A Dish Best Served Cold
Summery: Moriarty is out rule the world once again and he's had it with Sherlock Holmes's interference. He has a plan, but the detective's friends may pay the ultimate price.
Disclaimer All Publicly Recognizable Characters, Settings, Ideas, etc. are the Property of DiC Entertainment and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Original Characters and Plot are the Property of the Author. The Author is in no way Associated with the Owners, Creators, or Producers of DiC Entertainment. No Copyright Infringement is intended.
Chapter 27 - Holmes Wreaks Havoc
Moriarty's 3rd Base, Countryside between St. Albans and New London
Holmes heard the alarm and smiled. The first genuine smile he had entertained in what seemed an eternity. He put his hands behind his head as he stretched. 'If only I could see Moriarty's face,' he thought. He reached for his lock-pick, as he picked the lock the great detective grinned and thought of the havoc he would soon wreak on his nemesis.
A minute later he was out of his shackles, he listened and put his hand on the floor to better feel the vibrations in the ground. They were hectic, people were running everywhere. He rose and went to the door. When the guards had come to shackle him Holmes had managed to swipe one of their key cards.
Carefully he opened the door, and looked around, a guard turned the corner he was distracted and since Holmes' cell door was barely open the guard didn't notice him. 'If there is indeed an omnipotent entity controlling the day to day aspects of life,' thought Holmes, 'I seem to have at last stumbled into its good graces.'
As the guard ran past, Holmes reached out, grabbed him, dragged him into the cell, and closed the door. He emerged five minutes later in the guard's clothes. 'A little snug, but they will have to do, fortunately he wears a hat. Now, where did that guard say the security center was? Ah yes.'
Holmes managed to avoid being seen since everyone was too occupied with the yard to deal with, or even notice him. He reached the security center and—using his key card—walked in, trying to act as if he belonged, no one paid him much attention. There were ten of them, Holmes sighed, they were all armed, and he was certainly outnumbered.
'Hmmm,' Holmes found a terminal and sat down. 'I can control the locks on the cell doors from here.' Holmes found out where the Presidents were, and saw that Moriarty now had four leaders. Quickly he changed the locks so Moriarty would not be able to move them.
He then quickly made sure the doctors tending to his redheaded friend could not abandon their patient by locking their escape routes, he would have liked to do so earlier but he knew the chances of Mace coming to harm were practically nonexistent since the device used to heal her was too big to be moved and worse case scenario she would be left there, which would do her no harm. Once Mace was taken care of, he smiled, 'Time to unleash Lestrade.'
00o00
Lestrade hearing the door click, got into a fighting stance, expecting Moriarty since the Yard would have been more destructive in getting to her. However, no one entered. She smiled and ran to the door connecting her cell to Watson's. "Watson?"
Her friend raised his hand for silence, staring at the ceiling light which was blinking. Lestrade raised her eyebrow but remained silent. A few minutes later the blinking stopped and the compudroid turned to his visitor. "Morse code, Holmes has just given me directions to the medical center."
"Then we better get moving."
The two left through Watson's cell which had unlocked just after the message was done, and started to make their way to the medical center.
Unfortunately, the two did not have disguises.
"Crud, yardies!" shouted one of three men who had just turned the corner.
"How did they get this far so soon?" asked the one on the left.
"You idiot these are the prisoners!" replied the one on the right as he started to reach for his ionizer.
The others followed suite and Watson raised both his arms and fired the two were on the sides were caught in green energy rings and lost their balance as the one on the right fell he bumped the man in the middle, causing him to misfire. The blast was inches from Lestrade's head. She charged forward and tackled the remaining man, in the struggle she gained control of the ionizer she checked to make sure it was on stun, she blasted the man.
"How much farther?" asked Lestrade as she rose.
"We shall be there shortly" said Watson as he continued down the hall.
00o00
Holmes wished he could use the monitors to make sure Lestrade and Watson were alright, however he could not risk the rooms other inhabitants looking at the screen and seeing that the pair were free, he used the monitor to keep an eye on the door that lead to the medical center, waiting for Lestrade and Watson to arrive, there was still a chance of detection but less so and he needed to know when to unlock the door.
He chanced a glance over his shoulder, everyone was still too busy setting the military droids on the yard to pay him any heed. 'I'll have to do something about those droids before they kill anyone, I should be able to gain control of them from my present location.' Thought the detective, he wanted to find Moriarty more then anything but he could not risk a life over the matter.
