Colin's posts

"Indeed." Hal agreed.

"Oh, one more thing." he said.

"What kind of elf does she seem to be?" he asked.

"Anya didn't tell me, neither did Jake." he continued.

"I merely ask for filing's sake." he went on.

"After all, if I'm going to report this to the Triad, I DO need all the initial details I can get." he then reasoned.

"...." Hal was silent.

"That is alarming." he said.

"I've never heard of anything like that before." he commented.

"Hm." he mumbled, thinking about it.

"This is troubling, indeed." he went on.

"We may need to try and call someone in that specialises in mana identification and such, if she doesn't improve."

"Hmmm." Hal mumbled.

"The mana." he said.

"That seems to actively be trying to kill her." he went on.

"What is it doing?" he asked.

"Specifically, what's it doing to kill her?"

Hal was silent as Angela said all she did.

"....well... I see..." he said.

"All I can say is... damn..." he mumbled.

"It's THAT bad?" he asked.

Angela nodded.

"Well, all I ask is you do all you can." he assured her.

"If she doesn't make it... then she doesn't make it." he continued.

"From what Anya's told me, it's a miracle that there's even a chance she'll make it." he then added.

"Of course." Hal replied, before buzzing the R&D department.

"Hello, Kiah." he greeted the one that answered.

"Anya is on her way down." he told her.

"For the web extraction. She was here anyway, and volunteered." he continued.

"So be ready for her to arrive."

Hal thought for a moment.

"Yeah, there should be someone down there." he told her.

"Kiah and Illias, most certainly." he reasoned.

"If you want to head on down, go ahead." he continued. "I'll call them to let you know you're on your way." he went on.

He then paused for a moment, and sighed.

"And try not to fluster and taunt the younger interns." he told her.

"Too much hormonal stimulation, and they're useless for hours afterwards." he lamented.

Hal just raised a hand.

"BECAUSE he's such a key part here, I am willing to find a way to give him the day off." he told her.

"He's earned it. He deserves it." he went on.

"Simple as that." he finished with a light chuckle.

"Regardless, while you're here..." he then said, remembering something.

"When can you come in next for... web extraction?" he asked her.

"R&D wants some samples to experiment on in the next month or so."

Aly was shocked by the sudden display of affection, but she wasn't about to complain.

She merely returned the hug as best she could, and smiled at him.

"It's good to see you so happy, Eke." she told him gently.

"...all right... all right, thanks boss. Yeah, I get it. Cool. Thanks again." he went on.

"Bye." he finished, before hanging up.

"We got 3 weeks." he told Eke.

"Combining vacation days with... well, downtime from the non-busy season." he explained.

Hal was silent as he heard that.

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

"Well, that's certainly... eventful, to say the least." he commented. "Certainly concerning and downright horrifying, to be honest." he admitted further.

"I can understand why that day got just short." he went on.

"Thank you for bringing her here. We don't want one of the few elves that are left alive in this world to perish." he went on, before pausing. "Well... aside from one or two exceptions..." he then muttered with venom in his tone.

"Regardless, thank you for telling me this." he continued.

"I'll try and schedule Jake a day off in the near future so you can try the date-day again." he finished.

"Enter!" she heard from behind the door.

When she did, Hal raised his eyebrow when he saw her.

"Anya?" he asked.

"Surprised to see YOU here." he commented.

"Thought you and Jake were having a 'date-day'..." he went on.

"Did something happen?" he asked, concern in his tone.

"...................." both Aly and Ryker were silent, before Ryker sighed heavily.

He looked around, before finding a parking lot for a drugstore, and pulling into it.

"Excuse the delay." he said to Aly.

"Not even a bother." Aly assured him.

Ryker then took out his cell phone, called his boss, and started conversing with him, negotiating time off.

Jake nodded.

"Yeah, we need to get her to the Unit ASAP." he reasoned.

The drive went fairly quickly, and they pulled into the parking lot of the 'office building' that was the Unit. Once there, they stepped out of the vehicle.

"All right, then." he said, before pausing.

"Need to make sure we're expected." he reasoned.

With that, he dug his phone out of his pocket, and dialed Angela, the head medic.

Again, Jake sighed.

"Fair point." he said.

"And I doubt it was, either." he told her.

"....poor girl." he mumbled.

"Well, too bad this day turned out to be a bust." he then said.

"We'll have to try again someday."

Jake just shook his head.

"It's not that." he said.

"Well... I don't think so?" he mumbled.

"Whatever." he muttered.

"I just know that... well... she's had dealings with a certain dark elf." he told her further.

"However, it looks like that may be a remnant of the past now." he went on, briefly glancing back at her.

"I... something tells me that I shouldn't bring her up around the girl." he then added with a sigh.