Author note:

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha I am SO SORRY OH MY GOD. So the exams were over and then I had work. And then after work I had to train full time for this martial art that I do. And then after that was over, the results came out and ...

Yeah if you didn't assume, now you know: I was a mess. I thought I'd do waaaaaaaaaay worse than I actually did and I am so relieved that's over.

On the sadder side, uni starts again in two weeks so let's see how much I can chug out before then!

ALSO, I absolutely hate this chapter. I loathed writing it and it was extremely difficult to finish. There were times when I thought, no, I'll just skip it and move forward onto the next chapter. But there's backstory here that I needed to get out and OHMY GOD I am so angry at myself for missing it the first time around. Sorry for the short as chapter but I promise we will get to chapter 11 soon. Think of this as a necessity but not something you have to enjoy. Like really bitter medicine.

Off you go now!

And thank you to my loyal reviewer anonymouscsifan for getting me off my whiny butt and just posting this. Even though I hate it, it has to be done. Sorry in advance!


Chapter 10.2

Something Amiss.

/ - Elliot POV - /

"Who the fuck are you?"

Fernando Vera's words rang in Elliot's ears as he spun slowly on his computer chair. He needed a way to get rid of the guy without making it too obvious. It'd take someone really stupid to not realise how dangerous Vera was. The people he was involved in, the influence he had… If Elliot wasn't careful, he'd be Vera's next tweet.

But still, he didn't want Shayla to keep being abused. The fact that she was begging him not to turn Vera in meant that she was scared. Elliot worried that her fear would turn into complacency.

That wouldn't be good. Someone who was complacent was often unco-operative. And Elliot would need all the co-operation he could get if it meant putting Vera behind bars without causing harm to the ones he cared about.

Elliot hadn't been craving a morphine hit recently. His mind had been busy as he filled his days with either heading to work, helping Gwen or planning out Vera's imprisonment. If he were anybody else, Elliot would even go as far as to say he was creating a routine, one that he was comfortable with. It meant that there was less time to be alone and more time being productive.

Although, recently, Elliot had felt the opposite of alone. There were always eyes on him, watching him as he went about his business. Frankly, he didn't even feel safe at home.

Someone was watching him, observing his actions, and Elliot was not okay with it one bit. But the bigger issue was Vera. His little stalker would have to wait until after.

The next few days had Elliot sleeping even less than he usually did. The hours flew by in a blur, a blend of sobriety and drunken stupor. He hadn't talked to Shayla for a week and hadn't allowed himself to get an update on Gwen's situation. She was entirely too distracting and it would only lead to him making an error.

He trusted her to look after herself. As long as she wasn't tied up to a chair again, Elliot was confident that she was okay.

Trudging slowly toward his house, Elliot saw Shayla exit the building and made a move to wave at her. His hand fell limply back to his side as his vision followed Shayla's line of sight. Vera was being cuffed and pressed to the side of the police car. A part of him was satisfied to see the criminal in chains, but when Vera turned to him and gave him a deadly look, Elliot wondered if it really was over.

He had anonymously leaked the information relating to Vera's dealings to the police and it hadn't taken them long to respond to the tip.

The look on Shayla's face had Elliot weak at the knees. It was a combination of relief and fear. Those two emotions didn't fit properly on her features and Elliot's nerves jumped even higher.

Had he really done the right thing?

/ - Chen POV - /

Watching the young hacker's expressions as Vera was loaded into the police car and taken away almost made Chen's day. He thoroughly enjoyed the mirage of emotions that flickered across Elliot's face. If it were him in that position, Chen would have stayed far away from Vera and his problems. The ones who crosses the brothers hardly came back in one piece. In fact, many of them wound up dead.

But Chen knew. And he knew that Vera knew. Elliot didn't mind being dead. It would probably be a favour if Vera and his brothers killed him off now. If it were Chen, he would choose to hurt the ones Elliot cared about. Surely something like that would hurt the hacker more than his own death.

Switching his focus to the girl standing beside Elliot, Chen smiled darkly. Elliot had no idea what he had just gotten the two of them into. It would certainly be interesting to watch as the events unfolded.

A way to pass the time until Gwen returned.

She had gone dark post-kidnapping. No social media flickers, no appearances on the streets. She hadn't left her AirBnB, not even to send notice to her boss of her status.

A part of him ached for her, wanting to be with her and chase away all the bad people. But he knew if he set foot in China, his pretence would fall to pieces and Gwen would figure everything out. No, he had to stay silent and ever-watching.

When it came time to act, his superiors would notify him. And, he chuckled ruefully, he would act with no mercy.

There were higher stakes in this game than many of the participants knew. Elliot for one, had no idea just who he was up against. He should've stuck to his own issues instead of getting involved with other people. Chen knew that this Vera incident would not end well and Elliot would not arise from it unscathed.

