Chapter 21: The Hour of Judgement~
Molly never saw it coming.
She was standing with her back to the door, where the Major sat in the floor beside Irene, who was periodically checking the vitals of her lover ,that Sherlock had electrocuted, and he had his gun in his hands, facing the door that they had come through so that if any one of the combatants tried to enter the room, he would have them at gun point. Molly's job was to survey the street from the window, and see if help was on the way.
A voice over an intercom ,calmly started directing people to evacuate the building.
"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen. We don't wish to alarm you, but we have been alerted that there is a potential fire in the building. Please head to the nearest exits, and wait for officials to assist you..."
"Sounds like Myc has gotten the building evacuated." Major said.
Molly kept scanning the street.
"There's something going on down there! Fire fighters are all in their positions, but the police are caught up...doing something. I see Anderson! And a red-headed woman has him and Sally too...at gun point!
Mycroft is trying to direct the situation back in his control...and the police officers...are taking positions behind cars...for...what looks to be...oh! it's a ...shootout?!"
Major swallowed. This had turned into all-out guerilla war alright. The papers would spark a fire bigger than the execution pyre Morstan had initially intended the Empire State building to be from all of this...
Speaking of Morstan...
Of course! Stupid! They should have expected a master assassin wouldn't use the regular entrances. Before Molly really even finished her observation about the street rabble, Mary swooped out of the sky, leaping from the hole in the roof Sherlock's earlier antics had torn , and landed on top of Molly, yanking her by her hair to rolling over on to her back.
She held her gun in a shaking hand, pointed directly at Molly's gasping mouth.
Major stood up, and put Mary at gun-point.
"Hold your fire! Or I'll shoot you!"
"I'm as good as dead, anyway...Looks as though your little bloodhound...was better than I thought. Bloody game!...But like I said, I don't have to play fair!"
She shot the floor close to Molly's head, tearing off some of her hair. Molly held her breath,not making a sound. Counted the racing beats of her heart.
"I may have lost, but I can still make you lot suffer...Leave scars on Sherlock that will make him wish he were dead..."
"We lost, Mary. We knew we were going to lose. Ever since he's come back to London, he's gathered a record that is phenomenal ,even for him...This Game was suicide anyway...we just wanted to leave a nice note for the world to remember us by..." Irene gasped.
"Oh, we did, didn't we? And we will...Sherlock will...remember quite well...the woman who killed his childhood playmate..."
"I'm not about to stand aside and suffer collateral damage a second time...And you...you seem to be somewhat inexperienced in that realm...Always dealing out punishments,and never receiving one for yourself...eh?
If you hurt Molly...I will kill Irene. A life for a life..." The Major barked, voice full of command.
"Irene is only my whore...And I won't be needing her when I'm dead...Go ahead...shoot her...I don't care."
Irene burst into sudden tears, having had enough.
Mary grit her teeth at Molly, "Why...I expected you'd be sniveling and crying by now...You won't even scream?..."
"Well...I might have...screamed or cried or whatever...Except...you've already lost...so it doesn't really matter whatever you try and do now."
Mary was taken aback. She froze, not having expected such a response from Molly Hooper.
And that would be the very last thing she remembered anyway.
Irene spun around, knocking the Major's gun out of his hand.
"Sorry...Admiral, it's nothing personal...I've just had a rather personal score to settle with Pandora for a long time!" she cried, and caught the gun mid-air. Pressing it into the back of Mary's head.
"This is for spoiling me...Naughty girl..." she gasped, and pulled the trigger.
Molly did scream then,as Mary Morstan slid limp and dead to the floor, laying like a rag doll on top of her.
Irene rolled Mary's corpse over, shot the glass out of the window, and kicked her out of it. Her body sailed through the air, landing right in the middle of the rabble on the street.
The Woman held the smoking gun in her hands. Her eyes met Molly's ,and the look on her face told the girl that the Woman had absolutely no remorse for any of her sins...except for one.
Irene turned to the Major, and tossed his gun to him. He caught it, and put it on safety, his mouth forming a grim line.
"I suppose that's it then. All those clients...all my years of treachery and con-art and whoredom...and just generally being a very naughty girl...The thing I'll be arrested for in the end will be murder..." she smiled, and looked out the window, at where she had cast Mary's body. "Murder of the woman ...who in so many ways destroyed me. It's alright. I wanted to be destroyed...I enjoyed every minute of my time as "The Woman". But...Sherlock Holmes..."now she gets choked up, "Is an angel, despite what he says...a snow-white virgin, as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. He doesn't deserve to suffer for all of this...and his innocent friends...the lambs he shed his blood for...really don't. I suppose in the end, he HAS saved me, just as he always meant to. I won't run. You don't even have to guard me anymore. Go down with me to the floor. I want to be the one to hand my own self over to them. And in that way...repent. I was really good at being naughty...I wonder...what I would have been like...if I had tried to be good? "
Molly sat up, blinking...unsure how to take all that just happened.
"I think...well...that you would have been very good...if that had been the case...Mycroft certainly would have been glad for your help ..." she gasped, a hand going to her throat, trying to get her breath back.
"And do you think...I can be forgiven?" asked Irene, curling a brow.
Major stood up, and hauled the electrocuted bookkeeper over his shoulder.
Molly held her breath, trying to muster the strength to say what she was thinking.
"I think,...just maybe..you can...God willing...But...only,only if you...if you really...want to...Do you...want to be ...forgiven?...Are...are you sorry, at all?"
Irene looked up at the hole Sherlock had torn in the ceiling. Thought about all the pain she had caused that one man she respected and admired above all else.
"For the sake of Sherlock Holmes...Yes."
"Then...you will..."
"Then let's have it over with ." the Major sighed, truly tired of all the wars in the world.
"Lead the way." Irene said, tilting her chin defiantly.