SuperWhoLock: When the Shadows Rage

Episode 6: The Gang's All Here part 3

Sherlock was being even more annoying than usual, John thought, as he listened to his friend mutter under his breath. Sherlock's pacing swept him in tight circles around the small living room, his coat brushing the furniture as he turned on his heel.

John rubbed his mouth as he looked down at Sam Winchester. It was just…odd.

Well of course it's odd, idiot. You're on a spaceship with a space alien. And vampires are real. Can't get worse than that.

"How is he?"

John looked over his shoulder. The Doctor's companion—what was her name? Amy, that's right—stood in the doorway, trying to see around him.

John nodded. "Color, pulse, everything seems to be back to normal. He'll be all right, I think, his system just needs a rest after that." He shook his head. "Strangest thing I've ever seen."

"Sounds about right. You guys wants anything? Tea? Coffee?"

"Tea would be excellent," Sherlock said, still pacing.

"If you don't mind," John added. As Sherlock came close to him, he stuck his foot out, making the detective stumble.

"Oh. Yes. Thank you, Amy." Sherlock didn't even look at her.

Amy pressed her hand to her mouth, covering a smile.

"Sorry," John mouthed at her.

She shrugged and went into the kitchen. "So, you think Moriarty's a shapeshifter?"

Sherlock stopped stock still. For a moment, he let the clatter of the kettle fill the small room, then he poked his head into the kitchen. "You know something about Moriarty."

John sighed and stood up, squeezing past Sherlock. "Anything I can help with?" he asked Amy.

She stood at the stove, fiddling with one of the knobs before finally turning it. The burner burst to flame under the kettle. "No, it's not any trouble." She faced Sherlock and crossed her arms, leaning one hip against the counter. "After we picked up Sam and Dean, we went to get my husband. Rory. He was gone, and Sam and Dean said there was clear evidence of a struggle."

Sherlock snorted. "I don't think those two gorillas could see an elephant in front of their noses."

"Well, it was a pretty big elephant," came Dean's voice.

John stepped aside, letting the American into the kitchen. Dean wore clean clothes, and his hair stuck up in damp spikes. He opened the fridge and rummaged through the shelves, then pulled out two bottles of beer.

"Where did those come from?" Amy asked. "The TARDIS doesn't usually stock beer."

Dean grinned. "Gotta keep some secrets, Red."

She smacked his arm.

Sherlock cleared his throat. "You said there was a struggle."

"Pictures smashed, furniture knocked out of place, you name it, Scary Spice," Dean said. He leaned against the table and popped the cap on one of the bottles.

John cracked a smile as Sherlock frowned.

"Scary…what?" Sherlock said.

"Are you freakin' serious?" Dean asked. "Dude, I mean, I know their music was crap, but the Spice Girls, really? You're British."

John laughed. "Yeah, well, he doesn't store quote-unquote 'useless' information in his brain."

Dean shook his head. "Well, if anything qualifies for useless information, Spice Girls definitely fits the bill." He took a long swig of beer.

"There was this guy," Amy said, redirecting Sherlock's attention to her. "Thin, had slicked back hair, dark suit…he said he was Moriarty. But the Doctor said he wasn't human."

"I knew it." Sherlock poked John's arm. "I told you, there was something wrong with that video he sent me."

John tipped his head back and sighed. "Yes, you've only not stopped talking about it since you saw it. It could've been made before he died, you ever think of that?"

"He'd aged, John. Just a little, but there were new wrinkles, and—"

"Oh c'mon, man," Dean interrupted. He set his finished beer on the table and started on the second one. "You could tell a guy had aged a couple of years in a video, really?"

"You keep drinking like that and your liver is going to think it's a pickle by the time you're thirty," Sherlock snapped back.

Dean flipped him off.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, that's mature. So, let's work with the assumption that the Moriarty who sent me the video and who was at Amy's house is, in fact, a shapeshifter. But what does that have to do with the vampires?"

"And the Vashta Nerada," Dean said.

"Yes, the things that attacked your brother. Why, I wonder, did they attack him, and not you? Was he the first one into the loft?"

Dean shook his head. "This is the second time we've gotten attacked, but the first time they've gone after him, specifically." He filled John and Sherlock in on the way he, Sam, the Doctor, and Amy had met.

As his voice trailed off, John couldn't help but snort. Alien cyborgs and spaceships…it was beginning to sound like an episode of Star Trek.

Sherlock had stayed unusually quiet throughout Dean's story, but now he cleared his throat and tapped his fingers together. "Well, it's obvious the Cybermen were a ploy to get you and your brother to Michigan. You said it seemed like they were going to try to…'upgrade' you, is that the right term? Specifically you, Dean?"

Dean nodded, but at the same time his eyes flicked a little to the left. John stiffened. When he'd told that part of the story, Dean's eyes had done the same thing, looked to the left and down. It was a classic, classic liar's giveaway, and he couldn't quite believe that Dean had actually done it. For some reason, he struck John as an accomplished liar. John looked at Sherlock, but the detective gave no sign that he'd caught the tic.

"But why not Sam?" Sherlock muttered. "Why lure you there in the first place? There are too many holes here. Nothing makes sense."

The Doctor drummed his fingers on the table. "No, it definitely does not."

"The ones that worry me are the vampires," Dean said. "I still don't get that."

"Well, since the Vashta Nerada were at both locations, they obviously tie in somewhere." Sherlock's tone couldn't be more condescending. "Not to mention that we've all encountered something from each other's world, so to speak. Doctor, Amy, you two met Moriarty and you think he kidnapped Amy's husband. Dean, you and Sam met the Cybermen. And John and I met vampires. They're all out of our realms of expertise. Someone, I think, was trying to distract us. But the plan went off the rails when Sam and Dean knew to call the Doctor. That's comforting, because it means they don't know everything—they didn't know John Winchester's journal contained a reference to a Cyberman."

He sighed. "We need to talk to Mycroft. If there's some sort of plot going on, chances are he's heard at least rumors. Maybe we can find a missing piece of the puzzle with him."

"I'm staying here with Sam," Dean said.

"You weren't invited anyway. Doctor?" Sherlock asked, striding out of the room.

"I'll come too," Amy said.

John waited until she and the Doctor had left the room, then he walked up to Dean. "Make Sam stays warm, and when he wakes up, make sure he gets plenty to drink."

"I've treated shock before, thanks."

John pointed his index finger at Dean. "Why did you lie?"

Dean scoffed. "I'm not lyin' to you, man."

But his hands tightened around the edge of the table.

John backed up, holding his hands up. "All right, fine. Whatever you say. But just remember that if I noticed it, Sherlock definitely noticed it, and he won't just let it go." He walked out of the room.