What worried him was the effect it would have on Gwen when she returned.

Against his better judgement, Chen had allowed her to reignite the friendship between Elliot and herself. But now, after observing the hacker's actions for a while, Chen had come to realise that Elliot was similar to a time-bomb. He was always ticking down to a final explosion and Chen did not want Gwen to get caught up in something like that.

There were bigger plans in store for her and dealing with someone as petty as Elliot would not prove helpful.

When he followed Elliot a few days later, he found himself by the harbor. The hacker was sitting on the railing, hunched over with his hood on.

Chen watched as Elliot teetered back and forth, seemingly arguing with himself. A small voice in the back of his head mused how delightful it would be if the young hacker would simply slip off. It would rid him of one of his problems if Elliot just accidently killed himself. And it would prove to be entertaining to see how fsociety would function without their mastermind. Surely, the group would fall to ruin if Elliot disappeared?

/ - Elliot POV - /

Even as he tried to shout some sense into Mr Robot, he felt a different set of eyes watching him. It was beginning to drive him insane, the knowledge that someone was always there and watching. He wondered if they, too, could see the insanity in Mr Robot's eyes as he questioned Elliot on his past.

When Elliot's father was brought up, it was as if all sanity dissipated from Elliot's mind. The man in front of him knew far too much and it made Elliot even more uneasy. How had he allowed himself to get caught up in a group who knew more about him than he did about them?

There was something not quite right about the relationship and Elliot felt as if a lot of pieces were missing from the puzzle.

"Don't you think," Mr Robot drawled as he turned to face Elliot, "That you betrayed your father's trust when you told everyone about his disease?"

Elliot's mind swam as the words caught up to him. They were like a net from his past, opening up to catch him, finally. Before he could reply, Elliot felt a swift shove on his back and he was falling.

The ground came rushing toward him and he heard a crunch in the distance before he blacked out.

Oh.

So that's what I've been holding in all this time.

/ - Chen POV - /

The cigarette only made it halfway to his mouth before his entire body froze. Of all the things that could have happened to surprise him, Chen had not been expecting that.

"Oh shit."

He dropped the cigarette, still lit, onto the ground and ran to the railing. He hurled himself over and checked the body for damage. It was crazy, but there was no blood and seemingly no broken bones. At best, if he had to guess, Elliot might have a few cracked ribs and a lot of bruises.

Berating the hacker for being stupid enough to actually fall from the railing, Chen picked Elliot up and climbed up to the harbor decking. He called a taxi and dropped Elliot off at the hospital, telling them to call Shayla before leaving as fast as he could.

He'd never wanted to get that closely involved, but the idiot had gone and tried to off himself. What dumb person would try to die after setting Vera behind bars? That was like screaming 'Here! Take everyone I love and care about and hurt them!'.

A part of him wanted to say that he did it because he wanted to see what would happen after. Another part of him said he did it because his superiors wanted Elliot alive. But Chen knew, deep down, that he had done it for Gwen.

If she had returned and found Elliot dead or worse, she would have reverted to the shell of herself that Chen had found her as so long ago. He couldn't have that.

If he ever saw a pitiful expression on her face, one as saddening as the one all those years ago, his heart would probably split in half. She was his charge but a large part of him had grown to care for her.

It was complicated. He was looking after her and keeping tabs on Elliot because that was his job, but he was making sure they were okay for what reason?

Chen didn't know, couldn't know. It wasn't the way he was wired. He hadn't been taught to care and had grown up in a harsh environment. Even if he loved Gwen, he wouldn't know it.

/ - Elliot POV - /

The recovery took forever. Forever too long. His mind wandered in places he was not used to and even when he was back to normal it still wandered. Some of the thoughts and memories left him dazed and blank, others had him wanting to rip out his hair in frustration.

The most common thought was Gwen and her soft, seemingly searching eyes. The gaze she had given him when she had been in his room. She had been so close and yet so far. In the moment, Elliot had not thought to reach out for her and pull her close. It was only now, when his mind revisited their interactions, that Elliot felt the urge and longing to hold her.

But then the image of her, covered in blood, seeped into his mind and Elliot shut off. It was an automatic thing, as if he didn't want to see her like that and refused to accept it. He knew he had to come to terms with it eventually but Elliot didn't want to believe that they were one in the same. The Gwen he had seen fall apart in front of him, and the killer he had watched on the screen.

A small part of him wondered if they were better off not seeing each other again. Perhaps he hadn't known her as well as he should have.

Perhaps it would be a mistake to let her get any closer to him.

Although his bones ached from his fall, his heart ached even more, for reasons Elliot could not decipher.

End Chapter 10.2.