The Spider and the Wasp
Chapter 36

A high pitched whistling sound came ripping through the air that started off small and then grew louder and louder until a enormous explosion broke through stone, marble, and one of the large glass arched windows of the chapel. Glass and stone rained down on top of the screaming guests. Some of the soldiers became confused and made the mistake of firing their weapons. A thick cloud of smoke started to fill the room. Piper and Alex hit the floor on impact and lied flat on their stomachs.

"Nicky?" Piper coughed.

"Aye,that's Nicky. Now's our chance. C'mon it's time to go!" Alex jumped up and snatched Piper by the hand.

The guests all screamed in panic and began to run towards the back of the chapel away from the falling debris as cannon fire came booming through the walls and windows. Screams could barely be heard over the sound. Soldiers armed themselves and took their positions. The leading commanders barked their orders.

"'PROTECT THE KING!"

"PROTECT THE GUESTS! MOVE THEM OUT OF HERE!"

"SET UP A PERIMETER!"

"FIRE!"

Gun fire erupted constantly throughout the chapel. The soldiers shot the pirates and the pirates shot at the soldiers. Steel met with steel, punches were thrown. Everyone was covered in white dust and rock. A rebel was ran through the chest, a soldier was sliced from his hip to left shoulder. Alex and Piper ran through all of them, Piper hoisted up her dress to make it easier for her to run but it kept snagging and weighing her down. Another explosion came and she and Alex quickly ducked behind a fallen pew and took shelter from the impact.

"Okay we have a problem, you need to lose that dress, its slowing us down."

"I know! I know! but I can't exactly take it off from this angle Alex."

Alex growled "Come on. Stay low and follow me."

She took them away to small secluded spot that wasn't so bombarded with gunfire and soldiers.

"Stand up and turn around."

Piper did as she said and Alex drew her knife and started to cut, rip, and tear Piper free from the dress.

"Is it wrong that I'm kind of aroused by what you're doing?"

Alex turned Piper around to face her and Piper saw the familiar sly and playful look on her face that was just so Alex. She tapped the flat of her dagger to the space between Piper's breasts "Not at all my dear. Not at all." Piper smiled at her and Alex kissed her quickly and firmly on the lips "But unfortunately we're going to have to save this bit of role play for when we're not being killed. Now come on step out of this thing."

Piper took two large steps out of the dress leaving her in nothing but her simple white slip.

She sighed "Well that definitely feels better. My legs can breathe."

As she shimmied the rest of the way out of her dress Alex left and came back with a pair of boots.

"Shoes too come on take them off."

Piper looked at the boots in Alex's hand "Where did you get those?"

"We're in the middle of a fight for our lives and you're worried about where the shoes came from?."

"Fair point."

"Trust me, he no longer needs them. Now hurry put these on."

Piper put on the boots. Alex unsheathed one of her swords and handed the pommel over to Piper.

She smirked at her "You still know how to use one of these?"

Piper gave Alex a cocky smile and twirled the weapon. "I think I can manage."

Alex drew her other sword "Good. The plan is we fight our way through towards the docks where Nicky and the others are waiting on the ship and we get the fuck out of here."

"I like that plan."

She turned back to look at Piper with a confident smile "I'll watch your back, you watch mine?"

"We do this together." Piper said matching Alex's confidence.

Alex nodded "Always together."

Piper and Alex stuck close together as they fought their way through the mixed crowd of pirates and soldiers. Piper covered the rear and cut down the soldiers that took them on from behind and Alex covered the front. They found their rhythm and constantly rotated their positions to better assist one another. Alex caught one soldier in the eye moments away from stabbing Piper in the chest and Piper cut a man clear across the stomach when he nearly severed Alex's neck. They were becoming a force to be reckoned with and because they worked together it left little room for either one to make a mistake. One was always there to pick up the slack where the other was falling behind.

Alex drew her gun and fired a shot passed Piper's head and then tossed her the weapon so she might use it as a club. Piper caught it with ease whipped around to strike a man across his face and then slipped it back into Alex's belt.

"Piper duck!"

