Dislocation (1/1)
Title: Dislocation
Author: tromana
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: A scientific breakthrough, which Jane ends up being caught in the middle of. An AU ending to 1x10 Red Brick and Ivy.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: None
Notes: Written for 15genres1prompt. Genre: Mind Transfer. mentalistprompt: 017: experiment.
Dislocation
Lisbon stood, tapping her foot impatiently as she did so. This was going much more slowly than she had anticipated and she wasn't particularly impressed by that. If she'd been more hands on, then maybe she wouldn't have been quite so on edge. As it was, all she could do was wait for the signal from Jane and arrest the perp. She and the team were just here for the formalities and she had to make do with trusting him to carry out his plan. When he'd explained it to her, she hadn't felt comfortable about it and despite Jane's assurances that Minelli had indeed gone for it, she now half-suspected that he'd lied. This was Jane after all; she wouldn't put it past him to lie just so he could make solving a case all the more fun for himself.
Eventually, enough was enough. This was taking far too long. Sophie Miller hadn't even gone to inform Professor Stutzer that the supposed morality machine was working, which meant Jane was stalling. If she didn't find out what the problem was, then Lisbon knew it would drive her mad. She hated leaving Jane to his own devices and for good reason. All this waiting meant to her was that something and she couldn't be sure what, having been shut away in a small room, must have gone wrong.
When she stormed into the control room, intent on giving Sophie a piece of her mind, Lisbon froze. The scientist had immediately turned around when the door had been slammed open and looked a whiter shade of pale. Lisbon automatically glanced through the one way mirror, where Jane was quite obviously still hooked up to the machinery. She furrowed her brow. What the hell was going on?
"There's been a problem," Sophie stated, not even bothering to soften the blow. She had no need to; Lisbon's instincts had told her that she needed to intervene, or at least be updated on the situation.
"Well?"
"It's Jane."
"What's he done?"
"Nothing," Sophie said, sounding nervous.
"Nothing?" Lisbon echoed, incredulous.
"Yes and that's the problem."
"Can I go in there?" she asked.
"Sure," Sophie echoed.
Despite the fact that the data had been fabricated and the whole experiment had been essentially a sham for a year or so, the equipment was still expensive. Scientists were often quite touchy if people went near their toys and therefore Lisbon had automatically asked. She didn't have any intention of interfering with the machinery, but it still felt like something she’d needed to do. After all, for all she knew, it could have posed a threat to life for some obscure reason, unless it was dealt with properly. Or that was the excuse some professors and doctors seemed to use to keep people out of certain rooms and the like. But all she wanted to do was give her consultant a kick up the ass and make him get on with it. Although she was well aware of his insomnia issues and was glad that he was presumably getting some sleep, now was not the time for him to take a cat nap. They had a job to do and this was just wasting precious time that could be spent doing other things. Such as questioning the perp, for one. And besides, she and the rest of the team did want to at least try and get home at a reasonable time tonight. His antics were simply making that less and less likely.
She pushed through the door and walked directly to him. He didn't flinch, didn't react in the slightest to her sudden appearance. That was unusual for somebody as highly attuned to the human psyche as Patrick Jane. In the past, even if he'd been asleep, he had always reacted somehow whenever she'd approached.
"Jane," she stated plainly, before repeating a little louder. "Jane!"
Lisbon placed a hand on his shoulders and shook them gently at first, before getting a little more firm. Panic began to set in when he still remained impassive. If something happened to him, then Lisbon knew she wouldn't forgive herself, even of it wasn't her fault. Even if it turned out that Sophie Miller or someone had somehow played around with the devices to intentionally hurt him, to stop him from solving the case and ruining their reputation as scientists, then she'd still blame herself for allowing him to go through this charade in the first place. Or for agreeing to take on the case; though Jane was assured of Sophie's innocence, there was something about her demeanor which just screamed untrustworthy.
Her eyes scanned the room as she tried desperately to discover what was wrong. However, Lisbon had no idea how it was meant to look, so it was proving somewhat difficult. One of the assistants had joined her and it was him who called her attention. He pointed at a simple plug socket, one which indicated that the morality engine wasn't just plugged in, but switched on as well.
"I thought," she started but trailed off as the young man nodded vigorously.
"For the purpose of Mr. Jane's plan, the morality engine was meant to be completely non-operational," he confirmed.
"Who was meant to check that everything was in place before the experiment started?" Lisbon demanded.
"That would be me, but I swear it was unplugged five minutes before Patrick sat in that seat," Sophie said, sounding a lot calmer than she actually looked. "Please come with me. This is important, Agent Lisbon."
