Chapter 25; The Woman

Maria's plan maybe wasn't the best plan, but it was all she had to go about saving Sherlock. First of all, there was sneaking in then locating Sherlock and getting him out of there before calling in Lestrade. She buttoned up Sherlock's coat around her so it couldn't slip off, before flicking up the collar. She stood on top of the roof of the next building, looking at the gap across to the place she needed to get into.

'Okay so what do we know? Victims were killed then placed in the alleyways where they were found. Victim twos fingernails had dirt under them from around this area. Sherlock must have narrowed it down to this building…'

Maria took a few steps back before running forwards and launching herself over the gap. She landed less than gracefully, managing to pull herself into a roll to avoid breaking her ankles. She stood up again and glanced around before making her way over to the door that lead inside to the building. She was silent as she made her way down the stairs to the floor below, checking around for any signs of life. When she found none she made her way down another level.

Up ahead she could hear voices. She edged her way up slowly, stopping by the door. There was the sound of a fist hitting flesh and Sherlock groaning. She stood there for a few moments and figured she needed to give the man a reason to leave the room.

'Think like Holmes.'

Taking in her surroundings she grabbed a piece of debris and threw it with a quite the force down the hallway, making a clatter when it landed. She ducked back around the corner to hide as she heard the thundering footsteps of someone running out of the room. She didn't waste the opportunity and hurried into the room, shutting and bolting the door.

"Sherlock!" She said in a hushed tone seeing the state he was in. She moved over to him as he looked up at her. He was in a terrible state. The drugs only just seemed to have begun to wear off and he looked half out of it. Signs of being struck repeatedly with brass knuckles were written across his face with the hint of a broken nose. It brought anger up from deep inside Maria.

"Maria?" He asked, clearly trying his hardest to focus in on her face. "You…you can't be here..." He wheezed.

"What?"

The door behind them was brutally knocked off its hinges, landing on the floor with a crash. Maria whirled around to face him, scooping up a piece of broken floor board as she went, using the force of her movement to aid her swing and striking him hard in the shoulder. He stumbled, rolled his shoulder and grinned at her before attacking with a wild swing that she had to hit the floor to avoid. She rolled as he punched the ground where she'd been moments before.

For a wild moment Maria wondered, in the part of her mind she tried to avoid thinking with, if this was what it was like to fight the Hulk as she dodged, narrowly, another blow that would have sent her across the room. Maria wasted no time in whipping out her gun from behind her and pointing it at the man.

"Hit the ground pal," She said.

Maria turned away to look at Sherlock for a moment, the man taking that time to jump up and charge at her. He ended up taking about three steps before Maria unloaded the entire clip into him. He collapsed at her feet leaving Maria panting softly. She ran over to Sherlock and began untying him.

"You have to leave, now before it's too late…" He begged, grabbing her arm as she moved around in front of him.

"What is going on Sherlock?"

"There's a b-"

BOOM! The wall behind Maria exploded, sending them both flying into the back wall. The whole building shook, causing the roof above them to collapse over them. Lestrade knew then that something had gone horribly wrong. He began yelling orders for them to get in there now. However he didn't notice the figure standing just outside the light, watching the flames begin to take hold of the building. Causally, he threw the detonator aside and fished out a piece of gum from his pocket. He smirked and threw it in his mouth before turning and walking away.

Meanwhile inside, Sherlock had dug himself out of the rubble covering him. Flames were starting to build up around them and he couldn't see Maria anywhere.

"Maria?" He asked desperately, his eyes scanning the room. "Maria!"

Finally out of the corner of his eye he spotted a hand producing from a pile of rubble that was buried under part of the roofing. He stumbled over the broken floor to her, managing to reach through a gap to remove the rubble from her around her head. She'd been struck hard by a piece of the stone wall, the blood staining the side of her face.

"Don't give up on me Maria…" He said before moving back and trying to see if he could remove the beams that were in the way. While he could, it risked sending the rest of the rooftop collapsing onto them, the last thing he needed.

