Chapter 2

Later that night, Ruby was back in the tent she shared with other female soldiers, reorganizing her bags. She placed in one bag a first aid kit, some snacks, MREs, a few changes of clothes, and a hat that she had stolen from Sherrinford that was just as worn as the one she had stolen from Ramses, only this one read MI6 which most everyone thought was just a common hat but really it was his hat that he wore during his training academy days to become an agent. She also threw in an extra gun as well as a few extra mags.

"Captain Ruby!" A voice shouted as a young refugee boy that she had helped rescue a week before entered the tent. "Captain Lennox is looking for you."

Ruby smiled at the young boy even as her mind almost hungrily began to deduce internally about the boy. Hungry, hasn't been eating as often as he should be. Tired and scared, homesick as well. Someone is going to have to bring this boy back to his papa. Clothes and body are still dirty, no showers or clean clothes given… or if given or offered, wasn't taken by the boy. Ruby shook her head to get herself out of that mindset and refaced on his eyes.

"I'll be right there. Wait for me, please?"

The boy nodded eagerly before stepping back outside as Ruby groaned tiredly. She had been hoping to just lay down and go to sleep but it seems Lennox can never let her have a moment of peace. She bent down and retied her boots back on and tied her arm jacket around her waist under her second gun that never leaves her waist. In each boot she replaced the two knives she always keeps on hand as well. Ruby pinned her hair back up, placed Ramses's hat back onto her head and then swung the backpack that she had completed packing onto her back, slipping the straps of the backpack on with ease.

"Okay, let's go see what the good Captain wants. Lead the way." Ruby said with a smile and the young boy beamed back before leading her to his other favorite soldier on the base.

Not even half way there, all of a sudden the base was under attack. A huge explosion sounding from where the airfield was. Ruby grabbed Mahfouz and covered his shaking body with her own on instinct even as she looked over her shoulder towards the explosion and froze with shock and fear. Because towering over HQ was a large black robot with glowing red eyes that was ripping the roof off of HQ in order to reach inside for something.

"HOLMES!" A familiar voice screamed causing her to shake herself from her shock and to turn her head to see Lennox and Epps running towards her. Lennox grabbed her arm and Mahfouz's beginning to lead them away from the black robot that was starting to rain death and fire onto the Qatar base. Epps brought up the rear.

"I-I this really happening?! Or did I somehow get ahold of some drugs and this is just some trip that is being caused by the drugs?!" Ruby exclaimed even as she finally got her feet under her and was running with her fellow soldiers under her own power now instead of Lennox dragging her.

"Its real all right. Now come on, we gotta move if we want to survive this thing!" She followed Lennox into the night, trying to drown out the screams of her friends, her team, her colleagues, and the explosions that echoed over the desert. The four of them met up with the rest of Lennox's team as they hid beside a tank on the outskirts of the base. Ruby, Lennox, and Mahfouz made it to them when suddenly the robot appeared, knocking Epps to the ground as he yelled. Ruby held tightly to Mahfouz as Epps instead of getting up and at least attempting to run - raised his night vision goggles that he somehow still had in his hands and took a picture of the robot.

Lennox darted out with a chain of grenades in his hand which when he threw them latched onto the chest of the robot distracting it as Lennox dragged Epps to his feet. "What the hell are you doing just sitting there?! Get up, Epps and run!" The two soldiers darted away for cover just in time as the grenades that Lennox had launched exploded, slightly stunning the robot and distracting it from their team. They distracted it enough that they were able to get in the tank and slowly begin to drive away as the robot went back to destroying the rest of the base.

Ruby gulped in air as she leaned again Fig, another soldier of Lennox's squad and as Mahfouz leaned into her arms in comfort. Her mind was in turmoil as her mind palace worked to place what had happened in just an hour's time that night and what and where the robot had come from.

She really wished she would have went home now a few months ago when she had the chance… because she knew that if the robot was as advanced as she thought it might be, and because of the annihilation of the Qatar base, whoever the robot worked for would not like survivors nor the fact that Epps took a picture of it… the robot would come after them, and soon.

