Chapter 11: Showdown at Big Ben

There I was once again, smack dab in the middle of something I knew was going to happen. I knew that the end was near, but I also knew that if I was going to survive…

I had to kick, scream, and fight like hell with every fiber of my body.

June 20, 1897 9:56 p.m.

High into the air, Anna was close to Olivia while the dirigible was being pedaled by Fidget and Ratigan was at the wheel with his face filled with anger. No, anger was not the right word to describe it...He was furious! His plan to rule Mousedom as king was ruined, his criminal empire had fallen and most of his men had run like cowards or were either dead, or arrested by Scotland Yard, and it was all their fault! To make it even worse, that human woman played a role in his downfall. Not to mention she played him for a fool and humiliated him in front of every mouse with that haunted possession trick of hers, stole a few secrets from the watch's power, and to add salt to the wound, she drew first blood! The split on his lip was throbbing with annoyance, a continuous reminder of what that human just did.

Not only has his image been ruined, but his reputation as the most feared and brilliant criminal mastermind in the history of London was now stained by that pipsqueak of a detective and that wretched human who was standing behind him. The fire in his heart grew with every thought that just happened tonight, his rage was beating against the mental cage he kept contained as it wasn't the right time yet. But once he gets to a safe location, the first thing he'll do before he deals with Basil was make that human suffer for all the pain he endured from those punches she inflicted on him. He was going to ensure that her pain would be ten times greater than his, then after when he's through with her, he's putting her out of his misery.

While Ratigan continues to steer the dirigible, Olivia steps forward while putting on her brave face and taunts her captor, "Just wait! Basil's smarter than you! He's going to put you in jail!" She pulls on his tail while continuing, "He's not afraid of a big, old, ugly, rat like you!"

Anna nods in agreement while smiling at seeing Olivia's bravery.

Ratigan didn't have time to be dealing with this brat. Looking at her, he snatches his tail and says with a hard tone, "Would you kindly sit down and SHUT UP!" His sheer voice caused Olivia to slide and crash at the stool, then her back hit the corner as she gave a dazed look.

Seeing this, Anna gave an angry look as she looked at Ratigan and shouted, "Hey!"

Ratigan looks at her, only to get punched in the face as he grunts and his back hits the wheel. The split began to throb even more as fresh blood was being poured out slightly from the wound. He rubs the blood off slightly using the back of his glove and sees his blood stain his white glove again. Looking at the human with an angry look, she gives him a smug grin and says, "What's wrong, afraid I just made your face more uglier than it is you dumb rat?" He shouts with anger as he tries to backfist her, but she dodges and hits him at the gut, making him groan in pain as his unseen bruises were flaring.

As punches were thrown and the fight was beginning, Olivia quickly got up and cheered, "Get'em Anna! Get'em!" Then she goes into a put'em-up position as she mimics Anna fighting Ratigan.

Ratigan could've sworn that little girl said a name, but didn't have a chance to ponder as the human threw another punch on the side of his waist. He tries to hit her again, but she dodges and hits him on the other side of his waist.

As Ratigan groans in pain, Anna hits him in the gut again, making him bend down as she throws a left and right hook, then finishes off with an uppercut as it sends him towards the wheel and making it turn sharply. She nearly lost her balance as the dirigible angled slightly towards her right, but quickly regains her balance as she charges at Ratigan and jumps on him. Then, while grabbing onto his shoulder using her left hand, she uses her right hand as she continuously punches him straight in the face.

With a grunt, Ratigan catches her fist and backfists her, sending her flying as she lands on the floor. "Well, I'll admit…" He straightens his hair after she messes it up from hitting him, then he licks the side of his mouth to catch the blood and spits it over the side. "I am impressed, you fight just as well as a man," he walks towards her. "But you've been a thorn in my side for the last time." She grunts as she quickly gets up and tries to punch him, only for him to catch her fist with his big hand, then he uses his fist which caught her hand to hit her straight in the face and pushes her using his foot, sending her sliding towards the corner as her back hits wood. "I was hoping to savor your suffering for the moment, but now I've changed my mind." He raised his hand, his claws nearly tearing through his glove as he was ready to slice at the human standing before him. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Indeed he was going to enjoy this, he was going to watch her bleed before him and would love to hear her screams. He was going to show her the meaning of the word "pain" before finishing her off. However, he was stopped by the little girl, who stood in front of her with her arms spread while yelling, "Leave Anna alone, you rat!"

His hand was turned into a fist as he was about to hit this brat for calling him a rat again. But then...his face changed to confusion when this little girl spoke the name of this human. Looking at her, he softly spoke, "An…"

Ding…

Ratigan hears that familiar sound once again as he screams in pain while clutching his head.

Ding…

He backs away from them while grunting and saying through clenched teeth, "An…"

Ding...ding...ding…

He throws his head and screams loudly. Anna and Olivia looked at one another with confusion. What was happening to Ratigan? Fidget himself was confused when he noticed his boss was somehow in pain as he asked, "Professor! Professor, what's wrong?"

"My head, not again!"

