The Meister's End

Three men clad in bespoke black suits stood in silence as their elevator rose up to the 4th floor. The shabby apartment complex was known to local authorities as a den of addicts, vagabonds, and ne'er-do-wells of the lower class. The men are agents of the Imperial Intelligence Service with official lapel pins to signify that they move at the behest of the Emperor Himself. Of the three, in the middle stands Johann Schwartz. He's a seasoned veteran agent and in charge of this current operation. On his left is the newly minted rookie, Klaus Buchenwald. It's his first field experience and he seems nervous and timid. On Johann's right is Ainz von Hohenheim, a senior agent who has been doing this job far too long. He is coming up on retirement next year and is doing his best not to show his age next to the young agents. 

The entire drive over they were talking casually and getting to know the new recruit. However, upon arrival to the apartment block, they've been deathly silent. The weight of their task presses upon them as a heavy yoke. Johann and Ainz have done this countless times but none were so high profile, this was Klaus' first. 

Today they were visiting the block's most famous resident, "The Meister of Bavaria" Mr. Nikola Tesla himself. All senior citizens that have no living kin receive monthly wellness check ups in the German Empire. Mr. Tesla was no different. Except that he was different, very different in fact. For almost 50 years, the German Empire has prospered because of the technology borne of Tesla's brilliant mind. 

Every home has appliances that need no plug, no wire, no batteries, and no visible power source. Yet, they activate and are used all the same. Completely wireless energy, flowing through the air itself, was one of hallmarks of the empire's expansion. Towns and districts annexed into the growing state, some that had been wired for basic electricity only recently, were given access to the wireless power grid. Not a home in all of Europa was not powered by German engineering. And all of this was due to Tesla's brilliance. However, that brilliance came at a cost.

As the elevator doors slid open, the three agents made their way silently down the hall to apartment 42B with wide brimmed hats in hand. They stopped in front of the door. A worn out and faded sign read, "Herr Stein" on the name plate with a cast iron ring knocker hanging in the center of the door. The man in the middle reached up and knocked and then waited.

A series of clicks, whirls, and the sounds of gears turning preceded the door slowly swaying open. Beyond the threshold can be a seen a small dimly lit single bedroom apartment. Immediately on the left hand side, just beyond the entranceway, is a small kitchenette and a small bathroom just past that. Dishes are piled high in the sink and even overflowing out of the oven. A stench of mold and mildew fills the air. 

Across the from the bathroom is a door to the right that clearly leads to a bedroom but it's closed and a small wire can be seen running out from underneath it towards a pile of junk in the main room.

The three cautiously walk in and towards an elderly man sitting hunched over in a chair situated in the middle of the room. Tesla, his apparel disheveled and his wispy white hair combed in three different directions, looks up and gives a warm smile.

"The bird told me you would come. I didn't believe him at first but here you are!"

"Herr Tesla..." Johann began. "...we have been asked by the Emperor Himself to ascertain your condition. You have been busy, professor." Johann motions around the room at all the formulas scratched on the walls and pieces of paper held up by nails and suspended by string across the span of the room.

"This is my work!" Tesla shouted and stood up with an uncanny energy unbefitting a man of his age. "It's the only thing that keeps that infernal hum at bay! Work work work! Night day and day night!" He hurriedly ran over to examine one wall with esoteric formulas scratched into the it using some kind of sharp implement. 

Across the room, Klaus began to thumb through a box of papers and gadgets. After a few seconds, Tesla turned and pounced toward Klaus, "Do not touch that! Energy flows in the air! You are disturbing the energy and they do not like it! Ah, you don't understand? Of course you won't understand. Not yet." Ainz took a single step forward and Tesla winced in pain and grabbed his ears. "Your shoes are too loud!" Ainz immediately stopped walking and glanced at Johann with an incredulous look on his face.

"Oh, His Majesty cares about me?" Tesla seemed to regain his usual countenance only for a second before falling again into madness. "His Majesty doesn’t understand! The current is...is like a river, yes? Maybe? But I found that it’s not just a river. It twists and turns, opens to...to places. I tried to tell him. Tried to show him! But he only wants...he only sees the tower, the blasted machines! The nodes!" Tesla slowly walks over to a large symbol painted onto the floor in paint that slightly glows in the dim lighting. "But the other side...the current flows both ways, you see. The energy—it opens them up, too. I tried to stop it…tried to stop them...but it’s too late. Too late for me anyway..." His voice trails off as he stood and slightly swayed back and forth and his head hung down to his chest. After a beat or two, he quickly and sharply stared daggers at Johann which startled all three agents.

"Nikola, it's been for too long since we've seen each other. I've never done anything to deserve those daggers in your eyes. Well, maybe not nothing. I've already profusely apologized for the sad affair that happened at the Neuschwanstein Dinner. It was not my intention to put your inventions to the test that evening. It was for parlor tricks, I assure you! Are you still angry?" Johann upturned his palms and shrugged his shoulders.

Tesla's eyes narrowed and he hissed through bared teeth, "You! Oh, you think I forgot, don’t you? The lights...they flickered, and the wine glasses...they shattered. It wasn’t just a parlor trick! They laughed, they all laughed. But they didn’t hear it like I did. The hum...the vibration...the resonance...and then the door...the door cracked open, just a little. Just enough for them to peek through. And now they're here and you can't stop them!" He took a step back and fell into his chair.

