Chapter 11:  The Queen and the Harmonixer

Disclaimer:  I don't own Shadow Hearts.  Man!  That sucks!

No, I'm not going to WARN you this time.  I figure you've got it by now; but there WILL be violence and other assorted mayhem. Enjoy!

            Yuri waited at the junction of the sewer passages, watching Margarete until she finally turned to leave.  He wondered what had come over him for a brief moment before shrugging it off.  Margarete was a beautiful woman; she liked him.  She had admitted that in Rouen, and sent his head spinning for her efforts.  Why shouldn't he make love to her; it was only sex after all.  Didn't he deserve it?  Hadn't he saved the whole damn world and gotten what; a fiancé that might marry him when this is all done? 

            Yuri shook his head and turned up the passage, running swiftly to cover the twice traversed distance.  He didn't want to think about Margarete or Alice right now.  He needed to think about the queen and her defenders; for she would have guards to defend her and Yuri would have to take them out first if he wanted any hope of getting to her.  And they would be much more difficult than the ones he had faced so far; they would be older, bigger, stronger; and very much determined to protect their queen and possible mate. 

            Yuri was wishing he hadn't lost his shirt and chain mail vest in the explosions; his armor had held him in good stead these last months, even going so far as to block some of the attacks from the creatures of Neameeto, the Float.  But now it had to be in shreds, the links broken and unfixable … and his shirt – well, Margarete still owed him a replacement so now he had none left.

            'What a thought,' he mentally laughed at himself, 'worrying about a damned shirt!' 

            His quick moving feet soon brought him to the caved in passage and he paused only long enough to decide how to handle it.  With a smirk and a laugh at his own inner sense of humor, he summoned the fusion.  His body elongated, becoming thinner and with a thick coat of bristly hair and a tail.  His face stretched out as well, becoming wolf-like and Yuri now stood as his toughest Earth fusion, Lobo.  If Yuri could grin as Lobo, he would have, for the fusion's specialty was gathering and throwing huge meteorite sized boulders.  Magical energies filled him as he called on the powers of Lobo and sent a gigantic boulder crashing down the passage to strike the blocking rubble.  There was a deafening roar as the blockage exploded and when the dust settled, the passage was clear.  Yuri released his fusion and ran on.

            He made quick progress through the remaining passages, coming at last to the burnt out and scorched loading dock above the abortive railway.  He looked up at the opening and saw peeking through the clouds of sooty smoke a few errant stars coursing their way through the heavens as if none of this had happened.  Yuri took a breath of the air but coughed when he got a lung full of smoke instead.  With an inelegant shrug he continued down the passage leading, he hoped, to the Queen's new lair.

            Margarete stretched, pulling tight muscles and then readjusted the torn and tattered trench coat.  Looking down at her soiled and begrimed self, she sighed.  She knew she must look a sight and that Yuri, who now owned only the pants and boots he wore, would need a new wardrobe; assuming he lived to get one.  That thought quickly buried itself in her mind along with the one that wore the satisfied smirk.  It wouldn't do for Alice to know of their heated love-making even if Margarete did want to shout it to the city.  She straightened her shoulders and climbed up the embankment and headed for the mass of vehicles outside the destroyed warehouses.  That would take some explaining. 

            "I wonder if that bulldog Captain is around here.  Or that handsome lieutenant?" she wondered aloud and then ran across the docks.

            Half way there she spotted Alice, sitting in a police car.  Her head was down and she looked like she was sleeping until Margarete got close enough to realize her lips were moving.

            'Praying; for the kid, no doubt,' she thought and went to the car.  Tapping on the car window she waggled her fingers once Alice looked up.   Alice promptly screamed.

            Yuri had continued his swift traverse of the underground passages.  He passed several smaller cut-a-ways, making note of the scattered debris and egg sacks; he'd have to return to destroy those as well, but right now his concentration was on the queen; the creature that had come all the way across southern England from Wales to lay her brood of killers.  He was determined to stop her here.  The sewer passage ran a straight line after the initial opening at the cargo elevator and Yuri sprinted the half mile until he came to another split and a pair of guards. He engaged them without a thought, striking the first with his Nightbird Claws, puncturing and then ripping as he gouged a hole the size of his head in the creature's thorax before slamming his boot into its head.  Ichor splattered over him and ran down onto the passage as the guard screeched and moved back.  The second guard had jumped around behind Yuri while he was engaged with the first guard, but Yuri spotted him coming and even as his boot was smashing into the first creature's head, he flipped the Nightbird Claw on his left hand, and using it like a bill-hook, snagged the front leg and used the momentum to jump up onto the creature's back.  With a heavy downward thrust, he punctured the creature's head and sent brains and ichor splattering along the passage as the spider died beneath him.

