"Why would someone want to kill a nineteen-year-old girl?" Illya asked the air. "No one knows she's our Spider. No one knows she's as good as she is with computers. Outside this facility, she is an ordinary university student. Well, as ordinary as one of you Holmes ever get."

John looked at Sherlock, only to see Sherlock staring at his brother. Mycroft shook his head slowly, an obviously worried look on his face.

"Not possible," he said slowly. "There is no way."

"There is a way," Sherlock said. "You know there's a way."

Mycroft shook his head again. "No, I don't think so. Not without setting off far too many alarms. A strike at both of us, I would think."

Sherlock nodded, looking around the room. "Where is Tobe?" he asked.

"Here, sir," a small voice came from behind Mycroft. Tobe slipped into the room and looked down. "I... I heard. You know. You know that I knew. I..." he looked up, his face pale. "He's got my mum."

Mycroft swore softly and stepped away, tapping his headset and speaking rapidly. John ignored him, focusing on Tobe.

"What made you come to us?" he asked gently.

"I heard they brought you in," Tobe said to Sherlock. "And I knew you'd find me out. So I came t' tell you, and I heard Himself saying that it was supposed to be Livvy in here with the doctor." The young man looked like he was trying not to burst into tears. "I wouldn't hurt Livvy. You know that! You know-"

"I know, Tobe. But you were willing to let John die. Why?" Sherlock asked.

"I didn't know he was your doctor!" Tobe wailed. "We're getting a doctor, he said. Set up the machines, he said. He didn't tell us 'til yesterday the doctor we was getting was your doctor! I just... he said to ignore what I found, let them go, and he'd let me mum go. For my Mum, I'd kill a stranger." He wrapped his arms around his chest and drew in a long breath. "I'm sorry. I tried-"

"That's why you pulled me out to show me what free-running was," John breathed.

Tobe nodded, "Yeah. And... when you were out here with Himself, I was trying to to get to the trigger. I knew where it was-"

"But you couldn't reach it," Sherlock said. "It was too far inside the machinery."

Tobe nodded again. "'Sright. I couldn't disable the machine, 'cause you knew it was already working. So I figured I'd keep you out of the office, but I couldn't tell anyone else, so you kept on going back."

"Tobe, how did he contact you?" John asked.

"My phone," Tobe fumbled in his pocket. "He sent me texts. And a picture of Mum. Dunno how he knew, how he found me..."

Mycroft came back into the room. "There is a team on their way to Mrs. Hunter's home. They'll find her, Tobias."

Tobe shivered slightly. "Thank you, sir. N... now what? What gets done t' me?"

John frowned, looking up at Mycroft, seeing the flashing green light. "Mycroft, your headset is on," he said. Then he blinked. "Oh," he gasped. He reached out, grabbed the headset from Mycroft, and pulled his own off. Dropping them onto the ground, he stamped on the both of them until they were in pieces.

"John?"

"Green. The light was green," John said quickly. "Green means active." He turned, and saw the green lights in the headsets that Tobe and Illya were wearing. "Take them off!"

Tobe pulled his from his ear and threw it against the wall with a grunt; the headset shattered. Illya handed his to Mycroft, who repeated John's action of stomping it into fragments.

"Someone has been listening to us, the entire time," Illya said. "For how long?"

"Long enough to know that Tobe confessed," Sherlock said. "John, the light on your headset was green when I arrived."

John nodded towards the door. "Everyone out of the room. I don't want to risk that fire suppression system."

"It isn't recharged yet," Tobe offered.

John nodded, but waited until they were all out of the room before he turned to Mycroft. "Sebastian is the only one who has control of the headsets?" he asked in a low voice.

"They're controlled from the Web," Mycroft answered. "But they were his idea. And he does have access."

"Is anyone armed?" John asked. He was not surprised when Illya drew a revolver from a holster hidden by his lab coat.

"Old habits," the older man explained.

"Not complaining," John said. He slipped the gun into the waist of his trousers, then buttoned his coat and turned to Sherlock, who had put his own coat back on. "Well?"

