John had moved through the first three storage rooms with swift conviction, disabling any guards that got in his way with a well aimed bite to the knee, as he was headed for the fourth when he sensed someone else, someone who should be buried eight feet in the cold ground. His slight hesitation gave the fourth guard an opening, or so the man thought. The wolf was a honed fighter, he worked on pure instinct, and as the man shot his Taser forward John moved to the side and snapped his powerful jaws around the guard's pale wrist, snapping it clean in half.
By the time the man had hit the floor screaming in sheer agony John was past, barreling through the door to the Colonel's study. His eyes did an automatic assessment of the room, a desk in the middle of the large room with a pair of cheap chairs, a few bookcases and several wooden crates stacked against the wall. The room was unoccupied aside from the Colonel and the one man he had believed dead for three years sitting tied to a chair in the center of the room staring straight at him jaw open slightly in shock. Behind who John was almost certain had to be a ghost stood Colonel Sebastian Moran, the smug man in khakis and a dark blue blazer holding a small semi automatic pistol at the ghost's head.
To his credit the Colonel only jumped a little when his study door smashed open to reveal a very angry looking wolf of enormous proportions. The man had spent enough time in the army and doing dirty deeds for Moriarty that he could keep his composure in just about any situation, but a wolf three times larger than normal with blood dripping from its black muzzle would illicit a response from anyone.
The Colonel brought his gun up to aim at the monster, eyes focused on it he spoke evenly, "So you're the one that's been chipping away at my network, are you working in cohesion with Sherlock here?" Moran motioned to the dark headed man in front of him, "If so then I can kill two birds with one stone."
"Hello John." Sherlock managed to keep his voice fairly steady in the face of his supposedly dead shift mate who morphed back into his human form.
"Sherlock, should've known you'd survive somehow." John's voice was gravely, his appearance was so unkempt it was hard to believe it was the same meticulous doctor with whom Sherlock had shared a flat with for two years. Shaggy blonde hair fell every which way, blood smeared his face and hands, tattered clothes hung on a thinner than should be frame, but the worst was John's eyes; no longer where they the friendly eyes of a kind doctor, they had become the eyes of a cold blooded killer.
"John Watson, I guess it's not a surprise that the dynamic duo of London didn't actually die." Colonel Moran sighed and then smirked, "But the world doesn't know you two are alive does it? That means no one will suspect a thing if I disposed of you both."
"You really think I'm afraid of you?" John scoffed, "I've been all over this country the past three years, trying to find a purpose, and what did I discover when I wandered back to London? I heard rumors of Moriarty's right hand had returned and was taking over his former boss's network." John rolled his head and cracked a few vertebrae back in place, "Ah, that feels good, now we can either do this one of two ways, you surrender the gun to me, release Sherlock, and go in to police custody. Or I can just take you down forcibly." John's smile was so cold that the Colonel felt a small shudder run up his spine, this was a man almost past his breaking point if not fully there.
"Perhaps I could just shoot you where you stand instead of either of the options you just so kindly presented me with." The Colonel moved his gun to the side slightly as he shrugged and in that split second John charged, shifting as he moved, Sherlock dove to the side with an undignified yelp to avoid being run over, and Moran was buried under 150lbs of bloody wolf. The gun was flung underneath the desk and Moran shifted into a brown and deep grey snake. He slithered out from under John's weight only to have a massive golden paw come down on his head to trap him in place.
Sherlock had shifted and busted free from his bindings just in time to catch Moran who wriggled back and forth uselessly. John shifted back into his human form and carefully reached behind the snake's head and firmly grabbed hold of the Colonel replacing Sherlock's paw. "Now now, don't struggle, John might accidently hurt you." Sherlock's baritone voice rumbled half in amusement and half in seriousness.
The Colonel shifted back to his human form, John's strong hand still clamped down around his neck.
"You'll both pay for this!" Moran started ranting about how they'd never get away with putting him in jail that he'd never serve time for anything.
