A/N- So, this chapter is dedicated to Hannah-Kae who suggested that I put in a POV from Sherlock or John... which I hadn't actually considered but think it's a really good place to add one in. Thanks for suggesting it ;)
Also, a huge thanks to -_Myra_- for commenting and making me laugh.
Both of you make my day when I get the notifications through, so thank you :)
Anyway enough soppy stuff... from me anyway, this chapter however...
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Sherlock's POV
The feeling of being unnerved was one I was used to. I wasn't used to surprises, as I often deduced what was about to happen before it did.
So, firstly Irene Adler initially greeting me with no clothes on was a bit of a shock but not one I couldn't get over in time. Her knowing about the hiker with the bashed in head seemed more of a shock to me at this point than her nudity.
But the one thing that I wasn't expecting at all, in fact at first I didn't know how to react. I knew she was here, or at least with Irene Adler, but I hadn't anticipated the extent to which she had changed. Her attitude, her behaviour, her body language, and her clothing.
All different. All changed.
And I wasn't sure if sat on the sofa was the same girl John and I had had taken from us. We'd let slip away without even trying to get her back. Why I didn't I don't know. John seemed to pull me away from the idea, saying it was her decision, she wasn't on our side as it were.
I just believed it. Just like that.
Now, I wasn't sure whether to reach out and see if she was alright or just see how things turned out here. Perhaps she was happy here. Perhaps she didn't want to come back home at all.
"What photographs?" Darcy asked sternly for a second time and I could see the anger in her eyes.
So, she hadn't been told about Irene's rather risqué job, I quirked and eyebrow at Irene. Maybe we were one up on her, "She doesn't know?" I asked her, trying to hide my delight.
Irene's jaw clenched and she glared up at me from where she was sat on the sofa, although she spoke to the girl sat next to her, "Darcy, go to your room."
"Oh. So she doesn't." I confirmed, feeling the need to smile as Darcy looked between us with obvious confusion on her face.
Darcy's expression then changed completely as she stood and looked angrily between myself and Irene, "What don't I know?! Can you please just tell me?!" She exclaimed and then I watched, not knowing what to do, as Irene glared at her and she took a breath, "Miss." She added, although somewhat sarcastically.
I could see that was a hint of the old her coming through.
"Room. Now." Irene ordered.
Darcy's jaw clenched as did her hands into fists, "Which one?" She practically growled, "Mine, the training room or..." She stopped herself for a moment, as if preparing herself to speak, "...the other one?"
Other one? I glanced over Darcy, trying to find anything that might tell me what she meant and it was then that I spotted it.
Pin Prick Mark On Side Of The Neck.
Then, everything else seemed to appear to me as if I could finally see through that façade.
Faint Scorch Marks On Upper Arms- Electrocution? Slight Scar On Bottom Lip- Punch To The Face, Would Have Bled A Lot.
They tortured her.
"Enough." Irene's stern voice halted my deduction and I glanced at her as she added firmly to Darcy, "Go now."
Darcy looked over at me and then John, I just did nothing as she repeatedly clenched and released her fists in an effort to calm herself. I wanted to say something to her, reach out and tell her we would get her out of here. Maybe. But I didn't.
"It was very nice to see you again, Mr Holmes." There she went again with the Mr Holmes and it felt off, I missed her calling me Curly even though it made me mad. "And you Dr Watson." Darcy added, turning to John, and then marched out of the room.
I couldn't move, couldn't speak. But I didn't have to as John said, "Darcy, what happened? Come back-"
I cut him off with a shake of my head as he looked back at me for confidence, then looked down at Irene a definite glare on my face. But I couldn't focus on what this woman had done to Darcy right now, I needed more time to figure that out.
Right now, I was here to get those photographs of Miss Adler and a certain royal young female.
"So, how do you know about the hiker? Like John said, it hasn't been released in the papers." I questioned Irene, steering the subject back in the direction where I wanted it now to go.
Back to the case I'd been hired for.
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Darcy's POV
Instead of sitting on my bed like I normally did when confined to my room, I paced back and forth in the space at the end of it. My fingers rubbing against the fabric of Scott's jacket that I was holding in my hands as I walked.
I'd removed my shoes on entrance to my room and padded across the wooden floor, my mind whirring ten-to-the-dozen of what I was going to do and what my options were.
I was dangerous. I knew that much, upon seeing Sherlock and John again I'd tried not to think about my hallucinogenic nightmares in which I'd killed both of them so brutally and without feeling.
What if I just snapped one day? What if one day they told me to fight against someone and I turned on them in the heat of the moment? I didn't really know what I was capable of, having not been in a real life situation like that before.
I ran a hand through my already somewhat tousled hair and breathed heavily, thinking.
Photographs- Irene Knew Sherlock Was Coming Here.
Set-Up? Just To Get Me To React or A Test Of My Loyalty?
No, Moriarty And Irene Always Have A Motive For Everything They Do. The Party- Their Need To Show Me Off and To Test Me.
