Title: Subversive
Rating: PG
Disclaimer:I don't own the characters; they belong to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And I certainly didn't come up with the brilliant idea of doing a modern adaption of the Sherlock Holmes series, Mr. Moffat and Mr. Gatiss did. I just came up with the idea for this fic. Also Mary Russell created by Laurie R. King, not my character either.
*Author's Note: Apologies for the delay in updating to people who have favourite and followed this story, thank you so much for it also, am so chuffed that you like this story. This chapter is a bit longer than the others;Comin in at 2,520 words. I was trying to reach a satisfactory end point for it. Thank you to LewStonewar, . .know and cinnamonmyra1997 for reviewing, thank you for your kind words.
Also, a bit of a final note before I continue the story, sorry for the repetition with some of this, some of this is from another character's POV, then it changes to a third person POV.
Mary entered the canteen in work. She was not having a good day, she was just after being shouted down by Anderson who had taken umbrage at the fact that she pointed out something that he had missed in his report to Lestrade. And when Lestrade complimented her on the good job she did on doing it, it just made matters worse. Anderson started to rant at her calling her every name under the sun, eventually telling her to focus on her own job rather than doing the jobs of others and walking off. She had to stop herself from punching him in the face. Donovan wasn't much better to face although she was a bit more consoling to her at first, well before she started on about warning her again about the dangers of showing off and citing Sherlock Holmes as her one and only example of the follies of doing such. Mary never quite believed what had been said about Sherlock, however mouthing off to Donovan and showing her intelligence was not something she was willing to do. Proving that she was clever was the exact reason why she was in the situation that she was in.
She spotted Arthur Bell and Molly Hooper sitting at one of the tables. Molly waved at her and beckoned for her to come over to their table. Mary's frown turned quickly to a smile and she walked over to them.
"Hello you two" she greeted. Molly and Arthur smiled at her.
"Tough morning?" Molly asked her.
"You have no idea. Anderson is being a bit annoying today. He's being a bit tetchy over being suspended. It comes into effect at the end of the week." Mary told him.
"What happened that he got suspended?" Arthur asked her.
"Well, Greg Lestrade filled me in on what happened. Apparently he took the death of Sherlock Holmes a bit hard. He really didn't expect Holmes to commit suicide. He started thinking up theories; I hear that he has even set up a group of like minded nutters." Mary told him.
"Nutters?" Arthur questioned.
"Well yeah. I mean when you think of it. I mean, I personally think he would not give up on life quite as easily as just flinging himself off the top of this building. I've read his cases on his website. He had a similar thought process to how my own was, before everything" Mary replied before zoning out in her own thoughts.
"Before everything?" Arthur asked her.
"It doesn't matter" Molly replied quickly.
"Yes, it doesn't matter. Forget I said that. Thank you Molly" Mary repeated sharply breaking out of her daydream.
Arthur looked at her rather suspiciously before he looked away and continued to eat.
They finished off lunch in silence before departing each other's company.
"What happened to her?" Sherlock asked Molly when they were alone.
"Nothing, well when I say nothing there is something. But she swore me to secrecy and as her friend I'm not going to say what it is. "Molly told him.
"You knew her and you wouldn't tell me" he said annoyed.
"It's between me and her. She trusted me" Molly replied.
"Oh, come on Molly, you can tell me" Sherlock purred.
"Not this time Sherlock, she's one of my closest friends" Molly replied.
"Fine" he replied petulantly.
Sherlock grabbed his phone.
In the halls of the Diogenes Club, sitting in thought in one of the chairs sat Mycroft Holmes.
He snapped out of his reverie when he heard this phone go off.
The number he had given to his brother after everything that had happened at Bart's.
There was no guarantee that his brother would stay in England for long, but for the time being, he was staying at home. Mycroft was secretly glad of that, although he would never say that to his brother's face.
"Ah, hello Arthur, to what do I owe the pleasure of the phone call" Mycroft asked him.
"I need you to find out something for me" Sherlock told him.
"What is it?" Mycroft replied with a sigh.
"I need to find out all you can about Mary King' he told his brother.
Mycroft knew the name well; he had suggested it to the person who had it. It was the one Mary Russell liked and decided to be called by to protect her real identity.
He had to protect her from him. But he couldn't refuse his brother; if he did he would arouse his suspicion.
