It's about time for my final exam… I've waited this long, but I'm still surpassing their expectations about me. They really are fools compared to my master. They think they have me in their control because of a Professional Hypnotist, hah! More like a professional hack! The watch wasn't even cleaned. Seriously, it had some blood in the gears, I could actually see it! I've been here for two months and already I'm at the head of the class and about to graduate into the final stages. I wonder if Basil would be proud of me?
"Adriana Mouseton?" Hmm? Oh, right, my alias... Oh, great, just great, its snooty old Ms. Kyle, oh, my mistake, Madame' Kyle. Seriously, she's not even French. Her accent is totally American. "It's time." Seriously? Now? It's midnight… yeah, okay, got it, total cliché and classic villainous thing… oh well… might as well play along with it. If she had ever been married, I'd guess she was a black widow, in black mouse fur that is. Seriously, I've been in here for two months and already know more than what Basil had sent me in for. I wonder where that blasted mouse is? I haven't heard from him in weeks… he's probably on a case alone again. He needs to have someone other than me around for these things. He could get hurt… I hope he's okay...
Oh crumpets! I've been following for five minutes and we're already in the hall, but the item of my test, well it isn't a friendly test. I'm seriously only about eight years old and they're asking me to use that? I need to keep a neutral gaze though so that they don't suspect me. They think I'm under their control, and that is… oh for the love of cheddar! I now have a pistol in my paw!
"You've done very well so far, Adriana. You're final task will be to take down a very bad mouse. He's been snooping around here and scaring everyone. You don't want the mean man to scare the other girls, do you?" She has the kind of sickly sweet voice that makes me think of pears and mangoes. I really hate pears and mangoes… I think Basil or Vole would say that this stinks worse Gouda cheese or something, I really didn't pay attention to which cheese stinks the most. Either way, this stinks... no, seriously, what the fur is that perfume she's wearing? "We've captured him, and now I think you should have the honors of finishing him off." I think I might be sick... "Think of it as a congratulations for being our top student." She's pulling back a curtain to a wall and… oh fuzz balls! Is that…? "This is your task. Kill this pathetic excuse for a detective, and you pass. Fail, and you both die. Basil of Baker street, meet your killer, Adriana Mouseton."
Oh shoot me now! I can't kill him! I'm no killer! My mentor is standing chained and gagged right in front of me! His usually creamy brown fur is dusty and covered in scrapes, bruises, and patches of blood! His usually hard steely emerald eyes are filled with fear, and it's because he's staring at me! He's actually afraid of me! His pink tail is covered in his own blood and his brown inverse coat looks like it's been put through a shredder! I've never seen him like this before! He… wait! They have him TIED to the wall… if I could just cut those ropes then he'd be able to escape. I just have to keep calm, and keep my emotions under check, just like Basil told me to… I just hope I can get him out of here.
"This is your weapon, Adriana. Just like in class, aim. Though, considering who he is, I doubt he has a heart, so aim for the head. Do you understand, Adriana?"
I simply nod my head. What can I do? I have to keep up the act, for both our sakes. "I understand, Madam. I will obey." I hope that sounds convincing enough… she handed me a freaking silver pistol! A .22 caliber or at least its equivalent, oh I wish Vole had let me learn about the different types of guns. Wait, I'm raising my gun? What the heck! Did I lose control? No! No! You can't kill him! He's your mentor! Your best friend here! You can't kill him! Rattigan or Madame Kyle, but not Basil! You aren't a killer! Aurora Dawn Martin, don't you dare pull that trigger! Oh no, I'm lining it up in my sights!… if I pull it now then… "Bang, bang, bang, bang, klick!" Basil! He's slumped to the ground, the ropes having been cut by my bullets, but he's… is he? I killed him, didn't I? I… I…
"Congratulations, Adriana, you have graduated in the shortest amount of time in the history of St. Abbey's. Why don't you take a look at your handiwork?" I killed him… I killed my own mentor and now she wants me to have a closer look at his bloody body… I can't believe I'm walking forward, especially so calmly. My hands aren't even shaking and I still have hold of that damn pistol… I'm a murderer now… I can't face Mrs. Judson or Inspector Vole ever again… I killed Basil… if I could regain control over myself right now I'd shoot that… oooh! That jerk! I don't know any bad words yet… man am I stupid… I thought I could control it. I thought that I could just shoot the ropes and he'd be free, but I probably shot him in the head with that third and fourth shot… I don't know what's driving me anymore.
I place a hand over his back and expect it to turn cold… Basil? I'm so sorry, my mentor… I guess Vole was right, a girl can't be a detective…and he thinks I'm a little boy anyway… wait… his body… Basil's body is still warm… but it's not wet…? "Basil?" I find myself barely whispering as I desperately try not to start crying. I really did kill him, didn't I? I don't understand why he isn't bleeding onto my pale white paw yet though...
KRACK-BANG Another gunshot sounds through the large hall. Faster than I can process, I find myself covering Basil's body with my own, as though hoping to keep him from being harmed any further. "Nobody move!" I let out a weak sigh of relief, the inspector is here. He could probably get Basil to a doctor fast enough if my shots didn't really penetrate him that deeply… I'm so sorry, Basil… I'm sorry… "I'm Chief Inspector Vole of Scotland Yard. You are under arrest."
"But officer, the young lady there, she has shot ze poor mouse…" I slowly sit up and glare at her. Madame Kyle has just ratted me out for something she forced me to do… her and her stupid fake French accent. I... I... I... OOOH! THAT'S IT!
