A Dish Best Served Cold
Summary: Moriarty is out rule the world once again and he's had it with Sherlock Holmes's interference. He has a plan, but the detective's friends may pay the ultimate price.
DisclaimerAll Publicly Recognizable Characters, Settings, Ideas, etc. are the Property of DiC Entertainment and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Original Characters and Plot are the Property of the Author. The Author is in no way Associated with the Owners, Creators, or Producers of DiC Entertainment. No Copyright Infringement is intended.
Chapter 12 - In Which Escapes are Made
Moriarty's 1st Base, Unknown Location in New London's Underground
Holmes sat silently for the next hour. His mind reliving what he had witnessed over and over again, like some strange slide show of horrors which he could not turn off no matter how hard he tried.
Eventually two men and two women entered they began to clean, the great mass of red stretched across the floor that was Lestrade's blood, when they were done one of the women injected Holmes with a sedative. Once again he woke up half an hour later, to find himself no longer in the chair but on the floor in shackles. He sighed wondering if his torment would ever exhaust it's self.
00o00
Lestrade meanwhile had been rushed to the medical room for treatment. An hour after she arrived Moriarty paid a visit and consulted with the medic.
"What is the status of her condition?" questioned the criminal, examining the inspector's pale form on the hospital bed.
"She was in pretty bad shape but she should recover fully. She lost a lot of blood but we have plenty of her type in reserve."
Moriarty nodded, he hadn't been planning to be a blood donor this time. Turning to one of the guards as he departed he ordered, "See to it that Holmes' quarters are returned to their original state, he is to be restrained once again in the usual manner. Do not disturb me unless the matter is of the utmost importance as I have pressing business to attend to."
Lestrade awoke some hours later, in her bed wearing purple cotton pyjamas.
Briefly she wondered who dressed her. Gingerly she got to her feet and walked over to her dresser. She grabbed some clothes and showered. She didn't know who had changed her but she knew they had touched her and every trace of Moriarty even that of his cronies had to be removed.
When she got out of the shower she saw Kerai, sitting at the table with a tray of food.
"You!" Lestrade shouted, her eyes boring into the trespasser with all the hate and malice in the world.
"Yes me," Kerai acknowledged in her annoyingly cheerful way, "Moriarty said that food was to be brought to you as soon as you woke up. You lost a lot of blood you should eat to keep your strength up."
Lestrade continued to glare then shrugging walked over and sat down. "Who are you anyway?"
"My name is Kerai," a grin spread across her face, "in Japanese the word can mean spicy, bitter or cruel." The smile now had a sadistic tilt to it. "I hope you don't mind too much but I had some of your grapes while I was waiting."
"I suppose there's a reason you didn't just leave the tray and go?"
Kerai giggled. "Isn't it obvious? I want to talk to you."
"So talk."
"Tell me—now that you know how painful it is do you plan to take Holmes's place often?"
"Yes," Lestrade had just realised Moriarty would probably let her volunteer as often as she wished.
"Why?"
"Holmes is my friend; he can't take it all the time."
"Well aren't you noble," said Kerai as she got up. "I'll probably see you around, goodbye."
'Weird woman,' Lestrade thought with a puzzled frown as the woman departed.
00o00
Meanwhile Tennyson was checking his virus; it would be ready for tonight. At 3:00 a.m. the fire alarm would go off in Lestrade and Holmes' area, it would be the signal. He only hoped that the inspector and detective would recognise it as such. He knew now was a good time—Holmes was healthy as was Lestrade and the only thing left to hope for was that the plan worked.
If it didn't they were all in trouble—Watson's memory board would be destroyed and he, Tennyson would be forced to torture Wiggins.
The virus would cause the cell doors to malfunction and the fire alarms to go off, but would not affect Holmes's shackles, fortunately the detective had his lock-picks. He hoped Holmes would be able to free himself in the allotted time. Sighing he prayed that he had done enough.
The hours leading up to 3:00 a.m. passed differently for everyone.
Holmes, oblivious to the fact that it was going to occur so soon, sat in his cell attempting to read the book he had been given by Moriarty. The detective didn't have much luck and threw the diversion against the wall in frustration, wondering how Lestrade could be as foolhardy as she was.
