#he's going to investigate this tall disaster man. he's going to perform experiments on him.

[jedi-starbird]

This is padawan Obi-Wan to me.

[multiverseforger]

Jonathan Osterman is born in 1929 to a German-American family. Jon plans to follow in his father's footsteps as a watchmaker, but when the U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, his father declares his profession outdated and instead forces him to work toward a career studying nuclear physics. The incident represents the turning point in Jon's potential future from watchmaker to nuclear physicist, and foreshadows Doctor Manhattan's "exterior" perception of time as predetermined and all things within it as so determined, including Manhattan's own reactions and emotions.

Jon attends Princeton University and graduates with a Ph.D. in atomic physics. In early 1959, he moves to a research base at Gila Flats, where experiments are being performed on the "intrinsic fields" of physical objects which, if tampered with, result in their disintegration. Here he meets Janey Slater, a fellow researcher; they eventually become lovers. During a visit to an amusement park in New Jersey, Janey's wristwatch is broken, which Jon promises to fix. However, one month later, Jon discovers he has left the repaired watch in his labcoat inside a test chamber. While he is inside, the door to the chamber closes and locks. The researchers are unable to open the door or override the countdown, and Jon's body is torn to pieces from the force of the generator.

In the following months, a series of strange events and apparitions occur at the research base, leading residents to speculate that the area is haunted. It becomes apparent that Jon is progressively re-forming himself during this time, as indicated by a series of partial bodily reappearances: first a disembodied nervous system including the brain and eyes; then as a circulatory system; and then as a partially muscled skeleton. Each time, the appearance lasts for only a few seconds. Jon eventually fully reappears as a tall, hairless, naked and blue-skinned man, glowing with a "flare of ultraviolet."

Before WatchmenEdit

Jon gradually becomes a pawn of the U.S. government, which gives him the code name "Doctor Manhattan"—a reference to the Manhattan Project—and a costume which he begrudgingly accepts. Doctor Manhattan chooses as his emblem a representation of a hydrogen atom, whose simplicity he declares to be something that kindles his respect; accordingly, he painlessly burns the mark into his forehead. This preference for material mechanisms marks the beginning of his declining humanity, which is progressively mirrored by his gradual shedding of the uniform; by the end of the 1970s, he refuses to wear anything at all except during mandatory public appearances.

However, Manhattan's presence tips the balance of the Cold War in the West's favor, and U.S. foreign policy becomes more militaristic as a result. At President Richard Nixon's request, he secures an American victory in the Vietnam War one week after Manhattan's direct involvement, which subsequently allows Nixon to repeal the 22nd Amendment and serve up to five terms. Moreover, far from solving the problems underlying international tensions, Manhattan's presence exacerbates them while stifling their expression, which inevitably builds toward disaster; the entire plot of Watchmen occurs during the countdown to a potential nuclear war.

Since he works for the U.S. government, Manhattan is exempt from a federal law outlawing costumed heroes, but spends much of his time conducting research. He is single-handedly responsible for the shift to electric-powered vehicles, and Adrian Veidt credits him with causing a huge leap forward in a myriad of science and technology sectors. As a result, the technology of the alternative 1985 of the Watchmen universe is far more advanced. During the only meeting of the Crimebusters group, Manhattan becomes attracted to Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre. His relationship with Janey ends acrimoniously shortly after, and he begins dating Laurie.

Events of WatchmenEdit

At the start of Watchmen, Manhattan works at the Rockefeller Military Research Center, where he lives with Laurie. Rorschach comes to inform the two of the murder of Edward Blake, aka the Comedian, and warns them that all former costumed adventurers are being targeted by a "mask killer." Manhattan dismisses Rorschach by teleporting him outside, and encourages Laurie to go out with Dan Dreiberg, the second Nite Owl. Shortly afterwards, Manhattan attends Blake's funeral with Veidt and Dreiberg, reflects on his association with Blake during the Vietnam War, and senses the presence of the former villain Moloch.

