Sorry I took my time with this chapter! The next one will come faster. Thank you so much for the support, it's more than I was expecting!

Sorry for all the grammatical mistakes you encunter! English is not my main language and it's 3am, I'll edit everything tomorrow!

Alexandria looks like the girl from the story's photo!


When she arrived at the garage with her uncle, she wasn't expecting seeing Happy stealing electricity and hearing about her punching a guy in the face because he called her 'sugar'.

She wasn't exactly thrilled to know that there was still no water, she wanted to take a bath and her hair was greasy! Alexandria sat down on her uncle's desk and swung her legs impatiently as she watched them speak about stuff she didn't comprehend. She just wanted to be sure everything was fine, but it was obvious to her that her uncle was upset about something, he was being mean towards Sly. She likes Sly, he taught her chess and they share a common adoration for Super Fun Guy, and since he's the youngest from the team, they easily connected more with each other.

Then suddenly there was a loud noise outside, Alexandria heard it as a car suddenly stopping at a high speed, seconds later, Toby enters the garage looking agitated and out of breath.

"Shh! Keep your voices down!" he cried as he closed the door as fast as he could, he ran to the middle of the garage and everyone approached him quickly or answers. The car kept speeding away outside, surrounding the street like a shark, Alexandria simply whined and hopped down from the desk to stand near her uncle.

"Uh Toby… tell me you have the Lynwood payment." Walter questioned as he walked towards him, he noticed Alexandria's movement and stood slightly in front of her in a protective way.

"First, can I note how I nearly tripled the Lynwood payment?" Toby quickly told him with both of his arms up defensively, he kept glancing between his team members/friends and the door, and he bit his fist with an anxious and nervous whine when he realized how bad the situation might be. Toby feared whatever or whomever was outside.

Happy peeked outside the window to see what the commotion was all about. "So those thugs are chasing you down to give you a big congratulation?" she stated ironically with a glare towards the shaky man.

Alexandria saw her uncle rub the back of his neck, a sign that he was annoyed or nervous.

"I beat them in poker! They're born chumps! Pupils that dilate like saucers whenever they get a good hand? Come on!"

"Maybe you were cocky about it…" Alexandria mumbled. "No one likes cocky winners…"

Happy smirked at her.

"A Harvard-trained behaviorist should know that people don't like to get cheated!" Sylvester scolded him with a panicked voice.

"I hate you," Happy stated.

"No you don't," Toby countered quickly with a small shrug.

Walter scoffed. "We have the combined I.Q of nearly 700, and we can't even pay our bills." He gave a sarcastic smile as he placed his hands on his hips.

"We had a bad day!" Toby opposed.

"We've been at this for two years!" Walter resisted, "I have my niece to take care of and the whole reason why I started this company is because we have more to offer than just fixing routers!"

Everyone looked at Walter attentive to his words. And he glanced at Alexandria, whom was staring at the floor with a resigned expression.

"Walter, I'm reading a textbook panic response to normal financial stressors." Toby explained with a serious tone.

"Okay, if this thing is going south, Walt, just let me know. 'Cause I have a cousin who owns a garage in Phoenix…" Happy voiced, trying to offer a plan for the situation.

But Walter interjected her as he turned his back and rubbed his face in a frustrated manner, "No matter how hard we try – and I know we're all trying – we're a million miles from normal." He finished with a solemn expression.

Everyone regarded him with a guilty and disbelieved expression.

"I love you guys… even if you're not normal." Alexandria piped in as a silence settled.

Walter sighed and looked at her in a gentle way, but before he or anyone could've said anything, there was a loud banging coming from the door. Everyone scattered in different directions, but Walter positioned himself in front of Alexandria as a shield.

But then a police siren was heard as well.

"Uncle Walter, what's going on?" she asked frightened as she clinged onto his shirt.

"Dunno… stay behind me," he whispered.

The banging stopped, "Your timing's perfect." A man said outside. "The guy inside there ripped us off!"

