Aryes: All right guys! I love this pairing, because this be my OTP! I love Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman so much! This is an AU and i don't have much to go on, so I would love to hear any ideas you have for me :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock, if I did Johnlock would be cannon along with Mystrade.
Warning: This will be a yaoi fanfiction (Male x Male) Don't like, don't read. This chapter also has a mention of John in an abusive family so be warned and of course it has game violence.
Enjoy.
Chapter 1: The Insignia of A Mad Man
"Mary, I won't be any good-"
"Yes you will! You will love this game! I know how good you are at first person shooting games and it's on live speak so you don't have to be distracted by comments at the bottom."
A sigh escaped the young blonde doctor as his friend, a fellow nurse of the clinic named Mary, forced him over to the desk next to hers. Both had a pair of headsets and a loading screen that welcomed them to a game called "Hell Zone", and John could safely assume that this game was going to be a mix between Halo (which he played only a little of) and Mortal Combat (Which he played a great deal of as a child) regardless, he had a feeling he would make a fool of himself. Not just in front of Mary, but in front of more gamers on live speak, great.
"Alright John, time to plug in and get your battle gear on!" She said with a serious face as she practically jumped into the twisting office chair and signed into the game. It was at this point that he knew he couldn't win against Mary, no one ever could when she turned and gave him the look. The look consisted of a dark glare, but not a glare at all. It was like a mindless gaze that compelled you to submit and John was very knowledgeable in what that look meant for people after wards. She would ignore the person for week, even months until they submitted. She was definitely one tough cookie.
"Alright, but I warn you I will suck-"
"That's the spirit DoctorJW!" Mary said with a playful grin, she had just used his new username he had made. She had said it was too simple, but John Watson was indeed a simple man so it suited him just fine in his opinion. He pointed out that her username was also not very creative considering it was a play on words, but she dismissed it with, "Men think girls who have jokes in their usernames are funny!" John had left the topic and so did she considering they were neither very creative in much of anything.
"DoctorJW is too long, I think I will just call you Doc or Doctor." Mary commented and John pursed his lips in a sulk.
"Fine," he commented and soon he clicked into the same programming as Mary except he got to have a different character. He choose a normal looking guy that had broad shoulders and he watched as the man was suited up in a variation of steel gray and blue, but John disliked the color and the armor, but he felt a chill run up his spine as the screen said, "Loading local players". In truth that could just mean all around the UK so he never trusted it. The blonde man watched as a player's name popped up next to his, it was Little Lamb.
"Okay John, this is how the game works," She said, her swivel chair turning to look at the real him.
"These two buttons are the ones needed to aim and shoot. Blue to aim, red to shoot, and these other two are for defense, Yellow to shield and green to crouch behind something. Okay?" She asked and John tested the button placement with his fingers and nodded to himself and to affirm her that yes he understood.
"Your goals are simple, you want to kill as many red tagged people as possible while collecting the flag. If you have teams your mission is to solely locate the flag and grab it. Once you grab it the game is done, the button to grab it is blue, got it?" Mary said and John nodded his head but a slick smooth voice pooled into their headsets.
"Looks like bait here has a new friend, how lovely." the voice commented and both swiveled t see the screen but by Mary's face he could guess that she knew the male voice that had spoken.
"Chesire, what an unpleasant surprise, shouldn't you be at home torturing some children or something?" John's head whipped over to look at Mary as she bit out the words like they were poison, her face a darkened look. Then he looked over at the username CheshireCat, he hovered his mouse over the name and profile stats flew on a box that had the words, London, 27, Male. Along with a level of around 42, which was about the same as Mary's level.
"My, my, the lamb's got a bit of bite today~but we are on the same team so buck it up sweetie!" John cringed a little as Cheshire's voice emphasized the last part of the sentence with a yell. Then, the male changed his tactics and chit chatted in a quieter tone.
"Well look who joined our little party and filled it with 5." Cheshire purred and a woman's voice replied as John looked at the small board on the right. 2 usernames popped up onto the screen, Addalert and SH221.
"Ah, the devil's here," said the woman monotonely as she continued, a smirk evident from her tone, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." she quoted and John could hear the sound smile as the man answered, it seemed to the blonde that this was something these three did often, bantering at least.
"You flatter me Adda," he said with a smug sounding tone and somehow it pissed John off, but then the man spoke again, now directly at him.
"Hello Doctor, are you there?" asked Chesire and he replied quickly.
"Yes."
"Good, you play games much? Are you even good at anything?" Asked the smug man and there was a pause from the blonde male as he spoke a moment later.
