Sherlock x OC - The Black Masquerade Mask (Book 1)

Thirty Six Hours

Sherlock's POV

"Whoever they were John, they knew she would deny their request. That explains the number of men coming in to take her. The average would be two, three at the maximum. But six, six is too much six is screaming out they know her well enough, they know she's capable of taking three at a time to send SIX MEN after her, that's doubling it to make sure they succeed. They know how she's going to react, they knew she'd respond with her sassy remarks and bloody rude attitude" I was pacing through the living room trying to come to a conclusion, 36 hours have passed since she last left.

I was angry, furious, I was patient the first 12 hours, I figured she'd come back any second. But the more hours that passed the less patient I became. And John was not making it easy either.

"Sherlock, stop pacing and go to your mind palace! You figure it out!" John was more than tense, the atmosphere was filled with an uncomfortable electricity. "Mind palace? How would that even help! I don't know much about her, nothing in there is helpful, she's always kept us in the dark about her past!" I snapped at John.

"YOU out of all people know her best, gather all your deductions and organize them on your bloody wall!" He snapped at me. "I don't have much deductions on her, she was always hard to read" I couldn't believe it myself, but for once I felt helpless. I've solved so many cases. But this wasn't a case where there's a murder with a puzzle to solve.

"Alright, it's time to call Mycroft then, maybe he knows something" John said picking up his phone. I went to the bedroom, looking through her belongings. They all seemed played out, these things weren't hers except for her backpack. I looked through it, I took out item by item and I found nothing helpful in there. A couple of weapons, some aspirin pills and an empty red box.

"Mycroft is coming over, this isn't good. He freaked out himself when I told him what happened" John said walking in to the bedroom. I sighed in annoyance. "Maybe we should call the police" John suggested. "The police is useless" I rolled my eyes at the idea.

"Why would she go from pointing a gun at them to dropping her weapons all of a sudden! WHY JOHN WHY?!" I was freaking out to an extreme. "She obviously saw something that changed her mind" John muttered. "Exactly, but what was it?...Oh" the scenes from earlier replayed in my head.

"What? What is it? What changed her mind?" John asked realizing I've figured something new out. "She dropped her weapons when I asked them to leave, she wanted to settle this away from here" I started coming to a conclusion.

"So she wanted to settle this away from here to keep us safe" John muttered. "Exactly, the name Verdi didn't freak her out. She was not panicking until I stepped in, she panicked because she was afraid she'd get us in trouble. If they're from her past, an assassin, doesn't have anyone to care about. But sentiment was going to be her weakness. If she stayed and they realized we were more than just acquaintances they'd have something to use against her later on...she decided to leave before we had more time to interfere" I was finally thinking right.

"But she asked you to stay out of trouble, and she told me she'd be back soon" John pointed out. "That does show sentiment, it's a trick though. She was confusing them, one minute leaving with them which showed she didn't care much to how we reacted as if confident we weren't going to stop her, that showed them we were just regular flatmates... The things she said before leaving indicates that she wanted to lead them to think we meant something to her. She's playing around with them, not giving them the full truth. If they were to blackmail her with us, she'd tell them to kill us off which would confirm that she values her life more than she values ours. Clever girl, she thought this up in a matter of seconds" I was starting to get what's going on.

Mycroft walked in, just in time "What's going on? What happened exactly?" Indeed he was freaking out. If Mycroft is panicking then she's in deep trouble.

John explained everything to Mycroft as I sat down trying to come up with more things. The scene replayed once and twice in my head.

"She's not one to be put in such a position, but sending six men after her that's screaming out danger" Mycroft started. I rolled my eyes "I know, I deduced that already"

"Boys, not now, can we please focus? Ema could be in a lot of trouble right now" John said.

Mycroft looked pale, he was nervous "Mycroft, what do you know about a guy named Verdi?" I asked pacing around the living room again. "Verdi? She's had a lot of people after her before, but none went by the name of Verdi" Mycroft said frowning "Someone from her past we're suspecting" John added.

"I've literally memorized her files, I've each and every person's details from her past, none with that name" Mycroft said. "Before you assigned her to look after me, who was she assigned with?" I asked trying to gather information but coming to a full block. Mycroft was giving me nothing.

"No one dangerous, I gave her security jobs like guarding someone important if they're coming from an airport nothing attention grabbing to her" Mycroft informed. I banged my fist on the table in frustration "Sherlock, what are you so worked up over anyway? I thought you didn't care, you two never got along anyway" Mycroft said irritating the ounce of saneness I had left in my head.

"Mycroft! Is her phone bugged?" I asked hoping the answer would be yes. I needed to get to the bottom of this case. "Yes, her phone's bugged but when I tracked it down the GPS showed it to be in a dumpster. " "So they suspected her phone would lead us to her, they made her get rid of it" John concluded.

"Or she decided to get rid of it HERSELF, they weren't capable of forcing her to go with them in the car, I doubt they made her get rid of her phone she would've done something sneaky to hide it without them noticing. I'm certain SHE got rid of it but why?" Every time I thought I was going somewhere with my deductions I was back to square one. Her case was confusing, it was an interesting puzzle.

"What if it's sentiment? What if she knew that we'd think of that option and that it would be too dangerous to come after her?" John suggested. "Did she at least take any weapons with her?" Mycroft asked frowning trying to come up with ideas just like we were. "No, she disposed of a knife and her handgun" I said, this was not helping in anyway. "Well, I can certainly say she's safe then" Mycroft said with a small smile.

I looked at him confused "What's that supposed to mean? You think she has more weapons on her?" I asked intrigued to know more. "Of course she does, she always has four weapons on her. Her getting rid of two leaves two more with her, one of each. A handgun, a knife, a thread sharp enough to kill actually made out of razor metal, her wig is infested with that thread, and an injection filled with paralyzing poison" Mycroft explained, more at ease now.

"She's been in much much worse situations than these and she got out of it alive, I think we're giving the situation more attention than we should" Mycroft's words made my blood boil. Nonetheless I stayed silent not wanting to fill my system with anger, I needed to think.

"So this has happened before?" John asked. "Not ever since she started working for me, people sometimes would come after her but just for favors. They'd send their men to come and get her, she'd give them attitude and tell them to shove it. They'd eventually cave in and escort her respectfully if she decided it's worth her time"

"Two weeks ago, she's shot a man for coming after her. Is he related?" I asked still prying for information that would be useful. "No, it was a person with the name of Enzo. Came after her warning her from Irene Adler, she possesses something he needs on her camera-" My eyes widened and I finally got it "How could I've been so stupid! I didn't entertain the idea! Ofcourse it's her! Irene Adler is behind this, but not her alone, someone is behind Irene Adler, but who?"