Walter's eyes were on the ceiling as his mind reached March 14th 2005.
He was in the safehouse that FinCEN had secured as part of his cover. It was just past 10 pm when he jumped up as there was an unexpected knock on his door. Walter walked over and opened the door. He saw two of the thugs from Marcella's group standing there.
"Let me get my laptop." Walter told them. The last two months had been an unbelievable whirlwind of a balancing act to keep his cover without revealing his true abilities. He knew he couldn't keep computer records of everything so he had to commit it all to his eidetic memory. Just before his hand grabbed it he heard her voice.
"Your laptop isn't required Walter." Marcella said.
Walter spun around in shock that she had left the safety of her hideout. But there she stood, still wearing her ski mask.
"Good evening." Walter said. His smile exploded out of his somber expression, bringing a light to Marcella's eyes.
Marcella returned his smile before she pushed his door closed, leaving the two men outside of the house.
"This is an unexpected surprise as well as an unnecessary risk." Walter told her while stepping up closer to her.
"I wanted to see where you lived." Marcella told him softly.
"Feel free." Walter nodded as he gestured at the front room. "But as someone who's emotional state is so minimal, there isn't much to look at."
Marcella smiled as she ran her hand across his shoulder, softly, before walking around looking at things.
Walter followed with her, his nostrils inhaling the scents she always wore.
Marcella paused before a print on the wall. She nodded before she looked at Walter.
"Why this print?" Macella asked, her smile making his heart skip a beat.
Walter blushed as his heart rate began climbing.
"Actually, it was here when I moved in." Walter told her. "The frame had been damaged, and there was a cut through the paper." Walter pointed it out. "But something about it, I just liked it. So I repaired the cut the best I could and had it put in a new frame before I hung it back up."
"For a man who is emphatic that he has little to no emotional quotient, you sure do express it in an interesting way." Marcella told him.
Walter blushed.
"Do you know much about it?" Marcella asked.
Walter shook his head.
"It was originally painted by Henrietta Asper." Marcella told him. "Its abstract nature has confused scholars for over fifty years. My own personal belief, she's depicting her view of the struggle between the sexes. The triangles are men and the circles are women. The men with their sharp points, always at the ready, to take what they want." Macella said as she stared deep into his eyes.
Walter pressed in and kissed her, hard and passionately.
Marcella welcomed his advances.
His hands burned with a desire to remove her mask. He brought his hands up and cupped her cheeks, where it would be a simple matter to remove the mask. He was surprised Marcella hadn't acted like she was concerned about him unmasking her. But in the end, he refused to give in to that urge, instead his hands dropped and he pushed her coat off her shoulders.
His sweater was pulled off of him next as their hands moved faster and more frantically together to shed their remaining clothes. It wasn't long before they stumbled into his bedroom and fell on his bed.
They ended up making love several times before they both curled up together.
Walter woke a short bit later, alone. He looked about but her clothes were gone. He saw a piece of paper on the nightstand so he grabbed it.
"Walter, sorry, I had to leave. See, men always take what they want, but then this time, I wanted it too. I've got your laptop with me. My men will be back at 6 am to bring you back to me. Be ready. -Marcella"
Walter checked his phone and saw he had a couple of hours. He sighed as he got up and took a shower so he could get ready and eat before 6. He took time to destroy her note. He had issues with his mission before, now he was really struggling with his mission against…her.
Marcella smiled as Walter walked into the room she was waiting for him in.
"Good morning lover." Marcella smiled.
"Good morning, would have been an even better morning had we woken up together." Walter smiled.
"Remember Walter, don't be too greedy." Marcella smiled.
"Did your people have a good time hacking my laptop?" Walter asked as he stopped in front of her.
"That really wouldn't matter, I trust you, but my lieutenants still question you. They found what I already knew about you." Marcella said before Walter kissed her again.
"Here's what I need you to do." Marcella told him as she broke the kiss and held out a piece of paper to him.
Walter frowned but took the piece of paper and read it.
"You can't be serious." Walter asked.
"I am." Marcella nodded. "Do that and we can enjoy many nights like last night together."
Walter walked over and sat down at the laptop. Walter hit a couple of keys which brought up a hidden and protected version of his laptop's software. Walter figured they might try at some point to install software on his laptop to monitor him, so he installed a separate version they couldn't hack.
Marcella sat down opposite of him as he went to work. She smiled at him every time he looked up at her.
