snuggle bear (snuggle_bear) wrote in odysseyic, @ 2018-04-28 15:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | bear, blake, dustin, judson |
you're a pirate!
who: Bear, Judson, Dustin and Blake
setting: security office
Judson thought that life was going pretty great. Sure there were a few bumps along they way, but ever since not getting caught when he and the pirates attacked the Odyssey and then taking over an identity of a man that was no longer alive, things seemed to be working out. He was living the life he had always wanted and there was a girl involved, too. No one recognized him from the attacks, though he’d kept a low profile and tried to not be seen; he had not been up for hurting anyone and instead and stuck to going through rooms looking for items he could maybe fence at a later time, a stroke of luck ended the pirate attack and he’d easily turned into one of the guests.
Jason Howell. That was the name he was going by, having people just call him J. No one on board knew he was Judson Gray. No one. Or so he thought, anyway.
He was so sure of no one knowing that he was starting to get out more, to wander around more while people were out. He was feeling safe, secure; he thought that he could be J Howell for the rest of his life, even if he didn’t like the name. It was a secure life. So sure was he, that today he wasn’t worrying about skirting around security. He’d gone out for breakfast and then walked around the ship and did a bit of shopping in one of the stores. Afterwards, he had found himself in the gym working out. Now that he was done, he was heading back to his room for a quick shower and maybe send a text to Lucy asking her if she wanted to have dinner with him.
As he was walking along one of the halls, he came across a man that he recognized right away. He’d been a prisoner on the ship that Judson had had to watch over, to keep locked up and make sure he did as he was told. He couldn’t turn away, so instead he lifted the towel that hung around his bare shoulders to dab at some sweat and gave a nod of his head in greeting as he passed. Hopefully, hopefully the man had not seen his face, though he thought he had, and if so had not recognized him. His heart slammed in his chest as he made himself keep at a walk and do nothing that might give him away.
Unfortunately for Judson, Bear clocked him in a heartbeat. He was one of his captors, that pissant little shit that was often on guard duty, preventing his escape. And while maybe he hadn’t put lit cigarettes out on him like some others, he’d been complicit. He was part of those people, part of the murderers and rapists. He’d been part of it all, as far as Bear was concerned. And while Bear was never the kind of guy who wanted to go in for violence, especially not before trying other avenues first, he acted before he even had time to properly process it all.
He roared, and bodily tackled Judson, swinging hard to punch his damn lights out.
Judson had thought he’d make it past, that if he could get just down the hall that he could escape into an elevator and find a place to hide for a bit then everything would be okay. If no one came looking for him, he’d know whether this man recognized him or not.
But the man recognized him and that meant everything was over.
The roar gave him a chance to ready himself for the tackle and the two went falling to the ground, rolling back and forth. He swung, trying to catch a weak spot, but he wasn’t sure this man had one. The anger that lived in him had full and total control. “Let me go!” He ground out, punching again.
“You fucking pirate son of a bitch!” Bear bellowed, taking a punch or two, but it didn’t slow him down yet. Bear was a big guy. He was built strong and rage was running the show. He kneed at the guy’s stomach, and threw another hard punch, trying to knock his head through the wall in the hallway.
Judson was fighting back, but Bear was so much bigger than he was. Or at least, more muscular, could throw bigger punches. Or maybe it was that Judson knew he was caught and there was nothing he could do. No, he was pretty sure he was just outmatched by Bear.
“Dammit.. Stop…” he threw a few more punches, but when the punch came to his head, knocking it into the wall, she slid down to land on his ass. He was seeing three of the man..no maybe six. He didn’t know. Still, not wanting to give up, he started to stand and took another hit that had him falling straight back. His head hit the floor, bouncing, and the lights went out.
Bear stopped when the guy was out and he stood over him, breathing heavily. Then he leaned down to grab one of his arms, to start dragging him toward security.
***
Dustin looked up in confusion when Bear walked into the security office dragging some unconscious person. He stood up from where he’d been doing some paperwork and rushed over. “What the hell happened?” he asked Bear.
“This motherfucker is a pirate,” Bear said, just barely resisting the urge to kick him. “He was one of the bastards who had me held captive for months. Apparently when he saw which side was losing he laid low, and he’s been here. I guess. I don’t know I didn’t ask him, I just -- pirate!”
“Okay, calm down,” Dustin said, holding his hand up toward Bear. “Go sit down.” As Bear paced a little further into the office, he reached out to take the unconscious guy’s pulse, which was strong, and while he looked a little scraped and bruised, he didn’t look like he was going to have anything like lasting damage. Then he went, shut and locked the security door, and went to the first aid kit stashed in one of the cabinets. He got out some smelling salts, and crouched down to snap and wave them under the guy’s nose.
Blake, who’d been in the back, heard the commotion and made his way up to where Dustin was. He stopped short when he saw Bear, with an unconscious man on the floor. He knew that Bear worked with medical and couldn’t figure out why the man would bring the unconscious man here instead of to medical. “What happened?” He asked, wondering if Bear might have lost his mind.