Tesla then said, in a gentle grandfatherly way, "No, no, I’m not angry. I couldn’t stay angry at you, Johann. After all, we are...Ah, it’s not the mistakes that matter, my boy. It’s what we learn from them. And what did you learn? Hmm? Always listen to the quiet hum of the energy flow...it's there in the quiet, that you’ll find the answers."

Johann takes a deep breath as Ainz leans over and whispers, "I didn't realize he had progressed this far. It's a shame but we have our orders. Let's do what we came to do. At this point, it's a mercy. There's no need to drag this out any longer."

Again, Johann sighs deeply and mutters, "Yes, indeed. Go and get it." Ainz then turned and slowly walked toward the door. At that moment, Klaus was once again looking through the same box of papers and gadgets he was looking through previously. This time, he picked up a railroad spike with some kind of wire wrapped tightly around it. The wire led to the closed bedroom door. 

Tesla's eyes snapped to lucidity and he bellowed, "Don’t touch that! You don’t know what it’s connected to...The pulse, the energy...it runs through there!” He points shakily to the closed door, his voice lowering to a fearful whisper. “The flow has to be right, or it...it...no they...spill out. Everything spills out.” His hands trembled as he reached for Johann's hands.

The veteran agent quickly gave a stern look to the rookie who immediately put the device down. He nodded towards the door and Ainz. The senior agent nodded and said, "Kid, let's go and get what we need. Come on." Klaus skittishly walked over to the door and the two agents disappeared into the hallway.

"Nikola, I have bad news. I have been tasked with moving you to a secure facility. You know, for safe keeping. His Majesty recognizes the great importance of your work and wishes to help ease you into retirement. What an honor! No?"

Tesla tilts his head and his eyes flash between Johann, the floor, and the walls, and back to Johann. “Retirement? Safe keeping?” He mutters the words as though tasting them for the first time. “But the work...it’s not done, Johann. There’s still...so much to fix. The current...it’s still wrong. It bends the light, the sound...I haven’t stopped them yet. I can’t leave...” He begins to look around more frantically, "Do you hear it, Johann? The hum, it’s louder now. They’re closer. They’ll find me...they always do. The walls...they’re thin, thinner than you think. The doors are open! I need to finish it. The machine...it’ll stop them. Just a few more adjustments, and...” His eyes grew distant and his voice faded. 

He leans back in his chair and, in a moment of rare sanity speaks, “Ah, but perhaps...perhaps it is time. You know, Johann, the hardest part of growing old isn’t the failures...it’s the unfinished work. The inventions you never complete, the ideas that slip away...like smoke.” His eyes welled up and few tears escape down his cheek.

Johann knelt down in front of Tesla while he sat in his chair. He reached out and touched the old man's hands. "You have my word. I will ensure that every door you have opened is closed for the good of humanity and of the Ger...no...the good of your name. I promise, professor." He leans in for a hug which is reciprocated by Tesla with a hint of recognition in his eyes. Just as he releases the hug, the others return with a briefcase and a large box.

"Thank you my boy. You have always been my favored student. I guess it is time, eh? Fine. I'm ready to rest. Even if the work is yet undone..." Tesla whispered and leaned back in his chair. He adjusted his clothes for comfort and let his head rest back on the chair as he looked to the ceiling. He whispered, “I’m... tired now.”

Klaus set the briefcase down a Johann's feet and looked very unsettled. Johann grabbed it and says, "This is your first time, huh boot?"  Klaus nodded slowly with a look of trepidation. "Don't worry. It's painless. He's just going to sleep." With that, Johann opened the briefcase and took out a bottle and syringe. The bottle had a silver liquid inside. As Johann prepared the injection, the other two went over and helped expose one of Tesla's arms.

Johann walked over and injected the liquid into his professor's arm. Tesla's body relaxes almost instantly. He nods a few times before muttering, “It’s... quiet now... no more... hum.” 

The room which was once filled with the whirring of such a brilliant mind now seemed vacuous and empty beyond comprehension. So passed the "Meister of Bavaria".

Johann stood up and with a croak in his voice said, "Every single scrap of paper. Leave nothing behind. Take pictures of every note scratched onto the walls, floor, ceiling, bed post, I don't care where. Document everything. And if you encounter any machines, do not, I repeat do not touch them. Let the Engineer Service handle them. Let's get to work."

Klaus and Ainz moved with purpose, any earlier hesitation now replaced with the gravity of their mission. The room, once Tesla’s chaotic domain, now feels like a tomb. It's filled with the remnants of a mind that had wandered too far into the unknown.

Still unnerved by the moment, Klaus grabbed a camera from his bag and began carefully documenting the walls, the floors, every strange symbol and scribble that covered the apartment like a tapestry of Tesla’s unraveling genius. His hands shook slightly as the flash illuminates the dark corners of the room, capturing the enigmatic formulas scrawled in hasty, uneven chiseling.

Ainz, with the precision of his years in the service, took out several notebooks and began logging every scrap of paper. He flipped through diagrams and calculations that seemed to stretch beyond conventional understanding, mumbling occasionally to himself, unsure whether these are the ramblings of a broken mind or the blueprint to a halcyon future.

The apartment felt unnervingly still to Johann. The only sound was the quiet clicking of the camera and the rustle of paper as the agents worked through Tesla’s cryptic legacy. He stood over Tesla’s still form and glanced one last time at the man who had once been the world’s greatest visionary and his most enduring mentor.

"Goodbye, professor." He whispered and then proceeded to get to work.