Staring at each other as they stood quietly in the room, the men remained in their spots as their eyes locked.
"Who are you?" Theodore pointedly asked him as he watched Lovett shift in his spot, his blue scrubs moving slightly in the breeze.
Lovett didn't tell him, saying that he couldn't, not yet.
It's not the time, as he pointed out, they needed to work together, else, they risked a bloodshed.
"Fine. What's going to happen?" Theodore changed subjects, no point trying to force Lovett into telling him what he wanted to know. He won't tell him and he can't simply peak into his mind and force the answer out of him.
"The patients started seeing the females a few nights ago," Lovett tells him as he moved to his bed, sitting on the edge, as he looked up to Theodore. "They don't typically show up like this unless they want someone."
As he sat on his bed, Lovett informed Theodore that it's rare seeing females, the timing's difficult for them coming out in hunts like this, but when the timing's perfect, they don't waste time.
While they're more dangerous, they're not stupid, they're waiting for an opportune time, and won't hesitate killing them all, hoping to get whoever they wanted.
"Their mother won't come out with them during this, she's tending their nests, that, I cannot tell you much about. You won't find a soul who found a nest and lived to talk about it. They're heavily guarded and I do mean, heavily. That much I know," Lovett explains how the females hunted, their mother didn't hunt with them like their perceived father did with their 'brothers' she stays with the nest, which Lovett knew nothing about, but he knew that it's a fool's errand trying to breech their nests.
"How do we stop them, then?" Theodore wanted to know what keeps their kind away, anything that'd help them fight against them, and Lovett struggled coming up with ideas, saying that it's difficult for him to say.
They're too fast for the human eye, by the time someone figured out that one's hunting them, it'd be too late.
"I know they eat nightshade, they've got a nasty habit," Lovett shrugs as he tells Theodore this.
Furrowing his brow as he's thinking about their options, Theodore wondered if using the night against them's a good idea.
Shrugging, Lovett responded that it's good idea, give them time coming up with an answer, but he cautioned Theodore that he needed to stay away from them.
"Don't even try it, it won't work against them, and you'll just risk an aneurysm," Lovett cryptically tells Theodore that he shouldn't use his ability against them, it might've worked then, but it's dangerous doing it, now.
Unlike their male counterparts that's easily ward off by light and rosemary, the females don't have those weaknesses.
Male counterparts are slow and simple when they move, because their prey usually isn't in the best health to run from them.
Females acted aggressively and move fast, because they need to get whoever they've chosen back to their nest, and they're ramped in their delirium they'll tear apart anyone that isn't them.
"But," Lovett looked towards Theodore, "if you get me out of here, maybe I can find the answers we need. I'd like my clothes back and my ring."
Lovett brokered that if Theodore gets him out of his gilded cage, maybe his resources had something they can use.
"The one time I'd wish it were Daleks," Lovett sighed as he complained that they're easier dealing with and he knew their weaknesses from the back of his hand.
It didn't go unnoticed as Theodore pointed out that Lovett said something about Daleks and he acknowledged what he said, how he wished he was dealing with them, more than these creatures.
"Enough chatter, is it a deal?" Lovett ceased the conversation, he said that time's running out for their interview, and Theodore agreed that he'll help, but he still wanted answers, like how Lovett knew about the Daleks.
Lovett only responded, "Not yet."
They're shaken by a sudden shriek and Theodore rushed out of the room while Lovett stayed behind.
His flat suede loafers slammed against the floorboards as he ran towards the source of the shriek, in the main area, and when he came to an abrupt stop, he sees that it's Nancy shrieking as the orderlies dragged Tommy away as he's unable to respond, deep in shock.
"He didn't do it!" Nancy shrieks as she tried clawing another set of orderlies as they're holding her back from chasing after Tommy.
Patients, doctors, and the nurses, hearing the commotion came around as they watched Nancy fighting against the orderlies.
Nancy's doctor ordered her back to her room, telling the orderlies the amount to sedate her with, as they're pulling her away from the main area back to her room.
Unable to act, Theodore watched the scene as the orderlies dragged her away as she screamed once more that Tommy didn't do it.
The doctors and nurses shooed away the patients, ordering them to stay in their rooms.
With prodding, the patients left, leaving Theodore as he watched the doctors, except Nancy's, and the nurses moving on.
When Theodore tried asking about it, Nancy's doctor told him to stay quiet, keep his head down, and do his job.
Didn't have to be so rude, doctor.
As the doctor turned away, discussing things with the nurse that came back with a clipboard, Theodore snuck a peak in his mind, deciding that if he wasn't telling him, then Theodore wasn't going to ask.
Only brief, but Theodore saw the events leading up to Nancy breaking down as she did.
The security guards found Mark, what remained of him. Found his remains lying near the deeper parts of the forest.
None of them wanted to check when they initially found his remains, they're aware of what's in the forest, but forced anyway due to their jobs, and that's when they found them.
The mask he wore, torn to shreds, but from the look of the doctor's face hearing the description, it wasn't the only thing torn to shreds.
