The next day, Watson had a pile of papers on the table of their Inn, Beau’s pile of papers was sitting next to it. They had not really discovered anything new, just some black market deals involving illegal activities that they would turn into the MCR anonymously.

They had taken it in turns to look out for the Queen, making sure that The Creed were sticking to their original plan, which, it seemed they were.

Watson had now completed a few assassinations and was starting to get used to it, even if only slightly.

It turns out that even killing people who deserve it, leaves a bad taste on the tongue.

With the next day being the deciding day of the Queen’s fate, they decided to miss out on their usual nightly activities. Despite considerable amounts of reluctance and an abundance of kissing, they finally went to sleep. Locked together as they usually were. Not just out of love for one another but also seeking warmth in the chilly English night.

Their plan was a simple one. Invade the building in the wake of The Creed and interrupt the magic as it's being cast. To the best of Watson’s knowledge it should not harm the Queen in any way and it would also put the Creed magicians in a disadvantageous position - Catching them with their pants around their ankles; If the magic circle was their pants and their ankles were the Queen.

As Watson had the shield item that Beau had made for her, he was not as worried about her safety. It would take a bomb to blast the shield apart, and that’s not even counting Watson’s own shield was already as good as a high-tier magician.

They got up in mid-morning and had a bite to eat with their driver.

It was good to keep up the normal routine, they let her know that they would be busy with business this afternoon and left it at that.

Watson was the first to move. Her job was to secure the area by placing magic detecting devices, courtesy of Beau, in various locations throughout the Queen’s garden and house.

This would have been difficult for almost anyone else but for the head of the MCR branch of a major city, it was a walk in the park.

She let the guards know of her presence and was escorted around the building and the garden under the facade of a general inspection and some sightseeing.

Watson was not able to take her eyes off the luscious and beautifully crafted Bath Stone house that exuded class. She heard a faint din coming from inside. The sound seemed to be muffled chatter so she asked the guard what the occasion was and was informed that it was just a regular party, no specific occasion. Being that she was a new Queen she had to spend a lot of time getting to know the people she now rules over.

In reality it is surprising that she is still alive as a 19 year old Queen was ridiculous even by Watson's standards. Granted she had very few responsibilities and was more there as a representative for the people and a leader to look to when in need. The ones pulling the strings were the Government and their goonies.

Watson was intrigued with the party and was about to ask if she could attend as well but was immediately denied by the guard.

He showed her the door and seeing as she had subtly dropped all the magic items she saw no reason not to oblige.

Watson walked back across the road to the room where Beau was no doubt looking out the window watching and waiting for her to get back.

She looked up and unsurprisingly found him staring at her from above. He grinned and so did she, he left the window and Watson hurried up to the room so that they could spend some time together before the raid.

The moon was out in full and the cold English air caused a chill to run through the spine of 12 people surrounding the Bath stone house where the Queen was currently residing. Their footsteps too light for anyone to hear.

Royal guards had been arranged in such a way that slipping by them without being spotted was almost ridiculously easy.

The captain of the guard and another man who was ugly with a crooked nose and his head sported some grimy rag-tag tufts of hair that were combed over pathetically to attempt to hide the giant bald spot.

The captain was slightly better looking, but that's in comparison with a half man-half pig, so he was still pretty disgusting. The red jacket he was wearing that represented the beefeaters was heavily stained with a variety of substances and reeked of booze.

The man himself had a straight face, just managing to stay sober for the night in light of the big plan that was about to come into fruition.

The man next to the captain was Arthur Whitehall, a very disgruntled politician and Baron. Unhappy with William Lamb becoming Prime Minister as he was in a position that would heavily influence the Queen. Arthur had tried to blackmail the fresh Prime Minister in the past and was terrified of retaliation.

Using his numerous contacts in the Creed he found that there was an opportunity for power like nothing he could have ever imagined.

Such an unscrupulous fellow of course waited and waited for the most opportune moment and this was what was discussed on the papers that Beau had stumbled across.

William Lamb was busy on the next few days, he would rejoin the royal troupe in a couple of days after settling business.

This time was precious, and was not wasted.

The shadowy figures made their way through the castle, any guards that looked like they might spot them were dispatched of. The two guards outside of the Queen's room were waiting for a signal which, when it eventually arrived, spurred them to open the doors to the Queen's chamber.

The moonlit sky revealed a young girl sleeping soundly in a large bed.

The intruders made no sound and took formation around the sleeping monarch. 8 for the ritual then the other 4 as insurance, just in case.

The guards closed the door again as if nothing had happened, betraying nothing.

