Author's Notes: Opposites

Standing motionless in the living room of a small apartment in Westerville's crappiest neighborhood, Tina looked around, adjusting her fake glasses and fixing her brown eyes on the place's tainted walls. Completely unrecognizable, she wore an old oversized sweater, bleached blue jeans and a wig of curly strawberry blond hair.

The apartment's owner, Mrs. Wilson, an old, sweaty woman with smeared make-up, dressed in an old red robe and a pair of purple slippers, watched with a satisfied grin as Tina examined the place.

"I'll have to install a generator, the wiring seems precarious," Tina said, reaching into her pockets for a wad of money tied up in a roll with an elastic band. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Sweetheart, you're paying me 6 months of rent in advance. You can install whatever you want. I don't care if you do satanic rituals here or whatever, as long you don't leave any goat blood staining my walls, we have a deal," The old woman said, stuffing the money inside her red bra.

Tina nodded and Mrs. Wilson handed her the keys "Here are your keys, Alicia," the woman said, curving her lips up in a smirk as if she could see right through Tina's lies. She probably could. After all, Mrs. Wilson didn't spent her whole time in that neighborhood without learn a thing one or two about lying. The old woman knew very well when someone was up to no good. She just didn't care as long she got her rent at the end of the month.

"I hope you enjoy the neighborhood!" The old woman snorted, leaving the apartment and closing the door behind her.

Tina rummaged through her purse, looking for her phone.

I found the place, she texted, quickly typing the location of the apartment before hitting send.

The answer came in a matter of seconds.

Great, it said.

Tina sighed heavily. It wasn't great, it was horrible, disturbing and-

"Necessary," She reminded herself, shoving her phone back to her purse. "Necessary."

********

Penny sat down on the couch. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and the closest box of food off of the coffee table, and dug in. "You know what's really weird?" She asked with her eyebrows furrowed together. Kurt and Blaine looked up at her, both sitting on the floor and supporting their backs against the couch. Their shoes were off so they could tuck their feet up underneath them.

"What?" Blaine asked, breaking up the crunchy Chinese noodles and putting them in the soup a few pieces at a time so they wouldn't get soggy when he ate it.

"Your father really knows how to cook," Penny said as she stuffed sweet 'n' sour chicken in her mouth. "I mean, he's a horrible house keeper, is completely disorganized and he always has this sour expression on his face... You don't look at Walter and think, "Oh I bet you make an awesome Cr�me Brule", but he does! He actually gave Bob from the robot flea market the recipe for religieuse," She cried in disbelief.

"What the hell is religieuse?" Blaine titled his head in confusion. Kurt watched him out of the corner of his eye, smiling with adoration at Blaine's triangular eyebrows furrowed together.

"It's French dessert, a pastry made of two choux pastry cases, one larger than the other, filled with cr�me p�tissi�re," He explained, bumping his knee against Blaine's and not missing how the corners of the other's boy lips lifted slightly.

Kurt's heart skipped a beat and he looked away, his mind racing. Blaine had kissed him, freaking kissed him, and then he had made promises, or insinuated them, but it didn't matter. Well it did, but in that moment Kurt couldn't bring himself to think about it. Because Blaine freaking Anderson had kissed him! And it was perfect, romantic and hot, and Blaine didn't run away afterwards. He stuck around and there they were now, eating Chinese food in the living room with Penny. And as astonishing as it may sound, the atmosphere between them didn't feel uncomfortable. It was a little awkward, but not in a bad way, just in an exciting one. Every time his leg touched Blaine's, Kurt felt warmth spreading through his chest.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Penny held out her chopsticks, bringing Kurt back to reality. "Walter knows how to make things like religieuse and cr�me p�tissi�re! How's that even possible!? He used to shoot people!"

She looked down at her food and frowned. "Dammit, I forgot my fortune cookies in the kitchen…" Penny murmured before standing up. "But seriously, Walter's talent for cooking still doesn't make any sense!" She screamed, disappearing in the kitchen.

