John Watson the slave, Sherlock Holmes the master.

Chapter 12

"Brother mine!" Sherlock said pushing open the doors to an office and walking in. I followed behind him although not because I was his slave, but because he had long legs and walked quickly. The room was large and ornate with a big desk on the other side with Mycroft sitting behind it, at the sound of the doors opening he looked up from the laptop on his desk. I didn't get a chance to have a close look at the room because a moment later Sherlock started talking.

"Did you know?" He said angrily walking towards Mycroft. Before Mycroft could reply however a woman came running in. 

"I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him..." She started, apologising but before she could finish Mycroft waved his hand and she scurried out.

"I have no clue what you are talking about." Mycroft replied walking around his desk so he was in front of Sherlock. They were no more than a meter apart, both glaring daggers at each other. I just stayed back not wanting to get involved.

"Oh but you do. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The micro-chip." Sherlock said practically spitting at the end. If looks could kill Mycroft  would be dust. The moment Sherlock said the word 'micro-chip' the blood drained from Mycroft's face, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. He leaned back against the desk and let out a breath of air, almost as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Shakily, he walked back around the desk and sat down. "So you do know." Sherlock said going quiet again and stepping back almost in disbelief. I didn't blame him. "Shut it down." Sherlock's voice sounded final but Mycroft only shook his head.

"I can't." He said quietly, all illusion of him being more powerful and above us was gone.

"Don't give me that crap, you've always boasted about how important and smart you are. If you can't shut this down then no one can." Sherlock said, disbelief written across his face.

"You have no idea what you are meddling in Sherlock. I'm curious, how did yours get disabled?"

"Oh right, I should probably thank you. If not for your gift several years ago, it would still be active." For the first time, Mycroft turned to look at John with wide eyes, before turning to Sherlock.

"You couldn't possibly mean...?" He said droning off at the end.

"How did yours get turned off?" Sherlock asked evading the question. 

"Being whom I am, they decided it best to deactivate the chip so I could give an unbiased opinion on things. They couldn't have my opinion clouded, it would defeat the whole purpose of having me here. Now, even if I tell you to leave this alone I know you won't. I'm not going to help you, I can't, but I might answer some questions." Mycroft said before turning his back and walking back to sit in the chair behind his desk.

"What do you mean, 'you have no idea what you are meddling in'?" Sherlock asked before also taking a seat. I hadn't moved and wasn't planning to until Sherlock called. "John take a seat." Sighing, I did as he said and took the seat next to Sherlock. Mycroft raised an eyebrow but didn't say a thing. He turned back to face Sherlock before replying.

"Only that our entire economy depends on it. The chips get disabled and slavery gets abolished but what then. We go back to our happy lives? No, I don't think so. We make a lot of money from slavery, it is what makes our country strong. People that don't have money and would end up on the streets have a home because they are slaves. Criminals, instead of cluttering up jails they serve the people and the government makes money out of it. Slaves are made to do the jobs that the free people don't want to do and they don't have to get paid, just get given a home and food. You get rid of slavery and suddenly the government is down millions of pounds, the people that made money out of slavery rebel and become a problem, it is just easier keeping the system the way it is. Changing it will make a lot of important people very unhappy." Mycroft said, his face void of emotion.

"You say you can't shut it down." Sherlock said leaving the rest of his sentence to be inferred.

"I can't. I'm part of the government, it would look very poorly upon me if I were the one to break and change our economy. Things always have a habit of adapting, I'm sure something would get worked out if the system were to be destroyed by someones idiotic brother. All they would need to do is steal my laptop, create and upload a virus onto it designed to specifically destroy the micro-chip system, take it to the basement of this building and plug it into the mainframe so the virus can spread. It would be awful if such a thing were to happen, wouldn't it? Of course, they would also need to use someones key card to access the room, they wouldn't steal my card, it would cause too much suspicion. But let's say they went up one floor and stole a different key card. Good thing we have security cameras to catch them." Mycroft gave Sherlock a pointed look, then moved to look me. "It's a two person job, I doubt there would be two people willing to do such a thing. One would have to steal the key card while the other broke into my laptop in order to do everything on time. In about 10 minutes I'm going on a short lunch break so you two should show yourself out. Pleasure as always, brother mine." Mycroft smiled then returned his focus to his laptop.  Sherlock stood up quickly and left the room, I ran after him still processing what had just happened.

"Why is your brother helping us?" I asked struggling to keep up with Sherlock's long pace. Apparently realising my struggle, the man slowed down slightly before answering.

"I assume it's because of you." Sherlock said looking deftly forwards.

"Why...?" I asked then droned off in realisation. It was because Sherlock loved me, there would be no other way to convince Mycroft to help otherwise. I changed topics quickly. "I assume we are going to the surveillance room?" I asked. Sherlock rolled his eyes at my obvious stupidity, which I ignored, and continued onward. After several long corridors and three flights of stairs, we made it to the surveillance room and stood outside.

"John, take your scarf off." He commanded, I didn't even have to think before obeying, it was my job to obey after all. "No one looks twice at a slave. Go in there and knock out the two security guards." Understanding at once, I pulled the door open and in a few minutes the two guards were lying unconscious on the floor. Sherlock dragged me in and shut the door behind us, separating us from the world. There were several monitors lining a desk with two keyboards infront of them. I took a seat next to Sherlock and observed him. He seemed desperate, and anxious, and I could understand why. This needed to be done, but if we failed... Sherlock watched the screens with rapt attention and I watched him, waiting for him to find something. After a moment he seemed to find something and pointed. "Look there John. It's on her desk. Look at the screens and memorise where it is, you need to walk there with no hesitation. Keep your head down and act like you belong. Once they see your collar they won't question your presence. Go, meet me in Mycroft's office." I looked at the floor, it was four floors up, exactly where Mycroft said to go. I took one more look at where to go, shoved the scarf in my pocket, and left the room.