While they waited the few minutes it would take for Cabe's strike force to arrive Toby stepped a bit closer to where Walter stood with Paige.
"Hey, Walt. Can we talk?" Toby asked almost submissively.
Walter's eyes glared at him for a moment.
"I suppose." Walter finally said.
"First I'm glad to see you are no longer reacting with fear towards me. But clearly you have some strong feelings against me. Do you know why? Have you remembered things? Do you want to talk about them?" Toby asked.
"I haveā¦fleeting glimpses of things. Things that feel me with distrust and loathing, when I look at you." Walter told him.
"Okay, well I'm not going to lie, we've had kind of a rocky history and it only got worse after Paige came into the mix." Toby said.
Anger flashed across Walter's face instantly.
"You better not be trying to blame this on Paige!" Walter yelled.
"Walter, it's okay, try and remain calm." Paige whispered.
"No, I'm not blaming her. Just that in the timeline of things it happened after she joined Scorpion." Toby told him.
"More like when you and Happy began sneaking around together." Sylvester laughed.
"No one asked you Sly." Toby said with aggitation.
"No, but once again you are trying to deflect what you do to someone else. Why can't you just accept that you did something wrong?" Sylvester demanded from him.
"Oh you're a good one to talk." Toby spit out at him.
"Looks like our strike team is here." Cabe said loudly to put an end to the bickering. He raised his hand and the four SUV's pulled over as they turned onto the property.
"Agent Gallo, I'm agent Stevens. Assistant Director Cooper said that you are in charge of my strike force." Agent Stevens said as the two men greeted each other.
"Cabe is fine, this is Walter O'Brien, he's in charge here. What he tells us to do, we do." Cabe told them.
"Oh yes, Scorpion, Walter O'Brien. It is good to meet you sir." Agent Stevens said as he reached his hand out.
Walter shook his hand.
"Walter is fine, agent Stevens." Walter told him.
"Call me Dan then." Agent Stevens told them.
Walter gestured and everyone gathered around Walter with the laptop.
"Alright, here is the situation. Mark Collins has been hiding here in plain sight basically. It is a perfect spot for him. He has access to cutting edge academia with little effort, along with food and shelter. Here is the building, the William H Hannon Library. There are three exits we'll need guards at. No one goes in and anyone you don't personally know leaves when we go in there. The man we're after is in his mid forties. He can change color, length and style of hair so that's kind of moot, but here is his picture." Walter explains and pulls up an image for them to see.
Walter grimaced for a moment as he grabbed his head.
"Walter?" Paige asked as she stepped up to him.
Walter gave her a wain smile.
"I'm okay Paige. Mark is extremely dangerous. He absolutely doesn't care about people in general. Be on high alert with him. He should surrender if surrounded, but we can't trust that he won't have made a back up plan. Mr Owens, I want three guards at each exit. They need to stand at least ten feet apart. As we go inside anyone you meet, if you are sure about them, send them to the exits. I want your other three guards to guard this room here. Anyone you don't know, can't be sure about, send them to this room to wait." Walter told them.
"No one, and I mean absolutely no one, is to go anywhere alone. If your partner goes somewhere, you go with them. Even to the restroom." Walter told them. "Let's sync up everyone's devices so we're all communicating on the same channel. Paige, I want you and Sly to stay in this room here. I want you both to coordinate the information." Walter swayed a little and Paige grabbed him.
Walter nodded.
"Sorry, my blood sugar might be a little low. Thank you." Walter smiled at Paige. "Happy if my memory can be trusted on this, you are a mechanical genius, does that extend to structures?" Walter asked her.
"Of course, electrical too." Happy told him as she pushed up closer.
"Good, take Sylvester's laptop and stay with them in this room. Ralph, you too. Go through the blueprints I downloaded. Analyze them to figure out the best place Collins could be hiding in here. Dan, since that is all the university guards, I'd like two of your agents to stay with them in this room." Walter told them.
"Will do." Happy said as she took the laptop.
"You got it Walter." Dan told him as he selected two agents.
"Walter, a quick private word before we go in there." Toby said as he stepped to the back of the SUV.
Walter sighed but walked back to join him.
"What?" Walter asked.
"How many fingers do I have up?" Toby turned and held up a hand with three fingers up.
"I don't have time for this." Walter said as he tried to turn around.
"Make time." Toby said with steel in his voice. "Or I'm going to declare you mentally unfit. You won't get far with these men not trusting your mental capacity."
Walter glared at him but looked as he raised his hand again.
"Four." Walter told him.
"Wrong, three." Toby told him as he brought his hand in closer to him.
"Fine, I saw five anyway. What's your point?" Walter asked.
