audio

[prepared_to_burn]

[Yes, Asgard. He's not anon, for once. He's also not signing this with "M" either. Best to preserve that identity.]

The things that attacked us -- Does anyone have a body? I want to examine one.

Comments

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

Ah -- we had the body of a victim, but he walked out of the hospital yesterday.

Though, one of the members of the Forensics Unit was 'Taken' but has since returned to normal and to work. Would you like to examine her?

[audio - private]

[prepared_to_burn]

Does she show any lingering effects? And I want the body of one of the creatures. What actually attacked us. What they became. I want to examine that.

[His voice is sharper than usual, almost a snap.

Stimulants making him high-strung? ...Maybe. He won't admit that, though.]

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

None. As far as I can determine by interviewing her no lingering effects.

That will be difficult. The killed Taken crumbled into dust. The only person I heard who was urging people to capture rather than kill was Arthur-san.

[audio - private]

[prepared_to_burn]

[Well. Something just broke. Small and glass by the sound of it.

But by the time Sherlock speaks, he has a slightly even voice. But there's definitely strain.]

Was he successful?

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

You'd have to ask him. I lost touch with that group about the time that we were hit by a tornado. [And Merlin died which is the major reason Conan hasn't contacted Arthur himself.]

[Conan's been trying not to make assumptions based on tone or anything but that sound--]

Has ... Sherlock-sensei been alone all this time?

[audio - private]

[prepared_to_burn]

I wish I had been.

[There's a bite to his tone, an irritation.

The Heimdall clinic was, for his tastes, too small. But after his injuries (even if they had healed) and being unarmed... he'd stayed there, doing his best to put a decent amount of space between him and the others.

And, of course, there'd been Mycroft's calls and texts. He'd ignored most of them.

He'd spent the hours scribbling notes and ideas on pieces of paper, most of which he'd scratched out not three hours later. But he hadn't ventured back to the hospital, hadn't gotten more work done. And without work to occupy him, he'd taken more and more of the stimulants.

He's able to do it now, but there are too many questions, and he doesn't know where to go, what to try and eliminate next. His mind is barrelling forward. He described it once to John as a train on the track -- now, it's almost ready to jump it, to crash.]

I've lost days worth of work.

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

You'll get them back.

[Conan has complete faith in that. Sherlock's capable of so much. But even so--]

Is that why you've given up the anonymous I.D? To move forward faster with the case?

[audio - private]

[prepared_to_burn]

[He takes a moment to double-check the security of this conversation.

Safe enough.]

My work as M is ongoing. But most people won’t turn over a corpse to an unknown person.

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

That is true.

Good luck, Sherlock-sensei! Let me know if the Unit can be any help.

[audio - private]

[prepared_to_burn]

I will.

[A pause. A somewhat long pause.]

Thank you.

[audio - private]

[holmes_fanatic]

Any time.

voice;

[furrows]

[This is Alan in his most cynical voice ever.]

You can't. There's nothing to examine.

voice;

[prepared_to_burn]

Why not?

[And that would be Sherlock's "What stupid thing did you lot do now?" voice.]

voice;

[furrows]

Because Taken disappear into ash when they're killed. And when they come back, they're normal. At least here. Ravens, poltergeists, Taken- all of them fade into ash when they're killed.

voice;

[prepared_to_burn]

[Sherlock manages not to swear. It’s not easy, but he manages.]

And I suppose all efforts of taking any alive and restraining them failed.

[likeskids]

What would you do if you got one? Dissect it? I wonder if you can see the difference physically...

[prepared_to_burn]

Dissect, yes.

Study. Look for a cause, probable antidotes or vaccinations. It acted like a kind of transmitted illness. And if it happened once, it's not unlikely for it to happen again.

[likeskids]

What will you do if it happens before you can get a look at the bodies?

[prepared_to_burn]

Attempt to collect more sufficient data while it is ongoing.

It was foolish to assume it could be gotten after the fact.

[likeskids]

It might be better if it doesn't come back, though. All those people dying so fast...

[prepared_to_burn]

I doubt we'll be given the choice as to whether it returns or not.

[likeskids]

You never get a choice about that kind of thing. It's like a natural disaster, only way more bizarre!

video;

[minifridge]

"Thing" here, reporting for duty.

[The most sarcastic. Someone isn't amused by his word choice.]

video;

[prepared_to_burn]

Fully recovered and alive. Doubly useless.

video;

[minifridge]

Are you always this rude?

video;

[prepared_to_burn]

When the right combination of stupidity and useless coincide, yes.

video;

[minifridge]

Wait, I'm stupid for thinking that you'd probably be better off poking at a survivor than trying to hunt down nonexistent piles of dust?

video;

[prepared_to_burn]

If you’re offering to be dissected, then you might still be of some scientific value to me. If not, yes, you’re being stupid.

Re: video;

[minifridge]

What, dissecting's the best you can do?

video;

[prepared_to_burn]

It's what I want to do.

video;

[minifridge]

Is that the only way to study what happened?

video;

[prepared_to_burn]

Here's a truly novel idea: I will apply my methods, in which you are completely useless to me, and you may apply your methods, which do not concern me.