Walus felt numb between things. He had tried to ring up Miss Caroline, but nothing was getting through. He was in the hover cab as he went along to Watts Medical Hospital. He fixed his sling again as he watched the city zipped by. Chief Vicky had sent Walus out the back way. Now he was short one vacation with his husband. He gained one vast headache by the mess of a case his brother had gotten into. The whole thing was a setup. There was no way around it. Walus leaned on the windows as the hover cab set down in the hospital parking lot. Walus passed his hand over the scanner and paid his fee.

He walked out into the pouring rain among the red lights of the hospital building. It was a towering structure made of red brick. Walus peered up at the neon sign beckoning him and others in. The detective had been proved with a blue Watts City police uniform. It was much more understated than his normal affair. Chief Vicky felt was better for him to get around for now.

Walus went through the main doors and searched for the visitor desk. The place had the same creepy scent of being perfectly sanitized. It was oddly of pine throughout the area. The wooden floors where kept to a shine with their painted lines leading this way and that. The place was made full of plants and patients going about. The standard nursing bots were blocky things with quiet joints. The nursing bots had friendly smiles as the escorted patients through the halls. Balloons were the only real color in the place with their rainbow hues. Walus held up his Palm Planner to help him pull up a map of the giant place. The glowing map popped up with the layout of the floor. A glowing star marked Walus's location. He typed in the visitor desk and found its location.

At the front desk, the ivory colored bot turned to face Walus from the desk. Its glowing yellow eyes lit up with joy. Its warm voice came through its speaker, "Welcome to Watts Medical Hospital. How may I assist you, sir?"

Walus picked up his head from shutting down his Palm Planner. He said to the bot, "I am here to see Edwin Knight."

"Your relationship to him, sir?" It moved its happy face.

"I am his brother," Walus shuttered at the nurse bot. He had always hated their happy faces and glowing eyes.

"Hmm, yes," the bot scanned Walus over. It moved about its blocky head, "Please come on in. You will find him in room 3023. He will be allowed visitors for the next thirty minutes."

Walus nodded his head and pulled up his map again. It was not terribly far. He went over to the elevator and pulled the third-floor button. As the doors were about to close, a woman in a black dress came in. She had raven locks pin loosely in a bun. Her face was serious as was her pucker frown. Her black eyes peered over to Walus and she crossed her arms.

The uncomfortable ride came to an end when the doors opened for the third floor. But the woman in black got off as well. He walked along to 3023. He spied behind him when he spotted the mystical men in black. They were hanging out a few doors down. Walus slowed down as he was about to reach 3023. He lingered for just a moment as he turned to hear them muttering about the dangers of knowledge. The woman in black stopped by the room and joined the men in black. Walus turned to fully look at the small team of men in black. But they disappeared into the room without a further word.

Once he was at 3023, he couldn't miss with two officers watching the door. They gave him the once over with his uniform. IT only took a moment for them to recognize the famous Walus Knight. Either of them said a word as they still followed their code. Walus and held a scanner out in one hand. Walus held out his wrist. When he was confirmed with the scanner, Walus went into the room.

Walus went on inside of the room. Instead of finding his brother resting in the hospital bed. He found Edwin struggling to get into his clothing with the bandages on his arms. Walus shut the door behind himself and coughed loudly. Edwin's hair was burnt on the edges. Walus observed how Edwin had managed so far with only one hand. He looked at Edwin from head to toe and shook his head again. Walus waited for Edwin to have the dawning realization he was not alone. His brother sheepishly smiled at him, "Hi Walus."

"You couldn't want the few hours for the skin graphics to take hold, could you?" Walus glanced on the charts, "I am guessing you just came around. Ah, I see you got a minor concussion as well. I believe that should clear up in the next week."

"I. . . I don't know where Miss Caroline is! And Yankee is still out there! He could be hurt or-"

"Edwin, have a sit. I have some bad news about Yankee," Walus sighed.

Edwin slipped down onto the bed, "He did make it, right?"

"No. . . Edwin. . . He did not. . ." Walus somberly took off his hat and came further into the room. He peered out of the window at the street below. It had a lovely mural of sheep hopping about a green field. Walus puffed, "He was killed in the bombing."

Edwin's face dropped as he stared at his hands, "I thought it was all clear. I saw where the glitch was video. I swore I could have timed it right. . ."

"I am sorry. I know how close you were with Yankee," Walus placed his good hand on Edwin.

"Miss Caroline? Where is she?" Edwin's pale stared up at Walus.

"I am sorry," Walus said as he watched media vans start to gather up around the hospital. He could new a few distance screens board casting about the mayoral elections. Walus closed his eyes, "I have tried to reach her on her burner phone and normal line. I have gotten nothing."

"This has gotten out of hand. . . We haven't even had the case for that long yet!"

