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: Chapter Nine! This is seriously the fastest I've ever updated a fanfiction in my entire life of posting updates top this site. Feel honoured! I've already got Chapter 10 and 11 written up. Just going through the final checks before posting.

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 Nine: Misdirections of a Different Kind reprise

Florence felt the first sliver of a new panic take hold.

"What's going on?" She asked, "Why is Cabe in a hospital?" She continued and then added "Why are you crying like that?" And she could feel her own tears well up, her heart had already come to the same logical conclusion Happy had but her mind had yet to accept it.

Toby rushed up then, speaking before he could read the tension. "Guys, it's the BBI! Collins wants Walter's research on… the…" He started but then saw the tears and the desolation hanging thickly in the air. "What?" He asked hesitantly, his own stomach turning. The feeling of cold ice spreading through his veins chilled him to his core as his imagination tried to fill in the gaps.

"Cabe's… not in a good way." Paige finally managed to say. "They said they've done all they can." She continued around a soft sob. "But it won't be enough."

And Toby's world fell flat. That wasn't possible. He'd secured the bleeders. There was no further damage inside. He'd gotten the bullets out. Cabe should be fine. He'd have a few new scars to add to his collection, but he should have easily survived this. It was textbook simple.

What had he missed?

Of course, with Collins involved, it was likely he'd missed something. But what? And if it was a trick Collins had used, it was almost certain that there was a way to reverse it. That's what Collins was all about, setting puzzles to see who was smart enough to figure them out. He loved the impressed and distressed responses to his 'impossible' tests.

But this kink, also served another purpose. The more focused they were on saving Cabe, the less mental prowess they had dedicated to finding Walter. Divide and diminish.

"It's a delay." He finally said, his mind working overtime. "It's a distraction to derail us from finding Walter." He added at their confused faces. A spark of hope lit up in Happy, Sylvester's and Paige's faces but Florence's paled further.

"F-finding Walter…" She stammered. "What-what do you mean 'finding Walter'?" She stumbled over her words and grew paler. Then she turned abruptly to Paige, "And… and why is Cabe in… in the hospital?" She asked again, but her voice was growing softer as she spoke, the fear constricting her throat as she said it.

It dawned on the others then that Florence still had no idea that Cabe had been shot and that Walter was missing.

And they all watched helplessly as she put it all together in her head. Why they'd asked her about Collins… the phone call about Cabe in the hospital… and the comment, 'finding Walter'…

"Collins has Walter." It wasn't a question. "And he's done something to Cabe too." She added, looking reluctantly at the four faces for confirmation. At the looks of utter hopelessness, she had one more observation to make. "Something dreadful."

"We'll fill you in on the way but I gotta get to the hospital now." Toby said as he made to move toward Centipede's office for a car. The others followed with no argument, instead discussing the best possible solution to their issues at hand.

It was decided that Florence and Sylvester would stay at Centipede's office, running the tracing software Walter had developed on Florence's phone in hopes of finding a location with which to start looking for their missing friend.

They'd surmised that if they found Collins, they'd likely find Walter and quite likely Florence's sister, Abigail too. No one deigned to touch the subject of whether Abigail was still alive. With no evidence, there was no reason to assume the worst but with Collins, it was easy to guess that Abigail had probably outlived her usefulness to him and Collins wasn't about to risk the plans he'd gone to such extreme length to set in motion just because of one loose end.

Meanwhile Toby, Happy and Paige had raced to the hospital to find out what had happened to Cabe. Toby had suspected foul play, and had predicted that he'd need to counter it with a three-step plan to save Cabe.

If it was foul play and Collins was delaying them from focussing their search for Walter, then it meant they all had to work fast. It also meant that there was a mole in the hospital, which meant they'd probably meet some resistance in getting Cabe the help he needed. That's where Paige would come in. She'd use her negotiation skills to distract and outwit anyone attempting to stop them from doing all they could for Cabe. And if that went south, Happy would be creating their escape plan in the back ground. It had been her primary idea, but Toby had advised that a hospital was better equipped to help him figure out what was wrong and fix it. They'd use her escape plan as a last resort, but until then Toby would have to work fast.

Happy took off in the car after dropping Paige and Toby at the entrance. She had work to do.

Meanwhile, Toby and Paige were met in the reception by a haggard looking doctor, and immediately Toby picked up a few red flags and stress indicators in the man's behaviour before he'd even said a word. Something was off with the guy. Was he the mole?

It was likely, but if what they'd learned from Florence was anything to consider, then it was possible that Collins had some leverage over this guy too. This was almost a good thing for them, it meant the guy was good at heart and was susceptible to persuasion if they could convince him that they could find who/whatever Collins was holding over him.