            "Yeah, that's how you die, you sonofabitch!" he growled and then ran to the first spider.  It was hunkered down, dying as its lifeblood oozed onto the ground, but Yuri gave it a coup de grace, sending one Nightbird Claw into its head, twisting and pulling it back.  A death spasm shook the spider and its legs curled up beneath it.  Yuri passed the now dead spider to the split in the passage.  "Left or right; which way would I go if I was getting away?  River?   No, okay, right," he said and then turned right down the passage.  A few hundred yards in he found his mistake when the passage came to an abrupt end.  Cursing he retraced his steps at a full run heading for the left hand passage and the exit to the Thames.

            Another hundred yards after the split, he came across a second pair of guards, scuttling quickly toward the exit.  These two jumped at him before he had the chance to put up his hands and Yuri quickly found himself pinned to the passage wall as gigantic legs pummeled and pounded him and one pedipalp tasted his face.  He struggled fitfully, trying to escape the oncoming fangs and managed to wiggle just loose enough to kick out at the spider's jaw as it came down onto him.  Poison dripped and spattered, catching him on his exposed chest and the skin burned and peeled where the poison made contact.

            Screaming, he reached for a fusion, drawing on Inferno once again and as he merged his soul with that of the fire demon, he grabbed one spider's leg with a pair of hands and pulled, yanking the spider down and then pushing it away long enough to let him fall free to the ground.  Then he turned and offered a four-armed pummel to the second spider, pushing and punching his way free of their confining presence.  Then he drew on the power of the fusion soul, bathing the two erstwhile guards in searing flames.  Their dying keens followed him as Yuri released the fusion and ran for the end of the passage, one hand reaching into his pants pocket for a pinch of Mana seeds. 

            The end of the passage came out just past Blackfriars Bridge and Yuri silently cursed, knowing now how close the creatures had been that night that Lars had been killed.  The drain cover, now a mangled piece of steel, lay on the ground and Yuri stood next to it, scanning the semi-darkness of pre-dawn and the gray shadows along the underside of the bridge.  There was no sign of his prey so he climbed the embankment and spotted them a little east of the bridge, heading back towards Queenithe Docks.  The queen, a huge arachnid whose body would dwarf an automobile, was climbing the nearest building, making her way to the rooftops; one guard was before her, while the remaining guard took up a position behind her.  When it spotted Yuri in pursuit, it jumped out onto the street to stop him.

            Yuri met the guard half way, sliding under the spider and using his Nightbird Claw to slice open the creature's belly; entrails spilled out and bathed the ground and Yuri sliced one leg at the joint.  Off balance and mortally wounded, the spider guard fell to the ground, a high keen marking its passing. Yuri, panting with exertion, turned to follow the queen and her remaining guard.  They had fled up the side of a warehouse and so he drew on another fusion, using Icarus' wings to fly up to the rooftop.  There he ran into the last guard as it protected the queen; she was marching as swiftly as her egg-bloated body could move across the warehouse roof, jumping for the next building.  Yuri screeched a challenge to the guard and descended at full wing.

            Yuri drew on the full power of his air class fusion, letting the winged soul gather his magicks and summon a Gale to increase his own agility and speed, the magical wind fluttering under his feathered wings and making his heart race.  Then he flew at the spider guard, scratching it with his clawed feet.  The spider moved back quickly, rearing back, trying to ward off the flying fusion.  Yuri flew past the large spider again, flicking feathers in its face and running a claw down its back, however the guard spider's protective exoskeleton kept it from the fusion's over-head attack and it spun to shoot a web at the passing bird.  Yuri had hesitated in his fly-by, drawing on the fusions magicks this time and summoning lightening to strike the spider, but the creature was fast and jumped out of the way.  Frustrated, Yuri flew back over the spider as if to attack but released the fusion, dropping down onto the creature's back.  He grabbed a handful of the spiky hair on the creature's head, trying to hold on as the spider spun and jumped, trying to dislodge the harmonixer.

