Chapter XVIII

Previously:

The swords continued to clash until Medusa managed to disarm & tripped him and he fell flat on his back. Medusa was about to stab him right in the arm, when he kicked her right in the face, knocking off her hood in the process. Shadow had froze when he saw a familiar face.

"You… Your…" Shadow said with his words trailing off.

"Vector plate."

All of a sudden Shadow went flying back right into John, and they both fell flat on their backs.

"Shadow! John!" Sherlock shouted.

"We're okay!" John said.

Sherlock turned to Medusa, to see the very face that Shadow had saw.

"It's just as I thought…" Sherlock said.

"Your Medusa… Doctor Midori."

Midori AKA Medusa stood there just staring at the three. She then let out a deep sigh, "Honestly, I didn't expect you to find me so quickly." Medusa had said.

"I can't believe this…" John had said.

"It was you…" Shadow said, "This whole time… It was you…"

"Don't look so surprised Shadow." Medusa said to him calmly, "You knew that it was me, you just didn't want to give it away."

Sherlock gave a small smile, "That was very clever of you." He said, "Using poor Molly as a way to get to her."

"She was willing to do so." Medusa replied, "I have to admit you humans can be so, manipulative. So how did you know it was me?"

The detective began to explain.

"It took me awhile to figure it out, but you were clever to hide it. When you met us as Midori you confessed that you were bitten by one of the dogs that took care of Sakura while he was away. I didn't notice at first until when you meet us Medusa I saw blood stains of black blood on your shoulder. They were similar to the stains that I found on the dogs teeth. The same black blood that courses through your veins, am I wrong?"

Medusa let out a chuckle, "Just as I suspected from the great consulting detective." She said, "Although you did spoil my little surprise."

"I… I still can't believe this!" Shadow exclaimed, "This whole time, you were the one killing them off Midori!?"

"Midori?" Medusa asked before she laughed.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Man! You really are a dumbass aren't you!?" Minatsuki said, "Midori isn't her real name you retard!"

"So than, Medusa is her real name?!" John exclaimed.

"What kind of a person would I be if I said it wasn't?" Medusa simply replied.

Sherlock stepped forward. "I won't ask you a second time." Sherlock said, "What are you planning on doing with Sakura?" "And like it's like I said before." Medusa replied, "It's none of your concern."

Medusa lifted her arm up, and the snake tattoo on her arm came alive.

"Now if you don't mind I do have a tight schedule."

The snake came off her arm and without the three realizing it the snake grabbed Sakura and held her by it's tail. "SAKURA!" Shadow cried out, "LET HER GO YOU BASTARD!"

"SHADOW WAIT!" Sherlock yelled. The young hedgehog ignored him and went to attack the snake. However the snake managed to headbutt Shadow which caused him to slide across the concrete floor and stop right in front of Sherlocks feet.

"I told to wait."

"Shut up Sherlock."

Medusa let out a laugh at the humiliation that Shadow had just suffered.

"Now, the little and I will take our-"

Before she could finish, she was suddenly shot in the back of the shoulder; the black blood dripped from her wound.

"Lady Medusa!" the hedgehog named Nazo cried out. Medusa turned to see Alice standing on the opposite side of her with a gun in her hand.

"Who is that?!" Shadow had asked.

"Alice!?" John said, "Where did you come from!?" "I was on my way to your flat when I got an anonymous tip that Sakura left." Alice replied still holding the gun.

"Alice Liddell?" Medusa said with a smile, "My, my it's been too long!"

"You've meet her before!?" Sherlock exclaimed, "I'll tell you later!" Alice replied, "We have more important things to deal with right now!"

"I see you've sunked a new low." Medusa said with a sickening grin. "You're a fine one to talk." Alice said, "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time now. After what you, and your comrade did to me and my family."

"Oh come on little Alice, why can't you just admit that you enjoyed it?"

"Like hell I did!"

"Please you seemed lonely after your little trip so I thought you needed a friend."

Sherlock turned to Alice. "What is she talking about?"

