Chapter 11
Sam
As soon as Holmes, Watson, and Danny returned Mary asked, "What is happening?" Watson looked at her and shook his head, "Murder, that's the only way to describe it. The monster that Samantha and Daniel chased has begun killing again; he removed a poor man's skeleton and left his corpse in front of a butcher's shop on the East End." Mary gasped at that and I had to dry swallow to keep from throwing up. Holmes then turned to my bag and said, "We need to borrow your weapons, we're going to find that fiend and destroy him if we can." "You're not leaving me out of this," I then told him and tried to take my bag back. "You are in no shape to make any demands," he told me as he took the bag out of my reach. "I can still fight with one arm, give me my ecto-blaster and I'll show you," I told him.
Holmes turned to Watson and Watson looked surprised and took it out of my bag. I said, "Doctor, please give me back my ecto-blaster." Watson looked uncertain as he gave it to me. I then said, "Give me a target." Holmes dug through his pocket and showed a copper coin about as big as a quarter. "Step back ten steps and I shall step back five. If you can shoot this half-penny then you can come with us," Holmes told me. "Say goodbye to your money there Sherlock," Danny joked and everyone got out of the line of fire except for Holmes. He stood up straight and said, "On the count of three. One…two…three!" Holmes threw up the coin and I took aim. Once it started falling I fired. The ectoplasmic laser went straight for the coin and once it hit it the coin melted into sizzling liquid copper and fell on the ground.
"Incredible," Holmes said under his breath then looked at me as I smirked back at him. "Before you can go, we need to get you two properly dressed, I'm amazed that my clothes have not torn under the strain of being worn by you," he said, talking to Danny. "Alright," Danny said, then took off the vest and unbuttoned some of the buttons on the undershirt with a sigh of relief.
Watson
Holmes left to find a haberdasher, cobbler, and tailor to provide clothes for Daniel and Samantha, Samantha insisted that she be provided at least one set of men's clothes, of all things, saying, "I'll be able to move around freely in men's clothes and no one will bother me much if they don't know I'm a woman." Holmes was more amused than I as he left. Progress and Feminism are all well and good, but some things are just unnatural, but I couldn't argue with the logic behind the request. While we waited for Holmes, Samantha asked Mary to cut her hair. Daniel and I watched as Mary sat her down in front of a mirror and got to work. "Tell me, Daniel, is this really…normal for women of the future?"
Daniel shrugged, "Sam's more independent than a lot of women, even from where we come from. Some women prefer being old-fashioned, others are so butch you can barely tell they're women, most are a mix between the two. Sam may act all tough and stuff, but she's definitely still a girl at heart." Finally, Samantha's hair was cut short like a man's. She rubbed at her short cut hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. "I could get used to this look," she said. "So, what do you think?" she asked us. I gave her a very critical look, trying to judge whether she looked masculine enough. "You'll still need to hide your face somehow; you look more like a woman posing as a man than a man. Even with a hat you might not be able to pass for a man," I told her. She looked at Daniel and he said, "Sorry Sam, the Doc's right on this one."
"Not to worry," Mary piped up. "Mr. Holmes has a lot of makeup he uses for disguises all the time, we'll just have to ask for his help once you're dressed," she said. 'Speak his name and the Devil will come', or in this case, Holmes came just as Mary finished speaking, bringing with him three men. One was a rather fat man, who looked young to be so fat, with shockingly bright blonde hair and moustache, wearing a drab grey overcoat and pants with a red vest and black leather shoes and a silver pocket watch hanging from his vest and a grey bowler hat. The second man was a short bald man who was very clearly a believer in the physical culture, his physique rivaled Daniel's own; he wore a blue overcoat and pants with a matching vest and brown leather shoes with matching bowler and a gold pocket watch on his vest. The last man was tall yet rail thin with bright red hair and muttonchops, wearing all brown, overcoat, shoes, vest, bowler, even his pocket watch was painted brown.
"Allow me to introduce Mr. Falconer," Holmes said, gesturing to the fat man, "Mr. Shepherd," he then gestured to the short, muscular man, "and finally Mr. MacShane, my haberdasher, tailor, and cobbler respectively," Holmes finished introducing the men. The three men greeted us all cordially then turned to Daniel and Samantha. Mr. MacShane looked at Daniel and said, "Aren't you a strong lad. Mr. Holmes said that you were injured, yet you look like you could kill a horse with one blow." "I wish," Daniel said then hissed a little due to his ribs. "Alright then, I do believe that since I shall be doing the most work, I should measure them first," Mr. Shepherd said then took out a measuring tape from his overcoat. After measuring Daniel and Samantha he turned to Holmes and said, "Four men's suits, and two women's dresses, I shall deliver them in a week as agreed, though it will make your wallet much lighter." Mr. Shepherd then left without any more words.
"One week, can he really do that?" Mary asked, voicing my own skepticism. "Mr. Shepherd is one of the best. His suits are very simple, but incredibly durable. For what I'm paying him, he'll get it done, even if he must go without sleep to accomplish the task," Holmes assured us. Then Mr. Farmer pulled out a small booklet and presented it to Samantha and Daniel, "These are our latest designs, please choose which you would like." Daniel and Samantha looked over the booklet and picked out the hats they desired then Mr. Farmer measured their heads. "Excellent choices, Sir and Madam, your hats shall be ready for you in two days time, we recently ordered a new shipment. I shall have them delivered here when they arrive," Mr. Farmer said. He then doffed his hat to everyone and left the room with a happy, "Good day to you all."
This left Mr. MacShane to measure the two young people's feet. He had them sit down on my couch and felt their feet. "Is this really necessary?" Samantha asked him. "I assure you, Madam, that this is the best way to find arthritis, corns, boils, and other injuries so I may compensate for them. Luckily, your feet are very symmetrical, amazingly so, and you are obviously very active judging by your legs, if I may be so bold," Mr. MacShane told her, then moved on to Daniel. Daniel was barely keeping himself from sniggering as Mr. MacShane examined him. "Very well, you shall have your shoes in ten days," he said. "Can't you be faster about it MacShane?" Holmes asked him. "Not if you want these shoes to last. Ten days is already faster than most, and that's hoping that nothing compromises their feet in that time," Mr. MacShane told him. "Very well, we will contact you then," Holmes told him. Mr. MacShane then gave a loud "Farewell!" and left.