This is timelined shortly after the Reichenbach Fall, Sherlock is in Europe dismantling Moriarty's networks and is dragged back after Loki attacks SHIELD head quarters. It takes place throughout the Avengers movie.
Deductions in Time & Space
"Found you dear brother." Came a drawling voice in his ear, the voice of a man he had been trying to hide from, his older brother, Mycroft Holmes. "The holiday is over, time to come home."
Chapter 1 – National Importance
"You look much better now Sherlock." Chided Mycroft as he walked into the room, clean shaven and washed.
"Now will you tell me why you have brought me back? I would like to know why you interrupted my work! I haven't even been dead a few damned weeks." Sherlock growled.
"Yes, I am sorry but I couldn't bear to look at you when you were pretending to be a Neanderthal." Mycroft sighed.
"The Neanderthal look kept me from being found out." He snapped back, footsteps came from behind him and two secret service agents came up behind him, or so he thought until he looked closer.
Americanised clothing, latex suits, weapons on display. Arrogant stance and movement, no sunglasses. He curled his lip up as he looked them over.
"Americans, you're not the CIA, who are you?"
"No sir, we're not." A voice said that did not come from either man with a thick American accent, both stepped aside and their imposing figures were made even more imposing by the person who walked between them. Short, balding, suited and wearing sunglasses, the agent stepped past the other two to stand in front of them.
"Mr Holmes, I have heard a lot about you." He held out his hand with a very peculiar look on his face.
"It's not like an agent to get star struck… What is going on here, who are you people?"
The smile faltered on the agent's face and he dropped his hand. "My name is Agent Phil Coulson and I work for SHIELD, you need to come with us Mr Holmes."
"SHIELD?" Sherlock turned round to his brother and gave him a questioning look.
"I'm just the messenger boy this time Sherlock, they need you, it is a matter of-"
"National Importance?" Sherlock mused.
"International Importance." Mycroft lowered his gaze, bringing his nose out of the air; his look gave a warning to Sherlock. This was bad, Moriarty was child's play compared to this.
Sherlock turned back to the men.
"Where are we going?"
"Manhattan Mr Holmes, now please come with us." Coulson swept past the two larger agents who flanked him as he walked out of the room, Sherlock and Mycroft followed behind cautiously.
"What is going on Mycroft, this is not your normal everyday matter of international importance?" Sherlock hissed through his teeth at Mycroft as they dropped back slightly from the men.
"I'm sorry Sherlock, I cannot tell you, the world is in danger Sherlock, and I do mean the world. There are things in this world you know nothing about and what you will see over the course of this case is going to challenge everything you know or thought you knew. Do not get lost in your mind when the time comes Sherlock, you are going to be placed into real danger this time."
"Are you saying Moriarty was not 'real danger'?" He worked to keep his voice low as they walked up a set of stairs that led to the roof.
"You don't know the half of it dear brother. Promise me you'll be careful."
"Sentiment." Sherlock used it like a curse word, but his gaze soften on Mycroft as they stopped on the roof of the building where a helicopter was waiting.
"Look after John for me, keep him safe." Sherlock went to walk away but felt a tug on his coat.
"I always have, but Sherlock…" Sherlock turned back to Mycroft to see the man losing his calm exterior. "If this does not go well, come home, what ever it takes, come back to John and your family. Do not stay out there when the world ends."
"The world ends? What are you talking about Mycroft? What do you know?!" He sucked in a breath, trying not to let Mycroft's silly emotions affect him.
"Be safe brother." Mycroft let go of his coat as the helicopter rotors started to turn, Sherlock pulled his coat up to his face and hurried away and into the helicopter where the agents were waiting. He shouted over the noise to try and get them to speak to him, but all he got was cryptic sentences back as they lifted off the helipad and up into the sky.
A short helicopter ride took them to London Heathrow Airport, where they were ushered into a blacked out windowed car and out to a private jet. During the long hours of the flight Sherlock tried to figure out what he could, the agents would not allow him any details of the case, saying it would need to be explained by another. He gazed over the men with focused eyes, allowing himself to look bored and careless whilst inside his head he was working hard.
When the plane finally touched down Sherlock felt like he was made of wood from sitting in the seats for hours in silence.
They were met by a large military carrier craft, where Sherlock was introduced to a man named Captain Steve Rogers whom Agent Coulson was acting frighteningly like a little girl around, Sherlock made a mental note for later. He was told the Captain was an experimental soldier who was a lot older than he looked, Sherlock tried not to roll his eyes at the casual way they spoke about things that were impossible, just in passing as if he was in on their little jokes. The two men merely nodded at each other and Sherlock sat down to deduce what he could from this Captain whilst he and Coulson spoke. They taken out of Manhattan and onto the open water, they alighted on a floating aircraft base as other crafts dropped down to join them.
After exiting the fanciful craft to stand upon an even more fanciful base Sherlock was getting more and more agitated by being kept in the dark. It seemed everyone but he had been informed about why they were here and he was beginning to wonder if it was just because he was British and the Americans were embarrassed to have had to call on Britain to help once more.
