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A short while later, John has caught up with Cora and Sherlock, hobbling along on his cane after them down the street as he now asks, "Where are we going?"

"Northumberland Street's a five-minute walk from here," Sherlock informed him.

"You think he's stupid enough to go there?"

"No," Sherlock returned expectantly with a smile, "I think he's brilliant enough. I love the brilliant ones. They're always so desperate to get caught."

"Why?" the older man frowned in question.

"Appreciation!" Cora told him with a smile almost as equal as her brothers, "Applause! Finally, finally, at long last, the spotlight. That's the frailty of genius, John: it needs an audience."

"Yeah," John now offers the female Holmes a pointed look.

Oblivious to the implications, Sherlock spins briefly around on his heel to specify the area before them when all Cora did shake her head and pinch her nose for him being a show-off as they continued down the street.

"This is his hunting ground, right here in the city's heart. But, of course, now that we know his victims were abducted, that changes everything. Because all his victims disappeared from busy streets and crowded places, but nobody saw them go," Sherlock holds his hands up on either side of his head, trying to concentrate on his thoughts, "Think! Who do we trust, even though we don't know them? Who passes unnoticed wherever they go? Who hunts in the middle of a crowd?"

"Dunno. Who?" John asked them with a shrug.

"Haven't the faintest. Hungry?" Sherlock replied as he and Cora uncaringly shrugged, both just as stumped.

Since lowering his hands, Sherlock and Cora lead John towards one of their favourite places to eat in London. A waiter stands near the small restaurant's entrance, and it's clear to John that they know who the twins are. He takes them to a reserved table in the front window.

Cora offered her appreciation as they took off their coats and sat down, "Thank you, Billy."

The twins instantly turned to gaze out the window just as John sat down, the female Holmes nodding at the building across the road, "Twenty-two Northumberland Street. Keep your eyes on it."

"He isn't just going to ring the doorbell, is he? He'd need to be mad," John conveyed to them.

"Need I remind you that he's already killed four people," the female Holmes recalls with a scoff.

"Sherlock!" a man bellows joyously with a grin, approaching their table, briefly shaking hands with the male Holmes, "Anything on the menu, whatever you want, free," he lays out some menus, "And of course, the ravishing Cora who's always with her brother accompanying even when he's on a date anything on the house for you as well. Cora couldn't help but smile at the large man, laughing a little at how he possibly thought John was her brother's date.

"Do you want to eat?" Sherlock now turned to John.

"I'm not his date," John implied to the man.

"Oh, my apologies," he awkwardly cleared his throat before looking between the female Holmes and John, "Then you must be Cora's date."

"He's not my date," Cora implied seriously with a frown, leaving an awkward silence in the air.

"Oh, well, these two here got me off a murder charge."

"This is Angelo," Cora introduced to John, who briefly shakes the other man's hand as she continued to explain, "Three years ago, my brother and I successfully proved to Lestrade at the time of a particularly vicious triple murder that Angelo was in a completely different part of town," she added lastly, "House-breaking."

"They cleared my name."

"Just a little bit," the female Holmes reminded Angelo.

"Anything happening opposite?" Sherlock now asked.

"Nothing," Angelo shook his head before turning to John again, "If it weren't for them, I'd have gone to prison."

"You did go to prison," Sherlock frowned at him.

"I'll get a candle for the table. It's more romantic," Angelo suggested, looking at John again before walking away.

"I'm not his date or hers!" John returned indignantly as the man walked away.

Cora gently placed down her menu to look at him and casually suggested with a slight shrug of her shoulders and a genuine smile, "You may as well eat. We might have a long wait."

A few moments later, Angelo placed a small glass bowl containing a lit tea light on the dining table, giving a thumbs-up to walk away again.

"Thanks," he returned briefly, not as annoyed as before, giving the younger woman a smile in which she returned thinking this wouldn't be so bad if it were just them here, and yes, she was a little mad like her brother. But it was him, her and Sherlock, so maybe it wouldn't be considered romantic.

