Back from the Dead (Sherlock)

Sebastian immediately appeared to face John, grabbing his coat and trailing him into the room before slamming the door shut behind him and aiming the gun at the other man's head.

"How did you know I was here?" he snapped, suddenly grabbing him from behind and pressing the gun against his head. "Tell me!" he hissed in his ear, holding him so he couldn't get away.

Things had moved a bit too quickly for John to be able to react properly, one could tell he was rather out of practice. He thought about what was the best answer and then grinned.
"I deduced it," he said, and then kicked across his legs, trying to unbalance him as he pushed him away and moved to the side.
He walked back so to create a safer distance and aimed his own gun at Sebastian.

"How about you just surrender?" he asked, ready to fire if the sniper just as much as breathed in the wrong way.

"Surrender? Never." he spat, keeping his gun aimed at John's head.

Sebastian took a step closer, his hands gripping tighter around the gun and one finger hovering over the trigger. "Are you alone?" he asked, closely inspecting the other's face for any sense that he was lying.

Sherlock was waiting patiently downstairs, covering both the exits. After a few minutes, when no one had come down, it became clear that Moran must have made his escape some other route, so he headed back upstairs, hoping that John had managed to intercept him.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," he said with a smirk, his gun moving to aim at the other's head. "You've done what you had to do, you could come with me nicely..." he suggested, his whole body tense.

"Or I will shoot your limbs off one at a time... what do you prefer?" he asked, dead serious.

"Who said I'm going anywhere with you?" he snarled, his voice dangerous and not liking John one bit. The man obviously didn't know what would happen if he got on Sebastian's nerves. He was succeeding so far.

"If you shoot, I shoot." he said, deciding to play John's own game. A malicious grin spread across his face, finger daring to pull the trigger any second.

As Sherlock ascended the stairs he could hear voices. They were a distant mumble at first but soon became clearer the closer he got. He recognised John's voice...and deduced the other must belong to Mr Moran. Once he'd arrived on the second floor he could make out their conversation quite easily, and quickly worked out which room they were coming from.

He crept quietly along the corridor, keeping his eye on the open door of the office. He saw their shadows before he saw them and stopped a moment, as he realised Moran had managed to get a gun out too, that he and John were in some kind of gun stand off with each other. Sherlock paused to consider his actions, knowing he had to intervene, but how.

John considered his options, he could shoot this man in the face and then it would be over really quickly. To wait now meant he was putting himself in danger, and he didn't like the idea much. He was rather sure Sherlock wouldn't be very happy if he died in such a way, and he was not keen on doing that, he had a lot to lose now.

He moved in a circle, aiming his gun at Sebastian, they were too far to start a physical fight, and too close to aim to disarm him.
"This is a bit of a stalemate, isn't it?" he said with a smirk, noticing Sebastian's shoulder were turned away from the door now.

Sherlock crept slowly towards the open door. He could see that Sebastian had his back to him. As he got closer he looked over Sebastian's shoulder at John and they made eye contact. He winked silently at him to show things were all right, and tip toed further forward, intending to grab Sebastian from behind.

Sebastian kept his eyes on John, concentrating on his aim. He'd shoot the other man if he even dared to come closer. Why Sebastian hadn't already shot him, he wasn't sure. It seemed more fun this way. Challenging.

"Hmm. Quite." he replied, returning a nasty smirk.

Something didn't feel right though. How had John known he was here in the first place? Unless, somehow there were people watching him. And something told him John wasn't the only one looking at him.

John's whole body was tense, his muscles not moving a bit even when he noticed Sherlock behind Sebastian. It was perfect. "Stalemates are rather boring, don't you think?" he said to the sniper, hoping Sherlock would act faster.

He was ready to shoot, because one thing was sure, if Sebastian even so much as looked at Sherlock in the wrong way, he was going to get shot in some very painful part of his body.

Sherlock saw the glint in John's eyes that told him it was time. In one swift move he whipped his right arm around Sebastian's neck from behind, dragging him away, whilst his left arm grabbed hold of the gun, lifting Sebastian's arm into the air.