Holmes set about hacking into the droids controls.
"What in the world?" said one of the room's inhabitants.
"What's wrong now?" said another man in an exasperated tone.
"Someone is trying to hack into the droid's controls."
"I'm on it," said Holmes in a gruff voice as he continued to hack the controls. "You worry about keeping the Yard out of here if they find their way here we'll have our brains scrambled."
The man who had noticed the hacking nodded, and turned back to his work, while Holmes returned to his, a minute later he found he could overload the droids capacitors. It would take a few minutes but it would decrease his chances of getting caught. He glanced at the monitor to find Lestrade banging on the door that led to the medical centre, quickly, he unlocked it and watched the pair enter.
00o00
Lestrade and Watson walked in and saw twenty doctors blinking at them stipitly unsure of what to do, they looked at Lestrade then at a pudgy doctor. 'He must be in charge,' she thought.
"You all have ten seconds to get out of here," she told them, then, pointing at the pudgy doctor, "except you pudgy." Her tone was hard and spoke volumes about her temper, she was looking possitively murderous. The doctors bowed their heads in order to avoid eye contact as they shuffled out of the room. Lestrade closed the door and stood in front of it, she didn't think the doctor would try to escape but thought it best not to risk it.
"Where is Mace?" asked Watson
"She's still in the N.C.R.A."
"How much longer?" asked Lestrade
"About another five minutes."
Lestrade groaned. She wanted to hunt down Moriarty.
"Do you have to tend to any other patients?" asked Watson
"None."
"Lestrade, I can handle things here, why don't you see what you can do to help Holmes or the Yard."
Lestrade nodded as she walked out the door. "Thanks Watson."
"Once Mace is out and tended to, you may leave, I don't have time to deal with you. Now, take me to her."
The doctor nodded.
00o00
After Holmes had let the two into the med room he started searching for Moriarty. He had only been at it a few minutes when the man who had noticed the hacking shouted
"The droids have self destructed!" he turned to Holmes "I thought you were going to take care of that hacker! Hey look at me when I'm talking to you!" He walked over to Holmes, grabbed his shoulder forcing the detective to turn. The man gaped in surprise, "You're him, you're Sherlock Holmes!"
Holmes smiled and right hooked the man, knocking him out, he rose into a fighting stance… and saw that he had nine ionizers pointed at him.
"You're our ticket out of here," said one of the men.
"You are aware that Chief Inspector Greyson would be delighted to have you shoot me." Holmes casually leaned against the console, careful to place the his hands near the key pad.
"We'll see about that."
"I say we stun him, he'll be less trouble that way."
"Do you want to carry him?" said another.
The man glared and crossed his arms. Holmes sighed, did they think he wouldn't have planed for this? While they were discussing what to do with him he moved his hand to the key board and quickly pushed a few buttons, the lights went out. Holmes tackled one of the men, took his ionizer and bolted.
00o00
Lestrade, meanwhile, ran through the tunnels. 'Where is that security center?' Hearing footsteps from behind her, she turned to find four men armed with laser swords. She sighed and charged.
"Well she certainly is good," said Kerai to Damon as Lestrade preformed a flip to get behind her opponent, and deliver a blow to the back of his knee.
"She beat you."
"She got lucky," the mercenary replied icily.
Damon said nothing just returned his attention to Lestrade, his eyes as cold and soulless as ever.
After five minutes the fight between Lestrade and the goon squad was over, with Lestrade the victor.
Kerai clapped and Lestrade turned and quickly resumed a fighting stance.
"Bravo Inspector, nicely done, both me and Damon are thoroughly impressed, aren't we?" said Kerai as she spared Damon a glance. Damon said nothing, merely stared at Lestrade, who was slightly unnerved by his soulless stare.
'Does this guy ever blink?' she thought as she locked eyes with her opponents.
"Where's Moriarty?" she asked icily
"My, isn't this a coincidence, you want to go to Moriarty and he wants us to take you to him." Kerai clapped her hands like a small exited child as a grin spread across her face. "Why don't you come with us then?"
Lestrade remained in her fighting stance and continued to stare the two down, Kerai shrugged and - quick as lighting - moved in.
00o00
The Irregulars were getting impatient. "Where are they?" asked Deidre.