Lestrade herself, was pacing in her room like a caged animal. Unknown to the inspector Kerai watched her from the other side of the camera, pondering a moral dilemma, in particular the morals of law enforcement officers.
The Irregulars on the other hand, knew that the time for escape was at hand and was very tense, the hours approaching 3:00 a.m. seemed to crawl by at the speed of a snail. But finally it came
When the clock struck the hour, Wiggins opened the now unlocked cell door and walked out signalling for Deidre and Tennyson to follow. They moved as quickly as they could which was unfortunately not very fast due to Tennyson's new chair. They did however have a plan to get Tennyson's old hoverchair back, it would be a bit of a detour but a necessary one.
As they traveled down the hallway, in the distance they could hear sirens and as they rounded a corner, almost at their destination four guards appeared, two women and two men.
"I'll take the two on the left," Deidre snapped out, not slowing down her pace.
Wiggins wasn't so sure that was a good idea—the guard Deidre seemed so determined to thrash looked pretty big, but if Deidre thought she could handle it who was he to question? Besides she was heading straight for them.
The big guy threw a punch a Deidre's head, she almost sighed she had figured he would do that and was prepared for it. How to handle this kind of attack was one of the first things Lestrade had ever taught her. As the fist came towards her face Deidre grabbed the guards' wrist and tossed him five feet.
She grinned thinking, 'Lestrade would be proud,' as she kicked the female guards' who was standing just to her right. Fortunately for Deidre the female guard had been temporally stunned by the fact that a thirteen-year-old had tossed her co-worker any mountable distance. The kick Deidre drove into her stomach however quickly brought the guard back to earth.
Angry the woman took a step towards her teenaged attacker and using a reverse punch hit Deidre squarely on the collarbone. Deidre winced but didn't have enough time to recover because the first guard that she had attacked, had by this time recovered and had decided to give Deidre a bear hug. The Irregular felt herself being lifted off the ground as her ribs began to feel the pressure.
The female guard smirked and walked up to her, "Now what are you going to do?"
In response Deidre brought up both her legs and kicked the offending guard in the face as hard as she could. Hitting her right in the jaw, the guard fell to the floor, in response to the movement; Deidre's present obstacle tightened his grip.
"Aaah," Deidre grunted.
Fortunately Tennyson then decided to take action. Moving as fast as his hoverchair would allow he rammed into the affectionate guard, hitting the man squarely in the back of the knees. The fellow was so surprised that he stumbled a little and loosened his hold on Deidre. Deidre, realising he was off balance, took the opportunity to kick him in the shins with her heel as hard as she could.
"Aah," the guard released his hold with a pained grunt.
Deidre landed and took a few steppes forward, trying to get some distance between her and the guard before turning to face him.
The said guard, however had turned his attention to Tennyson. It looked like he was about to attack the child, Tennyson was simply glaring at him, as he raised his hand Deidre shouted.
"Oy don't forget about me!" Deidre would have loved nothing better then to jump the guy but he looked to be solid muscle, and her ribs were killing her. She knew that the only way she would beat him would be to use his own strength against him.
Her attacker turned and saw not only Deidre, but the female guard, who was lying unconscious on the floor blood trickling down her mouth, at the sight his annoyance over the situation turned to anger. Deidre noticed.
"Oy that your girlfriend?" Deidre asked with a cheeky grin.
In response he charged, letting his fist fly towards Deidre's face. The irregular grinned, sidestepped the attack and moved in, grabbing his wrist and arm. Using a judo move Lestrade had taught her she tossed the guy a good two feet.
She had been careful to make sure he would land head first, which he did. Deidre winced from pain, the attack had caused her ribs further aggravation, but she was pleased to note that the guard was now out cold. She then turned her attention to Wiggins.
While Deidre had been fighting her two opponents Wiggins had had his hands full with his. He had taken an offensive approach, running up to the first guard and trying to right hook him. The guard however blocked the attack with his arm, and using his left leg kicked Wiggins's feet out from under him.
Wiggins was once again grateful that Holmes had taught him how to do a backwards roll and he was back on his feet in no time. However the second female guard chose this time to attack. She aimed a kick at Wiggins's left side.
Wiggins managed to block with his left arm he then aimed a quick jab at her face with his right hand. She didn't mange to block but she didn't go down. Suddenly he felt a foot hit his side.