Lisbon frowned, but complied. She didn't believe a word of what Sophie had just said; she was growing increasingly suspicious of the woman. As far as she was concerned, this meant that the woman had changed her mind about revealing that the morality engine was a sham and was now eliminating everyone who knew one by one. Her ex was dead, poisoned. Jane was in some sort of coma and now, she was next on the list. Lisbon let her hand rest gently on her holster; if Sophie did anything that was even the tiniest bit worrisome, then she wouldn't even think twice about drawing her gun. Nor firing it, if it came down to that.
The doctor barely even registered Lisbon’s shifting attitude towards her. Instead, she sat at the computer once more and started running through the computer dialog once more, hurriedly explaining as she did so.
"I only just noticed it while you were with Patrick," Sophie said, as if that made everything better. "Half of my programming has been completely changed; most of this is new to me. It is seriously complex; I can't even be sure what the program is for, never mind how it..."
She trailed off as the screen went blank. Almost as soon as it did so, words began to appear on the screen. The three people present - Lisbon, Sophie and the assistant - stared avidly at the screen. Two were in a state of shock while the other remained completely impassive. This was the result of their experiment, after all and though the morality engine was completely useless, soul storage was becoming a sure success.
IS LISBON THERE? The device asked.
"Say yes," she said quickly, not even waiting for Sophie to look at her.
As Sophie was typing in, more dialog appeared onscreen.
I MAY BE PARALYSED, BUT I CAN STILL HEAR YOU.
"What happened? Are you okay?" she answered back, though her tone almost suggested ‘what the hell did you do this time?’
AS TOUCHED AS I AM ABOUT YOUR CONCERN, I SUGGEST YOU CATCH THE CULPRIT FIRST.
She read quickly, but so did said culprit. The assistant, the one who had informed her that the machine had been operational when it should not have been, had made a break for it. Lisbon didn't care that she had been wrong about her judgment of Sophie; she needed to catch the man so that he could fix this sorry mess first. He needed arresting for murder and illegal experimentation upon humans. She sincerely doubted that he had garnered Jane's agreement to become a human guinea pig.
It didn't take her long to catch him up or to slap the handcuffs firmly around his wrists. After a good half an hour of interrogation, he admitted to the murder of Alex Nelson and that his experiments had been less than legal. He had been manipulating the machine at night, turning it into his soul storage unit instead of the morality engine that everyone else had believed they had been building. On top of that, he had been siphoning off the money from the Stutzer Institute, having failed to get funding himself based on the fact that those in charge of the purse strings had found his proposals morally dubious. Lisbon wasn't quite sure what made the morality engine acceptable in comparison, but it wasn't her job to make that judgment. Instead, she had to ensure that the law was upheld and make sure that justice was served.
It didn't take much to persuade the guy to undo his handiwork and get Jane's mind back in his body either. The assurance that death would be off the table was more than enough to make sure that Jane was returned to his normal (irritating) self. The fact that he had managed to solve the goddamn case despite the fact his mind was literally elsewhere had simply confirmed just how annoyingly right he was when it came to catching killers. Then again, the bastard had given himself away by running the moment that Jane had suggested he should do so. If he'd have remained in place, then Lisbon would have been none the wiser and most likely have been trying to get an answer out of Sophie Miller.
Once they said goodbye to the doctor, but not without Jane giving her a peck on the cheek, something which Lisbon found herself politely averting her eyes for, they headed straight for her car. The rest of the team was already on their way back to headquarters with their perp, to get him transferred to the holding cells as soon as feasibly possible. Lisbon hadn't stopped worrying about Jane, however. He was the first human - possibly the first living being even - to have undergone the procedure he'd gone through. She wasn't entirely convinced that there would have been no untoward side effects. Sophie had given him a thorough examination and come to the conclusion that he was both mentally and physically sound, but naturally, that wasn't enough for her.
"Are you sure that-"
"Do you not trust Sophie's test results?" Jane asked, all in good nature.
Lisbon opened her mouth to retort but Jane interrupted again, silencing her as he did so. "I'm fine, woman, really. There's no need to worry."
"But the human mind is a fragile thing," she answered back, immediately defending her stance.
"And don't I know it?" Jane answered with a grin.
Without another word, Jane enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. Lisbon was almost as surprised as Jane was that she didn't push him away angrily. She wasn't one for public displays of affection, especially from somebody who she considered to be little more than a work colleague. Still, she allowed herself to enjoy it, if only just a little. It was proof positive that he was human again, that he was no longer in a catatonic state.
Tomorrow, she promised herself, she would make sure that their relationship got back to being strictly professional once more.