"He might be able to tell as you get closer," Sherlock answered.

"We'll have to risk it. We have no idea if he was listening or not," Mycroft said. "Where is Livvy now?"

"In the Hub," Tobe answered quickly. "She's relaxin' with her axe. And Baz is there, too. Mister Solo, he's in the Web."

Mycroft nodded and turned to Illya. "Doctor Kuryakin, please join your husband? Tell him to seal the Web and not to let anyone in until I give him the order."

"Of course," Illya said. He looked at the younger men and nodded. "Good luck."

"Tobe, whose side are you on?" Sherlock asked.

"Yours, sir," Tobe answered without hesitation. "I owe you."

"Good man," Sherlock said. "Go with Doctor Kuryakin."

Tobe looked startled. "But-"

"He's right, Tobe," John interrupted gently. "You told me yourself you're not active duty. You're not starting now."

"Come along, Mister Hunter," Illya said, taking Tobe by the arm. "You can look after the old men."

"Never, sir! You'd be lookin' after me!"

Illya smiled. "Glad to see you recognize that. Let's go."

They walked away, and John counted to ten before following them, hearing Sherlock falling in behind him. As they got closer to the Hub, John could hear the sounds of a violin being tuned. Then Baz's voice, "You're serious?"

"Yes. This little toy will let me play all the parts. Just you watch," Livvy answered.

At the entrance to the Hub, John stopped, watching Livvy, watching Tobe and Illya as they passed through the space and into the corridor that led to the Web. Silently, he breathed a sigh of relief - Baz hadn't so much as batted an eye as Tobe went past. Instead, he looked up at John, waved, then looked back at Livvy, who was running through a series of what appeared at first to be random exercises on the electric violin tucked under her chin, all the while doing something with one foot.

"Oh," Sherlock breathed into John's ear. "A looping pedal. Clever girl."

"What?" John started to ask. Then he stopped as all of the random pieces fell together into a single piece of music, a melody that John recognized vaguely from having heard it in a shop. By the time she was done, Baz was grinning from ear to ear.

"That was amazing!" he crowed, clapping his hands. "John, wasn't that incredible?"

"That was," John agreed.

"Thanks. I saw it on the internet, and had to try it. I-" Livvy stopped, lowering her violin and looking past John. "Oh."

Sherlock moved up to stand next to John. "Hello, Livvy."

"I... I heard you were here," Livvy said. She looked down, slowly setting the violin down on top of a speaker. "And... you're doing all right?"

Sherlock sniffed, nodding, looking anywhere but at Livvy. "Fine," he said. "Fine. And you?"

"I'm... fine," she answered. Then she giggled. "We're a pair, aren't we?"

Sherlock smiled. "We are," he agreed. "Come here, Poppet."

Livvy smiled and hurried towards them, moving into Sherlock's arms and hugging him. John heard her muffled voice, "I missed you."

"As did I," Sherlock answered. He ducked his head, and John turned away, so as to give them some privacy. He walked out into the room.

"Doc, where's your headset?" Baz called.

Shit! John reached up and touched his ear. "I must have dropped it," he said. "We were mucking around in the mess. I should have taken it off."

"Not a problem," Baz said cheerfully. "Is it just me, or is it getting entirely too sweet in here?" He came closer and nodded toward Sherlock and Livvy, who had moved off to one side.

"Well, families do that. You should know," John said. "I bet it gets just as bad when your partner gets back in town."

Baz smirked. "Well..." Then he stopped. Frowned. Cocked his head to one side as if he was listening. He sighed, shook his head. "You know, I like you, John."

"I can say the same," John answered honestly.

"I wasn't expecting to."

John looked at Baz's headset, which was flashing green. Then he met Sebastian's eyes. "He just told you to kill me, didn't he?"

Baz was silent, then snorted out a single breath. "Yeah. He did."

"He was listening, the whole time."

"Not the whole time," Baz admitted. "He only just heard Tobe confess. And now... crap, John, I wasn't supposed to actually like you!"

