The United Kingdom, like much of the world, had a population problem. The mutation in genetics that created Alphas and Omegas was the result of a fungus unleashed by prospectors mining for gold that swept across the world nearly a thousand years ago. It spread like wildfire throughout many species, reprogramming them so that they would spread the virus more readily. Being a sexually transmitted disease, one would think that the fungus would cause a boom in population as it persuaded it's hosts to spread it around, but the enzymes it produced were only recently understood as a sort of genetic engineering and had unpredictable effects on the next generation. It had developed to infect the life forms of the caves it was native to, but out in the greater world the repercussions were dire, uncontrolled, and random in the beginning. The worst damage occurred in the first couple of decades, and the part of Asia it first infected lost many species entirely. The fungus could not live without a host, and so those of its number not compatible with surface life died out within one human generation. The silk road carried the more mammal and avian-friendly strains west. Migrations of birds carried it to the rest of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. There was still heated debate about how it reached the Americas, with some people vehemently asserting that it was introduced to many native populations along with smallpox during European colonization despite the plentiful evidence that the native peoples there had already been infected by a strain that was quite tame, though still managed the transformation of sex and gender that the original successful strains did. A good portion of each generation died before the advent of penicillin and modern standards of hygiene all but eradicated the human-adapted fungus outside of laboratory samples. Occasional cross-species infections occurred but were quickly contained. Livestock benefited from human medication and anti-fungal compounds had been used liberally, though with many complaints from environmentalists, on large swaths of countryside to control the fungus in local wildlife. However, the genetic manipulation it caused remained in the population without a cure.

The fungus, thanks to ancient Romans not understanding science properly, had been dubbed Iovis Judicii Scriptor: Jupiter's Judgment. Somehow, that name had entered the English vernacular in the bastardized "Judicious Schism" as a formal term used by academics and shortened to The Schism in less formal speech. Now that the fungus was eradicated the mutations were stabilizing. Over the last hundred years, the incidents of horrifically deformed stillbirths had diminished from unfortunately common to extremely rare. The development of birth control freed the pleasure of sex from the responsibility of a child, which allowed some of the libido-enhancing effects of the fungus to be dealt with outside of marriage, but the birth rate of viable and fertile offspring in several species including humans had been an issue for generations.

The most successful strains created a system of dual genders in the children of its carriers. While a person or animal might be outwardly male or female as had always been true, they would now also be Alpha, Omega, or Beta. Betas were physiologically identical to the old genders, but beta males were not very fertile and beta females statistically would only produce two children before dying in a third attempt. With more recent advances in modern medicine and gender equality, beta women generally chose sterilization after their first child was born if they chose to have children at all - often as part of a medically necessary c-section procedure. Betas were considered organizers and servants for many generations, though many beta men kept inherited positions of political power.

Alpha's where more masculine than betas no matter their primary gender. Alpha women were almost always sterile, but as strong both in body and will as the Amazons of myth. They were the first of the 'new genders' to change their roll in society, bullying their way into military and political leadership roles to fill the gaps left by the 'loss' of two-thirds of the men to so-called softer secondary genders. Alpha males were, initially, considered animalistic or possessed by demons in Asia and the Middle East. They would enter an aggressive haze when provoked by anger or the allure of a potential mate, but this could be controlled with personal discipline to a certain extent. Either the alpha mutation had mellowed over a few generations or understanding of this new breed of men developed enough that by the 1500s most societies considered alphas to be the manliest and best of men. They were still treated with caution, kept on leashes by some backward cultures when their Omegas were close to a heat like guard dogs expected to lash out at innocent passers-by, but Alpha women had similar instincts and hormonal fluctuations when exposed to certain pheromones or situations. In most modern societies alphas of both types had claimed the roles that men held pre-schism. There were a few mutations allowing alpha women to impregnate their bonded omegas, though that was a very rare thing in England.

Omegas were the breeders and bore all the responsibility for averting the population crisis. They were as a rule highly fertile and possessed the ability to recover quickly from great physical harm, including wounds what would kill a member of another gender class. Some could even retain semen for up to two years, producing two pregnancies from a single encounter or even conceive after they had been widowed, though counter to what was depicted in popular fiction that process was completely involuntary and rather rare. During estrus, omegas produced powerful pheromones and entered an altered state of consciousness similar to intoxication referred to in the common vernacular as a 'heat.' This enticed alphas and could even cause riots if handled poorly in a public setting. Omega women carried on much as women always had, though as modern society marched forward omega men were left a bit behind by the more progressive developments. Males only produced a single ovum seasonally while females produced on or two monthly. Maternal twins were conceived in roughly half of female omega pregnancies. Female omegas only went into heat seasonally, the same as males, so with a bit of planning a woman could avoid heats for years by getting pregnant before her first post-childbirth heat. Some women preferred that lifestyle, others hated it. Some omega males retained the ability to father children, but it was rare they had the chance.

