The Battlefield
Summary: "When you're with Sherlock you see the battlefield". Since Moriarty's trial it became too dangerous living with Sherlock. Sherlock decides to leave England and deal with his nemesis on his own, but Moriarty is always one step ahead of him.
Rated T for drug use, mild violence, strong language and sexual references.
Disclaimer: I OWN NEITHER THE TV SHOWS NOR THE SONGS I USE. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED. ALL MY STORIES ARE FOR FUN AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.
John collapsed onto his bed exhausted; it's been a hell of a day. He and Sherlock were investigating a Japanese criminal organization operating here in London when they run right into their hideout. Before they could sneak out a guard noticed them a sounded the alarm. Looks like Japanese criminals don't welcome intruders well. They tied them up to a chair and interrogated them, Japanese style. John was on the verge of being beheaded with a katana like a fucking piece of bamboo (as the samurai guy was kind enough to demonstrate).
Thankfully Lestrade arrived there just in time with an entire Special Forces squad (nevertheless sent by Mycroft) and saved their sorry arses. Of course Sherlock was too proud to admit that he needed help, but at least their heads were still attached to their bodies (just the way John liked) and were not decorating a bloody wall.
And that's nothing compared to what happened a week ago. One bloke called Alexei Zakhaev had recently moved to Baker Street and sent Sherlock and John a card inviting them to a welcome party. Naturally Sherlock had declined the invitation, but John thought that would be rude so he showed up, big mistake. The new neighbor turned out to be a professional assassin (why wasn't John surprised by that). He drugged John and threatened him to tear out his fingernails if he doesn't tell him Mycroft's access code to NSA's secret files. How on earth could he know Mycroft's access code to NSA…wait NSA? No he didn't even want to think about it. Fortunately Sherlock sensed something was wrong when he texted John to buy him some fresh pig eyes and didn't get any complaints.
For the first time Sherlock actually did something good calling Lestrade before showing up to "the party". That's as mature as he got before he proceeded to throw their new neighbor over the window until he lost count. Sherlock stated that John got off rather easy only by being a little high and still possessing all his fingernails. Yey! He was over the moon, literally; that Yuri bastard drugged him for good. Three full days of nausea and headaches and of course having to put up with Sherlock's teasing because, well, Sherlock kept himself clean while John hadn't. Like he had a choice anyway! Not to mention the countless times John had felt into the Thames, unintentionally or not. So he may say he lives quite a dangerous life, maybe more dangerous than the one during his time in Afghanistan.
He was tired; he needed to slow down a bit and rest, only for a moment. John lifted his head lazily and gazed at the clock on the bedside, ten past one. He let his head fall back on the pillow and sighed heavily. "I should at least take off my shoes." John thought remembering that he had gone to bed fully clothed. He stood still for a moment considering changing his clothes before turning to his side determinated to catch at least eight hours of sleep. The last thing he heard was the sound of steaming water coming from the bathroom before falling into a deep slumber.
Sherlock came out of his room dressed in a fresh pair of pajamas and in his blue dressing grown, his hair still damp. He was down the hallway on his way to the kitchen when he passed by John's room; the door was wide open. Sherlock reached for the knob to close the door, but stopped spotting John lying motionless on his bed, sleeping face up. He was still fully clothed; Sherlock rolled his eyes. He went to John's bed and covered him with a blanket before exiting his room; he had his own business to take care of. Sherlock stopped again in the door frame, for the second time in two minutes and gazed at the clock on John's bedside, quarter to two. "It's still early" Sherlock thought. He turned around and headed to the center of the room irresolute whether to stay or not. He decided to stay and sat on the floor, back against bed's edge watching the door still wide open.
