Wilde Storm

by S. E. Babin

  As far as I was concerned, Irene Adler could have him for a little while.

  Instead of heading back to the compound right away, we were forced to walk at least twenty minutes away from Orion’s bunker. He took paranoia to entirely new heights. Electronic disrupting devices were placed in the trees surrounding his property so anyone prowling around with poor intentions would have to rely solely on their senses and not any form of technology. Of course, by then, anyone foolish enough to be prowling around would have been spotted by Orion. What happened next, I didn’t really want to know.

  Once we entered the area where Aaron had brought us in, a surprise was waiting for us. John Watson stood there, legs apart and arms crossed over his chest. When he saw us, his mouth lifted briefly in a snarl. He was filthy and wore clothes that were ripped and burned. Soot streaked across his face and his eyes were red and watery.

  Aaron looked down at his DAR and cursed in annoyance once he realized what he had done. “The tracker. You bastard.”

  “I think you mean, you smart bastard,” Watson said.

  “What happened?” I hadn’t had the time yet, or the inclination, to dig through all my thoughts surrounding his and my mother’s stunts.

  His amber gaze lit upon me. He didn’t seem angry with me exactly, but there was something lurking in his reddened eyes that made me squirm. “One of Irene Adler’s associates left us a message back at the compound.” His eyes bored holes into me. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  Associates? From everything I could tell, Irene worked alone. I shook my head. “I don’t see myself telling you anything for a while.”

  Watson huffed in annoyance. “You know how much I care about you, Penelope. And you just shun me immediately? What kind of person are you anyway?” He flung a hand up in the air. “There is no time to talk about this. You must return.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “I’m the kind of person who’s always been honest with the people she cares about.” For the most part, I told myself. All the important things. “I’m the kind of person who wanted none of this. The kind who got thrown into this life and has been repeatedly abused, lied to, and almost killed. The real question is what kind of person are you?”

  We stood there glaring at each other for an awkward amount of time until Aaron quietly cleared his throat. “Who was the message from?”

  “You need to come back to the compound. It’s not something I can easily explain.”

  That didn’t sound good. And even though I was trying to pretend Watson’s appearance wasn’t concerning, he swayed on his feet and pain pushed his face tighter.

  “Fine,” I said. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  “Tarry not, Penelope,” Watson said as he disappeared.

  “Tarry not,” I mimicked. I twisted a long lock of hair around my finger, annoyed to the extreme by Watson, yet still concerned about his well-being.

  When we returned, we were greeted by the smell of smoke and the absence of the lab. As in, a massive burning hole where it used to be.

  My stomach dropped into my feet as I involuntarily took a step back in shock. “Holy shit. Holy—”

  Aaron ran forward into the mess. I followed after a few seconds. Watson stood there in the burning remnants, face wracked with grief. “All that research. The equipment…gone.”

  I touched his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

  He spun on me and shoved a crinkled piece of paper and a disc into my chest. “The message is for you.”

  I took it from him, hands shaking.

  The message was written in a long, arrogant scrawl and contained one short sentence and a signature.

  Return what’s mine.

  -Moriarty

  “Fuck,” I whispered under my breath.

  Aaron pulled the missive from my fingers.

  It had to be the box. “What’s on the disc?” I asked Watson.

  “Surveillance video of you taking a box from Irene Adler’s lab. Other…things.” He turned to me. “What did you take?”

  Since he already knew, I had no other option than to tell him. “I’m not sure. A box I’ve been unable to open.”

  “You need to watch the video. From now on, Penelope, you do nothing that isn’t under my direction.”

  I bristled. “Excuse me?”

  He gripped me by the upper arms and pulled me close to him. His face was inches from mine. “Your actions cost several lives today. Valuable research gone. Property damage. Destruction. You’ve compromised our location. There are news vehicles outside. Information has leaked, linking us to the serum-related deaths. None of this is a coincidence!” He shook me. “You either agree with me or you leave this compound immediately. Trust me when I say you are not prepared to take on the likes of Moriarty.”

  He was grieving. In shock. Angry. I slowed my breathing, trying to calm my emotions. “Everything we did was under your direction until we went back to Waterstone to retrieve Aaron’s serum.”

  He still held me, his fingers punishing against my arms.

  “You would have done the same thing.”

  “Maybe,” he relented, “but I know enough to disable surveillance. You are a naïve imbecile. A green, untrained Warden driven by emotion and a distinct lack of foresight.”

  I moved to loosen his grip. Enough was enough. He tightened it and the familiar double vision hazed over my mind. In seconds, Watson was going to spin me around and attempt to handcuff me. I head butted him as hard as I could, using the top of my forehead to keep from knocking myself out. His hands released me immediately as he bellowed in pain.

  Running from the lab down to my quarters, I glanced behind me and saw Aaron running after me. “You’re either with them or me!” I shouted.

  He gave me a wild grin. “Always with you!” But he skidded to a stop and his face paled. “Shit. Gwynne!”

  I waved him away. “Go now!”