'Oh ya,' he mentally cursed to himself , 'there's another guard. Great.' Wiggins was forced to take a few steps back and get into a fighting stance as the two approached.
The women stepped in front of her male partner growling, "He's mine."
The man shrugged and took a step back. The women took another step towards Wiggins she got into a fighting stance and kicked with her right leg, once again Wiggins managed to block the attack with his left arm, he then counter attacked with a reverse punch.
The woman blocked and shifted her weight to kick again, but as she did so she dropped her guard on her right side, Wiggins took the opportunity to left hook her. It was a right hook that would have made Holmes proud. She was out cold, she fell and her partner caught her.
The male guard stared at Wiggins, the unvoiced request was obvious, 'Give me a moment to put her down.' Wiggins nodded, deciding to take the opportunity to check up on Deidre and saw her kick her charge hard in the shins.
'That's gotta hurt,' he thought with a grin, deciding Deidre was okay he turned his attention back to his opponent.
The man had picked up his partner and turned back to Wiggins, walked a few feet down the hall, carefully placed his partner on the floor then turned around and walked towards Wiggins. When he was a few feet away he got into a fighting stance. Wiggins did the same.
The man used his left arm to jab aiming for Wiggins's face. Wiggins dodged the attack by stepping in and slightly to the left side. Using his forward momentum to increase the power he punched the man, right in the face breaking his nose. The guard reeled back and grabbed his nose with both hands, leaving his gut exposed, which Wiggins punched three times in rapid succession as hard as he could. The guard bent forward and as he did so Wiggins once again punched him in the head, knocking the man out.
He turned to see Deidre searching the man she had knocked out and taking his ionizer. After making sure it was on stun she blasted the guard, not wanting him to wake up in the near future and turned to do the same with her female opponent.
Wiggins shrugged and did the same to both of his opponents.
As they claimed the ionizers Wiggins grinned, "Guess they didn't think they'd need them."
"Their mistake," Deidre replied.
Armed; the three continued on their way to where Tennyson's chair was located. They found the room empty except for a scientist who fortunately had his back to them and was working. Wiggins made sure his ionizer was on stun and fired. With the scientist taken care of they got Tennyson in his chair (which had been repaired) then took off for the meeting place.
They were able to move a lot quicker but they encountered more guards. At the sight of them Tennyson grinned beneath his mask and pointing his little gun at one of the six guards heading towards him, fired. Wiggins and Deidre did the same with their ionizers. Each managed to get off two shots and hit their target before the guards— who had not expected any resistance of so effective a nature— could react.
The Irregulars never slowed and ran past the now dysfunctional guards. Within thirty seconds they arrived at their destination. Wiggins opened the door and entered, followed by Deidre and Tennyson.
The familiar man in the room turned to face them, a question he already knew the answer to glaring out of his eyes in hopeless hesitation as the surprise dissipated, "may I enquire as to the reason for your presents in my office?"
The Irregulars only grinned, a savage delight in there souls, Moriarty was going to pay.
00o00
When Lestrade heard the fire alarm she was glad she had decided to change into the fake uniform which had been provided, these days though Inspectors were not required to wear uniforms they were encouraged to. The uniforms doubled as lightweight armour, unfortunately it seemed Moriarty had decided to deny her, her armour and had had her uniform replaced with a look-alike. Still it made her feel more like her usual self to wear it, besides she was still on duty.
She jerked the cell door open and ran out. Unfortunately she was heading straight for three guards who all carried ionizers. Lestrade however was not worried. The guards were close and ionizers were long range weapons. She knew that if she could get even closer the advantage the ionizers gave them would disappear.
She ran at them as fast as she could, however two managed to get off shots which, fortunately, Lestrade managed to dodge. Upon reaching the first guard, she managed to grab the hand holding the ionizer and using a judo move tossed him while claiming the ionizer.
Pointing the newly acquired weapon at the guard immediately in front of her she pulled the trigger, all the while worrying about the third guard whom she was currently ignoring. The third guard realised she was distracted and seized the opportunity to right hook her.
It contacted solidly and Lestrade was knocked to the ground. Fortunately, the inspector had trained herself to handle these kinds of problems and more out of reflex then conscious thought, as soon as she hit the floor she used her legs to trip her opponent.
