Misleading The Marquis

36 - Bane

Brisbane Castle was fully Tesla powered, had been since two generations prior, an oddity for a castle, to be sure, but the family had the money to revamp the entire structure and outbuildings, which is what generally kept castle owners in the dark age - as it were.

Bane had looked forward to showing George all of the up to date technologies his family had incorporated over the years - even some of the inventions developed by his grandfather. There was a full workshop on the third floor with a green house ceiling, it had direct access to the castle's comm system and Tesla coil reactor chambers - Bane had been planning to gift it to his new wife once she agreed to emerge from her room. Now, George, Mal, Harry and himself were taking the stairs by twos in an unceremonious sprint towards the power source.

"Would someone have to cut off power from up here?" George was asking from beside him, a little breathless as they climbed in the dark, their way lit by an out of date gas lamp. Many people still used the things as their main source of power and light, it was the poor man's power - but todays lamps were safer, much improved on since Brisbane Castle had last purchased a batch. There was the unfortunate chance that their flickering little guide could be leaking toxic fumes or combust when jostled, but it had been their one and only option.

"They would've had to cut it at the source - there's a trapdoor in this room that opens up to the castle's inner Tesla chamber," Bane explained, holding her hand a little tighter than necessary, still shaken by the sight of her lying still and unmoving at the bottom of the stairs less than an hour ago.

"How large is the chamber?" George asked next, and Bane found himself smiling even in such a moment as the one they found themselves in now. Leave it to George to ask such a question now of all the times.

"A boiler tower was converted," Bane explained, "The Tesla coil reaches upwards through the building strcuture, almost like a plumbing system would run water."

"How clever," George murmured more to herself than anyone, and Bane smiled again.

"Only you would think so at a moment like this, Georgie girl," he chuckled as they reached the last set of stairs, the workshop just one floor above them now.

"The simplest of my secrets, as you well know," she answered quietly, and Bane looked at her again in surprise.

"Do I know all of them now?" he asked, pulling her to a stop at the landing while Harry and Mal moved on ahead.

"All of what?" she asked, the gas lamp she held in her hand casting half shadows over her features, making it much harder to read her.

"All of your secrets," he said quietly, not sure why he had chosen this moment to press the subject. She stared up at him for a long moment and Bane was just beginning to regret his own stupidity when she answered.

"Almost," she confessed, her voice dropping in volume, her gaze never leaving his face.

"And if your undead brother is about to kill us all...? Anything you'd like to confess, George?"

"Well... I love you," she answered, her heart shaped face splitting into a smile that rivaled any Tesla powered coil Bane had ever seen. Her words stunned him, hit him in the chest and spread a warmth through his veins.

"George, I promise you -" he began, mouth feeling dry as if this was their wedding day instead. But his perfectly smug little wife cut him off with a kiss - and Bane could not remember for the life of him just what he had been about to promise.

"If she's not thrown you both down the stairs - would you hurry it up?" Harry called from up above, and Bane realized there had been a rhythmic banging noise just above them. Even still Bane hesitated to leave the moment with George, the right words seemed to be just on the tip of his tongue - something about her bring the exact right Georgina St. John and that she could have as many little Brisbanes as she wanted - and the same would go for radios and-

"Bane!" Mal barked from up above, shaking him from his thoughts. George was already wabbling up the stairs ahead of him, pulling his hand along in hers as she went. Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the landing just outside of the workshop last, and to find that it was locked.

"Tried ramming it," Mal commented sourly.

"Did you try a hairpin?" George asked, another of those little smirks coming to that pert little mouth of hers as she reached up into her stick straight hair and extracted such a tool.

"Where did you learn -" Harry began in disbelief, voicing what the other two were thinking.

"My aunt and uncle kept the pantry locked," she explained with a shrug, "Sometimes I would get hungry."

"Where did you find her exactly?" Mal asked incredulously, turning to Bane in bewilderment at the revelation from George's troubled past.

"You ever read that fairy tale... the one with the girl in the tower... with all the hair pins?" Bane answered dryly just as George's little trick pin clicked in the lock, loud enough for all of them to hear it.

"Let's go!" Harry cried, valiant to the end of any adventure as he bounded ahead of the rest of them into the dust covered room.

The place had been closed up for years, but the light from the foggy morning shone into the room, falling over the white broad cloth that draped various machinery and tables. Bane remembered helping his grandfather on rainy days in this place, tinkering and imagining what man could achieve next. Now it lay eerily still and quiet.

"No one is here," Harry muttered, disappointed, "We should try the entrance at the aqueduct..."

"Bane!"

He turned at the sound of panic in George's voice, just as he heard the heavy metal door to the room slam close. Turning back he found Malcolm standing there, his face contorted in a pain Bane knew instantly.

"Malcolm -please -"

"Too late, Brother."