WriterFreak001:
This chapter is also going to be another short one. Due to my outline, the twelfth chapter will be a fairly long one. :) This chapter willbe mostly in Collins's POV. I have fun writing the crazies. :)
I apologize in advance for the F-bomb droppings. Collins is just that kind of psycho.
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 11
~ SCORPION ~
Mark Collins spotted Cabe, Walter and Paige leave the garage the next morning and decided to follow them in order to find out what they were up to. However, he never had to set foot outside his new Headquarters in order to track them down. He knew that all squad cars were issued with an embedded tracking system so once he hacked into the Homeland Security database and enter Cabe's license plate number, he was able to track the vehicle from his computer with ease. His eyes followed the vehicle's path, and when the SUV finally stopped, he smirked.
So Walter and the replacement were going to register for guns, aye?
They were finally taking his games seriously and weren't messing around anymore. He loved it. He loved the attention Walter was giving him, and he was going to make sure Walter O'Brien never pays attention to that fucking whore again – even if it meant permanently removing her from the team.
The first thing he had to do was distract Walter long enough to proceed with his plans.
And he knew exactly what to do.
After Mark Collins minimized the GPS tracking system window, he opened up an encryption he had been working on and decided he wasn't going to do anything more until he finished it. If it took him three weeks to complete his masterpiece before sending it to Walter O'Brien, he was going to use those three weeks religiously.
His plan did not allow any room for errors.
And he will succeed.
~ SCORPION ~
One Week Later
"Do you think Mark Collins has given up?" Paige asked as she slipped on Walter's light blue button shirt and walked over to the window to watch the various cars zip down the street. "He's been inactive for a full week."
"No," Walter shook his head as he sat up in his bed, "Mark is obsessive-compulsive; he won't stop until he gets what he wants."
"Then why has he been silent for the past week?" Paige asked as Walter slipped out of the bed and approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
"He's planning something big." Walter frowned; he knew Mark Collins too well. When Mark was silent or inactive, it usually meant he was down the Rabbit Hole. And unlike Walter, Mark thrived when he was on a bender – the Rabbit Hole was where Mark Collins performed his best so Walter could only imagine why Mark Collins could be down the Rabbit Hole for seven days, and it worried him.
"I still can't believe there haven't been any leads on him yet." Paige sighed as she leaned into Walter's embrace. "He's bound to make an appearance eventually."
"Not if he's cooped up somewhere, working on a Rabbit Hole bender." Walter's hands slowly crept up underneath the shirt Paige was wearing, pressing his palms against her heated flesh. "Knowing Mark, he's purposely sent himself down the Rabbit Hole in order to embellish his plan. Unlike me," Walter rested his chin against Paige's shoulder, "Mark enjoys the Rabbit Hole and seems to think he meets his full potential when he forcibly induces himself into a world where thought only exists. Once his plan is perfected, he will emerge, and he will make his presence known."
"If he's down the Rabbit Hole right now, doesn't that mean he's vulnerable?" Paige asked as Walter rose his shirt off of her and tossed it onto the floor. She spun around and hooked her arms around his neck; his palms snaked around her back and pulled her close to him.
"Yes. It does, but we've searched the entire city for him. None of the facial recognition programs – mine nor the NSA's, FBI's, Homeland's and LAPD's – have picked him up. He doesn't want to be found, and knowing Mark, he won't be found unless he wants to be." Walter inhaled a deep breath and grunted out of frustration. "It's impossible to locate him, Paige."
"Since when does the impossible ever stop you, Walter?" Paige asked as she cupped her boyfriend's cheeks. "You figured out how to keep a young boy – a boy that is Ralph's age – alive without breathing underwater. You also helped locate a football after sixteen years. Both cases were deemed impossible, but you were able to beat the odds with the help of Happy, Toby and Sylvester."
"Mark Collins is different than those two scenarios – he's not a normal. The circumstances are not the same." Walter said as Paige squished his face inward until his lips were fishlike.
"Here's what you're going to do," Paige lightly smacked his cheeks and then stepped away from him to pick up his boxers. As she handed them to him, she continued. "You're going to get dressed, and you're going to go downstairs and meet up with the others. Then you're going to put your IQs together and figure something out because Failure and Mr. I Can't have left the garage and aren't coming back until I say so. I may be your girlfriend, but I'm also your project manager too. So this is me, managing your projects. Now take a deep breath, get down there and reset." Paige gave him a quick kiss and then headed for the bathroom. "When I get done with my shower, I better have some progress."
