After Debbie and Alex had arrived at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport, they rushed back home.
Alex sighed in relief when they drove up and saw that his house was still intact. "Doesn't look like anything caught on fire."
Debbie nodded. "And nothing exploded. I guess that's a good sign, but maybe we shouldn't speak too soon."
Alex groaned. Without bothering to pull into the garage, he parked the car in front of the house.
The two ran inside to find Tom Sawyer sprawled across the couch, dressed in only Debbie's pink satin robe.
"Tom?" Alex asked hesitantly.
Shocked at the homeowner's sudden appearance, Tom shot up. "What are you doing here?"
Debbie rubbed her eyes. "What are you doing in my robe?"
Tom adjusted the fabric so that he didn't give his friends a free peep show. "I was doing my laundry, and the robes are very comfortable. Sue me."
Debbie frowned. "Robes? As in plural? As in, you've worn more than one?"
Unfazed by their conversation, Alex crossed his arms. "Where's Louis?"
Tom gestured toward the door. "He left here a while ago with his two buddies."
Alex nearly fell over. "Wait, you mean to tell me he was here with Riley and Dangles?"
Tom's eyes widened. "Was that Riley Naysmith? Oh, gosh. I thought he looked familiar."
Alex gripped the sides of his head. "Riley and Dangles were in my house. My arch nemesis was in my home? This is a nightmare."
Tom's expression dropped. He remembered the conversation he had days ago with Louis, the conversation about Riley turning into a good guy. He gripped the sides of his head. "Oh, no. This might all be my fault."
Alex quirked his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Tom's lower lip trembled. "Well, Louis called me a few days ago, saying he wanted to get a hold of you and how he thought Riley might have turned good. I told him that was crazy, and I didn't think much else of it. But now that you say it, he brought Riley and Dangles here."
Alex clenched his fist. "Unbelievable!"
Tom lowered his head. "Alex, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have called."
Alex held up his hand and shook his head. "No, Tom. This isn't your fault. Louis is an adult. He should have known better. I can't believe that he willingly brought Riley into my home. What was he thinking?"
Alex seethed with rage, both angered and confused about Louis's actions.
Debbie grabbed him. "Alex, focus. We need to find out where they are, okay?" She looked over her shoulder. "Tom, do you know where they went?"
Tom shrugged as he held up an empty bowl. "I was getting snacks, and when I came back, they were gone."
Alex pointed a disgruntled finger in Tom's direction. "You are NEVER house-sitting for me again!"
Tom held up both of his hands. "Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for things to go wrong."
Alex leaned toward the trembling man. "You're sorry, alright. I can't believe I trusted all of you."
Debbie stood in between the two men. "Enough! Alex, why don't you ask SCOT to scan Baltimore and find Louis' location?"
Alex patted Debbie on the shoulder. "That's a good idea. I'll go into my lab and search for him right now. We have no time to waste."
Alex darted away, leaving Debbie and Tom alone in the living room. An awkward silence fell between the two.
"Tom," Debbie said as she turned around, seeing Tom's hairy chest on full display. "You can, uh, keep my robe. I, um, don't think I need it anymore."
Downstairs, Alex logged into his computer system. "SCOT, can you scan all of Baltimore to find Louis's location?"
The AI replied immediately. "Absolutely, sir."
After a few moments, a map of Baltimore appeared on the screen. It zeroed in on a Seaport Storage location."
The robot's voice echoed throughout the basement. "It looks as though Louis, Ken Stokes, Riley Naysmith, and Todrick Dangles are all in a Seaport Storage."
Alex rubbed his temples. "Send the coordinates to my smartwatch."
In a flash, the coordinates appeared on Alex's wrist. He let out an exasperated sigh. "And SCOT, if Riley Naysmith ever steps foot on my property again, you are to inform me immediately."
Although Alex knew AI's didn't have emotions, SCOT sounded ashamed. "Yes, sir. My apologies."
***
Across the city, as the sun set, Louis, Ken, Riley, and Dangles gathered in front of Seaport Storage, where they assumed Lincoln was holding Flora hostage.
Despite his doubts, Louis put his trust in Riley. He watched as his former foe crouched down at the entrance of the storage facility. Everyone can change, he thought. He can help me get to Mrs. Ambrose.
Riley fiddled around in his pockets. Then, he pulled out a red, shiny object.