Once again, Ratigan was experiencing memories that were not his own as he was screaming like a madman. Every memory went so fast that his head felt like it was going to explode, but several of those memories stopped for a moment as he only caught a glimpse of what they were…

There was a young man around this woman's age as he had his arms wrapped around another girl right next to him along with that same girl. While they were walking down a path, he was hidden in the shadows watching them…

He was at some kind of cemetery he had never seen before as he saw her running while having a sling on her arm and crying. As he watched her, he grew a smug grin…

He saw a strange picture that was small and rectangular, and the picture itself looked almost real as if it actually painted the real her. Right below the picture was written in red ink that said "The red-head"...

Then he sees another picture, but this time it was smaller and he sees her smiling. Right next to it was a name written in bold letters as it slid across his vision…

"An...na…" He read the words slowly. "John...son…"

With one last ding, his visions came to an end. He opens his eyes while gasping and breathing heavily. He didn't know what these visions were or why these memories just somehow appeared, it was starting to become maddening for him. However, there was one thing he did notice from each of those memories...it was both the watch and her. He slowly looks up and sees the red-head...then says her name, "Anna Johnson."

Anna gasped in shock. How did he know her full name?

Ratigan's face changed to anger as he shouted and quickly charged at her while she yelped. His hands grip her neck, making her gag from the pressure of his hands.

"Stop it!" Olivia yells as her little hands hit the side of Ratigan, trying to make him let her go. "Leave her alone!"

Ratigan takes one of his hands off of Anna's neck and smacks the child with the back of his hand. She yelps as she lands on the floor while sobbing. Turning his attention back at the woman, he yells, "What did you do to me?!" Anna had no idea what he was talking about. He takes out the watch and shows it in front of her face. "What did you put in this watch?!" She still had no idea what the hell he was talking about. But what she didn't know was that Ratigan believed that somehow she was responsible for these maddening visions that were causing his mind excruciating pain. He also thinks that somehow she must've known a secret from the watch's power long before he ever saw her, and he wanted answers, even if he had to choke the living life of this woman. When she didn't tell him, he shook her slightly and yelled, "Answer me!"

As she continued to gag, her eyes looked at something and slowly said, "Ba...sil."

Confused at what she said, he noticed her eyes were staring at something. Following her gaze, he and Fidget became startled when they saw the British flag floating in front of the dirigible.

Basil, Dawson, and Hiram had created their own hot air balloon out of the palace balloons, the Union Jack flag, an old box of matches that they recently discovered which was also big enough to hold the three mice and two more passengers, just for the girls that they were trying to rescue.

Olivia managed to dry her tears as she looked over the side of the dirigible and smiled happily at their rescuers.

Gritting his teeth, he looks at Anna and says to her, "I'll deal with you later, Miss Johnson." With that, he tosses her to the floor as she gasps and coughs while rubbing her neck. He quickly goes to the wheel and steers it sharply to the left, making a quick turn away from them.

"Let her go, chaps!" Basil yelled as he took charge.

Hearing the order, the two mice loosened one of the balloon knots, letting out the air within as it sent the airship speeding forwards while it made rapid and erratic movements in the air. Basil looked straight ahead, a smile of triumph was on his face and a fierce determination was in his eyes as the chase was on.

The two aircrafts darted left and right, fast and furious as they flew amongst the high chimney rooftops of London, then they raced around the Lord Nelson statue. The two aircrafts took to higher heights as their pursuit took them towards the sky. Ratigan looked behind him with frustration that his adversary was still on his tail, but was determined not to give up so easily. He steers towards the Tower Bridge, hoping to lose them there as the dirigible sailed underneath the massive bridge with ease while Fidget put the pedal to the medal as he went faster with all his might. Seeing the bridge coming into view, Dawson grew a fearful look as his eyes widened while Basil's smile broadened without a shred of concern. As the drawbridge came closer and closer, Dawson placed his hands on his head and hoped they didn't crash. But much to his relief, he opens his eyes and glances over his shoulder as they had already passed under it easily and were moving further away from it.

Meanwhile, Fidget kept on pedaling fast, but then began to slow down as he used too much energy. He was wheezing and coughing as he no longer continued and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Ratigan turned his head towards him, annoyed that he couldn't continue as he was slowing him down. Getting off the pedals and climbing on board, Fidget indicated towards Anna and Olivia as he explained while trying to catch his breath, "We have to...lighten the load."

Olivia looked clueless of what he meant, but Anna already knew what he meant as she stood in front of the child while glaring at Fidget. There was no way in hell that bat was touching her again, not over her dead body.

"Oh, you want to lighten the load?" Ratigan asked in his casual tone. Fidget grinned sinisterly at them while snickering, but Ratigan finished by saying, "Excellent idea!" He grabs his ruined ears and tosses him over the side of the ship, much to Olivia's surprise and Anna...well let's just say she already knew as she smirked and watched.

Fidget fluttered through the air, trying to stay aloft while crying out in distress, "No! Not me!" But he couldn't stay in the air for long as he started going down. "I can't fly! I can't flyyyy!" Olivia and Anna looked over the side of the ship and watched as Fidget went down, down, and down, then came a splash as he landed at the River Thames.

