A/N: Hey all. Here's the next chapter. For those of you who understand computer viruses better than I do, I apologize for the convenient liberties I've taken. Again, this is Scorpion.

Enjoy! And to any Jews among my awesome readers, happy Rosh Hashanah.

Disclaimer: CBS owns Scorpion. And this chapter contains one line of a song by Simon & Garfunkel.

Chapter 13: Ghosts and Phantoms

"Everyone ready to go?" Paige came running into the office.

"Got the extra comms?" Sylvester asked.

"Yup."

"Yay, so we get to have some college kids talking in our ears as we do this," said Toby.

"Call it a learning experience," said Sylvester.

"Ralph has helped us out many times before," Walter pointed out. "And Ada saved us last year. That said, I do recognize that it might be inefficient to have so many different sources of ideas on the same problems. Especially younger and less experienced sources."

"Either inefficient, or innovative," said Cabe. "You might be about to learn a lesson I learned years ago."

"That wasn't because we were young," said Toby. "It was because we were geniuses."

"Who said I was talking about you?"

"Come on, guys, let's not miss our flight," said Paige, heading for the door again.

Walter quickly placed his laptop in his bag and threw it over his shoulder. Sylvester held the door open as Cabe and Toby filed out behind Paige. Walter reached the door and shut the lights.

"Walter?" There it was again. Megan's voice. Walter turned the lights back on and looked around. Nothing.

He looked at Sylvester. "Did you hear that?"

The answer was obvious, as Sylvester had paled. He gave the smallest of nods.

Walter looked around once more, then shut the lights. "Come on." Sylvester quickly followed him out, shutting the door hard behind him.


The line for the ferry was long, much to the team's consternation. There was a light rain falling, one of those that was just light enough to make you feel a little ridiculous holding an umbrella, but just heavy enough to chill the skin and soak through the clothing.

Paige and Sylvester had both brought umbrellas along, and held them over the team as they stood in line. Walter looked up at Paige's pink umbrella as she held it between them. It wasn't his favorite color, but it felt worth it for how close she was standing to keep them both covered.

Zoe, for her part, had no interest in being covered, and seemed to enjoy the feel of the raindrops falling on her.

"Aren't you cold?" Paige asked her.

She shrugged. "Feeling cold is just a reminder that you're alive."

"Well, that's… deep," said Toby.

"It's not gonna be worth it if you get pneumonia," said Sylvester. "And your father wouldn't be happy about that."

Zoe looked at him over her shoulder. "If I get pneumonia in August, right before the semester starts, I'll pay you 200 dollars."

"What?"

"It's not going to happen."

"I've gotten pneumonia in the summer before," said Toby. "Granted, that was in the middle of a streak of fantastically bad luck. Actually, that was the least expensive manifestation of that bad luck during that summer."

Walter rolled his eyes. "Luck is—"

"I know, Walt." Toby held up his hand. "I know." He looked back at Zoe. "It might not be too long before you get tired of hanging out with geniuses."

Zoe shrugged. "I like it. You guys are… easy to trust. I'm not the most trusting person."

"That's not uncommon among people who have… been through what you've been through."

"I know."

"But you seem to be handling it much better than other victims that I've seen."

"It's been over four years."

"I've seen victims who've borne deep scars ten and twenty years down the road."

"Who says I don't have scars?" She turned and faced him, small drops of water falling from her face. "But I've learned to take care of myself."

"From what you showed us yesterday, it looks like you've taken many martial arts classes," said Walter.

"I have."

"Um, guys, the line is running away," said Sylvester. Zoe turned again and quickly caught up to the people in front of them, and the others followed.

They climbed aboard the ferry, then put in their comms and spread out.

"Okay, our phantom has already shown a preference for the color green," said Toby. "And the rain gives him the perfect excuse to stay covered and keep a low profile. I would start by looking for a green raincoat."

"I have a green raincoat," said Sylvester.

"Yes, but I'm going to guess you didn't go and hack the elevator as you and Cabe were taking the stairs. Right, Cabe?"

"Right." Cabe's tone indicated that he had gone into agent mode, and was barely paying attention to the banter on the comms. "We've got at least four green raincoats on the top deck."

"I would look for a darker shade of green," said Toby. "More of an incognito color."

"Not necessarily," said an unknown voice.

"Who's there?" Cabe demanded.