Piper ducked, rolled, and came back up on her feet to meet her sword with another soldier. He gave a hard swing with his sword and Piper moved swiftly to the side and cut across the man's back.

"Everyone fall back!" Alex yelled over the commotion. The army of pirates and rebels began to move towards the exit and soon the war between them and the soldiers spilled outside onto the chapel steps, and flooded back into the city. Alex disarmed a man's rifle and elbowed him in the face.

"C'mon Piper we have to get to the docks!"

"Right behind you!"

A sea of pirates and soldiers came through the city streets like a tidal wave of clanging swords, and gunfire. The sound of cannon fire from the Widow was much louder on the outside and each blast came one right after the other about 10 seconds apart from each other.

"Alex…" Piper panted "Alex!"

"What is it?"

"We're not going to get to the docks fast enough on foot like this."

"Suggestions?"

Piper saw a nearby carriage hitched up to a couple of spooked horses, the driver was hunched over bleeding from the neck, dead. "I have an idea. follow me!"

Alex saw where Piper was going "Do you even know how to ride one of these? And don't tell me you read it in a book."

"No I didn't, but it can't be too hard I've seen it done before." Piper dragged the body out of the driver's seat and let it fall onto the street.

"Maybe I should drive?"

"No Alex, you're the better fighter, you're going to keep these bastards away from us until we get to the docks. Now c'mon get up here."

Alex sliced a soldier across the face and kicked him in the chest. She grabbed hold of Piper's hand. Piper helped to lift her up onto the seat beside her.

She took the reigns to get control of the horses "Okay now how do we get this thing going?" Piper said to herself not really asking Alex.

"Seriously?!"

"I know, I know, I got it, I got it HYAH!" Piper snapped the reigns and the horses sped off in a frightened confused run at top speed. The carriage jerked and the wheels rattled rapidly on the stone covered streets.

The reigns rubbed against Piper's palms and tried to get away from her but she held them tightly within her grasp. The horses dashed through heavy crowded streets of screaming people They smashed through large crates, small stalls belonging to local businesses, chickens and other small animals scattered about. People were running out in front of them and jumped out of the way to find safety. Alex and Piper were like a raging stampede down the busy streets of Imperial Terra. Piper screamed for people to move and used one of her hands to urge people to get out of the way. Piper hit one hard turn after another. She turned the horses so hard the horse carriage sometimes rode on two wheels instead of four.

Alex was just trying her best to hold on and not fall off the damned thing. She turned around and saw that they were being pursued by soldiers on horseback.

"Pipes do you even know how to get to the harbor?!"

"Honestly no. I'm sort of making this up as I go along!"

"Pipes!"

"I'm sorry I was hoping maybe you could figure that part out!"

Alex rolled her eyes and growled.

"Alex on your left!" Piper yelled as she pointed to the soldier riding beside them. His gun was raised.

"Get back!" Alex said putting an arm across Piper's chest and pressing her back against the carriage. The man shot and missed. Alex drew her gun and fired a shot right at his horse's head. The horse screamed, tumbled, and rolled over it's legs. The man fell with it and the weight of the horse's body killed him.

When Alex saw there was more of them she stood up "Fuck I have one gun and two shots left" she cursed to herself. "Keep going! Turn left there!"

The soldiers on horseback were gaining on them. Alex drew her sword and climbed to the top of the wheel house.

Piper looked up "Alex what're you—Alex are you mad?! Get down from there!"

"Get us to the harbor Pipes! Turn left now!"

"Alex don't be—"

"Piper look out!"

She quickly turned back around and saw that they were about to rush into a thick crowd of people. Piper screamed and whipped the reigns hard right instead of left down another street.

"Oh my god!" She yelled

"Piper what are you doing? I said go left!"

"Sorry!"

Alex stood back up and balanced herself on top of the wheel house. The soldier pursuing closest behind them leapt from his horse and started to climb aboard the carriage. Then another climbed on and another. Alex kicked the first one off and sliced the hand off another one. The third soldier managed to climb up and grabbed Alex by the ankle and she fell hard smacking her head on the roof of the house.

"Alex!"

Piper snapped the reigns again to speed up the horses. There were low hanging signs over the local shops and Piper purposely drove underneath them. "Alex stay down!"

