John was starting to get used to waking up in places in which he was unfamiliar, so he didn't panic when he awoke in a strange bed in a strange room in a strange cabin. However he did panic when he stepped into the kitchen and his question "where's Maryn?" was answered by Sherlock with.
"Gone"
"Gone?" asked John "What do you mean gone? Sherlock what did you do?"
Sherlock looked to the doctor curiously "Nothing. She went into town with Hennery" John breathed a sigh of relief.
Sherlock shook his head at his emotional friend and went back to staring out the window. Thinking. Of course Sherlock had been thinking about the same thing for the past hour and 17 minutes so he decided that he was...
"Bored, John we're going out" declared Sherlock, John looked up at Sherlock surprised.
"Out? Are you sure that's a good idea with the whole Moriarty situation?" questioned John "What did Maryn say?"
"She didn't say anything and I take that as a sign we should go out" rationalized Sherlock "We can meet her in town if you'd like" John sighed, there was no point in arguing, besides, what's the worst that can happen in a small town?
"You drive right John?" Sherlock walked out of the door wrapping his coat around himself as John awkwardly closed the door while attempting to put on his own coat.
"You don't?" asked John astounded.
"Pointless. Why bother?" Sherlock drawled in a bored tone. John pressed his lips together in annoyance but climbed into an old pick up truck that had been sitting in the yard when they arrived at the cabin.
The keys were, of course, still left in the truck, how lovely it must be to live in the country and not worry about theft or murder. Sherlock shivered at the thought.
The drive into town was quiet and uneventful, it's a good thing there is only one road into town or else they could get lost. Well John would be lost and it would be John's fault, if you asked Sherlock anyway. They didn't meet any other cars on their way; it wasn't a very popular spot apparently.
The town was small, even smaller than Winchester; there was basically only one street in the town. While John appreciated the charm, Sherlock wished he could get out of it as soon as possible. The only thing that seemed out of place in the town was a large house. It wasn't nearly as large as the bed and breakfast or Hennery's house but it was large in comparison to everything else in the very tiny town.
"There, she's there" said Sherlock pointing to the large house.
"How can you tell?" asked John skeptically.
"You're the one who wants to see her John" sighed Sherlock, John clenched his hands around the steering wheel and pulled into the house.
The detective and the doctor felt very out of place in the town they knew no one, they had no idea what their customs were, though they didn't appear to have any, in fact they didn't appear to have anything at all. Sherlock only accounted for seeing one person in town, through the window of a store he saw a cashier, but other than that, the town was almost completely empty.
John and Sherlock approached the house cautiously. John reached to knock on the door but Sherlock instead opened it without any warning of entrance. The house was dark and filled with old furniture, they didn't see any evidence of life except for up the stairs there was a glow under the door to one of the rooms. Without bothering to converse the two boys went upstairs and lightly pushed the door open.
Both Sherlock and John gasped, John perhaps a little less subtly. The room was filled with at least 10 computer screens; they had to be careful not to trip over cords that were scattered all across the room. Boxes of connectors, chargers and other technical equipment lined the walls and there, sitting in a chair at two of the screen typing a million miles a minute was Maryn. She didn't notice Sherlock or John open the door she was too engrossed in her work to bother to look at them.
"No, no, that's not what I said" she said angrily into the headset she was wearing "Good, god, could you get someone on the phone that knows what their doing, I need to get them out of here as soon as possible!"
"Maryn?" John made their presence known, she swerved around in her chair surprised.
"John! Sherlock! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.
"He was bored" explained John, Sherlock smiled in a less than pleasant way at her.
"Sherlock! I told you not to go out under any circumstances!" she said exasperated
"She did? You told me she didn't say anything" John looked at Sherlock confused.
"I lied" shrugged Sherlock, John closed his eyes unable to deal with the overgrown child also known as his best friend.
Sherlock walked slowly around the room at the many screens "Well" he said finally "This looks legal"
"Oh, you're one to talk about legal" sneered Maryn.
"I never knew just how alike you and your brother were" smirked Sherlock
"Likewise" said Maryn the corners of her mouth turning up, Sherlock's smile disappeared.
"What do you mean you have to move us?" interjected John attempting to change the topic of conversation.
"I have to, as soon as possible, you can't stay here" she said going back to her typing, code flew across one screen while images appeared on another.
"How'd you get this here?" asked Sherlock suddenly changing the topic.
"Hennery had some of his friends move my workstation here, apparently I'll be staying here for a while" she said not acting as if she liked the idea at all.
"With Hennery?" John asked, Maryn nodded.
"Why not come with us?" asked Sherlock, John and Maryn looked at Sherlock surprised, why in the world would he want to spend any more time with Maryn than was absolutely needed.
"Hennery thinks I'll be safer with him" sighed Maryn.
"Maybe he's wrong" John's voice was louder than was probably necessary.
"Or maybe I know exactly what I'm talking about" Hennery appeared in the doorway, John spun around to face the much larger man. "Maybe I know exactly what's best for her"
"How can you be sure that she won't be safer with us?" challenged John.
"Not a good idea John" Sherlock said quietly in his ear, John ignored him.
"Maybe we'll do a far better job of protecting her than you ever would"
That did it.
Hennery grabbed John by his shirt and slammed against the wall. John was a bit out of practice and of course wasn't prepared to react so he could nothing to protect himself not to mention his feet were tangled up in the cords. Sherlock stood ready to attack Hennery if needed.
"Say that again" growled Hennery
"HENNERY!" shouted Maryn jumping up out of her chair "Put him down right now!"
Hennery slowly released John, John was breathing heavily as he was lowered to the floor. The air suddenly felt awfully thick in that room, making it harder to breath.
"It's she's safer with me" said Hennery "We both know you're no good for her" John, Sherlock and Hennery all knew he wasn't just talking about protecting.
John didn't even think twice before punching Hennery square in the jaw. The resounding crack satisfied John more than he cared to admit but it most certainly did not impress Maryn. Though it perhaps impressed Sherlock as he heard him chuckle as Hennery cried out in pain.
"Hennery!" Maryn cried in concern, running over to him, Hennery was holding his face while blood flowed out of his mouth and all over the cords on the ground. "Hennery are you alright?"
"Fine" mumbled Hennery through his hand, still managing to glare at John. Maryn escorted Hennery out of the room and into the bathroom.
John and Sherlock were left alone in the computer room, Sherlock opened his mouth to speak but John cut him off.
"Just don't"
"That wasn't very smart" Sherlock observed.
"I know" sighed John
"She's going to be angry with you"
"I know" John put his head in his hands.
Before Sherlock could say anything else they were startled by the glass window to their left shattering. Before John could react Sherlock pulled him to the ground while a second bullet whizzed passed their heads. A third then was shot, but after the two boys were out of site there was nothing. Just silence.
"Sebastian" whispered Sherlock.
A/N: Thanks so much to my reviewers and to the idea about the punching. Fantastic idea that was. Hope the story is alright, I'll be posting as much as possible. Please review, I will appreciate it more than you know.