The man sighed as he stepped into the hospital and looked around.

"...." he was silent, a concerned look in his eyes, as he made his way to the receptionist.

"Yes?" she asked when she was able to tend to him.

"Yes, hi, I'm here to visit a patient here, 2 of them if possible." he responded.

"The first one is Olivia Edwards." he told her. "And the second one is her mother, Angela Edwards... assuming she's allowed visitors now." he then said.

"My name is Ezekiel LeBlanc." he then informed her.

Zeke had spent a bit of time at the hospital, refusing to leave, spending time with Olivia and waiting for when he could see Angela. However, he WAS needed elsewhere, and even Liv told him that she didn't want him putting his life on hold for her. So, reluctantly, he'd left the hospital.

That hadn't stopped him from visiting every day, though.

"....really??" Zeke asked.

"Then... Angela first, please." he said.

With that, some papers were signed, and a staff member led him to her room. When they parted ways, Zeke paused at the door, almost scared to go in.

".................." he was silent, before he opened the door quietly.

"...Angela?" he asked, poking his head in.

"You awake...?"

Angela would have no idea how much that stung.

One simple question. 4 simple words. An honest inquiry. But it stabbed through his heart like a rusted arrow, piercing and carving its way through his chest.

"......." he was silent as he opened his mouth slightly, trying to answer, but no words came out.

"Ah... n-no." he managed to get out after a second.

"It's... it's me. Zeke. Ezekiel." he told her.

"...you... don't remember me, do you?" he then asked.

"......" again, Zeke was silent.

He didn't know where to start. What should he say? Ease into it? Unload all the info.

"I... well..." he said.

"I mean... we... work together for Hal Sharp at Special Unit 3." he told her.

"We're coworkers, and... well... we're friends." he went on.

"....all right." Zeke responded.

He was crestfallen over this, but was hiding it.

He wanted her to remember him, but more than that, he wanted her to remember her daughter... and remember her job, her career. He wanted her to have her life back... even if it was without him.

And there was an unearthly rage started to boil deep inside him. One that was directed towards the one that did this to Angela.

Meanwhile, as Zeke wrestled with his emotions and tried to help Angela, a figure made his way down the corridors of the Unit, stopping at the doors to the lab. After he used his special pass to get inside, and got directions from a lab assistant, he made his way to the room where Syraene and Illias were, knocking on the closed door.

"Oh?" Illias asked.

"Hm... yeah, I can understand that." he said.

"Half it is, then." he told her.

"......." the newcomer was silent as he witnessed the two of them, working intently on what they were working on, before he cleared his throat lightly.

"Uh... hello?" he said.

"I was asked to come here?"

"I'm feeling all right." Leo responded.

"Seems I managed to escape that fiasco unscathed." he said.

"Guess it helped that I was spending time with Nakia when it DID happen." he then admitted, scratching the back of his head a little, and chuckling.

"I would imagine so." Illias agreed.

"Anyway, some extra hands and knowledge about Order sand would be greatly appreciated." he added.

"I'll do all I can to help." Leo replied, making his way over towards the two of them.

".....ah.... no." Leo admitted.

"We're bolstering Order sand to make it more resistant to corruption." Illias responded. "Severely decrease the chances of something like THIS happening again." he added.

"Oh!" Leo exclaimed.

"That would be amazing!" he said commented.

"Anyway, as I said, I'll do what I can to help." he reiterated, before looking around some.

"...so what walls do you keep hitting?" he asked.

"Well, one of them is that a pair of equations aren't adding up as they should." Illias responded. "If you could help Syraene find out WHY, then we'd be able to rocket ahead." he told him further.

"Got it." Leo said.

"Got it." was all Leo replied with.

Meanwhile, Hal was in his office, sorting through papers, when his phone rang.

"Hm?" he mumbled.

"What's this about?" he wondered.

He then sighed, and answered the phone, putting his work on hold for a moment.

"Agent Sharp." he said into it.

"........" Sharp was silent as Liv said what she did.

"...someone told me that there was a strong chance of that happening." he said.

"I didn't want to believe it, admittedly." he then went on.

"But I guess there's no avoiding it." he sighed, shaking his head, though she couldn't see it.

"How are YOU holding up?" he then asked her.