"We need to get to a phone tower. We have to let at least the Pentagon know what happened here… before it comes back." She said softly but her voice carried through the silent tank. They all looked over at her in shock.

"What do you mean? It's not going to come back," Donnelly scoffed with a roll of his eyes. Ruby's eyes cut right through him.

"It is, actually. Because not only are we most likely the sole survivors of the attack and the only ones that can tell others what we saw, Epps took a picture of it, which would back up anything we say. My guess is that its going to come after us because it doesn't want its presence known… most likely because they want us humans to be taken by surprise and defenseless against another attack." Ruby pointed out causing all of the men to go pale at the surprising revelation that she was right.

Lennox cleared his throat uncomfortably at the thought of seeing the monster robot again. "Then we definitely need to warn the Pentagon, even if it does lead to our deaths. The world needs to know that there is a new enemy now, an enemy that we don't know the weaknesses of and don't know what it wants. We stick together, get through this, and maybe, there is a small maybe, we will get to see our families again."

"Amen, brother." Epps murmured while the others nodded in agreement. They had a basic plan, now just to succeed in it was going to be the hard part of actually doing it.

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London

Dr John Watson could not believe the day that he has had up to this point. First, he meets up at 221B Baker Street to officially meet his potential flatmate Sherlock Holmes. Next, he somehow found himself at a crime scene where a woman in pink was murdered and was part of the 'suicides' that had been happening over the past few months. Then, he was kidnapped by his new acquaintance's 'arch-nemesis' and dragged to a creepy warehouse in the middle of the city only to encounter attempts of bribery and mystery. Finally, after arriving back at Baker Street and then journeying to Angelos, and then chasing a cab through the city, they were back to running again only this time it was back to Baker Street.

"Got your breath back?" Sherlock asked as they noticed a policeman stopping the cab they had stopped further down the road and the American they had found inside gesturing towards them.

"Ready when you are!" John informed and they were off.

When they arrived back, both were breathing a bit heavily.

"That was ridiculous. That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever done." John breathed out, a smile on his face.

"And you invaded Afghanistan," Sherlock retorted, his mind instantly springing towards his soldier of a sibling before he pushed it back in its proper place in his mind palace.

John burst immediately into laughter which caused Sherlock to chuckle a bit.

"Yeah, it wasn't just me." John began. "Why aren't we back at the restaurant?"

"Oh, they can keep an out. It's a long shot anyways."

"So what were we doing there then?"

"Passing the time, proving a point."

"What point?" John looked at Sherlock, befuddled.

"You." Sherlock simply stated. "Mrs. Hudson! Dr Watson will indeed be taking the upstairs room!"

"Says who?"

The doorbell rang causing Sherlock to smirk. "Says the man at the door."

John opened the door to see Angelo standing there. In his large hands was John's walking stick. "Sherlock texted me, he said you forgot this."

John just stared, thunderstruck. His hand went to his leg in shock. Sherlock simply stood there with a satisfied grin on his face that he was right as usual.

Out of nowhere, Mrs Hudson burst out of her door, her brown eyes full of tears and shock. "Oh, Sherlock, what have you done?!"

Sherlock and John turned to her questionably. "Upstairs!" She exclaimed at their looks. The two raced up the stairs while Mrs Hudson retreated back into her room to compose herself.

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Sherlock was still arguing with Lestrade and trying to figure out the case when Mrs Hudson walked back upstairs with a gentleman following her.

"Sh-Sherlock? This man said that he wants to speak to you," Mrs Hudson blubbered out before quickly retreating back downstairs. Sherlock groaned and turned, hoping it wasn't someone boring. He quickly took in the man standing there in his doorway while NYS and John were looking on.

Sherlock immediately scowled. "Oh, what do you want?"

The younger man smirked at Sherlock. "Now don't be like that, brother. I can't just pop in for a visit? Even though you invited all these… charming people into your new living space?"

Sherlock gritted his teeth and forced himself to ignore the whispers that immediately began to break out amongst his 'visitors'.

