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.
Disclaimer All 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 16 - Reunions and Mistakes
Unknown Location in New London's Underground
While Lestrade and Holmes had been wandering, then crawling, about looking for an entrance to Moriarty's stronghold the Irregulars had been doing the same. Once they walked through the entrance into the underground Watson spoke. "If we wish to avoid the yard we will have to take several detours."
"How long will it take?" asked Wiggins.
"I should estimate about twenty minutes, then we must attempt to uncover an entrance, as well as take into account and avoid Moriarty's employees."
"Perfect," moaned Deidre, "well let's go."
They walked led by Watson, for about fifteen minutes before they entered a tunnel that seemed unstable. "This is the shortest route," Watson informed them, "However, I must caution you that our chances of survival would be considerably increased if we reached our destination by alternate means, I know of a passage that will only delay us by a very small amount of time, considering our current situation I should prefer the assurance of safety."
"Ah com'on it's survived this long," replied Deidre, the ceiling began to shake. Taking note she sighed in resignation, "Oh al'right."
Five minutes later Wiggins spoke up. "Does any of this seem weird to you guys? I mean we haven't seen a single yardie or any of Moriarty's goons. You'd think they be down here looking for us."
"Maybe they left in an 'urry." Deidre replied.
"Maybe." Wiggins muttered disconcertingly, he didn't sound as if he believed it. Tennyson said nothing, he just hoped this detour didn't cost the world Holmes and Lestrade.
Watson wasn't worried about Holmes the two had been together for a long time. He knew his friend could take care of himself. His major concern was the safety of the Irregulars. He would love nothing more then to send them home but he knew they would only follow at a distance, by letting them come he could at lest keep an eye on them
Eventually they came to a wall that according to the map was a secret entrance. The only problem was that the map didn't say how to open it. Watson scanned the wall and found that there was something on the other side. He turned to the Irregulars.
"I'm afraid the map doesn't say how to open the door." The Irregulars and Watson set about examining the wall. It only took a few minutes with all of them working together to find the brick they had to press to open the door. They glanced at each other and together walked through.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Deidre.
"The security centre seems like the most logical place. We should be able to find Holmes and Lestrade. We can use the cameras that seem to be set up everywhere," said Watson.
"But Tennyson's virus shut down the cameras!"
"That camera moved," said Watson pointing, his tone was flat he had already figured out what that meant. The Irregulars looked at each other.
(That means someone is watching us,) Tennyson beeped urgently.
"Indeed Tennyson, I am watching"
"Sti'll ere clonehead?" Deidre yelled into the camera with disgust.
"Don't be ridiculous."
Deidre's glared intensified, she hated the sneer in his voice, it seemed to drip off the walls and from the air, like rotting compassion, bleeding into the senses of his victims.
"I am completely secure in another one of my little hideouts, although, as you have already observed, I still retain complete control over security, it did not take long to destroy that virus, after all, you made a very bad job of it."
Tennyson glared. He had designed the virus to take out security so they could escape anything else would have taken to long. He had not anticipated having to return, but if they could get to the security centre he would be able to track down Moriarty's current location.
"What'da ya want?" Deidre demanded. There was no response. "Oi clonehead! Ya still there?"
"Maybe something came up," Wiggins offered. 'Maybe Holmes and Lestrade,' he thought hopefully.
(If we find the security centre I should be able track his current location.) Tennyson beeped.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Deidre urge in impatient annoyance.
Watson said nothing, he knew Moriarty would not simply let them have a free run of the place but there seemed to be nothing else for it.
They walked for a few minutes with Watson leading the way before they heard the clanking of three droids Watson had just rounded the corner when he saw the. He just managed to doge the attack. "It seems Moriarty has sent military droids to deal with us." He said just before he aimed and fired at one of their oncoming assailants. The blast had no effect.
"Run!" He shouted to the Irregulars. They didn't question.
"We should fight," Deidre panted.
"My blaster has had no effect, and we have no other weapons."
"We can't keep running forever Watson, we 'ave to fight them some time." Deidre continued.
"My blaster does not affect them and I am in possession of no other long range defence." He was careful to keep behind the Irregulars so if anyone was hit it would most likely be him. Wiggins was the only one who noticed.
"Didn't you mange to destroy the lunar hound by aiming for its joints?" Deidre ventured, she loved listening to the stories of Holmes and Watson.
