Corkscrewed
Chapter one: A New Enemy Appears
A "Jack the Ripper: Hell Blade" fan fiction
(Based on the role-play "Corkscrewed" by sadielizyy, Truthless00, and Negative-Sapphire and re-written as a fan fiction by sadielizyy)
Nineteenth century London, a plague of killings has ridden the city, though they mimicked those of the famous Jack the Ripper, there was something a little…different here; or at least something different noticed by two particular fellows standing on a downtown sidewalk reading the day's paper.
The streets around them consisted of a calm atmosphere with the consistent roll of coaches and clomp of the hooves of horses driving them. Passers chatted to one another, the pair of peculiar figures, I might add, were practically ignored by those around them, who seemed to be in a hustle to get along with their day.
One of the men on the street was a blond of no more than six feet tall. His lean figure draped in a long coat. The paper rustled in his gloved hands as he moved it around to read more of the article that currently had his attention. The article titled "Jack the Ripper Returns!" a smile spread slowly across the face of the blond man; he looked up at his companion, his just-above-shoulder length hair bouncing as he did so.
"Well Jack it seems you have a fan" smiled the blond, with an air of cocky confidence.
The companion smirked. He was a man of close to seven feet tall, his muscular body covered in a large black cloak, with a hood that had a round of white fur covering the edges of it. The hood was down at the moment, giving a full view of his rather handsome face, and past-shoulder-length wavy ebony hair, dark as midnight. "Not me this time" he exhaled from his mouth, still with the smirk on his face.
A chuckle exited from the blonde's mouth as he spoke. "I figured that" the grin still eminent on his face.
Jack, as the ebony one was called, smirked yet again and replied "Of course you did.", as though he expected the blond to figure it out all along.
The blond leaned against the wall of a shop located behind where he stood; he genially lifted his pipe from his mouth, exhaling a gray ring which smelled faintly of crush tobacco. "How does it feel?" he sighed with a slightly dreamy expression.
Black waves swayed as Jack turned to face the blond man with a look of befuddlement. "What?" he asked in a sense that he didn't really care but was curious what the blond meant anyway.
"To have an admirer?" he asked again, tilting his head slightly down and looking up at Jack with a small, rather smug, smile.
"You are an idiot." Jack looked away and exhaled as he sighed.
A smirk crossed the blond man's face as he swiveled parallel to the wall and turned his head upward to make eye-contact with Jack. He lifted the small wooden pipe away from his body in an eccentric gesture and took a step backwards to make himself more stable as he stood: "I've been told otherwise" poured out of his mouth with an overconfident and melodramatic tone.
Jack rolled his eyes at the shorter man "Your comments are idiotic." He stated bluntly, hoping the blond would stop fooling around sometime this century.
"I'm just having fun with this." Exhaled as the blond smiled up at Jack again; Jack sighed, this was a fairly average conversation for these two and he knew there was no hope of his companion taking anything seriously.
"I can tell."
All joking aside the blond examined the paper and scanned over the article again. He grinned a little "Should we try to figure out who did it?" his hair bounced again as he moved his head to make eye contact with Jack. The blonde's pale peach-pink eyes now looked somewhat serious, yet playful at the same time with his little smile.
The tall ebony man huffed as a pronunciation of frustration "That is kind of obvious." He stepped away from the wall, no longer leaning on it. The shop behind them, a small café they met at often, was very slow now and the others on the street ceased to notice them at all.
"I thought you would say that." The pale eyed one smirked and took another puff on his pipe, before stepping ahead of Jack, as if to lead him on the right trail.
Jack rolled his eyes again and followed the shorter one "of course."
"Watson!" the blond suddenly stopped and yelled in a peeved fashion.
Another light haired male slid out from the corner of one of the shops near the café, his hair was a blond shade, slightly more pale and shaggy than the other blond. "I wasn't just tailing you…" his bright blue eyes examined random parts of the sky, trying to draw attention from himself.
The other blond, the one with the bob-style cut, made an aggravated sigh and groaned "You are a horrible tail!" he exclaimed with slight melodramatic fury.
