Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandoms:
Relationship:
Character:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Collections:
Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
Stats:
Published:
2020-11-05
Completed:
2008-03-04
Words:
26,262
Chapters:
5/5
Kudos:
31
Hits:
4,529

The Night of the Gilt-Edged Mirror

Summary:

Following ‘The Night of the Murderous Spring' W3, Season One

Following the once more assumed death of Doctor Loveless, James West and Artemus Gordon each discovers what his partner saw in the 'small doctor's ''magic mirror'' .

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

 

 

 

The Night of the Gilt-Edged Mirror
An Adult W3 Tale
-By Roniyah Gabrielle Caitrin Bhaer

 

Cast of Characters: Night of the Gilt-Edged Mirror - In Alphabetical Order
Robert Conrad as James Torrance Kiernan West
Michael Dunn as Miguelito Quixote Loveless
Ross Martin as Artemus Alastair Lachlan Gordon
Martin Sheen as Ulysses Simpson Grant

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

 

Prologue:

‘'What d'you want to be, a hero!'' Jim demanded, glaring at his partner; his head still echoing to the horrible headache he'd had all day long.

‘'Hey, wait a minute.'' Artemus Gordon answered, looking more bemused than annoyed by his partner's brusque manner, and more worried about that same partner, James West than anything else. ‘'This is me, remember; Artemus Gordon, Mrs. Gordon's son?''

West blinked and shook his still aching head. Suddenly, he felt as if he hadn't really seen Artie standing in front of him until now. ‘' Sorry, Artie. ‘' He apologized, shocked and ashamed by his words and his tone. ‘'For a moment, it was almost like I hated you. ‘'

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

SCENE ONE: An hour after Loveless' ‘escape' to the lake.

Doctor Miguelito Loveless was dead and gone, drowned in his own private lake. So were Kitty and Antoinette, lost under the water so deep Jim West couldn't find them after more than ten minute's diving, surfacing for another deep breath, and diving again. All he'd found were the oars from their ill-fated rowboat; the one West sunk himself with one well placed shot. He didn't like killing women ever; it wasn't the way he was raised to think or act. But what was there to do, when they insisted on trying to escape, trying to help ‘the little doctor' escape, once more?

Now, at least, the latest and, so it seemed, the last plot from the amazing brain of that ‘little man with a giant rage' was just as dead as that trio. The case would soon be closed, after droves of vigilantly gloved and masked government scientists removed and disposed of every last ounce of the doctor's deadly powder. As far as Jim West was concerned, all of it couldn't be destroyed even a second too soon. He knew in his own mind and memory and guts the horror it was capable of wreaking. He knew how horribly afraid he'd been for the moment it seemed Loveless would ‘try' it on Artie.

And now Jim knew just how terribly, how efficiently that nightmare compound would have worked on thousands, on millions of unsuspecting men, women and children, around the world, if Loveless got his way. He'd made himself go back inside the doctor's ‘'asylum''. He'd squared his chin and his shoulders and made it back to the door of the staff dining room. There was no doubt in his mind that a genuine nightmare waited on the other side. And it was a nightmare he had no little responsibility for, himself, West grimly considered.

Taking another deep breath, West opened the dining room door, strode inside, and choked back a gasp. Not since the last firefight of the War, in the spring of '65, had he seen so much violent death in such a small space. The room couldn't have been more than 9 by 14 feet, crowded with a heavy dinner table, chairs and two highboys. The people in the room, the bodies were strewn about as if an artillery barrage had been opened on them, or a wave of enfilading fire. And the marks of the terrifying way these staffers died were plain to be read on their faces, so that their last shrieks and cries seemed to linger in the air above them, still.

‘'Was he right? Did my ‘Doubting Thomas' routine call this horror down on twenty innocent men and women? Jim wondered. If that's so, the least I can do is take burial detail for them. It's the very least I can do for them, in fact! Nodding to himself, West now bent to shift the first corpse he came to, the body of a wiry, red headed man he'd seen in Loveless' employ for years.

‘'They're not on your due bill, Jim.'' Artie said, walking into the dining room behind him. ‘'Loveless made that hellish compound; and he mixed that poison of his in their wine, my friend, not you.''

‘' When did you start reading my mind, Artemus?'' Jim asked, not really minding the other agent's understanding; but not willing to admit he almost liked it, either.

‘'When did I start? When did I stop?'' Artie chuckled, and laid one strong hand on Jim's right shoulder. ‘' Let's just say I can guess what the little doctor wanted you to think, when you heard them, James, much less when you finally saw them. Not that I'd like to think I could read his mind!''

‘'You never had to; he's... he'd always tell you what was on his mind... ‘' Jim said and then realized he was repeating what he'd told Artie hours before. ‘'C'mon, Artie, let's at least get them ... decently laid out, if that's even possible. Then we can find the telegraph he's sure to have had somewhere in the house; and get the word out. Washington will be really relieved, I guess, to hear Loveless' died. ‘'

‘'You still don't believe he's dead?'' Artie questioned, canting his dark head and studying Jim intently. This was something else his partner did that used to be damned annoying, Jim thought. Now he didn't mind the scrutiny of those wide-dark/bright eyes at all.

‘'I'm not sure I'd believe it if I saw Loveless killed and laid out in front of my eyes.'' Jim admitted, and shuddered. ‘'I'm not sure I believe anything or anyone could stop the small doctor. Not after the past... was it really only two days?''

‘'Just about.'' Artie agreed, and bent to help Jim carry the first dead staffer out of the blood stained dining room.

When that grisly duty was done, an hour later; Artie was positivekl his partner would jump onto the first available horse and take off away from this fake asylum as fast as four hooves could carry his lithe young frame. Instead, Jim went in search of the doctor's study and once there began tapping out one telegraphed report to their superiors after another. He went on sending those reports, and noting the answers they received for the rest of the day, and well into the evening.

Now, Jim was in what Artie called ‘full not really retired Regular Army officer mode'; putting every possible element of what seemed his duty ahead of any other consideration. He was therefore, hardly talking, much less making conversation. Also, Jim wasn't really listening, he wasn't eating, and he scowled darkly when Artie suggested a break, a walk or G-d forbid, a rest!

And all of that told the actor that the younger man was profoundly, almost overwhelmingly troubled. He had every right to be troubled, of course. He'd been sent on a journey straight to hell. Artemus' own lively, creative imagination told him something of what that must have been like; coming to believe you'd shot down your own best friend.

The agent suppressed no few shudders of his own, as that nightmare scenario, but in reverse, played itself out more than once in his own mind. The sheer cruelty involved was horrendous, even coming from Loveless. And yet the ‘small doctor' had claimed he did it only as an experiment, a final test of his compound? Artie scowled and shook his head. Loveless' envy and hatred for Jim West had been evident in all their encounters. But this time the mad little genius had topped even himself for malevolence!

Jim admitted ‘I nearly went out of my mind.' Added to that were the witnesses in town, whose accounts Artie would certainly take over Loveless or Kitty's, who said the younger agent had gone raving mad. Now, as they listened to official responses coming in from the long list of officials they were called on to report to, Artie found himself watching Jim more surreptiously than usual. Something more was going on in that handsome young head. The more he studied his partner's bearing, movements and expressions, the surer Artemus Gordon became of just that.

 

end part 1