Chapter 9: And Things That Go Boom
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except a really annoying cat.
I offer a warm and heartfelt thank you to those brave souls who have been reading this piece. And especially to those who sent me reviews. Thank you, thank you. *kowtows*
WARNING! Oh, more of the same. If you don't get it by now ... And Kitty: Grab your Plushy Yuri!
Alice waited in the police car while Margarete stepped into the little items shop on the corner of Piccadilly and Hartford Down. The proprietor was an old acquaintance that owed Margarete many, many favors which Margarete, with a smile, refused to go into details over. She happily leapt from the car, waiving airily at Eddie to remain while she did her shopping and Alice wondered how much was Margarete's ebullient attitude and sheer chutzpah. While she waited, she took out her book and refreshed her memory with several spells and said a prayer for Yuri; something nagged at the back of her mind regarding her fiancé and she wondered if he was all right. Surely, there was nothing that could fill with fear the heart of the man who had saved the world; well, perhaps the police, but that was different. After a few minutes of effort though she was unable to bring her prayer to fruition and instead turned to the driver, asking him questions about his work and Captain Cashiel.
After an hour Margarete re-emerged from the items shop and directed Eddie to return to Queenithe Docks and while he drove she divided up the spoils. She had a small packet with assorted medicines and a canvas bag brimming with small canister looking items that she told Alice were incendiary hand grenades while the long leather wrapped tube was a special weapon that her friend was carrying for someone else and which now belonged to Margarete.
"A rocket launcher - what is that?" Alice queried but Margarete merely laughed.
"Oh-oh no, I won't explain. But sonny boy will love it."
"Why?" Alice eyed the long leather tube with suspicion.
"Well, you know he just loves explosions …" and Margarete could not repress the giggles.
Alice frowned at her companion before offering up a tentative chuckle. "Well he does actually, but usually when he's the one making them."
"Ah, ah-hah," the beautiful spy laughed while the car progressed up The Strand toward the docks.
A few minutes later, the police car pulled up once more to Queenithe Dock and the police cordon. A half a hundred officers blocked every access to the dock and an army car was pulled to one side with a member of the General Staff speaking to Captain Cashiel and Lieutenant Carter.
"We better be ready for trouble, Alice," Margarete said, pulling the canvas bag's strap over her shoulder and putting the launcher on her lap.
"Do you think anything has happened yet?" Alice asked, straining to see past the cordon.
"I doubt it; too quiet by half. But with Yuri …"
The car pulled up next to the cordon and Margarete and Alice debarked and made their way past the platoon of constables. Carter spotted them and waived them over before speaking quickly to Cashiel and joining the two women.
"Anything happening yet, Lieutenant?" Margarete asked.
"Not yet Miss, but the military is in a huff. They've got goods in the warehouse and they don't want to cede authority to the Captain."
"Well, that's too bad." Margarete scanned the darkness of the dockside. "Where's Yuri?"
Carter looked embarrassed. "Well, miss, he..."
Margarete shrugged. "I got it; he didn't wait - thought so. Let's go Alice," Margarete pushed past Lieutenant Carter but he grabbed her arm.
"Wait. There's been some activity; it might be the monster hunter."
"Where?" Margarete was suddenly even more alert and her eyes were sparking with excitement. "The warehouses?"
Carter shook his head. "Underground. There was some kind of vibration a few minutes ago. Don't know really. The Captain wants everyone away from here."
"Too bad!" Margarete said and shook loose the lieutenant's restraining hand. "Come on Alice, we've got work to do!" and she began to run across the expanse to the dock and the underground sluiceway.
Yuri squatted on his heels his head resting against the dank stonework of the passage, his eyes stared blankly up at the unseen ceiling. To his right the opening to the vaulted chamber, to his left the way back to the surface and safety. Right now he didn't feel safe; right now he wished he were back with Alice, caressing her beautiful body with his fighter's hands and making babies; right now he wished desperately that he believed in god. He had lost any faith he had last year, not that he was a staunch believer in anything but his own two fists, but now he wished he could trade in just a little on that lack of faith. One giant female was sucking on the prime rich meat that the guards had brought her; one female larger than the one in his nightmares was disgorging egg sack after egg sack. Yuri knew that in nature, a spider queen could birth a thousand eggs in a day. He briefly wondered how many this one had laid, then shook his head.
