Sherlock paused. "You've used up two of your four minutes on a history lesson, and I am no closer to supporting your decision to turn John over to..."
"She has experience, Sherlock. Experience with these organisations. That's what John needs."
Neither brother spoke. Sherlock used the break in conversation to listen for John. Nothing. Still reading, then. "What sort of experience?"
"I wasn't the one who recruited her for the program. I wasn't even on the committee that approved her placement."
"What sort of experience?"
Mycroft spoke faster. "She knows their methodology, Sherlock. She can counteract it better than your run-of-the-mill therapist, and she does have a degree in..."
"What. Sort. Of..."
Mycroft cut him off. "I don't know!" Mycroft struggled to regain composure, frustrated at his own outburst. "I... don't know. Not with any certainty. There were records once. Someone near the top of the chain of command destroyed them. Said it was irrelevant. Whatever AGRA team members have done in the past, their future lies with us."
"Interesting choice of words. Lies with us."
"She abandoned that line of work-- hardly easy to have done so-- went through the nursing training, joined us, all because she wanted to help people, Sherlock. Whatever she did, she wants to make it right. She... may very well be a victim, too-- at least in some capacity. I don't think many end up in that sort of... career field by choice. Sometimes you are pulled into something and... end up on the wrong side due to circumstances behind your control."
Sherlock, grateful Mycroft was unable to read his body language, kept himself silent. With luck, his determination to not be read would be mistaken for contempt. He recalled what a senior advisor had once said of Mycroft, at an ostentatious ceremonial event, upon hearing Sherlock was his brother: 'Mycroft Holmes's specialty is omniscience'.
Mycroft continued. "I do know one thing, though. She has something to prove. She wants John to get better. She needs John to get better. I can think of few motives stronger than redemption. His fate is tied to hers. She will help him."
"She doesn't want to help him! She wants to use him! She wants to exploit him!" Intense as his emotions were, he managed to keep it to a controlled snarl.
"Are you quite sure he doesn't want to be exploited? This is hardly a normal therapeutic situation, Sherlock. An unconventional approach might be appropriate. I think you can possibly relate to someone employing unusual, possibly questionable, methodology."
The allusion to Sherlock's own unconventional approach to criminology wasn't a new tactic for Mycroft, of course, but that combined with the implication that John wanted any of this set off a reaction that even took Sherlock entirely by surprise. He was on his feet and halfway across the flat without intending to have moved a muscle. "She is systematically stripping him of what little autonomy he has. She is steering him into this. He doesn't want her!"
FILL 16a/?"138" (John in slave auction)
"She has experience, Sherlock. Experience with these organisations. That's what John needs."
Neither brother spoke. Sherlock used the break in conversation to listen for John. Nothing. Still reading, then. "What sort of experience?"
"I wasn't the one who recruited her for the program. I wasn't even on the committee that approved her placement."
"What sort of experience?"
Mycroft spoke faster. "She knows their methodology, Sherlock. She can counteract it better than your run-of-the-mill therapist, and she does have a degree in..."
"What. Sort. Of..."
Mycroft cut him off. "I don't know!" Mycroft struggled to regain composure, frustrated at his own outburst. "I... don't know. Not with any certainty. There were records once. Someone near the top of the chain of command destroyed them. Said it was irrelevant. Whatever AGRA team members have done in the past, their future lies with us."
"Interesting choice of words. Lies with us."
"She abandoned that line of work-- hardly easy to have done so-- went through the nursing training, joined us, all because she wanted to help people, Sherlock. Whatever she did, she wants to make it right. She... may very well be a victim, too-- at least in some capacity. I don't think many end up in that sort of... career field by choice. Sometimes you are pulled into something and... end up on the wrong side due to circumstances behind your control."
Sherlock, grateful Mycroft was unable to read his body language, kept himself silent. With luck, his determination to not be read would be mistaken for contempt. He recalled what a senior advisor had once said of Mycroft, at an ostentatious ceremonial event, upon hearing Sherlock was his brother: 'Mycroft Holmes's specialty is omniscience'.
Mycroft continued. "I do know one thing, though. She has something to prove. She wants John to get better. She needs John to get better. I can think of few motives stronger than redemption. His fate is tied to hers. She will help him."
"She doesn't want to help him! She wants to use him! She wants to exploit him!" Intense as his emotions were, he managed to keep it to a controlled snarl.
"Are you quite sure he doesn't want to be exploited? This is hardly a normal therapeutic situation, Sherlock. An unconventional approach might be appropriate. I think you can possibly relate to someone employing unusual, possibly questionable, methodology."
The allusion to Sherlock's own unconventional approach to criminology wasn't a new tactic for Mycroft, of course, but that combined with the implication that John wanted any of this set off a reaction that even took Sherlock entirely by surprise. He was on his feet and halfway across the flat without intending to have moved a muscle. "She is systematically stripping him of what little autonomy he has. She is steering him into this. He doesn't want her!"
"You are certain of what he wants?"