WriterFreak001:
I'm baaaaaaaaaack! :D
Sorry for the mini hiatus! ^_^;
This chapter will most likely be a short one mainly because I want you guys to know that I am continuing this story now! :) Soooo after this short chapter, the following chapters will be longer. Think of this chapter as a…homecoming chapter. :D
So… Happy Homecoming! LOL
Title | Mind Games
Fandom | Scorpion (CBS)
Description | Post-Deception. Four months passed since the ending of "Deception," and it seemed as though life, for the most part, returned to normal for Team Scorpion. Walter and Paige were given a chance to focus on their relationship in the midst of all of the cases that were assigned to the team. However, eventually, all great things must end, and once again, Team Scorpion will have to deal with an even bigger opponent than the Leviathan Mafia. Mark Collins is back for revenge and will have something big in store for Walter – something even the 197 IQ genius might not be able to see coming. And Collins's return just might cause a rift within the Scorpion family in the process, making it next to impossible for them to beat his ultimate game.
Rating| This fanfiction will be rated T for violence, obscene language, sexual themes as well as brain stuff and fluff.
POV | Limited Third Person
Disclaimer | While CBS owns Scorpion, I am the owner of this masterpiece.
Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!
Mind Games
Sequel to Deception
Written by WriterFreak001
Chapter 8
~ SCORPION ~
Three days had passed since the team started ignoring Mark Collins, and so far, Collins had been radio silent; there had been nothing out of the ordinary, but they weren't going to give up their plan. Both Walter and Toby had a feeling that Mark Collins was concocting a plan, and for that reason, Scorpion had to be ready for him for whatever he might do.
"Since we don't know what that crazy son of a bitch is up to," Cabe said as he called everyone to the center of the garage, "there's going to be a few new rules around here until Mark Collins is apprehended."
"Rules like what?" Walter inquired while he folded his arms across his chest and watched Paige kneel down to her son and wrap her arms around him in a protective manner. Toby mimicked Walter's stance as Happy placed one hand against the table and slightly leaned over it. Sylvester stood directly behind Happy; his fingers were shaking as they all awaited Cabe's response.
"First of all, I don't care if you think you're a ninja, or if you think you're invincible; no one, I repeat, no one is to leave the garage without a buddy. Mark Collins is one senile SOB; if he's willing to risk everything in order to visit Ralph's elementary school, then he might be willing to do whatever's necessary to get what he wants – including kidnapping or murder."
"Of course he's capable of murder!" Toby exclaimed as he took off his hat and placed it on the table. "He was willing to jeopardize millions of lives for the sake of working with Walter again; I won't put Collins past anything."
"Exactly," Cabe nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Rule number two: do not leave this garage without informing the rest of the team where you're going. Rule number three: if Collins gets in contact with either one of you," Cabe looked specifically at Walter, "I want to know about it. No secrets. We can't afford to keep things in the dark; not with a sensitive case like this. We will be continuing to ignore Mark Collins at all cost with hopes that the bastard comes to us instead of making us go to him. That being said, we'll still resume our lives as normally as possible with the exception of Ralph going to school. An agent will be here to watch Ralph while we're gone, and he will be reporting to me and to Paige every hour. Capish?"
"One question," Toby raised an eyebrow, giving Cabe the shrink eye, "When you said we're not allowed to go anywhere without a buddy, does that include public restrooms?" Everyone gave him dirty looks. "What?! It's a valid question!"
"Why don't you use that genius mind of yours and figure it out yourself." Happy rolled her eyes and shook her head in disdain. "Another thing," Happy looked at the group as she walked to her desk, picked up a trey and brought it over to them. "As a safety precaution, I've surrounded the garage with acoustic wedges panels to aid in muffling any sound coming from the garage in case Collins is listening to us. I've also installed a frequency transmitter as a failsafe; basically, the human voice various between 300 Hertz to 3400 Hertz; if Collins is listening for any sounds within that range from the garage, the frequency transmitter works somewhat like a voice changer – the transmitter will synthesize anything within 300 and 3400 Hertz into high-pitch frequencies, making it impossible for Collins to eavesdrop on our conversations; that being said, anything we say in the garage will not be compromised. Now that I've explained that, I want you to introduce you to your new com devices. Due to the unique circumstances, I've embedded trackers into each piece so don't you dare lose them; they're prototypes. In the event that Collins apprehends one of us, he'll be smart enough to destroy our phones. The com device is a failsafe; it'll enable us to track you down if need be without alerting Collins. So, wherever you go, whether if it's on a case or just to the supermarket, wear it in your ear at all times. Collins is unpredictable; therefore, we need to be on guard 24/7."
