Robin took a deep breath as he stood before his brother's door.

A dragonfly quickly flew onto his nose, causing Robin to stumble back in surprise.

That was Bert's signal. Margo had finished swapping out the coins.

The dragonfly flew off, and Robin thought he could hear Bert's chuckle at Robin's startled reaction. 

 Robin let out an irritated sigh before he pounded his fist on his brother's door.

The stumbling of his brother's feet sounded behind the old wooden door, his brother likely blinking off the last bit of the sleeping spell Margo had placed on him, just in case he woke up while he was still at work in his office.

"Robin?" Otto squinted, slowly opening the door as he blinked against the bright light of the hallway.

Robin let a slow sigh. His brother might have no hesitancy in betraying him, but Robin had a hard time swallowing the guilt of lying to his older brother.

"I thought over what you said earlier...and I won't get in your way." Robin falsely admitted, not being able to meet his brother's eyes. "I was tired of being a doctor in London, and I think I had only romanticized the life here because it was different... but it was never going to last. These last couple of days made me realize, I would have grown bored with it... and you are giving me a great opportunity to leave before I find myself stuck." 

Robin looked up at his brother, who was gazing at Robin with his cocky  'I-told-you-so'  expression. Which would have irritated Robin, but in this case, made him relieved that his brother was buying into his lie. "So, thank you, Otto."

Otto let out a low chuckle, running his hands through his tangled bed hair. "I knew you were my brother after all. Just needed to be out of that witch's spell for a bit, that's all."

Robin gave his brother a small, guilty smile, his chest feeling heavy at his brother's words.

"I've decided to head back to London today. So, please contact me when you are finished with your plan, receive your promotion, and can share in the victory." Robin declared, doing his best to mimic his brother's confident and calculating attitude. "However, I believe I am owed financial reimbursement for my travels before I leave, as you wrote me saying so yourself." Robin pressed, his tone lighthearted.  "Maybe even a bit extra for my assistance in this whole scheme... even if it was against my knowledge."

Otto laughed and shook his head, waving his brother in. "Of course, it's the least I can do. Think of it as a down payment. There will be much more where this came from."

Robin mustered a fake chuckle as he followed his brother into the room. Searching for where his brother was working on the armor he was building, while his brother searched the coat on his bed, rifling through its pockets for his bag of coins.

"What are you making?" Robin asked as his gaze fell upon the old wooden desk in the corner. The top of which was covered with jewels and bits of the familiar dark blue metal. "An armor?" Robin questioned, making his way over to the desk to get a closer look. Picking up a chunk of blue metal, and peering at it closely to see if he could see past Margo's illusion. Robin had to admit, Margo did a fantastic job. He could be convinced it was the same metal that adorned his neck only a few days prior.

"Hah!" Otto laughed, "Was this your plan all along Robin? I'm afraid you wont be able to take it from me, brother. A heart stone can only be freely given to another...well, unless your next move was to kill me?" His brother remarked, followed with a cocky laugh.

"No, I'm not like you in that way, Otto," Robin grumbled, carefully setting back down the metal. Despite Robin's knowledge that it wasn't truly Holly's heart, he still felt the need to be careful with it. "I told you why I am here. I just want the money and to get out. I was just curious. It looks like a lot of work."

His older brother snorted, shaking his bag of coins as he walked over to his brother.

"This whole shit-show was a ton of work. Making that slab of metal is the easiest part." Otto mumbled, rolling his eyes. "I've been collecting hearts nonstop for the last few years. If anything, it's feeling to finally do something else for once," Otto admitted with a laugh, as if the two of them were just two normal brothers sharing work stories. 

It made Robin's skin crawl.

"Yeah, I can't imagine...I only helped with one, and that only took me almost half a year..."

Otto laughed, patting his brother on the back.

"Hey, practice makes perfect. You got the most important heart, so don't be too tough on yourself."

Robin let out a faint chuckle, turning from the work table to extend a hand out to his brother.

"My payment for helping with the most important heart."

Otto clicked his tongue and chuckled as he started to open his coin purse.

"Nope. The whole thing." Robin said firmly.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you think you had that big of a part in this..."