Kurt laughed, and it was a hearty, head-thrown-back-in-delight laugh. "She's exaggerating… Making religieuse isn't that hard," he dismissed, before noticing Blaine looking at him.

"What?" He mouthed, blushing slightly under Blaine's stare.

"You've um… got a little—uh," Blaine started, pointing at Kurt's chin. "Sauce."

Kurt blushed even more and quickly brought a napkin to his mouth.

He completely missed the spot.

Blaine laughed. "No- you missed the spot. Let me just-" he said, before reaching out and rubbing Kurt's chin clean with his thumb.

"There," Blaine breathed, eyes flickering up and meeting Kurt's as the android held his breath.

Once again, looking into Kurt's blue eyes made the atmosphere shift for Blaine. Jolts of anticipation shoot through his body and he got goosebumps. Suddenly, the whole act of touching Kurt's chin felt far more intimate than it was meant to be. Kurt was just there, so close to him and Blaine just wanted to wrap his arms around him and bring him even closer and-

"Enjoyed the meal? Buy one to go, too," Penny read out loud as she entered the living room, holding a broken fortune cookie in her hands. "What kind of fortune is that? I've never been so disappointed with a fortune cookie before… I already bought some for the go!" She looked up. Kurt seemed flustered and Blaine was supporting himself against the couch as if making a point of being distant from Kurt.

Penny felt a twinge of sadness in her chest. Damn, she thought. Blaine was probably still avoiding Kurt because of their almost kiss. She sighed and sat on the couch, deciding to talk as much as possible in order to dissipate the weird atmosphere between the boys.

"So, where did Walter learn to cook..."

********

Smelling like a mix of fresh soap, chlorine and something else entirely, Azrael walked into the office. His long red hair was dripping wet and his hands covered in gloves were shoved deep inside the pockets of his black pullover sweater.

On his sharply defined face, he held a serene expression. He was guiltless, as if he hadn't just dismembered a man a few hours ago. There was no sparkle inside of his eyes. They were cold and empty.

Adrian, on the other hand, couldn't hide his intensity. Sitting comfortably in a leather chair behind a luxurious glass table, the dark haired man watched Azrael with an eager expression on his face. He had always been an intense, avid person. As a child, Adrian would spend his days looking for ways to not have his intellect underestimated because of his peers. As teen, he was already renowned as one of the most brilliant minds of his generation and he was dedicated to building an empire of his own.

There was a reason why he inked the pale skin of his ribs with Veni, vidi, vici. He was man of conquers. He always got what he wanted and he wouldn't settle for less. Most people could tell that by just looking at him. There was this buzzing madness that lurked in his features; The madness of greatness, as his mother used to say. And such intensity only grew with the years, with the ticking clock that echoed inside of Adrian's head as time seeped between his fingers.

"Arza," He greeted. Adrian's mouth was like a knife and his smile was a flicker of light across the cutting edge.

"I never understood the long hair thing, taking into consideration what you do for a living… but I have to say, it does make your entrance much more epic," Adrian said, lips pulled in a grin as he kept rhythmically tapping his fingers on the glass table.

Azrael didn't respond, fixing his eyes on the other man's fingers. There was something mesmerizing about the way Adrian always tapped his long, piano player fingers, above any available surface while he talked. He never tore his blue eyes off the person he was talking to, always watching them with a sharp and private concentration, but he couldn't help but tap his fingers.

"You stink of chlorine. I suppose you taught Thompson a thing or two about greed," He said.

"Yes." Azrael nodded, throwing a bunch of Polaroid pictures on the desk.

Something that Azrael couldn't quite put his finger on stirred underneath the gleam of Adrian's blue eyes. "You shouldn't walk around carrying these…" He smirked, opening a drawer and grabbing an ashtray. He calmly collected the Polaroid pictures off his desk, one by one, unaffected by the disturbing shots portraying, with detail, what was left of Caleb Thompson's mutilated body.