They were led to the same room Cabe had been in when they'd left only a half hour before to find Florence. And in that half hour, Cabe had deteriorated significantly. Both Paige and Toby had to pause at the door in shock. Neither of them recognised the man in the bed as their stoic, hard handed, shield and protector. It was jarring to see the strong, cocky-mouthed man looking so small and frail.

Then Toby was moving.

The man was not well. His lips were blue, breathing laboured and his heart rate was lapsing badly. He could tell just by looking that Cabe's blood pressure was dangerously low, and his oxygen intake was minimal. The possible causes for these symptoms were numerous and it would take too long to figure out what was wrong. Cabe didn't have the time it would take to find out.

Walter didn't have that long either.

Nor Abigail, he mentally added.

Toby held a frustrated yell inside as he read the monitors and readouts on the equipment hooked up to their friend. Their number of victims were growing by the minute and they hadn't made any real headway into the actual search yet either. Damn Collins! Damn him to the darkest depths of hell!

"I don't care what your hospital policy says doctor, my friend here is a certified doctor and has more experience with unnatural and strange medical phenomenon than you or your staff could ever hope to imagine!"

'Go Paige!' Toby mentally applauded as he searched for whatever sabotage he could imagine would bring about the symptoms that Cabe was exhibiting.

"Dr Curtis is his registered doctor!" He heard Paige say, her voice was hard and intimidating. Toby shivered a little in response.

"But he's my patient in here." The doctor replied, the stress levels in his voice were of desperation, not frustration. There was a heavy accent of fear fluctuating throughout the man's dialogue. Collins had quite the hold over him and he wasn't going to budge without a major fight.

Secretly, he sent a coded message to Happy to start her plan. It was looking like they may have to bail after all. She confirmed the request and went to work.

Toby focused on the equipment hooked up to his friend; blood pressure was dropping a fraction a minute. Something was leaking then. Slowly. But he'd stopped the bleeders in the wounds. His work had been messy and rushed but he was never a shoddy worker. He knew with a confidence that the leak was not from his stitch-work. So, an external force was at play.

"You have no authority over this patient!" Paige responded, her voice had genuine anger and concern in it and Toby just knew that she was going to lose her nerve before Happy had a chance to set up their escape plan.

Toby had to play his last card. He didn't like to gamble with his friends lives on the line like this but his window of opportunity to save Cabe was closing rapidly.

"We know you're working for Collins." He said suddenly, and both Paige and the doctor fell silent. He could practically hear their shock. "We know he's got leverage over you. We know you were told to delay us as much as possible." He continued as he turned to face them with a seriousness that surprised even himself.

"That's not…" The doctor stammered but Toby had his answers. The hesitance, the wide eyes, the short breaths, sweat at the collar and the brow. An idiot could see the guilt.

"It is true. We know. Because he also has our friend." Paige interrupted with a no-nonsense tone. Her voice did hitch a little when she'd said the word 'friend' though and Toby felt the same tug of desperation for Walter.

The doctor froze, the fear on his face was hauntingly familiar to what they were all feeling.

"We're close to finding our missing friend, doc. That's why Collins made you do this, to distract us from getting any closer." He explained, hoping to gain the man's trust. "If we find our friend, it's a safe bet that whatever he's holding over you is there too. But we can't find him if we have to solve the problem you've created for us with our friend here." He said as he gestured to Cabe's prone form on the bed.

Precious seconds wasted by while the doctor wrestled with his trust of these people.

"He has my daughter." He finally admitted brokenly. "She's only two." He added as he completely broke down. Toby was beginning to feel sick. Collins had really gone off the deep end. The possibilities of what he was capable of were tripling by the hour. Kidnapping wasn't above him, he knew from personal experience, but this was getting dangerously out of hand. He could understand targeting Scorpion, but strangers?

And now kids…

Sweat dripped down his brow as the pressure to find them all mounted.

"I know you're feeling very scared right now. I can promise you that we have a plan to rescue our missing people." Paige said carefully. Her empathy was in overdrive today what with Florence's sister, and now a child dragged into this mess. She was beyond grateful that Ralph was staying with Drew for the week, he didn't need to go through this with them all.

"But we need your help to pull this off." Toby added to her comment, pulling her attention back to the room. His gaze flicked to the apparatus that was telling him that his friend was dying.

Several seconds of silence passed. Toby's heart hammered loudly in his own ears and Paige's stomach twisted with tension. Walter, Cabe, Abigail, and now a two-year-old child were in trouble and their lives rested in the hands of one very scared and desperate doctor. The consequences if he refused, and chose to trust Collins to hold up his end of their blackmail deal, were going to be devastating.

"I…" the doctor started but halted.

Toby's heart almost stopped.

Paige's breath hitched in her throat.

"I'm sorry…"