Walter had all their information memorized, it was why they didn't find anything on his computer. But now he had to work fast, her task was obviously a test, one he couldn't perform. But it was written in a handwriting that wasn't hers, he knew there was no one above her, so it had to be one of the lieutenants she mentioned that didn't trust him, that wanted to test him. Walter sent a coded message to his handler and then he used his knowledge of her operation to freeze all of their assets. Next he disseminated all the members' private information to his handler…everyone but Marcella's. He hadn't really tried to figure it out.
"How long do you think it will take?" Marcella asked.
"Maybe ninety to one hundred minutes." Walter replied as he looked at her. Her smile thrilled him.
"The faster the better." She told him.
Walter nodded as he went back to work.
At seventy minutes Walter paused as he looked up at Marcella.
"May I be honest with you?" Walter asked quietly.
"You can't perform the task can you? And by can't I mean your morals won't let you do it, will they?" Marcella asked.
Walter nodded.
"We're not looking to harm people Walter. Our goal is the government. We believe we're all being lied to, in many ways. The ultra-rich have gamed the system starting with the assassination of Kennedy. Nixon, Reagan, the war on drugs, now the war on terror. Do you know with all the money we've taken there has been no acknowledgement of it? They've hidden the loss in the budget fighting terror. We were able to break into secure depositories, physically and electronically and take all that money. What's stopping groups who are bent on real destruction for our country?" Marcella asked.
"I said we're not looking to harm people and that isn't completely true." Marcella sighed. "We're kind of like Robin Hood as well. The ultra-rich that we've been able to identify in the conspiracy will suffer losses, not physical harm. I refuse to let us harm innocent people."
"This was a test one of my lieutenants wanted to run on you. Even with my word being the authority in the group, sometimes I have to give my people bones to shore up their support. Now that I've been honest with you, what do you want to be honest about to me?" Marcella asked him.
"A number of things, but after your explanation, I'm out of time." Walter gestured, so Marcella stood and walked around the table. Walter pointed at the screen showing a number of dark vehicles now pulling onto the street leading to her hideout.
"I was sent to infiltrate your organization. The CIA and FBI trained me for three days in extensive body language and proper emotional expression in response to them so I could make my way into your circle. I had to do my job but I don't want you to be harmed or taken. I care far too much for you, I know I love you. I had to freeze all the assets, but I didn't freeze thirty three B. You got to flee now, by yourself. I've made sure no one can follow your trail. I had to pull most of the money from the account but I left you more than enough. The money in it was marked as coming from lottery winnings. You'll have to pay taxes on it if you pull too much out at one time. Keep the withdrawal amounts low. Remember, thirty three B, go before they get here." Walter told her quietly.
Marcella's eyes went wide as she looked at him. Thirty three B was an emergency account she had set up just in case she had to run.
"Walter?" Marcella said softly.
"Please, go. I don't want you to get in trouble. Now, run, use the money wisely, make a boring life for yourself." Walter pleaded.
Marcella froze in indecision.
"Come with me." Marcella told him finally.
"As much as I want to, I can't. You can disappear, I can't. The Feds will have my ID blasted all over the world looking for me. If I'm not here, then they will hound me." Walter warned her.
"No, if you won't go with me, then I'll stay and go to jail." Marcella told him.
"Marcella, no, you can't." Walter grabbed her shoulders. "You got to go and live a good life. I'd be a dead weight about your neck. And if they catch me, they'll catch you. Please, go, now." Walter begged.
"Is this your real feelings or are they your CIA trained responses?" Marcella asked.
"My real feelings. Nothing I have expressed to you was fake." Walter promised.
Marcella kissed him quickly before she ran to a side door. She took a moment to look at him one more time and then blew him a kiss. She opened the door and went down the steps just before he heard gun fire.
Walter sighed as he looked at the closed door she went through. He'd found the girl of his dreams and he let her leave without him. He had to be stupid he thought.
His hands went over his head and he laced his fingers together as he heard the shouting voices of the Feds getting closer.
Fortunately his handler was in the lead and protected him from the overzealous minions with him.
As Walter stood inside the US Mint in Denver briefing the director of FinCEN on what had happened, he could tell that the director was very irritated. All the work the CIA and FBI invested into training him to recognize body language to help him infiltrate the group led him to an 83.2% probability that he was going to be thrown in jail. And sure enough, he was taken into custody and sent to ADX Florence without so much as an appearance before a judge.
It took the government nearly six months to rectify what had been done to his property. The President made good on his promises to Walter and he got the Garage back, paid in full. His itemized items that were missing or destroyed were all replaced, with brand new furnishings.
