Colin's posts

"....." Hal was silent, before walking over towards the door.

He stepped up to it and knocked.

"Erica?" he said.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

He received no answer, and sighed.

"Erica, my apologies, but in regards for your safety and concern for your wellbeing, I'm coming in!" he declared, as he turned the handle and pushed it open.

Some time later, Levi came to the door to the dorm that Erica had told him she'd been staying in.

"She's not answering her cell phone." he muttered. "...and nobody's seen her for a bit..." he mumbled further. "Not even the interrogation department." he went on, before knocking on the door.

"Erica!?" he called in, but to no answer.

"...Erica, you in!?" he called further, to again... no answer.

He then tried calling her again... only to hear her cell phone chime on the other side of the door, loud and clear. This... caused a little bit of panic to stir inside of him. He knocked on the door once again, but no answer, repeatedly.

Levi then took this as a very bad sign, and called Hal with this. Hal agreed that this was concerning, and was soon there with an emergency universal keycard for all the doors. He unlocked it, and stepped inside.

"Erica? You here?" he called lightly, looking around.

He just smiled in response.

"Heh, thanks." he said.

"I'll keep that in mind." he told her.

"But really, just being able to sleep and take breaks from people is helping my stress a lot." he said further.

"So... for now? I'm good." he went on.

"THEY seem to be backing off as well." he then commented, thinking about it.

"Guess they don't want such a good conduit being unnecessarily taxed." he shrugged.

Again, he sighed.

"She's here." he told her.

"We're sharing one of the dorms, temporarily. She's sleeping right now." he went on.

"I'm... well, I'm here to man the fort until I'm relieved." he shrugged.

"But sadly, Aly IS here." he lamented.

"I wish she wasn't. Then she wouldn't be trapped here, under all this stress." he reasoned.

Levi shook his head.

"I... well, I don't want to make waves." he mumbled.

"It's not like she's hostile or aggressive or anything towards me..." he started to reason, before Erica just leveled a look at him.

"...all right, I'll tell Agent Sharp." he relented.

"AFTER all this." he stressed.

"The last thing he needs right now is a staff complaint about other staff." he reasoned.

"That's what I mean." Levi replied.

"Yeah, some of my coworkers are still a bit uncomfortable around me, but I can understand that. They at least know... I'm ME. I'm a person." he said further.

"SHE just thinks I'm nothing more than some manifestation of THEM." he sighed.

"The only reason I got promoted as I did was... well, okay, I know my work is good, and people said I deserve it." he admitted.

"But SHE only promoted me because she knew there'd be a damn rebellion if she didn't."

Levi just sighed in response.

"Well, when I'm surrounded by people that understand me, and can help me... I guess my real intelligence and full mental capacity shines through." he said.

"...and that'd be nice." he mumbled.

"She REALLY isn't comfortable with me." he said further.

"She thinks I'm just an extension of THEM." he muttered.

Levi raised an eyebrow when she said that.

"...ohhhhhhh dear." he mumbled, sifting through the notes in the book.

"Holy crap." he said.

"....hm." he muttered.

"If that's the case, then we can probably spin it that he's a expert chemist and utilised drugs and the power of suggestion to commit the crimes..." he said to himself, giving Erica a brief glimpse into why he was so valuable in the media relations department, and how he'd risen in the ranks as quickly as he did.

"And we'll need to contact the Order on this." he went on.

"...though they may already know." he added, scratching his head. "Might have just been waiting for us to get this info and such..."

When Eke got up, Savra moved their head, and looked at him.

"Yes." they replied.

They then shifted into their more human form, and Ryker crossed his hands over his chest.

"How long can you hold that form for?" he asked.

"8 hours at most." Savra responded. "And for each minute I spend in this form, it takes me 2 minutes to recharge it." they said further.

"Fair enough." Ryker replied.

"24 hours total then. Makes sense." he shrugged.

Levi just groaned slightly as he opened the door and turned on the lights to the area.

"Ah, right. HIM." he muttered.

"That has been a nightmare and a half, let me tell you." he said further, before looking around slightly.

"...obviously I'm very wary about using the computers here." he mumbled. "But I'll grab a notebook and pen and such, and record what you have to say." he then assured her, as they made their way to a table and sat down on opposite sides of it.

"Information, huh?" he asked.

"Please tell me it's something we can use." he said in an almost pleading tone.

As Eke scratched at Savra's ears, the large lupine made small noises. Animalistic noises that were very much evocative of happiness and contentment.

After about a half-hour of that, Ryker pulled into the parking lot a place, and looked at the sign on the restaurant before them.

"Looks like a breakfast buffet kinda place." he commented.

"Advertises 5 different kinds of breakfast meat." he said further. "And endless pancakes." he went on.

"Sound good?" he asked Eke.

After a few seconds, she heard someone behind her.

"Hey." they said.

When she turned around, she saw someone with bags under their eyes, scruffy hair, and overall had a bit of a disheveled look.

But this was normal for him. She knew it wasn't indicative of his mental or emotional state. THAT was an entire OTHER kettle of fish, that very few people wished to try and cook with. For good reason.

"Sorry, popped out to use the washroom." he told her.

He then took the keys he'd been given, as he was considered the 'second in command' for the Unit's media relations, and unlocked the door.

"What's up?" he asked.

Ryker just raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh." he said.

"Suuuuuure." he said further with a smirk.

Savra just responded by raising their head up and placing it in Eke's lap, still with their eyes closed.

Azari nodded in response.

"Of course." he replied.

With that, the two of them left, but unbeknownst to them... and the woman in the room... there had been another set of ears that had heard the conversation. A pair that belonged to a male in the adjacent room, that had been dealing with cleaning some weapons and implements.

And he did NOT like what he had heard. Specifically, the part about Azari's sister.

Something inside him was screaming to act, but something else was trying to suppress it.

And he felt himself feeling VERY conflicted.