Deduction 7 - [ audio ]

[notquiteheartless]

[All the king's horses...

"I am not my brother."

"If you want me to shake hands with you in Hell..."

He's listened to the recordings all night, low enough to keep himself from waking John. Moriarty is taunting him. Daring him. He wants to be struck at. He wants an attack.

Sherlock is hours away from obliging him.

He even has the small bottle, carefully sealed with a cork, in his hand. The white powder is poison, and John will not misunderstand. He saw the creation and storing of it himself.

But Sherlock can feel it as he turns the bottle over in his fingers, rolls it down them carefully and into his palm. He can feel the long-ignored craving for a different white powder. The stimulant to spur him into action. With just a little cocaine, he could go after Moriarty. The sedative to keep him at bay. Heroin would afford him six hours, at least, of sleep.

The medical supplies here much contain morphine, at least.

What would it take to...

...No. He'd never convince John to get him any.

Maybe he could plead a cigarette or two from the doctor, but nicotine would do nothing for him, would satisfy no urges. He needed something stronger.

John wouldn't supply him. Sherlock knew that. If he wanted morphine, he'd have to steal it himself. Or enlist other help.

For now, though, he'd try and ignore the stagnation threatening to drive him out of his mind.]

No laptop. No internet. No newspapers.

Completely isolated from the world.

No cases.

It's like the quaint little country vacation John keeps saying I need to take. [He does not seem to like that idea at all.]

Okay. I've taken it.

I'm done with it now.

I'm bored.

I want to be back in London. I want to be back at my work. I need to get back to my work.

Comments

[notquiteheartless]

Not even a week compared to a six-month tour. Yes, I consider that kinder.

[Though he does tend to get evasice when there are topics he is uneasy about. Like much of what he saw on the draft.

Not that war holds his interest. Not this kind of war. He fights his own war in London.

A war where he can make a difference. Here, his particular abilities have little use. Unlike Scotland Yard, there is no structure to help here. No order to support by doing what they can't.

The one enemy he can battle? His hands are tied for now.]

Stupid because they make no consideration for usefulness.

[herotypical]

The lists are generated based on Shift compatibility, not skills. I'm sure they'd love to always toss their heavy hitters at the front lines but -- mostly? It's a case of not being able to sent the A-Team.

We once saw a draft were emergency last minute additions were made. They didn't fare so well. Shifting incompatibilities cause blindness or broken limbs or illness.

[notquiteheartless]

And yet, from what I have seen, they are said to be behind the "shifts" involved, so that calls into question how out of their control the selection and compatibility really is.

[herotypical]

Actually, they're hammering together artificial Shifts using some fancy tech. This world? It has natural Shifts. The secret to which the Malnosso are trying to unlock with their super-duper unethical attempts at recreating them.

[notquiteheartless]

And people have confirmed this?

[herotypical]

I've seen their Shifting machines with my own two eyes.

[notquiteheartless]

Well, that's better than "They told us so," certainly.

[herotypical]

As far as I've been able to figure out? They think the Shifts are the way to get home. Unlock the Shifts and you unlock the door, basically. That's why the ones they subject us to are so...grab-bag. They're putting their tech through its paces. Trying every option. Fine tuning the process.

[notquiteheartless]

Then they must keep records of what they've tried and what each attempt has resulted in and taught them.

[herotypical]

Of course. There were records at the facility we infiltrated but it was one of the rogue ones. One of the kidnappy ones -- a splinter cell of the first Organization. They kept notes on the experiments that happened while people were abducted.