Regina and Hippolyta continued on their slow, involuntary descent. Beneath them, the shark was circling. Half-starved, it was clearly ready for the lavish banquet dangling their legs some yards above.
"My arms ache from supporting my whole bodyweight, my left leg is weak from blood loss and I don't get to kill Blofeld," Regina grumbled.
"You missed being brunch for a shark!" Hippolyta added dryly.
"How could I forget?!"
A familiar red-and-blue blur burst through the roof, followed by red-white-and-blue and black-and-white ones. The doors to the warehouse were flattened by explosive charges, as James Bond, Willie Garvin, Modesty Blaise, Arsenal and Robin Hood entered. Finally, with the usual whining and groaning noises, the Tardis materialised. Joe, Sam, Harry, Jack, Emma, Killian, David, Mary Margaret and the Doctor all emerged. Inside the console room, the youngsters, the Lone Piners, the Irregulars, Ginny and George all provided feedback via headsets from the Tardis scanners.
Blofeld was not surprised to see his agents struggling. Superman, Wonder Woman and Troia were clearly angry and they are three of the most powerful metahumans on the planet. Arsenal, Robin Hood and Mary Margaret are top archers (a top marksman in Arsenal's case!), Killian and David fine swordsmen, Emma a crack shot (and promising sorceress), Harry a skilful wizard, Jack a force of nature (and an immortal one at that!), the Doctor a great saboteur and the spies were deadly to a man (or woman or child). His troops were outgunned. Still, business must be concluded! "Speed up the descent!" he ordered.
As ordered, the SPECTRE agents increased the bound ladies' rate of descent towards the now quite-rapidly approaching tank. With the ropes cutting into their aching wrists, Regina and Hippolyta were in some agony.
Seeing what was going on, the Doctor activated his sonic sunglasses. Almost instantly, the winding mechanism went into reverse, winching the condemned queens back up towards safety. The main guard noticed what was happening and sent them hurtling back downwards. Again, the Doctor used his sonic sunglasses to reverse their descent, with the guard promptly sending them back down.
"I've always wanted to know what a yo-yo feels like!" Regina complained to Hippolyta.
The three metahumans were charging through the SPECTRE goons, tossing them here there and everywhere. Arsenal, Robin and Mary Margaret were providing covering volleys of arrows and bolts. Bond was firing his Walther PPK, Joe and Sam their automatics and Jack his revolver, whilst Modesty and Willie were largely sticking to just using their arms and legs.
Willie stopped to hurl one of his knives with the usual pinpoint accuracy into a SPECTRE agent forty yards away. There was a reason he was known as "the knife man", for, whilst an excellent archer and sniper, he shunned handguns. When you are the best knife-thrower in the business, a pistol is not necessary. Throwing knives can never jam!
Modesty also preferred to rely on her arms, legs and kongo baton for fighting, and was also a top archer. Unlike her long-term friend and wingman (despite the rumours, they had never been lovers), she was perfectly willing to use her compact MAB Brevete to deadly effect. Seeing a couple of foes creeping up from the left, she produced an ordinary looking lipstick and hurled it at them. She smiled thinly as the disguised tear gas grenade exploded, before calmly shooting the choking goons dead.
Jack and Joe were providing covering fire to protect the Doctor, whilst the Time Lord was continuing his attempt to keep Regina and Hippolyta as far above the shark tank as possible. Bond and Sam were doing the same service to David and Killian who were cutting down SPECTRE agents with their swords. Emma was mixing bullets and fireballs to deadly effect!
Inside the Tardis, seeing their respective Mom and Grandma in mortal peril, Henry and Athena were shaking. Ava was holding Henry and Reuben was doing his best to comfort Athena. Nicholas spoke into the headsets: "Can't you stop the winch?"
"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" the Doctor snapped back. "Unless you can stop that numpty with the controls reversing my attempts to use my sonic sunglasses to raise the winch-cable back up, I can't do much else."
Suddenly a bombarda spell from Harry caused the winch controls to explode. The guard was caught in the blast and began to bleed. The Doctor promptly used his sonic sunglasses to rapidly winch the hook and the queens tied to it upwards. As they went up, Hippolyta said "Sorry, Regina!"
"What for?"
"Spoiling your revenge against our guard from this morning!" At this, she swung hard, causing the winch-cable to move like a pendulum. Using her legs like pincers, she caught the guard and swung back, dropping him into the tank below. The man had barely enough time to scream before the shark was upon him. A few bites and he was no more.
"No problem! I think that was just as good as a heart-rip! Hoist by his own petard!"
"Good! That pendulum swing used up most of my remaining strength. I would hate to fall out with my best friend over it!"
"You won't!"
Superman flew up to them, using his heat vision to cut the cable. Before they could fall, he had caught them and flown them to safety. Wonder Woman then threw her tiara at precisely the right angle to slice through their bonds safely. They were free.
"Are you both OK?" Superman asked the ladies who had collapsed exhausted to the floor.
"Our arms are worn out and our legs are bleeding from the knife slashes!"
Harry ran up and cast two episkey charms. Regina and Hippolyta felt their respective slashed legs warm and mend. "You will need blood replenishment potions, but you should recover. Ginny has taken some with her. We'll get you to the Tardis now." At that, he levitated them and took them into the Doctor's craft, its owner snapping his fingers to let them in.
Once they were inside, they were heartily embraced by Henry and Athena. Ginny reached into her magically expanded handbag and produced two vials of the blood-replenishing potion. She passed them to the queens, who quickly unstopped the vials and drank the dose within. They slowly began to feel stronger again, as Ginny used episkey on their chafed wrists.