"Can he be identified?" Theodore heard the doctor asking the security guards and one nearly puked as he told the doctor that they'll need DNA samples just to verify that it's Mark.
"We should call the police," insisted one of the guards, but Nancy's doctor, William Gruber, wouldn't hear of it, saying that if the police found out about what happened, they'll never work again.
He forced the security guards into keeping the details of the death a secret, and if anyone asked, Tommy killed him.
Use their fight as leverage that he tracked Mark down after he stole one of his masks and killed him.
Do everything they can, because if the truth gets out, it's downhill for the lot of them.
"We cannot have media here, people," William summed.
The thought of media swarming the building, tearing things apart for the truth, nauseated him.
When one of the security guards asked about the other patients, he stated that nobody believes them.
"Bipolar, paranoid, abused, angry, you think anyone's going to believe their wild tales?" William tells the security guards. "Mark stole a mask, Tommy chased him, killed him, Nancy's having a break, she hasn't slept, remember?"
With a motion of his hand, William told them, collect the evidence, move the body near the creek, use gloves latent with Tommy's DNA, if they must.
He threatened sending the security guards back outside at night collecting evidence if they didn't do as he said and they agreed with his terms before Theodore's brought back to his natural state, appalled and angry.
Behind the icy blue eyes, Theodore's seething, as they planned to pin the murder on Tommy, just so they didn't have to worry about the media finding out.
Moving on, Theodore went and found Lila as she's talking with Jacob, trying to calm him as they're shaken by what's happened.
Silently, they talked to each other as Theodore tells her what's going on, by the time he's done, Lila nearly blurted outwardly, "Son of a bitch!"
Subtly nodding, Theodore responded that he needed Lovett, he's the only one who knew.
"How're you going to do that, you said he's under lock and key, if you take him out of there, someone's going to know, and I don't think the psychic paper's gonna do much for someone who says he's an orderly," Lila pointed out that Theodore didn't have any chance, Lovett's public enemy number one, if he escapes, it's a heap of mess on top of the heap of messes they're dealing with, now. She doesn't think the psychic papers would've worked, believing that the people in the know saw through it.
Thinking to himself, Theodore had an idea, and he reached out to Al, asking him for another favour.
"You know, I think it's Friday, back home," Al sarcastically responded that it's the start of the weekend in their home universe, something he would've liked enjoying, until Theodore told him what he discovered and what happened to Mark.
It sobered Al and he said that he's prepared to leak every detail to all the media in the world, but Theodore wanted something subtler, he's thinking about that as a cherry on top once everything's said and done, but for now, subtler.
"What's subtler than destroying decades worth of coverups?" Al asks him.
Theodore then told him that he needed Al to masquerade as a patient. The patient knows what they're dealing with, but they can't spring him from his room without someone hitting that silent alarm, but if they think he's in the room, still, they wouldn't think of it.
"Great, who's the patient?" Al inquired more about the patient he's supposed to masquerade as while Theodore goes about his master plan in messing up certain people's days.
"Lovett, I don't know his whole name, but I'm sure it's somewhere in the files. I saw his face and heard him, that good enough?" Theodore asked if physically seeing the patient and hearing him's enough for Al getting a general idea in his masquerade.
For a while, Al's silent, and when he came back, he's perturbed, but says he'll do it, just tell him when.
Thinking about that, Theodore says it'll have to be at night, when the security guards were out on patrol, and the patients in their beds.
"Word to the wise, you better watch your back, kid, someone found out that you visited Lovett, even with my help making it look legitimate, they're not too happy," Al warned Theodore that someone in administration wasn't happy when they found out someone that wasn't officiated by them talked to Lovett.
Reminding him what they'll do keeping the truth from slipping through the cracks, Al said that depending how they felt, Theodore's ending up in his own room at a heavily controlled mental hospital, on drugs daily.
"I didn't get this job thinking it'd be easy, Al," Theodore tells Al that he's capable of handling himself and Al says that he's aware, but cautioned him nonetheless.
Theodore tells him that he'll let him know when he reached Lovett late at night and their conversation ended.
"Got that?" Theodore asks Lila if she heard the conversation and Lila said that she heard it loud and clear.
Wouldn't take them long realizing that Lila's part of the ploy and Theodore tells her that he didn't want her with them when the plan's underway.
"What do you want me to do?" Lila asks what Theodore had in mind for her and he said that he needed her to cause a distraction for the security guards, keep them from finding out.
With everything they learnt so far, well, that's easier said than done, and Lila said that she'll make horror icons proud!
"But you do have to do this for me," Theodore stopped her. "You cannot be outside for it, understood?"
Knowing the dangers lurking outside, Theodore didn't want Lila behind windows trying to scare the guards, so she'll have to become creative in her endeavors.
"Trust me, I'm a professional!" Lila boasted that she'll scare the security guards without them knowing.
Their conversation ended as Jacob's needed by his doctor and Lila helped him out of the room, leaving Theodore as he stood silently, preparing his nasty surprise to everyone who let this happen.
Maybe it won't be enough, but it'll send a nasty message to those who benefited keeping the two variants from public.