"My name's Tyler. I'm at the garage with Cecilia and the others."

"Ralph, how many are there at the garage with you?" Paige asked.

"There are five of us so far. Cecilia says that more might be coming."

"Great," Walter muttered. Definitely inefficient.

"But we only left you with two comms," said Paige.

"Ada has linked hers to Ariel, so we can all hear what's happening."

"Guys, this isn't a party game," said Toby.

"We know," said the voice that belonged to Tyler. "Anyway, as I was saying, Cecilia said that this guy calls himself the Green Phantom, which suggests that he's a comic book fan. The costumes in comic books tend to be more garishly-colored, unlike their live action counterparts. If this guy is a true fan, he might cloak himself in similarly garish colors. So, I would look for a brighter shade of green, but with the hood pulled in close around his face."

"I'm sorry, you're an engineering nerd?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, but I also study psychology, as more of a hobby. And I'm a comic book fan."

"I see."

Walter wasn't sure whether to follow Toby's advice or this guy Tyler's.

"Sly, you're a comic book nerd," said Paige. "What do you think?"

"Um…" Walter didn't have to see Sylvester to know that he was fidgeting as Paige put him on the spot. "Well… sorry Toby."

Walter started looking for brighter shades of green. He tried not to be too conspicuous as he examined people, but he got some strange looks.

By the time they were almost to Sausalito, there was still no indication of who the Green Phantom was. Then Walter noticed a weight in his pocket for the first time. Reaching into it, he felt a USB drive. He definitely hadn't put it there himself. "Um, guys? Someone put a USB drive in my pocket."

"Oh, so this was that kind of covert meeting," said Toby.

"That makes sense," said Tyler. "He didn't want his secret identity being revealed."

Walter quickly looked around, but there weren't any green raincoats around him. He felt decidedly uncomfortable with the fact that someone had gotten so close to him without him noticing.

They got off the ferry at Sausalito. "Be careful with that USB drive," said Ralph. "The phantom might have placed a virus on it."

Walter had just been thinking that himself. "I know. We need a way to check it before placing it in any of our computers."

"I have a better idea," said Zoe. She was on her phone, typing a code into an app from her father's company. "Why don't we just ask the dude himself?" The app shifted to a map of the immediate area, showing a red dot moving rapidly up the road away from them.

"'Is that a tracker?" Paige asked.

"Guy in a bright green raincoat, creepily watching Walter for a while before he approached. Had to be him." Zoe pulled her other hand out of her pocket, showing them a couple of Elia tracking devices. "I couldn't resist."

"So, it was bright green," said Tyler victoriously. Toby rolled his eyes. "Also, you've got a nice voice."

"Thank you," Zoe replied. She didn't give the smile that Walter typically would have associated with a response to such a compliment.

Walter, for his part, was now particularly bothered by the fact that he hadn't noticed the phantom, if the phantom had been watching him before approaching.

They waited until the tracking device stopped moving, and then Paige got a large uber for the same location. It took them to a modest house in a suburban neighborhood. They went up to it and knocked on the door.

The man who answered the door reminded Walter a little bit of Sylvester when he had grown a thick beard on the island, but he was significantly shorter. He stared up at them with wide eyes.

"Hi," said Toby. "You left something on the ferry." He gestured to the USB drive that Walter was holding.

The man's gaze slowly fell to the USB drive, and then back up to their faces.

Toby tried again. "We're Team Scorpion. And who might you be?"

"Peter Roberts," said Zoe, showing them her phone again.

"Please don't call me that," the man said immediately.

"Ooh, my condolences," said Toby. "They must have never let you live that down in junior high."

"What do you mean?" Walter asked.

"Peter Rabbit was a character in an old series of children's books," said Toby. "My guess is that nickname followed you around through early high school at least."

The man grimaced. "Please go away."

"Hey, you're the one who hacked our elevator. You literally asked us to come up here."

"This isn't what I had in mind."

"Yes, but we're a team of geniuses. You should have expected it. Now, what's on the USB drive?"

The man sighed. "Fine, come in. But, please, call me the Green Phantom."

"How about Phantom, for short?"

"Fine."

The interior of the house was… very messy. And the air was stale. Walter frowned, remembering the sights and scents from the apartments of people that he had associated with back in his early 20's, before Scorpion.

