Title: Consulting Detective & Guide
Characters: Sherlock/John (based on BBC version, slash implied)
MY Inspiration: Sherlock-BBC (all T.V., Movie or Book version), Sentinel (T.V. Series)
Disclaimer: This is my standard disclaimer; I don't own anything in regards to the sources of MYInspiration. All publically recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
All the characters, worlds, base concepts or general ideas are just a bit food for the writing bug. This story is pure fiction and is in no way meant to copy or reflect real life, events or people, should this happen then obviously it is pure coincidence.
Warning: See author profile for preferred pairing type.
Summary: (S1 BBC, Episode 01, RE-WRITE!) Sentinels and Guides have been in existence for years. Each having their own centres and protective government organizations, with mutual co-existent centres in many cities for the purpose of bringing the two together. There are times when it just does not happen. Romantics believe that some Sentinels just don't wake up to their full potential unless the find their Guide first.
Speech Legend: (This is the standard by which I write my stories and therefore you will not see this repeated in future chapters)
"Normal"
'Thoughts'
(…Sign language…)
(...Parseltongue...)
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
CH 1
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
Coming back from Afghanistan with a war wound in his left shoulder and a psychosomatic limp in his right leg, was not something that Gene Non-Active (GNA) Sentinel Dr. John H. Watson had wanted. He had been hoping to at least have had a chance to become an activated Sentinel during his stint with the army when he had been near the front-lines.
He may not have been a gung-ho typical soldier type of Sentinel because he'd chosen to be an excellent medical doctor and field surgeon instead, but he could still hold his own in a fight. His records for shooting targets with his pistol had ranked high enough to give fully active Sentinels a run for their money. So much so, that he'd been tested periodically on and off, during his time in the field for an activated Sentinel status. Needless to say, many of his superior officers really disliked the fact that he hadn't become active during his time with them.
Many had wondered why he never fully activated, but the prevailing theory, now, was that he was never going to find a Guide. There was also the remote possibility that his Guide may have already passed away. The sentimentalists or romanticists among the general population, including some of the Sentinels and Guides, believed that he may be one of the rare ones that would only activate upon meeting with his one true Guide.
John had never believed that hype and he knew that coming back to civilian life without active Sentinel abilities, plus his inoperable war wound, had earned him a permanent medical discharge from the military ranks. At least he was compensated with a modest military pension for the rest of his life. It was all, part and parcel to being wounded for Queen and Country.
That pension still wasn't enough to live on, not in London anyway, which is where he was being released from his active army duties. It was also where the military chose to foot the bill for his mandatory post-war therapy sessions. He was scheduled for several physical, psychological and even a couple of Sentinel consultations too. He had the option to be re-trained, paid for by the Sentinel Council, but only on the condition that he becomes an activated Sentinel.
'Like that's going to happen,' he thought, while grimacing as he hobbled off the local transit bus and into a kind of half way veteran boarding house for injured soldiers. It was not even a proper flat, but he didn't think that he was ready to be living in a real flat either. He had a bit of time to get used to his new situation.
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
Elsewhere and a short time later
On a rainy night a young man and his mate walked down a dark lit street. One turned to the other declaring that he'd go home for his brolly, but was never seen from again.
Weeks later his body was found and it was declared to be an apparent suicide. The papers only put a footnote in the obituaries related to the situation. The incident wasn't deemed sensational enough for a full story. But the police had an open file on the young man because "apparent" suicide and "conclusive" suicide were two very different things.
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
A Few Months Later
A mature woman left a party in her honour and disappeared.
Her body was found in an abandoned building. It was a strange location for a suicide, which had many of her colleagues questioning her sanity and the odd fact that she never left a note.
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
Still Months Later
A man was on the phone with his receptionist and mistress. She had been teasing him, as he'd just returned from a business trip and the car that was scheduled to pick him up had not yet arrived.
"Get a cab," she told him laughingly into the phone, as he grumbled about it. "I love you," she told him and smiled quietly to herself when she heard him reply in the same manner. It was the last time that she'd been able to talk to him.
His body was discovered by a construction worker four days later when the building contract resumed after they'd taken a short break for a Banker's Holiday week-end.
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson (...i...)
