This Flight Fic is shaping up! 

we have quite a story so far....

(hermyownee) He looked up. Above him the dark clouds are foreboding a storm. This didn't help the sense of uneasiness that has been creeping over him. It was going to be his first day in the H Division. A new day, a new beginning. Exhaling slowly, dismissing the anxiety that plagued him, Detective Albert Flight stepped through the headquarters door... 

(rubyrosettared)And straight away he is caught up within the maelstrom that is H Division. The noise is incredible, perhaps slightly above a roar. For a moment Flight stands still, amidst the chaos and absorbs the atmosphere, the voices of coppers and prisoners alike, the clank of iron bars, the rattle of keys being turned. It terrifies him at first, the reputation of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid, head of H Division, is legendary in many circles. He takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders.  It's his first secondment, first out of uniform. He only hopes that he can live up to and be a part of the Division's reputation.

"Mind where you stand boy!" the voice sounds so close that Flight flinches, and lurches forward a step as he's caught by his shoulder and nudged forwards. He turns, seeing the tall, thin man pushing his way through, delivering yet another member of Whitechapel's criminal fraternity to the front desk. The first thought that goes through Flight's head is that he would not like to get on the wrong side of him....

(domino) ….his anxiety deepening with the sound of voices appearing to come from behind a closed door,

”This is the last time you will attend here, sir, in this….state!” 

“Or WHAT Reid?” 

Flight was not sure, but the laconic reply sounded like it came from an American…but before he could dwell on this further, his gaze met with a pair of beady eyes peering at him over spectacles perched on the face of a bearded man behind the desk. “How can we help you young man?” he said without blinking. Flight was reminded of a bird of prey ready to pounce as he stepped forward.

(whimsyfox) Nervously Flight nods in acknowledgement, "Consta...", he pauses with a slight twitch of his lips before squaring his shoulders once more and beginning again, more confident, "Detective Constable Albert Flight reporting to Detective Inspector Reid."  He can't help the slight awe that creeps into his voice at that name.

"Ah, the new lad." The beady-eyed man looks him up and down, taking his measure, noting his polished appearance and clearly finding it lacking. "Toff?  Best keep any lofty ideas you have to yourself young man.  You stick out like a sore thumb in these here parts."  

Flight swallows back a retort and gives the officer a congenial stare.  He's become accustomed to men making assumptions about him.  Let them.  

"Mr. Reid can be found right there where you hear that Yank."  He looks down at the file he'd just been handed, the new case that had just been reported. Accustomed to sending young Hobbs on errands, he presents the file to this new boy.  "Here, might as well make yourself useful and give him this."

Flight takes the file and turns towards the indicated door...

(domino) ...instinctively clasping his watch in his waistcoat pocket, as if reassuring himself that the frosty reception he had received so far on his first day in H Division was a transient thing.

Taking a deep breath and puffing up his chest slightly to bolster his courage, he knocks.

"What now!" came the american voice, exasperated and ....loud.

"Be quiet and get a grip of yourself man!" scolded the other voice, belonging to the man who hastily approaches then opens the door so abruptly Flight thought it might come of its' hinges.

In the split second before the next word was uttered, Flight took in the room beyond him. Garishly lit and unwelcomingly cold, the space was larger than he expected, with benches filled with the paraphernalia you would only expect to see in a science laboratory, and........ Flight could hardly believe his eyes, was that a.............

(domino)...before his thought could land and the full horror of the scene before him filled his senses, the man who opened the door inquired curtly

"Yes?" his eyebrows raised expectantly and with an air of impatience.

Flight opened his mouth to reply when the man with the american accent - who Flight noticed with no small measure of alarm, was slumped on the floor - almost slurred, "What now......"

"You be quiet!" the first man barked, pointing commandingly back at him but keeping his eyes on flight.

"Well young man, speak up, what is your business here?"

"Flight, Sir", his voice emerging more waveringly than he would like, "reporting for duty!" he finished with a forced close-mouthed smile and an almost too cheerful click of his heels.

(hermyownee)Reid raised his eyebrow. He studied Flight for a moment, carefully noting his well polished appearance, his posture, the nervous twitch of his mouth... 'He's young,' Reid thought. He wasn't sure if was envious of the fact that Flight didn't know what he was getting himself into or if he pitied him. The H Division can make or break a person.

Flight was all too aware of the silence that enveloped the room. "Sir, I..." Reid interrupted, "The file you're clutching... let me have it." Flight looked down. He hadn't realized until that moment what a grip he had on it. There were slight indentations of his finger tips on the envelope. He relaxed his shoulders, feeling the tension release slightly. He handed the file over to Reid, who carefully opened it and glazed over its contents. Flight bounced on his heels slightly, checking the time on his pocket watch (this was a habit, you see), it was a quarter to 9...

"Well, well," Reid said, bringing Flight back to the moment. "looks as if we have a hell of an interesting case here." Flight's eyes widened, "We, sir?" Reid smirked... 

(domino)"Come!" Reid commanded with a brightening tone spinning on his his heels as he marched out of the room, the american glowering up at him from his position on the floor. 

Flight followed suit as Reid replaced his bowler, and tried to keep up as his new boss shouted to the bird of prey man at the desk,

"throw a bucket of cold water on that man!" pointing back at the room they just left.

"Where are we going, Sir?" Flight ventured, trying to disguise his nerves and excitement at this turn of events.

"A word of advice Flight, Less questions and more observation and you will go far with me." Reid responds without looking at his new Detective.

"Yes Sir!" 

Albert was not opposed to an adventure, but as they headed out into the London streets, the sudden crisp autumn wind almost blowing off his bowler and snatching his breath away from him, he was filled with the memory of the scene he had just left behind, and a sense of dread......

(domino)His new boss striding purposefully ahead of him at quite some pace, Flight was glad of the constant chatter of the street filling his ears almost drowning out the pounding of his own heartbeat as he tried to keep up. 

Head bowed against the wind, his attempts to clear the crowding thoughts that perturbed him about his reception at H Division only muffling his mind all the more, Albert, to his total embarrassment, practically squeaked with shock when he collided face on with a young woman, clad in brilliant peacock blue and looking up at him with the most amazing deep brown eyes (he managed to observe in the millisecond before apologising profusely and attempting to help her collect the items scattered from her basket on the cobbled ground).

“I’m, so sorry Miss…” he stammered. clumsily, his necktie suddenly feeling too tight and his collar too high.

She made no reply but her smile in response after regaining her composure and before continuing on her way left Albert with the profoundest feeling of bafflement, a feeling conveyed on his face as he turned to Inspector Reid who had seen the whole curfuffle. 
He could have been mistaken, but Flight thought he saw his boss begin to roll his eyes before coming closer and quietly sighing, 
“There are many distractions to be found on these streets Flight, they could turn a man’s head from seeing the heart of matters of life and death.” 

If he wasn’t filled with foreboding before, the young detective certainly was now, as he nodded silently back at the man he was beginning to fear, but whose air of darkness and authority somehow provided a sense of native safety on these mysterious streets.

 Who will continue the tale?