'Nope, doesn't matter. It's the hundreds that are between me and her that matter.' Very softly he breathed an 'I love you Alice,' then slowly turned toward the chamber, at the same time he reached for the fusion, a demon spawn of fiery death for these creatures, a monster of hellish proportions and one that Yuri only used when he was facing overwhelming odds: Forron, Lord of Fire, Lord of Blades and Lord of Hell.
The fusion took him, swelling his body to nearly seven feet in height, his arms, now four, growing in strength and with nails like blades extending from each claw-like hand. A ridge of blades extended from his back, protecting his massive neck and head, and, instead of skin, he wore a scaly red hide that was more like armor. A roar of defiance and challenge issued from fire black lips and Yuri/Forron leapt from the passage and landed amidst the chittering hordes. Instantly hairy and scaly bodies congregated, climbing over their brethren as the guardians and protectors of the nest charged at the massive fusion soul.
Yuri swung massive arms, slamming into bodies as he plowed gleefully into the fray, his heart pumping and his roar of defiance and challenge echoing in the vaulted chamber and rumbling down the side passages. Each swing of muscular arms brought death to the guards; each slice of razor sharp claws bathed him in ichor until Forron's red hide was as black as pitch. But the numbers where overwhelming, and they kept coming and fatigue was a factor in how long Yuri could keep up the fight. He had battled his way around the chamber, trying to reach the Queen but was no closer now than fifteen minutes ago. In disgust, he jumped up onto a pile of egg sacks and cocoons and summoned his magic.
Forron's specialty was fire, but unlike Inferno's from earlier that evening, Forron commanded the Gates of Hell and Yuri reached deep within to fuel the magic. His body began to burn with the beginning of the summons, his blood boiling and his scream of defiance turned to one of pain as the strength of his body, blood and mind was taken to open the floodgate of fire. Pouring up from the wellspring of his soul, from the very ground itself, igniting the egg sacks, the cocoons and rushing like a flood of flame over the guards, Yuri's Hellfire magicks flowed and seared and inundated the chamber, scorching and scouring the cavern walls, shaking the foundations and offering charred death to anything it touched. Long minutes passed as the fireflood coursed its way through vault and passage and finally reducing down to crackling flickers over charred bodies before Yuri could breathe and take note of the damage. Hundreds lie before him, their smoking bodies a testament to his fusion's power; egg sacks, cocoons and spiders: all dead. But the Queen was gone, fled down some other passage.
Yuri released the fusion and growled, his lips curled back both in anger and disgust as he climbed over the carnage for the nearest passageway down. At the entrance, he listened for sounds of the Queen's movements. There were echoes reverberating through the vault and Yuri could not tell which passage she had escaped down. With a grunt of disgust, he chose one.
"Why is it never easy?" he muttered.
Yuri took the left side passage leading further down into darkness. He felt his way along, using one leather-gloved hand and his fusion aided night vision. It had grown well beyond dark when he entered another chamber, its inky depths filled to the ceiling with egg sacks and cocoons. Yuri sighed, leaning wearily against the chamber wall. He hesitated using his fusion again, even if it meant leaving the eggs for later since he didn't have the supplies to renew his magical or physical strengths. He pushed himself erect once more and checked out the chamber for other passageways but found only one, and it was collapsed with rubble, so he returned to the exit and headed back for the main chamber.
The next passage also led downward, curving around to abruptly end at a drop into cold, dark rushing water. With a sigh he turned back and wondered just how many miles of underground sewers London had and did they even know themselves? It would remain a moot question as he took the last passage; this one curving around and back to his left before splitting in two once again. With a frustrated sigh, he took the left hand passage. He was rewarded with guards about a hundred feet down, and with the clacking of their claws on the stones of the passageway, Yuri knew he was facing more than one.
Yuri backpedaled and crouched down, waiting for the first one to get within striking range. He waited for the creature to attack before striking with his claws, not the soft but difficult to reach head or body, but the foreleg, slicing the nearest appendage of the first spider and causing a shriek of pain that hurt his ears. He made another pass, this time severing the limb altogether and the creature, black ichor spewing from its leg, scuttled back into its oncoming brethren. Yuri took a few more steps back, summoning out his fusion soul once more, this time the lesser earth soul Tigerion. Raging Tiger's magic was not strong but with a small passage and only a few foes, Yuri did not feel the need to waste un-replaceable magical energy. Besides, an earth attack would clear the way for him to move forward.