Robin scoffed.

"Maybe you should have just let the Nanahounds eat me alive when you sent them to tear me up... Or should I keep that part from Mother when I return to London?"

Otto laughed, "Maybe I should have, huh? Fine, you drive a hard bargain. Here is the whole bag... for your discretion with mother."

Robin raised his eyebrow and gave his brother a cheeky grin. He held himself back from grabbing the bag and dashing out of the room. Robin begged his arm not to shake in adrenaline and give himself away as he took the bag from his brother, carefully tucking it into his pocket.

"Good luck, Otto," Robin said, giving his brother one last long look. Trying to find something in his brother's eyes to hold out hope that he was still a brother worth looking up to. Someone worth searching the world for.

 In the deep brown eyes of his brother, he saw that they were the same as they had always been, yet starkly different now. Not colored in a hazy gray, but instead filled with pride and hard resolve. A man controlled by Hank, not by his magic, but with Hank's ideas of success and fortune. 

"I hope you get what you have worked so hard for, Otto."

"Thank you, Robin. Safe Travels. I'll contact you soon."

Robin gave his brother one last nod and a fake smile as he carefully closed the door behind him.

_______________________________________________________

"You need to help me, Miss Jackie." Robin urgently whispered over the counter of the Deadwood. "We need everyone to evacuate the town".

Miss Jackie snorted, looking Robin up and down with a scowl as she cleaned a whisky glass.

"Oh? Did your brother tell you that?" the old woman sneered, turning from him to put the glass away.

"You met my brother-"

"Oh, a few times I have, darling. Been a displeasure each and every time." Miss Jackie growled, angrily slapping the towel that had rested on her shoulder against the counter. 

Miss Jackie quickly leaned across the bar to stick her wrinkled finger in Robin's face. "If I had known that man was your brother, I would have never sent you to Sunshine Acres in the first place."

"If I had known that man was what had become of my brother, I wouldn't have blamed you," Robin muttered, a pang of guilt growing in his chest at all his brother had done, including the loss of Miss Jackie's trust.

Miss Jackie scoffed and shook her head, too angry for words. "What's the big plan then? Lock her up? Experiment on her? Make a show of her? You got all you wanted of her womanly wiles and are now passing her off to the officials for someone new, huh? Corrine finally got to you, too, did she?" the hostess sneered with an angry chuckle, her eyes sharp as she glared at Robin.

"Miss Jackie, please believe me, I had no idea.-"

"Oh, you had no idea! But that doesn't change anything, now does it? You know now, and nobody's seen Miss Ivy in days...so it doesn't seem like you've done jack-shit to stop him for whatever he's doing."

Robin gritted his teeth in irritation. "I'm trying, Miss Jackie. So, please, we need to get everyone to evacuate this town."

"Show me Holly safe and sound and I'll help you." The woman announced, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I can't-"

As quickly as a cat might jump on her pray, the old woman reached over the counter and grabbed Robin by the collar, pulling him against the bar and wrapping his shirt collar around her hand, making it hard for Robin to breathe.

"You better find a fuckin' way-"

"Woah! Miss Jackie! What's all this..." An old man's amused tone shouted from the door of the saloon.

"Drop it, Don. This doesn't concern you." Miss Jackie hissed.

"Well, if you hurt him bad enough, it sure does concern me," Doctor Don replied, hurrying to the bar to put a reassuring hand on Robin's shoulder, as he cast a suspicious glance at Miss Jackie.

"The feds found Miss Holly. Turns out Robin's brother was with the government. Haven't seen the girl in days."

"Ah," the old doctor mumbled, betrayal filling his eyes as he removed his hand from Robin's shoulder, quickly taking a seat beside him to observe the rest of the exchange. "Carry on then, ol' girl."

"Listen, please," Robin begged, raising his hands in surrender. "I need you guys to help evacuate the town. I am trying to help Holly. Really! Which is why I am asking for your help. Please...I can't do it on my own."

"True or not?" Don murmured, an eyebrow raised as he glanced towards Miss Jackie.

"True..." The old woman grumbled. "He is trying to save her."

