A few days had passed since the incident. It was strange for Farid to just speak with the other inmates and pretend as though nothing was wrong. He understood that it would probably take some time for Dagur to be well enough for a conversation (and probably even more to decide if the sessions would continue), but he was growing anxious. When the last inmate went back to his cell, the psychologist went to the warden's office. He knocked and entered upon hearing that he could. Stoick glanced up in mild surprise, then chuckled.

"I see we have traded positions with who goes to whose office," he mentioned.

Farid smiled a bit. "I was wondering if a decision had been made on the matter regarding Dagur and if he was healed enough for me to talk with him."

A response did not come immediately, but the doctor found that promising. "I think you should talk with our doctor, Gothi, first. Dagur is a terrible patient. He kept insisting that he could return to his cell and made a fuss whenever he was alone with someone. I wasn't there, so I don't know what he was like during it personally. I only heard what happened. She'll be able to give you an idea of if he's up for a visitor."

Farid grasped the implication and his smile became brighter. "Thank you, Warden."

He left the office and went to the infirmary. Hardly anyone was there apart from a few pale inmates. They seemed to be receiving fluids through IVs, but they did not look like they were getting better. Glancing down, Farid saw an extremely small older lady frowning up at him.

"Are you Gothi?" he asked.

The doctor nodded and wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Who are you?" it read.

"I'm Farid. I've been the psychologist working here," he explained. When this did not seem to satisfy her curiosity, he elaborated. "I wanted to ask about Dagur and find out some of what happened the other day."

Gothi's frown deepened and she began writing faster. "I've never had a patient be as wild as he was. He nearly broke out of his restraints more than once and seemed to only get more angry when we sedated him."

"What were his injuries?"

"The main one was a bullet wound in his leg. It didn't hit bone or an artery, but it also didn't go all the way through, so we had to remove the lead. Besides that, his face had a lot of lacerations and bruises."

Farid looked pensive. "What about the officers? I heard he attacked them."

Gothi jotted more words down. "The worst one had his nose and front teeth broken. The rest had injuries ranging from bruises from where they were hit to taser burns."

"Taser burns? Did they explain that?"

"I guess he took one from them and used it to fight."

"But there was nothing else wrong with them?" Farid asked, feeling a bit of hope. "Did the injuries imply that he was trying to kill them?"

The woman looked at him, hearing the tone of his voice. For a moment, she wrote nothing at all, just choosing to stare. Finally, she began writing.

"I just know what I heard. They said he was trying to kill them. If I go off of their injuries, I'd say he was trying to knock them out. Every attack, though violent and extreme, seemed to be targeting the head to render them unconscious or involved the taser which would have incapacitated them. Of course, I can't say for certain that he was or wasn't trying to get rid of them permanently. It wouldn't be that difficult to imagine. You didn't see him here."

"Should he have been released back to his cell so soon?"

"Probably not, but no one was willing to deal with him any longer."

"You said that whenever he was alone with someone, that was when he acted strangely. Was it only then?"

"He's a strange person, but it was much more apparent in those times. When there was more than one of us, he seemed to behave civilly; however, my nurses who came in here alone at night said he was a menace. One almost had his wrist broken when he thought he was asleep and got too close. That was the last time and what made me decide it would just be best for us to give him what he wanted and let him go back. He scares the others, so they wanted him gone anyway."

"Does he scare you too?"

Gothi looked offended by the question and shook her head. "I don't scare easily. Besides, I am far too old to be scared by kids."

"You view him as a kid?"

"He came here as one. I don't see that big of a difference between then and now. Well, he is a bit more violent."

An unreadable look appeared on Gothi's face. It did not go without Farid's noticing.

"Has he come here often?"

The doctor looked uncertain. "Not lately, but he came a lot when he first arrived."

"What did he come for?"

"It would be something along the lines of a broken nose or hand, bruised ribs, and then various gashes."

"How often was this exactly?"

"Once a week, but the injuries would not always be fresh, so I'm not sure how often they happened."

"Were they fights? Did anyone else have to come get treated?"

"No one that I was ever made aware of. It would just be him."

Farid frowned at the information. "Do you have any idea who inflicted them?"

"Most likely, it was his cellmate. I never had the theory confirmed, though."

"What makes you think it was him instead of someone in the prison yard?"

"Because of the night Dagur got his scar. He was in a really bad shape–the worst I had seen him. Someone would have noticed if it had been in the yard, but no one did. I think he might have died that night if Gobber had not seen what was happening."

