WRATH: A Hannigram Fanfiction

23- Les Résultats

     "You came at a great time," Beverly Katz remarked as she moved fluidly about the lab. "Test should be done in about fifteen."
     The two of them stood in the empty forensics lab, which was plagued with an irritating buzz of sickly fluorescent lighting. It was chilly and smelled of alcohol. After getting a frustrated call from Jack that Will was MIA, Hannibal decided to show up later than promised. There was no point in being there if Will wasn't. Everyone was trying to call Will, but he wouldn't answer. No one knew where he was, and they didn't have the right to track his phone. Hannibal was extremely anxious about it all.
     Hannibal stepped forward to investigate the materials on the table. "Explain it to me," he asked to distract himself from Will's disappearance.
     "In science terms or Jack Crawford terms?" She raised an eyebrow.
     "Well, now I'm curious as to what Jack Crawford terms are."
     "Computer go beep, there's our guy."
     Hannibal chuckled. "I take it he's not a scientific man."
     "Definitely not. In better terms, we extracted a foreign sample from the scene along with some reference DNA from Will. We already have Will's DNA on file; he needed a test to get hired here. The reference DNA is getting compared to Will's right now, and if it matches then the software will connect it to Will's face on the CODIS."
     "And if the DNA isn't his?"
     "It'll either connect it to someone who's also on the database, basically leading us to our guy, or it will be completely blank."
     Good. He had never had his DNA taken; if somehow the cells on the scene were his, no one would know. "Quite simple. It's interesting how quickly you can do something like this."
     "Yep. Jack still doesn't get it, though."
     Hannibal watched her work, standing in the back so he wouldn't get in her way. She was busy processing some of Elliot's DNA, she told him, and she was now entering it into the file. Even a dead man had to be detected.
     "Do you think Will did it?" He asked suddenly, driven forward by some kind of curious instinct. Beverly stopped what she was doing, and when she turned around her face was unreadable.
     "Will isn't capable of something so brutal," she said. "If he was somehow involved with this, I know he didn't mean it. And if this DNA is his, that doesn't necessarily mean he was the one to kill Elliot. It just means he was there." She shrugged. "In the end, it's not my jurisdiction, really. I just tell Jack the results and he does what he wants with them."
     She clearly underestimated Will. Everyone did; that was the genius of his person suit. Hannibal had seen the real Will.
     Kill him. Kill him. I shot him..I didn't have to do that. I shot him twice..I killed him. I'm scared of what I'll do to him.
     I liked killing them. It felt so good..
     "What about you? Do you think Will did it?"
     "Obviously there are some things I know about Will that are under confidentiality. From what I can say, though, no. I don't think he did this."
     He just told me to.
     There was a loud beep in the lab as one of the computers lit up with a new window. Both of them startled. A face appeared on screen, one that Hannibal knew all too well, but Beverly reached the computer before he could and--
     She froze.
     "Doctor Lecter."
     She knew, and that had to be fixed. Hannibal slowly and silently approached her from behind, hands wringing and twitching as he eyed the back of her neck. The discolored lights of the lab made her skin look almost green. He would do anything necessary to protect Will-- it all depended on how she chose to react.
     No. No, he couldn't kill her. God knows how that would look. He'd have to settle for something safer.
     He was right behind her now. "This can all be explained," he said, his voice low and steady, ready to entrance her. He could erase the evidence on the screen and she wouldn't notice a thing. Before he could say anything else, however, she reached out behind her and grabbed onto his wrist.
     "I can give you four hours." She didn't turn around.
     This stunned him. "I'm sorry?"
     "I can't hide this information forever-- it'll come back to bite me in the ass-- but I can delay it. Jack won't know shit. Four hours, Doctor Lecter. Is that enough?"
     Hannibal nodded, bewildered. "Yes," he replied quickly. "Yes, that's plenty."
     "This doesn't look good at all. And now he's virtually missing."
     "I know." That was exactly why. Will was running from prosecution. The only issue was where.
      "You know a whole lot more than you're telling me, Doctor, but I trust you to figure it out. We made a deal to protect him." She finally turned her head, her dark eyes hard and determined. "Are you gonna protect him?"
     "Yes."
     "Talk to him. Get the story straight. Find him. None of us want to see him in prison, not even Jack. Tell him we can fix this."
     "I will. I'm going right now." He pulled out his cell phone and rushed to the doorway. Some urge inside him made him stop; perhaps it was a twinge of guilt for contemplating killing her. He turned. "Thank you, Miss Katz."
     She mimed a completely innocent look. "For what?"
     Hannibal took off into the hallway, head down to avoid any interactions. He went out the back way, refusing to pass by the open door of Jack's office, and he quickly made his way down to the parking garage. Inside of his car, he dialed Will's number immediately.
     There was a click. A slight rustling sound. "I'm only answering to tell you that I can't do this right now," Will said, and Hannibal exhaled with relief. His Angel was safe. He contemplated whether to tell him the truth at all-- telling him over the phone would just stress him out. But then again, he wanted the information to come from him, not from Jack or even Beverly. Waiting to tell him in person was risky, especially since no one even knew where he was.
     "Hannibal?" Will's nervous voice startled him out of his indecision. It was that voice that did him in. No matter if Will was Angel or human, Hannibal would never be able to live without that voice. He couldn't stand the idea of Will being confined to a prison cell, stripped of his freedom, strapped into a chair, his body jolting and jerking as his one chance at Salvation was ripped away. Will deserved to know every snippet of the truth.
     "..They know."
     The sound of a faint gasp, breath catching. Will paused, and Hannibal was about to ask more questions when he suddenly whispered, "..I'm driving to Minnesota."
     Good boy. Good. Hannibal couldn't come up with anything to say. Will was taking the exact route that he wanted, and everything was going to fall into place. All of this effort would be worth it.
     He was right to sneak that gun into Will's glove box last night. He would end up needing it. He had no doubt that Will would find it-- the Universe would find some way to let him know it was there. He never would have let his Angel run into a dangerous situation without a weapon, not after last time.
     He would be there to witness every moment of Will's Becoming. If something were to go wrong, he would be there to fix it right away. Soon, soon, soon. Tonight.
     Now, he was only focused on appearing normal. What would a concerned, clueless friend do? Where would he go to search for Will?
     His house. Yes, he could go to Will's house. But then there was the issue of his car...the only reasonable thing to do was to go home. He could say he tried; he could tell Jack that he went to Will's house, that he looked everywhere, but the man was nowhere to be found. That was what he would do.
     When the sun set tonight, everything would change. Everything.