A/n: And thus another chapter was born!
This story's nearly done now. In the next chapter we finally find out who the winner is! (0 guesses who)
Enjoy!
Floor four was home to a challenge called The One Eyed Watcher. In the room sat a table, behind which sat a man, who was apparently called The One Eyed Watcher named as such in a fit of creative genius from the show's writers, no doubt. The One Eyed Watcher had one eye, hence the title, and apparently still kept hold of the other eye, placed on the table near three gold cups. From this Sherlock had been able to garner an impression of what their task may be.
"Unfortunates," At this he perked up. 'Looks like we're gonna find out what to do then', "this is The One Eyed Watcher. To pass, you must find the eye thee times. Let the challenge begin... now."
'So, that's what we're doing. Well, this should be entertaining, or, of course, mind numbingly boring.' Sherlock turned his attention back towards the table, where the previously still and silent Watcher (as he was mentally dubbed to cut down on precious thinking time) took action, picking up the eye and preparing to move it.
The man at the table put the eye in a cup, before swapping the cups round three times. The eye began in the left cup, moving to the right and the left before finally ending up right back where it had started. (The final move was to switch the two empty cups in a pointless waste of a move.) Neither Jim nor John looked entirely certain, or indeed at all certain where the eye had ended up, with no inkling or recognition display on either's faces, rather a blank look that in Sherlock's opinion made them look rather unintelligent.
After the completion of his task, the Watcher returned to his default position, indicating nothing of where the eyeball was located. Not that this hindered Sherlock any, as he was already well aware of the position of the eye.
"Left." Sherlock stated, not giving any chance for discussion as he tapped the previously mentioned cup. Lo and behold when it was lifted the eye was revealed. 'Finally, a challenge that we can win for once!' He thought happily, gladdened by the lack of guesswork and the need for observational skills to succeed.
It went back into the left cup, then the cup was swapped more times, but still making sure it was easy enough to follow. It ended up in the middle, and this time Sherlock didn't even take the time to explain his decision as he revealed the eye, not waiting for the one eyed man to do it for him. John seemed particularly annoyed by this occurrence, and Sherlock guessed that he was probably the saboteur. Jim still had yet to react to anything that was going on, mimicking Sherlock's actions in the task previous in which he had refused to comment, if a bit less obviously.
As the third (and final, if Sherlock had any say in the matter (which he did ('take that John', he thought at this, inwardly laughing this round's saboteur's expense.))) round began, the cups started shifting and John, who seemingly wanted to take Sherlock's victory away from him 'like the cruel, cruel child that he is' placed his hands over Sherlock's eyes. This was quite the accomplishment, as John was much smaller than Sherlock and was standing teetering on his tip-toes in order to achieve the desired effect.
Sherlock made a vain attempt to continue watching the cups, but John was behind Sherlock, grabbing onto him and refusing quite stubbornly to be shaken out of his position. The close proximity to John's head meant that Sherlock could actually hear what The Voice was saying, more shouting by this point, down the whisperclip.
"What are you doing?" She screeched, sounding genuinely amazed at the tactic being applied. Sherlock couldn't blame her. 'What part of undetected did John not understand?' Sherlock wondered, marvelling in the blatant disregard for subtlety that was occurring. 'John's technique is certainly one of a kind' he thought, laughing lightly under his breath.
When the cups stopped shifting, Sherlock was allowed his sight back (in a kind gesture on John's part) and proceeded to glare at him for ruining his fun. John started towards the cups and looked to be about to pick the cup on the left, undoubtedly one of the two incorrect options. He needn't have worried though, as Jim had been watching, and when it seemed that all hope had been lost for Sherlock (his dramatic side kicking in again), he swooped in heroically and pointed out the correct cup with glee, saving the damsel in distress from relative irritation and inconvenience. At this, John crossed his arms in irritation as Sherlock and Jim high-fived.
"Time's up. You have passed. Therefore the saboteur is automatically locked in the room." John scowled at The Voice's words, glaring at Sherlock and Jim who were still gloating their victory.
When prompted on the subject of saboteurs, all three said "John," simultaneously. Even the boy himself, which was probably a first, a complete clean sweep on the saboteur detection front, saboteur included..
It was announced that John had failed to quite epic proportions in his sabotage mission, and they were all led off to their respective destinations.
"Quite the display you put on there," Sherlock teased as they walked away.
"Oh shut up," John seemed to be regretting his lapse in self control, probably due to the fact that he had done it in front of a camera, the footage of which would be displayed on television, in front of the however-many viewers the show got. 'Probably a lot,' Sherlock guessed, 'given that children seem to have nothing better to do than watch TV and no better channels to watch...'
At these words both Sherlock and Jim laughed at his expense, going to the final floor as John re-joined the other people that had lost previously.