He was introduced to a Russian woman called Natasha Romanov who was some form of assassin, her low tolerance attitude and over confident nature suggested she had been in a lot of trouble in her younger years, but before Sherlock could do too much observing, or listening to the talk of Agent Coulson's Captain America Trading Cards (It was all Sherlock could do not to laugh) he was introduced to a very interesting specimen indeed. Twitchy, nervous, shuffling about and rubbing his hands together was one Doctor Banner, a man trying very hard to hide a secret. He caught Sherlock's rapt attention immediately, making him think better of this case so far, he as definitely the most interesting human he had met yet.
Romanov came up behind them and the look on her face made Sherlock instantly brace himself, something big and disconcerting was about to happen. Right on queue the engines on the floating platform roared into life and the base rocked precariously in the water. Sherlock checked his surroundings quickly, noting the perimeter of the boat, the way it was made and he had a distinct feeling he was missing something, he saw the straps and rings in the platform's floor, heavy duty doors and airlocks, saw the way the runways were made and the men pulling on oxygen masks, a thought dawned upon him, it can fly! People started to run left and right, securing anything out on the deck as the three men walked forwards to look over the edge and into the water. The platform lurched underneath their feet as great engines made whirlpools before lifting out of the water. The sickening wrench he felt at his stomach as they rose up into the air clawed at Sherlock, trying to diminish his outer calm and he forced himself to step back from the edge. He and tall edges did not go well together.
They were taken into a large room filled half way round with a glass screen so that you could see the open ocean underneath you. Computers of all shapes and sizes as well as screens and other forms of technology Sherlock had not encountered before lined the front portion of the room and in the middle was a small platform where a very imposing man was standing. He had an eye patch on and an expression of ice, his face gave the impression of a man who had seen terrible things and the commanding presence that gave Sherlock no doubt that he was the leader here.
Captain Rogers walked forwards and gave the man a $10 bill, a source of some form of bet no doubt, and then went to inspect the bridge as Banner walked around inspecting all the doors and guards. Sherlock raised an eyebrow at him but kept his deductions to himself as he faced the man who had the answers to his questions.
He shook both their hands and introduced himself to Sherlock as Nick Fury, leader of SHIELD, a top secret agency for keeping the world safe from non terrestrial threats. Sherlock stood there for a moment, trying his hardest not to scoff and wondering if this was Mycroft's punishment for faking his own death and disappearing. Banner asked Fury about something called a 'Tesseract' and told them they needed to use 'spectrometers' to find it. His eyes flicked to Romanov who was flicking through a man's file, concern hidden on her face, but not well enough to fool Sherlock. Her whole posture screamed of the emotional turmoil she was fighting inside.
Romanov took Banner away to his very own laboratory and Sherlock was left trying his best not to look bewildered.
"I imagine you have some questions you want answered Mr Holmes." Fury rounded on him, a look of contempt on his face.
"I'll let you start." Sherlock replied coolly.
"My agents and I have been working on using the powers of the Tesseract, a stand alone energy source found at the bottom of the ocean."
"Stand alone, as in self powered? But that is impossible." Sherlock hoped he didn't sound confused.
"To someone like you, yes. The Tesseract is not only an energy force but a portal, something came through that portal. SHIELD monitors and controls extra terrestrial encounters that happen on our planet, do you watch the news Mr Holmes?"
Sherlock stayed silent, watching this curious man, his mind running through many possibilities and conclusions, mainly that the man was crazy or that he was knocked out somewhere in Europe.
"You may remember a couple of years ago a town in America was levelled in a day and no one could figure out what happened. An alien force had entered Earth and fought on our soil, destroying a whole town in the process. We had to cover it up."
"Aliens, how delightfully childish, what is really going on."
"No one is being childish Mr Holmes, you have been brought her as our world is under threat. As of right now, whilst everyone you know is sipping tea and eating crumpets," Sherlock sniffed at the stereotyping, though, he could really do with a cup of tea right now, "the world is at war with an unknown alien threat. SHIELD headquarters was recently destroyed when an alien being by the name of Loki came through the Tesseract and stole it, he has declared that he will take over our planet and brainwashed some of our top minds to help him do it. We need to find the Tesseract and his plans for it, than Mr Holmes is where you come in. They say you can solve any case, find any missing thing and prove things that can't be proven, am I mistaken?"
"You aren't, no."
"Then you will have to believe what I say, you'll soon see either way."
Sherlock stepped off the platform and over to the window, his mind working furiously to disentangle this puzzle and find the facts and separate them, surely they were covering up for something. He scanned the room a few times, picking out things that seemed important, including the layout, every door and every guard.
Before too long urgent beeping had started. 'We got a hit!' came a voice of a man at one of the computers.
Fury dismissed the Captain and turned to Sherlock. "Are you ready to see the truth in my words Detective?"