Very slowly, very slowly, everyone obeyed Mycroft's orders and prepared to leave the small storage room. Artemis had already killed the guard and the other Reapers were with the generals searching for Lady Smallwood so they stood a good chance of remaining unseen for quite some time … if they were lucky.

Once everyone was armed or aware of what they needed to do, and Sherlock had hit pause on his plan to glare a hole in his brother's face, they slowly opened the door and let Artemis step out. Clear. Not a single Reaper in sight save for the poor dude slumped dead on the floor; his death had been the thud they'd all heard earlier.

The group kept low and moved slowly as Artemis guided them down the halls towards the control room. The emergence lights were all that lit the halls, small bursts of ominous light that seemed more terrifying in a bizarre way than the dead people littered around the lower levels. Though horrific to see they were all struck by how few there actually were, most of them being security; Anthea's quick work had save a lot of lives that day. Everyone ground to a halt when a single shot fired, it was distant and probably closer to the other side of the building but still they all stopped; Artemis to listen and everyone else to try and keep it together.

As they rounded a corner to their left Sherlock bumped into his elder brother only to shove him forwards silently. Mycroft only just managed to steady himself what with carrying the large bag of weapons Artemis had asked him for. It was then that the quietude between the group ended, Sherlock was angry with his brother that much was obvious but they could have done without squabbling in a hallway while emotionless murderous lingered around almost every corner.

"Sherlock, later!" John managed to both whisper and yell which got Sherlock to begrudgingly obey as they continued.

"It's alright, Myc." Lestrade encouraged quietly as he spared a moment to glance over his shoulder to the taller man before going back to watching their six with John's aid. Didn't matter that Watson was the only army man amongst them, until they were breathing fresh air outside they were all soldiers. "We're just glad you're back. Artemis too, we thought she was tilting pretty sharply bitch-ward."

Silence fell again then and they all paused when Artemis suddenly ground to a halt and hugged the wall. They'd made it so far without running into Reapers because they'd been in Artemis' grid position and she'd killed all her men already, now though, now they'd started to enter unknown territory and more danger. Mycroft kept his attention firmly on Artemis as she listened, she was the reason they'd survive this. Lady Smallwood would have kept her in a cell and never let her out, now she seemed very happy to be following behind Artemis.

She suddenly made a shooing motion with one hand and shoved her M4 into Mycroft's hands. They all took the hint and fled backwards back around the last corner not ten feet away, all except Lady Smallwood who Artemis grabbed forcefully by the arm and kept in place. Two Reapers marched around the corner just as Sherlock's coat disappeared.

"You have located her, Kerberos." Stated the shorter of the two black men in a French accent.

"Yes." Answered Artemis blankly before she shoved Elizabeth forwards so forcefully she stumbled. "Hold her, and give me your radio, mine was damaged."

"Yes, Kerberos." Responded the taller man and unhooked his radio which she took quickly.

The two Reapers each grabbed hold off one of Smallwood's arms forcing a pained hiss from her lips then turned her away intending to start marching her to the other generals but before they could Artemis kicked the taller Reaper in the back of the knee knocking him to the ground and grabbed the other. His tactical vest prevented her from simply snapping her neck so she had no choice but to bring out her blade plunge it straight into the base of his neck killing him instantly. She didn't have to worry about the man she'd kicked, John Watson had been built for war and easily choked the other out.

"Thank you, Doctor Watson." She said quietly as she slid her blade away and accepted her M4 from Mycroft once more.

"Well, can't let you have all the fun, can I?" Amazingly she actually got a smile from the short man but Artemis didn't quite know what to do with it so she instead turned her attention back to her task of keeping them all alive, or at least she would have had it not been for Lady Smallwood jabbing a finger in her face like an angry mother at a naughty child.

"Never use me as bait ever again, do you understand me?" Hissed the elder woman to someone who really didn't care what she had to say.

"I will do whatever is required to keep the Holmes, Lestrade, Anthea and Doctor Watson alive. I am only protecting you as a common courtesy to Mycroft. If you take issue with my work you are more than welcome to fend for yourself."

Silence. Lady Smallwood knew she'd not last five minutes if she wandered off on her own, so, oh so reluctantly, she swallowed her pride and backed off as Greg and John dragged the dead bodies aside out of direct sight.

