December 12: "Soundtrack" (from I'm Nova)

A/N: HAPPY 12-12-12, EVERYBODY!

I would put this up at 12:12, but I don't have that much patience :)

HUGE thank-you to my mom & sister for helping me come up with this idea!

Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Inspector Lestrade were sitting in the flat at Baker Street, once again going over their plan to capture two murderers: John Davies and George Rider. Their mission had to be handled with extreme caution, as the men were mentally unstable, and might willingly kill anyone who came near them.

This had been learned by experience, but luckily no one had been very seriously injured in the skirmish of the previous day, and they had managed to arrest one of the men (James Tyler). To make matters worse, the two remaining criminals had been staying in public places, where there would be plenty of opportunities for hostages. The men were currently in a museum.

On the positive side, only Rider was armed (and he only had two shots left), as Davies had dropped his revolver when he fled with his companion during their previous encounter with the law.

"Watson, when we first enter the museum, where will you be?" asked Holmes.

"I will be walking next to you, and go where you go." He answered the question automatically, as if he had already answered it a dozen times. He probably had.

"Excellent. And Lestrade?"

"I will walk faster than the two of you, and find Rider," said Lestrade.

"And?"

"Make sure he does not see me."

"Precisely," said Holmes. "Watson and I will follow at a distance, keeping an eye out for Davies. He may not be armed, but he is definitely still dangerous. Now, when we have located both of the men, what will we do?"

Watson and Lestrade answered at the same time. "I will pretend to be having a conversation with you, while you watch Lestrade and Rider behind me," said Watson.

"I will stay close to Rider, without allowing him to know that I am there, until Watson gives the signal." Neither had to repeat themselves, since all three of them knew exactly what had to be done.

"What is the signal?"

"I will stoop down as if I am adjusting my shoe."

"When will you do this?"

"When you give the code word," said Watson. Holmes looked at him expectantly. "Sound-track." he added.

"I will give the signal when...?"

"When you see that Rider is unprepared for an attack, and he won't be able to reach his gun."

Holmes nodded. "When we give the signal, what will you do, Lestrade?"

"I will grab him from behind, and take his gun from him."

"And Watson?"

"I will follow Davies, or block the exit he is heading toward, so that he does not escape." He added as an afterthought, "And you will assist either of us as needed."

"Wonderful!" ejaculated Holmes. "I do believe we are now ready!"

The day's events, however, took a drastically different turn than planned. When they reached the museum, they found that the usual museum-goers were not there; instead there were several police constables and one detective: Inspector Gregson.

"I seem to have beaten you to it, this time," said Gregson to Lestrade, with a smirk.

"What's going on here?" asked Holmes.

"You mean you haven't heard?!" asked Gregson incredulously.

"What are you talking about? What's happened?" asked Watson.

"George Rider shot and killed John Davies, before turning the gun on himself!"

For a moment, all four of them stood in silence. Then-

"Well, I guess all that planning was for nothing," said Holmes despondently.

"Were you hoping we'd have to chase a couple of madmen through London?" asked Watson, raising his eyebrows.

"He probably was," Lestrade assured him. The comment earned him a glare from Holmes and a muffled snigger from Gregson.

"I'm just glad we won't have to worry about them terrorizing the London populace any longer," said Watson.

"Cheer up, Holmes," said Gregson, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find a few more criminals for you to hunt down by next week.

Holmes only grunted. "Come, Watson," he said. "We can do nothing more here."

A/N: While they were going over the plan, I kept having flashbacks to Harry Potter: "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise, and pretending I don't exist."