While arranged marriages were not the norm in the United Kingdom as they were in Eastern Asia and it was also free of the mandated registries some more Socialist counties had instituted to match Omegas with mates as young as possible, the capitalist societies highly encouraged their breeders to do the patriotic thing and pop out a new generation in a number of ways. Everything from the tax penalty Sherlock paid as a single omega to the stack of junk mail advertising matchmaking services that piled up every week was pushing him to find an alpha or fertile beta male and produce a litter of children.

Alphas and omegas were capable of bonding, which made it less dangerous for an omega near a heat to be out in public by lessening the pheromone output of the omega and attuning those pheromones to the specific alpha so that other alphas were less likely to try and take the omega as their own. For the alpha, a bond dulled the impact of 'strange' omega pheromones and encouraged the more positive instincts and mellowed their tempers. It did not guarantee fidelity on either side, though the omega's body adjusted over the first year of bonding to 'fit' the alpha, to use the least offensive terminology, so long as they were faithful. This helped ensure conception and could make congress with alphas of a significantly different size or shape uncomfortable. As there was significant variation to the alpha's external physiology due to the diversity of mutation across the globe - some with knots, a variety of proportions and shapes, even what could only be described as tentacles among some ethnic groups - that was a fairly necessary process to ensure physical compatibility after a love based match. Despite these facts, the general public misinterpreted alpha-omega bonding as an unbreakable perfect union, with far more than just a few physical alterations to the omega's vaginal passage and a slight alteration in how the alpha's brain chemistry responded to certain pheromones and triggers occurring during the bonding period. Bonding was triggered by pressure on the glands at the base of the omega's neck during heat, not necessarily a bite and certainly not requiring broken skin, but that was often the method used. A bonding scar was considered a mark of passion rather than barbarism by most of the public. As long as the glands remained undamaged, an omega could bond multiple times throughout their lives, though there was some controversy over if the new bond replaced the old one fully or not. There were little dances of courtship in every culture, but it was always some variation of the same theme. Alphas had a duty to provide, protect, and supply while the omegas would shelter, heal, and make.

Rape of an unbonded omega who entered a heat in public was not heavily prosecuted, as what else could be expected if one was to put themselves in such a vulnerable position knowingly? While the base chemical component of bonding can occur unwillingly, a proper bond required the consent of a willing omega or the cascade of hormones would fizzle out after a month into nothing, prompting a miscarriage if the forced bonding accompanied a conception. Small mercy for the hapless omega who failed to prepare for their heat. An unbonded omega causing a riot by going into heat in a crowded area was liable for up to 60% of the damage caused by all participants. Alphas entering a destructive haze caused by anger rather than sexual desire were likewise responsible for any damage caused by provoking a haze in other alphas or a protective frenzy in any nearby omegas. It was not murder for an omega to defend their children with deadly force, even from verbal threats, nor were they liable for anything they did while defending their nesting area from unwanted intrusion during the lead-up to or for the duration of a heat. Criminals often took advantage of these laws, and some of the more interesting crimes Sherlock had read about involved the manipulation of events to make it seem like cold-blooded actions were actually understandable moments of passion.

#

Omega men were men - they were not just women with flat chests - but time and again Sherlock ran into people who expected him to act effeminately and thought his worth was only found in his womb. In fact, while omega and beta women had been gaining more freedom and independence over the last few decades, the supposedly more fragile male omegas were still kept sheltered for their own good by most well-to-do families, though of course, the lower classes had always been more practical about such things. His own family constantly harassed him, attempting to persuade him to find an alpha to 'protect' him and 'get his life properly structured.' He was a twenty-one-year-old adult, he did not need a babysitter to shield him from life's harsh realities. He wanted to use his skills to become a proper private detective, being exposed to the underbelly of society was part of the package. The fact that he was in this fourth year of study at university and had not even settled down in a committed relationship was often met with a whispered inquiry about his health. It was also expected that something must be wrong with him since he never sought out a partner even during his heats.