With Lady Smallwood pacified for a while the group carried on tactically down long halls with Artemis managing to pick her former colleagues off with nothing more than her knife. Then again, they had skirted around the bulk of Reapers by using the connecting doors via the side offices. Much to everyone's surprise they all reached the control room without having set off any alarm, they'd had a few close calls and Gregory had managed to use that take down move Artemis had taught him rather impressively but no one had been forced to fire their weapon once. Considering there was now a whole group of them instead of just Artemis and Mycroft doing this it was going surprisingly well.

Their luck had to run out eventually though and it did so when they entered the small control room to find the door release panel shot to shit. Without that panel there was no way in hell that the large metal door just outside the control room would ever open, and if it didn't open then reinforcements couldn't descend via the stairs or the elevators.

"Ah, wonderful." Grumbled Sherlock as he looked the mess over.

"Not now, Sherlock." John practically pleaded; he just wanted to go home to Rosie.

Artemis ignored the lovers and instead used her blade to force the casing up and off so she could have a look at the wiring. Mycroft raised an eyebrow as he looked at the mass of wires, this really wasn't his area.

"Well it doesn't look that bad but I still don't know what to do with it." Artemis told them honestly while, the others continued to watch out for Hades.

Lady Smallwood snorted, it wasn't a secret that she didn't like the assassin. "Something you can't do? Surely not. Thought you could do everything."

"Not helping, Elizabeth." Mycroft reminded with a sigh, he would sleep for a week when this was over; after he'd mourned his suit of course. "Gregory, your father was an electrician, care to take a crack at it?"

The silver-haired man glanced over at his friend with an expression of pure puzzlement. "How do you- what am I saying, you know everything." Carefully he rested his shotgun on the chair which had long since been abandoned and moved to stand beside his friend and the raven-haired beauty. "I can take a look, he did have me help him re-wire our house when I was a kid."

Mycroft hoped that later when this was all done with Greg would realize this moment for what it was, a time when neither Mycroft himself nor Sherlock with all their smarts and scraps of information stored away in their brains were of any use but he was. Lestrade seemed to think he was dumb, he never admitted it but it was always there lingering in sentences he didn't think too far into, but he wasn't, in that moment he may well have been what saved them.

Suddenly shots rang out and they all hit the deck. Hades was bound to figure all this out eventually and they knew it. Between themselves and Hades was a bullpen of sorts with desk cubicles for security, while wonderful because it provided them some cover to drop behind while Gregory attempted to fix the control panel it also meant Hades had cover as well. All those mercenaries armed to the teeth and with cover against a group of people who had little to no training whatsoever; wasn't exactly even.

Mycroft tossed his brother a pistol from the bag he still had as John and Artemis took either side of the cubicles to avoid them getting flanked and then rushed to cover the middle. The sound of gunshots was deafening, loud and angry. The auburn-haired man wasn't designed for warfare, never had been so he kept his mind firmly focused on doing what Gregory told him so they could get the damn door open. Their own people weren't as heavily trained as Hades' Reapers but once the door opened they'd have them outnumbered and that wasn't something to be underestimated.

"Myc, there's nothing more you can do." Said Greg urgently without looking up from his task. "Go help Artemis."

Frankly he didn't think he'd be much help to her either but he obeyed and grabbed the SA80 from the large bag and Gregory's shotgun. He called out Sherlock's name and as soon as the man glanced over his shoulder at him the shotgun got tossed over, when that was fired everyone took notice. Doctor Watson was a crack shot, leaving him with all the handgun ammo was a good choice. Sherlock though, while he could shoot a target pretty close or unmoving a shotgun with a wider spread was going to be a better choice during this.

Mycroft ignored Lady Smallwood who'd curled up under a table in the control room to hide, even Anthea had been huddled between Sherlock and John providing new ammo when needed but Lady Smallwood seemed frozen with fear. Unfortunate for a woman who always played at being so powerful and in control. Instead of focusing on that Mycroft carefully slid over to Artemis just she ran out of ammo. Like lightning he handed off the SA80 so she could continue picking off Reapers and he set himself to reloading the M4.

"Nix down." She called loudly then.

For a second Myc didn't have a clue what the she was on about then it clicked. Nix was a dead, they were another general down. Killing the generals was what this fire fight, what this whole goddamn plan had been about to start with. Why couldn't Sherlock have chosen literally any other day to come and pester his brother? Things could have been so much simpler and straightforward had he shown up tomorrow. Still, Myc had to keep to the job at had just as Artemis was. In all honesty Mycroft was just thankful none of them had been shot. From inside the control room Lestrade swore and the British Government only just heard it over all the bullets flying and that damn shotgun; if the elder Holmes didn't know any better he'd think his brother was having fun.