The party, my thoughts turned back to Scott and his very vibrant blue eyes. What if he was just a test as well? A test to see if I was easily distracted? Which I wasn't. Of course not.
I stopped pacing as I heard the faintest sound of something smashing, more than likely glass. I dropped the jacket on the bed and opened the door quietly, poking my head into the corridor to see there was nobody there.
Quietly, I closed the door behind me and slowly walked down the corridor, on guard, "Kate?" I whispered, "Kate, was that you?"
I opened the door to the training room and grabbed a baton that I kept near the door inside just in case, then closed the door and carried on walking with the baton raised in one hand. "Kate?" I said again, hoping that she was okay and I was just being paranoid.
Then I smelt fire or burning at least and I stopped, sniffing the air to try and figure out where it was coming from. A loud alarm blaring out resounded throughout the house and I grimaced slightly but raised my baton a bit higher for protection.
My eyes widened as the door at the end of the corridor opened and out walked four men dressed all in black.
Armed- Pistols With Silencers. Special Ops Of Some Kind.
I went to attack the one at the front with my weapon but he blocked it with his arm and so I swung a punch towards his face. Surprisingly I actually hit him but did very little damage, guess I needed to work on that a bit.
"Grab her." He ordered, in an American accent, as he ripped the baton out of my hand and barged past me as a pair of strong hands grabbed hold of my shoulders.
American Special Ops Then- CIA or FBI? What's The Difference... Research.
The man span me around and put an arm around my waist, picked me up and carried me towards the stairs. We were behind their boss and in the middle of this group of agents, so I knew I wouldn't be able to get away easily once we got onto the stairs.
I started kicking with my legs and grabbing at his face with my hands, I tried to scratch him but stopped when he put a gun to my head and growled, "Stop or I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain."
I went to say something back but we reached the stairs and I heard Sherlock shout loudly, "I said you can turn it off now!"
The fire alarm, why did they set off the fire alarm? I heard John mumble something and then flinched ever so slightly as the leader of the group shot the fire alarm which destroyed it completely and wiring hung from the ceiling. At least it was quieter now.
One of the men in black hurried to John and pointed his pistol at him, John raised his hands in surrender. Then looked at the first man who'd joined them, "Thank you." John said to him and then frowned at me as my captor and I reached the bottom of the stairs.
I saluted sarcastically from my position of dangling in the man's firm grip as the man, with a gun on John, turned him around forcefully. The leader slammed the door to the living room open and the four men marched in, me and John with them.
"Hands behind your head." The leader guy ordered as he aimed his pistol at Sherlock and then to Irene, "On the floor. Keep still."
The only man who didn't have one of us went over to Irene, he pulled her towards myself and John who were being bundled to the middle of the room in front of the sofa. "Sorry, Sherlock." John mumbled as he was pushed to the floor.
The man holding me dropped me to the floor, I grumbled and fell to my knees beside John. "Ms Adler, on the floor." The boss ordered again and she was shoved onto her knees.
I put my hands slowly up behind my head as Sherlock did and I said quietly, "Sorry, Miss Adler. I tried, really I did."
"Don't you want me on the floor too?" Sherlock quipped and I quirked a smile.
The boss shook his pistol angrily, "No, sir, I want you to open the safe."
"American. Interesting. Why would you care?" Sherlock queried.
I watched as he glanced at Irene questioningly and i glared up at the man above me, still holding his pistol close to my head.
"Sir, the safe, now, please." Boss man ordered again and I pulled my lips into a tight line, I was starting to want to hurt this guy, badly.
Sherlock remained calm and replied with a slight shrug, "I don't know the code."
"We've been listening. She said she told you." Boss man argued and I frowned, how had they listened? Did they have bugs in here, how could they have put them in here without me noticing something?
"Well, if you'd been listening, you'd know she didn't." Sherlock countered calmly, his hands still behind his head.
I surveyed the scene briefly and tried to plan a way out of this, a way to fight out of this.
"I'm assuming I missed something. From your reputation, I'm assuming you didn't, Mr Holmes." Boss man retorted. I shook my head slightly, if there was one thing he didn't want to do it was build up Sherlock Holmes' ego.
Sherlock just rolled his eyes and so the boss man glanced down at me, then raised an eyebrow questioningly, "What about you?"
"Me, sir?" I said innocently.
"Yeah, you." He retorted gruffly.
I sighed, "If I knew the code, wouldn't I have told it you already in order to spare Miss Adler's life?" Sherlock and John both frowned at me, I just kept glaring at the boss man and tapped my fingers on the back of my head calmly.
"For God's sake." John huffed sternly and then looked over at Irene, "She's the one who knows the code. Ask her."
Boss man looked at John and countered, "Yes, sir. She also knows the code that automatically calls the police and sets off the burglar alarm. I've learned not to trust this woman." Then he turned his attention to me again and added, "Or her stooges."
I clenched my jaw angrily, this guy was going to get it, I'd make sure to punch him sock in the face and do much more damage this time. Stooge, I was no one's stooge. Was I?
"Mr Holmes doesn't..." Irene started to say.
