House

[london_spy]

It was a strange series of events that had led him here, and as he sat in the waiting room of the local A&E, Danny went back through it all hour by hour.

6PM: With class out Danny was back to hunting for the lunatic who'd been targeting fellow students, drugging them and then dumping them at home with no sign of sexual or physical assault. He'd stopped home, changed into club clothes, and set out.

7PM: he'd been walking from the tube to the club when a car started driving along side him- A familiar car. Rich's car.

The window came down, and Rich leaned out. "Get in," the man said, prompting Danny to flip him off. 

Rich laughed, then spoke again. "I know who you're after- If you want them, get in the damn car, Danny."

8PM: Rich had dumped him down the block, having given him a list of what he knew. Apparently he wasn't a fan of this guy either, and while Danny wouldn't consider him a trustworthy source, it wasn't like he had much more to go off.

9PM: He'd headed into the club, spoken to someone Rich had suggested might be in on it all, and had let himself have a drink or two so he didn't stand out like a sore thumb.

10PM: Okay, maybe a drink too many.

11PM: He'd called a car, apparently now was the prime time. He'd used the correct service and rejected drivers until he found one who seemed to fit the bill.

11:15PM: The man had complementary water. It was sealed, and so he took one.

11:30PM: Everything was slow. Fuzzy. 

<i>I warned you. STOP. FOLLOWING. ME.</i>

Was it midnight now? Danny squinted at the clock. He was still drugged, not bleeding, but he was certain his ribs were broken and his left eye was struggling to focus. But he had to wait. They said he had to wait.

His hand was shaking as he pulled out his phone. The screen was shattered but it was still working. Should he call someone? Text someone? No, best not. Best to just go it alone.

Comments

[drfeelbad]

"What? Jesus, Danny. You have two broken ribs and you're coming down off a drug. It can wait until tomorrow."

[london_spy]

"They could move their operation before then. And it- It has to be big, yeah? I mean it's a warehouse. Are they testing drugs on unsuspecting victims? Fuck- It could be human trafficking for all we know."

He looked at his phone again, hoping Rich had replied.

"I just need a coffee, one of those pills, and by the time I get the data off my phone I'll be good to go. I'm not demanding you come, mate. Head home if you like."

[drfeelbad]

"Come with you? Of course I'm not coming with you, I'm going to knock you over the head to keep you from going." House yanked the phone of his hand. "Danny, sit down." And he poked him lightly in the ribs.

[london_spy]

Danny winced in pain and crumpled onto the sofa.

"I need to see this through," he protested. "He's hurting people."

[drfeelbad]

"And since when did you become Batman?" House asked, and pulled the bottle of pills out of his jacket pocket, and handed them to Danny along with the bottle of water he'd taken from the uber.

[london_spy]

"I'm not- I just... I need to see this through," Danny said quietly.

He studied the cap on the bottle, then cracked it open and took the pill.

"After Alex was killed I- It was hell. I don't think I told you just how bad it was. I wasn't just accused of killing him, I didn't just have my name smeared in the papers, I had every security service in the world on me. Threatening me, stalking me... All because I had this information I didn't know how to interpret. I know now what it was, of course, but- Point is I couldn't let it be. At first because he deserved justice, but in the end because I- I couldn't stop. I needed to solve it."

He held House's gaze for a long moment, then looked away.

"Surely you, of all people, get that."

[drfeelbad]

"My puzzle solving doesn't involve being shot at or whatever," House said. "Well, except for that one time."

[london_spy]

"You ride a bloody motorcycle in London, don't act like you aren't a risk seeker," Danny shot back.

[drfeelbad]

"Danny, please don't go back out there tonight," House said.

[london_spy]

"Like I said, you don't have to come. I'll pay you back for the ride home," he huffed, getting up to plug his phone in before realizing his laptop wasn't turning on.

"Shit," he muttered, realizing that there was no other way to pull the data until he got a new laptop.

Sitting back down, Danny looked crestfallen.

[drfeelbad]

"I'm allowed to be worried about you," House insisted. Then seeing Danny's expression, asked, "What?"

[london_spy]

"They fried my laptop. I can't pull the GPS data until I repair or replace it," Danny said, leaning back on the sofa.

[drfeelbad]

"And I definitely shouldn't be happy about that," House said.

[london_spy]

"He might kill someone, Greg. He might have already," Danny said quietly.

[drfeelbad]

House looked at him for a second and said, "... okay, look. There's a favor I can cash in. Someone who works for, uh, law enforcement. Specializes in this kind of thing, maybe. If I ask them to look into this, will you take off the batsuit?"

[london_spy]

Danny sighed, raking his fingers through his hair.

"Fine, yeah, sure," he lied. "It's not like I can do anything tonight."

[drfeelbad]

When House was stuck in that place bored out of his mind, he was happy to play doctor whenever he could. So when stupidly hot guy who swam in the ocean too much got bitten by a jellyfish but hadn't noticed and didn't know what was causing his symptoms, House had been happy to help out of sheer boredom but was also happy to accept the implication of an owed favor. And a cell number, though at that point it was almost a joke because neither of them thought they'd be leaving that place anytime soon.

"Here," House said, handing Danny his phone with the notes app open. "Write down everything you know."

[london_spy]

Danny hesitated- But what could it hurt to tell a cop. Even if he didn't trust them to get anything done, he could do his own investigating tomorrow.

Taking Greg's phone he typed it all out before passing it back.

"I just want to help," he said quietly.

[drfeelbad]

"I know," said House. "And it's quite... noble, but right now you're in no condition to go fight crime. How are you feeling?"

[london_spy]

"Sober, I think," Danny replied. "Sore. Angry. ...Look, you don't have to stay, I'm sure you want to get home to James, so- You can leave if you want."

[drfeelbad]

"I'm not in a hurry," House said. "I'd like to stay until you're down from whatever that drug was." Pause. "I mean, if that's okay."

[london_spy]

It was still hard to be around Greg, but Danny was also just selfish enough to like the idea he wanted to stay and keep an eye on him.

"Yeah, okay. ...Might want to but a pot of coffee on though."

[drfeelbad]

"You do that, and I'll send this," House said, taking back his phone and trying to find James' number.

[london_spy]

Danny nodded, but took out his own phone as he wandered into the kitchen. He sent a quick text to Hex, updating him and asking to see him tomorrow, before locking his phone and plugging it in to charge.

With the coffee brewing, he wandered back into the living room with a box of leftover pizza from the night before.

"You think I'll have to paint over that?" he asked, nodding at the misspelled warning on the wall. "Don't think you can scrub away spray paint."

[drfeelbad]

"Probably," House said. He'd set his phone on the table and was waiting for Bond to reply. He'd also texted Wilson to tell him that he was being held up at work. He really didn't want to end up talking about Danny.

He reached for a piece of pizza.