"What exactly was happening?"

Gothi shrugged. "He never told me. I just saw the injuries. Along with the scar, he had a dislocated hip, various cuts, several broken ribs, and internal bleeding. I don't think it's a coincidence that his cellmate wound up with such severe injuries not too long afterwards. As soon as Dagur healed, maybe even before, Ansson was here, looking worse."

The psychologist tapped his chin. "How did Dagur seem after his injury?"

Thinking back, the woman started to share. "He was oddly quiet for him. He didn't say anything for a while. It was like he was somewhere else entirely. He wasn't even a bad patient then, but there were times when he'd snarl at someone from time to time."

"When did he start talking again?"

"After Gobber came to speak with him."

"Do you happen to know what they were talking about?"

Gothi shook her head. Farid thought of this and asked one more question.

"Do you think he'd be ready for a visitor?"

"I'm not sure. I don't study the mind like you, but you might be able to get to him more than we could. He's just going to get himself killed if he keeps this up."

"It seems like you don't want that."

"I'm not a fan of his, but I'm not blind. I can see when things aren't right and don't like when people get hurt because of it."

Farid gave a warm smile. "Thank you for this information."

Gothi just nodded and got back to her work as Farid went home. If he remembered correctly, Gobber was off his vacation by morning, so he would wait to ask him to be let into the inmate's cell. The next day, the psychologist awoke earlier than usual to arrive at the prison in enough time to also have his other sessions. Farid noticed the officer's car and was relieved that he had not been wrong about when he would return. Heading inside, he went to the warden's office with a different question in mind. Stoick seemed to have read his mind and did not wait to be asked before he used his radio to call Gobber to the room. After a short wait, the blond man arrived and smiled at the two (although it was with a bit of confusion).

"Hello, Gobber," Farid greeted. "I was wondering if before the other sessions begin, would you let me speak to Dagur? I could go to him this time."

"Go to his cell?" the officer asked, looking at Stoick. When the warden made no objection, he shrugged. "Alright. Follow me."

The two left the office and kept pace at each other's side.

"How was your vacation?" Farid asked.

"I never really like taking them," the older man admitted. "I feel like I should be doing something here, but it had been a long time since I'd even had a day off, so maybe it was good to get away from everything for a little bit." A question of his own began bothering him and he looked at the doctor. "What went on when I was gone? I saw some of the other officers looking beaten up. Also, why isn't Dagur coming to the therapy room like usual? I was supposed to talk with Stoick later, but you got here sooner than expected."

Farid's face clouded over. "Allegedly, he tried to escape."

Gobber's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"Has he ever tried to before?"

"Once, but it was the first week he was here."

Farid gave a small nod of his head, being even deeper in thought now. They went a bit further and Gobber unlocked the door, allowing them to enter. He went in first and turned on the light. At first, he was met with a sneer before the inmate realized who he was. Gobber sadly regarded him.

"What happened, Dagur?" he asked.

The redhead gave a half-hearted smirk. "You know me, always starting trouble."

Gobber did not return the smile. He opened his mouth to say something, stopped, then changed his mind again.

"I won't view it as a betrayal if you tell him the truth."

Dagur just blinked at him for a bit. "You wouldn't?"

"I've been trying to get Stoick to see the same thing for a while, so if anything, you'd be helping me if you got someone else to tell him also." Gobber checked his watch. "I'll come back in thirty minutes, Doctor."

The correctional officer left them and Farid stood by the door, frowning slightly. "I don't think you tried to escape."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It is you after all, oh, Doctor Perceptiveness," the inmate said, a small grin on his face. "The question is, why don't you?"

"We've been making progress and it wouldn't make sense. I heard that you've only tried one other time and it was years ago. Why start again all of a sudden? How would it benefit you to be on the lam?"

A soft chuckle came from the prisoner. "Always the rational one. So, what if I say I didn't? What then?"

"Then, you could tell me what actually happened. You heard Gobber. You don't have to try to protect him by not talking about the other officers."

Dagur was sitting in the corner, not being particularly fond of putting weight on his injured leg. He shifted slightly to get a better look at the doctor and saw sincerity on his face.

"That night, nine officers came to teach me a lesson in keeping my mouth shut," he explained, frowning as he recalled the event. Gradually, he began to smile. "They weren't good fighters, so I started beating them."

"Did you want to kill anyone?"

"No, that would've been stupid. I'd never get to talk with Heather if I did that. I'd be on everyone's hitlist and would just endanger her."

"Is that the only reason why?"