During an appearance on a talk show, a reporter ambushes Manhattan with allegations that he caused cancer in his former associates, including Janey. Seeking solitude, he transports himself to Mars. The Soviet Union exploits his absence by invading Afghanistan and sparking an international crisis. Eventually, Manhattan brings Laurie to Mars to discuss why he should aid humanity, an argument Laurie inadvertently wins when she realizes to her shock that her father is Blake, a man she despised for sexually assaulting her mother. From this revelation, Manhattan is amazed by the improbable chances that occurred to result in the birth of Laurie, a chain of events he sees as a stunning "thermodynamic miracle." Realizing that, by extension, this miracle can apply to any living thing on Earth, Manhattan is persuaded to return to Earth to protect humanity rather than disregarding it as insignificant.

Veidt is found to have framed Manhattan as part of his overall plot to avert World War III by attacking New York with an engineered monster, killing half of the city in the process. Although Manhattan and Laurie return too late to stop Veidt, they teleport to his base in Antarctica to confront him. Veidt tries to disintegrate Manhattan, only for Manhattan to restore himself more quickly than Veidt expected. However, upon seeing that Veidt's plan has averted war, Manhattan realizes that to expose him would be too dangerous for life on Earth, and agrees to stay silent. Rorschach leaves with the intention of exposing the truth, causing Manhattan to vaporize him. Manhattan decides to depart Earth again, suggesting that he desires to find a galaxy "less complicated than this one." When Veidt asks if his plan worked out in the end, Manhattan replies, "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."

In the DC UniverseEdit

"The New 52" and "DC Rebirth"Edit

After departing from the Watchmen universe, Manhattan was aware of the DC Universe being filled with hope inside humanity, and traveled there to find a place among those people and start a new life. But at some point, his visions showed him an arms race among metahumans that caused an incoming "World War III", leading Manhattan to have a confrontation with Superman, and then he saw "nothing".[6] This revelation led Manhattan to modify the DC Universe's mainstream timeline in order to fix the fissures caused by the several Crises across the Multiverse. However, those actions would not get the expected result, which would lead to the creation of The New 52.[7]

During the events of Flashpoint, Manhattan misled Pandora into convincing Barry Allen to merge three separate timelines (the DC Universe, the Wildstorm Universe and select Vertigo titles) in order to create Prime Earth.[7] The merger enables him to erase ten years from the reverted universe, which not only reverses the age of its inhabitants by ten years but also causes the multiple resurrections of several deceased characters.[8]

In the new timeline, Manhattan prevents the last wizard of the Council of Eternity from revealing to Pandora how to open the skull shaped box,[9] and kills Owlman and Metron after the former tries to access the secrets of the universe.[10] However, the Convergence caused by Brainiac and Telos restored the Multiverse, bringing back the pre-Flashpoint timeline.[11]

Doctor Manhattan used Abra Kadabra to trap Wally West within the Speed Force, and this modification in the timeline also caused other speedsters in the likes of Jesse Quick, Bart Allen, Jay Garrick and Max Mercury to be removed from history and trapped in the Speed Force. However Wally West was saved by Barry, therefore initiating the events of DC Rebirth. Doctor Manhattan then kills Pandora after she finally realizes that he was the one responsible for all of the sins for which she has been blamed.[8] Barry and Batman later began investigating the unknown force behind these changes,[12] learning from Lilith Clay that "Manhattan" was a prominent thought in Kadabra's mind when he claimed responsibility for removing Wally from history.[13]

Eobard Thawne attacks Batman as he is studying a blood-stained smiley face button left embedded within the wall of the Batcave. When Thawne picks up the button, he is briefly teleported away, returning with the left half of his body charred to the bone. Just before his death; he claims to have seen "God.”[14] Using the cosmic treadmill to chase after the radiation emitted from the button among the timestream, Batman and Barry discover Thawne as he was trying to reach "God.” Upon reaching the unseen figure, Thawne boosted his ability to exist as a paradox before he was vaporized by Manhattan, leaving only the button behind. Sometime later, Manhattan picks up the button as he recalls his dialogue with Laurie.[15]

Manhattan puts Bruce Wayne in contact with the Flashpoint Thomas Wayne, who tells his son to not become Batman before his "death" and the destruction of the last of the Flashpoint timeline,[16] prompting Bruce to not respond to the Bat-Signal the following night. Manhattan also saves Jor-El from the destruction of Krypton, before conditioning him to see only the very worst of humanity.[17] Jor-El assumes the identity of Mister Oz and tries to convince his son Kal-El, or Superman, to abandon Earth. However, when Jor-El begins to realize that he has been pushing against his son too far, he is pulled away. Superman acknowledges Jor-El's warnings even as he rejects his misanthropy.[18]