Present Day
A press conference was held shortly thereafter with a panel of police representatives. Detective Inspector and GNA Sentinel Greg Lestrade had been placed in charge of the above 'apparent' suicide cases. He was being forced to hold the press conference because his superiors needed to be seen as doing something about the apparent coincidences in the suicidal deaths of the three unrelated individuals. The similarities could no longer be ignored and the public were demanding answers, well the press was.
"We are gathered here to discuss the seeming similarity among the deaths of these three people," one, Active Guide (AG), status unbonded, Sergeant Sally Donovan told the press core. She was not comfortable in front of the cameras because of her low-to-mid level empathic ability, but it was a familiar enough situation for her and therefore she continued in all seriousness.
"The body of Sir Jeffrey Patterson was found late last night in a building site in Greater London. Preliminary investigation suggests that this was a suicide. We can confirm that this apparent suicide closely resembles those of Beth Davenport, Junior Minister for Transport and James Fillmore. In the light of this, these incidents are now being treated as linked. The investigation is ongoing, but Detective Inspector Lestrade will take questions now."
"Detective Inspector, how can suicides be linked," the first eager reporter questioned.
The slightly grey-haired man cleared his throat and said, "Well they all took the same poison. They were all in places they had no reason to be. None of them had shown any prior indications..."
The same reporter interrupted by stating, "But you can't have serial suicides."
"Apparently you can," the Detective Inspector blurted out, more irritated by this situation and the case then by the reporter's statement. He'd already run over everything in his mind and everything pointed in the direction that the cases were linked. It had truly looked like serial suicides and he sincerely hoped it wasn't some kind of cultish suicide pact thing that seemed to be crawling its way into London's streets. Still these victims were not even closely related by school, age, social circles or even remotely biologically.
'Something is wrong here,' he thought. 'What am I going to do about this circus? I really don't want to turn to him again. He's going to be impossible!'
Another reporter chimed in with their question, "These three people, there's nothing that links them?"
"Well, there's no link found yet," Lestrade told everyone. "But we're looking for it...there has to be one."
There was a series of beeps, jingles and jangles as everyone's cell phones alerted them to an incoming text that said:
WRONG!
Sally Donovan looked at hers and frowned, but she immediately told the press, "If you've all got texts, please ignore them."
A reporter said, "It just says 'Wrong'."
"Yeah, well, just ignore that," the policewoman said. Her boss had had enough and so had she. "If there are no more questions for Detective Inspector Lestrade, I'm going to bring this session to an end."
"If they are suicides," a third reporter chimed in. "Then what are you investigating?"
"As I said, these suicides are clearly linked," he paused to sip some water. "But it's an unusual situation. We've got our best people investigating..." He paused as the cell phones in the room alerted everyone about another text message:
WRONG!
"It says 'Wrong' again," another reporter said.
"Final question," Sally told them. She was trying to take their minds off of the text messages that kept interrupting their conference.
"Is there any chance that these are murders and if they are...is this the work of a serial killer?" A final reporter piped up.
"I know that you like writing about this type of thing," Lestrade said. "But these do appear to be suicides. We know the difference. The poison was clearly self-administered."
"Yes, but if they are murders," the first report started. "How do people keep themselves safe?"
"Well don't commit suicide," DI Lestrade nearly barked out, irritated at still being there to answer the silly questions.
"Ah-hem," Sally coughed and covered it with her hand to whisper, "Daily Mail."
DI Lestrade nearly rolled his eyes, but he did sigh and say, "Obviously this is a frightening time for people, but all anyone has to do is exercise reasonable precautions. We are all as safe as we want to be."
WRONG!
Again the texts came in, 'Wrong', only this time on Lestrade's phone the message was, 'You know where to find me. SH'.
"No more questions," Sally said standing up. Her supervisor followed and they left the conference room together. As they walked back into their section of cubicles away from the central conference area of the station, she said. "You've got to stop him from doing that. He's making us look like idiots."
"If you can tell me how he does it," Lestrade answered. "Then I'll stop him." He watched his subordinate huff and he left her to resume her research into one of the numerous cases on her desk.
Sherlock - Holmes - John - Watson
TBC...
(...i...) Most of the conversations in this story will be direct from the episode, as I'll try to find a way to change or alter the path of this story. This story is just a basic re-write with a few new elements incorporated and only because I find the idea of the Sentinel Universe mixed with Sherlock to be a strangely appealing one.