Colin's posts

Hal wasn't sure what to make of what Izzy had said, until Nate spoke up, having looked at the dwarf.

"...who is that." he said.

"What do you mean? It's Mira, is it not?" Hal asked.

"No. I've seen Mira's life aura before." Nate replied. "This life aura is NOT Mira's." he stated.

That's when it hit the people that knew Mira. She's stayed clear of the medical wing. At all costs. She had had an appointment, but ended up cancelling it and rescheduling it for... some nebulous future date.

Hal was silent, glaring at the woman.

"I remember hearing Charlie say that over the communicator." one of the guards said, the others voicing their agreement.

"....I see." Hal responded.

"Then take her into custody until the truth can be discerned." he ordered one of the guards, who made his way over towards her.

"And I'll check the security footage for this place." he then added.

"In the meanwhile... we need to help Peyton, and figure out what the HELL is wrong with Mira."

"..." Ryker was silent as he saw this.

"Eke...?" he muttered.

"Yo. Y'all right?" he asked, standing up and slowly making his way over.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm on my way." was all she heard, before he hung up.

Before the medical team showed up, Hal and Jake, as well as a few other guards showed up, and Hal narrowed his eyes.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"You first." he said to Izea.

"What did you walk in to, and we'll work from there." he reasoned.

As he spoke, the guards fanned in and kept their weapons trained on Mira, in case she tried something funny.

Ally's help managed to get Levi back in a more stable mindset, and quieted the voices enough for him to start processing what was happening. And he looked over at the new security that had shown up, and shook his head.

"Izea!" he called out.

"Stop her!" he said.

He then looked at Ally, before looking back at Mira, narrowing his eyes slightly.

'...can I even do it...?' he wondered. He'd theorised about being able to project an image of them into someone's mind... but what would happen if he did it wrong? And Izea was here now. Would that affect HER?

"...Ally, are you gonna be okay?" he then managed to ask.

It all happened in the blink of an eye; Peyton let out a cry of pain, and the guard started to pull the trigger on his firearm. However, before he did so, the other blade embedded itself right into the gun in just such a way, that when the trigger was pulled, there was a catastrophic misfire, causing the weapon to essentially blow up in the man's hand, causing him to yell out in pain and grasp at his wrist, his damaged hand... in quite bad shape now.

"Damn it!" he yelled, taking out his communicator.

"Backup! Immediately! Media Relations! Suspect is armed and dangerous!" he told them.

"Working in league with the head of Media Relations!" he then added, revealing he'd heard the last part of the conversation that had been had between Levi and the woman.

Ally was in pain and for all intents and purposes, incapacitated. Levi was wrestling with his inner-outer demons, and useless right now, and the head of the department had orchestrated all this. She wasn't going to do anything.

Just as Peyton felt the blade against her throat, and was preparing for death and/or agony, she heard something from the entrance to the Media Department.

It sounded like a gun click, and if she were to be able to check, she'd see a security guard standing there, pointing a firearm at Mira, with the gun at battery. He stood at approximately 6 feet tall, had super short dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and very slightly tanned skin. He narrowed his eyes at Mira, and gritted his teeth.

"One twitch and I will not hesitate to fire." he warned the dwarf.

"Drop your weapon. NOW." he said, referring to the one at Peyton's throat.

Levi snapped his gaze from the head, over to Ally when she'd been injured, then to Peyton as she said what she did, before looking back towards the head with a glare, and then towards the dwarf standing before them.

Things were happening in rapid succession, and he was feeling a rather large amount of anger and tension suddenly. Which meant his own mental state could have been described at 'compromised'.

He brought a hand up to the side of his head, as the pupil on that side started to rapidly dilate and shrink back and forth, and the strange whisperings in his mind that he'd come to be able to ignore so well became front and centre once more.

"N... no..." he stammered.

"No... no, not now... not right here..." he almost pleaded quietly, as he shakily kept to his feet.

"Peyton... please don't... she'll... she'll..." he started to say to Peyton, but his voice was shaky as well.

"What!?" Levi exclaimed.

"How can you say that!?" he asked her, his hands balling into fists.

"She's not a 'freak', damn it! And she doesn't deserve to be thrown to someone that wants to harm her!" he declared further, before looking back to the dwarf that was standing before them.

"How did you figure out she was here!?" he asked her.

"This shouldn't have been a place you got to so quickly! Not in a building THIS size! Not... unless..." he started to say further, before trailing off at the end, and slowly looking back to the head of the department.

"...you didn't..."

Levi looked sharply over towards the newcomer... Mira.

"...shit!" he cursed.

"How...? How did she find Peyton so quickly...!?" he exclaimed, not noticing the head was making her way over.

Levi stepped forward a little, standing between Peyton and Mira, and glared at the latter.

"Why do you want to hurt her?" he asked.

"Mira, what's WRONG with you!?" he exclaimed.

"We all work together to do this, but... it still takes awhile." Levi muttered.

"So yeah, any help at all is... very much appreciated, to understate it." he went on.

He then paused for a moment and looked discreetly at Ally.

He sent a bit of silent communication, but she understood it perfectly.

We just need to make sure SHE doesn't give Peyton a hard time...

"It's essentially meant to obfuscate paper trails." Levi replied.

"If someone outside got ahold of a file or something, and they tried to dig deeper, it would result in dead ends and red herrings." he went on.

"We're not perfect, and the occasional paper or file or whatever slips through the cracks, but because of this practice, it's seen as little more than fake, or ramblings of some crackhead." he told her further.

"It's annoying, but needed, as Ally said." he went on.

"Gets longer every year, too, as more files keep piling up."

The other one that had noticed Peyton's arrival narrowed her eyes... and took in what she overheard. She was silent about it, as things started to stir in her mind, the gears working in her brain.

"We'll do all we can to make sure you're hidden here." Levi told her.

A few others that were nearby voiced their agreement, and Peyton could tell that the people here were on her side. It made her feel better. A little, at least.

'Hmmm...' the one that was remaining silent thought.

'How to go about this...?' they wondered, pondering certain things, and looking at the computer in front of her.

Ilias waved back, before looking away, and quickly leaving the department.

He had to get back to where he belonged. That WAS the protocol, and he realised he hadn't told anyone what was going on.

"...shit." he cursed, taking out his cell and texting Kiah.

Meanwhile, Levi looked over towards Ally and Peyton, and immediately could see Peyton was... stressed, to understate it.

"...hey, Peyton." he greeted her when they were close enough.

"Lemme guess, here to duck outta the way of... well, everything?" he asked.