The bruises made his body look blotched with an ink that was wasting into his insides. The blood trickling from the deep wounds and cuts made him feel like he was disintegrating away, one drop at a time. And the hands that defiled his right to exist and polluted his will to ever see worth in a reason to...they made him feel like nothing. His body meant nothing to him anymore and neither did it to anyone else now. Hal was a cold shell of the warmth and light he vaguely remembered having and everyday he was allowed to lay in that cell, he lost a little more of the familiarity of it. All he knew was the abuse to his body and the desecration of it's ability to enjoy anyone's touch.

He watched the door opened slowly and Trevor quickly slip inside and close it back. He hadn't seen Hal for nearly a week but he knew he wasn't the same. He was broken in more ways than any bone in his body could be.

"I got you some food." He placed a plumply wrapped handkerchief next to him."It's not gourmet but, it's better than what Lash and Lucas have been shoving down your throat." He knelt down in front of him, "I heard Uri and Marshall bragging about what they did. I had no idea they were that twisted. I'm sorry that happened to you, Hal." He dug into his bag and pulled out a few items, "I'm going to patch up some of the handiwork those two did. There's a few serious wounds here that I don't want to get infected."

Trevor was careful with his hands and touch on Hal. He didn't want anything to remind him of the demoralization it had been through. After he pulled back his shirt to reveal his side and stomach, he pulled a pair of latex gloves over his hands. "I'll be as careful as I can."

Hal looked straight ahead, quivering every exhale and inhale his body took as Trevor treated the gash that aligned that area. He felt all the deep stings of the different chemicals entering the openings of the wounds but compared to his body's previous treatment, it felt like a massage. He winced slightly when one of the chemicals that entered registered a little higher than a dull pang. Trevor stopped in the middle of applying disinfectant when he realized Hal was weeping softly.

He looked up at him. "Am I hurting you?" He quickly realized, even before Hal could shake his head 'no', that it wasn't him causing the tears.

"I'm all done for now." He said once he had applied the last dressing. "I'll come back first thing in the morning and to check for more. But, I think you just need to rest right now." He fished around in his bag again and pulled out a small vial and syringe. "This is an analgesic. Demoral to be exact." He told him as he drew some of the liquid out and injected it into his arm. "It should dull the pain enough to help you sleep tonight."

"Thank you." Hal said. He wanted to say more to the boy, but he couldn't work it out in his jumbled vocabulary to do it.

"You can thank me later, Hal."

Trevor quickly escaped the room and headed at a steady pace down the corridor. He quickened it when he caught Sophia's body leaning on the wall as if in anticipation for their meeting. He had never had a problem with admitting to himself that Sophia was twistedly seductive but reminding himself that every attire enhanced curve on her body and every tinge of Jupiter that rested in the tones of her eyes was deadly. She absorbed venom into the curl of her lips as she watched him approach her.

"Avoiding me, Trevor?" She asked, matching his pace as he walked.

"Well, the rats around here seem pretty fond of you and I'm sure whatever they like about you is probably contactable."

"I heard you ordered Uri and Marshall to lay off of Dr. Emmerich. My boys were just having a little fun."

"Well, it's too much fun."

"Why is that, Trevor? You falling in love with him and don't like the idea of sharing?"

"Because it'll be me on carcass clean up duty when he hangs himself in his cell. He wasn't cut out for that kind of torture and our goal isn't to kill him...or for him to kill himself."

"I think it's more than that," In a motion Trevor barely saw, Sophia apprehended his right arm, wound it around to his back, and bulldozed him chest first into the wall. "I know what you're up to, Trevor." she said in his ear, winding his arm tighter into his spine, "Not everyone around here is as dumb as you think they are. I wonder how daddy would feel if I told him his son was doing a little more for our friend than the required amount?"

Trevor coughed a breath of air back into his lungs that had escaped on the hard impact. "You wouldn't dare. I know some of the skeletons in your closet personally. I'll expose you, Sophia. I did a little research on you and found out how you knew so much about Dr. Emmerich's past. I'm sure my father will be thrilled to know that his best woman is moonlighting as government assassin...and that he's your next hit." Trevor played off the pain shooting in his right arm when she freed him by straightening and smoothing this shirt out.

"How did you—"

"I have my ways. You're quite the entertainer. I heard about the little show you put on for Dr. Emmerich in the dark. I'm sure that wasn't a part of the job."

"I did what Rhino expected me to do," she said with less pride than Trevor imagined she meant to. "I've been working my ass off for months to get your father. You mess this up for me, Trevor, and I'll make your life hell."

"Likewise. Look, I don't give a damn about the old man but you screw me over and I'll make sure I look like the perfect son when I'm telling him about your little day job. It's very simple, Sophia. You keep my business and I'll keep yours."

When Mei Ling slammed down the stack of paper, she hadn't expected the glass figurine at the edge of Sunny's desk to bounce off. Before she could stop it, it smashed into the floor and exploded into an ocean of crystal fragments. Sunny looked back from the computer monitor at Mei Ling scrambling to get up the pieces big enough to pick up in her hand.

"Damnit!"

Any other time, she would have laughed at her clumsiness. But as she looked at the glass, they took on the form of what she imagined her heart looked like. Broken apart and spread so far out that she'd never find some of the pieces again. Sunny put her hand on her shoulder.

"Mei Ling?"

"I'm so sorry I broke your figurine. I promise, I'll buy you another one. Leave it to me to knock over and break anything that's not glued down."

"It's okay. It's just glass. Don't look so sad about it."

When Sunny knelt next to her and attempted to help her, Mei Ling grabbed her hands. "No. I got it. I don't want you to cut yourself."

