Colin's posts

Again, Hal was silent.

"I... hm." he mumbled.

"I see." he said.

"...attached, huh?" he asked.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked her.

"Like a parasite or something?"

"....excuse me?" Hal asked.

"Anya is at home." he told her.

"And to be blunt? No, she's not doing okay." he went on, giving a brief description of the state the woman was in.

"Also... it came from her?" he then asked.

"...is this a lockdown situation?" he asked further.

"Is the fact that she's outside this building going to cause problems on a widespread level?" he then asked her.

"Come on, then." Chris said.

"Let's find it." he told her.

---

The receptionist wasn't there... but after a moment, she heard the voice of the one she was looking for.

"I'm technically not in." they said.

"Please! I need to talk!" she replied, urgency in her tone.

"...Hazel?" Hal responded.

"Come in, immediately." he told her, more surprised than anything she had such emotion in her tone now.

"..." Chris was silent, before looking her in the eyes.

"...sure." he then said.

"Freedom." he muttered.

"...actually, anything other than this would be freedom..." he admitted.

"Let's... let's just go." he then said further.

"We're in the middle of a parking lot, and I'm pretty sure I had a loud breakdown." he went on.

"Those optics cannot be good..."

"Then just go inside, yourself!" Chris exclaimed.

"Just go! Get away from that place!" he told her.

"Get away from that bastard of a brother of yours!" he continued.

"Get away from that manipulative BITCH!" he yelled further.

"Get away from ME! I don't know if you can trust me!" he continued, falling to both knees and grasping at his head.

"Just leave me, then!" he told her.

"Go somewhere! ANYWHERE!" he said further, stress in his tone.

"Hide! Get away! Disappear! Try and find a life for yourself out there!" he finished, sounding near tears now.

Chris was silent for a moment.

"Because... you need away from there." he told her.

"You can't be there any longer." he went on.

"We need to make it so that THEY can't rehouse themselves in you." he told her further.

"...and this is the only place I can think of that can provide that help." he admitted.

"We need you to be here and get help."

"Goodbye." Hal replied as she left.

"...." he was then silent, and sighed again.

---

Chris looked at the one that had stumbled... and some part of him instinctively took over, and he knelt down beside her.

"Hey." he said.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked further.

"Do you need any medical help?"

"......." Hal was silent as he heard that.

"If that were an official complaint, she'd be out of here." he told her.

"But that is good to know." he said further.

"I'll have to look into her other activities." he went on.

"Regardless, thank you for the update." he then said to her.

"Hopefully the next time we see each other, the news will be better."

Hal shook his head.

"No, don't apologise." he said.

"These things need to be told to me, good or bad." he reasoned.

"I'm sorry for my earlier attitude." he then apologised, himself.

"...between you and me?" he then asked.

"She's one more REPORT away from being fired." he revealed to her.

"Not just a fit. If I get just ONE more report about her behaviour in the next week, she's GONE."

Hal nodded in response.

"That's all I ask." he said.

"Feel free to ask for anything else at all." he told her.

"I'll even call in help from outside if you find yourself overwhelmed." he went on.

"The Unit is nothing without her medical staff." he reasoned.

"Without you, we'd collapse for sure."

"......." Hal was silent, before sighing.

"I can try." he said.

He then snapped his fingers...

...and nothing happened.

Not that anything would, the subject of the wish wasn't there.

"We'll know if you do a checkup or call him, or he contacts us." he told her.

"But for now... I tried." he shrugged.

"Nothing to do but wait and see if it worked."

Hal sighed as well.

"I'd help if I could." he told her.

"But we know that that's... iffy at best in this case." he went on.

"And I don't know WHY." he continued.

"It's quite frustrating." he admitted.

"But let me know if you can think of any resources or anything that might help." he told her further.

"I will do all I'm capable of to help you."

Hal sighed heavily and hung his head.

"Lovely." he said.

"That's so many top agents and one of my best contractors out of the game, essentially." he muttered.

"And nothing on the cause?" he asked.

"Not a single blessed thing?" he asked further.

"No." Angela responded.

"Wonderful." he grumbled in response.

"Well, I DO appreciate the sudden stress and work you've found yourself under." he told her.

"Seems like you're holding everything together right now."

Hal just growled.

"She is ONE more fit away from being fired." he said.

"ONE." he said further.

"Anyway, you're here to make my day worse." he then commented.

"Excellent." he said sarcastically.

He then sighed, and shook his head.

"That's not fair, I apologise." he said.

"What is it?" he then asked her, calming himself down.