Watson, as the shaggy haired one was called, also exhaled a sigh but in a much more calm fashion than that of his companion. "I know" he looked down at the ground, slightly embarrassed at having been caught tailing his friend…again. Just then his companion muttered his name and motioned with his finger for Watson to come closer. Watson got a slightly nervous expression in his eyes but reluctantly followed the given order. The shorter blond punched him in the face with all his might and knocked him to the ground, violently stomping on him.
In the background the ebony fellow watched as the raging blond beat the living daylights out of Watson, totally and utterly amused at this point. As another kick to the gut was placed upon the sad spectacle of a man, Watson muttered "S-someone help me…" under his breath in a pleading manner.
Grinning, Jack interjected while the blond continued to brutalize his friend "Having fun?" he almost laughed. "Because it looks like your friend is almost dead there." He stated as some laughter seeped into his speech.
"Get up Watson!" the shorter blond shouted and stepped away from the groaning carcass he made of his companion. Watson slowly wiggled around and moved, standing up and sliding behind Jack, used the big muscular individual as a shield.
Jack was still grinning "What an amusing crowd" a smirk crossed his face.
A sneer exited out of the pale eyed fellow, his bob-style swaying as he stepped ahead of the other two with haste born from frustration. "Let's go, and Watson…be discreet" he half-sighed, not looking back to make sure they were following.
Watson got a serious expression on his face and nodded "Yes Sir!" he then seemed to fade into the shadows, in an attempt to do a more successful job at tailing the other two as they went to investigate the scene. The curious fellows walked on to the most recent crime scene, the one supposedly committed by Jack the Ripper himself. However our gentlemen here knew different, simply to say for the very obvious reason that the one known as Jack the Ripper was the ebony fellow himself. Knowing which murders he committed and which he did not was said proof someone was framing him, that someone who was about to be found out by himself, Watson, and let's not leave out his famous blond friend.
Jack walked a slight faster and caught up with the shorter man, half-grinning as he spoke "You know I can hear every step he is making right?" obviously referring to Watson. The shorter one sneered again and his peach-pink eyes slanted in a way that indicated vexation "And you seem to hear him too" Jack smirked and raised his head, his ice-green eyes peering down at the shorter pale-eyed blond.
"I'll have a talk with him later." The blond said under his breath, noticeably frustrated and closing his eyes as he spoke.
"You do that." Jack said almost bored. He then turned slightly amused and bumped a trash-can over, seemingly an accident. The blond turned to look at him with a knowing look, still vexed. They walked a little further, Jack's smirk stayed on his face and not so long later a loud crashing sound was heard. It would seem Watson tripped on the knocked over can and face-planted on the side-walk.
The blond at first seemed unimpressed by the actions but then smiled a little "Loiterer" he teased his ebony friend.
In good time they make it to the gory crime scene. The area had still not been cleaned up as the police wanted to investigate it further, well that and the daily paper is printed rather fast when the works of a serial killer are on the front page.
The two fellows stood and inspected the scene from afar at first. "Wow, they sure were on the dot." Jack mused at how similar the murder was to the past ones he himself had committed. "I am not sure if I should be impressed or find this creepy." He frowned slightly, however still interested in the current moment.
"Actually it isn't that accurate…" the blond suddenly interrupted Jack's thoughts of praise for the one framing him. "I mean it is close…but…" his pale eyes squinted as he went to take a closer look.
Jack couldn't help but stare at his companion for a moment or two at that "The things you see." He shook his head slightly, with a small smile on his face…impressed it would seem. The blond turned to smile at the ebony fellow; his pale eyes sparkled a bit. "What are you going to do? Start dancing?" Jack sighed at the smug face his friend gave him.
"Only if the occasion calls for it." The short blond grinned wide.
A chuckle exited from the taller man in response. "Sometimes I wonder how I manage being friends with you." Jack smirked, looking at a downward glance toward his friend.
The blond made a cocky expression here and placed his hands on his hips "it can't be that hard" he poured out at the ebony one, still grinning with shiny eyes.
