Chapter Three- 'To the genius lair! It's better than saying to the dirty garage.' (Quote from S3 E13)
Disclaimer: Scorpion and all its characters belong to someone else. Any similarities to other stories are unintentional.
Thank you so much to everyone that read my story! It means so much and I hope you are enjoying it. Special thanks to those that reviewed. It made me so happy to see these! Franxine bobo- your review really made me giggle. Thank you so much! I'm sorry Chapter Two was a bit painful, ScorplinginTraining, but our gorgeous Walter has always been so brave- I'm sure he'll be fine... well, let's see...
The first little part is a reminder what happened (if we need reminding), but please read on- don't let the horror of that episode spoil what's next to come...
Previously:
'I quit. I can't work for you anymore.' Sylvester announced angrily. He even pushed Walter away from him in his fury.
'Me neither.' Paige joined in.
'So you're just gonna- you're gonna dump me and you're quitting? Wh-What about everything that we've been through? What? You guys, too?' he cried as Toby and Happy turned away and left through the garage door. 'Wh- What, are you gonna leave me high and dry? What the hell is gonna happen to us now?' Walter cried watching them all turn their backs on him...
Paige had finally returned home, and explained to Ralph that Walter wouldn't be coming around anymore and Ralph couldn't go to the garage to spend time with him. She'd told him that she even had plans to start a new team! Ralph had been dumbfounded. More than that... he'd been distressed... so angry, confused and distraught.
'No!' he'd cried tears filling his eyes.
'Walter's going through a lot right now. It's best we leave him alone, and just follow our own path for a while.' she'd explained.
He'd turned to his mother and said 'I'm smarter than you, and I know why I can't see Walter. It's because you can't face that Walter's different, and can't understand normal human things like white lies!'
Paige had been shocked, and said 'Ralph! You're just a child. You don't understand...'
'I understand that Walter's like me. Will you leave me too?' he'd cried, and stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him as she cried 'Ralph! No! I'd never...'
She didn't get the chance to finish her words. She hadn't thought that Ralph would equate himself in the same bracket as Walter, and be afraid she'd get tired of him too. She was heartbroken! First Walter and now Ralph!
Ralph had remained in his room for two days after that, not responding to Paige's pleas that she'd never leave him, only opening his door to eat the trays of food she left for him, or using the bathroom and going to school.
Just when Paige thought her heart would break, Ralph came out of his room and went to her.
'Ralph, I'm so sorry. I just didn't explain it well...'
'It's OK mom.' he'd replied, hugging her. 'You're a superlative mom. I know you won't leave me. I just miss Walter.'
'I know' she'd said sadly 'I do too.'
~OooO~
Back at Centipede:
'Guys, Walter's in trouble! ...' Ralph cried, looking in horror at the screen of his laptop.
Paige was the first to reach Ralph, and said questioningly, 'Ralph? Is that the gar... What the hell are you doing? Are you spying on Walter?''
'No, mom. Looking out for him. No one else cares. He's my friend.' Ralph spoke in the short way he had with sentences, and Paige could see the tears running from his eyes, streaking down his cheeks.
'I know, Ralph, but you can't just hack into people's... wait... what's Collins doing there?' she cried in shock as she looked properly at what was happening on the screen for the first time. 'Oh my God! Walter!' she screamed.
The others had joined her and Ralph by this time and were staring at the screen as if frozen. Sylvester immediately recognised his old adversary Ten- Ton from his time in Harrison Prison.
'No, no! It can't be! Why's he there with Collins, of all people?'
'Walt's not looking good- Ralph put up the sound!' Toby said.
Ralph wiped away his tears on his sleeve, and tried as quickly as he could to access the sound on the CCTV, but by the time it came on, only one sound resonated through Centipede's headquarters... the sound of a shot. Paige flopped down on the nearest chair, fingers to her mouth in shock.
Sly stared open- mouthed at the screen, and Toby and Happy looked at each other, in horror.
'Not Good!' Happy cried.
'Paige, call Cabe' Toby instructed 'and an ambulance!' He started typing on the laptop quickly. 'Let's see what just went down!' he said as they watched and listened in horror to the rewind of the scene that had just played out in the garage.
