Like her brother, Janine Katherine Connolly has a penchant for fantasy. It is so wild and unpredictable – the real fairy tales, at least. The originals. And the evil – beasts, witches, wizards, jealous parents or siblings – and her personal favorite, the evil within a hero's own heart – it's just so much less boring than real life.
However, in real life, there are no magic spells or kisses of true love to wake the dead. Unless, for some infuriating reason, your name is Sherlock Holmes. Her brother had made a mistake, and had seriously underestimated him. She was not going to make the same mistake.
He tries so hard, poor Sherl, to pretend he is a machine, a tin man, without a heart. And his heart is a caged thing – well-guarded and hidden away, abused and damaged by the loss of a beloved pet, a critical older brother, and a certain Woman. But he really did an admirable job, pretending to be her boyfriend. She knew he'd learned how to treat her by watching John and Mary, and Molly.
Sweet, sweet Molly Hooper. Doesn't even realize how much power she holds, in their little group. Holmes, Watson, Lestrade – they rely so much on her, and she is so reliable. The three emotionally dull men don't even realize that they'd do just about anything for their darling pathologist. She's a predictable, boring little angel. Always helpful, always forgiving, always loving, always dreaming. If she killed her outright, just a bullet through the brain, or perhaps the heart, they'd be so lost she wouldn't have any fun with them at all.. Sherl doesn't realize it yet, but Molly holds a large part of his heart, and she will burn it out of him. So Janine has to wait. Bide her time. Apply pressure at the right moments to the group's Dorothy
Ah, she likes this Wizard of Oz analogy. It's a fun little game. Who's next? John Watson. The Scarecrow. He really does need a brain, sometimes. Ha. Didn't even realize who his wife was, before he married her. Tried to call for the police during his own burglary. Ha. She always hated the scarecrow in the original story. He was boring…no witch chopping him to pieces until he was nothing but a tin man, no traumatic events reducing him to a cowardly lion.
Lestrade is the cowardly lion. She knows it fits him perfectly. Staying in a ruined marriage, afraid of being alone. Sticking with the Yard, staying a D.I., afraid of leaving the excitement of working with Sherlock for a position with more power. Most people wouldn't call him a coward, not off the bat. But Janine, she's been watching for three long years, and she knows what makes everyone tick.
Mycroft is the wizard, of course. So powerful, he pulls all the strings. But he's so lazy, so uninterested in fieldwork. She knows he'll send his brother and friends to take her down. She's planning on it, and she'll overthrow his empire, because he's also fraud. Dear Myc makes such a show about not caring, spouts such nonsense about sentiment being a weakness, a human error – but he loves his baby brother, he really does. It will be such fun proving that point to him.
There is one person she needs to take care of first – Glinda. Janine supposes it's a bit ironic to call a dominatrix a good witch, but it just fits so deliciously with her metaphor she can't resist. And she'll be so easily gotten rid of.
Sherlock Holmes killed her brother. Janine Katherine Connolly is a wicked witch, but she does not melt in water. This is going to be fun.
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