Walter woke up the next day, ready for work, energized, and excited to make awesome stuff. He leaped out of bed and got into the shower. He finished quickly, brushed his damp hair back, and dried it as much as he could. Walter dressed in his usual collared tee-shirt and brown corduroys, and went to the kitchen, prepping himself a slightly more elaborate than usual breakfast, since he felt like it. He also had extra time, having completed his morning routine so fast.

And so, he made himself french toast. He whipped up the batter and got out some bread. He then sliced, dipped, cooked, and plated the entire loaf. Walter placed two slices on a plate and slathered it in butter. In stark contrast, he only barely drizzled the maple syrup on it.

"Don't worry, Lovey, I didn't forget about you," Walter spoke, setting an additional slice, this one without butter and syrup, in front of the pigeon. She dug in without protest, soon clearing a hole the size of her head in the middle of her meal. Walter chuckled at her eating habits and sat down to eat his own food.

As he ate, he thought. What did he think about Theo? She was definitely cute, but she also didn't seem like a person who would date a lot. He didn't know much about her, except that he couldn't stop thinking about her. Last night, he had meant to sketch some new ideas for gadgets that had been bouncing around in his head for a while, but he ended up sitting there, thinking about her bird-themed glasses. Did she like birds too? Does she have a pet bird? What would Theo name her bird? If it was friendly, maybe her bird and Lovey could have little bird playdates!

"I'm insane!" Walter told himself. "I don't even know if she has a bird!" Walter slumped in his seat, defeatedly. Then he sighed, got up, and put his dirty dish in the dishwasher. He crumbled the rest of Lovey's toast and put it on her plate so she could snack and fly wherever she wanted to while he was gone. The time was 8:45. He decided to leave for work, even though he didn't have to be there till 10:00, and the ride only took half an hour.

"Bye, Lovey!" Walter kissed her head, which she ducked out from under and flapped away. "I'll miss you, too!" He stepped outside, turned on and adjusted his net, and readied his jetpack. Then he blasted off. The jetpack ride felt very short because he was enthralled with all the birds he passed. Pigeons, a couple of red-tailed hawks, even one gray catbird. He circled around the Washington Memorial and took his daily, death-defying descent into the dank depths of H.T.U.V. Then he took off his net, deactivated his jetpack, and took an elevator opposite of the room he had done his interview in further down into the technology wing. This place was a freaking maze and it took him a full 10 minutes to find his cubicle, unpack his backpack and put on his lab coat. He collapsed, exhausted already, in his seat and looked once more into the mirror. Ugh. His hair. Walter pulled out the mini brush in his desk and gave his best shot at flattening the monstrous mess. No such luck. He wasn't sure why he suddenly cared now. It's not like it had mattered before. The time was currently 9:40. He was twenty minutes early, and he had no clue what to do. He sat, throwing his fidget spinner at the test mannequin in his office, He needed to work on its transitions. They were too slow, slithering up and down the arms. There would be a small chance that the criminal would be able to shake the snakes off. If the snakes had stayed on the body long enough to read the biosignature, they might follow the victim until they were handcuffed. He pulled out his sketchbook, doodling ways that he might be able to speed up the transitions. More powerful battery. Condensed wiring. Thinner carbon fiber shell. He'd try to put some of those into effect over the next couple days, with updates. In the meantime, he needed to get the prototype down to manufacturing. He couldn't afford to be late on a deadline so soon into his job. Walter checked his watch again. 9:55. He had enough time to doodle a little longer. He started drawing an updated version of his fidget spinner. What would he call it? He'd have to figure that out soon.

"That's pretty cool," A voice spoke behind him.

"Gah!" Walter startled, falling backward out of his chair, knocking over Theo, who apparently had been standing right behind him!

"Sorry 'bout that," Theo sheepishly looked at him as she brushed herself off and got up off the floor.

"I'm the one who should be sorry! I knocked you onto the floor!"

Theo shrugged. "Well, I literally stood behind you like a creeper, and talked into your ear."