The soldiers on top of the wheel house smacked against the signs and they fell off of wheel house

Alex kicked herself free of the last soldier and the horse carriage trampled over the man. "Turn down that narrow street up ahead we can lose a lot of them in there!"

"It's too small Alex I don't know if we can make it!"

"Yes we can, trust me, do it!"

Piper nodded and gave another quick snap of the reigns "Hyah!"

The horses whinnied and sped off in that direction down an alleyway. It was a tight fit but they made it and the soldiers on horseback were forced into a single file and no longer able to surround them the way they wanted to.

"Yes!" Piper shouted victoriously "We made it!"

"Not quite." Alex said as she glanced up ahead taking her place in the seat beside Piper. There was an abandoned broken wagon missing two wheels and a tall stone wall was blocking their path, a dead end. Beyond that Piper saw water, the docks, they were almost free but they were also about to crash and the soldiers were gaining on them from the rear.

"Oh fuck me." Alex cursed underneath her breath.

"We can make it!" Piper shouted

Alex snapped her head at her "What?!"

"We can make it! We didn't come this far not to."

"How?!"

"We use that wagon."

"Piper we're not going to make that jump!"

"We can if we go fast enough!"

"Pipes!"

"Trust me, we'll make it! Just hold on tight!"

Piper snapped the reigns again until it scared the horses into a wild frenzy. The ramp was getting closer and so was the wall.

"Pipes!"

"We'll make it!"

Alex turned around and saw the soldiers on their tail getting closer. They were all going to crash. "Please be right Pipes."

"I am. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. We're in this together."

Alex looked at Piper and saw the bold confidence on her face. "We'll make it." Alex said with a nod.

Piper snapped the reigns one last time and the horses ran up the ramp making the wheel house jerk violently. Alex and Piper both screamed, the soldiers kept going and crashed hard into the wall while Alex and Piper continued over destroying the ramp and flying over just barely making it beyond the wall. They made it over but not unscathed. The wheelhouse came crashing down when it hit the stone street and broke on impact. Piper lost her grip from the reigns, the horses ran free and she and Alex were thrown from the carriage.

The two of them were buried under the rubble luckily able to get away with just a few scrapes and bruises. Alex helped Piper out from underneath the shattered wood and broken wheels. "See." Piper grunted out "I told you we'd make it."

"Aye, you did, but we're not out yet, can you run?"

Piper nodded.

"Good come on we can't stop we're almost there. We got a good lead on them but we need to get to a rowboat so it can take us out to sea."

"Alex over there." Piper clutched her bruised shoulder and nodded off to the small rowboat about a good run from where they were standing.

"Good eye. Let's go."

"There they are!" Alex and Piper both turned around and saw more soldiers running up behind them.

"Run, Pipes!"

They both took off and sprinted through the crowds of people. "Stay close!" Alex hollered back.

She stopped suddenly to knock over a stand of oranges. The officers pursuing them tripped over them and tripped and fell over each other.

"Keep going!"

Piper jumped into the rowboat and looked for the oars. Alex untied the rope from the dock and jumped in right behind her. Piper immediately started rowing as hard and as fast as she could and Alex picked up the other. The soldiers were still coming and they were running down the docks guns raised.

"They're coming!"

"Keep rowing!"

A soldier aimed his rifle at Alex's head. "Alex get down!" Piper abandoned her oar and threw herself onto Alex and pushed her head down it barely missed.

"Grab the oar." Alex ordered "We got to keep rowing."

Their rowboat slowly floated more and more out to sea. And the men gradually stopped firing. They were safe. All of the adrenaline had left their bodies and they were finally able to catch their breath. Alex collapsed into the boat and so did Piper.

"I think I'm really starting to feel the effects of that jump we made, everything on my body is sore." Piper said

"Well" Alex said between breaths. Like you said we made it that's the important thing."

Alex looked up and smiled at her "Was it as good for you as it was for me?"

She smiled back catching the joke "Absolutely, I couldn't even catch my breath."

Piper looked up and saw all the smoke and fires in the city, the smoke coming from the chapel and the castle.

