I don't own Sherlock, or the MCU... for this particular piece we go into the second Avengers movie, just the first scene; while it might help if you've seen it, it's not absolutely necessary (though it does help to have at least a basic idea of things related to the Avengers). I'm quite willing to answer questions if you have any.
I have no Beta and am certainly not British (Mexican, actually), so apologies for any mistakes.
Inheritance
"The game is never over. But there may be some new players now." SH
John Watson and Mycroft Holmes were sitting across from each other in one of the politician's concealed rooms in Whitehall; drinking tea and waiting for Mycroft's PA to arrive with the report of the MI6 mission concerning a terrorist cell in Eastern Europe.
"You still haven't told me what made you decide to turn your wife in?" Mycroft commented in a somewhat easy tone.
"I did not turn in my wife, because no such woman ever existed." John answered gruffly. "Mary Morstan died a long time ago, I never knew her." He shook his head. "But as to the point of your question... lets just say the last lie proved to be one too many."
"The baby." Mycroft wasn't asking.
"There was never a baby." John huffed. "She cannot even have children." He let out a breath. "After she... after Sherlock was shot, I honestly hated her. Couldn't understand why your brother insisted so much on me forgiving her. And then he mentioned the child. Even if I could barely stand to look at Mary, it wasn't the baby's fault. I was even considering the possibility of waiting until the child was born and then taking her, let you do whatever you wanted with Mary. Then I found out there was no baby..." He closed his eyes tightly to hold back any possible tears. "She made me feel guilty, you know? When she 'lost her'. Made me feel like it was my fault, because I was so cold to her, so disinterested. Even after I gave that stupid speech at your parents' place on Christmas, when I made her think I'd forgiven her, I just couldn't bring myself to touch her more than what was absolutely necessary. And she did her best to make me believe that, somehow, my actions had caused our baby's death."
"How did you find out there never was a baby?" The eldest Holmes was honestly curious. "I will admit that while I did my best to try and find something I could use against her if it ever became necessary... I never found anything about that."
"I was told." The doctor shrugged slightly. "By someone who knew... well, lets just say he knew where Mary, or Alicia, as I found out her real name was, came from. While I did not know that person, her words were backed up by someone I do know, and whom I respect greatly."
"And you will not tell me who this person is..."
"I'll tell you he's family, and that's all, for his own good as well as mine."
"Family? I thought Harry was your only family. Your files don't mention anyone else. Only your sister: Harriet Margaret Watson. And that both of your parents: Jacob and Stephanie Watson have passed away. No close family for any of them."
"Actually my mother did have a brother, with a different surname as they were only half-siblings. Same mother, different fathers." John pointed out. "His name is James, James Sholto."
Mycroft froze, truly froze. Looking over his own memories of the man (whom he'd looked up while compiling the file on John Watson) he could see the resemblance; and yet there had been nothing, or at least he hadn't been able to find anything that would suggest they were related at all. Was he missing data? And if so, why?
"Though in any case, I'm not talking about him." John went on, politely ignoring Mycroft's bafflement. "While James and I happened to meet while serving in Afghanistan and got along well enough, we've never been that close, ever before Mum died. He never liked that she left the service to be a stay-at-home mum."
Mycroft's eyes narrowed at yet another piece of information he didn't have. He'd never seen anything that would suggest Stephanie Watson had ever been military, or with any intelligence agency. And yet by the ease with which John mentioned it, it was quite obvious he wasn't making it up (it was also obvious that he expected the eldest Holmes to know at least that, as he wasn't trying to keep it hidden). He was about to ask about it, and maybe about who then had interfered regarding his wife, when his phone rang, it was his PA. The news weren't good.
"What do you mean he wasn't there?!" Mycroft nearly lost all composure as he said those words. "Send all of it straight into my computer."
John waited until Mycroft hung up, and even several seconds longer, staring straight at the older man, as if trying to read the answer for the question he didn't want to ask in his face. It was pointless, even with his brief loss of control the Holmes mask was more than the former military captain could crack.
"Is Sherlock dead...?" He asked, voice breaking in the end.
"No." The politician answered immediately, before adding. "Though there's actually no guarantee he's alive either."
"What do you mean?" The doctor had a feeling what it meant, and he didn't like it.
"I mean MI6 couldn't find him, Sherlock wasn't in the hideout." Mycroft admitted. "Anna thinks he might have been transported two or three days ago, but we don't know where."
