Girl Genius XVII: And Then He Had Pie

[BannedInSchool]

Also, damn you, Friday cliffhanger!

[Lizard Lord]

How did Agatha not see that coming?

[Grif]

How did Agatha not see that coming?

Sparky Science tends to drive Agatha into "do first, question later!" territory.

[Aquillion]

Why hasn't she equipped all her allies with music-boxes that play the Heterodyne theme?

[Landis963]

Why hasn't she equipped all her allies with music-boxes that play the Heterodyne theme?

Because she put that capability into the dingbots, a la Sturmhalten, I'm guessing. Of course, she forgot to think of the consequences of that EMP thing, but that's par for the course with Sparks.

[Radar]

Sparky Science tends to drive Agatha into "do first, question later!" territory.

Not just Agatha - it's a general spark thing.

[Temporal Echo]

Well, this could go badly. On the other hand we do at least get to see if Agatha has gotten mentally stronger since the last time this sort of thing happened. Putting Gil in lethal danger does seem to help her focus too...

[eee]

Well, this could go badly. On the other hand we do at least get to see if Agatha has gotten mentally stronger since the last time this sort of thing happened. Putting Gil in lethal danger does seem to help her focus too...

The thing is, from Agatha's point of view, that wasn't that long ago. Gil was dying, Agatha forced Lu to let go: That was only a few days before Tweedle yanked her into the Portal. Two and a half years passed for everyone else; for her (and Lu), it's recent history. Since then, a few days in Tweedle's fortress, some time in the caverns with the Jagers and Punch and Judy, a couple of days on the train and in the Sanctuary: She hasn't really had much time to grow stronger than she was, back then.

(Speaking of the time differential, I'll point out biologically Agatha is still 19, or 20 at most. Chronologically, she's 22. I wonder if coming of age has any legal or cultural significance for a Heterodyne.)

[Qwertystop]

Meanwhile, Gil was being electrocuted and dying when that happened, so it's unlikely he'd remember even without the two years to forget. Zeetha was there, conscious, and involved, though - she might be able to rig something to make Agatha think Gil's in danger.

[Lethologica]

Personally, I think Agatha breaking out from Lucrezia's control in response to Gil's threatened demise was a one-off, narratively speaking. It may have opened the door to breaking out more easily, or it may have prompted Lucrezia to take additional measures, but I would be surprised if the comic lets Agatha break out the same way again, because it doesn't tell us anything new or interesting that's worth devaluing the previous incident.

[The Glyphstone]

What if, just to mess things up, Lu lets go voluntarily this time? After she has her chat with Klaus-as-Gil, she might figure that is enough to screw up whatever Agatha has planned - prior experience has proven she cannot escape/win in the face of Violetta plus Zeetha, and there are so many other people around to help now. Lu is bonkers, but she comes out with weirdly cunning plans every so often, and maybe she'll take a shot at playing the long game.

[eee]

What if, just to mess things up, Lu lets go voluntarily this time? After she has her chat with Klaus-as-Gil, she might figure that is enough to screw up whatever Agatha has planned - prior experience has proven she cannot escape/win in the face of Violetta plus Zeetha, and there are so many other people around to help now. Lu is bonkers, but she comes out with weirdly cunning plans every so often, and maybe she'll take a shot at playing the long game.

She might play the long AND the short game. This is Lu, after all.

She'll probably bungle both through underestimating people. This IS Lu, after all.

(What I'm hoping for is, more information on what's going on. According to Wooster and Dimo (where is he, BTW? He should have come in with the bears), Gil's having trouble re-establishing the Empire not merely because of his Agatha obsession, and that everything's broken down and all the power factions are fighting each other, but also because he's battling the Other. And yet, we haven't seen any of that. The public doesn't seem to be in the all out panic that a second Other war would warrant, nor do other Sparks like Count Wolkerstorfer (and where is HE in all this Sparky construction???). We don't even know which Other it is, 'Anevka', Pinky, or some poor girl the Giesters used the Summoning Engine on. This whole situation is very vague and unsatisfying, from a plot point of view, and should stop.)

[Traab]

For all we know, there are as many Others as popes. Like you mentioned, there are at least two known to exist, and with the brain download engine thing, they could make more. Want a REAL mind love making? (I dont like censors lol) Back at Der Kestle, Agatha was hooked up with and shared life force with both gil and tarvek. Gil might have more in his head than just daddy. We also cant be sure about Bang. We dont know for certain what happened to her when gil injected her back pre timeskip. We know tarvek has been running a game of betrayal and counter betrayal 17 layers deep with his family and lucrezia herself. Everybody is modifying, counter modifying, and remodifying everyone else's work. So there is no way to be certain what he actually did to her. She could be a sleeper Other.

[Emperordaniel]

I absolutely love Lucrezia on this page.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Agreed. Lucrezia is just so expressive here. Her good mood is almost contagious.

[Aquillion]

Weasel. Where is the weasel?

Does Lucrezia know that this body needs it?

[Grif]

I found it funny that Lucrezia apparently recognised Klaus through his mannerism, despite being in another body and Lucrezia inhabiting Agatha's.

[petersohn]

"Grownups are talking." Or more like people under mind control.

