Brother from another mother

Arc of the Covenant injuries.

It was a decidedly average day at Pearson Hardman, Mike decided, as he filed another brief and shoved it into the folder by his elbow. He didn't have a case of his own, and Harvey didn't have any cases. He did, however, possess a stack of briefs that he wanted sorting and filing. Mike had gone into his boss's office that morning with the intention of lounging on the comfortable couch all day and arguing/bantering with Harvey. The older man was either not in the mood to listen to Mike or busy with something he didn't want to share with his associate. Either way, Mike was pushed out of the office as soon as he walked in, only with the addition of several heavy files.

He re-read a line of the document and frowned. He didn't recognise a name in it, and that was because of one of two things. Either - he had missed a name as he was reading or simply forgotten a name; which was impossible. Or, more than likely, there was a part missing, which meant he would have to go to the file room and find the right one in the many boxes of dust and paper.

Sighing, Mike pushed his chair away from the desk and left, hoping that it was quiet in there today. He couldn't concentrate if there was anyone else in there. He rounded the corridors and toyed idly with the thought that one day he would find the Arc of the Covenant just down the hall. Dispelling these ideas from his head, he opened the door to one of the rooms and stared about at the sheer multitude of folders. He shouldn't be surprised; every time he came down he remembered just how many files were housed in the law firm.

He didn't need to glance down at the file already in his hand to remember the name, case, year, lawyer, even serial number of what he was looking for, but it helped. He liked to think he was normal occasionally. So he glanced down at the file anyway and skimmed through the text already etched onto his brain. He glanced around and saw the markers on the metal shelves that indicated the alphabetical order and then serial order of the folders.

Mike liked order. When he was four he memorised the Dewey Decimal System at the library, and his parents; whilst slightly freaked out, humoured him by saying a number, and he would immediately tell them which books were housed there.

Mike had always felt safe surrounded by order - and the law firm was full of that. Whilst he knew he could thrive off the chaos in a courtroom like Harvey did, he liked knowing he had everything straight and right, and was forever thinking one step ahead.

However, although the order and familiarity the file room brought to him made him feel safe, he would soon learn that accidents can happen everywhere.

He had just found the section he needed, and frowned as he saw that the file he needed was right at the top. He found the step-ladder that was housed in there for this very reason and unfolded it, setting it up next to the shelf he needed. He climbed up it, wincing as he heard it creaking menacingly underneath him. He tried to calm his nerves as he remembered he had seen Devon climb up here before; and whilst Devon wasn't large, he played football, and the muscles he had easily outweighed Mike's entire bodyweight.

Mike pulled the folder from the shelf gently, knowing that a cloud of dust would be expelled from it like nuclear fallout. He was right, and instinct took over as he closed his eyes and choked on the remains of whatever the hell had died up there and become fossilized before crumbling into dust. He continued to cough as he pulled the file out, and his eyes watered when he opened them to see if it was the right file. Thankfully, it was, so he pushed back another folder than had become dislodged. More dust scattered over him, and he started to choke and wheeze, not ready for it.

His frame shook with the choking as he tried to push the folder back. Unfortunately, his hand slipped and the file slipped with it, catching him in the chest and forcing him backwards.

He fell slowly, it seemed to take him forever to actually fall all the way, but he finally found himself reaching the floor. He heard a twang as his head caught the shelf behind him and then immediately had whatever breath was left in him forcefully pushed out when he fell on his back, both folder hitting him on the chest.