"That might work," Watson allowed.
"Right," Wiggins nodded as the group rounded another corner. "Watson you see that four way crossing? You and Tennyson take the corner on the right, me and Deidre will round the one on the left. We'll use the walls for cover and aim our ionizers at their joints."
"Very well," Watson agreed.
The foursome put their plan into action and Wiggins Deidre and Watson took aim and fired at the lead droid. Deidre aimed at its right arm Wiggins and Watson its left leg, it worked and the droid collapsed.
Unfortunately by this time their remaining pursuers were just a few feet away. If the group did not do something quick they would have to separate. Deidre aimed a blast at one of the droids telephotoscope. Which she hoped would be another weak point, she was right. The blast not only cause a large amount of damage to the telephotoscope but the machine's memory board as well.
By this time the third droid was rounding the corner and about to attack Watson and Tennyson.
"Don't destroy it," she shouted as she ran up to it. Hoping the two would keep it busy she quickly removed the back panel and tore out some wires.
"An excellent notion Deidre, if it is within our power to reprogram it then it would certainly be of great use to us."
Deidre smiled, "Let's hope so."
"I must commend your ingenuity my friends, such resourcefulness, Holmes would be proud." Moriarty's voice once again sneered through the unseen speaker.
"Ah clone head so wonderful to hear your melodious voice again! Where 'ave you been?"
"So sorry to have kept you in the dark," Deidre and Tennyson rolled their eyes. "However, I am rather busy; Holmes and Lestrade are proving most uncooperative."
"What did you do to them?" Wiggins demanded.
"Oh come now my dears, surely you would not wish me to spoil the outcome of this little extravaganza? I am sure you are more then capable of coming to a satisfactory conclusion in your own time."
"Why you —When I get my hands on you!" Deidre shouted, fists clenched.
"Beep whur beep beep whur blip beep whur." (They're fine. If Moriarty had hurt them, he would have bragged.)
"Indeed, an excellent point Tennyson I propose that we continue on our present course to the main security centre, but first, Tennyson would you be so kind as to assist me in re programming this poor fellow?"
00o00
"We need to find the kids," Lestrade said she turned to Holmes. "What are you smiling about?"
In response Holmes quoted Moriarty "the other three are quite preoccupied with Watson and the Irregulars."
Lestrade smiled back "Hopefully he'll keep them safe."
"Of that I have no doubt. Now, returning to the situation at hand; It has come to my attention that the shade of the tile on each floor differs in colour, on the main floor—the place of our escape—was blue, while here it is grey, this seems to indicate that we should return to the stair well."
Lestrade nodded but said nothing. They jogged to the stairs and started to climb checking the color of the individual flooring as they went. Fortunately there only seemed to be three. The one they were looking for was the top one. Holmes opened the door and carefully looked out fully aware that their reprieve was over. He saw nothing, "Seems the droids are a bit slow at present."
"Well let's not wait around for them to catch up, which way?"
"We came from the left and I did not observe anything which might indicate a security room."
Lestrade rolled her eyes 'As if even you would notice while being chased by military droids.'
"I am Sherlock Holmes after all." He informed her, a playful sparkle in his eyes.
"I didn't say anything."
"Ah, but you thought it." He replied with a smirk
The Inspector sighed and shoved past Holmes after she had taken a few steps down the corridor she turned back to him "You coming?"
He said nothing, but followed her down the hall.
Lestrade saw a door and tried to open it. It was locked she turned to Holmes "Can you pick the lock?"
Holmes looked it over, "Not with my current resources."
"Come, come my friends, surely you did not think that I would make it so easy? Oh, and before I forget, you are now locked into this facility, and, as you have no doubt realized, there is no possible means of escape." Moriarty's voice seeped through the air.
"Unless we are able to locate the security center." Holmes observed.
"A distinct possibility, indeed I would go so far to say an eventuality."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lestrade demanded.
"Do you honestly expect an answer to that inquiry Lestrade?" This remark was particularly tense as both the Victorians had voiced it simultaneously.
Silence reigned. Lestrade blinked at the detective and then glanced at the nearest camera. 'Okay. Speaking in sequence. This can not be good.' Continuing down the corridor she finally spoke, "Let's go Holmes."
The detective followed and after a few minutes Lestrade asked. "Okay our reprieve is over, why haven't we been attacked?"
