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The warehouse is dimly-lit.
Tears fill the old inventor’s eyes. He looks over his shoulder to Clegg, who holds the pistol to his back with a grimly stoic stare. Clegg will kill him, and the detective as well; it’s his fault for getting cocky. His attention then falls back to the man standing before him.
William.
“A minute.” James says. His voice breaks. “To say goodbye.”
“You’re stalling,” Clegg barks. “I could kill you now and get it over with.” He groans. “You have a minute. Hurry up.”
A minute is all James needs. He stares at the detective. The image of him standing there, helpless, is blurred.
“Pendrick,” William says, holding his hands up, “James. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“William, you are the greatest man I have known and the best friend I could ever ask for.”
His hands are trembling, his heart beats fast. He’s vaguely aware of the cold metal of Clegg’s pistol shoving in between his shoulder blades, the lights flickering in the old warehouse, the whirring coming from his latest contraption in the corner, but that’s all in the back of his mind. All his focus is on Detective William Murdoch. He breathes and continues:
“When I met you, you were so hellbent on arresting me.” James lets out a soft chuckle. “William, you were always so devoted to finding the truth, finding justice. And you might not think that’s so remarkable, but William! You’re honourable, and loving, and you’ve done more to help this damned Earth than I ever had. Because it was always a big invention to save everyone that never worked for me.”
He shakes his head, shutting his eyes tight and blinking away the dampness in his eyes. “I was too proud, William. I could never accomplish anything without making a show and messing it all up. But in your career, William, you’ve helped hundreds of people, you’ve never stopped until you made everything right. You care, William, and in the process you made me care more than I ever have. You believe in the truth, yes, but you also believe in love, and in good. You were the one who inspired me to keep on getting up, keep on inventing; I wouldn’t stop until I could do as much good as Detective William Murdoch.”
James bows his head. “I suppose that’s a goal that will never be achieved.”
“James, don’t say that, we’ll find a way-”
“Too late for that!” James cries out. Just like Murdoch to rack his brains to find the answer where no one gets hurt. He leans back into Clegg’s pistol. He lets out a breath, and tears trickle down his cheeks. “Maybe- maybe the good I can do is make sure that you can go on and solve this mess.”
William tenses even more. His eyes flicker with knowing towards James’s contraption.
“You can do so much for this world, William Murdoch. You’ve done so much already. And you made my world so much better.”
“Why does this sound like goodbye?”
“Because it is.” James clutches the remote control in his jacket. “I must ask you to step back, William.” He lets out a sigh. “I love you.”
The moment those three words slip out of his mouth, it’s as if a weight he had been carrying for so long has been removed, and he can finally move freely. He smiles through his tears.
The detective steps back, but he says in a raspy voice, “Don’t do this, James.” His own red-rimmed eyes are watery. “James-”
“Goodbye, William.”
William Murdoch’s figure with his hands held out is the last thing James sees, just as he hears Clegg’s shouts of realization and feels and flicks the switch in his pocket. Then there’s a boom, and James can’t see William anymore.
***
Terrence Meyers, followed by Julia Ogden, George Crabtree, and Thomas Brackenreid, runs into the scene and finds Murdoch alone and broken down on the floor, crying but not visibly wounded. Wreckage is scattered across the open warehouse. The smell of something burning fills the air. Clegg is nothing but a corpse blackened by the explosion.
All that’s left is to hunt down his accomplices and shut down this wretched scheme once and for all.
And in the centre of it all is the limp body of the brilliant inventor who caused it all. William Murdoch’s sobs are the only things audible.
