bakerstreet | level the playing field

They had been having a very good time, it seemed surprisingly easy for them to be together. He hadn't used his powers to do anything terrible to her, and she could understand when he did slip up with rather simple things.

She's shocked by his sudden turn when he arrives back.

"I didn't do anything!" She's startled and taken aback to be grabbed. "To have what? I don't know what the fuck you are talking about" There is no hint of deception in her eyes, this came out of nowhere.

"Oh, don't be stupid, you have to know! I haven't spent time with anyone else the last few days, so it must be you!" He narrows his eyes down at her and tightens his hold on her wrist. He might not be a particularly good fighter, but he's certain with enough patience he could break her arm at the very least.

"Who sent you? Someone must have tipped you off. Who was it? What did they tell you to give me?" As far as he knew, there were only a couple of substances that could do it, and he didn't remember her giving him any sort of shot in the last few days. Was this something new?

Irene is a rather good fighter, and if she chooses to she could escape from his grip in a moment. But she doesn't actually want to hurt him.

"I have no idea what you are even talking about. I didn't give you anything. All we've had is wine, room service and sex and you know it." She tries to tug her arm away from him.

Surprisingly, he lets her take her arm back. He wants to believe her, and normally he would have no hesitation in getting the truth from her, but now, something's... different.

He snarls and turns on his heel to start finding any dishes that had been brought to them that hadn't been taken back downstairs yet. "Then you must've told the kitchen to poison me, put something in my food. What was it? If I find you're behind this, I'll throw you out the window myself."

He lets her go and storms off to look at dishes. And Irene is still shell shocked. While it's not surprising that he can be volatile, it's shocking at how quickly it's happened.

"Fucking look at me. I'm telling you the truth, I've no idea what you are on about, and certainly had nothing to do with it. Why would I try to poison you? I'm here because I want to be, every moment has been by my bloody choice."

"How the fuck should I know? People have been trying to kill me for years, or at least find a way to neutralise me, and you figured it out somehow." He sniffed the lip of the wine bottle they'd enjoyed the night before and took a small taste of the dregs of it, trying to detect any notes of anything unfamiliar that shouldn't be there. Just wine.

He does look at her, and he's seething, a venomous look in his eye. "It's not working. It's not bloody working." Without giving her any time to catch up, he straightens his back and waves his hand. "Stand on your head. Go on." Even just that feels... off somehow. Wrong. Broken.

"I'm not trying to kill you." She actually likes him, likes being around him and actually had been considering what it might be like to properly date him.

He's glaring at her and she's still not sure exactly what's going on. Until he tells her to do something, and she doesn't feel the pull, she doesn't need to. The shock of it shows in her face.

"Oh my God." It's gone, his powers are gone. "I would have never taken that from you."

He wants to believe her, he truly does, but the fact that she makes absolutely no move to do what he asked only infuriates him further. It's not her he's mad at, he doesn't think, but someone must be to blame. He throws the bottle away, the heavy thing leaving quite a nasty dent in the wall, and he slams his fist into the table they'd eaten at, the empty dishes and glasses rattling on its surface.

He feels neutered, like some vital part of him has been cut away from him. He stands, shaking, trying desperately to claw back some modicum of dignity and composure so he can figure out where to go next. He cant' even decide whether he wants to shout and cry or whether he wants to break things and strangle someone.

"Don't... Don't leave. Please. Not now." He knows his words can't really do anything to stop her this time, and that should she want, she'd truly be free of him. But if she were honest and weren't lying to him, maybe she'd take pity and stay.

She's seen plenty of angry outbursts, and thrown even more herself. She's not scared that he's going to hurt her, not really. But the wall probably didn't deserve that.

He's just normal now, just a regular man. She can't fathom how shitty that must feel. As if she had woken up and couldn't make deductions about people anymore. She waits a moment for the anger to subside.

Then she goes to him, standing almost close enough to touch him.

"I'm not going anywhere." and in case he had any doubt, Irene is truly the first woman who would absolutely stay once his powers are gone.

Her answer really does surprise him. She was well and truly free of his influence, but she chose to stay anyway. He hadn't had the idea to start counting how long since his last command of her, but she could have been well outside the window of infection. Would that even still apply here?

He lifts his head to look at her, looking more scared than he's ever been, even when he thought he might die from a stupid bus accident. He then fully turns to her and draws her in close with a tight, shivering hug.

"What's wrong with me? What in the world happened to me? It's... It's gone. It's gone. What if it never comes back?"

She is pulled into a hug and she nuzzles her face against his chest.

"We'll figure it out, ok?" Though she really wonders if getting him back his powers is a good idea.

More than anything else Irene is worried about how much she truly does care for him. Sentiment is dangerous, love even more so. She's not to love, but she's well into sentiment.

"Move in with me. Here, or we can go somewhere totally different"

He can't remember the last time someone genuinely invited him to stay with them, and he pulls back a little to look down at her strangely, as if to ask if she knew what she's asking. She's never struck him as a woman who was often unsure, but still, it's an odd request for him.

"Me? You'd have me move in with you?" He asks, his voice a little less steady than he'd like. Still... without his powers, how would he get along? He's well into adulthood and hasn't needed to get along like a normal person once in his life. He wouldn't even know where to start.