During the events of Heroes in Crisis, Batman suspects that the massacre on Sanctuary might be related to Manhattan's actions.[19] This theory was later proven to be partially true, as Wally gets in contact with Metron's Mobius Chair, which grants him part of Manhattan's powers.[20]

Events of Doomsday ClockEdit

During the events of Doomsday Clock, seven years after the events set in the Watchmen universe, Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) is determined to find Doctor Manhattan in order to restore the world from chaos after his previous plan for world peace was exposed by Rorschach's journal.[21] Veidt narrates that he is able to track Doctor Manhattan, because Doctor Manhattan leaks electrons as his intrinsic field was stripped during his initial accident and an event caused by Veidt. Using the Owlship to quantum tunnel, accompanied by Rorschach II, Marionette, and Mime, Veidt follows the electron trail left behind by Doctor Manhattan to the DC Universe where they land in Gotham City.[22] Later, it is revealed that Doctor Manhattan is responsible for preventing the Comedian's death by teleporting him to the DC Universe.[23]

Doctor Manhattan recalls various events in which he indirectly killed Alan Scott and thus brought about changes in the timeline. On July 16, 1940, Alan Scott was riding on a train over a collapsing bridge, but he survived by grabbing onto a green lantern. He continues his life, eventually "sitting at a round table wearing a mask" and later testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee but refusing to implicate anyone in his employ. On July 16, 1940 again, Doctor Manhattan moves the green lantern six inches out of his reach so that Alan Scott dies in the train accident and leaves no family behind, as the green lantern is passed through different locations. At a fun house in the present time, Bubastis II begins glowing, so Ozymandias moves him closer to the lantern to let him feed on Doctor Manhattan's temporal energies left on the lantern and thereby force Doctor Manhattan to their current location. Doctor Manhattan immediately proceeds to transport himself and the Watchmen group away, separating them from Batman and Joker. He tells Ozymandias that he isn't returning to their world as he's in the middle of something. He reveals that he didn't kill Marionette in the robbery years back because he saw what her child would do and that she is pregnant again. He also reveals that Ozymandias lied to Rorschach about having cancer, so Ozymandias admits to Rorschach that he deceived him and used him for his help. Doctor Manhattan then tells everyone that he came to the DC Universe looking for a place among them, but that he saw a vision of "the most hopeful among them. Heading toward [him]. Now hopeless." and then nothing in the future thereafter. Doctor Manhattan returns the team to the fun house. He himself returns to Mars, reflecting on a vision set one month in his future: a confrontation with Superman that may result in Superman destroying Doctor Manhattan or Doctor Manhattan destroying everything.[24]

On Mars, looking at a Legion Ring that once belonged to Ferro Lad, Doctor Manhattan contemplates on the events in which Ferro Lad sacrificed his life to save Earth's sun and thereby caused his ring to careen through time, the events in which he himself moved Alan Scott's lantern and thereby caused the ring to never have existed, as well as his confrontation with Superman set one week from now. On Earth, Batman and Superman are recovering from a massive explosion, which has produced a fog of tachyon particles that obscures the immediate past and future to Doctor Manhattan. Meanwhile, after tracing the energy signature of the explosion to Mars, many of Earth's superheroes travel in several spaceships to Mars for a confrontation with the suspected perpetrator. However, Batman believes that they are being "played" as he is not sure if they have the right person. With the heroes surrounding Doctor Manhattan, Martian Manhunter telepathically broadcasts Doctor Manhattan's final vision of Superman to everyone. The heroes believe that Doctor Manhattan is trying to destroy Superman and all of them before Superman destroys him. As Doctor Manhattan easily deals with the attacks by the heroes, he curiously examines and discloses the nature of the emotional spectrum by dissecting Guy Gardner's power ring and stating that the magic used by the Justice League Dark is from the "scraps of Creation." To prove the point that even hope decays, he shows Ronnie Raymond that Professor Martin Stein purposefully caused the circumstances where Raymond and Stein merged into Firestorm in order to learn more about metahumans from the inside. Back on Mars, refusing to believe the events of the past that was shown, Firestorm angrily attacks and harms Doctor Manhattan upon which the heroes realize that Doctor Manhattan is not invulnerable and destroy him. However, the superheroes watch in shock as Doctor Manhattan reconstitutes himself before he attacks and incapacitates the heroes.[25]