Sherlock took suppressants to stop his heats from becoming debilitating, which was highly frowned upon for a young omega with no medical need for them. They dulled his natural scent by roughly a quarter of its normal intensity, which made people passing by him in public either assume he was a beta or that he was recently bonded and his scent glands were still adapting depending on how much they were paying attention and how close they got to him. He still needed to sequester himself for a day or two four times a year, and those days were filled with a deep loneliness. He had no interest in acquiring an alpha who would immediately start trying to run his life for him or complain endlessly about an omega being allowed into any field of study involving cadavers. Three years ago he had tried a compound that was designed to eliminate his heats entirely. Six months later he was found high as a kite in an alleyway after steadily increasing his dosage of the pleasurable opiate derivative as the daily dose had always left him craving more a few hours later. Mycroft shipped him off to a rehab center to suffer through horrific withdrawal that left him nearly psychotic between the cravings, a hyper-emotional state, and a couple of full-strength heats without any comfort or satisfaction for a period of weeks.

He'd missed a year's worth of classes over the fallout, but he had started at Cambridge at age 16 so it wasn't too much of a setback to transfer to Oxford where he was completely unknown and would not be approached by his former dealer. His absence was explained as a 'gap year traveling the continent' thanks to some intervention by Mycroft and their parents. He was still addicted to opiates after a fashion, not that he let Mycroft or Mummy catch wind of that, though his cocaine intake was much easier to regulate than the much more potent drug he'd foolishly been tricked into taking. So long as he kept himself busy he didn't need it at all outside of his heats, and he had only allowed himself to have two doses in his possession at a time. It let him lay back and relax through the heat without having to acquire a mate, but it was still less than ideal. His research indicated that the cravings never completely went away for opiate addicts, and the longer he used it the worse they would become, so he was still looking for better long term solutions even though things were perfectly well in hand currently.

The military held a possible solution to Sherlock's problems. The idea had physically bumped into him in the form of a harassed looking Omega looking for the Freak of Oxford. Sherlock had very nearly dismissed the emotional woman over the insulting moniker, but her apologetic babbling over not watching where she was going rapidly informed him that she didn't know Sherlock's actual name and had only heard a couple of rumors about him. She was hoping to find him based on a friend of hers that said he could be found in the laboratories of this building during the freshman dance and music classes. He introduced himself a Sherlock Holmes, a student of Organic Chemistry and Forensics who worked part-time solving puzzles for people and sternly dissuaded her from ever using that title to refer to him again. There was an expected, but much more polite than usual, commentary about how out of the ordinary it was for an omega to be studying Forensics. Ms. Walker finally introduced herself as a freshman technically enrolled as a Literature Major while deciding if she should go into Early Childhood Education or Child Psychology because of course she was going to work with children. At least the woman was clearly in favor of more progressive ideas about gender equality despite being a walking embodiment of the omega stereotype. Even her problem seemed utterly mundane, typical, and painfully boring.

Ms. Walker was worried that the Alpha courting her was cheating, which was painfully obvious from the condition of her shirt sleeves. It was good for her that she could speak more words per minute than the average auctioneer and too distressed to realize that he hadn't intended for her to start trailing after him when he turned and walked away. The behavior she described was bizarre enough to pique his interest, and the explanation he got out of the Alpha blazed into Sherlock's brain like a light shining down from heaven into the pits of hell. Ms. Walker's supposed suitor was shipping out for service overseas soon and did not wish to bond at all. He was simply home on leave and met her after being stood up by an omega who had signed up for a patriotic sounding program to give back to alphas in uniform. He'd actually mistaken her for the omega he was supposed to meet, as she had been wearing a blue ribbon in her hair and that had been how he'd been told to identify his date. The program matched single omegas who were not focused on finding a lifelong mate due to other obligations with soldiers who would be out of town quickly enough to shake off any pheromone-induced attachment. There was a lot of window dressing about finding a long term relationship this way, and the official paperwork all indicated that it was a way for soldiers to find their perfect match, but the alpha explained to Sherlock that in practicality it was just omegas getting what they needed no strings attached from soldiers who were going back into combat zones and couldn't or didn't want to make any promises.

Sherlock pumped the alpha for details for three hours, signing up before bothering to leave the man's flat. It didn't hurt that the images on the website and keepsake photos on display in the alpha's one-room flat were all of men in uniform looking absolutely edible. Sherlock could admit to himself that he'd found something about an alpha that grabbed his attention properly outside of a heat and wondered if he had deleted his attraction to men in uniform for some reason. It seemed ridiculous that he didn't already know that about himself, but then he'd been ignoring and habitually deleting anything to do with his own sexuality since he'd had his first heat. The alpha was either suspicious or observant enough to look at what website was displayed on Sherlock's top of the line, but still annoyingly slow, cellular phone while he typed furiously on it. He could not wait for this technology to be perfected, the clunky thing died after only three or four hours of use and required an inordinate amount of fiddling, but his budding profession as a private detective made it a very necessary piece of equipment.

