Patience for the Attic Thief [Closed]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"One, two, three, four..." Howard glances over his shoulder and slips another bottle of painkillers into his sleeve. It's a late shift, mostly quiet, and due to the fact that Med Bay's unreasonably gigantic, Howard's feeling safe enough to get away with kiping a few more things for his hoard. He managed to find some of the emergency medical supplies in a secluded cabinet.

He has a few reasons to be taking things from the medical bay. Terminators taking over the Med Bay and choking off the supply of medical equipment is still a fresh memory, and he runs his fingertips over the scar above his ear he received in that fight. And superimposed over that is the deep, ingrained paranoia of never having enough when it matters. He still wakes up most nights with nightmares about running out of medicine, out of food, out of water, out of air.

And secondly, he just doesn't care about other people's property rights. If they didn't want him to take things they'd nail them down.

He slides the fourth bottle of pills from his sleeve to his pocket in one deft movement and takes a fifth.

Comments

[atadiscoverer]

It's just at this point that Dr. Carson Beckett, who thought it might be a good idea to take down some inventory in the quiet hours, rounds the corner.

He doesn't notice Howard immediately, because he's staring at the list on his datapad, but he has been noticing things going missing. Inconsistencies between the lists and the stocks, but nothing to worry about. He just assumed that people weren't filling in the right paperwork.

He looks up and spots Howard. Frowning, he clears his throat. "What're you doing?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard doesn't look up or act surprised - that would be a dead giveaway that he's up to something, if Carson hasn't already put the pieces together. "Nothing. You doing inventory?"

In his pocket, his fingers curl around one of the swiped bottles.

[atadiscoverer]

It's still pretty suspicious that he's up to something. "Aye. You?" Curious tones, not accusatory, but his look is suspicious. This was where the drugs with similar potency to Tramadol and low-level morphine were kept, after all.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

All curious tones sound accusatory to Howard. He's been shoplifting since he was eleven.

"Making sure I know where the supplies are. I haven't got totally used to this place after the robot attack. It's rearranged a little."

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye, always good to know where things are."

He leans to the side to get a good look at the shelf behind Howard, and then looks down at the list.

"We're missing four bottles from that shelf..." No accusation.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yep. Sure are." Howard makes a show of glancing at Carson's pockets, as if he suspects him.

[atadiscoverer]

There's not much room for Carson to steal anything. He's wearing his plantsuit to prevent wear on the clothes he bought on shore leave, and his Atlantis Expedition jacket. While there is a bulge in the pocket, the clear-blue corner of the Ancient Life-Signs detector is visible.

"Have you noticed anyone about? Other than yourself?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Nope. It's been a real quiet night. Maybe we should unleash a plague through the air ventilation systems, make things a little interesting around here."

He's joking, really!

[atadiscoverer]

He moves closer to those shelves, closer to Howard, examining the shelves closer.

"While that'd make things a wee bit more exciting, I can't see anyone else enjoying it."

He's frowning. "They were there when the last inventory was taken..."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Dude, back off. Personal bubble." Howard stands his ground, but it's clear that he's Not Cool with Carson being so close, so he reaches out and lightly pushes Carson away. "And I didn't notice. You're the one who does inventory."

[atadiscoverer]

Carson obliges and steps away. He doesn't bring up the point that you were standing in front of the-

Wait a minute.

"Something rattled." And he looks back at Howard. "And it came from you. When you shoved me."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"That would be your brain inside your skull, dumbass." Can't read his can't read his no you can't read his pokerface, Carson.

[atadiscoverer]

"No, I don't think so. Everyone knows brains don't rattle." Dumbass. "Prove it. Empty your pockets."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh, fuck no." Howard crosses his arms and glares lasers at Carson. "Just because I'm the only black guy in Medical doesn't mean I'm boosting or packing, racist."

[atadiscoverer]

More rattling just there.

"And just because I'm the newbie doesn't mean you can pull the wool over my bloody eyes. Now, either you work with me, or I'll get someone in who'll bloody search you."

He's not joking around here, Howard.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Fine. Do it." Howard doesn't care if being spiteful is going to get him in more trouble - he just flat out doesn't like Carson and is going to make every step of this process as infuriating as he possibly can. "Can I get you strip-searched for the stick up your ass, or is this just you pulling rank on the teenage underling?"

[atadiscoverer]

"This isn't a bloody joke."

He pulls out his omnicomm again. "A bunch of very highly potent painkillers are missing. I can hear rattling coming from you. Doesn't that sound the least bit bloody suspicious?"

He punches in the right combo to call security down to Medical, reporting a theft, before he looks back to Howard.

"Those drugs can kill if the dosage isn't matched up right."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Do I look like I'm joking?" He doesn't. Howard has a very much not-joking face on right now. "Firstly, for all you know I'm carrying breath mints around because I have hella halitosis, and secondly, even if I did take anything it's not like I can't read a fucking warning label, asshole."

