The Red Queen

AN/:
Just to let you know, I haven't actually read the original books. So if Moran is off, description or otherwise, let me know. All I know about him is from Tumblr. (If you want to find me, there is a link on my profile page. I welcome any and all new followers).

So half of this chapter was written in a moving car, with my eyes not on the screen. So any mistakes are almost certainly because of that. Sorry -.-

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

"Mister Moran, you're in my seat."

The sniper regarded her coldly, staring at her with his impassive blue eyes. He said nothing as approached the desk. A soft sigh escaped her as she placed the files on the desk. "I see." she said, looking down at the man. She didn't take a seat, instead opted to simply stare at him.

"You're here to kill me." It wasn't a question, it didn't need to be. She knew all about Moriarty's people by now. His filing system had taken a day or two for her to decipher, but once she had, she realized that it made perfect sense. The next few days had seen her devouring the information that the man had left behind and finding more information where she could.

So she knew exactly what Moriarty and Moran had been. It made a sort of sense, for Moriarty to be sleeping with his second in command. It was the ultimate domination.

"Yes." Moran spoke clearly and concisely, a habit most likely picked up from his military service and never discarded.

A smile was upon her face, one that didn't reach her eyes. "Well. Unfortunately I can't allow that to happen. I quite like being alive, thank you very much." She kept the smile on her face as she slid into the chair across the desk, allowing him to feel like he had some control over the situation.

"If you're here to extract your revenge for the death of your master, save it." She told him, "I have a proposition for you."

Moran leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and his hands clasped in front of him -always ready to act. He looked to her, his posture said that he was interested, however his eyes held a threat. Alice understood, he wanted to know what she had to say before he killed her.

Perfect.

"Moriarty is gone. He took something from me, and for that, he had to suffer. You understand." She knew that he would- Moriarty would have worked much the same and she had no doubt that that was the logic that lead to Moran being there, sat before her, ready to pounce.

Yet the look that she was receiving was one that told her he was now interested in what else she had to say.

"Now it won't have escaped your notice that I have taken over where Moriarty once stood. Wonderland is now under my direct control, and it will remain that way. I am, however, lacking a second in command. I will take Moriarty's place in every aspect. And that includes you, if you are still in need of a job."

"You can't trust me." the military man pointed out, leaning back in the seat, folding his arms across his chest -classic defensive position. Her eyes flickered to where his hand was resting just inside his jacket. A gun then.

"I don't trust anybody."

"What do you want from me?"

"What were you giving Moriarty?"

"Anything he wanted. Because I wanted to give it. What will you ask of me?" Will. Good. No longer in the hypothetical, now in the bartering. All she had to do was ask the right price.

"Assassinations mostly. Some reconnaissance. No paperwork. Sex if you want it." she didn't really care about the sex, but it was something that she actually needed him to agree to. If she could bed him, she could dominate him completely -use that to her advantage. "Your payment will be the same as it was, along with an increased bonus whenever a mission is successful."

Moran was listening, she knew that he was absorbing this information and making quick decisions. She could tell that he was contemplating how long it would take for her to let her guard down around him. She smiled at him as he thought. He wouldn't have the opportunity to kill her.

If he wasn't so useful, she would have had him killed already.

A single nod from Moran told her that she was one step closer to having everything go her way.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

Her elation didn't last long. While things in the office were going her way, things out in the field were not. After Moran left, she was handed two more files, both holding information on the deaths of two of her agents. One in Germany and one in the Netherlands.

"Damn it." It looked like someone was hunting her people down. And they were doing it quickly.

Throwing the files at her desk, she stood and left, heading to her lunch with Mycroft.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

Mycroft was waiting for her outside the café, his ever-present umbrella twirling lightly under his hand. He smiled at her and waved a hand at the door, gesturing for them to enter. They sat, and Mycroft looked at the menu as Alice made herself comfortable. She'd been here often enough to have a usual dish, which she ordered with a wave of her hand while Mycroft made his decision.

The silence that followed was awkward, neither person knowing exactly what to say.

So after a while, Mycroft talked about the only thing he really knew -work.

"I've begun an investigation." He told her, accepting his coffee from the young waitress with a nod. He waited until she was gone before continuing. "Into Richard Brook."

Those words caused her to pause, freeze briefly before looking up at Mycroft. This couldn't be good. "Why?" She asked, feigning actual curiosity.

"To clear Sherlock's name. I don't believe for a moment that he was a fraud. Do you?" Of course, Mycroft had met Moriarty before Richard Brook even existed. Of course he would want to clear his brother's name.

"No." Alice shook her head softly, "But what would that achieve?" She asked, "Sherlock's gone." She stared into his eyes at that point, as if willing him to tell her otherwise.

Mycroft regarded her for a moment, surprise flickering on his face as he thought her words though. "Sentiment I suppose. Still. I would like to prove to the world that my younger brother wasn't a liar."

Alice tilted her head to the side as she continued to stare at him, a bitter laugh escaping her. "You're worried that his reputation will damage yours. If his being a liar is to be linked to you, your career will be damaged."

"There's that, too." Mycroft took a sip of his drink and nodded.

Alice just rolled her eyes and changed the subject. She had to think things over, how this would play out and the damage control she could utilise.

If Mycroft was able to disprove Brook, then the police would most likely begin to look into Moriarty. Then it would only be a matter of time before they'd discover his web and begin investigations into Wonderland. And then, they would find Alice.

She needed to keep ahead of them.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

Twelve hours after her first meeting with Moran, she received a message. He was awaiting her orders.

The smile on her face only faded when she read the next report – yet another agent killed in action.

