𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 || 𝐁𝐁𝐂 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤

6: M.I.A

1 month later
>>>>>>>>>

Sherlock's POV 

"Several major political figures were killed in Tokyo last month, along with the leader of the criminal network in Tokyo, Xu Maoshieng. He was at the time bribing the politicians into turning a blind eye to his activities. As of the present, no organisation has claimed responsibility for the killings," droned Mycroft.

Sherlock Holmes found his brother's voice irritating. But then again, there was not much about his brother that didn't irritate him.

"So, get to the point. You have to have some reason as to why you came here, other than to irritate me brother mine," he snapped.

Mycroft looked at him patronizingly, and Sherlock resisted the strong urge to insult his latest attempts at dieting.

"We currently have no leads as to whether she was working alone or not," said Mycroft, tapping his umbrella repeatedly on the floor.

"She?" Sherlock inquired curiously.

"Yes, she" he replied dryly.

Sherlock delved into my mind palace, sifting through the relevant information regarding Xu Maoshieng and discarding the useless information. Criminal gang leader. Drug industry. political connections. Possible another rival gang killed him. What for? Revenge? Money? Rivals?

"However, there is one small snag in this whole affair," said Mycroft, interrupting Sherlock's train of thought.

"Which is..." Sherlock asked irritably.

"The assassin was found to have been shot dead by two of Maoshieng's security detail." Mycroft strode over to him and handed him a brown envelope he had concealed in his jacket pocket.

Inside were pictures of a young woman in her late twenties lying dead on the ground. Blood poured out of her mouth and nose, as well as from her wounds. The blood had congealed in a pool around her neck. Her brown eyes looked glassy and distant.

He narrowed his eyes and looked closer at the photographs. The woman looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"So the culprit was found and is now dead, therefore there is no need for me to investigate," Sherlock tossed the photographs back onto the desk and made for the door.

"No, I don't think so," said Mycroft, smiling infuriatingly.

"That woman is quite possibly one of the most dangerous women in the world," said Mycroft vaguely, causing Sherlock to pause.

"You aren't talking in the past tense?" Sherlock turned.

"We believe that she faked her death. Yet the reason for this remains... elusive." Sherlock's brows furrowed as he looked at the corpse again. The woman still looked familiar, and it vexed him to no end. 

Annoyingly, Mycroft spoke:

"Yes, I believe you two have an encounter many years ago, she was a killer then too. She could have killed you easily. Without weapons." Said Mycroft, an undercurrent to his tone that he couldn't quite place. Bristling at his remark, Sherlock kept quiet, thinking.

"What you don't seem to realize is that this woman is single-handedly responsible for the breach of NASA's security system. At the age of 22, she assassinated the British ambassador to the UN. a small list compared to her other activities. No one has been able to trace her. She is like a ghost," finished Mycroft, narrowing his eyes at his younger brother.

"And.."

"And she is wanted in a total of 37 different countries." He finished brusquely.

Sherlock let out a low whistle before remembering something.

"Are you aware of her unnatural...strength?" he murmured.

Mycroft straightened up, looking Sherlock directly in the eye.

"I'm afraid that information is classified," he said coldly.

"Like hell it is. I saw her break solid metal handcuffs like they were tissue paper."  Mycroft twisted his umbrella nervously in his hands but held his ground.

"That information is classified. Not just on my say so, but the higher-ups, Powerful people."

He snorted at that.

"So what exactly do you want me to do Mycroft that you are unable to do yourself?"

Mycroft sighed. "Fine, what do you want?" he said.

"Tell me everything you know about her."

"I can't tell you everything, and some things remain unknown."

He must really need my help with this, Sherlock thought.

"Her real name is Alexandria Jean Novak, but her known aliases are Adelaide Roman and Nightshade. At the age of 8, her parents were murdered. The reason is unknown. She stayed in an orphanage until, at the age of 13, when the American government took an interest in her due to her unnatural intellect and... skills. She was taken in and sent to a top-secret facility in America. There they created human weapons. She and 24 other people were selected for the process."

"Human experimentation? Isn't that illegal?" Sherlock was shocked. He had not excepted the bombshell that Mycroft had just dropped on him.

"Yes, it is. Only Novak survived. She didn't know her own capabilities, but she must have known that she had changed both physically and mentally. She had managed to escape and was on the run in America until the age of 15, which is when she went after the 7 men who were responsible for her transformation and killed them. From then onwards she joined the criminal class. She became highly skilled in the martial arts, as well as highly advanced in weaponry. It is assumed she taught herself since she had no known contacts in America."

"No contacts that we know of," I interrupted.

"It was a matter of global security. She is a global security threat that needs to be captured or neutralised. No one knew her full capabilities except those agents she killed. She destroyed all relevant documentation pertaining to the experiments and fled the scene. Disastrous as it was, project Fortum was dismantled and there have been no more attempts to create people like her," Mycroft said.

This was a lot to process. Sherlock's mind hastened to take it all in.

"Anything else?"

"Her current location is unknown. She is a ruthless cold-blooded killer who has no emotion. I do believe that in Asia they call her The Black Widow," Mycroft said.

"She wants the world to think that she is dead and buried Sherlock. I found the sole surviving guard's story was rather flimsy, and I highly doubt she would have been killed that easily, not with her reputation. Naturally, I dug a little deeper and found out the truth," said Mycroft rather smugly.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Sadly, we currently have no leads as to her location. She could be right under our noses and we would never know," Mycroft sounded annoyed. It was his job to know things, and finding one woman was proving trickier than he had anticipated. Sherlock chuckled, and Mycroft turned to glare icily at me.

"Sherlock, this is a matter of national security, so for God's sake, act your age," hissed Mycroft.

I was thinking hard. If she was in the country, she would want to lie low.

"Give up Mycroft, you are not going to find her. She is too professional for that. But...." I trailed off.

"Yes?" demanded Mycroft irritably.

"She is bound to slip up at some point, give away a big clue. Until then, we wait. We have the advantage. She is unaware that we know that she is still alive so she may relax her guard and let her defences down, though that is unlikely for the time being."

Sherlock smirked at the exciting developments.

 Until then we wait."