"There's no end to these dolls!"
Inside Big Ben, on the staircase of the Clock Tower, Mash and Ritsuka desperately tried to catch up to Makiri. The path was blocked by clockwork puppets, whose furious attacks caused the heroes to lose precious minutes.
"Mash! From above!"
Stunned by the onslaught, Mash reacted instantly: at Ritsuka's shout, she raised her shield, deflecting a doll lying in ambush. It flew down with a crash, but the stream of enemies did not cease. Grinding their gears, the puppets climbed right up the walls, multiplying at some unnatural rhythm.
"We won't get to the top this way."
"Senpai! We need to break through by force...!"
Mash pushed the enemies aside with all her might, trying to advance higher, but as soon as they conquered a couple of steps, a new wave descended. Deadpool, sitting on Ritsuka's shoulder, grimaced in annoyance – he was clearly irritated that things were moving at a snail's pace.
"Damn it! By the time we crawl up there, London will look like one big bonfire from the top of the tower!"
Finally, he jumped off the guy's shoulder and grabbed a chain leading into the depths of Big Ben's mechanisms.
"Fluffy! It's dangerous alone!"
"And staying here is even more dangerous! I'll try to buy some time, so hurry up! Please..." he said on the run.
Deadpool was plagued by a bad premonition. Usually, the phrase "hurry up" in such circumstances acted like a cursed flag: heroes arrive exactly when everything is already over and there's nothing to clean up. Murphy's Law in its purest form.
"Oh, I climb pretty well. Am I getting used to this body? No! No-no-no! Pull yourself together, Wade Wilson! You were tricked by this damn golem fan! I won't stay like this forever! I swear, I'll regain my former appearance!"
Tormented by the realization that he was getting better at inhabiting the skin of a rodent, Deadpool rapidly climbed the chains to the very top.
"Look. Humanity is an empty, leaky vessel into which water is futilely poured... Once, I too tried to prevent the collapse of human order, but I realized the futility of these attempts. Therefore, I myself will burn this distorted world. Only in this is my redemption."
Meanwhile, Makiri Zolgen, step by step ascending invisible stairs in the void, gazed at the panorama of London, shrouded in his demonic fog. Bitterness could be read in his eyes – he cursed both fate and himself for having no other path. The sky above the city grew heavy, filled with the lead of storm clouds.
"To detonate fog of this scale, a heroic spirit of the highest order would be required. But V managed to leave a legacy comparable to the power of heroes, possessing only human abilities. What irony."
He said "irony," but sadness was frozen in his crimson eyes. Once he dreamed of becoming a "defender of justice," but upon seeing the unchanging grim future, he broke. All his aspirations turned into a futile fight against windmills.
"Begin, Legacy V. Subject London to cleansing flame."
At Makiri's gesture, Frankenstein raised a huge forged mace above her head. The storm front responded to her call: lightning, tearing the sky, struck directly into the metal weapon.
"The energy of nature itself, made subservient to man. This is 'Galvanism.' What we failed to achieve, he embodied. His legacy is too great to serve only personal ambitions!"
"What a tedious insect. Or are you just a hikikomori with no friends, if you love talking to yourself so much? Or maybe... are you one of us?"
Makiri, already preparing to pass judgment on humanity, flinched. Before him, having concealed his presence for the time being, a small rodent appeared.
"You... are you the servant who was with them? Or just a familiar?"
"There are good reasons why I look like a snack. My story is so tragic that you'll cry your eyes out... But that's not the point! Now, quickly wrap up your fog business or whatever your plan is called!"
Deadpool pointed a tiny paw-finger towards Makiri. He didn't even bat an eye.
"Too late. Legacy V is already accumulating energy for detonation. Your squeaking won't change anything. And how do you plan to stop me in such a tiny body, Mr. Mouse?"
Deadpool didn't get angry – on the contrary, he grinned smugly and struck a pompous pose.
"I'll find a way. Pest control squad has arrived, bug!"
Makiri moved his hand, and the stairs floating in the air instantly sharpened, turning into dozens of deadly spikes. As soon as Deadpool charged, a hail of stone needles rained down on him.
"Ooh! Hop! Careful! Listen, are you having trouble with your aim? Where's your auto-lock? Missed! Your mommy would cry if she saw how cross-eyed you are!"
With the body of a nimble beast, Deadpool masterfully dodged blows that could have pierced him through. He rapidly closed the distance, mockingly commenting on every miss.
"Some kind of mouse...!"
"Who's calling who a mouse?!"
Dodging another spike, Deadpool hung in the air for a moment, but immediately pushed off from a passing stone. Slipping under the stairs, he latched onto Makiri's clothes and began to quickly climb up his leg.
"You... Get off! Get out of here!!"
Panicked, Makiri began to flail his arms absurdly, trying to shake off the impudent intruder, but it was all in vain.
"Ahem-ahem... Oh, you smell good. What kind of conditioner is that? Or is it a powerful sixteen-hour freshener with the scent 'STRE-E-E-ENGTH'?"
"STRE-E-E-ENGTH-H-H-H-H!!"
