Title: Shoplifters will be Prosecuted
Characters: Ianto, Lisa
Summary: Torchwood only took the best and the brightest.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word Count: 350
Authors Note: This was written for the WIAD round 4.3. The prompt was a 'Reverse Fandom' for 'Sports Night'. I picked the episode 'Intellectual Property'. The added element was an invertebrate.
Beta:
demotu Ianto Jones slouched into the gleaming board room, a little ragged but not obviously damaged by a fortnight spent in holding. There hadn't been anyone to post bail, and the court-appointed barrister had no reason to stick her neck out. He sat where indicated and tried not to make eye contact with the three other people at the table.
"You have a deal for us?" growled the woman who was supposed to be Ianto's advocate. Ianto cringed at the grating tenor of her voice; the prosecutor didn't flinch.
"Torchwood has generously offered to supervise his probation. Your client pleads guilty, signs a confidentiality agreement, and does two thousand hours of community service here, at the Torchwood offices."
"Seriously?" Ianto's advocate scoffed. "For shoplifting? At most he'll get a slap on the wrist; forty hours."
"That device he took? Official Secrets Act," the bastard prosecutor was more than smug. "He can`t worm out of this. Two thousand but we'll seal his records."
"Don't I get a say?" Ianto interjected. "It's my..."
"No," the denial from both sides of the table was resoundingly final.
"Why was it in a shop? One thousand and sealed records."
"That's classified. One thousand, sealed records, but he also works a half-time job here, in Research."
"I'll advise my client to agree to those terms."
A thick sheaf of paper was shoved in front of Ianto. He scowled at the impassive barristers, but his bravado fell away as he read the offer of employment. It was more than he'd ever made in a month.
"If you don't mind," a precise voice startled Ianto as he scribbled his name on the final form. He'd forgotten there was a fourth person at the table. "Bail is arranged; so he's good until we get that to a judge."
The barristers lost no time leaving Ianto alone with the Torchwood woman. She leaned across the table and smiled warmly.
"I'm Lisa Hallett, your supervisor this year. We'll get you set up with HR in a bit, but first we need to discuss precisely how you saw past that perception filter..."