"Blimey, you had me sweating through this inquisition," the man laughed loudly in relief. "You could have said you only wanted to know for yourself."

"That I am interested in trying the service for myself doesn't change that I was also hired by Ms. Walker to investigate your intentions, nor does it alter my intentions to tell her the truth."

"Honestly, I'd rather you do it," he sighed. "I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to let her down. She's sweet and all, really sweet and hard to pass up, but I'm trying to work my way into a command position soon and being stuck somewhere safely away from combat for a year or more years on bond establishment restriction would kill my momentum and could kneecap my entire career. Just, if she's still thinking about me in a couple of years she can drop me a letter. If I make it into officer school we could make another go of it while I'm going through the training."

"I highly doubt Ms. Walker is willing to wait more than two years to begin her family. She seems eager for motherhood," Sherlock said as he turned to leave. "Good luck with the other omegas on your list."

#

Sherlock was contacted a week later with a request for a full blood panel asserting that he was clean of any communicable diseases and on some form of contraceptive. An hour after leaving a clinic with the necessary paperwork his brother called. He didn't answer, but the voice-mail message conveyed Mycroft's disapproval of Sherlock loaning out his body like a common whore and contained several insinuations that Sherlock was not prepared for the consequences of his actions when he checked it later that evening. He took a dose of cocaine after several hours trying to get the word whore to stop floating around his head and was oblivious to everything until morning. Mycroft started sending him brochures for omega coming-out retreats. The spas were designed for omegas who were first presenting and staffed with alphas whose job it was to help teenagers through their first heats, allowing them some measure of comfort and instruction while remaining technically virginal. He was fairly certain he was well above the maximum allowed age for such a service, so anyone willing to admit him would have to be paid off to bend the rules and possibly even break the legal regulations that governed such establishments. Sherlock burned them without giving them more than a cursory glance. There were more local services that offered similar services to older, single omegas, but the ones Sherlock had looked into using were layered with a heavy floral scent which made him feel uneasy. Mycroft could have made himself useful by finding one of those that didn't stink like a nose-deaf old woman's sitting room.

When his next heat approached Sherlock met a mountain of a soldier at a cafe. He was dull, aggressively sexist, and only in the program because he couldn't pick up dates any other way. Sherlock made it clear that he was focused on his studies and his job with plans to seek a doctorate part-time after he finished his current double major and had no intention of their arrangement developing into a relationship. The man said that that was just typical new-age progressive twaddle and assured Sherlock that he'd change his mind after he'd been properly bred. Still, he was fit enough and not overly put off by Sherlock and the huge man's personality wouldn't matter a bit to his biology during a heat. They agreed to meet at Sherlock's flat in two day's time since the man seemed to accept that this was a one-time arrangement. It was just posturing to soothe his wounded ego over being constantly turned down by omegas in bars. It was the first time Sherlock had shared a heat with anyone. He double-checked that he'd properly taken his oral contraceptives all week. On the day his heat started, he put a locked collar on his neck to ensure the soldier wouldn't try to bond him, a fairly standard if medieval piece of hardware for this sort of casual encounter.

It was horrific. The alpha didn't survive his injuries.

He greeted the man at the door fully and formally dressed including a leather coat over his blazer and a thick scarf even though it was the beginning of summer, the extra layers of clothing a concession to nerves. When Sherlock took off his scarf and exposed the thick leather the soldier lost his temper and tried to rip it off him. By that point, Sherlock had already gotten far enough into the early stages of his heat that he couldn't leave his flat safely. When Sherlock tried to phone his brother for help after the argument got nasty and it was clear the alpha wouldn't leave the brute threw the cell phone out the window. A team of four betas rushed the flat less than half an hour later and carted the man off after whoever Mycroft had checking on Sherlock reported the broken window. The alpha hadn't managed to actually penetrate Sherlock because his body had so thoroughly rejected the man's advances that the energy of his heat was poured into his fight or flight response instead of being commanded by his reproductive organs. He'd beaten the man bloody. The stink of distressed omega in heat clung to the man enough even after being cleaned up by paramedics that when he was chucked into a holding cell the other prisoners took offense at being penned in with what seemed like a rapist. Sherlock could not discern exactly what happened from the blurry security camera footage alone when he managed to force his way into reviewing it. It all looked rather calm with the soldier dozing on a cot thanks to a high dose of pain medication and the other prisoners milling around occasionally shouting complaints about the stench. The report said he bled out after some of his stitches were reopened. Sherlock privately wondered if Mycroft had anything to do with it. He was ridiculously overprotective for a beta.

