For John Watson

[howdull]

[Sherlock is still finding pieces of the melted laptop in the carpet.

It had actually been quite an ingenious booby trap to be devised by a fourteen year old boy with only household chemicals to work with but, as Sherlock surmised, rather overkill to keep his mother from finding his extensive porn collection. Not one of their more illustrious cases, but it had been quite entertaining to watch both the boy and mother's faces as he revealed that he did know the how and why. He lost interest after the mother started shouting and John started shouting and the whole thing turned tedious.

He rather thinks John won't actually be doing a full write-up of this one on his blog.

It's been two days since their last case and he's beginning to get more than a little antsy. Lestrade has sent him nothing, just a boring hit and run that he refused to even leave the flat for, and nobody interesting has appeared through the blog. Said blog he is currently scrolling through on John's laptop, having borrowed it again.

He did ask, it's not his fault John hadn't been in the room at the time.]

Bored, John.

[He doesn't even know if his flatmate is even in, but that's hardly a necessity for him to actually speak to John. Frustrated, he throws the laptop across the room to hit the wall, where it summarily breaks. Which is where he can be found whenever John appears, sulking amidst pieces of laptop, both from the melted one of their last case and John's poor broken one.]

Comments

[jumpthegun]

[There we are, then. John looks around for anything he can use as a weapon. There's really nothing that's coming quickly or easily to hand. He should have waited for that crowbar. Or he should go get Molly.]

Damn it.

[John mutters that to himself as he pockets his phone and creeps as quietly as he can toward the train. He'll try to get a look in the windows for any signs of movement before going around to the door.]

[gallowshumour]

[Down near the top of the train is where the light is coming from. Caroline Matthews is sat in one seat, face covered in blood and eyes open and staring in the glassy film of death.

Moriarty is sitting in one of the nearby seats, apparently doing a crossword in an abandoned newspaper.]

You might as well come in, Johnny boy.

[jumpthegun]

['Damn it' doesn't cover it. Not by a long chalk.

This is a bad situation.]

It's Dr. Watson. [Steeling himself, John heads around to the door.] People do know I've gone from the other train. So, unless you want your ex-girlfriend taking a cast to your face, you might want to just surrender now and we can see about getting ahold of Detective Inspector Lestrade.

[He doesn't look at Caroline, just sweeps his gaze across Jim to assess the threat of him before checking the rest of the carriage. With his luck, this thing is going to be packed with explosives.]

[gallowshumour]

[There doesn't appear to be any visible explosives, but there are smears of blood on some of the handrails and seats that suggest something awful might have happened to the few people unlucky enough to take this train.]

You've convinced me, how can I ever stand up to the might of meek little Molly with her arm in a cast, and stern Doctor Johnny who can barely stand up? It's all up, a fair cop, take me in guv'nor.

[He holds his wrists out as if for cuffs contritely, fingers crossed on one hand, and then mock gasps and holds that hand up.]

Well, look at that, my fingers were crossed. I guess I don't surrender after all.

[jumpthegun]

[John's expression just remains cold through Moriarty's display. He's not going to acknowledge that he's in less than ideal shape for this confrontation.]

What did you do to the people on this train?

[He's not even going to bother being surreptitious about it as he pulls out his phone and checks it to see if there's a proper voice recording function. It's just a cheap thing Molly picked up, so he's not entirely hopeful, but he'll try. In the meanwhile, he'll offer a misdirect:]

And I'm guessing you were tracking phones again. Was it mine or Molly's?

[gallowshumour]

[He waves a hand to dismiss the question as unimportant. Really, who cares how he knew? It certainly wasn't the phones, not this time. He watches as John obviously starts recording him, lips twitching a little higher in amusement. He's a resilient one, isn't he? He might have made a good toy himself, if he hadn't already chosen who his pet was going to be.]

You might as well come and sit down. I know you're very intimidating, hiding out in the shadows and pretending the big bad wolf doesn't scare you, but it's much more civilised to sit and share a cup of tea.

[His grin gets wider.]

And maybe if you're good, I'll answer your questions.

[jumpthegun]

[John remains where he is, tries to stand up straighter, even though it hurts. He's not going to be a good boy and sit on command.]

I'm not thirsty, thank you, and I think I'll stand. What exactly are we doing here?

[gallowshumour]

We're changing the rules of the game, Caroline was getting to be a bit of a liability. A, B, C, D, Dull, am I right?

[It's more that she'd been overextending her allowed influence, trying to get him more and more involved, and he had to punish her for what happened when he got caught and interrogated.]

It's a new board now.

[jumpthegun]

[John can't help his temper hopping the rails as he snaps.]

My sister is dead, my flat is destroyed, my flatmate and one of my friends were almost murdered, some random kid was almost murdered, and I'm being investigated for war crimes I didn't commit. This is not a game, you bastard!

