ABRIELLE'S POV
It had been so long, so very long. The months of torture turning my body crimson, shattering my skin to pieces and tearing my clothes in two. I seemed weak, broken, tired, my body several pounds lighter and several pounds dirtier. I looked defeated, like Shan had destroyed me, yet she hadn't, not even close. She had fed me morsels of food, trying to keep me alive. To assure herself that I wouldn't die before she got the information from me. Just like every other day the door off to the side squeaked open, Shan and her giant heels tapping against the floor. It was time to pretend like I had lost, just like every other day. To stay strong through the beatings, which was easy enough, but then try not to cry as I imagine what Sherlock and John must be going through in my absence. I had been gone so long, too long. And everyday it just made me wonder, did they think I had died? That I was too far gone that by the time they would find me I would be lying dead on the ground, bleeding to death. That was my undoing, just the thought of them. My brother and my friend. The two men that mattered. I couldn't think of them, not now. Not here, not when Shan was here to do whatever the hell she wanted to 'torture' me. It was time to put on a show. Time to act the part. And … action.
"I see it's time for playtime. What's on today's agenda? Punches? Kicks? Or maybe some good old stabbing?" I replied, my face turned up into a smirk the metallic taste of blood still permanently wedged deep within my throat. It had been months, and from what her body was telling her, much too long. It had been routine for her, the daily beatings, that at one point she had gotten fed up with it all and she had taken to sassily attacking Shan and her big bad bodyguards. Thus the whole playtime jab.
"None." Shan replied, a small smile peeking out. She was happy, which made no sense whatsoever. It wasn't like she had gotten any information out of me anytime recently. In fact unless she had somehow figured out a way to read my mind while I was knocked out she shouldn't have any information. So what was with the smile? And why was she breaking her pattern?! She always beat me or damaged me in some way to get me to talk. What was stopping her from doing it again today?
"Aw darn it, no playtime. Was I a naughty girl?" I questioned, sending a faux pout her way. I needed to figure out what was wrong without showing my curiosity, I needed to act deviously and quickly, and that was exactly what I was going to do. It was Psychology 101, ask a silly question and the answer will float straight into your lap.
"You aren't getting any of those because today we're going to do it differently." Shan replied, causing my eyebrow to rise up in question. What was different to Shan? Was she ready to stop fooling around with these elementary torture methods and move on to something bigger? Because if so, that would certainly make things interesting. Kicks and stabs were nothing, but electrocution, whippings, nail pulling, oh that was a whole new level, and I've been through it all.
The door creaked opened, two man quickly walking into the room carrying two people with bags over their eyes, I quickly made my eyes adjust to the site and began to deduce them, my brain hungry for activity. One man, 5' 6" one woman 5' 8", both wearing new shoes which leads me to one conclusion: Date. A first date too, from the looks of it. Did Shan really stoop so low as to kidnap two random people and torture them to make me talk? Because that was just plain dumb of her. Nothing would stop me from keeping Sherlock safe, nothing on this earth. She had killed several people in her life, and two more on her list was so not concerning. Now is was just the matter of explaining the two dead bodies to Mycroft.
"I see you've brought me some playmates. Good thing too … I was getting a tad bit lonely." I replied, not completely concerned of what would happen next. It was obvious, they would be tortured, since they would have no training in that field they would scream out in pain which I guess is supposed to trigger my kindness and make me spit out my info on Sherlock to get them to stop, then both of the witnesses will be killed anyways and I would have accomplished nothing. That's always how it worked, and how it will forever work, except … I don't care. Okay, I do. But, well … I was taught not to, so I can't.
Shan snapped her finger, taking me straight out my thoughts as Shan's two brutes removed the bags from the guest's heads, sending a shock up my spine and causing my heart to quicken in pace, the panic clearly plastered against my face. She had him. She found him and kidnapped him. Of all the people, I never thought she would take him. That she could take him. John. My brother. She had my brother, and she was going to torture him in front of me. I always said that it would never happen, that my enemies would never find out who I am and who my family was. That I'd never have to see him be in this position. Yet here he was. And it was all my fault.