Lestrade then rose to her feet as did the guard, pulling an ionizer from his coat. Lestrade kicked it out of the woman's hand, injuring her wrist. Hissing the guard grabbed the injured wrist, sizing the opening Lestrade took hold of the guard's shoulders and pushed down, forcing her to fall forward.
As she did so Lestrade brought up her knee, striking the guard squarely in the face and breaking her nose, covering Lestrade's leg with blood. As the guard knelt on the floor holding her nose, Lestrade took the opportunity to blast her with the ionizer. Rolling the guard onto her side so that she wouldn't choke on her blood, Lestrade then turned and headed to Moriarty's room.
Jogging down the hallways, she realised that it was odd that she hadn't encountered more guards. As she was pondering the reason for this lack of security Kerai appeared on the right from a corridor further ahead. Lestrade skidded to a halt.
"Well if it isn't the noble, Inss-pec-tor." Kerai hissed.
"Get out of my way."
"Oh I can't do that." Kerai's smile was too much reminiscent of the cat about to pounce on a poor defenceless mouse.
"Gotta earn your pay cheque?" Lestrade inquired, trying to think of a strategy to beat Kerai. The inspector was determined to win now that she had an idea of what to expect and was pumped up on adrenaline she thought she stood a chance.
"Yes, but there's more to it then that."
00o00
Holmes woke up to the alarm and knew right away that he had to get out of his shackles. He worked as fast as he could, fortunately his lock-picks were designed for these kinds of locks but it still took him a full minute before he managed to free himself. Smiling he stood, just in time to face the three guards that now rushed in to prevent his escape.
The first guard simply charged, Holmes sidestepped to the right and gave the guard the left hook which had made him a boxing champion, the guard dropped as if poleaxed (1).
The second made his move, throwing a punch at Holmes's chest. While side stepping to the left Holmes grabbed the fist as it flew, placing his hand on the guards' left shoulder Holmes pushed with his right hand. Still pulling with his left, this in combination with the fact that the guard had been charging, propelled him head first into the wall with sickening force.
The third guard hadn't waited for the fight to be over, and as Holmes was pulling the third guard aimed a kick at the detective's head. The unseen blow sent Holmes reeling.
The guard punched him in the gut, leaving an opening on his left Holmes then aimed a right hook at the man's head. The guard reeled but still stood.
Holmes jabbed the guards' face once twice three times in rapid succession. On the third blow the guard collapsed and Holmes took the opportunity to run from the room. Following the instructions given to him earlier by Lestrade, he headed straight for Moriarty's room.
'Left, left, right, straight,' he checked the directions off in his head.
Occasional, approaching footsteps would force him to dodge around a corner to avoid being sighted. Each time this happened Holmes' heart leap in his throat. He worked hard to keep his breathing under control so he would not be heard.
The alarm wasn't blazing in this part of the building, so he had to be careful about how much noise he made. Ducking into a corridor he heard voices and back-pedalled—further down the hall Lestrade and Kerai were squaring off. Backtracking to his hallways broom closet, Holmes ducked inside. He knew that Lestrade would want to fight Kerai on her own but was prepared to help she should she need it. Settling in, he listened to their conversation.
"You want a rematch?" Lestrade growled.
"You act as if our first encounter was a match."
Lestrade glared as she assumed a fighting stance saying in a cold voice that Holmes would be proud of: "Shut up and fight."
"As. You. Wish." Kerai grinned.
Kerai charged forward. The Asian woman was fast but this time Lestrade was ready. As Kerai aimed her middle and index finger to strike a pressure point on Lestrade's left arm Lestrade grabbed Kerai's wrist and quickly twisted the woman's arm behind her back.
Kerai elbowed Lestrade in the gut, but Lestrade only tightened her hold and twisted as hard as she could. A sickening pop was heard as Kerai's shoulder became dislocated. Lestrade released her grip and as Kerai fell forward, Lestrade gave her a kick to further upset Kerai's balance.
Kerai tried to recover but was too late as Lestrade pulled out her ionizer and snapped off a shot. Her opponent dropped to the floor, out like a light.
Not sparing the fallen woman another look, Lestrade headed for Moriarty's room. Adrenaline still pumping strong, Lestrade's heart jumped when she caught sight out of the corner of her eye, a hand reaching for her from behind. Reacting instinctively her hand reached up and snagged her opponents' wrist to flip the unknown over.