As Zoe retrieved her tracking device from the bright green raincoat hanging on the wall, Phantom led them to a desktop computer with an oversized monitor. Activating it, he opened a file. "You've probably noticed an increase in the frequency of random computer glitches lately. Nothing with any kind of pattern, but still a notable change."

"Yes, we have," said Sylvester.

"Well, they're not a coincidence. And the source is a man that you're very familiar with: Mark Collins."

Walter suddenly felt very cold, and he shivered. Once again, the image of Mark's bloody face flashed before his eyes, with his fists slamming into it over and over again. "Mark Collins is dead."

"Yes, but he left behind a ghost." Phantom pulled up Mark's Homeland file, with the words 'Threat Terminated' printed across it. Walter felt the need to look away from the words. "He hid a virus within his digital file in the department's database. As soon as they marked him as terminated, the virus was unleashed. It's been roaming the internet ever since."

Walter felt a heavy weight settle on his gut.

"So far, it hasn't caused any major damage anywhere. But it's the most intricately coded virus I've ever seen. Who knows what it is designed to do?"

"Can't it be eradicated?" Cabe asked.

"That would be difficult," said Walter. "Most of what people think of as computer viruses aren't actually viruses. Actual viruses are self-replicating, making them nearly impossible to permanently eradicate. You can wipe one out on a particular machine, but it's always hiding somewhere."

"Great," Cabe muttered. "I'll call Agent Johnson." He pulled out his phone.

"Please don't let her know who I am," Phantom pleaded.

Cabe shot him a look, but didn't verbally reply.

"Ralph, did you hear everything?" Walter asked.

"Yup. I'm writing a program to track the movement of the virus."

"Oh, this is kid is cool," said Tyler.

"Good." Walter shook his head, trying to clear the image of Mark's bloody face from his mind. It wouldn't go away.

Ada spoke up. "Hey, while you guys are there, can you ask him to apologize for hacking my connection? And make him promise that he won't do it again."

"Ada wants you to apologize for hacking her," said Paige.

"Who's Ada?" Phantom asked. "Oh, is that the bubble-girl?"

"Hey!" Ada yelled.

"Please don't call her that," said Paige. "You hate being called certain nicknames yourself."

Phantom frowned. "That's true." He looked back at his computer. "I'm sorry for hacking her. Her presence in the elevator, such as it was, was too convenient not to make use of."

"Seriously?" asked Paige. "You didn't think twice about 'making use' of her one connection to the outside world?"

Phantom held up his hands. "I wasn't cutting her off, I was just piggy-backing for a moment."

"Still, think about her situation. That connection is extremely important to her, and you can't just take advantage of it like that."

"You know, you really are the scariest member of the team."

"I want you to promise her that you're not going to do it again."

"Alright, okay, I promise."

"Thanks, Paige," said Ada. "Yeah, Dad, everything's fine." David must have heard her yell and come to see what was going on.

"Alright, we'll let you know as soon as we're back in LA," Cabe said into his phone. "Thank you, Ma'am." He hung up and put away the phone, then turned back to the others. "Are we all done here?"

"I've got a few other questions I'd like to ask him," said Tyler.

"Yeah, we're done," said Toby.

Walter removed his comm. Listening to the teenagers' voices was just making the guilt rise higher.

"Thank you for your help," said Sylvester.

"You're welcome," Phantom replied. "Please don't let anyone know who I am."

"We won't."

They left the house, and Paige called another uber. Walter watched her for a moment, feeling like he needed to talk to her. He was clearly having an issue.

However, she removed her comm and spoke to Sylvester. "Sly, are you alright?" Walter raised his eyebrows, and looked over at Sylvester. He didn't look… unusual.

Sylvester sighed and removed his own comm. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just… I'm having kind of a 'There but for the grace of God go I' moment. And I'm not even religious."

"You're nothing like Phantom."

"I used to be." Sylvester turned to Walter. "Walter, thank you for saving me from that life."

"Um… you're welcome." Walter didn't feel like anyone should be thanking him for anything right now.

Toby and Cabe also removed their comms, and Zoe spoke into hers. "Hey, everyone, thanks for your help." She listened for a moment, then removed her comm as well.

"Right," said Paige. "Good thinking."

The uber arrived, and they returned to the airport, then walked over to where Zoe would catch the BART to Berkeley.

"Walter, can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Sure."

