Colin's posts

"Hm?" he muttered.

"....hm." he then mumbled, before sighing and shrugging.

"Whatever." he said.

"I should be going, anyway." he reasoned, as he started to head for the door.

"Angela." he then addressed the medic.

"Go home and sleep." he told her.

"It's clear you're on-edge and nervous. You're probably tired." he continued.

"I'll tell Agent Sharp to take you off active duty for a while."

"Nothing." Zeke responded.

"And personality shift? I don't know what you're talking about." he told her.

"Stop being such a little snoop." he continued.

"You're the medic, stick to the medical wing." he went on.

That's when he noticed that she had grabbed onto his belt loop.

In response, he grabbed the wrist of that hand with his other hand... and started to squeeze, in an attempt to get her to forcefully loosen her grip.

Zeke reacted quickly... and not in the way she expected.

Not only did he violently snap his arm out of her grasp, but he then roughly grabbed her own wrist, and yanked her arm off to the side.

"Don't touch me." he told her, his eyes sharp and piercing.

"There's nothing to talk about." he said.

"I'm leaving, and that's that. You interrupted me, so I'll leave." he continued.

"And you'd be wise to leave it at THAT."

Zeke was silent for a moment.

"Nothing." he said flatly.

"Just working." he told her.

"Was leaving now." he continued, unplugging the external drive and quickly putting it away.

He then started to shut down the workstation... but Angela caught a glimpse of what he'd been on.

Security for the Unit.

Specifically, how the alarms worked and such.

Inside, she found only one person.

Zeke.

And he was at one of the computers in the room... seemingly so absorbed into it that he hadn't heard her.

But whatever he was looking at was probably not good... as he had an external hard drive attached to it.

She didn't know if he was uploading or downloading, but... it wasn't good.

There was no reason to have a personal storage device attached to a public work computer.

As she wandered the halls, she noticed things were quiet. Which was fair.

However, something just... didn't feel right.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was a certain... unease... she was feeling.

Things seemed a little darker than usual, or maybe that was because she looked down a particularly dark hallway... and saw light spilling out from ONE room, whose door was partially shut.

And nobody was supposed to be in that sector. It didn't have night-staff. And the cleaning crews kept things well-lit when they did the area.

As she looked at the clock, she realised something.

She had been wondering about Zeke a bit for the past while.

He'd been spending less time at home, hadn't been socialising with many people at work... he'd just been... different.

And this was no exception.

Normally she would know if Zeke was working late or not, or if he would be home to make sure Liv was okay... but she was clueless now.

He hadn't been telling her ANYTHING.

Jake had no idea what she was thinking, and merely leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We can help, if you'll let us." he told her.

"That's as much as I'll say." he said.

"We won't force you." he went on.

"All right?" he asked.

"When you're ready to take that step... we'll be there for you."

"......." Jake was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"Listen." he said.

"I know it's easier said than done, you don't have to act like Vanessa's here." he told her.

"Yes, I know what she does ingrains itself deep into you, but maybe we can help. Show you that it's all right to break down and let everything out. You're in pain, and I get that." he continued.

"But you ARE allowed to show it. You're allowed to cry. To be angry. To let out your emotions." he assured her.

"It might not have been under the best circumstances, but you've managed to escape Vanessa... and it seems like this is for real, and not some ploy by her or anything." he went on.

"So perhaps let us show you that you can have a life again. Not the one you had before she wormed her way in, but you CAN rebuild." he told her.

"I promise."

Jake understood what she had written.

But he didn't like it.

Specifically, he didn't like how Vanessa had taken in Azari and Ayla... and then corrupted the former, while the latter probably suffered more. She had abused their trust, and used them. Was probably still using Azari.

".....I see." he said quietly.

"Well... when you've nowhere to go, even a deal with the devil looks good." he commented.

"I know THAT all too well." he mumbled further.

"...I don't blame you, you know." he then said. "Looking back on it, ever since I escaped, I may have not liked you, but... I realise... I never blamed YOU for anything." he then confided in her.

Jake looked at the message, and nodded.

"Yes." he said.

"There is." he told her.

"...for some time, I've thought about my time with Vanessa... with that place..." he continued.

"Why were you there?" he asked.

"Did you willingly join forces with her, at least initially?"

"...that would be nice." Jake replied, handing the tablet back.

"But when Vanessa's THAT deep into someone's mind... there's no way out." he lamented.

"Whoever your brother was... I think he's pretty much gone by now." he lamented.

"Even if he WAS saved, I don't think he'd ever be 'fully' back." he went on.

"Just... it's horrible." he sighed.

"I was one of the few lucky ones..."

Jake read the tablet... and growled slightly.

"She has no respect for anything." he muttered.

"And the fact that Azari did this shows just how far he's fallen." he went on.

He then shook his head and handed it bad to her.

"Just... damn it all." he cursed.

"Everything and everyone to her is a damn resource."

"....I figured as much." Jake responded, reading it.

"He always did seem like he was dominant." he said.

"A submissive bitch to Vanessa, but still overall dominant." he muttered.

He then sighed, and looked at Ayla.

"I'm sorry." he said to her.

"I can guess that you were abandoned by Vanessa." he continued.

"But I can tell you... you're safe here."