"Do shut up, Ramses. I don't have time for you right now and you know that I would never invite those people into my home. I'll have to hire a cleaning service to come and decontaminate the whole place. What are you doing here?"

Ramses shrugged. "You know the life of a surgeon and doctor can get boring occasionally. I figured I would stop in and lend you the only non idiotic brain to whatever theories you have bouncing around your brain. I too have the desire to have at least some intelligent conversation."

"And you couldn't go to M or S because…?"

"Because they are boring asses that only loosen up when R calls or writes."

The two brothers were interrupted by Mrs Hudson. "Is the doorbell broken again? Sherlock, your cab is here."

"I didn't order a cab, tell him he's at the wrong place."

Mrs Hudson looked around, distressed at the state of the flat. "Oh dear, they're making such a mess. What are they looking for?"

"It's a drugs bust, Mrs. Hudson," John piped in, still not taking his eyes off the two brothers.

"Oh, but they're just for my hip. They're herbal soothers."

Ramses swooped forward and decided to introduce himself to his brother's landlady. "Mrs Hudson, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ramses Holmes, Sherlock's younger brother… now I recall seeing that 221C is available to rent, is that still available?"

Mrs Hudson blinked in shock at the surprise gentlemanly actions from this man she did not know. "Er, why yes, yes it is… but I will warn you that it is damp and there might be some mold issues."

Ramses smiled charmingly, completely disarming her and the other females and some males in the room. "That's not a worry. I'll have a cleaning and repair crew over in the morning to get it all back into top shape." Ramses turned and smirked at his older brother. "Which means that you'll have to deal with me being in your space almost all the time now… just like when we were kids."

Sherlock scowled but turned to Lestrade, trying to ignore his youngest sibling.

"Back to what I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." He began to pace like a whirlwind, his mind trying to concentrate but couldn't as everyone was murmuring amongst themselves again. "Shut up! Everyone shut up, I'm thinking, don't move, don't breathe,. Anderson, face the other way, you're putting me off!"

Everyone looked at him, confused - but Lestrade and Ramses as both knew that Sherlock nearly had the answer.

Anderson looked on in confusion. "What, my face is?"

"Everybody quiet and still. Anderson, turn your back." Lestrade commanded.

"For God's sake-"

"Your back, now, please!"

Anderson turned his back, furious and embarrassed. Sherlock began pacing faster and faster, thinking, thinking, clutching his head. "Come on, come on!"

Mrs Hudson then remembered why she had come up in the first place. "What about your taxi?" She insisted.

"Mrs Hudson!" Sherlock roared.

The elderly woman flinched and turned away to head back down to tell the cab driver to leave again. But Sherlock didn't notice as something popped into his mind.

"Oh! Ah! She was clever. Yes, she's more clever than you all and she's dead, don't you see? Don't you get it? She didn't lose her phone, she never lost it. She planted it on him. When she got out of the car, she knew that she was going to her death. She left her phone in order to lead us to her killer."

"But how?" Lestrade asked confused.

Sherlock turned, confused as even Ramses rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the people in the room. "My god, what is it like in your little brains?" He muttered, causing Sherlock to nod in agreement to his words.

"What? What do you mean how?" Sherlock asked. Lestrade stuttered before Sherlock interrupted again. "Rachel!"

Everyone still stared blank eyed at Sherlock and Ramses as they noticed him nodding along with his brother's thought process.

"Don't you see? Rachel!" They still didn't understand. "Ooh! Look at you all. Your all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing. Rachel is not a name."

John interrupted him, trying to get him to the point. "Then what is it?"

Ramses then stepped in. "On the luggage, I presume, is a label. Email address."

Sherlock turned to his computer and waited for John to read the email out to him.

"Jenny dot pink at me phone dot org dot uk." Sherlock quickly typed it in, muttering quickly to himself. "… which means there is a website where for her phone that requires her email and the password… everyone together!"

"Rachel." Ramses said simply.

"So we can read her emails. So what?" Anderson said.

"Anderson don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street. You can do much more than read her emails. Its a smart phone, its got GPS, which means we can track it. We find that phone, we find the killer."