A while later, John eats from a plate of food before him. Even though they have ordered something for themselves, he's noticed that only Sherlock hasn't touched a single morsel off his plate. But, unfortunately, his gaze too fixed out the window as he quietly tapped his fingers against the table's surface. Cora, on the other, had only stopped to look out the window for a couple of seconds after taking a few bites of food and continued to do so.

"People don't have arch-enemies," John now spoke, making Sherlock finally look around at him, and Cora stopped with a forkful of food midair about to bite.

"I'm sorry?"

"In real life. There are no arch-enemies in real life. Doesn't happen."

Sherlock gazed back out the window again with disinterest as his sister shook her head, knowing that her brother didn't know much, "Doesn't it? Sounds a bit dull."

"So, who did I meet?"

"What do real people have in their 'real lives?" he asked John.

"Friends; people they know; people they like; people they don't like...girlfriends, boyfriends..."

"Yes, well, as I was saying, dull," Sherlock responded, still not paying attention.

"You don't have a girlfriend, then?"

With Sherlock still too engrossed gazing out the window, his sister responded, "Not his area."

"Oh, right," John nods and gives himself a moment to understand Cora's statement about her brother, "So a boyfriend then?" now taking an interest in the conversation, Sherlock turned to look sharply at him, "Which I'm fine with, by the way."

"I know it's fine," Sherlock tells him as the older man smiles to indicate that he didn't mean anything negative by his words.

"So you've got a boyfriend then?"

"No," Sherlock quickly replied, not knowing or understanding what he had meant, as Cora shook her head, knowing how dense her brother can be at times.

"Right," John went on with a smile that was becoming forced and awkward, "Okay. You're unattached. Like me," he threw the female Holmes a glance whilst she wasn't looking at him, but now out the window, he looked down at his plate, trying to think of something to say but comes up blank, "Fine," he clears his throat, "Good,"

As John returns to eating, the twins give him a wary look for a second, only to return their attention out the restaurant window.

Cora has now forgone the rest of her meal, noticing her brother deep in thought before turning his head slightly towards John, speaking rushed and awkwardly that he's almost babbling, "John, um... I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work, and so does my sister, for that matter, if you're that way or not, and we're both rather flattered, but neither of us is looking for any..."

"No," John interrupted, turning to clear his throat, "No, I'm not asking. No," he kept his gaze on the twins, conveying his sincerity, "I'm just saying, it's all fine."

"Good," Sherlock nods, "Good. Thank you."

With that, Sherlock returned to watching the street, and Cora returned to what she had been doing before and took a bite of her food. John looked away with a somewhat bemused expression that caught the female Holmes' eye, silently asking her, 'What the hell was that all about?!' yet all she could do was shrug and give a small smile.

Cora quickly tried changing the subject, speaking up and nodding out the window, "Look across the street. Taxi," her brother and John both twisted in their seats to glance out the restaurant's window where a taxi was currently parked on the side of the road it's back facing them yet no one got out making, "It has stopped. But nobody is getting in or out. Why a taxi?" she analysed looking towards her brother, "I have said that's rather clever. Is it clever? Why is it clever?"

"That's him?"

"Don't stare," Sherlock tells them both.

John looks over at him and implies, "What you're staring at as well."

"We can't all stare," with that. The Holmes twins hurriedly grabbed their coats and scarves to chase after the taxi John behind them, who had neglected his walking stick.

The twins pull on their coats, charging down the street, almost getting run, not taking notice of the road. A car from the left slams hard on its brakes, the driver yelling at them. Sherlock allows the forward momentum to let him roll across the vehicle's bonnet and land on his feet to continue chasing the taxi.

John had thankfully gotten there in time to yank Cora back by the hand and into him, almost unnerved her, returning a brief look of gratefulness. He pats the car bonnet, and still holding Cora's hand, they both vaulted over the front of the car to quickly apologise.

