"And would you like to tell me what you're doing in my facility?" he spoke, his grip tightening and causing her to squirm.

I-I can't tell-"

"You do not seem to realize how vulnerable you are right now, Colette. Now, I asked you a question. What are you doing here?" he asked, using her name in a fashion that made her shudder.

Tears were starting to trickle down her cheeks as she looked for anywhere that she could turn and run. Harrison took a moment to access her. She was too timid to have done something like this on her own. There was no reason for her to have tried to do this alone, for whatever reason.

"Better yet, why don't you tell me who you're working for?" he asked once more. It was wrong but his fingers slid up her bare waist, a form of intimidation to warn her to what could come from not giving him answers.

It had a negative effect as she started to cave into herself, choked sobs escaping her as she drooped in his grip. He hadn't calculated how delicate the young woman was or how she would take it. Releasing her, she slid down the wall as she wrapped her arms tightly around her legs in an attempt to cover herself. Furrowing his brows, he realized there was bruises along her arms and body. Ones that he did not give her.

Dr. Wells gave her one last look to make sure she would stay in place as he walked away. Pressing his fingers against the scanner, the door to his office opened and he stepped in. The young woman curled tighter as he came back out. She nearly jolted as a sweatshirt that said 'Star Labs' was tossed at her feet.

"Cover yourself up. This is a respectable place."

No matter the coldness in his words, Colette quickly scooped the heavy fabric up and slipped it over her curls. Drawing her knees back in tight once more, she pulled the sweatshirt over her legs and covered herself completely.

Kneeling down in front of her, Harrison asked again, "Now, I am going to ask you one last time. Who sent you here? Keep in mind that no one is going to notice a small metahuman going missing and your employer knows better than to report you missing."

Colette flinched at the ice in his voice. All she wanted to do was run but there was no way that she could outrun him. There was nowhere to go or hide. And she was certain that he was going to kill her. No one had known that he could secretly walk.

"Y-You're going...going to kill me...aren't you?" she whimpered, holding up her sleeves to wipe at her wet face.

"That decision lies with whether or not you fess up. You have a gift, that much is certain. But someone is using it against me and I can not have that. Do you understand?" he asked, wiping away a tear that lingered on her chin.

Nodding, she bit her lip hard as she fought with herself, "S-Staggs…. He… He wanted me to find something about your research on the metahuman mutation…."

Harrison smirked as he finally got the answer he wanted. It wasn't really a surprise that Staggs had been the one to send her to him. Honestly, it had almost been clever if he had put time into actually teaching her the correct mannerisms. No, Staggs had been lazy and sent her in with her same timid self.

"It would seem Staggs found his own little metahuman then, hmmm? And how did he come across you? Metahumans are not a dime a dozen. Or did you come running to him?" he asked, gripping her chin to turn her left and right to get a better look.

"He… He bought me…"

Her words caught Dr. Wells off guard as his brows furrowed in, "What do you mean he bought you? Did he buy you off or pay a debt for you?"

"N-No… I…." Harrison gave her a moment as she broke down again. Her body was shuddering and he knew that she was exhausted mentally and physically from the ordeal. All she wanted to do was curl back up and pretend to be dead.

"Deep breaths. Speak slowly and calmly." he soothed, trying a gentler approach. It seemed to work as she tried to get herself under control.

Wiping her face again, she tried to explain, "When… When the particle accelerator blew up… I lost everyone… Lightning caught my house on fire and my parents… They didn't get out. I was twenty when it happened. I lived on the streets and there were people that would try to lure us in. Saying they had nice places to sleep. They would go… and no one would see them again.

And one day, they asked me and I said I was okay. They s-said that I was being silly and to just get in the car with them. I said no again, and they picked me up and threw me in. A-And I screamed and screamed, but no one h-heard me. Then…. I kind of shifted into one of them. They were people that sold other people. T-They were going to sell me, but they said that metahumans were a big market and could make a lot more than making a 't-toy'. And they showed me to Mr. Staggs."

Harrison didn't push her as she took deep gulps of air, shuddering as if the bad memories were replaying in her mind. That was what she had meant by being bought by Staggs. His blood boiled at the sheer inhumane treatment. Of course, he should have known that metahumans were coming out of in a small handful and that some would be caught by people looking for a profit.

"And why, do you have bruises on you…?" he asked, trying to temporarily change the subject from the past and toward the future.