'Why... why did he take a photo of Walter?' Paige stuttered, terrified by what she'd just seen, grabbing the phone.
'Scumbag wants to prove he's 'sorted out' Scorpion- made them pay for disrespecting his gang colours. Definitely not good!' Happy said.
'At least you'll be safe from any reprisal, Sly. Walt's literally taken the bullet for you.' Toby remarked.
'Look, guys' Toby continued 'I know we've split from Walter, but I can't just watch until the ambulance arrives. He's a putz... a prize putz, but he was always good to me, even though we argued a lot!' Toby started pacing up and down. 'Look, he wouldn't tell Collins or that... gorilla where I was even when getting pummelled like a slab of meat! That must mean something! Well, it does to me anyway... I'm going!'
'Wait!' Happy said. 'Me too. Walter slid way down on the Waltcon chart, and we did nothing to help him. We just blamed him. If we don't stick by him, who will? I know he stuck by me, by us all! I'm with you, doc.' She looked over at Paige 'Sorry.' she added.
'Just because I broke up with him...' Paige started.
'Broke his heart you mean.' Toby muttered, winning an exasperated look from Paige.
'Just because I broke up with him,' she continued, 'doesn't mean I don't care about him. It doesn't mean I want to see him...' she waved her hand at the screen '... like this. Sylvester, I understand you won't want to see Walter. Can you stay here with Ralph? Come on- let's go! Happy you're the most reckless driver- here's the keys- and hurry!'
Just then, Cabe burst through the door, after hurriedly making sure Allie got a cab safely back to the home they shared. He looked at the now still frame of Walter on the screen. 'Oh my God! That SOB, Collins!' he exclaimed.
'We'll bring you up to speed on the way.' Toby said, and with that, they all dashed out of Centipede Headquarters and raced off to the garage.
Sylvester stared after them. he felt very emotional and agitated. On the one hand, he was still hurt and angry at Walter for 'making Florence fall in love with him', and also the way Walter had verbally attacked him, calling him a 'comic book- reading baby boy'! He didn't know what to do, and grabbed his blue Super Fun Guy Kookoo Klay, squeezing it tightly to ease his stress.
Ralph looked at Sly, his eyes red and his face tear stained. 'You liked Florence.' he stated.
'Yes I did. Ralph- you were a great wingman!'
'But she liked Walter.'
'Yes... Ralph, you're a bit young for all this...'
'Please! With an IQ of over 200, I know what's going on! Florence liked Walter. So how come you all blamed him for that? He could have got together with my mom ages ago, but he was too scared- I called him a coward for that. He says my mom's the love of his life- he sent Florence away, so why does everyone hate him now?'
Sylvester looked a bit green around the gills, and not just because a child was lecturing him- Ralph was more than that. But he felt incredibly guilty for his part in the split from Walter.
He was still mad at Walter, but really what for? Was it because of Florence? Yes, Sly had liked her, but he'd never actually told her- that wasn't Walter's fault. They'd all known Walter had gone to the lecture with Florence, with the exception of Paige, of course. Walter was too IQ and less EQ to realise that it would seem wrong.
They'd all accused him of having a cranial affair with Florence, but really, was Walter with his emotional limitations even aware of that, or was Walter just being... well Walter? He'd be the same with anyone who he could talk to on that level, jeez, they'd all had days of discussions on theorems and working late into the night on the whiteboard. That hadn't meant he was seducing them! When Collins was a part of the team, the pair of them had spent days- weeks on projects. No one accused Walter of having an affair with him.
'We don't hate Walter...'
Sylvester squeezed the dough harder, and jumped when suddenly Patty popped up from nowhere.
'Seems like it...' she piped up.
'Patty! When did you get here?'
'Been here awhile, I'm up to speed. You really should speak to Walter... that is if he...' she looked at the screen, and let her words fade away.
'By the Sceptre of Ravenswood!' Sly suddenly yelled, throwing down the Kookoo Klay. 'Come on, Ralph... I'll take you to Allie. You'll be fine with her... I've got to go...'
To Be Continued...