[gallowshumour]

You mean you're not having fun?

[He looks faux surprised, still not moving from his position reclining on one of the seats.]

Because I'm having a blast.

[jumpthegun]

[Right, okay. He's finished playing and he wants the man to show whatever the hell his hand is now. That's clearly not going to happen with just talk. John will stalk over to Moriarty and grab the front of his shirt if he's able.]

Either get to the point, or I'm going back to the other train, Mr. Moriarty. You're not nearly as funny as you think you are.

[gallowshumour]

[He pouts with a small sigh, not bothering to try and resist being grabbed.]

You're not very observant, are you? That's why he's more fun, it's a real game when we play together. Or it will be.

[He already said what his point was. It's not his fault if John didn't get having a blast might be taken literally as well as figuratively.]

[jumpthegun]

[John's brows furrow in confusion for a moment. He looks up and around the carriage. There's a dead body, there's blood, there's Jim right here. Why are they alone?]

I know you've blown up the tunnel at either end the tracks. So... what? You're planning to trap everyone down here 'til they starve or something? You made it down here. You're going to show me the way out. And then everyone else is coming with us and I'm handing you over to DI Lestrade.

[gallowshumour]

I think it's probably better if we sit and talk, actually.

[He grins, and there's something just a little manic in it.]

Now that you've stepped onto the carriage in that oh-so-manly way to threaten me, you've activated the weight related pressure pad beneath us. If we step out... kaboom. Fun, right?

[jumpthegun]

[What?]

You... you're lying. You're lying or you're absolutely mad. Why the hell would you risk your life like that? How are you expecting this to end if you've got pressure traps?

[gallowshumour]

It's a game, Johnny-boy, try to keep up. What good is a game if there's no way to beat it?

[He gestures to the corpse of Caroline off to one side.]

You've got two hours, or we both lose.

[jumpthegun]

[He really is mad.]

Molly's gonna come looking for me well before then. I'll tell her to follow this tunnel to the nearest station and get help.

[John doesn't actually expect that will work, but maybe Molly can get the people on the other train out of here, at least. In the meanwhile, the doctor let's go of Moriarty, still feeling feverish and ill. These are not ideal circumstances for a puzzle. Moriarty had gestured to Caroline, though. Is that a hint?

John pockets his phone and approaches the body to get a closer look at it. He doesn't touch yet, but he's looking for anything that might be a bulge in her pockets or elsewhere on her person.]

[gallowshumour]

[It's a good place to start to look, because Caroline has a couple of interesting things not very well hidden about her person. There's a bulge in her top pocket that turns out to be a mobile phone already unlocked and programmed with Sherlock's phone number, she's clenching a note that says "Boudicea's Sixth", and tucked just behind her is a briefcase locked with a four digit combination.

Moriarty watches John move with a small smile always at his lips. He does enjoy a good game, after all.]

[jumpthegun]

[John shoots a dagger-like glare at Moriarty as he takes the phone and checks it.]

Phone a friend? Really?

[He hates this man and he knows Sherlock is going to be in more danger the moment he calls him. And what about the little boy?

The note means nothing to him. John isn't all that interested in classical music apart from what Sherlock plays on his violin, and John's never bothered to ask which songs are which.]

And this means there's a six in the combination?

[gallowshumour]

Sorry, I couldn't possibly help you. That would be cheating.

[He sniggers to himself and crosses one leg over the other. He won't stop John putting a six somewhere in the combination if he wants to.]

You win the game when the briefcase opens. Properly, Johnny boy, no breaking it or we still go boom.

[jumpthegun]

[You know what? John pockets the note and the phone, then stalks back over to Moriarty. Unless the man actively stops him, he's going to start going through his pockets, as well.]

[gallowshumour]

[He laughs out loud when John starts searching his pockets, he's so amusing with his indignant anger. There's only a wallet and Moriarty's phone, no other clue.]

If you wanted me that way, sweetheart, you only had to say.

[jumpthegun]

You're not my type, darling.

[John starts going through Moriarty's cards, turns them over and tries to divine some sort of code from any numbers he sees. He doesn't put them back in order, just dumps them and the wallet in the man's lap and checks his phone to see if it's unlocked, as well. Either way, he's keeping it for now.]

[gallowshumour]

[Sadly for John, Moriarty's phone is locked and needs a password to open it, and he isn't inclined to be giving it out yet.]

Littering on the underground, tut tut. That's a fifty quid fine.

[jumpthegun]

[John doesn't say anything, but the look he gives Moriarty says 'bite me.' He turns his attention to the smears of blood across the inside of the carriage, looking for any numbers that have been drawn out and eyeing the seats to see if there's any sort of pattern he can see in which ones are covered with blood and which ones aren't.]

I could just go through all the combinations I can think of. Four digits? Probably could get through all the potential combinations.