"Mr Holmes with all due respect, I am a reporter. Not a police operative." The Australian declined the offer of access to sensitive information.
"Neither am I." Said Mycroft.
The Australian considered him for a moment before speaking. "When you achieve the kind of notoriety that I now have, only two kinds of people want to associate with me: moderate authority figures & complete nutters. I assume that you are not a nutter."
Mycroft smiled at the uncanny resemblance of Assange to his brother. "You & I are not so different as you seem to think Mr Assange."
"Indeed. You are not a charitable man & neither am I. I am not the only one who can crack that encryption of yours but you seem to believe that you are the only one who can help me." The Australian observed.
"I am." Said Mycroft without hesitation.
"Yeah but why?" The reporter was not convinced.
Mycroft noted with interest that Assange did not question whether not he was actually capable of doing what he claimed to be able to do. The reporter only questioned his intent.
"Like I said before, you & I are not so different." Mycroft did not care for the allegations made against the Australian because the processing of these allegations were not in his jurisdiction. He only cared for talent. It was similar to the way that he had regarded John when they first met. He did not see a war veteran with psychological issues. He saw in John the skills that his brother, Sherlock, lacked.
"As in we only see the encryption & not the people who are affected by it?" The Australian raised his eyebrows.
"I would not have put it so crudely, but yes." Mycroft replied cheerfully.
"Then you must have done all your research on another Julian Assange." The reporter replied quietly. "We are nothing alike."
"What do you expect to come of your trial?" Asked the most powerful civilian in Britain.
Julian Assange smiled, in spite of himself. "It will be a circus act."
Mycroft was not surprised to see that Assange did not take his situation very seriously at all. "Then why go through with it?"
"Mr Holmes, why does your brother risk his life everyday for cases where he has no emotional attachment whatsoever?" The reporter turned the question around.
This time, Mycroft was surprised to hear that Assange was aware of Sherlock's activities.
"You see this trial as part of your work?" Mycroft raised an eyebrow.
"Like I said. I am a journalist. But I am not above the law. Even if the accusations are completely false, the law must come before me. Your brother gets himself involved with cases where he knows that he might lose a limb (usually more). It comes with the territory. I have come to expect that being a reporter & a high profile one, I will probably get myself arrested sooner or later."
"You're really going to go & meet him?" John was surprised that Sherlock did not think twice, especially as the request was coming from Mycroft, he expected more protests.
"You know how much I despise Al Andalous." Said Sherlock in reference to one of the most prolific commentators on his blog.
Now John was laughing. "How do you know he is AA?"
"I've read his articles. Discourse analysis suggests that they are the same person." Sherlock replied with barely suppressed anger.
"Who's AA?" Asks Greg, coming into the room without knocking because the door was already open & because he knew that Sherlock would not acknowledge him at this point even if he did knock. Sherlock was fuming.
"He posts comments on Sherlock's blog – " John started to explain.
"Sherlock has a blog?" The inspector interjected.
"Which directly disputes everything I say about deduction." Sherlock finished.
"He doesn't like being contradicted." Said John.
"I've noticed." Lestrade agreed.
"I haven't got time." Sherlock grunted at Lestrade in anticipation of a case.
"I'm not here on a case." The inspector replied.
"Just here for some tea & biscuits then." Sherlock remarked sarcastically.
"No I want to see how you fare with that WikiLeaks guy." Greg replied.
"You didn't." Sherlock turned to John.
"Despite what you might think, my blog's not just about you." John shot back.
"Then who…?" Sherlock never finished his sentence.
"Chap who calls himself M." Greg replied holding his phone.
"Oh bloody Mycroft." Said Sherlock.
"He wants you to follow through with his request really badly." John observed.
A single electronic tone indicated that Sherlock had just received a text message.
Good Luck ~Irene
"Oh for Heaven's sakes!" Sherlock was shaking his head. He was rather more upset that Mycroft had worked out how to get in contact with Irene Adler (since she was supposed to be dead) than with the fact that like himself, Mycroft had now worked out who Al Andalous was.
Author's Note: reference to Al Andalous is not meant to be culturally insensitive. I just happen to really like that name :)
Disclaimer: I obviously do not know Julian Assange & am writing him as a caricature. My incarnation of him bares no resemblance to the real man.