"If you're referring to Holmes, Lestrade and Watson there is still no sign of them. Rest assured when there is word, I will tell you," replied Johnson in an exasperated tone. He had had to repeat this statement five times in as many minutes, and it was getting annoying, they were his friends too—well Lestrade and Watson were, Holmes was more of a co-worker.
"That's it I say we go down now," continued Deidre.
"Not happening," said Johnson.
"One: we outnumber you, two: you were told by Greyson to stay here so you can't come with us, three: we got Shinwell." She informed the very annoyed looking Johnson, as she gestured at the droid with her thumb.
Wiggins looked at Deidre then Johnson. "She's right. They may need our help. What do you say Tennyson?"
"Beep blip whir." (Let's go.)
And with that they started off.
"Get back here!" shouted Johnson as he debated whether or not to abandon his post. Mickey shook his head and smiled, "I'll tend to them" he said as he placed his hand on Johnson's shoulder, he then turned and followed the Irregulars.
"Oi Irregulars!" he called "I know of an entrance that will suit our purpose." He said as he walked of in another direction. Tennyson and Deidre looked at Wiggins who nodded, he trusted Mickey.
They walked until Mickey stopped at a house and lead them to a cellar door; he then knelt down and started to pick the lock.
"What are you doing?"
"Picking the lock, this cellar has a tunnel that will take us to the underground Mace and I used it when we burgled a house some years ago, we returned what we stole it was just supposed to be a training exercise for me."
"What about the owners?"
"They're gone, the police were kind enough to clear the area to prevent civilian interference," replied Mickey as he opened the cellar door. He turned to the Irregulars, "Coming?"
00o00
Holmes ran in the direction he knew Moriarty's room to be in, he had located it while using the monitors to search for him. The room had a secret exit which, knowing Moriarty, Holmes was sure he had used. Quickly he found the room and opened the door with his key card. Once inside, he bolted for the wall that hid the door which would take him to the underground, he opened it and continued to run as fast as he could. 'I cannot allow Moriarty to escape. He must pay for what he has done and I must insure he cannot do it again.'
Once he reached the underground Holmes stopped and absorbed his surroundings. His keen, trained, eyes noticed some disturbed dust and kneeled down for a closer examination. 'Footprints leading straight ahead,' a determined look on his face the detective took off.
Holmes walked for ten minutes and found nothing, the tracks faded along with the dust in which they had been imprinted, he deicide to continue to look in the hopes of finding something. Suddenly he heard something that made him stop in his tracks and his bold run cold.
"Ahhhhhh!" it was a scream, a blood curdling scream but it was not that which caused the detective to halt. It was the fact that he recognized its owner. 'Lestrade'
Holmes took off in the direction of the scream, as more cries pierced the silence of the underground.
"Stop please! Oh god somebody help me! Please! Hel-Ahhhhhhh!"
'What could make Lestrade of all people cry out in such a manner? Her tolerance level for pain is practically astronomical.'
"Please stop! Somebody help! Holm—Ahhhh!"
Holmes ran as fast as he could in the direction of the cries. Eventually he saw a metal door slightly ajar from which the cries were originating.
"Holmes! Help me! Please stop! Hel-Aaaaaahh!"
Holmes burst through the door which promptly closed, though he did not notice, he looked for Lestrade but saw only a small speaker on the opposite wall. Holmes' face became granite, he reached for his ionizer and calmly amidst the cries and screams of his friend, blasted it. The cries stopped instantly. Suddenly, Holmes heard clapping, he turned and glared at Moriarty who had just stepped out of the shadows.
"Bravo Holmes, I am impressed" said Moriarty in Lestrade's voice. He was holding a small device near his mouth that altered speech. Holmes had used one before, during the Beryl Board incident. "I had no idea you could run so quickly," He continued as he lowered the device and used his own voice, "you should consider the Olympics."
"Where is Lestrade?" demanded Holmes, his voice was stone cold and his face marble, only the hatred burning in his eyes betrayed any emotion.
"Dead."
Holmes looked taken aback for a split second. 'No.' "You're lying."
"Kerai and Damon had orders to bring her to me but there were… complications, Oh come now Holmes, you know better then anyone how volatile Lestrade can be, rest assured they will pay for their incompetence, I'll even return to you Lestrade's body… one piece at a time. What would you like me to send you first? Her eyes? Or her hands?"
"I'll see you in hell."
