Mind Games

Summary: What do you get when you cross a depressed emotionally ill-equipped genius with a logical acidic solution?

Disclaimer: This is a fan-fiction story of the TV Series: Scorpion, and is in no way affiliated with the actual story/series in any of the aforementioned media. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant. However, any characters that are not related to any copyrights are copyrighted to Elemental-Zer0, as are any adaptions/variations to the plot set out in the original author's story/plot.

Authors Note: So, many of you are guessing at what happened. Unfortunately we won't find out the whole sequence of events in this chapter but feel free to keep guessing with these new clues. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Let me know what you think, but no flames please. If you have any criticism to make please do it politely otherwise I shall ignore your words. (It's happened before, I'm sorry to say, and I hadn't even posted any real chapters…)

Chapter Three: Misdirections of a Different Kind

"He's…"

She tried but couldn't say it.

"No, I don't think so." Happy said quickly. She was shaken by the note, that much was clear, but she was also a genius and could see the facts for what they were. "There's no body, or… body parts." She pointed out, uneasy with saying it out loud about her former friend. "If he'd built an explosive solution strong enough to vaporise himself, it'd have to be enough to take the whole upper floor out with him." She added as she continued to look around for clues. "This was definitely an incendiary device though. The markings are textbook indicators."

Paige felt her legs give way and she landed on the upturned rug in her visible relief. The emotions and the adrenaline flooded her system and she felt a little hysterical when she replied. "So where is he then? I swear if he's at the mall or some bank, I'm literally going to…" she started ranting but then couldn't find a word to describe what she would do to the man.

"He's not at the shops." Happy said, an edge to her voice as she picked up something that was too small for Paige to make out from her seat on the floor by the bedroom doorway. Happy was moving though, rapidly and she was heading to the stairs. As she blew passed Paige, the former waitress caught a glimpse of the object that had Happy on edge.

A syringe. With a small globule of a green tinted liquid still inside.

"What is that?" Paige asked as she got herself up and followed the young mechanic to the stairs. Happy spoke as she started down the steps.

"I think it's a sedative. A strong one commonly used for drugging kidnap victims." She said catching Toby's attention. He looked up from his impromptu surgery on their old friends back with Sylvester acting as reluctant nurse.

"Show me." He said with both hands busy with the second wound already. Happy held it up for him and he squinted at the thing for a second. "Oh yes. That's the industrial stuff alright." He confirmed then squinted again noticing the slight discolouration of where the liquid has been before it had dispensed into presumably someone's bloodstream. Preferably not Walter's but it was looking very likely at this stage. "Looks like it was filled to 20ccs. Enough to knock a man of Walter's size out instantly and keep him out for a day or two." He added and gave the girls a quick studying glance. "I'm assuming you didn't find him?" he asked, already knowing they hadn't. If they had, there'd be a lot less confusion and fear on their faces.

"No." Happy confirmed. "No sign of him." Then she seemed to have a thought. "I'm going to check the ramp though. I'm assuming that's how the guy got down, because he sure as hell didn't come down this way and it was clear upstairs."

"Who would do this to him?" Paige asked aloud, she'd intended for the thought to be private because in all honesty, Walter could easily piss someone off enough to make a bomb and deploy it in his home.

"Walter is adept at making enemies Paige, we should know; he made enemies out of his closest and trusted friends. There were several times I myself envisaged a scene of death and carnage for the man." Sylvester replied but the sarcasm was wilted and lacked lustre. "But," he sighed, "I have to admit, I never intended to carry it out, and now that I've seen it, the shame I'm feeling right now is making me nauseous." He admitted.

"Walter wasn't the one at fault with your issue, Sly." Toby said, as he placed a set of clamps over a slow bleeding vein. "You know Walter would never intentionally sabotage your relationship opportunities." He added as a distant sound of sirens finally echoed through the garage. "Finally." He muttered to himself but continued working.

"He didn't have to say what he did. He knows I have issues with my courage. I couldn't just ask Florence out like that!" Sylvester replied defensively. His anger still hadn't dissipated apparently.

"And why do you think he said those words, Sly? Think about what Paige had just said to him. What was he feeling when you attacked him for acting flirty with the chemist?" Toby asked.

"Nothing!" Sylvester replied heatedly. Though whether the anger was directed at himself or Walter was unknown yet. "The man says so himself. He has no emotions! He can't feel anything!" He ranted.

"That's a lie." Paige found herself saying, and felt just as surprised as the other two did when she heard herself. "I… I mean, it's true that he struggles with his emotions and how to handle them, but he's not without feelings. He wouldn't have done half the things he had if he was a complete robot." She explained herself, surprised that she was defending the man who had hurt her so much.

"And technically, it was Paige who taught him to lie to begin with so really, can we blame Walter for that too?" Toby asked, his question was aimed at Paige this time who frowned in defence. Sylvester also looked a little confused.

"I did what?" Paige asked indignantly. "I didn't teach him to lie…" But before she could finish her rebuttal, Toby interrupted her with his best impersonation of her.

"A white lie is a lie that makes someone feel better, Walter. Sometimes it's a good thing to lie to protect those you love from feeling hurt or upset about something." He paraphrased and Paige paled considerably. Of-course Walter wouldn't understand the difference.

"Oh god." She said, shakily. "I taught him to lie." The realisation was like a punch to the gut and suddenly she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She told him to lie to protect others' feelings. She'd practically told him to lie to her about the lecture, to lie to her about taking Florence… She'd practically set him up to fail.

"And let's not forget what we all did to protect him from himself when he was trapped in space." Toby added casually. "We did the exact same thing he tried to do for you." He said, reminding both of them that they had all lied to Walter about his delusional state in his impromptu trip to the earths outermost atmospheric orbit.

"What have I done…" Paige wheezed and felt, for the second time in less than an hour, her legs give out from beneath her. She was hyperventilating and losing herself to her own panic.

"Paige, calm down. We're all to blame here. No one is innocent in this fall out." Toby said in a strong and calm voice. He was trying to therapy her current distress while knuckle deep in a tricky gunshot wound, and the place smelling like burnt everything was not helping his nerves. It seemed to work a little though as the sound of Paige's breathing did slow a little. "Right now, we need to focus on the immediate issues." Tony continued, his stitch kit was now open on the small of Cabe's back with a needle and thread being hurriedly threaded in his blood sodden hands. "Cabe is slowly bleeding out here, and Walter is missing, presumably kidnapped." The thread finally made it through the stitching needle, and he pulled it through to ensure it wouldn't accidentally fall out and need re-threading. "We need to get Cabe to a hospital and start looking for who might have Walter." He listed off, hoping that a plan, if only a slight one, would help re-rail everyone's minds and help them all focus on the main issue.

"You're right. The ambulance will be here soon so that should take care of that issue." Paige replied, her breathing still fast but she was in control for now. "But how the hell do we start looking for Walter? Who would go to these extreme lengths to kidnap him, and why?" She asked, hoping that one of the geniuses would have an idea.

She was not wrong.

"I think I know who has him." Came Happy's voice from the bottom of the ramp. Three set of eyes stared back at her expectantly. She held up a pair of 70's style wide-rimmed gold trimmed glasses.

"Are those…" Sylvester started to ask but didn't feel the need to voice his suspicion.

"Yep." Happy said dejectedly. "Looks like Collins has him."