Seemingly distracted Jack's face changed a tad more entertained as he stated "oh and Watson, tree." His grin slowly increased as he heard a slamming noise and the next moment Watson was on the ground dazed and confused. The pale eyed blond frowned and sighed as he heard his tail reveal his location for the fiftieth time in the short trip they had made.
"Your assistant is an idiot." Jack was still grinning like a child, in contrast to the blonde's vexed pout.
Those pale peach-pink eyes cast downward as their owner groaned in frustration "He's not my assistant. He is my friend who does whatever I say." The blond then stood a moment and mused what he had just said, then as if to rephrase he went on "Well he is more like my dog: eager to please and stupid."
"Either way he cracked his lens." Jack began to lose interest in teasing his shorter companion and attempted to end the banter. In all honesty he hadn't even had to look at Watson to see the cracked monocle; he had simply heard the sound of breaking glass and knew what had happened. The blond man simply stood with his annoyance showing externally but stayed quiet for the time being. "Oh and Watson" Jack began again, a smile formed on his lips once more. "Dog" he finished as a chuckle escaped him.
Not able to stand any more of this idiocy the shorter blond yelled Watson's name in an attempt to force him to stop being feeble and dimwitted as he appeared at the moment to be, but alas was all but ignored and stood aloof in silence after his outburst.
Watson looked over at a large German Shepard and made a small cry while backing up on the ground with a panicked expression. "N-nice doggy!" he exclaimed in a pathetic attempt to calm the snarling creature. The dog jumped on him, growling and biting the poor light-haired man who yelled and tried to push the canine off to no avail.
Now planning on ignoring the other two fellows the blond mumbled to himself "If you want something done, do it yourself" he sighed and walked over to the body to take a closer look at it.
Jack walked the opposite direction of the blond and picked the dog up off of Watson by the scruff of the neck, a sneering smirk forming on his face as he did so. In the meantime those peach-pink eyes were taking a close look at the crime scene and the body in particular. The blond noticed something strange with the amount of blood and the amount of wounds; he then proceeded to look even closer to confirm his suspicions.
"So you are really scared of this little pup?" Jack chuckled with the amused emotion glued to his face. He peered at Watson with a wide smirk while the dog whimpered in his grasp and Watson lied on the ground with wide eyes, panting, fearful of the dog in front of him. Jack proceeded to roll his eyes and stroll over to the focused man near the body, still holding the dog by its scruff. "So what do you see?" he asked in an expectant manner, knowing the response would be worth hearing.
The blond continued to mumble to himself as if Jack wasn't even present "I don't believe a human did this…" he was strolling in circles around the body, avoiding stepping in any of the blood as he did so.
Icy green eyes got an interested look "Oh really?" Jack muttered with a small grin and threw the dog behind him back to where he had originally taken it from. The German Shepard was not as impressed as it landed on Watson, knocking him down again.
"Don't eat my face!" the light haired man screamed as the dog pulled him away from the others…not being very pleasant at that moment.
A tapping was heard as the blond man stood up, his lean figure and long coat made him appear much taller than he was; however next to Jack who was about 1 foot taller than him, he always looked like a runt.
"Even demon is questionable." The blond continued to muse, almost to himself yet in response to his ebony friend at the same time.
"Well that is interesting." The dark man said, before taking a pause to think. Jack sighed and raised his hand to his face "How can you see all that?" he asked, almost frustrated yet fascinated in one moment. He himself could never quite understand how his friend could do this. His friend, you see, had made quite a name for himself this way so you could say it was his specialty. That was Sherlock Holmes for you, Jack thought to himself. Where he could only see a puddle of red Sherlock managed to see what species the copy-cat could not have been.
Sherlock, as now his name was stated, stood tall and said quite simply: "There isn't as much blood as there should be." He let out another puff of smoke as he pondered what could have done this.
Jack laughed a little, not because it was funny, no this was more out of confusion than anything. "Um…how can you tell the difference…?" The ebony man muttered, at a loss for what to think.
"Because there should be more than this" the blond man paused before he spoke, his pale eyes slanted in confusion and bewilderment that Jack couldn't follow him. Let's just say he had never gotten used to the fact that he worked quicker than most people…including his friends who commonly accompanied him on similar escapades such as this.