As he incapacitates the remaining heroes, Doctor Manhattan recounts the first time he arrived in the DC Universe on April 18, 1938. He meets Carver Colman. As they talk in a diner, Doctor Manhattan sees all moments of Carver's future until his death prior to April 19, 1955. Overhearing news of a mysterious man who lifted a car over his head, Doctor Manhattan leaves and witnesses the first appearance of the Golden Age Superman. From there, he witnesses the beginnings of Alan Scott/Green Lantern, Jay Garrick/The Flash, Hawkman, Atom, Doctor Fate, Sandman, Spectre, and Hourman, and the formation of the Justice Society of America. Doctor Manhattan then sees a different timeline where Superman was never a member of the JSA and first appeared in 1956 instead (Silver Age/Earth-1). Doctor Manhattan witnesses several variations of the death of Superman's foster parents: Jonathan and Martha Kent, the origins of Superman, and also when a young Superboy met the Legion of Super-Heroes. In order to appease his curiosity, Doctor Manhattan moves the Green Lantern away from Alan Scott, preventing the creation of the Green Lantern and the formation of the JSA, in order to see how the changes affect Superman. In the process of doing this, Doctor Manhattan realizes that this universe is not part of the Multiverse and it is the Metaverse, with the Multiverse reacting to the changes within this universe (hence why there have been endless parallel worlds, none at all, 52 universes, and a Dark Multiverse). Having changed history in the Metaverse, Doctor Manhattan created the New 52 Universe and as he witnesses the first appearance of the New 52 Superman, he is confronted by Wally West of the Pre-Flashpoint Universe, who briefly escapes the Speed Force to warn him that he knows what Doctor Manhattan did and that the heroes of the DC Universe will stop him, before being dragged back in. Doctor Manhattan likens Wally's appearance to the Metaverse fighting back at the changes done to it, an innate hope that fights back to the surface. He returns to Carver Colman on June 8, 1954, 10 seconds before he is killed by his mother, and he thinks upon the future he sees where Superman attacks him, believing that he will either die by Superman's hands or destroy the Metaverse. Back to present day, Doctor Manhattan returns to Earth and ponders on the fact that he is a being of inaction on a collision course with a man of action (Superman), and to this universe of hope, he has become the villain.[26]

After arriving on Earth, Manhattan meets Superman in person during Black Adam's invasion on the White House, with Ozymandias watching.[27] Manhattan witnesses Superman's fight with Black Adam and Russia's superhero team called the People's Heroes. He eventually reveals to Superman that he is the one who has been tampering with reality, and has also caused the death of Jonathan and Martha Kent. Manhattan expects Superman to attack him, but Superman instead protects him from Pozhar and then tells him that he should use his powers for good. Manhattan is inspired by Superman's heroism and his pivotal role in the fabric of reality; he undoes part of his actions, restoring much of the pre-New 52 timeline. Many characters are brought back into existence, including Superman's parents. Manhattan also goes back in time and changes Carver Colman's future for the better. He then goes back to the Watchmen universe, bringing Rorschach and Ozymandias with him. Manhattan saves his Earth by making all nuclear weapons disappear. Afterwards, he takes Mime and Marionette's infant son with him and proceeds to raise him on his own, so he will become their Planet's equivalent to Superman. Eventually, Doctor Manhattan goes back in time and changes his own past, creating a timeline where he never becomes superhuman, marries Janey and raises a family with her. Doctor Manhattan then erases himself from existence, transferring his lifeforce to the Planet and his powers to Mime and Marionette's son. He leaves the boy—whom he has named Clark—to be adopted by the former Nite Owl and Silk Spectre.[28]

After Doomsday ClockEdit

The events of Justice League #39 reveal that Doomsday Clock actually occurred in an alternate reality, however its impact was large enough to affect the mainline DC universe.