"Do they have anything that might help us find out?" John inquired.
"They found a few files, and she's sending them to me. Hopefully we'll find something there." He made a pause as he typed a few things before turning the screen of his desk computer around. "Here. This is what they found on the terrorists' computers. It seems like they actually try to wipe them out, pieces are missing... I'm going to be sending them to analysts, hopefully someone will be able to recover enough to know where Sherlock was sent and..."
The eldest Holmes broke off mid-speech, abruptly realizing that Dr. Watson wasn't listening to him anymore, instead completely focused on what was being shown on the screen. He went as far as taking over Mycroft's keyboard and mouse-pad in order to select one of the images and enlarge it. He cursed under his breath.
"Are you sure this is what they found there?" The man who asked that question was not plain Dr. Watson, it was Captain Watson. "This is connected to Sherlock?"
"We cannot be sure if it connects to him, but it's either this or he disappeared into thin air, since he's not dead and not in the hide-out." Mycroft answered stoically. "And yes, that's what they found there... You know something, don't you? You know what those pieces mean..."
"I know more than that..." John stated as he pulled out his phone. "Can I make a call in here?"
Mycroft just nodded, not quite understanding what was going on... he wasn't expecting what came out of John's mouth next:
"Uncle Stephen? It's John... Are you still in London? … It's important, and more than a little bit complicated... Remember what you told me about your upcoming mission? … I have intel concerning HYDRA you might find useful... I want to go with you... Because I have reason to believe they have my best friend, and there's no way I'm not going after him..." The silence lasted longer then. "Very well. You still at Mum's place? … I'll see you there in an hour then... Oh, and I'm bringing a friend over... Yes, tell Tony I trust him."
Mycroft just stared at John, having no idea what was going on.
"We need to leave now." Watson stated, still in full captain mode.
"Go where?" Mycroft dared ask.
"A small country house in Surrey." John told him. "Oh, and we're going alone."
"Why?" The eldest Holmes rarely went alone anywhere.
"Because these are important people." John said in a very no-nonsense tone. "People who are not in the records you or anyone might have access to for a reason. I'm already taking a big chance by even bringing you along, but since it concerns Sherlock one might argue it concerns you as well. I'm trusting you in a way I've never trusted anyone before Mycroft, you better not betray that trust, you have no idea the consequences that would come then."
The politician wasn't quite sure if it was a plea, or a threat, but he still considered it highly unnecessary. While he still didn't really understand what was going on, he knew how far some individuals were willing to go to protect their family, himself included. He might have failed his little brother, more than once, but he would keep trying to do his best... beginning by meeting with this uncle of John Watson and his friends, and making sure his PA wouldn't set a tail on him once she found out Mycroft wasn't taking anyone along to a meeting with complete strangers (particularly strangers who were going against an organization like Hydra... the eldest Holmes wasn't stupid, he knew what that was likely to mean).
xXx
Like planned, they arrived to the country house just a little over an hour later. Mycroft would have gaped at the very tall and muscled tanned, blonde haired and blue eyed man in jeans and a tight t-shirt who opened the door if it hadn't been so much against his character.
"Hey uncle Stephen." John greeted him with a nod.
"Johnny." he blonde replied with obvious affection. "Is everything alright? You sounded quite stressed-out on the phone."
"I won't lie to you, I'm not alright." The doctor admitted. "However, I'm hopeful that we will be able to help each other, that we can help Sherlock..."
"I don't like the idea of you coming with us..." The one called Stephen stated, even as the three began walking inside the house.
"I know you don't." John interrupted softly. "But this is important to me it's... He's my partner. You understand that, don't you?"
The shadow of a memory darkened the tall man's eyes briefly and he nodded once.
"Guys, Johnny and his guest are here." The man announced, stepping into the living room.
"Johhny-boy!" A shorter (though not as short as John) brunette with coffee eyes called in an almost childish tone. "Cap says you have something for me!"
John shook his head at the nickname before throwing the thumb-drive with the files at him. The man caught it right away, turning around and plugging it into a tablet.
"You go make nice with your Gramps, while I handle this intel and see what use it might be." The man, who Mycroft belatedly recognized as Tony Stark, waved them away.
Stephen, Steve Rogers, rolled his eyes before turning to the rest. The Avengers were in the room, staring straight at Mycroft.
"Right..." John scratched at the back of his neck. "Everyone, this is Mycroft Holmes, he's the older brother of my best friend Sherlock."