"We'll be waiting by security," said Paige. "Thank you for your help today."

"You're welcome," Zoe replied. She held up her comm. "I'm keeping this, by the way. I'm sure there will be other opportunities to help you out."

"That's fine," said Walter. Paige had just bought several more.

The others left, and Zoe turned to him. "I saw your face earlier, after Phantom told us what was going on."

His stomach twisted. "What about it?"

"You still feel guilty about what happened to Collins. And that's totally understandable. Walter, you did something bad, really bad, but…"

"That's unhelpful."

She held up a hand. "Give me a sec. I don't have as much practice with this as Paige does. Look, Walter, the world still needs you. You can't save it if you keep beating yourself up."

"You're right." He needed to turn his emotions off, but that wasn't as simple as it used to be.

"Once this is over, you can feel as guilty about it as you need to. But Collins still needs to be stopped one more time, even if he is already… dead."

Walter nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Have a safe flight home."

"Thanks. Good luck at school." Walter turned and followed the others to security, and found Paige waiting about halfway there.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I will be."


It was late at night by the time they got back to the office. Ralph had already completed and launched the program he had written, and Walter quickly returned to his desk to check the code.

As he did so, he recalled hearing Megan's voice earlier, and went over to Sylvester when he was done. "You know, I'm guessing that Collins's virus can make dormant computers make certain noises, such as…" He trailed off. Sylvester would know what he was referring to.

Sylvester nodded. "Yeah, and that's exactly the kind of thing that Collins would have programmed it to do." He glared at his computer. "I can't wait until we're rid of him, once and for all."

Walter felt the guilt land another punch on him, and he gave a quick nod before returning to his desk. This really wasn't going to be so easy. Not for him.

"Hey, we should all get some sleep," said Paige. "I'm guessing Ralph's program is going to take some time to locate everywhere that the virus has infected?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll head over there and check in with him in the morning." She approached Walter's desk. "Walk out with me."

He looked up at her for a moment, then nodded.

She didn't say anything until they were outside. "I know that you're going to be okay, Walter."

He looked at her, wondering if she was continuing the conversation from the airport in San Francisco. "I said I would be. But… I'm realizing that it's not going to be so easy."

"You're feeling guilty all over again about what happened."

"Yes. And I need to… I need to block it out. I can't do what I need to do if I'm… emotionally compromised."

"Walter…" She stopped walking and turned to him, and he mirrored her. "You're not emotionally compromised, you're human. We do bad things, and then we feel guilty. In your case, it's something you're going to feel guilty about for the rest of your life. But that doesn't make you compromised."

"It does if it hurts my performance."

"Then use it to improve your performance. Don't block out your emotions, Walter. Channel them into doing what needs to be done to fix this."

"If I were to stop blocking all of my emotions, that would most certainly cause a distraction."

She looked up at him, and didn't say anything.

"And the emotion that I'm referring to can't be… channeled into this."

"Right," she said quietly, looking away from him. She turned and started walking again.

He followed her only with his eyes for a moment. "Paige…"

She stopped and turned back to him. "I know, Walter. And… you know."

He nodded. "I know." He started walking again, falling into step beside her. They walked in silence until they reached her car. "Have a good night."

"Thanks, you too." She looked at him for another moment before opening the door and getting inside.

He watched as she drove away, and decided that the conversation had yielded a much nicer thought to focus on than anything relating to Collins… at least until they had to get back to work tomorrow.


"I don't understand what this virus is supposed to do," said Ralph. Walter looked over his shoulder. So far, the virus was just causing nuisances for people. But there was so much code.

"What are you looking at?" Walter looked up to see Toby looking at Tyler, who was looking back at him.

"Your hat," Tyler replied. "It's like I'm on the set of a movie that takes place in the 60's."

Laughter erupted from Ariel.

"Alright," said Paige, shutting the door of the refrigerator. "Now you have some actual food in your refrigerator. Fruits and vegetables never hurt anyone, you know."

"Thanks, Miss Dineen," said Cecilia. "And we know, but they aren't cheap."

"Just remember that they're perishable." Paige sat down on the other side of Ralph, and Walter glanced at her over the boy's head. She looked back.

Cecilia took one of the pears that Paige had just stored in the refrigerator and came up behind them. "How's it coming, Fifteen?"