During the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Wally West reveals Doctor Manhattan's energy is Connective Energy, and after he restored the DC Universe,[28] the Quintessence's members collected that same energy against Perpetua. The Batman Who Laughs has Wally prisoner to get Manhattan's powers, but Wonder Woman suggests to use both the Connective and Crisis Energies in order to create an "Anti-Crisis". The event also features the "Final Bruce Wayne", an amalgamated version of Batman and Doctor Manhattan that The Batman Who Laughs wants to exploit in order to become "The Darkest Knight" and create a Multiverse consisting of chaos.[29]

[stlgeekgirl]

SAW: Day One

Okay, so my goofy butt put these on AO3, but not here...where they’re supposed to go.  Duh.  

I’m tossing 3 in a row up here.  Please bear with me. 

Day One:  1st Meeting

She stood in front of her open locker door, staring hard at her reflection in the small mirror affixed to the inside of the door. 

“You can do this.”  She whispered the mantra, willing herself to believe it.  The problem was, she’d been whispering the same mantra to herself for the last three days following her spectacular tumble on her first day.  To be fair, she had not let the kidneys hit the floor, the organs doing nothing more than tipping slightly from the stainless-steel bowl they’d been placed in and dripping a little blood on her brand new lab coat.   It was an amazing catch, to be honest.  In fact, a couple of the dozen people who had been in the morgue when she’d tripped over…whatever she’d tripped over that had caused her to take the tumble had even said so…after they stopped laughing.  The problem was, she went back to the morgue alone after it had emptied and scoured the entire floor for the loose stone or step she had tripped over- because it had to be something significant for her to trip over, it had caught her foot. She refused to believe that one of the other new registrars had actually tripped her.  While she was assisting the head of the pathology department.  At his offer.  Nobody could be that cruel, therefore there had to be a loose stone or tile or something in the morgue.  She never found one. 

Days two and three had fared no better.  The head pathologist, who’d been in the room during her fall, had written her off as a disaster and had written her suggestions and observations off as ramblings of someone who clearly couldn’t understand what she was talking about.  She was spoken over and outright dismissed more times than she could count, once to the point of near tears.  She refused, however, to let anyone see her cry.  She was a doctor, no matter how young she was compared to everyone else here, she earned her title and this position at Barts.  The teaching hospital had always been her goal; to learn, to experiment with new techniques, to teach.  She wasn’t going to let a shite first day nor the possibility of a couple of jealous technicians or registrars run her off.

Hence, the reason for her before shift mantra.

The door to the locker room slammed open and she jumped, almost hitting her head on the door to her locker.  She went still as she heard the angry voices of two of the female techs that had been hired with her talking angrily about something. 

“…won’t let anyone talk to me that way, I don’t give a toss how sexy he is.  I got this position fair and I’m not about to have some spoiled posh arse without a title to tell me what he thinks my job is.”    The locker door on the other side of hers slammed open. 

“He was gorgeous though,” the second woman said. 

“Well it wasn’t you he verbally tore into, now was it?”  the first woman snapped.  Molly took that moment to quietly close her locker door and spin the lock before grabbing her lab coat.  As she crept out of the locker room she heard the first woman’s parting comments to her friend.  “The way he’s running through techs means that eventually he’s going to fall in the path of that bland walking disaster and I would kill to be in the room when he verbally eviscerates her.”

Blinking back hot tears, she tugged on her lab coat, took a deep breath and headed towards the lab.  She hadn’t broken down following Dr. Armistead’s cruel comments, she would be damned if she’d break for anyone else.

  She’d been called to the morgue to assist with an autopsy; she and Hardwick-a thirty-something pathologist who make it clear to everyone that pathology had been his second choice of given professions.  He was also one of Dr. Armistead’s favorites.

“Ah Hooper, you’re finally here.”  The white-haired man sneered as she stepped into the autopsy room.  “Just in time to watch Dr. Hardwick perform this autopsy.  Do try not to knock anything over this time.”