"For now, yes, you might be right to suggest that. Get out of here.. away from someone who obviously has ill intent. Change of environment. Maybe it' just.. work itself out of me, whatever this is."

"Yes you. You need somewhere safe, away from whoever did this. No one knows that you even know me, they wouldn't think to come to my flat."

She reaches up to cup his cheek, she really does care, even if he is a bastard. That's what she tends to prefer. Nothing good comes easily.

She pulls him down to kiss him, this might be the closest thing to a real relationship she's had, and that's saying something.

"I like you, I want to keep you safe"

He gladly lets her kiss him, and while he might still feel scared and uneasy, he can at least feel the last of his rage slip out of him.

He seldom worries about actually putting anyone out, but normally he doesn't have to. He says they want him, and they do. Thinking about actually needing to win affection from people makes Kilgrave suddenly a lot more grateful for Irene's presence. He can't help but laugh a little at her sentiment.

"Sorry, I've just... never really needed much protecting before. It's strange to me. If someone is trying to attack me, what do you think you can do about it? What can either of us do?"

"Well, I'm above average in a fist fight and lethal with a gun. I don't exactly have the safest job imaginable."

It's why he townhouse had a trap safe. Why she keeps sedatives in syringes around her bedroom. She knows that a scene could turn, or Moriarty could decided to have her killed. (at least he could have.) And she's taught herself enough to fend off most attacks.

Well, she's got him there, and he can't argue with her logic. Maybe it would be safer with her.. fewer variables and strangers popping in and out. Finally, he tries for a smile, stroking the contours of her cheek.

"Does that mean I get to see all these fun things you keep boasting about, my dear? I do love seeing a professional's environment for myself. I like to try and measure it against what I've got in my mind. All right. I think we should. Before the next meal, anyway, who knows who's been dosing me here, and with what."

Very few people have her address, since she moved she's been doing almost excursively outcalls, either at hotels, or Upper East side penthouses.

"Of course you can see all my toys." Her head cants into his touch, "Let's pack up and get out of here." They've only got some clothes and miscellaneous things to pack up anyway.

He's pleased to see she's still compliant to his wishes, even if the weight of his words doesn't carry as far as they did just yesterday. Still, if someone were after him, he wouldn't be able to do much to deter them, and that put him at unease. This would take some getting used to.

Her idea was a good one, but it only took a moment of picking up his things before he realised something that put an odd taste in his mouth.

"Dear god, is this what it's like for the rest of you? Just... hoping someone will do what you want? Well... maybe I'm asking the wrong person, but surely you know how upsetting this is."

"This is what it's like, yes. With more manipulation on my part. You've had a cheat, and now you have to learn a new one. People will still do exactly what you want if you learn how to play them properly. It's not as easy, but it's effective."

Irene is so very used to getting her way, it's how her life is. But she uses a different strategy than he does. Where Sherlock uses his deduction to solve crimes, she uses hers to solve people. She learns what people want, when they are lying, what they lie about. Normal people can be so easy to play.

He raises an eyebrow over at her, his exposure to her so far not having given him any indication that he might be being manipulated as far as he could tell. Then, he's not particularly familiar with the sensation, either, so he's not sure how to tell if he's being manipulated or not.

He gives out a small laugh.

"And how do you play people? You, in particular. I'm not overly fond of this idea from the outset." He pauses and gives her a sly sort of look. "You're not actually going to tell me, are you? Trade secrets and all that."

She wouldn't offer him safety if she had been manipulating him. His powers were useful, but even then, she wasn't.

"I'll teach you everything if you want. You'd make a magnificent Dominant. Though males tend to make slightly less in this particular industry." She finishes tucking away the few things she had and walks over to him. "I'm not offering you a place in my home to manipulate you; maybe because I want to shag you on ever conceivable surface, but that's hardly a bad thing, is it?"

"Well, I can't argue against that, can I?" He stands tall and sraps an arm around her, pulling her in to place a kiss on her forehead. "You certainly seem to have made your way in a life like this. Maybe I could stand to learn a thing or two.. You know, just in case this little problem doesn't resolve itself."

IT is a great comfort to know she's not taking him in as some sort of pet project, but with her behaviour now out of his control, he can't help but feel both a little nervous and perhaps a little excited about what he might learn about her

"It's a very sound plan." Lord knows they are rather excellent at shagging. "I'm sure you'll get it back."

Irene is a hint excited herself, to get to know him without the risk of an accidental order. Though he might not be much of anything without the power that defined him for so long.

"Let's go. I've got a spectacular entryway table that is calling to me."

There's a knowing sort of smile that creeps its way over his lips at her mention of it, and it's almost enough to completely bury the anxiety in his heart that the loss of his ability meant.

"If this is what being ordered around is all about, I don't see what people get into such a fuss about." He finished packing the few things he had and politely followed her out of their hotel, as though nothing in the world had changed. Though for the time being, he might have to let her talk to the cabbie or get them a seat at a restaurant, as he's uncertain whether he could do it without throwing a fit just yet.

"Having to pay for things gets rather old." She will confess to that much. But she's good at hailing cabs and always carries some cash for them.

She hails them a cab, gives her address and snuggles in next to him, her head on his shoulder.

"So there is no way your real name is Zebadiah." Her voice is low to whisper to him.

THE NO POWERS MEME

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