            Yuri flipped one of his claws and stabbed it down, piercing the thick plating on the creature's back, but at the same time, the spider ran to the edge of the building and flipped over, using its web to stay on the building wall but dislodging the fusionist.  He slid down the spider's body, managing to grab a rear leg before plummeting to his death, but it put him in danger from the spider.  In another moment, the creature had climbed back onto the roof and pinned him, sticking him with webbing to the bare roof.  Yuri struggled, kicking and twisting to get free, the whole while the spider was striking him with a pair of legs and aiming its poisonous fangs at him.   The spider's head came down and the tip of his fangs touched the webbing surrounding Yuri's side, seeping through the webbing and burning him; Yuri screamed and fought harder against the restraining webbing, finally getting a claw up to sever the closer webs.  He jumped to his feet and punched the spider in the face, ichor exploding out onto him as he rolled away.

            Panting, he wiped the poison from his side and gritted his teeth, the combination of poison, webbing and combat slicing through his leathers and losing him his last supply of recovery medicines.  He would be on his own now, his own strength beginning to wane. 

            "Shit, it's never easy," he looked up at the spider.  "Come on ya bastard.  I got yer number," he growled and then fused to Inferno once more, drawing on the fiery soul to send a ball of flame at his foe, searing and charring it in one blow.  Yuri released the fusion and leaned on his knees, his breath coming in ragged pants.

            "Now, for the queen," he said and looked up to find the giant arachnid scuttling quickly across the rooftops several warehouses away; it had nearly reached the Queenithe Docks.

            "Damn!" Yuri cursed and ran for the edge of the building, leaping across the distance to land on the opposite rooftop in a roll, coming to his feet at a run and continuing to the building edge.

            Alice climbed from the police car and grabbed Margarete by her shoulders, tears of relief flowing freely from her blue eyes.

            "Oh thank God you're safe!  What happened?  How did you get away?" she asked the spy and Margarete laughed diffidently.

            "Oh, you know me; I planned it," she said and when Alice stared at her, she laughed.  "No, really, Yuri saved me.  He's fine by the way.  He's chasing after the queen."

            "The queen?" Alice asked, confused.

            Margarete sighed. "It's a long story; but Yuri says he's gotten most of the creatures - the giant spiders.  But the queen is still running loose and he's hunting her."

            "Oh my sweet God," Alice breathed.  "Where?" she asked, looking around.

            "Underground; he's still in the old sewer system.  The English did some renovations to start an underground railroad and the spiders have been using them as breeding dens.  Yuri said there were hundreds of eggs."

            "We'd better tell Captain Cashiel.  He's here somewhere with the Army."

            "Later.  Alice, do you still have my gun?"

            Alice nodded, taking the dangerous weapon from the car.  "I am glad to give it back to you," she said with a shudder.  "I think I prefer my book," and she patted her pocket.

            "Yes, well prayer and magic might work, but bullets are faster," Margarete said as she checked the magazine then looked around and spotted Lieutenant Carter.  "Come on; let's go talk to the police."

            Lieutenant Carter was approaching the car with a small paper bag in hand and he smiled when he spotted Alice.

            "I thought you might need some food, but I see that you're not alone," he handed Alice the bag.  Alice could smell chicken soup from a small container inside and smiled.

            "Thank you lieutenant; I'll have it later, if you don't mind.  Margarete just got back; she says Yuri's alive, and chasing more of those creatures."

            The lieutenant frowned.  "More of them?  How many has he found?"

            Carter sounded distressed and Margarete wondered just how much of a mess she and Yuri had left for them to clean up.  "Lots," she said.  "You might want to clear out some of these people, lieutenant, unless they've got big guns."  She waived her Luger and smiled.  "I don't think even my gun will really do a lot of good if any more of those things get loose."

            The lieutenant frowned before he turned to locate his captain.  "I think you might want to talk to the Captain yourself, Miss Guilbert," he said.

            "Fine.  And it's Margarete, please."