He placed the pictures inside of the ashtray, before lighting a lighter. "I don't know why we didn't do this sooner."

"We were busy…" Azrael murmured, watching the fire consuming the proof of his crime "…Distracted."

"But we aren't anymore, are we?" Adrian murmured, his blue eyes meeting Azrael's brown ones.

"No, we're not," Azrael assured him, watching as Adrian's expression slowly morphed into a mask of pain.

The dark haired man tore his gaze from Azrael, his left hand throbbing. He dug his fingernails into the glass desk, his fingers twitching.

Azrael laced his gloved fingers with Adrian's, painfully gripping his hand until the spasm stopped.

"Find him," Adrian gritted with a clenched jaw, looking up into Azrael's emotionless eyes.

"I will," Azrael promised. He let go of Adrian's hand. "I will."

********

Blaine was used to people wanting to have sex with him.

He never said it out loud, or at least not when he was sober, because it would sound snobby. It was the truth. His looks and self-destructiveness made him the epitome of the classic 'bad attitude with a leather jacket' clich�, and there always someone who would dig that. Guys that wanted an adventure, a story to tell their friends about how well they were fucked by a hot piece of ass with piercings and a wicked smile. Blaine was a fantasy, a kink. His hook ups knew that he would walk away the next morning and most of the time they were okay with that. They already got what they wanted from him, his body.

And being a young, healthy guy with all parts in good working order, usually Blaine gave these guys want they wanted. A few minutes, or sometimes even an hour or two of access to his body, a mutual exchange of orgasms, and that was all. He was aware he was being used, but it was good to feel wanted. He felt less of a freak, less wrong and disgusting when he saw desire flickering in others people's eyes. The guys who saw him as a fantasy weren't asking for anything he couldn't give them. He could share his body, but he knew he would be damned the day he allowed someone to get close enough to have his heart.

But then there he was, brushing his teeth, listening to Penny saying goodbye to Kurt in the kitchen and not having a clue of what he was going when he was alone with Kurt again. Blaine wasn't a fantasy for Kurt. In fact, he was pretty sure that Kurt would actually be happy if he put the leather jacket aside.

For some reason, Blaine couldn't wrap his head around the fact Kurt actually liked him, not only the fa�ade or the leather, and that was, well, terrifying. It made Blaine's hands sweat and his pulse increase insanely faster every time Kurt fixed his blue eyes on him. In fact, whenever Kurt was around, Blaine's heart decided to remind him that it did exist, and that it was capable of developing feelings. Yes, feelings, and for a fashionable, ridiculously attractive, argumentative Ice Queen…His Ice Queen.

And that was a fine cosmic joke, wasn't it? How lame was it that Blaine was already turning what were once insults into pet names? PET NAMES!

"Really Anderson? Couldn't you be lamer?" he said to himself, looking up at the mirror.

Blaine didn't feel worthy of the looks Kurt gave him when he thought Blaine wasn't paying attention. And how fucked up it was that he felt more comfortable with being a fantasy, an easy fuck, an "Oh my God you should have seen his piercings!" , but felt unworthy of the affectionate gaze of someone as amazing as Kurt.

"Completely fucked up," he murmured, supporting himself on the bathroom sink.

"See you tomorrow, Blainey! I have to go now!" Penny knocked on the door, startling him.

"A-alright Penny. See ya!" He said, running a hand through his curls. He heard the front door being closed and Kurt's steps echoing in the silent apartment as he walked to their room, not closing the bedroom door behind him.

"Man up, Anderson," Blaine murmured under his breath, gripping the door's handle and finally working up the courage to leave the bathroom. "You can do this."

********

Artie's phone buzzed with a new message.

"Gunter Schneider, possibly German, worked in Avalon industries. I need everything you can find on him. Urgent- W," It said, causing the hacker to let go of his X-box console.