She blushed, fighting down her anger as Hardwick smirked.    As he began to cut into the body, she circled the table, staying out of the eyesight of both men as she tried to study the body.  From the couple of clues she’d spotted on the exterior of the body, she already knew the Hardwick’s diagnosis was wrong.  He liked to give a diagnosis and then cut into the body looking for the things that would substantiate his hypothesis.

He’d just flipped back the skin of the Y incision when the doors were flung open and a tall man strode in, coat billowing out behind him.  Behind him was Doctor Stamford, the Head of the Pathology department and a silver haired Inspector.

Immediately Doctor Armistead was incensed.  “I refuse to have that man in my theatre!”  he bellowed.

“Calm yourself Doctor Armistead, this is a Yard matter.”  Doctor Stamford said.  “Let him look.”

 Molly could do nothing but stare at the taller man in the great coat.  He towered over everyone in the room, as thin as he was tall with almost alabaster skin make even more white by the harsh lights of the operating theater and his mass of black curly hair.  He was a Davidian statue come to life and she had to remind herself to shut her mouth before somebody said something to her about it.  The Inspector stepped around the all man. 

“Just let him look, this man might be connected with an ongoing investigation.”

“What?  Murder?”  Hardwick scoffed.  “This man drown, simple as that.  Any idiot can see that.”

Molly tightened her lips, not saying a word.  It wasn’t a simple drowning, had Hardwick just looked instead of assuming he would’ve seen it.  Apparently the mysterious man saw it as well.  He glanced back at the Inspector with a smirk.  “Just when I thought I couldn’t find anyone more stupid than Anderson.”  Before the Inspector could answer that, the man was striding towards the body. 

“Leave.  Both of you.  Leave now.  Stop ruining my murder victim with your amateurish hack job and your infantile assumptions.  I can feel my brain cells dying just breathing the same air you’re inhabiting at this moment.

Molly bit back a giggle.  This had to be the man the two women were complaining about yesterday; gorgeous, posh, and verbally eviscerating anyone in his path.  Her spine straightened as she realized that any minute now his attention would be on her and she would receive the same treatment. 

Right now, he seemed happy enough ignoring a furious Armistead and Hardwick, choosing instead to examine the body. 

“I’ll let you get back to it when he’s finished Doctor Armistead.  But for now, if you and Doctor Hardwick could just step outside and take a break.”

The white-haired doctor stared at Doctor Stamford clearly wanting to say something, but holding his tongue.  Spinning around, he set his sights on her. 

“Hooper, you too.”  He snapped.  “Try not to trip on your feet on the way out.”

“Actually,” Dr. Stamford said.  “I’d like Dr. Hooper to remain with us.  Just for a minute.”

Hardwick snorted.  “It’s your funeral.”

“Stamford, why haven’t they left yet?”  the man asked, his full attention on the body.  Armistead and Hardwick stormed out, the doors slamming shut behind them.  The man smirked as the Inspector sighed. 

“Could you try not to piss anyone else off today?”

“Doubtful.  Stop trying to make me work with idiots.  Stamford, your men are idiots.  Surely you have to have at least one competent person here other than yourself.”  He glanced up as he spoke, his eyes meeting hers over the table and her heart skipped a beat.  Eyes as blue as the deepest part of the ocean bore into her, studying her before he straightened. 

“This is Doctor Molly Hooper,” Dr. Stamford said by way of introduction.   “Molly, this is Sherlock Holmes and Detective Inspector Lestrade.”

She glanced towards Lestrade, giving him a small smile before turning back to the man Stamford called Holmes.  The man’s gaze flicked towards Stamford. 

“Isn’t this the one your idiot man said tripped over her own feet?”

“Give her a chance Holmes.”

With a great sigh, he took a step away from the body and with a wave towards the body said, “Well?  Is your diagnosis death by drowning also?”

She stepped forward, biting her lip as she stared at the body. 

“No.”  she finally answered.  “You can tell from the few marks on the body that this man was either dead or unconscious before he fell into the water.  I’d bet unconscious, but I’d have to do a full autopsy on the body before I could give you a definite answer.”

“How long will that take?” 

“About an hour?”

“You have twenty minutes.” 

Both men’s voice rose in protest but Holmes had already pulled his phone from his pocket and wandered towards a work bench, fingers typing away madly on the keys.  Molly looked to Dr. Stamford before getting the protective gear and suiting up for the autopsy.