"Not today," Moriarty paused and smiled, enjoying the moment. "You know those were Lestrade's screams you heard. When you were unconscious and my droid was crushing her, I recorded them. I told you she had uttered the most blood curdling screams." He held up a small device and pressed a button instantly Lestrade's cries again echoed through the room.
"Where are you? Why not face me?" yelled Holmes.
Moriarty smiled, pleased Holmes had figured out he was transmitting a hologram from another location.
"Very good Holmes, I suppose the lack of footprints gave me away."
"You've lost Moriarty, your men are caught and another base has fallen, even you cannot easily recover from this venture."
"You underestimate me."
"I think not, you have various resources and funds, in other cities. Your London network has suffered greatly due to your attempts to spread. Why else would you have been so enthralled to have found Mace?" Holmes had to keep Moriarty talking until he could figure out where the criminal was. He could not allow himself to think about Lestrade.
"I think I'll send you her heart last," continued Moriarty, "or perhaps I'll keep that."
Holmes clenched his fist and glared at his nemesis with a look of pure unadulterated hatred.
00o00
"Watson I'm fine, really, we have to find the others, or we'll miss the climatic showdown between Holmes and Moriarty," whined Mace for the third time in as many minutes.
Watson sighed, Mace seemed unappreciative of the fact that she had lost a great deal of blood and needed to remain still while more was delivered into her system. "Your health comes first," he responded.
Mace glared and tried to cross her arms but could not. "Really Watson, don't you think handcuffing me to the bed is overkill?"
"Not when you consider your habit of jumping off the bed, removing the needle distributing blood to your system, and running for the door."
"Ok but both hands?"
"Last time I used one you managed to escape."
Mace glared and pouted but said nothing. When Watson had removed her from the N.C.R.A he had given her something to counteract the sedative she had been given, then while that had been taking effect he, with the pudgy doctor, had set up the blood so she could fully recover. Watson had then dismissed the doctor who was getting very agitated and fearing capture if he stayed longer, and an agitated, distracted doctor is never a healthy thing.
While Watson had been distracted with the doctor, Mace had gotten up from the bed and headed towards the door. Sighing, Watson walked over to her and facing her had grabbed both her arms and pressed them into her body and picked her up.
"Watson what are you doing?! We gotta go help the others! Put me down!" she started to kick for the little good it did her, while chanting "Putmedown putmedown putmedown putmedown putmedown putmedown putmedown putmedown."
"Mace, I am a level seven law enforcement compudroid designed to take out doors, walls and several unruly people at once. Kindly do yourself a favour and cease struggling," he patronized in a stern yet warm tone.
Mace stared at the droid and blinked, for a moment Watson thought she would do as he suggested. Then her eyes narrowed and she continued to chant, "Putmedown," while kicking harder then ever.
Watson sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling as if asking some unknown deity for strength. He took her over to the bed and—gently as he could—placed her back down and handcuffed her. It had taken all of five minutes for Mace to get out of the cuffs. She had plenty of experience in such matters but was having more then a little difficulty with two.
Mace gave her restraints a tug. "Sigh. Watson any news?"
Watson was about to answer when Murdock burst through the door. "Watson, Mace! Man is it good to see you… two… Watson why is Mace handcuffed to a bed with standard issue New Scotland Yard cuffs?"
"Apparently I'm neglectful of my health," replied Mace as she gestured to the bag of blood.
"Well you do look pale."
Mace gave Murdock a look that said quite plainly, 'if you want to remain on my good side you will shut up.'
"Er… I'd better contact Johnson he's with the Irregulars. Where's Holmes and Lestrade?" he asked as he began pressing buttons on his wrist com to contact Johnson
"Either they're hunting Moriarty down, or confronting him, which is why we should be going," said Mace as she gave Watson a half-hearted glare. She found she could not give him a full glare, he was just so sweet and was only holding her here out of concern for her…still….
"What do you mean the Irregulars took off with Mickey and Shinwell...!" shouted Murdock to the poor Inspector Johnson though the communicator, "I don't care if you were ordered to stay where you are, you don't go letting three teenagers hunt down the most dangerous criminal of all time on their own, I don't care if they have Shinwell and Mickey! Or that we have most if not all of Moriarty's men! You should have cuffed them to the cruiser if you had too!"
