Colin's posts

"Enough for me to check this." Hal responded.

He then found the file he needed and booted it up, to see that he was, in fact, looking through the front facing camera of a cell phone.

And it looked dark. Probably from being in a pocket or something.

"...hm." he mumbled.

"Audio, or just visual?" he asked.

Hal paused hearing that, before slowly looking at her.

"...some major grey-area legal ground there." he said. "However, considering the circumstances, I think it's justified." he reasoned, going back to the files on the thumb drive again.

"And access to the camera? I'd be hijacking her phone?" he asked.

"Essentially." she responded.

"...Lunet, you are scarily proficient with technology." he muttered.

"That being said, this might be the smoking gun we need to finally investigate this guy and potentially take him down." he told her. "He's been on our radar for a few years now, but it's pretty much a cold case scenario."

He accepted the thumb drive and booted up his computer, putting it in, and loading up what she had. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the information before him, and scratched his chin a little.

"....hmmmm..." he muttered.

"I see." he said.

"While this board is... generally just a place for trash rumours... I can see why you're worried." he told her.

"And this IP address... this location... something about it is... familiar..." he then realised, before checking some of the files he had, stopping when he seemed to have found what he was looking for.

"Ah! Seems the owner of that manor and property is suspected in a number of odd disappearances... but nothing's been proven. Not even anything to allow people to search his property."

He raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"Stressed? No." he said. "Tired? Kind of, but I've been worse." he then said.

"Also, I MAY take you up on that, even if it's just a temporary fill." he added, shaking his head a little, and then sitting back down in the chair behind his desk.

"So sure, I'll take a look at something." he said.

"What?" he asked. "What is it you wish me to examine?" he asked further.

"Must be important to come here at THIS late hour."

He looked over towards her, and sighed heavily.

"Hi, sweetie." he greeted her affectionately, as she was his adopted daughter.

"And... things are just hectic." he then said.

"My receptionist is moving extremely soon, so I need to find a replacement. She's working half-days now, to prepare for the move and such, but that means my workload has increased for the time being." he informed her.

"Hopefully not for long." he added.

"What brings you HERE, anyway?" he then asked.

Hal just paused and exhaled a little.

"Well, to start, we got 178 applications." he told her. "I was able to quite easily narrow that down to around 90. It was clear that a lot of the applicants were NOT what we were looking for, or did not have the necessary knowledge or experience for this specific sort of work, or some were just handing out resumes because they could, and did not give a flying heck about the work itself." he explained.

"Now, because you are part of R&D, Kiah then stepped in and further helped pare things down." he then said. "After all, she... is technically your superior, because of how this works." he continued.

"And we managed to get THAT number down to a nice dozen." he finished, before handing her a folder with the resumes inside it.

"You have clearance to hire 4 more people, if you find that many in there that you think would be an asset." he then informed her.

Aly was surprised at being pulled close, but she returned the embrace.

"I missed you too." she said.

"And I love you, too." she told him further.

"Eke, this is scaring me." she then admitted. "How long has this been happening?" she asked.

Over the next few weeks or so, things had settled down for her, mostly. She'd shown Ilias the spear, and he had been thrilled to hold it. Proceedings with the court case were slow, but they were happening, and Mira seemed to be in no more trouble than previously stated, which was a massive relief for her. And she and Peyton had confirmed with Jaden where they would like to eat, and he'd gotten them a reservation for in a week from now. That was one thing she was truly looking forward to. But through all that, she was relishing having Gungnir, and caring for it... and THIS time, her spear hadn't changed her for the worse, or seemed to be trying to take over her body so it could murder someone, which was a plus.

However, at this moment, she had been specifically called up to Hal's office, and he had greeted her when she arrived.

"Hello again." he said.

"I figured that, though it's only been a little over 3 weeks, you should know that we've made some progress on getting you someone to work with in your department, as you mentioned that a bit ago." he informed her.

"Care to look at what we've got?" he asked.

"You do that." Hal responded.

"In the meantime, I have thinks to look into." he said further.

"And for now, I'll not spread the word of Gungnir." he then assured her.

"It is your find, and your find alone. You are in complete control of who knows this." he continued.

"I promise."

Hal paused and thought about it for a moment.

"Hmmm..." he mumbled.

"Well, there's always your office. THAT'S large enough to display it." he reasoned.

"Or.... hmph." he then muttered further.

"I wonder..." he said trailing off a little.

"Give me some time to do a little digging on some info."

Hal was silent for a moment, and then smiled.

"Gungnir, eh?" he asked.

"Well. That certainly IS a feather in your cap. Another one, anyway." he said further.

"What do you plan to do with this information?" he then asked her.

"Are you going to go public with it? Or is this your own personal little private trophy?"

Hal looked at the message and thought for a moment.

I'm almost done. he then sent.

Tell her to wait about 5 minutes. he sent further.

And sure enough, after about 5 minutes, she was beckoned to enter. Which she did.

"Welcome back." he greeted her.

"Was the trip fruitful?" he asked.

Jake paused again as he heard that.

"....touché." he replied.

"Should tell Sharp about what you did and such." he went on.

"He'll probably wanna know." he reasoned.

"Also, sure. I'll see your 'spear' later." he then added with a final chuckle, before going back to his paper.

"See ya later, short-stuff." he finished.

Jake raised an eyebrow when the questions were asked.

He then cleared his throat and sighed.

"For starters, I know he looks like a chick, but that's just his aesthetic. He's a pretty-boy, and it sells well. If you were serious about that." he told her.

"Secondly, I was making a joke about how you are a happy lesbian with Peyton, but Jaden's phrasing, as well as the probably deliberately incomplete info that he gave, indicated that you now have his number in case you two are down for a 'good time'." he then explained.

"I'll explain it more when you're older." he added with another smirk, before pressing the button for her to enter.

"Anyway, you should probably head in."