Disclaimer: The court says they will think about it, but at present everything still belongs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Two men placed themselves by my side, each holding one of my arms, I tried to shake them off, Holmes needed me, but their grip was strong and I stood little chance against both of them. It was horrible. Having to stand by and watch whilst my dearest friend was flung around like a rag doll. It was common knowledge that Holmes had surprising strength, as well as being a good fighter. But even he seemed to have realised the hopelessness of the situation. The giant of a man let out blow after blow angered by his drunkenness and Holmes previous taunts. Holmes could not escape, he was surrounded, the mans punches seemed to hit him like a bricks. Receiving an upper-cut to the jaw, followed by a blow to his stomach he fell to his knees, letting out a small yelp as he was struck across the head. Now on all fours his attacker kicked him in the chest, groaning in agony he lay on the stone floor. The rest of the men, excited by there friends actions stared to join in. I shut my eyes, unable to watch. I could hear as the men lay there heavy strikes upon my companion. I could also hear slight whimpers of pain coming from the man himself. Daring to open my eyes, I could now see Holmes on his knees clinging to the mans top in an act of mercy. From what I could see of him he was in a pitiable state. The men seemed to come to their senses slightly, seeing what they had done. No doubt worrying whether they would get in trouble with the professor they left slamming the door behind them. Their laughs echoing down the corridor.

The second I was released I rushed to my friends aid. He was curled in a ball clutching at his stomach, covered in bruises from head to foot, and appearing to have a broken leg, which was sticking out at a strange angle. "Holmes! Holmes its me Watson!"

"Watson?" he croaked peering up at me with his eye that was not bruised and swollen. "Is that you?" "Yes its me, now try to lay still old friend". I placed his coat under his head, and using my stitching kit that I kept on my person at all times, I began to stitch together some of his more serious cuts.

Holmes had been a better patient then usual, lying still while I had patched him up. Using my tie and the wooden chair legs, I had managed to make a splint for his broken leg, and now rest was all that was needed for his recovery. It wasn't the best place to be in, as he had to lay on the floor with my thin coat wrapped around him. He had fallen to sleep soon after I had splint his leg, having not slept for a day, and I sat on the floor beside him as I no longer had a chair. A few hours past and he was looking a lot better, he started to stir, moaning slightly as he tried to sit up. I placed my hand on his collar and slowly eased him back down. "Lay down old fellow you have to rest" I said in a soothing manner. It appeared however, that his sharp tongue had recovered too as he turned to look at me and said "I'm fine Watson! Stop fussing and help me lean against the wall over there" so I did, grasping his arm and helping in to sitting-up position against the nearest wall, feeling a little resentment for his lack of gratitude.

I went and sat against the wall opposite. We waited in silence. "I'm sorry Watson" he said after a while "I didn't mean to snap at you after what you had done for me". "It's OK Holmes, its understanderble after what you endured, but I really don't see why you antagonised the fellow, for now we are imprisoned and you have broken leg." "I antagonized Finnegan for a reason Watson, and that was to get this" he held out a key. "My god Holmes however did you get that!" I said with amazement. "Remember when I grabbed the fellows top? Well I was really removing this from his pocket" "Surly you didn't have to go to such means..." "Can you think of another way of doing it?" he asked. "Well I suppose not, but we won't be going anywhere until your legs healed anyway" I said In a way that was not to be argued with. He agreed, he had no chose.

The next day Holmes spent quietly thinking, I could hardly get a word out of him. After a bit of persuasion he allowed me to take the key and go see what was outside the room, opening the lock and walking across the room in tip toe, I careful looked though the ajar door to check no one was there before opening it and walking into a corridor. It was a short corridor and our room was on the end of it, there was one door to the right, which was a small toilet, and the only other door was at the other end of the corridor. On examination I found it to be locked, but, peering out the key hole I could see the landing on which our corridor was placed and, down a flight of stairs two heavy oak doors that evidently lead outside, two of the henchmen from the night before stood guard. I told Holmes about this on my return, however for some reason he seemed more interested in the keyhole itself then what lay beyond it asking: "How big was it would you say?".