"So why aren't you letting him go?" Don pondered, with a small chuckle. The old man's eyes  darting to her fist that remained tangled in Robin's collar.

"Because I can see that he is to blame for everything. Which is why he is trying to help."

"Ah."

" I can explain!" Robin wheezed as he lightly tapped at the woman's iron grasp, his neck screaming at him in pain. 

He knew there was going to be a bruise tomorrow... if she let him live that long.

"Let him go, Jackie. I'll catch him if he tries to run off," Don said, glaring at Robin as the woman reluctantly loosened her grasp.

"It was my fault. My brother asked for the necklace Holly had given me, and I thought I had removed her heart stones before giving it to him, but I was wrong. He faked my death to take control of her heart. So that is all my fault. Okay?" Robin admitted, rubbing at his sore neck. "Holly was under his power the last couple of days, but I stole back her heart from my brother this morning, and other sorcerers are setting her free as we speak. So Holly is going to be alright, but we NEED to get everyone out of town."

Don scoffed. "True?"

"As far as I can tell..." Jackie sneered. "But why do you want us to evacuate the town?"

"According to the sorcerer who is helping me free Holly, there has been a migration of other sorcerers who are also under my brother's influence to Adel," Robin explained, glancing around the saloon for any of these sorcerers.

It was early enough in the morning that there were only a few patrons in the old saloon, other than Robin and Don. Whom Robin had greeted when he first arrived, checking that all the men's eyes were not the strange gray that indicated they were under Hank's control.

"Is that the reason the tavern's so full these days?" Jackie mumbled. "I was wondering if there was a convention in town..."

"Yes," Robin replied, "Don't trust anyone in town with gray eyes. Tell everyone without them to leave, if you can. We don't know what the plan is, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Miss Jackie let out a long sigh, exchanging a calculating look with Doctor Don.

"Listen," Miss Jackie finally muttered. "I'll believe you. I'm pissed as hell that you put Miss Holly and the whole town in this situation... But after getting to know you after these last couple of months, and my magic telling me you are just trying to help... I trust you. I'll help. If it helps Miss Holly, I'll help."

"Me too." Doctor Don agreed. "Maybe I'll say there has been a gas leak or something. That the air will be disastrous for people's health if they decide to stay in town."

"Yeah, and I could say that it has spread to the water as well, to spread the word to anyone who comes into the saloon. Tell them they will need to leave town for booze."

"We should talk to Kalavee, too, have him warn people who are trying to come into town via the trolley."

"Thank you." Robin said, a wave of relief washing over him. The weight of their distrust easing from his shoulders. "Thank you both so much."

"Well," Don said with a chuckle. "You are a good guy, Robin. If we didn't make a few mistakes, we wouldn't be humans, would we? And if we didn't forgive someone when they made mistakes, then we would be nothing but hypocrites. Holly's one of us, and by now, you're one of us too. We look out for each other around here." Don said, giving Robin a slow pat on the back.

"Holly is lucky to have a town that cares so much for her," Robin said with a slow smile.

"Well, it's hard not to care for her, as I am sure you know all too well." Miss Jackie chuckled, giving Robin a wink. 'It's hard not to care for you either, Robin, which is why Holly gave her heart to you in the first place. It's also why we want to help you."

"Thank you again, this is going to help tremendously." Robin smiled, slowly standing to his feet. "I need to head out, I'll be in the town over. Oh, and Holly thinks I am dead, and I am told that it's for the best that it stays that way for now."

Miss Jackie scoffed as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?"

Robin let out a breath and gave a reluctant shrug. "Her friends think that she will fight back harder if she thinks I was killed. So I'll have to wait until it's all over to see her again." Robin explained as he ran his hands through his hair. "Though that might actually kill me."

"True?" Don said, sending an amused smile to Miss Jackie.

Miss Jackie let out a small chuckle. "It seems he means every word." 

She gave Robin a small smile, as she tenderly reached over the bar to give him a light pat  on his arm. 

"Don't worry, we will take care of it from here. Just make sure you and those sorcerers keep our girl safe, you hear me?"

Robin let out a small smile, nodding to the two friends at the bar.

"Always."