"I've finally found your weakness phoenix. Isn't it upsetting that it ended up being the Sherlock Holmes. It's no fun when the answer to the question was the question all along." Shan stated, stroking my face with her fingertips as though I were a child, my mind not even comprehending what Shan had said. She had definitely found my weakness alright, John was the most important person to me in my life. He was my older brother, my best friend, the one that cared about me when no one else did. If he died there would be nothing to stop me from following him. He was my will to live. And now he was in the hands of a childish gang leader that wanted me dead.
"Abrielle! Are you alright?" John questioned snapping me out of the dark recesses of my mind. He was fine, he was a soldier, he would be fine. He wasn't dead, not yet. And she'd be damned if he ever died before her. Shan was so going to get what was coming for her. She had unleashed the phoenix, the fire deep within me, and now she would be destroyed for what she had done. No one brought her brother into the fight. Nobody.
"I'm perfectly fine, John." I stated, giving him a small smile. I had to protect him, to make sure he didn't see just how much it affected me to have him here, to have him be threatened in such a way. It had been forever since I had seen him, and he had probably spent all that time thinking I was dead. Well, I wasn't, in fact, I was ready to slam some skulls in right about now. I turned to Shan, my eyes ablaze in fury and my soul blazing hot. "This is a new low, even for you Shan. Now let him go, this is between you and me." I demanded, my hands itching to just throw away months of planning to kill Shan right here, right now. This was not John's fight, not John's mission, not his loose ends to tie up. It was mine. Shan had no need to bring John into this, no need at all. Yet she had, and in doing so she had messed with the devil. This was our standoff. Shan and I. Me and Shan. No John about it. He was an innocent, a civilian, he knew nothing of my job, what I had done, why Shan had captured me. He knew nothing. Yet she had taken him anyways, just to get to me.
"I think has everything to do with this, in fact maybe more so than you." Shan replied causing me to laugh. ? Sherlock Holmes? Oh her poor stupid mind she really though John Watson, my brother, was Sherlock. That was priceless! John was safe, Shan didn't even have a clue that he existed. She thought he was somebody else. And that made this so much easier. Because that meant that he would not die, because according to Shan, Sherlock Holmes has information, and from what she knew of this business, well, information keeps you alive.
"What's so funny?" Shan questioned, her face the epitome of confusion. Making everything that much more hilarious. She looked like a kicked puppy, her face all scrunched up and her eyes bulging out of her skull. It was almost like she knew she had made a mistake, but she couldn't quite figure out what she had done to make me react the way I did.
"That is not Sherlock Holmes." I managed to finally say, my breath slowly come to me as my laughing died down. He was so not Sherlock Holmes. Actually, John was the least like Sherlock Holmes in the world. They were polar opposites. John was kind, caring, and extremely humble, he knew what was too far and he was very in tune with his emotions. Sherlock on the other hand was the smartarse that bragged everywhere he went, he was rude and was not in tune with his emotions that it was a miracle that he felt anything. Sherlock was the idiot Genius and John was his genius idiot. They both had strengths and they both had different weaknesses. One without the other was a disaster, if they were both like one another nothing would ever get done. Fortunately, John was John and not Sherlock. Two completely different people.
"Stop lying wise phoenix. I know all of your tricks, it doesn't work on me anymore." Shan replied, causing me to look at her in disbelief. Was she really that stupid? Clearly it was not Sherlock Holmes, maybe if she had done her research and read a few newspapers instead of simply going off of assumptions maybe she would have found out who the real Sherlock was instead of making a fool out of herself.
"I'm not tricking you, this is seriously not Sherlock Holmes." I told her, trying not to laugh yet again. No one was Sherlock except for Sherlock, not even Mycroft could take that away from him. He was so unique, so different, his brain so complexly special that not even I could be Sherlock Holmes. He was precious. Fragile, and simply perfectly imperfect. He was a fallen angel. John was an angel flying high above us all. John was not Sherlock Holmes, not even close. And if Shan couldn't see that, she was more of an idiot than I thought.