            Captain Cashiel was standing by his car, arms folded over his chest, his face set in a scowl.  He had argued his point to Colonel Mainwaring until he was out of breath, but the Colonel had the right of it now that his munitions had been destroyed.  The danger was no longer just a police matter, it had become a matter of national security; Cashiel was out-ranked and it rankled.  His own man, the monster hunter Hyuga, was risking life and limb to sort out these murders; if in turn there was other trouble, it belonged in his bailiwick.  Cashiel was chewing the stub of his cigar and wondering where Hyuga was as Carter and the two women approached.  One look at Miss Guilbert told him more than he wanted to about what was happening.

            "Miss Guilbert, were you involved in all this?" he indicated the smoking remains of the warehouses.

            "Yes, Captain.  And so was Yuri; he saved my hide.  But he's still alive and down there, chasing the mother of all monsters.  We've got to clear the area; bring in any big guns if you've got them, but get everyone else out of here," Margarete said, all business.

            "You'll have to talk to Colonel Mainwaring about that; he's taken control since the fire," Cashiel growled. 

            "Mainwaring?  Where is he?  I'll speak to him," Margaret looked around for the Army colonel but didn't see him in the grey pre-dawn light.

            "I'll try to locate him, if you wish?  Captain?" Carter turned to his superior, but Cashiel merely nodded.  Once Carter had left the captain turned to Margarete, his brown eyes pinning her to the ground.

            "You're not what you seem, Guilbert.  And I don't like it," he growled.

            Margarete gestured at the warehouses. "That's true, Captain.  But it's not your worry.  Yours is law and order, maintaining the peace.  Mine is the same as Alice's right now: Yuri's well-being.  He's down there somewhere, and I've got to tell you Captain, he's facing the devil alone."

            Alice drew her hands together, clasping them at her breast without thinking.  She looked at the smoldering ruins of the warehouses and thought of her fiancé, fighting somewhere below, in the dark, alone.

            'Please God, let him be all right,' she quietly prayed.

            But Yuri was not in the sewers.  He was high atop a nearby warehouse, sprinting across the roof toward the queen.  She had scuttled over two more warehouses before he finally caught up to her and she was ready for him.  Even as his feet met the rooftop, she had spun her webbing out to catch the young fusionist, sticky webbing catching his feet and sending him face first onto the roof.  With remarkable speed for such a large creature, she jumped and landed on top of Yuri, pinning him to the rooftop.  Cursing vociferously, he struggled, using his Nightbird Claws to rake and slice the webbing away from him, rolling out from under the creature and giving a good kick to the legs as he did so.  Rolling free of the webbing, he grabbed a fusion, Inferno, and melded his soul to it at the same time summoning a ball of fire to throw at the spider queen.  Flame flowed like water, roaring over the rooftop and flowing down the sides, bathing the warehouse roof in fire.  But the spider queen was fast, jumping out of the way and scurrying to the next roof.  Yuri growled and pursued, flinging his massive form across the space between the warehouses and landing with a bone-jarring thud on the next building.  The queen continued to scuttle away, trying to outrun or outmaneuver the fusionist, but Yuri continued his bone-jarring run, summoning flames even as he did to explode outward toward the spider.  When the flames had cleared Yuri stood, surveying the damage; but there was no spider.  With a growl, he released the fusion, his magical energies were depleted and he was no longer able to use them.  Now it was just him, his claws and the thrice-damned queen!

            Yuri took a running jump to clear the alleyway to reach the next warehouse, landing on the next roof in a roll.  He jumped to his feet quickly and scanned the area for the spider.  This roof had several projections and access stairways and the box-like openings could offer some shelter if the spider hunched down.  He checked the first and was heading for the second when the spider jumped out at him.  Large as she was, yet her speed was incredible and Yuri found himself fending off a frontal attack, her front legs slashing and pummeling him. He moved back until he was against one stairwell, the spider keeping him pinned.

            "Damn she's fast!" Yuri exclaimed and summoned a fusion monster from his soul.  Even without magicks he could still combat with his fusion soul and Forron was nothing if not a brawler.  The enormous fire class fusion fought back with four powerful arms, both defending and then advancing on the queen.  Step by step, Yuri pushed the spider back, his powerful fists either blocking the spider's attack or punching his way to her body.  He landed one good punch to her lower abdomen and his fist sunk deeply into the soft flesh.  Instantly the spider slammed a leg into the fusion and fled.  Releasing Forron, Yuri followed.

