Doctor Who: 221b Chapter 4
"You've seriously never heard of Terminator?" John asked. "I cannot believe we've been partners for six years and I never thought to ask you this!"
"Will you please shut up!" The Doctor bellowed. "Now, I believe the Cybermen are planning to do something to erase Sherlock from the timeline just like they did to Mr. Lance. Now, 1886 is the absolute last place Mycroft Lance was ever seen. Meaning, whatever the Cybermen did-"
"It would happen today." Sherlock finished.
The Doctor pointed dramatically at Sherlock. "Precisely."
John looked at both the Doctor and Sherlock, who seemed to be in an intense staring competition. An awkward silence fell over the group as Sherlock and The Doctor continued to stare.
"If you're going to kiss, get it over with!" John said, averting his gaze the other way.
"John, you are immature." Sherlock said.
"Says the guy who crawls through the ceiling of his flat."
"Actually, I second Sherlock on this." The Doctor said.
"Says the whatever you are with a big blue box." John said.
"Call box." The Doctor said. "Slight difference."
"Both of you! Quiet." Sherlock suddenly said. John and the Doctor watched as Sherlock entered that "detective" phase of his where he manually opens every cognitive ability in his brain and devotes it all to solving one simple problem.
"Parker Street." Sherlock said breathlessly. "Holmes and Lance are going to Parker Street."
"Could it be about that woman we saw earlier?" John asked.
"Possibly." Sherlock said.
/
The oddest trio of time arrived at Parker Street just in time to see a two story building go up in flames. The measly fire department rushed in to try and stop the flames but for whatever reason, the fire just didn't go out. Sherlock, the Doctor, and John approached the burning building when the Doctor stopped them.
"What isn't here?" The Doctor said.
John looked around. "Heat?" He said.
The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Even in England weather, we'd still feel heat from a burning building."
The Doctor grabbed the screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at the building, suddenly the flames disappeared like turning off a television.
"Cyberman masking technology. This was nothing, wait till you see a whole planet made of this stuff." The Doctor said.
"What, like a green screen?" John said.
"No, like a projection. Only a camera lens would pick up the picture on the green screen while a projection-"
"Yeah, okay. I know how projections work. You are a walking tutorial, you know that?" John said.
Sherlock gave John a sarcastic smile before realizing the Doctor's absence. The two men looked at the perfectly fine building and the bewildered firemen. They saw the Doctor's slender frame squeeze through a window and crash into the building.
"Not the stealthiest of individuals, huh?" John said.
"Apparently not."
Sherlock and John rushed over to the building where one of the firemen was trying to break the door down. Once again donning his Victorian speech, Sherlock got the man's attention.
"Pardon my associate, he is rather touched in the head. I shall go retrieve him." Sherlock said.
"What, you live 'ere?" The fireman asked in a slang term.
"Why, yes I do."
"Yeah? Prove it." The fireman said, crossing his arms.
The Doctor burst through the door and held up a piece of paper. The fireman nodded and smiled.
"Have a good day, Mr. Fartscoff." He said, holding in laughter.
The fireman walked away and Sherlock looked over at the Doctor. "What does that paper say?"
It says whatever the person reading it wants it to say." The Doctor replied.
Sherlock grabbed the psychic paper and read it. "A love letter from Molly."
John grabbed the paper. "Absolutely not going to happen, Sherlock." He said, reading the paper himself.
"A check for ten million?"
"See what I mean?" The Doctor said.
Inside the mysterious building, it was dark and all the homey furniture had been removed or taken out. Either way, there was no furniture. John lagged behind the Doctor and Sherlock, obviously wanting to keep the detectiveness to the detectives.
"It appears that woman was trying to lure Holmes and Lance here." The Doctor said.
Sherlock once again entered his "detective mode." Scanning the entire lower level for no more than a few seconds, he came up with a reasonable explanation.
"Mud tracks leading into the house suggest more than at least three people were here. Judging by the amount of moisture in the mud, they were here not very long ago. Slight damage to the wooden floor and the presence of blood droplets suggests a brief struggle."
"Holmes and Lance being subdued by the superior Cybermen." The Doctor said.
"Drag marks, they show someone being brought upstairs."
Sherlock had barely finished his sentence before the Doctor bounded through a doorway and up the stairs to the top floor. Sherlock glanced at John before sprinting after him, John followed at a close distance.
They met the Doctor at the top of the stairs, standing in front of a closed door.
"What's behind the door?" John asked loudly.
The Doctor quickly shushed him. Initially he began to open the door slowly and silently. It began creaking, his element of surprise lost, the Doctor leaped into the room with a triumphant "Ha!"
Instead of Mr. Holmes and Mr. Lance, a single slender man in a tee shirt and jeans stood in the room with his hands behind his back.
The Doctor's head twisted to one side in confusion. "Who are you?"
The man nodded at Sherlock and John. "Hello, Sherlock." He said.
Sherlock's eyes widened. "Moriarty." He said breathlessly.