Dire Consequences

Part V: The Jellyfish

by Jenny
3/30/02
Ok, part 5.
Holmes leapt to his feet. "What do you want?" he grimly spat out at Moriarty.
"Why, Holmes, I am astonished at your manners. No handshake for your old friend." Moriarty used an overly patronizing voice. Lestrade shuddered at the evil look Moriarty had in his eyes.
Holmes straightened his shoulders and stared Moriarty straight in the eye. "I would offer a handshake if I were speaking to a friend," Holmes sharply answered. He kept his eyes locked with Moriarty. Lestrade could sense they were fighting a silent battle.
There was a hushed pause. Moriarty and Holmes were staring each other down.
Moriarty broke off his glare, chuckling evilly. "Do you know what I want? I want your destruction. You are the only nuisance standing in my path. You are like a tick that has dug under my skin. I just need to pull you out." Holmes didn’t flinch.
"As for these kids and this nosy inspector, they are completely worthless. These morons behind me..." He glanced at the guards standing behind him, whom all looked at the ground timidly. "...captured these kids and this robot just because they were in YOUR hovercar."
"Well, sir," the lead guard cut in, "You did tell us to capture everyone in his hovercar."
"Shut up, you fool. That was only so there would be no witnesses. Most people," he added, "drive their own hovercars around." He stared at Holmes. "We tried to nab you just before the trial started so you couldn’t testify. But since these chunderheads grabbed the wrong people, we had to resort to catching you after the trial. That also meant kidnapping this useless inspector."
"Well, Moriarty, since they are all obviously so worthless, why don’t you just let them go?" Holmes asked. Lestrade sensed in his voice that he already knew the answer.
"Well, Holmes, I would, but we wouldn’t want them running off to New Scotland Yard, would we?" Moriarty grinned wickedly. Lestrade felt her ears getting red. She jumped off of the bench and walked over to Moriarty. She glared at him. Her hands clenched into fists as she scowled.
"If I am worthless, Moriarty, then you must have negative value."
Moriarty laughed. "In mathematics, my dear Lestrade, negative values are more powerful than zeroes."
What a piece of slime, she thought. She was about to tell Moriarty this when he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face.
"A feisty one here, boys," he said dryly, turning to the guards. The guards laughed, as if on cue. He patted the sweat off of his brow. "My, it is hot down here," Moriarty chuckled. "Oh, if only you could see what we have in the agenda for you, Holmes."
Deidre stood up. "You’ll never keep us here," she yelled. "We’ve got Mr. ‘Olmes ‘an Lestrade ‘ere, and they can outsmart the likes of you." Lestrade noticed Deidre’s hands were in fists.
"Yeah," Wiggins added.
"Beep whurr beep," said Tennyson.
"They are right," Lestrade added, "You won’t be able to keep us here for long. The Yard knew I was supposed to come to work today. New Scotland Yard will-"
"New Scotland Yard is full of fools!" Moriarty cut in, momentarily losing his sedate facial expressions. "I mean," he said, getting his smug grin back, "I am sure they can turn the situation around 360 degrees. I left them a little message, using a voice copier of course, explaining how sick you are today." Lestrade frowned. "Now, say goodbye to Holmes."
One of the guards pulled out an ionizer and the other two unlocked and opened the iron bars. They yanked him out of the cell and threw him against the wall. Lestrade attempted to jump out of the cell, but was stopped by Moriarty shutting the iron bars and locking them. Holmes stood solitary, back against the wall. He glanced from guard to guard, daring them to try and grab him again. When two of the guards approached, Holmes jumped at them and maneuvered around their grasp. He landed a smooth right uppercut, which dropped the first guard on his back.
Lestrade noticed that she was yelling. "COME ON, HOLMES!" Deidre and Wiggins joined in and Tennyson started to beep.
Holmes spun around and hit the other guard, making his nose bleed. The second guard dropped to the ground, grabbing his nose and squinting his eyes. The first guard struggled to get up, but failed. He collapsed back down again to get rid of the swirling motion of the room. Holmes turned to face Moriarty but was interrupted by an ionizer fire.
The third guard had fired at the ceiling to get Holmes’ attention. He then lowered his arm, aiming the ionizer straight at Lestrade. She saw Holmes freeze and stiffen. Oh, Zed, she thought.
The guard called out, "Put your hands at your sides and turn your back to the wall. Or else." Holmes glanced at Lestrade and Lestrade stared him in the eyes. Holmes nodded and unknotted his fists. He calmly turned, face toward the wall. The guard took two long steps toward him. He raised his arm and hit Holmes over the head with the ionizer. There was a sickening thump. Holmes went limp and collapsed on the ground.
"Moriarty, you coward," Lestrade spat out. "You are as spineless as a jellyfish."
Moriarty glanced at her with a look of contempt and waved his hand flippantly at the guards. The two shakily stood and picked Holmes up by the arms. Moriarty turned on his heel and started down the hall. The guards followed Moriarty, hauling Holmes behind them. Holmes’ feet were dragging on the ground, limp.
When they had turned the corner, Deidre turned to Lestrade. "What are they going to do to him?"
Lestrade lowered her eyebrows and glared at the wall. "Taking him to a separate cell, I think. But after that, I don’t know, Deidre. I don’t know." But she did know. And she was afraid to think about it.
It took her a long time to fall asleep that night.

On to Part 6!
Back to part 4
Back to the Fanfic index