"Hopefully I am, This is my first time playing this so I hope in beginner's luck." John said with a smile and he could see Mary smiling at his comment.
"Well, aren't you confident?" Addalert said along with a snide comment from Cheshire.
"10 badges says he gets less than ten kills. Anyone want in on it?"
"Sure, I'll bite. I bet he gets around the 20's." Says Addalert.
"Well, I bet he get in the 30's!" Mary exclaimed and John felt himself heat up.
"Mary, I told you I don't know if I will do any good at this at all!" John said nervously, but Mary just smiled.
"It will be alright, what are you worried about? Just have fun! I don't care how many kills you get as long as you like to play!" John felt his shoulders ease up, but then he glanced down at the corner and tensed up. A box had just appeared with a comment, the comment was from SH221.
SH221: 90-100, maybe more.
John stared at the comment and Mary did too, then Addalert spoke up.
"90-100 soldiers! He's a newbie, there's no way he could kill that many. You know what, forget I asked. ", but as soon as she said it a comment appeared below the last one.
SH221: You already did, and yes he will.
"How do you know that? I have never played this game at all." John asked, but received no more fun replies from the man.
"Looks like Shelly's done talking for today. I am surprised Shelly posted 2 comments today." Cheshire said, but mindlessly John scrolled his mouse over SH221 and saw the following plus more.
London, 25, Male
'So he's 3 years younger than me?' thought John, his neck turning from the thought process and he tried to relieve a kink in his neck. His shoulders get tense as the screen says, "Players ready".
"John, get ready and stay close! Remember the controls and aim to kill all players that appear red on the screen," Mary said with a smile and John nodded, momentarily mind playing with the new controls.
"Alright, let's have some fun!" Cheshire said with a grumbled growl near the end.
"Seems it's the city setting, this is pretty complex for you Doctor, I would understand if you got...hmm say, 20+ kills." Her voice hopeful and chipper, but then everyone was quiet as they looked around the new area. No map created yet, but while they scouted the safe area with their characters, the doctor checked out his controls and after a minute he realized they were simple. He started to move around and test his controls while moving. He heard his other team mates talking amongst themselves on the feed except for SH221 of course. He seemed rather reserved and his character stayed at the start with John, but it stood still.
'Maybe he had to leave in the middle of the game or something', thought John so he dismissed it and looked in all the directions. It seemed Mary went right so he chose a different direction and instantly he encountered enemies. More than just four at a time, and John really got to test out his controls. He seemed to get used to working with them rather fast and understood them quite reflexively.
It seemed like forever, and he heard his team mates on the speaker shouting to each other on live speak until he heard his name.
"Hey John, where are you? I told you to stay close!" Mary said over the microphone, not even bothering to turn her head.
"I'm-" John cut off as he was hit by an enemy with a sturdy rifle, and unluckily he was in plain sight. Quickly, he made his character race to safety behind a wall of a brick building. He quickly switched his gun setting to explosion which meant instead of bullets it would throw a bloody grenade. He aimed and shot accurately, the target blew up by a long shot, and also included more people as well. He ran towards the building stairs and went to what was left of the roof to survey the damage.
There were at least twenty red guys dead, and John, who was frequently ambushed by the red team, shot them all dead. He briefly heard the sound of achievements being unlocked along with a quick entourage of trophies, medals and awards flashing by, but John ignored them as he kept shooting in rapid fire, returning fire and explosions. It was almost like a Micheal Bay movie, all you were missing was a woman, but lucky for John she was right next to him screaming at Addalert and Cheshire for not having her back.
John's gun eventually ran out of bullets and he changed to knife attacks in buildings, but then he saw it from a window building, the red flag. It was waving from a window sill on the building across from his, inciting a goal for John to finish. The doctor's character ran down the building and up the other, preparing himself for a boss battle with the flag guards, but as he turned the corner he stilled his movements. There were bodies around the flag along with one standing body who's name showed as blue.
SH221 Level 221
John sort of laughed into the microphone and he programmed his character to lower the knife as he smiled. At the bottom of the screen a small comment appeared in blue from SH221.
SH221: :) - SH
The blonde stared at the screen confused as to why SH221 put a smiley face. Then , he heard a groan from beside him as Mary sat back in her desk chair.
"Dammit, he already found it." Mary groaned with a sigh.
"Well, he always does, plus I was getting a little bored of killing the CPU's." Addalert purred slightly.
"What do you mean?" asked John into the speaker piece and he heard an audible groan from Cheshire as Mary explained.
