And the Gears Started Turning

[The Inventor]

Alvar peered through a magnifying glass at the almost microscopic gears that laid across his workstation.  He had been working on his latest invention for the last few months, and now he was almost near completion.  It would be very soon when he could test his creation out, and if he had worked everything out correctly (which he was positive that he did, because he rarely made a mistake) he would soon be able to leave this reality and escape back into his own.

It was long over due.

"Sir," a mechanical voice called from the archway.  "Can, I bring you a glass of brandy?"

"Yes, that would be fine," Alvar replied without turning around.  "Thank you, Rabbit."

There was a clanking sound moving away from the room and then it stopped.  "And, Sir," the mechanical voice said again.  

This time Alvar turned around and faced his automaton creation. "Yes, Rabbit?"  he arched his eyebrow.  "Is there something else?" he said a bit coldly.

The automaton paused for a moment and then bowed his head.  "No, sir.  I'll go fetch your brandy now."  Rabbit bowed again and then slowly walked out of sight towards the kitchen.

Alvar grumbled something under his breath, placing his goggles over his eyes and firing up the blow torch as he went back to work.

[Hand of the Emperor]

Victoria Driver was not the most pleasant of souls, and after the death of Emperor Ronan, she was also a wanted woman.  His daughter Hailie, the evil twin of that simpering fool Camelia, was waging war in her father's name across the globe, but Resistance forces pocked the cities and towns with traps to catch any of Ronan's collaborators.

Ronan had been a crafty soul, and he had garnered the services of a scientist named Alvar. He was a genius, and he had been helping to arm Ronan's forces in many different ways. With Ronan's death, Driver knew Alvar's time in this world would be drawing to a close, but perhaps he would have one last thing to turn the tide back in the empire's favor.

Driver stood at the doors of Alvar's lab and pulled a chain to ring the doorbell. She hoped he was actually there and that she was not wasting her time.

[The Inventor]

Alvar ignored the door chime the first time, but when he it rang again he set his blowtorch down and yelled.  "Rabbit!, get the door!"  When it rang a third time, he huffed and stomped out of his lab to the foyer.  If there was one thing that Alvar hated more than anything else it was being interrupted from his work.  He swung the door open to see a woman standing on the stone steps.  He had seen her before, once at the castle while he was paying Emperor Ronan a visit.  He raised his eyebrow and curved his lip upward in smile, which looked more like sneer, but it was the best he could do.

 "Please," he said making a gesture for the woman to come inside.  When she was inside the foyer, he shut the door softly.  "And why is the lovely Victoria Driver paying me a visit?"

"Sir? ... Oh, company," Rabbit said as he came from the kitchen with a tray of brandy and roasted meat and vegetables.  He looked back at his master.  "Shall I fetch another glass?"

"Yes," Alvar replied looking at Rabbit a bit annoyed.  "And another plate."

"Yessir," Rabbit said with a nod and then walked back to the kitchen.

Alvar turned back to Victoria and motioned her to follow him into his sitting room.  He sat down in a red velvet wingback chair, and crossed his legs.  "Please make yourself comfortable, Miss Driver."

[Hand of the Emperor]

Victoria had met Alvar once long ago at the palace when he first started working for the emperor. Ronan always dealt with Alvar himself, and after seeing what was before her, she started to understand why. "Dr. Moriarty, I'm glad that you have not been bothered by the rabble looting the streets. There are grim times ahead unless action is taken now."

Driver looked at Rabbit and was a bit perplexed by the servant. She had forgotten what Alvar's specialty truly was. He was a clockwork master, and at times she wondered why Ronan had gotten himself involved with The Inventor, as Alvar was called by many.

Then again, Ronan also got involved with those who did other experiments on his recruits. Many of them died at the hands of the one called Abaddon, and there was that odd scientist who, Driver believed anyway, had been killed by his ex-wife. Alvar's clockwork people were far less warped than Abaddon's minions.

"I know that Ronan's death will end your time in this world. You might want to flee before you are set upon by the Resistance. I'm here on behalf of Ronan's daughter Hailie, the rightful heir to the throne. And before you think I'm mad, I do not mean the one married to the vampire Tepes. This is a child Ronan hid from everyone, and she is marching in her father's name to keep his empire in one piece. Is there anything Ronan squirreled away that might help his daughter? And yes, she knows there is a price to be paid for your help."


 

[The Inventor]

Alvar put his fingers up to his chin and stroked it gently, not taking his eyes off Victoria for one moment, but his mind was deep in thought, thinking about what he had that might help their cause.  There was a jingling of glasses as Rabbit entered the room with a tray full of  food and a decanter of Brandy.

"Master," he said as he gently picked up a glass and reached for the Brandy.

"Away with you," Alvar waved his hand.  "I'll serve Ms. Driver."

Rabbit's gears clinked as he bowed his head and exited the room.

Alvar chuckled.  "He's not much of a clockwork creation ... a bit brain dead at times.   I suppose, I could have looked for a better brain to take instead of my niece Alice and her husband Rhys' butler," he said as he handed Victoria a glass of Brandy.

He picked up the utensils and placed a piece of roast and some vegetables on a plate and passed it to the woman, before he served himself.  He sighed and then took a sip of Brandy.  "I do have something that may help you.  Of course I'd need to be paid very dearly for it," he took a bite of roast, chewing very slowly.

"There's a mystic crystal that Ronan kept in his palace.  A green one with little flecks of gold and silver in it.  Do you know the one I'm talking about?" he asked.  Alvar needed that crystal to complete his machine so that he could jump out of this time and back into his own time stream.

Getting back to his own world was long, long over due.