NEAR THE MM CORP HQ
Lestrade had instructed Wiggins and Tom to keep watch outside and to alert him if there was any trouble. They were supposed to be stationed close to The MM Corp building, but they weren't.
They were now watching from a vantage point just around the corner. From there they were offered a far better view and would be able to easily identify those that they were waiting for.
Tom glanced down at his phone and frowned. "They're taking their bloody time," he noted impatiently.
Wiggins shrugged nonchalantly. "They'll be here soon enough."
"Well they'd better," Tom responded. "I'm feeling a little too exposed here."
INSIDE THE MM CORP HQ
"Damn it!" Lestrade bellowed as he picked up a broken chair and smashed it against the nearest wall.
As with the rest of the building, the offices of James Moriarty and Sebastian Moran had been completely trashed.
The MM Corp had been the initial focal point of the second-generation cyborgs rage. This being the place where they had been created, and their fate sealed. And so they had decided that it was here that Moriarty and Moran would meet their fate.
But the two men had managed to escape, so the cyborgs turned their anger and frustration on the building itself.
"It will be here," Irene tried to reassure them. "It has to be."
"Unless they took it with them," John pointed out. He made his way over to Lestrade and said under his breath. "Assuming there was anything to find here in the first place."
Lestrade glanced over at Irene who was still frantically looking for the information they so desperately sought.
"You think she's lying?" he asked.
"Well she has been keeping things from us. Like the fact that she worked for Moriarty and Moran."
"But Mycroft claimed that she was Sherlock's 'inside man'."
"Yeah, and now he's missing, presumed dead," John reminded him.
"So what do you suggest we do?"
"Tread carefully."
From outside coming from somewhere down the street, but getting closer was the unmistakeable sound of a mob of angry cyborgs.
APPROACHING THE MM CORP
As luck would have it the former headquarters were not their target.
But Moriarty and Moran were.
In his haste to get back to the remains of his company, Moriarty had rushed headlong towards his destination with no consideration for his personal safety.
And that had proved to be a costly mistake.
When Moriarty tore off in the direction of the ruins of his company headquarters his only thought was that he had to get to the information that he still had stored there.
At the time that he and Moran had been forced to flee, he was confident that the safest place for these documents was for them to remain exactly where they were.
Yes the cyborgs were determined to destroy everything, and everyone they associated with their creation. But Moriarty knew enough of their genetic makeup to feel certain that their fury would not be directed at their actual design.
Had they been they would have realised that this information was far more important and of practical use to them.
But as soon as Moriarty knew that The Woman was one of those that were currently searching the building, he knew he had to get there quickly and get the information before she found it.
Had he known when he had started work on the second generation the magnitude of their reaction should they ever discover that they were sterile he might have been more careful with his designs. He might have worked harder on the documents that possibly held the key that would have made the whole need for a solution completely unnecessary
But he was a businessman through and through. All he cared about was making a quick buck.
Yet it wasn't this document that caused him to drop his disguise and run as fast as his legs could carry him into danger.
There was another that had even wider implications.
"Jim! Stop! Turn back! Run!" Moran screamed.
Snapped out of his frantic thoughts, Moriarty glanced up to realise two things.
He was approaching his destination.
And there was a large gang of cyborgs heading straight for him.
He had a decision to make. What was more important, the documents or his life?
Moriarty immediately changed direction and ran for his life.
OUTSIDE THE MM CORP HQ
Wiggins and Tom had doubled back to the relative safety of The MM Corp entrance. They watched Moriarty and Moran running with cyborgs right on their heels.
"They're done for and no mistake," Tom noted.
"Shouldn't we try, I don't know, help em?" Wiggins suggested.
Before Tom could answer he received a text message. Reading it, a smile spread across his face.
"Good news?" Wiggins asked.
"The best," Tom replied smugly. Glancing briefly at the distant figures of Moriarty and Moran, he then turned to his companion. "Forget them," he said raising his phone. "We've just been made a better offer."
But as Tom made to leave, Wiggins hesitated.
"Well, are you coming?" Tom asked becoming impatient.
Wiggins looked down the street then back to the building. He stepped back, decision made. "Nah mate, I think I'll stay here," he said heading indoors.
Tom shook his head partly in surprise and partly in disappointment. "Your choice my friend," he called out. "But I prefer to be on the winning side."
And without a backward glance he left.
THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
He sat there completely at ease. He didn't sit in the seat allocated to the Prime Minister. Instead he chose the one that overlooked all. The chair where sat the one person who had power over all, whether they be in government or opposition.
The Speaker of the House.
Such an apt position for a man who saw himself as the one who commanded the power of words. The man who used them to his advantage no matter their form.
Money was nothing to him. Power was everything. Words were his currency. Words were his to control. With the words he had currently in his possession he believed they would give him mastery over not only this country, but also every country on this little blue planet.
"Come, come. No need to stay hidden in the shadows. Tell me how we are positioned?"
"Not as well as you'd planned I'm afraid," Mycroft stated as he and Anthea entered the House of Commons.
"My supporters will be here shortly."
"If you're referring to," Mycroft threw him a mobile phone. On the screen was video footage showing the form of an unconscious, possibly dead Tom. "I'm afraid he never got the opportunity to call up reinforcements."
Mycroft took a seat in the Prime Minister's chair and turned to his adversary.
"I believe Magnussen that you and I need to have a little chat."
