Heh heh… Hey… everybody… *pokes head out from behind a door* WAIT! Please don't throw tomatoes! I know it's been a while… okay, a long long while… but look! I come bearing excuses! I got a job and I got sick. And I have been watching Supernatural every spare moment of my days. *Grins sheepishly*. But woah! While I was gone, I got… popular? What on earth?

Thanks loads to everyone who reviewed :D Wow! I know there's not enough BAMF John out there without porn attached (and this is why, folks, I have grown to master the art of scrolling) but wow! I never expected this at all!

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Logicandwonderland: Wow, I never even thought of it that way! It's supposed to be Erik as in Houdini, but kudos for using your head! :D

Puretorture27: Unburied is in the works and shall be posted right here on good ol' fanfiction as soon as this story is done. Glad to know you're interested!

Tipear: My God I love you. Thank you so much :)! You're really awesome, and don't worry, I don't have that low of self esteem… when I said this story was a fail, I meant I had stuff planned for it that I found out later made no sense and was physically impossible, so I hit a brick wall. I don't let number of reviews dictate my writing! Though it is nice to get them :P

FrozenDreamBox: Thanks for the compliment! Who doesn't love a badass John? There's not enough of it out there.

Mollyisyourgirl: Hello Molly dear! Nice to hear from you again. It's been a while. Thanks for the reviews there dear.

Junkie Monkey: I'm glad you like assassin John :3 I was hoping I wasn't pushing too hard with his trained killerness. Haha

Bookgirl 121: It's always nice to have a fellow Sherlockian on board with my writing! Thanks so much for the feedback and the wonderfulness of your review. I even got a smiley! I'm glad my story made you smile! :D

Bookworm0902: Glad you like the twistiness. As I said in my PM I sent you, Unburied is in the works, but this story still has a bit of juice left. Once this one ends, the next will pick up post-Reichenbach and after the hiatus.

That makes a grand total of… 8 reviews! Wow! Anyways, onwards everyone, to the next chapter!

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It's official. Jim Moriarty is pissed off.

Between throwing false leads to Mycroft, keeping Sherlock docile with a couple stray cases, and actually doing his job as a consulting criminal, he had found next to nothing about Johnny. Sure, he had the flat bugged in ways even "the Great" Sherlock couldn't uncover, but that just wasn't enough. He wanted to take Watson apart and see what made him tick. It was infuriating that he couldn't even get close enough to talk to him. And that was why Jim Moriarty was pissed.

It had been months since Erik, or Houdini, had stood up, shook hands with him and left. Since then, Jim had spied on Johnny any chance he got. He noticed little idiosyncrasies he had previously overlooked in order to study Sherlock's antics: cool disinterest towards neighborhood undesirables, the way he clenched his teeth and twitched his gun hand when dealing with ordinaries, the way he rolled with whatever crazy crap Sherlock managed to dish out. And how much he cleaned that gun of his, of course. He did it in the safety of his room… closed the door, locked it, and took the gun from beneath his pillow before oiling it with professional stoicism that didn't quite match the background of an 'adrenaline junkie war dog'. It was too practiced and meticulous. But despite these numerous tells, Watson hid his past well. Johnny's little quirks could be passed off as war veteran any day. Even Sherlock fell for it. But, if you know the truth, it was apparent that there was more to Johnny Boy than he was letting on. Well, at least that's the way he saw it.

Besides keeping tabs on Johnny, Jim also took great pains in taking peeks at Mycroft once in a while. The Iceman had Watson's file out a lot more than he had previously noticed, almost as much as he had the Moriarty file out. How could he have been so unobservant? Did his obsession with Sherly really cloud his focus that much that he didn't notice anything else? How dull. He really had to work on that whole "obsession" thing of his. Obviously, being changeable wasn't his only weakness.

Jim looked at his watch with general disinterest, noting that he had an hour until his next business meeting. It was also about the time John got out of the surgery. He had just enough time to take a peek at John's commute home.

Jim flicked on the surveillance devices and quickly pinpointed where the ex-assassin was. He was about half way back to Baker Street, casually walking. That in itself was strange, usually John took the tube home, unless he had a spat with Sherlock. But Jim hadn't noticed anything off in the cozy Holmes/Watson flat. So what was John planning? He had his hands deep in his jeans pockets, shoulders slouched unconsciously. He was walking slowly, which was also uncommon. John Watson always had somewhere to be… catering to Sherlock's ever changing whims, rushing off to meet one of his boring girlfriends, or making his way to work. John Watson never loitered unless he had a reason to.