Masterfully executed, no one suspicious and there were no miscalculations. To their knowledge of course.

8 magic circles were placed on the ground forming an 8 pointed star and magic was injected. The combination of these spells and its effect woke the Queen up immediately, however, with her mind dulled and in pain she could only whimper and clutch at her head.

This technique stemmed from torture and they had no care for making the process more comfortable for her.

Unbeknownst to the Creed members, as soon as their magic went off they alarmed a smattering of magic devices.

Watson was awake for her shift and she quickly awoke Beau who was pretty much awake as well as they had just switched shifts. They looked at the device in their room that was lighting up in different places. Each light was reacting to a specific magic detection device. She was able to remember where she put all the devices and when alerted she pinpointed the location quickly and accurately.

Seeing as she was not shown around inside the building all that much she did not know where the Queen's room was until now.

They both threw on their dark overcoats and flawlessly white masks, then headed off for damage control.

Beau and Watson were underneath the window to the Queen's room, the was on the 3rd floor but getting up was the easy part, they had already scaled the wall and stealthily maneuvered their way through a number of guards without any trouble.

After helping each other up to the windowsill they spied inside the now well lit room thanks to the variety of magic being cast inside. There was also the faint figure of the Queen kneeling on her bed and clutching her head visible.

There were 8 people performing the spell, 2 inside the room and another 2 outside guarding the door, Beau could sense their mana if they were this close.

Beau grimaced, if this was before he had his guns it might have been a difficult fight.

He could take the patrolling men outside quite easily by assassinating them. If he had Watson's help it would be doubly easy.

He could then summon his fire inferno leaving Watson to protect the Queen with her new shield item, that would give him an opportunity to use his full power to scorch the magicians remaining. Any surviving magicians would have to be dealt with differently, either trapping them and outlasting their mana supply or by going fully offensive and overpowering them quickly.

This option would work, but it would be messy, it would likely give the main culprit a chance to escape which could be detrimental.

Luckily, they did have the guns.

Watson went around and using her insufficient but still present knowledge of the house she managed to scale around the building and find the window looking into the hallway, she open fired and immediately killed the 2 magicians waiting outside.

The sound of 2 bodies dropping to the floor outside the room alerted the 2 magicians standing by inside. Consequently giving Beau an open opportunity to fire unhindered, the first shot broke the window pane which offered little to no resistance and burst through the man's head, the sound of the window breaking alerted the second man but it was too late for him as well, Watson had burst into the room and shot him in the heart.

The remaining magicians were focusing on the ritual and were unable to resist.

Eventually the smart ones broke off, giving the Queen much needed relief from the pain.

They casted their mana shields first but were blown through by bullets, 3 died this way. The rest took cover and 2 ran away. Watson pursued the 2 that ran out the door leaving Beau alone with the 3 left in the room.

The ensuing fight was hectic but short. The 3 temporary survivors were shot to pieces after attempting offense. Beau’s shield was on at full power, he was even shielding the Queen just in case they decided to try and take her hostage.

Watson came back with 4 men, dragged behind her by mana tendrils.

2 of them were dead, both having holes in the back that went right through.

The other 2 men were alive but barely coherent and were mumbling things about demons and such.

Watson blew open the door to tell Beau what she found but suddenly stopped and in shock actually dropped the men she was carrying. Luckily they were already injured by Watson and were not in any state to move, let alone fight.

What she found was a young, pretty and very, very scantily dressed girl hanging off Beau’s neck, planting a fantastically innocent kiss on Beau’s lips which were for some reason bare, the mask that was usually protecting his lips was in the girl's hands.

Beau was wide-eyed and had his hands up in the air and his lips were clearly not trying to return the kiss.

After a moment of shock Watson realised the situation and approached the young Queen.

“That’s awfully cheeky of you, Your Majesty, I believe you are stealing my fiance’s lips.”

The Queen jumped, clearly startled by the sudden intrusion. She then frowned and was about to retort with who knows what when Watson lunged forward and attacked the Queen’s lips with a kiss of her own.

After a few seconds of confidence from Watson and blissful bewilderment from the young Royal, Watson parted with her.

“There, now I have taken them back.”

“How dare you! I am the Queen, I do not steal! I take what is rightfully mine!”

“Rightfully yours?”

“Of course, he is a royal magician is he not? Every magician that is registered with the MCR serves the Queen.”

“Oh, your majesty…”

“What is it?”

“He is not yours, he is not a royal magician nor is he registered with the MCR.”

“Not registered? So you’re a rogue?”

“That’s right Your Majesty.” Beau answered.

“Are you here for me as well?”

“Of course.”