Walter laughed. She had a point. He stood up.

"What were you drawing?" Theo asked. "It looked a lot like your fidget spinner thingy, but cooler."

"Well, there are a couple of design flaws that I have to fix. The fidget is a little slow. There's a small chance that the criminal being handcuffed could shake the pieces off before the magnets fully engage." Theo walked over and grabbed his sketchbook.

"May I?" she asked him. Walter nodded. She began paging through.

"I can barely decipher what's what in here. What are all the scribbles around the edge?"

"Those are notes I take to remind myself what changes I need to make. Around 'Binder Bubbles', it's really bad, because I kept messing up the proportion of micronized rubber powder to water." He took the sketchbook back from her, turned it to the third page and showed her

"See? You can barely see the diagram of the invention."

She took it back and said, "The drawings are super cool though." Walter checked his watch. 10:05.

"Shoot! I gotta get the prototype to Manufacturing. I have to go."

"No problem," Theo told him. "I have a massive scandal to cover up in northern Asia. Lance Sterling's good at his job, but he really messes places up."

Walter smiled, and they both left his office. Theo entered her cubicle right across from his and commenced typing busily. Walter had only made it about ten feet down the walkway when he tripped over an extension cord stretched tautly across the corridor.

"Oof!" He hit the floor hard and face first. Oh...my goodness. His head hurt so badly!

"Hey, you jerk! You just unplugged my 3D printer!" Somebody was shouting at him. The loud noises made the pounding pain worse. He rolled over and tried to apologize, but before he could get any words out, there was more yelling.

"Are you kidding me? You're the one who left its cord in the middle of the flipping hallway! How stupid are you!? You could have hurt someone!" Footsteps ran towards him, but when he looked up, he couldn't see anything. His vision was full of bright lights and blurry enough that all objects in sight slid into swirls of color. Hand locked themselves under his armpits, pulling him to his feet. He vaguely registered warm wetness slipping into his mouth.

"Oh my gosh, Walter, there's blood all over your face." The person carrying him turned away and shouted "You're such an idiot! You DID hurt him! Walter, we're gonna get you to a nurse or something. One sec, let me check the directory." Oh no! Where was his fidget spinner! He patted himself down groggily. It wasn't on him. It must have fallen out when he hit the floor.

"My...spinner," he managed to get out of his mouth. Was his body malfunctioning? He could barely hear himself. His words floated away from his ears on a lazy cloud. Then he realized he had barely talked. "My...spinner!" he said louder.

"Huh?" the person looked up from their phone. "Oh right, your spinner. Hey, you jerk! What's your name?"

"Charles."

"Well, Charles, in exchange for possibly giving poor Walter a concussion, why don't you get him his fidget spinner?"

"Fine." Now he couldn't hear as well. He felt his legs starting to buckle. He leaned against the wall, the only way he could continue to stand.

"Okay Walter, let's go." A hand held out a red fuzzy blob, he took it and stuffed it into a pocket on his coat. Then he took a shaky step, then another, and another, before falling to his knees.

"Oh, dear" Again, those hands hauled him to his feet, before taking his right arm and slinging it around their shoulders. The world spun in circles. He groaned. The person started dragging him down the hallway. He could barely make his legs move. One foot in front of the other. One, two, three, four, five… He lost count. It felt endless, the tortuous trudge towards...where? Where was he going? Who was taking him? He looked up from the floor to try to see their face. Nope. Lights still killed his eyes. He dropped his gaze and managed to keep his limbs moving forward. How long had it been? Oh, please, he silently begged. Let it stop! Then the person stopped, and Walter stumbled over his feet. He heard the sound of a door opening.

"Excuse me, is this the nurse's office?"

"Yes, do you have a problem?"

"A bit of one, yes."

Walter was pulled into the room where the lights intensified, burning his eyes so horribly, his head spun with a renewed vigor.

"What's wrong with him?" Oh crap! He could barely hear. He gasped as his legs fell out from under him, and, for the second time that day, he face-planted. Then blackness swam in and claimed his thoughts.