"This being the man you believe has been taken by Hydra..." Dr. Bruce Banner murmured.
John nodded, then went on to introduce each of the Avengers to Mycroft, who could only look at each of them in silence.
"John..." The eldest Holmes began once introductions were over and most of the 'superheroes' seemed to have gone back to their own thing (though they were all listening in). "Just how are you related to any of this?"
For a moment silence was his answer. John and his 'uncle' looking at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation, before the doctor spoke:
"My mother... her maiden name was Carter." The short blonde finally stated. "She was born Stephanie Haley Carter. She served as an Intelligence Agent and with the SSR before it was fully absorbed into SHIELD, declined joining the latter fully when she married my father and had first my sister and then myself. Her mother, my grandmother, was Margaret Carter, better known as Peggy Carter, SSR Agent who served during the time of WWII, she was well-known as the British liaison to the Howling Commandos and..."
"And for her romance with Captain America." Mycroft finished for him, eyes focused straight on the blonde blue eyed man.
And then he realized what it was that had bothered him. The likeness, even more evident than with Sholto. The same blonde hair (if a shade or two darker), the same stocky built (even if John was considerably shorter), and the eyes... John's eyes might look gray at first sight, but Mycroft had seen the doctor close enough to detect other colors, like brown, and blue. John Watson was the grandson of Steve Rogers, of Captain America...
xXx
A couple of hours later John was wearing his own tactical suit; completely black, done in his exact measures (Tony liked to be ahead) and with a number of guns and blades in different sizes concealed on him. They were on their way to the last Hydra base, where Sherlock Holmes had presumably been taken: Baron Von Strucker's base in Sokovia.
"So, what's the plan?" John asked as he fixed the cowl over his head (if anyone saw him with the Avengers he didn't want to risk being recognized).
"Tony and Jarvis will find a way to get into Von Strucker's hide-out, while the rest of us deal with their bunkers and whatever guards might be in them." Steve Rogers stated. "If they prove to be too much we'll call Code Green." He nodded at Bruce Banner. "Otherwise we handle things on our own. Once in we either take Von Strucker in or take him down..."
"The priority is to find Loki's scepter." Thor interrupted.
"Right." Steve nodded. "This war against Hydra won't end until we get that back."
"It has to be here." Natasha Romanoff murmured. "There's nothing else left. Maria said another team took the Artic base a few days ago, blew it to kingdom come. And according to the intel they got, this is where the scepter is."
"Don't forget the possible enhanced." Tony pointed out. "According to the files Johnny got us, we can expect at least two of them."
"True." Steve agreed again.
"If Von Strucker's found a way to enhance humans we definitely need to stop him, sooner rather than later." Banner stated.
"Any idea what we can expect from these enhanced?" Clint Barton inquired.
"None at all." Tony shook his head. "According to the files all but two of the supposed volunteers perished at some point. There was no record of what it is they can do, though."
"We'll need to be extra careful then." The Captain stated. "If we don't know what they can do, we do not know how to fight them."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
At the same time John silently prayed (to a god he wasn't always sure existed) that Sherlock had not been made a new test-subject yet. The probabilities of him surviving something only two others had thus far... it wasn't good. However, as terrified as the mere idea made the former army captain, he knew he needed to remain calm and focused in order to be ready to help his best friend and partner.
"And what about his friend?" Clint asked right then, turning to look straight at John.
"We'll find him." Was all Steve said.
And really, there was nothing else that could be said. No detailed plans, no promises, no guarantees, only the hope that they wouldn't be too late.
xXx
The plan worked, for the most part. John went on the jeep with Black Widow and Hawkeye, until they had to jump off it and continue fighting. Thankfully, his continuous chases and other crazy stunts with Sherlock had helped keep John in top shape (he couldn't depend completely on what he had inherited). What injuries he got were minor, and it also helped that he was there when Hawkeye got shot in the flank.
After the Hulk took out the last bunker the team began making plans to finish things off. John was planning on accompanying Thor and Hawkeye back to the quinjet, while Black Widow went to get Dr. Banner back. Until a new message came on the comms:
"Drawbridge is down people." It was Iron Man.
"You and Stark secure the scepter." He heard the tail-end of Thor's conversation with the Captain. "And the Doctor..."
"I'll find Sherlock." John stated before he could be ordered differently.