Sherlock leaned his head against the hard edge of the bed and took a deep breath. "It became too dangerous", he concluded. Since Moriarty's trial it became more and more dangerous, everything, the cases, their new neighbors and also Moriarty's statement that he owed him… He could see that his loved ones were suffering from this, John and Mrs. Hudson too…that American that assaulted her and if he doesn't take action something similar might happen again. The more he stays with them, the more they will suffer. Sherlock couldn't let that happen and neither could Mycroft that agreed with Sherlock (a rare sight indeed, Holmes boys agreeing, but if circumstances require it can happen) to provide him support in every possible way for Sherlock to leave England and hunt down Moriarty on his own, organization by organization until he leaves The Spider without his precious web, then he will crush the spider too, thus Moriarty and anything linked with him would be gone forever.
Mycroft arranged for a car to pick up Sherlock at four a.m. from Bake Street and take him to London Heathrow Airport where he will take a flight to Italy. Mrs. Hudson was gone to her sister for three days. She accepted her sister's invitation to spend some time at her country house in Cotswolds. This gave Sherlock the perfect opportunity to disappear, and John? Well he was sleeping soundly, probably dreaming about Middle-earth.
Sherlock shivered, it was chilly on the floor especially since he'd just taken a shower. He got up and stretched his back before looking for something more comfortable to sit on. He gazed at John who hadn't moved a bit, still lying face up near the edge opposed to Sherlock's. John's bed was quite big; two people would fit there easily. Sherlock looked at the empty spot near John and shrugged, what option did he have anyway? He carefully lay down near John, shifting lightly to make himself more comfortable. He placed a hand behind his head and looked briefly at John before shifting his gaze to the ceiling. "John wouldn't like this", Sherlock chuckled "them sharing a bed and all". But John was not awake to tell him that, nor will Sherlock be there when John wakes up. John will be mad when he finds out that his flat-mate ran without telling anyone." There's no other option, if someone else knows where he is, Moriarty might, in fact will torture them to get what he wants". How long will he be away anyway? two years, maybe more. The hell, he doesn't even know if he will get out of this alive. This might be the last time when he sees John. Sherlock shook his head trying to wash away that thought. "This is for the best" he reminded to himself. Everyone will be safe, Mycroft will take care of this.
Sherlock turned to his side facing the door."He will guard him, John, even if it's the last time. He will not fall asleep". Still Sherlock was only human, his body was betraying him. The fatigue from all those sleepless nights and all those restless chasing was starting to take over his body and slowly Sherlock too felt into a restless slumber.
A black van stopped on Baker Street. Two individuals got off the car. The first one, a tall, lean-build man in his early fifties was wearing an old dark brown leather duster, plain white shirt and worn-out narrow-leg jeans. He sports a wide brimmed cowboy style hat that obscures his face and a hogs tooth around his neck. He has long, wavy, salt and pepper hair and chin stubble.
Unlike his partner the other individual is stocky and muscular even through he doesn't look older than thirty. He wears moss green tank top, black leather braces, standard VSR camouflage shirt and trousers and army combat boots. The name tapes and tabs had been ripped off; the only testimony of this man once being in the army being his dog tag which he was wearing around his neck. He has a buzz cut and a single earring in his right ear.
"All right, you go after Mr. Holmes, I'll take care of the doctor. Meet up in ten minutes at the van" the older golem explained producing a set of keys from his pocket. His partner proceeded towards the door, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Remember, these are Mr. Moriarty's greatest enemies, be careful and no killing, understood?" said the golem getting past the other and taking lead. The younger one just nodded and followed him.
They stopped in front of a door with the inscription "221B". The golem used the keys to open the door, they fitted in perfectly. They entered the apartment and got quietly upstairs where they split up. The golem in charge stopped in front of John's room. Something was not right, the door was wide open. He advanced cautiously towards the door. The street lamps were providing enough light to distinguish the shape of the objects in the room and the golem could see a still shadow on the bed, but it seemed too big to be a human's. Getting closer he noticed that there were in fact two shadows somehow tangled together. He stopped near the bed's edge, wide eyes in surprise. The golem wanted to call his partner, but the other was already in the door frame, probably here to report that Sherlock's room was empty. He came near his boss, startled by the sight as much as his superior. They both started giggling covering their mouths not to make any noise.