'Heh-heh,' he mentally laughed to himself. 'Bowling for spiders.'
He reached inside, drawing out the energies again, his lithe tiger form hunching down in the narrow passage. Suddenly there was a storm in his hands as stones went flying, careening down the passage and smashing against the oncoming guards, and rumbling on into the distance. He heard the distinctive crunch of exoskeleton and the scree of their pain and the passage was cleared. He released the fusion and ran on.
Margarete and Alice made the sluiceway entrance before Carter and the police could stop them. On hands and knees, the two crawled into the dark tunnel and when they finally emerged in the passageway, Margarete stood and pulled a torch from her pack. With a flick, they suddenly had light and Margarete waived it up and down to scan the passageway.
"I liked it better in the dark," she said with a laugh. "Come on, this way," and she started ahead while Alice quickly flicked dirt from her skirt, checked her medical supply packet and then followed.
Margarete stopped at the split in the passage, skirting around the charred remains of the guard, then flicked her torch to scan the darkness ahead before entering, the scuffs in the dirt showing where Yuri had passed. Alice covered her nose to block the stench but bravely followed Margarete past the dead creature and into the side passage. They moved ahead until they came to the drop into the old sewers and the rush of water far below them.
"Do you think he went down there?" Alice asked, watching the dark rush of water revealed in the torch.
"I doubt it. The kid's not the greatest swimmer in the world, and he'd probably drown in that fast water."
Alice nodded. "Yes, you're right of course. I guess I'm nervous not to remember that. Shall we go on then?"
Margarete nodded. "Take a running jump Alice," she said and followed her own instructions to cross the intervening space. A second later Alice landed beside her and they continued down the passage. After a few minutes, they came to the ladder and beyond, the chamber opening. But the passage was blocked with fallen stones from the now collapsed roof and Margarete scowled not wanting to return empty-handed.
"We'll have to try again from above. There must be a way," she told her companion.
"What about the ladder? We can climb that again; maybe you can shoot the lock off?"
"It's more than a lock Alice. Something's blocking it from above," Margarete said once she had climbed up and investigated. "We'll have to go back to the beginning."
"All right," Alice said with a look of disappointment on her heart-shaped face. She looked down the dark passage and clasped her hands to her breast, her eyes closed for a moment in prayer. "I only hope Yuri is all right."
Margarete's laugh sounded hollow in the stone passage. "Ah-hah, you know Yuri. He's harder to kill than a cockroach. Let's go."
Yuri ran until he ran out of passage. In the dark he wondered if he had missed another opening, but just as he was about to double back he heard the scrap of movement ahead. With eyes piercing the darkness he moved onward, his ears straining to discern any more movement. He could feel his heart beating hard and fast in his chest and briefly wondered how hard a human heart could beat before it broke, one of those passing thoughts, like the brief feel of air on his skin.
'An opening ahead?' he wondered and quickened his pace.
Another fifty feet brought him to a tunnel heading upward and the tunnel itself was stonework with braces in metal. Yuri was confused until he saw another tunnel to his right that had iron rails lying side by side.
'Damn,' he thought. 'They were gonna build a railroad underground?' He shook his head at the daft English and climbed up the passage. This lead to a wooden platform and a metal cage with pulleys; he followed the pulleys with his eyes and noted they were for an elevator of some sort, but as the cage was large he figured it was for cargo. Looking further, he couldn't spot any of his prey but moved ahead anyway. Just beyond the cargo lifter, he met some more guards. These were bigger than the first one, and their fangs dripped with poison. Older, stronger, with a firmer exoskeleton, these would not be easy to kill.
Yuri stepped back onto the wooden platform. His face pinched into a grimace as he assessed what he could do. 'Gotta go for the fire again, damn it!' he mentally growled and reached once more inside, into that dark place in his mind and soul that held his fusions. Latching onto Forron once more, he melded his soul with the fusion and again launched a four armed attack on the lead spider guard. This time the spider fended him off, its exoskeleton harder to pierce and Forron's heavy arms and bladed claws were no match, merely scoring the smooth plating.
Yuri moved further back beyond the platform, blocking the entrance, the guards following; four now stood between him and the far exit-way and the Queen. He growled again, a deep rumbling that matched the magicks pouring into his hands from his mind, body and soul. Fire erupted, coursing along his blood, along his arms and bursting forth from his chest; hellfire erupting from the ground, burning, searing and charring its way over the wooden platform, turning it to cinder; through the guards leaving black ash in its wake; down the connecting corridor and up the elevator shaft and out, exploding into the early morning darkness.
