Lucrezia snarled in outrage, “You said you wanted to help me!”
Zola looked contrite. “That’s true.” Her expression changed to one of hurt surprise, “And yet— Oh dear. I see that you planned to vivisect me the minute you got your information back to your other selves. Oh, Auntie, really.”
Lucrezia screamed with rage and tried to climb to her feet. Zola casually swept them out from under her. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll keep my end of the bargain. A version of you will make it out of here. Your plans will go ahead beautifully. And no one, not even your other selves, will ever suspect that I’m the one in control.” She smiled sweetly and drew her pistol. “Now, as we agreed, it’s time for Agatha Heterodyne to die. Then I can take my time with those three fools you so conveniently locked up for me . . . ” A peculiar look crossed Zola’s face. “Wait . . . I’m getting . . . ” She looked at Lucrezia blankly. “You only found two? No, there were three. Violetta and Gil . . . ” Her eyes widened. “That means you missed—” She jerked back in surprise, which is why when Tarvek dropped from where he’d been hiding in the rafters, the cudgel he swung viciously at her head only cracked firmly across her wrist. Zola’s pistol spun away as she shrieked in pain and surprise. Tarvek was about to finish her off when he saw, from the corner of his eye, Lucrezia diving for the pistol.
Without hesitation, he swung his foot against her jaw, sending her crashing into a bank of machinery.
“Tarvek,” Lucrezia cried, “Don’t be a fool! Aid me! I am the Agatha girl!”
Tarvek rolled his eyes even as he dived for the gun. A jar of desiccated leeches shattered against his side and his hand missed the pistol by scant centimeters.
Zola followed. “Don’t listen to her, Prince Sturmvoraus! She’s the Other! We have to stop her!”
A small machine smashed into Zola’s forehead, stopping her dead in place.
Lucrezia followed, doing a full body dive for the gun. “If I die, your precious Agatha dies too! You dare not work against me!”
A wheeled tea cart caught her full in the face and dropped her to the floor. The three rose to their feet simultaneously and realized they were all equidistant from the pistol. There was a tense moment while they all appraised each other . . . and then all moved at once.
Tarvek leapt towards the gun and was astonished when he reached it unimpeded. He rolled to his knees, pistol in one hand and cudgel in the other, to find himself alone.
A clacking sound caused him to spin in time to see Zola snapping shut a large machine rifle of some sort, a triumphant grin on her bruised face.
An amused “ahem” drew both of their gazes to the other side of the room where Lucrezia stood smiling. When she saw they were both focused on her, she flipped a delicate switch. Instantly, the doors slammed shut and a series or red lights began blinking. A scratchy recorded voice drifted down from the ceiling: “Hello, intruders! The blast doors are now sealed, and my laboratory’s self-destruct mechanism has been engaged. Shouldn’t have snooped, darlings, but it’s too late now. You’re going to die horribly in sixty,
fifty-nine . . . ”
“What are you doing?” Tarvek demanded. “Stop it! You’ll die too!”
Lucrezia threw her head back and laughed. “No power on Earth can stop my perfect death-trap! This iteration’s death is unfortunate, but the two of you are so annoying that I consider it worth it!”
Zola’s lip curled. “No, I don’t think so.” In a single smooth movement she drew, pointed, and shot a high-pressure grappling gun upwards into the ragged shaft in the ceiling. From high above came the solid thunk of the hook. Lucrezia and Tarvek, after a momentary surprise, dashed towards her, but Zola engaged the winch and, with a laugh, was pulled up and out of their reach. “Later, Tarvek,” she sang out. “Or . . . maybe not. Bye Auntie, I’ll be sure to say ‘hello’ to your other selves! Hee hee hee . . . ”
And, still giggling, she vanished from sight. The two stared upwards. Tarvek looked at Lucrezia. “If she’s got that big gun, why didn’t she just shoot us?”
Lucrezia considered this. “Well, it only shoots marshmallows, so the real question is why did she bother taking it at all?”
Tarvek sneered. “Oh, by the way, nice ‘death trap.’ ”
Lucrezia looked embarrassed. “That hole in the ceiling was not part of the original design! You’re not supposed to get in by tunneling straight down.”
Tarvek conceded this and peered up again. “Well, Agatha, myself, and the others came in that way, perhaps we can—”
A flash of light was followed by a hollow BOOM. “Blue fire,” Tarvek yelled, “She’s blown the shaft!” Instinctively, he tackled Lucrezia, pulling her with him as he dived for cover. “RUN!”
The room shook as a small avalanche of rock crashed to the ground. A torrent of dust and smoke poured from the shaft and filled the air, spreading like a wave. Tarvek landed with Lucrezia in his arms, sheltered by a row of huge glass tubes. The avalanche of material flowed around them, demolishing and covering machines and furniture before grinding to a halt.
Then, there was silence. For a moment they huddled, breathing deeply. Tarvek buried his face in “Agatha’s” hair and closed his eyes. Her hair was still soft, but smelled of oil and electricity mixed with stale sweat and dust. None of them had been able to wash for quite some time, and he knew he was in a similar state. Agatha was safe, and somehow that knowledge made her smell wonderful. He pulled back slightly to gaze into her eyes and met Lucrezia’s smirk as she batted her eyelashes up at him. In his panic, he had only thought of keeping Agatha safe, momentarily forgetting Lucrezia was within her. He jolted back in revulsion. “You—!” he snarled. His startled movement made it easy for Lucrezia to slam him back even farther, so that he toppled and fell through the open hatch of one of the tubes. He swung up in time to see Lucrezia shut and bolt the tube’s door, sealing him in. “Me!” she crowed.
It was then they both remembered the self-destruct mechanism. Its patient, automated voice had continued to count down the seconds. Lucrezia looked tired. She glanced over at Tarvek.
“Really, it would be so much easier to just kill everyone here and start over with a new calling. I could see sacrificing all the other knowledge I’ve gained, but I mustn’t allow myself to forget that one of me has been captured by that traitorous niece of mine. She is simply too dangerous.” She sighed and gingerly picked her way through the rubble to the control panel. “No, I’m afraid this body must continue to live for now.” So saying, she flipped a switch and the voice stopped in mid-sentence.
“You said no power on Earth could stop that,” Tarvek protested, his voice muffled through the thick glass of his prison.
Lucrezia nodded. “I did, didn’t I?” She turned to face him and a look of pleased surprise was on her face. “It looks like we’ve learned something else useful, hm? Little Zola should have known how to turn off my self-destruct system.”
Tarvek nodded. Lucrezia was poisonous and he hated her, but he was always reluctantly fascinated when she talked about her work. “Perhaps if Zola had time to concentrate . . . perhaps your copy is able to hold some things back in the heat of the moment.”