"You refuse? After all this effort, you choose a beaten, old academic over the preservation of your own life?" Dubois's face tightened with cold fury. He signaled Henri, who immediately drew a small, dark pistol and aimed it squarely at Professor Laurent's temple.
"Give me the key, Elara," Dubois commanded, his voice now a low, dangerous growl. "Now. Or I will demonstrate the true meaning of loss right here."
Laurent shook his head feebly. "Don't, Elara! It's the only thing that stops him!"
Elara looked from Laurent's pained face to the blank, expectant look on Dubois's. She knew the threat of the Regulator—the stability of Paris—was her only bargaining chip, but it was too theoretical for the Argentum Society. They needed a more immediate threat.
"You're right, Monsieur Dubois," Elara conceded, her voice trembling slightly. "It is worthless to me. But you said the locks must be turned simultaneously. You cannot open the Regulator cabinet without my help."
Dubois hesitated, his arrogance preventing him from ordering Henri to simply shoot her. He needed her, at least for this moment.
"Very clever, Elara. A shared endeavor, then. You will insert and turn the Broken Circle Key, and I will do the same with the Hourglass Key." He pointed to the top lock. "Insert the Loss. Quickly."
Elara moved toward the cabinet, the iron key to Loss digging into her palm. She placed the Hourglass Key she'd taken earlier back into its lower lock and held the Broken Circle Key ready for the upper lock. She remembered Vance's detailed diagram: the Regulator was a simple gyroscope of energy, shielded by the cabinet, but highly sensitive to simultaneous torque on the two locks. The combined insertion was meant to activate the Regulator's stabilization function, not just open the door.
She took a slow, deliberate breath. She was going to use the power of the keys against them.
"Ready, Monsieur Dubois?" she asked.
"Ready, Henri," Dubois replied, ignoring her. "If she opens the lock, stand down. If she attempts to flee, shoot the professor."
Elara didn't give him a chance to move. With a soundless prayer, she slammed the two keys into their respective locks—not gently, but with a violent, jarring force. The mechanisms were momentarily seized. Then, instead of attempting to turn them in the direction of open, she used the keys as levers, forcefully striking them against the delicate antique brass plates of the locks.
The sudden, brutal torque on the simultaneous lock plates was interpreted by the Regulator as a massive, unplanned external disturbance.
The Cellule de Vance immediately erupted.
A sound like a massive tuning fork being struck—a deep, resonant BONG—vibrated through the stone floor. A sickly yellow light, smelling intensely of ozone, pulsed out from the gaps in the cabinet .
Dubois yelled, clapping his hands over his ears. Henri stumbled backward, momentarily losing his footing. The surge was pure energy, non-lethal but overwhelming.
The iron chain securing Laurent to the cabinet, weakened by decades of moisture and the sudden, intense vibration, snapped at the shackle. Laurent fell forward, dizzy but free.
"Go! Now!" Elara shouted, grabbing Laurent's arm.
Dubois, recovering quickly, lunged for Elara. She shoved a discarded, heavy iron retort from Vance's forge into his path. Dubois tripped, his head striking the cold stone floor with a sickening thud.
Henri, his ears ringing, fired wildly. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the thick iron cabinet.
Elara dragged the weak Professor Laurent toward the dark opening of the staircase she had chipped open. Henri was scrambling over the fallen Dubois.
"The stairs, Henri! She's escaping!" Dubois managed, clutching his head.
Elara pushed Laurent ahead of her onto the rusted treads. The iron staircase shrieked under their combined weight. They scrambled upward, leaving the chaotic, energy-charged chamber below.
They reached the top opening and tumbled out into the stillness of the restricted manuscript vault. Elara shoved the iron chisel back into the cracked cement opening, temporarily sealing the hole, and locking the modern vault door behind them.
They had escaped, but they were now on the run inside a museum whose entire leadership was trying to kill them. And the Regulator, thanks to her desperate trick, was temporarily destabilized and active.