On the bed two people were sleeping soundly close to one another. The detective was sleeping on his side with his head resting on John's shoulder. One hand was clutched to the doctor's shirt in a loose grip. The other was sleeping face up, half covered with a blanket. His nose was nuzzling in the detective's hair.
"How cute!" the older one whispered in mockery and fetched his camera phone from his pocket.
"What are you doing, sir?" the other asked.
"Capturing the moment." his boss grinned activating the flash before taking a picture.
The flash lighted the entire room waking Sherlock. Still sleepy he noticed two silhouettes before him and startled he tightens his grip on John's shirt. John too, woken by the sudden light struggles to release Sherlock's grip and hits the detective's head with his chin. Filled with pain the doctor squirms even more and being near the edge, falls of the bed. Sherlock still having his hand clutched to John's shirt is dragged across the bed to its edge in the process. John, now on the floor, fully awake and one hundred percent infuriated reaches out and grabs Sherlock by the collar.
"What in the name of sanity do you think you're doing?" John was raging, no question about that.
"Guarding you." Sherlock answered sincerely still dizzy from his trip along the bed.
Wait, what? Sure John didn't know what to expect, he just asked the question because he was angry, but still that caught him off guard. John paused for a moment, considering how to react to Sherlock's statement. Meanwhile the two golems were just standing there enjoying the show.
"Junior, go find the lights." the older one said casually to the other, not even bothering to whisper anymore.
"Anyway what were you doing in my room…in my bed?" the doctor continued flushed.
"As I said before, I was guarding you." Sherlock nearly shouted felling his head spinning.
"Guarding me from what exactly, Sherlock, leprechauns?"John shouted trying to replace his embarrassment with anger.
"Maybe, why, are you afraid of them?" now Sherlock was shouting too.
"Are we…interrupting you?" suddenly someone else spoke.
Both of them turned their attention towards the intruders only to be startled by another dazzling flash. "Good at least they stopped. These two could go on like this forever." the older golem sighed while looking at the photo he'd just taken. The detective lying on the bed, the other on the floor holding the other's collar, they faces rather close, you could easily understand something else was going on…
"Priceless!" the golem exclaimed "You know if there were a fan club of you two or something like that, I'd definitely join it."
"Shit!" Sherlock thought realizing the danger they were in. The detective tried to get up, but he was caught off guard by the sudden wave of light; somebody had just turned on the light. Before he could react someone had grasped his shirt, dragged him out of bed near its edge in front of John, restrained his hands and pressed a knee against Sherlock's back forcing him to kneel on the floor. Little could Sherlock do to free his hands because golem had already handcuffed him.
"Sher…"John all but murmured before the older golem used the same method to pin him to the floor, grabbing his hands and pressing his kneel against the doctor's back; all of this happening in less than ten seconds.
"Search him." the golem in charge ordered ignoring their hostages' shock.
"Who are you?" Sherlock asked coming to his senses.
"You already know who we are, Mr. Holmes." the older golem said dryly while searching John. Sherlock caught a glimpse of something shiny around the assassin's neck.
Searching John wasn't an easy task as the doctor kept struggling and unlike his partner, the assassin hadn't handcuffed his hostage, still the golem kept John firmly pinned to the floor. You could almost see the awkwardness oozed by John, it looked like an aura around him.
"Moriarty's minions!" Sherlock answered cheekily.
"Hireling.", the other corrected without shifting his graze from his hectic hostage.
He proceeded to search John's front pocket earning an angry growl from the doctor. The golem ignored him and pulled out John's wallet from his pocket which he tossed to the bed along John's other belongings, a gun, his phone and the flat keys. As bad as John's situation seemed to be, Sherlock's was even worse. Even with Sherlock's combat experience he could do nothing against the brute force of his aggressor and to matters even worse this, this…this ape (for the lack of better species identification) carried out every order with absurd faithfulness. When the other said "search him" Sherlock was convinced he didn't mean tearing his clothes or actually checking every inch of his body. It drove Sherlock over the edge, that and the fact that he was powerless against the ape.
"For God's sake, I'm only in my pajamas, how could I possibly have something on me?" Sherlock yelled exasperated.