“Then what will you do, take me hostage? Will you kill me now? I may be a Queen but no one cares about me that much you know, they all want me dead.”

Beau went slightly wide eyed at her proclamation, she was clearly having some problems of her own. It was testament to how calm she was despite the completely vulnerable situation she was currently in. If anything she was stroppy, Beau smiled, he could see that she would become a great Queen, loved by the people.

“Well, at the moment I would appreciate my mask back.”

The young Queen was surprised but handed the mask back to the blue haired man.

“Next, we need to know who these 2 people are.”

Without the Queen or even Watson realising he had brought the 2 men into the room and were hanging from a tendril of mana each.

“The fat one is a Baron who dislikes me greatly, the other is the Captain of the Royal Guard. I never speak to him but he does not look like a good man does he?”

“Well, I’d consider treason to be quite bad.”

“You know, you are committing treason by just existing.” She retorted.

“That’s… Different.”

“Right, so what did they do?”

“They did this.” Beau stated gesturing to the mess of bodies scattered around them.

The Queen for some reason did not look and stayed with her eyes focused on the 2 men.

“How do you know?”

Watson answered this time. “I heard them, they were chatting about it in the next room.”

“I see, do you have any proof?”

“No.”

Suddenly one of the men hanging from Beau’s mana smiled a grim smile and spoke.

“Of course you don’t, there is none. We did nothing.”

The Queen looked at Watson questioningly, Watson still had her mask on so she was not able to read an expressions on her face.

Watson turned towards the 2 men and stabbed a steel spike through their heart, summoning a surprised and torturous expression on both of their faces.

“I’m a rogue, I don’t care about evidence.”

The Queen stepped back, equally surprised but immediately vomited when the blood started seeping out the wound.

The action caused her to turn around away from the sight which only made her look at the various bodies strewn around the rest of the room.

She screamed and choked, eventually all the noise attracted a guard's attention and they came running up to find a horrifically grisly scene. The Queen was taken care of properly and was cleaned up by the maids, she was not able to sleep though.

The 2 masked figures had left long before, confident that they had cleared the last of the Creed trying to attack the Queen, at least, for now.

Beau leaned over to Watson and whispered in her ear.

"Did you get jealous?"

"Jealous? I have a right mind to arrest you right here and now."

"Okay, you know I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Of course, so stop talking about it."

"Yes, My Lady." He paused, trying to hide a smirk. "You really got into character though didn't you. 'I'm a rogue, I don't care about evidence'"

He said doing a very ridiculous impression of her voice alongside it. He received a swift elbow in the stomach from the beautiful woman who was currently the little spoon.

"Ooof.. Okay, sorry... I can't believe you kissed the Queen."

"I can't believe YOU kissed the Queen!"

"True."

Watson turned over and kissed him passionately and intensely. Which Beau very happily responded to.

"I'm going to take it all back now, Beau."

"I'm looking forward to it." He said with a seductive smile.

-----------------------------------

It was 2 weeks later.

The couple had arrived back in Bath the week before and had settled right back into the usual pace.

Marianne was back to working in Sheila’s shop and Beau was back to working full-time in his. Watson was less busy now that she was the boss and was able to spend a lot of time with him.

The days went by happily and quietly.

The Queen was arriving in Bath and everyone was out on the streets, Beau had just woken up and walked outside, attracted by the crowd and interested in what all the fuss was about.

Eventually he spotted the carriage approaching, carrying an older gentleman and a young lady.

The young lady was tirelessly waving from her seat with a porcelain gloves covering her dainty digits.

As the girl passed she caught a flash of blue in the corner of her eyes, she turned to look at the man for just long enough to notice him wink at her.

She looked away then did a double take.

Looking back she found no one standing there, just a pair of shoes disappear inside a dingy looking shop.

The young Queen froze, even forgetting to wave, and after a while a small smile surfaced. Eventually she resumed waving and smiling at her people, infinitely more happy than before.

-----------------------------------------

Somewhere in the slums of Bath, a teenager was serving tea to a ghastly noble lady whilst she fondled his shaft and balls.

His face was trying to stay neutral as he fought off the thought of drowning the vile lady with the tea he was holding.

When was she going to leave his crotch alone and take the tea?

If all that life had to offer was serving tea and being raped by vile noble ladies then it was not a life he wanted any part of.

He felt something start to overflow within him, completely unrelated to what the woman was doing with his crotch.

No, this was different. Something he was very familiar with. Something he knew as anger.

This, though, was pushing limits even for him. There was something different today. Purple light arced in his mind and his eyes went wide as an explosion of mana penetrated every vein, capillary and artery in his body.