Yeah sorry, I was going to update Heartlines first but this cut in front of the inspiration line. Since this is a case fic of sorts and case/action fics are always harder for me, don't expect fast updates. But, if you're willing to wait a bit, I'll do my best.

We regret to inform you that we have not chosen to enlist Scorpion's services. After an extensive review of our needs, we have elected to go in a different direction. We were impressed with your proposal and hope to work with you at a future

Walter snapped his laptop shut without reading the rest. He knew all about the "different direction," anyway. The consultant manager had been practically eating out of Paige's hand as Centipede left their interview. It made his stomach turn.

Seeing her woo clients, how easily she switched it on and off…sometimes he wondered if she'd been doing the same to him. Manipulating his attraction to her for her own survival.

That was harsh. Walter didn't like to think like that. He just didn't know which way was up lately. Facing the team…facing her…threw him into a tailspin every time. He played it off as best he could, but judging by Cabe's sympathetic expression, he wasn't doing a great job.

The genius blinked, struggling to regain control over his wandering thoughts. At the moment, he had bigger issues than—or rather, because of—his former liaison. They'd gotten the Forsythe job, and Wright was heavily in their favor. Scorpion 2.0 was still winning gigs, if not at the rate he was used to. He could keep it afloat for five months on his savings and the upcoming revenue, more if the majority of the undecided clients landed in his direction.

And they were still doing worthwhile work. Director Carson was making them hustle twice as hard for Homeland jobs now, to compensate for the pay bump, but when people's lives were on the line, even Carson wasn't so petty as to put off calling them.

But he was tired. Saving the world made up roughly three percent of his workload. The rest was security upgrade jobs, reaching out to past and potential clients, and hours and hours of paperwork. He didn't know how Paige hadn't gone postal filling out all those forms.

And he was back to her again. While his mind was spinning in this particular loop, he supposed it didn't matter if he admitted that she made running Scorpion so much easier. Not just because she ran after jobs with dogged determination or forced her way through stacks of incident reports every night, but because at the end of a long day, when the weight of the world was on his shoulders, he went upstairs and she was there and everything beyond her bright smile just faded.

How strange that the last time it happened, he'd had no inkling he would never see it again.

He was back to the beginning. Even then, at least, he'd had a purpose. Creating a home for a group of misfit geniuses with nowhere else to go. Florence and Cabe would both be fine without Scorpion 2.0. This time, he would be the only one without a home.

Walter wasn't sure that was enough reason to keep it running anymore. Maybe holding on so desperately to this dream was preventing him from moving on to something better. Somewhere better. Did that place exist? He couldn't imagine that, but then again, his imagination had always been crap.

His phone buzzed, flashing Cabe's name, and he'd never been so grateful to be snapped out of his worthless musings. "Hey."

"Son." Walter sat up straighter, well aware that tone meant the call was serious. "I'll text you my location. Leave right now. We need you here."

"Job?"

He didn't miss the split-second of hesitation before Cabe answered. "Yes. Now get your ass in the car."

During the twelve-minute drive, Walter had swiped through hundreds of scenarios in his head. It was slightly odd that Cabe hadn't briefed him on the phone, but if he was busy coordinating with rescue crews, it made more sense to explain the details when Walter arrived and was able to assess the situation for himself.

Those hundreds of scenarios had included earthquakes, fires, collisions, wild animal attacks, chemical warfare and armed nuclear weapons, among other things.

They had not included his former and current teammates standing in front of a building that seemed perfectly secure.

Son of a bitch. Walter slammed the car door behind him, aiming his vitriol at Cabe, who was engaged in a traitorous, hushed conversation with Happy. "What is this? Some kind of intervention?" Sylvester and Toby were staring at him, but Walter deliberately ignored them. "What are they doing here? Were you lying when you said there was a job?"

Florence stepped in front of him, holding up her hands as a gesture for him to calm down. "It wasn't a lie. This is an emergency." A few people were watching his outburst and Walter suddenly became aware of how many evacuees were surrounding them. Nearly a hundred, if he was estimating correctly through his clouding emotions. "Centipede is here because they want to help. It was their job but…something went wrong."

"Centipede couldn't finish a job? How shocking," he bit out, his anger melting into dread at the discomfort on Florence's face. On everyone's face. "What?"

Cabe cleared his throat and gave him that look, that damn pitying look, and the bottom of Walter's stomach dropped out as he realized what it meant. More specifically, who it meant. "I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want your head messed up while you were driving." He swore he heard the words moments before Cabe actually said them, because he couldn't seem to take in a breath past the sudden tightness in his chest. "Paige is in danger, kid. And we've got about twenty minutes before we lose her."