Alice ignored the detective.

"You put me in the hands of an a man who puts the true meaning into monster!" Alice had shouted, "I managed to get rid of him, but I knew he wasn't the only one involved in it! I knew it had to be you! I know you were the one who robbed me of my life! And now that you're here and now, I can finally punish you for the damage that you caused! I don't care if I get punished for it! As long as I know you're gone, it'll be just fine for me!"

There was a moment of silence between them. It wasn't long until Medusa let out a light chuckle. "You've waited this long to kill me?" She asked almost amused.

"I'm afraid I have to apologize… Because you've waited this long just for nothing…"

"What are you-GAH!"

Alice was cut off when a large blade went through from her chest to her back; Sherlock, John, and Shadow's eyes widened in horror as they saw her body fall limp and her eyes lose color. She removed the blade and Alice fell to the ground.

"ALICE!" Both Sherlock and John cried out. Medusa put her blade away, "How foolish of her." Medusa said, "She actually believed that she could stop me. Humans really are dumb creatures aren't they?"

Sherlock went over to Alice and picked the gun up from her cold hand. He pointed the gun at Medusa; She turned to him, "Are you planning on stopping now?" She asked, almost laughing.

"You're not going to get away with this." Sherlock said preparing to fire.

"My dear Sherlock." She began to say, "You're actually going to risk your life for a little girl like her? And here I was told you didn't have a heart."

"True, I have been informed I don't have one."

"So then why? Why do you risk your life to help her? To help them? You say you don't have a heart and you try to help them and protect others around you. Do you mean to tell me that you have grown to care for these two now."

Sherlock said nothing to her and just continued to glare at her. "Seems like I was right." She said, "And to think a man like yourself has a weakness."

Soon enough they heard voices from Gibbs team and the other voices belonged to Alice's comrades.

"I have a feeling we should make ourselves scarce." Toto said to Medusa, "Agreed." She said turning her back from the detective.

"Farewell, Sherlock Holmes…" She said.

With a blink of an eye they had suddenly vanished, without a trace. Sherlock frantically started to look around, calling out for the child's name. Soon enough, both Gibb's team, Envy and Korra had arrived.

"What the hell happened here?!" Gibbs said to Sherlock after seeing the corpse of Alice. Sherlock turned to the former marine, "Medusa was here, and she has Sakura."

"What?! They got her!?" Korra exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, yes." John replied.

Envy went over to Alice. "Did…" He started to say, "Did Medusa do this…?"

Sherlock turned to the young teenager; all he could do was nod his head.

"No way…" Envy said.

"This time Medusa has gone too far!" Korra cried out, "We have to go after her!"

"Korra! Calm down!" Gibbs said to her.

"Calm down?! She killed Alice in cold blood and you want me to calm down!?"

"I know you're angry and you have every right to be, but revenge won't solve anything right now!"

"He's right Korra." Envy said, "Besides, we have bigger problems."

"Wha-What do you mean?" John asked.

Envy moved away from Alice's corpse and turned to the detective and doctor. "Well, Jeremy found the problem with Sakura's head." He said to them,

"What is it?" Sherlock asked the young teenager. Envy stood there in silence, before taking a deep breath to say, "Well, from what you told us Sherlock, the reason she can't remember the fact that her parents were killed was because… Her memory has been replaced."

Shadow got up from off the floor and turned to Envy. "Replaced?" He said, "What do you mean replaced?" "It's a new machine that Baskerville scientists were working on." Envy replied, "What they were working was a microchip, the kind they use on dogs, only instead of placing it at the back of the neck, they place embeded it right in the brain."

"What kind of chip it?" the detective asked.

"It's a chip that can either replace memories or erase them completely." He replied, "However there's a problem with the chip she has."

"What kind of problem?" John asked.

There was once again silence. He then took a deep breath once again.

"The chip she has is only a prototype." He said, "The microchip will cause her to have brain aneurysm and… It'll eventually kill her…"

-End of Chapter Eighteen-