Everyone took a com device from the trey and held them in their hands. Since there were no current cases at the moment, they didn't need to wear them right away. All of them placed their com devices on their respective desks and then returned to the center of the room.
"In the meantime, stay close. You never know when Director Merrick will call." Cabe said, dismissing everyone. As Toby, Sylvester and Happy headed back to their desks, Paige followed Ralph to the loft where he wanted to show her something he had been working on for the past few days. Walter sauntered over to his desk to check something on his computer when Cabe made his way over to him. "So," Cabe stopped in front of Walter's desk and planted his feet firm on the ground, "Have you decided whether or not you want a sidearm?"
"I haven't put much thought into it." Walter shrugged. "I would like to discuss the matter with Paige first."
"With as much time as the two of you spend together, I'm surprised you haven't said anything to her about it." Cabe lifted his eyebrows as a smirk fell on his lips. "Then again, I'm sure you two were occupied with much more engaging matters."
"I'll talk to her soon, Cabe. I promise." Walter said as he logged onto his computer. He hacked into a few different databases to see if there was any update on Mark Collins's whereabouts, but when he couldn't find anything, he logged off of his computer and rose to his feet. "In fact, if you're so anxious for an answer, I'll go and ask her now while I'm thinking of it."
"You do that." Cabe chuckled as his phone rang. He stepped away from Walter's desk and answered his phone. "Gallo." As Walter started ascending the stairs, Cabe called out to him. "You might want to hold off on that, Walter; Collins may have just made his next move."
~ SCORPION ~
While Happy stayed behind to keep an eye on Ralph, Walter and the rest of the team were summoned to a private home where a middle aged woman was lying in a pool of blood just beyond the foyer of her house. There was an encrypted message scribbled on her wall in a sharpie marker – a message for Walter's intellect only.
"Do you think it's a good idea for you to be looking at that, Walt?" Toby asked as he stood next to the genius and stared at the code. "What if Collins wants you to read it so you can take a trip down the Rabbit Hole again?"
"No…," Walter's voice faded. "This message is too simple; he wants me to decipher it quickly." Walter scanned the room for a pen and picked up a red sharpie marker before he started scrawling all over the code. Toby and Sylvester had to tear their eyes away before they lost themselves in the message. While Sylvester made his way back to the van with Toby since their expertise was no longer needed, Paige stayed behind and watched Walter busily work on the wall. Just as she was about to call out his name to make sure he hadn't lost himself, he stopped writing and took a step back from the wall.
"Walter? Are you okay?" Paige touched his shoulder gently.
Walter swallowed the lump in his throat before racing over to the dead woman's body to confirm his sickening suspicion. While the coroner tried to stop him from doing something reckless, he pushed the coroner out of the way and peeled back the white sheet covering her head. He immediately dropped it and felt sick to his stomach.
"Kid. What's wrong? It looks like you've seen a ghost." Cabe noted as Walter turned around to look at the message.
"Walter, what does 1589 mean?" Paige asked as she approached him. He ran his hands through his hair and groaned with frustration. "Walter?"
Cabe touched his shoulder. "Kid? What's going on with you?"
Walter felt enraged; Mark Collins upped his game – there was no backing out of the lunatic's mind games now. Not after what he had done. Before Walter would regret anything, he walked up to the wall and rammed his fist against the plaster to deplete the angry feelings he had inside of him. Paige gasped and was immediately at his side.
"Walter," Paige touched his arm, bringing him back to reality. "Why are you so mad?"
Walter inhaled a deep breath and looked at the decrypted message again. "One thousand five hundred eighty-nine days ago, Mark and I were at a local diner discussing futuristic possibilities of Thermodynamics; it was the first time we connected. I asked him to join Scorpion that day."
"So?" Cabe raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Walter turned to face the man as Paige placed her palms over his battered knuckles. "The woman…, the one Collins killed…; she was the waitress who served us our food that day." Before Walter could say anything else, his cell phone started buzzing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the Caller ID. No name. "It's Collins."
"Don't answer it." Cabe ordered.
"I have to. He's made his move, Cabe; and a woman is dead because of it." Walter frowned and then answered his phone, putting it on speaker. "Collins."