". . . I don't think you will be able to work this case for a while," Walus watched the news broadcast with the subtitles flashing by. He saw that one of the candidates was dropping out. But because of the rain and the distance he couldn't tell who. Walus returned his glaze to Edwin, "You are being framed as the main suspect in the murder of Olivia. Plus, the kidnapping of Kid Marshal. Now we have an alibi for you. I will be contacting a lawyer friend of mine. But you need to stay here. You need to remove and lay low."

Edwin dropped his mouth wide open, "I would never! Yankee and Miss Caroline-"

"Brother, let me handle this one right now. You can assist me once you get back on your feet," Walus calmly said.

"I have done all sorts of work while injured. I could help you here with the use of my computer skills-"

"No," Walus answered shortly.

"No?" Edwin repeated.

"Edwin, I know we make a great team. But because of what is happening outside of this room, it could cause more problems for your legally. I think it is wisest you just cool your jets here and relax. I am perfectly able to handle the evidence here and work with the police force. But I will be needing all the data you sent me. Someone has scrambled it," Walus tried to say as tactfully as he could.

Edwin sank into the bed and tried to piece what his brother was telling him. He offered out his hand as Walus showed his Palm Planner. He started to look at the corruption of the data and sighed. He muttered, "You want me to sit this out, because it looks that bad. . .Even if my girlfriend is missing and my good mate is dead."

"Edwin, please, understand. You reported that things were getting hot here. I rushed over as soon as I could. . . ." Walus stopped short.

Edwin covered his face and looked at the door, "So what? Are they going to put me in a cell now? What would Chief Vicky do?"

"You will be okay. I will get you a lawyer and we will sort it out. If we need to do bail, we have enough to reach it," Walus offered.

"You don't get it, do you? The police are against us! Someone had been threating us! Our office is in disarray! My house has a note on it! I have had phone calls from them! They KILLED YANKEE AND TOOK MISS CAROLINE!" Edwin shouted.

Walus took a deep breath and whispered, "I am a detective like you. Of course, I know something is wrong here. But you need to play along. I need you here to be safe. Now, finish undoing this mess here and safeguard it."

Edwin bit his lip as he took to working on the corrupted data. It was trickier than anything he could have handled normally. In a few hours he could unlock everything. But he needed now. He was sure it was very important for the future of finding not only Kid and Miss Caroline. He raised his hand and said, "How long can I have access to this?"

"Not long. . . Is the damage that bad?"

"You're lucky that they didn't cause your chip to explode."

Walus pulled out a device from his uniform. It was a simple laptop without the extra flare or even the usual connection to the be. No real hologram screen. It was just a dusty laptop with all the basics. Edwin narrowed his eyes at the device as Walus passed his hand over it. The data connected to the piece of junk in his lap. Walus pointed to it, "That sound be enough for you to work on the data."

"Yeah. , ," Edwin answered with slightly watery eyes.

"Will you be okay?" Walus placed his hand on Edwin's shoulder.

Edwin dried his eyes and looked around the plain room. He huffed out a deep breath as he peered down at his arms. Edwin answered, "When I am healed up, I will join you in looking things over."

"I know. . ." Walus nodded, "You will always find your own way. Just let me try and sort thing out before you go doing anything outrageous. Now since I didn't get to read everything. Can you tell me everything you know?"

Edwin did. Once Edwin finished Walus gave him a gentle hug and headed back out the door. As much as he wanted to try and switch places with Edwin, he knew he was better and combing through the evidence at hand. He nodded to the two officers at the door as he went back to the elevator. As he went along the same sour faced came out of the door. She walked behind Walus the whole way to the elevator. She stood beside him with a heavy breath as they entered. The sour faced woman muttered, "Agent Knight. The Dark Shadow wishes to speak with you once again."

"You were trying to get my brother earlier, weren't you," Walus remarked as he stared straight ahead.

"There are plans in action. . . We were trying to protect him," the sour faced woman said.

"You can tell the Dark Shadow to wait until the Light of the Moon. I have some business to handle with this whole set of missed steps," Walus sighed, "I wish you managed not to get him in tangled in all of this. Now my secretary is missing. A fine one at that! I expect you to return her promptly!"

"The Shadow only hold her for safe keeping."

"I need my secretary back as soon as possible! You leave my brother like this! You couldn't even make it to save my friend!"

"We understand you are upset. But our story is not to babysit your friends. We do what is right for the city," the sour face woman somberly said.

"I don't really believe that motto so much anymore . . . The Shadows are unrefined for my taste!" Walus rolled his eyes, "Plus my office is a wreck, too. I guess I should thank you for not making that a mess, too."

"Agent Knight, we do what we can."

"Look, I told that client I declined," Walus bite his lip, "Yet here we are."

"Failure to comply with mission standards are not our problem," the sour face woman stepped off the elevator as the doors opened.

Walus muttered to himself, "And still Edwin got catch up on all of this. I was supposed to go on vacation!"