The ebony man looked a slight offended and shrugged "Well I don't measure blood." He stated, half defensively.
Sherlock looked Jack in the eyes and stated in a matter that showed he intended to teach the ebony man a better way to think "well it is a helpful tool".
Jack smirked a little at him, fully realizing that the blond had in no way understood that it is not normal to know how to measure blood on sight. "Figuring these things out is your job." He stated matter-of-factly yet with a playful tone. "Remember how this friendship works? You are the brains and I am the muscle." His grin was ear to ear as he finished speaking.
"I can fight too" the pale eyed one pouted at the remark giving him no credit for anything other than thinking.
The tall ebony man was still smirking "Yes." He stated. "And I can think too. It is just best for us to stick with what we are best at." He moved slightly closer to Sherlock, something up his sleeve it would seem.
The blond seemed not to notice and smirked "Why do one when you can do both?" he asked cockily. Just then, and a little to Sherlock's surprise, he grabbed the smaller man's arm and pinned it behind his back; pulling the blond in front of him Jack got a mischievous expression and whispered to him:
"Either way: I am the best at fighting and when people try things they are not one hundred percent at they get themselves into trouble." Jack finished and let go of Sherlock, pushing him just enough to unsteady him, but not to knock him over.
Jack looked down to see the smaller man glaring at him "do that again and I'll shoot you." The blond stated. Sherlock then thought over what he said for a second or two "though it won't kill you." He looked down a little.
"Probably not." The ebony man smirked as the smaller one pouted, Sherlock's expression matched that of a child being told no. Jack suddenly looked over and saw something in the blood, curious as to what it was he picked it up to look "Hey…what do we have here?" he mumbled and examined what appeared to be a note of sorts. "It must be for you 'blondie'" he grinned a little at the term.
Sherlock looked a tad amazed "Wow you found something for once" he then took a pause and realized fully what his taller friend had called him "blondie?" he asked.
His icy eyes got a nonchalant look as he shrugged "That is what the note says" Jack simpered a little. Sherlock grabbed the note from Jack and read it. The note went as follows: 'Hey blondie, go to the warehouse down at the end of the block. I have a gift for you.' The smaller man groaned in response to the note.
"I don't like that nick-name…" the blond mumbled, very much vexed at that moment.
Jack got a playful grin in response: "I know what to start calling you now." poured out of the man's mouth with enthusiasm.
The smaller man showed his childish frown again "Please don't" he mumbled while looking slightly downward.
"Stop sulking" the taller man sighed.
Sherlock suddenly looked up, fairly enraged at that comment "I'M NOT!" he shouted at the ebony man.
A grin then crossed his face as he ruffled Sherlock's hair, knocking off his hat in the process "Sure you aren't" he teased the smaller blond.
The smaller man gritted his teeth "CUT IT OUT!" he vented. Sherlock then picked up his hat off the ground and attempted to straighten out his now messy hair before placing it on his head again. As Jack watched his feeble action he couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle.
The two of them proceeded to walk to the warehouse down at the end of the street. Jack followed after Sherlock, who had a habit of strolling ahead of him whenever they walked together. "You know Watson is 'tailing' us again, right?" the taller man gave his companion a playful grin as he muttered.
"I can hear…" the smaller man mumbled in response.
Jack was laughing a little at this point "He sounds like an elephant." Came from his mouth with a mixture of chuckles and a slightly mischievous expression; Jack was grinning down at Sherlock.
The blond groaned and stepped ahead a little faster "I am unimpressed with him." He mumbled as if it was a profanity of sorts. From there the two walked on until they made it to the reasonably sized abandoned building. Sherlock paused to examine it before walking inside, his ebony friend following him in.
In front of the pair was a girl, about 5'5" in height and rather fit in body type. She had a shoulder-length messy bob-style cut that was the colour of shining silver. Her most notable feature was her glowing red eyes, almost black with sadism and mischief, which stood out on her pale skin. The girl was covered in loose-fitting black garb and her face turned entertained as she walked toward the duo. "Hey blondie" she directed the crude sneer of a greeting to Sherlock, "I see you brought friends."
-end of chapter one-