I can't take it! She made me shoot Basil! If I really didn't have any control of myself then, I do now. I stand up and raise my gun, still in my paw. I know these things only have six bullets in them. I have two shots left. I won't miss my target. She forced me to train for six hours straight on shooting for days on end, because I had never even held a pistol before. She wondered how come I was the best with no previous training? It was because I had a reason to learn. I was undercover for my mentor, and now I've just shot him! She had me kill my own master! My best friend! The only mouse in all of Mousedom that knew where I had come from and what was wrong with me, and that… that rat of a mouse… she made me shoot him! "You're next, Madame Kyle." I hardly recognized my own voice. I had never had it so cold sounding before, so… so much like… like Basil… like Basil's when he was threatening someone to get information… or when he was trying to protect me… I killed him… I killed him… and now… and now I'm going to kill her! "I'm going to kill you before you hurt anyone else…"
Just as I'm about to pull the trigger, I see her dark brown eyes widen and a gasp come from the other women in the group. Are they only now taking me seriously? Vole… he's… he looks… concerned? Shouldn't he look furious at me? Basil is as much his friend as he is mine, even if the two rarely got along on how a case should be solved. Why isn't he yelling at me? Why isn't he slapping the cuffs on me? Why? Why is he just standing there with that overlarge snout of his and not even saying anything? Not even asking if I really did… kill him… I killed Basil… I crumble to the ground as the stress makes me start to black out. I manage to shake it off long enough to shoot one bullet. My aim is off. I just know it, but I hear a scream of pain anyway. I feel myself falling as I hear Vole call my name. Not Adriana, but the name I had told them when I had first met him, with Basil... my real name that my parents had given me… Aurora Dawn Martin… ironically, I introduced myself as a boy called A.D.M. of Baker Street that same week and Vole never figured it out…
The pistol falls from my paw as I fall towards the cold ground myself. I feel something warm and soft catch me, but I don't care at the moment. I, an eight year old mouse who had once been a human, have killed my hero, and I couldn't even bring myself to kill the rodent that made me do it… "I'm sorry, Basil…" I had only managed to shoot her blasted tail...
When I wake up again, I find myself on the small green couch in 221 ½ Baker Street. I look around and hope that the last two months in that lady's care was all just a nightmare. I notice the outfit I'm wearing though and start crying. I'm still in my "School" uniform. That stupid plaid skirt and the white blouse with the claw insignia sewn onto the pocket as an emblem. My paws aren't stained with literal blood, but… I really did shoot him. I shot the greatest mouse detective in all of England, Basil Baker, Basil of Baker Street… I shot him. "I'm sorry…"
"A.D.M.? Are you alright?" That voice… it couldn't be, but… I turn around and my eyes widen in shock, my pink little crooked tail stands up straight for the first time in my memory. There sitting in his favorite red chair in his purple dress robes with that blasted chestnut wood pipe in hand, was a light brown mouse, basically cream colored, with intelligent emerald eyes that, for the first time in my years of working with him, held the emotion of worry and concern in them. His dark brown nose twitched a little, which few knew to be his tale tell sign that something was bothering him. "A.D.M.? Can you hear me?"
It took me a moment to realize what he had just called me. He called me "A.D.M.", my initials. He never called me that before. It was always either Aurora, Ms. Martin, or much like Vole, Adam. I always introduced myself as A.D.M. when I went out as a boy, and now he was finally accepting me by that name, by my detective name... "I killed you…" I let out a soft sob, or at least, I was trying to. What's really happening is that I'm letting out a salty waterfall and gasps.
Basil lets out that little grimace that usually came along with an apology to Mrs. Judson, the landlady, for blowing up her pillows again... I feel my heart pounding like a locomotive as he places a tiny chemist's paw on my shoulder. I feel my heart stop for a second before I lose control of myself and hug him. I didn't kill him. "You didn't kill me. You shot the ropes and I collapsed to the ground, that's all. I made everyone think I was dead, including you. I'm sorry." He's actually stroking my back to comfort me... and he's apologizing for scaring me... I thought that I had killed him, and he's the one who's apologizing? Heh, and yet, I feel safe, I feel trusted. I feel like I didn't nearly kill him, and yet I can't stop crying. I did nearly kill him, it was probably my fault he got captured and hurt, and now he's acting like he's fine just like he always does. "I will admit, I was worried they had gotten to you, Aurora. I was concerned that they had somehow managed to control your mind and that I was too late. I am sorry, A.D.M."
I wipe a tear from my eye and try and put on my best "everything's okay" smile. "Hey, we're detectives, hazards are part of the job. Heh, thanks for trusting me." I'm still having trouble believing that I didn't kill him, heh, I didn't kill anyone. I'm not a murderer...
There's that cocky smile that I always loved to see, the one that always reassured me that everything was alright. "Come now, Adam, you should know by now that I wouldn't have made you my apprentice if I didn't have any faith in you. Who else will put up with my insane plans to protect London?" He knows I hate it when Vole calls me "Adam", or him for that matter, heh, but to be honest, I don't care anymore. I don't care what they call me anymore...
"Hehe, Lord help that poor soul, Bas, lord help that poor soul who does..." He grimaces and ruffles my hair, knowing it makes me feel good. I smile back, tears now fading away. He hates getting called "Bas", but if he's going to call me "Adam", then he better accept it. That's just how it is between a master and his apprentice after all... we are detectives, heh, and that's how it's going to stay.