"Walt, you got a head wound of some kind, all kinds of memory loss and you are bleeding. Almost a pint so far by my estimation. It won't be long before Paige sees the blood. If you didn't have a bandage on your head she'd already have noticed." Toby told him.
"What do you propose?" Walter asked.
"Let me get this cast off you and see what you've done to yourself. See if I can patch you up." Toby told him. "You'll definitely have lost a pint by the time we get inside that building. You can't afford blood loss related fatigue and mental decline on top of everything else you have going on with you."
Walter looked back at Cabe and gestured. Cabe walked back to join them.
"What's up?" Cabe asked.
"Have you got a first aid kit by chance?" Walter asked him.
"Of course." Cabe told him as he pulled out his remote and popped the hatch on the SUV. He reached in and as he pulled it out Toby took it.
"Paige, I need you for a moment." Walter said just before he tried to pull the sweater off.
"What's going on?" Paige asked as she stepped back with them and helped him to get it off.
"I noticed that Walter's wound must have pulled loose somehow, and I need to do some triage." Toby told her just before Walter could say anything else.
"Walter?" Paige said as she continued helping him out of her sweater.
"Sorry, I didn't want to worry you." Walter smiled.
"Tough, you've got to learn you can trust me Walter." Paige told him.
"I do trust you." Walter nodded.
"You were just afraid I'd try and stop you?" Paige smiled shyly.
"No try, you would." Walter grinned before they shared a kiss.
Toby called Happy back and after a quick consultation she was able to get the cast off of Walter. They saw three stitches had broken. Cabe turned his head at the nearly fourteen inch scar that ran up his left side from just above his belly button. Happy and Paige both closed their eyes after seeing it.
"Well that's better than I was afraid of." Toby said as he felt the wound. He quickly disinfected the wound and using the emergency supplies stitched Walter back up. "Okay, you can't do anything physical Walter. You're lucky you didn't damage the sutures in your muscles underneath." Toby finished covering the scar with bandages from the first aid kit.
Walter nodded.
"Cabe, you need to be right with Walter. You are the only one besides Paige that Walter will listen to right now." Toby told him as he looked up from tying the thread off.
"Well you better be there with us just in case something goes wrong." Cabe told him.
Toby looked to Walter for his approval.
"That's fine, you can come." Walter told him.
"Wow, that's great! I put in three stitches and you trust me already!" Toby said a bit too excitedly.
Walter rolled his eyes even as Paige smiled and helped put the sweater back on him.
Walter and Paige stood at the doorway of the small conference room where he wanted her to wait with Ralph, Sylvester and Happy. Allie stood with Cabe before walking into the room to wait.
"Walter, please don't take any unnecessary risks. Promise me." Paige begged.
Walter smiled and nodded.
"I promise, no unnecessary risks." Walter told her before he kissed her.
She waved as she watched him walk off with the rest of them.
Walter pointed to a hallway before proceeding to the stairs of the basement. Dan sent two of his men down it.
"You know, after all the stuff this maniac has done, I half expected him to be talking to us over the library's public address system." Cabe said quietly. "Are you sure he's here?"
"Oh, he's quite sure Fed. I got to say Walter, I honestly didn't expect you to figure out where I was hiding. What tipped me off?" Collins said through the PA.
"We'll just call that my little secret Mark. Why don't you save everyone a lot of effort and just give up?" Walter asked as they continued moving.
Collins laughed.
"Yeah, I don't think so. I almost feel like I'm being played with here. Coming after me with a head wound Walter? Pretty ballsy, or stupid. You might be a little more intelligent than me, but unlike you, I don't have the restraint of the greater good at the top of my list. That and I am far more developed emotionally, compared to you that is." Collins told him.
"Feel? That's an interesting word choice from you. We both know the only thing you feel is for your own gratification." Walter bluffed him.
"Wow, did that head wound give you some extra EQ Walter? The Walter I know couldn't have put that together." Collins laughed.
"Yeah, just show yourself so I can put a bullet between your eyes." Dan said as he grew tired of Collins talking.
"My my, I think you should muzzle your pets Walter. No one without at least a 189 IQ should be talking right now." Collins laughed. "I guess that leaves poor 165 IQ Toby in the dark again. Hey Toby, quick question for you. So how did you handle figuring out the truth that Walter and Happy were married?"
Walter grimaced as a barrage of images flashed through his mind and the cheesy marriage to Happy at a justice of the peace.
Cabe shook his head at Toby and Toby reluctantly bit his lip.
"Cut the games Collins. It is only a matter of time before we find you." Walter told him as he regained some control.
"I know, but the question is, will you find me in time?" Collins asked.
Walter froze.
"In time for what?" Walter asked nervously.
"My my, that really raised your fear response. Well, see, if I am as crazy as you believe there could be a canister of Tabun gas in this building and right at this moment it is leaking out. The top floor is currently lethal to any life form. It will continue to spread down, floor by floor. So, the question is. Can you get everyone out safely, part of your greater good and then catch me and get yourself out in time?" Collins laughed.