Yanking on the offending limb and bringing the opponent flat against her back the second arm wrapped around her waist and counteracted the manoeuvre—as her opponent used their weight and greater height to remain on their feet.
"Lestrade," her name was an amused murmur, "Is that any way to greet a friend?"
"Holmes?" she asked turning, to face him as he released his hold. She didn't think she had ever been so happy to hear that voice in her entire life.
"What's say we continue together?" he proposed with a smile.
"Let's," she replied with a grin as she grabbed his arm and started running.
"Lestrade," the tone was patronising, "I would appreciate it if you would refrain from dragging me along as if I were a dog on a leash."
Lestrade grinned and let go. The pair arrived at their destination in time to see Tennyson hover into Moriarty's room, concluding that Wiggins and Deidre were already inside. The two entered just in time to hear the latter speak.
"We're here for Watson. You keep him in your right breast coat pocket."
'So that was the meaning of herself informed pomposity.' Moriarty thought. "Well." He continued aloud, "I must confess my surprise at your making it to your present location without being killed in the course of your escape, enjoy your temporary freedom my prisoners, you shall not have it for any notable amount of time."
Lestrade was about to say something but Deidre cut her off.
"Really?" Deidre cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "Look at what ya got. Two excellent boxers, an Inspector who has taken on and won at ten to one odds, and a thirteen-year-old girl with a trigger happy finger and in ionizer pointed at your 'ead."
Moriarty smirked. "My Dear young lady, need I remind you that you are at present in the very heart of my fortress, surrounded by vicious criminals in my employ and unable to effect an escape further then what you have already achieved."
Deidre snapped her fingers together, "Oh ya did I forget to mention? An expert hacker you'se completely disabled your security system and locked the door so your men can't get in. If they knew about the secret passage that will take us to the underground they could—but they don't."
Indeed Tennyson had started on the door as soon as Holmes and Lestrade had entered.
As Moriarty remained Deidre continued. "We can do this the easy way or the 'ard way. Here's an 'int, 'ard way's not fun for you, though personally I think I'll enjoy it."
She held out her hand for Watson. Moriarty shrugged casually as he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the memory board, quick as lighting Deidre snatched it out of his hand. She then backed away and smirked as she pointed her ionizer at him and pulled the trigger. Moriarty dropped.
"I wanted to do that." Lestrade informed the teenager, annoyed.
"Too late Inspector maybe next time." Deidre replied cheerfully she then looked over at Wiggins who shrugged and hulled the criminal onto his shoulders, they had agreed that he would be a more cooperative and less dangerous hostage if he was unconscious.
Having shifted Moriarty into a position which did not put to much strain on his back muscles, Wiggins walked over to where the secret entrance was located in the wall.
Deidre followed and pressing a button hidden under Moriarty's desk opened the doorway. She walked past Wiggins and peeking her head around made sure the cost was clear: "Ok let's go." She nodded, eyes fixed on the opening in front of her.
Lestrade walked through followed by Tennyson, Wiggins and Holmes.
At first the tunnel they travelled through was metal lined and well lit, but seemed to grow darker once the had been walking for a few minutes. After a time they came to a locked door. Holmes was predictably the first to notice a palm key on the right. He pointed this out to Wiggins and the two approached it. Wiggins held Moriarty while Holmes removed the criminal's glove and put his palm on the lock.
The door opened and they found themselves in the underground. Stone walls and tracks from old and abandoned trains spread out around them like the tentacles of some great see monster.
A sudden feeling of complete and utter overwhelming grabbed Deidre by the throat as she thrust the image of lab mice running around hopelessly in a maze from her mind. Shaking herself, she turned to Holmes.
Footnote:
(1) Just what is a poleaxe you may ask? (Those that aren't history buffs anyways.) Well a poleaxe is a battle-ax and to be polaxed is to be struck down by said battle-ax. Capice?
Man writing this chapter was not fun, I hate writing action scenes, first try at it hope it's halfway decent. It took three tries before my editor, Bowen was satisfied with it.
Hope you guys enjoyed it a little too much action for me. Next update will be on the 25 of November. Before noon CST
Tootles