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

[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.

[gallowshumour]

You're going to enter ten thousand combinations in-- [He checks his watch.] --one hour and forty five minutes?

[He raises an eyebrow, this seems an unlikely strategy to work given that he'd need to enter 95 combinations every minute. There's nothing written in the blood, the smears seem to be at random.]

[jumpthegun]

[When he puts it like that.]

Probably a six in there. Cuts down the potential combinations.

[That's less of an argument and more of a petulant snipe. John's decent at numbers puzzles, but that's for something like Sudoku, not... whatever the hell this is supposed to be. Maybe if he had any idea what the clues were supposed to look like beyond-

John stands up a little straighter and looks out the windows of the carriage in the direction that he'd come from.]

Are all of the clues in this carriage?

[Because there had been that alphabet book out there he'd passed by without touching.]

[gallowshumour]

[Moriarty rolls his eyes without even bothering to try and conceal it.

His patience is starting to wear a little thin. This is why he doesn't usually play with the normal people, they lack the intelligence to keep things moving, but John is a necessity now.]

What did I tell you about cheating?

[But, seriously, isn't the phone and the preprogrammed number enough of a clue?]

[jumpthegun]

[He doesn't want to drag Sherlock into it is the problem.]

What would you do if I were to step off this carriage? I don't know you're even telling the truth. I'll be dead, but so will you.

[John takes a step toward the man, putting as much menace into it as he can when he's sickly and in pain.]

Or I could kill you, myself. Don't even get to enjoy the fireworks.

[He knows he's going to need to call Sherlock, but dammit, maybe if he can stall until Molly comes looking...]

[gallowshumour]

If you want to, but you'll still have to solve the game before the time.

[He'll still weigh enough for the pressure sensors even if he's dead, though Moran is out in the darkness ready to act if it looks like Johnny boy really isn't going to be good.]

I don't think you'll let those fireworks happen. You won't just kill me and you, there's all those others down the tunnel, and on the street above.