"Alright, alright! Hey, who's the doctor here?!"
"Irrelevant, you're also an idiot and under the influence of an unknown substance."
"Jesus, please spare me the mother hen act ok? Can I just get a pair of pants?"
John hadn't been in Sherlock's presence for more than thirty minutes and the detective was already driving him raving mad. Once he'd escaped rather uneventfully (other than one or two ambitious guards' attempts to stop them) there was the car ride over to… well whatever the hell Mycroft had set up. It was some sort of private medical/scientific research and treatment centre. Sherlock had clung to him almost immediately and much like at the pool he began trying to strip him of his clothes. Apparently there was a possibility his clothes might have trackers or even traces of silver. John wasn't sure how much he believed that, but he wouldn't put it past Moriarty either. That left John starkers in the back of a government car with the British government, his crazy flat mate, and his once huge crush/best friend/almost mate. Needless to say he was less than thrilled.
Once at the facility there was a lot of poking and prodding, however most of it was done by Sherlock not the doctors. Once a preliminary check was done, with no need to raise alarm, Sherlock continued to study every scratch and bruise as if it might tell him what happened: knowing Sherlock it probably did. Except that was beside the point, the point was John could simply tell him what he wanted to know and he could do it preferably with some underwear on rather than sitting naked on some sterilized cot.
"I don't know, I think I rather like you like this." Mary commented as her gaze dragged across his body and he could feel his ears turning pink. It wasn't that he was embarrassed of being seen nude by Mary, or anyone really, but he didn't much like allowing everyone an eyeful either. Sherlock glared at Mary and moved in her line of sight.
"I think you've seen quite enough." He hissed.
John really wished they wouldn't fight because he'd had just enough of drama for the day. Mary simply made a rude gesture and rolled her eyes. Mycroft had one of the staff bring him some scrubs until Anthea brought John some of his clothes. Once dressed again John felt significantly better and sat on the cot since his legs still felt weak from the trace amounts of silver in his bloodstream. His blood work was being done at the moment so they had some time to wait until the results came back and he'd feel safe leaving.
"I'm not sure that I have." Mycroft said as his calculating stare pinned John to his spot.
John and Mary were both startled at the statement and their eyes went wide as saucers. Sherlock looked as though he were about to murder the man until Mycroft held up one hand to arrest his movements.
"What I mean to say is I'm curious about your mutation." He clarified.
John felt relieved and yet utterly terrified because while he did not want to imagine the scenario in which Mycroft Holmes was interested in him sexually he also did not want to end up as his personal lab rat. Scarier still, he didn't even know how Sherlock would feel about that. The detective didn't seem angry with him for keeping such a secret or even overly invasive after figuring it out. Would he let Mycroft test on him? For the sake of science perhaps? maybe as a means of revenge for hiding that from him?
"Not too curious I hope." Mary said forebodingly. "And it's not a mutation. We're not some deformed version of humanity. We are our own race; we are something far superior to man." She continued bitterly and John was surprised he hadn't heard such a speech earlier. "Besides, you know far too much already. Humans are not supposed to know about us. I sought your help to save John and that was the only reason, if not for him I would have said nothing. If he were smart he'd realize what a risk I took in saving him and come away with me now." Mary said scathingly before turning towards John. "It is not safe to be around these people, not now that they know what you are. Think of Moriarty, of Sebastian, think of the dozens of our people locked within those cells. Would you trade one prison for another?" Mary finished desperately, all the while drawing nearer.
Sherlock tensed noticeably and shifted closer to John.
"John's no prisoner." Sherlock stated defiantly and offered a look back to John to confirm he knew this as well.
John smiled faintly at the gesture but pushed him to the side so he could see Mary better. It seemed Sherlock wasn't too angry at him, at least not enough to leave him with his brother. He was almost surprised how relieved he was to know that Sherlock wasn't freaked out or angry enough to cast him aside, but at the moment he was more concerned with Mary.
"Why would we trust you? Humans lie all the time, they have no loyalty." Mary argued and clenched her fists.
Sherlock looked ready to fight back, but John really didn't want to see how that would play out considering he didn't have any claws of his own. Also he had a few words he'd been meaning to have with Mary.
"You're one to speak of loyalty. You killed Jimmy for going on a date with a human, that's never been a crime punishable by death. In fact plenty of us do it." John pointed out harshly. Mary had just saved him and he was thankful, but saving his life didn't forgive her for taking Jimmy's.
"I didn't kill Jimmy because he went on some stupid date. I couldn't have cared less if he wanted to get a leg over with some ape slag. I killed him because he sold information to Sebastian and Moriarty. Where do you think he got all those werewolves?" Mary shouted defensively and John felt taken back.
He'd never considered that someone would have sold out their people for money.
"Fuck… do you think anyone else is feeding him information?" John asked carefully and Mary shrugged with a disdainful grunt.
"Jimmy was a scummy bloke, but I didn't think even he'd do it until I saw it happen with my own eyes. It's possible I guess, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start looking for them." Mary admitted regretfully.
John sucked in a deep breath and realized that he was going to have to tell her eventually and the longer he waited the angrier she would be for withholding information.
"We've got to shut him down, and I mean like yesterday." John said sternly and Mary studied him closely.
"Obviously we've been trying to shut down his operation for months, you know that." Sherlock interjected as though John had forgotten.
Mycroft nodded in agreement and intensified his gaze on John.
"No, you don't understand. He's… the stuff he's doing is… it's so beyond wrong I can't believe someone even thought to do it." John said shakily as he thought back to the men and women who had been forced into something so horrific he still had to fight the urge to vomit as he thought of it.
Sherlock moved a hesitant hand onto his shoulder and John looked up appreciatively. Sherlock likely wouldn't understand, but at least he would care. Mary on the other hand would probably be as sick as John.
"What did he do John, did he hurt you?" Sherlock asked quietly and searched John's face to confirm any suspicions he might have had.
John shook his head and looked over to an anxious Mary.
"No, Mary came just in time to save me, but all the others… Mary, they… Jesus, he's mated them." John choked out and Mary stared in disbelief.
Sherlock and Mycroft looked thoroughly confused but said nothing for the time being.
"What do you mean? What do you mean he's mated them?" She questioned almost hysterically.
John swallowed down the lump in his throat and did his best to look into her pleading eyes.
"That-" John swallowed down the lump in his throat and did his best to look into her pleading eyes. "That the chair you found me strapped to, he's been using it to restrain them. He straps them down and then he… he mates them. I was going to be number fifty-seven." John confessed brokenly and Mary let out a horrified gasp.
She was at his side in an instant and clinging to him for dear life. She shook violently and he wrapped his arms around her to calm her as best he could.
"Humans can't mate; they can't even breed with us. This is impossible. They should be rebelling; it's a forced bond. This isn't right, it can't be. This can't be true John." Mary rambled hopelessly as she denied the repulsive truth.
John just held tighter and fought back his own tears. Those people's souls were trapped in a bond with the most psychotic man in the world and there was nothing they could do about it.