Blofeld was sitting behind a desk, stroking his cat. The attacking forces were approaching.
"Surrender now, Blofeld, or emulate your Great-Grandfather in dying at my hands!" Bond ordered.
"Ah, 007," Blofeld replied, "You must know by now I'm not that easy to catch!" He pressed a handful of controls on his desk. Secret compartments opened in the floor. Superman was forced to hold back as unshielded lethal green kryptonite was exposed. Squid ink ejectors gave Emma pause, fireballs formed in both hands. Machine guns were raised to cover the others. A clear plastic screen lowered behind the defences, which quickly proved to be resistant to bullets, arrows, bolts and even conjured fireballs. Finally, the floor beneath the desk and chair descended, taking Blofeld and the cat with them. An adamantium plate slid into place above it.
"As slippery as eels, those Blofelds!" Bond quipped blackly.
"Well, James-love," Modesty purred in her exotic, mellow voice, "I'm sure Regina will want to get her hands on, no, in him!"
Blofeld himself had placed his cat in a mini-submarine, before getting into it himself. He sealed the cockpit and opened remotely an underwater channel to the Thames. The sub activated and vanished under the water, its cradle lowering and releasing. Minutes later, it was safely entering a similar port under a nondescript office block five miles away.
"Her Majesty and her government wish to express their sincere regret for the lapses in security that allowed your unfortunate abduction and near-demises," James Bond informed Regina and Hippolyta. "We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
"Well," the Doctor commented, "nice to know Whitehall Mandarins haven't lost their famed ability for understatement!"
"I'd say!" Harry agreed. "Concerned means they are about to close an embassy. Deeply concerned means war is about to be declared. Gravely concerned means they are looking up the launch codes for the Trident nuclear warheads!"
"Certainly, it's different from going medieval on…"
"There are children present, Jack!" the Doctor snapped.
Regina was busy kissing Robin whilst holding Henry tightly. Hippolyta was in a group hug with Diana, Clark, Lois, Donna and Athena. As far as they were concerned, they were safe! That was all that mattered, other than killing Blofeld if they caught up with him.
After assuring the British government that, yes, they accepted the apology and, yes, they intended to continue with the visit, they were taken to a lavish state banquet at Buckingham Palace that evening. The Queen commended Regina and Hippolyta on their bravery and restated her government's apology for the distressing security breach. SPECTRE had been an increasing threat lately, or series of threats, as there were at least five or six splinter groups, each claiming to be the true SPECTRE. Security would be increased and lessons learned (according to Harry, this meant some officials would be invited to spend more time with their families), but Werner Blofeld was known to harbour a grudge and they could not guarantee he wouldn't try something else.
The food was sumptuous. For starters, there were prawn cocktails served in cut-glass serving dishes. The main course was roast topside of beef (or nut cutlets for vegetarians), served with roast potatoes, gravy, horseradish sauce, carrots, roast parsnips, cabbage, peas and, of course, Yorkshire pudding. Even Henry had to admit the Yorkshire was tasty, once he had been assured there was no pigs' blood involved, only batter. Once that was finished, there was Eton Mess (lumps of meringue served with forest fruits). After that, there was an extensive cheeseboard (Stilton, mature Cheddar, Wensleydale and more), served with Jacob's Cream Crackers, a distinctive dry biscuit. Finally, there was your choice of coffees and teas, served with after-dinner mints.
"For the next few days, it will be sight-seeing mixed with official or semi-official events like this one," Mac told his friends. "We will be visiting Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace tomorrow, before a dinner at the Guildhall. Then it will be the Tower of London, including the headquarters of UNIT's London branch, before lunch on the next day, prior to a private committee of both MPs and peers at Westminster Hall. That evening, you will be dined at the exclusive Diogenes Club. After that, there are no firm plans, but I'm sure there will be plenty of time for shopping.
"There was originally going to be a ball here tonight, but that has been postponed until later in the visit. Whilst those blood-replenishing potions work fast, we felt that a night of dancing would not be a good idea."
"Thank you, Mac!" Regina responded to her close friend. "I'm just glad to have avoided execution by tiger shark!"
"Same here!" Hippolyta agreed. "I would love to have a rematch with Blofeld. That was a vastly better attempt at a kill them slow death-trap than Athena, Henry and Ava's near close encounter with a blast furnace in Port of Spain!"
"I'm also up for the rematch! I can almost feel myself crushing his heart slowly…"
"If I know Blofeld," Bond stated, "You may both get your chance. Now, he has been defeated, he will want revenge more than ever. He will almost certainly make another attempt to kill you both.
"Now, Modesty, I believe you want me to accompany you to the Guildhall tomorrow?"
"Yes. You see, Willie is going with his latest flame. Since I am temporarily between beaux, I could do with an arm to lean on. Of course, I shall then be free until quite late the next morning, if you catch my drift?"
"Perfectly, Modesty, perfectly!"
"I thought you would get it, James-love! It would be good to know if you live up to your reputation…"
"What reputation is that?" Killian asked Sam.
"Best male lover in MI6 and quite possibly in the British Isles!"
"Bit of a player, then?"
"One who comes across as a gentleman, but, yes, he is a professional. The sex is more of a hobby, though!"
"Why would a professional be a serial seducer?"
"Non-amateur sportsman? Gentlemen or players? Never mind, old sporting joke. In any case, err, probing a woman for information may be required."
"If I wasn't happily spoken for, I'd be enlisting!"
"If you did," Emma told him, "you may find yourself lacking the necessary equipment…"