"Ah, but you see it is. Who else could it be?"
"It could be any random man in the universe, and you just assume it's the man you're looking for?" I shot back. I was so appalled, how in the name of hell was Shan so stupid? Had the fumes from the underground gotten to her an made her stupider and stupider. Because honestly, if this was my loose end it could have easily been destroyed months ago. I was going to wait for a distraction, for Sherlock to show up and cause chaos, but if she was really this dumb … honestly, I could have captured her the first night in her sleep.
"This is Sherlock Holmes, my men are positive." Shan replied, a smug look on her face once again. She thought I was freaking kidding just to save his life. But I wasn't! Not at all. It was just so frustrating talking to this woman, I mean really? How stupid can you be? Her men are positive? The big bad brutes that were hired for muscle? They probably heard gossip and immediately thought, hey, this is the guy we are looking for. They are brawn for hire, not brains, and certainly not capable of doing any jobs involving thinking. They had gotten it wrong, simple as that.
"Your men are idiots. And you are too from the looks of it." I stated. I remember when she was so young, when she was a mere teen, her hair in a bun, standing next to her daddy scarfing down candy as she learned how the gang worked. She had gotten away that day, her plane lifting off the ground before I could shoot it down. I was busy, my mind focused on getting an injured girl to safety. I had to make sure she lived. She was too innocent, too pure. I needed to protect her, and at the time she had meant more than killing the heir to the gang's throne. Meanwhile, while Soo Lin had grown up to be an amazing young woman that was extremely clever, Shan had grown up to be quite an idiot from what I had seen so far.
"Stop insulting me. I know who that he is Sherlock and so do you." Shan stated, tossing me out of my thoughts, seeming like a child throwing a tantrum. It was like she hadn't grown up at all! I mean really, I told her time and time again that JOHN WATSON was not SHERLOCK HOLMES. Was she deaf? Was she even listening? I mean honestly, it was exhausting trying to convince her that she had made a mistake. Clearly she thought she was some highly regarded genius that could make no mistakes. But clearly she had made a mistake, and a big one at that. And I was going to make sure that she got it in her big stupid head that she wasn't a genius. Because I was tired. TIRED. Of her acting like she was the queen of the universe that knew anything and everything.
"You're so thick. You're Miss. Thick Thick Thickety Thick-face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so was your dad." I said, bracing myself for the inevitable injury she would most likely inflict on me. Of course, since she was a mere child it was a simple slap, the taste of blood telling me she had opened up a scab from the force of the hit. It wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"Do not speak of my father." She screamed, trying to act like she was upset. I mean, if she really hated me for bringing up her poor dead daddy that I had killed then she could have stabbed me, cut my tongue from my mouth, shot me, I mean there was so many worse punishments, yet she had hit me like this was some sort of bitch fight in high school. Clearly she wasn't that mad … or maybe she just sucked at punishment. After all, she was an idiot. Maybe she didn't know about the several things she could have done to torture me because of that. Well, it was time to piss her off if all I was going to get was a measly hit in the face. It wasn't like I had anything better to do.
"Your father was begging for mercy when I pulled the trigger. He knew I was coming to kill him and he knew I would succeed, yet he still begged for his life to be spared. How idiotic of him." I said, lifting my face to look her straight in the eye. She stared at me, her face angry, but her eyes upset and then like the infant she was she punched me, her fist barely making a dent. Then she turned on her heel, going to leave the room. She was so weak. So very weak. If anyone had angered me in such a way they would be dead, whether I needed information from them or not. But no, Shan was running away. Once a coward always a coward I suppose. Stupid child.
"You are so much like him Shan. So stupid. Do you really think that you can keep me here forever, I will escape and I will kill you." I called to her, a smile plastered to my face. It was almost time, I could feel it. John was here which meant it was a matter of time until Sherlock showed up and served as the perfect distraction. It was almost time for her to be destroyed once and for all, the black lotus gone forever. The time was coming. I will escape, and the phoenix will rise. The wise Phoenix was here and it was only a matter of time until she turned this place to ashes.