"You see, that message means that-," the screen changed as SH221 grabbed the red flag, the screen said, 'WINNERS: BLUE', "-SH221 found the flag, most games practically last around 30 minutes, but if SH221 is here it lasts at least half that time." John looked over at Mary, who was staring at her screen expressionless, then the blonde man turned back at his screen. The screen now showing the winner of the kill count which so happened to be John.
DoctorJW: 143 killsNew Record!
"Well looks like he was right," Addalert said surly and a comment popped up on the screen beneath the last comment.
SH221: Of course I am.
It was smug sounding and it should have made John angry somehow, but it didn't. It made him confused and curious all at the same time. He saw everyone start logging off until it was only SH221 and him in the chat room. He watched as Mary left for the bathroom and the he turned back to the screen.
"How did you know I would get over 90 kills?" the blonde doctor asked into the microphone andhe waited a few moments, hoping that he would get an answer that would satisfy his curiousity, but after 2 minutes, John decided the man wouldn't write an answer back.
"Was it a guess?" John asked hesitantly, unsure if the man was even online at all, but he was proven wrong.
SH221: No, it was simple.
John heard his own gears clinking away for two moments, waiting for an explanation to why it was supposedly so simple. Then, SH221 posted another comment, and John was shocked by its length.
SH221: I could hear the way your voice shook, and by the fact that Little Lamb left you for so long without saying a word. She is confident in you, so that means you are at least capable so I shot far in my estimate considering how unconfident she is in anyone else in the game. That also means you are her friend I presume? I am also right in assuming that you are in her flat right now, but now she is probably gone to the restroom like she usually does after a game right?
John was astounded at the astute reply and now he could see how that could be clear almost instantly he breathed out the first words that came to his mind. It was so clear to him now and some part of him was astounded at the hypothesis the man had. They were right on the money.
"That was absolutely brilliant. It seems so simple with the way you say it! That's amazing! How did you hypothesize that?" John asked almost breathless, but his curiosity made his voice come out more eager. He waited a few moments and the reply to his question came quickly.
SH221: I did not hypothesize anything, they are facts. They are not hypothesis, but more of a supported fact or statement. They are called deductions DoctorJW.
"Deductions," John repeated slowly, the word striking an odd harmonic chord with him as he looked over at the clock. It was getting late, but the word was keeping him there. It was such a special word, it was as though a connection had been formed between them with the word. It was holding him to his seat, and begging him to implore more.
"Deductions, it sounds like an interesting thing to do. It is probably pretty useful isn't it? Can you do something like that with people you meet for the first time too?" the doctor asked, and he waited for a response for a minute.
SH221: Yes, only it is usually more detailed, but people usually don't appreciate it, and usually show it in more verbal and physical responses.
"Like what?" John asked, his mind racing instantly to bad beatings and bloody eyes, oh yes, an abusive home never really gave him a good perspective of people, but he was kind all the same. He had also been in the army and once you were in the army it was hard to forget what people are capable of.
SH221: Usually the term 'fuck off' comes into the conversation along with a glare, but rarely does it turn more violent than that.
"I can see that." John replied monotonely and another message popped up below that.
SH221: Can you now?
"Well yes, not everyone likes their secrets to be spilled. I don't mind really but-" John cut off as he thought of his father and mother, the army, and Harry, his sister.
"-people are not always good." he finished lamely, but another message appeared.
SH221: That is putting it too lightly in my opinion. They are also boring, obnoxious, rude, moronic imbeciles that should not be allowed to mingle and lower the IQ of the rest of the world.
John laughed a little into his microphone as he felt he couldn't agree more.
"Yes, I believe that as well, but there are good people in this world too." John said and after that SH221 did not answer after that. It was sad, but a blessing considering if he had still been conversing with SH221 he would have not peeled himself away for work.
"So do you like the game?" asked Mary as she sat with him at lunch, and John thoughts ran to last night and a certain feeling of fun came from it.
"Yeah" John answered as he bit into his sandwich hungrily and the blonde woman winked as she asked the next part.
"Wanna come play with us again next week?" she asked as she pushed his tea cup over to him, John looking evenly at her. He shrugged though, because he really didn't do anything else in his spare time except read anyway or watch his favorite series on Wednesday.
"Of course I will, I would be glad to." and the blonde doctor was indeed interested in playing again, because they all were very interesting people. Plus, it did get some of his anger out while killing all the CPU's. What did he have to lose?
Aryes: So guys, how did I do? This is my first time writing a fanfiction in such a weird format so I hope it didn't show.
Also I need ideas for this if you want it to continue! I literally did this on a whim and now i need more ideas for how the story should go! If you post the idea I will put your name down if I use it! Check out my other stories if you want! :) Thank you for reading!
~Aryes
