"I NEED TO GO TO THAT HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW!" Sherlock announced.
"No shit, Sherlock," Strange deadpanned.
And with that they were gone in a ring of sparks, leaving Mrs. Hudson perplexed as ever.
"I meant inside the hospital, Strange!" Sherlock seethed.
"Do you think me a fool?" Strange asked, instantly regretting it.
"Well ye-"
"Don't answer that. What I mean is that we have to create a plan or diversion of some sort. Unless you plan on sacrificing your life, which I can not allow." Strange explained.
"I've faked my death before," Sherlock replied, "I can handle Mordo." He began walking towards the entrance.
Strange grabbed him by the arm. "You know what, I'm not even going to ask. I'm sure you've faked your death, you seem the type. But I would assume you've never done so in the presence of a sorcerer. We must be smart about this Sherlock. There are more lives on the line than just Johns'."
Sherlock rolled his eyes. "I can create a distraction... You get everybody out."
And suddenly they were in a narrow hallway. They could hear distant screams and sense the panic. Mordo was nowhere to be found. So Sherlock and Strange continued down the hallway and eventually saw him terrorizing a group of old women.
"MORDO I'VE ARRIVED," announced Sherlock.
"Oh we... we're doing this now?" Strange's eyes darted in a panic. "Okay!" He scrambled towards the patients.
Just as quickly, Mordo approached Sherlock with caution. He figured there was something going on so he didn't immediately attack Sherlock. "I shall bring your friend out and release the hostages, in exchange for the Wand," he told Sherlock.
"Of course." Sherlock modded.
Mordo went into a few rooms down and walked out with a badly beaten John Watson. "Your friend's a fighter. Won't go easy. So I had to do something about that."
All of a sudden, Sherlock had a sudden urge to forget about all the patients and run out with John by his side. But then he snapped back to reality. Blood was dripping from the side of John face and from his nose. His forehead had a cut and his arm had a massive bruise.
He couldn't even walk straight and limped across the room. His eyebrows were furrowed and he didn't say a word or even acknowledge Sherlock's arrival. He was probably too traumatized to even process anything. He just dragged his feet and looked at the floor with a cold dead stare.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" Sherlock shouted.
"That doesn't matter." Mordo smirked. "Now give me the Wand of Watoomb."
Strange appeared. And that's when Sherlock started to notice the lack of screams. He rescued everyone. We can leave now.
"Well it was a pleasure doing business with you, Karl. But my friends and I better get going." Sherlock matched his smirk.
Strange started to open a portal when Mordo whipped his hand with the staff of the living tribunal. Strange fell to the floor in agonizing pain. Mordo grabbed Sherlock by the arm and dragged him into the room when John was held. A sticky maroon liquid covered the floor and bloodied scalpels and tools were thrown about. The window was open, which caused the curtains to whip around. And the freezing weather sent down everyone's spine.
___
Suddenly, Strange became oriented and ran after Sherlock. John was so injured, he just stood there staring at the floor. When Strange entered, Mordo was shoving Sherlock's throat against a wall with a knife against his stomach.
"MORDO! WHAT IN THE NAME OF-" Strange began yelling.
Suddenly Mordo pulled back his hand getting ready to stab Sherlock. When Strange charged at him, he was sent sliding across the floor. And Strange pulled the knife out of his hand. Mordo started to blink rapidly and looked as if he had just had an epiphany.
"I... I don't know what I was thinking..." Mordo slowly relaxed his muscles and began slowing down his breathing. "Friend, please forgive me. I don't know what has happened. But I apologize, you were being so kind and I've made a mess."
He looked deep into Strange's eyes with such sorrow. "I'm deeply sorry for what has happened."
Strange slowly released his grip and got off of Mordo. He let the knife clatter to the floor. "It will be alright," Strange said more to himself than anybody else.
Mordo walked cautiously over to Sherlock, who was panting on the ground, with an arm held out. "And you, I apologize. I don't know what came over me. Please allow me to express my forgiveness. Not that I should ever deserve it."
Sherlock wasn't buying it, though he could tell Strange liked the flattery. Sherlock got up on his own and started to walk out of the room.
"Oh where are you going?" Mordo asked.
"That doesn't matter," mocked Sherlock in the same voice Mordo used just moments ago.
"Please let me at least get you cleaned up." Mordo pleaded. "I'm truly sorry, Sherlock!" Mordo was much stronger than Sherlock and moved him closer to the sink in the corner of the room. "Here let me wash off some of that blood." Mordo practically dragged the cloth across Sherlock's arm, leaving a red streak on his skin.
Sherlock couldn't move, Mordo was right above him holding his arm down. Any movement might arouse suspicion. So he just didn't respond. He just felt very uncomfortable and wanted to just get John and leave. Strange had left the room to check on him after he noticed Mordo was no longer evil.
"So how are you? You must be pretty shaken up from everything. I'm terribly sorry," Mordo kept saying.
"Yes, I know you've said that already." Sherlock felt uneasy. "Let me go, at once. I'd like to see my friend."
"No." Mordo shoved Sherlock towards the window and admired the view. "Beautiful, isn't it? Nature. I've was always admired it's power." Mordo stepped back and began to push Sherlock out the window when John came charging in. He pushed Sherlock out of the way. But unfortunately Mordo was very strong. He grabbed onto the collar of John's shirt and threw him out the window instead. It was a five-story drop.
Strange, seeing all of this, took all his energy and shot it at Mordo. It pushed him into the wall but Mordo shot Strange back with energy. Strange closed his eyes and suddenly generated a large ball of energy in in his hands. He took a deep breath realizing what he had to do. Finally he threw it at Mordo. The energy pushed Mordo the rest of the way through the wall, off the side of the building.
"Strange," Sherlock muttered as he looked down at Mordo and John's bodies lying side by side on the pavement. "Thank you for saving me."
___
The night sky is filled with diamonds and a brilliantly big moon. Sherlock has his hands wrapped around his bent legs. He sits on the roof with a sickening feeling of loss. John hasn't woken up in hours. He looks out into the abyss of the bustling city.
Sherlock is breathing shallow breaths. He has hardly thought about anything other than John in the past 12 hours. And he feels guilty even for hiding away up on the rooftop. But he can't bare to look at Rosie, when her father is lying in a hospital bed unconscious. All because of him and his stupid arrogance.
"Holmes..." Strange's voice was soft in the distance.
"Please just leave me," Sherlock replies, not bothering to look up at him.
"You shouldn't be alone right now. John has the best possible care and they say that his injuries aren't nearly as severe as they would typically be," Strange reassures him and sits down next to Sherlock.
"It's my fault. It's all my BLOODY FAULT!" Sherlock screams as he throws some of the rocks lying on the ground into the ocean.
"No, you can't blame yourself for this. And Mordo even said, John's a fighter," Strange says.
His name makes Sherlock heart ache. John. He's never missed somebody so much in his entire life. "I'm just waiting for them to call his time of death."
"Sherlock, how could you even say that," Strange sighed. "He's going to make it"
"HE FELL OFF A BUILDING, STRANGE. For me..." Sherlock wept. "Mordo didn't even make it and he's a wizard!"
Strange knew there was nothing he could say that would make Sherlock feel better. So he just sat there silently with him. And waited.