"With Shinwell backing them up I believe that would have been an impossible task, and you know he could not abandon his post and risk Moriarty's men getting away, not to mention the fact that it was rather unfair of you to dump them on him," said Mace in a calm, somewhat patronizing tone.
Murdock turned to Mace and sighed, she had a point, three actually. "Sorry Johnson, I'll find them, any idea where they are...? uh-huh right." Murdock turned off his communicator and brought his hand to his chin, thinking. "Moriarty isn't in the base anymore and there has been no sign of Holmes or Lestrade, they must be in the surrounding area outside the base looking for Moriarty, I'll go find them, Watson you stay here and tend to Mace."
"Not you too! Get Watson to let me go!"
"You're the one who told me not to argue with doctors on such matters," replied Murdock with a smirk, referring to a couple years ago when he had been so sick he had needed someone to tend to him, and Mace had seen to it he did not disobey doctors orders. She had even gone so far as to tie him to the bed, so he was enjoying the situation.
Mace seemed to realise this for she fixed him with a glare that said 'As soon as I'm out of this you're dead meat.' Murdock smirked and left.
"Murdock you son of a bitch!" shouted Mace at the closing door. "Get back here and get me out of these cuffs!"
00o00
"How do you know where to go?" asked Deidre, she was translating for Tennyson.
"Well since we haven't heard from Holmes or the others they must be near by in the area surrounding the base, searching for Moriarty. I mean, what are the chances Moriarty would not abandon his men and base?" replied Mickey.
"Ok, so you know they're down here somewhere, it's a big place," said Wiggins.
"True but I'm familiar with the area, let us assume, a dangerous habit I know, but bear with me, that Moriarty is still in the area; Holmes must think so or he would have resurfaced by now. Where could Moriarty hide in relative safety?"
"So you're saying you know a place," continued Wiggins.
Mickey nodded, and the group continued to walk, or hover, in silence until they heard a noise.
"Put me down!"
The Irregulars smiled, that was Lestrade's voice, quietly as they could, they walked toward the noise.
"I said, put me down you useless piece of zed!"
"When I give the word, have Shinwell fire at Kerai" said Mickey, Deidre nodded. After a few more moments, Mickey held up his hand and the Irregulars stopped. He motioned for Shinwell to get ready.
"Oh come now Inssspectorrrr," purred Kerai, "You put up a good fight"
Lestrade glared—or tried to—it was made difficult by the fact that after Kerai had paralyzedher legs. Damon had picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, and Kerai was in front. She sighed, this was not a good day, the fight had started out well enough, Lestrade had managed to dodge and block Kerai's attacks and land a few good blows herself. Then Kerai had managed to paralyze her right arm, it had then taken less then a minute for her to take out Lestrade's legs. Damon had then picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sac of potatoes. Lestrade could now move her right arm again and could feel her legs, but was unsure if she would be able to actually walk.
"You'll soon regain full use of your legs Inspector, behave and I'll let you keep them."
Lestrade continued to yell but other then that, did not make trouble. Mickey smiled, this was a golden opportunity, he waited for the three to get a bit further away then motioned for the Irregulars to follow his lead, Kerai was going to lead them to Moriarty, as long as Lestrade kept yelling, otherwise Kerai was sure to hear the clanking of Shinwell's step—fortunately, the droid was not very noisy as he had been designed with some stealth in mind.
They continued to follow at a distance until—after what seemed an eternity—Kerai stopped at a grey brick wall with a few pipes overhead. "Here we are," she told Lestrade.
Mickey didn't see anything that was an obvious switch, nothing was out of sorts, briefly he debated whether or not to allow Kerai to open the door, but that would almost certainly alert whoever was inside. He signalled to Shinwell, who fired. Kerai didn't see it coming. Damon dropped Lestrade and caught Kerai before she hit the ground. The newly freed Lestrade quickly ran to the Irregulars before turning to face Damon.
Damon looked at the group as he held Kerai.
"You go through this entrance and Moriarty will know instantly, he has Holmes at his mercy and is very trigger happy."
"We let you go and you tell us how to get in undetected?" inquired Mickey, Damon nodded.
"No way!" shouted Lestrade.
"Inspector Lestrade what is more important? Their capture or Holmes' welfare?"
Lestrade said nothing, simply glowered at Mickey as if she had just noticed him, which she had—'Who is this guy?'
Mickey spared her a glance then returned to Damon. "We will need security details and whatever else you can tell us."