Olivia gasped, believing that something awful happened to the bat as she hugs Anna while burying her face on her coat. Anna rubs her back and assures her, "Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine...I hope." She mutters at the last part. She wasn't sure what became of Fidget from watching the movie, but since this was reality, she had a feeling that maybe he'd still be alive...that's if he knows how to swim, of course.

Taking charge, Ratigan went towards the pedals and started pedaling, making Anna yelp as she almost lost her balance, but grabbed ahold of the side of the ship while her hair was flowing with the wind and as for Olivia, she lost her hold on Anna as she tripped off the stool she was standing and fell on the floor as the dirigible suddenly jerked forward with Ratigan's brute strength, making the ship literally double with speed, much better than Fidget had done.

However, after already getting rid of Fidget, it gave Basil and the rest of the group enough time to catch-up with the dirigible.

"Steady!" Basil shouted.

With a mighty leap, the detective sprung himself forward as he caught onto the tail of the airship, ripping the fabric slightly in the process and his feet nearly knocked into Ratigan's head, who ducked in time to avoid being kicked and he looks at his adversary while smirking with triumph, and Basil looks at his arch-nemesis while glaring at him.

Seeing Basil made Anna yell while smiling, "Basil!"

"Don't worry, Anna!" Basil looks at her. "Everything's going to be alright!"

That was spoken too soon as Anna heard Olivia scream. She grew a confused look, because she wasn't supposed to unless...Her eyes widened as her look changed to a fearful one, then she sharply turned around and gasped as she saw the enormous clock face of Big Ben quickly approaching them. With no one at the wheel, the crash was inevitable.

She screams in terror, a smirking Ratigan wonders why those girls were screaming as he turns around...only to get his answer when he sees the clock face approaching them. His eyes widened with shock as he too screamed in terror.

The last thing that Anna heard before she blacked out...was the crashing of yellow glass.

Anna was once again floating in a sea of darkness, part of her wanted to stay in this place because she didn't want to face reality, while the other half of her told her not to give up since there's still some things to do. Her body refused to budge as she wanted to follow the latter, but her mind thought otherwise.

Then...she heard something. It sounded like a heartbeat, but then she heard it again…

Clank...Was that the sound of a machine? She didn't know.

"An…" The voice sounded distorted, but it sounded familiar.

"Anna!" The voice was recognizable as it was Basil's. "Anna, wake up!"

Her fingers started to twitch...then her hand clasped. "Anna!" Basil says to her as she felt herself being shaken. "Please, wake up!" Her eyes started to slowly open and her ears began to pick up sounds surrounding her…

Clank-Clunk-Clank-Clunk-Clank-Clunk, it sounded almost like the sound of a tick-tock from a clock except this sound was a lot different than that.

As her eyes fully opened, her vision was blurry, but came too as she saw Basil, who had a worried look on his face and felt his hand behind her head as he already lifted her slightly. Seeing her awake made him sigh in relief while saying, "Oh, thank heavens." Then, he hugged her, much to Anna's surprise, but her arms shakily lifted up as she returned the embrace. They looked at each other as Basil asked her, "Are you alright?"

"Ugh," Anna groaned as she rubbed her forehead with her hand. "I...I think so."

Basil helped her up as her legs shook slightly, but managed to regain balance with his help. They looked around in awe at the gigantic machinery before them, neither of them had actually seen the inner workings of the clock, but for Anna, this was her first time gazing around the giant cogs of Big Ben. In fact, she never actually been inside Big Ben for real, but she's only seen pictures of it through movies and such, and now after coming here, she's now got her chance to actually see the majestic clock. However, her mind caught onto something as she looks at Basil and says, "Where's Olivia?"

"I'm not sure," he answers while looking at her. "I thought she would be with you." He notices her eyes widening. "Anna, what's wrong?" She didn't answer him, but her face told him otherwise, it was almost as if she knew what was going to happen.

Unfortunately for Basil, Anna didn't have time to tell him, nor was she prepared as Ratigan crept up at them from out of the shadows, his fist raised ready to strike at both of them while holding onto Olivia as her mouth was muffled through his grip. She managed to get her mouth free as she cried out, "Basil! Anna, look out!"

Basil sharply turns as he sees Ratigan with a look of shock, but Anna reacts quickly as she shoves him to the metal floor. Then, she looked at Ratigan, only to get a strong uppercut through the chin as it sent her off the cog she was on and into the air. She waves her arms while screaming as she is going down. Basil looked over the side of the cog with fear as he reached out his hand and yelled, "Nooo!"

Luck was on her side as she landed on another enormous gear, but the force of the impact caused her to go unconscious once again.

Basil sighed in relief as she was safe, for the moment at least, but now he grew concerned as her injuries might have gotten worse. His concern for her was put on hold as he felt Ratigan kick him in the stomach, making him groan while rolling and nearly falling off the gear if he hadn't caught the ledge in time.

