InsaneJournal

parker succeeds by stealing the success of others (inafivepoundbag) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-06-05 20:42:00

Entry tags:

parker, sherlock holmes

WHO: Sherlock Holmes and Parker
WHAT: How To Steal A Museum 101.
WHEN: After visiting hours
WHERE: The Colligo Museum of History and Art.
RATING: TBD [probably not too terribly high]
STATUS: In Progress

Parker knew that what she was about to do was possibly the dumbest thing she had ever considered doing. Taking a member of law enforcement - even if he was technically just a consultant - on a museum raid was pretty much right at the top of the list of Things You Don't Do When You're A Thief. However, Parker also knew that she had a few things going for her here that made that rule open to more interpretation than it would have been otherwise.

For starters, the police chief was her ex-husband who seemed to actually kind of like her. Then there was the fact that things ran differently in Colligo and crimes that didn't hurt anyone, when committed by non-locals, were often overlooked in lieu of keeping the peace amongst the captives. Plus, she pretty much lived for pushing her own limits in her line of work and figured if there was one thing in the entire city that would challenge even her skills, it would be to teach someone like Sherlock Holmes how to pull off a heist that only someone of her caliber could ever hope to manage. So she had offered to show him how she'd done it the first time around, without actually admitting that she had been the one to do it. And, as the museum finally locked its doors and the the employees headed home, leaving only the overnight security guard between her and everything inside, the time had come to make good on her offer.

Now, sitting on the edge of the water fountain that was located diagonally to the museum, she waited to see if the consulting detective would show up so she could, in fact, go through with one of the craziest ideas she'd ever had. Parker figured she'd give him fifteen minutes or so to make his appearance. If he wasn't there after that, she was going to break into his place and steal all of his stuff instead. Because nobody, but nobody, stood her up and got away with it.

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inafivepoundbag
2012-06-06 03:29 am UTC (link)

Dropping the bag she was carrying to the ground, Parker hauled a much larger bag containing her gear out of its spot and crouched down, pulling out the various things they would need to get to the roof in the first place. She didn't glance up at he spoke, although it didn't really bother her that he was talking either. She wasn't easily distracted, especially by questions that most people tended to want to know. Not that she made a habit of taking people on heists with her, but they tended to act all the same. At first, at least.

Finally pulling out two harnesses, she replied, "If it was just me, I'd come down the side of the building and in through one of the windows on the top floor where they store old displays." Glancing up at him finally, she held out a harness for him to take and grinned. "But that means we'd be dangling off the side of the roof from our fingertips for a couple of minutes and most people lack the upper body strength to really pull that off." Standing up, she pulled on her own harness while adding, "So, in an effort to keep you from plunging to your death tonight, we're going in through the service shaft."

Hauling a grappling hook gun out of the bag, she aimed for the roof and fired, easily hitting her mark. With a snort, she shook her head. "Skylight. Ha. You watch too many movies. Skylights leading into museums are always rigged," she stated. Tugging on the rope that was attached to the hook now embedded in the bricks that made up the roof's edge, Parker slid the gun back into the bag and tossed it back into its hiding spot. Then she glanced over at Sherlock once more.

"You're following me up so I can help get you over the edge once we're up top. Just attach like this," she showed him where to properly secure the line to his harness, "then pull slightly and lean back, like this," once again, she demonstrated the move, "and then all you have to do is walk up the wall." She paused then added merrily, "And if you're afraid of heights, don't look down. Otherwise you're liable to get dizzy, lose your footing, fall out of your harness, and plummet to your death. They tell me that's bad."

Another pause as she picked up her smaller bag and slid it back over her shoulders. "Try to keep up!" she exclaimed before taking a running leap at the building, twisting her body so she was aimed feet first, and quickly beginning the climb upward.

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ifimnothungry
2012-06-06 04:15 am UTC (link)

Sherlock had hefted himself up into buildings before. He'd scaled drainpipes and leapt between ledges and fire escapes. He counted himself as incredibly athletic for a bookish, ex-addict with a tendency to let himself languish for weeks on end without someone there to poke at him and tell him that food and sleep were necessities of life. But even he couldn't imagine suspending yourself in the air for several full minutes with only your own hands to hold you in place. Making note of this capability along with the rest, Sherlock quietly added a thought only to find himself uttering the words a second after they passed his mind, "Remind me never to tick you off in a way that will make you want to hurt me," He said, blinking for a moment before clearing his throat and taking the harness.