Looking sheepish, he nodded. "Yeah, kinda. It shouldn't be, should it?"

"I just want the truth, so if that's the real reason, it's fine. They had taser burns, so did you get one from them?"

Dagur nodded again, this time in excitement. "Yep! It was so easy to take. Those cheaters thought they could just come in here and attack me. They didn't see what was coming for them." The young man started scowling. "I'd gotten all but one when Alvin shot me through the food hatch. I didn't even notice him in the midst of everything."

"What didn't they want you to tell me about?"

"That Alvin and several of the officers sell drugs to the inmates." He saw the look on Farid's face and looked satisfied. "Then, you've suspected that too?"

"I noticed some of the others have been acting strangely. Without any other diagnosable mental disorders to blame, it seemed like they were experiencing withdrawal symptoms." He appeared slightly confused and moved closer. "But what I don't get is why you'd be targeted specifically? What makes you different?"

"The fact that I'm the only one crazy enough to tell anyone about him. Everyone else here–minus Gobber and Stoick–is scared of Alvin. They used to be afraid of Ansson too. The two of them worked together with that. Nothing went on without one of them knowing about it. Alvin would get Ansson the drugs and Ansson would scare the inmates into taking them. In a messed up way, they were a good team." Dagur looked proud of himself. "That's why it was so great messing that up. Of course, it's been years, so he probably has a new partner. I can't tell you who that is unfortunately."

"That's fine. You don't have to do everything. I'm glad you're telling me this."

"Wish I knew more. I don't know where Alvin gets the drugs from. I heard rumors of him going through some other people, but I don't know who they are. Whoever they are, I think they're who Ansson used to get them from before he got locked up."

Farid paused for a moment, then tried his luck with his next question. "I went to speak with Gothi. She told me that you tried to attack her nurses. Is that true?"

Dagur rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because…Alvin got in my head. After I first came to, he was there and threatened me, saying he'd send someone in to do a better job of going after me since I was restrained and wouldn't be able to attack them. I kept thinking the people who showed up alone were sent by him."

"That's not the only thing I learned from Gothi. According to her, you spent a lot of your first year in the infirmary."

Dagur looked at him for a moment, then a slight frown came to his face. "What about it?"

"Was it connected to the drugs?"

"Every once in a while, I'd see what was going on and would get involved. You know, do something like punch out one of Ansson's flunkies or something else along those lines. So yeah for those times."

"And the other times?"

"The other times, the drugs weren't involved. Not directly anyway."

Farid was not satisfied by that. "She said you'd come in with pretty bad injuries but also that they weren't fresh, so she couldn't be sure of how often it happened."

"What are you getting at, Doc?" Dagur asked, sounding agitated. "I told you why it happened. They didn't like people messing up their plans and I was sick of seeing people high. So, fights broke out."

"But you said that was only every once in a while."

"It's been years. Maybe I'm misremembering."

"You also said that wasn't the only reason."

Dagur scoffed and gestured to himself. "You've met me. Can you honestly say that you're shocked I got into fights a lot? Even those which didn't involve me messing up a drug deal?"

"Not shocked by that, but I'm shocked that she didn't have anyone else come in from injuries. Even without you trying to kill anyone, the other officers needed medical treatment. Officers," he added, emphasizing the plural nature of the word. "Sorry if I don't believe that a few inmates would come out unscathed."

"Yeah, well, I was younger then," Dagur said, looking off to the side. "I got better at fighting after I bulked up. There's a big difference between fighting school bullies and hardened criminals."

A few seconds of silence elapsed. "Gothi suspected your cellmate. She said he had his injuries not too long after you healed from–"

"I told you about Alvin!" Dagur snapped. "That means you got the helpful part of my stay here. You don't need to know the rest. Knowing what I just told you can help get Alvin and his followers fired. The other stuff won't, so drop it." Momentarily, his glare softened and had something else behind it as his tone became less aggressive. "I'm not protecting Gobber this time."

The psychologist's face was calm and he heard the sound of the aforementioned officer coming to get him.

"It could still do some good," he said. "If you can help me stop Alvin, I'll appreciate that, but my job is to help you. I can do that a lot better if you don't feel the need to protect yourself from me."

Gobber opened the door and Farid left to head to his therapy session room. As he exited, Dagur watched, sighing. The doctor was asking a lot. He had spent so much of his life only relying on himself. If he brought anyone in, it was done with a purpose–not just to talk. Of course, he could see where that had gotten him. Maybe it was time to make a change.