One of Sherlock's blasts clipped Yama in the leg as she bolted over a table and Artemis took the opportunity to put a round straight through her head.

"Yama down."

That left them with just Charon, Hydra and Styx; Mycroft's plan was half complete.

A large metal click rattled around the room but with all the gunshots and violence Mycroft doubted anybody but himself and Artemis would have been able to hear it. His heart soared as he realized what the dense, metallic noise meant; Gregory had done it! Oh Holmes the elder could have kissed him when that heavy door started to roll open thanks to the hydraulics and a burst of fresh air followed it in closely followed by and uncountable number of Her Majesty's army. The men flooded in and in his relief The auburn-haired man managed to notice Colonel Henley amongst them; who instantly tossed a grenade taking out a couple of the enemy.

"Styx down!"

Mycroft blinked as the shock wave moved around him. What had Artemis said? If Styx was dead then Hades only had two remaining generals, this plan, despite all of its problems may have actually been succeeding. Wasn't that a relief.

Hades knew they were outnumbered and being picked off, three of their generals had just died and their new Kerberos had turned against them. This was all becoming an unmitigated disaster for Hades, an embarrassment. They had no choice but to fall back so that is what they did under Charon's orders.

Anticipating Artemis' needs to the last full stop Mycroft quickly hooked the reloaded M4 over her shoulder as best he could with her still firing the other rifle, then kissed her shoulder softly. He wasn't stupid enough to expect her to leave until the last two generals were dead. Artemis didn't speak or pause to look at him but he wasn't upset, she had more important things to do.

After a calming breath he nodded to Anthea who tapped John and Sherlock on the shoulder in turn getting them to stop firing and take notice that they needed to bug the hell out. Meanwhile Lestrade had managed to fish Lady Smallwood out from underneath her table and with Hades retreating they all managed to dart for the now open door only for soldiers to haul them up the stairs way faster than should have been possible.

Outside they sucked in desperately needed oxygen and found the building surrounded by armored trucks and possibly the entirety of the countries armed forces as well as several ambulances. Paramedics were on Mycroft the instant their weapons has been taken, people panicked over how much blood covered him.

"Get off of me, it's not my blood."

Mycroft hadn't intended to snap but hadn't really had much choice with the insistent fools. In the end he'd ended up sat by a truck with Greg, John and Sherlock while Anthea kindly tried to help the paramedics calm Lady Smallwood down from her panic attack turned angry rage. Mycroft would expect her decoration of war in the morning.

Blue eyes stayed firmly focused on the door they'd been half drug through waiting desperately for Artemis to appear. It didn't matter that Artemis didn't feel things properly, she was still brave and Mycroft loved her with everything he had. Had his brother not show up with his short companion all the generals would have been together and Artemis could have picked them off easily, instead all of this had happened and now he was sat hoping one of his own people wouldn't accidentally shoot her thinking she was Hades. He had no choice but to sit and wait prating to a god he'd never believed in.

Meanwhile Artemis remained inside the lower levels with her mission at the forefront of her mind. The others could pick off the Reapers but Artemis remained focused on Hydra and Charon; they had to die and then Hades would flounder.

A bullet caught her shoulder as she moved up but Artemis didn't so much as flinch. The only way to keep Mycroft safe was to illuminate the remaining generals and Artemis was damn well going to make sure they were. Taking ground from the remaining Reapers got a little easier with the influx of reinforcements but the raven-haired assassin didn't fool herself into thinking this would be easy. More grenades were thrown and she knew there was going to be one hell of a bill to clean this up.

While everyone was set up trying to kill Artemis broke off from them and ever so quietly moved around to the side stairs which she climbed up onto a catwalk area of larger offices and dropped into position by the opaque glass guard rail. Artemis was a sniper by trade and knew how to pick a spot. With Hydra beautifully flanked she fired striking him in the head leaving only the head general; wherever the fuck he'd gotten to. Half a second later the grenade Hydra had pulled the pin on but never tossed went off ending yet more of the Reapers.

The sound of gunfire had started to dull now there were hardly any Reapers left. The battle was far from over but at least she could say they were winning. However, she realized her mistake then as the barrel of a handgun made contact with the back of her head. She'd had to move too far away from her comrades to flank Hydra; she'd been stupid. There was only one person who could have flanked her so dreadfully easily; Charon. Artemis wouldn't go down without a fight though and went for her gun only to be dragged backwards by her long raven hair and find a large knife pressed against her throat, sharp and glinting with half-dried blood.

"You turn on your own kind, why?" Charon demanded.

Odd how he could demand without a single vocal indication of it. Guns continued to fire down below but high up on the catwalk it was practically peaceful as they lingered there in the emergency lights. The stench of gunpowder and blood attacked their nostrils but Artemis and Charon had grown numb to it as children.

"Because my own kind are monsters. boogeymen who take children in the night. You think emotions are weaknesses but they're not, they're strength."

Charon was confused though never revealed any of it on his face nor in his tone of voice.

"You betray us for emotion. For him. And now it has gotten you killed."

Artemis took a breath, not to calm herself, she wasn't afraid, but to savor the fact that she died knowing Mycroft Holmes had already won.

"Yes its killed me, but it's also the reason he's alive." She kept her dazzling green eyes firmly locked on Charon's darker ones.

"Pathetic." Charon accused.

To those who were part of Hades any and all emotions were a distraction but love was the worst, love was the one which corrupted and twisted the most. Love could force its host to negate their own survival instinct. To Charon putting Artemis down was the right thing to do so that is exactly what he did, he made to slit her throat deep but as they all knew Artemis wouldn't take it lying down. She managed to hook her arm around his left leg and tripped him backwards onto his ass the spun around with her rifle and fired three quick shots. The first tore through Charon's left lung, the next his heart as he lunged towards her and finally the third to his head almost directly between his eyes. Charon slumped down dead on top of her leaving Artemis to force his heavy weight off of her.

No more Hades generals, none what so ever unless one wanted to could Artemis as Kerberos not that she did. Mycroft's plan had found itself with several problems but it had ultimately worked in the end.

A lump formed in her throat then and she noticed air struggling to get into her lungs. Slowly a hand reached upwards to press against her neck … it came away bloody, lots of blood. Artemis wasn't in pain but it finally dawned on her than he'd bleed out very soon. Charon had been quicker than she'd thought and while he'd not completely gone through her throat he'd done enough. Ironic, they'd killed each other.

Artemis didn't panic, didn't feel the pain and didn't have her body flood with adrenaline, instead she thought logically and ripped Mycroft's scarf from her wrist and tied it tightly around her neck in a desperate attempt to slow the blood. She needed to move somewhere she could be seen before she passed out.

Artemis made it all of three steps before dizziness knocked her to the ground, she'd make it no further before unconsciousness took her.

Mycroft continued to sit beside his friend. His eyes hadn't left the door as he waited for Artemis, the radio they'd been using held tightly in his hands. Holmes the elder was a mess of fake blood, real blood, dust, sweat and destroyed scraps of suit, in any other situation his OCD would have taken over. The British Government would have had to flee to his house, shower and change before it even thought about subsiding, even when Eurus had nearly gotten him killed he'd only allowed himself to open his collar button and barely loosen his tie. However, sitting there with his eyes on the door and Artemis currently MIA he couldn't bring himself to let his OCD out of its box. He needed her to either appear or radio and give the all clear.

The entire time Lestrade watched his best friend, brother and what would probably one day be his future brother-in-law. He'd nodded to questions but otherwise had just sat in silence. With a sigh Greg rested a hand on the eldest Holmes' shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"She'll be okay, Myc." Greg promised even though he couldn't be sure. "It's Artemis, she'll always

be alright. Never underestimate her." Still Mycroft didn't acknowledge him. "Remember the first time we saw her at Baker Street? Just been shot and yet she was up on her feet like it was a paper cut, that girl is going to be fine and you know it."

"I hope you're right, Gregory." Finally, finally, the auburn-haired man looked away from the door to his friend. "You don't have to stay here, I can get them to let you leave."

Gregory shook his head. "Nah, I'm good here, thanks."

Lestrade wouldn't leave Mycroft, not in this state. Sherlock opened his mouth as if to try and get Myc to let him and John return to 221B but John slapped him in the arm quickly silencing whatever stupid or angry comment he'd come up with before I could sound.

"Thank you."

The silver-haired man's brow furrowed in puzzlement as he looked at his friend. "For what?"

"Being stubborn enough to be my friend."

That may well have been the nicest thing anyone had ever said to Gregory Lestrade, it certainly beat all his ex-wife's I love yous because Mycroft actually meant what he'd said.

"I'll always be your friend, Myc. I-"

"Shut up!" Mycroft exclaimed suddenly as he lifted the radio up to his ear between them.

Greg rolled his eyes; moment over then.

"What is that noise?"

Lestrade leaned in so he and Mycroft were almost pressed together as they tried to hear the faint noise coming from the radio. The John's heart sank, he'd heard that noise before.

"That- that's someone choking on their own blood." Watson sighed.

Mycroft's breathing hitched as utter panic tried to overtake him but then Artemis' voice sounded from inside his mental city, the child one he'd stored so long ago. Listen more closely, the teenage version of her muttered at the back of his brain and Mycroft bottled all his worries in favor of obeying. Faintly alongside the sputtering noises were taps, rhythmic taps that he recognized instantly.

"Morse code!" Gregory had been correct, Myc never should have underestimate Artemis, not for a single second. "Edwin."

John's head tilted questioningly. "Edwin? Why would she say Edwin?"

Why indeed. The only Edwin Mycroft could thing of was Sir Edwin but what would that have to do with anything, he'd not even been in the building when Hades had attacked. Mycroft ground to a halt then, it wasn't a person it was a location. It wasn't Sir Edwin himself it was Sir Edwin's office, she was near the office!

"Sir Edwin's office! That's where she is."

Greg's mouth gaped for a moment until words finally managed to tumble out. "She'll be dead by the time someone finds her."

"I'm surprised she isn't already." Said John only to instantly regret his words.

The next thing any of them knew Mycroft was charging back towards the open door and – with surprisingly agility – slipped under a guards attempt to grab him then into the building. Honestly none of them had seen that coming, Mycroft Holmes wasn't the sort to run into the trenches, he'd pull his weight if he found himself in them but as a choice he'd never go in.

"He'll get himself killed." Greg raked a hand down his face then went rushing after his friend and ended up punching the guard.

Sherlock crossed his arms across his chest stubbornly, after the shit Mycroft had pulled earlier Sherlock wasn't inclined to do anything to aid his brother. John just stared at him with an unreadable expression.

"Stay here if you want and sulk but neither of them will know what to do to help her."

Case made Doctor Watson ran after the others, he was a doctor, he'd always help no matter what had happened between them all. He wasn't stupid, he knew Sherlock wouldn't be able to stop himself following and he couldn't.

The three men all caught up with Mycroft quickly as they followed him towards Sir Edwin's office. One to protect his friend, one to keep his Hippocratic Oath and the last simply because sitting outside and waiting would have been boring; and maybe a little because he did genuinely love his brother not that Sherlock would ever admit it.

They followed the gunfire until they were not too far from the thick of it, soldiers saw them but were much too focused on trying not to get shot than pausing to kick the Holmes, a doctor and a DI out. That was how Mycroft and the others managed to get around the desks and up the stairs to the catwalk, passed the bodies of Reapers and British soldiers.

There at the end of the fenced catwalk lay Artemis on her back in a growing pool of her own crimson, scarf tied to slow blood loss, and sure enough she wasn't five steps from the door to Sir Edwin's office. In that moment all the gunfire and the shouts, the bangs and the cries died, Mycroft went deaf to them as he dropped to his knees beside Artemis, her hand still on the radio where she'd been taping. Mycroft might have been in shock but the others weren't, Lestrade pulled his best friend backwards so John could slip firmly into doctor mode and do what he could while Sherlock alternated between looking at Artemis and keeping an eye out for anyone who wanted them dead. Expecting the worse Greg grabbed Artemis' SA80 just in case.

"She can't breathe." John announced like they hadn't all already figured that out. "Mycroft get me a biro or something."

Despite his hands being covered in the blood of the woman he loved Mycroft leaped into action, he vanished inside Sir Edwin's office only to appear a couple of seconds later with the clear tube from a biro and it was wet.

Watson's brow furrowed as he took it. "Is that vodka?"

"You don't want to know where Edwin's pens have been and the man is a secret drinker."

Artemis could feel Mycroft kneel down beside her again and take her hand into his own, her blood making his touch almost sticky. Green eyes did their best to turn to him as something sharp jabbed into her throat. Artemis knew she was in pain, always knew about the pain, but she still couldn't feel it. No, what bothered her was the pressure in her head, too much or too little she wasn't quite sure.

Mycroft made to say something but Artemis would never know what it was, not since everything faded to back and those stunning emeralds slipped shut.