This is quite a short story, so we're already almost reaching its end! :O Nooo!

Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

By Gina

Chapter 10

Deus ex machina

The only sound the four of them could hear was Naisa's excited footsteps as she disappeared between towers of cheese in order to find the Red Leicester she had seen.

"Well," said Moriarty. "Getting rid of her was easier than I imagined."

"Hey!" protested Gina. "She's my friend! Leave her alone!" She flicked her hair, spattering Moriarty's suit with melted cheese. He sighed.

"Why are you my niece?"

"Don't blame me, blame genetics!" replied Gina brightly, a large smile on her face.

Sherlock stepped forward, blocking Gina with his body, his gun pointed at Moriarty. "Why did you bring her here?" he demanded, with Gina peering past him at her uncle.

"Well, I told the little group of nancies who threatened her that I would take care of her. And considering that I knew of your connection, I thought it would be a prime opportunity to get at you."

"Group of nancies?" stuttered Watson. "What are you talking about?" Sherlock looked just as confused.

"What?" exclaimed Moriarty. "You mean you don't know? Ha!" He began to laugh, and it echoed around the cheese factory eerily. Sherlock and Watson shared a confused look.

"Oh, I really trained her too well," Moriarty commented when he finished laughing. The two 'rescuers' stared at Gina, who seemed to shrink away from their gaze.

"I got a threat," she said in a small voice. "From those guys me and Naisa chased in London back in October. I didn't want to worry you, so I kept it secret."

"Is that why we have an Ed?" asked Watson. Gina nodded. Watson seemed to do a double-take in his mind. "Hang on – you managed to keep a secret from Sherlock?"

"Well," said Sherlock, looking at Gina with a mixture of annoyance and admiration. "I must commend you on doing so. But why didn't you tell me? This could have been sorted out without you being kidnapped!"

"I wasn't kidnapped," protested Gina. "I went to his home willingly, because I had nowhere else to go."

"So you're telling us that you know where he lives?" asked Watson, pointing at Moriarty who was standing there calmly, looking as if he was enjoying the exchange. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because you never asked."

Sherlock and Watson rolled their eyes, while Moriarty giggled like a little girl. "Told you I trained her well," he said in a sing-song tone. Sherlock glared at Moriarty, then started to charge towards him. His coat billowed, smacking into Gina by accident, and she fell backwards into the vat of cheese again.

"WOAH!" she yelled as she fell, before it was cut off with a weird combination of smack-glurp-pop. Watson peered over the edge of the vat, seeing the top of Gina's head going round in circles once more. He rolled his eyes, knowing she would be fine.

He turned around to find that Sherlock and Moriarty were gone, but the sounds of fistfalls could be heard coming from an open door, so Watson headed towards it.

Within the next room he could see a bloodied Moriarty and an already bruising Sherlock. They were standing opposite each other now, glaring and breathing heavily.

Seeing a chair nearby, Watson sighed and sat down on it, producing yet another newspaper. He didn't know how long they'd be there, but it was best to have it in case he got bored.

"What's with the newspaper?" asked Moriarty, not taking his eyes off his opponent.

"He does that," said Sherlock, his gaze also not wavering.

Watson rolled his eyes.

There was a sound of clanging, and a door slammed open to reveal a hyperactive Naisa standing there with a lot of Red Leicester cheese, some of which had bite marks in them. "CHEESE!" she yelled, going slightly cross-eyed.

Sherlock and Moriarty stared at her, confused.

"Where did that door come from?" asked Sherlock.

"Don't ask me, you're the 'consulting detective'," mocked Moriarty.

"Well you're the 'criminal mastermind', you figure it out," mimicked Sherlock, sticking his tongue out at Moriarty, prompting him to do the same back to him.

"Wow," said Watson, drawing eyes to him as he opened his newspaper. "You two are very mature," he finished sarcastically.

THUD.

The whole factory shook.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

It kept getting louder and louder, as if it was getting closer.

A third door trembled in its frame, before giving up and collapsing into the room.

A hulking figure trembled at the doorway, which stepped forward to reveal…

"Crazy Jo!" said Naisa excitedly. "How did you find us?"

"Cheese," was all he said, his voice rough.

Naisa giggled.

Moriarty, seeing his opportunity, tried to make a run for it.

SMACK.

Crazy Jo had somehow stopped Moriarty dead in his tracks by smacking him in the face with a huge fist. Sherlock hid in the shadows, knowing that he could be next.

"Well," said Sherlock. "That was convenient."

"Deus ex machina," stated a feminine voice at the doorway, which Watson had used.

"What?" asked Watson.

"Deus ex machina," repeated Gina, sopping wet with cheese. "It's a theatrical device most commonly used by Greek playwrights with which they solved all of the characters' problems with a random God descending from the heavens in order to make everything good again."

Everybody stared at her.

"What?" she asked. "Can't a girl be smart while being covered in melting cheese?" She rolled her eyes. "What this world is coming to, I cannot describe…"

"Let's just go home," said Watson. "Except you, Crazy Jo. You go back to prison."

"Aw," said Crazy Jo, looking dejected, but he gloomily trudged out of the factory on his own.

"That wasn't very nice," scolded Naisa.

The four of them went home after leaving a message on the Police's answer phone to make sure they found Moriarty (which they didn't), so that Gina could clean herself from all the cheese.