Booth wandered the aisles of an abandoned supermarket, scavenging various food and drink he could find.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered under his breath. He was quite unaccustomed to stealing, but the food was just lying around for the taking. Besides, it would go bad if he did not "rescue" it.

In the end, he brought two six-packs of soda, a large bag of nacho Doritos, three apples, and several yogurts to the rental car. After that, he helped Brennan and Zack load it with assorted equipment. "Easy on the gear," Booth joked. "There needs to be enough of room for us."

When they started the interminable drive, it was evident that Booth could not avoid the irritating chatter of his coworkers. He had hoped they would not demand any responses from him, but to his annoyance, they constantly told him, "Slow down!" and "Driving under stress is hazardous. Try breathing deeply, like this: hhhhhhmmmmmm, hhhhaaaaaaaa." At the last quip, Booth threw the empty nachos bag toward the back seat. That earned him a few moments of peace and quiet.

They drove alongside other cars the whole trip, and only one car, with blacked-out windows, passed them as it went in the direction of Sunnydale.

After finally arriving to Torrance, the introduction process began. Not long after that, Brennan and Zack were back to work. To their dismay, they

found that the Torrance investigators used many of the same excuses as the Sunnydale ones used to justify ineptitude. This indicated a lot more work would be in store for Brennan and Zack. Booth shuffled around awkwardly as they worked. He hated feeling useless. Finally, when Brennan brought up the subject of suspects and declared there were none, Booth snapped.

"What about the English people?!" He asked forcefully.

Brennan defended her claim with, "Well, there was no definite--"

"Maybe they weren't murderers, but they were in on it!"

"How about we take this outside?"

"Don't mind of I do!"

As soon as they left the room, Booth continued the flow of his strong opinions. "I don't want to hear another autopsy report! I don't care if a parent's loss resulted in bad housekeeping!" By now, he was nearly shouting. Then, in a whisper, "I … I just don't want another girl to die. Ever since we got here, I've been feeling helpless." Brennan extended her hand and squeezed his gently. He slowly looked up and met her concerned gaze. He then shook his head and smiled.

"Look at me. I'm really stressed about this case. I sometimes wish I could just escape and leave it to someone else, but that just wouldn't be right. God, I sound just like Sully. What was his nickname? Peacock?"

"Peanut."

"Whatever." Booth chuckled. Brennan looked somewhat horrified. "You know what you need to do?" Booth said. "Turn that frown upside down."

"Unless you suggest I rip off my lips, turn them over 180 degrees and put them back on my mouth, I don't--"

"You know what? Forget it. We'll catch this guy."

Brennan's face gave the impression that she was eating a strange, bitter food and was trying to figure out what it was. "I have no idea what took place during this conversation. At the beginning, I thought we would argue, then I thought I'd reassure you, and then --"

"Yup," said Booth happily. A few moments ensued.

"Soooo, you want to get back to work?" Brennan asked.

"Sure!"

They reentered the lab and Zack informed of the latest news. "Many of the victims were in the possession of archaic weapons. Daggers, axes, crossbows, and stakes have been recovered."

"Why were they using medieval weapons to fight?" Booth inquired. "Why didn't they use guns?"

"Maybe their opponents were wearing bulletproof jackets," Brennan suggested. "You know, then guns couldn't do much."

"If that's the case, I just shoot the head."

"Well, maybe they were rebelling against modern society. That could mean no guns."

"Yeah, that's the smartest thing to do when you're being killed by the dozen!!"

"Booth!"

"I'm telling you, it's right in front of us!" He paced for a moment, then looked up again, a new look of optimism on his face. "What about misogynists? That Summers woman said something about people hating the idea of strong, capable girls. I think we should go back! That town is the key to everything!"

Zack rocked side to side on his feet before saying, "I-- I think we've gotten all we're going to get out of this city. We might as well return."

Brennan sighed uneasily. "Fine. Let's go back. I hope you're right, Booth. I hope you're right."