Colette fidgeted nervously as she drew tighter, "M-Mr. Staggs told me if you caught me, then to turn into your...deceased wife. And I said I couldn't do it, because it was cruel. He… He didn't like me saying no. I'm never supposed to say no."

That was enough to stun Dr. Wells momentarily before his blood began to boil. Of course Staggs would have gone that far to try and get at him. The girl was lucky that she had decided not to, because there would have been a fair chance that he would have killed her for it before he knew the full story.

"A-Are you still going to kill….me?"

"No, I'm not." he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "Are you aware your eyes don't change? It's what tipped me off first."

Colette nodded sadly as she spoke, "Yes… Mr. Staggs was always mad at me because of it. I've tried so many times to change them, but I can't. I promise, I've tried so very hard. You must think I'm b-broken too…"

"Is that what he told you? Metahumans need time to develop and encouragement. You're young. It's harder than for someone that's completely grown." Dr. Wells spoke distastefully. He was confused as she slowly began to stand on wobbly legs, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to go back to M-Mr. Staggs. He'll have someone to pick me up by the road." she whispered, looking out a window to try and see a car. There was no one around and not a single car in the near distance. Dr. Harrison watched the scared look come into her eyes as she realized no one was there for her.

"Colette, he thinks I killed you. You know that, correct? He told you to turn into my wife so that I would kill you if you were caught. Staggs didn't want you to come back." he frowned, coming up to stand behind her.

Her eyes flicked back and forth to the outside, as if she was trying to prove him wrong. There was still no one and she chewed her lip out of habit, "T-That's not true. It's the only place I have. He… He's all I've got. I know I can't change my eyes yet, but I can try harder."

There was a slight pang in his chest as he watched the desperation. It was not surprising. Even if Staggs treated her like a pet, there was the tell tale signs of Stockholm Syndrome. Staggs had kept her and fed her, not to mention he had caught her when she was mentally vulnerable.

"You have a choice." Dr. Wells spoke firmly, "You can stay here and I will give you a place to sleep and a stable environment. Or I can bury you. Because you know my secret now, and even if Staggs eventually came for you, I cannot allow that information to get to him. Killing you is the farthest thing away from what I want to do with you."

There was silence as she stared out the window, slowly pressing her forehead into the cold pane. All she wanted was to be back home. Her real home, with her parents and her father's strong arms holding her like they once did so long ago. That was gone, all gone.

"I-I don't know what do…" she wept, her arms hugging herself as she shuddered.

"Yes, you do. You're going to go into my extra room, crawl into the bed, and go to sleep. And we will figure out the rest later. Then in the morning, you are going to take a shower and we'll find you something to wear. Until then, wear the sweatshirt." he spoke calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder to lead her away from the window.

Colette dried her face slowly as she walked to a flight of stairs, "I n-never wanted to hurt anyone."

"Yes, I know." Dr. Wells responded, guiding her up the steps, "And now you're staying here and you will be safe. Colette, you have a choice now. A second chance. Do not waste it running back to a man that does not care about you."

The young woman was silent as he led her to a room. It was minimalistic, like much of the lab but was as comfortable as any other room. Colette glanced at the bed and it made her nervous, too afraid to be in such clean bedding.

"You'll have to understand that I'll be locking the door behind you. At least, until I can trust you won't run away. Oh, and Colette?" he asked, turning her to look at him.

"Y-Yes…?"

Tilting her chin up once more, he leaned in and whispered, "You will not breath a word about what happened tonight. Keep my secret, and I will take care of you. Better than Staggs ever even thought of. No one will know I can walk and you will play along with whatever story I make up for you."

Seeing her nod sadly, he released her and let her take in her surroundings. It was was like watching a broken toy. Her eyes darted around nervously and her hands touched the bed like she couldn't quite believe it was real. Turning around, her eyes looked at the ground, "Why are you being so nice…? N-No one has been nice for a long time."

"I think you deserve a chance to be more than a rich man's plaything." Dr. Wells simply put, turning and closing the door behind her. There was the familiar click of a lock as he scanned his prints into the door. It didn't insult her. She was used to being locked in a room, but this one was much nicer.

Slowly, she crawled onto the bed and curled up. It felt surreal to feel the softness and she found herself quickly pulling the blanket around herself. Her body was exhausted from holding a form for so long and she found her eyes drooping. Colette wiped the tears off her nose before her body finally gave up it's fight for consciousness.