"And if we can't figure something out?" Walter lifted an eyebrow; he couldn't deny the fact that he was liking this fiery side to Paige – one of the main reasons he had hired her in the first place. She had lots of spunk, and she often used it to motivate the team and help them get their acts together.
Paige hummed for a moment and then smirked, "If you want some of this tonight," she gestured towards her very naked body, "then you guys better have some good results before dinner because a garage-full of geniuses who can't put their minds together to locate one crazy psycho is just pathetic."
"Now wait a minute," Walter approached her, "why is it that I get punished if the whole team doesn't pull through?" Sometimes, Paige's logic really boggled him.
"Well I can't exactly take away your intellect, can I?" Paige laughed and leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom. "Besides, you're the only one privileged to touch me in very intimate places. Oh, and you're the boss," she winked. "If the team fails, the leader has to make up for the damages."
"So it automatically comes down to sex or no sex?" Walter still wasn't understanding Paige's angle. "Isn't that considered blackmail?"
"Now you're catching on," Paige laughed. "If you really enjoy making love with me, Walter," Paige hooked her arms around his neck, "which I know you do," she tantalized his scalp as her fingers curled into his hair, "then I know you'll do everything in your power to ensure your fellow geniuses don't disappoint. I wouldn't necessarily call it 'blackmail;' it's more of an incentive – a piece of motivation."
"Perhaps it's time to find a new piece of motivation," Walter pressed his lips together and gazed into Paige's eyes. While Paige's threat of not having sex did usually motivate Walter to work harder, he wished she would use some other tactic – one that didn't hinder his personal life when it's his professional life that was usually in jeopardy. But, he had to remind himself that when the boss was sleeping with one of the employees, personal and professional lives usually tended to mesh together. "Something that doesn't have to threaten our sexual lives."
"Fine," Paige smirked; she had been clearly thinking about this for a while. "If you and the team perform well today," Paige walked him backwards until he hit the bed. He gulped as she pushed him and then climbed on top of him, straddled his pelvic region and pushed her belly towards his, "then tonight, I will…," she lowered her lips down to his ear and whispered several dirty things she was willing to do to him if the team made progress against Mark Collins. Walter made incoherent noises in response to Paige's rather long list of sexual stimulations. Instead of threatening Walter with a punishment, she changed her tactic up a little bit and offered him quite the reward if the team pulled through. "How does that sound?"
"Sounds good," Walter's voice was tense when he answered her.
Remembering that she wanted to go down there immediately, he started to pull away from her. Paige lifted an eyebrow as she pushed her belly against his and then trapped him against the bed. "What're you doing?" Paige softly laughed and laced her fingers with his so he wouldn't try pushing her off of him.
"You said you wanted me to go down there now." Walter looked towards the door. "Is that not what you want anymore?"
"What I want," Paige kissed him, "is for me to finish having my wicked way with you this morning before you go anywhere. Once we're done with our project," she gestured towards their conjoined bodies, "you may join your team."
Walter smirked, and his eyebrows both lifted upward. "Since you are the project manager, is there any chance our current project could multiply within the next few hours?"
"Don't push your luck," Paige laughed and then kissed him hard on the mouth.
~ SCORPION ~
Sometime later, both Walter and Paige made their way to the lower level of the garage to find everyone at their own desks while Cabe and Ralph played chess against each other. "All right," Walter called out as they descended the stairs, "Collins has been silent for the last seven days; knowing him, he's induced himself down the Rabbit Hole. We don't know how long he plans on being down there, but this might be our only chance to catch him while he's vulnerable. So we need to use our 700+ IQ and get some damn results for once." Walter usually didn't curse unless he was incredibly mad or extremely frustrated, and when he did curse, his teammates knew he meant business. As Paige walked over to the kitchen to make some breakfast, he started the coffeemaker. Due to the number of dirty dishes in the sink, it wasn't hard to figure out that everybody else ate already.