John smirked hearing Sherlock. It's good to see that his friend was still himself despite the situation. He was also glad that this time Sherlock was dressed in more than just a sheet and a pair of pants…hopefully.
"Junior, please treat Mr. Holmes with dignity." the golem enunciated, same monotony in his voice.
"Very funny!" Sherlock gave the assassin one of his fake smiles. To his surprise "Junior" stopped tearing his clothes content only to search in his pockets.
"He's clean." Junior reported. Sherlock huffed disgusted.
"All right, time to go, we're already late." the golem announced finishing searching John. He pullet out a pair of handcuffs intending to restrain John.
"Damn" Sherlock taught, if John gets handcuffed too, it's checkmate. There will be no chance of escaping anymore. Sherlock couldn't let that happen, he had to do something.
"Poor, unfortunate soul" Sherlock began almost singing "going to war right before his daughter's birth, never to actually see her."
The move had the desired effect as the golem stopped what he was doing and gazed at Sherlock, utter shock on his face. Sherlock locked gaze with him and continued with an evil grin on his face.
"I wonder what caused you to make a contract with Moriarty, what did he promised you? Did he offer you to serve him for five or seven years in exchange for your life?" Sherlock was enjoying himself watching the other as realization and terror struck his face. "Still more than a decade had passed since the contract has expired, why do you still stick with Moriarty? Is it because he's threatening you or you can't escape or…is it because you're too ashamed to return home as a criminal? Whatever the reason, you are nothing but A SLAVE!" Sherlock said the last word with such power and mockery that it even made John shiver.
"ENOUGH!" the golem yelled, visibly affected by Sherlock's deduction: wide eyes in shock, labored breath, shaking hands and fist clenched to John's shoulder, digging his claws in the doctor's flesh, making him hiss in pain.
"JUNIOR!" the golem shouted at his partner startling him "Please, show Mr. Holmes what happens if he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."
"Y-yes, sir!" his subordinate rushed to carry out the order. He dug his hands to Sherlock's shoulders pulling them towards him while pushing his knee against the detective's back. The knee was carefully placed to apply pressure on the thoracic curvature of his spine. The action was stressing all his ribcage, the pectoral arch, his spine and implicit his ribs and sternum. "That's not good" Sherlock cringed in pain "at this rate his clavicles might snap or even worse, his spine might break, this could cause paralysis or even death". Sherlock started screaming in pain as his bones were stretched and crushed to one another, all could Sherlock hope is what will yield first. Fortunately, or not the first to give in were his lungs that couldn't withstand the action of forcibly expanding at the same time as expelling air.
John watched as Sherlock's scream turned into a silent one as he run out of air. The detective was squirming, writhing to no end trying to recoup his ability to breathe that he so desperately needed right now.
"What are you doing? STOP! You're killing him!" John cried seeing Sherlock on the verge of losing consciousness from the pain and lack of oxygen.
"Junior, that's enough, let go of Mr. Holmes." the golem said composed.
The other obeyed faithfully literally letting go of Sherlock. The detective collapsed on the floor with a loud thump.
"Sherlock, Sherlock!" John cried out seeing his friend lie motionless on the floor. Somehow John managed to free his left hand reaching out for Sherlock. After witnessing golem's power earlier, John knew that the assassin let him free his hand, but right now he didn't care, he had to make sure Sherlock was alright. Seconds passed before Sherlock finally gasped for air, coughing hard. John sighed in relief caressing the detective's hair as this was as far as his hand could reach.
"Sherlock, are you alright?" John asked worried watching his friend panting hard and trembling convulsively. He took long deep breaths and gulped hard before nodding to John hiding his face from him or the burglars.
"Anything you're like to add, Mr. Holmes?" the golem asked irony in his voice. He caught John's hand forcing it back to his grip. Sherlock didn't answer nor did he try to get up. At least his breathing pattern was back to normal and he didn't tremble anymore, John noted.
"All right, we've lost enough time, Junior, blindfold Mr. Holmes and let's go." the golem said finally handcuffing John.