"Sorry, bad business to betray one's employer."
"Duly noted, however, my communicator is working perfectly." With that Mickey brought his communicator to his face pressed and button, "Chief Inspector Greyson, Lestrade, the Irregulars, Holmes, I and Moriarty are at this location as is Saru Wanatabe and Jason Rider who are wanted in several countries and working for Moriarty, consider them armed and extremely dangerous." He then turned off his communicator. "If we are captured that message and our location will be transmitted to the good Chief Inspector, are you certain you don't wish to give us more information? Bare in mind, the longer we avoid capture the more chance you have of escape."
Damon glared.
00o00
"Is there a point to this discussion?" asked Holmes.
"I can't simply enjoy taunting you? Really Holmes, is it that surprising that you failed to protect someone dear to you? You nearly got the Watson of old killed when you went after killer Evans. Tell me, is there any reason—other then vanity and pride of course—that you did not have a few yardies with you that night?"
"Friendship Moriarty...something you would never understand. Old bloodhounds such as Watson and myself would rather risk the bite of the fox than have the hunt trample out the scent of the quarry" (1)
Holmes turned from Moriarty and went to examine the door he had come through, he saw no point in continuing the conversation.
"It's locked Holmes. You didn't think you could just walk out did you? You may go when I say you may, if ever. I could mail Lestrade to New Scotland Yard I'm sure they'll appreciate it."
Holmes ignored the villain and continued to examine the door, which, unfortunately, was rather a good one. 'Seems I have stumbled out of it's favour,' he started to look around the room, hoping to find some hidden exit and trying to figure out if he could use his ionizer to blow open the door, unfortunately, explosives were not his forte. 'Pity Lestrade isn't here.'
"There is no secret exit Holmes, that is why I chose to trap you here. You never give up do you?" said Moriarty with a smirk, enjoying his nemesis' desperate attempts to find an escape.
"Moriarty, is there any reason you decided not to go to Hawaii?"
Moriarty chuckled. "I suppose I'm sentimental. You really think you can win? I can kill you at any moment."
"Rest assured Moriarty, I am dying of boredom, now, unless you can improve the silence leave me be to continue my… observations."
Moriarty sneered "You don't wish to know what Lestrade's last words were? I can tell you."
"You're lying."
"You'd like to believe that wouldn't you? The fact is you don't know. I could be lying, simply trying to torment you, but I'm not. Her last words were 'Holmes will stop you' seems the good Inspector had a tremendous amount of faith in you—pity you've failed."
"It's not over yet."
Moriarty took a remote out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons a gun slid out of a panel in the wall.
'Well,' thought Holmes, 'at least I now know what that is for.' He turned to Moriarty, he stood straight and proud. "This is it? After all this, all the torture all the threats of insuring I die in old age, you're going shoot me? I had accredited you with more imagination then that."
Moriarty smiled and pressed another button, the next second Holmes crumpled onto the floor.
00o00
Mickey led the others to the ventilation shaft that would serve as their entrance point. After a few moments Mickey said, "Inspector Lestrade, allow me to apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Mickey, I'm a friend of Mace's and the one she reviled your location to"
"You got a last name?"
"No."
Lestrade rolled her eyes, "How did you and Mace meet?"
"She took me in when I was fifteen and living on the streets."
"So you're younger then her?" Lestrade was surprised, Mickey looked to be about thirty.
"Yes, I know I look older then I am, I'm twenty-one," he said in answer to Lestrade's glance. "Well here we are. As I expected there is no way Tennyson and Shinwell can fit through that." He turned to Tennyson. "You'll have to stay here, Shinwell will look out for you, not that you can't handle yourself." He said with a smirk. "I'll take point, Lestrade you cover the rear, Wiggins you're behind me. Shinwell give me a lift."
"Ah… who put you in charge?" asked Lestrade.
"The one who goes first is the most likely to be attacked—that means the Irregulars cannot go first, it also means you can't, because you're the one trained to handle these types of situations and if you're out we're in trouble, that leaves me to take point, and I think it best to have someone trained in the rear since that is the second most likely place we will encounter trouble." He turned to Lestrade. "If there is a flaw in my logic, by all means, point it out."
"Get in the vent," ordered Lestrade.
Mickey smirked and, with Shinwell's assistance, climbed into the vent followed by Wiggins, Deidre and Lestrade.