Ratigan goes towards the helpless Basil, his fist raised as he was ready to strike at him again. But Olivia glares after seeing her human friend get thrown off the gear. Having her bravery being rubbed off from Anna, she viciously sank her teeth into Ratigan's hand. Feeling this sudden pain, Ratigan screams as it echoes throughout the giant clock.

His moment of pain was enough for Basil to climb back onto the gear, grab Ratigan's cape while jumping onto some gears, and shoving it in-between the two gears. Ratigan started to choke as it made him drop Olivia to seize the clasp of his cape. As he struggles to free himself, he cruelly kicks the girl after being bitten by her as she was sent flying off the gear.

Olivia screamed as she fell, but she landed on the same gear where Anna was. She crawls to her and starts to shake her while hollering, "Wake up, Anna! Wake up!" The shaking and her hollering managed to help wake up Anna as she groans while opening her eyes, then blinking them. But as her blurry vision came too once again, her eyes widened and she gasped, seeing that the teeth of the gear were meeting with another and they were slowly being turned towards it. She grabs Olivia while standing up, but slides slightly as it makes another turn while the little girl wraps her arms around Anna's neck.

Seeing that the gear that the girls were on was starting to make its last few turns made Basil quickly run and jump off the gear. He landed on a lever where his weight pushed it down and where a chain that ran up passed to where the girls were kicked to life as he grabbed a hold.

Anna looks up and sees the gear making it's last turn, ready to crush the two girls. She looks down and sees Basil riding a chain upwards towards them at an incredible speed. A part of her was telling her to do it, there was no time to waste. "Hold onto me!" She tells Olivia. Oh God! She thought, This is a bad idea! She knew she had no choice, then she mentally prayed, Please don't let me die! So with that, she leapt off the gear, much to Basil's shock and surprise that she did it before the gear could crush them.

Putting her faith in Basil, she stretched out her arm while Basil did the same. As her eyes are closed and the gravity pulls her down, she feels a body grab her while she wraps her arm around someone. Opening her eyes, she looks at a smiling Basil, sighing in relief as she leaned her head against his neck, making his ears redden slightly. While they are riding, Olivia looks at them as she clasps her hands adoringly at them.

When they made it to the top, they jumped off the chain. "Are you alright?" Basil asked as Anna nodded her head. "Come on!" He urged her to follow. However, Anna stopped running for the moment as her eyes widened…

She forgot that Ratigan still has the silver watch! "Wait!" She shouted, putting Olivia down as Basil turned to look at her. "The watch! I've gotta go back for it!"

She turns around and is about to run back, but Basil stops her by grabbing her arm and telling her, "Forget the blasted watch!"

"But Basil I-"

Basil sharply makes her turn around while grabbing her shoulders and saying, "Anna, look at me!" She looks at his serious face while telling her, "Remember what I said, think about what's at stake! I promise we will come back for it, but right now we have to go! Do you understand?"

A part of her wanted to shove Basil and her conscious wanted to say "Screw it!" and go back to get the watch because that thing was her only chance to get back home. But on the other hand as she thought of this carefully, Olivia was still here and she had to get back to her father, going back for the watch now knowing that sooner or later Ratigan will blow a head gasket will only put her in danger, and the little girl has already been through enough of this nightmare. So deciding on the latter, and knowing that she'll probably regret this later as it will prove difficult to get the watch from Ratigan, she nods at Basil.

Down below, Ratigan continues to try and free himself from his own cape, without choking in the process. Looking up, he sees three individuals making their escape as lightning flashed to illuminate their shadows across the wall. Knowing that Basil along with that human girl Anna who was still alive made the fury build up to new heights, he wasn't going to let either of them get away, they still have to pay for everything they've done. The fire in his heart was fanned into an intense inferno as the rage was once again beating against the mental cage…

Until it was contained no more.

His eyes dilated and using his brute strength, tears off the cape with a rip. He gets on all fours, his claws tore through the tips of his gloves until his hands grew in size to tear the gloves off completely. As his strength slightly grew, slight tearing from his own clothes came here and there as his size began to grow. Snarling like the rat he truly was, he ran after them…

His inner beast was out and was thirsty for blood.

As the trio continued to make their way of escape with Basil leading them and Anna following closely behind while holding onto Olivia's hand, they managed to arrive outside the ledge of the clocktower. But down below, while heavy rain and wind surrounded the tower, an unusual mist covered nearly all of London with the exception of the clocktower due to its height. Strange as it was, the bottom line was that they were trapped. To make it even worse, they turned around as they could hear the sound of monstrous snarling echoing inside the clock. Anna knew what this meant, Ratigan was free and has already gone crazy with the thought of killing both Basil and her.

Inside the inner clockwork, Ratigan was rushing through the gears with so much speed using his rat-like abilities, but in the process, caused some of his clothes to tear up through the gears of every one while either going through them or dodging them.

Luck was on their side as Dawson and Hiram were guiding the balloon downwards by pulling it. Olivia got Basil's attention by pulling on his Inverness cape and pointing towards their rescuers. Seeing this, he got Anna's attention by placing his hand on her shoulder as she looked at him and he too pointed to the balloon that was coming closer to the ledge.