Now letting go of one another's hands, they chase after Sherlock, who is a few yards ahead up the road and comes to a halt, realising that they won't catch the taxi as his sister and John, now caught up with him, stop beside him.

"I've got the cab number," John informed, catching his breath.

"Good for you," Cora told him somewhat pleasantly as she glanced over at her twin, who had his hands resting on either side of his head, who alone had every London street memorised along with herself but didn't need to look as ridiculous as her brother when doing so.

"Right turn, one way, roadworks, traffic lights, bus lane, pedestrian crossing, left turn only, traffic lights," Sherlock shot out rapidly, and at that moment, the other Holmes knew precisely where they were heading.

They hurried down an alleyway where a man was unlocking a door to a building. Racing towards him, Sherlock shoves him out of the way.

"Come on, John!" Cora briefly looks over her shoulder as she yells back at him once they go down some stairs and jump across a roof.

"Come on, John. We're losing him!" Sherlocked called across to John, who had stopped. The female Holmes gives him a look of encouragement and, in doing so, takes a few paces back and jumps across. The three keep running onwards over more rooftops and down more staircases until finally reaching the black cab, Sherlock being the one to stand in front of it.

"Police! Open her up!" Sherlock quickly pulled out a badge from his jacket and then opened the door along with his sister but straight away saw it wasn't their man who gazed back at them anxiously.

Instantly, Sherlock straightens up in exasperation. Just as John joins them, Cora rolls her eyes in disbelief before deducing the man. "Obviously not," she takes a closer look at the man, almost invading his personal space before moving away, "Teeth, tan: Californian perhaps?"

Sherlock joins her, noticing the luggage on the floor, grimacing slightly, "L.A., Santa Monica. Just arrived."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"The luggage," Sherlock indicated his eyes to the cab's floor and the suitcase luggage label with LAX to LHR printed on it.

"It's probably your first trip to London, right, going by your final destination and the route the cabbie was taking you?" Sherlock asked the passenger.

"Sorry - are you guys the police?" the man questioned with a frown.

"Yeah," he quickly flashed the badge at the man just as Cora noticed it, not having seen it before until now, "Everything all right?"

"Yeah," the American man returned with a smile.

"Welcome to London," Sherlock greeted with a false smile along with his sister before immediately walking away.

Now leaving, John gazed blankly ahead briefly before reminding himself where he was, poking his head inside the cab door and looking towards the American passenger, "Er, any problems, just let us know."

In response, the man nodded as John returned a polite smile and slammed the cab door shut. He was leaving the passenger somewhat bewildered. John joins Cora and Sherlock, who are just a few yards behind the taxi.

"Just a cab that happened to slow down."

"Basically," the female Holmes nodded.

"Not the murderer," John asked.

"Not the murderer, no," Cora voiced with disappointment.

"Wrong country, good alibi."

"Do I need even ask where you got this from, Sherlock?" Cora asked, snatching the badge out of her brother's hand as John read the name on it to ask.

"Detective Inspector Lestrade?"

"Yes, I pickpocket him when he's annoying," Sherlock explained to them both, "You can keep that.

"I never knew that. Any wonder why they all hate you." 

"Cora dear, let John have that one. I've got plenty at the flat," Cora laughed, passing it to John, who nodded for a moment, glanced down at the badge, and silently giggled to himself as he lifted his head.

"What?" Sherlock asked.

"Nothing, just: 'Welcome to London,'" all three laughed before Cora and Sherlock peered down, noticing an actual police officer had come to investigate why the cab got stopped. The American passenger has since gotten out and started pointing the road towards them.

With a knowing smirk, Cora glanced in John's direction, "Got your breath back?"

"Ready when you are," he returned with an equal before all three turned off, running through the streets of London back towards Baker Street.

Graphic by beloved