A smile stretched across Elias’ lips as a social cue rather than an actual expression of emotion. “That’s a good answer,” he assured her, eyes locking with hers for the briefest of moments before he turned his attention to the lab workers. He jerked his chin in a direction, and the white-coats set about to their business. One man fluttered off to a large closet on the opposite side of the room, and Elias could hear him ruffling about until a wheelchair was procured. The wheels hardly made a noise as they turned over the cold tile floor.<br/>____________<br/><br/>The next time Lex heard the door open, he didn’t look immediately. The door was heavy - it would open and fall closed almost immediately, as it had done before. One second past, then two, then three. By the fifth second, he looked up and watched as one of the white-coats held the door open for a flurry of others of his sort. The small gathering parted and made way for the young man in the suit - and Blue. His heart could’ve stopped at seeing her in his possession, chained to a wheelchair, bruised and belabored. He jerked at his own restraints, wincing slightly when they cut into his wrists again.<br/><br/>“<span style="font-style: italic">Tsk tsk,</span>” Elias chastised, shaking his head on each note as he escorted Blue directly in front of the good doctor. “Surely that’s no way to act when you see someone you’ve been worrying about.”<br/><br/>Lex locked his jaw and furrowed his brow. He felt the immediate guilt wash over him, though he still didn’t know what crime he was guilty of. This was very obviously his fault - the situation that Blue was in was entirely on his hands - but he didn’t even know what wrong he’d done to know how to make it right. “Hi Blue,” he managed, the corner of his lips twitching up into a pathetic attempt at a smile. It was a shame. The first time he’d gotten to see her, it was like this. It hurt on a level that he couldn’t even imagine. “Please let her go.”<br/><br/>“You don’t get to ask things like that of me, Alex.”<br/><br/>“Okay,” Lex breathed out in a reply. The last thing he wanted to do was make this man angry when he had Blue at his disposal. His eyes managed to tear away from Blue to the man that held her captive. “What do you want from me?”<br/><br/>Elias shook his head again, though the smile melted from his expression. “I want nothing tangible from you, Alex. Nothing that you’re able to give to me will fix what you’ve done. I just want to talk to you. And make no mistake, Alex-” His voice cut as quickly as he drew a pen knife from the pocket of his pants and drew it to Blue’s throat. “you<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>talk to me.”