"I should think it a distinct possibility that Moriarty has decided it have the droids guard the security room, as we are heading in that direction of our own accord, or at least attempting to."
"Well that would explain what he said." She brought her right hand up to her chin and started to think. "Chances are the door to the security center is locked and there's no way I can make an explosive powerful enough to break down one of these doors with cleaning supplies."
"I am aware of the problem Lestrade, an opportunity will present it's self, we just have to use our eyes and our brains."
If it weren't for the fact that Lestrade though his plan for dealing with the droids had been zedding brilliant, she wouldn't have believed him, not that she was going to tell him that… well she wouldn't use the words "zedding brilliant."
"Nice work with those droids," she finally told him.
Holmes just smiled. "Left or right?"
"Right."
They turned and continued walking for a few minutes. Then they spotted four droids standing in front of a door just around the corner.
Lestrade turned to Holmes, "Any ideas?"
Holmes looked around the corner. Then back at Lestrade. "Perhaps the Irregulars and Watson will have a fresh point of view; they are on the other side of the corridor."
Lestrade wasted no time in taking a look. She saw Deidre who seemed to be mouthing and signalling: 'Stay where you are.' Lestrade turned to Holmes. "Looks like they want us to stay here."
Holmes nodded, "Chances are they have a map."
Lestrade chanced another peek and saw that the Irregulars were gone. A few minutes later she saw them approach her and Holmes, they were accompanied by Watson. Holmes' face lit up, with huge smile.
"Watson." He exclaimed but not too loudly as he placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, "How are you old chap?"
"I've never felt better Holmes."
"Glad to hear it."
"Ah I hate to break up this little reunion," Lestrade interrupted as she eyed a droid that was trailing behind Deidre, "But why is one of Moriarty's military droids following you around?"
"We reprogrammed 'im." Deidre replied with a massive grin, "His name's Shinwell."
"Hmmm… Well, I've no doubt that he shall be of extreme use to us, though I must ask you, what became of the other droids which took the liberty of delaying you?" Holmes questioned.
"I say Holmes how did you know about that?"
"We were informed of the situation by Moriarty."
"Well as nice as it is to catch up, we should come up with a plan to get rid of those droids," Wiggins interrupted.
"I have just the thing," Holmes agreed.
Lestrade sat just around the corner from the four droids: she and Shinwell were to open fire on two of the droids from her position and Holmes and Watson from their position on the other side of the corridor. It was supposed to be a quick job. Fire and run.
"On the count of three, Shinwell one…two…three!" cried Lestrade.
Both rounded the corner and fired. Lestrade aimed for the telephotoscope of one. The blast caused some damage but not much, her ionizer was near empty. Shinwell caused a fare amount of damage but not enough to put the droid out of commission, the fact that the droids fired back didn't help matters much.
Lestrade barely managed to doge as she and Shinwell ran. Shinwell had been ordered to run directly behind her to make sure she wasn't hit. They rounded the corner just as Holmes and Watson came into view as well.
"Now Shinwell!" Cried Lestrade as the droid fired at the droids following Watson and Holmes, while Watson took aim at the droids following her and Shinwell. The blast severed only to slow the droids down but that was all that was necessary.
Quickly the four ran down another corridor careful to avoid the wire on the floor once they were out of the way Deidre fired at the sprinklers, and well we know what happened to the droids.
Lestrade turned to Deidre. "Wiggins and Tennyson finish taking out all the cameras in the area yet?"
"Ya, 'e and Tennyson are bringing parts from the other two droids we took out."
"Good," Lestade smiled. Tennyson and Wiggins had been ordered to disable the local cameras and get some potentially explosive parts from the droids they and Watson had dealt with earlier. She looked at Holmes who was heading to the door and followed as did everyone else.
The detective leaned against the door, "Hmmm."
"Something wrong?" Lestrade asked.
"The first thing that occurs to me is that this is all far too easy. The second is that the yard should have made their entrance before now, one would think that if the ability to open the doors evaded them, as would be probable in my opinion, they would take it upon themselves to make use of an ion cannon or some other equally delightful piece of expensive and unnecessarily violent equipment to force their way inside."
"Ya that is weird," Lestrade agreed, ignoring Holmes' slightly sarcastic tone of voice, "maybe they think it's booby tramped, I mean the map didn't give away any security details."
"Moriarty deleted those before we could stop him." Deidre commented.