"Hello, Walter." Mark chuckled. "I assume you received my message?"
"You have my undivided attention," Walter felt like he wanted to punch something again, but Paige holding his hand helped him focus.
"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? We're not in minor leagues anymore, Walter. One woman is dead. I've noticed you've been ignoring me, and that hurt. It hurt so much that I had to do something to get your attention. Oh, and I know your handler and your newest sex toy are listening to this conversation, Walter, and that's okay, because I have a message for the woman who stole my position."
"Leave her out of this, Collins!" Walter spat. "What you have against me is personal."
"Yes. It is. And trust me my friend, you and I will go the distance someday. Miss Paige Dineen replaced me, and that is far more personal than you sending me to the loony bin. She's stealing you away from me, Walter; all those precious times we could have been spending together talking about intellectual advancements for time travel or discussing a future where everything was empowered by photovoltaic panels were stolen by the woman standing next to you; while you could be reaching beyond your intellectual potential, you're too busy ramming yourself into her. Can't you see, Walter? She is nothing but a filthy skank! She's defiled you!"
"I'm not going to say it again, Mark. Leave Paige out of this." Walter held his tongue before he said something he would regret. "And if I ever hear you talk about her like that again," the terms Collins used to describe Paige disgusted Walter, and he could tell Collins's statement had bothered Paige, "your stupid mind games will be the least of your worries."
"Let me make myself clear, Walter O'Brien. The meltdown incident was child's play. I will get a spot back onto the team one way or another. I know Paige Dineen was the one who suggested for all of you to ignore me; I was heartbroken when I found out you didn't want anything to do with me. And then Happy had to ruin my plans by setting up those soundproof panels and that frequency transmitter. I was really looking forward to your plans on how to rid me once and for wall. So I upped my game a little, and while the cute encryption code was a puzzle for you, Walter, the body, on the other hand, is a message for your filthy skank."
Paige inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly but didn't say anything.
"What are you talking about?" Walter inquired as Paige tightened her grip on his hand.
"That poor woman's death is on her hands. Had she not opened her flappy mouth and suggested for all of you to ignore me, that woman would be still alive. Face it, Walter, your so-called girlfriend is a murderer. She might not have been the one who pulled the trigger, but she is the reason a woman is dead today. Just how many more people have to die, Walter? How many more people are you going to let Paige Dineen kill with her absurd, unintelligent ideas? She doesn't deserve to be on Scorpion. She deserves to work at a whorehouse because that's what she is, Walter O'Brien. A whore. That's all she ever was, wasn't she? That's all she'll ever be to you."
"This conversation is over." Cabe snatched Walter's phone and ended the call. "Walter," Cabe frowned, "Don't let that bastard get under your skin. You know damn well Collins'll say anything to rile you up. Don't listen to him."
"Don't worry; I've learned from my past mistake. Trusting Collins will never happen again." Walter spat as he took back his phone.
"Good." Cabe nodded. "I've gotta go and interrogate the neighbors to see if they saw anything; go back to the garage with Toby and Sylvester ASAP."
"Okay." Walter said as Cabe disappeared. When Walter turned to Paige, she was on the verge of tears; he hated himself for prolonging that conversation – he should have ended it before it even started. "Hey, Paige," he called her name as he gently shook her. "What Collins said isn't true. None of it is."
"H-he's right, Walter," Paige let out a gasp, "that woman's dead because of me."
"No. That woman is dead because Collins killed her." Walter tried to comfort her. "Don't believe in anything Mark says. He's nothing but a vat of lies and deceit. You are a great asset to Scorpion, and you have the most important role on the team, Paige. You are none of what he says, okay?"
Paige inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. "O-okay."
Walter started walking towards the front door and gently pulled Paige with him. "Mark Collins will get what he deserves. I promise."
Paige blinked back her tears and smiled. "I know. I trust you Walter. I shouldn't have let him get to me like that."
"Sometimes it's hard not to listen to Collins; he knows exactly which buttons to press, and he will exploit your doubts if you are not careful." Walter explained as Paige wrapped her arms against him.
"Walter?" Paige's voice wavered as she spoke his name. They headed for the van.
"Hm?"
"Are you scared? About what Mark Collins could do now that he's free?" Paige squeezed his hand even tighter.
"To be honest," Walter found Paige's eyes. "Yes. His freedom worries me immensely."
"Me too."
~ SCORPION ~
WriterFreak001:
DUN DUN DUNNNN!
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