"I'll see what I can find. " he replied before disconnecting the call.
He rang Anthea.
"Anthea, could you please ring St Bart's hospital and get through to Mary King for me. Just tell her that I will be over in the next half hour" he told her.
"Yes Mr Holmes" replied Anthea.
Mary was in the lab when she heard the phone ring.
"Hello" she replied.
"Hello Ms. King. It's Anthea from Mr. Holmes' office. I am just ringing to inform you that he is coming over to see you in the next half an hour. Have your mobile with you so he can tell you where you are to meet him" Anthea told her.
"Ok, thank you" Mary replied before putting down the phone.
Mary continued with her work that half an hour. However both Molly and Sherlock noticed that she was a little preoccupied. She had her mobile with her, which was unusual.
When it went off, Sherlock had noticed that she had paled a bit before giving her apologies to Molly and him before going out.
She walked out into the hallway and made her way to an empty office.
Sherlock followed a bit behind, much to the dismay of Molly.
When Sherlock peered in the window of the office for a moment, he saw Mary and his brother talking, he put his ear to the door to listen in on their conversation.
"It's good to see you Mycroft, it's been a while" she said.
"It certainly has. How is pathology suiting you?" Mycroft asked her.
"Well, you were right as usual. It did suit my...talents" she replied.
"I thought that it would." he replied with a smirk, she reciprocated.
"Now I must ask Mycroft, what brings you here?" Mary asked him.
"You have been a good girl Mary. Not getting yourself into trouble, yes. There was a couple of instances of you hacking systems but you never did it maliciously it was seem" Mycroft told her.
"Just keeping myself tuned up. Don't want to be rusty if ever you need me" she reassured him.
"I certainly hope that that was all you were doing" Mycroft replied suspiciously.
"What are you talking about Mycroft?" she replied rather irritated.
"My...someone who works for us has taken a bit of notice of you" he told.
"Oh you mean, your brother" she replied flippantly.
He looked at her rather surprised.
"Oh come on Mr. Holmes, I'm not an idiot." Mary replied.
"How did you guess?" Mycroft replied rather bemused.
"I'm not stupid, Mr. Holmes. And I say that now to the two of you" Mary told him.
"What are you talking about?" Mycroft replied irritated.
"Ooh, you're slipping a bit. Your dear brother is outside the door of this room. Couldn't you tell?" she teased.
At that moment, Sherlock walked in.
The gait that he had acquired when playing the part of Arthur Bell was gone. His soft expression replaced by the steely clinical look that the great detective was so well known for. All that was left of Arthur was the hair and the clothes. The rest was pure Holmes.
He did not take his eyes off her as he entered the room and made his way over to her side before looking straight at his brother.
"Well, I think I need an explanation Mycroft" Sherlock told him.
"And that is my cue. Goodbye Mr. Holmes" she said.
"And who are you directing that to ?" Mycroft asked her.
"What?!" Sherlock exclaimed.
"To both of you" Mary replied adding "Now if you both excuse me, I have to tell Molly that you know".
"Who is she Mycroft? One of your spies" Sherlock said angrily.
"She is nothing of the sort William Sherlock Scott Holmes, and I would like you to always remember that" Mycroft replied firmly.
"Oooh, sentiment. You care for this young woman." Sherlock replied.
"Watch your tongue" Mycroft replied.
"Who is she Mycroft?" Sherlock asked.
"Do you remember me telling you one the case which happened while you were still in college, the one which involved a hacker who had managed to breach some of our most unique codes? We would change them, but every time that person would figure it out. We decided to track that person down, but every time they would give us the slip. Until one time she got cocky and we caught her" Mycroft told him.
"So why didn't you just have her shot. Isn't that what you government types do eliminate a threat?" Sherlock replied.
"She was fifteen at the time dear brother. That would have been inhumane." Mycroft told him.
"So, you broke her." Sherlock replied.
"She asked for my help." Mycroft told him.
"And you gave it to her willingly, why?" Sherlock said pressing him further.
"Because she reminded me of you, dear brother. If you must know, I think of her as a sister" Mycroft told him.
"She's not that important" Sherlock said trying to hide the sense of jealousy which was bubbling up inside of him.
"Sherlock, she is just as important to me as you are. I will only ask you to do one thing for me before you make rash decisions about her" Mycroft told him.
"What?" Sherlock replied gruffly.
