Colin's posts

Hal was no longer angry. Or, rather, he was still angry, but this sudden confusing development had caused it all to be shoved down and replaced with outright confusion, and concern.

"...Sariel?" he addressed her.

"What's... what's wrong?" he asked.

"What's happening to you right now?" he asked her further.

He'd never seen her like this, never heard her like this. Granted, their interactions had been short and limited, but she'd always portrayed herself as... well... not like this in the slightest.

So to see her like this suddenly was jarring, to understate it.

Again, Hal looked unimpressed.

More so now, than before. He looked ready to slam his fist down onto his desk, but stopped himself from doing so.

"Of COURSE it's her." he snarled.

"Why WOULDN'T it be?" he asked further.

"Well, now we know this is some sort of attack orchestrated by her." he then stated. "However, there is one big question that needs answering... but we have no way to get it answered." he went on.

"HOW?"

Hal just cursed. It was under his breath, and in a foreign language, but thanks to who and what Sariel was... she understood it plainly and clearly. And, it was no secret that Hal was not pleased right now.

"Of course." he then said.

"Why should things be even the slightest bit easy right now?" he asked rhetorically and sarcastically.

"Well, two things." he went on, looking at her.

"Will you be okay?" he asked her sincerely. "And do you have any idea what CAUSED the rebound?"

The guard was silent as he watched her head off, but he didn't really have time to say anything more, as some people came to help assess the situation and make sure people were okay.

Meanwhile, Sariel's journey back to Sharp's office was surprisingly uninterrupted, and the shocked Arryn didn't really have much of a chance to say anything, before Sariel knocked on the door.

"Come in?" Sharp responded, as she opened the door.

"Good Heavens!" the djinn exclaimed.

"What happened!?" he asked. "Did he attack you, too!?"

The guard was stunned for a moment, but nodded.

"Yes, right away." he replied.

"But what about you?" he asked.

"Will YOU be all right? You look previously injured." he commented further.

"Should I call someone to have a look at your injuries?" he asked her.

The security guard that had been assigned to stand watch at the door to the room that Cameron was being held in was... surprised by what happened, to massively understate it. He was shocked when the initial reaction happened, but then appeared to be stunned for close to 5 seconds, as he took in what all HAD happened, and the status of everyone involved.

"...good Lord!" he then exclaimed, as it all finally clicked, and he checked Cameron. The body, the shell, was still motionless and out cold, but he still took a couple of seconds to call in backup, in case this was a legit breakout attempt.

He then raced to where Sariel was, and knelt down by her.

"Are you all right!?" he asked her.

"What just happened there!?" he asked further.

"Report back here, please." Hal replied.

"I need to start filing this incident." he said.

"I know there are greater things at work here, but still. I cannot let this go undocumented for long, lest things get worse by red tape enforcers being sent in." he grumbled further.

"Do you need an escort?" he asked her.

"Or will you be fine in your own?"

Hal thought again for a moment.

"Cameron was injured... so..." he continued, trailing off a bit, and then snapping his fingers.

"Ah! Cell 1A or 1B." he told her.

"Right near the medical wing." he went on.

"You'll see them along the way TO said wing."

"Normally I would say 'no'." Hal responded. "Let them wake up normally. Or naturally." he said.

"But... time may very well be of the essence here." he then admitted.

"So, please. If you can speed it up, do so." he told her.

"The faster we can potentially get information... the better." he reasoned.

"That's really all I can think of right now."

Hal shook his head again.

"THAT is what is confusing me as well." he said.

"I don't quite understand HOW this could have happened." he told her. "Alicja and co. break SO many conventional rules though, so there is NO precedent for this, yet she/they set precedents all the time." he went on.

"Sadly, does us no good right now." he continued.

"I get the feeling we may get some more info when another soul takes command of the body." he then guessed.

Hal just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Lovely..." he grumbled.

"I'll see if she can't be fixed post-haste, but... damn it, this is just a headache." he muttered.

"And yes, I know I need to take a VERY thorough stock of ALL those within these walls." he then told her. "I DON'T need this place collapsing into itself again." he went on.

"But now I suppose we have more indication that Charlie did not do what he did of his own volition."

Hal paused again.

"...I do not wish to render the cycle of life and death meaningless. Or to cheapen it." he stated.

"But... Jefferey was one of the best employees we had. He was a friend to all." he went on.

"It really isn't fair for him to be taken like this." he lamented.

"I don't know the state of his body, or anything like that... but I'll be selfish here." he said further. "If you can make it so that he can come back, as he was, I would be forever in your debt."

Hal hung his head a little when she asked if she could help.

"I'm willing to bet that there's no way to bring Jeffery back." he said.

"And speeding up Lunet's regeneration is not really something that can be done..." he went on.

"At this point, I just want Jake to make it through this, and for Izea to be fine." he told her. "And even then, if there's something wrong with her shoulder, or the prosthetic attached to it, that's my daughter's territory." he said further.

"So, really, if you could get your brother to possibly look at Alicja and co... that'd be great, but if you can help influence Jake's recovery, that'd be even better." he continued. "He may have suffered some serious trauma from the encounter."

"It confuses me at times as well." Hal admitted.

"But... we're going to see if it is JUST Cameron affected, or if all the souls within are affected. If it is just Cameron, we'll see if we are able to have the other 3 isolate him from getting in control of the body, and go from there." he told her.

"If it is all of them, they then will remain in custody and isolation, until we can discover what the hell has happened." he explained further.

"I haven't put THAT much thought into it beyond that, as this all literally just happened within the span of 10-15 minutes ago, and I now have a nightmarish paperwork mountain ahead of me... let alone dealing with the permanent deaths of one of my agents." he lamented.

"However, I promised I would inform you of such behaviour, should I become aware of it. So I did. And I regret that I had to."