Tonight's profanity brought to you by our sponsor, Teenage Petulance.

[atadiscoverer]

With the amount of shit you spew, Howard, Carson's not surprised.

"If it was just breath mints, why don't you show them to me, hm?" Carson folds his arms, still very much blocking the only exit out of this area of the medical bay.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's not even going to try and make a run for it. Yet. "Two reasons. First is principles, because I don't just empty my pockets because some douchebag thinks I look suspicious. And second is because I just don't like you. Happy?"

[atadiscoverer]

He's going to think on that for a second.

"Not really." He says. "And I would think your principles would be to clear your name. Unless they also outweigh a wee thing called 'survival instinct.'"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard laughs. It's a mirthless sound. "Wow, is that a death threat? To a teenager? You're the worst boss ever." His face gets hard again. "You wouldn't know the first thing about my survival instinct."

[atadiscoverer]

"I wouldn't ever dream of hurting you." It would be too easy. "Survival instinct also applies to scenarios such as these, where there is a genuine threat to your on-going daily life."

A pause. "I wouldn't peg you for the type to be an idiot, Howard. But having me call security down here is just that. All because you're too bloody stubborn to co-operate because of some petty grudge."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"That's making an awful lot of assumptions about me being guilty." And until Elisa actually pulls the narcotics bottles from his jacket, he'll maintain he's innocent. "You'd report me to Rory no matter what, so why not get security involved. It's not like I have anything to lose but some time I could spend actually doing my job."

[atadiscoverer]

"You're not helping prove those assumptions incorrect, even though you have the oppertunity to do so." Carson points out.

"And the evidence is pretty suspicious."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Because I'm perfectly happy to waste your time." His upturned nose would look a lot more defiant were he not a half-foot shorter than Carson and outweighed by probably seventy pounds. "You don't have any evidence. Stop talking like you do."

[atadiscoverer]

"My time's not being wasted." And he doesn't have any evidence yet.

"I'm just doing my job."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Your job is bullying people smaller than you, who've worked here way longer than you?"

[atadiscoverer]

"I don't recall any of my requests being unreasonable." Must be all that idiot clogging up your ears.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Asking me to empty my pockets for no good reason other than your ego trip is unreasonable."

[atadiscoverer]

He's not going to respond to that. He's just going to stand here, arms folded, until Security come. And nothing you say is going to provoke him, or bug him.

This is a man whose best friend has a huge ego.

[night_shift]

Security arrived presently in the form of Elisa Maza. Although theft on this sort of scale hadn't been her department in New York, it was a welcome change from most of the things that the security department on the ship had to deal with. It was almost normal.

"Elisa Maza, security department," she said by way of an introduction, looking from Carson to Howard as she took stock of the situation. "What's the problem?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm getting harassed by this goon." Howard's scowl could frighten small children right now.

[night_shift]

"Ok," said Elisa with a nod, looking back to Carson. She didn't need the instincts of a detective - developed over long shifts on the streets of New York - to know that there was more to the situation than that. "Tell me what's going on and why you called me here."

[atadiscoverer]

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I had no choice." Carson says, before motioning to the shelves Howard was standing in front of. "That shelf holds a particularily strong brand of anaesthetic. One that can potentially be fatal if the dosage is off by a wee amount."

He points to the shelf. "As you can see, four bottles are missing. I found Mr. Bassem standing here. At first, I didn't suspect anything, but I heard something rattling. When I asked, he got defensive."

Very suspicious.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I got defensive because I don't like racial profiling or getting bossed around by people who've only worked here like, a month." Howard crosses his arms and hunches his shoulders in a decidedly defensive pose, glaring lasers at the both of them. Lasers.

[night_shift]

"I'm sure it's not about racial profiling or bossing you around, it's just about working out what's going on here."

She was remaining neutral, but the more defensive and hostile that Howard got, the more suspicious that Elisa became. It didn't take a detective to work out what was really going on here.

"Why don't you just show us what was rattling?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

But hostile is just how Howhow is. He's a being of pure hostility. And sarcasm!

"It's breath mints, and it's a matter of principle at this point. I'm not letting him push me around and I'm not going to let you push me around either."

He's not sure if Elisa will take this further and actually search him.

[night_shift]

"I'm not pushing you around, I just want to get to the bottom of what's going on. It's my job."

She was trying to make things easier for him, but Howard was anything but willing to cooperate. He certainly wasn't giving her much to work with.

"If you don't cooperate, I'm going to have to search you."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"No, you're not. Douchebag M.D. harassing me isn't probably cause."

Yes. 'Probably cause'. Seventh grade history didn't really cover search and seizure much.