Colin's posts

Hal nodded in response.

"That works for me." he said.

"But it's also up to Aedan." he went on.

"She'll be the one accessing the record remnants." he reasoned.

"Can you leave in 15 minutes?" he asked her.

Again, Ryker sighed.

"Yes." he said.

"I can't... I can't help but feel that may be a good idea." he told him.

"I'll see what I can afford." he continued. "Because I doubt this is a service your talents will get you for free." he warned.

"At a discount, sure. But not free."

Hal just sighed.

"Why is good help so hard to find these days." he mumbled.

"Anyway, Kiah." he then said, addressing the Fyrane.

"We need your help in dealing with your grandfather." he told her, before explaining the situation in more detail.

"...and even though he's been making progress, I doubt he'll take too kindly to my making such a sensitive request." he concluded with a small sigh.

"Do you think YOU could get Aedan here access to those remaining files?"

Her last statement was blunt, but it was open. Open enough for Hal to do his thing secretly, without the intern finding out what he was.

He slipped his hand down behind his back, and quietly snapped his fingers, though nobody heard it. Aedan saw it, however.

At that moment, the green in the container seemed to have a reaction... but it was a weird one. One that had a 1/50 chance of happening. It shook around a little, before it started to shoot up towards the surface, slowing down when got near the surface, and gently floated to the surface.

But Kiah needed to act quickly, for it would sink back down within 10 seconds.

"...." Hal was silent, before sighing.

"Greetings." he said.

"It would see that you are in quite a predicament." he commented.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"Because it seems like time is of the essence."

"Hm." Hal muttered.

"This is quite important." he said.

"We'll make our way down there to you." he told her.

"By 'we', I mean myself and Aedan." he then clarified.

"See you in a few minutes." he finished, before they ended the call and he hung up.

"Come on." he told Aedan.

With that, the two of them swiftly made their way down to the R&D lab, with Hal scanning around to see where Kiah was, and what she was doing.

Ryker just sighed and scowled to himself.

"Because you attacked someone? No." he said.

"Because of the mental hospital? Yeah, kinda." he admitted.

"That was the worst thing that could have happened to you. And I let it happen." he said further. "You only got worse, and it took a demon to solve that problem." he continued.

"...I can't help feel that I failed you." he admitted quietly.

"That I'm a terrible brother..."

Sharp chuckled in response.

"Well, she DOES value her independence as well." he said.

"It's not really my business where she decides to live." he told her further.

With that, he picked up his desk phone, and dialled the number for the lab. After waiting for a couple of seconds, the one he wanted to speak to answered.

"Ah, Kiah." he said.

"Could you come see me in my office please?" he asked. "ASAP."

Ryker almost collapsed from the sheer shock and surprise of the question, but then stopped, sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose, before shaking his head.

"First off, let's define some things." he said.

"Have I started to drink alcohol when you're not around? Yes." he admitted. "Have I started to drink excessive amounts of alcohol when you're not around? No." he clarified.

"Alcohol really isn't something I want to make a coping mechanism. I've seen too many people like that, and it's... frightening, to say the least." he went on.

"Beyond that, the other me can just turn on some weird kind of super alcohol absorption thing, making the stuff pointless. And I'd rather not spend tons of money on alcohol in the first place, let alone alcohol that'll do nothing for me." he explained.

"Last night was... more of an experiment, to see if drinking would help relax me a little." he went on. "Short answer? Yes. Longer answer? Yes, but given the massive headache I have right now, even though I'm hiding it, I think I've learned that it's not worth it."

"To be fair, it's a work in progress." Hal responded. "He's learning to trust me. And that's not nothing." he continued.

"But I do see your point." he went on.

"Hmmm." he then mumbled.

"All right, thanks Hollie. I'll let you get back to your treatments." he then told her, before ending the conversation and hanging up the phone.

"Aedan, we may need Kiah's help here." he told the zombie.

"Vincent Remmington's the only one with access to the remainder of the files that MAY help us." he said. "And Kiah might be the best chance we have at him saying 'yes' to the request."

Hal just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Would I be correct in assuming that the 5% that remain won't help?" he asked.

"Or can I at least let one of my agents gain access to that 5%?" he asked further.

"This may be the difference between stopping these things or letting them run rampant." he then said.

"Believe me, I don't exaggerate on things like this."

"....I may be about to ruin your break." Hal responded.

He then sighed, and gave the name of Aedan's father.

"We need his files." he told her.

"These statues may be an alchemical creation." he said further.

"PLEASE tell me those files still exist."

"..........right." Hal replied.

He then looked at his phone for a moment, before sighing.

"Really hope she's not in the middle of treatment right now." he mumbled.

He then dialled Hollie's phone number, and brought the phone to his ear.

"Let's see if we can't get you a look at them." he told Aedan.

"Tell me what you need to do that." Sharp responded.

"I mean it, I will get you access to your fathers records." he told her.

"And I am serious. No matter what, I'll get you there." he went on.

"Tell me where they are, and what you need to get there." he continued.

"I'll do all in my power."