APPLEDORE INSTALLATION
"Wakey, wakey Sherlock," Moriarty chortled happily as he entered the lab, ready and eager to play with his new toy.
But his expression quickly turned to rage when he saw the empty glass case. Someone had broken in and stolen his prize.
E17 – WALTHAMSTOW
A stooped figure made his way cautiously down the street. In his right hand was an umbrella, which he used to tap the footpath every now and then, pausing to cock his head to the side and listen intently.
He was just about to cross the street, when he found what he'd been listening for.
"Finally," he muttered under his breath.
He looked around quickly to make sure that he was not being followed or observed. Satisfied he used the umbrella to tap out:
Dot dash dot – R
Dot – E
Dash dot dot – D
Dash dot dot dot – B
Dot – E
Dot dash – A
Dot dash dot – R
Dash dot dot – D
A moment later a secret door slid silently open revealing a flight of steps that the figure quickly descended.
As soon as he was clear the door closed.
Mycroft Holmes wrinkled his nose with distaste. It was bad enough that he'd had to dress in clothes that he'd usually regard as only fit for a rubbish dump. Now he was forced to make contact with the rebel group set up by his little brother.
'Why couldn't they set up their base of operations somewhere that could at least be loosely described as civilised.'
When the door slid shut he was in complete darkness. But he knew from what Sherlock and his faithful followers had told him, there was always a lamp and matches in easy reach. These he found before making his descent.
The further down he went the more appalling his surroundings became.
But that was the point.
SETTING UP THE UNDERGROUND NETWORK
Sherlock had become immediately suspicious of The MM Corp as soon as they put forward their proposal for a solution to the debacle that was the alpha supplement.
Something didn't feel right.
It wasn't that they hadn't proven themselves more than capable in the field of Cybernetics. Their first generation cyborgs had revolutionised and rejuvenated businesses in all industries.
But those cyborgs had been pure machine, their only purpose to follow specific orders to perform a specific task. Their only resemblance to the human race was that they had been built in human form.
What was now being proposed was to develop cyborgs that were part machine and part man that could function as a human, in this case as an alpha for the purpose of servicing the omegas.
Even for someone as removed from that side of his alpha nature as Sherlock, this posed a number of safety and ethical issues.
When he raised his concerns with the government of the time, he was assured that all possible precautions and safety measures had been taken into consideration.
But given the dire situation they had been in and the need for a quick solution, Sherlock had his doubts. And he feared that as with the alpha suppressant not enough time had been given to do all the necessary tests to cover any given situation.
As omega lives could well be at stake, should anything go wrong, Sherlock felt that this should be the priority for all concerned.
Getting nowhere with the government, he tried to get his concerns heard by The MM Corp. They were after all going to be putting these cyborgs into production.
But all he got out of them was a beautifully put together broacher that was very light on detail.
When they refused to return his calls, he knew there was only one other option. So he hacked into their systems to find the answers he was after.
But The MM Corp had one of the most sophisticated security systems, and he was soon detected.
Only Mycroft's intervention prevented him from serving a long prison sentence.
To get Mycroft, who worked for the government in a minor capacity, to plead his case meant he had to take his older brother into his confidence. He showed Mycroft the information he'd been able to access before he was caught.
They both knew Mycroft couldn't use his position to spy on The MM Corp. So Sherlock became the architect of The Underground Network.
He made sure that what they were doing remained under the radar. They kept track of The MM Corp, and all that they were up to.
All who worked for the network were hand picked by Sherlock. They were people he knew he could trust: John and Mary Watson, Greg Lestrade, Mike Stamford, Sally Donovan and Phillip Anderson.
THE UN BASE
No sooner had Mycroft finished his descent into the bowels of the earth than he found himself surrounded by half a dozen armed men.
"No chance of tea and biscuits then?" Mycroft asked somewhat bemused.
"Not unless you brought some with you," came the familiar voice of Greg Lestrade, formally of New Scotland Yard.
"And if he did you can bet the biscuits will be chocolate," John Watson commented as he and Lestrade approached the older Holmes. "Glad to see the rumours of your death were greatly exaggerated."
Mycroft stood before the assortment of alphas, betas and omegas that had been integral in gathering information that had been secretly passed on to him so that he could get it analysed by experts who had been employed to not ask questions.
It was because of some of their recent intel that had forced Mycroft to seek them out directly.
As his gaze swept over those assembled, he was surprised to see one particular individual.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here," he said.
The woman, one of only a few female alphas walked up to him. "Nor I you, and yet the iceman cometh."
Irene Adler looked over Mycroft's shoulder, clearly expecting to see someone else. Seeing no one, she frowned. "Where's the virgin?"
"Dead," Mycroft replied calmly.
Several of the network's members gasped in shock.
As for Irene, an odd look passed over her face. It may have been called sorrow, but she recovered herself quickly, so it was difficulty to say with any certainty.
"Pity," she murmured. "After all the hard work I put in…"
She turned abruptly and went back to her place in the crowd.
Mycroft watched her curiously, and then dismissed her from his mind as he turned to Lestrade and John. "May we speak in private?"
"Of course," Lestrade responded. "Let's go to my office."
APPLEDORE INSTALLATION
Moriarty was watching the footage from the CCTV cameras that had been placed all around the lab.
"How did she manage to break into such an ultra secure facility like this?" he asked Moran, who had just come back from performing a thorough search of the installation.
"Technically she didn't," he replied.
"What do you mean?"
"It appears she snuck in through an open door."