 It wasn’t her best work and that ate at her.  But it was good enough for a preliminary cause of death which should satisfy the man still leaning against the work bench texting.  As if he knew she was finished, he slid his phone back into his pocket and walked towards her. 

“Well?”

“He wasn’t dead when he hit the water but he was dying.”  She lifted the body slightly and pointed towards a small hole in the lower side of the body, barely noticeable.  Both Lestrade and Dr. Stamford approached the table, looking at the corpse.  “Someone shoved a thin metal rod into his side, puncturing his stomach and the nerves in the L4 vertebrae.  I can’t tell you what type of metal without a full spectral analysis but it had to be really strong and incredibly sharp in order to inflict the damage it did with minimal notice.”  Lowering the body back down onto the table she shoved her hands back into the open body cavity and lifted up the stomach  so the men could see the huge tear in the lining..  “See?  The injury is consistent with the same section of the body and whatever instrument it was literally popped his stomach like a balloon.  There’s also a small section where the spinal nerves are separated from the column.  They’re not supposed to do that.”

Lestrade stepped back looking a little green.  Stamford was nodding at her assessment, eyes still on the inside of the body and Holmes…

He stood next to her, close enough that she could hear him breathing and smell his aftershave; something woodsy and old. 

“What’s that?”  His now gloved finger pointed towards a glimmer of something on the lining of the stomach.   She frowned. 

“Wha-oh!”  She saw it now, barely a fleck.  Something she couldn’t get to in her current position.  She’d have to cut out the stomach and hope she didn’t lose it in the process.    Without asking, he produced a scalpel and a test slide, carefully and methodically scraping the fleck from the lining and putting it on the slide.  She slid the stomach lining back into its place and pulled her hands from the body.  He handed her the slide. 

“Test this and text me the results.” 

She carefully took the slide from him.  “Um…”  she hedged, looking to Dr. Stamford.  He nodded. 

“It’s fine.  He works with the Yard on certain cases.”

“Okay.  Fine.  But this isn’t my body.”  She placed the slide onto the closest metal table before peeling her gloves off and tossing them into the closest hazardous waste bin.  “Shouldn’t Drs Armstead and Hardwick finish up on this?”

The man- Sherlock- gave her a look.  “What did you say your name was again?”

“Um…Molly.  Doctor Molly Hooper.”

“Well Dr. Molly Hooper,” he drawled out her name slowly, sending chills up her spine.  “I don’t want either of those idiots touching this body.  You finish the autopsy, do the test and text me the results.”  He looked at Stamford, seemingly dismissing her.  “I mean it Stamford, I’d rather have Anderson working on my corpse than those two excuses for professionals and I don’t want Anderson anywhere near my corpse.  Number?”

Molly, who’d put on fresh gloves to seal up the sample suddenly noticed the room got quiet.  She looked up, blushing as three pair of eyes stared at her. 

“Sorry?”

Sherlock waved his mobile at her.  “Phone. Unless you magically know my mobile number which would mean you either deduced it out of the seemingly billions and billions of sequences or you’ve been stalking me which I also think is impossible as I would’ve notice by now and Lestrade here would need to take you in for questioning, you do not have my mobile so I will obviously need yours so I can text you mine.”

It was all said so fast that it took her almost a second to process what he’d just rambled off.  She blinked once and rattled off her mobile number.  He typed it in and slid his phone back into his pocket. 

“End of the day Hooper!”  he called out as he left the room almost as dramatically as he appeared.  Molly blinked again, a half-smile creeping on her face. 

“Well,” Stamford said.  “That’s not usually the look I usually see after someone encounters Sherlock Holmes.”

She looked over at her superior. 

“Who is he?”

“Sherlock Holmes, as I’ve said.  He’s a consulting detective, only one in existence, if you ask him.  And if I’m not mistaken, possibly your newest problem.”

Molly looked back at the now closed doors, half heard Stamford’s comments about telling Armstead and Hardwick about the newest developments regarding the body.  She looked back at the body and stepped back to it to finish her autopsy. 

Sherlock Holmes. 

She smiled. 

Hopefully she’d see more of him in the future.