Posted by Bowen Cates on 4/17/2008, 8:14 pm, in reply to "Chapter 29 part two"
24.207.121.197
Chapter 30: In Which Professor Moriarty Is Mockingly Mistaken For Queen Victoria
Theodore and Deidre raced down the hall, shoulder to shoulder as the group sped behind them “Here it is, Watson!” called the former as they came to a screeching halt beneath the ceiling vent above them and waited for the others to catch up.
Without a word, the compudroid lifted him onto his shoulders, handing him up a small tool from his chest compartment.
“Here, Theodore, try prying the bolts off with this.”
The vent was small, and to tell the truth Theodore wasn’t sure even with his lanky thinness that he would be able to squeeze through. However, upon looking down, he saw Deidre’s desperate expression and taking the wrench like device from his metal friend, and balancing as carefully as he could, he began to scrape around the screws with it.
“I can’t get it.” He growled, putting all the force he possessed at such a frustrating angle, into the effort.
“I think it’s been welded in place on the other side.”
“Very well, then.” Watson sighed back, setting his burden on the ground and taking aim at the slotted metal with his ionizer arm.
“Hey, why didn’t we just do that in the first place?” Wiggins enquired, looking slightly annoyed, but mostly confused.
“Because my power cells for Ionizer use are almost completely drained and I wished to preserve what little power I had left in case we were obliged to defend ourselves to a greater extent.”
Everyone ducked as screws, dust, and bits of miscellanies metal flung themselves out into the sea of chaos that had once resembled a clean hallway.
Theodore was reminded regrettably of the large hole he had made in 1800 Holmes and Watson’s Baker Street.
Shaking that image from his head, he allowed Watson to lift him up once again and help him into the hole with some difficulty.
It was quite the feat as Watson was not much taller then average and the vent was set in an exceptionally high ceiling, but they managed it, Theodore stretching his arms out and grabbing hold of the sides of the opening, ignoring the pain in his hands as they were cut on the jagged edges of Watson’s makeshift renovations.
Once up, he reached his arm down for Deidre and was not surprised to see that his hands were coated in his own blood, Deidre did not wince or give him a disgusted look as he had thought she might, but merely took the offered assistance and transferred herself from the shoulders of the Compudroid to Theodore’s waiting embrace.
A strange feeling came upon him then, he felt brave, manly, as though, if only for a few moments, he were the courageous knight protecting the beautiful princess.
Of course, he could never tell her that…
Once the two of them were safely up, they looked down once again at the compudroid, Wiggins, and Tennyson.
The latter was watching them very closely, he waved at Theodore.
“Beep, beep beep whir clock!”
Deidre whispered in his ear “’e says to bring him back a dust bunny.”
“I will,” he laughed, but just as he was about to begin his journey down the tunnel Watson smiled up at him.
“Do be careful, both of you, and don’t worry, Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, Hargreaves and past Holmes will meet us back in the room with Mr. Bamfield, take care.”
And with a final nod, Theodore and Deidre began to crawl down the great expanse before them.
It was dark, damp, smelly, and Theodore could feel any number of slimy substances beneath his palms as they squelched along the metal in turn with his knees.
There was no light, except for the occasional slit from other ventilation openings.
Theodore felt somewhat like a miner in a coal shaft, and he found himself hoping the clammy walls would not cave in upon them.
“How much farther do you think we’ll have to go?” he asked the shadow behind him that was Deidre.
There was no answer.
He asked again, all the while feeling extremely conscious of the fact that the only thing Deidre could see right now was his behind.
Again there was no answer.
He stopped.
“Deidre, are you okay?”
“Y-ya.” She breathed, and he could hear something in her voice akin to heightened emotional stress “please, lets jus’ keep goeen’.”
Confused, he continued to crawl, his knees hurting more each time they sunk into the muck.
“Deidre, it’s okay if you’re frightened, I know I am.” He assured her, trying to comfort his friend.
“No-n-no it’s n-not that.” He thought he could hear the warnings of a sob.
“Then what?” he asked the darkness, kindly, all the while keeping his eyes ahead.
“I’m-I’m…” she paused for a moment “I’m claustrophobic!”
