Cat & mouse game

Ian bit back a snarling answer. Instead, he just looked down, and sat again, as he had been told to. His hands were shaking, and he frowned at them, clenching them in fists. "As clear as a mirror, Sir", he answered flatly. Donovan was a good superior, and the last thing he wanted was to antagonize him.

Donovan sighed again. "With everything you told me, I'm trying to see if there is some sort of scheme going on. I can't make you any promises though. If he's guilty, I won't make any move, but if we can prove he's not... I'll do my best. I'll see you at 2," he told Ian as he began to turn away.

Ian looked up at him. "... thank you, Sir", he said quietly. "I am just... glad that you are being impartial at least. I hope everything will be ok." He stood up to get back to the training grounds.

"I hope so too, Junior Lieutenant," Donovan sighed, as he went away. And, as promised, he was waiting for Ian after his lunch, in front of one of their questionning rooms.

Ian had barely touched any food at lunch. He had tiredly stopped a couple of soldiers from starting a fight over the theft on the lines of "We host you and you steal from us". He saluted Donovan, walking up to him. "There I am", he said without enthusiasm.

Donovan nodded. "Do you wish to go in now?"

Ian nodded silently. "If the Lieutenant is not in as well", he specified afterwards. If things went wrong he could have strangled her.

"She's behind the tainted glass. Are you ok with that?" he asked Ian, as he made a move to open the door.

Ian shrugged. "If she has to, I guess. I can't promise I would be well behaved otherwise." He stepped into the now open room.

Newt was sitting on a chair, looking mightly uncomfortable, and for a few reasons. He straightened up when he saw Ian, hopeful. "Ian ! I swear to you, it wasn't me!"

Ian fought himself not to run and tackle him in a bear hug. After all there were people watching. He took another chair and went to sit down near him. "I am mightly sure it wasn't you Newt", he told him gently. "What happened exactly?"

"I... I just went back into my room and there was all this stuff under my bed that wasn't mine, I didn't put it there, somebody must have broken into my room!" Newt was panicking at this point, and he was exhausted. Being in such a boring room for so long was killing his nerves. Also, sitting on that shitty chair was killing his butt but he couldn't protest about that out loud.

"Calm down now, don't worry. I don't care about what your Lieutenant says, you won't be judged guilty without any proof to boot", Ian hushed him, raising his hand to cup his cheek. Then he looked at Donovan. "Was the door forced open?"

Donovan shook his head. "The person had the key, and was not seen from the cameras. It looked like... the objects gravitated towards them."
"But it wasn't me," protested Newt, whose ability was to attract objects to himself.

Ian thought it over. "Newt can't attract objects from far away", he stated, remembering his stolen wallet the first time they had met. The memory almost brought a smile to his lips. "He needs to get his hands on them to make them stick to his body. Like adhesive", he added. "So he would have been seen on cameras."

"... What he just said!" Newt insisted, relieved.
Donovan's brows furrowed a little, ans he sat in front of them, laying down a few objects. "Show me."
And Newt did show him how his power worked, explaining it to him. After a few minutes, Donovan smiled. "Well. It indeed looks like you couldn't have done it."

Ian literally beamed like sunshine. Well, that had been quicker than expected, thankfully! "Good! Glad to see you agree on my client's innocence, your honor", he could just say happily. Then he got serious again. "There are still questions without an answer though. This will rwquire further investigations."

"Would you like to investigate yourself upon this matter, Junior Lieutenant?" Donovan asked with a soft smile. "If you can find out how it happened... it might get you the rank of lieutenant faster than expected."

Ian saluted him. "If you think I would be the right person for this investigation, then I am honored, and I humbly accept", he said, bowing his head.

Donovan nodded, then looked at Newt. "Untie him. I'll brief the whole base about it, since I've heard that our guests have been subject to some animosity in the past few hours."

Ian nodded. "It would be better if you did, Sir. I don't know for how much time I'll be able to prevent fights, to be honest. Even if Kara is doing her best to make everyone scared to even move a finger", he muttered then, starting to untie Newt.

"Don't forget to go back to your team, Junior Lieutenant," Donovan told him as he exited, going to get ready for his speech.

Newt massaged his wrists, and carefully stood up, trying not to wince. "Thank you, Ian."

"Of course, Sir", Ian answered distractly as he watched Newt getting up. He smiled softly at him. "You're welcome. I'll escort you to my room and then get back to work, alright?", he added, offering him his hand.

"Are you sure I can still call sick for the day?" Oh boy did he wish the answer was yes. He was exhausted, that chair had been killing him.

"You not only can, you should and you will", Ian said with a definitive tone. "I won't accept a no from anybody. After all, you have been unjustly accused of theft. I'd like to see anyone try to contradict you!" In another life, he had been a lawyer. He guided him out of the interrogation room, after throwing a triumphant sneer at the smoky glass.