"I won't cut myself." Before Mei Ling could say anything else, she was already picking up the pieces and throwing them into a nearby trashcan. Despite everything, she caught herself laughing quietly as she watched Sunny treat each piece she touched as if it they had spikes growing out of them. When she realized it, Sunny looked at Mei Ling. "What are you laughing at?"

"It's just...to not be Hal's daughter, you're certainly a lot like him."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No. It's good. It's very, very good." She looked down at her hands at the shards of glass they contained. "Hal's an amazing person, Sunny. I can't think of a better person in this world I'd want you to be like."

"Mei Ling...are you crying?"

"No, sweetie", she tried to clear all evidence of it out of her voice, "I'm not crying." She got up and brushed herself off. "I'm going to get the broom for the rest of this, okay?"

Sunny could tell something was breaking inside of Mei Ling even in actions as mundane as sweeping. She moved the broom in a back and forth motion that reminded Sunny of a robot, frizzled out of any real emotion or expression. Suddenly, she paused and put her forehead on the tip of the handle.

"Mei Ling?"

"I can't do this. It's been a month and a half and we know nothing about where Hal is. Nothing! It's like he dropped off the face of the planet..."

"We'll find him, Mei Ling."

"I failed, Sunny. I failed you and I failed Snake. I was supposed to bring him home before now. And now he might not even be..." the tears overwhelmed her when she tried to say aloud what she had been privately thinking. After Sunny sat Mei Ling down on her bed, she left the room and returned with a glass of water for her.

"Uncle Hal is okay. Good thoughts, remember?"

"I'm sorry, honey. I think I'm all out of good thoughts."

"Maybe you can lie down for a while. You can use my bed."

"I'm not even tired. I haven't been able to sleep in the last three nights. When I think about everything Hal must be going through, I can't."

"It's okay. You can rest now." Mei Ling suddenly felt the last three night of her insomnia crash down on her seconds after Sunny casually touched her face. She shook her head a few times in an attempt to get it off of her but felt her body sank into the mattress faster than she could move her head. The last thing she felt was the glass of water slipping from her grip and landing on the table next to her.

When Sunny sat back down at her computer, an icon flashed on the screen. When she clicked it, a box came up with a satellite image of a mountain range and a red, pulsating and live dot. She typed quickly for confirmation and read over the readings twice before she allowed herself to smile.

"I knew you were alive, Uncle Hal."

-BREAK-

"Hal is in Europe. The Snowdon mountain range in Wales to be exact."

"The UK?"

Mei Ling exhaled, "I don't know why he's over there either, Snake. Only that the signal Sunny got was from there."

"What if it's a trick? How do we go from not having a clue where he is to having a pinpoint on his location?"

"It's not a trick. There are readings of real time vital signs--" Mei Ling turned the laptop on the table between them to face him, "heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, respiratory rate. He's not well, but he's alive."

"Those could be anyone's vitals."

"The signs are being monitored by nanomachines. Hal's nanomachines. There's not a person alive who could imitate that. These days, it's more secure than DNA. Somebody wants us to know that Hal is okay and where he is and they're going through a hell of a lot of trouble to do it. In the next few days, Sunny and I will be working on securing an aircraft and clearance to land in the Snowdon range. I suggest you rest until then, Snake."

"Snake's too sick. What can't Raiden go?" Sunny demanded from the chair next to Mei Ling. In her own mind, it made sense but she could clearly see it wasn't an option for Snake.

"This isn't Raiden's fight, Sunny. It's mine."

Mei Ling nodded but in response to Sunny. "You know, she's right, Snake. You're in no condition to do this. You probably shouldn't even be walking around right now."

"I'll be fine. I'll have to be. No one else is going to get Hal but me."

She was right. They both were. With every step he took now, he could feel another stitch of time unravel and get away from him. He was embarrassed to admit to himself the ways he was getting weaker and losing the battle with his body. He coughed all night into a pillow sometimes so that they couldn't hear how miserable he was when he couldn't catch his breath between spells and he avoided mirrors so he wouldn't be reminded of the aging and skin permanent discoloration. He had been ready to die, ready to let whatever wanted him take him...but all that had changed when Hal had disappeared and now he begged everything inside him to keep ticking for just a little while longer.

Mei Ling offered Sunny a quick embrace before the little girl left the dining room.

"Don't get reckless, Snake. The both of you need to come back alive. If for nothing else, for Sunny."

"I'll get Hal back to her."

"That's not what I said." She scolded lightly. "Snake, I need to ask you something but I think it's going to sound crazy."

"Try me."

"Does...does Sunny know some sort of hypnosis?"

"Hypnosis?" Snake repeated in the exact tone Mei Ling had feared he would. "She's eight. She knows a lot of things but I don't think hypnosis is one of them."

"Last night when Sunny and I were working, I got this overwhelming tiredness. I don't remember anything between the glass of water she gave me and waking up the next morning in her room. It was just so strange, like a sudden bout of narcolepsy or something."

"I doubt she put anything in your drink."

"No, I'm not suggesting that. When I woke up, I didn't feel sluggish or slow like I had been drugged. I felt...completely restored, but more than what a good night's sleep gives you." Mei Ling put her hand to her cheek. "It all happened right after she touched my face. That's when I just dropped."

"I think you were just tired, Mei Ling. You've been working non-stop. It was bound to catch up with you at some point."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, Snake. There's no such thing as magic, is there?" She drew a stack of folders and papers into her chest as she stood up from the table. "Although, I'm sure it couldn't hurt to believe in some right now."