Painting Murders - (A Sherlock fanfic)

Hacking is the key to opening virtual secrets

The computer screen flickered to life with the little Microsoft logo flashing across the screen and the simple jingle ringing out from the speakers. I sighed in relief that it had actually turned on after the brutality I had just subjected it to.

"So what does hacking entail?" John asked, sitting beside me on the floor, even though it seemed to pain him.

"Hackers use underlying codes and patterns to break through virtual barriers and such," Sherlock interjected quickly, "Most of the processes are highly illegal though."

I nodded and looked at John, "Something like that."

"So technically you'd be really good at it?" John said to Sherlock who grumbled.

"If he could be bothered." I said smiling over at Sherlock, "He's actually quite a good amateur. I'm not sure if that's reassuring or not." I said beginning to type in my password and logging the computer on.

I connected the network to my makeshift one and made sure that all the laptops original files ate was wiped clean so that a cross hacking couldn't take place and corrupt my own documents instead. Thankfully the laptop was, at this point, pretty much a shell of nothingness.

I took a deep breath and ejected the disc drive.

"Once I put this disc in, you know there's no going back. For me there isn't, anyway." I mumbled, staring at the disc which winked back at me, tempting me into my fate.

I had said I would walk away at one point but now I felt too far involved to try. I also wanted to spite Mycroft which was a dangerous feeling to have due to the trouble it could potentially cause.

Instead of waiting for a response I clicked the disc in and closed the drive.

"Mrs Hudson!" I yelled making John flinch next to me.

Mrs Hudson pattered up the stairs and knocked on the flat door before popping her head round, "Yes dear?"

"Can I have a cup of tea and some biscuits if you have any?" I asked politely, "I think I might be here a while longer and Sherlock has run out of milk."

Mrs Hudson looked around the flat and tutted, "Dearie me, the mess you've made," before disappearing down the stairs again. I waited until she came back with a tea trey on which were three mugs, a teapot and a plate of chocolate biscuits. I thanked her then waited for her go again.

I opened up the 'my computer' setting and found the disc which was highlighted in red with a small warning sign next to it.

"Right, Lestrade will have had someone wipe most of the evidence from last time which means I'll have to go through a recovery before I can get into the original settings. Then there will be a bypass wall and then probably a firewall." I mumbled to myself and glanced sideways at John who looked blankly in my direction.

"So that means you can basically break into Mycroft's computer from here?" He finally said.

I nodded, "If I wanted to I could take charge of the whole system from right here on that sofa." I said shortly with a coy smile, then opened up the disc.

Automatically the screen went dark and a small box popped up wanting a pass code. I tapped in code after code until the screen went onto a bypass breakdown from which I could collect the remainder of the code, unlocking the disc. After reeling in several lines of recovery code the disc began to chug in the drive in my laptop. I stroked it tenderly, "Don't worry baby, nearly there."

Once past the recovery and the first bypass I came to the first firewall. It was an alert warning of the corruption I was causing to the disc. John pulled in a sharp intake of breath as I began rapidly trying most of the usual coding's until finally the alert cancelled itself and I was in, a small pop up in the centre screen welcomed 'Mr Mycroft Holmes'. I smiled feeling oddly in power. He had thought he'd had the upper hand over me, but now I was in control.