The criminal's smirk turned to a angry frown as he took out a cloth to wipe her saliva off his face. Moriarty stepped backwards a bit, masking his face from the two other shocked people in the room. His head nodded slightly as he turned around, burning a stare into Lottie's fearful, ice-blue eyes.
"I see how it is, Miss Charlotte Hudson. I'll enjoy this next bit." He spoke calmly.
A darkly dressed man with a shaved head entered the area, attaching neuro-receptors to each of those standing curiously around Moriarty. Even with resistance, the technological devices were stuck onto each of them. Surprisingly, no harm was done to them as a machine was flipped on by the notorious criminal. The unknown man disappeared again and left the group with Moriarty to wonder what he had planned for them.
"I think we ought to play a different game now. This time, I will mention certain topics and your levels of anxiety or frantic emotion will cause for a beep to sound from the machine. The length of the noise will depend upon how high your emotional reaction levels are. Ready to play?"
All three people stood in silence.
"Let's start! I'll be nice first...hm, how about Mrs. Hudson and Molly Hooper's deaths? What if I told you that all of those were planned by me? Not surprising, I'm sure, but reopening wounds is something I love doing. Seeing Sherlock being frantic is a wonderful addition." Moriarty chuckled.
Loud beeps went off for a good 30 seconds for all three people.
"Ooh, how exciting. Now let's see what we think of pizza, just as a test." He continued.
Only Lottie's receptors went off as she blushed, but the silence returned within 10 seconds.
"Passionate about food, aren't we? Let's move on...Daniel's been left alone at home and it's not very safe now, oh no."
John became nervous, and the receptors didn't even have to show it as he tried moving from his restraints to reach the criminal.
"Fiesty little doctor, it's adorable. I see why you liked him Sherlock...it's funny."
The detective's receptor began to sound.
"Ooh, I hit a nerve didn't I? Let's keep going this way."
"Why do you do this?" Lottie boldly questioned.
"Shut up, or you'll be first to die." Moriarty sassed, "You even pretended to be a couple for a little while. But you failed since one of you can't handle emotion and the other has a titanium heart."
Only beeps of receptors were heard at that point. No one dared to speak in hopes of not revealing any weaknesses, though Moriarty already knew them all. He pressed further onto the delicate topics to humiliate each of them. He finally landed on the worst bit at the end.
"And Lottie, you're so foolish for trying to get Sherlock to fancy you, my dear. I thought you were smarter. Yet again, your mother was a seductress so what else were you to learn?"
"Hold on, what is he talking about?" John piped up, no longer caring about the irritating noises.
"Blondie kissed Brainiac and he kissed her back. Some kids would say they loooooove each other. I just find it to be yet another weakness to add to each of their lists." Jim Moriarty explained in a childish voice.
"She snogged with you?" John questioned disbelievingly.
The detective looked down at his shoes as the machine beeped loudly for him. His face didn't look regretful at all, but more hurt than anything. The pain he felt for being confused and stuck in the middle was horrifying to deal with in front of the people he cared about. Having his enemy there only made it more embarassing.
"You're lying now. This is just ridiculous." John sighed in frustration.
"Not at all. Why else would the two of them be that red and the receptors beep? I don't think there's a malfunction..." Moriarty glanced to the side innocently.
"Sherlock, why in the hëll would you do that? You weren't on a case and you've never fancied anyone. Ever!" The doctor bellowed.
"I'm sorry. To both of you." Sherlock mumbled, hanging his head down.
"Ah, now that this bit's over with...I think we can get to the heavy stuff." Moriarty cheered, "Which one of you three volunteers to die first?"
"Don't be silly, none of us is going to voluntee-" Lottie opened her mouth.
"Now, I wouldn't really mind. My kid's as good as dead, my ex-wife nearly killed him twice, I've been attacked several times, and now there's this. I can only handle so much." John admitted.
"And now we see Dr. Watson's depression coming back." The criminal reminded everyone.
"No, John deserves a proper life. I'm infamous, I don't know how to basically deal with people, there aren't many people to genuinly miss my life, and I wouldn't be afraid. Try me." Sherlock dared as bait to his enemy.
"Oh, did I forget to mention a little tidbit? Yours truly will not be getting his hands dirtied up at the moment; I've got a meeting in an hour. There's someone else here to deal with that, but I'll stand by and watch." Moriarty informed, waving goodbye before leaving through the creaky door.
Sherlock and John glanced at each other, their gazes pulling the other's away. Lottie found herself in an awkward position, being between a mild love triangle. Although this one didn't involve each person being attracted to all the others, it was two people finding the same individual to be desirable. Lottie wouldn't compete, and neither would John. Neither of them felt that it was right to do such a thing to the other. No noise was being made and it added to the general tension of the current happenstance.
The heavy-set door that Moriarty left through began to open. Only a dark silhouette was visible to the group for a while- leading them all to question who their supposed killer would be. It was an unfortunately familiar face, bringing soaring anxiety to John and Sherlock. The sharp-features belonged to a frightening woman who was carrying a large, and very deadly, firearm easily. This woman had always been known to the group as Mary Morstan.