With Walter's help, Marcella's entire network was captured or neutralized and nearly all of their money confiscated. Marcella herself was in the wind with no one able to give them any further information of who she really was. Even her surviving top lieutenants had no clue what she looked like or who she was. They were branded as a lunatic conspiracy group. But a lot of people in power breathed a bit easier that nearly everyone was caught or killed.
All told her network had taken over twenty eight billion dollars from the Federal Reserve. Private citizens had lost nearly eight billion dollars. With Walter's help, they recovered all but twenty four million of the Federal Reserve's money, none of the private money was found. The President had finally gotten Walter to agree to continue working the case pursuing both Marcella and the remaining twenty four million.
With Cabe acting as his handler, Walter worked from Cabe's apartment during those six months but was unable to trace where the remaining money had disappeared to. Walter worked on it off and on for the next three years, gathering all the information Marcella's group operated under and why they went after who they went after.
Gradually the investigation was shut down in 2008 just before the Presidential election. It also saw Walter meeting a young Asian engineer and forming a friendship with her.
Walter and Cabe parted on good terms after the investigation was shut down and Cabe was transferred to New York.
Sep 22nd 2014, Klemmer air field:
"Deal's a deal." Cabe told Walter as he held out four envelopes.
Walter took the envelopes with a cursory glance through them.
"Paige…she deserves a share." Walter told him.
"I'll see to it." Cabe told him.
Walter could tell there was something else he was thinking.
"Before, when you were sixteen…" Cabe said and paused. Unsure if Walter would be willing. But he needed to take a chance. "When we worked together, that didn't pan out the way either of us wanted. I was hoping, moving forward, things could be different." Cabe explained. "Like with how we worked together from 2005 to 2008."
"Moving forward?" Walter asked.
"I came back to L.A. to start a strategic response team. At any given time, we deal with everything from stolen nukes to missing kids to counterfeit cash so good it can collapse our economy in less than a month. The bad guys are getting smarter. And I can't train my agents to think like you do. I have the full resources of the U.S. government. I need your help, and I think you and your team need a home." Cabe expounded.
"Here." Walter said as he held out a folded piece of paper.
Cabe took the paper and glanced at it after opening it.
"Fixed salaries, cars, research lab. You saw this coming." Cabe looked Walter in the eye.
"It was your only logical move." Walter told him.
"Walter…" Cabe said softly as Walter turned to leave. "If we're going to do this, there is something I need to tell you."
"I'm listening." Walter turned back and folded his arms in front of his chest.
"What happened when you were sixteen, I was honest with you son. I didn't know that was the plan. But, Walter, three days before the bombing Merrick threatened you. He told me what they were using that software for. And I told him I was going to tell you. He told me to check my email before I made any further mistakes. I had a classified email, a letter written under the NSA's banner. It was a press release, citing you as a terrorist. That you had tricked them and used the software to commit that bombing." Cabe told him.
"He said if I told you, he'd publish that document and destroy your life. I couldn't let that happen, son. I had to sit on the information." Cabe finished.
"I know." Walter said simply.
"You know?" Cabe looked surprised.
"While I was waiting for Happy and Toby to return to the diner I hacked your accounts to see what you had been up to." Walter told him.
"So, you know what I'm really doing here then." Cabe said softly.
"I do." Walter nodded. "But I believe in second chances. But no more lies between us going forward, deal?"
Cabe grinned as he nodded and shook Walter's hand before Walter joined his friends.
"Are we going out to celebrate?" Happy asked as she looked at her check.
"No, I want to go talk to Paige." Walter told her. "Cabe's people are running us back to the Garage."
"We're not going to have to put up with that partner of his are we?" Happy asked. "Because if I hear him say another derogatory thing to Sly, I'm going to bust him so hard he'll wake up next week."
Walter grinned as he shook his head.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! lol Nope, Walter seems destined to always find himself struggling for one thing or another. lol
Massika - Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. It is fun finding different ways their lives could playout. You're welcome.
Pearliegirl - lol Yep, might speak again. I think I always hear that line in Cabe's voice, iconic for us I suppose. While I haven't read it, I have seen that story, I know there are 2 other stories on AO3 that deal with Scorpion and vampires. LOL Poor you indeed! lol
Marie Mac - You're welcome!
LouBe - lol Walter as James Bond, kind of a throw back to him and Paige going undercover over the stolen painting! lol And now you know more about what was going on...stay tuned for next Thursday! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim