This is the end… part 1
State prison visitors area:
"Hello, Mark. How goes things?"
"Jack, hope things on the outside are going well after your time served. Been keeping tabs on my buddies in LA?"
"Yes, there have been a lot of changes. The team split up. Only your friend Walter is at the garage. The rest of them have started another business called Centipede Partners and it looks like they have pretty much decimated Scorpion as no one has been at the garage for weeks. The one woman drops off a kid Saturday morning and picks him up either that evening or Sunday evening- that is the only traffic in and out of the place. The guy living there takes a walk every few days to get some chow at a restaurant a couple blocks away, but that is the only movement in or out of the place."
"Jack, did you know millions of dollars can be made by anyone who finds the solution to scientific problems? Walter threw away millions by winning an award for space innovation and not leaving the rocket to be checked out by the awarding organization and then put the design on the open market. Crazy, huh? So all that needs to be done is pick another scientific problem with a multi-million award for coming up with a solution and….. come up with a solution. Sound like a good idea?"
"Well, yeah, but how to find the solution seems to be the main issue. So what are you getting at?"
"Well, all you need is a problem with a big pay-off and a smart person to figure out the solution. Seems my buddy Walter has some time on his hands with nothing to do. Here is what I plan…."
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Ten weeks after the Scorpion break up, no one is at the garage but Walter. Homeland has swapped to the Centipede Partners and assigned Cabe Gallo to be the handler as Scorpion, with only Walter, is of little use except for the specific area of expertise of O'Brien. Homeland Security has little use for a mathematician/computer genius. Saturday morning a red Chevy pulls into the Scorpion parking lot, a young boy hops out of the car and enters the garage. Once the door is closed the Chevy pulls out and leaves.
"Hi Walter," Ralph calls once the door shuts, "what you up to?"
"Walter?" Ralph calls again. "WALTER?" No answer so Ralph heads to the back section where the Airstream is but all is empty and dark. He heads back to the main area and goes up the stairs to the loft, but it also is empty. Ralph pulls his phone from his pocket and calls Walter's number only to hear the ring at Walter's desk. Ralph is automatically on the alert as there is no way Walther would leave knowing Ralph was to be dropped off, and certainly would not leave without his phone. Going back down the stairs to Walter's desk Ralph sees the ever present laptop Walter never leaves without is still on the desk as is Walter's phone. Ralph calls Gabe's number which is answered quickly.
"Cabe, is Walter with you? All his equipment, laptop and phone are here in the garage but there is no sign of Walter."
"No, he isn't with me. Did you check the Airstream? Up on the roof in case he is setting up the telescope?"
While talking with Cabe, Ralph went up to the roof but still nothing. "I checked the whole place and not a sign of Walter anywhere, and there does not appear to be any signs of disturbance. I am worried, this isn't like him knowing I would be dropped off this afternoon, and his leaving without the laptop and especially his phone is worrisome."
"Ralph, sit there, don't touch anything and wait for me- I will be there within twenty minutes. Do NOT touch anything so I can see exactly the condition of the place. And call me immediately if he shows up."
In less than twenty minutes Cabe arrived and headed into the garage to see Ralph sitting at Walter's desk. He looked up as Cabe entered. "I waited for you to get here before checking the outside security system, I will bring it up, now." Using his own laptop he brought up the security feed and saw Walter leaving at 9:07, approximately forty-five minutes before Ralph was to be dropped off. Walter left the garage, walked half a block then turned into the alley to disappear. "He would not go that way were he heading to Kovelsky's or the electronic shop, both a couple blocks the other direction. This makes no sense, something is wrong."
"Let's take a run to the restaurant and see if he popped in" Cabe suggested. "He has been kinda' spacy since the break-up so maybe he finally got hungry enough to go get something to eat and did not check the time. Might even be on his way back so we can give him a ride."
"Sorry, have not seen anyone from the garage in weeks" the usual waitress said.
"No, have not seen Walter about any equipment in over a month," the electronics store clerk said.
"Let's head back to the garage- I will check any security cameras along the street or in stores within a ten block area" Ralph said. Both he and Cabe were getting worried- Walter could not just disappear.