"Well buddy, it seems like we have work to do…" He stretched out, looking up towards Eugene.

"TOO BAD, BECAUSE I WAS TOTALLY KICKING YOUR ASS ON THIS," Eugene groaned, standing up.

A sound of disbelief broke though Artie lips. "No you weren't!" he scoffed.

"I WAS, AND YOU KNOW IT," Eugene said smugly before walking away towards the lab, leaving Artie behind with a shocked expression and his gamer pride wounded, because Eugene had been totally kicking his ass at that game.

********

Sitting crossed legged on the bed, Kurt looked up soon as Blaine entered the room, eyes unreadable as he bit the inside of his cheeks. "Please tell me it wasn't some sort of sick joke," The android murmured quietly, even before Blaine could say anything, his blue eyes filled with expectation.

Taken aback, Blaine stood motionless in the bedroom's doorstep, frozen under the android's stare.

"Just please…I-I," Kurt sighed, and looked down at his hands "The kiss, the little speech…Y-you wouldn't be that cruel right? You're better than that," he said, suddenly being taken by a wave of insecurity and doubt. What if Blaine was just messing around with him? Why would someone like him want anything to do with someone like Kurt?

"No!" Blaine exclaimed, crossing the room and kneeling in front of Kurt. "I-I wouldn't do that to you, Kurt," He said, squeezing Kurt's knees and searching for the other boy's eyes…

Kurt took a deep breath. "So it was-"

"Real! Awesome!?" Blaine interrupted. "Amazing! Hot!? A bit life changing maybe? I don't know, take your pick," he smirked, watching how Kurt's cheeks flushed a little.

"So where do we stand now? What're we-" He gestured behind them, looking at Blaine, waiting.

The older boy didn't seem to get it.

Kurt took a deep breath. "What did that kiss mean for you, Blaine? Are we dating now…?" he asked tentatively. Blaine just assured him that the kiss wasn't some sort of sick joke, but that didn't mean that the kiss held the same meaning for Blaine as it did for Kurt. He didn't want to sound needy or demanding, but that was his first kiss, and Kurt wasn't really up to be another one of Blaine's friends with benefits. Call him na�ve and old-fashioned, but he was a silly romantic after all. So it was better to come clean about this whole thing, figure out what they had going on between them, while Kurt still could fool himself that he wasn't developing feelings for Blaine, while he could still pretend he was able to move on.

"I don't like labels," Blaine said, making Kurt's heart skink. Of course Blaine would come up with something like that. Of course that kiss wouldn't have meant a thing for him.

"But that doesn't mean that what happened was meaningless for me! It wasn't! You have to believe me Kurt, t-that kiss meant a lot to me, a lot," Blaine said, making the tightness in Kurt's chest ease up enough for him to breathe again.

"I just don't want to screw this up, okay? Because that's what I do, I screw things up. That's just me, and I don't want to do that with you, with this." Blaine gestured between them both, nervously trying to make a point.

Kurt urged forward, gripping his Blaine's hands. "Blaine-"

"Just hear me out, okay?" Blaine interrupted, lacing their fingers together. "I-I've never had a serious relationship. I've had fuck buddies, guys whose names I didn't even know, but I've never shared with anyone anything that had the slightest resemblance to a relationship. And I don't want to rush things or label this, what we have… At least not now. I want to figure this out, I want us to figure this out together, so I don't end freaking out and fucking this up."

Kurt nodded, looking down at their intertwined hands. "So where does that leave us?"

"Can't we just be us?" Blaine pleaded "Like without labels, without big announcements? I still don't know how Walter would react, and my mom, well, last time she saw me with a boy she preferred to fool herself by thinking he was a girl…" He trailed of bitterly. What would happen if she was forced to face the truth? Blaine just couldn't lose Barbara. Most of the time they couldn't even look in each other's eyes, but he just couldn't lose her.

"I get it." Kurt nodded and bit his lip. "I don't know much about your mother, but I don't think Walter would treat you differently."