After they were a few meters in, Mickey reached for the hidden panel in the wall of the vent, and punched in the code that would disable the alarm system. Damon had been more forthcoming with the security details when he and Kerai had been in real danger of capture. 'Everyone is more forthcoming when their wellbeing is threatened, 'bad business to betray one's employer'. Ya right.'
The group continued to crawl until they reached an empty hallway. Damon had refused to tell them more, no doubt he thought that by the time they reached this point he would be long gone. Mickey kicked open the grate and climbed down. Once the others were down he turned to Lestrade. "Well, from here we're on our own what do you suggest?"
"There's a door right there," she said gesturing to her left. "You kids stay here, Mickey, do you have an ionizer?" he nodded. "C'mon them."
They walked up to the door and Lestrade pressed her ear against it, Mickey smiled and shook his head, he took out a device used to amplify sound through walls and handed it to Lestrade. She looked at him then thought. 'Why am I surprised? He works with Mace, he must be in the information gathering business,' she took the device and listened.
"… pity you've failed."
'Moriarty.'
"It's not over yet."
'Holmes,' She was about to hand the device back to Mickey when she heard Holmes say
"This is it? After all this, all the torture all the threats of insuring I die in old age you're going to simply shoot me?"
Lestrade's eyes widened, quickly she dropped the device and punched in the security code Damon had told them, praying it opened the door. It did, she heard Holmes cry out just as she entered, and she saw him fall limp to the floor. Trusting Mickey to watch her back she ran to her friend and tried to examine him but her hands passed right through him. 'A hologram? Then where...? Moriarty.' Slowly and purposefully, she rose, every muscle was tense and it was taking all her self control not to attack the criminal, calmly as she could she tuned to Moriarty.
"Where. Is. Holmes. What have you done?" Her tone and body language was downright murderous, she looked like she was ready to tackle the villain. Mickey made sure he kept his ionizer on the criminal.
Moriarty's lips formed a thin cruel grin, he raised his arms, remote in hand and pressed a button, instantly red lights started flashing and a female voice said "self destruct initiated, self destruct in five minutes."
"This small outpost is the only place that will self destruct, so your Yard friends are safe. You should have just enough time to locate Holmes by accessing the cameras from the computer, and get yourselves to safety, though you do not have adequate time to locate Holmes, get to him and get yourselves and him to safety and you certainly don't have time to deal with me." He said as he procured a smoke bomb from his sleeve and let it fall to the ground, Mickey would have blasted him but the clone was standing in front of the console.
Before the smoke had cleared, Lestrade was at the console hacking. "If we can find Holmes we can contact Tennyson and he and Shinwell can get him, get Tennyson on the line."
00o00
About five minutes after Mickey and the others had gone into the shaft, Murdock ran up to Tennyson. "Hey Tennyson, where are the others?"
Tennyson turned to face the sergeant wondering how Murdock had found him, then he saw the device in his hand and realised that Murdock had detected his hover chair radiation. Quickly, Tennyson explained the situation.
"So they went to get Holmes huh? Well I guess all we can do is wait, hope they're okay. I'll call in backup," he was just about to do so when Mickey contacted Tennyson.
"Tennyson, Holmes is injured and the place is about to blow we can't get to him in time, we've almost got his location, think you and Shinwell can get him out?"
Tennyson beeped the affirmative. Murdock, not wanting to distract Mickey, said nothing.
A few moments later Mickey told them. "Alright if you head south-east from your current location then turn left and walk straight you'll come to a door on your left. By the time you get there it should be open, Holmes is inside."
Tennyson beeped (Got it) checked his compass and he and Murdock took off towards the south-east as fast as they could. When they reached the door it was indeed unlocked. Quickly they went in.
"Holmes!" shouted Murdock as he ran to the detective. Murdock saw that Holmes was in poor shape, he was shaking uncontrollably. 'What has that monster done to you?' gently as he could, lifted the detective into his arms, he didn't trust Shinwell to be gentle.
"Self destruct in ninety seconds."
"Tennyson, tell them we've got Holmes," he said as he ran for the door, Tennyson went slower then he could so Murdock would be out first with the Victorian Murdock sighed, he didn't have time to argue. "Shinwell, cover our rear," he ordered, thinking, 'if nothing else, he can be a shield.'
The three ran as fast as they could as far as they could, they managed to get a fare distance before they heard the explosion.