Margarete and Alice crawled back through the sluiceway and out onto the riverbank. Above them the berm was suddenly alight from a blazing fire and both women ran up the embankment to see flames shooting up beyond a nearby warehouse.
"Damn that kid! He just couldn't wait!" Margarete cursed and ran for the warehouse. "Alice! Cover me!" she yelled and Alice followed in her wake as best she could.
The police cordon was tight around the street but inside with the warehouses it was the army. Margarete dodged speeding army trucks as they headed for the ranks of warehouses running along Upper Thames Road and the blazing fire that lit the night sky. However, when they reached the warehouse, the army had blocked the entrance and soldiers were surrounding the building. With a curl to her lips, Margarete skidded to a halt looking for another access.
"What about that one?" Alice asked, pointing to the darkened warehouse a few buildings down. There was no traffic around it and Margarete could barely make out an access alleyway along side.
"Great Alice – let's go!" The pair took off, prayers and hopes lending wings to their feet as they crossed the intervening space with no deterrence and slipped into the alleyway between the warehouses. Margaret loosed a pair of grenades from her pack and then removed the launcher from its leather tube, slinging it from her shoulder by the strap.
"Be ready for anything, Alice. And watch out for Yuri; he's gotta be here somewhere," Margarete instructed before steeping out behind the building and into a conflagration. Fire roared up in a geyser from the ground and Margarete could barely make out what would have been a cargo loader. The metal had started to melt and dripped down into the flames, feeding the fire further. If Yuri was beneath that... Then she saw the black shapes moving beyond the fire, crisscrossing the flames and heading for the warehouse. Margarete shoved a small missile into her rocket launcher as she headed off at a brisk run.
The rear wall of the warehouse was beginning to burn; the dark figures crawling over the flaming debris and into the dark recesses. Margarete with Alice behind her approached the warehouse wall; Margarete looked inside through a broken window but the dark of the interior was difficult to plumb so she instead pointed at a burning doorway.
"We can get in through there. Watch the flames; and watch whatever the hell those shapes are," she said to Alice and then dodged into the warehouse. Once inside Margarete did a quick assessment. To all sides were large cases, stacked to nearly the roof, many with labels in foreign languages, and some in English. These she ignored, instead stepping out into the first cross corridor amongst the high stacked cases. A sound above and beyond brought her to tense alertness.
"Alice, reach into my holster and take the Luger. I showed you how to use one of these things in China, do you remember?"
Alice, feeling her heart suddenly jump into her throat, nodded dumbly and reached for the weapon.
"O-okay Margarete, I have it," Alice said finally once the cold weapon was in her hand, her delicate fingers encircling the trigger guard.
"Be careful, girlfriend and don't shoot yourself," Margarete warned and then moved ahead. Alice, the gun wobbling in her hands, followed.
Margarete, listening carefully, strode forward, her eyes scanning up and down the stacks of crates and cases. Dark shadows stretched across the interior floor, and deeper shadows filled the spaces above. Flickering orange light backlit them as they moved through the stacks, and elongated the shadows, making them dance and gyrate to some mad dance. Noises above her made Margarete pause, her fingers searching out the handle of the launcher while Alice, her arms straight out in front of her, pointed the Luger at the shadows.
"What are we hearing, Margie?" she whispered, a quaver still in her voice.
"I don't know. Whatever those shapes were that came out of the fire; something Yuri stirred up," Margarete answered and silently prayed it wasn't anything like the guard Yuri had dispatched earlier. "Keep your eyes open and the gun ready," she said even as she stepped into the deep shadows between two stacks of crates.
Alice kept the gun raised in her shaking hands and stepped into the shadows as well, passing Margarete in the darkness and rounding another stack of crates. Her nerves were quickly fraying and she breathed a silent prayer for Yuri's safety and her own. She wished Yuri were there, jumping down out of the darkness to startle her and laugh uproariously as she swatted at him with her book. He'd love that, the oaf. However, it wasn't a book in her hands, but Margarete's Luger and its cold steel made her hands sweat and the tension was making her heart beat faster than normal. She wanted nothing more than to be home with Yuri.