"That is a possible explanation, there is no denying the fact that Moriarty let us in, but for what purpose?" pondered Holmes
"Probably so his droids could destroy us. He certainly seemed to enjoy that little chase."
"Still I don't like it."
"Well it's not like it matters, getting into that room and overriding the security is our only chance of escape."
"Hmmm."
"Hey y'all," Wiggins greeted, holding up the desired components from the droids.
"Beep beep whir." (We got everything.) Tennyson confirmed.
"Good I'll set up" said Lestrade as a huge grin spread across her face.
'I feel sorry for the door,' thought Holmes. "Try not to get carried away Lestrade. We want what is on the other side of that door intact."
"Don't worry Holmes I got a thing for precision explosives. Only way I could convince mom to get me that chemistry set when I was younger" She told him with a grin.
Once again Holmes just raised his eyebrows and sighed thinking he shouldn't be surprised. "We should find appropriate cover," he said to the rest of the group who nodded.
They hid themselves a fair distance away while Lestrade gleefully set about her task of blowing up Moriarty's stuff. Holmes could hear her humming as he escorted the others to their hiding place. Eventually she joined them.
"Just a few more seconds and we'll be one step closer to clamping the jaws of justice on our psychotic criminal." She told them with a sadistic smile that made Moriarty look friendly. Three seconds later they heard a very large very loud boom
"Lestrade," sighed Holmes. "Did I not ask that you should exorcise restraint?"
"I did!" The inspector protested, "Moriarty purchases very good doors."
As they approached Holmes saw that Lestrade was right. The door was off its hinges but it hadn't been blown off and the room was intact. 'It would seem that Lestrade was not underestimating her abilities', he thought. "Hmmm… excellent work Lestrade"
'Wonder how I can convince her to teach me that' Deidre thought.
"This is odd." Holmes said as he stared at the live monitors.
"What is it?" Wiggins asked.
"The cameras surrounding the building are function perfectly and there is no sign of the Yard, anywhere. I would have thought there would be some trace of them by now. Tennyson see what you can find on the computer about Moriarty's plans. Lestrade see if you can use your hacking skills to get us out. Watson I want you and Shinwell to guard the door. Moriarty may still have something up his sleeve."
Miles away Moriarty who could still hear everything that was being said smiled and thought 'You have no idea Holmes, you will regret your actions tonight.'
"The rest of you," continued the detective, "find a terminal and see what you can uncover."
Everyone set about their respective tasks. Wiggins was the first to uncover some security footage. "Check it out Mr Holmes."
Holmes appeared over the youths shoulder and saw a women who appeared to be in her forties. He recognized her as the president of Zaniba along with a man he immediately recognized as the president of Quaqdic. In a cell similar to the one he had been kept in, only this one was bigger with two cots. "When was this taken?" demanded the Victorian.
"A couple of days ago I think."
"Tennyson, Moriarty had you access information regarding the conference, nothing about the transportation of the dignitaries?"
"Whir beep whir." (Just the conference itself.)
"Then he must have taken it upon himself to capture the dignitaries before they were able to arrive in safety."
"No wonder he was so smug, can you tell us where they are now Tennyson?" Wiggins asked.
"They are most likely with Moriarty, this copy is far more 'hands on' then his predecessor. See if you are able to discover their current location."
A few moments later they heard Moriarty's voice "This is a recording. Due no doubt to Tennyson's noteworthy talents the connection between this base and my current location has automatically been severed. As I am sure you have realised the Yard is nowhere to be seen this is due to the fact that a copy was made of the map on my handheld device. The device is programmed to once a copy has been made, delete all traces of the original leaving only a fake one that leads… well lets just say it really doesn't matter were it leads seeing as how in less then five minutes that place will no longer exist."
"Tennyson see what you can discover we must have triggered a signal to set off explosives, we may yet be able to reverse the effect or at lest warn the Yard." Holmes snapped.
But Moriarty's voice continued. "You cannot stop the explosion. Rest assured it is in an unpopulated area, so only about half of new Scotland Yard will be destroyed. This will of course make my life and the lives of all those in my profession much easier. I really must thank you for your assistance."
Silence reigned as Tennyson tried desperately to contact the Yard.
Ya I know it's early but I got another final on Monday so I'm afraid I'll forget again if I wait. Next update will be on the 22nd of December before noon.
Tootles