Junior pulled out a piece of black fabric and wrapped it around Sherlock's eyes. The other did the same, but unlike Sherlock, John was putting up quite a fight. The golem was getting tired of this.
"You know, I taught Junior everything he knows about fighting, including that move he'd just used on Mr. Holmes, do you still think it's a good idea to struggle?"
Maybe he should do what the golem asks, at least for the time being, John thought. He glared at Sherlock who nodded secretly. That cheeky idiot, pretending he's hurt only to frighten him.
"A wise decision, doctor Watson." The golem blindfolded John too. "Would you please stand up." The assassin continued finally getting off of John.
John complied. It was hard getting up handcuffed and he couldn't see a thing too. John wondered if they could pull this off.
Unlike his superior, Junior actually offered a helping hand to Sherlock, in his own brutal way. Sherlock let the golem shove him by the shirt as much as he pleased; he will return his kindness later. Also in this way he could find out more about his position in relation to his opponent and the distance between them, being blindfolded these information were vital for their daring escape.
Without any warning John charged at the golem and hit him in the stomach with his shoulder. His opponent stepped back hunching over in pain. "Damn" John thought, if it weren't for the handcuffs or the blindfolding, the golem would have been unconscious by now. He growled in irritation preparing for a second hit aiming the other's chest with his foot, no mistakes this time, he had to knock him off or else the plan was over. Seeing his superior in trouble, Junior let his guard down, allowing Sherlock to knock him over with a heel kick.
"Payback time!" Sherlock gritted his teeth adjusting his stance for a second kick this time at the man's chin. It may be a little cruel and it will definitely leave marks, but the goal was to knock him off and that was the most effective way in this situation and anyway he deserved it. Still Sherlock didn't get the chance to fulfill his "payback" as he froze in place hearing the unmistakable sound of a revolver's hammer being coked.
John extended his foot for a swinging kick to the golem's chest. He wouldn't normally use a high kick as yes, he knows, he is a short person, but his opponent was bent over from the other kick so it should be quite easy and efficient in this situation. If only he could aim well, John thought.
"Why do I even bother?" the golem muttered trying to catch his breath from John's kick. He looked up in time to see the doctor preparing for another kick. He dodged it easily as he had the advantage of sight and mobility then leaned forward and punched his opponent in the stomach. John felt to the ground almost instantly growling in pain. The golem looked at his partner just in time to see Sherlock prepare to kick Junior in the chin. "Damn!" the golem cursed," he would break his jawbone if he were to hit the boy." The assassin drew his revolver and cocked the hammer, making sure everybody would hear the click.
"All right, the show is over!" the assassin almost shouted sick of all the interruptions. He pointed the revolver to John's temple happy to see that Sherlock had stopped before hitting his partner. Junior too, drew his gun and pointed it to Sherlock's temple mimicking his superior's movements.
"You had your fun, now I'm having mine. You can either do as I say or there are other ways to convince you." The golem said calmly lowering the revolver from John's temple to his shoulder, pining the barren right on John's wound. The doctor shivered felling the cold metal against his scar, the ghost of the bullet penetrating his flesh still haunting him. There was a funeral silence in the room that the golem took as an agreement to obey his demands.
"Time to go, we've already fallen behind too much, doctor Watson, take lead!" the assassin commanded leading John by the handcuffs.
His partner followed him leading Sherlock in his characteristic way. Junior seemed to have a fetish on shoving people by their clothes. "I should have kicked him in the groin." Sherlock muttered under his breath not caring about fair-play anymore.
Their kidnappers shoved them in the back of the van. It seems the van had two sets of metal seat benches quite small and uncomfortable. They made Sherlock and John sit on opposite sides and linked a chain from their metal seats to their handcuffs, just in case, the golem explained.
Junior was in charge with guarding them and for once Sherlock was glad that he chose to sit on the bench opposed to Sherlock's. The other golem got in the driver's sit and started the engine. Sherlock listened as the car was driving them out of Baker Street, out of London, leading them towards The Spider like a butterfly flying blindly towards his web.