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 Ten! So, my plot is slowing down a little, apologies if this starts to get a little rushed or unexciting. Beginning to feel like I've lost Walter's character a little too. What do you think? Is he too out of character in this?

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 Ten: Bedtime Nightmares

"I'm sorry." Those words were almost too much to hear, and Toby and Paige felt the comment like a physical blow.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know who to turn to." And just like that, the relief almost dropped the two members of Centipede where they stood. The guy was just apologising for his part in the sabotage, not that we was refusing to help them.

Toby clutched at his chest in a futile effort to slow his own heartbeat down. Paige hadn't faired much better either, and three more sighs of relief echoed over the comms too.

"It's ok." Toby breathed out through a stiff jaw, adrenalin forcing his muscles to tense in anticipation of the next steps they needed to make. "Just tell me what you did so we can reverse it." He said and stared over at the tearful doctor. The man nodded vigorously.

"Yes, but you can't keep him here. We need to get him somewhere safe." He said ominously. "And I can't come with you." He added. Paige found herself frowning in confusion, but Toby had already figured a close approximation of what he'd meant.

"There's someone here watching you," The doctor looked up sharply at him, confirmation and confusion clear in his expression. Which then turned to a flash of fear and uncertainty which Toby picked up on instantly. "..and you don't know who it is." Toby added for the benefit of the others listening in. "Hear that Happy? Be careful." He said loudly for the comms to pick up. He waited with bated breath for Happy to respond, to confirm she hadn't already come across trouble.

"Copy that." She said and her voice was a welcome relief. Something was going right for a change. The first so far in this difficult case. "I'm in the south west elevator with a cadaver and a wheelchair. Should be an easy swap. Car's round the back now too." She added as an afterthought. And both Toby and Paige gave a sigh of relief much to the confusion of the doctor stood with them. Of course, he couldn't hear Happy.

"It's ok. We have an escape plan." Paige reassured him.

"I need to know what you did doc; these vitals are still dropping." Toby piped up expectantly. The doctor moved then, over to the bed and to right side of the mattress where he pulled out a half-filled blood bag that had been collecting a slow bleed from a secretly place intravenous needle at Cabe's thigh. If it had been left, it would have brought on complications but once the bag had filled, the flow would have stopped and Cabe would have survived.

This alone had been a risk on the doctor's part and Toby stared openly at the man. The doctor hadn't been able to really risk a life under his care. The doctor looked at him sheepishly.

"You took a big risk there." Toby said, his voice was thick with the implications of what this defiance could mean for the man's daughter if Collins ever found out. "Thank you." He added and started to unhook several monitors from the wall mounts and hung them from the bed rails.

"Yes well, you can thank me by saving my daughter." The doctor replied and finished packing up the bed for transport. "And knocking me out in the elevator." He added with a reluctance that any man would have against the idea of willingly being hurt to the point of losing consciousness. Toby slowed his movements for a moment, letting the meaning sink in before he understood. He gave a nod, letting the man know he'd got the message.

"Paige get the doors." Toby asked without room for arguments. Predictably she did not argue, instead she held the doors open and followed closely as the two doctors moved.

"Happy, we're on our way." She said under her breath as they took off down the halls.

"Copy that."


"How long should this be taking?" Florence asked, as she paced the office of the recently formed Centipede Partnership. It wasn't the same as the garage, and if Sylvester was completely honest, he didn't think there would be anywhere that could capture the ambience and sanctity of Scorpion's headquarters.

A lot had happened in the garage, both good and bad. They'd always survived the turbulent times too, so this new office had been a jarring change that hadn't made him feel very comfortable. He'd pushed past that though in his anger and heartache over the woman pacing the floor before his desk.

His feelings were scattered and all over the place when it came to her. He still dearly loved her, irrational as that sounded, it was the truth. No one had quite affected his heart the same way Meghan had. She'd been one of a kind, and thus was irreplaceable. But he also knew what she'd tell him now if she could; 'Don't waste your love on a dead girl. Find someone who makes you feel happy and nervous and excited all in one.' He glanced at Florence who stopped her pacing and stared at him. He felt his heart flutter, his lungs constrict, and his palms go sweaty. All boxes were checked in that area.

"Sylvester?" She asked. And he snapped back to reality, averting his gaze back to the computer screen before him and tapping a few keys out of nervousness.

"Uh," he replied unhelpfully as he checked the speed of the search program and then did a quick calculation under his breath. "With the speed of the search going at five hundred bits per second, divided by the number of cell towers in LA which is four hundred as of the last maintenance checks two weeks ago, I would put the waiting time for completion to be around twenty-two hours and twenty-three minutes." He said aloud. Florence's slumped shoulders told him that it wasn't what she'd wanted to hear. It also wasn't quick enough for those lives depending on this software succeeding.

