*Two months and seven days earlier*

Her head snapped to the left with the force of his fist colliding with her jaw, spitting blood onto the floor as she turned defiant eyes back to him, revelling in the fear he tried to hide as the cut to her lip began to stitch back together, leaving nothing but drying blood in its wake.

"What monster has Mr Holmes hired?"

Hazels bloody lips turned up into a smirk, her eyes glistening as she tested the bonds on her hands that bound her to the chair, mentally rolling her eyes at the fact that they had failed to bind her legs. Amateurs. They really didn't know what they were dealing with, let alone realise the fact that she had let them kidnap her.

"That's something you won't live long enough to figure out"

These bastards were hired by a rival of Mycroft's, she'd been looking into the affairs of all the people that her boss worked with and, although she was working behind his back on this one, she wasn't about to let these guys mess with someone she cared for.

"What the fuck are you talking about bitch? We've got you bound good"

His nervous laughter followed those words as he took a subconscious step backwards and his other hired thugs exchanged troubled expressions as Hazel's head fell completely to the side and a maddened gleam came to her eyes, a psychotic smile upon her bloody lips.

"Time's up fuckers"

Her movements were fluid as she stood up and swung her body round, slamming her chair into the side of the closest kidnapper, knocking him to the floor before throwing her weight down onto him and smashing the chair on his chest, effectively freeing herself in the process of puncturing his lungs and heart with his own shattered ribs.

"Oh look… One dead, three to go"

She barely skipped a beat as she spun on her left foot and slammed her right leg firmly into the skull of her second target, the sound of his skull fracturing reaching her enhanced hearing as she darted to him and gripped his barely conscious form before snapping the vertebrae of his throat.

"Two down… You're making this far too easy for me"

The remaining two seemed to be cowering away from her, all courage lost now that she was free and clearly on a different level from them. With shaking hands, the main thug, that had threatened her so candidly only moment earlier, pulled a gun from his jacket pocket and attempting to aim it towards her.

Hazel grinned widely as she paced forward and got close to the muzzle of the gun, resting her head against it leisurely as she spoke in an almost song like manner, seeing the fear grow to new levels within the man's eyes.

"Pull the trigger, I dare you. You'll love what happens next"

The shot rang out in the sudden stillness of the room, the sound of hazel's body hitting the floor as blood oozed from the single bullet hole within her skull.

"Stupid, crazy bitch… Ain't no way her freak arse is getting up from that one"

"Guess again"

Their screams echoed off the walls as Hazel jolted upwards, the clean gunshot wound clearly stitching back together as she stood up and ran at them once more, their screams dying down as she snapped the neck of her third target and snatched the gun from the final thug, gripping him in a solid head lock from behind and kicking him in the back of the knees to send him to the floor as she placed the gun to his own temple.

"Unlike myself, I'd say you won't be making a miraculous recovery after this"

"Wait! Come work for my boss instead, he can pay you double whatever Mr Holmes is paying you"

Her giggle was overly soft and airy, ill fitted to the situation as she turned his head to meet her demonic gaze, pressing the muzzle of the gun a little harder into his temple.

"What boss? I got him before I let you guys kidnap me… And money really isn't my motive for this, Mycroft doesn't even know I'm here… I think"

The final gun shot rang out at the end of her sentence, a curious look upon her face as she thought over her own words. Mycroft had cameras across the entire country, there wasn't a single thing his shrewd eyes and calculating brain didn't see or process. She sighed, pulling a tissue from her bloody pocket, attempting to wipe some of the blood from her person before making her way towards the exit.

"He probably knows… Oh well, I'm late for dance lessons"


Mycroft groaned as he rewound the CCTV footage, Sherlock watching over his shoulder with a devilish smirk across his face that only seemed to make Mycroft even more uncomfortable. The multiple screenshots clearly showed Hazel, first going into the house of a rival politician that had been attempting to slander Mycroft in parliament, eager to attain the same privileges as the elder Holmes sibling. The second showed her clearly leaving the house, casually wiping her hands with a tissue before placing it into her pocket.

But it wasn't this that he was concerned about. Hazel was a master of assassination, there would be nothing left behind that would indicate her involvement and therefore it would not come back to him. Also, he would wipe all traces of the footage, create a loop in the system to cover any time skip and therefore further cover their arses from any negative effects.

No, it was the third and final footage that caused him to worry, although most likely unnecessarily. It showed her walking out from a pub only a few hours later, clearly pretending to be a little tipsy as a group of four men moved in on her, seeming to knock her unconscious before they bundled her into the back of an unmarked car. The sight sent a sickening sensation through his stomach at the thought of someone laying hands against her.

"And how many hours ago was this final footage taken?"

"Approximately six hours ago Sherlock, and remove that foolish grin from your face before I order Lestrade to do a drugs raid on your flat"

Sherlock scowled at his brother's threat, knowing better than to think it an empty one. The last thing he needed was the morons at Scotland yard finding his stash.

"Anyone would think you were worried, brother mine. Don't tell me loneliness has finally had you find yourself a goldfish"

"I'd hardly count myself as a goldfish Sherlock… I prefer shark"

The brothers nearly jumped out of their skin at the feminine voice that drifted from the doorway, Hazel stood there with a slightly unimpressed gleam to her eyes, her clothes looking torn and tattered, a number of bloodstains evident upon the fabric and a few streaks of blood upon her face that she seemed to have been unable to wipe away. Sherlock could see no sign of an injury upon her person, was the blood all her own or completely someone else's?

Mycroft felt a twinge in his chest at the sight before him. What had possessed her to put herself in such a situation? She had clearly, to his eyes at least, taken more than her share of hits during the encounter that were likely to have been to keep her persona of helpless captive, but what of the blood on her face that seemed to focus upon her forehead?

"Ah, Nova, we were beginning to wonder where you had vanished too. You are usually so punctual"

She smiled as she watched Mycroft rise from his seat and take a few steps towards her. Her eyes registered the fading glimmer of concern within his own eyes, registered the weariness of his step that seemed mostly from stress induced fatigue. Had he really been that worried about her?

"There's no need to worry Mycroft, you know that I can look after myself. I just had some business to deal with that couldn't wait"

His frown deepened slightly at her words. Any other woman would have been trembling in fright at having just been kidnapped, would have felt horrified at knowing she had just taken more than a few lives in the space of less than a full day. He would not have changed her for the world and yet, he still hated the path that her life followed.

'I wish I could save you from this bloodied path you walk, my beautiful Hazel… But it's all you know and only you can make the choice to place down your weapons'

His thoughts were like a knife to the heart as he realised further just how deeply the world's deadliest assassin had nestled herself within both his heart and mind. He knew that she was in no true danger, she had made no mention of a weak point in her abilities so he could only assume that such a thing did not exist or, if it did, it was not a easily found one, but the fear of losing her still sent a chill through his spine whenever she chose to take such actions.

"I shall take your word for it then. Although, as punishment for tardiness, you will be wearing full heels with your dress to our soirée"

"What! You agreed I could wear pumps!"

"And you're forgetting I have surveillance all over the country and can see the blood all over your person as well as the bloodied tissues in your pocket. I know what your business was, now accept the repercussions"

Sherlock merely chose to watch the two bicker between themselves, intrigued by how they interacted as it became clear they were completely absorbed in each other at that moment. Had his brother truly fallen for this woman? Such a strange combination he thought, an assassin and a politician. Could it even be possible for someone like either Mycroft, Nova or himself to settle into functioning relationships considering what they all did in their daily lives?

'Perhaps coffee with Molly Hooper wouldn't be such a bad idea after all'