It's been far too LONG! I'm sorry but you know Christmas, New Years, Boxing day sales, holidays and breaking computers. It's a nightmare :S but I'm back and here's a chapter. Please read, enjoy and leave a review. ENJOY…

Valkyrie's wound wasn't as bad as it had originally looked. She sat in one of the armchairs in her and Skulduggery's room with her shirt rolled up and John cleaning her skin of melted leather. A horrid ugly bruise had begun to form there and she winced constantly. She wished she could chew a numbing leaf but they were at the bottom of her bag and John hardly let her move.

"Val?" Skulduggery's voice drifted through the corridor.

"In here!" She called back to him. She shot a glare at Sherlock and he walked away from the door to the bedroom. He was sneakily looking around at everything, obviously trying to find out as much as he could about her. She remembered their bet and was not prepared to give up one hundred pounds.

Skulduggery walked in and tilted his head to the side, a look of annoyance on his face. Valkyrie smiled at him innocently.

"I was shot. By a shotgun." She explained. "And then almost drowned."

He rolled his eyes angrily and pulled out a leaf from his pocket. He gave it to her and she gratefully started chewing.

"Val, how many times do I have to tell you?" He asked.

"My arms were bound in my own handcuffs it wasn't the water's fault." She snapped. He was constantly telling her that she needed to work her manipulation of water but this time it wasn't because of that.

"Do you realize what would have happened if you had died?" He asked and didn't look at her.

"Yes," she answered; her voice so quiet it hardly carried.

"I told you to get out of there."

"And I was about to but he'd already pulled out the gun." She argued.

The room went silent and the partners just looked at each other, unseen messages going between the two.

"Did you talk to the guy?" Valkyrie changed the subject.

"Not really." Skulduggery sighed and sat down on the sofa. John and Sherlock joined them in sitting down.

"What do you mean not really?" John asked.

"Well I did talk to him about Alexandar but when I tried to speak about the clock he hardly said anything. He said it should have stayed buried and just that it needed ancient blood to work. Well, he implied that it did." He explained.

"What were his words?" Sherlock demanded.

"He said, 'you should be worrying about your partner not me. Miss Cain's going to be the most wanted meat on the market again.'"

Valkyrie shivered. "I hate being so popular."

Skulduggery shrugged. "Don't worry, after the first twenty hit men are dead or behind bars they look at someone else. Did you find out anything about Ryu?"

"He's some sort of fanatic that wants to use the clock. He seems to believe he can." Sherlock filled him in.

"Well, we don't seem to have much to go on." Valkyrie stated.

"We need to find out more about the clock. We need to get a look at the transfer papers and the crime scene would be good." Skulduggery explained.

"But that's all in the Tower of London." John pointed out.

"Exactly."

"They're planning on breaking in to the tower." Sherlock explained to John.

"Tomorrow night. I think we all could do with a rest." Skulduggery stood up and pretended to stretch.

"Alright." Sherlock smiled and left quickly.

"Good night." John bid them and then left too.

"Are we really going to break into the Tower of London?" Valkyrie asked excitedly.

"Yep, it has been far too long since I've broken in there." Skulduggery retracted his façade and moved his jaw about. "It's ridiculous to have to wear this thing every day and the same face."

"Yeah, it's weird seeing you and the same face every time." Valkyrie yawned and went to take a shower.

"How could Valkyrie survive after being shot with a shot gun?" John asked Sherlock, still completely bewildered.

"It's the material that her jacket was made out of." Sherlock explained.

"But still, it wouldn't stop a shot gun."

"It almost didn't, but to more important things. The case, the vampire said that the clock needed ancient blood and then Ryu tried to kidnap Miss Cain. That therefore means that she has ancient blood in her. Now that is a worry." Sherlock thought out loud.

"What vampire?" John frowned. "There's no such thing as vampires and what were ancient again?"

"And is it possible for them to break into the tower? Then again Moriarty did." Sherlock continued on like he hadn't even heard him. "But only because he paid people off."

John hated when he did that. It was at these times that he knew he was just filling in for Sherlock's lost skull. Ms Hudson had taken it away and hidden it yet again. She didn't seem to realize that he suffered for it.

"Why don't we just ask Mycroft for the papers and for a look around?" He asked.

Sherlock was silent and looked out the window.

"SHERLOCK!"

"Did you say something?" He muttered.

John took a deep breath to calm his anger. "Why don't we just ask Mycroft for the papers and ask for a look around the tower? I mean, why do we have to break in?"

"John, where have you been this whole investigation?"

He just frowned in confusion.

"The government doesn't know much about this clock and it has been kept extremely secret. Even Mycroft won't give us those papers. The only way to get a look at them is to break in." Sherlock explained.

"But really? Breaking into the Tower of London? Isn't that treason or something?" He asked.

"Probably. We just better hope we can run away fast enough. What do you think about our fellow detectives?" Sherlock asked.

"Umm, what? You want my opinion?"John frowned.

"Yes, what do you think about them?"

"Umm, they're very nice. Well, Valkyrie is, I don't know much about Skulduggery. But he seems protective of Val so I guess he's not too bad. Why?"

"I can't seem to pin down Skulduggery either. He's difficult to read. His suits are impeccably tailored so must be very expensive and then he wears the hats. He's like an old fashioned detective but at the same time a few of his comments have been incredibly ruthless." Sherlock frowned. "I guess we'll find out more about them both during the break in."

"I still don't think it's very English to break into the Tower of London." John muttered.

I know this was a slightly boring chapter but the next one will be… WOW! Please leave a review and I'll hurry to update quicker :D