Also Lu doesn't seem to bother taking off that locket, so once the systems are back up, Agatha'll be back.

[ryuplaneswalker]

"Grownups are talking." Or more like people under mind control.

Also Lu doesn't seem to bother taking off that locket, so once the systems are back up, Agatha'll be back.

It is not really, like Lu can do much what would the plan here be

Plan 1 : Try to build something, as everyone else watches closely..and you have several sparks who can understand and counter what you build

Plan 2 : Try to escape..into the middle of no where

Plan 3 : Break the Peace and have numbers against you.

However Lu did something really smart.

She gotten Klaus to admit he is in Gil's mind in some fashion, which means that Agatha and Co will now work to expel Klaus thus removing one of her major enemies from the field.

Edit : I still maintain this ends with some really awkward moment where Agatha takes control..mid...act of passion, realizes that Lu is doing the dirty deed with Klaus using her body...she freaks..which causes Gil to come out..and things get REALLY weird.

[Ibrinar]

Having sex with you arch nemesis slash ex-lover while in the body of your son and she is in the body of her daughter. Sounds like a great plan!

[Narkis]

I found it funny that Lucrezia apparently recognised Klaus through his mannerism, despite being in another body and Lucrezia inhabiting Agatha's.

And Klaus recognised Lucrezia through her mannerism way back then. These two are far more alike than Klaus'd like to admit.

[Rodin]

Having sex with you arch nemesis slash ex-lover while in the body of your son and she is in the body of her daughter. Sounds like a great plan!

The Aristocrats!

Alternatively:

Up next, on Jerry Springer!

[Deliverance]

Having sex with you arch nemesis slash ex-lover while in the body of your son and she is in the body of her daughter. Sounds like a great plan!

The Jägers would undoubtedly approve of it as a way of getting rid of both Lucrezia's and Klaus's mind control:

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110318

[eee]

I'm not sure Sanctuary would stop Zeetha if she decided Lu needed to be unconscious to prevent trouble. On the other hand, Lu may not know Zeetha's about. We'll have to see what happens.

That "adults are talking" line will NOT endear her to Martellus. On the flip side, Lu didn't recognize Martellus - that we know of - and start talking about how he was the second of her family's experiments to create a suitable Storm King after Tarvek. Maybe that's coming.

And Lu's right, it WAS slimy of Klaus to copy his mind onto Gil. Of course Klaus didn't have much choice... So far she hasn't tried giving Klaus any orders. If the WASP control is purely biological she shouldn't be able to. If being WASPed causes a mental change, however...

I wonder how long she's got before the amulet starts working again.

[Calemyr]

I'm not sure Sanctuary would stop Zeetha if she decided Lu needed to be unconscious to prevent trouble. On the other hand, Lu may not know Zeetha's about. We'll have to see what happens.

That "adults are talking" line will NOT endear her to Martellus. On the flip side, Lu didn't recognize Martellus - that we know of - and start talking about how he was the second of her family's experiments to create a suitable Storm King after Tarvek. Maybe that's coming.

And Lu's right, it WAS slimy of Klaus to copy his mind onto Gil. Of course Klaus didn't have much choice... So far she hasn't tried giving Klaus any orders. If the WASP control is purely biological she shouldn't be able to. If being WASPed causes a mental change, however...

I wonder how long she's got before the amulet starts working again.

Martellus is older than Tarvek, so he wouldn't be a "second" attempt. He'd be a failed attempt. But that's beside the point. Her not recognizing him would suggest that he really is a free agent, not connected to any faction loyal to Lucy. That would score some points with me, at least.

Also, I kinda expect she hasn't taken the amulet off because it's potentially useful. All she has to do is pretend to be Agatha in a tense moment, and odds are good that whatever enemy she's fighting will be forced to pause for a fatal second.

[BRC]

Does Lucretia know about the locket?

She must, since it's shut her down plenty of times. But I'm not sure she's ever actually mentioned it.

Every previous time she's woken up when the locket was off. Now, all they have to do is stall her until it turns back on.

[HandofShadows]

Agatha probably just about has the locker welded on her right now. I suspect Gil/Klaus would also prevent her from taking it off since he does know what it does. I suspect any moment know Bang and Zeetha will be showing up.

To me Gil is acting very odd here. He let it be know that Lu was in Agatha's head and that the Baron was in his head. Did Gil intentional screw up?

[lord_khaine]

What do you mean Gil acting up?

Klaus took control back Here, and kinda had to reveal that Lu had taken over, else the danger from misunderstandings and confusion were to big.
And Lu then spotted that it were Klaus that currently running the body because despite everything else then she is still a brilliant spark.

[Douglas]

Ok, I think we have a good chance of nothing going any worse than just conversation here. Lucrezia seems well aware that she is totally outmatched with absolutely no support if she tried to escape, so she's not even going to try. She's just taking advantage of her temporary opportunity to talk a bit and maybe stir up some chaos with revealed secrets.

[Porthos]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but I love Glaus' expression in panel 3 of today's update. It's such a perfect "Klaus" look.

As for Lu recognizing Klaus, turnabout is fair play, as has been mentioned a couple of times.