Paige raised her eyebrows. "Fifteen?"

"Until we come up with a better nickname for him."

"I don't mind it," said Ralph. "I've got a comprehensive list of everywhere the virus had hit as of last night. Now I can write a program to target all of those locations and eliminate its effects."

"Genius."

"I know."

"So, what's your nickname?" Toby asked Tyler.

"B-ball."

Toby raised his eyebrows. "You don't find that a little heavy on the stereotyping?"

Tyler shrugged. "No, I'm good at basketball. In my neighborhood, that was what you did. It was the only safe way for most people to make a life for themselves. I just got lucky that God gave me this brain."

Toby's face changed. He seemed to dislike Tyler a lot less after that.

"And hey, it could be worse. If you were part of this crew, you'd probably be the Mad Hatter."

Cecilia laughed. "That's a good idea." Walking over to one of the other tables, she sat down in front of her own computer. She opened it, and immediately, music started blasting out.

"Cecilia, you're breaking my heart!"

She quickly shut the laptop again and stood. "What the hell? I hate that song!"

"That has to be the virus," said Walter. "I'll get rid of it." Getting up, he walked over to where she had been sitting. He opened her computer and immediately pressed the mute button.

"Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense," said Toby. "How would the virus know—"

He was cut off by a loud knock on the nearest freight door. "Who is it?" Cecilia snapped. "Not that you can hear me." She walked over and opened the door, revealing Cabe and Agent Johnson on the other side.

"Good morning." The two agents stepped into the garage, removing their sunglasses.

"Crap," Tyler muttered, rising from his seat.

"Relax, Mr. Mitchell," said Agent Johnson. "You haven't done anything wrong. At least, nothing that falls on our radar." She pulled out her badge. "I'm Agent Johnson, with the Department of Homeland Security."

"Last time I met an Agent Johnson, he was looking to arrest my uncle. For nothing."

Agent Johnson ignored the comment. "Walter, where are we with tracking this virus?"

"It's tracked. Although at least one new target has just popped up."

"And I'm sure there will be more by the end of the day. How long before we can start cleaning up the mess?"

"I'm working as fast as I can," Ralph replied.

Agent Johnson looked over, surprised by who the response came from. "Alright. Now then, you, you, and you." She pointed at Cecilia, then at Tyler, and then at the other boy who was present. He was only a little taller than Ralph was, and hadn't said a word the whole time they had been there. "And, um…" She turned to Ariel, and gave a small frown.

"Hi," said Ada. "Me too, I suppose?"

"That's Ada," said Cabe. "I told you about her."

"Right. Yes, you too." Agent Johnson looked at all of them. "I want you all to understand that this is now a Department of Homeland Security operation. And we prefer to do things quietly."

"Of course you do," said Tyler.

"And we can't have that being a problem, Mr. Mitchell." She turned to the other boy. "Who are you?" She glanced over her shoulder at Cabe.

Cabe shrugged and shook his head. "He didn't say anything yesterday. I didn't know he was here."

"That's Mouse," said Cecilia. "He's very shy."

Cabe walked over to him. "What's your name, son?" he asked gently.

The boy looked at him for another moment before replying. "Michael."

"Do you understand what we're saying here?"

"Yes. It's all a secret."

Cabe turned to Agent Johnson, who nodded, satisfied. She turned back to Tyler. "Are we going to have a problem, Mr. Mitchell?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Good. Now, I understand you're all engineers…"

Walter's attention was drawn from the conversation as Toby sat down beside him. "Something isn't making sense," he said quietly. "How could the virus know that Cecilia is… a new connection, I guess?"

"It can't," Walter replied.

"So, it just happened to start playing that song on the computer of this particular Cecilia while we just happened to be here? That's one hell of a coincidence, Walt."

"It has to be. Viruses can react to stimuli, but not this sort of stimulus. They can't keep track of people that we're meeting offline, and react like that. Collins must have just programmed the virus to play the song on computers belonging to users named Cecilia." It sounded absurd even as he said it aloud.

"You did hear yourself say that just now, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." But there was no other explanation.

"What if it can access the cameras?" Toby asked.

"Even if it could, it would have no way to process what it was seeing. There is no way for it to understand any connections that we didn't have before Collins died. Or, more specifically, before he programmed the virus."

"Okay. I'm just going to say again, it is one hell of a coincidence."