Colin's posts

"..." Nate was silent as he heard Angela return.

He took the orb that they had the mana contained in, and carried it out of the room, seeing her walking in.

"...Dr. Edwards?" he said.

"This contains the mana extracted from Miss Nester." he informed her.

"Would you like to take it?" he asked.

"See if you recognise the mana or whatever?"

Hal returned the embrace and waited until she was long gone, before punching the closest wall.

"Son of a BITCH!" he cursed loudly.

"Vanessa Encrae, the time draws nigh. You will pay for your sins and transgressions, and you will pay dearly." he snarled, venom in his tone.

His eyes then darkened slightly, before he sighed and made his way to his desk phone.

Meanwhile, in the medical wing, Nate was tending to Gem's shoulder, making sure the bandaging was holding up.

"Looks like you'll be fine." he told her.

"...I think you're very lucky that that's the case." he added.

Hal nodded in response.

"All right. I understand." he told her.

"You go do that." he said.

"I need to... keep things going here." he went on.

"Update the Council and Triad as we learn new things." he mumbled.

"..." he was then silent, before shaking his head.

"Anyway, get going." he told her.

Hal continued to hold her close, and didn't say anything about the sob.

He knew she was under far more stress than she should be under. It was too much for her, and she knew it. He vowed to get them all through this, if nothing else, just so he could send her and her family on a paid vacation.

She deserved it after this.

And he would deliver it to her. He swore it.

"Angela." he said quietly.

"I promise. I will make sure your family is not divided. Even if it means I have to find some way to break the rules I am magically bound by. I will do this." he promised her.

Hal was silent for a moment, before standing up and making his way closer. Once he was close enough, he just pulled her into a hug.

He saw Liv as a niece, and the thought of her under Vanessa's control angered him.

Greatly.

But he new he had to keep calm. And he knew that Angela needed comfort right now.

So this was for both of them.

It was nothing more than a temporary comfort, but it was all he could do at this moment in time.

"...Liv's mana." Hal finally said.

"I mean... she has special permissions to get in and out of this place when the lockdown happens." he told her.

"But she would need to get in here and get out unnoticed. Especially with unconscious people, if she IS to blame." he went on.

"...how?" he wondered.

"And she knocked out Agent Nester." he continued. "Supposedly." he added.

"This raises some questions about your daughter."

Hal looked back at her and shook his head.

"No." he replied.

"She... wasn't..." he confirmed, before cluing in.

"Wait." he said.

"Wait, hmmmmm." he mumbled, going to his desk and sitting down.

He seemed to be pondering something, intently.

This was not information Hal wanted to wake up to.

But then again, he had no control over anything at this point, really. He just sighed heavily, and growled slightly.

"Damn it." he cursed.

"Hmmm." he mumbled.

"This is a very delicate situation..." he said. "As long as Liv is useful to Encrae... assuming she has her... then she won't be killed. But the longer she's left under her influence..." he went on, trailing off at the end.

"We need to take care of this attack." he told her.

"And after that... we may need to discuss taking full active action against her, if we can."

"HOLD YOUR HORSES!" she then heard shouted from behind the closed door.

About 20 seconds later, a rather angry-looking Hal opened the door, but sighed when he saw who it was.

"Right." he said.

"I can tell you have information, and odds are it isn't good." he said further.

"Come in." he told her.

When she looked in the office, she saw he was wearing sweatpants and a tee-shirt, and the bed had been pulled out from the sofa in the office. He had been sleeping in his office, as was expected.

Nate was silent as all this went down, before looking at Robyn and sighing.

"I believe you." he said.

"You're not an easy agent to knock out." he told her.

"...and fae mana IS tricky and powerful." he reasoned further.

"This... this still isn't good, though." he went on.

"That bead... it had elven mana in it. This doesn't look good for Liv..."

Nate was silent for a moment, before his eyes popped open.

"...Dr. Edwards." he said.

"I... we did tests on Miss Nester, and... we found foreign mana in her body." he told her.

"...it may very well be fae mana." he said further.

"If it is, then it is strong circumstantial evidence to indicate that she is telling the truth." he went on, before pausing again.

"...and I wonder if this is connected with that bead we found in Agent King's room?"

"......" Nate was stunned for a moment, before clearing his throat.

"I see." he said.

He then turned and made his way to the door to Angela's office, before knocking on it loud enough that it would wake Angela up if she was asleep.

"Dr. Edwards!" he called in.

"Agent Nester is awake, and she says she has information about your daughter!" he said further, turning back to Robyn.

"...you can fill us BOTH in when she answers the door." he told her.

If she had hoped to have an uninterrupted jaunt to the office, her hopes would de dashed as soon as she saw Nate step out from one of the side doors, and look over, seeing her directly.

He paused for a moment, before shutting the door and putting his hand out towards her.

"Not so fast." he said.

"Dr. Edwards is taking this time to catch up on some much-needed rest." he told her. "And I am under strict orders to NOT let anyone bother her for another 4 hours." he said further.

"And YOU need to lay back down and rest." he then went on.

"Your shoulder is NOT in good shape, and being up and about like this will not help it at all." he reasoned.

"Yeah, the cleaning thing is ONE thing." Nate agreed.

"But if he keeps skulking, as you said, then it'll be a matter of not being able to take direction, so this particular diversity outreach attempt may be a failure. At least for him." he sighed.

"Anyway, you go on and get that to Ilias." he told her.

"I'll keep things running here as long as you need me to." he finished.

At that point, one of the staff approached him, and he started to help them, Angela seeing that Nate was more than capable for the moment.