"But he would take you away from here." Blaine could feel his cheeks reddening. He wasn't used to being so open and honest about his feelings. "Walter would never allow us to live under the same roof. Under that grumpy fa�ade, he's kind of an old fashioned guy…. And I don't want to be apart from you," He confessed, eyes fixed on Kurt's hands.

It was surreal. Blaine never felt as exposed as he did at that moment, not even in all the times he had been naked with other people. It was like being torn open and for the first time in years putting his heart on the line. "I want to get to know you better. And I have to admit, I-I also want to get to know Walter better… I don't want be sent back to my mother's, having Walter only visiting me once a year," He murmured probably acknowledging that for the first time himself. He wanted his dad, he wanted to be able to call Walter "dad" again.

There wasn't much Kurt could say after that. Blaine had lost his brother, and his relationship with his mother wasn't the best. Kurt wouldn't allow his sappy notions of romance get in the way of what could be a new start for Blaine and Walter's relationship. He owned that not only to Blaine, who obviously needed his father, but to Walter as well. The federal agent's life had been nothing but a mess lately, already being turned upside down countless times since he had decided to help Kurt.

"I get it, I really do, but I have to know, being us means… being us like exclusively?" Kurt understood that he and Blaine had a long way head of them before they could adjust to these feelings. But he didn't see that happening if Blaine kept seeing other guys. "I understand where you're coming from and that you don't want to label what we have, at least not for now, but I can't do this if we're not exclusive. I just don't see how we're going to get to know each other if we are seeing other guys,"

"Of course being us means being together exclusively," Blaine assured him, his hazel eyes wide and blush on his cheeks. "I was serious when I told you I wanted to get to know you better. I don't have any idea how I'm supposed to do that, b-but I'm willing to give it a shot…"

Hearing those words made Kurt feel lumps forming in his throat, because damn, there just was so much Blaine didn't know about him.

Would Blaine still be willing to give them a shot if he knew the truth? That Kurt was an android? That he was the reason why Walter was risking his life in an unofficial and most likely illegal investigation… Would Blaine still look at Kurt like that, with such affection and warmth or would he be disgusted, revolted by Kurt's true nature? Could he hate Kurt for what he was?

That was a possibility, right? After all, Blaine didn't say anything when Puck bragged about himself for damaging a machine... What if, occasionally, Blaine also felt like vandalizing and damaging machines? Would Blaine feel guilty if he hurt Kurt, if he broke his heart by rejecting him once he found out that Kurt was actually an android?

Kurt didn't know.

He was looking right into Blaine's eyes, once again mesmerized by the little spots of green in the boy's irises and he still couldn't tell if Blaine would hate him, or if he would feel betrayed when Kurt told him the truth… Kurt had never wished so badly that things were different.

The android thought he would never hate being what he was as much as he did that night at Santana's party, after the whole balcony fiasco, but he was wrong. God, he had been so wrong. And worst of all was that now he also felt wrong. He felt like an abomination, now more than ever aware of how every single fiber of his body was artificial. The blue of his eyes weren't inherited from his mother, in the same way the blood flowing through his veins was nothing but useless red substance… And the feeling of his heart quickening when Blaine touched the skin of his wrists? A mere illusion as a result of sophisticated programming. Kurt didn't even have a heart.

How come he had feelings then? How come he could feel this suffocating pain consuming him inside out?

Kurt bit his lip, looking away.

Blaine knelt in front of him. He was being so open, so bare about his feelings. It was unfair that he was doing that now, after Kurt had already resigned himself to the fact that no one would ever look at him like that? How was he supposed to tell Blaine the truth? He would be risking missing the only chance he may ever have at love?

"Kurt please, just don't-" Blaine murmured, his voice strained and afraid. He cupped Kurt's face, forcing the android to meet his eyes again. "I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but please give me a chance. I know that right now I can't offer you a movie romance, but I want to figure out how to get there, how to be the charming prince at the end of the story…I just don't know how to do all that right now," He said, making the lumps in Kurt's throat get bigger so that they practically suffocated him. He couldn't find his voice…

Kurt just couldn't do this anymore.