Jim was drawn away from his musings by a sudden movement on the screen. There was a small group of three muggers trailing John quietly, making motions to one another. Jim shifted in his seat minutely. Now this was interesting. What would John do in the face of danger?

The men split apart, two went down an alley and one continued behind John. The blond showed no sign of recognizing the threat behind him; he just continued walking in his slow, slouched gait. As if on signal, the man behind John jumped him and pulled him into the alley with little resistance. Jim would have disappointed with the lack of struggle if he hadn't noticed the lack of surprise and fear on John's face. He rubbed his hands together and typed in some commands into his laptop. This was going to be good, he just knew it. The picture on the screen changed, showing a dirty alley with four occupants. Three muggers, one with a gun and two with knives, and the apparently unarmed John Watson, who was currently in a choke hold by one of the knife muggers. Jim remembered being in a similar position with Erik and smirked. It hadn't been comfortable.

John's eyes flickered a little as he surveyed his attackers. The mugger with the gun stood in front of him, he gun pointed lazily at John, and there was the mugger behind John, keeping him in the choke hold. The third mugger was at the mouth of the alley, making sure no one came in or out. It was a crude, but affective way to get people's money. The gun man said something, probably something along the lines of 'give me your money or I'll blow a hole in that head of yours'. John nodded and reached into his back pocket carefully. The muggers exchanged grins and made their fatal mistakes. The choke hold loosened minutely and the gun man put his hand out, expecting a fat wallet. That's far from what he received from Mr. Watson. It happened so quickly, that Jim wished he had taped it so he could watch it again. John pulled out a knife and sliced at the mugger's arm that was holding him, simultaneously stomping heavily on his foot. The mugger threw back his head and howled, allowing John to shove him into the mugger with a gun. Caught off guard, the man dropped the gun, which John picked it up quickly and emptied of bullets. By then, the third mugger was running to his friends' aid, knife brandished clumsily. John dropped the gun before grabbing the mugger's wrist and twisting it until there was sure to be a satisfying crack of broken bone, grinning manically as the knife clattered from the man's useless hand. As if nothing happened, John stepped out of the alley and continued his walk home.

Jim leaned back in his chair, grinning crazily. That was pretty entertaining. Definitely not war veteran material, not an army doctor at least. There was no way an army doctor would be capable of that. Jim turned his attention back towards the screen, which showed that had Watson stopped in the middle of the sidewalk looking at his phone. He dialed and pressed talk. The Irishman rolled his eyes; no doubt the man was calling Sherlock about his near mugging. How boring. He turned away from the screen, pondering. How could someone be so ordinary one second, and be so extraordinary the next? It was making his head swim. And he thought he was changeable.

Mid thought, his phone began ringing shrilly. He looked at his watch, and he still had fifteen minutes until his meeting. Curious, he picked up his phone.

"Hello?" There was silence on the other end. Moriarty grit his teeth in annoyance. "Listen, you're interrupting-" He was cut off abruptly.

"I know you're watching." It was the last voice he had expected. Jim's breath hitched. He turned slowly back to the screen, only to see John staring straight at it. How did he even know his number?

"Johnny! What a pleasant surprise! How's your master treating you?"

"Listen to me you insane freak. Stop digging, stop digging right now. If you don't stop, I swear I will find you and kill you myself."

"Without Sherlock?" Moriarty asked innocently.

"Damn it! Yes, without Sherlock! You- you keep him out of this. He doesn't know about me, hell, he hardly knows anything at all. Let's keep it that way, shall we?" Jim pouted. That's no fun.

"No informing Sherlock of who you are? What you've done? That's a little too much to ask when you aren't in the position to make demands, dear." There was silence on the other end for a moment.

"I know where Sebastian lives, and I know you owe him." The line went dead, and he turned towards the screen again. John was scowling, and he flipped the camera the bird before walking away. Oh dear.

Jim didn't really know what to say to that last comment. He honestly didn't. He wasn't too close to the colonel, but he didn't want him dead either. If he ever got into Mycroft's hands, well, let's just say the man was a bit of a liability. But, he couldn't kill him either. Jim owed him, and if there was one thing he hated, it was breaking life debts. James Moriarty was a liar, a thief and a murderer. But he had class.

*Face palm* Oh God, don't ever, ever make me write a fight scene like that again. Ooooo~ that was painful to write… and probably painful to read. Sorry everyone! The whole Sebastian thing will be explained in the sequel. It's important later, so don't worry. I'm not going insane and inserting randomness into this story. Not too much anyways. Thanks again to all the reviews, story alerts, favorites and author alerts. Love you all!