            At a full run, he caught up to her before she made it to the end of the warehouse.  With a running leap, he grabbed a handful of spiky hair on her back, trying to climb on top of her.  She jumped straight back, spun around and then suddenly rolled onto her back, crushing Yuri beneath her enormous weight and knocking the wind out of him.  Before he realized it, the spider had righted herself and spun webbing, tacking him to the rooftop like a prize.  He pulled on his pinned legs, cursing and growling at the same time, slashing at the webbing and fending off the front legs that bashed into him and the pedipalp that slapped his face.  Muscles bunched and tore before he managed to get one leg loose and sent his right leg kicking into her underside repeatedly.  Pain shot through him when one of her legs pinned him to the roof at his shoulder and her head came close, her fangs piercing him. 

            Yuri shrieked in pain, his struggles becoming more urgent as he felt the first trickle of poison entering his shoulder.  With one final thrust, he kicked upward, sending his booted foot deep into her belly and forcing her to respond by backing off a little.  He quickly slashed at the last of the restraining webbing and rolled back, turning to face the queen's next assault.

            Below, on the roadway near Upper Thames Road, Margarete and Alice were waiting for the Army Colonel.  The smoking ruins of the warehouses were behind them and both were watching the pre-dawn darkness recede and hoping to catch sight of Yuri.  Lieutenant Carter joined them after a few minutes, Colonel Mainwaring following behind.  He was of the aristocracy and wore his uniform with impeccable correctness and Margarete instantly disliked the man. 

            "What is this all about, Captain Cashiel?" the officer asked, directing his question to the police captain and ignoring Margarete.

            "There's trouble, Colonel," Cashiel answered.  "Ask Miss Margarete."

            Margarete nodded at Cashiel, taking control of the meeting.  "Yuri's down below somewhere Colonel; he's fighting the creatures that have been killing in this area.  He's battling to save London and I need you to clear the area.  If you've got large caliber weapons, bring them up, otherwise pull back."

            The Colonel looked down at Margarete, her brown trench coat barely covering her feminine attributes and he scowled. 

            "And just who are you?" he asked pointedly and with distaste plain on his face.

            "I'm here to help," she answered and ground her teeth when the colonel's eyebrows lifted in further distaste.  "Colonel, you get in touch with High Command.  You tell Kitchener that Malkovich is here.  Do it!  And then get the hell out of my way!" Margarete was standing nose to nose with the colonel and her green contacted eyes were blazing.  The colonel hesitated, and then turned to hail a subordinate.

            Captain Cashiel, watching the two, turned to Alice.  "She's Malkovich?" he asked.  Alice nodded.  "No wonder she's in disguise," he said quietly.

            Margarete was just turning to Alice when they heard a shriek above them.  Looking up, Margarete spotted movement on the nearby warehouse roof.

            "Shit!  It's Yuri!  Stay here Alice!"  Margarete yelled even as she ran across the street toward the warehouse.

            The queen seemed to be waiting while Yuri, hands to knees, sweated and panted in near exhaustion and pain.  Her poison coursed through him and he knew his time in this combat was limited but he also knew he wasn't going to fall apart quite yet.  She seemed to be sizing him up, waiting for her poison to bring him to his knees.  Fine, he thought, come and get me.  He slowly knelt, positioning his claws beyond his knees and bunching his muscles, preparing to strike the moment she got within range.  The spider hovered, quivering for a few more moments, and then hopped in, pulling webbing from her spinnerets and casting it at the nearly prone harmonixer.  But Yuri was faking his collapse and dove under the queen's belly, running one Nightbird Claw along her tender underside and scoring a deep wound.

            The spider keened her injury and turned quickly to face Yuri but he had ducked again, grabbing one leg and taking the ride as the spider spun around, looking for her tormentor.  But underneath her, Yuri was free to use his claws to slice at her spinnerets, damaging her so she could not spin webs, then he jumped away, landing beyond her immediate reach as she jumped left, then right, trying to find him.

            Yuri chuckled wickedly, his lips pulled back in a feral grin.

            "You're mine now, bitch," he growled and leapt at her just as she turned to face him again.  He ran smack into a leg as she raised it to strike him and he went down, stunned.  The queen slammed one leg into his back, pushing him down onto the rooftop and then she turned quickly and scuttled over the ledge and down the side of the warehouse. 