He gripped Blaine's jacket, bringing him close, wanting one last taste of Blaine lips before telling him the truth and being forced to witness all the affection and warmth he could see in the boy's eyes towards him dissipate, maybe even be replaced by disgust or hate. So Kurt crushed his lips against Blaine's desperately, tangling his fingers through the older boys curls, savoring the illusion of his own inexistent heart slamming against Blaine's rib cage one last time.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Blaine chucked breathlessly against Kurt lips.

"Blaine, there's something you don't know about-" Kurt started, still gripping Blaine's jacket, somehow still not ready to let the other boy go.

"We'll figure it out…" Blaine smiled foolishly "I know I don't know where the hell to go from here, but I'll figure out, we'll figure this out together,"

For the briefest moment, Kurt felt tears burning in his eyes, but soon the suffocating feeling in his chest was reduced to a small twinge. Blaine didn't give him the time to be even more consumed by guilt or to be asphyxiated by his lies. The other boy just leaned in again, gripping Kurt's knees and smashing their lips together. All Kurt could think of is that Blaine's lips were really soft and delicate, and how he felt like he was finally able to breathe again. Blaine's warm palm curled along the side of his jaw, and Kurt remembered that he was supposed to kiss back, so he did. He pressed forward, pulling Blaine close by grabbing his shirt and allowing the other boy to put his tongue in his mouth. Kurt didn't spare a moment to worry that he wasn't experienced or that he was a freaking robot. He let Blaine take the lead and bit the older boy's lower lip when he got the chance.

After kissing Kurt senseless, Blaine began to slowly lighten their kisses. "We should go to bed," he murmured, looking away from Kurt's lips as he tried to keep the rational side of his brain working.

"Wait- what?" Kurt frowned, adorably breathless.

"Walter's going to show up any time, and I don't we'll manage to fool him looking like we do now," Blaine laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. They were in fact looking like a mess. Their lips were swollen, cheeks were flustered, and the curls on the back of Blaine's hair were undone from where Kurt had his fingers tangled just a few seconds ago… "You know what? Keep the bed, I'll sleep on the futon tonight…" Blaine squeezed Kurt's knee, smiling.

Kurt smirked. "Look at you, Blaine Anderson, being a gentleman."

Blaine snorted, standing up. "Well, I guess you bring out the best in me, Ice Queen."

Kurt rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Really Blaine? You're still gonna call me that?" he asked, but suddenly Blaine leaned in and his lips were back on Kurt's as some sort of goodnight kiss.

But yeah, Blaine was probably going to keep calling Kurt that.

********

"Please Artie, tell me you've found something on G�nter Schneider. I'm really not in the mood to pay another visit to Thompson," Walter murmured, mouth full, phone on speaker and eyes fixed on the road. He had his right hand gripping the wheel while the other held a half eaten burger he got from a drive-thru burger place on his way home.

Walter was starving.

"Well the good news is that, yes, I found information on Gunter Schneider, the bad news is…" Artie took a deep breath. "Well, the guy's dead, Walter."

"What?" Walter gasped. "You've got to be kidding me!" he cried, almost dropping his burger.

"Nope, Gunter Schneider's body, or well, what was left of it, was found two weeks before Burt's death in a small apartment in one of Berlin's worst neighborhoods," Artie said before taking a sip of the coffee Eugene had made for him. If there was one thing Eugene could do, it was make coffee. Man, Artie wasn't even sure how he lived until now being deprived of such the bitter deliciousness.

"Wait, did you just say what was left of the body?" Walter asked, left eyebrow raised.