"Help her. She doesn't know it yet but I have e-mailed her the bits of information that I have managed to piece together regarding Moriarty's criminal organisation." he told his brother.
"I'll see, goodbye brother" Sherlock replied and walked out of the room.
Mary smiled at Molly as she re-entered the room.
"Well, he knows" she said with a sigh.
"What? Oh my goodness, Mary I did not tell him. He followed you out" Molly replied trying to explain.
"Shh, I know Molly. It's ok. If you wouldn't mind though, I would like to go home. Don't tell Sherlock, sorry Arthur" she told Molly with a wink. With that she left.
Sherlock re-entered the lab and scanned the room.
"Is Mary here?" he said matter of factly.
He got no reply from Molly, however her face read of hurt and betrayal. He watched as she made her way over to him. She slapped him in the face.
Sherlock nearly fell over in shock before looking back at her for an explanation.
"She was my friend Sherlock Holmes" Molly told him in an angry whisper.
"Well, she won't be missed" Sherlock replied flippantly.
Sherlock didn't see the second slap coming.
"No, you listen to me Sherlock. She is my best friend in the world. She would listen to me whenever I got frustrated with..." she trailed off.
"With what?" Sherlock replied angrily.
"With you. You brilliant infuriating man. She never judged me, always made time for me and backed me up and in return I kept her secret. And now you might have caused her to run. All because you cannot stop yourself from investigating" she told him angrily. She stormed out and left him there speechless. It was the first time she had ever been like that with him. He realised that he may have crossed a line.
The day went quickly after that. They didn't speak on the cab ride home after their shift ended.
A couple of times on the way home he looked over at her. She had a worried look on her face.
When they got to Molly's flat, Molly went straight to her room and slammed the door behind her. Leaving a slightly shocked Sherlock agape in the living room.
Early the next morning a knock came to the door of Molly's flat. Mary was there in front of her when she opened it.
"Hi Molly" Mary said with a smile.
"Hi Mary, would you like to come in" Molly replied.
Mary nodded and Molly gestured for her to come in.
"I just want you to know, I didn't tell him anything. He found out himself" Molly told her.
"I know Molly, you don't have to keep explaining." she said with a smile.
"Well I thought that you would be moving on now, y'know after he found out" Molly told her.
"Molly, that's not going to happen, you're my best friend. I couldn't throw away something like that. When I first started working in Bart's you were the only one who would talk to me. Everyone else thought I was a freak." Mary told her.
"Anderson was mean that time telling everyone that" Molly replied.
"Thank goodness he's leaving" she giggled.
Molly joined in. "Mary, that's mean"
"I'm sorry, I just have kept that side of me locked up so long, it's good to let it out just a bit at times" she told her friend.
"Well the last time you let that side out you made Anderson dislike you." Molly replied.
"Well how was I to know that he was having an affair with Donavan, I had only just started" Mary responded.
"Still, it was rather funny, I'll admit" Molly said.
"Molly Hooper I never knew you to be that evil" the both heard Sherlock say.
Molly scowled. Mary giggled at her friend's reaction though which caused Molly to start giggling also.
Sherlock walked over to them both.
"Mary, I am sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation with my brother." Sherlock told her.
"It's ok, really." she replied.
Then he turned his attention to Molly who avoided meeting his gaze.
"Molly, I am truly truly sorry for being an ass. I insulted your friendship with Mary and didn't listen to you about not eavesdropping" he told her.
Tentatively she looked up into his eyes. The sight that greeted her surprised her.
Sherlock looked truly repentant.
"It's ok Sherlock" Molly replied.
"I think we need a cup of tea" Mary told them both.
"So, how did you get captured by my brother" Sherlock asked her later.
"I was beaten up by a gang and left for dead. While I was recovering, I thought it would be best to get help before it was too late. So I set about planning my own downfall. Instead of deleting all digital trace, I left a trail for them to find me" Mary told them.
"So you would be found easily" Sherlock surmised.
"Yes" Mary replied.
"Why?" Sherlock replied.
"Because sometimes Sherlock Holmes, you get tired of running." she told him.
"Talk to me again in two years time and tell me if you still believe this to be the case" Mary told him.
"Wait, why did you say two years?" Molly asked her.
"Because Molly, it will take two years to fully dismantle Jim Moriarty's network" Sherlock interjected before Mary could reply.