Thanks for reading this far! Pease enjoy!

MultipleLifes – I guess you'll just have to wait a few more chapters to see if you're right ;)

Celestial Glowhead – Thank you once again for your review and kind words! Only a few more chapters until we see the vision come to pass!

Sherlock was deep in his mind palace. As in deep. He hadn't even acknowledged the outside world for a good three hours. He had no intention of coming out any time soon, but something seemed to pull him from it. He looked up and saw a man standing in the middle of the living room staring at him. The detective raised an eyebrow as his made his deductions.

The gown he wore would indicate the man had been kept in some sort of facility of sorts – and for a long time. However, he had very fresh bruises. He was about as tall as Sherlock, though much more built. A beard was forming, though not willingly – he just had not had access to a way to shave.

Slowly, he began to speak. "Sh-Sherlock Holmes?"

"That would be me."

The man let his tense body sag in relief. "Thank God. I've been trying to contact you, but– "

"You've been kept from doing so because you've been in a hospital of sorts." Sherlock finished. "I'd guess a mental facility."

The man blinked. "No, Mr. Holmes, I'm currently being kept by SIP."

Sherlock's eyes narrowed as he stood. "Currently?"

The man nodded eagerly. "Yes. There've been rumours going around that you're onto SIP." Sherlock nodded. "Well I can be your inside man. I have the ability of…well the SIP agents are calling it psychic navigation. I can communicate with people who are either unconscious or in a deep state of meditation."

"Where are you being kept?" Sherlock asked.

"I don't know exactly; I was knocked out when they brought me here. It's some kind of…of…experimental facility."

"What do you mean?"

The man looked over his shoulder suddenly as if he heard something behind him. He quickly turned back to Sherlock. "Look, I've gotta go. I'll contact you again as soon as I can." Then, as if an afterthought, "My name's David Parson by the way."

Then Sherlock blinked and saw John sitting on the couch reading the paper as if nothing had just happened. "John?"

The doctor looked up. "Oh, you're back." He got to his feet. "You've been out of it for quite a while, I didn't–"

"John, I've been contacted."

John paused. "What?"

Sherlock leapt to his feet. "A man being kept by SIP." He whipped out his phone. "He said his name is David Parson."

John set down the paper. "Wait, wait, what? What do you mean you were contacted? How? You were just in your mind palace, yeah?"

"Psychic navigation," Sherlock explained. "He was at a SIP facility physically but he managed to contact me while I was in my mind palace – likely because it would be considered deep meditation."

He hit one of the speed-dials on his phone and held it up to his ear. As soon as someone answered he got straight to the point. "Lestrade, I need you to look up a missing persons report: David Parson."

"Wait, hold on," said the DI, "give me a second, 'kay?" There was the sound of shuffling of papers and typing on a keyboard. "Why the hurry?"

"He's a mutant and could be involved in something quite dangerous."

Lestrade muttered some choice curse words to himself. "Okay, 'course. David Parson?"

"That is what I said, Lestrade," Sherlock drawled, getting impatient.

"Er, I've got a missing persons report for a David Parson. Age thirty-four, six foot, Caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes, went missing six weeks ago. That fit the description?"

"Send me the file." Sherlock hung up and tossed his phone on the coffee table and picked up his laptop, taking it over to his armchair and opening it up, logging on.

John stared at the detective from his spot on the couch. "Right…" he began. "So this man contacts you psychically and says he's being held by SIP?" Sherlock nodded. "Why?"

"That's what I aim to find out." He opened the email from Lestrade. "This is him." John made his way over to the screen. "Last seen leaving work at the Globe Theatre and apparently never made it home." Sherlock leaned back in his chair. "He said he could be our man on the inside." The detective perked up. "John, call Coulson and tell him what's happened."

When Sherlock didn't receive a response he looked over his shoulder to find John gone and David standing in his place. David shook his head. "Sorry for being so abrupt."

"You said you could only contact someone if they were unconscious or in a state of deep meditation," Sherlock said suspiciously.

"I know; you're unconscious."

"And you did it?"

David shrugged, somewhat guiltily. "I prefer to contact when someone's out on their own free will, but I don't have a lot of time." The mutant looked around him as if checking if he was really alone. "Every day agents come in and do…I don't know…tests on me. Measuring brain waves while I use my powers, various scans, blood tests. They aren't completely terrible unless they catch me contacting someone outside the facility."

"This is a great risk then."

David nodded hurriedly. "Yes, but this is important. There are more here. There are other mutants here. I don't know who and I don't know how many, but–"

Then Sherlock blinked and found himself on the floor of 221B with John kneeling over him in concern. "Sherlock, are you okay?" The detective sat up, staring at where David had just been. "I was in the middle of calling Coulson when you just fell out of your chair. Did you faint?"

"Parson contacted me again." Sherlock swayed as he got to his feet. "He's not the only one being help by SIP. They're performing experiments on mutants. He wasn't very specific, but I'd say measuring the extent of his powers."

John stared at his friend in concern. "Where?"

Sherlock shook his head. "He doesn't know. Definitely within the country, though."

