Chapter Fourteen

They climbed out of the car a few blocks back, the four of them making their way through the darkened streets to the place where Moriarty and Sherlock began. Fate seemed to link them to this place, to Carl Powers and now Molly Hooper had been dragged into the mix. But Moriarty wouldn't let them walk up unanswered.

When the shooting started Sherlock rushed Molly into an alleyway. The bursts of gunfire filled the street and Lewis was behind a car returning fire. Mycroft had allowed them a bit more fire power for this, or rather he'd given it to them as they asked. Still Moriarty was determined to turn this street into a warzone.

"I know another way," Sherlock told them and that was when he saw Holly. There was a bloody wound on her shoulder, she'd been grazed by one of the bullets and had sheltered against one of the walls for protection. She was just at the mouth of the alley and Molly ran back to her, tearing at part of her own skirt to wrap the wound.

"You'll be fine," Molly said over the gunfire.

Holly smiled. "I know, don't worry," she took Molly with her good arm, "we need to hurry."

Lewis dashed the distance into the alley and they were following Sherlock through a building that seemed to be abandoned. There was an explosion of muzzle fire and Sherlock dropped back to cover against the wall. Rows of bullets ripped into the wall behind him. Holly and Lewis returned fire and Sherlock led Molly through the darkness with the flash of the guns to light their way through the building. The place was burned out and dank and wet with rain water. There might have been something romantic in the setting under different circumstances but with tracers from the guns of Moriarty's men whizzing past them as they ran it had little luster.

Lewis bottlenecked the men into a hallway as he brought up the rear with Holly right in front of him. He had switched to the AA-12 not, it was louder and much more destructive but any worry about damage to the aesthetics of the building had gone out the window by now. The shooting was sure to attract the attention of the police but Mycroft had warned them about this and expected it, he would try to keep any interruption to the attempt to get Sophie back to a minimum.

Two men dropped in a row as Lewis pumped shotgun rounds into them and dropped back to avoid a spray of machine gun bullets. How many were there? Maybe they had underestimated the strength of Moriarty's force. Lewis didn't think one man could have had this much pull for any non nationally funded group. He would pass the information along to Sherlock: but the idea that Moriarty was operating without some backing from somewhere else was absurd when he considered it now.

The weapons were a vast assortment of makes and models, expensive and seemingly well maintained. Lewis felt they might even be a little outgunned in this endeavor. He backed down the hall putting down a few suppression shots from his side arm on the bend of the hall before switching back to his shotgun.

Sherlock led them out into an alleyway, it was raining now and he led them up to a blue door with a metal push bar in its center. "It's through here," he said. Molly hung close to him, her fingers knotted in nervousness. Lewis watched the two of them for a moment as Sherlock surveyed the room just on the other side of the door.

They pushed through into a darkened rec-center. "The pool is at the far end," said Sherlock.

"Will he have anyone in the building to stop you?" asked Holly.

"No, he wants me to get there," Sherlock said.

"Maybe we should get you somewhere safe," Lewis said to Molly.

She shook her head. "I'm going, he has my daughter," she added to give the statement weight..

Lewis nodded. "Its settled then, Holly and I will hold up here and hold them off, I'm sure we'll be able to buy you enough time."

Sherlock didn't want to introduce any unnecessary elements of unpredictability into the equation; even if he was good at sensing what someone might do he didn't need to leave any room for error. He offered Molly his hand and the two of them walked through the building together and without the aid of Lewis and Holly. Her pulse was elevated and her breathing rapid, the cadence of it distracting and reminding him of earlier in the night with her in that bedroom.

There was so much at stake here, he couldn't play it fast and loose like he had before and he couldn't goad Moriarty with death like he had when it was John with him. He didn't want to play with Molly or Sophie's lives and that was the advantage Moriarty would have. In truth, he didn't know what he planned to do.

He psyched himself up for what would happen when they reached those doors and walked out into that pool area, but he was just drawing a blank. The sound of gunshots died off in the background muffled by the walls as they moved deeper and deeper into the building. He and Molly were silent for most of the walk. She must have sensed his tension, sensed the rise of the electricity in the air as they neared the final door.

She tugged his hand until he was facing her, those big brown eyes wide with anxiety and fear. Molly was biting her lip in a nervous manner and she mussed up his hair with her dainty hands. Something about the motion had a strange effect on him and Sherlock wanted to hold her, if he could have just done that and not opened the door he would have. Then she kissed him lightly on the lips. "Whatever happens here, I'll always love you, Sherlock Holmes," she grabbed his jacket and the kiss deepened.

But those words, those eyes, and just…everything about her. He knew what he had to do. Sherlock moved fast, much faster than she had probably ever seen and he was behind her. He was careful to be as gentle as he could, a blood choke required less strength and therefore wouldn't hurt as much.

