Hello Everyone!
This is my first Scorpion/Numb3rs Fanfiction!
Updates will be sporadic.
I was going to put this in the crossover section, but I knew that people have been begging for Quintis, so I wanted to make it easier to find.
I am not the world's greatest writer. I write purely for fun. My real life goals are much more science-y, so no flames.
If anyone is offended that I didn't put this in the crossover section, then I'll change it, but I don't see the big deal.
***This is based off of Numb3rs Season 5 Episode "Angels and Devils"***
***RECENT UPDATE: I changed this so that there aren't any Numb3rs characters. People were upset that the episode had been spoiled! So sorry!***
Toby leaned in to Happy, her breath tickling his cheek. It was a warm contrast to the chill of the late October evening. Their lips met, moving in tender harmony that is only sung by the closest of lovers. They stayed like that for what felt like only moments, enjoying the comforting heat radiating from each others' bodies.
He was pulled out of the moment as Happy was ripped from his arms. A sharp elbow jutted into his gut. Sharp screams echoed around the empty parking lot from Happy's mouth, which had been covered by a sweet-smelling gag.
"Toby!" she shrieked, "Toby! No, Toby!"
"Happy!"
Toby tried to chase after the man that had snatched his girlfriend. He struggled until someone swung a bat to his temple. He hit the ground with a dull thump and knew Happy had received the same treatment when he heard her utter a short grunt and silence fell.
"Happy…" Toby muttered, struggling to get to his feet. He quickly realized that he had no chance of regaining his composure before he blacked out. Instead, he used his last few ounces of energy to pull out his cell phone. His finger fell on the first number in his contacts, listed alphabetically as 'Paige Dineen'.
"Toby…" a slightly sleepy voice answered, "It's almost eleven and a school day tomorrow. Why ar-"
"Dark green Dodge Caravan," he cut her off, voice shaking in desperation, fatigue, and terror, "two people, at least one female. Partial license, '59C'."
"Toby!" Paige practically shouted, "What's going on?"
"Th-They have Happy," Toby managed before sinking into a world of black.
"Toby? Toby, where are you?" Paige's voice rang over the still-open cell. When there was no response, she instantly knew something was terribly wrong.
Walter and Sylvester set to hacking both Happy and Toby's cell phones as soon as they got the call from Paige. She had told them everything they knew (which wasn't much) and said she would be on her way after calling a babysitter for Ralph.
They were able to locate both Happy and Toby's cellular devices within moments, but they were surprised by what they saw.
"Uh, Walter," Sylvester panicked, "This says that Happy and Toby are in the same place." He paused, checking the coordinates.
"I think this is the parking lot of the place Happy likes to go for machine parts."
"Alright," Walter began, "Chances are the kidnappers abandoned her phone at the scene of the crime, which means Toby must have been with her at the time. We need to see if he can remember anything else about the event."
Cabe, who had arrived just moments before, nodded. He pulled out his pager.
"I'll call LAPD and get them on the streets."
Walter nodded in approval.
"In the meantime, we'll meet a group down at Larry's Mechanics Shop."
"I'll have Paige and an ambulance meet you there," Cabe responded, "Toby's going to need them."
The paramedics had already arrived at the parking lot by the time Walter and Sylvester made it. The first thing the geniuses noticed were Happy's belongings, consisting of her cell phone, lock picking set, pocket knife, and a plastic bag of recently-bought pieces of an engine. The articles had been abandoned by a short trail of skid marks and a puddle of blood.
"Crap," Walter muttered under his breath. The only tool that Happy had to escape from her captors were her own hands and brain. He turned to Sylvester and they silently agreed to check on Toby before continuing with the investigation.
As the approached the ambulance, a police officer approached the duo.
"Officer Paul Whitmore," he introduced himself. The two geniuses glared him down, mistrusting him.
"Are you Walter O'Brien and Sylvester Dodd?"
"What do you want?" Walter asked, defensively.
"We need to know all of the information possible about the victim of this crime," Paul responded, "Um, Miss Happy Quinn?"
Sylvester stood up to the plate.
"Not until we have seen Toby." Sylvester continued when the officer seemed confused, "The man who was with the… victim… at the time of the kidnapping."
Whitmore nodded, "Of course. I believe he is right this way."
