"We gotta stop by Millie's on the way home," Will said to Claire as she locked the front door to her house. "I promised Hank and Emily that I would bring them both a piece of pie. It's Monday, so that means chocolate cream...their favorite."

This was now the third day that Will and Claire had returned to the secret room beneath her house. With each visit, they had learned new information about Atticus and the giant automaton. Today, Claire had begun to make her own notes as she studied her father's various schematics and plans. It was now only a little past five p.m., but they had promised Emily to be home early today so that they could have dinner together. After making the quick stop at Millie's to pick up the pie, they finally pulled into Will's driveway.

"I'll meet you inside," Will said as he got out of the car. "I'm gonna get the mail."

Claire grabbed the bag from Millie's and made her way up to the front door while Will jogged over to the mail box and removed an assortment of mailings. Claire was still standing on the front porch when Will finally made it up the front steps.

"No one opened the door?" Will asked with a puzzled expression.

"No...I rang the doorbell, but no one answered," Claire replied.

"Hmmm," Will said as he suddenly broke into a knowing smile. "I bet Emily has some kind of surprise waiting for us."

Will unlocked the door, opened it, and took a step inside. Immediately, he held out his left hand to stop Claire from following him, and then dropped the mail to the floor and pulled out his gun. As Will took in the scene that lay before him, memories of the night when Claire had been kidnapped instantly flooded his mind. The coat rack lay broken on the floor in the entryway, and to the left, Will could see various signs that a struggle had taken place. Furniture was overturned in the living room, and broken glass was scattered on the floor.

"Stay close," Will whispered to Claire as he motioned for her to follow him inside.

They turned into the living room, and Will quickly spotted Hank lying motionless on the floor. Hank's gun sat on the floor a short distance away. Will cautiously made his way to Hank's side and checked for a pulse and breath.

"He's still alive," Will whispered as Claire knelt down beside him.

Will grabbed Hank's gun and gave it to Claire.

"Stay here with Hank while I check the rest of the house," Will said quietly.

Claire silently nodded, and Will rose and began to make his way toward the kitchen. The door to the backyard looked as though it had been kicked in, but there was no sign of any assailant, and Will passed through and entered the entryway again. Before heading up the stairs, he looked into the living room, caught Claire's gaze, and motioned that he was going upstairs. Once upstairs, Will noticed that there were large holes in the walls of the hallway that led to Emily's room. After checking his room and the spare room first, he finally made his way toward Emily's room.

As Will approached his sister's room, he could see through the open door that her window had been completely smashed through. He paused at the door to take a deep breath, and then he cautiously entered. Almost immediately, Will fell to his knees and gasped.

"Emmy!" Will shouted.

There on the floor in front of Will lay the broken body of Max. His head had been separated from the rest of his body, and he was missing part of his right arm and the lower part of his left leg.

"Emmy!" Will shouted again, looking around the room.

There was no answer. Will rushed out of the room and made his way to the secret space in his closet where Emily had hid the night that Claire was kidnapped. As he opened the door in the floor, his heart dropped into his stomach. There was no adorable face to greet him this time...the space was empty.

"Emmy!" Will shouted once more as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Will returned to the living room and found Claire tending to Hank, who had just regained consciousness. He rushed over and knelt beside them.

"Hank! Thank goodness you're ok," Will greeted.

"Hey, Will," Hank said groggily.

"Any serious injuries? Can you move?" Will asked.

"I think so," Hank replied.

Will and Claire carefully helped Hank up onto the sofa.

"I'll get some ice," Will offered as he headed toward the kitchen.

A moment later, Will returned with an ice pack and a glass of water.

"Here you go," Will said as he handed Hank the ice pack and placed the glass on the coffee table. "I brought you some water too."

"Thanks," Hank replied as he suddenly got a serious look on his face. "What about Emily and Max?!"

"Emily's missing...and Max is destroyed..." Will shared sadly as he sat down beside Hank.

"Damn it!" Hank exclaimed as he struck the sofa cushion with his fist. "I'm sorry, Will..."

"What happened, Hank?" Will asked after giving Hank a moment to relax. "Who did this?"

"That automaton..." Hank answered. "It just busted in here and went straight for Emily. It knocked me out before I had a chance to do anything. It must have destroyed Max and kidnapped Emily."

"It was alone?" asked Claire, who had seated herself in Max's favorite armchair.

"As far as I could tell," Hank replied.

"I'm gonna call Jennifer and ask her to take you to the hospital to get checked out," Will said as he rose and walked over to the phone.

"I don't need to go to the hospital! We need to go find Emily!" Hank protested.

"We'll find her, Hank," Will assured. "But I just want to be sure you're ok."

"Will's right, Hank," Claire said. "You should go. Besides, Emily needs you at your best."

"Ok," Hank said reluctantly. "When you put it that way..."

Will smiled and then telephoned Jennifer, who arrived about 15 minutes later. After Jennifer had left with her uncle and Will had secured the back door, Will and Claire went upstairs to Emily's room to tend to Max. Claire gasped when she saw how badly Max had been damaged.

"He must have put up a pretty damn good fight," Will commented. "You know, sometimes it was hard to tell who loved Emily more...me or Max..."

"I'm sorry, Will," Claire said softly.

"It'll take some time, but I'm sure I can fix him," Will said.

"Can I help?" Claire asked.

"Of course," Will replied with a smile. "I'd like that...and I think he would too..."

Claire smiled.

"How am I going to find her, Claire?" Will pondered aloud as he sat down on Emily's bed.

Claire stepped around Max and was about to sit down next to Will when she suddenly paused.

"Will, look!" Claire exclaimed as she reached over and picked up a small white envelope that had been sitting on Emily's pillow.

Claire sat down and handed the envelope to Will, who quickly opened it and removed a small index card that had a few lines scribbled on it. Will began to read it aloud:

"Not to worry, the girl is safe and no harm will befall her as long as you follow these instructions. Meet us at the abandoned quarry off of Forest River Road tomorrow at 7 p.m. In exchange for your sister, we will require the plans for Component #35, which I am quite sure you have found by now. Come alone."

"Damn!" Will exclaimed after he had finished reading the note. "He must have been spying on us. How else could he know that we found the plans?"

"Well, at least you know she's safe," Claire encouraged.

"Yeah, but he wants the plans," Will replied.

"So what? Give him the plans," Claire said.

"You know what'll happen if we do," Will stated. "And what if your father is right? Who knows what he'll do with that thing!"

"What will he do to Emily if we don't?" Claire asked.

"There has to be another way," Will protested. "What if you created fake plans that I could give him?"

"Even if that did work and you got Emily back, he would eventually come after us again once he realized that the plans didn't work," Claire reasoned. "He won't stop until he gets what he wants. You know that."

"You're right," Will conceded. "We don't have much of a choice."

"The plans are yours, Will," Claire said with a little smile as she put her hand on Will's. "Get Emily back."