  I skidded around the corner and shoved my door open, the disc and letter still gripped tightly in my hands. I closed and locked the door behind me and flung the closet door open. I secured the box and was about to unlatch my door when it splintered open.

  I stumbled back, only to see an enraged and bleeding Watson enter the room.

  “No,” I said.

  “I am not your enemy.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  “Hand me the box. Whatever it is isn’t worth all this.”

  I straightened. I didn’t know what it was, but if it elicited that kind of reaction, it was extremely important. “And if it is?”

  He touched the area under his nose and withdrew fingers full of blood. “You broke my nose. You’re responsible for the deaths of innocents and the destruction of Sherlock’s lab. By all rights, you should be dead.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  He sighed, but it came out more like a whistle due to the damage to his sinus cavity. He held his hands up. “Watch the video. I promise, I will not interfere.”

  I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

  He took a few steps back. “Penelope, I’m serious. You need to fully understand.”

  I removed the disc from the case with shaking hands and inserted it into the DVD player. It blinked on with little fanfare and revealed a handsome older gentleman wearing a suit. “Greetings, Penelope Wilde. You and I have not met, although I have quite the history with your father.” A wide, genuine smile stretched across his face. “From your recent actions, I can tell you take after him, probably more than you would like.” The camera flipped to surveillance of Irene Adler’s lab and my discovery of the box in the hidden compartment. “Irene Adler is an…associate of mine, although from her poor hiding spots, not a very intelligent one. You’ve stolen something from me. Something entrusted to another to keep safe. I want it back.” The camera panned back to him. “By now, you’ve seen what I can do even thousands of miles away from you. Return it and we can return to the truce your father and I set over a hundred years ago
. Make the wrong decision and I can assure you everyone you love will pay.” He stepped back and the camera panned to a dark-haired woman tied to a chair. One eye was blackened and swollen shut and blood trickled from the rope used to gag her.

  I sank to the floor, the note fluttering away from me.

  The woman was my mother.

  The video went to static and clicked off on its own volition. Watson leaned down next to me and touched my hair. “So you see.”

  I nodded numbly as I handed the box over to him.

  At that moment, Aaron burst into the room with his sister.

  Watson glared at them and let out an annoyed grunt. “Explain this to Aaron. Meet me in your father’s quarters within the next half hour.”

  He left me on the floor. Aaron sank to his knees beside me. “What’s happened?”

  Without a word, I flicked on the video. When it was finished, Aaron turned the television off, and whispered, “My God. You gave the box to Watson, then?”

  I nodded. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  He pulled me in to a one-armed hug. With his other hand, he unstrapped his DAR and tossed it to Gwynne, who still stood in the doorway, silent and pale. “Go. There’s a tracking device on it, but as long as you stay off Watson’s radar, I’m sure he’ll leave you alone. Stay vigilant. Irene is still out there and extremely pissed at you.”

  She nodded, and without a word, left us alone.

  “Come on,” he said gently, helping me up from the floor.

  Once I was standing on wobbly legs and we were about to head out the door, my television clicked on by itself.

  Aaron had a weapon drawn before I could even blink.

  Irene’s ivory face filled the screen. She adjusted the camera and took a few steps back to stand next to my father.

  They both looked well, maybe a little bruised, but they were alive.

  My father stared into the camera, a grave expression on his handsome face. “Penelope, love, I am glad to see you well and alive. Aaron,” he acknowledged, “we are aware of what has happened at the compound.”

  Tears swam in my eyes. “I am so—” My father interrupted my apology.

  “We do not teach the Holmes’ line to be weak or run scared. We stand and fight. Do not apologize to me for something I very well might have done myself. With training, you will make a damn fine Time Warden.” His expression softened. “You already are.” Irene leaned in to whisper something in his ear and my throat tightened at the level of their intimacy in such a short time.

  “Right,” he said. “Whatever you do, you must not return the box to Moriarty.”

  “They have Mom!” How could he ask me to do that?

  His mouth turned grim. “I know.”

  Irene interrupted. “Penelope,” she said, her voice cool and cultured even as it shook with emotion. “Moriarty and I are not on the same team. I implore you to believe me. I left the box so you would find it.” She smiled. “I am not stupid, although it’s nice to see Moriarty thinks so.”

  “What’s inside of it?”

  “A way to counteract Sherlock’s immortality serum. A device to disrupt all time travel. It would effectively wipe out the Time Wardens if it were used. Moriarty entrusted it to my care because he thought I would never run.” Her perfect smile wobbled. “But my life is not worth the lives of thousands of people. It isn’t worth the potential risk to history and our descendants.”

  My father gripped Irene’s hand. “There is a device implanted in Irene, similar to the loyalty serum we told Aaron we planted.”

  Aaron started. “Wait, you didn’t put anything inside me?”

  My father chuckled. “Not anything poisonous. We aren’t barbarians, chap.”

  “Well, what did you inject me with?” Aaron rubbed at the spot where the needle had gone in.