'When did I think I could do this on my own?' she thought. 'Bistritz? Without him; with only Zhuzhen and occasionally Margarete. I'm scared to death,' Alice thought, and she passed another stack of crates. The minutes stretched out and her heart beat so hard and fast in her chest Alice thought it would burst. She quickly scanned the next intersection of crates and crossed the darkened space, turning to take another isle when a deeper darkness seemed to envelope her. She stopped and looked around, then up toward the roof. Above her, shadows moved swiftly across the crates, their movements so quick that Alice could not follow them. But she knew instantly she was in danger. She raised the Luger and fired.
Margarete heard the gunshots and looked around for Alice. Gritting her jaw, she turned around to follow the resounding shots but another sound above her made her look up toward the roof. Dark shadows scuttled across the spaces between the crates and suddenly Margarete's heart was slamming into her chest. Calling out, she pulled the pin on her grenade and threw it up and over the first stack of crates and then ran back the way she came, flinging herself down to the ground just as the grenade exploded.
"Alice! Get going! Get out!" Margarete screamed once she was to her feet and saw the ruination of the nearby crates and the large creatures crawling over them and their fallen comrades. "Alice!"
Margarete grabbed up the launcher, taking a few strides to her left, putting another stack of crates to her back and aimed the launcher at the oncoming creatures. With a whoosh, the rocket shot out and exploded on impact, the concussion sending Margarete bowling over as the crates behind her shifted and scattered. Shaking her head Margarete climbed to her knees, pulling the launcher up to use as a brace; the area she had shot at was gone; rubble and smoking ruin replaced crates and creatures. But she could see in the darkness above that more were coming. Climbing to her feet, she scrambled over the scattered crates, taking a left hand direction hoping to run into Alice or come to the opposite door.
A few yards ahead, she saw another creature jump onto the crates and she pulled another grenade from her pack, pulling the pin and throwing it even as she kept running, turning again at a left angle. The explosion shocked her ears and she was momentarily deafened so she didn't hear the second roaring explosion behind her. Fire was suddenly enveloping the inside rear of the warehouse and when Margarete finally turned to check on pursuers she saw the flames flickering up the back wall, and jumping onto the nearby crates like a thing alive. Above, in the rafters were the creatures; spiders. With a shudder she stopped and pulled up the rocket launcher again, praying that this was not going to be the end of her career and sent another rocket exploding to the roof.
The next moment was lost for Margarete in a confusion of flashing images, roaring explosions and her own screams. In a heartbeat, the rocket exploded in the rafters, sending the roof exploding upwards into the night with large multi-legged bodies scattering like chafe. Along with that was another explosion of brilliant bloody fire and the entire warehouse was suddenly engulfed in flames; many smaller detonations went off like popping guns then another explosion that tore the wall and roof off the warehouse and sent them crashing down inside. Margarete saw the fire, saw the falling roof, and ran for her life, scrambling over shattered and scattered cases and crates, her launcher abandoned behind her, her heart beating hard in her chest as her mind screamed to run, to live or to die! Another deafening explosion, bigger than the first sent her crashing to the floor and when she tried to rise, a dark shape loomed out of the conflagration, flying through the flaming hell and landing on her, pressing her slight body to the floor. Yet another explosion sent her mind into numbness as the roof crashed down, burying her.
Alice had heard Margarete's yelled warning but her own legs had already decided to run, carrying her through the maze of crates to the front entrance even as an explosion ripped through the air sending shockwaves over the warehouse floor. Alice barely kept her feet as she tried the door, but it was locked; Alice sent a scattering of bullets into the lock, but when that didn't dislodge it she stopped, her chest heaving for breath and summoned her book from her pocket; the small tome floated upwards, expanding as it rose, and then flipped open its pages stopping at a page half way through. Alice closed her eyes for a brief moment, setting her mind to the task of magic, and then offered her prayer. White light enveloped her before exploding outward hitting the door, pushing it off its hinges before it exploded into the night. Even as the door came to rest on the ground outside Alice was grabbing her book and running. Soldiers and police were outside, and she yelled at them as she fled the warehouse, screaming to run. The police pulled back and the majority of soldiers as well, a small group staying to guard the warehouse exit. But in the next minute flames exploded from the roof, concussions of sound bowling over the handful of soldiers near the door, and then more explosions joining the first, this from the neighboring warehouse and the rear of the building. Seconds later the entire building was engulfed in flames and collapsing in on itself, screams of dying creatures joining Alice's high-pitched wail as she cried out for Margarete who was still inside the now destroyed building.