Walter and Sylvester rushed as the officer led them to the back of an ambulance. The first person they saw was Paige, who had Toby wrapped in a constraining hug and orange shock blanket. Hearing Sylvester and Walter approach, she turned around.
"Give him a moment," she muttered, "He's still coping."
"Please, Paige," the shrink muttered under his breath, "I need to… find her… I couldn't protect her."
"Toby," Walter said, approaching the genius carefully, "Right now, the only way you can help Happy is by keeping calm and collected, not only with the mission, but with yourself. If you slip down the rabbit hole, there is nothing you can do to help her." The two looked at each other knowingly. Walter did not understand how deep Toby's emotions went for Happy. The chemistry that went on between the quirky behaviorist and the sharp mechanic was very complicated. What Walter was able to understand was how hard it was to have a loved one in danger and be able to do nothing. The gears began to turn in Toby's head, and he took a few deep breaths. The IQ side of Toby's brain was beginning to take over once again.
"Okay," he murmured, "What can I do?"
"Do you remember anything else about what happened?" Walter implored with a sigh.
Toby shook his head, "Nothing, and trust me, I've been trying to remember."
Paige loosened her grip on Toby and laid a comforting hand on both Toby and Walter's shoulders. She had noticed the LAPD officer escorting her friends to visit Toby, and it seemed like his work was pretty urgent.
"I know you guys don't like working with the LAPD, but let's hear this man out," Paige suggested.
Paul smiled knowingly, doing very little to comfort the logical geniuses. He pulled out a yellow notepad.
"Start by telling me a little about your team."
"This," he gestured to Sly, "Is Sylvester Dodd, a mathematics prodigy. Over there," he pointed to Toby, "Is Dr. Toby Curtis, our world-class behaviorist. The woman standing next to him is Paige Dineen." Paige gave a small wave, "She's normal, and helps us understand social situations that we can't understand. Agent Cabe Gallo of Homeland is our government handler. And I," he gestured to himself, "am Walter O'Brien. I have an IQ of 197, and I am a expert hacker." He paused, unsure of whether to "introduce" the missing member of their team.
"Happy Quinn is the victim." He added tentatively, "She is a mechanical prodigy, and together, we are Scorpion."
Paul Whitmore nodded.
"Tell me more about Miss Quinn," he implored, "Did she have a troubling past? Any history of prostitution, running away, or other issues?"
"Well," Toby began, "She was left in foster care and it didn't fare very well for her. It left her with bad anger issues and emotional walls. Other than that, we don't know of anything else. Why do you ask?"
"We think she may have been kidnapped by Mason Druyea," Whitmore replied, "Basically, he seduces women into hitting the road with him to commit burglary murders. They made a tribe, Druyea and all of his girlfriends, runaways, drug addicts, prostitutes, all females."
"Why would they kidnap Happy?" Paige asked the professors, "She doesn't fit the profile."
Paul cleared his throat in discomfort.
"The leader of this cult prefers… women. He may need some brains for a plan. Other than that, we have no idea."
"Oh, god," Toby muttered, running a hand through his hair.
Footsteps were heard over the hubbub of emergency vehicles as Cabe came darting up to the geniuses.
"LAPD has located the vehicle and is in pursuit."
Toby heaved a sigh of relief and took off after Cabe to get in the team van. Sylvester, Paige, and Walter quickly followed after exchanging phone numbers with the officers and agreeing to meet at the garage. Cabe took the drivers seat and began following the instructions that were ringing over the LAPD walkie he had been loaned. Walter had been about to shout "Step on it, Happy!", but he caught himself, remembering the purpose of their mission. Looking into the eyes of his team mates, he knew they were thinking the same thing.
They followed a police car until they saw the car chase. Toby gasped as he recognized the car.
"That's it!" he shouted, catching the entire team off guard. Cabe immediately swerved out of the way as the police man blocked the only exit out of the alley. The driver of the minivan swerved at the last instant. He crashed into the side of a building, completely crushing a dumpster. The car burst into flames. Nobody in the Scorpion van, even Walter, could hold back their cries of anguish as they saw the silhouettes of two burning bodies in what had once been the dark green minivan.
Toby threw open the door to the black van and rushed forward to the explosion. Tears were running freely down his face. Walter and Cabe noticed the rash behavior and were quickly at the behaviorist's side, restraining him from moving into the flames.