"Shut up." Boss man cut her off firmly, "One more word out of you- just one- and I will decorate that wall with the insides of your head. That, for me, will not be a hardship."
Both Sherlock and myself glared at boss man as he added, "Mr Archer, Mr Kane. At the count of three, shoot Doctor Watson and the stooge."
"What?" John gasped and cowered as his guard pushed the pistol further into his head, pushing him to look down.
My eyes widened briefly and then I calmed myself, keeping a straight face even as the end of the pistol was jabbed into the back of my head. "Ow." I grumbled sarcastically.
"One." Boss man started to count up and I thought about how I could potentially disarm the guy pointing a gun at my head.
Option One- Take Out His Leg. Upside- He May Fall. Downside- He'll Fall On Me And Probably Shoot Me Still.
"I don't know the code." Sherlock stated quickly and with feeling, surprisingly but then it was John's life on the line.
"Two." Boss man continued.
Option Two- Grab The Gun. Upside- He Won't Have A Gun Anymore. Downside- Probably Get Shot Before I Get The Gun.
Sherlock took a breath, "She didn't tell me." Then raised his voice desperately, "I don't know it!"
"I'm prepared to believe you any second now." The boss man commented sarcastically.
I leant my head forward slightly to look at Irene who glanced downwards as I clocked Sherlock look at her as well.
"Three." Boss man added, finally.
Option Three- Plead For My Li-
"No, stop!" Sherlock shouted and I smirked up at him, so he did know it. He glanced at me and I raised an eyebrow questioningly as boss man held up a hand to stop John and myself from getting shot.
I watched on in awe as Sherlock's expression became distant and thoughtful, I knew his mind was whirring to figure out the code from all that Irene had given him. He slowly turned towards the safe in the wall, that I hadn't even noticed was behind where the mirror normally would be.
As Sherlock typed in the code and then rather quiet beeps followed, after every press of a button. I heard a muffled tap on the wooden floor and leant forward to see Irene looking at me from the corner of her eye, she shot me a warning glance and I knew that meant to ready myself.
I nodded sharply in understanding and straightened up to prepare for what was coming, cracking my fingers behind my head. The safe beeped and unlocked loudly, out of the corner of my eye I saw John shut his eyes and lower his head a bit more.
"Thank you, Mr Holmes. Open it, please." Boss man ordered and I knew his manners were certainly not genuine.
Sherlock reached up and twisted the button that would open the safe door, he looked back at Irene and she must have given him a similar signal to the one I got because he said urgently, "Vatican cameos."
My eyes widened and I dropped to the floor, at the same time Sherlock pulled the safe open all while ducking down out of the way. There was a loud gunshot and a gun fired from inside the safe, it shot Archer right in the chest and he fell forward in between me and John.
As the pistol behind my head was removed briefly, I took the opportunity to fight back and jabbed my elbow into his knee forcefully. He groaned and flinched a bit but it wasn't enough, I flung a leg out and hooked my foot around his ankle. The guy stumbled and fell forward, bracing himself on the floor with his hands.
The pistol clattered to the floor beside in between us and I snatched it up, jabbing it into the back of his head and commented blankly but with the tiniest trace of humour, "Don't move or I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain." I looked around to see Sherlock and John staring down at me, slightly confused.
Until Sherlock turned his gaze to Irene and said, "D'you mind?"
I glanced up at her as well from where I was knelt beside the man I had my pistol threatening and Irene smirked, "Not at all." She smacked the gun across his face as her guard tried to get up and he fell back to the floor.
Irene quirked an eyebrow at me and nodded, "You know what to do."
"Seriously injure or worse, ma'am?" I asked with a straight face and she responded with another quick nod, I kept a blank face and stood up fully. Forcefully I rammed my foot into the centre of the mans back and he cried out in pain, then pushed further and he practically screamed.
"Please..." He pleaded and I rolled my eyes, pointing the pistol complete with silencer at his head. "...please don't..."
I loaded the barrel and put my finger on the trigger, "I think you bruised my hip."
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..." The man beneath my foot exclaimed and tried to get up but I managed to push him back down.
"Well, I'm really not." I retorted and put my finger more on the trigger.
As much as I'd been trained how to kill a person, I'd never actually done it. Was I capable? I glanced up to see Sherlock shaking his head with his eyes wide.
"Darcy, don't. You're better than this." John stated and tried to get close to take the gun from my hand.
I shrugged my arm away and gave him an unfeeling expression, "Am I, Dr Watson? Am I anymore?"
Before I could change my mind I pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet shot into the man, not regretting my choice one bit.
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Sorry! first of all... this took ages, schoolwork. Thoughts though? Was it how you expected it to go? It took me this long because it took me a while to figure out how to write it...
If any of you have any questions that need clearing up about the plot or her character, or even have suggestions... feel free to message me or comment, I'll take some ideas on board and try to answer questions as best I can :)
Not edited... please vote, thank you ;)
-HBH xxxx
Disclaimer- I don't own the characters, except Darcy or Scott, or any lines from the show. Those rights belong to the BBC and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.