Alex sat back up. "Come on pick up your oar, we have to get to the ship, everybody is waiting."

The crew raised the rowboat the rest of the way up the side of the ship and Alex and Piper stepped on to the deck.

Alex looked up and saw Nicky with her fists to her hips and shaking her head "Not rescuing the princess huh? Sure as shit looked like a rescue to me."

"No I just thought I'd do the right thing and ask this time around. Piper's here by her own choice."

"That so? You didn't have enough the first time around, back for more?"

Piper stood amongst the entire crew. Most of them looked like they were ready to spit nails. They were unsure and still upset at her.

She stepped away from Alex and looked at each and every one of them "I don't blame any of you for distrusting me or even hating me. I owe you an apology Nicky, all of you. I'm sorry, really sorry, and… if you all will have me I will spend the rest of my time here making it up to all of you."

All the women looked amongst themselves and made faces at each other.

"Well Piddles." said Black Cindy giving Piper back her old nickname "You're going to be making it up for a long time. I'm gonna tell you that."

"Aye, I second that" said Boo

"Swab duty is looking mighty good for starters for the next month or so" said Tasha

"Sleepin up in the crows nest, give Suzanne a break from talking to the birds."

"Done" Piper said "Anything else."

"Oh I'm sure we'll all come up with something. Just be thankful your ass isn't sleeping with the fishes."

Piper nodded. "Fair enough."

Nicky gave Piper a hard slap on the back "Welcome to your new family Piper. You're back at the bottom of the food chain."

"All right ladies we're casting off! Get to your posts give me full sail!"

Alex moved to the wheel of the ship and turned it. Piper walked up the steps behind her and looked out over the rail and watched as the land of Imperial Terra grew smaller and smaller. A thought suddenly crossed her mind.

"Alex what are we going to do about Litchman's Island?"

"Well for now, there's nothing we can do. We'll take it back someday don't worry. But we're going to need a hell of a lot more ships to do it. We can't do it by ourselves."

"I hope we can take it back." Piper whispered to herself.

"So Captain, where will you have us go next? What mischief shall we get ourselves involved in? Do we go east, west, north, south?"

A wicked smile spread across Alex's face "We have a bit of business. We go further east, to a place where no one has ever dared to travel."

"Where is that?"

"You ever heard of the great island of Tylassa"

"No… but I bet it's dangerous."

"We'll soon find out."

Piper smiled at Alex and looked back over the rail. She continued to watch the smoke coming from the chapel and castle she once called home. She could never go back, her father would kill her if she did, he had made that very clear. Piper wanted to believe that maybe in time, maybe one day, he would learn to accept her and this new life she chose but she was not prepared to risk her life to find out. A strong gust of wind blew her hair across her face and she took in the smell of the salty sea air. Even after everything that had happened Piper felt a tremendous weight being lifted off of her shoulders and for the first time in her life she felt she could finally just breathe, like her life was finally her own, and now she was truly able to spread her wings. The world was now so filled with infinite possibilities. Maybe it was as Meka said. Maybe she was the wasp, maybe not. But one thing was certain Piper was definitely on a journey of new beginnings, a new chapter in her life had officially begun and she now had Alex to share it with.

To be continued…

A/N: Hi everyone we have reached the end of The Spider and the Wasp. I would once again like to thank all of you for giving my story a chance and taking the time out of your lives to read it. Thank you for your support and for sticking around as long as you did. It has definitely been a long journey but the adventure is far from over. This story is just the beginning for what I have in store for Alex and Piper. I want to let you guys know that I'm going to be taking a break before I drop the sequel. But in the mean time I'll be going back through this story to do some more finalizing and editing. Also I want to let you all know that I'm no longer going to be putting author's notes within my chapters with the exception of maybe the final chapter. Reasons being because I personally find them to be distracting and it takes me out of the story. For any news and updates as far as the status of my stories I will be posting on my tumblr blog at shnookumsandlovemuffin and if you're interested you can also get a sneak peak of whats coming up next in the sequel: The Pool of Souls. Thank you all so very very much. Much love and big hugs to all of you, and I will see you all again soon.