            Below, Margarete had run at full speed, her Luger pulled and ready.  She had a fresh clip in the magazine and she had hastily grabbed medicines in one torn pocket.  If Yuri was fighting above, and she had every reason to believe he was, and he was screaming in pain, then the battle was not going as well as it should.  Margarete pulled up short at the warehouse entrance, scanning up the walls and squinting at the windows.  The sun was peeping up over the horizon and the early morning light was hitting the glass at just the right angle to produce glare.  Margarete looked at her watch; it was 6:30 and Yuri had been fighting since midnight. 

            She moved back to search the top of the building when she spotted a huge shape suddenly spill over the edge and climb quickly down the wall on the shaded side of the warehouse.  With a shout Margarete took aim, pressing firmly on the trigger of her Luger 9mm, firing round after round at the huge shape.  The large creature scuttled quickly off the wall, jumping the last few yards and Margarete realized that the size of the thing made it bigger than the police car she had ridden in earlier; bigger than the colonel's staff car.  Her bullets would do little good against something that size, but she quickly slipped another clip into the gun and continued firing, even as the creature approached her at a quick run.

            Above, Yuri was pushing himself up off the roof, shaking his head and moaning.  Distant reports echoed in his fuzzy brain and he realized that, not only was the poison beginning to affect him, but that someone was shooting.  He shook his head again, trying to clear the buzz in his ears, and climbed slowly to his feet.  He leaned on the short retaining wall around the roof and looked down.  The sun's light was just reaching the lower streets and he could clearly make out the army vehicles speeding around the dock's perimeter.  Figures in military uniforms were running about and in the distance he could make out a police car and Alice's white-blonde hair shining in the morning light.  He smiled a lopsided grin of delight and relief that she was all right, and then turned to look down at the ground below.

            The queen had made it to the street and someone was in front of her, firing round after round at the gigantic creature.  Yuri shook his head, knowing full well that bullets alone would not deter the queen spider.  With a groan he pushed away from the wall and took a few steps back.

            "They always say I'm reckless. I guess today I prove them right," he said and broke into a run that carried him up and over the retaining wall and down toward the street below.  He plummeted headfirst over the side of the warehouse, turned a somersault in midair and landed feet first, cannoning onto the queen's back while his forward momentum carried him further and he fell across her enormous back.  One hand grabbed at a fistful of bristly hair holding on for dear life and the queen suddenly jumped, spinning around to find her attacker.  He cocked his right hand back, Nightbird Claw extended, and plunged it into the back of her head.  Again and again, he punched his claws into the creature's head, black ichor and brains spurting up and over him in a stinking bath.  The queen continued to struggled, trying to dislodge her attacker, but finally, with a great shudder, she collapsed to the ground, her legs curled up underneath her: dead.

            Yuri, his world suddenly no longer moving, leaned forward resting his head on his arm, his breath still coming in heaving gasps.  Thank god, it's over, he thought.

            "Hello! Get this thing off of me!" a muffled voice yelled from beneath him and Yuri cocked one ear up to listen.

            "Yuri!  Help me!  Get this damn thing off!"

            "Maggie?" he asked, his voice a slur and pulled himself forward to look beneath the giant carcass of the queen.  He could see something struggling beneath and he shook his head.  "Margarete what the hell you doin' there?" he asked.

            "Just get me out of here!" 

            Margarete had continued firing her gun even as she saw the fusionist make his dive off the warehouse roof; she saw him leap like an avenging angel, his headlong plummet turning into a graceful somersault and, even as the giant spider got within striking distance of her, she marveled at Yuri's strength and agility; and his recklessness. If he lived through this, she would give him a piece of her mind!  She continued firing until her gun ran out of ammunition just as Yuri plunged his claws in for the final stroke and the spider came down, pinning her beneath the giant's bulk. 

            "Just get me out of here sonny boy," she called.

            Yuri slid off the spider's back and squatted, ignoring the head spin his movements were causing, and pushed himself beneath the spider's thorax.  He pushed up with his legs and lifted the giant carcass enough for Margarete to crawl free then let it fall, his own legs suddenly weak and he collapsed beside the dead spider.