It was 10pm, we sat quietly in our cell, having not talked for hours, still I wondered whether Holmes held my mistake against me. Suddenly footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor. Holmes head, that was previously laying upon his chest deep in thought, now snapped up and stared intently at the door. The next moment, the small figure of Moriarty entered, a small grin playing across his face. "Mr Holmes, I hope you are enjoying your stay? But by the look of you it would transpire that you are not. My men can sometime get a little out of hand" "Out of hand!" I yelled, not being able to continue listening to his taunts, "They could have killed him!" but I feel silent as I saw Holmes press his finger to his lips. "Well as I said, it is not to be helped" continued the professor, looking quite pleased at my little out break, "Do not worry as soon as I have finished with my present business I will deal with you both personally, in the mean time I hope there is no last thing that you care for?" "Tea and an egg" said Holmes to both mine and the professors surprise. "I am sorry Mr Holmes what was that?" replied the professor "I would like all the ingredients for making myself a cup of tea, and I would like a non cooked egg" "But Mr Holmes, I am sure I can have someone make you..." He started "No, Watson will tell you how fussy I am, I should like to make them myself" "If that is what you wish Mr Holmes, though it is a some what strange last request, and what about you doctor? "Watson I'm sure would like some vodka, paraffin, if you have it" said Holmes before I could open my mouth. "Is that correct doctor?" said Moriarty, now just as confused as I. "What? Well...I..er" but after a meaningful look from Holmes "Yes, that is exactly what I want" "Well then it will be arranged" said the professor, and after bowing sarcastically, he left.

"What was that all about? I don't even particularly like vodka, and your not fussy over tea, and a non-cooked egg!" I said as soon as Moriarty's footsteps had dyed away. "You'll see Watson, you'll see" said Holmes with a mischievous grin. "Now would you mind passing me that empty snail shell over there?" he said pointing to the remains of a snail that lay to my right. "What? O OK" I said passing it over and wondering if his beating may have affected his brain. No sooner as he had it, he started scraping it against the wall, and catching the remains in his hands. "Are you... sure your OK Holmes?" I asked tentively. Before he could answer a man entered the room carrying Holmes requests on a tray. Leaning over and taking it from him Holmes waited for the man to leave before doing what looked like one of his chemical experiments. Having boiled the remains of his snail, and added them to his sugar pot, he then stirred it together with the paraffin. This behavior continued the rest of the day as he scrapped up pieces of dirt from the floor, pealed the shell off his egg, and asked me to retrieve mothballs from the ceiling. I soon gave up asking what he was doing, and fell into my own thoughts.

I awoke at 8.00am to what sounded like a small explosion, not recalling having fallen asleep. Holmes was laughing, having obviously made what he was intending to, and he held up the sugar pot, that was filled with a strange powder. "Watson! I have done it!" he cried. "Done what?" said I, but he appeared not to be listening as he removed his shoe laces, and after tying them together, covered them in the in the sticky remains of the egg white. "I have got us through our locked door" he replied at last. "But there's still the problem of..." and he fell into thought. "Anything I could help with?" I asked. "We need a way of getting past those guards" he said. "O don't worry about that" I said "I learnt a trick or two in the army" and I began to peel off the rubber soles on my shoes, feeling extremely pleased at the confusion written on Holmes face. "Well we are going to have to leave now" he said to my surprise. "But your leg.." I started. "Is perfectly sound I assure you" he said "But while you were asleep I had a rather interesting conversation with one of Moriarty's henchmen, he told me where to find Moriarty's office and hinted that whatever Moriarty is planning will take place tomorrow, which means we need to have broken free by then".

It was all planned out carefully, as soon as I had helped Holmes to his feet, we unlocked our cage and creeped out, trying not to make a sound. We passed through the door and silently down the corridor. Holmes whispered for me to get the distraction ready, so I removed the rubber soles from my pocket and got out a match. Holmes carefully poured his powder into the keyhole and attached one end of his glued shoelaces to it, to use as a fuse. I lit the match and set fire to the other end of the shoelace. We stepped back. There was an almighty BANG and the door swung open to reveal the landing. At this point I lit the rubber too, which when burnt, created thick black smoke, and after throwing one over the banisters and one onto the landing I gave the cry of "FIRE!". In all the confusion Holmes ran across the landing and though a door that lead to Moriarty's office, returning a few moments later having filled his arms with as many of the professors documents as he could get his hands on. We rushed down the stairs and though the doors that lead outside, meeting nobody on the way as the guards had evacuated. Squinting due to the sudden light I hailed a cab and we both dived into it, giving our address as we did.

Will be continued, Thanks for reading, please review.