"Yoohoo," A familiar voice called out from the staircase, "Anybody down there?" Lestraude came clomping down the stairs twirling a pair of cuffs in his left hand and a triumphant smirk on his face which was swiftly replaced by one of absolute shock as he stared at John.
"Ah Lestraude, how good of you to finally join us." Sherlock clapped the Detective Inspector on the shoulder, "You might want to take Moran before John decides to just throttle him and get it over with."
"John?" Lestraude ran his right hand over his face in disbelief, "I can't believe it, Sherlock isn't dead, you aren't dead.. Were you two working together?"
"No Lestraude, we weren't, in fact I'm as amazed as you are to see John alive and fairly well." Sherlock sat down on the edge of the desk passing a hand over his own eyes tiredly.
"I certainly didn't expect to find you here either Sherlock." John handed Moran over to Lestraude who handed the fuming villain to his nearest constable after cuffing him.
"Well, I think I need to sit for a moment..." Lestraude collapsed in the second folding chair as John righted the one Sherlock had been tied to and sat down.
"You aren't the only one." John smiled weakly at Sherlock who was staring intently at him. Both friends examined each other, noting subtle differences and changes, John noted how Sherlock was even thinner than usual, and Sherlock could see the collection of cuts, bruises and new scars that dotted John's skin.
"Well what now?" Lestraude broke the silence before it could stretch on too long, "Will you two remain 'dead' or will there be a resurrection of the good doctor and brilliant detective?"
"I think that is a question which can wait till morning, for now I think its time to head home and get some rest, what say you John?" Sherlock's eyes never left the blondes slowly softening blue eyes.
"I think that'd be a great idea, I'm going to hazard a guess and say Mycroft kept Baker St rented out?"
Sherlock simply nodded in response to John's question.
"Ah, well then...um.." Lestraude suddenly looked like he felt out of place, he could feel that he was fast becoming a third wheel, "Thanks for stopping by to grab me Sherlock, I'm just going to go take care of paperwork now, I'll see you both soon alright?" With a hasty wave Lestraude left muttering about dead people not being dead and platonic my hat.
"John.." Sherlock rose back to his feet and reached out to John hesitantly only to be almost knocked over by the shorter man as he all but tackle hugged him.
"You stupid idiot Sherlock, why didn't you contact me somehow to let me know you were alive?" John's voice was semi muffled as he had buried his head in Sherlock's chest.
"I felt that it would put you in more danger than you already were." Sherlock whispered as he hugged his best friend, his only friend close, "Moriarty had snipers posted on you, Lestraude, and Mrs. Hudson, I couldn't risk losing any of you. Looking back that was incredibly selfish, it broke my heart when Mycroft showed me the CCTV footage of you jumping off that bridge John, I thought my actions had just cost me my sole friend in this miserable world."
John pulled out of the bear hug, "I'll admit, I was devastated that you were dead Sherlock, I threw myself off of that bridge with every intention of dying that night. I was furious at you leaving me alone in this world, I'm still not sure how I survived the fall, but I did. I made a split second decision to vanish and let everyone believe I had died rather than go back and get locked up in a sanitarium."
Sherlock nodded, "Had I been in your place I think it's safe to say I'd have done the same. I'm just glad you're alive John, the only reason I made it all these years was so that I could take down Moriarty's web as revenge."
"What would you have done afterwards?" John cocked his head to the side quizzically.
"I would have given up living." Sherlock dropped his head, "I don't think I could have continued to live without you once my mission was over."
John put his hand on Sherlock's shoulder, "I don't know that either of us would have had the strength to continue, but I'm glad that neither of us are dead, as it is we can go home, clean ourselves up, grab a bite to eat and catch up on what's happened the past three years."
Sherlock met John's watering eyes once more, his own shiny with unshed tears, and smiled from the bottom of his heart. "I like the sound of that."