely a whisper. “Dun say tings like dot.”

“Like what?”

“Like hyu could undo vot happened. Like enybody could. Some tings, dey break so bad not even a Spark can fix dem. De pipple of Mechanicsburg, de Jӓgers, de generals…Hy made sure doze bridges burned to de ground. No comink back from all dot.”

“I’m the Heterodyne. If I say—”

A laugh, strangled and half-choked, and Agatha cut herself off. Oh, she could order them to accept him, but she couldn’t make them want to. What kind of a life would that be? To be hated and mistrusted by everyone around you, even—especially—the people who used to be your brothers in arms.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Vole let out a sudden, violent groan. Agatha curled back against the wall and covered her head with her arms as pieces of timber rained down on her.

“Vole?” she whispered. She got a grunt in response. “Vole.”

“Still here,” he whispered. “Hy can’t…Hy can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

Agatha reached out blindly until her hands met his arm. He was bent almost double under the weight of the rock, his hands gripping the packed-in rubble on either size.

Her fingers touched his cheek, and found it was wet.

“Hy vant…Hy vant to die a Jӓger,” he whispered, barely audible.

Agatha swallowed hard. The generals had given her the notes, taught her the words and the rituals required. Agatha had not yet decided if she wanted to make more Jagers, but she had reviewed everything for the sake of continuity, information and family history that she didn’t want lost.

And she remembered enough.

“Vole,” she whispered, still cradling his face. “This choice is yours and yours alone, and let no thing living or dead judge your answer. Do you wish to be a Jäger?”

“Yes.” His voice shook.

“Swear to me the Jägertroth, your loyalty unending.”

“Hy give to de house of Heterodyne my strength, my blood, my final breath. Hy give it freely. Hy give it villingly. Hy give it gladly. No pain or wealth or death shall break my vow. Dis Hy svear.”

Agatha squeezed his shoulders tightly, her fingers burying in the thick, coarse fur.

“With gratitude and honor, I accept. The house of Heterodyne welcomes you, Jӓger.”

A violent shudder ran through Vole, and a terrifyingly final sounding sigh.

“—and my first order, as your Heterodyne, is do not give up now.”

A laugh, weak, wet, trembling.

“Not f…fair,” Vole croaked.

“I’m a Heterodyne, I don’t have to be fair.”

Suddenly Vole lashed out, smacking her backwards into the far corner. Before Agatha could react, the world gave way around her. She curled up tightly and held her breath and waited for the end.

Agatha didn’t know if it stopped very suddenly, or if she’d passed out and woken up again, but suddenly the world was quiet once more. This time she couldn’t move. Her legs were pressed against her chest, tightly enough that it made it hard for her lungs to expand. She could lift her head, but it was still too dark to see.

“Vole?” she said. Her ears strained, but she couldn’t even hear his breathing anymore. “Vole?”

She tried to call again but her throat closed around the grief. It wasn’t fair.

Overhead she heard a sudden shout. The sound sent a bolt of adrenaline through her. She tried to hear over her own pounding heart, trying to tell if she had imagined it.

“Mizz Agatha!”

“Here!” She tried desperately to work an arm free, and nearly dislocated her elbow. “I’m here!”

The shouting grew louder, words indistinct but the rhythm of orders and instructions. The voices grew clearer as rubble shifted.

A beam was lifted and light streamed in, blinding her. Agatha flinched from it but breathed in deeply the fresh, open air. Hands and claws tore away rock and rubble, more hands gripped her tightly and lifted her up and out and into a hug so tight it nearly bruised her ribs.

“I told you not to come,” Agatha whispered, hugging back just as fiercely.

“Hyu asked politely,” Dimo said, voice shaking but trying desperately for humor. “Ve dun got to listen if hyu only ask.”

Agatha made a sound somewhere in the vicinity of a laugh.

“Dun effer, effer leave us behind again,” Dimo said.

“I won’t,” she whispered. “I promise I won’t.”

“Here!” someone shouted. Abruptly Dimo rose and swung her out of the way, into Jenka’s waiting arms.

“Hy got hyu, sveethot,” she murmured, half-carrying Agatha back to solid ground. “Ve gonna get out of de vay so ve can get hyu friend out.”

“The rock came down,” Agatha whispered. “He couldn’t hold it; I don’t know if…if…”

“Dig fast!” Jenka bellowed.

The rubble had no chance against the powerful, determined claws of an entire company of Jӓgers, and it seemed to be seconds before the rock itself came into view. Agatha’s breath caught. The thing was massive, at least three feet thick. It had been part of some great stone mural that had shattered in the explosion, and it took four of the largest Jӓgers to lift the rock up enough to drag Vole free.

“Who is dis guy?” someone asked, bewildered.

Agatha didn’t answer. She pushed free of Jenka’s grip—which wasn’t easy, the Jӓger was not happy to let Agatha out of reach—and hurried to where the Jӓgers were laying Vole out.

“Hy neffer seen him before,” Gorb was saying. “Hy vould remember a guy dis big.”

“Is he…?” Agatha asked.

“Alive,” Dimo said. “Just.”

Agatha met his eyes and saw no sign that Dimo had any idea who this was. Had Higgs really not told anyone? Had he told Gil to say nothing, or had Gil told him? She knelt beside Vole and put a hand on his shoulder.

Vole’s eyelid cracked open, revealing a sliver of pure black. Agatha let out a gasp of relief that did not drown out the sharp inhale behind her.

“No heroic sacrifices,” Vole rasped. It sounded painful. “Hyu said.”

Slowly, Dimo crouched down beside her.

“Hyu did good,” he said, solemnly. He glanced at Agatha, who gave him a tiny nod. Dimo hesitated, only for a moment. “Velcome back, brother”

Vole’s expression went soft and relieved. Without another word, his eye closed and he went limp. Only the rise and fall of his chest gave any indication that he was still alive.

Agatha tried to rise, opening her mouth to speak, and swayed. Dimo caught her easily.

“Hokay,” he said, firmly. “Ve gon go home now.”

Agatha groaned.

“Everyone’s going to yell at me,” she said, half-whining.

“Ya,” Dimo agreed, utterly unsympathetic. “Dot’s vut happens ven hyu do stupid tings.”

#girl genius #vole girl genius #agatha heterodyne

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