Walter looked at Cabe even as they heard screams as people in the upper reaches were beginning to panic and began trying to flee the building.
"Tell your men at the doors to let everyone evacuate. He isn't bluffing, we need to go back up there, help get everyone out of this building, now." Walter told him.
They all began moving quickly back up the way they came. As Toby passed through the last door they had gone through he looked back and saw Walter get cut off as some security door slammed shut over the exit.
"Oops, looks like you didn't make it Walter. There is another exit, do you think you can find it in time?" Collins laughed.
Cabe and Toby both beat on the door and tried to force it to move but it was securely held.
"Don't waste your time or energy Cabe, get everyone out. Keep Paige safe for me until I get out." Walter told him.
"Walter?!" Paige called over the agent's radio she was with.
"Paige, I'm trapped, I've got to find another way out. You have to get Ralph and get out of the building. Now love." Walter told her.
"Ah, sweet love. Yes normal, get out of my library. I might not hinder Walter's retreat if you get out of here quickly enough." Collins laughed.
"Damn you Collins." Paige swore but took off with Ralph as Happy, Sly, Allie and the two agents took off with them.
Walter turned and looked down the hallway they'd been walking down. He was trying to recall the blueprints but his memory was still messing up. Walter walked a bit more carefully as he moved on down.
"Tell me Walter, why did you do it?" Collins asked even as he watched everyone fleeing the library and Walter's movements.
"I've done a lot of things Mark, what thing are you asking about?" Walter asked him.
"Why couldn't I stay on Scorpion?" Collins asked seriously.
Walter froze, he couldn't really remember everything about that time of their lives.
"You know, of all my mistakes that is probably next to my biggest regret." Walter bluffed with him.
"Oh, next too huh? Couldn't be your biggest regret? I suppose that your biggest regret is what happened in Baghdad then." Mark said.
"Baghdad? Is he playing with me?" Walter wondered.
"Wouldn't Baghdad bother you if you were me?" Walter fronted. Walter tried to prepare himself not to accept as truth anything Collins said.
"I suppose so. Fifteen hundred dead because of you, that's some terrific guilt. Of course, I was willing to vaporize ten million southern California residents to get my revenge on you." Collins grinned.
Walter paused at a doorway as his mind reeled at the thought that he had been responsible for that many deaths. He quickly looked around it to cover for his pause, before stepping through.
"Smart thinking on your part Walter, I could have lots of traps." Collins laughed. "But, I have to say, if you don't pick up the pace, I'm going to have to leave without you. And then I'm afraid your girlfriend is going to have to bury you. Or maybe she could get permission to launch your ashes into space like you did with Megan's."
Walter paused at that and then looked quickly at a door to the side to try and keep Collins from guessing what was going on with him.
"That door is okay Walter, you can open it safely." Collins teased him.
"Cabe!" Paige yelled as he got out of the library. She ran up and into his arms. "What happened? Why isn't Walter with you?"
"Collins, he triggered a security door that trapped Walter behind it." Cabe told her.
"I think I know where he's hiding in there but how do we tell Walter without Collins figuring out that's what we're telling him?" Happy asked.
"There is no way, we can't invent a code that Collins won't see right through." Toby told them.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Well first the good news, I wrote the last chapter for this story! The bad news, that's chapter 10. We'll see if the story speaks of anything in the future. I think the next story I post will be a future story of Knight's Tale. It will take place about a month after "The Littlest Knight". Then I'd like to get Lady Knight back to Scorpion Keep. So that will probably be after that and then I'll come back to a story I'm calling "Losses & Gaines". A 1 chapter story to update the "I Only State Facts" storyline to the episode "Arrivals and Departures". Then it is back to Callan. I'll be posting Callan for quite a while. That's about 26 chapters, so nearly 2 months just for it.
Railman - It does indeed hit him hard. Yep, Collins better be careful, he isn't the Walter he knows...lol Yep, adrenalin and with blood sugar and loss affecting him, he has to be careful! Seems like Toby is somewhat there. As for being back on form, I'm still a bit down. But getting better I think. lol
Xenegos - Thank you! Glad you like him being a bit more testosterone-ly. lol Here is to you enjoying the rest of the story!
Margaret - Thank you!
Heleen - Thank you so much! I don't know about all of that, but I am glad you guys enjoy what I offer. Always glad I'm able to write a different way the "truth" of Ralph's Father comes out. I guess when I can't think of a good way I'll have to stop writing fix its. lol I need to quit anyway and write continuations of already written fix its. And I still want to get back to the Uncivil War story line. *sigh* So many stories. lol
To the Adventure! -Tim