Basil hoists Olivia up to her father while Dawson helps Hiram leaned down to reach for his daughter by holding onto the back of his apron strap. Their hands reaching out for one another with the detective calling out, "Closer, Dawson! Closer!"

Ratigan managed to come out of the gears, his clothes in rags, his shoes gone as they were lost in the gears, and his vest containing not only his valuables, but also the silver watch, was almost popped out of his chest if the buttons hadn't remained. He makes a huge leap towards a huge bell hammer, then jumps off it to reach the ledge as he makes his way towards them.

"Daddy, I can't reach!" Olivia cried. "I can't reach!"

Anna could hear Ratigan's fast feet as he was running at them on all fours. With no time to think and reacting solely by instinct, she snatches Olivia out of Basil's hands and quickly tosses her hard into the air and into the arms of her awaiting father.

No sooner had she done that, they glanced over their shoulders just in time to see Ratigan had finally arrived, his eyes filled with fiery rage that was directed at the both of them as he tackled both of them off the ledge. They rolled and slide from the side of the clocktower at a very fast rate as Ratigan had Anna by the side of his waist, her fists beating his back to no avail, and Basil's waist while he tried to dig his fingers at the wall, but the rain made it too slippery for him to grab onto anything. The three individuals plummeted through the air, making Anna scream as gravity once again took over. As their small forms were illuminated by the glowing face of Big Ben, Ratigan caught hold of the falling Basil, but Anna bites on his shoulder, making him scream slightly in pain as he loses his hold of her, then as she is pulled away, she kicks his face using both of her feet. All three of them landed hard against the hour hand, but were separated by the impact of the landing.

But for Anna, the moment she landed, a sickening crack came as her shoulder was dislocated, she screams in pain and grits her teeth while turning over her side and clutching it. She pants as she gets on her knees, then slowly stands up while grunting and holding her arm. Anna starts to move slowly, which she can also thank God that her legs were fine and nothing else was broken from the fall, all except for her shoulder that she has to reconnect. "Basil!" She shouts over the rain and wind, hoping that he would hear her and wondered if he wasn't too hurt. This wasn't like the movie, not everyone can survive a fall. Then, she heard footsteps coming behind her. "Basil?"

She was about to turn around, but lightning struck, illuminating a big shadow with a hand raised from behind. A shout came as Anna gasped and quickly turned around, seeing Ratigan swipe his claws at her, tearing at her red shirt as three bloody claw marks were at her midsection. She screams in pain as she clutches her wound, but Ratigan isn't finished as he uppercuts her, sending her flying as she lands while sliding and her dislocated shoulder flares with pain.

Basil was laying halfway over the hour hand, slowly regaining consciousness from the fall while groaning. As his eyes opened and his vision came too, he saw the tremendous height and a dangerous fall looming downwards. He gasps as he hastily stands up and leaned against the hour hand, also noticing that he didn't feel any pain which seems to him that luck was on his side since Ratigan unintentionally broke his fall. "Basil!" Came a shout through the wind and rain. Looking up, relief came to him as he saw Dawson waving at him from the aircraft where the others stood behind him. "Over here!" Dawson then points to the left, adding, "Anna needs help, she's in danger!" Growing a fearful look, he starts to climb over and quickly makes his way to help Anna from Ratigan.

Back with Anna, she slowly crawls away from Ratigan while he goes to her with his hand raised, claws already unsheathed as he was ready to swipe at her again while saying, "I'll make sure that your pain will be far worse before you die, wench!"

Anna stops crawling and looks at him, then her eyes see one of his legs. Getting a serious look, her eyes narrowed as she said with a hard tone, "Oh yeah!"

She kicked him hard in his leg as a crack came, but Anna didn't apply enough force to break it, due to some of her injuries weakening her, instead it dislocated it. Ratigan throws his head up and howls with pain, lightning flashes as if hearing him, he backs up slightly while going down on one knee and clutching his dislocated leg. Anna quickly gets up, runs and jumps while kneeing him in the face, knocking him down, but she wasn't finished as she kicks him in the jaw, making him groan in pain as he turns over and clutches his dislocated jaw.

She wanted to take this as her chance to get the watch from him, but had to rethink that due to her dislocated shoulder and Ratigan might use that to his advantage to get her off him, so she couldn't take that chance. Turning away from him, she quickly gets away and was about to climb over and hopefully use whatever time she has before Ratigan comes back to reconnect her joints, but a hand touches her own as she yelps in fright, only to see it was Basil as he tells her, "It's alright, it's me!" She sighs in relief as he helps her climb over while Anna grunts from the pain.

Ratigan grabs his jaw and moves it back in place, making it pop as he moves his jaw up and down. Then, he grabs his dislocated leg, breathes hard several times through his nose, and pushes the bone back into the joint, making it crack again in the process. He grits his teeth and grunts loudly, then he goes on all fours and goes after the girl and Basil.

As Basil led Anna while his arm was around her waist, avoiding the shoulder since he noticed that she was in pain there as it was either broken or dislocated, he couldn't tell which since Dawson wasn't down here with them. Anna stops him by saying, "Wait Basil."