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Ramses and John stood outside of the police tape as they waited for Sherlock to be released from the paramedics custody. Ramses was quick to take a picture of his brother wrapped in a shock blanket to show Ruby next time they talked over the web cam. She would get a kick out of it. The two men straightened up as they saw Sherlock walking towards them.

John cleared his throat. "Sergeant Donovan was just explaining everything to us," John said. "The two pills… been a dreadful business, hasn't it? Dreadful."

Sherlock exchanged a glance with his brother before leaning in and whispering, "Good shot." To John.

"Yes," John said, feigning innocence still. "Yes, must have been, through that window."

"Well you'd know." Ramses murmured.

John looked between the two Holmes' and couldn't help but think he was going to be living with two of them very soon. One he could have handled…but two, can he?

"Need to get the powder burns out of your fingers," Sherlock advised calmly. "I don't suppose you'd serve time for this, but let's avoid the court case."

John cleared his throat nervously and glanced around anxiously.

"Are you alright?" Ramses asked.

"Yes, of course I'm alright." John insisted.

"Well, you have just killed a man," Sherlock reminded him.

"He wasn't a very nice man," John replied instantly and smiled lightly.

Sherlock gave a small nod in agreement. "No. No, he really wasn't, was he?"

"And frankly, a bloody awful cabbie," John added causing both Holmes' to chuckle.

"He was a bad cabbie," Sherlock agreed, "should have sen the route he took us to get here."

John joined in the others laughter as they began to walk away from the crime scene, going past Donovan on the way.

"Stop! Stop, we can't giggle, it's a crime scene! Stop it!"

"You're the one who shot him," Ramses pointed out. "Don't blame me."

"Keep your voice down!" John hissed through a smile he was trying to force away.

As they passed Donovan she cast the three men a suspicious glance.

"Sorry - it's just, um, nerves, I think," John told her awkwardly.

Sherlock glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry."

Ramses didn't even bother to say anything to her as they kept on walking.

John stopped, causing the two brothers to stop and turn to him.

"You were gonna take that damned pill, weren't you?" He said. Ramses reached out and punched Sherlock's shoulder, glaring at his brother.

"I hope not. Wouldn't want to tell Mummy, now would we?"

Sherlock sent him the stink eye. "Course I wasn't. Biding my time. Knew the two of you would turn up to save the day."

"You're lying. It's how you get your kicks, isn't it? You risk your life to prove you're clever."

"Why would I do that?" Sherlock asked innocently.

"Because you're an idiot." Ramses and John said together.

Sherlock grinned in response before he gestured with his head down the street. "Dinner?"

"Starving." Ramses said with John nodding.

"End of Baker Street, there's a good Chinese stays open 'til two," Sherlock informed as they walked. "You can always tell a good Chinese by examine the bottom third of the door handle."

John's focus was turned away from Sherlock and Ramses arguing as a familiar black car pulled up on the street not too far ahead of them and out stepped the man from the warehouse and his assistant, as well as another man.

"Sherlock," John said interrupting the two brothers and stared pointedly at the man. "That's him. That's the man I was talking to you about."

Sherlock and Ramses turned their heads and their eyes locked on the two men specifically.

"We know exactly who that is." Sherlock said sharply as they headed towards them.

"Sherlock, Ramses, has Mummy been in contact with the two of you tonight?" The warehouse man asked, interrupting whatever Sherlock had been about to say to him.

The two brothers were puzzled. "No, Mycroft, we've been a bit busy catching a serial killer. And Sherrinford, what are you doing with Mycroft?" Ramses asked.

John interrupted. "Wait, Mummy?"

"These are our older brothers, Mycroft and Sherrinford. Now what are you doing here?" Sherlock asked this time, both younger brothers feeling something bad was about to be said.

Sherrinford took a deep breath and exchanged a look with his older brother. "There's been an attack, on the Qatar army base… It's been reported that there are no survivors of the attack and the whole base is nothing but ash."

Sherlock and Ramses grabbed each other's arms in shock. No, not Ruby. Not their precious sister.