And at that very moment!
The space shuddered from a micro-explosion, and right out of thin air, grimacing furiously, a mountain of muscle in red briefs tumbled out.
"I WA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AS CALLED-D-D-D-D-D!!"
"I didn't call you! You've got the wrong address! This isn't a commercial break here!"
"Oh. Well, I'll be, I stumbled into the wrong advertisement. My apologies. Please continue. Well, I'm off. By-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y!"
As soon as the muscular fellow disappeared as noisily as he had appeared, the atmosphere heated up again, and Dedchu began to furiously gnaw at Makiri's body.
"A-a-a!"
Even though Makiri's convictions were crumbling, and he himself was suffering and in despair, the pain from the rodent's bites made him wince and cry out.
"You're still not going to stop?!"
"You little rat!"
However, soon Makiri managed to catch the creature. Dedchu thrashed desperately, trying to buy himself some time, but he couldn't compete with Makiri, who was already beside himself with rage.
"It was a good attempt. But in the end, humanity will still burn. Accept it!"
He immediately threw Dedchu away. Since they were at the very top of Big Ben, having ascended there via created stairs, the height was considerable.
"Waa-a-a-a! I'm fa-a-a-a-a-alling-g-g!"
And at the moment when Dedchu, helplessly slicing through the air, was about to crash onto the London pavement...
"Hey, raccoon. Look to your right."
"What? To the right?"
The next second, Dedchu crashed into something. He was falling from a height greater than the Clock Tower, and such a short flight seemed strange to him. But with his paws, he felt not the road surface, but cold metal.
"Caught him!"
Holmes. He was soaring in the sky. More precisely, he was flying on some kind of metal contraption.
"Father Arceus, God have mercy, what is this?!"
These were tin men, two human heights tall. They moved a little clumsily, spewing steam, and looked quite wobbly, but they were flying. And there were many of them – behind the doll on which Holmes and Dedchu were sitting, dozens more identical steam robots flew in formation.
"This is what both we and Makiri missed. I called it the 'Big Ben Party Protocol'."
Soon, the tin warriors lined up, looking down at Makiri and Frankenstein.
"Sherlock Holmes... Are you going to interfere with me until the very end? You understand that it won't change anything!"
"I don't care. We're not here to interfere. We've come to throw a wrench in your plans."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Hmm... I suppose it is."
The verbal sparring between Dedchu and Holmes, which began at the most inopportune moment, infuriated Makiri. He called out to Frankenstein, who had been accumulating lightning all this time.
"Sweep these annoying flies away! Immediately!"
"U-u-a-a-a-y-y-i-i-i...!!"
Frankenstein, baring her teeth, swung the iron ball, in which a considerable amount of electricity had already accumulated.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
"Uh... I just attached myself to them when they started moving."
"And you don't have a remote control?"
In response to Dedchu's question, Holmes merely pouted and shrugged.
"And how do we command them?!"
Dedchu climbed onto the shoulder of a tin giant and hit it on the head with all his might. Something inside activated, and a quiet mechanical voice said:
"Target... acquired... Legacy V... Plan 'Mamu'... detonation... prevent... codename... Babylon... launch."
Immediately, a cloud of steam erupted, and the tin warriors lined up began to surround her.
"U-a-a-a-a-a-a!!"
Frankenstein, with a wild cry, swung the ball, releasing the accumulated charge. Golden lightning struck one of the robots, and it instantly exploded.
"It seems their specs are so-so."
"What can you do? They don't have an eternal engine like this girl. But it seems they have hidden functions."
Dozens of tin dolls, shrouded in steam, circled around her. Dodging the lightning bolts that Frankenstein unleashed, they began to take their positions.
"U-u-a-a-a-a!"
However, her resistance was fierce.
Discharges of monstrous power repeatedly knocked down the tin warriors.
"If it goes on like this, they'll all explode before we can finish watching this movie!"
"Alright. I'll take care of Makiri, and you deal with the girl!"
To avoid losing more robots, both of them jumped onto the top of the Clock Tower and rushed to carry out their tasks.
"Holmes! Did you really think that an ordinary person, who is just a little smarter than others, could thwart the plan of the Clock Tower mage!"
The half-mad Makiri, with bloodshot eyes, descended the stairs and stared at Holmes.
"I just said. I just want to annoy you!"
Holmes pressed a button on his cane-sword, and a hidden blade popped out.
"Good. If so, my insects will devour you and absorb your mind!"
With a wave of his hand, Makiri unleashed swarms of ugly insects. Corpse-eaters, instantly devouring flesh and feeding mana to the host, mind-eaters, consuming the mind and taking over the body – this whole swarm of horrific creatures surrounded Makiri.
"What a coincidence. I happen to have a pest control invention!"
Holmes pressed the pommel, oil seeped from the grooves of the blade, and a flame ignited from the short friction.
"I heard a story about a hero who fought monsters with a flaming sword. I didn't think it would work so well."
"Prepare to die, detective!"
Makiri's swarm of insects immediately lunged at Holmes. He skillfully dodged the attack, swinging his flaming blade.