Chapter 68:

“It seems you have a lot of rooms to let.”

Sherlock said while following the prison guard as he looked around the now-empty prison. The prison was more of an underground dungeon with most of the prison cells open, opting out for Sherlock’s current question.

“We had to move the prisoners, sir.” The guard said without looking back as he walked forward, “Otherwise, we are gonna have a riot. He has a peculiar effect on the inmates. As though…”

His words trailed off as he stopped and looked at Sherlock, who was looking back at him; the prison guard continued warily, “As though… He could get inside their heads.”

Sherlock stared at him for a while then replied sarcastically, “I’m sure I could find my way from here…. If you’ve other duties to perform.”

“Much obliged, sir,” The officer said hurriedly as he prepared to leave, “Thank you, sir.”

He said his final farewell and left.

“If any man has an ear, let him hear.”

A murmuring sound was heard as Sherlock walked towards it.

“I stood upon the sand of a sea and saw a beast rise up having seven heads and ten horns. Upon his heads were the names of blasphemy. They worshipped the dragon, which gave power. They worshipped, saying, “Who is like unto the beast?” The beast which I saw was like a leopard…. His feet were of a bear, his mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority…”

Sherlock directly looked through the bars with his eyes deeply looking onto Blackwood in amazement and curiosity.

“I loved what you have done with the place,” Sherlock said while looking at the carvings on the prison wall. They were filled with stick humans, dragons and beasts.

“So glad you could accept my invitation,” Blackwood said without turning around.

“I just have a small point of concern,” Sherlock said calmly with his hands behind his back as he looked towards Blackwood.

“How can I help?” Blackwood smiled lightly.

“I’d followed the murders with some interest. While my heart went out primarily to the victims’ families, I couldn’t but notice a criminal mastery in the stroke of your brush.” Sherlock remarked with both his hands inside his pocket.

“You’re too kind-” As Blackwood tried to say something, he was cut off as Sherlock continued.

“However, by comparison, you work in the crypt…” Sherlock let out a sigh as he continued, “Was more akin to a finger painting.”

Blackwood, who was talking with his back lying on the wall with a small cultist book in his hand, finally turned around and looked at Sherlock as he said, “So now you’re curious as to whether there is a larger game afoot.”

“Either that or umm…. Shortly my friend would pronounce you dead, and I thought I could keep him company.” Sherlock said as he looked at Blackwood.

“Your mistake is to imagine that anything earthly led to this moment. Your error of judgement is to assume that I’m holding the brush at all. I’m merely the channel.” Blackwood said while looking into Sherlock’s eyes.

“Well, my only wish is that I caught you sooner. You see, five lives might have been spared.” Sherlock commented with emotion.

***

“Cut!”

Will said as the scene came to an end. It was one of the most intense scenes where Lord Blackwood challenges Sherlock that three more lives will be lost, and there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it.

The shooting currently was taking place at one of the oldest mansions of London. It was quite big and had become a spot for mediaeval themed shooting. It even had an underground dungeon which Will used to shoot the current scene.

Will walked towards the cameramen and his team and told them to replay the scene; after confirming that the scene was caught perfectly, he commanded everyone to move on to prepare the next scene.

“Director Evans.”

Ewan walked towards Will as he mentioned his name.

“You can just call me Will. Yes? What is it? Was there a problem?”

Will asked while looking at Ewan.

“I just thought I should give you some respect now that I’m working on your movie. No, everything was fine. There is just this one suggestion I had.” Ewan said as he looked at Will.

He had gained a lot of respect for Will ever since the shooting started. All of Will’s movements, gestures and commands looked so experienced and perfect that people would doubt he was just 22 years old.

Although the age gap and experience gap between himself and Will made it a lot easier to talk to him and put out his ideas.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Will said with a smile, “I would consider it if it’s something good.

“The thing is, in my opinion, Lord Blackwood’s character is a lot deeper, but its portrayal seems rather tame. I want to add a bit of a variation to it… like making him crazier. Otherwise, he’s currently giving the vibe of a villain who is easily forgotten. Can I improvise some of his dialogues so that people will get more idea about his backstory?” Ewan asked as he waited for Will’s opinion about it.

Lord Blackwood was a great Sherlock villain because he was more intelligent than most people but not smarter than Holmes. Although he was a great character, he certainly lacked an edge and was more of a quiet villain in the original movie. Although he was supposed to hide a lot of madness behind his quiet mask, it wasn’t portrayed in the film. Otherwise, Blackwood was more a Joker-like character.

“It’s a good idea, and I don’t mind implementing it as long as it’s not affecting the quality of the movie. And in my opinion, it would increase the quality rather than decrease it. So sure, tell me about all the changes you want. I would help with what changes we can make and which ones we can’t.” Will smiled and said.

Ewan’s portrayal of Lord Blackwood was totally different from Mark Strong, the original actor who had played Lord Blackwood, and it was expected since they were both totally different characters. But Will felt like it was way better than the original, and he even felt like it was a little tragic that they wouldn’t be using him in the sequel, and he would die by the end of the movie.

“By the way, this Robert guy. Man, his acting is great. I don’t know how he was still hidden in the industry for so long.” Ewan commented during his talk with Will. His impression of Robert has increased dramatically throughout the shooting, and he felt quite the synergy when his dialogues with Robert came.

Will just smiled as he knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, just things are tougher at first. After all, the first time is always unpleasant.

After that, they continued to talk about what changes they could make and how it would look on the actual screen.

[IMAGE]

***

*Crack* *Crush*

A crushing sound came out as Sherlock kept twitching his eyes irately.

“London’s so bleak this time of the year.”

Sherlock’s eyes shot open as he heard a female’s voice from behind him.

The owner of the voice took the crushed walnuts from the basket and stood up as she said, “Not that I’m pining for New Jersey. I much prefer to travel in winter.”

Sherlock adjusted the book that he had in his hand as he raised his upper body slightly, leaning on his hand as he blinked his eyes towards the woman intruder.

The woman sat down in front of him and threw something in front of him, “Here I brought you these, all the way from Syria. I found these exquisite dates in Jordan and your favourite…. Olives from the Cyclades. I thought we might have a little tea party. And while I was setting the table, I found this: A file with my name on it.”

As the woman was browsing through the file, Sherlock sneakily got up and opened a shelf. Looking at the contents, he sighed in relief and closed it again as he picked up the basket filled with walnuts.

“The theft of the Velásquez portrait from the King of Spain. Missing naval documents lead to the resignation of the Bulgarian prime minister scandalous affair ends the engagement of… perhaps to both Romanov princesses.”

The woman closed the file and looked towards Sherlock, he threw a walnut in his mouth and replied calmly, “I’m simply studying your methods…. Should the authorities ask me to hunt you down?”

“But I don’t see my name on any of these articles.” The woman, Irene Adler, said with a light smile.

“But your signature was clear.” Sherlock retorted as he went near her and picked up the locket hanging on her chest, “Is that the Maharajah’s missing diamond?….. Or just another souvenir?”

“Let’s not dwell on the past…. Shall we?” She said by making a face that didn’t leave room for any compromise. Sherlock just stared at her weirdly.

…

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