Molly's struggles tapered off as the blood to her brain was cut off. He could see her eyes begin to sag in the mirror as she mouthed his name and finally went limp. He laid her down softly on a bench and used a clean towel to cushion her head.

He pushed through that final door to the pool. The pool looked the same as it had before, of course there had been no damage in their last trip. No shots fired, the bomb never detonated. Moriarty was at the far end of the pool with Sophie grasped in front of him a knife at her throat. A deep throaty laugh rippled through the room as he spotted Sherlock.

"That a boy, you came alone and no gun this time?" Moriarty said. A smile crept over his lips.

"It hardly helped me last time," Sherlock said trying to keep as much of the emotion and rage out of his face as he could. There was something overbearing about this, he liked an adventure, craved them. But this wasn't fun anymore.

This hadn't been fun in a long while.

"Where's your better half? Taking a little nap?" asked Moriarty.

"It seems you've caught the play by play," Sherlock said.

Moriarty shrugged. "Well, I like to stay well informed. Took my lessons from Mycroft," he said. Sophie wiggled in his grasp a little and he moved up her neck, threatening.

Sherlock sighed, trying to keep calm. "Don't you tire of this game? Tire of me and this back and forth and it getting us nowhere?" asked Sherlock.

"Awe, bless. But no," Moriarty said. "But you know, I can tell you a thing or two about Molly and choking," he glanced to Sophie. "I'd tell you to cover your ears but I don't think you have any allusions to your mother being loose given the fact that you're here," then he looked at Sherlock. "She loved a good choke, couldn't come without them sometimes…"

He ignored the comments, Moriarty had to know that it took more than this to get to him. He had to have at least that much faith in Sherlock's abilities. "Molly's not here, if you want to truly test your prowess over me why not face me without these obstacles and go betweens and pawns," Sherlock said.

"That's right, pawns, that's exactly what they are. Which further begs the question why you care about them," Moriarty said."Is it because one of them lives with you and one's your brother? Or because one of them opened her legs and let you in and this one," he rocked Sophie from side to side, "fell out. Not that she's even your child…you only care because she's Molly's."

"Same as you, you only have her because she's Molly's and if you let her go and she walks out of here, what am I going to? Leave with her, we can have our game without the distractions, without everything else."

Moriarty's smile widened. "They're only distracting to you," he said. He moved the knife up and cut a shallow line in Sophie's cheek. "If you became stronger, if you lost that heart you'd have the same power I have. Not caring is better than any body armor, or weapon, or amount of money or other power one can have in this world. Though immortality is nice," he said.

"The stone then? Is that all it is?" asked Sherlock as he went into his pocket.

"That's part of it, but I still can't let you walk out of here," Moriarty said.

"You have a slim chance of walking out of here alive too, with the racket you've kept up outside how many police do you think are here now. You've gotten sloppy. What if the stone's a fake?" asked Sherlock.

"Then it's a good day to die," Moriarty said.

Sherlock wondered if he saw the expression, the realization. The stone was gone. He didn't know how, he searched his pocket up and down as he spoke but it wasn't there.

Molly coughed, rolling on the floor and bracing herself against it as she struggled to regain the functions that Sherlock's actions had dampened. She had lucked out, he just hadn't been thorough. Molly was shocked that she was able to pretend to go limp long enough for him not to stop before she fully lost consciousness.

She got to her feet and checked the pocket of her skirt, he hadn't noticed that either. It was right where she placed it. When she stepped in and kissed him, he had been lost in the moment to the point she was able to slip the stone out and into her own pocket. Could she have had that kind of power over Sherlock Holmes that his sense dulled?

Shrugging the thought off she knew what she was going to do, it was different because originally she had thought Sherlock was taking her in there with him. But no matter, her plan worked better without his element and from what she could figure. She placed the stone in her mouth and forced it up against her cheek and went into her coat to pull out the gun Sherlock had entrusted her with before.

When the final doors burst open and she stepped through them Sherlock and Moriarty stared in surprised. Sophie let out a suppressed squeal. "Mum," she wasn't used to that, she didn't think she would ever be, if this wasn't the last time. The Browning pistol was pressed to Molly's head and for some reason the confidence of holding this many of the cards at once spurred her on.

"Who's got the Philosopher Stone and a gun ready to blow her own brains out. Answer: Me. Now if you can't tell I'm a bit pissed and the last thing you want is a pissed off mother to deal with. Sherlock you're going to have to deal with me later, but Jim, sweetheart why don't you let Sophie go, I think she's far too young for this game," she said it all in one breath. For some reason she was mad with the heat of the moment and imitating Matt Smith…

Moriarty's eyes lit up with excitement. "This is a lavish development. I can see why Sherlock picked you."

