Chapter 17: For the End of Men~
Mycroft, it's Anderson from the Yard. Sherlock was right! He was-well, of course he was! Sherlock Holmes, I tell you he was right about all of it!
Hologram diaries!
We found the machines for holograms hidden in the Appledore basements...It did take some forensics...They were disguised as lava lamps, and very many other number of strange artifacts one might find in an eccentric's sitting room. But sure enough they are there, and we found a whole dresser full of what looked like scrapbooks. But when we opened them, ...nothing but scraps and scraps of blank film! A different kind of film than camcorders and cameras take! It was holographic film, Mycroft! The rich bloke had holograms made capturing people in the very moment of their misdeeds, like pillars of lights. It's a scheme too complicated for just over the phone to make, but we only watched one hologram diary of Lady Smallwood! Had set up the machine in her home, had captured all of her dirty little secrets in the moments they were happening. Because holograms can only be seen under the exact frequency of laser they were made in,- the bloke was clever in disguising when the film was rolling too, I tell you, it's MASSIVE, this!- But this means that Sherlock was right about everything! Of course nobody would find the back-up files that Magnusson kept to his mind palace blackmail! Of course not, he had basically written them in "invisible ink", or "invisible light". Had them where he could watch them over and over again right from his sitting room, and so reprogram his mind palace to make the memories ever more vivid incase he SHOULD have to destroy all the back up files! It's...it's just TOO CLEVER!
The recording ran out of time.
Mycroft stood holding the phone against his head, knees threatening to knock, if the Ice-man could actually be so moved.
Sherlock had indeed been right.
What did this mean for Sherlock?
No sooner did he process Anderson's note, than did Major send his message:
"Have located Pandora, the Woman , Sherlock and John. The fight has taken us to the Empire State Building, some kind of grand finale? Pandora has set up for snipe on 86th floor, the Woman is set up for harlotry on the 90th floor. Sherlock and John are going her way, to confront the man she has most recently seduced. Has something to do with their plan, Sherlock seems to know already, Molls and I can only guess.
We are closing in on Sherlock."
No sooner had the Major's message come ,than did his phone ring.
It was John.
" You've got to send back-up ,Myc. It's..uh...big...It's all going to go down right here. Irene's...err...boyfriend squealed on them all. Mary means to use the Empire State Building as some kind of glorified execution pyre for Sherlock. She's trying to get it on lockdown, where all these people will be trapped inside of it, so she can light it on fire with Sherlock at the top, and kill him ,and every body else in the building , if she can.
Where as Youngblood, or Magnusson, or whatever...he means to get the whole thing on live tv, using his media influence, and apparently that Kitty Reilly that was giving us all such hell back when Moriarty was on trial is in on it all too, like she's Magnusson's girlfriend/muse or something, but,yeah uhh...He's trying to use the tv to show everybody what he can do, he'll let them all see Mary as the terrorist of renown that she is, and then he's going to kill her, and spill all the secrets he's been keeping at once, to set the nations at each others throats, start a World War 3 of sorts...Seems pretty ridiculous, I know, but this is their plan."
Mycroft blinked, processing all the information he had received within the last 5 minutes all at once.
He had only one question that mattered at the moment.
"Is Sherlock with you?"
John sighed, sounding truly stressed."Wouldn't be calling you if he was, Myc. No, it's time...That stuff is starting to work. He's gone off on a King Kong spree ,and bloody well just climbed through the ceiling, foaming at the lips and all that. I remembered what I was told before I set out; I don't want to endanger him when he's like that, so I'm giving him a head start. But I need back up ,see, cuz Mary and a lot of her hires , and possibly Magnusson too, I don't know, are in the building. The guy that Irene was...err..."having tea" with... was part of a Ponzi scheme that was making the whole show possible. Well since the New York City mob is practically all behind bars, little brother to thank for it...uh...there won't be any money coming in now...This is gonna have to wind up sooner than later..."
"I see...Fear not, Doctor Watson, help is on the way. The Major and Molly are coming up to you now, and I am not far behind them."
"There's one more thing, Mycroft. This bloke here says he heard it through the grape-vine that Akhyls reacts faster and better to heat. Something about burning Sherlock will release the chemical inside him into the air, and basically drive the island of Manhattan batty."
Mycroft swallowed.
"Which is why the Empire State Building isn't going to burn. I've already got the police chief on my side...I'll get Lestrade to go after the fire men...
Right now, Sherlock is your mission, Doctor."
"Great! As soon as he stops, I'm going after him. I've got the Woman hostage, what do I do with her?"
"Give her to Major when he gets there. Which is soon."
John's phone was on speaker, Mycroft's voice speaking with a heavy tone into the room.
"Which is now, actually." said Major over-hearing the very last words, as he kicked a part of the wall ,that Sherlock had destroyed by ripping the power cords out, out of his way.
"Ok, I'm hanging up now, Mycroft."
"Best wishes , John. Please do get to Sherlock as soon as possible."
"You can count on it." John gasped, hanging up.
He opened the GPS icon on his phone.
Sherlock's icon had stopped moving.
John breathed a sigh of relief. The spells would be horrible, and supernatural, but they weren't going to last very long.
"She's all yours, sir." John gasped, turning the Woman, and the make-shift medically tended bookkeeper over to the Major.
"John!" Molly called, as he rushed past her.
"Hey, sorry?"
Molly swallowed, chewing at her lip, unsure of how to say this...
"Whatever happens...you did...amazing. If he were in his right mind...he'd be proud."
John smiled.
"Keep them in line, Molly." he gasped, and headed off, hot in pursuit of Sherlock.