  “A series of vaccinations and failsafes against frequent time travel. We didn’t want you getting sick on our watch.” My father chuckled at Aaron’s flabbergasted expression. “Relax. Everything was safe and time-tested. We pulled your medical records from COTO and adjusted accordingly. Can we welcome you back to the Time Wardens, Aaron? Permanently this time?”

  “I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “I’ve been bamboozled.” He scratched his head. “Of course you can. I’m glad to be back.”

  “Good,” my father said. “We’ll settle up everything later once I return. Penelope, you must go to Watson now and tell him I visited you. I must go, but before I do, there’s a key to another lab located in a compartment in the bottom of my desk drawer. Before I left, I moved the suspended animation machine from the main lab into this one. Take care of Masters’ daughter and soon. They both have roles to play.”

  Wait a minute. “Did you know all of this was going to happen?”

  My father fixed me with a patient look. “No one man can be assured of what’s going to happen on any day. Even I. But some are more prepared for any scenario. I knew something big was coming into play, but even I had no idea of some of the things to come to pass.”

  “What about Mom?” I asked.

  “Your mother has dealt with Moriarty before. Trust in her. You must do everything you can to keep this box out of his hands. If you can retrieve your mother, do that as well.” He smiled then, a smile mixed with both confidence and sadness. “When Moriarty communicates again, you may tell him our truce is broken by his actions and deceit.” He lifted a hand in farewell. “I am well, daughter. Do not fret. I will return when our work here is done.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but the television screen went blank.

  Our next stop was Masters’ quarters. He opened the door with his gun drawn and relaxed only slightly when he saw us.

  “Thank God you’re all right,” I breathed. “Is Alanna okay?”

  He pulled open the door. “We’re fine.”

  Aaron and I walked in. “We need you both to come with us. My father gave us the keys to another lab. He had enough foresight to move the suspended animation machine.”

  “So, you still feel like you need to use it?”

  I nodded. “Maybe. Aaron introduced me to someone who gave us some more direction, but we need it as a failsafe.”

  Masters nodded, tucked his gun away, and jerked his head at Alanna. “Follow us.”

  The whir of her wheelchair was her response.

  We stopped in and Watson was waiting for us. If Masters’ presence surprised him, he didn’t show it. I asked everyone to wait for me and stepped inside to shut the door.

  Watson sat in my father’s chair, his feet on his desk, looking casual, even though I could see the tension lines running through his body.

  “My father paid me a visit.”

  His feet came down and he leaned forward in interest.

  “Under no circumstances are we to give the box back to Moriarty.”

  His face went carefully blank. I watched a myriad of emotions run over his face until they settled on the last one: resignation. “He is well?”

  I shrugged. “A little battered, but Irene looked about the same. They appear to be working together, either that or he’s a hell of an actor. They seem…intimate.”

  “That didn’t take long,” Watson said dryly.

  “There’s something different about her. Something that will change things, I think.”

  “So, in the last twenty minutes, Sherlock has decided to throw out a century old truce for a simple box?”

  “It’s not just a box.” I briefed him on the contents and when I finished, Watson was standing up and pacing. I expected him to be angry. I didn’t expect the curiosity on his face.

  “A counteraction to the immortality serum?” he asked and the curiosity in his voice was enough to make me extremely nervous.

  “No,” I implored him. “We have no idea how it counteracts it. It could kill you.”

  “I’ve been trying to die for years,” he said with a bitter laugh.

  “Watson. No.” I scanned the room. “Where’s
the box?”

  “Safe.”

  I eyed him with suspicion. “Safe where?” I probed.

  “Are you staying?” he said in an abrupt change of subject.

  “Sherlock wishes me to.”

  “Only Sherlock, eh?”

  I nodded. “I recall the other half at that time told me if I couldn’t shut up and color, I should get lost.”

  A smile peeked out from his mouth. “The other half was a little bit worked up.”

  “It was understandable.”

  He leaned against the desk. His long fingers rubbed the back of his neck. “I never want you to leave. Regardless of my decisions in the past and what you may think about them, I care about you. But I think we should always communicate before we take any serious actions.”

  One of my eyebrows rose and he gave me a sheepish smile. “Myself included.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Aaron here to stay?” His tone was curious, but there was an undercurrent to it.

  “He was welcomed back to the Time Wardens by my father. Permanently this time.”

  “Thought as much. You care about him?”

  I crossed my arms and studied him. “I care about everyone on this team.”

  His lips twitched.

  I snorted. “I am in no shape for any kind of relationship. Has my father told you about my DNA?”

  His gaze sharpened with interest. “What about it?”

  “Pretty soon, I’ll probably grow fangs and sprout horns.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Hardly.”

  I stared.

  “Impossible.”

  “Unlikely, but quite possible.” Without mentioning Orion or his whereabouts, I told Watson about his findings and his theory that my father had been trying to turn me into a weapon.

  “I think it’s a little more likely your father was making you harder to kill because he cared about you. And it’s pretty easy to get killed in this profession.”