As they sat down to eat their breakfast, Toby made his way over to them. "I've been doing some thinking, Walt." Toby sat down across from the 197 IQ genius. "I don't know why this hadn't occurred to me earlier, but I think I might have an idea where Mark Collins might be hiding."
"Go on," Walter stopped shoveling eggs into his mouth and looked at his friend.
"Collins, as we all know, is a freakin' paranoid psycho who suffers from OCD. At his house, he had a woppin' satellite dish standing in his backyard to pick up radio frequencies. He loves listening in on radios and eavesdropping on conversations. It's his hobby; not something he could drop cold turkey. Anyway, if I were a psycho like Mark who wanted everything to go according to my plans, I would be close to my target so I could observe everyone and make sure my plans are unfolding properly. That being said, I think Mark is close by; he has to be."
Walter rose to his feet and abandoned his breakfast as he raced to his desk. "You might be on to something, Toby. Sylvester!" Walter called over to the human calculator, "Check to see if any of the vacant apartments within a one-mile radius from the garage were recently rented or purchased within the last month." Walter turned to Happy. "Happy, if there's an abandoned warehouse within the area, I want to know about it."
"Got it!" Happy exclaimed as she started typing away at her computer.
Paige walked up to Ralph and wrapped her arms around her son as the geniuses worked. "I'm hacking into the security cameras of the local apartment complexes; if Mark is renting an apartment, he'll show up. My software will ping if it catches an 80% match." Walter quickly printed a photo of Mark. "I'm going across the street to see if Mark is inhabiting one of the apartments directly across from us. Perhaps the clerk would recognize him." As he started to leave for the door, Paige gave Ralph a kiss on the head and then followed him.
It was only a matter of time before Mark Collins was either caught or emerges with a new plan in motion. And Walter, Paige, Happy, Toby, Sylvester, Cabe and Ralph all needed to be prepared for whichever outcome comes their way.
"Excuse me," Paige called out to the clerk behind the desk in the lobby of the apartment complex directly across from the garage, "We're with Homeland Security; do you have a moment?"
"What's going on?" the woman frowned; Walter noticed the name on her badge. Susan.
"There is a dangerous man roaming the streets of LA, and we're trying desperately to apprehend him," Paige continued as Walter placed Mark's picture in front of the woman. "Do you recognize this man?"
"I can't say that I do." Susan glanced at the photo.
Then Walter thought of something. He remembered a time when he was at a diner with Paige for breakfast one morning. He vaguely saw a man in the corner who looked very similar to Mark Collins but also different. He wondered if that man was in fact Collins. "Imagine him without a beard and no glasses."
Susan looked again. "Now that I think about it, a man who did resemble this profile picture rented out a room three weeks ago. Unfortunately, he got up and left this morning and said he wouldn't be back."
"Thank you for your time," Paige smiled and pulled Walter to the side. "So Mark Collins was supposedly here for the last three weeks. If he left this morning, he's not in the Rabbit Hole anymore."
Damn. "No. He's not."
Then Paige turned around, "Do you mind if we take a look at his old apartment, then?"
"Have a warrant?"
"We don't need one," Walter spat. "The apartment is not currently occupied by any person so technically it is considered public property until leased again."
"Please, Miss," Paige squeezed Walter's hand, "It's a matter of national security."
"Fine," she sighed. "Room 516." She handed Paige a key card.
"Thank you," Paige smiled and then bumped Walter's elbow. Walter thanked the young woman as well before they disappeared into the elevator. When they arrived to the apartment, nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for a cell phone. It rang. Walter walked over to it and picked it up; an unknown caller was blaring on the screen.
"Hello?" Walter answered the phone call and put the phone on speaker.
"Is it just me, Walter, or is your intelligence declining? The Walter O'Brien I know would have founded me by now. What's changed Walter? My absence? Your company? Oh wait, I know what it is," Mark chuckled, "your IQ started dropping when you began fucking that harlot of yours." Paige covered her mouth, and Walter was starting to grow angry at Mark's words. "And don't deny it Walter; I've seen the way you two fuck each other. It's all you ever do these days. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Well, you know what, O'Brien? If sexual intercourse with my replacement is well worth your time these days, then perhaps I should give fucking your whore a try."
Walter wanted to punch another wall again. "This conversation is over."
"Why? Because you know it's true?"