'Think, think!'

He looked around. He probably had a few minutes before the fire swept across their room completely and he had to get Maria out of here before then. He had to prevent the roof from falling on Maria before he could even think about pulling her out, not to mention the beams in the way of reaching her. He paused for a moment, looking at her, thinking. He tried to move one of the beams ever so slightly, causing a hailstorm of debris to rain down on Maria. If he was quick enough he just might be able to…

With the quickest motion he could, he pulled the beam sideways out of the way, creating a big enough gap for him to get through and also forcing it in to block most of the debris before falling on Maria. Once that was done her was down on his knees digging her unconscious form from the rubble. He held her close as he turned to the flames now blocking the door. Thankfully there were holes in the wall next to it opened up by the blast and he managed to squeeze through turning down the corridor and heading for the staircase.

He took the steps two at a time, making his way down to the bottom of the building. The first door he found he proceeded to kick down, only to find several of the Yard including Lestrade, waiting for them. After a small argument between the two men, Sherlock allowed Maria to be taken by Lestrade over to the waiting ambulance while paramedics attended to Sherlock. The moment he was free however he made his way straight over to the ambulance.

Maria had been laid out on the bed; her head had been bandaged up. She looked pasty though and she'd lost a bit of blood and she still hadn't woken up. He just hoped she did soon so he could take her home.

"Sherlock." Lestrade's voice broke through his thoughts as the older man wandered over. "What happened?"

"It was a set-up all along but I was too stupid to realise. Your killer is in that burning room with a clip of bullets in him but he was only a pawn in this game. Whoever this is, they wanted Maria not me, they were hoping I'd be the one to get stuck up on research and that Maria would return first. However when I planted my phone I wasn't aware of this and so I played right into their hands and almost got her killed." He said in a low quite voice, looking at Lestrade. For a moment the Lestrade thought he saw desperation in those blue eyes before it was gone, covered away again as the sound of Maria coughing reached them. Lestrade stopped Sherlock from running straight over to her by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Give her a moment," Lestrade said, seeing Sherlock's glare. Still the young genius waited until the paramedics had sorted her out and laid her back down. Lestrade released Sherlock's shoulder letting the man hop up into the ambulance before waving the paramedics out for the moment, to leave the two alone. Maria looked up at Sherlock, confusion in her eyes as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"What happened?" She asked, reaching out a hand to him, which he took gently, as if it were made of glass.

"There was a bomb planted in the room next to us." Sherlock said simply, letting her figure out the rest. Her fingers tightened around his hand slightly.

"So they were trying to kill us? What are we dealing with Sherlock?"

"I believe they go by the name Moriarty. However they've yet to try and contact me personally." He said quietly. He looked down at her, the sadness reaching his eyes. He'd never meant for her to be hurt. After a pause of silence, Maria spoke,

"I wanna go home."

Sherlock nodded and helped her to sit up, much to the complain of the paramedics.

"She wants to go home. She's a doctor, she can take care of herself," Sherlock said, as he hopped down from the truck to pull Maria down gently onto her feet.

"I thought I was fragile?" Maria asked as he began to lead her away.

"I realised I was wrong."

Lestrade stopped them before they could leave however.

"The station, tomorrow, both of you." Lestrade said pointing at them as Anderson came up beside him.

"Of course Lestrade," Maria said, her eyes fixed on Anderson.

"That woman better have an apology for me as well."

"Oh, I wondered about that bruise. Maria's got a lovely right hook hasn't she Anderson? Shame you didn't test her temper further, I've seen her just go short of maiming someone over their stupidity. Wish I'd been there though…" Sherlock said, the thought of Maria punching Anderson bringing a smile curl to his lips.

"Also by the way Anderson, she's not "that woman"," Sherlock said before taking Maria's hand. "She's THE Woman." Sherlock turned and without another word, walked away, pulling Maria alongside him.