"Happy!" he cried as he struggled to get free, "Please, let me go."
"Don't struggle, Toby!" Cabe called out, "There is nothing you can do right now."
Toby felt numb. He barely registered Walter and Cabe dragging him back to the van. When Paige put a comforting arm across his shoulders, he fell limp, not feeling any comfort from Paige's grip. Paige could never replace the comfort that Happy could give him, and she was gone, up in flames. Toby heard his friends talking through their next steps of the plan. He heard Paige whispering empty reassurances in his ear. But he didn't listen. He let the tears fall for the short ride to the Scorpion headquarters.
"Was it Happy?" Toby broke his silence, surprising everyone in the room. The question referred to the car crash. Only two bodies had been found in the car, both female. The hope was that Happy had been the person that escaped the car.
"The lab results are inconclusive so far," Paul replied, "All we know is that the explosion in the car was caused by acetone peroxide, which is highly explosive and can be set up by a small shock, like the crash."
"Happy would have been able to figure that out," Toby murmured absentmindedly, "She could have smelt it and known."
Paul took a breath and continued.
"So while we wait, I thought I could catch you up on what we know about this cult so far. But first, let me introduce you to the rest of my team."
"We have Michael and Andrew over there," a African American and a stocky man waved at the team, "Liz is another agent who will be helping out with the case," the woman carrying a large stack of files labeled "Druyea" looked up and smiled, "and Karen is our criminal behaviorist." Toby looked up at this comment.
"Okay, fine, down to business now, please?" Walter retorted with impatience, pulling out his laptop. Paige nudged him in the gut as a warning and shot an apologetic look to the officers. Thankfully, nobody seemed offended and got right down to business.
"As you know," Liz began when a picture of a crazy looking man appeared in the presentation screen, "We believe Happy was kidnapped by a cult. It is led by a sociopath named Mason Druyea. We suspect he was in charge by what we found at the crime scene." Liz held up an evidence bag containing five carved wooden pieces. They reminded Toby of Linkin' Logs.
An alert appeared in the corner of Walter's laptop as he recieved an email labeled, "Druyea Case Pathology Report". By the looks on his friends' face, they had also recieved similar news. The room fell silent as Paul volunteered to open the files. He let out a sigh of relief as he read the notes.
"Happy was not in the vehicle when the explosives went off," Paul said, slightly grinning as he saw Toby visibly relax, "Pull up the files on Tarah Depouly and Linda Marquee. Now that you are caught up, we can get to work on catching the perpetrators."
"I guess," Sylvester started, "the best way to find out where they could have taken Happy would be to use the Angels and Devils Theory, which is an algorithm that tests the most probable escape routes for the culprits."
"That's settled," Cabe commanded, "Sylvester, run your analysis and find the most probable places they may be hiding out. Walter, check on everyone's accounts for suspicious activity. We need to get all of the information possible on Mason Druyea, his family, Depouly and Marquee for Toby to psychoanalyze."
Toby almost instantly became alert and ready to work. He blinked his eyes and felt the grief he had felt moments before fade to fire, ready to catch the bastard that landed the love of his life in danger.
"Officer Whitmore," Cabe continued, "I hope you don't mind me taking charge of this case. I'm sure you've been warned about our team and authority." Paul nodded and turned to his team, most of whom were still waiting for verification and orders
"You heard the man!" Paul shouted, "Gather information. Michael and Andrew, I need you to speak to forensics about any information they gathered from both scenes of the crime. Everyone else, continue researching until we receive further leads. All orders from Agent Cabe Gallo should be treated as if they were my own."
Everyone nodded and set about their tasks. Paul reached into his bag and obtained an evidence bag.
"Dr. Curtis," he called. Toby looked up.
"Just Toby is fine," he replied.
"We found this at the crime scene. Forensics was able to determine it belonged to you quickly, so it was able to be released." Paul unwrapped the object in the bag, revealing the popular gray fedora that Happy had gotten Toby for Christmas three years before. The grin on Toby's face grew as he was handed the hat. He placed it on his head with flourish, which gained a few quiet snickers from across the room.
"I'm back," Toby stated, voice still slightly shaky, "Let's catch these fools."
If you haven't watched Numb3rs, you should. It's on Netflix :)