There was more conversation happening outside, but it was barely audible.

And then someone actually knocked on the door, "Homeland Security!" a deep voice called from outside.

"Is this you?" Walter asked Toby confusedly as they all neared the door, Alexandria was calmer now, but she was still standing between her uncle and Sylvester.

"No!" Toby replied, rather offended.

"We're looking for Walter O'Brien!" the owner of the voice said as he slid something underneath the door.

Happy quickly trotted towards the object and grabbed it to inspect it, "It's a badge." She announced as threw it towards Walter.

He easily caught it and looked at it with a bemused expression, Alexandria peeked to see it as well and she liked how shiny the star was. Walter nodded at Happy for her to open the door and a middle-aged man wearing a full suit waltzed inside.

Alexandria watched her uncle's confused expression become an expressionless, eye-widened one, "No, no no no," his voice was deep and final, "Get out. Get out!" Walter pulled Alexandria closer as the man approached, "Get out of here now."

"I wouldn't be here if I weren't desperate, trust me." the man told him calmly.

"Trust you?" Walter gave him a sarcastic smile, "What is that… a joke?"

"Who are you?" Happy asked as she felt the mood between Walter and the man.

"He's Federal Agent Cabe Gallo," Walter replied with a careless tone. "We worked together years ago, way before Alexandria was born. The outcome was unfavorable."

Cabe glanced at Alexandria quickly before his eyes settled on her uncle again, "Put it aside, O'Brien," He told him with a warning tone, "I need you. Forty-five minutes ago, there was an automatic software upgrade in the LAX control tower. It had a bug. Now the entire system's down." His explanation was cut short by Happy.

"Wa-Wa-Wait—all the communications are down?" she asked.

"Contact's been lost between Long Beach, LAX and Burbank," He replied, not breaking his contact with Walter, "Incoming flights have been diverted but the ones that were about to start their descent… fifty-six of them… are out of comm. range. NSA's trying to work a satellite hook-up. FBI's attempting a Morse code signal from the observatory. We need you on the software. Without landing guidance, those planes run out of fuel.

Alexandria noticed the anxious look on Sylvester, which meant that something was really wrong. She didn't understand some of the words that Cabe just said but from the intensity of his raspy voice, it was bad.

"And crash. And crash, Walter!" Sylvester told him with a panicked tone.

"Sounds like… catastrophe is imminent." Walter drawled as he kept his fixed glare on Cabe. "So go find someone else. Now."

"Uncle Walter!" Alexandria gasped as she looked up at her uncle, he looked so seethed.

"How about a certified Federal checks for $50,000 in each of your pockets?" Cabe suggested evenly.

Everyone stared at him shocked.

"Me too?" Alexandria joked, just to ease the tension a little.

Cabe looked at her and showed a small smile, "No but… we can get you something." as she smiled back shyly, he looked at the whole group still gaping at him. "I ran checks on all of you. Mechanical prodigy, world-class shrink, a human calculator." He said as he looked directly at Happy, Toby and Sylvester. "Brilliant minds working at half-capacity. You want to do something meaningful? Here's your chance. You don't, people and metal will be falling from the sky in less than two hours." He looked again at Walter, "It's your call."

There was a silence, everyone was just staring at Walter for an answer, and he took his eyes from Cabe to gaze upon his badge. Alexandria was worried about him, and she was also afraid that he'd say no. The part where Cabe said, about people falling from the sky, scared her a little. She just hoped he would say yes.

"Even with half of my IQ, I wouldn't be dumb enough to believe you twice." He finally answered as he tossed the badge back to its owner. "Put it aside?" and "Forget about it and move on?" It's not an option for people with photographic memory." He mildly sneered.

Speaking on photograph, it reminded Alexandria that she needed to fill the photo album of memories for her mom!

"Give us a minute." Happy piped in, taking Walter away to have more privacy.

