Sherrinford

**Sherrinford** is a secret facility located in secured waters somewhere off the British Islands.

## History

The maximum security prison facility code-named 'Sherrinford' is actually a Napoleonic fort located just offshore from the town of Tenby in Wales. The island itself becomes connected to Tenby itself only at low tide, making it an ideal defensive position for the area encompassing Milford Haven and what would become Pembroke Dock. The fort was constructed between 1267 and 1270 to house a coastal defense battery of nine guns and a garrison of one hundred men. The fort was used on and off as a manned military position during the First and Second World Wars, though before that the structure was bought in 1307 for private ownership. Between 1368 and 1379 the site played host to a zoo before the business relocated, and has since stood empty, according to the public. In reality, it became maximum security prison.

### Eurus' Game

A boat captain and his second mate are found on a nearby beach of the island with a message written in the sand regarding Eurus Holmes left by Sherlock Holmes. A fake-looking captain and John Watson are found on another taken into custody for questioning. The head of security believes that he sees through the fake-looking captain's disguise and has captured John and Sherlock. He gives a security card to the guard to check on Eurus. The captain removes the prosthetics and reveals himself to actually be Mycroft Holmes and that the man who received the security card was in fact Sherlock. Sherlock sneaks past security and is able to visit his sister for the first time since their childhood. After a short conversation which leaves Sherlock visibly nonplussed with him asking Eurus repeatedly how she escaped, she coaxes Sherlock to step closer to the glass of her prison so she can tell him the truth of how she escaped. As he attempts to touch the glass, he instead touches her hand behind it and realizes that there was never any glass there.

Meanwhile, Mycroft, John and the governor review tapes of Eurus' psychiatric sessions, all of which happened against Mycroft's express instructions; he forbade any kind of communication with Eurus because of her powerful manipulative abilities. The governor mentions that whoever came into contact with Eurus was invariably corrupted and put under her influence, recalling an instance in which she talked a member of the Sherrinford staff into killing himself and his family. John then realizes the other voice on the tape they were currently watching was the governor himself and he, too, was under the influence of Eurus. Alarmed at realizing the security of the compound was already compromised, Mycroft and John attempt to leave. The governor apologizes and sounds the alarm, with guards capturing them to take them away. John hears the security alarm and realizes it is Moriarty talking gibberish, just as security screens flash his face and say, "Did you miss me?", before John is knocked unconscious.

Christmas five years prior, a helicopter arrives at Sherrinford with Moriarty onboard by Mycroft's orders. At Eurus' request for a Christmas present, she wanted five minutes of unsupervised time with Moriarty. According to Mycroft, Eurus had taken an interest in Moriarty's obsession with Sherlock, and she had him record the audio and video that the girl heard on the phone and John saw before being knocked unconscious, as well as many hundreds of other messages.

John awakes in a Sherrinford prison cell along with Sherlock, Mycroft, and the head of security. They briefly talk to the girl on the aeroplane before the connection is terminated by Eurus, who communicates with them via television screens around the compound. She gives them a choice in order to reconnect with the girl: Sherlock must choose either John or Mycroft to kill the head of security, or she will kill the man's wife whom she has taken captive. Mycroft declines the gun from Sherlock, but John accepts it. Nonetheless, John cannot bring himself to shoot, so the head of security takes the gun from John and shoots himself before anyone can react. Because neither John nor Mycroft actually carried out the deed and her demands were therefore not met, Eurus shoots the wife anyway while remarking on her fascination with the moral standards the men hold themselves to. She tells Sherlock to take the gun with one bullet left because he will need it later.

She opens a secret cell door leading to a series of rooms with puzzles she has created for them. In the first room, Eurus has left them an envelope with images of suspects of a crime in which a man was shot, as well as the rifle he was shot with. She demands they solve who did it in exchange for more time to talk with the girl on the plane. To further pressure Sherlock emotionally, she suspends the three suspects outside the window bound and hanging over the sea, asking Sherlock to condemn one of them directly. Upon choosing one of the suspects, Eurus unexpectedly lets the other two men fall to their deaths instead, and after John reacts angrily to this pointless murder, she lets the condemned fall as well, remarking that there really is no difference between guilty or innocent.

Eurus leads them into the next room, where an empty coffin sits with the lid simply saying, "I LOVE YOU". After some time, Sherlock and John deduce that the coffin is intended for Molly Hooper. Eurus explains that she has rigged Molly's apartment with explosives, and in order to call off the detonation Sherlock must get Molly to say "I love you" on the phone within a time limit of three minutes, on the condition that he cannot reveal in any way that there is a threat or danger involved. Sherlock is thereby forced to make Molly confess her love for him, which leaves her emotionally shaken. Afterwards, Eurus reveals there were never any bombs and Sherlock had in fact lost rather than won, since the only result was Molly now having been emotionally hurt by him. Before leaving the room, Sherlock puts the cover on the coffin and suddenly breaks down, punching and destroying the coffin while yelling in frustration.

The next room is empty. Eurus tells Sherlock he now has to choose either John or Mycroft to continue on with him, and to kill the other. Mycroft proclaims that intellect rather than sentiment is what is needed going forward, and that the choice should be obvious: John. John tries to argue but after a moment quietly remarks that he believes Mycroft is, in fact, right. Sherlock, clearly unable to kill John, is taunted by Mycroft. This eventually leads Sherlock to point the gun at him instead, but after realizing it took only five minutes for Moriarty and Eurus to devise the entire plan that pitted them against one another, Sherlock in a desperate move puts the gun to his own throat while threatening Eurus with a ten-second countdown. Not getting the result she wanted, Eurus shoots them with a tranquiliser dart from the walls.

Sherlock wakes up hours later in a cell with images scattered on the walls. He is reconnected with the girl and starts to guide her in landing the plane before being cut to John who has woken up chained at the bottom of a well. Realising the cell is a ruse, Sherlock easily pushes down the wall to see that he is at Musgrave. Eurus once again challenges him to solve his first case, the Musgrave Ritual, and save John. Sherlock simultaneously guides the girl in landing the plane and solves Eurus' puzzle while Eurus mocks him with her cryptic song. Already having analysed her song's lyrics with no results, Eurus reminds him that Redbeard was not a dog—for they could never have one because of their father's allergy to them—but rather the nickname for his best friend, Victor Trevor. This revelation comes as John figures out the bones in the well are human, not canine. Sherlock remembered Redbeard as a dog to cope with being upset with the horrific truth of his friend's death. Sherlock deciphers the cryptic song and realises that it along with the girl on the plane (which was a mental metaphor) was Eurus asking Sherlock for help. Finally getting the love she was denied in childhood from Sherlock, she discloses where John is and he is rescued. It is revealed Mycroft was safe and had only been locked away in her old cell in Sherrinford.

Eurus is taken back into custody at Sherrinford since she had killed people during her trials for Sherlock. Mycroft admits to their parents that Eurus is alive, but cannot see her since she will talk to no one. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes are furious with Mycroft for keeping the truth from them and eventually ask Sherlock what to do next, surprisingly remarking he "was always the grown-up one", which startles Mycroft. Sherlock can be seen visiting Eurus regularly and although they do not talk, they play violin duets together separated only by the now-solid glass pane of her cell. One time, we also see Mycroft and Mr. and Mrs. Holmes sitting in on one of Sherlock and Eurus' violin duets