A Study in Sherlock

[3]

Back in Evansville, Scarlett had been rapidly sending out messages to a group of British Tumblr-ians with her brother's phone. She needed them for her mission, which she, without any guilt whatsoever, she might add, had been a major part of starting.

The best part, she'd decided, was that she'd blatantly stolen, no wait, taken her own passport from the safe in the basement, and neither of her parents had said anything about it. They also didn't ask why she was packing a camping bag, two bookbags, and a sleeping bag case with about 75% of the house's food, two weeks worth of clothes, and five knives from the kitchen.

Heading out the basement door to avoid suspicion (which she doubted would be a concern), Scarlett hiked three blocks west to her friend Josh's house.

Approaching the stairs to the porch, Scarlett's ears were met with the yelling of four different voices, each a slightly different pitch. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was blasting through the house, and the voices were screaming along with it. Occasionally, a jeer or curse would interrupt the flow of the song.

Laughing to herself quietly, Scarlett slowly pulled the front door open and silently slid into the foyer, careful not to make a noise.

Peering around the corner before quickly retracting, Scarlett observed the scattered pizza boxes, empty Solo cups, and four guys sprawled around with video game controllers in their hands. Typical.

Sliding over to the door again, Scarlett quietly wrenched the door open and then slammed it shut, followed by hollering, "GUESS WHO'S BACK?!"

The music instantly stopped and a voice shouted, "Oh God, she's here!"

Another said, "You didn't say she'd show up!"

"She can hear us!"

"Yeah, and she's probably got a YouTube worthy video of us!"

Whipping around the corner, Scarlett was met with four of her good friends throwing themselves into her, each person thinking she would give up a camera or phone of some sort.

"Give it up, ScarLaz!" Michael shouted, thrusting his hand out and accidently punching Scarlett in the shoulder.

"We know you have something!" ordered Jeremy, towering over Scarlett at six foot one (even though he was only seventeen).

Stephen reached into the nearest bag he could get to without Scarlett noticing (or so he thought) and fished around in it. But, Scarlett noticed and smacked his hand away while shoving her way to the kitchen counter.

Before she could set anything down, Josh slid onto the nearest bar stool and crossed his arms, sticking his nose in the air.

"No way, Lazarus. Until you give up whatever you were taping us with, you can't sit," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Scarlett just smirked and thought with strong fondness, I can't believe these adorable jerks are my best friends.

"Fine then. I won't sit. If fact, I've got about 75% of my house's food with me, two weeks of clothes, and five knives with me. I'm pretty dang sure I can survive if you kick me out," she said, whirling around to face the direction of the front door.

Whipping around to add one last flame to her "fire," she said with the most malicious expression she could summon, "And I won't give up my camera." With that, she spun around on her heel and marched straight out the door, the four guys following like a parade of ducklings.

---

"What do you mean, battle plans?" Josh asked. He rolled his pencil around in hand worriedly.

"Yep, battle plans. We're going to storm Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss with the help of an army of teenage fans, male and female," explained Scarlett as if she was explaining going for a walk around the block.

"And you've been mapping it out since when?" said Michael, observing Scarlett's perfectly drawn map of the United Kingdom expanding over ten sheets of 18-inch rice paper sheets.

"And what's up with the rice paper?" added Stephen.

Scarlett shrugged.

"My parents are both trained in sushi making. They got married in Japan."

She turned back to the map and added a few more lines. The boys watched her in fascination, the tip of her pencil gliding around like it had a mind of its own. Finally, with a satisfied exhale, Scarlett pulled her switchblade out of her pocket, unfolded it, and stabbed it into the heart of the map.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to properly dominate a country. And once it's in our hands, it will be renamed the United Fandom!"

The boys stared at her in horror.

"What? It's not like it'll be a massacre," Scarlett reasoned. "The people of the UK will still live peacefully."

Josh nodded with total doubt.

"How do you even dominate a country without killing people?" he asked.

Scarlett shrugged.

"We'll find a way."

Josh gave his friend a skeptical glance.

"Sure. Good luck!"

Scarlett just laughed. She had it all planned out. In fact, she had it planned out for years.