As they walked away, Alexandria watched Toby stand next to Cabe and cross his arms at the same time that the agent did.

Cabe gave him a look, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Curse word," Alexandria called out automatically.

"Yep, can't curse in front of her," Toby nodded, "And I was mirroring you so your subconscious can relate to me. I thought it would help you relax." He explained.

"Do you think it's working?" Cabe asked Alexandria with a small smile again.

She giggled and shook her head, "Nope."

Toby scoffed. "What do you know about psychology?" he challenged her jokingly.

She shrugged, "Nothing."

"So are you Walter's daughter?" Cabe finally asked.

Alexandria pursed her lips and looked at Toby, he nodded, "No, I'm his niece." She extended her hand at him, "I'm Alexandria O'Brien. You can call me Alex… or Lexi. But never call me Alexia please…"

He took her hand and gently shook it, "It's nice to meet you, Alex." He was amused and curious about the anti-Alexia part, but due to the circumstances, he decided to hold that thought for another day.

"Time is wasting," Cabe called to Walter, who was glaring at him. "We've got fifty-six planes to land."

Everyone regarded Walter for any signs of approval. Then he finally let out a small sigh and walked towards Cabe, "LAX Tower Control is the main hub for all the other airports," he started, making Alexandria smile in relief.

"Fix the software there, it autocorrects in Long Beach and Burbank." Cabe said.

"So, the new software's the glitch… first step is to delete that, then download the old software, should be enough for the planes to land." Walter continued as he unbuttoned the wrist sleeves from his shirt.

"So you're doing it?" Cabe stated more than he asked, he had a relieved expression.

Walter simply looked away from him.

"We go to LAX we fix the software, we are at ninety percent chance of success." Sylvester told Walter after making his mental calculations.

"Grab your equipment." Walter ordered Happy as he shoved his hands on his pants, "Mine too, please?" he added.

Everyone moved to do their thing, while Alexandria stood where she exactly was, and while everyone was distracted, Walter approached Cabe and stood face to face to him.

"Must've been keeping tabs on me to find me so quickly." He said.

"I got promoted in L.A. Office. Only make sense that I would track you down. The only thing I didn't know was about your niece," Cabe told him.

Walter gave him a humorless smile when he mentioned his niece, "Stay away from her."

"Yeah and your body language suggests that's about half the truth," Toby commented as he passed by the three directly to the door.

Sylvester approached Walter from the back, looking at Cabe anxiously. "Of course there's a ten percent chance that everybody dies." he stipulated as he also walked to the door, following Toby.

Happy gave Walter his blazer and placed Alexandria's coat on her head, making the little girl chuckle. She quickly put her coat on as she watched her uncle talk with Cabe with a menacing tone.

"You cross me on this…" Walter began as he dressed up, "I'll go online and in less than an hour, I will erase you," he threatened. "Alexandria, let's go."

She quickly walked by his side and grabbed hold of his shaking hand, he squeezed hers in a gentle and thankful way before he led her outside of the garage, she had time to glance back and see the guilty expression on Cabe's face.


Alexandria was sitting in the back between Happy and Toby, she was holding the half-Asian's woman hand for some support because of the speed, and from the beads of sweat coming descending from Sylvester's forehead, he was in need of some comfort as well.

After a few minutes of Cabe's co-worker's driving through the driveway, Toby finally got say what was on his mind.

"Alright listen, when the FBI and NSA fail, do we get some kind of bonus here? I'd be willing to go double or nothing." He said following his gambler mind.

"Toby," Walter hissed.

"I'm just saying," he quickly told him with an innocent tone.

Alexandria smiled at their exchange.

"They were your top choice for this?" Cabe's co-worker asked with a tired tone.

"Walter O'Brien is one of the five smartest people alive, so, yes." Cabe replied with a firm tone.

The eleven-year-old girl approved the way he talked about his uncle, she looked at him for any reaction but she didn't see any.