"He's a very likeable fellow," Napoleon said from behind them. John stepped back, turning just enough to see the older spy standing in the doorway, aiming a gun at Sebastian. "Take the headset out, Baz. Turn it off and drop it."

John backed away, towards Sherlock and Livvy, watching as Baz reached for his headset. He hesitated, then John heard him softly say, "I'm sorry, Jimmy." Then he pulled the headset out and dropped it onto the floor. He looked up, then batted the headset towards John.

"If you tell him I'm okay, he'll believe you," he said. "It isn't off yet."

John looked at Sherlock, who shook his head. Mycroft was doing his best imitation of a statue, and offered no opinion. John sighed softly and picked up the headset, slipping it into his ear.

"Hello?" he said.

"Oh," the voice he still heard in his nightmares answered. "Where's Seb?"

"He's right here," John answered. "He's fine. He asked me to tell you that."

"And you're going to kill him now, while I listen?" Moriarty asked.

"Of course not. We're not you," John snapped. "What we do with him isn't up to me."

There was a long moment of silence, then... "Promise me that he won't be hurt? I dealt with Garrity for you. You can promise me this!"

"Wait," John said. He turned and looked at Mycroft. "He's asking me to promise that Baz won't be hurt. What will happen to him?"

"I can't tell you that," Mycroft answered. Which John understood as 'I can't tell the murdering psychopath on the other end of the line that'. "But rest assure that Colonel Moran will be safe and well cared for. He will be completely unharmed."

John nodded. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"I heard," Moriarty said. "When do I get him back? He's mine, and I want him back."

"I don't know," John said. He looked at Mycroft. "He wants to know when he'll get Baz back."

"Give me the headset," Mycroft said. John handed it over, and Mycroft held it up to his ear. "Mister Moriarty... very well. Doctor Moriarty. You've played a dangerous game. You threatened my brother, and now you've threatened my daughter. Now you've lost. Goodbye." He dropped the headset and stepped on it firmly enough that John clearly heard the plastic cracking. "mister Solo, would you please oversee the transporting of Colonel Moran?"

"Of course," Napoleon answered. "Come on, Baz. You know where you're going."

Baz nodded, slowly getting to his feet. He forced a smile. "Thanks, John. I'll... see you." Then he grinned and added, "Kinda wish you'd said yes."

John watched as Napoleon took Baz away down another corridor, then took a long breath and asked the air, "What time is it?"

"Time to go home," Sherlock answered.

#

Anthea walked them both out, and offered them the car; Sherlock refused.

"There's a good Thai place not far from here," he offered by way of explanation.

"Ah, yes," she said. "They are good. We have an account there. Tell them that Anthea sent you."

"Thank you," John said.

She smiled. "See you tomorrow," she said, and walked back into the building.

They started walking, neither saying anything until John finally broke the silence. "He sounded... I don't know. He sounded like he really cared."

"He doesn't," Sherlock said firmly. "He's a psychopath. He doesn't care about anyone or anything."

"I'm not sure you're right, Sherlock." John shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. "I liked Baz."

"I know."

"Can't believe he tried to kill me."

"He didn't," Sherlock said. "He was there to make sure it happened. But he didn't plant the explosives."

John considered that as they turned a corner. "You're right. If he'd known, he wouldn't have been in there with me. Or he'd have left me to die."

"He was with you?" Sherlock asked.

"When the bombs went off, yeah," John answered. "I pulled him under cover, he got me out before the first system sealed the room."

"Moriarty almost killed his lover, then. And you think he actually cared-"

"Wait for me!" A clear female voice rang out from behind them. John and Sherlock both turned to see Livvy coming towards them.

"What are you doing?" John asked as she caught up with them and looped one arm through Sherlock's.

"Having dinner with my favorite uncles?" she offered. "So, what did you think of your first day, John?"

"Is it always like that?" John asked.

She grinned. "Oh, no! Sometimes, it gets exciting!"