Free will?

Laura gives a quite giggle, her eyes lowered, but her arm still around Nate's neck signaled she was enjoying his attention.

Returning his kiss, she smiles at him. She'd never felt like this before... being loved like this. Despite the tense situation in the office, there was a slight moment here of bliss

Laura leans her head down, curling up closer to Nate and nuzzling her face into his warm chest. "Can I just stay here?" she mumbles. "I'm so tired... and so worried..."


Jolted from his thoughts, Carson straightens, eying the sandwiches Misty had brought. A sly smile emerges and he gives her a sidelong glance. "You sure know how to make a guy feel good, you know that."

Reaching out, he picks up one of the sandwiches and takes a bite, giving a sigh of content. "Yep... definitely worth keeping you around." Grinning, he watches her as she squats next to him, and leans over to give her a kiss. "Mm... definitely."

Though wanting to keep up with the flirting, he knows they had work to do, and Misty's question just proved as a reminder.

"Yeah." He leans back in his chair and gestures to the screen where the young man was still in the room with Katie. "Gage Pelzer. I met him a few years back - we were on a couple assignments together, though we never interacted on very deep a level. He's probably one of the toughest cases you'd find at the Agency." Carson shakes his head. "He was born there. Literally. His mother was an agent - I never knew who his father was. But he was born in an Agency medical facility, separated from his mother and brought up for the sole purpose of serving the Agency. As far as I know, he's never not been on duty or on assignment. I never saw him allowed to have leave or time off..."

Carson shrugs. "The Agency is cruel, but they know if they're gonna keep agents around, they gotta give sometimes. Me, they let roam whenever I wanted. They were stricter with others. Gage - he was like a robot. Garbage in, garbage out. Talk about a prisoner. Problem was, that he was good. What better guy could they have than someone who's been there all their life? Head honchos took advantage of him though because he'd do anything he was told."

Carson pauses, looking at the screen again. "A lot of people at the Agency have had their freedom taken away, their minds erased and their reasons for living skewed. Gage? He's never known freedom, never had a mind of his own, and his reason for living has never been anything but for the Agency."


Ryder sighs deeply and shrugs at Phinox. "I don't know. Agency usually doesn't screw up like that. Reiker was adamant that they were supposed to kill me. His reasoning still has me baffled, but maybe it was some screwy plan of Medridge. You know... get me to think I had a kid or something to break me."

He scrunches his eyes shut and shakes his head. "But you're right - even if that can be explained, that still doesn't connect with Katie. But... if it doesn't... we just wasted a whole day tracking in the wrong direction. It's all we had to go on. Surely there's more... surely there's something we missed."


Gage is quiet for a moment, letting the knife drop without cutting Katie's skin. "Free will? Is this what you call free will? Bound by ropes and kept in the dark? Who you are will change, Katie. You stay captive long enough and it'll eat away at your mind."

He moves closer, staring her in the eye. "You stay here long enough and your own conscience will start playing tricks on you. You'll lose your ability to think for yourself, and the pain will be so great that you'll do anything to get rid of it. Free will?"

He shakes his head and retreats to throw away the used needle. "We're not playing games, Katie. It's you or them. And if I were you, I'd hope it was them. At least you'd have a chance of getting out of here. Otherwise you'll just rot where you stand."