The dispatch that Cabe was carrying suddenly started talking and behind it was a female's voice. Everyone listened attentively. "Be advised, just got word from headquarters there's a major pile-up on the 405. LAX is unreachable for hours. Repeat: LAX is a no-go."

"Copy that." Cabe replied.

"Call for a helicopter." Toby said loudly.

Alexandria shivered just with the excited thoughts on riding an helicopter for the first time.

"Air traffic's been shut down until the situation is resolved." Cabe told him.

Alexandria pouted.

"No copter?" Sylvester looked at him a concerned look, then he eyed Walter, "We're down to seventeen percent chance of success." He told him apprehensively.

"Pipe down, Rain Man." The driver suddenly called out.

Alexandria gasped as Happy spoke, "Call him that again, you better hope the Feds have a good dental plan." She threatened with a protective tone.

"Yeah!" Alexandria supported, she didn't know what 'Rain Man' meant, but for Happy be reacting like this and Sylvester's hurtful expression, it wasn't good.

"This is what we do with a car full of geniuses—and a kid—"

"What you'll get is a solution if everyone keeps their mouth shut." Walter suddenly interjected while giving Happy and Alexandria a look.

"Everyone, quiet!" Cabe yelled.

Walter was quiet for a while, when he suddenly had an idea, "We don't need to go to LAX. We just need a reliable wireless signal with no chance of going down. I just fixed one a mile north of here." he said.

"You mean…" Alexandria grinned at her uncle.

XX

After the diner was all cleared, her uncle's team started to work immediately by the watchful eyes of the waitress Paige. And Alexandria was sitting on the table, next to Ralph, watching him play the same game of chess made of condiments by himself. She'd play with him, but she feels a little intimidated.

"Hi," she started.

He didn't say anything, but at least he looked at her. That was enough to make her smile.

She then looked at Sylvester, who was still cleaning the countertop with a panicked expression and muttering about 'chicken' and 'diseases'.

"Ralph, good to see you again," Walter said as he spared a glance to the boy.

The boy looked at him, wordlessly again, and Paige looked between the two with a worried expression. Alexandria saw that, and she smiled at her comfortingly.

"Roughly eighty-nine minutes until the first plane goes down." Cabe announced loudly. "Their lives are in our hands." Everyone looked at him somberly, excluding Ralph.

"Is there something wrong in LAX?" Alexandria heard Paige asked Sylvester behind her back.

The man paused and looked at her uneasily, "It's top-secret." He stuttered.

She gave him a bemused look, "How can it be top-secret if the guy who set up our wireless is working on it?" she asked smartly as she looked at Walter.

Ralph tilted his head at them and looked at Alexandria, "Don't ask me, I can't explain you." she shrugged. "Literally,"

"Happy, script a POST check after the system's stabilized," Walter told her as he started speaking with a leader's voice, "Sylvester, run the odds on the patch linking back into the software. We do not want the same problem tomorrow." He stopped next to Toby and talked to him more quietly, Alexandria couldn't hear him but she and Ralph watch Sylvester run to a table to place his laptop there.

"Everything okay in here?" Paige asked as she patted her son's head. "Do you want something to eat? On the house," she asked her with a small smile.

"No, thanks!" Alexandria beamed as she swung her legs.

"Screw this up, brains and guts are gonna bounce all over town." Sylvester suddenly said loudly.

Paige gave him a scowl as Alexandria paled, Ralph seemed indifferent though.

"Actually, fuel tanks ignite on impact, you won't find a body part." Happy commented.

"Eh, a blood-soaked spleen could burn at a slower rate." Toby added.

"Hey, please check your language around my nine-year-old… and Alex." Paige bravely scolded them.

Walter looked at her with a small smile.

"Be decent in my place of work. Thank you." she finished before turning around and returning to the table where the children were.

Walter's smile widened slightly.

"You sure you don't want anything to eat? Drink?" Paige asked Alexandria again.

She shook her head and continued to deny her friendly question.

.