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Walter woke up with a raging headache. He was on a mat on the floor. As he got his bearings, he looked around and saw he was in a twenty by twenty room. A narrow bed in one corner, shelves of canned goods then an alcove with a shower stall, sink, and toilet. All along the walls were whiteboards affixed to the wall. There was a door but when he opened it, there was a brick wall, so no exit. The ceiling was a good twenty feet high with a trapdoor so obviously the only way in or out. The first whiteboard on the wall next to the alcove had the Reinler theorem written on it- concerned with black holes when Walter had read up on it some months ago. Interesting. Walter sat on the bed and looked at the theorem while rubbing the lump on his head in hopes the headache would abate. That was when he noticed the small camera in the corner of the ceiling, so he knew he was being watched. He wondered if Ralph was at the garage, but figured there was not much he could do if he was. He quit rubbing his head and looked at the Reinler theorem.
"Guess you want me to figure it out? May take a while….. this you Mark? Interesting that you could pull this off while still locked up, but then you always were adept at manipulating normals," Walter said while rubbing the lump on his head again. "Looking to send me down a rabbit hole without anyone to help me return? How long you figure it will take, and if I do come up with a solution you going to let me out or just collect the award and leave me to rot?"
Walter continued to sit, then lowered himself to the floor leaned back against the bed and laid his arms out on the bed edge and stared at the whiteboard. "Let the fun begin," he said, closed his eyes to still the internal turmoil of the past weeks…. and started to think.
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All weekend Cabe and Ralph remained at the garage. Cabe went over the premises with a fine-toothed comb but found nothing to indicate anything amiss in or around the garage. Ralph went through every security feed he could find be it street, store or residences in the area, all to no avail. Sunday evening as usual, Paige came by the garage to pick Ralph up to go home and get ready for the school week.
Cabe remained at the garage and was surprised when Richard Elias came in Monday evening. "Had a meeting with Walter scheduled for this afternoon and he didn't show. I know he is on edge with all that has happened with Scorpion- I was hiring him to oversee some issues the space division think tank was having. Where is he?"
"Better sit down, Richard" Cabe said. "Walter has disappeared. Ralph and I have been going over security feeds from all over the area, but, after he is shown to go up the alley not far from the back door Saturday morning, there is no sighting of him anywhere. I spent today cruising the area with his picture canvassing people in the neighborhood, but no one has seen him. I am at a total loss." Both men looked at each other in silence.
"I have an outfit I use for corporate security, they have a detective section that is one of the best in the country. I will have them get in on this. He will be found- he have any relations over here? Check with those in Ireland in the event he just left? Surely he has friends or acquaintances outside the former Scorpion members. I know the break-up hit him hard; has been pretty much isolated since then. He is not the most social individual- think he might just disappear or, the gods forbid, harm himself? Been three days, now, and I know how attached to Ralph he is- he would not do anything that might traumatize the kid."
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No telling the time in this place- no sun, no traffic noise, total quiet isolation. So Walter sits on the floor in front of the first whiteboard. When his eyes are open, they track across the whiteboard though he writes nothing on it. Four day's he sits with eyes open, then closed for hours. He opened a couple cans of peaches and pears, took a shower and figured why get fully dressed so sat in his boxers staring at the whiteboard. He would sit on the floor, lean against the bed and dozed a few times, but always came back to the first whiteboard with the Reinler theorem then sit before the second whiteboard with eyes closed for hours then open them and track across the board without writing anything.
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Another Friday evening and Paige is happy to drop Ralph off at the garage in hopes he will cheer up as he has become increasingly withdrawn. Thursday one of his teachers had called to say he had to remove Ralph's laptop as he was not doing the school work, not participating, just constantly on his computer. When Ralph walked into the garage Cabe was waiting for him. Ralph told them he had expanded the video search for a mile out from the garage and still saw no sign of Walter. A short time later, Richard entered and said his corporate security outfit has had no luck finding anything- not even a lead after Walter went up that alley.
Ralph was disappointed with the lack of progress. "I bet were Walter here with this problem he would figure something out, some way to see what happened. People don't just fall off the earth without a trace. We must be missing something! I'm going to start tracking vehicles leaving the area. At least it will give me something to do!"