"What is it?" He asked, but Anna walked away from him while going towards the side which to her looked like a wall she could use. "What're you doing?" He asked again as he watched. His eyes widened when he saw her do something that he never thought anyone could do except with a doctor's hand…

Anna took several deep breaths...then slammed her shoulder, making it crack as she screamed in pain. She leaned her back as she grabs her shoulder while rolling it slightly as it pops with every turn. She feels the joints reconnecting as she succeeded, but will probably feel a slight pain and discomfort for the moment, nevertheless it was worth it.

Basil just couldn't believe it, despite getting his answer that her shoulder was dislocated, but she managed to reconnect it by herself in a rather unusual primitive sort of way. Putting it out of his head for the moment, Anna tells him, "Alright, now let's go."

As they were making their way by climbing over again, Ratigan suddenly appeared as he shouted while seizing Basil from behind and putting him in a choke lock.

"Basil!" Anna shouted.

He manages to break free and shouts to her, "Run!"

They were making a break for it, Ratigan leapt over them as he was right in front of them, blocking their way as they went back. "There's no escape this time for either of you," he snarled. He leaps again as he appears in front of them, thunder crashed as his claws unsheathed once again and he swipes at Anna, cutting her face slightly while busting her lip and making her grunt as she was sent flying away from Basil and rolls to the ledge of the hour hand. She almost fell if she hadn't quickly grabbed the ledge.

"Anna!" Basil shouted while having a worried look.

As Anna struggles to climb back up due to her shoulder still needing time to heal, she manages to place her arm slightly, then notices Ratigan about to swipe at Basil as she points and yells, "Look out!"

Basil looks, but barely has time to dodge as Ratigan tears the side of his coat, then uppercuts him as it sends him flying across the hour hand.

Anna managed to bring her chest and was close to climbing back up, but she saw Ratigan's foot raised, ready to crush her skull. She only had a second to react as she yelped and pushed herself backwards just as Ratigan's foot descended to where her head was. As her boots were sliding and pushing as she was trying to stay on the ledge, she felt her left hand get stepped on by Ratigan. She was screaming in pain as he was trying to crush her hand so she could let go of the ledge and fall to her death.

Getting back up, Basil's eyes widened when he saw Ratigan trying to knock Anna off the hour hand. Growing an angry look, he grits his teeth and charges, shouting as he manages to tackle Ratigan away from Anna. As Ratigan's back collides at the wall, Basil notices red marks mixed with blue and purple on his midsection, signs of bruises when Anna was beating him hard using the power of the silver watch. Taking this as his advantage, he starts beating him around those areas, making Ratigan grunt and groan as his bruises were once again flaring with pain. When Ratigan was clutching his midsection, Basil managed to land a few blows on his face. Then as he was about to land another blow to the face, Ratigan catches his hand, headbutts him, and throws an uppercut, sending him flying again as he lands hard.

Taking his attention away from Anna, he goes towards Basil as he had already got up, but once again gets hit as he grunts while being sent closer to the carved edge of the hour hand. While this was happening, Dawson and Hiram managed to steer the ship towards the hour hand, but could not get any closer than they intended. As Basil gets up, Ratigan brings his claws down upon him, scratching his face in the process. Basil grits his teeth and grunts while grasping his face in pain, but the monstrous rat hits him again, knocking him down.

While Ratigan is dealing with Basil, Anna places her left elbow while shaking her left hand, trying to get rid of the slight soreness, then slowly pulls herself up. As she looks ahead, she notices Basil on the ground and is hurt. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth grits with anger as she stands up, then roughly wipes the blood from her busted lip that was dripping down her chin and the cuts that was on her cheek as it was oozing from her face when Ratigan clawed her using the back of her hand which was tightened into a fist. Then, she charges while shouting, just as Ratigan was about to swipe at Basil again, Anna jumps onto his back and wraps her arms tightly around his neck.

Ratigan was starting to gag from being choked by Anna and was being pulled backwards away from Basil, she took this as her chance to reach in one of the pockets of his ruined vest and hopefully pull out the silver watch. Knowing what she was going to do, Ratigan reaches out with his claws and squeezes her shoulder. Anna screams in pain as she feels his claws pierce both the coat and shirt as it is digging through her flesh while she grips hard on the left side of his pocket. He reaches over using his other hand and grabs the back of her coat, then tosses her off him as something ripped. He catches his breath, then notices his left pocket was ripped. He looks at Anna who gave him a serious look. Thinking that she got the silver watch, she was going to use it so she could beat the living crap out of him by slowing down time again, but when she pressed the right button...she didn't feel it. She peels the cloth away and sees a gold watch, Ratigan's gold watch! This wasn't the right watch!

She looks up and sees Ratigan raising his claws at her, ready to swipe at her. Without the silver watch, Anna was defenseless as she covered herself with her arms, prepared for the pain that she was going to get. Basil gasps as he moves quickly and covers her, just as Ratigan swipes his claws, shredding his Inverness cape and cutting his back, releasing a cry of agonizing pain.