It was true he was a doctor, and while under normal circumstances he would put that before anything and everything else... he wasn't operating under normal circumstances. Nothing that involved Sherlock could ever be considered even remotely normal. Besides, he wasn't a priority for the Avengers; and there was nothing wrong with that, the superheroes did not know the detective; it only meant John needed to be the one to find him.
The Doctor (they were calling him that, in absence of an actual code-name) entered the Hydra base right on the Captain's heels, though they split up right away. John following the vague suggestions Stark had made regarding where the cells (or whatever passed for such in that odd castle-fortress-looking place) might be.
"Sherlock!" He began calling once he actually got inside the building. "Sherlock!"
He knew time was short, especially with Clint injured. He could not expect the others to wait for him forever. He also hoped his friend might answer, call back, anything that might help find him (the mere though of him being unable to do such a thing was too awful for John to contemplate). Still, what he wasn't expecting were the two people he actually found, standing at the mouth of a bifurcation. They looked tall, wearing dark-clothes, the girl with a hint of red, the boy with a hint of blue, her hair auburn, his brown or something, though with a lot of blonde dye (though it might also have been somehow connected to his enhancement). They were the enhanced the Avengers had mentioned, and the doctor could see enough likeness between the two to guess they were relatives, most likely siblings, possibly even twins. He knew he was crazy before the question even came to him, yet he still voiced it:
"Have you seen Sherlock?" He asked.
The boy... man, cocked his head sideways, not saying a word.
"We don't know any Sherlock." She said after a moment, with a thick accent and a curious glint in her eyes.
"He's my best friend, I'm here... I'm here to find him, to get him back." John explained, not even sure why he was doing it. "He was taken several days ago, and I think he might be here."
"We don't know any Sherlock." The woman repeated, though she sounded more quiet (John would almost say sympathetic) the second time.
"Why are you not fighting us?" The man demanded hotly.
He ran around John (and the doctor had just found a new significance to the phrase 'running circles around you'), a few times before standing before him, tense and ready for a fight; one John just wasn't willing to give him.
"I'm not here to fight you." He answered honestly.
"You arrived with them." The man hissed in an accusing tone. "They're fighting... they are all destroying everything..."
"True." John agreed. "They believe it's necessary..." He shrugged. "Like I said, I'm not here to fight you. I'm not even here to fight Hydra, though if they attack me of course I will defend myself. I'm only here to find my best friend, my partner. I don't care about anything else."
John nodded and was about to walk in a different direction, when something else occurred to him and he looked back at them.
"He might be going by Sigerson." He said suddenly, remembering an old conversation he and Sherlock had had, regarding the two years the consulting detective was gone. "Have you seen anyone here named Sigerson?"
That name made the two react. The man looked distrustful, but the woman was intrigued.
"Follow me." She told him after a couple of seconds, before turning around and walking down the passage she'd been standing by.
John, knowing he was absolutely insane for even thinking about it (and for not reporting any of it to the Avengers) followed.
It took several minutes, but eventually they reached it, a room deep in the sub-levels of the fortress, with a thick steel door. John reached for one of his guns, planning to shoot the lock in order to get the door open, when he saw the enhanced woman wave her hands a little, a short red flicker of what looked like light-and-smoke reaching the lock and the door swinging open.
"Wow..." He murmured in honest awe. "Thank you."
With that he burst into the room, unconsciously calling Sherlock's name loudly as he did.
"I know no Sherlock... my name is Sigerson..." He heard his friend mutter in a thick accent.
It took the doctor a couple of seconds to notice other things, like how tired Sherlock sounded. Then he saw the consulting detective, laying on a cot, in a corner, legs pulled up in almost a fetal position. His hair was long and shaggy, half died a brown-red color, his clothes were half torn and beneath those the usually perfect alabaster skin was black with dirt, and beneath it John could see the signs of contusions, abrasions and possibly more.
"Oh my god..." John gasped in horror as he dropped to his knees beside the cot. "Sherlock...!"
"I'm not..." The man began quietly, before seemingly realizing who it was he was hearing. "Jo... John?! Is that.. is that really you?"
"Yes, yes it's me." John nodded, tears beginning to gather in the corner of his eyes, voice getting a little watery.
"You... you shouldn't be here." Sherlock shook his head with obvious effort. "It's dangerous... don't tell me they got you..."
"No one got me." The doctor assured him. "I came here looking for you."
"Impossible..." The detective began.