As the smelling salts were breathed in, Judson came awake and aware in .2 seconds. All he saw was two men hovering over him and the instinct to fight came through, one arm swinging at Dustin’s face, while one leg kicked out at Bear. “Motherfuckers, lemme go,” he said, his words slightly slurred from the swollen lip. “I ‘int do nthing’”
Bear moved out of the way of Jud’s kick, but did kick back, and Dustin shot him a glare - after he caught Judson’s wrist and held it tight. “If you can’t calm down, Bear, you’re going to be in the next cell til you are,” he said, glancing up at Blake, to nod him closer. Then he looked back to the guy on the floor. “We’ll be the judge of that. Now if I let you go, are you going to take another swing?” he asked.
Blake was quick to move closer, ready to grab the guy if he needed to and also making sure Bear couldn’t take a kick again. “Now I see why the guy isn’t in medical, you want him to hurt,” he looked at Bear and rose an eyebrow. “So, what did you do?” He looked down at the other guy.
“Nothin’,” Judson spat out at Blake, then looked at Dustin. “You keep him away from me and I’ll behave,” he lifted a hand and rubbed lightly at his head, the other hand wrapped around his middle. “Fuckin’ hell, did you really have to beat the shit outta me?”
Bear did back off, seething as he was out of range, letting Dustin and the other guy handle it. He paced like a caged animal, though. He growled when Judson spoke, though. “Yeah, I did, you bastard! You kept me locked up! You held me fucking prisoner!” he screamed. He looked to Dustin and Blake. “He’s one of them, I know it. I remember this pissant anywhere. He was a pirate. He was fucking with them. He held me captive.”
Dustin glanced to Blake, then back to the guy. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to let you up, if you need anything for your...current state, we’ll get it, and you’re going to chill out right over there,” he said, pointing to one of the cells. “Bear here is going to wait outside. You give us your name, ID, we’ll look you up, and if you are who you say you are, we won’t have any problems, alright?”
“Yeah, sure...fuck,” Judson groaned out and started to sit up, an arm going around his ribs as he then went to stand up. Jesus, he knew what he’d done on that pirate ship, but god he thought he’d gone as easy as he probably could on the other guy. Or maybe he hadn’t. Fuck. “Wallet…” he reached into his back pocket and pulled it out, tossing it to Dustin. Hopefully, this would be good enough to pass because if not he was done for he was sure.
“What’s your name?” Blake asked as he helped the man up to his feet and then set him in a chair.
“Jason Howell,” he said, not once making eye contact with Bear.
Dustin, true to his word, unlocked the security door and nodded Bear out. Bear looked supremely unhappy, but went, taking up his pacing in the hall instead. Then he went back to the initial computer bank station as you walked into the offices, and he pulled up a browser on one screen, and the ship’s manifest on another. “Jason Howell,” he repeated, typing in the names. “Blake, you want to check out his ID?”
Judson watched as Bear walked out and let out a small breath of air. Thank God. He didn’t need to be attacked again and now he could focus on trying to keep his cover.
“Got it,” Blake said and took the wallet and started to dig out the ID. There wasn’t anything unusual about it, it was all pretty standard. “It looks alright. Jason Howell, age 21…” he looked at other things in the wallet. “Credit card, medical card, all the same name,” he looked over at Dustin and headed his way. When he was closer, he dropped his voice to a near whisper. “Something don’t feel right, though.”
Dustin nodded, and scribbled down on a little notebook on the desk an answer to Blake’s observation. ’I know Bear. Doesn’t rile easily. I agree with your instincts.’ But he didn’t say anything aloud, just kept looking things over. As he pulled up a little file on Mr. Howell, he looked at the picture in it, then back to the cell the guy was in. He glanced to Blake to see if he too was spotting the differences. Dustin had to hand it to the kid, it looked damn close. Someone who had no reason to question it wouldn’t give him a second glance. But now that they were looking - he was seeing a different person on the manifest. Different nose, the face shape was a little off. “What is it you do for a living, Mr. Howell? And how long have you been onboard?” he asked, looking at the information on file.
Blake was looking at the photo, then at the ID in his hand, then back to the picture. It was similar, but there were differences. The man Bear had brought in was definitely not Jason Howell. He gave a look to Dustin and then made his way over to where the imposter sat. Once Dustin let him know they were on to him, Blake wanted to make sure he didn’t try to run, not that he’d get far with Bear standing right outside.
“Insurance,” Judson said, almost lamely. Who in the fuck sold insurance. “But I’ve got family money,” he went on. “So I don’t really do much now, they all were taken by the plague,” he sad sadly, even looked the part. He was a good actor and he’d done research on Jason Howell’s family to be able to answer such questions. “I’ve been on the ship for almost a year,” he looked from Dustin to Blake then back again. He didn’t know that the manifest had pictures of who came onboard, didn’t know he was fucked.
