Chapter 9: The Milgram Experiment

"Wake up!" Sebastian's foot connected with my side and I grunted in pain. How long had it been since Moriarty had been here? It couldn't have been long, a few hours at most. I forced myself to sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes.

"Get changed." Sebastian dumped a pile of clothes on my lap and walked out.

'These are my clothes!' I realized as I held up the shirt I had been given. Why was Moriarty having put on my own clothes? I got dressed as quickly as possible, grabbing my fluorite from under the mattress and slipping it into my pocket. I found my trainers and coat on the table and put them on but my scarf was nowhere to be seen. The scarf had been a gift from John since I had kept stealing Sherlock's and Sherlock was getting sick of it so John had bought me one of my own.

I began pacing anxiously around the room. What was Moriarty playing at now? Was he letting me go? Unlikely. Was he going to kill me and leave my body somewhere for Sherlock to find? Probably. The door to the room opened and Moriarty and Sebastian stepped in.

"Time to go, little mouse," Moriarty said.

"Go where?" I questioned eyeing them wearily. Moriarty sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Get her," he ordered Sebastian, who came forward and forced a cloth over my face.

'Chloroform,' I recognized instantly and held my breath.

"Can't do that forever," Sebastian sneered. He was right but I held out as long as I could. After several minutes my brain was screaming at me to breathe and I knew I was going to pass out anyway. I drew in a large breath and inhaled was slightly sweet chemical smell. My head spun and I felt my fingers start to go numb. The feeling would work its way up from my extremities leaving numbness in its wake. This would only take a few seconds. I would lose consciousness shortly after. Five seconds after to be exact. I felt my body sag against Sebastian as the drug pulled me under.


"Moriarty, you had me meet you here under the assumption that Reilen would be returned to me," Sherlock's voice snapped. "Now, where is she?"

"Sherlock," I groaned as I opened my eyes.

"All in good time, Sherlock," Moriarty's voice replied.

"No!" John's voice shouted. "Now! Give her back, now!" Moriarty sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Here you go." A light flared above me and I squinted against the harsh light. In front of me was a two-way mirror so I couldn't see Sherlock or John but I knew they could see me. I shifted and realized that I was tied to a chair and hooked up to something by the feel of it. I could feel the round stickers connecting wires to my skin. The light shut off and I could see through the two-way mirror into the room where Moriarty stood with Sherlock and John. Sebastian leaned against the opposite wall polishing a handgun. John was eyeing him with his hand on his own gun.

"What was all that?" John demanded gesturing to the mirror. "What've you done to her?"

"That is how you'll get her back," Moriarty answered. "You can have her back after Sherlock completes the—experiment."

"Experiment?" John asked looking confused. "What experiment?" Moriarty chuckled.

"Sherlock understands, don't you?" John looked worriedly at Sherlock.

"Sherlock?" he asked.

"The Milgram Experiment," Sherlock responded. "Those wires on Reilen connect her to this dial here. When the dial is turned she will receive a shock. They're mild at first but get progressively stronger. When this experiment was first performed there were questions that were asked and for each wrong answer the person hooked up to the dial received a shock."

"That was in the 60's, wasn't it?" John asked. "It had something to do with explaining why the Nazis followed orders even if they knew it was wrong."

"Very good, John," Sherlock agreed. "But it was fake. No one was ever shocked. They were just prerecorded screams. Let's try, shall we?" He turned the dial and a shock went through me. I yelped in pain but luckily he shut it off again.

"Sherlock, I don't think that was fake," John said uneasily. Sherlock snorted and turned to Moriarty.

"Of course it was," he snapped. Moriarty spread his hands and shrugged.

"You caught me," he said. "But you have to finish the experiment before I let her go."

"Fine," Sherlock replied. "Let's end this quickly, shall we?" I watched as he turned the dial as far as it would go. The shock slammed into me and I screamed. All my muscles locked up and I felt my eyes roll back in my head.

"All right, he's done it!" John's voice cried. "Now end it!"

"Just a few more minutes," Moriarty insisted. "I'll let you know when you can stop." The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I must have bit my tongue.

'Sherlock thinks this is all fake,' I realized as I tried not to choke on the blood filling my mouth. 'That's why he hasn't stopped yet.' I wanted to scream for Sherlock to stop but my jaw had locked shut. I could imagine the electricity sparking across my brain and destroying my mind palace. How long would I be able to stand this before I lost my mind or died?

"That's enough," Moriarty's voice decided. There was a click as the dial was turned off and I went limp against the chair.

"We can have her back now?" John asked.

"Yes, yes," Moriarty agreed. "Take her. I'm bored with her now anyway." The light came back on but I could hardly focus on it. I just wanted to pass out. A thin trickle of blood was oozing out of my mouth and I let it. I didn't think I had the energy to do anything about it.

"Jesus Christ!" John shouted. The door to the room burst open and Sherlock and John rushed over to me.

"It was real?" Sherlock gasped in disbelief. "No—but—it can't have been!" He whirled around to face Moriarty.

"You're the one who assumed it wasn't real, Sherlock," Moriarty sneered. "This is your doing, not mine. But I held up my end of the bargain. I must be going now." He and Sebastian left and John jumped up to stop them.

"Let them go," Sherlock ordered putting a hand on John's arm. "Mycroft is waiting outside with his men. They're not going anywhere." John came back to me and began unhooking the wires.

"You're okay, Reilen," he said in a soothing tone. "We've got you. We'll get you to the hospital and everything will be fine." I didn't feel like things would be fine. I felt like bits my brain had been broken off and were floating away. How long had the shock treatment gone on for? John was doing the doctor thing, checking me over, noting the bruises and such.

"All right, I think we can go now," Sherlock decided. "You can finish checking her over at the hospital." Before John could protest he had scooped me into his arms and was carrying me from the room. I laid my head against his shoulder and inhaled the scent of his cologne, his aftershave, the chemicals he had been experimenting with—all of it smelled just like I remembered. It all smelled like home.