June 7th, 2013
Steelmind’s remote body marched through the corridors with a figurative trail of robotic bodyguards and a literal trail of blood from the head of a very dead assassin.
He rapped on his sister’s door, waving his drones away as he did. In a few moments, they were gone and he saw his sister. He waved the assassin at her.
“Did you send this?”
There was a sound of rapid acceleration, followed by a loud crash, as Bloody Lizzy finally forced the window open, and then dropped the equally dead assassin she had been holding out the window.
“Julius! I can’t believe you’d try to assassinate me!” she said delightedly.
He lifted the head, its face pointed at her. “Elizabeth, the next time you send assassins after me, send competent ones.”
“I wouldn’t try to kill you,” she said in a tone of considerable injury.
He raised a metallic eyebrow and she laughed.
“Come in, Julius. We do have some things to discuss.”
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Julius stepped into her room, taking the chair, tossed the head into a trash can and steepled his fingers.
“I do wonder,” she said, “if you didn’t have this drone, would you put yourself in reach of my hands?”
“I would,” he said calmly. “If the counts knew that you had murdered your brother, they would never accept you as queen.”
“They’ve accepted a lot worse,” she said, “accepted, encouraged, done... we have some quite horrible men working for us,”and there really isn’t any crime they wouldn’t smile on. So, why are you here?”
“You killed two of Count Proteus’s knights.”
“It was a fine. He was conspiring with you against me.”
“Any two counts are free to meet if they wish.”
“Ah, but you aren’t any count. You’re the Grand Duke and Prince-Regent. You don’t get to have private conversations any more.”
“What do you think father would do if he knew you’d hurt his friend’s knights?”
“Say it was probably justified,” she said. “Then go back to his lab, if he left it. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him around?”
“He still has meals sent down,” Steelmind said.
“Yes. Exactly.” She smirked. “He isn’t going to interfere with us for a few more months.”
“Not unless we start trying to kill each other,” he said. “Which is why I’d like to make you an offer.”
She smiled. “Oh? What?”
“Retire,” he said. “Gather your followers and go do supervillain work on the Continent, or invade Cuba or Haiti. Leave Novapest to me.”
Lizzy threw back her head and laughed. “No thanks, brother. Cuba was always your project. Maybe you ought to do that, borrow an army and conquer a country for yourself. If you stay, all you have left to do is play with your tinkertoys. I am going to be the next Queen of Novapest.”
“Over my dead body.”
She pulled a coin out of her pocket, flipped it. “Ta.”