He'd been paying attention to her instructions and pulled the harness on without too much difficulty, hooking it together and making sure that it was all secured before turning his attention back to Parker with a quirk of a smile as she called at him to keep up before flinging herself at the building. All his life, Sherlock had been used to being the one in the lead, the one telling everyone else to keep up with him, that he wasn't going to slow down and unless they could claw themselves up to his speed, they weren't worth it. It was odd how nice that it was to be the one playing keep up for a change.

It was a bit of a chore to get the hang of the action without getting tangled up, and after two false starts, Sherlock did manage to get himself up onto the wall and moved to try and make up the pace behind Parker, thankful that he wasn't entirely a slouch in these departments and could make up the distance without too much of a sweat. But even as he fell in pace next to her, Sherlock knew better than to try and get ahead. He honestly had no clue what he was doing right now. He didn't want to end up stumbling headfirst into a situation that he couldn't get himself back out of.

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inafivepoundbag
2012-06-06 04:31 am UTC (link)

Parker had to admit, she was almost impressed. There weren't that many who could keep up with her when it came to scaling a building but Sherlock definitely seemed to be holding his own. Of course, this was far easier than a lot of the other things they were going to be doing before the show-and-tell was over, but still. So far, things were looking promising.

Reaching the roof, the blond quickly reached above her and grabbed hold of the ledge. With a thrust of her hips to give herself the proper momentum, she pulled herself up until her chest was parallel with the edge of the roof. Then sliding her palms flat against the bricked ledge, she continued to raise herself up until she was doing a headstand. A heartbeat later she kicked her feet and continued onward, landing smoothly on the rooftop. Unhooking herself from her harness so her line didn't get tangled with his, Parker then bellied up to the ledge and held a hand out for Sherlock to take.

"Once you have hold of my hand, let go of the rope," she instructed, waiting until he'd listened before she gave a heave and hauled him the few remaining feet over the ledge and onto the rooftop beside her. Not pausing because time really was of the essence, Parker immediately shimmied out of her harness and set it beside the grappling hook, then made her way silently toward the panel leading to the service shaft.

"Okay," she said, turning to Sherlock to make sure she had his full attention. "Here's where it gets tricky. About ten feet in, the shaft turns at an angle and the corner of the turn is rusted out. Don't put too much weight on it or you're going to fall through it. Considering the drop is about forty feet, it wouldn't be pretty, so just don't do it." Pulling out a paperclip, she unfolded it then slid it into the lock that was meant to keep the panel sealed off from anyone with a key. With an expert twist of her wrist, the lock popped open and Parker yanked the panel open then immediately climbed inside.

Only to pop her head back out of the opening almost as soon as she'd gone in. "Oh!" she tacked on, "And try to be quiet while we're in here. Sound carries and we don't want to set off the alarms by causing too big of a vibration." Then she disappeared again, naturally assuming he'd climb in after her without much hesitation. He'd come this far, already. She highly doubted he was going to turn back now.

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ifimnothungry
2012-06-07 01:55 am UTC (link)

Sherlock had been more than ready to heave himself up over the edge of the building. Perhaps, without the fancy, yet still amazingly impressive, gymnastics that Parker had done so with, but when she offered out her hand to him, he decided that dangling from the side of a building while attached solely to equipment of her own was not the best time to stubbornly refuse assistance. And as he was hauled up and over the wall, he was surprisingly thankful that he hadn't. He was not a small man. Sure, his insistence upon starving himself whenever there was a case to work or a problem to solve left him rather a lot lighter than other guys his height and age, but he was still well over six feet tall and weighed 10 stone, at the very least. Yet, she had flung him upwards as though he were little more than a child's rag doll.

"That was," Sherlock started, following her lead to discard the harness, "impressive. At what point do you start struggling? 220, 225?" The questions once more were brief glances across the forefront of his mind, not things that he had intended to utter in the midst of her explanation, even as he had caught the majority of it. Careful at the turn or you'll die was about what it amounted to, and he couldn't help but be a little relieved that she hadn't left it at just that. "Understood," He said with a nod as he moved to follow her, leaning forward just enough to get a good look down the shaft.

Sherlock Holmes was not a man who was easily unnerved. Fearless was a word that he had heard used occasionally, but it was not quite accurate. Reckless would be more to the point. But as he peered down after her, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd gotten himself in over his head. Still, there was no sense in backing out now. All he had to do was hope that he made it down without accidentally knocking out the rusty bit and falling to his death.

Mycroft would never forgive him for that.

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