"Basil!" Anna cried out as she saw him take the pain for her.

Ratigan hits him again as he was flung off of Anna, then the rat grabs onto the girl's neck and picks her up. Basil had already scurried back up since he was hanging halfway on the very end of the ledge, grabbing his arm while weakly glancing at the monster before him who was carrying Anna by her neck as she effortlessly beats her fists on his arm, trying to make him drop her. As Ratigan had the detective cornered, he swung another blow, tearing at the front of the shirt and exposing his chest while knocking Basil off the hour hand, but he managed to grab onto the hour hand's pointer. Hanging on for dear life, Basil looks up and notices the minute hand was literally seconds away before striking ten.

Thunder and lightning exploded across the sky above Big Ben. Ratigan breathes hard through his nostrils as he rears himself back and raises his hand to prepare the final blow. Basil clenched his eyes shut and with one last cry from Anna she yelled, "Noooo!"

And then, Ratigan delivered the final blow and Basil was knocked from his hold on the pointer. He tumbles through the air and beyond the reach of Dawson and Olivia, both held onto by Hiram. After finishing the detective, he brings Anna over the edge, her eyes looking down at the massive drop below as her heart beats in absolute fear. He notices that she still possesses his gold watch and was tempted to snatch it back from her, but after finally rethinking this, he realizes that she went through all this trouble just to get his gold watch and after stealing her silver watch that has the power over time and space, he finally sees that it was a perfect trade. A puny gold watch that he had most of his life, over a silver watch that has power, something that he could use to rebuild his criminal empire and finish what he started.

If Anna wanted that watch so badly...Then she could take it! So with that, he tosses her hard over the edge as she screams. Dawson and Olivia tried to catch her, but missed as she was falling too fast. However, fate was on her side as she landed hard on the back of the damaged dirigible, which was left hanging by a hole when it crashed.

Peering over the edge where his adversaries have fallen, a cruel smile spread across Ratigan's face. With a jump of triumph, he cackles, "I've won!" Thunder and lightning struck the sky again as if applauding him.

"On the contrary!" A familiar voice interrupted his moment of triumph.

A baffled Ratigan peered over the edge again, and there was Basil holding onto the damaged dirigible's propeller with a bell in his hand. To make it even worse, Anna was still alive at the back of the damaged dirigible.

"The games not over yet!" Basil hollered over the wind, a sly smirk spreading across his lips as he rang the bell.

Ratigan checks his empty pocket while wondering how he managed to steal one of his prized possessions. However, he had a shocked look when something else was missing.

Then, the minute hand moved as the hour struck ten…

BONG!

The bell hammer struck the giant bell from inside the tower. Anna covers her ears from the loud noise and the sudden vibrations. Basil cringed as he couldn't cover his own ears and will probably hear ringing inside his sensitive ears for the moment. As for Ratigan, the vibrations made him lose his balance as he fell off the pointer. While he fell, he made a last ditch effort to take down at least one of his adversaries by grabbing onto Basil's legs, but the weight became too much for the rope to hold as it snapped. Anna had only a second to react as she reached out for Basil while he did the same for her, but unfortunately...their fingers only touched as gravity took over.

"Noooo!" Anna cried out one last time for Basil as she and the other three mice on the airship, helplessly watched in horror as a screaming Ratigan fell along with Basil as he was carrying the broken off dirigible's propeller with him. They were going down, down, and down, until they both disappeared into the heavy mist.

But then, something strange happened...a light flashed within the mist, making Anna cover her face with her arms while the three mice did the same. The light remained there for a second, then it vanished.

They looked down below as they wondered where that mysterious light came from. The heavy mist started to dissipate, getting thinner and thinner until it was replaced with a fog as it slightly revealed London below them. Despite the confusion, the fact was Basil was gone.

As Big Ben's chimes echoed throughout the night, Olivia began to cry on her father's clothes as he embraced her. On the damaged dirigible, Anna covered her mouth and muttered, "Oh God!" Then she slid down on the corner. She couldn't believe it, she failed again! She had Basil in the tips of her fingers and now she lost him! Her heart was beating in sadness, the pain inside her felt like it was going to return any second now, and this time it may not take it. A part of her was telling her that Basil would be fine and he'll be back any second now, he did have the propeller with him before he fell. But this wasn't like the movie, this was reality! What if...what if Basil wouldn't survive the fall?

As that horrible thought was in her head, she curled herself and buried her face in her legs as she muffled her crying.

Then...there came a faint squeaky noise. Olivia was the first to hear it as she pulled herself out of her father's embrace to glance over the side of the matchbox. Anna became the second as she too heard that faint squeaky noise, it started off small...then it started to grow as she looked over the side of the dirigible.

Down below, there arose a propeller, it's rider...was none other than Basil! He was pedaling at a rapid pace like there was no tomorrow, slowly going upwards like a helicopter. He glances down beneath him in relief after escaping a gruesome fall that would've ended his life. Looking up, he sees three mice cheering for him.

"Ahaha! Hooray!" Dawson raised a triumphant fist into the air.

"Hooray! It's Basil!" An excited Olivia leapt onto Dawson's arms while Hiram leapt and raised his arms into the air.

"Oh, good fellow! Jolly good!"

When Anna saw Basil alive, she couldn't help but cover her mouth with both hands as tears of joy were pouring out of her eyes and her heart was filled with relief.

As the propeller flew closer to the airship, Basil carefully stepped onto the matchbox, letting the propeller drop down into the fog below them. Olivia suddenly embraced him, catching him off guard by surprise and giving him a gentle squeeze. He really didn't know what to say, but he simply tightened his embrace towards the little girl to return it. After that, he puts Olivia down and looks over the side, seeing Anna on the damaged dirigible. "Take us down," he ordered Dawson and Hiram.

They steered the airship towards the crashed dirigible, just close enough for Basil to reach his hand out for Anna. She places Ratigan's gold watch in her pocket and takes his hand, pulling her up to safety. Olivia leapt onto Anna's arms and embraced her along with Hiram, seeing that their friend was safe and alive. When they pull away and Anna puts the child down, she goes to Basil as she embraces him, with him returning the embrace.

With their aircraft leaving Big Ben, the clouds parted after the storm ended, revealing the moon as its light shone down beautifully all across London.

It took some time, but they managed to land the aircraft safely towards the ground. Toby already came with all of Scotland Yard on his back, then the search to find the body of Ratigan around Big Ben began. However, for almost several minutes of searching, they couldn't find any trace. No blood or even a body, they even asked the four mice and the human girl if they were sure if what they said about Ratigan falling off the clocktower was true, which they immediately told them the exact same thing from each person's point-of-view. It was strange, but nevertheless, the fact was Ratigan was gone and all of London can finally sleep in peace.

It was a momentous moment for the law enforcement, but no one realized Basil was in his thoughts. Nobody even knew that he saw something during that fall. What was that mysterious light? One minute he was pedaling the propeller like crazy, the next thing he knew there was a flash of light. Now to make even more strange, Ratigan was missing, it was like he disappeared right off the face of the earth. How can one man as dangerous as Ratigan somehow disappear without even surviving that fall? Nobody could survive that and he just managed to survive by sheer luck. Something about this didn't seem to add-up and as much as he too wanted to celebrate the biggest victory of all, a part of him was telling him that something wasn't right.

The rest of his thoughts were put on hold when his ears heard the sound of sobbing. Looking ahead, he notices Anna covering her face with a single hand while Olivia, Hiram, and Dawson were with her. "What's wrong, Anna? Why are you crying?" Olivia asked.

"I'm sure she's probably happy, my dear," Dawson answered. "With Ratigan gone, we're all safe now, and you're together again."

"That's not why I'm crying!" Anna said.

"What is it?" Hiram asked while placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I lost the silver watch!"

All three of them were shocked, they completely forgot that Ratigan still had the watch, but now that he was...gone, so was the watch.

"Without it, I'll never get back home. I'll be stuck like this forever." She buries her face in her hands. "I don't know what to do…" She collapses on her legs. "I don't know what to do."

As Anna continues to sob, Olivia and Hiram hug their heartbroken friend. Dawson looks down while sighing as he didn't know what to do now for the helpless girl. However, Basil had a smug grin as he went to them and got their attention by clearing his throat. "Excuse me, but I overheard someone saying that they lost a silver watch. If you're talking about a silver watch." He reaches inside and pulls something out of his ruined Inverness coat. "Do you mean...this silver watch?" Then...he dangles the silver watch by its chain.

All four of them gasped in shock. How did Basil manage to get the silver watch from Ratigan?! For Anna, she didn't care, this was fricking Basil, he always had a way to surprise anyone! With a big smile, she quickly stood up while running towards him, giving him a deep embrace which almost knocked him down as she shouted, "Oh my God! Thank you!" She then tries to take the watch from him, but he moves it away from her. She tries again, but he once again moves it away from her grasp. "What're you doing? Give it here!"

Basil raised the watch high as Anna tried to get it, but her arms weren't tall enough to reach it. Olivia giggles as she thought that this was funny that Basil must be playing with her.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Basil pulls the silver watch up by its chain. "First thing's first, you still have answers that I want. Remember?"

Anna sighed while muttering, "Oh yeah." She almost forgot that he still had questions that had to be answered from her.

"If I may be so bold," Dawson says. "Before you start asking questions, we need to get those wounds treated."

"I agree with the doctor," Hiram says, then he added, "and you need to change clothes. You're a mess, both of you."

They couldn't agree with each other more. However, when Basil returned back to Baker Street, he was going to have a lot of questions…

But unfortunately, he was never going to be prepared for the answers that he'll get from Anna.

So now the battle has won! However, whatever happened to Ratigan? Is he truly dead? Who knows. Also, what was that mysterious light, and what about Basil, is he truly prepared to know the truth from Anna other than knowing that she's from the future from the previous chapter's? All the answers will be revealed in the next chapter. So stay tuned!

Well, I'll see y'all later for now!