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Title: What Does It Take
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Sherlock Holmes
Fandom: Hannibal/Sherlock
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Hannibal Lecter or Will Graham, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Sherlock wanted to stomp his way out of Jack Crawford's office, but he forced himself to walk normally, even though his hands were clenched at his sides. Really, what did it take to make that smarmy, self-satisfied idiot see the light?

He had presented Crawford with incontrovertible proof that Will had not committed those murders. Yet the stupid, complacent man refused to release Will from jail.

The only reason he wouldn't, Sherlock reflected, was because he was under Hannibal Lecter's thumb. If he wasn't securely in Lecter's pocket, then he would have been only too happy to set Will free. But Lecter wanted Will under lock and key, so Crawford complied.

Lecter was the culprit here. He the criminal. Not Will.

It made Sherlock angrier than he had possibly thought he could ever be to know that the Lecter bastard was free, and that Will was suffering because of him.

He didn't just want to put Lecter behind bars. He wanted to kill him, to make sure that he didn't draw one more breath, to know that he would never see the light of day again. And he wanted to make sure that Will was never victimized like this again.

He hated these people that Will worked with. They didn't value him, or even care about him. They had just used him and thrown him away when they were done with him.

They weren't his friends, or even his colleagues. From what Sherlock had been able to gather, they all saw Will as being some kind of freak, someone who didn't belong or fit in. Sherlock knew all too well what it was like to be an outsider.

He hated thinking that anyone could treat like that. It was cruel. It was barbaric, in this day and age. But these people were idiots who only thought of themselves.

Well, with any luck, he would soon have Will away from here.

He wasn't going to stand by and watch people treat Will badly. He was going to redouble his efforts to make sure that Will was taken away from this horrible place, where he didn't have to deal with people who were two-faced backstabbers.

They only wanted to use him. Sherlock wanted something better for him. Something more, some place where Will would be valued and appreciated.

Will was wasted here. These people were so busy kissing Hannibal Lecter's arse and making sure that they bowed down to him properly that they couldn't -- or more likely, didn't want to -- see what was right in front of their faces. Morons.

Will deserved better than these fake friends.

Honestly, what did it take to make these morons realize that Lecter was playing them for fools? Sherlock couldn't believe that anyone could be so stupid.

He probably had something on all of them, things that they didn't want anyone to know. Things that, if they were revealed, would destroy careers, reputations, and probably even put some people behind bars. So they all danced to his piping.

These people were perfectly willing to sacrifice Will, to throw him under the proverbial bus, to save their own skins. And pretend to care about him while doing so.

Sherlock had nothing but disdain for all of them. Not a single one of them had stepped forward in Will's defense, or even attempted to prove him innocent.

No, they had all acted as though he was guilty, and had assiduously worked to make it seem that he was. Sherlock didn't doubt that some of them -- if not all -- knew that Lecter was the guilty party, and had gone out of their way to fabricate "evidence" against Will.

Well, he would find some way to prove that fact. He wasn't going to let Will stay here, in this place, with no one around him but these awful people.

If he had to, then he would go over Jack Crawford's head.

He would go to the head of the entire damned FBI, if that was what it took to get Will out of here. He wasn't going to let Will Graham rot away in jail for any longer than he had to be there. He would prove Hannibal Lecter's guilt if it was the last thing he did.

He'd already proven that guilt. He had already shown Crawford just how it had to be Lecter who had framed Will, who had put together those lures.

And Crawford had acted as though Lecter was the second coming and had insisted that he couldn't -- and wouldn't -- have done such a thing. But he had been unable to make eye contract with Sherlock; it had been obvious that he was defending Lecter out of fear.

Yes, these people were all firmly under Lecter's influence.

No one here could be trusted. None of them had Will's best interests at heart, or even cared about him. They were only too glad to see him rot in prison.

Sherlock had no intention of lying down and accepting their corruption. He hated them all, and he wished that they were all behind bars in Will's place. Considering the way that they had railroaded him into jail, they were all as guilty as Lecter was.

They all belonged in prison, not Will. They would be lucky if they didn't find themselves there, but at the moment, it wasn't Sherlock's main objective.

He would dearly love to see all of these people who hadn't defended Will's innocence in jail for the rest of their lives, right where they belonged. But his immediate purpose was to get Will out of jail, take him to London, and get him away from here.

He didn't have time to waste with the trash. It would be enough to make sure that Will was safe, far away from them, where they could never harm him again.

Far away from Lecter and his minions.

Sherlock quickened his pace, knowing exactly where he was going. It was obvious that Crawford wasn't going to go against Lecter's wishes, even though Will had been proven innocent. It was time to take this to a higher level, one that Crawford couldn't contradict.

Even Lecter wouldn't be able to go against the man that Sherlock intended to see. He would have to let Will go, and if he came after them, then Sherlock would kill him.

He smiled to himself at the thought. When the President of the United States declared that Will Graham was a free man, then Hannibal Lecter's evil plans for Will would be stopped in their tracks. Will would be free, and the two of them could get on with their lives.

***