"Can you speed it up any Sly? Kind of on the clock with this one." Toby's voice echoed across the loudspeaker in the office. He sounded a little out of breath and Sylvester could imagine that pushing Cabe around on a heavy bed would tire even the more athletically inclined.

"Already on it." He replied distractedly as he focused on the code scrolling across his screen. He wasn't as fast with this as Walter or Ralph would be and was prone to mistakes if he rushed too much. "You know I'm not as fast with coding as Walter or…" then an idea hit him. "Paige, has Ralph still got the laptop we gave him for Christmas?" He asked suddenly over the comms.

"Yeah. You need his help?" She asked, already guessing why Sylvester would be asking that question. Her heart fluttered a little, not really wanting Ralph to get involved until they knew what state Walter was in.

"He's a lot faster at this than I am." Sylvester admitted as he continued to code to save as much time as possible.

"Ok, but just don't tell him who we're trying to find." She acquiesced hesitantly. And Sylvester didn't question her reasons. It wasn't right to drag a child into this mess. Especially not Ralph. If the miniature genius knew it was Walter in danger, he'd try all the risks he could think of and that was just asking for trouble with Ralph. He could understand why Paige was reluctant to bring her son into this one.

It was too close to home for all of them.

"Of course." Sylvester agreed, then hit the call button on his phone. "Calling him now, I'll patch him through on the comms." He added for Paige's benefit.

"I hope we find Walter soon." Paige said quietly. The world slowed a little. All of team Scorpion, both current and former felt the feeling resonate between them. They all wished for the same thing; finding those who were missing from their lives.

"Sly?" Ralph's voice woke them all from the reverie they'd temporarily fallen in to.

"Ralph. I uh… I need your help. Gotta find the origin of a text and the software isn't going fast enough. We're on short time with this one, can you help me out?" Sylvester said, recovering quickly and being careful not to give anything else away.

"Sure. I'm logging in now." The kid replied and Sylvester could hear the tapping of keys over the phone. "You know, Walter would be faster. It is his design." Ralph added, unaware of the ache that comment set inside their hearts. It wasn't Ralph's fault, he didn't know Walter was missing and it was staying that way until the last possible second.

"I know. But he's not available right now and you know his coding better than I do. So, can you help me out?" Sylvester asked, his voice tight and uncomfortable in his own throat.

There was a sigh from the phone and Sylvester could just imagine the young lad pursing his lips in frustration. "I don't know the details of what happened. Mom won't tell me anything. But it seems silly to carry on like this. You all still clearly care for Walter and I'm sure he does for you too. Can't you guys just say sorry and make up already?" He'd made it sound so simple and so innocent. Sylvester had to hold his breath for fear of letting his emotions tell Ralph that something was wrong. It took him a moment to gather his nerve and voice.

"You're right Ralph." Paige replied before Sylvester could come up with a response. "Adults tend to over-complicate things. It's sometimes difficult for us to see through the emotions we feel." She continued. "I will sort the whole thing out with Walter after this case." The 'if he's still alive by that point' was left unsaid but the rest of the team heard it none-the-less. "I promise." Paige added, her voice was strong over the comms but what none of them could see – except Toby who glanced at her while rushing Cabe's bed through hallway after hallway – were the tears streaming down her cheeks, and the barely-held-together composure slipping to worry and concern.

Ralph took a few seconds to respond. "Ok. 'cause I really miss him." He said, unaware of the heartstrings he was pulling on.

"I know sweetie. Me too." Paige admitted. It scared her how much the thought of losing Walter for definite plagued her. The anger she'd felt toward him just seemed so inconsequential now. And the idea of never being able to right their wrongs was just too tragic.

Several precious seconds ticked by before Ralph spoke again; "I'm in, updating the software now." Ralph confirmed and Sylvester had to mute the microphone as he sighed loudly, trying to collect himself before interacting with the boy genius again. That whole conversation between mother and son had had him on emotional tender hooks the whole time.

Florence put her hand on his shoulder in a brave attempt at comfort and Sylvester glanced up at her in surprise. "You're doing a great job Sly. I know this isn't easy, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you." She admitted and took his hand in hers. He glanced down at their intertwined fingers then back to her eyes. They were red and watery still but under control. She gave him a reassuring smile and he smiled back with genuine appreciation.

"Thank you." He said to her, "I needed to hear that." He admitted quietly.

"I know." Florence said, and stepped a little closer to him. Perhaps now wasn't the perfect time to be admitting what she was about to say out loud, but if the past few hours had taught her anything, it was that the future was never guaranteed. In light of that perspective, now seemed like the perfect time to say what she needed to say.

"There's something else you need to hear too."