With the detective agency, Cabe, Richard, and Ralph at a total loss, they finally asked the former members of Scorpion if they had heard from Walter. That meant they had to be informed of his disappearance and how long it had been. They were angered they were not informed from the start and joined in the search, but, as with the others, came up with nothing.
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"Hello, Jack, I was wondering when you would be popping in again," Mark said. "Have a copy of the video? Any progress as yet?"
"Nope, the guy just sits there, never wrote one mark on a board. He has not eaten anything nor slept in days, now. He has been there for almost two weeks and nothing," Jack replied. "You can see for yourself" and handed his phone to Mark to watch the video of Walter.
"Wow, not eating, no sleep, definitely down the rabbit hole DEEP now." Mark was thinking- what if Walter really ended up comatose and could not come up for air under his own power. Is Walter figuring out the theorem or off on another tangent completely he wondered. "We will give him another five days of solitude- if he has a solution, he should write something. All your relatives that helped get him and place him there are safely out of the country, now? This entire plan may have been for nothing if Walter can't figure it out." A few minutes later after watching the video of Walter again, Mark said, "yes, another five days, if nothing by then, you can use the burner and call in the address so he can be found. Not interested in killing him."
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Three days passed and Walter, sitting on the floor leaning against the bed, rose with difficulty and smiled at the camera. In a weakened condition, his voice was quiet but easily heard: "Mark, it is done, and I will give you nothing. It is quite an elegant solution, another mathematic constant was needed but that brought it all together. I even proved it, so it is a given it should be awarded as a solution. Think they will name the constant after me? Well, they won't if I am long gone, dead and buried in this hole." Walter smiled again and slowly sank to the floor, one arm and his head on the edge of the bed and passed out.
Jack showed the video with Walter's comment to Mark. "Guess we won't be getting those millions, huh?"
"No, guess not. Call the address in to Homeland so they can collect him. Make the one call, destroy and dump the phone. Was a good idea, but didn't pan out," Mark said. "Once Walter is back on his feet, who knows, maybe he will visit." He chuckled as he headed back to his cell from the visitors section.
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Once Walter was found, he was taken to Richard's medical center. He was checked over and, besides lack of food, fluids, and sleep, he was left with a fluid drip and sedative to sleep and recover. Everyone was informed he was found and looked to be surviving his ordeal.
After seven days in the clinic, his blood work was back to equilibrium, physically he was weak but ready to be checked out the following day. Richard dropped off clothes in anticipation of his release the following day, spent some time talking with him, then left so Walter could sleep.
The following day, Walter's IV was removed in the morning and he given the OK to be released, but told to take it easy and eat light but frequent healthy meals. He gathered the clothes Richard had dropped off and went into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. He came out of the bathroom dressed and was rubbing his wet hair with a towel while headed for the door when he heard his name spoken quietly. He recognized Paige's voice and froze. He lowered his arm, the towel in his hand to his side and turned to see her sitting in the chair by the bed.
"Walter" she said again, "I am so sorry for all the things I said."
He stood looking at her, so flooded with emotion he could barely breathe. It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts.
"A simple apology in no way can rectify the damage done, Paige. When you walked out, you took the love of my life away with you. You took my team, the closest thing to a family I had. You took Scorpion, my one purpose in life and utterly destroyed it. And the final twist of the knife, you shattered my core self in announcing to everyone I am not man enough to satisfy a woman I love." He turned to leave to find another two of the Centipede Partners at the doorway.
Again Paige said "Walter, please."
He turned his head and said, "Walter is gone. By this time tomorrow he will be erased." He noticed Richard in the hall, looked at Toby and Happy so they moved aside and he walked out. He shook hands with Richard and they left the clinic talking of how to submit the solution to the Reinler theorem to collect the award, and plans for lunch to discuss terms for Walter's employment with Richard and his numerous international endeavors.
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Everyone has a 'love of their life'; so many fail. Paige loved Drew, she loved and threw away Walter, she will find love again as 'normals' do. Centipede Partners was doing well as a business as well as in partnership with Homeland. Ralph, being the smart young man he is will find a way to stay in contact with Walter to the benefit of both. A whole new chapter of life is beginning for the entire cast of characters.