There were footsteps in the stairwell and Lestrade appeared on the threshold. "Sherlock, what can you tell me?"

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "No need to come storming over, Lestrade, this is under SHIELD's jurisdiction now."

"Like hell it is. This is my missing persons case. You can aid me on this one but you don't have the power to take the case from me."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow. "Don't I?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his SHIELD badge. John sighed and hung his head. "This case is SHIELD's responsibility now, Lestrade."

Lestrade eyed the badge suspiciously before taking it from the detective. "So you stole an agent's ID – big surprise, you've done that before."

Sherlock rolled his eyes again. "Can you read, Inspector?"

Lestrade took a closer look at the badge and his eyes widened. He looked back up at the consulting detective. "So you've got yourself a fake…"

John shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not a fake, Greg." The doctor reached into his wallet and unfolded it, handing over the matching badge.

Lestrade looked between the two IDs, up at his friends, then back at the badges in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Wasn't relevant," Sherlock said.

"It just never came up," John corrected, shooting his flatmate a look. He turned to his Sherlock in annoyance. "Look, we can either work with Lestrade or risk the possibility of dealing with Anderson." Sherlock glared at his friend.

Lestrade held up a hand. "Wait. Anderson? Does Anderson know about SHIELD? Sure, it was in the news a while back, but–" Lestrade stopped short and it hit him. "Bloody hell. He's an agent." Sherlock and John glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look. "He's an agent! How…How is he…? That doesn't make any sense; he's not the type to…" The detective inspector trailed off. "He was hired out of nowhere. I-I wasn't asked to do background checks. I figured there was a miscommunication, but…it's because he was planted there. Wasn't he? By SHIELD?" Lestrade gave the badges back. "One of my officers works for an undercover American agency…But why?"

"To keep an eye on me," Sherlock answered.

Lestrade shook his head in disbelief and sat down on the couch. "He was hired right after you started solving cases for NSY." He looked up at the two flatmates. "SHIELD saw this coming from a decade ago…" He ran a hand over his face. "Bloody hell," he muttered once again.

John couldn't help but crack a smile. "Just because we're officially working for SHIELD doesn't mean we'll be taking the case from you." John shot his flatmate a look and Sherlock pretended not to notice.

What Sherlock did notice, however, was that he was suddenly alone in the room with David once again. The detective turned to face him and saw the man was in terrible shape. He had new cuts and forming bruises and he was panting heavily as he leaned on the wall.

"They're on to me," he coughed. David wiped at his mouth. "They know I've been trying to contact someone. I don't know how long it will take before they figure out it's you."

"Then tell me all you can," said Sherlock.

David nodded. "I've been contacting some other mutants and I'd say there's about a dozen here – as well as two non-mutants. For sure there's a guy with super strength, a telekinetic, and someone who can control light, but I don't know the abilities of the rest or why there are non-mutants being held captive, nor do I know anyone's names. What I do know is that they're treating those who don't cooperate like rubbish – like real prisoners – but they don't talk like they think we're terrible." David paused and shook his head. "No, let me rephrase. They don't give a crap about us, but they treat our powers as if they were something sacred."

David swallowed, a wave of dizziness passing over him. "I know that there's more than one facility. Word is the telekinetic is being moved to another building – closer to London by the sound of it," David stopped for a moment. "I-I think that's it. At least, that's all I know."

Sherlock nodded. "Thank you. You've been very helpful."

David offered a weak grin. "You're welcome. And if any time you need to talk to me, just call out. I'll be able to reach you."

Sherlock blinked and found himself on the floor again, this time with both Lestrade and John staring over him. "What'd he say?" John asked.

Sherlock pushed himself to his feet and wobbled for a moment. "There are about a dozen mutant prisoners at his facility, as well as two non-mutants. But it's not the only one." He looked toward John. "There are other SIP facilities similar to this one. Apparently there's one close to London."

Lestrade folded his arms. "Mind explaining what's going on?"

The detective and the doctor turned to their friend. "You've heard of SIP, haven't you?" John asked.

"Yeah," Lestrade said with a nod. "The business card back when you two were dealing with Alice Marks, right?"

"Yes," Sherlock answered. "We somewhat recently discovered what it stands for: Superhuman Integration Program."

"What, so they plan on making superhumans more common place? That sounds like a good motivation…but I sense they are anything but good."

"So it would seem." Sherlock made his way back over to his chair. "SIP has kidnapped mutants and non-mutants alike, one of whom is a psychic navigator named David Parson, a light manipulator, one with super strength, and a telekinetic. Experiments are being conducted on these mutants – it would seem they're measuring the extent of their powers. Apparently the telekinetic is being moved to a base close to London soon."

Sherlock turned to John. "I suggest we meet with Agent Coulson in person – there is quite a bit we need to discuss."

Boo, a short chapter that's nothing but exposition.

Yeah, yeah, I know, but it has to happen. Don't worry, we've got about nine or ten more chapters of exciting one-shots and then we'll begin to tie things up (I can't believe I'm already half way done with this story, whoa).