            "Yuri!" Margarete crawled over to the fallen fusionist, her hand reaching into the trench coat pocket for Thera.  "Here kiddo, Thera seeds," and she shoved them past his lips and he chewed automatically.  "You hurt or just tired?" she asked.

            "Poisoned ... left shoulder.  God-I-feel-sick," he mumbled and fell over, still feebly chewing the Thera seeds.

            "Hang on kiddo.  I'm not much with magic, but this I can do."  She knelt down by his side, pushing him up to expose the black and festering flesh.  "Nice job, Yuri," she muttered.  She placed her hands above the wound and closed her eyes.  It was true she was not accomplished with magic, in fact, she knew only one spell, but it was the right spell, a cure-all, and it would heal the harmonixer.  She concentrated on her own delicate magicks and called them forth from the wellspring of her soul; a water class magic that moved like a spring shower down her arms and through her hands to bathe Yuri in a blue healing light.  After a few moments, his eyes fluttered open and he watched as she continued the spell until the last of the blue magicks finished their gentle rain and she opened her green eyes.

            "I hate those lenses, Maggie.  I like your eyes blue," he muttered softly.

            "Ah-ahaha," Margarete laughed and patted his shoulder.  "I know the feeling.  Come on, sonny boy.  Let's get you on your feet.  Alice is waiting."

            Yuri nodded and sat up slowly, stretching sore muscles and testing the shoulder.  "Thanks, Boom-boom," he said with a crooked smile.

            "Boom-boom?" Margarete looked surprised and then laughed as they both stood up and walked around the dead queen, heading for the waiting police and Alice.

            Alice watched as Margarete emptied bullet after bullet into the enormous spider queen, her own hands folded together both in prayer and in preparation for a spell, but her heart suddenly stopped when she spotted Yuri on the rooftop.  In the next instant he had flung himself off the roof and Alice closed her eyes, unable to watch the man she loved fall to his death.  The shots continued to echo, and then went silent, and Alice breathed a prayer for Yuri and Margarete before opening her eyes.  Ice blue irises grew larger when she saw the dead queen, but no Margarete. 

            She took a few hesitant steps then began to run just as Margarete and Yuri came around from behind the dead monster.  Alice cried out in relief and sprinted toward Yuri, flinging herself into his arms.

            "Well, hey!" Yuri laughed and held her close, laughing as she kissed his cheek.  "Well I like that," he chuckled. 

            "I thought – you both – oh never mind, you're both safe, which is what is important, right?" Alice finally said, catching her breath and holding on to Yuri's neck even as he continued walking toward the police.

            "You know, I'd love to hold you all day Alice, but I'm a bit tired," he said softly and added, "Perky butt."  Alice blushed but let him set her down.

            "You are hurt!" she exclaimed, seeing the bruises and other injuries that had not healed. 

            "I'm all right now.  With you, I'm all right," he said and guided them toward Captain Cashiel.

            The captain was standing, his arms on his hips, his hat pushed back and a cigar trailing from his lips.  He thought he had seen everything as a police detective; today he'd seen a man dive off a roof and kill the mother of all monsters.  He was unsure if he should be impressed or offer the man a drink.

            "Captain, you have your killer," Yuri said, indicating the dead queen.  "We're quits now, yes?"

            Cashiel nodded.

            "If you go to the sewers; from beneath Blackfriars you will see the entrance.  There are chambers that have eggs.  And missing bodies; food for the babies."  Yuri rubbed the back of his neck.  "I would not wait too long, Captain."

            "You got them all?" Carter asked as he stepped around the end of the captain's car. 

            "Well, I think so.  If not," Yuri offered up a tired but idiotic grin, "you can always hire me, but –" and he looked down at Alice, "not right now. Now I am for food and rest.  And then, we marry."

            Cashiel and Carter both exchanged glances from Yuri to Alice and Carter grinned. 

            "Congratulations."

            "Thanks.  You come if you want; no one else is…" Yuri said, suppressing a yawn.

            "Hey!  What am I, chopped liver?" Margarete said with a grin.

            "No, you're the prostitute," and Yuri almost managed to sidestep Margarete's boot.

A/N: No, this is not "The End".  So stay tuned, you won't want to miss "You Are Cordially Invited..." which WILL have Adult warnings.  Guaranteed!