"Riley, what are you doing?" Louis whispered.
Riley attached the object to the door. "This mechanism will overload their security system. My AI, HALLE, is loaded into it. So everything should unlock in three, two, one."
Louis rolled his eyes. "You can't tell me that little device will–"
With a snap of Riley's fingers, the door swung open. He stood up straight and tall. "Security cameras are disabled, and all alarms are switched off."
Everyone walked into the storage facility. As Louis walked past Riley's piece of tech, he examined it closely. "Where'd you get this thing?"
Riley removed it from the door before he closed it. "It was one of my innovations that I was able to retrieve when I blew up the super soldier lair."
Louis gritted his teeth. "Great."
All four men gathered in the hallway. Storage units lined the walls. Each space was securely locked, and each door was seemingly impenetrable.
Louis looked around. "Alright, guys, we don't have much time."
Riley clenched his fist. "Maybe we could use our karate skills to kick down the door."
Ken nodded, seeming to like the ridiculous idea.
Louis knocked on one of the doors. "It's solid. We're going to have a hard time breaking in. I suggest we scan the area to see if we can hear anything. Then, we focus our energy on breaking down the door to the storage unit most likely to house Flora."
He tapped his chin, lost in thought. "Maybe we should crawl through the vents and see if we could break into the storage units that way."
A smirk tugged at Riley's lips. "Or, maybe there's another way."
Louis waved a dismissive hand in the man's direction. "I'm sure there is. I just have to think about it."
As Louis methodically planned what to do, Dangles stepped to the side. After retrieving something from his pocket square, he fiddled with the door. Whatever he was doing, he made a lot of noise.
Louis whipped his head around. "Dangles! Stop that! I can barely hear myself think."
Sparks flew around Dangles. Molten metal pooled around his feet. Then, he stepped back.
When Todrick backed away from the door, the center of it fell into the storage unit. It was almost as if Dangles had burnt a hole through the middle of the door.
Ken blinked. "Uh, what was that?"
Dangles held up a tiny, bright green laser. "This can cut through any metal."
Riley nudged Louis with his elbow. "It's another one of my genius inventions."
He turned to address the whole group. "We can search every room in this place using the mini laser to break down the door, and in case that doesn't work," Riley said as he reached back into his pocket. "I have a blow torch."
After Riley pulled the blow torch out of his pocket, Louis felt as if he were vastly unprepared. "Okay, uh, let's go with that plan."
Louis gritted his teeth as Riley took charge. He didn't mind relinquishing control to Alex, but he didn't trust Riley. He didn't love the idea of utilizing Riley's gadgets. However, he didn't have much of a choice. I guess it's better to get behind the wheel and make sure they don't do any damage, he thought.
He dusted off his hands. "Alright, how do we use these things?"
Ken Stokes ripped the blow torch out of Riley's hand. "Step aside, boys. I've used many a blow torch during my home renovations."
He pressed the ignition button, and a flame hissed out of the machine. Although the heat from the blow torch nearly melted the flesh off of Ken's face, he carefully cut through a metal door. Until BAM! It collapsed. Ken chuckled. "Oh, I'm never going to get tired of this."
Louis held out his hand toward Dangles. "May I try the laser?"
Dangles through the small device to Louis. Then, Louis cut right through one of the heavy metal doors. He chuckled as he looked down at the small device. "Would you look at that… that's incredible."
Riley beamed from ear to ear. "Thank you. With these devices, we'll finish in no time. We won't even break a sweat."
But the men did get tired, and quickly at that. Despite having Riley's gadgets, they struggled to tear down the doors.
After breaking into every storage unit on the first floor, Flora was nowhere to be found.
Ken plopped down on the floor. "Do you think I can take the Beanie Babies I found in that one storage unit? My wife loves Beanie Babies."
Dangles and Riley nodded simultaneously.
"Sure. That was a great find," Riley said.
Louis pushed the two men aside. "Absolutely not. That's stealing. You're a man who wears many hats, Ken Stokes, but the hat of a thief doesn't fit on your head."
Ken pursed his lips. "What if they belong to Lincoln?"
Frustrated, Louis pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Ken. Plus, we need to keep going."
As Ken stood up, BANG! A crash echoed from behind them.
Two figures emerged from the shadows.
"You aren't going anywhere," one of them said in a groggy voice.