"Yep, G�nter's death wasn't pretty at all." Artie wheeled around, putting down his coffee and grabbing the files he download from the German police that Eugene had translated earlier. "He was tortured for days, mutilated, and burned…Damn, I'd rather spend a season or two in freaking Guant�namo than ten minutes on the hands of Gunter's killer."

"That doesn't sound right…" Walter took a bite of his burger.

"You bet this doesn't sound right. What happened to Gunter was everything but right…" Artie rolled his eyes, flipping through pictures and crime reports. Photo after photo of various body parts covered in blood, bruises, and gashes flashed before his eyes. In some photos, the body parts didn't even look as if one day they had belonged to a human.

"That's not what I'm talking about." Walter frowned "The modus operandi doesn't match with the profile of Burt's killer."

"What d'ya mean? " Artie asked.

"Whoever killed Gunter wasn't worried about being discrete, this person didn't even hide the body or what was left of it… whatever, the thing is, I think the killer was trying to send a message." Walter let go of his burger and wiped his chin, his hazel eyes narrowing into a wrinkled glare as he gripped the wheel with both hands.

"A message for whom?" Artie frowned. At that moment, Eugene entered the room.

"I don't know, but the modus operandi seems too different. I mean we still need to study the reports more carefully but still… They already found the cause of death?" Walter asked, mind racing with millions of theories and conjectures.

"The state the body was found in made it practically impossible to establish the cause of death," Artie read from Eugene's notes, before the robot stepped in his way and pointed down to a specific paragraph. "Oh! And the police only recognized the body as belonging to Gunter because the head was left intact… and then they ran a series of DNA tests with the others parts to make sure they were really his," Artie said, He looked up and gave Eugene a thumbs up for his clever thinking.

"Yeah, definitely trying to send a message." Walter nodded. "This killer is not the same guy that killed Burt. Hummel's killer was desperately trying to erase anything that could connect him or her to Kurt's building. This person carefully planned everything. Burt would die, and Kurt would be infected by a malware. Once the police would discover Kurt was actually an android it would be too late, his system would be already shut down for good. The only flaw in this killer's plan was that this person didn't count on Burt getting under the FDCT's radar after buying some suspicious technology," Walter concluded, eyes glowing because suddenly everything seemed much clearer. The puzzle pieces were finally falling in place.

"Assassins that use poison do it because they want a clean death. Usually they're physically weak or have a certain aversion to blood and violence. They can't overpower their targets and they are too afraid of being caught, so they plan cautiously. G�nter's killer wasn't weak. This killer was vicious and he had enjoyed every minute of it… Damn, he probably got off on it."

"So what you're trying to say is that the deaths aren't connected?" Artie furrowed his eyebrows together. He got it, two opposite methods of operation indicated two killers, but still, it was a bit too coincidental that Gunter was killed a couple of weeks before Burt?

"No, that's actually the opposite of what I'm trying to say." Walter grinned. "I think Gunter Schneider's vicious death was one of the main reasons behind Burt's death. Gunter's killer sent a message by murdering him like he did… He gave the message that, "You can't hide, I'm after you" and Burt's killer got it and desperately initiated an attempt of witness elimination."

"…Who was frustrated by you and Penny the moment you guys were assigned Burt's case of the possession of potentially illegal technology," Artie murmured as his stomach bundled into a tight coil of knots. "Fuck," he gasped wide eyed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Walter, what we are going to now? There more than one person after Kurt, after all of us, since we are helping him…" Artie murmured, leaning back on his wheel chair.

"What are we going to do?" Walter sighed. The obvious fear in Artie's voice was rippling through him. "You're going to send me translated versions of the reports from Gunter's case and everything else you have on him soon as possible. I'm serious Artie, I want every single file. I want to know everything about this guy's life… And then you're going to put an alarm system on the house because more than ever we need to be careful," Walter said, his voice sober as he pressed his lips in a thin line.

Yes, things were getting clearer and the puzzle pieces were finally making some sense but as they approached the truth behind Kurt's origins they also ran blindly towards a yet unmeasured danger.

TBC...