"I picked him. Now let my daughter go or I swear I will blow my brains out-and I'm no expert but by your response I've deduced that this stone will activate the second I die seeing as how it's in my mouth…" her words were muffled by the stone but they understood her.

Sherlock stared at her visibly frustrated. "What do you think yourself to be doing?" he asked.

"Cleaning up a mess," she said. "I'm offering myself as a trade, let my daughter go out those back doors there and I'll be your will hostage or hand over the stone, you can use me forever your needs are, Jim," she said.

Sherlock looked puzzled, confused, betrayed. He turned his body to Molly and that was the mistake.

"Fine," Moriarty said. "Hope she can swim," he pushed her into the pool and in a flash threw the knife.

There was no sound as it buried itself in Sherlock's chest and he dropped back to the ground. Molly dropped the stone into her hand and ran for him, firing the gun at Moriarty. But there was one problem, shooting herself in the head would have been easy. She was a shit shot and it showed.

"Hold on Sherlock," she moved to use the stone, trying to figure out how best to do it when she noticed that the knife wound hadn't resulted in any blood. She ripped his shirt open to find a vest protecting his chest.

By the time that Molly turned her head Moriarty's fist was slamming into her at full force and she dropped to the pool side. Sherlock made a move to do something and with a flick of his hand Moriarty sent him sliding into the wall. Molly was crawling to her feet and he punched her again. "And stay down, bitch," he laughed. "Do you think I would have come in here with a bloody knife without magic powers," he held his hands up. "This is why I've been I've been getting these artifacts. Do you have any idea how fucking cool magic is?"

Molly sobbed and held her face, she could see Sophie in the water moving about in her bindings, she had managed to move to the shallow end and lie down. Moriarty gathered the stone up from where she had dropped it and was lording over her.

Then Molly felt her phone vibrate between her breasts where she's stowed it. "And do you really think a woman with a doctorate is stupid enough to rush into this situation without ample back up?"

The doors behind Moriarty burst open and Mycroft and Watson where there with guns drawn. Before Moriarty could move his hands to use that magic he was riddled with bullets. They ripped into his body and Molly could feel the blood splatter around her as he was shot. It seemed to last forever and before he dropped to his knees and then over onto his side. The Philosopher's Stone tumbled into the pool out of his hand.

By the time Molly climbed to her feet they were helping Sophie out of the pool, she ran to the girl and hugged her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Sherlock joined them, pulling the knife from his vest and John glanced at him. "Christ, mate, you look like shit."

"I could look worse, we're lucky that Moriarty also throws like a queen," Sherlock remarked.

Lewis and Holly came in behind them and everyone got a little start, before they burst out laughing in unison. They eyed Moriarty's broken form on the ground, Molly letting her head come to a rest on Sherlock's chest.

That was when she spotted it, a small red dot of light. She mouthed the words before she even heard them come out. "No," and was shoving him aside, not to block the bullet but to get him out of the way. The vest might not be enough if it was high powered, Moriarty had probably known about the vest…

There was a jerk of pain, hot and piercing and she crumpled before she could think about what had happened. It burned so much but there was numbness creeping over her. She could hear Sherlock shouting, the others were muffled around him. Cries of panic and there was a wetness running down the sides of her body and chest.

Someone was firing a gun nearby firing back. Everything blurred around her in a swirl and she just couldn't reason what was going on. It didn't make sense. This wasn't how she should have ended…

Sherlock was over her, his hands were moving over the wound and she could still recognize that touch. He was screaming at her, begging her to hold on.

"Where's the stone!" Sherlock yelled again, he was covered in blood and cradling Molly's head. "Find it, we have to find it!"

"What stone?" asked John. "I don't even know what the Hell we're looking for…"

Holly walked to the pools edge. "Everyone shut the Hell up, please…" she said before she looked to Lewis. "I'm going to try this, it's not something I've managed before," she said.

"Be careful," Lewis kissed her face. "Please."

Holly dropped to her knees next to the pool and scooped up some water. But the most curious thing happened. It didn't fall apart or run out of her hand, it stayed in a perfect sphere. As Sherlock, John and Moriarty watched she carried the water back to where Molly lay and dropped next to the body. She extended the water down into Molly's body and extracted the bullet and a small bit of the blood.

The bullet dropped out onto the floor and she grimaced. "Now's the hard part," she put her hands on Molly's chest, letting the water spread like a flat sheet over the wound, it rippled and sparkled on Molly's skin. Holly concentrated until her face turned read and she seemed to be in pain. She let out an exasperated gasp and in the same moment Molly's wound kneaded back together and she sat upright breathing heavily.

Lewis caught Holly around the shoulders and held her up. She was breathing deeply and glanced around at the surprise on the faces of the others. "Did I mention I'm part Angel?" she let out a tired, little laugh.

Author's Note: There's still more to come, just an epilogue but still.