DISCLAIMER: Yea

OK time for my ritual excuses

I fucking broke the headphones port on my laptop and it spent a week away getting fixed

I've been on holiday with shitty internet that keeps cutting so uploading is tricky

I'm tired as fuck

This is quite a long chapter (I added some extra stuff I wasn't gonna for the next bit to work)

Yes, I am still a terrible lazy person who doesn't update I' idek what is wrong with me

Sloan watched Julian as he heaved in breath for a few moments before turning to his operative. 'Wait outside.' The operative gave a small nod and walked over to the door. Julian winced as he was pulled up and shoved to the side, his shoulder painfully slamming into the adjacent wall. He slid back down into a crouching position as the bodyguard walked out. Another warning bell went off in Julian's head as the handle turned and he heard the lock click. However his attention was drawn away from the door as Sloan spoke.

'Get up' commanded Sloan, speaking to him for the first time since the fight in Baker Street. Julian stayed where he was, determined to treat Sloan in the sarcastic, fearless way he did whenever he turned up in his bedroom in the middle of the night.

'You know I'm not going to join Section 31; bringing me to another universe isn't going to change that.' Julian pointed out, ignoring Sloan's demand. After that display, he didn't really think Sloan was still trying to recruit him but he needed to buy time for his brain to work out what was going on. Sloan walked up to him and grabbed the front of his uniform, pulling Julian up to face him. He was surprisingly strong.

'I said get up' he hissed into Julian's face.

'Or are you expecting Sherlock and the Doctor to come running after me so you can recruit them as well?' Julian continued, not intimidated. At this, with a speed Julian didn't even have time to register, Sloan brought back his hand and backhanded Julian hard across the face. Julian gave a yell of surprise and then shut up. He had had enough unpleasant experiences for one day so, gritting his teeth, he stayed quiet. Sloan let go of Julian's uniform and took a step back. Suddenly he let out a laugh.

'You really think I'm after that scrawny little alien or some idiotic human whose flat you happened to get thrown into?' Julian was taken aback. Until now he had genuinely thought Sloan would be after at least one of the others.

'Then what…' he started, his mind racing. Sloan looked at Julian condescendingly and gave a snort.

'Really? I bring a stubborn, irritating man, an alien from an extinct race and a powerful ship that can travel anywhere in time and space to London, landing in the flat of a psychopath and, if not the alien or the psychopath, you wonder what I could possibly have brought you here for? Really, doctor I thought you were meant to be cleverer than the average human.' Julian's eyes widened throughout this little speech.

'You want the TARDIS' he murmured. Sloan gave another slight smile and started pacing around the room.

'It was simple, really. With our 24th century technology over 21st century building, it was child's play to set a field up that would knock down an entire street at the push of a button, leaving you effectively trapped here. After that all we had to do was get your psycho friend out of the way and we could've taken the time-ship right then.'

'But you missed something' concluded Julian, his mind still working through all this new information.

'Yes.' There was a pause. Julian widened his eyes in triumph as it clicked in his brain.

'The key.'

'The key' confirmed Sloan. He gave a small sigh and started pacing, facing away from Julian. 'As soon as you and that doctor had come back, we would've killed Sherlock, killed the Doctor and just taken the key if Adler hadn't shown up.' He didn't spit the name like in all the stories, but spoke it with a quiet venom, like it was an ice cold knife slicing through his skin. Julian opened his mouth to make a snarky remark but pushed it back and stayed quiet. Sloan still had his back to him and Julian began to look around. His eyes fell on the wooden chair lying only a few feet away from him. He edged closer and saw that one of the metal legs had come loose and was lying against the wall. His eyes flicked between the chair and Sloan as he continued to talk.

'So of course we couldn't kill her precious little sociopath in front of her, she would've killed all my men in moments, so we just-'

'Took me and ran for cover?' said Julian without thinking, freezing and withdrawing his hands as Sloan spun around to face him. He was inches away from the chair now. Sloan glared at Julian as moved towards him threateningly.

'Yes, doctor,' he growled, 'we did: because Irene Adler is a psychopath. A dangerous psychopath who will kill without hesitation or provocation and seems to be intent on destroying everything we have worked so hard to protect.' Julian moved away, trying to put some distance between himself and the Section 31 operative but he kept coming and Julian walked into the broken pieces of the chair, tripping backwards. Sloan was shouting now and Julian continued to shuffle. Suddenly Julian heard something clunk as his back hit the wall, knocking over the metal leg. It landed to his side and rolled against his leg. 'So yes,' continued Sloan, 'we ran, because that woman has effectively made it impossible to save this poor excuse for a world-renowned capital city, all I even care about is getting to you.' Sloan was leaning over Julian now but he couldn't move back any further. He could feel the metal against his hand.

'Why would you be interested in me more than the TARDIS?' Sloan started to turn away so Julian continued, raising his voice. He shifted his hands, trying to get a hold on the pole with the handcuffs still on. 'Why did you bring me here? What could be so important?' Julian got a hold on the chair leg and pushed himself up, spinning around and swinging the leg as hard as he could towards his kidnapper's head, closing his eyes momentarily for the impact. But instead of the metal clang and the crack he expected, all that came was a dull thud. He opened his eyes. Sloan's face was inches away from his, his eyes wide in triumph, his left hand holding the bar where it should've impacted with his skull.

'I brought you here,' he almost panted, 'to kill you.' It was at this point that Julian realised he was dealing with a madman. This was why genetic enhancements were illegal: when they went wrong. Julian tried to pull the bar away but Sloan spun it in his hand, making Julian let go as his wrists twisted in the cuffs, at the same time bringing his leg up and kicking Julian in the stomach. His back slammed again the wall and before he regained his breath, Sloan slammed the bar into the side of his head where it should've slammed into his just a few moments ago. Julian let out a yell and spun face-first into the wall, landing twisted on the floor. Sloan stood over him for a second and laughed before walking for the door, pulling out a communicator.