"No," Walter scowled. "Because all I continue hearing out of your moth are incessant lies, and I'm tired of it all. Paige is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm sorry if you can't accept that fact, Mark. And if you ever come near her or near Ralph, I swear it'll be the last thing you do."
"Just think about it, Walter. How would you respond if you found me reaming your whore's body against her will? Would you really kill me? And I wonder how she would feel after the fact; perhaps she would feel unworthy to touch you ever again. Perhaps she would feel so violated that she'll permanently remove herself from the world because she wouldn't be able to handle hating herself. You may enjoy fucking her now, Walter O'Brien, but once a skank is always a skank. After all, she did have son out of wedlock, did she not?"
"Stop!" Paige suddenly clamped her hands over her ears and screamed at the phone. "You don't know me," Paige inhaled a deep breath, "and I'm not going to let your filthy delusions and your empty threats get under Walter's and my skins. You don't know anything about me, and I won't stand for the lies you concoct!"
"She speaks," Mark chuckled. "You'll thank me, Walter, one day when you realize you don't need Paige Dineen in your life. She's a thorn on my side, and let this be a warning to you, Miss Dineen; I will get what I want. If that means I have to delete you in the process, I will do just that. And while you're begging for your life, Paige Dineen, Walter won't be able to save you. No one will be able to save you. Your absence will be a blessing in this world because with you out of the picture, it'll be one less intellectual inferior to worry about."
"I'm not afraid of you," Paige tried to stay strong even though she was terrified of the man.
"Oh, but you should be, Paige Dineen."
"Mark!" Walter snapped as Paige walked away and raked her hand through her hair as she tried to keep her tears from falling down. "That's enough! You wanted my attention? You've got it! Now leave Paige out of our personal business."
"No can do, O'Brien. Paige plays a strong role in your demise so if intellect cannot send you down the Rabbit Hole, her death surely will."
And with that, the line went dead. Walter stuffed the phone into his pocket to see if Happy could track the caller's phone even though he knew the odds of tracking Collins via phone tracking history was slim to none. He walked over to Paige who was breathing slowly; her breath was wavering. Walter stood behind her, and before he could say something, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest. He slowly walked her home and then gave Happy the phone, ordering her to track anything she could find about its signal. When Walter brought Paige up to their bedroom, she climbed onto his bed and faced the wall as a tear slipped down her nose. Walter inhaled a deep breath and joined her in the bed, holding her close to him as she melted into his embrace. He didn't need to have a strong EQ to know what was bothering her. "I won't let Mark Collins come near you nor near Ralph. He would have to go through me before anything else, Cabe, Toby, Happy and Sylvester before coming near you or your son."
She remained silent for a few minutes. "What if…what if he's right?"
"No. He's not right." Walter answered quickly. "Collins might be a lot of things, but he has a very twisted personality; nothing he says is nor will ever be right. You are not what he says you are; period."
Paige inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly as she gave her boyfriend a slight nod. "Okay." She turned around and kissed his warm lips. "But…. Can you promise me something, Walter?"
"What?"
"If…If things go south with Collins, and something happens to me, protect Ralph with everything you have. I want Ralph to be your top priority – not me nor the team. Okay?" Paige wasn't kidding around, and Walter knew she was meaning business.
Walter nodded. "Okay. But nothing's going to happen to either of you. I won't let it."
Paige smiled and kissed him. "I know. I know you won't let anything happen to us."
Walter leaned over her and pulled her into a heated kiss; Walter swore to himself he was going to protect Paige whether she liked it or not. While Ralph was Walter's top priority, he still wasn't going to abandon Paige in order to protect her son. He was going to protect both of them – even if it was the last thing he'd ever do.
~ SCORPION ~
Mark Collins smirked as he admired his handiwork. A full week of writing a heavily encrypted code was a success, and it was ready for send-off. Mark personalized the email to Walter's account and then sent it almost immediately afterwards. In the next 24 hours, Walter O'Brien will return to the Rabbit Hole, and Mark could hardly wait to put his plan into motion.
~ SCORPION ~
WriterFreak001:
Okay, so it was longer than I was anticipating.
Note: there will NOT be any sexual abuse, molestation, rape within this story. There was only the mere mention of it. I PROMISE!
Please let me know what you think! :)
Reviews really keep me going XD