00o00
Meanwhile, Mickey had been having problems getting the door unlocked in time.
"We don't have time to argue, get the Irregulars out while I unlock the door and wait for word that they have Holmes," he told Lestrade.
"No way."
"You're distracting me. I can run a mile a minute and keep up the pace for two minutes. It's the best solution and your first duty is to get them out. I'll be fine." he said as he spared her a glance and a smile.
Lestrade decide she didn't have time to argue and went to get the Irregulars. "We're leaving."
"What about Mickey?" asked Deidre.
"He'll catch up as soon as he has confirmation that Holmes is alright, but he can move faster on his own, come-on!" She cried as she intertwined her fingers so Deidre could reach the vent. Using Lestrade's hands for a boost she climbed up. "Get moving." yelled Lestrade before turning to Wiggins
"How are you going to get up?"
"Move Wiggins!"
Her tone made it clear there was no room for argument Wiggins climbed up. Once he was up, he paused momentarily.
"Move!" shouted Lestrade.
Wiggins turned to Deidre, "C'mon."
Deidre nodded and started to move knowing that any argument or delay in escape could result in her's as well as Wiggins's death.
Lestrade ran back into the room where Mickey was, grabbed a chair and placed it at the foot of the vent and used it to climb up. Once she was halfway to the end she heard someone else in the vent. 'Mickey,' she thought with a grin. She quickened her pace and when she reached the end of the shaft saw that Deidre and Wiggins were waiting for her. She climbed down and Wiggins asked "Where's Mickey?"
"Right behind me, move!" she yelled as she grabbed the two and ran. They had been running for thirty seconds when suddenly Mickey was by their side.
"Hey guys, how's it going?" he inquired with a smirk. They continued to run for another thirty seconds when they heard the explosion.
The group stopped running to catch their breath. "That wasn't a powerful explosion," said Lestrade.
"Considering the structural integrity of the underground, a powerful one would be superfluous," replied Mickey, as he dusted himself off.
"Hmmm," said Lestrade, "We should contact the others."
Mickey nodded and used his wrist com to contact Tennyson. "Hey Tennyson, you ok? How's Holmes?"
(We're okay, Murdock is here, he's checking on Holmes.) Beeped Tennyson, Deidre translated.
"He is, is he? Well what can he tell us of Holmes' condition?"
"He's stable and provided we can get him medical attention within the next two hours or so, which I can't imaging being a problem, he should be fine," said Murdock who had heard the question.
"Good, we'll meet you back at the base I'll contact Watson… Any news of Mace?"
"She's fine," answered the youngest Irregular, "she's under Watson's care, and Watson's communicator is busted, we'll contact Greyson and get back to you."
Mickey nodded, and the group continued towards the base. Five minutes later his wrist com started to ring. He answered it and Murdock's face appeared. "New plan, we'll meet you top side next to Johnson's cruiser there will be a few ambulances to take you all to the hospital. We've just been near an explosion and should be checked out, so no arguing."
"I think we could all use the rest," replied Mickey.
Murdock nodded and hung up. He turned to Holmes who was being carried by Shinwell and was stirring slightly, 'He looks so pale, and that shaking can't be good.' "If you can hear me Holmes, hold on we're almost there."
Five minutes later Murdock, Tennyson, Shinwell and Holmes climbed up the stairs as medics rushed towards them. The medics relieved Shinwell of his burden and started to tend to the detective.
"Will he be alright?"
"We'll know for sure in a few moments," one of the medics replied.
Murdock sighed and let the medics lead him to the ambulance, a couple minutes later Lestrade and the others showed up.
"Murdock!" cried Lestrade "Where's Holmes? Is he alright?"
"He's over there," he nodded in the direction of the medical team tending to the detective, "why not see for yourself?"
Heart in her throat Lestrade ran to Holmes.
"Will you kindly cease poking me with that infernal device."
She heard him say in his usual dry tone.
"Holmes! You're okay!" cried Lestrade as she shoved past the medics.
"...Lestrade?" said Holmes then when he saw her, his face broke out into a grin. "You're alive."
"Of course I'm alive," she said, as Holmes got up from his stretcher and out of the ambulance, ignoring the medics remonstrance's. He gave her a hug, which she returned.
Footnote:
(1) This line is from TT. Thank you TT.
Tune in Thursday the 14 of Feb, for the Epilogue.