Dustin signed silently. He had to hand it to the guy, he had good answers. Though he bet if he asked for a specific date when he boarded he wouldn’t have any idea. Didn’t matter either way, he already knew they had a fake in there. The question was how deep this went. He stood up from the console, and walked up beside Blake. He nodded to the big guy, glad he’d taken up post there just in case. He was certainly a smart guy. He reached out and closed up the cell, it locking when the door shut. “So, kid, did you kill Mr. Howell and take his identity, or did you just see things were headed south fast with the rest of your crew and decided to blend in with someone who’d already died?”
Blake watched as Dustin locked the guy up in the cell. Yeah, he’d known that was coming. “Really good, really. Best type of identity theft I’ve ever seen,” he shook his head. “Almost had us. Almost. Just subtle difference in the bone structure of the face…” he clicked his tongue. He, too, wanted to know what had happened with the original Mr. Howell.
“No..what...fuck me…” he sat on the cot and rubbed a hand over his face. He’d almost had it. If he had not run into Bear, if he had not recognized him, he’d have been set. Fuck the past coming to bite him in the ass. He could continue to argue about who he was, or wasn’t, could say he had plastic surgery or some other excuse, but he knew it wouldn’t work. He sighed and let his head hang.
“I didn’t kill him,” he frowned. “I didn’t kill anyone...ever...at all…” he wanted to make that clear. “I took his identity because he never came back, because it gave me a new life, because I knew once I told anyone that I was from the pirate ship I’d be sent overboard,” he took in a breath. “Just like now you know, I’m behind bars.” He moved, groaning a little, and then laid on the cot. Home sweet home.
“I'm not in the habit of throwing people overboard,” Dustin said first. But he did harbor resentment. Blake was lucky – he'd not gotten onboard until after the pirate attack. He'd never met the original head of security. Dustin was only head now because the other guy had been murdered right in front of him. Dustin had been shot, beaten within an inch of his life, imprisoned, and other people had had it worse than him, he knew. “But get comfy,” he said. “I'll have a meal sent in later.” He turned to look at Blake, then nodded him back away from the cells, shutting that door – which usually wasn't ever shut. They never usually had anyone in the brig. He headed into his office, wanting a minute to talk to Blake.
Blake could only listen and shake his head. He hadn’t been here during the attacks, but he’d heard about it. Thank god nothing had happened like that since he’d been onboard and he hoped it never would. The only thing he’d been through was the panic of Stockholm and he had a feeling that that trauma didn’t even begin to touch the trauma that had come with the pirate attack.
“So…” he glanced at the closed door. “What are you going to do? And do you think maybe we should let Bear know and maybe call his wife?” Bear probably didn’t need to be alone right now, but what did he know.
Dustin exhaled and dragged his fingers through his hair. “I have no fucking idea,” he admitted. “We have him on identity theft, but have no idea what happened to the real man. And that’s not to mention the piracy claims. Which - we may need to keep that as quiet as we can, people here were slaughtered, traumatized. Bear isn’t going to be the only one onboard who would want a piece of him. Fuck, I was shot by them. They gunned down the head of security right in front of me, right in that hall,” he said, pointing to the hall they’d just left. “‘I was a pirate but was one of the good ones’ isn’t the best excuse I’ve ever heard.” He paused, then nodded. “Yeah, give his wife a call, have her come get him.”
Blake let his own breath out and looked in the direction of where Bear should be. “This is bad,” he murmured. “Real bad. People find out about this, it could lead to a mob going after him.” He’d read the reports, it had not been good at all. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that,” he looked at Dustin and offered a small smile. “I’ll call the wife, let her know to come get him. “Guess we need to call those that be, too, and find out what our next step is. Maybe leave him at the next port? Be rid of him?” Or fly him off, don’t even let him go to the next port with them could work too, he thought. He went to a computer, pulled up Bear’s information and found his wife’s number. A therapist. That was good, he thought to himself. He dialed her number and called, asking her to come to the brig as soon as she could.
“Very much so,” Dustin said. It was what he’d been saying. People lost a lot with the pirates. Some were never the same. His mind went to Theo, and how he’d lost his bodyguard and even if it was unconscious and the blood stain wasn’t outside his room anymore - he knew when they left the room or were headed to it that Theo’s eyes ticked there anyway. He didn’t need to see the blood to know where it had been. He looked back up when Blake said he was sorry. “Thanks,” he said genuinely.
Then Dustin shrugged. “I’ll call the captain once we get Bear out of here,” he said. Then he headed to unlock the door and he poked his head out into the hall, seeing Bear still pacing out there. He felt for the guy. “Hey,” he said to get his attention and when the paramedic looked over, he continued. “He’s staying in the brig. We have him solidly on identity theft right now, we’ll figure out what else to do once we talk to the Captain. But he’s not leaving the cell, okay? Your wife should be on her way in a minute,” he said, hoping that was true, because he really didn’t know.
Bear exhaled, and nodded, looking at the floor. “...thanks, Dustin,” he muttered. Not upset with him, just the situation. “I’m going to wait out here,” he decided. Going back in there seemed like the worst idea ever. He just wanted to go back to his room and curl up with Aisling.