Face the Odds

Chapter 28: Eurus

In the Governor's office

"Why am I here?" Eurus Holmes asked on the screen, which was currently showing footage of one of her attempted psychiatric sessions.

The screen showed four different angled security shots of Eurus as she sat cross-legged before the glass of her prison, her head slightly bowed and her expression empty of any emotions while she seemingly examined the blank ground before her.

"Why do you think you're here?" A male voice questioned faintly, the speaker off-screen, and Eurus answered flatly: "No-one ever tells me."

John frowned from his spot behind Mycroft, where the eldest Holmes sibling was seated at the Governor's desk. The Governor himself stood on the other side, his hands tucked grimly into his pockets as they all stared at the projection panel on the wall, where Eurus asked onscreen: "Am I being punished?"

"You've been bad." The man answered shortly, but Eurus answered in an almost sing-song voice: "There's no such thing as 'bad'."

"What about good?" The man questioned, but Eurus answered without missing a beat and without any inflection in her voice: "Good and bad are fairytales."

She cocked an eyebrow though she kept her eyes on the ground as she continued flatly: "We have evolved to attach an emotional significance to what is nothing more than the survival strategy of the pack animal."

John frowned slightly, noting that her cold and rapid speech sounded eerily similar to Sherlock's when he was firing off what he considered to be an unimportant or uninteresting deduction – or simply trying to annoy Anderson.

"We are conditioned to invest divinity in utility. Good isn't really good, evil isn't really wrong, and bottoms aren't really pretty. You are a prisoner of your own meat."

"Why aren't you?" The man countered, and Eurus finally lifted her head.

Staring right at the camera, she answered slowly and distinctly: "I'm too clever."

************

Outside the facility

Marie glanced around again with a frown.

Something... something wasn't right. She could just feel it. Maybe she should have argued to go with John and Mycroft...

Marie glanced to the side absently, before she focused more sharply and her frown deepened at what she was seeing.

"What...?" She muttered, eyes narrowing.

************

Inside Eurus's cell room

Eurus finally finished playing her piece, slowly lowering her bow. Still not turning around, she asked – her voice carrying through to the speakers set up outside the sealed glass cell: "Did you bring it?"

"I'm sorry?" Sherlock asked with a puzzled frown, and Eurus answered impatiently and sharply: "My hairband. Did you bring it like I asked?"

"I'm," Sherlock answered hesitantly, still confused, "not one of the... I-I don't work here."

"My special hairband." Eurus stressed, and Sherlock answered firmly: "I'm not one of your doctors."

"The one I made you steal, from Mummy."

Sherlock paused, tensing slightly at Eurus's words while the woman turned to face him at last.

Pale eyes met pale blue as Eurus said intently: "It was the last thing I said to you, remember? The day they took me away."