They struggled against each other and at some point the gun went off although Sherlock didn't see which way the bullet fired. He lifted up his knee and made contact with Sebastian's lower back, and he felt the gun become loose in the other man's hand. He shook his arm to dislodge it and the gun clattered to the floor, then he quickly spun him round to face him and punched him square on in the face, knocking him backwards.

It had all gone rather quickly. Sebastian had the feeling John was not alone and he had been right. But he had been concentrating too much on the doctor to notice. The man coming from behind had certainly taken him by surprise.

Sebastian was knocked backwards as the other man punched him and tried to straighten up afterwards to see who it was. He stared at Sherlock in disbelief and back to where the window was, confused with everything happening at the minute. Maybe he was just dizzy or hallucinating?

"You... but, you were... there. And then I..." he trailed off, lost for words. "What the hell is going on?!"

John kept pointing his gun at Sebastian, his hands were firm and steady like they hadn't been in ages.
"I guess you made a mistake," he muttered, not wanting to give out what their plan had been in case they needed it again.
He was feeling strangely anxious with Sherlock and the sniper so close.

Instinctively, he moved towards the door, his shoulders to it now, so he could cover Moran's retreat in case the other decided to try to flee.
"I suggest you kneel on the floor and hold your hands up, Moran... the police will be here shortly..."

Sebastian pushed Sherlock out of the way and got down on his knees, deciding to play along with it for now. He was trying to make up a plan, thinking it over quickly. His rifle was over by the window. But it would take a while to put it together.

"Now what?" he asked, glowering up at John. Sebastian wouldn't make anything else he was planning to do obvious.

He was still confused at the fact Sherlock was standing right there when he had clearly shot him. There was no point wasting time in thinking it over, he had other things in mind.

With Sebastian safely on his knees, Sherlock approached and walked behind him. He grabbed Sebastian's arms and put them behind his back before hauling him to his feet.

"Right...you're coming with me..." he demanded. "There's a whole load of government and police officials want to ask you a few questions."

Again, he let Sherlock handle him, hoping John wouldn't follow on their way out. He needed him alone.

"Fine." he muttered, planning on going quietly until they got away from anyone else.

Sherlock gripped Sebastian's hands firmly behind his back with one hand, and placed the other hand on the back of his neck, before leading him towards the door.

"I've got this John," he said, "Just grab his rifle would you?" and nodded his head towards the window where the packed away sniper rifle was still resting.

John nodded, way too used to following Sherlock's orders even though it had been so long since the last time. He moved towards the window to pack the rifle, touching it as little as possible, even though his eyes stayed on the two moving out of the apartment.

He didn't trust Moran that was sure.

Sebastian let Sherlock take him out easily, knowing he wouldn't expect any sudden attacks too soon. He didn't like the fact that John had been asked to lift his rifle though. It was his and no one else should be handling it but himself.

"Be careful with that." he snapped back at John, definitely not wanting him anywhere near it.

Sherlock dragged Sebastian away and into the corridor.

"It's OK, Moran," he reassured the sniper. "John was a soldier. He knows how to handle a rifle." Then he looked back over his shoulder at John. "You heard the man John...careful with it."

John looked at the two with a raised eyebrow, was he supposed to do a favor for the guy who just tried to shoot his boyfriend? He didn't think so.

His first impulse was to throw the whole thing out of the window, but he reckoned it might hurt someone passing by, so he stuck to dismantling it and putting it back in the bag.

Sherlock nodded with a smile at John, before turning his attention back to Sebastian.

"Right you. Let's go." he demanded and pushed him towards the stairs, still holding the other man's arms behind his back. They began to descend the steps together.

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked, bored, taking one final warning glance at John before Sherlock dragged him away out of sight and down the stairs.

Sebastian wasn't going to let Sherlock take him too far. Especially to the police. That wouldn't work. He needed a distraction. And soon.

"There's a car waiting outside," Sherlock explained as he gently pushed Sebastian ahead of him down the stairs. "I believe my brother and his friends in the government would like to ask you a few questions. Don't worry, you'll be in very capable hands..."

They walked slowly down the stairs, Sherlock trying to stay as close as he could to Sebastian. He was quite surprised he hadn't tried to struggle. After all, Sherlock had no weapons and was only holding onto Sebastian with his bare hands. But he was prepared for a fight, should it come to that.