Author: tromana
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Jane/Lisbon
Summary: A scientific breakthrough, which Jane ends up being caught in the middle of. An AU ending to 1x10 Red Brick and Ivy.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: None
Notes: Written for 15genres1prompt. Genre: Mind Transfer. mentalistprompt: 017: experiment.
Dislocation
Lisbon stood, tapping her foot impatiently as she did so. This was going much more slowly than she had anticipated and she wasn't particularly impressed by that. If she'd been more hands on, then maybe she wouldn't have been quite so on edge. As it was, all she could do was wait for the signal from Jane and arrest the perp. She and the team were just here for the formalities and she had to make do with trusting him to carry out his plan. When he'd explained it to her, she hadn't felt comfortable about it and despite Jane's assurances that Minelli had indeed gone for it, she now half-suspected that he'd lied. This was Jane after all; she wouldn't put it past him to lie just so he could make solving a case all the more fun for himself.
Eventually, enough was enough. This was taking far too long. Sophie Miller hadn't even gone to inform Professor Stutzer that the supposed morality machine was working, which meant Jane was stalling. If she didn't find out what the problem was, then Lisbon knew it would drive her mad. She hated leaving Jane to his own devices and for good reason. All this waiting meant to her was that something and she couldn't be sure what, having been shut away in a small room, must have gone wrong.
When she stormed into the control room, intent on giving Sophie a piece of her mind, Lisbon froze. The scientist had immediately turned around when the door had been slammed open and looked a whiter shade of pale. Lisbon automatically glanced through the one way mirror, where Jane was quite obviously still hooked up to the machinery. She furrowed her brow. What the hell was going on?
"There's been a problem," Sophie stated, not even bothering to soften the blow. She had no need to; Lisbon's instincts had told her that she needed to intervene, or at least be updated on the situation.
"Well?"
"It's Jane."
"What's he done?"
"Nothing," Sophie said, sounding nervous.
"Nothing?" Lisbon echoed, incredulous.
"Yes and that's the problem."
"Can I go in there?" she asked.
"Sure," Sophie echoed.
Despite the fact that the data had been fabricated and the whole experiment had been essentially a sham for a year or so, the equipment was still expensive. Scientists were often quite touchy if people went near their toys and therefore Lisbon had automatically asked. She didn't have any intention of interfering with the machinery, but it still felt like something she’d needed to do. After all, for all she knew, it could have posed a threat to life for some obscure reason, unless it was dealt with properly. Or that was the excuse some professors and doctors seemed to use to keep people out of certain rooms and the like. But all she wanted to do was give her consultant a kick up the ass and make him get on with it. Although she was well aware of his insomnia issues and was glad that he was presumably getting some sleep, now was not the time for him to take a cat nap. They had a job to do and this was just wasting precious time that could be spent doing other things. Such as questioning the perp, for one. And besides, she and the rest of the team did want to at least try and get home at a reasonable time tonight. His antics were simply making that less and less likely.
She pushed through the door and walked directly to him. He didn't flinch, didn't react in the slightest to her sudden appearance. That was unusual for somebody as highly attuned to the human psyche as Patrick Jane. In the past, even if he'd been asleep, he had always reacted somehow whenever she'd approached.
"Jane," she stated plainly, before repeating a little louder. "Jane!"
Lisbon placed a hand on his shoulders and shook them gently at first, before getting a little more firm. Panic began to set in when he still remained impassive. If something happened to him, then Lisbon knew she wouldn't forgive herself, even of it wasn't her fault. Even if it turned out that Sophie Miller or someone had somehow played around with the devices to intentionally hurt him, to stop him from solving the case and ruining their reputation as scientists, then she'd still blame herself for allowing him to go through this charade in the first place. Or for agreeing to take on the case; though Jane was assured of Sophie's innocence, there was something about her demeanor which just screamed untrustworthy.
Her eyes scanned the room as she tried desperately to discover what was wrong. However, Lisbon had no idea how it was meant to look, so it was proving somewhat difficult. One of the assistants had joined her and it was him who called her attention. He pointed at a simple plug socket, one which indicated that the morality engine wasn't just plugged in, but switched on as well.
"I thought," she started but trailed off as the young man nodded vigorously.
"For the purpose of Mr. Jane's plan, the morality engine was meant to be completely non-operational," he confirmed.
"Who was meant to check that everything was in place before the experiment started?" Lisbon demanded.
"That would be me, but I swear it was unplugged five minutes before Patrick sat in that seat," Sophie said, sounding a lot calmer than she actually looked. "Please come with me. This is important, Agent Lisbon."