Theodore stopped, dumbstruck, but then started again quickly realizing that the sooner they were out of there the better.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He pressed, feeling exceptionally sick “I could have gone alone.”
“N-no, we’ll need both of us to get down and you don’t know how to use a communicator.”
“I could have figured it out!” he stammered, horrified.
“Not enough time, Theo.” He heard her sigh, tiredly
There was silence for a long time.
“I wasn’t hiding it from you on purpose.” She spluttered, suddenly, “I just didn’t want to worry you, please don’t be angry!”
Theodore sighed himself now.
“I’m not angry.” He assured her “It’s just…I always thought you were amazing.” He couldn’t believe he was saying this “But for you to willingly get into a confined vent when you have a fear of small spaces, knowing that we could be in here for a notable amount of time, and all to save your friends…I think you’re the most courageous person I’ve ever met, or ever will.”
“Well, I think I’m pretty tied with everyone else we left behind.” But he could almost hear her cheeks flushing.
“I hate saying this while all you can see is my butt.”
At this, she laughed.
Theodore was about to make another witty and flirtatious comment when he stopped dead, a familiar voice gushed through with the specks of light from another vent before them.
“I want them dead, NOW!” it was screaming
“Moriarty.” Whispered Theodore
“No, Theo, It’s Queen Victoria.”
“Oh, Shut up.”
The voice began again “Let me make myself perfectly clear, I see no reason why Holmes of any time should still be alive within the next thirty minutes, now MARCH!”
There was a great flurry of rustling cloth and tramping boots.
“Come on.” Deidre whispered, “We’d better ge’ outside as soon as possible, before those lemmings break down the door.”
Without another word, the two continued to make their way down the vent.
They had only gone a few feet when it happened.
“Stop.” The voice of the master criminal cut firmly through the choking silence “I hear something.”
Both Theodore and Deidre froze where they kneeled, barely breathing, not daring even to whisper.
Another few moments of silence.
“Someone is in the ventilation above us; invite them down, if you would, Mr. Silvers.”
There was no time even to think as the green energy beam cut up the metal behind them, missing Deidre’s foot by nary and inch.
The two scrambled forward as fast as they could, they heard another beam close behind them, and then another, a few inches to Theodore’s left, and then…and then all was lost.
A huge blast ripped into the vent about three feet ahead of Theodore, melting the entire floor for a good four feet, and making it impossible to crawl across.
The two halted in sheer shock and horror.
Moriarty began to yell once more “they’ve been cut off, now, send them on their way, they have quite overstayed their welcome.”
In an instant, Theodore’s expression went from one of complete fear and lost hope to that of smug confidence.
“Deidre” he whispered, “do you still have the ionizer?”
“Hey, Theo, she laughed half heartedly “I know you’re brave an’ all bu’ you don’t ‘ave to go shooting back at them, need I point out that we’re kinda outnumbered?”
“No, just give it to me.”
Without another word, she passed it over. Through the hole in front of them, they could hear the whirring and sizzling of Silvers, charging his weapon once more.
Aiming it at the ceiling ahead of them Theodore pressed the button and slowly began cutting a piece of metal from it of a slightly larger size then the hole Silvers’ had created.
Steam gushed from the growing laceration and Theodore became surrounded by it, unable to see or hear, but he kept going, until a melodious ‘thunk’ of metal on metal sounded the end of his vigil.
Reaching behind him, he tapped a resolute Deidre on the shoulder, and the two crawled forward, the shooting had started again, but apparently the steam was making it impossible for the crooks to aim strait, one could only assume that it had filled more then just their tiny tunnel.
The mist was packing the chamber; Theodore could feel his clothes getting wetter, and wetter, clinging, half frozen, to his clammy skin.
“How much longer?” he yelled over the noise, he could still feel his companion behind him, manifested in the vibrations around his knees.
“Not much” she yelled back “maybe another fifteen minutes, we should be over the main maintenance area now.”
“I sure hope so!” He called back.
He could sense her terror and her hope at the same time, a fire within both of them, igniting their resolve for at least a few more precious minutes as they struggled on in defiance of fear and pain.
They were almost there, almost.
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