"Not impossible, just improbable." The blonde interrupted him. "Mycroft had MI6 send him all the intel they could find in the hideout, once it became obvious you weren't there. I realized there was a Hydra connection, and I just happened to know someone who was coming here to deal with that... that part's actually a long story, I'll explain it to you once we're back in London."
"Back?" The taller man asked, sounding so full of hope. "We're going back? I'm going home?"
"Yes, we're going back, we're going home." John assured him, ignoring the dirt and anything else to kiss Sherlock's brow. "I'm taking you home, I promise you."
xXx
A week later reporters were once again camping outside 221B Baker Street. It was all over the news, the consulting detective was back on the streets of London, working, with the trustworthy Dr. Watson following his every step. The reporters seemed to be focusing a bit much on how the doctor had been so suddenly widowed and the fact that the detective was helping him recover after the recent, most terrible loss... all bullshit, as far as both halves of the duo were concerned. John was believed to be widowed because that was easier than revealing his wife was a former Black Widow (and not the one who joined the Avenger), an assassin for hire who worked for James-Bloody-Moriarty and had John Watson himself in her cross-hairs, more than once, before falling into a sickly-love with him and building herself a fake life in order to have him.
In any case, John'd rather the reporters focus on him, on them, than on the two most recent people to move into 221... The twins, whose names were Wanda and Pietro Maximoff.
John wasn't quite sure how that had happened. It'd been Sherlock's idea, to offer the twins a place, to go with them to London. It turned out that the detective had spent time with them in the days since he'd arrived, striking an easy friendship with Wanda, who was intelligent, had a quick wit and had no problem responding to every deduction Sherlock made (even if she used her powers to get her responses). Pietro hadn't liked it, their apparently fast connection, felt threatened by the British, until John's arrival, when he'd seen the two men together... he did not need his sister to tell him those two belonged together.
It'd be hard to tell what made the Maximoffs decide to take Sherlock's offer and go with him to London. Maybe it was because they had nothing left in Sokovia (no family, friends, and even the people from Hydra were gone). Mycroft had helped get them passports to get into the country and was making sure their citizenship would be processed as soon as possible. Since he'd gotten them in as war-refugees, that had helped the twins get some money, with which they'd payed the first few months of rent of 221C (Sherlock, John and the twins themselves had worked on the maintenance the flat needed).
No one but Mycroft knew where the Maximoffs came from, and even he didn't know the two of them were enhanced. Even the Avengers had no idea, as far as they knew the two gifted had vanished after Von Strucker was taken. Steve and Tony had been more than a bit confused when John refused to go with them on the quinjet to return to London, but the doctor had given the excuse of Sherlock needing to go to a hospital and them needing to get back in plain sight so as not to call too much attention. It was simply easier that way (and John had noticed that, for whatever the reason, Wanda and Pietro really didn't like Tony, so it was better to keep them far away from one another).
Mrs. Hudson didn't know much of what had happened, and yet she'd taken to the twins almost from the moment she saw them, pretty much adopting them into her family, like she'd done with John and Sherlock years before...
"So, are you ready to get back in the game?" Lestrade, who was leading the pair to a new crime scene, asked as he walked out of the building.
"There's no need to get back into anything, because I was never out of it." Sherlock answered with a slight roll of his eyes. "Like I told John months ago, the game is never over... we just get new players every once in a while..."
Lestrade had no response to that, he wasn't sure he fully understood what that was supposed to mean. Then again, he didn't think he understood Sherlock half the time...
John did understand. Of course, at the time his partner had first said that he'd been talking about Mary, and she was gone, had been since that day when 'uncle' Steve and his friends had dropped by for a visit... but there were other new players: Wanda and Pietro. While they were technically attending college and had part-time jobs, John had no doubt that they would be dropping by to help if they ever believed it was necessary. They were friends... no, they were family...
"Come on John." Sherlock called, taking John's hand in his and pulling him along as he slipped into a cab. "The game is on!"
I know there could have been more to this, I know. But I just couldn't think of anything properly. I would have liked to go more into depth with the twins' relationship with Sherlock, and later on John, I imagine they would get along famously, especially Wanda and Sherlock, and maybe John with Pietro... but I honestly couldn't think of any actual scenes, so I leave it up for you to imagine.
I hope you liked this. We have two more MCU crossovers to go, one easier to handle than the other, but you'll see what I mean. I hope you'll liked those too.
Please don't forget to comment/review!