Lisbon frowned, but complied. She didn't believe a word of what Sophie had just said; she was growing increasingly suspicious of the woman. As far as she was concerned, this meant that the woman had changed her mind about revealing that the morality engine was a sham and was now eliminating everyone who knew one by one. Her ex was dead, poisoned. Jane was in some sort of coma and now, she was next on the list. Lisbon let her hand rest gently on her holster; if Sophie did anything that was even the tiniest bit worrisome, then she wouldn't even think twice about drawing her gun. Nor firing it, if it came down to that.
The doctor barely even registered Lisbon’s shifting attitude towards her. Instead, she sat at the computer once more and started running through the computer dialog once more, hurriedly explaining as she did so.
"I only just noticed it while you were with Patrick," Sophie said, as if that made everything better. "Half of my programming has been completely changed; most of this is new to me. It is seriously complex; I can't even be sure what the program is for, never mind how it..."
She trailed off as the screen went blank. Almost as soon as it did so, words began to appear on the screen. The three people present - Lisbon, Sophie and the assistant - stared avidly at the screen. Two were in a state of shock while the other remained completely impassive. This was the result of their experiment, after all and though the morality engine was completely useless, soul storage was becoming a sure success.
IS LISBON THERE? The device asked.
"Say yes," she said quickly, not even waiting for Sophie to look at her.
As Sophie was typing in, more dialog appeared onscreen.
I MAY BE PARALYSED, BUT I CAN STILL HEAR YOU.
"What happened? Are you okay?" she answered back, though her tone almost suggested ‘what the hell did you do this time?’
AS TOUCHED AS I AM ABOUT YOUR CONCERN, I SUGGEST YOU CATCH THE CULPRIT FIRST.
She read quickly, but so did said culprit. The assistant, the one who had informed her that the machine had been operational when it should not have been, had made a break for it. Lisbon didn't care that she had been wrong about her judgment of Sophie; she needed to catch the man so that he could fix this sorry mess first. He needed arresting for murder and illegal experimentation upon humans. She sincerely doubted that he had garnered Jane's agreement to become a human guinea pig.
It didn't take her long to catch him up or to slap the handcuffs firmly around his wrists. After a good half an hour of interrogation, he admitted to the murder of Alex Nelson and that his experiments had been less than legal. He had been manipulating the machine at night, turning it into his soul storage unit instead of the morality engine that everyone else had believed they had been building. On top of that, he had been siphoning off the money from the Stutzer Institute, having failed to get funding himself based on the fact that those in charge of the purse strings had found his proposals morally dubious. Lisbon wasn't quite sure what made the morality engine acceptable in comparison, but it wasn't her job to make that judgment. Instead, she had to ensure that the law was upheld and make sure that justice was served.
It didn't take much to persuade the guy to undo his handiwork and get Jane's mind back in his body either. The assurance that death would be off the table was more than enough to make sure that Jane was returned to his normal (irritating) self. The fact that he had managed to solve the goddamn case despite the fact his mind was literally elsewhere had simply confirmed just how annoyingly right he was when it came to catching killers. Then again, the bastard had given himself away by running the moment that Jane had suggested he should do so. If he'd have remained in place, then Lisbon would have been none the wiser and most likely have been trying to get an answer out of Sophie Miller.
Once they said goodbye to the doctor, but not without Jane giving her a peck on the cheek, something which Lisbon found herself politely averting her eyes for, they headed straight for her car. The rest of the team was already on their way back to headquarters with their perp, to get him transferred to the holding cells as soon as feasibly possible. Lisbon hadn't stopped worrying about Jane, however. He was the first human - possibly the first living being even - to have undergone the procedure he'd gone through. She wasn't entirely convinced that there would have been no untoward side effects. Sophie had given him a thorough examination and come to the conclusion that he was both mentally and physically sound, but naturally, that wasn't enough for her.
"Are you sure that-"
"Do you not trust Sophie's test results?" Jane asked, all in good nature.
Lisbon opened her mouth to retort but Jane interrupted again, silencing her as he did so. "I'm fine, woman, really. There's no need to worry."
"But the human mind is a fragile thing," she answered back, immediately defending her stance.
"And don't I know it?" Jane answered with a grin.
Without another word, Jane enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. Lisbon was almost as surprised as Jane was that she didn't push him away angrily. She wasn't one for public displays of affection, especially from somebody who she considered to be little more than a work colleague. Still, she allowed herself to enjoy it, if only just a little. It was proof positive that he was human again, that he was no longer in a catatonic state.
Tomorrow, she promised herself, she would make sure that their relationship got back to being strictly professional once more.