She knew what Moran's first mission would be.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

John was having another one of his bad days when Alice got home. Looking at him sadly, she moved into the kitchen and brewed a cup of tea for the man. Placing it gently in front of him, she reached forward and grasped his upper arms with his hands.

"Hey Butterfly," She said quietly, "Things are gonna get easier."

Pulling away, she went to sit in her usual position on John's arm chair, watching the man, waiting for him to wake up.

Less than an hour later there was a knock at the door. Alice left it for Mrs. Hudson to answer and stayed where she was, thumbing carefully through her copy of Alice in Wonderland. When Lestrade opened the door to the flat she glanced up and smiled softly. This was unexpected turn of events.

"Detective Inspector." She whispered. Even though she knew that it wouldn't really make a difference, whenever John had a 'bad day', she found herself unwilling to speak loudly.

Lestrade smiled and was about to reply when he looked at John. "Wha- is he okay?" he asked quietly, watching the man carefully as he slowly walked closer.

"He's just having a bad day." She told him sadly.

"Depression?" The tone which he used spoke of experience. Somebody close to him had suffered previously – perhaps the man himself. Alice had heard Sherlock talk of how Lestrade's marriage had failed, so the man wasn't a stranger to loss.

"Yeah. Ever since Lock... Well... It hit him hard." She smiled softly and shook her head.

"Oh. Sorry. I was just here to-"

"You don't need to make excuses." She told him, "You're worried about your friend. But he'll be okay. I'll make sure that he's okay. I'll give you a call when he's feeling better." She promised, to which Lestrade nodded and left.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

Alice helped Lestrade organise a get-together for the yarders, herself and John. She was in agreement with Greg when he told her that he thought that it would help John feel better. Maybe ever cheer him up and remind him that, even though Sherlock was gone, he still had friends and people that cared for him-that considered him a friend.

People that loved him.

Mrs. Hudson had declined an invitation to the bar, which nobody was surprised at.

Instead, the evening found John, Alice, Lestrade, Donovan and Anderson in a bar. At first, John hadn't said a word to either Anderson nor Donovan. Actually, he was pointedly ignoring them. It took half the night for him to even look at them, and when he did, he blew up.

"What the helldo you think you're doing here!?" He screamed, standing and staring down at them, his hands on the table between them, "Do either of you think I want to so much as see you right now? The moment, the moment that there was ever a doubt towards Sherlock you pounced on it. I get it, you didn't like him, but how could you ever think that he was a fraud!? That he would do that!?" He was shaking, trembling with the pent up anger and frustration. Tears of rage and grief fell from his eyes as he glared at the two of them.

"And then, you have the indecency to come near me and act like nothingeverhappened!?" Standing quietly, Alice moved forward and gently placed her hand on John's shoulders, hoping to calm him down.

Half the patrons in the bar were openly staring at the small group, the other half were pointedly not staring, which was often worse. "John," Alice said quietly, "Maybe we should go."

"He's right." The quiet admission took them all by surprise. Four pairs of eyes found themselves fixated on the youngest at the table. "He's right." Anderson repeated, looking directly at John. "We were stupid. We acted without really thinking things through. We were idiots." He used the word that Sherlock had used to describe him on so many occasions. "And because of our idiocy, a man is dead. A good man is dead."

His words, his tone, something about Anderson at that moment caused John's whole body to stagger and drop back into his chair. Leaning forward,he placed his elbows on the table and his head in his hands and let the tears fall. It didn't matter to him that he was in a room full of people, or that just seconds ago he had been nearly angry enough to seriously consider killing someone. No, what mattered to him was the fact that in those few words, Anderson had told him how much he missed the man too. How much Sherlock would me missed by everyone. The emotion that was in the man's voice, the fact that he called a man he despised a good man... It was all just a little too much for the poor doctor to absorb.

Alice put her arms around him as he sobbed quietly and Anderson stood, returning a minute later with napkins and another round.

It took him a while, but eventually, John opened up. They talked about Sherlock, about how infuriating he could be, about how absolutely brilliant and yet how utterly stupid he was. They remembered him. They mourned him.

And the healing began.

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

The relationship between John and the yarders was strained at best, so when Alice approached Lestrade at the end of the evening, she didn't hold on to much hope. Yet she knew she had to do this, and she had a pretty good reason for Greg to agree.

"Greg." She smiled as she caught him before he could flag down a cab. The rain pelted down loudly, causing her to raise her voice a little higher than it normally went, so she gestured to the overhang outside the bar.

When they stood there, she smiled up at him. "I wanted to ask you something. A favour really..." Greg looked intrigued but allowed her to continue. "I think it'll be good for John-an me both- if we could still help you out from time to time. I know that John misses the adventure, and although my observation skills aren't the same as my brother's, I can be of some help."

Frowning, Lestrade thought for a moment before sighing. "I can't simply allow you on site." He said eventually. "After the raucous Sherlock ended up causing..."

Right. Time for the puppy look. Widening her eyes a fraction, allowing them to tear up slightly, lowering her head just a little and biting her lower lip lightly she gazed at him.

He sighed again, and she had to fight the impulse to smirk. People were so damn easy to manipulate!

"I'll see what I can do. I might get you official 'consultant' status. But that does mean that you'll have to do your own paperwork."

"That's fine." Mycroft could do it. He was good at paperwork.

"We'll see then."

~ ~ Everything Changes ~ ~

AN/
So what did you think? Too much? Not enough? Any idea who's taking out her men? XD
I actually quite like Anderson in this chap. He wrote himself but I hope that he's believable. He's an idiot, true, but he's human. And he may be a mess but I think he really is a good person. Not good people don't usually go into forensics (minus of course Alice and Dexter...)
Two chapters down and still no sign of Sherlock!

The song I used was "Everything Changes" by "Staind".