Mycroft later informed him that the man hadn't been in the military at the time of their meeting. A recent dishonorable discharge due to poor conduct and repeated insubordination, the signs of which Sherlock misread as part of the alpha's frustration over his difficulty landing a real date. He had not yet been removed from the roster at the hookup company. He'd passed the initial background check and screening, but all they required going forward was regular blood work. Grudgingly, Sherlock allowed his elder brother to set him up with a professional that could help get Sherlock past the trauma and back on the suppressants safely. The brutal yanking at Sherlock's collar had put enough pressure on his bonding glands to mess with his internal chemistry. His hormones were wildly out of balance, his body illogically see-sawing back and forth between extremes of hormone production and wreaking havoc on all of his body's systems. The standard treatment for hormonal imbalance in omegas was therapeutic sex, and it was scheduled for Sherlock's next heat with an alpha who could not get him pregnant since the oral contraceptives he'd been taking now made him vomit four days out of five.

That heat went almost as poorly. The female alpha was let into his flat, probably by Mycroft, while he was in class and had proceeded to clean his two-room flat and 'make it more romantic' with horrible scented oils on the table and lacy pillows that smelled strongly of her alpha musk all over his bed while she waited for him. Sherlock spent the hours of pre-heat demanding his collar be returned to him and trying to get his other possessions laid out where they belonged. After it began properly, he continued arguing with her and fought when he should have submitted. He could not calm down no matter how much the woman tried to ply him with promised pleasure. The toys she had were of little interest and the way she rubbed her body against him was utterly repulsive even six hours into his heat. After twelve hours of him thrashing about in bed every time she touched him intimately the woman gave up and left, leaving him a message that she felt she was doing more harm than good by staying. He did not respond to the offer of a therapy session while he was not in heat.

A few additional experiments of his own had frustrating results. Women were right out - and he sent a scathing email to Mycroft about his choice of sexual therapist explaining that point in more detail than his elder brother likely wanted to know. He was still attracted to men in uniform, significantly, but mating with one wasn't high on his list of desires. This wasn't new. It wasn't caused by his trauma no matter how much Mycroft or Mummy tutted at him. He just didn't like it when other people started touching his genitalia. He may lack some data, as he had not attempted sexual encounters prior to this mess, but he wasn't experiencing flashbacks or being triggered when he rejected an overly forward caress. He'd only tried it in the first place because he was trying to replace the cocaine, but that wasn't a sex-positive motivation. He'd started the cocaine so that he wouldn't have to service himself to exhaustion with toys that left him feeling alone and empty, so really having to put in more work by entertaining an alpha in ways that made him feel vulnerable and weak made little sense in hindsight.

Sherlock did manage to make a few interesting business contacts during his experimentation. He'd found one pub in particular that was always stuffed with veterans and military alphas on leave and enjoyed the gentle attention they'd given him and the fact that those he'd attempted his experiments with responded appropriately to the words 'stop that' after even the lightest touch of his thigh and only grumbled their disappointment as they stormed away when they realized his flirtation would not lead to him stripping naked back at theirs. He became a regular, ordering fish and chips and having a couple of drinks at least once a week surrounded by protective-smelling alphas who were polite and not at all flirtatious unless he initiated things. Several of them became clients, and soon enough the bartender started to have a few phone numbers of people with puzzles for him when he came in. It was apparently common for military personnel to come home to something suspicious or missing and most wanted someone who could resolve the problem quickly without necessarily involving the police. It was ideal to handle whatever was going on before they were shipped out again to whatever international conflict the government thought was worth killing its citizens over and the official criminal and civil remedies moved at a glacial pace for smaller inquiries. Even if many of the requests were a bit dull, the extremely short turn-around time he was allotted made for something of a challenge. Sometimes he could complete three or four cases in a day, filling his pockets with cash his brother couldn't monitor or restrict the use of and earning himself applause and a free meal as a bonus if he managed to meet them back at the pub and rattle off the solutions to their problems or return their lost property amid an audience of their brothers in arms. Or, if they didn't like the truth, they would try to punch him and the other patrons of the pub generally wouldn't let it get past the first swing or two.